scholarly journals Development and psychometric testing of the Thai impact and burden of care scale for caregivers of persons with schizophrenia and co-occurring methamphetamine use

F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 484
Author(s):  
Ek-uma Imkome

Objective: The objective of the present study was to develop the Thai version of the Impact and Burden of Care Scale for Caregivers of Persons with Schizophrenia and Co-occurring Methamphetamine Use (TIBSCSM) and test its psychometric properties. Methods: This instrument development research subjects were 142 caregivers of persons with schizophrenia and co-occurring methamphetamine use. Sample size adequacy was tested by Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO), and Bartlett's test of sphericity tested the adequacy of the item correlation matrix. The second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the theoretical model. Results The 32-item TIBSCSM showed convergent validity correlations with two quality-of-life measures. Additionally, KMO=0.9, Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity χ2=5248.5, df=496, p<0.001, and internal consistency reliability was high (α=0.9). The CFA has shown that the findings are supported by the theoretical models (χ2=325.2, df=287, p<0.001, RMSEA=0.0, CFI =0.9). Conclusion: The TIBSCSM scale has potential benefits for psychiatric nurses and psychiatric care teams to measure the impact and care burden of caregivers of persons with schizophrenia and methamphetamine use in the areas of nursing, research, education, and clinical determination. The test results suggested that The TIBSCSM scale has potential benefits for psychiatric and mental health care team to assess the impact and burden care of schizophrenic caregiver for both research and clinical purposes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic for providing care to relieve the impact and burden of care.

Neurology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (23 Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. S4.1-S4
Author(s):  
Veronik Sicard ◽  
Alexe Simard ◽  
Robert Davis Moore ◽  
Gabriel Lavoie ◽  
Dave Ellemberg

The impact of concussions on an individual's cognitive functioning has become a growing health concern over the past several years; however, the search for sensitive tests persists. The task-switching paradigm is known to be sensitive to various medical conditions, including concussion. Accordingly, we developed 2 versions of the color-shape switch task. Three different costs are computed from the raw scores: global switch cost, which is thought to be a measure of global cognitive control; local switch cost, which is believed to be a measure of cognitive flexibility; and working memory cost. The aim of this study was to evaluate psychometric characteristics of these costs. An ANOVA revealed a main effect of sex on local latency switch cost, with females exhibiting longer latencies than males, p = 0.05. No main effect of sex was observed on any other switch costs. Moreover, no main effect of experimenter or version of the task was observed. Local switch cost was significantly correlated with trails 4 and 5 of the Comprehensive Trail Making Test (rs > 0.21, ps < 0.04). No other significant correlation between costs and established neuropsychological tests was observed, indicating low convergent validity. The intraclass correlation coefficient estimates ranged from 0.23 to 0.77, suggesting low-to-moderate 1-week test-retest reliability. Results indicated a low switch costs; convergent validity. Moreover, results show that the traditionally computed switch costs are less reliable than the primary outcomes (i.e., reaction time and accuracy). Researchers and clinicians should rely on primary variables from the task-switching paradigm rather than computing the traditional switch costs to increase the psychometric properties of the tasks which is critical to advances in theoretical models of executive functions and evaluations of clinical populations.


2014 ◽  
pp. 126-140
Author(s):  
O. Mironenko

Employers incur costs while fulfilling the requirements of employment protection legislation. The article contains a review of the core theoretical models and empirical results concerning the impact of these costs on firms’ practices in hiring, firing, training and remuneration. Overall, if wages are flexible or enforcement is weak, employment protection does not significantly influence employers’ behavior. Otherwise, stringent employment protection results in the reduction of hiring and firing rates, changes in personnel selection criteria, types of labour contracts and dismissal procedures, and, in some cases, it may lead to the growth of wages and firms’ investments to human capital.


Author(s):  
Svetlana Punanova ◽  
Mikhail Rodkin

The mode of development of the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia and the impact of the epidemic on the areas of scientific research, education and functioning of the fuel and energy complex are discussed. The official statistics revealed evidence both of effectivity of the taken anti-epidemic measures in Moscow and of possible cases of incorrectness of statistical data. The social situation and the mode of development of the epidemic in Moscow and in the regions of Russia are essentially different, that reduces the effectiveness of anti-epidemic measures introduced uniformly throughout the whole country. The conditions of the pandemic and quarantine are difficult for everyone, but organizations and persons with a more modern informational character of production adapt to them more easily. In general, it can be suggested that the epidemic besides the very essential losses gives an important impulse for social-economic and political modernization of the society.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1018
Author(s):  
Carola Esposito Corcione ◽  
Francesca Ferrari ◽  
Raffaella Striani ◽  
Antonio Greco

In this work, we studied the transport properties (thermal and electrical conductivity) of smart fabric materials treated with graphite nanomaterial stacks–acetone suspensions. An innovative and easy method to produce graphite nanomaterial stacks–acetone-based formulations, starting from a low-cost expandable graphite, is proposed. An original, economical, fast, and easy method to increase the thermal and electrical conductivity of textile materials was also employed for the first time. The proposed method allows the impregnation of smart fabric materials, avoiding pre-coating of the fibers, thus reducing costs and processing time, while obtaining a great increase in the transport properties. Two kinds of textiles, cotton and Lycra®, were selected as they represent the most used natural and artificial fabrics, respectively. The impact of the dimensions of the produced graphite nanomaterial stacks–acetone-based suspensions on both the uniformity of the treatment and the transport properties of the selected textile materials was accurately evaluated using several experimental techniques. An empirical relationship between the two transport properties was also successfully identified. Finally, several theoretical models were applied to predict the transport properties of the developed smart fabric materials, evidencing a good agreement with the experimental data.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Laurence G. Weinzimmer ◽  
Eric J. Michel ◽  
Jennifer Robin

Abstract Drawing on Wales, Monsen, and McKelvie's (2011, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 35(5), 895–923) model of entrepreneurial orientation pervasiveness and the strong culture hypothesis (Denison, 1984, Organization Dynamics, 13, 4–22), this study investigates how entrepreneurial orientation (EO) strength, defined as the level of agreement in the shared perceptions of EO, serves as a boundary condition of the EO–firm performance relationship. Four field studies provide evidence for a valid and reliable 10-item multidimensional measure of entrepreneurial orientation, the EO-10, which in turn, may be used to assess EO strength. We establish content and construct validity of the EO-10 (study 1; n = 447 employees), criterion-related validity with revenue growth and sales growth (study 2; n = 412 employees in 43 profit centers), and convergent validity with Covin and Slevin's (1989, Strategic Management Journal, 10, 75–87) 9-item measure (study 3; n = 291 employees). Finally, in study 4 (n = 853 employees nested in 22 organizations), we demonstrate the interactive effects of EO and EO strength on profit growth and revenue growth. In sum, this study provides conceptual and empirical evidence for the importance of EO strength as a moderator of the EO–firm performance relationship.


Author(s):  
Scott J. Moura ◽  
Hosam K. Fathy ◽  
Duncan S. Callaway ◽  
Jeffrey L. Stein

This paper examines the problem of optimally splitting driver power demand among the different actuators (i.e., the engine and electric machines) in a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). Existing studies focus mostly on optimizing PHEV power management for fuel economy, subject to charge sustenance constraints, over individual drive cycles. This paper adds three original contributions to this literature. First, it uses stochastic dynamic programming to optimize PHEV power management over a distribution of drive cycles, rather than a single cycle. Second, it explicitly trades off fuel and electricity usage in a PHEV, thereby systematically exploring the potential benefits of controlled charge depletion over aggressive charge depletion followed by charge sustenance. Finally, it examines the impact of variations in relative fuel-to-electricity pricing on optimal PHEV power management. The paper focuses on a single-mode powersplit PHEV configuration for mid-size sedans, but its approach is extendible to other configurations and sizes as well.


2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 1195-1205 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Chandrasekar ◽  
S. Lim ◽  
E. Gorgucci

Abstract To design X-band radar systems as well as evaluate algorithm development, it is useful to have simultaneous X-band observation with and without the impact of path attenuation. One way to develop that dataset is through theoretical models. This paper presents a methodology to generate realistic range profiles of radar variables at attenuating frequencies, such as X band, for rain medium. Fundamental microphysical properties of precipitation, namely, size and shape distribution information, are used to generate realistic profiles of X band starting with S-band observation. Conditioning the simulation from S band maintains the natural distribution of rainfall microphysical parameters. Data from the Colorado State University’s University of Chicago–Illinois State Water Survey (CHILL) radar and the National Center for Atmospheric Research S-band dual-polarization Doppler radar (S-POL) are used to simulate X-band radar variables. Three procedures to simulate the radar variables and sample applications are presented.


2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (02) ◽  
pp. 1550268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinwei Shi ◽  
Xingbai Luo ◽  
Jinming Li ◽  
Jianwei Jiang

To analyze the process of jet penetration in water medium quantitatively, the properties of jet penetration spaced target with water interlayer were studied through test and numerical simulation. Two theoretical models of jet penetration in water were proposed. The theoretical model 1 was established considering the impact of the shock wave, combined with the shock equation Rankine–Hugoniot and the virtual origin calculation method. The theoretical model 2 was obtained by fitting theoretical analysis and numerical simulation results. The effectiveness and universality of the two theoretical models were compared through the numerical simulation results. Both the models can reflect the relationship between the penetration velocity and the penetration distance in water well, and both the deviation and stability of theoretical model 1 are better than 2, the lower penetration velocity, and the larger deviation of the theoretical model 2. Therefore, the theoretical model 1 can reflect the properties of jet penetration in water effectively, and provide the reference of model simulation and theoretical research.


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