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Present Sample (present + sample)
Selected AbstractsThe Ankylosing Spondylitis Quality of Life Questionnaire: validation in a New Zealand cohortINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RHEUMATIC DISEASES, Issue 4 2010Katherine JENKS Abstract Aim:, To examine the validity of the Ankylosing Spondylitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (ASQoL) in a New Zealand population with defined axial spondyloarthritis (SpA). Once validated, the ASQoL will be included as an outcome measure in a proposed multicentre New Zealand study. Methods:, Five healthy participants were interviewed to identify any issues related to local dialect or linguistic comprehension of the questionnaire. Cognitive debriefing interviews were conducted with four participants with SpA to assess the relevance and comprehensiveness of the questionnaire. Internal consistency was established by determining the Cronbach's alpha. Finally, convergent validity of the ASQoL was assessed by testing the correlation with the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) and patient global visual analogue scale (VAS) scores in a cohort of 63 SpA patients. Results:, The language used in the ASQoL was considered clear, comprehensible and accessible to speakers of New Zealand English. The questionnaire displayed content validity for patients with SpA. The ASQoL had good internal consistency in the present sample (, = 0.854). A positive correlation was found between the ASQoL and the BASFI (rho = 0.635, P < 0.001), BASDAI (rho = 0.521, P < 0.001) and patient global assessment VAS (rho = 0.546, P < 0.001), providing evidence that the ASQoL has convergent validity among patients with SpA in New Zealand. Test,retest reliability was good over 16 weeks (rho = 0.730, P < 0.001). Conclusions:, The ASQoL has been demonstrated in this study to be feasible, internally consistent and to have content and convergent validity in a New Zealand population of patients with axial spondyloarthritis; it is a measure of quality of life which is both easy to employ and reliable. [source] Application of white-beam X-ray microdiffraction for the study of mineralogical phase identification in ancient Egyptian pigmentsJOURNAL OF APPLIED CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, Issue 6 2007P. A. Lynch High-brightness synchrotron X-rays together with precision achromatic focusing optics on beamline 7.3.3 at the Advanced Light Source have been applied for Laue microdiffraction analysis of mineralogical phases in Egyptian pigments. Although this task is usually performed using monochromatic X-ray diffraction, the Laue technique was both faster and more reliable for the present sample. In this approach, white-beam diffraction patterns are collected as the sample is raster scanned across the incident beam (0.8,µm × 0.8,µm). The complex Laue diffraction patterns arising from illumination of multiple grains are indexed using the white-beam crystallographic software package XMAS, enabling a mineralogical map as a function of sample position. This methodology has been applied to determine the mineralogy of colour pigments taken from the ancient Egyptian coffin of Tjeseb, a priestess of the Apis bull dating from the Third Intermediate to Late period, 25th Dynasty to early 26th Dynasty (747 to 600 BC). For all pigments, a ground layer of calcite and quartz was identified. For the blue pigment, cuprorivaite (CuCaSi4O10) was found to be the primary colouring agent with a grain size ranging from ,10 to 50,µm. In the green and yellow samples, malachite [Cu2(OH)2CO3] and goethite [FeO(OH)] were identified, respectively. Grain sizes from these pigments were significantly smaller. It was possible to index some malachite grains up to ,20,µm in size, while the majority of goethite grains displayed a nanocrystalline particle size. The inability to obtain a complete mineralogical map for goethite highlights the fact that the incident probe size is considerably larger than the grain size. This limit will continue to improve as the present trend is toward focusing optics approaching the diffraction limit (,1000× smaller beam area). [source] Life Course Stage in Young Adulthood and Intergenerational Congruence in Family AttitudesJOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 1 2010Freek Bucx We investigated how intergenerational congruence in family-related attitudes depends on life course stage in young adulthood. Recent data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study were used; the present sample included 2,041 dyads of young adults and their parents. Findings are discussed in terms of the elasticity in intergenerational attitude congruence in response to young adults' life course transitions. Our results suggest that intergenerational congruence in attitudes about partnership (e.g., marriage, cohabitation, divorce, women's and men's family roles) decreases after young adults have left the parental home and increases when young adults enter parenthood. Congruence concerning intergenerational obligations was not related to young adults' life course stage. [source] UK data from 197 undergraduates for the Nelson Denny Reading TestJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN READING, Issue 1 2004Jackie Masterson The Nelson Denny Reading Test (Brown, Fishco & Hanna, 1993) provides measures of comprehension, reading rate and vocabulary. It is widely used in research studies with high school and undergraduate students and for assessment purposes in the USA. No widely used test of this kind exists for adults in the UK. The present paper reports data from 197 undergraduates from the University of Essex on the Nelson Denny test. Analyses were carried out of the data in terms of degree type and year of study. The scores obtained with the present sample were higher than those reported in the manual of the Nelson Denny test for a subset of the standardisation sample. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed. Overall, the results suggest that the Nelson Denny test is suitable for use with UK undergraduate students. [source] Is the Strength of Implicit Alcohol Associations Correlated with Alcohol-induced Heart-rate Acceleration?ALCOHOLISM, Issue 8 2006Esther Van Den Wildenberg Background: Heart rate (HR) acceleration during the ascending limb of the blood alcohol curve has proven to be a reliable measure of the sensitivity to the activating effects of alcohol. In this study, we investigated the correlation between an ethanol-induced cardiac change and the strength of implicit alcohol-related arousal and approach associations and attentional bias for alcohol-related stimuli in heavy drinkers. These 3 types of implicit alcohol-related cognitions have been proposed to reflect the strength of incentive sensitization that is experienced after repeated alcohol use. Methods: Forty-eight heavy drinking men performed a modified version of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure their implicit alcohol arousal and approach,avoidance associations. A modified version of the emotional Stroop was used to measure attentional bias for alcohol-related stimuli (blocked and unblocked). Next, a high dose of alcohol (1.0 mL/kg body weight 95% USP alcohol) was administered in a short period of time. Resting baseline HR, blood alcohol concentrations, mood, and craving for alcohol were assessed before alcohol administration and for 2 hours post,alcohol consumption. Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, a negative association was found between implicit arousal associations and alcohol-induced HR change. This indicates that strong arousal associations were correlated with a decrease in alcohol-induced HR. Approach associations and attentional bias were not correlated with alcohol-induced HR change, but both were correlated positively with each other. Conclusions: Alcohol-arousal associations and other implicit cognitions (attentional bias, approach associations) are not positively related to individual differences in the sensitivity to alcohol's activating effects, at least not in the present sample consisting primarily of family history-negative heavy drinkers. [source] Stability of genetic influence on morningness,eveningness: a cross-sectional examination of South Korean twins from preadolescence to young adulthoodJOURNAL OF SLEEP RESEARCH, Issue 1 2007YOON-MI HUR Abstract A cross-sectional twin design was used to study the developmental nature of genetic and environmental influences on morningness,eveningness (M,E). A total of 977 South Korean twin pairs aged 9,23 years completed 13 items of a Korean version of the Composite Scale through the telephone interview. The total sample was split into three age groups: preadolescents, adolescents, and young adults. Twin correlations did not vary significantly with age, suggesting that genetic influences on M,E are stable throughout the developmental span. Results of model-fitting analyses indicated that genetic and environmental factors explained, respectively, 45% and 55% of the variance in all three age groups. Environmental factors were primarily those factors that twins did not share as a consequence of their common rearing; family environmental factors in M,E were consistently near zero in all three age groups. The present study is the first to demonstrate genetic influences on M,E in preadolescent children as young as 9 years old. In spite of differences in culture and frequencies of genes between South Koreans and Caucasians, genetic and environmental influences on M,E found in the present sample were remarkably similar to those reported by previous studies on the basis of late adolescent and adult Caucasian twins. [source] The relative abundances of ellipticals and starbursts among the extremely red galaxiesMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 4 2002F. Mannucci We present J -band observations of a complete sample of 57 red galaxies selected to have and . We use a prescription based on the and colours, to separate the two dominant populations, old ellipticals and dusty starbursts. We find that both populations are present in the current sample and have similar abundances, and discuss the uncertainties in this result. Galactic stars comprise about 9 per cent of the objects. The starburst galaxies of the present sample are found to give a contribution to the cosmic star formation density similar to the Lyman-break galaxies. [source] Assessing chimpanzee personality and subjective well-being in JapanAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Alexander Weiss Abstract We tested whether the cultural background of raters influenced ratings of chimpanzee personality. Our study involved comparing personality and subjective well-being ratings of 146 chimpanzees in Japan that were housed in zoos, research institutes, and a retirement sanctuary to ratings of chimpanzees in US and Australian zoos. Personality ratings were made on a translated and expanded version of a questionnaire used to rate chimpanzees in the US and Australia. Subjective well-being ratings were made on a translated version of a questionnaire used to rate chimpanzees in the US and Australia. The mean interrater reliabilities of the 43 original adjectives did not markedly differ between the present sample and the original sample of 100 zoo chimpanzees in the US. Interrater reliabilities of these samples were highly correlated, suggesting that their rank order was preserved. Comparison of the factor structures for the Japanese sample and for the original sample of chimpanzees in US zoos indicated that the overall structure was replicated and that the Dominance, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness domains clearly generalized. Consistent with earlier studies, older chimpanzees had higher Dominance and lower Extraversion and Openness scores. Correlations between the six domain scores and subjective well-being were comparable to those for chimpanzees housed in the US and Australia. These findings suggest that chimpanzee personality ratings are not affected by the culture of the raters. Am. J. Primatol. 71:283,292, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Interfirm Modularity and Its Implications for Product Development,THE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2005Nancy Staudenmayer Industries characterized by interfirm modularity, in which the component products of different firms work together to create a system, are becoming increasingly widespread. In such industries, the existence of a common architecture enables consumers to mix and match the products of different firms. Industries ranging from stereos, cameras, and bicycles to computers, printing, and wireless services are now characterized by interfirm modularity. While the increasing presence of this context has been documented, the implications for the product development process remain underdeveloped. For the present study, in-depth field-based case studies of seven firms experiencing an environment of interfirm modularity were conducted in order to deepen understanding of this important phenomenon. What unique challenges did this context pose and why? What solutions did firms experiment with, and which seemed to work? Based on an inductive process of data analysis from these case studies, three primary categories of challenges raised by this environment were identified. First, firms were frustrated at their lack of control over the definition of their own products. The set of features and functions in products were constrained to a great extent by an architecture that the firm did not control. Second, while an environment of interfirm modularity should in theory eliminate interdependencies among firms since interfaces between products are defined ex-ante, the present study found, ironically, that interdependencies were ubiquitous. Interdependencies continually emerged throughout the product development process, despite efforts to limit them. Third, firms found that the quantity and variegated nature of external relationships made their management exceedingly difficult. The sheer complexity was daunting, given both the size of the external network as well as the number of ties per external collaborator. Partners with whom control over the architecture was shared often had divergent interests,or at least not fully convergent interests. The solutions to these challenges were creative and in many cases counter to established wisdom. For instance, research has suggested many ways for a firm to influence architectural standards. While the firms in the present sample followed some of this advice, they also focused on a more neglected aspect of architecture,the compliance and testing standards that accompany modules and interfaces. By concentrating their efforts in a different area, even smaller firms in this sample were able to have some influence. Instead of focusing on the elimination of interdependencies, it was found that firms benefited from concentrating on the management of interdependencies as they emerged. Finally, while layers of management and "bureaucracy" are often viewed as unproductive, these firms found that adding structure, through positions such as Relationship Manager, was highly beneficial in handling the coordination and control of a wide range of external relationships. [source] A uvby, photometric analysis of the Monoceros star-forming fieldASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN, Issue 4 2010N. Kaltcheva Abstract This investigation presents a new analysis of the spatial distribution of the bright early-type stars in the field of Northern Monoceros. A database of all O,B9 stars with available uvby, photometry is collated and a homogeneous distance scale is established for the clusters and layers of field stars. We provide revised distances for NGC 2264 and NGC 2244 of 833±38 (s.e.) pc and 1585±60 (s.e.) pc, respectively. We present arguments that there might be substructures in the clusters projected along the line of sight. According to the present sample the classical Mon OB2 association at 1.6 kpc is represented by a relatively compact group at 1.26 kpc in the vicinity of NGC 2244 and a layer of massive stars located between 1.5 and 3 kpc (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Kinematics and metallicity analysis for nearby F, G and K starsASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN, Issue 1 2009S. Vidojevi Abstract A sample containing 1 026 stars of spectral types F, G, and K, mainly dwarfs, from the solar neighbourhood with available space velocities and metallicities is treated. The treatment comprises a statistical analysis of the metallicity and velocity data and calculation of galactocentric orbits. Sample stars identified as members of the galactic halo are detached from the rest of the sample based on the values of their metallicities, velocity components and galactocentric orbits. In identifying halo stars a new, kinematical, criterion is proposed. Except one, these halo stars are the metal-poorest ones in the sample. Besides, they have very high velocities with respect to LSR. On the other hand, the separation between the thin disc and thick one is done statistically based on LSR space velocities, membership probability (Schwarzschild distribution with assumed parameters) and galactocentric orbits. In the metallicity these two groups are not much different. For each of the three subsamples the mean motion and velocity ellipsoid are calculated. The elements of the velocity ellipsoids agree well with the values found in the literature, especially for the thin disc. The fractions of the subsystems found for the present sample are: thin disc 93%, thick disc 6%, halo 1%. The sample stars established to be members of the thin disc are examined for existence of star streams. Traces of both, known and unknown, star streams are not found (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Cues they use: clinicians' endorsement of risk cues in predictions of dangerousnessBEHAVIORAL SCIENCES & THE LAW, Issue 2 2006Michael S. Odeh B.A. Clinical predictions of violence are a necessary part of clinical practice despite extensive literature validating the use of actuarial rather than clinical prediction. The current study examined clinicians' use of risk cues in predictions of violence. Clinicians identified several risk cues as significant in clinical assessments of risk, including a history of assaults, hostility, medication noncompliance, paranoid delusions, presence of psychosis, and family problems. However, further results indicated that clinician-endorsed risk cues lack predictive power in the present sample. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Chronic fatigue in adolescence,autonomic dysregulation and mental health: an exploratory studyACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 8 2009Helene Gjone Abstract Aim:, The present study investigates associations between autonomic cardiovascular dysregulation, psychosocial load and mental health in adolescents presenting with chronic fatigue. Method:, Twenty-two adolescents, mean age 15.7 years (12.7,19.1), underwent a clinical mental health examination as part of a broad medical investigation which included autonomic tests. Adolescents and their parents were also interviewed with regard to psychosocial stress factors, family health and previous illnesses. A count of psychosocial load was made for each adolescent based on the interview. Results:, Of 22 fatigued adolescents in the present sample, 14 had psychiatric diagnoses. There was no significant difference in psychosocial load for the fatigued adolescents classified with normal autonomic regulation compared to those with deviant or borderline autonomic regulation. The present psychiatric diagnosis did not differ between the two groups. In a subsample, there was a significant negative association between depressive symptoms and abnormal blood pressure responses during orthostatic challenge. Conclusion:, No significant psychiatric or psychosocial differences between fatigued adolescents with or without autonomic dysregulation were found in this study. The trends towards higher psychosocial load and greater burden of depressive symptoms in fatigued adolescents with normal autonomic regulation warrant further studies. [source] The Dodo Bird Verdict Is Alive and Well,MostlyCLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 1 2002Lester Luborsky We examined 17 meta-analyses of comparisons of active treatments with each other, in contrast to the more usual comparisons of active treatments with controls. These meta-analyses yielded a mean uncorrected absolute effect size for Cohen's d of .20, which is small and non-significant (an equivalent Pearson's r would be. 10). The smallness of this effect size confirms Rosenzweig's supposition in 1936 about the likely results of such comparisons. In the present sample, when such differences were corrected for the therapeutic allegiance of the researchers involved in comparing the different psychotherapies, these differences tend to become even further reduced in size and significance, as shown previously by Luborsky, Diguer, Seligman, et al. (1999). [source] Formation of orange hibonite, as inferred from some Allende inclusionsMETEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE, Issue 3 2001S. B. SIMON The melilite in the present samples is very Al-rich, averaging Åk6, Åk14, and Åk12 in the three samples studied. Hibonite in two inclusions, unlike that in Murchison, has low rare earth element abundances of <10 × CI; in the other inclusion, the hibonite, melilite and perovskite have Group II-like patterns. The hibonite and melilite in all three inclusions studied have excess 26Mg consistent with (26Al/27Al)I = 5 × 10,5. Much of the hibonite and some of the spinel in these inclusions is corroded. These phases are found enclosed in melilite, but based on bulk compositions and phase equilibria, hibonite should not be an early-crystallizing phase in these inclusions. We conclude that the hibonite and probably some of the spinel is relic. Reversely zoned melilite, rounded spinel and isotopically heavy Mg in the inclusions probably reflect reheating events that involved melting and evaporation. Alteration of the gehlenitic melilite gave rise to some rare phases, including corundum and nearly pure CaTs pyroxene. Studies have shown that blue hibonite contains Ti3+ while orange hibonite does not (Ihinger and Stolper, 1986; Beckett et al., 1988). Orange hibonite formed either under oxidizing conditions (such as at oxygen fugacities at least seven orders of magnitude greater than that of a solar gas at 1700 K), or under conditions reducing enough (e.g., solar) that it contained Ti3+, which was later oxidized in situ. Although V and Ce oxides are volatile at the temperature and range of oxygen fugacities at which orange hibonite is known to be stable, we find that (a) the hibonite is V-rich (,1 wt% V2O3) and (b) there are no negative Ce anomalies in Allende hibonite. This indicates that the hibonite did not form by condensation under oxidizing conditions. In addition, there are slight excesses of Ti + Si cations relative to Mg + Fe cations (up to 0.1 of 0.8 cations per 19 oxygen anions), probably reflecting the original presence of Ti3+. The results of this study strongly support the suggestion (Ihinger and Stolper, 1986) that Allende hibonite originally formed under reducing conditions and was later oxidized. Oxygen fugacities within ,2,3 orders of magnitude of that of a solar gas are implied; otherwise, strong Ce and V depletions would be observed. [source] | ||||||||||||||||