Performance of Small Cluster Surveys and the Clustered LQAS Design to estimate Local-level Vaccination Coverage in Mali

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Estimation of vaccination coverage at the local level is essential to identify communities that may require additional support. Cluster surveys can be used in resource-poor settings, when population figures are inaccurate. To be feasible, cluster samples need to be small, without losing robustness of results. The clustered LQAS (CLQAS) approach has been proposed as an alternative, as smaller sample sizes are required.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We explored (i) the efficiency of cluster surveys of decreasing sample size through bootstrapping analysis and (ii) the performance of CLQAS under three alternative sampling plans to classify local VC, using data from a survey carried out in Mali after mass vaccination against meningococcal meningitis group A.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>VC estimates provided by a 10 × 15 cluster survey design were reasonably robust. We used them to classify health areas in three categories and guide mop-up activities: i) health areas not requiring supplemental activities; ii) health areas requiring additional vaccination; iii) health areas requiring further evaluation. As sample size decreased (from 10 × 15 to 10 × 3), standard error of VC and ICC estimates were increasingly unstable. Results of CLQAS simulations were not accurate for most health areas, with an overall risk of misclassification greater than 0.25 in one health area out of three. It was greater than 0.50 in one health area out of two under two of the three sampling plans.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Small sample cluster surveys (10 × 15) are acceptably robust for classification of VC at local level. We do not recommend the CLQAS method as currently formulated for evaluating vaccination programmes.</p

Understanding Centenarians' Psychosocial Dynamics and Their Contributions to Health and Quality of Life

While it is understood that longevity and health are influenced by complex interactions among biological, psychological, and sociological factors, there is a general lack of understanding on how psychosocial factors impact longevity, health, and quality of life among the oldest old. One of the reasons for this paradox is that the amount of funded research on aging in the US is significantly larger in the biomedical compared to psychosocial domains. The goals of this paper are to highlight recent data to demonstrate the impact of four pertinent psychosocial domains on health and quality of life of the oldest old and supplement recommendations of the 2001 NIA Panel on Longevity for future research. The four domains highlighted in this paper are (1) demographics, life events, and personal history, (2) personality, (3) cognition, and (4) socioeconomic resources and support systems

A Cross-cultural Examination of Preferences for Work Attributes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between individual- and country-level values and preferences for job/organizational attributes. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data were collected from 475 full-time employees (average of nine years work experience, and three years in a managerial position) enrolled in part-time MBA programs in seven countries. Findings – Preference for a harmonious workplace is positively related to horizontal collectivism, whereas preference for remuneration/advancement is positively related to vertical individualism. The authors also find a positive relationship between preference for meaningful work and horizontal individualism, and between preference for employer prestige and social adjustment (SA) needs. Research limitations/implications – Although the sample comprised experienced, full-time professionals, using graduate business students may limit generalizability. Overall, the results provide initial support for the utility of incorporating the multi-dimensional individualism and collectivism measure, as well as SA needs, when assessing the relationships between values and employee preferences. Practical implications – For practitioners, the primary conclusion is that making assumptions about preferences based on nationality is risky. Findings may also prove useful for enhancing person-organization fit and the ability to attract and retain qualified workers. Originality/value – This study extends research on workers’ preferences by incorporating a new set of values and sampling experienced workers in a range of cultural contexts

Self-concept orientation and organizational identification: a mediated relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test a mediated model of the relationship between self-concept orientation (individualist and collectivist) and organizational identification (OrgID, Cooper and Thatcher, 2010), with proposed mediators including the need for organizational identification (nOID, Glynn, 1998) as well as self-presentation concerns of social adjustment (SA) and value expression (VE, Highhouse et al., 2007). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 509 participants in seven countries. Direct and mediation effects were tested using structural equation modeling (AMOS 25.0). Findings Individualist self-concept orientation was positively related to VE and collectivist self-concept orientation was positively related to nOID, VE and SA. VE mediated the relationship between both self-concept orientations and OrgID. In addition, nOID mediated the relationship for collectivist self-concept orientation. Practical implications This study identifies underlying psychological needs as mediators of the relationship of self-concept orientation to OrgID. Understanding these linkages enables employers to develop practices that resonate with the self-concept orientations and associated psychological needs of their employees, thereby enhancing OrgID. Originality/value This study provides a significant contribution to the OrgID literature by proposing and testing for relationships between self-concept orientations and OrgID as mediated by underlying psychological needs. The results provide support for the mediated model as well as many of Cooper and Thatcher’s (2010) theoretical propositions, with notable exceptions

Self-concept Orientation and Organizational Identification: A Mediated Relationship

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test a mediated model of the relationship between self-concept orientation (individualist and collectivist) and organizational identification (OrgID, Cooper and Thatcher, 2010), with proposed mediators including the need for organizational identification (nOID, Glynn, 1998) as well as self-presentation concerns of social adjustment (SA) and value expression (VE, Highhouse et al., 2007). Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 509 participants in seven countries. Direct and mediation effects were tested using structural equation modeling (AMOS 25.0). Findings: Individualist self-concept orientation was positively related to VE and collectivist self-concept orientation was positively related to nOID, VE and SA. VE mediated the relationship between both self-concept orientations and OrgID. In addition, nOID mediated the relationship for collectivist self-concept orientation. Practical implications: This study identifies underlying psychological needs as mediators of the relationship of self-concept orientation to OrgID. Understanding these linkages enables employers to develop practices that resonate with the self-concept orientations and associated psychological needs of their employees, thereby enhancing OrgID. Originality/value: This study provides a significant contribution to the OrgID literature by proposing and testing for relationships between self-concept orientations and OrgID as mediated by underlying psychological needs. The results provide support for the mediated model as well as many of Cooper and Thatcher’s (2010) theoretical propositions, with notable exceptions

The ethics of digital well-being: a multidisciplinary perspective

This chapter serves as an introduction to the edited collection of the same name, which includes chapters that explore digital well-being from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including philosophy, psychology, economics, health care, and education. The purpose of this introductory chapter is to provide a short primer on the different disciplinary approaches to the study of well-being. To supplement this primer, we also invited key experts from several disciplines—philosophy, psychology, public policy, and health care—to share their thoughts on what they believe are the most important open questions and ethical issues for the multi-disciplinary study of digital well-being. We also introduce and discuss several themes that we believe will be fundamental to the ongoing study of digital well-being: digital gratitude, automated interventions, and sustainable co-well-being

An Artemisinin-Derived Dimer Has Highly Potent Anti-Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Anti-Cancer Activities

We recently reported that two artemisinin-derived dimers (dimer primary alcohol 606 and dimer sulfone 4-carbamate 832-4) are significantly more potent in inhibiting human cytomegalovirus (CMV) replication than artemisinin-derived monomers. In our continued evaluation of the activities of artemisinins in CMV inhibition, twelve artemisinin-derived dimers and five artemisinin-derived monomers were used. Dimers as a group were found to be potent inhibitors of CMV replication. Comparison of CMV inhibition and the slope parameter of dimers and monomers suggest that dimers are distinct in their anti-CMV activities. A deoxy dimer (574), lacking the endoperoxide bridge, did not have any effect on CMV replication, suggesting a role for the endoperoxide bridge in CMV inhibition. Differences in anti-CMV activity were observed among three structural analogs of dimer sulfone 4-carbamate 832-4 indicating that the exact placement and oxidation state of the sulfur atom may contribute to its anti-CMV activity. Of all tested dimers, artemisinin-derived diphenyl phosphate dimer 838 proved to be the most potent inhibitor of CMV replication, with a selectivity index of approximately 1500, compared to our previously reported dimer sulfone 4-carbamate 832-4 with a selectivity index of about 900. Diphenyl phosphate dimer 838 was highly active against a Ganciclovir-resistant CMV strain and was also the most active dimer in inhibition of cancer cell growth. Thus, diphenyl phosphate dimer 838 may represent a lead for development of a highly potent and safe anti-CMV compound

Lorentz violation naturalness revisited

We revisit here the naturalness problem of Lorentz invariance violations on a simple toy model of a scalar field coupled to a fermion field via a Yukawa interaction. We first review some well-known results concerning the low-energy percolation of Lorentz violation from high energies, presenting some details of the analysis not explicitly discussed in the literature and discussing some previously unnoticed subtleties. We then show how a separation between the scale of validity of the effective field theory and that one of Lorentz invariance violations can hinder this low-energy percolation. While such protection mechanism was previously considered in the literature, we provide here a simple illustration of how it works and of its general features. Finally, we consider a case in which dissipation is present, showing that the dissipative behaviour does not percolate generically to lower mass dimension operators albeit dispersion does. Moreover, we show that a scale separation can protect from unsuppressed low-energy percolation also in this case. \ua9 2016, The Author(s)