4,814 research outputs found
A Model of Hospitality Employee Engagement
This study focuses on employee\u27s state-like psychological resources by investigating individual and organizational antecedents to employee engagement and valued human resource outcomes. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a theoretical model that explains the interrelationships among six constructs and to explore the mediating effects of employee engagement. Structural Equation Modeling using AMOS (18.0) statistical software was used to test the full structural model (measurement and structural model) of the hypothesized relationships among the variables with a sample of hospitality employees. The findings supported all hypothesized relationships except the direct relationship between employee engagement and turnover intention. Results also revealed a significant mediating role of employee engagement. This study represents one of the first to develop and test a comprehensive model of employee engagement based on positive organizational behavior. It also provides insights regarding the importance of selecting employees with high psychological capital, and creating and maintaining an optimal organizational service climate
Association of serum adipocytokine levels with cardiac autonomic neuropathy in type 2 diabetic patients
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) is a common complication of diabetes associated with poor prognosis. In addition, the autonomic imbalance is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in diabetes. It is thought that adipocytokines contribute to the increased risk of vascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, literature data on the association between CAN with adipocytokines such as leptin, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), adiponectin in subjects with T2DM is limited.</p> <p>Therefore, in the present study, we examined the relationship between fasting serum leptin, TNF- alpha and adiponectin and CAN in Korean T2DM patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 142 T2DM patients (94 males, 48 females) were recruited. CAN was assessed by the five tests according to the Ewing's protocol and the time and frequency domain of the heart rate variability (HRV) was evaluated. Serum TNF-alpha and adiponectin levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and serum leptin levels were measured using radioimmunoassay.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Although, the mean levels of leptin, TNF-alpha and adiponectin were not significantly different between the groups with and without CAN, the levels of leptin and adiponectin had a tendency to increase as the score of CAN increased (p = 0.05, p = 0.036). Serum leptin levels demonstrated a negative correlation with low frequency (LF) in the upright position (p = 0.037). Regarding TNF-alpha, a significant negative correlation was observed with SDNN and RMSSD in the upright position (p = 0.023, p = 0.019). Adiponectin levels were not related to any HRV parameters. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the odds of CAN increased with a longer duration of diabetes (1.25, [1.07-1.47]) and higher homeostatic model of assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (5.47, [1.8-16.5]). The relative risks for the presence of CAN were 14.1 and 51.6 for the adiponectin 2<sup>nd</sup>, 3<sup>rd </sup>tertiles when compared with first tertile (p-value for trend = 0.022).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In the present study, the higher serum adiponectin levels and HOMA-IR were associated with an increased risk for the presence of CAN. Also, the CAN score correlated with the serum adiponectin. Serum adipocytokines such as leptin and TNF-alpha were significantly correlated with parameters of HRV, representative markers of CAN. Future prospective studies with larger number of patients are required to establish a direct relationship between plasma adipocytokine concentrations and the development or severity of CAN.</p
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Multiobjective decision making in industrial energy and environmental planning
Multiobjective Decision Making (MODM) has been
suggested for the solution of complicated decision
problems. Decision analysis in numerous areas, including
industrial energy and environmental planning, necessarily
requires consideration of multiple conflicting
objectives. MODM has been successfully applied to
a number of these problems of this type. Moreover, it
has the ability to deal with both quantitative and
qualitative factors, each which involve different units
of measurement.
The objective of this study is to introduce a MODM
process for energy and environmental planning problems
in forest products manufacturing industries. Throughout
the analytic process, the posteriori articulation
of decision maker's (DM) preferences is assumed. This
mandates development of two procedures: (1) the generation
of nondominated solutions and (2) evaluation of
the solutions by DM judgement to determine the final,
best-compromised solution.
For the first procedure, a Multiobjective Linear
Programming (MOLP) model is introduced, formulated as a
prototype example through the examination of fuel-mix
options. Three objectives are observed in the MOLP
model, including: (1) total energy costs, (2) environmental
impacts, and (3) business and performance risks.
In order to overcome the complexities caused by the use
of different qualitative units of measurement, factors
(2) and (3) are quantified in numerical values. The
constraint method is then applied for the generation of
nondominated solutions. As the second procedure, an
evaluation procedure which includes multiple screening
methods is proposed for ease of problem application for
consideration of a large number of alternatives. This
methodology is based on rating and pairwise comparison
methods. Special emphasis is placed on the achievement
of a higher DM level of confidence when the final solution
is selected. The methodology can be divided into
two regions: (1) step-by-step reduction of alternatives,
and (2) judgmental options for upgrading DM confidence.
This methodology provides a useful and flexible
tool for problems as characterized above and for
large-scale problems
End-to-End Differentiable Learning to HDR Image Synthesis for Multi-exposure Images
Recently, high dynamic range (HDR) image reconstruction based on the multiple
exposure stack from a given single exposure utilizes a deep learning framework
to generate high-quality HDR images. These conventional networks focus on the
exposure transfer task to reconstruct the multi-exposure stack. Therefore, they
often fail to fuse the multi-exposure stack into a perceptually pleasant HDR
image as the inversion artifacts occur. We tackle the problem in stack
reconstruction-based methods by proposing a novel framework with a fully
differentiable high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) process. By explicitly using
the loss, which compares the network's output with the ground truth HDR image,
our framework enables a neural network that generates the multiple exposure
stack for HDRI to train stably. In other words, our differentiable HDR
synthesis layer helps the deep neural network to train to create multi-exposure
stacks while reflecting the precise correlations between multi-exposure images
in the HDRI process. In addition, our network uses the image decomposition and
the recursive process to facilitate the exposure transfer task and to
adaptively respond to recursion frequency. The experimental results show that
the proposed network outperforms the state-of-the-art quantitative and
qualitative results in terms of both the exposure transfer tasks and the whole
HDRI process
Malakoplakia of the Kidney Extending to the Descending Colon in a Patient with Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency: A Case Report
Malakoplakia is an uncommon but distinctive type of chronic granulomatous inflammation that occurs most commonly in the genitourinary tract, especially the urinary bladder. Most patients have associated conditions characterized by some degree of immunosuppression, as seen in solid-organ transplants, autoimmune diseases requiring steroid use, chemotherapy, chronic systemic diseases, alcohol abuse and poorly controlled diabetes. We report an unusual case of the renal malakoplakia that involved the perirenal space, extending to the descending colon in a 65-year-old Korean woman with secondary adrenal insufficiency and diabetes mellitus
Differential associations of central and brachial blood pressure with carotid atherosclerosis and microvascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes
BACKGROUND: We examined the relationship between central blood pressure (BP), brachial BP with carotid atherosclerosis and microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: We recruited 201 patients who were evaluated for central BP, brachial BP, carotid ultrasonography, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), ankle-brachial index (ABI) and microvascular complications. Central BP were calculated using a radial automated tonometric system. RESULTS: Agreement between central BP and brachial BP was very strong (concordance correlation coefficient between central and brachial SBP = 0.889, between central and brachial PP = 0.816). Central pulse pressure (PP) was correlated with mean carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), baPWV and ABI, whereas brachial PP was borderline significantly correlated with CIMT. The prevalence of nephropathy(DN) and retinopathy(DR) according to the brachial PP tertiles increased, the prevalences of microvascular complications were not different across central PP tertiles. In multivariate analysis, the relative risks (RRs) for the presence of DR were 1.2 and 4.6 for the brachial PP tertiles 2 and 3 when compared with the first tertile. Also, the RRs for the presence of DN were 1.02 and 3 for the brachial PP tertiles 2 and 3 when compared with the first tertile. CONCLUSIONS: Agreement of central BP and brachial BP was very strong. Nonetheless, this study showed that higher brachial PP levels are associated with increased probability for the presence of microvascular complications such as DR/DN. However, there are no associations with central SBP and central PP with microvascular complications. Central BP levels than brachial BP are correlated with surrogate marker of macrovascular complications
Deficits of case marker processing in persons with mild cognitive impairment
The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) showed deficits in processing case markers compared to normal elderly adults (NEA). Results revealed that individuals with MCI presented significantly lower accuracy than the NEA group on a case marker processing (CMP) task. Both groups showed greater difficulties in the passive sentences than sentences with the transitive verbs. The current results suggested that individuals with early stage of dementia started presenting deficits in case marker processing compared to the control group
Real-time detection of an airborne microorganism using inertial impaction and mini-fluorescent microscopy
To achieve successful real-time detection of airborne pathogenic microorganisms, the problem must be considered in terms of their physical size and biological characteristics. We developed an airborne microorganism detection chip to realize the detection of microorganisms, ensuring compactness, sensitivity, cost-efficiency, and portability, using three key components: an inertial impaction system, a cartridge-type impaction plate, and a mini-fluorescent microscope. The inertial impaction system was used to separate microorganisms in terms of their aerodynamic particle size, and was fabricated with three impaction stages. Numerical analysis was performed to design the system; the calculated cutoff diameter at each impaction stage was 2.02 (first stage), 0.88 (second stage), and 0.54 μm (third stage). The measured cutoff diameters were 2.24, 0.91, and 0.49 μm, respectively. A cartridge-type impaction plate was used, composed of molded polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and an actual impaction region made of a SYBR green I dye-stained agar plate. A mini-fluorescent microscope was used to distinguish microbes from non-biological particles. Images of the microorganisms deposited at the impaction zone were obtained via mini-fluorescent microscopy, and fluorescent intensities of the images were calculated using in-house image-processing software. The results showed that the developed system successfully identified aerosolized biological particles from non-biological particles in real time
Model eye imaging by closed-loop accumulation of single scattering (CLASS) microscopy
‘Closed-loop accumulation of single scattering (CLASS)’ microscopy provides novel solutions to the problems of light scattering and aberration in optical imaging, providing increased imaging depth while maintaining diffraction limited resolution. This method has a great potential to increase imaging depth and resolution of current eye imaging. In this presentation, the strength and weakness of the CLASS microscopy over the current adaptive optical microscopy will be discussed. Important factors to apply CLASS microscopy to eye imaging and the possibility to imaging retina in turbid condition will be discussed by using model eye
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