Improved Confidence Interval Estimation for Oscillometric Blood Pressure Measurement by Combining Bootstrap-After-Jackknife Function with Non-Gaussian Models

Confidence intervals (CIs) are generally not provided along with estimated systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) measured using oscillometric blood pressure devices. No criteria exist to determine the CI from a small sample set of oscillometric blood pressure measurements. We provide an extended methodology to improve estimation of CIs of SBP and DBP based on a nonparametric bootstrap-after-jackknife function and a Bayesian approach. We use the nonparametric bootstrap-after-jackknife function to reduce maximum amplitude outliers. Improved pseudomaximum amplitudes (PMAs) and pseudoenvelopes (PEs) are derived from the pseudomeasurements. Moreover, the proposed algorithm uses an unfixed ratio obtained by employing non-Gaussian models based on the Bayesian technique to estimate the SBP and DBP ratios for individual subjects. The CIs obtained through our proposed approach are narrower than those obtained using the traditional Student t-distribution method. The mean difference (MD) and standard deviation (SD) of the SBP and DBP estimates using our proposed approach are better than the estimates obtained by conventional fixed ratios based on the PMA and PE (PMAE)

Modelling Physical Activity in Virtual Reality Games

This thesis was inspired by the possibility that virtual reality (VR) games, which are designed primarily to be fun, could also provide exercise. It aimed to gain insights about this by exploring whether people can gain beneficial levels of exercise while playing VR games and how they might use VR games for exercise over several weeks. Furthermore, this work also focuses on how the level of physical activity that can be captured during gameplay and how a long-term user model can be created for individual players, as a foundation for supporting the user in gaining personal informatics insights about their exertion as well as being used for personalisation and external recommendation for VR games. The key contributions of this research are: • The first study of a diverse set of commercial VR games to gain insights about the level of actual and perceived exertion players have. • The first long-term study of VR games in a sedentary workplace to gain insights about the ways people utilise it and the levels of exertion they gain. • Based on reflections on the above studies, this thesis presents a framework and guidelines for designing physical activity VR games. • The systematic creation of a user model for representing a person’s long-term fitness and their VR gameplay, exertion and preferences. • A study of the ways that people can scrutinise their long-term personal informatics user model of exertion from VR game play and incidental walking. These contributions provide a foundation for future researchers and industry practitioners to design VR games that provide beneficial levels of exertion and allow people to gain insights into the relative contribution of the exercise from gameplay

The Role of a Peer-Led Academic Intervention in College Students\u27 Development of Self-Regulated Learning: A Person-Centered Approach

Due to its unsupervised nature, undergraduate education requires students to manage their own learning. They need to use self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies in order to achieve academic success. However, college students often have insufficient regulatory skills and strategies, suggesting the need for substantive and practical support. Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a well-recognized academic intervention that utilizes peer-led study groups for difficult college courses, through which students can develop their SRL abilities. This study focuses on the role of the SI program in college students’ development of SRL from a person-centered perspective. First, this study examines the heterogeneous effects of the SI intervention on students’ development of SRL by combining latent profile modeling and propensity score matching. Second, it explores the changes in student SRL profiles over the intervention period and determines factors affecting the prediction of such changes using latent transition modeling. Results identify three distinct student profiles: competent regulator, self-confident regulator, and goal-oriented regulator. Within the competent regulator profile, both SI and non-SI attendees’ overall SRL scores significantly decreased over time, though non- SI attendees showed a greater downturn. For the self-confident regulator profile, only SI attendees’ overall SRL scores increased. Both SI and non-SI attendees in the goal-oriented regulator profile had small decreases in scores, which were not statistically significant. Regarding students’ longitudinal transitions between SRL profiles, students in the most desirable profile (competent regulator) remained most stable over time. Students’ SRL in the goal-oriented regulator profile was most malleable in a positive way; approximately 40% of these students moved into the competent regulator profile. In addition, students whose decision to attend the SI sessions was more mastery-oriented tended to fall into more positive transition groups. Furthermore, students whose levels of self-confidence in learning, critical thinking skills, and group work skills increased as a result of their participation in SI sessions were more likely to become members of more positive transition groups. The findings of this study extend previous work by longitudinally examining individual differences in college students’ SRL development. They also provide significant implications for the future design of more targeted interventions

Electrochemical and Structural Analysis of Li-ion battery Materials by in-situ X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy.

Efficient inexpensive energy storage is essential for widespread adoption of alternatives to fossil fuels. Lithium-ion batteries are a promising technology for energy storage. This dissertation describes the electrochemical and local structural analysis of the Li-ion cathode/anode materials Li4Ti5O12, LiMn2O4, Li3V2(PO4)3, and Mg-doped Li3V2(PO4)3) using synchrotron-based X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS). For the well-known anode material Li4Ti5O12, XAS provides an explanation for the ‘‘Zero-strain’’ characteristic of the material; there is, as expected, an increase in Ti-O distance reduction but no change in Ti-Ti distance, consistent with the added lithium pulling the oxide anions closer together, allowing the Ti-O distance to expand, with negligible change in the lattice parameter. XAS showed that when the spinel LiMn2O4 cathode is annealed, there is a slight increase in the average Mn oxidation state. In-situ XAS studies of another cathode material, Li3V2(PO4)3, showed the presence of significant kinetic effects such that the measured electrochemical behavior does not represent the bulk vanadium. There are only two distinct vanadium species when the cathode is cycled between 3.0 and 4.5 V. However, when the potential exceed 4.5 V a third vanadium species is formed, consistent with the formation of V5+. The data suggest that a portion of the V5+ can migrate to empty Li sites, indicating a possible explanation for capacity loss at high potential. If a portion of the V is replaced with Mg giving Li3V(2-2/3x)Mgx(PO4)3, the electrochemical performance, cycling retention and stability increase up to X~0.30. In-situ XAS of Li3V(2-2/3x)Mgx(PO4)3, x=0.15, 0.30, and 0.45 was used to characterize the structural and electronic consequences of Mg doping. In general, the doped cathodes behave similarly to the undoped parent material, with oxidation of V3+ to V4+ over 3 – 4.5 V and for the oxidation to V5+ at higher potential. As in the undoped material, we see substantial migration of V5+ to Li sites, and find evidence, especially for x = 0.15, that this tetrahedral V can be reduced to V4+ without returning to the octahedral V site. The most important consequence of doping seems to be a decrease in the kinetic lag that is seen in the undoped material.PHDChemistryUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111390/1/soojeong_1.pd

Perception of grandchild-grandparent communication in South Korea and reduction of prejudice toward aging

Guided by intergroup contact theory and communication accommodation theory, this study investigated the relationships between Korean young adults' (N = 301, M age = 21.90, SD = 1.79) contact frequency with their grandparents (with whom they had the most frequent contact) and perceptions of the grandparents' intergroup communication and attitudes toward older adults and one's own aging. In addition, the current research examined the moderating role of age salience and the mediating role of intergroup anxiety in these relationships. Findings showed that the grandparents' intergroup communication was significantly and negatively associated with attitudes toward older adults whereas contact frequency was significantly and positively associated with attitudes toward older adults and Korean young adults' own aging. In addition, the grandparent's intergroup communication was significantly and positively associated with age salience and intergroup anxiety whereas contact frequency was significantly and negatively associated with intergroup anxiety. Intergroup anxiety was significantly and negatively associated with attitudes toward older adults and Korean young adults' own aging. Furthermore, age salience was shown to moderate the relationships between contact frequency, the grandparents' intergroup communication, and attitudes toward older adults. Intergroup anxiety was shown to mediate the relationships between contact frequency, the grandparents' intergroup communication, and attitudes toward older adults and Korean young adults' own aging. These findings were discussed in terms of intergenerational communication and culture, theoretical contributions, practical implications, and limitations

Moral Distress of Neonatal Intensive Care Nurses in End-of-Life Care

https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/fss-2019/1003/thumbnail.jp

The effects of trade openness on regional inequality in South Korea

노트 : 55th Congress of the European Regional Science Association: "World Renaissance:Changing roles for people and places", 25-28 August 2015, Lisbon, Portuga

A Study on the Transition of Power Dressing in Contemporary Fashion

The purpose of this study is to examine changes of power dressing from 1930s to present. I believe this study will help predict future changes of power dressing by reinterpreting trends in modern fashion based on history and investigating power dressing of women as a barometer of women\u27s social power

The effects of the first reading experience of infancy on reading and academic achievement of elementary first graders

The purpose of this study was to analyze the structural relationship among the age of first reading, child’s reading motivation, reading ability, and academic achievement in elementary first graders. A total of 267 pairs of elementary first graders and their mothers and teachers were sampled in Gyeonggi province, South Korea. First graders were tested with tasks to measure reading ability and mothers’ responses and teachers’ evaluation were collected to measure students’ age of first reading, reading motivation, and academic achievement. The results were as follows. First, first reading, reading motivation, reading ability, and academic achievement were partly different by socio-demographic factors. Second, earlier age of first reading was associated with higher reading motivation, reading ability, and academic achievement in the first grade. Third, SEM analysis showed that reading motivation and reading ability fully mediated the effect of the age of first reading on academic achievement

The Pusan International Film Festival 1996-2005: South Korean cinema in local, regional, and global context

Despite the growing academic attention to film festivals, there has been little critical discourse about such events staged outside the West. This thesis aims to address this gap by providing a social, political and cultural exploration of the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) in South Korea between 1996 and 2005. The thesis utilises empirical research to reveal how the festival staked out a unique and influential position within a rapidly changing global landscape. Particular attention is paid to the organisersors' use of an Asian regionalisation strategy to promote the festival locally and globally. This study claims that PIFF has gone further than any other film festival in constructing a regional identity and maintaining a strong and mutually beneficial link to its national film industry. Research into PIFF's special relationship with both the national and regional film industries uncovers the previously unexplored roles that film festivals play in film production, in addition to their traditional functions of exhibition and distribution. To place this analysis in context, the thesis examines the politico-economic factors that influenced the establishment of the festival, its programming, the project market (the Pusan Promotion Plan), and its tenth anniversary in 2005. The study argues that analysis of PIFF reveals tensions and negotiations between the "national" and the "transnational" in the wake of economic and cultural globalisation in East Asia. The thesis serves as a case study of how contemporary film festivals adjust their roles and identities to adapt to local, regional and global change