The relationship between employment-related self-efficacy and quality of life following traumatic brain injury.

Objectives: This study examines the relative contribution of employment-related and general self-efficacy to perceptions of quality of life (QoL) for individuals with traumatic brain injury. Design: Correlational. Setting: Community-based research and training center. Participants: 427 individuals with self-reported TBI under the age of 65 were included in analysis. Main Outcome Measure: Employment-related self-efficacy, general self-efficacy, perceived quality of life (PQoL), unmet important needs (UIN). Results: Significant correlations were found between income, injury severity, age at injury, and employment and the QoL variables. In addition, employment-related and general self-efficacy correlated positively with both PQoL and UIN. Employment-related and general self-efficacy accounted for 16% of the variance in PQoL and 9.5% of the variance in UIN, over and above other variables traditionally associated with QoL. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of including subjective appraisals of employment, such as perceived self-efficacy at the workplace, in assessing QoL and successful return to work following TBI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of feedback, casual attributions, and self-efficacy in goal revision.

An important issue in work motivation is how, when, and why individuals revise their goals up or down over time. In the current study, the authors examine feedback, causal attributions, and self-efficacy in this process. Although self-efficacy has frequently been suggested as a key explanatory variable for goal revision, its role has yet to be directly evaluated. Additionally, although attributions have been shown to influence goal revision following failure, the extent to which attributions influence goal revision following success remains unclear. In the current study, the authors address these issues by experimentally manipulating goal progress via performance feedback and tracking the resulting changes in self-efficacy and goal revision over time. In so doing, the authors also address several interpretive ambiguities present in the existing research. Results support the hypothesized model, finding that performance feedback and attributions interactively influenced self-efficacy, which in turn influenced goal revision. These results suggest that interventions targeting attributions, and self-efficacy more directly, may have meaningful influences on goal setting and pursuit, particularly following feedback. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quality of life in dialysis: A Malaysian perspective

There is a growing interest to use quality of life as one of the dialysis outcome measurement. Based on the Malaysian National Renal Registry data on 15 participating sites, 1569 adult subjects who were alive at December 31, 2012, aged 18 years old and above were screened. Demographic and medical data of 1332 eligible subjects were collected during the administration of the short form of World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL‐BREF) in Malay, English, and Chinese language, respectively. The primary objective is to evaluate the quality of life among dialysis patients using WHOQOL‐BREF. The secondary objective is to examine significant factors that affect quality of life score. Mean (SD) transformed quality of life scores were 56.2 (15.8), 59.8 (16.8), 58.2 (18.5), 59.5 (14.6), 61.0 (18.5) for (1) physical, (2) psychological, (3) social relations, (4) environment domains, and (5) combined overall quality of life and general health, respectively. Peritoneal dialysis group scored significantly higher than hemodialysis group in the mean combined overall quality of life and general health score (63.0 vs. 60.0, P < 0.001). Independent factors that were associated significantly with quality of life score in different domains include gender, body mass index, religion, education, marital status, occupation, income, mode of dialysis, hemoglobin, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, cerebral vascular accident and leg amputation. Subjects on peritoneal dialysis modality achieved higher combined overall quality of life and general health score than those on hemodialysis. Religion and cerebral vascular accident were significantly associated with all domains and combined overall quality of life and general health.     

Multistate resistive switching in silver nanoparticle films

Resistive switching devices have garnered significant consideration for their potential use in nanoelectronics and non-volatile memory applications. Here we investigate the nonlinear current–voltage behavior and resistive switching properties of composite nanoparticle films comprising a large collective of metal–insulator–metal junctions. Silver nanoparticles prepared via the polyol process and coated with an insulating polymer layer of tetraethylene glycol were deposited onto silicon oxide substrates. Activation required a forming step achieved through application of a bias voltage. Once activated, the nanoparticle films exhibited controllable resistive switching between multiple discrete low resistance states that depended on operational parameters including the applied bias voltage, temperature and sweep frequency. The films’ resistance switching behavior is shown here to be the result of nanofilament formation due to formative electromigration effects. Because of their tunable and distinct resistance states, scalability and ease of fabrication, nanoparticle films have a potential place in memory technology as resistive random access memory cells.     

Service Middleware for Self-Managing Large-Scale Systems

Resource management poses particular challenges in large-scale systems, such as server clusters that simultaneously process requests from a large number of clients. A resource management scheme for such systems must scale both in the in the number of cluster nodes and the number of applications the cluster supports. Current solutions do not exhibit both of these properties at the same time. Many are centralized, which limits their scalability in terms of the number of nodes, or they are decentralized but rely on replicated directories, which also reduces their ability to scale. In this paper, we propose novel solutions to request routing and application placement- two key mechanisms in a scalable resource management scheme. Our solution to request routing is based on selective update propagation, which ensures that the control load on a cluster node is independent of the system size. Application placement is approached in a decentralized manner, by using a distributed algorithm that maximizes resource utilization and allows for service differentiation under overload. The paper demonstrates how the above solutions can be integrated into an overall design for a peer-to-peer management middleware that exhibits properties of self-organization. Through complexity analysis and simulation, we show to which extent the system design is scalable. We have built a prototype using accepted technologies and have evaluated it using a standard benchmark. The testbed measurements show that the implementation, within the parameter range tested, operates efficiently, quickly adapts to a changing environment and allows for effective service differentiation by a system administrator.     

The time has come to talk of many things: A commentary on Kurdek (1998) and the emerging field of marital processes in depression.

In an important investigation of the longitudinal relation between marital adjustment and depressive symptoms, L. A. Kurdek (see record 1998-11410-003) reported an apparent failure to replicate prior findings reported by F. D. Fincham, S. R. H. Beach, G. T. Harold, and L. N. Osborne (1997). He attributed the diverging results to differences between the analytic approach taken in each of the studies. The authors reanalyzed F. D. Fincham et al.'s data using L. A. Kurdek's analytic procedures and found no change in results. A more parsimonious assessment of the diverging results is that L. A. Kurdek failed to generalize F. D. Fincham et al.'s findings to a longer time lag and a sample characterized by a rather different pattern of attrition. The authors highlight several important issues that require greater attention in developing a cumulative body of knowledge on the longitudinal relation between marital processes and depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transdermal Delivery Systems for Ibuprofen and Ibuprofen Modified with Amino Acids Alkyl Esters Based on Bacterial Cellulose

The potential of bacterial cellulose as a carrier for the transport of ibuprofen (a typical example of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) through the skin was investigated. Ibuprofen and its amino acid ester salts-loaded BC membranes were prepared through a simple methodology and characterized in terms of structure and morphology. Two salts of amino acid isopropyl esters were used in the research, namely L-valine isopropyl ester ibuprofenate ([ValOiPr][IBU]) and L-leucine isopropyl ester ibuprofenate ([LeuOiPr][IBU]). [LeuOiPr][IBU] is a new compound; therefore, it has been fully characterized and its identity confirmed. For all membranes obtained the surface morphology, tensile mechanical properties, active compound dissolution assays, and permeation and skin accumulation studies of API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) were determined. The obtained membranes were very homogeneous. In vitro diffusion studies with Franz cells were conducted using pig epidermal membranes, and showed that the incorporation of ibuprofen in BC membranes provided lower permeation rates to those obtained with amino acids ester salts of ibuprofen. This release profile together with the ease of application and the simple preparation and assembly of the drug-loaded membranes indicates the enormous potentialities of using BC membranes for transdermal application of ibuprofen in the form of amino acid ester salts.