Search

The potential of digital games to enhance learning in various areas of child development has attracted increasing interest in children's emotional well-being and social–emotional difficulties. The present serious game named "The Park of Emotions" was based on the nine-level pyramid model of emotional intelligence, had conceptual relevance to the questions of a new emotional intelligence scale, and served as an intervention tool. The aim was to experimentally evaluate to what extent the serious game "The Park of Emotions" improved children's emotional intelligence through the improvised scale measuring the emotional intelligence of children aged 9–12. The study was conducted on a group of 436 children aged 9–10 years, 4th grade. To assess the impact of the program, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted on the experimental group and the control group at the pre-test stage, as well as an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA post-test). The results for the post-intervention ANCOVA confirmed the existence of significant differences between the groups, as participants in the experimental group had significantly higher scores compared to participants in the control group on the total score and individual subscales. Furthermore, ANCOVA results confirmed that the intervention had a similar positive effect for both sexes. Consequently, this study experimentally validates an effective intervention tool, highlighting the importance of implementing digital games aimed at improving emotional intelligence and emotional skills throughout childhood and preadolescence. "The Park of Emotions" could be considered a useful serious game that affects personal, emotional, and social factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of training plus Practice-Based Coaching (PBC), delivered via text message, on teacher use of targeted Pyramid Model (PM) practices. A multiple baseline design across behaviors was replicated across three early childhood teachers. Following training on self-selected target practices, the coach watched observations recorded by the teacher and engaged the teacher in a back-and-forth coaching conversation via text message. Coaching sessions included supportive and constructive feedback from the coach as well as prompts for teachers to engage in reflection about their use of the target practice. Training plus PBC, delivered via text message, was both effective and efficient for increasing teacher use of targeted PM practices. Results were maintained up to 3 weeks after the withdrawal of coaching across all targeted practices, and there was some evidence of generalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential of digital games to enhance learning in various areas of child development has attracted increasing interest in children’s emotional well-being and social–emotional difficulties. The present serious game named “The Park of Emotions” was based on the nine-level pyramid model of emotional intelligence, had conceptual relevance to the questions of a new emotional intelligence scale, and served as an intervention tool. The aim was to experimentally evaluate to what extent the serious game “The Park of Emotions” improved children’s emotional intelligence through the improvised scale measuring the emotional intelligence of children aged 9–12. The study was conducted on a group of 436 children aged 9–10 years, 4th grade. To assess the impact of the program, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted on the experimental group and the control group at the pre-test stage, as well as an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA post-test). The results for the post-intervention ANCOVA confirmed the existence of significant differences between the groups, as participants in the experimental group had significantly higher scores compared to participants in the control group on the total score and individual subscales. Furthermore, ANCOVA results confirmed that the intervention had a similar positive effect for both sexes. Consequently, this study experimentally validates an effective intervention tool, highlighting the importance of implementing digital games aimed at improving emotional intelligence and emotional skills throughout childhood and preadolescence. “The Park of Emotions” could be considered a useful serious game that affects personal, emotional, and social factors.

The musculoskeletal system plays a crucial role in our daily lives, and the accurate diagnosis of musculoskeletal issues is essential for providing effective healthcare. However, the classification of musculoskeletal system radiographs is a complex task, requiring both accuracy and efficiency. This study addresses this challenge by introducing and evaluating a pyramid deep feature extraction model for the automatic classification of musculoskeletal system radiographs. The primary goal of this research is to develop a reliable and efficient solution to classify different upper extremity regions in musculoskeletal radiographs. To achieve this goal, we conducted an end-to-end training process using a pre-trained EfficientNet B0 convolutional neural network (CNN) model. This model was trained on a dataset of radiographic images that were divided into patches of various sizes, including 224 × 224, 112 × 112, 56 × 56, and 28 × 28. From the trained CNN model, we extracted a total of 85,000 features. These features were subsequently subjected to selection using the neighborhood component analysis (NCA) feature selection algorithm and then classified using a support vector machine (SVM). The results of our experiments are highly promising. The proposed model successfully classified various upper extremity regions with high accuracy rates: 92.04% for the elbow region, 91.19% for the finger region, 92.11% for the forearm region, 91.34% for the hand region, 91.35% for the humerus region, 89.49% for the shoulder region, and 92.63% for the wrist region. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of our deep feature extraction model as a potential auxiliary tool in the automatic analysis of musculoskeletal system radiographs. By automating the classification of musculoskeletal radiographs, our model has the potential to significantly accelerate clinical diagnostic processes and provide more precise results. This advancement in medical imaging technology can ultimately lead to better healthcare services for patients. However, future studies are crucial to further refine and test the model for practical clinical applications, ensuring that it integrates seamlessly into medical diagnosis and treatment processes, thus improving the overall quality of healthcare services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectiveTo estimate the incidence and burden of acute gastroenteritis among residents in Heilongjiang province, and to provide evidence for developing strategies on food-borne disease prevention and control. MethodsThe data on residents′ acute gastroenteritis incidence during 2018 were collected from community population surveys and hospital-based foodborne disease surveillance in Heilongjiang province and a pyramid model of disease burden was constructed to estimate total number of acute gastroenteritis cases in the province. The health burden of acute gastroenteritis was measured with disability adjusted life years (DALYs).ResultsFor whole population of the province in 2018, the estimated number of acute gastroenteritis cases was 133 814 (95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 105 635 – 169 334); the monthly prevalence was 3.54% (95%CI: 3.28% – 3.80%); and the incidence was 0.470/person year. The DALYs due to acute gastroenteritis was 11 320.40 (95%CI: 9239.09 – 13947.73) and the DALYs rate of the disease was 0.30 (95%CI: 0.25 – 0.37)/1 000 population, with the highest DALYs rate for the residents aged < 5 years (0.526 [95%CI: 0.24 – 1.41]/1 000 population) and the residents aged ≥ 60 years (0.680 [95%CI: 0.49 – 0.96]/1 000 population), respectively. ConclusionThe incidence of acute gastroenteritis was high among residents of Heilongjiang province, especially among the children under 5 years and the elderly over 60 years.

Sarah Musa, Ismail Dergaa Department of Preventative Health, Primary Health Care Corporation, Doha, QatarCorrespondence: Sarah Musa, Department of Preventative Health, Primary Health Care Corporation, P.O. Box 26555, Doha, Qatar, Tel + 97455666457, Email smusa@phcc.gov.qaBackground: COVID-19 and the measures stemming from efforts to control it have affected the psychosocial wellbeing of children and adolescents. The increasing trend of challenging behavior has exerted further pressure on parents and schools. Understanding socioemotional development and interrelating triggers is the key to management. Early interventions prevent the future threat of mental illness and risky acts. Effective strategies are ones that primarily focus on strengthening parent–child interactions.Aim: The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the (i) psychosocial and behavioral impacts of COVID-19 on children/adolescents and (ii) approaches to identify determinants of challenging behaviors as a principal guide to effective interventional strategies for children and their families.Methodology: Electronic database searches of PubMed, ScienceDirect, Medline, and Scopus were conducted to identify studies meeting the inclusion criteria that address the impact of COVID-19 on behaviors, contributing factors, and management in the context of families/schools. The content of the selected articles was themed under five categories, namely the developmental milestones, the Pyramid Model, the Positive Behavioral Support, the management strategies, and the impact of COVID-19 on children/adolescents’ behavior.Results: The present review demonstrates considerable influence of COVID-19 on children and adolescents’ behavior and mental wellbeing. It stresses the importance of early family-based interventions focusing on the triggers of challenging behavior. Functional Behavioral Assessment and Behavioral Intervention Plan provide a systematic analysis with a strategic plan that support children’s self-regulation and socioemotional intelligence. Regular behavioral screening is vital to promote prevention and early management.Conclusion: Managing behavioral difficulties remains an area of deficit for parents, teachers, and health care providers. With a quality support, parents and schools will be able to clearly characterize the challenging behavior, understand the causes, reinforce parent–child interactions, and consequently, gain the strategic skills required to apply it within natural settings. Timely interventions will limit the risk of future misconduct and mental disorders.Keywords: COVID-19, psychosocial wellbeing mental health, Pyramid Model, family-centered intervention, children, adolescents

As a basic task of computer vision task, object localization plays an important role in many computer vision based applications. Supervised methods employ manual location labels to learn to localize the objects directly, but incomplete or incorrectly assigned location labels affect localization accuracy, and the cost of manual labelling should also be extremely large. This paper proposes a weakly-supervised localization method based on a multi-scale gradient-pyramid feature, which employs the weighted gradient features on the multiple convolutional layers in order to generate a gradient-pyramid feature for object localization. Pairs of gradients and features from different layers are first extracted to compute the gradient features. Then, during the fusion of the gradient features through a pyramid model, the larger value is selected as the result of the fusion task without using the concatenated method. Finally, the multi-scale gradient-pyramid feature is obtained and used to have a more accurate object localization by using the region scaling operation. Our proposed method can be directly integrated into the pre-trained classification model to perform object localization without additional training. Experimental results on the ILSVRC 2016 dataset and CUB-200-2011 dataset show that the proposed method can achieve better object localization performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empathy and compassion have become a major focus for international research and appear to be important concepts in human development. There are several definitions and models of empathy and compassion available in the literature. Based on theoretical foundations, a new model of empathy - compassion - love is proposed in the present article. This new model emphasizes the evolution of the concept of empathy, which, at higher levels, takes the form of compassion, which will then be transformed into even higher universal love making empathy and compassion a creative and significant process for the gradual evolution of individuals. In addition, emphasis is placed on ICT tools that contribute to the development of empathy and compassion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The musculoskeletal system plays a crucial role in our daily lives, and the accurate diagnosis of musculoskeletal issues is essential for providing effective healthcare. However, the classification of musculoskeletal system radiographs is a complex task, requiring both accuracy and efficiency. This study addresses this challenge by introducing and evaluating a pyramid deep feature extraction model for the automatic classification of musculoskeletal system radiographs. The primary goal of this research is to develop a reliable and efficient solution to classify different upper extremity regions in musculoskeletal radiographs. To achieve this goal, we conducted an end-to-end training process using a pre-trained EfficientNet B0 convolutional neural network (CNN) model. This model was trained on a dataset of radiographic images that were divided into patches of various sizes, including 224 × 224, 112 × 112, 56 × 56, and 28 × 28. From the trained CNN model, we extracted a total of 85,000 features. These features were subsequently subjected to selection using the neighborhood component analysis (NCA) feature selection algorithm and then classified using a support vector machine (SVM). The results of our experiments are highly promising. The proposed model successfully classified various upper extremity regions with high accuracy rates: 92.04% for the elbow region, 91.19% for the finger region, 92.11% for the forearm region, 91.34% for the hand region, 91.35% for the humerus region, 89.49% for the shoulder region, and 92.63% for the wrist region. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of our deep feature extraction model as a potential auxiliary tool in the automatic analysis of musculoskeletal system radiographs. By automating the classification of musculoskeletal radiographs, our model has the potential to significantly accelerate clinical diagnostic processes and provide more precise results. This advancement in medical imaging technology can ultimately lead to better healthcare services for patients. However, future studies are crucial to further refine and test the model for practical clinical applications, ensuring that it integrates seamlessly into medical diagnosis and treatment processes, thus improving the overall quality of healthcare services.

In complex mining environments, driverless mining trucks are required to cooperate with multiple intelligent systems. They must perform obstacle avoidance based on factors such as the site road width, obstacle type, vehicle body movement state, and ground concavity-convexity. Targeting the open-pit mining area, this paper proposes an intelligent mining road object detection (IMOD) model developed using a 5G-multi-UAV and a deep learning approach. The IMOD model employs data sensors to monitor surface data in real time within a multisystem collaborative 5G network. The model transmits data to various intelligent systems and edge devices in real time, and the unmanned mining card constructs the driving area on the fly. The IMOD model utilizes a convolutional neural network to identify obstacles in front of driverless mining trucks in real time, optimizing multisystem collaborative control and driverless mining truck scheduling based on obstacle data. Multiple systems cooperate to maneuver around obstacles, including avoiding static obstacles, such as standing and lying dummies, empty oil drums, and vehicles; continuously avoiding multiple obstacles; and avoiding dynamic obstacles such as walking people and moving vehicles. For this study, we independently collected and constructed an obstacle image dataset specific to the mining area, and experimental tests and analyses reveal that the IMOD model maintains a smooth route and stable vehicle movement attitude, ensuring the safety of driverless mining trucks as well as of personnel and equipment in the mining area. The ablation and robustness experiments demonstrate that the IMOD model outperforms the unmodified YOLOv5 model, with an average improvement of approximately 9.4% across multiple performance measures. Additionally, compared with other algorithms, this model shows significant performance improvements.

• Program-wide supports include leadership commitment, staff buy-in, and professional development • Early childhood programs improve implementation of program-wide supports with external coaching • Program-wide supports improve teacher implementation of Pyramid Model practices Many early childhood programs are not prepared to meet the needs of children who have significant social, emotional, and behavioral challenges. Program-Wide Supports for Pyramid Model Implementation (PWS-PMI) provides a systematic approach to supporting early childhood programs using Pyramid Model practices and enhancing children's social-emotional outcomes that is grounded in implementation science. We designed the current study to test the PWS-PMI intervention and examine its feasibility of implementation in community-based early childhood programs serving children from low-income environments. In this study, we found programs increased their implementation of PWS-PM and improved classroom practices after only one year of support. Our findings indicate a program-wide approach is effective, although more time and support will be necessary to sustain high fidelity implementation and produce robust effects on children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Xinyang Normal University Natural Science Edition is the property of Journal of Xinyang Normal University Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Early Childhood is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Pyramid Model (PM) is an evidence-based, early educational framework designed to promote all young children's social-emotional-behavioural (SEB) learning. The tiered PM early education practice framework, developed in North America, embeds strategies for children with exceptional needs naturally and coherently integrates apparently divergent approaches to promoting young children's SEB skills. Responsive teaching, which is fundamental to early education practice, is shown to link with positive behaviour support practices by means of incidental and planned intentional teaching. These early education PM practices are intended to promote children's SEB skills when used together purposefully, consistently, and intensively. The PM's potential application in Australia was investigated with 4-5-year-olds in 4 Victorian preschools. Quantitative data from the study suggested that after training and subsequent coaching in the PM, there was significant change in intervention educators' behaviour, which was independently observed and rated using the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool. Concurrently, the SEB skills of the children in the intervention groups were shown to have developed at a significantly greater rate than the children in the contrast groups as assessed using the Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) is a multidisciplinary field of inquiry, practice, and policy concerned with enhancing the social-emotional competence of infants and young children. Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) is a system of services that supports infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. ECI providers promote a child's development in all domains, including social-emotional. The purpose of this paper is to describe how two systems, Early Childhood Intervention and Infant Early Childhood Mental Health, collaborate when serving children who have developmental delays or disabilities and their families and other caregivers. We will discuss two models used to promote social-emotional development, the Pyramid Model and IECMH Consultation, and provide three examples that demonstrate how ECI and IECMH intersect at both the family, classroom, and system levels.

A multiple probe design across behaviors, replicated across teaching teams, was used to evaluate the effectiveness of training plus reciprocal peer coaching on teaching teams' implementation of Pyramid Model (PM) practices. In this study, teaching teams (three dyads and one triad) were provided with training around the use of targeted PM practices and reciprocal peer coaching. Coaching required teachers within each team to observe and provide feedback to one another around their use of targeted PM practices. Data from this study indicate reciprocal peer coaching is an effective and efficient way for early childhood teaching teams to increase their use of PM practices. Increased use of PM practices generalized across classroom activities and maintained following the removal of peer coaching. Results, limitations, impacts on the field, and next steps are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amount of remote sensing (RS) data has increased at an unexpected scale, due to the rapid progress of earth-observation and the growth of satellite RS and sensor technologies. Traditional relational databases attend their limit to meet the needs of high-resolution and large-scale RS Big Data management. As a result, massive RS data management is currently one of the most imperative topics. To address this problem, this paper describes a distributed architecture for big RS data storage based on a unified metadata file, pyramid model, and Hilbert curve for data composition and indexing using NoSQL databases (i.e, Apache Hbase). In this paper, a Hadoop-based framework in AzureInsight cloud platform is designed to manage massive RS data in a parallel and distributed way. Experimental results prove that our method has the potential to overcome the weakness of traditional methods. The proposed model is suitable for massive high-resolution image data management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Education for Life / Yaşadıkça Eğitim Dergisi is the property of Istanbul Kultur Universitesi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Experimental Technology & Management is the property of Experimental Technology & Management Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the United States, preschool teachers report behaviour management as one of the greatest challenges when educating young children. Teachers consistently feel unprepared to meet the needs of children with persistent challenging behaviours. Unfortunately, the issue affects more than just preschool teachers. Behaviour issues that emerge in preschool, if left unaddressed, can become chronic by third grade. Fifty percent or more of preschoolers who exhibit challenging behaviours continued to have these challenges in upper grade levels. Sixty-six percent of that 50% have been diagnosed with 'attention deficit hyperactivity, oppositional defiant behavior, or conduct disorder by age nine' (Zaghlawan & Ostrosky, p. 439). These ongoing challenging behaviours have a negative impact on academic outcomes including maths, reading, and vocabulary skills. Moreover, chronic challenging behaviours that go unresolved in the early years, have been shown to negatively impact developmental trajectories, leading to peer rejection, academic failure, failure to graduate high school, and unemployment. For these reasons and more, there has been an increased emphasis in the last decade on identifying evidence-based practices that address challenging behaviours and promote social-emotional competence among preschool children (e.g.; Domitrovich, Moore, & Greenberg, 2012). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2012/2013, the prevalence of child mental illness was estimated to be between 12 and 25% in Ethiopia. The Federal Ministry of Health is currently considering the implementation of the second national mental health strategy guided by the World Health Organization’s pyramid model for an optimal mix of services. This model states self-care as the fundamental concept and practice that can be facilitated by the formal and informal sectors surrounding an individual. Despite this remarkable move toward endorsing contemporary approaches to mental health services, Ethiopia struggles with a limited number of knowledgeable and skilled mental health professionals. This systematic review aims at identifying the main challenges Ethiopia might face while implementing the pyramid model. We will suggest ways to bridge the gap between the need for child/adolescent trained mental health professionals and training mental health professionals informed with the value of integrating the concepts of the pyramid model into the system of mental health care for Ethiopians. The paper also discusses the importance of integrating the Wellness based mental health approach into mental health professionals’ training as a means of developing a culturally responsive approach to child and adolescent services. This review provides implications for further studies and mental health policy, systems and services in Ethiopia.

• Systematic professional development leads to fidelity of practice implementation. • Teacher use of Pyramid Model practices results in positive social and behavioral outcomes. • Adult–child ratios moderate the effects of the intervention on children's outcomes. Professional development (PD) focused on social, emotional, and behavioral teaching practices has been identified as a critical need for preschool teachers. The Pyramid Model for Promoting Social Emotional Competence is a multi-tiered framework of evidence-informed teaching practices. Previous studies have shown that PD, which includes workshops, implementation supports, and controlled doses of Practice-Based Coaching, is associated with teachers' improved fidelity of implementation of Pyramid Model practices. Some studies have shown corollary improvements in child outcomes. The present study reports corollary child outcomes from a cluster randomized efficacy trial examining effects of a PD intervention versus business-as-usual (BAU) PD. Ninety-two teachers and 997 children in these teachers' classrooms, including 250 focal children at elevated risk for poor social, emotional, or behavioral outcomes, participated. Data on social, emotional, behavioral, and other developmental outcomes were collected pre-intervention and post-intervention for all children via teacher-completed rating scales. Data for focal children were collected on social interactions and challenging behavior using an observational coding system and for other developmental outcomes through direct child assessment. Results showed statistically significant and noteworthy effects for children whose teachers were in the PD intervention versus BAU PD for both non-focal and focal children's social skills and challenging behavior. By post-intervention, focal children whose teachers were in the PD intervention condition showed greater rates of social interaction than their peers in BAU teachers' classrooms. No statistically significant or noteworthy differences were found for other child development outcomes. Mediation of treatment effects based on teachers' Pyramid Model practice implementation was evidenced for social and behavioral child outcomes. Moderator analyses for select teacher and classroom variables showed differential treatment effects for non-focal children's challenging behavior in classrooms with higher child-to-adult ratios. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does a person decide whether she or he is willing to communicate? Dual-process theories have been influential in the literature on the psychology of making judgments and decisions. Dual-process theories make a distinction between cognitive processes that are fast, automatic, and unconscious (also called 'experiential' thinking) and those that are slow, deliberative, and conscious (also called 'rational' thinking). The study assesses differences in willingness to communicate (WTC) ratings made based on rational and experiential processes, and differences between native to second language WTC. Data were collected from a sample of 84 students in Iran and 82 students in Canada. Both groups assessed their WTC using English as a second language in Iran and as a native language in the Canadian sample. Data analysis showed that a preference for using rational thinking, as measured by the Rational-Experiential Inventory (Pacini & Epstein, 1999), was correlated with WTC ratings made fast and slow, but only in the second language. We also found WTC ratings were significantly higher when made fast compared to slow, regardless of language group. Pedagogical implications are discussed with advice to teachers how to capitalize on rational thinking and to avoid hesitation in communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transferring a photo to a stylised image with beautiful texture has become one of the most popular topics in computer vision and the application of image processing. Controlling the stroke size of the texture is one of the challenging problems in this task. Recent representative methods for such problem introduce a pyramid model to regulate receptive fields in the network. Meanwhile, dilated convolutions are proved to be a very efficient way to adjust receptive fields without losing resolution. By combining the advantages of both approaches and making special optimisation for VGG19 model for style transfer tasks, the authors propose to exploit dilated convolutions to extract texture information endowing the network with stroke controllable. Several sets of contrast experiments were conducted and results show that their algorithm can generate more attractive stylisation images and control stroke size flexibly. It demonstrates the superiority of applying dilated convolutions as a texture extraction method for maintaining more texture information and controlling stroke size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Logopedia e Comunicazione is the property of Edizioni Centro Studi Erickson SpA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copy-move forgery detection (CMFD) is probably one of the most active research subtopics within the blind image forensics field. Among existing algorithms, block-based methods achieve better detection result, but suffer from not being robust to the scaling of the copied region, which is limited to a small scaling range between 91 and 109%. To overcome this issue, a novel copy-move forgery detection method based on the pyramid model and Zernike moments is proposed in this work. First, a non-uniform sampling approach is used to build the pyramid model to improve the speed of detection, where each level of the model is a rescaled image with different scale factors. Then, the Zernike moments method is used to extract image rotation invariant feature. Furthermore, to make the proposed model be robust to the rotation and the combination of the rotation and scaling of the copied region, the random sample consensus (RANSAC) algorithm is adopted to look for the same affine transformation parameters. Compared with the existing methods, experimental results show that the proposed method has a good effect on the arbitrary rotation angle, the scaling range between 50 and 200%, and the combination of both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current issues related to prostate cancer (PCa) clinical care (e.g., over-screening, over-diagnosis, and over-treatment of nonaggressive PCa) call for risk assessment tools that can be combined with family history (FH) to stratify disease risk among men in the general population. Since 2007, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified more than 100 SNPs associated with PCa susceptibility. In this review, we discuss (1) the validity of these PCa risk-associated SNPs, individually and collectively; (2) the various methods used for measuring the cumulative effect of multiple SNPs, including genetic risk score (GRS); (3) the adequate number of SNPs needed for risk assessment; (4) reclassification of risk based on evolving numbers of SNPs used to calculate genetic risk, (5) risk assessment for men from various racial groups, and (6) the clinical utility of genetic risk assessment. In conclusion, data available to date support the clinical validity of PCa risk-associated SNPs and GRS in risk assessment among men with or without FH. PCa risk-associated SNPs are not intended for diagnostic use; rather, they should be used the same way as FH. Combining GRS and FH can significantly improve the performance of risk assessment. Improved risk assessment may have important clinical utility in targeted PCa testing. However, clinical trials are urgently needed to evaluate this clinical utility as well as the acceptance of GRS by patients and physicians.

Unprecedented progress has been made in genomic personalized medicine in the last several years, allowing for more individualized healthcare assessments and recommendations than ever before. However, most of this progress in prostate cancer (PCa) care has focused on developing and selecting therapies for late-stage disease. To address this issue of limited focus, we propose a model for incorporating genomic-based personalized medicine into all levels of PCa care, from prevention and screening to diagnosis, and ultimately to the treatment of both early-stage and late-stage cancers. We have termed this strategy the "Pyramid Model" of personalized cancer care. In this perspective paper, our objective is to demonstrate the potential application of the Pyramid Model to PCa care. This proactive and comprehensive personalized cancer care approach has the potential to achieve three important medical goals: reducing mortality, improving quality of life and decreasing both individual and societal healthcare costs.

The recent demonstration of the effectiveness of low-dose aspirin administered from the first trimester in the prevention of preeclampsia will probably lead to establishing and radicating the "inverted pyramid" screening model for preeclampsia. Such a multiparametric approach for the screening of preeclampsia in the first trimester, albeit highly sensitive in identifying early-onset disease, is poor at screening the forms of preeclampsia occurring close to term. Late-onset preeclampsia is 3 to 6 times more common than early-onset preeclampsia and currently represents the major determinant of maternal morbidity related to hypertensive disorders of the pregnancy. On this ground, we discuss our idea to construct a second "screening checkpoint" in the third trimester with the aim of reassessing the risk of preeclampsia of those women who screened negative in the first trimester. If implemented, the sequential screening model we propose would convert the "inverted pyramid model" into an "arrow model" for the antenatal care of preeclampsia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of cultural competence in health care has been more acknowledged since modern societies are becoming increasingly multi-cultural. Research evidence shows that cultural competence is associated with improved skills and patient satisfaction, and it also seems to have a positive impact on adherence to therapy. Based on this evidence, the acknowledged importance of cultural competence and its poor integration into medical curricula, we present a pyramid model for building cultural competence into medical curricula whereby medical students can enhance their skills through acquiring, applying and activating knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous multi-scale representation is one of attractive problems in mapping lechnolo-gy. Conventional mapping which uses the subdivision of multilevel tiles or multi-version storage to accomplish spatial multi-scale representations has the problems including data redundancy, inconsistency between diffident levels, the dramatic change in scale range and others. This study comprehensively applies various multi-scale representation strategies, including the cartography generalization and the spatial index technology, and put scale dimension and operations information in data model to build The Vector Spatial Data Pyramid Model. This model builds up key scale representations data and controls the scales space of every target through the off-line processing. And the process information, including the representation status of object, the longitudinal association between object A and object B in diffident levels, the generalize operators and parameters, is encapsulated in the attributes of objects through object-oriented modeling. Meanwhile, this model establishes scale transformation structure through one end and both end of the control. Based on the pyramid model, the generalization action can he executed in real-time to obtain continuous scale representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social domain is 1 of 5 preschool curricular domains in mainland China. Chinese preschool teachers are expected to use teaching practices that foster young children's social competence. The purpose of this study was to explore a small sample of Chinese preschool teachers' use of teaching and behavior support practices associated with the Pyramid Model. Twenty preschool classrooms in mainland China were observed using the prepublication version of the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool for Preschool Classrooms (L. Fox, M. L. Hemmeter, & P. Snyder, 2008). In addition, each teacher completed a social-emotional teaching practices survey. Results indicated that Chinese teachers were observed to use, on average, about 31% of key teaching practices associated with the Pyramid Model. They were implementing more universal promotion practices than targeted social-emotional teaching practices. Chinese teachers generally were not observed to be teaching behavior expectations and social problem solving, nor were they developing individualized interventions for children with the most persistent challenging behavior. Correlational analyses suggested that observed implementation of Pyramid Model practices generally was not related to self-reported use of these practices. Limitations and implications of the present study along with considerations for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensifying competition in Iranian banking system made great banks vulnerable against guerrilla strategies of small ones. In this situation it is critical to maintain the relationship between banks with their customer for saving their market share. One indicator of bank-customer relationship strength is brand resonance. This research aims to assess determining factors of brand resonance of Bank SADERAT based on Keller’s brand equity pyramid. A 31-items questionnaire was designed and filled by self-report method from sample of 383 customers by quota sampling approach. Results revealed a positive effect of brand salience, brand performance, brand imagery, brand feelings and brand judgment on the brand resonance of Bank SADERAT. The biggest effect of independent variables on the brand resonance based on standardized beta coefficients are: brand feelings (ß=0.489), brand imagery (ß=0.173), brand judgment (ß=0.119), brand performance (ß=0.112) and brand salience (ß=0.099). Freidman test showed the priorities of brand equity components as below: brand imagery, brand resonance, brand salience, brand feelings, brand performance, and brand judgment.

This conceptual article reviews current research on racial disparities in disciplinary practices in early childhood education and work to address these issues within a positive behavior support (PBS) framework. Building largely on the Pyramid Model, recommendations and a culturally responsive approach are suggested for use within a program-wide PBS framework in early childhood settings. Future directions are discussed to guide efforts toward reducing disparate racial discipline practices in early childhood programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Megabalanus peninsularis is a key species in the rocky shore, particularly in Malpelo Island in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) where it dominates the mesolittoral zone and the infralittoral fringe. The size structure of M. peninsularis was determined to infer the population state (pyramid model) by measuring the basal diameter of individuals (n= 837) around the oceanic island. The species population distribution followed a bimodal pattern (class I-II and VII). The pyramid expansive model, with a relatively higher number of juveniles than adults suggests that the population is growing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The railway track technical literature lacks proper reports on the key effects of the support stiffness on the track behavior with various sleeper geometries. Hence, it is the aim of this research to report on the assessment of the track foundation stiffness. The pyramid model equations are developed for three different stress conditions including WOA model for the cases without stress overlap area in the adjacent sleepers, OAP for considering the stress overlap area between adjacent sleepers with pyramid distribution and OAC for the cases of stress overlap area between adjacent sleepers with cubical stress distribution. A vehicle /track interaction problem studied using the finite element method. The vehicle is considered as a series of moving masses with three degrees of freedom corresponding to the carbody, the bogie and the wheelset masses. The track is considered as beam elements resting on the viscoelastic foundation. The results of the numerical analyses of the vehicle/track system are presented as ratios of the railway track vertical displacement to the vehicle axle load for various foundation stiffness. Many correlation equations are suggested that interconnect the track stiffness with variables such as the ballast depth, the sleeper width, and the sleeper distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current issues related to prostate cancer (PCa) clinical care (e.g., over-screening, over-diagnosis, and over-treatment of nonaggressive PCa) call for risk assessment tools that can be combined with family history (FH) to stratify disease risk among men in the general population. Since 2007, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified more than 100 SNPs associated with PCa susceptibility. In this review, we discuss (1) the validity of these PCa risk-associated SNPs, individually and collectively; (2) the various methods used for measuring the cumulative effect of multiple SNPs, including genetic risk score (GRS); (3) the adequate number of SNPs needed for risk assessment; (4) reclassification of risk based on evolving numbers of SNPs used to calculate genetic risk, (5) risk assessment for men from various racial groups, and (6) the clinical utility of genetic risk assessment. In conclusion, data available to date support the clinical validity of PCa risk-associated SNPs and GRS in risk assessment among men with or without FH. PCa risk-associated SNPs are not intended for diagnostic use; rather, they should be used the same way as FH. Combining GRS and FH can significantly improve the performance of risk assessment. Improved risk assessment may have important clinical utility in targeted PCa testing. However, clinical trials are urgently needed to evaluate this clinical utility as well as the acceptance of GRS by patients and physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unprecedented progress has been made in genomic personalized medicine in the last several years, allowing for more individualized healthcare assessments and recommendations than ever before. However, most of this progress in prostate cancer (PCa) care has focused on developing and selecting therapies for late‑stage disease. To address this issue of limited focus, we propose a model for incorporating genomic‑based personalized medicine into all levels of PCa care, from prevention and screening to diagnosis, and ultimately to the treatment of both early‑stage and late‑stage cancers. We have termed this strategy the "Pyramid Model" of personalized cancer care. In this perspective paper, our objective is to demonstrate the potential application of the Pyramid Model to PCa care. This proactive and comprehensive personalized cancer care approach has the potential to achieve three important medical goals: reducing mortality, improving quality of life and decreasing both individual and societal healthcare costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]