Abstract
We present a new power spectrum emulator named EuclidEmulator that estimates the nonlinear correction to the linear dark matter power spectrum depending on the six cosmological parameters ...ωb, ωm, ns, h, $w$0, and σ8. It is constructed using the uncertainty quantification software UQLab using a spectral decomposition method called polynomial chaos expansion. All steps in its construction have been tested and optimized: the large high-resolution N-body simulations carried out with PKDGRAV3 were validated using a simulation from the Euclid Flagship campaign and demonstrated to have converged up to wavenumbers $k\approx 5\, h\, {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ for redshifts $z$ ≤ 5. The emulator is based on 100 input cosmologies simulated in boxes of (1250 Mpc/h)3 using 20483 particles. We show that by creating mock emulators it is possible to successfully predict and optimize the performance of the final emulator prior to performing any N-body simulations. The absolute accuracy of the final nonlinear power spectrum is as good as one obtained with N-body simulations, conservatively, ${\sim } 1$ per cent for $k\lesssim 1\, h\, {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ and $z$ ≲ 1. This enables efficient forward modelling in the nonlinear regime, allowing for estimation of cosmological parameters using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. EuclidEmulator has been compared to HALOFIT, CosmicEmu, and NGenHalofit, and shown to be more accurate than these other approaches. This work paves a new way for optimal construction of future emulators that also consider other cosmological observables, use higher resolution input simulations, and investigate higher dimensional cosmological parameter spaces.
We present a new flexible estimator for comparing theoretical templates for the predicted bispectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy to observations. This estimator, based on ...binning in harmonic space, generalizes the ‘optimal’ estimator of Komatsu, Spergel and Wandelt by allowing an adjustable weighting scheme for masking possible foreground and other contaminants and detecting particular noteworthy features in the bispectrum. The utility of this estimator is illustrated by demonstrating how acoustic oscillations in the bispectrum and other details of the bispectral shape could be detected in the future Planck data provided that fNL is sufficiently large. The character and statistical weight of the acoustic oscillations and the decay tail are described in detail.
Professionals working in intensive and palliative care units, hence caring for patients at the end-of-life, are at risk of developing burnout. Workplace conditions are determinant factors to develop ...this syndrome among professionals providing end-of-life care.
To identify and compare burnout levels between professionals working in intensive and palliative care units; and to assess which workplace experiences are associated with burnout.
A nationwide, multicentre quantitative comparative survey study was conducted in Portugal using the following instruments: Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey, Questionnaire of workplace experiences and ethical decisions, and Questionnaire of socio-demographic and professional characteristics. A total of 355 professionals from 10 intensive care and 9 palliative care units participated in the survey. A series of univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed; odds ratio sidelong with 95% confidence intervals were calculated.
27% of the professionals exhibited burnout. This was more frequent in intensive care units (OR = 2.525, 95% CI: 1.025-6.221, p = .006). Univariate regression analyses showed that higher burnout levels were significantly associated with conflicts, decisions to withhold/withdraw treatment, and implementing palliative sedation. When controlling for socio-demographic and educational characteristics, and setting (intensive care units versus palliative care units), higher burnout levels were significantly and positively associated with experiencing conflicts in the workplace. Having post-graduate education in intensive/palliative care was significantly but inversely associated to higher burnout levels.
Compared to palliative care, working in intensive care units more than doubled the likelihood of exhibiting burnout. Experiencing conflicts (e.g., with patients and/or families, intra and/or inter-teams) was the most significant determinant of burnout and having post-graduate education in intensive/palliative care protected professionals from developing this syndrome. This highlights the need for promoting empowering workplace conditions, such as team empowerment and conflict management. Moreover, findings suggest the need for implementing quality improvement strategies and organizational redesign strategies aimed at integrating the philosophy, principles and practices of palliative care in intensive care units.
The provision of Intensive Care (IC) can lead to a health care provider's physical, psychological and emotional exhaustion, which may develop into burnout. We notice the absence of specific studies ...regarding this syndrome in Portuguese Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Our main objective is to study the incidence and risk factors of burnout in Portuguese ICUs.
A self-fulfilment questionnaire containing 3 items: (i) socio-demographic data of the study population; (ii) experiences in the workplace; (iii) Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) - was applied to evaluate the influence of distinct factors on the prevalence of burnout among physicians and nurses working in ICUs.
Three hundred professionals (82 physicians and 218 nurses) from ten ICUs were included in the study, out of a total of 445 who were eligible. There was a high rate of burnout among professionals working in Portuguese ICUs, with 31% having a high level of burnout. However, when burnout levels among nurses and physicians were compared, no significant difference was found. Using multivariate analysis, we identified gender as being a risk factor, where female status increases the risk of burnout. In addition, higher levels of burnout were associated with conflicts and ethical decision making regarding withdrawing treatments. Having a temporary work contract was also identified as a risk factor. Conversely, working for another service of the same health care institution acts as a protective factor.
A high rate of burnout was identified among professionals working in Portuguese ICUs. This study highlights some new risk factors for burnout (ethical decision making, temporary work contracts), and also protective ones (maintaining activity in other settings outside the ICU) that were not previously reported. Preventive and interventive programmes to avoid and reduce burnout syndrome are of paramount importance in the future organization of ICUs and should take the above results into account.
The labor insertion of the population is a complex process, which requires the consideration of a good number of variables and the approach from multiple levels. On the one hand, it is important to ...analyze this procedure according to the conditions of the labor market and the characteristics of the individuals that make up the existing human capital in each country. Portugal has experienced in the period from 2006 to 2016 a process of economic crisis (2008), which provoked in 2011 the intervention of the European Union. In spite of everything, in this context where the socio-economic situation is impaired, the recovery becomes latent and the growth path has been maintained, which has had an impact on educational levels and labor insertion. The main objective of this research is to analyze the levels of tertiary education reached by the employed population in the period 2006 to 2016, differentiating between workers hired by third parties (dependents) or self-employed (independent).
Lung cancer configures as one of the deadliest types of cancer. The future implementation of early screening methods such as exhaled breath condensate analysis and low dose computed tomography (CT) ...as an alternative to current chest imaging based screening will lead to an increased burden on bronchoscopy units. New approaches for improvement of diagnosis in bronchoscopy units, regarding patient management, are likely to have clinical impact in the future. Diagnostic approaches to address mortality of lung cancer include improved early detection and stratification of the cancers according to its prognosis and further response to drug treatment. In this study, we performed a detailed mass spectrometry based proteome analysis of acellular bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid samples on an observational prospective cohort consisting of 90 suspected lung cancer cases which were followed during two years. The thirteen new lung cancer cases diagnosed during the follow up time period clustered, based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) data, with lung cancer cases at the time of BAL collection. Hundred and thirty-tree potential biomarkers were identified showing significantly differential expression when comparing lung cancer versus non-lung cancer. The regulated biomarkers showed a large overlap with biomarkers detected in tissue samples.
Background Ethical decision making in intensive care is a demanding task. The need to proceed to ethical decision is considered to be a stress factor that may lead to burnout. The aim of this study ...is to explore the ethical problems that may increase burnout levels among physicians and nurses working in Portuguese intensive care units (ICUs). A quantitative, multicentre, correlational study was conducted among 300 professionals. Results The most crucial ethical decisions made by professionals working in ICU were related to communication, withholding or withdrawing treatments and terminal sedation. A positive relation was found between ethical decision making and burnout in nurses, namely, between burnout and the need to withdraw treatments (p=0.032), to withhold treatments (p=0.002) and to proceed to terminal sedation (p=0.005). This did not apply to physicians. Emotional exhaustion was the burnout subdimension most affected by the ethical decision. The nurses' lack of involvement in ethical decision making was identified as a risk factor. Nevertheless, in comparison with nurses (6%), it was the physicians (34%) who more keenly felt the need to proceed to ethical decisions in ICU. Conclusions Ethical problems were reported at different levels by physicians and nurses. The type of ethical decisions made by nurses working in Portuguese ICUs had an impact on burnout levels. This did not apply to physicians. This study highlights the need for education in the field of ethics in ICUs and the need to foster inter-disciplinary discussion so as to encourage ethical team deliberation in order to prevent burnout.
For some time now, online communities are receiving the attention of companies and researchers for their value creation potential for both consumers and firms. Recognizing the importance of online ...communities for business, both practitioners and business researchers have written much about it in the last fifteen years. However, despite the profusion of literature on the subject, there is a notorious lack of one piece of work that extensively explain all the processes companies can undertake in order to create value with consumers through online communities. Thus, in its first phase, this dissertation attempts to fulfill this need through a general qualitative approach which systematizes a vast amount of primary and secondary data, giving rise to a taxonomy. As ‘online community’ is a wide concept whose definition is far from consensus, we start by adopting mid-range work definition: a group of people with a common or complementary goal or interest, who join in a common virtual space with potential to support social exchange, following a given set of rules. The study enabled the identification and exhaustive characterization of four major strategies that companies may adopt in order to create value with consumers through online communities: (1) Creating OC-based business models; (2) Creating OCs as supplement of a core business; (3) Establishing close relationships with consumer-run OCs; (4)Using the services from other companies’ revenue-generating OCs.Throughout the development of this first phase of the dissertation, a new and consequently understudied phenomenon in the field of consumer online communities was identified and named Company Social Network (CSN). The remaining dissertation work is thus entirely devoted to this new phenomenon defined as a group of people (followers, fans, or some other term, according to the website terminology) connected to a company or brand within the boundaries of a social networking site. A mixed method approach, in which a qualitative study is followed by a quantitative study, is used to study the antecedents and consequences of participation in CSNs. In the first study, by interviewing members, it was possible to identify the drivers of participation in CSNs, which proved to be somehow similar to the factors identified in already studied online and brand communities, however, differently from what happens in those communities, more oriented towards the host company than to the other CSN members. In the second study, based on the results of the first, along with literature review, a conceptual model was built with the aims of assessing: how different factors have impact in the attitudes (satisfaction and identification with the CSN) and participation behaviors (loyalty) of members towards the CSN as well as (2) how attitude and behavior towards CSN influences satisfaction and loyalty to the host-company. The results of this study confirmed that all the previously identified factors really drive loyalty to the CSN. The study also showed that those factors may be divided into factors of satisfaction with the CSN and factors of identification with the CSN, which are different paths to loyalty. Factors of satisfaction are mainly functional and factors of identification are predominantly social. Although the study indicated that only satisfaction with the CSN (and not identification) has a direct impact on satisfaction with the host-company, it also suggested that companies should not disregard any factor. Identification has the potential to improve the levels of engagement with the CSN, increasing the opportunities of value cocreation.
In this project, three issues, still little explored, about children’s and adolescents’ selfrepresentations were analysed: 1) their association with experiences of exposure to interparental ...destructive conflict; 2) their construction in the context of child and adolescent maltreatment; and, 3) their associations with children’s and adolescents’ psychosocial functioning in the context of these adverse family experiences. Two cross-sectional studies were carried out. In the first one, based on the emotional security theory, the mediating role of children’s and adolescents’ emotional insecurity in the interparental relationship and of their perception about their relationship with both parents in associations between interparental conflict and their domain-specific self-representations was analysed. Both mediational pathways were supported. The second study focused on testing the "LookingGlass Self Hypothesis" (LGSH), that is, the mediating role of reflected appraisals in associations between significant others’ actual appraisals and self-representations, in the context of child/adolescent maltreatment, considering the moderating role of parent-child communication in this process. Findings supported the LGSH in all dimensions evaluated. In each study, the mediating role of self-representations in associations between these adverse family experiences and children’s and adolescents’ psychosocial functioning was also analysed. Findings emphasized the specific and differentiated role of several selfrepresentation dimensions as intervening mechanisms in those associations. These studies thus reinforce the importance of relational experiences with significant others, namely parents/caregivers, on children’s and adolescents’ self-representations, and highlight the specific and differentiated role of different self-representation dimensions in their psychosocial functioning, bearing important implications for both research and practice.
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