Selection of body fat distribution indices in adults and associations with plasma lipid metabolism variables

Body fat distribution is a cardiovascular health risk factor in adults. Body fat distribution can be measured through various methods including anthropometry. It is not clear which anthropometric index is suitable for epidemiologic studies of fat distribution and cardiovascular disease. The purpose of the present study was to select a measure of body fat distribution from among a series of indices (those traditionally used in the literature and others constructed from the analysis) that is most highly correlated with lipid-related variables and is independent of overall fatness. Subjects were Mexican-American men and women (N = 1004) from a study of gallbladder disease in Starr County, Texas. Multivariate associations were sought between lipid profile measures (lipids, lipoproteins, and apolipoproteins) and two sets of anthropometric variables (4 circumferences and 6 skinfolds). This was done to assess the association between lipid-related measures and the two sets of anthropometric variables and guide the construction of indices.^ Two indices emerged from the analysis that seemed to be highly correlated with lipid profile measures independent of obesity. These indices are: 2*arm circumference-thigh skinfold in pre- and post-menopausal women and arm/thigh circumference ratio in men. Next, using the sum of all skinfolds to represent obesity and the selected body fat distribution indices, the following hypotheses were tested: (1) state of obesity and centrally/upper distributed body fat are equally predictive of lipids, lipoproteins and apolipoproteins, and (2) the correlation among the lipid-related measures is not altered by obesity and body fat distribution.^ With respect to the first hypothesis, the present study found that most lipids, lipoproteins and apolipoproteins were significantly associated with both overall fatness and anatomical location of body fat in both sex and menopausal groups. However, within men and post-menopausal women, certain lipid profile measures (triglyceride and HDLT among post-menopausal women and apos C-II, CIII, and E among men) had substantially higher correlation with body fat distribution as compared with overall fatness.^ With respect to the second hypothesis, both obesity and body fat distribution were found to alter the association among plasma lipid variables in men and women. There was a suggestion from the data that the pattern of correlations among men and post-menopausal women are more comparable. Among men correlations involving apo A-I, HDLT, and HDL$\sb2$ seemed greatly influenced by obesity, and A-II by fat distribution; among post-menopausal women correlations involving apos A-I and A-II were highly affected by the location of body fat.^ Thus, these data point out that not only can obesity and fat distribution affect levels of single measures, they also can markedly influence the pattern of relationship among measures. The fact that such changes are seen for both obesity and fat distribution is significant, since the indices employed were chosen because they were independent of one another. ^

Two Novel Methods For The Determination Of The Number Of Components In Independent Components Analysis Models

Independent Components Analysis is a Blind Source Separation method that aims to find the pure source signals mixed together in unknown proportions in the observed signals under study. It does this by searching for factors which are mutually statistically independent. It can thus be classified among the latent-variable based methods. Like other methods based on latent variables, a careful investigation has to be carried out to find out which factors are significant and which are not. Therefore, it is important to dispose of a validation procedure to decide on the optimal number of independent components to include in the final model. This can be made complicated by the fact that two consecutive models may differ in the order and signs of similarly-indexed ICs. As well, the structure of the extracted sources can change as a function of the number of factors calculated. Two methods for determining the optimal number of ICs are proposed in this article and applied to simulated and real datasets to demonstrate their performance.

Extracting non-strict independent and-parallelism using sharing and freeness information

Logic programming systems which exploit and-parallelism among non-deterministic goals rely on notions of independence among those goals in order to ensure certain efficiency properties. "Non-strict" independence (NSI) is a more relaxed notion than the traditional notion of "strict" independence (SI) which still ensures the relevant efficiency properties and can allow considerable more parallelism than SI. However, all compilation technology developed to date has been based on SI, because of the intrinsic complexity of exploiting NSI. This is related to the fact that NSI cannot be determined "a priori" as SI. This paper filis this gap by developing a technique for compile-time detection and annotation of NSI. It also proposes algorithms for combined compiletime/ run-time detection, presenting novel run-time checks for this type of parallelism. Also, a transformation procedure to eliminate shared variables among parallel goals is presented, aimed at performing as much work as possible at compile-time. The approach is based on the knowledge of certain properties regarding the run-time instantiations of program variables —sharing and freeness— for which compile-time technology is available, with new approaches being currently proposed. Thus, the paper does not deal with the analysis itself, but rather with how the analysis results can be used to parallelize programs.

Towards extracting non-strict independent and-parallelism using sharing and freeness information

Logic programming systems which exploit and-parallelism among non-deterministic goals rely on notions of independence among those goals in order to ensure certain efficiency properties. "Non-strict" independence (NSI) is a more relaxed notion than the traditional notion of "strict" independence (SI) which still ensures the relevant efficiency properties and can allow considerable more parallelism than SI. However, all compilation technology developed to date has been based on SI, presumably because of the intrinsic complexity of exploiting NSI. This is related to the fact that NSI cannot be determined "a priori" as SI. This paper fills this gap by developing a technique for compile-time detection and annotation of NSI. It also proposes algorithms for combined compile- time/run-time detection, presenting novel run-time checks for this type of parallelism. Also, a transformation procedure to eliminate shared variables among parallel goals is presented, attempting to perform as much work as possible at compiletime. The approach is based on the knowledge of certain properties about run-time instantiations of program variables —sharing and freeness— for which compile-time technology is available, with new approaches being currently proposed.

Effectiveness for Ddtecting faults within and outside the scope of testing techniques: an independent replication

The verification and validation activity plays a fundamental role in improving software quality. Determining which the most effective techniques for carrying out this activity are has been an aspiration of experimental software engineering researchers for years. This paper reports a controlled experiment evaluating the effectiveness of two unit testing techniques (the functional testing technique known as equivalence partitioning (EP) and the control-flow structural testing technique known as branch testing (BT)). This experiment is a literal replication of Juristo et al. (2013).Both experiments serve the purpose of determining whether the effectiveness of BT and EP varies depending on whether or not the faults are visible for the technique (InScope or OutScope, respectively). We have used the materials, design and procedures of the original experiment, but in order to adapt the experiment to the context we have: (1) reduced the number of studied techniques from 3 to 2; (2) assigned subjects to experimental groups by means of stratified randomization to balance the influence of programming experience; (3) localized the experimental materials and (4) adapted the training duration. We ran the replication at the Escuela Politécnica del Ejército Sede Latacunga (ESPEL) as part of a software verification & validation course. The experimental subjects were 23 master?s degree students. EP is more effective than BT at detecting InScope faults. The session/program andgroup variables are found to have significant effects. BT is more effective than EP at detecting OutScope faults. The session/program and group variables have no effect in this case. The results of the replication and the original experiment are similar with respect to testing techniques. There are some inconsistencies with respect to the group factor. They can be explained by small sample effects. The results for the session/program factor are inconsistent for InScope faults.We believe that these differences are due to a combination of the fatigue effect and a technique x program interaction. Although we were able to reproduce the main effects, the changes to the design of the original experiment make it impossible to identify the causes of the discrepancies for sure. We believe that further replications closely resembling the original experiment should be conducted to improve our understanding of the phenomena under study.

Effectiveness for detecting faults within and outside the scope of testing techniques: an independent replication

The verification and validation activity plays a fundamental role in improving software quality. Determining which the most effective techniques for carrying out this activity are has been an aspiration of experimental software engineering researchers for years. This paper reports a controlled experiment evaluating the effectiveness of two unit testing techniques (the functional testing technique known as equivalence partitioning (EP) and the control-flow structural testing technique known as branch testing (BT)). This experiment is a literal replication of Juristo et al. (2013). Both experiments serve the purpose of determining whether the effectiveness of BT and EP varies depending on whether or not the faults are visible for the technique (InScope or OutScope, respectively). We have used the materials, design and procedures of the original experiment, but in order to adapt the experiment to the context we have: (1) reduced the number of studied techniques from 3 to 2; (2) assigned subjects to experimental groups by means of stratified randomization to balance the influence of programming experience; (3) localized the experimental materials and (4) adapted the training duration. We ran the replication at the Escuela Polite?cnica del Eje?rcito Sede Latacunga (ESPEL) as part of a software verification & validation course. The experimental subjects were 23 master?s degree students. EP is more effective than BT at detecting InScope faults. The session/program and group variables are found to have significant effects. BT is more effective than EP at detecting OutScope faults. The session/program and group variables have no effect in this case. The results of the replication and the original experiment are similar with respect to testing techniques. There are some inconsistencies with respect to the group factor. They can be explained by small sample effects. The results for the session/program factor are inconsistent for InScope faults. We believe that these differences are due to a combination of the fatigue effect and a technique x program interaction. Although we were able to reproduce the main effects, the changes to the design of the original experiment make it impossible to identify the causes of the discrepancies for sure. We believe that further replications closely resembling the original experiment should be conducted to improve our understanding of the phenomena under study.

Los cerramientos verticales de Jean Prouvé variables de intercambio con el exterior

A finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX, la aparición de nuevos materiales, como el acero y el hormigón armado, y la experimentación en procedimientos industriales provocan un cambio en el concepto de cerramiento y en la forma de construir. La fachada se libera y se independiza de la estructura principal, y el nuevo cerramiento debe responder a los principios arquitectónicos y constructivos de este momento. Se busca, por tanto, un cerramiento nuevo. Un cerramiento ligero, de poco peso, de poco espesor, autoportante, multicapa, montado en seco, de grandes dimensiones y que cumpla las exigencias de todo cerramiento. Se puede afirmar que, hasta que Jean Prouvé experimenta con distintos materiales y sistemas de fabricación, la técnica de los cerramientos ligeros no se desarrolla por completo. En sus trabajos se pueden encontrar aplicaciones de los nuevos materiales y nuevas técnicas, e investigaciones sobre prefabricación ligera en acero y aluminio, en un intento de aplicar la producción industrial y en serie a la construcción. Esta Tesis realiza un análisis en profundidad, tanto gráfico como escrito, de los cerramientos verticales desarrollados por Jean Prouvé, sin tratarlos como objetos aislados, entendiendo que forman parte de una obra arquitectónica concreta y completa. Dicho análisis sirve para clasificarlos según las funciones esenciales que debe garantizar un cerramiento: aislar, iluminar, ventilar y proteger, y para comprender cuáles son las claves, los recursos e intenciones, utilizadas por el autor para conseguir este propósito. El resultado de la investigación se plasma de dos formas diferentes. En la primera, se realizan reflexiones críticas para extraer los temas importantes de los elementos analizados, lo que posibilita el acercamiento a otros arquitectos y ampliar el campo de visión. En la segunda, de tipo gráfico, se elabora un atlas de los distintos tipos de cerramientos verticales desarrollados por Jean Prouvé. ABSTRACT In the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, the appearance of new materials, like steel or reinforced concrete, and the experimentation in industrial procedures cause a change in the concept of façade and in the way of build. The façade is released and become independent of the main structural frame, and the new building enclosure must answer the architectural and construction principles of that moment. A new façade is therefore looked for. A light, thin, self supported, multi layer, dry mounted and big dimensions façade that meet the exigencies of all building enclosure. You can ensure that until Jean Prouvé experiment with several materials and fabrication systems, the light façade technic does not develop completely. In his work we can find new materials applications and new technics and studies about light prefabrication with steel and aluminium, in an attempt of apply the mass production to construction. This Thesis carries out a deep analysis, graphic and written, of the vertical enclosure panels of Jean Prouvé’s work. This is made without studying them like isolated objects, but understanding that they are part of a particular architectural work, as a whole. The analysis is used for classify the panels according to main functions that a façade must satisfy: isolate, light up, ventilate and protect. And also to understand which are the keys, the resources and intentions used by Prouvé to achieve this goal. The result of the research is presented in two different ways. In the first one, a critical reflection is made in order to extract the important issues of the analyzed elements. That makes possible the approach to other architects and gives us a bigger range of vision. In the second, graphic, an atlas of the different types of vertical façade panels of Jean Prouvé is made.

The effect of admission physiological variables on 30 day outcome after stroke

Introduction. Potentially modifiable physiological variables may influence stroke prognosis but their independence from modifiable factors remains unclear. Methods. Admission physiological measures (blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and blood glucose) and other unmodifiable factors were recorded from patients presenting within 48 hours of stroke. These variables were compared with the outcomes of death and death or dependency at 30 days in multivariate statistical models. Results. In the 186 patients included in the study, age, atrial fibrillation and the National Institutes of Health Stroke Score were identified as unmodifiable factors independently associated with death and death or dependency. After adjusting for these factors, none of the physiological variables were independently associated with death, while only diastolic blood pressure (DBP) >= 90 mmHg was associated with death or dependency at 30 days (p = 0.02). Conclusions. Except for elevated DBP, we found no independent associations between admission physiology and outcome at 30 days in an unselected stroke cohort. Future studies should look for associations in subgroups, or by analysing serial changes in physiology during the early post-stroke period.

An optimal sequential procedure for a buying-selling problem with independent observations

We consider a buying-selling problem when two stops of a sequence of independent random variables are required. An optimal stopping rule and the value of a game are obtained.

Exits, entrances and entrepreneurship : an exploration of economic theories of entrepreneurship through new independent entry and infant exit

The thesis began as a study of new firm formation. Preliminary research suggested that infant death rate was considered to be a closely related problem and the search was for a theory of new firm formation which would explain both. The thesis finds theories of exit and entry inadequate in this respect and focusses instead on theories of entrepreneurship, particularly those which concentrate on entrepreneurship as an agent of change. The role of information is found to be fundamental to economic change and an understanding of information generation and dissemination and the nature and direction of information flows is postulated to lead coterminously to an understanding of entrepreneurhsip and economic change. The economics of information is applied to theories of entrepreneurhsip and some testable hypotheses are derived. The testing relies on etablishing and measuring the information bases of the founders of new firms and then testing for certain hypothesised differences between the information bases of survivors and non-survivors. No theory of entrepreneurship is likely to be straightforwardly testable and many postulates have to be established to bring the theory to a testable stage. A questionnaire is used to gather information from a sample of firms taken from a new micro-data set established as part of the work of the thesis. Discriminant Analysis establishes the variables which best distinguish between survivors and non-survivors. The variables which emerge as important discriminators are consistent with the theory which the analysis is testing. While there are alternative interpretations of the important variables, collective consistency with the theory under test is established. The thesis concludes with an examination of the implications of the theory for policy towards stimulating new firm formation.

The effects of metallurgical variables on the mechanical properties of high-chromium cast irons

The.use of high-chromium cast irons for abrasive wear resistance is restricted due to their poor fracture toughness properties. An.attempt was made to improve the fracture characteristics by altering the distribution, size and.shape of the eutectic carbide phase without sacrificing their excellent wear resistance. This was achieved by additions of molybdenum or tungsten followed by high temperature heat treatments. The absence of these alloying elements or replacement of them with vanadium or manganese did not show any significant effect and the continuous eutectic carbide morphology remained the same after application of high temperature heat treatments. The fracture characteristics of the alloys with these metallurgical variables were evaluated for both sharp-cracks and blunt notches. The results were used in conjunction with metallographic and fractographic observations to establish possible failure mechanisms. The fracture mechanism of the austenitic alloys was found to be controlled not only by the volume percent but was also greatly influenced by the size and distribution of the eutectic carbides. On the other hand, the fracture mechanism of martensitic alloys was independent of the eutectic carbide morphology. The uniformity of the secondary carbide precipitation during hardening heat treatments was shown to be a reason for consistant fracture toughness results being obtained with this series of alloys although their eutectic carbide morphologies were different. The collected data were applied to a model which incorporated the microstructural parameters and correlated them with the experimentally obtained valid stress intensity factors. The stress intensity coefficients of different short-bar fracture toughness test specimens were evaluated from analytical and experimental compliance studies. The.validity and applicability of this non-standard testing technique for determination of the fracture toughness of high-chromium cast irons were investigated. The results obtained correlated well with the valid results obtained from standard fracture toughness tests.

Formative variables and unreal variables:why the formative MIMIC model is invalid

In this rejoinder, we provide a response to the three commentaries written by Diamantopoulos, Howell, and Rigdon (all this issue) on our paper The MIMIC Model and Formative Variables: Problems and Solutions (also this issue). We contrast the approach taken in the latter paper (where we focus on clarifying the assumptions required to reject the formative MIMIC model) by spending time discussing what assumptions would be necessary to accept the use of the formative MIMIC model as a viable approach. Importantly, we clarify the implications of entity realism and show how it is entirely logical that some theoretical constructs can be considered to have real existence independent of their indicators, and some cannot. We show how the formative model only logically holds when considering these ‘unreal’ entities. In doing so, we provide important counter-arguments for much of the criticisms made in Diamantopoulos’ commentary, and the distinction also helps clarify a number of issues in the commentaries of Howell and Rigdon (both of which in general agree with our original paper). We draw together these various threads to provide a set of conceptual tools researchers can use when thinking about the entities in their theoretical models.

A globe-kutatás kultúraváltozóinak vizsgálata faktoranalízis segítségével (Cultural variables of the GLOBE research computed by factor analysis)

A szervezeti kultúraváltozók nem függetlenek egymástól. A tanulmány a GLOBE társadalmi kultúra, társadalmi értékek és a kettő különbségéből képzett differenciaváltozók faktoranalízisével kísérel meg főfaktorokat meghatározni és azokat értelmezni. / === / The cultural variables are not independent. This paper describes and discusses consolidated cultural variables computed by factor analysis from 9 original GLOBE variables of societal paracices, societal values, and differentiation scales.

Variables motivating parents to choose a specific type of private school

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reasons associated with parents' choices of specific types of private schools. The researcher hoped to determine if there were any significant differences in the reasons parents reported for enrolling their child in a specific private school. Studies in the past have explored why parents choose private schools. This study focused on why parents chose a specific type of private school, what were the variables involved, and were there any significant differences in the motivation of parents with children enrolled in different types of private schools.^ The study gathered data using a survey instrument which centered on 14 variables generally associated with the choice of private schools. The survey asked parents to rate the variables using a Likert type scale. The Likert rating was used because it does not require respondents to choose between variables. The general areas of emphasis were (a) academics, (b) religion and values/morals, (c) nurturing educational environment, and (d) proximity and convenience of the school. The survey also gather qualitative data in the form of comments volunteered by over a third of the respondents.^ The survey was mailed to 560 randomly selected families from 30 private high schools in a 50 mile radius of Miami, Florida. The 10 high schools, represented five types of private schools, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Independent, Jewish, and Fundamentalist Christian. After four mailings a total of 401 surveys were returned for a rate 72%.^ Significant differences appeared as the data was analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey's HSD pairwise analysis. The variables showing significant differences between types of schools were (a) quality of instruction, (b) commitment of teachers, (c) emphasis on religion, (d) small class size, (e) well-defined academic goals, (f) proximity of the school's location, (g) preparation for desired secondary schools/colleges, and (h) convenience of school's operating schedule.^ Parents appeared to have specific reasons for choosing a particular private school. They appeared to look for a school that would satisfy the special needs of their child and would be compatible with their own values, morals, and personal philosophy. ^

Predictors of Independent Living Outcomes Among Older Women Receiving Informal Care

This study examined the predictors of independent living outcomes among community–living older women who received informal care. The central hypothesis was that older women’s level of functioning is influenced by their relationship with their informal caregiver. The study attempted to understand the independence of older women through the perspective of both informal caregivers and the older women themselves. The following eight variables were measured: 1) the older women’s independence (dependent variable); 2) the relationship between older women and their informal caregivers (independent variable); 3) roles of both the informal caregiver and older women (independent variable); 4) the older women’s attitudes toward aging (independent variable); 5) the older women’s age identity (independent variable); 6) the older women’s health (control variable); 7) the older women’s level of social support (control variable); and 8) the older women’s level of depression (control variable). The variables were measured from the perspective of the older woman herself and her informal caregiver. This study used an ecological and developmental framework along with role theory to understand the interaction among the aforementioned variables through a cross-sectional design. The recruited older women participants of this study were receiving ongoing care and personal assistance from two large home care agencies located in Miami, FL. An analysis was conducted through a mixed-methods incorporated into the study design. The present study aimed to contribute to the understanding of how the relationship between older women and their informal caregivers influences older women’s ability to maintain independent outcomes. The primary finding of this study was that there were both positive and negative experiences within the relationship dynamic of older women and their informal caregivers and that this relationship was either unidirectional or bi-directional.