A study on the ethical components of nursing practice (moral distress, ethical sensitivity, ethical decision)

This paper is an applied research in terms of objective and a descriptive research in terms of method. Having prepared the research plan, a questionnaire was designed based on goals and hypotheses of the research and was sent to the statistical universe. Also this paper is a field research in terms of data collection. As regards theoretical bases of the research, library data collection method has been applied. So, the required data has been gathered by referring to the related references, books, libraries and so on. To design a questionnaire and gather the opinions of the statistical universe members, field study method and researcher-made questionnaire have been used. The statistical universe comprises nurses and head of ICU and head nurses of Najmieh Hospital in Tehran. The respondents were selected by random sampling method. Also to estimate sample size, Morgan table was applied. The statistical universe consists of 65 members and according to the table, 56 questionnaires were determined for the research. So 60 questionnaires were sent and 58 ones were returned. Face and content validity of the research tool were approved by experts. The test reliability was estimated 0.777 by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient. In this paper, factor analysis based on partial least squares structural equations method has been applied to analyze more important factors and coefficients, estimate independent variables coefficients and even determine effectiveness of each independent variable on each other and determine appropriateness of the questions and their coefficients in explaining the related index. The main result of this paper presents a proper model for the relation of effective variables on nurse performance by using regression model. © IDOSI Publications, 2014

Distressed condominium investing in Atlanta

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in Conjunction with the Center for Real Estate , 2009.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-57).The purpose of this paper is to explore investment opportunities in these now-distressed residential condo properties. The paper will characterize the economic and development environment to determine the extent of overbuilding and forecast future behavior amongst market participants. It will assess the behavior of bulk condo investors in previous downturns to assess both similarities and differences in the environment, and identify best practices in investment and asset management. Additionally, the paper will characterize the legal and management risks inherent in this type of investment. The paper will conclude that there are a number of different strategies for investing in bulk condos and their underlying debt. One of the hardest hit markets is Atlanta, Georgia, which is the focus of this paper. Each of these strategies is contingent on the type and expertise level of the individual investor, but there are certainly going to be appropriate avenues for investors to create value both from the physical asset and from purchasing debt. Atlanta is likely going to be an excellent market to pursue these deals because of unique localized factors including extraordinary state distress, low asset pricing, and limited competition. The findings in this paper conclude that distressed condominium investing is an extremely localized business, and the recommendations made in this paper are specific to Atlanta. While an investor may use the paper as a guide for investment in other locales, it would not be appropriate to use a cookie cutter approach in every city. There are also many risks and a great deal of unknowns in the bulk condo space.(cont.) This downturn differs significantly from past real estate crises because of the complexity of the financial instruments used to fund condo projects as well as a completely different government response. It is clear that the government response up to this point has been as much of a hindrance as it has been a help. Government action must engage investors in financial instruments in a more predictable manner, and assure they will not engage in punitive legislative behavior to investors who profit from this crisis.by Faraji L Whalen.S.M

Asymmetric flankers in comodulation masking release

Background and Objectives: Detection of auditory signals may be improved when maskers far from the frequency of the target signal are coherently amplitude-modulated. This improvement of signal detection is called comodulation masking release (CMR). In the CMR experiments, flankers have been usually arranged symmetrically. In practice, we will be confronted with a problem by using symmetric flankers due to the limited output of clinical audiometers, especially at high-frequency. We aimed to check whether flanker arrangement has any effect on the amount of CMR, especially when there is no flankers with a frequency higher than the signal. Subjects and Methods: Eighteen normal hearing listeners ranging in age from 20 to 46 years old participated. Symmetric (2-2) and asymmetric (3-1 and 4-0) flankers were used and then the amount of CMR compared among them. Results: Our results showed in the same numbers of flankers, there were no statistically CMR differences between symmetric and asymmetric arrangement. Also when we did not have a flanker at a frequency higher than the signal and all flankers were placed below the signal, there was no statistically difference with the symmetric arrangement. Conclusions: The asymmetry of the flankers and also omitting the flankers with a frequency higher than the signal, have no effect on CMR results. We concluded that CMR can be considered by using clinical audiometer. © 2019 The Korean Audiological Society and Korean Otological Society

Systematic analysis of the impact of slurry coating on manufacture of Li-ion battery electrodes via explainable machine learning

The manufacturing process strongly affects the electrochemical properties and performance of lithium-ion batteries. In particular, the flow of electrode slurry during the coating process is key to the final electrode properties and hence the characteristics of lithium-ion cells, however it is given little consideration. In this paper the effect of slurry structure is studied through the physical and rheological properties and their impact on the final electrode characteristics, for a graphite anode. As quantifying the impact of the large number of interconnected control variables on the electrode is a challenging task via traditional trial-and-error approaches, an explainable machine learning methodology as well as a systematic statistical analysis method is proposed for comprehensive assessments. The analysis is based upon an experimental dataset in lab-scale involving 9 main factors and 6 interest variables which cover practical range of variables through various combinations. While the predictability of response variables is evaluated via linear and nonlinear models, complementary techniques are utilised for variables importance, contribution, and first and second order effects to increase the model transparency. While coating gap is identified as the most influential factor for all considered responses, other subtle relationships are also extracted, highlighting that dimensionless numbers can serve as strong predictors for models. The impact of slurry viscosity and surface tension on electrode thickness, coat weight and porosity are also extracted, demonstrating their importance for electrode quality. These variables have been rarely considered in previous works, as the relationships are difficult to extract by trial and error due to interdependencies. Here we demonstrate how model-based analysis can overcome these difficulties and pave the way towards an optimised electrode manufacturing process of next generation Lithium-ion batteries

Understanding the effect of coating-drying operating variables on electrode physical and electrochemical properties of lithium-ion batteries

The effect of coating and drying process variables (comma bar gap, web speed, coating ratio, drying temperature and drying air speed) on NMC622 cathode physical properties (thickness, mass loading and porosity) and electrochemical properties (gravimetric capacity, volumetric capacity and rate performance) is studied by a design of experiments approach. Electrochemical performance is assessed on half coin cells at C-rates from C/20 up to 10C. The statistical analysis of the data reveals that the cathode physical properties are mainly affected by comma bar gap and coating ratio. The electrochemical properties also show high correlations between comma bar gap and coating ratio for some C-rates. As a second evaluation, the relationship between the cathode half-cell physical characteristics with the electrochemical performance is studied through multiple linear regression analysis. A correlation mainly between coating weight and the electrochemical properties is found. Empirical linear models representing the relationship between the output and input variables are provided, showing correlation coefficients ( ) as high as 0.99

ApInAPDB: a database of apoptosis-inducing anticancer peptides

ApInAPDB (Apoptosis-Inducing Anticancer Peptides Database) consists of 818 apoptosis-inducing anticancer peptides which are manually collected from research articles. The database provides scholars with peptide related information such as function, binding target and affinity, IC50 and etc. In addition, GRAVY (grand average of hydropathy), net charge at pH 7, hydrophobicity and other physicochemical properties are calculated and presented. Another category of information are structural information includes 3D modeling, secondary structure prediction and descriptors for QSAR (quantitative structure–activity relationship) modeling. In order to facilitate the browsing process, three types of user-friendly searching tools are provided: top categories browser, simple search and advanced search. Overall ApInAPDB as the first database presenting apoptosis-inducing anticancer peptides can be useful in the field of peptide design and especially cancer therapy. Researchers can freely access the database at http://bioinf.modares.ac.ir/software/ApInAPDB/

Effect of Phosphorus and Strontium Additions on Formation Temperature and Nucleation Density of Primary Silicon in Al-19 Wt Pct Si Alloy and Their Effect on Eutectic Temperature

The influence of P and Sr additions on the formation temperature and nucleation density of primary silicon in Al-19 wt pct Si alloy has been determined, for small volumes of melt solidified at cooling rates _T of ~0.3 and 1 K/s. The proportion of ingot featuring primary silicon decreased progressively with increased Sr addition, which also markedly reduced the temperature for first formation of primary silicon and the number of primary silicon particles per unit volume �Nv: When combined with previously published results, the effects of amount of P addition and cooling rate on �Nv are in reasonable accord with �Nv� _T ¼ ðp=6fÞ1=2 109 [250 � 215 (wt pct P)0.17]�3, where �Nv is in mm�3, _T is in K/s, and f is volume fraction of primary silicon. Increased P addition reduces the eutectic temperature, while increased Sr appears to generate a minimum in eutectic temperature at about 100 ppmw Sr

Niche inheritance: a cooperative pathway to enhance cancer cell fitness though ecosystem engineering

Cancer cells can be described as an invasive species that is able to establish itself in a new environment. The concept of niche construction can be utilized to describe the process by which cancer cells terraform their environment, thereby engineering an ecosystem that promotes the genetic fitness of the species. Ecological dispersion theory can then be utilized to describe and model the steps and barriers involved in a successful diaspora as the cancer cells leave the original host organ and migrate to new host organs to successfully establish a new metastatic community. These ecological concepts can be further utilized to define new diagnostic and therapeutic areas for lethal cancers.Comment: 8 pages, 1 Table, 4 Figure

Eliminating Fatigue in Surface-Bound Spiropyrans

This paper describes an experimental approach to eliminating the loss of reversibility that surface-bound spiropyrans exhibit when switched with light. Although such fatigue can be controlled in other contexts, on surfaces, the photochromic compounds are held in close proximity to each other and relatively few molecules modulate the properties of a device, leading to a loss of functionality after only a few switching cycles. The switching process was characterized by photoelectron spectroscopy and differences in tunneling currents in the spiropyran and merocyanine forms using eutectic Ga-In. Self-assembled monolayers comprising only the photochromic compounds degraded rapidly, while mixed monolayers with hexanethiol showed different behaviors depending on the relative humidity. Under dry conditions, no chemical degradation was observed and the switching process was reversible over at least 100 cycles. Under humid conditions, no degradation occurred, but the switching process became irreversible. The absence of degradation observed in mixed monolayers is ascribed to the lack of solvation, which increases the barrier to a key bond rotation past the available thermal energy. These results highlight important differences in the contexts in which photochromic compounds are utilized and demonstrate that they can be leveraged to extract device-relevant functionality from surface-bound switches by suppressing fatigue and irreversibility