The Predictive Power of Undergraduates’ Personality Traits and Self-Esteem Regarding Their Forgiveness

The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not the undergraduates’ personality traits and self-esteem predict their forgiveness. The study was conducted using a descriptive research designed as a relational survey method. The study group consists of 323 undergraduates, of whom 250 (77.2 %) are female and 73 (22.5%) are male. The Adjective Based Personality Scale (ABPT), developed by Bacanlı, İlhan & Arslan (2009), “Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale”, developed by Rosenberg (1965) and adapted to Turkish by Çuhadaroğlu (1986), and “Heartland Forgiveness Scale”, developed by Thompson, Snyder & Hoffman (2005) and adapted to Turkish by Bugay & Demir (2010), were used for data collection procedure. The results indicate that the undergraduates’ five-factor personality traits and self-esteem are correlated with their forgiveness levels. In addition, the undergraduates’ personality traits of openness, neuroticism and extroversion predict their forgiveness levels. Keywords: Forgiveness, Self-Esteem, Personality, Trait

University Students’ Early Maladaptive Schemas’ Prediction of Their Mindfulness Levels

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine whether university students’ early maladaptive schemas predict their mindfulness levels or not. Method: The study was carried out in the relational screening model. The study group consisted of 293 university students; 237 (80,9%) females and 56 (19,1%) males. “Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)”, developed by Brown and Ryan (2003) and adapted into Turkish by Özyeşil, Arslan, Kesici and Deniz (2011), and “Young Schema Scale-Short Form 3” developed by Young et al. (2003) and adapted into Turkish by Soygüt, Karaosmanoğlu and Çakır (2009) were used to gather the data for the study. Results: According to the results obtained from the study, it was found out that there is a significantly negative relation between the mindfulness and the schemas, except for the punitiveness and unrelenting standards. However, defectiveness and pessimism schemas were found to be the predictors of university students’ mindfulness levels. Conclusion: Preventing early maladaptive schemas from being triggered off is necessary in order to increase the mindfulness levels of the students. Parents need to avoid negative parent attitudes that trigger off the existence of early maladaptive schemas for the sake of this preventive study. The parents need to meet their children’s needs within realistic limits. Especially psychological needs need to be met moderately. The needs need to be met within realistic limits regularly and in a balanced way. Key words: Mindfulness, Early maladaptive schemas, Awareness and Schema Note: This study was presented as an oral presentation in the 2nd Eurasian Congress on Positive Psycholog

Efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetics of a new high-purity factor X concentrate in subjects with hereditary factor X deficiency.

IntroductionHereditary factor X (FX) deficiency is a rare bleeding disorder affecting 1:500 000 to 1:1 000 000 of individuals. Until recently, no specific replacement factor concentrate was available.AimThe aim of this study was to assess safety and efficacy of a new, high‐purity plasma‐derived FX concentrate (pdFX) in subjects with hereditary FX deficiency.MethodsSubjects aged ≥12 years with moderate or severe FX deficiency (plasma FX activity <5 IU dL−1) received 25 IU kg−1 pdFX as on‐demand treatment or short‐term prophylaxis for 6 months to 2 years. Subjects assessed pdFX efficacy for each bleed; at end‐of‐study, investigators assessed overall pdFX efficacy. Blood samples for pharmacokinetic analysis were obtained at baseline and ≥6 months. Safety was assessed by adverse events (AEs), inhibitor development and changes in laboratory parameters.ResultsSixteen enrolled subjects (six aged 12–17 years; 10 aged 18–58 years) received a total of 468 pdFX infusions. In the 187 analysed bleeds, pdFX efficacy was categorized as excellent, good, poor or unassessable in 90.9%, 7.5%, 1.1% and 0.5% of bleeds respectively; 83% of bleeds were treated with one infusion. For pdFX, mean (median; interquartile range) incremental recovery and half‐life were 2.00 (2.12; 1.79–2.37) IU dL−1 per IU kg−1 and 29.4 (28.6; 25.8–33.1) h respectively. No serious AEs possibly related to pdFX or evidence of FX inhibitors were observed, and no hypersensitivity reactions or clinically significant trends were detected in laboratory parameters.ConclusionThese results demonstrate that a dose of 25 IU kg−1 pdFX is safe and efficacious for on‐demand treatment and short‐term prophylaxis in subjects with moderate or severe hereditary FX deficiency

Investigation of the Interaction between the Large and Small Subunits of Potato ADP-Glucose Pyrophosphorylase

ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase), a key allosteric enzyme involved in higher plant starch biosynthesis, is composed of pairs of large (LS) and small subunits (SS). Current evidence indicates that the two subunit types play distinct roles in enzyme function. Recently the heterotetrameric structure of potato AGPase has been modeled. In the current study, we have applied the molecular mechanics generalized born surface area (MM-GBSA) method and identified critical amino acids of the potato AGPase LS and SS subunits that interact with each other during the native heterotetrameric structure formation. We have further shown the role of the LS amino acids in subunit-subunit interaction by yeast two-hybrid, bacterial complementation assay and native gel. Comparison of the computational results with the experiments has indicated that the backbone energy contribution (rather than the side chain energies) of the interface residues is more important in identifying critical residues. We have found that lateral interaction of the LS-SS is much stronger than the longitudinal one, and it is mainly mediated by hydrophobic interactions. This study will not only enhance our understanding of the interaction between the SS and the LS of AGPase, but will also enable us to engineer proteins to obtain better assembled variants of AGPase which can be used for the improvement of plant yield

Fibrinogen concentrate for treatment of bleeding and surgical prophylaxis in congenital fibrinogen deficiency patients

Background: Congenital fibrinogen deficiency is an ultra-rare disorder in which patients can experience severe and/or frequent bleeding episodes (BEs). Here, we present the largest prospective study to date on the treatment of this disorder. Methods: Hemostatic efficacy of human fibrinogen concentrate (HFC; FIBRYGA\uae, Octapharma AG) for treatment of bleeding or surgical prophylaxis was assessed by investigators and adjudicated by an independent data monitoring and endpoint adjudication committee (IDMEAC) according to a four-point scale, using objective criteria. Thromboelastometry maximum clot firmness (MCF) was also determined. Results: Twenty-five afibrinogenemia patients were treated with HFC: 24 for on-demand treatment of 89 BEs, and nine as prophylaxis for 12 surgeries. For BEs, treatment success (rating of excellent or good) evaluated by investigators was 96.6% (90% confidence interval [CI], 0.92-0.99; two missing ratings, classified as failures) and by the IDMEAC was 98.9% (90% CI, 0.95-0.999). Mean&nbsp;\ub1&nbsp;standard deviation (SD) increase in MCF was 5.8&nbsp;\ub1&nbsp;2.5&nbsp;mm one hour after the first HFC infusion (mean&nbsp;\ub1&nbsp;SD dose, 61.88&nbsp;\ub1&nbsp;11.73&nbsp;mg/kg). For the 12 surgeries (median [range] HFC dose/surgery, 85.80&nbsp;mg/kg [34.09-225.36]), intraoperative and postoperative treatment success were both rated 100% (90% CI, 0.82-1.00) by investigators and the IDMEAC. Three adverse events were possibly treatment related, including a moderate case of thrombosis. There were no deaths, no severe allergic or hypersensitivity reactions, and no clinical evidence of neutralizing antifibrinogen antibodies. Conclusions: Human fibrinogen concentrate was efficacious for on-demand treatment of bleeding and as surgical prophylaxis, with a favorable safety profile, in patients with congenital afibrinogenemia

Perceptually guided computer-generated holography

Computer-Generated Holography (CGH) promises to deliver genuine, high-quality visuals at any depth. We argue that combining CGH and perceptually guided graphics can soon lead to practical holographic display systems that deliver perceptually realistic images. We propose a new CGH method called metameric varifocal holograms. Our CGH method generates images only at a user’s focus plane while displayed images are statistically correct and indistinguishable from actual targets across peripheral vision (metamers). Thus, a user observing our holograms is set to perceive a high quality visual at their gaze location. At the same time, the integrity of the image follows a statistically correct trend in the remaining peripheral parts. We demonstrate our differentiable CGH optimization pipeline on modern GPUs, and we support our findings with a display prototype. Our method will pave the way towards realistic visuals free from classical CGH problems, such as speckle noise or poor visual quality

A framework for designing cloud forensic‑enabled services (CFeS)

Cloud computing is used by consumers to access cloud services. Malicious actors exploit vulnerabilities of cloud services to attack consumers. The link between these two assumptions is the cloud service. Although cloud forensics assists in the direction of investigating and solving cloud-based cyber-crimes, in many cases the design and implementation of cloud services falls back. Software designers and engineers should focus their attention on the design and implementation of cloud services that can be investigated in a forensic sound manner. This paper presents a methodology that aims on assisting designers to design cloud forensic-enabled services. The methodology supports the design of cloud services by implementing a number of steps to make the services cloud forensic-enabled. It consists of a set of cloud forensic constraints, a modelling language expressed through a conceptual model and a process based on the concepts identified and presented in the model. The main advantage of the proposed methodology is the correlation of cloud services’ characteristics with the cloud investigation while providing software engineers the ability to design and implement cloud forensic-enabled services via the use of a set of predefined forensic related task

Revisiting Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering with a Regulation View

Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering (GORE) is considered to be one of the main achievements that the Requirements Engineering field has produced since its inception. Several GORE methods were designed in the last twenty years in both research and industry. In analyzing individual and organizational behavior, goals appear as a natural element. There are other organizational models that may better explain human behavior, albeit at the expense of more complex models. We present one such alternative model that explains individual and organizational survival through continuous regulation. We give our point of view of the changes needed in GORE methods in order to support this alternative view through the use of maintenance goals and beliefs. We illustrate our discussion with the real example of a family practitioner association that needed a new information system