The Impact of Doctoral Study on the Relationship Satisfaction and Commitment Level of Doctoral Students and Doctoral Students Partners

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of doctoral study on the relationship satisfaction and commitment level of both doctoral students and partners of doctoral students. The researcher examined length of relationship, gender, financial status, and relationship status to determine if each variable is a predictor of relationship satisfaction and commitment level for both doctoral students and partners of doctoral students. The majority of literature regarding the impact of doctoral study on relationship satisfaction has focused exclusively on the perspective of married doctoral students. From a systems perspective, it is impossible to understand a system by solely examining one part of it. Few studies have received insight from partners of doctoral students. Also, despite the trend of individuals waiting longer to get married, unmarried doctoral students and their relationship partners have not received much exploration in past studies. The lack of literature on the perceptions of unmarried doctoral student relationships and partners of doctoral students provides sufficient validation for this current study. The present researcher utilized a quantitative research methods approach to conduct this present study. The participants of this present study were doctoral students and partners of doctoral students from American Psychological Association (APA) accredited psychology, Commission on Accreditation of Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) accredited marriage and family therapy, and Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) accredited counseling doctoral programs. The Couples Satisfaction Index and the Commitment Level subscale of the Investment Model Scale were used to measure the relationship satisfaction and commitment levels of both the doctoral students and their partners. Data was collected and analyzed from 89 couples. Hierarchical Multiple Regressions, Paired- Samples T-Tests, and a Mixed Between-Within Subjects MANOVAs were used to analyze the researcher’s data. Length of relationship, financial status, gender, and relationship status were not found to be predictors of relationship satisfaction or commitment level for doctoral students or partners of doctoral students. Also, no significant differences were found between doctoral students and their partners based on financial status, length of relationship, or relationship status. Both doctoral students and partners of doctoral students were found to have high levels of relationship satisfaction and commitment

STORING MESSAGE RECORDS IN A BLOCK CHAIN LEDGER FOR HIGH THROUGHPUT TRAFFIC

Techniques are provided herein for recording every message transaction of a network inside a block chain in a scalable manner. The authenticity of a message may be verified independently without transferring any data during the verification process

ENSURING TRUSTWORTHINESS OF INCIDENT EVIDENCE DATA GENERATED BY THINGS

Techniques are provided that leverage blockchain technology to ensure that evidence that is recorded by things of an incident is saved and shared with interested parties in a method that ensures the trustworthiness of the evidence data. A thing, a local fog router, or a central integrity service might save evidence trustworthiness data to a blockchain. Complementary methods are also provided that bolster the solution’s applicability to connected cities and other implementation opportunities

Linking institutional and ecological provisions for wastewater treatment discharge in a rural municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa

The Green Drop Certification Programme, launched in 2008 alongside the Blue Drop Certification Programme, aims to provide the Department of Water Affairs with a national overview of how municipalities and their individual wastewater treatment works (WWTW) are complying with licence conditions set by the National Water Act (NWA) (No. 36 of 1998; DWAF 1998) and the Water Services Act (No. 108 of 1997; DWAF 1998). By publishing the results of each municipality’s performance, the programme aims to ensure continuous improvement in the wastewater treatment sector through public pressure. The programme has been identified by this project as a necessary linking tool between the NWA and the Water Services Act to ensure protection and sustainable use of South Africa’s natural water resources. It does this through assisting municipalities to improve their wastewater treatment operations which in theory will lead to discharged effluent that is compliant with discharge licence conditions. These discharge licences form part of the NWA’s enforcement tool of Source Directed Controls (SDC) which help a water resource meet the ecological goals set for it as part of Resource Directed Measures (RDM). The link between meeting the required SDC and achieving the RDM goals has never been empirically tested. This project aimed to determine the present ecological condition of the Uie River, a tributary of the Sundays River which the Sundays River Valley Municipality (SRVM) discharges its domestic effluent into. It then determined whether the SRVM’s WWTW was complying with the General Standard licence conditions and what the impact of the effluent on the river was through the analysis of monthly biomonitoring, water chemistry and habitat data. Lastly, the project examined the effectiveness of the Green Drop Certification Programme in bringing about change in the SRVM’s wastewater treatment sector, which previously achieved a Green Drop score of 5.6 percent. It wanted to examine the underlying assumption that a WWTW which improves its Green Drop score will be discharging a better quality effluent that will help a water resource meets the RDM goals set for it. The Kirkwood WWTW did not have a discharge licence at the time of assessment and was thus assessed under the General Standard licence conditions. It was found that the Kirkwood WWTW was not complying with the General Standard discharge licence conditions in the Uie River. This was having a negative impact on the river health, mainly through high concentrations of Total Inorganic Nitrogen (TIN-N), orthophosphate and turbidity. The SRVM should see an improvement in its Green Drop score for the Kirkwood WWTW. However, the municipality showed no implementation of necessary programmes. Implementation of these programmes would help the SRVM meet the General Standard licence conditions (part of SDC) which would help the Uie River meet the RDM goals set for it

Où se crée la valeur ? Une application de l’analyse de Porter aux filières du végétal spécialisé

Cet article a pour objectif de montrer l'intérêt d'aborder la question de la création de valeur dans une perspective inter-organisationnelle alors que la plupart des travaux s'attachent à appliquer à l'entreprise vue de manière isolée le cadre conceptuel de la chaîne de valeur. Pour ce faire, une étude empirique a été réalisée auprès de 45 organisations situées aux différents niveaux de quatre filières du secteur du végétal spécialisé. Les résultats obtenus suggèrent que l'appartenance à une filière est une source de création de valeur. Ils doivent toutefois être nuancés afin de tenir compte des spécificités des différents modes de production, de commercialisation et de distribution qui ont pu être observés

Analysis of absolute lymphocyte count in patients with COVID-19

INTRODUCTION: Symptoms of COVID-19 vary in severity and presentation. When admitting patients to the hospital, it is desirable to isolate patients with COVID-19 from those without the disease. However, reliably identifying patients with COVID-19 in the emergency department before hospital admission is often limited by the speed and availability of testing. Previous studies determined a low lymphocyte count is commonly found in patients with COVID-19. We sought to explore the sensitivity of absolute lymphocyte count in patients presenting to the emergency department requiring subsequent hospitalization who were found to have COVID-19. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed on 312 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 who were admitted to the hospital from the emergency department. The absolute lymphocyte count for these patients was used to calculate sensitivities at various cut-off values. The relationships between absolute lymphocyte count and variables, including age, sex, need for intubation, and mortality, were also explored. RESULTS: Cut-off values for absolute lymphocyte count ranged from 1.1 K/uL to 2.0 K/uL, with sensitivities of 72% and 94%, respectively. Additionally, lower mean absolute lymphocyte counts were identified in males, patients who required intubation, and patients who died. CONCLUSION: Knowing the sensitivity of absolute lymphocyte count in patients with COVID-19 may help identify patients who are unlikely to have the disease. Additionally, absolute lymphocyte count can be used as a marker of disease severity in patients with COVID-19

The Programmer's Assistant: Conversational Interaction with a Large Language Model for Software Development

Large language models (LLMs) have recently been applied in software engineering to perform tasks such as translating code between programming languages, generating code from natural language, and autocompleting code as it is being written. When used within development tools, these systems typically treat each model invocation independently from all previous invocations, and only a specific limited functionality is exposed within the user interface. This approach to user interaction misses an opportunity for users to more deeply engage with the model by having the context of their previous interactions, as well as the context of their code, inform the model's responses. We developed a prototype system -- the Programmer's Assistant -- in order to explore the utility of conversational interactions grounded in code, as well as software engineers' receptiveness to the idea of conversing with, rather than invoking, a code-fluent LLM. Through an evaluation with 42 participants with varied levels of programming experience, we found that our system was capable of conducting extended, multi-turn discussions, and that it enabled additional knowledge and capabilities beyond code generation to emerge from the LLM. Despite skeptical initial expectations for conversational programming assistance, participants were impressed by the breadth of the assistant's capabilities, the quality of its responses, and its potential for improving their productivity. Our work demonstrates the unique potential of conversational interactions with LLMs for co-creative processes like software development.Comment: 43 pages, 3 figures. To be published in IUI 202

Design Principles for Generative AI Applications

Generative AI applications present unique design challenges. As generative AI technologies are increasingly being incorporated into mainstream applications, there is an urgent need for guidance on how to design user experiences that foster effective and safe use. We present six principles for the design of generative AI applications that address unique characteristics of generative AI UX and offer new interpretations and extensions of known issues in the design of AI applications. Each principle is coupled with a set of design strategies for implementing that principle via UX capabilities or through the design process. The principles and strategies were developed through an iterative process involving literature review, feedback from design practitioners, validation against real-world generative AI applications, and incorporation into the design process of two generative AI applications. We anticipate the principles to usefully inform the design of generative AI applications by driving actionable design recommendations.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures. To be published in CHI 202