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We aimed to develop an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) measure and sampling protocol to assess the near-term impact of experiences with social media use (SMU) that are associated with risk and protective factors for adolescent suicide.To develop the EMA measure, we consulted literature reviews and conducted focus groups with the target population, adolescents at risk for suicide. Subsequently, we refined the measure through interviews with experts and cognitive interviews with adolescents, through which we explored adolescents' thought processes as they considered questions and response options. Data were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis.The initial measure had 37 items assessing a range of harmful and beneficial aspects of SMU. Through expert and cognitive interviews, we refined the measure to 4 pathways assessing positive and negative experiences with SMU as well as positive and negative in-person interactions. Each pathway included a maximum of 11 items, as well as 2 items pertaining to SMU at nighttime to be assessed once daily. Acceptable targets the EMA measure's sampling protocol included a 10-day data collection window with text message-based prompts to complete the measure triggered 2-4 times daily.By assessing a range of risk and protective factors for youth suicide, while using methods to reduce participant burden, we established content validity for the EMA measure and acceptability for the sampling protocol among youth at high risk of suicide.HIGHLIGHTSDevelopment of an ecological momentary assessment measure and sampling protocolExploring brief momentary assessment of social media's impact on adolescent suicidal riskMulti-phase approach to establishing content validity and an acceptable sampling protocol.

Cel pracyBadania realizowane wśród osób transpłciowych i różnorodnych płciowo koncentrują się przede wszystkim na trudnościach i rozbieżnościach w zdrowiu charakteryzujących tę populację. Jednym z powodów tego stanu rzeczy jest brak narzędzi kwestionariuszowych umożliwiających badanie pozytywnych aspektów i doświadczeń związanych z transpłciowością. Transgender Positive Identity Measure (T-PIM; Kwestionariusz Pozytywnej Tożsamości Transpłciowej) jest jednym z niewielu narzędzi stworzonych z myślą o eksploracji tych doświadczeń. Celem naszej analizy była ocena struktury, rzetelności oraz trafności polskiego tłumaczenia kwestionariusza T-PIM.MetodaW badaniu wzięło udział 89 osób transpłciowych oraz różnorodnych płciowo. Oprócz kwestionariusza T-PIM wykorzystano w nim także Skalę Pomiaru Prężności (SPP-25) i kwestionariusz CESD-R. Do zbadania struktury kwestionariusza zastosowano metodę hierarchicznej analizy skupień (ICLUST), analizę równoległą Horna oraz test częściowy minimalnej średniej Velicera (MAP).WynikiPolskie tłumaczenie T-PIM charakteryzowało się strukturą zgodną z oryginalnym narzędziem obejmującym pięć czynników (Autentyczność, Intymność, Wspólnota, Sprawiedliwość społeczna oraz Wgląd). Współczynniki rzetelności – α Cronbacha i lambda-6 Guttmana – osiągnęły satysfakcjonujące poziomy zarówno dla wszystkich pięciu czynników, jak i całego kwestionariusza.WnioskiPolskie tłumaczenie kwestionariusza T-PIM charakteryzuje się dobrymi właściwościami psychometrycznymi i może być wykorzystywane w badaniach z udziałem osób transpłciowych i różnorodnych płciowo.

Philosophers of well-being have tended to adopt a foundationalist approach to the question of theory and measurement, according to which theories are conceptually prior to measures. By contrast, social scientists have tended to adopt operationalist commitments, according to which they develop and refine well-being measures independently of any philosophical foundation. Unfortunately, neither approach helps us overcome the problem of coordinating between how we characterize well-being and how we measure it. Instead, we should adopt a coherentist approach to well-being science.

Surrogate safety measures have been recognised as suitable tools for a warning strategy. As one such measure, the time to collision (TTC) is the time remaining to a collision if the collision course and speed remain unaltered. To apply the TTC in discriminating dangerous situations, a critical threshold (TTC*) must be determined. However, a method for calculating this threshold is yet to be presented. Previously, the critical threshold has been considered as a constant value, but the value of TTC* changes the calculated probability for a crash at each time instant. In this work, a method was developed for calculating TTC* based on driver characteristics, environmental conditions, the type of preceding object and the microscopic traffic parameters of the subject vehicle based on an adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system and motion mechanics. For this purpose, data were first collected from a driving simulator. Then, to compare the collision probability calculated based on a dynamic TTC* (DTTC*) and a static TTC* (STTC*), microscopic traffic data were obtained from Modares highway in Tehran, Iran. Assessments indicated that, statistically, there is a significant difference between DTTC* and STTC* results. This finding might help to enhance the capability of in-vehicle collision-avoidance systems to prevent rear-end collisions.

The purposes of this study were, first, to (re)design the user-interface of the activity tracker known as the MOX with the help of input from elderly individuals living independently and, second, to assess the use of and experiences with the adapted Measure It Super Simple (MISS) activity tracker in daily life.The double diamond method, which was used to (re)design the user-interface, consists of four phases: discover, define, develop, and deliver. As a departure point, this study used a list of general design requirements that facilitate the development of technology for the elderly. Usage and experiences were assessed through interviews after elderly individuals had used the activity tracker for 2 weeks.In co-creation with thirty-five elderly individuals (65 to 89-years-old) the design, feedback system, and application were further developed into a user-friendly interface: the Measure It Super Simple (MISS) activity. Twenty-eight elderly individuals (65 to 78-years-old) reported that they found the MISS activity easy to use, needed limited help when setting the tracker up, and required limited assistance when using it during their daily lives.This study offers a generic structured methodology and a list of design requirements to adapt the interface of an existing activity tracker consistent with the skills and needs of the elderly. The MISS activity seemed to be successfully (re)designed, like the elderly who participated in this pilot study reported that anyone should be able to use it.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONThis study provides an overview of important characteristics of the activity tracker interface for elderly individuals that can be used when choosing an appropriate activity tracker.This study can serve as a model that demonstrates how to adapt other eHealth and mHealth tools to improve the user-centred design.The MISS activity seems to be an elderly-friendly activity tracker that can facilitate a meaningful experience.

We define the Aumann-Pettis-Sugeno integrals of vector multifunctions relative to a fuzzy vector measure and present several classic properties. Some comparative results with other integrals of Pettis-Lebesgue and Aumann-Sugeno type and some estimation results are also established.

Understanding and predicting large-scale ecological responses to global environmental change requires comparative studies across geographic scales with coordinated efforts and standardized methodologies. We designed, applied and assessed standardized protocols to measure tundra herbivory at three spatial scales: plot, site (habitat), and study area (landscape). The plot and site-level protocols were tested in the field during summers 2014-2015 at eleven sites, nine of them comprising warming experimental plots included in the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX). The study area protocols were assessed during 2014-2018 at 24 study areas across the Arctic. Our protocols provide comparable and easy-to-implement methods for assessing the intensity of invertebrate herbivory within ITEX plots and for characterizing vertebrate herbivore communities at larger spatial scales. We discuss methodological constraints and make recommendations for how these protocols can be used and how sampling effort can be optimized to obtain comparable estimates of herbivory, both at ITEX sites and at large landscape scales. The application of these protocols across the tundra biome will allow characterizing and comparing herbivore communities across tundra sites and at ecologically relevant spatial scales, providing an important step towards a better understanding of tundra ecosystem responses to large-scale environmental change. CGB was funded by the Estonian Research Council (grant IUT 20-28), and the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence EcolChange). JDMS was supported by the Research Council of Norway (262064). OG and LB were supported by the French Polar Institute (program “1036 Interactions”) and PRC CNRS Russie 396 (program “ICCVAT”). DSH, NL, MAG, JB and JDR were supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada). NL, MAG, JB and JDR were supported by the Polar Continental Shelf Program. NL was supported by the Canada Research Chair program and the Canada Foundation for Innovation. NL and JB were supported by Environment Canada and Polar Knowledge Canada. NL and MAG were supported by the Government of Nunavut, the Igloolik Community, and Université de Moncton. NL, MAG and JB were supported by the Northern Scientific Training Program. JMA was funded by Carl Tryggers stiftelse för vetenskaplig forskning and Qatar Petroleum (QUEX-CAS-QP-RD-18_19). IHM-S was funded by the UK Natural Environmental Research Council Shrub Tundra (NE/M016323/1) grant. ISJ was funded by the University of Iceland Research Fund. Fieldwork in Yamal peninsula (Erkuta, Sabetta and Belyi) for DE, NS and AS was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (No: 18-05-60261 and No: 18-54-15013), Fram Centre project YaES (No: 362259), the Russian Center of Development of the Arctic, and the “Yamal-LNG” company. Fieldwork in Utqiaġvik was supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Fieldwork in Svalbard was supported by the Norwegian Research Council (AFG No: 246080/E10), the Norwegian Polar Institute, Climate-ecological Observatory for Arctic Tundra – COAT, the Svalbard Environmental protection fund (project number 15/20), and the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) and the AB-338/AB-838 students of 2018. Sampling at Billefjorden was supported by GACR 17- 20839S.

We propose a new summary measure of population health (SMPH), the well-being-adjusted health expectancy (WAHE). WAHE belongs to a subgroup of health-adjusted life expectancy indicators and gives the number of life years equivalent to full health. WAHE combines health and mortality information into a single indicator with weights that quantify the reduction in well-being associated with decreased health. WAHE's advantage over other SMPHs lies in its ability to differentiate between the consequences of health limitations at various levels of severity and its transparent, simple valuation function. Following the guidelines of a Committee on Summary Measures of Population Health, we discuss WAHE's validity, universality, feasibility sensitivity and ensure its reproducibility. We evaluate WAHE's performance compared to life expectancy, the most commonly used indicators of health expectancy (HE) and disability-adjusted life expectancy (DALE) in an empirical application for 29 European countries. Data on health and well-being are taken from the 2018 EU-SILC, and the life tables are from Eurostat. DALE is taken from the database of the Global Burden of Disease Programme. WAHE's sensitivity to univariate and multivariate state specifications is studied using the three Minimum European Health Module health dimensions: chronic morbidity, limitations in activities of daily living, and self-rated health. The empirical tests of the indicators' correspondence reveal that WAHE has the strongest correlation with the other SMPHs. Moreover, WAHE estimates are in agreement with all other SMPHs. Additionally, WAHE and all other SMPHs form a group of reliable indicators for studying population health in European countries. Finally, WAHE estimates are robust, regardless of whether health is defined across one or multiple simultaneous dimensions of health. We conclude that WAHE is a useful and reliable indicator of population health and performs at least as well as other commonly used SMPHs.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10680-022-09628-1.

Research on commercial computer games has demonstrated that in-game behavior is related to the players’ personality profiles. However, this potential has not yet been fully utilized for personality assessments. Hence, we developed an applied (i.e., serious) assessment game to assess the Honesty–Humility personality trait. In two studies, we demonstrate that this game adequately assesses Honesty–Humility. In Study 1 ( N = 116), we demonstrate convergent validity of the assessment game with self-reported Honesty–Humility and divergent validity with the other HEXACO traits and cognitive ability. In Study 2 ( N = 287), we replicate the findings from Study 1, and also demonstrate that the assessment game shows incremental validity—beyond self-reported personality—in the prediction of cheating for financial gain, but not of counterproductive work and unethical behaviors. The findings demonstrate that assessment games are promising tools for personality measurement in applied contexts.

El objeto de esta investigación fue construir y validar un instrumento para medir las competencias ciudadanas en estudiantes universitarios. Se hizo la construcción del instrumento tomando como referencia las Pruebas Saber de Competencias Ciudadanas de los años 2003-2005 y los estándares de Competencias Ciudadanas del Ministerio de Educación Nacional (MEN) de la República de Colombia. Este instrumento se estructuró en cinco componentes distribuidos en conocimientos (ciudadanos) y competencias (comunicativas, emocionales, cognitivas e integradoras). Las competencias se subdividen en: ambientes democráticos, empatía, emociones, pensamiento crítico, consideración de consecuencias, y acciones y actitudes. Se evaluaron tres tipos de validez. Validez de contenido: haciendo uso de la bibliografía relacionada, la valoración de un par académico y las recomendaciones de los expertos en elaboración de cuestionarios; validez de constructo: utilizando el análisis factorial; y la validez de consistencia y confiabilidad: utilizando el método Alfa de Cronbach, el cual arrojó 0.75, un nivel de consistencia interna bueno.

The measurement of optical ultrafast laser pulses is done indirectly because the required bandwidth to measure these pulses exceeds the bandwidth of current electronics. As a result, this measurement problem is often posed as a 1-D phase retrieval problem, which is fraught with ambiguities. The phase retrieval method known as ptychography solves this problem by making it possible to measure ultrafast pulses in either the time domain or the frequency domain. One well known algorithm is the principal components generalized projections algorithm (PCGPA) for extracting pulses from Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating (FROG) measurements. Here, we discuss the development of the PCPGA and introduce new developments including an operator formalism that allows for the convenient addition of external constraints and the development of more robust algorithms. A close cousin, the ptychographic iterative engine will also be covered and compared to the PCGPA. Additional developments using other algorithmic strategies will also be discussed along with new developments combining optics and high-speed electronics to achieve megahertz measurement rates., 96 pages; 26 figures

Devices that measure our physical, medical and mental condition have entered our daily life recently. Such devices measure our status in a continuous manner and can be useful in predicting future medical events or can guide us towards a healthier life. It is therefore important to establish that such devices record our behaviour in a reliable manner and measure what we believe they measure. In this article, we propose to measure the reliability and validity of a newly developed measuring device in time using a longitudinal model for sequential kappa statistics. We propose a Bayesian estimation procedure. The method is illustrated by a validation study of a new accelerometer in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation patients.

The boundedness of the maximal operator on the upper half-plane Π + \Pi ^{+} is established. Here Π + \Pi ^+ is equipped with a positive Borel measure d ω ( y ) d x d\omega (y)dx satisfying the doubling property ω ( ( 0 , 2 t ) ) ≤ C ω ( ( 0 , t ) ) \omega ((0,2t))\leq C\omega ((0,t)) . This result is connected to the Carleson embedding theorem, which we use to characterize the boundedness and compactness of the Volterra type integral operators on the Bergman spaces A ω p ( Π + ) A_{\omega }^{p}(\Pi ^{+}) .

The Certainty About Mental States Questionnaire (CAMSQ) is a self-report measure of the perceived capacity to understand mental states of the self and others (i.e., mentalizing). In two studies (total N = 1828), we developed the CAMSQ in both English and German as a two-dimensional measure of Self- and Other-Certainty, investigated associations with other measures of mentalizing, and explored relationships to personality functioning and mental health. The CAMSQ performed well in terms of convergent and discriminant validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and measurement invariance across the United States and Germany. The present research indicates that the CAMSQ assesses maladaptive forms of having too little or too much certainty about mental states (consistent with hypomentalizing and hypermentalizing). A psychologically adaptive profile of perceived mentalizing capacity appears to be characterized by high Self-Certainty that exceeds Other-Certainty, suggesting that imbalances between Self-Certainty and Other-Certainty (Other-Self-Discrepancy) play an important role within personality pathology.

Introduction Life expectancy is a public health metric used to assess mortality. We describe life expectancy calculations for US counties and present methodologic considerations compared with years of potential life lost before age 75 (YPLL-75) and premature age-adjusted mortality (PAAM), 2 commonly used length-of-life metrics. Methods We used death data from the National Center for Health Statistics for 2015-2017 and other health measures from the 2019 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. We calculated life expectancy from birth at the county level using an abridged life table and the Chiang method of variance. Studentized residuals identified counties with discordant life expectancy and YPLL-75 or PAAM values. Correlations tested associations of life expectancy with key health measures (eg, smoking, child poverty, uninsured). Results Among 3073 US counties, life expectancy ranged from 62.4 to 98.0 years, with a mean of 77.4 years. Life expectancy was strongly and negatively correlated with YPLL-75 ( r = −0.91) and PAAM ( r = −0.95) at the county level. Life expectancy was also associated with other key health metrics, such as smoking, employment, and education rates, where an improvement in the health factor indicated improvement in the respective length-of-life measure. Counties with discordant life expectancy and YPLL-75 or PAAM values had differing age structures. Practice Implications Commonly used length-of-life metrics in population health settings are differentiated by methodological matters, such as computation complexity, data availability, and differential risk among age groups, especially among the very old or very young. The choice of metric should consider these factors, in addition to practical concerns, such as the communication needs of the audience.

Abstract. The Day Evaluation Q-sort (DEQ) is a measure designed to describe the day as it is experienced. In two undergraduate samples ( Ns = 472 and 302), this research explores how the day is described, and how the evaluation of the day relates to personality attributes and to time spent in various daily activities. We find that individuals tend to describe their days as generally positive and productive, and that day evaluations are related to psychological attributes (Big Five traits, affect, and well-being) and time use. Day evaluations are not simply a reflection of the activities that make up the day. Two people spending their time similarly may evaluate the day differently. The DEQ is presented as a measure of day evaluations that captures variation in the way the day is experienced. These differences relate meaningfully to individual differences and how time is spent throughout the day.

Abstract. We examined the factor structure of the recently developed worker well-being measure Workplace PERMA Profiler and relationships between PERMA dimensions (i.e., positive emotions, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, accomplishment) and job performance (viz., task performance, organizational citizenship behaviors benefiting individuals and the organization at large). The measure exhibited metric (i.e., weak) invariance across samples of participants from the United States ( N = 284) and China ( N = 420). Additionally, for participants who responded to both the Workplace PERMA Profiler and the performance measures, there was a general pattern of positive PERMA–performance relationships across both samples ( NUS = 147; NChina = 202). Overall, the Workplace PERMA Profiler may have problematic psychometric properties and item wordings and thus would benefit from further refinement.

An improved two-color method, which originates from an approximate emissivity ratio model based on the empirical emissivity formula by Hottel and Broughton, was developed to measure the temperature...

Pressure control is recognized as an efficient measure for reducing leaks from water distribution systems. We have evaluated the effectiveness of various pressure control modes by means of pilot-operated diaphragm type pressure-reducing valves (PRVs), taking into account the sensitivity of the valves to various settings. First, the response of a PRV to consecutive pressure settings variations was experimentally evaluated in the hydraulic simulation laboratory of National Institute for Scientific Research. These experiments revealed that the studied valve only reacts when variation in the pressure setting corresponds to at least a 1/6 turn of the pilot valve. Second, an actual case study from Quebec City, Canada, was simulated to evaluate the impact of the PRV response on three pressure control modes: fixed control, time-based control, and real-time control (RTC). The results show that RTC of pressure leads to reductions in leakage rate for the studied network but that the PRV operational constraints limit the expected performance of RTC.

A method for measuring de-embedded antenna parameters of wearable and implanted antennas for on-body communications is presented. It consists of a tapered flat phantom in order to characterize an antenna’s general ability to excite surface waves travelling along the boundary between body tissue and free space expressed by an angular on-body antenna gain. The design offers a test zone large enough for most typical Wireless Body Area Network devices up to smartphone-size while minimizing the required amount of tissue-simulating material. The designed antenna test range is validated in the 2.4 GHz ISM-band. In order to showcase the applicability to a realistic application, different designs of antennas integrated into an implanted pacemaker are characterized by their on-body gain patterns. A comparison of their performance in in-situ path-loss measurements reveals a clear relation to the on-body gain patterns and indicates that this parameter is a suitable measure for enabling educated antenna design for on-body applications.

Maintenance is an important way to ensure the best performance of repairable systems. This paper considers how to reduce system maintenance cost while ensuring consistent system performance. Due to budget constraints, preventive maintenance (PM) can be done on only some of the system components. Also, different selections of components to be maintained can have markedly different effects on system performance. On the basis of the above issues, this paper proposes an importance-based maintenance priority (IBMP) model to guide the selection of PM components. Then the model is extended to find the degree of correlation between two components to be maintained and a joint importance-based maintenance priority (JIBMP) model to guide the selection of opportunistic maintenance (OM) components is proposed. Also, optimization strategies under various conditions are proposed. Finally, a case of 2H2E architecture is used to demonstrate the proposed method. The results show that generators in the 2E layout have the highest maintenance priority, which further explains the difference in the importance of each component in PM.

I propose a new measure of partisan advantage in redistricting. This measure compares the observed seat outcome in each state to a seat benchmark based on the state's jurisdictional map. The jurisd...

Abstract. This study reports the process of item reduction of the Enright Forgiveness Inventory – EFI, a measure of interpersonal forgiveness, from 60 to 30 items for a more practical assessment of this construct. Data from the US were used in the creation of the new measure and applied to seven nations: Austria, Brazil, Israel, South Korea, Norway, Pakistan, and Taiwan. The question was: do the best EFI-30 items from the US have discriminative power in seven other cultures? Results provided the psychometric evidence for the reduced version of the EFI-30 across cultures. The discrimination values are positive, suggesting that the selected items have the sensitivity to differentiate accurately people with different degrees of forgiveness and good psychometric properties of internal consistency.

This paper is concerned with robust stability analysis of feedback interconnections of nonlinear systems using integral quadratic constraints (IQCs). Its main purpose involves reconciling hard (a.k.a. unconditional) IQC and soft (a.k.a. conditional) IQC based analysis. In particular, it is shown that the hard IQC stability result can be recovered from the soft IQC theory. The hard IQC approach is closely related to the dissipativity theory, whereas the soft IQC approach makes use of homotopies that are continuous in the gap distance measure.

The flight safety of low-altitude small fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is often threatened by obstacles such as buildings. This requires UAVs to have the ability to autonomously measure...

The three studies reported in this article detail the development of the State of Interdependence with Nature Scale (SINS), a new self-report measure specifically designed to assess momentary fluct...

It is important to determine the dynamic stiffness of machine tools in terms of chatter vibration. Although a hammering test is widely used to measure the dynamic stiffness, it is difficult to measure a moving object at high speed because the method requires direct contact. In particular, the dynamic stiffness of milling spindles that can rotate at high speed changes considerably between the resting and rotating states. Therefore, it is essential to develop a contactless dynamic spindle test (CDST) method. Although a few CDST methods have been proposed, a conclusive method has not yet been established because of the problem of convenience. The present study proposes a novel CDST method that uses the concept of an eddy current brake. The proposed method offers advantages in that it does not require a power supply or external control, although the excitation frequency depends on the rotation speed. The present paper first introduces the principle of the proposed method. Next, the measurement results obtained by a conventional hammering test and those obtained by the proposed method are compared in order to confirm the reliability and effectiveness for an actual milling spindle.

We developed a new strength measure, the hybrid multi-infeed effective short-circuit ratio (HMESCR), for evaluating hybrid multi-infeed high-voltage direct current (MIDC) systems. The HMESCR defines the strength of hybrid MIDC systems with line-commutated converter (LCC) high-voltage direct current (HVDC) and voltage-source converter (VSC) HVDC systems. Unlike previous measures, the HMESCR considers the capacity of VSC HVDC systems to provide reactive power and thus, enhance the strength of AC systems connected at different buses with LCC HVDC systems. To demonstrate how the HMESCR reflects power stability (PS) and temporary overvoltage (TOV), we used MATLAB/Simulink software to perform quasi-steady-state analyses and dynamic simulations. The HMESCR can be used to determine the strength of hybrid MIDC systems.

Efficient small infrared (IR) maritime target detection in heavy waves is a key and challenging task in maritime distress target search and rescue systems. The current methods are struggling to enhance targets and suppress heavy waves because of the similar local contrast. In this letter, a weighted multidirectional gradient (WMDG) measure is presented. First, the candidate targets are extracted via facet model. Then multidirectional gradient and difference information are constructed to calculate average cumulative multidirectional gradient (ACMG) and achieve directional difference measure (DDM). Consequently, the final saliency is reconstructed via ACMG weighted by DDM. Finally, the actual targets are segmented through an adaptive threshold. Experimental results demonstrate that our method is superior to the state-of-the-art methods with regard to detection validity and robustness for small IR maritime target detection in heavy waves.

In Robot Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery, discriminating critical subsurface structures is essential to make the surgical procedure safer and more efficient. In this paper, a novel robot assisted electrical bio-impedance scanning (RAEIS) system is developed and validated using a series of experiments. The proposed system constructs a tri-polar sensing configuration for tissue homogeneity inspection. Specifically, two robotic forceps are used as electrodes for applying electric current and measuring reciprocal voltages relative to a ground electrode which is placed distal from the measuring site. Compared to the other existing electrical bioimpedance sensing technology, the proposed system is able to use miniaturized electrodes to measure a site flexibly with enhanced subsurfacial detection capability. In this paper, we present the concept, the modeling of the sensing method, the hardware design, and the system calibration. Subsequently, a series of experiments are conducted for system evaluation including finite element simulation, saline solution bath experiments and experiments based on ex vivo animal tissues. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system can measure the resistivity of the material with high accuracy, and detect a subsurface non-homogeneous object with 100% success rate. The proposed parameters estimation algorithm is able to approximate the resistivity and the depth of the subsurface object effectively with one fast scanning.

The study of agenda power has largely been the study of negative agenda power. But standard measures of negative agenda power are insufficient to measure the majority’s agenda choices: they only co...

Contains fulltext : 228493.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Background: The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Anger Bodily Sensations Interview - intellectual disabilities (ABSI-id), an adapted instrument to measure anger-related interoceptive awareness (IA) in individuals with mild intellectual disabilities or borderline intellectual functioning (MID-BIF). Method: The ABSI-id was individually administered to 208 clients (51% male) with MID-BIF in residential facilities. Results: An EFA and CFA showed a two-factor structure of the ABSI-id, including nine items. The ABSI-id had moderate to good reliability, with an internal consistency ranging from acceptable to good, a test-retest reliability ranging from moderate to good and an adequate convergent validity. There was no significant difference in ABSI-id scores between individuals with MID and BIF. Conclusion: The ABSI-id is a promising instrument for measuring anger-related IA, additional research is needed on validity and sensitivity of change. 10 p.

A quantile is a popular performance measure for a stochastic system to evaluate its variability and risk. To reduce the risk, selecting the actions that minimize the tail quantiles of some loss distributions is typically of interest for decision makers. When the loss distribution is observed via simulations, evaluating and optimizing its quantile can be challenging, especially when the simulations are expensive as it may cost a large number of simulation runs to obtain accurate quantile estimators. In this work, we propose a multilevel metamodel (cokriging)-based algorithm to optimize quantiles more efficiently. Utilizing nondecreasing properties of quantiles, we first search on cheaper and informative lower quantiles, which are more accurate and easier to optimize. The quantile level iteratively increases to the objective level, and the search has a focus on the possible promising regions identified by the previous levels. This enables us to leverage the accurate information from the lower quantiles to find the optimums faster and improve algorithm efficiency.

In-car devices are growing both in complexity and capacity, integrating functionalities that used to be divided among other controls in the vehicles. These systems appear increasingly in the form of touchscreens as a cost-saving measure. Screens lack the physicality of traditional buttons or switches, requiring drivers to look away from the road to operate them. This paper presents the design, implementation, and two studies that evaluated HapWheel, a system that provides the driver with haptic feedback in the steering wheel while interacting with an Infotainment System. Results show that the proposed system reduced both the duration of and the number of times a driver looked away from the road. HapWheel was also successful at reducing the number of mistakes during the interaction.

Abstract. Alexithymia can be defined as difficulties in describing one’s emotions and is of interest within clinical and developmental psychology as a potential mediating and exacerbating factor across multiple forms of psychopathology. Measuring alexithymia via self-reports can be challenging, as those with heightened alexithymia may have difficulties in recognizing their alexithymia traits due to impaired metacognitive skills. Thus, there would be considerable benefits to the availability of a psychometrically validated parent-reported alexithymia measure that may circumvent the issue of self-reports. We, therefore, examined the psychometric properties of a new parent-reported alexithymia measure, the Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children – Parent (AQC-P) in a community sample of 257 child-parent dyads. Furthermore, we examined the level of agreement between the parent-rated AQC-P and its self-rated counterpart, the Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children (AQC). Confirmatory factor analysis found that an oblique three-factor structure provided the best model for both AQC-P and AQC, with this structure showing measurement invariance across child gender. All subscales had omega internal consistency values > .70, supporting their reliability. Cross-informant consistency was supported by significant correlations between AQC and AQC-P scores. Results support the use of the AQC-P as a measure of parent-reported alexithymia in children.

Online social networks are often subject to influence campaigns by malicious actors through the use of automated accounts known as bots. We consider the problem of detecting bots in online social networks and assessing their impact on the opinions of individuals. We begin by analyzing the behavior of bots in social networks and identify that they exhibit heterophily, meaning they interact with humans more than other bots. We use this property to develop a detection algorithm based on the Ising model from statistical physics. The bots are identified by solving a minimum cut problem. We show that this Ising model algorithm can identify bots with higher accuracy while utilizing much less data than other state of the art methods. We then develop a a function we call generalized harmonic influence centrality to estimate the impact bots have on the opinions of users in social networks. This function is based on a generalized opinion dynamics model and captures how the activity level and network connectivity of the bots shift equilibrium opinions. To apply generalized harmonic influence centrality to real social networks, we develop a deep neural network to measure the opinions of users based on their social network posts. Using this neural network, we then calculate the generalized harmonic influence centrality of bots in multiple real social networks. For some networks we find that a limited number of bots can cause non-trivial shifts in the population opinions. In other networks, we find that the bots have little impact. Overall we find that generalized harmonic influence centrality is a useful operational tool to measure the impact of bots in social networks., 58 pages, 11 figures

Planar mirrored-coil structures are often used in the field of biomedicine as a sensor to measure physiological signals wirelessly. Although there are many studies on interrogation methodologies, research on the sensor itself remains understudied. In this article, we report an analytical formulation and a data-fitted formula to calculate the resonant frequency for a planar mirrored-coil sensor. Compared to the measured results, our analytical formula and data-fitted formula deviate by 13% and 9% median errors, respectively, which is much more accurate than the conventional one, 23%. It shows that both methods provide a way to quickly evaluate and design a planar mirrored-coil structure with high precision.