Noncognitive Attributes in Physician Assistant Education.

PubMed

Brenneman, Anthony E; Goldgar, Constance; Hills, Karen J; Snyder, Jennifer H; VanderMeulen, Stephane P; Lane, Steven

2018-03-01

Physician assistant (PA) admissions processes have typically given more weight to cognitive attributes than to noncognitive ones, both because a high level of cognitive ability is needed for a career in medicine and because cognitive factors are easier to measure. However, there is a growing consensus across the health professions that noncognitive attributes such as emotional intelligence, empathy, and professionalism are important for success in clinical practice and optimal care of patients. There is also some evidence that a move toward more holistic admissions practices, including evaluation of noncognitive attributes, can have a positive effect on diversity. The need for these noncognitive attributes in clinicians is being reinforced by changes in the US health care system, including shifting patient demographics and a growing emphasis on team-based care and patient satisfaction, and the need for clinicians to help patients interpret complex medical information. The 2016 Physician Assistant Education Association Stakeholder Summit revealed certain behavioral and affective qualities that employers of PAs value and sometimes find lacking in new graduates. Although there are still gaps in the evidence base, some tools and technologies currently exist to more accurately measure noncognitive variables. We propose some possible strategies and tools that PA programs can use to formalize the way they select for noncognitive attributes. Since PA programs have, on average, only 27 months to educate students, programs may need to focus more resources on selecting for these attributes than teaching them.

Development of the promoting teacher attribution model for promoting science teachers' moral and ethical characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chanprathak, Anusorn; Worakham, Paisan; Suikraduang, Arun

2018-01-01

The promotion science teacher attribution model to develop the moral and ethical characteristics was to analyze, synthesis, and develop the guidelines of the scoping study into concepts, theories and research related about the moral and ethics of characteristically teachers from the resources, including research papers, research articles related research, and interviews with luminaries of 9 members. Using interviews and document analysis, data analysis, content analysis, and present an essay was built. The promoting attributes a teacher, moral principles, concepts and theories involved and guidance of a qualified were developed. The Multiple-Attribute Consensus Reaching (MACR) from 12 educational experts were checked the suitability and feasibility of the model, the possibility of the manual with the research instruments consisted of the promotion model attributes the moral and ethics teacher's characteristics were evaluated, to guide the promotion attributes' model forms were assessed, the first edition of the manual data analysis, information obtained from the evaluation of the suitability and feasibility analysis model and guide for the average were administered. The results have found that; the promoting moral teacher attribute data to their moral and ethical characteristics was divided into two groups, priests and scholars. In both groups, the promotion attributes, focusing on teacher's groups is moral in nature to modify the idea to a change of attitude within the organism. Students got down to real experience; an analysis and synthesis face learning environments that cause cognitive skills to act as a self-realization possibly. The promotion model, moral principles, including the importance of the activities, objectives and evaluation methods were attributed. These core concepts learning theory and social cognitive theory, and integrated learning experience were comprised in five stages and four processes, namely; the intended, memory storage process, the actions, and the incentives of the motivation processes. The appropriateness and feasibility of the model and the appropriateness of the form scales evidence of a high level. The assessing guide on the appropriateness of the guide scale and the possibility of the manual guide responded of at a high level, similarly.

Gender differences in socioeconomic inequality of alcohol-attributable mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Probst, Charlotte; Roerecke, Michael; Behrendt, Silke; Rehm, Jürgen

2015-05-01

The present analysis contributes to understanding the societal distribution of alcohol-attributable harm by investigating socioeconomic inequality and related gender differences in alcohol-attributable mortality. A systematic literature search was performed on Web of Science, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and ETOH from their inception until February 2013. Articles were included when they reported data on alcohol-attributable mortality by socioeconomic status (SES), operationalised as education, occupation, employment status or income. Gender-specific relative risks (RR) comparing low with high SES were pooled using random effects meta-analyses. Gender differences were additionally investigated in random effects meta-regressions. Nineteen articles from 14 countries were included. For women, significant RRs across all measures of SES, except employment status, were found, ranging between 1.75 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.21-2.54; occupation] and 4.78 (95% CI 2.57-8.87; income). For men, all measures of SES showed significant RRs ranging between 2.88 (95% CI 2.45-3.40; income) and 12.25 (95% CI 11.45-13.10; employment status). While RRs for men were in general slightly higher, only for occupation this gender difference was above chance (P = 0.01). Results refer to deaths 100% attributable to alcohol. The results are predominantly based on data from high-income countries, limiting generalisability. Alcohol-attributable mortality is strongly distributed to the disadvantage of persons with a low SES. Marked gender differences in this inequality were found for occupation. Possibly male-dominated occupations of low SES were more strongly related to risky drinking cultures compared with female-dominated occupations of the same SES. © 2014 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Where Would You Go for Your Next Hospitalization?

PubMed Central

Jung, Kyoungrae; Feldman, Roger; Scanlon, Dennis

2014-01-01

We examine the effects of diverse dimensions of hospital quality – including consumers’ perceptions of unobserved attributes – on future hospital choice. We utilize consumers’ stated preference weights to obtain hospital-specific estimates of perceptions about unmeasured attributes such as reputation. We report three findings. First, consumers’ perceptions of reputation and medical services contribute substantially to utility for a hospital choice. Second, consumers tend to select hospitals with high clinical quality scores even before the scores are publicized. However, the effect of clinical quality on hospital choice is relatively small. Third, satisfaction with a prior hospital admission has a large impact on future hospital choice. Our findings suggest that including measures of consumers’ experience in report cards may increase their responsiveness to publicized information, but other strategies are needed to overcome the large effects of consumers’ beliefs about other quality attributes. PMID:21665300

Social distance and behavioral attributes of developmentally handicapped and normal children.

PubMed

Sherman, L W; Burgess, D E

1985-12-01

20 behavioral attributes predicting social distance were examined among 101 junior high school students in six classrooms. The sample included 8 developmentally handicapped students, of whom at least one of each was mainstreamed into each classroom. Subjects were predominantly white, middle-class, suburban midwesterners. A sociometric nomination measure was used to obtain behavioral attribute profiles of the students which were then used to predict a psychometric measure of social distance. Handicapped students were not more socially distant than their normal peers. Factor analysis of the 20 behavioral attributes yielded four factors, three of which were significant predictors of classroom social distance, accounting for better than half the variance in social distance. These were described as Incompetent/Unassertive, Positive/Active/Assertive, and Passive/Unassertive. Social rejection in mainstreamed classrooms is more a function of perceived behavioral attributes than the label developmentally handicapped.

Automatic Correction Algorithm of Hyfrology Feature Attribute in National Geographic Census

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, C.; Guo, P.; Liu, X.

2017-09-01

A subset of the attributes of hydrologic features data in national geographic census are not clear, the current solution to this problem was through manual filling which is inefficient and liable to mistakes. So this paper proposes an automatic correction algorithm of hydrologic features attribute. Based on the analysis of the structure characteristics and topological relation, we put forward three basic principles of correction which include network proximity, structure robustness and topology ductility. Based on the WJ-III map workstation, we realize the automatic correction of hydrologic features. Finally, practical data is used to validate the method. The results show that our method is highly reasonable and efficient.

Geospatial database of estimates of groundwater discharge to streams in the Upper Colorado River Basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Garcia, Adriana; Masbruch, Melissa D.; Susong, David D.

2014-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, as part of the Department of the Interior’s WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) initiative, compiled published estimates of groundwater discharge to streams in the Upper Colorado River Basin as a geospatial database. For the purpose of this report, groundwater discharge to streams is the baseflow portion of streamflow that includes contributions of groundwater from various flow paths. Reported estimates of groundwater discharge were assigned as attributes to stream reaches derived from the high-resolution National Hydrography Dataset. A total of 235 estimates of groundwater discharge to streams were compiled and included in the dataset. Feature class attributes of the geospatial database include groundwater discharge (acre-feet per year), method of estimation, citation abbreviation, defined reach, and 8-digit hydrologic unit code(s). Baseflow index (BFI) estimates of groundwater discharge were calculated using an existing streamflow characteristics dataset and were included as an attribute in the geospatial database. A comparison of the BFI estimates to the compiled estimates of groundwater discharge found that the BFI estimates were greater than the reported groundwater discharge estimates.

Which Personality Attributes Are Most Important in the Workplace?

PubMed

Sackett, Paul R; Walmsley, Philip T

2014-09-01

Employees face a variety of work demands that place a premium on personal attributes, such as the degree to which they can be depended on to work independently, deal with stress, and interact positively with coworkers and customers. We examine evidence for the importance of these personality attributes using research strategies intended to answer three fundamental questions, including (a) how well does employees' standing on these attributes predict job performance?, (b) what types of attributes do employers seek to evaluate in interviews when considering applicants?, and (c) what types of attributes are rated as important for performance in a broad sampling of occupations across the U.S. economy? We summarize and integrate results from these three strategies using the Big Five personality dimensions as our organizing framework. Our findings indicate that personal attributes related to Conscientiousness and Agreeableness are important for success across many jobs, spanning across low to high levels of job complexity, training, and experience necessary to qualify for employment. The strategies lead to differing conclusions about the relative importance of Emotional Stability and Extraversion. We note implications for job seekers, for interventions aimed at changing standing on these attributes, and for employers. © The Author(s) 2014.

Descriptive and predictive validity of somatic attributions in patients with somatoform disorders: a systematic review of quantitative research.

PubMed

Douzenis, Athanassios; Seretis, Dionysis

2013-09-01

Research on hypochondriasis and other somatoform disorders (SFD) has provided evidence that patients with SFD tend to attribute their symptoms to organic dysfunctions or disease. However, recent studies appear to discredit this. There is no systematic evidence on whether patients with SFD predominantly rely on somatic attributions, despite calls to include somatic attributions as a positive criterion of somatic symptom disorder (SSD) in the upcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). This study is a systematic review of quantitative studies which assess the descriptive and predictive validity of somatic attribution in SFD. The literature search was restricted to studies with patients who met the DSM-IV criteria for SFD. Somatic attribution style in SFD has acceptable descriptive but insufficient predictive validity. This confirms that the overlap between somatic and psychological attributions is often substantial. Attribution style can discriminate between SFD patients with and without comorbidity. A somatic attribution style does not qualify as a positive criterion in SSD. However, there is an urgent need for further research on causal illness perceptions in the full spectrum of medically unexplained symptoms in order to confirm this result. Given its high prevalence, research on psychological attribution style is warranted. Re-attribution does not provide a framework sophisticated enough to address the needs of patients in primary care. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attributions, criticism and warmth in mothers of children with intellectual disability and challenging behaviour: a pilot study.

PubMed

Lancaster, R L; Balling, K; Hastings, R; Lloyd, T J

2014-11-01

Associations between parental expressed emotion (EE) or parental attributions and the problem behaviours of children with intellectual disability (ID) have been explored in ID research. However, a more detailed examination of the attributional model of EE has not been reported. In the present study, we partially replicated and extended research focused on mothers of typically developing children with behaviour problems. Twenty-seven mothers of children with ID and behaviour problems aged 4-9 years were interviewed about their most problematic behaviours exhibited by their child, and completed a Five Minute Speech Sample. Interview transcripts and speech samples were coded for maternal EE and spontaneous causal attributions regarding the child's behaviour problems. Data were also collected on maternal well-being, and the child's behaviour problems. Mothers typically made attributions that were internal to the child, controllable by the child, personal to the child and stable for the child. Maternal attributions of being able to control the child's behaviour were associated with high maternal criticism and low warmth. Maternal depression was more strongly associated with the child's behaviour problems when mothers were coded as high in criticism or low in warmth. Patterns of maternal attributions about their child's behaviour problems and their consequences for maternal well-being and maternal-child relationships require more research attention. Implications for practice are discussed, including the potential for maternal attributions to be incompatible with the focus of positive behaviour supports offered to families. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, MENCAP & IASSIDD.

Child Abuse and Developmental Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grayson, Joann, Ed.; Bartlette, Don

1992-01-01

Literature indicating high rates of abuse in this population is reviewed, as is literature indicating high rates of developmental disabilities in child victims of abuse. Problems in data collecting practices are noted. Reasons for these children's greater risk for abuse are identified, including child attributes, stress, parent vulnerabilities,…

The Five Attributes of a Supportive Midwifery Practice Climate: A Review of the Literature.

PubMed

Thumm, E Brie; Flynn, Linda

2018-01-01

A supportive work climate is associated with decreased burnout and attrition, and increased job satisfaction and employee health. A review of the literature was conducted in order to determine the unique attributes of a supportive practice climate for midwives. The midwifery literature was reviewed and synthesized using concept analysis technique guided by literature from related professions. The search was conducted primarily in PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Articles were included if they were conducted between 2006 and 2016 and addressed perceptions of the midwifery practice climate as it related to patient, provider, and organizational outcomes. The literature identified 5 attributes consistent with a supportive midwifery practice climate: effective leadership, adequate resources, collaboration, control of one's work, and support of the midwifery model of care. Effective leadership styles include situational and transformational, and 9 traits of effective leaders are specified. Resources consist of time, personnel, supplies, and equipment. Collaboration encompasses relationships with all members of the health care team, including midwives inside and outside of one's practice. Additionally, the patients are considered collaborating members of the team. Characteristics of effective collaboration include a shared vision, role clarity, and respectful communication. Support for the midwifery model of care includes value congruence, developing relationships with women, and providing high-quality care. The attributes of a supportive midwifery practice climate are generally consistent with theoretical models of supportive practice climates of advanced practice nurses and physicians, with the exception of a more inclusive definition of collaboration and support of the midwifery model of care. The proposed Midwifery Practice Climate Model can guide instrument development, determining relationships between the attributes of the practice climate and outcomes, and creating interventions to improve the practice climate, workforce stability, and patient outcomes. © 2018 by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

Direct Penguin Counting Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hyun, C. U.; Kim, H. C.; Kim, J. H.; Hong, S. G.

2015-12-01

This study presents an application of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images to monitor penguin colony in Baton Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica. The area around Narębski Point located on the southeast coast of Barton Peninsula was designated as Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 171 (ASPA 171), and Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins inhabit in this area. The UAV images were acquired in a part of ASPA 171 from four flights in a single day, Jan 18, 2014. About 360 images were mosaicked as an image of about 3 cm spatial resolution and then a subset including representative penguin rookeries was selected. The subset image was segmented based on gradient map of pixel values, and spectral and spatial attributes were assigned to each segment. The object based image analysis (OBIA) was conducted with consideration of spectral attributes including mean and minimum values of each segment and various shape attributes such as area, length, compactness and roundness to detect individual penguin. The segments indicating individual penguin were effectively detected on rookeries with high contrasts in the spectral and shape attributes. The importance of periodic and precise monitoring of penguins has been recognized because variations of their populations reflect environmental changes and disturbance from human activities. Utilization of very high resolution imaging method shown in this study can be applied to other penguin habitats in Antarctica, and the results will be able to support establishing effective environmental management plans.

Association between the perceived environment and physical activity among adults in Latin America: a systematic review

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Activity friendly environments have been identified as promising strategies to increase physical activity levels in the population. Associations between perceived environmental attributes and physical activity in Latin America may vary from those observed in high income countries. The objective of this systematic review is to identify which perceived environmental attributes are associated with physical activity in Latin America. Methods Systematic literature search of articles published in English, Portuguese, and Spanish in four databases was conducted (PubMed, Virtual Health Library, EBSCO, and Web of Science). Associations with environmental attributes were analyzed separately for physical activity domains. Fifteen articles were included in the analysis. Results All studies had cross-sectional designs. The majority of associations were statistically non-significant, and only four associations were found in the unexpected direction. Leisure-time and transport-related physical activity were the domains most frequently included in the studies and had higher number of associations in the expected direction. Leisure-time physical activity showed a convincing association in the expected direction with safety during the day. Transport-related physical activity had a convincing association with presence of street lighting. Conclusions This study shows that perceived environmental attributes and their relationship with physical activity appears to be domain, and context specific. In addition, findings from this study show inconsistencies with the information gathered from high-income countries. PMID:24171897

Wyoming Basin Rapid Ecoregional Assessment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, Natasha B.; Melcher, Cynthia P.

2015-08-28

We evaluated Management Questions (Core and Integrated) for each species and community for the Wyoming Basin REA. Core Management Questions address primary management issues, including (1) where is the Conservation Element, and what are its key ecological attributes (characteristics of species and communities that may affect their long-term persistence or viability); (2) what and where are the Change Agents; and (3) how do the Change Agents affect the key ecological attributes? Integrated Management Questions synthesize the Core Management Questions as follows: (1) where are the areas with high landscape-level ecological values; (2) where are the areas with high landscape-level risks; and (3) where are the potential areas for conservation, restoration, and development? The associated maps and key findings for each Management Question are summarized for each Conservation Element in individual chapters. Additional chapters on landscape intactness and an REA synthesis are included.

Ecological correlates of invasion impact for Burmese pythons in Florida

USGS Publications Warehouse

Reed, R.N.; Willson, J.D.; Rodda, G.H.; Dorcas, M.E.

2012-01-01

An invasive population of Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) is established across several thousand square kilometers of southern Florida and appears to have caused precipitous population declines among several species of native mammals. Why has this giant snake had such great success as an invasive species when many established reptiles have failed to spread? We scored the Burmese python for each of 15 literature-based attributes relative to predefined comparison groups from a diverse range of taxa and provide a review of the natural history and ecology of Burmese pythons relevant to each attribute. We focused on attributes linked to spread and magnitude of impacts rather than establishment success. Our results suggest that attributes related to body size and generalism appeared to be particularly applicable to the Burmese python's success in Florida. The attributes with the highest scores were: high reproductive potential, low vulnerability to predation, large adult body size, large offspring size and high dietary breadth. However, attributes of ectotherms in general and pythons in particular (including predatory mode, energetic efficiency and social interactions) might have also contributed to invasion success. Although establishment risk assessments are an important initial step in prevention of new establishments, evaluating species in terms of their potential for spreading widely and negatively impacting ecosystems might become part of the means by which resource managers prioritize control efforts in environments with large numbers of introduced species.

Troubling Trends: The Health of America's Next Generation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Commission To Prevent Infant Mortality, Washington, DC.

Trends during the 1980s are described including high infant mortality, no decline in low birthweight percentages, an increase in the black-white infant mortality gap, more high-risk pregnancies, and inadequate prenatal care. Inadequate progress in reducing infant mortality is attributed in part to the limited technological ability to save…

76 FR 60031 - Notice of Order: Revisions to Enterprise Public Use Database Incorporating High-Cost Single...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-28

... Database Incorporating High-Cost Single-Family Securitized Loan Data Fields and Technical Data Field... single-family matrix in FHFA's Public Use Database (PUDB) to include data fields for the high-cost single... of loan attributes in FHFA's databases that could be used, singularly or in some combination, to...

Local connectome phenotypes predict social, health, and cognitive factors

PubMed Central

Powell, Michael A.; Garcia, Javier O.; Yeh, Fang-Cheng; Vettel, Jean M.

2018-01-01

The unique architecture of the human connectome is defined initially by genetics and subsequently sculpted over time with experience. Thus, similarities in predisposition and experience that lead to similarities in social, biological, and cognitive attributes should also be reflected in the local architecture of white matter fascicles. Here we employ a method known as local connectome fingerprinting that uses diffusion MRI to measure the fiber-wise characteristics of macroscopic white matter pathways throughout the brain. This fingerprinting approach was applied to a large sample (N = 841) of subjects from the Human Connectome Project, revealing a reliable degree of between-subject correlation in the local connectome fingerprints, with a relatively complex, low-dimensional substructure. Using a cross-validated, high-dimensional regression analysis approach, we derived local connectome phenotype (LCP) maps that could reliably predict a subset of subject attributes measured, including demographic, health, and cognitive measures. These LCP maps were highly specific to the attribute being predicted but also sensitive to correlations between attributes. Collectively, these results indicate that the local architecture of white matter fascicles reflects a meaningful portion of the variability shared between subjects along several dimensions. PMID:29911679

Local connectome phenotypes predict social, health, and cognitive factors.

PubMed

Powell, Michael A; Garcia, Javier O; Yeh, Fang-Cheng; Vettel, Jean M; Verstynen, Timothy

2018-01-01

The unique architecture of the human connectome is defined initially by genetics and subsequently sculpted over time with experience. Thus, similarities in predisposition and experience that lead to similarities in social, biological, and cognitive attributes should also be reflected in the local architecture of white matter fascicles. Here we employ a method known as local connectome fingerprinting that uses diffusion MRI to measure the fiber-wise characteristics of macroscopic white matter pathways throughout the brain. This fingerprinting approach was applied to a large sample ( N = 841) of subjects from the Human Connectome Project, revealing a reliable degree of between-subject correlation in the local connectome fingerprints, with a relatively complex, low-dimensional substructure. Using a cross-validated, high-dimensional regression analysis approach, we derived local connectome phenotype (LCP) maps that could reliably predict a subset of subject attributes measured, including demographic, health, and cognitive measures. These LCP maps were highly specific to the attribute being predicted but also sensitive to correlations between attributes. Collectively, these results indicate that the local architecture of white matter fascicles reflects a meaningful portion of the variability shared between subjects along several dimensions.

Attribution of the 2015 record high sea surface temperatures over the central equatorial Pacific and tropical Indian Ocean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, In-Hong; Min, Seung-Ki; Yeh, Sang-Wook; Weller, Evan; Kim, Seon Tae

2017-04-01

This study assessed the anthropogenic contribution to the 2015 record-breaking high sea surface temperatures (SSTs) observed in the central equatorial Pacific and tropical Indian Ocean. Considering a close link between extreme warm events in these regions, we conducted a joint attribution analysis using a fraction of attributable risk approach. Probability of occurrence of such extreme anomalies and long-term trends for the two oceanic regions were compared between CMIP5 multi-model simulations with and without anthropogenic forcing. Results show that the excessive warming in both regions is well beyond the range of natural variability and robustly attributable to human activities due to greenhouse gas increase. We further explored associated mechanisms including the Bjerknes feedback and background anthropogenic warming. It is concluded that background warming was the main contribution to the 2015 extreme SST event over the central equatorial Pacific Ocean on a developing El Niño condition, which in turn induced the extreme SST event over the tropical Indian Ocean through the atmospheric bridge effect.

Optimal attributes for the object based detection of giant reed in riparian habitats: A comparative study between Airborne High Spatial Resolution and WorldView-2 imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandes, Maria Rosário; Aguiar, Francisca C.; Silva, João M. N.; Ferreira, Maria Teresa; Pereira, José M. C.

2014-10-01

Giant reed is an aggressive invasive plant of riparian ecosystems in many sub-tropical and warm-temperate regions, including Mediterranean Europe. In this study we tested a set of geometric, spectral and textural attributes in an object based image analysis (OBIA) approach to map giant reed invasions in riparian habitats. Bagging Classification and Regression Tree were used to select the optimal attributes and to build the classification rules sets. Mapping accuracy was performed using landscape metrics and the Kappa coefficient to compare the topographical and geometric similarity between the giant reed patches obtained with the OBIA map and with a validation map derived from on-screen digitizing. The methodology was applied in two high spatial resolution images: an airborne multispectral imagery and the newly WorldView-2 imagery. A temporal coverage of the airborne multispectral images was radiometrically calibrated with the IR-Mad transformation and used to assess the influence of the phenological variability of the invader. We found that optimal attributes for giant reed OBIA detection are a combination of spectral, geometric and textural information, with different scoring selection depending on the spectral and spatial characteristics of the imagery. WorldView-2 showed higher mapping accuracy (Kappa coefficient of 77%) and spectral attributes, including the newly yellow band, were preferentially selected, although a tendency to overestimate the total invaded area, due to the low spatial resolution (2 m of pixel size vs. 50 cm) was observed. When airborne images were used, geometric attributes were primarily selected and a higher spatial detail of the invasive patches was obtained, due to the higher spatial resolution. However, in highly heterogeneous landscapes, the low spectral resolution of the airborne images (4 bands instead of the 8 of WorldView-2) reduces the capability to detect giant reed patches. Giant reed displays peculiar spectral and geometric traits, at leaf, canopy and stand level, which makes the OBIA approach a very suitable technique for management purposes.

A self-assessment of the propensity to obtain future employment: a case of final-year engineering students at the University of Botswana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ssegawa, Joseph K.; Kasule, Daniel

2017-09-01

The article provides a self-assessment by final-year engineering students at the University of Botswana regarding the propensity to get employment. Students rated which employability attributes are important, the level of attainment and the sources that have facilitated the development of the attributes. Results indicated that students identified the most important attributes as management of time; possessing a high level of technical skills, meeting deadlines and creating viable solutions for solving a problem. They also indicated that they have weaknesses in managing time, meeting deadlines and creating viable solutions (attributes critical to the engineering profession). Students reported that their strengths were in having a positive attitude, orderly physical presentation, adaptation to new environments and willingness to learn new ideas. Students further noted that they developed the attributes from the university academic system followed by their own private activities. The study concludes that students lacked some of the critical attributes of engineering. They therefore, need to be explicitly and holistically sensitised as to how the attributes relate to their profession, employment and career development. As part of the review of the engineering programmes, sensitisation could be included in the induction process at enrolment.

Attributable risk of carpal tunnel syndrome according to industry and occupation in a general population.

PubMed

Roquelaure, Yves; Ha, Catherine; Nicolas, Guillaume; Pélier-Cady, Marie-Christine; Mariot, Camille; Descatha, Alexis; Leclerc, Annette; Raimbeau, Guy; Goldberg, Marcel; Imbernon, Ellen

2008-09-15

An epidemiologic surveillance network for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) was set up in the general population of a French region to assess the proportion of CTS cases attributable to work in high-risk industries and occupations. Cases of CTS occurring among patients ages 20-59 years living in the Maine and Loire region were included prospectively from 2002 to 2004. Medical and occupation history was gathered by mailed questionnaire for 815 women and 320 men. Age-adjusted relative risks of CTS and the attributable risk fractions of CTS among exposed persons (AFEs) were computed in relation to industry sectors and occupation categories. Twenty-one industry sectors and 8 occupational categories for women and 10 sectors and 6 occupational categories for men were characterized by a significant excess risk of CTS. High AFE values were observed in the manufacturing (42-93% for both sexes), construction (66% for men), and personal service industries (66% for women) and in the trade and commerce sectors (49% for women). High AFE values were observed in lower-grade white-collar occupations for women (43-67%) and blue-collar occupations for men (60-74%) and women (48-88%). The attributable proportions of CTS cases among workers employed in industry sectors and occupation categories identified at high risk of CTS varied between 36% and 93%.

Attributable risk of carpal tunnel syndrome according to industry and occupation in a general population

PubMed Central

Roquelaure, Yves; Ha, Catherine; Nicolas, Guillaume; Pélier-Cady, Marie-Christine; Mariot, Camille; Descatha, Alexis; Leclerc, Annette; Raimbeau, Guy; Goldberg, Marcel; Imbernon, Ellen

2008-01-01

Objectives An epidemiological surveillance network for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) was set up in the general population of a French region to assess the attributable fraction of CTS according to work in high risk industries and occupations. Methods Cases of CTS occurring among patients aged 20 to 59 living in the Maine and Loire region were included prospectively from 2002 to 2004. Medical and occupation history was gathered by mailed questionnaire for 815 women and 20 men. Age-adjusted relative risks of CTS and the attributable fractions of CTS to work among exposed persons (AFE) were computed in relation to industry sectors and occupation categories. Results Twenty-one industry sectors and eight occupational categories for women, and ten sectors and six occupational categories for men were characterized by a significant excess risk of CTS. High values of AFE were observed in the manufacturing (from 42 to 93% for both genders), construction (66 for men) and personal service industries (66 for women), and trade and commerce (49% for women) sectors. High values of AFE were observed in female lower grade white-collar occupations (from 43 to 67%), and male (from 60 to 74%) and female (from 48 to 88%) blue-collar occupations. Conclusion The attributable fractions of CTS among workers employed in industry sectors and occupation categories identified at high risk of CTS varied between 36 and 93% PMID:18759264

Healthcare costs attributable to secondhand smoke exposure at home for U.S. adults.

PubMed

Yao, Tingting; Sung, Hai-Yen; Wang, Yingning; Lightwood, James; Max, Wendy

2018-03-01

To estimate healthcare costs attributable to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure at home among nonsmoking adults (18+) in the U.S. We analyzed data on nonsmoking adults (N=67,735) from the 2000, 2005, and 2010 (the latest available data on SHS exposure at home) U.S. National Health Interview Surveys. This study was conducted from 2015 to 2017. We examined hospital nights, home care visits, doctor visits, and emergency room (ER) visits. For each, we analyzed the association of SHS exposure at home with healthcare utilization with a Zero-Inflated Poisson regression model controlling for socio-demographic and other risk characteristics. Excess healthcare utilization attributable to SHS exposure at home was determined and multiplied by unit costs derived from the 2014 Medical Expenditures Panel Survey to determine annual SHS-attributable healthcare costs. SHS exposure at home was positively associated with hospital nights and ER visits, but was not statistically associated with home care visits and doctor visits. Exposed adults had 1.28 times more hospital nights and 1.16 times more ER visits than non-exposed adults. Annual SHS-attributable healthcare costs totaled $4.6 billion (including $3.8 billion for hospital nights and $0.8 billion for ER visits, 2014 dollars) in 2000, $2.1 billion (including $1.8 billion for hospital nights and $0.3 billion for ER visits) in 2005, and $1.9 billion (including $1.6 billion for hospital nights and $0.4 billion for ER visits) in 2010. SHS-attributable costs remain high, but have fallen over time. Tobacco control efforts are needed to further reduce SHS exposure at home and associated healthcare costs. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

It takes 2: partner attributes associated with sexually transmitted infections among adolescents.

PubMed

Swartzendruber, Andrea; Zenilman, Jonathan M; Niccolai, Linda M; Kershaw, Trace S; Brown, Jennifer L; Diclemente, Ralph J; Sales, Jessica M

2013-05-01

The aims of this study were to identify partner attributes associated with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among adolescents and to summarize implications for research and prevention. The design of this study was systematic review. We identified peer-reviewed studies published in 1990 through 2010 that assessed 1 or more partner attributes in relation to a biologically confirmed STI among adolescents (15-24 years) by searching MEDLINE and included articles. Studies that included adolescents but more than 50% of the sample or with mean or median age of 25 years or greater were excluded. Sixty-four studies met the eligibility criteria; 61% were conducted in high-income countries; 80% were cross sectional; and 91% enrolled females and 42% enrolled males. There was no standard "partner" definition. Partner attributes assessed most frequently included the following: age, race/ethnicity, multiple sex partners, and STI symptoms. Older partners were associated with prevalent STIs but largely unrelated to incidence. Black race was associated with STIs but not uniformly. Partners with multiple partners and STI symptoms seem to be associated with STIs predominantly among females. Although significant associations were reported, weaker evidence exists for the following: other partner sociodemographics, sexual and other behaviors (sexual concurrency, intimate partner violence, substance use, travel), and STI history. There were no apparent differences by STI. Partner attributes are independently associated with STIs among male and female adolescents worldwide. These findings reinforce the importance of assessing partner attributes when determining STI risk. Prevention efforts should continue to promote and address barriers to condom use. Increased efforts are needed to screen and treat STIs and reduce risky behavior among men. A standard partner definition would facilitate the interpretation of findings in future studies.

Lipid profile, cardiovascular disease and mortality in a Mediterranean high-risk population: The ESCARVAL-RISK study

PubMed Central

Orozco-Beltran, Domingo; Gil-Guillen, Vicente F.; Redon, Josep; Martin-Moreno, Jose M.; Pallares-Carratala, Vicente; Navarro-Perez, Jorge; Valls-Roca, Francisco; Sanchis-Domenech, Carlos; Fernandez-Gimenez, Antonio; Perez-Navarro, Ana; Bertomeu-Martinez, Vicente; Bertomeu-Gonzalez, Vicente; Cordero, Alberto; Pascual de la Torre, Manuel; Trillo, Jose L.; Carratala-Munuera, Concepcion; Pita-Fernandez, Salvador; Uso, Ruth; Durazo-Arvizu, Ramon; Cooper, Richard; Sanz, Gines; Castellano, Jose M.; Ascaso, Juan F.; Carmena, Rafael; Tellez-Plaza, Maria

2017-01-01

Introduction The potential impact of targeting different components of an adverse lipid profile in populations with multiple cardiovascular risk factors is not completely clear. This study aims to assess the association between different components of the standard lipid profile with all-cause mortality and hospitalization due to cardiovascular events in a high-risk population. Methods This prospective registry included high risk adults over 30 years old free of cardiovascular disease (2008–2012). Diagnosis of hypertension, dyslipidemia or diabetes mellitus was inclusion criterion. Lipid biomarkers were evaluated. Primary endpoints were all-cause mortality and hospital admission due to coronary heart disease or stroke. We estimated adjusted rate ratios (aRR), absolute risk differences and population attributable risk associated with adverse lipid profiles. Results 51,462 subjects were included with a mean age of 62.6 years (47.6% men). During an average follow-up of 3.2 years, 919 deaths, 1666 hospitalizations for coronary heart disease and 1510 hospitalizations for stroke were recorded. The parameters that showed an increased rate for total mortality, coronary heart disease and stroke hospitalization were, respectively, low HDL-Cholesterol: aRR 1.25, 1.29 and 1.23; high Total/HDL-Cholesterol: aRR 1.22, 1.38 and 1.25; and high Triglycerides/HDL-Cholesterol: aRR 1.21, 1.30, 1.09. The parameters that showed highest population attributable risk (%) were, respectively, low HDL-Cholesterol: 7.70, 11.42, 8.40; high Total/HDL-Cholesterol: 6.55, 12.47, 8.73; and high Triglycerides/HDL-Cholesterol: 8.94, 15.09, 6.92. Conclusions In a population with cardiovascular risk factors, HDL-cholesterol, Total/HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides/HDL-cholesterol ratios were associated with a higher population attributable risk for cardiovascular disease compared to other common biomarkers. PMID:29045483

Lipid profile, cardiovascular disease and mortality in a Mediterranean high-risk population: The ESCARVAL-RISK study.

PubMed

Orozco-Beltran, Domingo; Gil-Guillen, Vicente F; Redon, Josep; Martin-Moreno, Jose M; Pallares-Carratala, Vicente; Navarro-Perez, Jorge; Valls-Roca, Francisco; Sanchis-Domenech, Carlos; Fernandez-Gimenez, Antonio; Perez-Navarro, Ana; Bertomeu-Martinez, Vicente; Bertomeu-Gonzalez, Vicente; Cordero, Alberto; Pascual de la Torre, Manuel; Trillo, Jose L; Carratala-Munuera, Concepcion; Pita-Fernandez, Salvador; Uso, Ruth; Durazo-Arvizu, Ramon; Cooper, Richard; Sanz, Gines; Castellano, Jose M; Ascaso, Juan F; Carmena, Rafael; Tellez-Plaza, Maria

2017-01-01

The potential impact of targeting different components of an adverse lipid profile in populations with multiple cardiovascular risk factors is not completely clear. This study aims to assess the association between different components of the standard lipid profile with all-cause mortality and hospitalization due to cardiovascular events in a high-risk population. This prospective registry included high risk adults over 30 years old free of cardiovascular disease (2008-2012). Diagnosis of hypertension, dyslipidemia or diabetes mellitus was inclusion criterion. Lipid biomarkers were evaluated. Primary endpoints were all-cause mortality and hospital admission due to coronary heart disease or stroke. We estimated adjusted rate ratios (aRR), absolute risk differences and population attributable risk associated with adverse lipid profiles. 51,462 subjects were included with a mean age of 62.6 years (47.6% men). During an average follow-up of 3.2 years, 919 deaths, 1666 hospitalizations for coronary heart disease and 1510 hospitalizations for stroke were recorded. The parameters that showed an increased rate for total mortality, coronary heart disease and stroke hospitalization were, respectively, low HDL-Cholesterol: aRR 1.25, 1.29 and 1.23; high Total/HDL-Cholesterol: aRR 1.22, 1.38 and 1.25; and high Triglycerides/HDL-Cholesterol: aRR 1.21, 1.30, 1.09. The parameters that showed highest population attributable risk (%) were, respectively, low HDL-Cholesterol: 7.70, 11.42, 8.40; high Total/HDL-Cholesterol: 6.55, 12.47, 8.73; and high Triglycerides/HDL-Cholesterol: 8.94, 15.09, 6.92. In a population with cardiovascular risk factors, HDL-cholesterol, Total/HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides/HDL-cholesterol ratios were associated with a higher population attributable risk for cardiovascular disease compared to other common biomarkers.

Formulation and process factors influencing product quality and in vitro performance of ophthalmic ointments.

PubMed

Xu, Xiaoming; Al-Ghabeish, Manar; Rahman, Ziyaur; Krishnaiah, Yellela S R; Yerlikaya, Firat; Yang, Yang; Manda, Prashanth; Hunt, Robert L; Khan, Mansoor A

2015-09-30

Owing to its unique anatomical and physiological functions, ocular surface presents special challenges for both design and performance evaluation of the ophthalmic ointment drug products formulated with a variety of bases. The current investigation was carried out to understand and identify the appropriate in vitro methods suitable for quality and performance evaluation of ophthalmic ointment, and to study the effect of formulation and process variables on its critical quality attributes (CQA). The evaluated critical formulation variables include API initial size, drug percentage, and mineral oil percentage while the critical process parameters include mixing rate, temperature, time and cooling rate. The investigated quality and performance attributes include drug assay, content uniformity, API particle size in ointment, rheological characteristics, in vitro drug release and in vitro transcorneal drug permeation. Using design of experiments (DoE) as well as a novel principle component analysis approach, five of the quality and performance attributes (API particle size, storage modulus of ointment, high shear viscosity of ointment, in vitro drug release constant and in vitro transcorneal drug permeation rate constant) were found to be highly influenced by the formulation, in particular the strength of API, and to a lesser degree by processing variables. Correlating the ocular physiology with the physicochemical characteristics of acyclovir ophthalmic ointment suggested that in vitro quality metrics could be a valuable predictor of its in vivo performance. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Point-of-Care Viral Load Testing for Sub-Saharan Africa: Informing a Target Product Profile.

PubMed

Phillips, Andrew N; Cambiano, Valentina; Nakagawa, Fumiyo; Ford, Deborah; Apollo, Tsitsi; Murungu, Joseph; Rousseau, Christine; Garnett, Geoff; Ehrenkranz, Peter; Bansi-Matharu, Loveleen; Vojnov, Lara; Katz, Zachary; Peeling, Rosanna; Revill, Paul

2016-09-01

Point-of-care viral load tests are being developed to monitor patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa. Test design involves trade-offs between test attributes, including accuracy, complexity, robustness, and cost. We used a model of the human immunodeficiency virus epidemic and ART program in Zimbabwe and found that the attributes of a viral load testing approach that are most influential for cost effectiveness are avoidance of a high proportion of failed tests or results not received, use of an approach that best facilitates retention on ART, and the ability to facilitate greater use of differentiated care, including through expanding coverage of testing availability.

Point-of-Care Viral Load Testing for Sub-Saharan Africa: Informing a Target Product Profile

PubMed Central

Phillips, Andrew N.; Cambiano, Valentina; Nakagawa, Fumiyo; Ford, Deborah; Apollo, Tsitsi; Murungu, Joseph; Rousseau, Christine; Garnett, Geoff; Ehrenkranz, Peter; Bansi-Matharu, Loveleen; Vojnov, Lara; Katz, Zachary; Peeling, Rosanna; Revill, Paul

2016-01-01

Point-of-care viral load tests are being developed to monitor patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa. Test design involves trade-offs between test attributes, including accuracy, complexity, robustness, and cost. We used a model of the human immunodeficiency virus epidemic and ART program in Zimbabwe and found that the attributes of a viral load testing approach that are most influential for cost effectiveness are avoidance of a high proportion of failed tests or results not received, use of an approach that best facilitates retention on ART, and the ability to facilitate greater use of differentiated care, including through expanding coverage of testing availability. PMID:27704016

Identification and characterization of high methane-emitting abandoned oil and gas wells

PubMed Central

Kang, Mary; Christian, Shanna; Celia, Michael A.; Mauzerall, Denise L.; Bill, Markus; Miller, Alana R.; Chen, Yuheng; Conrad, Mark E.; Darrah, Thomas H.; Jackson, Robert B.

2016-01-01

Recent measurements of methane emissions from abandoned oil/gas wells show that these wells can be a substantial source of methane to the atmosphere, particularly from a small proportion of high-emitting wells. However, identifying high emitters remains a challenge. We couple 163 well measurements of methane flow rates; ethane, propane, and n-butane concentrations; isotopes of methane; and noble gas concentrations from 88 wells in Pennsylvania with synthesized data from historical documents, field investigations, and state databases. Using our databases, we (i) improve estimates of the number of abandoned wells in Pennsylvania; (ii) characterize key attributes that accompany high emitters, including depth, type, plugging status, and coal area designation; and (iii) estimate attribute-specific and overall methane emissions from abandoned wells. High emitters are best predicted as unplugged gas wells and plugged/vented gas wells in coal areas and appear to be unrelated to the presence of underground natural gas storage areas or unconventional oil/gas production. Repeat measurements over 2 years show that flow rates of high emitters are sustained through time. Our attribute-based methane emission data and our comprehensive estimate of 470,000–750,000 abandoned wells in Pennsylvania result in estimated state-wide emissions of 0.04–0.07 Mt (1012 g) CH4 per year. This estimate represents 5–8% of annual anthropogenic methane emissions in Pennsylvania. Our methodology combining new field measurements with data mining of previously unavailable well attributes and numbers of wells can be used to improve methane emission estimates and prioritize cost-effective mitigation strategies for Pennsylvania and beyond. PMID:27849603

Endorsement of formal leaders: an integrative model.

PubMed

Michener, H A; Lawler, E J

1975-02-01

This experiment develops an integrative, path-analytic model for the endorsement accorded formal leaders. The model contains four independent variables reflecting aspects of group structure (i.e., group success-failure, the payoff distribution, the degree of support by others members for the leader, and the vulnerability of the leader). Also included are two intervening variables reflecting perceptual processes (attributed competence and attributed fairness), and one dependent variable endorsement). The results indicate that endorsement is greater when the group's success is high, when the payoff distribution is flat rather than hierarchial, and when the leader is not vulnerable to removal from office. Other support had no significant impact on endorsement. Analyses further demonstrate that the effect of success-failure on endorsement is mediated by attributed competence, while the effect of the payoff distributed is mediated by attributed fairness. These results suggest that moral and task evaluations are distinct bases of endorsement.

Ecological correlates of invasion impact for Burmese pythons in Florida.

PubMed

Reed, Robert N; Willson, John D; Rodda, Gordon H; Dorcas, Michael E

2012-09-01

An invasive population of Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) is established across several thousand square kilometers of southern Florida and appears to have caused precipitous population declines among several species of native mammals. Why has this giant snake had such great success as an invasive species when many established reptiles have failed to spread? We scored the Burmese python for each of 15 literature-based attributes relative to predefined comparison groups from a diverse range of taxa and provide a review of the natural history and ecology of Burmese pythons relevant to each attribute. We focused on attributes linked to spread and magnitude of impacts rather than establishment success. Our results suggest that attributes related to body size and generalism appeared to be particularly applicable to the Burmese python's success in Florida. The attributes with the highest scores were: high reproductive potential, low vulnerability to predation, large adult body size, large offspring size and high dietary breadth. However, attributes of ectotherms in general and pythons in particular (including predatory mode, energetic efficiency and social interactions) might have also contributed to invasion success. Although establishment risk assessments are an important initial step in prevention of new establishments, evaluating species in terms of their potential for spreading widely and negatively impacting ecosystems might become part of the means by which resource managers prioritize control efforts in environments with large numbers of introduced species. © 2012 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd, ISZS and IOZ/CAS.

Physiographic and land cover attributes of the Puget Lowland and the active streamflow gaging network, Puget Sound Basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Konrad, Christopher; Sevier, Maria

2014-01-01

Geospatial information for the active streamflow gaging network in the Puget Sound Basin was compiled to support regional monitoring of stormwater effects to small streams. The compilation includes drainage area boundaries and physiographic and land use attributes that affect hydrologic processes. Three types of boundaries were used to tabulate attributes: Puget Sound Watershed Characterization analysis units (AU); the drainage area of active streamflow gages; and the catchments of Regional Stream Monitoring Program (RSMP) sites. The active streamflow gaging network generally includes sites that represent the ranges of attributes for lowland AUs, although there are few sites with low elevations (less than 60 meters), low precipitation (less than 1 meter year), or high stream density (greater than 5 kilometers per square kilometers). The active streamflow gaging network can serve to provide streamflow information in some AUs and RSMP sites, particularly where the streamflow gage measures streamflow generated from a part of the AU or that drains to the RSMP site, and that part of the AU or RSMP site is a significant fraction of the drainage area of the streamgage. The maximum fraction of each AU or RSMP catchment upstream of a streamflow gage and the maximum fraction of any one gaged basin in an AU or RSMP along with corresponding codes are provided in the attribute tables.

Estimating local, organic, and other price premiums of shell eggs in Hawaii.

PubMed

Loke, Matthew K; Xu, Xun; Leung, PingSun

2016-05-01

Hedonic modeling and retail scanner data were utilized to investigate the influence of local, organic, nutrition benefits, and other attributes of shell eggs on retail price premium in Hawaii. Within a revealed preference framework, the analysis of local and organic attributes, simultaneously, under a single unified setting is important, as such work is highly deficient in the published literature. This paper finds high to moderate price premiums in four key attributes of shell eggs - organic (64%), local (40%), nutrition benefits claimed (33%), and brown shell (18.4%). Large and extra-large sized eggs also experience price premiums over medium sized eggs. With each larger packing size, the estimated coefficients were negative, indicating a price discount, relative to the baseline packing size. However, there is no evidence to support the overwhelming influence of "local" over "organic", as hypothesized in other research work. Overall, the findings in this paper suggest industry producers and retailers should highlight and market effusively the primary attributes of their shell eggs, including "local", to remain competitive in the marketplace. Effective communication channels are crucial to delivering the product information, capturing the attention of consumers, and securing retail sales. © 2016 Poultry Science Association Inc.

High-Performance Synthetic Fibers for Composites

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-04-01

under evaluation today include polyether ether ketone , polyamide, 23 polyamideimide, polyimide, polysulfone, and polyphenylene sulfide. Epoxy resins...shrinkage under intense neutron radiation . This attribute, together with other properties of high-temperature strength, toughness, and low nuclear...and (2) liquid or solid resins cross-linked with other esters in chopped-fiber and mineral-filled molding compounds. Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) A

The Role of Race/Ethnicity in Alcohol-attributable Injury in the United States

PubMed Central

Keyes, Katherine M.; Liu, Xianfang C.; Cerda, Magdalena

2012-01-01

A substantial proportion of injuries worldwide are attributable to alcohol consumption, and US estimates indicate that the drinking patterns of racial/ethnic groups vary considerably. The authors reviewed evidence from 19 publications regarding racial/ethnic differences in overall alcohol-attributable injury as well as percent blood alcohol content positivity for injury deaths in the United States. They found that Native Americans evidence higher rates of alcohol-attributable motor vehicle crash fatality, suicide, and falls compared with other racial/ethnic groups; conversely, Asians evidence lower rates of alcohol-attributable injury than other racial/ethnic groups. The rate of alcohol positivity and intoxication among Hispanics is disproportionately high relative to estimates of alcohol use. Black subgroups also evidence higher rates of alcohol positivity than would be expected given estimates of alcohol use, including for alcohol positivity among drivers of fatally injured black children and homicide. These findings highlight the continued need for public health focus on Native American populations with respect to alcohol consumption and injury. Further, the disparity in alcohol-attributable injury mortality among black and Hispanic groups relative to their reported rates of alcohol consumption is an overlooked area of research. The authors review potential social determinants of racial/ethnic disparities in alcohol-attributable injuries and identify directions for further research on these patterns. PMID:21930592

The Role of Race/Ethnicity in Alcohol-attributable Injury in the United States

PubMed Central

Keyes, Katherine M.; Liu, Xianfang C.; Cerda, Magdalena

2017-01-01

A substantial proportion of injuries worldwide are attributable to alcohol consumption, and US estimates indicate that the drinking patterns of racial/ethnic groups vary considerably. The authors reviewed evidence from 19 publications regarding racial/ethnic differences in overall alcohol-attributable injury as well as percent blood alcohol content positivity for injury deaths in the United States. They found that Native Americans evidence higher rates of alcohol-attributable motor vehicle crash fatality, suicide, and falls compared with other racial/ethnic groups; conversely, Asians evidence lower rates of alcohol-attributable injury than other racial/ethnic groups. The rate of alcohol positivity and intoxication among Hispanics is disproportionately high relative to estimates of alcohol use. Black subgroups also evidence higher rates of alcohol positivity than would be expected given estimates of alcohol use, including for alcohol positivity among drivers of fatally injured black children and homicide. These findings highlight the continued need for public health focus on Native American populations with respect to alcohol consumption and injury. Further, the disparity in alcohol-attributable injury mortality among black and Hispanic groups relative to their reported rates of alcohol consumption is an overlooked area of research. The authors review potential social determinants of racial/ethnic disparities in alcohol-attributable injuries and identify directions for further research on these patterns. PMID:23441581

Prenatal origins of hypertension induced by gestational undernutrition or environmental chemical exposure

EPA Science Inventory

Epidemiological studies have shown that babies of low birth weight have high blood pressure (BP) as children and adults, suggesting prenatal cardiovascular programming. This programming has been attributed to factors including undernutrition and maternal stress during pregnancy. ...

Are media warnings about the adverse health effects of modern life self-fulfilling? An experimental study on idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF).

PubMed

Witthöft, Michael; Rubin, G James

2013-03-01

Medically unsubstantiated 'intolerances' to foods, chemicals and environmental toxins are common and are frequently discussed in the media. Idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF) is one such condition and is characterized by symptoms that are attributed to exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF). In this experiment, we tested whether media reports promote the development of this condition. Participants (N=147) were randomly assigned to watch a television report about the adverse health effects of WiFi (n=76) or a control film (n=71). After watching their film, participants received a sham exposure to a WiFi signal (15 min). The principal outcome measure was symptom reports following the sham exposure. Secondary outcomes included worries about the health effects of EMF, attributing symptoms to the sham exposure and increases in perceived sensitivity to EMF. 82 (54%) of the 147 participants reported symptoms which they attributed to the sham exposure. The experimental film increased: EMF related worries (β=0.19; P=.019); post sham exposure symptoms among participants with high pre-existing anxiety (β=0.22; P=.008); the likelihood of symptoms being attributed to the sham exposure among people with high anxiety (β=.31; P=.001); and the likelihood of people who attributed their symptoms to the sham exposure believing themselves to be sensitive to EMF (β=0.16; P=.049). Media reports about the adverse effects of supposedly hazardous substances can increase the likelihood of experiencing symptoms following sham exposure and developing an apparent sensitivity to it. Greater engagement between journalists and scientists is required to counter these negative effects. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dietary Fibers and Cardiometabolic Diseases

PubMed Central

Riccioni, Graziano; Sblendorio, Valeriana; Gemello, Eugenio; Di Bello, Barbara; Scotti, Luca; Cusenza, Salvatore; D’Orazio, Nicolantonio

2012-01-01

The high prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is largely attributable to the contemporary lifestyle that is often sedentary and includes a diet high in saturated fats and sugars and low ingestion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), fruit, vegetables, and fiber. Experimental data from both animals and humans suggest an association between increased dietary fiber (DF) intakes and improved plasma lipid profiles, including reduced low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations. These observations underline that the intake of DF may protect against heart disease and stroke. PMID:22408406

An Investigation on Attributes of Ambient Temperature and Diurnal Temperature Range on Mortality in Five East-Asian Countries.

PubMed

Lee, Whan-Hee; Lim, Youn-Hee; Dang, Tran Ngoc; Seposo, Xerxes; Honda, Yasushi; Guo, Yue-Liang Leon; Jang, Hye-Min; Kim, Ho

2017-08-31

Interest in the health effects of extremely low/high ambient temperature and the diurnal temperature range (DTR) on mortality as representative indices of temperature variability is growing. Although numerous studies have reported on these indices independently, few studies have provided the attributes of ambient temperature and DTR related to mortality, concurrently. In this study, we aimed to investigate and compare the mortality risk attributable to ambient temperature and DTR. The study included data of 63 cities in five East-Asian countries/regions during various periods between 1972 and 2013. The attributable risk of non-accidental death to ambient temperature was 9.36% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 8.98-9.69%) and to DTR was 0.59% (95% CI: 0.53-0.65%). The attributable cardiovascular mortality risks to ambient temperature (15.63%) and DTR (0.75%) are higher than the risks to non-accidental/respiratory-related mortality. We verified that ambient temperature plays a larger role in temperature-associated mortality, and cardiovascular mortality is susceptible to ambient temperature and DTR.

The Envoy® Totally Implantable Hearing System, St. Croix Medical

PubMed Central

Kroll, Kai; Grant, Iain L.; Javel, Eric

2002-01-01

The Totally Implantable Envoy® System is currently undergoing clinical trials in both the United States and Europe. The fully implantable hearing device is intended for use in patients with sensorineural hearing loss. The device employs piezoelectric transducers to sense ossicle motion and drive the stapes. Programmable signal processing parameters include amplification, compression, and variable frequency response. The fully implantable attribute allows users to take advantage of normal external ear resonances and head-related transfer functions, while avoiding undesirable earmold effects. The high sensitivity, low power consumption, and high fidelity attributes of piezoelectric transducers minimize acoustic feedback and maximize battery life (Gyo, 1996; Yanagihara, (1987) and 2001). The surgical procedure to install the device has been accurately defined and implantation is reversible. PMID:25425915

Health and economic burden of post-partum Staphylococcus aureus breast abscess.

PubMed

Branch-Elliman, Westyn; Lee, Grace M; Golen, Toni H; Gold, Howard S; Baldini, Linda M; Wright, Sharon B

2013-01-01

To determine the health and economic burdens of post-partum Staphylococcus aureus breast abscess. We conducted a matched cohort study (N = 216) in a population of pregnant women (N = 32,770) who delivered at our center during the study period from 10/1/03-9/30/10. Data were extracted from hospital databases, or via chart review if unavailable electronically. We compared cases of S. aureus breast abscess to controls matched by delivery date to compare health services utilization and mean attributable medical costs in 2012 United States dollars using Medicare and hospital-based estimates. We also evaluated whether resource utilization and health care costs differed between cases with methicillin-resistant and -susceptible S. aureus isolates. Fifty-four cases of culture-confirmed post-partum S. aureus breast abscess were identified. Breastfeeding cessation (41%), milk fistula (11.1%) and hospital readmission (50%) occurred frequently among case patients. Breast abscess case patients had high rates of health services utilization compared to controls, including high rates of imaging and drainage procedures. The mean attributable cost of post-partum S. aureus breast abscess ranged from $2,340-$4,012, depending on the methods and data sources used. Mean attributable costs were not significantly higher among methicillin-resistant vs. -susceptible S. aureus cases. Post-partum S. aureus breast abscess is associated with worse health and economic outcomes for women and their infants, including high rates of breastfeeding cessation. Future study is needed to determine the optimal treatment and prevention of these infections.

Synergistic use of compound properties and docking scores in neural network modeling of CYP2D6 binding: predicting affinity and conformational sampling.

PubMed

Bazeley, Peter S; Prithivi, Sridevi; Struble, Craig A; Povinelli, Richard J; Sem, Daniel S

2006-01-01

Cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) is used to develop an approach for predicting affinity and relevant binding conformation(s) for highly flexible binding sites. The approach combines the use of docking scores and compound properties as attributes in building a neural network (NN) model. It begins by identifying segments of CYP2D6 that are important for binding specificity, based on structural variability among diverse CYP enzymes. A family of distinct, low-energy conformations of CYP2D6 are generated using simulated annealing (SA) and a collection of 82 compounds with known CYP2D6 affinities are docked. Interestingly, docking poses are observed on the backside of the heme as well as in the known active site. Docking scores for the active site binders, along with compound-specific attributes, are used to train a neural network model to properly bin compounds as strong binders, moderate binders, or nonbinders. Attribute selection is used to preselect the most important scores and compound-specific attributes for the model. A prediction accuracy of 85+/-6% is achieved. Dominant attributes include docking scores for three of the 20 conformations in the ensemble as well as the compound's formal charge, number of aromatic rings, and AlogP. Although compound properties were highly predictive attributes (12% improvement over baseline) in the NN-based prediction of CYP2D6 binders, their combined use with docking score attributes is synergistic (net increase of 23% above baseline). Beyond prediction of affinity, attribute selection provides a way to identify the most relevant protein conformation(s), in terms of binding competence. In the case of CYP2D6, three out of the ensemble of 20 SA-generated structures are found to be the most predictive for binding.

Positive Attributes Buffer the Negative Associations Between Low Intelligence and High Psychopathology With Educational Outcomes.

PubMed

Hoffmann, Mauricio Scopel; Leibenluft, Ellen; Stringaris, Argyris; Laporte, Paola Paganella; Pan, Pedro Mario; Gadelha, Ary; Manfro, Gisele Gus; Miguel, Eurípedes Constantino; Rohde, Luis Augusto; Salum, Giovanni Abrahão

2016-01-01

This study examines the extent to which children's positive attributes are distinct from psychopathology. We also investigate whether positive attributes change or "buffer" the impact of low intelligence and high psychopathology on negative educational outcomes. In a community sample of 2,240 children (6-14 years of age), we investigated associations among positive attributes, psychopathology, intelligence, and negative educational outcomes. Negative educational outcomes were operationalized as learning problems and poor academic performance. We tested the discriminant validity of psychopathology versus positive attributes using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and propensity score matching analysis (PSM), and used generalized estimating equations (GEE) models to test main effects and interactions among predictors of educational outcomes. According to both CFA and PSM, positive attributes and psychiatric symptoms were distinct constructs. Positive attributes were associated with lower levels of negative educational outcomes, independent of intelligence and psychopathology. Positive attributes buffer the negative effects of lower intelligence on learning problems, and higher psychopathology on poor academic performance. Children's positive attributes are associated with lower levels of negative school outcomes. Positive attributes act both independently and by modifying the negative effects of low intelligence and high psychiatric symptoms on educational outcomes. Subsequent research should test interventions designed to foster the development of positive attributes in children at high risk for educational problems. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. All rights reserved.

Positive Attributes Buffer the Negative Associations Between Low Intelligence and High Psychopathology With Educational Outcomes

PubMed Central

Hoffmann, Mauricio Scopel; Leibenluft, Ellen; Stringaris, Argyris; Laporte, Paola Paganella; Pan, Pedro Mario; Gadelha, Ary; Manfro, Gisele Gus; Miguel, Eurípedes Constantino; Rohde, Luis Augusto; Salum, Giovanni Abrahão

2016-01-01

Objective This study examines the extent to which children’s positive attributes are distinct from psychopathology. We also investigate whether positive attributes change or “buffer” the impact of low intelligence and high psychopathology on negative educational outcomes. Method In a community sample of 2,240 children (6–14 years of age), we investigated associations among positive attributes, psychopathology, intelligence, and negative educational outcomes. Negative educational outcomes were operationalized as learning problems and poor academic performance. We tested the discriminant validity of psychopathology versus positive attributes using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and propensity score matching analysis (PSM), and used generalized estimating equations (GEE) models to test main effects and interactions among predictors of educational outcomes. Results According to both CFA and PSM, positive attributes and psychiatric symptoms were distinct constructs. Positive attributes were associated with lower levels of negative educational outcomes, independent of intelligence and psychopathology. Positive attributes buffer the negative effects of lower intelligence on learning problems, and higher psychopathology on poor academic performance. Conclusion Children’s positive attributes are associated with lower levels of negative school outcomes. Positive attributes act both independently and by modifying the negative effects of low intelligence and high psychiatric symptoms on educational outcomes. Subsequent research should test interventions designed to foster the development of positive attributes in children at high risk for educational problems. PMID:26703909

Agency and communion attributes in adults’ spontaneous self-representations

PubMed Central

Diehl, Manfred; Owen, Stephanie K.; Youngblade, Lise M.

2008-01-01

This study investigated agency and communion attributes in adults’ spontaneous self-representations. The study sample consisted of 158 adults (80 men, 78 women) ranging in age from 20 to 88 years. Consistent with theorising, significant age and sex differences were found in terms of the number of agency and communion attributes. Young and middle-aged adults included significantly more agency attributes in their self-representations than older adults; men listed significantly more agency attributes than women. In contrast, older adults included significantly more communion attributes in their self-representations than young adults, and women listed significantly more communion attributes than men. Significant Age Group × Self-Portrait Display and Sex × Self-Portrait Display interactions were found for communion attributes, indicating that the importance of communion attributes differed across age groups and by sex. Correlational analyses showed significant associations of agency and communion attributes with personality traits and defence mechanisms. Communion attributes also showed significant correlations with four dimensions of psychological well-being. PMID:18592013

Ethnic Students' Perceptions of Effective Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patrick, Opal L.

1978-01-01

The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule was used to assess the personality variables of teachers named as effective by a sample of heterosexual, heterogeneous Black, Chicano, Indian, Asian, and White high school students. Specific attributes of effective teachers were identified, and include: intraception, change, dominance, nurturance, and…

Defining Deliberate Practice in Supervised Dietetics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haubrick, Kevin D.

2017-01-01

Deliberate practice serves as a potential framework to understand what activities, attributes, and characteristics make an individual an expert in their chosen field or profession. Historically, deliberate practice activities included those that were highly structured with purposeful goals, frequent repetition, and active feedback with immediate…

Air Quality and Heart Health: Managing an Emerging Cardiovascular Risk Factor

EPA Science Inventory

Dr. Cascio will share with a broad range of federal agencies current understanding of the links between air quality and cardiovascular health. The key facts include that air pollution contributes a high attributable health burden. That certain well-defined vulnerable subpopulat...

What Matters to Women When Making Decisions About Breast Cancer Chemoprevention?

PubMed

Martinez, Kathryn A; Fagerlin, Angela; Witteman, Holly O; Holmberg, Christine; Hawley, Sarah T

2016-04-01

Despite the effectiveness of chemoprevention (tamoxifen and raloxifene) in preventing breast cancer among women at high risk for the disease, uptake is low. The objective of this study was to determine the tradeoff preferences for various attributes associated with chemoprevention among women not currently taking the drugs. We used rating-based conjoint analysis to evaluate the relative importance of a number of attributes associated with chemoprevention, including risk of side effects, drug effectiveness, time needed to take the drugs, and availability of a blood test to see if the drugs were working in an Internet sample of women. We generated mean importance values and part-worth utilities for all attribute levels associated with taking chemoprevention. We then used multivariable linear regression to examine attribute importance scores controlling for participant age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, educational level, and a family history of breast cancer. Overall interest in taking chemoprevention was low among the 1094 women included in the analytic sample, even for the scenario in which participants would receive the greatest benefit and fewest risks associated with taking the drugs. Time needed to take the pill for it to work and 5-year risk of breast cancer were the most important attributes driving tradeoff preferences between the chemoprevention scenarios. Interest in taking chemoprevention among this sample of women at average risk was low. Addressing women's concerns about the time needed to take chemoprevention for it to work may help clinicians improve uptake of the drugs among those likely to benefit.

Distinguishing psychological characteristics of expert cricket batsmen.

PubMed

Weissensteiner, Juanita R; Abernethy, Bruce; Farrow, Damian; Gross, John

2012-01-01

This paper sought to determine the psychological characteristics and skills that are fundamental to batting success in the sport of cricket. Following on from the findings of an earlier qualitative investigation which suggested that a favourable mix of psychological attributes and skills are critical to high performance in batting (Weissensteiner et al.(10)), adult-aged batsmen of two different skill levels (highly skilled n=11; lesser skilled n=10) completed a battery of psychological tests that included measures of mental toughness (Mental Toughness Inventory), perfectionism (Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale), coping ability (Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28), and optimism (Attributional Styles Questionnaire). Contrary to the research hypothesis, it was found that the highly skilled batsmen were only distinguishable from batsmen of lesser skill by their higher degree of global mental toughness. The skilled batsmen scored significantly higher on mental toughness dimensions relating to motivation (Personal Bests, Task Value and Commitment), coping skill (Perseverance) and self-belief (Potential). If mental toughness can be reliably predicted at an earlier age, it may be an attribute worthy of inclusion in future talent identification and development programs. Copyright © 2011 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Kinetics and mechanisms of crystal growth inhibition of indomethacin by model precipitation inhibitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, Dhaval

Supersaturating Drug Delivery Systems (SDDS) could enhance oral bioavailability of poorly water soluble drugs (PWSD). Precipitation inhibitors (PIs) in SDDS could maintain supersaturation by inhibiting nucleation, crystal growth, or both. The mechanisms by which these effects are realized are generally unknown. The goal of this dissertation was to explore the mechanisms underpinning the effects of model PIs including hydroxypropyl beta-cyclodextrins (HP-beta-CD), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on the crystal growth of indomethacin, a model PWSD. At high degrees of supersaturation (S), the crystal growth kinetics of indomethacin was bulk diffusion-controlled, which was attributed to a high energy form deposited on the seed crystals. At lower S, indomethacin growth kinetics was surface integration-controlled. The effect of HP-beta-CD at high S was successfully modeled using the reactive diffusion layer theory. The superior effects of PVP and HPMC as compared to HP-beta-CD at high S were attributed to a change in the rate limiting step from bulk diffusion to surface integration largely due to prevention of the high energy form formation. The effects of PIs at low S were attributed to significant retardation of the surface integration rate, a phenomenon that may reflect the adsorption of PIs onto the growing surface. PVP was selected to further understand the relationship between adsorption and crystal growth inhibition. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm model fit the adsorption isotherms of PVP and N-vinylpyrrolidone well. The affinity and extent of adsorption of PVP were significantly higher than those of N-vinylpyrrolidone, which was attributed to cooperative interactions between PVP and indomethacin. The extent of PVP adsorption on a weight-basis was greater for higher molecular weight PVP but less on a molar-basis indicating an increased percentage of loops and tails for higher molecular weight PVPs. PVP significantly inhibited indomethacin crystal growth at high S as compared to N-vinylpyrrolidone, which was attributed to a change in the growth mechanism resulting in a change in the rate limiting step from bulk diffusion to surface integration. Higher molecular weight PVPs were better inhibitors than lower molecular weight PVPs, which was attributed to a greater crystal growth barrier provided by a thicker adsorption layer.

Exploring Attribution Theory and Bias

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Jessica A.

2017-01-01

Courses: This activity can be used in a wide range of classes, including interpersonal communication, introduction to communication, and small group communication. Objectives: After completing this activity, students should be able to: (1) define attribution theory, personality attribution, situational attribution, and attribution bias; (2)…

Teachers in Continuation High Schools--Attributes of New Teachers and Veteran Teachers in Urban Continuation High Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Obiamalu, Reginald

2013-01-01

The purpose of study was to examine the attributes of teachers of urban continuation high schools in Los Angeles Unified School District. The research questions were: 1. What are the attributes of veteran teachers and new teachers as prepared to teach at-risk students in alternative high schools? and 2. How do alternative high school teachers…

Common attributes in retired professional cricketers that may enhance or hinder quality of life after retirement: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Filbay, Stephanie R; Bishop, Felicity; Peirce, Nicholas; Jones, Mary E; Arden, Nigel K

2017-07-26

Retired professional cricketers shared unique experiences and may possess specific psychological attributes with potential to influence quality of life (QOL). Additionally, pain and osteoarthritis can be common in retired athletes which may negatively impact QOL. However, QOL in retired athletes is poorly understood. This study explores the following questions from the personal perspective of retired cricketers: How do retired cricketers perceive and experience musculoskeletal pain and function in daily life? Are there any psychological attributes that might enhance or hinder retired cricketers' QOL? A qualitative study using semistructured interviews, which were subject to inductive, thematic analysis. A data-driven, iterative approach to data coding was employed. All participants had lived and played professional cricket in the UK and were living in the UK or abroad at the time of interview. Eighteen male participants, aged a mean 57±11 (range 34-77) years had played professional cricket for a mean 12±7 seasons and had been retired from professional cricket on average 23±9 years. Fifteen participants reported pain or joint difficulties and all but one was satisfied with their QOL. Most retired cricketers reflected on experiences during their cricket career that may be associated with the psychological attributes that these individuals shared, including resilience and a positive attitude. Additional attributes included a high sense of body awareness, an ability to self-manage pain and adapt lifestyle choices to accommodate physical limitations. Participants felt fortunate and proud to have played professional cricket, which may have further contributed to the high QOL in this group of retired cricketers. Most retired cricketers in this study were living with pain or joint difficulties. Despite this, all but one was satisfied or very satisfied with their QOL. This may be partly explained by the positive psychological attributes that these retired cricketers shared. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Psychometric properties of the Greek version of Jacelon Attributed Dignity Scale.

PubMed

Papastavrou, Evridiki; Charitou, Paraskevi; Kouta, Christiana

2017-08-01

Maintaining dignity is important for successful aging, but there is lack of validated research instruments in the nursing literature to investigate dignity as perceived by the old people. This is a methodological study aiming to investigate the psychometric properties of the Greek version of Jacelon Attributed Dignity Scale as translated in the Greek language. A methodological approach consisting of translation, adaptation, and cross-cultural validation. A sample of 188 Greek-speaking old Cypriot persons drawn from the Hospital outpatient departments was asked to complete the Greek versions of Jacelon Attributed Dignity Scale and the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. Data analyses included internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficient), item analysis, and exploratory factor analysis using principal component method with orthogonal varimax rotation. Ethical considerations: The study protocol was approved by the National Bioethics committee according to the national legislation. Permission to use the research instrument was granted from the author. Information about the aim and the benefits of the study was included in the information letter. Cronbach's alpha for Greek version of Jacelon Attributed Dignity Scale was 0.90. Four factors emerged explaining 65.28% of the total variance, and item to total correlation values ranged from 0.25 to 0.74 indicating high internal consistency and homogeneity. Mean item score in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living was 5.6 (standard deviation = 1.7) for men and 6.7 (standard deviation = 1.7) for women, and the correlations between demographics, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, and the four factors of the Greek version of Jacelon Attributed Dignity Scale were low; also in multiple linear regression, the values of R 2 are presented low. Demographic characteristics and degree of functionality seem to be associated with some of the dimensions of dignity but with low correlations; therefore, they cannot predict attributed dignity. The Greek version of Jacelon Attributed Dignity Scale is a valid and reliable tool to measure attributed dignity in Greek-speaking older adults, but further testing of the psychometric properties and other potential factors that may affect the attributed dignity is needed.

A qualitative study on the attributes of nurses' workplace social capital in Japan.

PubMed

Norikoshi, Kensuke; Kobayashi, Toshio; Tabuchi, Keiji

2018-01-01

To identify attributes of nurses' workplace social capital in Japan. Much attention has been paid to nurses' workplace social capital to improve the quality of the work environment; however, few studies are available on the attributes of nurses' workplace social capital. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 nurses at seven hospitals. Nurses reported on the attributes of workplace social capital, such as characteristics facilitating individual positive action in an organisation, which were qualitatively analysed using the Kawakita Jiro method. The attributes of nurses' workplace social capital were organised into six groups: affirmation; exchange of appreciation; unrestricted information sharing; ability to trust; access to the strength; and altruistic reciprocity. The attributes of nurses' workplace social capital included a social structure that allowed nurses to make full use of their abilities both vertically and horizontally and were supported by a sense of security. In particular, newly emerged exchange of appreciation and altruistic reciprocity were important for nurses in Japan in building cooperative relationships with others. Managing human relationships, such as exchange of appreciation and altruistic reciprocity, in clinical settings based on nurses' workplace social capital may promote positive emotions in the organisation, positive ideas among staff and cooperative teamwork, which may lead to high-quality patient care. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Using attribute amnesia to test the limits of hyper-binding and associative deficits in working memory.

PubMed

McCormick-Huhn, John M; Chen, Hui; Wyble, Bradley P; Dennis, Nancy A

2018-02-01

Previous work has shown mixed evidence regarding age-related deficits for binding in working memory. The current study used the newly developed attribute amnesia effect (H. Chen & Wyble, 2015a) to test the associative-deficit hypothesis during working memory and to probe whether hyper-binding extends to include binding of de-selected information. In studies of attribute amnesia, participants use target attributes (e.g., identity, color) to demonstrate near ceiling levels of reporting of a second target attribute (e.g., location) across a series of trials (H. Chen & Wyble, 2015a, 2016). Yet, despite having just processed the target-defining attribute, they have difficulty reporting it on a surprise trial. This effect provides several predictions for associative binding in aging. The associative-deficit hypothesis predicts age-related decline on the surprise trial, whereas an extension of hyper-binding predicts age-related increase in performance in older adults. In Experiment 1, when working memory load was low, older adults demonstrated attribute amnesia equal to that found in younger adults. When load increased in Experiment 2, older adults again demonstrated attribute amnesia as well as an age deficit for reporting target attributes. In lieu of spontaneous binding, results suggest that expectancy plays a critical role in older adults' propensity to encode and bind target attributes in working memory. Results further suggest that expectancy alone is not enough for older adults to form bound representations when task demands are high. Taken together results revealed a boundary condition of hyper-binding and further provided conditional support for the associative-deficit hypothesis in working memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Improved 3D seismic attribute mapping by CRS stacking instead of NMO stacking: Application to a geothermal reservoir in the Polish Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pussak, Marcin; Bauer, Klaus; Stiller, Manfred; Bujakowski, Wieslaw

2014-04-01

Within a seismic reflection processing work flow, the common-reflection-surface (CRS) stack can be applied as an alternative for the conventional normal moveout (NMO) or the dip moveout (DMO) stack. The advantages of the CRS stack include (1) data-driven automatic determination of stacking operator parameters, (2) imaging of arbitrarily curved geological boundaries, and (3) significant increase in signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio by stacking far more traces than used in a conventional stack. In this paper we applied both NMO and CRS stackings to process a sparse 3D seismic data set acquired within a geothermal exploration study in the Polish Basin. The stacked images show clear enhancements in quality achieved by the CRS stack in comparison with the conventional stack. While this was expected from previous studies, we also found remarkable improvements in the quality of seismic attributes when the CRS stack was applied instead of the conventional stack. For the major geothermal target reservoir (Lower Jurassic horizon Ja1), we present a comparison between both stacking methods for a number of common attributes, including root-mean-square (RMS) amplitudes, instantaneous frequencies, coherency, and spectral decomposition attributes derived from the continuous wavelet transform. The attribute maps appear noisy and highly fluctuating after the conventional stack, and are clearly structured after the CRS stack. A seismic facies analysis was finally carried out for the Ja1 horizon using the attributes derived from the CRS stack by using self-organizing map clustering techniques. A corridor parallel to a fault system was identified, which is characterized by decreased RMS amplitudes and decreased instantaneous frequencies. In our interpretation, this region represents a fractured, fluid-bearing compartment within the sandstone reservoir, which indicates favorable conditions for geothermal exploitation.

The association between job stress and leisure-time physical inactivity adjusted for individual attributes: evidence from a Japanese occupational cohort survey.

PubMed

Oshio, Takashi; Tsutsumi, Akizumi; Inoue, Akiomi

2016-05-01

We examined the association between job stress and leisure-time physical inactivity, adjusting for individual time-invariant attributes. We used data from a Japanese occupational cohort survey, which included 31 025 observations of 9871 individuals. Focusing on the evolution of job stress and leisure-time physical inactivity within the same individual over time, we employed fixed-effects logistic models to examine the association between job stress and leisure-time physical inactivity. We compared the results with those in pooled cross-sectional models and fixed-effects ordered logistic models. Fixed-effects models showed that the odds ratio (OR) of physical inactivity were 22% higher for those with high strain jobs [high demands/low control; OR 1.22, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.03-1.43] and 17% higher for those with active jobs (high demands/high control; OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.02-1.34) than those with low strain jobs (low demands/high control). The models also showed that the odds of physical inactivity were 28% higher for those with high effort/low reward jobs (OR 1.28, 95% CI 1.10-1.50) and 24% higher for those with high effort/high reward jobs (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.07-1.43) than those with low effort/high reward jobs. Fixed-effects ordered logistic models led to similar results. Job stress, especially high job strain and effort-reward imbalance, was modestly associated with higher risks of physical inactivity, even after controlling for individual time-invariant attributes.

Classification of high-resolution multispectral satellite remote sensing images using extended morphological attribute profiles and independent component analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yu; Zheng, Lijuan; Xie, Donghai; Zhong, Ruofei

2017-07-01

In this study, the extended morphological attribute profiles (EAPs) and independent component analysis (ICA) were combined for feature extraction of high-resolution multispectral satellite remote sensing images and the regularized least squares (RLS) approach with the radial basis function (RBF) kernel was further applied for the classification. Based on the major two independent components, the geometrical features were extracted using the EAPs method. In this study, three morphological attributes were calculated and extracted for each independent component, including area, standard deviation, and moment of inertia. The extracted geometrical features classified results using RLS approach and the commonly used LIB-SVM library of support vector machines method. The Worldview-3 and Chinese GF-2 multispectral images were tested, and the results showed that the features extracted by EAPs and ICA can effectively improve the accuracy of the high-resolution multispectral image classification, 2% larger than EAPs and principal component analysis (PCA) method, and 6% larger than APs and original high-resolution multispectral data. Moreover, it is also suggested that both the GURLS and LIB-SVM libraries are well suited for the multispectral remote sensing image classification. The GURLS library is easy to be used with automatic parameter selection but its computation time may be larger than the LIB-SVM library. This study would be helpful for the classification application of high-resolution multispectral satellite remote sensing images.

The Art of Athlete Leadership: Identifying High-Quality Athlete Leadership at the Individual and Team Level Through Social Network Analysis.

PubMed

Fransen, Katrien; Van Puyenbroeck, Stef; Loughead, Todd M; Vanbeselaere, Norbert; De Cuyper, Bert; Vande Broek, Gert; Boen, Filip

2015-06-01

This research aimed to introduce social network analysis as a novel technique in sports teams to identify the attributes of high-quality athlete leadership, both at the individual and at the team level. Study 1 included 25 sports teams (N = 308 athletes) and focused on athletes' general leadership quality. Study 2 comprised 21 sports teams (N = 267 athletes) and focused on athletes' specific leadership quality as a task, motivational, social, and external leader. The extent to which athletes felt connected with their leader proved to be most predictive for athletes' perceptions of that leader's quality on each leadership role. Also at the team level, teams with higher athlete leadership quality were more strongly connected. We conclude that social network analysis constitutes a valuable tool to provide more insight in the attributes of high-quality leadership both at the individual and at the team level.

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015.

PubMed

2016-10-08

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 provides an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence for risk factor exposure and the attributable burden of disease. By providing national and subnational assessments spanning the past 25 years, this study can inform debates on the importance of addressing risks in context. We used the comparative risk assessment framework developed for previous iterations of the Global Burden of Disease Study to estimate attributable deaths, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and trends in exposure by age group, sex, year, and geography for 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks from 1990 to 2015. This study included 388 risk-outcome pairs that met World Cancer Research Fund-defined criteria for convincing or probable evidence. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from randomised controlled trials, cohorts, pooled cohorts, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. We developed a metric that allows comparisons of exposure across risk factors-the summary exposure value. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk level, we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We decomposed trends in attributable burden into contributions from population growth, population age structure, risk exposure, and risk-deleted cause-specific DALY rates. We characterised risk exposure in relation to a Socio-demographic Index (SDI). Between 1990 and 2015, global exposure to unsafe sanitation, household air pollution, childhood underweight, childhood stunting, and smoking each decreased by more than 25%. Global exposure for several occupational risks, high body-mass index (BMI), and drug use increased by more than 25% over the same period. All risks jointly evaluated in 2015 accounted for 57·8% (95% CI 56·6-58·8) of global deaths and 41·2% (39·8-42·8) of DALYs. In 2015, the ten largest contributors to global DALYs among Level 3 risks were high systolic blood pressure (211·8 million [192·7 million to 231·1 million] global DALYs), smoking (148·6 million [134·2 million to 163·1 million]), high fasting plasma glucose (143·1 million [125·1 million to 163·5 million]), high BMI (120·1 million [83·8 million to 158·4 million]), childhood undernutrition (113·3 million [103·9 million to 123·4 million]), ambient particulate matter (103·1 million [90·8 million to 115·1 million]), high total cholesterol (88·7 million [74·6 million to 105·7 million]), household air pollution (85·6 million [66·7 million to 106·1 million]), alcohol use (85·0 million [77·2 million to 93·0 million]), and diets high in sodium (83·0 million [49·3 million to 127·5 million]). From 1990 to 2015, attributable DALYs declined for micronutrient deficiencies, childhood undernutrition, unsafe sanitation and water, and household air pollution; reductions in risk-deleted DALY rates rather than reductions in exposure drove these declines. Rising exposure contributed to notable increases in attributable DALYs from high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, occupational carcinogens, and drug use. Environmental risks and childhood undernutrition declined steadily with SDI; low physical activity, high BMI, and high fasting plasma glucose increased with SDI. In 119 countries, metabolic risks, such as high BMI and fasting plasma glucose, contributed the most attributable DALYs in 2015. Regionally, smoking still ranked among the leading five risk factors for attributable DALYs in 109 countries; childhood underweight and unsafe sex remained primary drivers of early death and disability in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Declines in some key environmental risks have contributed to declines in critical infectious diseases. Some risks appear to be invariant to SDI. Increasing risks, including high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, drug use, and some occupational exposures, contribute to rising burden from some conditions, but also provide opportunities for intervention. Some highly preventable risks, such as smoking, remain major causes of attributable DALYs, even as exposure is declining. Public policy makers need to pay attention to the risks that are increasingly major contributors to global burden. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Quantifying the effect of interannual ocean variability on the attribution of extreme climate events to human influence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Risser, Mark D.; Stone, Dáithí A.; Paciorek, Christopher J.; Wehner, Michael F.; Angélil, Oliver

2017-11-01

In recent years, the climate change research community has become highly interested in describing the anthropogenic influence on extreme weather events, commonly termed "event attribution." Limitations in the observational record and in computational resources motivate the use of uncoupled, atmosphere/land-only climate models with prescribed ocean conditions run over a short period, leading up to and including an event of interest. In this approach, large ensembles of high-resolution simulations can be generated under factual observed conditions and counterfactual conditions that might have been observed in the absence of human interference; these can be used to estimate the change in probability of the given event due to anthropogenic influence. However, using a prescribed ocean state ignores the possibility that estimates of attributable risk might be a function of the ocean state. Thus, the uncertainty in attributable risk is likely underestimated, implying an over-confidence in anthropogenic influence. In this work, we estimate the year-to-year variability in calculations of the anthropogenic contribution to extreme weather based on large ensembles of atmospheric model simulations. Our results both quantify the magnitude of year-to-year variability and categorize the degree to which conclusions of attributable risk are qualitatively affected. The methodology is illustrated by exploring extreme temperature and precipitation events for the northwest coast of South America and northern-central Siberia; we also provides results for regions around the globe. While it remains preferable to perform a full multi-year analysis, the results presented here can serve as an indication of where and when attribution researchers should be concerned about the use of atmosphere-only simulations.

Perceptions of patients with rheumatic diseases on the impact on daily life and satisfaction with their medications: RHEU-LIFE, a survey to patients treated with subcutaneous biological products

PubMed Central

González, Carlos M; Carmona, Loreto; de Toro, Javier; Batlle-Gualda, Enrique; Torralba, Antonio I; Arteaga, María J; Cea-Calvo, Luis

2017-01-01

Objective The aim of this study was to explore perceptions of patients with rheumatic diseases treated with subcutaneous (SC) biological drugs on the impact on daily life and satisfaction with current therapy, including preferred attributes. Methods A survey was developed ad hoc by four rheumatologists and three patients, including Likert questions on the impact of disease and treatment on daily life and preferred attributes of treatment. Rheumatologists from 50 participating centers were instructed to handout the survey to 20 consecutive patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), axial spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA), or psoriatic arthritis (PsA) receiving SC biological drugs. Patients responded to the survey at home and sent it to a central facility by prepaid mail. Results A total of 592 patients returned the survey (response rate: 59.2%), 51.4% of whom had RA, 23.8% had ax-SpA, and 19.6% had PsA. Patients reported moderate-to-severe impact of their disease on their quality of life (QoL) (51.9%), work/daily activities (49.2%), emotional well-being (41.0%), personal relationships (26.0%), and close relatives’ life (32.3%); 30%–50% patients reported seldom/never being inquired about these aspects by their rheumatologists. Treatment attributes ranked as most important were the normalization of QoL (43.6%) and the relief from symptoms (35.2%). The satisfaction with their current antirheumatic therapy was high (>80% were “satisfied” or “very satisfied”), despite moderate/severe impact of disease. Conclusion Patients with rheumatic diseases on SC biological therapy perceive a high disease impact on different aspects of daily life, despite being highly satisfied with their treatment; the perception is that physicians do not frequently address personal problems. Normalization of QoL is the most important attribute of therapies to patients. PMID:28790806

Using contingent choice methods to assess consumer preferences about health plan design.

PubMed

Marquis, M Susan; Buntin, Melinda Beeuwkes; Kapur, Kanika; Yegian, Jill M

2005-01-01

American insurers are designing products to contain health care costs by making consumers financially responsible for their choices. Little is known about how consumers will view these new designs. Our objective is to examine consumer preferences for selected benefit designs. We used the contingent choice method to assess willingness to pay for six health plan attributes. Our sample included subscribers to individual health insurance products in California, US. We used fitted logistic regression models to explore how preferences for the more generous attributes varied with the additional premium and with the characteristics of the subscriber. High quality was the most highly valued attribute based on the amounts consumers report they are willing to pay. They were also willing to pay substantial monthly premiums to reduce their overall financial risk. Individuals in lower health were willing to pay more to reduce their financial risk than individuals in better health. Consumers may prefer tiered-benefit designs to those that involve overall increases in cost sharing. More consumer information is needed to help consumers better evaluate the costs and benefits of their insurance choices.

"Head take you": causal attributions of mental illness in Jamaica.

PubMed

Arthur, Carlotta M; Whitley, Rob

2015-02-01

Causal attributions are a key factor in explanatory models of illness; however, little research on causal attributions of mental illness has been conducted in developing nations in the Caribbean, including Jamaica. Explanatory models of mental illness may be important in understanding illness experience and be a crucial factor in mental health service seeking and utilization. We explored causal attributions of mental illness in Jamaica by conducting 20 focus groups, including 16 community samples, 2 patient samples, and 2 samples of caregivers of patients, with a total of 159 participants. The 5 most commonly endorsed causal attributions of mental illness are discussed: (a) drug-related causes, including ganja (marijuana); (b) biological causes, such as chemical imbalance, familial transmission, and "blood"; (c) psychological causes, including stress and thinking too much; (d) social causes, such as relationship problems and job loss; and (e) spiritual or religious causes, including Obeah. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

A neuroimaging investigation of attribute framing and individual differences

PubMed Central

Murch, Kevin B.

2014-01-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to evaluate the neural basis of framing effects. We tested the reflexive and reflective systems model of social cognition as it relates to framing. We also examined the relationships among frame susceptibility, intelligence and personality measures. Participants evaluated whether personal attributes applied to themselves from multiple perspectives and in positive and negative frames. Participants rated whether each statement was descriptive or not and endorsed positive frames more than negative frames. Individual differences on frame decisions enabled us to form high and low frame susceptibility groups. Endorsement of frame-consistent attributes was associated with personality factors, cognitive reflection and intelligence. Reflexive brain regions were associated with positive frames while reflective areas were associated with negative frames. Region of Interest analyses showed that frame-inconsistent responses were associated with increased activation within reflective cognitive control regions including the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), dorsomedial PFC and left ventrolateral PFC. Frame-consistent responses were associated with increased activation in the right orbitofrontal cortex. These results demonstrate that individual differences in frame susceptibility influence personal attribute evaluations. Overall, this study clarifies the neural correlates of the reflective and reflexive systems of social cognition as applied to decisions about social attributions. PMID:23988759

Antibacterial properties of propolis (bee glue).

PubMed Central

Grange, J M; Davey, R W

1990-01-01

Propolis (bee glue) was found to have antibacterial activity against a range of commonly encountered cocci and Gram-positive rods, including the human tubercle bacillus, but only limited activity against Gram-negative bacilli. These findings confirm previous reports of antimicrobial properties of this material, possibly attributable to its high flavonoid content. PMID:2182860

Genetic Variations of Physiological Responses Following Heat Stress in Laying Hens

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Heat stress (HS), also known as hyperthermia, is a major problem experienced by poultry during high-temperature conditions. The ability to manage the detrimental effects of HS can be attributed to many factors, including genetics. The objective of the present study was to determine the variation of ...

What a Character!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackwell, Elizabeth

2012-01-01

Wanted: Clay project that will include the basics of well-crafted construction, a variety of decorative surface treatments, wide-ranging creative possibilities, a high level of success for students, a connection to historical beginnings, and result in a functional product. All of these attributes exist in a project that the author calls "Character…

Two-year growth cycle sugarcane crop parameter attributes and their application in modeling

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) production in Hawaii has declined since the 1970s due to a number of factors that include low prices, high labor costs, competition from artificial sweeteners and low-cost production from such countries as Mexico, Brazil, India, and China. Recently, competition ...

The mosaic mutants of cucumber: A system to produce mitochondrial knock-downs

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The mitochondrial (mt) DNA of cucumber has several unique attributes, including paternal transmission and large size due in part to the accumulation of repetitive DNAs. Recombination among these repetitive motifs generates structural rearrangements in the mt DNAs. When the highly inbred line ‘B’ of ...

Talent identification and recruitment in youth soccer: Recruiter's perceptions of the key attributes for player recruitment.

PubMed

Larkin, Paul; O'Connor, Donna

2017-01-01

Using the modified Delphi method, we aimed to understand the attributes youth coaches and recruiters perceive as important when identifying skilled youth performance at the entry level of representative soccer in Australia (i.e., Under 13 years). Furthermore, we also aimed to describe the current methods youth coaches and recruiters use to assess and identify these attributes in youth players. Australian regional youth technical directors and coaches (n = 20) completed a three stage process, including an initial interview and two subsequent questionnaires, whereby attributes and qualities associated with talent identification were rated and justified according to the importance for youth player performance and talent identification. Results indicate a hierarchy of attributes recruiters perceive as important for Under 13 soccer performance, including technical (i.e., first touch, striking the ball, one-versus-one ability, and technical ability under pressure), tactical (i.e., decision-making ability) and psychological attributes (i.e., coachability and positive attitude). In addition, the findings indicated attributes and qualities not emphasised within the talent identification process including, physiological, anthropometrical, sociological and several psychological attributes. It is suggested talent recruiters apply a holistic multidisciplinary approach to talent identification, with the current findings potentially providing initial evidence to suggest recruiters do consider numerous attributes when selecting and identifying youth players.

Talent identification and recruitment in youth soccer: Recruiter’s perceptions of the key attributes for player recruitment

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Using the modified Delphi method, we aimed to understand the attributes youth coaches and recruiters perceive as important when identifying skilled youth performance at the entry level of representative soccer in Australia (i.e., Under 13 years). Furthermore, we also aimed to describe the current methods youth coaches and recruiters use to assess and identify these attributes in youth players. Australian regional youth technical directors and coaches (n = 20) completed a three stage process, including an initial interview and two subsequent questionnaires, whereby attributes and qualities associated with talent identification were rated and justified according to the importance for youth player performance and talent identification. Results indicate a hierarchy of attributes recruiters perceive as important for Under 13 soccer performance, including technical (i.e., first touch, striking the ball, one-versus-one ability, and technical ability under pressure), tactical (i.e., decision-making ability) and psychological attributes (i.e., coachability and positive attitude). In addition, the findings indicated attributes and qualities not emphasised within the talent identification process including, physiological, anthropometrical, sociological and several psychological attributes. It is suggested talent recruiters apply a holistic multidisciplinary approach to talent identification, with the current findings potentially providing initial evidence to suggest recruiters do consider numerous attributes when selecting and identifying youth players. PMID:28419175

Employer Assessment of the College Graduate: What Advisors Need to Know

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Briggeman, Brian C.; Norwood, F. Bailey

2011-01-01

Effective advising includes communicating to students the attributes employers seek and the signals they use in detecting those attributes. Using an Internet survey of more than 400 college graduate employers, this study asks employers how useful various signals are in determining job candidates' level of attributes including number crunching…

Older Adults' Outdoor Walking: Inequalities in Neighbourhood Safety, Pedestrian Infrastructure and Aesthetics.

PubMed

Zandieh, Razieh; Martinez, Javier; Flacke, Johannes; Jones, Phil; van Maarseveen, Martin

2016-11-25

Older adults living in high-deprivation areas walk less than those living in low-deprivation areas. Previous research has shown that older adults' outdoor walking levels are related to the neighbourhood built environment. This study examines inequalities in perceived built environment attributes (i.e., safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetics) and their possible influences on disparities in older adults' outdoor walking levels in low- and high-deprivation areas of Birmingham, United Kingdom. It applied a mixed-method approach, included 173 participants (65 years and over), used GPS technology to measure outdoor walking levels, used questionnaires (for all participants) and conducted walking interviews (with a sub-sample) to collect data on perceived neighbourhood built environment attributes. The results show inequalities in perceived neighbourhood safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetics in high- versus low-deprivation areas and demonstrate that they may influence disparities in participants' outdoor walking levels. Improvements of perceived neighbourhood safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetic in high-deprivation areas are encouraged.

Older Adults’ Outdoor Walking: Inequalities in Neighbourhood Safety, Pedestrian Infrastructure and Aesthetics

PubMed Central

Zandieh, Razieh; Martinez, Javier; Flacke, Johannes; Jones, Phil; van Maarseveen, Martin

2016-01-01

Older adults living in high-deprivation areas walk less than those living in low-deprivation areas. Previous research has shown that older adults’ outdoor walking levels are related to the neighbourhood built environment. This study examines inequalities in perceived built environment attributes (i.e., safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetics) and their possible influences on disparities in older adults’ outdoor walking levels in low- and high-deprivation areas of Birmingham, United Kingdom. It applied a mixed-method approach, included 173 participants (65 years and over), used GPS technology to measure outdoor walking levels, used questionnaires (for all participants) and conducted walking interviews (with a sub-sample) to collect data on perceived neighbourhood built environment attributes. The results show inequalities in perceived neighbourhood safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetics in high- versus low-deprivation areas and demonstrate that they may influence disparities in participants’ outdoor walking levels. Improvements of perceived neighbourhood safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetic in high-deprivation areas are encouraged. PMID:27898023

Social Attribution in Children with High Functioning Autism and Asperger Syndrome: An Exploratory Study in the Chinese Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan, Raymond C. K.; Hu, Zhou-yi; Cui, Ji-fang; Wang, Ya; McAlonan, Grainne M.

2011-01-01

The present study aimed to examine social attribution in children with high-functioning autism (HFA) and Asperger's syndrome (AS). A sample of 20 boys (9 with HFA and 11 with AS) and 20 age-matched controls were recruited for this study. All participated in two tasks measuring social attribution ability, the conventional Social Attribution Task…

Health and Economic Burden of Post-Partum Staphylococcus aureus Breast Abscess

PubMed Central

Branch-Elliman, Westyn; Lee, Grace M.; Golen, Toni H.; Gold, Howard S.; Baldini, Linda M.; Wright, Sharon B.

2013-01-01

Objectives To determine the health and economic burdens of post-partum Staphylococcus aureus breast abscess. Study design We conducted a matched cohort study (N = 216) in a population of pregnant women (N = 32,770) who delivered at our center during the study period from 10/1/03–9/30/10. Data were extracted from hospital databases, or via chart review if unavailable electronically. We compared cases of S. aureus breast abscess to controls matched by delivery date to compare health services utilization and mean attributable medical costs in 2012 United States dollars using Medicare and hospital-based estimates. We also evaluated whether resource utilization and health care costs differed between cases with methicillin-resistant and -susceptible S. aureus isolates. Results Fifty-four cases of culture-confirmed post-partum S. aureus breast abscess were identified. Breastfeeding cessation (41%), milk fistula (11.1%) and hospital readmission (50%) occurred frequently among case patients. Breast abscess case patients had high rates of health services utilization compared to controls, including high rates of imaging and drainage procedures. The mean attributable cost of post-partum S. aureus breast abscess ranged from $2,340–$4,012, depending on the methods and data sources used. Mean attributable costs were not significantly higher among methicillin-resistant vs. –susceptible S. aureus cases. Conclusions Post-partum S. aureus breast abscess is associated with worse health and economic outcomes for women and their infants, including high rates of breastfeeding cessation. Future study is needed to determine the optimal treatment and prevention of these infections. PMID:24039877

A Comparative Study of Students' Learning Experiences in Intensive and Semester-Length Courses and of the Attributes of High-Quality Intensive and Semester Course Learning Experiences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Patricia A.

This study compared students' learning experiences in a set of courses in British literature and a set of courses in marketing, in which each set included a course taught in an intensive format and a semester-long format with the same instructor and content. Data collection included participant observation, videotaped class sessions,…

Continent-scale global change attribution in European birds - combining annual and decadal time scales.

PubMed

Jørgensen, Peter Søgaard; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin; Thorup, Kasper; Tøttrup, Anders P; Chylarecki, Przemysław; Jiguet, Frédéric; Lehikoinen, Aleksi; Noble, David G; Reif, Jiri; Schmid, Hans; van Turnhout, Chris; Burfield, Ian J; Foppen, Ruud; Voříšek, Petr; van Strien, Arco; Gregory, Richard D; Rahbek, Carsten

2016-02-01

Species attributes are commonly used to infer impacts of environmental change on multiyear species trends, e.g. decadal changes in population size. However, by themselves attributes are of limited value in global change attribution since they do not measure the changing environment. A broader foundation for attributing species responses to global change may be achieved by complementing an attributes-based approach by one estimating the relationship between repeated measures of organismal and environmental changes over short time scales. To assess the benefit of this multiscale perspective, we investigate the recent impact of multiple environmental changes on European farmland birds, here focusing on climate change and land use change. We analyze more than 800 time series from 18 countries spanning the past two decades. Analysis of long-term population growth rates documents simultaneous responses that can be attributed to both climate change and land-use change, including long-term increases in populations of hot-dwelling species and declines in long-distance migrants and farmland specialists. In contrast, analysis of annual growth rates yield novel insights into the potential mechanisms driving long-term climate induced change. In particular, we find that birds are affected by winter, spring, and summer conditions depending on the distinct breeding phenology that corresponds to their migratory strategy. Birds in general benefit from higher temperatures or higher primary productivity early on or in the peak of the breeding season with the largest effect sizes observed in cooler parts of species' climatic ranges. Our results document the potential of combining time scales and integrating both species attributes and environmental variables for global change attribution. We suggest such an approach will be of general use when high-resolution time series are available in large-scale biodiversity surveys. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Can empathy, other personality attributes, and level of positive social influence in medical school identify potential leaders in medicine?

PubMed

Hojat, Mohammadreza; Michalec, Barret; Veloski, J Jon; Tykocinski, Mark L

2015-04-01

To test the hypotheses that medical students recognized by peers as the most positive social influencers would score (1) high on measures of engaging personality attributes that are conducive to relationship building (empathy, sociability, activity, self-esteem), and (2) low on disengaging personality attributes that are detrimental to interpersonal relationships (loneliness, neuroticism, aggression-hostility, impulsive sensation seeking). The study included 666 Jefferson Medical College students who graduated in 2011-2013. Students used a peer nomination instrument to identify classmates who had a positive influence on their professional and personal development. At matriculation, these students had completed a survey that included the Jefferson Scale of Empathy and Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire short form and abridged versions of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and UCLA Loneliness Scale. In multivariate analyses of variance, the method of contrasted groups was used to compare the personality attributes of students nominated most frequently by their peers as positive influencers (top influencers [top 25% in their class distribution], n = 176) with those of students nominated least frequently (bottom influencers [bottom 25%], n = 171). The top influencers scored significantly higher on empathy, sociability, and activity and significantly lower on loneliness compared with the bottom influencers. However, the effect size estimates of the differences were moderate at best. The research hypotheses were partially confirmed. Positive social influencers appear to possess personality attributes conducive to relationship building, which is an important feature of effective leadership. The findings have implications for identifying and training potential leaders in medicine.

An Empirical Comparison of Discrete Choice Experiment and Best-Worst Scaling to Estimate Stakeholders' Risk Tolerance for Hip Replacement Surgery.

PubMed

van Dijk, Joris D; Groothuis-Oudshoorn, Catharina G M; Marshall, Deborah A; IJzerman, Maarten J

2016-06-01

Previous studies have been inconclusive regarding the validity and reliability of preference elicitation methods. The aim of this study was to compare the metrics obtained from a discrete choice experiment (DCE) and profile-case best-worst scaling (BWS) with respect to hip replacement. We surveyed the general US population of men aged 45 to 65 years, and potentially eligible for hip replacement surgery. The survey included sociodemographic questions, eight DCE questions, and twelve BWS questions. Attributes were the probability of a first and second revision, pain relief, ability to participate in sports and perform daily activities, and length of hospital stay. Conditional logit analysis was used to estimate attribute weights, level preferences, and the maximum acceptable risk (MAR) for undergoing revision surgery in six hypothetical treatment scenarios with different attribute levels. A total of 429 (96%) respondents were included. Comparable attribute weights and level preferences were found for both BWS and DCE. Preferences were greatest for hip replacement surgery with high pain relief and the ability to participate in sports and perform daily activities. Although the estimated MARs for revision surgery followed the same trend, the MARs were systematically higher in five of the six scenarios using DCE. This study confirms previous findings that BWS or DCEs are comparable in estimating attribute weights and level preferences. However, the risk tolerance threshold based on the estimation of MAR differs between these methods, possibly leading to inconsistency in comparing treatment scenarios. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Burden of Mortality Attributable to Diagnosed Diabetes: A Nationwide Analysis Based on Claims Data From 65 Million People in Germany.

PubMed

Jacobs, Esther; Hoyer, Annika; Brinks, Ralph; Kuss, Oliver; Rathmann, Wolfgang

2017-12-01

In Germany, as in many other countries, nationwide data on mortality attributable to diagnosed diabetes are not available. This study estimated the absolute number of excess deaths associated with diabetes (all types) and type 2 diabetes in Germany. A prevalence approach that included nationwide routine data from 64.9 million people insured in the German statutory health insurance system in 2010 was used for the calculation. Because nationwide data on diabetes mortality are lacking in Germany, the mortality rate ratio from the Danish National Diabetes Register was used. The absolute number of excess deaths associated with diabetes was calculated as the number of deaths due to diabetes minus the number of deaths due to diabetes with a mortality that was as high as in the population without diabetes. Furthermore, the mortality population-attributable fraction was calculated. A total of 174,627 excess deaths were due to diabetes in 2010, including 137,950 due to type 2 diabetes. Overall, 21% of all deaths in Germany were attributable to diabetes and 16% were attributable to type 2 diabetes. Most of the excess deaths (34% each) occurred in the 70- to 89-year-old age-group. In this first nationwide calculation of excess deaths related to diabetes in Germany, the results suggest that the official German estimates that rely on information from death certificates are grossly underestimated. Countries without national cohorts or diabetes registries could easily use this method to estimate the number of excess deaths due to diabetes. © 2017 by the American Diabetes Association.

High Resolution Numerical Simulations of Primary Atomization in Diesel Sprays with Single Component Reference Fuels

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

NC. 14. ABSTRACT A high-resolution numerical simulation of jet breakup and spray formation from a complex diesel fuel injector at diesel engine... diesel fuel injector at diesel engine type conditions has been performed. A full understanding of the primary atomization process in diesel fuel... diesel liquid sprays the complexity is further compounded by the physical attributes present including nozzle turbulence, large density ratios

FIRST-PRINCIPLES CALCULATIONS OF INTRINSIC DEFECTS AND Mg TRANSMUTANTS IN 3C-SiC

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

Hu, Shenyang Y.; Setyawan, Wahyu; Van Ginhoven, Renee M.

2013-09-25

Silicon carbide (SiC) possesses many desirable attributes for applications in high-temperature and neutron radiation environments. These attributes include excellent dimensional and thermodynamic stability, low activation, high strength, and high thermal conductivity. Therefore, SiC based materials draw broad attention as structural materials for the first wall (FW) and blanket in fusion power plants. Under the severe high-energy neutron environment of D-T fusion systems, SiC suffers significant transmutation resulting in both gaseous and metallic transmutants. Recent calculations by Sawan, et al. [2] predict that at a fast neutron dose of ~100 dpa, there will be about 0.5 at% Mg generated in SiCmore » through nuclear transmutation. Other transmutation products, including 0.15 at% Al, 0.2 at% Be and 2.2 at% He, also emerge. Formation and migration energies of point defects in 3C-SiC have been widely investigated using density functional theory (DFT). However, the properties of defects associated with transmutants are currently not well understood. Fundamental understanding of where the transmutation products go and how they affect microstructure evolution of SiC composites will help to predict property evolution and performance of SiC-based materials in fusion reactors.« less

Negative Differential Conductance & Hot-Carrier Avalanching in Monolayer WS2 FETs

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

He, G.; Nathawat, J.; Kwan, C. -P.

The high field phenomena of inter-valley transfer and avalanching breakdown have long been exploited in devices based on conventional semiconductors. In this Article, we demonstrate the manifestation of these effects in atomically-thin WS 2 field-effect transistors. The negative differential conductance exhibits all of the features familiar from discussions of this phenomenon in bulk semiconductors, including hysteresis in the transistor characteristics and increased noise that is indicative of travelling high-field domains. It is also found to be sensitive to thermal annealing, a result that we attribute to the influence of strain on the energy separation of the different valleys involved inmore » hot-electron transfer. This idea is supported by the results of ensemble Monte Carlo simulations, which highlight the sensitivity of the negative differential conductance to the equilibrium populations of the different valleys. At high drain currents (>10 μA/μm) avalanching breakdown is also observed, and is attributed to trap-assisted inverse Auger scattering. This mechanism is not normally relevant in conventional semiconductors, but is possible in WS 2 due to the narrow width of its energy bands. The various results presented here suggest that WS 2 exhibits strong potential for use in hot-electron devices, including compact high-frequency sources and photonic detectors.« less

Occupational risk factors have to be considered in the definition of high-risk lung cancer populations.

PubMed

Wild, P; Gonzalez, M; Bourgkard, E; Courouble, N; Clément-Duchêne, C; Martinet, Y; Févotte, J; Paris, C

2012-03-27

The aim of this study was to compute attributable fractions (AF) to occupational factors in an area in North-Eastern France with high lung cancer rates and a past of mining and steel industry. A population-based case-control study among males aged 40-79 was conducted, including confirmed primary lung cancer cases from all hospitals of the study region. Controls were stratified by broad age-classes, district and socioeconomic classes. Detailed occupational and personal risk factors were obtained in face-to-face interviews. Cumulative occupational exposure indices were obtained from the questionnaires. Attributable fractions were computed from multiple unconditional logistic regression models. A total of 246 cases and 531 controls were included. The odds ratios (ORs) adjusted on cumulative smoking and family history of lung cancer increased significantly with the cumulative exposure indices to asbestos, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and crystalline silica, and with exposure to diesel motor exhaust. The AF for occupational factors exceeded 50%, the most important contributor being crystalline silica and asbestos. These AFs are higher than most published figures. This can be because of the highly industrialised area or methods for exposure assessments. Occupational factors are important risk factors and should not be forgotten when defining high-risk lung cancer populations.

Negative Differential Conductance & Hot-Carrier Avalanching in Monolayer WS2 FETs

DOE PAGES

He, G.; Nathawat, J.; Kwan, C. -P.; ...

2017-09-12

The high field phenomena of inter-valley transfer and avalanching breakdown have long been exploited in devices based on conventional semiconductors. In this Article, we demonstrate the manifestation of these effects in atomically-thin WS 2 field-effect transistors. The negative differential conductance exhibits all of the features familiar from discussions of this phenomenon in bulk semiconductors, including hysteresis in the transistor characteristics and increased noise that is indicative of travelling high-field domains. It is also found to be sensitive to thermal annealing, a result that we attribute to the influence of strain on the energy separation of the different valleys involved inmore » hot-electron transfer. This idea is supported by the results of ensemble Monte Carlo simulations, which highlight the sensitivity of the negative differential conductance to the equilibrium populations of the different valleys. At high drain currents (>10 μA/μm) avalanching breakdown is also observed, and is attributed to trap-assisted inverse Auger scattering. This mechanism is not normally relevant in conventional semiconductors, but is possible in WS 2 due to the narrow width of its energy bands. The various results presented here suggest that WS 2 exhibits strong potential for use in hot-electron devices, including compact high-frequency sources and photonic detectors.« less

A Seasonal Time-Series Model Based on Gene Expression Programming for Predicting Financial Distress

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

The issue of financial distress prediction plays an important and challenging research topic in the financial field. Currently, there have been many methods for predicting firm bankruptcy and financial crisis, including the artificial intelligence and the traditional statistical methods, and the past studies have shown that the prediction result of the artificial intelligence method is better than the traditional statistical method. Financial statements are quarterly reports; hence, the financial crisis of companies is seasonal time-series data, and the attribute data affecting the financial distress of companies is nonlinear and nonstationary time-series data with fluctuations. Therefore, this study employed the nonlinear attribute selection method to build a nonlinear financial distress prediction model: that is, this paper proposed a novel seasonal time-series gene expression programming model for predicting the financial distress of companies. The proposed model has several advantages including the following: (i) the proposed model is different from the previous models lacking the concept of time series; (ii) the proposed integrated attribute selection method can find the core attributes and reduce high dimensional data; and (iii) the proposed model can generate the rules and mathematical formulas of financial distress for providing references to the investors and decision makers. The result shows that the proposed method is better than the listing classifiers under three criteria; hence, the proposed model has competitive advantages in predicting the financial distress of companies. PMID:29765399

Calibration of Seismic Attributes for Reservoir Characterization

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

Pennington, Wayne D.; Acevedo, Horacio; Green, Aaron

2002-01-29

This project has completed the initially scheduled third year of the contract, and is beginning a fourth year, designed to expand upon the tech transfer aspects of the project. From the Stratton data set, demonstrated that an apparent correlation between attributes derived along `phantom' horizons are artifacts of isopach changes; only if the interpreter understands that the interpretation is based on this correlation with bed thickening or thinning, can reliable interpretations of channel horizons and facies be made. From the Boonsville data set , developed techniques to use conventional seismic attributes, including seismic facies generated under various neural network procedures,more » to subdivide regional facies determined from logs into productive and non-productive subfacies, and developed a method involving cross-correlation of seismic waveforms to provide a reliable map of the various facies present in the area. The Teal South data set provided a surprising set of data, leading us to develop a pressure-dependent velocity relationship and to conclude that nearby reservoirs are undergoing a pressure drop in response to the production of the main reservoir, implying that oil is being lost through their spill points, never to be produced. The Wamsutter data set led to the use of unconventional attributes including lateral incoherence and horizon-dependent impedance variations to indicate regions of former sand bars and current high pressure, respectively, and to evaluation of various upscaling routines.« less

A Seasonal Time-Series Model Based on Gene Expression Programming for Predicting Financial Distress.

PubMed

Cheng, Ching-Hsue; Chan, Chia-Pang; Yang, Jun-He

2018-01-01

The issue of financial distress prediction plays an important and challenging research topic in the financial field. Currently, there have been many methods for predicting firm bankruptcy and financial crisis, including the artificial intelligence and the traditional statistical methods, and the past studies have shown that the prediction result of the artificial intelligence method is better than the traditional statistical method. Financial statements are quarterly reports; hence, the financial crisis of companies is seasonal time-series data, and the attribute data affecting the financial distress of companies is nonlinear and nonstationary time-series data with fluctuations. Therefore, this study employed the nonlinear attribute selection method to build a nonlinear financial distress prediction model: that is, this paper proposed a novel seasonal time-series gene expression programming model for predicting the financial distress of companies. The proposed model has several advantages including the following: (i) the proposed model is different from the previous models lacking the concept of time series; (ii) the proposed integrated attribute selection method can find the core attributes and reduce high dimensional data; and (iii) the proposed model can generate the rules and mathematical formulas of financial distress for providing references to the investors and decision makers. The result shows that the proposed method is better than the listing classifiers under three criteria; hence, the proposed model has competitive advantages in predicting the financial distress of companies.

Alcohol consumption as a risk factor for tuberculosis: meta-analyses and burden of disease

PubMed Central

Shield, Kevin D.; Roerecke, Michael; Samokhvalov, Andriy V.; Lönnroth, Knut; Rehm, Jürgen

2017-01-01

Meta-analyses of alcohol use, alcohol dosage and alcohol-related problems as risk factors for tuberculosis incidence were undertaken. The global alcohol-attributable tuberculosis burden of disease was also re-estimated. Systematic searches were conducted, reference lists were reviewed and expert consultations were held to identify studies. Cohort and case-control studies were included if there were no temporal violations of exposure and outcome. Risk relations (RRs) were pooled by using categorical and dose-response meta-analyses. The alcohol-attributable tuberculosis burden of disease was estimated by using alcohol-attributable fractions. 36 of 1108 studies were included. RRs for alcohol use and alcohol-related problems were 1.35 (95% CI 1.09–1.68; I2: 83%) and 3.33 (95% CI 2.14–5.19; 87%), respectively. Concerning alcohol dosage, tuberculosis risk rose as ethanol intake increased, with evidence of a threshold effect. Alcohol consumption caused 22.02 incident cases (95% CI 19.70–40.77) and 2.35 deaths (95% CI 2.05–4.79) per 100 000 people from tuberculosis in 2014. Alcohol-attributable tuberculosis incidence increased between 2000 and 2014 in most high tuberculosis burden countries, whereas mortality decreased. Alcohol consumption was associated with an increased risk of tuberculosis in all meta-analyses. It was consequently a major contributor to the tuberculosis burden of disease. PMID:28705945

Attributable causes of colorectal cancer in China.

PubMed

Gu, Meng-Jia; Huang, Qiu-Chi; Bao, Cheng-Zhen; Li, Ying-Jun; Li, Xiao-Qin; Ye, Ding; Ye, Zhen-Hua; Chen, Kun; Wang, Jian-Bing

2018-01-05

Colorectal cancer is the 4th common cancer in China. Most colorectal cancers are due to modifiable lifestyle factors, but few studies have provided a systematic evidence-based assessment of the burden of colorectal cancer incidence and mortality attributable to the known risk factors in China. We estimated the population attributable faction (PAF) for each selected risk factor in China, based on the prevalence of exposure around 2000 and relative risks from cohort studies and meta-analyses. Among 245,000 new cases and 139,000 deaths of colorectal cancer in China in 2012, we found that 115,578 incident cases and 63,102 deaths of colorectal cancer were attributable to smoking, alcohol drinking, overweight and obesity, physical inactivity and dietary factors. Low vegetable intake was the main risk factor for colorectal cancer with a PAF of 17.9%. Physical inactivity was responsible for 8.9% of colorectal cancer incidence and mortality. The remaining factors, including high red and processed meat intake, low fruit intake, alcohol drinking, overweight/obesity and smoking, accounted for 8.6%, 6.4%, 5.4%, 5.3% and 4.9% of colorectal cancer, respectively. Overall, 45.5% of colorectal cancer incidence and mortality were attributable to the joint effects of these seven risk factors. Tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, overweight or obesity, physical inactivity, low vegetable intake, low fruit intake, and high red and processed meat intake were responsible for nearly 46% of colorectal cancer incidence and mortality in China in 2012. Our findings could provide a basis for developing guidelines of colorectal cancer prevention and control in China.

Alcohol consumption and burden of disease in the Americas in 2012: implications for alcohol policy.

PubMed

Shield, Kevin D; Monteiro, Maristela; Roerecke, Michael; Smith, Blake; Rehm, Jürgen

2015-12-01

To describe the volume and patterns of alcohol consumption up to and including 2012, and to estimate the burden of disease attributable to alcohol consumption as measured in deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost in the Americas in 2012. Measures of alcohol consumption were obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH). The burden of alcohol consumption was estimated in both deaths and DALYs lost based on mortality data obtained from WHO, using alcohol-attributable fractions. Regional groupings for the Americas were based on the WHO classifications for 2004 (according to child and adult mortality). Regional variations were observed in the overall volume of alcohol consumed, the proportion of the alcohol market attributable to unrecorded alcohol consumption, drinking patterns, prevalence of drinking, and prevalence of heavy episodic drinking, with inhabitants of the Americas consuming more alcohol (8.4 L of pure alcohol per adult in 2012) compared to the world average. The Americas also experienced a high burden of disease attributable to alcohol consumption (4.7% of all deaths and 6.7% of all DALYs lost), especially in terms of injuries attributable to alcohol consumption. Alcohol is consumed in a harmful manner in the Americas, leading to a high burden of disease, especially in terms of injuries. New cost-effective alcohol policies, such as increasing alcohol taxation, increasing the minimum legal age to purchase alcohol, and decreasing the maximum legal blood alcohol content while driving, should be implemented to decrease the harmful consumption of alcohol and the resulting burden of disease.

Attributions for Success and Failure in Algebra of Samoan Community College Students: A Profile Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powers, Stephen; And Others

Sex differences in attributions for success and failure in algebra of Samoan community college students were examined and compared with attributions of a large group of mainland U.S. students. study included the Mathematics Attribution Scale: Algebra Version (MAS), which assessed students' attributions of achievement in algebra to their effort,…

Socioeconomic status as an effect modifier of alcohol consumption and harm: analysis of linked cohort data.

PubMed

Katikireddi, Srinivasa Vittal; Whitley, Elise; Lewsey, Jim; Gray, Linsay; Leyland, Alastair H

2017-06-01

Alcohol-related mortality and morbidity are high in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations compared with individuals from advantaged areas. It is unclear if this increased harm reflects differences in alcohol consumption between these socioeconomic groups, reverse causation (ie, downward social selection for high-risk drinkers), or a greater risk of harm in individuals of low socioeconomic status compared with those of higher status after similar consumption. We aimed to investigate whether the harmful effects of alcohol differ by socioeconomic status, accounting for alcohol consumption and other health-related factors. The Scottish Health Surveys are record-linked cross-sectional surveys representative of the adult population of Scotland. We obtained baseline demographics and data for alcohol consumption (units per week and binge drinking) from Scottish Health Surveys done in 1995, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. We matched these data to records for deaths, admissions, and prescriptions. The primary outcome was alcohol-attributable admission or death. The relation between alcohol-attributable harm and socioeconomic status was investigated for four measures (education level, social class, household income, and area-based deprivation) using Cox proportional hazards models. The potential for alcohol consumption and other risk factors (including smoking and body-mass index [BMI]) mediating social patterning was explored in separate regression models. Reverse causation was tested by comparing change in area deprivation over time. 50 236 participants (21 777 men and 28 459 women) were included in the analytical sample, with 429 986 person-years of follow-up. Low socioeconomic status was associated consistently with strikingly raised alcohol-attributable harms, including after adjustment for weekly consumption, binge drinking, BMI, and smoking. Evidence was noted of effect modification; for example, relative to light drinkers living in advantaged areas, the risk of alcohol-attributable admission or death for excessive drinkers was increased (hazard ratio 6·12, 95% CI 4·45-8·41 in advantaged areas; and 10·22, 7·73-13·53 in deprived areas). We found little support for reverse causation. Disadvantaged social groups have greater alcohol-attributable harms compared with individuals from advantaged areas for given levels of alcohol consumption, even after accounting for different drinking patterns, obesity, and smoking status at the individual level. Medical Research Council, NHS Research Scotland, Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office.

New discovered Izmir and Busan Mud Volcanoes and Application of Seismic Attributes and AVO Analysis in the Easternmost Black Sea.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okay, S.; Cifci, G.; Ozel, S.; Atgin, O.; Ozel, O.; Barin, B.; Er, M.; Dondurur, D.; Kucuk, M.; Gurcay, S.; Choul Kim, D.; Sung-Ho, B.

2012-04-01

Recently, the continental margins of Black Sea became important for its gas content. There are no scientific researches offshore Trabzon-Giresun area except the explorations of oil companies. This is the first survey that performed in that area. 1700 km high resolution multichannel seismic and chirp data simultaneously were collected onboard R/V K.Piri Reis . The seismic data reveal BSRs, bright spots and acoustic maskings especially on the eastern part of the survey area. The survey area in the Eastern Black Sea includes continental slope, apron and deep basin. Two mud volcanoes are discovered and named as Busan and Izmir. The observed fold belt is believed to be the main driving force for the growth of mud volcanoes.Faults are developed at the flanks of diapiric uplift. Seismic attributes and AVO analysis are applied to 9 seismic sections which have probable gassy sediments and BSR zones. In the seismic attribute analysis high amplitude horzions with reverse polarity are observed in instantaneous frequency, envelope and apparent polarity sections also with low frequency at instantaneous frequency sections. These analysis verify existence of gas accumulations in the sediments. AVO analysis and cross section drawing and Gradient analysis show Class 1 AVO anomaly and indicate gas in sediments. Keywords: BSR, Bright spot, Mud volcano, Seismic Attributes, AVO

Evaluation of the structural, physicochemical, and biological characteristics of SB4, a biosimilar of etanercept

PubMed Central

Cho, Ick Hyun; Lee, Nayoung; Song, Dami; Jung, Seong Young; Bou-Assaf, George; Sosic, Zoran; Zhang, Wei; Lyubarskaya, Yelena

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT A biosimilar is a biological medicinal product that is comparable to a reference medicinal product in terms of quality, safety, and efficacy. SB4 was developed as a biosimilar to Enbrel® (etanercept) and was approved as Benepali®, the first biosimilar of etanercept licensed in the European Union (EU). The quality assessment of SB4 was performed in accordance with the ICH comparability guideline and the biosimilar guidelines of the European Medicines Agency and Food and Drug Administration. Extensive structural, physicochemical, and biological testing was performed with state-of-the-art technologies during a side-by-side comparison of the products. Similarity of critical quality attributes (CQAs) was evaluated on the basis of tolerance intervals established from quality data obtained from more than 60 lots of EU-sourced and US-sourced etanercept. Additional quality assessment was focused on a detailed investigation of immunogenicity-related quality attributes, including hydrophobic variants, high-molecular-weight (HMW) species, N-glycolylneuraminic acid (NGNA), and α-1,3-galactose. This comprehensive characterization study demonstrated that SB4 is highly similar to the reference product, Enbrel®, in structural, physicochemical, and biological quality attributes. In addition, the levels of potential immunogenicity-related quality attributes of SB4 such as hydrophobic variants, HMW aggregates, and α-1,3-galactose were less than those of the reference product. PMID:27246928

Spatiotemporal conceptual platform for querying archaeological information systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Partsinevelos, Panagiotis; Sartzetaki, Mary; Sarris, Apostolos

2015-04-01

Spatial and temporal distribution of archaeological sites has been shown to associate with several attributes including marine, water, mineral and food resources, climate conditions, geomorphological features, etc. In this study, archeological settlement attributes are evaluated under various associations in order to provide a specialized query platform in a geographic information system (GIS). Towards this end, a spatial database is designed to include a series of archaeological findings for a secluded geographic area of Crete in Greece. The key categories of the geodatabase include the archaeological type (palace, burial site, village, etc.), temporal information of the habitation/usage period (pre Minoan, Minoan, Byzantine, etc.), and the extracted geographical attributes of the sites (distance to sea, altitude, resources, etc.). Most of the related spatial attributes are extracted with readily available GIS tools. Additionally, a series of conceptual data attributes are estimated, including: Temporal relation of an era to a future one in terms of alteration of the archaeological type, topologic relations of various types and attributes, spatial proximity relations between various types. These complex spatiotemporal relational measures reveal new attributes towards better understanding of site selection for prehistoric and/or historic cultures, yet their potential combinations can become numerous. Therefore, after the quantification of the above mentioned attributes, they are classified as of their importance for archaeological site location modeling. Under this new classification scheme, the user may select a geographic area of interest and extract only the important attributes for a specific archaeological type. These extracted attributes may then be queried against the entire spatial database and provide a location map of possible new archaeological sites. This novel type of querying is robust since the user does not have to type a standard SQL query but graphically select an area of interest. In addition, according to the application at hand, novel spatiotemporal attributes and relations can be supported, towards the understanding of historical settlement patterns.

Round Top Butte Research Natural Area: guidebook supplement 46

Treesearch

Marcia L. Wineteer; Reid Schuller

2014-01-01

This guidebook describes major biological and physical attributes of the 243-ha (600-ac) Round Top Butte Research Natural Area. The area supports high-quality examples of valley upland grasslands and savanna of the Cascade foothills. Plant communities include Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) savanna and open woodland with forbs and grasses;...

Transition from Secondary to Postsecondary Education for Students with Mild Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burdge, Maryjane C.

2012-01-01

Students with disabilities are less likely than their peers to access or succeed in postsecondary education settings. In one county, students with disabilities are taught within inclusive high school environments where deficits in reading skills, self-determination attributes, and study skills are not included in the curriculum. In place of these…

Empowering Latino Parents to Transform the Education of Their Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pstross, Mikulas; Rodríguez, Ariel; Knopf, Richard C.; Paris, Cody Morris

2016-01-01

This article emphasizes the role of parental involvement in the college preparation of Latino elementary and secondary school students. Although literature shows that education is highly valued in Latino families, actual college enrollment rates for Latino youth are below average. This has been attributed to barriers including lack of financial…

Adolescent Mathematical Problem Solving: The Role of Metacognition, Strategies and Beliefs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitzpatrick, Corine

Mathematical problem solving has been the focus of much concern. This study investigated the relationship of various cognitive factors, attributions, and gender to the solution of mathematics problems by 100 high school seniors. The independent variables examined in this study included: (1) mathematics knowledge as measured by a score on the…

What weighs more-low compliance with self-deferral or minor medical procedures? Explaining the high rate of hepatitis C virus window-period donations in Poland.

PubMed

Czerwinski, Michal; Grabarczyk, Piotr; Stepien, Malgorzata; Kubicka-Russel, Dorota; Tkaczuk, Katarzyna; Brojer, Ewa; Rosinska, Magdalena

2017-08-01

Since the introduction of nucleic acid testing (NAT) for routine blood donor screening, hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA-only detection rates reported from Poland have been higher than in most other European countries. To examine factors that likely contribute to these window-period donations, we conducted a case-control study among 47 recently HCV-infected blood donors (cases), who gave blood between July 2002 and June 2014, and 141 controls matched by age, sex, and donation dates. Firth-corrected, conditional logistic regression models were fitted to estimate adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Adjusted population-attributable fractions were calculated based on the distribution of exposure among the cases. On multivariate analysis, recent exposures in health care environments not routinely ascertained through predonation questionnaires were strongly associated with recently acquired HCV infection. These exposures included minor medical and dental procedures in the preceding 6 months (adjusted odds ratio, 5.77; 95 % confidence interval, 2.01-18.53). However, based on the population-attributable fraction, more important were behavioral deferrable risks that went unreported at the time of donation, such as high-risk sexual behaviors in the preceding 6 months (population-attributable fraction, 34%) or lifetime histories of drug use (population-attributable fraction, 28%). This study raises questions about the effectiveness of deferral policy in excluding high-risk individuals. In addition, it provides further evidence supporting short, temporal deferrals for small medical procedures and dental treatments in Poland. © 2017 AABB.

The Role of Negative Affect and Physiological Regulation in maternal attribution

PubMed Central

Wang, Zhe; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Bell, Martha Ann

2016-01-01

SYNOPSIS Objective Mothers who attribute child misbehaviors to children’s intentions, and not to situational causes, show more hostile parenting behaviors. Why are some mothers more likely than others to make more hostile attributions (i.e., high intentional attributions and low situational attributions) when confronted with child challenging behaviors? We examined the relation between mothers’ perception of child challenging behaviors and their hostile attributions of child misbehaviors, with an emphasis on how maternal negative affect and resting vagal activity moderated this relation. Design 160 mothers of 3- to 7-year-old children reported their perceptions of child problem behaviors, their attributions regarding child misbehaviors, and their temperamental negative affect. Mothers’ respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was measured during resting state. Results Maternal perceptions of child challenging behaviors were positively related to hostile maternal attributions, and this relation was strongest in mothers with high negative affect and low resting RSA. Conclusions These findings indicate the importance of considering mothers’ affective and physiological attributes when examining social-cognitive processes in parenting. PMID:27667969

Is God just a big person? Children's conceptions of God across cultures and religious traditions.

PubMed

Nyhof, Melanie A; Johnson, Carl N

2017-03-01

The present research examines the influence of intuitive cognitive domain and religion on the God concepts of children growing up in religious traditions that present God in ways varying from abstract to concrete. In Study 1, we compared children from a Latter-Day Saints (LDS) background with those from mainstream Christian (MC) backgrounds in the United States. In contrast to MC theology that holds that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and disembodied, LDS theology depicts God as embodied. In Study 1, 3- to 7-year-olds from LDS and MC backgrounds were asked about supernatural mental and immaterial attributes of God, a ghost, a dad, and a bug. In Study 2, children ages 3-7 from Muslim and Catholic backgrounds in Indonesia were presented with a variant of Study 1. Taken together, the two studies examine the God concepts of children raised in three different religious traditions with God concepts that range from highly abstract to concrete. Overall, we find that the youngest children, regardless of religion, distinguish God from humans and hold similar ideas of God, attributing more supernatural psychological than physical properties. Older children's conceptions of God are more in line with the theological notions of their traditions. The results suggest that children are not simply anthropomorphic in their God concepts, but early on understand supernatural agents as having special mental properties and they continue to learn about differences between agents, influenced by their religious traditions. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject Research on children's God concepts has established that children begin to distinguish the mind of God from that of humans by around age 4-5. The main debate in the field is whether children start out thinking about God in anthropomorphic terms or whether they start out with an undifferentiated idea of agents' minds as all having access to knowledge. Research on children's understanding of immortality has demonstrated that around the same age that children begin differentiating God's mind from human minds, they also differentiate between the two in terms of life-cycle attributes, attributing immortality to God, but not to humans. What does this study add? The present research contributes to the field by examining the God concepts of children from different religious backgrounds. These religious backgrounds have theologies with God concepts that range from physically concrete (Latter-Day Saints or Mormonism) to highly abstract (Islam). We also include Christian samples for comparison. The present research examines children's attributions to different supernatural agents including God, but also a ghost and an angel. The present studies look at children's attribution of not only supernatural mental attributions, but also the supernatural physical attributions of immateriality and omnipresence that have been understudied. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

A neuroimaging investigation of attribute framing and individual differences.

PubMed

Murch, Kevin B; Krawczyk, Daniel C

2014-10-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to evaluate the neural basis of framing effects. We tested the reflexive and reflective systems model of social cognition as it relates to framing. We also examined the relationships among frame susceptibility, intelligence and personality measures. Participants evaluated whether personal attributes applied to themselves from multiple perspectives and in positive and negative frames. Participants rated whether each statement was descriptive or not and endorsed positive frames more than negative frames. Individual differences on frame decisions enabled us to form high and low frame susceptibility groups. Endorsement of frame-consistent attributes was associated with personality factors, cognitive reflection and intelligence. Reflexive brain regions were associated with positive frames while reflective areas were associated with negative frames. Region of Interest analyses showed that frame-inconsistent responses were associated with increased activation within reflective cognitive control regions including the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), dorsomedial PFC and left ventrolateral PFC. Frame-consistent responses were associated with increased activation in the right orbitofrontal cortex. These results demonstrate that individual differences in frame susceptibility influence personal attribute evaluations. Overall, this study clarifies the neural correlates of the reflective and reflexive systems of social cognition as applied to decisions about social attributions. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Understanding men's attributions of why they ejaculate before desired: an internet study.

PubMed

Rowland, David L; Neal, Cody J

2014-10-01

Recent developments in the study of men's sexual response have raised significant issues related to the definition and diagnosis of premature ejaculation (PE). We wanted to understand men's perceived reasons for "ejaculating before they wanted," whether they selected attributions from the same broad category when allowed to endorse multiple reasons, and whether younger and older cohorts differed in their attributions. A subsample of 376 men who indicated that they "ejaculated before they wanted" was drawn from a larger pool of 1,249 men participating in an online survey on men's sexual health. This subsample responded to a number of items regarding their ejaculatory patterns, including two questions listing 10 possible self-reported attributions/reasons for their quick ejaculation--one item allowed respondents to endorse multiple reasons, the other limited the response to the most important reason. The primary outcome measure was men's attributions for ejaculating before desired, with choices from 10 possible pretested reasons. In addition, concordance across attributions was determined, that is, if a man responded to one category, was he also likely to select another category? Men who met the ejaculatory latency criterion for PE were generally no different from those who did not. Overall, when required to select the most important attribution, most men identified a specific issue with "lack of self-efficacy" (lack of control or aroused too quickly). Few respondents identified erection loss, partner issues, or medical/medication concerns as the reason--and these patterns were independent of age. Concordance was high across self-efficacy attributions but low across other attributions. Most men who complain of ejaculating before desired attribute this response to problems with self-efficacy. Only a small percent of men identified other possible reasons for their quick ejaculation. Such findings have implications for both the diagnostic process and definitional language for PE. © 2014 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

Development and Validation of the Poverty Attributions Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Robert M.; Raiz, Lisa; Davis, Tamara S.

2016-01-01

This article describes the process of developing and testing the Poverty Attribution Survey (PAS), a measure of poverty attributions. The PAS is theory based and includes original items as well as items from previously tested poverty attribution instruments. The PAS was electronically administered to a sample of state-licensed professional social…

Assessment of colour changes during storage of elderberry juice concentrate solutions using the optimization method.

PubMed

Walkowiak-Tomczak, Dorota; Czapski, Janusz; Młynarczyk, Karolina

2016-01-01

Elderberries are a source of dietary supplements and bioactive compounds, such as anthocyanins. These dyes are used in food technology. The aim of the study was to assess the changes in colour parameters, anthocyanin contents and sensory attributes in solutions of elderberry juice concentrates during storage in a model system and to determine predictability of sensory attributes of colour in solutions based on regression equations using the response surface methodology. The experiment was carried out according to the 3-level factorial design for three factors. Independent variables included pH, storage time and temperature. Dependent variables were assumed to be the components and colour parameters in the CIE L*a*b* system, pigment contents and sensory attributes. Changes in colour components X, Y, Z and colour parameters L*, a*, b*, C* and h* were most dependent on pH values. Colour lightness L* and tone h* increased with an increase in experimental factors, while the share of the red colour a* and colour saturation C* decreased. The greatest effect on the anthocyanin concentration was recorded for storage time. Sensory attributes deteriorated during storage. The highest correlation coefficients were found between the value of colour tone h* and anthocyanin contents in relation to the assessment of the naturalness and desirability of colour. A high goodness-of-fit of the model to data and high values of R2 for regression equations were obtained for all responses. The response surface method facilitates optimization of experimental factor values in order to obtain a specific attribute of the product, but not in all cases of the experiment. Within the tested range of factors, it is possible to predict changes in anthocyanin content and the sensory attributes of elderberry juice concentrate solutions as food dye, on the basis of the lack of a fit test. The highest stability of dyes and colour of elderberry solutions was found in the samples at pH 3.0, which confirms the advisability of using an anthocyanin preparation to shape the colour of high-acidity food products, such as fruit fillings, beverages,desserts.

Mortality Attributable to Low Levels of Education in the United States.

PubMed

Krueger, Patrick M; Tran, Melanie K; Hummer, Robert A; Chang, Virginia W

2015-01-01

Educational disparities in U.S. adult mortality are large and have widened across birth cohorts. We consider three policy relevant scenarios and estimate the mortality attributable to: (1) individuals having less than a high school degree rather than a high school degree, (2) individuals having some college rather than a baccalaureate degree, and (3) individuals having anything less than a baccalaureate degree rather than a baccalaureate degree, using educational disparities specific to the 1925, 1935, and 1945 cohorts. We use the National Health Interview Survey data (1986-2004) linked to prospective mortality through 2006 (N=1,008,949), and discrete-time survival models, to estimate education- and cohort-specific mortality rates. We use those mortality rates and data on the 2010 U.S. population from the American Community Survey, to calculate annual attributable mortality estimates. If adults aged 25-85 in the 2010 U.S. population experienced the educational disparities in mortality observed in the 1945 cohort, 145,243 deaths could be attributed to individuals having less than a high school degree rather than a high school degree, 110,068 deaths could be attributed to individuals having some college rather than a baccalaureate degree, and 554,525 deaths could be attributed to individuals having anything less than a baccalaureate degree rather than a baccalaureate degree. Widening educational disparities between the 1925 and 1945 cohorts result in a doubling of attributable mortality. Mortality attributable to having less than a high school degree is proportionally similar among women and men and among non-Hispanic blacks and whites, and is greater for cardiovascular disease than for cancer. Mortality attributable to low education is comparable in magnitude to mortality attributable to individuals being current rather than former smokers. Existing research suggests that a substantial part of the association between education and mortality is causal. Thus, policies that increase education could significantly reduce adult mortality.

Mortality Attributable to Low Levels of Education in the United States

PubMed Central

Krueger, Patrick M.; Tran, Melanie K.; Hummer, Robert A.; Chang, Virginia W.

2015-01-01

Background Educational disparities in U.S. adult mortality are large and have widened across birth cohorts. We consider three policy relevant scenarios and estimate the mortality attributable to: (1) individuals having less than a high school degree rather than a high school degree, (2) individuals having some college rather than a baccalaureate degree, and (3) individuals having anything less than a baccalaureate degree rather than a baccalaureate degree, using educational disparities specific to the 1925, 1935, and 1945 cohorts. Methods We use the National Health Interview Survey data (1986–2004) linked to prospective mortality through 2006 (N=1,008,949), and discrete-time survival models, to estimate education- and cohort-specific mortality rates. We use those mortality rates and data on the 2010 U.S. population from the American Community Survey, to calculate annual attributable mortality estimates. Results If adults aged 25–85 in the 2010 U.S. population experienced the educational disparities in mortality observed in the 1945 cohort, 145,243 deaths could be attributed to individuals having less than a high school degree rather than a high school degree, 110,068 deaths could be attributed to individuals having some college rather than a baccalaureate degree, and 554,525 deaths could be attributed to individuals having anything less than a baccalaureate degree rather than a baccalaureate degree. Widening educational disparities between the 1925 and 1945 cohorts result in a doubling of attributable mortality. Mortality attributable to having less than a high school degree is proportionally similar among women and men and among non-Hispanic blacks and whites, and is greater for cardiovascular disease than for cancer. Conclusions Mortality attributable to low education is comparable in magnitude to mortality attributable to individuals being current rather than former smokers. Existing research suggests that a substantial part of the association between education and mortality is causal. Thus, policies that increase education could significantly reduce adult mortality. PMID:26153885

Attribution of irreversible loss to anthropogenic climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huggel, Christian; Bresch, David; Hansen, Gerrit; James, Rachel; Mechler, Reinhard; Stone, Dáithí; Wallimann-Helmer, Ivo

2016-04-01

The Paris Agreement (2015) under the UNFCCC has anchored loss and damage in a separate article which specifies that understanding and support should be enhanced in areas addressing loss and damage such as early warning, preparedness, insurance and resilience. Irreversible loss is a special category under loss and damage but there is still missing clarity over what irreversible loss actually includes. Many negative impacts of climate change may be handled or mitigated by existing risk management, reduction and absorption approaches. Irreversible loss, however, is thought to be insufficiently addressed by risk management. Therefore, countries potentially or actually affected by irreversible loss are calling for other measures such as compensation, which however is highly contested in international climate policy. In Paris (2015) a decision was adopted that loss and damage as defined in the respective article of the agreement does not involve compensation and liability. Nevertheless, it is likely that some sort of mechanism will eventually need to come into play for irreversible loss due to anthropogenic climate change, which might involve compensation, other forms of non-monetary reparation, or transformation. Furthermore, climate litigation has increasingly been attempted to address negative effects of climate change. In this context, attribution is important to understand the drivers of change, what counts as irreversible loss due to climate change, and, possibly, who or what is responsible. Here we approach this issue by applying a detection and attribution perspective on irreversible loss. We first analyze detected climate change impacts as assessed in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. We distinguish between irreversible loss in physical, biological and human systems, and accordingly identify the following candidates of irreversible loss in these systems: loss of glaciers and ice sheets, loss of subsurface ice (permafrost) and related loss of lake systems; loss of land area due to coastal and hillslope erosion and sea level change; loss of plant and animal species, loss of ecosystems and biodiversity; loss of human lives, homelands, and cultural identity. Attribution to anthropogenic climate change is analyzed based on recent progress following from the IPCC AR5. Generally, high confidence in attributing irreversible loss to anthropogenic climate change is found in physical systems and more specifically in cryosphere environments, both in mountain and polar regions. Detected loss in terrestrial ecosystems has typically low confidence in attribution whereas loss in some ocean ecosystems (corals) has high confidence. Impacts in human systems that may be classified as irreversible loss are of low confidence in terms of attribution except for the Arctic where higher confidence for a relation with anthropogenic emissions was found. Our analysis suggests that scientific progress in detection and attribution is now at a level that would likely allow policy, or courts, to define mechanisms, or take decisions, as related to irreversible loss in many cryosphere systems. On the other hand, policy may need to consider that at least in the near future it will be difficult to establish clear tracks between irreversible loss in most human systems and anthropogenic climate change, a domain, which however is at the forefront of discussions. We end our discussion with setting out ideas for further clarification of different categories of irreversible loss, including in human systems, and the role of attribution in any policy or legal mechanism in order to help in the development of just and sensible solutions.

Productivity losses attributable to untreated chlamydial infection and associated pelvic inflammatory disease in reproductive-aged women.

PubMed

Blandford, John M; Gift, Thomas L

2006-10-01

The productivity losses attributable to disease-related morbidity and mortality impose a burden on society in general and on employers in particular. A reliable assessment of the productivity losses associated with untreated infection with Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) would complement earlier work on direct medical costs and contribute to an estimate of the full cost of chlamydial disease. The goal of this study was to estimate the discounted lifetime productivity losses attributable to untreated chlamydial infection in reproductive-aged women. We developed a cost model using Monte Carlo methods to estimate the lifetime discounted productivity losses attributable to untreated lower genital tract Ct infection among reproductive-aged women. The model considered the impact of disability resulting from acute pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) associated with untreated Ct infection and from the sequelae of acute PID, including chronic pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility. To accommodate disparate Ct infection rates and labor market characteristics across age groups, we matched age-based risk factors for Ct infection with labor market patterns. Data sources included the 2001 National Chlamydia Surveillance Data, the 2001 Current Population Survey, and published literature. Estimates indicate that the mean weighted productivity losses per untreated Ct infection were approximately US dollars 130 (in year 2001 dollars). Mean weighted productivity losses per case of acute PID were estimated at US dollars 649. Estimated productivity losses were highly correlated with age, reflecting age-dependent differences in labor market characteristics. The productivity losses attributable to untreated infection with Ct and to sequelae of this infection form a substantial portion of the total economic burden of disease. Effective programs to prevent chlamydial infection and effective screening, diagnosis, and treatment of Ct-infected women may reduce productivity losses and substantially lessen the economic burden of disease to employers.

Deaths and Medical Visits Attributable to Environmental Pollution in the United Arab Emirates

PubMed Central

MacDonald Gibson, Jacqueline; Thomsen, Jens; Launay, Frederic; Harder, Elizabeth; DeFelice, Nicholas

2013-01-01

Background This study estimates the potential health gains achievable in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with improved controls on environmental pollution. The UAE is an emerging economy in which population health risks have shifted rapidly from infectious diseases to chronic conditions observed in developed nations. The UAE government commissioned this work as part of an environmental health strategic planning project intended to address this shift in the nature of the country’s disease burden. Methods and Findings We assessed the burden of disease attributable to six environmental exposure routes outdoor air, indoor air, drinking water, coastal water, occupational environments, and climate change. For every exposure route, we integrated UAE environmental monitoring and public health data in a spatially resolved Monte Carlo simulation model to estimate the annual disease burden attributable to selected pollutants. The assessment included the entire UAE population (4.5 million for the year of analysis). The study found that outdoor air pollution was the leading contributor to mortality, with 651 attributable deaths (95% confidence interval [CI] 143–1,440), or 7.3% of all deaths. Indoor air pollution and occupational exposures were the second and third leading contributors to mortality, with 153 (95% CI 85–216) and 46 attributable deaths (95% CI 26–72), respectively. The leading contributor to health-care facility visits was drinking water pollution, to which 46,600 (95% CI 15,300–61,400) health-care facility visits were attributed (about 15% of the visits for all the diseases considered in this study). Major study limitations included (1) a lack of information needed to translate health-care facility visits to quality-adjusted-life-year estimates and (2) insufficient spatial coverage of environmental data. Conclusions Based on international comparisons, the UAE’s environmental disease burden is low for all factors except outdoor air pollution. From a public health perspective, reducing pollutant emissions to outdoor air should be a high priority for the UAE’s environmental agencies. PMID:23469200

Deaths and medical visits attributable to environmental pollution in the United Arab Emirates.

PubMed

MacDonald Gibson, Jacqueline; Thomsen, Jens; Launay, Frederic; Harder, Elizabeth; DeFelice, Nicholas

2013-01-01

This study estimates the potential health gains achievable in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with improved controls on environmental pollution. The UAE is an emerging economy in which population health risks have shifted rapidly from infectious diseases to chronic conditions observed in developed nations. The UAE government commissioned this work as part of an environmental health strategic planning project intended to address this shift in the nature of the country's disease burden. We assessed the burden of disease attributable to six environmental exposure routes outdoor air, indoor air, drinking water, coastal water, occupational environments, and climate change. For every exposure route, we integrated UAE environmental monitoring and public health data in a spatially resolved Monte Carlo simulation model to estimate the annual disease burden attributable to selected pollutants. The assessment included the entire UAE population (4.5 million for the year of analysis). The study found that outdoor air pollution was the leading contributor to mortality, with 651 attributable deaths (95% confidence interval [CI] 143-1,440), or 7.3% of all deaths. Indoor air pollution and occupational exposures were the second and third leading contributors to mortality, with 153 (95% CI 85-216) and 46 attributable deaths (95% CI 26-72), respectively. The leading contributor to health-care facility visits was drinking water pollution, to which 46,600 (95% CI 15,300-61,400) health-care facility visits were attributed (about 15% of the visits for all the diseases considered in this study). Major study limitations included (1) a lack of information needed to translate health-care facility visits to quality-adjusted-life-year estimates and (2) insufficient spatial coverage of environmental data. Based on international comparisons, the UAE's environmental disease burden is low for all factors except outdoor air pollution. From a public health perspective, reducing pollutant emissions to outdoor air should be a high priority for the UAE's environmental agencies.

Physician recruitment and retention in Manitoba: results from a survey of physicians' preferences for rural jobs.

PubMed

Witt, Julia

2017-01-01

Rural recruitment and retention continues to present challenges to health workforce planners. This paper reports and analyzes the results of a survey sent to physicians in Manitoba, eliciting their opinions regarding rural jobs. A survey was sent to all physicians in Manitoba. Part 1 of the survey included questions about background and demographic information; part 2 was a set of job satisfaction questions regarding respondents' current job; and part 3 included 2 sets of stated-choice questions eliciting preferences for a set of attributes relevant to rural recruitment and retention. Of the 2487 physicians who received surveys, 561 (22.6%) responded. Respondents indicated that income, hours worked and on-call frequency are very important: overall job satisfaction increased with income and decreased with hours worked. Income, hours and on-call frequency were ranked "very important" by the largest proportions of physicians. The estimated compensation for on-call more frequent than 1-in-4 was very high (82% of average income), and additional hours worked were worth $183 per hour. Other attributes that were important included professional interaction, housing availability and community incentives during the first year, which were valued at 11%-31% of annual income. Work-life balance is a key consideration for rural jobs, and there are incentives that can compensate for less desirable attributes.

Leadership and Management Are One and the Same.

PubMed

Azad, Neelam; Anderson, H Glenn; Brooks, Amie; Garza, Oscar; O'Neil, Christine; Stutz, Misty M; Sobotka, Jenelle L

2017-08-01

Defining the attributes of change catalysts within high functioning organizations, including the academic enterprise, is desirable. An understanding of these attributes within our academy may foster faculty interest and engagement in seeking administrative roles and serve to bolster succession planning within our schools. On one hand, there have been numerous publications teasing out the purported differences between leadership and management. On the other hand, does segregating these important characteristics based upon arbitrary distinctions do more harm than good? This commentary represents the work of a group of academic leaders participating in the 2015-2016 AACP Academic Leadership Fellowship Program. This work was presented as a debate at the 2016 AACP Interim Meeting in Tampa, Florida, in February 2016.

High School Students' Academic Causal Attributions in the Cultural-Political Context of the Arab School System in Israel

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaplan, Avi; Yahia, Yasmin

2017-01-01

While motivation is commonly interpreted as an individual student's characteristic, motivational perceptions and beliefs, such as causal attributions of success and failure, are embedded in cultural meanings and contextual practices. The current study aimed to investigate causal attributions among Arab high school students in Israel and to…

CALIBRATION OF SEISMIC ATTRIBUTES FOR RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION

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

Wayne D. Pennington; Horacio Acevedo; Aaron Green

2002-10-01

The project, ''Calibration of Seismic Attributes for Reservoir Calibration,'' is now complete. Our original proposed scope of work included detailed analysis of seismic and other data from two to three hydrocarbon fields; we have analyzed data from four fields at this level of detail, two additional fields with less detail, and one other 2D seismic line used for experimentation. We also included time-lapse seismic data with ocean-bottom cable recordings in addition to the originally proposed static field data. A large number of publications and presentations have resulted from this work, including several that are in final stages of preparation ormore » printing; one of these is a chapter on ''Reservoir Geophysics'' for the new Petroleum Engineering Handbook from the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Major results from this project include a new approach to evaluating seismic attributes in time-lapse monitoring studies, evaluation of pitfalls in the use of point-based measurements and facies classifications, novel applications of inversion results, improved methods of tying seismic data to the wellbore, and a comparison of methods used to detect pressure compartments. Some of the data sets used are in the public domain, allowing other investigators to test our techniques or to improve upon them using the same data. From the public-domain Stratton data set we have demonstrated that an apparent correlation between attributes derived along ''phantom'' horizons are artifacts of isopach changes; only if the interpreter understands that the interpretation is based on this correlation with bed thickening or thinning, can reliable interpretations of channel horizons and facies be made. From the public-domain Boonsville data set we developed techniques to use conventional seismic attributes, including seismic facies generated under various neural network procedures, to subdivide regional facies determined from logs into productive and non-productive subfacies, and we developed a method involving cross-correlation of seismic waveforms to provide a reliable map of the various facies present in the area. The Wamsutter data set led to the use of unconventional attributes including lateral incoherence and horizon-dependent impedance variations to indicate regions of former sand bars and current high pressure, respectively, and to evaluation of various upscaling routines. The Teal South data set has provided a surprising set of results, leading us to develop a pressure-dependent velocity relationship and to conclude that nearby reservoirs are undergoing a pressure drop in response to the production of the main reservoir, implying that oil is being lost through their spill points, never to be produced. Additional results were found using the public-domain Waha and Woresham-Bayer data set, and some tests of technologies were made using 2D seismic lines from Michigan and the western Pacific ocean.« less

Grandparents Living with Children: State-Level Data from the American Community Survey. Research Brief. Publication #2012-30

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphey, David; Cooper, Mae; Moore, Kristin A.

2012-01-01

In recent years, increasing numbers of grandparents in the U.S. are living with their grandchildren, and many grandparents are responsible for their care. These trends can be attributed to a number of factors, including increasing numbers of single-parent families, continued high rates of marriage dissolution, parents' incarceration, parental…

Theory of mind and central coherence in adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome.

PubMed

Beaumont, Renae; Newcombe, Peter

2006-07-01

The study investigated theory of mind and central coherence abilities in adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger syndrome (AS) using naturalistic tasks. Twenty adults with HFA/AS correctly answered significantly fewer theory of mind questions than 20 controls on a forced-choice response task. On a narrative task, there were no differences in the proportion of mental state words between the two groups, although the participants with HFA/AS were less inclined to provide explanations for characters' mental states. No between-group differences existed on the central coherence questions of the forced-choice response task, and the participants with HFA/AS included an equivalent proportion of explanations for non-mental state phenomena in their narratives as did controls. These results support the theory of mind deficit account of autism spectrum disorders, and suggest that difficulties in mental state attribution cannot be exclusively attributed to weak central coherence.

Assessment of the Utility of the Advanced Himawari Imager to Detect Active Fire Over Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hally, B.; Wallace, L.; Reinke, K.; Jones, S.

2016-06-01

Wildfire detection and attribution is an issue of importance due to the socio-economic impact of fires in Australia. Early detection of fires allows emergency response agencies to make informed decisions in order to minimise loss of life and protect strategic resources in threatened areas. Until recently, the ability of land management authorities to accurately assess fire through satellite observations of Australia was limited to those made by polar orbiting satellites. The launch of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) Himawari-8 satellite, with the 16-band Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI-8) onboard, in October 2014 presents a significant opportunity to improve the timeliness of satellite fire detection across Australia. The near real-time availability of images, at a ten minute frequency, may also provide contextual information (background temperature) leading to improvements in the assessment of fire characteristics. This paper investigates the application of the high frequency observation data supplied by this sensor for fire detection and attribution. As AHI-8 is a new sensor we have performed an analysis of the noise characteristics of the two spectral bands used for fire attribution across various land use types which occur in Australia. Using this information we have adapted existing algorithms, based upon least squares error minimisation and Kalman filtering, which utilise high frequency observations of surface temperature to detect and attribute fire. The fire detection and attribution information provided by these algorithms is then compared to existing satellite based fire products as well as in-situ information provided by land management agencies. These comparisons were made Australia-wide for an entire fire season - including many significant fire events (wildfires and prescribed burns). Preliminary detection results suggest that these methods for fire detection perform comparably to existing fire products and fire incident reporting from relevant fire authorities but with the advantage of being near-real time. Issues remain for detection due to cloud and smoke obscuration, along with validation of the attribution of fire characteristics using these algorithms.

Causal attribution of mental illness in South-Eastern Nigeria.

PubMed

Ikwuka, Ugo; Galbraith, Niall; Nyatanga, Lovemore

2014-05-01

Understanding of mental illness in sub-Saharan Africa has remained under-researched in spite of the high and increasing neuropsychiatric burden of disease in the region. This study investigated the causal beliefs that the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria hold about schizophrenia, with a view to establishing the extent to which the population makes psychosocial, biological and supernatural attributions. Multi-stage sampling was used to select participants (N = 200) to which questionnaires were administered. Mean comparison of the three causal models revealed a significant endorsement of supernatural causation. Logistic regressions revealed significant contributions of old age and female gender to supernatural attribution; old age, high education and Catholic religious denomination to psychosocial attributions; and high education to biological attributions. It is hoped that the findings would enlighten, augment literature and enhance mental health care service delivery.

The Relationship of Early Maladaptive Schemas, Attributional Styles and Learned Helplessness among Addicted and Non-Addicted Men.

PubMed

Shaghaghy, Farhad; Saffarinia, Majid; Iranpoor, Mohadeseh; Soltanynejad, Ali

2011-01-01

Addiction is considered as one of the major problems in family and community in the world. According to cognitive view, organizing the experiences determines how to behave. Due to their importance in interpretation of special situations, cognitive schemas and attributional styles have a significant role in cognitive theories. The aim of this study was to compare early maladaptive schemas and attributional styles in addicts and non-addicts to recognize their role in addiction. In this causal-comparative study, 200 addicted and non-addicted men were randomly selected. Young early maladaptive schema and attributional styles questionnaires were used. Data analysis was performed by independent t-test, Pearson correlation and regression. The study population included 81 addicted and 90 non-addicted men. There were significant differences between early maladaptive schemas and attributional styles in the two groups of addicted and non-addicted men (P < 0.001). In addition, addicts had higher levels of learned helplessness. A direct relationship was found between learned helplessness and frequency of addiction treatments (r ═ 0.234, P < 0.05). Our study showed that addicts suffer from high levels of early maladaptive schemas. They had a more pessimistic attributional style. Moreover, addicts who developed higher levels of learned helplessness were less successful in addiction treatment and more likely to use drugs again after treatment. These issues show that addiction institutions and therapists have to pay attention to cognitive factors for addiction prevention.

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

Coppens, Philip; Fournier, Bertrand

Here, the need for data-scaling has become increasingly evident as time-resolved pump-probe photocrystallography is rapidly developing at high intensity X-ray sources. Several aspects of the scaling of data sets collected at synchrotrons, XFELs (X-ray Free Electron Lasers) and high-intensity pulsed electron sources are discussed. They include laser-ON/laser-OFF data scaling, inter- and intra-data set scaling. (C) 2015 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Assessment of Aerothermal Heating Augmentation Attributed to Surface Catalysis in High Enthalpy Shock Tunnel Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacLean, M.; Holden, M.

2009-01-01

The effect of gas/surface interaction in making CFD predictions of convective heating has been considered with application to ground tests performed in high enthalpy shock tunnels where additional heating augmentation attributable to surface recombination has been observed for nitrogen, air and carbon dioxide flows. For test articles constructed of stainless steel and aluminum, measurements have been made with several types of heat transfer instrumentation including thin- film, calorimeter, and coaxial thermocouple sensors. These experiments have been modeled by computations made with the high quality, chemically reacting, Navier- Stokes solver, DPLR and the heating results compared. Some typical cases considered include results on an axisymmetric sphere-cone, axisymmetric spherical capsule, spherical capsule at angle of attack, and two- dimensional cylinder. In nitrogen flows, cases considered show a recombination probability on the order of 10-3, which agrees with published data. In many cases in air and CO2, measurements exceeding the predicted level of convective heating have been observed which are consistent with approximately complete recombination (to O2/N2 or CO2) on the surface of the model (sometimes called a super-catalytic wall). It has been recognized that the conclusion that this behavior is tied to an excessively high degree of catalytic efficiency is dependent on the current understanding of the freestream and shock-layer state of the gas.

Customers' attributional judgments towards complaint handling in airline service: a confirmatory study based on attribution theory.

PubMed

Chiou, Wen-Bin

2007-06-01

Besides flight safety, complaint handling plays a crucial role in airline service. Based upon Kelley's attribution theory, in the present study customers' attributions were examined under different conditions of complaint handling by the airlines. There were 531 passengers (216 women; ages 21 to 63 years, M = 41.5, SD = 11.1) with experiences of customer complaints who were recruited while awaiting boarding. Participants received one hypothetical scenario of three attributional conditions about complaint handling and then reported their attributional judgments. The findings indicated that the passengers were most likely to attribute the company's complaint handling to unconditional compliance when the airline company reacted to customer complaints under low distinctiveness, high consistency, and when consensus among the airlines was low. On the other hand, most passengers attributed the company's complaint handling to conditional compliance under the conditions in which distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus were all high. The results provide further insights into how different policies of complaint management affect customers' attributions. Future directions and managerial implications are also discussed.

Patient-Centered Medical Home Implementation in the Veterans Health Administration and Primary Care Use: Differences by Patient Comorbidity Burden.

PubMed

Wong, Edwin S; Rosland, Ann-Marie; Fihn, Stephan D; Nelson, Karin M

2016-12-01

The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model has several components to improve care for patients with high comorbidity, including greater access to face-to-face primary care. We examined whether high-comorbidity patients had larger increases in primary care provider (PCP) visits attributable to PCMH implementation in a large integrated health system relative to other patients enrolled in primary care. This longitudinal study examined a 1 % random sample of 9.3 million patients enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) at any time between 2003 and 2013. Face-to-face visits with PCPs per quarter were identified through VHA administrative data. Comorbidity was measured using the Gagne index and patients with a weighted score of ≥ 2 were defined as high comorbidity. We applied interrupted time-series models to estimate marginal changes in PCP visits attributable to PCMH implementation. Differences in marginal changes were calculated across comorbidity groups (high vs. low). Analyses were stratified by age group to account for Medicare eligibility. Among age 65+ patients, PCMH was associated with greater PCP visits starting four and ten quarters following implementation for high- and low-comorbidity patients, respectively. Changes were larger for high-comorbidity patients (eight to 11 greater visits per 1000 patients per quarter). Among patients age < 65, PCMH was associated with greater visits for high-comorbidity patients starting eight quarters following implementation, but fewer visits for low-comorbidity patients in all quarters. The difference in visit changes across groups ranged from 18 to 67 visits per 1000 patients per quarter. Increases in PCP visits attributable to PCMH were greater among patients with higher comorbidity. Health systems implementing PCMH should account for population-level comorbidity burden when planning for PCMH-related changes in PCP utilization.

Perceived environmental correlates of physical activity for leisure and transportation in Curitiba, Brazil.

PubMed

Parra, Diana C; Hoehner, Christine M; Hallal, Pedro C; Ribeiro, Isabela C; Reis, Rodrigo; Brownson, Ross C; Pratt, Michael; Simoes, Eduardo J

2011-01-01

Physical activity (PA) has consistently been associated with perceived environmental characteristics. To examine the association between perceived environmental attributes and various forms of PA in Curitiba, Brazil. A cross-sectional phone survey of adults was conducted in 2008 (n=2097). The questionnaire included environmental perceptions and PA. Principal components analysis was used to identify groups of perceived environmental attributes. Multivariate methods tested the associations of PA with perceived environment characteristics. Perceptions of moderate and high personal safety were positively associated with walking for transportation (53.0%, 53.1% vs. 47.3%, both adjusted ORs [aOR]=1.5). Number of destinations within a 10-minute walk (4 and >6 vs. <3) was positively associated with bicycling for transportation (7.8%, 9.9% vs.4.8%, aOR=2.5). Perception of high accessibility was positively associated with MVPA during leisure time (35.1% vs. 19.1, aOR=1.7) and meeting recommendations for total PA (58.7% vs. 45.1%, aOR=1.4). Perception of high quality of the pedestrian space (57.3% vs. 46.5%, aOR=1.4) and moderate levels of personal safety (54.3% vs. 47.6%, aOR=1.3) were also positively associated with meeting recommendations for total PA. Different environmental attributes were associated with different PA outcomes, suggesting that these relationships are complex and may differ from those in high-income countries. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

QUANTIFYING STRUCTURAL PHYSICAL HABITAT ATTRIBUTES USING LIDAR AND HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGERY

EPA Science Inventory

Structural physical habitat attributes include indices of stream size, channel gradient, substrate size, habitat complexity and cover, riparian vegetation cover and structure, anthropogenic disturbances and channel-riparian interaction. These habitat attributes will vary dependen...

Attributional biases about the origins of attitudes: externality, emotionality, and rationality.

PubMed

Kenworthy, Jared B; Miller, Norman

2002-05-01

Pilot work and 3 studies investigated the ways people explain the origins of attitudes. Study I examined the use of 3 dimensions (externality, rationality, emotionality) to explain the origin of people's own, in-group, and out-group attitudes. Attributions for own attitudes were the least externally and emotionally based and the most rationally based. By comparison with the out-group, less externality, less emotionality, and more rationality also were attributed to in-group attitudes. Studies 2 and 3 examined the effects of intergroup threat on attributions for in- and out-group attitude positions. Under high threat, more externality and emotionality but less rationality were attributed to out-group attitudes than under low threat. Intergroup differentiation mediated the difference between out-group attributions under high and low threat.

An importance-performance analysis of hospital information system attributes: A nurses' perspective.

PubMed

Cohen, Jason F; Coleman, Emma; Kangethe, Matheri J

2016-02-01

Health workers have numerous concerns about hospital IS (HIS) usage. Addressing these concerns requires understanding the system attributes most important to their satisfaction and productivity. Following a recent HIS implementation, our objective was to identify priorities for managerial intervention based on user evaluations of the performance of the HIS attributes as well as the relative importance of these attributes to user satisfaction and productivity outcomes. We collected data along a set of attributes representing system quality, data quality, information quality, and service quality from 154 nurse users. Their quantitative responses were analysed using the partial least squares approach followed by an importance-performance analysis. Qualitative responses were analysed using thematic analysis to triangulate and supplement the quantitative findings. Two system quality attributes (responsiveness and ease of learning), one information quality attribute (detail), one service quality attribute (sufficient support), and three data quality attributes (records complete, accurate and never missing) were identified as high priorities for intervention. Our application of importance-performance analysis is unique in HIS evaluation and we have illustrated its utility for identifying those system attributes for which underperformance is not acceptable to users and therefore should be high priorities for intervention. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Incorporating a Discussion of Genetic Attributions into Psychology Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheldon, Jane P.

2018-01-01

A highly relevant construct that may need more emphasis in our psychology courses is genetic attributions. Attributions are causal explanations people make for specific behaviors, characteristics, occurrences, or differences. Research has found that genetic attributions are related to numerous biopsychosocial phenomena (e.g., perceptions about…

Attributable cost and length of stay for central line-associated bloodstream infections.

PubMed

Goudie, Anthony; Dynan, Linda; Brady, Patrick W; Rettiganti, Mallikarjuna

2014-06-01

Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) are common types of hospital-acquired infections associated with high morbidity. Little is known about the attributable cost and length of stay (LOS) of CLABSI in pediatric inpatient settings. We determined the cost and LOS attributable to pediatric CLABSI from 2008 through 2011. A propensity score-matched case-control study was performed. Children <18 years with inpatient discharges in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample databases from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project from 2008 to 2011 were included. Discharges with CLABSI were matched to those without CLABSI by age, year, and high dimensional propensity score (obtained from a logistic regression of CLABSI status on patient characteristics and the presence or absence of 262 individual clinical classification software diagnoses). Our main outcome measures were estimated costs obtained from cost-to-charge ratios and LOS for pediatric discharges. The mean attributable cost and LOS between matched CLABSI cases (1339) and non-CLABSI controls (2678) was $55 646 (2011 dollars) and 19 days, respectively. Between 2008 and 2011, the rate of pediatric CLABSI declined from 1.08 to 0.60 per 1000 (P < .001). Estimates of mean costs of treating patients with CLABSI declined from $111 852 to $98 621 (11.8%; P < .001) over this period, but cost of treating matched non-CLABSI patients remained constant at ∼$48 000. Despite significant improvement in rates, CLABSI remains a burden on patients, families, and payers. Continued attention to CLABSI-prevention initiatives and lower-cost CLABSI care management strategies to support high-value pediatric care delivery is warranted. Copyright © 2014 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Overall quality and shelf life of minimally processed and modified atmosphere packaged 'ready-to-eat' pomegranate arils.

PubMed

Ayhan, Zehra; Eştürk, Okan

2009-06-01

Minimally processed ready-to-eat pomegranate arils have become popular due to their convenience, high value, unique sensory characteristics, and health benefits. The objective of this study was to monitor quality parameters and to extend the shelf life of ready-to-eat pomegranate arils packaged with modified atmospheres. Minimally processed pomegranate arils were packed in PP trays sealed with BOPP film under 4 atmospheres including low and super atmospheric oxygen. Packaged arils were stored at 5 degrees C for 18 d and monitored for internal atmosphere and quality attributes. Atmosphere equilibrium was reached for all MAP applications except for high oxygen. As a general trend, slight or no significant change was detected in chemical and physical attributes of pomegranate arils during cold storage. The aerobic mesophilic bacteria were in the range of 2.30 to 4.51 log CFU/g at the end of the storage, which did not affect the sensory quality. Overall, the pomegranate arils packed with air, nitrogen, and enriched oxygen kept quality attributes and were acceptable to sensory panelists on day 18; however, marketability period was limited to 15 d for the low oxygen atmosphere. PP trays sealed with BOPP film combined with either passive or active modified atmospheres and storage at 5 degrees C provided commercially acceptable arils for 18 d with high quality and convenience.

On the scaling of multicrystal data sets collected at high-intensity X-ray and electron sources

DOE PAGES

Coppens, Philip; Fournier, Bertrand

2015-11-11

Here, the need for data-scaling has become increasingly evident as time-resolved pump-probe photocrystallography is rapidly developing at high intensity X-ray sources. Several aspects of the scaling of data sets collected at synchrotrons, XFELs (X-ray Free Electron Lasers) and high-intensity pulsed electron sources are discussed. They include laser-ON/laser-OFF data scaling, inter- and intra-data set scaling. (C) 2015 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Condom-associated erection problems: behavioural responses and attributions in young, heterosexual men

PubMed Central

Hill, Brandon J.; Sanders, Stephanie A.; Crosby, Richard A.; Ingelhart, Kara N.; Janssen, Erick

2015-01-01

Background Previous studies have associated men who experience condom-associated erection problems (CAEP) with incomplete condom use and/or foregoing using condoms altogether. However, how men respond to CAEP and what they attribute CAEP to, remains unclear. Understanding young men's CAEP responses and attributions could help improve sexually transmissible infections (STI)/HIV prevention programs and interventions. Methods Behavioural responses to, and attributions for, CAEP during application (CAEP-Application) and/or during penile-vaginal intercourse (CAEP-PVI) were reported using an online questionnaire by 295 young, heterosexual men (aged 18–24 years) who were recruited via social media websites and university Listservs across major cities in the Midwestern USA. Results Behavioural responses to CAEP-Application included receiving oral or manual stimulation, stimulating a partner, self-stimulation, foregoing condom use and applying the condom after starting intercourse. Attributions for CAEP-Application included: distraction, fit and feel problems, application taking too long and having consumed too much alcohol. Behavioural responses to CAEP-PVI included increasing the intensity of intercourse, removing the condom to receive oral or manual stimulation and removing condom and continuing intercourse. Attributions for CAEP-PVI included: lack of sensation, taking too long to orgasm, not being ‘turned on’ enough, fit and feel problems and partner-related factors. Conclusions Men who report CAEP respond with both STI/HIV risk-reducing and potentially risk-increasing behaviours (e.g. forgoing condom use). Men attribute their experiences to a wide range of individual- and partner-level factors. Addressing men's CAEP behavioural responses and attributions may increase the efficacious value of condom programs and STI/HIV prevention interventions – particularly among men who experience CAEP. PMID:26166025

How do people attribute income-related inequalities in health? A cross-sectional study in Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Lofters, Aisha; Slater, Morgan; Kirst, Maritt; Shankardass, Ketan; Quiñonez, Carlos

2014-01-01

Substantive equity-focused policy changes in Ontario, Canada have yet to be realized and may be limited by a lack of widespread public support. An understanding of how the public attributes inequalities can be informative for developing widespread support. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to examine how Ontarians attribute income-related health inequalities. We conducted a telephone survey of 2,006 Ontarians using random digit dialing. The survey included thirteen questions relevant to the theme of attributions of income-related health inequalities, with each statement linked to a known social determinant of health. The statements were further categorized depending on whether the statement was framed around blaming the poor for health inequalities, the plight of the poor as a cause of health inequalities, or the privilege of the rich as a cause of health inequalities. There was high agreement for statements that attributed inequalities to differences between the rich and the poor in terms of employment, social status, income and food security, and conversely, the least agreement for statements that attributed inequalities to differences in terms of early childhood development, social exclusion, the social gradient and personal health practices and coping skills. Mean agreement was lower for the two statements that suggested blame for income-related health inequalities lies with the poor (43.1%) than for the three statements that attributed inequalities to the plight of the poor (58.3%) or the eight statements that attributed inequalities to the privilege of the rich (58.7%). A majority of this sample of Ontarians were willing to attribute inequalities to the social determinants of health, and were willing to accept messages that framed inequalities around the privilege of the rich or the plight of the poor. These findings will inform education campaigns, campaigns aimed at increasing public support for equity-focused public policy, and knowledge translation strategies.

Valuation of environmental quality and eco-cultural attributes in Northwestern Idaho: Native Americans are more concerned than Caucasians

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

Burger, Joanna, E-mail: burger@biology.rutgers.edu; Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8082

Valuation of features of habitats and ecosystems usually encompasses the goods and services that ecosystems provide, but rarely also examine how people value ecological resources in terms of eco-cultural and sacred activities. The social, sacred, and cultural aspects of ecosystems are particularly important to Native Americans, but western science has rarely examined the importance of eco-cultural attributes quantitatively. In this paper I explore differences in ecosystem evaluations, and compare the perceptions and evaluations of places people go for consumptive and non-consumptive resource use with evaluations of the same qualities for religious and sacred places. Qualities of ecosystems included goods (abundantmore » fish and crabs, butterflies and flowers, clean water), services (complexity of nature, lack of radionuclides that present a health risk), and eco-cultural attributes (appears unspoiled, scenic horizons, noise-free). Native Americans and Caucasians were interviewed at a Pow Wow at Post Falls, Idaho, which is in the region with the Department of Energy's Hanford Site, known for its storage of radioactive wastes and contamination. A higher percentage of Native American subjects engaged in consumptive and religious activities than did Caucasians. Native Americans engaged in higher rates of many activities than did Caucasians, including commune with nature, pray or meditate, fish or hunt, collect herbs, and conduct vision quests or other ceremonies. For nearly all attributes, there was no difference in the relative ratings given by Native Americans for characteristics of sites used for consumption/non-consumptive activities compared to religious/sacred places. However, Caucasians rated nearly all attributes lower for religious/sacred places than they did for places where they engaged in consumptive or non-consumptive activities. Native Americans were less concerned with distance from home for consumptive/non-consumptive activities, compared to religious activities. - Research Highlights: {yields} A higher percentage of Native Americans engaged in consumptive and religious activities than did Caucasians interviewed. {yields} Caucasians rated environmental attributes as more important for consumptive and non-consumptive activities than they did for places where they engaged in religious/cultural ones. {yields} Native Americans rated environmental attributes as equally important regardless of the activities performed. {yields} Eco-cultural attributes (such as 'appears unspoiled') were rated as high as ecosystem services (e.g. unpolluted water).« less

Geologic map of Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wilson, Frederic H.; Hults, Chad P.; Mull, Charles G.; Karl, Susan M.

2015-12-31

This Alaska compilation is unique in that it is integrated with a rich database of information provided in the spatial datasets and standalone attribute databases. Within the spatial files every line and polygon is attributed to its original source; the references to these sources are contained in related tables, as well as in stand-alone tables. Additional attributes include typical lithology, geologic setting, and age range for the map units. Also included are tables of radiometric ages.

High School Students' Attributions of Success in English Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bouchaib, Benzehaf; Ahmadou, Bouylmani; Abdelkader, Sabil

2018-01-01

Research into students' attributional causes for success in language acquisition is currently receiving considerable attention. Situated within Weiner's attribution theory (1992), the present study aims to research factors contributing to success in foreign language learning with specific focus on the role of perceived causal attributions. The…

Seismic Evidence And Complex Trace Attributes Of Shallow Gas Structures In The Sea Of Marmara

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aydemir, Seval; Okay, Seda; Cifci, Gunay; Dondurur, Derman; Sorlien, Christopher; Cormier, Marie-Helene

2015-04-01

Analysis of multi-channel seismic reflection, sparker and chirp data from Marmara Sea observed various shallow gas indicators including seismic chimneys, bright spots, mud diapirs, pockmarks, and acoustic blanking related to gas accumulations along North Anatolian Fault (NAF) system which branches out towards the west into the in Marmara Sea. Middle branch of the (NAF) is the place where distinct amount of seismic activity has occurred and gas deposits have been observed. This study is also devoted to evaluate the gas related structures with seismic attributes of multichannel seismic reflection data which have been collected at South Marmara shelf. The dataset was collected in September 2013 and July 2014 including nearly 1000 km high Resolution Multichannel Seismic and Chirp data and 967 km Sparker data in the frame of a bilateral TÜBİTAK Project onboard R/V K. Piri Reis. The streamer has 168 or 144 channel and group interval was 6.25 m. The source was 45+45 inch GI gun fired every 12.5 or 25 m producing high-resolution seismic signal between 10-250 Hz frequency bands. The Chirp data was collected with a transducer, which produced acoustic signal between 2.75-6.75 kHz. The source of sparker system was used to 1000 J. The data have been processed using a conventional data processing flow. In addition attributes were applied to final migration sections and than was tried to find gas accumulations with Reflection strength section, instantaneous frequency section and apparent polarity. Reflection strength section has strong reflections (bright spot). Also instantaneous frequency section has low-frequency zone depending on absorption where gas accumulations are expected. Apparent polarity section has negative polarity anamoly due to low acoustic impedance where gas accumulations are expected in sediments. In addition, attributes were coincided with sparker and chirp data where expected shallow gas accumulations.

Thinking and feeling in the People's Republic of China: testing the generality of the "laws of emotion".

PubMed

Brown, Jonathon D; Cai, Huajian

2010-04-01

Cognitive theories of emotion assert that emotional reactions to events depend on the manner in which events are interpreted and appraised. From this perspective, the same outcome can produce different emotions. For example, a score of 85% on a test can evoke positive feelings if it is considered a success or negative feelings if it is considered a failure. Among the various appraisal dimensions that have been identified, causal attributions are thought to play a particularly influential role in shaping emotional reactions to various events. For example, success can evoke pride if it is attributed to high ability, gratitude if it is attributed to help from others, relief if it is attributed to a stroke of good fortune, or guilt if it is attained fraudulently or at the expense of others. These cognitive-affective linkages are thought to be universal. In this paper, we report two studies that tested the cross-cultural generality of some of these assumptions. In Study 1, participants from the People's Republic of China were led to succeed or fail on an (alleged) test of their intelligence and creativity. Consistent with previous findings with Western samples, attributions to ability predicted participants' emotional reactions to their test performance, with high ability attributions linked to greater pride following success. In Study 2, we extended these findings with American and Chinese participants, using a different experimental manipulation of success and failure, and a measure of attributions to effort. For both cultural groups, attributions to ability (but not attributions to effort) predicted greater emotional reactions to success. We conclude that attribution-emotion linkages have cross-cultural validity, and that pride is maximized when success is attributed to high ability.

Space Station needs, attributes and architectural options. Volume 2, book 1, part 2, task 1: Mission requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

Mission areas analyzed for input to the baseline mission model include: (1) commercial materials processing, including representative missions for producing metallurgical, chemical and biological products; (2) commercial Earth observation, represented by a typical carry-on mission amenable to commercialization; (3) solar terrestrial and resource observations including missions in geoscience and scientific land observation; (4) global environment, including representative missions in meteorology, climatology, ocean science, and atmospheric science; (5) materials science, including missions for measuring material properties, studying chemical reactions and utilizing the high vacuum-pumping capacity of space; and (6) life sciences with experiments in biomedicine and animal and plant biology.

Predictors and mediators of trait anger across the psychosis continuum: The role of attachment style, paranoia and social cognition.

PubMed

Darrell-Berry, Hannah; Bucci, Sandra; Palmier-Claus, Jasper; Emsley, Richard; Drake, Richard; Berry, Katherine

2017-03-01

Anger in the context of psychosis has a significant impact on treatment outcomes and serious implications for risk management. Understanding mechanisms underlying anger will improve interventions and inform strategies for prevention. This study is the first to examine the relationships between anger and key theoretical drivers across different phases of the psychosis continuum. A battery including measures of theory of mind, attachment, hostile attribution bias, paranoia and anger was administered to 174 participants (14 ultra-high risk, 20 first-episode, 20 established psychosis, 120 non-clinical participants). We tested the model that insecure attachment, paranoia, impaired theory of mind and hostile attribution bias would predict trait anger using multiple regression. Attachment avoidance, paranoia and hostile attribution bias were significantly associated with anger but attachment anxiety and theory of mind were not. Mediation analysis showed that paranoia partially mediated the relationship between avoidant attachment and anger but hostile attribution bias did not. Findings emphasise the importance of interventions targeting paranoia to reduce anger and the potential of preventive strategies focused on attachment relationships in early life or adulthood to reduce adult paranoia and anger. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Comparison of Flavor Differences between Pecan Cultivars in Raw and Roasted Forms.

PubMed

Magnuson, Shelby M; Kelly, Brendan; Koppel, Kadri; Reid, William

2016-05-01

The objective of this research was to explore sensory differences among 8 different pecan cultivars ("Pawnee," "Witte," "Kanza," "Major," "Lakota," "Giles," "Maramec," "Chetopa") in raw and roasted forms. The cultivars were collected from 2 growing seasons (2013 and 2014) and evaluated separately. Trained panelists evaluated each cultivar from each season in raw and roasted forms, measuring intensities of 20 flavor attributes using descriptive analysis. The intensities of 10 of the 20 flavor attributes were higher for the roasted pecans across all cultivars. These included pecan ID, overall nutty, nutty-woody, nutty-grainlike, nutty-buttery, brown, caramelized, roasted, overall sweet, and sweet. The cultivars exhibited significant differences from one another for 8 attributes: pecan ID, nutty-buttery, caramelized, acrid, woody, oily, astringent, and bitter. Each of the cultivars displayed unique flavor profiles with some demonstrating extremes of certain attributes, for example the high astringency of "Lakota" or the buttery characteristics of "Pawnee." These results may help pecan growers and pecan product manufacturers understand flavor differences between different varieties of pecans, both in raw and roasted states, and the changes that occur during this process. © 2016 Institute of Food Technologists®

Recent developments in stereoscopic and holographic 3D display technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarma, Kalluri

2014-06-01

Currently, there is increasing interest in the development of high performance 3D display technologies to support a variety of applications including medical imaging, scientific visualization, gaming, education, entertainment, air traffic control and remote operations in 3D environments. In this paper we will review the attributes of the various 3D display technologies including stereoscopic and holographic 3D, human factors issues of stereoscopic 3D, the challenges in realizing Holographic 3D displays and the recent progress in these technologies.

Generic robot architecture

DOEpatents

Bruemmer, David J [Idaho Falls, ID; Few, Douglas A [Idaho Falls, ID

2010-09-21

The present invention provides methods, computer readable media, and apparatuses for a generic robot architecture providing a framework that is easily portable to a variety of robot platforms and is configured to provide hardware abstractions, abstractions for generic robot attributes, environment abstractions, and robot behaviors. The generic robot architecture includes a hardware abstraction level and a robot abstraction level. The hardware abstraction level is configured for developing hardware abstractions that define, monitor, and control hardware modules available on a robot platform. The robot abstraction level is configured for defining robot attributes and provides a software framework for building robot behaviors from the robot attributes. Each of the robot attributes includes hardware information from at least one hardware abstraction. In addition, each robot attribute is configured to substantially isolate the robot behaviors from the at least one hardware abstraction.

Attachment Security Balances Perspectives: Effects of Security Priming on Highly Optimistic and Pessimistic Explanatory Styles.

PubMed

Deng, Yanhe; Yan, Mengge; Chen, Henry; Sun, Xin; Zhang, Peng; Zeng, Xianglong; Liu, Xiangping; Lye, Yue

2016-01-01

Highly optimistic explanatory style (HOES) and highly pessimistic explanatory style (HPES) are two maladaptive ways to explain the world and may have roots in attachment insecurity. The current study aims to explore the effects of security priming - activating supportive representations of attachment security - on ameliorating these maladaptive explanatory styles. 57 participants with HOES and 57 participants with HPES were randomized into security priming and control conditions. Their scores of overall optimistic attribution were measured before and after priming. Security priming had a moderating effect: the security primed HOES group exhibited lower optimistic attribution, while the security primed HPES group evinced higher scores of optimistic attribution. Furthermore, the security primed HOES group attributed positive outcomes more externally, while the security primed HPES group attributed successful results more internally. The results support the application of security priming interventions on maladaptive explanatory styles. Its potential mechanism and directions for future study are also discussed.

Cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes mortality burden of cardiometabolic risk factors from 1980 to 2010: a comparative risk assessment.

PubMed

2014-08-01

High blood pressure, blood glucose, serum cholesterol, and BMI are risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and some of these factors also increase the risk of chronic kidney disease and diabetes. We estimated mortality from cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes that was attributable to these four cardiometabolic risk factors for all countries and regions from 1980 to 2010. We used data for exposure to risk factors by country, age group, and sex from pooled analyses of population-based health surveys. We obtained relative risks for the effects of risk factors on cause-specific mortality from meta-analyses of large prospective studies. We calculated the population attributable fractions for each risk factor alone, and for the combination of all risk factors, accounting for multicausality and for mediation of the effects of BMI by the other three risks. We calculated attributable deaths by multiplying the cause-specific population attributable fractions by the number of disease-specific deaths. We obtained cause-specific mortality from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2010 Study. We propagated the uncertainties of all the inputs to the final estimates. In 2010, high blood pressure was the leading risk factor for deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes in every region, causing more than 40% of worldwide deaths from these diseases; high BMI and glucose were each responsible for about 15% of deaths, and high cholesterol for more than 10%. After accounting for multicausality, 63% (10·8 million deaths, 95% CI 10·1-11·5) of deaths from these diseases in 2010 were attributable to the combined effect of these four metabolic risk factors, compared with 67% (7·1 million deaths, 6·6-7·6) in 1980. The mortality burden of high BMI and glucose nearly doubled from 1980 to 2010. At the country level, age-standardised death rates from these diseases attributable to the combined effects of these four risk factors surpassed 925 deaths per 100 000 for men in Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia, but were less than 130 deaths per 100 000 for women and less than 200 for men in some high-income countries including Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, and Spain. The salient features of the cardiometabolic disease and risk factor epidemic at the beginning of the 21st century are high blood pressure and an increasing effect of obesity and diabetes. The mortality burden of cardiometabolic risk factors has shifted from high-income to low-income and middle-income countries. Lowering cardiometabolic risks through dietary, behavioural, and pharmacological interventions should be a part of the global response to non-communicable diseases. UK Medical Research Council, US National Institutes of Health. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Smart Location Database - Service

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Smart Location Database (SLD) summarizes over 80 demographic, built environment, transit service, and destination accessibility attributes for every census block group in the United States. Future updates to the SLD will include additional attributes which summarize the relative location efficiency of a block group when compared to other block groups within the same metropolitan region. EPA also plans to periodically update attributes and add new attributes to reflect latest available data. A log of SLD updates is included in the SLD User Guide. See the user guide for a full description of data sources, data currency, and known limitations: https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/OP/SLD/SLD_userguide.pdf

Smart Location Database - Download

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Smart Location Database (SLD) summarizes over 80 demographic, built environment, transit service, and destination accessibility attributes for every census block group in the United States. Future updates to the SLD will include additional attributes which summarize the relative location efficiency of a block group when compared to other block groups within the same metropolitan region. EPA also plans to periodically update attributes and add new attributes to reflect latest available data. A log of SLD updates is included in the SLD User Guide. See the user guide for a full description of data sources, data currency, and known limitations: https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/OP/SLD/SLD_userguide.pdf

Playing "Twenty Questions" with Attribute Blocks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pagni, David L.

1993-01-01

Investigates the problem of finding the expected number of questions necessary to identify 1 out of a set of 30 attribute blocks. Solutions include the use of a tree diagram or a computer simulation. Generalizes the problem for increased numbers of attributes. (MDH)

A Conceptual Framework for Quality of Care

PubMed Central

Mosadeghrad, Ali Mohammad

2012-01-01

Despite extensive research on defining and measuring health care quality, little attention has been given to different stakeholders’ perspectives of high-quality health care services. The main purpose of this study was to explore the attributes of quality healthcare in the Iranian context. Exploratory in-depth individual and focus group interviews were conducted with key healthcare stakeholders including clients, providers, managers, policy makers, payers, suppliers and accreditation panel members to identify the healthcare service quality attributes and dimensions. Data analysis was carried out by content analysis, with the constant comparative method. Over 100 attributes of quality healthcare service were elicited and grouped into five categories. The dimensions were: efficacy, effectiveness, efficiency, empathy, and environment. Consequently, a comprehensive model of service quality was developed for health care context. The findings of the current study led to a conceptual framework of healthcare quality. This model leads to a better understanding of the different aspects of quality in health care and provides a better basis for defining, measuring and controlling quality of health care services. PMID:23922534

Private traits and attributes are predictable from digital records of human behavior.

PubMed

Kosinski, Michal; Stillwell, David; Graepel, Thore

2013-04-09

We show that easily accessible digital records of behavior, Facebook Likes, can be used to automatically and accurately predict a range of highly sensitive personal attributes including: sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious and political views, personality traits, intelligence, happiness, use of addictive substances, parental separation, age, and gender. The analysis presented is based on a dataset of over 58,000 volunteers who provided their Facebook Likes, detailed demographic profiles, and the results of several psychometric tests. The proposed model uses dimensionality reduction for preprocessing the Likes data, which are then entered into logistic/linear regression to predict individual psychodemographic profiles from Likes. The model correctly discriminates between homosexual and heterosexual men in 88% of cases, African Americans and Caucasian Americans in 95% of cases, and between Democrat and Republican in 85% of cases. For the personality trait "Openness," prediction accuracy is close to the test-retest accuracy of a standard personality test. We give examples of associations between attributes and Likes and discuss implications for online personalization and privacy.

Controlling for endogeneity in attributable costs of vancomycin-resistant enterococci from a Canadian hospital.

PubMed

Lloyd-Smith, Patrick

2017-12-01

Decisions regarding the optimal provision of infection prevention and control resources depend on accurate estimates of the attributable costs of health care-associated infections. This is challenging given the skewed nature of health care cost data and the endogeneity of health care-associated infections. The objective of this study is to determine the hospital costs attributable to vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) while accounting for endogeneity. This study builds on an attributable cost model conducted by a retrospective cohort study including 1,292 patients admitted to an urban hospital in Vancouver, Canada. Attributable hospital costs were estimated with multivariate generalized linear models (GLMs). To account for endogeneity, a control function approach was used. The analysis sample included 217 patients with health care-associated VRE. In the standard GLM, the costs attributable to VRE are $17,949 (SEM, $2,993). However, accounting for endogeneity, the attributable costs were estimated to range from $14,706 (SEM, $7,612) to $42,101 (SEM, $15,533). Across all model specifications, attributable costs are 76% higher on average when controlling for endogeneity. VRE was independently associated with increased hospital costs, and controlling for endogeneity lead to higher attributable cost estimates. Copyright © 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Global Research Trends on Early-Life Feeding Practices and Early Childhood Caries: a Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Cheng, Ashley

2014-01-01

Objective Describe the epidemiologic literature related to early-life feeding practices and early childhood caries (ECC) with regard to publication attributes and trends in these attributes over time. Methods Systematic literature review including electronic and manual searches (in BIOSIS, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, LILACS, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and WHOLIS), covering the years 1990–2013. Attributes of publications meeting a priori inclusion criteria were abstracted and organized by global region and trends over time. Attributes included country of origin and study design of included publications and age and caries prevalence of the populations studied. Results 244 publications drawn from 196 independent study populations were included. The number of publications and the countries represented increased over time, although some world regions remained underrepresented. Most publications were cross sectional (75%); while this percentage remained fairly constant over time, the percentage of studies to account for confounding factors increased. Publications varied with respect to the caries experience and age range of children included in each study. Conclusions Publication productivity regarding feeding practices and ECC research has grown, but this growth has not been evenly distributed globally. Individual publication attributes (i.e. methods and context) can differ significantly and should be considered when interpreting and synthesizing the literature. PMID:25328911

Identifying attributes of food literacy: a scoping review.

PubMed

Azevedo Perry, Elsie; Thomas, Heather; Samra, H Ruby; Edmonstone, Shannon; Davidson, Lyndsay; Faulkner, Amy; Petermann, Lisa; Manafò, Elizabeth; Kirkpatrick, Sharon I

2017-09-01

An absence of food literacy measurement tools makes it challenging for nutrition practitioners to assess the impact of food literacy on healthy diets and to evaluate the outcomes of food literacy interventions. The objective of the present scoping review was to identify the attributes of food literacy. A scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature was conducted and attributes of food literacy identified. Subjects included in the search were high-risk groups. Eligible articles were limited to research from Canada, USA, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The search identified nineteen peer-reviewed and thirty grey literature sources. Fifteen identified food literacy attributes were organized into five categories. Food and Nutrition Knowledge informs decisions about intake and distinguishing between 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' foods. Food Skills focuses on techniques of food purchasing, preparation, handling and storage. Self-Efficacy and Confidence represent one's capacity to perform successfully in specific situations. Ecologic refers to beyond self and the interaction of macro- and microsystems with food decisions and behaviours. Food Decisions reflects the application of knowledge, information and skills to make food choices. These interdependent attributes are depicted in a proposed conceptual model. The lack of evaluated tools inhibits the ability to assess and monitor food literacy; tailor, target and evaluate programmes; identify gaps in programming; engage in advocacy; and allocate resources. The present scoping review provides the foundation for the development of a food literacy measurement tool to address these gaps.

Progress on genetic linkage maps, traits/QTLs, and utilization in two recombinant inbred line populations of peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Peanut, a highly nutritional crop, is used in edible products or crushed for cooking oil, and is susceptible to a range of diseases, including Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), early and late leaf spot (ELS and LLS). Losses in productivity and quality are also attributable to environmental stresses ...

A study of building structural features associated with high indoor air concentrations of organochlorine termiticides.

PubMed

Pisaniello, D L; Gun, R T; Tkaczuk, M N; Hann, C; Crea, J

1993-09-01

As part of a two-year study of post-treatment residential exposure to the termiticide, aldrin, the building structural features of ten houses with crawl-space-type floors were assessed by an independent inspector. Building attributes recorded on a checklist included the age of the dwelling, room characteristics, floor details and the nature of subfloor ventilation. At the end of each inspection, the inspector, who was blinded to data on airborne aldrin concentrations, provided a rating of expected indoor air contamination. Several of the building attributes, including the age of the house, the area of exterior subfloor vents, as well as the inspector's rating, were significantly correlated with airborne aldrin values. No single building variable, however, was highly correlated with every measure of aldrin concentration over a 12-month period. The observed data are consistent with poor subfloor ventilation and a 'leaky' floor being important contributors to indoor air pollution. It is recommended that pest control companies advise householders about any obvious floor and ventilation deficiencies before soil treatment work is undertaken. Pesticide exposure (by analogy with geological radon exposure) may be reduced by sealing gaps in floors and/or by improving subfloor ventilation.

Intergroup threat and experienced affect: the distinct roles of causal attributions and in-group identification.

PubMed

Costarelli, Sandro

2009-06-01

Research shows that under manipulated conditions of intergroup threat, individuals experience greater negative affect to the extent that low in-group identifiers make an in-group-internal attribution rather than an out-group-internal attribution, and high in-group identifiers make an out-group-internal attribution rather than an in-group-internal attribution for outcomes of intergroup comparison that threaten their social identity. The author predicted and found that under conditions of making an out-group-internal attribution, such an effect of in-group identification is mediated by the general proneness to perceiving in-group-out-group differences, or intergroup distinctiveness, at high, but not low, levels of in-group identification. Combining the findings of 2 different literatures, the author provides new insights into the distinct roles played by intergroup attributions as a predictor, in-group identification as a moderator, and intergroup distinctiveness as a mediator of the affective responses produced under conditions of social identity threat instantiated by individuals' making out-group-internal attribution for the in-group unfavorable outcomes of intergroup comparison.

An interactional test of the reformulated helplessness theory of depression in women receiving clinical treatment for eating disorders.

PubMed

Rotenberg, Ken J; Costa, Paula; Trueman, Mark; Lattimore, Paul

2012-08-01

The study tested the Reformulated Helplessness model that individuals who show combined internal locus of control, high stability and high globality attributions for negative life events are prone to depression. Thirty-six women (M=29 years-8 months of age) receiving clinical treatment for eating disorders completed: the Attribution Style Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Stirling Eating Disorder Scales. An HRA yielded a three-way interaction among the attributional dimensions on depressive symptoms. Plotting of the slopes showed that the attribution of negative life events to the combination of internal locus of control, high stability, and a high globality, was associated with the optimal level of depressive symptoms. The findings supported the Reformulated Helplessness as a model of depression. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors affecting food choices of older adults from high and low socioeconomic groups: a discrete choice experiment.

PubMed

Kamphuis, Carlijn B M; de Bekker-Grob, Esther W; van Lenthe, Frank J

2015-04-01

Healthiness, price, and convenience are typically indicated as important motives for food choices; however, it is largely unknown to what extent older adults from high and low socioeconomic groups differ in these underlying motives. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) is an innovative way to elicit implicit motives for food choices. The aim was to investigate differences in food motives between socioeconomic groups by means of a DCE. A DCE was carried out during a face-to-face interview among older adults as part of the Health and Living Conditions in Eindhoven and surrounding cities (GLOBE) cohort study, The Netherlands. Participants (n = 399; mean age: 63.3 y) were offered a series of choice sets about a usual dinner at home and were asked to choose in each choice set between 2 meals and an opt-out choice, with different combinations of attribute levels. We included 5 meal attributes (taste, healthiness, preparation time, travel time to shops, and price) and 3 or 4 levels for each attribute. Data were analyzed by multinomial logit models. Healthiness, taste, price, and travel time to the grocery store proved to significantly influence older adults' meal decisions; preparation time was not significant. Healthiness was the most important attribute for all of the participants. More highly educated participants rated a healthy and less expensive meal to be more important than did less educated participants. Those with a high income rated a meal that was healthy and very tasteful to be more important than did those with a lower income. Healthiness, taste, price, and travel time to grocery shops influenced older adults' meal decisions. Higher socioeconomic groups valued health more than did lower socioeconomic groups. DCEs represent a promising method to gain insight into the relative importance of motives for food choices. This trial was registered at www.isrctn.com as ISRCTN60293770. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

Calibration of Seismic Attributes for Reservoir Characterization

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

Wayne D. Pennington

2002-09-29

The project, "Calibration of Seismic Attributes for Reservoir Characterization," is now complete. Our original proposed scope of work included detailed analysis of seismic and other data from two to three hydrocarbon fields; we have analyzed data from four fields at this level of detail, two additional fields with less detail, and one other 2D seismic line used for experimentation. We also included time-lapse seismic data with ocean-bottom cable recordings in addition to the originally proposed static field data. A large number of publications and presentations have resulted from this work, inlcuding several that are in final stages of preparation ormore » printing; one of these is a chapter on "Reservoir Geophysics" for the new Petroleum Engineering Handbook from the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Major results from this project include a new approach to evaluating seismic attributes in time-lapse monitoring studies, evaluation of pitfalls in the use of point-based measurements and facies classifications, novel applications of inversion results, improved methods of tying seismic data to the wellbore, and a comparison of methods used to detect pressure compartments. Some of the data sets used are in the public domain, allowing other investigators to test our techniques or to improve upon them using the same data. From the public-domain Stratton data set we have demonstrated that an apparent correlation between attributes derived along 'phantom' horizons are artifacts of isopach changes; only if the interpreter understands that the interpretation is based on this correlation with bed thickening or thinning, can reliable interpretations of channel horizons and facies be made. From the public-domain Boonsville data set we developed techniques to use conventional seismic attributes, including seismic facies generated under various neural network procedures, to subdivide regional facies determined from logs into productive and non-productive subfacies, and we developed a method involving cross-correlation of seismic waveforms to provide a reliable map of the various facies present in the area. The Wamsutter data set led to the use of unconventional attributes including lateral incoherence and horizon-dependent impedance variations to indicate regions of former sand bars and current high pressure, respectively, and to evaluation of various upscaling routines. The Teal South data set has provided a surprising set of results, leading us to develop a pressure-dependent velocity relationship and to conclude that nearby reservoirs are undergoing a pressure drop in response to the production of the main reservoir, implying that oil is being lost through their spill points, never to be produced. Additional results were found using the public-domain Waha and Woresham-Bayer data set, and some tests of technologies were made using 2D seismic lines from Michigan and the western Pacific ocean.« less

Leadership and Management Are One and the Same

PubMed Central

Azad, Neelam; Anderson, H. Glenn; Garza, Oscar; O’Neil, Christine; Stutz, Misty M.; Sobotka, Jenelle L.

2017-01-01

Defining the attributes of change catalysts within high functioning organizations, including the academic enterprise, is desirable. An understanding of these attributes within our academy may foster faculty interest and engagement in seeking administrative roles and serve to bolster succession planning within our schools. On one hand, there have been numerous publications teasing out the purported differences between leadership and management. On the other hand, does segregating these important characteristics based upon arbitrary distinctions do more harm than good? This commentary represents the work of a group of academic leaders participating in the 2015-2016 AACP Academic Leadership Fellowship Program. This work was presented as a debate at the 2016 AACP Interim Meeting in Tampa, Florida, in February 2016. PMID:28970603

Risk as an attribute in discrete choice experiments: a systematic review of the literature.

PubMed

Harrison, Mark; Rigby, Dan; Vass, Caroline; Flynn, Terry; Louviere, Jordan; Payne, Katherine

2014-01-01

Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are used to elicit preferences of current and future patients and healthcare professionals about how they value different aspects of healthcare. Risk is an integral part of most healthcare decisions. Despite the use of risk attributes in DCEs consistently being highlighted as an area for further research, current methods of incorporating risk attributes in DCEs have not been reviewed explicitly. This study aimed to systematically identify published healthcare DCEs that incorporated a risk attribute, summarise and appraise methods used to present and analyse risk attributes, and recommend best practice regarding including, analysing and transparently reporting the methodology supporting risk attributes in future DCEs. The Web of Science, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Econlit databases were searched on 18 April 2013 for DCEs that included a risk attribute published since 1995, and on 23 April 2013 to identify studies assessing risk communication in the general (non-DCE) health literature. Healthcare-related DCEs with a risk attribute mentioned or suggested in the title/abstract were obtained and retained in the final review if a risk attribute meeting our definition was included. Extracted data were tabulated and critically appraised to summarise the quality of reporting, and the format, presentation and interpretation of the risk attribute were summarised. This review identified 117 healthcare DCEs that incorporated at least one risk attribute. Whilst there was some evidence of good practice incorporated into the presentation of risk attributes, little evidence was found that developing methods and recommendations from other disciplines about effective methods and validation of risk communication were systematically applied to DCEs. In general, the reviewed DCE studies did not thoroughly report the methodology supporting the explanation of risk in training materials, the impact of framing risk, or exploring the validity of risk communication. The primary limitation of this review was that the methods underlying presentation, format and analysis of risk attributes could only be appraised to the extent that they were reported. Improvements in reporting and transparency of risk presentation from conception to the analysis of DCEs are needed. To define best practice, further research is needed to test how the process of communicating risk affects the way in which people value risk attributes in DCEs.

Paranormal belief and attributional style.

PubMed

Dudley, R T; Whisnand, E A

2000-06-01

52 college students completed Tobacyk's 1988 Revised Paranormal Belief Scale and Peterson, Semmel, von Baeyer, Abramson, Metalsky, and Seligman's 1982 Attributional Style Questionnaire. Analysis showed significantly higher depressive attributional styles among high scorers on paranormal phenomena than low scorers.

The contribution of timbre attributes to musical tension.

PubMed

Farbood, Morwaread M; Price, Khen C

2017-01-01

Timbre is an auditory feature that has received relatively little attention in empirical work examining musical tension. In order to address this gap, an experiment was conducted to explore the contribution of several specific timbre attributes-inharmonicity, roughness, spectral centroid, spectral deviation, and spectral flatness-to the perception of tension. Listeners compared pairs of sounds representing low and high degrees of each attribute and indicated which sound was more tense. Although the response profiles showed that the high states corresponded with increased tension for all attributes, further analysis revealed that some attributes were strongly correlated with others. When qualitative factors, attribute correlations, and listener responses were all taken into account, there was fairly strong evidence that higher degrees of roughness, inharmonicity, and spectral flatness elicited higher tension. On the other hand, evidence that higher spectral centroid and spectral deviation corresponded to increases in tension was ambiguous.

Advanced GPR imaging of sedimentary features: integrated attribute analysis applied to sand dunes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Wenke; Forte, Emanuele; Fontolan, Giorgio; Pipan, Michele

2018-04-01

We evaluate the applicability and the effectiveness of integrated GPR attribute analysis to image the internal sedimentary features of the Piscinas Dunes, SW Sardinia, Italy. The main objective is to explore the limits of GPR techniques to study sediment-bodies geometry and to provide a non-invasive high-resolution characterization of the different subsurface domains of dune architecture. On such purpose, we exploit the high-quality Piscinas data-set to extract and test different attributes of the GPR trace. Composite displays of multi-attributes related to amplitude, frequency, similarity and textural features are displayed with overlays and RGB mixed models. A multi-attribute comparative analysis is used to characterize different radar facies to better understand the characteristics of internal reflection patterns. The results demonstrate that the proposed integrated GPR attribute analysis can provide enhanced information about the spatial distribution of sediment bodies, allowing an enhanced and more constrained data interpretation.

Do Street Robbery Location Choices Vary Over Time of Day or Day of Week? A Test in Chicago

PubMed Central

Ruiter, Stijn; Block, Richard

2016-01-01

Objectives: This article examines the hypothesis that in street robbery location choices, the importance of location attributes is conditional on the time of day and on the day of the week. Method: The hypothesis is assessed by estimating and comparing separate discrete location choice models for each two-hour time block of the day and for each day of the week. The spatial units of analysis are census blocks. Their relevant attributes include presence of various legal and illegal cash economies, presence of high schools, measures of accessibility, and distance from the offender’s home. Results: The hypothesis is strongly rejected because for almost all census block attributes, their importance hardly depends on time of day or day of week. Only the effect of high schools in census blocks follows expectations, as its effect is only demonstrated at the times and on the days that schools are open. Conclusions: The results suggest that street robbers’ location choices are not as strongly driven by spatial variations in immediate opportunities as has been suggested in previous studies. Rather, street robbers seem to perpetrate in the environs of cash economies and transit hubs most of the time irrespective of how many potential victims are around. PMID:28232756

Toward a Conceptual Framework for Blending Social and Biophysical Attributes in Conservation Planning: A Case-Study of Privately-Conserved Lands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasquini, Lorena; Twyman, Chasca; Wainwright, John

2010-11-01

There has been increasing recognition within systematic conservation planning of the need to include social data alongside biophysical assessments. However, in the approaches to identify potential conservation sites, there remains much room for improvement in the treatment of social data. In particular, few rigorous methods to account for the diversity of less-easily quantifiable social attributes that influence the implementation success of conservation sites (such as willingness to conserve) have been developed. We use a case-study analysis of private conservation areas within the Little Karoo, South Africa, as a practical example of the importance of incorporating social data into the process of selecting potential conservation sites to improve their implementation likelihood. We draw on extensive data on the social attributes of our case study obtained from a combination of survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. We discuss the need to determine the social attributes that are important for achieving the chosen implementation strategy by offering four tested examples of important social attributes in the Little Karoo: the willingness of landowners to take part in a stewardship arrangement, their willingness to conserve, their capacity to conserve, and the social capital among private conservation area owners. We then discuss the process of using an implementation likelihood ratio (derived from a combined measure of the social attributes) to assist the choice of potential conservation sites. We conclude by summarizing our discussion into a simple conceptual framework for identifying biophysically-valuable sites which possess a high likelihood that the desired implementation strategy will be realized on them.

Sustainability: an evolutionary concept analysis. Exploring nursing's role within the sustainability movement.

PubMed

McMillan, Kimberly

2014-04-01

This paper aimed to explore the evolution of the concept of sustainability to facilitate further knowledge development in the discipline of nursing. The concept of 'sustainability' emerged in the 1950s as a result of the environmental movement. The concept has been adapted by the discipline of management and is increasingly discussed in the context of health care. The concept remains ambiguous in the discipline of nursing, resulting in a struggle to articulate the role of nursing in the sustainability movement. Rodgers evolutionary method of concept analysis was used. Literature was searched from 1987-2011, including English, peer reviewed texts in the databases CINAHL and ABI/INFORM global. Two book chapters and grey literature were also included. References were read and analysed according to antecedents, attributes, consequences, surrogate terms and related terms. Defining antecedents, attributes and consequences highlight the complexity and diversity of the concept. Attributes include: sustainability as a condition of change, as process, as outcome, as dependent of multiple stakeholders, and as social consciousness. 'Sustainability' is a fragile concept highly dependent on the processes and stakeholders involved in its fruition. There is a distinct difference in the level of concept clarity between the disciplines of management and nursing. The complexities associated with the concept of 'Sustainability' have led to its ambiguity. Nursing must, however, work to further clarify the concept to fully understand nursing's potential role in the sustainability movement. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Using Atmospheric Circulation Patterns to Detect and Attribute Changes in the Risk of Extreme Climate Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diffenbaugh, N. S.; Horton, D. E.; Singh, D.; Swain, D. L.; Touma, D. E.; Mankin, J. S.

2015-12-01

Because of the high cost of extreme events and the growing evidence that global warming is likely to alter the statistical distribution of climate variables, detection and attribution of changes in the probability of extreme climate events has become a pressing topic for the scientific community, elected officials, and the public. While most of the emphasis has thus far focused on analyzing the climate variable of interest (most often temperature or precipitation, but also flooding and drought), there is an emerging emphasis on applying detection and attribution analysis techniques to the underlying physical causes of individual extreme events. This approach is promising in part because the underlying physical causes (such as atmospheric circulation patterns) can in some cases be more accurately represented in climate models than the more proximal climate variable (such as precipitation). In addition, and more scientifically critical, is the fact that the most extreme events result from a rare combination of interacting causes, often referred to as "ingredients". Rare events will therefore always have a strong influence of "natural" variability. Analyzing the underlying physical mechanisms can therefore help to test whether there have been changes in the probability of the constituent conditions of an individual event, or whether the co-occurrence of causal conditions cannot be distinguished from random chance. This presentation will review approaches to applying detection/attribution analysis to the underlying physical causes of extreme events (including both "thermodynamic" and "dynamic" causes), and provide a number of case studies, including the role of frequency of atmospheric circulation patterns in the probability of hot, cold, wet and dry events.

Graduand Student Attributes: A Canadian Case

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kanuka, Heather; Cowley, Summer

2017-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain insights into how academics understand undergraduate graduand attributes. The findings reveal some alignment in views about student attributes, including that they are engaged citizens, are self-directed, have imagination, are questioning, are flexible, display leadership, are problem solvers,…

A Toolkit to Implement Graduate Attributes in Geography Curricula

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spronken-Smith, Rachel; McLean, Angela; Smith, Nell; Bond, Carol; Jenkins, Martin; Marshall, Stephen; Frielick, Stanley

2016-01-01

This article uses findings from a project on engagement with graduate outcomes across higher education institutions in New Zealand to produce a toolkit for implementing graduate attributes in geography curricula. Key facets include strong leadership; academic developers to facilitate conversations about graduate attributes and teaching towards…

Differential Effects of Monovalent Cations and Anions on Key Nanoparticle Attributes

EPA Science Inventory

Understanding the key particle attributes such as particle size, size distribution and surface charge of both the nano- and micron-sized particles is the first step in drug formulation as such attributes are known to directly influence several characteristics of drugs including d...

What Can the Brain Teach Us about Winemaking? An fMRI Study of Alcohol Level Preferences

PubMed Central

Frost, Ram; Quiñones, Ileana; Veldhuizen, Maria; Alava, Jose-Iñaki; Small, Dana; Carreiras, Manuel

2015-01-01

Over the last few decades, wine makers have been producing wines with a higher alcohol content, assuming that they are more appreciated by consumers. To test this hypothesis, we used functional magnetic imaging to compare reactions of human subjects to different types of wine, focusing on brain regions critical for flavor processing and food reward. Participants were presented with carefully matched pairs of high- and low-alcohol content red wines, without informing them of any of the wine attributes. Contrary to expectation, significantly greater activation was found for low-alcohol than for high-alcohol content wines in brain regions that are sensitive to taste intensity, including the insula as well as the cerebellum. Wines were closely matched for all physical attributes except for alcohol content, thus we interpret the preferential response to the low-alcohol content wines as arising from top-down modulation due to the low alcohol content wines inducing greater attentional exploration of aromas and flavours. The findings raise intriguing possibilities for objectively testing hypotheses regarding methods of producing a highly complex product such as wine. PMID:25785844

What can the brain teach us about winemaking? An fMRI study of alcohol level preferences.

PubMed

Frost, Ram; Quiñones, Ileana; Veldhuizen, Maria; Alava, Jose-Iñaki; Small, Dana; Carreiras, Manuel

2015-01-01

Over the last few decades, wine makers have been producing wines with a higher alcohol content, assuming that they are more appreciated by consumers. To test this hypothesis, we used functional magnetic imaging to compare reactions of human subjects to different types of wine, focusing on brain regions critical for flavor processing and food reward. Participants were presented with carefully matched pairs of high- and low-alcohol content red wines, without informing them of any of the wine attributes. Contrary to expectation, significantly greater activation was found for low-alcohol than for high-alcohol content wines in brain regions that are sensitive to taste intensity, including the insula as well as the cerebellum. Wines were closely matched for all physical attributes except for alcohol content, thus we interpret the preferential response to the low-alcohol content wines as arising from top-down modulation due to the low alcohol content wines inducing greater attentional exploration of aromas and flavours. The findings raise intriguing possibilities for objectively testing hypotheses regarding methods of producing a highly complex product such as wine.

Development and Validation of the Masculine Attributes Questionnaire

PubMed Central

Cho, Junhan; Kogan, Steven M.

2017-01-01

The present study describes the development and validation of the Masculine Attributes Questionnaire (MAQ). The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretically and empirically grounded measure of masculine attributes for sexual health research with African American young men. Consistent with Whitehead’s theory, the MAQ items were hypothesized to comprise two components representing reputation-based and respect-based attributes. The sample included 505 African American men aged 19 to 22 years (M = 20.29, SD = 1.10) living in resource-poor communities in the rural South. Convergent and discriminant validity of the MAQ were assessed by examining the associations of masculinity attributes with psychosocial factors. Criterion validity was assessed by examining the extent to which the MAQ subscales predicted sexual risk behavior outcomes. Consistent with study hypotheses, the MAQ was composed of (a) reputation-based attributes oriented toward sexual prowess, toughness, and authority-defying behavior and (b) respect-based attributes oriented toward economic independence, socially approved levels of hard work and education, and committed romantic relationships. Reputation-based attributes were associated positively with street code and negatively related to academic orientation, vocational engagement, and self-regulation, whereas respect-based attributes were associated positively with academic and vocational orientations and self-regulation. Finally, reputation-based attributes predicted sexual risk behaviors including concurrent sexual partnerships, multiple sexual partners, marijuana use, and incarceration, net of the influence of respect-based attributes. The development of the MAQ provides a new measure that permits systematic quantitative investigation of the associations between African American men’s masculinity ideology and sexual risk behavior. PMID:28413906

Development and Validation of the Masculine Attributes Questionnaire.

PubMed

Cho, Junhan; Kogan, Steven M

2017-07-01

The present study describes the development and validation of the Masculine Attributes Questionnaire (MAQ). The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretically and empirically grounded measure of masculine attributes for sexual health research with African American young men. Consistent with Whitehead's theory, the MAQ items were hypothesized to comprise two components representing reputation-based and respect-based attributes. The sample included 505 African American men aged 19 to 22 years ( M = 20.29, SD = 1.10) living in resource-poor communities in the rural South. Convergent and discriminant validity of the MAQ were assessed by examining the associations of masculinity attributes with psychosocial factors. Criterion validity was assessed by examining the extent to which the MAQ subscales predicted sexual risk behavior outcomes. Consistent with study hypotheses, the MAQ was composed of (a) reputation-based attributes oriented toward sexual prowess, toughness, and authority-defying behavior and (b) respect-based attributes oriented toward economic independence, socially approved levels of hard work and education, and committed romantic relationships. Reputation-based attributes were associated positively with street code and negatively related to academic orientation, vocational engagement, and self-regulation, whereas respect-based attributes were associated positively with academic and vocational orientations and self-regulation. Finally, reputation-based attributes predicted sexual risk behaviors including concurrent sexual partnerships, multiple sexual partners, marijuana use, and incarceration, net of the influence of respect-based attributes. The development of the MAQ provides a new measure that permits systematic quantitative investigation of the associations between African American men's masculinity ideology and sexual risk behavior.

A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010.

PubMed

Lim, Stephen S; Vos, Theo; Flaxman, Abraham D; Danaei, Goodarz; Shibuya, Kenji; Adair-Rohani, Heather; Amann, Markus; Anderson, H Ross; Andrews, Kathryn G; Aryee, Martin; Atkinson, Charles; Bacchus, Loraine J; Bahalim, Adil N; Balakrishnan, Kalpana; Balmes, John; Barker-Collo, Suzanne; Baxter, Amanda; Bell, Michelle L; Blore, Jed D; Blyth, Fiona; Bonner, Carissa; Borges, Guilherme; Bourne, Rupert; Boussinesq, Michel; Brauer, Michael; Brooks, Peter; Bruce, Nigel G; Brunekreef, Bert; Bryan-Hancock, Claire; Bucello, Chiara; Buchbinder, Rachelle; Bull, Fiona; Burnett, Richard T; Byers, Tim E; Calabria, Bianca; Carapetis, Jonathan; Carnahan, Emily; Chafe, Zoe; Charlson, Fiona; Chen, Honglei; Chen, Jian Shen; Cheng, Andrew Tai-Ann; Child, Jennifer Christine; Cohen, Aaron; Colson, K Ellicott; Cowie, Benjamin C; Darby, Sarah; Darling, Susan; Davis, Adrian; Degenhardt, Louisa; Dentener, Frank; Des Jarlais, Don C; Devries, Karen; Dherani, Mukesh; Ding, Eric L; Dorsey, E Ray; Driscoll, Tim; Edmond, Karen; Ali, Suad Eltahir; Engell, Rebecca E; Erwin, Patricia J; Fahimi, Saman; Falder, Gail; Farzadfar, Farshad; Ferrari, Alize; Finucane, Mariel M; Flaxman, Seth; Fowkes, Francis Gerry R; Freedman, Greg; Freeman, Michael K; Gakidou, Emmanuela; Ghosh, Santu; Giovannucci, Edward; Gmel, Gerhard; Graham, Kathryn; Grainger, Rebecca; Grant, Bridget; Gunnell, David; Gutierrez, Hialy R; Hall, Wayne; Hoek, Hans W; Hogan, Anthony; Hosgood, H Dean; Hoy, Damian; Hu, Howard; Hubbell, Bryan J; Hutchings, Sally J; Ibeanusi, Sydney E; Jacklyn, Gemma L; Jasrasaria, Rashmi; Jonas, Jost B; Kan, Haidong; Kanis, John A; Kassebaum, Nicholas; Kawakami, Norito; Khang, Young-Ho; Khatibzadeh, Shahab; Khoo, Jon-Paul; Kok, Cindy; Laden, Francine; Lalloo, Ratilal; Lan, Qing; Lathlean, Tim; Leasher, Janet L; Leigh, James; Li, Yang; Lin, John Kent; Lipshultz, Steven E; London, Stephanie; Lozano, Rafael; Lu, Yuan; Mak, Joelle; Malekzadeh, Reza; Mallinger, Leslie; Marcenes, Wagner; March, Lyn; Marks, Robin; Martin, Randall; McGale, Paul; McGrath, John; Mehta, Sumi; Mensah, George A; Merriman, Tony R; Micha, Renata; Michaud, Catherine; Mishra, Vinod; Mohd Hanafiah, Khayriyyah; Mokdad, Ali A; Morawska, Lidia; Mozaffarian, Dariush; Murphy, Tasha; Naghavi, Mohsen; Neal, Bruce; Nelson, Paul K; Nolla, Joan Miquel; Norman, Rosana; Olives, Casey; Omer, Saad B; Orchard, Jessica; Osborne, Richard; Ostro, Bart; Page, Andrew; Pandey, Kiran D; Parry, Charles D H; Passmore, Erin; Patra, Jayadeep; Pearce, Neil; Pelizzari, Pamela M; Petzold, Max; Phillips, Michael R; Pope, Dan; Pope, C Arden; Powles, John; Rao, Mayuree; Razavi, Homie; Rehfuess, Eva A; Rehm, Jürgen T; Ritz, Beate; Rivara, Frederick P; Roberts, Thomas; Robinson, Carolyn; Rodriguez-Portales, Jose A; Romieu, Isabelle; Room, Robin; Rosenfeld, Lisa C; Roy, Ananya; Rushton, Lesley; Salomon, Joshua A; Sampson, Uchechukwu; Sanchez-Riera, Lidia; Sanman, Ella; Sapkota, Amir; Seedat, Soraya; Shi, Peilin; Shield, Kevin; Shivakoti, Rupak; Singh, Gitanjali M; Sleet, David A; Smith, Emma; Smith, Kirk R; Stapelberg, Nicolas J C; Steenland, Kyle; Stöckl, Heidi; Stovner, Lars Jacob; Straif, Kurt; Straney, Lahn; Thurston, George D; Tran, Jimmy H; Van Dingenen, Rita; van Donkelaar, Aaron; Veerman, J Lennert; Vijayakumar, Lakshmi; Weintraub, Robert; Weissman, Myrna M; White, Richard A; Whiteford, Harvey; Wiersma, Steven T; Wilkinson, James D; Williams, Hywel C; Williams, Warwick; Wilson, Nicholas; Woolf, Anthony D; Yip, Paul; Zielinski, Jan M; Lopez, Alan D; Murray, Christopher J L; Ezzati, Majid; AlMazroa, Mohammad A; Memish, Ziad A

2012-12-15

Quantification of the disease burden caused by different risks informs prevention by providing an account of health loss different to that provided by a disease-by-disease analysis. No complete revision of global disease burden caused by risk factors has been done since a comparative risk assessment in 2000, and no previous analysis has assessed changes in burden attributable to risk factors over time. We estimated deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs; sum of years lived with disability [YLD] and years of life lost [YLL]) attributable to the independent effects of 67 risk factors and clusters of risk factors for 21 regions in 1990 and 2010. We estimated exposure distributions for each year, region, sex, and age group, and relative risks per unit of exposure by systematically reviewing and synthesising published and unpublished data. We used these estimates, together with estimates of cause-specific deaths and DALYs from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, to calculate the burden attributable to each risk factor exposure compared with the theoretical-minimum-risk exposure. We incorporated uncertainty in disease burden, relative risks, and exposures into our estimates of attributable burden. In 2010, the three leading risk factors for global disease burden were high blood pressure (7·0% [95% uncertainty interval 6·2-7·7] of global DALYs), tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke (6·3% [5·5-7·0]), and alcohol use (5·5% [5·0-5·9]). In 1990, the leading risks were childhood underweight (7·9% [6·8-9·4]), household air pollution from solid fuels (HAP; 7·0% [5·6-8·3]), and tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke (6·1% [5·4-6·8]). Dietary risk factors and physical inactivity collectively accounted for 10·0% (95% UI 9·2-10·8) of global DALYs in 2010, with the most prominent dietary risks being diets low in fruits and those high in sodium. Several risks that primarily affect childhood communicable diseases, including unimproved water and sanitation and childhood micronutrient deficiencies, fell in rank between 1990 and 2010, with unimproved water and sanitation accounting for 0·9% (0·4-1·6) of global DALYs in 2010. However, in most of sub-Saharan Africa childhood underweight, HAP, and non-exclusive and discontinued breastfeeding were the leading risks in 2010, while HAP was the leading risk in south Asia. The leading risk factor in Eastern Europe, most of Latin America, and southern sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 was alcohol use; in most of Asia, North Africa and Middle East, and central Europe it was high blood pressure. Despite declines, tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke remained the leading risk in high-income north America and western Europe. High body-mass index has increased globally and it is the leading risk in Australasia and southern Latin America, and also ranks high in other high-income regions, North Africa and Middle East, and Oceania. Worldwide, the contribution of different risk factors to disease burden has changed substantially, with a shift away from risks for communicable diseases in children towards those for non-communicable diseases in adults. These changes are related to the ageing population, decreased mortality among children younger than 5 years, changes in cause-of-death composition, and changes in risk factor exposures. New evidence has led to changes in the magnitude of key risks including unimproved water and sanitation, vitamin A and zinc deficiencies, and ambient particulate matter pollution. The extent to which the epidemiological shift has occurred and what the leading risks currently are varies greatly across regions. In much of sub-Saharan Africa, the leading risks are still those associated with poverty and those that affect children. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

PubMed Central

Lim, Stephen S; Vos, Theo; Flaxman, Abraham D; Danaei, Goodarz; Shibuya, Kenji; Adair-Rohani, Heather; Amann, Markus; Anderson, H Ross; Andrews, Kathryn G; Aryee, Martin; Atkinson, Charles; Bacchus, Loraine J; Bahalim, Adil N; Balakrishnan, Kalpana; Balmes, John; Barker-Collo, Suzanne; Baxter, Amanda; Bell, Michelle L; Blore, Jed D; Blyth, Fiona; Bonner, Carissa; Borges, Guilherme; Bourne, Rupert; Boussinesq, Michel; Brauer, Michael; Brooks, Peter; Bruce, Nigel G; Brunekreef, Bert; Bryan-Hancock, Claire; Bucello, Chiara; Buchbinder, Rachelle; Bull, Fiona; Burnett, Richard T; Byers, Tim E; Calabria, Bianca; Carapetis, Jonathan; Carnahan, Emily; Chafe, Zoe; Charlson, Fiona; Chen, Honglei; Chen, Jian Shen; Cheng, Andrew Tai-Ann; Child, Jennifer Christine; Cohen, Aaron; Colson, K Ellicott; Cowie, Benjamin C; Darby, Sarah; Darling, Susan; Davis, Adrian; Degenhardt, Louisa; Dentener, Frank; Des Jarlais, Don C; Devries, Karen; Dherani, Mukesh; Ding, Eric L; Dorsey, E Ray; Driscoll, Tim; Edmond, Karen; Ali, Suad Eltahir; Engell, Rebecca E; Erwin, Patricia J; Fahimi, Saman; Falder, Gail; Farzadfar, Farshad; Ferrari, Alize; Finucane, Mariel M; Flaxman, Seth; Fowkes, Francis Gerry R; Freedman, Greg; Freeman, Michael K; Gakidou, Emmanuela; Ghosh, Santu; Giovannucci, Edward; Gmel, Gerhard; Graham, Kathryn; Grainger, Rebecca; Grant, Bridget; Gunnell, David; Gutierrez, Hialy R; Hall, Wayne; Hoek, Hans W; Hogan, Anthony; Hosgood, H Dean; Hoy, Damian; Hu, Howard; Hubbell, Bryan J; Hutchings, Sally J; Ibeanusi, Sydney E; Jacklyn, Gemma L; Jasrasaria, Rashmi; Jonas, Jost B; Kan, Haidong; Kanis, John A; Kassebaum, Nicholas; Kawakami, Norito; Khang, Young-Ho; Khatibzadeh, Shahab; Khoo, Jon-Paul; Kok, Cindy; Laden, Francine; Lalloo, Ratilal; Lan, Qing; Lathlean, Tim; Leasher, Janet L; Leigh, James; Li, Yang; Lin, John Kent; Lipshultz, Steven E; London, Stephanie; Lozano, Rafael; Lu, Yuan; Mak, Joelle; Malekzadeh, Reza; Mallinger, Leslie; Marcenes, Wagner; March, Lyn; Marks, Robin; Martin, Randall; McGale, Paul; McGrath, John; Mehta, Sumi; Mensah, George A; Merriman, Tony R; Micha, Renata; Michaud, Catherine; Mishra, Vinod; Hanafiah, Khayriyyah Mohd; Mokdad, Ali A; Morawska, Lidia; Mozaff arian, Dariush; Murphy, Tasha; Naghavi, Mohsen; Neal, Bruce; Nelson, Paul K; Nolla, Joan Miquel; Norman, Rosana; Olives, Casey; Omer, Saad B; Orchard, Jessica; Osborne, Richard; Ostro, Bart; Page, Andrew; Pandey, Kiran D; Parry, Charles D H; Passmore, Erin; Patra, Jayadeep; Pearce, Neil; Pelizzari, Pamela M; Petzold, Max; Phillips, Michael R; Pope, Dan; Pope III, C Arden; Powles, John; Rao, Mayuree; Razavi, Homie; Rehfuess, Eva A; Rehm, Jürgen T; Ritz, Beate; Rivara, Frederick P; Roberts, Thomas; Robinson, Carolyn; Rodriguez-Portales, Jose A; Romieu, Isabelle; Room, Robin; Rosenfeld, Lisa C; Roy, Ananya; Rushton, Lesley; Salomon, Joshua A; Sampson, Uchechukwu; Sanchez-Riera, Lidia; Sanman, Ella; Sapkota, Amir; Seedat, Soraya; Shi, Peilin; Shield, Kevin; Shivakoti, Rupak; Singh, Gitanjali M; Sleet, David A; Smith, Emma; Smith, Kirk R; Stapelberg, Nicolas J C; Steenland, Kyle; Stöckl, Heidi; Stovner, Lars Jacob; Straif, Kurt; Straney, Lahn; Thurston, George D; Tran, Jimmy H; Van Dingenen, Rita; van Donkelaar, Aaron; Veerman, J Lennert; Vijayakumar, Lakshmi; Weintraub, Robert; Weissman, Myrna M; White, Richard A; Whiteford, Harvey; Wiersma, Steven T; Wilkinson, James D; Williams, Hywel C; Williams, Warwick; Wilson, Nicholas; Woolf, Anthony D; Yip, Paul; Zielinski, Jan M; Lopez, Alan D; Murray, Christopher J L; Ezzati, Majid

2014-01-01

Summary Background Quantification of the disease burden caused by different risks informs prevention by providing an account of health loss different to that provided by a disease-by-disease analysis. No complete revision of global disease burden caused by risk factors has been done since a comparative risk assessment in 2000, and no previous analysis has assessed changes in burden attributable to risk factors over time. Methods We estimated deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs; sum of years lived with disability [YLD] and years of life lost [YLL]) attributable to the independent effects of 67 risk factors and clusters of risk factors for 21 regions in 1990 and 2010. We estimated exposure distributions for each year, region, sex, and age group, and relative risks per unit of exposure by systematically reviewing and synthesising published and unpublished data. We used these estimates, together with estimates of cause-specific deaths and DALYs from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, to calculate the burden attributable to each risk factor exposure compared with the theoretical-minimum-risk exposure. We incorporated uncertainty in disease burden, relative risks, and exposures into our estimates of attributable burden. Findings In 2010, the three leading risk factors for global disease burden were high blood pressure (7·0% [95% uncertainty interval 6·2–7·7] of global DALYs), tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke (6·3% [5·5–7·0]), and alcohol use (5·5% [5·0–5·9]). In 1990, the leading risks were childhood underweight (7·9% [6·8–9·4]), household air pollution from solid fuels (HAP; 7·0% [5·6–8·3]), and tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke (6·1% [5·4–6·8]). Dietary risk factors and physical inactivity collectively accounted for 10·0% (95% UI 9·2–10·8) of global DALYs in 2010, with the most prominent dietary risks being diets low in fruits and those high in sodium. Several risks that primarily affect childhood communicable diseases, including unimproved water and sanitation and childhood micronutrient deficiencies, fell in rank between 1990 and 2010, with unimproved water we and sanitation accounting for 0·9% (0·4–1·6) of global DALYs in 2010. However, in most of sub-Saharan Africa childhood underweight, HAP, and non-exclusive and discontinued breastfeeding were the leading risks in 2010, while HAP was the leading risk in south Asia. The leading risk factor in Eastern Europe, most of Latin America, and southern sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 was alcohol use; in most of Asia, North Africa and Middle East, and central Europe it was high blood pressure. Despite declines, tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke remained the leading risk in high-income north America and western Europe. High body-mass index has increased globally and it is the leading risk in Australasia and southern Latin America, and also ranks high in other high-income regions, North Africa and Middle East, and Oceania. Interpretation Worldwide, the contribution of different risk factors to disease burden has changed substantially, with a shift away from risks for communicable diseases in children towards those for non-communicable diseases in adults. These changes are related to the ageing population, decreased mortality among children younger than 5 years, changes in cause-of-death composition, and changes in risk factor exposures. New evidence has led to changes in the magnitude of key risks including unimproved water and sanitation, vitamin A and zinc deficiencies, and ambient particulate matter pollution. The extent to which the epidemiological shift has occurred and what the leading risks currently are varies greatly across regions. In much of sub-Saharan Africa, the leading risks are still those associated with poverty and those that affect children. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. PMID:23245609

Including crystal structure attributes in machine learning models of formation energies via Voronoi tessellations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ward, Logan; Liu, Ruoqian; Krishna, Amar; Hegde, Vinay I.; Agrawal, Ankit; Choudhary, Alok; Wolverton, Chris

2017-07-01

While high-throughput density functional theory (DFT) has become a prevalent tool for materials discovery, it is limited by the relatively large computational cost. In this paper, we explore using DFT data from high-throughput calculations to create faster, surrogate models with machine learning (ML) that can be used to guide new searches. Our method works by using decision tree models to map DFT-calculated formation enthalpies to a set of attributes consisting of two distinct types: (i) composition-dependent attributes of elemental properties (as have been used in previous ML models of DFT formation energies), combined with (ii) attributes derived from the Voronoi tessellation of the compound's crystal structure. The ML models created using this method have half the cross-validation error and similar training and evaluation speeds to models created with the Coulomb matrix and partial radial distribution function methods. For a dataset of 435 000 formation energies taken from the Open Quantum Materials Database (OQMD), our model achieves a mean absolute error of 80 meV/atom in cross validation, which is lower than the approximate error between DFT-computed and experimentally measured formation enthalpies and below 15% of the mean absolute deviation of the training set. We also demonstrate that our method can accurately estimate the formation energy of materials outside of the training set and be used to identify materials with especially large formation enthalpies. We propose that our models can be used to accelerate the discovery of new materials by identifying the most promising materials to study with DFT at little additional computational cost.

Chinese green product standards: international experience and pathway for a unified system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yun, Fu; Ling, Lin; Dongfeng, Gao; Shuo, Yang

2017-11-01

The establishment of a unified green product standard system is of great importance regarding the effective supply of green products and meeting trend of the consumption upgrade. It also is helpful to reduce the cost of green information disclosure of enterprises, and facilitate the supply-side structural reform. Based on the experience of developing and implementing green product standards in the EU, Germany, America, Japan and so on, combined with current Chinese standard systems including environmental protection, energy conservation, water conservation, low carbon, recycling, regeneration and organic, with the adoption of the life cycle thinking, this paper brings forward basic requirements on organizations including pollutant emissions, establishment of management system, energy conservation and emission reduction technology and green supply chain management, and proposes indicator requirements on product including resource attributes, energy attributes, environmental attributes and quality attributes, so as to guide the establishment of green product evaluation standards in the context of China.

Preliminary Model of Porphyry Copper Deposits

USGS Publications Warehouse

Berger, Byron R.; Ayuso, Robert A.; Wynn, Jeffrey C.; Seal, Robert R.

2008-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Resources Program develops mineral-deposit models for application in USGS mineral-resource assessments and other mineral resource-related activities within the USGS as well as for nongovernmental applications. Periodic updates of models are published in order to incorporate new concepts and findings on the occurrence, nature, and origin of specific mineral deposit types. This update is a preliminary model of porphyry copper deposits that begins an update process of porphyry copper models published in USGS Bulletin 1693 in 1986. This update includes a greater variety of deposit attributes than were included in the 1986 model as well as more information about each attribute. It also includes an expanded discussion of geophysical and remote sensing attributes and tools useful in resource evaluations, a summary of current theoretical concepts of porphyry copper deposit genesis, and a summary of the environmental attributes of unmined and mined deposits.

Content analysis of resident evaluations of faculty anesthesiologists: supervision encompasses some attributes of the professionalism core competency.

PubMed

Dexter, Franklin; Szeluga, Debra; Hindman, Bradley J

2017-05-01

Anesthesiology departments need an instrument with which to assess practicing anesthesiologists' professionalism. The purpose of this retrospective analysis of the content of a cohort of resident evaluations of faculty anesthesiologists was to investigate the relationship between a clinical supervision scale and the multiple attributes of professionalism. From July 1, 2013 to the present, our department has utilized the de Oliveira Filho unidimensional nine-item supervision scale to assess the quality of clinical supervision of residents provided by our anesthesiologists. The "cohort" we examined included all 13,664 resident evaluations of all faculty anesthesiologists from July 1, 2013 through December 31, 2015, including 1,387 accompanying comments. Words and phrases associated with the core competency of professionalism were obtained from previous studies, and the supervision scale was analyzed for the presence of these words and phrases. The supervision scale assesses some attributes of anesthesiologists' professionalism as well as patient care and procedural skills and interpersonal and communication skills. The comments that residents provided with the below-average supervision scores included attributes of professionalism, although numerous words and phrases related to professionalism were not present in any of the residents' comments. The de Oliveira Filho clinical supervision scale includes some attributes of anesthesiologists' professionalism. The core competency of professionalism, however, is multidimensional, and the supervision scale and/or residents' comments did not address many of the other established attributes of professionalism.

Differences in wildfires among ecoregions and land management agencies in the Sierra Nevada region, California, USA

Treesearch

Jay D. Miller; Brandom M. Collins; James A. Lutz; Scott L. Stephens; Jan W. van Wagtendonk; Donald A. Yasuda

2012-01-01

Recent research has indicated that in most of the western United States, fire size is increasing, large fires are becoming more frequent, and in at least some locations percentage of high-severity fire is also increasing. These changes in the contemporary fire regime are largely attributed to both changing climate and land management practices, including suppression of...

Genetic tools for advancement of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 as a cyanobacterial chassis

DOE PAGES

Ruffing, Anne M.; Jensen, Travis J.; Strickland, Lucas M.

2016-11-10

Successful implementation of modified cyanobacteria as hosts for industrial applications requires the development of a cyanobacterial chassis. The cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 embodies key attributes for an industrial host, including a fast growth rate and high salt, light, and temperature tolerances. Here, this study addresses key limitations in the advancement of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 as an industrial chassis.

Genetic tools for advancement of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 as a cyanobacterial chassis

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

Ruffing, Anne M.; Jensen, Travis J.; Strickland, Lucas M.

Successful implementation of modified cyanobacteria as hosts for industrial applications requires the development of a cyanobacterial chassis. The cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 embodies key attributes for an industrial host, including a fast growth rate and high salt, light, and temperature tolerances. Here, this study addresses key limitations in the advancement of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 as an industrial chassis.

Pioneering the Digital Age of Instruction: Learning from and about K-12 Online Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Archambault, Leanna; Larson, Jean

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to examine the needs of K-12 online teachers, including the dominant factors and career paths that influenced their decision to teach online; (2) to discover what online teachers viewed as the most important attributes an online teacher must have to be highly effective; and (3) to highlight the nature…

Statistical analysis of fires and explosions attributed to static electricity over the last 50 years in Japanese industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohsawa, A.

2011-06-01

This paper presents a statistical analysis of 153 accidents attributable to static electricity in Japanese industry over the last 50 years. A more thorough understanding of their causes could help prevent similar incidents and identify hazards that could assist in the task of risk assessment. Most of the incidents occurred during operations performed by workers. In addition, more than 70% of the flammable atmospheres resulted from the presence of vapours. A noteworthy finding is that at least 70% of the ignitions were caused by isolated conductors including operators' bodies leading to spark discharges, which could have easily been prevented with earthing. These tendencies indicate that, when operators handle flammable liquids with any conductors, the ignition risk is significantly high. A serious lack of information regarding fundamental countermeasures for static electricity seems to be the main cause of such hazards. Only organised management, including education and risk communication, would prevent them.

Vignette Question Design for the Assessment of Graduate Sustainability Learning Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sandri, Orana; Holdsworth, Sarah; Thomas, Ian

2018-01-01

The development of university wide graduate attributes has become an important mechanism for setting generic learning outcomes across higher education institutions. Many universities around the world have developed sets of graduate attributes that they aim to develop through degree programs. Sustainability related attributes have been included in…

Authorship Attribution of Source Code

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tennyson, Matthew F.

2013-01-01

Authorship attribution of source code is the task of deciding who wrote a program, given its source code. Applications include software forensics, plagiarism detection, and determining software ownership. A number of methods for the authorship attribution of source code have been presented in the past. A review of those existing methods is…

PTSD Symptoms and Sexual Harassment: The Role of Attributions and Perceived Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larsen, Sadie E.; Fitzgerald, Louise F.

2011-01-01

Researchers have compiled significant evidence demonstrating that sexual harassment leads to psychological harm, including the full symptom picture of PTSD, but few have examined the psychological processes involved. Research on attributions among trauma victims would suggest that causal attributions and perceptions of control may be important…

Attributes of Students Graduating from Schools and Colleges of Optometry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Optometric Education, 2000

2000-01-01

This report by the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry identifies desired attributes of students graduating from schools and colleges of optometry. Introductory information includes information on the report's development and assumptions. Personal and professional attributes are then listed followed by a list of 10 knowledge-area…

Do Inequalities in Neighborhood Walkability Drive Disparities in Older Adults' Outdoor Walking?

PubMed

Zandieh, Razieh; Flacke, Johannes; Martinez, Javier; Jones, Phil; van Maarseveen, Martin

2017-07-07

Older residents of high-deprivation areas walk less than those of low-deprivation areas. Previous research has shown that neighborhood built environment may support and encourage outdoor walking. The extent to which the built environment supports and encourages walking is called "walkability". This study examines inequalities in neighborhood walkability in high- versus low-deprivation areas and their possible influences on disparities in older adults' outdoor walking levels. For this purpose, it focuses on specific neighborhood built environment attributes (residential density, land-use mix and intensity, street connectivity, and retail density) relevant to neighborhood walkability. It applied a mixed-method approach, included 173 participants (≥65 years), and used a Geographic Information System (GIS) and walking interviews (with a sub-sample) to objectively and subjectively measure neighborhood built environment attributes. Outdoor walking levels were measured by using the Geographic Positioning System (GPS) technology. Data on personal characteristics was collected by completing a questionnaire. The results show that inequalities in certain land-use intensity (i.e., green spaces, recreation centers, schools and industries) in high- versus low-deprivation areas may influence disparities in older adults' outdoor walking levels. Modifying neighborhood land use intensity may help to encourage outdoor walking in high-deprivation areas.

Perceived effects of setting attributes on visitor experiences in wilderness: Variation with situational context and visitor characteristics

Treesearch

David N. Cole; Troy E. Hall

2009-01-01

Understanding how setting attributes influence the nature of the visitor experience is crucial to effective recreation management. Highly influential attributes are useful indicators to monitor within a planning framework, such as Limits of Acceptable Change. This study sought to identify the setting attributes perceived to have the most profound effect on the ability...

A decision aid for men with early stage prostate cancer: theoretical basis and a test by surrogate patients

PubMed Central

Feldman‐Stewart, Deb; Brundage, Michael D.; Van Manen, Lori

2008-01-01

Background We developed a decision aid for patients with curable prostate cancer based on Svenson’s DiffCon Theory of Decision Making. This study was designed to determine if surrogate patients using the aid could understand the information presented, complete all tasks, show evidence of differentiation, and arrive at a preferred treatment choice. Methods Men, at least 50 years old and never diagnosed with prostate cancer, were recruited through local advertisements. Participants were asked to imagine that they were a case‐scenario patient. Then they completed the decision aid interview, which included three components: (i) information presentation, with comprehension questions, (ii) exercises to help identify attributes important to the decision, and (iii) value‐clarification exercises. Results Sixty‐nine men volunteered. They had a mean age of 61.2 (range 50–83) years, 37% had no formal education beyond high school, and 87% were living with a partner. All participants completed all aspects of the interview. They answered an average of 10 comprehension questions each, with a mean of 94.7% correct without a prompt. Each attribute in the information presented was identified by at least one participant as important to his decision. Participants identified a median of five attributes as important (ranges 1–14) at each of three points during the interview; 75% changed at least one important attribute during the interview. Forty‐nine per cent of participants also identified attributes as important that were not included in the presented information. Participants showed a wide range of values in each of seven trade‐off exercises. Eighty‐eight per cent of participants showed evidence of differentiation; 75% had a clear treatment preference by the end of the interview. Conclusions Our decision aid appears to meet its goals for surrogate patients and illustrates the strengths of the DiffCon theory. The ability of the aid to accommodate wide variability, both in information needs and in important attributes, is a particular strength of the decision aid. It now requires testing in patients with prostate cancer. PMID:11703496

[Mortality and life expectancy that attributable to high blood pressure in Chinese people in 2013].

PubMed

Zeng, X Y; Liu, S W; Wang, L J; Zhang, M; Yin, P; Liu, Y N; Zhao, Z P; Wang, L M

2017-08-10

Objective: To estimate the deaths (mortality) and life expectancy that attributable to high blood pressure in people from different regions and gender, in China in 2013. Methods: Data was from the 'China Chronic Disease Risk Factor Surveillance 2013' and the 'China National Mortality Surveillance 2013'. According to the comparative risk assessment theory, population attributable fraction ( PAF ) of high blood pressure by gender, urban-rural, east-central-west regions was calculated before the estimations on deaths (mortality) and life expectancy attributable to high blood pressure was made. Results: In 2013, among the Chinese people aged 25 years old and above, the mean SBP was (129.48±20.27) mmHg. High blood pressure[SBP>(115±6) mmHg]caused 20.879 million deaths and accounted for 22.78% of the total deaths. SBP, deaths, mortality rate and standardized mortality rate that attributable to high blood pressure all appeared higher in men [(131.15±18.73) mmHg, 11.517 million, 165.56/100 000 and 106.97/100 000, respectively]than in women[(127.79±21.60) mmHg, 9.362 million, 141.99/100 000 and 68.93/100 000, respectively]. SBP, deaths, mortality rate and PAF were all seen higher in rural[(130.25±20.66) mmHg, 11.234 million, 178.58/100 000 and 23.59%, respectively]than in urban[(128.58±19.77) mmHg, 9.645 million, 132.87/100 000 and 21.54%, respectively]areas. However, levels of SBP were similar in the east, central or west regions, with attributable deaths, attributable mortality rate and PAF the highest as 7.658 million 179.93/100 000, and 26.72% respectively. In 2013, among the Chinese people aged 25 years old and above, deaths caused by cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease attributable to high blood pressure were 19.912 million and 0.966 million, accounting for 52.31% of the total deaths due to cardiovascular diseases and 62.11% to the total chronic kidney diseases. The top three deaths attributable to high blood pressure were ischemic heart disease (6.656 million), hemorrhagic stroke (5.331 million) and ischemic stroke (3.593 million). When the effect of high blood pressure had been eliminated, the life expectancy per capita would have increased by 2.86 years old, with higher in women than in men (3.07 and 2.64 years old, respectively), higher in central than in east and west (3.48, 2.56 and 2.58 years, respectively) areas, in rural than in urban (2.97 and 2.59 years, respectively) areas. Conclusions: In 2013, the number of deaths attributable to high blood pressure was around 20.9 million, accounting for 22.78% of the total deaths, and appeared higher in men than in women, in rural than in urban, in central than in east and west areas. The mortality burden induced by ischemic heart disease, hemorrhagic stroke and ischemic stroke was most serious since the high blood pressure brought about 2.86 years of lost in life expectancy.

A repertoire of leadership attributes: an international study of deans of nursing.

PubMed

Wilkes, Lesley; Cross, Wendy; Jackson, Debra; Daly, John

2015-04-01

To determine which characteristics of academic leadership are perceived to be necessary for nursing deans to be successful. Effective leadership is essential for the continued growth of the discipline. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with 30 deans (academics in universities who headed a nursing faculty and degree programmes) was conducted in three countries--Canada, England and Australia. The conversations were analysed for leadership attributes. Sixty personal and positional attributes were nominated by the participants. Of these, the most frequent attribute was 'having vision'. Personal attributes included: passion, patience, courage, facilitating, sharing and being supportive. Positional attributes included: communication, faculty development, role modelling, good management and promoting nursing. Both positional and personal aspects of academic leadership are important to assist in developing a succession plan and education for new deans. It is important that talented people are recognised as potential leaders of the future. These future leaders should be given every chance to grow and develop through exposure to opportunities to develop skills and the attributes necessary for effective deanship. Strategic mentoring could prove to be useful in developing and supporting the growth of future deans of nursing. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Diagnosing and attributing neuropsychiatric events to systemic lupus erythematosus: time to untie the Gordian knot?

PubMed

Tay, Sen Hee; Mak, Anselm

2017-04-01

Neurological and psychiatric syndromes, collectively referred to as NPSLE, occur frequently in SLE. The frequency of NPSLE varies from 21 to 95%; however, only 13-38% of neuropsychiatric (NP) events could be attributable to SLE in the NPSLE SLICC inception cohort. This variability in the frequency of NPSLE is attributable to the low specificity of the ACR case definitions for SLE-attributed NP syndromes, inclusion of minor NP events in the ACR nomenclature, difficulty in ascertainment of NP events and diverse experience of rheumatologists in the clinical assessment of NP events. Making the correct and early attribution of NP events to SLE is important to institute appropriate immunosuppressive treatment for favourable outcomes. Various attribution models using composite decision rules have been developed and used to ascribe NP events to SLE. This review will focus on the various clinical presentations, diagnostic work-up and attributions of the common NPSLE syndromes, including other NP events not included in the ACR nomenclature but which have come to attention in recent years. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Method and system for control of upstream flowfields of vehicle in supersonic or hypersonic atmospheric flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Daso, Endwell O. (Inventor); Pritchett, II, Victor E. (Inventor); Wang, Ten-See (Inventor); Farr, Rebecca Ann (Inventor)

2012-01-01

The upstream flowfield of a vehicle traveling in supersonic or hypersonic atmospheric flight is actively controlled using attribute(s) experienced by the vehicle. Sensed attribute(s) include pressure along the vehicle's outer mold line, temperature along the vehicle's outer mold line, heat flux along the vehicle's outer mold line, and/or local acceleration response of the vehicle. A non-heated, non-plasma-producing gas is injected into an upstream flowfield of the vehicle from at least one surface location along the vehicle's outer mold line. The pressure of the gas so-injected is adjusted based on the attribute(s) so-sensed.

ALDH2 polymorphism and alcohol-related cancers in Asians: a public health perspective.

PubMed

Chang, Jeffrey S; Hsiao, Jenn-Ren; Chen, Che-Hong

2017-03-03

The occurrence of more than 200 diseases, including cancer, can be attributed to alcohol drinking. The global cancer deaths attributed to alcohol-consumption rose from 243,000 in 1990 to 337,400 in 2010. In 2010, cancer deaths due to alcohol consumption accounted for 4.2% of all cancer deaths. Strong epidemiological evidence has established the causal role of alcohol in the development of various cancers, including esophageal cancer, head and neck cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer. The evidence for the association between alcohol and other cancers is inconclusive. Because of the high prevalence of ALDH2*2 allele among East Asian populations, East Asians may be more susceptible to the carcinogenic effect of alcohol, with most evidence coming from studies of esophageal cancer and head and neck cancer, while data for other cancers are more limited. The high prevalence of ALDH2*2 allele in East Asian populations may have important public health implications and may be utilized to reduce the occurrence of alcohol-related cancers among East Asians, including: 1) Identification of individuals at high risk of developing alcohol-related cancers by screening for ALDH2 polymorphism; 2) Incorporation of ALDH2 polymorphism screening into behavioral intervention program for promoting alcohol abstinence or reducing alcohol consumption; 3) Using ALDH2 polymorphism as a prognostic indicator for alcohol-related cancers; 4) Targeting ALDH2 for chemoprevention; and 5) Setting guidelines for alcohol consumption among ALDH2 deficient individuals. Future studies should evaluate whether these strategies are effective for preventing the occurrence of alcohol-related cancers.

Participatory ergonomics simulation of hospital work systems: The influence of simulation media on simulation outcome.

PubMed

Andersen, Simone Nyholm; Broberg, Ole

2015-11-01

Current application of work system simulation in participatory ergonomics (PE) design includes a variety of different simulation media. However, the actual influence of the media attributes on the simulation outcome has received less attention. This study investigates two simulation media: full-scale mock-ups and table-top models. The aim is to compare, how the media attributes of fidelity and affordance influence the ergonomics identification and evaluation in PE design of hospital work systems. The results illustrate, how the full-scale mock-ups' high fidelity of room layout and affordance of tool operation support ergonomics identification and evaluation related to the work system entities space and technologies & tools. The table-top models' high fidelity of function relations and affordance of a helicopter view support ergonomics identification and evaluation related to the entity organization. Furthermore, the study addresses the form of the identified and evaluated conditions, being either identified challenges or tangible design criteria. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Determining Preferences Related to HIV Counselling and Testing Services Among High School Learners in KwaZulu-Natal: A Discrete Choice Experiment.

PubMed

Strauss, Michael; George, Gavin L; Rhodes, Bruce D

2018-01-01

A key strategy of the South African national response to HIV is the scale-up of HIV counselling and testing (HCT) in the 15-49 years age group. The integrated school health policy aims to guide the roll out of youth-friendly health services including the provision of HCT in schools. Using a discrete choice experiment to examine preferences regarding the attributes of HCT service packages, this study identifies barriers to and facilitators of HCT among high school learners. Monetary considerations were found to have the strongest effect of any attribute on choice, whilst confidentiality was found to be a primary concern for learners considering HCT. Policy makers and service providers must ensure that confidentiality is maintained, and could consider using monetary incentives as a way of increasing uptake of HCT. Programmes designed to reduce social stigma and improve education and knowledge dissemination around HCT and HIV, are vital in creating demand for HCT and changing attitudes among young people.

Chemical composition, antioxidant capacity, and sensory quality of dried jujube fruits as affected by cultivar and drying method.

PubMed

Wojdyło, Aneta; Figiel, Adam; Legua, Pilar; Lech, Krzysztof; Carbonell-Barrachina, Ángel A; Hernández, Francisca

2016-09-15

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different dying methods, such as convective drying (CD: 50, 60, 70 °C), vacuum-microwave drying (VMD: 120, 480, 480-120 W), a combination of convective pre-drying and vacuum-microwave finish drying [(CPD (60 °C)-VMFD (480-120 W)], and freeze-drying (FD) on key quality parameters of dried jujube fruits (cv. "GAL", "MSI", and "PSI"). The parameters studied included bioactive compounds (flavan-3-ols and flavonols, identified by LC-PDA-MS, and vitamin C), antioxidant capacity (ABTS and FRAP), and sensory attributes (e.g. hardness, jujube-ID, and sweetness). The best quality of the dried product (high contents of bioactive compounds and high intensity of key sensory attributes) was found in fruits treated by FD and VMD 480-120 W. The best cultivars were "PSI" and "GAL" from the point of view of bioactive content and sensory quality, respectively. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploring the influence of consumer characteristics on veal credence and experience guarantee purchasing motivators.

PubMed

Resano, H; Olaizola, A M; Dominguez-Torreiro, M

2018-07-01

In Europe, in the last decades, public administration has encouraged extensive livestock farming systems, usually related to high quality meat and the preservation of endangered local breeds. Nevertheless, its continuity in the near future should be based on adapting it to the market requirements. This paper investigates consumers' preferences heterogeneity towards veal attributes, as well as the linkage between a wide range of consumer traits and attributes that motivate purchasing of veal with unique characteristics. Main method of analysis included a choice experiment method. Findings showed that regional origin and health information play a stronger role than tenderness degree guarantee at the moment of choice. Moreover, regional origin is more relevant when it is linked to a local breed. Nevertheless, heterogeneous preferences have been detected. In contrast to the general trend, one-person households attach greater importance to the presence of a high degree of tenderness guarantee. Furthermore, younger consumers value more this guarantee, while expert consumers do not. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A rock physics and seismic reservoir characterization study of the Rock Springs Uplift, a carbon dioxide sequestration site in Southwestern Wyoming

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

Grana, Dario; Verma, Sumit; Pafeng, Josiane

We present a reservoir geophysics study, including rock physics modeling and seismic inversion, of a carbon dioxide sequestration site in Southwestern Wyoming, namely the Rock Springs Uplift, and build a petrophysical model for the potential injection reservoirs for carbon dioxide sequestration. Our objectives include the facies classification and the estimation of the spatial model of porosity and permeability for two sequestration targets of interest, the Madison Limestone and the Weber Sandstone. The available dataset includes a complete set of well logs at the location of the borehole available in the area, a set of 110 core samples, and a seismicmore » survey acquired in the area around the well. The proposed study includes a formation evaluation analysis and facies classification at the well location, the calibration of a rock physics model to link petrophysical properties and elastic attributes using well log data and core samples, the elastic inversion of the pre-stack seismic data, and the estimation of the reservoir model of facies, porosity and permeability conditioned by seismic inverted elastic attributes and well log data. In particular, the rock physics relations are facies-dependent and include granular media equations for clean and shaley sandstone, and inclusion models for the dolomitized limestone. The permeability model has been computed by applying a facies-dependent porosity-permeability relation calibrated using core sample measurements. Finally, the study shows that both formations show good storage capabilities. The Madison Limestone includes a homogeneous layer of high-porosity high-permeability dolomite; the Weber Sandstone is characterized by a lower average porosity but the layer is thicker than the Madison Limestone.« less

A rock physics and seismic reservoir characterization study of the Rock Springs Uplift, a carbon dioxide sequestration site in Southwestern Wyoming

DOE PAGES

Grana, Dario; Verma, Sumit; Pafeng, Josiane; ...

2017-06-20

We present a reservoir geophysics study, including rock physics modeling and seismic inversion, of a carbon dioxide sequestration site in Southwestern Wyoming, namely the Rock Springs Uplift, and build a petrophysical model for the potential injection reservoirs for carbon dioxide sequestration. Our objectives include the facies classification and the estimation of the spatial model of porosity and permeability for two sequestration targets of interest, the Madison Limestone and the Weber Sandstone. The available dataset includes a complete set of well logs at the location of the borehole available in the area, a set of 110 core samples, and a seismicmore » survey acquired in the area around the well. The proposed study includes a formation evaluation analysis and facies classification at the well location, the calibration of a rock physics model to link petrophysical properties and elastic attributes using well log data and core samples, the elastic inversion of the pre-stack seismic data, and the estimation of the reservoir model of facies, porosity and permeability conditioned by seismic inverted elastic attributes and well log data. In particular, the rock physics relations are facies-dependent and include granular media equations for clean and shaley sandstone, and inclusion models for the dolomitized limestone. The permeability model has been computed by applying a facies-dependent porosity-permeability relation calibrated using core sample measurements. Finally, the study shows that both formations show good storage capabilities. The Madison Limestone includes a homogeneous layer of high-porosity high-permeability dolomite; the Weber Sandstone is characterized by a lower average porosity but the layer is thicker than the Madison Limestone.« less

Conditions under which Arousal Does and Does Not Elevate Height Estimates

PubMed Central

Storbeck, Justin; Stefanucci, Jeanine K.

2014-01-01

We present a series of experiments that explore the boundary conditions for how emotional arousal influences height estimates. Four experiments are presented, which investigated the influence of context, situation-relevance, intensity, and attribution of arousal on height estimates. In Experiment 1, we manipulated the environmental context to signal either danger (viewing a height from above) or safety (viewing a height from below). High arousal only increased height estimates made from above. In Experiment 2, two arousal inductions were used that contained either 1) height-relevant arousing images or 2) height-irrelevant arousing images. Regardless of theme, arousal increased height estimates compared to a neutral group. In Experiment 3, arousal intensity was manipulated by inserting an intermediate or long delay between the induction and height estimates. A brief, but not a long, delay from the arousal induction served to increase height estimates. In Experiment 4, an attribution manipulation was included, and those participants who were made aware of the source of their arousal reduced their height estimates compared to participants who received no attribution instructions. Thus, arousal that is attributed to its true source is discounted from feelings elicited by the height, thereby reducing height estimates. Overall, we suggest that misattributed, embodied arousal is used as a cue when estimating heights from above that can lead to overestimation. PMID:24699393

A review of data quality assessment methods for public health information systems.

PubMed

Chen, Hong; Hailey, David; Wang, Ning; Yu, Ping

2014-05-14

High quality data and effective data quality assessment are required for accurately evaluating the impact of public health interventions and measuring public health outcomes. Data, data use, and data collection process, as the three dimensions of data quality, all need to be assessed for overall data quality assessment. We reviewed current data quality assessment methods. The relevant study was identified in major databases and well-known institutional websites. We found the dimension of data was most frequently assessed. Completeness, accuracy, and timeliness were the three most-used attributes among a total of 49 attributes of data quality. The major quantitative assessment methods were descriptive surveys and data audits, whereas the common qualitative assessment methods were interview and documentation review. The limitations of the reviewed studies included inattentiveness to data use and data collection process, inconsistency in the definition of attributes of data quality, failure to address data users' concerns and a lack of systematic procedures in data quality assessment. This review study is limited by the coverage of the databases and the breadth of public health information systems. Further research could develop consistent data quality definitions and attributes. More research efforts should be given to assess the quality of data use and the quality of data collection process.

Organizational attributes and screening and brief intervention in primary care.

PubMed

Nemeth, Lynne S; Miller, Peter M; Nietert, Paul J; Ornstein, Steven M; Wessell, Andrea M; Jenkins, Ruth G

2013-11-01

Overconsumption of alcohol is well known to lead to numerous health and social problems. Prevalence studies of United States adults found that 20% of patients meet criteria for an alcohol use disorder. Routine screening for alcohol use is recommended in primary care settings, yet little is known about the organizational factors that are related to successful implementation of screening and brief intervention (SBI) and treatment in these settings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate organizational attributes in primary care practices that were included in a practice-based research network trial to implement alcohol SBI. The Survey of Organizational Attributes in Primary Care (SOAPC) has reliably measured four factors: communication, decision-making, stress/chaos and history of change. This 21-item instrument was administered to 178 practice members at the baseline of this trial, to evaluate for relationship of organizational attributes to the implementation of alcohol SBI and treatment. No significant relationships were found correlating alcohol screening, identification of high-risk drinkers and brief intervention, to the factors measured in the SOAPC instrument. These results highlight the challenges related to the use of organizational survey instruments in explaining or predicting variations in clinical improvement. Comprehensive mixed methods approaches may be more effective in evaluations of the implementation of SBI and treatment. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Good physicians from the perspective of their patients

PubMed Central

Schattner, Ami; Rudin, Dan; Jellin, Navah

2004-01-01

Background It is not currently known what is the patient's viewpoint of a "good" physician. We set out to define patient's priorities regarding different physician's attributes in 3 domains important in medical care. Methods Patients hospitalized or attending clinics at a large teaching hospital selected the 4 attributes that they considered most important out of 21 listed arbitrarily in a questionnaire. The questionnaire included 7 items each in the domains of patient autonomy, professional expertise and humanism. Results Participating patients (n = 445, mean age 57.5 ± 16 years) selected professional expertise (50%), physician's patience and attentiveness (38% and 30%, respectively), and informing the patient, representing the patient's interests, being truthful and respecting patient's preferences (25–36% each) as the most essential attributes. Patient's selections were not significantly influenced by different demographic or clinical background. Selections of attributes in the domain of patient's autonomy were significantly more frequent and this was the preferred domain for 31% and as important as another domain for 16% – significantly more than the domain of professional expertise (P = 0.008), and much more than the domain of humanism and support (P < 0.0005). Conclusions Patients studied want their physicians to be highly professional and expert clinicians and show humaneness and support, but their first priority is for the physician to respect their autonomy. PMID:15361255

A Review of Data Quality Assessment Methods for Public Health Information Systems

PubMed Central

Chen, Hong; Hailey, David; Wang, Ning; Yu, Ping

2014-01-01

High quality data and effective data quality assessment are required for accurately evaluating the impact of public health interventions and measuring public health outcomes. Data, data use, and data collection process, as the three dimensions of data quality, all need to be assessed for overall data quality assessment. We reviewed current data quality assessment methods. The relevant study was identified in major databases and well-known institutional websites. We found the dimension of data was most frequently assessed. Completeness, accuracy, and timeliness were the three most-used attributes among a total of 49 attributes of data quality. The major quantitative assessment methods were descriptive surveys and data audits, whereas the common qualitative assessment methods were interview and documentation review. The limitations of the reviewed studies included inattentiveness to data use and data collection process, inconsistency in the definition of attributes of data quality, failure to address data users’ concerns and a lack of systematic procedures in data quality assessment. This review study is limited by the coverage of the databases and the breadth of public health information systems. Further research could develop consistent data quality definitions and attributes. More research efforts should be given to assess the quality of data use and the quality of data collection process. PMID:24830450

Specialty fibers for fiber optic sensor application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, K.; Koh, J.; Coon, J.; Chien, C. K.; Artuso, A.; Chen, X.; Nolan, D.; Li, M.-J.

2007-09-01

Over the last several years, Fiber Optic Sensor (FOS) applications have seen an increased acceptance in many areas including oil & gas production monitoring, gyroscopes, current sensors, structural sensing and monitoring, and aerospace applications. High level optical and mechanical reliability of optical fiber is necessary to guarantee reliable performance of FOS. In this paper, we review recent research and development activities on new specialty fibers. We discuss fiber design concepts and present both modeling and experimental results. The main approaches to enhancing fiber attributes include new index profile design and fiber coating modification.

Improved sensitivity high-definition interline CCD using the KODAK TRUESENSE color filter pattern

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DiBella, James; Andreghetti, Marco; Enge, Amy; Chen, William; Stanka, Timothy; Kaser, Robert

2010-01-01

The KODAK TRUESENSE Color Filter Pattern has technology that for the first time is applied to a commercially available interline CCD. This 2/3" true-HD sensor will be described along with its performance attributes, including sensitivity improvement as compared to the Bayer CFA version of the same sensor. In addition, an overview of the system developed for demonstration and evaluation will be provided. Examples of the benefits of the new technology in specific applications including surveillance and intelligent traffic systems will be discussed.

A Longitudinal Examination of African American Adolescents’ Attributions about Achievement Outcomes

PubMed Central

Swinton, Akilah D.; Kurtz-Costes, Beth; Rowley, Stephanie J.; Okeke-Adeyanju, Ndidi

2011-01-01

Developmental, gender, and academic domain differences in causal attributions and the influence of attributions on classroom engagement were explored longitudinally in 115 African American adolescents. In Grades 8 and 11, adolescents reported attributions for success and failure in math, English and writing, and science. In Grade 11, English and mathematics teachers rated students’ classroom engagement. Boys were more likely than girls to attribute math successes to high ability and to attribute English failures to low ability. Both genders’ ability attributions for math became more negative from eighth to eleventh grade. Grade 8 attributions of math failure to lack of ability were negatively related to Grade 11 math classroom engagement. Results illustrate the gendered nature of motivational beliefs among Black youth. PMID:21793818

Residents' willingness-to-pay for attributes of rural health care facilities.

PubMed

Allen, James E; Davis, Alison F; Hu, Wuyang; Owusu-Amankwah, Emmanuel

2015-01-01

As today's rural hospitals have struggled with financial sustainability for the past 2 decades, it is critical to understand their value relative to alternatives, such as rural health clinics and private practices. To estimate the willingness-to-pay for specific attributes of rural health care facilities in rural Kentucky to determine which services and operational characteristics are most valued by rural residents. We fitted choice experiment data from 769 respondents in 10 rural Kentucky counties to a conditional logit model and used the results to estimate willingness-to-pay for attributes in several categories, including hours open, types of insurance accepted, and availability of health care professionals and specialized care. Acceptance of Medicaid/Medicare with use of a sliding fee scale versus acceptance of only private insurance was the most valued attribute. Presence of full diagnostic services, an emergency room, and 24-hour/7-day-per-week access were also highly valued. Conversely, the presence of specialized care, such as physical therapy, cancer care, or dialysis, was not valued. In total, respondents were willing to pay $225 more annually to support a hospital relative to a rural health clinic. Rural Kentuckians value the services, convenience, and security that rural hospitals offer, though they are not willing to pay more for specialized care that may be available in larger medical treatment centers. The results also inform which attributes might be added to existing rural health facilities to make them more valuable to local residents. © 2014 National Rural Health Association.

Risk factors of mortality in patients with carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii bacteremia.

PubMed

Liu, Chang-Pan; Shih, Shou-Chuan; Wang, Nai-Yu; Wu, Alice Y; Sun, Fang-Ju; Chow, Shan-Fan; Chen, Te-Li; Yan, Tsong-Rong

2016-12-01

Identification of risks of mortality for carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB), with early implementation of an appropriate therapy, is crucial for the patients' outcome. The aim of this study was to survey mortality risk factors in 182 patients with CRAB bacteremia in a medical center in Taiwan. A total of 182 isolates of CRAB bacteremia were collected from 2009 to 2012 in Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan These isolates were identified by using the genotypic method. Risk of attributable mortality analysis was carried out with a Cox proportional hazards model. The 182 CRAB isolates belonged to 38 different pulsotypes. The attributable mortality rate of the 182 patients was 58.24%. The risk factors for attributable mortality included intensive care unit stay [hazard ratio (HR): 2.27; p = 0.011], an Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score of >20 (HR: 2.19; p < 0.001), respiratory tract as the origin of bacteremia (HR: 3.40; p < 0.001), and previous use of ceftriaxone (HR: 2.51; p = 0.011). The appropriateness of antimicrobial therapy was 18.87% (20/106) in the mortality group versus 88.16% (67/76) in the survivor group (p < 0.001). The sensitivity of CRAB to colistin was 100% and to tigecycline was 40.11%. The risk factors for mortality for CRAB included intensive care unit stay, a high Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score, respiratory tract as the origin of bacteremia, and previous use of ceftriaxone. Early implementation of an antimicrobial agent that had the highest in vitro activity against CRAB in patients at risk of CRAB bacteremia and high mortality may improve their outcome. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Attention to Attributes and Objects in Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowan, Nelson; Blume, Christopher L.; Saults, J. Scott

2013-01-01

It has been debated on the basis of change-detection procedures whether visual working memory is limited by the number of objects, task-relevant attributes within those objects, or bindings between attributes. This debate, however, has been hampered by several limitations, including the use of conditions that vary between studies and the absence…

The Relationship of Self-Concept to Causal Attributions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaha, Steven H.

When people experience failures they search for an explanation of why the failure occurred. The process of seeking an explanatory cause is the basis of attribution theory. Causal attributions include the dimensions of locus of causality (internal or external), stability of the cause over time, and the degree of personal control over the outcome.…

Evaluation of the visual performance of image processing pipes: information value of subjective image attributes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nyman, G.; Häkkinen, J.; Koivisto, E.-M.; Leisti, T.; Lindroos, P.; Orenius, O.; Virtanen, T.; Vuori, T.

2010-01-01

Subjective image quality data for 9 image processing pipes and 8 image contents (taken with mobile phone camera, 72 natural scene test images altogether) from 14 test subjects were collected. A triplet comparison setup and a hybrid qualitative/quantitative methodology were applied. MOS data and spontaneous, subjective image quality attributes to each test image were recorded. The use of positive and negative image quality attributes by the experimental subjects suggested a significant difference between the subjective spaces of low and high image quality. The robustness of the attribute data was shown by correlating DMOS data of the test images against their corresponding, average subjective attribute vector length data. The findings demonstrate the information value of spontaneous, subjective image quality attributes in evaluating image quality at variable quality levels. We discuss the implications of these findings for the development of sensitive performance measures and methods in profiling image processing systems and their components, especially at high image quality levels.

Motivation across Domains: Do Goals and Attributions Change with Subject Matter for Grades 4 and 5 Students?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vogler, Jane S.; Bakken, Linda

2007-01-01

This study explored a theory for motivation which included aspects of both attribution theory and goal theory. Motivational variables included beliefs about intelligence (entity or incremental), goal orientation (mastery/learning, performance-approach, performance-avoidance) and avoidant behaviours. Grades 4 and 5 students from a large,…

Prefrontal/accumbal catecholamine system processes high motivational salience

PubMed Central

Puglisi-Allegra, Stefano; Ventura, Rossella

2012-01-01

Motivational salience regulates the strength of goal seeking, the amount of risk taken, and the energy invested from mild to extreme. Highly motivational experiences promote highly persistent memories. Although this phenomenon is adaptive in normal conditions, experiences with extremely high levels of motivational salience can promote development of memories that can be re-experienced intrusively for long time resulting in maladaptive outcomes. Neural mechanisms mediating motivational salience attribution are, therefore, very important for individual and species survival and for well-being. However, these neural mechanisms could be implicated in attribution of abnormal motivational salience to different stimuli leading to maladaptive compulsive seeking or avoidance. We have offered the first evidence that prefrontal cortical norepinephrine (NE) transmission is a necessary condition for motivational salience attribution to highly salient stimuli, through modulation of dopamine (DA) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a brain area involved in all motivated behaviors. Moreover, we have shown that prefrontal-accumbal catecholamine (CA) system determines approach or avoidance responses to both reward- and aversion-related stimuli only when the salience of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is high enough to induce sustained CA activation, thus affirming that this system processes motivational salience attribution selectively to highly salient events. PMID:22754514

Global mortality attributable to aircraft cruise emissions.

PubMed

Barrett, Steven R H; Britter, Rex E; Waitz, Ian A

2010-10-01

Aircraft emissions impact human health though degradation of air quality. The majority of previous analyses of air quality impacts from aviation have considered only landing and takeoff emissions. We show that aircraft cruise emissions impact human health over a hemispheric scale and provide the first estimate of premature mortalities attributable to aircraft emissions globally. We estimate ∼8000 premature mortalities per year are attributable to aircraft cruise emissions. This represents ∼80% of the total impact of aviation (where the total includes the effects of landing and takeoff emissions), and ∼1% of air quality-related premature mortalities from all sources. However, we note that the impact of landing and takeoff emissions is likely to be under-resolved. Secondary H(2)SO(4)-HNO(3)-NH(3) aerosols are found to dominate mortality impacts. Due to the altitude and region of the atmosphere at which aircraft emissions are deposited, the extent of transboundary air pollution is particularly strong. For example, we describe how strong zonal westerly winds aloft, the mean meridional circulation around 30-60°N, interaction of aircraft-attributable aerosol precursors with background ammonia, and high population densities in combination give rise to an estimated ∼3500 premature mortalities per year in China and India combined, despite their relatively small current share of aircraft emissions. Subsidence of aviation-attributable aerosol and aerosol precursors occurs predominantly around the dry subtropical ridge, which results in reduced wet removal of aviation-attributable aerosol. It is also found that aircraft NO(x) emissions serve to increase oxidation of nonaviation SO(2), thereby further increasing the air quality impacts of aviation. We recommend that cruise emissions be explicitly considered in the development of policies, technologies and operational procedures designed to mitigate the air quality impacts of air transportation.

Attributes and characteristics of the Mathematics, Engineering, Science, Achievement (MESA) high school program for first-generation Latino students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flores, Ramon

This study used a web-based survey collected data from 28 first-generation Latino engineers who participated in the Mathematics, Engineering, Science, Achievement (MESA) program during their high school years. From the set of 28 respondents, 5 volunteered to participate in an optional telephone interview. The purpose of this study was to describe the critical attributes and characteristics of the MESA program that lead to success at both the high school and college levels for first-generation Latino students. Success at the high school level was operationally defined as successfully graduating with a high school diploma. Success at the college level was operationally defined here as college graduation with an engineering degree. Using a mixed-methods technique, the researcher attempted to secure consensus of opinion from a sample population of 28 first-generation Latino engineers. The mixed-methods technique was chosen since it allowed the researcher to draw on the strengths of quantitative and qualitative approaches. According to the findings, the typical respondent felt that mentoring was the attribute of the MESA program that most prepared him to graduate from high school. The respondents felt that the following MESA attributes most helped them transition into an undergraduate engineering program: Academic and University Advising; Enrichment Activities; Career Advising; Field Trips; Mentoring; Scholarship Incentive Awards; and Speakers. The respondents viewed study groups as the MESA attribute that best prepared them to graduate college with an engineering degree. This study was purposefully designed as a descriptive study. Future research is required to extend this work into an evaluative study. This would allow for the generalization of the critical attributes to the general student population serviced by the MESA program.

Patient preferences for osteoporosis in Spain: a discrete choice experiment.

PubMed

Darbà, J; Restovic, G; Kaskens, L; Balbona, M A; Carbonell, A; Cavero, P; Jordana, M; Prieto, C; Molina, A; Padró, I

2011-06-01

In Spain, various treatments are available to prevent osteoporotic fractures. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was used to investigate the importance of different treatment aspects and its influence on patients' preferences. All attributes included as type and place of drug administration as well as costs showed to be significant predictors of choice. Spanish osteoporosis patients have well-defined preferences and accept trade-offs among attributes. This study was designed to identify patient preferences for different aspects of osteoporosis treatments in Spain. Main attributes of severe osteoporosis treatments were determined by literature review and consultations with nurses. The discrete choice experiment included three attributes: type of drug administration, place of administration, plus a cost attribute in order to estimate willingness to pay for improvements in attribute levels. A pilot study with 50 patients was performed to identify the areas of misunderstanding. One hundred sixty-six patients with a diagnosis of osteoporosis and severe osteoporosis were presented with pairs of hypothetical treatment profiles with different type of administration levels, places of administration and costs. Questions to collect socio-demographic and disease-related treatment data were also included. Data were analysed using a random effects probit model. All attributes had the expected polarity and were significant predictors of choice. Patients were willing to pay 183 euro/month to have a subcutaneous injection once per day rather than an intravenous injection once per year. Patients with osteoporosis were willing to pay 121 euro/month to have medical support when administering the drug treatment at home rather than being admitted several hours to a hospital for drug administration. Spanish osteoporosis patients have well-defined preferences among treatment attributes and are willing to accept trade-offs among attributes. Participants indicated that they are willing to accept self medication with medical support rather than being hospitalised for several hours. The perspective of the patients should be taken into account when making treatment decisions.

High School Instrumental Music Students' Attitudes and Beliefs regarding Practice: An Application of Attribution Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schatt, Matthew D.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore high school band students' perspectives of instrumental music practice from within the attribution theory paradigm and to attempt to elucidate the secondary student's attitudes toward practice. High school band students from three Midwestern school districts (N = 218) completed a survey that was used to…

Private traits and attributes are predictable from digital records of human behavior

PubMed Central

Kosinski, Michal; Stillwell, David; Graepel, Thore

2013-01-01

We show that easily accessible digital records of behavior, Facebook Likes, can be used to automatically and accurately predict a range of highly sensitive personal attributes including: sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious and political views, personality traits, intelligence, happiness, use of addictive substances, parental separation, age, and gender. The analysis presented is based on a dataset of over 58,000 volunteers who provided their Facebook Likes, detailed demographic profiles, and the results of several psychometric tests. The proposed model uses dimensionality reduction for preprocessing the Likes data, which are then entered into logistic/linear regression to predict individual psychodemographic profiles from Likes. The model correctly discriminates between homosexual and heterosexual men in 88% of cases, African Americans and Caucasian Americans in 95% of cases, and between Democrat and Republican in 85% of cases. For the personality trait “Openness,” prediction accuracy is close to the test–retest accuracy of a standard personality test. We give examples of associations between attributes and Likes and discuss implications for online personalization and privacy. PMID:23479631

Baseline Predictors of Missed Visits in the Look AHEAD Study

PubMed Central

Fitzpatrick, Stephanie L.; Jeffery, Robert; Johnson, Karen C.; Roche, Cathy C.; Van Dorsten, Brent; Gee, Molly; Johnson, Ruby Ann; Charleston, Jeanne; Dotson, Kathy; Walkup, Michael P.; Hill-Briggs, Felicia; Brancati, Frederick L.

2013-01-01

Objective To identify baseline attributes associated with consecutively missed data collection visits during the first 48 months of Look AHEAD—a randomized, controlled trial in 5145 overweight/obese adults with type 2 diabetes designed to determine the long-term health benefits of weight loss achieved by lifestyle change. Design and Methods The analyzed sample consisted of 5016 participants who were alive at month 48 and enrolled at Look AHEAD sites. Demographic, baseline behavior, psychosocial factors, and treatment randomization were included as predictors of missed consecutive visits in proportional hazard models. Results In multivariate Cox proportional hazard models, baseline attributes of participants who missed consecutive visits (n=222) included: younger age ( Hazard Ratio [HR] 1.18 per 5 years younger; 95% Confidence Interval 1.05, 1.30), higher depression score (HR 1.04; 1.01, 1.06), non-married status (HR 1.37; 1.04, 1.82), never self-weighing prior to enrollment (HR 2.01; 1.25, 3.23), and randomization to minimal vs. intensive lifestyle intervention (HR 1.46; 1.11, 1.91). Conclusions Younger age, symptoms of depression, non-married status, never self-weighing, and randomization to minimal intervention were associated with a higher likelihood of missing consecutive data collection visits, even in a high-retention trial like Look AHEAD. Whether modifications to screening or retention efforts targeted to these attributes might enhance long-term retention in behavioral trials requires further investigation. PMID:23996977

Multimethod prediction of child abuse risk in an at-risk sample of male intimate partner violence offenders.

PubMed

Rodriguez, Christina M; Gracia, Enrique; Lila, Marisol

2016-10-01

The vast majority of research on child abuse potential has concentrated on women demonstrating varying levels of risk of perpetrating physical child abuse. In contrast, the current study considered factors predictive of physical child abuse potential in a group of 70 male intimate partner violence offenders, a group that would represent a likely high risk group. Elements of Social Information Processing theory were evaluated, including pre-existing schemas of empathy, anger, and attitudes approving of parent-child aggression considered as potential moderators of negative attributions of child behavior. To lend methodological rigor, the study also utilized multiple measures and multiple methods, including analog tasks, to predict child abuse risk. Contrary to expectations, findings did not support the role of anger independently predicting child abuse risk in this sample of men. However, preexisting beliefs approving of parent-child aggression, lower empathy, and more negative child behavior attributions independently predicted abuse potential; in addition, greater anger, poorer empathy, and more favorable attitudes toward parent-child aggression also exacerbated men's negative child attributions to further elevate their child abuse risk. Future work is encouraged to consider how factors commonly considered in women parallel or diverge from those observed to elevate child abuse risk in men of varying levels of risk. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Attributional Retraining and Elaborative Learning: Improving Academic Development through Writing-Based Interventions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Nathan C.; Perry, Raymond P.; Goetz, Thomas; Ruthig, Joelle C.; Stupnisky, Robert H.; Newall, Nancy E.

2007-01-01

Attributional retraining (AR) is a motivational intervention that consistently produces improved performance by encouraging controllable failure attributions. Research suggests that cognitively engaging AR methods are ideal for high-elaborating students, whereas affect-oriented techniques are better for low-elaborating students. College students'…

Parenting Styles, Adolescents' Attributions, and Educational Outcomes in Nine Heterogeneous High Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glasgow, Kristan L.; And Others

1997-01-01

Examined contemporaneous and predictive relations between parenting styles, adolescents' attributions, and educational outcomes. Found that adolescents who perceived their parents as nonauthoritative were more likely than peers to attribute achievement outcomes to external causes or low ability. The higher the proportion of dysfunctional…

Perceptions of staff attributes in substance abuse treatment.

PubMed

Grosenick, J K; Hatmaker, C M

2000-10-01

Qualified professional staff contribute significantly to successful health-care service delivery. Organizations view six categories of staff attributes as valued qualities of competent personnel: knowledge and experience, organizational citizenship, interpersonal skills, service orientation, personal attributes, and leadership skills. This study presents the perceptions regarding these and other staff attributes held by female clients and staff from a substance abuse treatment facility. Results indicated that four attributes were perceived as particularly influential in assisting women to reach treatment goals. These included knowledge and experience, supportiveness, nonthreatening behaviors, and availability. Attention to these variables may prove useful as treatment programs strive to improve client outcomes.

Attributional styles in boys with severe behaviour problems: a possible reason for lack of progress on a positive behaviour programme.

PubMed

Eslea, M

1999-03-01

The number of exclusions from British schools has been increasing in recent years: the vast majority are because of disruptive behaviour. Increasing the effectiveness of behaviour control is therefore a priority for educators. This study tests the hypothesis that children who do not respond well to a behaviour modification regime exhibit a depressed attributional style. The sample comprised 26 boys aged 7-11 in a special day school for children with behaviour problems. Participants were interviewed about positive and negative aspects of school life: responses were coded using the Leeds Attributional Coding System (Stratton et al., 1988). School records were then used to identify children making good progress through the Positive Behaviour Programme (N = 13) and those making little or no progress (N = 8). Mean proportions of stable, global, internal, personal and controllable attributions were compared by progress group (high/low) and outcome (positive/negative) using mixed-design ANOVA. High progress children made significantly more global and internal attributions for positive than for negative events, while low progress children made more personal attributions for negative than for positive events. A depressed attributional style may act as a barrier which hinders the generalisation and internalisation of traditional behaviour modification methods. Increased teacher-awareness of attribution could increase the effectiveness of remedial programmes.

Detection of Evolved Carbon Dioxide in the Rocknest Eolian Bedform by the Sample Analysis at Mars(SAM) Instrument at the Mars Curiosity Landing Site

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sutter, B.; Archer, D.; McAdam, A.; Franz, H.; Ming, D. W.; Eigenbrode, J. L.; Glavin, D. P.; Mahaffy, P.; Stern, J.; Navarro-Gonzalez, R.

2013-01-01

The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument detected four releases of carbon dioxide (CO2) that ranged from 100 to 700 C from the Rocknest eolian bedform material (Fig. 1). Candidate sources of CO2 include adsorbed CO2, carbonate(s), combusted organics that are either derived from terrestrial contamination and/or of martian origin, occluded or trapped CO2, and other sources that have yet to be determined. The Phoenix Lander s Thermal Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) detected two CO2 releases (400-600, 700-840 C) [1,2]. The low temperature release was attributed to Fe- and/or Mg carbonates [1,2], per-chlorate interactions with carbonates [3], nanophase carbonates [4] and/or combusted organics [1]. The high temperature CO2 release was attributed to a calcium bearing carbonate [1,2]. No evidence of a high temperature CO2 release similar to the Phoenix material was detected in the Rocknest materials by SAM. The objectives of this work are to evaluate the temperature and total contribution of each Rocknest CO2 release and their possible sources. Four CO2 releases from the Rocknest material were detected by SAM. Potential sources of CO2 are adsorbed CO2, (peak 1) and Fe/Mg carbonates (peak 4). Only a fraction of peaks 2 and 3 (0.01 C wt.%) may be partially attributed to combustion of organic contamination. Meteoritic organics mixed in the Rocknest bedform could be present, but the peak 2 and 3 C concentration (approx.0.21 C wt. %) is likely too high to be attributed solely to meteoritic organic C. Other inorganic sources of C such as interactions of perchlorates and carbonates and sources yet to be identified will be evaluated to account for CO2 released from the thermal decomposition of Rocknest material.

Choice Rules and Accumulator Networks

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

This article presents a preference accumulation model that can be used to implement a number of different multi-attribute heuristic choice rules, including the lexicographic rule, the majority of confirming dimensions (tallying) rule and the equal weights rule. The proposed model differs from existing accumulators in terms of attribute representation: Leakage and competition, typically applied only to preference accumulation, are also assumed to be involved in processing attribute values. This allows the model to perform a range of sophisticated attribute-wise comparisons, including comparisons that compute relative rank. The ability of a preference accumulation model composed of leaky competitive networks to mimic symbolic models of heuristic choice suggests that these 2 approaches are not incompatible, and that a unitary cognitive model of preferential choice, based on insights from both these approaches, may be feasible. PMID:28670592

Prefrontal Norepinephrine Determines Attribution of “High” Motivational Salience

PubMed Central

Ventura, Rossella; Latagliata, Emanuele Claudio; Morrone, Cristina; La Mela, Immacolata; Puglisi-Allegra, Stefano

2008-01-01

Intense motivational salience attribution is considered to have a major role in the development of different psychopathologies. Numerous brain areas are involved in “normal” motivational salience attribution processes; however, it is not clear whether common or different neural mechanisms also underlie intense motivational salience attribution. To elucidate this a brain area and a neural system had to be envisaged that were involved only in motivational salience attribution to highly salient stimuli. Using intracerebral microdialysis, we found that natural stimuli induced an increase in norepinephrine release in the medial prefrontal cortex of mice proportional to their salience, and that selective prefrontal norepinephrine depletion abolished the increase of norepinephrine release in the medial prefrontal cortex induced by exposure to appetitive (palatable food) or aversive (light) stimuli independently of salience. However, selective norepinephrine depletion in the medial prefrontal cortex impaired the place conditioning induced exclusively by highly salient stimuli, thus indicating that prefrontal noradrenergic transmission determines approach or avoidance responses to both reward- and aversion-related natural stimuli only when the salience of the unconditioned natural stimulus is high enough to induce sustained norepinephrine outflow. This affirms that prefrontal noradrenergic transmission determines motivational salience attribution selectively when intense motivational salience is processed, as in conditions that characterize psychopathological outcomes. PMID:18725944

Prediction of quality attributes of chicken breast fillets by using Vis/NIR spectroscopy combined with factor analysis method

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Visible/near-infrared (Vis/NIR) spectroscopy with wavelength range between 400 and 2500 nm combined with factor analysis method was tested to predict quality attributes of chicken breast fillets. Quality attributes, including color (L*, a*, b*), pH, and drip loss were analyzed using factor analysis ...

The maintenance of key biodiversity attributes through ecosystem restoration operations

Treesearch

Robert W. Gray; Bruce A. Blackwell

2008-01-01

The requirement to manage for key biodiversity attributes in dry forest ecosystems is mandated in the Forest Practices Code Act of British Columbia. These attributes include snags, large old trees, and large organic debris. In the Squamish Forest District dry forest restoration activities center on the use of thinning operations followed by prescribed fire to restore...

Causal Attributions as Predictors of Academic Achievement in Father-Absent Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salzman, Stephanie A.

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential impact of maternal attributions and self-attributions on the academic achievement of father-absent children in comparison to commonly identified family interaction and demographic variables. Subjects included 33 male and 34 female father-absent sixth graders (mean age of 11.6 years) and their…

The effects of festival attributes upon perceptions of crowding

Treesearch

Matthew Anderson; Deborah Kerstette; Alan Graefe

1998-01-01

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between festival attributes and perceived crowding at a festival site. Visitors to the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle, Washington, were chosen by a systematic sampling method to complete an on-site and follow-up survey. These surveys included questions which addressed the determinate attributes...

Beef quality attributes: A systematic review of consumer perspectives.

PubMed

Henchion, Maeve M; McCarthy, Mary; Resconi, Virginia C

2017-06-01

Informed by quality theory, this systematic literature review seeks to determine the relative importance of beef quality attributes from a consumer perspective, considering search, experience and credence quality attributes. While little change is anticipated in consumer ranking of search and experience attributes in the future, movement is expected in terms of ranking within the credence category and also in terms of the ranking of credence attributes overall. This highlights an opportunity for quality assurance schemes (QAS) to become more consumer focused through including a wider range of credence attributes. To capitalise on this opportunity, the meat industry should actively anticipate new relevant credence attributes and researchers need to develop new or better methods to measure them. This review attempts to identify the most relevant quality attributes in beef that may be considered in future iterations of QAS, to increase consumer satisfaction and, potentially, to increase returns to industry. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The use of EEG to measure cerebral changes during computer-based motion-sickness-inducing tasks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strychacz, Christopher; Viirre, Erik; Wing, Shawn

2005-05-01

Motion sickness (MS) is a stressor commonly attributed with causing serious navigational and performance errors. The distinct nature of MS suggests this state may have distinct neural markers distinguishable from other states known to affect performance (e.g., stress, fatigue, sleep deprivation, high workload). This pilot study used new high-resolution electro-encephalograph (EEG) technologies to identify distinct neuronal activation changes that occur during MS. Brain EEG activity was monitored while subjects performed a ball-tracking task and viewed stimuli on a projection screen intended to induce motion sickness/spatial disorientation. Results show the presence of EEG spectral changes in all subjects who developed motion sickness when compared to baseline levels. These changes included: 1) low frequency (1 to 10 Hz) changes that may reflect oculomotor movements rather than intra-cerebral sources; 2) increased spectral power across all frequencies (attributable to increased scalp conductivity related to sweating), 3) local increases of power spectra in the 20-50 Hz range (likely attributable to external muscles on the skull) and; 4) a central posterior (occipital) independent component that shows suppression of a 20 Hz peak in the MS condition when compared to baseline. Further research is necessary to refine neural markers, characterize their origin and physiology, to distinguish between motion sickness and other states and to enable markers to be used for operator state monitoring and the designing of interventions for motion sickness.

3D seismic detection of shallow faults and fluid migration pathways offshore Southern Costa Rica: Application of neural-network meta-attributes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kluesner, J. W.; Silver, E. A.; Nale, S. M.; Bangs, N. L.; McIntosh, K. D.

2013-12-01

We employ a seismic meta-attribute workflow to detect and analyze probable faults and fluid-pathways in 3D within the sedimentary section offshore Southern Costa Rica. During the CRISP seismic survey in 2011 we collected an 11 x 55 km grid of 3D seismic reflection data and high-resolvability EM122 multibeam data, with coverage extending from the incoming plate to the outer-shelf. We mapped numerous seafloor seep indicators, with distributions ranging from the lower-slope to ~15 km landward of the shelf break [Kluesner et al., 2013, G3, doi:10.1002/ggge.20058; Silver et al., this meeting]. We used the OpendTect software package to calculate meta-attribute volumes from the 3D seismic data in order to detect and visualize seismic discontinuities in 3D. This methodology consists of dip-steered filtering to pre-condition the data, followed by combining a set of advanced dip-steered seismic attributes into a single object probability attribute using a user-trained neural-network pattern-recognition algorithm. The parameters of the advanced seismic attributes are set for optimal detection of the desired geologic discontinuity (e.g. faults or fluid-pathways). The product is a measure of probability for the desired target that ranges between 0 and 1, with 1 representing the highest probability. Within the sedimentary section of the CRISP survey the results indicate focused fluid-migration pathways along dense networks of intersecting normal faults with approximately N-S and E-W trends. This pattern extends from the middle slope to the outer-shelf region. Dense clusters of fluid-migration pathways are located above basement highs and deeply rooted reverse faults [see Bangs et al., this meeting], including a dense zone of fluid-pathways imaged below IODP Site U1413. In addition, fault intersections frequently show an increased signal of fluid-migration and these zones may act as major conduits for fluid-flow through the sedimentary cover. Imaged fluid pathways root into high-backscatter pockmarks and mounds on the seafloor, which are located atop folds and clustered along intersecting fault planes. Combining the fault and fluid-pathway attribute volumes reveals qualitative first order information on fault seal integrity within the CRISP survey region, highlighting which faults and/or fault sections appear to be sealing or leaking within the sedimentary section. These results provide 3D insight into the fluid-flow behavior offshore southern Costa Rica and suggest that fluids escaping through the deeper crustal rocks are predominantly channeled along faults in the sedimentary cover, especially at fault intersections.

Interactive Contributions of Attribution Biases and Emotional Intensity to Child-Friend Interaction Quality During Preadolescence.

PubMed

Chen, Xi; McElwain, Nancy L; Lansford, Jennifer E

2017-12-20

Using data from a subsample of 913 study children and their friends who participated in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the interactive contributions of child-reported attribution biases and teacher-reported child emotional intensity (EI) at Grade 4 (M = 9.9 years) to observed child-friend interaction at Grade 6 (M = 11.9 years) were examined. Study children's hostile attribution bias, combined with high EI, predicted more negative child-friend interaction. In contrast, benign attribution bias, combined with high EI, predicted more positive child-friend interaction. The findings are discussed in light of the "fuel" interpretation of EI, in which high-intensity emotions may motivate children to act on their cognitive biases for better or for worse. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

The association rules search of Indonesian university graduate’s data using FP-growth algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faza, S.; Rahmat, R. F.; Nababan, E. B.; Arisandi, D.; Effendi, S.

2018-02-01

The attribute varieties in university graduates data have caused frustrations to the institution in finding the combinations of attributes that often emerge and have high integration between attributes. Association rules mining is a data mining technique to determine the integration of the data or the way of a data set affects another set of data. By way of explanation, there are possibilities in finding the integration of data on a large scale. Frequent Pattern-Growth (FP-Growth) algorithm is one of the association rules mining technique to determine a frequent itemset in an FP-Tree data set. From the research on the search of university graduate’s association rules, it can be concluded that the most common attributes that have high integration between them are in the combination of State-owned High School outside Medan, regular university entrance exam, GPA of 3.00 to 3.49 and over 4-year-long study duration.

The moderating role of objective and subjective numeracy in attribute framing.

PubMed

Gamliel, Eyal; Kreiner, Hamutal; Garcia-Retamero, Rocio

2016-04-01

Previous research has found that objective numeracy moderates framing effects: People who are less numerate were found to be more susceptible to goal-framing and attribute-framing effects than people who are highly numerate. This study examined the possibility that subjective numeracy likewise moderates attribute framing in contexts where participants are presented with percentages of success or failure. The results show that compared with highly numerate participants, less numerate participants were more susceptible to the effect of attribute framing. Interestingly, this moderating effect was revealed only when using objective numeracy measures, and not when subjective numeracy measures were used. Future research is suggested to replicate these findings, to establish the generalizability of numeracy as a moderator of other cognitive biases, and to examine several possible theoretical explanations for the differential moderation of attribute-framing bias. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

Occupation and cancer in Britain

PubMed Central

Rushton, L; Bagga, S; Bevan, R; Brown, T P; Cherrie, J W; Holmes, P; Fortunato, L; Slack, R; Van Tongeren, M; Young, C; Hutchings, S J

2010-01-01

Background: Prioritising control measures for occupationally related cancers should be evidence based. We estimated the current burden of cancer in Britain attributable to past occupational exposures for International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) group 1 (established) and 2A (probable) carcinogens. Methods: We calculated attributable fractions and numbers for cancer mortality and incidence using risk estimates from the literature and national data sources to estimate proportions exposed. Results: 5.3% (8019) cancer deaths were attributable to occupation in 2005 (men, 8.2% (6362); women, 2.3% (1657)). Attributable incidence estimates are 13 679 (4.0%) cancer registrations (men, 10 063 (5.7%); women, 3616 (2.2%)). Occupational attributable fractions are over 2% for mesothelioma, sinonasal, lung, nasopharynx, breast, non-melanoma skin cancer, bladder, oesophagus, soft tissue sarcoma, larynx and stomach cancers. Asbestos, shift work, mineral oils, solar radiation, silica, diesel engine exhaust, coal tars and pitches, occupation as a painter or welder, dioxins, environmental tobacco smoke, radon, tetrachloroethylene, arsenic and strong inorganic mists each contribute 100 or more registrations. Industries and occupations with high cancer registrations include construction, metal working, personal and household services, mining, land transport, printing/publishing, retail/hotels/restaurants, public administration/defence, farming and several manufacturing sectors. 56% of cancer registrations in men are attributable to work in the construction industry (mainly mesotheliomas, lung, stomach, bladder and non-melanoma skin cancers) and 54% of cancer registrations in women are attributable to shift work (breast cancer). Conclusion: This project is the first to quantify in detail the burden of cancer and mortality due to occupation specifically for Britain. It highlights the impact of occupational exposures, together with the occupational circumstances and industrial areas where exposures to carcinogenic agents occurred in the past, on population cancer morbidity and mortality; this can be compared with the impact of other causes of cancer. Risk reduction strategies should focus on those workplaces where such exposures are still occurring. PMID:20424618

German travelers' preferences for travel vaccines assessed by a discrete choice experiment.

PubMed

Poulos, Christine; Curran, Desmond; Anastassopoulou, Anastassia; De Moerlooze, Laurence

2018-02-08

Many travelers to regions with endemic infectious diseases do not follow health authorities' recommendations regarding vaccination against vaccine-preventable infectious diseases, before traveling. The determinants of individual travelers' decisions to vaccinate before traveling are largely unknown. This study aimed to provide this information using a discrete choice experiment (DCE) administered to four types of German travelers: (1) business travelers; (2) travelers visiting friends and relatives (VFR); (3) leisure travelers; and (4) backpackers. A DCE survey was developed, pretested and administered online. It included a series of choice questions in which respondents chose between two hypothetical vaccines, each characterized by four disease attributes with varying levels describing the of risk, health impact, curability and transmissibility of the disease they would prevent (described with four disease attributes with varying levels of risk, health impact, curability and transmissibility), and varying levels of four vaccine attributes (duration of protection, number of doses required, time required for vaccination, and vaccine cost). A random-parameters logit model was used to estimate the importance weights each traveler type placed on the various attribute levels. These weights were used to calculate mean monetary equivalents (MMEs) of changes in each attribute (holding all others constant) and of hypothetical disease-vaccine combinations. All traveler types' choices indicated that they attached the greatest importance to the risk and health impact of disease and to the vaccine cost whereas the other disease and vaccine attributes were less important for their decisions about travel vaccines. An option of not choosing any of the vaccine-pairs presented was rarely selected indicating that travelers' generally prefer to be vaccinated rather than not. The MMEs of changes in vaccine attributes indicated a very high variability between the individual travelers within each type. The travelers' responses indicated strong preferences for selecting vaccination rather than opting out of vaccination, and disease risk, health impact and vaccine cost were the most important features for vaccine choice. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Occupation and cancer in Britain.

PubMed

Rushton, L; Bagga, S; Bevan, R; Brown, T P; Cherrie, J W; Holmes, P; Fortunato, L; Slack, R; Van Tongeren, M; Young, C; Hutchings, S J

2010-04-27

Prioritising control measures for occupationally related cancers should be evidence based. We estimated the current burden of cancer in Britain attributable to past occupational exposures for International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) group 1 (established) and 2A (probable) carcinogens. We calculated attributable fractions and numbers for cancer mortality and incidence using risk estimates from the literature and national data sources to estimate proportions exposed. 5.3% (8019) cancer deaths were attributable to occupation in 2005 (men, 8.2% (6362); women, 2.3% (1657)). Attributable incidence estimates are 13 679 (4.0%) cancer registrations (men, 10 063 (5.7%); women, 3616 (2.2%)). Occupational attributable fractions are over 2% for mesothelioma, sinonasal, lung, nasopharynx, breast, non-melanoma skin cancer, bladder, oesophagus, soft tissue sarcoma, larynx and stomach cancers. Asbestos, shift work, mineral oils, solar radiation, silica, diesel engine exhaust, coal tars and pitches, occupation as a painter or welder, dioxins, environmental tobacco smoke, radon, tetrachloroethylene, arsenic and strong inorganic mists each contribute 100 or more registrations. Industries and occupations with high cancer registrations include construction, metal working, personal and household services, mining, land transport, printing/publishing, retail/hotels/restaurants, public administration/defence, farming and several manufacturing sectors. 56% of cancer registrations in men are attributable to work in the construction industry (mainly mesotheliomas, lung, stomach, bladder and non-melanoma skin cancers) and 54% of cancer registrations in women are attributable to shift work (breast cancer). This project is the first to quantify in detail the burden of cancer and mortality due to occupation specifically for Britain. It highlights the impact of occupational exposures, together with the occupational circumstances and industrial areas where exposures to carcinogenic agents occurred in the past, on population cancer morbidity and mortality; this can be compared with the impact of other causes of cancer. Risk reduction strategies should focus on those workplaces where such exposures are still occurring.

Eliciting older people's preferences for exercise programs: a best-worst scaling choice experiment.

PubMed

Franco, Marcia R; Howard, Kirsten; Sherrington, Catherine; Ferreira, Paulo H; Rose, John; Gomes, Juliana L; Ferreira, Manuela L

2015-01-01

What relative value do older people with a previous fall or mobility-related disability attach to different attributes of exercise? Prospective, best-worst scaling study. Two hundred and twenty community-dwelling people, aged 60 years or older, who presented with a previous fall or mobility-related disability. Online or face-to-face questionnaire. Utility values for different exercise attributes and levels. The utility levels were calculated by asking participants to select the attribute that they considered to be the best (ie, they were most likely to want to participate in programs with this attribute) and worst (ie, least likely to want to participate). The attributes included were: exercise type; time spent on exercise per day; frequency; transport type; travel time; out-of-pocket costs; reduction in the chance of falling; and improvement in the ability to undertake tasks inside and outside of home. The attributes of exercise programs with the highest utility values were: home-based exercise and no need to use transport, followed by an improvement of 60% in the ability to do daily tasks at home, no costs, and decreasing the chances of falling to 0%. The attributes with the lowest utility were travel time of 30 minutes or more and out-of-pocket costs of AUD50 per session. The type of exercise, travel time and costs are more highly valued by older people than the health benefits. These findings suggest that physical activity engagement strategies need to go beyond education about health benefits and focus on improving accessibility to exercise programs. Exercise that can be undertaken at or close to home without any cost is most likely to be taken up by older people with past falls and/or mobility-related disability. Copyright © 2014 Australian Physiotherapy Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modeling first impressions from highly variable facial images.

PubMed

Vernon, Richard J W; Sutherland, Clare A M; Young, Andrew W; Hartley, Tom

2014-08-12

First impressions of social traits, such as trustworthiness or dominance, are reliably perceived in faces, and despite their questionable validity they can have considerable real-world consequences. We sought to uncover the information driving such judgments, using an attribute-based approach. Attributes (physical facial features) were objectively measured from feature positions and colors in a database of highly variable "ambient" face photographs, and then used as input for a neural network to model factor dimensions (approachability, youthful-attractiveness, and dominance) thought to underlie social attributions. A linear model based on this approach was able to account for 58% of the variance in raters' impressions of previously unseen faces, and factor-attribute correlations could be used to rank attributes by their importance to each factor. Reversing this process, neural networks were then used to predict facial attributes and corresponding image properties from specific combinations of factor scores. In this way, the factors driving social trait impressions could be visualized as a series of computer-generated cartoon face-like images, depicting how attributes change along each dimension. This study shows that despite enormous variation in ambient images of faces, a substantial proportion of the variance in first impressions can be accounted for through linear changes in objectively defined features.

Cardiovascular, respiratory, and total mortality attributed to PM2.5 in Mashhad, Iran.

PubMed

Bonyadi, Ziaeddin; Ehrampoush, Mohammad Hasan; Ghaneian, Mohammad Taghi; Mokhtari, Mehdi; Sadeghi, Abbas

2016-10-01

Poor air quality is one of the most important environmental problems in many large cities of the world, which can cause a wide range of acute and chronic health effects, including partial physiological disorders and cardiac death due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. According to the latest edition of the national standard for air quality, maximum contamination level is 15 μg/m(3) per year and 35 μg/m(3) per day. The aim of this study was to evaluate cardiovascular, respiratory, and total mortality attributed to PM2.5 in the city of Mashhad during 2013. To this end, the Air Q model was used to assess health impacts of PM2.5 and human exposure to it. In this model, the attributable proportion of health outcome, annual number of excess cases of mortality for all causes, and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases were estimated. The results showed that the number of excess cases of mortality for all causes and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases attributable to PM2.5 was 32, 263, and 332 μg/m(3), respectively. Moreover, the annual average of PM2.5 in Mashhad was obtained to be 37.85 μg/m(3). This study demonstrated that a high percentage of mortality resulting from this pollutant could be due to the high average concentration of PM2.5 in the city during 2013. In this case, using the particle control methods, such as optimal use of fuel, management of air quality in urban areas, technical inspection of vehicles, faster development of public transport, and use of industrial technology can be effective in reducing air pollution in cities and turning existing situations into preferred ones.

Social structure in a family group of Guanaco (Lama guanicoe, Ungulate): is female hierarchy based on 'prior attributes' or 'social dynamics'?

PubMed

Correa, Loreto A; Zapata, Beatriz; Samaniego, Horacio; Soto-Gamboa, Mauricio

2013-09-01

Social life involves costs and benefits mostly associated with how individuals interact with each other. The formation of hierarchies inside social groups has evolved as a common strategy to avoid high costs stemming from social interactions. Hierarchical relationships seem to be associated with different features such as body size, body condition and/or age, which determine dominance ability ('prior attributes' hypothesis). In contrast, the 'social dynamic' hypothesis suggests that an initial social context is a determinant in the formation of the hierarchy, more so than specific individual attributes. Hierarchical rank places individuals in higher positions, which presumably increases resource accessibility to their benefit, including opportunities for reproduction. We evaluate the maintenance of hierarchy in a family group of guanacos (Lama guanicoe) and evaluate the possible mechanisms involved in the stability of these interactions and their consequences. We estimate the linearity of social hierarchy and their dynamics. We find evidence of the formation of a highly linear hierarchy among females with males positioned at the bottom of the hierarchy. This hierarchy is not affected by physical characteristics or age, suggesting that it is established only through intra-group interactions. Rank is not related with calves' weight gain either; however, subordinated females, with lower rank, exhibit higher rates of allosuckling. We found no evidence of hierarchical structure in calves suggesting that hierarchical relationship in guanacos could be established during the formation of the family group. Hence, our results suggest that hierarchical dynamics could be related more to social dynamics than to prior attributes. We finally discuss the importance of hierarchies established by dominance and their role in minimizing social costs of interactions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cumulative radiation exposure and cancer risk estimation in children with heart disease.

PubMed

Johnson, Jason N; Hornik, Christoph P; Li, Jennifer S; Benjamin, Daniel K; Yoshizumi, Terry T; Reiman, Robert E; Frush, Donald P; Hill, Kevin D

2014-07-08

Children with heart disease are frequently exposed to imaging examinations that use ionizing radiation. Although radiation exposure is potentially carcinogenic, there are limited data on cumulative exposure and the associated cancer risk. We evaluated the cumulative effective dose of radiation from all radiation examinations to estimate the lifetime attributable risk of cancer in children with heart disease. Children ≤6 years of age who had previously undergone 1 of 7 primary surgical procedures for heart disease at a single institution between 2005 and 2010 were eligible for the study. Exposure to radiation-producing examinations was tabulated, and cumulative effective dose was calculated in millisieverts. These data were used to estimate lifetime attributable risk of cancer above baseline using the approach of the Committee on Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation VII. The cohort included 337 children exposed to 13 932 radiation examinations. Conventional radiographs represented 92% of examinations, whereas cardiac catheterization and computed tomography accounted for 81% of cumulative exposure. Overall median cumulative effective dose was 2.7 mSv (range, 0.1-76.9 mSv), and the associated lifetime attributable risk of cancer was 0.07% (range, 0.001%-6.5%). Median lifetime attributable risk of cancer ranged widely depending on surgical complexity (0.006%-1.6% for the 7 surgical cohorts) and was twice as high in females per unit exposure (0.04% versus 0.02% per 1-mSv effective dose for females versus males, respectively; P<0.001). Overall radiation exposures in children with heart disease are relatively low; however, select cohorts receive significant exposure. Cancer risk estimation highlights the need to limit radiation dose, particularly for high-exposure modalities. © 2014 American Heart Association, Inc.

A framework for mobilizing communities to advance local tobacco control policy: the Los Angeles County experience.

PubMed

Weber, Mark D; Simon, Paul; Messex, Monty; Aragon, Linda; Kuo, Tony; Fielding, Jonathan E

2012-05-01

The Los Angeles County Tobacco Control and Prevention Program was significantly restructured in 2004 to improve capacity for local policy adoption. Restructuring included creating a fully staffed and trained policy unit; partnering with state-funded tobacco control organizations to provide high-quality, continuous technical assistance and training; implementing a highly structured policy adoption approach; expanding community capacity building; and establishing local coalitions to mobilize communities. Over the ensuing 6 years (2004-2010), 97 tobacco control policies were enacted in the county's 88 cities and unincorporated area, including 79 that were attributable to the program. By comparison, only 15 policies were enacted from 1998 to 2003. Expanding policy adoption capacity through program restructuring may be achievable in other local jurisdictions.

School-based clinics: their role in helping students meet the 1990 objectives.

PubMed

Dryfoos, J G; Klerman, L V

1988-01-01

Service statistics and observations from site visits across the country indicate that school-based clinics (SBCs) may be having an impact on several of the problems targeted in the 1990 health objectives, including unplanned pregnancy and substance abuse. At least 120 junior and senior high schools in 61 communities are currently operating or developing clinics. Growth is attributed to increasing concern about high-risk youth, especially among educators in their roles of "surrogate parents"; to disillusion with categorical interventions and a movement toward more comprehensive services; and to student, parent, school, and community approval of the new programs. This article describes the comprehensive school-based clinic model, including its history, organizational strategies, school/community partnerships, and services.

An attentional drift diffusion model over binary-attribute choice.

PubMed

Fisher, Geoffrey

2017-11-01

In order to make good decisions, individuals need to identify and properly integrate information about various attributes associated with a choice. Since choices are often complex and made rapidly, they are typically affected by contextual variables that are thought to influence how much attention is paid to different attributes. I propose a modification of the attentional drift-diffusion model, the binary-attribute attentional drift diffusion model (baDDM), which describes the choice process over simple binary-attribute choices and how it is affected by fluctuations in visual attention. Using an eye-tracking experiment, I find the baDDM makes accurate quantitative predictions about several key variables including choices, reaction times, and how these variables are correlated with attention to two attributes in an accept-reject decision. Furthermore, I estimate an attribute-based fixation bias that suggests attention to an attribute increases its subjective weight by 5%, while the unattended attribute's weight is decreased by 10%. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Social cognition deficits and the 'ultra high risk' for psychosis population: a review of literature.

PubMed

Thompson, Andrew D; Bartholomeusz, Cali; Yung, Alison R

2011-08-01

A number of risk factors for developing a psychotic disorder have been investigated in the 'ultra high risk' (UHR) population, including neurocognitive abilities, social functioning and, more recently, social cognition. We aimed to review the literature on social cognition in the UHR population. Literature was restricted to English articles and identified using Pubmed, Medline, PsychINFO and CINAHLplus, as well as the reference lists of published studies and reviews. Search terms included social cognition, theory of mind, emotion recognition, attributional style, social knowledge, social perception, 'at risk mental state', psychosis prodrome 'clinical high risk' and 'ultra high risk'. Inclusion criteria were an outcome measure of a social cognition task and an UHR population defined by a structured validated instrument. Seven original research articles met the inclusion criteria, one of which was a conference abstract. One of the two studies that assessed theory of mind, two of the four studies that assessed emotion recognition and both the two studies that assessed social perception/knowledge found significant deficits in UHR patients. The single study that assessed attributional bias also reported differences in UHR patients compared with healthy controls. There is limited published literature on social cognitive performance in the UHR population. Despite this, deficits in certain social cognitive abilities do appear to be present, but further research with more reliable cross-cultural measures is needed. The characterization of social cognitive deficits in the UHR populations may aid in the identification of potential markers for development of a subsequent psychotic disorder, as well as targets for early intervention. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Assessment of the State of the Art of Ultra High Temperature Ceramics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Sylvia; Gasch, Matt; Stackpoole, Mairead

2009-01-01

Ultra High Temperature Ceramics (UHTCs) are a family of materials that includes the borides, carbides and nitrides of hafnium-, zirconium- and titanium-based systems. UHTCs are famous for possessing some of the highest melting points of known materials. In addition, they are very hard, have good wear resistance, mechanical strength, and relatively high thermal conductivities (compared to other ceramic materials). Because of these attributes, UHTCs are ideal for thermal protection systems, especially those that require chemical and structural stability at extremely high operating temperatures. UHTCs have the potential to revolutionize the aerospace industry by enabling the development of sharp hypersonic vehicles or atmospheric entry probes capable of the most extreme entry conditions.

Motivation for DOC III: 64-bit digital optical computer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guilfoyle, Peter S.

1991-09-01

OptiComp has focused on a digital optical logic family in order to capitalize on the inherent benefits of optical computing, which include (1) high FAN-IN and FAN-OUT, (2) low power consumption, (3) high noise margin, (4) high algorithmic efficiency using 'smart' interconnects, and (5) free-space leverage of gate interconnect bandwidth product. Other well-known secondary advantages of optical logic include zero capacitive loading of signals at a detector, zero cross-talk between signals, zero signal dispersion, and minimal clock skew (a few picoseconds or less in an imaging system). The primary focus of this paper is to demonstrate how each of the five advantages can be used to leverage other logic family performance such as GaAs; the secondary attributes are discussed only in the context of introducing the DOC III architecture.

Focus Groups in Elderly Ophthalmologic Patients: Setting the Stage for Quantitative Preference Elicitation.

PubMed

Danner, Marion; Vennedey, Vera; Hiligsmann, Mickaël; Fauser, Sascha; Stock, Stephanie

2016-02-01

Patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are rarely actively involved in decision-making, despite facing preference-sensitive treatment decisions. This paper presents a qualitative study to prepare quantitative preference elicitation in AMD patients. The aims of this study were (1) to gain familiarity with and learn about the special requirements of the AMD patient population for quantitative data collection; and (2) to select/refine patient-relevant treatment attributes and levels, and gain insights into preference structures. Semi-structured focus group interviews were performed. An interview guide including preselected categories in the form of seven potentially patient-relevant treatment attributes was followed. To identify the most patient-relevant treatment attributes, a ranking exercise was performed. Deductive content analyses were done by two independent reviewers for each attribute to derive subcategories (potential levels of attributes) and depict preference trends. The focus group interviews included 21 patients. The interviews revealed that quantitative preference surveys in this population will have to be interviewer assisted to make the survey feasible for patients. The five most patient-relevant attributes were the effect on visual function [ranking score (RS): 139], injection frequency (RS: 101), approval status (RS: 83), side effects (RS: 79), and monitoring frequency (RS: 76). Attribute and level refinement was based on patients' statements. Preference trends and dependencies between attributes informed the quantitative instrument design. This study suggests that qualitative research is a very helpful step to prepare the design and administration of quantitative preference elicitation instruments. It especially facilitated familiarization with the target population and its preferences, and it supported attribute/level refinement.

A longitudinal examination of African American adolescents' attributions about achievement outcomes.

PubMed

Swinton, Akilah D; Kurtz-Costes, Beth; Rowley, Stephanie J; Okeke-Adeyanju, Ndidi

2011-01-01

Developmental, gender, and academic domain differences in causal attributions and the influence of attributions on classroom engagement were explored longitudinally in 115 African American adolescents. In Grades 8 and 11, adolescents reported attributions for success and failure in math, English and writing, and science. In Grade 11, English and mathematics teachers rated students' classroom engagement. Boys were more likely than girls to attribute math successes to high ability and to attribute English failures to low ability. Both genders' ability attributions for math became more negative from eighth to eleventh grades. Grade 8 attributions of math failure to lack of ability were negatively related to Grade 11 math classroom engagement. Results illustrate the gendered nature of motivational beliefs among Black youth. © 2011 The Authors. Child Development © 2011 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Control of friction at the nanoscale

DOEpatents

Barhen, Jacob; Braiman, Yehuda Y.; Protopopescu, Vladimir

2010-04-06

Methods and apparatus are described for control of friction at the nanoscale. A method of controlling frictional dynamics of a plurality of particles using non-Lipschitzian control includes determining an attribute of the plurality of particles; calculating an attribute deviation by subtracting the attribute of the plurality of particles from a target attribute; calculating a non-Lipschitzian feedback control term by raising the attribute deviation to a fractionary power .xi.=(2m+1)/(2n+1) where n=1, 2, 3 . . . and m=0, 1, 2, 3 . . . , with m strictly less than n and then multiplying by a control amplitude; and imposing the non-Lipschitzian feedback control term globally on each of the plurality of particles; imposing causes a subsequent magnitude of the attribute deviation to be reduced.

Perceived effects of setting attributes on visitor experiences in wilderness: variation with situational context and visitor characteristics.

PubMed

Cole, David N; Hall, Troy E

2009-07-01

Understanding how setting attributes influence the nature of the visitor experience is crucial to effective recreation management. Highly influential attributes are useful indicators to monitor within a planning framework, such as Limits of Acceptable Change. This study sought to identify the setting attributes perceived to have the most profound effect on the ability to have "a real wilderness experience" and to assess the degree to which attribute importance varied with situational context and visitor characteristics. To this end, exiting hikers were surveyed at moderate and very high use trailheads in Alpine Lakes Wilderness, WA (USA), and Three Sisters Wilderness, OR (USA). They were asked about the degree to which encountering varying levels of different setting attributes would add to or detract from their experience. Attributes with the largest range of effect on experience, based on evaluations of different levels, were considered most important. The most influential attributes were litter and several types of campsite interaction--people walking through camp and number of other groups camping close by. The perceived importance of setting attributes did not vary much between wilderness locations with substantially different use levels, suggesting that conclusions are robust and generalizable across wilderness areas. There also was little difference in the perceptions of day and overnight visitors. In contrast, we found substantial variation in the perceived importance of setting attributes with variation in wilderness experience, knowledge, attachment, and motivation. Our results validate the emphasis of many wilderness management plans on indicators of social interaction, such as number of encounters.

Neural differentiation of lexico-syntactic categories or semantic features? event-related potential evidence for both.

PubMed

Kellenbach, Marion L; Wijers, Albertus A; Hovius, Marjolijn; Mulder, Juul; Mulder, Gijsbertus

2002-05-15

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate whether processing differences between nouns and verbs can be accounted for by the differential salience of visual-perceptual and motor attributes in their semantic specifications. Three subclasses of nouns and verbs were selected, which differed in their semantic attribute composition (abstract, high visual, high visual and motor). Single visual word presentation with a recognition memory task was used. While multiple robust and parallel ERP effects were observed for both grammatical class and attribute type, there were no interactions between these. This pattern of effects provides support for lexical-semantic knowledge being organized in a manner that takes account both of category-based (grammatical class) and attribute-based distinctions.

QUANTIFYING STREAM STRUCTURAL PHYSICAL HABITAT ATTRIBUTES USING LIDAR AND HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGERY

EPA Science Inventory

Structural physical habitat attributes include indices of stream size, channel gradient, substrate size, habitat complexity and cover, riparian vegetation cover and structure, anthropogenic disturbances and channel-riparian interaction.

Investigation of Turkish EFL Learners' Attributions on Success and Failure in Learning English

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yavuz, Aysun; Höl, Devrim

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attributions of Turkish EFL learners on success and failure in learning English as a foreign language with different variables such as gender and level of English proficiency. To investigate the attributions of the participants and gather the relevant data, a questionnaire including 38 items and…

Redisciplining Generic Attributes: The Disciplinary Context in Focus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Anna

2009-01-01

This article discusses the findings of a recent study which demonstrates that generic attributes are highly context-dependent, and are shaped by the disciplinary epistemology in which they are conceptualised and taught. Generic attributes have, for a long time, been viewed as super-disciplinary, and hence as separated from and overlayed onto…

Examining Achievement Goals and Causal Attributions Together as Predictors of Academic Functioning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolters, Christopher A.; Fan, Weihua; Daugherty, Stacy G.

2013-01-01

This study was designed to forge stronger theoretical and empirical links between achievement goal theory and attribution theory. High school students ("N" = 224) completed a self-report survey that assessed 3 types of achievement goals, 7 types of attributions, and self-efficacy. Results indicated that students' adoption of achievement…

Attributional Style of Children with and without Specific Learning Disability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pasta, Tiziana; Mendola, Manuela; Longobardi, Claudio; Prino, Laura Elvira; Gastaldi, Francesca Giovanna Maria

2013-01-01

Introduction: The literature highlights that pupils with Specific Learning Disability (SLD) often reveal a poor meta-cognitive system, with low levels of attribution to internal factors like diligence and personal skill, and high levels of attribution to external factors like ease of task, luck or help from others. Methods: This study aims to…

An Application of Attribution Theory to Developing Self-Esteem in Learning Disabled Adolescents.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tollefson, Nona; And Others

The effect of an attribution retraining program intended to teach 35 learning disabled (LD) junior high school students to attribute achievement outcomes to the internal factor of effort was examined in the study. The research was concerned with LD adolescents' perceptions of personal (internal) and environmental (external) causality as…

Elements of Leading Collegiate Choral Programs in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garrett, Jennifer M.

2010-01-01

This study explored the attributes of three leading choral programs in the United States using interview and observation data. It extrapolated attributes from case studies of highly respected programs located at St. Olaf College, the University of Southern California (USC), and Florida State University (FSU). The first attribute identified at each…

More Than Just Accuracy: A Novel Method to Incorporate Multiple Test Attributes in Evaluating Diagnostic Tests Including Point of Care Tests.

PubMed

Thompson, Matthew; Weigl, Bernhard; Fitzpatrick, Annette; Ide, Nicole

2016-01-01

Current frameworks for evaluating diagnostic tests are constrained by a focus on diagnostic accuracy, and assume that all aspects of the testing process and test attributes are discrete and equally important. Determining the balance between the benefits and harms associated with new or existing tests has been overlooked. Yet, this is critically important information for stakeholders involved in developing, testing, and implementing tests. This is particularly important for point of care tests (POCTs) where tradeoffs exist between numerous aspects of the testing process and test attributes. We developed a new model that multiple stakeholders (e.g., clinicians, patients, researchers, test developers, industry, regulators, and health care funders) can use to visualize the multiple attributes of tests, the interactions that occur between these attributes, and their impacts on health outcomes. We use multiple examples to illustrate interactions between test attributes (test availability, test experience, and test results) and outcomes, including several POCTs. The model could be used to prioritize research and development efforts, and inform regulatory submissions for new diagnostics. It could potentially provide a way to incorporate the relative weights that various subgroups or clinical settings might place on different test attributes. Our model provides a novel way that multiple stakeholders can use to visualize test attributes, their interactions, and impacts on individual and population outcomes. We anticipate that this will facilitate more informed decision making around diagnostic tests.

Regional uncertainty of GOSAT XCO2 retrievals in China: quantification and attribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bie, Nian; Lei, Liping; Zeng, ZhaoCheng; Cai, Bofeng; Yang, Shaoyuan; He, Zhonghua; Wu, Changjiang; Nassar, Ray

2018-03-01

The regional uncertainty of the column-averaged dry air mole fraction of CO2 (XCO2) retrieved using different algorithms from the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) and its attribution are still not well understood. This paper investigates the regional performance of XCO2 within a latitude band of 37-42° N segmented into 8 cells in a grid of 5° from west to east (80-120° E) in China, where typical land surface types and geographic conditions exist. The former includes desert, grassland and built-up areas mixed with cropland; and the latter includes anthropogenic emissions that change from small to large from west to east, including those from the megacity of Beijing. For these specific cells, we evaluate the regional uncertainty of GOSAT XCO2 retrievals by quantifying and attributing the consistency of XCO2 retrievals from four algorithms (ACOS, NIES, OCFP and SRFP) by intercomparison. These retrievals are then specifically compared with simulated XCO2 from the high-resolution nested model in East Asia of the Goddard Earth Observing System 3-D chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). We also introduce the anthropogenic CO2 emissions data generated from the investigation of surface emitting point sources that was conducted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China to GEOS-Chem simulations of XCO2 over the Chinese mainland. The results indicate that (1) regionally, the four algorithms demonstrate smaller absolute biases of 0.7-1.1 ppm in eastern cells, which are covered by built-up areas mixed with cropland with intensive anthropogenic emissions, than those in the western desert cells (1.0-1.6 ppm) with a high-brightness surface from the pairwise comparison results of XCO2 retrievals. (2) Compared with XCO2 simulated by GEOS-Chem (GEOS-XCO2), the XCO2 values from ACOS and SRFP have better agreement, while values from OCFP are the least consistent with GEOS-XCO2. (3) Viewing attributions of XCO2 in the spatio-temporal pattern, ACOS and SRFP demonstrate similar patterns, while OCFP is largely different from the others. In conclusion, the discrepancy in the four algorithms is the smallest in eastern cells in the study area, where the megacity of Beijing is located and where there are strong anthropogenic CO2 emissions, which implies that XCO2 from satellite observations could be reliably applied in the assessment of atmospheric CO2 enhancements induced by anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The large inconsistency among the four algorithms presented in western deserts which displays a high albedo and dust aerosols, moreover, demonstrates that further improvement is still necessary in such regions, even though many algorithms have endeavored to minimize the effects of aerosols scattering and surface albedo.

Missile launch pad: an unusual consequence of airbag deployment

PubMed Central

Ronnie, Davies; Emecheta, Ikechukwu E; Kevin, Hancock

2011-01-01

Vehicle airbags significantly reduce vehicle occupant injuries and fatalities in road accidents. However, a number of injuries are recognised as being directly attributable to airbag deployment. The majority of these are blunt injuries due to the high force of airbag deployment and include ocular injuries, burns, chest trauma and, rarely, fatalities. The authors describe a case of mixed blunt ocular and penetrating facial trauma as a result of airbag deployment. PMID:22707498

Quantifying Impacts of Urban Growth Potential on Army Training Capabilities

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-09-12

Capacity” ERDC/CERL TR-17-34 ii Abstract Building on previous studies of urban growth and population effects on U.S. military installations and...combat team studies . CAA has developed an iterative process that builds on Military Value Anal- ysis (MVA) models that include a set of attributes that...Methods and tools were developed to support a nationwide analysis. This study focused on installations operating training areas that were high

The pig-tailed monkey (Macaca nemestrina) as a space-flight candidate. [for cardiovascular studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pace, N.; Rahlmann, D. F.; Kodama, A. M.; Grunbaum, B. W.; Mains, R. C.

1977-01-01

Scientific attributes which make the pig-tailed monkey an optimal candidate for studing the nature of cardiovascular and respiratory adaptations in man during exposure to high altitutes for long periods of time include: a calm, quiet, patient temperament; a short tail and the presence of ischial callosities permitting comfortable seated restraint during long duration experiments; and the close phylogenetic relationships and comparable body size to man.

A case for multi-model and multi-approach based event attribution: The 2015 European drought

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hauser, Mathias; Gudmundsson, Lukas; Orth, René; Jézéquel, Aglaé; Haustein, Karsten; Seneviratne, Sonia Isabelle

2017-04-01

Science on the role of anthropogenic influence on extreme weather events such as heat waves or droughts has evolved rapidly over the past years. The approach of "event attribution" compares the occurrence probability of an event in the present, factual world with the probability of the same event in a hypothetical, counterfactual world without human-induced climate change. Every such analysis necessarily faces multiple methodological choices including, but not limited to: the event definition, climate model configuration, and the design of the counterfactual world. Here, we explore the role of such choices for an attribution analysis of the 2015 European summer drought (Hauser et al., in preparation). While some GCMs suggest that anthropogenic forcing made the 2015 drought more likely, others suggest no impact, or even a decrease in the event probability. These results additionally differ for single GCMs, depending on the reference used for the counterfactual world. Observational results do not suggest a historical tendency towards more drying, but the record may be too short to provide robust assessments because of the large interannual variability of drought occurrence. These results highlight the need for a multi-model and multi-approach framework in event attribution research. This is especially important for events with low signal to noise ratio and high model dependency such as regional droughts. Hauser, M., L. Gudmundsson, R. Orth, A. Jézéquel, K. Haustein, S.I. Seneviratne, in preparation. A case for multi-model and multi-approach based event attribution: The 2015 European drought.

Do Inequalities in Neighborhood Walkability Drive Disparities in Older Adults’ Outdoor Walking?

PubMed Central

van Maarseveen, Martin

2017-01-01

Older residents of high-deprivation areas walk less than those of low-deprivation areas. Previous research has shown that neighborhood built environment may support and encourage outdoor walking. The extent to which the built environment supports and encourages walking is called “walkability”. This study examines inequalities in neighborhood walkability in high- versus low-deprivation areas and their possible influences on disparities in older adults’ outdoor walking levels. For this purpose, it focuses on specific neighborhood built environment attributes (residential density, land-use mix and intensity, street connectivity, and retail density) relevant to neighborhood walkability. It applied a mixed-method approach, included 173 participants (≥65 years), and used a Geographic Information System (GIS) and walking interviews (with a sub-sample) to objectively and subjectively measure neighborhood built environment attributes. Outdoor walking levels were measured by using the Geographic Positioning System (GPS) technology. Data on personal characteristics was collected by completing a questionnaire. The results show that inequalities in certain land-use intensity (i.e., green spaces, recreation centers, schools and industries) in high- versus low-deprivation areas may influence disparities in older adults’ outdoor walking levels. Modifying neighborhood land use intensity may help to encourage outdoor walking in high-deprivation areas. PMID:28686219

Three Most Essential Teacher Attributes Needed for Success as Perceived by Teachers in Defacto Segregated Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eubanks, E.

This paper presents two studies involving 97 teachers from six de facto segregated high schools in a large midwestern school district and their perceptions of the teacher attributes most essential for success in their school. The first study compares the responses of 47 teachers in white high schools with 50 teachers in black high schools on the…

Detection and Attribution of Anthropogenic Climate Change Impacts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenzweig, Cynthia; Neofotis, Peter

2013-01-01

Human-influenced climate change is an observed phenomenon affecting physical and biological systems across the globe. The majority of observed impacts are related to temperature changes and are located in the northern high- and midlatitudes. However, new evidence is emerging that demonstrates that impacts are related to precipitation changes as well as temperature, and that climate change is impacting systems and sectors beyond the Northern Hemisphere. In this paper, we highlight some of this new evidence-focusing on regions and sectors that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC AR4) noted as under-represented-in the context of observed climate change impacts, direct and indirect drivers of change (including carbon dioxide itself), and methods of detection. We also present methods and studies attributing observed impacts to anthropogenic forcing. We argue that the expansion of methods of detection (in terms of a broader array of climate variables and data sources, inclusion of the major modes of climate variability, and incorporation of other drivers of change) is key to discerning the climate sensitivities of sectors and systems in regions where the impacts of climate change currently remain elusive. Attributing such changes to human forcing of the climate system, where possible, is important for development of effective mitigation and adaptation. Current challenges in documenting adaptation and the role of indigenous knowledge in detection and attribution are described.

Correlates of non-concordance between perceived and objective measures of walkability.

PubMed

Gebel, Klaus; Bauman, Adrian; Owen, Neville

2009-04-01

Objective and self-reported physical environmental attributes have been related to physical activity. We examined the characteristics of adults who are resident in objectively identified high walkable neighborhoods but whose perceptions of neighborhood attributes are not concordant with objective attributes relating to high walkability. Neighborhood built-environment attributes relating to walkability (dwelling density, intersection density, land use mix, and net retail area) were determined objectively, using Geographic Information System databases; data on corresponding perceptions of local environment attributes (from the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale) were derived from a self-completion survey of a socially diverse sample of 2,650 adults aged 19 to 65. Objective and perceived walkability attributes were categorized using median splits, and correlates of non-concordance were determined using multiple logistic regression models. There was a fair overall agreement between objectively determined walkability and perceived walkability (Kappa = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.31-0.39). Among those resident in objectively assessed high walkable areas (n = 1,063), 32.1% perceived them to be low walkable; conversely, 32.7% (n = 1,021) resident in objectively determined low walkability areas perceived them to be high. For residents of objectively determined high walkable areas, the characteristics that differentiated those with perceptions of low walkability (non-concordant perceptions) from those with concordant perceptions of high walkability were: not being university-educated (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.06-2.04); having lower household incomes (OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.09-2.17); being overweight (OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.03-2.07); and walking fewer days per week for transport (OR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.11-2.70). Higher walking times and more positive cognitive variables were noted among participants who lived in a neighborhood with low walkability that was perceived as high compared to those who lived in a high walkable environment that was perceived as low walkable. Adults with lower educational attainment and lower incomes, who were overweight, or who were less physically active for transportation purposes, were more likely to misperceive their high walkable neighborhood as low walkable. There is the potential for physical activity promotion and persuasion strategies to address non-concordant perceptions, especially among those who live in high walkable environments but perceive them to be low and also among those who are socially disadvantaged and are less active. Perceptions of environmental attributes may be more strongly correlated with cognitive antecedents and with behavior than are objective measures.

Adverse events attributed to traditional Korean medical practices: 1999–2010

PubMed Central

Shin, Hyeun-Kyoo; Jeong, Soo-Jin; Ernst, Edzard

2013-01-01

Abstract Objective To investigate adverse events attributed to traditional medical treatments in the Republic of Korea. Methods Adverse events recorded in the Republic of Korea between 1999 and 2010 – by the Food and Drug Administration, the Consumer Agency or the Association of Traditional Korean Medicine – were reviewed. Records of adverse events attributed to the use of traditional medical practices, including reports of medicinal accidents and consumers’ complaints, were investigated. Findings Overall, 9624 records of adverse events attributed to traditional medical practices – including 522 linked to herbal treatments – were identified. Liver problems were the most frequently reported adverse events. Only eight of the adverse events were recorded by the pharmacovigilance system run by the Food and Drug Administration. Of the 9624 events, 1389 – mostly infections, cases of pneumothorax and burns – were linked to physical therapy (n = 285) or acupuncture/moxibustion (n = 1104). Conclusion In the Republic of Korea, traditional medical practices often appear to have adverse effects, yet almost all of the adverse events attributed to such practices between 1999 and 2010 were missed by the national pharmacovigilance system. The Consumer Agency and the Association of Traditional Korean Medicine should be included in the national pharmacovigilance system. PMID:23940404

A systematic review of ecological attributes that confer resilience to climate change in environmental restoration

PubMed Central

Timpane-Padgham, Britta L.

2017-01-01

Ecological restoration is widely practiced as a means of rehabilitating ecosystems and habitats that have been degraded or impaired through human use or other causes. Restoration practices now are confronted by climate change, which has the potential to influence long-term restoration outcomes. Concepts and attributes from the resilience literature can help improve restoration and monitoring efforts under changing climate conditions. We systematically examined the published literature on ecological resilience to identify biological, chemical, and physical attributes that confer resilience to climate change. We identified 45 attributes explicitly related to climate change and classified them as individual- (9), population- (6), community- (7), ecosystem- (7), or process-level attributes (16). Individual studies defined resilience as resistance to change or recovery from disturbance, and only a few studies explicitly included both concepts in their definition of resilience. We found that individual and population attributes generally are suited to species- or habitat-specific restoration actions and applicable at the population scale. Community attributes are better suited to habitat-specific restoration at the site scale, or system-wide restoration at the ecosystem scale. Ecosystem and process attributes vary considerably in their type and applicability. We summarize these relationships in a decision support table and provide three example applications to illustrate how these classifications can be used to prioritize climate change resilience attributes for specific restoration actions. We suggest that (1) including resilience as an explicit planning objective could increase the success of restoration projects, (2) considering the ecological context and focal scale of a restoration action is essential in choosing appropriate resilience attributes, and (3) certain ecological attributes, such as diversity and connectivity, are more commonly considered to confer resilience because they apply to a wide variety of species and ecosystems. We propose that identifying sources of ecological resilience is a critical step in restoring ecosystems in a changing climate. PMID:28301560

A systematic review of ecological attributes that confer resilience to climate change in environmental restoration.

PubMed

Timpane-Padgham, Britta L; Beechie, Tim; Klinger, Terrie

2017-01-01

Ecological restoration is widely practiced as a means of rehabilitating ecosystems and habitats that have been degraded or impaired through human use or other causes. Restoration practices now are confronted by climate change, which has the potential to influence long-term restoration outcomes. Concepts and attributes from the resilience literature can help improve restoration and monitoring efforts under changing climate conditions. We systematically examined the published literature on ecological resilience to identify biological, chemical, and physical attributes that confer resilience to climate change. We identified 45 attributes explicitly related to climate change and classified them as individual- (9), population- (6), community- (7), ecosystem- (7), or process-level attributes (16). Individual studies defined resilience as resistance to change or recovery from disturbance, and only a few studies explicitly included both concepts in their definition of resilience. We found that individual and population attributes generally are suited to species- or habitat-specific restoration actions and applicable at the population scale. Community attributes are better suited to habitat-specific restoration at the site scale, or system-wide restoration at the ecosystem scale. Ecosystem and process attributes vary considerably in their type and applicability. We summarize these relationships in a decision support table and provide three example applications to illustrate how these classifications can be used to prioritize climate change resilience attributes for specific restoration actions. We suggest that (1) including resilience as an explicit planning objective could increase the success of restoration projects, (2) considering the ecological context and focal scale of a restoration action is essential in choosing appropriate resilience attributes, and (3) certain ecological attributes, such as diversity and connectivity, are more commonly considered to confer resilience because they apply to a wide variety of species and ecosystems. We propose that identifying sources of ecological resilience is a critical step in restoring ecosystems in a changing climate.

A structural model of treatment program and individual counselor leadership in innovation transfer.

PubMed

Joe, George W; Becan, Jennifer E; Knight, Danica K; Flynn, Patrick M

2017-03-23

A number of program-level and counselor-level factors are known to impact the adoption of treatment innovations. While program leadership is considered a primary factor, the importance of leadership among clinical staff to innovation transfer is less known. Objectives included explore (1) the influence of two leadership roles, program director and individual counselor, on recent training activity and (2) the relationship of counselor attributes on training endorsement. The sample included 301 clinical staff in 49 treatment programs. A structural equation model was evaluated for key hypothesized relationships between exogenous and endogenous variables related to the two leadership roles. The importance of organizational leadership, climate, and counselor attributes (particularly counseling innovation interest and influence) to recent training activity was supported. In a subset of 68 counselors who attended a developer-led training on a new intervention, it was found that training endorsement was higher among those with high innovation interest and influence. The findings suggest that each leadership level impacts the organization in different ways, yet both can promote or impede technology transfer.

Mechanism of bystander-blaming: defensive attribution, counterfactual thinking, and gender.

PubMed

Levy, Inna; Ben-David, Sarah

2015-01-01

Contemporary victimology recognizes that an understanding of the mechanism of blaming requires a comprehensive approach that includes the victim, the offender, and the bystander. However, most of the existing research on blaming focuses on the victim and the offender, ignoring the issue of bystander-blaming. This study highlights the bystander and investigates bystander-blaming by exploring some theoretical explanations, including counterfactual thinking, defensive attribution, and gender differences. The study included 363 young male and female participants, who read vignettes describing the behavior of the victim and the bystander in a rape scenario and answered questions regarding bystander-blaming. The results show that both counterfactual thinking and defensive attribution play a role in bystander-blaming. This article addresses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings. © The Author(s) 2013.

Parents' Criticisms and Attributions about Their Adult Children with High Functioning Autism or Schizophrenia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wasserman, Stephanie; Weisman de Mamani, Amy; Mundy, Peter

2010-01-01

The current study examined the criticism component of expressed emotion (EE) and attributions in parents of adults diagnosed with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (S/SA) or high functioning autism/Asperger's. Consistent with study hypotheses, parents of adults diagnosed with autism/Asperger's disorder exhibited lower levels of high…

Dataset of Phenology of Mediterranean high-mountain meadows flora (Sierra Nevada, Spain).

PubMed

Pérez-Luque, Antonio Jesús; Sánchez-Rojas, Cristina Patricia; Zamora, Regino; Pérez-Pérez, Ramón; Bonet, Francisco Javier

2015-01-01

Sierra Nevada mountain range (southern Spain) hosts a high number of endemic plant species, being one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the Mediterranean basin. The high-mountain meadow ecosystems (borreguiles) harbour a large number of endemic and threatened plant species. In this data paper, we describe a dataset of the flora inhabiting this threatened ecosystem in this Mediterranean mountain. The dataset includes occurrence data for flora collected in those ecosystems in two periods: 1988-1990 and 2009-2013. A total of 11002 records of occurrences belonging to 19 orders, 28 families 52 genera were collected. 73 taxa were recorded with 29 threatened taxa. We also included data of cover-abundance and phenology attributes for the records. The dataset is included in the Sierra Nevada Global-Change Observatory (OBSNEV), a long-term research project designed to compile socio-ecological information on the major ecosystem types in order to identify the impacts of global change in this area.

Dataset of Phenology of Mediterranean high-mountain meadows flora (Sierra Nevada, Spain)

PubMed Central

Pérez-Luque, Antonio Jesús; Sánchez-Rojas, Cristina Patricia; Zamora, Regino; Pérez-Pérez, Ramón; Bonet, Francisco Javier

2015-01-01

Abstract Sierra Nevada mountain range (southern Spain) hosts a high number of endemic plant species, being one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the Mediterranean basin. The high-mountain meadow ecosystems (borreguiles) harbour a large number of endemic and threatened plant species. In this data paper, we describe a dataset of the flora inhabiting this threatened ecosystem in this Mediterranean mountain. The dataset includes occurrence data for flora collected in those ecosystems in two periods: 1988–1990 and 2009–2013. A total of 11002 records of occurrences belonging to 19 orders, 28 families 52 genera were collected. 73 taxa were recorded with 29 threatened taxa. We also included data of cover-abundance and phenology attributes for the records. The dataset is included in the Sierra Nevada Global-Change Observatory (OBSNEV), a long-term research project designed to compile socio-ecological information on the major ecosystem types in order to identify the impacts of global change in this area. PMID:25878552

Space station needs, attributes, and architectural options study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

The top level, time-phased total space program support system architecture is described including progress from the use of ground-based space shuttle, teleoperator system, extended duration orbiter, and multimission spacecraft, to an initial 4-man crew station at 29 deg inclination in 1991, to a growth station with an 8-man crew with capabilities for OTV high energy orbit payload placement and servicing, assembly, and construction of mission payloads in 1994. System Z, proposed for Earth observation missions in high inclination orbit, can be accommodated in 1993 using a space station derivative platform. Mission definition, system architecture, and benefits are discussed.

26 CFR 20.6324B-1 - Special lien for additional estate tax attributable to farm, etc., valuation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... attributable to farm, etc., valuation. 20.6324B-1 Section 20.6324B-1 Internal Revenue INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE... attributable to farm, etc., valuation. (a) General rule. In the case of an estate of a decedent dying after December 31, 1976, which includes any interest in qualified real property, if the executor elects to value...

Relatives' expressed emotion, distress and attributions in clinical high-risk and recent onset of psychosis.

PubMed

Domínguez-Martínez, Tecelli; Medina-Pradas, Cristina; Kwapil, Thomas R; Barrantes-Vidal, Neus

2017-01-01

It has been well-demonstrated that Expressed Emotion (EE) in caregivers of schizophrenia patients is related to their illness attributions, but little is known about relatives' cognitive and emotional appraisals at early stages of psychosis. This study examined differences on the relationships of EE with distress and illness attributions in 78 relatives of At-Risk Mental States (ARMS) and First-Episode of Psychosis (FEP) patients, and which of those variables better predicted EE. Criticism and Emotional Over-Involvement (EOI) were associated with distress and with several illness attributions in both groups. Anxiety was more strongly associated with criticism in ARMS than in FEP-relatives, and it was associated with EOI in the ARMS but not in the FEP-group. No differences on the relationships of EE with depression or attributions were found. Furthermore, distress and attributions of blame toward the patients predicted criticism. Attributions of control by the patient and emotional negative representation about the disorder predicted EOI. Findings highlight the need to focus on early family interventions that provide proper information and psychological support in accordance with the illness stage, to help relatives improve their understanding of the disorder, handle difficult thoughts and emotions, reduce negative appraisals, and prevent high-EE over the psychotic process. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling first impressions from highly variable facial images

PubMed Central

Vernon, Richard J. W.; Sutherland, Clare A. M.; Young, Andrew W.; Hartley, Tom

2014-01-01

First impressions of social traits, such as trustworthiness or dominance, are reliably perceived in faces, and despite their questionable validity they can have considerable real-world consequences. We sought to uncover the information driving such judgments, using an attribute-based approach. Attributes (physical facial features) were objectively measured from feature positions and colors in a database of highly variable “ambient” face photographs, and then used as input for a neural network to model factor dimensions (approachability, youthful-attractiveness, and dominance) thought to underlie social attributions. A linear model based on this approach was able to account for 58% of the variance in raters’ impressions of previously unseen faces, and factor-attribute correlations could be used to rank attributes by their importance to each factor. Reversing this process, neural networks were then used to predict facial attributes and corresponding image properties from specific combinations of factor scores. In this way, the factors driving social trait impressions could be visualized as a series of computer-generated cartoon face-like images, depicting how attributes change along each dimension. This study shows that despite enormous variation in ambient images of faces, a substantial proportion of the variance in first impressions can be accounted for through linear changes in objectively defined features. PMID:25071197

Sensory and instrumental analysis for slipperiness and compliance of food during swallowing.

PubMed

Seo, H-S; Hwang, I K; Han, T R; Kim, I S

2007-11-01

In spite of its importance, there have been few attempts to evaluate the sensory attributes of the food bolus during swallowing. In the current study, the slipperiness, the degree of slide for the food bolus through the mucosal surface of the oro-pharynx, and the compliance, how easily the shape of a food bolus can be transformed for automatic and comfortable swallowing, were derived among several sensory attributes related to the swallowing. Therefore, the study aims were twofold: (1) to develop the methods of sensory and instrumental analyses for determining the slipperiness and compliance of the food bolus during swallowing and (2) to examine the appropriateness of the newly designed devices by correlating the data between the sensory and instrumental analyses. Six commercial food products were evaluated by 10 trained panelists for each attribute. The devices for assessing each attribute were developed in consideration of the oro-pharyngeal movements. The sensory and instrumental analyses showed high correlation and regression coefficients as well as intensity differences of the 6 samples for each attribute. In conclusion, the slipperiness and the compliance were suitable for acquiring a better understanding of the sensory attributes of the food bolus during swallowing, and the newly developed devices showed a high potential for determining those attributes.

Couples’ Attributions for Work Function Changes in Prodromal Huntington Disease

PubMed Central

Downing, Nancy R.; Williams, Janet K.; Paulsen, Jane S.

2013-01-01

People who have tested positive for the expanded Huntington disease (HD) gene who are not yet diagnosed (pre-HD) and their companions report subtle changes in ability of people with pre-HD to do their jobs. However, it is not known whether they attribute these changes to HD. Semi-structured telephone interviews were analyzed from seven persons with pre-HD at different estimated points from diagnosis and six companions. Data were analyzed using qualitative analysis methods. Participants made attributions related to health, work, and temperament. Only one participant attributed a change to HD. The process of forming attributions was demonstrated through symptom monitoring and comparison of participants with pre-HD to others with and without HD. Participants also expressed uncertainty regarding how to make attributions. Attributions influence coping procedures, including whether to seek and accept medical treatment. In persons with prodromal HD the relationship between attributions and use of coping strategies for symptoms that interfere with job functioning is unknown. PMID:20309619

Attention to Attributes and Objects in Working Memory

PubMed Central

Cowan, Nelson; Blume, Christopher L.; Saults, J. Scott

2013-01-01

It has been debated on the basis of change-detection procedures whether visual working memory is limited by the number of objects, task-relevant attributes within those objects, or bindings between attributes. This debate, however, has been hampered by several limitations, including the use of conditions that vary between studies and the absence of appropriate mathematical models to estimate the number of items in working memory in different stimulus conditions. We re-examined working memory limits in two experiments with a wide array of conditions involving color and shape attributes, relying on a set of new models to fit various stimulus situations. In Experiment 2, a new procedure allowed identical retrieval conditions across different conditions of attention at encoding. The results show that multiple attributes compete for attention, but that retaining the binding between attributes is accomplished only by retaining the attributes themselves. We propose a theoretical account in which a fixed object capacity limit contains within it the possibility of the incomplete retention of object attributes, depending on the direction of attention. PMID:22905929

The Relationship between High School Students' Attributions and Achievement and Their Perceptions of Teachers' Expectations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reader, Tanya

2013-01-01

Students enter secondary classrooms armed with attributions for their own successes or failures, informed by experiences in and out of school, but it is unclear to what degree these attributions affect achievement. Additionally, while the influence teacher expectations can have on student achievement is well documented, students' perceptions of…

Academic Self-Attributions for Success and Failure in Mathematics and School Refusal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzálvez, Carolina; Sanmartín, Ricardo; Vicent, María; Inglés, Cándido J.; Aparicio-Flores, M. Pilar; García-Fernández, José M.

2018-01-01

The aim of this research is twofold: to analyze the mean differences scores in mathematic self-attributions based on school refusal and to verify its predictive capability on high scores in school refusal. The Sydney Attribution Scale and the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised were administered to 1078 Spanish students (50.8% boys) aged…

Analyses of Attribute Patterns of Creative Problem Solving Ability among Upper Elementary Students in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Chia-Yi

2010-01-01

The purpose of this research is to find the relationships among attributes of creative problem solving ability and their relationships with the Math Creative Problem Solving Ability. In addition, the attribute patterns of high, medium, and low mathematical creative groups were identified and compared. There were 409 fifth and sixth graders…

The Impact of Learner Attributes and Learner Choice in an Agent-Based Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Yanghee; Wei, Quan

2011-01-01

This study examined the impact of learners' attributes (gender and ethnicity) on their choice of a pedagogical agent and the impact of the attributes and choice on their perceptions of agent affability, task-specific attitudes, task-specific self-efficacy, and learning gains. Participants were 210 high-school male and female, Caucasian and…

To explore preferences and willingness to pay for attributes regarding stoma appliances amongst patients in the UK, France and Germany.

PubMed

Nafees, Beenish; Lloyd, Andrew; Elkin, Eric; Porret, Terri

2015-04-01

To explore patient preferences regarding stoma appliances in the UK, France and Germany and to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for attributes of stoma appliances. A discrete choice (DCE) survey was developed based on published literature, attributes of current available appliances and qualitative interviews with patients from the UK (N = 3), France (N = 2) and Germany (N = 2). Members from a patient panel in the UK, France and Germany were asked to participate in the DCE survey and to fill out two quality of life (QoL) questionnaires. Data were analyzed using the conditional logit model whereby the coefficients obtained from the model provided an estimate of the (log) odds ratios (ORs) of preference for attributes. WTP was estimated for each level of a given identified attribute. Seven key attributes were identified for the DCE survey: comfort and elastic flexibility, skin problems, early detection of leakage, leakage, filter performance, service/help after hospital discharge and out-of-pocket cost. A total of 415 participants (166 patients in UK, 99 in France, and 150 in Germany) completed the questionnaires. All attributes were significant predictors of choice. The two most important drivers of preference were the attributes comfort and elastic flexibility and skin problems which resulted in high WTP values. Appliances which were able to detect episodes of leakage were also of high importance to participants' appliances. The results show the importance of different attributes of stoma appliances for patients. Improving comfort and elastic flexibility, and risk of skin problems were the most important aspects of appliances. The WTP values indicate the value people place on improvement in each attribute of appliances.

Medical Expenditures and Earnings Losses Among US Adults With Arthritis in 2013.

PubMed

Murphy, Louise B; Cisternas, Miriam G; Pasta, David J; Helmick, Charles G; Yelin, Edward H

2018-06-01

We estimated the economic impact of arthritis using 2013 US Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data. We calculated arthritis-attributable and all-cause medical expenditures for adults age ≥18 years and arthritis-attributable earnings losses among those ages 18-64 years who had ever worked. We calculated arthritis-attributable costs using multistage regression-based methods, and conducted sensitivity analyses to estimate costs for 2 other arthritis definitions in MEPS. In 2013, estimated total national arthritis-attributable medical expenditures were $139.8 billion (range $135.9-$157.5 billion). Across expenditure categories, ambulatory care expenditures accounted for nearly half of arthritis-attributable expenditures. All-cause expenditures among adults with arthritis represented 50% of the $1.2 trillion national medical expenditures among all US adults in MEPS. Estimated total national arthritis-attributable earning losses were $163.7 billion (range $163.7-$170.0 billion). The percentage with arthritis who worked in the past year was 7.2 percentage points lower than those without arthritis (76.8% [95% confidence interval (95% CI)] 75.0-78.6 and 84.0% [95% CI 82.5-85.5], respectively, adjusted for sociodemographics and chronic conditions). Total arthritis-attributable medical expenditures and earnings losses were $303.5 billion (range $303.5-$326.9 billion). Total national arthritis-attributable medical care expenditures and earnings losses among adults with arthritis were $303.5 billion in 2013. High arthritis-attributable medical expenditures might be reduced by greater efforts to reduce pain and improve function. The high earnings losses were largely attributable to the substantially lower prevalence of working among those with arthritis compared to those without, signaling the need for interventions that keep people with arthritis in the workforce. © 2017, American College of Rheumatology.

Partial shading of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz vines altered wine color and mouthfeel attributes, but increased exposure had little impact.

PubMed

Joscelyne, Venetia L; Downey, Mark O; Mazza, Marica; Bastian, Susan E P

2007-12-26

Few studies have investigated the impact of vine shading on the sensory attributes of the resultant wine. This study examines the effects of canopy exposure levels on phenolic composition plus aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel aspects in wine. Wines were made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) subjected to different levels of canopy exposure in a commercial vineyard in the Sunraysia region, Victoria, Australia. Canopy exposure treatments included control (standard vineyard practice), exposed (achieved with a foliage wire 600 mm above the top cordon), highly exposed (using a foliage wire with leaf plucking in the fruit zone), and shaded treatment (using 70% shade-cloth). Spectral and descriptive analyses showed that levels of anthocyanins, other phenolics, and perceived astringency were lower in wines made from shaded fruit; however, the reverse was generally not observed in wines of exposed and highly exposed fruit. Descriptive analysis also showed wines from the shaded fruit were different from other treatments for a number of flavor and aroma characters. These findings have implications for vineyard management practices.

Feature extraction based on extended multi-attribute profiles and sparse autoencoder for remote sensing image classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teffahi, Hanane; Yao, Hongxun; Belabid, Nasreddine; Chaib, Souleyman

2018-02-01

The satellite images with very high spatial resolution have been recently widely used in image classification topic as it has become challenging task in remote sensing field. Due to a number of limitations such as the redundancy of features and the high dimensionality of the data, different classification methods have been proposed for remote sensing images classification particularly the methods using feature extraction techniques. This paper propose a simple efficient method exploiting the capability of extended multi-attribute profiles (EMAP) with sparse autoencoder (SAE) for remote sensing image classification. The proposed method is used to classify various remote sensing datasets including hyperspectral and multispectral images by extracting spatial and spectral features based on the combination of EMAP and SAE by linking them to kernel support vector machine (SVM) for classification. Experiments on new hyperspectral image "Huston data" and multispectral image "Washington DC data" shows that this new scheme can achieve better performance of feature learning than the primitive features, traditional classifiers and ordinary autoencoder and has huge potential to achieve higher accuracy for classification in short running time.

Impact of Stress and Mitigating Information on Evaluations, Attributions, Affect, Disciplinary Choices, and Expectations of Compliance in Mothers at High and Low Risk for Child Physical Abuse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Paul, Joaquin; Asla, Nagore; Perez-Albeniz, Alicia; De Cadiz, Barbara Torres-Gomez

2006-01-01

The objective is to know if high-risk mothers for child physical abuse differ in their evaluations, attributions, negative affect, disciplinary choices for children's behavior, and expectations of compliance. The effect of a stressor and the introduction of mitigating information are analyzed. Forty-seven high-risk and 48 matched low-risk mothers…

Supervised Multi-Authority Scheme with Blind Signature for IoT with Attribute Based Encryption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nissenbaum, O. V.; Ponomarov, K. Y.; Zaharov, A. A.

2018-04-01

This article proposes a three-side cryptographic scheme for verifying device attributes with a Supervisor and a Certification Authority (CA) for attribute-based encryption. Two options are suggested: using a message authentication code and using a digital signature. The first version is suitable for networks with one CA, and the second one for networks with several CAs, including dynamic systems. Also, the addition of this scheme with a blind signature is proposed to preserve the confidentiality of the device attributes from the CA. The introduction gives a definition and a brief historical overview of attribute-based encryption (ABE), addresses the use of ABE in the Internet of Things.

Attribution In Influence: Relative Power And The Use Of Attribution

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-12-01

reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching...existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information . Send comments...regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information , including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington

Assessing Consumer Emotional Responses in the Presence and Absence of Critical Quality Attributes: A Case Study with Chicken Eggs.

PubMed

Wardy, Wisdom; Sae-Eaw, Amporn; Sriwattana, Sujinda; No, Hong Kyoon; Prinyawiwatkul, Witoon

2015-07-01

Effects of attribute presence and absence on the emotional profile and consumer acceptability of products with varying qualities were assessed using eggs as an example. An online survey (n = 320) was used to evaluate emotional responses and acceptability to 5 types of egg quality attributes: intrinsic, aesthetic, extrinsic, expediency, and wholesome/safety, for both present and absent conditions. Attribute absence rather than presence evoked greater consumer discriminating emotions associated with eggs. Mean emotion intensity elicited by the presence of all quality attributes ranged from 1.67 (intrinsic; guilty) to 4.05 (wholesome; good) versus 2.01 (wholesome; satisfied) to 3.29 (wholesome; disgusted) when absent. Key positive emotions elicited by presence of attributes were active, calm, good, interested, happy, safe, and satisfied; while dominant negative emotions elicited by absence of attributes included disgusted and worried. Wholesome quality (constituted by egg freshness, "packing/best-before-date" and absence of visible cracks) exhibited the highest liking (7.65) and emotion intensities, while the emotional responses to both the presence and absence of intrinsic quality (constituted by nutrient-fortified egg, organic egg, and USDA-certified farm egg) were similar, reflecting their dynamic effects on emotions. Emotions and acceptability were more correlated for attribute absence than presence; and good, happy, and satisfied emotions were strongly related to egg acceptability (r ≥ 0.6). Egg product/packaging design can be oriented toward emphasizing wholesome and expedient attributes, since they enhance good, safe, and satisfied emotions, while minimizing disgust, worry, and boredom. The use of emotional responses and hedonic testing regarding attribute presence and absence would allow for improved selection of attributes critical to consumer acceptance of products. Assessing effects of attribute presence compared with absence on food-evoked emotions may offer valuable insights for differentiation of competing or otherwise similar products. Affective consumer responses to food products with varying sensory and quality attributes are influenced by several factors including psychographics, demographics, product category, and test design. In this study, a scenario is depicted where product developers can identify critical product features based on emotional assessment of products with and without quality attributes. This study is beneficial to product developers and the egg industry, as it identifies opportunities to better understand consumer needs, thereby, designing products destined for success in the marketplace. © 2015 Institute of Food Technologists®

Why did the white bear return? Obsessive-compulsive symptoms and attributions for unsuccessful thought suppression

PubMed Central

Magee, Joshua C.; Teachman, Bethany A.

2007-01-01

The current study examined the nature and consequences of attributions about unsuccessful thought suppression. Undergraduate students with either high (N=67) or low (N=59) levels of obsessive-compulsive symptoms rated attributions to explain their unsuccessful thought suppression attempts. We expected that self-blaming attributions and attributions ascribing importance to unwanted thoughts would predict more distress and greater recurrence of thoughts during time spent monitoring or suppressing unwanted thoughts. Further, we expected that these attributions would mediate the relationship between obsessive-compulsive symptom levels and the negative thought suppression outcomes (distress and thought recurrence). Structural equation models largely confirmed the hypotheses, suggesting that attributions may be an important factor in explaining the consequences of thought suppression. Implications are discussed for cognitive theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder and thought suppression. PMID:17825786

Applying the Rule Space Model to Develop a Learning Progression for Thermochemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Fu; Zhang, Shanshan; Guo, Yanfang; Xin, Tao

2017-12-01

We used the Rule Space Model, a cognitive diagnostic model, to measure the learning progression for thermochemistry for senior high school students. We extracted five attributes and proposed their hierarchical relationships to model the construct of thermochemistry at four levels using a hypothesized learning progression. For this study, we developed 24 test items addressing the attributes of exothermic and endothermic reactions, chemical bonds and heat quantity change, reaction heat and enthalpy, thermochemical equations, and Hess's law. The test was administered to a sample base of 694 senior high school students taught in 3 schools across 2 cities. Results based on the Rule Space Model analysis indicated that (1) the test items developed by the Rule Space Model were of high psychometric quality for good analysis of difficulties, discriminations, reliabilities, and validities; (2) the Rule Space Model analysis classified the students into seven different attribute mastery patterns; and (3) the initial hypothesized learning progression was modified by the attribute mastery patterns and the learning paths to be more precise and detailed.

A conceptual model to facilitate amphibian conservation in the northern Great Plains

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mushnet, David M.; Euliss, Ned H.; Stockwell, Craig A.

2012-01-01

As pressures on agricultural landscapes to meet worldwide resource needs increase, amphibian populations face numerous threats including habitat destruction, chemical contaminants, disease outbreaks, wetland sedimentation, and synergistic effects of these perturbations. To facilitate conservation planning, we developed a conceptual model depicting elements critical for amphibian conservation in the northern Great Plains. First, we linked upland, wetland, and landscape features to specific ecological attributes. Ecological attributes included adult survival; reproduction and survival to metamorphosis; and successful dispersal and recolonization. Second, we linked ecosystem drivers, ecosystem stressors, and ecological effects of the region to each ecological attribute. Lastly, we summarized information on these ecological attributes and the drivers, stressors, and effects that work in concert to influence the maintenance of viable and genetically diverse amphibian populations in the northern Great Plains. While our focus was on the northern Great Plains, our conceptual model can be tailored to other geographic regions and taxa.

Desirable attributes of public educational websites.

PubMed

Whitbeck, Caroline

2005-07-01

Certain attributes are particularly desirable for public educational websites, and websites for ethics education in particular. Among the most important of these attributes is wide accessibility through adherence to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards for HTML code. Adherence to this standard produces webpages that can be rendered by a full range of web browsers, including Braille and speech browsers. Although almost no academic websites, including ethics websites, and even fewer commercial websites are accessible by W3C standards, as illustrated by the Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science , even websites created on limited budgets and with an undergraduate student staff can fulfill these standards. Other desirable attributes, such as provision of annotation for all links and the use of annotated links to give the user alternate ways of ordering and organizing content, are important for making full use of the educational possibilities of hypermedia for websites.

Attributes of colleges and schools of pharmacy in the United States.

PubMed

Knapp, David A; Knapp, Deanne E

2009-08-28

To compare the attributes of US colleges and schools of pharmacy and describe the extent of change to the pharmacy education enterprise associated with the addition of new schools. Attributes analyzed included whether the college or school of pharmacy was old or new, public or private, secular or faith-based, and on or not on an academic health center (AHC) campus; had 3- or 4- year programs; and had PhD students enrolled. PharmD student enrollment-to-faculty ratios and junior-to-senior faculty ratios also were examined. Of the new colleges/schools, 76% were private and 79% were not located on a campus with an AHC; 6% had PhD enrollment compared with 80% of old colleges/schools. Faculty ratios were related to several college/school attributes, including the presence or absence of PhD students and whether the college/school was public or private. Attributes of new colleges and schools of pharmacy have changed the overall profile of all colleges and schools of pharmacy. For example, smaller percentages of all colleges and schools of pharmacy are public and have PhD enrollees.

A neuromorphic approach to satellite image understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Partsinevelos, Panagiotis; Perakakis, Manolis

2014-05-01

Remote sensing satellite imagery provides high altitude, top viewing aspects of large geographic regions and as such the depicted features are not always easily recognizable. Nevertheless, geoscientists familiar to remote sensing data, gradually gain experience and enhance their satellite image interpretation skills. The aim of this study is to devise a novel computational neuro-centered classification approach for feature extraction and image understanding. Object recognition through image processing practices is related to a series of known image/feature based attributes including size, shape, association, texture, etc. The objective of the study is to weight these attribute values towards the enhancement of feature recognition. The key cognitive experimentation concern is to define the point when a user recognizes a feature as it varies in terms of the above mentioned attributes and relate it with their corresponding values. Towards this end, we have set up an experimentation methodology that utilizes cognitive data from brain signals (EEG) and eye gaze data (eye tracking) of subjects watching satellite images of varying attributes; this allows the collection of rich real-time data that will be used for designing the image classifier. Since the data are already labeled by users (using an input device) a first step is to compare the performance of various machine-learning algorithms on the collected data. On the long-run, the aim of this work would be to investigate the automatic classification of unlabeled images (unsupervised learning) based purely on image attributes. The outcome of this innovative process is twofold: First, in an abundance of remote sensing image datasets we may define the essential image specifications in order to collect the appropriate data for each application and improve processing and resource efficiency. E.g. for a fault extraction application in a given scale a medium resolution 4-band image, may be more effective than costly, multispectral, very high resolution imagery. Second, we attempt to relate the experienced against the non-experienced user understanding in order to indirectly assess the possible limits of purely computational systems. In other words, obtain the conceptual limits of computation vs human cognition concerning feature recognition from satellite imagery. Preliminary results of this pilot study show relations between collected data and differentiation of the image attributes which indicates that our methodology can lead to important results.

Using high-resolution topography and hyperspectral data to classify tree species at the San Joaquin Experimental Range

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dibb, S. D.; Ustin, S.; Grigsby, S.

2015-12-01

Air- and space-borne remote sensing instruments allow for rapid and precise study of the diversity of the Earth's ecosystems. After atmospheric correction and ground validation are performed, the gathered hyperspectral and topographic data can be assembled into a stack of layers for land cover classification. Data for this project were collected in multiple field campaigns, including the 2013 NSF NEON California campaign and 2015 NASA SARP campaign. Using hyperspectral and high resolution topography data, 25 discriminatory attributes were processed in Exelis' ENVI software and collected for use in a decision forest to classify the four major tree species (Blue Oak, Live Oak, California Buckeye, and Foothill Pine) at the San Joaquin Experimental Range near Fresno, CA. These attributes include 21 classic vegetation indices and a number of other spectral characteristics, such as color and albedo, and four topographic layers, including slope, aspect, elevation, and tree height. Additionally, a number of nearby terrain classes, including bare earth, asphalt, water, rock, shadow, structures, and grass were created. Fifty training pixels were used for each class. The training pixels for each tree species came from collected GPS points in the field. Ensemble bootstrap aggregation of decision trees was performed in MATLAB, and an arbitrary number of 500 trees were selected to be grown. The tree that produced the minimum out-of-bag classification error (4.65%) was selected to classify the entire scene. Classification results accurately distinguished between oak species, but was suboptimal in dense areas. The entire San Joaquin Experimental Range was mapped with an overall accuracy of 94.7% and a Kappa coefficient 0.94. Finally, the Commission and Omission percentage averages were 5.3% each. A highly accurate map of tree species at this scale supports studies on drought effects, disease, and species-specific growth traits.

Source attribution of human campylobacteriosis at the point of exposure by combining comparative exposure assessment and subtype comparison based on comparative genomic fingerprinting.

PubMed

Ravel, André; Hurst, Matt; Petrica, Nicoleta; David, Julie; Mutschall, Steven K; Pintar, Katarina; Taboada, Eduardo N; Pollari, Frank

2017-01-01

Human campylobacteriosis is a common zoonosis with a significant burden in many countries. Its prevention is difficult because humans can be exposed to Campylobacter through various exposures: foodborne, waterborne or by contact with animals. This study aimed at attributing campylobacteriosis to sources at the point of exposure. It combined comparative exposure assessment and microbial subtype comparison with subtypes defined by comparative genomic fingerprinting (CGF). It used isolates from clinical cases and from eight potential exposure sources (chicken, cattle and pig manure, retail chicken, beef, pork and turkey meat, and surface water) collected within a single sentinel site of an integrated surveillance system for enteric pathogens in Canada. Overall, 1518 non-human isolates and 250 isolates from domestically-acquired human cases were subtyped and their subtype profiles analyzed for source attribution using two attribution models modified to include exposure. Exposure values were obtained from a concurrent comparative exposure assessment study undertaken in the same area. Based on CGF profiles, attribution was possible for 198 (79%) human cases. Both models provide comparable figures: chicken meat was the most important source (65-69% of attributable cases) whereas exposure to cattle (manure) ranked second (14-19% of attributable cases), the other sources being minor (including beef meat). In comparison with other attributions conducted at the point of production, the study highlights the fact that Campylobacter transmission from cattle to humans is rarely meat borne, calling for a closer look at local transmission from cattle to prevent campylobacteriosis, in addition to increasing safety along the chicken supply chain.

Motivation for DOC III: 64-bit digital optical computer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guilfoyle, Peter S.

1991-09-01

This paper suggests a new class of digital logic. OptiComp has focused on a digital optical logic family in order to capitalize on the inherent benefits of optical computing, which include (1) high FAN-IN and FAN-OUT, (2) low power consumption, (3) high noise margin, (4) high algorithmic efficiency using 'smart' interconnects, (5) free space leverage of GIBP (gate interconnect bandwidth product). Other well-known secondary advantages of optical logic include (but are not limited to) zero capacitive loading of signals at a detector, zero cross-talk between signals, zero signal dispersion, minimal clock skew (a few picoseconds or less in an imaging system). The primary focus of this paper is to demonstrate how each of the five advantages can be used to leverage other logic family performance such as GaAs; the secondary attributes will be discussed only in the context of introducing the DOC III architecture.

Motivation for DOC III: 64-bit digital optical computer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guilfoyle, Peter S.

1991-09-01

The objective of this paper is to motivate a new class of digital logic. OptiComp has focused on a digital optical logic family in order to capitalize on the inherent benefits of optical computing, which include: (1) high FAN-IN and FAN-OUT, (2) low power consumption, (3) high noise margin, (4) high algorithmic efficiency using 'smart' interconnects, (5) free space leverage of GIBP (gate interconnect bandwidth product). Other well-known secondary advantages of optical logic include (but are not limited to): zero capacitive loading of signals at a detector, zero cross-talk between signals, zero signal dispersion, and minimal clock skew (a few picoseconds or less in an imaging system). The primary focus of this paper is on demonstrating how each of the five advantages can be used to leverage other logic family performance such as GaAs; the secondary attributes will be discussed only in the context of introducing the DOC III architecture.

Sources of Occupational Stress and Prevalence of Burnout and Clinical Distress Among U.S. Air Force Cyber Warfare Operators

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

distress within the cyber warfare community. This study involved cyber warfare operators including active duty (n = 376) and civilian contractor and...revealed that when compared to civilian cyber warfare operators, active duty cyber warfare operators are more likely to suffer from the facets of...8217 write-in responses revealed cyber warfare operators attributed shift work, shift changes, and hours worked as the primary sources of high occupational

National Drug Formulary review of statin therapeutic group using the multiattribute scoring tool

PubMed Central

Ramli, Azuana; Aljunid, Syed Mohamed; Sulong, Saperi; Md Yusof, Faridah Aryani

2013-01-01

Purpose HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) are extensively used in treating hypercholesterolemia. The statins available in Malaysia include atorvastatin, lovastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin, simvastatin, and fluvastatin. Over the years, they have accumulated in the National Drug Formulary; hence, the need for review. Effective selection of the best drugs to remain in the formulary can become complex due to the multiple drug attributes involved, and is made worse by the limited time and resources available. The multiattribute scoring tool (MAST) systematizes the evaluation of the drug attributes to facilitate the drug selection process. In this study, a MAST framework was developed to rank the statins based on their utilities or benefits. Methods Published literature on multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) were studied and five sessions of expert group discussions were conducted to build the MAST framework and to review the evidence. The attributes identified and selected for analysis were efficacy (clinical efficacy, clinical endpoints), safety (drug interactions, serious side effects and documentation), drug applicability (drug strength/formulation, indications, dose frequency, side effects, food–drug interactions, and dose adjustments), and cost. The average weights assigned by the members for efficacy, safety, drug applicability and cost were 32.6%, 26.2%, 24.1%, and 17.1%, respectively. The utility values of the attributes were scored based on the published evidence or/and agreements during the group discussions. The attribute scores were added up to provide the total utility score. Results Using the MAST, the six statins under review were successfully scored and ranked. Atorvastatin scored the highest total utility score (TUS) of 84.48, followed by simvastatin (83.11). Atorvastatin and simvastatin scored consistently high, even before drug costs were included. The low scores on the side effects for atorvastatin were compensated for by the higher scores on the clinical endpoints resulting in a higher TUS for atorvastatin. Fluvastatin recorded the lowest TUS. Conclusion The multiattribute scoring tool was successfully applied to organize decision variables in reviewing statins for the formulary. Based on the TUS, atorvastatin is recommended to remain in the formulary and be considered as first-line in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. PMID:24353428

Self-Perceptions on Sex-Typed Attributes and the Occupational Aspirations and Expectations of High School Females.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Patricia C.; And Others

Relationships among high school females' self-perceptions on sex-stereotypic attributes and their occupational aspirations and expectations were investigated. Two measures were administered to, and data were collected from, 200 randomly selected females in grade 12 from a large urban school district. Occupational choice was measured by two…

The Prevalence and Quality of Source Attribution in Middle and High School Science Papers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vieyra, Michelle; Weaver, Kari

2016-01-01

Plagiarism is a commonly cited problem in higher education, especially in scientific writing and assignments for science courses. Students may not intentionally plagiarize, but may instead be confused about what proper source attribution entails. Much of this confusion likely stems from high school, either from lack of or inconsistent instruction…

A principal components model of soundscape perception.

PubMed

Axelsson, Östen; Nilsson, Mats E; Berglund, Birgitta

2010-11-01

There is a need for a model that identifies underlying dimensions of soundscape perception, and which may guide measurement and improvement of soundscape quality. With the purpose to develop such a model, a listening experiment was conducted. One hundred listeners measured 50 excerpts of binaural recordings of urban outdoor soundscapes on 116 attribute scales. The average attribute scale values were subjected to principal components analysis, resulting in three components: Pleasantness, eventfulness, and familiarity, explaining 50, 18 and 6% of the total variance, respectively. The principal-component scores were correlated with physical soundscape properties, including categories of dominant sounds and acoustic variables. Soundscape excerpts dominated by technological sounds were found to be unpleasant, whereas soundscape excerpts dominated by natural sounds were pleasant, and soundscape excerpts dominated by human sounds were eventful. These relationships remained after controlling for the overall soundscape loudness (Zwicker's N(10)), which shows that 'informational' properties are substantial contributors to the perception of soundscape. The proposed principal components model provides a framework for future soundscape research and practice. In particular, it suggests which basic dimensions are necessary to measure, how to measure them by a defined set of attribute scales, and how to promote high-quality soundscapes.

Gender and Ethnic-Group Differences in Causal Attributions for Success and Failure in Mathematics and Language Examinations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Birenbaum, Menucha; Kraemer, Roberta

1995-01-01

Examines gender and ethnic differences among Jewish and Arab high school students in Israel with respect to their causal attributions for success and failure in mathematics and language examinations. Results from 333 ninth graders show larger effects of ethnicity than of gender, with effects more pronounced in success than in failure attributions.…

Societal costs of underage drinking.

PubMed

Miller, Ted R; Levy, David T; Spicer, Rebecca S; Taylor, Dexter M

2006-07-01

Despite minimum-purchase-age laws, young people regularly drink alcohol. This study estimated the magnitude and costs of problems resulting from underage drinking by category-traffic crashes, violence, property crime, suicide, burns, drownings, fetal alcohol syndrome, high-risk sex, poisonings, psychoses, and dependency treatment-and compared those costs with associated alcohol sales. Previous studies did not break out costs of alcohol problems by age. For each category of alcohol-related problems, we estimated fatal and nonfatal cases attributable to underage alcohol use. We multiplied alcohol-attributable cases by estimated costs per case to obtain total costs for each problem. Underage drinking accounted for at least 16% of alcohol sales in 2001. It led to 3,170 deaths and 2.6 million other harmful events. The estimated $61.9 billion bill (relative SE = 18.5%) included $5.4 billion in medical costs, $14.9 billion in work loss and other resource costs, and $41.6 billion in lost quality of life. Quality-of-life costs, which accounted for 67% of total costs, required challenging indirect measurement. Alcohol-attributable violence and traffic crashes dominated the costs. Leaving aside quality of life, the societal harm of $1 per drink consumed by an underage drinker exceeded the average purchase price of $0.90 or the associated $0.10 in tax revenues. Recent attention has focused on problems resulting from youth use of illicit drugs and tobacco. In light of the associated substantial injuries, deaths, and high costs to society, youth drinking behaviors merit the same kind of serious attention.

Developing an Environmental Currency Relevant to People

EPA Science Inventory

EPA (and others worldwide) wanted to more fully include environmental attributes in decision making but there was no systematic approach that defined and organized the environment to identify and potentially quantify those environmental attributes that humans required, valued, or...

Teacher-Parent Partnerships. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swick, Kevin J.

Research provides insight into parent attributes that support partnerships with teachers. These attributes include warmth, sensitivity, nurturance, the ability to listen, consistency, positive self-image, personal competence, and effective interpersonal skills. Researchers have cited positive attitudes, continuous teacher training, involvement in…

Microstructure of agglomerated suspended sediments in northern chesapeake bay estuary.

PubMed

Zabawa, C F

1978-10-06

Suspended sediments in the turbidity maximum of Chesapeake Bay include composite particles which contain platy mineral grains, arranged both in pellets (attributable to fecal pelletization) and in networks of angular configuration (attributable to electrochemical flocculation and coagulation).

Attributing Illness to Food

PubMed Central

Doyle, Michael P.; Morris, J. Glenn; Painter, John; Singh, Ruby; Tauxe, Robert V.; Taylor, Michael R.; Wong, Danilo M.A. Lo Fo

2005-01-01

Identification and prioritization of effective food safety interventions require an understanding of the relationship between food and pathogen from farm to consumption. Critical to this cause is food attribution, the capacity to attribute cases of foodborne disease to the food vehicle or other source responsible for illness. A wide variety of food attribution approaches and data are used around the world, including the analysis of outbreak data, case-control studies, microbial subtyping and source tracking methods, and expert judgment, among others. The Food Safety Research Consortium sponsored the Food Attribution Data Workshop in October 2003 to discuss the virtues and limitations of these approaches and to identify future options for collecting food attribution data in the United States. We summarize workshop discussions and identify challenges that affect progress in this critical component of a risk-based approach to improving food safety. PMID:16022770

System and method for integrating and accessing multiple data sources within a data warehouse architecture

DOEpatents

Musick, Charles R [Castro Valley, CA; Critchlow, Terence [Livermore, CA; Ganesh, Madhaven [San Jose, CA; Slezak, Tom [Livermore, CA; Fidelis, Krzysztof [Brentwood, CA

2006-12-19

A system and method is disclosed for integrating and accessing multiple data sources within a data warehouse architecture. The metadata formed by the present method provide a way to declaratively present domain specific knowledge, obtained by analyzing data sources, in a consistent and useable way. Four types of information are represented by the metadata: abstract concepts, databases, transformations and mappings. A mediator generator automatically generates data management computer code based on the metadata. The resulting code defines a translation library and a mediator class. The translation library provides a data representation for domain specific knowledge represented in a data warehouse, including "get" and "set" methods for attributes that call transformation methods and derive a value of an attribute if it is missing. The mediator class defines methods that take "distinguished" high-level objects as input and traverse their data structures and enter information into the data warehouse.

Sensory profiles for dried fig (Ficus carica L.) cultivars commercially grown and processed in California.

PubMed

Haug, Megan T; King, Ellena S; Heymann, Hildegarde; Crisosto, Carlos H

2013-08-01

A trained sensory panel evaluated the 6 fig cultivars currently sold in the California dried fig market. The main flavor and aroma attributes determined by the sensory panel were "caramel," "honey," "raisin," and "fig," with additional aroma attributes: "common date," "dried plum," and "molasses." Sensory differences were observed between dried fig cultivars. All figs were processed by 2 commercial handlers. Processing included potassium sorbate as a preservative and SO2 application as an antibrowning agent for white cultivars. As a consequence of SO2 use during processing, high sulfite residues affected the sensory profiles of the white dried fig cultivars. Significant differences between dried fig cultivars and sources demonstrate perceived differences between processing and storage methods. The panel-determined sensory lexicon can help with California fig marketing. © 2013 The Regents of California, Davis Campus Department of Plant Sciences.

Differentiation in the fertility of Inceptisols as related to land use in the upper Solimões river region, western Amazon.

PubMed

Moreira, Fatima Maria de Souza; Nóbrega, Rafaela Simão Abrahão; Jesus, Ederson da Conceição; Ferreira, Daniel Furtado; Pérez, Daniel Vidal

2009-12-20

The Upper Solimões river region, western Amazon, is the homeland of indigenous populations and contains small-scale agricultural systems that are important for biodiversity conservation. Although traditional slash-and-burn agriculture is being practiced over many years, deforestation there is relatively small compared to other Amazon regions. Pastures are restricted to the vicinity of cities and do not spread to the small communities along the river. Inceptisols are the main soil order (>90%) in the area and have unique attributes including high Al content and high cation exchange capacity (CEC) due to the enrichment of the clay fraction with 2:1 secondary aluminosilicates. Despite its importance, few studies have focussed on this soil order when considering land use effects on the fertility of Amazon soils. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate changes in soil fertility of representative land use systems (LUSs) in the Upper Solimões region, namely: primary rainforest, old secondary forest, young secondary forest, agroforestry, pasture and agriculture. LUSs were significantly differentiated by the chemical attributes of their topsoil (0-20 cm). Secondary forests presented soil chemical attributes more similar to primary rainforest areas, while pastures exhibited the highest dissimilarity from all the other LUSs. As a whole, soil chemical changes among Inceptisols dominated LUSs showed patterns that were distinct from those reported from other Amazon soils like Oxisols and Ultisols. This is probably related to the presence of high-activity clays enriched in exchangeable aluminum that heavily influenced the soil chemical reactions over the expected importance of organic matter found in most studies conducted over Oxisol and Ultisol.

Venus mountain-top mineralogy: Misconceptions about pyrite as the high radar-reflecting phase

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burns, Roger G.; Straub, Darcy W.

1993-01-01

Altitude-dependent, high radar-reflectivity surfaces on Venus are observed on most mountainous volcanic terranes above a planetary radius of about 6054 km. However, high radar-reflectivity areas also occur at lower altitudes in some impact craters and plain terranes. Pyrite (FeS2) is commonly believed to be responsible for the high radar reflectivities at high elevations on Venus, on account of large dielectric constants measured for sulfide-bearing rocks that were erroneously attributed to pyrite instead of pyrrhotite. Pentlandite-pyrrhotite assemblages may be responsible for high reflectivities associated with impact craters on the Venusian surface, by analogy with Fe-Ni sulfide deposits occurring in terrestrial astroblemes. Mixed-valence Fe(2+)-Fe(3+) silicates, including oxyhornblende, oxybiotite, and ilvaite, may contribute to high radar reflecting surfaces on mountain-tops of Venus.

Population attributable risk of modifiable risk factors associated with invasive breast cancer in women aged 45-69 years in Queensland, Australia.

PubMed

Wilson, Louise F; Page, Andrew N; Dunn, Nathan A M; Pandeya, Nirmala; Protani, Melinda M; Taylor, Richard J

2013-12-01

To quantify the population attributable risk of key modifiable risk factors associated with breast cancer incidence in Queensland, Australia. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) for high body mass index (BMI), use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), alcohol consumption and inadequate physical activity were calculated, using prevalence data from a representative survey of women attending mammographic screening at BreastScreen Queensland in 2008 and relative risk estimates sourced from published literature. Attributable cancers were calculated using 'underlying' breast cancer incidence data for 2008 based on Poisson regression models, adjusting for the inflation of incidence due to the effects of mammographic screening. Attributable burden of breast cancer due to high body mass index (BMI), use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), alcohol consumption and inadequate physical activity. In Queensland women aged 45-69 years, an estimated 12.1% (95% CI: 11.6-12.5%) of invasive breast cancers were attributable to high BMI in post-menopausal women who have never used HRT; 2.8% (95% CI: 2.7-2.9%) to alcohol consumption; 7.6% (95% CI: 7.4-7.9%) to inadequate physical activity in post-menopausal women and 6.2% (95% CI: 5.5-7.0%) to current use of HRT after stratification by BMI and type of HRT used. Combined, just over one quarter (26.0%; 95% CI: 25.4-26.6%) of all invasive breast cancers in Queensland women aged 45-69 years in 2008 were attributable to these modifiable risk factors. There is benefit in targeting prevention strategies to modify lifestyle behaviours around BMI, physical activity, HRT use and alcohol consumption, as a reduction in these risk factors could decrease invasive breast cancer incidence in the Queensland population. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electric vehicle station equipment for grid-integrated vehicles

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

Kempton, Willett; Kiamilev, Fouad; McGee, Rodney

Methods, systems, and apparatus transferring power between the grid and an electric vehicle are disclosed. The apparatus may include at least one vehicle communication port for interfacing with electric vehicle equipment (EVE) and a processor coupled to the at least one vehicle communication port to establish communication with the EVE, receive EVE attributes from the EVE, and transmit electric vehicle station equipment (EVSE) attributes to the EVE. Power may be transferred between the grid and the electric vehicle by maintaining EVSE attributes, establishing communication with the EVE, and transmitting the EVSE maintained attributes to the EVE.

Longitudinal pathways from unconventional personal attributes in the late 20s to cannabis use prior to sexual intercourse in the late 30s.

PubMed

Lee, Jung Yeon; Brook, Judith S; Pahl, Kerstin; Brook, David W

2017-11-01

A quarter of people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the United States are women. Furthermore, African American and Hispanic/Latina women continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV, compared with women of other races/ethnicities. Cannabis use prior to intercourse may be associated with increased risky sexual behaviors which are highly related to HIV. The ultimate goal of this research is to better understand the relationships between unconventional personal attributes (e.g., risk-taking behaviors) in the late 20s, substance use (e.g., alcohol) in the mid 30s, and cannabis use prior to intercourse in the late 30s using a community sample; such an understanding may inform interventions. This study employing data from the Harlem Longitudinal Development Study includes 343 female participants (50% African Americans, 50% Puerto Ricans). Structural equation modeling indicated that unconventional personal attributes in the late 20s were associated with substance use in the mid 30s (β=0.32, p<0.001), which in turn, was associated with cannabis use prior to sexual intercourse in the late 30s (β=0.64, p<0.001). Unconventional personal attributes in the late 20s were also directly related to cannabis use prior to sexual intercourse in the late 30s (β=0.39, p<0.01). The findings of this study suggest that interventions focused on decreasing unconventional personal attributes as well as substance use may reduce sexual risk behaviors among urban African American and Puerto Rican women. Also, the implications of this study for health care providers and researchers working in HIV prevention are that these precursors may be useful as patient screening tools. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of Frozen Storage Temperature on the Quality of Premium Ice Cream.

PubMed

Park, Sung Hee; Jo, Yeon-Ji; Chun, Ji-Yeon; Hong, Geun-Pyo; Davaatseren, Munkhtugs; Choi, Mi-Jung

2015-01-01

The market sales of premium ice cream have paralleled the growth in consumer desire for rich flavor and taste. Storage temperature is a major consideration in preserving the quality attributes of premium ice cream products for both the manufacturer and retailers during prolonged storage. We investigated the effect of storage temperature (-18℃, -30℃, -50℃, and -70℃) and storage times, up to 52 wk, on the quality attributes of premium ice cream. Quality attributes tested included ice crystal size, air cell size, melting resistance, and color. Ice crystal size increased from 40.3 μm to 100.1 μm after 52 wk of storage at -18℃. When ice cream samples were stored at -50℃ or -70℃, ice crystal size slightly increased from 40.3 μm to 57-58 μm. Initial air cell size increased from 37.1 μm to 87.7 μm after storage at -18℃ for 52 wk. However, for storage temperatures of -50℃ and -70℃, air cell size increased only slightly from 37.1 μm to 46-47 μm. Low storage temperature (-50℃ and -70℃) resulted in better melt resistance and minimized color changes in comparison to high temperature storage (-18℃ and -30℃). In our study, quality changes in premium ice cream were gradually minimized according to decrease in storage temperature up to-50℃. No significant beneficial effect of -70℃ storage was found in quality attributes. In the scope of our experiment, we recommend a storage temperature of -50℃ to preserve the quality attributes of premium ice cream.

Effect of Frozen Storage Temperature on the Quality of Premium Ice Cream

PubMed Central

Park, Sung Hee; Jo, Yeon-Ji; Chun, Ji-Yeon; Hong, Geun-Pyo

2015-01-01

The market sales of premium ice cream have paralleled the growth in consumer desire for rich flavor and taste. Storage temperature is a major consideration in preserving the quality attributes of premium ice cream products for both the manufacturer and retailers during prolonged storage. We investigated the effect of storage temperature (−18℃, −30℃, −50℃, and −70℃) and storage times, up to 52 wk, on the quality attributes of premium ice cream. Quality attributes tested included ice crystal size, air cell size, melting resistance, and color. Ice crystal size increased from 40.3 μm to 100.1 μm after 52 wk of storage at −18℃. When ice cream samples were stored at −50℃ or −70℃, ice crystal size slightly increased from 40.3 μm to 57-58 μm. Initial air cell size increased from 37.1 μm to 87.7 μm after storage at −18℃ for 52 wk. However, for storage temperatures of −50℃ and −70℃, air cell size increased only slightly from 37.1 μm to 46-47 μm. Low storage temperature (−50℃ and −70℃) resulted in better melt resistance and minimized color changes in comparison to high temperature storage (−18℃ and −30℃). In our study, quality changes in premium ice cream were gradually minimized according to decrease in storage temperature up to−50℃. No significant beneficial effect of −70℃ storage was found in quality attributes. In the scope of our experiment, we recommend a storage temperature of −50℃ to preserve the quality attributes of premium ice cream. PMID:26877639

Relationships between NIR spectra and sensory attributes of Thai commercial fish sauces.

PubMed

Ritthiruangdej, Pitiporn; Suwonsichon, Thongchai

2007-07-01

Twenty Thai commercial fish sauces were characterized by sensory descriptive analysis and near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. The main objectives were i) to investigate the relationships between sensory attributes and NIR spectra of samples and ii) to characterize the sensory characteristics of fish sauces based on NIR data. A generic descriptive analysis with 12 trained panels was used to characterize the sensory attributes. These attributes consisted of 15 descriptors: brown color, 5 aromatics (sweet, caramelized, fermented, fishy, and musty), 4 tastes (sweet, salty, bitter, and umami), 3 aftertastes (sweet, salty and bitter) and 2 flavors (caramelized and fishy). The results showed that Thai fish sauce samples exhibited significant differences in all of sensory attribute values (p < 0.05). NIR transflectance spectra were obtained from 1100 to 2500 nm. Prior to investigation of the relationships between sensory attributes and NIR spectra, principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to reduce the dimensionality of the spectral data from 622 wavelengths to two uncorrelated components (NIR1 and NIR2) which explained 92 and 7% of the total variation, respectively. NIR1 was highly correlated with the wavelength regions of 1100 - 1544, 1774 - 2062, 2092 - 2308, and 2358 - 2440 nm, while NIR2 was highly correlated with the wavelength regions of 1742 - 1764, 2066 - 2088, and 2312 - 2354 nm. Subsequently, the relationships among these two components and all sensory attributes were also investigated by PCA. The results showed that the first three principal components (PCs) named as fishy flavor component (PC1), sweet component (PC2) and bitterness component (PC3), respectively, explained a total of 66.86% of the variation. NIR1 was mainly correlated to the sensory attributes of fishy aromatic, fishy flavor and sweet aftertaste on PC1. In addition, the PCA using only the factor loadings of NIR1 and NIR2 could be used to classify samples into three groups which showed high, medium and low degrees of fishy aromatic, fishy flavor and sweet aftertaste.

Maintenance inhaler preference, attribute importance, and satisfaction in prescribing physicians and patients with asthma, COPD, or asthma–COPD overlap syndrome consulting for routine care

PubMed Central

Ding, Bo; Small, Mark; Scheffel, Gina; Holmgren, Ulf

2018-01-01

Background In respiratory disorders, patient- and physician-perceived satisfaction with the maintenance inhaler device is an important factor driving treatment compliance and outcomes. We examine inhaler preferences in asthma and COPD from patient and physician perspectives, particularly focusing on the relative importance of individual device attributes and patient characteristics guiding inhaler choice. Materials and methods Real-world data from >7,300 patients with asthma, COPD, or asthma–COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) consulting for routine care were derived from respiratory Disease Specific Programs conducted in Europe, USA, Japan, and China. Outcome variables included current pattern of inhaled maintenance therapy and device type, physician preference, patient-reported device attribute importance, and satisfaction. Results The most commonly prescribed inhalers for maintenance therapy of asthma, COPD, and ACOS were dry powder inhalers (62.8%–88.5% of patients) and pressurized metered dose inhalers (18.9%–35.3% of patients). One-third of physicians stated no preference for maintenance device when prescribing treatment, and less than one-third of patients reported being “extremely satisfied” with any attribute of their device. Instructions being “simple and easy to follow” was the inhaler attribute most commonly selected as important. For approximately one-third of patients across all groups, “ease of use/suitability of inhaler device” was a reason for the prescribing decision, as stated by the physician. Device characteristics were more likely to impact the prescribing decision in older patients (in asthma and COPD; P<0.01) and those with worse disease severity (in COPD; P<0.001). Conclusion A relatively high proportion of physicians had no preference for inhaler type across asthma, COPD, and ACOS. Simplicity of use was the most important inhaler attribute from a patient’s perspective. Physicians appeared to place most importance on ease of use and device suitability when selecting inhalers for older patients and those with more severe disease, particularly in COPD. PMID:29588581

What Do Our Patients Truly Want? Conjoint Analysis of an Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Practice Using Internet Crowdsourcing.

PubMed

Wu, Cindy; Scott Hultman, C; Diegidio, Paul; Hermiz, Steven; Garimella, Roja; Crutchfield, Trisha M; Lee, Clara N

2017-01-01

What do patients want when looking for an aesthetic surgeon? When faced with attributes like reputation, years in practice, testimonials, photos, and pricing, which is more valuable? Moreover, are attributes procedure-specific? Currently, inadequate evidence exists on which attributes are most important to patients, and to our knowledge, none on procedure-specific preferences. First, to determine the most important attributes to breast augmentation, combined breast/abdominal surgery, and facelift patients using conjoint analysis. Second, to test the conjoint using an internet crowdsourcing service (Amazon Mechanical Turk [MTurk]). Anonymous university members were asked, via mass electronic survey, to pick a surgeon for facelift surgery based on five attributes. Attribute importance and preference was calculated. Once pre-tested, the facelift, breast augmentation and combined breast/abdominal surgery surveys were administered worldwide to MTurk. The university facelift cohort valued testimonials (33.9%) as the most important, followed by photos (31.6%), reputation (18.2%), pricing (14.4%), and practice years (1.9%). MTurk breast augmentation participants valued photos (35.3%), then testimonials (33.9%), reputation (15.7%), pricing (12.2%), and practice years (3%). MTurk combined breast/abdominal surgery and facelift participants valued testimonials (38.3% and 38.1%, respectively), then photos (27.9%, 29.4%), reputation (17.5%, 15.8%), pricing (13.9%, 13.9%), practice years (2.4%, 2.8%). Breast augmentation patients placed higher importance on photos; combined breast/abdominal surgery and facelift patients valued testimonials. Conjoint analysis has had limited application in plastic surgery. To our knowledge, internet crowdsourcing is a novel participant recruitment method in plastic surgery. Its unique benefits include broad, diverse and anonymous participant pools, low-cost, rapid data collection, and high completion rate. © 2016 The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Inc. Reprints and permission: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Detection and attribution of climate extremes in the observed record

DOE PAGES

Easterling, David R.; Kunkel, Kenneth E.; Wehner, Michael F.; ...

2016-01-18

We present an overview of practices and challenges related to the detection and attribution of observed changes in climate extremes. Detection is the identification of a statistically significant change in the extreme values of a climate variable over some period of time. Issues in detection discussed include data quality, coverage, and completeness. Attribution takes that detection of a change and uses climate model simulations to evaluate whether a cause can be assigned to that change. Additionally, we discuss a newer field of attribution, event attribution, where individual extreme events are analyzed for the express purpose of assigning some measure ofmore » whether that event was directly influenced by anthropogenic forcing of the climate system.« less

Quantifying structural physical habitat attributes using LIDAR and hyperspectral imagery - PRK

EPA Science Inventory

Structural physical habitat attributes include indices of stream size, channel gradient, substrate size, habitat complexity, and riparian vegetation cover and structure. The Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) is designed to assess the status and trends of ecol...

Quantifying Structural Physical Habitat Attributes Using Lidar and Hyperspectral Imagery (1)

EPA Science Inventory

Structural physical habitat attributes include indices of stream size, channel gradient, substrate size, habitat complexity, and riparian vegetation cover and structure. The Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) is designed to assess the status and trends of eco...

Mothers' depressive symptoms and children's externalizing behavior: Children's negative emotionality in the development of hostile attributions.

PubMed

Wang, Yiji; Dix, Theodore

2017-03-01

This study examined processes that might account for why negatively emotional children are at high risk for externalizing behavior problems when raised by mothers with depressive symptoms. Because negative emotionality regulates adaptation to stress, we predicted that it would undermine children's adjustment to mothers' depressive symptoms by increasing child emotions likely to elicit reciprocal negativity from depressed mothers, bias negatively children's attributions about others, and activate difficult-to-control oppositional responses. In a large sample (N = 1,082) evaluated from 6 months to second grade, results showed that, when mothers had depressive symptoms early in the child's development, children who were high in negative emotionality-but not those who were low-displayed increased risk for externalizing problems in second grade. This risk reflected tendencies for negatively emotional children, when raised by mothers with depressive symptoms, to develop hostile attributions about others and poor self-regulation of the negativity these attributions promote. The findings suggest that, when mothers with depressive symptoms raise negatively emotional children, children's risk for externalizing behavior problems may reflect tendencies for high negative emotion in children and reciprocal negativity in the dyad to undermine the development of attributional and self-regulatory processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Do Social Attribution Skills Improve with Age in Children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bal, Elgiz; Yerys, Benjamin E.; Sokoloff, Jennifer L.; Celano, Mark J.; Kenworthy, Lauren; Giedd, Jay N.; Wallace, Gregory L.

2013-01-01

Age-related changes in social attribution skills were assessed using the "Triangles Playing Tricks" task in 7-17 year old high functioning children with ASDs (n = 41) and in typically developing (TD) children (n = 58) matched on age, IQ, and sex ratio. Children with ASDs gave responses that received lower intentionality and appropriateness ratings…

Spouse Criticism/Hostility Toward Partners with Chronic Pain: The Role of Spouse Attributions for Patient Control over Pain Behaviors.

PubMed

Burns, John W; Gerhart, James; Post, Kristina M; Smith, David A; Porter, Laura S; Buvanendran, Asokumar; Fras, Anne Marie; Keefe, Francis J

2018-06-01

Spouse attributions regarding displays of pain behaviors by their partners with chronic pain may account for subsequent increases in spouse critical/hostile responses toward their partners. People with chronic low back pain (n = 105) and their pain-free spouses (n = 105) completed electronic diary measures five times per day for 14 consecutive days. Key items assessed spouse observations of patient pain behavior, attributions regarding these behaviors, and spouse critical/hostile responses toward patients. Results were: a) spouse observations of patient pain behavior at Time 1 predicted high levels of spouse critical/hostile responses toward the patient at Time 2; b) "internal" attributions (e.g., the patient was attempting to influence spouse's feelings) at Time 1 predicted high levels of spouse critical/hostile responses toward the patient at Time 2; c) internal attributions mediated links between spouse observed pain behaviors at Time 1 and levels of spouse critical/hostile responses at Time 2. Spouse observations of patient pain behavior was also related to an "external" attribution (i.e., patient pain behavior was due to pain condition), but this attribution was not a significant mediator. A vital factor linking spouse scrutiny to spouse critical/hostile responses may be the spouse's ascribed reasons for the patient's grimacing, bracing, complaining, and so forth. Results indicate that spouse internal and negative attributions for pain behaviors of their partners with chronic pain may influence subsequent spouse critical/hostile reactions to them. Findings suggest that replacing spouse internal and negative attributions with external, compassionate and accepting explanations may be useful therapeutic targets for couples coping with chronic pain. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Nationwide disturbance attribution on NASA’s earth exchange: experiences in a high-end computing environment

Treesearch

J. Chris Toney; Karen G. Schleeweis; Jennifer Dungan; Andrew Michaelis; Todd Schroeder; Gretchen G. Moisen

2015-01-01

The North American Forest Dynamics (NAFD) project’s Attribution Team is completing nationwide processing of historic Landsat data to provide a comprehensive annual, wall-to-wall analysis of US disturbance history, with attribution, over the last 25+ years. Per-pixel time series analysis based on a new nonparametric curve fitting algorithm yields several metrics useful...

Aggressive and prosocial children's emotion attributions and moral reasoning.

PubMed

Malti, Tina; Gasser, Luciano; Buchmann, Marlis

2009-01-01

Aggressive and prosocial children's emotion attributions and moral reasoning were investigated. Participants were 235 kindergarten children (M=6.2 years) and 136 elementary-school children (M=7.6 years) who were selected as aggressive or prosocial based on (kindergarten) teacher ratings. The children were asked to evaluate hypothetical rule violations, attribute emotions they would feel in the role of the victimizer, and justify their responses. Compared with younger prosocial children, younger aggressive children attributed fewer negative emotions and were more likely to provide sanction-oriented justifications when evaluating rule violations negatively. Furthermore, age-, gender- and context-effects in moral development occurred. The context-effects included both effects of transgression type (i.e., prosocial morality vs. fairness) on emotion attributions and moral reasoning and the effects of the context of moral evaluation and emotion attribution on moral reasoning. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of emotion attributions and moral reasoning as antecedents of children's aggressive and prosocial behavior. Copyright 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Cynicism about organizational change: an attribution process perspective.

PubMed

Wanous, John P; Reichers, Arnon E; Austin, James T

2004-06-01

The underlying attribution process for cynicism about organizational change is examined with six samples from four different organizations. The samples include hourly (n=777) and salaried employees (n= 155) from a manufacturing plant, faculty (n=293) and staff (n=302) from a large university, managers from a utility company (n=97), and young managers (n=65) from various organizations who were attending an evening MBA program. This form of cynicism is defined as the combination of Pessimism (about future change efforts) and a Dispositional attribution (why past efforts to change failed). Three analyses support this definition. First, an exploratory factor analysis (from the largest sample) produced two factors, one composed of Pessimism and the Dispositional attribution items and the second of the Situational attribution items. Second, the average correlation (across several samples) between Pessimism and Dispositional attribution is much higher (.59) than the average correlation between Pessimism and Situational attribution (.17). Third, scores on two different trait-based measures of cynicism correlate highest with the Dispositional attribution component of cynicism. A practical implication is that organizational leaders may minimize cynicism by managing both employees' pessimism about organizational change and employees' attributions about it. Specific suggestions for how this might be done are offered.

Failures in large gas turbines due to liquid-metal embrittlement

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

Cameron, D.W.

1994-07-01

The failures of three gas turbine components, attributed to liquid-metal embrittlement or solid-metal-induced embrittlement, are described. High temperatures inherent in the gas turbine can aggravate these phenomenon if the necessary conditions are present. Examples chosen include a power transmission shaft, flange bolts from a cooling steam line, and a turbine rotor bolt. The respective material couples involved are 17-4PH stainless steel-copper, AISI 4130-cadmium, and IN 718-cadmium. Each case includes information on the source of the aggressive material and relevant operating environment. The implications of the failures with regard to the general failure mechanism are briefly discussed.

β-Cobalt sulfide nanoparticles decorated graphene composite electrodes for high capacity and power supercapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, Baihua; Chen, Yuejiao; Zhang, Ming; Hu, Lingling; Lei, Danni; Lu, Bingan; Li, Qiuhong; Wang, Yanguo; Chen, Libao; Wang, Taihong

2012-11-01

Electrochemical supercapacitors have drawn much attention because of their high power and reasonably high energy densities. However, their performances still do not reach the demand of energy storage. In this paper β-cobalt sulfide nanoparticles were homogeneously distributed on a highly conductive graphene (CS-G) nanocomposite, which was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy analysis, and exhibit excellent electrochemical performances including extremely high values of specific capacitance (~1535 F g-1) at a current density of 2 A g-1, high-power density (11.98 kW kg-1) at a discharge current density of 40 A g-1 and excellent cyclic stability. The excellent electrochemical performances could be attributed to the graphene nanosheets (GNSs) which could maintain the mechanical integrity. Also the CS-G nanocomposite electrodes have high electrical conductivity. These results indicate that high electronic conductivity of graphene nanocomposite materials is crucial to achieving high power and energy density for supercapacitors.

β-Cobalt sulfide nanoparticles decorated graphene composite electrodes for high capacity and power supercapacitors.

PubMed

Qu, Baihua; Chen, Yuejiao; Zhang, Ming; Hu, Lingling; Lei, Danni; Lu, Bingan; Li, Qiuhong; Wang, Yanguo; Chen, Libao; Wang, Taihong

2012-12-21

Electrochemical supercapacitors have drawn much attention because of their high power and reasonably high energy densities. However, their performances still do not reach the demand of energy storage. In this paper β-cobalt sulfide nanoparticles were homogeneously distributed on a highly conductive graphene (CS-G) nanocomposite, which was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy analysis, and exhibit excellent electrochemical performances including extremely high values of specific capacitance (~1535 F g(-1)) at a current density of 2 A g(-1), high-power density (11.98 kW kg(-1)) at a discharge current density of 40 A g(-1) and excellent cyclic stability. The excellent electrochemical performances could be attributed to the graphene nanosheets (GNSs) which could maintain the mechanical integrity. Also the CS-G nanocomposite electrodes have high electrical conductivity. These results indicate that high electronic conductivity of graphene nanocomposite materials is crucial to achieving high power and energy density for supercapacitors.

Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in Thailand.

PubMed

Tapanya, Sombat

2011-07-01

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined similarities and differences between mothers' and fathers' attributions regarding successes and failures in caregiving situations and progressive versus authoritarian attitudes as well as correlations between mothers' and fathers' attributions and attitudes. DESIGN: Interviews were conducted with both mothers and fathers in 88 Thai families. RESULTS: Mothers and fathers did not differ in mean levels of attributions regarding successes and failures in caregiving situations or in authoritarian or progressive attitudes. Mothers' and fathers' perceived control over failure, authoritarian attitudes, progressive attitudes, and modernity of attitudes were significantly correlated. CONCLUSIONS: This work suggests high similarities between Thai mothers and fathers in their attributions and attitudes related to parenting.

Setting Preferences of High and Low Use River Recreationists: How Different are They?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kainzinger, Silvia; Arnberger, Arne; Burns, Robert C.

2016-11-01

Whitewater boaters often choose a river based on their preferences for attributes important for their trip experience. This study explored whether preferences and tradeoffs of whitewater boaters for social, resource, and managerial attributes of riverscapes differ among a high and a low use river in the United States by employing a stated choice approach. River trip scenarios were displayed using verbal descriptions and computer-generated photographs. Results indicate that use levels were more important for boaters on the low use river, whereas river difficulty and river access fee was of higher importance for the high use river boaters, who are more involved in this whitewater activity. Preferences for waiting times and trip length did not differ between the samples. Findings suggest that whitewater boaters of high and low use rivers have a different tradeoff behavior among river setting attributes, which has implications for river recreation management.

Causal Attribution and Coping Maxims Differences between Immigrants and Non-Immigrants Suffering from Back Pain in Switzerland.

PubMed

Mantwill, Sarah; Schulz, Peter J

2016-01-01

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between causal attributions and coping maxims in people suffering from back pain. Further, it aimed at identifying in how far causal attributions and related coping maxims would defer between immigrants and non-immigrants in Switzerland. Data for this study came from a larger survey study that was conducted among immigrant populations in the German- and Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Included in the analyses were native Swiss participants, as well as Albanian- and Serbian-speaking immigrants, who had indicated to have suffered from back pain within the last 12 months prior to the study. Data was analyzed for overall 495 participants. Items for causal attributions and coping maxims were subject to factor analyses. Cultural differences were assessed with ANOVA and regression analyses. Interaction terms were included to investigate whether the relationship between causal attributions and coping maxims would differ with cultural affiliation. For both immigrant groups the physician's influence on the course of their back pain was more important than for Swiss participants (p <.05). With regard to coping, both immigrant groups were more likely to agree with maxims that were related to the improvement of the back pain, as well as the acceptance of the current situation (p <.05). The only consistent interaction effect that was found indicated that being Albanian-speaking negatively moderated the relationship between physical activity as an attributed cause of back pain and all three identified coping maxims. The study shows that differences in causal attribution and coping maxims between immigrants and non-immigrants exist. Further, the results support the assumption of an association between causal attribution and coping maxims. However cultural affiliation did not considerably moderate this relationship.

Valence and agency influence striatal response to feedback in patients with major depressive disorder

PubMed Central

Späti, Jakub; Chumbley, Justin; Doerig, Nadja; Brakowski, Janis; Holtforth, Martin Grosse; Seifritz, Erich; Spinelli, Simona

2015-01-01

Background Reduced sensitivity to positive feedback is common in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, findings regarding negative feedback are ambiguous, with both exaggerated and blunted responses being reported. The ventral striatum (VS) plays a major role in processing valenced feedback, and previous imaging studies have shown that the locus of controls (self agency v. external agency) over the outcome influences VS response to feedback. We investigated whether attributing the outcome to one’s own action or to an external agent influences feedback processing in patients with MDD. We hypothesized that depressed participants would be less sensitive to the feedback attribution reflected by an altered VS response to self-attributed gains and losses. Methods Using functional MRI and a motion prediction task, we investigated the neural responses to self-attributed (SA) and externally attributed (EA) monetary gains and losses in unmedicated patients with MDD and healthy controls. Results We included 21 patients and 25 controls in our study. Consistent with our prediction, healthy controls showed a VS response influenced by feedback valence and attribution, whereas in depressed patients striatal activity was modulated by valence but was insensitive to attribution. This attribution insensitivity led to an altered ventral putamen response for SA – EA losses in patients with MDD compared with healthy controls. Limitations Depressed patients with comorbid anxiety disorder were included. Conclusion These results suggest an altered assignment of motivational salience to SA losses in patients with MDD. Altered striatal response to SA negative events may reinforce the belief of not being in control of negative outcomes contributing to a cycle of learned helplessness. PMID:26107160

Causal Attribution and Coping Maxims Differences between Immigrants and Non-Immigrants Suffering from Back Pain in Switzerland

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Objectives This study aimed at investigating the relationship between causal attributions and coping maxims in people suffering from back pain. Further, it aimed at identifying in how far causal attributions and related coping maxims would defer between immigrants and non-immigrants in Switzerland. Methods Data for this study came from a larger survey study that was conducted among immigrant populations in the German- and Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Included in the analyses were native Swiss participants, as well as Albanian- and Serbian-speaking immigrants, who had indicated to have suffered from back pain within the last 12 months prior to the study. Data was analyzed for overall 495 participants. Items for causal attributions and coping maxims were subject to factor analyses. Cultural differences were assessed with ANOVA and regression analyses. Interaction terms were included to investigate whether the relationship between causal attributions and coping maxims would differ with cultural affiliation. Results For both immigrant groups the physician’s influence on the course of their back pain was more important than for Swiss participants (p <.05). With regard to coping, both immigrant groups were more likely to agree with maxims that were related to the improvement of the back pain, as well as the acceptance of the current situation (p <.05). The only consistent interaction effect that was found indicated that being Albanian-speaking negatively moderated the relationship between physical activity as an attributed cause of back pain and all three identified coping maxims. Conclusion The study shows that differences in causal attribution and coping maxims between immigrants and non-immigrants exist. Further, the results support the assumption of an association between causal attribution and coping maxims. However cultural affiliation did not considerably moderate this relationship. PMID:27583445

Fraction of stroke mortality attributable to alcohol consumption in Russia.

PubMed

Y E, Razvodovsky

2014-01-01

Stroke is an international health problem with high associated human and economic costs. The mortality rate from stroke in Russia is one of the highest in the world. Risk factors identification is therefore a high priority from the public health perspective. Epidemiological evidence suggests that binge drinking is an important determinant of high stroke mortality rate in Russia. The aim of the present study was to estimate the premature stroke mortality attributable to alcohol abuse in Russia on the basis of aggregate-level data of stroke mortality and alcohol consumption. Age-standardized sex-specific male and female stroke mortality data for the period 1980-2005 and data on overall alcohol consumption were analyzed by means ARIMA time series analysis. The results of the analysis suggest that 26.8% of all male stroke deaths and 18.4% female stroke deaths in Russia could be attributed to alcohol. The estimated alcohol-attributable fraction for men ranged from 16.2% (75+ age group) to 57,5% (30-44 age group) and for women from 21.7% (60-74 age group) and 43.5% (30- 44 age group). The outcomes of this study provide support for the hypothesis that alcohol is an important contributor to the high stroke mortality rate in Russian Federation. Therefore prevention of alcohol-attributable harm should be a major public health priority in Russia. Given the distribution of alcohol-related stroke deaths, interventions should be focused on the young and middle-aged men and women.

Household chaos moderates the link between maternal attribution bias and parenting: Parenting: Science and Practice.

PubMed

Wang, Z; Deater-Deckard, K; Bell, M A

2013-10-01

Parents who attribute child misbehavior to children's intentions and dismiss situational factors tend to show more hostility and less warmth in their parenting behavior, and are at greater risk for maltreatment. We extended this literature by investigating the role of household chaos as a moderator of the link between maternal attribution biases and parenting behaviors. The current sample included 160 mothers of 3- to7-year-old children. Mothers provided reports on their attribution biases and household chaos levels. Maternal negativity and positivity were measured using self-reports and observers' ratings. The links between attribution bias and parenting behavior were stronger in more chaotic environments, with the moderating effect of chaos being particularly strong for internal attribution bias. The findings point to the importance of social cognitive biases in the etiology of maternal behavior in family contexts that lack order and predictability.

Household chaos moderates the link between maternal attribution bias and parenting

PubMed Central

Wang, Z.; Deater-Deckard, K.; Bell, M.A.

2013-01-01

Objective Parents who attribute child misbehavior to children's intentions and dismiss situational factors tend to show more hostility and less warmth in their parenting behavior, and are at greater risk for maltreatment. We extended this literature by investigating the role of household chaos as a moderator of the link between maternal attribution biases and parenting behaviors. Design The current sample included 160 mothers of 3- to7-year-old children. Mothers provided reports on their attribution biases and household chaos levels. Maternal negativity and positivity were measured using self-reports and observers’ ratings. Results The links between attribution bias and parenting behavior were stronger in more chaotic environments, with the moderating effect of chaos being particularly strong for internal attribution bias. Conclusions The findings point to the importance of social cognitive biases in the etiology of maternal behavior in family contexts that lack order and predictability. PMID:24358017

The energy cane alternative

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

Alexander, A.G.

This book reviews the conceptual and theoretical background of Saccharum botany, which underlies the growing of cane as a total growth commodity. Management details are provided for energy cane planting, cultivation, harvest, and postharvest operations. Chapters on energy cane utilization stress new developments in lignocellulose conversion plus alternative options for fermentable solids usage. Chapters are also included for the management of alternative grasses to supplement energy cane, and the breeding of new hybrid canes with high biomass attributes at the intergeneric and interspecific levels.

EVALUATING THE CONDITION OF RIVERINE-RIPARIAN RESOURCES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

EPA Science Inventory

The evaluation of the condition of riverine-riparian resources at regional scales relies on the interpretation of measurements taken on a variety of attributes reflecting both status and processes governing status of these resources. Typical attributes include indicators of upsl...

Theory of reliable systems. [systems analysis and design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meyer, J. F.

1973-01-01

The analysis and design of reliable systems are discussed. The attributes of system reliability studied are fault tolerance, diagnosability, and reconfigurability. Objectives of the study include: to determine properties of system structure that are conducive to a particular attribute; to determine methods for obtaining reliable realizations of a given system; and to determine how properties of system behavior relate to the complexity of fault tolerant realizations. A list of 34 references is included.

Comparative Evaluation of Fluoridated Mouthwash and Sodium Bicarbonate in Management of Dentin Hypersensitivity: An In Vitro SEM Study.

PubMed

Rikame, Vasundhara; Doshi, Yogesh; Horowitz, Robert A; Kevadia-Shah, Vidhi; Shah, Mona

2018-01-01

Sodium bicarbonate (ie, baking soda) can be used as an adjunct to surgical periodontal therapy to reduce dentin hypersensitivity (DH). Sodium bicarbonate mouthwash has numerous appealing attributes, including high availability, low cost, low abrasivity, water solubility, buffering capability, and, in high concentrations, antimicrobial properties. It is also safe to use. The primary underlying cause of DH is open dentinal tubules from loss of either cementum or enamel. The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate, through scanning electron microscopic examination, the effect of sodium bicarbonate on dentinal tubule occlusion and compare it with that of fluoridated mouthwash.

Demonstration of nonreciprocity in a microwave cavity optomechanical circuit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peterson, Gabriel; Lecocq, Florent; Kotler, Shlomi; Cicak, Katarina; Simmonds, Raymond; Aumentado, Jose; Teufel, John

The ability to engineer nonreciprocal interactions is essential for many applications including quantum signal processing and quantum transduction. While attributes such as high efficiency and low added noise are always beneficial, for quantum applications these metrics are crucial. Here we present recent experimental results on a parametric, nonreciprocal microwave circuit based on the optomechanical interaction between a superconducting microwave resonator and a mechanically compliant vacuum gap capacitor. Unlike standard Faraday-based circulators, this parametric interaction does not require magnetic fields, and the direction of circulation can be controlled dynamically in situ. Looking forward, such devices could enable programmable, high-efficiency connections between disparate nodes of a quantum network.

Crucial contextual attributes of nursing leadership towards a care ethics.

PubMed

Gustafsson, Lena-Karin; Stenberg, Maja

2017-06-01

It is of importance to understand and communicate caring ethics as a ground for qualitative caring environments. Research is needed on nursing attributes that are visible in nursing leadership since it may give bases for reflections related to the patterns of specific contexts. The aim of this study was to illuminate the meaning of crucial attributes in nursing leadership toward an ethical care of patients in psychiatric in-patient settings. The design of the study was descriptive and qualitative with a phenomenological hermeneutical approach. Participants and research context: The study comprised focus group interviews with nurses working in indoor psychiatric care who participated after giving informed consent. Ethical considerations: Since the topic and informants are not labeled as sensitive and subject to ethical approval, it is not covered by the ethics committee's aim and purpose according to Swedish law. However, careful procedures have been followed according to ethics expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki. When identifying the thematic structures, analysis resulted in three major themes: To supply, including the following aspects: to supply evidence, to supply common space, and to supply good structures; To support, including the following aspects: to be a role model, to show appreciation and care, and to harbor; To shield, including the following aspects: to advocate, to emit non-tolerance of unethical behavior, and to reprove. Leadership is challenging for nurses and plays an important role in ethical qualitative care. These findings should not be understood as a description about nurse manager's role, which probably has different attributes and more focus on an organizational level. Making the understanding about crucial attributes explicit, the nurse may receive confirmation and recognition of crucial attributes for ethical care in order to move toward an ethical care.

[Disease burden attributable to household air pollution in 1990 and 2013 in China].

PubMed

Yin, P; Cai, Y; Liu, J M; Liu, Y N; Qi, J L; Wang, L J; You, J L; Zhou, M G

2017-01-06

Objective: To assess the disease burden attributable to household air pollution in 1990 and 2013 in China. Methods: Based on data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 in China (GBD 2013), we used population attributable fractions (PAF) to analyze the burden of different diseases attributable to solid-fuel household pollution in 2013 in China(not inclnding HongKang, Macao, Taiwan). We compared PAF, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALY) for diseases attributable to solid-fuel household pollution in 31 provinces in mainland China in 1990 and 2013, and stratified the burden by age group. The estimated world average population during 2000- 2025 was used to calculate age-standardized mortality and DALY rates. Results: In 2013, 14.9% of lower respiratory infections in children <5, 32.5% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 12.0% of ischemic stroke, 14.2% of hemorrhagic stroke, 10.9% of ischemic heart disease, and 13.7% of lung cancer were attributable to solid-fuel household pollution. In addition, 807 000 deaths were attributable to solid-fuel household pollution, including 296 000 from COPD, 169 000 from hemorrhagic stroke, 152 000 from ischemic heart disease, 88 000 from ischemic stroke, 75 000 from lung cancer, and 28 000 from lower respiratory infections in children <5. The age-standardized mortality rate from solid-fuel household pollution decreased by 59.3% from 158.8/100 000 in 1990 to 64.6/100 000 in 2013. The age-standardized mortality rate from solid-fuel household pollution decreased in all 31 provinces, with the highest decline observed in Shanghai (96.3%), and lowest in Xinjiang (39.9%). In 2013, the age-standardized DALY rate from solid-fuel household pollution was highest in Guizhou (2 233.0/100 000) and lowest in Shanghai (27.0/100 000). The DALY rate was the highest for the >70 age group (7 006.0/100 000). Compared with 1990, the 2013 mortality rate and DALY rate from solid-fuel household pollution decreased in all age groups, with the highest decline observed in the <5 age group (91.9% and 91.8% , respectively). Conclusion: Although the disease burden attributable to household air pollution decreased notably between 1990 and 2013, household pollution caused a high number of deaths and DALY loss in certain western provinces.

5-D interpolation with wave-front attributes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Yujiang; Gajewski, Dirk

2017-11-01

Most 5-D interpolation and regularization techniques reconstruct the missing data in the frequency domain by using mathematical transforms. An alternative type of interpolation methods uses wave-front attributes, that is, quantities with a specific physical meaning like the angle of emergence and wave-front curvatures. In these attributes structural information of subsurface features like dip and strike of a reflector are included. These wave-front attributes work on 5-D data space (e.g. common-midpoint coordinates in x and y, offset, azimuth and time), leading to a 5-D interpolation technique. Since the process is based on stacking next to the interpolation a pre-stack data enhancement is achieved, improving the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of interpolated and recorded traces. The wave-front attributes are determined in a data-driven fashion, for example, with the Common Reflection Surface (CRS method). As one of the wave-front-attribute-based interpolation techniques, the 3-D partial CRS method was proposed to enhance the quality of 3-D pre-stack data with low S/N. In the past work on 3-D partial stacks, two potential problems were still unsolved. For high-quality wave-front attributes, we suggest a global optimization strategy instead of the so far used pragmatic search approach. In previous works, the interpolation of 3-D data was performed along a specific azimuth which is acceptable for narrow azimuth acquisition but does not exploit the potential of wide-, rich- or full-azimuth acquisitions. The conventional 3-D partial CRS method is improved in this work and we call it as a wave-front-attribute-based 5-D interpolation (5-D WABI) as the two problems mentioned above are addressed. Data examples demonstrate the improved performance by the 5-D WABI method when compared with the conventional 3-D partial CRS approach. A comparison of the rank-reduction-based 5-D seismic interpolation technique with the proposed 5-D WABI method is given. The comparison reveals that there are significant advantages for steep dipping events using the 5-D WABI method when compared to the rank-reduction-based 5-D interpolation technique. Diffraction tails substantially benefit from this improved performance of the partial CRS stacking approach while the CPU time is comparable to the CPU time consumed by the rank-reduction-based method.

The Role of School in the Upward Mobility of Disadvantaged Immigrants’ Children

PubMed Central

HAO, LINGXIN; PONG, SUET-LING

2014-01-01

How can we explain exceptional advancement by disadvantaged immigrants’ children? Extending segmented assimilation theory, this article traces the structural and relational attributes of high schools attended by young adults who reached their late twenties in 2000. Hypotheses are derived from theories in sociology of education and tested with four waves of data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS). The authors offer three major findings. First, an overwhelming majority of disadvantaged students attend public schools; some relational attributes are typical in public schools attended by disadvantaged students. Second, children’s upward mobility is shaped by the structural and relational attributes of their high schools. Most school effects are the same for disadvantaged and advantaged youngsters, and student-educator bonds and curriculum structure have even stronger positive effects for the disadvantaged. Finally, mobility patterns differ widely among Chinese, Mexicans, and whites. Mexicans are less likely to be exposed to favorable school attributes. PMID:25418989

Reduced Fat Food Emulsions: Physicochemical, Sensory, and Biological Aspects.

PubMed

Chung, Cheryl; Smith, Gordon; Degner, Brian; McClements, David Julian

2016-01-01

Fat plays multiple important roles in imparting desirable sensory attributes to emulsion-based food products, such as sauces, dressings, soups, beverages, and desserts. However, there is concern that over consumption of fats leads to increased incidences of chronic diseases, such as obesity, coronary heart disease, and diabetes. Consequently, there is a need to develop reduced fat products with desirable sensory profiles that match those of their full-fat counterparts. The successful design of high quality reduced-fat products requires an understanding of the many roles that fat plays in determining the sensory attributes of food emulsions, and of appropriate strategies to replace some or all of these attributes. This paper reviews our current understanding of the influence of fat on the physicochemical and physiological attributes of food emulsions, and highlights some of the main approaches that can be used to create high quality emulsion-based food products with reduced fat contents.

Evolutionary Influences on Attribution and Affect

PubMed Central

Brown, Jennie; Trafimow, David

2017-01-01

Evolutionary theory was applied to Reeder and Brewer's schematic theory and Trafimow's affect theory to extend this area of research with five new predictions involving affect and ability attributions, comparing morality and ability attributions, gender differences, and reaction times for affect and attribution ratings. The design included a 2 (Trait Dimension Type: HR, PR) × 2 (Behavior Type: morality, ability) × 2 (Valence: positive, negative) × 2 (Replication: original, replication) × 2 (Sex: female or male actor) × 2 (Gender: female or male participant) × 2 (Order: attribution portion first, affect portion first) mixed design. All factors were within participants except the order and participant gender. Participants were presented with 32 different scenarios in which an actor engaged in a concrete behavior after which they made attributions and rated their affect in response to the behavior. Reaction times were measured during attribution and affect ratings. In general, the findings from the experiment supported the new predictions. Affect was related to attributions for both morality and ability related behaviors. Morality related behaviors received more extreme attribution and affect ratings than ability related behaviors. Female actors received stronger attribution and affect ratings for diagnostic morality behaviors compared to male actors. Male and female actors received similar attribution and affect ratings for diagnostic ability behaviors. Diagnostic behaviors were associated with lower reaction times than non-diagnostic behaviors. These findings demonstrate the utility of evolutionary theory in creating new hypotheses and empirical findings in the domain of attribution. PMID:29312092

Evolutionary Influences on Attribution and Affect.

PubMed

Brown, Jennie; Trafimow, David

2017-01-01

Evolutionary theory was applied to Reeder and Brewer's schematic theory and Trafimow's affect theory to extend this area of research with five new predictions involving affect and ability attributions, comparing morality and ability attributions, gender differences, and reaction times for affect and attribution ratings. The design included a 2 (Trait Dimension Type: HR, PR) × 2 (Behavior Type: morality, ability) × 2 (Valence: positive, negative) × 2 (Replication: original, replication) × 2 (Sex: female or male actor) × 2 (Gender: female or male participant) × 2 (Order: attribution portion first, affect portion first) mixed design. All factors were within participants except the order and participant gender. Participants were presented with 32 different scenarios in which an actor engaged in a concrete behavior after which they made attributions and rated their affect in response to the behavior. Reaction times were measured during attribution and affect ratings. In general, the findings from the experiment supported the new predictions. Affect was related to attributions for both morality and ability related behaviors. Morality related behaviors received more extreme attribution and affect ratings than ability related behaviors. Female actors received stronger attribution and affect ratings for diagnostic morality behaviors compared to male actors. Male and female actors received similar attribution and affect ratings for diagnostic ability behaviors. Diagnostic behaviors were associated with lower reaction times than non-diagnostic behaviors. These findings demonstrate the utility of evolutionary theory in creating new hypotheses and empirical findings in the domain of attribution.

Social cost of heavy drinking and alcohol dependence in high-income countries.

PubMed

Mohapatra, Satya; Patra, Jayadeep; Popova, Svetlana; Duhig, Amy; Rehm, Jürgen

2010-06-01

A comprehensive review of cost drivers associated with alcohol abuse, heavy drinking, and alcohol dependence for high-income countries was conducted. The data from 14 identified cost studies were tabulated according to the potential direct and indirect cost drivers. The costs associated with alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, and heavy drinking were calculated. The weighted average of the total societal cost due to alcohol abuse as percent gross domestic product (GDP)--purchasing power parity (PPP)--was 1.58%. The cost due to heavy drinking and/or alcohol dependence as percent GDP (PPP) was estimated to be 0.96%. On average, the alcohol-attributable indirect cost due to loss of productivity is more than the alcohol-attributable direct cost. Most of the countries seem to incur 1% or more of their GDP (PPP) as alcohol-attributable costs, which is a high toll for a single factor and an enormous burden on public health. The majority of alcohol-attributable costs incurred as a consequence of heavy drinking and/or alcohol dependence. Effective prevention and treatment measures should be implemented to reduce these costs.

Using a multidimensional unfolding approach to assess multiple sclerosis patient preferences for disease-modifying therapy: a pilot study

PubMed Central

Sempere, Angel Perez; Vera-Lopez, Vanesa; Gimenez-Martinez, Juana; Ruiz-Beato, Elena; Cuervo, Jesús; Maurino, Jorge

2017-01-01

Purpose Multidimensional unfolding is a multivariate method to assess preferences using a small sample size, a geometric model locating individuals and alternatives as points in a joint space. The objective was to evaluate relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patient preferences toward key disease-modifying therapy (DMT) attributes using multidimensional unfolding. Patients and methods A cross-sectional pilot study in RRMS patients was conducted. Drug attributes included relapse prevention, disease progression prevention, side-effect risk and route and schedule of administration. Assessment of preferences was performed through a five-card game. Patients were asked to value attributes from 1 (most preferred) to 5 (least preferred). Results A total of 37 patients were included; the mean age was 38.6 years, and 78.4% were female. Disease progression prevention was the most important factor (51.4%), followed by relapse prevention (40.5%). The frequency of administration had the lowest preference rating for 56.8% of patients. Finally, 19.6% valued the side-effect risk attribute as having low/very low importance. Conclusion Patients’ perspective for DMT attributes may provide valuable information to facilitate shared decision-making. Efficacy attributes were the most important drug characteristics for RRMS patients. Multidimensional unfolding seems to be a feasible approach to assess preferences in multiple sclerosis patients. Further elicitation studies using multidimensional unfolding with other stated choice methods are necessary to confirm these findings. PMID:28615928

All Effects of Psychophysical Variables on Color Attributes: A Classification System

PubMed Central

Pridmore, Ralph W.; Melgosa, Manuel

2015-01-01

This paper reports the research and structuring of a classification system for the effects of psychophysical variables on the color attributes. A basic role of color science is to psychophysically specify color appearance. An early stage is to specify the effects of the psychophysical variables (as singles, pairs, etc) on the color attributes (as singles, pairs, etc), for example to model color appearance. Current data on effects are often scarce or conflicting. Few effects are well understood, and the practice of naming effects after their discoverer(s) is inadequate and can be confusing. The number and types of possible effects have never been systematically analyzed and categorized. We propose a simple and rigorous system of classification including nomenclature. The total range of effects is computed from the possible combinations of three psychophysical variables (luminance, dominant wavelength, purity) and six color attributes (lightness, brightness, hue, chroma, colorfulness, saturation) in all modes of appearance. Omitting those effects that are normally impossible to perceive at any one time (such as four- or five-dimensional colors), the total number perceivable is 161 types of effects for all modes of appearance. The type of effect is named after the psychophysical stimulus (or stimuli) and the relevant color attribute(s), e.g., Luminance-on-hue effect (traditionally known as Bezold-Brucke effect). Each type of effect may include slightly different effects with infinite variations depending on experimental parameters. PMID:25859845

Leader Development, Learning Agility, and the Army Profession

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-01

Profession campaign makes the case for a re-evaluation and assessment of the Army as a profession and the attributes of the Army Professional. Leadership ...campaign makes the case for a re-evaluation and assessment of the Army as a profession and the attributes of the Army Professional. Leadership ...as a profession and the attributes of the Army Professional. Leadership entails the repetitive exercise of discretionary judgments, all highly

Semantic attributes are encoded in human electrocorticographic signals during visual object recognition.

PubMed

Rupp, Kyle; Roos, Matthew; Milsap, Griffin; Caceres, Carlos; Ratto, Christopher; Chevillet, Mark; Crone, Nathan E; Wolmetz, Michael

2017-03-01

Non-invasive neuroimaging studies have shown that semantic category and attribute information are encoded in neural population activity. Electrocorticography (ECoG) offers several advantages over non-invasive approaches, but the degree to which semantic attribute information is encoded in ECoG responses is not known. We recorded ECoG while patients named objects from 12 semantic categories and then trained high-dimensional encoding models to map semantic attributes to spectral-temporal features of the task-related neural responses. Using these semantic attribute encoding models, untrained objects were decoded with accuracies comparable to whole-brain functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), and we observed that high-gamma activity (70-110Hz) at basal occipitotemporal electrodes was associated with specific semantic dimensions (manmade-animate, canonically large-small, and places-tools). Individual patient results were in close agreement with reports from other imaging modalities on the time course and functional organization of semantic processing along the ventral visual pathway during object recognition. The semantic attribute encoding model approach is critical for decoding objects absent from a training set, as well as for studying complex semantic encodings without artificially restricting stimuli to a small number of semantic categories. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Operation Everest II and the 1978 Habeler/Messner ascent of Everest without bottled O2: what might they have in common?

PubMed

Wagner, Peter D

2017-12-01

In 1978, Peter Habeler and Reinhold Messner climbed Everest without supplemental O 2 . Subsequently, Oelz et al. (Oelz O, Howald H, Di Prampero PE, Hoppeler H, Claassen H, Jenni R, Bühlmann A, Ferretti G, Brückner JC, Veicsteinas A, Gussoni M, Cerretelli P. J Appl Physiol (1985) 60: 1734-1742, 1986) assessed their cardiopulmonary function, finding no advantageous physiological attributes to explain their success, and leading West (West JB. High Life: A History of High-Altitude Physiology and Medicine. New York: Oxford University, 1998) to suggest that grit and determination were more important. In 1985, Charlie Houston, John Sutton, and Al Cymerman hosted a scientific project assessing a simulated ascent of Everest (OE II) at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine. Included were measurements of O 2 transport. In particular, mixed venous Po 2 was measured at/near maximal exercise, for calculating pulmonary O 2 -diffusing capacity. A serendipitous observation was made: while both V̇o 2max and mixed venous Po 2 fell with altitude (as expected), it was how they fell-in direct proportion-that was remarkable. It later became clear that this reflected diffusion limitation of O 2 transport from muscle microvessels to the mitochondria, and that this last step in O 2 transport plays a major role in limiting V̇o 2max . Thus, how Habeler and Messner made it up Everest without bottled O 2 and no special cardiopulmonary attributes might be explained if their muscle O 2 -diffusing capacity, which depends largely on muscle capillarity, was unusually high. Oelz et al. mention that muscle capillary density was substantially-40%-above normal, but did not suggest that this accounted for the climbers' success. Therefore, high muscle capillarity, enhancing diffusive unloading of O 2 , may have been a major enabling physiological attribute for Habeler and Messner and that OE II, by chance, played a key role in bringing this to light.

Identification, Attribution, and Quantification of Highly Heterogeneous Methane Sources Using a Mobile Stable Isotope Analyzer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crosson, E.; Rella, C.; Cunningham, K.

2012-04-01

Despite methane's importance as a potent greenhouse gas second only to carbon dioxide in the magnitude of its contribution to global warming, natural contributions to the overall methane budget are only poorly understood. A big contributor to this gap in knowledge is the highly spatially and temporally heterogeneous nature of most natural (and for that matter anthropogenic) methane sources. This high degree of heterogeneity, where the methane emission rates can vary over many orders of magnitude on a spatial scale of meters or even centimeters, and over a temporal scale of minutes or even seconds, means that traditional methods of emissions flux estimation, such as flux chambers or eddy-covariance, are difficult or impossible to apply. In this paper we present new measurement methods that are capable of detecting, attributing, and quantifying emissions from highly heterogeneous sources. These methods take full advantage of the new class of methane concentration and stable isotope analyzers that are capable of laboratory-quality analysis from a mobile field platform in real time. In this paper we present field measurements demonstrating the real-time detection of methane 'hot spots,' attribution of the methane to a source process via real-time stable isotope analysis, and quantification of the emissions flux using mobile concentration measurements of the horizontal and vertical atmospheric dispersion, combined with atmospheric transport calculations. Although these techniques are applicable to both anthropogenic and natural methane sources, in this initial work we focus primarily on landfills and fugitive emissions from natural gas distribution, as these sources are better characterized, and because they provide a more reliable and stable source of methane for quantifying the measurement uncertainty inherent in the different methods. Implications of these new technologies and techniques are explored for the quantification of natural methane sources in a variety of environments, including wetlands, peatlands, and the arctic.

Los Pactos entre Padres y Maestros (Teacher-Parent Partnerships). ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swick, Kevin J.

Research provides insight into parent attributes that support partnerships with teachers. These attributes include warmth, sensitivity, nurturance, the ability to listen, consistency, positive self-image, personal competence, and effective interpersonal skills. Researchers have cited positive attitudes, continuous teacher training, involvement in…

JiaoShi-JiaZhang De HeZuo (Teacher-Parent Partnerships). ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swick, Kevin J.

Research provides insight into parent attributes that support partnerships with teachers. These attributes include warmth, sensitivity, nurturance, the ability to listen, consistency, positive self-image, personal competence, and effective interpersonal skills. Researchers have cited positive attitudes, continuous teacher training, involvement in…

Giftedness and Aesthetics: Perspectives of Expert Mathematicians and Mathematically Gifted Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tjoe, Hartono

2015-01-01

Giftedness in mathematics has been characterized by exceptional attributes including strong mathematical memory, formalizing perception, generalization, curtailment, flexibility, and elegance. Focusing on the last attribute, this study examined the following: (a) the criteria which expert mathematicians and mathematically gifted students fleshed…

Infectious mononucleosis-like syndrome probably attributable to Coxsackie A virus infection.

PubMed

Cunha, Burke A; Mickail, Nardeen; Petelin, Andrew P

2012-01-01

Infectious mononucleosis (IM) is a clinical syndrome most often attributable to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Characteristic clinical features of EBV IM include bilateral upper lid edema, exudative or nonexudative pharyngitis, bilateral posterior cervical adenopathy, and splenomegaly ± maculopapular rash. Laboratory features of EBV IM include atypical lymphocytes and elevated levels of serum transaminases. Leukopenia and thrombocytopenia are not uncommon. The syndrome of IM may also be attributable to other infectious diseases, eg, cytomegalovirus (CMV), human herpes virus-6 (HHV-6), or Toxoplasma gondii. Less commonly, viral hepatitis, leptospirosis, brucellosis, or parvovirus B(19) may present as an IM-like infection. To the best of our knowledge, only 2 cases of IM-like infections attributable to Coxsackie B viruses (B(3) and B(4)) have been reported. We present the first reported case of an IM-like syndrome with sore throat, fatigue, atypical lymphocytes, and elevated levels of serum transaminases likely due to Coxsackie A in an immunocompetent adult. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Multi-Attribute Group Decision-Making Method Based on Interval Grey Trapezoid Fuzzy Linguistic Variables.

PubMed

Yin, Kedong; Wang, Pengyu; Li, Xuemei

2017-12-13

With respect to multi-attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) problems, where attribute values take the form of interval grey trapezoid fuzzy linguistic variables (IGTFLVs) and the weights (including expert and attribute weight) are unknown, improved grey relational MAGDM methods are proposed. First, the concept of IGTFLV, the operational rules, the distance between IGTFLVs, and the projection formula between the two IGTFLV vectors are defined. Second, the expert weights are determined by using the maximum proximity method based on the projection values between the IGTFLV vectors. The attribute weights are determined by the maximum deviation method and the priorities of alternatives are determined by improved grey relational analysis. Finally, an example is given to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method and the flexibility of IGTFLV.

Development of a Premium Quality Plasma-derived IVIg (IQYMUNE®) Utilizing the Principles of Quality by Design-A Worked-through Case Study.

PubMed

Paolantonacci, Philippe; Appourchaux, Philippe; Claudel, Béatrice; Ollivier, Monique; Dennett, Richard; Siret, Laurent

2018-01-01

Polyvalent human normal immunoglobulins for intravenous use (IVIg), indicated for rare and often severe diseases, are complex plasma-derived protein preparations. A quality by design approach has been used to develop the Laboratoire Français du Fractionnement et des Biotechnologies new-generation IVIg, targeting a high level of purity to generate an enhanced safety profile while maintaining a high level of efficacy. A modular approach of quality by design was implemented consisting of five consecutive steps to cover all the stages from the product design to the final product control strategy.A well-defined target product profile was translated into 27 product quality attributes that formed the basis of the process design. In parallel, a product risk analysis was conducted and identified 19 critical quality attributes among the product quality attributes. Process risk analysis was carried out to establish the links between process parameters and critical quality attributes. Twelve critical steps were identified, and for each of these steps a risk mitigation plan was established.Among the different process risk mitigation exercises, five process robustness studies were conducted at qualified small scale with a design of experiment approach. For each process step, critical process parameters were identified and, for each critical process parameter, proven acceptable ranges were established. The quality risk management and risk mitigation outputs, including verification of proven acceptable ranges, were used to design the process verification exercise at industrial scale.Finally, the control strategy was established using a mix, or hybrid, of the traditional approach plus elements of the quality by design enhanced approach, as illustrated, to more robustly assign material and process controls and in order to securely meet product specifications.The advantages of this quality by design approach were improved process knowledge for industrial design and process validation and a clear justification of the process and product specifications as a basis for control strategy and future comparability exercises. © PDA, Inc. 2018.

Performance Evaluation of an Automotive-Grade, High Speed Gate Driver for SiC FETs, Type UCC27531, Over a Wide Temperature Range

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boomer, Kristen; Hammoud, Ahmad

2015-01-01

Silicon carbide (SiC) devices are becoming widely used in electronic power circuits as replacement for conventional silicon parts due to their attractive properties that include low on-state resistance, high temperature tolerance, and high frequency operation. These attributes have a significant impact by reducing system weight, saving board space, and conserving power. In this work, the performance of an automotive-grade high speed gate driver with potential use in controlling SiC FETs (field-Effect Transistors) in converters or motor control applications was evaluated under extreme temperatures and thermal cycling. The investigations were carried out to assess performance and to determine suitability of this device for use in space exploration missions under extreme temperature conditions.

Ultrathin Polyaniline-based Buffer Layer for Highly Efficient Polymer Solar Cells with Wide Applicability

PubMed Central

Zhao, Wenchao; Ye, Long; Zhang, Shaoqing; Fan, Bin; Sun, Mingliang; Hou, Jianhui

2014-01-01

Interfacial buffer layers often attribute the improved device performance in organic optoelectronic device. Herein, a water-soluble hydrochloric acid doped polyanilines (HAPAN) were utilized as p-type electrode buffer layer in highly efficient polymer solar cells (PSC) based on PBDTTT-EFT and several representative polymers. The PBDTTT-EFT-based conventional PSC featuring ultrathin HAPAN (1.3 nm) delivered high PCE approximately 9%, which is one of the highest values among conventional PSC devices. Moreover, ultrathin HAPAN also exhibited wide applicability in a variety of efficient photovoltaic polymers including PBDTTT-C-T, PTB7, PBDTBDD, PBTTDPP-T, PDPP3T and P3HT. The excellent performances were originated from the high transparency, small film roughness and suitable work function. PMID:25300365

Persuading girls to take elective physical science courses in high school: Who are the credible communicators?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koballa, Thomas R., Jr.

Eighth-grade girls (N=257) randomly selected from nine different public junior high schools in central Texas were questioned in order to identify the communicators whom they perceive as highly credible regarding reasons for taking elective physical science courses in high school and the attributes associated with these communicators. Four persons were each identified by better than 10 percent of the sample as the best person to try to convince junior high school girls to take elective physical science courses in high school. In order of perceived credibility, these persons are father, woman science teacher, mother, and boy high school student. Slight variations in the order of perceived credibility were found when the responses from girls of the different ethnic groups represented in the sample (Caucasian, Hispanic, Black, and Asian) were examined separately. Attributes listed by the respondents for father, woman science teacher, mother, and boy high school student were examined and classified into the categories of prestige, trustworthiness, similarity, attractiveness, and power. Prestige and trustworthiness are the attributes associates most frequently with communicators identified as highly credible. Implications of the present study and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Understanding the Reading Attributes and Their Cognitive Relationships on a High-Stakes Biology Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rawlusyk, Kevin James

Test items used to assess learners' knowledge on high-stakes science examinations contain contextualized questions that unintentionally assess reading skill along with conceptual knowledge. Therefore, students who are not proficient readers are unable to comprehend the text within the test item to demonstrate effectively their level of science knowledge. The purpose of this quantitative study was to understand what reading attributes were required to successfully answer the Biology 30 Diploma Exam. Furthermore, the research sought to understand the cognitive relationships among the reading attributes through quantitative analysis structured by the Attribute Hierarchy Model (AHM). The research consisted of two phases: (1) Cognitive development, where the cognitive attributes of the Biology 30 Exam were specified and hierarchy structures were developed; and (2) Psychometric analysis, that statistically tested the attribute hierarchy using the Hierarchy Consistency Index (HCI), and calculate attribute probabilities. Phase one of the research used January 2011, Biology 30 Diploma Exam, while phase two accessed archival data for the 9985 examinees who took the assessment on January 24th, 2011. Phase one identified ten specific reading attributes, of which five were identified as unique subsets of vocabulary, two were identified as reading visual representations, and three corresponded to general reading skills. Four hierarchical cognitive model were proposed then analyzed using the HCI as a mechanism to explain the relationship among the attributes. Model A had the highest HCI value (0.337), indicating an overall poor data fit, yet for the top achieving examinees the model had an excellent model fit with an HCI value of 0.888, and for examinees that scored over 60% there was a moderate model fit (HCI = 0.592). Linear regressions of the attribute probability estimates suggest that there is a cognitive relationship among six of the ten reading attributes (R2 = 0.958 and 0.922). The results conclude that the Biology 30 Diploma Exam requires examinee to understand specific reading attributes to answer test items successfully. Knowing the specific reading attributes associated with the Biology 30 Diploma Exam allows for teachers and test developers to better assess learners and to be aware that there are other cognitive processes that influence test results other than the examinees science knowledge.

Developing critical consciousness or justifying the system? A qualitative analysis of attributions for poverty and wealth among low-income racial/ethnic minority and immigrant women

PubMed Central

Godfrey, Erin B.; Wolf, Sharon

2015-01-01

Objectives Economic inequality is a growing concern in the United States and globally. The current study uses qualitative techniques to (1) explore the attributions low-income racial/ethnic minority and immigrant women make for poverty and wealth in the U.S., and (2) clarify important links between attributions, critical consciousness development and system justification theory. Methods In-depth interview transcripts from 19 low-income immigrant Dominican and Mexican and native African-American mothers in a large Northeastern city were analyzed using open coding techniques. Interview topics included perceptions of current economic inequality and mobility and experiences of daily economic hardships. Results Almost all respondents attributed economic inequality to individual factors (character flaws, lack of hard work). Structural explanations for poverty and wealth were expressed by less than half the sample and almost always paired with individual explanations. Moreover, individual attributions included system-justifying beliefs such as the belief in meritocracy and equality of opportunity and structural attributions represented varying levels of critical consciousness. Conclusions Our analysis sheds new light on how and why individuals simultaneously hold individual and structural attributions and highlights key links between system justification and critical consciousness. It shows that critical consciousness and system justification do not represent opposite stances along a single underlying continuum, but are distinct belief systems and motivations. It also suggests that the motive to justify the system is a key psychological process impeding the development of critical consciousness. Implications for scholarship and intervention are discussed. PMID:25915116

Developing critical consciousness or justifying the system? A qualitative analysis of attributions for poverty and wealth among low-income racial/ethnic minority and immigrant women.

PubMed

Godfrey, Erin B; Wolf, Sharon

2016-01-01

Economic inequality is a growing concern in the United States and globally. The current study uses qualitative techniques to (a) explore the attributions low-income racial/ethnic minority and immigrant women make for poverty and wealth in the U.S., and (b) clarify important links between attributions, critical consciousness development, and system justification theory. In-depth interview transcripts from 19 low-income immigrant Dominican and Mexican and native African American mothers in a large Northeastern city were analyzed using open coding techniques. Interview topics included perceptions of current economic inequality and mobility and experiences of daily economic hardships. Almost all respondents attributed economic inequality to individual factors (character flaws, lack of hard work). Structural explanations for poverty and wealth were expressed by fewer than half the sample and almost always paired with individual explanations. Moreover, individual attributions included system-justifying beliefs such as the belief in meritocracy and equality of opportunity and structural attributions represented varying levels of critical consciousness. Our analysis sheds new light on how and why individuals simultaneously hold individual and structural attributions and highlights key links between system justification and critical consciousness. It shows that critical consciousness and system justification do not represent opposite stances along a single underlying continuum, but are distinct belief systems and motivations. It also suggests that the motive to justify the system is a key psychological process impeding the development of critical consciousness. Implications for scholarship and intervention are discussed. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A Fine-Grained API Link Prediction Approach Supporting CMDA Mashup Recommendation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, J.; Bao, Q.; Lee, T. J.; Ramachandran, R.; Lee, S.; Pan, L.; Gatlin, P. N.; Maskey, M.

2017-12-01

Service (API) discovery and recommendation is key to the wide spread of service oriented architecture and service oriented software engineering. Service recommendation typically relies on service linkage prediction calculated by the semantic distances (or similarities) among services based on their collection of inherent attributes. Given a specific context (mashup goal), however, different attributes may contribute differently to a service linkage. In this work, instead of training a model for all attributes as a whole, a novel approach is presented to simultaneously train separate models for individual attributes. Our contributions are summarized in three-fold. First is that we have developed a scalable attribute-level data model, featuring scalability and extensibility. We have extended Multiplicative Attribute Graph (MAG) model to represent node profiles featuring rich categorical attributes, while relaxing its constraint of requiring a priori knowledge of predefined attributes. LDA is leveraged to dynamically identify attributes based on attribute modeling, and multiple Gaussian fit is applied to find global optimal values. The second contribution is that we have seamlessly integrated the latent relationships between API attributes as well as observed network structure based on historical API usage data. Such a layered information model enables us to predict the probability of a link between two APIs based on their attribute link affinities carrying a variety of information including meta data, semantic data, historical usage data, as well as crowdsourcing user comments and annotations. The third contribution is that we have developed a finegrained context-aware mashup-API recommendation technique. On top of individual models trained for separate attributes, a dedicated layer is trained to represent the latent attribute distribution regarding mashup purpose, i.e., sensitivity of attributes to context. Thus, given the description of an intended mashup, the attributes sensitive to the goal will be identified, and corresponding attribute models will be exploited to compute the possibility of API linkages under the context. Such a layered model increases search accuracy.

GraQL: A Query Language for High-Performance Attributed Graph Databases

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

Chavarría-Miranda, Daniel; Castellana, Vito G.; Morari, Alessandro

Graph databases have gained increasing interest in the last few years due to the emergence of data sources which are not easily analyzable in traditional relational models or for which a graph data model is the natural representation. In order to understand the design and implementation choices for an attributed graph database backend and query language, we have started to design our infrastructure for attributed graph databases. In this paper, we describe the design considerations of our in-memory attributed graph database system with a particular focus on the data definition and query language components.

Social cognition in Intermittent Explosive Disorder and aggression

PubMed Central

Coccaro, Emil F.; Fanning, Jennifer R.; Keedy, Sarah K.; Lee, Royce J.

2017-01-01

Social-emotional information processing (SEIP) was assessed in individuals with current DSM-5 Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED: n = 100) and in healthy (n = 100) and psychiatric (n = 100) controls using a recently developed and validated self-rated questionnaire. SEIP vignettes depicted both direct aggressive and relationally aggressive scenarios of a socially ambiguous nature and were followed by questions assessing subjects' reactions and judgments about the vignettes. IED subjects differed from both healthy and psychiatric controls in all SEIP components. While hostile attribution was highly related to history of aggression, it was also directly correlated with negative emotional response. Further analysis revealed that this component, as well as response valuation and response efficiency, rather than hostile attribution, best explained history of aggressive behavior. A reformulated SEIP model, including self-reported history of childhood trauma, found that negative emotional response and response efficiency were the critical correlates for history of aggressive behavior. Psychosocial interventions of aggressive behavior in IED subjects may do well to include elements that work to reduce the emotional response to social threat and that work to restructure social cognition so that the tendency towards overt, or relationally, aggressive responding is reduced. PMID:27621104

Social cognition in Intermittent Explosive Disorder and aggression.

PubMed

Coccaro, Emil F; Fanning, Jennifer R; Keedy, Sarah K; Lee, Royce J

2016-12-01

Social-emotional information processing (SEIP) was assessed in individuals with current DSM-5 Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED: n = 100) and in healthy (n = 100) and psychiatric (n = 100) controls using a recently developed and validated self-rated questionnaire. SEIP vignettes depicted both direct aggressive and relationally aggressive scenarios of a socially ambiguous nature and were followed by questions assessing subjects' reactions and judgments about the vignettes. IED subjects differed from both healthy and psychiatric controls in all SEIP components. While hostile attribution was highly related to history of aggression, it was also directly correlated with negative emotional response. Further analysis revealed that this component, as well as response valuation and response efficiency, rather than hostile attribution, best explained history of aggressive behavior. A reformulated SEIP model, including self-reported history of childhood trauma, found that negative emotional response and response efficiency were the critical correlates for history of aggressive behavior. Psychosocial interventions of aggressive behavior in IED subjects may do well to include elements that work to reduce the emotional response to social threat and that work to restructure social cognition so that the tendency towards overt, or relationally, aggressive responding is reduced. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Population-attributable fraction of tubal factor infertility associated with chlamydia.

PubMed

Gorwitz, Rachel J; Wiesenfeld, Harold C; Chen, Pai-Lien; Hammond, Karen R; Sereday, Karen A; Haggerty, Catherine L; Johnson, Robert E; Papp, John R; Kissin, Dmitry M; Henning, Tara C; Hook, Edward W; Steinkampf, Michael P; Markowitz, Lauri E; Geisler, William M

2017-09-01

Chlamydia trachomatis infection is highly prevalent among young women in the United States. Prevention of long-term sequelae of infection, including tubal factor infertility, is a primary goal of chlamydia screening and treatment activities. However, the population-attributable fraction of tubal factor infertility associated with chlamydia is unclear, and optimal measures for assessing tubal factor infertility and prior chlamydia in epidemiological studies have not been established. Black women have increased rates of chlamydia and tubal factor infertility compared with White women but have been underrepresented in prior studies of the association of chlamydia and tubal factor infertility. The objectives of the study were to estimate the population-attributable fraction of tubal factor infertility associated with Chlamydia trachomatis infection by race (Black, non-Black) and assess how different definitions of Chlamydia trachomatis seropositivity and tubal factor infertility affect population-attributable fraction estimates. We conducted a case-control study, enrolling infertile women attending infertility practices in Birmingham, AL, and Pittsburgh, PA, during October 2012 through June 2015. Tubal factor infertility case status was primarily defined by unilateral or bilateral fallopian tube occlusion (cases) or bilateral fallopian tube patency (controls) on hysterosalpingogram. Alternate tubal factor infertility definitions incorporated history suggestive of tubal damage or were based on laparoscopic evidence of tubal damage. We aimed to enroll all eligible women, with an expected ratio of 1 and 3 controls per case for Black and non-Black women, respectively. We assessed Chlamydia trachomatis seropositivity with a commercial assay and a more sensitive research assay; our primary measure of seropositivity was defined as positivity on either assay. We estimated Chlamydia trachomatis seropositivity and calculated Chlamydia trachomatis-tubal factor infertility odds ratios and population-attributable fraction, stratified by race. We enrolled 107 Black women (47 cases, 60 controls) and 620 non-Black women (140 cases, 480 controls). Chlamydia trachomatis seropositivity by either assay was 81% (95% confidence interval, 73-89%) among Black and 31% (95% confidence interval, 28-35%) among non-Black participants (P < .001). Using the primary Chlamydia trachomatis seropositivity and tubal factor infertility definitions, no significant association was detected between chlamydia and tubal factor infertility among Blacks (odds ratio, 1.22, 95% confidence interval, 0.45-3.28) or non-Blacks (odds ratio, 1.41, 95% confidence interval, 0.95-2.09), and the estimated population-attributable fraction was 15% (95% confidence interval, -97% to 68%) among Blacks and 11% (95% confidence interval, -3% to 23%) among non-Blacks. Use of alternate serological measures and tubal factor infertility definitions had an impact on the magnitude of the chlamydia-tubal factor infertility association and resulted in a significant association among non-Blacks. Low population-attributable fraction estimates suggest factors in addition to chlamydia contribute to tubal factor infertility in the study population. However, high background Chlamydia trachomatis seropositivity among controls, most striking among Black participants, could have obscured an association with tubal factor infertility and resulted in a population-attributable fraction that underestimates the true etiological role of chlamydia. Choice of chlamydia and tubal factor infertility definitions also has an impact on the odds ratio and population-attributable fraction estimates. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Strengthening the weak link: Built Environment modelling for loss analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Millinship, I.

2012-04-01

Methods to analyse insured losses from a range of natural perils, including pricing by primary insurers and catastrophe modelling by reinsurers, typically lack sufficient exposure information. Understanding the hazard intensity in terms of spatial severity and frequency is only the first step towards quantifying the risk of a catastrophic event. For any given event we need to know: Are any structures affected? What type of buildings are they? How much damaged occurred? How much will the repairs cost? To achieve this, detailed exposure information is required to assess the likely damage and to effectively calculate the resultant loss. Modelling exposures in the Built Environment therefore plays as important a role in understanding re/insurance risk as characterising the physical hazard. Across both primary insurance books and aggregated reinsurance portfolios, the location of a property (a risk) and its monetary value is typically known. Exactly what that risk is in terms of detailed property descriptors including structure type and rebuild cost - and therefore its vulnerability to loss - is often omitted. This data deficiency is a primary source of variations between modelled losses and the actual claims value. Built Environment models are therefore required at a high resolution to describe building attributes that relate vulnerability to property damage. However, national-scale household-level datasets are often not computationally practical in catastrophe models and data must be aggregated. In order to provide more accurate risk analysis, we have developed and applied a methodology for Built Environment modelling for incorporation into a range of re/insurance applications, including operational models for different international regions and different perils and covering residential, commercial and industry exposures. Illustrated examples are presented, including exposure modelling suitable for aggregated reinsurance analysis for the UK and bespoke high resolution modelling for industrial sites in Germany. A range of attributes are included following detailed claims analysis and engineering research with property type, age and condition identified as important differentiators of damage from flood, wind and freeze events.

Vehicle detection from very-high-resolution (VHR) aerial imagery using attribute belief propagation (ABP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yanli; Li, Ying; Zhang, Li; Huang, Yuchun

2016-10-01

With the popularity of very-high-resolution (VHR) aerial imagery, the shape, color, and context attribute of vehicles are better characterized. Due to the various road surroundings and imaging conditions, vehicle attributes could be adversely affected so that vehicle is mistakenly detected or missed. This paper is motivated to robustly extract the rich attribute feature for detecting the vehicles of VHR imagery under different scenarios. Based on the hierarchical component tree of vehicle context, attribute belief propagation (ABP) is proposed to detect salient vehicles from the statistical perspective. With the Max-tree data structure, the multi-level component tree around the road network is efficiently created. The spatial relationship between vehicle and its belonging context is established with the belief definition of vehicle attribute. To effectively correct single-level belief error, the inter-level belief linkages enforce consistency of belief assignment between corresponding components at different levels. ABP starts from an initial set of vehicle belief calculated by vehicle attribute, and then iterates through each component by applying inter-level belief passing until convergence. The optimal value of vehicle belief of each component is obtained via minimizing its belief function iteratively. The proposed algorithm is tested on a diverse set of VHR imagery acquired in the city and inter-city areas of the West and South China. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can detect vehicle efficiently and suppress the erroneous effectively. The proposed ABP framework is promising to robustly classify the vehicles from VHR Aerial imagery.

Development of processing techniques for advanced thermal protection materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Selvaduray, Guna S.

1995-01-01

The main purpose of this work has been in the development and characterization of materials for high temperature applications. Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) are constantly being tested, and evaluated for increased thermal shock resistance, high temperature dimensional stability, and tolerance to environmental effects. Materials development was carried out through the use of many different instruments and methods, ranging from extensive elemental analysis to physical attributes testing. The six main focus areas include: (1) protective coatings for carbon/carbon composites; (2) TPS material characterization; (3) improved waterproofing for TPS; (4) modified ceramic insulation for bone implants; (5) improved durability ceramic insulation blankets; and (6) ultra-high temperature ceramics. This report describes the progress made in these research areas during this contract period.

Parenting Attributions and Attitudes in Cross-Cultural Perspective.

PubMed

Bornstein, Marc H; Putnick, Diane L; Lansford, Jennifer E

2011-07-01

OBJECTIVE: This article used the Parenting Across Cultures Project to evaluate similarities and differences in mean levels and relative agreement between mothers' and fathers' attributions and attitudes in parenting in 9 countries. DESIGN: Mothers and fathers reported their perceptions of causes of successes and failures in caregiving and their progressive versus authoritarian childrearing attitudes. Gender and cultural similarities and differences in parents' attributions and attitudes in 9 countries were analyzed: China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, or the United States. RESULTS: Although mothers and fathers did not differ in any attribution, mothers reported more progressive parenting attitudes and modernity of childrearing attitudes than did fathers, and fathers reported more authoritarian attitudes than did mothers. Country differences also emerged in all attributions and attitudes that were examined. Mothers' and fathers' attributions and their attitudes were moderately correlated, but parenting attitudes were more highly correlated in parents than were attributions. CONCLUSIONS: We draw connections among the findings across the 9 countries and outline implications for understanding similarities and differences in mothers' and fathers' parenting attributions and attitudes.

Parenting Attributions and Attitudes in Cross-Cultural Perspective

PubMed Central

Bornstein, Marc H.; Putnick, Diane L.; Lansford, Jennifer E.

2011-01-01

SYNOPSIS Objective This article used the Parenting Across Cultures Project to evaluate similarities and differences in mean levels and relative agreement between mothers’ and fathers’ attributions and attitudes in parenting in 9 countries. Design Mothers and fathers reported their perceptions of causes of successes and failures in caregiving and their progressive versus authoritarian childrearing attitudes. Gender and cultural similarities and differences in parents’ attributions and attitudes in 9 countries were analyzed: China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, or the United States. Results Although mothers and fathers did not differ in any attribution, mothers reported more progressive parenting attitudes and modernity of childrearing attitudes than did fathers, and fathers reported more authoritarian attitudes than did mothers. Country differences also emerged in all attributions and attitudes that were examined. Mothers’ and fathers’ attributions and their attitudes were moderately correlated, but parenting attitudes were more highly correlated in parents than were attributions. Conclusions We draw connections among the findings across the 9 countries and outline implications for understanding similarities and differences in mothers’ and fathers’ parenting attributions and attitudes. PMID:21927591

Development of algorithms for building inventory compilation through remote sensing and statistical inferencing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarabandi, Pooya

Building inventories are one of the core components of disaster vulnerability and loss estimations models, and as such, play a key role in providing decision support for risk assessment, disaster management and emergency response efforts. In may parts of the world inclusive building inventories, suitable for the use in catastrophe models cannot be found. Furthermore, there are serious shortcomings in the existing building inventories that include incomplete or out-dated information on critical attributes as well as missing or erroneous values for attributes. In this dissertation a set of methodologies for updating spatial and geometric information of buildings from single and multiple high-resolution optical satellite images are presented. Basic concepts, terminologies and fundamentals of 3-D terrain modeling from satellite images are first introduced. Different sensor projection models are then presented and sources of optical noise such as lens distortions are discussed. An algorithm for extracting height and creating 3-D building models from a single high-resolution satellite image is formulated. The proposed algorithm is a semi-automated supervised method capable of extracting attributes such as longitude, latitude, height, square footage, perimeter, irregularity index and etc. The associated errors due to the interactive nature of the algorithm are quantified and solutions for minimizing the human-induced errors are proposed. The height extraction algorithm is validated against independent survey data and results are presented. The validation results show that an average height modeling accuracy of 1.5% can be achieved using this algorithm. Furthermore, concept of cross-sensor data fusion for the purpose of 3-D scene reconstruction using quasi-stereo images is developed in this dissertation. The developed algorithm utilizes two or more single satellite images acquired from different sensors and provides the means to construct 3-D building models in a more economical way. A terrain-dependent-search algorithm is formulated to facilitate the search for correspondences in a quasi-stereo pair of images. The calculated heights for sample buildings using cross-sensor data fusion algorithm show an average coefficient of variation 1.03%. In order to infer structural-type and occupancy-type, i.e. engineering attributes, of buildings from spatial and geometric attributes of 3-D models, a statistical data analysis framework is formulated. Applications of "Classification Trees" and "Multinomial Logistic Models" in modeling the marginal probabilities of class-membership of engineering attributes are investigated. Adaptive statistical models to incorporate different spatial and geometric attributes of buildings---while inferring the engineering attributes---are developed in this dissertation. The inferred engineering attributes in conjunction with the spatial and geometric attributes derived from the imagery can be used to augment regional building inventories and therefore enhance the result of catastrophe models. In the last part of the dissertation, a set of empirically-derived motion-damage relationships based on the correlation of observed building performance with measured ground-motion parameters from 1994 Northridge and 1999 Chi-Chi Taiwan earthquakes are developed. Fragility functions in the form of cumulative lognormal distributions and damage probability matrices for several classes of buildings (wood, steel and concrete), as well as number of ground-motion intensity measures are developed and compared to currently-used motion-damage relationships.

Spatial variation and linkages of soil and vegetation in the Siberian Arctic tundra - coupling field observations with remote sensing data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mikola, Juha; Virtanen, Tarmo; Linkosalmi, Maiju; Vähä, Emmi; Nyman, Johanna; Postanogova, Olga; Räsänen, Aleksi; Kotze, D. Johan; Laurila, Tuomas; Juutinen, Sari; Kondratyev, Vladimir; Aurela, Mika

2018-05-01

Arctic tundra ecosystems will play a key role in future climate change due to intensifying permafrost thawing, plant growth and ecosystem carbon exchange, but monitoring these changes may be challenging due to the heterogeneity of Arctic landscapes. We examined spatial variation and linkages of soil and plant attributes in a site of Siberian Arctic tundra in Tiksi, northeast Russia, and evaluated possibilities to capture this variation by remote sensing for the benefit of carbon exchange measurements and landscape extrapolation. We distinguished nine land cover types (LCTs) and to characterize them, sampled 92 study plots for plant and soil attributes in 2014. Moreover, to test if variation in plant and soil attributes can be detected using remote sensing, we produced a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and topographical parameters for each study plot using three very high spatial resolution multispectral satellite images. We found that soils ranged from mineral soils in bare soil and lichen tundra LCTs to soils of high percentage of organic matter (OM) in graminoid tundra, bog, dry fen and wet fen. OM content of the top soil was on average 14 g dm-3 in bare soil and lichen tundra and 89 g dm-3 in other LCTs. Total moss biomass varied from 0 to 820 g m-2, total vascular shoot mass from 7 to 112 g m-2 and vascular leaf area index (LAI) from 0.04 to 0.95 among LCTs. In late summer, soil temperatures at 15 cm depth were on average 14 °C in bare soil and lichen tundra, and varied from 5 to 9 °C in other LCTs. On average, depth of the biologically active, unfrozen soil layer doubled from early July to mid-August. When contrasted across study plots, moss biomass was positively associated with soil OM % and OM content and negatively associated with soil temperature, explaining 14-34 % of variation. Vascular shoot mass and LAI were also positively associated with soil OM content, and LAI with active layer depth, but only explained 6-15 % of variation. NDVI captured variation in vascular LAI better than in moss biomass, but while this difference was significant with late season NDVI, it was minimal with early season NDVI. For this reason, soil attributes associated with moss mass were better captured by early season NDVI. Topographic attributes were related to LAI and many soil attributes, but not to moss biomass and could not increase the amount of spatial variation explained in plant and soil attributes above that achieved by NDVI. The LCT map we produced had low to moderate uncertainty in predictions for plant and soil properties except for moss biomass and bare soil and lichen tundra LCTs. Our results illustrate a typical tundra ecosystem with great fine-scale spatial variation in both plant and soil attributes. Mosses dominate plant biomass and control many soil attributes, including OM % and temperature, but variation in moss biomass is difficult to capture by remote sensing reflectance, topography or a LCT map. Despite the general accuracy of landscape level predictions in our LCT approach, this indicates challenges in the spatial extrapolation of some of those vegetation and soil attributes that are relevant for the regional ecosystem and global climate models.

Agriculture Canada Central Saskatchewan Vector Soils Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knapp, David; Hall, Forrest G. (Editor); Rostad, Harold

2000-01-01

This data set consists of GIS layers that describe the soils of the BOREAS SSA. These original data layers were submitted as vector data in ARC/INFO EXPORT format. These data also include the soil name and soil layer files, which provide additional information about the soils. There are three sets of attributes that include information on the primary, secondary, and tertiary soil type within each polygon. Thus, there is a total of nine main attributes in this data set.

The attribution of primary and secondary emotions to the in-group and to the out-group: the case of equal status countries.

PubMed

Rohmann, Anette; Niedenthal, Paula M; Brauer, Markus; Castano, Emanuele; Leyens, Jacques-Philippe

2009-12-01

We examined the attribution of primary and secondary emotions in the context of equal status groups with a non-conflictual relationship, that is, Germans and French. In Study 1 (N = 169), we found that in such an intergroup context, there was no differential attribution of secondary emotions but an over-attribution of primary emotions to the out-group. Only high identifiers tended to attribute more secondary emotions to the in-group than to the out-group. In Study 2 (N = 423), the role of the identification with the in-group and a superordinate group (Europe) in the process of infrahumanization was examined. Participants' national versus European identification was primed. The results did not differ between these two conditions. As in Study 1, an over-attribution of primary emotions to the out-group was observed. Concerning the secondary emotions, the classical infrahumanization effect occurred, that is, an over-attribution of secondary emotions to the in-group.

The Upside of Being Socially Anxious: Psychopathic Attributes and Social Anxiety are Negatively Associated

PubMed Central

Hofmann, Stefan G.; Korte, Kristina J.; Suvak, Michael K.

2009-01-01

Psychopathy is characterized by a lack of concern for other people and social norms. In contrast, individuals with high social anxiety are overly concerned about the approval of others and violating social norms. Therefore, we hypothesized that social anxiety is negatively associated with psychopathic attributes, with males being more psychopathic than females. In order to test this hypothesis, we administered self-report measures of social anxiety, psychopathic attributes, and academic misconduct as an index of adherence to social norms to a sample of 349 undergraduate college students (244 females and 105 males). Males had more psychopathic attributes than females. Social anxiety and psychopathic attributes showed a weak but significant negative correlation in the total sample and also in the subgroup of males and females. Psychopathic attributes were further positively associated with academic misconduct behaviors among females, but not among males. These findings are consistent with the notion that social anxiety and psychopathic attributes are negatively associated. PMID:19777142

Controlled porosity in electrodes

DOEpatents

Chiang, Yet-Ming; Bae, Chang-Jun; Halloran, John William; Fu, Qiang; Tomsia, Antoni P.; Erdonmez, Can K.

2015-06-23

Porous electrodes in which the porosity has a low tortuosity are generally provided. In some embodiments, the porous electrodes can be designed to be filled with electrolyte and used in batteries, and can include low tortuosity in the primary direction of ion transport during charge and discharge of the battery. In some embodiments, the electrodes can have a high volume fraction of electrode active material (i.e., low porosity). The attributes outlined above can allow the electrodes to be fabricated with a higher energy density, higher capacity per unit area of electrode (mAh/cm.sup.2), and greater thickness than comparable electrodes while still providing high utilization of the active material in the battery during use. Accordingly, the electrodes can be used to produce batteries with high energy densities, high power, or both compared to batteries using electrodes of conventional design with relatively highly tortuous pores.

Hollow Nanostructured Anode Materials for Li-Ion Batteries

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Hollow nanostructured anode materials lie at the heart of research relating to Li-ion batteries, which require high capacity, high rate capability, and high safety. The higher capacity and higher rate capability for hollow nanostructured anode materials than that for the bulk counterparts can be attributed to their higher surface area, shorter path length for Li+ transport, and more freedom for volume change, which can reduce the overpotential and allow better reaction kinetics at the electrode surface. In this article, we review recent research activities on hollow nanostructured anode materials for Li-ion batteries, including carbon materials, metals, metal oxides, and their hybrid materials. The major goal of this review is to highlight some recent progresses in using these hollow nanomaterials as anode materials to develop Li-ion batteries with high capacity, high rate capability, and excellent cycling stability. PMID:21076674

47 CFR 54.301 - Local switching support.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... requirement by summing the components listed in this paragraph. (1) Return on Investment attributable to COE... investment by the authorized interstate rate of return. Projected unseparated local switching net investment... paragraph (c) of this section: [Return on Investment attributable to COE Category 3—Included in Account 7300...

Perceptual-Motor Attributes of Mentally Retarded Youth.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cratty, Bryant J.

To evaluate six perceptual-motor attributes of trainable and educable mentally retarded children, a battery of tests was constructed which included body perception, gross agility, balance, locomotor ability, throwing, and tracking; 83 retarded subjects provided reliability data, and their scores, with those of 120 additional subjects, provided…

Early Representations of Ownership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blake, Peter R.; Harris, Paul L.

2011-01-01

To navigate a world filled with private property, children must be able to assign ownership information to objects and update that information when appropriate. In this chapter, the authors propose that children include ownership as an attribute of their object representations. Children can learn about ownership attributes either by witnessing…

Career and Technical Education Secondary Female Teachers: Leadership Attributes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Tedra H.; Smith, Bettye P.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the leadership attributes, professional characteristics, and personal characteristics of secondary female teachers in career and technical education program areas of agriculture, business, family and consumer sciences, healthcare science, marketing, and technology. This study included 179 female secondary…

A keyword searchable attribute-based encryption scheme with attribute update for cloud storage.

PubMed

Wang, Shangping; Ye, Jian; Zhang, Yaling

2018-01-01

Ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) scheme is a new type of data encryption primitive, which is very suitable for data cloud storage for its fine-grained access control. Keyword-based searchable encryption scheme enables users to quickly find interesting data stored in the cloud server without revealing any information of the searched keywords. In this work, we provide a keyword searchable attribute-based encryption scheme with attribute update for cloud storage, which is a combination of attribute-based encryption scheme and keyword searchable encryption scheme. The new scheme supports the user's attribute update, especially in our new scheme when a user's attribute need to be updated, only the user's secret key related with the attribute need to be updated, while other user's secret key and the ciphertexts related with this attribute need not to be updated with the help of the cloud server. In addition, we outsource the operation with high computation cost to cloud server to reduce the user's computational burden. Moreover, our scheme is proven to be semantic security against chosen ciphertext-policy and chosen plaintext attack in the general bilinear group model. And our scheme is also proven to be semantic security against chosen keyword attack under bilinear Diffie-Hellman (BDH) assumption.

A keyword searchable attribute-based encryption scheme with attribute update for cloud storage

PubMed Central

Wang, Shangping; Zhang, Yaling

2018-01-01

Ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) scheme is a new type of data encryption primitive, which is very suitable for data cloud storage for its fine-grained access control. Keyword-based searchable encryption scheme enables users to quickly find interesting data stored in the cloud server without revealing any information of the searched keywords. In this work, we provide a keyword searchable attribute-based encryption scheme with attribute update for cloud storage, which is a combination of attribute-based encryption scheme and keyword searchable encryption scheme. The new scheme supports the user's attribute update, especially in our new scheme when a user's attribute need to be updated, only the user's secret key related with the attribute need to be updated, while other user's secret key and the ciphertexts related with this attribute need not to be updated with the help of the cloud server. In addition, we outsource the operation with high computation cost to cloud server to reduce the user's computational burden. Moreover, our scheme is proven to be semantic security against chosen ciphertext-policy and chosen plaintext attack in the general bilinear group model. And our scheme is also proven to be semantic security against chosen keyword attack under bilinear Diffie-Hellman (BDH) assumption. PMID:29795577

Interpersonal reactivity and the attribution of emotional reactions.

PubMed

Haas, Brian W; Anderson, Ian W; Filkowski, Megan M

2015-06-01

The ability to identify the cause of another person's emotional reaction is an important component associated with improved success of social relationships and survival. Although many studies have investigated the mechanisms involved in emotion recognition, very little is currently known regarding the processes involved during emotion attribution decisions. Research on complementary "emotion understanding" mechanisms, including empathy and theory of mind, has demonstrated that emotion understanding decisions are often made through relatively emotion- or cognitive-based processing streams. The current study was designed to investigate the behavioral and brain mechanisms involved in emotion attribution decisions. We predicted that dual processes, emotional and cognitive, are engaged during emotion attribution decisions. Sixteen healthy adults completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index to characterize individual differences in tendency to make emotion- versus cognitive-based interpersonal decisions. Participants then underwent functional MRI while making emotion attribution decisions. We found neuroimaging evidence that emotion attribution decisions engage a similar brain network as other forms of emotion understanding. Further, we found evidence in support of a dual processes model involved during emotion attribution decisions. Higher scores of personal distress were associated with quicker emotion attribution decisions and increased anterior insula activity. Conversely, higher scores in perspective taking were associated with delayed emotion attribution decisions and increased prefrontal cortex and premotor activity. These findings indicate that the making of emotion attribution decisions relies on dissociable emotional and cognitive processing streams within the brain. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Identifying county characteristics associated with resident well-being: A population based study.

PubMed

Roy, Brita; Riley, Carley; Herrin, Jeph; Spatz, Erica S; Arora, Anita; Kell, Kenneth P; Welsh, John; Rula, Elizabeth Y; Krumholz, Harlan M

2018-01-01

Well-being is a positively-framed, holistic assessment of health and quality of life that is associated with longevity and better health outcomes. We aimed to identify county attributes that are independently associated with a comprehensive, multi-dimensional assessment of individual well-being. We performed a cross-sectional study examining associations between 77 pre-specified county attributes and a multi-dimensional assessment of individual US residents' well-being, captured by the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index. Our cohort included 338,846 survey participants, randomly sampled from 3,118 US counties or county equivalents. We identified twelve county-level factors that were independently associated with individual well-being scores. Together, these twelve factors explained 91% of the variance in individual well-being scores, and they represent four conceptually distinct categories: demographic (% black); social and economic (child poverty, education level [

Error and attack tolerance of complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Albert, Réka; Jeong, Hawoong; Barabási, Albert-László

2000-07-01

Many complex systems display a surprising degree of tolerance against errors. For example, relatively simple organisms grow, persist and reproduce despite drastic pharmaceutical or environmental interventions, an error tolerance attributed to the robustness of the underlying metabolic network. Complex communication networks display a surprising degree of robustness: although key components regularly malfunction, local failures rarely lead to the loss of the global information-carrying ability of the network. The stability of these and other complex systems is often attributed to the redundant wiring of the functional web defined by the systems' components. Here we demonstrate that error tolerance is not shared by all redundant systems: it is displayed only by a class of inhomogeneously wired networks, called scale-free networks, which include the World-Wide Web, the Internet, social networks and cells. We find that such networks display an unexpected degree of robustness, the ability of their nodes to communicate being unaffected even by unrealistically high failure rates. However, error tolerance comes at a high price in that these networks are extremely vulnerable to attacks (that is, to the selection and removal of a few nodes that play a vital role in maintaining the network's connectivity). Such error tolerance and attack vulnerability are generic properties of communication networks.

Hybrid Nanoscale Architecture of Wound Dressing with Super Hydrophilic, Antimicrobial, and Ultralow Fouling Attributes.

PubMed

Depan, D; Misra, R D K

2015-02-01

Currently available wound dressings to heal thermal and chronic wounds are unable to respond to the challenges of resistance to bacterial infection, protein adsorption, and increased levels of wound exudates. To this end, we have conceived the fabrication of a new and ideal wound dressing with a number of key attributes. They include effective antimicrobial activity in a controlled manner, ultralow fouling property that provides resistance to protein adsorption and bacterial adhesion, maintain a moist but not saturated environment to promote healing, and is non-adherent and effective in the presence of heavy wound exudate. The novel approach to reduce infection and bacterial colonization involves incorporation of a unique silver-clay nanohybrid architecture in zwitterionic polymer, poly(sulfobetaine). The innovative concept of silver-clay hybrid structure enables us to obtain high, sustained, and diffusion-controlled antimicrobial activity of silver eluting polymer. The sustained and diffusion-controlled high antimicrobial efficiency is obtained through a process involving in situ precipitation of silver nanoparticles with large surface area on the surface of clay platelets. Furthermore, the use of recently developed zwitterionic polymer, poly(sulfobetaine) [poly(SB)] for wound dressing, provides antifouling property, which resists protein adsorption.

Evaluation of methods for measuring particulate matter emissions from gas turbines.

PubMed

Petzold, Andreas; Marsh, Richard; Johnson, Mark; Miller, Michael; Sevcenco, Yura; Delhaye, David; Ibrahim, Amir; Williams, Paul; Bauer, Heidi; Crayford, Andrew; Bachalo, William D; Raper, David

2011-04-15

The project SAMPLE evaluated methods for measuring particle properties in the exhaust of aircraft engines with respect to the development of standardized operation procedures for particulate matter measurement in aviation industry. Filter-based off-line mass methods included gravimetry and chemical analysis of carbonaceous species by combustion methods. Online mass methods were based on light absorption measurement or used size distribution measurements obtained from an electrical mobility analyzer approach. Number concentrations were determined using different condensation particle counters (CPC). Total mass from filter-based methods balanced gravimetric mass within 8% error. Carbonaceous matter accounted for 70% of gravimetric mass while the remaining 30% were attributed to hydrated sulfate and noncarbonaceous organic matter fractions. Online methods were closely correlated over the entire range of emission levels studied in the tests. Elemental carbon from combustion methods and black carbon from optical methods deviated by maximum 5% with respect to mass for low to medium emission levels, whereas for high emission levels a systematic deviation between online methods and filter based methods was found which is attributed to sampling effects. CPC based instruments proved highly reproducible for number concentration measurements with a maximum interinstrument standard deviation of 7.5%.

The Sensitivity of Adverse Event Cost Estimates to Diagnostic Coding Error

PubMed Central

Wardle, Gavin; Wodchis, Walter P; Laporte, Audrey; Anderson, Geoffrey M; Baker, Ross G

2012-01-01

Objective To examine the impact of diagnostic coding error on estimates of hospital costs attributable to adverse events. Data Sources Original and reabstracted medical records of 9,670 complex medical and surgical admissions at 11 hospital corporations in Ontario from 2002 to 2004. Patient specific costs, not including physician payments, were retrieved from the Ontario Case Costing Initiative database. Study Design Adverse events were identified among the original and reabstracted records using ICD10-CA (Canadian adaptation of ICD10) codes flagged as postadmission complications. Propensity score matching and multivariate regression analysis were used to estimate the cost of the adverse events and to determine the sensitivity of cost estimates to diagnostic coding error. Principal Findings Estimates of the cost of the adverse events ranged from $16,008 (metabolic derangement) to $30,176 (upper gastrointestinal bleeding). Coding errors caused the total cost attributable to the adverse events to be underestimated by 16 percent. The impact of coding error on adverse event cost estimates was highly variable at the organizational level. Conclusions Estimates of adverse event costs are highly sensitive to coding error. Adverse event costs may be significantly underestimated if the likelihood of error is ignored. PMID:22091908

Proportion of cancer in a Middle eastern country attributable to established risk factors.

PubMed

Charafeddine, Maya A; Olson, Sara H; Mukherji, Deborah; Temraz, Sally N; Abou-Alfa, Ghassan K; Shamseddine, Ali I

2017-05-18

Providing an estimate of the percentage of cancer in Lebanon by 2018 that is due to the exposure to risk factors in 2008. Factors include: smoking, body mass index (BMI), physical inactivity, dietary factors, alcohol consumption, infections, and air pollution in adults. Population Attributable Fraction (PAF) was calculated using the proportion of the population exposed and relative risks for each risk factor from meta-analyses. The PAF estimates the proportion of cases in which exposure may have played a causal role. Smoking caused most cancer cases, and it will further add a total of 1800 new cases by 2018. Among many other cancers, lung cancer had the largest proportion attributable of around 75%. BMI is expected to increase colorectal, liver and gastric cardia carcinoma specifically in males. High physical activity has a an average of 15% protection rate on cancer on colorectal cancer. Minimal adherence to Mediterranean diet will affect gastric cancer incidence by 7%. Cases of oropharyngeal and esophageal cancer will be the result of alcohol consumption mainly in males. H.Pylori infection is expected to result in half of the gastric cases by 2018. The high exposure to air pollution is expected to contribute by 13% to lung cancer cases in 2018. The highest benefits can be achieved by controlling tobacco smoking. Interrelated and small changes in weight, physical activity and healthy diet with limited alcohol consumption can protect against several GI cancers in the long run. These results can be used to determine public health interventions that target important risk factors in the general population.

Boys' and Girls' Attribution of Performance in Learning English as a Foreign Language: The Case of Adama High Schools in Ethiopia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tulu, Geberew

2013-01-01

The main aim of the study was to examine students' attribution of performance in learning English as a foreign language at Adama town government high schools and see into its pedagogical implications. It aimed at investigating the perceived causes of success and failure of boys and girls. In order to meet the objectives of the study, data were…

Associative false consumer memory: effects of need for cognition and encoding task.

PubMed

Parker, Andrew; Dagnall, Neil

2018-04-01

Two experiments investigated the effects of product-attribute associations on false consumer memory. In both experiments, subjects were presented with sets of related product attributes under incidental encoding conditions. Later, recognition memory was tested with studied attributes, non-studied but associated attributes (critical lures) and non-studied unrelated attributes. In Experiment 1, the effect of Need for Cognition (NFC) was assessed. It was found that individuals high in NFC recognised more presented attributes and falsely recognised more associative critical lures. The increase in both true and associative false memory was accompanied by a greater number of responses that index the retrieval of detailed episodic-like information. Experiment 2, replicated the main findings through an experimental manipulation of the encoding task that required subjects to consider purchase likelihood. Explanations for these findings are considered from the perspective of activation processes and knowledge structures in the form of gist-based representations.

Knowledge and luck.

PubMed

Turri, John; Buckwalter, Wesley; Blouw, Peter

2015-04-01

Nearly all success is due to some mix of ability and luck. But some successes we attribute to the agent's ability, whereas others we attribute to luck. To better understand the criteria distinguishing credit from luck, we conducted a series of four studies on knowledge attributions. Knowledge is an achievement that involves reaching the truth. But many factors affecting the truth are beyond our control, and reaching the truth is often partly due to luck. Which sorts of luck are compatible with knowledge? We found that knowledge attributions are highly sensitive to lucky events that change the explanation for why a belief is true. By contrast, knowledge attributions are surprisingly insensitive to lucky events that threaten, but ultimately fail to change the explanation for why a belief is true. These results shed light on our concept of knowledge, help explain apparent inconsistencies in prior work on knowledge attributions, and constitute progress toward a general understanding of the relation between success and luck.

Why people do what they do to protect against earthquake risk: perceptions of hazard adjustment attributes.

PubMed

Lindell, Michael K; Arlikatti, Sudha; Prater, Carla S

2009-08-01

This study examined respondents' self-reported adoption of 16 hazard adjustments (preimpact actions to reduce danger to persons and property), their perceptions of those adjustments' attributes, and the correlations of those perceived attributes with respondents' demographic characteristics. The sample comprised 561 randomly selected residents from three cities in Southern California prone to high seismic risk and three cities from Western Washington prone to moderate seismic risks. The results show that the hazard adjustment perceptions were defined by hazard-related attributes and resource-related attributes. More significantly, the respondents had a significant degree of consensus in their ratings of those attributes and used them to differentiate among the hazard adjustments, as indicated by statistically significant differences among the hazard adjustment profiles. Finally, there were many significant correlations between respondents' demographic characteristics and the perceived characteristics of hazard adjustments, but there were few consistent patterns among these correlations.

Using analytic hierarchy process to identify the nurses with high stress-coping capability: model and application.

PubMed

F C Pan, Frank

2014-03-01

Nurses have long been relied as the major labor force in hospitals. Featured with complicated and highly labor-intensive job requirement, multiple pressures from different sources was inevitable. Success in identifying stresses and accordingly coping with such stresses is important for job performance of nurses, and service quality of a hospital. Purpose of this research is to identify the determinants of nurses' capabilities. A modified Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was adopted. Overall, 105 nurses from several randomly selected hospitals in southern Taiwan were investigated to generate factors. Ten experienced practitioners were included as the expert in the AHP to produce weights of each criterion. Six nurses from two regional hospitals were then selected to test the model. Four factors are then identified as the second level of hierarchy. The study result shows that the family factor is the most important factor, and followed by the personal attributes. Top three sub-criteria that attribute to the nurse's stress-coping capability are children's education, good career plan, and healthy family. The practical simulation provided evidence for the usefulness of this model. The study suggested including these key determinants into the practice of human-resource management, and restructuring the hospital's organization, creating an employee-support system as well as a family-friendly working climate. The research provided evidence that supports the usefulness of AHP in identifying the key factors that help stabilizing a nursing team.

Using Analytic Hierarchy Process to Identify the Nurses with High Stress-Coping Capability: Model and Application

PubMed Central

F. C. PAN, Frank

2014-01-01

Abstract Background Nurses have long been relied as the major labor force in hospitals. Featured with complicated and highly labor-intensive job requirement, multiple pressures from different sources was inevitable. Success in identifying stresses and accordingly coping with such stresses is important for job performance of nurses, and service quality of a hospital. Purpose of this research is to identify the determinants of nurses' capabilities. Methods A modified Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was adopted. Overall, 105 nurses from several randomly selected hospitals in southern Taiwan were investigated to generate factors. Ten experienced practitioners were included as the expert in the AHP to produce weights of each criterion. Six nurses from two regional hospitals were then selected to test the model. Results Four factors are then identified as the second level of hierarchy. The study result shows that the family factor is the most important factor, and followed by the personal attributes. Top three sub-criteria that attribute to the nurse's stress-coping capability are children's education, good career plan, and healthy family. The practical simulation provided evidence for the usefulness of this model. Conclusion The study suggested including these key determinants into the practice of human-resource management, and restructuring the hospital's organization, creating an employee-support system as well as a family-friendly working climate. The research provided evidence that supports the usefulness of AHP in identifying the key factors that help stabilizing a nursing team. PMID:25988086

[Burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease attributable to ambient ozone pollution in 1990 and 2013 in China].

PubMed

Cui, J; Yin, P; Wang, L J; Liu, S W; Li, Y C; Liu, Y N; Liu, J M; You, J L; Zeng, X Y; Zhou, M G

2016-05-01

To investigate the burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in China attributable to ambient ozone pollution in 1990 and 2013. Based on the results of the China Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2013, the population attributable fractions was used to analyze the deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALY) of COPD attributable to ambient ozone pollution in all provinces (not including Taiwan, China) in 1990 and 2013, and to compare changes of the attributable disease burden in 1990 and 2013. In 2013, 7.4% (95% uncertainty interval (95% UI): 6.1%-8.6%) of COPD were attributable to ambient ozone pollution, with the highest rate in Hebei province (15.0%, 95%UI: 12.0%-18.7%) and the lowest in Heilongjiang province (2.8%,95%UI: 0.9%-5.3%). In 2013, 67 485 COPD deaths in China were due to ambient ozone pollution, with the highest number in Sichuan province (11 929) and in China lowest in Macao (11). A total of 1.168 million DALYs caused by COPD were due to ambient ozone pollution, with the highest in Sichuan province (0.189 million) and lowest in Macao (257.4). In 2013, the DALY per 100 000 population caused by COPD due to ambient ozone pollution after age standardization was lowest in Heilongjiang province (21.9), Shanghai (26.7), Beijing (38.4), Tianjin (39.3), and Jilin province (39.7) and highest in Sichuan province (206.4), Qinghai province (202.5), Guizhou province (175.3), and Gansu province (171.4). DALYs caused by COPD attributable to ambient ozone pollution increased with age (0.144 million person years for ages 15-49 years, 0.43 million person years for age 50-69 years and 0.594 million person years for age 70 years and above), which were higher in men than in women (0.708 million person years for men and 0.459 million person years for women in 2013). Deaths of COPD attributable to ambient ozone pollution were 49 514 and 67 485 in 1990 and 2013, respectively. DALYs caused by COPD attributable to ozone pollution totaled 0.894 million and 1.168 million person years in 1990 and 2013, respectively. Ambient ozone pollution-related deaths and DALYs increased 36.3% and 30.6%, respectively. Compared with 1990, the disease burden of COPD in 2013 attributed to ambient ozone pollution in China increased substantially. Ambient ozone pollution caused great losses among Chinese residents. More attention should be directed toward western provinces with a particularly high disease burden due to ambient ozone pollution.

Qualitative Development of a Discrete Choice Experiment for Physical Activity Interventions to Improve Knee Osteoarthritis.

PubMed

Pinto, Daniel; Danilovich, Margaret K; Hansen, Paul; Finn, Daniel J; Chang, Rowland W; Holl, Jane L; Heinemann, Allen W; Bockenholt, Ulf

2017-06-01

To describe the qualitative process used to develop attributes and attribute levels for inclusion in a discrete choice experiments (DCE) for older adult physical activity interventions. Five focus groups (n=41) were conducted, grounded in the Health Action Process Approach framework. Discussion emphasized identification and prioritization attributes for a DCE on physical activity. Semi-structured interviews (n=6) investigated attribute levels and lay-language for the DCE. A focus group with physical activity researchers and health care providers was the final stakeholder group used to establish a comprehensive approach for the generation of attributes and levels. A DCE pilot test (n=8) was then conducted with individuals of the target patient population. All transcripts were analyzed using a constant comparative approach. General community and university-based research setting. Volunteers (N=55) aged >45 years with knee pain, aches, or stiffness for at least 1 month over the previous 12 months. Not applicable. Interview guides, attributes, attribute levels, and discrete choice experiment. The most influential identified attributes for physical activity were time, effort, cost, convenience, enjoyment, and health benefits. Each attribute had 3 levels that were understandable in the pilot test of the DCE. The identification of 6 physical activity attributes that are most salient to adults with knee osteoarthritis resulted from a systematic qualitative process, including attribute-ranking exercises. A DCE will provide insight into the relative importance of these attributes for participating in physical activity, which can guide intervention development. Copyright © 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Strategies for Critiquing Global Citizenry: Undergraduate Research as a Possible Vehicle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henderson, Juliet

2013-01-01

Even as an increasing number of universities commit to producing graduates possessing the attributes of "a global citizen", discussions between academics suggest it is common practice to design programme outcomes which include the attribute of global citizenship without advancing discussion as to ways of embedding them in deeper…

Developmental Precursors of Young School-Age Children's Hostile Attribution Bias

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choe, Daniel Ewon; Lane, Jonathan D.; Grabell, Adam S.; Olson, Sheryl L.

2013-01-01

This prospective longitudinal study provides evidence of preschool-age precursors of hostile attribution bias in young school-age children, a topic that has received little empirical attention. We examined multiple risk domains, including laboratory and observational assessments of children's social-cognition, general cognitive functioning,…

Space station needs, attributes and architectural options study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

All the candidate Technology Development missions investigated during the space station needs, attributes, and architectural options study are described. All the mission data forms plus additional information such as, cost, drawings, functional flows, etc., generated in support of these mission is included with a computer generated mission data form.

Long-term plant responses to climate are moderated by biophysical attributes in a North American desert

USGS Publications Warehouse

Munson, Seth M.; Webb, Robert H.; Housman, David C.; Veblen, Kari E.; Nussear, Kenneth E.; Beever, Erik A.; Hartney, Kristine B.; Miriti, Maria N.; Phillips, Susan L.; Fulton, Robert E.; Tallent, Nita G.

2015-01-01

Synthesis. Our results emphasize the importance of understanding climate-vegetation relationships in the context of biophysical attributes that influence water availability and provide an important forecast of climate-change effects, including plant mortality and land degradation in dryland regions throughout the world.

Generativity, hierarchical action and recursion in the technology of the Acheulean to Middle Palaeolithic transition: a perspective from Patpara, the Son Valley, India.

PubMed

Shipton, C; Clarkson, C; Pal, J N; Jones, S C; Roberts, R G; Harris, C; Gupta, M C; Ditchfield, P W; Petraglia, M D

2013-08-01

The Acheulean to Middle Palaeolithic transition is one of the most important technological changes that occurs over the course of human evolution. Here we examine stone artefact assemblages from Patpara and two other excavated sites in the Middle Son Valley, India, which show a mosaic of attributes associated with Acheulean and Middle Palaeolithic industries. The bifaces from these sites are very refined and generally small, but also highly variable in size. A strong relationship between flake scar density and biface size indicates extensive differential resharpening. There are relatively low proportions of bifaces at these sites, with more emphasis on small flake tools struck from recurrent Levallois cores. The eventual demise of large bifaces may be attributed to the curation of small prepared cores from which sharper, or more task-specific flakes were struck. Levallois technology appears to have arisen out of adapting aspects of handaxe knapping, including shaping of surfaces, the utilization of two inter-dependent surfaces, and the striking of invasive thinning flakes. The generativity, hierarchical organization of action, and recursion evident in recurrent Levallois technology may be attributed to improvements in working memory. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Systematic review on measurement properties of questionnaires assessing the neighbourhood environment in the context of youth physical activity behaviour

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background High-quality measurement instruments for assessing the neighbourhood environment are a prerequisite for identifying associations between the neighbourhood environment and a person’s physical activity. The aim of this systematic review was to identify reliable and valid questionnaires assessing neighbourhood environmental attributes in the context of physical activity behaviours in children and adolescents. In addition, current gaps and best practice models in instrumentation and their evaluation are discussed. Methods We conducted a systematic literature search using six databases (Web of Science, Medline, TRID, SportDISCUS, PsycARTICLES and PsycINFO). Two independent reviewers screened the identified English-language peer-reviewed journal articles. Only studies examining the measurement properties of self- or proxy-report questionnaires on any aspects of the neighbourhood environment in children and adolescents aged 3 to 18 years were included. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the COSMIN checklists. Results We identified 13 questionnaires on attributes of the neighbourhood environment. Most of these studies were conducted in the United States (n = 7). Eight studies evaluated self-report measures, two studies evaluated parent-report measures and three studies included both administration types. While eight studies had poor methodological quality, we identified three questionnaires with substantial test-retest reliability and two questionnaires with acceptable convergent validity based on sufficient evidential basis. Conclusions Based on the results of this review, we recommend that cross-culturally adapted questionnaires should be used and that existing questionnaires should be evaluated especially in diverse samples and in countries other than the United States. Further, high-quality studies on measurement properties should be promoted and measurement models (formative vs. reflexive) should be specified to ensure that appropriate methods for psychometric testing are applied in future studies. PMID:23663328

Birth Prevalence of Neural Tube Defects and Orofacial Clefts in India: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Allagh, Komal Preet; Shamanna, B. R.; Murthy, Gudlavalleti V. S.; Ness, Andy R.; Doyle, Pat; Neogi, Sutapa B.; Pant, Hira B.

2015-01-01

Background In the last two decades, India has witnessed a substantial decrease in infant mortality attributed to infectious disease and malnutrition. However, the mortality attributed to birth defects remains constant. Studies on the prevalence of birth defects such as neural tube defects and orofacial clefts in India have reported inconsistent results. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of observational studies to document the birth prevalence of neural tube defects and orofacial clefts. Methods A comprehensive literature search for observational studies was conducted in MEDLINE and EMBASE databases using key MeSH terms (neural tube defects OR cleft lip OR cleft palate AND Prevalence AND India). Two reviewers independently reviewed the retrieved studies, and studies satisfying the eligibility were included. The quality of included studies was assessed using selected criteria from STROBE statement. Results The overall pooled birth prevalence (random effect) of neural tube defects in India is 4.5 per 1000 total births (95% CI 4.2 to 4.9). The overall pooled birth prevalence (random effect) of orofacial clefts is 1.3 per 1000 total births (95% CI 1.1 to 1.5). Subgroup analyses were performed by region, time period, consanguinity, and gender of newborn. Conclusion The overall prevalence of neural tube defects from India is high compared to other regions of the world, while that of orofacial clefts is similar to other countries. The majority of studies included in the review were hospital based. The quality of these studies ranged from low to moderate. Further well-designed, high quality community-based observational studies are needed to accurately estimate the burden of neural tube defects and orofacial clefts in India. PMID:25768737

Systematic review on measurement properties of questionnaires assessing the neighbourhood environment in the context of youth physical activity behaviour.

PubMed

Reimers, Anne K; Mess, Filip; Bucksch, Jens; Jekauc, Darko; Woll, Alexander

2013-05-11

High-quality measurement instruments for assessing the neighbourhood environment are a prerequisite for identifying associations between the neighbourhood environment and a person's physical activity. The aim of this systematic review was to identify reliable and valid questionnaires assessing neighbourhood environmental attributes in the context of physical activity behaviours in children and adolescents. In addition, current gaps and best practice models in instrumentation and their evaluation are discussed. We conducted a systematic literature search using six databases (Web of Science, Medline, TRID, SportDISCUS, PsycARTICLES and PsycINFO). Two independent reviewers screened the identified English-language peer-reviewed journal articles. Only studies examining the measurement properties of self- or proxy-report questionnaires on any aspects of the neighbourhood environment in children and adolescents aged 3 to 18 years were included. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the COSMIN checklists. We identified 13 questionnaires on attributes of the neighbourhood environment. Most of these studies were conducted in the United States (n = 7). Eight studies evaluated self-report measures, two studies evaluated parent-report measures and three studies included both administration types. While eight studies had poor methodological quality, we identified three questionnaires with substantial test-retest reliability and two questionnaires with acceptable convergent validity based on sufficient evidential basis. Based on the results of this review, we recommend that cross-culturally adapted questionnaires should be used and that existing questionnaires should be evaluated especially in diverse samples and in countries other than the United States. Further, high-quality studies on measurement properties should be promoted and measurement models (formative vs. reflexive) should be specified to ensure that appropriate methods for psychometric testing are applied in future studies.

Therapists' causal attributions of clients' problems and selection of intervention strategies.

PubMed

Royce, W S; Muehlke, C V

1991-04-01

Therapists' choices of intervention strategies are influenced by many factors, including judgments about the bases of clients' problems. To assess the relationships between such causal attributions and the selection of intervention strategies, 196 counselors, psychologists, and social workers responded to the written transcript of a client's interview by answering two questionnaires, a 1982 scale (Causal Dimension Scale by Russell) which measured causal attribution of the client's problem, and another which measured preference for emotional, rational, and active intervention strategies in dealing with the client, based on the 1979 E-R-A taxonomy of Frey and Raming. A significant relationship was found between the two sets of variables, with internal attributions linked to rational intervention strategies and stable attributions linked to active strategies. The results support Halleck's 1978 hypothesis that theories of psychotherapy tie interventions to etiological considerations.

Global burden of cancer attributable to high body-mass index in 2012: a population-based study

PubMed Central

Byrnes, Graham; Renehan, Prof Andrew G; Stevens, Gretchen A; Ezzati, Prof Majid; Ferlay, Jacques; Miranda, J. Jaime; Romieu, Isabelle; Dikshit, Rajesh; Forman, David; Soerjomataram, Isabelle

2015-01-01

Background Excess body mass index (BMI) is associated with increased risk of cancer. To inform public health policyand future research, we estimated the global burden of cancer attributable to excess BMI. Methods Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were derived using relative risks and BMI estimates in adults by age, sex and country. Assuming a10-year lag-period, PAFs were calculated using BMI estimates in 2002. GLOBOCAN2012 was used to compute numbers of new cancer cases attributable to excess BMI. In an alternative scenario, we computed the proportion of potentially avoidable cancers assuming that populations maintained their BMI-level observed in 1982. Secondary analyses were performed to test the model and estimate the impactof hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and smoking. Findings Worldwide, we estimated that 481,000 or 3·6% of all new cancer cases in 2012 were attributable to excess BMI. PAFs were greater in women compared with men (5·4% versus 1·9%). The burden was concentrated in countries with very high and high human development index (HDI, PAF: 5·3% and 4·8%) compared with countries with moderate and low HDI (PAF: 1·6% and 1·0%). Corpus uteri, post-menopausal breast and colon cancers accounted for approximately two-thirds (64%) of excess BMI attributable cancers. One fourth (~118,000) of all cases related to excess BMI in 2012 could be attributed to the rising BMI since 1982. Interpretation These findings further underpin the need for a global effort to abate the rising trends in population-level excess weight. Assuming that the relationship between excess BMI and cancer is causal and the current pattern of population weight gain continues, this will likely augment the future burden of cancer. Funding World Cancer Research Fund, Marie Currie Fellowship, the National Health and Medical Research Council Australia and US NIH. PMID:25467404

An examination of the association between the 5-HTT promoter region polymorphism and depressogenic attributional styles in childhood

PubMed Central

Sheikh, Haroon I.; Hayden, Elizabeth P.; Singh, Shiva M.; Dougherty, Lea R.; Olino, Thomas M.; Durbin, C. Emily; Klein, Daniel N.

2008-01-01

Although a vast literature examining the role of attributional styles in depression has accumulated, the origins of such cognitions remain poorly understood. Investigators are increasingly interested in whether cognitive vulnerability to depression is linked to genetic variation. As a preliminary test of this hypothesis, we examined whether the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) was associated with attributional styles in children. Thirty-eight children completed a self-report measure of attributional styles, the Child Attributional Style Questionnaire-Revised (CASQ-R). Children were also genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism, including the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs25531 in the long allele of the 5-HTTLPR. The short alleles of the 5-HTTLPR and their putative functional equivalents were associated with increased levels of depressogenic attributions for negative events, as measured by the CASQ-R, lending support to the role of 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms in cognitive vulnerability to depression. PMID:19122845

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

Brumbaugh, William D.; Cook, Kenneth L.

During the summers of 1975 and 1976, a gravity survey was conducted in the Cove Fort - Sulphurdale KGRA and north Mineral Mountains area, Millard and Beaver counties, Utah. The survey consisted of 671 gravity stations covering an area of about 1300 km{sup 2}, and included two orthogonal gravity profiles traversing the area. The gravity data are presented as a terrain-corrected Bouguer gravity anomaly map with a contour interval of 1 mgal and as an isometric three-dimensional gravity anomaly surface. Selected anomaly separation techniques were applied to the hand-digitized gravity data (at 1-km intervals on the Universal Transverse Mercator grid)more » in both the frequency and space domains, including Fourier decomposition, second vertical derivative, strike-filter, and polynomial fitting analysis, respectively. Residual gravity gradients of 0.5 to 8.0 mgal/km across north-trending gravity contours observed through the Cove Fort area, the Sulphurdale area, and the areas east of the East Mineral Mountains, along the west flanks of the Tushar Mountains, and on both the east and west flanks of the north Mineral Mountains, were attributed to north-trending Basin and Range high-angle faults. Gravity highs exist over the community of Black Rock area, the north Mineral Mountains, the Paleozoic outcrops in the east Cove Creek-Dog Valley-White Sage Flats areas, the sedimentary thrust zone of the southern Payant Range, and the East Mineral Mountains. The gravity lows over north Milford Valley, southern Black Rock Desert, Cunningham Wash, and northern Beaver Valley are separated from the above gravity highs by steep gravity gradients attributed to a combination of crustal warping and faulting. A gravity low with a closure of 2 mgal corresponds with Sulphur Cove, a circular topographic features containing sulphur deposits.« less

Effect of Diabetes Treatment-Related Attributes on Costs to Type 2 Diabetes Patients in a Real-World Population.

PubMed

Meng, Jie; Casciano, Roman; Lee, Yi-Chien; Stern, Lee; Gultyaev, Dmitry; Tong, Liyue; Kitio-Dschassi, Brice

2017-04-01

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) results in a substantial economic burden on patients, health care systems, and society. Most literature assessing the cost of T2DM focuses on the long-term complications of the disease, the association between glucose control and cost, and patient characteristics resulting in poor and costly outcomes. However, it is likely that attributes specific to diabetes therapy can affect the use of costly resources. To estimate the effect of diabetes treatment-related attributes, such as improved efficacy, adherence, and reduced risk for hypoglycemia, on costs to T2DM patients. An observational, retrospective study was conducted using the Optum Clinformatics Database, which links medical and pharmacy claims to laboratory results. Patients aged ≥ 18 years with T2DM who had ≥ 1 antidiabetic medication claim; ≥ 1 hemoglobin A1c (A1c) test result; continuous enrollment in the health plan from April 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011; and at least 1 follow-up day were included. Nondiabetes specific total, inpatient, outpatient, emergency room, and other costs (along with antidiabetes medication costs) were defined for each patient. Generalized linear models with logarithm link were used to predict the 1-year and cumulative 3-year costs. Demographic factors and comorbidities were included as covariates in addition to the diabetes treatment-related attributes. In the entire analysis cohort, the average 3-year cost per patient was $74,862. The percentage effect on cost of diabetes treatment-related variables ranged from -18% to 429%. Drug adherence was associated with lower inpatient, outpatient, and emergency room costs and higher drug costs. Hypoglycemia was associated with higher inpatient, outpatient, emergency room, and other direct costs (except antidiabetic drug costs). Compared with A1c values ≤ 7%, patients with higher levels were associated with higher total and drug costs. Study results demonstrate the association between diabetes treatment-related attributes and costs, including inpatient, outpatient, drug, and total costs. This association raises the question: what would the effect of a new diabetes therapy, with high efficacy, high adherence, and reduced risk of hypoglycemia have on economic outcomes? Funding from Sanofi supported this study. Tong was an employee of ProUnlimited, under contract with Sanofi during the time of the study. Kitio-Dschassi was a Sanofi employee at time of the analysis. Meng, Casciano, Stern, and Gultyaev are employees of LASER Analytica, which received research funds from Sanofi to conduct this database analysis. Lee was an employee at LASER Analytica at the time of the analysis and has received grants from Sanofi. This manuscript was presented as a poster at the American Diabetes Association, 76th Scientific Sessions; New Orleans, Louisiana; June 10-14, 2016. Study concept and design were contributed by Meng, Casciano, Gultyaev, and Kitio-Dschassi. Meng and Stern collected the data, and data interpretation was performed by Casciano, Lee, Tong, and Kitio-Dschassi. The manuscript was written primarily by Lee, along with Meng and Stern, and revised by Stern, Meng, Tong, Kitio-Dschassi, and Lee.

Antiviral Defense Mechanisms in Honey Bees

PubMed Central

Brutscher, Laura M.; Daughenbaugh, Katie F.; Flenniken, Michelle L.

2015-01-01

Honey bees are significant pollinators of agricultural crops and other important plant species. High annual losses of honey bee colonies in North America and in some parts of Europe have profound ecological and economic implications. Colony losses have been attributed to multiple factors including RNA viruses, thus understanding bee antiviral defense mechanisms may result in the development of strategies that mitigate colony losses. Honey bee antiviral defense mechanisms include RNA-interference, pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) triggered signal transduction cascades, and reactive oxygen species generation. However, the relative importance of these and other pathways is largely uncharacterized. Herein we review the current understanding of honey bee antiviral defense mechanisms and suggest important avenues for future investigation. PMID:26273564

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Summary Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) provides a comprehensive assessment of risk factor exposure and attributable burden of disease. By providing estimates over a long time series, this study can monitor risk exposure trends critical to health surveillance and inform policy debates on the importance of addressing risks in context. Methods We used the comparative risk assessment framework developed for previous iterations of GBD to estimate levels and trends in exposure, attributable deaths, and attributable disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), by age group, sex, year, and location for 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks from 1990 to 2016. This study included 481 risk-outcome pairs that met the GBD study criteria for convincing or probable evidence of causation. We extracted relative risk (RR) and exposure estimates from 22 717 randomised controlled trials, cohorts, pooled cohorts, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources, according to the GBD 2016 source counting methods. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL), we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. Finally, we explored four drivers of trends in attributable burden: population growth, population ageing, trends in risk exposure, and all other factors combined. Findings Since 1990, exposure increased significantly for 30 risks, did not change significantly for four risks, and decreased significantly for 31 risks. Among risks that are leading causes of burden of disease, child growth failure and household air pollution showed the most significant declines, while metabolic risks, such as body-mass index and high fasting plasma glucose, showed significant increases. In 2016, at Level 3 of the hierarchy, the three leading risk factors in terms of attributable DALYs at the global level for men were smoking (124·1 million DALYs [95% UI 111·2 million to 137·0 million]), high systolic blood pressure (122·2 million DALYs [110·3 million to 133·3 million], and low birthweight and short gestation (83·0 million DALYs [78·3 million to 87·7 million]), and for women, were high systolic blood pressure (89·9 million DALYs [80·9 million to 98·2 million]), high body-mass index (64·8 million DALYs [44·4 million to 87·6 million]), and high fasting plasma glucose (63·8 million DALYs [53·2 million to 76·3 million]). In 2016 in 113 countries, the leading risk factor in terms of attributable DALYs was a metabolic risk factor. Smoking remained among the leading five risk factors for DALYs for 109 countries, while low birthweight and short gestation was the leading risk factor for DALYs in 38 countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In terms of important drivers of change in trends of burden attributable to risk factors, between 2006 and 2016 exposure to risks explains an 9·3% (6·9–11·6) decline in deaths and a 10·8% (8·3–13·1) decrease in DALYs at the global level, while population ageing accounts for 14·9% (12·7–17·5) of deaths and 6·2% (3·9–8·7) of DALYs, and population growth for 12·4% (10·1–14·9) of deaths and 12·4% (10·1–14·9) of DALYs. The largest contribution of trends in risk exposure to disease burden is seen between ages 1 year and 4 years, where a decline of 27·3% (24·9–29·7) of the change in DALYs between 2006 and 2016 can be attributed to declines in exposure to risks. Interpretation Increasingly detailed understanding of the trends in risk exposure and the RRs for each risk-outcome pair provide insights into both the magnitude of health loss attributable to risks and how modification of risk exposure has contributed to health trends. Metabolic risks warrant particular policy attention, due to their large contribution to global disease burden, increasing trends, and variable patterns across countries at the same level of development. GBD 2016 findings show that, while it has huge potential to improve health, risk modification has played a relatively small part in the past decade. Funding The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies. PMID:28919119

How Japanese companion dog and cat owners’ degree of attachment relates to the attribution of emotions to their animals

PubMed Central

Koda, Naoko; Martens, Pim

2018-01-01

Recently, studies in the United States and European countries have shown that the degree of attachment is associated with the attribution of emotions to companion animals. These studies imply that investigating the degree of attachment to companion animals is a good way for researchers to explore animal emotions and then improve animal welfare. Although a promising area of study, in Japan, no empirical studies have examined the correlation between the degree of attachment and the attribution of emotions to companion animals. In this research, we aimed to assess companion animal owners’ attribution of six primary (anger, joy, sadness, disgust, fear and surprise) and four secondary (shame, jealousy, disappointment and compassion) emotions to their dogs and cats, as well as how the degree of attachment related to such attribution of emotions from a Japanese cultural perspective. The “Pet Bonding Scale” (PBS), which is used to determine the level of bonding between humans and animals, was introduced to measure respondents’ degree of attachment to their companion animals. The results of a questionnaire (N = 546) distributed throughout Japan showed that respondents attributed a wide range of emotions to their animals. Companion animals’ primary emotions, compared to secondary emotions, were more commonly attributed by their owners. The attribution of compassion and jealousy was reported at a high level (73.1% and 56.2%, respectively), which was surprising as compassion and jealousy are generally defined as secondary emotions. All participants were highly attached to their companion animals, and this attachment was positively associated with the attribution of emotions (9/10) to companion animals (all p < 0.05). This study is one of the first to investigate animal emotions by analyzing the bonding between companion animals and owners in Japan, and it can therefore provide knowledge to increase Japanese people’s awareness of animal welfare. PMID:29304166

How Japanese companion dog and cat owners' degree of attachment relates to the attribution of emotions to their animals.

PubMed

Su, Bingtao; Koda, Naoko; Martens, Pim

2018-01-01

Recently, studies in the United States and European countries have shown that the degree of attachment is associated with the attribution of emotions to companion animals. These studies imply that investigating the degree of attachment to companion animals is a good way for researchers to explore animal emotions and then improve animal welfare. Although a promising area of study, in Japan, no empirical studies have examined the correlation between the degree of attachment and the attribution of emotions to companion animals. In this research, we aimed to assess companion animal owners' attribution of six primary (anger, joy, sadness, disgust, fear and surprise) and four secondary (shame, jealousy, disappointment and compassion) emotions to their dogs and cats, as well as how the degree of attachment related to such attribution of emotions from a Japanese cultural perspective. The "Pet Bonding Scale" (PBS), which is used to determine the level of bonding between humans and animals, was introduced to measure respondents' degree of attachment to their companion animals. The results of a questionnaire (N = 546) distributed throughout Japan showed that respondents attributed a wide range of emotions to their animals. Companion animals' primary emotions, compared to secondary emotions, were more commonly attributed by their owners. The attribution of compassion and jealousy was reported at a high level (73.1% and 56.2%, respectively), which was surprising as compassion and jealousy are generally defined as secondary emotions. All participants were highly attached to their companion animals, and this attachment was positively associated with the attribution of emotions (9/10) to companion animals (all p < 0.05). This study is one of the first to investigate animal emotions by analyzing the bonding between companion animals and owners in Japan, and it can therefore provide knowledge to increase Japanese people's awareness of animal welfare.

Attribute Framing and Goal Framing Effects in Health Decisions.

PubMed

Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Carter, Patrick; Blair, Edward

2001-07-01

Levin, Schneider, and Gaeth (LSG, 1998) have distinguished among three types of framing-risky choice, attribute, and goal framing-to reconcile conflicting findings in the literature. In the research reported here, we focus on attribute and goal framing. LSG propose that positive frames should be more effective than negative frames in the context of attribute framing, and negative frames should be more effective than positive frames in the context of goal framing. We test this framework by manipulating frame valence (positive vs negative) and frame type (attribute vs goal) in a unified context with common procedures. We also argue that the nature of effects in a goal-framing context may depend on the extent to which the research topic has "intrinsic self-relevance" to the population. In the context of medical decision making, we operationalize low intrinsic self-relevance by using student subjects and high intrinsic self-relevance by using patients. As expected, we find complete support for the LSG framework under low intrinsic self-relevance and modified support for the LSG framework under high intrinsic self-relevance. Overall, our research appears to confirm and extend the LSG framework. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

Opportunities and barriers to establishing a cell therapy programme in South Africa

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

The establishment of a cell therapy programme in South Africa has the potential to contribute to the alleviation of the country’s high disease burden and also to contribute to economic growth. South Africa has various positive attributes that favour the establishment of such a high-profile venture; however, there are also significant obstacles which need to be overcome. We discuss the positive and negative features of the current health biotechnology sector. The positive factors include a strong market pull and a highly innovative scientific and medical community, while the most problematic features include the lack of human resources and education and limited funding. The South African Government has undertaken to strengthen the biotechnology sector in general, but a focus on cell therapy is lacking. The next important step would be to provide financial, legal/ethical and other support for groups that are active and productive in this field through the development of a local cell therapy programme. PMID:23719318

Application of Raman spectroscopy and chemometric techniques to assess sensory characteristics of young dairy bull beef.

PubMed

Zhao, Ming; Nian, Yingqun; Allen, Paul; Downey, Gerard; Kerry, Joseph P; O'Donnell, Colm P

2018-05-01

This work aims to develop a rapid analytical technique to predict beef sensory attributes using Raman spectroscopy (RS) and to investigate correlations between sensory attributes using chemometric analysis. Beef samples (n = 72) were obtained from young dairy bulls (Holstein-Friesian and Jersey×Holstein-Friesian) slaughtered at 15 and 19 months old. Trained sensory panel evaluation and Raman spectral data acquisition were both carried out on the same longissimus thoracis muscles after ageing for 21 days. The best prediction results were obtained using a Raman frequency range of 1300-2800 cm -1 . Prediction performance of partial least squares regression (PLSR) models developed using all samples were moderate to high for all sensory attributes (R 2 CV values of 0.50-0.84 and RMSECV values of 1.31-9.07) and were particularly high for desirable flavour attributes (R 2 CVs of 0.80-0.84, RMSECVs of 4.21-4.65). For PLSR models developed on subsets of beef samples i.e. beef of an identical age or breed type, significant improvements on prediction performances were achieved for overall sensory attributes (R 2 CVs of 0.63-0.89 and RMSECVs of 0.38-6.88 for each breed type; R 2 CVs of 0.52-0.89 and RMSECVs of 0.96-6.36 for each age group). Chemometric analysis revealed strong correlations between sensory attributes. Raman spectroscopy combined with chemometric analysis was demonstrated to have high potential as a rapid and non-destructive technique to predict the sensory quality traits of young dairy bull beef. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke Attributable to Major Risk Factors is Similar in Argentina and the United States: the Coronary Heart Disease Policy Model

PubMed Central

Moran, Andrew; DeGennaro, Vincent; Ferrante, Daniel; Coxson, Pamela G.; Palmas, Walter; Mejia, Raul; Perez-Stable, Eliseo J.; Goldman, Lee

2011-01-01

Background Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Argentina and the U.S. Argentina is 92% urban, with cardiovascular disease risk factor levels approximating the U.S. Methods The Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) Policy Model is a national-scale computer model of CHD and stroke. Risk factor data were obtained from the Cardiovascular Risk Factor Multiple Evaluation in Latin America Study (2003–04), Argentina National Risk Factor Survey (2005) and U.S. national surveys. Proportions of cardiovascular events over 2005–2015 attributable to risk factors were simulated by setting risk factors to optimal exposure levels [systolic blood pressure (SBP) 115 mm Hg, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) 2.00 mmol/l (78 mg/dl), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) 1.03 mmol/l (60 mg/dl), absence of diabetes, and smoking]. Cardiovascular disease attributable to body mass index (BMI) > 21 kg/m2 was assumed mediated through SBP, LDL, HDL, and diabetes. Results Cardiovascular disease attributable to major risk factors was similar between Argentina and the U.S., except for elevated SBP in men (CHD 8 % points higher in Argentine men, 6% higher for stroke). CHD attributable to BMI > 21 kg/m2 was substantially higher in the U.S. (men 10–11 % points higher; women CHD 13–14% higher). Conclusions Projected cardiovascular disease attributable to major risk factors appeared similar in Argentina and the U.S., though elevated BMI may be responsible for more of U.S. cardiovascular disease. A highly urbanized middle-income nation can have cardiovascular disease rates and risk factor levels comparable to a high income nation, but fewer resources for fighting the epidemic. PMID:21550675

Multiplicative mixing of object identity and image attributes in single inferior temporal neurons.

PubMed

Ratan Murty, N Apurva; Arun, S P

2018-04-03

Object recognition is challenging because the same object can produce vastly different images, mixing signals related to its identity with signals due to its image attributes, such as size, position, rotation, etc. Previous studies have shown that both signals are present in high-level visual areas, but precisely how they are combined has remained unclear. One possibility is that neurons might encode identity and attribute signals multiplicatively so that each can be efficiently decoded without interference from the other. Here, we show that, in high-level visual cortex, responses of single neurons can be explained better as a product rather than a sum of tuning for object identity and tuning for image attributes. This subtle effect in single neurons produced substantially better population decoding of object identity and image attributes in the neural population as a whole. This property was absent both in low-level vision models and in deep neural networks. It was also unique to invariances: when tested with two-part objects, neural responses were explained better as a sum than as a product of part tuning. Taken together, our results indicate that signals requiring separate decoding, such as object identity and image attributes, are combined multiplicatively in IT neurons, whereas signals that require integration (such as parts in an object) are combined additively. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Attributions and self-efficacy for physical activity in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Nickel, D; Spink, K; Andersen, M; Knox, K

2014-01-01

Self-efficacy is an important predictor of health-related physical activity in multiple sclerosis (MS). While past experiences are believed to influence efficacy beliefs, the explanations individuals provide for these experiences also may be critical. Our objective was to test the hypothesis that perceived success or failure to accumulate 150 min of physical activity in the previous week would moderate the relationship between the attributional dimension of stability and self-efficacy to exercise in the future. Forty-two adults with MS participated in this cross-sectional descriptive study. Participants completed questions assessing physical activity, perceived outcome for meeting the recommended level of endurance activity, attributions for the outcome, and exercise self-efficacy. Results from hierarchical multiple regression revealed a significant main effect for perceived outcome predicting self-efficacy that was qualified by a significant interaction. The final model, which included perceived outcome, stability, and the interaction term, predicted 37% of the variance in exercise self-efficacy, F (3, 38) = 7.27, p = .001. Our findings suggest that the best prediction of self-efficacy in the MS population may include the interaction of specific attributional dimensions with success/failure at meeting the recommended physical activity dose. Attributions may be another target for interventions aimed at increasing the physical activity in MS.

The Top Ten Websites in Critical Care Medicine Education Today.

PubMed

Wolbrink, Traci A; Rubin, Lucy; Burns, Jeffrey P; Markovitz, Barry

2018-01-01

The number of websites for the critical care provider is rapidly growing, including websites that are part of the Free Open Access Med(ical ed)ucation (FOAM) movement. With this rapidly expanding number of websites, critical appraisal is needed to identify quality websites. The last major review of critical care websites was published in 2011, and thus a new review of the websites relevant to the critical care clinician is necessary. A new assessment tool for evaluating critical care medicine education websites, the Critical Care Medical Education Website Quality Evaluation Tool (CCMEWQET), was modified from existing tools. A PubMed and Startpage search from 2007 to 2017 was conducted to identify websites relevant to critical care medicine education. These websites were scored based on the CCMEWQET. Ninety-seven websites relevant for critical care medicine education were identified and scored, and the top ten websites were described in detail. Common types of resources available on these websites included blog posts, podcasts, videos, online journal clubs, and interactive components such as quizzes. Almost one quarter of websites (n = 22) classified themselves as FOAM websites. The top ten websites most often included an editorial process, high-quality and appropriately attributed graphics and multimedia, scored much higher for comprehensiveness and ease of access, and included opportunities for interactive learning. Many excellent online resources for critical care medicine education currently exist, and the number is likely to continue to increase. Opportunities for improvement in many websites include more active engagement of learners, upgrading navigation abilities, incorporating an editorial process, and providing appropriate attribution for graphics and media.

Estimates of hospitalization attributable to influenza and RSV in the US during 1997-2009, by age and risk status.

PubMed

Matias, Gonçalo; Taylor, Robert; Haguinet, François; Schuck-Paim, Cynthia; Lustig, Roger; Shinde, Vivek

2017-03-21

Estimates of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) burden must be periodically updated to inform public health strategies. We estimated seasonal influenza- and RSV-attributable hospitalizations in the US from 1997 to 2009 according to age and risk status (NCT01599390). Multiple linear regression modelling was used to attribute hospitalizations to influenza or RSV using virological surveillance and hospitalization data. Hospitalization data were obtained from the US Nationwide Inpatient Sample and virology data were obtained from FluView (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Outcomes included any mention of ICD-coded respiratory disease and cardiorespiratory disease diagnoses. We also explored a broader definition of respiratory disease that included mention of relevant respiratory sign/symptoms and viral infection ("respiratory broad"). Applying the respiratory broad outcome, our model attributed ~300,000 and ~200,000 hospitalizations to influenza and RSV, respectively. Influenza A/H3N2 was the predominant cause of influenza-related hospitalizations in most seasons, except in three seasons when influenza B was dominant; likewise, A/H3N2 caused most influenza-related hospitalizations in all age segments, except in children <18 years where the relative contribution of A/H3N2 and B was similar. Most influenza A- and B-related hospitalizations occurred in seniors while approximately one half and one third of all RSV-related events occurred in children 0-4 years and seniors 65+ years, respectively. High-risk status was associated with higher risk of both influenza- and RSV-attributable hospitalizations in adults, but not in children. Our study assessed the burden of influenza and RSV, information that is important for both cost effectiveness studies and for prioritization of the development of antivirals and vaccines. For seniors, we found that the burdens of influenza and RSV were both substantial. Among children <18 years, about half of all influenza hospitalizations were due to influenza B, most occurring in children without noted risk conditions. RSV hospitalizations among children were confined to those 0-4 years. Our study also demonstrated the importance of the outcome used to estimate hospitalization burden. Our findings highlight the burden of influenza among children regardless of risk status and underscore the prevalence of RSV infections among both young children and older adults.

Quantifying loss and damage from anthropogenic climate change - Bridging the gap between two research communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otto, F. E. L.

2015-12-01

The science of attribution of meteorological events to anthropogenic causes has for the first time been included in the latest assessment of the Physical Science Basis of the Climate, (WGI), of the Fifth IPCC Assessment Report AR5 (Stocker et al., 2013). At the same time there is a very rapidly growing body of literature on climate change and its impact on economy, society and environment but apart from very few exemptions no link is made to the causes of these changes. Observed changes in hydrological variables, agriculture, biodiversity and the built environment have been attributed to a changing climate, whether these changes are the result of natural variability or external forcings (Cramer et al., 2014). While the research community represented in WGI assesses whether, and to what extent, recent extreme weather events can be attributed to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols, the research community of impact specialists asks how climatic changes lead to different impacts largely independent of the causes of such changes. This distinction becomes potentially very relevant with respect to the 2013 established the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) to address loss and damage from the impacts of climate change in developing countries under the UNFCCC climate change negotiations. Currently there is no discussion what consists of loss and damage and the reasons for this inexistence of a definition are not primarily scientific but political however, the absence of a definition could potentially lead to absurd consequences if funds in the context of loss and damage would be redistributed, as e.g. suggested, for all low risk high impact events. Here we present the implications of discussed definitions of loss and damage (Huggel et al. 2015) and how scientific evidence could be included. Cramer et al. (2014) Detection and Attribution of Observed Impacts. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability Contribution of WG 2 to AR5 of the IPCC. Huggel, C., Stone, D., Eicken, H., & Hansen, G. (2015). Potential and limitations of the attribution of climate change impacts for informing loss and damage discussions and policies. Clim. Change, doi: 10.1007/s10584-015-1441-z. Stocker et al. (eds.) (2013) The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report: The Physical Science Basis. Cambridge University Press.

Burden attributable to child maltreatment in Australia.

PubMed

Moore, Sophie E; Scott, James G; Ferrari, Alize J; Mills, Ryan; Dunne, Michael P; Erskine, Holly E; Devries, Karen M; Degenhardt, Louisa; Vos, Theo; Whiteford, Harvey A; McCarthy, Molly; Norman, Rosana E

2015-10-01

Child maltreatment is a complex phenomenon, with four main types (childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect) highly interrelated. All types of maltreatment have been linked to adverse health consequences and exposure to multiple forms of maltreatment increases risk. In Australia to date, only burden attributable to childhood sexual abuse has been estimated. This study synthesized the national evidence and quantified the burden attributable to the four main types of child maltreatment. Meta-analyses, based on quality-effects models, generated pooled prevalence estimates for each maltreatment type. Exposure to child maltreatment was examined as a risk factor for depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and intentional self-harm using counterfactual estimation and comparative risk assessment methods. Adjustments were made for co-occurrence of multiple forms of child maltreatment. Overall, an estimated 23.5% of self-harm, 20.9% of anxiety disorders and 15.7% of depressive disorders burden in males; and 33.0% of self-harm, 30.6% of anxiety disorders and 22.8% of depressive disorders burden in females was attributable to child maltreatment. Child maltreatment was estimated to cause 1.4% (95% uncertainty interval 0.4-2.3%) of all disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in males, and 2.4% (0.7-4.1%) of all DALYs in females in Australia in 2010. Child maltreatment contributes to a substantial proportion of burden from depressive and anxiety disorders and intentional self-harm in Australia. This study demonstrates the importance of including all forms of child maltreatment as risk factors in future burden of disease studies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Negative attributions towards people with substance use disorders in South Africa: variation across substances and by gender.

PubMed

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

2012-08-07

Little research has examined attitudes towards people who use substances in low and middle income countries (LMIC). Therefore, the present study examined the attributions made by the general South African population about people who use substances and whether these attributions differ by the type of substance being used, the gender of the person using the substance, or the characteristics of the person making the attribution. A convenience sample of 868 members of the general public was obtained through street-intercept methods. One of 8 vignettes portraying alcohol, cannabis, methamphetamine or heroin, with either a male or female as the protagonist was presented to each respondent. Respondents' attitudes towards the specific cases were investigated. Respondents held equally negative views of the presented substances, with the exception of the cannabis vignette which was considered significantly less "dangerous" than the alcohol vignette. Respondents were more likely to offer "help" to women who use alcohol, but more likely to suggest "coercion into treatment" for men. Individuals who scored higher on the ASSIST were more likely to hold negative attitudes towards substance users and black African respondents were more likely to offer help to individuals who use substances. The stigma associated with substance use in South Africa is high and not necessarily dependent on the drug of choice. However, a range of factors, including gender of the substance user, and ethnicity of the rater, may impact on stigma. Interventions designed to strengthen mental health literacy and gender-focused anti-stigma campaigns may have the potential to increase treatment seeking behaviour.

Cell nuclei attributed relational graphs for efficient representation and classification of gastric cancer in digital histopathology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Harshita; Zerbe, Norman; Heim, Daniel; Wienert, Stephan; Lohmann, Sebastian; Hellwich, Olaf; Hufnagl, Peter

2016-03-01

This paper describes a novel graph-based method for efficient representation and subsequent classification in histological whole slide images of gastric cancer. Her2/neu immunohistochemically stained and haematoxylin and eosin stained histological sections of gastric carcinoma are digitized. Immunohistochemical staining is used in practice by pathologists to determine extent of malignancy, however, it is laborious to visually discriminate the corresponding malignancy levels in the more commonly used haematoxylin and eosin stain, and this study attempts to solve this problem using a computer-based method. Cell nuclei are first isolated at high magnification using an automatic cell nuclei segmentation strategy, followed by construction of cell nuclei attributed relational graphs of the tissue regions. These graphs represent tissue architecture comprehensively, as they contain information about cell nuclei morphology as vertex attributes, along with knowledge of neighborhood in the form of edge linking and edge attributes. Global graph characteristics are derived and ensemble learning is used to discriminate between three types of malignancy levels, namely, non-tumor, Her2/neu positive tumor and Her2/neu negative tumor. Performance is compared with state of the art methods including four texture feature groups (Haralick, Gabor, Local Binary Patterns and Varma Zisserman features), color and intensity features, and Voronoi diagram and Delaunay triangulation. Texture, color and intensity information is also combined with graph-based knowledge, followed by correlation analysis. Quantitative assessment is performed using two cross validation strategies. On investigating the experimental results, it can be concluded that the proposed method provides a promising way for computer-based analysis of histopathological images of gastric cancer.

Global economic cost of smoking-attributable diseases

PubMed Central

Goodchild, Mark; Nargis, Nigar; Tursan d'Espaignet, Edouard

2018-01-01

Background The detrimental impact of smoking on health has been widely documented since the 1960s. Numerous studies have also quantified the economic cost that smoking imposes on society. However, these studies have mostly been in high income countries, with limited documentation from developing countries. The aim of this paper is to measure the economic cost of smoking-attributable diseases in countries throughout the world, including in low- and middle-income settings. Methods The Cost of Illness approach is used to estimate the economic cost of smoking attributable-diseases in 2012. Under this approach, economic costs are defined as either ‘direct costs' such as hospital fees or ‘indirect costs’ representing the productivity loss from morbidity and mortality. The same method was applied to 152 countries, which had all the necessary data, representing 97% of the world's smokers. Findings The amount of healthcare expenditure due to smoking-attributable diseases totalled purchasing power parity (PPP) $467 billion (US$422 billion) in 2012, or 5.7% of global health expenditure. The total economic cost of smoking (from health expenditures and productivity losses together) totalled PPP $1852 billion (US$1436 billion) in 2012, equivalent in magnitude to 1.8% of the world's annual gross domestic product (GDP). Almost 40% of this cost occurred in developing countries, highlighting the substantial burden these countries suffer. Conclusions Smoking imposes a heavy economic burden throughout the world, particularly in Europe and North America, where the tobacco epidemic is most advanced. These findings highlight the urgent need for countries to implement stronger tobacco control measures to address these costs. PMID:28138063

Good-to-Great Superintendents: An Examination of Jim Collins' Good-to-Great Level Five Leadership Attributes as Demonstrated by the Leadership Behaviors of Superintendents of High-Performing California Public Single-School Districts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, James D.

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine Collins' good-to-great Level Five leadership attributes, as demonstrated by the leadership behaviors of superintendents of high-performing California public single-school districts. Methodology: The researcher used a case study design to conduct this study. Personal interviews were conducted in…

Piperidine alkaloids: human and food animal teratogens.

PubMed

Green, Benedict T; Lee, Stephen T; Panter, Kip E; Brown, David R

2012-06-01

Piperidine alkaloids are acutely toxic to adult livestock species and produce musculoskeletal deformities in neonatal animals. These teratogenic effects include multiple congenital contracture (MCC) deformities and cleft palate in cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats. Poisonous plants containing teratogenic piperidine alkaloids include poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), lupine (Lupinus spp.), and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) [including wild tree tobacco (Nicotiana glauca)]. There is abundant epidemiological evidence in humans that link maternal tobacco use with a high incidence of oral clefting in newborns; this association may be partly attributable to the presence of piperidine alkaloids in tobacco products. In this review, we summarize the evidence for piperidine alkaloids that act as teratogens in livestock, piperidine alkaloid structure-activity relationships and their potential implications for human health. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tobacco Smoking Status and the Contribution to Burden of Diseases in Iran, 1990-2010: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010.

PubMed

Ghasemian, Anoosheh; Rezaei, Nazila; Saeedi Moghaddam, Sahar; Mansouri, Anita; Parsaeian, Mahboubeh; Delavari, Alireza; Jamshidi, Hamid Reza; Sharifi, Farshad; Naderimagham, Shohreh

2015-08-01

Tobacco smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke in the indoor environment are major public health risks worldwide. The aim of this paper is to report and critique a global assessment of smoking prevalence, smoking-attributable deaths, and disability adjusted life years (DALYs) extracted from GBD study 2010, by sex and age in Iran from 1990 to 2010. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2010 estimated the distributions of exposure and relative risks per unit of exposure by systematically reviewing and analyzing published and unpublished data. These assessments were used, together with estimates of death and DALYs due to specific risk factors, to calculate the attributed burden for each risk factor exposure compared with the theoretical-minimum-risk exposure. Uncertainties in the distribution of exposure, relative risks, and relevant outcomes were incorporated into estimates of attributable mortality and burden. In this study, our aim was to reformulate the GBD data, produce new graphs, and explain the results for Iran in greater detail. Between 1990 and 2010, the prevalence of tobacco smoking at all ages increased by 1% in men and declined by 2% in women in Iran, but the overall prevalence in the general population was unchanged (12%). A reduction was observed in the age-standardized death and DALY rates (per 100,000 population) attributed to tobacco smoking, including second-hand smoke. The attributed DALY rate was greater for Iranian men than for Iranian women. The highest rates of DALYs because of tobacco smoking were found in smoker men and women aged 70+, but exposure to second-hand smoke had the most significant burden in children under 5 years old. In 1990, the three leading disease burdens attributed to tobacco smoking, including second-hand smoke, were ischemic heart disease; communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional disorders; and chronic respiratory diseases. In 2010, three leading burden of diseases attributed to tobacco smoking belonged to ischemic heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, and, and cerebrovascular disease, respectively. Despite a reduction in the rate of tobacco smoking, including second-hand smoke, since 1990, smoking exposure remained the fifth leading risk factor for deaths and DALYs in Iran in 2010. Overall, our data clearly show the need for new efforts in Iran to reduce the mortality and burden attributed to tobacco smoking.

Economic costs attributable to smoking in Hong Kong in 2011: a possible increase from 1998.

PubMed

Chen, Jing; McGhee, Sarah; Lam, Tai Hing

2017-11-15

Reduction in smoking prevalence does not necessarily reduce the costs of smoking as evidence shows in developed countries. We provide up-to-date estimates for direct and indirect costs attributable to smoking in Hong Kong in 2011 and compare with our 1998 estimates. We took a societal perspective to include lives and life years lost, health care costs and time lost from work in the costing. We followed guidelines on estimating costs of active smoking for those aged 35 years or above (35+) and costs due to SHS exposure for 35+, infants aged 12 months and under and children aged 15 and below. All costs are in US$. We estimated that 6154 deaths among 35+ in Hong Kong in 2011 were attributable to active smoking, an increase of 10% from 1998. Besides, 672 deaths were attributable to SHS exposure, i.e. 10% of the total 6826 smoking-attributable deaths. The estimate of productive life lost due to deaths from active smoking by those aged under 65 years in 2011 was $166 million, an increase of about 4% over the estimate in 1998. Our conservative estimate of the annual tobacco-related disease cost in 2011 was $716 million which accounted for 0.3% of GDP. If we added the value of attributable lives lost, the annual cost would be $4.7 billion. Despite the reduction in smoking prevalence, smoking-attributable disease still imposes a substantial economic burden on Hong Kong society. These findings support more stringent and effective tobacco control legislation, polices and measures. Current evidence shows reduction in smoking prevalence does not necessarily reduce the economic costs of smoking. Most studies in developed countries employed a societal perspective, including costs of productivity loss and indirect costs, but not all studies estimated costs associated with second-hand smoking (SHS). The present study estimated the total costs of smoking in Hong Kong including direct and indirect costs attributable to active smoking and to SHS exposure. Our study confirms the pattern of smoking epidemic in developed countries, forewarns the increasing economic burdens from tobacco, and provides East Asian countries with a prediction of their own future costs. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Impact of stress and mitigating information on evaluations, attributions, affect, disciplinary choices, and expectations of compliance in mothers at high and low risk for child physical abuse.

PubMed

De Paúl, Joaquín; Asla, Nagore; Pérez-Albéniz, Alicia; de Cádiz, Bárbara Torres-Gómez

2006-08-01

The objective is to know if high-risk mothers for child physical abuse differ in their evaluations, attributions, negative affect, disciplinary choices for children's behavior, and expectations of compliance. The effect of a stressor and the introduction of mitigating information are analyzed. Forty-seven high-risk and 48 matched low-risk mothers participated in the study. Mothers' information processing and disciplinary choices were examined using six vignettes depicting a child engaging in different transgressions. A four-factor design with repeated measures on the last two factors was used. High-risk mothers reported more hostile intent, global and internal attributions, more use of power assertion discipline, and less induction. A risk group by child transgression interaction and a risk group by mitigating information interaction were found. Results support the social information-processing model of child physical abuse, which suggests that high-risk mothers process child-related information differently and use more power assertive and less inductive disciplinary techniques.

Neural correlates of attributing causes to the self, another person and the situation

PubMed Central

Ma, Ning; Baetens, Kris; Clément, Nikki; Van Overwalle, Frank; Vandekerckhove, Marie

2015-01-01

This study compares brain activation during causal attribution to three different loci, the self, another person and the situation; and further explores correlations with clinical scales (i.e. depression, anxiety and autism) in a typical population. While they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging, 20 participants read short sentences about another person (‘someone’) who engaged in behaviors with the participant or made comments about the participant. The participants then attributed these behaviors to three attribution loci: themselves, the other person or the situation. The results revealed common activation across the three attribution loci in the bilateral temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), left posterior superior temporal sulcus, precuneus and right temporal pole (TP). Comparisons between the attribution loci revealed very little differences, except for increased activation of the right TP while making attributions to the situation compared with the self. In addition, when making attributions to the situation or other persons for negative events, there were reliable correlations between low activity in the left TPJ and high levels of anxiety and problematic social interaction in autism. The results indicate that attributions to different loci are based on the same underlying brain process, which might be atypical among persons with anxiety or autism symptoms. PMID:24633532

Murder or Not? Cold Temperature Makes Criminals Appear to Be Cold-Blooded and Warm Temperature to Be Hot-Headed

PubMed Central

Gockel, Christine; Kolb, Peter M.; Werth, Lioba

2014-01-01

Temperature-related words such as cold-blooded and hot-headed can be used to describe criminal behavior. Words associated with coldness describe premeditated behavior and words associated with heat describe impulsive behavior. Building on recent research about the close interplay between physical and interpersonal coldness and warmth, we examined in a lab experiment how ambient temperature within a comfort zone influences judgments of criminals. Participants in rooms with low temperature regarded criminals to be more cold-blooded than participants in rooms with high temperature. Specifically, they were more likely to attribute premeditated crimes, ascribed crimes resulting in higher degrees of penalty, and attributed more murders to criminals. Likewise, participants in rooms with high temperature regarded criminals to be more hot-headed than participants in rooms with low temperature: They were more likely to attribute impulsive crimes. Results imply that cognitive representations of temperature are closely related to representations of criminal behavior and attributions of intent. PMID:24788725

Murder or not? Cold temperature makes criminals appear to be cold-blooded and warm temperature to be hot-headed.

PubMed

Gockel, Christine; Kolb, Peter M; Werth, Lioba

2014-01-01

Temperature-related words such as cold-blooded and hot-headed can be used to describe criminal behavior. Words associated with coldness describe premeditated behavior and words associated with heat describe impulsive behavior. Building on recent research about the close interplay between physical and interpersonal coldness and warmth, we examined in a lab experiment how ambient temperature within a comfort zone influences judgments of criminals. Participants in rooms with low temperature regarded criminals to be more cold-blooded than participants in rooms with high temperature. Specifically, they were more likely to attribute premeditated crimes, ascribed crimes resulting in higher degrees of penalty, and attributed more murders to criminals. Likewise, participants in rooms with high temperature regarded criminals to be more hot-headed than participants in rooms with low temperature: They were more likely to attribute impulsive crimes. Results imply that cognitive representations of temperature are closely related to representations of criminal behavior and attributions of intent.

High Tensile Strength Amalgams for In-Space Fabrication and Repair

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grugel, Richard N.

2006-01-01

Amalgams are well known for their use in dental practice as a tooth filling material. They have a number of useful attributes that include room temperature fabrication, corrosion resistance, dimensional stability, and very good compressive strength. These properties well serve dental needs but, unfortunately, amalgams have extremely poor tensile strength, a feature that severely limits other potential applications. Improved material properties (strength and temperature) of amalgams may have application to the freeform fabrication of repairs or parts that might be necessary during an extended space mission. Advantages would include, but are not limited to: the ability to produce complex parts, a minimum number of processing steps, minimum crew interaction, high yield - minimum wasted material, reduced gravity compatibility, minimum final finishing, safety, and minimum power consumption. The work presented here shows how the properties of amalgams can be improved by changing particle geometries in conjunction with novel engineering metals.

Advances in Solid State Joining of High Temperature Alloys

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ding, Jeff; Schneider, Judy

2011-01-01

Many of the metals used in the oil and gas industry are difficult to fusion weld including Titanium and its alloys. Solid state joining processes are being pursued as an alternative process to produce robust structures more amenable to high pressure applications. Various solid state joining processes include friction stir welding (FSW) and a patented modification termed thermal stir welding (TSW). The configuration of TSWing utilizes an induction coil to preheat the material minimizing the burden on the weld tool extending its life. This provides the ability to precisely select and control the temperature to avoid detrimental changes to the microstructure. The work presented in this presentation investigates the feasibility of joining various titanium alloys using the solid state welding processes of FSW and TSW. Process descriptions and attributes of each weld process will be presented. Weld process set ]up and welding techniques will be discussed leading to the challenges experienced. Mechanical property data will also be presented.