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This paper introduces a novel type of floating machine gun that can be simplified as a self-balancing two-degree-of-freedom mechanical system with distinct vibration characteristics. The model accounts for intricate motion patterns and encompasses numerous potential influencing factors. Multifactor combination optimization of the system represents a pressing engineering challenge. After establishing a simulation model for the machine gun and validating it experimentally, seven factors were chosen as optimization variables. The maximum recoil displacement of the inner receiver (MRD) and the firing rate were chosen to be indicators. Orthogonal combinations and variance analyses were used, and the effects of multiple factors were analyzed using SPSS software; these processes led to a determination of the optimal combination. The results indicated that the piston cylinder pressure, the bi-directional buffer spring energy storage, and the inner receiver mass significantly affected the MRD. Furthermore, the automaton mass and the reset spring energy storage were found to substantially affect the firing rate. Careful analysis of the variance results facilitated the determination of the optimal combination of parameter values. Remarkably, the optimal combination chosen resulted in an MRD reduction of approximately 20.2% and a firing rate increase of approximately 26.6%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an in-depth study of occupational therapy and the prevention of common sports injuries in special physical training. The issue of sports injuries and rehabilitation has always been a hot topic in special training. With the continuous development of sports, the increasing intensity of competition, and more stringent requirements for special techniques, the increase in difficulty and intensity of training has led to the increasing frequency of sports injuries, so how to prevent injuries in special physical training and rehabilitation and recovery of athletes after the injury is particularly important. Since the most common musculoskeletal injuries occur in the lower quadrant, this paper proposes a lower extremity functional test (LEFT) model as a means of identifying injury risk and guiding the implementation of training programs to prevent sports injuries. In this paper, a knee injury is used as an example, and an occupational therapy program of TCM physical therapy + aquatic rehabilitation is adopted for the already occurred sports injuries. Through interviews and clinical examinations of athletes, coaches, and medical personnel, this paper summarizes the sites, types, characteristics, and probability of occurrence of common sports injuries in special physical training. Experiments were conducted through clinical rehabilitation of common sports injuries with the addition of TCM manual massage. A series of effects of this modality on the rehabilitation of sports injuries were examined by monitoring physiological and biochemical indexes and by comparative analysis before and after testing physical function indexes using the Omega Wave system. Sports injuries are diverse. Traditional Chinese medicine physical therapy + water rehabilitation therapy is an effective physical therapy method. According to the relevant theories of traditional Chinese medicine treatment, diagnosis and treatment through meridians and related acupuncture points have significant curative effects. Traditional Chinese medicine, massage, and acupuncture have irreplaceable roles in the rehabilitation and treatment of sports injuries and can effectively improve and cure sports injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fourteen Ganoderma lucidum strains from different geographic regions were identified using ITS region sequencing. Based on the sequences obtained, the genomic relationship between the analyzed strains was determined. All G. lucidum strains were also genetically characterized using the AFLP technique. G. lucidum strains included in the analysis displayed an AFLP profile similarity level in the range from 9.6 to 33.9%. Biolog FF MicroPlates were applied to obtain data on utilization of 95 carbon sources and mitochondrial activity. The analysis allowed comparison of functional diversity of the fungal strains. The substrate utilization profiles for the isolates tested revealed a broad variability within the analyzed G. lucidum species and proved to be a good profiling technology for studying the diversity in fungi. Significant differences have been demonstrated in substrate richness values. Interestingly, the analysis of growth and biomass production also differentiated the strains based on the growth rate on the agar and sawdust substrate. In general, the mycelial growth on the sawdust substrate was more balanced and the fastest fungal growth was observed for GRE3 and FCL192. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conducts compressive strength tests on foam concrete prepared under four factors and three levels through the design of orthogonal experiments. It delves into the phase change rules of the load–displacement curves obtained under various mix proportions. Furthermore, based on the 1-day and 3-day compressive strength values, the study explores different mix proportion results using range analysis and variance analysis methods, thereby determining the optimal mix proportion that can satisfy the maximum 1-day and 3-day compressive strength values. The results indicate that the compression process of rapid-hardening foam concrete includes four stages: initial compaction stage, elastic stage, yielding stage, and plateau stage, with each stage having different causes. Additionally, the sensitivity sequence of factors affecting the 1-day and 3-day compressive strength of rapid-hardening foam concrete is respectively rapid sulfoaluminate cement (α) > water-reducing agent content (δ) > foam content (β) > water-cement ratio (γ) and rapid sulfoaluminate cement (α) > water-cement ratio (γ) > foam content (β) > water-reducing agent content (δ). With 100% sulfoaluminate cement content, the 1-day and 3-day compressive strength values can reach 1.7054 and 2.5471 MPa, respectively, which are 13 times and 7 times the minimum values of 1-day and 3-day compressive strength under other admixtures. The analysis shows that the content of rapid sulfoaluminate cement has the most significant effect on the 1-day and 3-day compressive strength of rapid-hardening foam concrete, with foam content having the least impact on 1-day compressive strength and water-reducing agent content having the least impact on 3-day compressive strength. By integrating range analysis and variance analysis, the optimal mix proportion that simultaneously satisfies the maximum 1-day and 3-day compressive strength is determined to be 100% content of rapid-hardening sulfoaluminate cement, 4% foam content, 0.55% cement ratio, and 0.12% admixture content. Overall, this study provides theoretical support for the research and development of new rapid-hardening foam concrete materials and has significant practical implications for the emergency repair and construction of infrastructure projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nurses' turnover intention has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. Emotional labor is reportedly high among nurses in Korea, and a positive psychological capital can help reduce turnover intention. This cross-sectional study investigated the factors influencing turnover intention in nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey data were collected from 155 nurses caring for patients with COVID-19 at a university hospital in South Korea in March 2022. Self-reported and paper-based questionnaires on emotional labor, positive psychological capital, and turnover intention were employed. The mean values for emotional labor, positive psychological capital, and turnover intention were 54.52/80, 58.03/90, and 38.92/50, respectively, and 77.8% of nurses reported planning to quit working. Turnover intention correlated with emotional labor (r = 0.17; p = 0.041) and had no significant relationship with positive psychological capital. Sex (β = 0.24; p = 0.003) and emotional labor (β = 0.18; p = 0.019) affected turnover intention, with 9% explanatory power. Female nurses caring for patients with COVID-19 had a higher turnover intention than male nurses. Finally, the higher the emotional labor of nurses caring for patients with COVID-19, the higher the turnover intention. To reduce the turnover intention of nurses, hospitals need to help them enhance their emotional labor and positive psychological capital by establishing measures such as emotional coaching programs or psychological capital interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Quality of life (QoL) is a major concern in breast cancer (BC) patients. Despite efforts, no study has comprehensively addressed determinants of QoL in patients with BC. This study aimed to synthesize evidence on QoL correlations using the meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) approach. Methods. Our search in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane databases resulted in 5,238 initial relevant papers, 73 of which were eligible for final analysis with a total of 44,121 patients. We used a two-stage procedure of correlation-based MASEM to examine the relationship between QoL and body mass index (BMI), physical activity (PA), sleep, depression, fatigue, and stress. Results. Final MASEM model suggested that PA (path coefficient = 0.33, 95% CI = −0.0444; 0.6334), fatigue (path coefficient = −0.23, 95% CI = −0.6825; 0.0361), and stress (path coefficient = −0.22, 95% CI = −0.5143; 0.6875) were the most important factors related to QoL in patients with breast cancer. Final model identified variables responsible for 68% of the variation in QoL in BC. Conclusion. QoL is an important outcome in the treatment course of BC. Large-scale and meta-analysis studies could help patients to have a life with improved quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is known and objective: Australian hospitals have undergone a transformation with both a review and expansion of traditional roles of healthcare professionals and the implementation of an ieMR. The implementation of an ieMR brings large scale organizational change within the health system especially for staff with direct patient contact. This is changing the future of healthcare and the roles of healthcare professionals. There is minimal research on the impact of these electronic systems on the people and processes required to realise the improvements in patient care such as therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and the role of the pharmacist within the TDM process. The literature has discussed the use of computerised programs to assist with the interpretation of results and calculating of doses but the impact of an ieMR on the TDM process has not been discussed. This study undertook a retrospective analysis at an Australian tertiary hospital to investigate the impact of a digital hospital system on TDM within the facility. Methods: A 2‐year retrospective audit was conducted on TDM at an Australian Tertiary Hospital. The periods were 2016 (a paper‐based hospital) and 2018 (ieMR). Patients were identified using the pathology database. Patients were excluded if under the age of 18, in an outpatient setting or the emergency department. Progress notes, medication charts, ieMR and other relevant pathology were reviewed. They were assessed for appropriateness of the timing of collection, compliance to recommended TDM guidelines, and pharmacist documentation. Results and Discussion: A total of 2926 observations were included in the analysis. There was as similar percentage of appropriately collected samples between the paper‐based system (2016) and the digital hospital system (2018) with 59% and 58% respectively. Results of logistic regression analysis models show the effect of year was not significant with regards to TDM for either a sample being appropriate or the dose adjustment being appropriate. Samples for TDM were more likely to be appropriate if the pharmacist had documented advice but less likely with regards to appropriate dose adjustment. This study considered the effect of introducing a hospital wide digital system on TDM processes. Overall, the results indicate no difference between the paper‐based system and ieMR for appropriate samples and doses adjustments. What is new and conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study of this kind looking at the impact of a digital hospital system on TDM. The introduction of a digital hospital system does not appear to have made improvement on the effective use of TDM. Inappropriate sampling as seen in this study can lead to ineffective clinical management of patients, inefficient use of time, and waste of financial resources. Further work is required to incorporate specific guidance and recommendations within the digital system to optimize TDM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DSS has low machinability characteristics due to its high strength, machining is complicated, and careful attention is required when selecting machining parameters. The main criteria discussed in this paper concern the turning optimization parameters and machining time reduction of DSS 2205 as the work material. The input parameters are cutting velocity, feeds, cutting depth, and tooltip nose radius of the cutting tool. The design of experiments methodology is employed to design the experiments using Design-Expert V12 software. The second-order mathematical model was developed, and analysis of variance was performed to analyze the performance characteristics to recognize the critical variables influencing the output parameter. An artificial neural network (ANN) backpropagation algorithm using MATLAB software was used to develop the mathematical model and optimize the output. The model was developed, and the results were optimized using MATLAB software's ANN back propagation method to find the best possible solutions. The generated models were significant based on the analysis of variance and the R-squared value, and these results indicate that the cutting velocity is the most critical factor. For a low machining time, the cutting velocity should be between 100 and 140 m/min, and the tooltip nose radius should be 2.8 mm. The optimal parameter settings are validated by performing a lower is better confirmation test using gray relational analysis (GRA). The GRA exposed the lower machining time at a cutting velocity of 140 m/min, rate of feed of 0.5 mm/rev, cutting depth of 0.5 mm, and tooltip nose radius of 2.4 mm. The predicted values were close to the experimental values, and the result indicates the optimal level of the highest GRA grade of the machining variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. The objective was to investigate the impact of structural empowerment and demographic factors on the psychological empowerment of nurses. Background. The empowerment of nurses plays a crucial role in improving patient care and achieving successful healthcare outcomes. When nurses feel empowered in their work environment, they tend to remain dedicated to their jobs and experience higher levels of job satisfaction and engagement. Methods. This cross-sectional study utilized a convenience sample of 287 nurses recruited from various hospital units, resulting in a response rate of 94.7%. Data were collected through a paper survey consisting of three sections: structural empowerment, psychological empowerment, and demographics. Results. The first hierarchical regression explains 57.0% variance in nurses' psychological empowerment (F = 78.52, p < 0.001). Age (β = 0.37, p < 0.01) and structural empowerment (β = 0.69, p < 0.001) have a positive influence on nurses' psychological empowerment. Conversely, having a bachelor's degree (β = −0.16, p < 0.01) had a negative impact psychological empowerment. The second hierarchical regression clarifies the specific aspects of structural empowerment that influences positively on nurses' psychological empowerment: access to opportunities (β = 0.13, p < 0.01), support (β = 0.13, p < 0.01), resources (β = 0.35, p < 0.001), and informal power (β = 0.12, p < 0.01). Conclusion. This study emphasizes the importance of considering demographic variables, such as age and education, in conjunction with structural empowerment to effectively enhance nurses' psychological empowerment. Implications for Nursing Management. Nursing managers should tailor their empowerment strategies based on the demographic characteristics of their nurses. It is essential to focus on providing nurses with access to opportunities, support, resources, and informal power. These insights provide valuable guidance for nursing managers to enhance nurses' psychological well-being, job satisfaction, and overall quality of life. Ultimately, this contributes to positive outcomes for patients, nursing staff, and healthcare organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recycled powder produced in the process of crushing concrete and brick waste (C&BW) into recycled aggregate will cause environmental pollution. To realize the green full recycling of concrete and brick waste, the cement stabilization of crushed aggregate (CSCA) containing recycled brick-concrete composite micropowder (RBCP) and recycled brick-concrete composite aggregate (RBCA) is proposed. In this paper, RBCP, recycled brick-concrete composite fine aggregate (RBCFA), and recycled brick-concrete composite coarse aggregate (RBCCA) were the recycled materials from C&BW. The orthogonal test table was used to analyze the effects of the three recycled materials on the compaction characteristics, mechanical properties, and shrinkage behavior of CSCA at different dosages. The effects of RBCP, RBCCA, and RBCFA on the properties of CSCA are studied by variance analysis methods. On this basis, the micromorphology and the interface transition zone (ITZ) were studied for CSCA and the cement stabilization of crushed aggregate with RBCP, RBCFA, and RBCCA through scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), and the mechanism was revealed. The results indicate that the addition of RBCP and RBCA can increase the optimal water content while decreasing the optimal dry density of CSCA, and the influence of RBCCA on the optimal water content is greater than that of RBCFA. Three optimal composite replacement systems for CSCA, including 20% RBCP/20%RBCFA/40%RBCCA, are proposed and have the best mechanical and antishrinkage performance through the range analysis. Furthermore, the variance analysis test results show that RBCCA and RBCFA have the most significant effect on the compressive strength and shrinkage strain properties, while RBCP has the most significant effect on the bending tensile strength. It is found that RBCP played a filling effect and pozzolanic activity in the strength formation of CSCA. The SEM/EDS test shows that the CSCA with recycled materials produced the Ca/Si ratio in the interfacial zone between the cement paste and aggregate lower than the CSCA without recycled materials, the largest decline 52.83%. The research results of this paper can provide the potential application of RBCP and RBCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is necessary to pay attention to and study the physical and mental health development of college students. On the basis of statistical analysis of the questionnaire, this paper studies the impact of pretest mental health intervention on college students' English test scores, summarizes the problems and characteristics of college students' mental health, and explores the reasons for psychological problems. Based on the research results and related survey data of the mental health status of college students by scholars, this paper believes that these reasons mainly include students' personal reasons, school and social environment pressure, and insufficient family support factors. The data analysis shows that in the relationship between English education and mental health in colleges and universities, the amount of mental health intervention of students' extracurricular exercise has a stable and low negative correlation with the scores of each factor of SCL-90 (Symptom Checklist 90) and is negatively correlated with the scores of each subscale. The experimental results show that there are extremely significant differences in academic performance (F = 5.084 , P < 0.01), and there is a certain linear relationship between students' mental health level and students' English exercise feeling. The lower the fatigue score, the higher the mental health level of the students, which effectively promotes the mental health development of college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a semantic analysis approach to children's emotional disorder intervention and education is thoroughly analyzed and discussed, and a corresponding educational system is designed for application in real life. This paper acquires video data by deploying a common camera acquisition and transforms, annotates, frames, and processes the data with the help of feature engineering methods. In addition, this paper proposes a fine-grained action decomposition strategy to solve the problem of extreme imbalance in the dataset to improve the performance of the model and proposes an iterative sampling data fusion strategy, which aims to integrate and fuse data from multiple sources to make them more effective and further improve the robustness and generalization ability of the model. Since it is difficult for families to improve the emotional management skills of migrant children, and it is also difficult to obtain professional help and support from the community or schools, it is important to take advantage of the professional strengths of social work to provide professional support for migrant children and their families. From the perspective of theoretical research, most of the existing studies focus on individual migrant children and cannot give global guidance from the perspective of the family system. The comparison results show that T-SVR trained using data from all subjects outperforms the inductive method based on individual training of trainees, validating the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive emotion recognition model. Therefore, from the perspective of system integration, it is important to explore social work interventions to improve the emotional management skills of migrant children. The system network structure design is determined according to the actual situation; then from the system requirements, the system is abstracted with the help of UML entity-relationship diagram, and the database table design is completed; so far, the overall system can be divided into independent functional modules, and the boundaries of each module and the participating roles are gradually clarified, and the detailed design within each functional module is illustrated by UML timing diagram and class diagram to clarify the classes used. Finally, the system is tested end-to-end to verify whether the results of the view layer meet the design guidelines, whether the system modules work together properly, and whether the functional development meets the requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed to explore the difference in the spatial distribution of compulsory education resource allocation. Raw data were collected from the 2020 China Statistical Yearbook (county/district level) and Guangxi Province Statistical Yearbook of China. Data analysis was conducted using the entropy method, comprehensive evaluation method, K-means clusters analysis, analysis of variance, and spatial statistical analysis (Moran's I index). It was determined that there were significant differences in the spatial distribution of compulsory education. The equilibrium degree to mandatory education resource allocation was divided into three classes: high level, medium level, and low level, and each class presented a spatial aggregation effect in the spatial distribution. Compared with the primary schools, the equilibrium degree of junior secondary school was higher. However, the equilibrium fluctuation of junior secondary schools was more significant among different counties/districts. The equilibrium of educational resources of junior secondary schools in the urban areas was higher than that in the rural areas, but there was no significant difference for the primary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to explore the mechanism of bladder meridian massage (BMM) on anxiety in rats with chronic stress. Chronic stress induced rats to establish rat anxiety model. The sugar water preference (SPF), tail suspension time (TST), and forced swimming time (FST) of rats were measured. The levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), and inflammatory cytokines in serum and hippocampus of rats were detected. Brain neurotransmitters (dopamine (DA), 5- hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), and norepinephrine (NE)) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Immunohistochemistry and western blotting were used to detect autophagy protein expression in hippocampus of rats. BMM significantly increased SPF, decreased TST and FST, increased SOD level in serum and hippocampus, and decreased MDA level and cytokine level. BMM reversed the changes of neurotransmitters. At the same time, BMM significantly decreased autophagy protein expression in hippocampus of rats. The above results show that BMM significantly relieve anxiety induced by chronic stress in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) is a recent concept that helps operationalise competency‐based education. In this paper, we report on the development of EPAs and incorporation into an e‐portfolio for work‐based assessment of final year dietetics students in a community and public health professional placement. We aimed to determine the utility of the EPAs for work‐based assessment in this context. We used action research methodology to conduct broad consultation with students and supervisors using anonymous surveys and focus groups to understand their beliefs and attitudes towards work‐based assessment. Consequently, 40 EPAs with an accompanying four‐point entrustment scale were developed and mapped to the National Competency Standards for Dietitians in Australia. The EPAs and assessment tool were piloted and evaluated via an anonymous online user survey across three cohorts of students (n = 133) and supervisors (n = 67). Following mediocre pilot year evaluation results, EPAs were revised and reduced in number. While students positively evaluated the e‐portfolio, their appraisal of the EPAs and entrustment scale was less positive compared to supervisors. Supervisor evaluation of the EPA‐based e‐portfolio supported the validity, feasibility and acceptability of this novel assessment method in a community and public health setting. Assessment using EPAs, and the resulting educational data collected by the tool, offers potential for individual learners to identify areas needing development during placement, as well as potential to inform curriculum improvements and increase understanding of learning opportunities and outcomes for dietetic students in community and public health settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify the optimum level of factors or parameters that affect the energy absorption of conoidal structures by grey relational examination. To optimize crashworthiness parameters of conical structures, the L9 orthogonal array has been adopted to design the experiments. The tailor-made thin-walled conical structures were fabricated by three most important factors, such as base diameter, height, and thickness, as design variables, and they were subjected to axial compression in a quasi-static method. The important responses of crashworthiness indicators such as the mean crushing force and specific energy absorption (SEA) were calculated with the help of a load-displacement curve. Experimental results showed that the crushing behaviours of conical structures were fairly significant. Grey relational analysis (GRA) and analysis of variance are used toobtain the optimal levels of parameters. From the results, the optimum levels of parameters are found to be a base diameter of 180 mm, a height of 120 mm, and a thickness of 1.5 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: We aim to investigate the interplay between moral distress and moral injury among nurses working in palliative and oncology wards and to assess its impact on nursing leadership. Background: The past 2 years have been particularly challenging for nurses and nursing leaders in Croatia. The coronavirus disease pandemic and the subsequent earthquakes in the country significantly impacted the work of nurses. Moral distress has been well‐known to nursing professionals, but recent studies warn about cofounding it with moral injury and their possible intercorrelation, deserving more attention from an empirical perspective. Methods: We conducted quantitative cross‐sectional research in palliative and oncology wards in 11 Croatian health care facilities on 162 nurses, using a questionnaire and paper/pencil method over 6 months (1 January 2021 to 1 July 2021). The questionnaire consisted of three parts: sociodemographic data, a Measure of moral distress for health care professionals and Moral injury symptoms scale for health care professionals. The research protocol was approved by the Ethics committee of the Catholic University of Croatia under no. 1‐21‐04. Results: The findings of our study demonstrated that the current average levels of moral distress might be characterized as low, but the moral injury symptoms are severe. The results of our study bring interesting novel insights, such as the strong correlation between moral distress and moral injury, but also in terms of nurses' decision to leave or consider leaving their position. The nurses who experience higher levels of moral distress experience severe symptoms of moral injury, while nurses who score higher in moral distress and moral injury have left, considered or consider leaving their positions. Conclusions: This study highlighted the need to pay attention to the emerging phenomenon of moral injury that has been unaddressed and overshadowed by moral distress, their intercorrelation, and the importance of addressing them timely and adequately within health care organizations with their leadership and management. Implications for Nursing Management: These findings provide a significant insight that may assist nursing managers and leaders to act and respond in time to develop various prevention and mitigation measures and help resolve situations leading to moral distress or moral injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microelectromechanical system (MEMS) gyroscope has low measurement accuracy and large output noise; the useful signal is often submerged in the noise. A new denoising method of interval empirical mode decomposition (IEMD) is proposed. Firstly, the traditional EMD algorithm is used to decompose the signal into a finite number of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). Based on the Bhattacharyya distance analysis and the characteristics of the autocorrelation function, a screening mechanism is proposed to divide IMFs into three categories: noise IMFs, mixed IMFs, and signal IMFs. Then, the traditional modelling filtering method is used to filter the mixed IMFs. Finally, the mixed IMFs after modelling and filtering and signal IMFs are reconstructed to obtain the denoised signal. In the experimental analysis, the static denoising experiment of the turntable, the Allan variance analysis, dynamic denoising experiment, and vehicle experiment are set up in this paper, which fully proves that the method has obvious advantages in denoising and greatly improves the quality of signal and the accuracy of the inertial navigation system solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to deal with the perception variance problem in regret model by scaling perception variance and relaxing the distribution assumption of the random error term, which are corresponding to the attribute and alternative differences, respectively. Specifically, the power coefficient in regret function can capture individual perception variance of specific attributes and latent class structure is used to analyze individual heterogeneity of alternative differences by defining weight function. Accordingly, perceiving behaviors of individuals are analyzed in depth and generating absolute and relative behavior interpretation and asymmetric property. The proposed models are estimated and analyzed using GPS data of taxis in Guangzhou, and bicycle household surveys are collected in Tel Aviv metropolitan area. The results show both significant effects of attributes on drivers' and cyclists' route choice behavior and identification of different types (absolute or relative) of perceiving attribute and alternative regret differences of the two travelers by incorporating the ratio of length between chosen route and the shortest route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from the evaluation of an Australian trial of self‐managed home aged care. The self‐management model was codesigned by advocacy organisation COTA Australia, consumers and service providers. The primary aim of the evaluation was to examine whether self‐management improved consumers' perceptions of their choice, control, and wellbeing. The secondary aim was to examine whether provider prior experience with self‐managed packages significantly influenced consumers' perceptions of choice, control and wellbeing, thereby confounded trial effects. A pre‐test post‐test quasi‐experimental design and mixed‐methods design were used to collect data over nine months in 2018–2019. The pre‐trial methods and findings have been published. The post‐trial evaluation replicated the pre‐trial data collection method of an online survey (n = 60) and semi‐structured telephone interviews with consumers (n = 9), family carers (n = 13), and consumers and carers jointly (n = 2), totalling 24 interviews. Semi‐structured telephone interviews were also conducted with CEOs and senior managers from each of the seven providers (n = 14). Three providers had prior experience supporting self‐management. Parametric and non‐parametric tests examined the statistical data. Qualitative data were analysed thematically and framed according to self‐determination principles and ecological systems theory. Both datasets demonstrated that consumers reported greater choice and control at post‐trial than pre‐trial. This finding was not affected by providers' prior experience with self‐management; therefore, it was not a confounding factor. Participants reported improved wellbeing in interviews, however this was not reinforced statistically. Key desirable features of self‐management included greater autonomy and control over spending, recruiting support staff and paying lower administration fees. There was no evidence of increased risks or fraud. The research limitations included a small sample size, convenience sampling with providers recruiting interview participants, no control group and differences in trial implementation. The findings support the expansion of self‐management opportunities and more comprehensive evaluations that use mixed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary care mental health services need to expand to assist the increased number of people reporting mild to moderate mental health difficulties. In Ireland, the primary care mental health service has been recently enhanced through the employment of Assistant Psychologists (AP) in primary care psychology. This paper provides an early and brief evaluation of the impact of the AP‐enhanced model through a tripartite approach to evaluation which utilises measures of throughput, output and stakeholder satisfaction. We use data from two sources; Health service key performance indicators, and a routinely gathered minimal dataset of client measures. Results indicate that the numbers of clients seen in the period rose by 16%, that AP‐delivered treatments are beneficial for clients with mild to moderate mental health difficulties, and more than 80% of clients reported being 'totally satisfied' with the care received. The data provide early evidence that the AP model is beneficial in meeting clients' needs across a range of presentations within the service admission criteria, and that the AP‐enhanced model may offer a satisfactory solution to primary care needs. However, further data collection is required, and additional stakeholder input is necessary for a complete evaluation of the assistant psychologist model in primary care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence of cancer is increasing today, particularly lung and chest cancer. Employing novel methods to detect cancer in its earliest stages and discover painless, noninvasive treatments are urgently needed. The goal of the proposed study is to investigate the value of automated breast volume scanning (ABUS) in conjunction with contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in properly diagnosing breast cancer in its early stages and the effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in treating the disease. For the research study, information on 98 patients who had NAC and surgery in the breast surgery department of the Shaanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital has been gathered. All patients have received four cycles of NAC and underwent conventional ultrasound (HUSS), CEUS, ABUS, and pathological examination. At the same time, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, single factor, multiple linear regression, and other methods have also been used to analyze the diagnostic efficacy of breast cancer and NAC efficacy evaluation results. The study of this paper is totally based on the data collected from Shaanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital. The statistical and computational analyses are performed on the data collected for drawing inferences. When the findings are compared to the results of the pathological examination, HUSS has demonstrated a significant distinction between benign and malignant diagnoses with a statistical value of P < 0.05.ABUS combined with CEUS has shown no considerable differences in correlation study. Except for negative likelihood ratio, the diagnostic performance indexes of CEUS+ ABUS are substantially higher than HHUS with P < 0.05. ROC curve analysis is also performed which shows that CEUS and ABUS combination has higher precision in the analysis of breast cancer. ABUS pooled with CEUS shows great application value in the judgment of breast cancer as per the results obtained from the statistical analysis on data of 98 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urbanization process is speeding up in the Internet age, and many architectural heritages will be harmed as a result. This paper examines the coupling relationship between architectural heritage protection and tourism development using the concepts of architectural heritage protection and tourism development, as well as coupling theory. A preliminary analysis of the mechanism of the coupling relationship between architectural heritage protection and tourism development is conducted. Under unsupervised conditions, the classification results and quantitative index classification results of architectural heritage are obtained using the cluster analysis method. The sigs of historical, artistic, scientific, and humanistic factors, according to variance analysis, are 0.003, 0.041, 0.011, and 0.013, respectively, all of which are less than 0.05, with a significant difference. The spatial factor variable has a sig value of 0.52, which is not significant. This method can be used to not only classify heritage but also to quantify architectural heritage factors. In the future work of cultural relics protection, we can broaden the scope of protection measures and make recommendations to protection workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the proposal of Kyoto protocol, carbon dioxide emission rights are traded as a commodity, and carbon emission trading market emerges as the times require. As the world's largest carbon emitter, China has established eight pilot markets for carbon emission trading. Selecting the closing price of eight carbon trading markets from the establishment to June 23, 2020, this paper analyzes the daily, weekly, and monthly return series data, using the first-order autoregressive process to adjust the daily income series to eliminate the weak trading market effect and then comprehensively uses the traditional variance ratio test and multiple variance ratio test to analyze the weak-form market efficiency of the eight carbon trading markets. The empirical results show that most of the carbon trading markets are non-weak-form market efficiency, and only Tianjin, Shanghai, and Hubei markets are weak-form market efficiency under the daily trading data. However, with the increase of carbon holding period, the weak-form market efficiency continues to strengthen. It shows that liquidity, quantity, and information transparency are important factors that affect the market efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the competition between enterprises intensifies, employees have witnessed a decline of psychological health year by year and severe anxiety and depression. To ensure the normal work of employees, it is important to implement psychological occupational therapy intervention (POTI). The previous studies on corporate occupational values focus on the behavioral variables and attitude variables related to occupations. The research paradigm does not suit a specific group of employees. Therefore, this paper explores the individual differences in POTI guided by the realization of occupational values. For a specific group of employees, the correlations of the psychological problems with job attitude, job involvement, and psychological health level were reasoned logically, a theoretical model was established, and the full-model map was plotted to illustrate the influence of the realization of occupational values over POTI. Then, the evaluation data on the psychological intervention effect of 2,800 employees were explored based on multikernel learning, and an individual difference prediction model was constructed through multikernel learning. Finally, the predicted results of different groups of employees were compared, revealing the effectiveness of our algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The feature ranking as a subcategory of the feature selection is an essential preprocessing technique that ranks all features of a dataset such that many important features denote a lot of information. The ensemble learning has two advantages. First, it has been based on the assumption that combining different model's output can lead to a better outcome than the output of any individual models. Second, scalability is an intrinsic characteristic that is so crucial in coping with a large scale dataset. In this paper, a homogeneous ensemble feature ranking algorithm is considered, and the nine rank fusion methods used in this algorithm are analyzed comparatively. The experimental studies are performed on real six medium datasets, and the area under the feature-forward-addition curve criterion is assessed. Finally, the statistical analysis by repeated-measures analysis of variance results reveals that there is no big difference in the performance of the rank fusion methods applied in a homogeneous ensemble feature ranking; however, this difference is a statistical significance, and the B-Min method has a little better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of information technology, high-speed transmission of electronic information resources, and explosive growth of information data, traditional data processing cannot meet the development of the times. With the arrival of the digital age, massive virtual numbers are deeply analyzed to turn the data into understandable information. As a product of the information age, sports app is widely used. With the increase of sports apps, the development of sports apps also has a bottleneck. In this paper, the survey data of sports app users are analyzed and processed by Excel 2016 and SPSS 23.0: (1) descriptive statistics of the research objects through technical statistical analysis; (2) testing the validity and credibility of the data through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis; (3) analysis of variance performed by independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Duncan's test; (4) analyzing the correlation between factors through correlation analysis; (5) analyzing the influence among factors through multiple regression analysis. The results show that, through variance analysis, sports app users have significant differences in demographic characteristics (P < 0.05). Through correlation analysis, the participation motivation, satisfaction, and loyalty of sports app users are highly correlated (P < 0.01). Through multiple regression analyses, the participation motivation, satisfaction, and loyalty of sports app users have a significant positive impact (P < 0.001). The purpose of this study is to provide theoretical references for the related research and decision-making of sports apps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students in health care professions, including occupational therapy, are required to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes in mental health and research. Persons diagnosed with a mental illness, a learning disability or an autism-spectrum disorder desire to achieve goals in higher education and employment. Faculty in health care programmes strives to meet professional goals and accreditation and institution requirements for teaching, service and scholarship. The Bridge Program, a programme based on principles of community engagement, was developed to meet the needs of these three stakeholders. The objective of this paper is to provide programme description and outcomes of the effectiveness of the Bridge Program for all three stakeholders. This uses mixed methods research design including descriptive and quantitative and qualitative one-group pre-test-post-test designs. Instruments consisted of the Occupational Therapy Student and Mental Health Population Scale and the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure. Quantitative results support that graduate occupational therapy students gained research and clinical skills ( n = 100; p = .000); clients increased performance and satisfaction toward goals ( n = 113; p = .000) and faculty ( n = 1) achieved goals related to teaching, service and scholarship. Programmes based on principles of community engagement can address the needs of the community, can provide outcomes that advance knowledge about community practice and can result in benefits for all stakeholders. This paper is limited to generalization and instrumentation and recommends an ongoing evaluation of other community engagement programmes involving all stakeholders in the future research. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People around the world look hesitant to get the coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) vaccine. Identifying factors behind people's hesitancy is of great importance. Aim: This paper aimed at examining the predictors of the intention to get the COVID‐19 vaccine in a sample of 281 Jordanians. Methods: A cross‐sectional online survey was employed to collect data on the intention to vaccination, knowledge and attitudes toward COVID‐19, the perception of measures taken by the government to control COVID‐19, self‐rated health, and perceived susceptibility and severity of COVID‐19. Results: The subjects were hesitant to get the vaccine. Intention to get the vaccine was predicted by being male, working in the education field, and having a poor perception of health, better perception of the adequacy of governmental measures, positive attitudes towards COVID‐19, and higher levels of perceived susceptibility to the disease. These predictor variables accounted for 25.5% of the total variance. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that this sample of Jordanian people had some hesitancy to take the COVID‐19 vaccine; variables in the study partially explained that. Several implications have been discussed, including further research is needed to fully understand the relationships between different variables and the intention to get the vaccine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The radial pitch diameter difference has a great influence on the quality of the internal thread. However, it is difficult to accurately control the radial pitch diameter difference of the thread in the tapping. Therefore, the influence of various factors on radial pitch diameter difference for tapping AISI H13 steel was studied in this paper. Parameters with optimum radial pitch diameter difference were determined by the Taguchi method, and the tapping experiment was carried out according to Taguchi L18 orthogonal array. Based on the signal-to-noise ratio and variance analysis, the experimental results were evaluated to determine the combination of factors to obtain the smallest radial pitch diameter difference and the influence level of each factor on radial pitch diameter difference, and the prediction equation of radial pitch diameter difference was established through the regression analysis. The results show that the combination of factors to obtain the smallest radial pitch diameter difference is a hone radius of 10 μm, a spindle speed of 100 rev/min, and a chamfer length of 2 pitches; the order of importance of the influencing factors on radial pitch diameter difference is spindle speed, followed by hone radius and chamfer length, and their percentage contribution rates are 61.54%, 24.53%, and 6.16%, respectively; the determination coefficient R2 of the prediction equations is 0.925; the confirmation experiment conducted with 95% confidence level shows that Taguchi method and prediction equation successfully optimize and predict radial pitch diameter difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Studies on the pharyngeal airway space (PAS) changes using three-dimensional computed tomography (CT) have shed more light on patients with Class III than Class II malocclusion. This paper focuses on analyzing the long-term changes in the PAS and evaluating the postoperative association between these PAS and skeletal changes in patients with skeletal Class II malocclusion who have undergone orthognathic surgery. Methods. The records of 21 patients with skeletal Class II malocclusion who had undergone orthognathic surgery were included. The anatomical modifications in both jaws, changes in volume, sectional area (SA), minimum sectional area (MSA), and anterior-posterior (AP) and transverse (TV) width in the airway at one month before surgery (T 0), and one month (T 1) and one year (T 2) after surgery were analyzed using CT images. The association between the skeletal and airway changes was evaluated between T 0 , T 1 , and T 2. Results. After surgery, the ANS, A point, and PNS demonstrated significant posterior and superior movement. The B point and the pogonion exhibited substantial anterior and superior movement. The total and inferior oropharyngeal volumes (vol 3, vol 4) notably increased, while the nasopharyngeal volume (vol 1) decreased. The anterior-posterior movement at the ANS and PNS after surgery was significantly associated with the total volume, vol 2, vol 3, SA 1, MSA, and TV width 1, while substantial association with the total volume was found at the pogonion. Conclusion. Thus, an ideal treatment plan can be formulated for patients with skeletal Class II malocclusion by considering the postoperative PAS changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For sequentially collected data, this paper introduces a lag-one differencing method to estimate the random error standard deviation δR and then uses the estimate δ^R to calculate a change detection threshold in a moving window method to detect shifts in the short-term systematic error. Performance results on simulated and real data are presented. Fortunately, the impact of having to perform change detection on the estimated short-term systematic and random error variances is anticipated to be modest or small. The motivating example arises from facilities under nuclear safeguards agreements, where inspector data collected during International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verifications are compared to corresponding operator data. The differences between the operator and inspector values are evaluated using an application of analysis of variance (ANOVA). Typically, it is assumed that short-term systematic errors change across inspection periods, so inspection periods form the groups used in the ANOVA. In some data sets, it appears that the short-term errors have changed at other times, so change detection methods could be used to detect the actual change times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to analyze effectiveness before and after implementation of the bus rapid transit operation. The paper includes a speed analysis based on the Downs–Thomson paradox, and a reliability analysis based on variance analysis of arrival time. According to the speed analysis, some road sections are now under phase 2 in the Downs–Thomson paradox, which is a state in which the bus speeds are greater than the auto speeds. In the future, it is predicted that autos and buses will reach an equilibrium speed which is in phase 3 of the multi-modal equilibrium theory. According to the reliability analysis of arrival time at each bus stop, in roads of median arterial bus lanes, the variance of arrival time is generally smaller than after the scheme implemented in 8 months later. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquiclude stability is vital for the realization of water-preserving coal mining. And its evaluation, influencing factors, and their significance analysis are quite topical for the ecosystem conservation. The purpose of this paper was to establish an evaluation index system of weakly cemented aquiclude stability. An evaluation index system was built based on three evaluation factors (subsidence, seepage, and deformation), three subfactors (subsidence gradient, seepage rate, and horizontal deformation), and four evaluation criteria (unstable, weakly stable, medium stable, and stable). The evaluation method was applied to evaluate the index for the case study of Yili No. 4 Coal Mine in Xinjiang, China. Based on the geological conditions of the close-distance coal seams in the mine under study, the main influencing factors and subordinate functions of evaluation index S t a were analyzed. The above three factors' weights were assessed as 0.1095, 0.3090, and 0.5815, respectively, and the proposed evaluation method's feasibility was verified by the water level variation in the observation hole. The range and variance analyses were performed to assess the significance of the mining heights of the upper and lower coal seams and the coal seam spacing. The results showed that the aquiclude stability negatively correlated with the mining heights and positively correlated with the coal seam spacing. The decreasing order of influence significance on the aquiclude stability was as follows: upper coal seam mining height, lower coal seam mining height, and coal seam spacing. Water protection mining was an effective measure to control the S t a , and the findings provided a reference value and academic significance for the ecosystem conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isodon lophanthoides var. gerardianus (Benth.) H. Hara, a native medicinal plant produced chiefly across Southern China, is one of the mainstream varieties of Xihuangcao, which has long been applied in preventing and treating some common liver or gall diseases. Water-soluble total flavonoids (WSTF) extracted from folk herbal medicine have many pharmacological effects. The objective of the paper is to investigate the synergy of WSTF with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on HCC and the related mechanisms. Cells were exposed to WSTF alone or combination treatment with 5-FU. Then, in this study, we conducted cell viability test, cell cycle and clone forming test, apoptosis assay, reactive oxygen species (ROS), Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and a xenograft tumor growth model for investigating the role of WSTF in HCC in vivo and in vitro. It was discovered that WSTF caused cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase while increasing the ROS contents. The generation of ROS levels could cause cell apoptosis and inhibit colony formation. WSTF decreased the Bcl-2 level but promoted the Bax level. These showed the mitochondrial dependence of WSTF-mediated apoptosis. WSTF combined with 5-FU have a synergistic effect to significantly inhibit carcinogenicity in vivo and in vitro. The reduced ROS changed the synergy of WSTF with 5-FU. At last, WSTF inhibit the growth of HCC and promote the HCC sensitivity to 5-FU through ROS accumulation. WSTF-increased ROS levels may partially or completely contribute to enhanced toxicity. WSTF combined with 5-FU in HCC can play a synergistic effect when applied in the clinical setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Travelers conduct onboard activities while using the tools they bring with them onboard to convert part of their travel time to a productive time. Productive travel time contributes to the reduction in the disutility of travel time. This paper discusses the influence of travelers' onboard activities and the tools carried by travelers on the perceived trip time. 10 onboard activities and 12 tools carried by travelers are introduced and studied in this work. A questionnaire focusing on the main trip of each respondent in urban areas is conducted, where a sample size of 525 participants is collected. Statistical methods such as central tendency, chi-square, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), rank-based nonparametric test, and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) are applied. The main findings are the following: almost all of the onboard activities and the tools carried by travelers impact the trip time positively (i.e., the perception is enhanced). For each transport mode, the most frequent onboard activities that impact the trip time positively is obtained, and the connection between each onboard activity and each tool carried by travelers is found (i.e., moderate to strong association). EFA uncovers the underlying relationship between those onboard activities and those tools carried by travelers that influence travelers' perception. In this case, instead of the full list, fewer onboard activities and tools carried by travelers are produced to simplify the finding of their impacts on the perceived trip time. The participation in onboard activity is ranked across certain groups, such as the tendency of women to be engaged in onboard activities is higher than men's tendency. Regarding the positive impact on trip time, a statistical difference is demonstrated between groups, where the use of the tools carried by travelers is varied across the transport mode, trip purpose, and trip time, gender, age, education, and job variable. Besides, the involvement in onboard activities is statistically dependent across the transport mode, gender, income, and car ownership variable. The output of this study helps decision-makers and mobility planners in understanding the behavior of travelers onboard in more detail, such as the availability of onboard tools affecting the choice of transport mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Triangular intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (TIFNs) is one of the useful tools to manage the fuzziness and vagueness in expressing decision data and solving decision making problems. In this paper, triangular norm (t‐norm) based cuts of TIFNs are developed to synthesize the membership and nonmembership functions in describing the cut sets, then the possibility characteristics of TIFNs, i.e., the possibility mean, the possibility variance, and the possibility mean‐standard deviation ratio, are given. Thereby, on the ground of the possibility mean‐standard deviation ratio, a ranking method of TIFNs is introduced. With these elements, an approach to multiple attributes decision making (MADM) is proposed and illustrated by a numerical example. It is shown that the approach to MADM comprehensively considers both the membership and nonmembership functions and can lead to objective and reasonable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The potential of UV-mediated photofunctionalization to enhance the resin-based luting agent bonding performance to aged materials was investigated. Methods. Sixty samples of each material were prepared. Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YZr) and Pd-Au alloy (Pd-Au) plates were fabricated and sandblasted. Lithium disilicate glass-ceramic (LDS) was CAD-CAM prepared and ground with #800 SiC paper. Half of the specimens were immersed in machine oil for 24 h to simulate the carbon adsorption. Then, all of the specimens (noncarbon- and carbon-adsorbed) were submitted to UV-mediated photofunctionalization with a 15 W UV-LED (265 nm, 300 mA, 7692 μW/cm2) for 0 (control groups), 5, and 15 min and subjected to contact angle (Ɵ) measurement and bonded using a resin cement (Panavia™ V5, Kuraray Noritake, Japan). The tensile bond strength (TBS) test was performed after 24 h. The Ɵ (°) and TBS (MPa) data were statistically analyzed using two-way ANOVA and Bonferroni correction tests (α = 0.05). Results. In the carbon-adsorbed groups, UV-mediated photofunctionalization for 5 min significantly decreased Ɵ of all materials and increased TBS of YZr, and UV for 15 min significantly increased the TBS of LDS and Pd-Au. In noncarbon-adsorbed groups, UV-photofunctionalization did not significantly change the Ɵ or TBS except YZr specimens UV-photofunctionalized for 15 min. Conclusion. UV-mediated photofunctionalization might have removed the adsorbed hydrocarbon molecules from the materials' surfaces and enhanced bond strengths of Panavia™ V5 to YZr, LDS, and Pd-Au. Additionally, UV-mediated photofunctionalization improved the overall TBS of YZr. Further investigation on the optimum conditions of UV photofunctionalization on indirect restorative materials should be conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim(s): This paper examined the impact of workplace bullying (WPB) on mild aggressive deviant behaviour, such as knowledge hiding and employee time theft, in Pakistani health care institutions. Additionally, this study investigated the mediating role of negative emotions on the relationship between WPB and its outcomes. Background: Although mild deviant behaviour has been proven to affect the health care sector, its antecedents are still untapped. Method: Data were collected from 233 nurses working in hospitals located across Pakistan via self‐administered questionnaires in three time lags to test both the direct and indirect effects of WPB. The hypothesized correlations were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: The results revealed that WPB increased knowledge hiding and employee time theft amongst nurses. The indirect effect of negative emotions was established on the aforementioned relationships. Conclusion: This study contributes to the existing literature by concentrating on predictors that trigger deviant behaviour amongst nurses. It also assessed the mediating impact of emotions, wherein such endeavour is essential for researchers and practitioners. Implications for Nursing Management: The study outcomes are significant for the hospital sector to improve their strategies, such as implementing resilience during stressful events to address WPB and deviant behaviour amongst nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit four response‐level interview schedule (ASCOT INT4) for service users was translated into Finnish. The aim of this paper was to investigate the construct validity and structural characteristics of the Finnish ASCOT. We used data from a face‐to‐face interview survey of older people receiving publicly funded home care services, which was conducted in 2016–2017 (n = 493), excluding missing values and proxy respondents (n = 334). Chi‐square tests, adjusted residuals and analyses of variance were used to examine hypothesised associations between each attribute and a number of relevant variables regarding health and well‐being, disabilities, living arrangements, social contact and support, experience of service use, and the nature of the locality and environment. Structural characteristics were explored using exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha test. The EQ‐5D‐3L and ASCOT were moderately correlated (r = 0.429; p < 0.001). The ASCOT attributes were statistically positively related to the overall quality of life. For other tested variables, we found a high number of significant associations with the control over daily life, occupation, social participation, and personal cleanliness attributes, but fewer significant associations with the other attributes. Cronbach's alpha was 0.697 and a single factor was extracted. This assessment provides evidence to support the construct validity of the Finnish ASCOT. The results support the introduction of the Finnish ASCOT into Finland for use in practical applications. Future research on its reliability would be useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the fact that the detection of driver's distraction is a burning issue, this study chooses the driver's head pose as the evaluation parameter for driving distraction and proposes a driver distraction method based on the head pose. The effects of single regression and classification combined with regression are compared in terms of accuracy, and four kinds of classical networks are improved and trained using 300W-LP and AFLW datasets. The HPE_Resnet50 with the best accuracy is selected as the head pose estimator and applied to the ten-category distracted driving dataset SF3D to obtain 20,000 sets of head pose data. The differences between classes are discussed qualitatively and quantitatively. The analysis of variance shows that there is a statistically significant difference in head posture between safe driving and all kinds of distracted driving at 95% and 90% confidence levels, and the postures of all kinds of driving movements are distributed in a specific Euler angle range, which provides a characteristic basis for the design of subsequent recognition methods. In addition, according to the continuity of human movement, this paper also selects 90 drivers' videos to analyze the difference in head pose between safe driving and distracted driving frame by frame. By calculating the spatial distance and sample statistics, the results provide the reference point, spatial range, and threshold of safe driving under this driving condition. Experimental results show that the average error of HPE_Resnet50 in AFLW2000 is 6.17° and that there is an average difference of 12.4° to 54.9° in the Euler angle between safe driving and nine kinds of distracted driving on SF3D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we associate a probability distribution to a fuzzy variable represented by a continuous fuzzy quantity, where a fuzzy quantity is a fuzzy set that may be nonnormal and/or nonconvex. Our proposal is quite general and contains as particular cases other transformations presented in the literature. Furthermore, we define the variance of a fuzzy quantity as the variance of the probability distribution associated with it. The proposed variance agrees in the case of fuzzy numbers with the possibilistic one introduced by Irina Georgescu. We also apply our transformation to the evaluation of fuzzy quantities. The expected value of such probability distribution agrees with those introduced for fuzzy numbers by other authors; moreover, it matches the defuzzification value of a fuzzy quantity proposed by the same authors in other papers. To capture more information contained in a fuzzy quantity, or for ranking problems, we suggest to evaluate it by means of the pair mean variance, using the probability distribution associated with it. To illustrate how our method works, we apply it to evaluate the financial risk tolerance of a bank client using a fuzzy inference system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim This paper used Social Exchange Theory to empirically examine whether perceived organisational support, satisfaction with training and development and perception of discretionary power are antecedents of engagement for registered nurses working in Italian public and private hospitals ( n = 827). Background According to Social Exchange Theory, effective workplace relationships support employees and encourage nurses to use training to enhance their workplace outcomes. Method This research used a cross-sectional design. Data were collected from registered nurses working in six Italian hospitals using a survey-based, self-report strategy. Result Regression analysis found that the variance of process-oriented supervision accounted for 6.9% of Italian registered nurse's perception of engagement, training and development accounted for 26.8% and discretionary power accounted for 2.1%. Conclusion Workplace relationships enhance autonomy and engagement. Effective workplace relationship impacts positively on nurses' outcome. Implications for nursing management This paper confirms the relevance of training to enhance engagement of nurses. It also confirms the importance of workplace relationships in enhancing autonomy and engagement. Previous research has identified the importance of nurses' autonomy in an environment where there are shortages of nurses. This study confirms a similar situation for Italian nurses. The findings underline the relevance of investments in continuous professional development to enhance nurses' engagement in private and public health-care settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers a new risk-control and management approach for a bottleneck spanning tree problem under the situation where edge costs in a given network include randomness and reliability. Particularly, this paper focuses on the case that only mean value and variance of edge costs are calculated without assuming a specific random distribution. In order to develop the risk control approach, a confidence interval-based formulation is introduced. Using this interval, as well as minimizing the maximum value of worse edge costs, maximizing the minimum value of robust parameters to edge costs is introduced as objective functions in the risk-control. Furthermore, in order to maintain the constructing spanning tree network entirely, the reliability for each edge is introduced, and maximizing the total reliability of spanning tree is assumed as the third objective function. The proposed model is a multiobjective programming problem, and hence, it is difficult to solve it directly without setting some optimal criterion. Therefore, satisfaction functions for each object and the integrated function are introduced, and the exact solution algorithm is developed by performing deterministic equivalent transformations. A numerical example is provided by comparing our proposed modelwith previous standardmodels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcohol liver disease (ALD) caused by excessive alcohol consumption is a progressive disease, and alcohol fatty liver disease is the primary stage. Currently, there is no approved drug for its treatment. Abstinence is the best way to heal, but patients' compliance is poor. Unlike other chronic diseases, alcohol fatty liver disease is not caused by nutritional deficiencies; it is caused by the molecular action of ingested alcohol and its metabolites. More and more studies have shown the potential of Penthorum chinense Pursh (PCP) in the clinical use of alcohol fatty liver treatment. The purpose of this paper is to reveal from the essence of PCP treatment of alcohol liver mechanism mainly by the ethanol dehydrogenase (ADH) and microsomal ethanol oxidation system-dependent cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1) to exert antilipogenesis, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic, and autophagy effects, with special emphasis on its mechanisms related to SIRT1/AMPK, KEAP-1/Nrf2, and TLR4/NF-κB. Overall, data from the literature shows that PCP appears to be a promising hepatoprotective traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many experiments, several observations are taken over time or with several treatments applied to each subject. These observations tend to be highly correlated, particularly those observed adjacent to each other with respect to time. In this paper, we investigate the effect of the correlations among observations in one‐way and two‐way ANOVA. A modification of the standard tests suitable for AR(1) correlation structure is proposed and its properties are investigated. We also apply the approximations to the distribution of F tests as suggested by some authors in the past and carry out the analysis. The modified procedure allows us to have a better control of the nominal significance level α. Consequently, the multiple comparisons and multiple tests based on this modified procedure will lead to conclusions with better accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to obtain the optimum technological parameters of fender forming, the finite element analysis software DYNAFORM is used to simulate the drawing process of fender in this paper. The orthogonal test is designed and completed. On the basis of the orthogonal test, Taguchi method is used to design the orthogonal inner table, and the SNR of each factor at each level is calculated. The results of Taguchi method are analyzed with variance analysis, and the adjustable influencing variables and influence factors on quality stability that affect the forming quality of the fender are obtained. Experimental optimization of the adjustable variables is carried out again to obtain the optimal combination of process parameters that affect the shaping quality of the fender. The optimal combination of process parameters is as follows: blank holder force is 120 kN, model clearance is 1.0 t (t represents sheet thickness), friction coefficient is 0.11, and radius of die is 6 mm. Finally, the experimental results show that the fender manufactured with this combination of process parameters has better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a traditional network, server load balancing is used to satisfy the demand for high data volumes. The technique requires large capital investment while offering poor scalability and flexibility, which difficultly supports highly dynamic workload demands from massive mobile users. To solve these problems, this paper analyses the principle of software-defined networking (SDN) and presents a new probabilistic method of load balancing based on variance analysis. The method can be used to dynamically manage traffic flows for supporting massive mobile users in SDN networks. The paper proposes a solution using the OpenFlow virtual switching technology instead of the traditional hardware switching technology. A SDN controller monitors data traffic of each port by means of variance analysis and provides a probability-based selection algorithm to redirect traffic dynamically with the OpenFlow technology. Compared with the existing load balancing methods which were designed to support traditional networks, this solution has lower cost, higher reliability, and greater scalability which satisfy the needs of mobile users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A brief intervention using Zero‐time Exercise (ZTEx), a foot‐in‐the‐door approach, was developed to reduce sedentary behaviour and increase physical activity. ZTEx refers to the integration of simple strength‐ and stamina‐enhancing physical activity into daily life, which can be done anytime, anywhere and by anyone. This paper presents the development, feasibility, and preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of this intervention under the Hong Kong Jockey Club FAMILY Project. Needs assessments were conducted with social workers from the Christian Family Services Center(CFSC) and the Social Welfare Department (SWD). This single group prospective ZTEx intervention trial, guided by the Health Action Process Approach, included a 3‐hr core session at baseline and a 1‐hr booster session at 1‐month follow‐up. Fifty‐six participants (social and service‐related workers) from CFSC (n = 28) and SWD (n = 28) received the intervention and completed the self‐administered questionnaires at baseline. Forty‐nine and 43 participants completed the 1‐month and 3‐month self‐administered questionnaires, respectively. Fifteen participants attended the focus group interviews to share their feedback on ZTEx intervention after implementing their community‐based ZTEx activities. Intention‐to‐treat analysis was conducted with missing data replaced by baseline values. Participants reported significant decreases in sitting time by 27 (2, 52) minutes (mean [95% confidence interval]) and 36 (0.2, 71) minutes on a weekday, increases in physical activity while seated by 0.7 (0.2, 1.4) days and 1.1 (0.6, 1.7) days in a week, and improvements in perceived knowledge, outcome expectancies and plan on doing ZTEx at the 1‐month and 3‐month follow‐up, respectively. Balance and muscle strength significantly improved at the 1‐month follow‐up. The effect ranged from small to large (Cohen's d: 0.27–1.05, all p < 0.05). The qualitative feedbacks support the quantitative findings. Our findings show early evidence that ZTEx effectively reduced sedentary behaviour and enhanced physical activity and fitness. Further trials on this simple and low‐cost intervention as the first step to promote higher intensity exercise are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Many patients find using medicines burdensome. This paper reports the types of issues people experience with medicines, using a validated measure of medicines burden, and the factors associated with high burden. The cross‐sectional study involved patients presenting prescriptions at pharmacies or awaiting appointments at GP practices or outpatient clinics, during October 2015 to December 2016. Adults using at least one regular medicine were asked to complete the Living with Medicines Questionnaire V3 (LMQ‐3). The LMQ‐3 contains 41 statements rated on a 5‐point scale (strongly agree to strongly disagree), with higher scores indicating greater burden, plus a visual analogue scale for self‐reporting of overall perceived burden (VAS‐burden). For a subsample, access to their medication record was requested, facilitating calculation of the complexity of their medicine regimen using the Medicine Regimen Complexity Index (MRCI). Of 1,888 questionnaires distributed, 684 were returned (36.2%) and medication records obtained for 163. The median number of medicines respondents reported using was 4 (range 1 to 26). Two‐thirds (418; 67.0%) used medicines more than once daily, 67 (10.1%) required assistance with medicines and 189 (28.3%) paid a prescription charge. LMQ‐3 scores showed a strong positive relationship with VAS‐burden scores (r = .547; p < 0.001). LMQ‐3 and VAS‐burden scores were lower in older age groups, but both increased with increasing number of medicines and dosing frequency. LMQ‐3 score was positively related to MRCI score (n = 163; r = .217; p = 0.005), whereas VAS‐burden was not. Older respondents reported lower burden in most domains. Higher numbers and frequency of medicines, paying prescription charges, needing support and deprivation increased burden across multiple domains. Factors strongly associated with high LMQ‐3 scores were: needing support, high dosing frequency and unemployment. Interventions seeking to reduce medicines burden should consider targeting individuals who need support with using medicines, use at least four medicines, more than twice daily and/or pay prescription charges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]