Adjustment Problems Research Articles

Development and Validation of Child Observation Checklist for Early Screening of Young Children with Special Needs

Background: Families with young children with developmental disabilities often express concerns about delays in the identification of these and extended waiting times for obtaining assessments, learning support, and rehabilitation services. The identification process must and can be enhanced if preschool teachers have instrumental measures to detect early-stage developmental disabilities and adjustment difficulties in preschool children and, if necessary, to provide these children with prompt and effective support services. Aims: The aim with this study was to develop and validate a screening checklist for teachers to detect developmental delays and adjustment difficulties in Chinese preschool children in Hong Kong. Methods: The participants included 1085 children aged two to six years (including 365 children who were receiving rehabilitation services at the time of the study) and their preschool teachers. The teachers were requested to complete the screening checklist and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Results: The results of the Rasch and Confirmatory Factor Analyses supported the unidimensionality of the checklist, with the validated version consisting of fifteen items and five factors. The checklist score was negatively correlated with children’s behavioral problems and effectively differentiated children of different ages and between children receiving and not receiving rehabilitation services. The reliability estimates (internal consistency and test–retest) of this revised checklist were above 0.70. Conclusions: The 15-item checklist is a promising screening instrument for the identification of developmental disabilities and adjustment problems among Chinese preschool children. The use of the checklist has accelerated access to rehabilitation services for children and family caregivers.

The Role of social group worker in family guidance consultation centers to dealing with Marital Lack of adjustment Problems in the perspective of group work

The Role of social group worker in family guidance consultation centers to dealing with Marital Lack of adjustment Problems in the perspective of group work

The problem of multiple adjustments in the assessment of minimal clinically important differences.

Anthropometric, demographic, genetic, and clinical features may affect cognitive, behavioral, and functional decline, while clinical trials seldom consider minimal clinically important differences (MCIDs) in their analyses. MCIDs were reviewed taking into account features that may affect cognitive, behavioral, or functional decline in clinical trials of new disease-modifying therapies. The higher the number of comparisons of different confounders in statistical analyses, the lower P values will be significant. Proper selection of confounders is crucial to accurately assess MCIDs without compromising statistical significance. Statistical adjustment of the significance of MCIDs according to multiple comparisons is essential for the generalizability of research results. Wider inclusion of confounding variables in the statistics may help bring trial results closer to real-world conditions and improve the prediction of the efficacy of new disease-modifying therapies, though such factors must be carefully selected not to compromise the statistical significance of the analyses. Anthropometric, demographic, and clinical features may affect cognitive, behavioral, and functional decline.Clinical trials seldom take minimal clinically important differences (MCIDs) or their confounders into account.Generalizability of research results requires the assessment of multiple confounding factors.The higher the number of comparisons involved, the lower P values will be considered significant.Use of MCIDs adjusted for confounding factors should be implemented when outcomes are not susceptible to translation into absolute benefits.

Social Support, Self-Concept and Resilience as Protectors Against School Maladjustment During Adolescence

AbstractSchool maladjustment results in greater emotional and academic distress and reduces subjective well-being among adolescents. It is therefore important to identify the variables that contribute to school adjustment problems in order to enable interventions designed to improve or mitigate them during this developmental period. The aim of the present study is to use structural equation modeling to examine the potential impact of social support, self-concept and resilience on school adjustment problems. Participants were 1397 adolescents aged between 12 and 16 years (M = 13.88 and SD = 1.27). The results reveal that peer support has a direct negative relationship on school integration problems, and that support from families and teachers has an indirect contribution through self-concept and resilience. The percentage of variance in school integration problems explained by the variables included in the study was 36.4%. The results have serious theoretical–practical implications that broaden the range of possibilities for preventing problems of this kind.

Testing a Family Conflict Intervention for Parents and Typically Developing Adolescent Siblings of Individuals with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities.

Parents and typically developing (TD) youth siblings of individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) often experience greater caregiving burden, stress, and hardships in family functioning. They are at increased risk of family conflict and youth adjustment problems when TD siblings are adolescents since they need to balance caregiving responsibilities and various changes that naturally occur during adolescence. However, there is a lack of intervention research on parents and TD adolescent siblings that focuses on family conflict and family-wide participation. This study analyzed whether participating in a brief family intervention could improve families' knowledge of marital and family-wide conflict and TD adolescents' adjustment problems. We found that mothers and fathers significantly improved their knowledge of marital conflict and that TD adolescents significantly improved their knowledge of family-wide conflict. We also found that fathers reported significant reductions in internalizing and externalizing problems in TD adolescents. The findings support the impact of even brief evidence-based interventions targeting family-level improvements for families with both TD adolescent siblings and individuals with IDD. The findings also accentuate the significance of involving both mothers and fathers in family intervention research, suggesting that different caregivers may experience both shared and unique benefits from participating.

The Importance of a Positive Socio-Pedagogical Environment

The socio-pedagogical environment is defined by the general atmosphere in a class of students/educational institution, being measured from the perspective of six components: the relational climate, the pedagogical climate, the security climate, the justice climate, the evaluative climate and the belonging climate. The general well-being of each student, the positive management of behaviors, collaboration, the school-family-society partnership are just some of the principles of action for the quality of the school climate. A broad, multidimensional construct, school climate indicates, among other things, the quality and character of school life, being the generator of the feeling of safety, of students' school success or failure, when it turns out to be negative. In this context, the role of the teacher, from the perspective of the one who organizes the learning situations, is a particularly important one, as he determines the classroom climate according to decisions, style, practices and interaction with students. At the same time, researchers agree that a school climate characterized by positive interpersonal relationships contributes to increasing the level of student performance and reducing the number of students with adjustment problems. The article aims to present the results obtained following the application of a questionnaire targeting the socio-pedagogical environment among primary school pupils. The obtained data offer the possibility of identifying the positive aspects, which aim to improve the quality of school life, but also the negative ones, the possible problems, for which proposed and implemented actions are required to improve the school climate.

Overview of Self Adjustment Students Based On Personality Types

The research is motivated by the phenomenon of many students struggling to adapt to the school environment. Self-adjustment is crucial for students, particularly in the 10th grade. Personality is one of the factors that influences self-adjustment. The research sample consisted of 187 X grade students from SMAN 1 Kubung, selected using the Simple Random Sampling technique. The research instruments included self-adjustment questionnaires and personality type questionnaires. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques and the t-test. The research results show: (1) the self-adjustment level of X grade students at SMAN 1 Kubung is in the high category, (2) the self-adjustment level of students with an introverted personality type is in the high category, (3) the self-adjustment level of students with an extroverted personality type is in the high category, and (4) Ha is rejected, there is no significant difference between the adjustment of students with the Introvert and Extrovert personality types at SMAN 1 Kubung. In an effort to help alleviate student adjustment problems, guidance and counseling services that can be provided include orientation services, informational services, and group counseling services.

Zero-leverage and firm performance – Evidence from Taiwan

This study sets out to explore the influence of a zero-leverage policy on firm profitability and value. The results suggest that zero-leverage policy exhibits significant and positive effects on firm performance. This study also considers the potential mechanism of the zero-leverage variables and firm characteristics. The results proved that the zero-leverage policy can reduce the negative impact of corporate governance problems on the firm and further improve firm performance. Additionally, the zero-leverage policy can help firms lower their risk and enhance their overall performance. The zero-leverage is more effective in the improvement of firm performance if there are high financial constraints. This study obtains the results of robustness after controlling the endogeneity problem and testing for the industrial adjustment.

Synchrony in Learning: Investigating the Connection between Student Adjustment and Academic Performance

Adjustment is an important part of human life because it gives people the power and strength to make positive changes in the world around them. The need for adjustment extends beyond the classroom to include classmates, instructors, curriculum, any other school activities and background setting of that place. Those who possess the ability to adapt to the ever-changing conditions in their surroundings have the potential to achieve harmonious living and maintain a contented and well-rounded existence. The present study comprised 191 secondary school students of Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh. The method used in the current research was a descriptive survey and stratified random sampling technique was utilized in order to organize and collect data on the basis of gender and locality. The Adjustment Inventory for school students, which was established by A.K.P. Sinha and R.P. Singh and incorporates 60 items evenly split between emotional, social, and educational adjustments, was deployed to measure the level of adjustment of the students. From the previous records, academic scores were taken as academic performance of the students. There is no significant difference of adjustment scores between male and female students of secondary school but highly significant difference (t value 4.376) between urban and rural students. girls are more well-adjusted result shows that rural students are more adjusted than urban students as maximum students of rural area are in good category highly negative correlation between adjustment problems and academic achievement scores of secondary school students.

Adjustment problems and school bullying in grade school: Differentiating between- and within-person associations

This study examined the longitudinal relations between adjustment problems and school bullying in middle childhood by differentiating between- and within-person effects and putting the co-occurrence into consideration. Participants were 1091 U.S. children (51.2 % boys, 80.5 % White) and their teachers. When children were in the third, fifth, and sixth grades, bullying perpetration and victimization were self-reported and adjustment problems were rated by teachers. Using the random intercept cross-lagged panel models, the results demonstrated that adjustment problems, particularly externalizing problems, were independently predicative of bullying and victimization at the between-person level, adjusting for within-person fluctuations and the co-occurrence of adjustment problems. Moreover, at the between-person level, bullying perpetration and victimization were positively related, as were internalizing and externalizing problems. The findings contribute evidence that adjustment problems and school bullying were stably related over time and highlight the importance of adjustment problems in better understanding involvement in school bullying among school-aged children.

A performance degradation assessment method for complex electromechanical systems based on adaptive evidential reasoning rule

The evidence reasoning (ER) rule has been widely used in various fields to deal with both quantitative and qualitative information with uncertainty. However, when analyzing dynamic systems, the importance of various indicators frequently changes with time and working conditions, such as performance degradation assessment of complex electromechanical systems, and the weights of the traditional evidence reasoning rules cannot be appropriately adjusted. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an adaptive evidence reasoning (AER) rule that can adjust weights according to different times and working conditions. The AER rule has two unique features: adaptive weight operation under time division and adaptive weight operation under working-condition division, which are used to solve the problem of dynamic weight adjustment under different times and working conditions. The CMA-ES algorithm is used to optimize the model parameters. Two case studies of performance degradation assessment are established to prove the advantage of the AER rule: a computer numerical control experiment and a simulation experiment of turbofan aeroengine. The results verify the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method.

Analysing the Socio-Economic Adjustment of Syrians under Temporary Protection: The Case of Ankara

The socio-economic adjustment of Syrians residing in Ulubey, Alemdağ, and Önder neighbourhoods in the Altındağ district of Ankara is the subject of this study. The study aims to examine the factors affecting the socio-economic adjustment of Syrians under temporary protection and the impact of the economic adjustment process on the social adjustment process within the framework of a mixed research method. The findings reveal that Syrian participants' legal and economic problems in the economic adjustment process affect their social adjustment process. The study is thought to shed light on the solution to these problems by providing scientific data based on the field research findings on Syrians' socio-economic adjustment process and adjustment problems.

Effects of Cognitive Flexibility, Prosocial and Problem Behaviours, Parenting Style and Social Support on Social Adaptation Among Children With Leukaemia: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach.

Leukaemia children often encounter various social adaptation issues stemming from changes in their living environment. Identifying and optimising the factors associated with social adaptation is crucial in improving social adaptation in children with leukaemia. To investigate social adaptation in children with leukaemia and to clarify the impact pathway of cognitive flexibility, problem behaviour, prosocial behaviour, parenting style and social support on social adaptation. Using a convenience sampling method, 264 leukaemia children completed a cross-sectional survey. Data were collected using the Social Adaptation Assessment Scale for Children with Leukaemia, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Cognitive Flexibility Scale, Short-Egna Minnenav Barndoms Uppfostran and Multi-Dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Structural equation modelling was used to test the influencing factors of social adaptation. Social support directly influenced social adaptation (β = 0.19, p < 0.01) and indirectly influenced social adaptation through prosocial behaviour (β = 0.06, p < 0.01) and problem behaviour (β = 0.18, p < 0.01). Prosocial behaviour (β = 0.17, p < 0.01) and problem behaviour (β = -0.61, p < 0.01) directly influenced social adaptation. Negative parenting directly influenced social adaptation (β = 0.12, p < 0.01) and indirectly influenced social adaptation (β = -0.23, p < 0.01) through problem behaviour. Our finding indicated that there are prominent social adjustment problems in the recovery process of children with leukaemia. These findings suggest that targeted education is needed to enhance social adaptation among children with leukaemia. The final model should serve as a framework to guide intervention research targeting social support and negative parenting to improve the social adaptation of children with leukaemia. During the recovery process, nurses need to regularly follow up on the children's social adaptation and encourage them to participate in social activities to increase social support while providing family guidance based on improving parenting styles. The subjects of this study were children with leukaemia aged 8-18 years. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Vehicle height control of air suspension based on speed adaptive double-zone model prediction

The electronically controlled air suspension (ECAS) system improves the ride comfort and stability of the vehicle by adjusting the vehicle height. Due to the compressibility of air and the inertia of suspension, the ECAS system has the problem of excessive adjustment in the process of vehicle height adjustment, so that the solenoid valve is repeatedly opened and closed. Aiming at this problem, this paper proposes a new vehicle height control method based on speed adaptive double-zone model prediction control (AD-MPC), which realizes the adjustment of vehicle height with less operation of solenoid valve. Firstly, the single-wheeled air suspension is selected as the characteristic model and the spatial state equation is established. Then, the seeker optimization algorithm for the double-zone selection problem is designed to quickly find the best double-zone to obtain a double-zone function that can adapt to the speed. And then, the predictive control method based on AD-MPC is designed. Finally, the effectiveness and feasibility of the method are verified by simulation and experiment.

Mathematical models and numerical methods for a capital valuation adjustment (KVA) problem

In this work we rigorously establish mathematical models to obtain the capital valuation adjustment (KVA) as part of the total valuation adjustments (XVAs). For this purpose, we use a semi-replication strategy based on market theory. We formulate single-factor models in terms of expectations and PDEs. For PDEs formulation, we rigorously obtain the existence and uniqueness of the solution, as well as some regularity and qualitative properties of the solution. Moreover, appropriate numerical methods are proposed for solving the corresponding PDEs. Finally, some examples show the numerical results for call and put European options and the corresponding XVA that includes the KVA.

Older Gay Men's Sexual Experiences as Boys with Men: An Empirical and Narrative Analysis.

A dominant view among researchers is that boys' sexual interactions with adult men are traumatizing. In contrast, many gay men recall childhood sexual experiences with adult males as positive. The current study tested for both of these outcomes by examining recalled boyhood sexual experiences of older gay men. Interviews were conducted in the 1970-1980s, and thus, before the public view became popular that child-adult sexual interactions must be traumatizing. Quantitative analyses suggested that gay men with boyhood sexual experiences with adult males (n = 7, mostly aged 11-16 at first experience with men aged 20s to 50s) were as well adjusted as those without these experiences (n = 10), and these experiences were usually viewed positively (71%). Narrative analyses indicated that adjustment problems in adulthood were not related to these early sexual experiences but to other factors such as parental abusiveness, societal intolerance, internalized homophobia, or social isolation.

Optimal control problem for hybrid pension plans under longevity risk for alpha-maxmin expected utility minimization

This paper investigates the problem of portfolio selection and adjustment of hybrid pension plans under longevity risk. The longevity risk is described by a time-varying mortality rate, which is an extension of Markham’s law. Suppose that the financial market assets consist of a risk-free asset, a stock, and a defaultable bond. Specifically, the stock price is described by a constant elasticity of variance (CEV) model. The objective is to minimize interim adjustments to contributions and benefits under an exponential loss function, as well as the loss of terminal wealth. It is difficult for investors to fully understand the market information, so there is uncertainty in the financial market. By applying robust control theory to formulate investors’ aversion to uncertainty, we obtain the α-robust optimal investment strategies and the adjustment strategies. Finally, numerical analysis is presented to discuss the influence of the model parameters on the α-robust optimal control strategies.

Sustainable optimization of balancing valve settings in urban heating systems with an enhanced Jaya algorithm

With the continuous growth of global energy demand, energy conservation in heating has become a research hotspot for urban sustainable development. However, the research on energy conservation by adjusting the balance valve in the secondary network of heating system is relatively few. To address this gap, this paper solves the balancing valve opening adjustment (BVOA) problem with the goal of minimizing heat consumption and the energy usage of circulation pumps. A mixed-integer linear programming model is designed for this problem, and an effective EJaya algorithm is proposed. Initially, a random initialization method with three scrambling strategies is employed to generate high-quality solutions. Moreover, a segmented operator is proposed to enhance the algorithm’s search efficiency. Subsequently, Q-learning is utilized to select from three neighborhood operators, enhancing the algorithm’s local search capabilities. Additionally, an adaptive search balance strategy is designed to balance the methods of updating solutions, aiding in finding better solutions. Finally, extensive experiments have validated the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm in solving the BVOA problem, contributing to the promotion of urban energy sustainability and social welfare.

Adjustments to Climate Perturbations—Mechanisms, Implications, Observational Constraints

AbstractSince the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR5) an extended concept of the energetic analysis of climate change including forcings, feedbacks and adjustment processes has become widely adopted. Adjustments are defined as processes that occur in response to the introduction of a climate forcing agent, but that are independent of global‐mean surface temperature changes. Most considered are the adjustments that impact the Earth energy budget and strengthen or weaken the instantaneous radiative forcing due to the forcing agent. Some adjustment mechanisms also impact other aspects of climate not related to the Earth radiation budget. Since AR5 and a following description by Sherwood et al. (2015, https://doi.org/10.1175/bams‐d‐13‐00167.1), much research on adjustments has been performed and is reviewed here. We classify the adjustment mechanisms into six main categories, and discuss methods of quantifying these adjustments in terms of their potentials, shortcomings and practicality. We furthermore describe aspects of adjustments that act beyond the energetic framework, and we propose new ideas to observe adjustments or to make use of observations to constrain their representation in models. Altogether, the problem of adjustments is now on a robust scientific footing, and better quantification and observational constraint is possible. This allows for improvements in understanding and quantifying climate change.

A Novel Reinforcement Learning-Based Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm for Better Symmetry between Convergence Speed and Diversity

This paper introduces a novel Particle Swarm Optimization (RLPSO) algorithm based on reinforcement learning, embodying a fundamental symmetry between global and local search processes. This symmetry aims at addressing the trade-off issue between convergence speed and diversity in traditional algorithms. Traditional Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithms often struggle to maintain good convergence speed and particle diversity when solving multi-modal function problems. To tackle this challenge, we propose a new algorithm that incorporates the principles of reinforcement learning, enabling particles to intelligently learn and adjust their behavior for better convergence speed and richer exploration of the search space. This algorithm guides particle learning behavior through online updating of a Q-table, allowing particles to selectively learn effective information from other particles and dynamically adjust their strategies during the learning process, thus finding a better balance between convergence speed and diversity. The results demonstrate the superior performance of this algorithm on 16 benchmark functions of the CEC2005 test suite compared to three other algorithms. The RLPSO algorithm can find all global optimum solutions within a certain error range on all 16 benchmark functions, exhibiting outstanding performance and better robustness. Additionally, the algorithm’s performance was tested on 13 benchmark functions from CEC2017, where it outperformed six other algorithms by achieving the minimum value on 11 benchmark functions. Overall, the RLPSO algorithm shows significant improvements and advantages over traditional PSO algorithms in aspects such as local search strategy, parameter adaptive adjustment, convergence speed, and multi-modal problem handling, resulting in better performance and robustness in solving optimization problems. This study provides new insights and methods for the further development of Particle Swarm Optimization algorithms.