Disruptive behavior scale for adolescents (DISBA): development and psychometric properties

Background: Growing evidence indicates that if disruptive behavior is left unidentified and untreated, a significant proportion of these problems will persist and may develop into problems linked with delinquency, substance abuse, and violence. Research is needed to develop valid and reliable measures of disruptive behavior to assist recognition and impact of treatments on disruptive behavior. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a scale for disruptive behavior in adolescents. Methods: Six hundred high school students (50% girls), ages ranged 15–18 years old, selected through multi stage random sampling. Psychometrics of the disruptive behavior scale for adolescents (DISBA) (Persian version) was assessed through content validity, explanatory factor analysis (EFA) using Varimax rotation and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The reliability of this scale was assessed via internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Results: EFA revealed four factors accounting for 59% of observed variance. The final 29-item scale contained four factors: (1) aggressive school behavior, (2) classroom defiant behavior, (3) unimportance of school, and (4) defiance to school authorities. Furthermore, CFA produced a sufficient Goodness of Fit Index \u3e 0.90. Test–retest and internal consistency reliabilities were acceptable at 0.85 and 0.89, respectively. Conclusions: The findings from this study suggest that the Iranian version of DISBA questionnaire has content validity. Further studies are needed to evaluate stronger psychometric properties for DISBA

Symplectically-invariant soliton equations from non-stretching geometric curve flows

A moving frame formulation of geometric non-stretching flows of curves in the Riemannian symmetric spaces $Sp(n+1)/Sp(1)\times Sp(n)$ and $SU(2n)/Sp(n)$ is used to derive two bi-Hamiltonian hierarchies of symplectically-invariant soliton equations. As main results, multi-component versions of the sine-Gordon (SG) equation and the modified Korteweg-de Vries (mKdV) equation exhibiting $Sp(1)\times Sp(n-1)$ invariance are obtained along with their bi-Hamiltonian integrability structure consisting of a shared hierarchy of symmetries and conservation laws generated by a hereditary recursion operator. The corresponding geometric curve flows in $Sp(n+1)/Sp(1)\times Sp(n)$ and $SU(2n)/Sp(n)$ are shown to be described by a non-stretching wave map and a mKdV analog of a non-stretching Schr\"odinger map.Comment: 39 pages; remarks added on algebraic aspects of the moving frame used in the constructio

Ocean Wind Energy Technologies in Modern Electric Networks: Opportunity and Challenges

Wind energy is one of the most important sources of energy in the world. In recent decades, wind as one of the massive marine energy resources in the ocean to produce electricity has been used. This chapter introduces a comprehensive overview of the efficient ocean wind energy technologies, and the global wind energies in both offshore and onshore sides are discussed. Also, the classification of global ocean wind energy resources is presented. Moreover, different components of a wind farm offshore as well as the technologies used in them are investigated. Possible layouts regarding the foundation of an offshore wind turbine, floating offshore, as well as the operation of wind farms in the shallow and deep location of the ocean are studied. Finally, the offshore wind power plant challenges are described

Coverage and Capacity Planning of LTE Network for-Taizz City

This paper is based on the newly advanced cellular technology called Long Term Evolution (LTE). It is intended to give a good understanding of Radio Network planning of LTE and perform a case study onTaizz City, one of the highest populated cities in Yemen with a selected area of about 118.09km2. The LTE Radio network planning involves coverage estimation, capacity evaluation. In this paper the coverage estimation is done with regards to the real environment dataat its nominal stage to obtain better estimations. Propagation modeling is done using COST HATA W/I model with inclusion of additional parameters obtained from the real environment/terrain what improves the coverage estimation.This in turn, results in a wide coverage, introducing high quality services and excellent mobility support. The simulation is performed using Atoll program to evaluate the traffic demand for all services and to calculate the average throughput of each service

Barriers to patient, provider, and caregiver adoption and use of electronic personal health records in chronic care: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Electronic personal health records (ePHRs) are defined as electronic applications through which individuals can access, manage, and share health information in a private, secure, and confidential environment. Existing evidence shows their benefits in improving outcomes, especially for chronic disease patients. However, their use has not been as widespread as expected partly due to barriers faced in their adoption and use. We aimed to identify the types of barriers to a patient, provider, and caregiver adoption/use of ePHRs and to analyze their extent in chronic disease care. METHODS: A systematic search in Medline, PubMed, Science Direct, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) database was performed to find original studies assessing barriers to ePHR adoption/use in chronic care until the end of 2018. Two researchers independently screened and extracted data. We used the PHR adoption model and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology to analyze the results. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) version 2018 was used to assess the quality of evidence in the included studies. RESULTS: Sixty publications met our inclusion criteria. Issues found hindering ePHR adoption/use in chronic disease care were associated with demographic factors (e.g., patient age and gender) along with key variables related to health status, computer literacy, preferences for direct communication, and patient's strategy for coping with a chronic condition; as well as factors related to medical practice/environment (e.g., providers' lack of interest or resistance to adopting ePHRs due to workload, lack of reimbursement, and lack of user training); technological (e.g., concerns over privacy and security, interoperability with electronic health record systems, and lack of customized features for chronic conditions); and chronic disease characteristics (e.g., multiplicities of co-morbid conditions, settings, and providers involved in chronic care). CONCLUSIONS: ePHRs can be meaningfully used in chronic disease care if they are implemented as a component of comprehensive care models specifically developed for this care. Our results provide insight into hurdles and barriers mitigating ePHR adoption/use in chronic disease care. A deeper understating of the interplay between these barriers will provide opportunities that can lead to an enhanced ePHR adoption/use

Chitosan-based nanoscale systems for doxorubicin delivery:Exploring biomedical application in cancer therapy

Abstract Green chemistry has been a growing multidisciplinary field in recent years showing great promise in biomedical applications, especially for cancer therapy. Chitosan (CS) is an abundant biopolymer derived from chitin and is present in insects and fungi. This polysaccharide has favorable characteristics, including biocompatibility, biodegradability, and ease of modification by enzymes and chemicals. CS‐based nanoparticles (CS‐NPs) have shown potential in the treatment of cancer and other diseases, affording targeted delivery and overcoming drug resistance. The current review emphasizes on the application of CS‐NPs for the delivery of a chemotherapeutic agent, doxorubicin (DOX), in cancer therapy as they promote internalization of DOX in cancer cells and prevent the activity of P‐glycoprotein (P‐gp) to reverse drug resistance. These nanoarchitectures can provide co‐delivery of DOX with antitumor agents such as curcumin and cisplatin to induce synergistic cancer therapy. Furthermore, co‐loading of DOX with siRNA, shRNA, and miRNA can suppress tumor progression and provide chemosensitivity. Various nanostructures, including lipid‐, carbon‐, polymeric‐ and metal‐based nanoparticles, are modifiable with CS for DOX delivery, while functionalization of CS‐NPs with ligands such as hyaluronic acid promotes selectivity toward tumor cells and prevents DOX resistance. The CS‐NPs demonstrate high encapsulation efficiency and due to protonation of amine groups of CS, pH‐sensitive release of DOX can occur. Furthermore, redox‐ and light‐responsive CS‐NPs have been prepared for DOX delivery in cancer treatment. Leveraging these characteristics and in view of the biocompatibility of CS‐NPs, we expect to soon see significant progress towards clinical translation

Quaternionic Soliton Equations from Hamiltonian Curve Flows in HP^n

A bi-Hamiltonian hierarchy of quaternion soliton equations is derived from geometric non-stretching flows of curves in the quaternionic projective space $HP^n$. The derivation adapts the method and results in recent work by one of us on the Hamiltonian structure of non-stretching curve flows in Riemannian symmetric spaces $M=G/H$ by viewing $HP^n \simeq {\rm U}(n+1,H)/{\rm U}(1,H) \times {\rm U}(n,H)\simeq {\rm Sp}(n+1)/{\rm Sp}(1)\times {\rm Sp}(n)$ as a symmetric space in terms of compact real symplectic groups and quaternion unitary groups. As main results, scalar-vector (multi-component) versions of the sine-Gordon (SG) equation and the modified Korteveg-de Vries (mKdV) equation are obtained along with their bi-Hamiltonian integrability structure consisting of a shared hierarchy of quaternionic symmetries and conservation laws generated by a hereditary recursion operator. The corresponding geometric curve flows in $HP^n$ are shown to be described by a non-stretching wave map and a mKdV analog of a non-stretching Schrodinger map.Comment: 25 pages; typos correcte

Contributions of mean and shape of blood pressure distribution to worldwide trends and variations in raised blood pressure: A pooled analysis of 1018 population-based measurement studies with 88.6 million participants

© The Author(s) 2018. Background: Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hypertensive population). Our aim was to quantify the contributions of these two phenomena to the worldwide trends in the prevalence of raised blood pressure. Methods: We pooled 1018 population-based studies with blood pressure measurements on 88.6 million participants from 1985 to 2016. We first calculated mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and prevalence of raised blood pressure by sex and 10-year age group from 20-29 years to 70-79 years in each study, taking into account complex survey design and survey sample weights, where relevant. We used a linear mixed effect model to quantify the association between (probittransformed) prevalence of raised blood pressure and age-group- and sex-specific mean blood pressure. We calculated the contributions of change in mean SBP and DBP, and of change in the prevalence-mean association, to the change in prevalence of raised blood pressure. Results: In 2005-16, at the same level of population mean SBP and DBP, men and women in South Asia and in Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa would have the highest prevalence of raised blood pressure, and men and women in the highincome Asia Pacific and high-income Western regions would have the lowest. In most region-sex-age groups where the prevalence of raised blood pressure declined, one half or more of the decline was due to the decline in mean blood pressure. Where prevalence of raised blood pressure has increased, the change was entirely driven by increasing mean blood pressure, offset partly by the change in the prevalence-mean association. Conclusions: Change in mean blood pressure is the main driver of the worldwide change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure, but change in the high-blood-pressure tail of the distribution has also contributed to the change in prevalence, especially in older age groups

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis