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Quantitative Data Analysis (quantitative + data_analysis)
Selected AbstractsSources of stress in impoverished neighbourhoods: insights into links between neighbourhood environments and healthAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 1 2009Deborah Warr Abstract Objective:This paper explores associations between residents' perceptions of social incivilities and physical disorders in local environments and self-reported health status. Method: Surveys were conducted with 4,029 residents from 13 Neighbourhood Renewal sites and 1,857 residents of corresponding Local Government Areas in Victoria. An open-ended question asked respondents to nominate the worst things about living in their neighbourhood and this qualitative data was analysed for the range of perceptions of incivilities. Quantitative data analysis considered associations between incivilities in neighbourhood environments and self-reported health status. Results: Issues conceptualised as social incivilities (drug and alcohol use, dangerous driving, the behaviour of other people, feeling unsafe, noise, racism) accounted for 58% of issues nominated. Quantitative analyses suggested that increased exposure to issues related to aspects of neighbourhood safety were associated with living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood. Perceptions of lower levels of neighbourhood safety were, in turn, associated with poorer health. Conclusions: Cumulative and compounding aspects of local environments that heighten feelings of insecurity and anxiety may be mechanisms through which places affect health. Implications: While the characteristics of populations are important determinants of health outcomes, the findings endorse the value of incorporating complementary place-based approaches for addressing mechanisms that contribute to health inequalities in local environments. [source] Signal de-noising in magnetic resonance spectroscopy using wavelet transformsCONCEPTS IN MAGNETIC RESONANCE, Issue 6 2002Hector F. Cancino-De-Greiff Abstract Computer signal processing is used for quantitative data analysis (QDA) in magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). The main difficulty in QDA is that MRS signals appear to be contaminated with random noise. Noise reduction can be achieved by coherent averaging, but it is not always possible to average many MRS waveforms. Wavelet shrinkage de-noising (WSD) is a technique that can be employed in this case. The potentialities of WSD in MRS, alone and combined with the Cadzow algorithm, are analyzed through computer simulations. The results can facilitate an appropriate application of WSD, as well as a deeper understanding of this technique. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson 14: 388,401, 2002 [source] Feeling at home in nursing homesJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 3 2001Anke J.E. De Veer PhD Feeling at home in nursing homes Aim.,The purpose of this study was to examine determinants of feeling at home and in particular the privacy in nursing homes in The Netherlands. The first question was to what extent nursing homes differed in the degree residents feel at home and experience privacy. The second question was whether feeling at home is related to privacy in the nursing homes. Background.,Feeling at home is of particular importance to residents of nursing homes because the average length of stay in The Netherlands is about 16 months. A growing number of people are of the opinion that the privacy of the residents has to be improved. Privacy in nursing homes, therefore, has been high on the political agenda over the last few years. Four aspects of privacy were distinguished: privacy related to the characteristics of the building, privacy as a consequence of the attitude of nurses towards residents, privacy in terms of choice and control over time schedules and activities, and privacy related to the amount of disturbance caused by other residents. Design.,The data were collected from individual interviews with 686 residents and family-members in 36 nursing homes in The Netherlands. Results.,Following quantitative data analysis, it was found that nursing homes differed in the proportion of residents feeling at home as well as in three aspects of privacy. Differences in feeling at home were found to be related to privacy, especially to the perceived attitudes of nurses and perceived disturbance caused by other residents. A weak relationship was found between residents and their perceived privacy of the building. Conclusions.,A significant amount of variation in privacy was found at the nursing home level. This implies that feeling at home is not only individually determined but can be influenced by the nursing home's management policy. [source] Surface-sensitive reflection-mode EXAFS from layered sample systems: the influence of surface and interface roughnessJOURNAL OF SYNCHROTRON RADIATION, Issue 4 2009P. Keil The calculation of reflection-mode grazing-incidence X-ray absorption spectra from single surfaces and (multi-)layered systems is studied here. In particular, the influence of the surface and interface roughness was investigated in detail. Simulations of grazing-incidence reflection-mode EXAFS spectra using a simple Fresnel theory neglecting any effect of roughness are compared with the Névot,Croce model and the elaborated distorted-wave Born approximation which both include surface and interface roughness. Data are presented for clean gold surfaces, where the strong influence of the surface roughness on the resulting spectra is demonstrated. Furthermore, in the case of layered systems, the influence of both the outer (air or vacuum side) surface roughness and the inner interface roughness on the reflection-mode EXAFS spectra is evaluated. The practical consequences of the observed correlations are discussed, and a quantitative data analysis of a copper sample that was oxidized in ambient air for several months is shown, including the evaluation of specular reflectivity profiles at fixed energy. [source] | ||||||||||