Low Level Of Acceptance Research Articles

Improvement on predicting employee behaviour through intelligent techniques

In recent times, there has been increasing awareness of employee behaviour prediction in healthcare, trade, and industry systems worldwide and its value on returns and profits of these systems. Nevertheless, determining the top employees with capacities and endorsing them for promotion is depending more or less on features which are dynamic and serving these systems’ interest. The current structure in organising and academic firms in Kurdistan-Iraq is non-systematic and manually performed; thus, the evaluation of employees’ behaviours is carried out by the directors at different branches, sections, and subsections; as a result, in some cases the outcomes of employees’ performance cause a low level of acceptance among staffs who believe that most of these cases are falsely assessed. This study suggests an intelligent and vigorous structure to examine performance of employees. It aims at presenting a solution to employee behaviour prediction through a joint effective feature selection method, then fuzzy rough (FR) set theory is used to select relevant features, next the classification task is conducted via FR nearest neighbours (FRNNs), decision tree, Naive Bayes, and convolution neural network (CNN). FRNN and CNN classifiers have the best classification accuracy rate.

The influence of frailty syndrome on acceptance of illness in elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

COPD is one of the most debilitating diseases. Frailty syndrome and advanced age may decrease the acceptance of illness, quality of life, and worsen health conditions in these patients, as well as lead to an increase in health care expenses. The aim of the study was to assess how the level of frailty affects the acceptance of illness in elderly patients with COPD. We also aimed to evaluate the associations between sociodemographic and clinical factors and the level of acceptance of illness, anxiety, and frailty in this group of patients. The study included 102 COPD patients with a mean age of 63.2 (standard deviation =6.5) years and grades I (3%), II (37%), III (52%), and IV (8%) by Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease. The Polish versions of the Acceptance of Illness Scale and Tilburg frailty indicator were used. Frailty syndrome was found in 77 (75.5%) patients, with an average score of 7.42 (standard deviation =2.24). Coexisting diseases such as hypertension (46.07%), coronary artery disease (32.35%), heart failure (28.43%), diabetes (18.63%), and heart arrhythmia (9.8%) were found among the subjects. The overall level of acceptance of illness was 20.6 (standard deviation =7.62). A lower level of acceptance of illness was associated with a higher level of frailty, especially in the physical and social domain. Elderly patients with severe COPD are more prone to frailty and decreased acceptance of their disease in comparison to patients with other chronic diseases. Assessment and management of frailty in the care of older COPD patients are likely to improve risk stratification significantly and help personalize management, leading to better patient outcomes.

Estimation of flood warning runoff thresholds in ungauged basins with asymmetric error functions

Abstract. In many real-world flood forecasting systems, the runoff thresholds for activating warnings or mitigation measures correspond to the flow peaks with a given return period (often 2 years, which may be associated with the bankfull discharge). At locations where the historical streamflow records are absent or very limited, the threshold can be estimated with regionally derived empirical relationships between catchment descriptors and the desired flood quantile. Whatever the function form, such models are generally parameterised by minimising the mean square error, which assigns equal importance to overprediction or underprediction errors. Considering that the consequences of an overestimated warning threshold (leading to the risk of missing alarms) generally have a much lower level of acceptance than those of an underestimated threshold (leading to the issuance of false alarms), the present work proposes to parameterise the regression model through an asymmetric error function, which penalises the overpredictions more. The estimates by models (feedforward neural networks) with increasing degree of asymmetry are compared with those of a traditional, symmetrically trained network, in a rigorous cross-validation experiment referred to a database of catchments covering the country of Italy. The analysis shows that the use of the asymmetric error function can substantially reduce the number and extent of overestimation errors, if compared to the use of the traditional square errors. Of course such reduction is at the expense of increasing underestimation errors, but the overall accurateness is still acceptable and the results illustrate the potential value of choosing an asymmetric error function when the consequences of missed alarms are more severe than those of false alarms.

Illness Cognitions and Coping Self-Efficacy in Depression Among Persons With Low Vision.

To investigate the mediating role of coping self-efficacy (CSE) between two types of illness cognitions (i.e., acceptance and helplessness) and depressive symptoms in persons with low vision. This was a single-group, cross-sectional study. Patients with visual acuity < 6/12 in the better eye and at least minimal depressive symptoms (≥5 on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9]) were recruited from vision rehabilitation services and participated in telephone-administered structured interviews at one time point. Measures were the PHQ-9, CSE Scale, and Illness Cognition Questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) devised the causal flow of illness cognitions and their observed indirect effects on depressive symptoms via the CSE mediators: problem focused, emotion focused, and social support. The study comprised 163 patients (mean age 62 years; 61% female), most with age-related macular degeneration (26%) and moderate vision impairment (44%, <6/18-6/60). Structural equation modeling indices indicated a perfect fit (χ2 < 0.001, P = 1.00), accounting for 55% of the variance in depressive symptoms. Lower levels of acceptance and higher levels of helplessness illness cognitions were associated with lower self-efficacy in problem-focused coping (β = 0.38, P < 0.001, β = -0.28, P < 0.01, respectively), which in turn was associated with greater depressive symptom severity (β = -0.54, P < 0.001). Lack of acceptance and greater helplessness relating to low vision led to a lack of perceived capability to engage in problem-focused coping, which in turn promoted depressive symptoms. Third-wave cognitive-behavioral treatments that focus on acceptance may be efficacious in this population.

HOW CAN WE STOP THE SEWAGE?

In Ecuador 46.4% of households lack access to sewerage systems, and then much wastewater is discharged from sewerage into the environment untreated. On the one hand dry toilet systems present themselves as an optimal solution against this backdrop; they mitigate the production of black water, whilst having fertilizer as the end product. On the other hand, they tend to have a low acceptance level by potential end users. This problem of social acceptance is then further exacerbated in urban areas. In order to overcome this, the design of an ecological dry/semi-dry toilet was carried out in two phases. The first phase consisted of purely sociological research, where the aim was to determine the basic design parameters that should be used for ecological toilet prototype. The second phase is the development of ecological toilet prototypes, which are then tested in terms of their level of acceptance/rejection by potential end users. The overall aim is to develop toilet prototypes that on the one hand mitigate the production of black water, whilst on the other are accepted with open arms by end users, and even preferred over the conventional toilet common to urban areas.

Lecturer performance system using neural network with Particle Swarm Optimization

ABSTRACTThe field of analyzing performance is very important and sensitive in particular when it is related to the performance of lecturers in academic institutions. Locating the weak points of lecturers through a system that provides an early warning to notify or reward the lecturers with warned or punished notices will help them to improve their weaknesses, leads to a better quality in the institutions. The current system has major issues in the higher education at Salahaddin University‐Erbil (SUE) in Kurdistan‐Iraq. These issues are: first, the assessment of lecturers’ activities is conducted traditionally via the Quality Assurance Teams at different departments and colleges at the university, second, the outcomes in some cases of lecturers’ performance provoke a low level of acceptance among lectures, as these cases are reflected and viewed by some academic communities as unfair cases, and finally, the current system is not accurate and vigorous. In this paper, Particle Swarm Optimization with Neural Network is used to assess performance of lecturers in more fruitful way and also to enhance the accuracy of recognition system. Different real and novel data sets are collected from SUE. The prepared datasets preprocessed and important features are then fed as input source to the training and testing phases. Particle Swarm Optimization is used to find the best weights and biases in the training phase of the neural network. The best accuracy rate obtained in the test phase is 98.28%. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 24:629–638, 2016; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae; DOI 10.1002/cae.21737

Meeting Weight Management Goals: The Role of Partner Confirmation

ABSTRACTSocial support research suggests romantic partners could play a vital role in the success of individuals’ weight management (WM) efforts, but contradictory findings from previous research have impeded our understanding of how romantic partners influence weight management goal attainment. Employing a confirmation perspective, overweight participants (body mass index [BMI] greater than 25) who were actively trying to manage their weight (N = 53) were asked to respond to daily questionnaires for a period of 2 weeks regarding their interactions with their romantic partner. Diet, exercise, and general weight management goal accomplishment were assessed. HLM was employed to assess the independent and interactive effects of partner acceptance and challenge on each of these goals. Findings suggest that perceiving high levels of both acceptance and challenge from partners was associated with more general WM and diet goal accomplishment. However, greater attainment of exercise goals was associated with only challenge. Fluctuations in partner acceptance and challenge were also examined to determine whether consistency in confirmation behaviors was associated with WM goals. Hierarchical regressions revealed that fluctuations in acceptance, but not challenge, were linked with goal attainment. Specifically, fluctuations in acceptance were helpful for those whose partners were perceived to exhibit lower levels of acceptance, but fluctuations were detrimental for those whose partners exhibited greater acceptance. Implications for communication among couples in which one partner is attempting to lose weight are discussed.

Patterns of contraceptive usage at family planning clinics in Ilorin, Nigeria

This study was carried out to evaluate the pattern of contraceptive usage in family planning clinics of public hospitals within Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria. It was a retrospective study carried out between January 2010 and December 2012 involving a total of 10,002 contraceptive users attended family planning clinics in the centers within this period. Over a half of the clients (56.6%) were within the age bracket of 30-39 years, and 1.4% were less than 20 years. Majority (79.8%) of the users had two or more children while 0.9% were nulliparas. The most preferred contraceptive method was the hormonal injectable (59.5%); the percentage of users of oral contraceptive pills was 9.6% and utilization of the male condoms was 6.9%. The user rate for intrauterine contraceptive device was 17.3% while it was 6.6% for hormonal implant. Surgical sterilization was utilized by 0.1%. The commonest source of information was from healthcare personnel accounting for 41.9% followed by the mass media (21.6%). There was a low level of acceptance amongst teenagers; the level of acceptance of surgical sterilization methods was also low. There is need to improve on information dissemination regarding contraceptive use, via the internet and social media for teenagers who tend to be more internet-savvy. The number and age of clients were statistically significant factors for patterns of contraceptive usage at various family planning clinics in Ilorin metropolis.Bangladesh Med J. 2015 Sep; 44 (3): 140-145

Social support to elderly pacemaker patients improves device acceptance and quality of life

IntroductionPatient acceptance of cardiac device has been shown to limit their quality of life. Little is known about the impact of social support (SS) on pacemaker (PM) acceptance. The aim of the study is to investigate the level of device acceptance in patients with pacemaker (PM) in the short time and the role of SS related to patients’ PM acceptance. Materials and methodsA total of 62 patients (median age: 76.50 years) seen in two cardiology clinic between June and November 2013 complete the Florida patient acceptance survey (FPAS), the Assessment of quality of life and related events (Aquarel Questionnaire), the Euro quality of life 5 dimension 3 level (EQ-5D-3L) and the Multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) before PM implantation, after 7 days and after 30 days from PM implantation. ResultsIn 30 days, the levels of SS and of acceptance of cardiac device and of HRQoL increase. At 7 days, 16 patients have low level of acceptance of cardiac device, decreasing to 3 at 30 days. In particular, in short time patients with low level of FPAS have lower level of SS than patients with high level of acceptance of cardiac device (median of MSPSS total score: 4.75 vs. 5.58; P-value: 0.02). At multivariable analysis, social support is confirmed to influence device acceptance. ConclusionsThe observed significant relationship between SS and patients’ acceptance of PM suggests that SS is an important factor in promoting acceptance of cardiac device in patients with PM.

High dielectric permittivity and low loss in PVDF filled by core-shell Zn@ZnO particles

In this study, metal-semiconductor Zn@ZnO core-shell particles were prepared by the heat treatment of raw Zn powder under air atmosphere, and the prepared Zn@ZnO particles were incorporated into poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) to obtain high dielectric permittivity polymer. The results indicate that the Zn@ZnO particles remarkably increased the dielectric constant of the PVDF composites compared with the raw Zn/PVDF due to the duplex interfacial polarizations induced by ZnO-Zn interface and ZnO-PVDF interface. Moreover, the dielectric permittivity of the Zn@ZnO/PVDF composites can be further optimized by adjusting the thickness of ZnO shell. The dielectric loss and conductivity were still remained at low acceptable level owing to the presence of ZnO shell between Zn core and PVDF matrix which serves as an interlayer between the Zn cores preventing them from contacting with each other. The developed Zn@ZnO/PVDF polymer composites with high dielectric constant and low loss are potential for embedded capacitor applications.

Factors influencing acceptance of disability among stroke patients in Tianjin, China:A cross-sectional study.

Stroke has become the leading cause of acquired disability worldwide. Psychological maladjustment and related reactions for stroke disability has subsequently revealed a negative impact on stroke rehabilitation process. Acceptance of disability (AOD) is widely confirmed as a critical factor for psychosocial regulation and disability acceptance. This study aims to investigate acceptance of disability and its influencing factors among stroke patients in China. A total of 220 hospitalized stroke patients were investigated using questionnaire on demographics and disease characters, Adaptation Of Disability Scale-Revised, and other psychological instruments: Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire (MCMQ), Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS). The mean score of AOD is 74.15 (range 32∼128), which reflected a moderate level of disability acceptance among stroke patients in China. Statistical analysis showed that confrontation, the understanding of stroke, self-rating depression, ability of functional activities and family support were major factors affecting acceptance of disability among disabled stroke patients, which explained 49.6% of the total variance. In clinical practice, professionals should identify patients with low levels of disability acceptance and explore effective psychological intervention model on the theoretical foundation of different dimensions in AOD theory and related predictors.

What’s Mine Isn’t Yours – Barriers to Participation in the Sharing Economy

The sharing economy promises great market potential for new and established firms to develop their business. Despite the strong growth potential that has been predicted, revenues and the number of active participants in the sharing economy continue to lag behind initial market expectations. Although a majority of people have a positive attitude toward sharing, the seemingly low level of acceptance in different systems of sharing can be regarded as evidence of adoption barriers. These inhibiting factors appear to hinder people from participating, e.g. leaving the car-sharing market as a niche segment for transportation. The purpose of our study is to examine the barriers to participation in the sharing economy. To this end, we conduct a survey on car-sharing in Germany. By applying structural equation modeling with PLS, we find that firm, personality and society-related barriers have significant effects on the attitude and behavioral intention that determine participation.

Disruption of Things: A Model to Facilitate Adoption of IoT-based Innovations by the Urban Poor

This study examines the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) based innovations by urban poor communities. In recent years, IoT applications in social networking, smart cities and m-health have been explored, but the social acceptance of such applications remain largely unknown. A consumer segment on which IoT can have a major positive impact is the urban poor, where IoT can provide access to services such as healthcare, education and food security. However, to facilitate adoption among the poor, IoT-based innovations must incorporate the unique characteristics of this segment viz. low levels of technology awareness, social acceptance and consumer need. The Disruption of Things refers to the process of distribution the innovations that are based on IoT and replacing existing market leaders and prevalent systems. The study was conducted in four stages – a literature review, a survey with the target users, interviews with experts (both technological and sociological) and a usability test with a prototype technology system. The results from the surveys, interviews and usability tests were used to develop a model for adoption of IoT-based innovations by the urban poor. The model identifies five sources of innovation – nutrition, healthcare, employment, education and finances. Based on these sources, a participative design process is undertaken. Once developed the innovation must provide excellent service based on three parameters – benefits (value of using the system to the users), support provided to the users, and training/instructions given to them regarding system use. Satisfied system's users would then be leveraged through three channels – advertising, social media and word-of-mouth, in order to spur greater adoption of the innovation among the urban poor. Accomplishing these systematic processes would enable the Disruption of Things – replacement of existing market leaders by an IoT-based innovation.

The role of contact and perceived attitudes of surroundings in children’s acceptance of “different” peers

This study was conducted with Croatian fourth grade students (N=691) that were divided into two groups. The characters presented in vignettes had some type of stigmatizing feature (e.g., Roma nationality, wheelchair usage, or being overweight) in the experimental group, while these features were left out in the comparison group. The first goal was to examine the impact of each stigmatizing feature on the non-acceptance of the described characters. The second goal was to analyze the relationship between the non-acceptance of the stigmatized character and children?s established contact with people with similar features, as well as the relationship between the afore-mentioned and the perceived attitudes of parents and friends. Roma ethnicity had a significant influence on non-acceptance of the character, while contact was related to an increase in the level of non-acceptance of the Roma character. Negative perceived opinions of friends regarding individuals with stigmatizing features (regardless of the type) were related to a lower level of acceptance of that character.

Ideas of Personality About Enemy Influenced by Attitudes to Other People and Ethnic Identity

The paper touches on the problem of influence of one's system of attitudes on the personality's ideas about Another as an Enemy. It has been found that highly manifested acceptance of other people and friendliness are interrelated with perceiving the Enemy mostly as a manipulator; the lower levels of acceptance of other people and friendliness to them are interrelated with perceiving the Enemy mainly as an alien communication partner in both cognitive and value plane. Social and psychological characteristics of a personality's ideas about the Enemy differ depending the modalities of the personality's positive attitudes toward other people, which confirms the hypothesis suggested by the authors, and they do not differ depending on the extent of pronouncement of parameters of its ethnic identity. The results of the study can be used in psychological counseling, in developing the tolerance training programs.

The development and status of Bt rice in China.

Multiple lines of transgenic rice expressing insecticidal genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been developed in China, posing the prospect of increases in production with decreased application of pesticides. We explore the issues facing adoption of Bt rice for commercial production in China. A body of safety assessment work on Bt rice has shown that Bt rice poses a negligible risk to the environment and that Bt rice products are as safe as non-Bt control rice products as food. China has a relatively well-developed regulatory system for risk assessment and management of genetically modified (GM) plants; however, decision-making regarding approval of commercial production has become politicized, and two Bt rice lines that otherwise were ready have not been allowed to enter the Chinese agricultural system. We predict that Chinese farmers would value the prospect of increased yield with decreased use of pesticide and would readily adopt production of Bt rice. That Bt rice lines may not be commercialized in the near future we attribute to social pressures, largely due to the low level of understanding and acceptance of GM crops by Chinese consumers. Hence, enhancing communication of GM crop science-related issues to the public is an important, unmet need. While the dynamics of each issue are particular to China, they typify those in many countries where adoption of GM crops has been not been rapid; hence, the assessment of these dynamics might inform resolution of these issues in other countries.

Same-sex attraction, gender nonconformity, and mental health: The protective role of parental acceptance.

The current study assessed, separately for boys and girls, the moderating effects of mother/father acceptance in the relationship of same-sex attraction (SSA) and gender nonconformity (GNC) with psychological distress and social anxiety. Data were collected from 1,121 secondary school students (539 boys and 582 girls; Mage = 16.6) by means of a paper-pencil questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses showed that for boys, father acceptance moderated the associations of GNC with psychological distress and social anxiety. For boys with high levels of father acceptance, GNC was not significantly associated with psychological distress and social anxiety, when compared with boys with low and mean levels of father acceptance. Mother acceptance did moderate the association between SSA and social anxiety for girls. For girls with mean and high levels of mother acceptance, SSA was not associated with social anxiety, when compared with girls who reported low levels of acceptance by their mothers.

Timeframe Alarm System: Designing a Practical Tool for Caseflow Management

A major challenge in effective caseflow management in courts is the low level of acceptance concerning the established timeframes and only modest compliance toward them. This article introduces a practical tool for improving caseflow management, called the “timeframe alarm system.” The tool has been designed to improve managerial and work planning actions in courts and to help bring timeframes as a more integral part of everyday court operations. The tool is designed in an improvement project in a Finnish court. The aim of the project has been to combine the expertise of judiciary and operations management scholars. The article introduces the main features of the tool and the tool design process, as well as analysis concerning the functionality and usability of the tool.

Aversion for bitter taste reveals sexual differences in alimentation strategies in a praying mantis

Insects, as well as vertebrates, possess morphological, physiological and behavioural sexual dimorphisms. Because they are commonly bigger and produce eggs, female insects usually require more and specific energy intake. In addition to quantitative and qualitative requirements in food for reproduction, animals also have to avoid eating lethal toxins. The praying mantis Tenodera aridifolia is a good model to investigate sexual differences in feeding behaviour because its sexual dimorphism is marked in terms of morphology and behaviour. Here, we observed that females ate approximately four times as much prey as males. We then investigated the attacking and feeding behaviours of praying mantises by presenting mealworms injected with bitter solutions (quinine hydrochloride dihydrate or denatonium benzoate at 50 or 500 mM) as prey. We observed that males had a low level of acceptance for bitter prey: unlike females, they reduced consumption of mealworms injected with 50 mM of these bitter solutions. However, they showed higher motivation (unlike females, their rate of attack on prey increased when they reduced their consumption of mealworms). This difference in ingestion between the sexes did not seem to be due to different sensitivities for these bitter solutions (there was no detectable difference between the sexes in time taken to drink drops of these bitter solutions). Instead, this seems related to males and females having different feeding strategies based on different nutritive requirements. The possible effects of nutritional composition of prey on avoidance behaviours in predatory insects are discussed.

Direct experience and attitude change towards bears and wolves

Understanding how changes in the sizes of large carnivore populations affect the attitudes of the public is vital in order to mitigate social conflicts over large carnivore management issues. Using data from two Swedish postal surveys in 2004 and 2009, we examined the probable social effects of a continued increase in the Swedish populations of bear and wolf by comparing levels of direct experience of bears and wolves with public attitudes towards these animals. We report an increase in direct experience of bears and wolves, lower levels of acceptance of the existence of these animals, and a lower degree of support for the policy goals of both species in 2009 compared to 2004. We also find that these changes are more prominent in areas with local carnivore populations than in other areas of Sweden. Our results imply that attitudes towards bears and wolves are likely to become more negative as populations continue to grow. The uneven distributions of the carnivore populations are likely to generate more frequent social conflicts in the future as they could cause an increase in the attitudinal divide between those members of the Swedish public who have had direct experiences of carnivores and those who have not.