Risk Factors of Suicide Ideation in Chinese Graduate Students: CHAID Tree Analysis

The present study aims to identify the risk factors and develop a decision tree model of suicide ideation in Chinese graduate students. A chi-square automatic interaction detection tree analysis was conducted in a graduate students sample (N=1036). Measurements included University Personality Inventory (UPI), Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). Results showed that suicide incidence of Chinese graduate students was 1.15%, with males’ was higher than females. Seventeen potential variables were considered and only three of them (depression, obsession, and neuroticism) were found to be risk factors of suicide ideation in Chinese graduate students, and the interactions between them constructed a decision tree model. These findings should be helpful for school and mental health providers to detect graduate students with a high possibility of suicide ideation, which will aid in planning of early suicide intervention and prevention for at risk students

The Role of Local Identity in the Usage and Recognition of Anglo-Cornish Dialect Lexis

Despite the well attested finding that orientation to place can exhibit correlations with sociolinguistic usage, the role of place identity in sociolinguistic variation and change has been long disputed. The disputes often center around two key points. Firstly, a contested point is whether observed identity effects are independent statistically meaningful effects or whether they are corollaries of effects relating to other socio-demographic features such as age or socioeconomic class. Secondly, when place identity effects are found in sociolinguistic usage, few studies have explored the extent to which these effects can be attributed to acts of identity or to common interactions that can be influenced by attitudinal factors such as local orientation. To delve into these issues, I analyze lexical data from Cornwall and highlight the complexity involved in interpreting the role of place identity in sociolinguistic usage. I advocate, to varying extents, for both the act of identity and interlocutor frequency interpretations for different data sets

Determining the parental variables that explain students’ reading success by Using CHAID analysis

Okuma becerisinin hem günlük yaşamdaki hem de diğer dersler için önemi, PISA 2009 veli anketinin Türkiye’de uygulanmamış olması ve ailesel faktörlerin okuma başarısıyla olan ilişkisinin bu anket doğrultusunda araştırılmamış olması bu araştırmayı gerekli kılmaktadır. Bu araştırmanın amacı, öğrencilerin PISA 2009 okuma okuryazarlığı testinden seçilen mad delerden elde ettikleri okuma becerileri başarı puanlarını açıklayan ailesel faktörlerin belirlenmesidir. İlişkisel tarama modelinde olan bu araştırma, Ankara ilinde 10. sınıf düzeyinde öğrenim gören 170 öğrenci ve velisi ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Veriler, PISA 2009 uygulamasında okuma okuryazarlığı testinden seçilen maddelere öğrencilerin verdiği yanıtlar ve veli anketinden elde edilen bilgilerden oluşmaktadır. Öğrencilerin okuma becerilerini açıklayan değişkenler karar ağaçları yöntemlerinden CHAID analizi ile belirlenmiştir. Araştırmanın bulgularına göre, çocuğunun okuldaki öğretmenlerinin büyük bölümünün alanında yeterli ve kendini işine adamış olduğunu düşünen velilerin, çocuklarının okuma başarılarının daha yüksek olduğu görülmüştür.The importance of reading skills both in daily life and in other courses, the fact that PISA 2009 parent questionnaire was not conducted in Turkey and that the relationship between parental variables and reading skills was not investigated within the framework of this questionnaire necessitate this study. The purpose of this study is to determine the parental variables that explain the reading skills success scores of the students with the information gathered from the parent questionnaire and students’ answers to the selected items of the PISA 2009 reading literacy test. Using the correlational model, this study has been carried out with 170 10th graders in Ankara and their parents. Data consists of information gathered from the parent questionnaire and the responses students give to the selected items of the PISA 2009 reading literacy test. Explanatory variables of the reading skills of the students have been determined with one of the decision trees methods, CHAID analysis. According to the findings of the study, it was found that the students whose parents think that most of the teachers in their school are qualified in their field and devoted to their work have higher scores in terms of reading success

Non-Rated Air Force Line Officer Attrition Rates Using Survival Analysis

The Air Force structures its workforce around rank structure and work specialty codes (Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSCs)). The challenge is to grow and manage personnel to fill a variety of skill sets at a variety of ranks over a 20-30 year planning horizon. To ensure that the missions are accomplished while adhering to congressionally-mandated force allocations, the Air Force is continually attempting to \right size its force by maintaining the correct balance of personnel in each career field. The Air Force conducts its force structure management responsibility by comparing historical attrition rates to current manpower requirements for each AFSC to determine the \optimal number of officers needed in each accession yeargroup over a 30-year career. Personnel analysts aggregate the individual yeargroup numbers for each AFSC and call this a \sustainment line. In this study, logistic regression was used to determine which factors are significant to predicting non-rated Air Force line officer retention. The variables considered were commissioning yeargroup, gender, source of commission, number of years served as enlisted, career field grouping, and distinguished graduate at commissioning source and all six were significant. All of these factors are included in the survival analysis, which yielded a total of 99 unique survival functions to characterize officer attrition behavior. Each of the survival functions provides a more specific representation of historic behavior that can be used to predict and/or shape future behavior. To best present the data to decision-makers, the unique survival functions must be aggregated after being weighted according to the respective percentage of the populations they represent

An investigation of the consistency of Statistics South Africa's employment data between surveys

MSc., Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011The purpose of the study is to investigate possible reasons as to why different surveys conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) give different estimates of the percentages in the different employment categories. In order to investigate the different sources of variability, that is, surveys done in different years, surveys using different questionnaires, different sample designs and different employment profiles, the following comparisons were done for Gauteng and the Eastern Cape: • To compare estimates of employment status over time for the March Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2006 and 2007; September LFS 2006 and 2007; and General Household Survey (GHS) September 2006 and July 2007. • To compare estimates of employment status across surveys for LFS September 2006; GHS September 2006; and LFS September 2007, July GHS 2007 and Community Survey (CS) October 2007. In order to generate a set of comparable estimates across surveys and within surveys over time, this study identifies and addresses the various sources of potential non-comparability. The methodologies utilised are Chi-squared Automatic Detection (CHAID) and multinomial logistic regression. These statistical techniques were used to identify variables which are associated with employment status. The predictor variables included in the analysis are age group, highest level of education, marital status, population group, sex and source data. The results from CHAID for all data sets show that age group is the most significant predictor on which data on employment status can be segmented. At the root node (the first level of the CHAID tree), data was partitioned by the categories of age group. Highest level of education, sex, population group and province were significant within the categories of age group. Either province or population group was significant within the age group 20–29 years old depending on the data that is being analysed. Sex was most significant within the age group 50–65 years old. The results of multinomial regression show several significant interactions involving from five to seven factors for different data sets. The logistic regression results were not as good as those of the CHAID analyses, but both techniques give us an indication of the relationships between the predictor variables and employment. The analysis of the CS, LFS and GHS in 2007, when explaining employment status, split on age group. Highest level of education was the most significant predictor when comparing the three data sets. There are differences among the three data sets when explaining employment status. This is due to the use of different mid-year population estimates, differences in the instructions given in the questionnaire for CS 2007 and other surveys, as well as the sample size of the surveys. There are indeed significant differences between Gauteng and Eastern Cape in relation to employment status

Digital media exposure, political attitudes and perceptions as antecedents of voting intentions: a Zimbabwean perspective

Thesis (Ph.D. (Business Science))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic & Business Sciences, 2017With the contemporary diffusion of media technology, the majority of researchers have come to position the Internet as a political instrument that has the potential to stimulate consumer behaviour. The Internet has expanded persistently as a news source and digital technologies have become more accessible and abound with user generated content. These digital media backdrops afford a valuable opportunity to empirically examine the effects of digital media effects on consumer decision-making. It is therefore important to examine how consumer perceptions and attitudes towards voting impact their decision-making in order for political marketers or politicians to develop coherent strategies that offer a conducive environment sufficient to influence voting decision-making. Whereas previous studies on voting behaviour have merely explored voting behaviour in a global context, the current study investigates the effect of digital media exposure on perceptual and cognitive constructs within a Zimbabwean context. Moreover, few studies have explored this topic in a consumer behaviour context amongst the Zimbabwean constituency. This study aims to determine whether digital media exposure influences voter-consumers’ intention to vote in subsequent Zimbabwe presidential elections. In order to empirically test the effect of digital media exposure on perceived image of a political party (PI); perceived image of a presidential candidate (PPC); attitude towards voting (ATV) and voting intention (VI), a conceptual model premised on the reviewed political marketing literature was developed. The model proposed four distinct domains that drive voting intentions. In this conceptualised model, digital media exposure is the predictor variable, while perceived image of the presidential candidate, attitude towards voting, perceived image of the political party, are mediators and voting intention is the single outcome variable. By exploring the significance of digital media use on voter behaviour, this study contributes towards specific contextual knowledge on consumer behaviour and political marketing in developing countries particularly Zimbabwe. The present study is positioned in the positivist research methodology, and assumes a deductive approach within the quantitative paradigm to test the proposed hypotheses. This study uses stratified probability sampling to arrive at the required number of provinces for the study. Using quantitative methodologies based on the nature of the research questions, data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from 305 eligible voters from selected Provinces and Districts in Zimbabwe selected through stratified probability sampling to arrive at the required number of provinces for the study.The measuring instrument was designed from existing scales, which were adapted to suit the present study. The data analysis ii | P a g e was done in SPSS 24 for demographic data analysis and AMOS 24 was used for the structural equation modelling and path modelling. The findings support all the hypotheses in a significant way except H1 and H5. Likewise, voter-consumers’ perception of the presidential candidate has an influence on the attitude towards voting and all latter perceptual and attitudinal variables have significant influence on voting intention. Important to note about the study findings is the fact that digital media exposure has a stronger effect on perceived image of the political party (H3) than attitude towards voting (H2). However, perceived image of the political party strongly influence attitude towards voting. Remarkably, the relationship between perceived image of the presidential candidate and attitude towards voting is robust. The findings indicate that digital media exposure can have a strong influence on voting intention through attitude towards voting. The contribution of this study is threefold: Firstly, by exploring the significance of digital media exposure on voting behaviour, this study adds to contextual knowledge on relationship marketing, political brand management and experiential marketing (the final stage of the mental brand responses), consumer marketing and specifically, political marketing. Secondly, as a growing body of literature explores the use of digital technology in political campaigning/marketing to create a competitive advantage, this study provides researchers with a broad understanding of this phenomenon among voting citizens in developing countries particularly Zimbabwe. Theoretically, it is positioned in political marketing and contributes to theoretical literature that focuses on consumer behaviour, branding and brand relationship. Lastly, by investigating digital media exposure and its influence on consumers’ voting intention, the findings provided political marketing practitioners with a better understanding of strategies that can be employed to influence citizens’ voting behaviour, through the use of digital media. The study thus submits that politicians ought to pay attention to both media agenda and brand image in order to build a positive attitude towards voting which significantly influences the intention to vote. In order to maximise voter ‘purchase’, marketers can implement strategies to encourage positive behaviour from voter-consumers and exploit multi-sensory experiences in order to influence voting intentions. The study makes a significant contribution to brand management literature and consumer behaviour literature by systematically exploring the impact of media exposure on brand image and attitude towards voting in Zimbabwe. The study demonstrates that political data can be used in consumer behaviour studies and provides a theoretical method for predicting voting intentions using voter behaviour in the form of voter perception of political parties and perceived image of a presidential candidate as well as attitude towards voting. The study further highlights the significance of using digital technologies and ingenuity to create a comparative advantage as well as a differential advantage.MT 201

Experiencia profesional en las áreas de Investigación Científica y Gestión de Proyectos de Investigación en el Centro de Desarrollo Emprendedor de la Universidad ESAN

La autora del presente trabajo obtuvo el grado de bachiller en ciencias económicas en el año 2004 desde esa época hasta la actualidad se ha desempeñado en diversos cargos relacionados con los ámbitos de la gestión, la docencia y la investigación. La mayor parte de este trabajo fue realizado en la Universidad ESAN, concretamente en las unidades de la Escuela de Negocios y el Centro de Desarrollo Emprendedor (CDE-ESAN). La tesina que presenta para optar por el título profesional se enfoca en su experiencia como investigadora principal y coordinadora del Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), un estudio liderado en el Perú por CDE-ESAN. Esta iniciativa es reconocida como el principal referente para diagnosticar la actividad emprendedora de un país y la influencia de los factores políticos, económicos, sociales y culturales que la afectan. En este proyecto la autora ha realizado diversas actividades que van desde la fase de diseño de la investigación hasta el análisis de resultados. Como producto de las labores realizadas y en colaboración con otros miembros del equipo se han generado cuatro libros que ofrecen una mirada integral y exhaustiva del emprendimiento y el entorno macroeconómico en el que desenvuelve. Asimismo, ha desarrollado contribuciones intelectuales adicionales como propuestas de investigación y un artículo publicado en un journal internacional JCR de cuartil 2. La autora también presenta en el último capítulo y como parte de la experiencia adquirida, recomendaciones para aprovechar todo el potencial que ofrece el proyecto en términos de información y comparativa regional e internacional

Réutilisation de données hospitalières pour la recherche d'effets indésirables liés à la prise d'un médicament ou à la pose d'un dispositif médical implantable

Introduction:The adverse events associated with drug administration or placement of an implantable medical device should be sought systematically after the beginning of the commercialisation. Studies conducted in this phase are observational studies that can be performed from hospital databases. The objective of this work is to study the interest of the re-use of hospital data for the identification of such an adverse event.Materials and methods:Two hospital databases have been re-used between the years 2007 to 2013: the first contains 171 million inpatient stays including diagnostic codes, procedures and demographic data. This data is linked with a single patient identifier; the second database contains the same kinds of information for 80,000 stays and also the laboratory results and drug administrations for each inpatient stay. Four studies were conducted on these pieces of data to identify adverse drug events and adverse events following the placement of an implantable medical device.Results:The first study demonstrates the ability of a set of detection of rules to automatically identify adverse drug events with hyperkalaemia. The second study describes the variation of a laboratory results associated with the presence of a frequent sequential pattern composed of drug administrations and laboratory results. The third piece of work enables the user to build a web tool exploring on the fly the reasons for rehospitalisation of patients with an implantable medical device. The fourth and final study estimates the thrombotic and bleeding risks following a total hip replacement.Conclusion:The re-use of hospital data in a pharmacoepidemiological perspective allows the identification of adverse events associated with drug administration or placement of an implantable medical device. The value of this data is the amount statistical power they bring as well as the types of associations they allow to analyse.Introduction : les effets indésirables associés à un traitement médicamenteux ou à la pose d'un dispositif médical implantable doivent être recherchés systématiquement après le début de leur commercialisation. Les études réalisées pendant cette phase sont des études observationnelles qui peuvent s'envisager à partir des bases de données hospitalières. L'objectif de ce travail est d'étudier l'intérêt de la ré-utilisation de données hospitalières pour la mise en évidence de tels effets indésirables.Matériel et méthodes : deux bases de données hospitalières sont ré-utilisées pour les années 2007 à 2013 : une première contenant 171 000 000 de séjours hospitaliers incluant les codes diagnostiques, les codes d'actes et des données démographiques, ces données étant chaînées selon un identifiant unique de patient ; une seconde issue d'un centre hospitalier contenant les mêmes types d'informations pour 80 000 séjours ainsi que les résultats de biologie médicale, les administrations médicamenteuses et les courriers hospitaliers pour chacun des séjours. Quatre études sont conduites sur ces données afin d'identifier d'une part des évènements indésirables médicamenteux et d'autre part des évènements indésirables faisant suite à la pose d'un dispositif médical implantable.Résultats : la première étude démontre l'aptitude d'un jeu de règles de détection à identifier automatiquement les effets indésirables à type d'hyperkaliémie. Une deuxième étude décrit la variation d'un paramètre de biologie médicale associée à la présence d'un motif séquentiel fréquent composé d'administrations de médicaments et de résultats de biologie médicale. Un troisième travail a permis la construction d'un outil web permettant d'explorer à la volée les motifs de réhospitalisation des patients ayant eu une pose de dispositif médical implantable. Une quatrième et dernière étude a permis l'estimation du risque thrombotique et hémorragique faisant suite à la pose d'une prothèse totale de hanche.Conclusion : la ré-utilisation de données hospitalières dans une perspective pharmacoépidémiologique permet l'identification d'effets indésirables associés à une administration de médicament ou à la pose d'un dispositif médical implantable. L'intérêt de ces données réside dans la puissance statistique qu'elles apportent ainsi que dans la multiplicité des types de recherches d'association qu'elles permettent