Search results for: periodically correlated process

Authors: Azhar Abdul Rahman

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This paper examines the readability of the chairman’s narratives, as determined by the Flesch score, of a Malaysian public listed company’s corporate reports from 1962 to 2009. It partially supports earlier studies which demonstrated that corporate reports were difficult to read, and had shown very negligible decrease in difficulty over time. Net profit to sales and readability was significantly positively correlated but number of financial statements was significantly negatively correlated with readability.

Keywords: chairman’s narratives, corporate communications, readability, longitudinal

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Authors: Helen Pushkarskaya, Michael Smithson, Jane E. Joseph, Christine Corbly, Ifat Levy

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Studies of decision making under uncertainty generally focus on imprecise information about outcome probabilities (“ambiguity”). It is not clear, however, whether conflicting information about outcome probabilities affects decision making in the same manner as ambiguity does. Here we combine functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and a simple gamble design to study this question. In this design, the levels of ambiguity and conflict are parametrically varied, and ambiguity and conflict gambles are matched on both expected value and variance. Behaviorally, participants avoided conflict more than ambiguity, and attitudes toward ambiguity and conflict did not correlate across subjects. Neurally, regional brain activation was differentially modulated by ambiguity level and aversion to ambiguity and by conflict level and aversion to conflict. Activation in the medial prefrontal cortex was correlated with the level of ambiguity and with ambiguity aversion, whereas activation in the ventral striatum was correlated with the level of conflict and with conflict aversion. This novel double dissociation indicates that decision makers process imprecise and conflicting information differently, a finding that has important implications for basic and clinical research.

Keywords: decision making, uncertainty, ambiguity, conflict, fMRI

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Authors: Ming-Yeh Lu, Shiao-Shing Chen, Saikat Sinha Ray, Hung-Te Hsu

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Recently, anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) has been widely utilized, which combines anaerobic biological treatment process and membrane filtration, that can be present an attractive option for wastewater treatment and water reuse. Conventional AnMBR is having several advantages, such as improving effluent quality, compact space usage, lower sludge yield, without aeration and production of energy. However, the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus in the AnMBR permeate was negligible which become the biggest disadvantage. In recent years, forward osmosis (FO) is an emerging technology that utilizes osmotic pressure as driving force to extract clean water without additional external pressure. The pore size of FO membrane is kindly mentioned the pore size, so nitrogen or phosphorus could effectively improve removal of nitrogen or phosphorus. Anaerobic bioreactor with FO membrane (AnOMBR) can retain the concentrate organic matters and nutrients. However, phosphorus is a non-renewable resource. Due to the high rejection property of FO membrane, the high amount of phosphorus could be recovered from the combination of AnMBR and FO. In this study, development of novel submerged anaerobic osmotic membrane bioreactor integrated with periodic microfiltration (MF) extraction for simultaneous phosphorus and clean water recovery from wastewater was evaluated. A laboratory-scale AnOMBR utilizes cellulose triacetate (CTA) membranes with effective membrane area of 130 cm² was fully submerged into a 5.5 L bioreactor at 30-35℃. Active layer-facing feed stream orientation was utilized, for minimizing fouling and scaling. Additionally, a peristaltic pump was used to circulate draw solution (DS) at a cross flow velocity of 0.7 cm/s. Magnesium sulphate (MgSO₄) solution was used as DS. Microfiltration membrane periodically extracted about 1 L solution when the TDS reaches to 5 g/L to recover phosphorus and simultaneous control the salt accumulation in the bioreactor. During experiment progressed, the average water flux was achieved around 1.6 LMH. The AnOMBR process show greater than 95% removal of soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD), nearly 100% of total phosphorous whereas only partial removal of ammonia, and finally average methane production of 0.22 L/g sCOD was obtained. Therefore, AnOMBR system periodically utilizes MF membrane extracted for phosphorus recovery with simultaneous pH adjustment. The overall performance demonstrates that a novel submerged AnOMBR system is having potential for simultaneous wastewater treatment and resource recovery from wastewater, and hence, the new concept of this system can be used to replace for conventional AnMBR in the future.

Keywords: anaerobic treatment, forward osmosis, phosphorus recovery, membrane bioreactor

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Authors: Mustafa Jahanara

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The aim of present research was to study of the relationship between emotional intelligence, perceived stress, positive religious coping with psychological distress to in a sample of undergraduate students in Polytechnic University in Kabul. One hundred and fifty-tow students (102 male, 50 female) were included in this study. All participants completed the Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 12), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and the Brief RCOPE. The results revealed that EI was negatively associated with perceived stress and psychological distress. Also emotional intelligence was positively correlated with positive religious coping. Perceived stress was positive related with psychological distress and negatively correlated with positive religious coping. Eventually positive religious coping was significantly and negatively correlated with psychological distress. However, emotional intelligence and positive religious coping could influence on mental health.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, perceived stress, positive religious coping, psychological distress

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Authors: Yalda Zarnegarnia, Shari Messinger

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Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves have been widely used in medical research to illustrate the performance of the biomarker in correctly distinguishing the diseased and non-diseased groups. Correlated biomarker data arises in study designs that include subjects that contain same genetic or environmental factors. The information about correlation might help to identify family members at increased risk of disease development, and may lead to initiating treatment to slow or stop the progression to disease. Approaches appropriate to a case-control design matched by family identification, must be able to accommodate both the correlation inherent in the design in correctly estimating the biomarker’s ability to differentiate between cases and controls, as well as to handle estimation from a matched case control design. This talk will review some developed methods for ROC curve estimation in settings with correlated data from case control design and will discuss the limitations of current methods for analyzing correlated familial paired data. An alternative approach using Conditional ROC curves will be demonstrated, to provide appropriate ROC curves for correlated paired data. The proposed approach will use the information about the correlation among biomarker values, producing conditional ROC curves that evaluate the ability of a biomarker to discriminate between diseased and non-diseased subjects in a familial paired design.

Keywords: biomarker, correlation, familial paired design, ROC curve

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Authors: Lee Li

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The strategic management literature posits that the major motive of strategic alliances is to share resources, costs and risks. However, the literature also indicates that such sharing leads to transaction costs which are positively correlated with environmental dynamism. As such, it is not clear why firms are willing to cover high transaction costs for sharing resources, costs and risks. This study categorizes resources into firm-specific and general resource; costs into accounting and non-accounting cost; and risks into visible and invisible risks. Using data from 167 Canadian firms in technology industries, we find that sharing firm-specific resources and non-accounting costs are negatively correlated with environmental dynamism but sharing general resources, accounting costs and visible risks are positively correlated with environmental dynamism. Findings suggest that sharing certain resources, costs and risks do not necessarily incur high transaction costs.

Keywords: environmental dynamism, strategic alliances, resource/cost/risk sharing

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Authors: Sepehr Moradi

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The physical and mechanical property parameters, inter-relation of key dimensional and distribution profile of raw Australia Superfine Merino Wool (ASFW) and Inner Mongolia Cashmere (IMC) fibres have been studied. The relationship between the properties of these fibres is assessed using fit transformation functions obtained through correlation coefficient analysis. ASFW and IMC fibre properties are found to be both positively skewed and asymmetric in nature. Whilst fibre diameter varies along its length and both ends have a tapering shape. The basic physical features, namely linear density, true local diameter, true length and breaking load are positively correlated while their tenacity is negatively correlated. The tenacity and true length follow a second order polynomial while the true local diameter is linearly correlated. Assessment of the diameter and length is sufficient to estimate the evaluation of quality for commercial grade ASFW and IMC fibres.

Keywords: Australia Superfine Merino Wool fibre, Inner Mongolia Cashmere fibre, distribution profile, physical properties

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Authors: Tiao Chang, Ivan Caballero, Hong Zhou

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Streams carry water and sediment naturally by maintaining channel dimensions, pattern, and profile over time. Watershed erosion as a natural process has occurred to contribute sediment to streams over time. The formation of channel dimensions is complex. This study is to relate quantifiable and consistent channel dimensions at the bankfull stage to the corresponding watershed erosion estimation by the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). Twelve sites of which drainage areas range from 7 to 100 square miles in the Hocking River Basin of Ohio were selected for the bankfull geometry determinations including width, depth, cross-section area, bed slope, and drainage area. The twelve sub-watersheds were chosen to obtain a good overall representation of the Hocking River Basin. It is of interest to determine how these bankfull channel dimensions are related to the soil erosion of corresponding sub-watersheds. Soil erosion is a natural process that has occurred in a watershed over time. The RUSLE was applied to estimate erosions of the twelve selected sub-watersheds where the bankfull geometry measurements were conducted. These quantified erosions of sub-watersheds are used to investigate correlations with bankfull channel dimensions including discharge, channel width, channel depth, cross-sectional area, and pebble distribution. It is found that drainage area, bankfull discharge and cross-sectional area correlates strongly with watershed erosion well. Furthermore, bankfull width and depth are moderately correlated with watershed erosion while the particle size, D50, of channel bed sediment is not well correlated with watershed erosion.

Keywords: watershed, stream, sediment, channel

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Authors: Dave Kenneth Tayao Cayado, Carlo P. Magno, Venice Cristine Dangaran

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The present study determines whether there will be differences in the self-regulation dispositions that learners utilize when writing different types of composition. There were 7 self-regulation factors that were used to develop a scale in this study such as memory strategy, goal setting, self-evaluation, seeking assistance, learning responsibility, environmental structuring, and organizing. The scale was made specific for writing a composition. The researcher-made scale was administered to 150 participants who all came from a university in the Philippines. The participants were asked to write two compositions namely opinion essay and research introduction/review of related literature. The zero-order correlation revealed that all the factors of self-regulation are correlated with one another. However, only seeking assistance and self-evaluation are correlated with opinion essay and technical writing is not correlated to any of the self-regulation factors. However, when path analysis was used, it was shown that seeking assistance can predict opinion essay scores whereas memory strategy, self-evaluation, and organizing can predict technical writing scores.

Keywords: opinion essay, self-regulation, technical writing, writing skills

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Authors: Qurrat-ul-Ain Gulfam, Zbigniew Ficek

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The novel idea to use single atoms as highly reflecting mirrors has recently gained much attention. Usually, to observe the reflective nature of an atom, it is required to couple the atom to an external medium such that a directional spontaneous emission could be realized. We propose an alternative way to achieve the directional emission by considering a system of correlated atoms in free space. It is well known that mutually interacting atoms have a strong tendency to emit the radiation along particular discrete directions. That relieves one from the stingy condition of associating the atomic system to another media and facilitates the experimental implementation to a large degree. Moreover, realistic 3-dimensional collective emission can be taken into account in the dynamics. Two interesting spatial setups have been considered; one where a probe atom is confined in a linear cavity formed by two atomic mirrors and, the other where a probe atom faces a chain of correlated atoms. We observe an evidence of the mirror-like effect in a simple system of a chain of three atoms. The angular distribution of the radiation intensity observed in the far field is greatly affected by the atomic interactions. Hence, suitable directions for enhanced reflectivity can be determined.

Keywords: atom-mirror effect, correlated system, dipole-dipole interactions, intensity

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Authors: F. Bendahma, S. Bentata, S. Cherid, A. Zitouni, S. Terkhi, T. Lantri, Y. Sefir, Z. F. Meghoufel

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We examine the electronic transport properties in Al_xGa_1-xAs/GaAs superlattices. Using the transfer-matrix technique and the exact Airy function formalism, we investigate theoretically the effect of structural parameters on the electronic energy spectra of trimer thickness barrier (TTB). Our numerical calculations showed that the localization length of the states becomes more extended when the disorder is correlated (trimer case). We have also found that the resonant tunneling time (RTT) is of the order of several femtoseconds.

Keywords: electronic transport properties, structural parameters, superlattices, transfer-matrix technique

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Authors: Efrat Neter, Esther Brainin, Orna Baron-Epel

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Background: Connecting end-users to newly developed ICT technologies and channeling patients to new products requires an assessment of compatibility. End user’s assessment is conveyed in the concept of eHealth literacy. The study examined the association between perceived and performed eHealth literacy (EHL) in a heterogeneous age sample in Israel. Methods: Participants included 100 Israeli adults (mean age 43,SD 13.9) who were first phone interviewed and then tested on a computer simulation of health-related Internet tasks. Performed, perceived and evaluated EHL were assessed. Levels of successful completion of tasks represented EHL performance and evaluated EHL included observed motivation, confidence, and amount of help provided. Results: The skills of accessing, understanding, appraising, applying, and generating new information had a decreasing successful completion rate with increase in complexity of the task. Generating new information, though highly correlated with all other skills, was least correlated with the other skills. Perceived and performed EHL were correlated (r=.40, P=.001), while facets of performance (i.e, digital literacy and EHL) were highly correlated (r=.89, P<.001). Participants low and high in performed EHL were significantly different: low performers were older, had attained less education, used the Internet for less time and perceived themselves as less healthy. They also encountered more difficulties, required more assistance, were less confident in their conduct and exhibited less motivation than high performers. Conclusions: The association in this age-hetrogenous ample was larger than in previous age-homogenous samples. The moderate association between perceived and performed EHL indicates that the two are associated yet distinct, the latter requiring separate assessment. Features of future rapid performed EHL tools are discussed.

Keywords: eHealth, health literacy, performance, simulation

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Authors: Edokpa Idemudia Waziri, Salisu S. Umar

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The Hotellng’s T^2 is a well-known statistic for detecting a shift in the mean vector of a multivariate normal distribution. Control charts based on T have been widely used in statistical process control for monitoring a multivariate process. Although it is a powerful tool, the T statistic is deficient when the shift to be detected in the mean vector of a multivariate process is small and consistent. The Multivariate Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (MEWMA) control chart is one of the control statistics used to overcome the drawback of the Hotellng’s T statistic. In this paper, the probability distribution of the Average Run Length (ARL) of the MEWMA control chart when the quality characteristics exhibit substantial cross correlation and when the process is in-control and out-of-control was derived using the Markov Chain algorithm. The derivation of the probability functions and the moments of the run length distribution were also obtained and they were consistent with some existing results for the in-control and out-of-control situation. By simulation process, the procedure identified a class of ARL for the MEWMA control when the process is in-control and out-of-control. From our study, it was observed that the MEWMA scheme is quite adequate for detecting a small shift and a good way to improve the quality of goods and services in a multivariate situation. It was also observed that as the in-control average run length ARL0¬ or the number of variables (p) increases, the optimum value of the ARL0pt increases asymptotically and as the magnitude of the shift σ increases, the optimal ARLopt decreases. Finally, we use the example from the literature to illustrate our method and demonstrate its efficiency.

Keywords: average run length, markov chain, multivariate exponentially weighted moving average, optimal smoothing parameter

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Authors: Anahita Farhang Ghahfarokhi, Alessandro Berti, Wil M.P. van der Aalst

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Process mining provides ways to analyze business processes. Common process mining techniques consider the process as a whole. However, in real-life business processes, different behaviors exist that make the overall process too complex to interpret. Process comparison is a branch of process mining that isolates different behaviors of the process from each other by using process cubes. Process cubes organize event data using different dimensions. Each cell contains a set of events that can be used as an input to apply process mining techniques. Existing work on process cubes assume single case notions. However, in real processes, several case notions (e.g., order, item, package, etc.) are intertwined. Object-centric process mining is a new branch of process mining addressing multiple case notions in a process. To make a bridge between object-centric process mining and process comparison, we propose a process cube framework, which supports process cube operations such as slice and dice on object-centric event logs. To facilitate the comparison, the framework is integrated with several object-centric process discovery approaches.

Keywords: multidimensional process mining, mMulti-perspective business processes, OLAP, process cubes, process discovery, process mining

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Authors: Diana Coyl-Shepherd, Lisa Newland

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Research and theory suggest that parenting and parent-child attachment influence emotional development and well-being. Studies indicate that adolescents often describe differences in relationships with each parent and may form different types of attachment to mothers and fathers. During adolescence and young adulthood, romantic partners may also become attachment figures, influencing well being, and providing a relational context for emotion skill development. Mothers, however, tend to be remain the primary attachment figure; fathers and romantic partners are more likely to be secondary attachment figures. The following hypotheses were tested: 1) participants would rate mothers as more accepting and less rejecting than fathers, 2) participants would rate secure attachment to mothers higher and insecure attachment lower compared to father and romantic partner, 3) parental rejection and insecure attachment would be negatively related to life satisfaction and emotional intelligence, and 4) secure attachment and parental acceptance would be positively related life satisfaction and emotional intelligence. After IRB and informed consent, one hundred fifty adolescents and young adults (ages 11-28, M = 19.64; 71% female) completed an online survey. Measures included parental acceptance, rejection, attachment (i.e., secure, dismissing, and preoccupied), emotional intelligence (i.e., seeking and providing comfort, use, and understanding of self emotions, expressing warmth, understanding and responding to others’ emotional needs), and well-being (i.e., self-confidence and life satisfaction). As hypothesized, compared to fathers’, mothers’ acceptance was significantly higher t (190) = 3.98, p = .000 and rejection significantly lower t (190) = - 4.40, p = .000. Group differences in secure attachment were significant, f (2, 389) = 40.24, p = .000; post-hoc analyses revealed significant differences between mothers and fathers and between mothers and romantic partners; mothers had the highest mean score. Group differences in preoccupied attachment were significant, f (2, 388) = 13.37, p = .000; post-hoc analyses revealed significant differences between mothers and romantic partners, and between fathers and romantic partners; mothers have the lowest mean score. However, group differences in dismissing attachment were not significant, f (2, 389) = 1.21, p = .30; scores for mothers and romantic partners were similar; father means score was highest. For hypotheses 3 and 4 significant negative correlations were found between life satisfaction and dismissing parent, and romantic attachment, preoccupied father and romantic attachment, and mother and father rejection variables; secure attachment variables and parental acceptance were positively correlated with life satisfaction. Self-confidence was correlated only with mother acceptance. For emotional intelligence, seeking and providing comfort were negatively correlated with parent dismissing and mother rejection; secure mother and romantic attachment and mother acceptance were positively correlated with these variables. Use and understanding of self-emotions were negatively correlated with parent and partner dismissing attachment, and parent rejection; romantic secure attachment and parent acceptance were positively correlated. Expressing warmth was negatively correlated with dismissing attachment variables, romantic preoccupied attachment, and parent rejection; whereas attachment secure variables were positively associated. Understanding and responding to others’ emotional needs were correlated with parent dismissing and preoccupied attachment variables and mother rejection; only secure father attachment was positively correlated.

Keywords: adolescent emotional intelligence, life satisfaction, parent and romantic attachment, parental rejection and acceptance

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Authors: Samir Bentata, Fatima Bendahma

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We have numerically investigated the effect of Aluminium concentration on the the laser wavelength of random trimer barrier AlxGa1-xAs superlattices (RTBSL). Such systems consist of two different structures randomly distributed along the growth direction, with the additional constraint that the barriers of one kind appear in triply. An explicit formula is given for evaluating the transmission coefficient of superlattices (SL's) with intentional correlated disorder. The method is based on Airy function formalism and the transfer-matrix technique. We discuss the impact of the Aluminium concentration associate to the structure profile on the laser wavelengths.

Keywords: superlattices, correlated disorder, transmission coefficient, laser wavelength

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Authors: Ibrahim Khalil Ibrahim, Enas Mohamed Shahine, Abeer Shawky El Hadedy, Emmanuel Kamal Aziz Saba, Ghada Salah Attia Hussein

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Osteoarthritis (OA) is a multifactorial disease characterized by a progressive degradation of articular cartilage and is the leading cause of disability in elderly persons. IL-18 contributes to the destruction of cartilage and bone in the disease process of arthritis. The aim of the study was to investigate the role of IL-18 in primary knee OA patients. Serum level of IL-18 was assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 30 primary knee OA patients and compared to 20 age and gender-matched healthy volunteers as a control group. Radiographic severity of OA was assessed by Kellgren and Lawrence (KL) global scale. Pain, stiffness and functional assessment were done using Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). OA patients had significantly higher serum IL-18 level than in control group (420.93 ± 345.4 versus 151.03 ± 144.16 pg/ml, P=0.001). Serum level of IL-18 was positively correlated with KL global scale (P=0.001). There were no statistically significant correlations between serum level of IL-18 and pain, stiffness, function subscales and total WOMAC index scores among the studied patients. In conclusions, IL-18 has a role in the pathogenesis of OA and it is positively correlated with the radiographic damage of OA.

Keywords: Interlukin-18, knee osteoarthritis, primary osteoarthritis, WOMAC scale

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Authors: Qing Wu, Xuchun Ye, Qiuchen Wang, Kirsten Corazzini

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Objective: It’s increasing acknowledged that patient engagement in healthcare and health literacy both have positive impact on patient outcome. Health literacy emphasizes the ability of individuals to understand and apply health information and manage health. Patients' health literacy affected their willingness to participate in decision-making, but its impact on the behavior and willingness of patient engagement in healthcare is not clear, especially in China. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the correlation between the behavior and willingness of patient engagement and health literacy. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was employed using the behavior and willingness of patient engagement in healthcare questionnaire, Chinese version All Aspects of Health Literacy Scale (AAHLS). A convenient sample of 443 patients was recruited from 8 general hospitals in Shanghai, Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province, from September 2016 to January 2017. Results: The mean score for the willingness was (4.41±0.45), and the mean score for the patient engagement behavior was (4.17±0.49); the mean score for the patient's health literacy was (2.36±0.29)，the average score of its three dimensions- the functional literacy, the Communicative/interactive literacy and the Critical literacy, was (2.26±0.38), (2.28±0.42), and (2.61±0.43), respectively. Patients' health literacy was positively correlated with their willingness of engagement (r = 0.367, P < 0.01), and positively correlated with patient engagement behavior (r = 0.357, P < 0.01). All dimensions of health literacy were positively correlated with the behavior and willingness of patient engagement in healthcare; the dimension of Communicative/interactive literacy (r = 0.312, P < 0.01; r = 0.357, P < 0.01) and the Critical literacy (r = 0.357, P < 0.01; r = 0.357, P < 0.01) are more relevant to the behavior and willingness than the dimension of basic/functional literacy (r=0.150, P < 0.01; r = 0.150, P < 0.01). Conclusions: The behavior and willingness of patient engagement in healthcare are positively correlated with health literacy and its dimensions. In clinical work, medical staff should pay attention to patients’ health literacy, especially the situation that low literacy leads to low participation and provide health information to patients through health education or communication to improve their health literacy as well as guide them to actively and rationally participate in their own health care.

Keywords: patient engagement, health literacy, healthcare, correlation

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Authors: Wannee Sutthachaidee

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The study of the production process of coconut-shell product in Amphawa, Samutsongkram Province is objected to study the pattern of the process of coconut-shell product by focusing in the 3 main processes which are inbound logistics process, production process and outbound process. The result of the research: There were 4 main results from the study. Firstly, most of the manufacturer of coconut-shell product is usually owned by a single owner and the quantity of the finished product is quite low and the main labor group is local people. Secondly, the production process can be divided into 4 stages which are pre-production process, production process, packaging process and distribution process. Thirdly, each 3 of the logistics process of coconut shell will find process which may cause the problem to the business but the process which finds the most problem is the production process because the production process needs the skilled labor and the quantity of the labor does not match with the demand from the customers. Lastly, the factors which affect the production process of the coconut shell can be founded in almost every process of the process such as production design, packaging design, sourcing supply and distribution management.

Keywords: production process, coconut-shell product, Amphawa District, inbound logistics process

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Authors: M. Hilmi Ozdemir, Gokhan Ozkan

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Performance Based Logistics (PBL) is a strategic approach that enables creating long-term and win-win relations among stakeholders in the acquisition. Contrary to the traditional single transactions, the expected value is created by the performance of the service pertaining to the strategic relationships in this approach. PBL motivates all relevant stakeholders to focus on their core competencies to produce the desired outcome in a collective way. The desired outcome can only be assured with a cost effective way as long as it is periodically measured with the right performance parameters. Thus, defining these parameters is a crucial step for the PBL contracts. In performance parameter determination, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is a multi-criteria decision making methodology for complex cases, was used within this study for a complex system. AHP has been extensively applied in various areas including supply chain, inventory management, outsourcing, and logistics. This methodology made it possible to convert end-user’s main operation and maintenance requirements to sub criteria contained by a single performance parameter. Those requirements were categorized and assigned weights by the relevant stakeholders. Single performance parameter capable of measuring the overall performance of a complex system is the major outcome of this study. The parameter deals with the integrated assessment of different functions spanning from training, operation, maintenance, reporting, and documentation that are implemented within a complex system. The aim of this study is to show the methodology and processes implemented to identify a single performance parameter for measuring the whole performance of a complex system within a PBL contract. AHP methodology is recommended as an option for the researches and the practitioners who seek for a lean and integrated approach for performance assessment within PBL contracts. The implementation of AHP methodology in this study may help PBL practitioners from methodological perception and add value to AHP in becoming prevalent.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, performance based logistics, performance measurement, performance parameters

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Authors: Ahmed M. Rashed

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Culicoides midges are known to be vectors of disease to both man and animals. For providing information necessary for control methods to be applied to the best advantage, a New jersey light-trap was used. Twenty species were identified during this study and eight species were recorded from Chantilly for the first time, these include C.grisescens, C.nubeculosus, C.cubitalis, C.achrayi, C.circumscriptus, C.stigma, C.reconditus, and C.parroti. The environmental factors, wind speed and temperature were found to have a marked effect on the activity of Culicoides midges. The temperature was found to be positively correlated and the wind speed negatively correlated with the light-trap catch. However, humidioty could not be shown to have any effect on the catch.

Keywords: culicoides, meteorological factors, wind speed, disease

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Authors: Ercan Eker, Muhammer Karaman, Akif Aslan, Hakan Tanrikuluoglu

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Deficiency of institutional memory and knowledge management can result in information security breaches, loss of prestige and trustworthiness and the worst the loss of know-how and institutional knowledge. Traditional learning management within organizations is generally handled by personal efforts. That kind of struggle mostly depends on personal desire, motivation and institutional belonging. Even if an organization has highly motivated employees at a certain time, the institutional knowledge and memory life cycle will generally remain limited to these employees’ spending time in this organization. Having a learning management system in an organization can sustain the institutional memory, knowledge and know-how in the organization. Learning management systems are much more needed especially in public organizations where the job rotation is frequently seen and managers are appointed periodically. However, a learning management system should not be seen as an organizations’ website. It is a more comprehensive, interactive and user-friendly knowledge management tool for organizations. In this study, the importance of using learning management systems in the process of emerging tacit knowledge is underlined.

Keywords: knowledge management, learning management systems, tacit knowledge, institutional memory

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Authors: Hyungil Chae

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This work presents a method to reduce spinning current of a Hall-effect sensor for low-power magnetic sensor applications. Spinning current of a Hall-effect sensor changes the direction of bias current periodically and can separate signals from DC-offset. The bias current is proportional to the sensor sensitivity but also increases the power consumption. To achieve both high sensitivity and low power consumption, the bias current can be pulse-width modulated. When the bias current duration Tb is reduced by a factor of N compared to the spinning current period of Tₛ/2, the total power consumption can be saved by N times. N can be large as long as the Hall-effect sensor settles down within Tb. The proposed scheme is implemented and simulated in a 0.18um CMOS process, and the power saving factor is 9.6 when N is 10. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by Institute for Information & communications Technology Promotion (IITP) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (20160001360022003, Development of Hall Semi-conductor for Smart Car and Device).

Keywords: chopper stabilization, Hall-effect sensor, pulse width modulation, spinning current

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Authors: Amruta Rout, Golak Bihari Mahanta, Gunji Bala Murali, Bibhuti Bhusan Biswal, B. B. V. L. Deepak

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The use of industrial robots for performing welding operation is one of the chief sign of contemporary welding in these days. The weld joint parameter and weld process parameter modeling is one of the most crucial aspects of robotic welding. As weld process parameters affect the weld joint parameters differently, a multi-objective optimization technique has to be utilized to obtain optimal setting of weld process parameter. In this paper, a hybrid optimization technique, i.e., Principal Component Analysis (PCA) combined with fuzzy logic has been proposed to get optimal setting of weld process parameters like wire feed rate, welding current. Gas flow rate, welding speed and nozzle tip to plate distance. The weld joint parameters considered for optimization are the depth of penetration, yield strength, and ultimate strength. PCA is a very efficient multi-objective technique for converting the correlated and dependent parameters into uncorrelated and independent variables like the weld joint parameters. Also in this approach, no need for checking the correlation among responses as no individual weight has been assigned to responses. Fuzzy Inference Engine can efficiently consider these aspects into an internal hierarchy of it thereby overcoming various limitations of existing optimization approaches. At last Taguchi method is used to get the optimal setting of weld process parameters. Therefore, it has been concluded the hybrid technique has its own advantages which can be used for quality improvement in industrial applications.

Keywords: robotic arc welding, weld process parameters, weld joint parameters, principal component analysis, fuzzy logic, Taguchi method

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Authors: Ewa M. Laskowska, Jorn Vatn

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Industry 4.0 focuses on digital optimization of industrial processes. The idea is to use extracted data in order to build a decision support model enabling use of those data for real time decision making. In terms of predictive maintenance, the desired decision support tool would be a model enabling prognostics of system's health based on the current condition of considered equipment. Within area of system prognostics and health management, a commonly used health indicator is Remaining Useful Lifetime (RUL) of a system. Because the RUL is a random variable, it has to be estimated based on available health indicators. Health indicators can be of different types and come from different sources. They can be process variables, equipment performance variables, data related to number of experienced failures, etc. The aim of this study is the analysis of performance variables of emergency shutdown valves (ESV) used in oil and gas industry. ESV is inspected periodically, and at each inspection torque and time of valve operation are registered. The data will be analyzed by means of machine learning or statistical analysis. The purpose is to investigate whether the available data could be used as a health indicator for a prognostic purpose. The second objective is to examine what is the most efficient way to incorporate the data into predictive model. The idea is to check whether the data can be applied in form of explanatory variables in Markov process or whether other stochastic processes would be a more convenient to build an RUL model based on the information coming from registered data.

Keywords: emergency shutdown valves, health indicator, prognostics, remaining useful lifetime, RUL

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Authors: Guo Haonan, Chen Peiyu, Zhao Hanyu, Burra Venkata Durga Kumar

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Unix and Unix-like operating systems are widely used due to their high stability but are limited by the parent-child process structure, and the child process depends on the parent process, so the crash of a single process may cause the entire process group or even the entire system to fail. Another possibility of unexpected process termination is that the system administrator inadvertently closed the terminal or pseudo-terminal where the application was launched, causing the application process to terminate unexpectedly. This paper mainly analyzes the reasons for the problems and proposes two solutions.

Keywords: process management, daemon, login-bash and non-login bash, process group

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Authors: Ki-Yeo Kim

Abstract:

Trends in genetics are transforming in order to identify differential coexpressions of correlated gene expression rather than the significant individual gene. Moreover, it is known that a combined biomarker pattern improves the discrimination of a specific cancer. The identification of the combined biomarker is also necessary for the early detection of invasive oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). To identify the combined biomarker that could improve the discrimination of OSCC, we explored an appropriate number of genes in a combined gene set in order to attain the highest level of accuracy. After detecting a significant gene set, including the pre-defined number of genes, a combined expression was identified using the weights of genes in a gene set. We used the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for the weight calculation. In this process, we used three public microarray datasets. One dataset was used for identifying the combined biomarker, and the other two datasets were used for validation. The discrimination accuracy was measured by the out-of-bag (OOB) error. There was no relation between the significance and the discrimination accuracy in each individual gene. The identified gene set included both significant and insignificant genes. One of the most significant gene sets in the classification of normal and OSCC included MMP1, SOCS3 and ACOX1. Furthermore, in the case of oral dysplasia and OSCC discrimination, two combined biomarkers were identified. The combined genomic expression achieved better performance in the discrimination of different conditions than in a single significant gene. Therefore, it could be expected that accurate diagnosis for cancer could be possible with a combined biomarker.

Keywords: oral squamous cell carcinoma, combined biomarker, microarray dataset, correlated genes

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Authors: Fareena Alladin

Abstract:

In the Caribbean, issues of food security, health and taste are intricately linked, seen most clearly in the increasing incidence of lifestyle diseases among children coupled with a taste for high calorie and Westernized diets. In order to fully appreciate this link, the role of nutrition environments must be examined. To this end, the present study incorporates tenets of Bourdieu’s social constructivist theory with the Community Nutrition Environment Model. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between availability of and access to healthy/unhealthy foods within nutrition environments, namely the household and school, and the development of taste preferences for healthy/unhealthy foods among primary school children in a selected educational district in Trinidad and Tobago. A cross-sectional survey of 400 children between the ages of 9 and 11 years was conducted. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 24. Results indicated that availability of healthy food at home was positively correlated with preference for vegetables, and negatively correlated with preference for salty snacks and fast food. The availability of unhealthy food within the home was found to be negatively correlated with preference for vegetables and positively correlated with preference for salty snacks. Access to unhealthy foods at school had a positive correlation with preference for fast food. These findings highlight the role of the food environment in shaping taste preferences, and point to the need for interrogating the centrality of food security concerns in emerging health concerns of Caribbean countries. Such interrogations are a necessary part of the development of research agendas, and policy formulation and implementation.

Keywords: food security, nutrition environment, taste preference, Trinidad and Tobago

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Authors: A. Al-Sayyad, P. Lama, J. Bardon, P. Hirchenhahn, L. Houssiau, P. Plapper

Abstract:

Composite metal–polymer materials, in particular titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) to polyamide (PA6.6), fabricated by laser joining, have gained cogent interest among industries and researchers concerned with aerospace and biomedical applications. This work adopts infrared (IR) thermography technique to investigate effects of laser parameters used in the welding process on the three-dimensional temperature profile at the rear-side of titanium, at the region to be welded with polyamide. Cross sectional analysis of welded joints showed correlations between the morphology of titanium and polyamide at the weld zone with the corresponding temperature profile. In particular, spatial temperature profile was found to be correlated with the laser beam energy density, titanium molten pool width and depth, and polyamide heat affected zone depth.

Keywords: laser welding, metals to polymers joining, process monitoring, temperature profile, thermography

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Authors: Meltem Anafarta Şendağ, Funda Kutlu

Abstract:

Attachment theory has some major postulates that direct attention of psychologists from many different domains. First, the theory suggests that attachment is a lifetime process. This means that every human being from cradle to grave needs someone stronger to depend on in times of stress. Second, the attachment is a dynamic process and as one goes through developmental stages it is being transferred from one figure to another (friends, romantic partners). Third, the quality of attachment relationships later in time directly affected by the earliest attachment relationship established between the mother and the infant. Depending on these postulates, attachment literature focuses mostly on mother – child attachment during childhood and romantic relationship during adulthood. However, although romantic partners are important attachment figures in adults’ life, parents are not dropped out from the attachment hierarchy but they keep being important attachment figures. Despite the fact that parents could still be an important figure in adults’ life, adult – parent attachment is overlooked in the literature. Accordingly, this study focuses on adult daughters’ current attachment to their old mothers in relation with early parental bonding and current attachment to husbands. Participants of the study were 383 adult women (Average age = 40, ranging between 23 and 70) whose mothers were still alive and who were married at the time of the study. Participants were completed Adult Attachment Scale, Parental Bonding Instrument, and Experiences in Close Relationship – II together with demographic questionnaire. Results revealed that daughters’ attachment to their mothers weakens as they get older, have more children, and have longer marriages. Stronger attachment to mothers was found positively correlated with current satisfaction with the relationship, perception of maternal care before the age of 12 and negatively correlated with perception of controlling behavior before the age 12. Considering the relationship between current parental attachment and romantic attachment, it was found that as the current attachment to mother strengthens attachment avoidance towards husband decreases. Results revealed that although attachment between the adult daughters and old mothers weakens, the relationship is still critical in daughters’ lives. The strength of current attachment with the mother is related both with the early relationship with the mother and current attachment with the husband. The current study is thought to contribute to attachment theory emphasizing the attachment as a lifetime construct.

Keywords: adult daughter, attachment, old mothers, parental bonding

Procedia PDF Downloads 302