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Summary Background There is currently a lack of patient-reported outcome measures for ear reconstruction. We developed the EAR-Q to measure ear appearance and post-operative adverse effects from the patient perspective. Methods Field-test data were collected from children and young adults in eight countries between 13 May 2016 and 12 December 2019. Rasch measurement theory (RMT) analysis was used to refine the scales and to examine their psychometric properties. Results Participants had microtia (n = 607), prominent ears (n = 145) or another ear condition (n = 111), and provided 960 assessments for the Appearance scale (e.g., size, shape, photos), and 137 assessments for the Adverse Effects scale (e.g., itchy, painful, numb). RMT analysis led to the reduction of each scale to 10-items. Data fit the Rasch model for the Appearance (X2(80) = 90.9, p = 0.19) and Adverse Effects (X2(20) = 24.5, p = 0.22) scales. All items in each scale had ordered thresholds and good item fit. There was no evidence of differential item function for the Appearance scale by age, gender, language, or type of ear condition. Reliability was high for the Appearance scale, with person separation index (PSI) and Cronbach alpha values with and without extremes ≥0.92. Reliability for the Adverse Effects scale was adequate (i.e., PSI and Cronbach alpha values ≥0.71). Higher scores (liked appearance more) correlated with higher scores (better) on Psychological, Social and School scales. Interpretation The EAR-Q can be used in those 8–29 years of age to understand the patient perspective in clinical practice and research, and in addition, can be used to benchmark outcomes for ear reconstruction internationally.

A new chiral stationary phase based on homochiral crystals of α-NiSO4∙6H2O obtained under the condition of Viedma ripening is proposed for the separation of 2-pentanol racemate. The retention times and separation parameters are determined from chromatograms of the separation of 2-pentanol racemate. Separation occurs in the concentration range 4–11.3 mg/mL (eluent is a mixture of n-heptane and chloroform). The reliability of the separation is confirmed by polarimetry and the gas-chromatographic analysis of the fractions of each peak with mass-spectrometric detection. It is shown that the separation parameters do not depend on the elution rate. With an increase in the volume fraction of chloroform, the eluting force increases, and the separation criterion and the selectivity coefficient decrease. The latter range from 1.09 to 1.32. The maximum separation efficiency was 2000 tp/m. The proposed stationary phase can be used for the semi-preparative separation of ennatiomers.

Separation related disorder in dogs is a multi-faceted phenomenon. Dogs can react to the absence of their owner due to different inner states such as fear, panic or frustration. We hypothesized that dogs that are prone to frustration or fearfulness in other contexts would show a different behavioral response to separation from the owner. We investigated the association between inner states in different contexts and separation behaviors by combining a questionnaire with a separation test. Fear-related questionnaire components were rather associated with whining and the absence of barking. Dogs that received higher scores in the demanding component of the questionnaire, which might be in association of the frustration threshold of the dog, barked more and were more likely to scratch the door. Finally, dogs that were more prone to phobic reactions whined somewhat more and tried to escape. We provide empirical support for the assumption that separation-related behavioral responses of dogs might be triggered by different emotions.

Separation or monotone-likelihood can be observed in fitting process of a multinomial logistic model using maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) when sample size is small and/or one of the outcome categories is rare and/or there is one or more influential covariates, resulting in infinite or biased estimate of at least one regression coefficient of the model. This study investigated empirically to identify the optimal data condition to define both ‘separation’ and ‘near-to-separation’ (partial separation) and explored their consequences in MLE and provided a solution by applying a penalized likelihood approach, which has been proposed in the literature, by adding a Jeffreys prior-based penalty term to the original likelihood function to remove the first-order bias in the MLEs of the multinomial logit model via equivalent Poisson regression. Furthermore, the penalized estimating equation (PMLE) is extended to a weighted estimating equation allowing for survey-weight for analyzing data from a complex survey. The simulation study suggests that the PMLE outperforms the MLE by providing smaller amount of bias and mean squared of error and better coverage. The methods are applied to analyze data on choice of health facility for treatment of childhood diseases.

Autistic youth bullied at school are at risk for school refusal (SR), which may grow from emerging SR (ESR). SR and ESR have been associated with social phobia and separation anxiety among neurotypical youth but these associations have not been studied among autistic youth. The associations between both types of anxiety and in a sample of 71 autistic boys aged 6 to 18 years (M = 10.23, SD = 1.43). Eighty-two percent of boys reported being bullied at school, and 55% of these boys asked to stay home from school. Boys who asked to stay home had a significantly higher level of separation anxiety than boys who did not ask to stay home. There was no difference between these two groups with respect to levels of social phobia. At the item level, two of the four social phobia symptoms were significantly correlated with the request to stay home from school as were seven of the eight symptoms of separation anxiety. Results suggest that autistic boys bullied at school do not seek to avoid school because they are shy in social situations, but because they want to spend time with their parents. Implications for intervention are discussed.

In 1959, Ragnar Frisch prompted Georg Rasch to formalise a separability theorem that continues today to serve as the basis of a wide range of theoretical and applied developments in psychological and social measurement. Previously unnoted are the influences on Rasch exerted by Frisch’s concerns for data autonomy, model identification and necessary and sufficient conditions. Although Rasch acknowledged Frisch’s prompting towards a separability theorem, he did not acknowledge any substantive, intellectual debt to him, nor to Irving Fisher, but only to Ronald Fisher. Rasch appears to have developed a special interest in sufficiency and identified models when studying with Frisch in 1935, and in 1947, when Rasch accompanied Tjalling Koopmans to the University of Chicago and the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics. I. Fisher’s separation theorem continues to be relevant in econometrics, and interest in Rasch’s separability theorem is growing as the measurement models based on it are adopted in metrological theory and practice. The extensive interrelations between measurement science, metrological standards and economics suggest paths towards lower transaction costs and more efficient markets for individualised exchanges of human, social and natural capital. Equally, if not more, surprising are the implications for a poetic art of complex, harmonised relationships played out via creative improvisations expressed using instruments tuned to shared scales. JEL: B41, C10, C13, C20, C42, D70, E60, H54, I11, I21, I31, P11

Objective To describe patterns and demographic characteristics of total-population hospital admissions with a diagnosis of Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS) in Australia. Data Source Population summary data for inpatient hospitals admissions (public and private) with a principal diagnosis of TCS (ICD10-AM-Q87.04) were obtained from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Hospital Morbidity Database for a 11-year period (2002-2013). Main Outcome Measures The primary outcome was hospital separation rate (HSR), calculated by dividing the number of hospital separations by estimated resident population per year. Trends in HSR s adjusted for age and sex were investigated by negative binomial regression presented as annual percent change and the association of rates with age and sex was expressed as incidence rate ratio. Results In 244 admissions identified, we observed an increase of 4.55% (95% confidence interval [CI] −1.78, 11.29) in HSR's over the 11-year period. Rates were higher during infancy (1.87 [95% CI 1.42, 2.42]), declining markedly with increasing age. The average length of hospital stay was 6.09 days (95% CI 5.78, 6.40) per episode, but longer for females and infants. Conclusions Findings indicate an increase in hospitalization rates, especially among infants and females which potentially relates to early airway intervention procedures possibly influenced by sex specific-disease severity and phenotypic variability of TCS. Awareness of the TCS phenotype and improved access to genetic testing may support more personalized and efficient care. Total-population administrative data offers a potential to better understand the health burden of rare craniofacial diseases.

Background A recent combination of aspirin (ASP) and omeprazole (OMP) has been presented in a fixed dosage form for the treatment of many cardiovascular diseases, particularly in patients with gastric diseases. However, ASP is very sensitive to degradation into salicylic acid (SAL) as its main degradation product. Hence, it is very important to develop methods for the determination of ASP and OMP in the presence of SAL. Objective In this study, UV spectrophotometry assisted by different univariate/multivariate post processing algorithms is presented for quantitative determination of ASP, OMP, and SAL without any prior separation. Methods The univariate/multivariate algorithms include double divisor ratio difference and double divisor mean centering as the univariate approaches while the multivariate methods include principal component regression (PCR) and partial least squares (PLS) models. Validation of the univariate methods was done according to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines, while the multivariate models were validated using an external validation set. Results The univariate algorithms displayed excellent regression and validation capabilities in terms of linearity, accuracy, precision, and selectivity. Regarding PCR and PLS, the number of latent variables were carefully optimized, and the model’s validation criteria displayed excellent recoveries and lower errors of prediction. Conclusion Our findings indicate that the developed methods were comparable to the reported chromatographic methods, but are simpler and have much shorter analysis times. Highlights Overall, this report presents the first spectrophotometric methods applied for determination of possible combinations of ASP, OMP, and SAL, and poses these methods as valuable analytical tools for in-process testing and quality control analysis.

This research provides insights for the separation of cryptocurrencies from other assets. Using dimensionality reduction techniques, we show that most of the variation among cryptocurrencies, stock...

PurposeThe paper aims to ascertain whether residents in Nguyen Du ward still sort their waste at source following the end of the 3R project that ended in 2009. Additionally, this paper aims to explore the relationship between waste separation practices and social bonds.Design/methodology/approachThe Travis Hirschi theory of social control was applied, together with the mixed method research design which included a structured questionnaire survey. Twelve semi-structured interviews were also conducted with residents and the data processed by SPSS software, using Chi-Square test, Independent-Samples t-test and Pearson's correlation analysis.FindingsA proportion of respondents has continued practicing waste separation since the 3R project ended. The study also indicated that the greater the involvement in family and neighborhood activities the more the participants were likely to practice waste separation.Research limitations/implicationsThe small sample size limits the extent to which the most influential factors can be determined and therefore the degree to which the findings can be generalized.Practical implicationsThe study includes implications for rerunning the waste separation programs for households as together with community campaigns to improve individuals' attachment and commitment and thus their participation in pro-environmental behaviors.Originality/valueTo the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to take a sociological approach to investigate factors affecting household waste separation, which has attracted little attention in previous studies. Useful information is also provided to local authorities for a policy-making process to implement effective domestic waste policies.

BACKGROUND: Chemical shift encoding-based water-fat separation techniques have been used for fat quantification [proton density fat fraction (PDFF)], but they also enable the assessment of bone marrow T2*, which has previously been reported to be a potential biomarker for osteoporosis and may give insight into the cause of vertebral fractures (i.e., osteoporotic vs. traumatic) and the microstructure of the bone when applied to vertebral bone marrow. METHODS: The 32 patients (78.1% with low-energy osteopenic/osteoporotic fractures, mean age 72.3±9.8 years, 76% women; 21.9% with high-energy traumatic fractures, 47.3±12.8 years, no women) were frequency-matched for age and sex to subjects without vertebral fractures (n=20). All study patients underwent 3T-MRI of the lumbar spine including sagittally acquired spoiled gradient echo sequences for chemical shift encoding-based water-fat separation, from which T2* values were obtained. Volumetric trabecular bone mineral density (BMD) and trabecular bone parameters describing the three-dimensional structural integrity of trabecular bone were derived from quantitative CT. Associations between T2* measurements, fracture status and trabecular bone parameters were assessed using multivariable linear regression models. RESULTS: Mean T2* values of non fractured vertebrae in all patients showed a significant correlation with BMD (r=−0.65, P

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is a highly effective and noninvasive technology for retrieving the structural and biophysical attributes of trees using 3-D high-accuracy and high-density point clouds. The separation of leaf and wood points in TLS data is a prerequisite for the accurate and reliable derivation of these attributes. In this study, a new method is proposed to separate the leaf and wood points of individual trees by combining the TLS radiometric (intensity) and geometric (density) data. The leaf points are separated from the wood ones through three steps. First, the corrected intensity data are used to separate a part of the leaf points preliminarily given the differences in reflectance characteristics. Second, the density data are adopted for the further separation of another part of the leaf points because the density of the remaining leaf points is smaller than that of the wood points. Finally, a connectivity clustering algorithm is conducted to form several clusters with different sizes (points) and the remaining leaf points are separated in accordance with the cluster sizes. Eight different trees are selected to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The averaged overall accuracy and kappa coefficient of the eight trees are approximately 95% and 0.81, respectively. The results suggest that the combination of TLS intensity and density data can perform a superior separation of leaf and wood points in terms of efficiency and accuracy, and the proposed separation method can be accurately and robustly used for various trees with different species, sizes, and structures.

Polymer flooding technology is widely used to enhance the oil recovery, but it increases the viscosity of the produced liquid, making the subsequent water treatment more challenging. Application of polymers impacts separation performance of hydrocyclone, which is an important equipment of produced liquid preseparation and sewage treatment in oil fields. In this work, the effect of polymer solution concentrations on the separation performance of hydrocyclone was studied by using sensitivity analysis. The sensitivity was calculated by numerical simulation, and the influence of polymer concentration on velocity field, pressure field, oil volume fraction, and separation efficiency of hydrocyclone was evaluated. The prototype was processed according to the similarity principle of fluid mechanics, and the relevant laboratory tests were carried out to verify the accuracy of simulation results. Within the tested range (100‐1000 mg/L), the increase of polymer solution concentrations caused adverse impacts on the velocity field, pressure field, and oil volume fraction of the hydrocyclone. When the concentrations of polymer solution reached 800 mg/L, the separation efficiency was reduced to less than 60%. The sensitivity sequence obtained by calculation is as follows: underflow outlet pressure drop > overflow outlet pressure drop > axial velocity > radial velocity > tangential velocity > pressure drop ratio. The change of pressure drop at underflow and overflow outlets was the primary cause for poor separation performance of hydrocyclone. The work can be used to guide the design and application of hydrocyclone for efficient treatment of polymer‐containing treatment liquid.

Aims / Objectives: Identification of fish species is essential in export industries. Among the different fish species exported, tuna forms a significant portion and hence the separation of tuna from other fishes is necessary. The work aims to develop automated systems for the separation of commercially important tuna from other fishes. Methodology: The work proposes two models for the classification of commercial fishes. The first model uses conventional feature descriptors, which extract features from both spatial and frequency domain. These features are combined and are reduced by an ensemble dimension reduction method. The combined and reduced feature sets are evaluated using different classifiers. The second proposed model uses four pre-trained convolutional neural networks, VGG16, VGG19, Xception, and MobileNet, for the classification. The models are fine-tuned for the classification process. Results: Results show that for the first model, extreme learning machine classifier with Mercer wavelet kernel gives high accuracy on combined feature set while the polynomial kernel ELM provides better performance with the reduced set. For the second model, a comparison of the performance of four CNN models is done, and results indicate that VGG19 outperforms other networks in the classification task. Conclusion: Among the two proposed models, pre-trained CNN based model shows better performance than the conventional method in the separation task. Different performance measures, accuracy, precision, recall, F-score, and misclassification error are used to evaluate the system. A comparison of performance of the proposed models with the state-of-the-art systems is also reported.

Objective This study investigated the relationship between long working hours and the incidence of divorce or separation among Korean female and male workers. Methods A cohort study was conducted in 125,108 Korean workers, married at baseline, who attended health examinations between 2012 and 2017 and had been followed annually or biennially until December 31, 2018. The weekly working hours and marital status changes were measured using self-administered questionnaires. This study was performed using sex stratification. Results In a multivariable-adjusted model, by comparing working hours->52 hours/week with 35 to 40 hours/week-the hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for incidents of divorce or separation were 1.60 (1.03-2.49) and 0.86 (0.66-1.12) in females and males, respectively. Conclusions This study showed that long working hours could contribute to marital status changes in Korean female workers.

Background: Research shows that women are more likely to move out after a separation, but the evidence is largely limited to younger ages. Little is known about short-term and medium-term mobility consequences in the case of a ‘grey divorce’. Objective: Focusing on married couples separating at ages 50 to 70, we investigate who leaves the joint home upon separation and in the years immediately following separation. Considering ex-couple characteristics, we contrast the bargaining principle, which predicts higher moving-out rates for women, and the fairness principle, which points to the opposite. Methods: Using Belgian register and census data, we study marital couples who separated in 2002 at ages 50 to 70 after a marriage of at least 15 years’ duration. We follow them for three years and estimate their moving patterns using multinomial logistic regressions and continuous-time models that account for the lagged effect of separation. Results: Older women have a relative advantage in keeping the home at separation and maintain this advantage in the years following the separation. This finding contrasts with prior findings concerning younger ex-couples. Exceptions are women who are significantly younger than their ex-partner, whose children remain with the father, who live at their husband’s birthplace, and who rent rather than own the home. Conclusions: Our findings point to a principle of fairness at play in the moving-out decision among older separating couples. Nonetheless, not all women benefit from this advantage. Contribution: We show that post-divorce moving-out patterns are different at older ages. Looking beyond the immediate moment of separation allows for firmer conclusions to be reached about whether the home is eventually kept.

This paper examines the issues surrounding the analysis of quasi-complete binary data using logistic regression models with the aid of some popular statistical software programs. Results from three procedures in SAS (LOGISTIC, CATMOD and GENMOD) and the pull-down menu in SPSS were examined. The review was conducted in response to an observation that some users of these procedures do not always independently account for data irregularities encountered when interpreting the computer results. This may be due partly to the fact that the information provided by some statistical software packages may not be sufficient for the user to make informed decisions regarding the results. The dataset that motivated this review came from a substance abuse treatment outcome study. Thirty subjects were followed up to determine the proportion that relapsed and to determine the factors that may predict the relapse. Binary logistic regression models were used to determine the predictors of a relapse. Results showed that there was quasi-complete separation of the data and as such the interpretation is limited. SAS and its procedures in the analysis of quasi-complete data gave very large standard errors, computed more iterations, and provided a useful warning for researchers regarding the configuration of data. In contrast, SPSS provided estimates with smaller standard errors, and did not necessarily provide warning for researchers of the data configuration. Thus researchers who make use of statistical softwares without the knowledge of the iterative procedures used by the statistical package should be aware of the possibility of erroneous conclusions as a consequence when analyzing quasi-complete or complete data.

In this paper, a tree-structured method is proposed to extend Classification and Regression Trees (CART) algorithm to multivariate sur- vival data, assuming a proportional hazard structure in the whole tree. The method works on the marginal survivor distributions and uses a sandwich estimator of variance to account for the association between survival times. The Wald-test statistics is defined as the splitting rule and the survival trees are developed by maximizing between-node separation. The proposed method intends to classify patients into subgroups with distinctively different prognosis. However, unlike the conventional tree-growing algorithms which work on a subset of data at every partition, the proposed method deals with the whole data set and searches the global optimal split at each partition. The method is applied to a prostate cancer data and its performance is also evaluated by several simulation studies.

In a feedback control system like the manufacturing equipment or physiological system, its observed data usually manifests a specific autocorrelation structure and mixes with two external signals: ...

In this study, the rotary triboelectrification separation technology is applied to the separation of macerals for low rank coal, which has not been studied by previous researchers. The effects of a...

Summary The identification of the Hammerstein–Wiener (H‐W) systems based on the nonuniform input–output dataset remains a challenging problem. This article studies the identification problem of a p...

Despite being a popular policy tool to promote household waste separation in local communities, role model strategies have been shown to achieve only mixed success so far. The reasons for their varied performance are not clearly understood. The present study aims to address this important issue by exploring how the influence of role models varies with the social, economic, and demographic features of local residential areas. Interrupted time series analyses of monthly observations of public participation in a large waste sorting program in Hangzhou, China have been conducted to test the theoretical propositions. The results show that role models increased the overall program participation level by 5.3%. This positive influence was greater in areas with stronger group cohesion, higher economic level, and a younger population. However, role models had a minimal effect among people with a low contribution predisposition. These findings demonstrate that the influence of role models on household recycling depends significantly on local contexts and personal idiosyncrasy, implying ways to improve the effectiveness of role model strategies in motivating residents’ sustainable behavior.

A procedure is considered for the single separation of a multicomponent mixture in a liquid–liquid extraction system. The fractionation distribution system’s loss of Gibbs energy during the separation process is calculated. Equations are proposed for determining the thermodynamic work of separation. A connection is established between the change in the Gibbs energy of a complex multicomponent extraction system and the fundamental concepts of the general theory of separation that characterize the increment in the value of the processed material.

The article undertakes the topic of psychological diagnosis in a situation of joint custody from the forensic psychologist’s perspective. The authors underline the necessity of deep psychological analysis of the issue in order to answer the question of how separating parents can create the best possible conditions of care for their child and how to minimize the stress inevitably accompanying all family members in such a situation. Parenting model in which both parents are similarly engaged in upbringing process and the child lives at both parents’ places is discussed. The authors summarize benefits and disadvantages of parenting with the so-called ‘leading parent’ and joint custody trying to show the importance of organization of the parenting that first of all minimizes the unavoidable stress of the child in the situation of separation and protects existing bonds. It was proposed that the process of psychological diagnosis for legal purposes should not focus on which parent has higher level of ‘parental competence’, but should consider which specific situation may be the most beneficial for the child, bearing in mind the priority given to fostering attachment. This implies the need to change parents’, lawyers’ and psychologists’ way of thinking. For forensic psychologists, the proposed perspective may even require a reorganization of diagnostic process.

Cluster analysis can be defined as the group of methods that aim to classify multivariate observations by using similarity/dissimilarity measures between observations. The clusters obtained as a result of the analysis are required to be homogeneous within themselves and heterogeneous among themselves. This study aims to cluster cancer types in datasets created by considering age group characteristics according to gender. In the study, clustering analysis was applied to four different datasets created from the data registered between 1982 and 2016 for 57 cancer types in men and women according to age groups at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, and the analysis results were evaluated and interpreted. In addition, in determining the clustering method and the number of clusters, Cophenetic correlation coefficients and 26 cluster validity indices were used, respectively. The distribution of cancer types in age groups determined by gender was observed in 4 different datasets created with 3 different age group characteristics that led to the best separation of cancer groups, and the clustering tendencies of cancers in the relevant age groups were investigated. R-3.5.1 package program was used for analyses. In this study, the analysis results of the k-means method and the average linkage method, which was decided to be the most successful method due to the high cophenetic correlation coefficient value, were evaluated and interpreted. The number of clusters was determined as 3 with the help of cluster validity indices. When the results obtained are examined, it is seen that breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men is the most common type of cancer in the age group of 40 and above, and that these cancers are alone in a cluster. In addition, it is seen that the 0-14 age group characteristic fails to separate the clusters.

This study investigates changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure in Sprague Dawley rat dams exposed to postpartum stress. Eighteen pregnant dams were randomly divided into three groups: Control (C, n = 6, no-stress), Maternal Separation (MS, n = 6), and Brief Maternal Separation (BMS, n = 6). The dams and pups in group C were housed under standard conditions in their cages at the animal facility during the postpartum period. From postpartum day 2 to day 14, the dams and pups in group MS and BMS were separated from each other every day for 3-h and 15-min, respectively. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures of the dams were recorded on postpartum days 2, 8, and 14 by tail-cuff method. The findings show that the 3-h dam-pup separation caused high systolic blood pressure in dams, compared to the control dams at all time points that blood pressure was recorded (p

The assessment reform which has enveloped every part of the world warrants an evaluation of teaching and learning practices through washback study. This is due to the fact that washback is the phenomenon of how testing influences the teaching and learning. Malaysia has adopted Outcome Based Education policy and therefore, the efficacy of its assessment system, Outcome Based Assessment, is deemed pivotal to be evaluated. Against this backdrop, the Washback on Learning Outcome Survey (WOLOS) was developed and validated by means of qualitative (semi-structured interview) and quantitative analysis (Item Objective Congruence) and Rasch Measurement Model). Responses to 150 items by 65 participants from one public university in Malaysia were subjected to the Rasch analysis to ascertain the psychometric properties of the WOLOS. Five criteria within reliability (person and item reliability), validity (separation index, item polarity and item fit) and precision of measurement were evaluated to ensure the usefulness of measurement in WOLOS. Some items were deleted. Subsequently, reanalysis of the criteria provided evidence that WOLOS can be considered a psychometrically reliable instrument for the evaluation of impact of assessment practices on student learning outcomes.

Background: A preliminary survey of prospective researchers in the Kendari City General Hospital especially in the Emergency Installation (ER), the number of emergency room visits has decreased in the last 3 years, in 2017 the total number of patients treated in the ER was 10.869 patients, then in 2018 the number of visits decreased to 10.768 patients, and in 2019 the number of visits fell to 9.747 patients. Meanwhile, based on the data in the last few months in 2020 there was a very large spike in decline in the last month, in January 2020 the number of patient who visited, were 849 people, then in February 2020 the number of the patient were 1202 patients, March 2020 the number of visits was 1216 patients and finally in April 2020 it fell to 451 people. The purpose of this study is to analyse the effect of separation of the initial assessment documents on Length of Stay in Emergency Installation in Kendari City General Hospital. Methods: The research design was experimental with design pretest post-test one group design. The research location was in the Emergency Room of the Kendari City Regional General Hospital which was carried out during February 2021. The population of all patients who were hospitalized was> 17 years old while the sample was 18 people with the sampling technique of separated random sampling. Result: This study found separation of the initial assessment documents affected significantly to Length of Stay patients in Emergency room in Kendari City General Hospital (p- value = 0.045 < 0.05). Conclusion: Separation technique of the initial assessment documents on Length of Stay was effective to reduce the Length of Stay patients in Emergency room in Kendari City Hospital.

Due to the indubitable role of vitamins in maintaining human health, a lot of attention has been paid to the methods and analytical procedures of their determination. Voltammetric methods are of particular interest as they do not involve complex sample preparation, however, close values of the redox potential of some vitamins may result in peak overlapping, hindering the quantitative analysis. This paper addresses the separation of overlapped reduction peak of vitamins B1 and B3 by means of Continuous Wavelet Transform (with appropriately selected mother wavelets) and differentiation of the recorded voltammograms. These numerical algorithms allowed to obtained linear, single-variable calibration functions that comply with the applied in analytical chemistry criteria regarding the correlation coefficients and the limit of detection and quantification. Their relatively simple implementation does not include any manual interpretation step; thus, these algorithms provide impartial and reproducible results. The proposed methodology has been applied in the determination of vitamins B1 and B3 in dietary supplements, providing results consistent with the declaration of the manufacturer. Graphic abstract

Fuzzy C-means (FCM) clustering algorithm is a widely used method in data mining. However, there is a big limitation that the predefined number of clustering must be given. So it is very important to find an optimal number of clusters. Therefore, a new validity function of FCM clustering algorithm is proposed to verify the validity of the clustering results. This function is defined based on the intra-class compactness and inter-class separation from the fuzzy membership matrix, the data similarity between classes and the geometric structure of the data set, whose minimum value represents the optimal clustering partition result. The proposed clustering validity function and seven traditional clustering validity functions are experimentally verified on four artificial data sets and six UCI data sets. The simulation results show that the proposed validity function can obtain the optimal clustering number of the data set more accurately, and can still find the more accurate clustering number under the condition of changing the fuzzy weighted index, which has strong adaptability and robustness.

Rozwiązanie i rozłączenie małżeństwa oraz ich skutki w projektach prawa małżeńskiego w Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej Istotą małżeństwa była stałość wspólnego pożycia małżeńskiego mająca na celu wzajemną pomoc oraz zrodzenie i wychowywanie dzieci. Podzielone społeczeństwo Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej toczyło spory wokół charakteru prawa małżeńskiego, przez co nie doszło do ujednolicenia tej gałęzi prawa w okresie międzywojennym. Konsekwencje na gruncie prawa cywilnego wywołane międzywojenną mozaiką prawną były odczuwane jeszcze w okresie Polski Ludowej. Projekt Komisji Kodyfikacyjnej ogłoszony publicznie i poddawany opinii społecznej w postaci ankiet oraz publicznych dyskusji został skrytykowany przez środowisko konserwatywne. Dwóch przedstawicieli tegoż środowiska przygotowało swoje projekty prawa małżeńskiego. Byli nimi Zygmunt Liskowski, którego projekt prawa małżeńskiego oparty na systemie wyznaniowym poparł Episkopat oraz projekt księdza Jerzego Jaglarza w dużej mierze powielający rozwiązania prawne zawarte w projekcie Karola Lutostańskiego. Z uwagi na to, że celem niniejszego artykułu jest przedstawienie instytucji rozwodu i separacji oraz ich skutków w powyższych projektach prawa małżeńskiego okresu międzywojennego, zastosowano tu przede wszystkim metodę historyczno-prawną oraz komparatystyczną.

In this paper, the enhanced gravity separation of maceral components was studied based on the characteristics of maceral components for low-rank coal from Shendong. Vitrinite and ash content were o...

Background Reliable and valid measurement is the foundation of evidence-based practice. The self-administered Foot Health Assessment Instrument (S-FHAI) was recently developed to measure patients’ evaluations of their own foot health. Evidence regarding the psychometric properties of the S-FHAI is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate those properties by using a Rasch analysis. Methods This methodological study analysed secondary data that was collected from nurses (n = 411) in 2015. The psychometric properties of the S-FHAI were evaluated using the Rasch model. Unidimensionality was analysed first, followed by item functioning, person misfit and differential item functioning (DIF). Results The S-FHAI demonstrated evidence of unidimensionality, with an acceptable item fit according to the Rasch model. Person fit and person separation were low, however, indicating restricted separation among different respondents. Item separation was high, demonstrating clear discrimination between the items. No DIF was detected in relation to gender, but significant DIF was demonstrated in relation to age for 6 of the 25 items. Conclusions The S-FHAI has potential for use in investigating self-reported foot health. The Rasch analysis revealed that the psychometric properties of the instrument were acceptable, although some issues should be addressed to improve the scale. In future, it may be beneficial to analyse the sensitivity of the items and to test the S-FHAI in more diverse patient populations.

International audience; Within the European Research Network on BPD (EURNET-BPD; n = 85 BPD adolescents, n = 84 healthy controls, aged 13–19), this study explored the combination of three types of adversity—maltreatment, stressful life events (early separation from parents, parental suicide attempt, parental chronic disease) and parental bonding—as predictors of BPD, on a criteria-based approach. Results indicated that cumulative traumatic experiences largely characterize borderline adolescent’s history; and, in the multivariate regression models, all adversity experiences were likely to contribute to BPD symptoms. The role of emotional abuse, parental suicide attempt, and a decrease in paternal level of care were particularly prominent. Moreover, adversities combinations were different for each criterion, suggesting that specific sets of traumatic experiences are leading to BPD. These findings argue for a further criteria-based exploration of trauma in borderline patients, as well as a more accurate and efficient prevention.

Analytical band centrifugation (ABC) was first developed for the separation of macromolecules in centrifugation cells ~60 years ago. Since its development, ABC has been predominantly utilized to study macromolecular interactions or chemical reactions between two solutions in situ upon mixing. In this current study, we evaluated ABC separations on modern analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) instruments for therapeutic adeno-associated viruses (AAVs). ABC provided sufficient separation between the genome-containing full AAV particle and the empty AAV capsid, which need to be controlled during the manufacturing process. Because ABC produces a physical separation, no complex algorithm or sophisticated software is needed to process the experimental raw data. ABC profiles, dubbed “centrifugrams”, can be analyzed with a similar approach as typically used for electrophoretic separations to produce relative percent area. Sedimentation coefficients (s) of analytes can also be determined from ABC. The relative area percent and s value obtained in ABC experiments were shown to be consistent with those determined by conventional sedimentation velocity AUC (SV-AUC). Additionally, the separation and quantification by ABC were found to be reproducible and did not appear to be sensitive to experimental variations of initial rotor temperature or cell misalignment. The robustness of the separation, ease of data processing, and universal applicability for analysis of different AAV serotypes make ABC a promising technique for routine analysis of empty and full AAV particle composition in therapeutic products., Graphical abstract, We demonstrated the use of analytical band centrifugation (ABC) for measuring a critical quality attribute of therapeutical AAV drug candidates, i.e., the empty and full particle ratio. The ABC method produced good linearity and reproducibility and was shown to be more robust than conventional sedimentation velocity analytical ultracentrifugation (SV-AUC).