Contribution Of Different Dimensions Research Articles

Application of machine learning in predicting health perception through military personnel's sense of empowerment.

The promotion of health and provision of care services for new recruits are issues of constant concern for military leaders and healthcare providers, as they are crucial to maintaining and operating military forces. The enhancement of military personnel's empowerment has been recognized as a core value in promoting health perception. However, the pathways between military personnel's sense of empowerment and health perception have not been thoroughly explored. The primary aim of this study is to examine the predictive power of different dimensions of empowerment (personal, interpersonal, and socio-political) on new recruits' health perception, and to further observe differences among subgroups, which will help us grasp the nuances of future health intervention measures. The research data were extracted from the "Military Career Development Study," analyzing personal empowerment data from Wave 1 (W1) and perceived health data from Wave 2 (W2) (N = 2,232). In terms of analytical methods, five ML classifiers, including Decision Tree, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, AdaBoost, and k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) algorithms, were used for prediction in both the full sample and subsamples (gender and socioeconomic status). Results show that among the five ML classifiers, the Decision Tree performed best overall, achieving a prediction accuracy of 95.4%. The results by gender show that the ML models perform best for both males and females with the Decision Tree and Random Forest methods. For the Decision Tree, the accuracy rates were 94.9% for males and 95.1% for females; the F1 scores were 92.9% for males and 93.2% for females. For the Random Forest, the accuracy rates were 94.9% for males and 95.4% for females; the F1 scores were 92.7% for males and 93.2% for females. Regarding SES, the Decision Tree and Random Forest methods performed best. In the SES Low group, both methods achieved a prediction accuracy of 95.6% and an F1 score of 93.7%; in the SES high group, they achieved a prediction accuracy of 95.4% and an F1 score of 93.3%. However, the contribution of different dimensions of empowerment features varied significantly among subgroups. These findings can provide important information on the differences in health perception among military personnel.

Scale Effects on the Relationship between Plant Diversity and Ecosystem Multifunctionality in Arid Desert Areas

Understanding the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality is popular topic in ecological research. Although scale is an important factor driving changes in biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality, we still know little about the scale effects of the relationship between the different dimensions of biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality. Using plant communities in the northwest of the Qira Desert Ecosystem National Field Research Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Qira County, Xinjiang, as the study object, we explored the scale effects of plant diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality at different sampling scales (5 m × 5 m, 20 m × 20 m, and 50 m × 50 m) and the relative contribution of different dimensions of diversity (species diversity, functional diversity, and phylogenetic diversity) to variation in ecosystem multifunctionality. At different scales, a significant scale effect was observed in the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality. Species diversity dominated ecosystem multifunctionality at large scales (50 m × 50 m), and species diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality varied linearly between scales. Functional diversity made the greatest contribution in small scales (5 m × 5 m), and the relationship between phylogenetic diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality tended to show a single-peaked variation between scales, with a dominant effect on multifunctionality at the mesoscale (20 m × 20 m). The results of the study deepen the understanding of the scale effect of the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality in arid desert areas, and help to further conserve plant diversity and maintain ecosystem multifunctionality.

How do dimensions of institutional quality improve Italian regional innovation system efficiency? The Knowledge production function using SFA

This paper investigates the contribution of different dimensions of institutional quality on the efficiency of the Italian regional innovation system (RIS) through the application of a knowledge production function estimated within a Stochastic Frontier Analysis environment. Though most of the dimensions of institutional quality considered in the analysis are found to play no role in affecting RIS efficiency, we detect a positive and highly significant impact of government effectiveness on the variable of interest. This result is robust to different assumptions about the underlying technology, to alternative lag structures between R&D and patenting activities and to the application of different R&D inputs. Moreover, this evidence is confirmed once instead of the RIS efficiency, we appraise the impact of institutional quality on the amount of registered patents, through the application of a canonical knowledge production function. In terms of policy implications, our analysis indicates that measures that strengthen the endowment of regional socio-economic structures are highly recommended as they enhance the efficiency of the RIS and stimulate patenting activities. Finally, interventions for Southern regions should be designed to reduce the technological and efficiency gap with the most advanced regions in the country.

Connecting mobile social media with psychosocial well-being: Understanding relationship between WeChat involvement, network characteristics, online capital and life satisfaction

Previous studies have confirmed the powerful influence of social networks on individuals’ mental health and well-being. However, the relative contribution of different dimensions of network characteristics to psychosocial outcomes on mobile social media is unclear. The objectives of this current research are to investigate the effect of WeChat involvement on young people’s network characteristics (network diversity and network size) and to examine the influence of network characteristics on their online bridging capital, bonding capital and life satisfaction. Especially, the hypothesized research model is developed to unpack the mediating role of network characteristics in the association between WeChat usage and related psychosocial outcomes. Based on survey data collected from 566 young people, the study demonstrates that WeChat involvement positively predicts individuals’ network diversity and network size in their daily routine life. Interestingly, network diversity is also positively associated with degrees of online bridging capital, online bonding capital and satisfaction with life. Additionally, the mediating roles of network diversity and network size between WeChat involvement and psychosocial outcomes is revealed. The research findings provide fresh insight into understanding the implication of individuals’ mobile social media use and network network attibutes for well-being outcomes in contemporay mobile-mediated environment.

Value conflict among adolescents in relation to modernization

Different choices and actions are rooted in values which define what an individual considers good or beneficial to his well being. The necessity of making choices cause conflict and it is very natural, it arises when two or more incompatible goals are active at the same time. Modern era is characterized by technological development and economic prosperity on one hand and cut-throat competition and value erosion on the other. This paradoxical situation affects adolescent’s ability to decide between sets of values which in turns may or may not associated with value conflict. The present study is an attempt to investigate the relationship between adolescents’ attitude towards modernization and extent of value conflict among them. This study also reveals the contribution of modernization as a determinant in value conflict in terms of gender and locale. For the present study a sample of 400 adolescents was taken from six government and private colleges situated in urban and rural areas of Ludhiana district. Value conflict scale by Bhardwaj and Comprehensive Modernization Inventory by Ahluwalia and Kalia were used to collect the data. Results revealed that attitude of adolescents was significantly negatively correlated with value conflict among rural and urban girls and boys. On the basis of regression analysis there was a significant positive contribution of different dimensions of modernization on positive value assumption among adolescents. Adolescents with positive attitude towards different aspects of modernization had greater inclination towards positive values.

In search of intangible connections: intellectual capital, performance and quality of life in higher education institutions.

This study explores the contributions of different dimensions of the intellectual capital of higher education institutions (ICHEIs) to their performance, incorporating the previously unexplored dimension of quality of life (QoL) as a performance measure, and correspondingly taking into account the connection between the Theory of Stakeholders and the Theory of Legitimacy. Applying a Structural Equation Model and the Partial Least Squares method, we present new empirical findings from a sample of 738 students and 587 lecturers/researchers from seven Portuguese public HEIs. The ICHEIs positively influence the institution’s performance, through relational capital and structural capital; and QoL emerges as an important dimension of HEIs’ performance standards, especially regarding students’ perception of academic QoL. When HEIs understand and measure their IC, they will gain a better understanding of their core competencies, enabling a better allocation of resources and implementation of more effective strategic and operational actions.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10734-020-00653-9.

Will the urbanization process influence the peak of carbon emissions in the building sector? A dynamic scenario simulation

The accelerating urbanization has posed great challenges to China’s carbon-mitigation efforts and global climate change response. However, how does the urbanization process impact the peak of future carbon emissions from buildings is still unclear. This study first establishes a comprehensive urbanization framework from three dimensions. Then, a dynamic scenario simulation model is innovatively constructed by combining the extended Kaya identity and Monte Carlo simulation approach to explore future dynamic evolution trajectory, possible peaks and peaking time of China’s building carbon emissions from 2000 to 2050, considering the uncertainties of factors. Finally, dynamic sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate the contributions of different dimensions of the urbanization. Results show that under the business-as-usual scenario, the rural residential building sector will be the first to reach its energy peak in 2027. Dynamic scenario simulation shows that the building sector will peak at 3.09 (±0.36) Bt CO2 in 2037 (±4). Specifically, the urban residential building sector will peak at 1.27 (±0.18) Bt CO2 in 2040 (±4), while the rural residential building sector will peak at 0.51 (±0.03) Bt CO2 in 2021 (±4) and the commercial building sector will peak in 2038 (±4) at 1.41 (±0.30) Bt CO2. Dynamic sensitivity analysis indicates that rural–urban migration will exert promoting effect on the peaking time and emission peaks of building carbon emissions through the concomitant effects of the urbanization process, i.e., the economic urbanization and space urbanization. Overall, this study can provide a better insight into the impact of urbanization on carbon emission peak and can support governments and decision-makers to formulate effective carbon-mitigation strategies.

SUN-070 The effects of social support on health-related quality-of-life in peritoneal dialysis patients

Aged multi-morbid end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients requiring dialysis increased rapidly in Taiwan and they often chose more hemodialysis (HD) than peritoneal dialysis (PD). Although PD patients had better health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in literature, to explore the factors to influence detailed physical component summaries (PCS) and mental component summaries (MCS) is essential for healthcare provider to achieve comprehensive ESRD care. A cross-sectional study was conducted for maintenance HD and PD patients in one medical center and five regional hospitals, using two inistruments of SF-12 and kidney disease component summary (KDCS) in KDQOL-SF during June 2013 to November 2014. While SF-12 collected HRQoL information, KDCS collected information related to burden of kidney disease, symptoms/problems of kidney disease, effects of kidney disease, and social support. Two aspects of HRQoL was measured, i.e., MCS and PCS. PD patients were approached during their monthly follow-up outpatient consultation, and HD patients were approached during their regular in-centre therapies, generally three times a week. A multiple regression was employed to examine the effects of dialysis modality, satisfaction with social support, and the interaction of dialysis modality and satisfaction with social support. The covariates interaction measured the difference in HRQoL between dissatisfaction patients in the two modalities (PD vs.HD). The enrolled 646 patients (443 HD vs. 203 PD) were 367 males (56.8%) and PD patients are younger, more satisfied with family and friend companion time, with lower comorbidities (>2) and dialysis vintages (> 4 years) than HD patients. No difference in HRQoL between paients in PD vs. HD patients. Furthermore, for patients dissatisfied with social support, the scores of MCS in HRQoL were significantly lower than those of satisfied ones. However, for patients dissatisfied with social support, the PD patients significantly had the lower scores of MCS in HRQoL than HD ones. The results of this study not only reveal the important contribution of social support to the HRQoL of dialysis patients but also demonstrate the critical role of social support for patients in therapy required considerable self-care. PD patients requires considerable self-care and might need assistances from family or friends. When PD patients could not obtain adequate assistances, they might be dissatisfied with their social support, which could in turn result in lower HRQoL. On the contrary, for those HD patients who were not satisfied with their social supports, their HRQoL might not be affected considerably since most of their dialysis care was performed by medical professionals. Therefore, HD patients could still enjoy better HRQoL than PD patients given that both groups of patients dissatisfied with their social supports. Policymakers and healthcare providers should pay close attention to the social support of dialysis patients since it can play a major role on their HRQoL. Future studies can further investigate the effects of the social support from medical professionals on HRQoL of dialysis patients. Moreover, further investigations on the contributions of different dimensions of social supports, i.e., emotional, appraisal, are warranted.

Measuring Economic Insecurity Using a Counting Approach. An Application to Three EU Countries

In this paper, we propose the use of a multidimensional approach to the measurement of economic insecurity in three European countries. We combine six different unidimensional indicators proxying the subjective and objective determinants of economic insecurity into a single index based on a counting approach method, which allows us to measure the incidence and the intensity of the phenomenon. Using longitudinal data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU‐SILC) from 2008 to 2016, we find that the incidence of insecurity falls as income grows, being significantly present in middle‐income households both in Spain and France but not in Sweden. Interestingly, in all three countries, the contribution of different dimensions to insecurity changes as household income grows, while for all income levels a higher education and being employed in a non‐fixed term contract are strongly related to a lower probability of being economically insecure.

Affective behavior and temperament predict the onset of smoking in adolescence.

Earlier use of tobacco in adolescence is associated with numerous adverse outcomes later in life. Although a number of studies have linked individual differences in affective functioning to adolescent smoking, these have relied primarily on self-report measures, and the contribution of different dimensions of affect to the onset of tobacco use during this period remains unclear. The current study examined these issues in a sample of 180 adolescents recruited from an ongoing prospective, longitudinal study examining emotional development. At approximately age 12, participants completed a questionnaire measure of affective temperament and took part in a family interaction task that was coded observationally to provide measures of dysphoric, aggressive, and positive behaviors. At 2 subsequent assessments, which took place approximately 2.5 years and 4 years after the initial assessment, participants completed a questionnaire measure of substance use. In total, 70 participants initiated smoking between the ages of 12 and 17. An earlier onset of smoking was predicted by more aggressive and less positive observed behavior during the interaction task, as well as lower levels of self-reported temperamental Effortful Control. There were no associations between dysphoric behaviors, or temperamental measures of negative affectivity or surgency and the onset of smoking. The findings add to a small body of literature demonstrating that behavioral components of affect can prospectively predict substance use in adolescence and suggest that different dimensions of affect show unique relationships with early substance use. (PsycINFO Database Record

Assessment of spectral, polarimetric, temporal, and spatial dimensions for urban and peri-urban land cover classification using Landsat and SAR data

Urban and peri-urban environments are composed of a wide variety of materials, making land cover classification challenging. The objective of this research is to determine how effectively multi-season Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and single-season Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) data can be combined to map 17 land cover categories in the Greater Boston area of, Massachusetts, USA. The key goal of this work is to test the integration of radar and optical data. The contribution of different dimensions of input data to a random forest classifier was evaluated with map accuracy statistics. PALSAR data produced a 30.99% overall classification accuracy. Higher classification accuracy (72.24%) was achieved by adding texture variables derived from the PALSAR data. A September Landsat image produced a map accuracy of 77.96%. The inclusion of Landsat images from other three seasons increased map accuracy to 86.86% and Landsat derived texture variables further increased the map accuracy to 92.69%. The highest map accuracy (93.82%) was achieved by combining Landsat and PALSAR. Though combining PALSAR and Landsat only increased the overall accuracy by 1.1%, it was a statistically significant increase, whose magnitude was limited by the high accuracy already achieved with Landsat data. Moreover, confusion matrices and land cover maps indicated that most of this increase was from three urban land cover types ( low density residential, high density residential, and commercial/industrial). The results demonstrate the value of combining multitemporal Landsat imagery, ALOS PALSAR data, and texture variables for land cover classification in urban and peri-urban environments.

Morphological traits in sacra associated with complete and partial lumbarization of first sacral segment

Background context Transitional states of vertebrae at the lumbosacral junction are associated with low back pain. Lumbarization may present as partial (incomplete separation of S1–S2 bodies and their neural arches) or complete separation of the S1 from the S2 segment in a sacrum. Separation of S1 entails alteration of the anatomy at the lumbosacral junction that affects load bearing at the region. Purposes To 1) identify characteristic structural features in sacra associated with lumbarization of the S1 sacral element; 2) compare linear dimensions and surface areas in such sacra with that of the normal samples; 3) calculate relative contributions of different dimensions in the variant sacral corpuses by working out indices; and 4) analyze load bearing at these sacra in light of their altered morphology. Study design Three hundred thirty-two dried human sacra were measured for specific dimensions and surface areas. They were screened for partial or complete lumbarization of the S1 segment. Outcome measures All parameters and indices of the lumbarized specimen were compared with those in the normal sacra. Methods Seven linear dimensions and five surface areas were measured in 332 sacra. Nine indices were formulated from them. Sacra with partial or complete lumbarization of S1 were analyzed for all the parameters and evaluated for their morphological variations and traits. Results A total of 3.9% of sacra presented lumbarization, seven (2.1%) with partial and six (1.8%) with complete separation of the S1. Sacrum with partial lumbarization presented parameters similar to the normal variety. Auricular surfaces in these sacra were situated lower than normal with negligible contribution from the S1 segments. Parameters in sacral samples showing complete separation of S1 (with remaining S2-S5 segments) were smaller than normal dimensions except for some. These “baseline” (S2–S5) sacra transmitted load to the sacroiliac joints via the S2 and S3 elements. Four of six of these samples demonstrated unilateral or bilateral accessory facets between the transverse elements of the free S1 segment and the ala of the remaining sacrum (formed by S2). Significant load passed through the accessory articulations that abutted near the sacroiliac joints. A good number of these sacra showed highly attenuated laminae and at times presented incomplete fusion at the spines (spina bifida). Conclusions Lumbarization involved distinct anatomical alterations at the S1–S2 junctions. Partially lumbarized samples showed 1) gap (mean 1.43 mm) between S1 and S2 bodies; 2) incomplete separation between S1 and S2 neural arch elements with the S1 arches resembling lumbar laminae; 3) well-developed “baseline” (S2–S5) segments; and 4) “low-down” (positioned at S2–S3) auricular surfaces. Complete separation of S1 involved 1) smaller overall dimensions with diminished facet depth, sacral height, and facet area at S1; 2) auricular surface areas comparable to the normal and greater than those found in the partially lumbarized specimen; 3) large “baseline” (S2–S5) sacra with “high-up” auricular surfaces (positioned at S2–S3); 4) occasional S1–S2 accessory articulations; and 5) small zygapophyseal joints and attenuated sacral laminae with high sacral hiatuses associated at times, with “spina bifida.”

Commitment : une attitude dialogique

Claire Beyssade & Jean-Marie Marandin undertake to analyze two aspects of speech acts, one pertaining to the Speaker, the other to the Addressee (Speaker's Call on Addressee). The notion of commitment is given a crucial role as they distinguish Speaker's commitment - the content the Speaker endorses - from the commitment the Speaker calls on the Addressee to endorse. They claim that Speaker's commitment and Speaker's Call on Addressee may differ in type or content. Such a claim enables them to reanalyze Indirect speech acts and to set up a unifed framework to sort out the proper contributions of different dimensions of Grammar. The authors illustrate the claim with clause types and a few illocutionary particles (n'est-ce pas, oui ou non, etc.).

A 3‐factor model for the FACIT‐Sp

The 12-item Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being Scale (FACIT-Sp) is a popular measure of the religious/spiritual (R/S) components of quality of life (QoL) in patients with cancer. The original factor analyses of the FACIT-Sp supported two factors: Meaning/Peace and Faith. Because Meaning suggests a cognitive aspect of R/S and Peace an affective component, we hypothesized a 3-factor solution: Meaning, Peace, and Faith. Participants were 240 long-term female survivors of cancer who completed the FACIT-Sp, the SF-12, and the BSI 18. We used confirmatory factor analysis to compare the 2- and 3-factor models of the FACIT-Sp and subsequently assessed associations between the resulting solutions and QoL domains. Survivors averaged 44 years of age and 10 years post-diagnosis. A 3-factor solution of the FACIT-Sp significantly improved the fit of the model to the data over the original 2-factor structure (Delta chi(2)=72.36, df=2, p<0.001). Further adjustments to the 3-factor model resulted in a final solution with even better goodness-of-fit indices (chi(2)=59.11, df=1, p=0.13, CFI=1.00, SMRM=0.05).The original Meaning/Peace factor controlling for Faith was associated with mental (r=0.63, p<0.000) and physical (r=0.22, p<0.01) health on the SF-12, and the original Faith factor controlling for Meaning/Peace was negatively associated with mental health (r=-0.15, p<0.05). The 3-factor model was more informative. Specifically, using partial correlations, the Peace factor was only related to mental health (r=0.53, p<0.001); Meaning was related to both physical (r=0.18, p<0.01) and mental (r=0.17, p<0.01) health; and Faith was negatively associated with mental health (r=-0.17, p<0.05). The results of this study support a 3-factor solution of the FACIT-Sp. The new solution not only represents a psychometric improvement over the original, but also enables a more detailed examination of the contribution of different dimensions of R/S to QoL.

Nucleon QCD sum rules with radiative corrections

QCD sum rules for the nucleon are considered in complex q^2 plane with inclusion of the radiative corrections of the order alpha_s. It is shown that the radiative corrections affect mainly the residue lambda^2 of the nucleon pole. Their influence on the value of the nucleon mass is much smaller. Following the ideas of Ioffe and Zyablyuk we expand the analysis to complex values of q^2. This provides a more stable solution. Varying the weights of the contributions of different dimensions by changing the value of the angle in the complex plane we find the value of the six-quark condensate which insures the best consistency of the right hand sides and left hand sides of the sum rules. The corresponding value of the six-quark condensate appears to be only about 10% smaller then the one, provided by the factorization approximation. The value of the four-quark condensate also appears to be close to the one, corresponding to the factorization assumption. The role of the gluon condensate and its possible values are discussed.

Dimensions of catastrophic thinking associated with pain experience and disability in patients with neuropathic pain conditions

The objective of the present study was to examine the relative contributions of different dimensions of catastrophic thinking (i.e. rumination, magnification, helplessness) to the pain experience and disability associated with neuropathic pain. Eighty patients with diabetic neuropathy, post-herpetic neuralgia, post-surgical or post-traumatic neuropathic pain who had volunteered for participation in a clinical trial formed the basis of the present analyses. Spontaneous pain was assessed with the sensory and affective subscales of the McGill Pain Questionnaire. Pinprick hyperalgesia and dynamic tactile allodynia were used as measures of evoked pain. Consistent with previous research, individuals who scored higher on a measure of catastrophic thinking (Pain Catastrophizing Scale; PCS) also rated their pain as more intense, and rated themselves to be more disabled due to their pain. Follow up analyses revealed that the PCS was significantly correlated with the affective subscale of the MPQ but not with the sensory subscale. The helplessness subscale of the PCS was the only dimension of catastrophizing to contribute significant unique variance to the prediction of pain. The PCS was not significantly correlated with measures of evoked pain. Catastrophizing predicted pain-related disability over and above the variance accounted for by pain severity. The findings are discussed in terms of mechanisms linking catastrophic thinking to pain experience. Treatment implications are addressed.

Validation of a subjective quality of life questionnaire (S.QUA.LA) in schizophrenia

We developed and validated a self-administered questionnaire (Subjective Quality of Life Analysis, S.QUA.L.A.) to measure subjective quality of life. S.QUA.L.A. is a multidimensional instrument. This scale includes 22 domains of life. It covers traditional areas (food, family relation etc)., and more abstract aspects of life (politic, justice, freedom, truth, beauty and art, love). For each domain, patients are asked to evaluate their degree of satisfaction. They have also to indicate how important this domain is for them. We questioned 92 patients with schizophrenia and 357 para-medical students. The research demonstrated reproducibility, high internal consistency reliability, and sensitivity to change. Principal components analysis with varimax rotation was performed. A five-factor solution was selected, showing a great contribution of different dimensions of the self. Determinants of quality of life were identified by using correlations with Lehman's Quality of Life Interview (QOLI), and with measures of psychopathology and social functioning. Satisfaction approach and QOLI showed the same construct. We confirmed the influence of symptoms of depression and anxiety on subjective quality of life assessment, and the poor impact of disease parameters.