Values And Problem Behaviors In Hong Kong Adolescents

The present study examined sensation seeking, psychological problem behaviors, values orientation, and problem behaviors of smoking, alcohol use, and delinquency among Hong Kong adolescents studying in high school of two different ability levels. Adolescents (N = 1385) from a band one and band three level high school in Hong Kong were assessed using the Sensation Seeking Scale Form-V (SSS-V), Youth Self Report (YSR), Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ), and the Adolescent Health and Development Questionnaire (AHDQ), along with several demographic variables (e.g., age, gender, grade level, employment). Regression analyses were employed to determine the contribution of the significantly correlated variables in explaining each of the three problem behavior outcomes. For smoking behavior, regression analyses found that school band level, sensation seeking, externalizing problem behaviors, values orientation of openness to change, and alcohol use and delinquency were all predictive of smoking behavior. Specifically, sensation seeking, externalizing problem behaviors, school band level, and alcohol use were reliable predictors of current smokers from never smokers, while the values orientation of openness to change, school band level, and alcohol use were reliable predictors of not-current smokers from never smokers. These variables accounted for a total of 23.5% of the variance explaining smoking behavior category. For alcohol use, regression analyses found that age, school band level, sensation seeking, internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors, values orientation of conservation, openness to change, and self-transcendence, and the problem behavior outcomes of smoking and delinquency, were all predictive of alcohol use behavior. Specifically, sensation seeking, internalizing problem behaviors, school band level, values orientation of openness to change and self-transcendence, and smoking and delinquency were reliable predictors of current drinkers from never drinkers, while the school band level, sensation seeking, age, and smoking behavior were reliable predictors of not-current drinkers from never drinkers. These variables accounted for a total of 40% of the variance explaining alcohol use behavior category. For delinquency, the following variables when entered into the linear regression equation were found to be predictors of delinquent behaviors: school band level, overall sensation seeking score, externalizing problem behavior score, values orientation of conservation, and the problem behavior outcomes of smoking and alcohol use. These variables accounted for a total of 31% of the variance explaining delinquency. When examining the differences between adolescents who attend a band one or band three level school, there were significant findings with all three of the problem behavior outcomes. Adolescents studying at a band three level school were significant more likely to be categorized as current smokers and drinkers, and also reported more delinquent behaviors. Implications of the results are discussed in the context of clinical applications and directions for future research

Multifidelity Uncertainty Propagation via Adaptive Surrogates in Coupled Multidisciplinary Systems

Fixed point iteration is a common strategy to handle interdisciplinary coupling within a feedback-coupled multidisciplinary analysis. For each coupled analysis, this requires a large number of disciplinary high-fidelity simulations to resolve the interactions between different disciplines. When embedded within an uncertainty analysis loop (e.g., with Monte Carlo sampling over uncertain parameters), the number of high-fidelity disciplinary simulations quickly becomes prohibitive, because each sample requires a fixed point iteration and the uncertainty analysis typically involves thousands or even millions of samples. This paper develops a method for uncertainty quantification in feedback-coupled systems that leverage adaptive surrogates to reduce the number of cases forwhichfixedpoint iteration is needed. The multifidelity coupled uncertainty propagation method is an iterative process that uses surrogates for approximating the coupling variables and adaptive sampling strategies to refine the surrogates. The adaptive sampling strategies explored in this work are residual error, information gain, and weighted information gain. The surrogate models are adapted in a way that does not compromise the accuracy of the uncertainty analysis relative to the original coupled high-fidelity problem as shown through a rigorous convergence analysis.United States. Army Research Office. Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (Award FA9550-15-1-0038

Biomarkers of progression in diabetic nephropathy: The past, present and future

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Urotensin II and the Circulatory System

Urotensin II (UII), first isolated from the spinal cord of teleost fish, is the most potent vasoconstrictor known. It is more potent than endothelin-1 and acts through UT-II, a seven-transmembrane-domain, G-protein-coupled receptor. Human UII is an 11-amino-acid cyclic peptide that is expressed in various tissues, including the central nervous system, heart, kidney, and blood vessels. It circulates in human plasma, and its plasma level is elevated in renal failure, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and portal hypertension. In the kidney, UII has vasodilatory and natriuretic effects, mediated through nitric oxide. The development of UII-receptor antagonists may provide a useful research tool, and a novel treatment for cardiorenal diseases

Bayesian optimization with a finite budget: An approximate dynamic programming approach

We consider the problem of optimizing an expensive objective function when a finite budget of total evaluations is prescribed. In that context, the optimal solution strategy for Bayesian optimization can be formulated as a dynamic programming instance. This results in a complex problem with uncountable, dimension-increasing state space and an uncountable control space. We show how to approximate the solution of this dynamic programming problem using rollout, and propose rollout heuristics specifically designed for the Bayesian optimization setting. We present numerical experiments showing that the resulting algorithm for optimization with a finite budget outperforms several popular Bayesian optimization algorithms

A genomics-led approach to deciphering heterocyclic natural product biosynthesis

Heterocycles play an important role in many biological processes and are widespread among natural products. Oxazole-containing natural products possess a broad range of bioactivities and are of great interest in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. Herein, the biosynthetic routes to the oxazole-containing phthoxazolins and the bis(benzoxaozle) AJI9561, were investigated. Phthoxazolins A-D are a group of oxazole trienes produced by a polyketide synthase-nonribosomal peptide synthetase (PKS-NRPS) pathway in Streptomyces sp. KO-7888 and Streptomyces sp. OM-5714. The phthoxazolin pathway was used as a model to study 5-oxazole and primary amide formation in PKS-NRPS pathways. An unusually large gene cluster for phthoxazolin biosynthesis was identified from the complete genome sequence of the producer strains and various gene deletions were performed to define the minimal gene cluster. PhoxP was proposed to encode an ATP-dependent cyclodehydratase for 5-oxazole formation on an enzyme-bound N-formylglycylacyl-intermediate, and its deletion abolished phthoxazolin production. In vitro reconstitution of the early steps of phthoxazolin biosynthesis was attempted to validate the role of PhoxP, but was unsuccessful. Furthermore, Orf3515, a putative flavin-dependent monooxygenase coded by a remote gene, was proposed to hydroxylate glycine-extended polyketide-peptide chain(s) at the α-position to yield phthoxazolins with the primary amide moiety. On the other hand, an in vitro approach was employed to establish the enzymatic logic of the biosynthesis of AJI9561, a bis(benzoxazole) antibiotic isolated from Streptomyces sp. AJ9561. The AJI9561 pathway was reconstituted using the precursors 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid and 6-methylsalicylic acid and five purified enzymes previously identified from the pathway as key enzymes for benzoxazole formation, including two adenylation enzymes for precursor activation, an acyl carrier protein (ACP), a 3-oxoacyl-ACP synthase and an amidohydrolase-like cyclase. Intermediates and shunt products isolated from enzymatic reactions containing different enzyme and precursor combinations were assessed for their competence for various steps of AJI9561 biosynthesis. Further bioinformatic analysis and in silico modelling of the amidohydrolase-like cyclase shed light on the oxazole cyclisation that represents a novel catalytic function of the amidohydrolase superfamily.Henry Lester Trust, Herchel Smith Foundatio

Facebook como herramienta de oferta y demanda para el sector retail : caso Saga Falabella y Ripley Chiclayo 2017

Esta tesis se centró en analizar a Facebook como herramienta de oferta y demanda para el sector retail, específicamente caso Saga Falabella y Ripley Chiclayo 2017. Para con esto determinar cómo Facebook ayuda a incrementar el nivel de ventas, visto desde la perspectiva de la oferta (empresas) y su presencia en esta red social; y por la demanda (usuarios) conocer el impacto que tiene en los mismos la promoción realizada por las empresas del sector retail a través de esta red social. Así mismo actualmente, el sector del retail es un foco de innovación que cuenta con muchas tecnologías emergentes. Por varias razones, es el más dinámico para trabajar hoy en día, aunque este enfoque hacia la innovación no es nuevo; junto con el comercio electrónico, que contribuye a que la economía se vuelva más competitiva, como consecuencia de la eliminación de barreras de entrada de nuevos competidores. Como se visualiza y fruto de la necesidad de innovar en la manera para llegar al mercado meta, las empresas han optado por utilizar las redes sociales como medio promocional para contactar a sus públicos. Este estudio es de corte transversal y no experimental, que, usando como método de recolección de datos de fuentes primarias, se aplicó una encuesta electrónica y se usó software de medición de empresas como el Likealyzer, programa de características libres que mide a las empresas que promocionan en Facebook. Parte de los resultados alcanzados indican que, existe una elevada frecuencia de uso de Facebook por parte de los usuarios, que lo utilizan diariamente en un 92.5%; además las actividades que más motivan a los usuarios a continuar utilizando las redes sociales son por ejemplo para entretenimiento en un 40%. Así mismo, con respecto a Saga Falabella y Ripley se obtuvo que Saga Falabella tiene participación más activa en comparación a Ripley. Y que ambos deben mejorar sus estrategias de promoción