185 research outputs found
CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS AND ESTIMATOR COMPARISON OF TWO SHORT FORMS OF AN IRRATIONAL AND RATIONAL BELIEFS SCALE Author(s): Joanne Raptis
No full textThe present study examined two abbreviated versions of the Attitudes and Beliefs Scale-2 (ABS-2) to compare their factor structure and ability to achieve model fit to the data. The original scale, a measure of irrational and rational beliefs as defined by REBT theory, was designed with 72 items reflecting irrational and rational beliefs and each involving one of four cognitive processes and one of three content areas. The ABS-2 had been criticized for its length and the inconsistency of findings regarding its factor structure. Two groups of researchers independently created short forms of the ABS-2 using 24 of the original items. One scale used the items with the highest factor loadings, while the other also prioritized maintaining balance across all dimensions. To also explore the effects of using different estimators, the authors ran Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFAs) for each short form twice, once using the Maximum Likelihood Robust (MLR) estimator and once using Diagonally Weighted Least Squares (DWLS). The sample consisted of over 1500 participants that included university students, psychotherapy outpatients, and individuals in a drug rehabilitation program. Results showed that both scales yielded virtually equal and excellent fit indices when using the DWLS estimator but not when using MLR. The model with the best fit was an eight-factor bifactor model with factors for the irrational and rational cognitive processes and a general factor. Two other models also yielded especially excellent fit, including a two-factor bifactor model for irrationality and rationality as well as a second-order model with items loading on either one of the four irrational cognitive processes and then a second-order irrationality factor or on one of the four rational cognitive processes and a second-order rationality factor. Ultimately, the results suggest that the assessment can provide meaningful subscales for scores of the total, irrationality, rationality, cognitive processes, and content domains. Additionally, the findings highlight the importance of critically considering one’s data and selecting an appropriate estimator as opposed to relying on default settings. Implications for the assessment of irrational and rational beliefs, furthering REBT research, and targeting treatment to client presentation across the three dimensions are discussed
Finitary Čech-de Rham cohomology
No full textThe present paper continues (Mallios & Rapfis, International Journal of Theoretical Physics, 2001, 40, 1885) and studies the curved finitary spacetime sheaves of incidence algebras presented therein from a Čech cohomological perspective. In particular, we entertain the possibility of constructing a nontrivial de Rham complex on these finite dimensional algebra sheaves along the lines of the first author's axiomatic approach to differential geometry via the theory of vector and algebra sheaves (Mallios, Geometry of Vector Sheaves. An Axiomtic Approach to Differential Geometry, Vols. 1-2, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1998a; Mathematica Japonica (International Plaza), 1998b, 48, 93). The upshot of this study is that important "classical" differential geometric constructions and results usually thought of as being intimately associated with C∞-smooth manifolds carry through, virtually unaltered, to the finitary-algebraic regime with the help of some quite universal, because abstract, ideas taken mainly from sheaf-cohomology as developed in Mallios (1998a,b). At the end of the paper, and due to the fact that the incidence algebras involved have been interpreted as quantum causal sets (Raptis, International Journal of Theoretical Physics, 2000, 39, 1233; Mallios & Rapfis, 2001), we discuss how these ideas may be used in certain aspects of current research on discrete Lorentzian quantum gravity
Efeito insulino-mimético do canferol 3,7-0-(alfa)-L-diramnosídeo na glicemia e na captação da 2-[14C(U)]-deoxi-D-Glicose em músculo sóleo de ratos
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências da Saúde. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Farmácia
Constitutive androstane receptor (Car)-driven regeneration protects liver from failure following tissue loss
No full textBackground & Aims Liver can recover following resection. If tissue loss is too excessive, however, liver failure will develop as is known from the small-for-size-syndrome (SFSS). The molecular processes underlying liver failure are ill-understood. Here, we explored the role and the clinical potential of Nr1i3 (constitutive androstane receptor, Car) in liver failure following hepatectomy. Methods Activators of Car, various hepatectomies, Car-/- mice, humanized CAR mice, human tissue and ex vivo liver slice cultures were used to study Car in the SFSS. Pathways downstream of Car were investigated by in vivo siRNA knockdown. Results Excessive tissue loss causing liver failure is associated with deficient induction of Car. Reactivation of Car by an agonist normalizes all features associated with experimental SFSS. The beneficial effects of Car activation are relayed through Foxm1, an essential promoter of the hepatocyte cell cycle. Deficiency in the CAR-FOXM1 axis likewise is evident in human SFSS. Activation of human CAR mitigates SFSS in humanized CAR mice and improves the culture of human liver slices. Conclusions Impaired hepatic Car-Foxm1 signaling provides a first molecular characterization of liver that fails to recover after tissue loss. Our findings place deficient regeneration as a principal cause behind the SFSS and suggest CAR agonists may bear clinical potential against liver failure. Lay summary The unique regenerative capacity of liver has its natural limits. Following tissue loss that is too excessive, such as through extended resection in the clinic, liver failure may develop. This is known as small-for-size-syndrome (SFSS) and represents the most frequent cause of death due to liver surgery. Here we show that deficient induction of the protein Car, a central regulator of liver function and growth, is a cause of liver failure following extended resection; reactivation of Car through pharmacological means is sufficient to prevent or rescue the SFS
Subgroup separability of Artin groups
No full textWe find a condition on the underlying graph of an Artin group that fully determines if it is subgroup separable. As a consequence, an Artin group is subgroup separable if and only if it can be obtained from Artin groups of ranks at most 2 via a finite sequence of free products and direct products with the infinite cyclic group. This result generalizes the Metaftsis-Raptis criterion for Right-Angled Artin groups
Estudos potenciometricos e fluorimetricos dos equilibrios acido-basicos e da complexação de metais com o obisdien e substancias humicas. Contaminação pelos metais em sedimentos da Ilha de Santa Catarina (Brasil)
No full textTese (Doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências Físicas e Matemáticas.Os mecanismos de complexação por ligantes naturais e/ou artificiais ocupam uma situação importante no transporte e acumulação de metais e espécies orgânicas e inorgânicas nos meios aquosos. Técnicas de titulação potenciométrica e fluorimétrica foram utilizadas para avaliar o comportamento de ligantes naturais e/ou artificiais na complexação de íons metálicos e ânions orgânicos e inorgânicos. As constantes de protonação da selênio cistina e selênio metionina permitiram ajustar as condições experimentais para a especiação destes compostos. A determinação de metais por ICP-MS em mangues, lagoas e a baia sul na Ilha de Santa Catarina, seguida da análise estatística foi realizada e foram verificados os níveis de contaminação destes compartimentos ecológicos por estes metais
Studio della quota di volo mediante GNSS, altimetro radar e barometro per rilievi di spettroscopia gamma da velivolo
No full textThe study of the distribution of the terrestrial radionuclides (238U, 232Th e 40K), performed by using airborne gamma-ray spectroscopy techniques, is influenced by the height of the detector with respect to the ground. An uncertainty of 10% at a flight height of 100 m originates an estimation error of the order of 7% in 208Tl gamma signal, a daughter isotope of the 232Th decay chain. The use of a new class of spectrometers mounted on board of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), for refined measurements in hostile places and boondocks, necessitates an accurate real-time estimation of the flight height.
The Radgyro is an aircraft dedicated to multiparameter surveys and it is able to carry a set of instruments for a maximum payload of 120 kg, among which four NaI(Tl) gamma-ray spectrometers. An inertial station with an integrated GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver provides the aircraft trim with a maximum frequency of 400 Hz. The aircraft is equipped with a network of three GNSS receivers positioned on the extremities of the hull of aircraft. A 24 Ghz radar altimeter detects the height with a frequency of 60 Hz. The measurement of pressure and temperature permit to infer the barometric height at 2 Hz. With the aim to study the uncertainties related to the flight height through the measurements acquired by the altimeters in comparison with the GNSS data, three flights were performed on the sea with a flight height range of 31-249 m, for a total time of 4702 seconds of effective flight. At the end of this study, we can affirm that the abundances error of K, U and Th increases of the 7.7%, 0.5% and 2.7% respectively, as a result of uncertainties related to the flight altitude
'Third' quantization of vacuum Einstein gravity and free Yang-Mills theories
No full textCertain pivotal results from various applications of Abstract Differential Geometry (ADG) to gravity and gauge theories are presently collected and used to argue that we already possess a geometrically (pre)quantized, second quantized and manifestly background spacetime manifold independent vacuum Einstein gravitational field dynamics. The arguments carry also mutatis mutandis to the case of free Yang-Mills theories, since from the ADG-theoretic perspective gravity is regarded as another gauge field theory. The powerful algebraico-categorical, sheaf cohomological conceptual and technical machinery of ADG is then employed, based on the fundamental ADG-theoretic conception of a field as a pair (ε D) consisting of a vector sheaf ε and an algebraic connection D acting categorically as a sheaf morphism on ε 's local sections, to introduce a 'universal', because expressly functorial, field quantization scenario coined third quantization. Although third quantization is fully covariant, on intuitive and heuristic grounds alone it formally appears to follow a canonical route; albeit, in a purely algebraic and, in contradistinction to geometric (pre)quantization and (canonical) second quantization, manifestly background geometrical spacetime manifold independent fashion, as befits ADG. All in all, from the ADG-theoretic vantage, vacuum Einstein gravity and free Yang-Mills theories are regarded as external spacetime manifold unconstrained, third quantized, pure gauge field theories. The paper abounds with philosophical smatterings and speculative remarks about the potential import and significance of our results to current and future Quantum Gravity research. A postscript gives a brief account of this author's personal encounters with Rafael Sorkin and his work. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007
THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL EXPECTANCIES SCALE: DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION.
No full textHealthy lifestyle habits are widely known to improve physical and psychological wellbeing, but many struggle to regularly practice these behaviors. As an overarching solution has yet to emerge, it may prove more fruitful to instead personalize behavior change recommendations and interventions. The present study examined whether individual responsiveness to internal and external expectations can be measured, as it could be a useful behavioral factor to target with tailored treatment recommendations. This construct was first postulated by popular author Gretchen Rubin (2015) but has yet to be studied empirically. For the current project, the Internal and External Expectancies Scale (IEES) was developed to be more comprehensive and addresses structural limitations of the currently available Four Tendencies Quiz (FTQ). The scale’s psychometric properties and validity were assessed. Participants were 407 adults (85% female; 64% White) ages 18 - 77 (M = 27.3; SD = 13.6) who were recruited from online groups and a university participant pool. They completed a series of measures that included the IEES, a shortened version of the FTQ (FTQ-SF), a measure of the Big Five personality factors (20-IPIP-B5), and one of overall wellbeing (PROMIS-GH). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) examined the best simple structures emerging from the data, and confirmatory factor analysis compared null, theorized, and EFA-informed models. The internal consistency of the best-fitting model’s factors was assessed. Correlations were run between the resulting IEES subscales, 20-IPIP-B5, PROMIS-GH, and FTQ-SF for further examination of scale validity, relevance, and to compare the two measures of expectation responsiveness. A bifactor model where items loaded on either an internal or external expectation factor and one of three contexts emerged as the strongest. This indicates that expectation sensitivity and resistance are poles of a single continuum and that individuals’ responses are more consistent within contexts than across, as a general personality trait may have implied. The IEES had several significant moderate correlations with established measures of personality and wellbeing, and these were stronger than the results of correlations of the FTQ-SF. However, the EFA and internal consistency scores suggest the need for further refinement to fully account for the importance of assessing context
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