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The American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) is a crucial, objective assessment of surgical knowledge during training. In 2014, the American Board of Surgery (ABS) announced the alignment of the ABSITE to the SCORE® (Surgical Council on Resident Education) Curriculum Outline for General Surgery Residency. We hypothesized that implementing a pre-ABSITE SCORE-based exam would help identify underperforming residents and provide early guidance to improve performance on the ABSITE.In October 2014, our university-based surgical residency program began administering a yearly comprehensive pre-ABSITE SCORE-based exam consisting of 225 to 250 multiple-choice questions selected from the SCORE question bank to all our general surgery residents, preliminary and categorical. The 4-hour exam addresses both clinical management (80%) and applied sciences (20%). Residents receive reports with their scores (percentage correct). Residents performing at less than 60% meet with the Program Director for discussion and formulation of a study plan. Correlational analysis was performed between resident ABSITE scores, pre-ABSITE SCORE-based exam scores, gender, resident status (preliminary vs. categorical), postgraduate year (PGY), and the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 and Step 2 scores.A total of 244 exam scores (122 pre-ABSITE SCORE-based exams and 122 matched ABSITE) were completed by 51 residents at different PGY levels (32 PGY1, 32 PGY2, 20 PGY3, 19 PGY4, and 18 PGY5). Fifty-seven percent were males, 62% were categorical residents, and 38% were preliminary residents. October pre-ABSITE SCORE-based exam scores were compared to the subsequent January ABSITE scores. Categorical residents completed 101 (83%) of the January exams, while preliminary residents completed 21 (17%) of these paired exams. We found strong correlations between the correct percentage on ABSITE and pre-ABSITE SCORE-based scores (r = 0.637, p0.001), between the correct percentage on ABSITE and PGY (r = 0.688, p0.001), and between ABSITE and resident status (r = 0.462, p0.001). Additionally, there was a weak to negligible correlation between the correct percentage on ABSITE and resident gender (r = 0.274, p = 0.001), USMLE-2 (r = 0.12, p = 0.16), and USMLE-1 (r = 0.04, p = 0.653). Multiple regression analysis, with all predictors, was performed to predict the percentage score on the ABSITE and produced RWe found a strong correlation between performance on the pre-ABSITE SCORE-based exam and performance on the ABSITE exam. Surgery residents are encouraged to start studying earlier and to utilize SCORE contents as outlined by the ABS in their study plan.

Background While grief research has focused on death-related losses and distressed outcomes, contemporary findings suggest that role losses can lead to grief, and growth can accompany grief. The current study aimed to replicate and extend the Papa, Lancaster, & Kahler, 2014 study by: (1) assessing common loss responses (prolonged grief, major depression, posttraumatic stress) and role centrality among bereaved, divorced, and unemployed individuals, and (2) exploring posttraumatic growth and stress appraisals among loss groups. Method A cross-sectional online survey was completed by 372 recently bereaved, divorced, and unemployed individuals. Exploratory factor analysis assessed common loss responses in the bereaved group. In the sample, multiple regressions assessed the relationship between role centrality, stress appraisals, and outcome variables (prolonged grief, posttraumatic growth); correlational analysis assessed the relationship between posttraumatic growth and psychopathology variables; qualitative analysis assessed examples of posttraumatic growth. Results A subset of each loss group reported prolonged grief and posttraumatic growth. Prolonged grief was a distinct factor from major depression and posttraumatic stress. Role centrality and stress appraisals were significantly associated with outcome variables. There was a weak, positive relationship between posttraumatic growth and psychopathology variables. Limitations Limitations included convenience sampling and a cross-sectional study design, which precluded assessing responses over time. Strengths included replicating existing literature and incorporating a strength-based measure. Conclusions Prolonged grief can emerge from death-related loss and role loss. Also, posttraumatic growth can accompany prolonged grief. In clinical practice, loss can be conceptualized broadly beyond bereavement and addressed with the potential for posttraumatic growth.

This study investigated the possibility of using virtual reality perceptual-motor tasks as a screening tool for laparoscopic ability. We hypothesized that perceptual-motor skills assessed using virtual reality will correlate with the quality of simulated laparoscopic ventral hernia repair.Surgical residents (N = 37), performed 2 virtual reality perceptual-motor tasks: (1) force matching and (2) target tracking. Participants also performed a laparoscopic ventral hernia repair on a simulator and final product quality score, and endoscopic visualization errors were calculated. Correlational analysis was performed to assess the relationship between performance on virtual reality tasks and laparoscopic ventral hernia repair.Residents with poor performance on force matching in virtual reality-"peak deflection" (r = -0.34, P.05) and "summation distance" (r = -0.36, P.05)-had lower final product quality scores. Likewise, poor performance in virtual reality-based target tracking-"path length" (r = -0.49, P.05) and "maximum distance" (r = -0.37, P.05)-correlated with a lower final product quality score.Our findings support the notion that virtual reality could be used as a screening tool for perceptual-motor skill. Trainees identified as having poor perceptual-motor skill can benefit from focused curricula, allowing them to hone personal areas of weakness and maximize technical skill.

We report an accurate recognition of ten different types of postconsumer plastics, including five extensively used basic plastics, by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). Ratiometric and correlational analysis have been performed for the classification in which C/H ratio yielded partial discrimination while an excellent correlation has been observed between the intensity of the carbon peak with carbon single bonds. Additionally, a 3D correlational approach using the emission intensities of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen lines successfully segregated all the plastics. Finally, we report findings from partial least squares- discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) that demonstrates classification accuracies of over 93 %. We envision that the high classification accuracy is shown here will encourage further validation studies leading to routine application of LIBS for screening and identification of post-consumer plastics.

Objective End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on hemodialysis were demonstrated to exhibit silent and invisible white-matter alterations which would likely lead to disruptions of brain structural networks. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the disruptions of brain structural network in ESRD patients. Materials and methods Thiry-three ESRD patients with normal-appearing brain tissues and 29 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were enrolled in this study and underwent both cognitive ability screening instrument (CASI) assessment and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) acquisition. Brain structural connectivity network was constructed using probabilistic tractography with automatic anatomical labeling template. Graph-theory analysis was performed to detect the alterations of node-strength, node-degree, node-local efficiency, and node-clustering coefficient in ESRD patients. Correlational analysis was performed to understand the relationship between network measures, CASI score, and dialysis duration. Results Structural connectivity, node-strength, node-degree, and node-local efficiency were significantly decreased, whereas node-clustering coefficient was significantly increased in ESRD patients as compared with healthy controls. The disrupted local structural networks were generally associated with common neurological complications of ESRD patients, but the correlational analysis did not reveal significant correlation between network measures, CASI score, and dialysis duration. Conclusion Graph-theory analysis was helpful to investigate disruptions of brain structural network in ESRD patients with normal-appearing brain tissues.

This study investigated the change and stability of the Big-Five personality factors measured on a short scale. Fifteen similar studies using longer instruments were reviewed. In this study 7554 participants aged between 16 and 92 years completed a short 15 item FFM inventory twice six years apart in a large British sample. As expected, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Extroversion significantly increased, whereas Neuroticism significantly decreased, and Openness remained essentially the same over the time period. Participants were divided into six age groups and the results were broadly similar. Correlational analysis showed all five personality factors were considerably stable over six years after controlling for gender and age (r = 0.47 to r = 0.60, p

Research Objectives To investigate whether the Fidelity Assessment Common Ingredients Tool (FACIT) has a relationship between empowerment and satisfaction with people who have psychiatric disabilities and attend Peer Operated Service Programs (POSP) in New Jersey. Design The FACIT was administered along with the Personal Empowerment Scale (PES), the Making Decisions Empowerment Scale (MDES), and the Self-help Agency Satisfaction Scale (SHASS). Two research assistants administered the FACIT, and on a subsequent visit, administered the three surveys. Canonical correlational analysis (Hair et al., 2015) was used to determine if there was a relationship between the FACIT and satisfaction and empowerment. Setting The study occurred in community POSP where people with psychiatric disabilities attend for mutual self-help, and peer led activities (Swarbrick, 2007). Participants A convenience sample consisting of 206 participants, who self-identified as having a serious mental illness, participated from 19 POSP. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures The FACIT survey consists of 46 items and six domains and measures how well a peer run organization is adhering to the peer model (Johnsen et al., 2005; SAMHSA, 2011). The PES focuses on independent social functioning (Segal et al., 1995), the MDES measures self-empowerment (Rogers et. al., 1997), and the SHASS measures satisfaction with self-help programs (Segal et al., 2000). Results Canonical correlational analysis found a relationship between satisfaction and empowerment and the six subscales of the FACIT (p Conclusions While a relationship was found between empowerment and satisfaction and the FACIT, these do not appear to be the main focus, which is more about how the POSP is structured and organized. Implications for using the FACIT at peer programs will be presented. Author(s) Disclosures None.

This study aimed at measuring the level of preparedness among Bahrain Training Institute (BTI) students towards online learning and identifying the most contributing skill(s) to online learning preparedness. In measuring the preparedness of students, seven online learning skills such as persistence (P), effective time-management skills (ETMS), effective and appropriate communication skills (EACS), basic technical skills (BTS), reading and writing skills (RWS), motivation and independence (M&I), a good study environment (GSE) were used. The data were collected from 79 students studying in Commercial Studies Division (CSD) The findings show that a vast majority (70.9%) of the CSD students are well prepared for online learning sessions and only 12.7% of the students are not well prepared for online sessions. The correlational analysis shows a high positive correlation between the seven online learning skills and the preparedness of CSD students. The correlation coefficient ranges between 0.773 and 0.903. The regression analysis shows that 'Basic Technical Skills2 (0.107), Good Study Environment1 (0.103) & Effective Time-Management Skills2 (0.101)' have a stronger impact on the online learning preparedness of the CSD students.

A pandemic crisis is now happening in the world because of the new coronavirus, which causes COVID-19 disease. Millions of people are infected, and several countries are affected. This paper inquires the relationship between COVID-19 deaths and recoveries in each country. The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID19) had scattered in every continent, and almost many people had died after contracting the respiratory virus, these deaths occurred in every country. The data was acquired from Worldmeter, and data is until May 8, 2020. The result shows that there is a strong relationship between the two variables with r=0.766. Moreover, there is a significant relationship between deaths and recoveries per country for the COVID-19 disease with a p-value of 0.000 (Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level 2-tailed).

In the past generations, there has been an evident increase of people getting inked or having a tattoo in different ages. Tattoos in young adults, these days, are representative of different meanings in their life. The study investigated the relationship of perception of tattoos and employability amongst young adults. The study conducted a survey to 70 students who are currently studying in various universities in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The study found out that there is a undeniable stigma attached to the tattooed young adults. It is found out that tattoos can have a bias in the hiring process, can easily get judged, and colleague won’t be comfortable working with them. Conversely, tattooed and non-tattooed young adults perceived that having tattoos cannot limit a person’s employability and not a hindrance on job promotion. The study will benefit students, young professionals, and HR practitioners to be more open minded and adapt to changes in the workplace.

The world is experiencing a global pandemic crisis right now because of the new coronavirus, which causes COVID-19 disease, and millions are infected. This paper inquires the possible correlation between the number of new cases per day and the number of daily deaths in the Philippines. The data was collected from the COVID-19 data drop repository of the Department of Health, Philippines. Pearson r was utilized to determine the correlation between the two variables. The result shows that there is a relationship between the number of daily new cases and the number of deaths per day. However, the correlation is not highly significant as the p-value is at 0.002 (Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level 2-tailed).

There is a global pandemic in the year 2020 wherein the COVID-19 disease has affected several countries The SARS-CoV2 coronavirus that causes it has infected m

Increased intercultural competence is an expected outcome of study abroad, but the literature regarding actual outcomes is still limited and often contradictory. This quantitative, longitudinal, quasi-experimental study assesses the impact of a semester abroad on students’ ways of understanding and approaching cultural difference, their “intercultural development.” It also examines whether certain demographic characteristics and background experiences of students, as well as characteristics of study abroad programs, influence outcomes. Change over a semester in Developmental Orientation (DO) scores on the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) v3 is the dependent variable. This score identifies an individual’s position on a continuum of orientations toward cultural difference ranging from monocultural to intercultural. Participants in both the experimental (i.e. study abroad) and control groups (108 and 65 respectively) were undergraduate volunteers from a large, urban, private university in the United States. Group comparisons employing analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlational analysis were the main statistical techniques. Experimental group members experienced a statistically significant mean increase in IDI DO scores, pre- to post-test, compared to control group members, with small-to-medium effect size. In other words, students became on average modestly more interculturally-minded after a semester abroad. Study abroad participants who were female, identified as members of more than one national culture, or had a grandparent born and raised outside the United States were significantly more likely than others to increase their intercultural-mindedness while studying abroad. Surprisingly, in light of the literature, none of the study abroad program characteristics tested was significantly associated with pre- to post-test IDI mean score change. In sum, personal characteristics outweighed program characteristics.

Purpose The aim of this study was to (1) document the experiences of enacted stigma (external stigma, experienced discrimination) and felt stigma (anticipation and expectation of discrimination or negative treatment by others) in adults who stutter, (2) investigate their relationships to each other, and (3) investigate their relationships to global mental health. Method Participants were 324 adults who stutter recruited from clinicians and self-help group leaders in the United States. Participants completed an anonymous web survey consisting of measures of enacted stigma, felt stigma, and global mental health. Data analysis focused on obtaining descriptive statistics for enacted stigma and felt stigma, and performing correlational analysis between these variables, and also between these variables and global mental health. Results Most participants reported experiencing several different forms of social devaluation and negative treatment from other people at some point in their lives (i.e., enacted stigma), although they rarely experienced these events during the past year. Most participants agreed that they anticipate future stigmatizing experiences (i.e., felt stigma). Enacted stigma in the past year demonstrated a significant positive relationship to felt stigma. Both enacted stigma in the past year and felt stigma demonstrated significant negative relationships with global mental health. Enacted stigma in the past year and felt stigma were unique predictors of participants’ global mental health. Conclusions People who stutter experience discrimination and social devaluation, and they anticipate future stigmatizing experiences. Both of these types of stigma, enacted and felt, are associated with reduced mental health in adults who stutter. Assessment and therapy with adults who stutter should address these aspects of stuttering.

The purpose of this study was to compare the relationship between flexion endurance capacity and joint position error in participants with or without chronic neck pain (CNP).Sixty-one CNP and 60 asymptomatic volunteers participated in this cross-sectional, case-control, and correlational analysis study. The measured variables included absolute and constant joint repositioning errors in the sagittal and horizontal directions, clinical flexor endurance test score, pain intensity, and neck disability index.The groups did not statistically differ in flexion endurance (P.05). The CNP group had a smaller absolute error on the right (P.01) and left (P = .01) rotation and an overshooting error pattern in the flexion direction (P.05). But the asymptomatic group did not exhibit any over-/undershooting pattern tendency (P.05). Although flexion endurance was not correlated with any of the joint repositioning error components in either group, pain and disability scores were significantly correlated with left rotation absolute error (r = -0.34 and ρ = -0.37, respectively).The clinical cervical flexor endurance test, ignoring the relative contribution of the deep and superficial groups of muscles, may not efficiently characterize CNP patients.

The function of disgust as a pathogen avoidance promoter in the food domain is not well understood. One problem is that no food-specific disgust scale is available. Thus, we developed and validated the Food Disgust Scale (FDS) through a series of five studies. The FDS is a self-report measure that enables the assessment of an individual’s emotional disposition to react with disgust to certain food-related (offensive) stimuli. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to develop eight FDS subscales that represent unique types of food disgust: animal flesh, poor hygiene, human contamination, mold, decaying fruit, fish, decaying vegetables, and living contaminants. The subscales showed good internal consistencies across three different adult samples (N between 170 and 527). Alongside the 32-item version, an 8-item composite measure was developed and tested. Validity was supported by correlational analysis between the revised version of the Disgust Scale, germ aversion, food neophobia, picky eating, and individuals’ number of food-borne illnesses in the last five years. In addition, two-week test-retest reliability was very good. Incremental validity was supported in an eating experiment (i.e., willingness to eat insect-based food). The new scale will not only help improve the understanding of how food disgust shapes people’s food behavior in a functional and dysfunctional way, but will also help enhance the understanding of consumer acceptance of new foods and food technologies.

Purpose To determine if a correlation exists between OSA patient characteristics and the PACU discharge location; and the characteristics of the patients at-risk for low saturation levels, increased number of desaturations, and longer length of stay in the PACU. Design Retrospective, correlational study design. Method Chart review of OSA patients ≥ 18 years old. Correlational analysis was performed between 15 high risk patient variables and the PACU discharge disposition: home or monitored bed. Complications resulting in monitored bed admission were reviewed. Findings 153 patients' charts were reviewed. The results showed that age>60, ASA classification, anesthesia type and narcotics use in the PACU were significantly correlated (p≤.05) with a patient's discharge disposition. Discussion The findings are consistent with other OSA research except BMI was not significant in this study. Conclusion The results highlighted areas for future research and implications for clinical practice that would enable the perioperative care team to deliver safe care based on evidence.

The present study investigated achievement goals as mediating constructs linking students' distal motivational dispositions to their intrinsic motivation and academic achievement. We surveyed 288 high school students with a mean age of 17.7 years twice over the course of 1 year. At Time 1, students reported their implicit theory of intelligence, hope of success, fear of failure, and perceived competence. At Time 2, students indicated their achievement goals and intrinsic motivation. Subsequent grade point average served as criterion for academic achievement. Structural equation modeling revealed significant indirect effects of students' motivational dispositions on their intrinsic motivation and achievement via achievement goals. Fear of failure and perceived competence accounted for achievement via performance-approach goals. These effects held stable after controlling for prior achievement. Furthermore, we found evidence for multiplicative effects among motivational dispositions in predicting achievement goals: fear of failure moderated the effects of hope of success on mastery goals. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.

Young children's literacy experiences at home shape the development of emergent literacy skills. Due to the increasing use of touch screen tablets (e.g., iPads) in homes and early education settings it is important to investigate the relationship between digital tools and emergent literacy. The present study examined the relationships between children's (N?=?57; aged 2-4 years) emergent literacy skills and home use of tablets for writing and reading. Correlational analysis showed a positive association between children's access to apps and print knowledge. A positive association was found between the frequency of writing with tablets and print awareness, print knowledge, and sound knowledge. No associations occurred between emergent literacy skills and frequency of e-book reading. Further research is needed to investigate the effects of tablet writing on emergent literacy development. Pre-schoolers' home use of tablets and emergent literacy is examined.Positive association found between access to apps and print knowledge.Positive association found between writing with tablets and print and sound knowledge.Tablet writing may be a key activity for early literacy learning.

Those high in the Dark Triad traits, i.e. narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism are often painted as either the “villains” or the “perpetrators”. The consensus of personality research thus far is that these traits function by playing offense. Nonetheless, there is scope to understand the defensive stance of these traits. In this online questionnaire design study ( N = 244) the relationship between the Dark Triad traits, defensive strategies and stress were investigated by correlational analysis. Unique associations with stress and defensive functioning depict individual differences in the Dark triad traits. Acting out, dissociation and splitting were the defenses that all three traits had in common; and all three traits were correlated with the use of an immature defensive strategy. An important novel finding of this present study was that an immature defensive strategy was found to mediate the relationship between Machiavellianism and stress. This brings us closer to understanding the psychological makeup of this trait. Applications are discussed within a clinical framework and the case is presented for a focus on theory of psychological defense to be adopted when working with such clientele.

This study examines the social network of the learner relationships and online interactions in a graduate course using weblogs for writing and sharing weekly reflective journals during a 16-week semester. The social network data of the learner relationships were gathered twice by measuring learners' perceived emotional closeness with other learners. In terms of the online interactions among the learners, the numbers of replies that individual learners had posted to and received from others' postings were respectively calculated and analyzed. The findings from these measures indicated that the social network patterns and values as measured by peer relationships were noticeably changed at the end of the semester, when compared to that at the beginning. The impact of blogging activities on such changes was supported by correlational analysis between the peer relationships in the social network and online interactions through the learner blogs.

A recently published correlational analysis has suggested a linear increase in the prevalence of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as a function of increasing latitude. This was attributed to a misalignment of the circadian system leading to increased obsessive tendencies and perseverative thought. The present article sought to evaluate these claims in the data reported by those authors using a fully Bayesian meta-analytic approach testing both linear and non-linear effects. Findings were then validated against a sample of independently coded studies. Whereas re-analysis of the original data provided strong evidence in favour of a non-linear relation between latitude and OCD prevalence, analysis of the independently coded studies provided evidence against any statistical relation. In summary, the link between OCD prevalence and latitude is likely to be weaker than previously thought. Further research is required before firm conclusions can be drawn.

This paper attempts a first-cut listing of global public goods and international spillover activities, as well as providing some data on their global distribution alongside basic correlational analysis. Few if any goods are “pure” global public goods and there is a spectrum of the extent of spillovers. Some global public goods are not well measured. The listing is far from exhaustive, nor is it based on rigorous selection criteria. But it does suggest considerable diversity in trends, levels and sources of public good and spillover activities.

In a flanker task, behavioral performance is modulated by previous trial compatibility (i.e., conflict adaptation); a longer response time (RT) is found for a compatible stimulus preceded by an incompatible stimulus than by a compatible stimulus, whereas a shorter RT is found for an incompatible stimulus preceded by an incompatible stimulus than by a compatible stimulus. We examined the temporal characteristics of cognitive control across conflict adaptation using prestimulus electroencephalogram oscillatory activity and an event-related potential component, N1. Prestimulus frontal (Fz) and posterior (O1 and O2) alpha1 (7-9 Hz) and alpha2 (10-13 Hz) activities were enhanced in trials preceded by incompatible stimuli more than those preceded by compatible stimuli. Furthermore, there were significant differences of alpha2 current densities between previous trial compatibilities in the superior/medial frontal cortex. We suggested that the modulation of alpha activity by previous trial compatibility was associated with proactive attentional control. N1 amplitude was decreased in trials preceded by incompatible stimuli more than in those preceded by compatible stimuli. N1 current densities in the right inferior frontal cortex were smaller for an incompatible stimulus preceded by an incompatible stimulus than those preceded by a compatible stimulus, suggesting that demands of transient cognitive control induced by an incompatible stimulus were decreased by the proactive control. Moreover, correlational analysis showed that participants with a larger increase in alpha2 activity tended to have a larger decrease in N1 in trials preceded by incompatible stimulus. These findings revealed that the manner of cognitive control for the incompatible stimulus was transited from reactive control to proactive control across conflict adaptation.

Objective The release of general surgery residency program rankings by Doximity and U.S. News & World Report accentuates the need to define and establish measurable standards of program quality. This study evaluated the extent to which program rankings based solely on peer nominations correlated with familiar program outcomes measures. Design Publicly available data were collected for all 254 general surgery residency programs. To generate a rudimentary outcomes-based program ranking, surgery programs were rank-ordered according to an average percentile rank that was calculated using board pass rates and the prevalence of alumni publications. A Kendall τ -b rank correlation computed the linear association between program rankings based on reputation alone and those derived from outcomes measures to validate whether reputation was a reasonable surrogate for globally judging program quality. Results For the 218 programs with complete data eligible for analysis, the mean board pass rate was 72% with a standard deviation of 14%. A total of 60 programs were placed in the 75th percentile or above for the number of publications authored by program alumni. The correlational analysis reported a significant correlation of 0.428, indicating only a moderate association between programs ranked by outcomes measures and those ranked according to reputation. Seventeen programs that were ranked in the top 30 according to reputation were also ranked in the top 30 based on outcomes measures. Conclusions This study suggests that reputation alone does not fully capture a representative snapshot of a program’s quality. Rather, the use of multiple quantifiable indicators and attributes unique to programs ought to be given more consideration when assigning ranks to denote program quality. It is advised that the interpretation and subsequent use of program rankings be met with caution until further studies can rigorously demonstrate best practices for awarding program standings.

This study investigates the stability and change of malaise scores over a period of 27 years taking account of socio-demographic variables, childhood intelligence and behavioural problems. 6822 cohort members had the complete data on Malaise measured at 23, 33, 42, and 50 years. T-tests showed that there were significant changes of malaise mean scores over the 27 years: malaise scores decreased significantly from 23 to 33 years, but increased significantly from 33 to 42 years, and there were no significant change between 42 and 50 years. The trend showed a similar pattern for men and women, though women scored significantly higher than men on the measure at every time point. Correlational analysis showed that over 27 years malaise scores ranged from r = .41 to r = .52, indicating the relative stability. Malaise was significantly and inversely associated with childhood intelligence and behavioural problems. It was also significantly associated with education in the expected direction. Regression analysis showed that previous malaise scores were significant predictors of the later ones, and the strength of the predictive power decreased over time. Limitations were considered.

The growth of creative industry leads to changes in heritage buildings in Bandung, one of them is adaptive reuse to factory outlets. The reuse affects physical changes on buildings’ features to fit popular building design in order to attract visitors. This article intends to understand the role of public appreciation for heritage buildings reused for commercial purposes, particularly in the retail industry. It is using quantitative research i.e. correlational analysis between two variables namely appreciation of historical building and visitor behaviour. Rank - Spearman correlation is used to analyse the correlation between appreciation of heritage building and visitor behaviour and the result is indicated positive correlations. The analysis suggests that public appreciation of the heritage building reused as factory outlets and the preservation of the architectural features can affect the intention to visit the stores.

This paper presents a study made on 23 performance sports people, members of the Curtea de Arges International Football Club. The central objective of the paper is to highlight the existence of certain correlations among the psychological dimensions directly impacting the sports people's performance during the task. A number of 20 variables conceived to be measured with a Follow-up assessment instrument: Grid for periodical observation of behaviors in sports performance (GO-BSP) were identified. This instrument sums up 7 dimensions, i.e.: self-esteem, intrapersonal, interpersonal, adaptability, stress management, general condition, intrinsic motivation. The GO-BSP Alpha Crombach internal consistency ratio was 0.90. The self-esteem and intrapersonal, interpersonal, adaptability, stress management, general condition, intrinsic motivation variables represent key elements in the development and optimization of the personal resources representing the premise of shaping behaviors centered on sports performance increase.

It has recently proposed that vitamin D and folate may be involved in the aetiology of autism. We investigated the serum levels of vitamin D, calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and folate in 54 young children, aged 3–8 years, with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and in 54 age and gender matched normal controls. Vitamin D, Ca, P, ALP and folate levels in children with ASD were not different from control group. The correlational analysis in children with ASD revealed that Aberrant Behaviour Checklist, Autism Behaviour Checklist, and Childhood Autism Rating Scale scores and the level of cognitive development were not correlated with these laboratory findings. Our findings do not support the idea that serum levels of vitamin D and folate might be low in children with ASD. Nevertheless, it is possible that vitamin D and folate deficiency may be playing a role in development of ASD at earlier ages or during prenatal period.

Portuguese Abstract: Com o crescimento constante da pulacao, a ONU estima que ate 2030 o mundo necessitara 40% a mais de agua para suprir as novas necessidades, o que implicara na necessidade de uma melhor gestao do recurso. As ferramentas de previsao de demanda, quando bem desenvolvidas, permitem obter um maior controle sob o consumo e a otimizacao o sistema de abastecimento de agua. Para se determinar a demanda futura, e necessario a verificacao das variaveis que influenciam diretamente no consumo de agua e o horizonte que se deseja trabalhar. No entanto, as relacoes entre variaveis climaticas e sociais e demanda de agua nem sempre sao conhecidas. Tendo em vista de ampliarem-se os estudos da analise correlacional para o bom desenvolvimento de modelos de previsao de demanda, esse trabalho propoem a aplicacao de tecnica de inteligencia artificial, os mapas auto-organizaveis de Kohonen, mapas conhecidos como SOM (do ingles, self-organizing maps), para o reconhecimento dos padroes correlacionais a partir do agrupamento de dados. Foram utilizados dados historicos da demanda de agua de 4 setores da cidade de Franca, localizada no interior de Sao Paulo - Brasil, bem como, temperatura, velocidade do vento, umidade do ar, pluviosidade e dia do mes, dia da semana, hora, ano e feriados, para se estudar o a correlacao existente entre as variaveis e a demanda de agua. Por meio do presente estudo pode-se perceber que as variaveis sociais apresentam uma maior influencia da demanda de agua do que as variaveis climaticas, uma vez que sao elas que determinam o modo de vida da populacao, porem esta relacao nao e um padrao nos quatro setores analisado. A partir dos resultados, pode-se reconhecer que o consumo sobre influencia principalmente da hora do dia e da temperatura. English Abstract: With constant growth, the UN estimates that by 2030 the world will need 40% more water to meet the new needs, which will mean a better management of the resource. Demand forecasting tools, when well developed, allow greater control under consumption and optimization of the water supply system. In order to determine the future demand, it is necessary to verify the variables that directly influence the consumption of water and the horizon that one wishes to work. However, the relationships between climatic and social variables and water demand are not always known. This paper proposes the application of artificial intelligence technique, Kohonen's self-organizing maps, maps known as SOM (the English version of SOM) self-organizing maps), for the recognition of the correlation patterns from the data grouping. We used historical data on water demand from four sectors of the city of Franca, located in the interior of Sao Paulo - Brazil, as well as temperature, wind speed, air humidity, rainfall and day of the month, day of the week, year and holidays, in order to study the correlation between variables and water demand. By means of the present study, we can see that social variables present a greater influence of water demand than climatic variables, since they determine the way of life of the population, but this relation is not a pattern in the four sectors analyzed. From the results, it can be recognized that the consumption on influence mainly of the time of day and the temperature.

The study aimed to analyze the association of the socio-demographic, economic and environmental characteristics of the respondents with the adoption and production of oil palm. Respondents of this study were all the forty one (41) individual oil palm farmers in the province of Sultan Kudarat. Data were collected using a structured interview schedule and analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlational analysis. The respondents were almost all males, married with an age bracket of 30-60 years old. Most of them had attended college education. Their average family size was six members with four children. Majority was member of an organization and had attended trainings. Almost all of the respondents were farm owners. Majority of them cultivated an area from 1 to 12 hectares. Respondents had relatively high economic standing. Their average annual gross income was P512, 639.37. Oil palm was their main source of income. They acquired their planting materials abroad at an average cost of P 56.39 per plant. Respondents heavily relied on inorganic fertilizers. They spend a relatively higher cost of agricultural inputs (P777.00 per liter of pesticide), labor (P12, 000.00 per hectare), and transportation (P 1,229 per load).Results also revealed that respondents have accessibility to credit and market but limited accessibility to hauling facilities and farm implements. Farmers’ capital was acquired through non-farm generated and farm-generated income like rice production. Moreover, land resources of the respondents were generally plain, sandy loam, with low fertility. The climatic condition of the province of Sultan Kudarat is characterized by a type 4 climate. Insect pests and plant diseases were moderately destructive to oil palm. The findings also revealed that farmers obtained a moderate level of technology adoption and production of oil palm. The combined contributions of socio-demographic, economic and environmental characteristics of the respondents showed significant relationship with their level of adoption of oil palm production technologies (F-value=3.574, P=0.016). No significant relationships (F-value=1.478, P=0.341) were observed between the combined contributions of socio-demographic, economic and environmental characteristics of the respondents and their level of production of oil palm. The findings further revealed that the level of production of oil palm found significant relationship in the level of adoption of oil palm production technology (F- value= 52.761, P=0.000).

In foreign language setting, social psychological variables are very important. These variables can highly influence the learners’ and consequently teachers’ performance. One of the most influential psychosocial domains in language pedagogy is Self-efficacy. Another influential factor that is of utmost importance in teaching contexts is burnout. This study has been conducted to investigate the relationship between the self-efficacy of Iranian teachers of English and their reports of burnout. The needed data were gathered through the application of two questionnaires: The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI; Maslach & Jackson, 1981, 1986 ) and the researcher made questionnaire of self-efficacy. The participants were 200 experienced teachers having university education from one of the big provinces of Iran, Khorasan Razavi. They were both males and females and from different age groups. After obtaining the raw data, the SPSS software (version 16) was used to change the data into numerical interpretable form. To determine the relationship between self-efficacy and teachers’ burnout, correlational analysis was employed. The result showed that the participants’ self-efficacy has a reverse relationship with their burnout. In addition, a significant relationship was observed between teachers’ age, gender, and their reports of burnout.

Creativity, a real hallmark of our human condition, is far from being understood in its intimate mechanisms. Therefore, approaching it in close relation with psychopathology can provide valuable data. Aiming at underlining creativity particularities in paranoid schizophrenia patients, this study presents the results of a correlational analysis that included 60 randomly selected participants. They were evaluated in terms of positive and negative symptom severity and creativity, seen as openness to new experiences and associative wealth. Hopefully, the findings will offer more clues for a better understanding of creativity and will be applicable to the psychotherapeutic programs based on artistic means.

We examined the connection between teachers' Stages of Concern and their TPACK.We revised the Stages of Concern and TPACK questionnaires for Taiwanese teachers.We conducted a national survey on Taiwanese senior high school in-service teachers.As assumed, higher level concerns correlated with more integrated knowledge types.Results portrayed three significant patterns of correlations between SoC and TPACK. Whereas teachers' Stages of Concern (SoC) and their Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) appear to be related constructs, studies are scant regarding the connection between these two research areas. This study intensively examined the association between Taiwanese senior high school teachers' SoC and TPACK through a national survey (N=605) and canonical correlational analysis. To ensure rigor of study, we revised a TPACK instrument for Taiwanese senior high school teachers, statistically tested SoC's developmental phases, and reworked the Stages of Concern Questionnaire. Three canonical correlations became evident, portraying a significant connection between SoC and TPACK and further supporting our hypothesis that a higher level of technology integration would correlate higher with more synthesized types of teacher knowledge. Recommendations were put forward regarding support strategies of change facilitators, as well as directions for future research.

Objective. To assess the impact of pharmacy school characteristics on the pass rates of students taking the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) for the first time. Methods. A retrospective review of NAPLEX first-time pass rates, pharmacy school characteristics and percent of total graduating class who matched for a first postgraduate year (PGY1) residency was performed for 2014, 2015, and 2016. All US colleges of pharmacy accredited as of July 2017 were included. Independent samples t tests, paired samples t tests, correlational analysis, and multiple linear regression were conducted. Results. The first-time pass rates on the NAPLEX were significantly higher for the following: schools located within an academic health center; schools established before 2000, and public schools. The 2016 NAPLEX first-time pass rate was significantly higher for schools with a traditional four-year program structure versus an accelerated three-year structure. Also, a school’s first-time pass rate on the NAPLEX was positively, significantly correlated with percentage of fourth-year students who matched for a PGY1 residency and being located within an academic health center. The NAPLEX first-time pass rate for the previous year and percent of the total graduating class that matched for a PGY1 residency were significant predictors in the final regression models for 2015 and 2016 NAPLEX first-time pass rates. Conclusion. While differences in certain program characteristics was coorelated with NAPLEX pass rate, many of these factors are not modifiable. Programs can proactively and critically evaluate their educational programs and the readiness of their students to sit for the NAPLEX.

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the various dimensions of self-esteem and five domains of adjustment of traditional university freshmen (N=83) in the first semester of their Masters program. Bivariate correlational analysis indicated a positive relationship of global self-esteem with over-all adjustment, as well as with other areas of adjustment, with the highest correlation being with academic adjustment. The self-esteem variables of competence, lovability, personal power, moral self-approval and body functioning were found to be significantly related to all the areas of adjust ment. Likability, body appearance and defensive self-enhancement were significantly related to some but not all adjustment areas. Self-control and identity integration were not significantly related to any of the areas of adjustment. The importance of understanding the multidimensional aspects of self-esteem and adjustment to design effective measures of counselling and guidance is discussed.

It is currently contended that the economic adjustment programmes being implemented by Romania should be accompanied by reforms that lead to concrete modernization. The current economic difficulties demonstrate the limits of the state in terms of leading and guaranteeing constant social and economic development by itself, and have attracted new interest in the role of n on- governmental organizations (NGOs). Being part of civil society, NGOs are expected to play an important role in fostering the changes that many would argue are now needed. This article examines the theoretical grounds for assuming that NGOs will function as agents of modernization, and considers some issues of the role of NGOs as part of the administrative reform and modernization process. It concludes with some remarks concerning the future development of the legal framework and the necessity for networking between public administration institutions and civil society institutions involved in the modernization process.Our general research approach for this paper is to recollect the historical and descriptive experience. We use cross - sectional and correlational analysis methods as part of the empirical analysis.

This paper presents evidence suggesting that countries that continuously conduct Foresight studies, and that integrate the results systematically in policy making and the development of supporting measures and programs, perform clearly better in the national innovative performance than other countries. In retrospect, the Foresight studies are also generally considered as something positive in most countries, with evaluations of these studies shows them to have had a significant impact on the structure of innovation, technology and science policy. For instance, the results of Foresight studies are frequently used to establish research and development priorities and to design R&D programmes. The correlational analysis and the evaluation studies thus together suggest that Foresight studies do have a supportive function and role on the innovation culture and awareness for innovation in a country.

The response of 185 infants to their mothers’ departure was assessed in a rural area of Bangladesh. Despite their poor health and nutritional status, this group of infants showed the same peak in separation protest around the end of the first year that has been documented for healthier samples in several cultural contexts; correlational analysis suggests that the healthier infants were more likely to display protest. In addition, there was an earlier rise and decline in distress at maternal departure in the first half year of life, not seen in other reports. In this case, poor health appeared to dispose toward upset, indicating that the most fragile infants were least able to cope with the regulatory demands imposed by maternal departure. Overall, the results are evidence for a very strongly canalized transformation of cognitive and emotional functioning toward the end of the first year of life.

Patients suffering from schizophrenia have been found to be impaired in their pragmatic abilities in the comprehension of figurative language (e.g., metaphors, ironies, proverbs). Impairments in theory of mind (ToM; that is, the ability to attribute/infer mental states) have been proposed to be underlying high level language understanding. Even though ToM has been shown to be defective in schizophrenia, there is little information about the pattern of relations between ToM and language comprehension (LC) abilities. Our aim in this study is to explore how deficits in ToM concern the LC capacity in schizophrenia when general intelligence is controlled for. A total of 22 Spanish-speaking inpatients and 22 healthy controls matched in age, sex, education and language dominance were assessed using 3 ToM tasks and 6 LC tasks (covering lexical, syntactic, and semantic–pragmatic language processing levels) in order to establish to what extent ToM gets associated with LC abilities. Correlational analysis showed a connection between impairments in ToM and difficulties in LC. A discriminant function analysis showed that the variables that best discriminate between patients and controls are those corresponding to ToM-critical items and figurative LC tasks. Impairments in ToM seem to be mainly associated to LC in the semantic–pragmatic processing level and this association appears to be genuine, non dependent on IQ. In schizophrenia, mindreading impairments contribute negatively to the process of understanding figurative meanings beyond the presence of an impoverished intelligence.

Using the exogenous cueing task, this study examined whether restrained and disinhibited eaters differ in their orientation of attention towards and their difficulty to disengage from high versus low-fat food pictures in a relatively short (500 ms) and a long presentation format (1500 ms). Overall, participants in the 500 ms condition showed a tendency to direct attention away from high-fat food pictures compared to neutral pictures. No differential pattern was evident for the 1500 ms condition. Correlational analysis revealed that reduced engagement with high-fat food was particularly pronounced for disinhibited eaters. Although in the short term this seems an adaptive strategy, it may eventually become counterproductive, as it could hinder habituation and learning to cope with seductive characteristics of high-fat food. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Background The central evaluative question about a national HIV prevention program is whether that program affects HIV incidence. Numerous factors may influence incidence, including public investment in HIV prevention. Few studies, however, have examined the relationship between public investment and the HIV epidemic in the United States. Methods This 2006 exploratory analysis examined the period from 1978 through 2006 using a quantitative, lagged, correlational analysis to capture the relationship between national HIV incidence and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's HIV prevention budget in the United States over time. Results The analyses suggest that early HIV incidence rose in advance of the nation's HIV prevention investment until the mid-1980s (1-year lag correlation, r =0.972, df =2, p r =−0.905, df =18, p Conclusions This exploratory study provides correlational evidence of a relationship between U.S. HIV incidence and the federal HIV prevention budget over time, and calls for further analysis of the role of funding and other factors that may influence the direction of a nation's HIV epidemic.

Background: Infrared thermographic imaging (IRTG) is a safe and reliable technology used to monitor skin temperature. The main aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between skin temperature changes and muscle fatigue in order to answer the main research question if IRTG can be used to monitor muscle fatigue. Methods: This was a case study performed on a 23-year-old trained middle distance runner. After warm-up the subject was exercising on the dynamometer for 7.5 min at 120°/s performing only concentric contractions of quadriceps. At the same time IRTG recording of both (exercising and non-exercising) quadriceps was performed. Results: A correlational analysis that was performed in order to quantify the relationship between power and temperature change over time has shown that there is a significant negative correlation between skin temperature increase and power decrease (r = −0.543, p = 0.036) of exercising quadriceps. In linear regression model the exercising quadriceps power could be predicted from skin temperature. No such relationships were noted for the non-exercising limb that served as a control. Conclusion: We believe that correlation between skin temperature change and muscle power output as described in this case study deserves further analysis on the larger sample including subjects of the different ages, health status, and physical abilities in order to create a new tool for monitoring the muscle fatigue. Keywords: Correlation, Fatigue, Isokinetic, Quadriceps, Strength, Thermographic imaging

To evaluate the influence of 2 swallowing maneuvers on anterior suprahyoid surface electromyographic measurement and pharyngeal manometric pressure.Correlational analysis of biomechanic measures of swallowing.Research laboratory in a community hospital.A consecutive volunteer sample of 22 healthy subjects (mean, 29.7y).Not applicable.Peak amplitude of submental surface electromyographic and pharyngeal manometric pressure at 3 locations.Effortful swallow generated greater pharyngeal pressure than normal swallow at the 2 proximal pharyngeal sensors (sensor 1: P=.017; sensor 2: P=.009) and lower pressure at the distal sensor (upper esophageal sphincter) (P.001). Pressure in the upper pharynx was lower than that in the lower pharynx (P=.027). Effortful swallow generated greater surface electromyographic amplitudes than normal swallowing (P.001). A statistically significant but weak negative correlation was identified between surface electromyographic and mid-pharyngeal pressure for normal swallowing condition (r=-.21, P.01). For the effortful swallowing condition, statistically significant but weak negative correlations were identified between surface electromyographic and pressure measurements at all sensors (sensor 1: r=-.16, P=.02; sensor 2: r=-.30, P.01; sensor 3: r=-.18, P.01).There is a significant change in both suprahyoid surface electromyographic and pharyngeal pressures during effortful swallow compared with normal swallow.

Background Although measurement of central corneal thickness (CCT) is increasingly becoming an important component of glaucoma risk analysis, significant controversy exists regarding the benefit of calculating a corrected intraocular pressure (I0P) value from measured I0P and CCT data. Methods Three hundred forty-four male subjects were identified from a VA eye clinic with one of the following clinical diagnoses: ocular hypertension (OHT), primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), normal tension glaucoma (NTG), and normal tension glaucoma suspect (NTGS). Using one eye per subject, multi-variate logistic regression and correlational analyses were performed to determine relationships between glaucomatous visual-field loss and several glaucoma risk factors, including adjusted I0P values. Results Multivariate logistic regression analysis did not identify CCT-adjusted I0P values as independent risk factors for development of either NTG or POAG-related glaucomatous visual-field loss. CCT, however, was found to be strongly associated with both NTG and POAG-related visual-field loss. Correlational analysis revealed a weak correlation between Ehlers-adjusted pre-treatment I0P and severity of POAG-related visual-field loss, but no other adjusted I0P values significantly correlated with severity of visual-field loss in either POAG or NTG. Conclusions Our results suggest that adjusted I0P, as calculated using current algorithms, is not useful within glaucoma risk analysis, since adjusted I0P was unable to predict either presence or severity of glaucomatous visual-field loss in this study. CCT, conversely, was found to be a robust and independent predictor of glaucomatous visual-field loss. These findings, while supporting routine CCT measurements for all glaucoma suspects, do not support routine clinical computation of adjusted I0P values using current algorithms.

The aim of the present study was to determine the degree of consistency of individual differences in behavioural responses of heifer calves over time and across different situations. Twenty-five Holstein Friesian heifer calves were individually subjected to the same set of four behavioural tests at 3, 16 and 29 weeks of age. The tests involved measuring the calves' responses to a stationary human, a novel object, an open field (novel environment), and to tethering restraint. Principal component analysis (PCA) of measures recorded at each age was used to identify independent dimensions underlying the calves' reactivity to these situations. The consistency of individual differences was established by ranking the behavioural scores and the scores of factors extracted by PCA and then estimating the correlations between the ranks of each individual calf at each of the test ages. At each age, PCA revealed four factors that could be labelled: "locomotion", "vocalisation", "interaction with a novel object", and "interaction with a human". Individual differences in 7 of 13 behavioural measures and in scores of all factors except "interaction with a human" were consistent between 16 and 29 weeks of age. Rank orders for scores of the factor labelled "interaction with a novel object" were significantly correlated across all three ages. Our results support the existence in calves of stable characteristics mediating reactivity to challenge. Multiple behavioural dimensions obtained with PCA suggest that behavioural responsiveness of calves to challenge is governed by a number of underlying factors rather than univariate phenomena, such as fearfulness or coping style. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This study demonstrates the contribution of children's test-taking strategies to performance on a test of reading comprehension. Participants were boys and girls ages 9 and 10 years (n = 30). Children's strategies were evident from observations during the task as well as from patterns of the items attempted in relation to task completion. Results of a correlational analysis were confirmed by an intervention to promote children's awareness of test-taking strategies. Task completion and task performance were enhanced, notably for children with initially less effective strategies. Findings suggest ways to account for children's test-taking strategies in order to enhance the usefulness of well-designed assessment matetrials in classroom settings.

This chapter presents and discusses the results of the study. The results are presented in three sections: results of the correlational analysis, results of the regression analysis, and results of the path analysis. In general the results suggest that family background is indirectly linked to GPA by virtue of its direct effect on study behaviors, verbal ability, and nonverbal ability. Similarly, the link between study behaviors and GPA is mediated through verbal ability and nonverbal ability. Family background and study behaviours consistently predicted nonverbal ability, verbal ability, and GPA, even after the effects of the other cognitive variables had been removed.