Effect of work experience on graduate students\u27 anxiety for future work

Part-time vs. full-time students -- Age range of 23 to 51 years -- Business and social work majors -- Self-efficacy -- Work apprehension

Opportunities for epidemiologists in implementation science: A primer

The field of epidemiology has been defined as the study of the spread and control of disease. However, epidemiology frequently focuses on studies of etiology and distribution of disease at the cost of understanding the best ways to control disease. Moreover, only a small fraction of scientific discoveries are translated into public health practice, and the process from discovery to translation is exceedingly slow. Given the importance of translational science, the future of epidemiologic training should include competency in implementation science, whose goal is to rapidly move evidence into practice. Our purpose in this paper is to provide epidemiologists with a primer in implementation science, which includes dissemination research and implementation research as defined by the National Institutes of Health. We describe the basic principles of implementation science, highlight key components for conducting research, provide examples of implementation studies that encompass epidemiology, and offer resources and opportunities for continued learning. There is a clear need for greater speed, relevance, and application of evidence into practice, programs, and policies and an opportunity to enable epidemiologists to conduct research that not only will inform practitioners and policy-makers of risk but also will enhance the likelihood that evidence will be implemented

Leading by example and giving teachers a voice: Alan Waters’ contribution to ELT

This tribute to Alan Waters, who passed away in the summer of 2016, was written for the ELT Symposium in his honour that took place at Lancaster University on 24th February 2017

Towards a model of group-based cyberbullying: combining verbal aggression and manipulation approaches with perception data to investigate the portrayal of transgender people in seven newspaper articles

This article proposes a two-step analysis of group-based cyberbullying that combines a) features of verbal aggression (incl. impoliteness components and speech acts) and manipulation analysis, and b) an analysis of the targeted group’s perception and evaluation of the investigated texts. The group focused on in this cases study are transgender people. In comparison to other LGBTIQA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, questioning, asexual) groups, transgender issues and the portrayal of transgender people have been rarely focused on in linguistic studies. The analysis of seven articles published in British mainstream media between 2001 and 2015 by two authors, shows that they employed a wide variety of pragmatic and manipulation strategies to influence the opinion of the public on trans people and to cause offence to transgender individuals. The analysis of reactions to one of these articles by members of a transgender charity will show the impact these verbal aggression and manipulation strategies had on targeted individuals

The efficiency of nitrogen stabilizer at different soil temperatures on the physiological development and productivity of maize (Zea mays L.)

Received: January 29th, 2021 ; Accepted: October 8th, 2021 ; Published: October 20th, 2021 ; Correspondence: [email protected] (N) stabilizer containing nitrapyrin inhibitor is responsible for slowing the activity of Nitrosomonas sp. bacteria down which oxidize ammonium to nitrite ions, thus, N-loss resulting from nitrate leaching can be reduced. Although prior studies have shown its effectiveness in the pre-sowing application in maize, considering that it disturbs the activity of Nitrosomonas bacteria which is the most intense between 25 °C and 30 °C, soil temperature may significantly influence the efficiency of nitrapyrin. Besides, nitrapyrin aims to enhance N-use efficiency in high N-demanding plants, such as maize, which demands N at the most during stalk elongation, which lays down the reason for its subsequent application. This study focuses on the efficiency of nitrapyrin at different soil temperatures and its impacts on the physiological development and productivity of maize. In a laboratory test, 10 °C, 15 °C, 20 °C, and 25 °C temperature soils were treated with nitrapyrin and change of nitrate content was monitored to observe the nitrification dynamic. Results show that as the soil temperature elevated, the inhibition efficiency increased. In a field experiment with maize, nitrapyrin was applied in 13 °C and 25 °C temperature soil. Results suggest the later treatment enhanced N-use efficiency, as, during the high N-demanding growth stage, more N-forms were available in the soil. This resulted in significantly higher relative chlorophyll concentration in the leaves and laboratory leaf analysis confirmed the prevention of N deficiency. Results of further measurements on parameters indicating biomass production such as root mass, stalk diameter, ear size, 1,000-kernel weight indicate that the nitrapyrin application should be timed later

Influence of Baseline Fluctuation Cancellation on Automatic Measurement of Motor Unit Action Potential Duration

The aim of this work is to analyze the influence of a method for baseline fluctuation (BLF) cancellation for electromyographic (EMG) signals on automatic methods for measurement of the motor unit action potential (MUAP) duration. These methods include four conventional automatic methods (CAMs) and a recently published wavelet transform method (WTM). A set of 182 MUAPs from 170 EMG recordings were studied. The CAMs and the WTM were applied to the MUAPs before and after applying BLF cancellation to the recordings. A gold standard of duration marker positions (GSP) ws manually established. The accuracy of each algorithm was estimated as the dfference between its positions and the GSP. Accuracies were compared for the 5 methods and for each method before and after BLF cancellation. A significant difference between accuracy pre- and post-BLF removal was found in two CAMs; markers were closer to the GSP after BLF removal. For all MUAPs, the differences between WTM markers and the GSP were the smallest, and significant differences were not found for the WTM before and after BLF cancellation. The management of BLF is an important issue in EMG signal processing and BLF removal must be considered in extraction and analyse of MUAP waveforms. The BLF removal method improved the performance of two CAMs for MUAP duration measurement. The WTM was the most accurate and was not affected by BLF.

A Probabilistic Model and Capturing Device for Remote Simultaneous Estimation of Spectral Emissivity and Temperature of Hot Emissive Materials

Estimating the temperature of hot emissive samples (e.g. liquid slag) in the context of harsh industrial environments such as steelmaking plants is a crucial yet challenging task, which is typically addressed by means of methods that require physical contact. Current remote methods require information on the emissivity of the sample. However, the spectral emissivity is dependent on the sample composition and temperature itself, and it is hardly measurable unless under controlled laboratory procedures. In this work, we present a portable device and associated probabilistic model that can simultaneously produce quasi real-time estimates for temperature and spectral emissivity of hot samples in the [0.2, 12.0μm ] range at distances of up to 20m . The model is robust against variable atmospheric conditions, and the device is presented together with a quick calibration procedure that allows for in field deployment in rough industrial environments, thus enabling in line measurements. We validate the temperature and emissivity estimates by our device against laboratory equipment under controlled conditions in the [550, 850∘C ] temperature range for two solid samples with well characterized spectral emissivity’s: alumina ( α−Al2O3 ) and hexagonal boron nitride ( h−BN ). The analysis of the results yields Root Mean Squared Errors of 32.3∘C and 5.7∘C respectively, and well correlated spectral emissivity’s.This work was supported in part by the Basque Government (Hazitek AURRERA B: Advanced and Useful REdesign of CSP process for new steel gRAdes) under Grant ZE-2017/00009

On the Duality Between Retinex and Image Dehazing

Image dehazing deals with the removal of undesired loss of visibility in outdoor images due to the presence of fog. Retinex is a color vision model mimicking the ability of the Human Visual System to robustly discount varying illuminations when observing a scene under different spectral lighting conditions. Retinex has been widely explored in the computer vision literature for image enhancement and other related tasks. While these two problems are apparently unrelated, the goal of this work is to show that they can be connected by a simple linear relationship. Specifically, most Retinex-based algorithms have the characteristic feature of always increasing image brightness, which turns them into ideal candidates for effective image dehazing by directly applying Retinex to a hazy image whose intensities have been inverted. In this paper, we give theoretical proof that Retinex on inverted intensities is a solution to the image dehazing problem. Comprehensive qualitative and quantitative results indicate that several classical and modern implementations of Retinex can be transformed into competing image dehazing algorithms performing on pair with more complex fog removal methods, and can overcome some of the main challenges associated with this problem

Measurement resources for dissemination and implementation research in health

BACKGROUND: A 2-day consensus working meeting, hosted by the United States National Institutes of Health and the Veterans Administration, focused on issues related to dissemination and implementation (D&I) research in measurement and reporting. Meeting participants included 23 researchers, practitioners, and decision makers from the USA and Canada who concluded that the field would greatly benefit from measurement resources to enhance the ease, harmonization, and rigor of D&I evaluation efforts. This paper describes the findings from an environmental scan and literature review of resources for D&I measures. FINDINGS: We identified a total of 17 resources, including four web-based repositories and 12 static reviews or tools that attempted to synthesize and evaluate existing measures for D&I research. Thirteen resources came from the health discipline, and 11 were populated from database reviews. Ten focused on quantitative measures, and all were generated as a resource for researchers. Fourteen were organized according to an established D&I theory or framework, with the number of constructs and measures ranging from 1 to more than 450. Measure metadata was quite variable with only six providing information on the psychometric properties of measures. CONCLUSIONS: Additional guidance on the development and use of measures are needed. A number of approaches, resources, and critical areas for future work are discussed. Researchers and stakeholders are encouraged to take advantage of a number of funding mechanisms supporting this type of work. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13012-016-0401-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users