The Relationship between Psychological Vulnerability,Aging Attitudes and Life Meaning in Elderly Patients with Comorbidities

Background:With the rapid aging of China’s population and the increasing prevalence of comorbidities in the elderly,psychological crises have become more common.This study aims to investigate the present status of psychological vulnerability,aging attitudes,and life meaning in elderly patients with comorbidities.Methods:A total of 685 elderly inpatients and outpatients at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University between July and December 2022 were selected using the simple random sampling method.Social demographic data were collected,and the Attitudes to aging Questionnaire(AAQ),the Chinese Life Meaning Questionnaire(C-MLQ),and the Psychological Vulnerability Scale(C-PVS)were used for the analysis.A total of 685 questionnaires were received,and 602 valid questionnaires were collected,with an effective rate of 87.88%.Data analysis was performed using SPSS V25.0 and AMOS V24.0.Results:The total scores of psychological vulnerability,aging attitudes,and life meaning were 69.4±12.8,80.2±13.5 and 39.2±8.3,respectively.The psychological vulnerability was significantly negatively correlated with life meaning and aging attitudes(r=-0.351,-0.264;p<0.01).There was a significant positive correlation between aging attitudes and life meaning(r=0.515;p<0.01).Life meaning played a partial mediating role between psychological vulnerability and aging attitudes(β=3.070,p<0.05).Conclusion:This study found that the psychological vulnerability in elderly patients with comorbidities was at the lower level,which was related to the elderly patients’aging attitudes and their current status of life meaning.The level of psychological vulnerability in elderly patients with senile-related comorbidities needs to be further improved.Medical workers should pay attention to the psychological vulnerability of elderly patients and improve the identification of psychological crises of such patients.

Target acquisition performance in the presence of JPEG image compression

This paper presents an investigation on the effect of JPEG compression on the similarity between the target image and the background,where the similarity is further used to determine the degree of clutter in the image.Four new clutter metrics based on image quality assessment are introduced,among which the Haar wavelet-based perceptual similarity index,known as HaarPSI,provides the best target acquisition prediction results.It is shown that the similarity between the target and the background at the boundary between visually lossless and visually lossy compression does not change significantly compared to the case when an uncompressed image is used.In future work,through subjective tests,it is necessary to check whether this presence of compression at the threshold of just noticeable differences will affect the human target acquisition performance.Similarity values are compared with the results of subjective tests of the well-known target Search_2 database,where the degree of agreement between objective and subjective scores,measured through linear correlation,reached a value of 90%.

Vibration Suppression for Active Magnetic Bearings Using Adaptive Filter with Iterative Search Algorithm

Active Magnetic Bearing(AMB) is a kind of electromagnetic support that makes the rotor movement frictionless and can suppress rotor vibration by controlling the magnetic force. The most common approach to restrain the rotor vibration in AMBs is to adopt a notch filter or adaptive filter in the AMB controller. However, these methods cannot obtain the precise amplitude and phase of the compensation current. Thus, they are not so effective in terms of suppressing the vibrations of the fundamental and other harmonic orders over the whole speed range. To improve the vibration suppression performance of AMBs,an adaptive filter based on Least Mean Square(LMS) is applied to extract the vibration signals from the rotor displacement signal. An Iterative Search Algorithm(ISA) is proposed in this paper to obtain the corresponding relationship between the compensation current and vibration signals. The ISA is responsible for searching the compensating amplitude and shifting phase online for the LMS filter, enabling the AMB controller to generate the corresponding compensation force for vibration suppression. The results of ISA are recorded to suppress vibration using the Look-Up Table(LUT) in variable speed range. Comprehensive simulations and experimental validations are carried out in fixed and variable speed range, and the results demonstrate that by employing the ISA, vibrations of the fundamental and other harmonic orders are suppressed effectively.

Effects of supervised movie appreciation on the improvement of college students’ life meaning sense

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of supervised movie appreciation on improving the life meaning sense among college students. The intervention combined by “pre-video, post counseling” was conducted on the experimental group, while the control group received no intervention. Results have shown that the scores on the subscales of will to meaning, life purpose, life control, suffer acceptance and on the total scale have improved significantly. No gender difference was found on the intervention effect, and participants receiving intervention maintained higher level on related subscales a week later, indicating that supervised movie appreciation is an effective way to improve the life meaning sense among college students.

Mindfulness Associates Life Satisfaction:The Mediating Role of Internal Control and the Presence of Meaning in Life

This study explored the internal mechanism of the effect of mindfulness on life satisfaction from the perspective of logotherapy theory and achievement attribution theory.We recruited 1021 college students using a combination of random sampling and cluster sampling.They completed the relevant questionnaire.The results showed that,from the perspective of logotherapy theory,wefind that the presence of meaning in life is an important intermediary between mindfulness and life satisfaction.From the perspective of achievement attribution theory,we found that internal control was an important intermediary between mindfulness and life satisfaction.In addition,we also found the chain mediating path that mindfulness positively predicted life satisfaction by influencing internal control and then influencing the presence of meaning in life.This study proves for thefirst time that the theory of logotherapy and achievement attribution explain the internal mechanism of the relation of mindfulness on life satisfaction.This study provides an important reference for how to effectively improve life satisfaction from the perspective of mindfulness.

Depression by the Theory of Breathing and Finding Meaning of Life

This study aimed to examine the relationship of finding meaning to life with the level of depression and investigates the effect of using breathing theory in treating or reducing depression in a sample of individuals suffering from depression in the Kuwait Mental Health Center. In order to achieve these objectives, the researcher used the descriptive and analytical approach through an applied questionnaire on the study sample which consist of (380) individuals and the quasi-experimental approach by dividing the study sample individuals into two groups;control group consisted of (190) individuals and experimental group consist of (190) individuals. Also, the researcher developed meaning of life scale and breathing strategy, also used beck depression inventory scale. The study found a set of results, there is a negative relationship between finding meaning in life and depression and there are statistically significant differences between the members of the two groups due to the use of the breathing strategy, in favor of the experimental group. In the light of this result, the study came out with a set of recommendations, the most important of which are holding training and educational courses for depressed patients on ways and methods of finding meaning in life, as these courses have the benefit in reducing the level of depression among patients.

The Ethics and the Meaning of Life among College Students

The concern of the ethics and the meaning of life in young adults became universal and are present in all contexts of human life. Such universality is due to the development of modern rationality, to establish a relationship between the intrinsic theoretical dimensions (scientific) and practical dimensions (ethical), originated that are present in the own array of knowledge. This descriptive cross-sectional study, aims to identify the values of the ethical dimension and meaning of life defended by the college students of the Universities of Madeira, Portugal and Fortaleza, Brazil. The sample consists of 605 University students (Madeira = 225 and Fortaleza = 380), with an average age of 21 years and a standard deviation of 2. We used the questionnaire on values (adapted from the European Values Survey). Most of the young people referred to have a religion (60% wood and 78.4% stronghold), being the most Catholic, however, present in your frequency disinterest and, yet, in Brazil there is a greater diversity of religions. Supporting the intervention of religious institutions in situations of everyday life is accepted mostly by Brazilians, with the exception of politics (35.5%). On the other hand, the university students of the University of Madeira understand that Religious Institutions should only give their opinion on racial discrimination (76.6%). Believe in God (90.8% and 55.1% Stronghold) and Soul (80.3% and 66.4% Stronghold) are beliefs more referred to by college students. These results are intended to contribute in the field of research on ethical values and meaning of life in young people. This study contributes to future comparative research among university students and to developing strategic programs in education and health, increasing the success and excellence in the formation of a full citizenship, preventing the fanaticisms and the social discrimination that today devastate the collective globally.

A novel hybrid algorithm based on a harmony search and artificial bee colony for solving a portfolio optimization problem using a mean-semi variance approach

Portfolio selection is one of the major capital allocation and budgeting issues in financial management, and a variety of models have been presented for optimal selection. Semi-variance is usually considered as a risk factor in drawing up an efficient frontier and the optimal portfolio. Since semi-variance offers a better estimation of the actual risk portfolio, it was used as a measure to approximate the risk of investment in this work. The optimal portfolio selection is one of the non-deterministic polynomial(NP)-hard problems that have not been presented in an exact algorithm, which can solve this problem in a polynomial time. Meta-heuristic algorithms are usually used to solve such problems. A novel hybrid harmony search and artificial bee colony algorithm and its application were introduced in order to draw efficient frontier portfolios. Computational results show that this algorithm is more successful than the harmony search method and genetic algorithm. In addition, it is more accurate in finding optimal solutions at all levels of risk and return.

Meaning in life and well-being of older stroke survivors in Chinese communities: Mediating effects of mastery and self-esteem

The study aims to examine the role of mastery and self-esteem as a potential mediator of the relationship of meaning in life and well-being among older Chinese stroke survivors. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 214 community-dwelling older stroke survivors (128 men and 86 women), ranging from 60 years to 88 years old. The meaning in life, mastery, self-esteem and subjective well-being were measured. The results indicated that: 1) The meaning in life and subjective well-being of stroke survivors were significantly positive correlated;2) Mastery and self-esteem played partial mediating roles between existential vacuum and subjective well-being;Self-esteem played full a mediating role between suffer acceptance and subjective well-being;Mastery played a full mediating role between life control and subjective well-being;Mastery played a partial mediating role between death acceptance and subjective well-being;Self-esteem also played a partial mediating role between mastery and subjective well-being.

Meaning in Life and Mental Health Issues in Older Adults:A Meta-Analysis

This study aims to be the first to use meta-analysis to explore the relationship between meaning in life(MIL)and mental health issues among older adults.A meta-analysis was conducted using six databases,resulting in 16 studies with 5,074 participants in total.The“metacor”and“forestplot”packages in R-Studio were used for data analysis.The total effect was calculated using a random-effects model,with I2=86%in the heterogeneity test.The results showed a moderate negative correlation between MIL and mental health issues among older adults,with an average effect of−0.37.Five potential moderating variables were examined:the conceptualization of MIL(value vs.purpose),region(Asian vs.Western countries),residence status(community vs.nursing home vs.hospital),types of mental health issues,and evaluation methods(clinical vs.non-clinical).The first four had no significant moderating effect.The mean correlation coefficients between mental health issues and value/purpose were−0.49/−0.33;the mean correlation coefficients in Asian countries and Western countries were−0.48 and−0.34;the mean correlation coefficients among participants living in community/nursing home/mixed status were−0.33/−0.40/−0.40;the mean correlation coefficients between MIL and depression/others were−0.37/−0.35;however,the negative relationship between MIL and mental health issues was stronger when non-clinical evaluations(self-report only)were used.Specifically,the mean correlation coefficient for non-clinical evaluations was−0.42 and for clinical evaluations was−0.29.This study is the first meta-analysis to identify the negative correlation between older adults’MIL and mental health issues.Significant moderating effects of evaluation methods were found.

Searching for a Target Traveling between a Hiding Area and an Operating Area over Multiple Routes

We consider the problem of searching for a target that moves between a hiding area and an operating area over multiple fixed routes. The search is carried out with one or more cookie-cutter sensors, which can detect the target instantly once the target comes within the detection radius of the sensor. In the hiding area, the target is shielded from being detected. The residence times of the target, respectively, in the hiding area and in the operating area, are exponentially distributed. These dwell times are mathematically described by Markov transition rates. The decision of which route the target will take on each travel to and back from the operating area is governed by a probability distribution. We study the mathematical formulation of this search problem and analytically solve for the mean time to detection. Based on the mean time to capture, we evaluate the performance of placing the searcher(s) to monitor various travel route(s) or to scan the operating area. The optimal search design is the one that minimizes the mean time to detection. We find that in many situations the optimal search design is not the one suggested by the straightforward intuition. Our analytical results can provide operational guidances to homeland security, military, and law enforcement applications.

A Statistical Analysis of Intensities Estimation on the Modeling of Non-Life Insurance Claim Counting Process

This study presents an estimation approach to non-life insurance claim counts relating to a specified time. The objective of this study is to estimate the parameters in non-life insurance claim counting process, including the homogeneous Poisson process (HPP) and the non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) with a bell-shaped intensity. We use the estimating function, the zero mean martingale (ZMM) as a procedure of parameter estimation in the insurance claim counting process. Then, Λ(t) , the compensator of is proposed for the number of claims in the time interval . We present situations through a simulation study of both processes on the time interval . Some examples of the situations in the simulation study are depicted by a sample path relating to its compensator Λ(t). In addition, an example of the claim counting process illustrates the result of the compensator estimate misspecification.

The Analysis of Human Development Index (HDI) for Categorizing the Member States of the United Nations (UN)

To categorize the nations to reflect the development status, to date, there are many conceptual frameworks. The Human Development index (HDI) that is published by the United Nations Development Programme is widely accepted and practiced by many people such as academicians, politicians, and donor organizations. However, though the development of HDI has gone through many revisions since its formulation in 1990, even the current version of the index formulation published in 2016 needs research to better understand and to gap-fill the knowledge base that can enhance the index formulation to facilitate the direction of attention such as release of funds. Therefore, in this paper, based on principal component analysis and K-means clustering algorithm, the data that reflect the measures of life expectancy index (LEI), education index (EI), and income index (II) are analyzed to categorize and to rank the member states of the UN using R statistical software package, an open source extensible programming language for statistical computing and graphics. The outcome of the study shows that the proportion of total eigen value (i.e., proportion of total variance) explained by PCA-1 (i.e., first principal component) accounts for more than 85% of the total variation. Moreover, the proportion of total eigen value explained by PCA-1 increases with time (i.e., yearly) though the amount of increase with time is not significant. However, the proportions of total eigen value explained by PCA-2 and PCA-3 decrease with time. Therefore, the loss of information in choosing PCA-1 to represent the chosen explanatory variables (i.e., LEI, EI, and II) may diminish with time if the trend of increasing pattern of proportion of total eigen value explained by PCA-1 with time continues in the future as well. On the other hand, the correlation between EI and PCA-1 increases with time although the magnitude of increase is not that significant. This same trend is observed in II as well. However, in contrast to these observations, the correlation between PCA-1 and LEI decreases with time. These findings imply that the contributions of EI and II to PCA-1 increase with time, but the contribution of LEI to PCA-1 decreases with time. On top of these, as per Hopkins statistic, the clusterability of the information conveyed by PCA-1 alone is far better than the clusterability of the information conveyed by PCA scores (i.e., PCA-1, PCA-2, and PCA-3) and the explanatory variables. Therefore, choosing PCA-1 to represent the chosen explanatory variables is becoming more concrete.

Residual Fatigue Life Prediction of Ball Bearings Based on Paris Law and RMS

Paris law can reflect the failure mechanism of materials and is usually used to be a method to predict fatigue life or residual fatigue life.But the variable which can represent the health of machine is hardly measured on line.To a degree,the difficulty of on-line application restricts the scope of application of Paris law.The relationship between characteristic values of vibration signals and the variable in the Paris equation which can describe the health of machine is investigated by taking ball bearings as investigative objects.Based on 6205 deep groove ball bearings as a living example,historical lives and vibration signals are analyzed.The feasibility of describing that variable in the Paris equation by the characteristic value of vibration signals is inspected.After that vibration signals decomposed by empirical mode decomposition（EMD）,root mean square（RMS） of intrinsic mode function（IMF） involving fault characteristic frequency has a consistent trend with the diameter of flaws.Based on the trend,two improved Paris models are proposed and the scope of application of them is inspected.These two Paris Models are validated by fatigue residual life data from tests of rolling element bearings and vibration signals monitored in the process of operation of rolling element bearings.It shows that the first improved Paris Model is simple and plain and it can be easily applied in actual conditions.The trend of the fatigue residual life predicted by the second improved Paris model is close to the actual conditions and the result of the prediction is slightly greater than the truth.In conclusion,after the appearance of detectable faults,these improved models based on RMS can predict residual fatigue life on line and a new approach to predict residual fatigue life of ball bearings on line without disturbing the machine running is provided.

Health evaluation method for degrading systems subject to dependent competing risks

This paper proposes a health evaluation method for degrading systems subject to competing risks of dependent soft and hard failures. To characterize the time-varying degradation rate, the degradation process is determined by a non-stationary Gamma process and the soft failure is encountered when it exceeds a predefined critical level. For the hard failure, a Cox’s proportional hazard model is applied to describe the hazard rate of the time to system failure. The dependent relationship is modeled by incorporating the degradation process as a time-varying covariate into the Cox’s proportional hazard model. To facilitate the health characteristics evaluation, a discretization technique is applied both to the degradation process and the monitoring time.All health characteristics can be obtained in the explicit form using the transition probability matrix, which is computationally attractive for practical applications. Finally, a numerical analysis is carried out to show the effectiveness and the performance of the proposed health evaluation method.

A Two-Parameter Lindley Distribution for Modeling Waiting and Survival Times Data

In this paper, a two-parameter Lindley distribution, of which the one parameter Lindley distribution (LD) is a particular case, for modeling waiting and survival times data has been introduced. Its moments, failure rate function, mean residual life function, and stochastic orderings have been discussed. It is found that the expressions for failure rate function mean residual life function and stochastic orderings of the two-parameter LD shows flexibility over one-parameter LD and exponential distribution. The maximum likelihood method and the method of moments have been discussed for estimating its parameters. The distribution has been fitted to some data-sets relating to waiting times and survival times to test its goodness of fit to which earlier the one parameter LD has been fitted by others and it is found that to almost all these data-sets the two parameter LD distribution provides closer fits than those by the one parameter LD.

Fatigue Life Prediction of Rolling Bearings Based on Modified SWT Mean Stress Correction

The existing engineering empirical life analysis models are not capable of considering the constitutive behavior of materials under contact loads;as a consequence,these methods may not be accurate to predict fatigue lives of roll-ing bearings.In addition,the contact stress of bearing in operation is cyclically pulsating,it also means that the bear-ing undergo non-symmetrical fatigue loadings.Since the mean stress has great effects on fatigue life,in this work,a novel fatigue life prediction model based on the modified SWT mean stress correction is proposed as a basis of which to estimate the fatigue life of rolling bearings,in which,takes sensitivity of materials and mean stress into account.A compensation factor is introduced to overcome the inaccurate predictions resulted from the Smith,Watson,and Topper(SWT)model that considers the mean stress effect and sensitivity while assuming the sensitivity coefficient of all materials to be 0.5.Moreover,the validation of the model is finalized by several practical experimental data and the comparison to the conventional SWT model.The results show the better performance of the proposed model,especially in the accuracy than the existing SWT model.This research will shed light on a new direction for predicting the fatigue life of rolling bearings.

Robust Dataset Classification Approach Based on Neighbor Searching and Kernel Fuzzy C-Means

Dataset classification is an essential fundament of computational intelligence in cyber-physical systems (CPS). Due to the complexity of CPS dataset classification and the uncertainty of clustering number, this paper focuses on clarifying the dynamic behavior of acceleration dataset which is achieved from micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) and complex image segmentation. To reduce the impact of parameters uncertainties with dataset classification, a novel robust dataset classification approach is proposed based on neighbor searching and kernel fuzzy c-means (NSKFCM) methods. Some optimized strategies, including neighbor searching, controlling clustering shape and adaptive distance kernel function, are employed to solve the issues of number of clusters, the stability and consistency of classification, respectively. Numerical experiments finally demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of the proposed method. © 2014 Chinese Association of Automation.

A Novel Multiple Dependent State Sampling Plan Based on Time Truncated Life Tests Using Mean Lifetime

The design of a new adaptive version of the multiple dependent state(AMDS)sampling plan is presented based on the time truncated life test under the Weibull distribution.We achieved the proposed sampling plan by applying the concept of the double sampling plan and existing multiple dependent state sampling plans.A warning sign for acceptance number was proposed to increase the probability of current lot acceptance.The optimal plan parameters were determined simultaneously with nonlinear optimization problems under the producer’s risk and consumer’s risk.A simulation study was presented to support the proposed sampling plan.A comparison between the proposed and existing sampling plans,namely multiple dependent state(MDS)sampling plans and a modified multiple dependent state(MMDS)sampling plan,was considered under the average sampling number and operating characteristic curve values.In addition,the use of two real datasets demonstrated the practicality and usefulness of the proposed sampling plan.The results indicated that the proposed plan is more flexible and efficient in terms of the average sample number compared to the existing MDS and MMDS sampling plans.

Representations for reliability functions of conditional coherent systems with INID components and ordered properties

This paper presents several useful mixture representations for the reliability function of the residual live of a coherent system with independent but non-identically distributed components. These presentations are based on order statistics, signatures and mean reliability functions. We then discuss some stochastic comparisons of residual lives between two systems based on the stochastic ordering of coefficient vectors （or components） of the two systems. These results form nice extensions of some known results for the case of independent and identically distributed components.