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Collateral consequences faced by individuals convicted of a sexual offense have been widely referenced in the literature. There is yet to be a systematic examination of collateral consequences affecting individuals, however, due to measurement inconsistencies and the absence of a psychometrically validated instrument. The current study developed and validated a measure of collateral consequences faced by individuals convicted of a sexual offense. Specifically, this study investigated (a) the underlying factor structure of collateral consequences commonly endorsed by individuals convicted of a sexual offense through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) procedures and (b) reliability and validity indicators of the aforementioned scale. Participants were 218 individuals convicted of and registered for a sexual offense in the state of Texas. Study measures included a pool of 66 collateral consequences items in addition to psychological self-report instruments addressing hopelessness, shame, social well-being, and discrimination. EFA results revealed a two-dimensional construct representing collateral consequences affecting areas of social and psychological well-being. The current measure demonstrated adequate reliability and validity. Limitations and future directions of findings are addressed.

Although evidence suggests many benefits of mindfulness, interpersonal forms of mindfulness are understudied. We present the conceptualization of a novel theoretical construct, mindful partnering, as interpersonal mindfulness with ones’ romantic partner; we also present initial validation of the Mindful Partnering Measure (MPM). Participants were 599 individuals from: 1) an undergraduate student sample recruited from a University subject pool (used for exploratory factor analyses, N= 335) and 2) a sample of married adults that was recruited through Mechanical Turk (used for confirmatory factor analyses, N= 264, subsets used for construct validity N= 147, and test-retest analyses N= 53). Results of the EFA and CFA supported a five-factor structure with the subscales: (1) mindful awareness, (2) nonreactivity, (3) emotional awareness, (4) acceptance/compassion, and (5) self-compassion. Tests of internal consistency, construct validity, and test-retest reliability in the sample of married adults provided evidence for reliability and validity of the total MPM to assess mindful partnering, as well as the mindful awareness and acceptance/compassion subscales. However, the other subscales did not demonstrate adequate test-retest reliability. Use of this measure in further research will allow for the study of the potential correlates and benefits of mindful partnering to further our understanding of this novel construct.

In orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning, soft tissue profile assessment is of prime importance. Due to the emerging soft tissue paradigm, greater emphasis has been given to the clinical examination of soft tissue function and esthetics. Various cephalometric and photographic methods were introduced in the past to assess and measure profile angle and other facial angles. Our new device, that is, profilometer, helps to measure profile angle clinically.

We compare the performance of teams with that of individuals in a simple creative task – generating a title for a short video. To measure performance, we assess the quality of titles using click ra...

In this study, we have used the concept of product-like fractal measure to analyze the fractal heat transfer in anisotropic media. This concept was introduced by Li and Ostoja-Starzewski in order t...

There is growing interest in not only intensive care unit (ICU) outcomes but also the resources required to deliver this care and itscost-effectiveness. The most available metric of resource utilisation is ICU length of stay, which is influenced by casemix, illness severity, and institutional characteristics, including delays in discharge. For instance, ICU length of stay is generally longer for more severely ill patients. Comparison of length of stay between units must therefore account for differences in baseline patient characteristics.

Predictive power of many behavioral measures relies on high test-retest reliability, whereby a measure yields similar data when repeated measure administration occurs at spaced-out intervals. Howev...

Thin filament pyrometry is used to measure the time-varying temperature field in a 1-m methanol pool fire. A digital camera with optical filters and zoom lens recorded the emission intensity of an array of 12-µm silicon–carbide filaments oriented horizontally at various heights across the steadily burning pool fire. A 50-µm-diameter thermocouple measured the temperature at locations corresponding to the filament positions. A correlation was developed between the local probability density functions of the thermocouple time-series measurements corrected for radiation and thermal inertia effects and the camera grayscale pixel intensity of the filaments. A regression analysis yields the local mean temperature and its variance. The time series of the temperature field is transformed into average values during consecutive phases of the fire’s puffing cycle, providing quantitative insight into the complex and dynamic structure of a turbulent fire.

The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable assessment tool to measure music educators’ participation in and perceptions of their high-quality professional development (PD) experiences. A sample of 450 in-service music educators across the United States completed a 78-item rating scale embedded within 10 domains reflecting high-quality PD criteria: (a) content, (b) evidence/research, (c) coherence, (d) relevance, (e) active learning, (f) application, (g) collaboration, (h) reflection, (i) feedback, and (j) duration. Participants also answered the open-ended question, “What are some adjectives you would use to describe your overall professional development experiences?” Data were analyzed using Rasch measurement analyses and sentiment analyses. Results indicated an overall acceptable data-to-model fit, with the content domain reflecting most participation and the duration domain reflecting least participation. Bias analyses suggested that music educators received systematically different quality PD experiences based upon their teaching area and/or grade-level emphases. Participants had an overall positive sentiment of their PD experiences, which positively correlates with the level of quality PD they experienced ( r = 0.42, p

How do we measure economic growth? In the eighteenth century, well before the birth of Gross Domestic Product commonly used today, looking at the sign of the balance of trade was a way to take the pulse of a nation's economy. Adam Smith rejects this measure and instead suggests that we should look at population growth. Nations that are able to produce enough to support the life of a growing population have growing economies, nations with constant population have stagnant economies, and nations that face a declining population have contracting economies. Thus, population for Adam Smith is a proxy for our Gross Domestic Product, indicating the changes in production in a country over time.

Definitions in relatively new fields of science need to be clearly articulated by researchers, even if the field has yet to adopt a standard definition. In this article, we discuss the various definitions of positive affect and positive emotion. We then review evidence related to defining an emotion as subjectively enjoyed (i.e. attitudes toward emotions). We also review evidence that suggests that the most commonly used measure of positive affect is problematic and does not cleanly measure positive affect. Finally, we review evidence that suggests that positive affect and approach motivation are not invariably positively associated, as many prior theories had proposed.

Automatic positioning systems are widely used to measure acoustic fields. In practice, the orthogonality of the mechanical axes of systems can be violated during mechanical assembly and operation, producing notable errors in determining the field structure. A new way of using acoustic holography to measure angles between mechanical axes and correcting errors introduced by them is studied.

Different joint types and geometries have been considered to measure the fracture toughness ( Gc) of adhesives. However, results show that, sometimes, the obtained Gc values for the same adhesives are not similar in different reports. Several factors including the joints geometry, material properties of the substrate, and also the test conditions influence the obtained results. This study is conducted to find a logical connection between these factors and to find their influences on the obtained mode I fracture toughness ( GIc) to understand which parameters are the most influential and which ones are less significant. To this aim, 115 values of different GIcalready reported in the literature were collected and examined regarding the geometrical and material parameters. To find the rational relationship between the effective parameters and the reported GIcvalues, a method based on the artificial neural network technique was employed. The results revealed that whilst the fracture energy of aluminum adhesive joints is more influenced by geometrical parameters including the joint type and substrate thickness, the steel adhesive joints are more sensitive to the adhesive properties and bondline thickness. With this study, it is possible to design an optimum test by minimizing the effects of variables that cause errors in obtaining fracture toughness and also to estimate GIc of adhesives by using the developed model. On the other hand, it is also possible to design real structures in which the fracture toughness of the adhesive reaches its maximum value.

Phenomena in the world we study can often be described by various mathematical structures. If a psychologist who studies human behavior takes a realist position, they should not choose a mathematical structure that represents this behavior without examination as to whether the phenomenon could be represented by this structure, but they should eventually choose the mathematical structure after thorough reasoning based on full knowledge of the problem. Using Cronbach and Gleser’s measure for assessing the similarities between psychological profiles, I show that psychologists often simply copy the mathematical structure used in other research without thoroughly reasoning about the problem. As Arocha (2021) shows, researchers should prefer approaches that include no unjustified assumptions about the mathematical structure that represents the behavior.

In this paper, a new structural damage detection approach is proposed, based on monitoring of the magnetic field intensity variations using smartphones. Experimental and numerical studies are conducted on steel plates to verify the efficiency of the proposed approach. Various damage scenarios are introduced to the steel plates. Then, a smartphone magnetometer sensor is deployed to measure the changes of the magnetic flux due to damage progression. The experimental and numerical results agree well with each other. Based on the results, the magnetic field intensity increases as the damage progresses. Furthermore, the damage detection accuracy declines as the distance of the smartphone increases from the steel plate surface. The proposed method can be considered as a promising, cost-effective and crowdsourcing sensing platform empowered by citizens for structural health monitoring of civil infrastructure systems.

To ensure good signal integrity design, there are a number of design principles that should be applied, including avoiding any breaks in a current return path, e.g., a ground plane in a multilayer stack up. Occasionally, these guidelines are not followed: possibly through necessity or convenience. However, it is helpful to the designer to understand the impact of such factors that might influence the quality of the digital signal being transmitted. Typically, such an analysis might be undertaken using eye diagrams but it is more difficult to perform comparative testing on single transitions. This letter applies the FSV method, using the modified transient analysis approach, to single transitions for a PCB track having its return path influenced by a break in the return plane; in this case, the break is a circular ‘gap’ in the ground plane. FSV’s global difference measure is used to quantify the effects of the amount of overlap of the signal track with the gap. The paper illustrates how the modified transient FSV approach can help provide quantified supporting information for the SI designer.

In a 3D reconstruction pipeline, stereo matching step aims at computing a disparity map representing the depth between image pair. The evaluation of the disparity map can be done through the estimation of a confidence metric. In this article, we propose a new confidence metric, named ambiguity integral metric, to assess the quality of the produced disparity map. This metric is derived from the concept of ambiguity, which characterizes the property of the cost curve profile. It aims to quantify the difficulty in identifying the correct disparity to select. The quality of ambiguity integral metric is evaluated through the ROC curve methodology and compared with other confidence measures. In regards to other measures, the ambiguity integral measure shows a good potential. We also integrate this measure through various steps of the stereo matching pipeline in order to improve the performance estimation of the disparity map. First, we include ambiguity integral measure during the Semi Global Matching optimization step. The objective is to weight, by ambiguity integral measure, the influence of points in the SGM regularization to reduce the impact of ambiguous points. Secondly, we use ambiguity as an input of a disparity refinement deep learning architecture in order to easily locate noisy area and preserve details.

We investigate the system-environment information flow from the point of view ofcomplete complementarity relations. We consider some commonly used noisy quantum channels:Amplitude damping, phase damping, bit flip, bit-phase flip, phase flip, depolarizing, and correlatedamplitude damping. By starting with an entangled bipartite pure quantum state, with the linearentropy being the quantifier of entanglement, we study how entanglement is redistributed and turnedinto general correlations between the degrees of freedom of the whole system. For instance, it ispossible to express the entanglement entropy in terms of the multipartite quantum coherence or interms of the correlated quantum coherence of the different partitions of the system. In addition,we notice that for the depolarizing and bit-phase flip channels the wave and particle aspects candecrease or increase together. Besides, by considering the environment as part of a pure quantumsystem, the linear entropy is shown to be not just a measure of mixedness of a particular subsystem,but a correlation measure of the subsystem with rest of the world., Comment: 19 pages

Precise quantification of vascular developments in Zebrafish requires continuous in-vivo 3D imaging. Here we employed a bi-directional light-sheet illumination microscope to characterize the development process of Zebrafish’s intersegmental vessels. A Virtual Reality-based method was used to measure the lengths of intersegmental vessels (ISVs). The quantified growth rates of typical ISVs can be plotted, and unusual growth of some specific vessels was also observed.

For this paper, we developed and validated the Orientation to School Renewal instrument,a 21-item instrument, based on seven factors, which allows schools to measure their school renewal efforts. T...

It is well established that cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is inversely associated with numerous morbidities independent of age, biological sex, race or ethnicity, and commonly obtained risk factors. More recent evidence also demonstrates that the addition of CRF to multivariable risk prediction algorithms used to estimate cardiovascular disease risk improves risk stratification. However, it is neither feasible nor appropriate to perform an exercise test to quantify CRF during most routine clinical encounters. A growing number of studies have suggested that CRF can be assessed pragmatically and reasonably accurately without performing a maximal exercise test. The concept that CRF can be substantially improved in response to regular exercise consistent with consensus recommendations underscores the recommendation that CRF should be a routine measure—a vital sign—across health care settings. Herein, we provide a brief, narrative overview of the evidence in support of this recommendation.

Cosine response is an important characteristic of an optical detector for irradiance measurements. The non-ideal cosine response of a detector may lead to errors in irradiance measurements. In this paper, a theoretical simulation of irradiance generated due to isotropic point light sources is carried out for different illumination conditions. Simulation results show that the errors in irradiance measurements due to the cosine error of detectors become significantly high at the edges and corners of the floor when a light source is placed at the center of the roof. Further, it is observed that the errors are more in the enclosures having a height smaller than the floor dimensions. Even calibrated detectors measure erratic values of irradiance for a wider angle of incidence. Therefore, cosine errors in irradiance measurements are of great importance especially during the current scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic, for ensuring the correct dose of Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI).

A sport-specific, self-report measure of identity foreclosure was developed through a systematic process that included item pool generation, expert review, administration of items to a development sample of intercollegiate student athletes (N = 326), item evaluation, and administration of scales to validation samples of intercollegiate student athletes (N = 322, N = 54, and N = 64, respectively). The process yielded two four-item scales reflecting commitment to the occupational identity of athlete and one 4-item scale reflecting active exploration of roles other than that of athlete that (a) are internally consistent and temporally stable, (b) demonstrate preliminary factorial and convergent validity, and (c) can be used to create indices of identity foreclosure tailored to the sport context. The resulting Sport-Specific Measure of Identity Foreclosure has potential utility as an assessment tool for research and practice with athletes.

This paper presents results of scaled physical model tests performed to measure the reaction developing on a rigid pipe buried in dry sand when the pipe is subjected to vertical downwards movement relative to its surrounding soil. The aim of this experimental study is to evaluate the efficacy of methods used to determine the properties of vertical bearing springs, an integral part of beam-on-nonlinear Winkler spring models used for the analysis of buried pipelines subjected to permanent ground displacements. We show that bearing capacity formulas used in practice to estimate the ultimate reaction developing on buried pipes may provide reasonably accurate estimates, provided that they are used together with sand friction angle values that account for the fact that granular materials do not obey an associative flow rule, and with bearing capacity factors compatible with the mode of sand failure observed in the tests. We also provide evidence suggesting that laying pipes in loose sand backfills does not have a beneficial effect on the reaction developing on the pipe, compared to medium dense sand, and we recommend against using loose sand material properties for the estimation of the properties of vertical bearing springs.

Recently, a new approach for measuring well-being was developed by eighteen European countries in the wake of the “Beyond GDP movement” started in the 1990 and continued by the Stiglitz Commission. Among these European economies, eleven of them use measures of well-being for monitoring public policy. The Italian Statistical Institute (Istat) jointly with the National Council for Economics and Labor (CNEL) developed a multi-dimensional framework for measuring “equitable and sustainable well-being” (Bes) and since 2013 Istat publishes an annual report on well-being. The Bes framework is continuously updated to take into account new challenges: the exploitation of new data sources, to produce better indicators; new ways for making the communication more effective and foster public awareness; the inclusion of well-being indicators in the budget documents, as established by law. Especially for the latter, the Italian Bes can be considered a forerunner and, more generally, the Italian experience is one of the most relevant at the European level, showing potential of become a benchmark for other countries. This article illustrates the development of the Italian Bes, focusing on its recent progresses and challenges.

We developed a Dual-PPACs detector for fast neutron measurements that consists of two sets of PPAC: conventional PPAC and fission PPAC. A238U(U3O8) coating is placed in the fission PPAC’s anode, which is used as the neutrons conversion layer. An experiment was performed to measure neutron time-of-flight (TOF) in which 252Cf spontaneous fission source was used. An excellent time resolution of 164ps has been observed at 6 mbar in isobutene gas. With the excellent time resolution of Dual-PPACs detector, exact neutron energy can be extracted from the timing measurement. The experimental detection efficiency was 1.9 × 10−7, consistent with the efficiency of 2.5 × 10−7 given by a Geant4 simulation. Ultimately, the results show that the Dual-PPACs detector is a suitable candidate for measuring fast neutrons in the future CiADS system.

We describe an undergraduate physics laboratory experiment that uses a 2-inch diameter NaI gamma detector to measure natural radiation in soils. Students first calibrate the detector for the source-detector geometry, energy-dependent detection efficiency, and sample self-absorption. Then, the activity of the 238U and 232Th decay series, as well as the activity of 40K in the soil, are measured. The results are comparable in accuracy to those obtained using a high-resolution germanium gamma detector.

Due to the limitation of working environment and structure conditions, it is difficult to directly measure the propeller excitation of ship propulsion shafting system. A method based on waveguide function and modal method combining with shafting vibration response measurement was proposed to estimate the propeller longitudinal excitation indirectly. Firstly, a waveguide transfer model for the general structure of the propulsion shafting is proposed that is suitable for estimating propeller excitation from shafting vibration response. Secondly, the longitudinal excitation of the propeller is calculated by measuring the waveguide coefficients of any shaft sections via the proposed hybrid method. Finally, the scheme is verified by a concrete example. The simulation results prove its feasibility and effectiveness for estimating propeller excitation by measuring the shafting vibration response, which provides a novel scheme for accurately grasping the propeller excitation and effectively controlling the vibration and noise of hull structure.

Objetivo: identificar la estabilidad entre los resultados de la validez de constructo, convergente y discriminante de un instrumento de capital intelectual. Método cuantitativo:análisis estadístico de tres tipos de validez, previa traducción inversa (inglés-español-inglés) del cuestionario; muestra no probabilística de 226 empresas de México y Bolivia; cálculo del análisis factorial exploratorio, análisis factorial confirmatorio, varianza promedio extraída y criterio Fornell-Larcker. Resultados: se confirma la conveniencia de aplicar pruebas diversas para obtener la validez de un instrumento de capital intelectual. Originalidad: privilegiar lo teórico sobre lo estadístico en el análisis de la validez de instrumentos; confianza de replicar este cuestionario en contextos similares. Limitaciones: tipo y tamaño de muestra; inclusión marginal de la validez de contenido.

Different from traditional signature schemes, the paper gives a novel protocol which uses quantum logic gates to perform operations on quantum states, and it realizes the quantum state representation of two classical information and uses mixed entangled states to measure information. The binary measurement results of the protocol are converted into blocks of a certain length, and these blocks are encrypted by quantum Fourier transform and transmitted through N-dimensional quantum states. In the proposed protocol, the quantum channel uses N-dimensional quantum states, which is more efficient than the currently proposed two-dimensional information carrier channel protocol. The security analysis of this article shows that the program is anti-counterfeit, undeniable and blind. In addition, compared with other existing efficiency analysis schemes, this scheme has higher signature efficiency.

We further investigate (M)-property, an important structure characteristic of monotone measures. Some necessary and/or sufficient conditions of (M)-property are shown and some characteristics of (M)-property are described. It is shown that the restriction of a monotone measure to an atom of its own possesses (M)-property on this atom. By means of the (M)-property we characterize the equivalence among the Choquet integral, the pan-integral, the concave integral, and the Shilkret integral on atoms of monotone measures and obtain some special results. We also show a necessary and sufficient condition for the concave integral and the pan-integral to coincide on atoms of monotone measures.

/SummaryAs the tools to simultaneously record electrophysiological signals from large numbers of neurons within and across brain regions become increasingly available, this opens up for the first time the possibility of establishing the details of causal relationships between monosynaptically connected neurons and the patterns of neural activation that underlie perception and behavior. Although recorded activity across synaptically connected neurons has served as the cornerstone for much of what we know about synaptic transmission and plasticity, this has largely been relegated to ex-vivo preparations that enable precise targeting under relatively well-controlled conditions. Analogous studies in-vivo, where image-guided targeting is often not yet possible, rely on indirect, data-driven measures, and as a result such studies have been sparse and the dependence upon important experimental parameters has not been well studied. Here, using in-vivo extracellular single unit recordings in the topographically aligned rodent thalamocortical pathway, we sought to establish a general experimental and computational framework for inferring synaptic connectivity. Specifically, attacking this problem within a statistical signal-detection framework utilizing experimentally recorded data in the ventral-posterior medial (VPm) region of the thalamus and the homologous region in layer 4 of primary somatosensory cortex (S1) revealed a trade-off between network activity levels needed for the data-driven inference and synchronization of nearby neurons within the population that result in masking of synaptic relationships. Taken together, we provide a framework for establishing connectivity in multi-site, multi-electrode recordings based on statistical inference, setting the stage for large-scale assessment of synaptic connectivity within and across brain structures.New & NoteworthyDespite the fact that all brain function relies on the long-range transfer of information across different regions, the tools enabling us to measure connectivity across brain structures are lacking. Here, we provide a statistical framework for identifying and assessing potential monosynaptic connectivity across neuronal circuits from population spiking activity that generalizes to large-scale recording technologies that will help us to better understand the signaling within networks that underlies perception and behavior.

An approach for monitoring the respiratory rate based on impedance measurements is presented in this paper. In order to possibly obtain a minimally-invasive wearable device, the electrodes are located on the head, near mastoid bones, and measure the variations induced in the electrical impedance by the physiological changes in the pharynx produced by respiration. The feasibility of the adopted configuration has been assessed by means of electromagnetic simulations involving a simplified model. Moreover, an ad-hoc data processing algorithm has been developed for extracting the breath rate from the measured signals. Preliminary experimental results are provided for investigating the capabilities of the developed setup.

After analyzing dynamic motions performed in nature, it is clear that animals adapt their footing in real time to compensate for disturbances such as slipping or stumbling, by relying on ground reaction force feedback. However, in robotics, this feedback is not commonly utilized due to the costs, as well as the size and mass of available ground reaction force sensors. The aim of this letter is to present a prototype of a novel ground reaction force sensor that makes use of low-cost load cells mounted at fixed angles to each other. The angle of the load cells was chosen to maximize crosstalk between the sensors while minimizing the overall size of the sensor. Due to the crosstalk, it drastically simplified the mechanical design of the sensor. Through the use of neural networks, two-axis ground reaction forces were estimated with a high accuracy of above $98.5\%$ . Future research involves extending the concept to measure three-axis ground reaction forces in real time.

Measurement of mental rotation presents a serious challenge to cognitive researchers owing to the lack of a single comprehensive measure that can be applied across the developing age groups. Objective of the present study was to develop and validate a new measure of mental rotation for preadolescent and adolescent age groups. Items were conceptualized and constructed based on existing theories. Study I checked the suitability of these items among preadolescent and adolescent age groups. After revisions, Study II was done to evaluate the item properties using item response theory. Subsequently done Confirmatory Factor Analysis provided evidence for the construct validity of the new measure. Finally, Study III was done to develop the age wise and gender wise norms for preadolescent and adolescent age groups. The newly developed measure was found to have sufficient reliability and validity and hence can be widely applied for measuring mental rotation of preadolescents and adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: To employ a novel analytic approach to quantify psychological resilience to physical health difficulties and identify factors associated with greater resilience in older U.S. veterans. METHODS: Data from a nationally representative sample of older U.S. military veterans (n=3,001), who participated in the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study were analyzed to develop the Psychological Resilience Against Physical Difficulties Index (PRAPDI). Multiple regression and relative importance analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with greater PRAPDI scores. RESULTS: Secure attachment style [17.3% relative variance explained (RVE)], mindfulness [16.6% RVE], and purpose in life [15.0% RVE] emerged as the strongest correlates of PRAPDI scores. CONCLUSIONS: Intervention strategies aimed at fostering mindfulness, attachment security, and purpose in life may help promote psychological resilience to the challenges of physical aging in older veterans.

The article is devoted to integral operators for nonlocally compact group modules. Operator valued functions for nonlocally compact groups and their normed spaces of different types are investigated. For this purpose quasi-invariant measures on nonlocally compact groups are used. Estimates of norms of integral operators are given. Moreover, convolutions of functions having operator values and values in Banach spaces are scrutinized. Examples are given.

Stalking is a significant social issue. The inconsistency as to what defines stalking has resulted in the creation of different methods to measure the crime. However, there has been minimal work done that assesses the severity of individual stalking behaviors. The aim of the present study was to assess the level of stalking behavior in terms of severity within a randomly selected sample of 924 cases from the database of the National Stalking Helpline. Item response theory analyses were used to assist in developing a scale that displays the ranking order of each stalking behavior. These analyses were also used to examine whether the stalking behavioral items created a single continuum of severity of stalking. Results indicated that 16 stalking behavioral items of the 28 items present in the National Stalking Helpline, best represented the severity of stalking. Unwanted communication behaviors such as text messages and phone calls were located at the lower end of the severity scale, whereas criminal damage and death threats were mapped on the higher end of the continuum. The findings also revealed that the 16 items categorized under 6 factors. The findings of the present study provide many implications for stalking agency professionals and criminal justice responses.

Bacnground: Accurate measurement of the femoral neck-shaft angle (NSA) is of great significance for diagnosing hip joint diseases and preoperative planning of total hip arthroplasty. However, the fitting lines of the femoral neck and femoral shaft did not always intersect in 3D space. Thus, it is unclear whether there is a difference between 2D and 3D methods for measuring NSA. Methods: The femoral point cloud datasets from 310 subjects were segmented into three regions, including the femoral head, femoral neck, and femoral shaft using PointNet++. We created a projection plane to simulate the hip anteroposterior radiograph and fitted the femoral neck axis and femoral shaft axis to complete the 2D measurement, while we directly fitted the two axes in space to complete the 3D measurement. Also, we conducted the manual measurement of the NSA. We verified the accuracy of the segmentation and compared the results of the two automatic and manual methods. Results: The Dice coefficient of femoral segmentation reached 0.9746, and MIoU of that was 0.9165. No significant difference was found between any two of the three methods. While comparing the 2D and 3D methods, the average accuracy was 98.00%, and the average error was 2.58°. Conclusion: This paper proposed two accurate and automatic methods to measure the NSA based on a 2D plane and a 3D model respectively. Although the femoral neck and femoral shaft axes did not intersect in 3D space, the NSAs obtained by 2D and 3D methods were basically consistent.

Background Teachers with a teacher-centred perspective have difficulties applying student-centred approaches in Problem Based Learning (PBL) because they are inclined to show teacher-centred behaviours. The six aspects explained in Korthagen’s Onion Model (environment, behaviour, competencies, beliefs, identity, and mission) are assumed to contribute to teachers’ perspectives, showing that both the environment and personal characteristics influence behaviours. For teachers to function properly in PBL, those six aspects should reflect a student-centred perspective. Previous instruments to measure teaching perspectives focused on only a few of these relevant aspects. Therefore, we developed the Student-Centred Perspective of Teachers (SCPT) questionnaire with subscales for each aspect in the Onion Model. This study aimed to provide evidence for its internal and external validity. Methods The SCPT was distributed in a survey to 795 teachers from 20 medical schools. For the internal validation, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was performed to analyse theoretical fit model validation, convergent validation, and discriminant validation. For the external validation, teachers’ perspective scores were compared among three groups of amount of PBL training using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc Least Significant Difference (LSD) tests. The p-value for all tests was set at .05. Results A total of 543 out of 795 teachers (68.3%) participated. Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed the evidence of the SCPT’s internal validation with acceptable fit for the six subscales measured by 19 items and the following Composite Reliability scores: environment (.72), behaviour (.74), competencies (.63), beliefs (.55), identity (.76), and mission (.60). All items’ factors loadings reached a good standard (.5 or greater). Only the environment subscale had the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) score higher than .5 and the Maximum Shared Variance score lower than the AVE score. ANOVA and Post-hoc LSD tests showed that teachers who participated in more PBL training showed significantly higher student-centred perspectives, providing evidence for external validity. Conclusion The SCPT is a reliable and valid instrument to measure teaching perspectives. Identifying aspects that do not represent the adoption of a student-centred perspective may provide valuable input for faculty development in the context of PBL.

Background: Dexamethasone showed mortality benefits in COVID-19 patients. However, the optimal timing for dexamethasone initiation to prevent COVID-19 consequences such as respiratory failure requiring MV is debatable. As a result, the purpose of this study is to assess the impact of early dexamethasone initiation in non-MV critically ill patients with COVID19.Methods: A multicenter cohort study including adult patients with COVID-19 admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) and received systemic dexamethasone between March 2020 and March 2021. Patients were categorized into two groups based on the timing for dexamethasone initiation (early vs. late). The primary endpoint is developing respiratory failure that required MV; other outcomes were considered secondary. Propensity score matching was used based on the patient’s SOFA score, mechanical ventilation (MV) status, prone status, and early use of tocilizumab within 24 hours of ICU admission.Results: Among 208 patients matched using propensity score, 104 had received dexamethasone after 24 hours of ICU admission (1:1 ratio). Among the non-mechanically ventilated patients, late use of dexamethasone was associated with higher odds of developing respiratory failure that required MV (OR [95%CI]: 2.75 [1.12, 6.76], P=0.02). Additionally, late use was associated with longer hospital LOS (Est. [95%CI]: 0.55 [0.22, 0.88], P=0.001).The 30-day and in-hospital mortality were higher in the late group; however, were not statistically significant.Conclusion: Early use of dexamethasone within 24 hours of ICU admission in critically ill patients with COVID-19 might be considered a proactive protective measure in non-mechanically ventilated patients.

Throughout an educational career, literacy skills become more elaborated. However, little is known about the development of reading and writing skills in foreign languages in adolescents. In this contribution, we focused on the development of language skills in the foreign languages English and French in Germany as measured by a C-Test. Hereby, we aimed to explore the potential of C-tests to provide a differentiated approach to the assessment of foreign language development in secondary school students. We draw on the data from the German panel study “Multilingual Development: a Longitudinal Perspective” (MEZ) on students’ language skills in the foreign languages English (n = 1987) and French (n = 662). We investigated the differences in the means of “classical” and “word recognition” scores in English and French C-tests and the development of these differences. The application of both scores in our study provided differentiated information on students’ receptive and productive aspects of literacy in adolescents and showed that students in secondary school are still on their way of developing spelling skills in both foreign languages. Furthermore, our results reveal that the receptive and productive components of language proficiency show different developmental patterns at various stages of foreign language learning.

This study was conducted to analyze the classification of economic growth of each district/city in South Sulawesi Province use Klassen typology, Williamson index, and logistic regression. Analyze income inequality between districts/cities in South Sulawesi Province. This study uses secondary data with a sample of fifteen years from 2005 to 2019. The results of the study show that: (1) several districts/cities have potential as developed and fast-growing areas, developed but depressed areas, fast-developing areas, and relatively underdeveloped areas; (2) income inequality in South Sulawesi Province is in a low condition; (3) economic growth and income disparity have a negative and significant effect on welfare in South Sulawesi Province. This means that economic growth and growth disparities affect the community's welfare in South Sulawesi Province. Economic development results do not only indicate the direction of achieving specific economic growth rates. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the economic growth has fluctuated. The Williamson Index shows that there are disparities. Partially, economic growth and income disparity significantly affect people's welfare in South Sulawesi Province. So that, the local government in its program is also expected to be able to more intensively carry out efforts to equalize income distribution social welfare.

Signal functions are a representative shortlist of key interventions and activities that address major causes of morbidity or mortality and that are indicative of a certain type and level of care in a health facility. For example, signal functions indicative of "basic emergency obstetric care (EmOC)" could be provided by midwives at a lower level health centre, whereas "comprehensive EmOC" signal functions indicate a higher level of care, usually at a hospital or . Thus, signal function test is very vital in measuring Obstetric and Newborn Functionality of Health Facilities. On the other hand, third delays are the delays in receiving adequate and appropriate treatment at the healthcare facility by mothers during and after pregnancy.

The study developed a scale for measuring assessment literacy of university teachers and determined the validity and reliability of the scale. This is with a view of improving university teachers’ assessment literacy. The study adopted the survey design. The population comprised all lecturers working in universities within Osun State. The sample consisted of 549 university teachers that were not in training position (lecturer II and above) from different disciplines selected using convenient sampling technique in all the eight accredited universities within Osun state. The study made use of three instruments namely; University Teachers Assessment Literacy Scale (UTALS), Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) and Teacher Burnout Scale (TBS). The results showed that the 60- item UTALS was reduced to 43 items after the psychometric procedure of item retention and deletion were applied. Scree plot and eigen value methods showed that the final UTALS construct validity had seven factors of university teachers’ assessment literacy that accounted for 86.46% of the total scale variance and it significantly converge and diverge with the Teacher Efficacy Scale (r = 0.75) and Teacher Burnout Scale (0.52) respectively. The internal consistency reliability of the scale was 0.96 (Guttman), 0.90 (Cronbach), and 0.96 (Spearman). The study concluded that the university teacher’s assessment literacy scale developed in this study had adequate psychometric characteristics and is suitable for measuring assessment literacy of university teachers in Osun State. It was therefore recommended that the University Teacher’s Assessment Literacy Scale be adopted by institutions of higher learning for the assessment of new and old academic staff members’ assessment competency in order to help in the improvement of assessment standard of the institutions

For detector of a radiation source, a system for radiation positioning using radiation spectroscopy detectors was constructed. This method can be used to measure a two-dimensional position using three detectors. For this, a basic system was constructed using three scintillation crystals and three optical sensors. The error between the actual position and the calculated position of the radiation source was evaluated. The calculated position was measured using an algorithm for radiation positioning measurement, which measures the radiation emitted from each position of detectors. A picture with coordinates was used to designate the exact location of the radiation source. In addition, the location of the radiation source was calculated using the radiation count measured at each location. As a result of measuring the error, the average error was 2.23% at position X and 3.26% at position Y. This basic experiment provides basic data for the system configuration when developing a system that can quickly detect a radiation source. This can be done without using a collimator when a system is constructed using radiation spectroscopy detectors.