The Every Student Succeeds Act, State Efforts to Improve Access to Effective Educators, and the Importance of School Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuller, Edward J.; Hollingworth, Liz; Pendola, Andrew

2017-01-01

Purpose: Our primary purpose is to examine the degree to which state equity plans identify the distribution of principals and principal turnover as factors influencing three leadership mechanisms that affect student access to effective teachers--namely, hiring of teachers, building instructional capacity of teachers, and managing teacher turnover.…

Time series analysis of collective motions in proteins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alakent, Burak; Doruker, Pemra; ćamurdan, Mehmet C.

2004-01-01

The dynamics of α-amylase inhibitor tendamistat around its native state is investigated using time series analysis of the principal components of the Cα atomic displacements obtained from molecular dynamics trajectories. Collective motion along a principal component is modeled as a homogeneous nonstationary process, which is the result of the damped oscillations in local minima superimposed on a random walk. The motion in local minima is described by a stationary autoregressive moving average model, consisting of the frequency, damping factor, moving average parameters and random shock terms. Frequencies for the first 50 principal components are found to be in the 3-25 cm-1 range, which are well correlated with the principal component indices and also with atomistic normal mode analysis results. Damping factors, though their correlation is less pronounced, decrease as principal component indices increase, indicating that low frequency motions are less affected by friction. The existence of a positive moving average parameter indicates that the stochastic force term is likely to disturb the mode in opposite directions for two successive sampling times, showing the modes tendency to stay close to minimum. All these four parameters affect the mean square fluctuations of a principal mode within a single minimum. The inter-minima transitions are described by a random walk model, which is driven by a random shock term considerably smaller than that for the intra-minimum motion. The principal modes are classified into three subspaces based on their dynamics: essential, semiconstrained, and constrained, at least in partial consistency with previous studies. The Gaussian-type distributions of the intermediate modes, called "semiconstrained" modes, are explained by asserting that this random walk behavior is not completely free but between energy barriers.

Readers' opinions of romantic poetry are consistent with emotional measures based on the Dictionary of Affect in Language.

PubMed

Whissell, Cynthia

2003-06-01

A principal components analysis of 68 volunteers' subjective ratings of 20 excerpts of Romantic poetry and of Dictionary of Affect scores for the same excerpts produced four components representing Pleasantness, Activation, Romanticism, and Nature. Dictionary measures and subjective ratings of the same constructs loaded on the same factor. Results are interpreted as providing construct validity for the Dictionary of Affect.

Exploring visuospatial abilities and their contribution to constructional abilities and nonverbal intelligence.

PubMed

Trojano, Luigi; Siciliano, Mattia; Cristinzio, Chiara; Grossi, Dario

2018-01-01

The present study aimed at exploring relationships among the visuospatial tasks included in the Battery for Visuospatial Abilities (BVA), and at assessing the relative contribution of different facets of visuospatial processing on tests tapping constructional abilities and nonverbal abstract reasoning. One hundred forty-four healthy subjects with a normal score on Mini Mental State Examination completed the BVA plus Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices and Constructional Apraxia test. We used Principal Axis Factoring and Parallel Analysis to investigate relationships among the BVA visuospatial tasks, and performed regression analyses to assess the visuospatial contribution to constructional abilities and nonverbal abstract reasoning. Principal Axis Factoring and Parallel Analysis revealed two eigenvalues exceeding 1, accounting for about 60% of the variance. A 2-factor model provided the best fit. Factor 1 included sub-tests exploring "complex" visuospatial skills, whereas Factor 2 included two subtests tapping "simple" visuospatial skills. Regression analyses revealed that both Factor 1 and Factor 2 significantly affected performance on Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices, whereas only the Factor 1 affected performance on Constructional Apraxia test. Our results supported functional segregation proposed by De Renzi, suggesting clinical caution to utilize a single test to assess visuospatial domain, and qualified the visuospatial contribution in drawing and non-verbal intelligence test.

Morale, Participation and Shortage in White-Majority and White-Minority Schools: Principals' Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheema, Jehanzeb R.; Fuller Hamilton, Asia N.

2017-01-01

Prior research has shown that teacher-centred factors such as teacher participation in decision making, teacher morale, and shortage of teaching staff, can affect school performance. In this study we examined how these factors differ between White-majority and White-minority schools both before and after controlling for school characteristics such…

Factors Affecting Faculty Use of Learning Technologies: Implications for Models of Technology Adoption

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buchanan, Tom; Sainter, Phillip; Saunders, Gunter

2013-01-01

This study examines factors associated with the use of learning technologies by higher education faculty. In an online survey in a UK university, 114 faculty respondents completed a measure of Internet self-efficacy, and reported on their use of learning technologies along with barriers to their adoption. Principal components analysis suggested…

Environmental conditions and reproductive health outcomes

EPA Science Inventory

Environmental exposures range across multiple domains to affect human health. In an effort to learn how environmental factors combine to contribute to health outcomes we constructed a multiple environmental domain index (MEDI) for use in health research. We used principal compone...

Why do these issues constitute problems? Pathogen indicators

EPA Science Inventory

The Water Environment Research Foundation funded a collaborative effort designed to better understand the factors affecting regrowth, odors and the sudden increase of bacterial indicators in heat treated biosolids. As part of this effort the Principal Investigators developed a w...

Predictive markers of honey bee colony collapse

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Managed honey bee colonies are currently affected by abrupt depopulation during winter and many factors are suspected to be involved, either alone or in combination. Pathogens are considered as principal actors, contributing to weaken colony health and leaving room for secondary infections. In parti...

Dinoflagellate Toxins Responsible for Ciguatera Food Poisoning

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-03-30

primary toxin causing the ciguatera syndrome,f 15, 161 while Banner et al.,l171 argued that ciguatoxili was the principal factor. Nevertheless, later...product of primary conisumers. These authors reported that an analysis of gut contents of Ctenochaetus striatus (a detrital feeder, exclusively) revealed a...the ileum preparation, placed doubt on this interpretation. Later work has indicated that MTX may secondarily affect channels by a primary affect upon

Investigation of carbon dioxide emission in China by primary component analysis.

PubMed

Zhang, Jing; Wang, Cheng-Ming; Liu, Lian; Guo, Hang; Liu, Guo-Dong; Li, Yuan-Wei; Deng, Shi-Huai

2014-02-15

Principal component analysis (PCA) is employed to investigate the relationship between CO2 emissions (COEs) stemming from fossil fuel burning and cement manufacturing and their affecting factors. Eight affecting factors, namely, Population (P), Urban Population (UP); the Output Values of Primary Industry (PIOV), Secondary Industry (SIOV), and Tertiary Industry (TIOV); and the Proportions of Primary Industry's Output Value (PPIOV), Secondary Industry's Output Value (PSIOV), and Tertiary Industry's Output Value (PTIOV), are chosen. PCA is employed to eliminate the multicollinearity of the affecting factors. Two principal components, which can explain 92.86% of the variance of the eight affecting factors, are chosen as variables in the regression analysis. Ordinary least square regression is used to estimate multiple linear regression models, in which COEs and the principal components serve as dependent and independent variables, respectively. The results are given in the following. (1) Theoretically, the carbon intensities of PIOV, SIOV, and TIOV are 2573.4693, 552.7036, and 606.0791 kt per one billion $, respectively. The incomplete statistical data, the different statistical standards, and the ideology of self sufficiency and peasantry appear to show that the carbon intensity of PIOV is higher than those of SIOV and TIOV in China. (2) PPIOV, PSIOV, and PTIOV influence the fluctuations of COE. The parameters of PPIOV, PSIOV, and PTIOV are -2706946.7564, 2557300.5450, and 3924767.9807 kt, respectively. As the economic structure of China is strongly tied to technology level, the period when PIOV plays the leading position is characterized by lagging technology and economic developing. Thus, the influence of PPIOV has a negative value. As the increase of PSIOV and PTIOV is always followed by technological innovation and economic development, PSIOV and PTIOV have the opposite influence. (3) The carbon intensities of P and UP are 1.1029 and 1.7862 kt per thousand people, respectively. The carbon intensity of the rural population can be inferred to be lower than 1.1029 kt per thousand people. The characteristics of poverty and the use of bio-energy in rural areas result in a carbon intensity of the rural population that is lower than that of P. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Communitarian Leadership Practice Acquisition in Educational Leadership Preparation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baxter, Vincent; Thessin, Rebecca A.; Clayton, Jennifer

2014-01-01

Principals have tremendous influence on the schools they lead (Bamburg & Andrews, 1990; Marzano et al., 2005). Certain leadership behaviors impact school level factors (Cotton, 2003; Hallinger & Heck, 2010; Leithwood, Begley, & Cousins, 1990; Marzano et al., 2005; Orr, 2003). To affect high levels of student achievement, school…

Communitarian Leadership Practice Acquisition in Educational Leadership Preparation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baxter, Vincent P.

2013-01-01

Principals have tremendous influence on the schools they lead (Bamburg & Andrews, 1990; Marzano et al., 2005). Certain leadership behaviors impact school level factors (Cotton, 2003; Hallinger & Heck, 2010; Leithwood, Begley, & Cousins, 1990; Marzano et al., 2005; Orr, 2003). To affect high levels of student achievement, school…

Identification of key factors affecting the water pollutant concentration in the sluice-controlled river reaches of the Shaying River in China via statistical analysis methods.

PubMed

Dou, Ming; Zhang, Yan; Zuo, Qiting; Mi, Qingbin

2015-08-01

The construction of sluices creates a strong disturbance in water environmental factors within a river. The change in water pollutant concentrations of sluice-controlled river reaches (SCRRs) is more complex than that of natural river segments. To determine the key factors affecting water pollutant concentration changes in SCRRs, river reaches near the Huaidian Sluice in the Shaying River of China were selected as a case study, and water quality monitoring experiments based on different regulating modes were implemented in 2009 and 2010. To identify the key factors affecting the change rates for the chemical oxygen demand of permanganate (CODMn) and ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) concentrations in the SCRRs of the Huaidian Sluice, partial correlation analysis, principal component analysis and principal factor analysis were used. The results indicate four factors, i.e., the inflow quantity from upper reaches, opening size of sluice gates, water pollutant concentration from upper reaches, and turbidity before the sluice, which are the common key factors for the CODMn and NH3-N concentration change rates. Moreover, the dissolved oxygen before a sluice is a key factor for the permanganate concentration from CODMn change rate, and the water depth before a sluice is a key factor for the NH3-N concentration change rate. Multiple linear regressions between the water pollutant concentration change rate and key factors were established via multiple linear regression analyses, and the quantitative relationship between the CODMn and NH3-N concentration change rates and key affecting factors was analyzed. Finally, the mechanism of action for the key factors affecting the water pollutant concentration changes was analyzed. The results reveal that the inflow quantity from upper reaches, opening size of sluice gates, permanganate concentration from CODMn from upper reaches and dissolved oxygen before the sluice have a negative influence and the turbidity before the sluice has a positive influence on the permanganate concentration from CODMn change rates and that the opening size of sluice gates, NH3-N concentration from upper reaches, and water depth before the sluice have a negative influence and the inflow quantity from upper reaches and turbidity before the sluice have a positive influence on the NH3-N concentration change rates, which provides a scientific grounding for pollution control and sluice operations in SCRRs.

Early Postnatal Protein-Calorie Malnutrition and Cognition: A Review of Human and Animal Studies

PubMed Central

Laus, Maria Fernanda; Vales, Lucas Duarte Manhas Ferreira; Costa, Telma Maria Braga; Almeida, Sebastião Sousa

2011-01-01

Malnutrition continues to be recognized as the most common and serious form of children’s dietary disease in the developing countries and is one of the principal factors affecting brain development. The purpose of this paper is to review human and animal studies relating malnutrition to cognitive development, focusing in correlational and interventional data, and to provide a discussion of possible mechanisms by which malnutrition affects cognition. PMID:21556206

The NASA role in major areas of human concern: Communication

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

After introducing some of the general factors that have affected progress in the area of communication, NASA program elements are examined to illustrate relevant points of contact. Interpretive steps are taken throughout the report to show a few of the more important ways people's lives have been affected as a result of the work of NASA and other organizations functioning in this area. The principal documents used and interviews conducted are identified.

Adult Learning in Health and Safety: Some Issues and Approaches.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O Fathaigh, Mairtin

This document, which was developed for presentation at a seminar on adult learning and safety, examines approaches to occupational safety and health (OSH) learning/training in the workplace. Section 1 examines selected factors affecting adults' learning in workplace OSH programs. The principal dimensions along which individual adult learners will…

The Work of Effective Middle Grades Principals: Responsiveness and Relationship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gale, Jacqueline J.; Bishop, Penny A.

2014-01-01

Findings from research studies suggest that school leadership accounts for fully one quarter of total school effects on pupils, making it second only to classroom instruction among school-based factors affecting student achievement (Leithwood, Louis, Anderson & Wahlstrom, 2004). While a considerable body of research has analyzed effective…

Toward Instructional Leadership: Principals' Perceptions of Large-Scale Assessment in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prytula, Michelle; Noonan, Brian; Hellsten, Laurie

2013-01-01

This paper describes a study of the perceptions that Saskatchewan school principals have regarding large-scale assessment reform and their perceptions of how assessment reform has affected their roles as principals. The findings revealed that large-scale assessments, especially provincial assessments, have affected the principal in Saskatchewan…

Impacts of a flash flood on drinking water quality: case study of areas most affected by the 2012 Beijing flood.

PubMed

Sun, Rubao; An, Daizhi; Lu, Wei; Shi, Yun; Wang, Lili; Zhang, Can; Zhang, Ping; Qi, Hongjuan; Wang, Qiang

2016-02-01

In this study, we present a method for identifying sources of water pollution and their relative contributions in pollution disasters. The method uses a combination of principal component analysis and factor analysis. We carried out a case study in three rural villages close to Beijing after torrential rain on July 21, 2012. Nine water samples were analyzed for eight parameters, namely turbidity, total hardness, total dissolved solids, sulfates, chlorides, nitrates, total bacterial count, and total coliform groups. All of the samples showed different degrees of pollution, and most were unsuitable for drinking water as concentrations of various parameters exceeded recommended thresholds. Principal component analysis and factor analysis showed that two factors, the degree of mineralization and agricultural runoff, and flood entrainment, explained 82.50% of the total variance. The case study demonstrates that this method is useful for evaluating and interpreting large, complex water-quality data sets.

Evaluation of constricted affect in chronic pain: an attempt using the Toronto Alexythymia Scale.

PubMed

Millard, R W; Kinsler, B L

1992-09-01

The Toronto Alexythymia Scale (TAS) was applied as a potential measure of constricted affect among a sample of patients with chronic, non-malignant pain (n = 195). As previously demonstrated with non-clinical samples, the scale was found to possess moderate reliability with two principal internal factors. These factors seemed to reflect social introversion and a lack of proneness to fantasy. There was a moderate, negative association between them. The domain sampled by the TAS was apparently heterogeneous, with total scores showing no relationship to reported disability or pain intensity and a low relationship to reported distress. These results suggest potential limitations of the TAS and the alexythymia construct as means for evaluating constricted affect that accompanies chronic pain.

Vulnerability of recently recharged groundwater in principal aquifers of the United States to nitrate contamination

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gurdak, Jason J.; Qi, Sharon L.

2012-01-01

Recently recharged water (defined here as <60 years old) is generally the most vulnerable part of a groundwater resource to nonpoint-source nitrate contamination. Understanding at the appropriate scale the interactions of natural and anthropogenic controlling factors that influence nitrate occurrence in recently recharged groundwater is critical to support best management and policy decisions that are often made at the aquifer to subaquifer scale. New logistic regression models were developed using data from the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program and National Water Information System for 17 principal aquifers of the U.S. to identify important source, transport, and attenuation factors that control nonpoint source nitrate concentrations greater than relative background levels in recently recharged groundwater and were used to predict the probability of detecting elevated nitrate in areas beyond the sampling network. Results indicate that dissolved oxygen, crops and irrigated cropland, fertilizer application, seasonally high water table, and soil properties that affect infiltration and denitrification are among the most important factors in predicting elevated nitrate concentrations. Important differences in controlling factors and spatial predictions were identified in the principal aquifer and national-scale models and support the conclusion that similar spatial scales are needed between informed groundwater management and model development.

The NASA role in major areas of human concern: Environmental quality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

After introducing some of the general factors that have affected progress in the area of environmental quality, NASA program elements are examined to illustrate relevant points of contact. Interpretive steps are taken throughout the report to show a few of the more important ways people's lives have been affected as a result of the work of NASA and other organizations functioning in this area. The principal documents used and interviews conducted are identified.

The Role of Perceived Autonomy Support in Principals' Affective Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Yujin; Leach, Nicole; Anderman, Eric M.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the relations between principals' perceived autonomy support from superintendents, affective commitment to their school districts, and job satisfaction. We also explore possible moderation effects of principals' career experiences on these relations. Data were collected from K-12 public school principals in…

Optimizing protection efforts for amphibian conservation in Mediterranean landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Muñoz, Enrique; Ceacero, Francisco; Carretero, Miguel A.; Pedrajas-Pulido, Luis; Parra, Gema; Guerrero, Francisco

2013-05-01

Amphibians epitomize the modern biodiversity crisis, and attract great attention from the scientific community since a complex puzzle of factors has influence on their disappearance. However, these factors are multiple and spatially variable, and declining in each locality is due to a particular combination of causes. This study shows a suitable statistical procedure to determine threats to amphibian species in medium size administrative areas. For our study case, ten biological and ecological variables feasible to affect the survival of 15 amphibian species were categorized and reduced through Principal Component Analysis. The principal components extracted were related to ecological plasticity, reproductive potential, and specificity of breeding habitats. Finally, the factor scores of species were joined in a presence-absence matrix that gives us information to identify where and why conservation management are requires. In summary, this methodology provides the necessary information to maximize benefits of conservation measures in small areas by identifying which ecological factors need management efforts and where should we focus them on.

Abnormal Sensory Experiences, Synaesthesia, and Neurodevelopmental Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fluegge, Keith

2017-01-01

Preliminary evidence suggests that sensory processing may be affected in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this letter is to highlight a few recent studies on the topic and tie the findings to a recently identified epidemiological risk factor for ASD, principally environmental exposure to the air pollutant, nitrous oxide (N[subscript…

Influence of climate change factors on carbon dynamics in northern forested peatlands

Treesearch

C.C Trettin; R. Laiho; K. Minkkinen; J. Laine

2005-01-01

Peatlands are carbon-accumulating wetland ecosystems, developed through an imbalance among organic matter production and decomposition processes. Soil saturation is the principal cause of anoxic conditions that constrain organic matter decay. Accordingly, changes in the hydrologic regime will affect the carbon (C) dynamics in forested peatlands. Our objective is to...

Accessing Science Courses in Rural BC: A Cultural Border-Crossing Metaphor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nielsen, Wendy S.; Nashon, Samson Madera

2007-01-01

Students in small rural schools in British Columbia face barriers to accessing senior science courses. A case study employing questionnaire and interview methods sought the perspectives of principals, teachers, and students in the affected schools on this issue. Interpretive data analysis revealed the following barriers as key factors that affect…

A Study of the Predictability of School District Bond Ratings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vedra, Kenneth David

School district bond ratings, issued on request by Standard and Poor's Corporation or Moody's Investors Service, hold implications for school districts' financial management. Ultimately, the bond rating assigned is a factor affecting the total cost of the bond issuance, related to the principal and interest payments over the life of the debt. A…

Validation of the Consumer Values versus Perceived Product Attributes Model Measuring the Purchase of Athletic Team Merchandise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Donghun; Byon, Kevin K.; Schoenstedt, Linda; Johns, Gary; Bussell, Leigh Ann; Choi, Hwansuk

2012-01-01

Various consumer values and perceived product attributes trigger consumptive behaviors of athletic team merchandise (Lee, Trail, Kwon, & Anderson, 2011). Likewise, using a principal component analysis technique on a student sample, a measurement scale was proposed that consisted of nine factors affecting the purchase of athletic team…

Organizational Factors Affecting the Continuation of an Instructional Innovation for Heterogeneous Populations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dahl, Rene Fukuhara

This paper investigates the elementary school principal's role in helping to sustain implementation of a complex math and science program designed to foster the development of higher order thinking skills, particularly for language minority students. The study predicted a positive relationship between coordination and program continuation; if the…

EFFECT OF AMBIENT LIGHT, AERIAL EXPOSURE, AND SEASON ON EELGRASS (ZOSTERA MARINA) METRICS IN A NORTHEAST PACIFIC (USA) ESTUARY

EPA Science Inventory

Although light is the principal factor controlling the lower depth limit of seagrasses, little attention has been given to how reduced winter lighting may affect intertidal plants. In the present study intertidal light intensity, temperature, and aerial exposure were measured ove...

Factors Affecting the Performance of Public Schools in Lebanon

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mattar, Dorine M.

2012-01-01

By sampling extreme cases (five high-performing schools and five low-performing ones), the researcher revealed the differences in the teachers' motivation (Mattar, 2010) as well as the extent to which Principals adopted the instructional leadership style (Mattar, 2012) in the two sets of schools. Here, she looked for additional issues, within the…

Educators' Perceptions on Performance Pay: The Economic Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

BenDavid-Hadar, Iris

2012-01-01

Performance-pay as an educational policy is currently discussed both in research and in public debate. The principal agent theory application to an education system views teachers as more altruistic than opportunistic, and therefore affected by intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivations. An extensive amount of research has been published on the…

[Study on the related factors of suicidal ideation in college undergraduates].

PubMed

Gao, Hong-sheng; Qu, Cheng-yi; Miao, Mao-hua

2003-09-01

To evaluate psychosocial factors and patterns on suicidal ideation of the undergraduates in Shanxi province. Four thousand eight hundred and eighty-two undergraduates in Shanxi province were investigated with multistage stratified random clustered samples. Factors associated with suicidal ideation were analyzed with logistic regression and Path analysis by scores of Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSSI), Suicide Attitude Questionnaire (QSA), Adolescent Self-Rate Life Events Check List (ASLEC), DSQ, Social Support Rating Scale, SCL-90, Simple Coping Modes Questionnaire and EPQ. Tendency of psychological disorder was the major factor. Negative life events did not directly affect suicidal ideation, but personality did directly or indirectly affect suicidal ideation through coping and defensive response. Personality played a stabilized fundamental role while life events were minor but "triggering" agents. Mental disturbance disposition seemed to be the principal factor related to suicidal ideation. Above three factors were intergraded and resulted in suicidal ideation in chorus.

Disentangling Vulnerabilities from Outcomes: Distinctions between Trait Affect and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent and Adult Samples

PubMed Central

Harding, Kaitlin A.; Willey, Brittany; Ahles, Joshua; Mezulis, Amy

2016-01-01

Background Trait negative affect and trait positive affect are affective vulnerabilities to depressive symptoms in adolescence and adulthood. While trait affect and the state affect characteristic of depressive symptoms are proposed to be theoretically distinct, no studies have established that these constructs are statistically distinct. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to determine whether the trait affect (e.g. temperament dimensions) that predicts depressive symptoms and the state affect characteristic of depressive symptoms are statistically distinct among early adolescents and adults. We hypothesized that trait negative affect, trait positive affect, and depressive symptoms would represent largely distinct factors in both samples. Method Participants were 268 early adolescents (53.73% female) and 321 young adults (70.09% female) who completed self-report measures of demographic information, trait affect, and depressive symptoms. Results Principal axis factoring with oblique rotation for both samples indicated distinct adolescent factor loadings and overlapping adult factor loadings. Confirmatory factor analyses in both samples supported distinct but related relationships between trait NA, trait PA, and depressive symptoms. Limitations Study limitations include our cross-sectional design that prevented examination of self-reported fluctuations in trait affect and depressive symptoms and the unknown potential effects of self-report biases among adolescents and adults. Conclusions Findings support existing theoretical distinctions between adolescent constructs but highlight a need to revise or remove items to distinguish measurements of adult trait affect and depressive symptoms. Adolescent trait affect and depressive symptoms are statistically distinct, but adult trait affect and depressive symptoms statistically overlap and warrant further consideration. PMID:27085163

[Complexity and its integrative effects of the time lags of environment factors affecting Larix gmelinii stem sap flow].

PubMed

Wang, Hui-Mei; Sun, Wei; Zu, Yuan-Gang; Wang, Wen-Jie

2011-12-01

Based on the one-year (2005) observations with a frequency of half hour on the stem sap flow of Larix gmelinii plantation trees planted in 1969 and the related environmental factors air humidity (RH), air temperature (T(air)), photosynthetic components active radiation (PAR), soil temperature (T(soil)), and soil moisture (TDR), principal analysis (PCA) and correction analysis were made on the time lag effect of the stem flow in different seasons (26 days of each season) and in a year via dislocation analysis, with the complexity and its integrative effects of the time lags of environment factors affecting the stem sap flow approached. The results showed that in different seasons and for different environmental factors, the time lag effect varied obviously. In general, the time lag of PAR was 0.5-1 hour ahead of sap flow, that of T(air) and RH was 0-2 hours ahead of or behind the sap flow, and the time lags of T(soil) and TDR were much longer or sometimes undetectable. Because of the complexity of the time lags, no evident improvements were observed in the linear correlations (R2, slope, and intercept) when the time lags based on short-term (20 days) data were used to correct the time lags based on whole year data. However, obvious improvements were found in the standardized and non-standardized correlation coefficients in stepwise multiple regressions, i.e., the time lag corrections could improve the effects of RH, but decreased the effects of PAR, T(air), and T(soil). PCA could be used to simplify the complexity. The first and the second principal components could stand for over 75% information of all the environmental factors in different seasons and in whole year. The time lags of both the first and the second principal components were 1-1.5 hours in advance of the sap flow, except in winter (no time lag effect).

Conditions Affecting the Decision to Seek or Not Seek a Position as a School Assistant Principal/Principal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beach, Gerald M.

2010-01-01

The purpose of the study was to determine the conditions affecting the decision to seek or not seek a position as a school assistant principal or principal. The principalship presents unique challenges to the individual who aspires to building level leadership, and school districts are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit highly qualified…

Fixed and flexible formularies as cost-control mechanisms.

PubMed

Dewa, Carolyn S; Hoch, Jeffrey S

2003-06-01

The purpose of this review is to consider the prevalent types of fixed and flexible formularies, the general economic principles on which they are based and the evidence for their effectiveness in controlling rising drug expenditures. The principal-agent relationship and economic model underlying the various types of formularies are described. The principal-agent model describes a relationship where there is an asymmetry of information between two parties involved in a particular task. As a result of this asymmetry of information, the party with less information (the principal) allows the party with more information (the agent) to make decisions about that task or activity for them. In the case of formularies and cost-control, the principal is the payer. Depending on the incentives offered by the formulary, the agent can alternately be the prescriber, dispenser or patient. The success of a formulary type to control costs is dependent on two main factors. First, the payer (the principal) must identify the agent for whom it is reasonable to create incentives that incorporate the financial risks associated with use of the drugs. Second, the payer must develop a structure that best aligns the principal and agent objectives. The principal-agent framework serves as the vehicle through which the authors examine five major types of formularies (i.e., closed, best available price, reference-based pricing, tiered and open formularies) and their inherent incentives and limitations. The evidence for their effectiveness as cost-control mechanisms is reviewed and the system factors that can affect formulary success will be discussed. Finally, the authors' observations are summarized and interpreted, and suggested implications for future use of formularies in controlling the costs of pharmaceutical use are offered.

Bidding factors-the reduction of the data dimension with the use of PCA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leśniak, Agnieszka

2017-07-01

Making the decision to participate in the tender is subject to a number of factors, affects the health of the company and is an important aspect in its quest for success. Efforts to select bidding factors have been repeatedly undertaken in various countries and in numerous construction markets. Researchers usually give a long list of factors, also called criteria, which in their opinion may significantly influence the bidding decision. The paper presents an attempt to reduce a proposed set of bidding factorsdefined in Poland with the use of thePrincipal Component Analysis.

Project on the Effects of the School as a Workplace on Teachers' Engagement: Field Study on Principals' Management of Schools To Affect Teacher Engagement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rossmiller, Richard A.

Despite the recognized importance of school-level leadership, little attention has been given to principals' influence over teachers' daily work lives. This study tries to identify what principals do, through their actions and decisions, to affect teachers' working conditions. Since teacher engagement in their work affects student learning, the…

Estimates of genetic parameters for oleoresin and growth traits in juvenile loblolly pine

Treesearch

James H. Roberds; Brian L. Strom; Fred P. Hain; David P. Gwaze; Steven E. McKeand; Larry H. Lott

2003-01-01

In southern pines of the United States, resistance to attack by southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann, is believed to principally involve flow of oleoresin to beetle attack sites. Both environmental and genetic factors are known to affect the quantity of oleoresin flow in loblolly pine, Pinus taeda L., but little...

The Effects of Principal Leadership Behavior on New Teachers' Overall Job Satisfaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Sherree L.

2014-01-01

Teacher attrition has become a concern at local, state, and national levels. As a result, a number of researchers have examined the factors that affect teacher job satisfaction and retention. However, in spite of all the efforts in research to find a solution, problems associated with teacher attrition have not significantly improved. This study…

Snow accumulation under various forest stand densities at Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest, Montana, USA

Treesearch

Chadwick A. Moore; Ward W. McCaughey

1997-01-01

Snow accumulation in forested watersheds is controlled by climate, elevation, topographic factors and vegetation structure. Conifers affect snow accumulation principally by intercepting snow with the canopy which may later be sublimated. Various tree, stand, species and canopy densities of a subalpine fir habitat (ALBANASC) in central Montana were studied to determine...

The Principal's Role in Marketing the School: Subjective Interpretations and Personal Influences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oplatka, Izhar

2007-01-01

The literature on educational marketing to date has been concerned with the ways by which schools market and promote themselves in the community, their strategies to maintain and enhance their image, and the factors affecting parents and children and the processes they undergo when choosing their junior high and high school. Yet, there remains a…

Design of experiments and principal component analysis as approaches for enhancing performance of gas-diffusional air-breathing bilirubin oxidase cathode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babanova, Sofia; Artyushkova, Kateryna; Ulyanova, Yevgenia; Singhal, Sameer; Atanassov, Plamen

2014-01-01

Two statistical methods, design of experiments (DOE) and principal component analysis (PCA) are employed to investigate and improve performance of air-breathing gas-diffusional enzymatic electrodes. DOE is utilized as a tool for systematic organization and evaluation of various factors affecting the performance of the composite system. Based on the results from the DOE, an improved cathode is constructed. The current density generated utilizing the improved cathode (755 ± 39 μA cm-2 at 0.3 V vs. Ag/AgCl) is 2-5 times higher than the highest current density previously achieved. Three major factors contributing to the cathode performance are identified: the amount of enzyme, the volume of phosphate buffer used to immobilize the enzyme, and the thickness of the gas-diffusion layer (GDL). PCA is applied as an independent confirmation tool to support conclusions made by DOE and to visualize the contribution of factors in individual cathode configurations.

Adherence to an (n-3) Fatty Acid/Fish Intake Pattern Is Inversely Associated with Metabolic Syndrome among Puerto Rican Adults in the Greater Boston Area123

PubMed Central

Noel, Sabrina E.; Newby, P. K.; Ordovas, Jose M.; Tucker, Katherine L.

2010-01-01

Combinations of fatty acids may affect risk of metabolic syndrome. Puerto Ricans have a disproportionate number of chronic conditions compared with other Hispanic groups. We aimed to characterize fatty acid intake patterns of Puerto Rican adults aged 45–75 y and living in the Greater Boston area (n = 1207) and to examine associations between these patterns and metabolic syndrome. Dietary fatty acids, as a percentage of total fat, were entered into principle components analysis. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to examine associations between fatty acid intake patterns, nutrients, and food groups. Associations with metabolic syndrome were analyzed by using logistic regression and general linear models with quintiles of principal component scores. Four principal components (factors) emerged: factor 1, short- and medium-chain SFA/dairy; factor 2, (n-3) fatty acid/fish; factor 3, very long-chain (VLC) SFA and PUFA/oils; and factor 4, monounsaturated fatty acid/trans fat. The SFA/dairy factor was inversely associated with fasting serum glucose concentrations (P = 0.02) and the VLC SFA/oils factor was negatively related to waist circumference (P = 0.008). However, these associations were no longer significant after additional adjustment for BMI. The (n-3) fatty acid/fish factor was associated with a lower likelihood of metabolic syndrome (Q5 vs. Q1: odds ratio: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.34, 0.86). In summary, principal components analysis of fatty acid intakes revealed 4 dietary fatty acid patterns in this population. Identifying optimal combinations of fatty acids may be beneficial for understanding relationships with health outcomes given their diverse effects on metabolism. PMID:20702744

Leader Perceptions and Student Achievement: An Examination of Reading and Mathematics International Test Results in Korea and the USA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shin, Seon-Hi; Slater, Charles L.; Ortiz, Steve

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine what factors affect student achievement in reading and mathematics. The research questions addressed the perceptions of school principals and background characteristics related to student achievement in Korea and the USA with respect to differences among students in low, middle and high quantiles.…

A preliminary analysis of human factors affecting the recognition accuracy of a discrete word recognizer for C3 systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yellen, H. W.

1983-03-01

Literature pertaining to Voice Recognition abounds with information relevant to the assessment of transitory speech recognition devices. In the past, engineering requirements have dictated the path this technology followed. But, other factors do exist that influence recognition accuracy. This thesis explores the impact of Human Factors on the successful recognition of speech, principally addressing the differences or variability among users. A Threshold Technology T-600 was used for a 100 utterance vocubalary to test 44 subjects. A statistical analysis was conducted on 5 generic categories of Human Factors: Occupational, Operational, Psychological, Physiological and Personal. How the equipment is trained and the experience level of the speaker were found to be key characteristics influencing recognition accuracy. To a lesser extent computer experience, time or week, accent, vital capacity and rate of air flow, speaker cooperativeness and anxiety were found to affect overall error rates.

Interface test series: An in situ study of factors affecting the containment of hydraulic fractures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warpinski, N. R.; Finley, S. J.; Vollendorf, W. C.; Obrien, M.; Eshom, E.

1982-02-01

In situ experiments, which are accessible for direct observation by mineback, were conducted to determine the effect that material-property interfaces and in situ stress differences have on hydraulic fracture propagation and the resultant overall geometry. These experiments show conclusively that a difference in elastic modulus at a geologic interface has little or no effect on crack growth and, therefore, is not a feature which would promote containment of fractures within a specified reservoir zone. However, differences in the in situ stress between adjacent layers is shown to have a considerable influence on fracture propagation. Experiments were conducted in a low modulus ash-fall tuff which contained two layers of high minimum principal in situ stress and which was overlain by a formation with at least a factor of 5 increase in elastic modulus. Fractures were observed to terminate in regions of high minimum principal in situ stress in nearly every case.

Evaluation of factors affecting the edge formability of two hot rolled multiphase steels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukherjee, Monideepa; Tiwari, Sumit; Bhattacharya, Basudev

2018-02-01

In this study, the effect of various factors on the hole expansion ratio and hence on the edge formability of two hot rolled multiphase steels, one with a ferrite-martensite microstructure and the other with a ferrite-bainite microstructure, was investigated through systematic microstructural and mechanical characterization. The study revealed that the microstructure of the steels, which determines their strain hardening capacity and fracture resistance, is the principal factor controlling edge formability. The influence of other factors such as tensile strength, ductility, anisotropy, and thickness, though present, are secondary. A critical evaluation of the available empirical models for hole expansion ratio prediction is also presented.

Environmental factors affecting contaminant toxicity in aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rattner, Barnett A.; Heath, Alan G.; Hoffman, David J.; Rattner, Barnett A.; Burton, G. Allen; Cairns, John

2003-01-01

Physical and natural factors have long been known to influence the toxicity of environmental contaminants to vertebrates. The majority of data that address this topic have been derived from studies on fish, highly inbred laboratory rodents, and man.' The degree to which these factors modify toxicity has principally been elucidated by controlled laboratory experiments. Until recently, the significance of such effects to free-ranging vertebrates Figure 23.1 was frequently overlooked in ecological risk assessments.' Drawing upon controlled experiments and observational science, we overview environmental factors that influence pollutant toxicity in fish and wildlife, and present some perspective on their ecotoxicological significance.

[Assessment of the strength of tobacco control on creating smoke-free hospitals using principal components analysis].

PubMed

Liu, Hui-lin; Wan, Xia; Yang, Gong-huan

2013-02-01

To explore the relationship between the strength of tobacco control and the effectiveness of creating smoke-free hospital, and summarize the main factors that affect the program of creating smoke-free hospitals. A total of 210 hospitals from 7 provinces/municipalities directly under the central government were enrolled in this study using stratified random sampling method. Principle component analysis and regression analysis were conducted to analyze the strength of tobacco control and the effectiveness of creating smoke-free hospitals. Two principal components were extracted in the strength of tobacco control index, which respectively reflected the tobacco control policies and efforts, and the willingness and leadership of hospital managers regarding tobacco control. The regression analysis indicated that only the first principal component was significantly correlated with the progression in creating smoke-free hospital (P<0.001), i.e. hospitals with higher scores on the first principal component had better achievements in smoke-free environment creation. Tobacco control policies and efforts are critical in creating smoke-free hospitals. The principal component analysis provides a comprehensive and objective tool for evaluating the creation of smoke-free hospitals.

Application of principal component analysis to ecodiversity assessment of postglacial landscape (on the example of Debnica Kaszubska commune, Middle Pomerania)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wojciechowski, Adam

2017-04-01

In order to assess ecodiversity understood as a comprehensive natural landscape factor (Jedicke 2001), it is necessary to apply research methods which recognize the environment in a holistic way. Principal component analysis may be considered as one of such methods as it allows to distinguish the main factors determining landscape diversity on the one hand, and enables to discover regularities shaping the relationships between various elements of the environment under study on the other hand. The procedure adopted to assess ecodiversity with the use of principal component analysis involves: a) determining and selecting appropriate factors of the assessed environment qualities (hypsometric, geological, hydrographic, plant, and others); b) calculating the absolute value of individual qualities for the basic areas under analysis (e.g. river length, forest area, altitude differences, etc.); c) principal components analysis and obtaining factor maps (maps of selected components); d) generating a resultant, detailed map and isolating several classes of ecodiversity. An assessment of ecodiversity with the use of principal component analysis was conducted in the test area of 299,67 km2 in Debnica Kaszubska commune. The whole commune is situated in the Weichselian glaciation area of high hypsometric and morphological diversity as well as high geo- and biodiversity. The analysis was based on topographical maps of the commune area in scale 1:25000 and maps of forest habitats. Consequently, nine factors reflecting basic environment elements were calculated: maximum height (m), minimum height (m), average height (m), the length of watercourses (km), the area of water reservoirs (m2), total forest area (ha), coniferous forests habitats area (ha), deciduous forest habitats area (ha), alder habitats area (ha). The values for individual factors were analysed for 358 grid cells of 1 km2. Based on the principal components analysis, four major factors affecting commune ecodiversity were distinguished: hypsometric component (PC1), deciduous forest habitats component (PC2), river valleys and alder habitats component (PC3), and lakes component (PC4). The distinguished factors characterise natural qualities of postglacial area and reflect well the role of the four most important groups of environment components in shaping ecodiversity of the area under study. The map of ecodiversity of Debnica Kaszubska commune was created on the basis of the first four principal component scores and then five classes of diversity were isolated: very low, low, average, high and very high. As a result of the assessment, five commune regions of very high ecodiversity were separated. These regions are also very attractive for tourists and valuable in terms of their rich nature which include protected areas such as Slupia Valley Landscape Park. The suggested method of ecodiversity assessment with the use of principal component analysis may constitute an alternative methodological proposition to other research methods used so far. Literature Jedicke E., 2001. Biodiversität, Geodiversität, Ökodiversität. Kriterien zur Analyse der Landschaftsstruktur - ein konzeptioneller Diskussionsbeitrag. Naturschutz und Landschaftsplanung, 33(2/3), 59-68.

Factors associated with successful transition among children with disabilities in eight European countries

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Introduction This research paper aims to assess factors reported by parents associated with the successful transition of children with complex additional support requirements that have undergone a transition between school environments from 8 European Union member states. Methods Quantitative data were collected from 306 parents within education systems from 8 EU member states (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and the UK). The data were derived from an online questionnaire and consisted of 41 questions. Information was collected on: parental involvement in their child’s transition, child involvement in transition, child autonomy, school ethos, professionals’ involvement in transition and integrated working, such as, joint assessment, cooperation and coordination between agencies. Survey questions that were designed on a Likert-scale were included in the Principal Components Analysis (PCA), additional survey questions, along with the results from the PCA, were used to build a logistic regression model. Results Four principal components were identified accounting for 48.86% of the variability in the data. Principal component 1 (PC1), ‘child inclusive ethos,’ contains 16.17% of the variation. Principal component 2 (PC2), which represents child autonomy and involvement, is responsible for 8.52% of the total variation. Principal component 3 (PC3) contains questions relating to parental involvement and contributed to 12.26% of the overall variation. Principal component 4 (PC4), which involves transition planning and coordination, contributed to 11.91% of the overall variation. Finally, the principal components were included in a logistic regression to evaluate the relationship between inclusion and a successful transition, as well as whether other factors that may have influenced transition. All four principal components were significantly associated with a successful transition, with PC1 being having the most effect (OR: 4.04, CI: 2.43–7.18, p<0.0001). Discussion To support a child with complex additional support requirements through transition from special school to mainstream, governments and professionals need to ensure children with additional support requirements and their parents are at the centre of all decisions that affect them. It is important that professionals recognise the educational, psychological, social and cultural contexts of a child with additional support requirements and their families which will provide a holistic approach and remove barriers for learning. PMID:28636649

Factors associated with successful transition among children with disabilities in eight European countries.

PubMed

Ravenscroft, John; Wazny, Kerri; Davis, John M

2017-01-01

This research paper aims to assess factors reported by parents associated with the successful transition of children with complex additional support requirements that have undergone a transition between school environments from 8 European Union member states. Quantitative data were collected from 306 parents within education systems from 8 EU member states (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and the UK). The data were derived from an online questionnaire and consisted of 41 questions. Information was collected on: parental involvement in their child's transition, child involvement in transition, child autonomy, school ethos, professionals' involvement in transition and integrated working, such as, joint assessment, cooperation and coordination between agencies. Survey questions that were designed on a Likert-scale were included in the Principal Components Analysis (PCA), additional survey questions, along with the results from the PCA, were used to build a logistic regression model. Four principal components were identified accounting for 48.86% of the variability in the data. Principal component 1 (PC1), 'child inclusive ethos,' contains 16.17% of the variation. Principal component 2 (PC2), which represents child autonomy and involvement, is responsible for 8.52% of the total variation. Principal component 3 (PC3) contains questions relating to parental involvement and contributed to 12.26% of the overall variation. Principal component 4 (PC4), which involves transition planning and coordination, contributed to 11.91% of the overall variation. Finally, the principal components were included in a logistic regression to evaluate the relationship between inclusion and a successful transition, as well as whether other factors that may have influenced transition. All four principal components were significantly associated with a successful transition, with PC1 being having the most effect (OR: 4.04, CI: 2.43-7.18, p<0.0001). To support a child with complex additional support requirements through transition from special school to mainstream, governments and professionals need to ensure children with additional support requirements and their parents are at the centre of all decisions that affect them. It is important that professionals recognise the educational, psychological, social and cultural contexts of a child with additional support requirements and their families which will provide a holistic approach and remove barriers for learning.

The Relation between Factor Score Estimates, Image Scores, and Principal Component Scores

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Velicer, Wayne F.

1976-01-01

Investigates the relation between factor score estimates, principal component scores, and image scores. The three methods compared are maximum likelihood factor analysis, principal component analysis, and a variant of rescaled image analysis. (RC)

Allocation to leaf area and sapwood area affects water relations of co-occurring savanna and forest trees

Treesearch

Sybil G. Gotsch; Erika L. Geiger; Augusto C. Franco; Guillermo Goldstein; Frederick C. Meinzer; William A. Hoffmann

2010-01-01

Water availability is a principal factor limiting the distribution of closed-canopy forest in the seasonal tropics, suggesting that forest tree species may not be well adapted to cope with seasonal drought. We studied 11 congeneric species pairs, each containing one forest and one savanna species, to test the hypothesis that forest trees have a lower capacity to...

Principals and School Factors that Impact Elementary School Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gieselmann, Sharon

2009-01-01

This study examined principals and school factors associated with elementary school student achievement. Nine predictor variables were analyzed to determine their impact on student state assessment scores: (a) years of principal experience, (b) years of teaching experience by the principal, (c) years of principal experience at present site, (d)…

Effects of natural and human factors on groundwater quality of basin-fill aquifers in the southwestern United States-conceptual models for selected contaminants

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bexfield, Laura M.; Thiros, Susan A.; Anning, David W.; Huntington, Jena M.; McKinney, Tim S.

2011-01-01

As part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program, the Southwest Principal Aquifers (SWPA) study is building a better understanding of the factors that affect water quality in basin-fill aquifers in the Southwestern United States. The SWPA study area includes four principal aquifers of the United States: the Basin and Range basin-fill aquifers in California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona; the Rio Grande aquifer system in New Mexico and Colorado; and the California Coastal Basin and Central Valley aquifer systems in California. Similarities in the hydrogeology, land- and water-use practices, and water-quality issues for alluvial basins within the study area allow for regional analysis through synthesis of the baseline knowledge of groundwater-quality conditions in basins previously studied by the NAWQA Program. Resulting improvements in the understanding of the sources, movement, and fate of contaminants are assisting in the development of tools used to assess aquifer susceptibility and vulnerability.This report synthesizes previously published information about the groundwater systems and water quality of 15 information-rich basin-fill aquifers (SWPA case-study basins) into conceptual models of the primary natural and human factors commonly affecting groundwater quality with respect to selected contaminants, thereby helping to build a regional understanding of the susceptibility and vulnerability of basin-fill aquifers to those contaminants. Four relatively common contaminants (dissolved solids, nitrate, arsenic, and uranium) and two contaminant classes (volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and pesticide compounds) were investigated for sources and controls affecting their occurrence and distribution above specified levels of concern in groundwater of the case-study basins. Conceptual models of factors that are important to aquifer vulnerability with respect to those contaminants and contaminant classes were subsequently formed. The conceptual models are intended in part to provide a foundation for subsequent development of regional-scale statistical models that relate specific constituent concentrations or occurrence in groundwater to natural and human factors.

Factors affecting the views and attitudes of Scottish pharmacists to continuing professional development.

PubMed

Power, Ailsa; Grammatiki, Aikaterini; Bates, Ian; Mc Kellar, Susan; Johnson, B Julienne; Diack, H Lesley; Stewart, Derek; Hudson, Steve A

2011-12-01

To explore factors associated with Scottish pharmacists' views and attitudes to continuing professional development (CPD). A retrospective principal component analysis of 552 (22.8%) questionnaires returned from a sample of 2420 Scottish pharmacists randomly selected from the 4300 pharmacists registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and with a Scottish address. Principal component analysis of questionnaire items (n = 19) revealed four factors associated with Scottish pharmacists' views and attitudes to CPD: having positive support in the workplace, having access to resources and meeting learning needs, having confidence in the CPD process and motivation to participate in the CPD process. Community pharmacists were identified as the subgroup of pharmacists that needed most support for CPD regarding all four factors, while pharmacists working in primary care felt that they had most support in the workplace in comparison to other sectors (P < 0.05) and better access to resources and meeting learning needs when compared to community (P < 0.001) and hospital (P = 0.008) colleagues. Pharmacists working in primary care also felt more motivated to participate in the CPD process than those in the community (P < 0.001), and hospital pharmacists reported having more confidence in the CPD process compared to community pharmacists (P < 0.05). Using principal component analysis has identified four factors associated with Scottish pharmacists' views and attitudes to CPD. This may provide an approach to facilitate comparison of CPD views and attitudes with intra and inter professional groupings. Further study may allow identification of good practice and solutions to common CPD issues. © 2011 The Authors. IJPP © 2011 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Defensive mobilization in specific phobia: Fear specificity, negative affectivity and diagnostic prominence

PubMed Central

McTeague, Lisa M.; Lang, Peter J.; Wangelin, Bethany C.; Laplante, Marie-Claude; Bradley, Margaret M.

2012-01-01

Background Understanding of exaggerated responsivity in specific phobia—its physiology and neural mediators—has advanced considerably. However, despite strong phenotypic evidence that prominence of specific phobia relative to co-occurring conditions (i.e., principal versus non-principal disorder) is associated with dramatic differences in subjective distress, there is yet no consideration of such comorbidity issues on objective defensive reactivity. Methods A community sample of specific phobia (N=74 principal phobia; N=86 non-principal phobia) and control (n=76) participants imagined threatening and neutral events while acoustic startle probes were presented and eye-blink responses (orbicularis occuli) recorded. Changes in heart rate, skin conductance level, and facial expressivity were also measured. Results Principal specific phobia patients far exceeded controls in startle reflex and autonomic reactivity during imagery of idiographic fear scenes. Distinguishing between single and multiple phobias within principal phobia and comparing these to non-principal phobia revealed a continuum of decreasing defensive mobilization: single phobia patients were strongly reactive, multiple phobia intermediate, and non-principal patients reliably attenuated—the inverse of measures of pervasive anxiety and dysphoria (i.e., negative affectivity). Further, as more disorders supplanted specific phobia from principal disorder, overall defensive mobilization was systematically more impaired. Conclusions The exaggerated responsivity considered characteristic of specific phobia is limited to those patients for whom circumscribed fear is the most impairing condition, and coincident with little additional affective psychopathology. As specific phobia is superseded in severity by broad and chronic negative affectivity, defensive reactivity progressively diminishes. Focal fears may still be clinically-significant, but not reflected in objective measures of defensive mobilization. PMID:22386377

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Delirium Rating Scale Revised-98 (DRS-R98).

PubMed

Thurber, Steven; Kishi, Yasuhiro; Trzepacz, Paula T; Franco, Jose G; Meagher, David J; Lee, Yanghyun; Kim, Jeong-Lan; Furlanetto, Leticia M; Negreiros, Daniel; Huang, Ming-Chyi; Chen, Chun-Hsin; Kean, Jacob; Leonard, Maeve

2015-01-01

Principal components analysis applied to the Delirium Rating Scale-Revised-98 contributes to understanding the delirium construct. Using a multisite pooled international delirium database, the authors applied confirmatory factor analysis to Delirium Rating Scale-Revised-98 scores from 859 adult patients evaluated by delirium experts (delirium, N=516; nondelirium, N=343). Confirmatory factor analysis found all diagnostic features and core symptoms (cognitive, language, thought process, sleep-wake cycle, motor retardation), except motor agitation, loaded onto factor 1. Motor agitation loaded onto factor 2 with noncore symptoms (delusions, affective lability, and perceptual disturbances). Factor 1 loading supports delirium as a single construct, but when accompanied by psychosis, motor agitation's role may not be solely as a circadian activity indicator.

Amazonian freshwater habitats experiencing environmental and socioeconomic threats affecting subsistence fisheries.

PubMed

Alho, Cleber J R; Reis, Roberto E; Aquino, Pedro P U

2015-09-01

Matching the trend seen among the major large rivers of the globe, the Amazon River and its tributaries are facing aquatic ecosystem disruption that is affecting freshwater habitats and their associated biodiversity, including trends for decline in fishery resources. The Amazon's aquatic ecosystems, linked natural resources, and human communities that depend on them are increasingly at risk from a number of identified threats, including expansion of agriculture; cattle pastures; infrastructure such as hydroelectric dams, logging, mining; and overfishing. The forest, which regulates the hydrological pulse, guaranteeing the distribution of rainfall and stabilizing seasonal flooding, has been affected by deforestation. Flooding dynamics of the Amazon Rivers are a major factor in regulating the intensity and timing of aquatic organisms. This study's objective was to identify threats to the integrity of freshwater ecosystems, and to seek instruments for conservation and sustainable use, taking principally fish diversity and fisheries as factors for analysis.

Opportunities and constraints for organizations to help sustain tropical forest resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hyman, Eric L.

1986-01-01

A large number of organizations make decisions that directly or indirectly affect tropical forests. The principal constraints that affect these organizations are (1) insufficient funds; (2) insufficient knowledge about the resources and appropriate technologies; (3) institutional, cultural, and political factors; (4) inadequate communication; and (5) contradictory efforts. Opportunities for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of these organizations include (1) increasing cooperation among US government agencies; (2) redirecting international organizations; (3) increasing coordination among organizations; (4) boosting support of nongovernmental organizations and universities; (5) encouraging responsible involvement by private corporations; (6) strengthening existing organizations; and (7) creating new organizations.

Principal Investigator-in-a-Box

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, Laurence R.

1999-01-01

Human performance in orbit is currently limited by several factors beyond the intrinsic awkwardness of motor control in weightlessness. Cognitive functioning can be affected by such factors as cumulative sleep loss, stress and the psychological effects of long-duration small-group isolation. When an astronaut operates a scientific experiment, the performance decrement associated with such factors can lead to lost or poor quality data and even the total loss of a scientific objective, at great cost to the sponsors and to the dismay of the Principal Investigator. In long-duration flights, as anticipated on the International Space Station and on any planetary exploration, the experimental model is further complicated by long delays between training and experiment, and the large number of experiments each crew member must perform. Although no documented studies have been published on the subject, astronauts report that an unusually large number of simple errors are made in space. Whether a result of the effects of microgravity, accumulated fatigue, stress or other factors, this pattern of increased error supports the need for a computerized decision-making aid for astronauts performing experiments. Artificial intelligence and expert systems might serve as powerful tools for assisting experiments in space. Those conducting space experiments typically need assistance exactly when the planned checklist does not apply. Expert systems, which use bits of human knowledge and human methods to respond appropriately to unusual situations, have a flexibility that is highly desirable in circumstances where an invariably predictable course of action/response does not exist. Frequently the human expert on the ground is unavailable, lacking the latest information, or not consulted by the astronaut conducting the experiment. In response to these issues, we have developed "Principal Investigator-in-a-Box," or [PI], to capture the reasoning process of the real expert, the Principal Investigator, and combine that with real-time data available in space in order to advise the astronaut about how to proceed in real time. [PI] advises the astronaut during the progress of an experiment in much the same way a real Principal Investigator might do while looking over the astronaut's shoulder. In its original application, [PI] mimicked several of the tasks of the Principal Investigator, including data quality monitoring, troubleshooting, prescheduling, protocol management and "interesting data" detection. The proposed research focuses on the efficacy of this technique as applied to the data quality monitoring and troubleshooting aspects of [PI].

Growth history and crown vine coverage are principal factors influencing growth and mortality rates of big-leaf mahogany Swietenia macrophylla in Brazil

Treesearch

James Grogan; R. Matthew Landis

2009-01-01

1. Current efforts to model population dynamics of high-value tropical timber species largely assume that individual growth history is unimportant to population dynamics, yet growth autocorrelation is known to adversely affect model predictions. In this study, we analyse a decade of annual census data from a natural population of big-leaf mahogany Swietenia macrophylla...

Factors Influence the Digital Media Teaching of Primary School Teachers in a Flipped Class: A Taiwan Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, Yung-Hsun; Weng, Chia-Wen

2017-01-01

The current study focuses on the key roles that affect the success of a flipped classroom. The research was conducted with a questionnaire survey created from a study of literature review. Out of a total of 441 samples, 424 valid samples (96.14%) from teachers have been received. The study key conclusions are as follows: (1) a principal leadership…

Factory-Based Permethrin Impregnation of Uniforms: Residual Activity against Aedes aegypti and Ixodes ricinus in Battle Dress Uniforms Worn under Field Conditions, and Cross-Contamination during the Laundering and Storage Process

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-06-01

fever, relapsing fever, scrub typhus , and visceral leishmaniasis were either principal or contributing factors affecting overall mortal- ity and...human health. In 26 of 52 retro- spectively analyzed wars from 480 BC to 2002 AD, vector-borne diseases like plague, louse-borne typhus , malaria, yellow

How Does District Principal Evaluation Affect Learning-Centered Principal Leadership? Evidence from Michigan School Districts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Min; Youngs, Peter

2009-01-01

This study used Hierarchical Multivariate Linear models to investigate relationships between principals' behaviors and district principal evaluation purpose, focus, and assessed leadership activities in 13 school districts in Michigan. The study found that principals were more likely to engage in learning-centered leadership behaviors when the…

Soil Fumigation: Principles and Application Technology

PubMed Central

Lembright, H. W.

1990-01-01

The principal soil fumigants and their order of discovery are carbon disulfide, chloropicrin, methyl bromide, 1,3-dichloropropene, ethylene dibromide, 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane, and methyl isothiocyanate. Biological activity of soil fumigants ranges from limited to broad spectrum. Fumigants diffuse through the continuous soil air space as gases. Physical and chemical characteristics determine diffusion rates, distribution between the soil air and moisture, and sorption onto and into the soil particles. The principal soil factors affecting the efficacy of each treatment are the size and continuity of air space, moisture, temperature, organic matter, and depth of placement. Application can be made overall with tractor injection or plow-sole, or as a row or bed treatment. Treatment for trees is best made in conjunction with tree site backhoeing. PMID:19287772

Subscales measuring symptoms of non-specific depression, anhedonia, and anxiety in the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.

PubMed

Tuohy, Alan; McVey, Cynthia

2008-06-01

There has been considerable research and clinical interest in the comorbidity of anxiety and depression in the post-partum period, and specifically in the possibility that the commonly used Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) incorporates an anxiety component. We hypothesized that the recommended version of factor analysis (Fabrigar, Wegener, MacCallum, & Strahan, 1999) would identify such covert dimensions more reliably than the commonly used principal components analysis with varimax rotation and eigenvalues greater than 1. Principal axis factor extraction with parallel analysis and oblique (direct quartimin) factor rotation was applied to the 10 EPDS items. The study used a sample of recent mothers recruited and assessed via e-mail and the Internet (N=440). In addition to the EPDS, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Positive and Negative Affect Scales (PANAS) were also administered. Three factors were found, which were identified as 'non-specific depressive symptoms', 'anhedonia', and 'anxietal symptoms' subscales, respectively. These subscales were regressed on the HADS anxiety and depression and the PANAS positive and negative affectivity scales, with results substantially consistent with current structural models of the taxonomy of the emotional disorders. The data were obtained from a self-selected non-clinical sample. In addition, it is known that the use of computer-based assessment may tend to inflate self-report scores. It was concluded that there is now sufficient evidence that clinicians should not assume the EPDS to be unidimensional, but should assess all three subscales when screening for susceptibility to post-partum depression and/or post-partum anxiety.

Principals and Superintendents: Perceptions of Involvement in the Budgeting Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LaCost, Barbara Y.; Grady, Marilyn L.

1994-01-01

Summarizes study comparing superintendents' and principals' expectations concerning principals' involvement in making budget decisions at school site. Respondents differed significantly regarding degree of principal involvement in salary decisions about noncertificated staff, purchase of texts and library books, and decisions affecting building…

Validating the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ-II) Using Set-ESEM: Identifying Psychosocial Risk Factors in a Sample of School Principals

PubMed Central

Dicke, Theresa; Marsh, Herbert W.; Riley, Philip; Parker, Philip D.; Guo, Jiesi; Horwood, Marcus

2018-01-01

School principals world-wide report high levels of strain and attrition resulting in a shortage of qualified principals. It is thus crucial to identify psychosocial risk factors that reflect principals' occupational wellbeing. For this purpose, we used the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ-II), a widely used self-report measure covering multiple psychosocial factors identified by leading occupational stress theories. We evaluated the COPSOQ-II regarding factor structure and longitudinal, discriminant, and convergent validity using latent structural equation modeling in a large sample of Australian school principals (N = 2,049). Results reveal that confirmatory factor analysis produced marginally acceptable model fit. A novel approach we call set exploratory structural equation modeling (set-ESEM), where cross-loadings were only allowed within a priori defined sets of factors, fit well, and was more parsimonious than a full ESEM. Further multitrait-multimethod models based on the set-ESEM confirm the importance of a principal's psychosocial risk factors; Stressors and depression were related to demands and ill-being, while confidence and autonomy were related to wellbeing. We also show that working in the private sector was beneficial for showing a low psychosocial risk, while other demographics have little effects. Finally, we identify five latent risk profiles (high risk to no risk) of school principals based on all psychosocial factors. Overall the research presented here closes the theory application gap of a strong multi-dimensional measure of psychosocial risk-factors. PMID:29760670

Validating the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ-II) Using Set-ESEM: Identifying Psychosocial Risk Factors in a Sample of School Principals.

PubMed

Dicke, Theresa; Marsh, Herbert W; Riley, Philip; Parker, Philip D; Guo, Jiesi; Horwood, Marcus

2018-01-01

School principals world-wide report high levels of strain and attrition resulting in a shortage of qualified principals. It is thus crucial to identify psychosocial risk factors that reflect principals' occupational wellbeing. For this purpose, we used the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ-II), a widely used self-report measure covering multiple psychosocial factors identified by leading occupational stress theories. We evaluated the COPSOQ-II regarding factor structure and longitudinal, discriminant, and convergent validity using latent structural equation modeling in a large sample of Australian school principals ( N = 2,049). Results reveal that confirmatory factor analysis produced marginally acceptable model fit. A novel approach we call set exploratory structural equation modeling (set-ESEM), where cross-loadings were only allowed within a priori defined sets of factors, fit well, and was more parsimonious than a full ESEM. Further multitrait-multimethod models based on the set-ESEM confirm the importance of a principal's psychosocial risk factors; Stressors and depression were related to demands and ill-being, while confidence and autonomy were related to wellbeing. We also show that working in the private sector was beneficial for showing a low psychosocial risk, while other demographics have little effects. Finally, we identify five latent risk profiles (high risk to no risk) of school principals based on all psychosocial factors. Overall the research presented here closes the theory application gap of a strong multi-dimensional measure of psychosocial risk-factors.

12 CFR 561.39 - Principal office.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Principal office. 561.39 Section 561.39 Banks and Banking OFFICE OF THRIFT SUPERVISION, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY DEFINITIONS FOR REGULATIONS AFFECTING ALL SAVINGS ASSOCIATIONS § 561.39 Principal office. The term principal office means the home...

Critical Factors Explaining the Leadership Performance of High-Performing Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hutton, Disraeli M.

2018-01-01

The study explored critical factors that explain leadership performance of high-performing principals and examined the relationship between these factors based on the ratings of school constituents in the public school system. The principal component analysis with the use of Varimax Rotation revealed that four components explain 51.1% of the…

Reassessing the Behavior of Principals as a Multiple-Factor in Teachers' Job Satisfaction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bogler, Ronit

This paper reports on a study that examined the effects of three factors on teacher satisfaction: principal leadership style (transformational or transactional), principal decision-making strategy (autocratic versus participative), and teachers' perceptions of their occupation. An overview of each of the three factors is provided. For the study, a…

Dietary intake of palmitate and oleate has broad impact on systemic and tissue lipid profiles in humans.

PubMed

Kien, C Lawrence; Bunn, Janice Y; Stevens, Robert; Bain, James; Ikayeva, Olga; Crain, Karen; Koves, Timothy R; Muoio, Deborah M

2014-03-01

Epidemiologic evidence has suggested that diets with a high ratio of palmitic acid (PA) to oleic acid (OA) increase risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). To gain additional insights into the relative effect of dietary fatty acids and their metabolism on CVD risk, we sought to identify a metabolomic signature that tracks with diet-induced changes in blood lipid concentrations and whole-body fat oxidation. We applied comprehensive metabolomic profiling tools to biological specimens collected from 18 healthy adults enrolled in a crossover trial that compared a 3-wk high-palmitic acid (HPA) with a low-palmitic acid and high-oleic acid (HOA) diet. A principal components analysis of the data set including 329 variables measured in 15 subjects in the fasted state identified one factor, the principal components analysis factor in the fasted state (PCF1-Fasted), which was heavily weighted by the PA:OA ratio of serum and muscle lipids, that was affected by diet (P < 0.0001; HPA greater than HOA). One other factor, the additional principal components analysis factor in the fasted state (PCF2-Fasted), reflected a wide range of acylcarnitines and was affected by diet in women only (P = 0.0198; HPA greater than HOA). HOA lowered the ratio of serum low-density lipoprotein to high-density lipoprotein (LDL:HDL) in men and women, and adjustment for the PCF1-Fasted abolished the effect. In women only, adjustment for the PCF2-Fasted eliminated the HOA-diet effect on serum total- and LDL-cholesterol concentrations. The respiratory exchange ratio in the fasted state was lower with the HPA diet (P = 0.04), and the diet effect was eliminated after adjustment for the PCF1-Fasted. The messenger RNA expression of the cholesterol regulatory gene insulin-induced gene-1 was higher with the HOA diet (P = 0.008). These results suggest that replacing dietary PA with OA reduces the blood LDL concentration and whole-body fat oxidation by modifying the saturation index of circulating and tissue lipids. In women, these effects are also associated with a higher production and accumulation of acylcarnitines, possibly reflecting a shift in fat catabolism.

Exploratory Development Research of U.S. Navy Marine Corps Personnel, Phase 1. Factors Affecting Attrition

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-09-30

havior. He has taught courses in research and has had con- siderable experience in the design and analysis of qualitative and quantitative research...name, serial number, unit, rank, or other identifying information was asked. Research pesign The research design was developed to determine if causes of...attrition have similar impach on men in various situations. The design includes three principal components. First, both attriters and adjusted men

The Impact of Principal Leadership on School Culture and Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Troutman, Lisa Dorman

2012-01-01

Throughout the United States school principals are subject to increasingly high demands for student accountability. Under the pressures and mandates of this federal legislation, principals are asking themselves what specific leadership practices affect student achievement. A review of literature shows that principals are regarded as a major factor…

The Role of the School Principal in Comparative Perspectives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geering, Adrian D.

Decentralized school systems make the principal's role more complex in the U.S. than in Australia's highly centralized system. Principals are pivotal to school success in both countries. A principal sets a school's climate, affecting decision-making, communications, educational innovations, and teacher morale, while performing formal tasks…

Exploring factors affecting owners' trust of contractors in construction projects: a case of China.

PubMed

Tai, Shuangliang; Sun, Chengshuang; Zhang, Shoujian

2016-01-01

It has been found that a low level of trust among members of a construction project team leads to poor performance in China. Many researchers have described the challenges, consequently advocating partnering as an attractive approach for more valuable cooperation. Because substantial investments have been poured into construction projects since the year 2000, trust research will improve the performance of construction projects and will be meaningful to the Chinese construction industry. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the attributes affecting owners' trust of contractors, to understand the potential properties of these factors, and to rank the factors in order of importance. Twenty-four attributes are identified from a literature review. Supported by qualitative reviews, a questionnaire is conducted to obtain relevant data, and 168 valid responses are obtained for data analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) is employed to find the factor structure of the identified trust attributes. By the method of PCA, the attributes are extracted into eight factors, including interaction history, information sharing and communication, contract and institution, relation-specific investment, reputation, integrity, competence, and opportunistic behaviour. The value and originality of this paper are embodied in using PCA to understand the various attribute groupings and to illuminate trust impact factors in the Chinese context. When they understand the critical factors affecting trust better, owners and contractors can devise more appropriate strategies to improve performance.

Potential Psychosocial Risk Factors for Chronic TMD: Descriptive Data and Empirically Identified Domains from the OPPERA Case-Control Study

PubMed Central

Fillingim, Roger B.; Ohrbach, Richard; Greenspan, Joel D.; Knott, Charles; Dubner, Ronald; Bair, Eric; Baraian, Cristina; Slade, Gary D.; Maixner, William

2011-01-01

Case-control studies have consistently associated psychosocial factors with chronic pain in general, and with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) specifically. Moreover, a handful of prospective studies suggest that pre-existing psychosocial characteristics represent risk factors for new onset TMD. The current study presents psychosocial findings from the baseline case-control study of the Orofacial Pain Prospective Evaluation and Risk Assessment (OPPERA) cooperative agreement. For this study, 1,633 TMD-free controls and 185 TMD cases completed a battery of psychosocial instruments assessing general psychosocial adjustment and personality, affective distress, psychosocial stress, somatic awareness, and pain coping and catastrophizing. In bivariate and demographically-adjusted analyses, odds of TMD were associated with higher levels of psychosocial symptoms, affective distress, somatic awareness, and pain catastrophizing. Among controls, significant gender and ethnic group differences in psychosocial measures were observed, consistent with previous findings. Principal component analysis was undertaken to identify latent constructs revealing four components: stress and negative affectivity, global psychosocial symptoms, passive pain coping, and active pain coping. These findings provide further evidence of associations between psychosocial factors and TMD. Future prospective analyses in the OPPERA cohort will determine if the premorbid presence of these psychosocial factors predicts increased risk for developing new-onset TMD. PMID:22074752

[Socializing groups as protective factor against depression in elderly people. Barranquilla, Colombia].

PubMed

Tuesca-Molina, Rafael; Fierro Herrera, Norma; Molinares Sosa, Alexandra; Oviedo Martínez, Fernando; Polo Arjona, Yesid; Polo Cueto, José; Sierra Manrique, Ivan

2003-01-01

The depression is a principal problem of public health. The principal aim of this study is to determine the role of the social groups as factor protective in elderly, to evaluate the agreement by American Psychiatric Association Criterions and Hamilton Depression test, and also to determine other socio-cultural risk factors associated with depressive syndrome in elderly. Cross-sectional survey. The sample consisted of 602 elderly people (eligible subjects) were men (223) and women (379) between 60 and 94 years (males and females), residents in the south-west of Barranquilla, Colombia. A previously tested, self answer questionnaire was used, therefore, we needed a report consent. Risk measures: Odds Ratio (OR-95% Confidence intervalue), Kappa test to agreement by the nine criteria of the American Psychiatric Association and Hamilton test so, screening testing. The participation in social groups was a protector factor. (Odds Ratio = 0.5; 95% CI 0.34-0.73, p = 0.001). The rate 29.9% was obtained with prevalence of depression in elderly (21.4%-39.4%) affecting principally males (32.7%). The agreement by Kappa test = 0.63 was very important or good. Sensibility = 56.1% (48.5%-63.4%) Specificity = 0.93% (97.8%-99.8%) and Predictive Positive Value = 97.1% (91.2%-99.3%). This survey was to determine risk factors related to depression in elderly in anyway can be potentially modifiable. The familiar disfunction by moderate and serious, the lack as blindness and deafness, the loneliness, the housingness and low incomes were obtained with risk factors associated to depression. The participation in a social group is a protective factor to depression syndrome in elders. The nine criteria of the American Psychiatric Association to allow the depressed patient exactly as sick even though is not necessary to screening because this test is low sensibility for used in a population elderly.

Principal Succession and Its Impact on Teacher Morale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyer, Matthew J.; Macmillan, Robert B.; Northfield, Shawn

2009-01-01

Our detailed study of two secondary schools in Nova Scotia which had experienced regular principal succession examined succession and its impact on teacher morale. We found that the process of principal succession and the new principal's practices have the potential to change a school culture and both positively and negatively affect teacher and…

Dimensions of the epilepsy foundation concerns index.

PubMed

Loring, David W; Larrabee, Glenn J; Meador, Kimford J; Lee, Gregory P

2005-05-01

We performed principal component analysis (PCA) of the Epilepsy Foundation Concerns Index scale in 189 patients undergoing evaluation for epilepsy surgery. We identified a five-factor solution in which there were no varimax-rotated factors consisting of fewer than two questions. Factor 1 reflects affective impact on enjoyment of life, Factor 2 reflects general autonomy concerns, Factor 3 reflects fear of seizure recurrence, Factor 4 reflects concern of being a burden to one's family, and Factor 5 reflects a perceived lack of understanding by others. Multiple regression using the Quality of Life in Epilepsy--89 question version; Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2; Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--third edition; and verbal and visual memory tests as predictors demonstrated a different pattern of association with the factor and summary scores. We conclude that the Epilepsy Foundation Concerns Index is multidimensional, and using a global score based on all items may mask specific concerns that may be relevant when applied to individual patients.

Use of Cusp Catastrophe for Risk Analysis of Navigational Environment: A Case Study of Three Gorges Reservoir Area

PubMed Central

Hao, Guozhu

2016-01-01

A water traffic system is a huge, nonlinear, complex system, and its stability is affected by various factors. Water traffic accidents can be considered to be a kind of mutation of a water traffic system caused by the coupling of multiple navigational environment factors. In this study, the catastrophe theory, principal component analysis (PCA), and multivariate statistics are integrated to establish a situation recognition model for a navigational environment with the aim of performing a quantitative analysis of the situation of this environment via the extraction and classification of its key influencing factors; in this model, the natural environment and traffic environment are considered to be two control variables. The Three Gorges Reservoir area of the Yangtze River is considered as an example, and six critical factors, i.e., the visibility, wind, current velocity, route intersection, channel dimension, and traffic flow, are classified into two principal components: the natural environment and traffic environment. These two components are assumed to have the greatest influence on the navigation risk. Then, the cusp catastrophe model is employed to identify the safety situation of the regional navigational environment in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. The simulation results indicate that the situation of the navigational environment of this area is gradually worsening from downstream to upstream. PMID:27391057

Overlap and distinction between measures of insight and self-stigma.

PubMed

Hasson-Ohayon, Ilanit

2018-05-24

Multiple studies on insight into one's illness and self-stigma among patients with serious mental illness and their relatives have shown that these constructs are related to one another and that they affect outcome. However, a critical exploration of the items used to assess both constructs raises questions with regard to the possible overlapping and centrality of items. The current study used five different samples to explore the possible overlap and distinction between insight and self-stigma, and to identify central items, via network analyses and principal component factor analysis. Findings from the network analyses showed overlap between insight and self-stigma exist with a relatively clearer observational distinction between the constructs among the two parent samples in comparison to the patient samples. Principal component factor analysis constrained to two factors showed that a relatively high percentage of items were not loaded on either factor, and in a few datasets, several insight items were loaded on the self-stigma scale and vice versa. The author discusses implications for research and calls for rethinking the way insight is assessed. Clinical implications are also discussed in reference to central items of social isolation, future worries and stereotype endorsement among the different study groups. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Use of Cusp Catastrophe for Risk Analysis of Navigational Environment: A Case Study of Three Gorges Reservoir Area.

PubMed

Jiang, Dan; Hao, Guozhu; Huang, Liwen; Zhang, Dan

2016-01-01

A water traffic system is a huge, nonlinear, complex system, and its stability is affected by various factors. Water traffic accidents can be considered to be a kind of mutation of a water traffic system caused by the coupling of multiple navigational environment factors. In this study, the catastrophe theory, principal component analysis (PCA), and multivariate statistics are integrated to establish a situation recognition model for a navigational environment with the aim of performing a quantitative analysis of the situation of this environment via the extraction and classification of its key influencing factors; in this model, the natural environment and traffic environment are considered to be two control variables. The Three Gorges Reservoir area of the Yangtze River is considered as an example, and six critical factors, i.e., the visibility, wind, current velocity, route intersection, channel dimension, and traffic flow, are classified into two principal components: the natural environment and traffic environment. These two components are assumed to have the greatest influence on the navigation risk. Then, the cusp catastrophe model is employed to identify the safety situation of the regional navigational environment in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. The simulation results indicate that the situation of the navigational environment of this area is gradually worsening from downstream to upstream.

Design of a fiber-optic transmitter for microwave analog transmission with high phase stability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Logan, R. T., Jr.; Lutes, G. F.; Primas, L. E.; Maleki, L.

1990-01-01

The principal considerations in the design of fiber-optic transmitters for highly phase-stable radio frequency and microwave analog transmission are discussed. Criteria for a fiber-optic transmitter design with improved amplitude and phase-noise performance are developed through consideration of factors affecting the phase noise, including low-frequency laser-bias supply noise, the magnitude and proximity of external reflections into the laser, and temperature excursions of the laser-transmitter package.

Analysis of factors controlling soil phosphorus loss with surface runoff in Huihe National Nature Reserve by principal component and path analysis methods.

PubMed

He, Jing; Su, Derong; Lv, Shihai; Diao, Zhaoyan; Bu, He; Wo, Qiang

2018-01-01

Phosphorus (P) loss with surface runoff accounts for the P input to and acceleration of eutrophication of the freshwater. Many studies have focused on factors affecting P loss with surface runoff from soils, but rarely on the relationship among these factors. In the present study, rainfall simulation on P loss with surface runoff was conducted in Huihe National Nature Reserve, in Hulunbeier grassland, China, and the relationships between P loss with surface runoff, soil properties, and rainfall conditions were examined. Principal component analysis and path analysis were used to analyze the direct and indirect effects on P loss with surface runoff. The results showed that P loss with surface runoff was closely correlated with soil electrical conductivity, soil pH, soil Olsen P, soil total nitrogen (TN), soil total phosphorus (TP), and soil organic carbon (SOC). The main driving factors which influenced P loss with surface runoff were soil TN, soil pH, soil Olsen P, and soil water content. Path analysis and determination coefficient analysis indicated that the standard multiple regression equation for P loss with surface runoff and each main factor was Y = 7.429 - 0.439 soil TN - 6.834 soil pH + 1.721 soil Olsen-P + 0.183 soil water content (r = 0.487, p < 0.01, n = 180). Soil TN, soil pH, soil Olsen P, and soil water content and the interactions between them were the main factors affecting P loss with surface runoff. The effect of physical and chemical properties of undisturbed soils on P loss with surface runoff was discussed, and the soil water content and soil Olsen P were strongly positive influences on the P loss with surface runoff.

The Principal Report: The State of School Leadership in Illinois

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Bradford R.; Agarwal, Pooja K.

2011-01-01

Although principals play a vital role as school leaders, exactly how principal leadership affects student learning is only beginning to be understood. In fact, only a few states have analyzed basic profile data on their principals--their demographics, education, and prior experience before leading a school. Most states also have yet to examine how…

The Search for Connections across Principal Preparation, Principal Performance, and Student Achievement in an Exemplary Principal Preparation Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donmoyer, Robert; Yennie-Donmoyer, June; Galloway, Fred

2012-01-01

Critics complain that the educational leadership researchers have not produced evidence that demonstrates that principal preparation programs affect student achievement. This study addressed this complaint by focusing on the impact of one exemplary program on graduates and the schools they led. The preponderance-of-evidence strategy used in this…

Role Perceptions and Job Stress among Special Education School Principals: Do They Differ from Principals of Regular Schools?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaziel, Haim Henry; Cohen-Azaria, Yael; Ermenc, Klara Skubic

2012-01-01

The objective of the present study was to compare principals' perceptions of their leadership roles in regular (Dovno, 1999) versus special education (Zaretzky, Faircloth & Moreau, 2005) schools, and how these perceptions affect feelings of job stress (Friedman, 2001; Margalit, 1999). We predicted that regular school principals would differ in…

Exploring posttraumatic growth in Tamil children affected by the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004.

PubMed

Exenberger, Silvia; Ramalingam, Panch; Höfer, Stefan

2016-10-13

Few studies explore posttraumatic growth (PTG) in children from Eastern cultures. To help address this gap, the present study examined PTG among 177 South Indian children aged 8-17 years who were affected by the 2004 Tsunami. The study identifies the underlying factor structure of the Tamil version of the Revised Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children (PTGI-C-R), and aims to explore the prevalence of PTG, the relationship between distress and growth, and gender and age differences in PTG. The results of the principal component analysis indicated a two-factor structure with an interpersonal and a person-centred dimension of growth. The total scores of the Tamil PTGI-C-R were positively associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and age. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between age and the person-centred growth subscale. Non-parametric tests found no gender differences in perceived growth. The role of socio-cultural factors on the nature of PTG is discussed. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

Validation and factor structure of the Thai version of the EURO-D scale for depression among older psychiatric patients.

PubMed

Jirapramukpitak, Tawanchai; Darawuttimaprakorn, Niphon; Punpuing, Sureeporn; Abas, Melanie

2009-11-01

To assess the concurrent and the construct validity of the Euro-D in older Thai persons. Eight local psychiatrists used the major depressive episode section of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview to interview 150 consecutive psychiatric clinic attendees. A trained interviewer administered the Euro-D. We used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to assess the overall discriminability of the Euro-D scale and principal components factor analysis to assess its construct validity. The area under the ROC curve for the Euro-D with respect to major depressive episode was 0.78 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.70-0.90] indicating moderately good discriminability. At a cut-point of 5/6 the sensitivity for major depressive episodes is 84.3%, specificity 58.6%, and kappa 0.37 (95% CI 0.22-0.52) indicating fair concordance. However, at the 3/4 cut-point recommended from European studies there is high sensitivity (94%) but poor specificity (34%). The principal components analysis suggested four factors. The first two factors conformed to affective suffering (depression, suicidality and tearfulness) and motivation (interest, concentration and enjoyment). Sleep and appetite constituted a separate factor, whereas pessimism loaded on its own factor. Among Thai psychiatric clinic attendees Euro-D is moderately valid for major depression. A much higher cut-point may be required than that which is usually advocated. The Thai version also shares two common factors as reported from most of previous studies.

Effect of noise in principal component analysis with an application to ozone pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsakiri, Katerina G.

This thesis analyzes the effect of independent noise in principal components of k normally distributed random variables defined by a covariance matrix. We prove that the principal components as well as the canonical variate pairs determined from joint distribution of original sample affected by noise can be essentially different in comparison with those determined from the original sample. However when the differences between the eigenvalues of the original covariance matrix are sufficiently large compared to the level of the noise, the effect of noise in principal components and canonical variate pairs proved to be negligible. The theoretical results are supported by simulation study and examples. Moreover, we compare our results about the eigenvalues and eigenvectors in the two dimensional case with other models examined before. This theory can be applied in any field for the decomposition of the components in multivariate analysis. One application is the detection and prediction of the main atmospheric factor of ozone concentrations on the example of Albany, New York. Using daily ozone, solar radiation, temperature, wind speed and precipitation data, we determine the main atmospheric factor for the explanation and prediction of ozone concentrations. A methodology is described for the decomposition of the time series of ozone and other atmospheric variables into the global term component which describes the long term trend and the seasonal variations, and the synoptic scale component which describes the short term variations. By using the Canonical Correlation Analysis, we show that solar radiation is the only main factor between the atmospheric variables considered here for the explanation and prediction of the global and synoptic scale component of ozone. The global term components are modeled by a linear regression model, while the synoptic scale components by a vector autoregressive model and the Kalman filter. The coefficient of determination, R2, for the prediction of the synoptic scale ozone component was found to be the highest when we consider the synoptic scale component of the time series for solar radiation and temperature. KEY WORDS: multivariate analysis; principal component; canonical variate pairs; eigenvalue; eigenvector; ozone; solar radiation; spectral decomposition; Kalman filter; time series prediction

17 CFR 270.19b-1 - Frequency of distribution of capital gains.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... eligible trust security which adversely affects the ability of such issuer to continue payment of principal... which adversely affects the ability of such issuer to continue payment of principal or interest on its... request as not being necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors...

Experiences of School Principals with Newcomers from War-Affected Countries in Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okoko, Janet Mola

2011-01-01

This article is based on the results of an exploratory study of experiences of 2 urban school principals about leading schools with immigrants from war-affected countries in Africa. It examines how they perceived their preparation for multicultural leadership, and explores lessons that leadership development institutions can learn from their…

Analysis of factors controlling sediment phosphorus flux potential of wetlands in Hulun Buir grassland by principal component and path analysis method.

PubMed

He, Jing; Su, Derong; Lv, Shihai; Diao, Zhaoyan; Ye, Shengxing; Zheng, Zhirong

2017-11-08

Phosphorus (P) flux potential can predict the trend of phosphorus release from wetland sediments to water and provide scientific parameters for further monitoring and management for phosphorus flux from wetland sediments to overlying water. Many studies have focused on factors affecting sediment P flux potential in sediment-water interface, but rarely on the relationship among these factors. In the present study, experiment on sediment P flux potential in sediment-water interface was conducted in six wetlands in Hulun Buir grassland, China and the relationships among sediment P flux potential in sediment-water interface, sediment physical properties, and sediment chemical characteristics were examined. Principal component analysis and path analysis were used to discuss these data in correlation coefficient, direct, and indirect effects on sediment P flux potential in sediment-water interface. Results indicated that the major factors affecting sediment P flux potential in sediment-water interface were amount of organophosphate-degradation bacterium in sediment, Ca-P content, and total phosphorus concentrations. The factors of direct influence sediment P flux potential were sediment Ca-P content, Olsen-P content, SOC content, and sediment Al-P content. The indirect influence sediment P flux potential in sediment-water interface was sediment Olsen-P content, sediment SOC content, sediment Ca-P content, and sediment Al-P content. And the standard multiple regression describing the relationship between sediment P flux potential in sediment-water interface and its major effect factors was Y = 5.849 - 1.025X 1  - 1.995X 2  + 0.188X 3  - 0.282X 4 (r = 0.9298, p < 0.01, n = 96), where Y is sediment P flux potential in sediment-water interface, X 1 is sediment Ca-P content, X 2 is sediment Olsen-P content, X 3 is sediment SOC content, and X 4 is sediment Al-P content. Therefore, future research will focus on these sediment properties to analyze the interrelation among sediment properties factors, main vegetable factors, and environment factors which influence the sediment P flux potential in sediment-water interface.

Social and economic causes of deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon basin: Natives and colonists. Working paper

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

Garland, E.B.

1991-03-01

The people in the Peruvian Amazon directly engaged in agriculture are the leading cause of deforestation; and can be divided into two groups, colonists and indigenous groups. The factors affecting the rate at which each group causes deforestation differ. The paper explores these differences in Peru's Upper Huallaga Valley (the principal coca producing region in the world), focusing on the interrelationships between land availability, land tenure laws, and market forces on one hand, and agricultural intensification and deforestation on the other. The study concludes that the technological decisions of the two groups are guided by diverse sets of socioeconomic factors.

An Experimental Test of Factors Attracting Deer Mice into Buildings.

PubMed

Kuenzi, Amy J; Douglass, Richard

2009-09-01

Deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) are the principal reservoir host of Sin Nombre virus (SNV). Deer mice use a wide variety of habitats including peridomestic settings in and around human dwellings, their presence in and around homes has been implicated as a risk factor for acquiring Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome. Deer mice are believed to enter buildings in order to gain access to a variety of resources including food, bedding material, and better thermal microclimates. However, no one has experimentally tested which factors influence mice use of buildings. We conducted experiments using small simulated buildings to determine the effects of two factors, i.e., food and bedding material, on mouse activity in these buildings. We also examined if these effects varied with time of year. We found that deer mice entered our buildings regardless of the presence or absence of food or bedding. However, the amount of activity in buildings was affected by what they contained. We found significantly higher indices of activity in buildings containing food compared to both empty buildings (control) and buildings containing bedding material. Time of year did not affect activity in buildings.

Consumers' attitudes towards GM Free products in a European Region. The case of the Prefecture of Drama-Kavala-Xanthi in Greece.

PubMed

Tsourgiannis, L; Karasavvoglou, A; Florou, G

2011-10-01

This study aims to identify the factors that affect consumers purchasing behaviour towards food products that are free from Genetic Modified Organism (GM Free) in a European Region and more precisely in the Prefecture of Drama-Kavala-Xanthi. Field interviews conducted in a random selected sample consisted of 337 consumers in the cities of Drama, Kavala, Xanthi, in November and December of 2009. Principal components analysis (PCA) was conducted in order to identify the factors that affect people in preferring consuming products that are GM Free. The factors that influence people in the study area to buy GM Free products are: (a) products' certification as GM Free or organic products, (b) interest about the protection of the environment and nutrition value, (c) marketing issues, and (d) price and quality. Furthermore, cluster and discriminant analysis identified two groups of consumers: (a) those are influenced by the product price, quality and marketing aspects and (b) those are interested in product's certification and environmental protection. Non parametric statistical bivariate techniques were performed to profile the identified groups of consumers regarding their personal characteristics and some other factors affecting their buying behaviour. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The Impact of Principal Knowledge, Attitudinal Favorability and Organizational Structure on Emergency Preparedness in New Jersey's Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rocco, Scott R.

2014-01-01

School violence, an issue documented across the United States, has put a focus on school emergency preparedness for school principals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand the school principal's level of emergency preparedness in New Jersey public schools and how the confidence and behavior of principals affect emergency…

Catholic School Leadership: School Climate and Culture and the Influence on Principal Satisfaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beckley, Gary M.

2012-01-01

Today's Catholic educators face a very different world, creating a change in the role and responsibility of the principal. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent the culture and climate affect satisfaction in the principal's role that warrants becoming and remaining a principal in today's Catholic schools. This…

Relevant principal factors affecting the reproducibility of insect primary culture.

PubMed

Ogata, Norichika; Iwabuchi, Kikuo

2017-06-01

The primary culture of insect cells often suffers from problems with poor reproducibility in the quality of the final cell preparations. The cellular composition of the explants (cell number and cell types), surgical methods (surgical duration and surgical isolation), and physiological and genetic differences between donors may be critical factors affecting the reproducibility of culture. However, little is known about where biological variation (interindividual differences between donors) ends and technical variation (variance in replication of culture conditions) begins. In this study, we cultured larval fat bodies from the Japanese rhinoceros beetle, Allomyrina dichotoma, and evaluated, using linear mixed models, the effect of interindividual variation between donors on the reproducibility of the culture. We also performed transcriptome analysis of the hemocyte-like cells mainly seen in the cultures using RNA sequencing and ultrastructural analyses of hemocytes using a transmission electron microscope, revealing that the cultured cells have many characteristics of insect hemocytes.

Three Logics of Instructional Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rigby, Jessica G.

2014-01-01

Purpose: This study examines conceptions of instructional leadership in the institutional environment. We know that principals' practices affect student learning and that principals are influenced by ideas in the broader environment. This article examines and defines the multiple conceptions of what it means for principals to be instructional…

Cloning Their Own: Aspirant Principals and the School-Based Selection Game

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gronn, Peter; Lacey, Kathy

2006-01-01

In this article, we report data from two projects concerned with the aspirant principals' perspectives about school principal recruitment in three Australian states. In particular, we consider what our informants perceive as factors that inhibit the realisation of their aspirations. These factors include aspects of the operation of school-based…

The Relationship among Principals' Emotional Intelligence Skills with Respect to School Accountability Ratings and Selected Demographic Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Labby, Sandra A.

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship among principals' emotional intelligence skills, school accountability ratings, and selected demographic factors. Method: The sample was comprised of Texas public school principals from elementary, middle school/junior high, and high schools and their school accountability…

Measurement Invariance of the "Servant Leadership Questionnaire" across K-12 Principal Gender

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Lihua; Stewart, Trae; Haber-Curran, Paige

2015-01-01

Measurement invariance of the five-factor "Servant Leadership Questionnaire" between female and male K-12 principals was tested using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. A sample of 956 principals (56.9% were females and 43.1% were males) was analysed in this study. The hierarchical multi-step measurement invariance test supported…

Principal Leadership Behaviors Which Teachers at Different Career Stages Perceive as Affecting Job Satisfaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Valari

2013-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of teachers as to how the leadership of their principal affects their job satisfaction. This study collected the view of teachers at different career stages and examined their perceptions and needs. The participants consisted of 12 elementary school teachers at three different…

Factors affecting midwives' confidence in intrapartum care: a phenomenological study.

PubMed

Bedwell, Carol; McGowan, Linda; Lavender, Tina

2015-01-01

midwives are frequently the lead providers of care for women throughout labour and birth. In order to perform their role effectively and provide women with the choices they require midwives need to be confident in their practice. This study explores factors which may affect midwives' confidence in their practice. hermeneutic phenomenology formed the theoretical basis for the study. Prospective longitudinal data collection was completed using diaries and semi-structured interviews. Twelve midwives providing intrapartum care in a variety of settings were recruited to ensure a variety of experiences in different contexts were captured. the principal factor affecting workplace confidence, both positively and negatively, was the influence of colleagues. Perceived autonomy and a sense of familiarity could also enhance confidence. However, conflict in the workplace was a critical factor in reducing midwives' confidence. Confidence was an important, but fragile, phenomenon to midwives and they used a variety of coping strategies, emotional intelligence and presentation management to maintain it. this is the first study to highlight both the factors influencing midwives' workplace confidence and the strategies midwives employed to maintain their confidence. Confidence is important in maintaining well-being and workplace culture may play a role in explaining the current low morale within the midwifery workforce. This may have implications for women's choices and care. Support, effective leadership and education may help midwives develop and sustain a positive sense of confidence. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Principal Support for Literacy Coaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kral, Cathleen Cronin

2012-01-01

Educators agree that leadership by a principal profoundly affects what is accomplished at a school. This effect of leadership is particularly true when schools and districts are engaged in reform. When the reform effort impinges on school culture, the principal plays the main role in leading and supporting this change.

Financing and Policy Contexts for Principal Preparation and In-Service Training Programs: Mid-Course Findings from a Study of Innovative Programs. School Leadership Study: Developing Successful Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohen, Carol; Fickel, Lucinda

2005-01-01

All principal preparation and professional development programs operate within a local, state, and national policy and financing context that influences their structure, shapes their priorities, and, in some cases, dictates their existence. Financing and policy directly affect how much professional development for principals takes place, what…

Assessment and quantification of post-weaning multi-systemic wasting syndrome severity at farm level.

PubMed

Alarcon, Pablo; Velasova, Martina; Werling, Dirk; Stärk, Katharina D C; Chang, Yu-Mei; Nevel, Amanda; Pfeiffer, Dirk U; Wieland, Barbara

2011-01-01

Post-weaning multi-systemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) causes major economic losses for the English pig industry and severity of clinical signs and economic impact vary considerably between affected farms. We present here a novel approach to quantify severity of PMWS based on morbidity and mortality data and presence of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2). In 2008-2009, 147 pig farms across England, non-vaccinating for PCV2, were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Factor analysis was used to generate variables representing biologically meaningful aspects of variation among qualitative and quantitative morbidity variables. Together with other known variables linked to PMWS, the resulting factors were included in a principal component analysis (PCA) to derive an algorithm for PMWS severity. Factor analysis resulted in two factors: Morbidity Factor 1 (MF1) representing mainly weaner and grower morbidity, and Morbidity Factor 2 (MF2) which mainly reflects variation in finisher morbidity. This indicates that farms either had high morbidity mainly in weaners/growers or mainly in finishers. Subsequent PCA resulted in the extraction of one component representing variation in MF1, post-weaning mortality and percentage of PCV2 PCR positive animals. Component scores were normalised to a value range from 0 to 10 and farms classified into: non or slightly affected farms with a score <4, moderately affected farms with scores 4-6.5 and highly affected farms with a score >6.5. The identified farm level PMWS severities will be used to identify risk factors related to these, to assess the efficacy of PCV2 vaccination and investigating the economic impact of potential control measures. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Use of Leadership Standards in the Hiring Practices of Effective Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kracht, Ritchie E.; Hensley, Melissa A.; Strange, Martha A.

2013-01-01

This is a problem based learning project focusing on superintendent use of ISSLC standards in hiring practices for human resource management. Research notes student achievement is affected by effective leadership of principals. School district superintendents charged with hiring effective principals must determine the best candidate for that…

Empowering Principals to Lead and Manage Public Schools Effectively in the 21st Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mestry, Raj

2017-01-01

Globally, education systems have been affected by radical social, political and economic changes. Although school principals play a pivotal role in improving student learning and attaining educational outcomes, they work under strenuous conditions to deal with multifaceted transformational issues. Principals experience great difficulty in coping…

Transformational Leadership: A Qualitative Study of Rural Elementary Schools in Fresno County

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pina, Xavier

2013-01-01

Principal leadership is crucial to improving school effectiveness and positively affecting organizational culture in the midst of expectations from education reform mandates. Principals who provide direction and exercise influence can inspire commitment from organizational members to attain shared goals. Rural school principals face unique…

Dietary intake of palmitate and oleate has broad impact on systemic and tissue lipid profiles in humans123

PubMed Central

Kien, C Lawrence; Bunn, Janice Y; Stevens, Robert; Bain, James; Ikayeva, Olga; Crain, Karen; Koves, Timothy R; Muoio, Deborah M

2014-01-01

Background: Epidemiologic evidence has suggested that diets with a high ratio of palmitic acid (PA) to oleic acid (OA) increase risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Objective: To gain additional insights into the relative effect of dietary fatty acids and their metabolism on CVD risk, we sought to identify a metabolomic signature that tracks with diet-induced changes in blood lipid concentrations and whole-body fat oxidation. Design: We applied comprehensive metabolomic profiling tools to biological specimens collected from 18 healthy adults enrolled in a crossover trial that compared a 3-wk high–palmitic acid (HPA) with a low–palmitic acid and high–oleic acid (HOA) diet. Results: A principal components analysis of the data set including 329 variables measured in 15 subjects in the fasted state identified one factor, the principal components analysis factor in the fasted state (PCF1-Fasted), which was heavily weighted by the PA:OA ratio of serum and muscle lipids, that was affected by diet (P < 0.0001; HPA greater than HOA). One other factor, the additional principal components analysis factor in the fasted state (PCF2-Fasted), reflected a wide range of acylcarnitines and was affected by diet in women only (P = 0.0198; HPA greater than HOA). HOA lowered the ratio of serum low-density lipoprotein to high-density lipoprotein (LDL:HDL) in men and women, and adjustment for the PCF1-Fasted abolished the effect. In women only, adjustment for the PCF2-Fasted eliminated the HOA-diet effect on serum total- and LDL-cholesterol concentrations. The respiratory exchange ratio in the fasted state was lower with the HPA diet (P = 0.04), and the diet effect was eliminated after adjustment for the PCF1-Fasted. The messenger RNA expression of the cholesterol regulatory gene insulin-induced gene-1 was higher with the HOA diet (P = 0.008). Conclusions: These results suggest that replacing dietary PA with OA reduces the blood LDL concentration and whole-body fat oxidation by modifying the saturation index of circulating and tissue lipids. In women, these effects are also associated with a higher production and accumulation of acylcarnitines, possibly reflecting a shift in fat catabolism. PMID:24429541

Assessing children's empathy through a Spanish adaptation of the Basic Empathy Scale: parent's and child's report forms.

PubMed

Sánchez-Pérez, Noelia; Fuentes, Luis J; Jolliffe, Darrick; González-Salinas, Carmen

2014-01-01

The aim of the current research was to study cognitive and affective empathy in children aged 6-12 years old, and their associations with children's family environment and social adjustment. For this purpose, we developed the Spanish version of the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), self- and parent-report forms. Factorial analyses confirmed a two-component model of empathy in both self- and parent-report forms. Concordance between parent-child measures of empathy was low for cognitive and affective factors. Analyses of variance on the cognitive and affective components brought a significant effect of age for self-reported cognitive empathy, with older children scoring higher than younger ones. Gender brought out a significant principal effect for self-reported affective empathy, with girls scoring higher than boys. No other main effects were found for age and gender for the rest of the factors analyzed. Children's empathy was associated with socioeconomic status and other family socialization processes, as well as children' social behaviors. Overall the new measures provided a coherent view of empathy in middle childhood and early adolescence when measured through self and parent reports, and illustrate the similarity of the validity of the BES in a European-Spanish culture.

Affective evaluation of food images according to stimulus and subject characteristics.

PubMed

Padulo, C; Carlucci, L; Marzoli, D; Manippa, V; Tommasi, L; Saggino, A; Puglisi-Allegra, S; Brancucci, A

2018-04-17

The food-rich environment in which we live makes the regulation of food choices a very complex phenomenon determined by many factors, as well as their interactions. Much evidence suggests that the sensory perception of food can be considered as a central factor affecting individual food choices. Despite this, the approaches used to study the various food aspects usually do not distinguish between different types of food. In the present study, a large and heterogeneous sample of 1149 participants aged 7-90 years was asked to judge food images that were labelled differently (i.e. Raw versus Cooked, Natural versus Transformed and Simple versus Complex) with respect to arousal, valence, typicality and familiarity. We observed that, across food dimensions (i.e., Raw versus Cooked, Natural versus Transformed and Simple versus Complex), arousal, valence and typicality judgments were principally affected by a subjective hunger level and gender (and their interaction) and, to a lesser extent, by age. As a whole, our findings suggest that the level of transformation (which includes cooking) and the complexity of a foodstuff could at least partially affect food processing, entailing that future research should also address these features. © 2018 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

Components of self-esteem in affective patients and non-psychiatric controls.

PubMed

Serretti, Alessandro; Olgiati, Paolo; Colombo, Cristina

2005-09-01

Decrease in self-esteem (SE) is found in all mood disorders during inter-episode phases. This trait was associated with relapse and suicidality but its genetic basis is still undefined, probably because SE has multiple components. The aim of the current study was to ascertain which of those components were altered in a sample of affective patients. Three hundred and thirty-one outpatients with bipolar (N=199) and major depressive MD (N=132) disorders in remission for at least three months and one hundred controls completed the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSE; [Rosenberg, M., 1965. The measurement of self-esteem, Society and the Adolescent Self-Image. Princeton University Press, pp.16-36]). Principal component analysis was performed to identify RSE factor structure. Extracted factors were compared across case and control groups in the whole sample (N=431) and in a sub-sample (N=301) with low self-esteem (RSE <20). PCA yielded a two-factor solution with self-confidence (SC) and self-deprecation (SD) that was largely consistent with the existing literature. Such factors were both associated with lower scores in affective patients than controls (SC: F=52, p<0.01; SD: F=43, p<0.01). However in the low RSE group only self-confidence was found to be decreased in subjects with mood disorders (SC: F=13.8, p<0.01; SD: F=0.05, p=0.9). These findings suggest that self-esteem deficit in affective disorders might involve specific components. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.

Respiratory complaints in Chinese: cultural and diagnostic specificities.

PubMed

Han, Jiangna; Zhu, Yuanjue; Li, Shunwei; Chen, Xiansheng; Put, Claudia; Van de Woestijne, Karel P; Van den Bergh, Omer

2005-06-01

We investigated the qualitative components of a wide range of Chinese descriptors of dyspnea and associated symptoms, and their relevance for clinical diagnosis. Sixty-one spontaneously reported descriptors were elicited in Chinese patients to make a symptom checklist, which was administered to new groups of patients with different cardiopulmonary diseases, to patients with medically unexplained dyspnea and to healthy subjects. Test-retest reliability was satisfactory for most of the descriptors. A principal component analysis on 61 descriptors yielded the following eight factors: dyspnea-effort of breathing; dyspnea-affective aspect; wheezing; anxiety; tingling; palpitation; coughing and sputum; and dying experience. Although the descriptors of dyspnea-effort of breathing resembled Western wordings and were shared by patients with a variety of diseases, the descriptors of dyspnea-affective aspect appeared to be more culturally specific and were primarily linked to the diagnosis of medically unexplained dyspnea, whereas wheezing was specifically linked to asthma. Three factors of breathlessness were found in Chinese. The descriptors of dyspnea-effort of breathing and wheezing appear to be similar to Western descriptors, whereas the dyspnea-affective aspect seems to bear cultural specificity.

The NASA role in major areas of human concern: Transportation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

After introducing some of the general factors that have affected progress in the transportation area, NASA program elements are examined to illustrate relevant points of contact. Interpretive steps are taken throughout the statement to show a few of the more important ways people's lives have been affected as a result of the work of NASA and other organizations functioning in this area. The principal documents used and interviews conducted are identified after the conclusion of this statement. This statement, it should be noted, is incomplete in many respects, primarily because it reflects only a small number of the technical, economic, and social forces affecting American life. Taken as a summary statement, however, it hopefully will provide a useful basis for better understanding NASA's role in the national attempt to upgrade the quality of transportation services.

Patterns in longitudinal growth of refraction in Southern Chinese children: cluster and principal component analysis.

PubMed

Chen, Yanxian; Chang, Billy Heung Wing; Ding, Xiaohu; He, Mingguang

2016-11-22

In the present study we attempt to use hypothesis-independent analysis in investigating the patterns in refraction growth in Chinese children, and to explore the possible risk factors affecting the different components of progression, as defined by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). A total of 637 first-born twins in Guangzhou Twin Eye Study with 6-year annual visits (baseline age 7-15 years) were available in the analysis. Cluster 1 to 3 were classified after a partitioning clustering, representing stable, slow and fast progressing groups of refraction respectively. Baseline age and refraction, paternal refraction, maternal refraction and proportion of two myopic parents showed significant differences across the three groups. Three major components of progression were extracted using PCA: "Average refraction", "Acceleration" and the combination of "Myopia stabilization" and "Late onset of refraction progress". In regression models, younger children with more severe myopia were associated with larger "Acceleration". The risk factors of "Acceleration" included change of height and weight, near work, and parental myopia, while female gender, change of height and weight were associated with "Stabilization", and increased outdoor time was related to "Late onset of refraction progress". We therefore concluded that genetic and environmental risk factors have different impacts on patterns of refraction progression.

Patterns in longitudinal growth of refraction in Southern Chinese children: cluster and principal component analysis

PubMed Central

Chen, Yanxian; Chang, Billy Heung Wing; Ding, Xiaohu; He, Mingguang

2016-01-01

In the present study we attempt to use hypothesis-independent analysis in investigating the patterns in refraction growth in Chinese children, and to explore the possible risk factors affecting the different components of progression, as defined by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). A total of 637 first-born twins in Guangzhou Twin Eye Study with 6-year annual visits (baseline age 7–15 years) were available in the analysis. Cluster 1 to 3 were classified after a partitioning clustering, representing stable, slow and fast progressing groups of refraction respectively. Baseline age and refraction, paternal refraction, maternal refraction and proportion of two myopic parents showed significant differences across the three groups. Three major components of progression were extracted using PCA: “Average refraction”, “Acceleration” and the combination of “Myopia stabilization” and “Late onset of refraction progress”. In regression models, younger children with more severe myopia were associated with larger “Acceleration”. The risk factors of “Acceleration” included change of height and weight, near work, and parental myopia, while female gender, change of height and weight were associated with “Stabilization”, and increased outdoor time was related to “Late onset of refraction progress”. We therefore concluded that genetic and environmental risk factors have different impacts on patterns of refraction progression. PMID:27874105

Organochlorine exposure and bioaccumulation in the endangered northwest Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) population

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

Weisbrod, A.V.; Shea, D.; Moore, M.J.

2000-03-01

Exposure to toxicants is one factor hypothesized to influence population growth of the northern right whale. Organochlorines in right whale skin, feces, and prey were measured and used to identify factors influencing exposure and bioaccumulation. Concentrations of 30 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 20 pesticides in skin biopsies were consistent with other baleenopterids. Concentrations in feces and prey were two orders of magnitude less than in biopsies. In principal component analysis, organochlorines in biopsies matched those from Bay of Fundy, Canada, zooplankton, whereas feces were like Cape Cod, USA, copepods. Year of biopsy collection was the principal factor associated with differentialmore » accumulation of nonmetabolizable PCBs, 4,4{prime}-DDE, and dieldrin. Biopsies collected during winter had lower concentrations of lipid and metabolizable compounds than biopsies collected during summer. Concentrations of metabolizable PCBs increased with age in males. The bioaccumulation patterns implied that blubber burdens change annually because of the ingestion of different prey or prey from distinct locations and the release of some organochlorines stored in blubber during lipid depletion in winter. Because biopsy concentrations were lower than those found in marine mammals affected by PCBs and DDTs, the authors do not have evidence that the endangered whales bioaccumulate hazardous concentrations of organochlorines.« less

The Structure of Subjective Well-Being and Its Relation to Objective Well-Being Indicators: Evidence from EU-SILC for Serbia.

PubMed

Vladisavljević, Marko; Mentus, Vladimir

2018-01-01

In this article, we examine the structure of the subjective well-being and its relation to objective well-being indicators using the data from the European Union's Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) from Serbia. This is one of the first papers to analyze a new module on subjective well-being from EU-SILC micro-dataset (with over 20,000 respondents). We investigate the factor structure of the items and the differences in the association of subjective well-being dimensions with objective indicators of well-being within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Better Life Initiative framework. Three factors emerge from the principal components analysis: general life satisfaction, affective well-being, and satisfaction with the local environment. The analysis further reveals that life satisfaction is more related to the material living conditions, such as income, unemployment, and housing conditions, while affective well-being is more related to non-material indicators of well-being such as perceived health, personal security, and social connections. On the other hand, positive and negative affect within the affective well-being are not clearly separable, nor is the eudaimonic indicator from either life satisfaction or affective well-being.

The professional learning community as perceived by Israeli school superintendents, principals and teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schechter, Chen

2012-12-01

A professional learning community (PLC) facilitates collaborative learning among colleagues at all levels in their common working environment. PLCs are particularly useful in schools, with teachers and principals meeting regularly to solve problems relating to teaching and learning. Being a means of improving student achievement, PLCs have received growing support from researchers and practitioners alike, yet some professionals are still exploring ways to develop learning networks focusing on teaching and learning issues. The purpose of this study was to examine Israeli teachers', principals', and superintendents' perceptions of inhibiting and fostering factors of the PLC. In this qualitative, topic-oriented study, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 15 teachers from elementary, middle and secondary schools and their respective principals (15) and superintendents (15). Generating themes was inductive, grounded in the perspectives articulated by participants. The principals and the teachers indicated that overload, a lack of resources and top-down commands were PLC-inhibiting factors. The superintendents saw the principal's leadership style as a main PLC-fostering factor. Understanding how these three echelons in the school system perceive the inhibiting and fostering factors of a PLC could indicate whether and how this collaborative learning process can be nurtured and sustained in schools.

17 CFR 4.24 - General disclosures required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... THE RISKS AND OTHER FACTORS NECESSARY TO EVALUATE YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS COMMODITY POOL. THEREFORE... DOCUMENT, INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF THE PRINCIPAL RISK FACTORS OF THIS INVESTMENT, AT PAGE (insert page... required past performance disclosure for such person must be indicated. (g) Principal risk factors. A...

The View of Principals on Standards Based Evaluation Systems and Their Role as Instructional Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zoll, James Allen

2014-01-01

This study examined the implementation of standards based evaluation systems, specifically Georgia's Teacher Keys Effectiveness System, affects the principals' role of instructional leader. Using a modified Delphi study, principals from a large urban/suburban school system, gave feedback on three questions: how has their role changed; are they…

Changes in Education Policies and the Status of Schools in Europe: The Views of School Principals from Eight European Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rinne, Risto; Järvinen, Tero; Tikkanen, Jenni; Aro, Mikko

2016-01-01

Neoliberal education policies have altered the operational environments of schools and affected school principals' job descriptions and requirements. As a result of managerialism, decentralisation and marketisation of education, principals are increasingly responsible for profitability, marketing and striving in competition, in addition to their…

Principal-Teacher Interactions: How Affective Relationships Shape Principal and Teacher Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Heather E.

2012-01-01

Purpose: Research finds that the attitudes of principals and teachers create an atmosphere for learning, often referred to as school climate, that influences school effectiveness. Other research shows that atmospheres of trust, shared vision, and openness create positive school climate conditions. Little is known, however, about how these climates…

The Effect of School Principals' Leadership Styles on Elementary School Students' Reading Achievement Scores

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, James M.

2013-01-01

Principal leadership studies have indicated that leadership can play an important role in augmenting students' achievement scores. One significant influence that can affect achievement scores is the leadership style of the principal. This study focuses on fourth-grade achievement scores within urban elementary schools and explores the relationship…

A Longitudinal Study of Principals' Activities and Student Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

May, Henry; Huff, Jason; Goldring, Ellen

2012-01-01

Although a substantial amount of research on school leadership has focused on what principals may do to improve teaching and learning, little of this research has explored how principals' time spent on leadership activities may relate to and possibly affect student performance. This article presents results from a 3-year longitudinal study of…

Trust in the Contemporary Principalship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noonan, Brian; Walker, Keith; Kutsyuruba, Benjamin

2008-01-01

The social relevance of trust and the principals' obligation to foster trust in schools have been strongly advocated. This paper describes an in-depth, qualitative study that engaged a group of twenty-five Canadian school principals over a period of seven months, exploring the issues of trust as it affects principals' roles and responsibilities.…

Principals' Perceptions of Community and Staff Involvement in Shared Decision Making.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, David W.; And Others

1996-01-01

Survey of 217 Maine principals revealed that respondents perceived their staff as moderately to highly involved in decision making, viewed the community as informed but not actively involved in decision making, and desired greater involvement from staff and parents. Principal gender and school level did not affect desired levels of involvement.…

Micro-Political Analysis of the Principal Selection in a Taiwanese Elementary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Hsin-Jen

2013-01-01

This paper aims to investigate the micropolitical actions and strategies employed by the principal in the researched elementary school located in Northern Taiwan. Firstly, the author argues that the mechanism of the principal selection in Taiwan is the product of educational reform affected by policy borrowing. Secondly, drawing on ethnographic…

Limited Control and Relentless Accountability: Examining Historical Changes in Urban School Principal Pressure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

West, Deborah L.; Peck, Craig; Reitzug, Ulrich C.

2010-01-01

Influential texts have long identified principals as being essential to school success. Accordingly, high expectations and pressures have attended the principalship and affected the professionals who occupy it. This exploration asked three interrelated questions: What pressures have urban school principals typically faced, in the past and today?…

Leading through a Fiscal Nightmare: The Impact on Principals and Superintendents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ginsberg, Rick; Multon, Karen D.

2011-01-01

Given the centrality of leadership for school success, leader morale and effectiveness in tough times can't be overemphasized. The authors' work examined how principals and superintendents deal with and are affected by a significant economic downturn. They surveyed 93 principals from one large upper-Midwest metropolitan area and 100…

Women Principals Leading Learning at "Poverty's Edge"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyman, Linda L.

2008-01-01

The author profiles two women principals of color who have successfully enhanced student learning in high-poverty schools. In their leadership narratives, the principals address how the complexity of poverty affects their work, how they affirm the worth and dignity of all, how they influence beliefs and attitudes of staff, why they think their…

The Murang'a landslide, Kenya

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davies, T. C.; Nyambok, I. O.

1993-04-01

On 15 May 1991, a landslide occurred at Gacharage Village in the Murang'a District of Kenya; it buried a house near the toe of a cliff, killing all eight residents in their sleep. The principal determining factors of the slide were a high, mechanically unstable slope of deeply weathered volcanic soil and a high sorption capacity of the surface soil layer. The slide was triggered by rapid saturation of the soil following a heavy downpour. Based on field investigations and laboratory studies, this paper discusses the physical properties and environmental factors that affected slope stability at Murang'a. It also points out the economic and social impact of landslides in the region and suggests remedial measures.

Climatic impact on community of filamentous macroalgae in the Neva estuary (eastern Baltic Sea).

PubMed

Gubelit, Yulia I

2015-02-15

In presented study the impact of climatic factors and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on macroalgal community was analysed. Also the factors influencing algal community were defined with help of Principal Component and Classification analysis. It was found that climatic impact may depend on habitat features and that on different sites biomass of macroalgae correlated with different weather factors. Wind and surf may affect biomass of macroalgae adversely on some sites and at the same time on other sites they may accumulate biomass, transferring it is from adjacent areas. High direct correlation with temperature was found on sites which were protected from surf and had no stagnant events. Seasonal biomass inversely significantly correlated with average seasonal wind speed and annual NAO-index. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q): development and initial validation.

PubMed

Jowett, Sophia; Ntoumanis, Nikos

2004-08-01

The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate a self-report instrument that measures the nature of the coach-athlete relationship. Jowett et al.'s (Jowett & Meek, 2000; Jowett, in press) qualitative case studies and relevant literature were used to generate items for an instrument that measures affective, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of the coach-athlete relationship. Two studies were carried out in an attempt to assess content, predictive, and construct validity, as well as internal consistency, of the Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q), using two independent British samples. Principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to reduce the number of items, identify principal components, and confirm the latent structure of the CART-Q. Results supported the multidimensional nature of the coach-athlete relationship. The latent structure of the CART-Q was underlined by the latent variables of coaches' and athletes' Closeness (emotions), Commitment (cognitions), and Complementarity (behaviors).

Assessment of relevant factors and relationships concerning human dermal exposure to pesticides in greenhouse applications.

PubMed

Martínez Vidal, Jose L; Egea González, Francisco J; Garrido Frenich, Antonia; Martínez Galera, María; Aguilera, Pedro A; López Carrique, Enrique

2002-08-01

Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the gas chromatographic data obtained from 23 different greenhouse trials. This was used to establish which factors, including application technique (very small, small, medium and large drop-size), crop characteristics (short/tall, thin/dense) and pattern application of the operator (walking towards or away from the treated area) are relevant to the dermal exposure levels of greenhouse applicators. The results showed that the highest exposure by pesticides during field applications in greenhouses, in the climatic conditions and in the crop conditions typical of a southern European country, occurs on the lower legs and front thighs of the applicators. Similar results were obtained by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). Drop-size seems to be very important in determining total exposure, while height and density of crops have little influence on total exposure under the conditions of the present study. No pesticide type is a major factor in total exposure. The application of multiple regression analysis (MRA) allowed assessment of the relationships between the pesticide exposure of the less affected parts of the body with the most affected parts.

Factors impacting perceived safety among staff working on mental health wards.

PubMed

Haines, Alina; Brown, Andrew; McCabe, Rhiannah; Rogerson, Michelle; Whittington, Richard

2017-09-01

Safety at work is a core issue for mental health staff working on in-patient units. At present, there is a limited theoretical base regarding which factors may affect staff perceptions of safety. This study attempted to identify which factors affect perceived staff safety working on in-patient mental health wards. A cross-sectional design was employed across 101 forensic and non-forensic mental health wards, over seven National Health Service trusts nationally. Measures included an online staff survey, Ward Features Checklist and recorded incident data. Data were analysed using categorical principal components analysis and ordinal regression. Perceptions of staff safety were increased by ward brightness, higher number of patient beds, lower staff to patient ratios, less dayroom space and more urban views. The findings from this study do not represent common-sense assumptions. Results are discussed in the context of the literature and may have implications for current initiatives aimed at managing in-patient violence and aggression. None. © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.

Efficacy and Academic Emphasis: A Leadership Factor in Elementary School Principals, and Its Relationship to Hope, Resilience, Optimism, and View of Intelligence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riegel, Lisa A.

2012-01-01

The goal of this research was to explore the construct of academic optimism at the principal level and examine possible explanatory variables for the factors that emerged from the principal academic optimism scale. Academic optimism contains efficacy, trust and academic emphasis (Hoy, Tarter & Woolfolk Hoy, 2006). It has been studied at the…

Analysis of algae growth mechanism and water bloom prediction under the effect of multi-affecting factor.

PubMed

Wang, Li; Wang, Xiaoyi; Jin, Xuebo; Xu, Jiping; Zhang, Huiyan; Yu, Jiabin; Sun, Qian; Gao, Chong; Wang, Lingbin

2017-03-01

The formation process of algae is described inaccurately and water blooms are predicted with a low precision by current methods. In this paper, chemical mechanism of algae growth is analyzed, and a correlation analysis of chlorophyll-a and algal density is conducted by chemical measurement. Taking into account the influence of multi-factors on algae growth and water blooms, the comprehensive prediction method combined with multivariate time series and intelligent model is put forward in this paper. Firstly, through the process of photosynthesis, the main factors that affect the reproduction of the algae are analyzed. A compensation prediction method of multivariate time series analysis based on neural network and Support Vector Machine has been put forward which is combined with Kernel Principal Component Analysis to deal with dimension reduction of the influence factors of blooms. Then, Genetic Algorithm is applied to improve the generalization ability of the BP network and Least Squares Support Vector Machine. Experimental results show that this method could better compensate the prediction model of multivariate time series analysis which is an effective way to improve the description accuracy of algae growth and prediction precision of water blooms.

The Walkthrough Observation: The Elementary Principals' and Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of the Walkthrough Observation Tool Affect on Professional Growth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walsh, Rick A.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceptions of the elementary principals' and elementary teachers' experiences utilizing the Western Pennsylvania Principal's Academy Walkthrough Observation Tool as a meaningful tool for professional growth for during the years 2011 to 2013. The researcher utilized Charlotte Danielson's…

A Study of Elementary Principals' Perceptions of Accountability and Leadership in an Era of High Stakes Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mckoy, Essie Manley

2012-01-01

The most significant pressures facing school principals in this decade are accountability and the need for them to lead effectively. To better understand these challenges, the purpose of this research was to ascertain some of the perceptions of elementary school principals toward accountability, examine how accountability has affected their…

Principals' attitudes regarding inclusion of children with autism in Pennsylvania public schools.

PubMed

Horrocks, Judy L; White, George; Roberts, Laura

2008-09-01

This study sought to identify the attitudes that principals held regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities, and the relationship between their attitudes and their placement recommendations for children with autism and to identify the relationship between specific demographic factors and attitudes toward inclusion and placement. A stratified random sample was drawn from the active list of 3,070 principals in the Pennsylvania public schools. From 1,500 surveys, 571 principal responses were received. The most significant factor in predicting both a positive attitude toward inclusion of children with disabilities and higher recommendations of placements for children with autism was the principal's belief that children with autism could be included in a regular education classroom.

A predictive model of human performance.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walters, R. F.; Carlson, L. D.

1971-01-01

An attempt is made to develop a model describing the overall responses of humans to exercise and environmental stresses for prediction of exhaustion vs an individual's physical characteristics. The principal components of the model are a steady state description of circulation and a dynamic description of thermal regulation. The circulatory portion of the system accepts changes in work load and oxygen pressure, while the thermal portion is influenced by external factors of ambient temperature, humidity and air movement, affecting skin blood flow. The operation of the model is discussed and its structural details are given.

Signal to Noise Studies on Thermographic Data with Fabricated Defects for Defense Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zalameda, Joseph N.; Rajic, Nik; Genest, Marc

2006-01-01

There is a growing international interest in thermal inspection systems for asset life assessment and management of defense platforms. The efficacy of flash thermography is generally enhanced by applying image processing algorithms to the observations of raw temperature. Improving the defect signal to noise ratio (SNR) is of primary interest to reduce false calls and allow for easier interpretation of a thermal inspection image. Several factors affecting defect SNR were studied such as data compression and reconstruction using principal component analysis and time window processing.

Venous thromboembolism in obese pregnant women: approach to diagnosis and management.

PubMed

Malinowski, Ann Kinga; Bomba-Opoń, Dorota; Parrish, Jacqueline; Sarzyńska, Urszula; Farine, Dan

2017-01-01

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) remains among the leading causes of maternal mortality in the developed world, presenting variably as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE) or cerebral vein thrombosis (CVT), among others. Obesity in particular has been recognized as the principal contributing factor to the risk of VTE in pregnancy and with the global increase in the rates of obesity affecting reproductive age women, heightened awareness of the risk and consequences of VTE in this population are vital. Thus, prophylaxis, diagnosis and treatment of VTE in the obese gravida are discussed.

Psychological Factors Associated with Development of TMD: the OPPERA Prospective Cohort Study

PubMed Central

Fillingim, Roger B.; Ohrbach, Richard; Greenspan, Joel D.; Knott, Charles; Diatchenko, Luda; Dubner, Ronald; Bair, Eric; Baraian, Cristina; Mack, Nicole; Slade, Gary D.; Maixner, William

2013-01-01

Case-control studies have consistently associated psychological factors with chronic pain in general and with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) specifically. However, only a handful of prospective studies has explored whether pre-existing psychological characteristics represent risk factors for first-onset TMD. The current findings derive from the prospective cohort study of the Orofacial Pain Prospective Evaluation and Risk Assessment (OPPERA) cooperative agreement. For this study, 3,263 TMD-free participants completed a battery of psychological instruments assessing general psychological adjustment and personality, affective distress, psychosocial stress, somatic symptoms, and pain coping and catastrophizing. Study participants were then followed prospectively for an average of 2.8 years to ascertain cases of first-onset of TMD, and 2,737 provided follow-up data and were considered in the analyses of TMD onset. In bivariate and demographically-adjusted analyses, several psychological variables predicted increased risk of first-onset TMD, including reported somatic symptoms, psychosocial stress, and affective distress. Principal component analysis of 26 psychological scores was used to identify latent constructs, revealing four components: stress and negative affectivity, global psychological and somatic symptoms, passive pain coping, and active pain coping. In multivariable analyses, global psychological and somatic symptoms emerged as the most robust risk factor for incident TMD. These findings provide evidence that measures of psychological functioning can predict first-onset of TMD. Future analyses in the OPPERA cohort will determine whether these psychological factors interact with other variables to increase risk for TMD onset and persistence. PMID:24275225

Instructional, Transformational, and Managerial Leadership and Student Achievement: High School Principals Make a Difference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valentine, Jerry W.; Prater, Mike

2011-01-01

This statewide study examined the relationships between principal managerial, instructional, and transformational leadership and student achievement in public high schools. Differences in student achievement were found when schools were grouped according to principal leadership factors. Principal leadership behaviors promoting instructional and…

Measurement Invariance of Second-Order Factor Model of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) across K-12 Principal Gender

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Lihua; Wubbena, Zane; Stewart, Trae

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factor structure and the measurement invariance of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) across gender of K-12 school principals (n=6,317) in the USA. Design/methodology/approach: Nine first-order factor models and four second-order factor models were tested using confirmatory…

Conceptual understanding and groundwater quality of selected basin-fill aquifers in the Southwestern United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thiros, Susan A.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Anning, David W.; Huntington, Jena M.

2010-01-01

The National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program of the U.S. Geological Survey has been conducting a regional analysis of water quality in the principal aquifer systems in the southwestern United States (hereinafter, “Southwest”) since 2005. Part of the NAWQA Program, the objective of the Southwest Principal Aquifers (SWPA) study is to develop a better understanding of water quality in basin-fill aquifers in the region by synthesizing information from case studies of 15 basins into a common set of important natural and human-related factors found to affect groundwater quality.The synthesis consists of three major components:1. Summary of current knowledge about the groundwater systems, and the status of, changes in, and influential factors affecting quality of groundwater in basin-fill aquifers in 15 basins previously studied by NAWQA (this report).2. Development of a conceptual model of the primary natural and human-related factors commonly affecting groundwater quality, thereby building a regional understanding of the susceptibility and vulnerability of basin-fill aquifers to contaminants.3. Development of statistical models that relate the concentration or occurrence of specific chemical constituents in groundwater to natural and human-related factors linked to the susceptibility and vulnerability of basin-fill aquifers to contamination.Basin-fill aquifers occur in about 200,000 mi2 of the 410,000 mi2 SWPA study area and are the primary source of groundwater supply for cities and agricultural communities. Four of the principal aquifers or aquifer systems of the United States are included in the basin-fill aquifers of the study area: (1) the Basin and Range basin-fill aquifers in California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona; (2) the Rio Grande aquifer system in New Mexico and Colorado; (3) the California Coastal Basin aquifers; and (4) the Central Valley aquifer system in California. Because of the generally limited availability of surface-water supplies in the arid to semiarid climate, cultural and economic activities in the Southwest are particularly dependent on supplies of good-quality groundwater. Irrigation and public-supply withdrawals from basin-fill aquifers in the study area account for about one quarter of the total withdrawals from all aquifers in the United States.Many factors influence the quality of groundwater in the 15 case-study basins, but some common factors emerge from the basin summaries presented in this report. These factors include the chemical composition of the recharge water, consolidated rock geology and composition of aquifer materials derived from consolidated rock, and land and water use. The major water-quality issues in many of the developed case-study basins are increased concentrations of dissolved solids, nitrate, and VOCs in groundwater as a result of human activities.The information presented and the citations listed in this report serve as a resource for those interested in the groundwater-flow systems in the NAWQA case-study basins. The summaries of water-development history, hydrogeology, conceptual understanding of the groundwater system under both predevelopment and modern conditions, and effects of natural and human-related factors on groundwater quality presented in the sections on each basin also serve as a foundation for the synthesis and modeling phases of the SWPA regional study.

Using kinematic reduction for studying grasping postures. An application to power and precision grasp of cylinders.

PubMed

Jarque-Bou, N; Gracia-Ibáñez, V; Sancho-Bru, J L; Vergara, M; Pérez-González, A; Andrés, F J

2016-09-01

The kinematic analysis of human grasping is challenging because of the high number of degrees of freedom involved. The use of principal component and factorial analyses is proposed in the present study to reduce the hand kinematics dimensionality in the analysis of posture for ergonomic purposes, allowing for a comprehensive study without losing accuracy while also enabling velocity and acceleration analyses to be performed. A laboratory study was designed to analyse the effect of weight and diameter in the grasping posture for cylinders. This study measured the hand posture from six subjects when transporting cylinders of different weights and diameters with precision and power grasps. The hand posture was measured using a Vicon(®) motion-tracking system, and the principal component analysis was applied to reduce the kinematics dimensionality. Different ANOVAs were performed on the reduced kinematic variables to check the effect of weight and diameter of the cylinders, as well as that of the subject. The results show that the original twenty-three degrees of freedom of the hand were reduced to five, which were identified as digit arching, closeness, palmar arching, finger adduction and thumb opposition. Both cylinder diameter and weight significantly affected the precision grasping posture: diameter affects closeness, palmar arching and opposition, while weight affects digit arching, palmar arching and closeness. The power-grasping posture was mainly affected by the cylinder diameter, through digit arching, closeness and opposition. The grasping posture was largely affected by the subject factor and this effect couldn't be attributed only to hand size. In conclusion, this kinematic reduction allowed identifying the effect of the diameter and weight of the cylinders in a comprehensive way, being diameter more important than weight. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Support vector machine based classification of fast Fourier transform spectroscopy of proteins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lazarevic, Aleksandar; Pokrajac, Dragoljub; Marcano, Aristides; Melikechi, Noureddine

2009-02-01

Fast Fourier transform spectroscopy has proved to be a powerful method for study of the secondary structure of proteins since peak positions and their relative amplitude are affected by the number of hydrogen bridges that sustain this secondary structure. However, to our best knowledge, the method has not been used yet for identification of proteins within a complex matrix like a blood sample. The principal reason is the apparent similarity of protein infrared spectra with actual differences usually masked by the solvent contribution and other interactions. In this paper, we propose a novel machine learning based method that uses protein spectra for classification and identification of such proteins within a given sample. The proposed method uses principal component analysis (PCA) to identify most important linear combinations of original spectral components and then employs support vector machine (SVM) classification model applied on such identified combinations to categorize proteins into one of given groups. Our experiments have been performed on the set of four different proteins, namely: Bovine Serum Albumin, Leptin, Insulin-like Growth Factor 2 and Osteopontin. Our proposed method of applying principal component analysis along with support vector machines exhibits excellent classification accuracy when identifying proteins using their infrared spectra.

Particulate matter in the rural settlement during winter time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olszowski, Tomasz

2017-10-01

The objective of this study was to analyzed the variability of the ambient particulates mass concentration in an area occupied by rural development. The analysis applied daily and hourly PM2.5 and PM10 levels. Data were derived on the basis of measurement results with the application of stationary gravimetric samplers and optical dust meter. The obtained data were compared with the results from the urban air quality monitoring network in Opole. Principal Component Analysis was used for data analysis. Research hypotheses were checked using U Mann-Whitney. It was indicated that during the smog episodes, the ratio of the inhalable dust fraction in the rural aerosol is greater than for the case of the urban aerosol. It was established that the principal meteorological factors affecting the local air quality. Air temperature, atmospheric pressure, movement of air masses and occurrence of precipitation are the most important. It was demonstrated that the during the temperature inversion phenomenon, the values of the hourly and daily mass concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 are very improper. The decrease of the PM's concentration to a safe level is principally relative to the occurrence of wind and precipitation.

Influential Observations in Principal Factor Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tanaka, Yutaka; Odaka, Yoshimasa

1989-01-01

A method is proposed for detecting influential observations in iterative principal factor analysis. Theoretical influence functions are derived for two components of the common variance decomposition. The major mathematical tool is the influence function derived by Tanaka (1988). (SLD)

A View from the Principal's Office: A Grounded-Theory Exploration of Principals' Perceptions of Non-Academic Barriers to Learning--Implications for School Social Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prather, JoNataye Arnitra

2010-01-01

The importance of the principal has been found to be a critical factor in student and school success. School principal responsibilities traditionally encompass operations and management. However, many principals are unable to fulfill these expectations because of students' social and behavioral issues. Consequently, this qualitative study explored…

Keys to Successful Leadership: High Support for Capable and Versatile Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tornsen, Monika

2010-01-01

What are the prerequisites for principals' success within a decentralized and deregulated Swedish-policy environment characterized by democratic equity values and neo-liberal practices? Twenty-four secondary school principals identified internal and external factors that promote or inhibit principals' success. The discussion concerns whether the…

Evaluation of Parallel Analysis Methods for Determining the Number of Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, Aaron V.; Green, Samuel B.; Levy, Roy; Lo, Wen-Juo; Scott, Lietta; Svetina, Dubravka; Thompson, Marilyn S.

2010-01-01

Population and sample simulation approaches were used to compare the performance of parallel analysis using principal component analysis (PA-PCA) and parallel analysis using principal axis factoring (PA-PAF) to identify the number of underlying factors. Additionally, the accuracies of the mean eigenvalue and the 95th percentile eigenvalue criteria…

Bilingualism Enriches the Poor: Enhanced Cognitive Control in Low-Income Minority Children

PubMed Central

Engel de Abreu, Pascale M. J.; Cruz-Santos, Anabela; Tourinho, Carlos J.; Martin, Romain; Bialystok, Ellen

2014-01-01

This study explores whether the cognitive advantage associated with bilingualism in executive functioning extends to young immigrant children challenged by poverty and, if it does, which specific processes are most affected. In the study reported here, 40 Portuguese-Luxembourgish bilingual children from low-income immigrant families in Luxembourg and 40 matched monolingual children from Portugal completed visuospatial tests of working memory, abstract reasoning, selective attention, and interference suppression. Two broad cognitive factors of executive functioning—representation (abstract reasoning and working memory) and control (selective attention and interference suppression)—emerged from principal component analysis. Whereas there were no group differences in representation, the bilinguals performed significantly better than did the monolinguals in control. These results demonstrate, first, that the bilingual advantage is neither confounded with nor limited by socioeconomic and cultural factors and, second, that separable aspects of executive functioning are differentially affected by bilingualism. The bilingual advantage lies in control but not in visuospatial representational processes. PMID:23044796

Ofeq-2 orbit, attitude, and flight evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grumer, Michael; Komem, Joseph; Kronenfeld, Joseph; Kubitski, Ophir; Lorber, Vitaly; Shyldkrot, Haim

1992-02-01

The most significant events and phenomena that occurred during the Ofeq-2 flight are evaluated in this work. Particular attention is paid to the physical and technological factors which affected its orbital lifetime. Comparison of Ofeq-2 telemetry results with prelaunch estimations and with Ofeq-1 flight data are presented. The satellite's orbit and mission characteristics are defined and the principal systems of Ofeq-2 are described. Topics addressed include the interaction between the spinner's attitude with respect to the sun and consequent electric power generation. The coning angle development history, the role of the solar data evaluation, and the factors influencing drag are also analyzed. All of these affected the Ofeq-2 power outage-recovery event. The orbit determination and the coning angle evolution estimation methods are discussed in some detail. A brief report on radiation effects on computer RAM (random access memory) is also given. An integrative systems engineering approach summary of the telemetry data reconstruction and analysis concludes the paper.

The Effects of Elementary School Principals' Leadership Styles and the Preferred Managerial Styles of Teachers on Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pichon, Christopher, Sr.

2010-01-01

The objective of this study is to identify principal leadership styles and teacher preferred principal leadership styles, as well as to examine the independent and combined effects of these variables on the TAKS Mathematics achievement scores of elementary students. School leadership affects every aspect of an institution. Studies reveal that the…

A Study of Perceived Leadership Styles as It Affects the Decision-Making Process Employed by Eleven Catholic School Principals in South Texas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agbakoba, Mary Olivia

2017-01-01

Catholic School principals play an important role in the development of students' spiritual, social, and academic wellbeing. Consequently, in order to improve students' spiritual, social, and academic skill, it is vital to study the perceived leadership styles and decision-making of Catholic School Principals. Research questions include: "Is…

Behaviour of Turkish Elementary School Principals in the Change Process: An Analysis of the Perceptions of Both Teachers and School Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gokce, Feyyat

2009-01-01

Technological and economic changes affect societies, and consequently bring about change in education. Elementary school principals in Turkey spend considerable time and effort managing change in their schools. This study contributes to the better management of Turkish elementary schools by determining the behavior of elementary school principals…

Job Realities of Primary School Principals in Greece: Similarities and Variations in a Highly Centralized System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dimopoulos, Kostas; Dalkavouki, Katerina; Koulaidis, Vasilis

2015-01-01

This study aims at investigating primary school principals' work on a daily basis in order to understand the ways in which the centralized educational system affects their practices. Four typical cases of principals were selected and asked to keep daily records for a period of four months. Data from logs were complemented with data collected…

The Instructional Leadership Practices of Elementary Principals of Average Needs/Resource Capacity School Districts in New York State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeVries, Rebecca

2017-01-01

Due in part to higher demands for educational accountability at both the Federal and state levels, the role of the school principal has come to the forefront. Previous literature has considered the indirect ways in which school principals affect student achievement. Of particular interest has been the implementation of instructional leadership by…

Defensive mobilization in specific phobia: fear specificity, negative affectivity, and diagnostic prominence.

PubMed

McTeague, Lisa M; Lang, Peter J; Wangelin, Bethany C; Laplante, Marie-Claude; Bradley, Margaret M

2012-07-01

Understanding of exaggerated responsivity in specific phobia-its physiology and neural mediators-has advanced considerably. However, despite strong phenotypic evidence that prominence of specific phobia relative to co-occurring conditions (i.e., principal versus nonprincipal disorder) is associated with dramatic differences in subjective distress, there is yet no consideration of such comorbidity issues on objective defensive reactivity. A community sample of specific phobia (n = 74 principal; n = 86 nonprincipal) and control (n = 76) participants imagined threatening and neutral events while acoustic startle probes were presented and eyeblinks (orbicularis occuli) recorded. Changes in heart rate, skin conductance level, and facial expressivity were also measured. Principal specific phobia patients far exceeded control participants in startle reflex and autonomic reactivity during idiographic fear imagery. Distinguishing between single and multiple phobias within principal phobia and comparing these with nonprincipal phobia revealed a continuum of decreasing defensive mobilization: single patients were strongly reactive, multiple patients were intermediate, and nonprincipal patients were attenuated-the inverse of measures of pervasive anxiety and dysphoria (i.e., negative affectivity). Further, as more disorders supplanted specific phobia from principal disorder, overall defensive mobilization was systematically more impaired. The exaggerated responsivity characteristic of specific phobia is limited to those patients for whom circumscribed fear is the most impairing condition and coincident with little additional affective psychopathology. As specific phobia is superseded in severity by broad and chronic negative affectivity, defensive reactivity progressively diminishes. Focal fears may still be clinically significant but not reflected in objective defensive mobilization. Copyright © 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Plants of the American continent with antiulcer activity.

PubMed

Falcão, H S; Mariath, I R; Diniz, M F F M; Batista, L M; Barbosa-Filho, J M

2008-01-01

Peptic ulcer is a chronic and appalling disease. Today, it is dominant among the diseases that affect the world's population. The principal factors causing this disease are inadequate dietetic habits, prolonged use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, stress and infection by Helicobacter pylori, in addition to other factors of genetic origin. The present work is a literature survey of plant extracts from the American continent that have been reported to show antiulcer activity. This review refers to 58 plants with their families, parts used, type of extract used, model bioassays and their activity. This work intends to aid the researchers in the study of natural products appropriate to the treatment of stomach and intestinal diseases, in general, and peptic ulcer in particular.

Assessing children’s empathy through a Spanish adaptation of the Basic Empathy Scale: parent’s and child’s report forms

PubMed Central

Sánchez-Pérez, Noelia; Fuentes, Luis J.; Jolliffe, Darrick; González-Salinas, Carmen

2014-01-01

The aim of the current research was to study cognitive and affective empathy in children aged 6–12 years old, and their associations with children’s family environment and social adjustment. For this purpose, we developed the Spanish version of the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), self- and parent-report forms. Factorial analyses confirmed a two-component model of empathy in both self- and parent-report forms. Concordance between parent–child measures of empathy was low for cognitive and affective factors. Analyses of variance on the cognitive and affective components brought a significant effect of age for self-reported cognitive empathy, with older children scoring higher than younger ones. Gender brought out a significant principal effect for self-reported affective empathy, with girls scoring higher than boys. No other main effects were found for age and gender for the rest of the factors analyzed. Children’s empathy was associated with socioeconomic status and other family socialization processes, as well as children’ social behaviors. Overall the new measures provided a coherent view of empathy in middle childhood and early adolescence when measured through self and parent reports, and illustrate the similarity of the validity of the BES in a European-Spanish culture. PMID:25566121

A Case Study of Middle Grades Leadership in a Conversion Charter School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bickmore, Dana L.; Dowell, Margaret-Mary Sulentic

2015-01-01

This 3-year case study examined middle grades principal leadership in a takeover charter school. The researcher analyzed principal and teacher interviews, field notes, and documents in relationship to a middle grades model of principal leadership. Results suggest the principals' limited experience, organizational factors unique to takeover charter…

The Relevance of "Personal Mastery" to Leadership: The Case of School Principals in Singapore

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Retna, Kala S.

2011-01-01

School leadership literature suggests that school effectiveness and ongoing improvement rely on school leaders and principals. Despite significant contributions made by principals towards teaching and learning in schools, there have been few studies that explore principals' perceptions of the factors underpinning their successes and achievements.…

The School Administrator's World of Predetermined Meaning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wake, Andrew

1979-01-01

This paper presents a view of the principalship as it is subjectively perceived by the principal. The role is constrained by a number of factors. One of these is the principal's private office that both signifies and produces the principal's unique status and position. One of the principal's primary obligations is to maintain the social structure…

Principals' Perceived Supervisory Behaviors Regarding Marginal Teachers in Two States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Range, Bret; Hewitt, Paul; Young, Suzie

2014-01-01

This descriptive study used an online survey to determine how principals in two states viewed the supervision of marginal teachers. Principals ranked their own evaluation of the teacher as the most important factor when identifying marginal teachers and relied on informal methods to diagnose marginal teaching. Female principals rated a majority of…

Exploring the Factor Structure of Neurocognitive Measures in Older Individuals

PubMed Central

Santos, Nadine Correia; Costa, Patrício Soares; Amorim, Liliana; Moreira, Pedro Silva; Cunha, Pedro; Cotter, Jorge; Sousa, Nuno

2015-01-01

Here we focus on factor analysis from a best practices point of view, by investigating the factor structure of neuropsychological tests and using the results obtained to illustrate on choosing a reasonable solution. The sample (n=1051 individuals) was randomly divided into two groups: one for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and principal component analysis (PCA), to investigate the number of factors underlying the neurocognitive variables; the second to test the “best fit” model via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). For the exploratory step, three extraction (maximum likelihood, principal axis factoring and principal components) and two rotation (orthogonal and oblique) methods were used. The analysis methodology allowed exploring how different cognitive/psychological tests correlated/discriminated between dimensions, indicating that to capture latent structures in similar sample sizes and measures, with approximately normal data distribution, reflective models with oblimin rotation might prove the most adequate. PMID:25880732

The Development and Validation of the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ).

PubMed

Batchelder, Laurie; Brosnan, Mark; Ashwin, Chris

2017-01-01

Key research suggests that empathy is a multidimensional construct comprising of both cognitive and affective components. More recent theories and research suggest even further factors within these components of empathy, including the ability to empathize with others versus the drive towards empathizing with others. While numerous self-report measures have been developed to examine empathy, none of them currently index all of these wider components together. The aim of the present research was to develop and validate the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ) to measure cognitive and affective components, as well as ability and drive components within each. Study one utilized items measuring cognitive and affective empathy taken from various established questionnaires to create an initial version of the ECQ. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to examine the underlying components of empathy within the ECQ in a sample of 101 typical adults. Results revealed a five-component model consisting of cognitive ability, cognitive drive, affective ability, affective drive, and a fifth factor assessing affective reactivity. This five-component structure was then validated and confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in an independent sample of 211 typical adults. Results also showed that females scored higher than males overall on the ECQ, and on specific components, which is consistent with previous findings of a female advantage on self-reported empathy. Findings also showed certain components predicted scores on an independent measure of social behavior, which provided good convergent validity of the ECQ. Together, these findings validate the newly developed ECQ as a multidimensional measure of empathy more in-line with current theories of empathy. The ECQ provides a useful new tool for quick and easy measurement of empathy and its components for research with both healthy and clinical populations.

The Development and Validation of the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ)

PubMed Central

Batchelder, Laurie; Brosnan, Mark; Ashwin, Chris

2017-01-01

Key research suggests that empathy is a multidimensional construct comprising of both cognitive and affective components. More recent theories and research suggest even further factors within these components of empathy, including the ability to empathize with others versus the drive towards empathizing with others. While numerous self-report measures have been developed to examine empathy, none of them currently index all of these wider components together. The aim of the present research was to develop and validate the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ) to measure cognitive and affective components, as well as ability and drive components within each. Study one utilized items measuring cognitive and affective empathy taken from various established questionnaires to create an initial version of the ECQ. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to examine the underlying components of empathy within the ECQ in a sample of 101 typical adults. Results revealed a five-component model consisting of cognitive ability, cognitive drive, affective ability, affective drive, and a fifth factor assessing affective reactivity. This five-component structure was then validated and confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in an independent sample of 211 typical adults. Results also showed that females scored higher than males overall on the ECQ, and on specific components, which is consistent with previous findings of a female advantage on self-reported empathy. Findings also showed certain components predicted scores on an independent measure of social behavior, which provided good convergent validity of the ECQ. Together, these findings validate the newly developed ECQ as a multidimensional measure of empathy more in-line with current theories of empathy. The ECQ provides a useful new tool for quick and easy measurement of empathy and its components for research with both healthy and clinical populations. PMID:28076406

Considering Horn's Parallel Analysis from a Random Matrix Theory Point of View.

PubMed

Saccenti, Edoardo; Timmerman, Marieke E

2017-03-01

Horn's parallel analysis is a widely used method for assessing the number of principal components and common factors. We discuss the theoretical foundations of parallel analysis for principal components based on a covariance matrix by making use of arguments from random matrix theory. In particular, we show that (i) for the first component, parallel analysis is an inferential method equivalent to the Tracy-Widom test, (ii) its use to test high-order eigenvalues is equivalent to the use of the joint distribution of the eigenvalues, and thus should be discouraged, and (iii) a formal test for higher-order components can be obtained based on a Tracy-Widom approximation. We illustrate the performance of the two testing procedures using simulated data generated under both a principal component model and a common factors model. For the principal component model, the Tracy-Widom test performs consistently in all conditions, while parallel analysis shows unpredictable behavior for higher-order components. For the common factor model, including major and minor factors, both procedures are heuristic approaches, with variable performance. We conclude that the Tracy-Widom procedure is preferred over parallel analysis for statistically testing the number of principal components based on a covariance matrix.

Effects of Nicotine Deprivation on Craving Response Covariation in Smokers

PubMed Central

Sayette, Michael A.; Martin, Christopher S.; Hull, Jay G.; Wertz, Joan M.; Perrott, Michael A.

2009-01-01

Most models of craving propose that when cravings are strong, diverse responses—thought to index an underlying craving state— covary. Previous studies provided weak support for this hypothesis. The authors tested whether nicotine deprivation affects degree of covariation across multiple measures related to craving. Heavy and light smokers (N = 127) were exposed to smoking cues while either nicotine deprived or nondeprived. Measures included urge ratings, affective valence, a behavioral choice task assessing perceived reinforcement value of smoking, and smoking-related judgment tasks. Results indicated higher correlations in the nicotine-deprived than in nondeprived group. The measures principally responsible for this effect loaded onto a single common Craving factor for nicotine-deprived but not nondeprived smokers. These findings suggest that, under certain conditions, measures of craving-related processes covary. PMID:12653419

Development and initial evaluation of Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy (TBT) for veterans with affective disorders.

PubMed

Gros, Daniel F

2014-12-15

Considerable attention has focused on the growing need for evidence-based psychotherapy for veterans with affective disorders within the Department of Veteran Affairs. Despite, and possibly due to, the large number of evidence-based protocols available, several obstacles remain in their widespread delivery within Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. In part as an effort to address these concerns, newer transdiagnostic approaches to psychotherapy have been developed to provide a single treatment that is capable of addressing several, related disorders. The goal of the present investigation was to develop and evaluate a transdiagnostic psychotherapy, Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy (TBT), in veterans with affective disorders. Study 1 provided initial support for transdiagnostic presentation of evidence-based psychotherapy components in veterans with principal diagnoses of affective disorders (n=15). These findings were used to inform the development of the TBT protocol. In Study 2, an initial evaluation of TBT was completed in a second sample of veterans with principal diagnoses of affective disorders (n=29). The findings of Study 2 demonstrated significant improvements in symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, posttraumatic stress, and related impairment across participants with various principal diagnoses. Together, the investigation provided preliminary support for effectiveness of TBT in veterans with affective disorders. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Sexual selection, sexual isolation and pheromones in Drosophila melanogaster strains after long-term maintaining on different diets.

PubMed

Trajković, Jelena; Miličić, Dragana; Savić, Tatjana; Pavković-Lučić, Sofija

2017-07-01

Evolution of reproductive isolation may be a consequence of a variety of signals used in courtship and mate preferences. Pheromones play an important role in both sexual selection and sexual isolation. The abundance of pheromones in Drosophila melanogaster may depend on different environmental factors, including diet. The aim of this study was to ascertain to which degree principal pheromones affect sexual selection in D. melanogaster. We used D. melanogaster strains reared for 14 years on four substrates: standard cornmeal substrate and those containing tomato, banana and carrot. We have previously determined that long-term maintaining of these dietary strains resulted in differences in their cuticular hydrocarbons profile (CHs). In this work, we have tested the level of sexual selection and sexual isolation between aforementioned strains. We found that the high levels of cis-vaccenyl acetate, 7-pentacosene and 7,11-nonacosadiene in the strain reared on a substrate containing carrot affected the individual attractiveness and influenced sexual isolation between flies of this strain and flies reared on a substrate containing banana. Based on these results, long-term different diets, may contribute, to sexual behaviour of D. melanogaster via the effects of principal pheromones. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Audit of Principal Effectiveness: Instrumentation for Principalship Research. A Research Project Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valentine, Jerry W.; Bowman, Michael L.

Using the literature and research on principal effectiveness as a foundation, the Audit of Principal Effectiveness was developed. Initially, 162 items forming 12 theoretical factors describing effective principal behavior were identified and sorted into two documents. The documents, each containing 81 items, were mailed to a total of 3,660…

The Role of Gender in Educational Administration: A Study of Turkish Secondary School Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Can, Niyazi

2004-01-01

This study examines candidate principals' perceptions and comments about female and male principals. Although the women are traditionally the majority among teachers, it is seen that they are in minority in management. According to the candidate principals who work in Turkish secondary schools, the gender factor is not important and there is no…

17 CFR 4.34 - General disclosures required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... such person must be indicated. (g) Principal risk factors. A discussion of the principal risk factors... OF THIS DISCLOSURE DOCUMENT. (b) Risk Disclosure Statement. (1) The following Risk Disclosure... securities laws and regulations or by any applicable laws of non-United States jurisdictions: RISK DISCLOSURE...

School Counselors and Principals: Different Perceptions of Relationship, Leadership, and Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armstrong, Stephen A.; MacDonald, Jane H.; Stillo, Sandy

2010-01-01

This study examined school counselors' and principals' perceptions of their relationship and the effectiveness of their respective professional preparation programs. An exploratory factor analysis (n = 615) revealed three salient factors: relationship quality, campus leadership and training satisfaction. Kruskal-Wallis tests revealed statistically…

46 CFR 515.31 - General duties.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... principal or shipper without the express written authority of such principal or shipper. (i) Accounting to... MARITIME COMMISSION REGULATIONS AFFECTING OCEAN SHIPPING IN FOREIGN COMMERCE LICENSING, FINANCIAL...) have been reported to the Commission in writing; and (2) are covered by increased financial...

Examining Parents' Ratings of Middle-School Students' Academic Self-Regulation Using Principal Axis Factoring Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Peggy P.; Cleary, Timothy J.; Lui, Angela M.

2015-01-01

This study examined the reliability and validity of a parent rating scale, the "Self-Regulation Strategy Inventory: Parent Rating Scale" ("SRSI-PRS"), using a sample of 451 parents of sixth- and seventh-grade middle-school students. Principal axis factoring (PAF) analysis revealed a 3-factor structure for the 23-item SRSI-PRS:…

Differential erosion and the formation of layered yardangs in the Loulan region (Lop Nur), eastern Tarim Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Yongchong; Xu, Lishuai; Mu, Guijin

2018-02-01

Yardangs are a type of wind-sculpted landform which generally form in hyper-arid regions. Several factors affect the development of yardangs, and the relative importance of these factors likely varies with differences in regional environmental factors. In the Loulan region of Lop Nur, wind dynamics are the principal factor affecting the development of yardangs. However, layered yardangs, which have undergone a unique form of differential erosion, are common in the region. These erosional landforms differ from typical yardangs which are eroded solely by abrasion and deflation. We conducted field and laboratory investigations of layered yardangs to determine their origin. The results indicate that there are two types of strata comprising the yardangs: uncompacted sand-silt layers, with a lower carbonate content; and compacted clay-silt layers, with a higher carbonate content. Both types of strata are horizontal and occur in alternating layers. This type of structure enables the wind to more easily erode the less resistant sand-silt layers at different heights, leaving the more resistant compacted clay-silt layers relatively intact. Eventually the undercut remnant clay-silt layers collapse once the weight of the suspended strata exceeds their elastic resistance (more than 90% of the fallen blocks have length/thickness ratios between 1.2 and 2.5). Therefore, in addition to wind dynamics, the lithology and structure of the strata are important factors affecting the development of the layered yardangs. This type of differential erosion accelerates the development of the yardangs in the Loulan region.

Enhancing arsenic mitigation in Bangladesh: findings from institutional, psychological, and technical investigations.

PubMed

Johnston, Richard; Hug, Stephan J; Inauen, Jennifer; Khan, Nasreen I; Mosler, Hans-Joachim; Yang, Hong

2014-08-01

As part of a trans-disciplinary research project, a series of surveys and interventions were conducted in different arsenic-affected regions of rural Bangladesh. Surveys of institutional stakeholders identified deep tubewells and piped water systems as the most preferred options, and the same preferences were found in household surveys of populations at risk. Psychological surveys revealed that these two technologies were well-supported by potential users, with self-efficacy and social norms being the principal factors driving behavior change. The principal drawbacks of deep tubewells are that installation costs are too high for most families to own private wells, and that for various socio-cultural-religious reasons, people are not willing to walk long distances to access communal tubewells. In addition, water sector planners have reservations about greater exploitation of the deep aquifer, out of concern for current or future geogenic contamination. Groundwater models and field studies have shown that in the great majority of the affected areas, the risk of arsenic contamination of deep groundwater is small; salinity, iron, and manganese are more likely to pose problems. These constituents can in some cases be avoided by exploiting an intermediate depth aquifer of good chemical quality, which is hydraulically and geochemically separate from the arsenic-contaminated shallow aquifer. Deep tubewells represent a technically sound option throughout much of the arsenic-affected regions, and future mitigation programs should build on and accelerate construction of deep tubewells. Utilization of deep tubewells, however, could be improved by increasing the tubewell density (which requires stronger financial support) to reduce travel times, by considering water quality in a holistic way, and by accompanying tubewell installation with motivational interventions based on psychological factors. By combining findings from technical and social sciences, the efficiency and success of arsenic mitigation in general - and installation of deep tubewells in particular - can be significantly enhanced. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Factors impacting perceived safety among staff working on mental health wards

PubMed Central

Brown, Andrew; McCabe, Rhiannah; Rogerson, Michelle; Whittington, Richard

2017-01-01

Background Safety at work is a core issue for mental health staff working on in-patient units. At present, there is a limited theoretical base regarding which factors may affect staff perceptions of safety. Aims This study attempted to identify which factors affect perceived staff safety working on in-patient mental health wards. Method A cross-sectional design was employed across 101 forensic and non-forensic mental health wards, over seven National Health Service trusts nationally. Measures included an online staff survey, Ward Features Checklist and recorded incident data. Data were analysed using categorical principal components analysis and ordinal regression. Results Perceptions of staff safety were increased by ward brightness, higher number of patient beds, lower staff to patient ratios, less dayroom space and more urban views. Conclusions The findings from this study do not represent common-sense assumptions. Results are discussed in the context of the literature and may have implications for current initiatives aimed at managing in-patient violence and aggression. Declaration of interest None. Copyright and usage © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. PMID:28904814

Predictors affecting personal health information management skills.

PubMed

Kim, Sujin; Abner, Erin

2016-01-01

This study investigated major factors affecting personal health records (PHRs) management skills associated with survey respondents' health information management related activities. A self-report survey was used to assess individuals' personal characteristics, health knowledge, PHR skills, and activities. Factors underlying respondents' current PHR-related activities were derived using principal component analysis (PCA). Scale scores were calculated based on the results of the PCA, and hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to identify respondent characteristics associated with the scale scores. Internal consistency of the derived scale scores was assessed with Cronbach's α. Among personal health information activities surveyed (N = 578 respondents), the four extracted factors were subsequently grouped and labeled as: collecting skills (Cronbach's α = 0.906), searching skills (Cronbach's α = 0.837), sharing skills (Cronbach's α = 0.763), and implementing skills (Cronbach's α = 0.908). In the hierarchical regression analyses, education and computer knowledge significantly increased the explanatory power of the models. Health knowledge (β = 0.25, p < 0.001) emerged as a positive predictor of PHR collecting skills. This study confirmed that PHR training and learning should consider a full spectrum of information management skills including collection, utilization and distribution to support patients' care and prevention continua.

77 FR 75619 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-21

... (Principal Investigators) are asked to complete annual program assessment surveys. These surveys are collectively reviewed to assess the program's effectiveness from the perspective of the students and Principal Investigators. The survey information is used to improve the program in subsequent years. Affected Public...

Groundwater studies: principal aquifer surveys

USGS Publications Warehouse

Burow, Karen R.; Belitz, Kenneth

2014-01-01

In 1991, the U.S. Congress established the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to develop nationally consistent long-term datasets and provide information about the quality of the Nation’s streams and groundwater. The USGS uses objective and reliable data, water-quality models, and systematic scientific studies to assess current water-quality conditions, to identify changes in water quality over time, and to determine how natural factors and human activities affect the quality of streams and groundwater. NAWQA is the only non-regulatory Federal program to perform these types of studies; participation is voluntary. In the third decade (Cycle 3) of the NAWQA program (2013–2023), the USGS will evaluate the quality and availability of groundwater for drinking supply, improve our understanding of where and why water quality is degraded, and assess how groundwater quality could respond to changes in climate and land use. These goals will be addressed through the implementation of a new monitoring component in Cycle 3: Principal Aquifer Surveys.

Cognitive load, emotion, and performance in high-fidelity simulation among beginning nursing students: a pilot study.

PubMed

Schlairet, Maura C; Schlairet, Timothy James; Sauls, Denise H; Bellflowers, Lois

2015-03-01

Establishing the impact of the high-fidelity simulation environment on student performance, as well as identifying factors that could predict learning, would refine simulation outcome expectations among educators. The purpose of this quasi-experimental pilot study was to explore the impact of simulation on emotion and cognitive load among beginning nursing students. Forty baccalaureate nursing students participated in teaching simulations, rated their emotional state and cognitive load, and completed evaluation simulations. Two principal components of emotion were identified representing the pleasant activation and pleasant deactivation components of affect. Mean rating of cognitive load following simulation was high. Linear regression identiffed slight but statistically nonsignificant positive associations between principal components of emotion and cognitive load. Logistic regression identified a negative but statistically nonsignificant effect of cognitive load on assessment performance. Among lower ability students, a more pronounced effect of cognitive load on assessment performance was observed; this also was statistically non-significant. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

The Principal Factor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westerberg, Tim

2016-01-01

If classrooms teachers play the lead role in establishing relationships that help students do their personal best, principals are leaders in creating good school environments for adults. Westerberg, former principal of award-winning Littleton High School in Colorado, shares six principles that help create positive schoolwide relationships. Drawing…

Attributes of School Leaders Towards Achieving Sustainable Leadership: A Factor Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goolamally, Norlia; Ahmad, Jamil

2014-01-01

A principal plays a very important role in deciding the direction and success of a school. Whether a school is dynamic is dependent upon the skills and abilities of the principal. In order to be excellent, the principal must be in possession of an excellent character. Therefore, the selection and promotion of school principals should be conducted…

Different Approaches to the Professional Development of Principals: A Comparative Study of New Zealand and Singapore

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Retna, Kala S.

2015-01-01

One of the key factors that contribute to effective management of schools is the professional development of principals. The role of the principal has become more complex with the dynamic and constant reforms in the educational environment. The present study focuses on the professional development of principals in New Zealand and Singapore. The…

Is zinc deficiency a risk factor for atherosclerosis?

PubMed

Beattie, John H; Kwun, In-Sook

2004-02-01

The development of atherosclerosis is influenced by genetic, lifestyle and nutritional risk factors. Zn and metallothionein deficiency can enhance oxidative-stress-related signalling processes in endothelial cells, and since changes in available plasma Zn may affect the Zn status of the endothelium, Zn deficiency could be a risk factor for IHD. Although the association of Zn with many proteins is essential for their function, three key signalling processes are highlighted as being principal targets for the effect of Zn deficiency: the activation of NF-kappaB, the activation of caspase enzymes and the signalling of NO. The need to develop a reliable indicator of Zn status is critical to any epidemiological approach for studying the relationship between Zn status and disease incidence. Studies using appropriate animal models and investigating how the plasma Zn pool influences endothelial intracellular labile Zn would be helpful in appreciating the importance of Zn deficiency in atherogenesis.

Factors Affecting Occupational Exposure to Needlestick and Sharps Injuries among Dentists in Taiwan: A Nationwide Survey

PubMed Central

Cheng, Hsin-Chung; Su, Chen-Yi; Yen, Amy Ming-Fang; Huang, Chiung-Fang

2012-01-01

Background Although the risks of needlestick and sharps injuries (NSIs) for dentists are well recognized, most papers published only described the frequency of occupational exposure to NSIs. Less has been reported assessing factors contributing to exposure to NSIs. The purpose of this study was to update the epidemiology of NSIs among dentists in Taiwan and identify factors affecting NSIs in order to find preventive strategies. Methodology/Principal Findings A nationwide survey was conducted in dentists at 60 hospitals and 340 clinics in Taiwan. The survey included questions about factors supposedly affecting exposure to NSIs, such as dentist and facility characteristics, knowledge and attitudes about infectious diseases, and practices related to infection control. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between risk factors and exposure to NSIs. In total, 434 (74.8%) of 580 dentists returned the survey questionnaires, and 100 (23.0%) reported that they had experienced more than one NSI per week. Our data showed that the risk of occupational NSIs is similarly heightened by an older age (odds ratio [OR], 3.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.62–6.25), more years in practice (OR, 2.57; 95% CI, 1.41–4.69), working in clinics (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.08–2.77), exhibiting less compliance with infection-control procedures (OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.04–3.18), having insufficient knowledge of blood-borne pathogens (OR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.04–2.67), and being more worried about being infected by blood-borne pathogens (OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.05–3.13). Conclusions/Significance High rates of NSIs and low compliance with infection-control procedures highly contribute to the chance of acquiring a blood-borne pathogen infection and threaten occupational safety. This study reveals the possible affecting factors and helps in designing prevention strategies for occupational exposure to NSIs. PMID:22509367

Distributed Leadership and Teachers' Affective Commitment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ross, Lisa; Lutfi, Ghazwan A.; Hope, Warren C.

2016-01-01

Principals' responsibilities have escalated in quantity and complexity. Mandates to increase student achievement and improve school grades overwhelm one person. Hence, principals are obliged to enlist teachers to serve in leadership roles. This research sought to determine whether there is a relationship between distributed leadership and teacher…

Identification of weather variables sensitive to dysentery in disease-affected county of China.

PubMed

Liu, Jianing; Wu, Xiaoxu; Li, Chenlu; Xu, Bing; Hu, Luojia; Chen, Jin; Dai, Shuang

2017-01-01

Climate change mainly refers to long-term change in weather variables, and it has significant impact on sustainability and spread of infectious diseases. Among three leading infectious diseases in China, dysentery is exclusively sensitive to climate change. Previous researches on weather variables and dysentery mainly focus on determining correlation between dysentery incidence and weather variables. However, the contribution of each variable to dysentery incidence has been rarely clarified. Therefore, we chose a typical county in epidemic of dysentery as the study area. Based on data of dysentery incidence, weather variables (monthly mean temperature, precipitation, wind speed, relative humidity, absolute humidity, maximum temperature, and minimum temperature) and lagged analysis, we used principal component analysis (PCA) and classification and regression trees (CART) to examine the relationships between the incidence of dysentery and weather variables. Principal component analysis showed that temperature, precipitation, and humidity played a key role in determining transmission of dysentery. We further selected weather variables including minimum temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity based on results of PCA, and used CART to clarify contributions of these three weather variables to dysentery incidence. We found when minimum temperature was at a high level, the high incidence of dysentery occurred if relative humidity or precipitation was at a high level. We compared our results with other studies on dysentery incidence and meteorological factors in areas both in China and abroad, and good agreement has been achieved. Yet, some differences remain for three reasons: not identifying all key weather variables, climate condition difference caused by local factors, and human factors that also affect dysentery incidence. This study hopes to shed light on potential early warnings for dysentery transmission as climate change occurs, and provide a theoretical basis for the control and prevention of dysentery. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In Search of How Principals Change: A Qualitative Study of Events That Help and Hinder Administrator Support for School-Wide PBIS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntosh, Kent; Kelm, Joanna L.; Canizal Delabra, Alondra

2016-01-01

Research has shown principal support to be a critical variable for implementing and sustaining evidence-based practices. However, there remains little understanding of the factors that may influence a principal's personal decision to support a practice. The purpose of the current study was to examine events that influenced principals' support for…

Time Management Abilities of School Principals According to Gender: A Case Study in Selected Gauteng Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Botha, R. J.

2013-01-01

According to the literature on school effectiveness and school improvement and the role of the school principal in this regard, the lack of time management skills and abilities among school principals can be regarded as one of the main factors that lead to principal inefficiency and ineffectiveness in the school context. But, how do male and…

Water characterization and seasonal heavy metal distribution in the Odiel River (Huelva, Spain) by means of principal component analysis.

PubMed

Montes-Botella, C; Tenorio, M D

2003-11-01

The Iberian Pyrite Belt is the largest mass of sulfide and manganese ores in Western Europe. Its sulfide oxidation is the origin of a heavily acidic drainage that affects the Odiel River in southwestern Huelva (Spain). To assess physicochemical, contamination parameters, heavy metal distribution and its seasonal variation in the upper Odiel River and in El Lomero mines, three water samplings were undertaken and analyzed between July 1998 and November 1999. Water from the Odiel River in the polluted zone showed low pH values (2.76-3.51), high heavy metal content, and high values of conductivity (1410-3648 microS/cm) and dissolved solids (1484-5602 mg/L). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that variables related with the products of the pyrite oxidation and the salts that are solubilized by the high acidity generated in the oxidation of sulfides, grouped in the first component, accounted for 40.88% of total variance, and were the main influential factor in physicochemical water sample properties. The second influential factor was minority metals (nickel, cobalt, cadmium). Heavy metals showed three different seasonal patterns, closely related with saline efflorescences formed next to the river bed: majority metals (iron, copper, manganese, zinc); minority metals (lead, nickel, cobalt, cadmium); and chromium, which had a distinctive behavior.

Immunoexpression of vascular endothelial growth factor in gingival mucosa with papilloma and condyloma acuminata.

PubMed

Scrieciu, Monica; MercuŢ, Veronica; Andrei, Oana Cella; Predescu, Anca Mihaela; Niculescu, Mihaela; Pisoschi, Cătălina Gabriela; BaniŢă, Ileana Monica

2015-01-01

The histological changes of the oral mucosa in contact with a metal alloy dentures is one of the current issues widely debated in the literature. To highlight the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in human paraprosthetic gingival mucosa exposed to nickel and copper compounds using the immunohistochemical technique. The selected participants were wearers of fixed dentures made of nickel-based alloys and copper-based alloys. The gingival mucosa fragments were prelevated through excision after removing fixed denture and extraction one of its affected teeth. The gingival mucosa fragments were processed through the histological technique of paraffin inclusion. The paraffin-embedded tissue sections were usually stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin and processed by immunohistochemical technique with VEGF antibody. The gingival mucosa fragments from nickel-based alloys dentures wearers were diagnosed with papilloma and, also, gingival mucosa samples prelevated from copper-based alloys dentures wearers were diagnosed with condyloma acuminata. Immunohistochemical reaction for VEGF was different in the gingival mucosa fragments with papilloma compared with condyloma acuminata samples. In papillomatosis gingival mucosa fragments, VEGF was implicated in principal in vasodilatation and inflammation process, and secondary in angiogenesis. In gingival mucosa fragments with condyloma acuminata, the principal role of VEGF was in angiogenesis and secondary in inflammation.

Lipolysis, lipid peroxidation, and color characteristics of Serrano Hams from Duroc and large white pigs during dry-curing.

PubMed

del Olmo, Ana; Calzada, Javier; Nuñez, Manuel

2013-11-01

Lipolysis, lipid peroxidation, and colorimetric characteristics of Serrano hams from Duroc and Large White pigs along a 15-mo curing period were investigated. Physicochemical parameters of both types of hams evolved similarly during curing. Twelve of 13 free fatty acids (FFAs) increased during curing, eicosatrienoic acid being the only exception. Linoleic, stearic, and arachidonic acids and the minor heptadecanoic acid reached lower concentrations, and the rest of minor FFAs higher concentrations, in Duroc hams than in Large White hams. The index measuring the early stage of lipid peroxidation declined from month 5 onwards, indicating that the phenomenon had been completed by month 5, while the index of the secondary stage of lipid peroxidation increased with curing time. Higher values were found for the 1st index in Duroc hams. Curing affected color parameters. Lightness decreased and redness increased in both types of hams, while yellowness decreased only in Duroc hams. Lower redness values were found for Duroc hams. Major differences in color parameters were found between muscles. Principal components analysis of FFAs yielded 2 main principal components. The 1st factor, correlated with all FFAs excepting eicosatrienoic acid, allowed discrimination between curing times. The 2nd factor, correlated with eicosatrienoic acid, permitted discrimination between breeds. © 2013 Institute of Food Technologists®

Integrating Technology: The Principals' Role and Effect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Machado, Lucas J.; Chung, Chia-Jung

2015-01-01

There are many factors that influence technology integration in the classroom such as teacher willingness, availability of hardware, and professional development of staff. Taking into account these elements, this paper describes research on technology integration with a focus on principals' attitudes. The role of the principal in classroom…

The Principal: Leadership for the Effective and Productive School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bookbinder, Robert M.

This book synthesizes research findings on principal effectiveness, viewing the principal as a key factor in ensuring school effectiveness and productivity. Methodology includes an extensive literature review, participation and observation grounded in theory, and pragmatic responses to conditions and issues. Chapter 1 presents an overview of…

What Matters to Principals When they Evaluate Teachers? Evidence from Cyprus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orphanos, Stelios

2014-01-01

Teacher evaluation conducted by school principals is a common worldwide practice. However, there are many reservations about principals' ability to evaluate teachers reliably. Reservations appearing in the literature include inflated ratings, minimal discrimination of teacher quality, and evaluations influenced by factors irrelevant to teacher…

Superintendents' Perceptions of the Principal Shortage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pijanowski, John C.; Hewitt, Paul M.; Brady, Kevin P.

2009-01-01

The research literature on the principal shortage is inconsistent regarding the actual scope of the shortage and a clear articulation of factors contributing to the successful recruitment and retention of today's school leaders. Often, critical data related to the principal shortage are ignored, including the number of younger principals…

46 CFR 515.41 - Forwarder and principal; fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Shipping FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION REGULATIONS AFFECTING OCEAN SHIPPING IN FOREIGN COMMERCE LICENSING... of the common carrier, free of charge or at reduced fees. (e) In-plant arrangements. A licensed...; and (2) The arrangement is not an artifice for a payment or other unlawful benefit to the principal. ...

Leadership Study in Hawaii--How Characteristics of Principals Affect the Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Araki, Charles T.

1982-01-01

Public and private school teachers in Hawaii were surveyed to obtain their perceptions of school organizational climate and principal leadership characteristics. In addition, data regarding the impact of school socioeconomic status and sex differences on leadership behavior were gathered and analyzed. (Author/MLF)

Improving the management of asthma in older adults.

PubMed

Carnegie, Elaine; Jones, Angela

Older people with asthma are a discrete patient group that requires specialist nursing skills and knowledge. They have specific and sometimes hidden needs that will affect their quality of life unless these are addressed by caring and competent nurses who have an interest in asthma. It is necessary to focus on both asthma and ageing to help older people achieve good asthma outcomes. This article discusses the complex physical, social and psychological issues affecting people with asthma aged 64 or older, age-related risk factors for poor control, age-related barriers to assessment and treatment, the scope of pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches, and principal treatment outcomes. Providing high quality services and information will equip older people to manage their asthma more effectively, attain physical and mental wellbeing, and lead to fewer hospitalisations and fatal episodes in this group.

Osteoarthritis in the XXIst Century: Risk Factors and Behaviours that Influence Disease Onset and Progression

PubMed Central

Musumeci, Giuseppe; Aiello, Flavia Concetta; Szychlinska, Marta Anna; Di Rosa, Michelino; Castrogiovanni, Paola; Mobasheri, Ali

2015-01-01

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a growing public health problem across the globe, affecting more than half of the over 65 population. In the past, OA was considered a wear and tear disease, leading to the loss of articular cartilage and joint disability. Nowadays, thanks to advancements in molecular biology, OA is believed to be a very complex multifactorial disease. OA is a degenerative disease characterized by “low-grade inflammation” in cartilage and synovium, resulting in the loss of joint structure and progressive deterioration of cartilage. Although the disease can be dependent on genetic and epigenetic factors, sex, ethnicity, and age (cellular senescence, apoptosis and lubricin), it is also associated with obesity and overweight, dietary factors, sedentary lifestyle and sport injuries. The aim of this review is to highlight how certain behaviors, habits and lifestyles may be involved in the onset and progression of OA and to summarize the principal risk factors involved in the development of this complicated joint disorder. PMID:25785564

Factors that Motivate and Inhibit Educators to Apply for the Principalship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morton, William

2011-01-01

The national principal shortage caused by the competing factors of an aging workforce, along with recent changes to the role expectations of the principalship making the position less desirable to potential candidates have been well documented in recent years. Effective schools research shows that principals are second only to classroom teachers…

Heavy metal deposition fluxes affecting an Atlantic coastal area in the southwest of Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castillo, Sonia; de la Rosa, Jesús D.; Sánchez de la Campa, Ana M.; González-Castanedo, Yolanda; Fernández-Camacho, Rocío

2013-10-01

The present study seeks to estimate the impact of industrial emissions and harbour activities on total atmospheric deposition in an Atlantic coastal area in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Three large industrial estates and a busy harbour have a notable influence on air quality in the city of Huelva and the surrounding area. The study is based on a geochemical characterization of trace elements deposited (soluble and insoluble fractions) in samples collected at a rate of 15 days/sample from June 2008 to May 2011 in three sampling sites, one in the principal industrial belt, another in the city of Huelva, and the last, 56 km outside Huelva city in an area of high ecological interest. The industrial emissions emitted by the Huelva industrial belt exert a notable influence on atmospheric deposition. Major deposition fluxes were registered for Fe, Cu, V, Ni, P, Pb, As, Sn, Sb, Se and Bi, principally in the insoluble fraction, derived from industrial funnel emissions and from harbour activities. Metals such as Mn, Ni, Cu and Zn, and elements such as P also have a significant presence in the soluble fraction converting them into potentially bio-available nutrients for the living organism in the ocean. A principal component analysis certifies three common emissions sources in the area: 1) a mineral factor composed mainly of elements derived from silicate minerals mixed with certain anthropogenic species (Mg, K, Sr, Na, Al, Ba, LREE, Li, Mn, HREE, Ti, Fe, Se, V, SO-, Ni, Ca and P); 2) an industrial factor composed of the same trace elements in the three areas (Sb, Mo, Bi, As, Pb, Sn and Cd) thus confirming the impact of the emissions from the Huelva industrial belt on remote areas; and 3) a marine factor composed of Na, Cl, Mg and SO.

Principal component regression analysis with SPSS.

PubMed

Liu, R X; Kuang, J; Gong, Q; Hou, X L

2003-06-01

The paper introduces all indices of multicollinearity diagnoses, the basic principle of principal component regression and determination of 'best' equation method. The paper uses an example to describe how to do principal component regression analysis with SPSS 10.0: including all calculating processes of the principal component regression and all operations of linear regression, factor analysis, descriptives, compute variable and bivariate correlations procedures in SPSS 10.0. The principal component regression analysis can be used to overcome disturbance of the multicollinearity. The simplified, speeded up and accurate statistical effect is reached through the principal component regression analysis with SPSS.

Principal Stratification — a Goal or a Tool?

PubMed Central

Pearl, Judea

2011-01-01

Principal stratification has recently become a popular tool to address certain causal inference questions, particularly in dealing with post-randomization factors in randomized trials. Here, we analyze the conceptual basis for this framework and invite response to clarify the value of principal stratification in estimating causal effects of interest. PMID:21556288

Influence of Contextual Challenges and Constraints on Learning-Centered Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tan, Cheng Yong

2014-01-01

The present study examines from the contingency opportunities perspective the influence of contextual factors on principals' learning-centered leadership using HLM. Participants were 18,641 school principals from 73 jurisdictions who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009. Results showed that principals were…

Primary School Principals' Job Satisfaction and Occupational Stress

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Darmody, Merike; Smyth, Emer

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors associated with occupational stress and job satisfaction among Irish primary school principals. A principal's job has become increasingly demanding and complex in recent decades. However, there is little current research into their levels of stress and job satisfaction, particularly…

Principals' Perceptions of Barriers to Dismissal of Poor-Performing Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dandoy, Jason R.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine which factors influence items that school principals consider "barriers" to dismissal of "incompetent" or "poor performing" teachers. This study determines if specific characteristics of schools, principals, or a combination of the two can predict the specific barriers cited…

The Principal as Change Agent--Encouraging Teachers to Adopt Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aquila, Frank D.; Galovic, John

1988-01-01

Principals as change agents must work with teachers to establish a climate conducive to change. Principals should assume an assertive change posture and improve their skills in dealing with various factors influencing change. Teacher discontent with working conditions is a key ingredient in the change process. (MLH)

The Retention and Attrition of Catholic School Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Durow, W. Patrick; Brock, Barbara L.

2004-01-01

This article reports the results of a study of the retention of principals in Catholic elementary and secondary schools in one Midwestern diocese. Findings revealed that personal needs, career advancement, support from employer, and clearly defined role expectations were key factors in principals' retention decisions. A profile of components of…

Pupillary responses during lexical decisions vary with word frequency but not emotional valence.

PubMed

Kuchinke, Lars; Võ, Melissa L-H; Hofmann, Markus; Jacobs, Arthur M

2007-08-01

Pupillary responses were examined during a lexical decision task (LDT). Word frequency (high and low frequency words) and emotional valence (positive, neutral and negative words) were varied as experimental factors incidental to the subjects. Both variables significantly affected lexical decision performance and an interaction effect was observed. The behavioral results suggest that manipulating word frequency may partly account for the heterogeneous literature findings regarding emotional valence effects in the LDT. In addition, a difference between high and low frequency words was observed in the pupil data as reflected by higher peak pupil dilations for low frequency words, whereas pupillary responses to emotionally valenced words did not differ. This result was further supported by means of a principal component analysis on the pupil data, in which a late component was shown only to be affected by word frequency. Consistent with previous findings, word frequency was found to affect the resource allocation towards processing of the letter string, while emotionally valenced words tend to facilitate processing.

Drivers of carbon dynamics and diagnostic fractions in grassland soils in Bavaria in a changing climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia-Franco, Noelia; Kühnel, Anna; Wiesmeier, Martin; Kiese, Ralf; Dannenmann, Michael; Wolf, Benjamin; Brandhuber, Robert; Treisch, Melanie; Kögel-Knabner, Ingrid

2017-04-01

The storage of carbon (C) in grassland soils is affected by two principal controlling factors: management practices and climate change. In particular, mountainous grassland soils may become a source of greenhouse gas emissions under global warming due to large amounts of labile C. In this regard, aggregate-occluded and mineral associated C may play a key role in the mitigation of climate change. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on different soil organic matter (SOM) pools and their main controlling factors in mountainous grassland soils. We analyzed the C development of long-term (1986-2012) monitoring grassland sites in Bavaria using Random Forest models. Sites with low initial C contents showed an increase of C, whereas the opposite trend was observed for sites with high initial C contents. Different controlling factors were related with the two main C trends. In addition, we determined the principal mechanisms involved in the build-up and stabilization of different C pools using a promising physical fractionation method. This method enables the separation of five different SOM fractions by density, ultrasonication and sieving separation: fine particulate organic matter (fPOM), occluded particulate organic matter (oPOM>20µm and oPOM<20µm) and mineral associated organic matter (sand and coarse silt, > 20 µm; medium + fine silt and clay, < 20 µm). The final aim is the determination of a diagnostic fraction that can be used as an indicator for future C changes in mountainous grassland soils.

Principal Leadership in Low-Performing Schools: A Closer Look through the Eyes of Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Finnigan, Kara S.

2012-01-01

This qualitative study of teachers in three low-performing elementary schools in Chicago reveals that transformational leadership behaviors were important to teacher motivation, affecting whether they believed that they could improve student performance as the accountability policy required. The findings suggest that principal leadership is…

Curriculum Leadership in a Conservative Era

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ylimaki, Rose M.

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose is to examine how recent conservative cultural political shifts have affected the meanings of curriculum leadership in schools. The author examines four principals in the wake of the No Child Left Behind Act and other related policies and trends. Design: This is a critical ethnographic study of principals' curriculum…

How Cannabis Causes Paranoia: Using the Intravenous Administration of ∆9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to Identify Key Cognitive Mechanisms Leading to Paranoia

PubMed Central

Freeman, Daniel; Dunn, Graham; Murray, Robin M.; Evans, Nicole; Lister, Rachel; Antley, Angus; Slater, Mel; Godlewska, Beata; Cornish, Robert; Williams, Jonathan; Di Simplicio, Martina; Igoumenou, Artemis; Brenneisen, Rudolf; Tunbridge, Elizabeth M.; Harrison, Paul J.; Harmer, Catherine J.; Cowen, Philip; Morrison, Paul D.

2015-01-01

Paranoia is receiving increasing attention in its own right, since it is a central experience of psychotic disorders and a marker of the health of a society. Paranoia is associated with use of the most commonly taken illicit drug, cannabis. The objective was to determine whether the principal psychoactive ingredient of cannabis—∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—causes paranoia and to use the drug as a probe to identify key cognitive mechanisms underlying paranoia. A randomized, placebo-controlled, between-groups test of the effects of intravenous THC was conducted. A total of 121 individuals with paranoid ideation were randomized to receive placebo, THC, or THC preceded by a cognitive awareness condition. Paranoia was assessed extensively via a real social situation, an immersive virtual reality experiment, and standard self-report and interviewer measures. Putative causal factors were assessed. Principal components analysis was used to create a composite paranoia score and composite causal variables to be tested in a mediation analysis. THC significantly increased paranoia, negative affect (anxiety, worry, depression, negative thoughts about the self), and a range of anomalous experiences, and reduced working memory capacity. The increase in negative affect and in anomalous experiences fully accounted for the increase in paranoia. Working memory changes did not lead to paranoia. Making participants aware of the effects of THC had little impact. In this largest study of intravenous THC, it was definitively demonstrated that the drug triggers paranoid thoughts in vulnerable individuals. The most likely mechanism of action causing paranoia was the generation of negative affect and anomalous experiences. PMID:25031222

Principal aquifers can contribute radium to sources of drinking water under certain geochemical conditions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Szabo, Zoltan; Fischer, Jeffrey M.; Hancock, Tracy Connell

2012-01-01

What are the most important factors affecting dissolved radium concentrations in principal aquifers used for drinking water in the United States? Study results reveal where radium was detected and how rock type and chemical processes control radium occurrence. Knowledge of the geochemical conditions may help water-resource managers anticipate where radium may be elevated in groundwater and minimize exposure to radium, which contributes to cancer risk. Summary of Major Findings: * Concentrations of radium in principal aquifers used for drinking water throughout the United States generally were below 5 picocuries per liter (pCi/L), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) maximum contaminant level (MCL) for combined radium - radium-226 (Ra-226) plus radium-228 (Ra-228) - in public water supplies. About 3 percent of sampled wells had combined radium concentrations greater than the MCL. * Elevated concentrations of combined radium were more common in groundwater in the eastern and central United States than in other regions of the Nation. About 98 percent of the wells that contained combined radium at concentrations greater than the MCL were east of the High Plains. * The highest concentrations of combined radium were in the Mid-Continent and Ozark Plateau Cambro-Ordovician aquifer system and the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system. More than 20 percent of sampled wells in these aquifers had combined radium concentrations that were greater than or equal to the MCL. * Concentrations of Ra-226 correlated with those of Ra-228. Radium-226 and Ra-228 occur most frequently together in unconsolidated sand aquifers, and their presence is strongly linked to groundwater chemistry. * Three common geochemical factors are associated with the highest radium concentrations in groundwater: (1) oxygen-poor water, (2) acidic conditions (low pH), and (3) high concentrations of dissolved solids.

Is the rate of re-operation after primary lumbar microdiscectomy affected by surgeon grade or intra-operative lavage of the disc space?

PubMed

Ellenbogen, Jonathan R; Marlow, William; Fischer, Benjamin E; Tsegaye, Magnum; Wilby, Martin J

2014-04-01

STUDY DESIGN. Retrospective audit of consecutive patients. OBJECTIve. To investigate the re-operation rate following elective primary lumbar microdiscectomy and to determine whether principal surgeon grade and/or disc space lavage is a factor in recurrence. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA. Recurrent herniation of disc material following lumbar microdiscecomy surgery is one of the commonest complications of the procedure. Any reduction in the number of revision microdiscectomies performed per year would have a significant impact on patients' lives and on the health service economy. We undertook this study to ascertain whether principal surgeon grade and/or disc space lavage has an impact in reducing the re-operation rate. METHODS. We undertook a retrospective audit of patients who underwent elective primary lumbar microdiscectomy, over a 3-year period (n = 971). RESULTS. The overall re-operation rate for primary elective microdiscectomy was 3.8%, consistent with the published literature. The relative risk of re-operation in patients primarily operated by registrar surgeons was 1.2 fold the risk in patients operated by consultants (95% CI: 0.62, 2.35) although not statistically significant (p = 0.568). The risk of re-operation in the 'non lavage' group was 2.15 times the risk in the 'lavage' group (95% CI: 0.63, 7.34), but it did not reach significance (p = 0.222). CONCLUSIONS. Principal surgeon grade and intervertebral disc lavage have not been found conclusively to be factors in the rate of recurrence. This information is useful to reassure patients that their outcome from such surgery is not dependent on the grade of surgeon performing the operation. There is a possible trend towards intervertebral disc lavage reducing the rate of recurrence.

Quantifying Burnout among Emergency Medicine Professionals

PubMed Central

Wilson, William; Raj, Jeffrey Pradeep; Narayan, Girish; Ghiya, Murtuza; Murty, Shakuntala; Joseph, Bobby

2017-01-01

Background: Burnout is a syndrome explained as serious emotional depletion with poor adaptation at work due to prolonged occupational stress. It has three principal components namely emotional exhaustion(EE), depersonalization(DP) and diminished feelings of personal accomplishment(PA). Thus, we aimed at measuring the degree of burnout in doctors and nurses working in emergency medicine department (EMD) of 4 select tertiary care teaching hospitals in South India. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted among EMD professionals using a 30-item standardized pilot tested questionnaire as well as the Maslach burnout inventory. Univariate and Multivariate analyses were conducted using binary logistic regression models to identify predictors of burnout. Results: Total number of professionals interviewed were 105 of which 71.5% were women and 51.4% were doctors. Majority (78.1%) belonged to the age group 20-30 years. Prevalence of moderate to severe burnout in the 3 principal components EE, DP and PA were 64.8%, 71.4% and 73.3% respectively. After multivariate analysis, the risk factors [adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) for DP included facing more criticism [3.57(1.25,10.19)], disturbed sleep [6.44(1.45,28.49)] and being short tempered [3.14(1.09,9.09)]. While there were no statistically significant risk factors for EE, being affected by mortality [2.35(1.12,3.94)] and fear of medication errors [3.61(1.26, 10.37)] appeared to be significant predictors of PA. Conclusion: Degree of burn out among doctors and nurses is moderately high in all of the three principal components and some of the predictors identified were criticism, disturbed sleep, short tempered nature, fear of committing errors and witnessing death in EMD. PMID:29097859

Quantifying Burnout among Emergency Medicine Professionals.

PubMed

Wilson, William; Raj, Jeffrey Pradeep; Narayan, Girish; Ghiya, Murtuza; Murty, Shakuntala; Joseph, Bobby

2017-01-01

Burnout is a syndrome explained as serious emotional depletion with poor adaptation at work due to prolonged occupational stress. It has three principal components namely emotional exhaustion(EE), depersonalization(DP) and diminished feelings of personal accomplishment(PA). Thus, we aimed at measuring the degree of burnout in doctors and nurses working in emergency medicine department (EMD) of 4 select tertiary care teaching hospitals in South India. A cross sectional survey was conducted among EMD professionals using a 30-item standardized pilot tested questionnaire as well as the Maslach burnout inventory. Univariate and Multivariate analyses were conducted using binary logistic regression models to identify predictors of burnout. Total number of professionals interviewed were 105 of which 71.5% were women and 51.4% were doctors. Majority (78.1%) belonged to the age group 20-30 years. Prevalence of moderate to severe burnout in the 3 principal components EE, DP and PA were 64.8%, 71.4% and 73.3% respectively. After multivariate analysis, the risk factors [adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) for DP included facing more criticism [3.57(1.25,10.19)], disturbed sleep [6.44(1.45,28.49)] and being short tempered [3.14(1.09,9.09)]. While there were no statistically significant risk factors for EE, being affected by mortality [2.35(1.12,3.94)] and fear of medication errors [3.61(1.26, 10.37)] appeared to be significant predictors of PA. Degree of burn out among doctors and nurses is moderately high in all of the three principal components and some of the predictors identified were criticism, disturbed sleep, short tempered nature, fear of committing errors and witnessing death in EMD.

Problematic eating behaviors among bariatric surgical candidates: a psychometric investigation and factor analytic approach.

PubMed

Gelinas, Bethany L; Delparte, Chelsea A; Wright, Kristi D; Hart, Regan

2015-01-01

Psychological factors (e.g., anxiety, depression) are routinely assessed in bariatric pre-surgical programs, as high levels of psychopathology are consistently related to poor program outcomes (e.g., failure to lose significant weight pre-surgery, weight regain post-surgery). Behavioral factors related to poor program outcomes and ways in which behavioral and psychological factors interact, have received little attention in bariatric research and practice. Potentially problematic behavioral factors are queried by Section H of the Weight and Lifestyle Inventory (WALI-H), in which respondents indicate the relevance of certain eating behaviors to obesity. A factor analytic investigation of the WALI-H serves to improve the way in which this assessment tool is interpreted and used among bariatric surgical candidates, and subsequent moderation analyses serve to demonstrate potential compounding influences of psychopathology on eating behavior factors. Bariatric surgical candidates (n =362) completed several measures of psychopathology and the WALI-H. Item responses from the WALI-H were subjected to principal axis factoring with oblique rotation. Results revealed a three-factor model including: (1) eating in response to negative affect, (2) overeating/desirability of food, and (3) eating in response to positive affect/social cues. All three behavioral factors of the WALI-H were significantly associated with measures of depression and anxiety. Moderation analyses revealed that depression did not moderate the relationship between anxiety and any eating behavior factor. Although single forms of psychopathology are related to eating behaviors, the combination of psychopathology does not appear to influence these problematic behaviors. Recommendations for pre-surgical assessment and treatment of bariatric surgical candidates are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Factors affecting in-hospital mortality in patients with sepsis: Development of a risk-adjusted model based on administrative data from German hospitals].

PubMed

König, Volker; Kolzter, Olaf; Albuszies, Gerd; Thölen, Frank

2018-05-01

Inpatient administrative data from hospitals is already used nationally and internationally in many areas of internal and public quality assurance in healthcare. For sepsis as the principal condition, only a few published approaches are available for Germany. The aim of this investigation is to identify factors influencing hospital mortality by employing appropriate analytical methods in order to improve the internal quality management of sepsis. The analysis was based on data from 754,727 DRG cases of the CLINOTEL hospital network charged in 2015. The association then included 45 hospitals of all supply levels with the exception of university hospitals (range of beds: 100 to 1,172 per hospital). Cases of sepsis were identified via the ICD codes of their principal diagnosis. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine the factors influencing in-hospital lethality for this population. The model was developed using sociodemographic and other potential variables that could be derived from the DRG data set, and taking into account current literature data. The model obtained was validated with inpatient administrative data of 2016 (51 hospitals, 850,776 DRG cases). Following the definition of the inclusion criteria, 5,608 cases of sepsis (2016: 6,384 cases) were identified in 2015. A total of 12 significant and, over both years, stable factors were identified, including age, severity of sepsis, reason for hospital admission and various comorbidities. The AUC value of the model, as a measure of predictability, is above 0.8 (H-L test p>0.05, R 2 value=0.27), which is an excellent result. The CLINOTEL model of risk adjustment for in-hospital lethality can be used to determine the mortality probability of patients with sepsis as principal diagnosis with a very high degree of accuracy, taking into account the case mix. Further studies are needed to confirm whether the model presented here will prove its value in the internal quality assurance of hospitals. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Principal Factors for High Performance of Odor and Methane degrading Biocover using Network Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, H.; Yun, J.; O, G. C.; Ryu, H. W.; Jeon, J. M.; Cho, K. S.

2016-12-01

Methane is 25 times more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and plays an important role in global warming. Landfills are one of the biggest methane sources and have emitted 37% of anthropogenic methane in Korea. Applying biocovers in landfills is known to be efficient for the simultaneous mitigation of methane as well as odor which occurs severe civil claims. In this study, three pilot-scale biocovers (2.5mx5mx1m) were constructed in a sanitary landfill at Gwangyang, Korea to establish the optimal operational conditions of biocover. All biocovers are filled with soil, EG microbial agent, food waste compost, and perlite with different combination. Pilot-scale biocovers have been operated since January in this year for simultaneous removal of odor and methane. The concentrations of methane and odors such as ammonia, H2S, methyl mercaptane, methylsulfide, dimetyl disulfide, i-valeraldehyde, and styrene were measured at the inlet and outlet of biocovers each month using GC and HPLC for removal performance evaluation. The biocover with highest removal efficiency eliminated 98.4% of odor and 100.0% of methane. All removal efficiencies of odor measured during experiment are in 81.1 98.4% range, and those of methane are in 3.6 100.0%. Three months later after biocover construction, all biocovers with mixed packing material showed better methane degradation performance than the biocovers packed only with soil. The packing materials of biocovers were sampled during winter (January), spring (April) and summer (July), and their microbial communities were examined based on 16S rDNA using 454 pyrosequencing to detect microbial factors that affects the removal efficiency. Methanotrophs which are known as methane-degradable bacteria take 10 25% of microbial community in biocovers, and most of those found in biocovers are type methanothrophs. Network analysis is performed and principal factors for performance improvement of biocovers are derived. Based on this study, well-designed biocovers will be newly set up in the operational landfill with the consideration of derived principal factors for high efficiency. This research was supported by the Korea Ministry of Environment as a "Converging Technology Project (2015001640003)".

The ecology of immune state in a wild mammal, Mus musculus domesticus.

PubMed

Abolins, Stephen; Lazarou, Luke; Weldon, Laura; Hughes, Louise; King, Elizabeth C; Drescher, Paul; Pocock, Michael J O; Hafalla, Julius C R; Riley, Eleanor M; Viney, Mark

2018-04-01

The immune state of wild animals is largely unknown. Knowing this and what affects it is important in understanding how infection and disease affects wild animals. The immune state of wild animals is also important in understanding the biology of their pathogens, which is directly relevant to explaining pathogen spillover among species, including to humans. The paucity of knowledge about wild animals' immune state is in stark contrast to our exquisitely detailed understanding of the immunobiology of laboratory animals. Making an immune response is costly, and many factors (such as age, sex, infection status, and body condition) have individually been shown to constrain or promote immune responses. But, whether or not these factors affect immune responses and immune state in wild animals, their relative importance, and how they interact (or do not) are unknown. Here, we have investigated the immune ecology of wild house mice-the same species as the laboratory mouse-as an example of a wild mammal, characterising their adaptive humoral, adaptive cellular, and innate immune state. Firstly, we show how immune variation is structured among mouse populations, finding that there can be extensive immune discordance among neighbouring populations. Secondly, we identify the principal factors that underlie the immunological differences among mice, showing that body condition promotes and age constrains individuals' immune state, while factors such as microparasite infection and season are comparatively unimportant. By applying a multifactorial analysis to an immune system-wide analysis, our results bring a new and unified understanding of the immunobiology of a wild mammal.

Relationship between the Decomposition Process of Coarse Woody Debris and Fungal Community Structure as Detected by High-Throughput Sequencing in a Deciduous Broad-Leaved Forest in Japan

PubMed Central

Yamashita, Satoshi; Masuya, Hayato; Abe, Shin; Masaki, Takashi; Okabe, Kimiko

2015-01-01

We examined the relationship between the community structure of wood-decaying fungi, detected by high-throughput sequencing, and the decomposition rate using 13 years of data from a forest dynamics plot. For molecular analysis and wood density measurements, drill dust samples were collected from logs and stumps of Fagus and Quercus in the plot. Regression using a negative exponential model between wood density and time since death revealed that the decomposition rate of Fagus was greater than that of Quercus. The residual between the expected value obtained from the regression curve and the observed wood density was used as a decomposition rate index. Principal component analysis showed that the fungal community compositions of both Fagus and Quercus changed with time since death. Principal component analysis axis scores were used as an index of fungal community composition. A structural equation model for each wood genus was used to assess the effect of fungal community structure traits on the decomposition rate and how the fungal community structure was determined by the traits of coarse woody debris. Results of the structural equation model suggested that the decomposition rate of Fagus was affected by two fungal community composition components: one that was affected by time since death and another that was not affected by the traits of coarse woody debris. In contrast, the decomposition rate of Quercus was not affected by coarse woody debris traits or fungal community structure. These findings suggest that, in the case of Fagus coarse woody debris, the fungal community structure is related to the decomposition process of its host substrate. Because fungal community structure is affected partly by the decay stage and wood density of its substrate, these factors influence each other. Further research on interactive effects is needed to improve our understanding of the relationship between fungal community structure and the woody debris decomposition process. PMID:26110605

Demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral factors affecting patterns of tooth decay in the permanent dentition: Principal components and factor analyses

PubMed Central

Shaffer, John R.; Polk, Deborah E.; Feingold, Eleanor; Wang, Xiaojing; Cuenco, Karen T.; Weeks, Daniel E.; DeSensi, Rebecca S.; Weyant, Robert J.; Crout, Richard; McNeil, Daniel W.; Marazita, Mary L.

2012-01-01

Objectives Dental caries of the permanent dentition is a multi-factorial disease resulting from the complex interplay of endogenous and environmental risk factors. The disease is not easily quantified due to the innumerable possible combinations of carious lesions across individual tooth surfaces of the permanent dentition. Global measures of decay, such as the DMFS index (which was developed for surveillance applications), may not be optimal for studying the epidemiology of dental caries because they ignore the distinct patterns of decay across the dentition. We hypothesize that specific risk factors may manifest their effects on specific tooth surfaces leading to patterns of decay that can be identified and studied. In this study we utilized two statistical methods of extracting patterns of decay from surface-level caries data in order to create novel phenotypes with which to study the risk factors affecting dental caries. Methods Intra-oral dental examinations were performed on 1,068 participants aged 18 to 75 years to assess dental caries. The 128 tooth surfaces of the permanent dentition were scored as carious or not and used as input for principal components analysis (PCA) and factor analysis (FA), two methods of identifying underlying patterns without a priori knowledge of the patterns. Demographic (age, sex, birth year, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment), anthropometric (height, body mass index, waist circumference), endogenous (saliva flow), and environmental (tooth brushing frequency, home water source, and home water fluoride) risk factors were tested for association with the caries patterns identified by PCA and FA, as well as DMFS, for comparison. The ten strongest patterns (i.e., those that explain the most variation in the data set) extracted by PCA and FA were considered. Results The three strongest patterns identified by PCA reflected (i) global extent of decay (i.e., comparable to DMFS index), (ii) pit and fissure surface caries, and (iii) smooth surface caries, respectively. The two strongest patterns identified by FA corresponded to (i) pit and fissure surface caries and (ii) maxillary incisor caries. Age and birth year were significantly associated with several patterns of decay, including global decay/DMFS index. Sex, race, educational attainment, and tooth brushing were each associated with specific patterns of decay, but not with global decay/DMFS index. Conclusions Taken together, these results support the notion that caries experience is separable into patterns attributable to distinct risk factors. This study demonstrates the utility of such novel caries patterns as new outcomes for exploring the complex, multifactorial nature of dental caries. PMID:23106439

Demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral factors affecting patterns of tooth decay in the permanent dentition: principal components and factor analyses.

PubMed

Shaffer, John R; Polk, Deborah E; Feingold, Eleanor; Wang, Xiaojing; Cuenco, Karen T; Weeks, Daniel E; DeSensi, Rebecca S; Weyant, Robert J; Crout, Richard; McNeil, Daniel W; Marazita, Mary L

2013-08-01

Dental caries of the permanent dentition is a multifactorial disease resulting from the complex interplay of endogenous and environmental risk factors. The disease is not easily quantitated due to the innumerable possible combinations of carious lesions across individual tooth surfaces of the permanent dentition. Global measures of decay, such as the DMFS index (which was developed for surveillance applications), may not be optimal for studying the epidemiology of dental caries because they ignore the distinct patterns of decay across the dentition. We hypothesize that specific risk factors may manifest their effects on specific tooth surfaces leading to patterns of decay that can be identified and studied. In this study, we utilized two statistical methods of extracting patterns of decay from surface-level caries data to create novel phenotypes with which to study the risk factors affecting dental caries. Intra-oral dental examinations were performed on 1068 participants aged 18-75 years to assess dental caries. The 128 tooth surfaces of the permanent dentition were scored as carious or not and used as input for principal components analysis (PCA) and factor analysis (FA), two methods of identifying underlying patterns without a priori knowledge of the patterns. Demographic (age, sex, birth year, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment), anthropometric (height, body mass index, waist circumference), endogenous (saliva flow), and environmental (tooth brushing frequency, home water source, and home water fluoride) risk factors were tested for association with the caries patterns identified by PCA and FA, as well as DMFS, for comparison. The ten strongest patterns (i.e. those that explain the most variation in the data set) extracted by PCA and FA were considered. The three strongest patterns identified by PCA reflected (i) global extent of decay (i.e. comparable to DMFS index), (ii) pit and fissure surface caries and (iii) smooth surface caries, respectively. The two strongest patterns identified by FA corresponded to (i) pit and fissure surface caries and (ii) maxillary incisor caries. Age and birth year were significantly associated with several patterns of decay, including global decay/DMFS index. Sex, race, educational attainment, and tooth brushing were each associated with specific patterns of decay, but not with global decay/DMFS index. Taken together, these results support the notion that caries experience is separable into patterns attributable to distinct risk factors. This study demonstrates the utility of such novel caries patterns as new outcomes for exploring the complex, multifactorial nature of dental caries. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

School Principals' Perceptions of and Expectations for Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

George, Meredith L.; Curtner-Smith, Matthew D.

2017-01-01

The purposes of this study were to (a) examine 19 school principals' perceptions of and expectations for physical education (PE) and (b) describe the factors influencing school principals' perceptions of and expectations for PE. We collected data using an electronic survey that included questions on (a) the goals of PE, (b) pedagogies and…

The Perceptions and Effectiveness of Leadership Development in Building Leadership Capacity in Principals: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiskow, Kyle

2017-01-01

Research focused on school improvement points to the principal as one of the decisive factors needed to sustain school success and increase student achievement (Cowie & Crawford, 2007; Duke, Grogan, Tucker, & Heinecke, 2003; Tucker, Henig, & Salmonowicz, 2005). Despite the demonstrated importance of principal leadership, large school…

The Principal's Relationship with Teacher and Development Literacy of Elementary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alsobaie, Mohammed Fahad

2015-01-01

Throughout this study a number of factors regarding the experience of principals and their strategies and processes from the perspective of helping teachers adopt more effective teaching practices, will be examined. The result should be a fresh and more complete picture of the principals' processes and helping teachers adopt more effective…

Involuntary Departure of Public School Principals in the State of Texas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davila, Elva Jimenez

2010-01-01

Few studies have examined the reasons for ineffective public school leadership. The study examined the factors associated with the involuntary departure of public school principals in the state of Texas and aimed to reveal the ineffective behaviors that erode the public school principal's leadership. The study also indirectly pointed out to…

State Efforts to Strengthen School Leadership: Insights from CCSSO Action Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riley, Derek L.; Meredith, Julie

2017-01-01

Many states across the nation are working to improve school leadership, some on a substantial scale. Several factors encourage state-level work focused on principals, including: research evidence of principal effects on student learning, flexibility in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), new national professional standards for principals,…

Teacher Empowerment as Perceived by Principals in Hong Kong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wan, Eric

2005-01-01

The Hong Kong Government first introduced school-based management (SBM) to the education profession in 1991. The principal is a pivotal factor in fostering an environment for change. SBM and teacher empowerment calls for new modes of leadership: teachers lend their expertise, and principals become facilitators rather than directors. The purpose of…

Redesigning Principal Preparation and Development for the Next Generation: Lessons from Illinois

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baron, Debra; Haller, Alicia

2014-01-01

Since 2000, Illinois has pursued an ambitious goal to strengthen principal preparation. This is a vital goal, as research has demonstrated that an effective principal is the key factor in improving schools and increasing student achievement. Through the work of numerous statewide committees and consortia, with funding support from several…

Factors Influencing Principals' Retirement Decisions: A Southern US Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reames, Ellen H.; Kochan, Frances K.; Zhu, Linxiang

2014-01-01

This study, conducted in one state in the United States, replicated similar research from over a decade ago to compare principal demographics and reasons for remaining or leaving the profession. Demographics have trended with the nation. Principals are older, more diverse and are largely eligible for retirement within the next five years. Similar…

Principals' Concerns Regarding the Implementation of Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dozier Pelfrey, Theresa

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the Stages of Concern (SoC) that school principals have toward change and then report participants' behavior relevant to their Level of Use (LoU) of an innovation. An understanding of principals' concerns regarding change suggested a variety of factors that impede educational leaders' implementation of…

The Impact of School Achievement on Principal Recruitment in a Reform Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winter, Paul A.; Morgenthal, Jayne R.

One of the most alarming developments confronting public school districts today is the shrinkage of applicant pools for principal vacancies. This study was conducted as an empirical investigation about factors that influence high school principal recruitment in a reform environment. Its objective was to examine the influence of school academic…

Improving Instructional Leadership Behaviors of School Principals by Means of Implementing Time Management Training Sessions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Su, Yu

2013-01-01

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 increases school accountability and requires educators to improve student academic outcomes using evidence-based practice. One factor that contributes to desirable school outcomes is principals' instructional leadership behaviors. Principals who allocate more time to instructional leadership behaviors are more…

The Effects of Principal's Leadership Style on Support for Innovation: Evidence from Korean Vocational High School Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Joo-Ho

2012-01-01

A climate of innovation and principal leadership in schools are regarded as significant factors in successfully implementing school change or innovation. Nevertheless, the relationship between the school climate supportive of innovation and the principal's leadership has rarely been addressed to determine whether schools successfully perform their…

The Relationships between School Autonomy Gap, Principal Leadership, Teachers' Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dou, Diya; Devos, Geert; Valcke, Martin

2017-01-01

This study examines the relationship between school autonomy gap, principal leadership, school climate, teacher psychological factors, teachers' job satisfaction and organizational commitment under the context of school autonomy reform. A path model has been developed to define the relationships between principal leadership and teachers' outcomes…

THE BRIEF PSYCHIATRIC RATING SCALE IN POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SUBTYPES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

PubMed Central

Kulhara, P.; Mattoo, S.K.; Avasthi, A.; Malhotra, A.

1987-01-01

SUMMARY Usefulness of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) in distinguishing positive and negative subtypes of schizophrenia is presented. Ninety five schizophrenic patients were assessed on BPRS. Significant differences emerged between positive and negative subtypes of schizophrenia on items like emotional withdrawal, guilt feelings, tension, hallucinatory behaviour, motor retardation, blunted affect and excitement. Discriminant function equation generated by these items had a high rate of prediction of group membership either to positive or negative schizophrenia group. Principal components analysis of BPRS scores yielded factors which favour categorization of patients in positive, negative subtypes. The study provides support for classification of schizophrenia into these subtypes. PMID:21927241

Characteristics of a dynamic holographic sensor for shape control of a large reflector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Welch, Sharon S.; Cox, David E.

1991-01-01

Design of a distributed holographic interferometric sensor for measuring the surface displacement of a large segmented reflector is proposed. The reflector's surface is illuminated by laser light of two wavelengths and volume holographic gratings are formed in photorefractive crystals of the wavefront returned from the surface. The sensor is based on holographic contouring with a multiple frequency source. It is shown that the most stringent requirement of temporal stability affects both the temporal resolution and the dynamic range. Principal factor which limit the sensor performance include the response time of photorefractive crystal, laser power required to write a hologram, and the size of photorefractive crystal.

0.4 Microns Spatial Resolution with 1 GHz (lambda = 30 cm) Evanescent Microwave Probe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tabib-Azar, M.; Su, D.-P.; Pohar, A.; LeClair, S. R.; Ponchak, George E.

1999-01-01

In this article we describe evanescent field imaging of material nonuniformities with a record resolution of 0.4 microns at 1 GHz (lambda(sub g)/750000), using a resonant stripline scanning microwave probe. A chemically etched tip is used as a point-like evanescent field emitter and a probe-sample distance modulation is employed to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. Images obtained by evanescent microwave probe, by optical microscope, and by scanning tunneling microscope are presented for comparison. Probe was calibrated to perform quantitative conductivity measurements. The principal factors affecting the ultimate resolution of evanescent microwave probe are also discussed.

Factors affecting the implementation of green specifications in construction.

PubMed

Lam, Patrick T I; Chan, Edwin H W; Poon, C S; Chau, C K; Chun, K P

2010-01-01

Green specifications constitute one of the important elements in green construction. New sustainability requirements and changing priorities in construction management have spurred the emerging green specifications to a faster pace of development. A cross-sectional survey has been conducted in Hong Kong in 2007 to identify principal factors leading to the success of preparing green specifications. Based on extensive construction management literature, 20 variables concerning sustainable construction were summarized. Using the Mann-Whitney U-test, the subtle differences between stakeholders in specifying construction work have been detected even with the high consistency of the responses among the groups. Moreover, five independent factors for successful specification of green construction have been categorized by factor analysis. They are related to (1) green technology and techniques, (2) reliability and quality of specification, (3) leadership and responsibility, (4) stakeholder involvement, and (5) guide and benchmarking systems. Whilst the first and fourth factors are generally more important, different stakeholder groups have different emphases. The results of the survey have been validated against established principles. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploring factors affecting registered nurses' pursuit of postgraduate education in Australia.

PubMed

Ng, Linda; Eley, Robert; Tuckett, Anthony

2016-12-01

The aim of this study was to explore the factors influencing registered nurses' pursuit of postgraduate education in specialty nursing practice in Australia. Despite the increased requirement for postgraduate education for advanced practice, little has been reported on the contributory factors involved in the decision to undertake further education. The Nurses' Attitudes Towards Postgraduate Education instrument was administered to 1632 registered nurses from the Nurses and Midwives e-Cohort Study across Australia, with a response rate of 35.9% (n = 568). Data reduction techniques using principal component analysis with varimax rotation were used. The analysis identified a three-factor solution for 14 items, accounting for 52.5% of the variance of the scale: "facilitators," "professional recognition," and "inhibiting factors." Facilitators of postgraduate education accounted for 28.5% of the variance, including: (i) improves knowledge; (ii) increases nurses' confidence in clinical decision-making; (iii) enhances nurses' careers; (iv) improves critical thinking; (v) improves nurses' clinical skill; and (vi) increased job satisfaction. This new instrument has potential clinical and research applications to support registered nurses' pursuit of postgraduate education. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

A qualitative study of psychosocial factors affecting expecting mothers who choose to continue a cleft lip and/or palate pregnancy to term.

PubMed

Hsieh, Yueh-Tzu; Chao, Yu-Mei Yu; Shiao, Judith Shu-Chu

2013-03-01

Prenatal detection of cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) leads to high rates of induced termination of pregnancy. There has been little research in Taiwan done on the psychosocial factors affecting those who decide to continue their CL/P pregnancy. This study identified the principal psychosocial factors that affect expecting mothers who chose to continue their CL/P pregnancy to term. Purposive sampling recruited expecting mothers with CL/P-diagnosed fetuses. Recruiting took place between May 2000 and March 2002 at a tertiary referral hospital in Taipei, Taiwan. Those who had decided to continue their pregnancy to term were asked to participate. Researchers obtained oral informed consent to be interviewed during the week following CL/P diagnosis. Interviews for each participant were completed within a 2-week period. All information was given to the interviewees in written and verbal forms before providing their written informed consent to participate. The five major themes central to participant experiences included (1) loss of self-value as a mother, (2) blaming the mother, (3) indecision about whether to continue the pregnancy, (4) anxiety triggered by insufficient information, and (5) burden of care and concerns about potential disadvantaged status. Significant psychological distress was identified among participants following their fetus' CL/P diagnosis. It was encouraging to learn that all participants told researchers in postpartum interviews that they did not regret the decision to take their child to term.

Assessing the determinants of evolutionary rates in the presence of noise.

PubMed

Plotkin, Joshua B; Fraser, Hunter B

2007-05-01

Although protein sequences are known to evolve at vastly different rates, little is known about what determines their rate of evolution. However, a recent study using principal component regression (PCR) has concluded that evolutionary rates in yeast are primarily governed by a single determinant related to translation frequency. Here, we demonstrate that noise in biological data can confound PCRs, leading to spurious conclusions. When equalizing noise levels across 7 predictor variables used in previous studies, we find no evidence that protein evolution is dominated by a single determinant. Our results indicate that a variety of factors--including expression level, gene dispensability, and protein-protein interactions--may independently affect evolutionary rates in yeast. More accurate measurements or more sophisticated statistical techniques will be required to determine which one, if any, of these factors dominates protein evolution.

Review of factors affecting recovery of freshwater stored in saline aquifers

USGS Publications Warehouse

Merritt, Michael L.

1989-01-01

A simulation analysis reported previously, and summarized herein, identified the effects of various geohydrologic and operational factors on recoverability of the injected water. Buoyancy stratification, downgradient advection, and hydrodynamic dispersion are the principal natural processes that reduce the amount of injected water that can be recovered. Buoyancy stratification is shown to depend on injection-zone permeability and the density contrast between injected and saline native water. Downgradient advection occurs as a result of natural or induced hydraulic gradients in the aquifer. Hydrodynamic dispersion reduces recovery efficiency by mixing some of the injected water with native saline aquifer water. In computer simulations, the relation of recovery efficiency to volume injected and its improvement during successive injection-recovery cycles was shown to depend on changes in the degree of hydrodynamic dispersion that occurs. Additional aspects of the subject are discussed.

[Products for hand hygiene and antisepsis: use by health professionals and relationship with hand eczema].

PubMed

Batalla, A; García-Doval, I; de la Torre, C

2012-04-01

Hand hygiene is the most important measure for the prevention of nosocomial infection. We describe the different products available for hygiene and antisepsis of the hands and the use of these products in daily practice. Hand hygiene products such as soaps and detergents are a cause of irritant dermatitis in health professionals. This irritation is one of the principal factors affecting their use in clinical practice. Alcohol-based products are better tolerated and less irritant than soap and water; irritation should not therefore be a limiting factor in the use of these products and they are to be recommended in place of soap and water. Informative and continued education programs could increase their use. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier España, S.L. and AEDV. All rights reserved.

Test progress on the electrostatic membrane reflector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mihora, D. J.

1981-01-01

An extemely lightweight type of precision reflector antenna, being developed for potential deployment from the space shuttle, uses electrostatic forces to tension a thin membrane and form it into a concave reflector surface. The typical shuttle-deployed antenna would have a diameter of 100 meters and an RMS surface smoothness of 10 to 1 mm for operation at 1 to 10 GHz. NASA Langley Research Center built and is currently testing a subscale (16 foot diameter) model of the membrane reflector portion of such an antenna. Preliminary test results and principal factors affecting surface quality are addressed. Factors included are the effect of the perimeter boundary, splicing of the membrane, the long-scale smoothness of commercial membranes, and the spatial controllability of the membrane using voltage adjustments to alter the electrostatic pressure. Only readily available commercial membranes are considered.

Teacher's Counselor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noon, Elizabeth F.

1977-01-01

Norma Kuder's teaching career was in jeopardy. Her personal life had been a mess for a long time, and it affected her teaching. Her principal believed that Norma didn't belong in teaching, and he warned her that her contract might not be renewed. Discusses how intelligent action by the school counselor, the principal, and fellow teachers saved a…

Good Cop, Bad Cop: Exploring School Principals' Emotionally Manipulative Behaviours

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berkovich, Izhak; Eyal, Ori

2017-01-01

Research on school principals' behaviours that affect teachers' emotional states is limited. Currently, the focus is primarily on extreme manifestations of mistreatment and emotional abuse; normative daily behaviours, such as emotionally manipulative ones, have yet to be explored. The purpose of the present study is to investigate primary school…

27 CFR 19.923 - Changes in officers, directors, or principal persons.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 27 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Changes in officers, directors, or principal persons. 19.923 Section 19.923 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms ALCOHOL AND... Spirits For Fuel Use Changes Affecting Applications and Permits § 19.923 Changes in officers, directors...

Understanding Principal Leadership: An International Perspective and a Narrative Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slater, Charles L.

2011-01-01

This article reviews recent literature in educational administration that supports the argument that leadership matters. School principals exert influence on teachers, who in turn affect student achievement. There is a need for an international approach both to replicate large studies and to use a narrative approach to study leaders in their…

Trust in School Principals: Teachers' Opinions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balyer, Aydin

2017-01-01

Trust is considered as one of the essential elements at schools. Although it is important, there is relatively little research on trust in educational settings. Research indicate that trust across school affects much of a school's functioning and it is a critical resource as principals embark on improvement plans. In this regard, it is a matter of…

Politics, Control, and the Future of School Accountability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moe, Terry M.

This paper examines the forces that affect school accountability. It presents the discussion in the context of the classic agency model, which is built around a principal-agent relationship. In these types of relationships, a principal attains certain goals through an agent, who acts on her behalf. Although ubiquitous in society, these kinds of…

Hyperspectral optical imaging of human iris in vivo: characteristics of reflectance spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medina, José M.; Pereira, Luís M.; Correia, Hélder T.; Nascimento, Sérgio M. C.

2011-07-01

We report a hyperspectral imaging system to measure the reflectance spectra of real human irises with high spatial resolution. A set of ocular prosthesis was used as the control condition. Reflectance data were decorrelated by the principal-component analysis. The main conclusion is that spectral complexity of the human iris is considerable: between 9 and 11 principal components are necessary to account for 99% of the cumulative variance in human irises. Correcting image misalignments associated with spontaneous ocular movements did not influence this result. The data also suggests a correlation between the first principal component and different levels of melanin present in the irises. It was also found that although the spectral characteristics of the first five principal components were not affected by the radial and angular position of the selected iridal areas, they affect the higher-order ones, suggesting a possible influence of the iris texture. The results show that hyperspectral imaging in the iris, together with adequate spectroscopic analyses provide more information than conventional colorimetric methods, making hyperspectral imaging suitable for the characterization of melanin and the noninvasive diagnosis of ocular diseases and iris color.

Interspecific Comparison of the Performance of Soaring Migrants in Relation to Morphology, Meteorological Conditions and Migration Strategies

PubMed Central

Mellone, Ugo; Klaassen, Raymond H. G.; García-Ripollés, Clara; Limiñana, Ruben; López-López, Pascual; Pavón, Diego; Strandberg, Roine; Urios, Vicente; Vardakis, Michalis; Alerstam, Thomas

2012-01-01

Background Performance of migrating birds can be affected by a number of intrinsic and extrinsic factors like morphology, meteorological conditions and migration strategies. We compared travel speeds of four raptor species during their crossing of the Sahara desert. Focusing the analyses on this region allows us to compare different species under equivalent conditions in order to disentangle which factors affect migratory performance. Methodology/Principal Finding We tracked raptors using GPS satellite transmitters from Sweden, Spain and Italy, and evaluated their migratory performance at both an hourly and a daily scale. Hourly data (flight speed and altitude for intervals of two hours) were analyzed in relation to time of day, species and season, and daily data (distance between roosting sites) in relation to species, season, day length and tailwind support. Conclusions/Significance Despite a clear variation in morphology, interspecific differences were generally very small, and did only arise in spring, with long-distance migrants (>5000 km: osprey and Western marsh-harrier) being faster than species that migrate shorter distances (Egyptian vulture and short-toed eagle). Our results suggest that the most important factor explaining hourly variation in flight speed is time of day, while at a daily scale, tailwind support is the most important factor explaining variation in daily distance, raising new questions about the consequences of possible future changes in worldwide wind patterns. PMID:22768314

[Spatial-temporal distributions of dissolved inorganic carbon and its affecting factors in the Yellow River estuary].

PubMed

Guo, Xing-Sen; Lü, Ying-Chun; Sun, Zhi-Gao; Wang, Chuan-Yuan; Zhao, Quan-Sheng

2015-02-01

Estuary is an important area contributing to the global carbon cycle. In order to analyze the spatial-temporal distribution characteristics of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the surface water of Yellow River estuary. Samples were collected in spring, summer, fall, winter of 2013, and discussed the correlation between the content of DIC and environmental factors. The results show that, the DIC concentration of the surface water in Yellow River estuary is in a range of 26.34-39.43 mg x L(-1), and the DIC concentration in freshwater side is higher than that in the sea side. In some areas where the salinity is less than 15 per thousand, the DIC concentration appears significant losses-the maximum loss is 20.46%. Seasonal distribution of performance in descending order is spring, fall, winter, summer. Through principal component analysis, it shows that water temperature, suspended solids, salinity and chlorophyll a are the main factors affecting the variation of the DIC concentration in surface water, their contribution rate is as high as 83% , and alkalinity, pH, dissolved organic carbon, dissolved oxygen and other factors can not be ignored. The loss of DIC in the low area is due to the calcium carbonate sedimentation. DIC presents a gradually increasing trend, which is mainly due to the effects of water retention time, temperature, outside input and environmental conditions.

Psychosocial functioning in first-episode psychosis and associations with neurocognition, social cognition, psychotic and affective symptoms.

PubMed

Stouten, Luyken H; Veling, Wim; Laan, Winfried; van der Helm, Mischa; van der Gaag, Mark

2017-02-01

Most studies on the determinants of psychosocial functioning in first-episode psychosis used few predictors. This study examines the effects of multiple cognitive domains and multiple symptoms on psychosocial functioning. A total of 162 patients with a first-episode psychosis were assessed within 3 months after referral to an early psychosis treatment department. Four psychopathological subdomains (positive and negative symptoms, depression and anxiety) and five subdomains of psychosocial functioning (work/study, relationships, self-care, disturbing behaviour and general psychosocial functioning) were measured. Neurocognitive and social cognitive factors were identified through principal component analyses (PCA) of a 15-measure cognitive battery. Stepwise backward regression models were computed to identify the determinants of psychosocial functioning. The three neurocognitive and four social cognitive factors identified through PCA were largely independent of psychopathology. The strongest associations were between cognitive factors and anxiety. Higher levels of negative symptoms, poor general neurocognition and poor general social cognition showed strongest associations with impaired psychosocial functioning, followed by low verbal processing speed and low emotion processing speed. Together, these factors accounted for 39.4% of the variance in psychosocial functioning. The results suggest that negative symptoms, impaired neurocognition and poor social cognition are related to psychosocial problems in patients with first-episode psychosis. None of the affective or positive symptoms had a marked impact on psychosocial functioning. © 2015 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Factorial and Item-Level Invariance of a Principal Perspectives Survey: German and U.S. Principals.

PubMed

Wang, Chuang; Hancock, Dawson R; Muller, Ulrich

This study examined the factorial and item-level invariance of a survey of principals' job satisfaction and perspectives about reasons and barriers to becoming a principal with a sample of US principals and another sample of German principals. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and differential item functioning (DIF) analysis were employed at the test and item level, respectively. A single group CFA was conducted first, and the model was found to fit the data collected. The factorial invariance between the German and the US principals was tested through three steps: (a) configural invariance; (b) measurement invariance; and (c) structural invariance. The results suggest that the survey is a viable measure of principals' job satisfaction and perspectives about reasons and barriers to becoming a principal because principals from two different cultures shared a similar pattern on all three constructs. The DIF analysis further revealed that 22 out of the 28 items functioned similarly between German and US principals.

Obesity and Asthma: A Missing Link.

PubMed

Gomez-Llorente, Mª Amelia; Romero, Raquel; Chueca, Natalia; Martinez-Cañavate, Ana; Gomez-Llorente, Carolina

2017-07-11

Obesity and asthma are two chronic conditions that affect millions of people. Genetic and lifestyle factors such as diet, physical activity, and early exposure to micro-organisms are important factors that may contribute to the escalating prevalence of both conditions. The prevalence of asthma is higher in obese individuals. Recently, two major phenotypes of asthma with obesity have been described: one phenotype of early-onset asthma that is aggravated by obesity, and a second phenotype of later-onset asthma that predominantly affects women. Systemic inflammation and mechanical effect, both due to the expansion of the adipose tissue, have been proposed as the main reasons for the association between obesity and asthma. However, the mechanisms involved are not yet fully understood. Moreover, it has also been suggested that insulin resistance syndrome can have a role in the association between these conditions. The intestinal microbiota is an important factor in the development of the immune system, and can be considered a link between obesity and asthma. In the obese state, higher lipopolysaccharide (LPS) serum levels as a consequence of a microbiota dysbiosis have been found. In addition, changes in microbiota composition result in a modification of carbohydrate fermentation capacity, therefore modifying short chain fatty acid (SCFA) levels. The main objective of this review is to summarize the principal findings that link obesity and asthma.

Obesity and Asthma: A Missing Link

PubMed Central

Gomez-Llorente, Mª Amelia; Romero, Raquel; Chueca, Natalia; Martinez-Cañavate, Ana

2017-01-01

Obesity and asthma are two chronic conditions that affect millions of people. Genetic and lifestyle factors such as diet, physical activity, and early exposure to micro-organisms are important factors that may contribute to the escalating prevalence of both conditions. The prevalence of asthma is higher in obese individuals. Recently, two major phenotypes of asthma with obesity have been described: one phenotype of early-onset asthma that is aggravated by obesity, and a second phenotype of later-onset asthma that predominantly affects women. Systemic inflammation and mechanical effect, both due to the expansion of the adipose tissue, have been proposed as the main reasons for the association between obesity and asthma. However, the mechanisms involved are not yet fully understood. Moreover, it has also been suggested that insulin resistance syndrome can have a role in the association between these conditions. The intestinal microbiota is an important factor in the development of the immune system, and can be considered a link between obesity and asthma. In the obese state, higher lipopolysaccharide (LPS) serum levels as a consequence of a microbiota dysbiosis have been found. In addition, changes in microbiota composition result in a modification of carbohydrate fermentation capacity, therefore modifying short chain fatty acid (SCFA) levels. The main objective of this review is to summarize the principal findings that link obesity and asthma. PMID:28696379

The Role of the Principal's Leadership Style in the Implementation of ICT Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hadjithoma-Garstka, Christina

2011-01-01

This paper presents findings of a study in information communication technology (ICT) implementation, on the principal's leadership style in relation to other factors that influence implementation. The principal's leadership style is perceived--on the basis of the characteristics of the context where the study was conducted--as a personal quality,…

Managing Senior Management Team Boundaries and School Improvement: An Investigation of the School Leader Role

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benoliel, Pascale

2017-01-01

The present study purpose was to investigate the unique role and activities of school principals in managing their senior management team (SMT) boundaries. The study examined how school principals' internal and external activities mediate the relationship of principals' personal factors from the Big Five typology, the team and contextual…

An Investigation of the Attitudes of Catholic School Principals towards the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyle, Michael J.; Hernandez, Claudia M.

2016-01-01

Catholic school principals typically serve as the prime decision-makers in admission and enrollment issues. A key factor in this decision-making can be the principals' perceptions and attitudes about servicing students with disabilities within a Catholic school context. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the attitudes and…

Pre-Service Preparation, In-Service Development, and Individual Attainment: Factors in Principal Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yslas, Tracy M.

2016-01-01

Principals need to be leaders who set and communicate a vision for learning, understand organization development, know how to effect change, are able to help teachers grow in their craft, and can interpret and utilize data for school improvement. The literature has shown disconnect between principal preparation and actual practices needed for the…

National Contexts Influencing Principals' Time Use and Allocation: Economic Development, Societal Culture, and Educational System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Moosung; Hallinger, Philip

2012-01-01

This study examines the impact of macro-context factors on the behavior of school principals. More specifically, the article illuminates how a nation's level of economic development, societal culture, and educational system influence the amount of time principals devote to their job role and shape their allocation of time to instructional…

Principal Experiences with Crisis Management Professional Development, Collaboration, and Implementation of the National Incident Management System Phases of Emergency Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naradko, Anthony M.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative single-subject case study was to identify the elements critical to crisis management professional development for school principals; the factors influencing the implementation of the National Incident Management System Phases of Emergency Management (2010) for principals; and the necessary elements for fostering…

High School Principals Who Stay: Stability in a Time of Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luebke, Patricia A.

2013-01-01

This qualitative study explored the institutional factors, personal characteristics, and work-related relationships of high school principals that led to their longer than usual tenure in their positions. Data were gathered from interviews with ten high school principals who had served in their positions for a range of 8 to 23 years, much longer…

Predicting the Gap: Perceptual Congruence between American Principals and Their Teachers' Ratings of Leadership Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goff, Peter T; Goldring, Ellen; Bickman, Leonard

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to determine the extent to which principals' self-ratings of leadership effectiveness coincide with their teachers' perceptions of their leadership effectiveness. Furthermore, we explore several characteristics of teachers and principals in an attempt to identify the factors that may predict congruence in…

Metabolomics Provides Quality Characterization of Commercial Gochujang (Fermented Pepper Paste).

PubMed

Lee, Gyu Min; Suh, Dong Ho; Jung, Eun Sung; Lee, Choong Hwan

2016-07-15

To identify the major factors contributing to the quality of commercial gochujang (fermented red pepper paste), metabolites were profiled by mass spectrometry. In principal component analysis, cereal type (wheat, brown rice, and white rice) and species of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum, C. annuum cv. Chung-yang, and C. frutescens) affected clustering patterns. Relative amino acid and citric acid levels were significantly higher in wheat gochujang than in rice gochujang. Sucrose, linoleic acid, oleic acid, and lysophospholipid levels were high in brown-rice gochujang, whereas glucose, maltose, and γ-aminobutyric acid levels were high in white-rice gochujang. The relative capsaicinoid and luteolin derivative contents in gochujang were affected by the hot pepper species used. Gochujang containing C. annuum cv. Chung-yang and C. frutescens showed high capsaicinoid levels. The luteolin derivative level was high in gochujang containing C. frutescens. These metabolite variations in commercial gochujang may be related to different physicochemical phenotypes and antioxidant activity.

Examining Factors in the Research Institute on Addictions Self-Inventory (RIASI): Associations with Alcohol Use and Problems at Assessment and Follow-Up

PubMed Central

Mann, Robert E.; Stoduto, Gina; Zalcman, Rosely Flam; Nochajski, Thomas H.; Hall, Louise; Dill, Patricia; Wells-Parker, Elisabeth

2009-01-01

Impaired driving is a leading cause of alcohol-related deaths and injuries. Rehabilitation or remedial programs, involving assessment and screening of convicted impaired drivers to determine problem severity and appropriate programs, are an important component of society’s response to this problem. Ontario’s remedial program, Back on Track (BOT), involves an assessment process that includes administration of the Research Institute on Addictions Self-Inventory (RIASI) to determine assignment to an education or treatment program. The purpose of this study is to identify factors within the RIASI and examine how factor scores are associated with alcohol use and problem indicators at assessment and six-month follow-up. The sample included 22,298 individuals who completed BOT from 2000 to 2005. Principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation was conducted on RIASI data and an eight factor solution was retained: (1) Negative Affect, (2) Sensation Seeking, (3) Alcohol-Quantity, (4) Social Conformity, (5) High Risk Lifestyle, (6) Alcohol Problems, (7) Interpersonal Competence, and (8) Family History. Regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between factors and alcohol and problem measures obtained at assessment and at follow-up. Most factors, except for Interpersonal Competence, were associated with more alcohol use and problems at assessment. A similar pattern was observed at 6-month follow-up, but interestingly some factors (Negative Affect, Sensation Seeking, Alcohol-Quantity and Family History) predicted fewer days of alcohol use. The Interpersonal Competence factor was associated with significantly lower levels of alcohol use and problems at both assessment and follow-up. This work suggests that the RIASI provides information on several domains that have important relationships with alcohol problem severity and outcomes. PMID:20049234

Cross-cultural adaptation, validation and factor structure of the Insight Scale for Affective Disorders.

PubMed

de Assis da Silva, Rafael; Mograbi, Daniel C; Camelo, Evelyn V M; Morton, Gregory Duff; Landeira-Fernandez, J; Cheniaux, Elie

2015-06-01

In the last few decades, several tools for studying insight in bipolar disorders have been used. Olaya and colleagues developed the Insight Scale for Affective Disorders (ISAD), which consists of a scale measuring insight through hetero evaluation for patients with mood disorders. The objective of this work is to translate and adapt the original English version of the ISAD to Brazilian Portuguese (ISAD-BR) and to conduct an evaluation of its psychometric properties. Adaptation procedures included translation/back-translation and consultation with a panel of experts. 95 patients with the diagnosis of Type 1 bipolar disorder were evaluated with the final version of the ISAD-BR, which was applied, simultaneously, but independently, by two examiners. Internal consistency and inter-rater reliability were explored and the latent structure of the scale was investigated with principal axis factoring and promax rotation. A second-order factor analysis was conducted to test if the scale had a hierarchical factor structure. The ISAD-BR showed good internal consistency and good inter-rater reliability. The analysis pointed to a four-factor solution of the ISAD-BR: awareness of symptoms associated with activity/energy; awareness of having a disorder; awareness of self-esteem and feelings of pleasure; and awareness of social functioning and relationships. The second order factor analysis indicated a hierarchical factor structure for the ISAD-BR, with the four lower-order factors loading on a single higher-order factor. Insight into bipolar disorder is a multidimensional construct, covering different aspects of the condition and its symptomatology. Nevertheless, insight about activity/energy changes may be a crucial aspect of insight into bipolar disorder. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of attitudes towards patients on sexual history taking: a survey of Iranian-American physicians in California, USA.

PubMed

Rashidian, Mitra; Minichiello, Victor; Knutsen, Synnove F; Ghamsary, Mark

2017-11-01

Although obtaining sexual history from patients is essential, the attitudes of physicians can become a barrier to sexual health care. Iranian-American physicians may face particular challenges because talking about sexuality is considered a taboo within their culture. Our study examined these physicians' attitudes when taking a sexual history from their patients. In 2013, a self-administrated questionnaire was sent to 1550 Iranian-American physicians in California, USA. Using factor analysis, the principal components approach with a Varimax rotation was used on a set of 12-item questions (five-point Likert scales) to detect latent factors that explain attitudes affecting sexual history taking. Scores are generated to determine physicians' attitudes towards sexual history taking. In total, 354 questionnaires were returned (23% response rate). Three factors were identified as internally consistent (Cronbach's α=0.84 - 0.94): (1) attitude towards various patients; (2) female sexuality; and (3) age and marriage. Significant association were found between these three factors and some variables such as physicians' gender, country of medical graduation, religion, birthplace and age. Results revealed that cultural attitudes are important factors affecting physicians' involvement in sexual history taking. Additional studies from this population and other subpopulations of US physicians are needed. New strategies that reflect on physicians' attitude on sexual healthcare delivery is needed. If confirmed in other studies, our findings could have implications for the training of medical graduates globally.

Large Covariance Estimation by Thresholding Principal Orthogonal Complements

PubMed Central

Fan, Jianqing; Liao, Yuan; Mincheva, Martina

2012-01-01

This paper deals with the estimation of a high-dimensional covariance with a conditional sparsity structure and fast-diverging eigenvalues. By assuming sparse error covariance matrix in an approximate factor model, we allow for the presence of some cross-sectional correlation even after taking out common but unobservable factors. We introduce the Principal Orthogonal complEment Thresholding (POET) method to explore such an approximate factor structure with sparsity. The POET estimator includes the sample covariance matrix, the factor-based covariance matrix (Fan, Fan, and Lv, 2008), the thresholding estimator (Bickel and Levina, 2008) and the adaptive thresholding estimator (Cai and Liu, 2011) as specific examples. We provide mathematical insights when the factor analysis is approximately the same as the principal component analysis for high-dimensional data. The rates of convergence of the sparse residual covariance matrix and the conditional sparse covariance matrix are studied under various norms. It is shown that the impact of estimating the unknown factors vanishes as the dimensionality increases. The uniform rates of convergence for the unobserved factors and their factor loadings are derived. The asymptotic results are also verified by extensive simulation studies. Finally, a real data application on portfolio allocation is presented. PMID:24348088

Large Covariance Estimation by Thresholding Principal Orthogonal Complements.

PubMed

Fan, Jianqing; Liao, Yuan; Mincheva, Martina

2013-09-01

This paper deals with the estimation of a high-dimensional covariance with a conditional sparsity structure and fast-diverging eigenvalues. By assuming sparse error covariance matrix in an approximate factor model, we allow for the presence of some cross-sectional correlation even after taking out common but unobservable factors. We introduce the Principal Orthogonal complEment Thresholding (POET) method to explore such an approximate factor structure with sparsity. The POET estimator includes the sample covariance matrix, the factor-based covariance matrix (Fan, Fan, and Lv, 2008), the thresholding estimator (Bickel and Levina, 2008) and the adaptive thresholding estimator (Cai and Liu, 2011) as specific examples. We provide mathematical insights when the factor analysis is approximately the same as the principal component analysis for high-dimensional data. The rates of convergence of the sparse residual covariance matrix and the conditional sparse covariance matrix are studied under various norms. It is shown that the impact of estimating the unknown factors vanishes as the dimensionality increases. The uniform rates of convergence for the unobserved factors and their factor loadings are derived. The asymptotic results are also verified by extensive simulation studies. Finally, a real data application on portfolio allocation is presented.

Numerical analysis and modeling of atmospheric phenomena

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stone, Peter H.

1994-01-01

For the past 22 years Grant NGR 22-009-727 has been supporting research in the Center for Meteorology and Physical Oceanography (and its predecessors) in a wide variety of diagnostic and modeling studies of atmospheric and ocean phenomena. Professor Jule Charney was the initial Principal Investigator. Professor Peter Stone joined him as co-Principal Investigator in 1975 and became the sole Principal Investigator in 1981. During its lifetime the Grant has supported in whole or in part 11 Master's theses, 14 Ph.D. theses, and 45 papers published in refereed scientific journals. All of these theses and papers (with bibliographic references) are listed below. All but one of the theses were used to fulfill the requirements for MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) degrees and are available from the MIT libraries. The one exception is F. Chen's Ph.D. thesis which was for a Harvard degree and is available from the Harvard libraries. In addition to the work described in the citations listed below, the Grant has supported Research Assistant Amy Solomon during the past two years to carry out a study of how baroclinic adjustment is affected by vertical resolution, vertical temperature structure, and dissipation. Ms. Solomon plans to use this project for her Ph.D. thesis. Support for this project will continue under NASA Grant NAG 5-2490, 'The Factors Controlling Poleward Heat Transport in Climate Models.'

48 CFR 32.604 - Demand for payment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... distribution of the principal amount of the debt by line(s) of accounting subject to the following: (i) If the debt affects multiple lines of accounting, the contracting officer shall, to the maximum extent practicable, identify all affected lines of accounting. If it is not practicable to identify all affected...

Principal stratification in causal inference.

PubMed

Frangakis, Constantine E; Rubin, Donald B

2002-03-01

Many scientific problems require that treatment comparisons be adjusted for posttreatment variables, but the estimands underlying standard methods are not causal effects. To address this deficiency, we propose a general framework for comparing treatments adjusting for posttreatment variables that yields principal effects based on principal stratification. Principal stratification with respect to a posttreatment variable is a cross-classification of subjects defined by the joint potential values of that posttreatment variable tinder each of the treatments being compared. Principal effects are causal effects within a principal stratum. The key property of principal strata is that they are not affected by treatment assignment and therefore can be used just as any pretreatment covariate. such as age category. As a result, the central property of our principal effects is that they are always causal effects and do not suffer from the complications of standard posttreatment-adjusted estimands. We discuss briefly that such principal causal effects are the link between three recent applications with adjustment for posttreatment variables: (i) treatment noncompliance, (ii) missing outcomes (dropout) following treatment noncompliance. and (iii) censoring by death. We then attack the problem of surrogate or biomarker endpoints, where we show, using principal causal effects, that all current definitions of surrogacy, even when perfectly true, do not generally have the desired interpretation as causal effects of treatment on outcome. We go on to forrmulate estimands based on principal stratification and principal causal effects and show their superiority.

An onion byproduct affects plasma lipids in healthy rats.

PubMed

Roldán-Marín, Eduvigis; Jensen, Runa I; Krath, Britta N; Kristensen, Mette; Poulsen, Morten; Cano, M Pilar; Sánchez-Moreno, Concepción; Dragsted, Lars O

2010-05-12

Onion may contribute to the health effects associated with high fruit and vegetable consumption. A considerable amount of onion production ends up as waste that might find use in foods. Onion byproduct has not yet been explored for potential health benefits. The aim of this study is to elucidate the safety and potential role of onion byproducts in affecting risk markers of cardiovascular disease (CVD). For that purpose, the effects of an onion byproduct, Allium cepa L. cepa 'Recas' (OBP), and its two derived fractions, an ethanolic extract (OE) and a residue (OR), on the distribution of plasma lipids and on factors affecting cholesterol metabolism in healthy rats have been investigated. The OBP or its fractions did not significantly reduce cholesterol or down-regulate hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (Hmgcr) gene expression. The OR even had the effect of increasing plasma triacylglycerides (TAG) and cholesterol in the very low density lipoprotein (VLDL-C) fraction. Neither total bile acids nor total primary or secondary bile acids were significantly affected by feeding rats the OBP or its fractions. Principal component analysis combining all markers revealed that the controls could be completely separated from OBP, OE, and OR groups in the scores plot and also that OE and OR groups were separated. Plasma lipids and bile acid excretion were the discriminating loading factors for separating OE and OR but also contributed to the separation of onion-fed animals and controls. It was concluded that the onion byproduct did not present significant beneficial effects on individual markers related to plasma lipid transport in this healthy rat model but that onion byproduct contains factors with the ability to modulate plasma lipids and lipoprotein levels.

The Challenges for New Principals in the 21st Century. International Research on School Leadership Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shoho, Alan R., Ed.; Barnett, Bruce, Ed.; Tooms, Autumn K., Ed.

2010-01-01

This book series, "International Research on School Leadership," focuses on how present-day issues affect the theory and practice of school leadership. For this inaugural book, the editors focused on the challenges facing new principals and headteachers. Because the professional lives of school leaders have increasingly impinged on their…

Principals as Middle Managers: School Leadership during the Implementation of Primary Class Size Reduction Policy in Ontario

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flessa, Joseph J.

2012-01-01

Previous work on policy implementation has often suggested that schools leave their "thumbprints" on policies received from above. During the implementation of Primary Class Size Reduction (PCS) Initiative in Ontario, Canada, however, school principals spoke with remarkable uniformity about the ways PCS affected their work. This article…

Protecting the "Impressionable Minds" from the "Impressionable Minds": The Third-Person Effect and Student Speech

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maksl, Adam; Schraum, Brian

2012-01-01

Support for student expression and First Amendment attitudes were measured among Missouri high school principals (n = 86). Findings demonstrated that the third-person effect was a significant predictor of these attitudes. The more principals perceived mass media to affect others over themselves, the less supportive they were for student free…

Vision 2021: Transformations in Leading, Learning, and Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Principal, 2008

2008-01-01

What will the profession of school principals look like a decade from now? What trends in society and education will affect how principals work? Since 2006, NAESP has been attempting to answer those and other questions. Looking ahead to 2021, the year the Association will celebrate its 100th birthday, NAESP spent 18 months examining trends in…

Educational Leadership and Market Values: A Study of School Principals in Iceland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lárusdóttir, Steinunn Helga

2014-01-01

This article reports on the findings of a larger case study about the impact of values on educational leaders in Iceland. The environment of Icelandic schools has changed considerably in recent years. These changes have affected schools and changed the nature and scope of principals' work. Scholars have argued that these changes are primarily…

Principals' Attitudes towards ICT and Their Perceptions about the Factors that Facilitate or Inhibit ICT Integration in Primary Schools of Cyprus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papaioannou, Photos; Charalambous, Kyriacos

2011-01-01

This study explores the Cyprus primary school principals' attitudes towards Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as well as their perceptions about the factors that facilitate or inhibit ICT integration in primary schools in Cyprus. A sequential mixed method approach was used to answer the research questions that guided this study.…

PM10 and gaseous pollutants trends from air quality monitoring networks in Bari province: principal component analysis and absolute principal component scores on a two years and half data set

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The chemical composition of aerosols and particle size distributions are the most significant factors affecting air quality. In particular, the exposure to finer particles can cause short and long-term effects on human health. In the present paper PM10 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter lower than 10 μm), CO, NOx (NO and NO2), Benzene and Toluene trends monitored in six monitoring stations of Bari province are shown. The data set used was composed by bi-hourly means for all parameters (12 bi-hourly means per day for each parameter) and it’s referred to the period of time from January 2005 and May 2007. The main aim of the paper is to provide a clear illustration of how large data sets from monitoring stations can give information about the number and nature of the pollutant sources, and mainly to assess the contribution of the traffic source to PM10 concentration level by using multivariate statistical techniques such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Absolute Principal Component Scores (APCS). Results Comparing the night and day mean concentrations (per day) for each parameter it has been pointed out that there is a different night and day behavior for some parameters such as CO, Benzene and Toluene than PM10. This suggests that CO, Benzene and Toluene concentrations are mainly connected with transport systems, whereas PM10 is mostly influenced by different factors. The statistical techniques identified three recurrent sources, associated with vehicular traffic and particulate transport, covering over 90% of variance. The contemporaneous analysis of gas and PM10 has allowed underlining the differences between the sources of these pollutants. Conclusions The analysis of the pollutant trends from large data set and the application of multivariate statistical techniques such as PCA and APCS can give useful information about air quality and pollutant’s sources. These knowledge can provide useful advices to environmental policies in order to reach the WHO recommended levels. PMID:24555534

Organizational health and the achievement level of students in science at the secondary-level schools in Sri Lanka

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pakkeer-Jaufar, Pakkeer Cadermohideen

This study sought to identify those organizational health factors that might have overriding influence on the achievement level of students in science in Sri Lankan secondary schools. This study involved 752 students, 33 science teachers, and 10 principals from two different districts, Ampara and Colombo, in Sri Lanka. Ten Tamil medium, secondary level, public schools were selected to participate in this study. Data were collected using four types of instruments: a questionnaire for pupils; interview schedules for science teachers and principals; checklists for classroom/school facilities, science laboratory facilities, and science practicals; and a science achievement test. The analysis focused on the collective perceptions of students, science teachers, and principals. Regression and path analyses were used as major analysis techniques, and the qualitative data provided by science teachers and principals were considered for a crosschecking of the quantitative inferences. The researcher found teacher affiliation, academic emphasis, and instructional leadership of the principal, in descending order, were the overriding influential factors on the achievement level of students in science in Sri Lankan secondary schools. At the same time a similar descending order was found in their mean values and qualities. The researcher concluded that increasing the quality of the organizational health factors in Sri Lankan secondary schools would result in improved better achievement in science. The findings further indicate that instructional leadership of the principal had both direct and indirect effects on students' achievement in science when academic emphasis and teacher affiliation were taken into account. In addition, the resource support of the principal did not make any difference in students' science achievement and the findings stress the availability of the resources for individual students instead of assuming the general facilities of the school are available to all students of the school.

An Examination of Virginia Elementary School Principals' Scheduling Decisions Regarding Opportunities for Students to Participate in Physical Activity during the School Day

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greve, Andrew W.

2017-01-01

The principal is ultimately responsible for decisions regarding the master schedule at the elementary level of education (Canady & Rettig, 2013; Young, 2008), and these scheduling decisions are influenced by multiple factors (Benamati, 2010; Harris, 2013; Howard & Rakoz, 2009). Although principals have become increasingly aware of the need…

The Direct Effects of Principal-Student Discussions upon Eighth Grade Students' Gains in Reading Achievement: An Experimental Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silva, Jack P.

2010-01-01

School effectiveness and instructional leadership research over the past thirty years have largely concluded that principal effects on student achievement are small and indirect; it has been assumed that principal effect is important, but mediated through other school factors. To the contrary, this experimental study found that one-on-one…

The Direct Effects of Principal-Student Discussions on Eighth Grade Students' Gains in Reading Achievement: An Experimental Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silva, Jack P.; White, George P.; Yoshida, Roland K.

2011-01-01

Purpose: School effectiveness and instructional leadership research over the past 30 years has largely concluded that principal effects on student achievement are small and indirect. It has been assumed that the principal effect is important but mediated through other school factors. Findings: This experimental study found that one-on-one…

In Defense of the Questionable: Defining the Basis of Research Scientists' Engagement in Questionable Research Practices.

PubMed

Sacco, Donald F; Bruton, Samuel V; Brown, Mitch

2018-02-01

National Institutes of Health principal investigators reported their perceptions of the ethical defensibility, prevalence in their field, and their personal willingness to engage in questionable research practices (QRPs). Using ethical defensibility ratings, an exploratory factor analysis yielded a two-factor solution: behaviors considered unambiguously ethically indefensible and behaviors whose ethical defensibility was more ambiguous. In addition, increasing perceptions that QRPs affect science predicted reduced acceptability of QRPs, whereas increasing beliefs that QRPs are normative or necessary for career success predicted increased acceptability of QRPs. Perceptions that QRPs are risky were unrelated to QRP acceptability but predicted reduced extramural funding (i.e., researchers' lifetime extramural grants and total funding secured). These results identify risk (i.e., beliefs that QRPs are normative to stay competitive in one's field) and protective factors (i.e., beliefs that QRPs have a significant negative impact on society) related to QRP endorsement that could inform educational interventions for training research scientists.

Principal Component and Linkage Analysis of Cardiovascular Risk Traits in the Norfolk Isolate

PubMed Central

Cox, Hannah C.; Bellis, Claire; Lea, Rod A.; Quinlan, Sharon; Hughes, Roger; Dyer, Thomas; Charlesworth, Jac; Blangero, John; Griffiths, Lyn R.

2009-01-01

Objective(s) An individual's risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) is influenced by genetic factors. This study focussed on mapping genetic loci for CVD-risk traits in a unique population isolate derived from Norfolk Island. Methods This investigation focussed on 377 individuals descended from the population founders. Principal component analysis was used to extract orthogonal components from 11 cardiovascular risk traits. Multipoint variance component methods were used to assess genome-wide linkage using SOLAR to the derived factors. A total of 285 of the 377 related individuals were informative for linkage analysis. Results A total of 4 principal components accounting for 83% of the total variance were derived. Principal component 1 was loaded with body size indicators; principal component 2 with body size, cholesterol and triglyceride levels; principal component 3 with the blood pressures; and principal component 4 with LDL-cholesterol and total cholesterol levels. Suggestive evidence of linkage for principal component 2 (h2 = 0.35) was observed on chromosome 5q35 (LOD = 1.85; p = 0.0008). While peak regions on chromosome 10p11.2 (LOD = 1.27; p = 0.005) and 12q13 (LOD = 1.63; p = 0.003) were observed to segregate with principal components 1 (h2 = 0.33) and 4 (h2 = 0.42), respectively. Conclusion(s): This study investigated a number of CVD risk traits in a unique isolated population. Findings support the clustering of CVD risk traits and provide interesting evidence of a region on chromosome 5q35 segregating with weight, waist circumference, HDL-c and total triglyceride levels. PMID:19339786

How cannabis causes paranoia: using the intravenous administration of ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to identify key cognitive mechanisms leading to paranoia.

PubMed

Freeman, Daniel; Dunn, Graham; Murray, Robin M; Evans, Nicole; Lister, Rachel; Antley, Angus; Slater, Mel; Godlewska, Beata; Cornish, Robert; Williams, Jonathan; Di Simplicio, Martina; Igoumenou, Artemis; Brenneisen, Rudolf; Tunbridge, Elizabeth M; Harrison, Paul J; Harmer, Catherine J; Cowen, Philip; Morrison, Paul D

2015-03-01

Paranoia is receiving increasing attention in its own right, since it is a central experience of psychotic disorders and a marker of the health of a society. Paranoia is associated with use of the most commonly taken illicit drug, cannabis. The objective was to determine whether the principal psychoactive ingredient of cannabis-∆(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-causes paranoia and to use the drug as a probe to identify key cognitive mechanisms underlying paranoia. A randomized, placebo-controlled, between-groups test of the effects of intravenous THC was conducted. A total of 121 individuals with paranoid ideation were randomized to receive placebo, THC, or THC preceded by a cognitive awareness condition. Paranoia was assessed extensively via a real social situation, an immersive virtual reality experiment, and standard self-report and interviewer measures. Putative causal factors were assessed. Principal components analysis was used to create a composite paranoia score and composite causal variables to be tested in a mediation analysis. THC significantly increased paranoia, negative affect (anxiety, worry, depression, negative thoughts about the self), and a range of anomalous experiences, and reduced working memory capacity. The increase in negative affect and in anomalous experiences fully accounted for the increase in paranoia. Working memory changes did not lead to paranoia. Making participants aware of the effects of THC had little impact. In this largest study of intravenous THC, it was definitively demonstrated that the drug triggers paranoid thoughts in vulnerable individuals. The most likely mechanism of action causing paranoia was the generation of negative affect and anomalous experiences. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.

Assessing the Structure of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire in Fibromyalgia Patients Using Common Factor Analytic Approaches.

PubMed

Van Liew, Charles; Santoro, Maya S; Edwards, Larissa; Kang, Jeremy; Cronan, Terry A

2016-01-01

The Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) is a widely used measure of coping processes. Despite its use in a variety of populations, there has been concern about the stability and structure of the WCQ across different populations. This study examines the factor structure of the WCQ in a large sample of individuals diagnosed with fibromyalgia. The participants were 501 adults (478 women) who were part of a larger intervention study. Participants completed the WCQ at their 6-month assessment. Foundational factoring approaches were performed on the data (i.e., maximum likelihood factoring [MLF], iterative principal factoring [IPF], principal axis factoring (PAF), and principal components factoring [PCF]) with oblique oblimin rotation. Various criteria were evaluated to determine the number of factors to be extracted, including Kaiser's rule, Scree plot visual analysis, 5 and 10% unique variance explained, 70 and 80% communal variance explained, and Horn's parallel analysis (PA). It was concluded that the 4-factor PAF solution was the preferable solution, based on PA extraction and the fact that this solution minimizes nonvocality and multivocality. The present study highlights the need for more research focused on defining the limits of the WCQ and the degree to which population-specific and context-specific subscale adjustments are needed.

Assessing the Structure of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire in Fibromyalgia Patients Using Common Factor Analytic Approaches

PubMed Central

Edwards, Larissa; Kang, Jeremy

2016-01-01

The Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) is a widely used measure of coping processes. Despite its use in a variety of populations, there has been concern about the stability and structure of the WCQ across different populations. This study examines the factor structure of the WCQ in a large sample of individuals diagnosed with fibromyalgia. The participants were 501 adults (478 women) who were part of a larger intervention study. Participants completed the WCQ at their 6-month assessment. Foundational factoring approaches were performed on the data (i.e., maximum likelihood factoring [MLF], iterative principal factoring [IPF], principal axis factoring (PAF), and principal components factoring [PCF]) with oblique oblimin rotation. Various criteria were evaluated to determine the number of factors to be extracted, including Kaiser's rule, Scree plot visual analysis, 5 and 10% unique variance explained, 70 and 80% communal variance explained, and Horn's parallel analysis (PA). It was concluded that the 4-factor PAF solution was the preferable solution, based on PA extraction and the fact that this solution minimizes nonvocality and multivocality. The present study highlights the need for more research focused on defining the limits of the WCQ and the degree to which population-specific and context-specific subscale adjustments are needed. PMID:28070160

Product competitiveness analysis for e-commerce platform of special agricultural products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wan, Fucheng; Ma, Ning; Yang, Dongwei; Xiong, Zhangyuan

2017-09-01

On the basis of analyzing the influence factors of the product competitiveness of the e-commerce platform of the special agricultural products and the characteristics of the analytical methods for the competitiveness of the special agricultural products, the price, the sales volume, the postage included service, the store reputation, the popularity, etc. were selected in this paper as the dimensionality for analyzing the competitiveness of the agricultural products, and the principal component factor analysis was taken as the competitiveness analysis method. Specifically, the web crawler was adopted to capture the information of various special agricultural products in the e-commerce platform ---- chi.taobao.com. Then, the original data captured thereby were preprocessed and MYSQL database was adopted to establish the information library for the special agricultural products. Then, the principal component factor analysis method was adopted to establish the analysis model for the competitiveness of the special agricultural products, and SPSS was adopted in the principal component factor analysis process to obtain the competitiveness evaluation factor system (support degree factor, price factor, service factor and evaluation factor) of the special agricultural products. Then, the linear regression method was adopted to establish the competitiveness index equation of the special agricultural products for estimating the competitiveness of the special agricultural products.

Performance of the Swedish version of the Revised Piper Fatigue Scale.

PubMed

Jakobsson, Sofie; Taft, Charles; Östlund, Ulrika; Ahlberg, Karin

2013-12-01

The Revised Piper Fatigue scale is one of the most widely used instruments internationally to assess cancer-related fatigue. The aim of the present study was to evaluate selected psychometric properties of a Swedish version of the RPFS (SPFS). An earlier translation of the SPFS was further evaluated and developed. The new version was mailed to 300 patients undergoing curative radiotherapy. The internal validity was assessed using Principal Axis Factor Analysis with oblimin rotation and multitrait analysis. External validity was examined in relation to the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20 (MFI-20) and in known-groups analyses. Totally 196 patients (response rate = 65%) returned evaluable questionnaires. Principal axis factoring analysis yielded three factors (74% of the variance) rather than four as in the original RPFS. Multitrait analyses confirmed the adequacy of scaling assumptions. Known-groups analyses failed to support the discriminative validity. Concurrent validity was satisfactory. The new Swedish version of the RPFS showed good acceptability, reliability and convergent and- discriminant item-scale validity. Our results converge with other international versions of the RPFS in failing to support the four-dimension conceptual model of the instrument. Hence, RPFS suitability for use in international comparisons may be limited which also may have implications for cross-cultural validity of the newly released 12-item version of the RPFS. Further research on the Swedish version should address reasons for high missing rates for certain items in the subscale of affective meaning, further evaluation of the discriminative validity and assessment of its sensitivity in detecting changes over time. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fast economic development accelerates biological invasions in China.

PubMed

Lin, Wen; Zhou, Guofa; Cheng, Xinyue; Xu, Rumei

2007-11-21

Increasing levels of global trade and intercontinental travel have been cited as the major causes of biological invasion. However, indirect factors such as economic development that affect the intensity of invasion have not been quantitatively explored. Herein, using principal factor analysis, we investigated the relationship between biological invasion and economic development together with climatic information for China from the 1970s to present. We demonstrate that the increase in biological invasion is coincident with the rapid economic development that has occurred in China over the past three decades. The results indicate that the geographic prevalence of invasive species varies substantially on the provincial scale, but can be surprisingly well predicted using the combination of economic development (R(2) = 0.378) and climatic factors (R(2) = 0.347). Economic factors are proven to be at least equal to if not more determinant of the occurrence of invasive species than climatic factors. International travel and trade are shown to have played a less significant role in accounting for the intensity of biological invasion in China. Our results demonstrate that more attention should be paid to economic factors to improve the understanding, prediction and management of biological invasions.

Simultaneous inactivation of sigma factors B and D interferes with light acclimation of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803.

PubMed

Pollari, Maija; Ruotsalainen, Virpi; Rantamäki, Susanne; Tyystjärvi, Esa; Tyystjärvi, Taina

2009-06-01

In cyanobacteria, gene expression is regulated mainly at the level of transcription initiation, which is mediated by the RNA polymerase holoenzyme. The RNA polymerase core is catalytically active, while the sigma factor recognizes promoter sequences. Group 2 sigma factors are similar to the principal sigma factor but are nonessential. Group 2 sigma factors SigB and SigD are structurally the most similar sigma factors in Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803. Under standard growth conditions, simultaneous inactivation of sigB and sigD genes did not affect the growth, but the photosynthesis and growth of the DeltasigBD strain were slower than in the control strain at double light intensity. Light-saturated electron transfer rates and the fluorescence and thermoluminescence measurements showed that photosynthetic light reactions are fully functional in the DeltasigBD strain, but absorption and 77 K emission spectra measurements suggest that the light-harvesting system of the DeltasigBD strain does not acclimate normally to higher light intensity. Furthermore, the DeltasigBD strain is more sensitive to photoinhibition under bright light because impaired upregulation of psbA genes leads to insufficient PSII repair.

Seasonal Dynamics of Trace Elements in Tidal Salt Marsh Soils as Affected by the Flow-Sediment Regulation Regime

PubMed Central

Bai, Junhong; Xiao, Rong; Zhao, Qingqing; Lu, Qiongqiong; Wang, Junjing; Reddy, K. Ramesh

2014-01-01

Soil profiles were collected in three salt marshes with different plant species (i.e. Phragmites australis, Tamarix chinensis and Suaeda salsa) in the Yellow River Delta (YRD) of China during three seasons (summer and fall of 2007 and the following spring of 2008) after the flow-sediment regulation regime. Total elemental contents of As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn were determined using inductively coupled plasma atomic absorption spectrometry to investigate temporal variations in trace elements in soil profiles of the three salt marshes, assess the enrichment levels and ecological risks of these trace elements in three sampling seasons and identify their influencing factors. Trace elements did not change significantly along soil profiles at each site in each sampling season. The highest value for each sampling site was observed in summer and the lowest one in fall. Soils in both P. australis and S. salsa wetlands tended to have higher trace element levels than those in T. chinensis wetland. Compared to other elements, both Cd and As had higher enrichment factors exceeding moderate enrichment levels. However, the toxic unit (TU) values of these trace elements did not exceed probable effect levels. Correlation analysis showed that these trace elements were closely linked to soil properties such as moisture, sulfur, salinity, soil organic matter, soil texture and pH values. Principal component analysis showed that the sampling season affected by the flow-sediment regulation regime was the dominant factor influencing the distribution patterns of these trace elements in soils, and plant community type was another important factor. The findings of this study could contribute to wetland conservation and management in coastal regions affected by the hydrological engineering. PMID:25216278

Social and cultural factors affecting uptake of interventions for malaria in pregnancy in Africa: a systematic review of the qualitative research.

PubMed

Pell, Christopher; Straus, Lianne; Andrew, Erin V W; Meñaca, Arantza; Pool, Robert

2011-01-01

Malaria during pregnancy (MiP) results in adverse birth outcomes and poor maternal health. MiP-related morbidity and mortality is most pronounced in sub-Saharan Africa, where recommended MiP interventions include intermittent preventive treatment, insecticide-treated bednets and appropriate case management. Besides their clinical efficacy, the effectiveness of these interventions depends on the attitudes and behaviours of pregnant women and the wider community, which are shaped by social and cultural factors. Although these factors have been studied largely using quantitative methods, qualitative research also offers important insights. This article provides a comprehensive overview of qualitative research on social and cultural factors relevant to uptake of MiP interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. A systematic search strategy was employed: literature searches were undertaken in several databases (OVID SP, IS Web of Knowledge, MiP Consortium library). MiP-related original research, on social/cultural factors relevant to MiP interventions, in Africa, with findings derived from qualitative methods was included. Non-English language articles were excluded. A meta-ethnographic approach was taken to analysing and synthesizing findings. Thirty-seven studies were identified. Fourteen concentrated on MiP. Others focused on malaria treatment and prevention, antenatal care (ANC), anaemia during pregnancy or reproductive loss. Themes identified included concepts of malaria and risk in pregnancy, attitudes towards interventions, structural factors affecting delivery and uptake, and perceptions of ANC. Although malaria risk is associated with pregnancy, women's vulnerability is often considered less disease-specific and MiP interpreted in locally defined categories. Furthermore, local discourses and health workers' ideas and comments influence concerns about MiP interventions. Understandings of ANC, health worker-client interactions, household decision-making, gender relations, cost and distance to health facilities affect pregnant women's access to MiP interventions and lack of healthcare infrastructure limits provision of interventions. Further qualitative research is however required: many studies were principally descriptive and an in-depth comparative approach is recommended.

Determination of water-soluble elements in PM2.5, PM10, and PM2.5-10 collected in the surroundings of power plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zajusz-Zubek, Elwira; Mainka, Anna; Kaczmarek, Konrad

2018-01-01

The analysis reported in this study was performed to characterize the concentrations and water-soluble content of trace elements (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sb and Se) in PM2.5, PM10 and PM2.5-10 samples collected in the surroundings of power plants in southern Poland. The solubility of trace elements bound to PM2.5 and PM10 was higher than for PM2.5-10, and in most cases, significant differences were revealed in the relative percentage concentrations of the water-soluble fractions. The occurrence of Cd, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb and Se in first PCA (Principal Component Analysis) factor (PC1) - indicate coal combustion processes as the potential source of these elements. Other factors indicate two further anthropogenic sources: the resuspension of road dust due to vehicular activities and waste burning in domestic sources - factor (PC2), and, soil dust sources affected by fugitive dust from the mining processes and unpaved roads, as well as transportation and deposition of coal -factor (PC3).

A Subject-Independent Method for Automatically Grading Electromyographic Features During a Fatiguing Contraction

PubMed Central

Jesunathadas, Mark; Poston, Brach; Santello, Marco; Ye, Jieping; Panchanathan, Sethuraman

2014-01-01

Many studies have attempted to monitor fatigue from electromyogram (EMG) signals. However, fatigue affects EMG in a subject-specific manner. We present here a subject-independent framework for monitoring the changes in EMG features that accompany muscle fatigue based on principal component analysis and factor analysis. The proposed framework is based on several time- and frequency-domain features, unlike most of the existing work, which is based on two to three features. Results show that latent factors obtained from factor analysis on these features provide a robust and unified framework. This framework learns a model from EMG signals of multiple subjects, that form a reference group, and monitors the changes in EMG features during a sustained submaximal contraction on a test subject on a scale from zero to one. The framework was tested on EMG signals collected from 12 muscles of eight healthy subjects. The distribution of factor scores of the test subject, when mapped onto the framework was similar for both the subject-specific and subject-independent cases. PMID:22498666

Development and Validation of a Principal Implementation Practices Measure: The Principal Implementation Questionnaire

PubMed Central

Nettles, Stephen M.; Petscher, Yaacov

2015-01-01

Measurement of principal implementation behaviors has proved difficult to researchers in educational leadership due to a lack of consensus on the operational definitions of leadership constructs. The Principal Implementation Questionnaire (PIQ) was developed and validated with the intention of providing clarity in the assessment of principal leadership behaviors in the implementation of effective reading programs. Constructs were operationally defined within the context of the population of interest, with subsequent item writing centered around the constructs. A resulting calibration sample of principals from Florida Reading First schools was used to test the hypothesized measurement model to determine how well the items were described by the proposed factors. Results from LISREL analyses revealed a well-fitted model, based on numerous fit indices. PMID:26366043

WALLY 1 ...A large, principal components regression program with varimax rotation of the factor weight matrix

Treesearch

James R. Wallis

1965-01-01

Written in Fortran IV and MAP, this computer program can handle up to 120 variables, and retain 40 principal components. It can perform simultaneous regression of up to 40 criterion variables upon the varimax rotated factor weight matrix. The columns and rows of all output matrices are labeled by six-character alphanumeric names. Data input can be from punch cards or...

Non-neural androgen receptors affect sexual differentiation of brain and behaviour.

PubMed

Monks, D A; Swift-Gallant, A

2018-02-01

Although gonadal testosterone is the principal endocrine factor that promotes masculine traits in mammals, the development of a male phenotype requires local production of both androgenic and oestrogenic signals within target tissues. Much of our knowledge concerning androgenic components of testosterone signalling in sexual differentiation comes from studies of androgen receptor (Ar) loss of function mutants. Here, we review these studies of loss of Ar function and of AR overexpression either globally or selectively in the nervous system of mice. Global and neural mutations affect socio-sexual behaviour and the neuroanatomy of these mice in a sexually differentiated manner. Some masculine traits are affected by both global and neural mutation, indicative of neural mediation, whereas other masculine traits are affected only by global mutation, indicative of an obligatory non-neural androgen target. These results support a model in which multiple sites of androgen action coordinate to produce masculine phenotypes. Furthermore, AR overexpression does not always have a phenotype opposite to that of loss of Ar function mutants, indicative of a nonlinear relationship between androgen dose and masculine phenotype in some cases. Potential mechanisms of Ar gene function in non-neural targets in producing masculine phenotypes are discussed. © 2017 British Society for Neuroendocrinology.

Current overview of extrinsic and intrinsic factors in etiology and progression of inflammatory bowel diseases.

PubMed

Sobczak, Marta; Fabisiak, Adam; Murawska, Natalia; Wesołowska, Ewelina; Wierzbicka, Paulina; Wlazłowski, Marcin; Wójcikowska, Marta; Zatorski, Hubert; Zwolińska, Marta; Fichna, Jakub

2014-10-01

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic, relapsing disorders affecting gastrointestinal (GI) tract and associated with intestinal mucosa damage and inflammation. The principal therapeutic goals in IBD include control of the intestinal inflammation and treatment of the major symptoms, mainly abdominal pain and diarrhea. Current therapeutic strategies for IBD rely on the use of non-specific anti-inflammatory agents and immunosuppressive drugs (e.g. aminosalicylates, monoclonal antibodies, and antibiotics), which cause severe side effects, and - in a significant number of patients - do not induce long-term benefits. In this review, we summarize the epidemiology and the most important risk factors of IBD, including genetic, immunological and environmental. Our main focus is to discuss pharmacological targets for current and future treatments of IBD. Copyright © 2014 Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. All rights reserved.

[Symptomatic urinary tract infection of the female--diagnostics].

PubMed

Bruns, T; Piechota, H; Schneede, P

2006-04-01

The basis for the diagnostic work-up of recurrent cystitis is formed by taking a precise medical history against the background of knowledge of the pathogenesis of urinary tract infections. The anamnesis should also focus on factors that influence the natural flora (sexual intercourse, hygiene) but additionally include preceding antibiotic treatment and diseases that affect the immune status (diabetes mellitus). Urinalysis is the principal examination among the laboratory diagnostic procedures. The diagnosis is promptly confirmed by immediate analysis of a clean catch midstream urine sample using a counting chamber or a test strip. As a matter of principle, microbiological diagnosis always ensues. Extended diagnostic work-up (urological staging) is aimed at detecting functional and anatomic abnormalities. While these factors only play a subordinate role during the premenopausal phase, they gain in importance during the postmenopausal phase. A key role is also attributed to local estrogen deficiency.

Non-fluent speech following stroke is caused by impaired efference copy.

PubMed

Feenaughty, Lynda; Basilakos, Alexandra; Bonilha, Leonardo; den Ouden, Dirk-Bart; Rorden, Chris; Stark, Brielle; Fridriksson, Julius

2017-09-01

Efference copy is a cognitive mechanism argued to be critical for initiating and monitoring speech: however, the extent to which breakdown of efference copy mechanisms impact speech production is unclear. This study examined the best mechanistic predictors of non-fluent speech among 88 stroke survivors. Objective speech fluency measures were subjected to a principal component analysis (PCA). The primary PCA factor was then entered into a multiple stepwise linear regression analysis as the dependent variable, with a set of independent mechanistic variables. Participants' ability to mimic audio-visual speech ("speech entrainment response") was the best independent predictor of non-fluent speech. We suggest that this "speech entrainment" factor reflects integrity of internal monitoring (i.e., efference copy) of speech production, which affects speech initiation and maintenance. Results support models of normal speech production and suggest that therapy focused on speech initiation and maintenance may improve speech fluency for individuals with chronic non-fluent aphasia post stroke.

Study of the location of testing area in residual stress measurement by Moiré interferometry combined with hole-drilling method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Le; Xie, HuiMin; Zhu, RongHua; Wu, Dan; Che, ZhiGang; Zou, ShiKun

2014-04-01

This paper investigates the effect of the location of testing area in residual stress measurement by Moiré interferometry combined with hole-drilling method. The selection of the location of the testing area is analyzed from theory and experiment. In the theoretical study, the factors which affect the surface released radial strain ɛ r were analyzed on the basis of the formulae of the hole-drilling method, and the relations between those factors and ɛ r were established. By combining Moiré interferometry with the hole-drilling method, the residual stress of interference-fit specimen was measured to verify the theoretical analysis. According to the analysis results, the testing area for minimizing the error of strain measurement is determined. Moreover, if the orientation of the maximum principal stress is known, the value of strain will be measured with higher precision by the Moiré interferometry method.

The Leadership Role of the High School Principal in Providing a Supportive Environment for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porreca, Kathleen A.

2010-01-01

The literature on school leadership and on effective schools has long held that the leadership of the principal is the single most important factor in creating and sustaining the culture of a school; it follows, then, that the leadership of the principal has tremendous potential to increase the safety, comfort, and academic achievement of LGBT…

High School Assistant Principals' Perception of Factors Influencing High School Assistant Principal Attrition in a Georgia School District

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buff, Shannon Jonell

2017-01-01

Retention of quality high school assistant principals is a problem in a suburban Georgia school district, where 35% of administrators left their schools in a 3-year period. Researchers indicated that high turnover rates in school leadership influence student achievement and school climate. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore…

Assessing Empathy across Childhood and Adolescence: Validation of the Empathy Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (EmQue-CA)

PubMed Central

Overgaauw, Sandy; Rieffe, Carolien; Broekhof, Evelien; Crone, Eveline A.; Güroğlu, Berna

2017-01-01

Empathy plays a crucial role in healthy social functioning and in maintaining positive social relationships. In this study, 1250 children and adolescents (10–15 year olds) completed the newly developed Empathy Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (EmQue-CA) that was tested on reliability, construct validity, convergent validity, and concurrent validity. The EmQue-CA aims to assess empathy using the following scales: affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and intention to comfort. A Principal Components Analysis, which was directly tested with a Confirmatory Factor Analysis, confirmed the proposed three-factor model resulting in 14 final items. Reliability analyses demonstrated high internal consistency of the scales. Furthermore, the scales showed high convergent validity, as they were positively correlated with related scales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983). With regard to concurrent validity, higher empathy was related to more attention to others’ emotions, higher friendship quality, less focus on own affective state, and lower levels of bullying behavior. Taken together, we show that the EmQue-CA is a reliable and valid instrument to measure empathy in typically developing children and adolescents aged 10 and older. PMID:28611713

Heavy metal pollution of coal mine-affected agricultural soils in the northern part of Bangladesh.

PubMed

Bhuiyan, Mohammad A H; Parvez, Lutfar; Islam, M A; Dampare, Samuel B; Suzuki, Shigeyuki

2010-01-15

Total concentrations of heavy metals in the soils of mine drainage and surrounding agricultural fields in the northern part of Bangladesh were determined to evaluate the level of contamination. The average concentrations of Ti, Mn, Zn, Pb, As, Fe, Rb, Sr, Nb and Zr exceeded the world normal averages and, in some cases, Mn, Zn, As and Pb exceeded the toxic limit of the respective metals. Soil pollution assessment was carried out using enrichment factor (EF), geoaccumulation index (I(geo)) and pollution load index (PLI). The soils show significant enrichment with Ti, Mn, Zn, Pb, As, Fe, Sr and Nb, indicating inputs from mining activities. The I(geo) values have revealed that Mn (1.24+/-0.38), Zn (1.49+/-0.58) and Pb (1.63+/-0.38) are significantly accumulated in the study area. The PLIs derived from contamination factors indicate that the distal part of the coal mine-affected area is the most polluted (PLI of 4.02). Multivariate statistical analyses, principal component and cluster analyses, suggest that Mn, Zn, Pb and Ti are derived from anthropogenic sources, particularly coal mining activities, and the extreme proximal and distal parts are heavily contaminated with maximum heavy metals.

The Effect of Role Ambiguity and Role Conflict on Performance of Vice Principals: The Mediating Role of Burnout

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Celik, Kazim

2013-01-01

Problem Statement: Role ambiguity and role conflict are considered issues that affect performance and lead to burnout. While numerous studies have analyzed role ambiguity or role conflict in relation to burnout or performance, few studies have studied all of these issues together. Since vice principals are expected to carry out a variety of…

Perceived Principals' Leadership Styles and Faculty Job Satisfaction in Higher Theological Institutions of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Is There a Difference?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tamrat Zeleke, Frew

2013-01-01

The job satisfaction of higher education faculty can be affected by the kind of leadership style practiced by leaders of an institution. This study examined perceived principals' leadership styles related to faculty job satisfaction in Higher Theological Institutions of Addis Ababa (HTIAA), Ethiopia. Leadership style in this study was defined as…

Teachers' Perceptions of School Principals' Leadership Styles and Parental Involvement--The Case of the Arab Education System in Israel

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arar, Khalid; Abramovitz, Ruth; Daod, Saeda; Awad, Yasir; Khalil, Mahmood

2016-01-01

This study deals with teachers' perceptions of principals' leadership style as it affects parental involvement (PI) in the special context of the Arab education system in Israel. Contemporary perceptions of education within the Western individualist society, including in the majority society in Israel, regard the full spectrum of PI, ranging from…

Health-related biotechnology transfer to Africa: principal-agency relationship issues.

PubMed

Kirigia, J M; Muthuri, L K; Kirigia, D G

2007-01-01

The aim of this paper is to stimulate debate on the agency (principal-agent) in health-related biotechnology research. It attempts to answer the following questions: What is health-related biotechnology and biotechnology research? What is an agency? What factors are likely to undermine the principal's capacity to exercise informed consent? When might the principal-agency problem arise? How could the agency in biotechnology transfer be strengthened in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)? The transfer of health-related biotechnology to SSA ought to be preceded by research to ascertain the effectiveness of such technologies on population health. In that process, the national ethical review committee (REC), as an agent of every human research subject (principal), ought to ensure that international principles (e.g. beneficence, non-malfeasance, autonomy, justice, dignity, truthfulness and honesty) for human experimentation are observed by biotechnology researchers in order to satisfy moral, ethical and legal requirements. The key factors that undermine principals' sovereignty in exercising their right to informed consent to participate in biotechnology trials are discussed. The paper ends with a list of activities that can strengthen the agency, e.g. legislative requirement that all health-related biotechnology transfer should be preceded by rigorous evaluation; continuous update of the agents knowledge of the contents of the international ethical guidelines; and education of potential and actual principals on their human rights; among others.

The Adolescent HIV Disclosure Cognition and Affect Scale: Preliminary Reliability and Validity.

PubMed

Evangeli, Michael

2017-07-01

Globally, there are 2 million HIV-positive 10-19-year-olds. One challenge for this population is sharing their HIV status with others (onward HIV disclosure). There are no multi-item, multidimensional scales of HIV disclosure cognitions and affect for young people living with HIV. An 18-item measure of HIV disclosure cognition and affect was developed, administered to 65 adolescents living with HIV (aged 12-16 years). Data were explored using principal component analysis and preliminary construct and criterion validity assessed. Three factors were revealed: negative disclosure attitudes and feelings, self-efficacy, and positive disclosure attitudes and feelings. The full scale and its subscales were internally consistent. The total score showed statistically significant positive relationships with HIV disclosure in the past 6 months, HIV disclosure intention and self-perception. Preliminary evidence of the measure's good psychometric properties suggests it may be helpful in future clinical and research work. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Interaction of Physical Exposures and Occupational Factors on Sickness Absence in Automotive Industry Workers.

PubMed

Valirad, Fateme; Ghaffari, Mostafa; Abdi, Alireza; Attarchi, Mirsaeed; Mircheraghi, Seyed Farzin; Mohammadi, Saber

2015-04-23

Increased sickness absence in recent years has been a trouble making issue in industrial society. Identify the causes of sickness absence and its influencing factors, is an important step to control and reduce its associated complications and costs. The aim of this study was to evaluate main factors associated with the incidence of sickness absence. In 2012, a cross-sectional study on 758 employees of a car accessories producing company was applied and relevant information about the number of days and episodes of sickness absence, Disease resulting in absence from work, personal features, occupational factors and physical exposures were collected. To determine risk factors associated with sickness absence, Logistic regression analysis was used. The most common diseases leading to sickness absence in order of frequency were Respiratory diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, gastrointestinal diseases and injuries at work. Musculoskeletal disorders increased the danger of long term absence by 4/33 times. Blue collar and shift works were the most important occupational factors associated with the incidence of sickness absence. The main physical factors that affect incidence of sickness absence were frequent bending-twisting and heavy lifting. Identifying controllable factors of sickness absence and trying to prevent and modify them such as compliance of ergonomic principals to decrease physical can be effective in reducing sickness absence.

Experimental Investigation of Principal Residual Stress and Fatigue Performance for Turned Nickel-Based Superalloy Inconel 718.

PubMed

Hua, Yang; Liu, Zhanqiang

2018-05-24

Residual stresses of turned Inconel 718 surface along its axial and circumferential directions affect the fatigue performance of machined components. However, it has not been clear that the axial and circumferential directions are the principle residual stress direction. The direction of the maximum principal residual stress is crucial for the machined component service life. The present work aims to focuses on determining the direction and magnitude of principal residual stress and investigating its influence on fatigue performance of turned Inconel 718. The turning experimental results show that the principal residual stress magnitude is much higher than surface residual stress. In addition, both the principal residual stress and surface residual stress increase significantly as the feed rate increases. The fatigue test results show that the direction of the maximum principal residual stress increased by 7.4%, while the fatigue life decreased by 39.4%. The maximum principal residual stress magnitude diminished by 17.9%, whereas the fatigue life increased by 83.6%. The maximum principal residual stress has a preponderant influence on fatigue performance as compared to the surface residual stress. The maximum principal residual stress can be considered as a prime indicator for evaluation of the residual stress influence on fatigue performance of turned Inconel 718.

Transformational Leadership Related to School Climate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarley, Troy A.

2012-01-01

This study examined the relationship between teacher perceptions of the degree to which a principal displays the factors of transformational leadership (idealized attributes, idealized behaviors, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulations, and individual considerations) and the perceived school climate (supportive principal behavior,…

Toward the Identification of a Specific Psychopathology of Substance Use Disorders.

PubMed

Maremmani, Angelo G I; Pani, Pier Paolo; Rovai, Luca; Bacciardi, Silvia; Maremmani, Icro

2017-01-01

Addiction is a mental illness in which psychiatric conditions imply a prominent burden. Psychopathological symptoms in substance use disorder (SUD) patients are usually viewed as being assignable to the sphere of a personality trait or of comorbidity, leaving doubts about the presence of a specific psychopathology that could only be related to the toxicomanic process. Our research group at the University of Pisa has shed light on the possible definition of a specific psychopathological dimension in SUDs. In heroin use disorder patients, performing an exploratory principal component factor analysis (PCA) on all the 90 items included in the SCL-90 questionnaire led to a five-factor solution. The first factor accounted for a depressive "worthlessness and being trapped" dimension; the second factor picked out a "somatic symptoms" dimension; the third identified a "sensitivity-psychoticism" dimension; the fourth a "panic-anxiety" dimension; and the fifth a "violence-suicide" dimension. These same results were replicated by applying the PCA to another Italian sample of 1,195 heroin addicts entering a Therapeutic Community Treatment. Further analyses confirmed the clusters of symptoms, independently of demographic and clinical characteristics, active heroin use, lifetime psychiatric problems, kind of treatment received, and, especially, other substances used by the patient such as alcohol or cocaine. Moreover, these clusters were able to discriminate patients affected by addiction from those affected by psychiatric diseases such as major depressive disorder. Our studies seem to suggest the trait-dependent, rather than the state-dependent, nature of the introduced psychopathology dimensions of SUDs.

How Rural Elementary Building Principals Conceptualize the Programs in Their Schools, the Processes of Connecting Students to Programs, and Their Leadership Role in Doing So

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatton, Holly

2013-01-01

Principals in rural schools lead with an awareness of multiple contingent factors that influence their decisions every day regarding programming for students. The purpose of this research is to examine how rural elementary school principals conceptualize programs in their schools, the processes used to connect students to these programs, and their…

The effects of the spatial influence function on orthotropic femur remodelling.

PubMed

Shang, Y; Bai, J; Peng, L

2008-07-01

The morphology and internal structure of bone are modulated by the mechanical stimulus. The osteocytes can sense the stimulus signals from the adjacent regions and respond to them through bone growth or bone absorption. This mechanism can be modelled as the spatial influence function (SIF) in bone adaptation algorithm. In this paper, the remodelling process was simulated in human femurs using an adaptation algorithm with and without SIF, and the trabecular bone was assumed to be orthotropic. A different influence radius and weighting factor were adopted to study the effects of the SIF on the bone density distribution and trabecular alignment. The results have shown that the mean density and L-T ratio (the ratio of longitudinal modulus to transverse modulus) had an excellent linear relationship with the weighting factor when the influence radius was small. The characteristics of density distribution and L-T ratio accorded with the actual observation or measurement when a small weighting factor was used. The large influence radius and weighting factor led to unrealistic results. In contrast, the SIF hardly affected the trabecular alignment, as the mean variation angles of principal axes were less than 1.0 degree for any influence radius and weighting factor.

The Principal: An Agent for Reducing Teacher Stress.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Calabrese, Raymond L.

1987-01-01

Teachers often cite stress as a reason for leaving the teaching profession. Stress does not have to be a negative factor. Discusses ways that principals can use their leadership skills to make stress a positive force. Includes five references. (Author/MD)

Relationship between Leadership Styles of High School Teachers, Principals, and Assistant Principals and Their Attitudes toward School Wide Positive Behavior and Support Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lampton-Holmes, Geneva Cosweler

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine if seventh through twelfth grade educators' attitudes towards School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) are affected based on their gender, years of experience, school discipline policy, leadership style, and knowledge of SWPBS. Through an online survey, an analysis of the leadership style and…

Development and validation of a tool to assess the physical and social environment associated with physical activity among adults in Sri Lanka.

PubMed

De Silva Weliange, Shreenika H; Fernando, Dulitha; Gunatilake, Jagath

2014-05-03

Environmental characteristics are known to be associated with patterns of physical activity (PA). Although several validated tools exist, to measure the environment characteristics, these instruments are not necessarily suitable for application in all settings especially in a developing country. This study was carried out to develop and validate an instrument named the "Physical And Social Environment Scale--PASES" to assess the physical and social environmental factors associated with PA. This will enable identification of various physical and social environmental factors affecting PA in Sri Lanka, which will help in the development of more tailored intervention strategies for promoting higher PA levels in Sri Lanka. The PASES was developed using a scientific approach of defining the construct, item generation, analysis of content of items and item reduction. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of key informant interviews, in-depth interviews and rating of the items generated by experts were conducted. A cross sectional survey among 180 adults was carried out to assess the factor structure through principal component analysis. Another cross sectional survey among a different group of 180 adults was carried out to assess the construct validity through confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability was assessed with test re-test reliability and internal consistency using Spearman r and Cronbach's alpha respectively. Thirty six items were selected after the expert ratings and were developed into interviewer administered questions. Exploration of factor structure of the 34 items which were factorable through principal component analysis with Quartimax rotation extracted 8 factors. The 34 item instrument was assessed for construct validity with confirmatory factor analysis which confirmed an 8 factor model (x2 = 339.9, GFI = 0.90). The identified factors were infrastructure for walking, aesthetics and facilities for cycling, vehicular traffic safety, access and connectivity, recreational facilities for PA, safety, social cohesion and social acceptance of PA with the two non-factorable factors, residential density and land use mix. The PASES also showed good test re-test reliability and a moderate level of internal consistency. The PASES is a valid and reliable tool which could be used to assess the physical and social environment associated with PA in Sri Lanka.

Colony Collapse Disorder: A Descriptive Study

PubMed Central

vanEngelsdorp, Dennis; Evans, Jay D.; Saegerman, Claude; Mullin, Chris; Haubruge, Eric; Nguyen, Bach Kim; Frazier, Maryann; Frazier, Jim; Cox-Foster, Diana; Chen, Yanping; Underwood, Robyn; Tarpy, David R.; Pettis, Jeffery S.

2009-01-01

Background Over the last two winters, there have been large-scale, unexplained losses of managed honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies in the United States. In the absence of a known cause, this syndrome was named Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) because the main trait was a rapid loss of adult worker bees. We initiated a descriptive epizootiological study in order to better characterize CCD and compare risk factor exposure between populations afflicted by and not afflicted by CCD. Methods and Principal Findings Of 61 quantified variables (including adult bee physiology, pathogen loads, and pesticide levels), no single measure emerged as a most-likely cause of CCD. Bees in CCD colonies had higher pathogen loads and were co-infected with a greater number of pathogens than control populations, suggesting either an increased exposure to pathogens or a reduced resistance of bees toward pathogens. Levels of the synthetic acaricide coumaphos (used by beekeepers to control the parasitic mite Varroa destructor) were higher in control colonies than CCD-affected colonies. Conclusions/Significance This is the first comprehensive survey of CCD-affected bee populations that suggests CCD involves an interaction between pathogens and other stress factors. We present evidence that this condition is contagious or the result of exposure to a common risk factor. Potentially important areas for future hypothesis-driven research, including the possible legacy effect of mite parasitism and the role of honey bee resistance to pesticides, are highlighted. PMID:19649264

The scale on community care perceptions (scope) for nursing students: A development and psychometric validation study.

PubMed

van Iersel, Margriet; de Vos, Rien; Latour, Corine; Kirschner, Paul A; Scholte Op Reimer, Wilma

2018-05-11

The aim of this study was to develop a valid instrument to measure student nurses' perceptions of community care (SCOPE). DeVellis' staged model for instrument development and validation was used. Scale construction of SCOPE was based on existing literature. Evaluation of its psychometric properties included exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis. After pilot-testing, 1062 bachelor nursing students from six institutions in the Netherlands (response rate 81%) took part in the study. SCOPE is a 35-item scale containing: background variables, 11 measuring the affective component, 5 measuring community care perception as a placement, 17 as a future profession, and 2 on the reasons underlying student preference. Principal axis factoring yielded two factors in the affective component scale reflecting 'enjoyment' and 'utility', two in the placement scale reflecting 'learning possibilities' and 'personal satisfaction', and four in the profession scale: 'professional development', 'collaboration', 'caregiving', and 'complexity and workload'. Cronbach's α of the complete scale was 0.892 and of the subscales 0.862, 0.696, and 0.810 respectively. SCOPE is a psychometrically sound instrument for measuring students' perceptions of community care. By determining these perceptions, it becomes possible to positively influence them with targeted curriculum redesign, eventually contributing to decreasing the workforce shortage in community nursing. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Using C. elegans Forward and Reverse Genetics to Identify New Compounds with Anthelmintic Activity

PubMed Central

Mathew, Mark D.; Mathew, Neal D.; Miller, Angela; Simpson, Mike; Au, Vinci; Garland, Stephanie; Gestin, Marie; Edgley, Mark L.; Flibotte, Stephane; Balgi, Aruna; Chiang, Jennifer; Giaever, Guri; Dean, Pamela; Tung, Audrey; Roberge, Michel; Roskelley, Calvin; Forge, Tom; Nislow, Corey; Moerman, Donald

2016-01-01

Background The lack of new anthelmintic agents is of growing concern because it affects human health and our food supply, as both livestock and plants are affected. Two principal factors contribute to this problem. First, nematode resistance to anthelmintic drugs is increasing worldwide and second, many effective nematicides pose environmental hazards. In this paper we address this problem by deploying a high throughput screening platform for anthelmintic drug discovery using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a surrogate for infectious nematodes. This method offers the possibility of identifying new anthelmintics in a cost-effective and timely manner. Methods/Principal findings Using our high throughput screening platform we have identified 14 new potential anthelmintics by screening more than 26,000 compounds from the Chembridge and Maybridge chemical libraries. Using phylogenetic profiling we identified a subset of the 14 compounds as potential anthelmintics based on the relative sensitivity of C. elegans when compared to yeast and mammalian cells in culture. We showed that a subset of these compounds might employ mechanisms distinct from currently used anthelmintics by testing diverse drug resistant strains of C. elegans. One of these newly identified compounds targets mitochondrial complex II, and we used structural analysis of the target to suggest how differential binding of this compound may account for its different effects in nematodes versus mammalian cells. Conclusions/Significance The challenge of anthelmintic drug discovery is exacerbated by several factors; including, 1) the biochemical similarity between host and parasite genomes, 2) the geographic location of parasitic nematodes and 3) the rapid development of resistance. Accordingly, an approach that can screen large compound collections rapidly is required. C. elegans as a surrogate parasite offers the ability to screen compounds rapidly and, equally importantly, with specificity, thus reducing the potential toxicity of these compounds to the host and the environment. We believe this approach will help to replenish the pipeline of potential nematicides. PMID:27755544

Exploratory factor analysis of the 12-item Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale in people newly diagnosed with advanced cancer.

PubMed

Bai, Mei; Dixon, Jane K

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to reexamine the factor pattern of the 12-item Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale (FACIT-Sp-12) using exploratory factor analysis in people newly diagnosed with advanced cancer. Principal components analysis (PCA) and 3 common factor analysis methods were used to explore the factor pattern of the FACIT-Sp-12. Factorial validity was assessed in association with quality of life (QOL). Principal factor analysis (PFA), iterative PFA, and maximum likelihood suggested retrieving 3 factors: Peace, Meaning, and Faith. Both Peace and Meaning positively related to QOL, whereas only Peace uniquely contributed to QOL. This study supported the 3-factor model of the FACIT-Sp-12. Suggestions for revision of items and further validation of the identified factor pattern were provided.

A comparative study of selected Georgia elementary principals' perceptions of environmental knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, Joyce League

This study sought to establish baseline data on environmental knowledge, opinions, and perceptions of elementary principals and to make comparisons based on academic success rankings of schools and to national results. The self-reported study looked at 200 elementary principals in the state of Georgia. The population selected for the study included principals from the 100 top and 100 bottom academically ranked elementary schools as reported in the Georgia Public Policy Foundation Report Card for Parents. Their scores on the NEETF/Roper Environmental Knowledge Survey were compared between these two Georgia groups and to a national sample. Georgia elementary principals' scores were compared to environmental programs evident in their schools. The two Georgia groups were also compared on environmental opinion and perception responses on mandates, programs in schools and time devoted to these, environmental education as a priority, and the impact of various factors on the strength of environmental studies in schools. Georgia elementary principals leading schools at the bottom of the academic performance scale achieved environmental knowledge scores comparable to the national sample. However, principals of academically successful schools scored significantly higher on environmental knowledge than their colleagues from low performing schools (p < .05) and higher than the national sample (p < .001). Both Georgia principal groups strongly support a mandated environmental education curriculum for Georgia. The two groups were comparable on distributions of time devoted to environmental education across grade levels; however, principals from the more successful schools reported significantly (p < .01) greater amounts of time allotted to environmental studies. Both groups reported the same variety of environmental programs and practices evident in their schools and similar participation in these activities at various grade levels. Most significant (p < .01) was the comparison of ratings each group gave to environmental education as an instructional priority in their schools; principals supervising successful school programs viewed environmental education as a higher priority. These successful principals also recognized the importance of both administrator and staff interest as influencing factors and ranked these two variables as strongly impacting the success or failure of environmental initiatives in schools. Comparison of principals' environmental knowledge scores to numbers of programs shown no significant relationship. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Temporal trend and climate factors of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome epidemic in Shenyang City, China

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is an important infectious disease caused by different species of hantaviruses. As a rodent-borne disease with a seasonal distribution, external environmental factors including climate factors may play a significant role in its transmission. The city of Shenyang is one of the most seriously endemic areas for HFRS. Here, we characterized the dynamic temporal trend of HFRS, and identified climate-related risk factors and their roles in HFRS transmission in Shenyang, China. Methods The annual and monthly cumulative numbers of HFRS cases from 2004 to 2009 were calculated and plotted to show the annual and seasonal fluctuation in Shenyang. Cross-correlation and autocorrelation analyses were performed to detect the lagged effect of climate factors on HFRS transmission and the autocorrelation of monthly HFRS cases. Principal component analysis was constructed by using climate data from 2004 to 2009 to extract principal components of climate factors to reduce co-linearity. The extracted principal components and autocorrelation terms of monthly HFRS cases were added into a multiple regression model called principal components regression model (PCR) to quantify the relationship between climate factors, autocorrelation terms and transmission of HFRS. The PCR model was compared to a general multiple regression model conducted only with climate factors as independent variables. Results A distinctly declining temporal trend of annual HFRS incidence was identified. HFRS cases were reported every month, and the two peak periods occurred in spring (March to May) and winter (November to January), during which, nearly 75% of the HFRS cases were reported. Three principal components were extracted with a cumulative contribution rate of 86.06%. Component 1 represented MinRH0, MT1, RH1, and MWV1; component 2 represented RH2, MaxT3, and MAP3; and component 3 represented MaxT2, MAP2, and MWV2. The PCR model was composed of three principal components and two autocorrelation terms. The association between HFRS epidemics and climate factors was better explained in the PCR model (F = 446.452, P < 0.001, adjusted R2 = 0.75) than in the general multiple regression model (F = 223.670, P < 0.000, adjusted R2 = 0.51). Conclusion The temporal distribution of HFRS in Shenyang varied in different years with a distinctly declining trend. The monthly trends of HFRS were significantly associated with local temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, air pressure, and wind velocity of the different previous months. The model conducted in this study will make HFRS surveillance simpler and the control of HFRS more targeted in Shenyang. PMID:22133347

Factor Analysis and Counseling Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weiss, David J.

1970-01-01

Topics discussed include factor analysis versus cluster analysis, analysis of Q correlation matrices, ipsativity and factor analysis, and tests for the significance of a correlation matrix prior to application of factor analytic techniques. Techniques for factor extraction discussed include principal components, canonical factor analysis, alpha…

[Low-molecular-weight autoregulatory factors in bacteria Thioalkalivibrio versutus and Thioalkalimicrobium aerophilum].

PubMed

Loĭko, N G; Kozlova, A N; Osipov, G A; El'-Registan, G I

2002-01-01

The haloalkaliphilic, lithoautotrophic, sulfur-oxidizing gram-negative bacteria Thioalkalivibrio versutus and Thioalkalimicrobium aerophilum were found to possess a special system for the autoregulation of their growth. The system includes the extracellular autoinducers of anabiosis (the d1 factor) and autolysis (the d2 factor). The principal components of the d1 factor are alkylhydroxybenzenes. The principal components of the d2 factor are free unsaturated fatty acids dominated by oleic acid isomers. Like the respective autoregulators of neutrophilic bacteria, the d1 factor of haloalkaliphilic bacteria presumably controls their growth and transition to a anabiotic state, while the d2 factor controls autolytic processes. Alkylhydroxybenzenes of both microbial and chemical origin were found to influence bacterial respiration. The low-molecular-weight osmoprotectant glycine betaine enhanced the thermostability of trypsin. This suggests that glycine betaine, like the d1 factor, serves as a molecular chaperone.

Testing the Sensory Drive Hypothesis: Geographic variation in echolocation frequencies of Geoffroy's horseshoe bat (Rhinolophidae: Rhinolophus clivosus)

PubMed Central

Catto, Sarah; Mutumi, Gregory L.; Finger, Nikita; Webala, Paul W.

2017-01-01

Geographic variation in sensory traits is usually influenced by adaptive processes because these traits are involved in crucial life-history aspects including orientation, communication, lineage recognition and mate choice. Studying this variation can therefore provide insights into lineage diversification. According to the Sensory Drive Hypothesis, lineage diversification may be driven by adaptation of sensory systems to local environments. It predicts that acoustic signals vary in association with local climatic conditions so that atmospheric attenuation is minimized and transmission of the signals maximized. To test this prediction, we investigated the influence of climatic factors (specifically relative humidity and temperature) on geographic variation in the resting frequencies of the echolocation pulses of Geoffroy’s horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus clivosus. If the evolution of phenotypic variation in this lineage tracks climate variation, human induced climate change may lead to decreases in detection volumes and a reduction in foraging efficiency. A complex non-linear interaction between relative humidity and temperature affects atmospheric attenuation of sound and principal components composed of these correlated variables were, therefore, used in a linear mixed effects model to assess their contribution to observed variation in resting frequencies. A principal component composed predominantly of mean annual temperature (factor loading of -0.8455) significantly explained a proportion of the variation in resting frequency across sites (P < 0.05). Specifically, at higher relative humidity (around 60%) prevalent across the distribution of R. clivosus, increasing temperature had a strong negative effect on resting frequency. Climatic factors thus strongly influence acoustic signal divergence in this lineage, supporting the prediction of the Sensory Drive Hypothesis. The predicted future increase in temperature due to climate change is likely to decrease the detection volume in echolocating bats and adversely impact their foraging efficiency. PMID:29186147

Testing the Sensory Drive Hypothesis: Geographic variation in echolocation frequencies of Geoffroy's horseshoe bat (Rhinolophidae: Rhinolophus clivosus).

PubMed

Jacobs, David S; Catto, Sarah; Mutumi, Gregory L; Finger, Nikita; Webala, Paul W

2017-01-01

Geographic variation in sensory traits is usually influenced by adaptive processes because these traits are involved in crucial life-history aspects including orientation, communication, lineage recognition and mate choice. Studying this variation can therefore provide insights into lineage diversification. According to the Sensory Drive Hypothesis, lineage diversification may be driven by adaptation of sensory systems to local environments. It predicts that acoustic signals vary in association with local climatic conditions so that atmospheric attenuation is minimized and transmission of the signals maximized. To test this prediction, we investigated the influence of climatic factors (specifically relative humidity and temperature) on geographic variation in the resting frequencies of the echolocation pulses of Geoffroy's horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus clivosus. If the evolution of phenotypic variation in this lineage tracks climate variation, human induced climate change may lead to decreases in detection volumes and a reduction in foraging efficiency. A complex non-linear interaction between relative humidity and temperature affects atmospheric attenuation of sound and principal components composed of these correlated variables were, therefore, used in a linear mixed effects model to assess their contribution to observed variation in resting frequencies. A principal component composed predominantly of mean annual temperature (factor loading of -0.8455) significantly explained a proportion of the variation in resting frequency across sites (P < 0.05). Specifically, at higher relative humidity (around 60%) prevalent across the distribution of R. clivosus, increasing temperature had a strong negative effect on resting frequency. Climatic factors thus strongly influence acoustic signal divergence in this lineage, supporting the prediction of the Sensory Drive Hypothesis. The predicted future increase in temperature due to climate change is likely to decrease the detection volume in echolocating bats and adversely impact their foraging efficiency.

Metal uptake of tomato and alfalfa plants as affected by water source, salinity, and Cd and Zn levels under greenhouse conditions.

PubMed

Gharaibeh, Mamoun A; Marschner, Bernd; Heinze, Stefanie

2015-12-01

Irrigation with wastewater is a promising option to improve crop yields and to reduce pressure on freshwater sources. However, heavy metal concentrations in wastewater may cause health concerns. A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted in order to determine cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) concentrations in sandy soil and plant tissues of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). A 2 × 2 × 4 × 2 factorial treatment arrangement was utilized. Two water sources, fresh (FW) or treated wastewater (TWW), at two salinity levels (1 and 3 dS m(-1)) containing different levels of Cd and Zn were used. Samples were collected after a 90-day growth period. It was observed that the growth of both plants was depressed at the highest metal level (L3). Metal accumulation in plant parts increased with the increase of metal concentration and salinity in irrigation water. At low salinity, water source was the main factor which controlled metal accumulation, whereas, at high salinity, chloride appeared to be the principal factor controlling metal uptake regardless of water source. Metal translocation from roots to shoots increased in TWW-irrigated plants, even in the controls. Tomatoes accumulated Cd up to and above critical levels safe for human consumption, even though Cd concentration in irrigation water did not exceed the current recommended values. Therefore, food production in sandy soils may well pose a health hazard when irrigated with TWW containing heavy metals. Complexation with dissolved organic compounds (DOC) in TWW may be to be the principal factor responsible for increased metal uptake and transfer at low salinity, thereby increasing the risk of heavy metal contamination of food and forage crops.

You Have What? Personality! Traits That Predict Leadership Styles for Elementary Administrators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia, Melinda

2013-01-01

This research explored relationships between followers' perceptions of elementary school principals' Big Five Personality Traits, using the "International Personality Item Pool" (IPIP) (Goldberg, 1999), and principals' Leadership Styles, using the "Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire" (MLQ) (Bass & Avolio, 2004). A sample…

Effects of plant polyphenols and α-tocopherol on lipid oxidation, microbiological characteristics, and biogenic amines formation in dry-cured bacons.

PubMed

Wang, Yongli; Li, Feng; Zhuang, Hong; Li, Lianghao; Chen, Xiao; Zhang, Jianhao

2015-03-01

Effects of plant polyphenols (tea polyphenol [TP], grape seed extract [GSE], and gingerol) and α-tocopherol on physicochemical parameters, microbiological counts, and biogenic amines were determined in dry-cured bacons at the end of ripening. Results showed that plant polyphenols and α-tocopherol significantly decreased pH, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances content, and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN) compared with the control (P < 0.05). Microbial counts and biogenic amine contents in dry-cured bacons were affected by plant polyphenols or α-tocopherol, with TP being the most effective (P < 0.05) in reducing aerobic plate counts, Enterobacteriaceae, Micrococcaceae, yeast, and molds, as well as in inhibiting formation of putrescine, cadaverine, tyramine, and spermine. Principal component analysis indicated that the first 2 principal components (PC) explained about 85.5% of the total variation. PC1 was related with physicochemical factors, parts of biogenic amines, and spoilage microorganisms, whereas PC2 grouped the TVBN, tyramine, 2-phenylethylamine, yeast, and molds. These findings suggest that plant polyphenols, especially TP, could be used to process dry-cured bacons to improve the quality and safety of finished products. © 2015 Institute of Food Technologists®

Phenotypic characterization of a photomorphogenic mutant.

PubMed

Fankhauser, Christian; Casal, Jorge J

2004-09-01

Light is arguably the most important abiotic factor controlling plant growth and development throughout their life cycle. Plants have evolved sophisticated light-sensing mechanisms to monitor fluctuations in light quality, intensity, direction and periodicity (day length). In Arabidopsis, three families of photoreceptors have been identified by molecular genetic studies. The UV-A/blue light receptors cryptochromes and the red/far-red receptors phytochromes control an overlapping set of responses including photoperiodic flowering induction and de-etiolation. Phototropins are the primary photoreceptors for a set of specific responses to UV-A/blue light such as phototropism, chloroplast movement and stomatal opening. Mutants affecting a photoreceptor have a characteristic phenotype. It is therefore possible to determine the specific developmental responses and the photoreceptor pathway(s) affected in a mutant by performing an appropriate set of photobiological and genetic experiments. In this paper, we outline the principal and easiest experiments that can be performed to obtain a first indication about the nature of the photobiological defect in a given mutant.

Clinical and radiological assessment of a family with mild brachydactyly type A1: the usefulness of metacarpophalangeal profiles.

PubMed

Armour, C M; Bulman, D E; Hunter, A G

2000-04-01

The brachydactylies are a group of conditions in which various subtypes have been defined based upon the specific pattern of digital bones involved. Type A1 brachydactyly is principally characterised by maximal involvement of the middle phalanges. We report an extended family with a mild brachydactyly A1 which was, except for some short stature, not associated with any of the additional clinical findings reported in several published families. While all the hand bones tended to be small, the principal features of the affected members were shortened middle and distal phalanges, proximal 1st phalanges, and 5th metacarpals. The feet were similarly involved and tended to have a broad, slightly adducted forefoot. The two affected children showed multiple coned epiphyses. This paper provides a detailed description of the family including the radiographic signs and metacarpophalangeal profiles, which proved to be useful in distinguishing the mildly affected persons.

The role of the family in HIV status disclosure among women in Vietnam: Familial dependence and independence.

PubMed

Dinh, H T; White, J L; Hipwell, M; Nguyen, C T K; Pharris, A

2018-04-01

Insights into disclosure by people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) can inform strategies for treatment and support, yet Vietnamese women's self-disclosure patterns are poorly understood. We conducted interviews with 12 HIV-positive women, identifying three principal factors influencing disclosure to family members: patrilocal residence, desire to protect own family, and the need for financial support. Women's decision-making about disclosure was significantly affected by dependence on or independence of parents-in-law and their own parents. We believe that our findings reveal the complex interplay of stigma and disclosure within Vietnamese families, highlighting the need for specific social measures that promote self-disclosure combined with family support for female PLWHA.

Adaptation and validation of the Evidence-Based Practice Belief and Implementation scales for French-speaking Swiss nurses and allied healthcare providers.

PubMed

Verloo, Henk; Desmedt, Mario; Morin, Diane

2017-09-01

To evaluate two psychometric properties of the French versions of the Evidence-Based Practice Beliefs and Evidence-Based Practice Implementation scales, namely their internal consistency and construct validity. The Evidence-Based Practice Beliefs and Evidence-Based Practice Implementation scales developed by Melnyk et al. are recognised as valid, reliable instruments in English. However, no psychometric validation for their French versions existed. Secondary analysis of a cross sectional survey. Source data came from a cross-sectional descriptive study sample of 382 nurses and other allied healthcare providers. Cronbach's alpha was used to evaluate internal consistency, and principal axis factor analysis and varimax rotation were computed to determine construct validity. The French Evidence-Based Practice Beliefs and Evidence-Based Practice Implementation scales showed excellent reliability, with Cronbach's alphas close to the scores established by Melnyk et al.'s original versions. Principal axis factor analysis showed medium-to-high factor loading scores without obtaining collinearity. Principal axis factor analysis with varimax rotation of the 16-item Evidence-Based Practice Beliefs scale resulted in a four-factor loading structure. Principal axis factor analysis with varimax rotation of the 17-item Evidence-Based Practice Implementation scale revealed a two-factor loading structure. Further research should attempt to understand why the French Evidence-Based Practice Implementation scale showed a two-factor loading structure but Melnyk et al.'s original has only one. The French versions of the Evidence-Based Practice Beliefs and Evidence-Based Practice Implementation scales can both be considered valid and reliable instruments for measuring Evidence-Based Practice beliefs and implementation. The results suggest that the French Evidence-Based Practice Beliefs and Evidence-Based Practice Implementation scales are valid and reliable and can therefore be used to evaluate the effectiveness of organisational strategies aimed at increasing professionals' confidence in Evidence-Based Practice, supporting its use and implementation. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A New 4D Trajectory-Based Approach Unveils Abnormal LV Revolution Dynamics in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

PubMed Central

Madeo, Andrea; Piras, Paolo; Re, Federica; Gabriele, Stefano; Nardinocchi, Paola; Teresi, Luciano; Torromeo, Concetta; Chialastri, Claudia; Schiariti, Michele; Giura, Geltrude; Evangelista, Antonietta; Dominici, Tania; Varano, Valerio; Zachara, Elisabetta; Puddu, Paolo Emilio

2015-01-01

The assessment of left ventricular shape changes during cardiac revolution may be a new step in clinical cardiology to ease early diagnosis and treatment. To quantify these changes, only point registration was adopted and neither Generalized Procrustes Analysis nor Principal Component Analysis were applied as we did previously to study a group of healthy subjects. Here, we extend to patients affected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy the original approach and preliminarily include genotype positive/phenotype negative individuals to explore the potential that incumbent pathology might also be detected. Using 3D Speckle Tracking Echocardiography, we recorded left ventricular shape of 48 healthy subjects, 24 patients affected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and 3 genotype positive/phenotype negative individuals. We then applied Generalized Procrustes Analysis and Principal Component Analysis and inter-individual differences were cleaned by Parallel Transport performed on the tangent space, along the horizontal geodesic, between the per-subject consensuses and the grand mean. Endocardial and epicardial layers were evaluated separately, different from many ecocardiographic applications. Under a common Principal Component Analysis, we then evaluated left ventricle morphological changes (at both layers) explained by first Principal Component scores. Trajectories’ shape and orientation were investigated and contrasted. Logistic regression and Receiver Operating Characteristic curves were used to compare these morphometric indicators with traditional 3D Speckle Tracking Echocardiography global parameters. Geometric morphometrics indicators performed better than 3D Speckle Tracking Echocardiography global parameters in recognizing pathology both in systole and diastole. Genotype positive/phenotype negative individuals clustered with patients affected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy during diastole, suggesting that incumbent pathology may indeed be foreseen by these methods. Left ventricle deformation in patients affected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy compared to healthy subjects may be assessed by modern shape analysis better than by traditional 3D Speckle Tracking Echocardiography global parameters. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy pathophysiology was unveiled in a new manner whereby also diastolic phase abnormalities are evident which is more difficult to investigate by traditional ecocardiographic techniques. PMID:25875818

Principals' Leadership Styles and Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harnish, David Alan

2012-01-01

Many schools struggle to meet No Child Left Behind's stringent adequate yearly progress standards, although the benchmark has stimulated national creativity and reform. The purpose of this study was to explore teacher perceptions of principals' leadership styles, curriculum reform, and student achievement to ascertain possible factors to improve…

Teacher-Principal Relationships: Exploring Linkages between Empowerment and Interpersonal Trust

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moye, Melinda J.; Henkin, Alan B.; Egley, Robert J.

2005-01-01

Purpose: To investigate relationships between teacher empowerment and interpersonal level trust in the principal. Design/methodology/approach: Trust is a fundamental element in well-functioning organizations. Studies of empowerment, a motivational construct, have suggested that empowering employees is a key factor in managerial and organizational…

Factors influencing evidence-based practice in prosthetics and orthotics.

PubMed

Andrysek, Jan; Christensen, James; Dupuis, Annie

2011-03-01

The importance of evidence-based practice is being recognized across a broad range of healthcare disciplines as a means for improving patient outcomes and also efficiently managing healthcare resources. The objective of this work was to obtain information from clinicians about the underlying barriers and facilitators relating to evidence-based practice in prosthetics and orthotics. Cross sectional survey. An internet survey was developed and distributed to 300 prosthetists and orthotists currently practicing in Canada. A principal component factor analysis of the survey results revealed ten primary factors affecting evidence-based practice. These include time constraints, workload and system demands, limited relevant evidence from research, and gaps in skills and knowledge required to perform evidence-based practice. Clinicians value research as a means of improving clinical practice, but they are faced with a number of practical barriers in performing evidence-based practice. This study provides empirical data about the underlying barriers and facilitators relating to evidence-based practice in prosthetics and orthotics. Such data are essential in order to inform those involved in improving existing clinical practices, including educators, professional organizations, and governing bodies.

Segmental distribution of some common molecular markers for colorectal cancer (CRC): influencing factors and potential implications.

PubMed

Papagiorgis, Petros Christakis

2016-05-01

Proximal and distal colorectal cancers (CRCs) are regarded as distinct disease entities, evolving through different genetic pathways and showing multiple clinicopathological and molecular differences. Segmental distribution of some common markers (e.g., KRAS, EGFR, Ki-67, Bcl-2, COX-2) is clinically important, potentially affecting their prognostic or predictive value. However, this distribution is influenced by a variety of factors such as the anatomical overlap of tumorigenic molecular events, associations of some markers with other clinicopathological features (stage and/or grade), and wide methodological variability in markers' assessment. All these factors represent principal influences followed by intratumoral heterogeneity and geographic variation in the frequency of detection of particular markers, whereas the role of other potential influences (e.g., pre-adjuvant treatment, interaction between markers) remains rather unclear. Better understanding and elucidation of the various influences may provide a more accurate picture of the segmental distribution of molecular markers in CRC, potentially allowing the application of a novel patient stratification for treatment, based on particular molecular profiles in combination with tumor location.

Vitamin D status and risk for malignant cutaneous melanoma: recent advances

PubMed Central

Ombra, Maria N.; Doneddu, Valentina; Sini, Maria C.; Colombino, Maria; Rozzo, Carla; Stanganelli, Ignazio; Tanda, Francesco; Cossu, Antonio; Palmieri, Giuseppe

2017-01-01

Cutaneous malignant melanoma, whose incidence is increasing steadily worldwide, is the result of complex interactions between individual genetic factors and environmental risk factors. Ultraviolet radiation represents the most important environmental risk factor for the development of skin cancers, including melanoma. Sun exposure and early sunburn during childhood are the principal causes of cutaneous melanoma insurgence in adults, with double the risk relative to a nonexposed population. Consequently, ultraviolet protection has long been recognized as an important measure to prevent such a malignancy. Biological and epidemiological data suggest that vitamin D status could affect the risk of cancer and play a role in cancer prevention by exerting antiproliferative effects. Solar radiations are critical for vitamin D synthesis in humans; however, uncontrolled and intensive sun exposure is dangerous to skin health and may contribute toward the development of cutaneous malignant melanoma. An optimum balance between sun protection and exposure is thus advocated. Additional research is required to confirm the preventive role of vitamin D in melanoma incidence or a positive influence on patient outcome. PMID:28125434

Direct and Indirect Effects of Brain Volume, Socioeconomic Status and Family Stress on Child IQ

PubMed Central

Marcus Jenkins, Jade V; Woolley, Donald P; Hooper, Stephen R; De Bellis, Michael D

2013-01-01

1.1. Background A large literature documents the detrimental effects of socioeconomic disparities on intelligence and neuropsychological development. Researchers typically measure environmental factors such as socioeconomic status (SES), using income, parent's occupation and education. However, SES is more complex, and this complexity may influence neuropsychological outcomes. 1.2. Methods This studyused principal components analysis to reduce 14 SES and 28 family stress indicators into their core dimensions (e.g. community and educational capital, financial resources, marital conflict). Core dimensions were used in path analyses to examine their relationships with parent IQ and cerebral volume (white matter, grey matter and total brain volume), to predict child IQ in a sample of typically developing children. 1.3. Results Parent IQ affected child IQ directly and indirectly through community and educational capital, demonstrating how environmental factors interact with familial factors in neuro-development. There were no intervening effects of cerebral white matter, grey matter, or total brain volume. 1.4. Conclusions Findings may suggest that improving community resources can foster the intellectual development of children. PMID:24533427

Evaluation of Factors Influencing Accuracy of Principal Procedure Coding Based on ICD-9-CM: An Iranian Study

PubMed Central

Farzandipour, Mehrdad; Sheikhtaheri, Abbas

2009-01-01

To evaluate the accuracy of procedural coding and the factors that influence it, 246 records were randomly selected from four teaching hospitals in Kashan, Iran. “Recodes” were assigned blindly and then compared to the original codes. Furthermore, the coders' professional behaviors were carefully observed during the coding process. Coding errors were classified as major or minor. The relations between coding accuracy and possible effective factors were analyzed by χ2 or Fisher exact tests as well as the odds ratio (OR) and the 95 percent confidence interval for the OR. The results showed that using a tabular index for rechecking codes reduces errors (83 percent vs. 72 percent accuracy). Further, more thorough documentation by the clinician positively affected coding accuracy, though this relation was not significant. Readability of records decreased errors overall (p = .003), including major ones (p = .012). Moreover, records with no abbreviations had fewer major errors (p = .021). In conclusion, not using abbreviations, ensuring more readable documentation, and paying more attention to available information increased coding accuracy and the quality of procedure databases. PMID:19471647

Analysis and improvement measures of flight delay in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zang, Yuhang

2017-03-01

Firstly, this paper establishes the principal component regression model to analyze the data quantitatively, based on principal component analysis to get the three principal component factors of flight delays. Then the least square method is used to analyze the factors and obtained the regression equation expression by substitution, and then found that the main reason for flight delays is airlines, followed by weather and traffic. Aiming at the above problems, this paper improves the controllable aspects of traffic flow control. For reasons of traffic flow control, an adaptive genetic queuing model is established for the runway terminal area. This paper, establish optimization method that fifteen planes landed simultaneously on the three runway based on Beijing capital international airport, comparing the results with the existing FCFS algorithm, the superiority of the model is proved.

How Autism Affects Speech Understanding in Multitalker Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

Page 1 AD_________________ Award Number: W81XWH-12-1-0363 TITLE: How Autism Affects Speech Understanding in Multitalker Environments PRINCIPAL...COVERED 30 Sep 2012 - 29 Sep 2015 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER How Autism Affects Speech Understanding in Multitalker 5b. GRANT NUMBER...that adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders have particular difficulty recognizing speech in acoustically-hostile environments (e.g., Alcantara et al

Affective temperament and executive functions in emergency medicine professionals.

PubMed

Jaracz, Marcin; Paciorek, Przemysław; Buciński, Adam; Borkowska, Alina

2014-10-01

Recent studies indicate that choice of profession is related to differences in affective temperament, which is probably due to various predispositions needed to efficiently perform particular professions. The aim of the present study was to assess affective temperament and executive functions in a sample of emergency medicine professionals. 75 emergency medicine professionals were enrolled in the study. Affective temperament was assessed by means of TEMPS-A. Executive functions were assessed by means of Trail Making Test and Stroop Color Word Interference Test. Subjects showed significantly higher rates of hyperthymic, compared to depressive, cyclothymic, irritable and anxious temperaments. The principal component analysis revealed that hyperthymic temperament contributes to a different factor, than the remaining ones. Higher rates of depressive, cyclothymic, irritable and anxious temperaments were related to poorer performance in Trail Making Test, whereas hyperthymic temperament had the opposite effect. Due to the size of the sample, results of the present study may have lacked power to show all the relationships between tested variables. Hyperthymic temperament promotes efficient performance of complex tasks under time pressure. Depressive, cyclothymic, irritable and anxious temperaments have the opposite effect. This makes hyperthymic temperament a desirable trait in emergency medicine professionals, performing complex medical tasks under extreme conditions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Construction and Application of Enhanced Remote Sensing Ecological Index

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, X.; Liu, C.; Fu, Q.; Yin, B.

2018-04-01

In order to monitor the change of regional ecological environment quality, this paper use MODIS and DMSP / OLS remote sensing data, from the production capacity, external disturbance changes and human socio-economic development of the three main factors affecting the quality of ecosystems, select the net primary productivity, vegetation index and light index, using the principal component analysis method to automatically determine the weight coefficient, construction of the formation of enhanced remote sensing ecological index, and the ecological environment quality of Hainan Island from 2001 to 2013 was monitored and analyzed. The enhanced remote sensing ecological index combines the effects of the natural environment and human activities on ecosystems, and according to the contribution of each principal component automatically determine the weight coefficient, avoid the design of the weight of the parameters caused by the calculation of the human error, which provides a new method for the operational operation of regional macro ecological environment quality monitoring. During the period from 2001 to 2013, the ecological environment quality of Hainan Island showed the characteristics of decend first and then rise, the ecological environment in 2005 was affected by severe natural disasters, and the quality of ecological environment dropped sharply. Compared with 2001, in 2013 about 20000 square kilometers regional ecological environmental quality has improved, about 8760 square kilometers regional ecological environment quality is relatively stable, about 5272 square kilometers regional ecological environment quality has decreased. On the whole, the quality of ecological environment in the study area is good, the frequent occurrence of natural disasters, on the quality of the ecological environment to a certain extent.

Control of the annual cycle in birds: endocrine constraints and plasticity in response to ecological variability.

PubMed

Dawson, Alistair

2008-05-12

This paper reviews information from ecological and physiological studies to assess how extrinsic factors can modulate intrinsic physiological processes. The annual cycle of birds is made up of a sequence of life-history stages: breeding, moult and migration. Each stage has evolved to occur at the optimum time and to last for the whole duration of time available. Some species have predictable breeding seasons, others are more flexible and some breed opportunistically in response to unpredictable food availability. Photoperiod is the principal environmental cue used to time each stage, allowing birds to adapt their physiology in advance of predictable environmental changes. Physiological (neuroendocrine and endocrine) plasticity allows non-photoperiodic cues to modulate timing to enable individuals to cope with, and benefit from, short-term environmental variability. Although the timing and duration of the period of full gonadal maturation is principally controlled by photoperiod, non-photoperiodic cues, such as temperature, rainfall or food availability, could potentially modulate the exact time of breeding either by fine-tuning the time of egg-laying within the period of full gonadal maturity or, more fundamentally, by modulating gonadal maturation and/or regression. The timing of gonadal regression affects the time of the start of moult, which in turn may affect the duration of the moult. There are many areas of uncertainty. Future integrated studies are required to assess the scope for flexibility in life-history strategies as this will have a critical bearing on whether birds can adapt sufficiently rapidly to anthropogenic environmental changes, in particular climate change.

The profile of psychiatric symptoms exacerbated by methamphetamine use.

PubMed

McKetin, Rebecca; Dawe, Sharon; Burns, Richard A; Hides, Leanne; Kavanagh, David J; Teesson, Maree; McD Young, Ross; Voce, Alexandra; Saunders, John B

2016-04-01

Methamphetamine use can produce symptoms almost indistinguishable from schizophrenia. Distinguishing between the two conditions has been hampered by the lack of a validated symptom profile for methamphetamine-induced psychiatric symptoms. We use data from a longitudinal cohort study to examine the profile of psychiatric symptoms that are acutely exacerbated by methamphetamine use. 164 methamphetamine users, who did not meet DSM-IV criteria for a lifetime primary psychotic disorder, were followed monthly for one year to assess the relationship between days of methamphetamine use and symptom severity on the 24-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Exacerbation of psychiatric symptoms with methamphetamine use was quantified using random coefficient models. The dimensions of symptom exacerbation were examined using principal axis factoring and a latent profile analysis. Symptoms exacerbated by methamphetamine loaded on three factors: positive psychotic symptoms (suspiciousness, unusual thought content, hallucinations, bizarre behavior); affective symptoms (depression, suicidality, guilt, hostility, somatic concern, self-neglect); and psychomotor symptoms (tension, excitement, distractibility, motor hyperactivity). Methamphetamine use did not significantly increase negative symptoms. Vulnerability to positive psychotic and affective symptom exacerbation was shared by 28% of participants, and this vulnerability aligned with a past year DSM-IV diagnosis of substance-induced psychosis (38% vs. 22%, χ(2)(df1)=3.66, p=0.056). Methamphetamine use produced a symptom profile comprised of positive psychotic and affective symptoms, which aligned with a diagnosis of substance-induced psychosis, with no evidence of a negative syndrome. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Safety leadership in the teaching laboratories of electrical and electronic engineering departments at Taiwanese Universities.

PubMed

Wu, Tsung-Chih

2008-01-01

Safety has always been one of the principal goals in teaching laboratories. Laboratories cannot serve their educational purpose when accidents occur. The leadership of department heads has a major impact on laboratory safety, so this study discusses the factors affecting safety leadership in teaching laboratories. This study uses a mail survey to explore the perceived safety leadership in electrical and electronic engineering departments at Taiwanese universities. An exploratory factor analysis shows that there are three main components of safety leadership, as measured on a safety leadership scale: safety controlling, safety coaching, and safety caring. The descriptive statistics also reveals that among faculty, the perception of department heads' safety leadership is in general positive. A two-way MANOVA shows that there are interaction effects on safety leadership between university size and instructor age; there are also interaction effects between presence of a safety committee and faculty gender and faculty age. It is therefore necessary to assess organizational factors when determining whether individual factors are the cause of differing perceptions among faculty members. The author also presents advice on improving safety leadership for department heads at small universities and at universities without safety committees.

Incubation Patterns in a Central-Place Forager Affect Lifetime Reproductive Success: Scaling of Patterns from a Foraging Bout to a Lifetime

PubMed Central

Shoji, Akiko; Elliott, Kyle H.; Aris-Brosou, Stéphane; Crump, Doug; Gaston, Anthony J.

2011-01-01

Background Long-lived seabirds face a conflict between current and lifelong reproductive success. During incubation shifts, egg neglect is sometimes necessary to avoid starvation, but may compromise the current reproductive attempt. However, factors underlying this decision process are poorly understood. We focus on the ancient murrelet, Synthliboramphus antiquus, an alcid with exceptionally long incubation shift lengths, and test the impact of environmental factors on incubation shift length in relation to reproductive success. Methodology/Principal Findings Using an information theoretic approach, we show that incubation shift length was a strong predictor of reproductive success for ancient murrelets at Reef Island, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada during the 2007 and 2008 breeding seasons. The most important factors explaining an individual's shift length were egg size, wind speed and the length of the mate's previous shift. Wind speed and tide height were the two most important factors for determining foraging behavior, as measured by dive frequency and depth. Conclusions/Significance Our study demonstrates that (i) species-specific reproductive strategies interact with environmental conditions such as wind speed to form multiple incubation patterns and (ii) maintaining regular incubation shifts is an essential component of reproductive success. PMID:21423631

Can the big five factors of personality predict lymphocyte counts?

PubMed

Ožura, Ana; Ihan, Alojz; Musek, Janek

2012-03-01

Psychological stress is known to affect the immune system. The Limbic Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (LHPA) axis has been identified as the principal path of the bidirectional communication between the immune system and the central nervous system with significant psychological activators. Personality traits acted as moderators of the relationship between life conflicts and psychological distress. This study focuses on the relationship between the Big Five factors of personality and immune regulation as indicated by Lymphocyte counts. Our study included 32 professional soldiers from the Slovenian Army that completed the Big Five questionnaire (Goldberg IPIP-300). We also assessed their white blood cell counts with a detailed lymphocyte analysis using flow cytometry. The correlations between personality variables and immune system parameters were calculated. Furthermore, regression analyses were performed using personality variables as predictors and immune parameters as criteria. The results demonstrated that the model using the Big Five factors as predictors of Lymphocyte counts is significant in predicting the variance in NK and B cell counts. Agreeableness showed the strongest predictive function. The results offer support for the theoretical models that stressed the essential links between personality and immune regulation. Further studies with larger samples examining the Big five factors and immune system parameters are needed.

Delayed recovery from anesthesia: A postgraduate educational review.

PubMed

Misal, Ullhas Sudhakarrao; Joshi, Suchita Annasaheb; Shaikh, Mudassir Mohd

2016-01-01

Delayed awakening from anesthesia remains one of the biggest challenges that involve an anesthesiologist. With the general use of fast-acting anesthetic agents, patients usually awaken quickly in the postoperative period. The time to emerge from anesthesia is affected by patient factors, anesthetic factors, duration of surgery, and painful stimulation. The principal factors responsible for delayed awakening following anesthesia are anesthetic agents and medications used in the perioperative period. Nonpharmacological causes may have a serious sequel, hence recognizing these organic conditions is important. Certain underlying metabolic disorders such as hypoglycemia, severe hyperglycemia, and electrolyte imbalance, especially hypernatremia, hypoxia, hypercapnia, central anticholinergic syndrome, chronic hypertension, liver disease, hypoalbuminemia, uremia, and severe hypothyroidism may also be responsible for delayed recovery following anesthesia. Unexpected delayed emergence after general anesthesia may also be due to intraoperative cerebral hypoxia, hemorrhage, embolism, or thrombosis. Accurate diagnosis of the underlying cause is the key for the institution of appropriate therapy, but primary management is to maintain airway, breathing, and circulation. This comprehensive review discusses the risk factors, causes, evaluation and management of delayed recovery based on our clinical experience, and literature search on the internet, supported by the standard textbooks of anesthesiology.

[Burden of disease, injuries, risk factors and challenges for the health system in Mexico].

PubMed

Lozano, Rafael; Gómez-Dantés, Héctor; Garrido-Latorre, Francisco; Jiménez-Corona, Aída; Campuzano-Rincón, Julio César; Franco-Marina, Francisco; Medina-Mora, María Elena; Borges, Guilherme; Naghavi, Mohsen; Wang, Haidong; Vos, Theo; Lopez, Alan D; Murray, Christopher J L

2013-12-01

To present the results of the burden of disease, injuries and risk factors in Mexico from 1990 to 2010 for the principal illnesses, injuries and risk factors by sex. A secondary analysis of the study results published by the Global Burden of Disease 2010 for Mexico performed by IHME. In 2010, Mexico lost 26.2 million of Disability adjusted live years (DALYs), 56 % were in male and 44 % in women. The main causes of DALYs in men are violence, ischemic heart disease and road traffic injuries. In the case of women the leading causes are diabetes, chronic kidney disease and ischemic heart diseases. The mental disorders and musculoskeletal conditions concentrate 18% of health lost. The risk factors that most affect men in Mexico are: alcohol consumption, overweight/obesity, high blood glucose levels and blood pressure and tobacco consumption (35.6 % of DALYs lost). In women, overweight and obesity, high blood sugar and blood pressure, lack of physical activity and consumption of alcohol are responsible for 40 % of DALYs lost. In both sexes the problems with diet contribute 12% of the burden. The epidemiological situation in Mexico, demands an urgent adaptation and modernization of the health system.

A Standards-Based Approach to Catholic Principal Preparation: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morten, Sandria D.; Lawler, Geralyn A.

2016-01-01

Illinois' recent redesign of the principal certification program requires the integration of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure (ISLLC) standards as well as the Southern Regional Education Board Critical Success Factors standards into the coursework and internship, establishing a focus on preparation for instructional leadership. The…

Factors Impacting Principals' Career Decision Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sorapuru, Wylene M.

2012-01-01

Federal legislation and educational programs such as "No Child Left Behind" (2001) and "Race to the Top" (2009) identify school leaders as one of the major catalysts to improving academic achievement. Increasing accountability demands call for replacement of the principal when adequate gains in student achievement are not met,…

Catholic School Principal Job Satisfaction: Keys to Retention and Recruitment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fraser, Jennifer; Brock, Barbara L.

2006-01-01

This article presents a study on principal retention in New South Wales, Australia. Factors in job retention included economic security, role enjoyment, and the opportunity to contribute. Disincentives to the principalship included lack of support from the employing authority, inadequate pay, isolation, growing responsibilities, difficult parents,…

MONARCH: A Morphable Networked micro-ARCHitecture

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-09-01

USC INFORMATION INSTITUTE Principal Investigator John Granacki RESEARCH STAFF Jeff Draper Pedro Diniz Jeff LaCoss Co-Principal Investigator Michael...representative applications MONARCH Processing Card - 6Ux160 double euro card form factor - B ac kp la n e In te rc o n n ec t MONARCH chip EDGE MEMORY

Teacher Perceptions of Principals' Leadership Qualities: A Mixed Methods Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hauserman, Cal P.; Ivankova, Nataliya V.; Stick, Sheldon L.

2013-01-01

This mixed methods sequential explanatory study utilized the Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire, responses to open-ended questions, and in-depth interviews to identify transformational leadership qualities that were present among principals in Alberta, Canada. The first quantitative phase consisted of a random sample of 135 schools (with…

Excellence in Schooling: Effective Styles for Effective Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Georgiades, William D. H.

School principals are an important factor in the improvement of American schools. Key findings of two studies show that principals are the most significant people in the educational change process. Outlined are seven important steps involved in the process of instructional improvement that will take place only if committed and knowledgeable…

Leading Together: Strengthening Relational Trust in the Adult School Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leis, Micela; Rimm-Kaufman, Sara E.; Paxton, Carol L. C.; Sandilos, Lia E.

2017-01-01

Research from the past two decades positions relational trust as a key factor in school reform efforts. Trust between teachers and their principal (teacher-principal trust) and teachers and their colleagues (teacher-teacher trust) are particularly important. "Leading Together" (LT) is a new professional development and coaching model of…

Principals' Learning Mechanisms: Exploring an Emerging Construct

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schechter, Chen; Qadach, Mowafaq

2016-01-01

This exploration of principal learning mechanisms (PLM) to support a learning-centered school aimed to develop, field-test, and validate a PLM-measuring instrument. Following exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of items to examine factorial validity, the developed scale was correlated with other work-related established constructs (e.g.,…

The role of the elementary school principal — as perceived by Israeli principals an attempt at role analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kremer, Lya

1983-03-01

The study aimed to define the role of principalship, necessary because of the conflicting loyalties and responsibilities inherent in this role. Four `facets' were used to classify areas of principals' activities, from which a questionnaire was constructed. Ninety principals, representing most of those in the northern part of Israel, participated in the project. On the basis of the questionnaire, they related their role activities to the degree of autonomy they felt they were granted. The findings identify the main factors in the role of the principal and show that principals' activities may be defined according to (a) the degree to which they have been planned in advance or carried out ad hoc; (b) their professional or bureaucratic character; (c) the goals which they are meant to serve and whether their aim is task/product-or person-orientated. In all of these areas the principal can act with varying degrees of autonomy. The techniques employed in obtaining and analyzing the results offer a means of creating and comparing principals' profiles, hence also of indicating the position of the principal in the more general system; producing a typology of administrative styles; and identifying personal styles of principalship.

Consideration of air quality standards for vegetation with respect to ozone

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

Heggestad, H.E.

1969-06-01

Present evidence suggests that ozone is the most damaging of all air pollutants affecting vegetation. It is the principal oxidant in the photochemical smog complex. Concentrations of ozone have exceeded 0.5 part per million (ppm) in the Los Angeles area. One-tenth of this level for 8 hours is known to injure very sensitive tobacco varieties. Many plant species are visibly affected after a few hours exposure at concentrations much lower than 0.5 ppm. There is also some evidence that ozone reduces plant growth. Many factors must be taken into account when considering standards to protect vegetation from ozone damage. Thesemore » include ozone concentration and methods of measurement, time of exposure, possible additive effects of other pollutants, sensitivity of plant species, their economic value, and the extent of injury which can be tolerated. The response of a species to the pollutant is conditioned by genetic factors and environmental conditions. Lack of specific routine methods for measuring ozone in ambient air is a handicap. California and Colorado established standards for oxidants at 0.15 and 0.10 ppm, respectively, for 1 hour. How these standards relate to the ozone dosage causing acute and chronic injury to various plant species is discussed.« less

Factors affecting decay of Salmonella Birkenhead and coliphage MS2 during mesophilic anaerobic digestion and air drying of sewage sludge.

PubMed

Mondal, Tania; Rouch, Duncan A; Thurbon, Nerida; Smith, Stephen R; Deighton, Margaret A

2015-06-01

Factors affecting the decay of Salmonella Birkenhead and coliphage, as representatives of bacterial and viral pathogens, respectively, during mesophilic anaerobic digestion (MAD) and air drying treatment of anaerobically digested sewage sludge were investigated. Controlled concentrations of S. Birkenhead were inoculated into non-sterile, autoclaved, γ-irradiated and nutrient-supplemented sludge and cultures were incubated at 37 °C (MAD sludge treatment temperature) or 20 °C (summer air drying sludge treatment temperature). Nutrient limitation caused by microbial competition was the principal mechanism responsible for the decay of S. Birkenhead by MAD and during air drying of digested sludge. The effects of protease activity in sludge on MS2 coliphage decay in digested and air dried sludge were also investigated. MS2 coliphage showed a 3.0-3.5 log10 reduction during incubation with sludge-protease extracts at 37 °C for 25 h. Proteases produced by indigenous microbes in sludge potentially increase coliphage inactivation and may therefore have a significant role in the decay of enteric viruses in sewage sludge. The results help to explain the loss of viability of enteric bacteria and viral pathogens with treatment process time and contribute to fundamental understanding of the various biotic inactivation mechanisms operating in sludge treatment processes at mesophilic and ambient temperatures.

A place-based model for assessing the coherence of the flash floods and socio-economic vulnerability across the Contiguous United States (CONUS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khajehei, S.; Moradkhani, H.

2017-12-01

Understanding socio-economic characteristics involving natural hazards potential, vulnerability, and resilience is necessary to address the damages to economy and loss of life from extreme natural hazards. The vulnerability to flash floods is dependent on both biophysical and socio-economic factors. Although the biophysical characteristics (e.g. climate, vegetation, and land use) are informative and useful for predicting spatial and temporal extent of flash floods, they have minimal bearing on predicting when and where flash floods are likely to influence people or damage valuable assets and resources. The socio-economic factors determine spatial and temporal scales of the regions affected by flash floods. In this study, we quantify the socio-economic vulnerability to flash floods across the Contiguous United States (CONUS). A socio-economic vulnerability index was developed, employing Bayesian principal components for each state in the CONUS. For this purpose, extensive sets of social and economic variables from US Census and the Bureau of Economic Analysis were used. We developed maps presenting the coincidence of socio-economic vulnerability and the flash floods records. This product can help inform flash flood prevention, mitigation and recovery planning, as well as reducing the flash flood hazards affecting vulnerable places and population.

Pain and emotion as predictive factors of interoception in fibromyalgia

PubMed Central

Borg, Céline; Chouchou, Florian; Dayot-Gorlero, Jenny; Zimmerman, Perrine; Maudoux, Delphine; Laurent, Bernard; Michael, George A

2018-01-01

Introduction This study investigated interoception in fibromyalgia (FM), a disorder characterized by chronic pain accompanied by mood deregulation. Based on observations on the relationship between somatosensory processing and pain in FM and considering the affective symptoms of this disorder, we tested in FM three dimensions of interoception: interoceptive accuracy (IA), interoceptive awareness (IAW) and interoceptive sensibility (IS). Materials and methods Twenty-one female FM patients (Mage = 50.3) and 21 female matched controls (Mage = 46.3) completed a heartbeat tracking task as an assessment of IA, rated confidence in their responses as a measure of IAW and completed the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness as a measure of IS. Furthermore, they completed self-report scales that, according to a principal component analysis, targeted anxiety, emotional consciousness and pain-related affect and reactions. Results Multiple regression analyses showed that increased pain-related affect and reactions decrease IA in FM. When the results of each group were examined separately, such effect was found only in FM patients. On its turn, IS was predicted by emotional consciousness and pain-related affect and reactions, but these effects did not differ between FM and controls. Finally, none of the variables we used predicted IAW. Discussion Pain-related affect and reactions in FM patients can reduce their interoceptive ability. Our results help to better understand the integration between bodily signals and emotional processing in chronic pain. PMID:29719416

An Anacardiaceae preparation reduces the expression of inflammation-related genes in murine macrophages.

PubMed

Leiro, J; García, D; Arranz, J A; Delgado, R; Sanmartín, M L; Orallo, F

2004-08-01

This study investigated the effects of an aqueous extract of the stem bark of Mangifera indica L. (Anacardiaceae; Vimang), which contains a defined mixture of components including polyphenols (principally mangiferin, MA), triterpenes, phytosteroids, fatty acids and microelements, on expression of inflammation mediators in inflammatory murine macrophages after stimulation in vitro with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). In vitro treatment with Vimang at 4 microg/ml reduced levels of NOS-2 mRNA and NOS-2, while treatment at 40 microg/ml also reduced levels of COX-2 mRNA, COX-2, and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Results suggested that MA is involved in these effects. In vitro treatment with Vimang at 40 microg/ml also inhibited mRNA levels of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), but did not affect mRNA levels of IL-6 or tumor growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). Extracellular release of TNF-alpha by inflammatory macrophages was inhibited by in vitro treatment with Vimang at the same concentrations that showed inhibition of TNF-alpha mRNA levels. The inhibition of TNF-alpha production appears to be at least partially attributable to MA. Vimang at 4 microg/ml decreased mRNA levels of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) but did not affect expression of the NF-kappaB inhibitor (IkappaB). These data indicate that the potent anti-inflammatory effects of Vimang are due to selective modulation of the expression of inflammation-related genes, leading to attenuation of macrophage activation.

Development of a measure for the assessment of peer-related positive emotional memories.

PubMed

Ferreira, Cláudia; Cunha, Marina; Marta-Simões, Joana; Duarte, Cristiana; Matos, Marcela; Pinto-Gouveia, José

2018-03-01

Previous research has demonstrated a link between early experiences of warmth, safeness, and soothing, and positive feelings, health, and well-being outcomes. Although the impact of positive parent-related early relationships and its posterior recall is well documented, research on the recall of warmth and safeness experiences within early peer relationships remains scarce. In fact, it is considered that the protective role of early positive peer relationships deserves intensive research; however, a specific measure that assesses this construct is still to be created. This study describes the development and validation of a new measure designed to assess the recall of early experiences of warmth, safeness, and affection in relation to peers (EMWSS-peers). Distinct samples, comprising individuals of both genders aged between 18 and 68 years old, were used to test the EMWSS-peers factorial structure through principal axis factoring (PAF) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and to examine its psychometric properties. Principal axis factoring's results indicated that the 12-item scale presents a one-factor structure explaining a total of 71.50% of the variance. The CFA confirmed the plausibility of this structure. The EMWSS-peers also presented excellent internal consistency and construct, concurrent, and divergent validities. The EMWSS-peers seems to be a new avenue for the study of memories of early experiences with friends and colleagues and may entail a relevant contribution to clinical and research fields, particularly for upcoming investigations on the relationship of peer-related affiliative memories with well-being and mental health. The EMWSS-peers is a specific measure to assess the recall of warmth and safeness in early peer relationships. The EMWSS-peers is a brief, robust, and reliable self-report instrument. The EMWSS-peers presented excellent internal consistency and construct, concurrent, and divergent validities. The EMWSS-peers may open a new avenue for the study of memories of early peer-related experiences, with potential clinical and research implications. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Examination of the Philadelphia Geriatric Morale Scale as a subjective quality-of-life measure in elderly Hong Kong Chinese.

PubMed

Wong, Eric; Woo, Jean; Hui, Elsie; Ho, Suzanne C

2004-06-01

We examine the psychometric properties of the Philadelphia Geriatric Morale Scale (PGMS) in an elderly Chinese population in Hong Kong. The study consisted of two cohorts: (a) 759 participants aged 70 years and older living in the community who were recruited as part of a territory-wide health survey and interviewed in 1993-1994; and (b) 388 participants living in long-term-care institutions in 1995-1996. Participants who were cognitively impaired (Abbreviated Mental Test score less than 7) or who could not answer questions for other reasons were excluded. The 15-item PGMS was administered. The Rasch dichotomous model was used to assess the validity of the PGMS, and the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, previously validated in Chinese, was also administered to examine the concurrent validity. A confirmatory factor analysis identified three underlying factors similar to findings among Caucasians; however, not all the goodness-of-fit indices were acceptable. An exploratory factor analysis using principal axis factoring and promax rotation revealed two underlying factors that explained 35% of the total variance: reconciled aging and unstrained affect. Some items were redundant when applied to the institutional sample. Concurrent validity was demonstrated by the good correlation between the reconciled aging and unstrained affect domains and the Geriatric Depression Scale (r = -0.72 and r = -0.56 respectively). Female gender, older age, and residence in institutions were associated with lower morale. The PGMS is a valid quality-of-life measure in elderly Hong Kong Chinese persons, but its psychometric properties are slightly different from those for Caucasians. Copyright 2004 The Gerontological Society of America

PubMed Central

1986-01-01

Factors influencing the implementation of a monitoring program This article outlines the principal factors that should be taken into account in a quality assurance program for rodents used in biomedical research. PMID:17422623

An investigation on physicians' acceptance of hospital information systems: a case study.

PubMed

Chen, Rai-Fu; Hsiao, Ju-Ling

2012-12-01

Information technology is used to support a wide range of highly specified healthcare tasks and services. There is, therefore, a need to understand the factors affecting the acceptance of this technology by healthcare professionals. Physicians are key providers of healthcare services and are among the principal users of hospital information systems. Their acceptance of hospital information systems is hence of great significance when evaluating the success of those systems. The survey methodology was employed to targeted physicians in the selected case hospital for investigating factors affecting physicians' acceptance of hospital information systems. A total of 202 questionnaires were sent out, with 124 completed copies returned, indicating a valid response rate of 61.4%. We used structural equation modeling to analyze the data. The results indicated that top management support (γ=0.431, p<0.001) had a significant impact on perceived usefulness. Project team competency (γ=0.381, p<0.001) and system quality (γ=0.369, p<0.001) had a significant impact on physicians' perceived ease of use of hospital information systems. Physicians' perceptions of the usefulness (β=0.132, p<0.05, R(2)=0.296) and ease of use (β=0.952, p<0.001, R(2)=0.784) of hospital information systems had a significant impact on the acceptance of the systems, accounting for 81.4% of total explained variance. Through the understanding of the identified critical factors affecting physicians' HIS acceptance, the planners and managers should ensure that hospital information systems to be introduced into a hospital are useful and ease to use. Effort should be focuses on providing sufficient top management support, selecting qualified project team members, and delivering higher system quality in addressing physicians' clinical needs. Thus, our research results can help planners and managers understand key considerations affecting HIS development and use, and may be used as a reference for system design, development and implementation. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lithium Causes G2 Arrest of Renal Principal Cells

PubMed Central

de Groot, Theun; Alsady, Mohammad; Jaklofsky, Marcel; Otte-Höller, Irene; Baumgarten, Ruben; Giles, Rachel H.

2014-01-01

Vasopressin-regulated expression and insertion of aquaporin-2 channels in the luminal membrane of renal principal cells is essential for urine concentration. Lithium affects urine concentrating ability, and approximately 20% of patients treated with lithium develop nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI), a disorder characterized by polyuria and polydipsia. Lithium-induced NDI is caused by aquaporin-2 downregulation and a reduced ratio of principal/intercalated cells, yet lithium induces principal cell proliferation. Here, we studied how lithium-induced principal cell proliferation can lead to a reduced ratio of principal/intercalated cells using two-dimensional and three-dimensional polarized cultures of mouse renal collecting duct cells and mice treated with clinically relevant lithium concentrations. DNA image cytometry and immunoblotting revealed that lithium initiated proliferation of mouse renal collecting duct cells but also increased the G2/S ratio, indicating G2/M phase arrest. In mice, treatment with lithium for 4, 7, 10, or 13 days led to features of NDI and an increase in the number of principal cells expressing PCNA in the papilla. Remarkably, 30%–40% of the PCNA-positive principal cells also expressed pHistone-H3, a late G2/M phase marker detected in approximately 20% of cells during undisturbed proliferation. Our data reveal that lithium treatment initiates proliferation of renal principal cells but that a significant percentage of these cells are arrested in the late G2 phase, which explains the reduced principal/intercalated cell ratio and may identify the molecular pathway underlying the development of lithium-induced renal fibrosis. PMID:24408872

Correction of Population Stratification in Large Multi-Ethnic Association Studies

PubMed Central

Serre, David; Montpetit, Alexandre; Paré, Guillaume; Engert, James C.; Yusuf, Salim; Keavney, Bernard; Hudson, Thomas J.; Anand, Sonia

2008-01-01

Background The vast majority of genetic risk factors for complex diseases have, taken individually, a small effect on the end phenotype. Population-based association studies therefore need very large sample sizes to detect significant differences between affected and non-affected individuals. Including thousands of affected individuals in a study requires recruitment in numerous centers, possibly from different geographic regions. Unfortunately such a recruitment strategy is likely to complicate the study design and to generate concerns regarding population stratification. Methodology/Principal Findings We analyzed 9,751 individuals representing three main ethnic groups - Europeans, Arabs and South Asians - that had been enrolled from 154 centers involving 52 countries for a global case/control study of acute myocardial infarction. All individuals were genotyped at 103 candidate genes using 1,536 SNPs selected with a tagging strategy that captures most of the genetic diversity in different populations. We show that relying solely on self-reported ethnicity is not sufficient to exclude population stratification and we present additional methods to identify and correct for stratification. Conclusions/Significance Our results highlight the importance of carefully addressing population stratification and of carefully “cleaning” the sample prior to analyses to obtain stronger signals of association and to avoid spurious results. PMID:18196181

Sparse modeling of spatial environmental variables associated with asthma

PubMed Central

Chang, Timothy S.; Gangnon, Ronald E.; Page, C. David; Buckingham, William R.; Tandias, Aman; Cowan, Kelly J.; Tomasallo, Carrie D.; Arndt, Brian G.; Hanrahan, Lawrence P.; Guilbert, Theresa W.

2014-01-01

Geographically distributed environmental factors influence the burden of diseases such as asthma. Our objective was to identify sparse environmental variables associated with asthma diagnosis gathered from a large electronic health record (EHR) dataset while controlling for spatial variation. An EHR dataset from the University of Wisconsin’s Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Departments was obtained for 199,220 patients aged 5–50 years over a three-year period. Each patient’s home address was geocoded to one of 3,456 geographic census block groups. Over one thousand block group variables were obtained from a commercial database. We developed a Sparse Spatial Environmental Analysis (SASEA). Using this method, the environmental variables were first dimensionally reduced with sparse principal component analysis. Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling was then used to identify block group variables associated with asthma from sparse principal components. The addresses of patients from the EHR dataset were distributed throughout the majority of Wisconsin’s geography. Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling captured spatial variation of asthma. Four sparse principal components identified via model selection consisted of food at home, dog ownership, household size, and disposable income variables. In rural areas, dog ownership and renter occupied housing units from significant sparse principal components were associated with asthma. Our main contribution is the incorporation of sparsity in spatial modeling. SASEA sequentially added sparse principal components to Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling. This method allowed association of geographically distributed environmental factors with asthma using EHR and environmental datasets. SASEA can be applied to other diseases with environmental risk factors. PMID:25533437

Sparse modeling of spatial environmental variables associated with asthma.

PubMed

Chang, Timothy S; Gangnon, Ronald E; David Page, C; Buckingham, William R; Tandias, Aman; Cowan, Kelly J; Tomasallo, Carrie D; Arndt, Brian G; Hanrahan, Lawrence P; Guilbert, Theresa W

2015-02-01

Geographically distributed environmental factors influence the burden of diseases such as asthma. Our objective was to identify sparse environmental variables associated with asthma diagnosis gathered from a large electronic health record (EHR) dataset while controlling for spatial variation. An EHR dataset from the University of Wisconsin's Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Departments was obtained for 199,220 patients aged 5-50years over a three-year period. Each patient's home address was geocoded to one of 3456 geographic census block groups. Over one thousand block group variables were obtained from a commercial database. We developed a Sparse Spatial Environmental Analysis (SASEA). Using this method, the environmental variables were first dimensionally reduced with sparse principal component analysis. Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling was then used to identify block group variables associated with asthma from sparse principal components. The addresses of patients from the EHR dataset were distributed throughout the majority of Wisconsin's geography. Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling captured spatial variation of asthma. Four sparse principal components identified via model selection consisted of food at home, dog ownership, household size, and disposable income variables. In rural areas, dog ownership and renter occupied housing units from significant sparse principal components were associated with asthma. Our main contribution is the incorporation of sparsity in spatial modeling. SASEA sequentially added sparse principal components to Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling. This method allowed association of geographically distributed environmental factors with asthma using EHR and environmental datasets. SASEA can be applied to other diseases with environmental risk factors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Negative Affect Mediates Effects of Psychological Stress on Disordered Eating in Young Chinese Women

PubMed Central

Chen, Jue; Wang, Zhen; Guo, Boliang; Arcelus, Jon; Zhang, Haiyin; Jia, Xiuzhen; Xu, Yong; Qiu, Jianyin; Xiao, Zeping; Yang, Min

2012-01-01

Background The bi-relationships between psychological stress, negative affect and disordered eating has been well studied in western culture, while tri-relationship among them, i.e. how some of those factors influence these bi-relationships, has rarely been studied. However, there has been little related study in the different Chinese culture. This study was conducted to investigate the bi-relationships and tri-relationship between psychological stress, negative affect, and disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in young Chinese women. Methodology A total of 245 young Chinese policewomen employed to carry out health and safety checks at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo were recruited in this study. The Chinese version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Beck Depression Inventory Revised (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26) were administered to all participants. Principal Findings The total scores of PSS-10, BDI-II and BAI were all highly correlated with that of EAT-26. The PSS-10 score significantly correlated with both BDI-II and BAI scores. There was no statistically significant direct effect from perceived stress to disordered eating (–0.012, 95%CI: –.038∼0.006, p = 0.357), however, the indirect effects from PSS-10 via affect factors were statistically significant, e.g. the estimated mediation effects from PSS to EAT-26 via depression and anxiety were 0.036 (95%CI: 0.022∼0.044, p<0.001) and 0.015 (95%CI: 0.005∼0.023, p<0.01), respectively. Conclusions Perceived stress and negative affects of depression and anxiety were demonstrated to be strongly associated with disordered eating. Negative affect mediated the relationship between perceived stress and disordered eating. The findings suggest that effective interventions and preventative programmes for disordered eating should pay more attention to depression and anxiety among the young Chinese female population. PMID:23071655

Social and Cultural Factors Affecting Uptake of Interventions for Malaria in Pregnancy in Africa: A Systematic Review of the Qualitative Research

PubMed Central

Pell, Christopher; Straus, Lianne; Andrew, Erin V. W.; Meñaca, Arantza; Pool, Robert

2011-01-01

Background Malaria during pregnancy (MiP) results in adverse birth outcomes and poor maternal health. MiP-related morbidity and mortality is most pronounced in sub-Saharan Africa, where recommended MiP interventions include intermittent preventive treatment, insecticide-treated bednets and appropriate case management. Besides their clinical efficacy, the effectiveness of these interventions depends on the attitudes and behaviours of pregnant women and the wider community, which are shaped by social and cultural factors. Although these factors have been studied largely using quantitative methods, qualitative research also offers important insights. This article provides a comprehensive overview of qualitative research on social and cultural factors relevant to uptake of MiP interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods and Findings A systematic search strategy was employed: literature searches were undertaken in several databases (OVID SP, IS Web of Knowledge, MiP Consortium library). MiP-related original research, on social/cultural factors relevant to MiP interventions, in Africa, with findings derived from qualitative methods was included. Non-English language articles were excluded. A meta-ethnographic approach was taken to analysing and synthesizing findings. Thirty-seven studies were identified. Fourteen concentrated on MiP. Others focused on malaria treatment and prevention, antenatal care (ANC), anaemia during pregnancy or reproductive loss. Themes identified included concepts of malaria and risk in pregnancy, attitudes towards interventions, structural factors affecting delivery and uptake, and perceptions of ANC. Conclusions Although malaria risk is associated with pregnancy, women's vulnerability is often considered less disease-specific and MiP interpreted in locally defined categories. Furthermore, local discourses and health workers' ideas and comments influence concerns about MiP interventions. Understandings of ANC, health worker-client interactions, household decision-making, gender relations, cost and distance to health facilities affect pregnant women's access to MiP interventions and lack of healthcare infrastructure limits provision of interventions. Further qualitative research is however required: many studies were principally descriptive and an in-depth comparative approach is recommended. PMID:21799859

After "Hazelwood": The Role of School Officials in Conflicts over the Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitson, James Anthony

1993-01-01

Analyzes in some detail a number of censorship cases affected by the 1988 United States Supreme Court case, Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier. Considers how principals have been affected by the ruling in their relation to the issue of censorship. Presents ideas about how administrators should deal with the issue. (HB)

Sperm Flagellum Volume Determines Freezability in Red Deer Spermatozoa

PubMed Central

Ros-Santaella, José Luis; Domínguez-Rebolledo, Álvaro Efrén; Garde, José Julián

2014-01-01

The factors affecting the inter-individual differences in sperm freezability is a major line of research in spermatology. Poor sperm freezability is mainly characterised by a low sperm velocity, which in turn is associated with low fertility rates in most animal species. Studies concerning the implications of sperm morphometry on freezability are quite limited, and most of them are based on sperm head size regardless of the structural parts of the flagellum, which provides sperm motility. Here, for the first time, we determined the volumes of the flagellum structures in fresh epididymal red deer spermatozoa using a stereological method under phase contrast microscopy. Sperm samples from thirty-three stags were frozen and classified as good freezers (GF) or bad freezers (BF) at two hours post-thawing using three sperm kinetic parameters which are strongly correlated with fertility in this species. Fourteen stags were clearly identified as GF, whereas nineteen were BF. No significant difference in sperm head size between the two groups was found. On the contrary, the GF exhibited a lower principal piece volume than the BF (6.13 µm3 vs 6.61 µm3, respectively, p = 0.006). The volume of the flagellum structures showed a strong negative relationship with post-thawing sperm velocity. For instance, the volume of the sperm principal piece was negatively correlated with sperm velocity at two hours post-thawing (r = −0.60; p<0.001). Our results clearly show that a higher volume of the sperm principal piece results in poor freezability, and highlights the key role of flagellum size in sperm cryopreservation success. PMID:25380133

Understanding performance management in primary care.

PubMed

Rogan, Lisa; Boaden, Ruth

2017-02-13

Purpose Principal-agent theory (PAT) has been used to understand relationships among different professional groups and explain performance management between organisations, but is rarely used for research within primary care. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether PAT can be used to attain a better understanding of performance management in primary care. Design/methodology/approach Purposive sampling was used to identify a range of general practices in the North-west of England. Interviews were carried out with directors, managers and clinicians in commissioning and regional performance management organisations and within general practices, and the data analysed using matrix analysis techniques to produce a case study of performance management. Findings There are various elements of the principal-agent framework that can be applied in primary care. Goal alignment is relevant, but can only be achieved through clear, strategic direction and consistent interpretation of objectives at all levels. There is confusion between performance measurement and performance management and a tendency to focus on things that are easy to measure whilst omitting aspects of care that are more difficult to capture. Appropriate use of incentives, good communication, clinical engagement, ownership and trust affect the degree to which information asymmetry is overcome and goal alignment achieved. Achieving the right balance between accountability and clinical autonomy is important to ensure governance and financial balance without stifling innovation. Originality/value The principal-agent theoretical framework can be used to attain a better understanding of performance management in primary care; although it is likely that only partial goal alignment will be achieved, dependent on the extent and level of alignment of a range of factors.

Controlling You Watching Me: Measuring Perception Control on Social Media.

PubMed

Keep, Melanie; Attrill-Smith, Alison

2017-09-01

Online self-presentation assumes that individuals intentionally control how others perceive them based on their online behaviors. Existing tools are limited in their ability to measure this notion of perception control and there is little understanding around factors which may affect the desire for perception control. This article reports on the development of a perception control scale and comparisons of perception control across age and between genders. A total of 222 participants completed an online survey with items measuring perception control and participant demographics. A principal component analysis revealed a one-factor, 12-item scale explaining 41.14% of the variance. Perception control was found to increase with age and did not differ between genders. Results are consistent with existing impression management research suggesting that while participants of both genders desire to control how others perceive them, as a person's sense of self stabilizes over time, they are less motivated to change their behaviors to control others' impressions of them.

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Eye Disease

PubMed Central

Penn, J.S.; Madan, A.; Caldwell, R.B.; Bartoli, M.; Caldwell, R.W.; Hartnett, M.E.

2012-01-01

Collectively, angiogenic ocular conditions represent the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in developed countries. In the U.S., for example, retinopathy of prematurity, diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration are the principal causes of blindness in the infant, working age and elderly populations, respectively. Evidence suggests that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a 40 kDa dimeric glycoprotein, promotes angiogenesis in each of these conditions, making it a highly significant therapeutic target. However, VEGF is pleiotropic, affecting a broad spectrum of endothelial, neuronal and glial behaviors, and confounding the validity of anti-VEGF strategies, particularly under chronic disease conditions. In fact, among other functions VEGF can influence cell proliferation, cell migration, proteolysis, cell survival and vessel permeability in a wide variety of biological contexts. This article will describe the roles played by VEGF in the pathogenesis of retinopathy of prematurity, diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. The potential disadvantages of inhibiting VEGF will be discussed, as will the rationales for targeting other VEGF-related modulators of angiogenesis. PMID:18653375

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Female Sexual Orientation, Childhood Gender Typicality and Adult Gender Identity

PubMed Central

Burri, Andrea; Cherkas, Lynn; Spector, Timothy; Rahman, Qazi

2011-01-01

Background Human sexual orientation is influenced by genetic and non-shared environmental factors as are two important psychological correlates – childhood gender typicality (CGT) and adult gender identity (AGI). However, researchers have been unable to resolve the genetic and non-genetic components that contribute to the covariation between these traits, particularly in women. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we performed a multivariate genetic analysis in a large sample of British female twins (N = 4,426) who completed a questionnaire assessing sexual attraction, CGT and AGI. Univariate genetic models indicated modest genetic influences on sexual attraction (25%), AGI (11%) and CGT (31%). For the multivariate analyses, a common pathway model best fitted the data. Conclusions/Significance This indicated that a single latent variable influenced by a genetic component and common non-shared environmental component explained the association between the three traits but there was substantial measurement error. These findings highlight common developmental factors affecting differences in sexual orientation. PMID:21760939

Distributions and contamination assessment of heavy metals in the surface sediments of western Laizhou Bay: Implications for the sources and influencing factors.

PubMed

Zhang, Pan; Hu, Rijun; Zhu, Longhai; Wang, Peng; Yin, Dongxiao; Zhang, Lianjie

2017-06-15

Heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Cr, Cd and As) contents in surface sediments from western Laizhou Bay were analysed to evaluate the spatial distribution pattern and their contamination level. As was mainly concentrated in the coastal area near the estuaries and the other metals were mainly concentrated in the central part of the study area. The heavy metals were present at unpolluted levels overall evaluated by the sediment quality guidelines and geoaccumulation index. Principal component analysis suggest that Cu, Pb and Cd were mainly sourced from natural processes and As was mainly derived from anthropogenic inputs. Meanwhile, Cr originated from both natural processes and anthropogenic contributions. Tidal currents, sediments and human activities were important factors affecting the distribution of heavy metals. The heavy metal environment was divided into four subareas to provide a reference for understanding the distribution and pollution of heavy metals in the estuary-bay system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phage-host interactions analysis of newly characterized Oenococcus oeni bacteriophages: Implications for malolactic fermentation in wine.

PubMed

Costantini, Antonella; Doria, Francesca; Saiz, Juan-Carlos; Garcia-Moruno, Emilia

2017-04-04

Nowadays, only few phages infecting Oenococcus oeni, the principal lactic acid bacteria (LAB) species responsible for malolactic fermentation (MLF) in wine, have been characterized. In the present study, to better understanding the factors affecting the lytic activity of Oenococcus phages, fifteen O. oeni bacteriophages have been studied in detail, both with molecular and microbiological methods. No correlations were found between genome sizes, type of integrase genes, or morphology and the lytic activity of the 15 tested phages. Interestingly, though phage attack in a wine at the end of alcoholic fermentation seems not to be a problem, it can indeed represent a risk factor for MLF when the alcohol content is low, feature that may be a key point for choosing the appropriate time for malolactic starter inoculation. Additionally, it was observed that some phages genomes bear 2 or 3 types of integrase genes, which point to horizontal gene transfer between O. oeni bacteriophages. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The impacts of temperature, alcoholic degree and amino acids content on biogenic amines and their precursor amino acids content in red wine.

PubMed

Lorenzo, C; Bordiga, M; Pérez-Álvarez, E P; Travaglia, F; Arlorio, M; Salinas, M R; Coïsson, J D; Garde-Cerdán, T

2017-09-01

The aim was to study how factors such as temperature, alcoholic degree, and amino acids supplementation are able to influence the content of tyramine, histamine, 2-phenylethylamine, tryptamine and their precursor amino acids in winemaking process. Biogenic amines and amino acids were quantified at the beginning, middle and end of alcoholic fermentation, and at the end of malolactic fermentation. In general, samples produced with amino acid supplementation did not show the highest concentrations of biogenic amines, except for histamine, which content increased with the addition of the four amino acids. The synthesis of tyramine was mainly affected by the temperature and alcoholic degree, the formation of phenylethylamine was largely influenced by alcoholic degree, and tryptamine synthesis principally depended on temperature. Interestingly, there was interaction between these three factors for the biogenic amines studied. In conclusion, winemaking conditions should be established depending on the biogenic amine which synthesis is required to be controlled. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Body Appreciation Scale-2.

PubMed

Razmus, Magdalena; Razmus, Wiktor

2017-12-01

This study aimed to investigate the factor structure and psychometric properties of a Polish version of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2; Tylka & Wood-Barcalow, 2015). Data were collected from 721 individuals residing in various regions of Poland. There were two subsamples (n=336, age M=34.95, SD=10.83; and n=385, age M=35.38, SD=10.83). Both principal-axis and confirmatory factor analyses supported the one-dimensional structure of BAS-2 scores. Moreover, full scalar invariance of the BAS-2 in Poland across sex was demonstrated. Scores on the Polish BAS-2 had adequate internal consistency. Convergent validity was demonstrated through significant correlations between BAS-2 scores and variables related to body image (body and appearance self-conscious emotions), well-being (self-esteem, positive affect, and positive orientation), and body mass index. These results indicate that the Polish BAS-2 is an appropriate and psychometrically-sound measure of body appreciation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development and Testing of the Nurse Manager EBP Competency Scale.

PubMed

Shuman, Clayton J; Ploutz-Snyder, Robert J; Titler, Marita G

2018-02-01

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the validity and reliability of an instrument to measure nurse manager competencies regarding evidence-based practice (EBP). The Nurse Manager EBP Competency Scale consists of 16 items for respondents to indicate their perceived level of competency on a 0 to 3 Likert-type scale. Content validity was demonstrated through expert panel review and pilot testing. Principal axis factoring and Cronbach's alpha evaluated construct validity and internal consistency reliability, respectively. Eighty-three nurse managers completed the scale. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a 16-item scale with two subscales, EBP Knowledge ( n = 6 items, α = .90) and EBP Activity ( n = 10 items, α = .94). Cronbach's alpha for the entire scale was .95. The Nurse Manager EBP Competency Scale is a brief measure of nurse manager EBP competency with evidence of validity and reliability. The scale can enhance our understanding in future studies regarding how nurse manager EBP competency affects implementation.

Healthy casetas: A potential strategy to improve the food environment in low-income schools to reduce obesity in children in Guatemala City.

PubMed

Pehlke, Elisa L; Letona, Paola; Ramirez-Zea, Manuel; Gittelsohn, Joel

2016-01-01

Developing countries have undergone transitions driven by globalization and development, accelerating increases in prevalence of overweight and obesity among children. Schools have been identified as effective settings for interventions that target children's dietary behaviors. In Guatemala, public schools commonly have food kiosks (Casetas) that sell products to children. From July through October 2013, observations during recess, in-depth interviews with school principals (n = 4) and caseta vendors (n = 4), and focus groups with children (n = 48) were conducted. This article explores products available to children at casetas. Factors that affect what casetas offer include regulations and enforcement, vendor investment and earnings, vendor resources, product demand, pricing, and children's preferences. These factors influence the products that are available and children's tendency to purchase them. Potential strategies for improvement include healthy food preparation, price manipulation and promotions, raffles and games to encourage healthier choices, and policy to push toward development of healthier products.

Role of algal biofilm in improving the performance of free surface, up-flow constructed wetland.

PubMed

Badhe, Neha; Saha, Shaswati; Biswas, Rima; Nandy, Tapas

2014-10-01

The role of algal biofilm in a pilot-scale, free-surface, up-flow constructed wetland (CW), was studied for its effect on chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia and phosphate removal during three seasons-autumn, winter and early spring. Effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) was also investigated in presence and absence of algal biofilm. Principal Component Analysis was used to identify the independent factors governing the performance of CW. The study showed algal biofilm significantly improved nutrient removal, especially phosphate. Ammonia removal varied with HRT, biofilm and ambient temperature. Increase in biofilm thickness affected ammonia removal efficiency adversely. Algal biofilm-assisted COD removal compensated for reduced macrophyte density during winter. Two-way ANOVA test and the coefficients of dependent factors derived through multiple linear regression model confirmed role of algal biofilm in improving nutrient removal in CW. The study suggests that algal biofilm can be a green solution for bio-augmenting COD and nutrient removal in CW. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Default, Cognitive, and Affective Brain Networks in Human Tinnitus

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-01

AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-13-1-0491 TITLE: Default, Cognitive, and Affective Brain Networks in Human Tinnitus PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Jennifer R...SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Default, Cognitive and Affective Brain Networks in Human Tinnitus 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6...Release; Distribution Unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT Tinnitus is a major health problem among those currently and formerly in military

Brain Mechanisms of Affective Language Comprehension in Autism Spectrum Disorders

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-10-01

AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-14-1-0457 TITLE: Brain Mechanisms of Affective Language Comprehension in Autism Spectrum Disorders PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR...TITLE AND SUBTITLE Brain Mechanisms of Affective Language Comprehension in Autism Spectrum Disorders 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER W81XWH-14...Unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT Profound deficits in the domain of social communication are a hallmark of autism spectrum disorders (ASD

Primary Vaginal Melanoma, A Rare and Aggressive Entity. A Case Report and Review of the Literature

PubMed Central

KALAMPOKAS, EMMANOUIL; KALAMPOKAS, THEODOROS; DAMASKOS, CHRISTOS

2017-01-01

Malignant melanoma of the vagina is a rare, aggressive malignancy of poor prognosis. It principally affects post-menopausal women, with a mean age of 57 years, and the factors that contribute to its appearance are not well known. The first case of primary malignant vaginal melanoma was reported in 1887 and modern literature has noted about 500 cases, globally. Vaginal melanomas constitute 0.3% of all malignant melanomas and fewer than 3% of all vaginal carcinomas. To date there is no clear consensus regarding treatment. An early, accurate diagnosis and prompt investigation is essential in reaching appropriate treatment decisions. We present a clinical case of primary vaginal melanoma and review the literature briefly, presenting the current treatment plans and updates of this rare gynecological malignancy. Considerations, epidemiology, associated risk factors, response to therapy and expected outcome are also discussed. Conclusion: Primary malignant vaginal melanoma is a rare but aggressive melanoma that affects women in their 6th and 7th decade of life. The tumor appears as a dark node or spindle but can also be amelanotic. The size of the tumor is indicative of the prognostic factors. Surgery seems to be the only efficient treatment. Postoperative adjuvant therapy might help in preventing recurrence of the tumor. The survival rate is largely dependent on nodal and distant metastasis of the disease after initial tumor resection. There is a dire need to form a proper therapeutic regime to control this disease. PMID:28064232

The roles of Medicaid and economic factors in the demand for nursing home care.

PubMed Central

Reschovsky, J D

1998-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To examine nursing home demand, focusing on how Medicaid affects demand, the role of economic variables, and on important interactions between explanatory factors. DATA SOURCES: From the 1989 National Long Term Care Survey, a nationally representative sample of community-based and institutionalized elderly persons with disabilities (N = 3,837). Survey data are merged with state- and county-level data on Medicaid policy and local market conditions. STUDY DESIGN: Sample members are classified as Medicaid-eligible or private pay, were they to enter a nursing home. The probability of being in a nursing home is estimated separately on these two groups using probit. To explore interactions, these subsamples are further divided between married and unmarried persons and between persons with high and low levels of disability. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Demand for nursing home care systematically differs, depending on eligibility for Medicaid. This is attributed in part to the structure of Medicaid benefits. Although economic factors do not appear important to demand decisions in the aggregate, they play a larger role among married persons relative to unmarried persons, and among less disabled persons relative to highly disabled persons. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the nature of nursing home demand requires careful consideration of the different consumption choices people face by virtue of their eligibility for public benefits. Because behavioral responses to changes in policy are found to differ among various groups of disabled persons, policymakers should be sensitive to how these differences affect the efficiency and distributional effects of specific policy changes. PMID:9776937

Validation and diagnostic utility of the dementia rating scale in a mixed dementia population.

PubMed

McCulloch, Katie; Collins, Robert L; Maestas, Kacey L; LeMaire, Ashley W; Pacheco, Vitor

2014-01-01

The Dementia Severity Rating Scale (DSRS), a previously validated caregiver-based measure assessing dementia severity, was recently revised to improve clarity. Our study aims included: (1) identifying the DSRS factor structure, (2) examining the relation between neuropsychological measures, the Mini-Mental State Examination, and clinical diagnoses with the DSRS, and (3) determining the clinical utility of the DSRS in a mixed clinical sample. A total of 270 veterans were referred to a cognitive disorders clinic at a VA medical center and completed neuropsychological, affective, and cognitive screening measures. Caregivers completed the DSRS. Principal components analysis identified a 2-factor solution. After controlling for age and education, memory and language were related to the Cognitive factor, whereas attention, processing speed, visuospatial processing, and executive functioning were related to both Cognitive and Self-Care factors. Neither factors correlated with depression. The total DSRS score was able to differentiate patients by the Mini-Mental State Examination scores and diagnoses of mild cognitive impairment and dementia (mixed vascular Alzheimer, vascular dementia, and Alzheimer disease). A cut-score >15 was optimal for detecting dementia in a mixed clinical sample (sensitivity=0.41, specificity=0.79), with a posttest probability of 74%. This study suggests that the DSRS improves detection of dementia and requires minimal effort to implement.

[Priorization of facilitators for the implementation of medication review with follow-up service in Spanish community pharmacies through exploratory factor analysis].

PubMed

Gil, Modesta Inmaculada; Benrimoj, Shalom Isaac; Martínez-Martínez, Fernando; Cardero, Manuel; Gastelurrutia, Miguel Ángel

2013-01-01

to prioritize previously identified in Spain facilitators for the implementation of new Pharmaceutical Services that allow designing strategies for the implementation of Medication Review with follow-up (MRFup) service. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA). A draft of a questionnaire was performed based on a previous literature review and following the RAND/UCLA methodology. An expert panel worked with it and generated a definitive questionnaire which, after piloting, was used with a representative sample of pharmacists, owners or staff members, who were working in community pharmacy, using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) methodology. To understand underlying constructs in the questionnaire an EFA was performed. Different approaches were tested such as principal components factor analysis and principal axis factoring method. The best interpretability was achieved using the Factorization of Principal axis method with Direct Oblimin rotation, which explained the 40.0% of total variance. This produced four factors defined as: «Incentives», «External campaigns», «Expert in MRFup» and «Professionalism of the pharmacist». It can be stated that for implementation and sustainability of MRFup Service it is necessary being paid; also it must be explained to health professional and society in general. Practice of MRFup service demands pharmacists receiving a more clinical education and assuming more responsibilities as health professionals. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Rural livestock asset portfolio in northern Ethiopia: a microeconomic analysis of choice and accumulation.

PubMed

Tegebu, Fredu Nega; Mathijs, Erik; Deckers, Jozef; Haile, Mitiku; Nyssen, Jan; Tollens, Eric

2012-01-01

Livestock fulfill different functions. Depending on their livelihood strategies, households differ in their choice of what type of animal to keep and on accumulation of the chosen animal overtime. Using a panel data of 385 rural households in a mixed farming system in northern Ethiopia, this paper investigates the dynamic behavior of rural households' livestock holding to identify determinants of choice and accumulation of livestock overtime. Choice is analyzed for a principal animal, the animal that constituted the largest value of livestock assets a household possessed, using a multinomial logit model. Results indicate that rural households differ in their choice of what type of animal to keep. Agro-climatic conditions, sex and age of household head, presence of an adult male member in a household, and liquidity are the major factors that influence the type of principal animal households keep. Conditional on the principal animal selected, we analyzed the factors that determine the accumulation of the chosen animals by correcting for selection bias. Area of land cultivated is the most significant factor that explains the number of animals households keep. Other factors include sex of household head, diversification into nonfarm self-employment, and shocks.

A Review of Factors That Influence Individual Compliance with Mass Drug Administration for Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis

PubMed Central

Krentel, Alison; Fischer, Peter U.; Weil, Gary J.

2013-01-01

Background The success of programs to eliminate lymphatic filariasis (LF) depends in large part on their ability to achieve and sustain high levels of compliance with mass drug administration (MDA). This paper reports results from a comprehensive review of factors that affect compliance with MDA. Methodology/Principal Findings Papers published between 2000 and 2012 were considered, and 79 publications were included in the final dataset for analysis after two rounds of selection. While results varied in different settings, some common features were associated with successful programs and with compliance by individuals. Training and motivation of drug distributors is critically important, because these people directly interact with target populations, and their actions can affect MDA compliance decisions by families and individuals. Other important programmatic issues include thorough preparation of personnel, supplies, and logistics for implementation and preparation of the population for MDA. Demographic factors (age, sex, income level, and area of residence) are often associated with compliance by individuals, but compliance decisions are also affected by perceptions of the potential benefits of participation versus the risk of adverse events. Trust and information can sometimes offset fear of the unknown. While no single formula can ensure success MDA in all settings, five key ingredients were identified: engender trust, tailor programs to local conditions, take actions to minimize the impact of adverse events, promote the broader benefits of the MDA program, and directly address the issue of systematic non-compliance, which harms communities by prolonging their exposure to LF. Conclusions/Significance This review has identified factors that promote coverage and compliance with MDA for LF elimination across countries. This information may be helpful for explaining results that do not meet expectations and for developing remedies for ailing MDA programs. Our review has also identified gaps in understanding and suggested priority areas for further research. PMID:24278486

Investigating Teachers' Organizational Socialization Levels and Perceptions about Leadership Styles of Their Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kadi, Aysegül

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers' organizational socialization levels and perceptions about leadership styles of their principals. Research was conducted with 361 teachers. Research design is determined as survey and correlational. Multi-Factor Leadership Scale originally was developed by Bass (1999) and adapted to Turkish…

Principal Leadership Style and Teacher Feelings and Behavior: Arab Schools in Israel.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shechtman, Zipora; And Others

1994-01-01

Summarizes a study testing relationship patterns among principal, teacher, and student variables. Participants were randomly selected Arab students (n=800) and teachers (n=160) from 20 schools in northern Israel. Democratic leadership appears to be a central factor of positive school climate in Arab schools in Israel. The social and professional…

An Assessment of Well-Being of Principals in Flemish Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devos, G.; Bouckenooghe, D.; Engels, N.; Hotton, G.; Aelterman, A.

2007-01-01

Purpose: The goal of this inquiry is to indicate which individual, organisational and external environment factors contribute to a better understanding of the well-being of Flemish primary school principals. Design/methodology/approach: Data from a representative sample of primary schools in Flanders (n = 46) were gathered through questionnaires…

Transformational Leadership Related to School Climate: A Multi-Level Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarley, Troy A.; Peters, Michelle L.; Decman, John M.

2016-01-01

Across the nation, quality leadership and positive school climate are critical to the success of every principal, student, and school. As a result, this study examined the relationship between teacher perceptions of the degree to which a principal displays the factors of transformational leadership and the perceived school climate. A purposeful…

Determining Effective Teaching Behaviors through the Hiring Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schumacher, Gary; Grigsby, Bettye; Vesey, Winona

2015-01-01

Purpose: One bad hiring decision can lead to low student achievement. Research supports that teachers are the most influential factor in student success. As a result, principals' current practice of hiring teachers based on intuition and likeability must change. Given the current high stakes era, principals need reassurance that the teachers they…

Factors Associated with the Involuntary Reassignment of Three Women Principals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohn, Kathleen C.

Careers of women in educational administration differ from those of their male counterparts. Women encounter career barriers in educational organizations. This paper presents case studies of three female principals, two from California and one from Pennsylvania. The first case describes a woman whose tenure was ended with a negotiated reassignment…

The Relationship of High School Teachers' Job Satisfaction to Principal Support

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bressler, Kathleen M.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between high school teacher job satisfaction, using an instrument that measures Herzberg's Two Factor Theory and principal support, using an adapted instrument from House's theory of administrative support. Data were collected by a team of researchers from 34 self-selected public Virginia…

The Impact of Coaching on New African-American Female Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Chanel

2012-01-01

This is cross-case analysis of four new African American female principals who reported that coaching was critical to their success. They described the challenges inherent to all newcomers with particular attention to how their professional socialization was further confounded by factors of race and gender. The conceptual framework used for this…

The Influence of Principal Leadership on Classroom Instruction and Student Learning: A Study of Mediated Pathways to Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sebastian, James; Allensworth, Elaine

2012-01-01

Purpose: This study examines the influence of principal leadership in high schools on classroom instruction and student achievement through key organizational factors, including professional capacity, parent-community ties, and the school's learning climate. It identifies paths through which leadership explains differences in achievement and…

An Exploration of Two Female Principals' Leadership in Mainland China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhong, Wanjuan; Ehrich, Lisa Catherine

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore two dimensions of leadership practices (i.e. teaching and learning and sources of power) used by two exemplary principals in mainland China against a background of education reform and to identify how broader contextual factors have shaped these two dimensions of their leadership.…

Steps to Promote Open and Authentic Dialogue between Teachers and School Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Joseph

2017-01-01

Purpose: School principals must determine educational policies and make information-based decisions. Teachers have authentic information that they do not transmit in full to the principals. A theoretical model was tested that explains the factors behind this disconnection in communication. Design: Four hundred and forty-five teachers completed…

Principals' Sensemaking of Coaching for Ambitious Reading Instruction in a High-Stakes Accountability Policy Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matsummura, Lindsay Clare; Wang, Elaine

2014-01-01

In the present exploratory qualitative study we examine the contextual factors that influenced the implementation of a multi-year comprehensive literacy-coaching program (Content-Focused Coaching, CFC). We argue that principals' sensemaking of the dialogic instructional strategies promoted by the program in light of high-stakes accountability…

Career Path Processes as Perceived by African American Female School Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leathers, Sonja

2011-01-01

This study sought to improve our understanding of factors that influence the career paths of African American female school principals in North Carolina. Three pertinent research questions were addressed in this study: (1) What formative experiences influence the career path decisions of African American females who want to become school…

Why Some Teachers Resist Change and What Principals Can Do about It

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zimmerman, Judith

2006-01-01

Schools across the country are pressured to reform by federal and state mandates. Because resistance is a major factor in reform failure, it is crucial for principals to discover why teachers resist change. This article explores the leadership and organizational change literature regarding some common barriers to change. Research-based strategies…

Communication Factors as Predictors of Relationship Quality: A National Study of Principals and School Counselors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duslak, Mark; Geier, Brett

2017-01-01

This study examined the effects of meeting frequency, structured meeting times, annual agreements, and demographic variables on school counselor perceptions of their relationship with their building principal. Results of a regression analysis indicated that meeting frequency accounted for 26.7% of the variance in school counselor-reported…

The Role of School Principals in Shaping Children's Values.

PubMed

Berson, Yair; Oreg, Shaul

2016-12-01

Instilling values in children is among the cornerstones of every society. There is wide agreement that beyond academic teaching, schools play an important role in shaping schoolchildren's character, imparting in them values such as curiosity, achievement, benevolence, and citizenship. Despite the importance of this topic, we know very little about whether and how schools affect children's values. In this large-scale longitudinal study, we examined school principals' roles in the development of children's values. We hypothesized that relationships exist between principals' values and changes in children's values through the mediating effect of the school climate. To test our predictions, we collected data from 252 school principals, 3,658 teachers, and 49,401 schoolchildren. A multilevel structural-equation-modeling analysis yielded overall support for our hypotheses. These findings contribute to understanding the development of children's values and the far-reaching impact of leaders' values. They also demonstrate effects of schools on children beyond those on academic achievement.

The Role of Interdisciplinary Earth Science in the Assessment of Regional Land Subsidence Hazards: Toward Sustainable Management of Global Land and Subsurface-Fluid Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galloway, D. L.

2012-12-01

Land-level lowering or land subsidence is a consequence of many local- and regional-scale physical, chemical or biologic processes affecting soils and geologic materials. The principal processes can be natural or anthropogenic, and include consolidation or compaction, karst or pseudokarst, hydrocompaction of collapsible soils, mining, oxidation of organic soils, erosive piping, tectonism, and volcanism. In terms of affected area, there are two principal regional-scale anthropogenic processes—compaction of compressible subsurface materials owing to the extraction of subsurface fluids (principally groundwater, oil and gas) and oxidation and compaction accompanying drainage of organic soils—which cause significant hazards related to flooding and infrastructure damage that are amenable to resource management measures. The importance of even small magnitude (< 10 mm/yr) subsidence rates in coastal areas is amplified by its contribution to relative sea-level rise compared to estimated rates of rising eustatic sea levels (2-3 mm/yr) attributed to global climate change. Multi- or interdisciplinary [scientific] studies, including those focused on geodetic, geologic, geophysical, hydrologic, hydrogeologic, geomechanical, geochemical, and biologic factors, improve understanding of these subsidence processes. Examples include geodetic measurement and analysis techniques, such as Global Positioning System (GPS), Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), which have advanced our capabilities to detect, measure and monitor land-surface motion at multiple scales. Improved means for simulating aquifer-system and hydrocarbon-reservoir deformation, and the oxidation and compaction of organic soils are leading to refined predictive capabilities. The role of interdisciplinary earth science in improving the characterization of land subsidence attributed to subsurface fluid withdrawals and the oxidation and compaction of organic soils is examined. How these improved capabilities are translating into improved sustainable management of regional land and water resources in a few select areas worldwide are presented. The importance of incorporating these improved capabilities in coherent resource management strategies to control the depletion of resources and attendant hazards also are discussed.

A PCA-Based method for determining craniofacial relationship and sexual dimorphism of facial shapes.

PubMed

Shui, Wuyang; Zhou, Mingquan; Maddock, Steve; He, Taiping; Wang, Xingce; Deng, Qingqiong

2017-11-01

Previous studies have used principal component analysis (PCA) to investigate the craniofacial relationship, as well as sex determination using facial factors. However, few studies have investigated the extent to which the choice of principal components (PCs) affects the analysis of craniofacial relationship and sexual dimorphism. In this paper, we propose a PCA-based method for visual and quantitative analysis, using 140 samples of 3D heads (70 male and 70 female), produced from computed tomography (CT) images. There are two parts to the method. First, skull and facial landmarks are manually marked to guide the model's registration so that dense corresponding vertices occupy the same relative position in every sample. Statistical shape spaces of the skull and face in dense corresponding vertices are constructed using PCA. Variations in these vertices, captured in every principal component (PC), are visualized to observe shape variability. The correlations of skull- and face-based PC scores are analysed, and linear regression is used to fit the craniofacial relationship. We compute the PC coefficients of a face based on this craniofacial relationship and the PC scores of a skull, and apply the coefficients to estimate a 3D face for the skull. To evaluate the accuracy of the computed craniofacial relationship, the mean and standard deviation of every vertex between the two models are computed, where these models are reconstructed using real PC scores and coefficients. Second, each PC in facial space is analysed for sex determination, for which support vector machines (SVMs) are used. We examined the correlation between PCs and sex, and explored the extent to which the choice of PCs affects the expression of sexual dimorphism. Our results suggest that skull- and face-based PCs can be used to describe the craniofacial relationship and that the accuracy of the method can be improved by using an increased number of face-based PCs. The results show that the accuracy of the sex classification is related to the choice of PCs. The highest sex classification rate is 91.43% using our method. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Processing of central and reflex vagal drives by rat cardiac ganglion neurones: an intracellular analysis

PubMed Central

McAllen, Robin M; Salo, Lauren M; Paton, Julian F R; Pickering, Anthony E

2011-01-01

Abstract Cardiac vagal tone is an important indicator of cardiovascular health, and its loss is an independent risk factor for arrhythmias and mortality. Several studies suggest that this loss of vagal tone can occur at the cardiac ganglion but the factors affecting ganglionic transmissionin vivoare poorly understood. We have employed a novel approach allowing intracellular recordings from functionally connected cardiac vagal ganglion cells in the working heart–brainstem preparation. The atria were stabilisedin situpreserving their central neural connections, and ganglion cells (n = 32) were impaled with sharp microelectrodes. Cardiac ganglion cells with vagal synaptic inputs (spontaneous, n = 10; or electrically evoked from the vagus, n = 3) were identified as principal neurones and showed tonic firing responses to current injected to their somata. Cells lacking vagal inputs (n = 19, presumed interneurones) were quiescent but showed phasic firing responses to depolarising current. In principal cells the ongoing action potentials and EPSPs exhibited respiratory modulation, with peak frequency in post-inspiration. Action potentials arose from unitary EPSPs and autocorrelation of those events showed that each ganglion cell received inputs from a single active preganglionic source. Peripheral chemoreceptor, arterial baroreceptor and diving response activation all evoked high frequency synaptic barrages in these cells, always from the same single preganglionic source. EPSP amplitudes showed frequency dependent depression, leading to more spike failures at shorter inter-event intervals. These findings indicate that rather than integrating convergent inputs, cardiac vagal postganglionic neurones gate preganglionic inputs, so regulating the proportion of central parasympathetic tone that is transmitted on to the heart. PMID:22005679

[Evaluation of hospitalizations in the gastroenterology service of Gabriel Toure Hospital, Mali].

PubMed

Diarra, M; Konate, A; Demble Doumbia, A; Kalle, A; Maiga, M Y

2006-01-01

The goal of this study was to appreciate principal affections and mortality and in gastroenterology service of Gabriel Touré Hospital. It is about a survey longitudinal that has permit to analyze patients who have been care. During study, 766 patients were unregistered. Mean age of patient was 45.17 years and a sex ratio (M/F) = 1.10. The rate of reference was 13.85%. The morbidity was dominated by HIV infection (29.90%) followed by Hepato-cellular Carcinoma (7.83%) and cirrhosis (4.05%). Mortality (18.41%) was dominated by the VIH infection, HCC and Cirrhosis. The precocious recourse to cares, the improvement of work conditions, the sensitization, the infectious illness prevention is factors that will permit a reduction of morbidity and hospital mortality.

Shape optimization of road tunnel cross-section by simulated annealing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sobótka, Maciej; Pachnicz, Michał

2016-06-01

The paper concerns shape optimization of a tunnel excavation cross-section. The study incorporates optimization procedure of the simulated annealing (SA). The form of a cost function derives from the energetic optimality condition, formulated in the authors' previous papers. The utilized algorithm takes advantage of the optimization procedure already published by the authors. Unlike other approaches presented in literature, the one introduced in this paper takes into consideration a practical requirement of preserving fixed clearance gauge. Itasca Flac software is utilized in numerical examples. The optimal excavation shapes are determined for five different in situ stress ratios. This factor significantly affects the optimal topology of excavation. The resulting shapes are elongated in the direction of a principal stress greater value. Moreover, the obtained optimal shapes have smooth contours circumscribing the gauge.

[The personality of psychotherapists] .

PubMed

Vymĕtal, J

2000-01-01

The profession of the psychotherapist is very demanding and his or her personality, constituting one of the effective factors of the treatment, affects the entire psychotherapeutic process. The psychotherapist's desired personality traits include inner stability and high degree of self-knowledge leading to an understanding and accepting of his or her own self. The other useful personality traits--the therapist's openness for the patient as well as his or her unconditional acceptance, empathy and authenticity--create an optimal and safe therapeutical setting enabling the patient to communicate freely and sincerely. All these traits must be expressed simultaneously, otherwise they could be destructive. They are underscored by the therapist's ethical conduct towards the patient. Ignoring these moral principals anulls any positive influence of the above traits. The conclusion makes mention of Kant's categorical imperative.

Thermal Error Test and Intelligent Modeling Research on the Spindle of High Speed CNC Machine Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Zhonghui; Peng, Bin; Xiao, Qijun; Bai, Lu

2018-03-01

Thermal error is the main factor affecting the accuracy of precision machining. Through experiments, this paper studies the thermal error test and intelligent modeling for the spindle of vertical high speed CNC machine tools in respect of current research focuses on thermal error of machine tool. Several testing devices for thermal error are designed, of which 7 temperature sensors are used to measure the temperature of machine tool spindle system and 2 displacement sensors are used to detect the thermal error displacement. A thermal error compensation model, which has a good ability in inversion prediction, is established by applying the principal component analysis technology, optimizing the temperature measuring points, extracting the characteristic values closely associated with the thermal error displacement, and using the artificial neural network technology.

Monitoring Heritage Buildings with Open Source Hardware Sensors: A Case Study of the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba

PubMed Central

Mesas-Carrascosa, Francisco Javier; Verdú Santano, Daniel; Meroño de Larriva, Jose Emilio; Ortíz Cordero, Rafael; Hidalgo Fernández, Rafael Enrique; García-Ferrer, Alfonso

2016-01-01

A number of physical factors can adversely affect cultural heritage. Therefore, monitoring parameters involved in the deterioration process, principally temperature and relative humidity, is useful for preventive conservation. In this study, a total of 15 microclimate stations using open source hardware were developed and stationed at the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, which is registered with UNESCO for its outstanding universal value, to assess the behavior of interior temperature and relative humidity in relation to exterior weather conditions, public hours and interior design. Long-term monitoring of these parameters is of interest in terms of preservation and reducing the costs of future conservation strategies. Results from monitoring are presented to demonstrate the usefulness of this system. PMID:27690056

CLUSFAVOR 5.0: hierarchical cluster and principal-component analysis of microarray-based transcriptional profiles

PubMed Central

Peterson, Leif E

2002-01-01

CLUSFAVOR (CLUSter and Factor Analysis with Varimax Orthogonal Rotation) 5.0 is a Windows-based computer program for hierarchical cluster and principal-component analysis of microarray-based transcriptional profiles. CLUSFAVOR 5.0 standardizes input data; sorts data according to gene-specific coefficient of variation, standard deviation, average and total expression, and Shannon entropy; performs hierarchical cluster analysis using nearest-neighbor, unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA), or furthest-neighbor joining methods, and Euclidean, correlation, or jack-knife distances; and performs principal-component analysis. PMID:12184816

Discrimination of gender-, speed-, and shoe-dependent movement patterns in runners using full-body kinematics.

PubMed

Maurer, Christian; Federolf, Peter; von Tscharner, Vinzenz; Stirling, Lisa; Nigg, Benno M

2012-05-01

Changes in gait kinematics have often been analyzed using pattern recognition methods such as principal component analysis (PCA). It is usually just the first few principal components that are analyzed, because they describe the main variability within a dataset and thus represent the main movement patterns. However, while subtle changes in gait pattern (for instance, due to different footwear) may not change main movement patterns, they may affect movements represented by higher principal components. This study was designed to test two hypotheses: (1) speed and gender differences can be observed in the first principal components, and (2) small interventions such as changing footwear change the gait characteristics of higher principal components. Kinematic changes due to different running conditions (speed - 3.1m/s and 4.9 m/s, gender, and footwear - control shoe and adidas MicroBounce shoe) were investigated by applying PCA and support vector machine (SVM) to a full-body reflective marker setup. Differences in speed changed the basic movement pattern, as was reflected by a change in the time-dependent coefficient derived from the first principal. Gender was differentiated by using the time-dependent coefficient derived from intermediate principal components. (Intermediate principal components are characterized by limb rotations of the thigh and shank.) Different shoe conditions were identified in higher principal components. This study showed that different interventions can be analyzed using a full-body kinematic approach. Within the well-defined vector space spanned by the data of all subjects, higher principal components should also be considered because these components show the differences that result from small interventions such as footwear changes. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dimensionality of Community Satisfaction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, R. Gary; Knop, Edward

Using factor analysis (both principal factor solutions and rotated factor solutions) to search for underlying statistical commonality among 12 indicators of community satisfaction in 6 Colorado communities, the research explores various dimensions of community satisfaction that may be important across different communities. The communities under…

Psychometric properties of Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale in a Spanish sample of entrepreneurs.

PubMed

Manzano-García, Guadalupe; Ayala Calvo, Juan Carlos

2013-01-01

The literature regarding entrepreneurship suggests that the resilience of entrepreneurs may help to explain entrepreneurial success, but there is no resilience measure widely accepted by researchers. This study analyzes the psychometric properties of the Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) in a sample of Spanish entrepreneurs. A telephone survey research method was used. The participants were entrepreneurs operating in the business services sector. Interviewers telephoned a total of 900 entrepreneurs of whom 783 produced usable questionnaires. The CD-RISC was used as data collection instrument. We used principal component analysis factor and confirmatory factor analysis to determine the factor structure of the CD-RISC. Confirmatory factor analysis failed to verify the original five-factor structure of the CD-RISC, whereas principal component analysis factor yielded a 3-factor structure of resilience (hardiness, resourcefulness and optimism). In this research, 47.48% of the total variance was accounted for by three factors, and the obtained factor structure was verified through confirmatory factor analysis. The CD-RISC has been shown to be a reliable and valid tool for measuring entrepreneurs' resilience.

Modeling insect disturbance across forested landscapes: Insights from the spruce budworm

Treesearch

Brian R. Sturtevant; Barry J. Cooke; Daniel D. Kneeshaw; David A. MacLean

2015-01-01

Insects are important disturbance agents affecting temperate and boreal biomes (Wermelinger 2004; Johnson et al. 2005; Cooke et al. 2007; Raffa et al. 2008). Defoliating insects in particular have historically affected a staggering area of North American forests, particularly across the boreal biome (Fig. 5.1). Principal among these boreal forest defoliators is the...

The Baptist Health Nurse Retention Questionnaire: A Methodological Study, Part 1.

PubMed

Lengerich, Alexander; Bugajski, Andrew; Marchese, Matthew; Hall, Brittany; Yackzan, Susan; Davies, Claire; Brockopp, Dorothy

2017-05-01

The purposes of this study were to develop and test the Baptist Health Nurse Retention Questionnaire (BHNRQ) and examine the importance of nurse retention factors. Multiple factors, including increasing patient acuity levels, have led to concerns regarding nurse retention. An understanding of current factors related to retention is limited. To establish the psychometric properties of the BHNRQ, data were collected from 279 bedside nurses at a 391-bed, Magnet® redesignated community hospital. A principal component analysis was conducted to determine the subscale structure of the BHNRQ. Additional analyses were conducted related to content validity and test-retest reliability. The results of the principal components analysis revealed 3 subscales: nursing practice, management, and staffing. Analyses demonstrate that the BHNRQ is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring nurse retention factors. The BHNRQ was found to be a clinically useful instrument for measuring important factors related to nurse retention.

A GRAPHICAL DIAGNOSTIC METHOD FOR ASSESSING THE ROTATION IN FACTOR ANALYTICAL MODELS OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION. (R831078)

EPA Science Inventory

Factor analytic tools such as principal component analysis (PCA) and positive matrix factorization (PMF), suffer from rotational ambiguity in the results: different solutions (factors) provide equally good fits to the measured data. The PMF model imposes non-negativity of both...

Teachers' Perceptions of Principals' Motivating Language and Public School Climates in Kuwait

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alqahtani, Abdulmuhsen Ayedh

2015-01-01

Research has shown that the overall climate in a school can encourage or deter learning. One significant factor promoting a positive climate is the use of motivational language by school leaders. This article presents empirical evidence of teachers' perceptions of motivational language used by school principals and the effects of this language on…

Changing Teacher Morale: An Experiment in Feedback of Identified Problems of Teachers and Principals. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bentley, Ralph R.; Rempel, Averno M.

This 2-year study attempted to determine whether feedback to teachers and principals about problems and tensions existing in their schools can be effective in changing morale for (1) teachers generally, (2) vocational teachers, (3) and nonvocational teachers. Relationships between teacher morale and such factors as age, sex, teaching experience,…

Leaving a Sinking Ship? School Principals in Flight, Lessons and Possible Solutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Msila, Vuyisile

2017-01-01

This qualitative study was motivated by a sizeable number of school principals retiring early in South African schools. They either leave teaching for other careers or retire before the retirement age of sixty. It was then necessary to explore what factors, if any, made them leave school management and the teaching career. Sixteen school…

An Investigation of Research-Based Teaching Practices through the Teacher Evaluations in Indiana Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sargent, Michael Steven

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify if a relationship existed between the implementation of professional evaluation processes and the use of research-based teaching practices, factoring in both perceptions of principals and practicing teachers. The variables of professional development on the evaluation model and the principal's years of…

Investigating Elementary Principals' Science Beliefs and Knowledge and Its Relationship to Students' Science Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khan, Uzma Zafar

2012-01-01

The aim of this quantitative study was to investigate elementary principals' beliefs about reformed science teaching and learning, science subject matter knowledge, and how these factors relate to fourth grade students' superior science outcomes. Online survey methodology was used for data collection and included a demographic…

Principal Investigator and Department Administrator Perceptions of Services Provided by Offices of Research Administration at Research Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cole, Kimberley W.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this research study was to determine what service attributes were perceived as important factors for a successful Office of Research Administration (ORA) to provide to principal investigators and department administrators. Initially established more than 50 years ago, The Office of Research Administration (ORA) has evolved into an…

Turnaround High School Principals: Recruit, Prepare and Empower Leaders of Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt-Davis, Jon; Bottoms, Gene

2012-01-01

Recent studies make one reality clear: While multiple factors can cause a low-performing high school to be in a turnaround situation, every high school that makes dramatic academic improvement has strong, effective school leadership. Turning a school around is no work for novices. It takes a skilled, visionary and proactive principal to pull apart…

Explorations in Principal Leadership across an Array of School Types.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Portin, Bradley S.

The centrality of school leadership as a necessary element for school success is a well-determined part of the educational leadership research canon. Although school leadership is broad-based and includes many factors, the central role the principal plays is most often seen as a pivot around which much of a school's progress depends. However, it…

Predictive Ability of Variables Related to the Aspects of School Principals' Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lukaš, Mirko; Jankovic, Boris

2014-01-01

The authors of this research paper believe that school principals play an irreplaceable role in raising the school efficiency. Their role is rather neglected in the Croatian academic debates on improving the quality of school system. This research intends to enhance the scientific level of their position as irreplaceable factors in a school…

The Perceptions of Urban School Principals Regarding the Education of Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anoh, Jean-Dominique Herve

2013-01-01

This research investigated the perceptions and attitudes of principals and headmasters about the inclusion of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), the factors supporting or inhibiting school leaders in their effort to implement inclusive practices, and the approaches they use to initiate, facilitate, support and sustain the…

[Habitat factor analysis for Torreya grandis cv. Merrillii based on spatial information technology].

PubMed

Wang, Xiao-ming; Wang, Ke; Ao, Wei-jiu; Deng, Jin-song; Han, Ning; Zhu, Xiao-yun

2008-11-01

Torreya grandis cv. Merrillii, a tertiary survival plant, is a rare tree species of significant economic value and expands rapidly in China. Its special habitat factor analysis has the potential value to provide guide information for its planting, management, and sustainable development, because the suitable growth conditions for this tree species are special and strict. In this paper, the special habitat factors for T. grandis cv. Merrillii in its core region, i.e., in seven villages of Zhuji City, Zhejiang Province were analyzed with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and a series of data, such as IKONOS image, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and field survey data supported by the spatial information technology. The results showed that T. grandis cv. Merrillii exhibited high selectivity of environmental factors such as elevation, slope, and aspect. 96.22% of T. grandis cv. Merrillii trees were located at the elevation from 300 to 600 m, 97.52% of them were found to present on the areas whose slope was less than 300, and 74.43% of them distributed on sunny and half-sunny slopes. The results of PCA analysis indicated that the main environmental factors affecting the habitat of T. grandis cv. Merrillii were moisture, heat, and soil nutrients, and moisture might be one of the most important ecological factors for T. grandis cv. Merrillii due to the unique biological and ecological characteristics of the tree species.

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

Jentschura, Ulrich D.; National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8401; Mohr, Peter J.

We describe the calculation of hydrogenic (one-loop) Bethe logarithms for all states with principal quantum numbers n{<=}200. While, in principle, the calculation of the Bethe logarithm is a rather easy computational problem involving only the nonrelativistic (Schroedinger) theory of the hydrogen atom, certain calculational difficulties affect highly excited states, and in particular states for which the principal quantum number is much larger than the orbital angular momentum quantum number. Two evaluation methods are contrasted. One of these is based on the calculation of the principal value of a specific integral over a virtual photon energy. The other method relies directlymore » on the spectral representation of the Schroedinger-Coulomb propagator. Selected numerical results are presented. The full set of values is available at arXiv.org/quant-ph/0504002.« less

A Comparison of Component and Factor Patterns: A Monte Carlo Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Velicer, Wayne F.; And Others

1982-01-01

Factor analysis, image analysis, and principal component analysis are compared with respect to the factor patterns they would produce under various conditions. The general conclusion that is reached is that the three methods produce results that are equivalent. (Author/JKS)

Great Salt Lake basins study unit

USGS Publications Warehouse

Waddell, Kidd M.; Baskin, Robert L.

1994-01-01

In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began implementing a full-scale National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program.The long-term goals of the NAWQA Program are to describe the status and trends in the quality of a large, representative part of the Nation’s surface- and ground-water resources and to provide a sound, scientific understanding of the primary natural and human factors that affect the quality of these resources. In meeting these goals, the program will produce a wealth of water-quality information that will be useful to policy makers and managers at Federal, State, and local levels.A major design feature of the NAWQA Program will enable water-quality information at different areal scales to be integrated. A major component of the program is study-unit investigations, which ae the principal building blocks of the program upon which national-level assessment activities will be based. The 60 study-unit investigations that make up the program are hydrologic systems that include principal river basins and aquifer systems throughout the Nation. These study units cover areas from less than 1.000 to greater than 60,000 mi2 and incorporate from about 60 to 70 percent of the Nation’s water use and population served by public water supply. In 1993, assessment activities began in the Great Salt Lake Basins NAWQA study unit.

Plasma fractionation issues.

PubMed

Farrugia, Albert; Evers, Theo; Falcou, Pierre-Francois; Burnouf, Thierry; Amorim, Luiz; Thomas, Sylvia

2009-04-01

Procurement and processing of human plasma for fractionation of therapeutic proteins or biological medicines used in clinical practice is a multi-billion dollar international trade. Together the private sector and public sector (non-profit) provide large amounts of safe and effective therapeutic plasma proteins needed worldwide. The principal therapeutic proteins produced by the dichotomous industry include gamma globulins or immunoglobulins (including pathogen-specific hyperimmune globulins, such as hepatitis B immune globulins) albumin, factor VIII and Factor IX concentrates. Viral inactivation, principally by solvent detergent and other processes, has proven highly effective in preventing transmission of enveloped viruses, viz. HBV, HIV, and HCV.

Characterizing groundwater quality ranks for drinking purposes in Sylhet district, Bangladesh, using entropy method, spatial autocorrelation index, and geostatistics.

PubMed

Islam, Abu Reza Md Towfiqul; Ahmed, Nasir; Bodrud-Doza, Md; Chu, Ronghao

2017-12-01

Drinking water is susceptible to the poor quality of contaminated water affecting the health of humans. Thus, it is an essential study to investigate factors affecting groundwater quality and its suitability for drinking uses. In this paper, the entropy theory, multivariate statistics, spatial autocorrelation index, and geostatistics are applied to characterize groundwater quality and its spatial variability in the Sylhet district of Bangladesh. A total of 91samples have been collected from wells (e.g., shallow, intermediate, and deep tube wells at 15-300-m depth) from the study area. The results show that NO 3 - , then SO 4 2- , and As are the most contributed parameters influencing the groundwater quality according to the entropy theory. The principal component analysis (PCA) and correlation coefficient also confirm the results of the entropy theory. However, Na + has the highest spatial autocorrelation and the most entropy, thus affecting the groundwater quality. Based on the entropy-weighted water quality index (EWQI) and groundwater quality index (GWQI) classifications, it is observed that 60.45 and 53.86% of water samples are classified as having an excellent to good qualities, while the remaining samples vary from medium to extremely poor quality domains for drinking purposes. Furthermore, the EWQI classification provides the more reasonable results than GWQIs due to its simplicity, accuracy, and ignoring of artificial weight. A Gaussian semivariogram model has been chosen to the best fit model, and groundwater quality indices have a weak spatial dependence, suggesting that both geogenic and anthropogenic factors play a pivotal role in spatial heterogeneity of groundwater quality oscillations.

Overlap and distinctiveness of psychological risk factors in patients with ischemic heart disease and chronic heart failure: are we there yet?

PubMed

Pelle, Aline J; Denollet, Johan; Zwisler, Ann-Dorthe; Pedersen, Susanne S

2009-02-01

Growing evidence supports the importance of psychological factors in the etiology and progression of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, this research has been criticized due to overlap between psychological constructs. We examined whether psychological questionnaires frequently used in cardiovascular research assess distinct constructs in a mixed group of ischemic heart disease (IHD) and chronic heart failure (CHF) patients. 565 patients with CHF (n=118) or IHD (n=447) completed the Type D scale (DS14), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Pearson product moment correlations were computed to determine the interrelatedness between psychological constructs. Principal component analyses (PCA) were conducted on both scale scores and items to determine higher-order constructs and distinctiveness of psychological questionnaires. Two higher-order constructs were identified, namely negative affect and social inhibition. PCA on all 69 items showed that anxiety, depression, negative affectivity, and social inhibition were distinct constructs. The original structure of the DS14 was confirmed, whereas items of the HADS and BDI loaded more diffusely; items of the STAI reflected two different components. The use of multiple questionnaires in cardiac patients is justified, as the higher order construct negative affect comprised different facets. Social inhibition was also shown to be a distinct construct, indicating that it may timely for cardiovascular research to look at the role of inhibition in addition to negative emotions. Future studies are warranted to determine whether these findings are replicable in other cardiac samples and to specify the unique prognostic value of these psychological facets.

Genetic and environmental factors affecting allergen-related gene expression in apple fruit (Malus domestica L. Borkh).

PubMed

Botton, Alessandro; Lezzer, Paolo; Dorigoni, Alberto; Barcaccia, Gianni; Ruperti, Benedetto; Ramina, Angelo

2008-08-13

Freshly consumed apples can cause allergic reactions because of the presence of four classes of allergens, namely, Mal d 1, Mal d 2, Mal d 3, and Mal d 4, and their cross-reactivity with sensitizing allergens of other species. Knowledge of environmental and endogenous factors affecting the allergenic potential of apples would provide important information to apple breeders, growers, and consumers for the selection of hypoallergenic genotypes, the adoption of agronomical practices decreasing the allergenic potential, and the consumption of fruits with reduced amount of allergens. In the present research, expression studies were performed by means of real-time PCR for all the known allergen-encoding genes in apple. Fruit samples were collected from 15 apple varieties and from fruits of three different trials, set up to assess the effect of shadowing, elevation, storage, and water stress on the expression of allergen genes. Principal components analysis (PCA) was performed for the classification of varieties according to gene expression values, pointing out that the cultivars Fuji and Brina were two good hypoallergenic candidates. Shadowing, elevation, and storage significantly affected the transcription of the allergen-encoding genes, whereas water stress slightly influenced the expression of only two genes, in spite of the dramatic effect on both fruit size and vegetative growth of the trees. In particular, shadowing may represent an important cultural practice aimed at reducing apple cortex allergenicity. Moreover, elevation and storage may be combined to reduce the allergenic potential of apple fruits. The possible implications of the results for breeders, growers, and consumers are discussed critically.

Geospatial data to support analysis of water-quality conditions in basin-fill aquifers in the southwestern United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

McKinney, Tim S.; Anning, David W.

2009-01-01

The Southwest Principal Aquifers study area consists of most of California and Nevada and parts of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado; it is about 409,000 square miles. The Basin-fill aquifers extend through about 201,000 square miles of the study area and are the primary source of water for cities and agricultural communities in basins in the arid and semiarid southwestern United States (Southwest). The demand on limited ground-water resources in areas in the southwestern United States has increased significantly. This increased demand underscores the importance of understanding factors that affect the water quality in basin-fill aquifers in the region, which are being studied through the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program. As a part of this study, spatial datasets of natural and anthropogenic factors that may affect ground-water quality of the basin-fill aquifers in the southwestern United States were developed. These data include physical characteristics of the region, such as geology, elevation, and precipitation, as well as anthropogenic factors, including population, land use, and water use. Spatial statistics for the alluvial basins in the Southwest have been calculated using the datasets. This information provides a foundation for the development of conceptual and statistical models that relate natural and anthropogenic factors to ground-water quality across the Southwest. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to determine and illustrate the spatial distribution of these basin-fill variables across the region. One hundred-meter resolution raster data layers that represent the spatial characteristics of the basins' boundaries, drainage areas, population densities, land use, and water use were developed for the entire Southwest.

Do Tropical Cyclones Shape Shorebird Habitat Patterns? Biogeoclimatology of Snowy Plovers in Florida

PubMed Central

Convertino, Matteo; Elsner, James B.; Muñoz-Carpena, Rafael; Kiker, Gregory A.; Martinez, Christopher J.; Fischer, Richard A.; Linkov, Igor

2011-01-01

Background The Gulf coastal ecosystems in Florida are foci of the highest species richness of imperiled shoreline dependent birds in the USA. However environmental processes that affect their macroecological patterns, like occupancy and abundance, are not well unraveled. In Florida the Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus) is resident along northern and western white sandy estuarine/ocean beaches and is considered a state-threatened species. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we show that favorable nesting areas along the Florida Gulf coastline are located in regions impacted relatively more frequently by tropical cyclones. The odds of Snowy Plover nesting in these areas during the spring following a tropical cyclone impact are seven times higher compared to the odds during the spring following a season without a cyclone. The only intensity of a tropical cyclone does not appear to be a significant factor affecting breeding populations. Conclusions/Significance Nevertheless a future climate scenario featuring fewer, but more extreme cyclones could result in a decrease in the breeding Snowy Plover population and its breeding range. This is because the spatio-temporal frequency of cyclone events was found to significantly affect nest abundance. Due to the similar geographic range and habitat suitability, and no decrease in nest abundance of other shorebirds in Florida after the cyclone season, our results suggest a common bioclimatic feedback between shorebird abundance and tropical cyclones in breeding areas which are affected by cyclones. PMID:21264268