Helping Nurses Cope with COVID-19 Pandemic: Evaluating Support Programs

During the height of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic, nurses all over the world, including members of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses in North America (NANNNA) experienced a heightened and unprecedented level of stress, anxiety, fear, uncertainty, concern for their safety and that of their loved ones. This prompted NANNNA leadership to initiate and conduct support programs for nurses especially those on the frontline of care. This project evaluates the effectiveness of the support programs conducted by NANNNA during the early surge of COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC’s) Framework for Evaluation in Public Health guided this evaluation. Focus group discussion and online survey was utilized to gather data. While 19% of respondents reported being diagnosed with COVID-19, the majority (81%) were not. About 44% of respondents had family members who were diagnosed with COVID-19, while 18% reported loss of a close family member due to COVID-19 complications. Most respondents reported that the program was impactful in information sharing as well as significant in helping them feel connected with other nurses. Hence, this subsequently enhanced their support networks, provided emotional and spiritual support. Survey results revealed that NANNNA support programs had positive effects in helping members mitigate the fear, anxiety and uncertainty experienced during the surge of the COVID-19.

Support Vector Machines for Regression: A Succinct Review of Large-Scale and Linear Programming Formulations

Support Vector-based learning methods are an important part of Computational Intelligence techniques. Recent efforts have been dealing with the problem of learning from very large datasets. This paper reviews the most commonly used formulations of support vector machines for regression (SVRs) aiming to emphasize its usability on large-scale applications. We review the general concept of support vector machines (SVMs), address the state-of-the-art on training methods SVMs, and explain the fundamental principle of SVRs. The most common learning methods for SVRs are introduced and linear programming-based SVR formulations are explained emphasizing its suitability for large-scale learning. Finally, this paper also discusses some open problems and current trends.

Consideration of the Self-Care Supporting Program Including Simple Exercise for Patients with Early Stages of Secondary Lower-Limb Lymphedema

Aim: We devised a self-care supporting program targeting patients with early stages of secondary lower-limb lymphedema. The program incorporates “Simple exercises to replace lymphatic drainage” based on lymphatic flow. The purpose of this study was to consider the feasibility of continuing this program. Methods: The participants were patients in the early stages of secondary lower-limb lymphedema after gynecological cancer surgery and lymphedema therapists with more than five years of experience. Patients continued self-care at home after being briefed on the program, and they were analyzed on their self-care continuity status one month later based on a self-administered questionnaire survey and self-care notes. We interviewed the lymphedema therapists about this program to discuss the feasibility of continuing it and obtain feedback. Results: The patients who participated in the study were six women who underwent surgery with lymph node dissection for gynecological cancer. The therapists were five nurses and one occupational therapist. The patient understood the importance of all items in the self-care. “Observation,” “Touching,” and “Skin care” were relatively easy to continue. “Lymph drainage” and “Exercise” were continued with “Simple exercises to replace lymphatic drainage”. “Other exercises” were able to continue by adding distance and time to daily activities. Furthermore, “Measurement” and “Recording” became a burden and were difficult to continue. Nonetheless, this program was generally approved by the lymphedema therapists. They also pointed out the content and format of the self-care notes as improvements. Conclusions: We found that the self-care supporting program that incorporated “Simple exercises to replace lymphatic drainage” might be feasible to continue self-care for patients with early stages of secondary lower-limb lymphedema. Furthermore, we found that we needed to improve the “Measurement” and “Recording” sections of this program.

Implementing and Popularizing Health Clinics and Educational Programs in NJ School Areas for Supporting NJ Pregnant Teenagers

This proposal focuses on the prevalence of teenage pregnancy issue in NJ and illustrates the benefits of school-based health clinics and educational programs which should be implemented for teenage pregnancy and childbearing.Without the early intervention of educational programs and preventive medical services which should be implemented in school areas,teen pregnancy and childbearing can have physical and emotional health influences on teen mothers,their babies and other family members,and the worst consequence should be abortion.What’s more,teenage pregnancy and childbearing have substantial economic consequence for state.The annual estimated cost associated with teen childbearing (teens 19 and younger) in NJ to taxpayers is at least $167 million in 2004 (24% federal costs and 76% state and local costs).Studies demonstrated that a much larger amount of money is spent on the consequences of teenage pregnancy than on prevention.NJ has an opportunity to invest in prevention and reduce not only the monetary but also the societal costs to our youth burdened by the often overwhelming responsibilities of teenage pregnancy and parenting.According to the 15 years follow-up research and data analyzing,two models of success which specifically implemented in South Carolina high schools and Chicago public schools have been proved to effectively reduce incidence of repeat pregnancy and emergency room visits,reduce incidence of teen mothers smoking during pregnancy,improve emotional outcomes among teen mothers,decrease incidence of teen mothers drug impairment,arrest,conviction,or jail time and reduce use of food stamps and other public assistances,which can consequently increase the state public health costs.In order to support teen mothers’ academic,physical,emotional and social needs in a stable and consistent school environment,the plan which titled "Physical and Mental Health Promotion for NJ Teen Mothers" is effective and practical enough to arouse the attention of some relevant departments.It’s worth patron to fund the plan because supporting teenage pregnancy at early stage can subsequently benefit the national and state economy and teen mothers.

Support vector classification algorithm based on variable parameter linear programming

To solve the problems of SVM in dealing with large sample size and asymmetric distributed samples, a support vector classification algorithm based on variable parameter linear programming is proposed. In the proposed algorithm, linear programming is employed to solve the optimization problem of classification to decrease the computation time and to reduce its complexity when compared with the original model. The adjusted punishment parameter greatly reduced the classification error resulting from asymmetric distributed samples and the detailed procedure of the proposed algorithm is given. An experiment is conducted to verify whether the proposed algorithm is suitable for asymmetric distributed samples.

On Continuous Programming with Support Functions

A second-order Mond-Weir type dual problem is formulated for a class of continuous programming problems in which both objective and constraint functions contain support functions;hence it is nondifferentiable. Under second-order strict pseudoinvexity, second-order pseudoinvexity and second-order quasi-invexity assumptions on functionals, weak, strong, strict converse and converse duality theorems are established for this pair of dual continuous programming problems. Special cases are deduced and a pair of dual continuous problems with natural boundary values is constructed. A close relationship between the duality results of our problems and those of the corresponding (static) nonlinear programming problem with support functions is briefly outlined.

Duality Relations for a Class of a Multiobjective Fractional Programming Problem Involving Support Functions

In this article, for a differentiable function , we introduce the definition of the higher-order -invexity. Three duality models for a multiobjective fractional programming problem involving nondifferentiability in terms of support functions have been formulated and usual duality relations have been established under the higher-order -invex assumptions.

Second-Order Duality for Continuous Programming Containing Support Functions

A second-order dual problem is formulated for a class of continuous programming problem in which both objective and constrained functions contain support functions, hence it is nondifferentiable. Under second-order invexity and second-order pseudoinvexity, weak, strong and converse duality theorems are established for this pair of dual problems. Special cases are deduced and a pair of dual continuous problems with natural boundary values is constructed. A close relationship between duality results of our problems and those of the corresponding (static) nonlinear programming problem with support functions is briefly outlined.

SCIENTISTS WON THE SUPPORT FROM HUNDREDS OF TALENTS PROGRAM IN 1996

Since the Hundreds, of Talents Program was put into operation at the CAS in 1994, nearly 400 young scholars at home and abroad have participated in the public bidding. Among them, 59 applicants have won the support from the Program as a result of competition based on publicity, equality, fairness and the enrollment of the most outstanding. The followings are profiles of the winners in the program in 1996.

C-Language Programming for Development of Conventional Water Treatment Plants Decision Support System

Water-Decision Support System (DSS) tools enhance decision-makings towards improved water supply in a given region. The rigours of manual design of the conventional water treatment plants are easily eliminated with the use of softwares as in the case of DSS. Therefore, this paper focuses on the development of a Water-DSS for design of treatment plant in Karkala Town, Udupi District of India. A four-decade population projection was made using the baseline data of 1971 till date. The manual computation for water demand, unit operations and adjoining facilities was carried out and later coded in C-programming language for development of a DSS for easier design and process selection. Data validation was done and results from the two approaches were compared. With the C-programming technique, a decision support tool for design and process selection of drinking water treatment plant using conventional method has been developed and named Water-DSS1. The designed tool is simple, accurate, flexible, efficient and universal, easily adaptable to any similar conventional treatment plant. Water-DSS1 is thus recommended for general use in ultimately alleviating water supply challenges.

A study of subject-focused liaison services to its academic constituents under an IC^2 conceptualized program at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Library

This paper stipulates that the subject-based library liaison service to a university's teaching and research programs with certain embedded distinctive features should become the mainstream modus operandi of its library service. It takes the innovative service program based on an IC2 conceptualized program at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Library(thereafter abbreviated as SJTUL) as a concrete example to elucidate the merit of such an endeavor. Specifically, this paper discusses the particular development background, overall objectives and service contents of the IC2 motivated program at SJTUL. By presenting a detailed account of some of the key measures, major achievements and also possible future directions of library service development under the guiding principles of SJTUL's IC2 program, these authors hope that its innovative library practice may serve as a reference for other academic librarians to gain some inspirations for their own parallel service innovations or refinement focused on subject-oriented library liaison service to their constituents and parent institution's curricula and research projects.

天然气产业高级人才SUPPORT模式研究与实践——以建设中国天然气工业基地为例

中国天然气工业已进入快速发展阶段,如何培养天然气产业高级人才已成为重大战略问题。根据当前天然气产业体系建设要求,面对油气企业普遍存在的干部队伍年龄偏大、经济政工干部较多、干部队伍学历待提升等问题,借鉴川渝气区的经验,构建了基于建设中国天然气工业基地发展战略的高级人才培养模式,即SUPPORT模式——由天然气工业基地战略管理的要素结构Strategy(战略)、Upgrade(提升)、Process(流程)、Performance(绩效)、Organization(组织)、Resource(资源)为基本管理架构的Training(培养)模式。实施高级人才培养模式的主要措施包括:1培养重要性认识与组织领导;2顶层设计与规划制定;3培养系统流程建设;4培养资源开发与可持续性;5加强后备人才选拔培养;6从严监督管理。该模式在建设中国天然气工业基地的高级人才培养实践中已取得显著效果,对加快我国天然气产业健康快速发展具有重要的理论和实践价值。

New approach to training support vector machine

Support vector machine has become an increasingly popular tool for machine learning tasks involving classification, regression or novelty detection. Training a support vector machine requires the solution of a very large quadratic programming problem. Traditional optimization methods cannot be directly applied due to memory restrictions. Up to now, several approaches exist for circumventing the above shortcomings and work well. Another learning algorithm, particle swarm optimization, for training SVM is introduted. The method is tested on UCI datasets.

Fast Training of Support Vector Machines Using Error-Center-Based Optimization

This paper presents a new algorithm for Support Vector Machine (SVM) training, which trains a machine based on the cluster centers of errors caused by the current machine. Experiments with various training sets show that the computation time of this new algorithm scales almost linear with training set size and thus may be applied to much larger training sets, in comparison to standard quadratic programming (QP) techniques.

Comparative Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Two Corpus Luteum Support Regimens on Patients with Frozen Embryo Transfer

Aim: To investigate the efficacy of two corpus luteum support programs in patients with frozen embryo transfer (FET). Methods: A retrospective analysis of the complete clinical data of 340 patients undergoing in vitro fertilization embryo transfer in the Department of Reproductive Medicine, Jingzhou Central Hospital from September 2016 to July 2018. These patients were divided into group A and B according to the luteal support program. We compared the clinical outcomes of the two corpus luteum preparations by comparing the laboratory parameters of the two groups of patients with clinical pregnancy indicators. Results: We found there was no significant difference in the results of general conditions in the two groups of patients, such as infertility age and duration, body mass index (BMI), basal follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), basal luteinizing hormone (LH), basal estrogen (E2) levels, the endometrial thickness, the number of transplanted high-quality embryos on the day of transplantation and so on (P > 0.05). We found that the implantation rate (32.55%), biochemical pregnancy rate (53.57%), and clinical pregnancy rate (51.78%) in group B were significantly higher than those in group A (25.26%, 35.11%, and 34.66%, respectively) (P 0.05). Conclusion: We conclude that patients who are scheduled for frozen embryo transfer use progesterone vaginal sustained release capsules combined with luteal progesterone luteal support, have improved clinical pregnancy rates.

Perceived Program Components of <i>Omotenashi Family Experiences Learning Program</i>in Japan: Qualitative Study of Families of Persons with Mental Disorders

Families need sufficient learning opportunities about mental illness. Therefore, family peer education program has been developed in Japan following the U.S. and Hong Kong. We aimed to identify program components that families recognize which would provide suggestions in modifying the program. We used qualitative and inductive study design. Data were collected through group interviews for six family research participants. We coded the data to focus on relationships between program components, program processes, and impacts. Data Analysis resulted in seven assumptions based on causal relationships and three types of program components: program form, learning style and facilitation skills. The program form is family-led peer group, closed-membership, 5 times per course, and small group. The learning style is combination of textbook and experiential knowledge, family peer learning, and sharing experiences. The facilitation skills are group work focusing on strengths of family members, the acceptance of emotional disclosure, omotenashi, and teamwork skills.

A Simulation-Based Decision Support System for Manufacturing Enterprise

The simulation-based decision support system (SBDSS) is designed to achieve a highlevel of performance, flexibility and adaptability, in response to meet the special needs of productionand logistics management during the economic system reform era in China. It consists two subsys-tems: the object library modeler (OLM) and the simulation engine and its manager (SEM). UsingSBDSS the decision makers can work out their optimal production choice under certain circumstancesthrough scenario simulations. And they can test a set of virtual organizations reflecting systems re-form before a real reorganization has been taken, as well as perform a virtual manufacturing processfor a new product design (Copyright @ 1998 IFAC).

ROBOT PROGRAMMING BY DEMONSTRATION FOR TASK IN CONTACT STATE

Robot programming by demonstration (PBD) system for task in which objectrequires contact with environment is built based on the controlling skill model. The skill isdescribed in three aspects: contact state classifier, acquirement of contact states sequence andcontrolling transition between states. The classifier is developed with the support vector machineby using force sense. Sequence of states is obtained from the force signal of demonstration by theevent trigger. The velocity command of transition is achieved by linearization method. The PBDsystem is successfully built with robot controller with open architecture.

Schedule of Wartime Maintenance Unit Based on Dynamic Programming

In order to solve the problems of scheduling the maintenance units in the battlefield, the dynamic programming method in model construction is used; the composition of dynamic planning process is explained; and the maintenance unit allocation model is established. By the solved dynamic programming model,the best allocation strategy for maintenance unit obtained in the battlefield will provide a basis for making maintenance unit allocation decisions in the future battlefield.

Snyder希望理论+支持性照护综合护理方案在超声甲状腺结节患者中的应用效果

目的探究Snyder希望理论+支持性照护综合护理方案在超声甲状腺结节患者中的应用效果。方法选择2023年4月至9月北京中医药大学东直门医院80例超声甲状腺结节患者,采用随机数字表法将其分成对照组和观察组,各40例。对照组采用常规护理干预,观察组采用Snyder希望理论+支持性照护综合护理干预,干预时间为2周。比较两组干预前后中文版Herth希望量表(HHI)评分、家庭关怀度指数(APGAR)评分及自我管理能力评分。结果干预后,两组HHI评分高于干预前,且观察组高于对照组(P<0.05)。两组APGAR评分高于干预前,且观察组高于对照组(P<0.05)。两组自我管理能力评分高于干预前,且观察组高于对照组(P<0.05)。结论Snyder希望理论+支持性照护综合护理方案在超声甲状腺结节患者中的应用效果显著,可以提升患者希望水平、家庭功能与自我管理能力,值得在临床推广应用。