Missing Answers Research Articles

Declarative debugging of rewriting logic specifications

Declarative debugging is a semi-automatic technique that starts from an incorrect computation and locates a program fragment responsible for the error by building a tree representing this computation and guiding the user through it to find the error. Membership equational logic (MEL) is an equational logic that in addition to equations allows one to state membership axioms characterizing the elements of a sort. Rewriting logic is a logic of change that extends MEL by adding rewrite rules, which correspond to transitions between states and can be nondeterministic. We propose here a calculus to infer reductions, sort inferences, normal forms, and least sorts with the equational subset of rewriting logic, and rewrites and sets of reachable terms through rules. We use an abbreviation of the proof trees computed with this calculus to build appropriate debugging trees for both wrong (an incorrect result obtained from an initial result) and missing answers (results that are erroneous because they are incomplete), whose adequacy for debugging is proved. Using these trees we have implemented Maude DDebugger, a declarative debugger for Maude, a high-performance system based on rewriting logic. We illustrate its use with an example.

Medical ethics educational improvement, is it needed or not?! Survey for the assessment of the needed form, methods and topics of medical ethics teaching course amongst the final years medical students Faculty of Medicine Ain Shams University (ASU), Cairo, Egypt 2010

Introduction In the process of our faculty gaining accreditation, the debate concerning the necessity for initiating an integrated course in which medical ethics course is implemented have arouse. Arguments concerning what should this course include, the best timing for this course to be applied, how it should be taught, planned for and mostly for what the students are interested to get out of it. Goal The main purpose of this work is to identify the ethical needs and ethical dilemmas freshly graduated medical students face at the beginning of their training and their suggestions to seek better educational approaches that can be applied in teaching medical ethics proposed by the medical students themselves throughout the teaching process and after graduation. Methods It seemed rather appropriate at this stage to carry out an evaluation survey assessing the needs for medical ethics teaching course through the exploration of the opinions of medical students and freshly graduated doctors on ethical issues through a simple survey by using an open ended question questionnaire designed to fulfil the study targeted requirements. Results 100 volunteers (n = 100) randomly chosen from the fifth year students of our faculty of medicine ASU who had recently studied ethics course in the fourth year (n = 20), interns both junior and senior residents in El Demerdash hospitals (n = 80). 25 questionnaires were excluded due to inappropriate or missing answers resulting in 75% response rate. 60% of the surveyed group favored an integrated ethics course taught throughout the whole academic years study. 56% chose the practical teaching method with problem solving strategies for the daily arising confusing ethical issues to be the best way to teach the course. While 53.4% thought that stuff specialized in medico legal issues were best to teach this course. As regards the highly confusing ethical dilemmas in which they were interested in getting updated feedback about: Confidentiality, doctor-patient relationship and informed consent came first by 69.3%. Conclusions This study revealed the essential need for a model medical ethics curriculum that responds to students' concerns in addition to providing basic training in moral reasoning and ethical decision making to be applied both horizontally and vertically across the whole years of medical school. Recommendations A Simple booklet containing recent version of the Egyptian code of ethics, common ethical dilemmas and recently evolving ethical issues should be available for all newly graduated health professionals.

Adaptation, data quality and confirmatory factor analysis of the Danish version of the PACIC questionnaire

The Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) 20-item questionnaire measures how chronic care patients perceive their involvement in care. We aimed to adapt the measure into Danish and to assess data quality, internal consistency and the proposed factorial structure. The PACIC was translated by a standardised forward-backward procedure, and filled in by 560 patients receiving type 2 diabetes care. Data quality was assessed by mean, median, item response, missing values, floor and ceiling effects, internal consistency (Cronbach's α and average inter-item correlation), item-rest correlations and factorial structure was assessed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The item response was high (missing answers: 0.5-2.9%). Floor effect was 2.7-69.2%, above 15% for 17 items. Ceiling effect was 4.0-40.4%, above 15% for 12 items. The subscales had average inter-item correlations over 0.30 and CFA showed high factor loadings (range 0.67-0.77). All had α over 0.7 and included items with both high and low loadings. The CFA model fit was good for two indices out of six (TLI and SRMR). Danish PACIC is now available and validated in primary care in a type 2 diabetes population. The psychometric properties were satisfactory apart from ceiling and floor effects. We endorse the proposed five scale structure. All the subscales showed good model fit, and may be used for separate sum scores.

Limitations of Self-reported Estimates of Functional Capacity Using the Walking Impairment Questionnaire

Objective A potential issue with the Walking Impairment Questionnaire (WIQ) is that it is relatively complex. We estimated the number of errors made by patients when self-completing the WIQ, and assessed the benefit of correcting missing, duplicate or paradoxical (i.e., reported lower difficulty for a higher-intensity task) answers. Design Prospective non-interventional study. Materials All consecutive new patients with claudication over a 3-month period. Methods The WIQ was self-completed before patients performed a constant-load treadmill walking test (maximised to 750 m). Main outcome measure We analysed the coefficient of determination of the linear relationship between overall WIQ score (mean of the available subscales when at least two subscales are available) and treadmill maximal walking distance (MWD), before and after correction of errors. Results We studied 73 patients. Thirty-seven questionnaires had to be corrected for one or more errors. The coefficient of determination between the overall WIQ score and MWD was R 2 = 0.391 ( n = 56) and R 2 = 0.426 ( n = 73) before and after correction, respectively. Conclusion Supervision of self-completed WIQs detects errors in almost half of the questionnaires, resulting in a missing overall WIQ score in 23% of cases among uncorrected questionnaires. The overall WIQ score correlates only moderately with MWD, even after correction. Clinical Trial Registration NIH database: NCT01114178.

Explaining missing answers to SPJUA queries

This paper addresses the problem of explaining missing answers in queries that include selection, projection, join, union, aggregation and grouping (SPJUA). Explaining missing answers of queries is useful in various scenarios, including query understanding and debugging. We present a general framework for the generation of these explanations based on source data. We describe the algorithms used to generate a correct, finite, and, when possible, minimal set of explanations. These algorithms are part of Artemis, a system that assists query developers in analyzing queries by, for instance, allowing them to ask why certain tuples are not in the query results. Experimental results demonstrate that Artemis generates explanations of missing tuples at a pace that allows developers to effectively use them for query analysis.

Testing a Swedish child-friendly pilot version of the EQ-5D instrument--initial results

There is an increasing interest in studying health-related quality of life in children and adolescents. A Swedish child-friendly pilot version of the EQ-5D instrument has been developed. The aim of this article is to report on its assessment of feasibility and discriminative validity. A questionnaire with the child-friendly pilot version was addressed during a clinical examination to 260 children aged 8 years and 230 children aged 12 years. Comprehensibility and acceptability were investigated and feasibility was assessed according to missing and ambiguous answers. Discriminative validity was investigated by determining whether groups that were a priori known to differ in health status (by clinical and socio-demographic characteristics) were distinguished also by the percentage of reported problems on the five health dimensions and by visual analogue scale (VAS) scores. Feasibility was supported for self-completion in the presence of an interviewer. Discriminative validity was supported as children with asthma or rhinitis, severe illness or handicap, having consulted health care during the past 3 months, overweight and obesity and children with a parent born outside the Nordic countries reported more problems and had lower VAS scores. The results of the initial testing of the Swedish child-friendly pilot version of the EQ-5D instrument indicate feasibility and discriminative validity. However, further research should explore alternative modes of administration and study design, and be performed in groups with a larger proportion with diseased children.

Reliability and Validity of the Dutch Translated Aberdeen Varicose Vein Questionnaire

Objective To evaluate reliability and validity of the Dutch translated Aberdeen Varicose Vein Questionnaire (AVVQ) for measuring health related quality of life (HR-QOL) in patients with venous disease in the lower limb. Methods The AVVQ consists of 13 questions related varicose veins. This study assessed feasibility, reliability and validity of the Dutch translated AVVQ in a sample of 145 patients with venous disease of the leg. Test and retest of the Dutch translated AVVQ were performed within a 2 week interval. Results There was a high test (99%) and retest (97%) response. Feasibility; AVVQ showed few missing answers (0.6%) and non-unique answers (0.2%). Regarding internal consistency; Cronbach's α exceeded 0.7 indicating a high level of concordance between the AVVQ questions ( α = 0.76). Test–retest reliability; Spearman's rho showed a significant strong association between test and retest scores (rho = 0.87). Discriminative validity; AVVQ score was able to differentiate between subgroups of patients with different severity of venous disease according to the CEAP classification (Mann–Whitney U test, p < 0.01). Conclusions This study supports applications of the Dutch AVVQ in HR-QOL measurement in patients with venous disease in the Netherlands and the Flemish speaking part of Belgium.

How many mailouts? Could attempts to increase the response rate in the Iraq war cohort study be counterproductive?

BackgroundLow response and reporting errors are major concerns for survey epidemiologists. However, while nonresponse is commonly investigated, the effects of misclassification are often ignored, possibly because they are hard to quantify. We investigate both sources of bias in a recent study of the effects of deployment to the 2003 Iraq war on the health of UK military personnel, and attempt to determine whether improving response rates by multiple mailouts was associated with increased misclassification error and hence increased bias in the results.MethodsData for 17,162 UK military personnel were used to determine factors related to response and inverse probability weights were used to assess nonresponse bias. The percentages of inconsistent and missing answers to health questions from the 10,234 responders were used as measures of misclassification in a simulation of the 'true' relative risks that would have been observed if misclassification had not been present. Simulated and observed relative risks of multiple physical symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were compared across response waves (number of contact attempts).ResultsAge, rank, gender, ethnic group, enlistment type (regular/reservist) and contact address (military or civilian), but not fitness, were significantly related to response. Weighting for nonresponse had little effect on the relative risks. Of the respondents, 88% had responded by wave 2. Missing answers (total 3%) increased significantly (p < 0.001) between waves 1 and 4 from 2.4% to 7.3%, and the percentage with discrepant answers (total 14%) increased from 12.8% to 16.3% (p = 0.007). However, the adjusted relative risks decreased only slightly from 1.24 to 1.22 for multiple physical symptoms and from 1.12 to 1.09 for PTSD, and showed a similar pattern to those simulated.ConclusionBias due to nonresponse appears to be small in this study, and increasing the response rates had little effect on the results. Although misclassification is difficult to assess, the results suggest that bias due to reporting errors could be greater than bias caused by nonresponse. Resources might be better spent on improving and validating the data, rather than on increasing the response rate.

Self-reported social class in adolescents: validity and relationship with gradients in self-reported health.

BackgroundAnalyzing social differences in the health of adolescents is a challenge. The accuracy of adolescent's report on familial socio-economic position is unknown. The aims of the study were to examine the validity of measuring occupational social class and family level of education reported by adolescents aged 12 to 18, and the relationship between social position and self-reported health.MethodsA sample of 1453 Spanish adolescents 12 to 18 years old from urban and rural areas completed a self-administered questionnaire including the Child Health and Illness Profile-Adolescent Edition (CHIP-AE), and data on parental occupational social class (OSC) and level of education (LE). The responsible person for a sub-sample of teenagers (n = 91) were interviewed by phone. Kappa coefficients were estimated to analyze agreement between adolescents and proxy-respondents, and logistic regression models were adjusted to analyze factors associated with missing answers and disagreements. Effect size (ES) was calculated to analyze the relationship between OSC, LE and the CHIP-AE domain scores.ResultsMissing answers were higher for father's (24.2%) and mother's (45.7%) occupational status than for parental education (8.4%, and 8.1% respectively), and belonging to a non-standard family was associated with more incomplete reporting of social position (OR = 4,98; 95%CI = 1,3–18,8) as was agreement between a parent and the adolescent. There were significant social class gradients, most notably for aspects of health related to resilience to threats to illness.ConclusionAdolescents can acceptably self-report on family occupation and level of education. Social class gradients are present in important aspects of health in adolescents.

Adaptación transcultural y validación de una versión en español de un instrumento específico para medir calidad de vida relacionada con la salud en pacientes con espondilitis anquilosante: el ASQoL

To make a cross-cultural adaptation and validation of a version in Spanish of the Ankylosing Spondylitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (ASQoL) for assessing the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS).A cross-sectional study with test-retest. AS patients (modified New York criteria) were included. Cross-cultural adaptation was done. Construct validity was assessed comparing the ASQoL scores with the SF-36 and EuroQol scores and diseaserelated variables. Internal consistency and reliability (test-retest) were assessed. Feasibility was assessed by the time spent to complete the questionnaire and the number of items without answer. Spearman correlation coefficient, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis test were used in the statistical analysis. Cronbach́alpha coefficient and statistic kappa were used for assessing internal consistency and reliability.Fifty-four patients, 37 males (68.5%), with age (mean±SD) 40.5±10.5 years, were included. The ASQoL global score was 6.8±4.7 (median, 7; range, 0-17). The ASQoL scores had high correlations with physical (rho = 0.79) and mental (0.69) SF-36 components, the SF-36 domains pain (0.82), vitality (0.75), and role-physical (0.68), and the most of the disease-related variables. The ASQoL scores were significantly different between patients with different response levels in the health profile of the EuroQol. The Cronbach́alpha coefficient was 0.86. The reliability had kappa = 1 in 12 items and rho = 0.98. The time spent to complete the ASQoL was from 2 to 5 minutes and there only was a missing answer in one patient.The Spanish ASQoL is valid, reliable, and feasible instrument for assessing the HRQL of the AS patients.

Reliability and validity of health status measurement by the TAPQOL

Background: In addition to clinical measures in the evaluation of paediatric interventions, health related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important outcome. The TAPQOL (TNO-AZL Preschool children Quality of Life)...

Demands on web survey tools for epidemiological research

In countries where the Internet access is high, a web-based questionnaire could save time and money compared to printed questionnaires, mainly by eliminating the two steps of transferring answers from printed to a digital data set and manually completing missing and impossible answers. However, many of the features wanted for conducting large epidemiological studies are not available in many web survey systems. Here we describe design issues the investigator needs to be aware of when using web-based questionnaires in epidemiological research.

Effectiveness of a Bioreadiness Training Program

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This descriptive study was undertaken to measure the effectiveness of an 8-hour Bioreadiness training program. A pre- and post-test design was utilized to gauge baseline knowledge, as well as learning from the presented materials. The null hypothesis assumed there was no significant difference between the pre- and post-test scores. METHODS: An identical test (nine multiple choice and one short answer questions) was administered to participants before and after the program. Data were analyzed with a paired T-Test and a Wilcoxin Signed rank test. RESULTS: The analysis included 230 of 300 participants who completed both tests. Mean scores on pre-and post-tests were 63% and 79%, respectively. The obtained T value (12) was greater than the critical T value (1.645), which indicates a significant difference. The paired T-test (alpha= 0.05) had a significant value of <0.0001. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected, based upon a significant difference between the two test scores. CONCLUSIONS: Familiarity with bioreadiness issues increased after an 8-hour training program. However, the effect may be under-represented because 39% of persons left the short-answer question blank on the post-test. On the pre-test, only 9% did not complete this exercise. In both cases, a missing answer was scored as an incorrect response. Based on these observations, the program was redesigned to ensure that all objectives are covered in the program. In addition, the short-answer question is now only in the post-test. Persons involved in training may find this format useful.

Misguided multiplication: creating false memories with numbers rather than words.

We built Deese (1959)/Roediger and McDermott (1995) (DRM) false memory lists composed of multiplication problems rather than words. Half these lists contained table-related, near neighbors (e.g., 3 x 7 = ??, 3 x 9 = ??) of a missing multiplication answer lure (e.g., 24). The other half contained problems unrelated to the lure (e.g., 5 x 5 = ??, 11 x 3 = ??). Participants solved each problem in a single list and then took immediate recognition (Experiment 1) or recall and then recognition tests (Experiment 2) for the answers. Many people misremembered that the lure was an answer to a study-phase problem, but only when solving the study list that contained the lure's neighbors. False memory was also greater for some list-lure combinations than others, as seen previously with words. We have thus demonstrated that numbers can also produce false memory, and we use the mental math and DRM task literatures to explain these results.

The DASH questionnaire. French translation of a trans-cultural adaptation

The DASH (Disability of Arm-Shoulder-Hand) is a self-administered questionnaire developed in 1994 by representatives of the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). It measures the physical disability and symptoms for all upper limb disorders in a heterogeneous population and for acute as well as chronic disorders. The original american version has been already tested for reliability and validity. Interest in the DASH was raised by several European publications. It appeared that the DASH could provide a common measure for upper extremity physical disability in Northern America and European countries. For this cross-cultural adaptation, we followed the guidelines developed by the Institute for Work & Health and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Five translations and two "back-translations" were compared, aiming to semantic, idiomatic, experimental and conceptual equivalence. The final version has been tested in 223 patients presenting a variety of traumatic or non traumatic disorders. 208 questionnaires (93%) were valid because there was less than 4 missing answers. This final version has been proposed to American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in order to be endorsed as an official translation. This could improve assessment for international studies by establishing standard measures.

Diet-Associated Risks of Disease and Self-Reported Food Consumption: How Shall We Treat Partial Nonresponse in a Food Frequency Questionnaire?

Using data from a population-based case-control study on thyroid cancer, we studied two approaches of handling missing answers in a food frequency questionnaire when estimating food consumption and nutrient intakes. We analyzed the dietary reports of 165 cases and 248 control subjects. In the first approach, the omitted food items were considered as "null consumption." In the second approach, the missing answers were replaced with the median frequencies for subjects in the corresponding outcome category actually answering that specific food item. The results showed marginal differences between the two methods. In addition, the null consumption assumption was validated by means of complementary telephone interviews with a subsample of subjects who provided incomplete reports. Overall, the originally omitted answers actually corresponded to very rare consumption for 54.2% of cancer patients and for 54.7% of controls. However, this "true" proportion of null consumption varied greatly between different food items (range 0-96%) and between food groups (range 14-82%). To interpret the omitted self-reports of food consumption as indication of "zero consumption" is quite reasonable when the investigation does not focus on dietary items widely consumed in the source population.

Trends and Characteristics of Ph.D. Degrees in Agricultural Economics in the United States

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the trends that have occurred in the number of and some of the characteristics of recipients of Ph.D. degrees in agricultural economics in the United States in recent years. It includes an updating of work I initiated five years ago (Schrimper 1981a,b,c, 1982). The latest information used in the previous work included degrees awarded through 1980. This paper is based on an additional three years of information. This allows a detailed examination of changes over the last nine years as well as comparison with the earlier tabulations. Also, information for three more institutions, Arizona, Rhode Island, and Yale, has been included. As previously, the major source of information is listings of Ph.D. recipients for the previous year in the May issues of this Journal. The cooperation of several individuals contacted to obtain missing information and answer questions about data for various years is gratefully acknowledged. Without their help, the information would have been incomplete and comparisons over time would have been meaningless. The latest data available for developing this paper was the list of 1983 graduates. Even this information is somewhat dated, however, since it reflects admission, financial assistance, and enrollment decisions made at least five years ago. The first part of this paper summarizes changes that have occurred in total output of Ph.D. degrees in agricultural economics as well as distributional adjustments among regions, individual institutions, and between domestic and foreign students. The second part focuses on some characteristics of domestic students who received Ph.D. degrees in agricultural economics. It contains information about where individuals received their undergraduate training, and geographical and institutional migration for graduate training. Similar types of information about foreign Ph.D. students is included in the third section of the paper. Finally, a short summary and conclusions section is provided.