AESTHETIC EVALUATION OF PLANT LANDSCAPE BASED ON PRINCIPAL FACTOR ANALYSIS AND SBE IN WETLAND PARK – A CASE STUDY OF JINLONG LAKE WETLAND PARK (CHINA)

The aesthetic value of 35 plant landscape samples of Jinlong lake wetland park in Xuzhou city of China were evaluated with principal factor analysis and SBE method. The results showed that: The SBE value of 35 plant landscape samples fluctuated greatly and the evaluation value of the principal factor did not change much. The order of SBE mean values of different types was: plant landscape on both sides of the roads > plant landscape beside buildings and surroundings > typical plant community > waterfront plant landscape. The order of value of the principal factor analysis of different types was: plant landscape on both sides of the roads > typical plant community > plant landscape beside buildings and surroundings > waterfront plant landscape. The principal factor evaluation method contained more than 90% information of seven evaluation factors, while the SBE method mainly evaluated from “plant aesthetic factors”. The satisfaction of waterfront plant landscape was low, the transformation of plant landscape should focus on increasing the species of waterfront plants, especially native plants, building natural revetments, creating rich canopy lines.

Can the Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale be adapted for use in the context of osteoarthritis with general practitioners and physiotherapists?

Background: Conservative, first-line treatments (exercise, education and weight-loss if appropriate) for hip and knee joint osteoarthritis are underused despite the known benefits. Clinicians’ beliefs can affect the advice and education given to patients, in turn, this can influence the uptake of treatment. In New Zealand, most conservative OA management is prescribed by general practitioners (GPs; primary care physicians) and physiotherapists. Few questionnaires have been designed to measure GPs’ and physiotherapists’ osteoarthritis-related health, illness and treatment beliefs. This study aimed to identify if a questionnaire about low back pain beliefs, the Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale for Physiotherapists (PABS-PT), can be adapted to assess GP and physiotherapists’ beliefs about osteoarthritis.Methods: This study used a cross-sectional observational design. Data were collected anonymously from GPs and physiotherapists using an online survey. The survey included a study-specific demographic and occupational characteristics questionnaire and the PABS-PT questionnaire adapted for osteoarthritis. All data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and the PABS-PT data underwent principal factor analysis. Results: In total, 295 clinicians (87 GPs, 208 physiotherapists) participated in this study. The principal factor analysis identified two factors or subscales (categorised as biomedical and behavioural), with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.84 and 0.44, respectively. Conclusions: The biomedical subscale of the PABS-PT appears appropriate for adaptation for use in the context of osteoarthritis, but the low internal consistency of the behavioural subscale suggests this subscale is not currently suitable. Future research should consider the inclusion of additional items to the behavioural subscale to improve internal consistency or look to develop a new, osteoarthritis-specific questionnaire.

Can the Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale be adapted for use in the context of osteoarthritis with general practitioners and physiotherapists?

Background: Conservative, first-line treatments (exercise, education and weight-loss if appropriate) for hip and knee joint osteoarthritis are underused despite the known benefits. Clinicians’ beliefs can affect the advice and education given to patients, in turn, this can influence the uptake of treatment. In New Zealand, most conservative OA management is prescribed by general practitioners (GPs; primary care physicians) and physiotherapists. Few questionnaires have been designed to measure GPs’ and physiotherapists’ osteoarthritis-related health, illness and treatment beliefs. This study aimed to identify if a questionnaire about low back pain beliefs, the Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale for Physiotherapists (PABS-PT), can be adapted to assess GP and physiotherapists’ beliefs about osteoarthritis. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional observational design. Data were collected anonymously from GPs and physiotherapists using an online survey. The survey included a study-specific demographic and occupational characteristics questionnaire and the PABS-PT questionnaire adapted for osteoarthritis. All data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and the PABS-PT data underwent principal factor analysis. Results: In total, 295 clinicians (87 GPs, 208 physiotherapists) participated in this study. The principal factor analysis identified two factors or subscales (categorised as biomedical and behavioural), with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.84 and 0.44, respectively. Conclusions: The biomedical subscale of the PABS-PT appears appropriate for adaptation for use in the context of osteoarthritis, but the low internal consistency of the behavioural subscale suggests this subscale is not currently suitable. Future research should consider the inclusion of additional items to the behavioural subscale to improve internal consistency or look to develop a new, osteoarthritis-specific questionnaire.

Exploring the utility of the Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale with general practitioners and physiotherapists in the context of osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional observational study

Background Conservative treatments for hip and knee joint osteoarthritis are underused despite the known benefits. Adherence to conservative treatments is poor and affected by people’s health, illness and treatment beliefs. Clinicians’ beliefs can also affect the advice and education given to patients. Few studies have explored general practitioners’ (GPs; primary care physicians) and physiotherapists’ osteoarthritis-related health, illness and treatment beliefs. In addition, limited questionnaires are available to explore this phenomenon. This study aimed to identify if GPs and physiotherapists had beliefs about osteoarthritis that fit better with biomedical or biopsychosocial models, and explore the utility of the Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale for Physiotherapists (PABS-PT) adapted for osteoarthritis. Methods This study used a cross-sectional observational design. Data were collected anonymously from GPs and physiotherapists using an online survey. The survey included a study-specific demographic and occupational characteristics questionnaire and the PABS-PT questionnaire adapted for osteoarthritis. All data were analysed using descriptive statistics. PABS-PT data also underwent principal factor analysis. Results In total, 295 clinicians (87 GPs, 208 physiotherapists) participated in this study. The principal factor analysis identified two factors or subscales (biomedical and behavioural), with Cronbach’s alphas of 0.84 and 0.44, respectively. Participants scored higher on the behavioural (3.85) than the biomedical (2.78) beliefs subscale. Conclusions The results suggest clinicians’ osteoarthritis beliefs are broadly more behavioural (biopsychosocial) than biomedical in orientation. However, the poor internal consistency of the behavioural subscale suggests the PABS-PT is not suitable for adaptation for osteoarthritis.

Prewhitened causality analysis for the chlorophyll-a concentration in the Yeongsan River system

Blooming of algae has been a primary issue of concern for heavily polluted aquatic ecosystems. The chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration depends on various hydrological, biochemical and anthropogenic components, which makes prediction of algal blooms complicated. A river regulation project in Yeongsan River, South Korea, involving the construction of a weir, had substantially altered the flow regime. A prewhitened time series analysis is a useful method for delineation of a causal relationship between two environmental variables. This study explores the impact of river regulation on algal blooming using both the prewhitened cross-correlation method and principal factor analysis. Both individual and comprehensive causality structures were configured for the variation in Chl-a concentration. A prewhitened cross-correlation analysis indicates that the water quality response patterns of the river system were changed to those of a reservoir after the river regulation project. A principal factor analysis of correlations indicates that the weir construction had a stronger impact on algal concentration than both the hydro-meteorological factor and difference in sampling location. Variation in stochastic structures from nutrients and water quality factors to algal bloom was substantially reduced by the construction of a weir, which can be explained by the relatively uniform flow pattern throughout the river regulation practice.

Suočavanje s usamljenošću: značenje iskustva i uzroka usamljenosti

A questionnaire, which included some questions for measuring different strategies of coping with loneliness (author A. Rokach) has been translated and administered to 484 subjects aged 16-90 years. Principal factor analysis was used, and six interpretable factors were extracted. Three of them (Thinking and acceptance, Social support network, Religion and faith) were almost the same as the factors which were obtained by Ami Rokach. The other three factors (Distance and denial, Higher activity, Self-development and understanding) have substantial differences in comparison with the factors which were obtained in Canadian research. The differences could be, in part, interpreted in terms of cultural differences between the Canadian and Croatian sample.

The Influence of Perceived Rarity and Luxuriousness on Consumers’ Brand Attitudes: Observations in Japan

When a non-luxury apparel brand attempts to raise its brand value by employing the luxury strategy, rarity management is a brand manager’s concern. This study focuses on apparel brand’s rarity as perceived by consumers and its influence on consumers’ brand attitudes depending on the extent of the brand’s luxuriousness. In this paper, a consumer survey is conducted in Japan to analyze consumers’ perceptions and attitudes toward 10 leading apparel brands. The results of principal factor analysis and regression analysis suggest that the higher a brand’s luxuriousness is, the more strongly its perceived rarity positively impacts on consumers’ brand attitudes. On the contrary, it is suggested that the lower a brand’s luxuriousness is, the more strongly its perceived rarity negatively impacts on consumers’ attitudes. This result implies the existence of the snob effect for luxury brands. Conversely, investments to raise consumers’ perceived rarity potentially might harm consumers’ attitudes towards the brand when the extent of brand’s luxuriousness is low.