SEXUAL COMPATIBILITY AND MARITAL SATISFACTION AMONG MARRIED COUPLES IN MALAYSIA: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF SEXUAL SATISFACTION

The 13th Next-Generation Global Workshop第13回次世代グローバルワークショップテーマ: New Risks and Resilience in Asian Societies and the World 日程: 21-23 November, 2020 開催場所: ベトナム社会科学院(ハノイ)/Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences(No. 1 Lieu Giai street, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, Vietnam) ※Due to the COVID-19, the workshop will be held at ONLINE for overseas participants(not from Vietnam)/ONSITE for Vietnamese participants.The sample consisted of 255 married couples (Mage=31.17; SDage=11.07; 56.5% females; 87.8% Chinese, 7.5% Indian, 3.5% Malays and 1.2% other ethnicities) recruited online through the convenience sampling method. The married couples completed a self-administered online questionnaire that included the ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale (EMS; Fowers & Olson, 1993), the Index of Sexual Satisfaction (ISS; Hudson, 1998), and the Hurlbert Index of Sexual Compatibility (HISC; Hurlbert et al., 1993).Significant positive relationships were found between marital satisfaction, sexual compatibility (r= .686, p< .001) and sexual satisfaction (r= .711, p< .001). Meanwhile, the findings of a mediation analysis showed that sexual satisfaction mediated the direct association between sexual compatibility and marital satisfaction. The results suggested that the married couples who were sexually compatible tended to be more satisfied with their sexual relationships which in turn led to greater marital satisfaction for them.As a conclusion, the findings from this research highlighted the importance of the sexual aspects in determining a satisfactory married life among couples in Malaysia. The results also served as a vital input for designing couple counselling interventions among practitioners in health psychology

Multiscale Analysis of Spreading in a Large Communication Network

In temporal networks, both the topology of the underlying network and the timings of interaction events can be crucial in determining how some dynamic process mediated by the network unfolds. We have explored the limiting case of the speed of spreading in the SI model, set up such that an event between an infectious and susceptible individual always transmits the infection. The speed of this process sets an upper bound for the speed of any dynamic process that is mediated through the interaction events of the network. With the help of temporal networks derived from large scale time-stamped data on mobile phone calls, we extend earlier results that point out the slowing-down effects of burstiness and temporal inhomogeneities. In such networks, links are not permanently active, but dynamic processes are mediated by recurrent events taking place on the links at specific points in time. We perform a multi-scale analysis and pinpoint the importance of the timings of event sequences on individual links, their correlations with neighboring sequences, and the temporal pathways taken by the network-scale spreading process. This is achieved by studying empirically and analytically different characteristic relay times of links, relevant to the respective scales, and a set of temporal reference models that allow for removing selected time-domain correlations one by one

Circadian pattern and burstiness in mobile phone communication

The temporal communication patterns of human individuals are known to be inhomogeneous or bursty, which is reflected as the heavy tail behavior in the inter-event time distribution. As the cause of such bursty behavior two main mechanisms have been suggested: a) Inhomogeneities due to the circadian and weekly activity patterns and b) inhomogeneities rooted in human task execution behavior. Here we investigate the roles of these mechanisms by developing and then applying systematic de-seasoning methods to remove the circadian and weekly patterns from the time-series of mobile phone communication events of individuals. We find that the heavy tails in the inter-event time distributions remain robustly with respect to this procedure, which clearly indicates that the human task execution based mechanism is a possible cause for the remaining burstiness in temporal mobile phone communication patterns.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure

Beds, overlays and mattresses for preventing and treating pressure ulcers: an overview of Cochrane Reviews and network meta-analysis

Background Pressure ulcers (also known as pressure injuries, pressure sores and bed sores) are localised injuries to the skin or underlying soft tissue, or both, caused by unrelieved pressure, shear or friction. Specific kinds of beds, overlays and mattresses are widely used with the aim of preventing and treating pressure ulcers. Objectives To summarise evidence from Cochrane Reviews that assess the effects of beds, overlays and mattresses on reducing the incidence of pressure ulcers and on increasing pressure ulcer healing in any setting and population. To assess the relative effects of different types of beds, overlays and mattresses for reducing the incidence of pressure ulcers and increasing pressure ulcer healing in any setting and population. To cumulatively rank the different treatment options of beds, overlays and mattresses in order of their effectiveness in pressure ulcer prevention and treatment. Methods In July 2020, we searched the Cochrane Library. Cochrane Reviews reporting the effectiveness of beds, mattresses or overlays for preventing or treating pressure ulcers were eligible for inclusion in this overview. Two review authors independently screened search results and undertook data extraction and risk of bias assessment using the ROBIS tool. We summarised the reported evidence in an overview of reviews. Where possible, we included the randomised controlled trials from each included review in network meta‐analyses. We assessed the relative effectiveness of beds, overlays and mattresses for preventing or treating pressure ulcers and their probabilities of being, comparably, the most effective treatment. We assessed the certainty of the evidence using the GRADE approach. Main results We include six Cochrane Reviews in this overview of reviews, all at low or unclear risk of bias. Pressure ulcer prevention: four reviews (of 68 studies with 18,174 participants) report direct evidence for 27 pairwise comparisons between 12 types of support surface on the following outcomes: pressure ulcer incidence, time to pressure ulcer incidence, patient comfort response, adverse event rates, health‐related quality of life, and cost‐effectiveness. Here we focus on outcomes with some evidence at a minimum of low certainty. (1) Pressure ulcer incidence: our overview includes direct evidence for 27 comparisons that mostly (19/27) have very low‐certainty evidence concerning reduction of pressure ulcer risk. We included 40 studies (12,517 participants; 1298 participants with new ulcers) in a network meta‐analysis involving 13 types of intervention. Data informing the network are sparse and this, together with the high risk of bias in most studies informing the network, means most network contrasts (64/78) yield evidence of very low certainty. There is low‐certainty evidence that, compared with foam surfaces (reference treatment), reactive air surfaces (e.g. static air overlays) (risk ratio (RR) 0.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.29 to 0.75), alternating pressure (active) air surfaces (e.g. alternating pressure air mattresses, large‐celled ripple mattresses) (RR 0.63, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.93), and reactive gel surfaces (e.g. gel pads used on operating tables) (RR 0.47, 95% CI 0.22 to 1.01) may reduce pressure ulcer incidence. The ranking of treatments in terms of effectiveness is also of very low certainty for all interventions. It is unclear which treatment is best for preventing ulceration. (2) Time to pressure ulcer incidence: four reviews had direct evidence on this outcome for seven comparisons. We included 10 studies (7211 participants; 699 participants with new ulcers) evaluating six interventions in a network meta‐analysis. Again, data from most network contrasts (13/15) are of very low certainty. There is low‐certainty evidence that, compared with foam surfaces (reference treatment), reactive air surfaces may reduce the hazard of developing new pressure ulcers (hazard ratio (HR) 0.20, 95% CI 0.04 to 1.05). The ranking of all support surfaces for preventing pressure ulcers in terms of time to healing is uncertain. (3) Cost‐effectiveness: this overview includes direct evidence for three comparisons. For preventing pressure ulcers, alternating pressure air surfaces are probably more cost‐effective than foam surfaces (moderate‐certainty evidence). Pressure ulcer treatment: two reviews (of 12 studies with 972 participants) report direct evidence for five comparisons on: complete pressure ulcer healing, time to complete pressure ulcer healing, patient comfort response, adverse event rates, and cost‐effectiveness. Here we focus on outcomes with some evidence at a minimum of low certainty. (1) Complete pressure ulcer healing: our overview includes direct evidence for five comparisons. There is uncertainty about the relative effects of beds, overlays and mattresses on ulcer healing. The corresponding network meta‐analysis (with four studies, 397 participants) had only three direct contrasts and a total of six network contrasts. Again, most network contrasts (5/6) have very low‐certainty evidence. There was low‐certainty evidence that more people with pressure ulcers may heal completely using reactive air surfaces than using foam surfaces (RR 1.32, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.80). We are uncertain which surfaces have the highest probability of being the most effective (all very low‐certainty evidence). (2) Time to complete pressure ulcer healing: this overview includes direct evidence for one comparison: people using reactive air surfaces may be more likely to have healed pressure ulcers compared with those using foam surfaces in long‐term care settings (HR 2.66, 95% CI 1.34 to 5.17; low‐certainty evidence). (3) Cost‐effectiveness: this overview includes direct evidence for one comparison: compared with foam surfaces, reactive air surfaces may cost an extra 26 US dollars for every ulcer‐free day in the first year of use in long‐term care settings (low‐certainty evidence). Authors' conclusions Compared with foam surfaces, reactive air surfaces may reduce pressure ulcer risk and may increase complete ulcer healing. Compared with foam surfaces, alternating pressure air surfaces may reduce pressure ulcer risk and are probably more cost‐effective in preventing pressure ulcers. Compared with foam surfaces, reactive gel surfaces may reduce pressure ulcer risk, particularly for people in operating rooms and long‐term care settings. There are uncertainties for the relative effectiveness of other support surfaces for preventing and treating pressure ulcers, and their efficacy ranking. More high‐quality research is required; for example, for the comparison of reactive air surfaces with alternating pressure air surfaces. Future studies should consider time‐to‐event outcomes and be designed to minimise any risk of bias

A rapid sampling technique for isolating highly productive lipid-rich algae strains from environmental samples

Strain selection and isolation of lipid-rich microalgae are among the two most important steps for screening isolates with maximum biofuel productivity. In this work, we introduce a novel direct sampling technique that allows native strains to be selected for rapid growth under defined conditions followed by direct selection of product-rich species, two desirable characteristics of algae for mass culture. This sampling strategy directly selects the lipid-rich strains visualized under an inverted fluorescence microscope using an X-Y-Z micromanipulator. The enrichment step can be manipulated to select for strains with specific technological applications. Direct sampling of lipid-rich cells avoids the tedious task of screening isolates while using relatively inexpensive equipment

Bursty egocentric network evolution in Skype

In this study we analyze the dynamics of the contact list evolution of millions of users of the Skype communication network. We find that egocentric networks evolve heterogeneously in time as events of edge additions and deletions of individuals are grouped in long bursty clusters, which are separated by long inactive periods. We classify users by their link creation dynamics and show that bursty peaks of contact additions are likely to appear shortly after user account creation. We also study possible relations between bursty contact addition activity and other user-initiated actions like free and paid service adoption events. We show that bursts of contact additions are associated with increases in activity and adoption - an observation that can inform the design of targeted marketing tactics.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Social Network Analysis and Mining (2013

Ising model for distribution networks

An elementary Ising spin model is proposed for demonstrating cascading failures (break-downs, blackouts, collapses, avalanches, ...) that can occur in realistic networks for distribution and delivery by suppliers to consumers. A ferromagnetic Hamiltonian with quenched random fields results from policies that maximize the gap between demand and delivery. Such policies can arise in a competitive market where firms artificially create new demand, or in a solidary environment where too high a demand cannot reasonably be met. Network failure in the context of a policy of solidarity is possible when an initially active state becomes metastable and decays to a stable inactive state. We explore the characteristics of the demand and delivery, as well as the topological properties, which make the distribution network susceptible of failure. An effective temperature is defined, which governs the strength of the activity fluctuations which can induce a collapse. Numerical results, obtained by Monte Carlo simulations of the model on (mainly) scale-free networks, are supplemented with analytic mean-field approximations to the geometrical random field fluctuations and the thermal spin fluctuations. The role of hubs versus poorly connected nodes in initiating the breakdown of network activity is illustrated and related to model parameters

Correlated dynamics in egocentric communication networks

We investigate the communication sequences of millions of people through two different channels and analyze the fine grained temporal structure of correlated event trains induced by single individuals. By focusing on correlations between the heterogeneous dynamics and the topology of egocentric networks we find that the bursty trains usually evolve for pairs of individuals rather than for the ego and his/her several neighbors thus burstiness is a property of the links rather than of the nodes. We compare the directional balance of calls and short messages within bursty trains to the average on the actual link and show that for the trains of voice calls the imbalance is significantly enhanced, while for short messages the balance within the trains increases. These effects can be partly traced back to the technological constrains (for short messages) and partly to the human behavioral features (voice calls). We define a model that is able to reproduce the empirical results and may help us to understand better the mechanisms driving technology mediated human communication dynamics.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Effects of carrier injection profile on low noise thin Al0.85Ga0.15As0.56Sb0.44 avalanche photodiodes

Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) with thin avalanche regions have shown low excess noise characteristics and high gain-bandwidth products, so they are suited for long-haul optical communications. In this work, we investigated how carrier injection profile affects the avalanche gain and excess noise factors of Al0.85Ga0.15As0.56Sb0.44 (lattice-matched to InP substrates) p-i-n and n-i-p diodes with total depletion widths of 145-240 nm. Different carrier injection profiles were achieved by using light with wavelengths of 420, 543 and 633nm. For p-i-n diodes, shorter wavelength light produces higher avalanche gains for a given reverse bias and lower excess noise factors at a given gain, compared to longer wavelength light. Thus, using 420 nm light on the p-i-n diodes, corresponding to pure electron injection conditions, gave the highest gain and lowest excess noise. In n-i-p diodes, pure hole injection yields significantly lower gain and higher excess noise, compared to mixed carrier injection. These show that the electron ionization coefficient, α, is higher than the hole ionization coefficient, β. Using pure electron injection, excess noise factor characteristics with effective ionization ratios, keff, of 0.08-0.1 were obtained. This is significantly lower than those of InP and In0.52Al0.48As, the commonly used avalanche materials combined with In0.53Ga0.47As absorber. The data reported in this paper is available from the ORDA digital repository (DOI: 10.15131/shef. DATA: 5787318)

Children and older adults exhibit distinct sub-optimal cost-benefit functions when preparing to move their eyes and hands

"© 2015 Gonzalez et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited"Numerous activities require an individual to respond quickly to the correct stimulus. The provision of advance information allows response priming but heightened responses can cause errors (responding too early or reacting to the wrong stimulus). Thus, a balance is required between the online cognitive mechanisms (inhibitory and anticipatory) used to prepare and execute a motor response at the appropriate time. We investigated the use of advance information in 71 participants across four different age groups: (i) children, (ii) young adults, (iii) middle-aged adults, and (iv) older adults. We implemented 'cued' and 'non-cued' conditions to assess age-related changes in saccadic and touch responses to targets in three movement conditions: (a) Eyes only; (b) Hands only; (c) Eyes and Hand. Children made less saccade errors compared to young adults, but they also exhibited longer response times in cued versus non-cued conditions. In contrast, older adults showed faster responses in cued conditions but exhibited more errors. The results indicate that young adults (18 -25 years) achieve an optimal balance between anticipation and execution. In contrast, children show benefits (few errors) and costs (slow responses) of good inhibition when preparing a motor response based on advance information; whilst older adults show the benefits and costs associated with a prospective response strategy (i.e., good anticipation)