Correlation Between Coping Strategies and Quality of Life Among Myocardial Infarction Patients in Nepal

Objective: To examine the correlation between coping strategies and quality of life (QoL) among patients with myocardial infarction (MI) Method: A descriptive correlational design was used to examine the relationship between coping strategies and QoL among 88 patients with MI who were older than 18 years, 2 months after the initial diagnosis of MI. QoL was assessed using the cardiac version of the Quality of Life Index. Coping strategy was assessed using Jalowiec Coping Scale. Problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping were also compared in male and female patients.Results: Problem-focused coping was significantly positively associated with overall QoL (r = .41, p = <.01), particularly the health and functioning dimension (rs = .39, p = <.01) and socio-economic dimension (rs = .46, p = <.01) but not with psychological & spiritual and family dimension. Men used more problem-focused coping strategies than women. The problem-focused coping score was significantly different between men and women (t = 4.9, p <.05).Conclusion: The results revealed that patients who used more of problem-focused coping had better QoL than patients who used less problem-focused coping. Educating patients to enhance the use of appropriate coping strategies may be useful to promote the QoL of Nepalese patients with MI

Signal/noise enhancement strategies for stochastically estimated correlation functions

We develop strategies for enhancing the signal/noise ratio for stochastically sampled correlation functions. The techniques are general and offer a wide range of applicability. We demonstrate the potential of the approach with a generic two-state system, and then explore the practical applicability of the method for single hadron correlators in lattice quantum chromodynamics. In the latter case, we determine the ground state energies of the pion, proton, and delta baryon, as well as the ground and first excited state energy of the rho meson using matrices of correlators computed on an exemplary ensemble of anisotropic gauge configurations. In the majority of cases, we find a modest reduction in the statistical uncertainties on extracted energies compared to conventional variational techniques. However, in the case of the delta baryon, we achieve a factor of three reduction in statistical uncertainties. The variety of outcomes achieved for single hadron correlators illustrates an inherent dependence of the method on the properties of the system under consideration and the operator basis from which the correlators are constructed.Comment: 40 pages, 21 figures; revisions made to the abstract and Section VI C, one additional figure and five tables added; published versio

The Relationship between Iranian EFL High School Students’ Multiple Intelligence Scores and Their Use of Learning Strategies

According to the theory of multiple intelligences (MI) propounded by Gardner (1983, 1999a, 1999b), each individual has a multitude of intelligences that are quite independent of each other and each individual has a unique cognitive profile. Having access to the MI profiles and learning strategies of learners could help the teachers in planning activities to connect both strategies and students’ talents and provide students with the best possible instruction. Thus, this study attempts to find out the relationship between the MI profiles and language learning strategies used by Iranian EFL high school students. Two hundred and twenty-nine students (121 males, 108 females) participated in the study. The instruments used to elicit information for this study were McKenzie’s (1999) MI inventory and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) Questionnaire. The findings revealed that there is a low, positive correlation between the two variables of MI and learning strategies, r = 0.24. In addition, it was found that there is a low, positive correlation between MI and different strategy types. The highest correlation was seen between meta-cognitive strategies and MI, followed by compensation and cognitive strategies. Furthermore, the findings reveal that Iranian students mostly use meta-cognitive strategies followed by social strategies

Motor equivalent strategies in the production of /u/ in perturbed speech

Several articulatory strategies are available during the production of /u/, all resulting in a similar acoustic output. /u/ has two main constrictions, at the velum and at the lips. A perturbation of either constriction can be compensated at the other one, e.g wider constriction at the velum by more lip protrusion, wider lip opening by more tongue retraction. This study investigates whether speakers use this relation under perturbation. Six speakers were provided with palatal prostheses which were worn for two weeks. Speakers were instructed to make a serious attempt to produce normal speech. Their speech was recorded via EMA and acoustics several times over the adaptation period. Formant values of /u/-productions were measured. Velar constriction width and lip protrusion were estimated. For four speakers a correlation between constriction width and lip protrusion was found. A negative correlation between lip protrusion and F1 or F2 could sometimes be observed, but no correlation occurred between constriction size and either of the formants. The results show that under perturbation speakers use motor equivalent strategies in order to adapt. The correlation between constriction size and lip protrusion is stronger than in studies investigating unperturbed speech. This could be because under perturbation speakers are inclined to try out several strategies in order to reach the acoustic target and the co-variability might thus be greater

VaR-implied tail-correlation matrices : [Version October 2013]

Empirical evidence suggests that asset returns correlate more strongly in bear markets than conventional correlation estimates imply. We propose a method for determining complete tail correlation matrices based on Value-at-Risk (VaR) estimates. We demonstrate how to obtain more efficient tail-correlation estimates by use of overidentification strategies and how to guarantee positive semidefiniteness, a property required for valid risk aggregation and Markowitz{type portfolio optimization. An empirical application to a 30-asset universe illustrates the practical applicability and relevance of the approach in portfolio management

Optimal Correlation Estimators for Quantized Signals

Using a maximum-likelihood criterion, we derive optimal correlation strategies for signals with and without digitization. We assume that the signals are drawn from zero-mean Gaussian distributions, as is expected in radio-astronomical applications, and we present correlation estimators both with and without a priori knowledge of the signal variances. We demonstrate that traditional estimators of correlation, which rely on averaging products, exhibit large and paradoxical noise when the correlation is strong. However, we also show that these estimators are fully optimal in the limit of vanishing correlation. We calculate the bias and noise in each of these estimators and discuss their suitability for implementation in modern digital correlators.Comment: 8 Pages, 3 Figures, Submitted to Ap