Sample records for early instrumental records

  1. Constraining the temperature history of the past millennium using early instrumental observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brohan, P.

    2012-12-01

    The current assessment that twentieth-century global temperature change is unusual in the context of the last thousand years relies on estimates of temperature changes from natural proxies (tree-rings, ice-cores etc.) and climate model simulations. Confidence in such estimates is limited by difficulties in calibrating the proxies and systematic differences between proxy reconstructions and model simulations - notable differences include large differences in multi-decadal variability between proxy reconstructions, and big uncertainties in the effect of volcanic eruptions. Because the difference between the estimates extends into the relatively recent period of the early nineteenth century it is possible to compare them with a reliable instrumental estimate of the temperature change over that period, provided that enough early thermometer observations, covering a wide enough expanse of the world, can be collected. By constraining key aspects of the reconstructions and simulations, instrumental observations, inevitably from a limited period, can reduce reconstruction uncertainty throughout the millennium. A considerable quantity of early instrumental observations are preserved in the world's archives. One organisation which systematically made observations and collected the results was the English East-India Company (EEIC), and 900 log-books of EEIC ships containing daily instrumental measurements of temperature and pressure have been preserved in the British Library. Similar records from voyages of exploration and scientific investigation are preserved in published literature and the records in National Archives. Some of these records have been extracted and digitised, providing hundreds of thousands of new weather records offering an unprecedentedly detailed view of the weather and climate of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The new thermometer observations demonstrate that the large-scale temperature response to the Tambora eruption and the 1809

  2. Early modern mathematical instruments.

    PubMed

    Bennett, Jim

    2011-12-01

    In considering the appropriate use of the terms "science" and "scientific instrument," tracing the history of "mathematical instruments" in the early modern period is offered as an illuminating alternative to the historian's natural instinct to follow the guiding lights of originality and innovation, even if the trail transgresses contemporary boundaries. The mathematical instrument was a well-defined category, shared across the academic, artisanal, and commercial aspects of instrumentation, and its narrative from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century was largely independent from other classes of device, in a period when a "scientific" instrument was unheard of.

  3. 10 CFR 35.2061 - Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations. 35... § 35.2061 Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations. A licensee shall maintain a record of radiation survey instrument calibrations required by § 35.61 for 3 years. The record must include the model...

  4. 10 CFR 35.2061 - Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations. 35... § 35.2061 Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations. A licensee shall maintain a record of radiation survey instrument calibrations required by § 35.61 for 3 years. The record must include the model...

  5. 10 CFR 35.2061 - Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations. 35... § 35.2061 Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations. A licensee shall maintain a record of radiation survey instrument calibrations required by § 35.61 for 3 years. The record must include the model...

  6. 10 CFR 35.2061 - Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations. 35... § 35.2061 Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations. A licensee shall maintain a record of radiation survey instrument calibrations required by § 35.61 for 3 years. The record must include the model...

  7. 10 CFR 35.2061 - Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations. 35... § 35.2061 Records of radiation survey instrument calibrations. A licensee shall maintain a record of radiation survey instrument calibrations required by § 35.61 for 3 years. The record must include the model...

  8. Instrument Records And Plays Back Acceleration Signals

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bozeman, Richard J.

    1994-01-01

    Small, battery-powered, hand-held instrument feeds power to accelerometer and records time-varying component of output for 15 seconds in analog form. No power needed to maintain content of memory; memory chip removed after recording and stored indefinitely. Recorded signal plays back at any time up to several years later. Principal advantages: compactness, portability, and low cost.

  9. Nineteenth Century Long-Term Instrumental Records, Examples From the Southeastern United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mock, C. J.

    2001-12-01

    Early instrumental records in the United States, defined as those operating before 1892 which is regarded the period prior to the modern climate record, provide a longer perspective of climatic variability at decadal and interannual timescales. Such reconstructions also provide a means of verification for other proxy data. This paper provides a American perspective of historical climatic research, emphasizing the urgent need to properly evaluate data quality and provide necessary corrections to make them compatible with the modern record. Different fixed observation times, different practices of weather instrument exposures, and statistical methods for calibration are the main issues in applying corrections and conducting proper climatic interpretations. I illustrate several examples on methodologies of this historical climatic research, focusing on the following in the Southeastern United States: daily reconstructed temperature time-series centered on Charleston SC and Natchez MS back to the late eighteenth century, and precipitation frequency reconstructions during the antebellum period for the Gulf Coast and coastal Southeast Atlantic states. Results indicate several prominent extremes unprecedented as compared to the modern record, such as the widespread warm winter of 1827-28, and the severe cold winters of 1856 and 1857. The reconstructions also yield important information concerning responses to past ENSO events, the PNA, NAO, and the PDO, particularly when compared with instrumental data from other regions. A high potential also exists for applying the climate reconstructions to assess historical climatic impacts on society in the Southeast, such as to understand climatic linkages to famous case studies of Yellow Fever epidemics and severe drought.

  10. Reconstruction of Flooding Events for the Central Valley, California from Instrumental and Documentary Weather Records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dodds, S. F.; Mock, C. J.

    2009-12-01

    All available instrumental winter precipitation data for the Central Valley of California back to 1850 were digitized and analyzed to construct continuous time series. Many of these data, in paper or microfilm format, extend prior to modern National Weather Service Cooperative Data Program and Historical Climate Network data, and were recorded by volunteer observers from networks such as the US Army Surgeon General, Smithsonian Institution, and US Army Signal Service. Given incomplete individual records temporally, detailed documentary data from newspapers, personal diaries and journals, ship logbooks, and weather enthusiasts’ instrumental data, were used in conjunction with instrumental data to reconstruct precipitation frequency per month and season, continuous days of precipitation, and to identify anomalous precipitation events. Multilinear regression techniques, using surrounding stations and the relationships between modern and historical records, bridge timeframes lacking data and provided homogeneous nature of time series. The metadata for each station was carefully screened, and notes were made about any possible changes to the instrumentation, location of instruments, or an untrained observer to verify that anomalous events were not recorded incorrectly. Precipitation in the Central Valley varies throughout the entire region, but waterways link the differing elevations and latitudes. This study integrates the individual station data with additional accounts of flood descriptions through unique newspaper and journal data. River heights and flood extent inundating cities, agricultural lands, and individual homes are often recorded within unique documentary sources, which add to the understanding of flood occurrence within this area. Comparisons were also made between dam and levee construction through time and how waters are diverted through cities in natural and anthropogenically changed environments. Some precipitation that lead to flooding events that

  11. Instrument Drift Uncertainties and the Long-Term TOMS/SBUV Total Ozone Record

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Solarski, Richard S.; Frith, Stacey

    2005-01-01

    Long-term climate records from satellites are often constructed from the measurements of a sequence of instruments launched at different times. Each of these instruments is calibrated prior to launch. After launch they are subjected to potential offsets and slow drifts in calibration. We illustrate these issues in the construction of a merged total ozone record from two TOMS and three SBUV instruments. This record extends from late 1978 through the present. The question is "How good are these records?". We have examined the uncertainty in determining the relative calibration of two instruments during an overlap period in their measurements. When comparing a TOMS instrument, such as that on Nimbus 7, with an SBUV instrument, also on Nimbus 7, we find systematic differences and random differences. We have combined these findings with estimates of individual instrument drift into a monte- carlo uncertainty propagation model. We estimate an instrument drift uncertainty of a little larger than 1 percent per decade over the 25-year history of the TOMS/SBUV measurements. We make an independent estimate of the drift uncertainty in the ground-based network of total ozone measurements and find it to be of similar, but slightly smaller magnitude. The implications of these uncertainties for trend and recovery determination will be discussed.

  12. 10 CFR 34.65 - Records of radiation survey instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Records of radiation survey instruments. 34.65 Section 34.65 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION LICENSES FOR INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHY AND RADIATION SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHIC OPERATIONS Recordkeeping Requirements § 34.65 Records of radiation...

  13. 10 CFR 34.65 - Records of radiation survey instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Records of radiation survey instruments. 34.65 Section 34.65 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION LICENSES FOR INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHY AND RADIATION SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHIC OPERATIONS Recordkeeping Requirements § 34.65 Records of radiation...

  14. 10 CFR 34.65 - Records of radiation survey instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Records of radiation survey instruments. 34.65 Section 34.65 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION LICENSES FOR INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHY AND RADIATION SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHIC OPERATIONS Recordkeeping Requirements § 34.65 Records of radiation...

  15. 10 CFR 34.65 - Records of radiation survey instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Records of radiation survey instruments. 34.65 Section 34.65 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION LICENSES FOR INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHY AND RADIATION SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHIC OPERATIONS Recordkeeping Requirements § 34.65 Records of radiation...

  16. 10 CFR 34.65 - Records of radiation survey instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Records of radiation survey instruments. 34.65 Section 34.65 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION LICENSES FOR INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHY AND RADIATION SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHIC OPERATIONS Recordkeeping Requirements § 34.65 Records of radiation...

  17. Low-cost coding of directivity information for the recording of musical instruments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Braasch, Jonas; Martens, William L.; Woszczyk, Wieslaw

    2004-05-01

    Most musical instruments radiate sound according to characteristic spatial directivity patterns. These patterns are usually not only strongly frequency dependent, but also time-variant functions of various parameters of the instrument, such as pitch and the playing technique applied (e.g., plucking versus bowing of string instruments). To capture the directivity information when recording an instrument, Warusfel and Misdariis (2001) proposed to record an instrument using four channels, one for the monopole and the others for three orthogonal dipole parts. In the new recording setup presented here, it is proposed to store one channel at a high sampling frequency, along with directivity information that is updated only every few milliseconds. Taking the binaural sluggishness of the human auditory system into account in this way provides a low-cost coding scheme for subsequent reproduction of time-variant directivity patterns.

  18. Early Childhood Assessment: Recommended Practices and Selected Instruments.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Steven Lynn, Ed.; Rundall, Dick, Ed.

    This manual, developed from an Early Childhood Institute on the Assessment of Young Children conducted in 1981, acquaints education and counseling professionals with a variety of assessment instruments for young handicapped children and assists them in understanding how to adapt instruments to a child's unique disability. Information to facilitate…

  19. Constraining the temperature history of the past millennium using early instrumental observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brohan, P.; Allan, R.; Freeman, E.; Wheeler, D.; Wilkinson, C.; Williamson, F.

    2012-05-01

    The current assessment that twentieth-century global temperature change is unusual in the context of the last thousand years relies on estimates of temperature changes from natural proxies (tree-rings, ice-cores etc.) and climate model simulations. Confidence in such estimates is limited by difficulties in calibrating the proxies and systematic differences between proxy reconstructions and model simulations. As the difference between the estimates extends into the relatively recent period of the early nineteenth century it is possible to compare them with a reliable instrumental estimate of the temperature change over that period, provided that enough early thermometer observations, covering a wide enough expanse of the world, can be collected. One organisation which systematically made observations and collected the results was the English East-India Company (EEIC), and their archives have been preserved in the British Library. Inspection of those archives revealed 900 log-books of EEIC ships containing daily instrumental measurements of temperature and pressure, and subjective estimates of wind speed and direction, from voyages across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans between 1789 and 1834. Those records have been extracted and digitised, providing 273 000 new weather records offering an unprecedentedly detailed view of the weather and climate of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The new thermometer observations demonstrate that the large-scale temperature response to the Tambora eruption and the 1809 eruption was modest (perhaps 0.5 °C). This provides a powerful out-of-sample validation for the proxy reconstructions - supporting their use for longer-term climate reconstructions. However, some of the climate model simulations in the CMIP5 ensemble show much larger volcanic effects than this - such simulations are unlikely to be accurate in this respect.

  20. Constraining the temperature history of the past millennium using early instrumental observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brohan, P.; Allan, R.; Freeman, E.; Wheeler, D.; Wilkinson, C.; Williamson, F.

    2012-10-01

    The current assessment that twentieth-century global temperature change is unusual in the context of the last thousand years relies on estimates of temperature changes from natural proxies (tree-rings, ice-cores, etc.) and climate model simulations. Confidence in such estimates is limited by difficulties in calibrating the proxies and systematic differences between proxy reconstructions and model simulations. As the difference between the estimates extends into the relatively recent period of the early nineteenth century it is possible to compare them with a reliable instrumental estimate of the temperature change over that period, provided that enough early thermometer observations, covering a wide enough expanse of the world, can be collected. One organisation which systematically made observations and collected the results was the English East India Company (EEIC), and their archives have been preserved in the British Library. Inspection of those archives revealed 900 log-books of EEIC ships containing daily instrumental measurements of temperature and pressure, and subjective estimates of wind speed and direction, from voyages across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans between 1789 and 1834. Those records have been extracted and digitised, providing 273 000 new weather records offering an unprecedentedly detailed view of the weather and climate of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The new thermometer observations demonstrate that the large-scale temperature response to the Tambora eruption and the 1809 eruption was modest (perhaps 0.5 °C). This provides an out-of-sample validation for the proxy reconstructions - supporting their use for longer-term climate reconstructions. However, some of the climate model simulations in the CMIP5 ensemble show much larger volcanic effects than this - such simulations are unlikely to be accurate in this respect.

  1. An Impulse Electric Motor for Driving Recording Instruments

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Joachim, W F

    1923-01-01

    The chief purpose in undertaking the development of this synchronous motor was the creation of a very small, compact power source, capable of driving the film drums of the recording aircraft instruments designed by the staff of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

  2. A multi-channel instrumentation system for biosignal recording.

    PubMed

    Yu, Hong; Li, Pengfei; Xiao, Zhiming; Peng, Chung-Ching; Bashirullah, Rizwan

    2008-01-01

    This paper reports a highly integrated battery operated multi-channel instrumentation system intended for physiological signal recording. The mixed signal IC has been fabricated in standard 0.5microm 5V 3M-2P CMOS process and features 32 instrumentation amplifiers, four 8b SAR ADCs, a wireless power interface with Li-ion battery charger, low power bidirectional telemetry and FSM controller with power gating control for improved energy efficiency. The chip measures 3.2mm by 4.8mm and dissipates approximately 2.1mW when fully operational.

  3. Flood rich periods, flood poor periods and the need to look beyond instrumental records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lane, S. N.

    2009-04-01

    For many, the later 20th Century and early 21st Century has become synonymous with a growing experience of flood risk. Scientists, politicians and the media have ascribed this to changing climate and there are good hypothetical reasons for human-induced climate change to be impacting upon the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events. In this paper, I will interrogate this claim more carefully, using the UK's instrumental records of river flow, most of which begin after 1960, but a smaller number of which extend back into the 19th Century. Those records that extent back to the 19th Century suggest that major flood events tend to cluster into periods that are relatively flood rich and relatively flood poor, most notably in larger drainage basins: i.e. there is a clear scale issue. The timing (inset, duration, termination) of these periods varies systematically by region although there is a marked flood poor period for much of the UK during the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It follows that at least some of the current experience of flooding, including why it has taken so many policy-makers and flood victims by surprise, may reflect a transition from a flood poor to a flood rich period, exacerbated by possible climate change impacts. These results point to the need to rethink how we think through what drives flood risk. First, it points to the need to look at some of the fundamental oscillations in core atmospheric drivers, such as the North Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, in explaining what drives flood risk. Consideration of precipitation, as opposed to river flow, is more advanced in this respect, and those of us working in rivers need to engage much more thoughtfully with atmospheric scientists. Second, it points to the severe inadequacies in using records of only a few decades duration. Even where these are pooled across adjacent sub-catchments, there is likely to be a severe bias in the estimation of flood return periods when we look at instrumental

  4. Development of an audit instrument for nursing care plans in the patient record

    PubMed Central

    Bjorvell, C; Thorell-Ekstrand, I; Wredling, R

    2000-01-01

    Objectives—To develop, validate, and test the reliability of an audit instrument that measures the extent to which patient records describe important aspects of nursing care. Material—Twenty records from each of three hospital wards were collected and audited. The auditors were registered nurses with a knowledge of nursing documentation in accordance with the VIPS model—a model designed to structure nursing documentation. (VIPS is an acronym formed from the Swedish words for wellbeing, integrity, prevention, and security.) Methods—An audit instrument was developed by determining specific criteria to be met. The audit questions were aimed at revealing the content of the patient for nursing assessment, nursing diagnosis, planned interventions, and outcome. Each of the 60 records was reviewed by the three auditors independently and the reliability of the instrument was tested by calculating the inter-rater reliability coefficient. Content validity was tested by using an expert panel and calculating the content validity ratio. The criterion related validity was estimated by the correlation between the score of the Cat-ch-Ing instrument and the score of an earlier developed and used audit instrument. The results were then tested by using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results—The new audit instrument, named Cat-ch-Ing, consists of 17 questions designed to judge the nursing documentation. Both quantity and quality variables are judged on a rating scale from zero to three, with a maximum score of 80. The inter-rater reliability coefficients were 0.98, 0.98, and 0.92, respectively for each group of 20 records, the content validity ratio ranged between 0.20 and 1.0 and the criterion related validity showed a significant correlation of r = 0.68 (p< 0.0001, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.76) between the two audit instruments. Conclusion—The Cat-ch-Ing instrument has proved to be a valid and reliable audit instrument for nursing records when the VIPS model is used as the

  5. Alberta Learning: Early Development Instrument Pilot Project Evaluation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meaney, Wanda; Harris-Lorenze, Elayne

    The Early Development Instrument (EDI) was designed by McMaster University to measure the outcomes of childrens early years as they influence their readiness to learn at school. The EDI was piloted in several Canadian cities in recent years through two national initiatives. Building on these initiatives, Alberta Learning piloted the EDI as a…

  6. Annotations of Early Childhood Assessment Instruments.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Texas Education Agency, Austin.

    An annotated listing of selected instruments which may be appropriate for the young child who appears to be handicapped and who may be placed in an early childhood unit for the handicapped is provided. The list is not comprehensive nor does it contain annotations from all companies which produce this type of material. It is offered to apprise…

  7. Instrumentation for measuring and recording streamflow data at river-control structures

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1983-01-01

    Instrumentation was developed in the mid to late 60 's to resolve the dilemma of intolerably high percentages of missing streamflow records on certain large and highly controlled streams in industrialized parts of the United States. Analysis of the field situation at specific problem sites quickly suggested that conventional stream gaging techniques should be supplanted by new instruments, designed to measure key hydraulic data at the nearest stream control structures. The key data were found universally to include some combination of a length measurement to specify the vertical height of a gate opening in a dam; measurement of pressure head differential in a turbine; a count of lockages; and precise measurement of time, to give one master reference scale to which all measurements could be keyed. The instruments designed to collect such key data are the shaft position digitizer, the shaft output follower, the STACOM manometer, the lock pressure switch, and the digital data collection console. Although their design was prompted by the need to collect data at river control structures their potential for field use is not that restrictive. Several of these instruments have already found widespread use in the hydrologic data collection program at large. In the 12-1/2 yr period from June 1968 to December 1980 nineteen different river control structures were instrumented. The general experience to date has been a marked improvement in completeness of record, with the average performance somewhere in the 80 percentile range. Performance percentiles at individual sites have ranged from the mid 90 's to about 70. Maintenance records show the instruments to be virtually trouble free, except for the unpredictable acts of nature and man. (Author 's abstract)

  8. 27 Years of Satellite Ozone Data: Merging of Data Records from Multiple Instruments to Observe Global Trends and Recovery

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stolarski, Richard S.

    2007-01-01

    Satellite measurements provide a unique global view of the stratospheric ozone layer. The perspective from satellites allowed for the early mapping of the extent of the phenomenon that became known as the ozone hole. The use of the satellite data for global trends outside of the ozone hole confronts the problem of the possible drift of the calibration of the instrument. The TOMS and SBUV instruments on Nimbus 7 lasted for more than a decade. During that time, the diffuser plate used to reflect sunlight into the measurement degraded (darkened) and the instruments each had a number of events that made calibration determination difficult. Initially the TOMS data were used for global trends by adjusting the overall calibration to agree with a set of ground-based measurement stations. But this was unsatisfactory because the record was not independent of those ground measurements and problems were found in many of the ground stations by using TOMS as a transfer standard. After many years of dedicated work, the TOMS/SBUV team learned how to correct for instrument drift, remove the interfering effects of aerosols, and establish instrument-to-instrument calibrations resulting in a long-term record that can be used for accurate trend and recovery determination. The global view of the satellites allows for determination not only of temporal change in ozone, but spatial fingerprints that allow more confidence in assigning cause to observed changes.

  9. Early Grade Writing Assessment: An Instrument Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jiménez, Juan E.

    2017-01-01

    The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization promoted the creation of a model instrument for individual assessment of students' foundational writing skills in the Spanish language that was based on a literature review and existing writing tools and assessments. The purpose of the "Early Grade Writing Assessment"…

  10. New early instrumental series since the beginning of the 19th century in eastern Iberia (Valencia, Spain)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sanchez-Lorenzo, Arturo; Barriendos, Mariano; Guinaldo, Elena; Lopez-Bustins, Joan A.

    2010-05-01

    was recorded indoor and unknown hygrometer was used during the first decades until 1841. One curious detail of the Valencia early instrumental series is that the records were initiated by a local clockmaker, a new profession interested in meteorological observations in Spain during this period. A great effort has been made to detect original manuscripts, but the archive revision did not provide encouraging results. We started to digitalize daily air pressure records, to improve atmospheric circulation reconstruction in the Mediterranean region, and the sky observations (defined as cloud free, cloudy or overcast conditions), since we are interested into reconstruct cloud cover variability since early 19th century in Valencia. Finally, due to the lack of metadata about wind direction, we tried to assess the reliability of these measurements using the daily Western Mediterranean Oscillation index (WeMOi), a regional circulation pattern in the western Mediterranean basin. Wind direction records in Valencia were registered in 32 class intervals. The negative phase of the WeMOi is linked to those intervals associated to easterly humid flows.

  11. Bioecological Theory, Early Child Development and the Validation of the Population-Level Early Development Instrument

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guhn, Martin; Goelman, Hillel

    2011-01-01

    The Early Development Instrument (EDI; Janus and Offord in "Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science" 39:1-22, 2007) project is a Canadian population-level, longitudinal research project, in which teacher ratings of Kindergarten children's early development and wellbeing are linked to health and academic achievement variables at the…

  12. Design of an optical fiber cable link for lightning instrumentation. [wideband pulse recording system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Grove, C. H.; Phillips, R. L.; Wojtasinski, R. J.

    1975-01-01

    A lightning instrumentation system was designed to record current magnitudes of lightning strikes that hit a launch pad service structure at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The instrumentation system consists of a lightning ground rod with a current sensor coil, an optical transmitter, an optical fiber cable link, a detector receiver, and a recording system. The transmitter is a wideband pulse transformer driving an IR LED emitter. The transmitter operates linearly as a transducer. A low loss fiber bundle provides isolation of the recorder system from the electromagnetic field of the lightning strike. The output of an optical detector receiver module is sampled and recorded in digital format. The significant factors considered in the design were dynamic range, linearity, mechanical configuration, electromagnetic isolation, and temperature compensation.

  13. Instrumentation to Record Evoked Potentials for Closed-Loop Control of Deep Brain Stimulation

    PubMed Central

    Kent, Alexander R.; Grill, Warren M.

    2012-01-01

    Closed-loop deep brain stimulation (DBS) systems offer promise in relieving the clinical burden of stimulus parameter selection and improving treatment outcomes. In such a system, a feedback signal is used to adjust automatically stimulation parameters and optimize the efficacy of stimulation. We explored the feasibility of recording electrically evoked compound action potentials (ECAPs) during DBS for use as a feedback control signal. A novel instrumentation system was developed to suppress the stimulus artifact and amplify the small magnitude, short latency ECAP response during DBS with clinically relevant parameters. In vitro testing demonstrated the capabilities to increase the gain by a factor of 1,000x over a conventional amplifier without saturation, reduce distortion of mock ECAP signals, and make high fidelity recordings of mock ECAPs at latencies of only 0.5 ms following DBS pulses of 50 to 100 μs duration. Subsequently, the instrumentation was used to make in vivo recordings of ECAPs during thalamic DBS in cats, without contamination by the stimulus artifact. The signal characteristics were similar across three experiments, suggesting common neural activation patterns. The ECAP recordings enabled with this novel instrumentation may provide insight into the type and spatial extent of neural elements activated during DBS, and could serve as feedback control signals for closed-loop systems. PMID:22255894

  14. The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI): towards a 14 Year Data Record and Applications in the Air Quality and Climate Domain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Levelt, P.; Joiner, J.; Tamminen, J.; Veefkind, P.; Bhartia, P. K.; Court, A. J.; Vlemmix, T.

    2017-12-01

    Keywords: emission monitoring, air quality, climate, atmospheric composition The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), launched on board of NASA's EOS-Aura spacecraft on July 15, 2004, provides unique contributions to the monitoring of the ozone layer, air quality and climate from space. With a data record of 13 years, OMI provides the longest NO2 and SO2 record from space, which is essential to understand the changes to emissions globally. The combination of urban scale resolution (13 x 24 km2 in nadir) and daily global coverage proved to be key features for the air quality community. Due to the operational Very Fast Delivery (VFD / direct readout) and Near Real Time (NRT) availability of the data, OMI also plays an important role in the early developments of operational services in the atmospheric chemistry domain. For example, OMI data is currently used operationally for improving air quality forecasts, for inverting high-resolution emission maps, the UV forecast and for volcanic plume warning systems for aviation. An overview of air quality applications, emission inventory inversions and trend analyses based on the OMI data record will be presented. An outlook will be given on the potentials of augmenting this record with the high resolution air quality measurements of TROPOMI (3,5 x 7 km2) and new satellite instrumentation entering the imaging domain, such as the TROPOLITE instrument ( 1 x 1 km2). Potential of imaging type of NO2 measurements in the the climate and air quality domain will be given, most notably on the use of high resolution NO2 measurements for pin-pointing anthropogenic CO2 emissions.

  15. 10 CFR 35.2060 - Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure the activity of unsealed byproduct material.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure the activity of unsealed byproduct material. 35.2060 Section 35.2060 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION MEDICAL USE OF BYPRODUCT MATERIAL Records § 35.2060 Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure...

  16. 10 CFR 35.2060 - Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure the activity of unsealed byproduct material.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure the activity of unsealed byproduct material. 35.2060 Section 35.2060 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION MEDICAL USE OF BYPRODUCT MATERIAL Records § 35.2060 Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure...

  17. 10 CFR 35.2060 - Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure the activity of unsealed byproduct material.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure the activity of unsealed byproduct material. 35.2060 Section 35.2060 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION MEDICAL USE OF BYPRODUCT MATERIAL Records § 35.2060 Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure...

  18. 10 CFR 35.2060 - Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure the activity of unsealed byproduct material.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure the activity of unsealed byproduct material. 35.2060 Section 35.2060 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION MEDICAL USE OF BYPRODUCT MATERIAL Records § 35.2060 Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure...

  19. 10 CFR 35.2060 - Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure the activity of unsealed byproduct material.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure the activity of unsealed byproduct material. 35.2060 Section 35.2060 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION MEDICAL USE OF BYPRODUCT MATERIAL Records § 35.2060 Records of calibrations of instruments used to measure...

  20. Recording evoked potentials during deep brain stimulation: development and validation of instrumentation to suppress the stimulus artefact

    PubMed Central

    Kent, A R; Grill, W M

    2012-01-01

    Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective treatment for movement disorders, but the selection of stimulus parameters is a clinical burden and often yields sub-optimal outcomes for patients. Measurement of electrically evoked compound action potentials (ECAPs) during DBS could offer insight into the type and spatial extent of neural element activation and provide a potential feedback signal for the rational selection of stimulus parameters and closed-loop DBS. However, recording ECAPs presents a significant technical challenge due to the large stimulus artefact, which can saturate recording amplifiers and distort short latency ECAP signals. We developed DBS-ECAP recording instrumentation combining commercial amplifiers and circuit elements in a serial configuration to reduce the stimulus artefact and enable high fidelity recording. We used an electrical circuit equivalent model of the instrumentation to understand better the sources of the stimulus artefact and the mechanisms of artefact reduction by the circuit elements. In vitro testing validated the capability of the instrumentation to suppress the stimulus artefact and increase gain by a factor of 1,000 to 5,000 compared to a conventional biopotential amplifier. The distortion of mock ECAP (mECAP) signals was measured across stimulation parameters, and the instrumentation enabled high fidelity recording of mECAPs with latencies of only 0.5 ms for DBS pulse widths of 50 to 100 μs/phase. Subsequently, the instrumentation was used to record in vivo ECAPs, without contamination by the stimulus artefact, during thalamic DBS in an anesthetized cat. The characteristics of the physiological ECAP were dependent on stimulation parameters. The novel instrumentation enables high fidelity ECAP recording and advances the potential use of the ECAP as a feedback signal for the tuning of DBS parameters. PMID:22510375

  1. Recording evoked potentials during deep brain stimulation: development and validation of instrumentation to suppress the stimulus artefact.

    PubMed

    Kent, A R; Grill, W M

    2012-06-01

    The clinical efficacy of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the treatment of movement disorders depends on the identification of appropriate stimulation parameters. Since the mechanisms of action of DBS remain unclear, programming sessions can be time consuming, costly and result in sub-optimal outcomes. Measurement of electrically evoked compound action potentials (ECAPs) during DBS, generated by activated neurons in the vicinity of the stimulating electrode, could offer insight into the type and spatial extent of neural element activation and provide a potential feedback signal for the rational selection of stimulation parameters and closed-loop DBS. However, recording ECAPs presents a significant technical challenge due to the large stimulus artefact, which can saturate recording amplifiers and distort short latency ECAP signals. We developed DBS-ECAP recording instrumentation combining commercial amplifiers and circuit elements in a serial configuration to reduce the stimulus artefact and enable high fidelity recording. We used an electrical circuit equivalent model of the instrumentation to understand better the sources of the stimulus artefact and the mechanisms of artefact reduction by the circuit elements. In vitro testing validated the capability of the instrumentation to suppress the stimulus artefact and increase gain by a factor of 1000 to 5000 compared to a conventional biopotential amplifier. The distortion of mock ECAP (mECAP) signals was measured across stimulation parameters, and the instrumentation enabled high fidelity recording of mECAPs with latencies of only 0.5 ms for DBS pulse widths of 50 to 100 µs/phase. Subsequently, the instrumentation was used to record in vivo ECAPs, without contamination by the stimulus artefact, during thalamic DBS in an anesthetized cat. The characteristics of the physiological ECAP were dependent on stimulation parameters. The novel instrumentation enables high fidelity ECAP recording and advances the potential use

  2. Snpp CrIS Instrumental Status and Raw Data Record Quality Since the Mission

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jin, X.; Han, Y.; Sun, N.; Weng, F.; Wang, L.; Chen, Y.; Tremblay, D. A.

    2014-12-01

    The SNPP CrIS (cross-track infrared sounder) has been in service for more than two years. As the first operational interferometric hyper-spectral sounder onboard the new-generation polar-orbit meteorological satellite, CrIS's instrumental performance and data quality are widely concerned. NOAA/NESDIS/STAR CrIS Cal/Val team have been actively involved since the beginning of the mission. An intact record of the CrIS instrumental performance and raw data record (RDR) has been established. In this presentation, the continuous records of some critical indicators such as noise, gain, laser wavelength drifting and many other parameters related to the internal thermal status, are presented. It is found that the hardware performance is extremely stable in the past two years and the degradation is very small. These features make CrIS a great candidate for long-term climate studies. Moreover, the completeness of RDR data is another advantage of taking CrIS for climate studies. NOAA/NESDIS/STAR has recorded all of the CrIS RDR data since the launch and has been dedicated to improving the data quality.

  3. In situ energetic particle observations at Comet Halley recorded by instrumentation aboard the Giotto and VEGA 1 missions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McKenna-Lawlor, S.; Daly, P.; Kirsch, E.; Wilken, B.; O'Sullivan, D.; Thompson, A.; Kecskemety, K.; Somogyi, A.; Coates, A.

    1989-04-01

    Energetic particle data on quasi-periodic variations of cometary ion fluxes recorded by instrumentation aboard the Vega 1 and Giotto spacecraft during March 1986 are compared. It is suggested that the ion fluxes measured by the Giotto EPONA instrument were of the water group. Large fluxes of electrons and ions recorded by the EPONA instrument in the magnetic cavity appear to be cometary in origin.

  4. A Missing Link in the Evolution of the Cumulative Recorder

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Asano, Toshio; Lattal, Kennon A.

    2012-01-01

    A recently recovered cumulative recorder provides a missing link in the evolution of the cumulative recorder from a modified kymograph to a reliably operating, scientifically and commercially successful instrument. The recorder, the only physical evidence of such an early precommercial cumulative recorder yet found, was sent to Keio University in…

  5. Using data to attribute episodes of warming and cooling in instrumental records.

    PubMed

    Tung, Ka-Kit; Zhou, Jiansong

    2013-02-05

    The observed global-warming rate has been nonuniform, and the cause of each episode of slowing in the expected warming rate is the subject of intense debate. To explain this, nonrecurrent events have commonly been invoked for each episode separately. After reviewing evidence in both the latest global data (HadCRUT4) and the longest instrumental record, Central England Temperature, a revised picture is emerging that gives a consistent attribution for each multidecadal episode of warming and cooling in recent history, and suggests that the anthropogenic global warming trends might have been overestimated by a factor of two in the second half of the 20th century. A recurrent multidecadal oscillation is found to extend to the preindustrial era in the 353-y Central England Temperature and is likely an internal variability related to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), possibly caused by the thermohaline circulation variability. The perspective of a long record helps in quantifying the contribution from internal variability, especially one with a period so long that it is often confused with secular trends in shorter records. Solar contribution is found to be minimal for the second half of the 20th century and less than 10% for the first half. The underlying net anthropogenic warming rate in the industrial era is found to have been steady since 1910 at 0.07-0.08 °C/decade, with superimposed AMO-related ups and downs that included the early 20th century warming, the cooling of the 1960s and 1970s, the accelerated warming of the 1980s and 1990s, and the recent slowing of the warming rates. Quantitatively, the recurrent multidecadal internal variability, often underestimated in attribution studies, accounts for 40% of the observed recent 50-y warming trend.

  6. Using data to attribute episodes of warming and cooling in instrumental records

    PubMed Central

    Tung, Ka-Kit; Zhou, Jiansong

    2013-01-01

    The observed global-warming rate has been nonuniform, and the cause of each episode of slowing in the expected warming rate is the subject of intense debate. To explain this, nonrecurrent events have commonly been invoked for each episode separately. After reviewing evidence in both the latest global data (HadCRUT4) and the longest instrumental record, Central England Temperature, a revised picture is emerging that gives a consistent attribution for each multidecadal episode of warming and cooling in recent history, and suggests that the anthropogenic global warming trends might have been overestimated by a factor of two in the second half of the 20th century. A recurrent multidecadal oscillation is found to extend to the preindustrial era in the 353-y Central England Temperature and is likely an internal variability related to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), possibly caused by the thermohaline circulation variability. The perspective of a long record helps in quantifying the contribution from internal variability, especially one with a period so long that it is often confused with secular trends in shorter records. Solar contribution is found to be minimal for the second half of the 20th century and less than 10% for the first half. The underlying net anthropogenic warming rate in the industrial era is found to have been steady since 1910 at 0.07–0.08 °C/decade, with superimposed AMO-related ups and downs that included the early 20th century warming, the cooling of the 1960s and 1970s, the accelerated warming of the 1980s and 1990s, and the recent slowing of the warming rates. Quantitatively, the recurrent multidecadal internal variability, often underestimated in attribution studies, accounts for 40% of the observed recent 50-y warming trend. PMID:23345448

  7. Early Days of Recorder Teaching in South Australian Schools: A Personal History

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Southcott, Jane

    2016-01-01

    As a primary school student in the 1960s I learnt the recorder. This paper explores how the recorder became a staple of Australian primary school music programs. At that time recorders were comparatively recently revived Renaissance musical instruments that were adopted by music educators as a way for children and their teachers to engage in…

  8. Instrumentation for low noise nanopore-based ionic current recording under laser illumination

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roelen, Zachary; Bustamante, José A.; Carlsen, Autumn; Baker-Murray, Aidan; Tabard-Cossa, Vincent

    2018-01-01

    We describe a nanopore-based optofluidic instrument capable of performing low-noise ionic current recordings of individual biomolecules under laser illumination. In such systems, simultaneous optical measurements generally introduce significant parasitic noise in the electrical signal, which can severely reduce the instrument sensitivity, critically hindering the monitoring of single-molecule events in the ionic current traces. Here, we present design rules and describe simple adjustments to the experimental setup to mitigate the different noise sources encountered when integrating optical components to an electrical nanopore system. In particular, we address the contributions to the electrical noise spectra from illuminating the nanopore during ionic current recording and mitigate those effects through control of the illumination source and the use of a PDMS layer on the SiNx membrane. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our noise minimization strategies by showing the detection of DNA translocation events during membrane illumination with a signal-to-noise ratio of ˜10 at 10 kHz bandwidth. The instrumental guidelines for noise minimization that we report are applicable to a wide range of nanopore-based optofluidic systems and offer the possibility of enhancing the quality of synchronous optical and electrical signals obtained during single-molecule nanopore-based analysis.

  9. Instrumentation of Near-term Fetal Sheep for Multivariate Chronic Non-anesthetized Recordings

    PubMed Central

    Burns, Patrick; Liu, Hai Lun; Kuthiala, Shikha; Fecteau, Gilles; Desrochers, André; Durosier, Lucien Daniel; Cao, Mingju; Frasch, Martin G.

    2015-01-01

    The chronically instrumented pregnant sheep has been used as a model of human fetal development and responses to pathophysiologic stimuli such as endotoxins, bacteria, umbilical cord occlusions, hypoxia and various pharmacological treatments. The life-saving clinical practices of glucocorticoid treatment in fetuses at risk of premature birth and the therapeutic hypothermia have been developed in this model. This is due to the unique amenability of the non-anesthetized fetal sheep to the surgical placement and maintenance of catheters and electrodes, allowing repetitive blood sampling, substance injection, recording of bioelectrical activity, application of electric stimulation and in vivo organ imaging. Here we describe the surgical instrumentation procedure required to achieve a stable chronically instrumented non-anesthetized fetal sheep model including characterization of the post-operative recovery from blood gas, metabolic and inflammation standpoints. PMID:26555084

  10. Learning a Music Instrument in Early Childhood: What Can We Learn from Professional Musicians' Childhood Memories?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Wyverne

    2008-01-01

    Professional early childhood educators are often asked for advice about whether or when a young child should learn to play a music instrument. Many educators who do not have a background in music education may not be confident in providing such advice. A range of overseas research has supported learning a music instrument in the early childhood…

  11. Formative Evaluation of the Early Development Instrument: Progress and Prospects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keating, Daniel P.

    2007-01-01

    This article is a commentary for the special issue on the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a community tool to assess children's school readiness and developmental outcomes at a group level. The EDI is administered by kindergarten teachers, who assess their kindergarten students on 5 developmental domains: physical health and well-being, social…

  12. Developing an Assessment Instrument to Measure Early Elementary Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schoen, Robert C.; Bray, Wendy; Wolfe, Christopher; Tazaz, Amanda M.; Nielsen, Lynne

    2017-01-01

    This study reports on the development and field study of K-TEEM, a web-based assessment instrument designed to measure mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) at the early elementary level. The development process involved alignment with early elementary curriculum standards, expert review of items and scoring criteria, cognitive interviews with…

  13. Patient-specific instrumentation improved mechanical alignment, while early clinical outcome was comparable to conventional instrumentation in TKA.

    PubMed

    Anderl, Werner; Pauzenberger, Leo; Kölblinger, Roman; Kiesselbach, Gabriele; Brandl, Georg; Laky, Brenda; Kriegleder, Bernhard; Heuberer, Philipp; Schwameis, Eva

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this prospective study was to compare early clinical outcome, radiological limb alignment, and three-dimensional (3D)-component positioning between conventional and computed tomography (CT)-based patient-specific instrumentation (PSI) in primary mobile-bearing total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Two hundred ninety consecutive patients (300 knees) with severe, debilitating osteoarthritis scheduled for TKA were included in this study using either conventional instrumentation (CVI, n = 150) or PSI (n = 150). Patients were clinically assessed before and 2 years after surgery according to the Knee-Society-Score (KSS) and the visual-analog-scale for pain (VAS). Additionally, the Western Ontario McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) and the Oxford-Knee-Score (OKS) were collected at follow-up. To evaluate accuracy of CVI and PSI, hip-knee-ankle angle (HKA) and 3D-component positioning were assessed on postoperative radiographs and CT. Data of 222 knees (CVI: n = 108, PSI: n = 114) were available for analysis after a mean follow-up of 28.6 ± 5.2 months. At the early follow-up, clinical outcome (KSS, VAS, WOMAC, OKS) was comparable between the two groups. Mean HKA-deviation from the targeted neutral mechanical axis (CVI: 2.2° ± 1.7°; PSI: 1.5° ± 1.4°; p < 0.001), rates of outliers (CVI: 22.2%; PSI: 9.6%; p = 0.016), and 3D-component positioning outliers were significantly lower in the PSI group. Non-outliers (HKA: 180° ± 3°) showed better clinical results than outliers at the 2-year follow-up. CT-based PSI compared with CVI improves accuracy of mechanical alignment restoration and 3D-component positioning in primary TKA. While clinical outcome was comparable between the two instrumentation groups at early follow-up, significantly inferior outcome was detected in the subgroup of HKA-outliers. Prospective comparative study, Level II.

  14. Investigating Pre-Service Early Childhood Teachers' Views and Intentions about Integrating and Using Computers in Early Childhood Settings: Compilation of an Instrument

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nikolopoulou, Kleopatra; Gialamas, Vasilis

    2009-01-01

    This paper discusses the compilation of an instrument in order to investigate pre-service early childhood teachers' views and intentions about integrating and using computers in early childhood settings. For the purpose of this study a questionnaire was compiled and administered to 258 pre-service early childhood teachers (PECTs), in Greece. A…

  15. Training Early Career Scientists in Flight Instrument Design Through Experiential Learning: NASA Goddard's Planetary Science Winter School.

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bleacher, L. V.; Lakew, B.; Bracken, J.; Brown, T.; Rivera, R.

    2017-01-01

    The NASA Goddard Planetary Science Winter School (PSWS) is a Goddard Space Flight Center-sponsored training program, managed by Goddard's Solar System Exploration Division (SSED), for Goddard-based postdoctoral fellows and early career planetary scientists. Currently in its third year, the PSWS is an experiential training program for scientists interested in participating on future planetary science instrument teams. Inspired by the NASA Planetary Science Summer School, Goddard's PSWS is unique in that participants learn the flight instrument lifecycle by designing a planetary flight instrument under actual consideration by Goddard for proposal and development. They work alongside the instrument Principal Investigator (PI) and engineers in Goddard's Instrument Design Laboratory (IDL; idc.nasa.gov), to develop a science traceability matrix and design the instrument, culminating in a conceptual design and presentation to the PI, the IDL team and Goddard management. By shadowing and working alongside IDL discipline engineers, participants experience firsthand the science and cost constraints, trade-offs, and teamwork that are required for optimal instrument design. Each PSWS is collaboratively designed with representatives from SSED, IDL, and the instrument PI, to ensure value added for all stakeholders. The pilot PSWS was held in early 2015, with a second implementation in early 2016. Feedback from past participants was used to design the 2017 PSWS, which is underway as of the writing of this abstract.

  16. The Early Development Instrument: An Examination of Convergent and Discriminant Validity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hymel, Shelley; LeMare, Lucy; McKee, William

    2011-01-01

    The convergent and discriminant validity of the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a teacher-rated assessment of children's "school readiness", was investigated in a multicultural sample of 267 kindergarteners (53% male). Teachers evaluations on the EDI, both overall and in five domains (physical health/well-being, social competence,…

  17. 46 CFR 67.527 - Application for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of a bill of sale.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... instruments in the nature of a bill of sale. 67.527 Section 67.527 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF....527 Application for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of a bill of sale. An application fee is charged for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of...

  18. 46 CFR 67.527 - Application for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of a bill of sale.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... instruments in the nature of a bill of sale. 67.527 Section 67.527 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF....527 Application for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of a bill of sale. An application fee is charged for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of...

  19. 46 CFR 67.527 - Application for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of a bill of sale.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... instruments in the nature of a bill of sale. 67.527 Section 67.527 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF....527 Application for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of a bill of sale. An application fee is charged for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of...

  20. 46 CFR 67.527 - Application for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of a bill of sale.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... instruments in the nature of a bill of sale. 67.527 Section 67.527 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF....527 Application for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of a bill of sale. An application fee is charged for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of...

  1. 46 CFR 67.527 - Application for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of a bill of sale.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... instruments in the nature of a bill of sale. 67.527 Section 67.527 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF....527 Application for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of a bill of sale. An application fee is charged for filing and recording bills of sale and instruments in the nature of...

  2. Introductory overview of research instruments for recording the electrical activity of neurons in the human brain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Garell, P. C.; Granner, M. A.; Noh, M. D.; Howard, M. A.; Volkov, I. O.; Gillies, G. T.

    1998-12-01

    Scientific advancement is often spurred by the development of new instruments for investigation. Over the last several decades, many new instruments have been produced to further our understanding of the physiology of the human brain. We present a partial overview of some of these instruments, paying particular attention to those which record the electrical activity of the human brain. We preface the review with a brief primer on neuroanatomy and physiology, followed by a discussion of the latest types of apparatus used to investigate various properties of the central nervous system. A special focus is on microelectrode investigations that employ both intracellular and extracellular methods of recording the electrical activity of single neurons; another is on the modern electroencephalographic, electrocorticographic, and magnetoencephalographic methods used to study the spontaneous and evoked field potentials of the brain. Some examples of clinical applications are included, where appropriate.

  3. The Early Development Instrument: Translating School Readiness Assessment into Community Actions and Policy Planning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guhn, Martin; Janus, Magdalena; Hertzman, Clyde

    2007-01-01

    This invited special issue of "Early Education and Development" presents research related to the Early Development Instrument (EDI; Janus & Offord, 2007), a community tool to assess children's school readiness at a population level. In this editorial introduction, we first sketch out recent trends in school readiness research that call for a…

  4. Developing an Assessment Instrument to Measure Early Elementary Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schoen, Robert C.; Bray, Wendy; Wolfe, Christopher; Tazaz, Amanda M.; Nielsen, Lynne

    2017-01-01

    This study reports on the development and field study of K-TEEM, a web-based assessment instrument designed to measure mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) at the early elementary level. The development process involved alignment with early elementary curriculum standards, expert review of items and scoring criteria, cognitive interviews with…

  5. The Origin and Early Radiation of Archosauriforms: Integrating the Skeletal and Footprint Record.

    PubMed

    Bernardi, Massimo; Klein, Hendrik; Petti, Fabio Massimo; Ezcurra, Martín D

    2015-01-01

    We present a holistic approach to the study of early archosauriform evolution by integrating body and track records. The ichnological record supports a Late Permian-Early Triassic radiation of archosauriforms not well documented by skeletal material, and new footprints from the Upper Permian of the southern Alps (Italy) provide evidence for a diversity not yet sampled by body fossils. The integrative study of body fossil and footprint data supports the hypothesis that archosauriforms had already undergone substantial taxonomic diversification by the Late Permian and that by the Early Triassic archosauromorphs attained a broad geographical distribution over most parts of Pangea. Analysis of body size, as deduced from track size, suggests that archosauriform average body size did not change significantly from the Late Permian to the Early Triassic. A survey of facies yielding both skeletal and track record indicate an ecological preference for inland fluvial (lacustrine) environments for early archosauromorphs. Finally, although more data is needed, Late Permian chirotheriid imprints suggest a shift from sprawling to erect posture in archosauriforms before the end-Permian mass extinction event. We highlight the importance of approaching palaeobiological questions by using all available sources of data, specifically through integrating the body and track fossil record.

  6. The Origin and Early Radiation of Archosauriforms: Integrating the Skeletal and Footprint Record

    PubMed Central

    Bernardi, Massimo; Klein, Hendrik; Petti, Fabio Massimo; Ezcurra, Martín D.

    2015-01-01

    We present a holistic approach to the study of early archosauriform evolution by integrating body and track records. The ichnological record supports a Late Permian–Early Triassic radiation of archosauriforms not well documented by skeletal material, and new footprints from the Upper Permian of the southern Alps (Italy) provide evidence for a diversity not yet sampled by body fossils. The integrative study of body fossil and footprint data supports the hypothesis that archosauriforms had already undergone substantial taxonomic diversification by the Late Permian and that by the Early Triassic archosauromorphs attained a broad geographical distribution over most parts of Pangea. Analysis of body size, as deduced from track size, suggests that archosauriform average body size did not change significantly from the Late Permian to the Early Triassic. A survey of facies yielding both skeletal and track record indicate an ecological preference for inland fluvial (lacustrine) environments for early archosauromorphs. Finally, although more data is needed, Late Permian chirotheriid imprints suggest a shift from sprawling to erect posture in archosauriforms before the end-Permian mass extinction event. We highlight the importance of approaching palaeobiological questions by using all available sources of data, specifically through integrating the body and track fossil record. PMID:26083612

  7. ISC-GEM: Global Instrumental Earthquake Catalogue (1900-2009), I. Data collection from early instrumental seismological bulletins

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Di Giacomo, Domenico; Harris, James; Villaseñor, Antonio; Storchak, Dmitry A.; Engdahl, E. Robert; Lee, William H. K.

    2015-02-01

    In order to produce a new global reference earthquake catalogue based on instrumental data covering the last 100+ years of global earthquakes, we collected, digitized and processed an unprecedented amount of printed early instrumental seismological bulletins with fundamental parametric data for relocating and reassessing the magnitude of earthquakes that occurred in the period between 1904 and 1970. This effort was necessary in order to produce an earthquake catalogue with locations and magnitudes as homogeneous as possible. The parametric data obtained and processed during this work fills a large gap in electronic bulletin data availability. This new dataset complements the data publicly available in the International Seismological Centre (ISC) Bulletin starting in 1964. With respect to the amplitude-period data necessary to re-compute magnitude, we searched through the global collection of printed bulletins stored at the ISC and entered relevant station parametric data into the database. As a result, over 110,000 surface and body-wave amplitude-period pairs for re-computing standard magnitudes MS and mb were added to the ISC database. To facilitate earthquake relocation, different sources have been used to retrieve body-wave arrival times. These were entered into the database using optical character recognition methods (International Seismological Summary, 1918-1959) or manually (e.g., British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1913-1917). In total, ∼1,000,000 phase arrival times were added to the ISC database for large earthquakes that occurred in the time interval 1904-1970. The selection of earthquakes for which data was added depends on time period and magnitude: for the early years of last century (until 1917) only very large earthquakes were selected for processing (M ⩾ 7.5), whereas in the periods 1918-1959 and 1960-2009 the magnitude thresholds are 6.25 and 5.5, respectively. Such a selection was mainly dictated by limitations in time and

  8. A Simplified Instrument for Recording and Indicating Frequency and Intensity of Icing Conditions Encountered in Flight

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Perkins, Porter J; Mccullough, Stuart; Lewis, Ralph D

    1951-01-01

    An instrument for recording and indicating the frequency and intensity of aircraft icing conditions encountered in flight has been developed by the NACA Lewis Laboratory to obtain statistical icing data over world-wide air routes during routine airline operations. The operation of the instrument is based on the creation of a differential pressure between an ice-free total-pressure system and a total-pressure system in which small total-pressure holes vented to static pressure are allowed to plug with ice accretion. The simplicity of this operating principle permits automatic operation, and provides relative freedom from maintenance and operating problems. The complete unit weighing only 18 pounds records icing rate, airspeed, and altitude on photographic film and provides visual indications of icing intensity to the pilot.

  9. Evaluation of Standardized Instruments for Use in Universal Screening of Very Early School-Age Children: Suitability, Technical Adequacy, and Usability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miles, Sandra; Fulbrook, Paul; Mainwaring-Mägi, Debra

    2018-01-01

    Universal screening of very early school-age children (age 4-7 years) is important for early identification of learning problems that may require enhanced learning opportunity. In this context, use of standardized instruments is critical to obtain valid, reliable, and comparable assessment outcomes. A wide variety of standardized instruments is…

  10. The Early Cretaceous Sulfur Isotope Record: New Data, Revised Ages, and Updated Modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kristall, B.; Hurtgen, M.; Sageman, B. B.; Jacobson, A. D.

    2015-12-01

    The Early Cretaceous is a time of significant transformation with the continued break-up of Pangea, the emplacement of several LIPs, and a climatic shift from a cool greenhouse to a warm greenhouse. The timing of these major events and their relationship to seawater geochemistry (as recorded in isotope records) is critical for understanding changes in global biogeochemical cycles during this time. Within this context, recent revisions to the Cretaceous portion of the geologic timescale necessitate a reevaluation of the Cretaceous S isotope record as recorded in marine barite (Paytan et al., 2004). We present a revised Early Cretaceous S isotope record and present new δ34Sbarite data that extend the record further back in time and provide more detail during two major S isotope shifts of the Early Cretaceous. The new data maintain the major ~5‰ negative shift but raise questions on the timing and structure of this perturbation. Furthermore, recently updated estimates for global rates of marine microbial sulfate reduction (MSR) (Bowles et al., 2014) and sulfate burial during the Phanerozoic (Halevy et al., 2012) require notable revisions in the fluxes and isotopic values used to model the global S cycle. We present a revised global S cycle box model and reconstruct the evolution of the Early Cretaceous S isotope record primarily through perturbations in volcanic and hydrothermal fluxes (e.g., submarine LIPs). Changes to the weathering and pyrite burial fluxes and the global integrated fractionation factor for MSR are also used to modulate, balance, and smooth the LIP-driven perturbation. The massive evaporite burial during the Late Aptian post dates the major -5‰ shift and has little affect on the modeled S isotope composition of seawater sulfate, despite causing a major drop in sulfate concentration. The S cycle box model is coupled to a Sr cycle box model to provide additional constraints on the magnitude and timing of perturbations within the S isotope record.

  11. Improvement of real-time seismic magnitude estimation by combining seismic and geodetic instrumentation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goldberg, D.; Bock, Y.; Melgar, D.

    2017-12-01

    Rapid seismic magnitude assessment is a top priority for earthquake and tsunami early warning systems. For the largest earthquakes, seismic instrumentation tends to underestimate the magnitude, leading to an insufficient early warning, particularly in the case of tsunami evacuation orders. GPS instrumentation provides more accurate magnitude estimations using near-field stations, but isn't sensitive enough to detect the first seismic wave arrivals, thereby limiting solution speed. By optimally combining collocated seismic and GPS instruments, we demonstrate improved solution speed of earthquake magnitude for the largest seismic events. We present a real-time implementation of magnitude-scaling relations that adapts to consider the length of the recording, reflecting the observed evolution of ground motion with time.

  12. Young Learners: An Examination of the Psychometric Properties of the Early Literacy Knowledge and Skills Instrument

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chan, Man Ching Esther

    2015-01-01

    The Early Literacy Knowledge and Skills (ELKS) instrument was informed by the work of Ferreiro and Teberosky based on the notion that young children could be differentiated according to levels of sophistication in their understanding of the rules of written language. As an initial step to evaluate the instrument for teaching purposes, the present…

  13. Casebooks in early modern England: medicine, astrology, and written records.

    PubMed

    Kassell, Lauren

    2014-01-01

    Casebooks are the richest sources that we have for encounters between early modern medical practitioners and their patients. This article compares astrological and medical records across two centuries, focused on England, and charts developments in the ways in which practitioners kept records and reflected on their practices. Astrologers had a long history of working from particular moments, stellar configurations, and events to general rules. These practices required systematic notation. Physicians increasingly modeled themselves on Hippocrates, recording details of cases as the basis for reasoned expositions of the histories of disease. Medical records, as other scholars have demonstrated, shaped the production of medical knowledge. Instead, this article focuses on the nature of casebooks as artifacts of the medical encounter. It establishes that casebooks were serial records of practice, akin to diaries, testimonials, and registers; identifies extant English casebooks and the practices that led to their production and preservation; and concludes that the processes of writing, ordering, and preserving medical records are as important for understanding the medical encounter as the records themselves.

  14. Electronic Medical Record-Based Radiation Oncology Toxicity Recording Instrument Aids Benchmarking and Quality Improvement in the Clinic.

    PubMed

    Albuquerque, Kevin; Rodgers, Kellie; Spangler, Ann; Rahimi, Asal; Willett, DuWayne

    2018-03-01

    The on-treatment visit (OTV) for radiation oncology is essential for patient management. Radiation toxicities recorded during the OTV may be inconsistent because of the use of free text and the lack of treatment site-specific templates. We developed a radiation oncology toxicity recording instrument (ROTOX) in a health system electronic medical record (EMR). Our aims were to assess improvement in documentation of toxicities and to develop clinic toxicity benchmarks. A ROTOX that was based on National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 4.0) with flow-sheet functionality was developed in the EMR. Improvement in documentation was assessed at various time intervals. High-grade toxicities (ie, grade ≥ 3 by CTCAE) by site were audited to develop benchmarks and to track nursing and physician actions taken in response to these. A random sample of OTV notes from each clinic physician before ROTOX implementation was reviewed and assigned a numerical document quality score (DQS) that was based on completeness and comprehensiveness of toxicity grading. The mean DQS improved from an initial level of 41% to 99% (of the maximum possible DQS) when resampled at 6 months post-ROTOX. This high-level DQS was maintained 3 years after ROTOX implementation at 96% of the maximum. For months 7 to 9 after implementation (during a 3-month period), toxicity grading was recorded in 4,443 OTVs for 698 unique patients; 107 episodes of high-grade toxicity were identified during this period, and toxicity-specific intervention was documented in 95%. An EMR-based ROTOX enables consistent recording of treatment toxicity. In a uniform sample of patients, local population toxicity benchmarks can be developed, and clinic response can be tracked.

  15. Assessing recent warming using instrumentally homogeneous sea surface temperature records.

    PubMed

    Hausfather, Zeke; Cowtan, Kevin; Clarke, David C; Jacobs, Peter; Richardson, Mark; Rohde, Robert

    2017-01-01

    Sea surface temperature (SST) records are subject to potential biases due to changing instrumentation and measurement practices. Significant differences exist between commonly used composite SST reconstructions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Extended Reconstruction Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST), the Hadley Centre SST data set (HadSST3), and the Japanese Meteorological Agency's Centennial Observation-Based Estimates of SSTs (COBE-SST) from 2003 to the present. The update from ERSST version 3b to version 4 resulted in an increase in the operational SST trend estimate during the last 19 years from 0.07° to 0.12°C per decade, indicating a higher rate of warming in recent years. We show that ERSST version 4 trends generally agree with largely independent, near-global, and instrumentally homogeneous SST measurements from floating buoys, Argo floats, and radiometer-based satellite measurements that have been developed and deployed during the past two decades. We find a large cooling bias in ERSST version 3b and smaller but significant cooling biases in HadSST3 and COBE-SST from 2003 to the present, with respect to most series examined. These results suggest that reported rates of SST warming in recent years have been underestimated in these three data sets.

  16. Comparison of Growing Rod Instrumentation Versus Serial Cast Treatment for Early-Onset Scoliosis.

    PubMed

    Johnston, Charles E; McClung, Anna M; Thompson, George H; Poe-Kochert, Connie; Sanders, James O

    2013-09-01

    A comparison of 2 methods of early-onset scoliosis treatment using radiographic measures and complication rates. To determine whether a delaying tactic (serial casting) has comparable efficacy to a surgical method (insertion of growing rod instrumentation [GRI]) in the initial phase of early-onset deformity management. Serial casts are used in experienced centers to delay operative management of curves of surgical magnitude (greater than 50°) in children up to age 6 years. A total of 27 casted patients from 3 institutions were matched with 27 patients from a multicenter database according to age (within 6 months of each other), curve magnitude (within 10° of each other), and diagnosis. Outcomes were compared according to major curve magnitude, spine length (T1-S1), duration and number of treatment encounters, and complications. There was no difference in age (5.5 years) or initial curve magnitude (65°) between groups, which reflects the accuracy of the matching process. Six pairs of patients had neuromuscular diagnoses, 11 had idiopathic deformities, and 10 had syndromic scoliosis. Growing rod instrumentation patients had smaller curves (45.9° vs. 64.9°; p = .002) at follow-up, but there was no difference in absolute spine length (GRI = 32.0 cm; cast = 30.6 cm; p = .26), even though GRI patients had been under treatment for a longer duration (4.5 vs. 2.4 years; p < .0001) and had undergone a mean of 5.5 lengthenings compared with 4.0 casts. Growing rod instrumentation patients had a 44% complication rate, compared with 1 cast complication. Of 27 casted patients, 15 eventually had operative treatment after a mean delay of 1.7 years after casting. Cast treatment is a valuable delaying tactic for younger children with early-onset scoliosis. Spine deformity is adequately controlled, spine length is not compromised, and surgical complications associated with early GRI treatment are avoided. Copyright © 2013 Scoliosis Research Society. Published by Elsevier Inc

  17. Towards Consistent Aerosol and Cloud Climate Data Records from the Along Track Scanning Radiometer instruments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Thomas, G.

    2015-12-01

    The ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) programme has provided a mechanism for the production of new long-term data records of essential climate variables (ECVs) defined by WMO Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). These include consistent cloud (from the MODIS, AVHRR, ATSR-2 and AATSR instruments) and aerosol (from ATSR-2 and AATSR) products produced using the Optimal Retrieval of Aerosol and Cloud (ORAC) scheme. This talk will present an overview of the newly produced ORAC cloud and aerosol datasets, their evaluation and a joint aerosol-cloud product produced for the 1995-2012 ATSR-2-AATSR data record.

  18. Guidelines for Successful Use and Communication of Instrument Heritage in Early Mission Development with a Focus on Spectrometers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Baker, Elizabeth E.

    2012-01-01

    Heritage is important for both cost and risk related issues and as such, it is heavily discussed in NASA proposal evaluations. If used and communicated efficiently, heritage can lower both the perception of risk and the associated costs. Definitions of heritage vary between engineering, cost, and scientific communities, but when applied appropriately, heritage provides a benefit to the proposed mission. By making an instrument at least once before, the cost of producing it again can be reduced. The time and effort needed to develop the instrument concept and test the product represent an expense that can be lowered through the use of a previously built and developed instrument. This same thought can be applied when using a flight spare or build-to-print model of the heritage instrument. The lowered perception of risk is a result of the confidence gained in the instrument through successful use in the target environment. This is extremely important in early mission development to the evaluation board. This analysis will use JPL-managed proposals from 2003 to 2011, including Discovery, New Frontiers, and Mars Scout missions. Through the examination of these proposals and their associated debriefs, a set of guidelines have been created for successful use and communication of instrument heritage in early mission development

  19. Continuous estimates on the earthquake early warning magnitude by use of the near-field acceleration records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Jun; Jin, Xing; Wei, Yongxiang; Zhang, Hongcai

    2013-10-01

    In this article, the seismic records of Japan's Kik-net are selected to measure the acceleration, displacement, and effective peak acceleration of each seismic record within a certain time after P wave, then a continuous estimation is given on earthquake early warning magnitude through statistical analysis method, and Wenchuan earthquake record is utilized to check the method. The results show that the reliability of earthquake early warning magnitude continuously increases with the increase of the seismic information, the biggest residual happens if the acceleration is adopted to fit earthquake magnitude, which may be caused by rich high-frequency components and large dispersion of peak value in acceleration record, the influence caused by the high-frequency components can be effectively reduced if the effective peak acceleration and peak displacement is adopted, it is estimated that the dispersion of earthquake magnitude obviously reduces, but it is easy for peak displacement to be affected by long-period drifting. In various components, the residual enlargement phenomenon at vertical direction is almost unobvious, thus it is recommended in this article that the effective peak acceleration at vertical direction is preferred to estimate earthquake early warning magnitude. Through adopting Wenchuan strong earthquake record to check the method mentioned in this article, it is found that this method can be used to quickly, stably, and accurately estimate the early warning magnitude of this earthquake, which shows that this method is completely applicable for earthquake early warning.

  20. Psychometric evaluation of a new instrument to measure disease self-management of the early stage chronic kidney disease patients.

    PubMed

    Lin, Chiu-Chu; Wu, Chia-Chen; Wu, Li-Min; Chen, Hsing-Mei; Chang, Shu-Chen

    2013-04-01

    This study aims to develop a valid and reliable chronic kidney disease self-management instrument (CKD-SM) for assessing early stage chronic kidney disease patients' self-management behaviours. Enhancing early stage chronic kidney disease patients' self-management plays a key role in delaying the progression of chronic kidney disease. Healthcare provider understanding of early stage chronic kidney disease patients' self-management behaviours can help develop effective interventions. A valid and reliable instrument for measuring chronic kidney disease patients' self-management behaviours is needed. A cross-sectional descriptive study collected data for principal components analysis with oblique rotation. Mandarin- or Taiwanese-speaking adults with chronic kidney disease (n=252) from two medical centres and one regional hospital in Southern Taiwan completed the CKD-SM. Construct validity was evaluated by exploratory factor analysis. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were estimated by Cronbach's alpha and Pearson correlation coefficients. Four factors were extracted and labelled self-integration, problem-solving, seeking social support and adherence to recommended regimen. The four factors accounted for 60.51% of the total variance. Each factor showed acceptable internal reliability with Cronbach's alpha from 0.77-0.92. The test-retest correlations for the CKD-SM was 0.72. The psychometric quality of the CKD-SM instrument was satisfactory. Research to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis to further validate this new instrument's construct validity is recommended. The CKD-SM instrument is useful for clinicians who wish to identify the problems with self-management among chronic kidney disease patients early. Self-management assessment will be helpful to develop intervention tailored to the needs of the chronic kidney disease population. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  1. Natural Language Processing Based Instrument for Classification of Free Text Medical Records

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    According to the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia a new health management system has to be introduced in the nearest future. In this context arises the problem of structuring and classifying documents containing all the history of medical services provided. The present work introduces the instrument for classification of medical records based on the Georgian language. It is the first attempt of such classification of the Georgian language based medical records. On the whole 24.855 examination records have been studied. The documents were classified into three main groups (ultrasonography, endoscopy, and X-ray) and 13 subgroups using two well-known methods: Support Vector Machine (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN). The results obtained demonstrated that both machine learning methods performed successfully, with a little supremacy of SVM. In the process of classification a “shrink” method, based on features selection, was introduced and applied. At the first stage of classification the results of the “shrink” case were better; however, on the second stage of classification into subclasses 23% of all documents could not be linked to only one definite individual subclass (liver or binary system) due to common features characterizing these subclasses. The overall results of the study were successful. PMID:27668260

  2. Early limited instrumentation of scoliosis in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: is a single-rod construct sufficient?

    PubMed

    Cawley, Derek T; Carmody, Olan; Dodds, Michael K; McCormack, Damian

    2015-10-01

    Correction of scoliotic deformity in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is performed to maintain adequate seating posture and facilitate comfort. Delaying surgery can predispose to greater morbidity as DMD exhibits progressive cardiorespiratory compromise. Early limited instrumentation may provide a solution to optimize patients with this condition. The aim was to assess outcomes for a cohort of DMD patients who had posterior single-rod instrumentation and bilateral spinal fusion of their neuromuscular scoliotic deformity. This was a retrospective cohort study. Forty-one consecutive patients were included. Perioperative morbidity, seating outcomes, pulmonary function, deformity correction, and instrumentation integrity were assessed. Clinical and radiographic review was performed. No perioperative mortality or neurologic deterioration was encountered. Total surgical time was 96 minutes, mean total blood loss was 2.3l, mean intensive care unit stay was 41 hours, and overall length of stay was 11 days. Mean Cobb angle improved from 24.3° to 15.6°, pelvic obliquity improved from 7° preoperatively to 5° postoperatively. Three patients had failure of fixation at a mean of 3.5 years. Forced vital capacity was 60% preoperatively and 56% at 1 year, forced expiratory volume/1 second was 67% and 62% at 1 year postoperatively. Seating and posture was satisfactory in all these patients. The authors advocate early operative intervention using a limited instrumentation technique in patients with DMD to maintain seating balance and minimize perioperative morbidity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Measurement Invariance of Early Development Instrument (EDI) Domain Scores across Gender and ESL Status

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mousavi, Amin; Krishnan, Vijaya

    2016-01-01

    The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a widely used teacher rating tool to assess kindergartners' developmental outcomes in Canada and a number of other countries. This paper examines the measurement invariance of EDI domains across ESL status and gender by means of multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. The results suggest evidence of…

  4. A cross-sectional pilot study of the Scottish early development instrument: a tool for addressing inequality

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Background Early childhood is recognised as a key developmental phase with implications for social, academic, health and wellbeing outcomes in later childhood and indeed throughout the adult lifespan. Community level data on inequalities in early child development are therefore required to establish the impact of government early years’ policies and programmes on children’s strengths and vulnerabilities at local and national level. This would allow local leaders to target tailored interventions according to community needs to improve children’s readiness for the transition to school. The challenge is collecting valid data on sufficient samples of children entering school to derive robust inferences about each local birth cohort’s developmental status. This information needs to be presented in a way that allows community stakeholders to understand the results, expediting the improvement of preschool programming to improve future cohorts’ development in the early years. The aim of the study was to carry out a pilot to test the feasibility and ease of use in Scotland of the 104-item teacher-administered Early Development Instrument, an internationally validated measure of children’s global development at school entry developed in Canada. Methods Phase 1 was piloted in an education district with 14 Primary 1 teachers assessing a cohort of 154 children, following which the instrument was adapted for the Scottish context (Scottish Early Development Instrument: SEDI). Phase 2 was then carried out using the SEDI. Data were analysed from a larger sample of 1090 participants, comprising all Primary 1 children within this school district, evaluated by 68 teachers. Results The SEDI displayed adequate psychometric and discriminatory properties and is appropriate for use across Scotland without any further modifications. Children in the lowest socioeconomic status quintiles were 2–3 times more likely than children in the most affluent quintile to score low in at

  5. Reprocessing VIIRS sensor data records from the early SNPP mission

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blonski, Slawomir; Cao, Changyong

    2016-10-01

    The Visible-Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite began acquiring Earth observations in November 2011. VIIRS data from all spectral bands became available three months after launch when all infrared-band detectors were cooled down to operational temperature. Before that, VIIRS sensor data record (SDR) products were successfully generated for the visible and near infrared (VNIR) bands. Although VIIRS calibration has been significantly improved through the four years of the SNPP mission, SDR reprocessing for this early mission phase has yet to be performed. Despite a rapid decrease in the telescope throughput that occurred during the first few months on orbit, calibration coefficients for the VNIR bands were recently successfully generated using an automated procedure that is currently deployed in the operational SDR production system. The reanalyzed coefficients were derived from measurements collected during solar calibration events that occur on every SNPP orbit since the beginning of the mission. The new coefficients can be further used to reprocess the VIIRS SDR products. In this study, they are applied to reprocess VIIRS data acquired over pseudo-invariant calibration sites Libya 4 and Sudan 1 in Sahara between November 2011 and February 2012. Comparison of the reprocessed SDR products with the original ones demonstrates improvements in the VIIRS calibration provided by the reprocessing. Since SNPP is the first satellite in a series that will form the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), calibration methods developed for the SNPP VIIRS will also apply to the future JPSS measurements.

  6. Early to mid-Miocene palaeoclimate of Antarctica based on terrestrial records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ashworth, Allan; Lewis, Adam

    2017-04-01

    Paleontological and stratigraphic studies of sites in the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) are advancing knowledge of the landscape, vegetation and climate that existed immediately before the growth of the modern East Antarctic Ice Sheet. The sites are located in the Friis Hills and the western Olympus Range in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. In both localities, parts of ancient landscapes are preserved on upland surfaces high above modern valley floors. The early to mid-Miocene interval is bracketed by 40Ar/39Ar ages on volcanic ashes of 19.76 ± 0.11 Ma to 13.85 ± 0.03 Ma. Like all glacial records it is discontinuous but even so several trends can be detected. The record is one of an evolving glacial system during which ice caps coalesced to form an ice sheet. Initially, small alpine glaciers flowed southwestward toward the continental interior eroding shallow troughs into granitic bedrock. By the close of the interval, large glaciers flowed eastward from the continental interior to the Ross Sea. The interval was marked by numerous glacial advances and retreats. Tills are matrix-rich, and outwash sands and gravels ripple-laminated and cross-bedded, typical of those associated with wet-based glaciation. The vegetation during the interval was in a dynamic flux retreating downslope during glacial advances and recolonizing valleys after retreats. Fossils accumulated in peat beds and organic silts representing lacustrine, fluvial and paludal environments. Fossils include diatoms, fungal ascomycetes, pollen and spores, lycopod megaspores, mosses, wood and leaves of Nothofagus (southern beech), fruits of vascular plants, and insect skeletal parts of Diptera (flies) and Coleoptera (beetles). The vegetation was a tundra, initially shrub- and later moss-dominated. During the interval there was a marked decline in biodiversity. Initially, there were 4 species of Nothofagus represented by different leaf types and at least 9 species of vascular plants by their seeds. At the close of

  7. Early meteorological records from Latin-America and the Caribbean during the 18th and 19th centuries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Domínguez-Castro, Fernando; Vaquero, José Manuel; Gallego, María Cruz; Farrona, Ana María Marín; Antuña-Marrero, Juan Carlos; Cevallos, Erika Elizabeth; Herrera, Ricardo García; de La Guía, Cristina; Mejía, Raúl David; Naranjo, José Manuel; Del Rosario Prieto, María; Ramos Guadalupe, Luis Enrique; Seiner, Lizardo; Trigo, Ricardo Machado; Villacís, Marcos

    2017-11-01

    This paper provides early instrumental data recovered for 20 countries of Latin-America and the Caribbean (Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, British Guiana, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, France (Martinique and Guadalupe), Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, El Salvador and Suriname) during the 18th and 19th centuries. The main meteorological variables retrieved were air temperature, atmospheric pressure, and precipitation, but other variables, such as humidity, wind direction, and state of the sky were retrieved when possible. In total, more than 300,000 early instrumental data were rescued (96% with daily resolution). Especial effort was made to document all the available metadata in order to allow further post-processing. The compilation is far from being exhaustive, but the dataset will contribute to a better understanding of climate variability in the region, and to enlarging the period of overlap between instrumental data and natural/documentary proxies.

  8. Early meteorological records from Latin-America and the Caribbean during the 18th and 19th centuries

    PubMed Central

    Domínguez-Castro, Fernando; Vaquero, José Manuel; Gallego, María Cruz; Farrona, Ana María Marín; Antuña-Marrero, Juan Carlos; Cevallos, Erika Elizabeth; Herrera, Ricardo García; de la Guía, Cristina; Mejía, Raúl David; Naranjo, José Manuel; del Rosario Prieto, María; Ramos Guadalupe, Luis Enrique; Seiner, Lizardo; Trigo, Ricardo Machado; Villacís, Marcos

    2017-01-01

    This paper provides early instrumental data recovered for 20 countries of Latin-America and the Caribbean (Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, British Guiana, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, France (Martinique and Guadalupe), Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, El Salvador and Suriname) during the 18th and 19th centuries. The main meteorological variables retrieved were air temperature, atmospheric pressure, and precipitation, but other variables, such as humidity, wind direction, and state of the sky were retrieved when possible. In total, more than 300,000 early instrumental data were rescued (96% with daily resolution). Especial effort was made to document all the available metadata in order to allow further post-processing. The compilation is far from being exhaustive, but the dataset will contribute to a better understanding of climate variability in the region, and to enlarging the period of overlap between instrumental data and natural/documentary proxies. PMID:29135974

  9. Early meteorological records from Latin-America and the Caribbean during the 18th and 19th centuries.

    PubMed

    Domínguez-Castro, Fernando; Vaquero, José Manuel; Gallego, María Cruz; Farrona, Ana María Marín; Antuña-Marrero, Juan Carlos; Cevallos, Erika Elizabeth; Herrera, Ricardo García; de la Guía, Cristina; Mejía, Raúl David; Naranjo, José Manuel; Del Rosario Prieto, María; Ramos Guadalupe, Luis Enrique; Seiner, Lizardo; Trigo, Ricardo Machado; Villacís, Marcos

    2017-11-14

    This paper provides early instrumental data recovered for 20 countries of Latin-America and the Caribbean (Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, British Guiana, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, France (Martinique and Guadalupe), Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, El Salvador and Suriname) during the 18th and 19th centuries. The main meteorological variables retrieved were air temperature, atmospheric pressure, and precipitation, but other variables, such as humidity, wind direction, and state of the sky were retrieved when possible. In total, more than 300,000 early instrumental data were rescued (96% with daily resolution). Especial effort was made to document all the available metadata in order to allow further post-processing. The compilation is far from being exhaustive, but the dataset will contribute to a better understanding of climate variability in the region, and to enlarging the period of overlap between instrumental data and natural/documentary proxies.

  10. Cutting for stone: Roman lithotomy instruments in the Museo Nazionale Romano.

    PubMed

    Jackson, Ralph

    2010-01-01

    Bladder stones, one of the scourges of the past, have been recorded as far back as 6,500 BC. Lithotomy was famously proscribed in the Hippocratic Oath, but it was certainly being undertaken in Hellenistic Alexandria by the 3rd century BC. However, the earliest surviving description of the operation is that of Celsus in the early 1st century AD, while identifiable instrumentation currently dates between the 2nd and early 5th century AD. Finds from Rimini, Marcianopolis, Ephesus and Cyrene illustrate how widespread the operation was at the time of the Roman Empire, but the majority of lithotomy instruments, of which those in the Museo Nazionale Romano are an important part, have been discovered in Rome itself doubtless a reflection of the size of the city's medical 'market'.

  11. Treating pre-instrumental data as "missing" data: using a tree-ring-based paleoclimate record and imputations to reconstruct streamflow in the Missouri River Basin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ho, M. W.; Lall, U.; Cook, E. R.

    2015-12-01

    Advances in paleoclimatology in the past few decades have provided opportunities to expand the temporal perspective of the hydrological and climatological variability across the world. The North American region is particularly fortunate in this respect where a relatively dense network of high resolution paleoclimate proxy records have been assembled. One such network is the annually-resolved Living Blended Drought Atlas (LBDA): a paleoclimate reconstruction of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) that covers North America on a 0.5° × 0.5° grid based on tree-ring chronologies. However, the use of the LBDA to assess North American streamflow variability requires a model by which streamflow may be reconstructed. Paleoclimate reconstructions have typically used models that first seek to quantify the relationship between the paleoclimate variable and the environmental variable of interest before extrapolating the relationship back in time. In contrast, the pre-instrumental streamflow is here considered as "missing" data. A method of imputing the "missing" streamflow data, prior to the instrumental record, is applied through multiple imputation using chained equations for streamflow in the Missouri River Basin. In this method, the distribution of the instrumental streamflow and LBDA is used to estimate sets of plausible values for the "missing" streamflow data resulting in a ~600 year-long streamflow reconstruction. Past research into external climate forcings, oceanic-atmospheric variability and its teleconnections, and assessments of rare multi-centennial instrumental records demonstrate that large temporal oscillations in hydrological conditions are unlikely to be captured in most instrumental records. The reconstruction of multi-centennial records of streamflow will enable comprehensive assessments of current and future water resource infrastructure and operations under the existing scope of natural climate variability.

  12. Comparison of Passive Microwave-Derived Early Melt Onset Records on Arctic Sea Ice

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bliss, Angela C.; Miller, Jeffrey A.; Meier, Walter N.

    2017-01-01

    Two long records of melt onset (MO) on Arctic sea ice from passive microwave brightness temperatures (Tbs) obtained by a series of satellite-borne instruments are compared. The Passive Microwave (PMW) method and Advanced Horizontal Range Algorithm (AHRA) detect the increase in emissivity that occurs when liquid water develops around snow grains at the onset of early melting on sea ice. The timing of MO on Arctic sea ice influences the amount of solar radiation absorbed by the ice-ocean system throughout the melt season by reducing surface albedos in the early spring. This work presents a thorough comparison of these two methods for the time series of MO dates from 1979through 2012. The methods are first compared using the published data as a baseline comparison of the publically available data products. A second comparison is performed on adjusted MO dates we produced to remove known differences in inter-sensor calibration of Tbs and masking techniques used to develop the original MO date products. These adjustments result in a more consistent set of input Tbs for the algorithms. Tests of significance indicate that the trends in the time series of annual mean MO dates for the PMW and AHRA are statistically different for the majority of the Arctic Ocean including the Laptev, E. Siberian, Chukchi, Beaufort, and central Arctic regions with mean differences as large as 38.3 days in the Barents Sea. Trend agreement improves for our more consistent MO dates for nearly all regions. Mean differences remain large, primarily due to differing sensitivity of in-algorithm thresholds and larger uncertainties in thin-ice regions.

  13. Seismic instrumentation of buildings

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Çelebi, Mehmet

    2000-01-01

    The purpose of this report is to provide information on how and why we deploy seismic instruments in and around building structures. The recorded response data from buildings and other instrumented structures can be and are being primarily used to facilitate necessary studies to improve building codes and therefore reduce losses of life and property during damaging earthquakes. Other uses of such data can be in emergency response situations in large urban environments. The report discusses typical instrumentation schemes, existing instrumentation programs, the steps generally followed in instrumenting a structure, selection and type of instruments, installation and maintenance requirements and data retrieval and processing issues. In addition, a summary section on how recorded response data have been utilized is included. The benefits from instrumentation of structural systems are discussed.

  14. Synchronous Motions Across the Instrumental Climate Record

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carl, Peter

    The Earth's climate system bears a rich variety of feedback mechanisms that may give rise to complex, evolving modal structures under internal and external control. Various types of synchronization may be identified in the system's motion when looking at representative time series of the instrumental period through the glasses of an advanced technique of sparse data approximation, the Matching Pursuit (MP) approach. To disentangle the emerging network of oscillatory modes to the degree that climate dynamics turns out to be separable, a large dictionary of "Gaussian logons," i.e. frequency modulated (FM) Gabor atoms, is applied. Though the extracted modes make up linear decompositions, this flexible analyzing signal matches highly nonlinear waveforms. Univariate analyses over the period 1870-1997 are presented of a set of customary time series in annual resolution, comprising global and regional climate, central European synoptic systems, German precipitation, and runoff of the Elbe river near Dresden. All the evidence from this first-generation MP-FM study, obtained in subsequent multivariate syntheses, points to dynamically excited regimes of an organized yet complex climate system under permanent change—perhaps a (pre)chaotic one at centennial timescales, suggesting a "chaos control" perspective on global climate dynamics and change. Findings and conclusions include, among others, internal structure of reconstructed insolation, the episodic nature of global warming as reflected in multidecadal temperature modes, their swarm of "interdomain" companions across the whole system that unveils an unknown regime character of interannual climate dynamics, and the apparent onset early in the 1990s of the present thermal stagnation.

  15. A missing link in the evolution of the cumulative recorder.

    PubMed

    Asano, Toshio; Lattal, Kennon A

    2012-09-01

    A recently recovered cumulative recorder provides a missing link in the evolution of the cumulative recorder from a modified kymograph to a reliably operating, scientifically and commercially successful instrument. The recorder, the only physical evidence of such an early precommercial cumulative recorder yet found, was sent to Keio University in Tokyo, Japan, in 1952 at the behest of B. F. Skinner at Harvard University. Last used in research in the late 1960s, the cumulative recorder remained locked in a storage room until 2007, when it was found again. A historical context for the recorder is followed by a description of the recorder and a comparison between it and the commercially successful Gerbrands Model C-1 recorder. Labeled the Keio recorder, it is a testament to Skinner's persistence in developing a reliable means of quantifying the behavior of living organisms in real time.

  16. An early record of ball lightning: Oliva (Spain), 1619

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Domínguez-Castro, Fernando

    2018-05-01

    In a primary documentary source we found an early record of ball lightning (BL), which was observed in the monastery of Pi (Oliva, southeastern Spain) on 18 October 1619. The ball lightning was observed by at least three people and was described as a rolling burning vessel and a ball of fire. The ball lightning appeared following a lightning flash, showed a mainly horizontal motion, crossed a wall, smudged an image of the Lady of Rebollet (then known as Lady of Pi) and burnt her ruff, and overturned a cross.

  17. The Instrumental Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yeates, Devin Rodney

    2011-01-01

    The goal of this dissertation is to enable better predictive models by engaging raw experimental data through the Instrumental Model. The Instrumental Model captures the protocols and procedures of experimental data analysis. The approach is formalized by encoding the Instrumental Model in an XML record. Decoupling the raw experimental data from…

  18. Early Grade Writing Assessment: An Instrument Model.

    PubMed

    Jiménez, Juan E

    The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization promoted the creation of a model instrument for individual assessment of students' foundational writing skills in the Spanish language that was based on a literature review and existing writing tools and assessments. The purpose of the Early Grade Writing Assessment (EGWA) is to document learners' basic writing skills, mapped in composing units of increasing complexity to communicate meaning. Validation and standardization of EGWA was conducted in the Canary Islands (Spain) in 12 schools using a cross-sectional design with a sample of 1,653 Spanish-speaking students in Grades 1 through 3. The author describes EGWA's internal structure, along with the prevalence of learning disabilities (LD) in transcription and developmental differences in writing between Spanish-speaking children with LD and typical peers. Findings suggest that EGWA's psychometric characteristics are satisfactory, and its internal structure can be attributed to four factors responsible for a high percentage of the variance. The odds ratio indicated that 2 Spanish-speaking children with LD in transcription are identified out of every 100. A comparison between students with and without LD in transcription revealed statistically significant differences concerning sentence and text production across grades. Results are interpreted within current theoretical accounts of writing models.

  19. Early Life on Earth: the Ancient Fossil Record

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Westall, F.

    2004-07-01

    The evidence for early life and its initial evolution on Earth is lin= ked intimately with the geological evolution of the early Earth. The environment of the early Earth would be considered extreme by modern standards: hot (50-80=B0C), volcanically and hydrothermally active, a= noxic, high UV flux, and a high flux of extraterrestrial impacts. Habitats = for life were more limited until continent-building processes resulted in= the formation of stable cratons with wide, shallow, continental platforms= in the Mid-Late Archaean. Unfortunately there are no records of the first appearance of life and the earliest isotopic indications of the exist= ence of organisms fractionating carbon in ~3.8 Ga rocks from the Isua greenst= one belt in Greenland are tenuous. Well-preserved microfossils and micro= bial mats (in the form of tabular and domical stromatolites) occur in 3.5-= 3.3 Ga, Early Archaean, sedimentary formations from the Barberton (South Afri= ca) and Pilbara (Australia) greenstone belts. They document life forms that = show a relatively advanced level of evolution. Microfossil morphology inclu= des filamentous, coccoid, rod and vibroid shapes. Colonial microorganism= s formed biofilms and microbial mats at the surfaces of volcaniclastic = and chemical sediments, some of which created (small) macroscopic microbi= alites such as stromatolites. Anoxygenic photosynthesis may already have developed. Carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopes ratios are in the r= ange of those for organisms with anaerobic metabolisms, such as methanogenesi= s, sulphate reduction and photosynthesis. Life was apparently distribute= d widely in shallow-water to littoral environments, including exposed, evaporitic basins and regions of hydrothermal activity. Biomass in t= he early Archaean was restricted owing to the limited amount of energy t= hat could be produced by anaerobic metabolisms. Microfossils resembling o= xygenic photosynthesisers, such as cyanobacteria, probably first occurred in

  20. Validity and Psychometric Properties of the Early Development Instrument in Canada, Australia, United States, and Jamaica

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Janus, Magdalena; Brinkman, Sally A.; Duku, Eric K.

    2011-01-01

    There is an increasing support from international organizations and the research community for stepping beyond infant or child mortality as the most common child level social indicator and progressing towards an international measure of child development. The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a teacher-completed measure of children's…

  1. Early to middle Miocene climate evolution: benthic oxygen and carbon isotope records from Walvis Ridge Site 1264.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lourens, L. J.; Beddow, H.; Liebrand, D.; Schrader, C.; Hilgen, F. J.

    2016-12-01

    Across the early to middle Miocene, high-resolution records from the Pacific Ocean indicate a dynamic climate system, encompassing a 2 Myr global warming event from 17 Ma to 14.7 Ma, followed by a major Cenozoic cooling step at 14.2 Ma -13.8 Ma. Currently, no high-resolution benthic record from the Atlantic Ocean exists covering both events, limiting global coverage of this intriguing period in Cenozoic climate evolution. Here, we present the first early to middle Miocene high-resolution from the Atlantic basin. These records, from Site 1264 on the Walvis Ridge, span a 5.5 Myr long interval (13.24-18.90 ma) in high temporal resolution ( 4 kyr) and are tuned to eccentricity. The d18O record shows a sudden (high-latitude) warming/deglaciation on Antarctica at 17.1 Ma, a rapid cooling/glaciation of Antarctica at 13.8 Ma, and high-amplitude ( 1‰) variability on astronomical time-scales throughout this interval. Together with other records from this time interval located in the Pacific, which show similar features, the data strongly suggests a highly dynamic global climate system. We find cooling steps in d18O at 14.7, 14.2 and 13.8 Ma, suggesting concurrent cooling in the Pacific and Atlantic deep waters during the MMCT. The benthic foraminiferal stable isotope records reveal that the dominant astronomical frequencies present at ODP Site 1264 during the early to middle Miocene interval are the 405 kyr and 110 kyr eccentricity periodicities. This is a contrast to other early to middle Miocene records from drill-sites in the Pacific and South China Sea, which show a strong expression of obliquity in particular between 14.2 and 14.7 Ma.

  2. Aerobic Exercise Sustains Performance of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living in Early-Stage Alzheimer Disease.

    PubMed

    Vidoni, Eric D; Perales, Jaime; Alshehri, Mohammed; Giles, Abdul-Mannaan; Siengsukon, Catherine F; Burns, Jeffrey M

    2017-12-28

    Individuals with Alzheimer disease (AD) experience progressive loss of independence-performing activities of daily living. Identifying interventions to support independence and reduce the economic and psychosocial burden of caregiving for individuals with AD is imperative. The purpose of this analysis was to examine functional disability and caregiver time in individuals with early-stage AD. This was a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial of 26 weeks of aerobic exercise (AEx) versus stretching and toning (ST). We measured functional dependence using the Disability Assessment for Dementia, informal caregiver time required using the Resources Utilization in Dementia Lite, and cognition using a standard cognitive battery. We saw a stable function in the AEx group compared with a significant decline in the ST group (4%; F = 4.2, P = .04). This was especially evident in more complex, instrumental activities of daily living, with individuals in the AEx group increasing 1% compared with an 8% loss in the ST group over 26 weeks (F = 8.3, P = .006). Change in memory was a significant predictor of declining instrumental activities of daily living performance (r = 0.28, 95% confidence interval = 0.08 ∞, P = .01). Informal caregiver time was not different between the AEx and ST groups. Our analysis extends recent work by revealing specific benefits for instrumental activities of daily living for individuals in the early stages of AD and supports the value of exercise for individuals with cognitive impairment.

  3. Development of the Quality of Australian Nursing Documentation in Aged Care (QANDAC) instrument to assess paper-based and electronic resident records.

    PubMed

    Wang, Ning; Björvell, Catrin; Hailey, David; Yu, Ping

    2014-12-01

    To develop an Australian nursing documentation in aged care (Quality of Australian Nursing Documentation in Aged Care (QANDAC)) instrument to measure the quality of paper-based and electronic resident records. The instrument was based on the nursing process model and on three attributes of documentation quality identified in a systematic review. The development process involved five phases following approaches to designing criterion-referenced measures. The face and content validities and the inter-rater reliability of the instrument were estimated using a focus group approach and consensus model. The instrument contains 34 questions in three sections: completion of nursing history and assessment, description of care process and meeting the requirements of data entry. Estimates of the validity and inter-rater reliability of the instrument gave satisfactory results. The QANDAC instrument may be a useful audit tool for quality improvement and research in aged care documentation. © 2013 ACOTA.

  4. Magnetic Recording.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lowman, Charles E.

    A guide to the technology of magnetic recorders used in such fields as audio recording, broadcast and closed-circuit television, instrumentation recording, and computer data systems is presented. Included are discussions of applications, advantages, and limitations of magnetic recording, its basic principles and theory of operation, and its…

  5. Historic and Instrumental Records of Repeating Seismicity in the Gyeongju Area, Southeastern Korea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    HAN, M.; Kim, K. H.; Kang, S. Y.; Son, M.; Park, J. H.; LI, Z.

    2015-12-01

    Gyeongju area located in southeastern Korea has experienced repeated seismicity. Historic records during the last 2000 years in the area indicate the earthquake with magnitude 6.7 caused damages of human life and property in 779. During the period of modern instrumental seismic records, the area also experienced numerous small- and moderate-magnitude earthquakes. For example, an earthquake with magnitude 4.3 occurring in 1997 provided a chance for nationwide evaluations of earthquake safety and the renewal of earthquake monitoring system in Korea. The area is still experiencing small earthquakes including magnitude 3.5 in September 2014. We applied waveform correlation detector to continuously recorded seismic data from July 2014 to December 2014 to identify any repeating earthquakes. Detected waveforms are carefully inspected and more than 230 potential events are identified. Eighty three earthquakes among them have been selected for precise determination of earthquake hypocenters. Focal mechanism solutions for representative events were also determined. We further compared the results with those obtained using earthquakes prior to 2013. It has been confirmed the earthquakes in the area are clustered in space. Similar waveforms, earthquake locations, and focal mechanism solutions identified in the study indicates an active faults in the area. Since the area hosts many critical infra-structures, micro-seismicity in the area requires extensive study to address earthquake hazard issues.

  6. Evaluation of a Nutrition Care Process-based audit instrument, the Diet-NCP-Audit, for documentation of dietetic care in medical records.

    PubMed

    Lövestam, Elin; Orrevall, Ylva; Koochek, Afsaneh; Karlström, Brita; Andersson, Agneta

    2014-06-01

    Adequate documentation in medical records is important for high-quality health care. Documentation quality is widely studied within nursing, but studies are lacking within dietetic care. The aim of this study was to translate, elaborate and evaluate an audit instrument, based on the four-step Nutrition Care Process model, for documentation of dietetic care in medical records. The audit instrument includes 14 items focused on essential parts of dietetic care and the documentation's clarity and structure. Each item is to be rated 0-1 or 0-2 points, with a maximum total instrument score of 26. A detailed manual was added to facilitate the interpretation and increase the reliability of the instrument. The instrument is based on a similar tool initiated 9 years ago in the United States, which in this study was translated to Swedish and further elaborated. The translated and further elaborated instrument was named Diet-NCP-Audit. Firstly, the content validity of the Diet-NCP-Audit instrument was tested by five experienced dietitians. They rated the relevance and clarity of the included items. After a first rating, minor improvements were made. After the second rating, the Content Validity Indexes were 1.0, and the Clarity Index was 0.98. Secondly, to test the reliability, four dietitians reviewed 20 systematically collected dietetic notes independently using the audit instrument. Before the review, a calibration process was performed. A comparison of the reviews was performed, which resulted in a moderate inter-rater agreement with Krippendorff's α = 0.65-0.67. Grouping the audit results in three levels: lower, medium or higher range, a Krippendorff's α of 0.74 was considered high reliability. Also, an intra-rater reliability test-retest with a 9 weeks interval, performed by one dietitian, showed strong agreement. To conclude, the evaluated audit instrument had high content validity and moderate to high reliability and can be used in auditing documentation of dietetic

  7. A portable smoking pattern recorder.

    PubMed

    Creighton, D E; Noble, M J; Whewell, R T

    1979-01-01

    An instrument has been developed which can be used to record the smoking patterns of human smokers in almost any location. The smoker is required to smoke the cigarette through an orifice plate cigarette holder connected to the recorder. The smoking pattern data are recorded onto a standard audio cassette as pressure and flow signals together with timing impulses and speech. The instrument is battery powered and can be built into a small brief case. The four channels of data are decoded on a separate instrument, which uses the timing signals to synchronise a data logger, thus making the whole system independent of tape speed errors. The speech channel is used to identify the smoker, cigarette, location, etc. Comparisons have been made of the performance of the portable recorder and a laboratory smoking analyser and data logger. It was found that data decoded from the portable recorder are generally within 1% of the values recorded directly on the laboratory instrument.

  8. The long view: Causes of climate change over the instrumental period

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hegerl, G. C.; Schurer, A. P.; Polson, D.; Iles, C. E.; Bronnimann, S.

    2016-12-01

    The period of instrumentally recorded data has seen remarkable changes in climate, with periods of rapid warming, and periods of stagnation or cooling. A recent analysis of the observed temperature change from the instrumental record confirms that most of the warming recorded since the middle of the 20rst century has been caused by human influences, but shows large uncertainty in separating greenhouse gas from aerosol response if accounting for model uncertainty. The contribution by natural forcing and internal variability to the recent warming is estimated to be small, but becomes more important when analysing climate change over earlier or shorter time periods. For example, the enigmatic early 20th century warming was a period of strong climate anomalies, including the US dustbowl drought and exceptional heat waves, and pronounced Arctic warming. Attribution results suggests that about half of the global warming 1901-1950 was forced by greenhouse gases increases, with an anomalously strong contribution by climate variability, and contributions by natural forcing. Long term variations in circulation are important for some regional climate anomalies. Precipitation is important for impacts of climate change and precipitation changes are uncertain in models. Analysis of the instrumental record suggests a human influence on mean and heavy precipitation, and supports climate model estimates of the spatial pattern of precipitation sensitivity to warming. Broadly, and particularly over ocean, wet regions are getting wetter and dry regions are getting drier. In conclusion, the historical record provides evidence for a strong response to external forcings, supports climate models, and raises questions about multi-decadal variability.

  9. Age Validation in the Long Life Family Study Through a Linkage to Early-Life Census Records

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Objectives. Studies of health and longevity require accurate age reporting. Age misreporting among older adults in the United States is common. Methods. Participants in the Long Life Family Study (LLFS) were matched to early-life census records. Age recorded in the census was used to evaluate age reporting in the LLFS. The study population was 99% non-Hispanic white. Results. About 88% of the participants were matched to 1910, 1920, or 1930 U.S. censuses. Match success depended on the participant’s education, place of birth, and the number of censuses available to be searched. Age at the time of the interview based on the reported date of birth and early-life census age were consistent for about 89% of the participants, and age consistency within 1 year was found for about 99% of the participants. Discussion. It is possible to match a high fraction of older study participants to their early-life census records when detailed information is available on participants’ family of origin. Such record linkage can provide an important source of information for evaluating age reporting among the oldest old participants. Our results are consistent with recent studies suggesting that age reporting among older whites in the United States appears to be quite good. PMID:23704206

  10. Constraints on early events in Martian history as derived from the cratering record

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Barlow, Nadine G.

    1990-01-01

    Constrains on early events in Martian history are derived using the planet's cratering record. Variations in the shapes of the crater size-frequency distribution curves are interpreted as indicative of the size-frequency distribution of the production populations, thus providing information about the age of the unit relative to the end of the heavy bombardment period. Results from the analysis of craters superposed on heavily cratered units across the Martian surface provide constraints on the hemispheric dichotomy and the early erosional conditions on Mars.

  11. Neighborhood Poverty Impacts Children's Physical Health and Well-Being over Time: Evidence from the Early Development Instrument

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cushon, Jennifer A.; Vu, Lan T. H.; Janzen, Bonnie L.; Muhajarine, Nazeem

    2011-01-01

    Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to investigate how neighborhoods and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage impact school readiness over time. School readiness was measured using the Early Development Instrument (EDI) for 3 populations of kindergartners in 2001, 2003, and 2005 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. EDI results…

  12. Discriminating signal from noise in the fossil record of early vertebrates reveals cryptic evolutionary history

    PubMed Central

    Sansom, Robert S.; Randle, Emma; Donoghue, Philip C. J.

    2015-01-01

    The fossil record of early vertebrates has been influential in elucidating the evolutionary assembly of the gnathostome bodyplan. Understanding of the timing and tempo of vertebrate innovations remains, however, mired in a literal reading of the fossil record. Early jawless vertebrates (ostracoderms) exhibit restriction to shallow-water environments. The distribution of their stratigraphic occurrences therefore reflects not only flux in diversity, but also secular variation in facies representation of the rock record. Using stratigraphic, phylogenetic and palaeoenvironmental data, we assessed the veracity of the fossil records of the jawless relatives of jawed vertebrates (Osteostraci, Galeaspida, Thelodonti, Heterostraci). Non-random models of fossil recovery potential using Palaeozoic sea-level changes were used to calculate confidence intervals of clade origins. These intervals extend the timescale for possible origins into the Upper Ordovician; these estimates ameliorate the long ghost lineages inferred for Osteostraci, Galeaspida and Heterostraci, given their known stratigraphic occurrences and stem–gnathostome phylogeny. Diversity changes through the Silurian and Devonian were found to lie within the expected limits predicted from estimates of fossil record quality indicating that it is geological, rather than biological factors, that are responsible for shifts in diversity. Environmental restriction also appears to belie ostracoderm extinction and demise rather than competition with jawed vertebrates. PMID:25520359

  13. Early Terrestrial Mantle Differentiation Recorded in Paleoarchean Komatiites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Puchtel, I. S.; Blichert-Toft, J.; Touboul, M.; Horan, M. F.; Walker, R. J.

    2016-12-01

    Geochmical signatures generated in the manle as a result of radioactive decay of short- and long-lived nuclides can be used to constrain the timing of formation and the nature of now mostly vanished early terrestrial reservoirs. The 3.55 Ga komatiites from the Schapenburg Greenstone Remnant (SGR) located in the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa have a unique combination of trace element abundances and isotopic compositions that place strong constraints on the origin of these reservoirs. The SGR komatiites define a Re-Os isochron with an age of 3550±87 Ma and an initial γ187Os = +3.7±0.2 (2SD). The absolute HSE abundances in the mantle source of the SGR komatiite system are estimated to be only 29±5% of those in the present-day bulk silicate Earth (BSE) estimates. The SGR komatiites show coupled depletion, relative to the modern mantle, in 142Nd and 182W (μ142Nd = -5.0±2.8, μ182W = -8.4±4.5), the decay products of the short-lived 146Sm and 182Hf nuclides, respectively, indicating derivation from a mantle domain that was enriched in incompatible elements 30 Ma after Solar System formation. Early Hadean contributors to this mantle domain could include high-pressure fractionates from a primordial magma ocean. By contrast, the long-lived Sm-Nd and Lu-Hf isotope systems (ɛ143Nd = +2.4±0.1, ɛ176Hf = +5.7±0.3) indicate that the mantle domain that the SGR komatiites were ultimately derived from underwent additional processing after the early Hadean, including melt depletion at lower pressures. The preservation of early-formed 182W and 142Nd anomalies in the mantle until at least 3.55 Ga indicates that the products of early planetary differentiation survived both later planetary accretion and convective mantle mixing during the Hadean. This study lends further support to the notion that variable late accretion, by itself, cannot account for all of the observed W isotope and absolute and relative HSE abundance variations in the Archean mantle recorded by

  14. Instrumentation and control systems, equipment location; instrumentation and control building, ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    Instrumentation and control systems, equipment location; instrumentation and control building, instrumentation room, bays and console plan. Specifications No. Eng-04-353-55-72; drawing no. 60-09-12; sheet 110 of 148; file no. 1321/61. Stamped: Record drawing - as constructed. Below stamp: Contract no. 4338, no change. - Edwards Air Force Base, Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, Control Center, Test Area 1-115, near Altair & Saturn Boulevards, Boron, Kern County, CA

  15. The September 19, 1985 Michoacan Earthquake: Aftershock acceleration data recorded by a temporary installation of strong motion instruments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Munguía, Luis; Simila, Gerry W.; McNally, Karen C.; Thompson, Howard

    1986-06-01

    We describe acceleration signals recorded for nine aftershocks of the September 19, 1985 Michoacan earthquake. To obtain this data set, three A-700 Teledyne-Geotech digital strong-motion instruments were operated temporarily at two sites on the José María Morelos (La Villita) Dam, and at a site located at about 12 km to the west of the town of Zihuatanejo. Peak horizontal accelerations of 0.005 g to 0.031 g were recorded at epicentral distances between 10 and 75 km, for earthquakes with magnitude (mb) between 4.5 and 5.3. It was observed that the peak accelerations recorded at a site on the embankment of the dam (near the crest ) are approximately three times those recorded on the abutment bedrock portion of the dam. Although these sites were spatially separated by no more than 300 m, differences among their records are also significant. Waveforms recorded at the embankment site look more complex than those from the abutment site. This fact, as well as the higher peak accelerations on the embankment, provides evidence of a strong influence of the structure of the dam on the ground motion at the embankment site.

  16. Instrumentation Recommendations for Volcano Monitoring at U.S. Volcanoes Under the National Volcano Early Warning System

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Moran, Seth C.; Freymueller, Jeff T.; LaHusen, Richard G.; McGee, Kenneth A.; Poland, Michael P.; Power, John A.; Schmidt, David A.; Schneider, David J.; Stephens, George; Werner, Cynthia A.; White, Randall A.

    2008-01-01

    As magma moves toward the surface, it interacts with anything in its path: hydrothermal systems, cooling magma bodies from previous eruptions, and (or) the surrounding 'country rock'. Magma also undergoes significant changes in its physical properties as pressure and temperature conditions change along its path. These interactions and changes lead to a range of geophysical and geochemical phenomena. The goal of volcano monitoring is to detect and correctly interpret such phenomena in order to provide early and accurate warnings of impending eruptions. Given the well-documented hazards posed by volcanoes to both ground-based populations (for example, Blong, 1984; Scott, 1989) and aviation (for example, Neal and others, 1997; Miller and Casadevall, 2000), volcano monitoring is critical for public safety and hazard mitigation. Only with adequate monitoring systems in place can volcano observatories provide accurate and timely forecasts and alerts of possible eruptive activity. At most U.S. volcanoes, observatories traditionally have employed a two-component approach to volcano monitoring: (1) install instrumentation sufficient to detect unrest at volcanic systems likely to erupt in the not-too-distant future; and (2) once unrest is detected, install any instrumentation needed for eruption prediction and monitoring. This reactive approach is problematic, however, for two reasons. 1. At many volcanoes, rapid installation of new ground-1. based instruments is difficult or impossible. Factors that complicate rapid response include (a) eruptions that are preceded by short (hours to days) precursory sequences of geophysical and (or) geochemical activity, as occurred at Mount Redoubt (Alaska) in 1989 (24 hours), Anatahan (Mariana Islands) in 2003 (6 hours), and Mount St. Helens (Washington) in 1980 and 2004 (7 and 8 days, respectively); (b) inclement weather conditions, which may prohibit installation of new equipment for days, weeks, or even months, particularly at

  17. [Electroencephalography (EEG) recording techniques and artifact detection in early premature babies].

    PubMed

    Wallois, F; Vecchierini, M-F; Héberlé, C; Walls-Esquivel, E

    2007-01-01

    EEG recording techniques in early premature babies are not very different from those used for full-term neonates. Here, we emphasise the most important points: asepsis precautions, full knowledge of the clinical data and drug therapies, the fundamental role of a well-trained technician in supervising the EEG recording and monitoring the baby. The best electrode positions, the most informative montages and their standardisation between neurophysiological laboratories, are suggested. Artifact detection constitutes an important aspect of EEG signal analysis in preterm babies of less than 30 weeks. It is obviously necessary to discriminate between meaningful information and artefacts. The complexity of the signal in neonates makes artifact detection difficult. We present some characteristic features and describe some methods for eliminating them. We underline the positive aspect of some artifacts and their clinical use. We emphasise the crucial role of the technicians.

  18. Early cave art and ancient DNA record the origin of European bison

    PubMed Central

    Soubrier, Julien; Gower, Graham; Chen, Kefei; Richards, Stephen M.; Llamas, Bastien; Mitchell, Kieren J.; Ho, Simon Y. W.; Kosintsev, Pavel; Lee, Michael S. Y.; Baryshnikov, Gennady; Bollongino, Ruth; Bover, Pere; Burger, Joachim; Chivall, David; Crégut-Bonnoure, Evelyne; Decker, Jared E.; Doronichev, Vladimir B.; Douka, Katerina; Fordham, Damien A.; Fontana, Federica; Fritz, Carole; Glimmerveen, Jan; Golovanova, Liubov V.; Groves, Colin; Guerreschi, Antonio; Haak, Wolfgang; Higham, Tom; Hofman-Kamińska, Emilia; Immel, Alexander; Julien, Marie-Anne; Krause, Johannes; Krotova, Oleksandra; Langbein, Frauke; Larson, Greger; Rohrlach, Adam; Scheu, Amelie; Schnabel, Robert D.; Taylor, Jeremy F.; Tokarska, Małgorzata; Tosello, Gilles; van der Plicht, Johannes; van Loenen, Ayla; Vigne, Jean-Denis; Wooley, Oliver; Orlando, Ludovic; Kowalczyk, Rafał; Shapiro, Beth; Cooper, Alan

    2016-01-01

    The two living species of bison (European and American) are among the few terrestrial megafauna to have survived the late Pleistocene extinctions. Despite the extensive bovid fossil record in Eurasia, the evolutionary history of the European bison (or wisent, Bison bonasus) before the Holocene (<11.7 thousand years ago (kya)) remains a mystery. We use complete ancient mitochondrial genomes and genome-wide nuclear DNA surveys to reveal that the wisent is the product of hybridization between the extinct steppe bison (Bison priscus) and ancestors of modern cattle (aurochs, Bos primigenius) before 120 kya, and contains up to 10% aurochs genomic ancestry. Although undetected within the fossil record, ancestors of the wisent have alternated ecological dominance with steppe bison in association with major environmental shifts since at least 55 kya. Early cave artists recorded distinct morphological forms consistent with these replacement events, around the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ∼21–18 kya). PMID:27754477

  19. The Smoking Outcome Expectation Scale and Anti-Smoking Self-Efficacy Scale for Early Adolescents: Instrument Development and Validation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Chen-Ju; Yeh, Ming-Chen; Tang, Fu-In; Yu, Shu

    2015-01-01

    Smoking-related outcome expectation and self-efficacy have been found to be associated with adolescent smoking initiation. There is, however, a lack of appropriate instruments to investigate early adolescents' smoking outcome expectations and antismoking self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Smoking Outcome…

  20. The Exquisite Recorder

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reynolds, Geoffrey A.; Gottschalk, Thomas

    2009-01-01

    This article provides general music teachers with resources they can use in their class to: (1) introduce the instrument to their students; (2) energize and reshape their students' attitudes toward the instrument; (3) show older students who are very musical recorder and low flute players who share their love of the instruments through podcasts…

  1. Seabed Motion During Sediment Density Flows as Recorded by Displaced Man-Made Motion-Recording Boulders and a Heavy Instrument Platform

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gwiazda, R.; Paull, C. K.; Kieft, B.; Bird, L.; Klimov, D.; Herlien, R.; Sherman, A.; McCann, M. P.; Sumner, E.; Talling, P.; Xu, J.; Parsons, D. R.; Maier, K. L.; Barry, J.

    2017-12-01

    Over a period of 18 months the Coordinated Canyon Experiment documented the passage of at least 15 sediment density flows in Monterey Canyon, offshore California, with an array of moorings and sensors placed from 200 m to 1,850 m water depths. Free-standing `smart' boulders (Benthic Event Detectors, BED) and a 1,000 Kg tripod with an Acoustic Monitoring Transponder (AMT) and a BED attached to it were deployed in the upper canyon to detect seabed motions during sediment density flows. BEDs consist of spheres made of a combination of metal, plastic and syntactic foam ballasted to 2.1 g/cm3 density, containing accelerometers along three orthogonal axes, a time recorder, and a pressure sensor inside a pressure case rated to 500 m water depth. Acceleration of ≥ 0.008 G triggers data collection at a recording rate of 50 Hz until motion stops. Built-in acoustic beacons and modems allow for BEDs to be relocated, and data to be downloaded, even when BEDs are buried in sediment to depths of >1 m. Over the course of the study, depth changes and velocities of 24 BED movements during 9 events were recorded. BEDs moved at the velocity of the propagation of the flows down canyon, as documented by the time of arrival of the flow at successive sensors, but sometimes travelled at lower speeds. Seven movements of the AMT tripod were also recorded. In the largest of these, the heavy AMT tripod was transported over a distance of 4.1 Km. For at least four of these seven motions the AMT temperature record indicates that the movements were initiated while the tripod was buried. In one particular event simultaneous movements of five BEDs over a 100 m depth range indicate that the entire seabed was in motion at the same time over a canyon distance of 3.5 Km. Reconstructions of instrument motions in this event from their internally recorded acceleration data show that the AMT displacement was at the front of the event and had no rotational component. In contrast, free standing BEDs at the

  2. Mapping the Early Language Environment Using All-Day Recordings and Automated Analysis.

    PubMed

    Gilkerson, Jill; Richards, Jeffrey A; Warren, Steven F; Montgomery, Judith K; Greenwood, Charles R; Kimbrough Oller, D; Hansen, John H L; Paul, Terrance D

    2017-05-17

    This research provided a first-generation standardization of automated language environment estimates, validated these estimates against standard language assessments, and extended on previous research reporting language behavior differences across socioeconomic groups. Typically developing children between 2 to 48 months of age completed monthly, daylong recordings in their natural language environments over a span of approximately 6-38 months. The resulting data set contained 3,213 12-hr recordings automatically analyzed by using the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) System to generate estimates of (a) the number of adult words in the child's environment, (b) the amount of caregiver-child interaction, and (c) the frequency of child vocal output. Child vocalization frequency and turn-taking increased with age, whereas adult word counts were age independent after early infancy. Child vocalization and conversational turn estimates predicted 7%-16% of the variance observed in child language assessment scores. Lower socioeconomic status (SES) children produced fewer vocalizations, engaged in fewer adult-child interactions, and were exposed to fewer daily adult words compared with their higher socioeconomic status peers, but within-group variability was high. The results offer new insight into the landscape of the early language environment, with clinical implications for identification of children at-risk for impoverished language environments.

  3. Characteristics of fin whale vocalizations recorded on instruments in the northeast Pacific Ocean

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weirathmueller, Maria Michelle Josephine

    This thesis focuses on fin whale vocalizations recorded on ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) in the Northeast Pacific Ocean, using data collected between 2003 and 2013. OBSs are a valuable, and largely untapped resource for the passive acoustic monitoring of large baleen whales. This dissertation is divided into three parts, each of which uses the recordings of fin whale vocalizations to better understand their calling behaviors and distributions. The first study describes the development of a technique to extract source levels of fin whale vocalizations from OBS recordings. Source levels were estimated using data collected on a network of eight OBSs in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. The acoustic pressure levels measured at the instruments were adjusted for the propagation path between the calling whales and the instruments using the call location and estimating losses along the acoustic travel path. A total of 1241 calls were used to estimate an average source level of 189 +/-5.8 dB re 1uPa 1m. This variability is largely attributed to uncertainties in the horizontal and vertical position of the fin whale at the time of each call, and the effect of these uncertainties on subsequent calculations. The second study describes a semi-automated method for obtaining horizontal ranges to vocalizing fin whales using the timing and relative amplitude of multipath arrivals. A matched filter is used to detect fin whale calls and pick the relative times and amplitudes of multipath arrivals. Ray-based propagation models are used to predict multipath times and amplitudes as function of range. Because the direct and first multiple arrivals are not always observed, three hypotheses for the paths of the observed arrivals are considered; the solution is the hypothesis and range that optimizes the fit to the data. Ray-theoretical amplitudes are not accurate and solutions are improved by determining amplitudes from the observations using a bootstrap method. Data from ocean bottom

  4. Two centuries of French patents as documentation of musical instrument construction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jean, Haury

    2005-09-01

    The French Patent Office I.N.P.I. has preserved the originals of ca. 12000 French patents filed between 1791 and present days that are concerned with music-related inventions. As an I.N.P.I. pilot project, these were identified, collected, and classified by the present author, and the actual database named ``Musique & Brevets'' is going to be expanded with English, American, and German material, bringing currently a knowledge base up to 1900. It is expected to be made available on an I.N.P.I. website. This is an unequaled initiative that covers all branches of musical instrument manufacture, mechanical musical instruments, early recording and reproducing of music, but also educational material and methods for printing music. There already exists a number of websites presenting inventions on musical instruments, but these are restricted to one particular instrument and its related patents. ``Musique & Brevets'' intends to be exhaustive and make links between patents filed in different countries at the same time. The paper will present the content of the database, the access to texts and drawings of the patents via specific links, and their importance for the study of history and construction of musical instruments.

  5. Precise multi-instrument data on exceptional fireballs recorded over Central Europe in the period 2012-2014

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Spurny, P.; Borovicka, J.

    2014-07-01

    Introduction: Instrumental recordings of fireballs provide an excellent means of examining the physical and structural properties of larger meteoroids, as well as their temporal and spatial distribution in the Solar System. Except direct information about this component of interplanetary bodies this study also yields very valuable knowledge about their parent bodies, asteroids and comets. In some special and very rare cases, when such instrumentally observed fireball terminates by a meteorite fall, we have even direct information about the composition, structure and mineralogy not only of this particular meteorite but also of its parent body. The most efficient systems for systematic fireball observations are so-called fireball networks. In this work we present precise and complex data on several exceptional fireballs based on photographic and photoelectric records taken by the Czech Fireball Network, which is the longest continuously operated and the most developed part of the European Fireball Network (EN). Instruments and data processing: The Czech part of the EN has been entirely modernized in the last decade and its operation was in the large extent automatized [1]. This change significantly increased not only efficiency but also quality and complexity of our observations. However, this observing system, which provides us with photographic and photoelectric data about fireballs brighter than -4 magnitude, still uses photographic films, which brings some limitations for the data processing. Primarily it implies a non-negligible delay between data acquisition and their analysis as we had to transport photographic films physically from remote stations and only then to develop and digitize them. There is also much lower efficiency of observations during the full Moon period than during moonless nights. Taking the advantage of fast progress of digital photography, we have constructed a new generation of the Digital Autonomous Fireball Observatory (DAFO), which

  6. An 800-Year Record of Sediment-Derived, Instrumentally-Calibrated Foraminiferal Mg/Ca SST Estimates From the Tropical North Atlantic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Black, D. E.; Abahazi, M. A.; Thunell, R. C.; Tappa, E. J.

    2005-12-01

    Most geochemical paleoclimate proxies are calibrated to different climate variables using laboratory culture, surface sediment, or sediment trap experiments. The varved, high-deposition rate sediments of the Cariaco Basin (Venezuela) provide the nearly unique opportunity to compare and calibrate paleoceanographic proxy data directly against true oceanic historical instrumental climate records. Here we present one of the first sediment-derived foraminiferal-Mg/Ca to SST calibrations spanning A. D. 1870-1990. The record of Mg/Ca-estimated tropical North Atlantic SSTs is then extended back to approximately A. D. 1200. Box core PL07-73 BC, recovered from the northeastern slope of Cariaco Basin, was sampled at consecutive 1 mm increments and processed for foraminiferal population, stable isotope, and Mg/Ca (by ICP-AES) analyses. The age model for this core was established by correlating faunal population records from PL07-73 to a nearby very well-dated Cariaco Basin box core, PL07-71 BC. The resulting age model yields consecutive sample intervals of one to two years. Mg/Ca ratios measured on Globigerina bulloides in samples deposited between A. D. 1870 and 1990 were calibrated to monthly SSTs from the Met Office Hadley Centre's SST data set for the Cariaco Basin grid square. Annual correlations between G. bulloides Mg/Ca and instrumental SST were highest (r=0.6, p<.0001, n=120) for the months of March, April, and May, the time when sediment trap studies indicate G. bulloides is most abundant in the basin. The full-length Mg/Ca-estimated SST record is characterized by decadal- and centennial-scale variability. The tropical western North Atlantic does not appear to have experienced a pronounced Medieval Warm Period relative to the complete record. However, strong Little Ice Age cooling of as much as 3 ° C occurred between A. D. 1525 and 1625. Spring SSTs gradually rose between A. D. 1650 and 1900 followed by a 2.5 ° C warming over the 20th century.

  7. Needed: Instruments as Good as Our Eyes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brickell, Henry M.

    2011-01-01

    Evaluators use their eyes to see what is there, whether it is intended or not. But they use their test instruments to measure what is intended, whether it is there or not. Evaluators have been broadening their repertoire of instruments for years: curriculum-embedded tests, observer checklists, audiotape recorders, videotape recorders, unobtrusive…

  8. Instruments and attachments for electronystagmography

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mironenko, Y. T.; Vilenskiy, A. A.

    1980-01-01

    A portable set of instruments and devices was developed which makes it possible to record spontaneous nystagmus with open and closed eyes. Rotational, caloric, position, and pressure nystagmus under any conditions may also be recorded.

  9. NACA Flight-Path Angle and Air-Speed Recorder

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Coleman, Donald G

    1926-01-01

    A new trailing bomb-type instrument for photographically recording the flight-path angle and air speed of aircraft in unaccelerated flight is described. The instrument consists essentially of an inclinometer, air-speed meter and a film-drum case. The inclinometer carries an oil-damped pendulum which records optically the flight-path angle upon a rotating motor-driven film drum. The air-speed meter consists of a taut metal diaphragm of high natural frequency which is acted upon by the pressure difference of a Prandtl type Pitot-static tube. The inclinometer record and air-speed record are made optically on the same sensitive film. Two records taken by this instrument are shown.

  10. James Gregory, the University observatory and the early acquisition of scientific instruments at the University of St Andrews

    PubMed Central

    Rawson, Helen C.

    2015-01-01

    James Gregory, inventor of the reflecting telescope and Fellow of the Royal Society, was the first Regius Professor of Mathematics of the University of St Andrews, 1668–74. He attempted to establish in St Andrews what would, if completed, have been the first purpose-built observatory in the British Isles. He travelled to London in 1673 to purchase instruments for equipping the observatory and improving the teaching and study of natural philosophy and mathematics in the university, seeking the advice of John Flamsteed, later the first Astronomer Royal. This paper considers the observatory initiative and the early acquisition of instruments at the University of St Andrews, with reference to Gregory's correspondence, inventories made ca. 1699–ca. 1718 and extant instruments themselves, some of which predate Gregory's time. It examines the structure and fate of the university observatory, the legacy of Gregory's teaching and endeavours, and the meridian line laid down in 1748 in the University Library.

  11. Respiratory function in wind instrument players.

    PubMed

    Zuskin, Eugenija; Mustajbegovic, Jadranka; Schachter, E N; Kern, Josipa; Vitale, Ksenija; Pucarin-Cvetkovic, Jasna; Chiarelli, A; Milosevic, M; Jelinic, Jagoda Doko

    2009-01-01

    The playing of wind instruments has been associated with changes in respiratory function. To investigate the effect of playing wind instruments on lung function and respiratory symptoms. The present study included 99 wind instrument players and a group of 41 string instrument players as a control from 3 major orchestras in Zagreb, Croatia. Data on chronic respiratory symptoms were recorded in all studied subjects. Lung function was measured in wind instrument players by recording maximum expiratory flow-volume curves. Wind instrument players demonstrated significantly higher prevalences of sinusitis, nasal catarrh and hoarseness compared to control musicians. One wind instrument player developed asthma associated with his work. Odds ratios for wind instrument players were significant for chronic cough, chronic phlegm and chronic bronchitis by smoking habit (p<0.05 or p<0.01) but not for length of employment. Ventilatory capacity data indicate that wind instrument players had significantly greater FEV1 (smokers and nonsmokers) as well as FEF50 (nonsmokers) (p<0.05) compared to predicted values. Regression analysis of pulmonary function tests in wind instrument players demonstrate a significant link between FEV1 and FEF50 and length of employment. Those wind instrument players with longer employment had the greatest increases in lung function. Our data suggest that musicians playing wind instruments may be susceptible to chronic upper airway symptoms. Interestingly wind instrument playing may be associated with higher than expected lung function parameters.

  12. Management of surgical instruments with radio frequency identification tags.

    PubMed

    Kusuda, Kaori; Yamashita, Kazuhiko; Ohnishi, Akiko; Tanaka, Kiyohito; Komino, Masaru; Honda, Hiroshi; Tanaka, Shinichi; Okubo, Takashi; Tripette, Julien; Ohta, Yuji

    2016-01-01

    To prevent malpractices, medical staff has adopted inventory time-outs and/or checklists. Accurate inventory and maintenance of surgical instruments decreases the risk of operating room miscounting and malfunction. In our previous study, an individual management of surgical instruments was accomplished using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a new management method of RFID-tagged instruments. The management system of RFID-tagged surgical instruments was used for 27 months in clinical areas. In total, 13 study participants assembled surgical trays in the central sterile supply department. While using the management system, trays were assembled 94 times. During this period, no assembly errors occurred. An instrument malfunction had occurred after the 19th, 56th, and 73 th uses, no malfunction caused by the RFID tags, and usage history had been recorded. Additionally, the time it took to assemble surgical trays was recorded, and the long-term usability of the management system was evaluated. The system could record the number of uses and the defective history of each surgical instrument. In addition, the history of the frequency of instruments being transferred from one tray to another was recorded. The results suggest that our system can be used to manage instruments safely. Additionally, the management system was acquired of the learning effect and the usability on daily maintenance. This finding suggests that the management system examined here ensures surgical instrument and tray assembly quality.

  13. Lightning Instrumentation at KSC

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Colon, Jose L.; Eng, D.

    2003-01-01

    This report summarizes lightning phenomena with a brief explanation of lightning generation and lightning activity as related to KSC. An analysis of the instrumentation used at launching Pads 39 A&B for measurements of lightning effects is included with alternatives and recommendations to improve the protection system and upgrade the actual instrumentation system. An architecture for a new data collection system to replace the present one is also included. A novel architecture to obtain lightning current information from several sensors using only one high speed recording channel while monitoring all sensors to replace the actual manual lightning current recorders and a novel device for the protection system are described.

  14. Evaluation of the Sensor Data Record from the Nadir Instruments of the Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wu, Xiangqian; Liu, Quanhua; Zeng, Jian; Grotenhuis, Michael; Qian, Haifeng; Caponi, Maria; Flynn, Larry; Jaross, Glen; Sen, Bhaswar; Buss, Richard H., Jr.; hide

    2014-01-01

    This paper evaluates the first 15 months of the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) Sensor Data Record (SDR) acquired by the nadir sensors and processed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Interface Data Processing Segment. The evaluation consists of an inter-comparison with a similar satellite instrument, an analysis using a radiative transfer model, and an assessment of product stability. This is in addition to the evaluation of sensor calibration and the Environment Data Record product that are also reported in this Special Issue. All these are parts of synergetic effort to provide comprehensive assessment at every level of the products to ensure its quality. It is found that the OMPS nadir SDR quality is satisfactory for the current Provisional maturity. Methods used in the evaluation are being further refined, developed, and expanded, in collaboration with international community through the Global Space-based Inter-Calibration System, to support the upcoming long-term monitoring.

  15. 46 CFR 67.265 - Requirements for instruments evidencing satisfaction or release.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Requirements for instruments evidencing satisfaction or... for instruments evidencing satisfaction or release. An instrument satisfying or releasing a mortgage... claim of lien is recorded. If the recording information cannot be provided because the satisfaction or...

  16. The Early Miocene Climatic Optimum (18-16 Ma): Stable Isotope and Mg/Ca Records from ODP Leg 189 Site 1168.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Syed, S.; Pekar, S.

    2008-12-01

    Ice volume estimates for the late early Miocene (~18-16 Ma) were derived from paired oxygen isotope records and Mg/Ca ratios from ODP Site 1168, which is located on the southwest slope of Tasmania. These records indicate the presence of a dynamic ice sheet in Antarctica, with ice-volume estimates up to present day levels occurring with relatively warm bottom water temperatures during isotope events Mi1b (17.9-17.6 Ma) and Mi2 (16.2 Ma). These records also indicate ice-volume decreased significantly during the Early Miocene Climatic Optimum ~17.2 to 16.4 Ma suggesting a near complete collapse of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, based on an approximately 1‰ decrease in oxygen isotope value of seawater. Bottom water temperatures (BWT) derived from Mg/Ca ratios indicate temperature varied from ~8°C to 3°C, during the early Miocene, with the warmest BWT's occurring during glacial maxima and lowest occurring during glacial minima. Mg/Ca records from other records also indicate ice-volume increases coinciding with deep sea warming. These records suggest Antarctic glaciation may have been influenced by the moisture input by warm saline deep waters (WSDW) originating from the Indian Ocean/Tethys Sea. These WSDW would become entrained and ultimately upwell near Antarctica, resulting in delivering increased moisture/snowfall and therefore increased ice volume on the Antarctic continent. However, an alternative interpretation of the records could be that temperature estimates derived from Mg/Ca ratios may be over estimating the magnitude of temperature changes, thus resulting in an overestimation of ice-volume changes.

  17. Spinal Instrumentation in Growing Children Retards the Natural Development of Pelvic Incidence.

    PubMed

    Bekmez, Senol; Demirkiran, Halil Gokhan; Dede, Ozgur; Atici, Yunus; Balioglu, Mehmet Bulent; Kruyt, Moyo; Ward, Timothy; Yazici, Muharrem

    2016-09-22

    Pelvic incidence increases gradually throughout growth until skeletal maturity. Growing rod instrumentation has been suggested to have a stabilizing effect on the development of the normal sagittal spinal alignment. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of fixed sagittal plane caused by dual growing rod instrumentation on the natural progression of sagittal spinopelvic parameters in children with idiopathic or idiopathic-like early onset scoliosis. Hospital records of children with growing rod instrumentation from 4 separate institutions were reviewed retrospectively. Inclusion criteria were idiopathic or idiopathic-like early onset scoliosis, treatment with dual growing rods with lower instrumented vertebra L4 or upper and more than 2 years of follow-up. Instrumentation levels, magnitudes of major curve, thoracic kyphosis (T2-T12), lumbar lordosis (L1-S1) and pelvic incidence were recorded from preoperative and postoperative standing whole-spine radiographs. Estimated pelvic incidence was also calculated for each patient as if their spines had not been instrumented using the previous normative data. A total of 37 patients satisfied the inclusion criteria. Average age at initial surgery was 7.4±1.8 years (range, 4 to 12 y). Mean follow-up time was 71±26 months (range, 27 to 120 mo). Mean preoperative Cobb angle of 59±13.5 (range, 30 to 86) degrees was reduced to 35.1±17.5 (range, 11 to 78) degrees at the last follow-up. Mean preoperative T2-T12 kyphosis angle was 46.2±14.9 degrees (range, 22 to 84 degrees). At the latest follow-up, it was 44.8±16.2 degrees (range, 11 to 84 degrees) (P=0.93). Mean L1-S1 lordosis angle was 50.5±10.7 degrees (range, 30 to 72 degrees) preoperatively. At the latest follow-up, mean L1-S1 lordosis angle was 48.8±12.7 degrees (range, 26 to 74 degrees) (P=0.29). Mean preoperative pelvic incidence was 45.7±7.9 degrees (range, 30 to 68 degrees). At the latest follow-up, it was 46.7±8.4 degrees (range, 34 to 72 degrees

  18. The airborne Laser Absorption Spectrometer - A new instrument of remote measurement of atmospheric trace gases

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shumate, M. S.; Menzies, R. T.

    1978-01-01

    The Laser Absorption Spectrometer is a portable instrument developed by JPL for remote measurement of trace gases from an aircraft platform. It contains two carbon dioxide lasers, two optical heterodyne receivers, appropriate optics to aim the lasers at the ground and detect the backscattered energy, and signal processing and recording electronics. Operating in the differential-absorption mode, it is possible to monitor one atmospheric gas at a time and record the data in real time. The system can presently measure ozone, ethylene, water vapor, and chlorofluoromethanes with high sensitivity. Airborne measurements were made in early 1977 from the NASA/JPL twin-engine Beechcraft and in May 1977 from the NASA Convair 990 during the ASSESS-II Shuttle Simulation Study. These flights resulted in measurements of ozone concentrations in the lower troposphere which were compared with ground-based values provided by the Air Pollution Control District. This paper describes the details of the instrument and results of the airborne measurements.

  19. Early Holocene humidity patterns in the Iberian Peninsula reconstructed from lake, pollen and speleothem records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morellón, Mario; Aranbarri, Josu; Moreno, Ana; González-Sampériz, Penélope; Valero-Garcés, Blas L.

    2018-02-01

    Comparison of selected, well-dated, lacustrine, speleothem and terrestrial pollen records spanning the Holocene onset and the Early Holocene (ca. 11.7-8 cal kyrs BP) in the Iberian Peninsula shows large hydrological fluctuations and landscape changes with a complex regional pattern in timing and intensity. Marine pollen records from Alboran, the Mediterranean and off shore Atlantic sites show a step-wise increase in moisture and forest during this transition. However, available continental records point to two main patterns of spatial and temporal hydrological variability: i) Atlantic-influenced sites located at the northwestern areas (Enol, Sanabria, Lucenza, PRD-4), characterized by a gradual increase in humidity from the end of the Younger Dryas to the Mid Holocene, similarly to most North Atlantic records; and ii) continental and Mediterranean-influenced sites (Laguna Grande, Villarquemado, Fuentillejo, Padul, Estanya, Banyoles, Salines), with prolonged arid conditions of variable temporal extension after the Younger Dryas, followed by an abrupt increase in moisture at 10-9 cal kyrs BP. Different local climate conditions influenced by topography or the variable sensitivity (gradual versus threshold values) of the proxies analyzed in each case are evaluated. Vegetation composition (conifers versus mesothermophilous taxa) and resilience would explain a subdued response of vegetation in central continental areas while in Mediterranean sites, insufficient summer moisture availability could not maintain high lake levels and promote mesophyte forest, in contrast to Atlantic-influenced areas. Comparison with available climate models, Greenland ice cores, North Atlantic marine sequences and continental records from Central and Northern Europe and the whole Mediterranean region underlines the distinctive character of the hydrological changes occurred in inner Iberia throughout the Early Holocene. The persistent arid conditions might be explained by the intensification

  20. The 1999 Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign - An Early Review

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jenniskens, Peter; Butow, Steven J.; Fonda, Mark

    Two B707-type research aircraft of the 452^nd Flight Test Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base were deployed to study the Leonid meteor storm of 1999 over the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 18. The mission was sponsored by various science programs of NASA, and offered an international team of 35 researchers observing conditions free of clouds and low altitude extinction at a prime location for viewing the storm. This 1999 Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign followed a similar effort in 1998, improving upon mission strategy and scope. As before, spectroscopic and imaging experiments targeted meteors and persistent trains, but also airglow, aurora, elves and sprites. The research aimed to address outstanding questions in astrobiology, planetary science, astronomy, and upper atmospheric research. In addition, USAF co-sponsored the mission to provide near real-time flux measurements for space weather awareness. First results are presented in these issues of Earth, Moon, and Planets in preparation for future missions that will target the exceptional Leonid returns of 2001 and 2002. An early review of the scientific achievements in the context of campaign objectives is given.

  1. Thirty Years Supporting Portable Arrays: The IRIS Passcal Instrument Center

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Beaudoin, B. C.; Anderson, K. R.; Bilek, S. L.; Woodward, R.

    2014-12-01

    Thirty years have passed since establishment of the IRIS Program for the Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere (PASSCAL). PASSCAL was part of a coordinated plan proposed to the National Science Foundation (NSF) defining the instrumentation, data collection and management structure to support a wide range of research in seismology. The PASSCAL program has surpassed the early goal of 6000 data acquisition channels with a current inventory of instrumentation capable of imaging from the near surface to the inner core. Here we present the evolution of the PASSCAL program from instrument depot to full service community resource. PASSCAL has supported close to 1100 PI driven seismic experiments since its inception. Instruments from PASSCAL have covered the globe and have contributed over 7400 SEED stations and 242 assembled data sets to the IRIS Data Management Center in Seattle. Since the combination in 1998 of the Stanford and Lamont instrument centers into the single PASSCAL Instrument Center (PIC) at New Mexico Tech, the facility has grown in scope by adding the EarthScope Array Operations Facility in 2005, the incorporation of the EarthScope Flexible Array, and a Polar support group in 2006. The polar support group enhances portable seismic experiments in extremely harsh polar environments and also extends to special projects such as the Greenland Ice Sheet Monitoring Network (GLISN) and the recent development effort for Geophysical Earth Observatory for Ice Covered Environments (GEOICE). Through these support efforts the PIC has established itself as a resource for field practices, engineered solutions for autonomous seismic stations, and a pioneer in successful seismic recording in polar environments. We are on the cusp of a new generation of instrumentation driven in part by the academic community's desire to record unaliased wavefields in multiple frequency bands and industry's interest in utilizing lower frequency data. As part of the recently

  2. [Deformation evaluation of ProTaper nickel-titanium rotary instruments in curved canals instrumentation in vitro].

    PubMed

    Yan, Hong; Ren, Min; Yin, Xing-Zhe; Zhao, Shu-Yan; Zhang, Cheng-Fei

    2008-04-01

    To evaluate the deformation of ProTaper rotary instruments using in root canals of different curvature in vitro. Extracted first mandibular molars were divided into two experimental groups according to the curvature of mesial buccal canals: group A with moderate curvature and group B with severe curvature. Only the mesial buccal canals of all these teeth were prepared with 6 sets of new ProTaper rotary instruments individually. Additionally, the control group was established with a set of new ProTaper rotary instruments. After finishing each canal preparation, the instruments accompanied by control were examined under the stereomicroscope by an inspector without knowing the group. If distortion, unwinding, abrasion or fracture occurred within one set of instruments, then the whole set was disposed. The sets without problems were in use until 30 times. After 5, 10, 20 times canal preparation, S1, F1 files without deformation under stereomicroscope were examined under scanning electron microscope (SEM). Deformation of ProTaper rotary instruments happened after 12 times in group A and after 7 times in group B. In these two experimental groups, microcracks were found increasing with the times of use under SEM in the instruments without deformation under stereomicroscope. The microcracks on tip of instruments were deep in the early use and became smoother after 10 times. Similar changes happened on knife-edge of instruments, and the microcracks extended over the edge after 20 times use. Root canals with severe curvature tend to damage ProTaper rotary instruments more frequently than moderately curved canals. ProTaper rotary instruments are appropriate to treat less than 7 root canals with severe curvature or 12 root canals with moderate curvature. Stereomicroscope is recommended to detect early damages on Ni-Ti rotary instruments, for preventing instruments fracture in clinic.

  3. Constraints on Early Triassic carbon cycle dynamics from paired organic and inorganic carbon isotope records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meyer, K. M.; Yu, M.; Lehrmann, D.; van de Schootbrugge, B.; Payne, J. L.

    2013-01-01

    Large δ13C excursions, anomalous carbonate precipitates, low diversity assemblages of small fossils, and evidence for marine euxinia in uppermost Permian and Lower Triassic strata bear more similarity to Neoproterozoic carbonates than to the remainders of the Permian and Triassic systems. Middle Triassic diversification of marine ecosystems coincided with the waning of anoxia and stabilization of the global carbon cycle, suggesting that environment-ecosystem linkages were important to biological recovery. However, the Earth system behavior responsible for these large δ13C excursions remains poorly constrained. Here we present a continuous Early Triassic δ13Corg record from south China and use it to test the extent to which Early Triassic excursions in δ13Ccarb record changes in the δ13C of marine dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). Regression analysis demonstrates a significant positive correlation between δ13Corg and δ13Ccarb across multiple sections that span a paleoenvironmental gradient. Such a correlation is incompatible with diagenetic alteration because no likely mechanism will alter both δ13Corg and δ13Ccarb records in parallel and therefore strongly indicates a primary depositional origin. A simple explanation for this correlation is that a substantial portion of the preserved Corg was derived from the contemporaneous DIC pool, implying that the observed excursions reflect variation in the δ13C of the exogenic carbon reservoir (ocean, atmosphere, biomass). These findings support existing evidence that large δ13C excursions are primary and therefore strengthen the case that large-scale changes to the carbon cycle were mechanistically linked to the low diversity and small size of Early Triassic fossils. Associated sedimentary and biogeochemical phenomena further suggest that similar associations in Neoproterozoic and Cambrian strata may reflect the same underlying controls.

  4. The Moon as a recorder of organic evolution in the early solar system: a lunar regolith analog study.

    PubMed

    Matthewman, Richard; Court, Richard W; Crawford, Ian A; Jones, Adrian P; Joy, Katherine H; Sephton, Mark A

    2015-02-01

    The organic record of Earth older than ∼3.8 Ga has been effectively erased. Some insight is provided to us by meteorites as well as remote and direct observations of asteroids and comets left over from the formation of the Solar System. These primitive objects provide a record of early chemical evolution and a sample of material that has been delivered to Earth's surface throughout the past 4.5 billion years. Yet an effective chronicle of organic evolution on all Solar System objects, including that on planetary surfaces, is more difficult to find. Fortunately, early Earth would not have been the only recipient of organic matter-containing objects in the early Solar System. For example, a recently proposed model suggests the possibility that volatiles, including organic material, remain archived in buried paleoregolith deposits intercalated with lava flows on the Moon. Where asteroids and comets allow the study of processes before planet formation, the lunar record could extend that chronicle to early biological evolution on the planets. In this study, we use selected free and polymeric organic materials to assess the hypothesis that organic matter can survive the effects of heating in the lunar regolith by overlying lava flows. Results indicate that the presence of lunar regolith simulant appears to promote polymerization and, therefore, preservation of organic matter. Once polymerized, the mineral-hosted newly formed organic network is relatively protected from further thermal degradation. Our findings reveal the thermal conditions under which preservation of organic matter on the Moon is viable.

  5. Near-Record Early Snowmelt and Signs of Environmental Change in Barrow, Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stanitski, D.; Cox, C.; Sweeney, C.; Divoky, G.; George, C.; Stone, R.

    2015-12-01

    The 2015 spring transition in Barrow, AK, was notable with the second earliest date of snow melt on record (JD148, May 28) and earliest ice free conditions on a local lagoon (JD178, June 27). The 73-year time series from the NOAA Global Monitoring Division's Barrow Observatory (BRW) has shown a trend toward earlier spring snowmelt, reinforced in 2015. Anomalous early snowmelt was also observed at nearby Cooper Island where a colony of sea birds, the Black Guillemot, nests each year once snow disappears. The appearance of "first egg" is well correlated with the date of snowmelt at BRW (Fig. 1), as is the ice-out date at the Isaktoak Lagoon (ISK). In 2015, the first egg was observed on JD159 (June 8), the earliest in the 40-year record (source: Friends of Cooper Island, http://cooperisland.org/). Each day of advance in the melt date at BRW results in an annual net radiation increase at the surface of about 1%. The documented changes can influence biogeochemical cycles, permafrost temperatures, and potentially the release of stored carbon. By mid July 2015, a 1°C increase in soil temperature at 0.5-m depth was measured compared to prior years; therefore, the active layer is expected to be unusually deep by autumn. The anomalous warmth that prevailed during spring 2015 can be attributed, in part, to atmospheric circulation, influenced by two typhoons in the North Pacific and the onset of El Niño. Warming was likely amplified locally as the early melting of snow increased absorption of solar radiation. Key factors influencing the trend toward earlier spring snowmelt will be presented as well as those contributing to the anomalous 2015 spring at BRW (e.g., winter snowfall, cloud cover, advection, local sea ice extent), and the impact early melt had on the 2015 summer surface radiation budget. Analysis of interactions underlying this anomaly will aid in developing strategies for improving predictability of interannual variability of the melt season and long-term change.

  6. Records of auroral candidates and sunspots in Rikkokushi, chronicles of ancient Japan from early 7th century to 887

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hayakawa, Hisashi; Iwahashi, Kiyomi; Tamazawa, Harufumi; Ebihara, Yusuke; Kawamura, Akito Davis; Isobe, Hiroaki; Namiki, Katsuko; Shibata, Kazunari

    2017-12-01

    We present the results of the surveys on sunspots and auroral candidates in Rikkokushi, Japanese official histories from the early 7th century to 887, to review the solar and auroral activities. In total, we found one sunspot record and 13 auroral candidates in Rikkokushi. We then examine the records of the sunspots and auroral candidates, compare the auroral candidates with the lunar phase to estimate their reliability, and compare the records of the sunspots and auroral candidates with the contemporary total solar irradiance reconstructed from radioisotope data. We also identify the locations of the observational sites to review possible equatorward expansion of the auroral oval. These discussions suggest a major gap in auroral candidates from the late 7th to early 9th centuries, which includes the candidate of the grand minimum reconstructed from the radioisotope data, a similar tendency as the distributions of sunspot records in contemporary China, and a relatively high magnetic latitude of observational sites with a higher potential for observing aurorae more frequently than at present.

  7. Instrumentation & Data Acquisition System (D AS) Engineer

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jackson, Markus Deon

    2015-01-01

    The primary job of an Instrumentation and Data Acquisition System (DAS) Engineer is to properly measure physical phenomenon of hardware using appropriate instrumentation and DAS equipment designed to record data during a specified test of the hardware. A DAS system includes a CPU or processor, a data storage device such as a hard drive, a data communication bus such as Universal Serial Bus, software to control the DAS system processes like calibrations, recording of data and processing of data. It also includes signal conditioning amplifiers, and certain sensors for specified measurements. My internship responsibilities have included testing and adjusting Pacific Instruments Model 9355 signal conditioning amplifiers, writing and performing checkout procedures, writing and performing calibration procedures while learning the basics of instrumentation.

  8. An Eight-Century High-Resolution Paleoclimate Record From the Cariaco Basin: Baseline Variability and the 20th Century

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Black, D. E.; Thunell, R. C.; Kaplan, A.; Tappa, E. J.; Peterson, L. C.

    2007-12-01

    The Cariaco Basin, Venezuela is well-positioned to record a detailed history of surface ocean changes along the southern margin of the Caribbean and the tropical Atlantic. Varved, high deposition rate sediments deposited under anoxic conditions and an abundance of well-preserved microfossils result in one of the few marine records capable of preserving evidence of interannual- to decadal-scale climate variability in the tropical Atlantic. Here we present Mg/Ca and stable oxygen isotope data with sub-decadal resolution derived from sediments deposited over the last 800 years. Mg/Ca measured on the planktic foraminifer Globigerina bulloides from a Cariaco Basin sediment core strongly correlates with spring (March-May) instrumental SSTs between AD 1870 and 1990. The long-term record displays a surprising amount of variability for a tropical location. The temperature swings are not necessarily related to local upwelling variability, but instead represent wider conditions in the Caribbean and western tropical Atlantic. The Mg/Ca-SST record also captures the decadal and multidecadal variability observed in global land and sea surface temperature anomalies, and correlates with Atlantic tropical storm and hurricane frequency over the late-19th and 20th centuries. On average, 20th century temperatures are not the warmest in the entire record, but they do show the largest increase in magnitude and fastest rate of SST change over the last eight hundred years. Stable oxygen isotope data also correlate well with instrumental SSTs, but not over the full instrumental record. Poor correlations with early instrumental SST data suggest a salinity overprint. However, reconstructing δ- water variability using combined Mg/Ca and δ18O data is not straightforward as the δ- water/salinity relationship varies seasonally in the Cariaco Basin. Comparisons with percent titanium data suggest intervals of both local and regional surface salinity changes over the length of the record.

  9. Instrumental learning and cognitive flexibility processes are impaired in children exposed to early life stress.

    PubMed

    Harms, Madeline B; Shannon Bowen, Katherine E; Hanson, Jamie L; Pollak, Seth D

    2017-10-19

    Children who experience severe early life stress show persistent deficits in many aspects of cognitive and social adaptation. Early stress might be associated with these broad changes in functioning because it impairs general learning mechanisms. To explore this possibility, we examined whether individuals who experienced abusive caregiving in childhood had difficulties with instrumental learning and/or cognitive flexibility as adolescents. Fifty-three 14-17-year-old adolescents (31 exposed to high levels of childhood stress, 22 control) completed an fMRI task that required them to first learn associations in the environment and then update those pairings. Adolescents with histories of early life stress eventually learned to pair stimuli with both positive and negative outcomes, but did so more slowly than their peers. Furthermore, these stress-exposed adolescents showed markedly impaired cognitive flexibility; they were less able than their peers to update those pairings when the contingencies changed. These learning problems were reflected in abnormal activity in learning- and attention-related brain circuitry. Both altered patterns of learning and neural activation were associated with the severity of lifetime stress that the adolescents had experienced. Taken together, the results of this experiment suggest that basic learning processes are impaired in adolescents exposed to early life stress. These general learning mechanisms may help explain the emergence of social problems observed in these individuals. © 2017 The Authors. Developmental Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. Strong motion instrumentation of an RC building structure

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Li, H.-J.; Celebi, M.

    2001-01-01

    The strong-motion instrumentation scheme of a reinforced concrete building observed by California Strong-Motion Instrumentation Program (CSMIP) is introduced in this paper. The instrumented building is also described and the recorded responses during 1994 Northridge earthquake are provided.

  11. Mini-Laparoscopy: Instruments and Economics.

    PubMed

    Shadduck, Phillip P; Paquentin, Eduardo Moreno; Carvalho, Gustavo L; Redan, Jay A

    2015-11-01

    Mini-laparoscopy (Mini) was pioneered more than 20 years ago, initially with instruments borrowed from other specialties and subsequently with tools designed specifically for Mini. Early adoption of Mini was inhibited though by the limitations of these first-generation instruments, especially functionality and durability. Newer generation Mini instruments have recently become available with improved effector tips, a choice of shaft diameters and lengths, better shaft insulation and electrosurgery capability, improved shaft strength and rotation, more ergonomic handles, low-friction trocar options, and improved instrument durability. Improvements are also occurring in imaging and advanced energy for Mini. The current status of mini-laparoscopy instruments and economics are presented.

  12. Space-borne survey instrument operations: lessons learned and new concepts for the Euclid NISP instrument

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Valenziano, L.; Gregorio, A.; Butler, R. C.; Amiaux, J.; Bonoli, C.; Bortoletto, F.; Burigana, C.; Corcione, L.; Ealet, A.; Frailis, M.; Jahnke, K.; Ligori, S.; Maiorano, E.; Morgante, G.; Nicastro, L.; Pasian, F.; Riva, M.; Scaramella, R.; Schiavone, F.; Tavagnacco, D.; Toledo-Moreo, R.; Trifoglio, M.; Zacchei, A.; Zerbi, F. M.; Maciaszek, T.

    2012-09-01

    Euclid is the future ESA mission, mainly devoted to Cosmology. Like WMAP and Planck, it is a survey mission, to be launched in 2019 and injected in orbit far away from the Earth, for a nominal lifetime of 7 years. Euclid has two instruments on-board, the Visible Imager (VIS) and the Near- Infrared Spectro-Photometer (NISP). The NISP instrument includes cryogenic mechanisms, active thermal control, high-performance Data Processing Unit and requires periodic in-flight calibrations and instrument parameters monitoring. To fully exploit the capability of the NISP, a careful control of systematic effects is required. From previous experiments, we have built the concept of an integrated instrument development and verification approach, where the scientific, instrument and ground-segment expertise have strong interactions from the early phases of the project. In particular, we discuss the strong integration of test and calibration activities with the Ground Segment, starting from early pre-launch verification activities. We want to report here the expertise acquired by the Euclid team in previous missions, only citing the literature for detailed reference, and indicate how it is applied in the Euclid mission framework.

  13. Accuracy and Efficiency of Recording Pediatric Early Warning Scores Using an Electronic Physiological Surveillance System Compared With Traditional Paper-Based Documentation

    PubMed Central

    Sefton, Gerri; Lane, Steven; Killen, Roger; Black, Stuart; Lyon, Max; Ampah, Pearl; Sproule, Cathryn; Loren-Gosling, Dominic; Richards, Caitlin; Spinty, Jean; Holloway, Colette; Davies, Coral; Wilson, April; Chean, Chung Shen; Carter, Bernie; Carrol, E.D.

    2017-01-01

    Pediatric Early Warning Scores are advocated to assist health professionals to identify early signs of serious illness or deterioration in hospitalized children. Scores are derived from the weighting applied to recorded vital signs and clinical observations reflecting deviation from a predetermined “norm.” Higher aggregate scores trigger an escalation in care aimed at preventing critical deterioration. Process errors made while recording these data, including plotting or calculation errors, have the potential to impede the reliability of the score. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a controlled study of documentation using five clinical vignettes. We measured the accuracy of vital sign recording, score calculation, and time taken to complete documentation using a handheld electronic physiological surveillance system, VitalPAC Pediatric, compared with traditional paper-based charts. We explored the user acceptability of both methods using a Web-based survey. Twenty-three staff participated in the controlled study. The electronic physiological surveillance system improved the accuracy of vital sign recording, 98.5% versus 85.6%, P < .02, Pediatric Early Warning Score calculation, 94.6% versus 55.7%, P < .02, and saved time, 68 versus 98 seconds, compared with paper-based documentation, P < .002. Twenty-nine staff completed the Web-based survey. They perceived that the electronic physiological surveillance system offered safety benefits by reducing human error while providing instant visibility of recorded data to the entire clinical team. PMID:27832032

  14. Accuracy and Efficiency of Recording Pediatric Early Warning Scores Using an Electronic Physiological Surveillance System Compared With Traditional Paper-Based Documentation.

    PubMed

    Sefton, Gerri; Lane, Steven; Killen, Roger; Black, Stuart; Lyon, Max; Ampah, Pearl; Sproule, Cathryn; Loren-Gosling, Dominic; Richards, Caitlin; Spinty, Jean; Holloway, Colette; Davies, Coral; Wilson, April; Chean, Chung Shen; Carter, Bernie; Carrol, E D

    2017-05-01

    Pediatric Early Warning Scores are advocated to assist health professionals to identify early signs of serious illness or deterioration in hospitalized children. Scores are derived from the weighting applied to recorded vital signs and clinical observations reflecting deviation from a predetermined "norm." Higher aggregate scores trigger an escalation in care aimed at preventing critical deterioration. Process errors made while recording these data, including plotting or calculation errors, have the potential to impede the reliability of the score. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a controlled study of documentation using five clinical vignettes. We measured the accuracy of vital sign recording, score calculation, and time taken to complete documentation using a handheld electronic physiological surveillance system, VitalPAC Pediatric, compared with traditional paper-based charts. We explored the user acceptability of both methods using a Web-based survey. Twenty-three staff participated in the controlled study. The electronic physiological surveillance system improved the accuracy of vital sign recording, 98.5% versus 85.6%, P < .02, Pediatric Early Warning Score calculation, 94.6% versus 55.7%, P < .02, and saved time, 68 versus 98 seconds, compared with paper-based documentation, P < .002. Twenty-nine staff completed the Web-based survey. They perceived that the electronic physiological surveillance system offered safety benefits by reducing human error while providing instant visibility of recorded data to the entire clinical team.

  15. The Early Development Instrument as an Evaluation and Improvement Tool for School-Based, Integrated Services for Young Children and Parents: The Toronto First Duty Project

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Corter, Carl; Patel, Sejal; Pelletier, Janette; Bertrand, Jane

    2008-01-01

    Research Findings: Integrated services for young children and families are part of the new policy landscape in early childhood, but there is limited evidence of the effectiveness of these programs and how they develop on the ground. This study examined the use of the Early Development Instrument (EDI) as both a summative program evaluation tool…

  16. The Moon as a Recorder of Organic Evolution in the Early Solar System: A Lunar Regolith Analog Study

    PubMed Central

    Court, Richard W.; Crawford, Ian A.; Jones, Adrian P.; Joy, Katherine H.; Sephton, Mark A.

    2015-01-01

    Abstract The organic record of Earth older than ∼3.8 Ga has been effectively erased. Some insight is provided to us by meteorites as well as remote and direct observations of asteroids and comets left over from the formation of the Solar System. These primitive objects provide a record of early chemical evolution and a sample of material that has been delivered to Earth's surface throughout the past 4.5 billion years. Yet an effective chronicle of organic evolution on all Solar System objects, including that on planetary surfaces, is more difficult to find. Fortunately, early Earth would not have been the only recipient of organic matter–containing objects in the early Solar System. For example, a recently proposed model suggests the possibility that volatiles, including organic material, remain archived in buried paleoregolith deposits intercalated with lava flows on the Moon. Where asteroids and comets allow the study of processes before planet formation, the lunar record could extend that chronicle to early biological evolution on the planets. In this study, we use selected free and polymeric organic materials to assess the hypothesis that organic matter can survive the effects of heating in the lunar regolith by overlying lava flows. Results indicate that the presence of lunar regolith simulant appears to promote polymerization and, therefore, preservation of organic matter. Once polymerized, the mineral-hosted newly formed organic network is relatively protected from further thermal degradation. Our findings reveal the thermal conditions under which preservation of organic matter on the Moon is viable. Key Words: Moon—Regolith—Organic preservation—Biomarkers. Astrobiology 15, 154–168. PMID:25615648

  17. NGST Science Instruments and Process

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mather, John

    1999-01-01

    Possible NGST (Next Generation Space Telescope) instruments have been studied by NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) teams, and their reports were presented at this meeting and published on the NGST web sites. The instrument capabilities will be evaluated by the Ad Hoc Science Working Group and the technical readiness will be reviewed by a technical panel. Recommendations will be made to the NASA Project Scientist, who will present a report for public comment. NASA. ESA, and the CSA will then allocate instrument, responsibilities in early 2000. NASA will choose its scientific investigations with instruments in 2002.

  18. High resolution windows into early Holocene climate: Sr/(Ca) coral records from the Huon Peninsula

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McCulloch, Malcolm; Mortimer, Graham; Esat, Tezer; Xianhua, Li; Pillans, Brad; Chappell, John

    1996-02-01

    High-precision measurements of Sr/Ca ratios are reported for Porites corals from the uplifted Holocene coral terraces at Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. The early Holocene Porites have UTh mass spectrometric ages of 8920 ± 60 yr and 7370 ± 50 yr, and δ 234U(t) values of 145 ± 2, similar to modern seawater. The Sr/Ca coral records provide 5-6 year high resolution (near weekly) time windows into early Holocene sea surface temperatures. Seasonal temperature fluctuations are generally in the range of ± 1°C, with occasional excursions of ± 2°C, which may indicate the more frequent recurrence of very strong ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) events. Mean annual Sr/Ca temperatures of 24.2 ± 1.1°C and 22.9 ± 0.8°C have been obtained, which are ˜ 2-3°C cooler than that exhibited by a modern Porites. These results indicate that, during the early Holocene, the equatorial western Pacific ocean was at least several degrees cooler than present-day temperatures. This is consistent with late glacial coral records from the Caribbean that indicate lower (˜ 6°C) sea surface temperatures for the equatorial oceans. The Huon Peninsula corals also indicate that SSTs were several degrees cooler than those in the Caribbean during the early Holocene. Thus, although the northern hemisphere summer radiation maximum occurred at ˜ 10 ka, there appears to have been a significant lag in the response of the equatorial western Pacific ocean to this warming. Cooler early Holocene sea surface temperatures in the western Pacific may have been due to changing patterns of ocean-atmosphere circulation, resulting from the exposure of large areas of continental shelf in the southeast Asia region, a consequence of lower glacial sea levels. It is likely that ocean temperatures in the Huon Peninsula were influenced by the opening at ˜ 7 ka of the Torres Strait, that now separates New Guinea from the Australian mainland.

  19. Geoazur's contribution in instrumentation to monitor seismic activity of the Earth

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yates, B.; Hello, Y.; Anglade, A.; Desprez, O.; Ogé, A.; Charvis, P.; Deschamps, A.; Galve, A.; Nolet, G.; Sukhovich, A.

    2011-12-01

    Seismic activity in the earth is mainly located near the tectonic plate boundaries, in the deep ocean (expansion centers) or near their margins (subduction zones). Travel times and waveforms of recorded seismograms can be used to reconstruct the three-dimensional wave speed distribution in the earth with seismic tomography or to image specific boundaries in the deep earth. Because of the lack of permanent sea-bottom seismometers these observation are conducted over short period of time using portable ocean bottom seismometers. Geaozur has a long experience and strong skills in designing and deploying Ocean Bottom Seismometers all over the world. We have developed two types of ocean bottom instruments. The "Hippocampe" for long deployment and "Lady bug" for aftershock monitoring or for fast overlaps during wide angle experiments. Early warning systems for tsunamis and earthquakes have been developed in recent years but these need real time data transmission and direct control of the instrument. We have developed a permanent real time Broad Band instrument installed in the Mediterranean Sea and connected to the Antares Neutrinos telescope. This instrument offers all the advantages of a very heavy and costly installation, such as the ability to do real-time seismology on the seafloor. Such real-time seafloor monitoring is especially important for seismic hazard. Major earthquakes cause human and economic losses directly related to the strong motion of the ground or by induced phenomena such as tsunamis and landslides. Fiber optical cables provide a high-capacity lightweight alternative to traditional copper cables. Three-component sensors analyze permanently the noise signal and detect the events to record. Major events can force the network to transmit data with almost zero lag time. The optical link also allows us to retrieve events at a later date. However, OBSs alone can never provide the density and long term, homogeneous data coverage needed for local and global

  20. Photodynamic therapy of early cancer in the upper aerodigestive tract and bronchi: instrumentation and clinical results

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wagnières, G.

    1990-01-01

    A complete instrumentation has been developed for photodynamic therapy (PDT) and combined PDT- hyperthermia in the upper aerodigestive tract and the bronchi. These instruments consist of several light distributors which permit optimal light dosage to "superficial" tumors, as well as an injector for laser beams into an optical fiber and a fiberoptic coupler for cw laser beam powers at least 100 Watts. PDT is carried out with HpD and Photofrin II at 630 nm, whereas occasional simultaneous hyperthermia is at 1.06 microns. PDT of 41 cases of "early" squamous cell carcinoma is reported with follow-up between 5 and 62 months. In the oesophagus and bronchi the results are good for cancers staged in situ or microinvasive at endoscopy (2 recurrences for 23 lesions treated). For more advanced cancers (submucosal in the oesopha- gus or invading the bronchial cartilage) the results are less satisfactory with 3 recurrences for 8 lesions treated. In the bronchi (1 case) and the oesophagus (1 case) the largest disease - free survival is now more than 5 years. We encountered 6 complications (3 cicatrical stenosis, 2 fistulae, 1 severe sunburn), most of them resulting from the lack of selectivity of PDT with these porphyrin mixtures at the applied conditions. These experiments show that PDT is efficient at destroying early squamous cell carcinomas in the pharynx, oesophagus and bronchi. Tumour selectivity of HpD and photofrin II is poor in the aerodigestive tract lined with squamous cell epithelium. The future lies in the synthesis of a more selective efficient photosensitizer.

  1. 30 CFR 77.314 - Automatic temperature control instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Thermal Dryers § 77.314 Automatic temperature control instruments. (a) Automatic temperature control instruments for thermal dryer system shall be of the recording type. (b) Automatic... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Automatic temperature control instruments. 77...

  2. 30 CFR 77.314 - Automatic temperature control instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Thermal Dryers § 77.314 Automatic temperature control instruments. (a) Automatic temperature control instruments for thermal dryer system shall be of the recording type. (b) Automatic... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Automatic temperature control instruments. 77...

  3. 30 CFR 77.314 - Automatic temperature control instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Automatic temperature control instruments. 77... UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Thermal Dryers § 77.314 Automatic temperature control instruments. (a) Automatic temperature control instruments for thermal dryer system shall be of the recording type. (b) Automatic...

  4. 30 CFR 77.314 - Automatic temperature control instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Automatic temperature control instruments. 77... UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Thermal Dryers § 77.314 Automatic temperature control instruments. (a) Automatic temperature control instruments for thermal dryer system shall be of the recording type. (b) Automatic...

  5. 30 CFR 77.314 - Automatic temperature control instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Automatic temperature control instruments. 77... UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Thermal Dryers § 77.314 Automatic temperature control instruments. (a) Automatic temperature control instruments for thermal dryer system shall be of the recording type. (b) Automatic...

  6. Instrumentation for detailed bridge-scour measurements

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Landers, Mark N.; Mueller, David S.; Trent, Roy E.; ,

    1993-01-01

    A portable instrumentation system is being developed to obtain channel bathymetry during floods for detailed bridge-scour measurements. Portable scour measuring systems have four components: sounding instrument, horizontal positioning instrument, deployment mechanisms, and data storage device. The sounding instrument will be a digital fathometer. Horizontal position will be measured using a range-azimuth based hydrographic survey system. The deployment mechanism designed for this system is a remote-controlled boat using a small waterplane area, twin-hull design. An on-board computer and radio will monitor the vessel instrumentation, record measured data, and telemeter data to shore.

  7. The Gem Infrasound Logger and Custom-Built Instrumentation

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Anderson, Jacob F.; Johnson, Jeffrey B.; Bowman, Daniel C.

    Here, we designed, built, and recorded data with a custom infrasound logger (referred to as the Gem) that is inexpensive, portable, and easy to use. We also describe its design process, qualities, and applications in this article. Field instrumentation is a key element of geophysical data collection, and the quantity and quality of data that can be recorded is determined largely by the characteristics of the instruments used. Geophysicists tend to rely on commercially available instruments, which suffice for many important types of fieldwork. However, commercial instrumentation can fall short in certain roles, which motivates the development of custom sensorsmore » and data loggers. Particularly, we found existing data loggers to be expensive and inconvenient for infrasound campaigns, and developed the Gem infrasound logger in response. In this article, we discuss development of this infrasound logger and the various uses found for it, including projects on volcanoes, high-altitude balloons, and rivers. Further, we demonstrate that when needed, scientists can feasibly design and build their own specialized instruments, and that doing so can enable them to record more and better data at a lower cost.« less

  8. The Gem Infrasound Logger and Custom-Built Instrumentation

    DOE PAGES

    Anderson, Jacob F.; Johnson, Jeffrey B.; Bowman, Daniel C.; ...

    2017-11-22

    Here, we designed, built, and recorded data with a custom infrasound logger (referred to as the Gem) that is inexpensive, portable, and easy to use. We also describe its design process, qualities, and applications in this article. Field instrumentation is a key element of geophysical data collection, and the quantity and quality of data that can be recorded is determined largely by the characteristics of the instruments used. Geophysicists tend to rely on commercially available instruments, which suffice for many important types of fieldwork. However, commercial instrumentation can fall short in certain roles, which motivates the development of custom sensorsmore » and data loggers. Particularly, we found existing data loggers to be expensive and inconvenient for infrasound campaigns, and developed the Gem infrasound logger in response. In this article, we discuss development of this infrasound logger and the various uses found for it, including projects on volcanoes, high-altitude balloons, and rivers. Further, we demonstrate that when needed, scientists can feasibly design and build their own specialized instruments, and that doing so can enable them to record more and better data at a lower cost.« less

  9. Miniature, Single Channel, Memory-Based, High-G Acceleration Recorder (Millipen)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Rohwer, Tedd A.

    1999-06-02

    The Instrumentation and Telemetry Departments at Sandia National Laboratories have been instrumenting earth penetrators for over thirty years. Recorded acceleration data is used to quantify penetrator performance. Penetrator testing has become more difficult as desired impact velocities have increased. This results in the need for small-scale test vehicles and miniature instrumentation. A miniature recorder will allow penetrator diameters to significantly decrease, opening the window of testable parameters. Full-scale test vehicles will also benefit from miniature recorders by using a less intrusive system to instrument internal arming, fusing, and firing components. This single channel concept is the latest design in anmore » ongoing effort to miniaturize the size and reduce the power requirement of acceleration instrumentation. A micro-controller/memory based system provides the data acquisition, signal conditioning, power regulation, and data storage. This architecture allows the recorder, including both sensor and electronics, to occupy a volume of less than 1.5 cubic inches, draw less than 200mW of power, and record 15kHz data up to 40,000 gs. This paper will describe the development and operation of this miniature acceleration recorder.« less

  10. Early onset of industrial-era warming across the oceans and continents.

    PubMed

    Abram, Nerilie J; McGregor, Helen V; Tierney, Jessica E; Evans, Michael N; McKay, Nicholas P; Kaufman, Darrell S

    2016-08-25

    The evolution of industrial-era warming across the continents and oceans provides a context for future climate change and is important for determining climate sensitivity and the processes that control regional warming. Here we use post-ad 1500 palaeoclimate records to show that sustained industrial-era warming of the tropical oceans first developed during the mid-nineteenth century and was nearly synchronous with Northern Hemisphere continental warming. The early onset of sustained, significant warming in palaeoclimate records and model simulations suggests that greenhouse forcing of industrial-era warming commenced as early as the mid-nineteenth century and included an enhanced equatorial ocean response mechanism. The development of Southern Hemisphere warming is delayed in reconstructions, but this apparent delay is not reproduced in climate simulations. Our findings imply that instrumental records are too short to comprehensively assess anthropogenic climate change and that, in some regions, about 180 years of industrial-era warming has already caused surface temperatures to emerge above pre-industrial values, even when taking natural variability into account.

  11. Instrumental relating and treatment decision making among older women with early-stage breast cancer.

    PubMed

    Pieters, Huibrie C; Heilemann, Marysue V; Maliski, Sally; Dornig, Katrina; Mentes, Jan

    2012-01-01

    To understand how women aged 70 years and older who had recently undergone treatment for early-stage breast cancer experienced treatment decision making. Qualitative, descriptive study guided by grounded theory. PARTICIPANTS' houses and apartments in southern California. 18 women, aged 70-94 years, who completed treatment for primary, early-stage breast cancer 3-15 months prior (X = 8.5 months). Twenty-eight semistructured personal interviews that lasted, on average, 104 minutes. Data were collected and analyzed using constructivist grounded theory. Gero-oncology perspective of treatment decision making. A major finding was that the power of relating spontaneously was used as a vehicle to connect with others. That process, which the authors called "instrumental relating," was grounded in a foundation of mutual caring for themselves and others. Within that mutual caring, the women participated in three ways of relating to share in treatment decision making: obtaining information, interpreting healthcare providers, and determining the trustworthiness of their providers. Those ways of relating were effortlessly and simultaneously employed. The women used their expert abilities of relating to get the factual and emotional information that they needed. That information supported what the women perceived to be decisions that were shared and effective. The findings are the first evidence of the importance of relating as a key factor in decision making from the personal perspective of older women with early-stage breast cancer. This work serves as a springboard for future clinical interventions and research opportunities to individualize communication and enhance effective decision making for older patients who wish to participate in their cancer care.

  12. Mars Miniature Science Instruments

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kim, Soon Sam; Hayati, Samad; Lavery, David; McBrid, Karen

    2006-01-01

    For robotic Mars missions, all the science information is gathered through on-board miniature instruments that have been developed through many years of R&D. Compared to laboratory counterparts, the rover instruments require miniaturization, such as low mass (1-2 kg), low power (> 10 W) and compact (1-2 liter), yet with comparable sensitivity. Since early 1990's, NASA recognized the need for the miniature instruments and launched several instrument R&D programs, e.g., PIDDP (Planetary Instrument Definition and Development). However, until 1998, most of the instrument R&D programs supported only up to a breadboard level (TRL 3, 4) and there is a need to carry such instruments to flight qualifiable status (TU 5, 6) to respond to flight AOs (Announcement of Opportunity). Most of flight AOs have only limited time and financial resources, and can not afford such instrument development processes. To bridge the gap between instrument R&D programs and the flight instrument needs, NASA's Mars Technology Program (MTP) created advanced instrumentation program, Mars Instrument Development Project (MIDP). MIDP candidate instruments are selected through NASA Research Announcement (NRA) process [l]. For example, MIDP 161998-2000) selected and developed 10 instruments, MIDP II (2003-2005) 16 instruments, and MIDP III (2004-2006) II instruments.Working with PIs, JPL has been managing the MIDP tasks since September 1998. All the instruments being developed under MIDP have been selected through a highly competitive NRA process, and employ state-of-the-art technology. So far, four MIDP funded instruments have been selected by two Mars missions (these instruments have further been discussed in this paper).

  13. Generating a Long-Term Land Data Record from the AVHRR and MODIS Instruments

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pedelty, Jeffrey; Devadiga, Sadashiva; Masuoka, Edward; Brown, Molly; Pinzon, Jorge; Tucker, Compton; Vermote, Eric; Prince, Stephen; Nagol, Jyotheshwar; Justice, Christopher; hide

    2007-01-01

    The goal of NASA's Land Long Term Iiata Record (LTDR) project is to produce a consistent long term data set from the AVHRR and MODIS instruments for land climate studies. The project will create daily surface reflectance and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) products at a resolution of 0.05 deg., which is identical to the Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) used for MODIS products from EOS Terra and Aqua. Higher order products such as burned area, land surface temperature, albedo, bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) correction, leaf area index (LAI), and fraction of photosyntheticalIy active radiation absorbed by vegetation (fPAR), will be created. The LTDR project will reprocess Global Area Coverage (GAC) data from AVHRR sensors onboard NOAA satellites by applying the preprocessing improvements identified in the AVHRR Pathfinder Il project and atmospheric and BRDF corrections used in MODIS processing. The preprocessing improvements include radiometric in-flight vicarious calibration for the visible and near infrared channels and inverse navigation to relate an Earth location to each sensor instantaneous field of view (IFOV). Atmospheric corrections for Rayleigh scattering, ozone, and water vapor are undertaken, with aerosol correction being implemented. The LTDR also produces a surface reflectance product for channel 3 (3.75 micrometers). Quality assessment (QA) is an integral part of the LTDR production system, which is monitoring temporal trands in the AVHRR products using time-series approaches developed for MODIS land product quality assessment. The land surface reflectance products have been evaluated at AERONET sites. The AVHRR data record from LTDR is also being compared to products from the PAL (Pathfinder AVHRR Land) and GIMMS (Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies) systems to assess the relative merits of this reprocessing vis-a-vis these existing data products. The LTDR products and associated information can be found at

  14. Recording dew gage

    Treesearch

    Merle G. Lloyd

    1963-01-01

    The instrument developed by Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station to record duration and amount of dew (fig. 1) consists of an expanded polystyrene block mounted on a balance, a clock-driven drum, and a pen geared from the balance to the drum. Changes in weight of the expanded polystyrene block as dew or rain is deposited are recorded on a chart mounted on...

  15. Spoken Records. Third Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roach, Helen

    Surveying 75 years of accomplishment in the field of spoken recording, this reference work critically evaluates commercially available recordings selected for excellence of execution, literary or historical merit, interest, and entertainment value. Some types of spoken records included are early recording, documentaries, lectures, interviews,…

  16. Younger Dryas to Early Holocene paleoclimate in Cantabria (N Spain): Constraints from speleothem Mg, annual fluorescence banding and stable isotope records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rossi, Carlos; Bajo, Petra; Lozano, Rafael P.; Hellstrom, John

    2018-07-01

    The Younger Dryas (YD) stadial represents the most abrupt climate change of the Earth's recent history. Thus, understanding its causes and different local responses is relevant for Quaternary paleoclimatology. We present a speleothem high-resolution proxy record of the Lateglacial to Early Holocene paleoclimate of the Cantabrian Cordillera (N Spain), a strategic location to evaluate the influence of North Atlantic events such as the YD on South-Western Europe. Fluorescence lamination, growth-rate, stable-isotope, and [Mg] records from stalagmite SIR-1 were dated using an age-depth model constrained by U-Th dates and annual-lamina counting. The YD is recorded as a prominent positive δ13C excursion whose chronology (12.95 ± 0.14 to 11.62 ± 0.16 ka) and shape closely agree with the GS-1 stadial as defined in Greenland ice, supporting the event synchronicity in both areas. A colder and drier YD climate limited soil productivity and dripwater availability, leading to higher δ13C and [Mg], reduced growth rate, and virtually absent fluorescence lamination. The early YD record (until ∼12.5 ka) reflects increasing aridity, whereas the late YD (from ∼12.2 ka on) shows the opposite trend. At the YD boundaries, temperature changes influenced the [Mg] record by modifying the Mg partition into calcite. However, this effect was superseded by major changes in dripwater Mg/Ca linked to rainfall variations. During the Early Holocene, the Arnero Sierra was forested and had a relatively warm and humid seasonal climate, indicated in SIR-1 by higher growth rates, lower δ13C and [Mg], and well-developed fluorescent lamination. Similar to other high-resolution stalagmitic records of the Cordillera, from ∼8.5 to 8.0 ka SIR-1 reflects a temporary trend of increasing aridity.

  17. An Early Holocene Record of Cimex (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) From Western North America.

    PubMed

    Adams, Martin E; Jenkins, Dennis L

    2017-07-01

    The subfossil remains of 14 cimicids (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) were recovered during archaeological investigations of the Paisley Five Mile Point Cave site (35LK3400), an exceptionally well-dated (n = 229 radiocarbon dates) late Pleistocene-early Holocene rock shelter site in south-central Oregon. Nine of the specimens have been assigned to three modern species of Nearctic Cimicidae-Cimex antennatus Usinger & Ueshima, Cimex latipennis Usinger & Ueshima, and Cimex pilosellus (Horváth)-whereas the remaining five individuals were too fragmentary to positively identify. The chronology of the insect assemblage puts one specimen at circa 5,100 calibrated years before present (cal. yr BP), and the remaining 13 range in age from 9,400 to almost 11,000 cal. yr BP. Although fossil and subfossil cimicid remains have been recovered at other archaeological sites, the fossil record for bed bugs is largely undocumented. The Paisley Caves specimens thus far represent the oldest remains of the genus in probable contact with humans on record. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  18. [The Basel Screening Instrument for Psychosis (BSIP): development, structure, reliability and validity].

    PubMed

    Riecher-Rössler, A; Aston, J; Ventura, J; Merlo, M; Borgwardt, S; Gschwandtner, U; Stieglitz, R-D

    2008-04-01

    Early detection of psychosis is of growing clinical importance. So far there is, however, no screening instrument for detecting individuals with beginning psychosis in the atypical early stages of the disease with sufficient validity. We have therefore developed the Basel Screening Instrument for Psychosis (BSIP) and tested its feasibility, interrater-reliability and validity. Aim of this paper is to describe the development and structure of the instrument, as well as to report the results of the studies on reliability and validity. The instrument was developed based on a comprehensive search of literature on the most important risk factors and early signs of schizophrenic psychoses. The interraterreliability study was conducted on 24 psychiatric cases. Validity was tested based on 206 individuals referred to our early detection clinic from 3/1/2000 until 2/28/2003. We identified seven categories of relevance for early detection of psychosis and used them to construct a semistructured interview. Interrater-reliability for high risk individuals was high (Kappa .87). Predictive validity was comparable to other, more comprehensive instruments: 16 (32 %) of 50 individuals classified as being at risk for psychosis by the BSIP have in fact developed frank psychosis within an follow-up period of two to five years. The BSIP is the first screening instrument for the early detection of psychosis which has been validated based on transition to psychosis. The BSIP is easy to use by experienced psychiatrists and has a very good interrater-reliability and predictive validity.

  19. High-precision Temporal Calibration of the Early Cambrian Biotic and Paleoenvironmental Records: New U-Pb Geochronology from Eastern Yunnan, China.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsukui, K.; Ramezani, J.; Zhu, M.; Maloof, A. C.; Porter, S.; Moore, J.; Eddy, M. P.; Bowring, S. A.

    2016-12-01

    The Terreneuvian Epoch of the early Cambrian marks the global diversification of early animal life, as well as major perturbations to Earth's geochemical cycles. Understanding possible links between biotic evolution (e.g., emergence of skeletal animals) and the recognized changes in ocean chemistry requires a high fidelity chronostratigraphic framework for the early Cambrian records. One such chronostratigraphy was built by mapping local early Cambrian carbon isotope profiles onto a U-Pb age-calibrated marine carbonate δ13C record from Morocco, assuming global synchroneity of the observed δ13C trends. Here we present a direct test of this assumption using high-precision U-Pb geochronology (CA-ID-TIMS method) of ash beds from key lower Cambrian horizons throughout eastern Yunnan Province in South China. Preliminary age results from ash beds near the top of the Dengying Formation (Fm.) and the basal Daibu Member (Mb.) of the Zhujiaqing Fm. in multiple sections place the basal Cambrian negative δ13C excursion (BACE) in China at ca. 540.7-539.6 Ma. Our new U-Pb dates from the overlying Zhongyicun Mb. at the Meishucun and nearby sections improve significantly upon previous in situ U-Pb geochronology and constrain the onset of high-frequency δ13C oscillations in some sections to between 533.5 and 532.9 Ma. Most importantly, a new U-Pb date of ca. 526 Ma from the basal Shiyantou Fm. in the Xiaotan Section marks the termination of a >1 million year-long period of consistently positive (≥+4‰) δ13C values (ZHUCE) that is characteristic of many early Cambrian records worldwide. This date establishes a robust time correlation between ZHUCE in South China and its equivalent 5p excursion in Morocco and Siberia, and constrains the timing and duration of the largest positive δ13C anomalies in the Cambrian.

  20. Prototype PBO Instrumentation of CALIPSO Project Captures World-Record Lava Dome Collapse on Montserrat Volcano

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mattioli, Glen S.; Young, Simon R.; Voight, Barry; Sparks, R. Steven J.; Shalev, Eylon; Selwyn, Sacks; Malin, Peter; Linde, Alan; Johnston, William; Hadayat, Dannie; Elsworth, Derek; Dunkley, Peter; Herd, Richard; Neuberg, Jurgen; Norton, Gillian; Widiwijayanti, Christina

    2004-08-01

    This article is an update on the status of an innovative new project designed to enhance generally our understanding of andesitic volcano eruption dynamics and, specifically, the monitoring and scientific infrastructure at the active Soufriàre Hills Volcano (SHV), Montserrat. The project has been designated as the Caribbean Andesite Lava Island Precision Seismo-geodetic Observatory, known as CALIPSO. Its purpose is to investigate the dynamics of the entire SHV magmatic system using an integrated array of specialized instruments in four strategically located ~200-m-deep boreholes in concert with several shallower holes and surface sites. The project is unique, as it represents the first, and only, such borehole volcano-monitoring array deployed at an andesitic stratovolcano. CALIPSO may be considered as a prototype for planned Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) installations at several volcanic targets in the western United States. Scientific objectives of the EarthScope Integrated Science Plan (ES-ISP) relevant to magmatic systems are to investigate (1) melt generation in the mantle; (2) melt migration from the mantle to and through the crust to the surface; (3) melt residence times at various deep reservoirs; and (4) delineation of characteristic patterns of surface deformation and seismicity, which may prove useful in eruption forecasting. The CALIPSO project shares most of the same scientific goals and has, moreover, the benefit of a rich existing geophysical context in its deployment at SHV. Our experience during instrument design, planning, drilling and installation, systems integration, and early operation of CALIPSO, moreover, may prove valuable to EarthScope and PBO managers.

  1. Modular nonvolatile solid state recorder (MONSSTR) update

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Klang, Mark R.; Small, Martin B.; Beams, Tom

    2001-12-01

    Solid state recorders have begun replacing traditional tape recorders in fulfilling the requirement to record images on airborne platforms. With the advances in electro-optical, IR, SAR, Multi and Hyper-spectral sensors and video recording requirements, solid state recorders have become the recorder of choice. Solid state recorders provide the additional storage, higher sustained bandwidth, less power, less weight and smaller footprint to meet the current and future recording requirements. CALCULEX, Inc., manufactures a non-volatile flash memory solid state recorder called the MONSSTR (Modular Non-volatile Solid State Recorder). MONSSTR is being used to record images from many different digital sensors on high performance aircraft such as the RF- 4, F-16 and the Royal Air Force Tornado. MONSSTR, with its internal multiplexer, is also used to record instrumentation data. This includes multiple streams of PCM and multiple channels of 1553 data. Instrumentation data is being recorded by MONSSTR systems in a range of platforms including F-22, F-15, F-16, Comanche Helicopter and US Navy torpedos. MONSSTR can also be used as a cockpit video recorder. This paper will provide an update of the MONSSTR.

  2. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI): Instrument Overview and Early On-Orbit Performance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Draper, David W.; Newell, David A.; Wentz, Frank J.; Krimchansky, Sergey; Jackson, Gail

    2015-01-01

    The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international satellite mission that uses measurements from an advanced radar/radiometer system on a core observatory as reference standards to unify and advance precipitation estimates made by a constellation of research and operational microwave sensors. The GPM core observatory was launched on February 27, 2014 at 18:37 UT in a 65? inclination nonsun-synchronous orbit. GPM focuses on precipitation as a key component of the Earth's water and energy cycle, and has the capability to provide near-real-time observations for tracking severe weather events, monitoring freshwater resources, and other societal applications. The GPM microwave imager (GMI) on the core observatory provides the direct link to the constellation radiometer sensors, which fly mainly in polar orbits. The GMI sensitivity, accuracy, and stability play a crucial role in unifying the measurements from the GPM constellation of satellites. The instrument has exhibited highly stable operations through the duration of the calibration/validation period. This paper provides an overview of the GMI instrument and a report of early on-orbit commissioning activities. It discusses the on-orbit radiometric sensitivity, absolute calibration accuracy, and stability for each radiometric channel. Index Terms-Calibration accuracy, passive microwave remote sensing, radiometric sensitivity.

  3. The 1997 HST Calibration Workshop with a New Generation of Instruments

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Casertano, S. (Editor); Jedrzejewski, R. (Editor); Keyes, T. (Editor); Stevens, M. (Editor)

    1997-01-01

    The Second Servicing mission in early 1997 has brought major changes to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Two of the original instruments, Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) and Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS), were taken out, and replaced by completely new instruments, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Near Infrared Camera Multi-Object Spectrograph (NICMOS). Two new types of detectors were installed, and for the first time, HST gained infrared capabilities. A new Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) was installed, with an alignment mechanism that could improve substantially both guiding and astrometric capabilities. With all these changes come new challenges. The characterization of the new instruments has required a major effort, both by their respective Investigation Definition Teams and at the Space Telescope Science Institute. All necessary final calibrations for the retired spectrographs needed to be carried out, and their properties definitively characterized. At the same time, work has continued to improve our understanding of the instruments that have remained on board. The results of these activities were discussed in the 1997 HST (Hubble Space Telescope) Calibration Workshop. The main focus of the Workshop was to provide users with the tools and the understanding they need to use HST's instruments and archival data to the best of their possibilities. This book contains the written record of the Workshop. As such, it should provide a valuable tool to all interested in using existing HST data or in proposing for new observations.

  4. Pine nut use in the Early Holocene and beyond: The danger cave archaeobotanical record

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Rhode, D.; Madsen, D.B.

    1998-01-01

    Nuts of limber pine (Pinus flexilis) from Early Holocene strata in Danger Cave, Utah, are distinguishable by seed-coat sculpturing from pine nuts of single-needled pinyon (Pinus monophylla), which occur in strata dating <7000 years BP. Owls and other taphonomic agents may deposit pine nuts in archaeological sites, but the morphology of the pine nuts in Danger Cave strongly indicate they were deposited by human foragers who brought small quantities with them for food for at least the last 7500 years. Large-scale transport of pine nuts to Danger Cave from distant hinterlands is unlikely, however. The seamless transition from limber pine to pinyon pine nuts in the Danger Cave record suggests that foragers who had utilized limber pine as a food resource easily switched to using pinyon pine nuts when pinyon pine migrated into the region at the close of the Early Holocene.

  5. Instrumentation at Paranal Observatory: maintaining the instrument suite of five large telescopes and its interferometer alive

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gillet, Gordon; Alvarez, José Luis; Beltrán, Juan; Bourget, Pierre; Castillo, Roberto; Diaz, Álvaro; Haddad, Nicolás; Leiva, Alfredo; Mardones, Pedro; O'Neal, Jared; Ribes, Mauricio; Riquelme, Miguel; Robert, Pascal; Rojas, Chester; Valenzuela, Javier

    2010-07-01

    This presentation provides interesting miscellaneous information regarding the instrumentation activities at Paranal Observatory. It introduces the suite of 23 instruments and auxiliary systems that are under the responsibility of the Paranal Instrumentation group, information on the type of instruments, their usage and downtime statistics. The data is based on comprehensive data recorded in the Paranal Night Log System and the Paranal Problem Reporting System whose principles are explained as well. The work organization of the 15 team members around the high number of instruments is laid out, which includes: - Maintaining older instruments with obsolete components - Receiving new instruments and supporting their integration and commissioning - Contributing to future instruments in their developing phase. The assignments of the Instrumentation staff to the actual instruments as well as auxiliary equipment (Laser Guide Star Facility, Mask Manufacturing Unit, Cloud Observation Tool) are explained with respect to responsibility and scheduling issues. The essential activities regarding hardware & software are presented, as well as the technical and organizational developments within the group towards its present and future challenges.

  6. How to make a wind-movement recorder from any spare drum-type recorder

    Treesearch

    Irvin C. Reigner

    1964-01-01

    The automatic recording of wind movement is sometimes essential to experiments in forestry and watershed-management research. Wind-movement data are often obtained by periodic reading of the anemometer dial, but occasionally data are required for variable intervals and at times when observations cannot be made easily. Instruments designed to record wind movement are...

  7. A Demonstration of an Improved Filtering Technique for Analyzing Climate Records via Comparisons of Satellite MSU/AMSU Instrument Temperature Products from Three Research Groups

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Swanson, R. E.

    2017-12-01

    Climate data records typically exhibit considerable variation over short time scales both from natural variability and from instrumentation issues. The use of linear least squares regression can provide overall trend information from noisy data, however assessing intermediate time periods can also provide useful information unavailable from basic trend calculations. Extracting the short term information in these data for assessing changes to climate or for comparison of data series from different sources requires the application of filters to separate short period variations from longer period trends. A common method used to smooth data is the moving average, which is a simple digital filter that can distort the resulting series due to the aliasing of the sampling period into the output series. We utilized Hamming filters to compare MSU/AMSU satellite time series developed by three research groups (UAH, RSS and NOAA STAR), the results published in January 2017 [http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JTECH-D-16-0121.1]. Since the last release date (July 2016) for the data analyzed in that paper, some of these groups have updated their analytical procedures and additional months of data are available to extend the series. An updated analysis of these data using the latest data releases available from each group is to be presented. Improved graphics will be employed to provide a clearer visualization of the differences between each group's results. As in the previous paper, the greatest difference between the UAH TMT series and those from the RSS and NOAA data appears during the early period of data from the MSU instruments before about 2003, as shown in the attached figure, and preliminary results indicate this pattern continues. Also to be presented are other findings regarding seasonal changes which were not included in the previous study.

  8. The Ancona Early Warning Centre, Instrumentation and Continuous Monitoring of the Landslide

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cardellini, S.

    2013-12-01

    The 'Grande frana di Ancona' is an deep-seated landslide reactivated in 1982 after a long period of precipitation. The landslide involves clay and silty clay layers (Pliocene-Pleistocene), fractured with different OCR parameter, alternated with thin sand levels. Overlapped sliding zones are active (maximum depth: 100-120 m, maximum depth 1982 event is 75 m bgl). All the investigations aimed at the consolidation preliminary design in 2000, but the plan concluded that a final consolidation was impossible. Ancona Administration decided then to 'live with the landslide' reducing nevertheless the risk for the people living there. In 2002 a regional law was specifically issued for the people living in the landslide, to give Ancona Administration the responsibility of creating an Early Warning System and an Emergency Plan for people. It's active a surface monitoring system based on 7 total stations and 33 geodetic GPS integrated by a subsurface in place geotechnical system based on 3 DMS multiparametric columns installed down to 95 m depth. Surface Monitoring system The combination of the different instruments: GPS, Automatic Robotic Stations and the clinometric sensors allows us to monitor in the 3D (3D, X, Y, Z) a great number of points previously identified, to keep them under supervision with different measuring technical and from different control positions. The adoption of the geodetic GPS at dual frequency assure an high quality of the GPS measures, and a greater versatility at all the system. The measuring cycle is set up on 30 minutes, but in emergency or after a long rainy period, the system can operate on every points of the dual frequency GPS net also in Real Time RTK, and with the 7 Automatic Robotic Stations. Geotechnical monitoring (DMS) The in place Geotechnical Monitoring System DMS (patents and trade mark CSG srl -Italy) was installed in February 2009. It is made by n°3 Modular Dynamic System columns positioned inside borehole 100 m depth. DMS columns

  9. Big data from electronic health records for early and late translational cardiovascular research: challenges and potential.

    PubMed

    Hemingway, Harry; Asselbergs, Folkert W; Danesh, John; Dobson, Richard; Maniadakis, Nikolaos; Maggioni, Aldo; van Thiel, Ghislaine J M; Cronin, Maureen; Brobert, Gunnar; Vardas, Panos; Anker, Stefan D; Grobbee, Diederick E; Denaxas, Spiros

    2018-04-21

    Cohorts of millions of people's health records, whole genome sequencing, imaging, sensor, societal and publicly available data present a rapidly expanding digital trace of health. We aimed to critically review, for the first time, the challenges and potential of big data across early and late stages of translational cardiovascular disease research. We sought exemplars based on literature reviews and expertise across the BigData@Heart Consortium. We identified formidable challenges including: data quality, knowing what data exist, the legal and ethical framework for their use, data sharing, building and maintaining public trust, developing standards for defining disease, developing tools for scalable, replicable science and equipping the clinical and scientific work force with new inter-disciplinary skills. Opportunities claimed for big health record data include: richer profiles of health and disease from birth to death and from the molecular to the societal scale; accelerated understanding of disease causation and progression, discovery of new mechanisms and treatment-relevant disease sub-phenotypes, understanding health and diseases in whole populations and whole health systems and returning actionable feedback loops to improve (and potentially disrupt) existing models of research and care, with greater efficiency. In early translational research we identified exemplars including: discovery of fundamental biological processes e.g. linking exome sequences to lifelong electronic health records (EHR) (e.g. human knockout experiments); drug development: genomic approaches to drug target validation; precision medicine: e.g. DNA integrated into hospital EHR for pre-emptive pharmacogenomics. In late translational research we identified exemplars including: learning health systems with outcome trials integrated into clinical care; citizen driven health with 24/7 multi-parameter patient monitoring to improve outcomes and population-based linkages of multiple EHR sources

  10. Cyclic Fatigue Resistance of Mtwo Rotary Instruments with two Different Instrumentation Techniques.

    PubMed

    de Menezes, Sílvio Emanuel Acioly Conrado; Machado Batista, Shirley; Brandão de Magalhães, Diego Felipe; Diana Santana, de Albuquerque; de Melo Monteiro, Gabriela Queiroz

    2018-01-01

    The objective of this in vitro study was to evaluate whether cervical preparation with Mtwo files in a crown-down technique influences instrumentation time and the cyclic fatigue resistance of these instruments. Two instrumentation techniques were evaluated (manufacturer and crown-down). Each group consisted of 10 kits containing four Mtwo instruments (10/0.04, 15/0.05, 20/0.06, and 25/0.06), which were used to prepare three standard simulated curved resin canals. The mean instrumentation time and the corresponding number of cycles for each instrumentation (NCI) were recorded. The instruments were rotated at a constant speed of 300 rpm in a stainless-steel canal (diameter of 1.5 mm) at a 90 ° angle of curvature and 5-mm radius. The center of the curvature was 5 mm from the tip of the instrument. The cyclic fatigue resistance of the files was determined by counting the number of cycles to failure (NCF). Data were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney test. The mean instrumentation time and NCI of files 10/0.04 and 15/0.05 were significantly lower ( P <0.05) when the crown-down technique was used compared to the manufacturer's method for the same tip size/taper file. There was no significant difference in the mean NCF between the two techniques. The crown-down technique did not interfere with resistance to cyclic fatigue. However, the shorter instrumentation time of files 10/0.04 and 15/0.05 could reduce the fracture risk in the case of reuse of these instruments.

  11. Inter-calibration and validation of observations from SAPHIR and ATMS instruments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moradi, I.; Ferraro, R. R.

    2015-12-01

    We present the results of evaluating observations from microwave instruments aboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP, ATMS instrument) and Megha-Tropiques (SAPHIR instrument) satellites. The study includes inter-comparison and inter-calibration of observations of similar channels from the two instruments, evaluation of the satellite data using high-quality radiosonde data from Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program and GPS Radio Occultaion Observations from COSMIC mission, as well as geolocation error correction. The results of this study are valuable for generating climate data records from these instruments as well as for extending current climate data records from similar instruments such as AMSU-B and MHS to the ATMS and SAPHIR instruments. Reference: Moradi et al., Intercalibration and Validation of Observations From ATMS and SAPHIR Microwave Sounders. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. 01/2015; DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2015.2427165

  12. Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Photinos, Panos

    2017-12-01

    'Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment' offers a basic understanding of sound, musical instruments and music equipment, geared towards a general audience and non-science majors. The book begins with an introduction of the fundamental properties of sound waves, and the perception of the characteristics of sound. The relation between intensity and loudness, and the relation between frequency and pitch are discussed. The basics of propagation of sound waves, and the interaction of sound waves with objects and structures of various sizes are introduced. Standing waves, harmonics and resonance are explained in simple terms, using graphics that provide a visual understanding. The development is focused on musical instruments and acoustics. The construction of musical scales and the frequency relations are reviewed and applied in the description of musical instruments. The frequency spectrum of selected instruments is explored using freely available sound analysis software. Sound amplification and sound recording, including analog and digital approaches, are discussed in two separate chapters. The book concludes with a chapter on acoustics, the physical factors that affect the quality of the music experience, and practical ways to improve the acoustics at home or small recording studios. A brief technical section is provided at the end of each chapter, where the interested reader can find the relevant physics and sample calculations. These quantitative sections can be skipped without affecting the comprehension of the basic material. Questions are provided to test the reader's understanding of the material. Answers are given in the appendix.

  13. A comparison of instrumentation using Naviflex and Profile nickel-titanium engine-driven rotary instruments.

    PubMed

    Ottosen, S R; Nicholls, J I; Steiner, J C

    1999-06-01

    This study was designed to compare the changes in canal configuration resulting from instrumentation by either Profile or Naviflex instruments. Forty mesial canals in extracted human molar teeth were embedded and sectioned at two root levels. Reassembled teeth were instrumented with a modified crown-down technique as described in the Profile training video for Profile files and in a similar manner for Naviflex instruments. Superimposed pre- and postinstrumented cross-sectional root images were projected, traced, and scanned into a computer for analysis. Canal movement, in relation to the furca, and canal area change were recorded. The results showed no significant difference in canal center movement or canal area change between the Profile or Naviflex groups. The degree of canal curvature had no effect on canal center movement or canal area change.

  14. Patterns of metal distribution in hypersaline microbialites during early diagenesis: Implications for the fossil record.

    PubMed

    Sforna, M C; Daye, M; Philippot, P; Somogyi, A; van Zuilen, M A; Medjoubi, K; Gérard, E; Jamme, F; Dupraz, C; Braissant, O; Glunk, C; Visscher, P T

    2017-03-01

    The use of metals as biosignatures in the fossil stromatolite record requires understanding of the processes controlling the initial metal(loid) incorporation and diagenetic preservation in living microbialites. Here, we report the distribution of metals and the organic fraction within the lithifying microbialite of the hypersaline Big Pond Lake (Bahamas). Using synchrotron-based X-ray microfluorescence, confocal, and biphoton microscopies at different scales (cm-μm) in combination with traditional geochemical analyses, we show that the initial cation sorption at the surface of an active microbialite is governed by passive binding to the organic matrix, resulting in a homogeneous metal distribution. During early diagenesis, the metabolic activity in deeper microbialite layers slows down and the distribution of the metals becomes progressively heterogeneous, resulting from remobilization and concentration as metal(loid)-enriched sulfides, which are aligned with the lamination of the microbialite. In addition, we were able to identify globules containing significant Mn, Cu, Zn, and As enrichments potentially produced through microbial activity. The similarity of the metal(loid) distributions observed in the Big Pond microbialite to those observed in the Archean stromatolites of Tumbiana provides the foundation for a conceptual model of the evolution of the metal distribution through initial growth, early diagenesis, and fossilization of a microbialite, with a potential application to the fossil record. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  15. A 650-year record of past summer temperatures from Pirin, Bulgaria tree-ring density

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meko, M. D.; Trouet, V.; Panayotov, M.; Frank, D. C.

    2017-12-01

    New proxy records of past climate provide valuable data essential to enhance spatial and temporal coverage of the global paleoclimate record - the context against which ongoing climate change and climate-model forcing is examined and evaluated. We present a new 650-year record of past summer temperatures in southeastern (SE) Europe derived from tree-ring maximum-latewood-density (MXD) data measured from Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii) growing at high elevations in the Pirin Mountains, Bulgaria (PRN). The PRN collection is well-replicated, with 64 trees contributing MXD series ranging in length from 113 to 865 years (median series length = 480 years) spanning the years 1143-2009. The PRN chronology shows a significant (p < 0.05) relationship with summer (JAS) temperatures across a broad geographical area of SE Europe, including the entire Balkan peninsula, southern Italy, and southwestern Anatolia. Our temperature reconstruction, produced by multiple regression utilizing lagged predictors and calibrated against Sofia, Bulgaria meteorological observations, explains nearly 60% of target variance and reveals variability across decadal, centennial, and longer timescales over the 1350-2009 reconstruction interval. Relative to the instrumental 1900-1980 mean, our record shows multidecadal cool anomalies spanning the first half of the 19th century and the late 17th century, and warm periods spanning the 18th century, 16th and early-to-mid 17th centuries, and late 14th to early 15th century. A comparison of the PRN reconstruction with existing reconstructions of Northern Hemisphere temperatures reveal intervals of asynchrony between local and hemisphere-scale decadal temperature variability, with marked asynchrony in the late 16th-early 17th centuries, and unprecedented asynchrony in the late 20th-to early 21st century.

  16. Models of Solar Irradiance Variability and the Instrumental Temperature Record

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Marcus, S. L.; Ghil, M.; Ide, K.

    1998-01-01

    The effects of decade-to-century (Dec-Cen) variations in total solar irradiance (TSI) on global mean surface temperature Ts during the pre-Pinatubo instrumental era (1854-1991) are studied by using two different proxies for TSI and a simplified version of the IPCC climate model.

  17. Estimating Uncertainty in Long Term Total Ozone Records from Multiple Sources

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Frith, Stacey M.; Stolarski, Richard S.; Kramarova, Natalya; McPeters, Richard D.

    2014-01-01

    Total ozone measurements derived from the TOMS and SBUV backscattered solar UV instrument series cover the period from late 1978 to the present. As the SBUV series of instruments comes to an end, we look to the 10 years of data from the AURA Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and two years of data from the Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS) on board the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite to continue the record. When combining these records to construct a single long-term data set for analysis we must estimate the uncertainty in the record resulting from potential biases and drifts in the individual measurement records. In this study we present a Monte Carlo analysis used to estimate uncertainties in the Merged Ozone Dataset (MOD), constructed from the Version 8.6 SBUV2 series of instruments. We extend this analysis to incorporate OMI and OMPS total ozone data into the record and investigate the impact of multiple overlapping measurements on the estimated error. We also present an updated column ozone trend analysis and compare the size of statistical error (error from variability not explained by our linear regression model) to that from instrument uncertainty.

  18. Analysing the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes with recent instrumentally recorded aftershocks

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Mueller, K.; Hough, S.E.; Bilham, R.

    2004-01-01

    Although dynamic stress changes associated with the passage of seismic waves are thought to trigger earthquakes at great distances, more than 60 per cent of all aftershocks appear to be triggered by static stress changes within two rupture lengths of a mainshock. The observed distribution of aftershocks may thus be used to infer details of mainshock rupture geometry. Aftershocks following large mid-continental earthquakes, where background stressing rates are low, are known to persist for centuries, and models based on rate-and-state friction laws provide theoretical support for this inference. Most past studies of the New Madrid earthquake sequence have indeed assumed ongoing microseismicity to be a continuing aftershock sequence. Here we use instrumentally recorded aftershock locations and models of elastic stress change to develop a kinematically consistent rupture scenario for three of the four largest earthquakes of the 1811-1812 New Madrid sequence. Our results suggest that these three events occurred on two contiguous faults, producing lobes of increased stress near fault intersections and end points, in areas where present-day microearthquakes have been hitherto interpreted as evidence of primary mainshock rupture. We infer that the remaining New Madrid mainshock may have occurred more than 200 km north of this region in the Wabash Valley of southern Indiana and Illinois-an area that contains abundant modern microseismicity, and where substantial liquefaction was documented by historic accounts. Our results suggest that future large midplate earthquake sequences may extend over a much broader region than previously suspected.

  19. Planck early results. IV. First assessment of the High Frequency Instrument in-flight performance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Planck HFI Core Team; Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Ansari, R.; Arnaud, M.; Ashdown, M.; Aumont, J.; Banday, A. J.; Bartelmann, M.; Bartlett, J. G.; Battaner, E.; Benabed, K.; Benoît, A.; Bernard, J.-P.; Bersanelli, M.; Bhatia, R.; Bock, J. J.; Bond, J. R.; Borrill, J.; Bouchet, F. R.; Boulanger, F.; Bradshaw, T.; Bréelle, E.; Bucher, M.; Camus, P.; Cardoso, J.-F.; Catalano, A.; Challinor, A.; Chamballu, A.; Charra, J.; Charra, M.; Chary, R.-R.; Chiang, C.; Church, S.; Clements, D. L.; Colombi, S.; Couchot, F.; Coulais, A.; Cressiot, C.; Crill, B. P.; Crook, M.; de Bernardis, P.; Delabrouille, J.; Delouis, J.-M.; Désert, F.-X.; Dolag, K.; Dole, H.; Doré, O.; Douspis, M.; Efstathiou, G.; Eng, P.; Filliard, C.; Forni, O.; Fosalba, P.; Fourmond, J.-J.; Ganga, K.; Giard, M.; Girard, D.; Giraud-Héraud, Y.; Gispert, R.; Górski, K. M.; Gratton, S.; Griffin, M.; Guyot, G.; Haissinski, J.; Harrison, D.; Helou, G.; Henrot-Versillé, S.; Hernández-Monteagudo, C.; Hildebrandt, S. R.; Hills, R.; Hivon, E.; Hobson, M.; Holmes, W. A.; Huffenberger, K. M.; Jaffe, A. H.; Jones, W. C.; Kaplan, J.; Kneissl, R.; Knox, L.; Lagache, G.; Lamarre, J.-M.; Lami, P.; Lange, A. E.; Lasenby, A.; Lavabre, A.; Lawrence, C. R.; Leriche, B.; Leroy, C.; Longval, Y.; Macías-Pérez, J. F.; Maciaszek, T.; MacTavish, C. J.; Maffei, B.; Mandolesi, N.; Mann, R.; Mansoux, B.; Masi, S.; Matsumura, T.; McGehee, P.; Melin, J.-B.; Mercier, C.; Miville-Deschênes, M.-A.; Moneti, A.; Montier, L.; Mortlock, D.; Murphy, A.; Nati, F.; Netterfield, C. B.; Nørgaard-Nielsen, H. U.; North, C.; Noviello, F.; Novikov, D.; Osborne, S.; Paine, C.; Pajot, F.; Patanchon, G.; Peacocke, T.; Pearson, T. J.; Perdereau, O.; Perotto, L.; Piacentini, F.; Piat, M.; Plaszczynski, S.; Pointecouteau, E.; Pons, R.; Ponthieu, N.; Prézeau, G.; Prunet, S.; Puget, J.-L.; Reach, W. T.; Renault, C.; Ristorcelli, I.; Rocha, G.; Rosset, C.; Roudier, G.; Rowan-Robinson, M.; Rusholme, B.; Santos, D.; Savini, G.; Schaefer, B. M.; Shellard, P.; Spencer, L.; Starck, J.-L.; Stassi, P.; Stolyarov, V.; Stompor, R.; Sudiwala, R.; Sunyaev, R.; Sygnet, J.-F.; Tauber, J. A.; Thum, C.; Torre, J.-P.; Touze, F.; Tristram, M.; van Leeuwen, F.; Vibert, L.; Vibert, D.; Wade, L. A.; Wandelt, B. D.; White, S. D. M.; Wiesemeyer, H.; Woodcraft, A.; Yurchenko, V.; Yvon, D.; Zacchei, A.

    2011-12-01

    The Planck High Frequency Instrument (HFI) is designed to measure the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background and Galactic foregrounds in six ~30% bands centered at 100, 143, 217, 353, 545, and 857 GHz at an angular resolution of 10' (100 GHz), 7' (143 GHz), and 5' (217 GHz and higher). HFI has been operating flawlessly since launch on 14 May 2009, with the bolometers reaching 100 mK the first week of July. The settings of the readout electronics, including bolometer bias currents, that optimize HFI's noise performance on orbit are nearly the same as the ones chosen during ground testing. Observations of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn have confirmed that the optical beams and the time responses of the detection chains are in good agreement with the predictions of physical optics modeling and pre-launch measurements. The Detectors suffer from a high flux of cosmic rays due to historically low levels of solar activity. As a result of the redundancy of Planck's observation strategy, theremoval of a few percent of data contaminated by glitches does not significantly affect the instrumental sensitivity. The cosmic ray flux represents a significant and variable heat load on the sub-Kelvin stage. Temporal variation and the inhomogeneous distribution of the flux results in thermal fluctuations that are a probable source of low frequency noise. The removal of systematic effects in the time ordered data provides a signal with an average noise equivalent power that is 70% of the goal in the 0.6-2.5 Hz range. This is slightly higher than was achieved during the pre-launch characterization but better than predicted in the early phases of the project. The improvement over the goal is a result of the low level of instrumental background loading achieved by the optical and thermal design of the HFI. Corresponding author: J.-M. Lamarre, jean-michel.lamarre@obspm.fr

  20. Rapid magnitude estimation from time-dependent displacement amplitude measured with seismogeodetic instrumentation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goldberg, D.; Bock, Y.; Melgar, D.

    2017-12-01

    Earthquake magnitude is a concise metric that illuminates the destructive potential of a seismic event. Rapid determination of earthquake magnitude is currently the main prerequisite for dissemination of a tsunami early warning, thus timely and automated calculation is of high importance. Seismic instrumentation experiences well-documented complications at long periods, making the accurate measurement of ground displacement in the near field unreliable. As a result, the relation between ground motion measured with seismic instrumentation and magnitude saturates, causing underestimation of the size of very large events. In the case of tsunamigenic earthquakes, magnitude underestimation in turn leads to a flawed tsunami inundation assessment, which limits the effectiveness of an early warning, in particular for local tsunamis. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) instrumentation measures the displacement field directly, leading to more accurate magnitude estimates with near-field data. Unlike seismic-only instrumentation, near-field GNSS has been shown to provide an accurate magnitude estimate using the peak ground displacement (PGD) after just 2 minutes [Melgar et al., 2015]. However, GNSS alone is too noisy to detect the first seismic wave arrivals (P-waves), thus it cannot be as timely as a seismic system on its own. Using collocated seismic and geodetic instrumentation, we refine magnitude scaling relations by incorporating a large dataset of earthquakes in Japan. We demonstrate that consideration of the time-dependence of displacement amplitude with respect to P-wave arrival time reduces the time to convergence of the magnitude estimate. We present findings on the growth of events of large magnitude, and demonstrate time-dependent scaling relations that adapt to the amount of recorded data, starting with the P-wave arrival and continuing through PGD. We illustrate real-time, automated implementation of this method, and consider network improvements to

  1. Cyclic Fatigue Resistance of Mtwo Rotary Instruments with two Different Instrumentation Techniques

    PubMed Central

    de Menezes, Sílvio Emanuel Acioly Conrado; Machado Batista, Shirley; Brandão de Magalhães, Diego Felipe; Diana Santana, de Albuquerque; de Melo Monteiro, Gabriela Queiroz

    2018-01-01

    Introduction: The objective of this in vitro study was to evaluate whether cervical preparation with Mtwo files in a crown-down technique influences instrumentation time and the cyclic fatigue resistance of these instruments. Methods and Materials: Two instrumentation techniques were evaluated (manufacturer and crown-down). Each group consisted of 10 kits containing four Mtwo instruments (10/0.04, 15/0.05, 20/0.06, and 25/0.06), which were used to prepare three standard simulated curved resin canals. The mean instrumentation time and the corresponding number of cycles for each instrumentation (NCI) were recorded. The instruments were rotated at a constant speed of 300 rpm in a stainless-steel canal (diameter of 1.5 mm) at a 90° angle of curvature and 5-mm radius. The center of the curvature was 5 mm from the tip of the instrument. The cyclic fatigue resistance of the files was determined by counting the number of cycles to failure (NCF). Data were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney test. Results: The mean instrumentation time and NCI of files 10/0.04 and 15/0.05 were significantly lower (P<0.05) when the crown-down technique was used compared to the manufacturer’s method for the same tip size/taper file. There was no significant difference in the mean NCF between the two techniques. Conclusion: The crown-down technique did not interfere with resistance to cyclic fatigue. However, the shorter instrumentation time of files 10/0.04 and 15/0.05 could reduce the fracture risk in the case of reuse of these instruments. PMID:29692846

  2. Comparative study of mobile Raman instrumentation for art analysis.

    PubMed

    Vandenabeele, P; Castro, K; Hargreaves, M; Moens, L; Madariaga, J M; Edwards, H G M

    2007-04-04

    In archaeometry, one of the main concerns is to extract information from an art object, without damaging it. Raman spectroscopy is being applied in this research field with recent developments in mobile instrumentation facilitating more routine analysis. This research paper evaluates the performances of five mobile Raman instruments (Renishaw RA100, Renishaw Portable Raman Analyser RX210, Ocean Optics RSL-1, Delta Nu Inspector Raman, Mobile Art Analyser--MArtA) in three different laboratories. A set of samples were collected, in order to obtain information on the spectral performances of the instruments including: spectral resolution, calibration, laser cut-off, the ability to record spectra of organic and inorganic pigments through varnish layers and on the possibilities to identify biomaterials. Spectra were recorded from predefined regions on a canvas painting to simulate the investigation of artworks and the capabilities to record spectra from hardly accessible areas was evaluated.

  3. Computer-Graphics Emulation of Chemical Instrumentation: Absorption Spectrophotometers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gilbert, D. D.; And Others

    1982-01-01

    Describes interactive, computer-graphics program emulating behavior of high resolution, ultraviolet-visible analog recording spectrophotometer. Graphics terminal behaves as recording absorption spectrophotometer. Objective of the emulation is study of optimization of the instrument to yield accurate absorption spectra, including…

  4. Piezoelectric Instruments of High Natural Frequency Vibration Characteristics and Protection Against Interference by Mass Forces

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gohlka, Werner

    1943-01-01

    The exploration of the processes accompanying engine combustion demands quick-responding pressure-recording instruments, among which the piezoelectric type has found widespread use because of its especially propitious properties as vibration-recording instruments for high frequencies. Lacking appropriate test methods, the potential errors of piezoelectric recorders in dynamic measurements could only be estimated up to now. In the present report a test method is described by means of which the resonance curves of the piezoelectric pickup can be determined; hence an instrumental appraisal of the vibration characteristics of piezoelectric recorders is obtainable.

  5. Thirty Meter Telescope science instruments: a status report

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Simard, Luc; Ellerbroek, Brent; Bhatia, Ravinder; Radovan, Matthew; Chisholm, Eric

    2016-08-01

    An overview of the current status of the science instruments for the Thirty Meter Telescope is presented. Three first-light instruments as well as a science calibration unit for AO-assisted instruments are under development. Developing instrument collaborations that can design and build these challenging instruments remains an area of intense activity. In addition to the instruments themselves, a preliminary design for a facility cryogenic cooling system based on gaseous helium turbine expanders has been completed. This system can deliver a total of 2.4 kilowatts of cooling power at 65K to the instruments with essentially no vibrations. Finally, the process for developing future instruments beyond first light has been extensively discussed and will get under way in early 2017.

  6. Electronic Ambient-Temperature Recorder

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Russell, Larry; Barrows, William

    1995-01-01

    Electronic temperature-recording unit stores data in internal memory for later readout. Records temperatures from minus 40 degrees to plus 60 degrees C at intervals ranging from 1.875 to 15 minutes. With all four data channels operating at 1.875-minute intervals, recorder stores at least 10 days' data. For only one channel at 15-minute intervals, capacity extends to up to 342 days' data. Developed for recording temperatures of instruments and life-science experiments on satellites, space shuttle, and high-altitude aircraft. Adaptable to such terrestrial uses as recording temperatures of perishable goods during transportation and of other systems or processes over long times. Can be placed directly in environment to monitor.

  7. The Completeness of the Fossil Record of Mesozoic Birds: Implications for Early Avian Evolution

    PubMed Central

    Brocklehurst, Neil; Upchurch, Paul; Mannion, Philip D.; O'Connor, Jingmai

    2012-01-01

    Many palaeobiological analyses have concluded that modern birds (Neornithes) radiated no earlier than the Maastrichtian, whereas molecular clock studies have argued for a much earlier origination. Here, we assess the quality of the fossil record of Mesozoic avian species, using a recently proposed character completeness metric which calculates the percentage of phylogenetic characters that can be scored for each taxon. Estimates of fossil record quality are plotted against geological time and compared to estimates of species level diversity, sea level, and depositional environment. Geographical controls on the avian fossil record are investigated by comparing the completeness scores of species in different continental regions and latitudinal bins. Avian fossil record quality varies greatly with peaks during the Tithonian-early Berriasian, Aptian, and Coniacian–Santonian, and troughs during the Albian-Turonian and the Maastrichtian. The completeness metric correlates more strongly with a ‘sampling corrected’ residual diversity curve of avian species than with the raw taxic diversity curve, suggesting that the abundance and diversity of birds might influence the probability of high quality specimens being preserved. There is no correlation between avian completeness and sea level, the number of fluviolacustrine localities or a recently constructed character completeness metric of sauropodomorph dinosaurs. Comparisons between the completeness of Mesozoic birds and sauropodomorphs suggest that small delicate vertebrate skeletons are more easily destroyed by taphonomic processes, but more easily preserved whole. Lagerstätten deposits might therefore have a stronger impact on reconstructions of diversity of smaller organisms relative to more robust forms. The relatively poor quality of the avian fossil record in the Late Cretaceous combined with very patchy regional sampling means that it is possible neornithine lineages were present throughout this interval but

  8. Developing NOAA's Climate Data Records From AVHRR and Other Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Privette, J. L.; Bates, J. J.; Kearns, E. J.

    2010-12-01

    As part of the provisional NOAA Climate Service, NOAA is providing leadership in the development of authoritative, measurement-based information on climate change and variability. NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) recently initiated a satellite Climate Data Record Program (CDRP) to provide sustained and objective climate information derived from meteorological satellite data that NOAA has collected over the past 30+ years - particularly from its Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) program. These are the longest sustained global measurement records in the world and represent billions of dollars of investment. NOAA is now applying advanced analysis methods -- which have improved remarkably over the last decade -- to the POES AVHRR and other instrument data. Data from other satellite programs, including NASA and international research programs and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), are also being used. This process will unravel the underlying climate trend and variability information and return new value from the records. In parallel, NCDC will extend these records by applying the same methods to present-day and future satellite measurements, including the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) and Jason-3. In this presentation, we will describe the AVHRR-related algorithm development activities that CDRP recently selected and funded through open competitions. We will particularly discuss some of the technical challenges related to adapting and using AVHRR algorithms with the VIIRS data that should become available with the launch of the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite in early 2012. We will also describe IT system development activities that will provide data processing and reprocessing, storage and management. We will also outline the maturing Program framework, including the strategies for coding and development standards, community reviews, independent program oversight, and research-to-operations algorithm

  9. The Early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event: A Southern Hemisphere record from Chile

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fantasia, Alicia; Föllmi, Karl B.; Adatte, Thierry; Spangenberg, Jorge E.; Bernárdez, Enrique; Mattioli, Emanuela

    2016-04-01

    The Early Toarcian was marked by important environmental changes, marine oxygen deficiency and extensive organic-rich sediment deposition (T-OAE; ˜182 Ma, Early Jurassic). The T-OAE coincides with a marked negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) recorded in marine carbonate, and marine and terrestrial organic carbon. This is commonly attributed to the massive release of isotopically light carbon to the atmospheric and oceanic reservoirs derived from the destabilization of methane hydrates from marine sediments and/or the emissions of thermogenic methane from the eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar LIP (e.g., Hesselbo et al., 2000; Kemp et al., 2005; Svensen et al., 2007; Mazzini et al., 2010). Moreover, in most documented marine sections, this episode is marked by a generalized crisis in carbonate production and marine invertebrate extinctions (e.g. Jenkyns, 1988; Röhl et al., 2005; Suan et al., 2001). Several studies of the T-OAE have been conducted on sediments in central and northwest Europe, but only few data are available from the Southern Hemisphere, leading to large uncertainty concerning the exact expression of this event in this part of the world. The aims of this study are to characterize the sediments deposited during the Andean equivalents of the tenuicostatum and falciferum European Zones and establish in which way the T-OAE affected this region. In the Early Jurassic, the Andean basin was in a back-arc setting with marine corridors connected to Panthalassa. In this study, we have generated new high-resolution sedimentological, geochemical and mineralogical data from the sections of El Peñon and Quebrada Asiento, located in Chile in the northeastern area of the city of Copiapó, Atacama region. The biostratigraphy of these sections has been studied by von Hillebrandt and Schidt-Effing (1981) and complemented here by a biostratigraphy based on calcareous nannofossils. The sections consist of a succession of marl, limestone and siltstone of Pliensbachian and

  10. Text mining approach to predict hospital admissions using early medical records from the emergency department.

    PubMed

    Lucini, Filipe R; S Fogliatto, Flavio; C da Silveira, Giovani J; L Neyeloff, Jeruza; Anzanello, Michel J; de S Kuchenbecker, Ricardo; D Schaan, Beatriz

    2017-04-01

    Emergency department (ED) overcrowding is a serious issue for hospitals. Early information on short-term inward bed demand from patients receiving care at the ED may reduce the overcrowding problem, and optimize the use of hospital resources. In this study, we use text mining methods to process data from early ED patient records using the SOAP framework, and predict future hospitalizations and discharges. We try different approaches for pre-processing of text records and to predict hospitalization. Sets-of-words are obtained via binary representation, term frequency, and term frequency-inverse document frequency. Unigrams, bigrams and trigrams are tested for feature formation. Feature selection is based on χ 2 and F-score metrics. In the prediction module, eight text mining methods are tested: Decision Tree, Random Forest, Extremely Randomized Tree, AdaBoost, Logistic Regression, Multinomial Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machine (Kernel linear) and Nu-Support Vector Machine (Kernel linear). Prediction performance is evaluated by F1-scores. Precision and Recall values are also informed for all text mining methods tested. Nu-Support Vector Machine was the text mining method with the best overall performance. Its average F1-score in predicting hospitalization was 77.70%, with a standard deviation (SD) of 0.66%. The method could be used to manage daily routines in EDs such as capacity planning and resource allocation. Text mining could provide valuable information and facilitate decision-making by inward bed management teams. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. The New Zealand Tsunami Database: historical and modern records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barberopoulou, A.; Downes, G. L.; Cochran, U. A.; Clark, K.; Scheele, F.

    2016-12-01

    A database of historical (pre-instrumental) and modern (instrumentally recorded)tsunamis that have impacted or been observed in New Zealand has been compiled andpublished online. New Zealand's tectonic setting, astride an obliquely convergenttectonic boundary on the Pacific Rim, means that it is vulnerable to local, regional andcircum-Pacific tsunamis. Despite New Zealand's comparatively short written historicalrecord of c. 200 years there is a wealth of information about the impact of past tsunamis.The New Zealand Tsunami Database currently has 800+ entries that describe >50 highvaliditytsunamis. Sources of historical information include witness reports recorded indiaries, notes, newspapers, books, and photographs. Information on recent events comesfrom tide gauges and other instrumental recordings such as DART® buoys, and media ofgreater variety, for example, video and online surveys. The New Zealand TsunamiDatabase is an ongoing project with information added as further historical records cometo light. Modern tsunamis are also added to the database once the relevant data for anevent has been collated and edited. This paper briefly overviews the procedures and toolsused in the recording and analysis of New Zealand's historical tsunamis, with emphasison database content.

  12. Deep Borehole Instrumentation Along San Francisco Bay Bridges - 2001

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hutchings, L.; Kasameyer, P.; Long, L.

    2001-05-01

    This is a progress report on the Bay Bridges downhole network. Between 2 and 8 instruments have been spaced along the Dumbarton, San Mateo, Bay, and San Rafael bridges in San Francisco Bay, California. The instruments will provide multiple use data that is important to geotechnical, structural engineering, and seismological studies. The holes are between 100 and 1000 ft deep and were drilled by Caltrans. There are twenty-one sensor packages at fifteen sites. The downhole instrument package contains a three component HS-1 seismometer and three orthogonal Wilcox 731 accelerometers, and is capable of recording a micro g from local Mmore » = 1.0 earthquakes to 0.5 g strong ground motion form large Bay Area earthquakes. This report list earthquakes and stations where recordings were obtained during the period February 29, 2000 to November 11, 2000. Also, preliminary results on noise analysis for up and down hole recordings at Yerba Buena Island is presented.« less

  13. A new meteorological record for Cádiz (Spain) 1806-1852: Implications for climatic reconstructions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gallego, David; Garcia-Herrera, Ricardo; Calvo, Natalia; Ribera, Pedro

    2007-06-01

    A new documentary source of data for wind, atmospheric pressure and air temperature for the city of Cádiz (southern Spain) has been abstracted, analyzed and compared with present-day data. Wind records cover the period 1806-1852 with three observations per day. Instrumental pressure and temperature cover the period 1825-1852. While the historical pressure series shows average values very close to that found for the period 1971-2000, temperature shows a large asymmetric seasonal warming, with increments in the order of 2°C for the winter months and almost no change for summer. Wind measurements have been transformed into their numerical equivalents and then compared with present-day values. The analysis shows that the numerical estimation of ancient wind forces observed at Cádiz, while providing a robust climatic signal, has a strong bias to larger values than their instrumental equivalents. Despite the uncertainties involved in the interpretation of early wind series, this effect could be related to the recording of "average wind gusts" rather than average winds as measured by today's anemometers. In consequence, wind climatologies based on historical data, which recently are becoming available to the scientific community, should be used carefully.

  14. Pre-instrumental seismicity in Central Africa using felt seisms recorded mainly at the meteorological stations of DRC, Rwanda and Burundi during the colonial period

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mulumba, J.-L.; Delvaux, D.

    2012-04-01

    Seismic hazard assessment and mitigation of catastrophes are primarily based on the identification and characterization of seismically active zones. These tasks still rely heavily on the existing knowledge of the seismic activity over the longest possible time period. The first seismic network in Equatorial Africa (IRSAC network) was operated from the Lwiro scientific base on the western shores of Lake Kivu between 1953 and 1963. Before this installation, the historical record of seismic activity in Central Africa is sparse. Even for the relatively short period concerned, spanning only 50-60 years, the historical record is far from being complete. A first attempt has been made by Herrinckx (1959) who compiled a list 960 felt seisms recorded at the meteorological stations between 1915 and 1954 in Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. They were used to draw a density map of felt seisms per square degree. We completed this data base by exploiting the meteorological archives and any available historical report to enlarge the database which now reaches 1513 entries between 1900 and 1959. These entries have been exanimate in order to identify possible historical seismic events. Those are defined by 3 or more quasi-simultaneous records observed over a relatively short distance (a few degrees of latitude/longitude) within a short time difference (few hours). A preliminary list of 115 possible historical seisms has been obtained, identified by 3 to 15 different stations. The proposed location is taken as the average latitude and longitude of the stations where the felt seisms were recorded. Some of the most important ones are associated to aftershocks that have been felt at some stations after the main shocks. The most recent felt seisms have been also recorded instrumentally, which helps to validate the procedure followed. The main difficulties are the magnitude estimation and the possible spatial incompleteness of the recording of felt seism evidence at the margin of the observation

  15. An instrument thermal data base system. [for future shuttle missions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bartoszek, J. T.; Csigi, K. I.; Ollendorf, S.; Oberright, J. E.

    1981-01-01

    The rationale for the implementation of an Instrument Thermal Data Base System (ITDBS) is discussed and the potential application of a data base management system in support of future space missions, the design of scientific instruments needed, and the potential payload groupings is described. Two basic data files are suggested, the first containing a detailed narrative information list pertaining to design configurations and optimum performance of each instrument, and the second consisting of a description of the parameters pertinent to the instruments' thermal control and design in the form of a summary record of coded information, and serving as a recall record. The applicability of a data request sheet for preliminary planning is described and is concluded that the proposed system may additionally prove to be a method of inventory control.

  16. The Version 8.6 SBUV Ozone Data Record: An Overview

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    McPeters, Richard D.; Bhartia, P. K.; Haffner, D.; Labow, Gordon J.; Flynn, Larry

    2013-01-01

    Under a NASA program to produce long-term data records from instruments on multiple satellites, data from a series of nine Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV and SBUV2) instruments have been re-processed to create a coherent ozone time series. Data from the BUV instrument on Nimbus 4, SBUV on Nimbus 7, and SBUV2 instruments on NOAA 9, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, and 19 covering the period 1970-1972 and 1979-2011 were used to create a long-term data set. The goal is an ozone Earth Science Data Record - a consistent, calibrated ozone time series that can be used for trend analyses and other studies. In order to create this ozone data set, the radiances were adjusted and used to re-process the entire data records for each of the nine instruments. Inter-instrument comparisons during periods of overlap as well as comparisons with data from other satellite and ground-based instruments were used to evaluate the consistency of the record and make calibration adjustments as needed. Additional improvements in this version 8.6 processing included the use of the Brion, Daumont, and Malicet ozone cross sections, and a cloud-height climatology derived from Aura OMI measurements. Validation of the re-processed ozone shows that total column ozone is consistent with the Brewer Dobson network to within about 1 for the new time series. Comparisons with MLS, SAGE, sondes, and lidar show that ozone at individual levels in the stratosphere is generally consistent to within 5 percent.

  17. Running Records: Authentic Instruction in Early Childhood Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shea, Mary

    2012-01-01

    The most effective way to understand what a child knows about the reading process is to take a running record. In "Running Records", Mary Shea demonstrates how teachers can use this powerful tool to design lessons that decrease reading difficulties, build on strengths, and stimulate motivation, ensuring that children develop self-sustaining…

  18. Reconstructing pre-instrumental streamflow in Eastern Australia using a water balance approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tozer, C. R.; Kiem, A. S.; Vance, T. R.; Roberts, J. L.; Curran, M. A. J.; Moy, A. D.

    2018-03-01

    Streamflow reconstructions based on paleoclimate proxies provide much longer records than the short instrumental period records on which water resource management plans are currently based. In Australia there is a lack of in-situ high resolution paleoclimate proxy records, but remote proxies with teleconnections to Australian climate have utility in producing streamflow reconstructions. Here we investigate, via a case study for a catchment in eastern Australia, the novel use of an Antarctic ice-core based rainfall reconstruction within a Budyko-framework to reconstruct ∼1000 years of annual streamflow. The resulting streamflow reconstruction captures interannual to decadal variability in the instrumental streamflow, validating both the use of the ice core rainfall proxy record and the Budyko-framework method. In the preinstrumental era the streamflow reconstruction shows longer wet and dry epochs and periods of streamflow variability that are higher than observed in the instrumental era. Importantly, for both the instrumental record and preinstrumental reconstructions, the wet (dry) epochs in the rainfall record are shorter (longer) in the streamflow record and this non-linearity must be considered when inferring hydroclimatic risk or historical water availability directly from rainfall proxy records alone. These insights provide a better understanding of present infrastructure vulnerability in the context of past climate variability for eastern Australia. The streamflow reconstruction presented here also provides a better understanding of the range of hydroclimatic variability possible, and therefore represents a more realistic baseline on which to quantify the potential impacts of anthropogenic climate change on water security.

  19. The bias and signal attenuation present in conventional pollen-based climate reconstructions as assessed by early climate data from Minnesota, USA.

    PubMed

    St Jacques, Jeannine-Marie; Cumming, Brian F; Sauchyn, David J; Smol, John P

    2015-01-01

    The inference of past temperatures from a sedimentary pollen record depends upon the stationarity of the pollen-climate relationship. However, humans have altered vegetation independent of changes to climate, and consequently modern pollen deposition is a product of landscape disturbance and climate, which is different from the dominance of climate-derived processes in the past. This problem could cause serious signal distortion in pollen-based reconstructions. In the north-central United States, direct human impacts have strongly altered the modern vegetation and hence the pollen rain since Euro-American settlement in the mid-19th century. Using instrumental temperature data from the early 1800 s from Fort Snelling (Minnesota), we assessed the signal distortion and bias introduced by using the conventional method of inferring temperature from pollen assemblages in comparison to a calibration set from pre-settlement pollen assemblages and the earliest instrumental climate data. The early post-settlement calibration set provides more accurate reconstructions of the 19th century instrumental record, with less bias, than the modern set does. When both modern and pre-industrial calibration sets are used to reconstruct past temperatures since AD 1116 from pollen counts from a varve-dated record from Lake Mina, Minnesota, the conventional inference method produces significant low-frequency (centennial-scale) signal attenuation and positive bias of 0.8-1.7 °C, resulting in an overestimation of Little Ice Age temperature and likely an underestimation of the extent and rate of anthropogenic warming in this region. However, high-frequency (annual-scale) signal attenuation exists with both methods. Hence, we conclude that any past pollen spectra from before Euro-American settlement in this region should be interpreted using a pre-Euro-American settlement pollen set, paired to the earliest instrumental climate records. It remains to be explored how widespread this problem is

  20. The termites of Early Eocene Cambay amber, with the earliest record of the Termitidae (Isoptera)

    PubMed Central

    Engel, Michael S.; Grimaldi, David A.; Nascimbene, Paul C.; Singh, Hukam

    2011-01-01

    Abstract The fauna of termites (Isoptera) preserved in Early Eocene amber from the Cambay Basin (Gujarat, India) are described and figured. Three new genera and four new species are recognized, all of them Neoisoptera – Parastylotermes krishnai Engel & Grimaldi, sp. n. (Stylotermitidae); Prostylotermes kamboja Engel & Grimaldi, gen. et sp. n. (Stylotermitidae?); Zophotermes Engel, gen. n., with Zophotermes ashoki Engel & Singh, sp. n. (Rhinotermitidae: Prorhinotermitinae); and Nanotermes isaacae Engel & Grimaldi, gen. et sp. n. (Termitidae: Termitinae?). Together these species represent the earliest Tertiary records of the Neoisoptera and the oldest definitive record of Termitidae, a family that comprises >75% of the living species of Isoptera. Interestingly, the affinities of the Cambay amber termites are with largely Laurasian lineages, in this regard paralleling relationships seen between the fauna of bees and some flies. Diversity of Neoisoptera in Indian amber may reflect origin of the amber deposit in Dipterocarpaceae forests formed at or near the paleoequator. PMID:22287892

  1. Predicting College Women's Career Plans: Instrumentality, Work, and Family

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Savela, Alexandra E.; O'Brien, Karen M.

    2016-01-01

    This study examined how college women's instrumentality and expectations about combining work and family predicted early career development variables. Specifically, 177 undergraduate women completed measures of instrumentality (i.e., traits such as ambition, assertiveness, and risk taking), willingness to compromise career for family, anticipated…

  2. COBE - New sky maps of the early universe

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Smoot, G. F.

    1991-01-01

    This paper presents early results obtained from the first six months of measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by instruments aboard NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite and discusses the implications for cosmology. The three instruments: FIRAS, DMR, and DIRBE have operated well and produced significant new results. The FIRAS measurement of the CMB spectrum supports the standard big bang nucleosynthesis model. The maps made from the DMR instrument measurements show a surprisingly smooth early universe. The measurements are sufficiently precise that we must pay careful attention to potential systematic errors. The maps of galactic and local emission produced by the DIRBE instrument will be needed to identify foregrounds from extragalactic emission and thus to interpret the terms of events in the early universe.

  3. Reuse of disposable laparoscopic instruments: cost analysis*

    PubMed Central

    DesCôteaux, Jean-Gaston; Tye, Lucille; Poulin, Eric C.

    1996-01-01

    Objective To evaluate the cost benefits of reusing disposable laparoscopic instruments. Design A cost-analysis study based on a review of laparoscopic and thoracoscopic procedures performed between August 1990 and January 1994, including analysis of disposable instrument use, purchase records, and reprocessing costs for each instrument. Setting The general surgery department of a 461-bed teaching hospital where disposable laparoscopic instruments are routinely reused according to internally validated reprocessing protocols. Methods Laparoscopic and thoracoscopic interventions performed between August 1990 and January 1994 for which the number and types of disposable laparoscopic instruments were standardized. Main Outcome Measures Reprocessing cost per instrument, the savings realized by reusing disposable laparoscopic instruments and the cost-efficient number of reuses per instrument. Results The cost of reprocessing instruments varied from $2.64 (Can) to $4.66 for each disposable laparoscopic instrument. Purchases of 10 commonly reused disposable laparoscopic instruments totalled $183 279, and the total reprocessing cost was estimated at $35 665 for the study period. Not reusing disposable instruments would have cost $527 575 in instrument purchases for the same period. Disposable laparoscopic instruments were reused 1.7 to 68 times each. Conclusions Under carefully monitored conditions and strict guidelines, reuse of disposable laparoscopic and thoracoscopic instruments can be cost-effective. PMID:8769924

  4. 47 CFR 74.781 - Station records.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... Booster Stations § 74.781 Station records. (a) The licensee of a low power TV, TV translator, or TV booster station shall maintain adequate station records, including the current instrument of authorization... other suitable place, in one of the communities of license of the translator or booster, except that the...

  5. 47 CFR 74.781 - Station records.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... Booster Stations § 74.781 Station records. (a) The licensee of a low power TV, TV translator, or TV booster station shall maintain adequate station records, including the current instrument of authorization... other suitable place, in one of the communities of license of the translator or booster, except that the...

  6. 47 CFR 74.781 - Station records.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... Booster Stations § 74.781 Station records. (a) The licensee of a low power TV, TV translator, or TV booster station shall maintain adequate station records, including the current instrument of authorization... other suitable place, in one of the communities of license of the translator or booster, except that the...

  7. 47 CFR 74.781 - Station records.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... Booster Stations § 74.781 Station records. (a) The licensee of a low power TV, TV translator, or TV booster station shall maintain adequate station records, including the current instrument of authorization... other suitable place, in one of the communities of license of the translator or booster, except that the...

  8. Evaluation of the Heshang Cave stalagmite calcium isotope composition as a paleohydrologic proxy by comparison with the instrumental precipitation record.

    PubMed

    Li, Xiuli; Cui, Xueping; He, Dong; Liao, Jin; Hu, Chaoyong

    2018-02-08

    With their merits of precise dating and sensitivity to climate changes, laminated stalagmites are an important terrestrial archive for reconstructions of paleohydrological changes. In particular, the Ca isotope composition (δ 44/42 Ca) of the Heshang Cave stalagmite has been documented to record a precipitation decrease during the 8.2 ka event in central China. As an extension, this study directly compares near-annual resolution δ 44/42 Ca data with an instrumental precipitation record to evaluate the fidelity of δ 44/42 Ca as a paleohydrologic proxy on annual to decade timescales. Over the period 1881-2001 AD, the δ 44/42 Ca values correlate significantly with both precipitation from a nearby weather station and the dryness/wetness index in the middle Yangtze River, with a stronger correlation on decadal smoothed data. These results clearly show that the δ 44/42 Ca ratio from stalagmites is an effective proxy for paleohydrological changes on a decadal timescale. More study is encouraged to refine understanding of stalagmite Ca isotope ratios and hydrological conditions and their application in paleohydrologic reconstructions.

  9. A portable instrument shelter for ecological studies

    Treesearch

    Kenneth E. Hungerford

    1957-01-01

    In studies of an ecological nature, it is often desirable to make records of temperature or humidity on the site of the particular study. A standard instrument shelter, as used by the U. S. Weather Bureau (U. S. Weather Bureau 1941), is heavy, bulky and not adapted for short term use on field projects. This paper describes a small light instrument shelter, large enough...

  10. Tape tracking and handling for magnetic tape recorders. [aboard spacecraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Paroby, W.; Disilvestre, R.

    1975-01-01

    One of the critical performance and life limiting elements of a spacecraft tape recorder instrumentation system which has received little attention in technical literature is magnetic tape tracking and handling technology. This technology is required to understand how to gently transfer tape from one reel to another with proper alignment and a desirable uniform velocity at the read and write transducer heads. The increased demand for high data rate (i.e., multi-track spacecraft recording instrumentation systems), coupled with performance under extreme environmental conditions, requires a thorough knowledge of the various parameters which establish an optimum designed tape tracking and handling system. Stress analysis techniques are required to evaluate these parameters substantiated with test tape tracking data, to show the effect of each parameter on a tape recorder instrumentation tracking system. The technology is applicable to ground type tape recorders where the detrimental effects of edge guidance can be eliminated.

  11. Low-Dimensional Feature Representation for Instrument Identification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ihara, Mizuki; Maeda, Shin-Ichi; Ikeda, Kazushi; Ishii, Shin

    For monophonic music instrument identification, various feature extraction and selection methods have been proposed. One of the issues toward instrument identification is that the same spectrum is not always observed even in the same instrument due to the difference of the recording condition. Therefore, it is important to find non-redundant instrument-specific features that maintain information essential for high-quality instrument identification to apply them to various instrumental music analyses. For such a dimensionality reduction method, the authors propose the utilization of linear projection methods: local Fisher discriminant analysis (LFDA) and LFDA combined with principal component analysis (PCA). After experimentally clarifying that raw power spectra are actually good for instrument classification, the authors reduced the feature dimensionality by LFDA or by PCA followed by LFDA (PCA-LFDA). The reduced features achieved reasonably high identification performance that was comparable or higher than those by the power spectra and those achieved by other existing studies. These results demonstrated that our LFDA and PCA-LFDA can successfully extract low-dimensional instrument features that maintain the characteristic information of the instruments.

  12. Personal miniature electrophysiological tape recorder

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Green, H.

    1981-11-01

    The use of a personal miniature electrophysiological tape recorder to measure the physiological reactions of space flight personnel to space flight stress and weightlessness is described. The Oxford Instruments Medilog recorder, a battery-powered, four-channel cassette tape recorder with 24 hour endurance is carried on the person and will record EKG, EOG, EEG, and timing and event markers. The data will give information about heart rate and morphology changes, and document adaptation to zero gravity on the part of subjects who, unlike highly trained astronauts, are more representative of the normal population than were the subjects of previous space flight studies.

  13. Electronic health records and patient safety: co-occurrence of early EHR implementation with patient safety practices in primary care settings.

    PubMed

    Tanner, C; Gans, D; White, J; Nath, R; Pohl, J

    2015-01-01

    The role of electronic health records (EHR) in enhancing patient safety, while substantiated in many studies, is still debated. This paper examines early EHR adopters in primary care to understand the extent to which EHR implementation is associated with the workflows, policies and practices that promote patient safety, as compared to practices with paper records. Early adoption is defined as those who were using EHR prior to implementation of the Meaningful Use program. We utilized the Physician Practice Patient Safety Assessment (PPPSA) to compare primary care practices with fully implemented EHR to those utilizing paper records. The PPPSA measures the extent of adoption of patient safety practices in the domains: medication management, handoffs and transition, personnel qualifications and competencies, practice management and culture, and patient communication. Data from 209 primary care practices responding between 2006-2010 were included in the analysis: 117 practices used paper medical records and 92 used an EHR. Results showed that, within all domains, EHR settings showed significantly higher rates of having workflows, policies and practices that promote patient safety than paper record settings. While these results were expected in the area of medication management, EHR use was also associated with adoption of patient safety practices in areas in which the researchers had no a priori expectations of association. Sociotechnical models of EHR use point to complex interactions between technology and other aspects of the environment related to human resources, workflow, policy, culture, among others. This study identifies that among primary care practices in the national PPPSA database, having an EHR was strongly empirically associated with the workflow, policy, communication and cultural practices recommended for safe patient care in ambulatory settings.

  14. Cellular telephone-based radiation detection instrument

    DOEpatents

    Craig, William W [Pittsburg, CA; Labov, Simon E [Berkeley, CA

    2011-06-14

    A network of radiation detection instruments, each having a small solid state radiation sensor module integrated into a cellular phone for providing radiation detection data and analysis directly to a user. The sensor module includes a solid-state crystal bonded to an ASIC readout providing a low cost, low power, light weight compact instrument to detect and measure radiation energies in the local ambient radiation field. In particular, the photon energy, time of event, and location of the detection instrument at the time of detection is recorded for real time transmission to a central data collection/analysis system. The collected data from the entire network of radiation detection instruments are combined by intelligent correlation/analysis algorithms which map the background radiation and detect, identify and track radiation anomalies in the region.

  15. Casual instrument corrections for short-period and broadband seismometers

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Haney, Matthew M.; Power, John; West, Michael; Michaels, Paul

    2012-01-01

    Of all the filters applied to recordings of seismic waves, which include source, path, and site effects, the one we know most precisely is the instrument filter. Therefore, it behooves seismologists to accurately remove the effect of the instrument from raw seismograms. Applying instrument corrections allows analysis of the seismogram in terms of physical units (e.g., displacement or particle velocity of the Earth’s surface) instead of the output of the instrument (e.g., digital counts). The instrument correction can be considered the most fundamental processing step in seismology since it relates the raw data to an observable quantity of interest to seismologists. Complicating matters is the fact that, in practice, the term “instrument correction” refers to more than simply the seismometer. The instrument correction compensates for the complete recording system including the seismometer, telemetry, digitizer, and any anti‐alias filters. Knowledge of all these components is necessary to perform an accurate instrument correction. The subject of instrument corrections has been covered extensively in the literature (Seidl, 1980; Scherbaum, 1996). However, the prospect of applying instrument corrections still evokes angst among many seismologists—the authors of this paper included. There may be several reasons for this. For instance, the seminal paper by Seidl (1980) exists in a journal that is not currently available in electronic format and cannot be accessed online. Also, a standard method for applying instrument corrections involves the programs TRANSFER and EVALRESP in the Seismic Analysis Code (SAC) package (Goldstein et al., 2003). The exact mathematical methods implemented in these codes are not thoroughly described in the documentation accompanying SAC.

  16. Instrumentation for Verification of Bomb Damage Repair Computer Code.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1981-09-01

    record the data, a conventional 14-track FM analog tape recorder was retained. The unknown factors of signal duration, test duration, and signal ...Kirtland Air Force Base computer centers for more detailed analyses. In addition to the analog recorder, signal conditioning equipment and amplifiers were...necessary to allow high quality data to be recorded. An Interrange Instrumentation Group (IRIG) code generator/reader placed a coded signal on the tape

  17. Instrument specifications and geophysical records for airborne electromagnetic survey of parts of Iron, Baraga, and Dickson Counties, Michigan

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Heran, William D.; Smith, Bruce D.

    1980-01-01

    The data presented herein is from an airborne electromagnetic INPUT* survey conducted by Geoterrex Limited of Canada for the U.S. Geological Survey. The survey area is located in the central part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, within parts of Iron, Baraga, and Dickinson Counties. The general area covered is between 46°00' and 46°30' latitude and 88°00' and 88°30' longitude (fig. 1).The INPUT survey was flown as part of a U.S. Geological Survey CUSMAP (Conterminous United States Mineral Appraisal Program) project focusing on the Iron River 2° quadrangle. The survey was flown in order to provide geophysical information which will aid in an integrated geological assessment of mineral potentials of this part of the Iron River 2° quadrangle. The flight line spacing was chosen to maximize the areal coverage without a loss of resolution of major lithologic and structural features.East-west flight lines were flown 400 feet above ground at 1/2 mile intervals. Aerial photos were used for navigation, and the flight path was recorded on continuous-strip film. A continuously recording total field ground magnetic station was used to monitor variations in the Earth's magnetic field. One north-south line was flown to provide a tie for the magnetic data, which was recorded simultaneously with the electromagnetic data by a sensor mounted in the tail of the aircraft. This report is one of two open-file reports. The map in the other report Heran and Smith (1980) shows locations of the fiducial points, the flight lines, preliminary locations of anomalies and conductive zones; all plotted on an air photomosaic. The latitude and longitude ticks marked on this map are only approximate due to distortion in air photos used to recover the flight line position. This map is preliminary and is not to be considered a final interpretation. The present report contains a description of the instrument specifications, a copy of the ground station magnetic data, and a record of the

  18. Testing Aircraft Instruments.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1981-02-11

    1. Have test data been collected, recorded, and presented in accordance with this TOP? Yes No Comment : 2. Were the facilities, test equipment...instrumentation, and support accommodations adequate to accomplish the test objectives? Yes No Comment : 3. Have all data collected been reviewed for...correctness and completeness? Yes No Comment : 4. Were the test results compromised in any way due to insufficient test planning? Yes No Comment : 5. Were the

  19. First-generation instrumentation for the Discovery Channel Telescope

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bida, Thomas A.; Dunham, Edward W.; Massey, Philip; Roe, Henry G.

    2014-07-01

    The 4.3m Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) has been conducting part-time science operations since January 2013. The f/6.1, 0.5° field-of-view at the RC focus is accessible through the Cassegrain instrument cube assembly, which can support 5 co-mounted instruments with rapid feed selection via deployable fold mirrors. Lowell Observatory has developed the Large Monolithic Imager (LMI), a 12.3' FOV 6K x 6K single CCD camera with a dual filter wheel, and installed at the straight-through, field-corrected RC focal station, which has served as the primary early science DCT instrument. Two low-resolution facility spectrographs are currently under development with first light for each anticipated by early 2015: the upgraded DeVeny Spectrograph, to be utilized for single object optical spectroscopy, and the unique Near-Infrared High-Throughput Spectrograph (NIHTS), optimized for single-shot JHK spectroscopy of faint solar system objects. These spectrographs will be mounted at folded RC ports, and the NIHTS installation will feature simultaneous optical imaging with LMI through use of a dichroic fold mirror. We report on the design, construction, commissioning, and progress of these 3 instruments in detail. We also discuss plans for installation of additional facility instrumentation on the DCT.

  20. Preparation of severely curved simulated root canals using engine-driven rotary and conventional hand instruments.

    PubMed

    Szep, S; Gerhardt, T; Leitzbach, C; Lüder, W; Heidemann, D

    2001-03-01

    This in vitro study evaluated the efficacy and safety of six different nickel-titanium engine-driven instruments used with a torque-controlled engine device and nickel-titanium hand and stainless steel hand instruments in preparation of curved canals. A total of 80 curved (36 degrees) simulated root canals were prepared. Images before and after were superimposed, and instrumentation areas were observed. Time of instrumentation, instrument failure, change in working length and weight loss were also recorded. Results show that stainless steel hand instruments cause significantly less transportation towards the inner wall of the canal than do nickel-titanium hand instruments. No instrument fracture occurred with hand instruments, but 30-60% breakage of instruments was recorded during instrumentation with the engine-driven devices. The working length was maintained by all types of instruments. Newly developed nickel-titanium rotary files were not able to prevent straightening of the severely curved canals when a torque-controlled engine-driven device was used.

  1. Undergraduate students introduction to manual and rotary root canal instrumentation.

    PubMed

    Leonardi, Denise Piotto; Haragushiku, Gisele Aihara; Tomazinho, Flavia Sens Fagundes; Furuse, Adilson Yoshio; Volpato, Lusiane; Baratto-Filho, Flares

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of undergraduates in their first contact with manual and rotary root canal instrumentation. Forty-two students who had never worked on a root canal before instrumented 42 extracted lower-incisors. Participants were assigned to one of two groups: Rotary instrumentation or manual instrumentation. Pre- and post-operative computed tomography scans were obtained with a 3-dimensional dental imaging system. Starting and finishing times of preparation were recorded. The cross-sectional area of the root canal was analyzed with 2-mm-below-the-apex initial and final transverse images recorded through a digital imaging system and analyzed with software to measure the initial and final area of the root canal in mm(2). Data from the cross-sectional area of the root canal and time spent were subjected to the Mann-Whitney's U-test (p<0.05). The rotary instrumentation group showed smaller time for preparation (p=0.0204). No differences between rotary and manual instrumentation regarding the cross-sectional area of the root canal were observed (p=0.25). No accidents occurred. Undergraduate students showed good performance in their first contact with the manual and rotary instrumentation with regard to time spent and cross-sectional area of the root canal, with no operative accidents.

  2. Characterizing Early Adolescent Plate Waste Using the Mobile Food Record.

    PubMed

    Panizza, Chloe E; Boushey, Carol J; Delp, Edward J; Kerr, Deborah A; Lim, Eunjung; Gandhi, Krupa; Banna, Jinan C

    2017-01-26

    This study aimed to assess the amount of plate waste and how plate waste was disposed by early adolescent girls using a mobile food record (mFR). Participants were girls nine to thirteen years residing in O'ahu, Hawai'i ( n = 93). Foods selected and leftover were estimated using a three day mFR. Each leftover food was then classified as thrown into the trash, fed to a pet, eaten later, or other (e.g., composted). Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVA) were conducted and Tukey's post-hoc test were used to adjust for multiple comparisons between times (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack) on leftover food and leftover food thrown into the trash. The percentage of food leftover and thrown into the trash was highest at lunch. The percentage of protein, grain, vegetables, fruit, and dairy leftover at lunch were unexpectedly low compared to previous studies. The median for percentage of food thrown into the trash at lunch was <5% for all food groups, and was consistently low across the day (<10%). Average energy intake was 436 kcal (±216) at lunch, and 80% of caregivers reported total household income as ≥$70,000. Studies in real-time using technology over full days may better quantify plate waste among adolescents.

  3. Characterizing Early Adolescent Plate Waste Using the Mobile Food Record

    PubMed Central

    Panizza, Chloe E.; Boushey, Carol J.; Delp, Edward J.; Kerr, Deborah A.; Lim, Eunjung; Gandhi, Krupa; Banna, Jinan C.

    2017-01-01

    This study aimed to assess the amount of plate waste and how plate waste was disposed by early adolescent girls using a mobile food record (mFR). Participants were girls nine to thirteen years residing in O’ahu, Hawai’i (n = 93). Foods selected and leftover were estimated using a three day mFR. Each leftover food was then classified as thrown into the trash, fed to a pet, eaten later, or other (e.g., composted). Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVA) were conducted and Tukey’s post-hoc test were used to adjust for multiple comparisons between times (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack) on leftover food and leftover food thrown into the trash. The percentage of food leftover and thrown into the trash was highest at lunch. The percentage of protein, grain, vegetables, fruit, and dairy leftover at lunch were unexpectedly low compared to previous studies. The median for percentage of food thrown into the trash at lunch was <5% for all food groups, and was consistently low across the day (<10%). Average energy intake was 436 kcal (±216) at lunch, and 80% of caregivers reported total household income as ≥$70,000. Studies in real-time using technology over full days may better quantify plate waste among adolescents. PMID:28134757

  4. Calcification and Silicification: Fossilization Potential of Cyanobacteria from Stromatolites of Niuafo‘ou's Caldera Lakes (Tonga) and Implications for the Early Fossil Record

    PubMed Central

    Kazmierczak, Józef; Łukomska-Kowalczyk, Maja; Kempe, Stephan

    2012-01-01

    Abstract Calcification and silicification processes of cyanobacterial mats that form stromatolites in two caldera lakes of Niuafo‘ou Island (Vai Lahi and Vai Si‘i) were evaluated, and their importance as analogues for interpreting the early fossil record are discussed. It has been shown that the potential for morphological preservation of Niuafo‘ou cyanobacteria is highly dependent on the timing and type of mineral phase involved in the fossilization process. Four main modes of mineralization of cyanobacteria organic parts have been recognized: (i) primary early postmortem calcification by aragonite nanograins that transform quickly into larger needle-like crystals and almost totally destroy the cellular structures, (ii) primary early postmortem silicification of almost intact cyanobacterial cells that leave a record of spectacularly well-preserved cellular structures, (iii) replacement by silica of primary aragonite that has already recrystallized and obliterated the cellular structures, (iv) occasional replacement of primary aragonite precipitated in the mucopolysaccharide sheaths and extracellular polymeric substances by Al-Mg-Fe silicates. These observations suggest that the extremely scarce earliest fossil record may, in part, be the result of (a) secondary replacement by silica of primary carbonate minerals (aragonite, calcite, siderite), which, due to recrystallization, had already annihilated the cellular morphology of the mineralized microbiota or (b) relatively late primary silicification of already highly degraded and no longer morphologically identifiable microbial remains. Key Words: Stromatolites—Cyanobacteria—Calcification—Silicification—Niuafo‘ou (Tonga)—Archean. Astrobiology 12, 535–548. PMID:22794297

  5. Tree ring-based seven-century drought records for the Western Himalaya, India

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yadav, Ram R.

    2013-05-01

    The paucity of available instrumental climate records in cold and arid regions of the western Himalaya, India, hampers our understanding of the long-term variability of regional droughts, which seriously affect the agrarian economy of the region. Using ring width chronologies of Cedrus deodara and Pinus gerardiana together from a network of moisture-stressed sites, Palmer Drought Severity Index values for October-May back to 1310 A.D. were developed. The twentieth century features dominant decadal-scale pluvial phases (1981-1995, 1952-1968, and 1918-1934) as compared to the severe droughts in the early seventeenth century (1617-1640) as well as late fifteenth to early sixteenth (1491-1526) centuries. The drought anomalies are positively (negatively) associated with central Pacific (Indo-Pacific Warm Pool) sea surface temperature anomalies. However, non-stationarity in such relationships appears to be the major riddle in the predictability of long-term droughts much needed for the sustainable development of the ecologically sensitive region of the Himalayas.

  6. Family of the Sun-and-Stars Time-Determining Instruments (Ilseong-jeongsi-ui) Invented During the Joseon Dynasty

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Yong Sam; Kim, Sang Hyuk; Mihn, Byeong-Hee

    2016-09-01

    We analyze the design and specifications of the Sun-and-Stars Time-Determining group of instruments (Ilseong-jeongsi-ui, 日星定時儀) made during the Joseon dynasty. According to the records of the Sejong Sillok (Veritable Records of King Sejong), Sun-and-Stars Time-Determining Instruments measure the solar time of day and the sidereal time of night through three rings and an alidade. One such instrument, the Simplified Time-Determining Instrument (So-jeongsi-ui, 小定時儀), is made without the essential component for alignment with the celestial north pole. Among this group of instruments, only two bronze Hundred-Interval-Ring Sundials (Baekgak-hwan-Ilgu, 百刻環日晷) currently exist. A comparison of the functions of these two relics with two Time-Determining Instruments suggests that the Hundred-Interval-Ring Sundial is a Simplified Sundial (So-ilyeong, 小日影), as recorded in the Sejong Sillok and the Seongjong Sillok (Veritable Records of King Seongjong). Furthermore, the Simplified Sundial is a model derived from the Simplified Time-Determining Instrument. During the King Sejong reign, the Sun-and-Stars Time-Determining Instruments were used in military camps of the kingdom’s frontiers, in royal ancestral rituals, and in royal astronomical observatories.

  7. Patient-specific instrumentation versus conventional instrumentation in total knee arthroplasty.

    PubMed

    Chan, W Cw; Pinder, E; Loeffler, M

    2016-08-01

    To compare patient-specific instrumentation (PSI) with conventional instrumentation in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in terms of component alignment, operating time, and the learning curve required in a non-teaching hospital. Records of 33 men and 29 women aged 50 to 88 (mean, 71) years who underwent TKA for osteoarthritis using PSI (n=31) or conventional instrumentation (n=31) by a single surgeon were reviewed. The choice of instrumentation was made by the patient; the surgeon did not express any preference and had not used PSI before. All patients used the same cemented, cruciate-retaining system. The PSI and conventional instrumentation groups were comparable in terms of age, body mass index (BMI), American Society of Anesthesiologists grade, pre- and post-operative haemoglobin level, and the need for blood transfusion. Compared with conventional instrumentation, PSI resulted in a smaller coronal femoral component angle (7.7º vs. 6.4º, p=0.003) and posterior tibial slope angle (6.4º vs. 3.2º, p=0.0001), and smaller variance of the respective angles (p=0.006 and p=0.003). In patients with a BMI ≥30, PSI still resulted in a smaller posterior tibial slope angle (5.8º vs. 3.1º, p=0.015) and variance of the angle (p=0.02). The mean tourniquet time was shorter in the PSI group in all patients (p=0.013) and in patients with BMI ≥30 kg/m2 (p=0.0008), and its variance was also smaller in the PSI group (p=0.0004). There was no learning curve required. PSI was simple to use, with no learning curve required. It can be used in non-teaching hospitals and in patients with a high BMI and in cases where the use of an intramedullary alignment guide would be problematic due to previous femoral trauma.

  8. Modern Microbial Ecosystems are a Key to Understanding Our Biosphere's Early Evolution and its Contributions To The Atmosphere and Rock Record

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    DesMarais, David J.; DeVincenzi, Donald L. (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    The survival of our early biosphere depended upon efficient coordination anion- diverse microbial populations. Microbial mats exhibit a 3.46-billion-year fossil record, thus they are the oldest known ecosystems. Photosynthetic microbial mats were key because, today, sunlight powers more than 99 percent of global primary productivity. Thus photosynthetic ecosystems have affected the atmosphere profoundly and have created the most pervasive, easily-detected fossils. Photosynthetic biospheres elsewhere will be most detectible via telescopes or spacecraft. As a part of the Astrobiology Institute, our Ames Microbial Ecosystems group examines the roles played by ecological processes in the early evolution of our biosphere, as recorded in geologic fossils and in the macromolecules of living cells: (1) We are defining the microbial mat microenvironment, which was an important milieu for early evolution. (2) We are comparing mats in contrasting environments to discern strategies of adaptation and diversification, traits that were key for long-term survival. (3) We have selected sites that mimic key environmental attributes of early Earth and thereby focus upon evolutionary adaptations to long-term changes in the global environment. (4) Our studies of gas exchange contribute to better estimates of biogenic gases in Earth's early atmosphere. This group therefore directly addresses the question: How have the Earth and its biosphere influenced each other over time Our studies strengthen the systematics for interpreting the microbial fossil record and thereby enhance astrobiological studies of martian samples. Our models of biogenic gas emissions will enhance models of atmospheres that might be detected on inhabited extrasolar planets. This work therefore also addresses the question: How can other biospheres be recogniZed" Our choice of field sites helps us explore Earth's evolving early environment. For example, modern mats that occupy thermal springs and certain freshwater

  9. Reading the medical record. I. Analysis of physicians' ways of reading the medical record.

    PubMed

    Nygren, E; Henriksson, P

    1992-01-01

    Physicians were interviewed about their routines in everyday use of the medical record. From the interviews, we conclude that the medical record is a well functioning working instrument for the experienced physician. Using the medical record as a basis for decision making involves interpretation of format, layout and other textural features of the type-written data. Interpretation of these features provides effective guidance in the process of searching, reading and assessing the relevance of different items of information in the record. It seems that this is a skill which is an integrated part of diagnostic expertise. This skill plays an important role in decision making based on the large amount of information about a patient, which is exhibited to the reader in the medical record. This finding has implications for the design of user interfaces for reading computerized medical records.

  10. Toward a Multi-Decadal Record of Satellite CO from MOPITT to Suomi NPP/CrIS: Overview and Initial Results

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Francis, G. L.; Cady-Pereira, K.; Worden, H. M.; Shephard, M.; Fu, D.

    2016-12-01

    A prototype optimal estimation CO retrieval framework using CrIS thermal-IR spectra is being developed and undergoing initial testing and evaluation. The goal is construction of a multi- decadal climate-quality data record, consistent with MOPITT, extending into the post-EOS/Terra era, given the planned JPSS mission schedule. The EOS/MOPITT instrument has an ongoing and unprecedented record of CO retrievals since early 2000. CrIS CO offers the potential to significantly extend the MOPITT thermal-IR retrieval record, as well as providing expanded spatial coverage. We describe the prototype CrIS CO optimal estimation retrieval system. Test CO retrievals include data for the California Central Valley and the fires near Fort McMurray, Canada. We compare our results to other satellite datasets as well as available in-situ data. Directions for future work will be discussed.

  11. 45 CFR 2508.4 - When can Corporation records be disclosed?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... record will be used solely as a statistical research or reporting record, and the record is to be... agency or to an instrumentality of any governmental jurisdiction within or under the control of the... 1201.3, and provided that if any such record is disclosed under such compulsory legal process and...

  12. The Preboreal-like Asian monsoon climate in the early last interglacial period recorded from the Dark Cave, Southwest China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jiang, Xiuyang; He, Yaoqi; Wang, Xiaoyan; Sun, Xiaoshuang; Hong, Hui; Liu, Juan; Yu, Tsai-Luen; Li, Zhizhong; Shen, Chuan-Chou

    2017-08-01

    Transitions of glacial-interglacial cycles are critical periods for Quaternary climate shifts. Here, we present new, decadal resolution Asian summer monsoon (ASM) record from three stalagmites obtained from the Dark Cave in southwestern China over 130-114 thousand years ago (ka, before CE 1950). Chronology was anchored by 28 230Th dates with typical uncertainties of ±0.3-1.0 kyr, allowing an assessment of timing and transition of climate changes during the onset and end of the last interglacial. An agreement between this new and previous stalagmite δ18O records supports that summer insolation predominates orbital-scale ASM evolution. A 2-3 kyr-long gradually increasing ASM period, analogous to the classical Preboreal episode in the early Holocene, follows the termination of a weak monsoon interval at 129.0 ± 0.8 ka. This finding suggests a strong influence of high-latitude ice-sheet dynamics on Asian monsoonal conditions during the early interglacial period. An abrupt end of the marine isotope stage 5e at 118.8 ± 0.6 ka was probably caused by the internal climate system threshold effects.

  13. Student nurses' recognition of early signs of abnormal vital sign recordings.

    PubMed

    Leonard, Martha M; Kyriacos, Una

    2015-09-01

    There is increasing urgency for nurses to recognize early signs of deterioration in patients and to take appropriate action to prevent serious adverse effects. To assess respondents' ability to identify abnormal recordings for respiratory and heart rate, oxygen saturation level, systolic blood pressure, level of consciousness, urinary output and normal temperature. A descriptive observational survey. A nursing college in Cape Town, South Africa. A sample of 77/212 (36.3%) fourth year students. A self-administered adapted questionnaire was employed to collect demographic data and respondents' selections of recorded physiological values for the purpose of deciding when to call for more skilled help. The median age for 62/77 (80.5%) of the respondents was 25years; 3/76 (3.9%) had a previous certificate in nursing. Most respondents were female (66/76, 85.7%). Afrikaans was the first language preference of 33 (42.9%) respondents, followed by isiXhosa (31/77, 40.3%) and English (10/77, 13.0%). Most respondents (48/77, 62.3%) recognized a normal temperature reading (35-38.4°C). However, overall there would have been delays in calling for more skilled assistance in 288/416 (69.2%) instances of critical illness for a high-score MEWS of 3 and in 226/639 (35.4%) instances at a medium-score MEWS of 2 for physiological parameters. In 96/562 (17.1%) instances, respondents would have called for assistance for a low-score MEWS of 1. Non-recognition of deterioration in patients' clinical status and delayed intervention by nurses has implications for the development of serious adverse events. The MEWS is recommended as a track-and-trigger system for nursing curricula in South Africa and for implementation in practice. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  14. A New Comprehensive Lightning Instrumentation System for Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mata, Carlos T.; Rakov, Vladimir A.; Mata, Angel G.; Bonilla Tatiana; Navedo, Emmanuel; Snyder, Gary P.

    2010-01-01

    A new comprehensive lightning instrumentation system has been designed for Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This new instrumentation system includes the synchronized recording of six high-speed video cameras, currents through the nine downconductors of the new lightning protection system, four B-dot, 3-axis measurement stations, and five D-dot stations composed of two antennas each. The instrumentation system is composed of centralized transient recorders and digitizers that located close to the sensors in the field. The sensors and transient recorders communicate via optical fiber. The transient recorders are triggered by the B-dot sensors, the E-dot sensors, or the current through the downlead conductors. The high-speed cameras are triggered by the transient recorders when the latter perceives a qualified trigger.

  15. The Early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event and its sedimentary record in Switzerland

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fantasia, Alicia; Föllmi, Karl B.; Adatte, Thierry; Spangenberg, Jorge E.; Montero-Serrano, Jean-Carlos

    2015-04-01

    In the Jurassic period, the Early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE), about 183 Ma ago, was a global perturbation of paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental conditions. This episode was associated with a crisis in marine carbonate accumulation, climate warming, an increase in sea level, ocean acidification, enhanced continental weathering, whereas organic-rich sediments are noticeable for example in the Atlantic and in the Tethys. This episode is associated with a negative carbon excursion, which is recorded both in marine and terrestrial environments. The cause(s) of this environmental crisis remain(s) still controversial. Nevertheless, the development of negative δ13C excursions is commonly interpreted as due to the injection of isotopically-light carbon associated with gas hydrate dissociation, the thermal metamorphism of carbon-rich sediments and input of thermogenic and volcanogenic carbon related to the formation of the Karoo-Ferrar basaltic province in southern Gondwana (Hesselbo et al., 2000, 2007; Beerling et al., 2002; Cohen et al., 2004, 2007; McElwain et al., 2005, Beerling and Brentnall, 2007; Svensen et al., 2007; Hermoso et al., 2009, 2012; Mazzini et al., 2010). Several studies of the T-OAE have been conducted on sediments in central and northwest Europe, but only few data are available concerning the Swiss sedimentary records. Therefore, we focused on two sections in the Jura Plateau (canton Aargau): the Rietheim section (Montero-Serrano et al., submitted) and the Gipf section (current study). A multidisciplinary approach has been chosen and the tools to be used are based on sedimentological observations (sedimentary condensation, etc.), biostratigraphy, mineralogy (bulk-rock composition), facies and microfacies analysis (presence or absence of benthos), clay-mineralogy composition (climatic conditions), major and trace-element analyses (productivity, redox conditions, etc.), phosphorus (trophic levels, anoxia), carbon isotopes and organic

  16. Portable dynamic fundus instrument

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Taylor, Gerald R. (Inventor); Meehan, Richard T. (Inventor); Hunter, Norwood R. (Inventor); Caputo, Michael P. (Inventor); Gibson, C. Robert (Inventor)

    1992-01-01

    A portable diagnostic image analysis instrument is disclosed for retinal funduscopy in which an eye fundus image is optically processed by a lens system to a charge coupled device (CCD) which produces recordable and viewable output data and is simultaneously viewable on an electronic view finder. The fundus image is processed to develop a representation of the vessel or vessels from the output data.

  17. Self-administered Gerocognitive Examination (SAGE): a brief cognitive assessment Instrument for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early dementia.

    PubMed

    Scharre, Douglas W; Chang, Shu-Ing; Murden, Robert A; Lamb, James; Beversdorf, David Q; Kataki, Maria; Nagaraja, Haikady N; Bornstein, Robert A

    2010-01-01

    To develop a self-administered cognitive assessment instrument to facilitate the screening of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early dementia and determine its association with gold standard clinical assessments including neuropsychologic evaluation. Adults aged above 59 years with sufficient vision and English literacy were recruited from geriatric and memory disorder clinics, educational talks, independent living facilities, senior centers, and memory screens. After Self-administered Gerocognitive Examination (SAGE) screening, subjects were randomly selected to complete a clinical evaluation, neurologic examination, neuropsychologic battery, functional assessment, and mini-mental state examination (MMSE). Subjects were identified as dementia, MCI, or normal based on standard clinical criteria and neuropsychologic testing. Two hundred fifty-four participants took the SAGE screen and 63 subjects completed the extensive evaluation (21 normal, 21 MCI, and 21 dementia subjects). Spearman rank correlation between SAGE and neuropsychologic battery was 0.84 (0.76 for MMSE). SAGE receiver operating characteristics on the basis of clinical diagnosis showed 95% specificity (90% for MMSE) and 79% sensitivity (71% for MMSE) in detecting those with cognitive impairment from normal subjects. This study suggests that SAGE is a reliable instrument for detecting cognitive impairment and compares favorably with the MMSE. The self-administered feature may promote cognitive testing by busy clinicians prompting earlier diagnosis and treatment.

  18. Sulfur Geochemistry of a Lacustrine Record from Taiwan Reveals Enhanced Marine Aerosol Input during the Early Holocene

    PubMed Central

    Ding, Xiaodong; Li, Dawei; Zheng, Liwei; Bao, Hongyan; Chen, Huei-Fen; Kao, Shuh-Ji

    2016-01-01

    Lacustrine record of marine aerosol input has rarely been documented. Here, we present the sulfur geochemistry during the last deglaciation and early Holocene of a sediment core retrieved from the Dongyuan Lake in southern Taiwan. An unusually high sulfur peak accompanying pyrite presence is observed at 10.5 ka BP. Such high sulfur content in lacustrine record is unusual. The δ34S of sulfur varied from +9.5 to + 17.1‰ with two significant positive shifts at 10.5 and 9.4 ka BP. The sources of sulfur and potential processes involving the sulfur isotope variation including bacterial sulfate reduction, volcanic emissions, in-catchment sulfide oxidation and marine aerosol input are discussed. Enhanced marine aerosol input is the most likely explanation for such sulfur peaks and δ34S shifts. The positive δ34S shifts appeared concurrently with the maximum landslide events over Taiwan resulted from enhanced typhoon activities. The synchronicity among records suggests that increased typhoon activities promoted sea spray, and consequently enhanced the marine aerosol input with 34S-enriched sulfate. Our sulfur geochemistry data revealed sea spray history and marine influence onto terrestrial environment at coastal regions. Wider coverage of spatial-temporal lacustrine sulfur geochemistry record is needed to validate the applicability of sulfur proxy in paleoenvironmental research. PMID:27941864

  19. Unlocking the early fossil record of the arthropod central nervous system

    PubMed Central

    Edgecombe, Gregory D.; Ma, Xiaoya; Strausfeld, Nicholas J.

    2015-01-01

    Extant panarthropods (euarthropods, onychophorans and tardigrades) are hallmarked by stunning morphological and taxonomic diversity, but their central nervous systems (CNS) are relatively conserved. The timing of divergences of the ground pattern CNS organization of the major panarthropod clades has been poorly constrained because of a scarcity of data from their early fossil record. Although the CNS has been documented in three-dimensional detail in insects from Cenozoic ambers, it is widely assumed that these tissues are too prone to decay to withstand other styles of fossilization or geologically older preservation. However, Cambrian Burgess Shale-type compressions have emerged as sources of fossilized brains and nerve cords. CNS in these Cambrian fossils are preserved as carbon films or as iron oxides/hydroxides after pyrite in association with carbon. Experiments with carcasses compacted in fine-grained sediment depict preservation of neural tissue for a more prolonged temporal window than anticipated by decay experiments in other media. CNS and compound eye characters in exceptionally preserved Cambrian fossils predict divergences of the mandibulate and chelicerate ground patterns by Cambrian Stage 3 (ca 518 Ma), a dating that is compatible with molecular estimates for these splits. PMID:26554038

  20. Comparing measurement response and inverted results of electrical resistivity tomography instruments

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Parsekian, Andrew D.; Claes, Niels; Singha, Kamini; Minsley, Burke J.; Carr, Bradley; Voytek, Emily; Harmon, Ryan; Kass, Andy; Carey, Austin; Thayer, Drew; Flinchum, Brady

    2017-01-01

    In this investigation, we compare the results of electrical resistivity measurements made by six commercially available instruments on the same line of electrodes to determine if there are differences in the measured data or inverted results. These comparisons are important to determine whether measurements made between different instruments are consistent. We also degraded contact resistance on one quarter of the electrodes to study how each instrument responds to different electrical connection with the ground. We find that each instrument produced statistically similar apparent resistivity results, and that any conservative assessment of the final inverted resistivity models would result in a similar interpretation for each. We also note that inversions, as expected, are affected by measurement error weights. Increased measurement errors were most closely associated with degraded contact resistance in this set of experiments. In a separate test we recorded the full measured waveform for a single four-electrode array to show how poor electrode contact and instrument-specific recording settings can lead to systematic measurement errors. We find that it would be acceptable to use more than one instrument during an investigation with the expectation that the results would be comparable assuming contact resistance remained consistent.

  1. 45 CFR 5b.9 - Disclosure of records.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... individual, organizational unit or class of individuals or organizational units to whom the record may be... individual's records to unspecified individuals or organizational units will not be honored. The subject... or to an instrumentality of any governmental jurisdiction within or under the control of the United...

  2. An Early Middle Eocene Orbital Scale Benthic Isotope Record From IODP Site 1408, Newfoundland Rise

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, F.; Lawler, N.; Penman, D. E.; Zachos, J. C.; Kirtland Turner, S.; Norris, R. D.; Wilson, P. A.; Hull, P. M.

    2014-12-01

    The long-term Paleogene global cooling trend and eventual glaciation of Antarctica has been attributed to a reduction in greenhouse gas levels as well as changes in the configuration of high-latitude oceanic gateways. This major trend in climate and forcing is known to have initiated in the early middle Eocene, between 44-49 Mya, yet our understanding of the detailed evolution of climate and oceanic circulation and carbon chemistry of this critical interval has been limited for lack of high-resolution proxy climate records. Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 342, designed in part to address this deficiency, successfully recovered highly expanded sequences of middle Eocene sediment from multiple sites in the western North Atlantic, with several sites characterized by high sedimentation rates (>2.8 cm/kyr) and pronounced lithologic cycles. Using samples from cores recovered at one of these sites, 1408, located on Southeast Newfoundland Ridge, we are reconstructing the first orbital-scale deep sea δ18O and δ13C records spanning a ~1.6 million year interval (~Chron 20r) of the middle Eocene. Based on analyses of benthic foraminifer N. truempyi, our preliminary data reveal distinct high-frequency cycles with periods matching those of the orbital cycles, particularly precession and obliquity. Cross spectral analysis of δ18O, δ13C and lithologic records reveal a high degree of coherency, implying a high sensitivity in local sediment fluxes and bottom water chemistry (and circulation) to orbital forcing. Also, given the location and depth (~2600 m at 50 Ma), Site 1408 constrains the end-member composition of northern component bathyal bottom waters so that comparison with benthic isotope records from the south Atlantic and other basins can be used to assess ocean circulation patterns in the mid-Eocene. In general, bottom water temperatures appear to have been warmer, and DIC δ13C lower than observed elsewhere. Thus, our preliminary results are

  3. Television camera as a scientific instrument

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Smokler, M. I.

    1970-01-01

    Rigorous calibration program, coupled with a sophisticated data-processing program that introduced compensation for system response to correct photometry, geometric linearity, and resolution, converted a television camera to a quantitative measuring instrument. The output data are in the forms of both numeric printout records and photographs.

  4. Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA): Analysis of the instrumentation subsystem

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Howard, B. S.

    1986-01-01

    The results of the Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA) of the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Critical Items List (CIL) are presented. The IOA approach features a top-down analysis of the hardware to determine failure modes, criticality, and potential critical items. To preserve independence, this analysis was accomplished without reliance upon the results contained within the NASA FMEA/CIL documentation. The independent analysis results for the Instrumentation Subsystem are documented. The Instrumentation Subsystem (SS) consists of transducers, signal conditioning equipment, pulse code modulation (PCM) encoding equipment, tape recorders, frequency division multiplexers, and timing equipment. For this analysis, the SS is broken into two major groupings: Operational Instrumentation (OI) equipment and Modular Auxiliary Data System (MADS) equipment. The OI equipment is required to acquire, condition, scale, digitize, interleave/multiplex, format, and distribute operational Orbiter and payload data and voice for display, recording, telemetry, and checkout. It also must provide accurate timing for time critical functions for crew and payload specialist use. The MADS provides additional instrumentation to measure and record selected pressure, temperature, strain, vibration, and event data for post-flight playback and analysis. MADS data is used to assess vehicle responses to the flight environment and to permit correlation of such data from flight to flight. The IOA analysis utilized available SS hardware drawings and schematics for identifying hardware assemblies and components and their interfaces. Criticality for each item was assigned on the basis of the worst-case effect of the failure modes identified.

  5. Instrumental Techniques in Archeological Research

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-09-01

    and instruments borrowed from the fields of chemistry , physics, geology, metallurgy, and ceramic engineering yield quantitative data on archeological...artifacts. Early analyses relied primarily on wet chemistry techniques in which samples of artifacts were dissolved into liquid solutions, destroying...other organic and inorganic materials. Advantages and disadvantages are dis- cussed. Each technique is presented with attention to appropriate materials

  6. Influence of musical instruments on tooth positions.

    PubMed

    Herman, E

    1981-08-01

    A 2-year longitudinal investigation was conducted at five New York City junior high schools on 11- to 13-year-old children starting instrumental music education to determine what tooth movement, if any, resulted from the playing of certain musical instruments. Questionnaires, interviews, oral examinations, and dental casts were used at the start of instrumental study, after one year, and then after a second year. Statistically significant anterior tooth movements occurred in an overwhelming majority of the instrumentalists, while negligible movements were recorded for the controls over this period. As a result of this study, certain recommendations can be made by dentists when they are asked to suggest instruments which are dentally suited for children. In most cases they can suggest more than one instrument which would be of benefit dentally to the individual child, especially in the increase or reduction of overjet and overbite. The playing of the correct musical instrument can serve as an adjunct to the dentist or orthodontist in trying to accomplish certain tooth movements.

  7. Varied records of early Wisconsinan alpine glaciation in the western United States derived from weathering-rind thicknesses

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Clark, Peter U.; Lea, P.D.

    1992-01-01

    Weathering-rind thicknesses were measured on volcanic clasts in sequences of glacial deposits in seven mountain ranges in the western United States and in the Puget lowland. Because the rate of rind development decreases with time, ratios of rind thicknesses provide limits on corresponding age ratios. In all areas studied, deposits of late Wisconsinan age are obvious; deposits of late Illinoian age (ca. 140 ka) also seem to be present in each area, although independent evidence for their numerical age is circumstantial. The weathering-rind data indicate that deposits that have intermediate ages between these two are common, and ratios of rind thicknesses suggest an early Wisconsinan age (about 60 to 70 ka) for some of the intermediate deposits. Three of the seven studied alpine areas (McCall, Idaho; Yakima Valley, Washington; and Lassen Peak, California) appear to have early Wisconsinan drift beyond the extent of late Wisconsinan ice. In addition, Mount Rainier and the Puget lowland, Washington, have outwash terraces but no moraines of early Wisconsinan age. The sequences near West Yellowstone, Montana; Truckee, California; and in the southern Olympic Mountains have no recognized moraines or outwash of this age. Many of the areas have deposits that may be of middle Wisconsinan age.Differences in the relative extents of early Wisconsinan alpine glaciers are not expected from the marine oxygen-isotope record and are not explained by any simple trend in climatic variables or proximity to oceanic moisture sources. However, alpine glaciers could have responded more quickly and more variably than continental ice sheets to intense, short-lived climatic events, and they may have been influenced by local climatic or hypsometric effects. The relative sizes of early and late Wisconsinan alpine glaciers could also reflect differences between early and late Wisconsinan continental ice sheets and their regional climatic effects.

  8. Holocene East Asian summer monsoon records in northern China and their inconsistency with Chinese stalagmite δ18O records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Jianbao; Chen, Jianhui; Zhang, Xiaojian; Chen, Fahu

    2016-04-01

    Monsoon precipitation over China exhibits large spatial differences. It has been found that a significantly enhanced East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) is characterized by increased rainfall in northern China and by reduced rainfall in southern China, and this relationship occurs on different time scales during the Holocene. This study presents results from a diverse range of proxy paleoclimatic records from northern China where precipitation variability is traditionally considered as an EASM proxy. Our aim is to evaluate the evolution of the EASM during the Holocene and to compare it with all of the published stalagmite δ18O records from the Asian Monsoon region in order to explore the potential mechanism(s) controlling the Chinese stalagmite δ18O. We found that the intensity of the EASM during the Holocene recorded by the traditional EASM proxy of moisture (or precipitation) records from northern China are significantly different from the Chinese stalagmite δ18O records. The EASM maximum occurred during the mid-Holocene, challenging the prevailing view of an early Holocene EASM maximum mainly inferred from stalagmite δ18O records in eastern China. In addition, all of the well-dated Holocene stalagmite δ18O records, covering a broad geographical region, exhibit a remarkably similar trend of variation and are statistically well-correlated on different time scales, thus indicating a common signal. However, in contrast with the clear consistency in the δ18O values in all of the cave records, both instrumental and paleoclimatic records exhibit significant spatial variations in rainfall on decadal-to- centennial time scales over eastern China. In addition, both paleoclimatic records and modeling results suggest that Holocene East Asian summer monsoon precipitation reached a maximum at different periods in different regions of China. Thus the stalagmite δ18O records from the EASM region should not be regarded as a reliable indicator of the strength of the East

  9. Astronomically forced paleoclimate change from middle Eocene to early Oligocene: continental conditions in central China compared with the global marine isotope record

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, C.; Hinnov, L. A.

    2010-12-01

    The early Eocene climatic optimum ended with a long interval of global cooling that began in the early Middle Eocene and ended at the Eocene-Oligocene transition. During this long-term cooling, a series of short-term warming reversals occurred in the marine realm. Here, we investigate corresponding continental climate conditions as revealed in the Qianjiang Formation of the Jianghan Basin in central China, which consists of more than 4000 m of saline lake sediments. The Qianjiang Formation includes, in its deepest sections, a halite-rich rhythmic sediment succession with dark mudstone, brownish-white siltstone and sandstone, and greyish-white halite. Alternating fresh water (humid/cool)—saline water (dry/hot) deposits reflect climate cycles driven by orbital forcing. High-resolution gamma ray (GR) logging from the basin center captures these pronounced lithological rhythms throughout the formation. Several halite-rich intervals are interpreted as short-term warming events within the middle Eocene to early Oligocene, and could be expressions of coeval warming events in the global marine oxygen isotope record, for example, the middle Eocene climate optimum (MECO) event around 41 Ma. The Eocene-Oligocene boundary is distinguished by a radical change from halite-rich to clastic sediments, indicating a dramatic climate change from warm to cool conditions. Power spectral analysis of the GR series indicates strong short (~100 kyr) eccentricity cycling during the warm/hot episodes. Amplitude modulation of the short eccentricity in the GR series occurs with a strong 405 kyr periodicity. This cycling is calibrated to the La2004 orbital eccentricity model. A climate reversal occurs at 36.5 Ma within the long-term marine cooling trend following MECO, which is reflected also in the Qianjiang GR series, with the latter indicating several brief warm/dry reversals within the trend. A ~2.6 Myr halite-rich warm interval occurs in the latest Eocene in the continental record; both

  10. The geologic record of climatic change

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Crowley, T. J.

    1982-01-01

    Major results from paleoclimatic investigations are investigated, and background material is included. The time interval surveyed extends from the formation of the Earth 4.6 billion years ago to the development of the instrumental record.

  11. Variability of floods, droughts and windstorms over the past 500 years in Central Europe based on documentary and instrumental data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brazdil, Rudolf

    2016-04-01

    Hydrological and meteorological extremes (HMEs) in Central Europe during the past 500 years can be reconstructed based on instrumental and documentary data. Documentary data about weather and related phenomena represent the basic source of information for historical climatology and hydrology, dealing with reconstruction of past climate and HMEs, their perception and impacts on human society. The paper presents the basic distribution of documentary data on (i) direct descriptions of HMEs and their proxies on the one hand and on (ii) individual and institutional data sources on the other. Several groups of documentary evidence such as narrative written records (annals, chronicles, memoirs), visual daily weather records, official and personal correspondence, special prints, financial and economic records (with particular attention to taxation data), newspapers, pictorial documentation, chronograms, epigraphic data, early instrumental observations, early scientific papers and communications are demonstrated with respect to extraction of information about HMEs, which concerns usually of their occurrence, severity, seasonality, meteorological causes, perception and human impacts. The paper further presents the analysis of 500-year variability of floods, droughts and windstorms on the base of series, created by combination of documentary and instrumental data. Results, advantages and drawbacks of such approach are documented on the examples from the Czech Lands. The analysis of floods concentrates on the River Vltava (Prague) and the River Elbe (Děčín) which show the highest frequency of floods occurring in the 19th century (mainly of winter synoptic type) and in the second half of the 16th century (summer synoptic type). Reported are also the most disastrous floods (August 1501, March and August 1598, February 1655, June 1675, February 1784, March 1845, February 1862, September 1890, August 2002) and the European context of floods in the severe winter 1783/84. Drought

  12. Instrumentation of Navistar truck for data collection.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-01-01

    The overarching goal of this project was to instrument the new MnDOT Navistar truck used at MN Road. A : rugged data acquisition, data recording and wireless transmission system was established for collection of various : sensor signals from the truc...

  13. Single pilot scanning behavior in simulated instrument flight

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pennington, J. E.

    1979-01-01

    A simulation of tasks associated with single pilot general aviation flight under instrument flight rules was conducted as a baseline for future research studies on advanced flight controls and avionics. The tasks, ranging from simple climbs and turns to an instrument landing systems approach, were flown on a fixed base simulator. During the simulation the control inputs, state variables, and the pilots visual scan pattern including point of regard were measured and recorded.

  14. Trace fossils and substrates of the terminal Proterozoic–Cambrian transition: Implications for the record of early bilaterians and sediment mixing

    PubMed Central

    Droser, Mary L.; Jensen, Sören; Gehling, James G.

    2002-01-01

    The trace fossil record is important in determining the timing of the appearance of bilaterian animals. A conservative estimate puts this time at ≈555 million years ago. The preservational potential of traces made close to the sediment–water interface is crucial to detecting early benthic activity. Our studies on earliest Cambrian sediments suggest that shallow tiers were preserved to a greater extent than typical for most of the Phanerozoic, which can be attributed both directly and indirectly to the low levels of sediment mixing. The low levels of sediment mixing meant that thin event beds were preserved. The shallow depth of sediment mixing also meant that muddy sediments were firm close to the sediment–water interface, increasing the likelihood of recording shallow-tier trace fossils in muddy sediments. Overall, trace fossils can provide a sound record of the onset of bilaterian benthic activity. PMID:12271130

  15. Screening for frailty in community-dwelling elderly subjects: Predictive validity of the modified SEGA instrument.

    PubMed

    Oubaya, N; Dramé, M; Novella, J-L; Quignard, E; Cunin, C; Jolly, D; Mahmoudi, R

    2017-11-01

    To study the capacity of the SEGAm instrument to predict loss of independence among elderly community-dwelling subjects. The study was performed in four French departments (Ardennes, Marne, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse). Subjects aged 65 years or more, living at home, who could read and understand French, with a degree of autonomy corresponding to groups 5 or 6 in the AGGIR autonomy evaluation scale were included. Assessment included demographic characteristics, comprehensive geriatric assessment, and the SEGAm instrument at baseline. Subjects had follow-up visits at home at 6 and 12 months. During follow-up, vital status and level of independence were recorded. Logistic regression was used to study predictive validity of the SEGAm instrument. Among the 116 subjects with complete follow-up, 84 (72.4%) were classed as not very frail at baseline, 23 (19.8%) as frail, and 9 (7.8%) as very frail; 63 (54.3%) suffered loss of at least one ADL or IADL at 12 months. By multivariable analysis, frailty status at baseline was significantly associated with loss of independence during the 12 months of follow-up (OR=4.52, 95% CI=1.40-14.68; p=0.01). We previously validated the SEGAm instrument in terms of feasibility, acceptability, internal structure validity, reliability, and discriminant validity. This instrument appears to be a suitable tool for screening frailty among community-dwelling elderly subjects, and could be used as a basis to plan early targeted interventions for subjects at risk of adverse outcome. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Astronomy, New Instrumentation, and the News Media

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Maran, Stephen P.

    2001-01-01

    The early work of Bob Tull who invented a photoelectric spectral scanner comprised a crucial phase in the development of astronomical instrumentation. The relationship between the academic astronomy/astrophysics community and journalists has been in flux since the early 1960s. Scientists should recognize that they rely on the press to disseminate scientific information. Public citizens and policy makers are interested in the pursuits of scientific research for which taxes and other public monies are used.

  17. The Early Identity Exploration Scale-a measure of initial exploration in breadth during early adolescence.

    PubMed

    Kłym, Maria; Cieciuch, Jan

    2015-01-01

    The existing models and measurement instruments concerning identity appear to primarily focus on adolescence and early adulthood, and studies extending identity research to younger stages of life are scarce. There has been a particular lack of instruments measuring the early stages of identity formation, especially the process of exploration, which has been portrayed as a central process during this particular period of life. Our aim is to help fill the gap in the literature and facilitate further studies of the exploration process by providing an appropriate instrument to measure exploration in breadth during early adolescence. As a coherent and mature sense of identity is closely associated with psychosocial well-being, an effective identity exploration scale will enable researchers to assess the predictors of young adolescents' well-being. We propose a model of identity exploration domains based on the literature and considering 12 exploration domains: physical appearance, free time, family, work, boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, own opinion formation, perception of own place in the life cycle, self-reflection, future, future family, outlook on life, and attitude toward rules. The study was conducted on a group of N = 454 adolescents (50% males, M age = 13.04, SD = 0.98). Both reliability and structural validity, as verified by confirmatory factor analysis were satisfactory. The instrument is invariant across gender groups at the scalar level of measurement invariance.

  18. The Early Identity Exploration Scale—a measure of initial exploration in breadth during early adolescence

    PubMed Central

    Kłym, Maria; Cieciuch, Jan

    2015-01-01

    The existing models and measurement instruments concerning identity appear to primarily focus on adolescence and early adulthood, and studies extending identity research to younger stages of life are scarce. There has been a particular lack of instruments measuring the early stages of identity formation, especially the process of exploration, which has been portrayed as a central process during this particular period of life. Our aim is to help fill the gap in the literature and facilitate further studies of the exploration process by providing an appropriate instrument to measure exploration in breadth during early adolescence. As a coherent and mature sense of identity is closely associated with psychosocial well-being, an effective identity exploration scale will enable researchers to assess the predictors of young adolescents' well-being. We propose a model of identity exploration domains based on the literature and considering 12 exploration domains: physical appearance, free time, family, work, boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, own opinion formation, perception of own place in the life cycle, self-reflection, future, future family, outlook on life, and attitude toward rules. The study was conducted on a group of N = 454 adolescents (50% males, Mage = 13.04, SD = 0.98). Both reliability and structural validity, as verified by confirmatory factor analysis were satisfactory. The instrument is invariant across gender groups at the scalar level of measurement invariance. PMID:25983707

  19. Suitability of Open-Ocean Instrumentation for Use in Near-Field Tsunami Early Warning Along Seismically Active Subduction Zones

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Williamson, Amy L.; Newman, Andrew V.

    2018-05-01

    Over the past decade, the number of open-ocean gauges capable of parsing information about a passing tsunami has steadily increased, particularly through national cable networks and international buoyed efforts such as the Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART). This information is analyzed to disseminate tsunami warnings to affected regions. However, most current warnings that incorporate tsunami are directed at mid- and far-field localities. In this study, we analyze the region surrounding four seismically active subduction zones, Cascadia, Japan, Chile, and Java, for their potential to facilitate local tsunami early warning using such systems. We assess which locations currently have instrumentation in the right locations for direct tsunami observations with enough time to provide useful warning to the nearest affected coastline—and which are poorly suited for such systems. Our primary findings are that while some regions are ill-suited for this type of early warning, such as the coastlines of Chile, other localities, like Java, Indonesia, could incorporate direct tsunami observations into their hazard forecasts with enough lead time to be effective for coastal community emergency response. We take into account the effect of tsunami propagation with regard to shallow bathymetry on the fore-arc as well as the effect of earthquake source placement. While it is impossible to account for every type of off-shore tsunamigenic event in these locales, this study aims to characterize a typical large tsunamigenic event occurring in the shallow part of the megathrust as a guide in what is feasible with early tsunami warning.

  20. Serendipity: Genesis of the Electrochemical Instrumentation at Princeton Applied Research Corporation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Flato, J. B.

    2007-01-01

    Princeton Applied Research Corporation (PAR) was a small electronic instrument company in early 1960s but once they entered electrochemistry they were very successful. Since then they have developed and designed successful instruments with their tremendous knowledge and have made great contribution to the field of analytical chemistry.

  1. Seismic response analysis of an instrumented building structure

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Li, H.-J.; Zhu, S.-Y.; Celebi, M.

    2003-01-01

    The Sheraton - Universal hotel, an instrumented building lying in North Hollywood, USA is selected for case study in this paper. The finite element method is used to produce a linear time - invariant structural model, and the SAP2000 program is employed for the time history analysis of the instrumented structure under the base excitation of strong motions recorded in the basement during the Northridge, California earthquake of 17 January 1994. The calculated structural responses are compared with the recorded data in both time domain and frequency domain, and the effects of structural parameters evaluation and indeterminate factors are discussed. Some features of structural response, such as the reason why the peak responses of acceleration in the ninth floor are larger than those in the sixteenth floor, are also explained.

  2. Rapid Earthquake Magnitude Estimation for Early Warning Applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goldberg, Dara; Bock, Yehuda; Melgar, Diego

    2017-04-01

    Earthquake magnitude is a concise metric that provides invaluable information about the destructive potential of a seismic event. Rapid estimation of magnitude for earthquake and tsunami early warning purposes requires reliance on near-field instrumentation. For large magnitude events, ground motions can exceed the dynamic range of near-field broadband seismic instrumentation (clipping). Strong motion accelerometers are designed with low gains to better capture strong shaking. Estimating earthquake magnitude rapidly from near-source strong-motion data requires integration of acceleration waveforms to displacement. However, integration amplifies small errors, creating unphysical drift that must be eliminated with a high pass filter. The loss of the long period information due to filtering is an impediment to magnitude estimation in real-time; the relation between ground motion measured with strong-motion instrumentation and magnitude saturates, leading to underestimation of earthquake magnitude. Using station displacements from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations, we can supplement the high frequency information recorded by traditional seismic systems with long-period observations to better inform rapid response. Unlike seismic-only instrumentation, ground motions measured with GNSS scale with magnitude without saturation [Crowell et al., 2013; Melgar et al., 2015]. We refine the current magnitude scaling relations using peak ground displacement (PGD) by adding a large GNSS dataset of earthquakes in Japan. Because it does not suffer from saturation, GNSS alone has significant advantages over seismic-only instrumentation for rapid magnitude estimation of large events. The earthquake's magnitude can be estimated within 2-3 minutes of earthquake onset time [Melgar et al., 2013]. We demonstrate that seismogeodesy, the optimal combination of GNSS and seismic data at collocated stations, provides the added benefit of improving the sensitivity of

  3. Solid state recorders for airborne reconnaissance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Klang, Mark R.

    2003-08-01

    Solid state recorders have become the recorder of choice for meeting airborne ruggedized requirements for reconnaissance and flight test. The cost of solid state recorders have decreased over the past few years that they are now less expense than the traditional high speed tape recorders. CALCULEX, Inc manufactures solid state recorders called MONSSTR (Modular Non-volatile Solid State Recorder). MONSSTR is being used on many different platforms such as F/A-22, Global Hawk, F-14, F-15, F-16, U-2, RF-4, and Tornado. This paper will discuss the advantages of using solid state recorders to meet the airborne reconnaissance requirement and the ability to record instrumentation data. The CALCULEX recorder has the ability to record sensor data and flight test data in the same chassis. This is an important feature because it eliminates additional boxes on the aircraft. The major advantages to using a solid state recorder include; reliability, small size, light weight, and power. Solid state recorders also have a larger storage capacity and higher bandwidth capability than other recording devices.

  4. Extension and statistical analysis of the GACP aerosol optical thickness record

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Geogdzhayev, Igor V.; Mishchenko, Michael I.; Li, Jing; Rossow, William B.; Liu, Li; Cairns, Brian

    2015-10-01

    The primary product of the Global Aerosol Climatology Project (GACP) is a continuous record of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) over the oceans. It is based on channel-1 and -2 radiance data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instruments flown on successive National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) platforms. We extend the previous GACP dataset by four years through the end of 2009 using NOAA-17 and -18 AVHRR radiances recalibrated against MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) radiance data, thereby making the GACP record almost three decades long. The temporal overlap of over three years of the new NOAA-17 and the previous NOAA-16 record reveals an excellent agreement of the corresponding global monthly mean AOT values, thereby confirming the robustness of the vicarious radiance calibration used in the original GACP product. The temporal overlap of the NOAA-17 and -18 instruments is used to introduce a small additive adjustment to the channel-2 calibration of the latter resulting in a consistent record with increased data density. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the newly extended GACP record shows that most of the volcanic AOT variability can be isolated into one mode responsible for ~ 12% of the total variance. This conclusion is confirmed by a combined PCA analysis of the GACP, MODIS, and Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) AOTs during the volcano-free period from February 2000 to December 2009. We show that the modes responsible for the tropospheric AOT variability in the three datasets agree well in terms of correlation and spatial patterns. A previously identified negative AOT trend which started in the late 1980s and continued into the early 2000s is confirmed. Its magnitude and duration indicate that it was caused by changes in tropospheric aerosols. The latest multi-satellite segment of the GACP record shows that this trend tapered off, with no noticeable AOT change after 2002. This

  5. Extension and Statistical Analysis of the GACP Aerosol Optical Thickness Record.

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Geogdzhayev, Igor V.; Mishchenko, Michael I.; Li, Jing; Rossow, William B.; Liu, Li; Cairns, Brian

    2015-01-01

    The primary product of the Global Aerosol Climatology Project (GACP) is a continuous record of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) over the oceans. It is based on channel-1 and -2 radiance data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instruments flown on successive National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) platforms. We extend the previous GACP dataset by four years through the end of 2009 using NOAA-17 and -18 AVHRR radiances recalibrated against MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) radiance data, thereby making the GACP record almost three decades long. The temporal overlap of over three years of the new NOAA-17 and the previous NOAA-16 record reveals an excellent agreement of the corresponding global monthly mean AOT values, thereby confirming the robustness of the vicarious radiance calibration used in the original GACP product. The temporal overlap of the NOAA-17 and -18 instruments is used to introduce a small additive adjustment to the channel-2 calibration of the latter resulting in a consistent record with increased data density. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the newly extended GACP record shows that most of the volcanic AOT variability can be isolated into one mode responsible for 12% of the total variance. This conclusion is confirmed by a combined PCA analysis of the GACP, MODIS, andMulti-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) AOTs during the volcano-free period fromFebruary 2000 to December 2009.We show that the modes responsible for the tropospheric AOT variability in the three datasets agree well in terms of correlation and spatial patterns. A previously identified negative AOT trend which started in the late 1980s and continued into the early 2000s is confirmed. Its magnitude and duration indicate that it was caused by changes in tropospheric aerosols. The latest multi-satellite segment of the GACP record shows that this trend tapered off, with no noticeable AOT change after 2002. This

  6. Development of a radiology faculty appraisal instrument by using critical incident interviewing.

    PubMed

    Collins, J; Albanese, M A; Thakor, S K; Propeck, P A; Scanlan, K A

    1997-12-01

    To develop a valid and reliable radiology faculty appraisal instrument based on scientific methods. Fifteen radiology residents participated in critical incident interviewing. During a 1-hour interview, a resident was asked to describe five incidents each of effective and ineffective faculty behavior. Two investigators independently listened to the tape-recorded interviews, and two different investigators sorted the incidents into broad categories. A faculty appraisal instrument was developed by listing similar incidents under broad categories. A five-point rating scale was applied to each item. Content validity was assessed by resident and faculty critique of the appraisal instrument. A total of 168 incidents of faculty behavior were generated. The frequency with which similar incidents were reported was recorded. The most common behaviors reported were related to staff expertise and teaching. Interjudge reliability was good, as determined by computing K indices of agreement (overall K = 0.59). There was good agreement regarding instrument content validity among residents but not among faculty. Residents supported the use of the new appraisal instrument, but further tests of validity and reliability and faculty acceptance of the instrument will determine its usefulness as a tool for monitoring faculty teaching performance and making decisions regarding faculty promotion.

  7. Multipurpose Spectroradiometer for Satellite Instrument Calibration and Zenith Sky Remote Sensing Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Heath, Donald F.; Ahmad, Zia

    2001-01-01

    In the early 1990s a series of surface-based direct sun and zenith sky measurements of total column ozone were made with SBUV/2 flight models and the SSBUV Space Shuttle instrument in Boulder, Colorado which were compared with NOAA Dobson Instrument direct sun observations and TOMS instrument overpass observations of column ozone. These early measurements led to the investigation of the accuracy of derived total column ozone amounts and aerosol optical depths from zenith sky observations. Following the development and availability of radiometrically stable IAD narrow band interference filter and nitrided silicon photodiodes a simple compact multifilter spectroradiometer was developed which can be used as a calibration transfer standard spectroradiometer (CTSS) or as a surface based instrument remote sensing instruments for measurements of total column ozone and aerosol optical depths. The total column ozone derived from zenith sky observations agrees with Dobson direct sun AD double wavelength pair measurements and with TOMS overpass ozone amounts within uncertainties of about 1%. When used as a calibration transfer standard spectroradiometer the multifilter spectroradiometer appears to be capable of establishing instrument radiometric calibration uncertainties of the order of 1% or less relative to national standards laboratory radiometric standards.

  8. Self-contained instrument for measuring subterranean tunnel wall deflection

    DOEpatents

    Rasmussen, Donald Edgar; Hof, Jr., Peter John

    1978-01-01

    The deflection of a subterranean tunnel is measured with a rod-like, self-contained instrument that is adapted to be inserted into a radially extending bore of the tunnel adjacent an end of the tunnel where the tunnel is being dug. One end of the instrument is anchored at the end of the bore remote from the tunnel wall, while the other end of the intrument is anchored adjacent the end of the wall in proximity to the tunnel wall. The two ends of the instrument are linearly displaceable relative to each other; the displacement is measured by a transducer means mounted on the instrument. Included in the instrument is a data storage means including a paper tape recorder periodically responsive to a parallel binary signal indicative of the measured displacement.

  9. Instrumentation for electrochemical performance characterization of neural electrodes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marsh, Michael P.; Kruchowski, James N.; Hara, Seth A.; McIntosh, Malcom B.; Forsman, Renae M.; Reed, Terry L.; Kimble, Christopher; Lee, Kendall H.; Bennet, Kevin E.; Tomshine, Jonathan R.

    2017-08-01

    In an effort to determine the chronic stability, sensitivity, and thus the potential viability of various neurochemical recording electrode designs and compositions, we have developed a custom device called the Voltammetry Instrument for Neurochemical Applications (VINA). Here, we describe the design of the VINA and initial testing of its functionality for prototype neurochemical sensing electrodes. The VINA consists of multiple electrode fixtures, a flowing electrolyte bath, associated reservoirs, peristaltic pump, voltage waveform generator, data acquisition hardware, and system software written in National Instrument's LabVIEW. The operation of VINA was demonstrated on a set of boron-doped diamond neurochemical recording electrodes, which were subjected to an applied waveform for a period of eighteen days. Each electrode's cyclic voltammograms (CVs) were recorded, and sensitivity calibration to dopamine (DA) was performed. Results showed an initial decline with subsequent stabilization in the CV current measured during the voltammetric sweep, corresponding closely with changes in electrode sensitivity to DA. The VINA has demonstrated itself as a useful tool for the characterization of electrode stability and chronic electrochemical performance.

  10. Mark 3 wideband digital recorder in perspective

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hinteregger, H. F.

    1980-01-01

    The tape recorder used for the Mark 3 data acquisition and processing system is compared with earlier very long baseline interferometry recorders. Wideband 33-1/3 kbpi digital channel characteristics of instrumentation recorders and of a modern video cassette recorder are illustrated. Factors which influenced selection of the three major commercial components (transport, heads, and tape) are discussed. A brief functional description and the reasons for development of efficient signal electronics and necessary auxiliary control electronics are given. The design and operation of a digital bit synchronizer is illustrated as an example of the high degree of simplicity achieved.

  11. Development and test of a Microwave Ice Accretion Measurement Instrument (MIAMI)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Magenheim, B.; Rocks, J. K.

    1982-01-01

    The development of an ice accretion measurement instrument that is a highly sensitive, accurate, rugged and reliable microprocessor controlled device using low level microwave energy for non-instrusive real time measurement and recording of ice growth history, including ice thickness and accretion rate is discussed. Data is displayed and recorded digitally. New experimental data is presented, obtained with the instrument, which demonstrates its ability to measure ice growth on a two-dimensional airfoil. The device is suitable for aircraft icing protection. It may be mounted flush, non-intrusively, on any part of an aircraft skin including rotor blades and engine inlets.

  12. Developing a Research Instrument to Document Awareness, Knowledge, and Attitudes Regarding Breast Cancer and Early Detection Techniques for Pakistani Women: The Breast Cancer Inventory (BCI).

    PubMed

    Naqvi, Atta Abbas; Zehra, Fatima; Ahmad, Rizwan; Ahmad, Niyaz

    2016-12-09

    There is a general hesitation in participation among Pakistani women when it comes to giving their responses in surveys related to breast cancer which may be due to the associated stigma and conservatism in society. We felt that no research instrument was able to extract information from the respondents to the extent it was needed for the successful execution of our study. The need to develop a research instrument tailored for Pakistani women was based upon the fact that most Pakistani women come from a conservative background and sometimes view this topic as provocative and believe discussing publicly about it as inappropriate. Existing research instruments exhibited a number of weaknesses during literature review. Therefore, using them may not be able to extract information concretely. A research instrument was, thus, developed exclusively. It was coined as, "breast cancer inventory (BCI)" by a panel of experts for executing a study aimed at documenting awareness, knowledge, and attitudes of Pakistani women regarding breast cancer and early detection techniques. The study is still in the data collection phase. The statistical analysis involved the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure and Bartlett's test for sampling adequacy. In addition, reliability analysis and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were, also employed. This concept paper focuses on the development, piloting and validation of the BCI. It is the first research instrument which has high acceptability among Pakistani women and is able to extract adequate information from the respondents without causing embarrassment or unease.

  13. Generic control software connecting astronomical instruments to the reflective memory data recording system of VLTI - bossvlti

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pozna, E.; Ramirez, A.; Mérand, A.; Mueller, A.; Abuter, R.; Frahm, R.; Morel, S.; Schmid, C.; Duc, T. Phan; Delplancke-Ströbele, F.

    2014-07-01

    The quality of data obtained by VLTI instruments may be refined by analyzing the continuous data supplied by the Reflective Memory Network (RMN). Based on 5 years experience providing VLTI instruments (PACMAN, AMBER, MIDI) with RMN data, the procedure has been generalized to make the synchronization with observation trouble-free. The present software interface saves not only months of efforts for each instrument but also provides the benefits of software frameworks. Recent applications (GRAVITY, MATISSE) supply feedback for the software to evolve. The paper highlights the way common features been identified to be able to offer reusable code in due course.

  14. Early organisms in the fossil record: paleontological aspects, evolutionary and ecological impacts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sabbatini, Anna; Negri, Alessandra; Morigi, Caterina; Bartolini, Annachiara; Lipps, Jere

    2017-04-01

    With this abstract we introduce our session whose aim is twofold: 1) to gather information on the earliest foraminifera (single- organic and agglutinated taxa) which so far are sparse and uncoordinated in order to understand their evolution and their relationship with modern single-chambered taxa, contextualizing scientific current results in the geo-biological field. 2) to explore also every other early organism trace fossils or so far overlooked organisms coated with fine sediment (i.e., bacteria, testate amoebae) to understand how and if this coating might help these creatures to fossilize. For this reason, this session will integrate many disciplines, from genomics to palaeo-environmental modelling to palaeontology and geochemistry. Our experience starts from Foraminifera which are an ecologically important group of modern heterotrophic amoeboid eukaryotes whose naked and testate ancestors are thought to have evolved 1 Ga ago. However, the single-chambered agglutinated test of these protists is hypothesized to appear in the fossil record in the Neoproterozoic, before the rise of complex animals. In addition, the difficulty of recognizing unambiguously ancestral monothalamous foraminifera in the fossil record represents the main challenge and might be related to a combination of factors, such as preservation in the sediments, adverse palaeo-environmental conditions and the absence of clear morphological characters distinguishing them from other morphologically simple testate organisms. However, recent publications have evidenced the finding of such organisms in several sedimentary successions tracing back to the Neoproterozoic. An integrate approach will result in profound insights about life—past, present, future— representing a new frontier in the palaeobiological studies. Therefore, aim of this session is to bring together specialists across all these disciplines to provide a uniquely rich and fertile intellectual environment for the pursuit of this

  15. Millennial-scale Climate Variations Recorded As Far Back As The Early Pliocene

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Steenbrink, J.; Hilgen, F. J.; Lourens, L. J.

    Quaternary climate proxy records show compelling evidence for climate variability on time scales of a few thousand years. The causes for these millennial-scale or sub- Milankovitch cycles are yet poorly understood, not in the least due to the complex feedback mechanisms of large ice-sheets during the Quaternary. We present evidence of millennial-scale climate variability in Early Pliocene lacustrine sediments from the intramontane Ptolemais Basin in northwestern Greece. The sediments are well ex- posed in a series of open-pit lignite mines and exhibit a distinct m-scale sedimentary cyclicity of alternating lignites and lacustrine marl beds that result from precession- induced variations in climate. A higher-frequency cyclicity is particular prominent within the marl segment of individual cycles. A stratigraphic interval of~115 kyr, cov- ering five precession-induced sedimentary cycles, was studied in nine parallel sections from two quarries located several km apart. Colour reflectance records were used to quantify the within-cycle variability and to determine its lateral continuity. Much of the within-cycle variability could be correlated between the parallel sections, even in fine detail, which suggests that these changes reflect basin-wide variations in environ- mental conditions related to (regional) climate fluctuations. Interbedded volcanic ash beds demonstrate the synchronicity of these fluctuations and spectral analysis of the reflectance time series shows a significant concentration of variability at periods of ~11,~5.5 and~2 kyr. Their occurrence at times before the intensification of the North- ern Hemisphere glaciation suggests that they cannot solely have resulted from internal ice-sheet dynamics. Possible candidates include harmonics or combination tones of the main orbital cycles, variations in solar output or periodic motions of the Earth and moon.

  16. Comparative assessment of laparoscopic single-site surgery instruments to conventional laparoscopic in laboratory setting.

    PubMed

    Stolzenburg, Jens-Uwe; Kallidonis, Panagiotis; Oh, Min-A; Ghulam, Nabi; Do, Minh; Haefner, Tim; Dietel, Anja; Till, Holger; Sakellaropoulos, George; Liatsikos, Evangelos N

    2010-02-01

    Laparoendoscopic single-site surgery (LESS) represents the latest innovation in laparoscopic surgery. We compare in dry and animal laboratory the efficacy of recently introduced pre-bent instruments with conventional laparoscopic and flexible instruments in terms of time requirement, maneuverability, and ease of handling. Participants of varying laparoscopic experience were included in the study and divided in groups according to their experience. The participants performed predetermined tasks in dry laboratory using all sets of instruments. An experienced laparoscopic surgeon performed 24 nephrectomies in 12 pigs using all sets of instruments. Single port was used for all instrument sets except for the conventional instruments, which were inserted through three ports. The time required for the performance of dry laboratory tasks and the porcine nephrectomies was recorded. Errors in the performance of dry laboratory tasks of each instrument type were also recorded. Pre-bent instruments had a significant advantage over flexible instruments in terms of time requirement to accomplish tasks and procedures as well as maneuverability. Flexible instruments were more time consuming in comparison to the conventional laparoscopic instruments during the performance of the tasks. There were no significant differences in the time required for the accomplishment of dry laboratory tasks or steps of nephrectomy using conventional instruments through appropriate number of ports in comparison to pre-bent instruments through single port. Pre-bent instruments were less time consuming and with better maneuverability in comparison to flexible instruments in experimental single-port access surgery. Further clinical investigations would elucidate the efficacy of pre-bent instruments.

  17. Assessing reanalysis quality with early sounders Nimbus-4 IRIS (1970) and Nimbus-6 HIRS (1975)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Poli, Paul; Brunel, Pascal

    2018-07-01

    This paper revisits the data collected by early sounders Nimbus-4 IRIS (1970) and Nimbus-6 HIRS (1975), after recovery of ageing tapes by NASA GES DISC. New quality controls are proposed to screen out erroneous or suspicious mission data, based on instrument health status data records and other inspection of the data. Radiative transfer coefficients are derived for the fast computation of clear-sky radiative transfer simulations. Atmospheric profiles from ERA-40 and ERA-20C reanalyses are used in input. These spatio-temporally complete datasets are interpolated to each sounding location, using the closest estimate in time. A modern cloud detection method derived for current hyperspectral sounders is applied to IRIS and yields maps of cloud cover that are in line with current knowledge of cloud climatology. For clear scenes, the standard deviation of brightness temperature differences between IRIS observations and simulations from ERA-20C is around 1 K for the lower-peaking temperature channels of the 15 μm CO2 band, and lower than 1 K for simulations from ERA-40. The IRIS and HIRS instrumental data records are projected in a common sub-space to alleviate issues with different field-of-view resolutions and spectral resolutions. A proxy cloud detection scheme screens out clouds in the same manner in both data records. Considering the month of August, common to both missions, a detailed analysis of the departures from observations suggests that ERA-40 suffers from spurious tropospheric warming, possibly caused by changes in the observation input during the 1970s including a known error in ERA-40 radiance assimilation bias correction. This result, confirmed by considering a climate model integration, demonstrates that it is possible to exploit early sounder data records to derive detailed insight from reanalyses, such as attempting to qualify separately random and systematic errors in reanalyses, even at times when few other independent observation data are available.

  18. Climate change and tectonic activity during the early Pliocene Warm Period from the ostracod record at Lake Qinghai, northeastern Tibetan Plateau

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lu, Fengyan; An, Zhisheng; Chang, Hong; Dodson, John; Qiang, Xiaoke; Yan, Hong; Dong, Jibao; Song, Yougui; Fu, Chaofeng; Li, Xiangzhong

    2017-05-01

    The Early Pliocene Warm Period (EPWP, 5-3 Ma) is sometimes thought to be a useful analogue for a future warmer world, and thus the boundary conditions and drivers of climate in the EPWP may provide valuable lessons for understanding how a future warmer world might unfold. Lake Qinghai is located on the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and is affected by both Monsoon climate and Westerlies circulation. It is sensitive to the climate drivers of these systems. Its sediments, accumulated over the Cenozoic period, are a rich source of information for climate, tectonics and environmental changes of the period. We present a high-resolution ostracod record from a Lake Qinghai sediment core with a record of the period 5.10-2.60 Ma, thus covering the EPWP. Ostracods appear at 4.63 Ma and are most abundant until 3.58 Ma, while a body of water was present at the core site. This suggests a phase of humid climate and an intensified Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM), which is consistent with a warmer and wetter climate in the early Pliocene. Within this period the ostracod record shows some variabilities in lake level with deeper periods suggesting more intense ASM compared to those with shallower water. The disappearance of ostracods at 3.58 Ma may provide evidence for the uplift of Qinghai Nanshan (south of Qinghai Lake) since this is when the ASM intensified.

  19. Reinterpreting the Early Cretaceous Sulfur Isotope Records: Implications for the Evolution of Seawater Chemistry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mills, J. V.; Gomes, M. L.; Sageman, B. B.; Jacobson, A. D.; Hurtgen, M. T.

    2013-12-01

    The geologic record of the Cretaceous is punctuated by several periods of high organic carbon burial interpreted to represent global Ocean Anoxic Events (OAEs). In addition to the short-term (<1-Myr) changes in carbon (C) cycling associated with OAEs, evidence from a number of geochemical proxies has been interpreted to represent large-scale changes in ocean chemistry during the period. Specifically, the sulfur (S) isotope composition of early Cretaceous seawater sulfate as recorded in marine barite exhibits an ~5 permil shift in d34Ssulfate that persists for ~15Myr before returning to pre-excursion values. Superimposed upon this long-term shift in S-isotopes is OAE1a, the second major anoxic event recognized in the Cretaceous. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain this S isotope perturbation: (1) massive evaporite deposition associated with rifting during the opening of the South Atlantic and a corresponding decrease in pyrite burial rates and (2) increased inputs of volcanic-derived S due to extensive LIP-volcanism. While there is geologic evidence for both evaporite deposition and enhanced hydrothermal activity, the relative influence of these potential driving factors remains largely unconstrained. Variation in the strontium (Sr) isotope composition of marine carbonates provides a tool for distinguishing between these influences. We examine the S isotope composition of carbonate-associated sulfate (CAS) spanning the Barremian through Aptian from Resolution Guyot (ODP Site 866) and compare the S isotope record to time equivalent records of carbon and strontium isotopes. Correlative changes in the C, S, and Sr cycles are observed: an ~5 permil shift in d34Ssulfate, which begins at the onset of OAE1a and continues after the positive d13Ccarb excursion, is accompanied by a contemporaneous, parallel shift in 87Sr/86Sr to unradiogenic values. The tight coupling observed between S and Sr throughout the interval is highly suggestive of a common driving mechanism

  20. Early-Mid Holocene climatic variations in Tasmania, Australia: multi-proxy records in a stalagmite from Lynds Cave

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xia, Qikai; Zhao, Jian-xin; Collerson, K. D.

    2001-12-01

    Mass spectrometric uranium-series dating and C-O isotopic analysis of a stalagmite from Lynds Cave, northern Tasmania, Australia provide a high-resolution record of regional climate change between 5100 and 9200 yr before present (BP). Combined δ18O, δ13C, growth rate, initial 234U/238U and physical property (color, transparency and porosity) records allow recognition of seven climatic stages: Stage I (>9080 yr BP) - a relatively dry period at the beginning of stalagmite growth evidenced by elevated 234U/238U; Stage II (9080-8600 yr BP) - a period of unstable climate characterized by high-frequency variability in temperature and bio-productivity; Stage III (8600-8000 yr BP) - a period of stable and moderate precipitation and stable and high bio-productivity, with a continuously rising temperature; Stage IV (8000-7400 yr BP) - the warmest period with high evaporation and low effective precipitation (rainfall less evaporation); Stage V (7400-7000 yr BP) - the wettest period with highest stalagmite growth and enhanced but unstable bio-productivity; Stage VI (7000-6600 yr BP) - a period with a significantly reduced precipitation and bio-productivity without noticeable change in temperature; Stage VII (6600-5100 yr BP) - a period of lowest temperature and precipitation marking a significant climatic deterioration. Overall, the records suggest that the warmest climate occurred between 8000 and 7400 yr BP, followed by a wettest period between 7400 and 7000 yr BP. These are broadly correlated with the so-called 'Mid Holocene optimum' previously proposed using pollen and lake level records. However, the timing and resolution of the speleothem record from Lynds Cave are significantly higher than in both the pollen and lake level records. This allows us to correlate the abrupt change in physical property, δ18O, δ13C, growth rate, and initial 234U/238U of the stalagmite at ˜8000 yr BP with a global climatic event at Early-Mid Holocene transition.

  1. 45 CFR 149.350 - Maintenance of records.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... REQUIREMENTS FOR THE EARLY RETIREE REINSURANCE PROGRAM Reimbursement Methods § 149.350 Maintenance of records..., or longer if otherwise required by law. (b) The records that must be retained are as follows— (1) All...

  2. 45 CFR 149.350 - Maintenance of records.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... REQUIREMENTS FOR THE EARLY RETIREE REINSURANCE PROGRAM Reimbursement Methods § 149.350 Maintenance of records..., or longer if otherwise required by law. (b) The records that must be retained are as follows— (1) All...

  3. 45 CFR 149.350 - Maintenance of records.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... REQUIREMENTS FOR THE EARLY RETIREE REINSURANCE PROGRAM Reimbursement Methods § 149.350 Maintenance of records..., or longer if otherwise required by law. (b) The records that must be retained are as follows— (1) All...

  4. Subsidence monitoring with geotechnical instruments in the Mexicali Valley, Baja California, Mexico

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Glowacka, E.; Sarychikhina, O.; Márquez Ramírez, V. H.; Robles, B.; Nava, F. A.; Farfán, F.; García Arthur, M. A.

    2015-11-01

    The Mexicali Valley (northwestern Mexico), situated in the southern part of the San Andreas fault system, is an area with high tectonic deformation, recent volcanism, and active seismicity. Since 1973, fluid extraction, from the 1500-3000 m depth range, at the Cerro Prieto Geothermal Field (CPGF), has influenced deformation in the Mexicali Valley area, accelerating the subsidence and causing slip along the traces of tectonic faults that limit the subsidence area. Detailed field mapping done since 1989 (González et al., 1998; Glowacka et al., 2005; Suárez-Vidal et al., 2008) in the vicinity of the CPGF shows that many subsidence induced fractures, fissures, collapse features, small grabens, and fresh scarps are related to the known tectonic faults. Subsidence and fault rupture are causing damage to infrastructure, such as roads, railroad tracks, irrigation channels, and agricultural fields. Since 1996, geotechnical instruments installed by CICESE (Centro de Investigación Ciéntifica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, B.C.) have operated in the Mexicali Valley, for continuous recording of deformation phenomena. Instruments are installed over or very close to the affected faults. To date, the network includes four crackmeters and eight tiltmeters; all instruments have sampling intervals in the 1 to 20 min range. Instrumental records typically show continuous creep, episodic slip events related mainly to the subsidence process, and coseismic slip discontinuities (Glowacka et al., 1999, 2005, 2010; Sarychikhina et al., 2015). The area has also been monitored by levelling surveys every few years and, since the 1990's by studies based on DInSAR data (Carnec and Fabriol, 1999; Hansen, 2001; Sarychikhina et al., 2011). In this work we use data from levelling, DInSAR, and geotechnical instruments records to compare the subsidence caused by anthropogenic activity and/or seismicity with slip recorded by geotechnical instruments, in an attempt to obtain more information

  5. Instrumentation and control system for an F-15 stall/spin

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pitts, F. L.; Holmes, D. C. E.; Zaepfel, K. P.

    1974-01-01

    An instrumentation and control system is described that was used for radio-controlled F-15 airplane model stall/spin research at the NASA-Langley Research Center. This stall/spin research technique, using scale model aircraft, provides information on the post-stall and spin-entry characteristics of full-scale aircraft. The instrumentation described provides measurements of flight parameters such as angle of attack and sideslip, airspeed, control-surface position, and three-axis rotation rates; these data are recorded on an onboard magnetic tape recorder. The proportional radio control system, which utilizes analog potentiometric signals generated from ground-based pilot inputs, and the ground-based system used in the flight operation are also described.

  6. Deep Borehole Instrumentation Along San Francisco Bay Bridges - 2000

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hutchings, L.; Kasameyer, P.; Turpin, C.

    2000-03-01

    This is a progress report on the Bay Bridges downhole network. Between 2 and 8 instruments have been spaced along the Dumbarton, San Mateo, Bay, and San Rafael bridges in San Francisco Bay, California. The instruments will provide multiple use data that is important to geotechnical, structural engineering, and seismological studies. The holes are between 100 and 1000 ft deep and were drilled by Caltrans. There are twenty-one sensor packages at fifteen sites. The downhole instrument package contains a three component HS-1 seismometer and three orthogonal Wilcox 731 accelerometers, and is capable of recording a micro g from local Mmore » = 1.0 earthquakes to 0.5 g strong ground motion form large Bay Area earthquakes. Preliminary results on phasing across the Bay Bridge, up and down hole wave amplification at Yerba Buena Island, and sensor orientation analysis are presented. Events recorded and located during 1999 are presented. Also, a senior thesis on the deep structure of the San Francisco Bay beneath the Bay Bridge is presented as an addendum.« less

  7. Instrumented Pick Detects Coal/Rock Interface

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wu, T.; Erkes, J. W.

    1983-01-01

    Instrumented pick installed on cutting drum of coal shearer for longwall mining measures cutting force with strain-gage-bridge load cell. Force signal transmitted to remote recorder. Transmitter located in base of pick assembly. Antenna located in shadow of rotating pick. Changes in characteristics of force signals from pick used to determine whether pick is cutting coal or rock.

  8. Early Pliocene anuran fossils from Kanapoi, Kenya, and the first fossil record for the African burrowing frog Hemisus (Neobatrachia: Hemisotidae).

    PubMed

    Delfino, Massimo

    2017-07-13

    Isolated amphibian bones from the early Pliocene of Kanapoi (West Turkana, Kenya) help to improve the scarce fossil record of the late Neogene and Quaternary amphibians from East Africa. All currently available 579 bones are referable exclusively to the Anura (frogs and toads). More than half of the remains (366) are identified as Hemisus cf. Hemisus marmoratus, an extant species that still inhabits Kenya, but apparently not the northwest of the country and the Turkana area in particular. The rest of the remains are identified simply as Anura indet. because of poor preservation or non congruence with the relatively few African extant taxa whose osteology is known in detail. The Hemisus material represents the first fossil record for Hemisotidae, an endemic African family of peculiar, head-first burrowing frogs, whose sister taxon relationships indicate a divergence from brevicipitids in the Late Cretaceous or early Paleocene. The ecological requirements of extant H. marmoratus suggest that the Kanapoi area surrounding the fluvial and deltaic settings, from where the fossil remains of vertebrates were buried, was likely a grassland or relatively dry, open low tree-shrub savanna. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. The origin and early evolution of Sauria: reassessing the permian Saurian fossil record and the timing of the crocodile-lizard divergence.

    PubMed

    Ezcurra, Martín D; Scheyer, Torsten M; Butler, Richard J

    2014-01-01

    Sauria is the crown-group of Diapsida and is subdivided into Lepidosauromorpha and Archosauromorpha, comprising a high percentage of the diversity of living and fossil tetrapods. The split between lepidosauromorphs and archosauromorphs (the crocodile-lizard, or bird-lizard, divergence) is considered one of the key calibration points for molecular analyses of tetrapod phylogeny. Saurians have a very rich Mesozoic and Cenozoic fossil record, but their late Paleozoic (Permian) record is problematic. Several Permian specimens have been referred to Sauria, but the phylogenetic affinity of some of these records remains questionable. We reexamine and review all of these specimens here, providing new data on early saurian evolution including osteohistology, and present a new morphological phylogenetic dataset. We support previous studies that find that no valid Permian record for Lepidosauromorpha, and we also reject some of the previous referrals of Permian specimens to Archosauromorpha. The most informative Permian archosauromorph is Protorosaurus speneri from the middle Late Permian of Western Europe. A historically problematic specimen from the Late Permian of Tanzania is redescribed and reidentified as a new genus and species of basal archosauromorph: Aenigmastropheus parringtoni. The supposed protorosaur Eorasaurus olsoni from the Late Permian of Russia is recovered among Archosauriformes and may be the oldest known member of the group but the phylogenetic support for this position is low. The assignment of Archosaurus rossicus from the latest Permian of Russia to the archosauromorph clade Proterosuchidae is supported. Our revision suggests a minimum fossil calibration date for the crocodile-lizard split of 254.7 Ma. The occurrences of basal archosauromorphs in the northern (30°N) and southern (55°S) parts of Pangea imply a wider paleobiogeographic distribution for the group during the Late Permian than previously appreciated. Early archosauromorph growth

  10. The Origin and Early Evolution of Sauria: Reassessing the Permian Saurian Fossil Record and the Timing of the Crocodile-Lizard Divergence

    PubMed Central

    Ezcurra, Martín D.; Scheyer, Torsten M.; Butler, Richard J.

    2014-01-01

    Sauria is the crown-group of Diapsida and is subdivided into Lepidosauromorpha and Archosauromorpha, comprising a high percentage of the diversity of living and fossil tetrapods. The split between lepidosauromorphs and archosauromorphs (the crocodile-lizard, or bird-lizard, divergence) is considered one of the key calibration points for molecular analyses of tetrapod phylogeny. Saurians have a very rich Mesozoic and Cenozoic fossil record, but their late Paleozoic (Permian) record is problematic. Several Permian specimens have been referred to Sauria, but the phylogenetic affinity of some of these records remains questionable. We reexamine and review all of these specimens here, providing new data on early saurian evolution including osteohistology, and present a new morphological phylogenetic dataset. We support previous studies that find that no valid Permian record for Lepidosauromorpha, and we also reject some of the previous referrals of Permian specimens to Archosauromorpha. The most informative Permian archosauromorph is Protorosaurus speneri from the middle Late Permian of Western Europe. A historically problematic specimen from the Late Permian of Tanzania is redescribed and reidentified as a new genus and species of basal archosauromorph: Aenigmastropheus parringtoni. The supposed protorosaur Eorasaurus olsoni from the Late Permian of Russia is recovered among Archosauriformes and may be the oldest known member of the group but the phylogenetic support for this position is low. The assignment of Archosaurus rossicus from the latest Permian of Russia to the archosauromorph clade Proterosuchidae is supported. Our revision suggests a minimum fossil calibration date for the crocodile-lizard split of 254.7 Ma. The occurrences of basal archosauromorphs in the northern (30°N) and southern (55°S) parts of Pangea imply a wider paleobiogeographic distribution for the group during the Late Permian than previously appreciated. Early archosauromorph growth

  11. Detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment and early stage dementia with an audio-recorded cognitive scale

    PubMed Central

    Sewell, Margaret C.; Luo, Xiaodong; Neugroschl, Judith; Sano, Mary

    2014-01-01

    BACKGROUND Physicians often miss a diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or early dementia and screening measures can be insensitive to very mild impairments. Other cognitive assessments may take too much time or be frustrating to seniors. This study examined the ability of an audio-recorded scale, developed in Australia, to detect MCI or mild Alzheimer’s disease and compared cognitive domain specific performance on the audio-recorded scale to in-person battery and common cognitive screens. METHOD Seventy-six subjects from the Mount Sinai Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center were recruited. Subjects were 75 years or older, with clinical diagnosis of AD or MCI (n=51) or normal control (n=25). Participants underwent in-person neuropsychological testing followed by testing with the Audio-recorded Cognitive Screen (ARCS). RESULTS ARCS provided better discrimination between normal and impaired elders than either the Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE) or the clock drawing test. The in-person battery and ARCS analogous variables were significantly correlated, most in the .4 to .7 range, including verbal memory, executive function/attention, naming, and verbal fluency. The area under the curve generated from ROC curves indicated high and equivalent discrimination for ARCS and the in-person battery (0.972 vs. 0.988; p=0.23). CONCLUSION The ARCS demonstrated better discrimination between normal controls and those with mild deficits than typical screening measures. Performance on cognitive domains within the ARCS was well correlated with the in-person battery. Completion of the ARCS was accomplished despite mild difficulty hearing the instructions even in very elderly subjects, indicating that it may be a useful measure in primary care settings. PMID:23635663

  12. Quantitative Analysis of Transnasal Anterior Skull Base Approach: Report of Technology for Intraoperative Assessment of Instrument Motion.

    PubMed

    Berens, Angelique M; Harbison, Richard Alex; Li, Yangming; Bly, Randall A; Aghdasi, Nava; Ferreira, Manuel; Hannaford, Blake; Moe, Kris S

    2017-08-01

    To develop a method to measure intraoperative surgical instrument motion. This model will be applicable to the study of surgical instrument kinematics including surgical training, skill verification, and the development of surgical warning systems that detect aberrant instrument motion that may result in patient injury. We developed an algorithm to automate derivation of surgical instrument kinematics in an endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery model. Surgical instrument motion was recorded during a cadaveric endoscopic transnasal approach to the pituitary using a navigation system modified to record intraoperative time-stamped Euclidian coordinates and Euler angles. Microdebrider tip coordinates and angles were referenced to the cadaver's preoperative computed tomography scan allowing us to assess surgical instrument kinematics over time. A representative cadaveric endoscopic endonasal approach to the pituitary was performed to demonstrate feasibility of our algorithm for deriving surgical instrument kinematics. Technical feasibility of automatically measuring intraoperative surgical instrument motion and deriving kinematics measurements was demonstrated using standard navigation equipment.

  13. 40 CFR 86.884-11 - Instrument checks.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... equipment response of zero; (3) Calibrated neutral density filters having approximately 10, 20, and 40 percent opacity shall be employed to check the linearity of the instrument. The filter(s) shall be... beam of light from the light source emanates, and the recorder response shall be noted. Filters with...

  14. Method for calculating self-noise spectra and operating ranges for seismographic inertial sensors and recorders

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Evans, John R.; Followill, F.; Hutt, Charles R.; Kromer, R.P.; Nigbor, R.L.; Ringler, A.T.; Steim, J.M.; Wielandt, E.

    2010-01-01

    Understanding the performance of sensors and recorders is prerequisite to making appropriate use of them in seismology and earthquake engineering. This paper explores a critical aspect of instrument performance, the “self” noise level of the device and the amplitude range it can usefully record. Self noise limits the smallest signals, while instrument clipping level creates the upper limit (above which it either cannot produce signals or becomes unacceptably nonlinear). Where these levels fall, and the “operating range” between them, determines much of the instrument's viability and the applications for which it is appropriate. The representation of seismic-instrument self-noise levels and their effective operating ranges (cf., dynamic range) for seismological inertial sensors, recorders (data acquisition units, or DAUs), and integrated systems of sensors and recorders (data acquisition systems, or DASs) forces one to address an unnatural comparison between transient finite-bandwidth signals, such as earthquake records, and the instrument's self noise, an effectively stationary signal of infinite duration. In addition to being transient, earthquakes and other records of interest are characterized by a peak amplitude and generally a narrow, peaked spectral shape. Unfortunately, any power spectrum computed for such transient signals is ill defined, since the maximum of that spectrum depends strongly upon signal and record durations. In contrast, the noise floor of an instrument is approximately stationary and properly described by a power spectral density (PSD) or its root (rPSD). Put another way, earthquake records have units of amplitude (e.g., m/s2) while PSDs have units of amplitude-squared per hertz (e.g., (m/s2)2/Hz) and the rPSD has units of amplitude per root of hertz (e.g., (m/s2)/Hz1/2). Thus, this incompatability is a conflict between earthquake (amplitude) and PSD (spectral density) units that requires one to make various assumptions before they

  15. Early- to Mid-Holocene hydroclimate shifts in tropical East Africa: the multi-proxy sediment record from Lake Rutundu, Kenya

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    De Cort, Gijs; Creutz, Mike; Barao, Lucia; Conley, Daniel; Haug, Gerald; Bodé, Samuel; Blaauw, Maarten; Engstrom, Dan; Verschuren, Dirk

    2015-04-01

    Following the generally arid conditions of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), a large part of the African continent experienced the Early to Mid-Holocene as a much more humid period than today. This so-called African Humid Period (AHP) coincided with high summertime insolation over the Northern Hemisphere subtropics, causing invigorated monsoons to create moist conditions over the northern parts of the continent. Similarly, equatorial and even low-latitude southeastern Africa experienced a wetter climate due to the post-glacial increase in atmospheric greenhouse gasses ultimately leading to altered Atlantic and Indian Ocean monsoon dynamics. The timing and abruptness of the onset and ending of the AHP in the different regions of the continent have been the subject of major discussion. On the other hand, shorter-lived climate fluctuations within the AHP have received much less attention, due to a scarcity of well-dated, high-resolution African paleoclimate records spanning the entire Holocene. In this study we used the sediment record of Lake Rutundu, a high-altitude crater lake on Mount Kenya, to document multidecadal to millennial-scale hydroclimate variability on the East African equator from the LGM to the present. A multiproxy approach combining core-surface scanning techniques (magnetic susceptibility, X-ray fluorescence) and close-interval bulk-sediment analyses (organic matter and biogenic Si content, grain size, organic δ15N and δ13C) resulted in a high-resolution record firmly anchored in time by an age model based on 210Pb dating and sixteen calibrated radiocarbon ages. This new Lake Rutundu hydroclimate record confirms that moister conditions following the LGM returned to East Africa ca.16 kyr BP, and it contains a perfectly timed Younger Dryas episode (12.8-11.5 kyr BP) of intermittent drought. We find that the Early- to Mid-Holocene period, which in African records is often described as uniformly wet, was in fact punctuated by three distinct, century

  16. Instrument to average 100 data sets

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tuma, G. B.; Birchenough, A. G.; Rice, W. J.

    1977-01-01

    An instrumentation system is currently under development which will measure many of the important parameters associated with the operation of an internal combustion engine. Some of these parameters include mass-fraction burn rate, ignition energy, and the indicated mean effective pressure. One of the characteristics of an internal combustion engine is the cycle-to-cycle variation of these parameters. A curve-averaging instrument has been produced which will generate the average curve, over 100 cycles, of any engine parameter. the average curve is described by 2048 discrete points which are displayed on an oscilloscope screen to facilitate recording and is available in real time. Input can be any parameter which is expressed as a + or - 10-volt signal. Operation of the curve-averaging instrument is defined between 100 and 6000 rpm. Provisions have also been made for averaging as many as four parameters simultaneously, with a subsequent decrease in resolution. This provides the means to correlate and perhaps interrelate the phenomena occurring in an internal combustion engine. This instrument has been used successfully on a 1975 Chevrolet V8 engine, and on a Continental 6-cylinder aircraft engine. While this instrument was designed for use on an internal combustion engine, with some modification it can be used to average any cyclically varying waveform.

  17. Reading Instruments: Objects, Texts and Museums

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Anderson, Katharine; Frappier, Mélanie; Neswald, Elizabeth; Trim, Henry

    2013-05-01

    Science educators, historians of science and their students often share a curiosity about historical instruments as a tangible link between past and present practices in the sciences. We less often integrate instruments into our research and pedagogy, considering artefact study as the domain of museum specialists. We argue here that scholars and teachers new to material culture can readily use artefacts to reveal rich and complex networks of narratives. We illustrate this point by describing our own lay encounter with an artefact turned over for our analysis during a week-long workshop at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. The text explains how elements as disparate as the military appearance of the instrument, the crest stamped on its body, the manipulation of its telescopes, or a luggage tag revealed the object's scientific and political significance in different national contexts. In this way, the presence of the instrument in the classroom vividly conveyed the nature of geophysics as a field practice and an international science, and illuminated relationships between pure and applied science for early twentieth century geologists. We conclude that artefact study can be an unexpectedly powerful and accessible tool in the study of science, making visible the connections between past and present, laboratory and field, texts and instruments.

  18. Extending the SBUV MOD Ozone Profile data record with OMPS Nadir Profiler Data: Updated Trends and Uncertainties

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Frith, S. M.; Stolarski, R. S.; McPeters, R. D.; Kramarova, N. A.

    2017-12-01

    The Ozone Monitoring and Profile Suite (OMPS) on the Suomi NPP satellite comprises three instruments measuring profile and total column ozone. The Nadir Profiler sensor measures broadly-resolved vertical ozone profiles retrieved from backscattered UV radiances, and continues a nearly unbroken record of measurements from the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV and SBUV/2) series of instruments dating back to late 1978. The SBUV Merged Ozone Dataset (MOD) combines data from the SBUV instrument series into a single coherent data record. The last instrument in the series, operating on the NOAA 19 satellite, is expected to encounter higher measurement uncertainties as the N19 orbit drifts closer to the terminator, necessitating a move to the next generation OMPS instruments. Here we incorporate OMPS NP v2.3 data from 2012-2017 into the MOD record and evaluate the effects of the new data on theoverall record, particularly the sensitivity of long-term trend estimates derived from MOD. We will evaluate the uncertainty associated with merging multiple records. We use a Monte Carlo modeling approach to estimate the potential for uncertainties in the calibration and drift of individual instruments to mimic long-term variations in the merged data set. Intra-instrument comparisons during overlap periods are used to quantify the uncertainty of each instrument in the Monte Carlo simulations. Current error estimates using this approach are likely conservative because we model a Gaussian distribution of potential offsets and drifts when the actual distributions are more complicated. In this work we will investigate the effects of the additional data set, but also pursue approaches to define the Monte Carlo model more precisely to better characterize the potential error.

  19. Record-Breaking Early Flowering in the Eastern United States

    PubMed Central

    Ellwood, Elizabeth R.; Temple, Stanley A.; Primack, Richard B.; Davis, Charles C.

    2013-01-01

    Flowering times are well-documented indicators of the ecological effects of climate change and are linked to numerous ecosystem processes and trophic interactions. Dozens of studies have shown that flowering times for many spring-flowering plants have become earlier as a result of recent climate change, but it is uncertain if flowering times will continue to advance as temperatures rise. Here, we used long-term flowering records initiated by Henry David Thoreau in 1852 and Aldo Leopold in 1935 to investigate this question. Our analyses demonstrate that record-breaking spring temperatures in 2010 and 2012 in Massachusetts, USA, and 2012 in Wisconsin, USA, resulted in the earliest flowering times in recorded history for dozens of spring-flowering plants of the eastern United States. These dramatic advances in spring flowering were successfully predicted by historical relationships between flowering and spring temperature spanning up to 161 years of ecological change. These results demonstrate that numerous temperate plant species have yet to show obvious signs of physiological constraints on phenological advancement in the face of climate change. PMID:23342001

  20. Developing a Research Instrument to Document Awareness, Knowledge, and Attitudes Regarding Breast Cancer and Early Detection Techniques for Pakistani Women: The Breast Cancer Inventory (BCI)

    PubMed Central

    Naqvi, Atta Abbas; Zehra, Fatima; Ahmad, Rizwan; Ahmad, Niyaz

    2016-01-01

    There is a general hesitation in participation among Pakistani women when it comes to giving their responses in surveys related to breast cancer which may be due to the associated stigma and conservatism in society. We felt that no research instrument was able to extract information from the respondents to the extent it was needed for the successful execution of our study. The need to develop a research instrument tailored for Pakistani women was based upon the fact that most Pakistani women come from a conservative background and sometimes view this topic as provocative and believe discussing publicly about it as inappropriate. Existing research instruments exhibited a number of weaknesses during literature review. Therefore, using them may not be able to extract information concretely. A research instrument was, thus, developed exclusively. It was coined as, “breast cancer inventory (BCI)” by a panel of experts for executing a study aimed at documenting awareness, knowledge, and attitudes of Pakistani women regarding breast cancer and early detection techniques. The study is still in the data collection phase. The statistical analysis involved the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure and Bartlett’s test for sampling adequacy. In addition, reliability analysis and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were, also employed. This concept paper focuses on the development, piloting and validation of the BCI. It is the first research instrument which has high acceptability among Pakistani women and is able to extract adequate information from the respondents without causing embarrassment or unease. PMID:28933416

  1. Accessory Mineral Records of Early Earth Crust-Mantle Systematics: an Example From West Greenland

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Storey, C. D.; Hawkesworth, C. J.

    2008-12-01

    Conditions for the formation and the nature of Earth's early crust are enigmatic due to poor preservation. Before c.4 Ga the only archives are detrital minerals eroded from earlier crust, such as the Jack Hills zircons in western Australia, or extinct isotope systematics. Zircons are particularly powerful since they retain precise records of their ages of crystallisation, and the Lu-Hf radiogenic isotope and O stable isotope systematics of the reservoir from which they crystallised. In principle, this allows insight into the nature of the crust, the mantle reservoir from which the melt was extracted and any reworked material incorporated into that melt. We have used in situ methods to measure U-Pb, O and Lu-Hf within single zircon crystals from tonalitic gneisses from West Greenland in the vicinity of the Isua Supracrustal Belt. They have little disturbed ages of c.3.8 Ga, mantle-like O isotope signatures and Lu-Hf isotope signatures that lie on the CHUR evolution line at 3.8 Ga. These samples have previously been subjected to Pb isotope feldspar and 142Nd whole rock analysis and have helped constrain models in which early differentiation of a proto-crust must have occurred. The CHUR-like Lu-Hf signature, along with mantle-like O signature from these zircons suggests juvenile melt production at 3.8 Ga from undifferentiated mantle, yet the other isotope systems preclude this possibility. Alternatively, this is further strong evidence for a heterogeneous mantle in the early Earth. Whilst zircons afford insight into the nature of the early crust and mantle, it is through the Sm-Nd system that the mantle has traditionally been viewed. Titanite often contains several thousand ppm Nd, making it amenable to precise analysis, and is a common accessory phase. It has a reasonably high closure temperature for Pb and O, and it can retain cores with older ages and distinct REE chemistry. It is often the main accessory phase alongside zircon, and it is the main carrier of Nd

  2. Cosmogonic Perceptions in the Armenian Traditional Musical Instrument-crafting Culture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pikichian, Hripsime

    2015-07-01

    Based on research data and materials recorded by folk musicians and craftsmen, the article presents the musical instrument-crafting in traditional culture, its contribution in to re-establishment of cosmic order. In this context, the several issues are reviewed in detail: individuality of craftsmen and musicians, the raw materials for the creation of instrument, the instrument structure, the manufacturing process, the ornaments and application. According to the traditional view, using the elements of nature and imitating the sounds of nature and human psychological states the master imitates God repeating the process of creation of the Universe. So, the Instrument is held capable to influence the society contributing to the eternity of life.

  3. Some observations on colocated and closely spaced strong ground-motion records of the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, earthquake

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wang, G.-Q.; Boore, D.M.; Igel, H.; Zhou, X.-Y.

    2003-01-01

    The digital accelerograph network installed in Taiwan produced a rich set of records from the 20 September 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake (Mw 7.6). Teledyne Geotech model A-800 and A-900A* digital accelerographs were colocated at 22 stations that recorded this event. Comparisons of the amplitudes, frequency content, and baseline offsets show that records from several of the A-800 accelerographs are considerably different than those from the colocated A-900A accelerographs. On this basis, and in view of the more thorough predeployment testing of the newer A-900A instruments, we recommend that the records from the A-800 instruments be used with caution in analyses of the mainshock and aftershocks. At the Hualien seismic station two A-900A and one A-800 instruments were colocated, along with a Global Positioning System instrument. Although the records from the two A-900A instruments are much more similar than those from a colocated A-800 instrument, both three-component records contain unpredictable baseline offsets, which produced completely unrealistic ground displacements derived from the accelerations by double integration, as do many of the strong-motion data from this event; the details of the baseline offsets differ considerably on the two three-component records. There are probably numerous sources of the baseline offsets, including sources external to the instruments, such as tilting or rotation of the ground, and sources internal to the instruments, such as electrical or mechanical hysteresis in the sensors. For the two colocated A-900A records at the Hualien seismic station, however, the differences in the baseline offsets suggest that the principal source is some transient disturbance within the instrument. The baseline offsets generally manifest themselves in the acceleration time series as pulses or steps, either singly or in combination. We find a 0.015-Hz low-cut filter can almost completely eliminate the effects of the baseline offsets, but then

  4. Cyclic fatigue of ProFile rotary instruments after prolonged clinical use.

    PubMed

    Gambarini, G

    2001-07-01

    The purpose of the present study was to evaluate resistance to cyclic fatigue of new and used ProFile Ni-Ti rotary instruments. Used instruments were operated in 10 clinical cases using passive instrumentation and a crown-down preparation technique. Cyclic fatigue testing of new and used engine-driven instruments was then performed with a specific device which allowed the instruments to rotate freely inside a stainless steel artificial canal, whilst maintaining conditions close to the clinical situation. Instruments were rotated until fracture occurred and time to fracture was visually recorded with a chronometer. A significant reduction of rotation time to breakage (life span) was noted between new and used instruments. In all sizes new instruments were significantly more resistant than used ones (two-sample t-test, P < 0.01). No instrument underwent intracanal failure during clinical use. Prolonged clinical use of Ni-Ti engine-driven instruments significantly reduced their cyclic fatigue resistance. Nevertheless, each rotary instrument was successfully operated in up to 10 clinical cases without any intracanal failure.

  5. Flexible Rover Architecture for Science Instrument Integration and Testing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bualat, Maria G.; Kobayashi, Linda; Lee, Susan Y.; Park, Eric

    2006-01-01

    At NASA Ames Research Center, the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) fields the K9 and K10 class rovers. Both use a mobile robot hardware architecture designed for extensibility and reconfigurability that allows for rapid changes in instrumentation and provides a high degree of modularity. Over the past ssveral years, we have worked with instrument developers at NASA centers, universities, and national laboratories to integrate or partially integrate their instruments onboard the K9 and K10 rovers. Early efforts required considerable interaction to work through integration issues such as power, data protocol and mechanical mounting. These interactions informed the design of our current avionics architecture, and have simplified more recent integration projects. In this paper, we will describe the IRG extensible avionics and software architecture and the effect it has had on our recent instrument integration efforts, including integration of four Mars Instrument Development Program devices.

  6. One hundred years of earthquake recording at the University of California

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bolt, B. A.

    1987-01-01

    The best seismographs then available arrived from England in 1887 and were installed at Lick Observatory on Mt.Hamilton and at the Students Astronomical Observatory on the Berkeley campus. The first California earthquake recorded by the Lick instrument was on April 24, 1887. These seismographic stations have functioned continuously from their founding to the present day, with improvements in instruments from time to time as technology advanced. Now they are part of a sesimogrpahic network of 16 stations recording with great completeness both local and distant earthquakes. 

  7. Overview of intercalibration of satellite instruments

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Chander, G.; Hewison, T.J.; Fox, N.; Wu, X.; Xiong, X.; Blackwell, W.J.

    2013-01-01

    Inter-calibration of satellite instruments is critical for detection and quantification of changes in the Earth’s environment, weather forecasting, understanding climate processes, and monitoring climate and land cover change. These applications use data from many satellites; for the data to be inter-operable, the instruments must be cross-calibrated. To meet the stringent needs of such applications requires that instruments provide reliable, accurate, and consistent measurements over time. Robust techniques are required to ensure that observations from different instruments can be normalized to a common scale that the community agrees on. The long-term reliability of this process needs to be sustained in accordance with established reference standards and best practices. Furthermore, establishing physical meaning to the information through robust Système International d'unités (SI) traceable Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) is essential to fully understand the parameters under observation. The processes of calibration, correction, stability monitoring, and quality assurance need to be underpinned and evidenced by comparison with “peer instruments” and, ideally, highly calibrated in-orbit reference instruments. Inter-calibration between instruments is a central pillar of the Cal/Val strategies of many national and international satellite remote sensing organizations. Inter-calibration techniques as outlined in this paper not only provide a practical means of identifying and correcting relative biases in radiometric calibration between instruments but also enable potential data gaps between measurement records in a critical time series to be bridged. Use of a robust set of internationally agreed upon and coordinated inter-calibration techniques will lead to significant improvement in the consistency between satellite instruments and facilitate accurate monitoring of the Earth’s climate at uncertainty levels needed to detect and attribute the mechanisms

  8. Comparison of sea level pressure reconstructions from western North American tree rings with a proxy record of winter severity in Japan

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gordon, G.A.; Lough, J.M.; Fritts, H.C.

    Reconstructions of winter (December-February) sea level pressure (SLP) from western North American tree-ring chronologies are compared with a proxy record of winter severity in Japan derived from the historically documented freeze dates of Lake Suwa. The SLP reconstructions extend from 1602 to 1961 and freeze dates from 1443 to 1954. The instrumental and reconstructed SLP for the 20th century reveal two distinct circulation regimes (teleconnection patterns) over the North Pacific that appear to be associated with severe and mild winters and, consequently, with early and late freezing of the lake. The reconstructed SLPO anomaly map for severe winters prior tomore » 1683 shows a pattern similar to those in the instrumental and reconstructed records of the 20th century. The analysis reveals that the reliability of the reconstruction may vary with the configuration of the actual SLP pattern as the mild winter pattern is not as well reconstructed as the severe winter pattern. That result illustrates the importance of testing the reliability of a reconstruction within the context of the intended interpretation. This analysis demonstrates how different types of proxy climate data can be compared and verified.« less

  9. Effects of maltreatment and parental schizophrenia spectrum disorders on early childhood social-emotional functioning: a population record linkage study.

    PubMed

    Matheson, S L; Kariuki, M; Green, M J; Dean, K; Harris, F; Tzoumakis, S; Tarren-Sweeney, M; Brinkman, S; Chilvers, M; Sprague, T; Carr, V J; Laurens, K R

    2017-12-01

    Childhood maltreatment and a family history of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) are each associated with social-emotional dysfunction in childhood. Both are also strong risk factors for adult SSDs, and social-emotional dysfunction in childhood may be an antecedent of these disorders. We used data from a large Australian population cohort to determine the independent and moderating effects of maltreatment and parental SSDs on early childhood social-emotional functioning. The New South Wales Child Development Study combines intergenerational multi-agency data using record linkage methods. Multiple measures of social-emotional functioning (social competency, prosocial/helping behaviour, anxious/fearful behaviour; aggressive behaviour, and hyperactivity/inattention) on 69 116 kindergarten children (age ~5 years) were linked with government records of child maltreatment and parental presentations to health services for SSD. Multivariable analyses investigated the association between maltreatment and social-emotional functioning, adjusting for demographic variables and parental SSD history, in the population sample and in sub-cohorts exposed and not exposed to parental SSD history. We also examined the association of parental SSD history and social-emotional functioning, adjusting for demographic variables and maltreatment. Medium-sized associations were identified between maltreatment and poor social competency, aggressive behaviour and hyperactivity/inattention; small associations were revealed between maltreatment and poor prosocial/helping and anxious/fearful behaviours. These associations did not differ greatly when adjusted for parental SSD, and were greater in magnitude among children with no history of parental SSD. Small associations between parental SSD and poor social-emotional functioning remained after adjusting for demographic variables and maltreatment. Childhood maltreatment and history of parental SSD are associated independently with poor early

  10. Landsat's TIRS Instrument

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2017-12-08

    The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) will fly on the next Landsat satellite, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). The right side of the instrument is what's called the 'nadir side,' that's the side that points toward Earth when the instrument is in space. The black circle visible on the right side is where the optics for the instrument are located. In that area are the lens and the detectors. The white area is a radiator that radiates heat to keep the telescope and the detector cool. The black hole on the white area on the left is what the satellite operators point to deep space when they calibrate the instrument to the cold temperatures of space. TIRS was built on an accelerated schedule at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. and will now be integrated into the LDCM spacecraft at Orbital Science Corp. in Gilbert, Ariz. The Landsat Program is a series of Earth observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. Landsat satellites have been consistently gathering data about our planet since 1972. They continue to improve and expand this unparalleled record of Earth's changing landscapes for the benefit of all. For more information on Landsat, visit: www.nasa.gov/landsat Credit: NASA/GSFC/Rebecca Roth NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

  11. Recent developments in hydrologic instrumentation

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Latkovich, Vito J.; Futrell, James C.; Kane, Douglas L.

    1986-01-01

    The programs of the U.S. Geological Survey require instrumentation for collecting and monitoring hydrologic data in cold regions. The availability of space-age materials and implementation of modern electronics and mechanics is making possible the recent developments of hydrologic instrumentation, especially in the area of measuring streamflow under ice cover. Material developments include: synthetic-fiber sounding and tag lines; polymer (plastic) sheaves, pulleys, and sampler components; and polymer (plastic) current-meter bucket wheels. Electronic and mechanical developments include: a current-meter digitizer; a fiber-optic closure system for current-meters; non-contact water-level sensors; an adaptable hydrologic data acquisition system; a minimum data recorder; an ice rod; an ice foot; a handled sediment sampler; a light weight ice auger with improved cutter head and blades; and an ice chisel.

  12. Usability-driven evolution of a space instrument

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McCalden, Alec

    2012-09-01

    The use of resources in the cradle-to-grave timeline of a space instrument might be significantly improved by considering the concept of usability from the start of the mission. The methodology proposed here includes giving early priority in a programme to the iterative development of a simulator that models instrument operation, and allowing this to evolve ahead of the actual instrument specification and fabrication. The advantages include reduction of risk in software development by shifting much of it to earlier in a programme than is typical, plus a test programme that uses and thereby proves the same support systems that may be used for flight. A new development flow for an instrument is suggested, showing how the system engineering phases used by the space agencies could be reworked in line with these ideas. This methodology is also likely to contribute to a better understanding between the various disciplines involved in the creation of a new instrument. The result should better capture the science needs, implement them more accurately with less wasted effort, and more fully allow the best ideas from all team members to be considered.

  13. Acoustic signature of thunder from seismic records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kappus, Mary E.; Vernon, Frank L.

    1991-06-01

    Thunder, the sound wave through the air associated with lightning, transfers sufficient energy to the ground to trigger seismometers set to record regional earthquakes. The acoustic signature recorded on seismometers, in the form of ground velocity as a function of time, contains the same type features as pressure variations recorded with microphones in air. At a seismic station in Kislovodsk, USSR, a nearly direct lightning strike caused electronic failure of borehole instruments while leaving a brief impulsive acoustic signature on the surface instruments. The peak frequency of 25-55 Hz is consistent with previously published values for cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, but spectra from this station are contaminated by very strong wind noise in this band. A thunderstorm near a similar station in Karasu triggered more than a dozen records of individual lightning strikes during a 2-hour period. The spectra for these events are fairly broadband, with peaks at low frequencies, varying from 6 to 13 Hz. The spectra were all computed by multitaper analysis, which deals appropriately with the nonstationary thunder signal. These independent measurements of low-frequency peaks corroborate the occasional occurrences in traditional microphone records, but a theory concerning the physical mechanism to account for them is still in question. Examined separately, the individual claps in each record have similar frequency distributions, discounting a need for multiple mechanisms to explain different phases of the thunder sequence. Particle motion, determined from polarization analysis of the three-component records, is predominantly vertical downward, with smaller horizontal components indicative of the direction to the lightning bolt. In three of the records the azimuth to the lightning bolt changes with time, confirming a significant horizontal component to the lightning channel itself.

  14. Steps and Pips in the History of the Cumulative Recorder

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lattal, Kennon A.

    2004-01-01

    From its inception in the 1930s until very recent times, the cumulative recorder was the most widely used measurement instrument in the experimental analysis of behavior. It was an essential instrument in the discovery and analysis of schedules of reinforcement, providing the first real-time analysis of operant response rates and patterns. This…

  15. Miniature penetrator (MinPen) acceleration recorder development test

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Franco, R.J.; Platzbecker, M.R.

    1998-08-01

    The Telemetry Technology Development Department at Sandia National Laboratories actively develops and tests acceleration recorders for penetrating weapons. This new acceleration recorder (MinPen) utilizes a microprocessor-based architecture for operational flexibility while maintaining electronics and packaging techniques developed over years of penetrator testing. MinPen has been demonstrated to function in shock environments up to 20,000 Gs. The MinPen instrumentation development has resulted in a rugged, versatile, miniature acceleration recorder and is a valuable tool for penetrator testing in a wide range of applications.

  16. Developing a theoretical model and questionnaire survey instrument to measure the success of electronic health records in residential aged care.

    PubMed

    Yu, Ping; Qian, Siyu

    2018-01-01

    Electronic health records (EHR) are introduced into healthcare organizations worldwide to improve patient safety, healthcare quality and efficiency. A rigorous evaluation of this technology is important to reduce potential negative effects on patient and staff, to provide decision makers with accurate information for system improvement and to ensure return on investment. Therefore, this study develops a theoretical model and questionnaire survey instrument to assess the success of organizational EHR in routine use from the viewpoint of nursing staff in residential aged care homes. The proposed research model incorporates six variables in the reformulated DeLone and McLean information systems success model: system quality, information quality, service quality, use, user satisfaction and net benefits. Two variables training and self-efficacy were also incorporated into the model. A questionnaire survey instrument was designed to measure the eight variables in the model. After a pilot test, the measurement scale was used to collect data from 243 nursing staff members in 10 residential aged care homes belonging to three management groups in Australia. Partial least squares path modeling was conducted to validate the model. The validated EHR systems success model predicts the impact of the four antecedent variables-training, self-efficacy, system quality and information quality-on the net benefits, the indicator of EHR systems success, through the intermittent variables use and user satisfaction. A 24-item measurement scale was developed to quantitatively evaluate the performance of an EHR system. The parsimonious EHR systems success model and the measurement scale can be used to benchmark EHR systems success across organizations and units and over time.

  17. Extending the turbidity record: making additional use of continuous data from turbidity, acoustic-Doppler, and laser diffraction instruments and suspended-sediment samples in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Voichick, Nicholas; Topping, David J.

    2014-01-01

    Turbidity is a measure of the scattering and absorption of light in water, which in rivers is primarily caused by particles, usually sediment, suspended in the water. Turbidity varies significantly with differences in the design of the instrument measuring turbidity, a point that is illustrated in this study by side-by-side comparisons of two different models of instruments. Turbidity also varies with changes in the physical parameters of the particles in the water, such as concentration, grain size, grain shape, and color. A turbidity instrument that is commonly used for continuous monitoring of rivers has a light source in the near-infrared range (860±30 nanometers) and a detector oriented 90 degrees from the incident light path. This type of optical turbidity instrument has a limited measurement range (depending on pathlength) that is unable to capture the high turbidity levels of rivers that carry high suspended-sediment loads. The Colorado River in Grand Canyon is one such river, in which approximately 60 percent of the range in suspended-sediment concentration during the study period had unmeasurable turbidity using this type of optical instrument. Although some optical turbidimeters using backscatter or other techniques can measure higher concentrations of suspended sediment than the models used in this study, the maximum turbidity measurable using these other turbidimeters may still be exceeded in conditions of especially high concentrations of suspended silt and clay. In Grand Canyon, the existing optical turbidity instruments remain in use in part to provide consistency over time as new techniques are investigated. As a result, during these periods of high suspended-sediment concentration, turbidity values that could not be measured with the optical turbidity instruments were instead estimated from concurrent acoustic attenuation data collected using side-looking acoustic-Doppler profiler (ADP) instruments. Extending the turbidity record to the full

  18. Combined wave propagation analysis of earthquake recordings from borehole and building sensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Petrovic, B.; Parolai, S.; Dikmen, U.; Safak, E.; Moldobekov, B.; Orunbaev, S.

    2015-12-01

    In regions highly exposed to natural hazards, Early Warning Systems can play a central role in risk management and mitigation procedures. To improve at a relatively low cost the spatial resolution of regional earthquake early warning (EEW) systems, decentralized onsite EEW and building monitoring, a wireless sensing unit, the Self-Organizing Seismic Early Warning Information Network (SOSEWIN) was developed and further improved to include the multi-parameter acquisition. SOSEWINs working in continuous real time mode are currently tested on various sites. In Bishkek and Istanbul, an instrumented building is located close to a borehole equipped with downhole sensors. The joint data analysis of building and borehole earthquake recordings allows the study of the behavior of the building, characteristics of the soil, and soil-structure interactions. The interferometric approach applied to recordings of the building response is particularly suitable to characterize the wave propagation inside a building, including the propagation velocity of shear waves and attenuation. Applied to borehole sensors, it gives insights into velocity changes in different layers, reflections and mode conversion, and allows the estimation of the quality factor Qs. We used combined building and borehole data from the two test sites: 1) to estimate the characteristics of wave propagation through the building to the soil and back, and 2) to obtain an empirical insight into soil-structure interactions. The two test sites represent two different building and soil types, and soil structure impedance contrasts. The wave propagation through the soil to the building and back is investigated by the joint interferometric approach. The propagation of up and down-going waves through the building and soil is clearly imaged and the reflection of P and S waves from the earth surface and the top of the building identified. An estimate of the reflected and transmitted energy amounts is given, too.

  19. The Case for Musical Instrument Training in Cerebral Palsy for Neurorehabilitation

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    Recent imaging studies in cerebral palsy (CP) have described several brain structural changes, functional alterations, and neuroplastic processes that take place after brain injury during early development. These changes affect motor pathways as well as sensorimotor networks. Several of these changes correlate with behavioral measures of motor and sensory disability. It is now widely acknowledged that management of sensory deficits is relevant for rehabilitation in CP. Playing a musical instrument demands the coordination of hand movements with integrated auditory, visual, and tactile feedback, in a process that recruits multiple brain regions. These multiple demands during instrument playing, together with the entertaining character of music, have led to the development and investigation of music-supported therapies, especially for rehabilitation with motor disorders resulting from brain damage. We review scientific evidence that supports the use of musical instrument playing for rehabilitation in CP. We propose that active musical instrument playing may be an efficient means for triggering neuroplastic processes necessary for the development of sensorimotor skills in patients with early brain damage. We encourage experimental research on neuroplasticity and on its impact on the physical and personal development of individuals with CP. PMID:27867664

  20. The Case for Musical Instrument Training in Cerebral Palsy for Neurorehabilitation.

    PubMed

    Alves-Pinto, Ana; Turova, Varvara; Blumenstein, Tobias; Lampe, Renée

    2016-01-01

    Recent imaging studies in cerebral palsy (CP) have described several brain structural changes, functional alterations, and neuroplastic processes that take place after brain injury during early development. These changes affect motor pathways as well as sensorimotor networks. Several of these changes correlate with behavioral measures of motor and sensory disability. It is now widely acknowledged that management of sensory deficits is relevant for rehabilitation in CP. Playing a musical instrument demands the coordination of hand movements with integrated auditory, visual, and tactile feedback, in a process that recruits multiple brain regions. These multiple demands during instrument playing, together with the entertaining character of music, have led to the development and investigation of music-supported therapies, especially for rehabilitation with motor disorders resulting from brain damage. We review scientific evidence that supports the use of musical instrument playing for rehabilitation in CP. We propose that active musical instrument playing may be an efficient means for triggering neuroplastic processes necessary for the development of sensorimotor skills in patients with early brain damage. We encourage experimental research on neuroplasticity and on its impact on the physical and personal development of individuals with CP.

  1. Introduction to special section: early Mars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Clifford, S.; Treiman, A.; Newsom, H.; Farmer, J.

    1998-01-01

    Ongoing studies of the evolution of the Martian cratered highlands, the nature of the planet's early climate, and the recent announcement of possible evidence of ancient life in the ALH 84001 meteorite have reinvigorated interest in the conditions that prevailed on Mars during its first billion years of geologic history. To address this interest and assess our current understanding of these issues, the Lunar and Planetary Institute hosted a 4-day Conference on Early Mars in Houston in April of 1997. The papers contained in this special section are a product of that meeting. The purpose of the conference was twofold: (1) to consider how impacts, volcanism, and the presence of abundant water affected the physical and chemical environment that existed on Mars 4 Gyr ago, particularly as it related to the nature of the global climate, the origin of the valley networks, the geologic and mineralogic evolution of the surface, the aqueous geochemistry of groundwater, and the existence of local environments that may have been conducive to the development of indigenous life and the preservation of its signature in the geologic record; and (2) to discuss what observations or experiments might he included in future spacecraft missions to test the ideas and expectations arising from purpose 1. While pertinent issues of early atmospheric and solar evolution were also addressed, the primary discussion at the conference focused on the evidence and constraints provided by the geologic records of Earth, the Moon, and Mars and analysis of the SNC meteorites. The papers contained in this special section span the full range of these topics, including the stability of the early atmosphere to erosion by the solar wind, the geologic environment from which the SNC meteorites originated, geomorphic evidence regarding the nature of the early Martian climate and hydrologic cycle, the potential impact of the past and present environment on the preserved signature of ancient life, and a

  2. Using the magmatic record to constrain the growth of continental crust-The Eoarchean zircon Hf record of Greenland

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fisher, Christopher M.; Vervoort, Jeffrey D.

    2018-04-01

    Southern West Greenland contains some of the best-studied and best-preserved magmatic Eoarchean rocks on Earth, and these provide an excellent vantage point from which to view long-standing questions regarding the growth of the earliest continental crust. In order to address the questions surrounding early crustal growth and complementary mantle depletion, we present Laser Ablation Split Stream (LASS) analyses of the U-Pb and Hf isotope compositions of zircon from eleven samples of the least-altered meta-igneous rocks from the Itsaq (Amîtsoq) Gneisses of the Isukasia and Nuuk regions of southern West Greenland. This analytical technique allows a less ambiguous approach to determining the age and Hf isotope composition of complicated zircon. Results corroborate previous findings that Eoarchean zircon from the Itsaq Gneiss (∼3.85 Ga to ∼3.63 Ga) were derived from a broadly chondritic source. In contrast to the Sm-Nd whole rock isotope record for southern West Greenland, the zircon Lu-Hf isotope record provides no evidence for early mantle depletion, nor does it suggest the presence of crust older than ∼3.85 Ga in Greenland. Utilizing LASS U-Pb and Hf data from the Greenland zircons studied here, we demonstrate the importance of focusing on the magmatic (rather than detrital) zircon record to more confidently understand early crustal growth and mantle depletion. We compare the Greenland Hf isotope data with other Eoarchean magmatic complexes such as the Acasta Gneiss Complex, Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt, and the gneissic complexes of southern Africa, and all lack zircons with suprachondritic Hf isotope compositions. In total, these data suggest only a very modest volume of crust was produced during (or survived from) the Hadean and earliest Eoarchean. There remains no record of planet-scale early Earth mantle depletion in the Hf isotope record prior to 3.8 Ga.

  3. FHR Process Instruments

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Holcomb, David Eugene

    2015-01-01

    Fluoride salt-cooled High temperature Reactors (FHRs) are entering into early phase engineering development. Initial candidate technologies have been identified to measure all of the required process variables. The purpose of this paper is to describe the proposed measurement techniques in sufficient detail to enable assessment of the proposed instrumentation suite and to support development of the component technologies. This paper builds upon the instrumentation chapter of the recently published FHR technology development roadmap. Locating instruments outside of the intense core radiation and high-temperature fluoride salt environment significantly decreases their environmental tolerance requirements. Under operating conditions, FHR primary coolant salt ismore » a transparent, low-vapor-pressure liquid. Consequently, FHRs can employ standoff optical measurements from above the salt pool to assess in-vessel conditions. For example, the core outlet temperature can be measured by observing the fuel s blackbody emission. Similarly, the intensity of the core s Cerenkov glow indicates the fission power level. Short-lived activation of the primary coolant provides another means for standoff measurements of process variables. The primary coolant flow and neutron flux can be measured using gamma spectroscopy along the primary coolant piping. FHR operation entails a number of process measurements. Reactor thermal power and core reactivity are the most significant variables for process control. Thermal power can be determined by measuring the primary coolant mass flow rate and temperature rise across the core. The leading candidate technologies for primary coolant temperature measurement are Au-Pt thermocouples and Johnson noise thermometry. Clamp-on ultrasonic flow measurement, that includes high-temperature tolerant standoffs, is a potential coolant flow measurement technique. Also, the salt redox condition will be monitored as an indicator of its corrosiveness. Both

  4. Orbital time scale records of Asian eolian dust from the Sea of Japan since the early Pliocene

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Wenfang; De Vleeschouwer, David; Shen, Ji; Zhang, Zeke; Zeng, Lin

    2018-05-01

    A high-resolution potassium content record of sediments from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Site U1422 drilled in the northern Sea of Japan was employed to yield an astronomical timescale for this ∼205 m thick sedimentary archive. The K content was quantified using the natural gamma radiation (NGR) data routinely measured on DV JOIDES Resolution. The U1422 K (wt.%) series shows an increasing trend with time, which parallels the growth of North Hemisphere ice sheets since ∼4 Ma, as revealed by the global benthic foraminifer's oxygen isotope stack (LR04). We propose that K content variations reflect changes in the relative contributions of Asian eolian dust and volcanic weathering products, in response to changes in global ice volume. Using the shipboard age model, constrained by palaeomagnetism and nanofossils datums, we tuned the U1422 K content variations to the LR04 stack. Our tuned age model for site U1422 goes back to 3.9 Ma. The studied record indicates that Asian dust generation is enhanced during periods of global cooling. The synchronous variations between the U1422 K record and the LR04 stack also suggest that global cooling played a dominant role in promoting the central Asian aridification since ∼3.9 Ma, while the uplift of Tibetan Plateau plays a secondary role, considering many disagreements still exists between the timing and amplitude of the Qinghai-Tibetan uplift and the evolution of central Asian aridity since the early Pliocene.

  5. Predicting School Performance with the Early Screening Inventory.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meisels, Samuel J.; And Others

    1984-01-01

    Proposes criteria for defining and selecting preschool developmental screening instruments and describes the Early Screening Inventory (ESI), a developmental screening instrument designed to satisfy these criteria. Presents results of several studies demonstrating that the ESI predicts school performance with moderate to excellent accuracy through…

  6. Early Evaluation of the VIIRS Calibration, Cloud Mask and Surface Reflectance Earth Data Records

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vermote, Eric; Justice, Chris; Csiszar, Ivan

    2014-01-01

    Surface reflectance is one of the key products fromVIIRS and as withMODIS, is used in developing several higherorder land products. The VIIRS Surface Reflectance (SR) Intermediate Product (IP) is based on the heritageMODIS Collection 5 product (Vermote, El Saleous, & Justice, 2002). The quality and character of surface reflectance depend on the accuracy of the VIIRS Cloud Mask (VCM), the aerosol algorithms and the adequate calibration of the sensor. The focus of this paper is the early evaluation of the VIIRS SR product in the context of the maturity of the operational processing system, the Interface Data Processing System (IDPS). After a brief introduction, the paper presents the calibration performance and the role of the surface reflectance in calibration monitoring. The analysis of the performance of the cloud mask with a focus on vegetation monitoring (no snow conditions) shows typical problems over bright surfaces and high elevation sites. Also discussed is the performance of the aerosol input used in the atmospheric correction and in particular the artifacts generated by the use of the Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System. Early quantitative results of the performance of the SR product over the AERONET sites showthatwith the fewadjustments recommended, the accuracy iswithin the threshold specifications. The analysis of the adequacy of the SR product (Land PEATE adjusted version) in applications of societal benefits is then presented. We conclude with a set of recommendations to ensure consistency and continuity of the JPSS mission with the MODIS Land Climate Data Record.

  7. Measuring student engagement among elementary students: pilot of the Student Engagement Instrument--Elementary Version.

    PubMed

    Carter, Chandra P; Reschly, Amy L; Lovelace, Matthew D; Appleton, James J; Thompson, Dianne

    2012-06-01

    Early school withdrawal, commonly referred to as dropout, is associated with a plethora of negative outcomes for students, schools, and society. Student engagement, however, presents as a promising theoretical model and cornerstone of school completion interventions. The purpose of the present study was to validate the Student Engagement Instrument-Elementary Version (SEI-E). The psychometric properties of this measure were assessed based on the responses of an ethnically diverse sample of 1,943 students from an urban locale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the 4-factor model of student engagement provided the best fit for the current data, which is divergent from previous SEI studies suggesting 5- and 6-factor models. Discussion and implications of these findings are presented in the context of student engagement and dropout prevention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

  8. Climate change and carbon-cycling during the latest Cretaceous-Early Paleogene; a new 13.5 million year-long, orbital-resolution, stable isotope record from the South Atlantic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barnet, J.; Littler, K.; Kroon, D.; Leng, M. J.; Westerhold, T.; Roehl, U.; Zachos, J. C.

    2017-12-01

    The "greenhouse" world of the latest Cretaceous-Early Paleogene ( 70-34 Ma) was characterised by multi-million year variability in climate and the carbon-cycle. Throughout this interval the pervasive imprint of orbital-cyclicity, particularly eccentricity and precession, is visible in elemental and stable isotope data obtained from multiple deep-sea sites. Periodic "hyperthermal" events, occurring largely in-step with these orbital cycles, have proved particularly enigmatic, and may be the closest, albeit imperfect, analogues for anthropogenic climate change. This project utilises CaCO3-rich marine sediments recovered from ODP Site 1262 at a paleo-depth of 3600 m on the Walvis Ridge, South Atlantic, of late Maastrichtian-mid Paleocene age ( 67-60 Ma). We have derived high-resolution (2.5-4 kyr) carbon and oxygen isotope data from the epifaunal benthic foraminifera species Nuttallides truempyi. Combining the new record with the existing Late Paleocene-Early Eocene record generated from the same site by Littler et al. (2014), yields a single-site reference curve detailing 13.5 million years of orbital cyclicity in paleoclimate and carbon cycle from the latest Cretaceous to near the peak warmth of the Early Paleogene greenhouse. Spectral analysis of this new combined dataset allows us to identify long (405-kyr) eccentricity, short (100-kyr) eccentricity, and precession (19-23-kyr) as the principle forcing mechanisms governing pacing of the background climate and carbon-cycle during this time period, with a comparatively weak obliquity (41-kyr) signal. Cross-spectral analysis suggests that changes in climate lead the carbon cycle throughout most of the record, emphasising the role of the release of temperature-sensitive carbon stores as a positive feedback to an initial warming induced by changes in orbital configuration. The expression of comparatively understudied Early Paleocene events, including the Dan-C2 Event, Latest Danian Event, and Danian/Selandian Transition

  9. Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation at the National Science Foundation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kurczynski, Peter; Neff, James E.

    2018-01-01

    Over its more than thirty-year history, the Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation (ATI) program within the Division of Astronomical Sciences has provided grants to support the development and deployment of detectors and instrumentation for ground-based astronomy. This program has enabled scientific advances in diverse fields from solar physics to exoplanets to cosmology. ATI has provided instrumentation for both small and large observatories from radio through visible wavebands. It has played a role in the early development of major initiatives such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Technology development for astronomy unfolds over a longer period than the lifetime of a single grant. This review will consider ATI from an historical perspective to assess its impact on astronomy.

  10. Comparison of cleaning Efficacy and Instrumentation Time between Rotary and Manual Instrumentation Techniques in Primary Teeth: An in vitro Study.

    PubMed

    Katge, Farhin; Chimata, Vamsi Krishna; Poojari, Manohar; Shetty, Shilpa; Rusawat, Bhavesh

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study was to compare the cleaning efficacy and instrumentation time between manual Hedstrom files (H-files) and rotary Mtwo files in primary molar root canals. A total of 90 primary root canals were selected using standardized radiographs. The canals were injected with India ink with 30 gauge insulin syringe and divided into three groups. Group I-30 root canals instrumented with H-files, group II-30 root canals instrumented with Mtwo files, and group III-control group in which no canal instrumentation was done. The teeth were cleared in various solutions and then observed under a stereomicroscope. No significant difference was seen in cleaning efficacy between H-files and Mtwo files in coronal, middle, and apical thirds of the root canal. The instrumentation time recorded for H-files (3.41 ± 0.38 minutes) was significantly less than that of Mtwo files (4.81 ± 0.52). Although there was no significant difference in cleaning capacity, further studies should be carried out using the single file systems. How to cite this article: Katge F, Chimata VK, Poojari M, Shetty S, Rusawat B. Comparison of cleaning Efficacy and Instrumentation Time between Rotary and Manual Instrumentation Techniques in Primary Teeth: An in vitro Study. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2016;9(2):124-127.

  11. Gyroscopic Instruments for Instrument Flying

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Brombacher, W G; Trent, W C

    1938-01-01

    The gyroscopic instruments commonly used in instrument flying in the United States are the turn indicator, the directional gyro, the gyromagnetic compass, the gyroscopic horizon, and the automatic pilot. These instruments are described. Performance data and the method of testing in the laboratory are given for the turn indicator, the directional gyro, and the gyroscopic horizon. Apparatus for driving the instruments is discussed.

  12. Assessing Teacher Beliefs about Early Literacy Curriculum Implementation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKenney, Susan; Bradley, Barbara

    2016-01-01

    Against the backdrop of growing international concern for a narrowing view of early literacy, this study was initiated to determine how teachers of four-year-olds view their task of fostering early literacy. This paper reports on the first steps to design and validate an instrument which captures teachers' perceptions of early literacy content…

  13. Single-shot optical recording with sub-picosecond resolution spans record nanosecond lengths

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Muir, Ryan; Heebner, John

    With the advent of electronics, oscilloscopes and photodiodes are now routinely capable of measuring events well below nanosecond resolution. However, these electronic instruments do not currently measure events below 10 ps resolution. From Walden’s observation that there is an engineering tradeoff between electronic bit depth and temporal resolution in analog-to-digital converters, this technique is projected to have extremely poor fidelity if it is extended to record single events with picosecond resolution. While this constraint may be circumvented with extensive signal averaging or other multiple measurements approaches, rare events and nonrepetitive events cannot be observed with this technique. Techniques capable ofmore » measuring information in a single shot are often required. There is a general lack of available technologies that are easily scalable to long records with sub-picosecond resolution, and are simultaneously versatile in wavelength of operation. Since it is difficult to scale electronic methods to shorter resolutions, we instead aim to scale optical methods to longer records. Demonstrated optical recording methods that have achieved 1 ps resolution and long recording lengths rely on either time scaling to slow down the temporal information or, like Wien, perform time-to-space mapping so that fast events may be captured with a conventional camera.« less

  14. Single-shot optical recording with sub-picosecond resolution spans record nanosecond lengths

    DOE PAGES

    Muir, Ryan; Heebner, John

    2018-01-18

    With the advent of electronics, oscilloscopes and photodiodes are now routinely capable of measuring events well below nanosecond resolution. However, these electronic instruments do not currently measure events below 10 ps resolution. From Walden’s observation that there is an engineering tradeoff between electronic bit depth and temporal resolution in analog-to-digital converters, this technique is projected to have extremely poor fidelity if it is extended to record single events with picosecond resolution. While this constraint may be circumvented with extensive signal averaging or other multiple measurements approaches, rare events and nonrepetitive events cannot be observed with this technique. Techniques capable ofmore » measuring information in a single shot are often required. There is a general lack of available technologies that are easily scalable to long records with sub-picosecond resolution, and are simultaneously versatile in wavelength of operation. Since it is difficult to scale electronic methods to shorter resolutions, we instead aim to scale optical methods to longer records. Demonstrated optical recording methods that have achieved 1 ps resolution and long recording lengths rely on either time scaling to slow down the temporal information or, like Wien, perform time-to-space mapping so that fast events may be captured with a conventional camera.« less

  15. The 19 mm data recorders similarities and differences

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Atkinson, Steve

    1992-01-01

    Confusion over the use of non-video 19 mm data recorders is becoming more pronounced as we enter the world of high performance computing. This paper addresses the following: the differences between ID-1, ID-2, MIL-STD-2179 and DD-2; what the proper machine is for various applications; how the machine can be integrated into an environment; and any misconceptions there might be about 19 mm tape recorders. DD-2 and 19 mm instrumentation recorders have missions for which each is well designed. While the differences may appear subtle, understanding the difference between the two is the key to picking the right recorder for a particular application.

  16. The Cabauw Intercomparison Campaign for Nitrogen Dioxide Measuring Instruments (CINDI): Design, Execution, and Early Results

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Piters, Ankie; Boersma, K.F.; Kroon, M.; Hains, J. C.; Roozendael, M. Van; Wittrock, F.; Abuhassan, N.; Adams, C.; Akrami, M.; Allaart, M. A. F.; hide

    2012-01-01

    From June to July 2009 more than thirty different in-situ and remote sensing instruments from all over the world participated in the Cabauw Intercomparison campaign for Nitrogen Dioxide measuring Instruments (CINDI). The campaign took place at KNMI's Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research (CESAR) in the Netherlands. Its main objectives were to determine the accuracy of state-ofthe- art ground-based measurement techniques for the detection of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (both in-situ and remote sensing), and to investigate their usability in satellite data validation. The expected outcomes are recommendations regarding the operation and calibration of such instruments, retrieval settings, and observation strategies for the use in ground-based networks for air quality monitoring and satellite data validation. Twenty-four optical spectrometers participated in the campaign, of which twenty-one had the capability to scan different elevation angles consecutively, the so-called Multi-axis DOAS systems, thereby collecting vertical profile information, in particular for nitrogen dioxide and aerosol. Various in-situ samplers and lidar instruments simultaneously characterized the variability of atmospheric trace gases and the physical properties of aerosol particles. A large data set of continuous measurements of these atmospheric constituents has been collected under various meteorological conditions and air pollution levels. Together with the permanent measurement capability at the CESAR site characterizing the meteorological state of the atmosphere, the CINDI campaign provided a comprehensive observational data set of atmospheric constituents in a highly polluted region of the world during summertime. First detailed comparisons performed with the CINDI data show that slant column measurements of NO2, O4 and HCHO with MAX-DOAS agree within 5 to 15%, vertical profiles of NO2 derived from several independent instruments agree within 25% of one another, and MAX

  17. Mandolin Family Instruments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cohen, David J.; Rossing, Thomas D.

    The mandolin family of instruments consists of plucked chordophones, each having eight strings in four double courses. With the exception of the mandobass, the courses are tuned in intervals of fifths, as are the strings in violin family instruments. The soprano member of the family is the mandolin, tuned G3-D4-A4-E5. The alto member of the family is the mandola, tuned C3-G3-D4-A4. The mandola is usually referred to simply as the mandola in the USA, but is called the tenor mandola in Europe. The tenor member of the family is the octave mandolin, tuned G2-D3-A3-E4. It is referred to as the octave mandolin in the USA, and as the octave mandola in Europe. The baritone member of the family is the mandocello, or mandoloncello, tuned C2-G2-D3-A3. A variant of the mandocello not common in the USA is the five-course liuto moderno, or simply liuto, designed for solo repertoire. Its courses are tuned C2-G2-D3-A3-E4. A mandobass was also made by more than one manufacturer during the early twentieth century, though none are manufactured today. They were fretted instruments with single string courses tuned E1-A1-D2-G2. There are currently a few luthiers making piccolo mandolins, tuned C4-G4-D5-A5.

  18. European temperature records of the past five centuries based on documentary information compared to climate simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zorita, E.

    2009-09-01

    Two European temperature records for the past half-millennium, January-to-April air temperature for Stockholm (Sweden) and seasonal temperature for a Central European region, both derived from the analysis of documentary sources combined with long instrumental records, are compared with the output of forced (solar, volcanic, greenhouse gases) climate simulations with the model ECHO-G. The analysis is complemented with the long (early)-instrumental record of Central England Temperature (CET). Both approaches to study past climates (simulations and reconstructions) are burdened with uncertainties. The main objective of this comparative analysis is to identify robust features and weaknesses that may help to improve models and reconstruction methods. The results indicate a general agreement between simulations and the reconstructed Stockholm and CET records regarding the long-term temperature trend over the recent centuries, suggesting a reasonable choice of the amplitude of the solar forcing in the simulations and sensitivity of the model to the external forcing. However, the Stockholm reconstruction and the CET record also show a long and clear multi-decadal warm episode peaking around 1730, which is absent in the simulations. The uncertainties associated with the reconstruction method or with the simulated internal climate variability cannot easily explain this difference. Regarding the interannual variability, the Stockholm series displays in some periods higher amplitudes than the simulations but these differences are within the statistical uncertainty and further decrease if output from a regional model driven by the global model is used. The long-term trends in the simulations and reconstructions of the Central European temperature agree less well. The reconstructed temperature displays, for all seasons, a smaller difference between the present climate and past centuries than the simulations. Possible reasons for these differences may be related to a limitation

  19. Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene environments inferred from the Lake El'gygytgyn pollen record

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Andreev, Andrei; Wennrich, Volker; Tarasov, Pavel; Raschke (Morozova), Elena; Brigham-Grette, Julie; Nowaczyk, Norbert; Melles, Martin

    2014-05-01

    The Arctic is known to play a crucial role within the global climate system. The mid-Pliocene (3-3.5 Ma) is considered to be the most probable scenario of the future climate changes. However, reliable climate projections are hampered by the complexity of the underlying natural variability and feedback mechanisms. An important prerequisite for the validation and improvement of the future projections is a better understanding of the long-term environmental history of the Arctic. Unfortunately, formation of continuous paleoenvironmental records in the Arctic was widely restricted due to repeated glaciations. Continuous sequences that penetrate the entire Quaternary and further into the Pliocene are highly desired and would enable to validate the temperature rise during the mid-Pliocene that was proposed by former studies. Such a record has now become available from Lake El'gygytgyn (67º30'N, 172º05E') located in a meteorite impact crater in north-eastern Siberia. The impact nearly 3.6 Ma ago formed an 18 km wide hole in the ground that then filled with water. The retrieved lake sediments have trapped pollen from a several thousand square-kilometer source area providing reliable insights into regional and over-regional millennial-scale vegetation and climate changes of the Arctic since the Pliocene. The ''El'gygytgyn Drilling Project" of ICDP has completed three holes in the center of the lake, penetrating about 318 m thick lake sediments and about 200 m of the impact rocks below. Because of its unusual origin and high-latitude setting in western Beringia, scientific drilling at Lake El'gygytgyn offered unique opportunities for paleoclimate research, allowing time-continuous climatic and environmental reconstructions back into the Pliocene. Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene pollen assemblages can be subdivided into 55 pollen zones, which reflect the main environmental fluctuations in the region 3.55-2.15 Ma BP. Pollen-based climate reconstructions show that

  20. Techniques and instrumentation effort for whale migration tracking

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Goodman, R. M.; Norris, K. S.; Hobbs, L.; Gibson, R. J.; Dougherty, E.; Palladino, J.

    1975-01-01

    The following aspects of a research program concerned with tracking gray whales were documented: (1) design, fabrication and testing of a girdle-type harness and associated gear (release mechanism, tracking transmitter, xenon flasher), (2) design, fabrication and testing of instrumentation packs (subminiature recorder, sensor, electronics), (3) field preparations for the January-February 1974 expedition off Mexico, (4) travel arrangements, (5) preliminary field report (capture and handling of juvenile whales, instrumentation and housing tests, harness abrasion and chafing, respiration measurements, sea tracking, distribution, number, and behavior of whales at Lopez Mateos), (6) review, data reduction, and analysis of results.

  1. Payload Instrument Design Rules for Safe and Efficient Flight Operations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Montagnon, E.; Ferri, P.

    2004-04-01

    Payload operations are often being neglected in favour of optimisation of scientific performance of the instrument design. This has major drawbacks in terms of cost, safety, efficiency of operations and finally science return. By taking operational aspects into account in the early phases of the instrument design, with a minimum more cultural than financial or technological additional effort, many problems can be avoided or minimized, with significant benefits to be gained in the mission execution phases. This paper presents possible improvements based on the use of the telemetry and telecommand packet standard, proper sharing of autonomy functions between instrument and platform, and enhanced interface documents.

  2. Technical note: The US Dobson station network data record prior to 2015, re-evaluation of NDACC and WOUDC archived records with WinDobson processing software

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Evans, Robert D.; Petropavlovskikh, Irina; McClure-Begley, Audra; McConville, Glen; Quincy, Dorothy; Miyagawa, Koji

    2017-10-01

    The United States government has operated Dobson ozone spectrophotometers at various sites, starting during the International Geophysical Year (1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958). A network of stations for long-term monitoring of the total column content (thickness of the ozone layer) of the atmosphere was established in the early 1960s and eventually grew to 16 stations, 14 of which are still operational and submit data to the United States of America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Seven of these sites are also part of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC), an organization that maintains its own data archive. Due to recent changes in data processing software the entire dataset was re-evaluated for possible changes. To evaluate and minimize potential changes caused by the new processing software, the reprocessed data record was compared to the original data record archived in the World Ozone and UV Data Center (WOUDC) in Toronto, Canada. The history of the observations at the individual stations, the instruments used for the NOAA network monitoring at the station, the method for reducing zenith-sky observations to total ozone, and calibration procedures were re-evaluated using data quality control tools built into the new software. At the completion of the evaluation, the new datasets are to be published as an update to the WOUDC and NDACC archives, and the entire dataset is to be made available to the scientific community. The procedure for reprocessing Dobson data and the results of the reanalysis on the archived record are presented in this paper. A summary of historical changes to 14 station records is also provided.

  3. The NetQuakes Project - Research-quality Seismic Data Transmitted via the Internet from Citizen-hosted Instruments (Invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luetgert, J. H.; Oppenheimer, D. H.; Hamilton, J.

    2010-12-01

    The USGS seeks accelerograph spacing of 5-10 km in selected urban areas of the US to obtain spatially un-aliased recordings of strong ground motions during large earthquakes. These dense measurements will improve our ability to make rapid post-earthquake assessments of expected damage and contribute to the continuing development of engineering standards for construction. To achieve this goal the USGS and its university partners are deploying “NetQuakes” seismographs, designed to record moderate to large earthquakes from the near field to about 100 km. The instruments have tri-axial Colibrys 2005SF MEMS sensors, clip at 3g, and have 18-bit resolution. These instruments are uniquely designed for deployment in private homes, businesses, public buildings and schools where there is an existing Broadband connection to the Internet. The NetQuakes instruments connect to a local network using WiFi and then via the Internet to USGS servers to a) upload triggered accelerograms in miniSEED format, P arrival times, and computed peak ground motion parameters immediately after an earthquake; b) download software updates; c) respond to requests for log files, execute UNIX scripts, and upload waveforms from long-term memory for quakes with peak motions below the trigger threshold; d) send state-of-health (SOH) information in XML format every 10 minutes; and e) synchronize instrument clocks to 1ms accuracy using the Network Time Protocol. NetQuakes instruments cost little to operate and save about $600/yr/site compared to instruments that transmit data via leased telemetry. After learning about the project through press releases, thousands of citizens have registered to host an instrument at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/netquakes using a Google Map interface that depicts where we seek instrument sites. The website also provides NetQuakes hosts access to waveform images recorded by instruments installed in their building. Since 3/2009, the NetQuakes project has installed over 100

  4. Comparison of retreatment ability of full-sequence reciprocating instrumentation and 360° rotary instrumentation.

    PubMed

    Capar, Ismail Davut; Gok, Tuba; Orhan, Ezgi

    2015-12-01

    The purpose of the present study was to investigate the amount of root canal filling material after root canal filling removal with 360° rotary instrumentation or reciprocating motion with the same file sequence. Root canals of the 36 mandibular premolars were shaped with ProTaper Universal instruments up to size F2 and filled with corresponding single gutta-percha cone and sealer. The teeth were assigned to two retreatment groups (n = 18): group 1 360° rotational motion and group 2 reciprocating motion of ATR Tecnika motors (1310° clockwise and 578° counterclockwise). Retreatment procedure was performed with ProTaper Universal retreatment files with a sequence of D1-3 and ProTaper Universal F3 instruments. Total time required to remove filling material were recorded. Remaining filling material was examined under stereomicroscope at ×8 magnification. The data were analysed statistically using the Mann-Whitney U test, and testing was performed at 95 % confidence level (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the groups (p > 0.05) in terms of remaining filling material. The total time required for retreatment was shorter in 360° rotational motion group compared to reciprocating motion group (p < 0.05). Both continuous rotation and reciprocating motion showed similar effectiveness in terms of root canal filling material removal. Using ProTaper Universal retreatment instruments with reciprocating motion of ATR motor and conventional rotary motion have similar efficacy in root canal filling removal.

  5. New Downhole Strong-Motion Data Recorded at Tarzana Array

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Graizer, V.; Shakal, A.; Haddadi, H.

    2001-12-01

    Significantly amplified ground accelerations at the Tarzana station were recorded during many, but not all, earthquakes (e.g., Shakal et al., 1988). Peak horizontal ground acceleration at the Tarzana station during the M7.1 Hector Mine earthquake was almost twice as large as the accelerations recorded at nearby stations. After the Northridge earthquake the California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (CSMIP) significantly increased instrumentation at Tarzana to study the unusual site amplification effect. Current instrumentation at Tarzana consists of an accelerograph at the top of Tarzana hill (Tarzana - Cedar Hill B), a downhole instrument at 60 m depth, and an accelerograph at the foot of the hill (Tarzana - Clubhouse), 180 m from the Cedar Hill B station. The original station, Tarzana - Cedar Hill Nursery A, was lost in 1999 due to construction. Thirteen events, including the Hector Mine earthquake, were simultaneously recorded by these instruments at Tarzana. The downhole instrument (A) was used as a reference site to compare the amplification effects at the top of Tarzana hill (B) and at the foot of the hill (C). Spectral amplification from the bottom of the hole to the top of the hill (B/A) and to the foot of the hill (C/A) is similar along the component parallel to the strike of Tarzana hill. But B/A is almost double C/A along the component transverse to the strike of the hill in period range from 0.04 to 0.8 sec (1.2 to 25 Hz). Comparison of the response spectra demonstrates clear directional site response resonance (perpendicular to the strike of the hill) at Tarzana. In contrast to accelerations recorded during the Mw 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake (high frequency part of seismic signal), displacements (relatively low frequency part of seismic signal) demonstrate almost no site amplification from the bottom of the hole to the surface (B/A) at periods greater than 1.5 sec, in either direction. Ground displacements at other CSMIP downhole arrays which

  6. Estimating the Roles of Genetic Risk, Perinatal Risk, and Marital Hostility on Early Childhood Adjustment: Medical Records and Self-Reports

    PubMed Central

    Neiderhiser, Jenae M.; Marceau, Kristine; De Araujo-Greecher, Marielena; Ganiban, Jody M.; Mayes, Linda C.; Shaw, Daniel S.; Reiss, David; Leve, Leslie D.

    2016-01-01

    A wide variety of perinatal risk factors have been linked to later developmental outcomes in children. Much of this work has relied on either birth/medical records or mothers’ self-reports collected after delivery, and there has been an ongoing debate about which strategy provides the most accurate and reliable data. This report uses a parent-offspring adoption design (N = 561 families) to (1) examine the correspondence between medical record data and self-report data, (2) examine how perinatal risk factors may influence child internalizing and externalizing behavior at age 4.5 years, and (3) explore interactions among genetic, perinatal risk, and rearing environment on child internalizing and externalizing behavior during early childhood. The agreement of self-reports and medical records data was relatively high (51–100%), although there was some variation based on the construct. There were few main effects of perinatal risk on child outcomes; however, there were several 2- and 3-way interactions suggesting that the combined influences of genetic, perinatal, and rearing environmental risks are important, particularly for predicting whether children exhibit internalizing versus externalizing symptoms at age 4.5 years. PMID:27075497

  7. Developing a theoretical model and questionnaire survey instrument to measure the success of electronic health records in residential aged care

    PubMed Central

    Yu, Ping; Qian, Siyu

    2018-01-01

    Electronic health records (EHR) are introduced into healthcare organizations worldwide to improve patient safety, healthcare quality and efficiency. A rigorous evaluation of this technology is important to reduce potential negative effects on patient and staff, to provide decision makers with accurate information for system improvement and to ensure return on investment. Therefore, this study develops a theoretical model and questionnaire survey instrument to assess the success of organizational EHR in routine use from the viewpoint of nursing staff in residential aged care homes. The proposed research model incorporates six variables in the reformulated DeLone and McLean information systems success model: system quality, information quality, service quality, use, user satisfaction and net benefits. Two variables training and self-efficacy were also incorporated into the model. A questionnaire survey instrument was designed to measure the eight variables in the model. After a pilot test, the measurement scale was used to collect data from 243 nursing staff members in 10 residential aged care homes belonging to three management groups in Australia. Partial least squares path modeling was conducted to validate the model. The validated EHR systems success model predicts the impact of the four antecedent variables—training, self-efficacy, system quality and information quality—on the net benefits, the indicator of EHR systems success, through the intermittent variables use and user satisfaction. A 24-item measurement scale was developed to quantitatively evaluate the performance of an EHR system. The parsimonious EHR systems success model and the measurement scale can be used to benchmark EHR systems success across organizations and units and over time. PMID:29315323

  8. Wisdom for Music Education from the Recording Studio

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thibeault, Matthew D.

    2012-01-01

    Instead of focusing on the "stuff" of recording technology, this column explores ideas about the music that comes from the recording studio. Based on the author's experience working with Mark Rubel, four ideas about music are explored--one, the rise of alternatives to performance; two, the "get it done early" school of thought; three, recording as…

  9. Correlation of Michigan neuropathy screening instrument, United Kingdom screening test and electrodiagnosis for early detection of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

    PubMed

    Fateh, Hamid R; Madani, Seyed Pezhman; Heshmat, Ramin; Larijani, Bagher

    2015-01-01

    Almost half of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathies (DPNs) are symptom-free. Methods including questionnaires and electrodiagnosis (EDx) can be fruitful for easy reach to early diagnosis, correct treatments of diabetic neuropathy, and so decline of complications for instance diabetic foot ulcer and prevention of high costs. The goal of our study was to compare effectiveness of the Michigan neuropathy screening instrument (MNSI), United Kingdom screening test (UKST) and electrophysiological evaluation in confirming diabetic peripheral neuropathy. One hundred twenty five known diabetes mellitus male and female subjects older than 18 with or without symptoms of neuropathy comprised in this research. All of them were interviewed in terms of demographic data, lipid profile, HbA1C, duration of disease, and history of retinopathy, so examined by Michigan neuropathy screening instrument (MNSI), United Kingdom screening test (UKST), and nerve conduction studies (NCS). The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software 18. One hundred twenty five diabetic patients (70 female, 55 male) were recruited in this study with a mean age of 58.7 ± 10.2, and mean duration of diabetes was 10.17 ± 6.9 years. The mean neuropathy score of MNSI and UKST were 2.3 (1.7) and 4.16 (2.9), respectively. Each instrument detected the peripheral neuropathy in 78 (69 %) and 91 (73 %) of patients, respectively. There was a significant relationship between number of neuropathies and mean of diabetes duration and development of retinopathy in both questionnaire evaluations and NCS. By nerve conduction study, neuropathy was detected in 121 (97 %) diabetic patients were reported in order 15 (12 %) mononeuropathy (as 33 % sensory and 67 % motor neuropathy) and 106 (85 %) polyneuropathy (as 31 % motor and 69 % sensorimotor neuropathy). As regards NCS is an objective, simple, and non-invasive tool and also can determine level of damage and regeneration in peripheral nerves, this study

  10. Comparative Analysis of Three Screening Instruments for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Toddlers at High Risk

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oosterling, Iris J.; Swinkels, Sophie H.; van der Gaag, Rutger Jan; Visser, Janne C.; Dietz, Claudine; Buitelaar, Jan K.

    2009-01-01

    Several instruments have been developed to screen for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in high-risk populations. However, few studies compare different instruments in one sample. Data were gathered from the "Early Screening of Autistic Traits Questionnaire," "Social Communication Questionnaire," "Communication and Symbolic…

  11. Cascadia, an ultracompact seismic instrument with over 200dB of dynamic range

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Parker, Tim; Devanney, Peter; Bainbridge, Geoff; Townsend, Bruce

    2017-04-01

    Integration of geophysical instrumentation is clearly a way to lower overall station cost, make installations less complex, reduce installation time, increase station utility and value to a wider group of researchers, data miners and monitoring groups. Initiatives to expand early earthquake warning networks and observatories can use these savings for increasing station density. Integration of mature instrument systems such as broadband sensors and accelerometers used in strong motion studies has to be done with care to preserve the low noise and low frequency performance while providing over 200dB of dynamic range. Understanding the instrument complexities and deployment challenges allows the engineering teams to optimize the packaging to make installation and servicing cost effective, simple, routine and ultimately more reliable. We discuss early results from testing both in the lab and in the field of a newly released instrument called the Cascadia that integrates a broadband seismometer with a class A (USGS rating) accelerometer in a small stainless steel sonde suited for dense arrays in either ad hoc direct bury field deployments or in observatory quality shallow boreholes.

  12. A brief Patient-Reported Outcomes Quality of Life (PROQOL) instrument to improve patient care.

    PubMed

    Ridgeway, Jennifer L; Beebe, Timothy J; Chute, Christopher G; Eton, David T; Hart, Lacey A; Frost, Marlene H; Jensen, Daniel; Montori, Victor M; Smith, John G; Smith, Steven A; Tan, Angelina D; Yost, Kathleen J; Ziegenfuss, Jeanette Y; Sloan, Jeff A

    2013-11-01

    Jeff Sloan and colleagues describe the development of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Quality of Life (PROQOL) instrument, which captures and stores patient-recorded outcomes in the medical record for patients with diabetes. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.

  13. Two-phase flow measurements with advanced instrumented spool pieces

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Turnage, K.C.

    1980-09-01

    A series of two-phase, air-water and steam-water tests performed with instrumented piping spool pieces is described. The behavior of the three-beam densitometer, turbine meter, and drag flowmeter is discussed in terms of two-phase models. Results from application of some two-phase mass flow models to the recorded spool piece data are shown. Results of the study are used to make recommendations regarding spool piece design, instrument selection, and data reduction methods to obtain more accurate measurements of two-phase flow parameters. 13 refs., 23 figs., 1 tab.

  14. A computer-based maintenance reminder and record-keeping system for clinical laboratories.

    PubMed

    Roberts, B I; Mathews, C L; Walton, C J; Frazier, G

    1982-09-01

    "Maintenance" is all the activity an organization devotes to keeping instruments within performance specifications to assure accurate and precise operation. The increasing use of complex analytical instruments as "workhorses" in clinical laboratories requires more maintenance awareness by laboratory personnel. Record-keeping systems that document maintenance completion and that should prompt the continued performance of maintenance tasks have not kept up with instrumentation development. We report here a computer-based record-keeping and reminder system that lists weekly the maintenance items due for each work station in the laboratory, including the time required to complete each item. Written in BASIC, the system uses a DATABOSS data base management system running on a time-shared Digital Equipment Corporation PDP 11/60 computer with a RSTS V 7.0 operating system.

  15. A portable, low-cost flight-data measurement and recording system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Miller, R. J.

    1982-01-01

    The design of and the experience with an inexpensive, hand-portable, onboard data system used to record four parameters in the final portion of the landing approach and touchdown of an airplane are described. The system utilized a high-quality audio tape recorder and amateur photographic equipment with accessory circuitry rather than specialized instrumentation to given satisfactory results.

  16. Systems for monitoring and digitally recording water-quality parameters

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Smoot, George F.; Blakey, James F.

    1966-01-01

    Digital recording of water-quality parameters is a link in the automated data collection and processing system of the U.S. Geological Survey. The monitoring and digital recording systems adopted by the Geological Survey, while punching all measurements on a standard paper tape, provide a choice of compatible components to construct a system to meet specific physical problems and data needs. As many as 10 parameters can be recorded by an Instrument, with the only limiting criterion being that measurements are expressed as electrical signals.

  17. Instrument Performance Monitoring at Gemini North

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Emig, Kimberly; Pohlen, M.; Chene, A.

    2014-01-01

    An instrument performance monitoring (IPM) project at the Gemini North Observatory evaluates the delivered throughput and sensitivity of, among other instruments, the Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrometer (NIFS), the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS), and the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS-N). Systematic observations of standard stars allow the quality of the instruments and mirror to be assessed periodically. An automated pipeline has been implemented to process and analyze data obtained with NIFS, GNIRS cross-dispersed (XD) and long slit (LS) modes, and GMOS (photometry and spectroscopy). We focus the discussion of this poster on NIFS and GNIRS. We present the spectroscopic throughput determined for ZJHK bands on NIFS, the XJHKLM band for GNIRS XD mode and the K band for GNIRS LS. Additionally, the sensitivity is available for the JHK bands in NIFS and GNIRS XD, and for the K band in GNIRS LS. We consider data taken as early as March 2011. Furthermore, the pipeline setup and the methods used to determine throughput and sensitivity are described.

  18. Ex vivo study on root canal instrumentation of two rotary nickel-titanium systems in comparison to stainless steel hand instruments.

    PubMed

    Vaudt, J; Bitter, K; Neumann, K; Kielbassa, A M

    2009-01-01

    To investigate instrumentation time, working safety and the shaping ability of two rotary nickel-titanium (NiTi) systems (Alpha System and ProTaper Universal) in comparison to stainless steel hand instruments. A total of 45 mesial root canals of extracted human mandibular molars were selected. On the basis of the degree of curvature the matched teeth were allocated randomly into three groups of 15 teeth each. In group 1 root canals were prepared to size 30 using a standardized manual preparation technique; in group 2 and 3 rotary NiTi instruments were used following the manufacturers' instructions. Instrumentation time and procedural errors were recorded. With the aid of pre- and postoperative radiographs, apical straightening of the canal curvature was determined. Photographs of the coronal, middle and apical cross-sections of the pre- and postoperative canals were taken, and superimposed using a standard software. Based on these composite images the portion of uninstrumented canal walls was evaluated. Active instrumentation time of the Alpha System was significantly reduced compared with ProTaper Universal and hand instrumentation (P < 0.05; anova). No instrument fractures occurred in any of the groups. The Alpha System revealed significantly less apical straightening compared with the other instruments (P < 0.05; Mann-Whitney U test). In the apical cross-sections Alpha System resulted in significantly less uninstrumented canal walls compared with stainless steel files (P < 0.05; chi-squared test). Despite the demonstrated differences between the systems, an apical straightening effect could not be prevented; areas of uninstrumented root canal wall were left in all regions using the various systems.

  19. 42 CFR 93.305 - Responsibility for maintenance and custody of research records and evidence.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... records or evidence encompass scientific instruments shared by a number of users, custody may be limited... research records and evidence. 93.305 Section 93.305 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF... Compliance and Assurances § 93.305 Responsibility for maintenance and custody of research records and...

  20. 42 CFR 93.305 - Responsibility for maintenance and custody of research records and evidence.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... records or evidence encompass scientific instruments shared by a number of users, custody may be limited... research records and evidence. 93.305 Section 93.305 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF... Compliance and Assurances § 93.305 Responsibility for maintenance and custody of research records and...

  1. 42 CFR 93.305 - Responsibility for maintenance and custody of research records and evidence.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... records or evidence encompass scientific instruments shared by a number of users, custody may be limited... research records and evidence. 93.305 Section 93.305 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF... Compliance and Assurances § 93.305 Responsibility for maintenance and custody of research records and...

  2. 42 CFR 93.305 - Responsibility for maintenance and custody of research records and evidence.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... records or evidence encompass scientific instruments shared by a number of users, custody may be limited... research records and evidence. 93.305 Section 93.305 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF... Compliance and Assurances § 93.305 Responsibility for maintenance and custody of research records and...

  3. 42 CFR 93.305 - Responsibility for maintenance and custody of research records and evidence.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... records or evidence encompass scientific instruments shared by a number of users, custody may be limited... research records and evidence. 93.305 Section 93.305 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF... Compliance and Assurances § 93.305 Responsibility for maintenance and custody of research records and...

  4. Instruments and Methods for Measuring the Flow of Water Around Ships and Ship Models

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1948-03-01

    velocity of flow, the direction of flow, and the speed of a ship are based on the pitot tube design- ed by Henri Pitot , a French physicist and engineer of...INTRODUCTION . .’ 1 DEVELOPMENT OP EARLY INSTRUMENTS . 2 PITOT -STATIC TUBE 2 SPEED LOOS k INSTRUMENT.- USED BY THE TAYLOR MODEL BASIN...5 CYLINDRICAL PITOT TUBE 5 SPHERICAL PITOT TUBE 10 ROTATING WAKE METER 1? BOW LOO 19 INSTRUMENTS USED BY OTHER MODEL BASINS 21

  5. Continuing the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Climate Data Record

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Coddington, O.; Pilewskie, P.; Kopp, G.; Richard, E. C.; Sparn, T.; Woods, T. N.

    2017-12-01

    Radiative energy from the Sun establishes the basic climate of the Earth's surface and atmosphere and defines the terrestrial environment that supports all life on the planet. External solar variability on a wide range of scales ubiquitously affects the Earth system, and combines with internal forcings, including anthropogenic changes in greenhouse gases and aerosols, and natural modes such as ENSO, and volcanic forcing, to define past, present, and future climates. Understanding these effects requires continuous measurements of total and spectrally resolved solar irradiance that meet the stringent requirements of climate-quality accuracy and stability over time. The current uninterrupted 39-year total solar irradiance (TSI) climate data record is the result of several overlapping instruments flown on different missions. Measurement continuity, required to link successive instruments to the existing data record to discern long-term trends makes this important climate data record susceptible to loss in the event of a gap in measurements. While improvements in future instrument accuracy will reduce the risk of a gap, the 2017 launch of TSIS-1 ensures continuity of the solar irradiance record into the next decade. There are scientific and programmatic motivations for addressing the challenges of maintaining the solar irradiance data record beyond TSIS-1. The science rests on well-founded requirements of establishing a trusted climate observing network that can monitor trends in fundamental climate variables. Programmatically, the long-term monitoring of solar irradiance must be balanced within the broader goals of NASA Earth Science. New concepts for a low-risk, cost efficient observing strategy is a priority. New highly capable small spacecraft, low-cost launch vehicles and a multi-decadal plan to provide overlapping TSI and SSI data records are components of a low risk/high reliability plan with lower annual cost than past implementations. This paper provides the

  6. The quantitative measurement of organizational culture in health care: a review of the available instruments.

    PubMed

    Scott, Tim; Mannion, Russell; Davies, Huw; Marshall, Martin

    2003-06-01

    To review the quantitative instruments available to health service researchers who want to measure culture and cultural change. A literature search was conducted using Medline, Cinahl, Helmis, Psychlit, Dhdata, and the database of the King's Fund in London for articles published up to June 2001, using the phrase "organizational culture." In addition, all citations and the gray literature were reviewed and advice was sought from experts in the field to identify instruments not found on the electronic databases. The search focused on instruments used to quantify culture with a track record, or potential for use, in health care settings. For each instrument we examined the cultural dimensions addressed, the number of items for each questionnaire, the measurement scale adopted, examples of studies that had used the tool, the scientific properties of the instrument, and its strengths and limitations. Thirteen instruments were found that satisfied our inclusion criteria, of which nine have a track record in studies involving health care organizations. The instruments varied considerably in terms of their grounding in theory, format, length, scope, and scientific properties. A range of instruments with differing characteristics are available to researchers interested in organizational culture, all of which have limitations in terms of their scope, ease of use, or scientific properties. The choice of instrument should be determined by how organizational culture is conceptualized by the research team, the purpose of the investigation, intended use of the results, and availability of resources.

  7. An instrumental variable approach finds no associated harm or benefit from early dialysis initiation in the United States

    PubMed Central

    Scialla, Julia J.; Liu, Jiannong; Crews, Deidra C.; Guo, Haifeng; Bandeen-Roche, Karen; Ephraim, Patti L.; Tangri, Navdeep; Sozio, Stephen M.; Shafi, Tariq; Miskulin, Dana C.; Michels, Wieneke M.; Jaar, Bernard G.; Wu, Albert W.; Powe, Neil R.; Boulware, L. Ebony

    2014-01-01

    The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at dialysis initiation has been rising. Observational studies suggest harm, but may be confounded by unmeasured factors. As instrumental variable methods may be less biased we performed a retrospective cohort study of 310,932 patients starting dialysis between 2006 to 2008 and registered in the United States Renal Data System in order to describe geographic variation in eGFR at dialysis initiation and determine its association with mortality. Patients were grouped into 804 health service areas by zip code. Individual eGFR at dialysis initiation averaged 10.8 ml/min/1.73m2 but varied geographically. Only 11% of the variation in mean health service areas-level eGFR at dialysis initiation was accounted for by patient characteristics. We calculated demographic-adjusted mean eGFR at dialysis initiation in the health service areas using the 2006 and 2007 incident cohort as our instrument and estimated the association between individual eGFR at dialysis initiation and mortality in the 2008 incident cohort using the 2 stage residual inclusion method. Among 89,547 patients starting dialysis in 2008 with eGFR 5 to 20 ml/min/1.73m2, eGFR at initiation was not associated with mortality over a median of 15.5 months [hazard ratio 1.025 per 1 ml/min/1.73m2 for eGFR 5 to 14 ml/min/1.73m2; and 0.973 per 1 ml/min/1.73m2 for eGFR 14 to 20 ml/min/1.73m2]. Thus, there was no associated harm or benefit from early dialysis initiation in the United States. PMID:24786707

  8. Evidence-based management of deep wound infection after spinal instrumentation.

    PubMed

    Lall, Rishi R; Wong, Albert P; Lall, Rohan R; Lawton, Cort D; Smith, Zachary A; Dahdaleh, Nader S

    2015-02-01

    In this study, evidence-based medicine is used to assess optimal surgical and medical management of patients with post-operative deep wound infection following spinal instrumentation. A computerized literature search of the PubMed database was performed. Twenty pertinent studies were identified. Studies were separated into publications addressing instrumentation retention versus removal and publications addressing antibiotic therapy regimen. The findings were classified based on level of evidence (I-III) and findings were summarized into evidentiary tables. No level I or II evidence was identified. With regards to surgical management, five studies support instrumentation retention in the setting of early deep infection. In contrast, for delayed infection, the evidence favors removal of instrumentation at the time of initial debridement. Surgeons should be aware that for deformity patients, even if solid fusion is observed, removal of instrumentation may be associated with significant loss of correction. A course of intravenous antibiotics followed by long-term oral suppressive therapy should be pursued if instrumentation is retained. A shorter treatment course may be appropriate if hardware is removed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Advanced CO2 removal process control and monitor instrumentation development

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Heppner, D. B.; Dalhausen, M. J.; Klimes, R.

    1982-01-01

    A progam to evaluate, design and demonstrate major advances in control and monitor instrumentation was undertaken. A carbon dioxide removal process, one whose maturity level makes it a prime candidate for early flight demonstration was investigated. The instrumentation design incorporates features which are compatible with anticipated flight requirements. Current electronics technology and projected advances are included. In addition, the program established commonality of components for all advanced life support subsystems. It was concluded from the studies and design activities conducted under this program that the next generation of instrumentation will be greatly smaller than the prior one. Not only physical size but weight, power and heat rejection requirements were reduced in the range of 80 to 85% from the former level of research and development instrumentation. Using a microprocessor based computer, a standard computer bus structure and nonvolatile memory, improved fabrication techniques and aerospace packaging this instrumentation will greatly enhance overall reliability and total system availability.

  10. Individual to Community-Level Faunal Responses to Environmental Change from a Marine Fossil Record of Early Miocene Global Warming

    PubMed Central

    Belanger, Christina L.

    2012-01-01

    Modern climate change has a strong potential to shift earth systems and biological communities into novel states that have no present-day analog, leaving ecologists with no observational basis to predict the likely biotic effects. Fossil records contain long time-series of past environmental changes outside the range of modern observation, which are vital for predicting future ecological responses, and are capable of (a) providing detailed information on rates of ecological change, (b) illuminating the environmental drivers of those changes, and (c) recording the effects of environmental change on individual physiological rates. Outcrops of Early Miocene Newport Member of the Astoria Formation (Oregon) provide one such time series. This record of benthic foraminiferal and molluscan community change from continental shelf depths spans a past interval environmental change (∼20.3-16.7 mya) during which the region warmed 2.1–4.5°C, surface productivity and benthic organic carbon flux increased, and benthic oxygenation decreased, perhaps driven by intensified upwelling as on the modern Oregon coast. The Newport Member record shows that (a) ecological responses to natural environmental change can be abrupt, (b) productivity can be the primary driver of faunal change during global warming, (c) molluscs had a threshold response to productivity change while foraminifera changed gradually, and (d) changes in bivalve body size and growth rates parallel changes in taxonomic composition at the community level, indicating that, either directly or indirectly through some other biological parameter, the physiological tolerances of species do influence community change. Ecological studies in modern and fossil records that consider multiple ecological levels, environmental parameters, and taxonomic groups can provide critical information for predicting future ecological change and evaluating species vulnerability. PMID:22558424

  11. Quality of nursing documentation: Paper-based health records versus electronic-based health records.

    PubMed

    Akhu-Zaheya, Laila; Al-Maaitah, Rowaida; Bany Hani, Salam

    2018-02-01

    To assess and compare the quality of paper-based and electronic-based health records. The comparison examined three criteria: content, documentation process and structure. Nursing documentation is a significant indicator of the quality of patient care delivery. It can be either paper-based or organised within the system known as the electronic health records. Nursing documentation must be completed at the highest standards, to ensure the safety and quality of healthcare services. However, the evidence is not clear on which one of the two forms of documentation (paper-based versus electronic health records is more qualified. A retrospective, descriptive, comparative design was used to address the study's purposes. A convenient number of patients' records, from two public hospitals, were audited using the Cat-ch-Ing audit instrument. The sample size consisted of 434 records for both paper-based health records and electronic health records from medical and surgical wards. Electronic health records were better than paper-based health records in terms of process and structure. In terms of quantity and quality content, paper-based records were better than electronic health records. The study affirmed the poor quality of nursing documentation and lack of nurses' knowledge and skills in the nursing process and its application in both paper-based and electronic-based systems. Both forms of documentation revealed drawbacks in terms of content, process and structure. This study provided important information, which can guide policymakers and administrators in identifying effective strategies aimed at enhancing the quality of nursing documentation. Policies and actions to ensure quality nursing documentation at the national level should focus on improving nursing knowledge, competencies, practice in nursing process, enhancing the work environment and nursing workload, as well as strengthening the capacity building of nursing practice to improve the quality of nursing care and

  12. Instrumented Glove Measures Positions Of Fingers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bozeman, Richard J., Jr.

    1993-01-01

    Glove instrumented with flat membrane potentiometers to obtain crude measurements of relative positions of fingers. Resistance of each potentiometer varies with position of associated finger; translator circuit connected to each potentiometer converts analog reading to 1 of 10 digital levels. Digitized outputs from all fingers fed to indicating, recording, and/or data-processing equipment. Gloves and circuits intended for use in biomedical research, training in critical manual tasks, and other specialized applications.

  13. Instrument for Analysis of Greenland's Glacier Mills

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Behar, Alberto E.; Matthews, Jaret B.; Tran, Hung B.; Steffen, Konrad; McGrath, Dan; Phillips, Thomas; Elliot, Andrew; OHern, Sean; Lutz, Colin; Martin, Sujita; hide

    2010-01-01

    A new instrument is used to study the inner workings of Greenland s glacier mills by riding the currents inside a glacier s moulin. The West Greenland Moulin Explorer instrument was deployed into a tubular shaft to autonomously record temperature, pressure, 3D acceleration, and location. It is built with a slightly positive buoyancy in order to assist in recovery. The unit is made up of several components. A 3-axis MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) accelerometer with 0.001-g resolution forms the base of the unit. A pressure transducer is added that is capable of withstanding 500 psi (=3.4 MPa), and surviving down to -40 C. An Iridium modem sends out data every 10 minutes. The location is traced by a GPS (Global Positioning System) unit. This GPS unit is also used for recovery after the mission. Power is provided by a high-capacity lithium thionyl chloride D-sized battery. The accelerometer is housed inside a cylindrical, foot-long (=30 cm) polyvinyl chloride (PVC) shell sealed at each end with acrylic. The pressure transducer is attached to one of these lids and a MEMS accelerometer to the other, recording 100 samples per second per axis.

  14. 37 CFR 201.9 - Recordation of agreements between copyright owners and public broadcasting entities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... include any schedules, appendixes, or other attachments referred to in the instrument as being part of it... Copyright Office takes place on the date of recordation. After recordation the document is returned to the...

  15. Challenges of recording human fetal auditory-evoked response using magnetoencephalography.

    PubMed

    Eswaran, H; Lowery, C L; Robinson, S E; Wilson, J D; Cheyne, D; McKenzie, D

    2000-01-01

    Our goals were to successfully perform fetal auditory-evoked responses using the magnetoencephalography technique, understand its problems and limitations, and propose instrument design modifications to improve the signal quality and success rate. Fetal auditory-evoked responses were recorded from four fetuses with gestational ages ranging from 33-40+ weeks. The signals were recorded using a gantry-based superconducting quantum interference device. Auditory stimulus was 1 kHz tone burst. The evoked signals were digitized and averaged over an 800 ms window. After several trials of positioning and repositioning the subjects, we were able to record auditory-evoked responses in three out of the four fetuses. Since the superconducting quantum interference device array design was not shaped to fit over the mother's abdomen, we experienced difficulty in positioning the sensors over the fetal head. Based on this pilot study, we propose instrument design that may improve signal quality and success rate of the fetal magnetic auditory-evoked response.

  16. A THz heterodyne instrument for biomedical imaging applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Siegel, Peter H.

    2004-01-01

    An ultra-wide-dynamic-range heterodyne imaging system operating at 2.5 THz is described. The instrument employs room temperature Schottky barrier diode mixers and far infrared gas laser sources developed for NASA space applications. A dynamic range of over 100dB at fixed intermediate frequencies has been realized. Amplitude/phase tracking circuitry results in stability of 0.02 dB and +-2 degrees of phase. The system is being employed to characterize biological (human and animal derived tissues) and a variety of materials of interest to NASA. This talk will describe the instrument and some of the early imaging experiments on everything from mouse tail to aerogel.

  17. A cyber-physical management system for delivering and monitoring surgical instruments in the OR.

    PubMed

    Li, Yu-Ting; Jacob, Mithun; Akingba, George; Wachs, Juan P

    2013-08-01

    The standard practice in the operating room (OR) is having a surgical technician deliver surgical instruments to the surgeon quickly and inexpensively, as required. This human "in the loop" system may result in mistakes (eg, missing information, ambiguity of instructions, and delays). Errors can be reduced or eliminated by integrating information technology (IT) and cybernetics into the OR. Gesture and voice automatic acquisition, processing, and interpretation allow interaction with these new systems without disturbing the normal flow of surgery. This article describes the development of a cyber-physical management system (CPS), including a robotic scrub nurse, to support surgeons by passing surgical instruments during surgery as required and recording counts of surgical instruments into a personal health record (PHR). The robot used responds to hand signals and voice messages detected through sophisticated computer vision and data mining techniques. The CPS was tested during a mock surgery in the OR. The in situ experiment showed that the robot recognized hand gestures reliably (with an accuracy of 97%), it can retrieve instruments as close as 25 mm, and the total delivery time was less than 3 s on average. This online health tool allows the exchange of clinical and surgical information to electronic medical record-based and PHR-based applications among different hospitals, regardless of the style viewer. The CPS has the potential to be adopted in the OR to handle surgical instruments and track them in a safe and accurate manner, releasing the human scrub tech from these tasks.

  18. Decadal Record of Satellite Carbon Monoxide Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Worden, Helen; Deeter, Merritt; Frankenberg, Christian; George, Maya; Nichitiu, Florian; Worden, John; Aben, Ilse; Bowman, Kevin; Clerbaux, Cathy; Coheur, Pierre-Francois; de Laat, Jos; Warner, Juying; Drummond, James; Edwards, David; Gille, John; Hurtmans, Daniel; Ming, Luo; Martinez-Alonso, Sara; Massie, Steven; Pfister, Gabriele

    2013-04-01

    Atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) distributions are controlled by anthropogenic emissions, biomass burning, chemical production, transport and oxidation by reaction with the hydroxyl radical (OH). Quantifying trends in CO is therefore important for understanding changes related to all of these contributions. Here we present a comprehensive record of satellite observations from 2000 through 2011 of total column CO using the available measurements from nadir-viewing thermal infrared instruments: MOPITT, AIRS, TES and IASI. We examine trends for CO in the Northern and Southern hemispheres along with regional trends for E. China, E. USA, Europe and India. Measurement and sampling methods for each of the instruments are discussed, and we show diagnostics for systematic errors in MOPITT trends. We find that all the satellite observations are consistent with a modest decreasing trend around -1%/year in total column CO over the Northern hemisphere for this time period. Decreasing trends in total CO column are observed for the United States, Europe and E. China with more than 2σ significance. For India, the trend is also decreasing, but smaller in magnitude and less significant. Decreasing trends in surface CO have also been observed from measurements in the U.S. and Europe. Although less information is available for surface CO in China, there is a decreasing trend reported for Beijing. Some of the interannual variability in the observations can be explained by global fire emissions, and there may be some evidence of the global financial crisis in late 2008 to early 2009. But the overall decrease needs further study to understand the implications for changes in anthropogenic emissions.

  19. Modeling old-age wealth with endogenous early-life outcomes: The case of Mexico

    PubMed Central

    DeGraff, Deborah S.; Wong, Rebeca

    2014-01-01

    This paper contributes to the literature on the life course and aging by examining the association between early-life outcomes and late-life well being, using data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study. Empirical research in this area has been challenged by the potential endogeneity of the early-life outcomes of interest, an issue which most studies ignore or downplay. Our contribution takes two forms: (1) we examine in detail the potential importance of two key life-cycle outcomes, age at marriage (a measure of family formation) and years of educational attainment (a measure of human capital investment) for old-age wealth, and (2) we illustrate the empirical value of past context variables that could help model the association between early-life outcomes and late-life well being. Our illustrative approach, matching macro-level historical policy and census variables to individual records to use as instruments in modeling the endogeneity of early-life behaviors, yields a statistically identified two-stage model of old-age wealth with minimum bias. We use simulations to show that the results for the model of wealth in old age are meaningfully different when comparing the approach that accounts for endogeneity with an approach that assumes exogeneity of early-life outcomes. Furthermore, our results suggest that in the Mexican case, models which ignore the potential endogeneity of early-life outcomes are likely to under-estimate the effects of such variables on old-age wealth. PMID:25170434

  20. ZERO SUPPRESSION FOR RECORDERS

    DOEpatents

    Fort, W.G.S.

    1958-12-30

    A zero-suppression circuit for self-balancing recorder instruments is presented. The essential elements of the circuit include a converter-amplifier having two inputs, one for a reference voltage and the other for the signal voltage under analysis, and a servomotor with two control windings, one coupled to the a-c output of the converter-amplifier and the other receiving a reference input. Each input circuit to the converter-amplifier has a variable potentiometer and the sliders of the potentiometer are ganged together for movement by the servoinotor. The particular noveity of the circuit resides in the selection of resistance values for the potentiometer and a resistor in series with the potentiometer of the signal circuit to ensure the full value of signal voltage variation is impressed on a recorder mechanism driven by servomotor.

  1. 40 CFR 86.542-90 - Records required.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... dynamometer serial number, a reference to a vehicle test cell number may be used, with the advance approval of the Administrator, provided the test cell records show the pertinent instrument information. (h) All..., a reference to a vehicle test cell number may be used, with the advance approval of the...

  2. 500-year April-September droughts in the Czech Lands based on documentary data and instrumental records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Řezníčková, Ladislava; Brázdil, Rudolf; Trnka, Miroslav; Dobrovolný, Petr; Kotyza, Oldřich; Štěpánek, Petr; Zahradníček, Pavel; Valášek, Hubert

    2013-04-01

    This paper analyses temporal and spatial variability of April-September (the vegetation period) droughts in the Czech Lands over the last 500 years. The study is based on different types of documentary data (e.g. chronicles, newspapers, economic sources, weather diaries) covering the pre-instrumental period AD 1501-1804 and on the systematic instrumental meteorological measurements afterwards. Historical-climatological database of the Czech Lands is used for the study of the duration and intensity of drought episodes based on the series of precipitation indices created from documentary data in a 7-degree scale from -3 (extremely dry) to +3 (extremely wet). For the instrumental period of 1805-2012 Palmer's Z-index and PDSI series for mean Czech temperature and precipitation series are used (they were calculated from homogeneous series of 10 and 14 stations respectively). Consequently the 500-year chronology of drought episodes derived from documentary and instrumental data is compiled and the temporal (frequency, seasonality and intensity) and spatial variability of droughts in the Czech Lands from AD 1501 is analysed. The most outstanding drought events are selected and analysed in detail also with respect to their human impacts. The results obtained for the Czech Lands are compared with drought episodes known in Central Europe from other studies and are evaluated with respect to climate variability in Central Europe during the last 500 years (this research is supported by projects InterDrought no. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0248, and GA CR no. P209/11/0956).

  3. Prediction of sickness absence: development of a screening instrument

    PubMed Central

    Duijts, S F A; Kant, IJ; Landeweerd, J A; Swaen, G M H

    2006-01-01

    Objectives To develop a concise screening instrument for early identification of employees at risk for sickness absence due to psychosocial health complaints. Methods Data from the Maastricht Cohort Study on “Fatigue at Work” were used to identify items to be associated with an increased risk of sickness absence. The analytical procedures univariate logistic regression, backward stepwise linear regression, and multiple logistic regression were successively applied. For both men and women, sum scores were calculated, and sensitivity and specificity rates of different cut‐off points on the screening instrument were defined. Results In women, results suggested that feeling depressed, having a burnout, being tired, being less interested in work, experiencing obligatory change in working days, and living alone, were strong predictors of sickness absence due to psychosocial health complaints. In men, statistically significant predictors were having a history of sickness absence, compulsive thinking, being mentally fatigued, finding it hard to relax, lack of supervisor support, and having no hobbies. A potential cut‐off point of 10 on the screening instrument resulted in a sensitivity score of 41.7% for women and 38.9% for men, and a specificity score of 91.3% for women and 90.6% for men. Conclusions This study shows that it is possible to identify predictive factors for sickness absence and to develop an instrument for early identification of employees at risk for sickness absence. The results of this study increase the possibility for both employers and policymakers to implement interventions directed at the prevention of sickness absence. PMID:16698807

  4. Quantification of Holocene Asian monsoon rainfall from spatially separated cave records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hu, Chaoyong; Henderson, Gideon M.; Huang, Junhua; Xie, Shucheng; Sun, Ying; Johnson, Kathleen R.

    2008-02-01

    A reconstruction of Holocene rainfall is presented for southwest China — an area prone to drought and flooding due to variability in the East Asian monsoon. The reconstruction is derived by comparing a new high-resolution stalagmite δ18O record with an existing record from the same moisture transport pathway. The new record is from Heshang Cave (30°27'N, 110°25'E; 294 m) and shows no sign of kinetic or evaporative effects so can be reliably interpreted as a record of local rainfall composition and temperature. Heshang lies 600 km downwind from Dongge Cave which has a published high-resolution δ18O record (Wang, Y.J., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., He, Y.Q., Kong, X.G., An, Z.S., Wu, J.Y., Kelly, M.J., Dykoski, C.A., Li, X.D., 2005. The Holocene Asian monsoon: links to solar changes and North Atlantic climate. Science 308, 854-857). By differencing co-eval δ18O values for the two caves, secondary controls on δ18O (e.g. moisture source, moisture transport, non-local rainfall, temperature) are circumvented and the resulting Δ δ18O signal is controlled directly by the amount of rain falling between the two sites. This is confirmed by comparison with rainfall data from the instrumental record, which also allows a calibration of the Δ δ18O proxy. The calibrated Δ δ18O record provides a quantitative history of rainfall in southwest China which demonstrates that rainfall was 8% higher than today during the Holocene climatic optimum (≈ 6 ka), but only 3% higher during the early Holocene. Significant multi-centennial variability also occurred, with notable dry periods at 8.2 ka, 4.8-4.1 ka, 3.7-3.1 ka, 1.4-1.0 ka and during the Little Ice Age. This Holocene rainfall record provides a good target with which to test climate models. The approach used here, of combining stalagmite records from more than one location, will also allow quantification of rainfall patterns for past times in other regions.

  5. Clinical Evaluation of Quality of Obturation and Instrumentation Time using Two Modified Rotary File Systems with Manual Instrumentation in Primary Teeth

    PubMed Central

    Govindaraju, Lavanya; Subramanian, EMG

    2017-01-01

    Introduction Pulp therapy in primary teeth has been performed using various instrumentation techniques. However, the conventional instrumentation technique used for root canal preparation in primary teeth is hand instrumentation. Various Nickel-Titanium (Ni-Ti) instruments are available to perform efficient root canal preparation in primary teeth. These Ni-Ti instruments has been designed to aid in better root canal preparation in permanent teeth but are rarely used in primary teeth. It is necessary to assess the feasibility of using these adult rotary files with a modified sequence in primary teeth. Aim To compare the quality of obturation and instrumentation time during root canal preparation using hand files and modified rotary file systems in primary molars. Materials and Methods Forty-five primary mandibular molars were randomly assigned to three experimental groups (n=15). Group I was instrumented using k-hand files, Group II with S2 ProTaper universal file and Group III with 0.25 tip 4% taper K3 rotary file. Standardized digital radiographs were taken before and after root canal instrumentation. Root canal preparation time was also recorded. Statistical analysis of the obtained data was done using SPSS Software version 17.0. An intergroup comparison of the instrumentation time and the quality of obturation was done using ANOVA and Chi-square test with the level of significance set at 0.05. Results No significant differences were noted with regard to the quality of obturation (p=0.791). However, a statistically significant difference was noted in the instrumentation time between the three groups (p<0.05). ProTaper rotary system had significantly lesser instrumentation time when compared to that of K3 rotary system and hand file system. Conclusion The hand files, S2 ProTaper Universal and K3 0.25 tip 4% taper files systems performed similarly with respect to the quality of obturation. There was a significant difference in instrumentation time with manual

  6. Clinical Evaluation of Quality of Obturation and Instrumentation Time using Two Modified Rotary File Systems with Manual Instrumentation in Primary Teeth.

    PubMed

    Govindaraju, Lavanya; Jeevanandan, Ganesh; Subramanian, Emg

    2017-09-01

    Pulp therapy in primary teeth has been performed using various instrumentation techniques. However, the conventional instrumentation technique used for root canal preparation in primary teeth is hand instrumentation. Various Nickel-Titanium (Ni-Ti) instruments are available to perform efficient root canal preparation in primary teeth. These Ni-Ti instruments has been designed to aid in better root canal preparation in permanent teeth but are rarely used in primary teeth. It is necessary to assess the feasibility of using these adult rotary files with a modified sequence in primary teeth. To compare the quality of obturation and instrumentation time during root canal preparation using hand files and modified rotary file systems in primary molars. Forty-five primary mandibular molars were randomly assigned to three experimental groups (n=15). Group I was instrumented using k-hand files, Group II with S2 ProTaper universal file and Group III with 0.25 tip 4% taper K3 rotary file. Standardized digital radiographs were taken before and after root canal instrumentation. Root canal preparation time was also recorded. Statistical analysis of the obtained data was done using SPSS Software version 17.0. An intergroup comparison of the instrumentation time and the quality of obturation was done using ANOVA and Chi-square test with the level of significance set at 0.05. No significant differences were noted with regard to the quality of obturation (p=0.791). However, a statistically significant difference was noted in the instrumentation time between the three groups (p<0.05). ProTaper rotary system had significantly lesser instrumentation time when compared to that of K3 rotary system and hand file system. The hand files, S2 ProTaper Universal and K3 0.25 tip 4% taper files systems performed similarly with respect to the quality of obturation. There was a significant difference in instrumentation time with manual instrumentation compared to the modified rotary file systems in

  7. Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment: From Theory to Practice in the Early Grades: The Effects of Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment on Mathematics Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schmidt, Elise A.

    2014-01-01

    Following identification as the school district with the highest special education population in Midwest County, the Midwest School District took bold measures to address the issue. In partnership with the Midwest Intermediate School District, educators trained all kindergarten and first grade teachers in Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment (FIE)…

  8. Magmatic @d^1^8O in 4400-3900 Ma detrital zircons: A record of the alteration and recycling of crust in the Early Archean [rapid communication

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cavosie, A. J.; Valley, J. W.; Wilde, S. A.

    2005-07-01

    Ion microprobe analyses of δ 18O in 4400-3900 Ma igneous zircons from the Jack Hills, Western Australia, provide a record of the oxygen isotope composition of magmas in the earliest Archean. We have employed a detailed analysis protocol aimed at correlating spatially related micro-volumes of zircon concordant in U/Pb age with δ 18O and internal zoning. Simultaneous analysis of 18O and 16O with dual Faraday cup detectors, combined with frequent standardization, has yielded data with improved accuracy and precision over prior studies, and resulted in a narrower range of what is interpreted as magmatic δ 18O in > 3900 Ma zircons. Preserved magmatic δ 18O values from individual zircons (Zrc) range from 5.3‰ to 7.3‰ (VSMOW), and increasingly deviate from the mantle range of 5.3 ± 0.3‰ as zircons decrease in age from 4400 to 4200 Ma. Elevated δ 18O (Zrc) values up to 6.5‰ occur as early as 4325 Ma, which suggests that evolved rocks were incorporated into magmas within ˜230 Ma of Earth's accretion. Values of magmatic δ 18O (Zrc) as high as 7.3‰ are recorded in zircons by 4200 Ma, and are common thereafter. The protoliths of the magmas these zircons crystallized in were altered by low temperature interaction with liquid water near Earth's surface. These results provide the strongest evidence yet for the existence of liquid water oceans and supracrustal rocks by approximately 4200 Ma, and possibly as early as 4325 Ma. The range of magmatic δ 18O values in the 4400-3900 Ma zircons is indistinguishable from Archean igneous zircons, suggesting similar magmatic processes occurred over the first two billion years of recorded Earth history. Zircons with sub-solidus alteration histories, identified by the presence of disturbed internal zoning patterns, record δ 18O values both below (4.6‰) and above (10.3‰) the observed range for primary magmatic zircon, and are unreliable indicators of Early Archean magma chemistry.

  9. Evaluation of the mechanical behaviour of PathFile and ProGlider pathfinding nickel-titanium rotary instruments.

    PubMed

    Elnaghy, A M; Elsaka, S E

    2015-09-01

    To assess and compare the resistance to cyclic fatigue, torsional stress, bending and buckling of ProGlider (PG; Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland) instruments with PathFile (PF; Dentsply Maillefer) pathfinding nickel-titanium rotary instruments. Size 16, .02 taper PG and PF instruments were rotated in simulated canals until failure, and the number of cycles to failure (NCF) was recorded to evaluate their cyclic fatigue resistance. Torsional strength was measured using a torsiometer after fixing rigidly the apical 5 mm of the instrument. A scanning electron microscope was used to characterize the topographic features of the fracture surfaces of the instruments. The instruments were evaluated for bending resistance using a cantilever-bending test. The buckling resistance was measured by recording the maximum load required to form a lateral elastic displacement along the file axis using a universal testing machine. Data were statistically analysed using independent t-tests. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. ProGlider instrument had a significantly higher flexibility, higher resistance to cyclic fatigue and torsional stress than PF instruments (P < 0.05). The fractured cross-sectional surfaces revealed typical features of cyclic fatigue and torsional fractures. There was no significant difference in the maximum load needed to buckle the two instruments tested (P = 0.082). ProGlider NiTi pathfinding instrument manufactured from M-Wire alloy had enhanced mechanical properties, including higher flexibility, higher resistance to cyclic fatigue and torsional stress compared with PathFile instrument made of conventional NiTi alloy. © 2014 International Endodontic Journal. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. Comparison of a few recording current meters in San Francisco Bay, CA

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Cheng, R.T.

    1978-01-01

    A team of research scientists in the U.S. Geological Survey uses San Francisco Bay, California, as an outdoor laboratory to study complicated interactions of physical, chemical, and biological processes which take place in an estuarine environment. A current meter comparison study was conceived because of the need to select a suitable current meter to meet field requirements for current measurements in the Bay. The study took place in south San Francisco Bay, California, in the spring of 1977. An instrument tower which was designed to support instruments free from the conventional mooring line motions was constructed and emplaced in south San Francisco Bay. During a period of two months, four types of recording current meters have been used in the tests. The four types were: (1) Aanderaa, (2) tethered shroud-impeller, (3) drag-inclinometer, and (4) electromagnetic current meters. With the exception of the electromagnetic current meter, one of each type was mounted on the instrument tower, and one of each type was deployed on moorings near the instrument tower. In addition, a wind anemometer and a recording tide gauge were also installed on the tower. This paper discusses the characteristics of each instrument and the accuracy that each instrument can provide when used in an estuarine environment. We pay special attention to our experiences in the field operation with respect to handling of the instruments and to our experiences working up the raw data in the post-deployment data analysis.

  11. The OMPS Limb Profiler instrument

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rault, D. F.; Xu, P.

    2011-12-01

    The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) will continue the monitoring of the global distribution of the Earth's middle atmosphere ozone and aerosol. OMPS is composed of three instruments, namely the Total Column Mapper (heritage: TOMS, OMI), the Nadir Profiler (heritage: SBUV) and the Limb Profiler (heritage: SOLSE/LORE, OSIRIS, SCIAMACHY, SAGE III). The ultimate goal of the mission is to better understand and quantify the rate of stratospheric ozone recovery. OMPS is scheduled to be launched on the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) platform in October 2011. The focus of the paper will be on the Limb Profiler (LP) instrument. The LP instrument will measure the Earth's limb radiance, from which ozone profile will be retrieved from the upper tropopause uo to 60km. End-to-end studies of the sensor and retrieval algorithm indicate the following expected performance for ozone: accuracy of 5% or better from the tropopause up to 50 km, precision of about 3-5% from 18 to 50 km, and vertical resolution of 1.5-2 km with vertical sampling of 1 km and along-track horizontal sampling of 1 deg latitude. The paper will describe the mission, discuss the retrieval algorithm, and summarize the expected performance. If available, the paper will also present early on-orbit data.

  12. 15/16 ips Operation of the Precision Instrument Company Model P15100 tape recorder to record the standard (30 Hz) NCER seismic data multiplex system

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Eaton, Jerry P.

    1976-01-01

    In recent months the need has arisen to record special seismic networks consisting of a dozen or more standard NCER seismic systems telemetered to a central collection point on a reliable, portable, low-power tape recorder. Because of its simplicity and the ease with which it can be adapted for the purpose, the PI 5100 field recorder should be considered for such use. In the tests described here, a PI 5100 was speeded up to run at 15/16 inches per second (ips) and signals from the standard multiplex system test modulator bank were recorded on one tape track by means of a simple, improvised AM record amplifier. The results of these tests are extremely encouraging: the dynamic range of the system when played back on the Bell and Howell Model 3700 B reproduce machine, with subtractive compensation, is nearly as high as for the system employing the B&H 3700 B for recording. These notes indicate the principle employed to speed up the recorder, outline the circuit required to drive the tape heads in the AM record mode, and describe the tests carried out to evaluate the system's performance.

  13. Satellite-instrument system engineering best practices and lessons

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schueler, Carl F.

    2009-08-01

    This paper focuses on system engineering development issues driving satellite remote sensing instrumentation cost and schedule. A key best practice is early assessment of mission and instrumentation requirements priorities driving performance trades among major instrumentation measurements: Radiometry, spatial field of view and image quality, and spectral performance. Key lessons include attention to technology availability and applicability to prioritized requirements, care in applying heritage, approaching fixed-price and cost-plus contracts with appropriate attention to risk, and assessing design options with attention to customer preference as well as design performance, and development cost and schedule. A key element of success either in contract competition or execution is team experience. Perhaps the most crucial aspect of success, however, is thorough requirements analysis and flowdown to specifications driving design performance with sufficient parameter margin to allow for mistakes or oversights - the province of system engineering from design inception to development, test and delivery.

  14. Health and safety needs in early care and education programs: what do directors, child health records, and national standards tell us?

    PubMed

    Alkon, Abbey; To, Kim; Mackie, Joanna F; Wolff, Mimi; Bernzweig, Jane

    2010-01-01

    To identify the overlapping and unique health and safety needs and concerns identified by early care and education (ECE) directors, health records, and observed compliance with national health and safety (NHS) standards. Cross-sectional study. 127 ECE programs from 5 California counties participated in the study, including 118 directors and 2,498 children's health records. Qualitative data were collected using standardized ECE directors' interviews to identify their health and safety concerns; and objective, quantitative data were collected using child health record reviews to assess regular health care, immunizations, health insurance, special health care needs, and screening tests and an observation Checklist of 66 key NHS standards collected by research assistants. The overlapping health and safety needs and concerns identified by the directors and through observations were hygiene and handwashing, sanitation and disinfection, supervision, and the safety of indoor and outdoor equipment. Some of the health and safety needs identified by only one assessment method were health and safety staff training, medical plans for children with special health care needs and follow-up on positive screening tests. Comprehensive, multimethod assessments are useful to identify health and safety needs and develop public health nursing interventions for ECE programs.

  15. Effect of recording duration on the diagnostic performance of multifocal visual-evoked potentials in high-risk ocular hypertension and early glaucoma.

    PubMed

    Fortune, Brad; Zhang, Xian; Hood, Donald C; Demirel, Shaban; Patterson, Emily; Jamil, Annisa; Mansberger, Steven L; Cioffi, George A; Johnson, Chris A

    2008-01-01

    To evaluate the effect on diagnostic performance of reducing multifocal visual-evoked potential (mfVEP) recording duration from 16 to 8 minutes per eye. Both eyes of 185 individuals with high-risk ocular hypertension or early glaucoma were studied. Two 8-minute mfVEP recordings were obtained for each eye in an ABBA order using VERIS. The first recording for each eye was compared against single run (1-Run) mfVEP normative data; the average of both recordings for each eye was compared against 2-Run normative data. Visual fields (VFs) were obtained by standard automated perimetry (SAP) within 22.3+/-27.0 days of the mfVEP. Stereo disc photographs and Heidelberg Retina Tomograph images were obtained together, within 24.8+/-50.4 days of the mfVEP and 33.1+/-62.9 days of SAP. Masked experts graded disc photographs as either glaucomatous optic neuropathy or normal. The overall Moorfields Regression Analysis result from the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph was used as a separate diagnostic classification. Thus, 4 diagnostic standards were applied in total, 2 based on optic disc structure alone and 2 others based on disc structure and SAP. Agreement between the 1-Run and 2-Run mfVEP was 90%. Diagnostic performance of the 1-Run mfVEP was similar to that of the 2-Run mfVEP for all 4 diagnostic standards. Sensitivity was slightly higher for the 2-Run mfVEP, whereas specificity was slightly higher for the 1-Run mfVEP. If higher sensitivity is sought, the 2-Run mfVEP will provide better discrimination between groups of eyes with relatively high signal-to-noise ratio (eg, early glaucoma or high-risk suspects). But if higher specificity is a more important goal, the 1-Run mfVEP provides adequate sensitivity and requires only half the test time. Considered alongside prior studies, the present results suggest that the 1-Run mfVEP is an efficient way to confirm (or refute) the extent of VF loss in patients with moderate or advanced glaucoma, particularly in those with unreliable VFs

  16. Effect of Recording Duration on the Diagnostic Performance of Multifocal Visual-evoked Potentials in High-risk Ocular Hypertension and Early Glaucoma

    PubMed Central

    Fortune, Brad; Zhang, Xian; Hood, Donald C.; Demirel, Shaban; Patterson, Emily; Jamil, Annisa; Mansberger, Steven L.; Cioffi, George A.; Johnson, Chris A.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose To evaluate the effect on diagnostic performance of reducing multifocal visual-evoked potential (mfVEP) recording duration from 16 to 8 minutes per eye. Methods Both eyes of 185 individuals with high-risk ocular hypertension or early glaucoma were studied. Two 8-minute mfVEP recordings were obtained for each eye in an ABBA order using VERIS. The first recording for each eye was compared against single run (1-Run) mfVEP normative data; the average of both recordings for each eye was compared against 2-Run normative data. Visual fields (VFs) were obtained by standard automated perimetry (SAP) within 22.3±27.0 days of the mfVEP. Stereo disc photographs and Heidelberg Retina Tomograph images were obtained together, within 24.8±50.4 days of the mfVEP and 33.1±62.9 days of SAP. Masked experts graded disc photographs as either glaucomatous optic neuropathy or normal. The overall Moorfields Regression Analysis result from the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph was used as a separate diagnostic classification. Thus, 4 diagnostic standards were applied in total, 2 based on optic disc structure alone and 2 others based on disc structure and SAP. Results Agreement between the 1-Run and 2-Run mfVEP was 90%. Diagnostic performance of the 1-Run mfVEP was similar to that of the 2-Run mfVEP for all 4 diagnostic standards. Sensitivity was slightly higher for the 2-Run mfVEP, whereas specificity was slightly higher for the 1-Run mfVEP. Conclusions If higher sensitivity is sought, the 2-Run mfVEP will provide better discrimination between groups of eyes with relatively high signal-to-noise ratio (eg, early glaucoma or high-risk suspects). But if higher specificity is a more important goal, the 1-Run mfVEP provides adequate sensitivity and requires only half the test time. Considered alongside prior studies, the present results suggest that the 1-Run mfVEP is an efficient way to confirm (or refute) the extent of VF loss in patients with moderate or advanced glaucoma, particularly

  17. Testing the apatite depletion hypothesis for early Holocene ecosystem acidification using the lake sediment record at Krâkenes, Norway.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Thrasher, I. M.; Boyle, J. F.; Chiverrell, R. C.; Plater, A. J.

    2009-04-01

    Lakes created by retreating ice at the end of the last glaciation underwent rapid acidification during the first few thousand years of their existence, a phenomenon that has been attributed in part to progressive leaching of soil bases since it was discovered more than 80 years ago. Though a role for leaching is still acknowledged, the most recent studies see this as subordinate to the effects of biological and climatic changes initiated by deglaciation, chiefly primary vegetation succession and species immigration. However, we propose a simpler alternative explanation, based on the geochemical modelling of runoff acidity. This shows that the extent and timing of early Holocene lake acidification in eight published palaeoecological records can be explained by leaching of the calcium phosphate mineral apatite from the granitic till soils of their catchments, at a rate controlled by simple dissolution kinetic factors. If confirmed, this hypothesis has important implications for our understanding of long-term lake ecosystem development. Not only does it mean that the mechanism is inherently irreversible, in contrast to the alternative ecological and climatic mechanisms which are not. Also, it reinforces the view that long-term ecosystem modelling cannot safely neglect nutrient limitation, as is currently the practice in widely used global dynamic vegetation models. Here we present a NERC-funded programme of research that uses the sediment mineral record of Kråkenes (western Norway), the best studied early Holocene lake sediment sequence in the world, to provide a simple, critical and unambiguous test of this hypothesis.

  18. The Quantitative Measurement of Organizational Culture in Health Care: A Review of the Available Instruments

    PubMed Central

    Scott, Tim; Mannion, Russell; Davies, Huw; Marshall, Martin

    2003-01-01

    Objective To review the quantitative instruments available to health service researchers who want to measure culture and cultural change. Data Sources A literature search was conducted using Medline, Cinahl, Helmis, Psychlit, Dhdata, and the database of the King's Fund in London for articles published up to June 2001, using the phrase “organizational culture.” In addition, all citations and the gray literature were reviewed and advice was sought from experts in the field to identify instruments not found on the electronic databases. The search focused on instruments used to quantify culture with a track record, or potential for use, in health care settings. Data Extraction For each instrument we examined the cultural dimensions addressed, the number of items for each questionnaire, the measurement scale adopted, examples of studies that had used the tool, the scientific properties of the instrument, and its strengths and limitations. Principal Findings Thirteen instruments were found that satisfied our inclusion criteria, of which nine have a track record in studies involving health care organizations. The instruments varied considerably in terms of their grounding in theory, format, length, scope, and scientific properties. Conclusions A range of instruments with differing characteristics are available to researchers interested in organizational culture, all of which have limitations in terms of their scope, ease of use, or scientific properties. The choice of instrument should be determined by how organizational culture is conceptualized by the research team, the purpose of the investigation, intended use of the results, and availability of resources. PMID:12822919

  19. VINCI: the VLT Interferometer commissioning instrument

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kervella, Pierre; Coudé du Foresto, Vincent; Glindemann, Andreas; Hofmann, Reiner

    2000-07-01

    The Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) is a complex system, made of a large number of separated elements. To prepare an early successful operation, it will require a period of extensive testing and verification to ensure that the many devices involved work properly together, and can produce meaningful data. This paper describes the concept chosen for the VLTI commissioning instrument, LEONARDO da VINCI, and details its functionalities. It is a fiber based two-way beam combiner, associated with an artificial star and an alignment verification unit. The technical commissioning of the VLTI is foreseen as a stepwise process: fringes will first be obtained with the commissioning instrument in an autonomous mode (no other parts of the VLTI involved); then the VLTI telescopes and optical trains will be tested in autocollimation; finally fringes will be observed on the sky.

  20. Observation & Record Keeping in Early Childhood Programs. Australian Early Childhood Resource Booklets No. 1.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Veale, Ann; Piscitelli, Barbara

    Observing children is a task teachers and caregivers perform to understand the unique characteristics of each child. Observation alone can be helpful, but in combination with record keeping it becomes a valuable aid to understanding child development and can be used as a basis for making decisions about appropriate experiences to foster each…

  1. Lake sediment records as earthquake catalogues: A compilation from Swiss lakes - Limitations and possibilities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kremer, Katrina; Reusch, Anna; Wirth, Stefanie B.; Anselmetti, Flavio S.; Girardclos, Stéphanie; Strasser, Michael

    2016-04-01

    Intraplate settings are characterized by low deformation rates and recurrence intervals of strong earthquakes that often exceed the time span covered by instrumental records. Switzerland, as an example for such settings, shows a low instrumentally recorded seismicity, in contrast to strong earthquakes (e.g. 1356 Basel earthquake, Mw=6.6 and 1601 Unterwalden earthquake, Mw=5.9) mentioned in the historical archives. As such long recurrence rates do not allow for instrumental identification of earthquake sources of these strong events, and as intense geomorphologic alterations prevent preservation of surface expressions of faults, the knowledge of active faults is very limited. Lake sediments are sensitive to seismic shaking and thus, can be used to extend the regional earthquake catalogue if the sedimentary deposits or deformation structures can be linked to an earthquake. Single lake records allow estimating local intensities of shaking while multiple lake records can furthermore be used to compare temporal and spatial distribution of earthquakes. In this study, we compile a large dataset of dated sedimentary event deposits recorded in Swiss lakes available from peer-reviewed publications and unpublished master theses. We combine these data in order to detect large prehistoric regional earthquake events or periods of intense shaking that might have affected multiple lake settings. In a second step, using empirical seismic attenuation equations, we test if lake records can be used to reconstruct magnitudes and epicentres of identified earthquakes.

  2. Prognostic Factors for Recovery After Anterior Debridement/Bone Grafting and Posterior Instrumentation for Lumbar Spinal Tuberculosis.

    PubMed

    Yao, Yuan; Zhang, Huiyu; Liu, Huan; Zhang, Zhengfeng; Tang, Yu; Zhou, Yue

    2017-08-01

    Anterior debridement/bone grafting/posterior instrumentation is a common selection for the treatment of lumbar spinal tuberculosis (LST). To date, no study has focused on the prognostic factors for recovery after this surgery. We included 144 patients who experienced anterior debridement/bone grafting/posterior instrumentation for LST. The recovery rate based on the Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score was used to assess recovery. The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis were used to identify the prognostic factors for recovery postoperatively. For the prognostic factors worth further consideration, the changes in JOA scores within the 24-month follow-up period were identified by repeated-measures analysis of variance. Paralysis/nonparalysis, duration of symptoms (≥3/<3 months), number of involved vertebrae (>2/≤2), and posterior open/percutaneous instrumentation were identified as prognostic factors for recovery postoperatively. The prognostic factor of open/percutaneous instrumentation was then further compared for potential clinical application. Patients in the percutaneous instrumentation group achieved higher JOA scores than those in the open instrumentation group in the early stages postoperatively (1-3 months), but this effect equalized at 6 months postoperatively. Patients in the open instrumentation group experienced longer operation time and less cost than those in the percutaneous instrumentation group. Nonparalysis, shorter symptom duration, fewer involved vertebrae, and posterior percutaneous instrumentation (compared with open instrumentation) are considered favorable prognostic factors. Patients in the percutaneous instrumentation group achieved higher JOA scores than those in the open instrumentation group in the early stages postoperatively (1-3 months), but no significant difference was observed in long-term JOA scores (6-24 months). Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  3. Late Paleocene- Early Eocene paleoenvironments in the Southwest Pacific (ODP Leg 189): Revised Stratigraphy of an Antarctic PETM Record.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bijl, P. K.; Brinkhuis, H.; Sluijs, A.; Reichart, G.; Schouten, S.; Röhl, U.

    2007-12-01

    The Late Paleocene and Early Eocene (~60 ¡V 50 Ma) were characterized by globally warm climates. Superimposed on this general warmth, several episodes of further warming occurred (so-called hyperthermals), including the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM, ~55 Ma) and Eocene thermal maximum 2 (ETM2, ~53 Ma). While the PETM is by now well documented from Northern Hemisphere, and some equatorial locations, southern high-latitude records are still rare. Here we present high-resolution palynological, XRF, bulk organic stable carbon isotope (Ô13CTOC), and TEX86 palaeothermometry data across Upper Paleocene through Lower Eocene pro-deltaic deposits from the Southwest Pacific Ocean, at ~65¢XS palaeolatitude (ODP Site 1172). Based on a revised integrated biomagnetostratigraphic age model and Ô13CTOC stratigraphy, we identify the southernmost marginal marine PETM ever encountered. Moreover, there is every indication that ETM2 was recovered as well at Site 1172. Despite a high latitude source of the surface waters at this site, the PETM is marked by the characteristic acme of representatives of the (sub) tropical dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) Apectodinium, confirming the truly global nature of this PETM event. TEX86 values indicate that surface ocean temperatures rose from ~23¢XC to ~30¢XC during the PETM at Site 1172, hence by a similar magnitude as recorded in other PETM successions globally. Before and after the CIE, mass abundances of low salinity tolerant dinocysts are recorded, taken as indicative of increased runoff. These trends are analogous to those recorded at northern high latitudes, indicating a similar climate response at both polar regions during the PETM. Yet, some distinct differences are apparent, and are discussed.

  4. [Development and validation of an instrument for initial nursing assessment].

    PubMed

    Fernández-Sola, Cayetano; Granero-Molina, José; Mollinedo-Mallea, Judith; de Gonzales, María Hilda Peredo; Aguilera-Manrique, Gabriel; Ponce, Mara Luna

    2012-12-01

    The objective of this study, conducted in Bolivia from April to July of 2008, is the design and validation of an initial nursing assessment instrument to be used in clinical and educational environments in Santa Cruz (Bolivia). Twelve Bolivian nurses participated; both document analysis as well as consensus techniques were used to determine the categories and criteria to be assessed. Categories included in the nursing assessment instrument are a physical assessment and the eleven Gordon's Functional Health Patterns. The nursing assessment instrument stands out as being concise, easy to complete and utilizing a nursing approach. It does not include items for advanced nursing assessment. However, it incorporates items regarding lifestyle and the patient's autonomy. The nursing assessment instrument contributes to improving the quality of clinical records, supports the nursing diagnosis and implementation of the nursing process, promotes the nurse's role and helps to standardize practice.

  5. Validity and Reliability of Turkish Male Breast Self-Examination Instrument.

    PubMed

    Erkin, Özüm; Göl, İlknur

    2018-04-01

    This study aims to measure the validity and reliability of Turkish male breast self-examination (MBSE) instrument. The methodological study was performed in 2016 at Ege University, Faculty of Nursing, İzmir, Turkey. The MBSE includes ten steps. For validity studies, face validity, content validity, and construct validity (exploratory factor analysis) were done. For reliability study, Kuder Richardson was calculated. The content validity index was found to be 0.94. Kendall W coefficient was 0.80 (p=0.551). The total variance explained by the two factors was found to be 63.24%. Kuder Richardson 21 was done for reliability study and found to be 0.97 for the instrument. The final instrument included 10 steps and two stages. The Turkish version of MBSE is a valid and reliable instrument for early diagnose. The MBSE can be used in Turkish speaking countries and cultures with two stages and 10 steps.

  6. The Colorado Plateau Coring Project: A Continuous Cored Non-Marine Record of Early Mesozoic Environmental and Biotic Change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Irmis, Randall; Olsen, Paul; Geissman, John; Gehrels, George; Kent, Dennis; Mundil, Roland; Rasmussen, Cornelia; Giesler, Dominique; Schaller, Morgan; Kürschner, Wolfram; Parker, William; Buhedma, Hesham

    2017-04-01

    The early Mesozoic is a critical time in earth history that saw the origin of modern ecosystems set against the back-drop of mass extinction and sudden climate events in a greenhouse world. Non-marine sedimentary strata in western North America preserve a rich archive of low latitude terrestrial ecosystem and environmental change during this time. Unfortunately, frequent lateral facies changes, discontinuous outcrops, and a lack of robust geochronologic constraints make lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic correlation difficult, and thus prevent full integration of these paleoenvironmental and paleontologic data into a regional and global context. The Colorado Plateau Coring Project (CPCP) seeks to remedy this situation by recovering a continuous cored record of early Mesozoic sedimentary rocks from the Colorado Plateau of the western United States. CPCP Phase 1 was initiated in 2013, with NSF- and ICDP-funded drilling of Triassic units in Petrified Forest National Park, northern Arizona, U.S.A. This phase recovered a 520 m core (1A) from the northern part of the park, and a 240 m core (2B) from the southern end of the park, comprising the entire Lower-Middle Triassic Moenkopi Formation, and most of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation. Since the conclusion of drilling, the cores have been CT scanned at the University of Texas - Austin, and split, imaged, and scanned (e.g., XRF, gamma, and magnetic susceptibility) at the University of Minnesota LacCore facility. Subsequently, at the Rutgers University Core Repository, core 1A was comprehensively sampled for paleomagnetism, zircon geochronology, petrography, palynology, and soil carbonate stable isotopes. LA-ICPMS U-Pb zircon analyses are largely complete, and CA-TIMS U-Pb zircon, paleomagnetic, petrographic, and stable isotope analyses are on-going. Initial results reveal numerous horizons with a high proportion of Late Triassic-aged primary volcanic zircons, the age of which appears to be a close

  7. Two Long-Term Instrumental Climatic Data Bases of the People's Republic of China (1997)

    DOE Data Explorer

    Shiyan, T. [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Congbin, Fu [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Zhaomei, Zeng [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Qingyun, Zhang [Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Kaiser, D. P.

    1991-01-01

    Two long-term instrumental data bases containing meteorological observations from the People's Republic of China (PRC) are presented in this NDP . The first version of this database was made available in 1991 by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) as CDIAC NDP-039. This update of the database includes data through 1993. These data sets were compiled in accordance with a joint research agreement signed by the U.S. Department of Energy and the PRC Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on August 19, 1987. CAS has provided records from 267 stations, partitioned into two networks of 65 and 205 stations, with three stations common to both data bases. The 65-station-network data contain monthly means, extremes, or totals of barometric pressure, air temperature, precipitation amount, relative humidity, sunshine duration, cloud amount, dominant wind direction and frequency, wind speed, and number of days with snow cover. Station histories are available from 59 of the 65 stations. The 205-station-network data contain monthly mean temperatures and monthly precipitation totals; however, station histories are not currently available. Sixteen stations from these data sets (13 from the 65-station, 3 from the 205-station) have temperature and/or precipitation records beginning before 1900, whereas the remaining stations began observing in the early to mid-1900s.

  8. Exploring Parental Involvement in Early Years Education in China: Development and Validation of the Chinese Early Parental Involvement Scale (CEPIS)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lau, Eva Yi Hung; Li, Hui; Rao, Nirmala

    2012-01-01

    This study developed and validated an instrument, the Chinese Early Parental Involvement Scale (CEPIS), that can be widely used in both local and international contexts to assess Chinese parental involvement in early childhood education. The study was carried out in two stages: (1) focus group interviews were conducted with 41 teachers and 35…

  9. 14 CFR 49.45 - Recording of releases, cancellations, discharges, and satisfactions: special requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... DOCUMENTS Encumbrances Against Specifically Identified Aircraft Engines and Propellers § 49.45 Recording of... one engine or propeller, or both, are listed in an instrument, recorded under this subpart, that... the release, cancellation, discharge, or satisfaction must state that all of the encumbered engines or...

  10. 14 CFR 49.45 - Recording of releases, cancellations, discharges, and satisfactions: special requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... DOCUMENTS Encumbrances Against Specifically Identified Aircraft Engines and Propellers § 49.45 Recording of... one engine or propeller, or both, are listed in an instrument, recorded under this subpart, that... the release, cancellation, discharge, or satisfaction must state that all of the encumbered engines or...

  11. 14 CFR 49.45 - Recording of releases, cancellations, discharges, and satisfactions: special requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... DOCUMENTS Encumbrances Against Specifically Identified Aircraft Engines and Propellers § 49.45 Recording of... one engine or propeller, or both, are listed in an instrument, recorded under this subpart, that... the release, cancellation, discharge, or satisfaction must state that all of the encumbered engines or...

  12. 14 CFR 49.45 - Recording of releases, cancellations, discharges, and satisfactions: special requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... DOCUMENTS Encumbrances Against Specifically Identified Aircraft Engines and Propellers § 49.45 Recording of... one engine or propeller, or both, are listed in an instrument, recorded under this subpart, that... the release, cancellation, discharge, or satisfaction must state that all of the encumbered engines or...

  13. The emergence of modern type rain forests and mangroves and their traces in the palaeobotanical record during the Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mohr, Barbara; Coiffard, Clément

    2014-05-01

    The origin of modern rain forests is still very poorly known. This ecosystem could have potentially fully evolved only after the development of relatively high numbers of flowering plant families adapted to rain forest conditions. During the early phase of angiosperm evolution in the early Cretaceous the palaeo-equatorial region was located in a seasonally dry climatic belt, so that during this phase, flowering plants often show adaptations to drought, rather than to continuously wet climate conditions. Therefore it is not surprising that except for the Nymphaeales, the most basal members of extant angiosperm families have members that do not necessarily occur in the continuously wet tropics today. However, during the late Early Cretaceous several clades emerged that later would give rise to families that are typically found today mostly in (shady) moist places in warmer regions. This is especially seen among the monocotyledons, a group of the mesangiosperms, that developed in many cases large leaves often with very specific venation patterns that make these leaves very unique and well recognizable. Especially members of three groups are here of interest: the arum family (Araceae), the palms (Arecaceae) and the Ginger and allies (Zingiberales). The earliest fossil of Araceae are restricted to low latitudes during the lower Cretaceous. Arecaceae and Zingiberales do not appear in the fossil record before the early late Cretaceous and occur at mid latitudes. During the Late Cretaceous, Araceae are represented at mid latitudes by non-tropical early diverging members and at low latitudes by derived rainforest members. Palms became widespread during the Late Cretataceous and also Nypa, a typical element of tropical to subtropical mangrove environments evolved during this time period. During the Paleocene Arecaceae appear to be restricted to lower latitudes as well as Zingiberales. All three groups are again widespread during the Eocene, reaching higher latitudes and

  14. Instrument pre-development activities for FLEX

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pettinato, L.; Fossati, E.; Coppo, P. M.; Taiti, A.; Labate, D.; Capanni, A.; Taccola, M.; Bézy, J. L.; Francois, M.; Meynart, R.; Erdmann, L.; Triebel, P.

    2017-09-01

    The FLuorescence Imaging Spectrometer (FLORIS) is the payload of the FLuorescence Explorer Mission (FLEX) of the European Space Agency. The mission objective is to perform quantitative measurements of the solar induced vegetation fluorescence to monitor photosynthetic activity. FLORIS works in a push-broom configuration and it is designed to acquire data in the 500-780 nm spectral range, with a sampling of 0.1 nm in the oxygen bands (759-769 nm and 686- 697 nm) and 0.5-2.0 nm in the red edge, chlorophyll absorption and Photochemical Reflectance Index bands. FLEX will fly in formation with Sentinel-3 to benefit of the measurements made by the Sentinel-3 instruments OLCI and SLSTR, particularly for cloud screening, proper characterization of the atmospheric state and determination of the surface temperature. The instrument concept is based on a common telescope and two modified Offner spectrometers with reflective concave gratings both for the High Resolution (HR) and Low Resolution (LR) spectrometers. In the frame of the instrument pre-development Leonardo Company (I) has built and tested an elegant breadboard of the instrument consisting of the telescope and the HR spectrometer. The development of the LR spectrometer is in charge of OHB System AG (D) and is currently in the manufacturing phase. The main objectives of the activity are: anticipate the development of the instrument and provide early risk retirement of critical components, evaluate the system performances such as imaging quality parameters, straylight, ghost, polarization sensitivity and environmental influences, verify the adequacy of critical tests such as spectral characterization and straylight, define and optimize instrument alignment procedures. Following a brief overview of the FLEX mission, the paper will cover the design and the development of the optics breadboard with emphasis on the results obtained during the tests and the lessons learned for the flight unit.

  15. 40 CFR 57.404 - Measurements, records, and reports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... and record at least one measurement of sulfur dioxide concentration and stack gas flow rate from the... manufacturer's recommended zero adjustment and calibration procedures at least once per 24-hour operating... which clearly show instrument readings before and after zero adjustment and calibration. (5) The results...

  16. Olivia Records: The Production of a Movement.

    PubMed

    Morris, Bonnie

    2015-01-01

    This article looks at the early years of Olivia Records, setting the context for the historic release of the album Where Would I Be Without You. From its origins as a Washington, D.C.-based activist collective in 1973, Olivia became a hugely successful recording company, marketing radical lesbian recordings and performances that soon defined the "women's music" movement. Both artistically and politically, Olivia's woman-identified albums became the soundtrack for a generation awakening to lesbian activism. Pat Parker and Judy Grahn's 1976 spoken-word recording is a unique demonstration of Olivia's radical production values and expanding catalog.

  17. Report on monitoring and support instruments for solar physics research from Spacelab

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1978-01-01

    The Quick Reaction and Special Purpose Facility Definition Team for Solar Physics Spacelab Payloads examined a variety of instruments to fulfill the following functions: (1) solar physics research appropriate to Spacelab, (2) correlative data for research in such fields as aeronomy, magnetospheric physics, ionospheric physics, meteorology and climatology, (3) target selection for activity alert monitoring and (4) pointing accuracy monitoring of Spacelab platforms. In this examination the team accepted a number of restrictions and qualifications: (1) the cost of such instruments must be low, so as not to adversely impact the development of new, research class instrumentation in the early Spacelab era; (2) the instruments should be of such a size that they each would occupy a small fraction of a pointing system, and (3) the weight and power consumption of the instruments should also be small. With these restrictions, the instruments chosen are: the visible light telescope and magnetograph, the extreme-ultraviolet telescope, and the solar irradiance monitor.

  18. The orbital record in stratigraphy

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fischer, Alfred G.

    1992-01-01

    Orbital signals are being discovered in pre-Pleistocene sediments. Due to their hierarchical nature these cycle patterns are complex, and the imprecision of geochronology generally makes the assignment of stratigraphic cycles to specific orbital cycles uncertain, but in sequences such as the limnic Newark Group under study by Olsen and pelagic Cretaceous sequence worked on by our Italo-American group the relative frequencies yield a definitive match to the Milankovitch hierarchy. Due to the multiple ways in which climate impinges on depositional systems, the orbital signals are recorded in a multiplicity of parameters, and affect different sedimentary facies in different ways. In platform carbonates, for example, the chief effect is via sea-level variations (possibly tied to fluctuating ice volume), resulting in cycles of emergence and submergence. In limnic systems it finds its most dramatic expression in alternations of lake and playa conditions. Biogenic pelagic oozes such as chalks and the limestones derived from them display variations in the carbonate supplied by planktonic organisms such as coccolithophores and foraminifera, and also record variations in the aeration of bottom waters. Whereas early studies of stratigraphic cyclicity relied mainly on bedding variations visible in the field, present studies are supplementing these with instrumental scans of geochemical, paleontological, and geophysical parameters which yield quantitative curves amenable to time-series analysis; such analysis is, however, limited by problems of distorted time-scales. My own work has been largely concentrated on pelagic systems. In these, the sensitivity of pelagic organisms to climatic-oceanic changes, combined with the sensitivity of botton life to changes in oxygen availability (commonly much more restricted in the Past than now) has left cyclic patterns related to orbital forcing. These systems are further attractive because (1) they tend to offer depositional continuity

  19. Development of a Climate Record of Tropospheric and Stratospheric Column Ozone from Satellite Remote Sensing: Evidence of an Early Recovery of Global Stratospheric Ozone

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ziemke, Jerald R.; Chandra, Sushil

    2012-01-01

    Ozone data beginning October 2004 from the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) are used to evaluate the accuracy of the Cloud Slicing technique in effort to develop long data records of tropospheric and stratospheric ozone and for studying their long-term changes. Using this technique, we have produced a 32-yr (1979-2010) long record of tropospheric and stratospheric column ozone from the combined Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and OMI. Analyses of these time series suggest that the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is the dominant source of inter-annual variability of stratospheric ozone and is clearest in the Southern Hemisphere during the Aura time record with related inter-annual changes of 30- 40 Dobson Units. Tropospheric ozone for the long record also indicates a QBO signal in the tropics with peak-to-peak changes varying from 2 to 7 DU. The most important result from our study is that global stratospheric ozone indicates signature of a recovery occurring with ozone abundance now approaching the levels of year 1980 and earlier. The negative trends in stratospheric ozone in both hemispheres during the first 15 yr of the record are now positive over the last 15 yr and with nearly equal magnitudes. This turnaround in stratospheric ozone loss is occurring about 20 yr earlier than predicted by many chemistry climate models. This suggests that the Montreal Protocol which was first signed in 1987 as an international agreement to reduce ozone destroying substances is working well and perhaps better than anticipated.

  20. Cavity-Enhanced Quantum-Cascade Laser-Based Instrument for Trace gas Measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Provencal, R.; Gupta, M.; Owano, T.; Baer, D.; Ricci, K.; O'Keefe, A.

    2005-12-01

    An autonomous instrument based on Off-Axis Integrated Cavity Output Spectroscopy has been successfully deployed for measurements of CO in the troposphere and tropopause onboard a NASA DC-8 aircraft. The instrument consists of a measurement cell comprised of two high reflectivity mirrors, a continuous-wave quantum-cascade laser, gas sampling system, control and data acquisition electronics, and data analysis software. The instrument reports CO mixing ratio at a 1-Hz rate based on measured absorption, gas temperature and pressure using Beer's Law. During several flights in May-June 2004 and January 2005 that reached altitudes of 41000 ft, the instrument recorded CO values with a precision of 0.2 ppbv (1-s averaging time). Despite moderate turbulence and measurements of particulate-laden airflows, the instrument operated consistently and did not require any maintenance, mirror cleaning, or optical realignment during the flights. We will also present recent development efforts to extend the instrument's capabilities for the measurements of CH4, N2O and CO in real time.

  1. Safety first: Instrumentality for reaching safety determines attention allocation under threat.

    PubMed

    Vogt, Julia; Koster, Ernst H W; De Houwer, Jan

    2017-04-01

    Theories of attention to emotional information suggest that attentional processes prioritize threatening information. In this article, we suggest that attention will prioritize the events that are most instrumental to a goal in any given context, which in threatening situations is typically reaching safety. To test our hypotheses, we used an attentional cueing paradigm that contained cues signaling imminent threat (i.e., aversive noises) as well as cues that allowed participants to avoid threat (instrumental safety signals). Correct reactions to instrumental safety signals seemingly allowed participants to lower the presentation rate of the threat. Experiment 1 demonstrates that attention prioritizes instrumental safety signals over threat signals. Experiment 2 replicates this finding and additionally compares instrumental safety signals to other action-relevant signals controlling for action relevance as cause of the effects. Experiment 3 demonstrates that when actions toward threat signals permit to avoid threat, attention prioritizes threat signals. Taken together, these results support the view that instrumentality for reaching safety determines the allocation of attention under threat. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  2. Early Screening Inventory (ESI).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Welge-Crow, Patricia; And Others

    1990-01-01

    The Early Screening Inventory is designed to identify English- or Spanish-speaking children, ages 4-6, who may need special education services. The instrument measures the ability to acquire new skills in the areas of visual-motor/adaptive, language/cognition, and gross-motor/body-awareness. This paper describes administration, summation of data,…

  3. Experimental and numerical validation for the novel configuration of an arthroscopic indentation instrument

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Korhonen, Rami K.; Saarakkala, Simo; Töyräs, Juha; Laasanen, Mikko S.; Kiviranta, Ilkka; Jurvelin, Jukka S.

    2003-06-01

    Softening of articular cartilage, mainly attributable to deterioration of superficial collagen network and depletion of proteoglycans, is a sign of incipient osteoarthrosis. Early diagnosis of osteoarthrosis is essential to prevent the further destruction of the tissue. During the past decade, a few arthroscopic instruments have been introduced for the measurement of cartilage stiffness; these can be used to provide a sensitive measure of cartilage status. Ease of use, accuracy and reproducibility of the measurements as well as a low risk of damaging cartilage are the main qualities needed in any clinically applicable instrument. In this study, we have modified a commercially available arthroscopic indentation instrument to better fulfil these requirements when measuring cartilage stiffness in joints with thin cartilage. Our novel configuration was validated by experimental testing as well as by finite element (FE) modelling. Experimental and numerical tests indicated that it would be better to use a smaller reference plate and a lower pressing force (3 N) than those used in the original instrument (7-10 N). The reproducibility (CV = 5.0%) of the in situ indentation measurements was improved over that of the original instrument (CV = 7.6%), and the effect of material thickness on the indentation response was smaller than that obtained with the original instrument. The novel configuration showed a significant linear correlation between the indenter force and the reference dynamic modulus of cartilage in unconfined compression, especially in soft tissue (r = 0.893, p < 0.001, n = 16). FE analyses with a transversely isotropic poroelastic model indicated that the instrument was suitable for detecting the degeneration of superficial cartilage. In summary, the instrument presented in this study allows easy and reproducible measurement of cartilage stiffness, also in thin cartilage, and therefore represents a technical improvement for the early diagnosis of

  4. STORM-SEWER FLOW MEASUREMENT AND RECORDING SYSTEM.

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Kilpatrick, Frederick A.; Kaehrle, William R.

    1986-01-01

    A comprehensive study and development of instruments and techniques for measuring all components of flow in a storm-sewer drainage system were undertaken by the U. S. Geological Survey under the sponsorship of FHWA. The study involved laboratory and field calibration and testing of measuring flumes, pipe insert meters, weirs, and electromagnetic velocity meters as well as the development and calibration of pneumatic bubbler and pressure transducer head-measuring systems. Tracer dilution and acoustic-flowmeter measurements were used in field verification tests. A single micrologger was used to record data from all the instruments and also to activate on command the electromagnetic velocity meter and tracer dilution systems.

  5. Training With Curved Laparoscopic Instruments in Single-Port Setting Improves Performance Using Straight Instruments: A Prospective Randomized Simulation Study.

    PubMed

    Lukovich, Peter; Sionov, Valery Ben; Kakucs, Timea

    2016-01-01

    Lately single-port surgery is becoming a widespread procedure, but it is more difficult than conventional laparoscopy owing to the lack of triangulation. Although, these operations are also possible with standard laparoscopic instruments, curved instruments are being developed. The aims of the study were to identify the effect of training on a box trainer in single-port setting on the quality of acquired skills, and transferred with the straight and curved instruments for the basic laparoscopic tasks, and highlight the importance of a special laparoscopic training curriculum. A prospective study on a box trainer in single-port setting was conducted using 2 groups. Each group performed 2 tasks on the box trainer in single-port setting. Group-S used conventional straight laparoscopic instruments, and Group-C used curved laparoscopic instruments. Learning curves were obtained by daily measurements recorded in 7-day sessions. On the last day, the 2 groups changed instruments between each other. 1st Department of Surgery, Semmelweis University of Medicine from Budapest, Hungary, a university teaching hospital. In all, 20 fifth-year medical students were randomized into 2 groups. None of them had any laparoscopic or endoscopic experience. Participation was voluntary. Although Group-S performed all tasks significantly faster than Group-C on the first day, the difference proved to be nonsignificant on the last day. All participants achieved significantly shorter task completion time on the last day than on the first day, regardless of the instrument they used. Group-S showed improvement of 63.5%, and Group-C 69.0% improvement by the end of the session. After swapping the instruments, Group-S reached significantly higher task completion time with curved instruments, whereas Group-C showed further progression of 8.9% with straight instruments. Training with curved instruments in a single-port setting allows for a better acquisition of skills in a shorter period. For this

  6. 15 CFR 4.30 - Disclosure of record to person other than the individual to whom it pertains.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... that the record will be used solely as a statistical research or reporting record, and the record is to... instrumentality of any governmental jurisdiction within or under the control of the United States for a civil or... when any record in a system of records is disclosed to any person under compulsory legal process...

  7. Sharing Medical Data for Health Research: The Early Personal Health Record Experience

    PubMed Central

    Kaci, Liljana; Mandl, Kenneth D

    2010-01-01

    Background Engaging consumers in sharing information from personally controlled health records (PCHRs) for health research may promote goals of improving care and advancing public health consistent with the federal Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Understanding consumer willingness to share data is critical to advancing this model. Objective The objective was to characterize consumer willingness to share PCHR data for health research and the conditions and contexts bearing on willingness to share. Methods A mixed method approach integrating survey and narrative data was used. Survey data were collected about attitudes toward sharing PCHR information for health research from early adopters (n = 151) of a live PCHR populated with medical records and self-reported behavioral and social data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression to characterize willingness, conditions for sharing, and variations by sociodemographic factors. Narrative data were collected through semistructured focus group and one-on-one interviews with a separate sample of community members (n = 30) following exposure to PCHR demonstrations. Two independent analysts coded narrative data for major and minor themes using a shared rubric of a priori defined codes and an iterative inductive process. Findings were triangulated with survey results to identify patterns. Results Of PHCR users, 138 out of 151 (91%) were willing to share medical information for health research with 89 (59%) favoring an opt-in sharing model. Willingness to share was conditioned by anonymity, research use, engagement with a trusted intermediary, transparency around PCHR access and use, and payment. Consumer-determined restrictions on content and timing of sharing may be prerequisites to sharing. Select differences in support for sharing under different conditions were observed across social groups. No gender differences were observed; however differences

  8. Screening for potential child maltreatment in parents of a newborn baby: The predictive validity of an Instrument for early identification of Parents At Risk for child Abuse and Neglect (IPARAN).

    PubMed

    van der Put, Claudia E; Bouwmeester-Landweer, Merian B R; Landsmeer-Beker, Eleonore A; Wit, Jan M; Dekker, Friedo W; Kousemaker, N Pieter J; Baartman, Herman E M

    2017-08-01

    For preventive purposes it is important to be able to identify families with a high risk of child maltreatment at an early stage. Therefore we developed an actuarial instrument for screening families with a newborn baby, the Instrument for identification of Parents At Risk for child Abuse and Neglect (IPARAN). The aim of this study was to assess the predictive validity of the IPARAN and to examine whether combining actuarial and clinical methods leads to an improvement of the predictive validity. We examined the predictive validity by calculating several performance indicators (i.e., sensitivity, specificity and the Area Under the receiver operating characteristic Curve [AUC]) in a sample of 4692 Dutch families with newborns. The outcome measure was a report of child maltreatment at Child Protection Services during a follow-up of 3 years. For 17 children (.4%) a report of maltreatment was registered. The predictive validity of the IPARAN was significantly better than chance (AUC=.700, 95% CI [.567-.832]), in contrast to a low value for clinical judgement of nurses of the Youth Health Care Centers (AUC=.591, 95% CI [.422-.759]). The combination of the IPARAN and clinical judgement resulted in the highest predictive validity (AUC=.720, 95% CI [.593-.847]), however, the difference between the methods did not reach statistical significance. The good predictive validity of the IPARAN in combination with clinical judgment of the nurse enables professionals to assess risks at an early stage and to make referrals to early intervention programs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Instrumenting free-swimming dolphins echolocating in open water.

    PubMed

    Martin, Stephen W; Phillips, Michael; Bauer, Eric J; Moore, Patrick W; Houser, Dorian S

    2005-04-01

    Dolphins within the Navy Marine Mammal Program use echolocation to effectively locate underwater mines. They currently outperform manmade systems at similar tasks, particularly in cluttered environments and on buried targets. In hopes of improving manmade mine-hunting sonar systems, two instrumentation packages were developed to monitor free-swimming dolphin motion and echolocation during open-water target detection tasks. The biosonar measurement tool (BMT) is carried by a dolphin and monitors underwater position and attitude while simultaneously recording echolocation clicks and returning echoes through high-gain binaural receivers. The instrumented mine simulator (IMS) is a modified bottom target that monitors echolocation signals arriving at the target during ensonification. Dolphin subjects were trained to carry the BMT in open-bay bottom-object target searches in which the IMS could serve as a bottom object. The instrumentation provides detailed data that reveal hereto-unavailable information on the search strategies of free-swimming dolphins conducting open-water, bottom-object search tasks with echolocation.

  10. Instrumenting free-swimming dolphins echolocating in open water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Martin, Stephen W.; Phillips, Michael; Bauer, Eric J.; Moore, Patrick W.; Houser, Dorian S.

    2005-04-01

    Dolphins within the Navy Marine Mammal Program use echolocation to effectively locate underwater mines. They currently outperform manmade systems at similar tasks, particularly in cluttered environments and on buried targets. In hopes of improving manmade mine-hunting sonar systems, two instrumentation packages were developed to monitor free-swimming dolphin motion and echolocation during open-water target detection tasks. The biosonar measurement tool (BMT) is carried by a dolphin and monitors underwater position and attitude while simultaneously recording echolocation clicks and returning echoes through high-gain binaural receivers. The instrumented mine simulator (IMS) is a modified bottom target that monitors echolocation signals arriving at the target during ensonification. Dolphin subjects were trained to carry the BMT in open-bay bottom-object target searches in which the IMS could serve as a bottom object. The instrumentation provides detailed data that reveal hereto-unavailable information on the search strategies of free-swimming dolphins conducting open-water, bottom-object search tasks with echolocation. .

  11. Signal and Communications. Progress Record and Theory Outline.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Connecticut State Dept. of Education, Hartford. Div. of Vocational-Technical Schools.

    This combination progress record and course outline is designed for use by individuals teaching a course in signals and communications. Included among the topics addressed in the course are the following: matter, the nature of electricity, dry cells and batteries, Ohm's law, power, magnetism, measurement instruments, Kirchoff's laws,…

  12. Electron Pitch Angle Variations Recorded at the High Magnetic Latitude Boundary Layer by the NUADU Instrument on the TC-2 Spacecraft

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lu, L.; McKenna-Lawlor, S.; Barabash, S.; Liu, Z.; Balaz, J.; Brinkfeldt, K.; Strhansky, I.; Shen, C.; Shi, J.; Cao, J.; Pu, Z.; Fu, S.; Gunell, H.; Kudela, K.; Roelof, E. C.; Brandt, P. C.; Dandouras, I.; Zhang, T.; Carr, C.; Fazakerley, A.

    2005-12-01

    During the first on orbit commission, with the deflection high voltage zero, the NUADU (NeUtral Atom Detector Unit) instrument aboard TC-2, with its high temporal-spatial resolution recorded 4d solid angle images of energetic particles spiraling around the geomagnetic field lines with different configuration at high northern magnetic latitude L>10. The ambient magnetic field and particles in different energy spectrum were simultaneously measured by the magnetometer experiment (FGM), the plasma electron and current experiment (PEACE), the low energy ion detector (LEID), and the high energy electron detector (HEED). The up-flowing electron beams made the pitch angle distribution (PAD) ring like configuration, and even concentrated toward the field lines to form a dumbbell-type PAD. In integration of the variations of ambient magnetic field and particles in different energy spectrums, a temporal string magnetic bottle model was proposed which might be formed by the disturbance of the magnetic pulse. Changes in the particle pitch angle diffusion may be associated with electron acceleration along the geomagnetic field lines.

  13. Scientific interpretation of historical auroral records

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Willis, D. M.; Stephenson, F. R.

    The available historical auroral records from both Europe and East Asia are examined critically for their relevance in the investigation of long-term variations in both solar activity and the Earth's magnetic field. The early oriental records are sufficiently numerous to allow scientific studies of variations on several time scales. Special attention is paid to the seasonal and secular variations of the early oriental auroral observations. In addition, the oriental auroral records exhibit a clear 27-day recurrence tendency at particular periods of time. A search has been made for examples of strictly simultaneous and indisputably independent observations of the aurora from spatially separated sites in East Asia. This search has yielded nine observations of mid-latitude auroral displays at more than one site in East Asia on the same night. A particular geomagnetic storm that occurred during December in AD 1128 is investigated in detail. Five days after the observation of two large sunspots in England, a red auroral display was observed from Korea. In addition, between the middle of AD 1127 and the middle of AD 1129, five Chinese and five Korean auroral observations were recorded. These provide evidence for recurrent auroral activity on a timescale almost exactly equal to the synodic-solar-rotation period (approximately 27 days). Finally, a new attempt is made to use the oriental historical auroral records to determine the location of the north geomagnetic pole during the European Middle Ages.

  14. Effect of baseline corrections on response spectra for two recordings of the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, earthquake

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Boore, David M.

    1999-01-01

    Displacements derived from the accelerogram recordings of the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake at stations TCU078 and TCU129 show drifts when only a simple baseline derived from the pre-event portion of the record is removed from the records. The appearance of the velocity and displacement records suggests that changes in the zero-level of the acceleration are responsible for these drifts. The source of the shifts in zero-level are unknown, but might include tilts in the instruments or the response of the instruments to strong shaking. This note illustrates the effect on the velocity, displacement, and response spectra of several schemes for accounting for these baseline shifts. The most important conclusion for earthquake engineering purposes is that the response spectra for periods less than about 20 sec are unaffected by the baseline correction. The results suggest, however, that staticdisplac ements estimated from the instruments should be used with caution. Although limited to the analysis of only two recordings, the results may have more general significance both for the many other recordings of this earthquake and for data that will be obtained in the future from similar high-quality accelerograph networks now being installed or soon to be installed in many parts of the world.

  15. Active Flow Control: Instrumentation Automation and Experimental Technique

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gimbert, N. Wes

    1995-01-01

    In investigating the potential of a new actuator for use in an active flow control system, several objectives had to be accomplished, the largest of which was the experimental setup. The work was conducted at the NASA Langley 20x28 Shear Flow Control Tunnel. The actuator named Thunder, is a high deflection piezo device recently developed at Langley Research Center. This research involved setting up the instrumentation, the lighting, the smoke, and the recording devices. The instrumentation was automated by means of a Power Macintosh running LabVIEW, a graphical instrumentation package developed by National Instruments. Routines were written to allow the tunnel conditions to be determined at a given instant at the push of a button. This included determination of tunnel pressures, speed, density, temperature, and viscosity. Other aspects of the experimental equipment included the set up of a CCD video camera with a video frame grabber, monitor, and VCR to capture the motion. A strobe light was used to highlight the smoke that was used to visualize the flow. Additional effort was put into creating a scale drawing of another tunnel on site and a limited literature search in the area of active flow control.

  16. A portable instrument for the measurement of salinity of rainwater using FET's

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rao, A. M.

    1985-03-01

    A portable salinity meter with field effect transistors for the continuous recording of salinity of rainwater is described. The variations in salinity are converted into current variations by using a D.C. differential amplifier and is recorded on an Esterline Angus Recorder. The Meter enables us to measure rainfall intensity as well as salinity simultaneously. The chief advantages of the present instrument are that it is portable and has a range of measurement from 1×10-4 to 1×10-1 ppm on a linear scale.

  17. Implicit Review Instrument to Evaluate Quality of Care Delivered by Physicians to Children in Emergency Departments.

    PubMed

    Marcin, James P; Romano, Patrick S; Dharmar, Madan; Chamberlain, James M; Dudley, Nanette; Macias, Charles G; Nigrovic, Lise E; Powell, Elizabeth C; Rogers, Alexander J; Sonnett, Meridith; Tzimenatos, Leah; Alpern, Elizabeth R; Andrews-Dickert, Rebecca; Borgialli, Dominic A; Sidney, Erika; Casper, Charlie; Dean, Jonathan Michael; Kuppermann, Nathan

    2018-06-01

    To evaluate the consistency, reliability, and validity of an implicit review instrument that measures the quality of care provided to children in the emergency department (ED). Medical records of randomly selected children from 12 EDs in the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN). Eight pediatric emergency medicine physicians applied the instrument to 620 medical records. We determined internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha and inter-rater reliability using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). We evaluated the validity of the instrument by correlating scores with four condition-specific explicit review instruments. Individual reviewers' Cronbach's alpha had a mean of 0.85 with a range of 0.76-0.97; overall Cronbach's alpha was 0.90. The ICC was 0.49 for the summary score with a range from 0.40 to 0.46. Correlations between the quality of care score and the four condition-specific explicit review scores ranged from 0.24 to 0.38. The quality of care instrument demonstrated good internal consistency, moderate inter-rater reliability, high inter-rater agreement, and evidence supporting validity. The instrument could be useful for systems' assessment and research in evaluating the care delivered to children in the ED. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  18. Monitoring of unstable slopes by MEMS tilting sensors and its application to early warning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Towhata, I.; Uchimura, T.; Seko, I.; Wang, L.

    2015-09-01

    The present paper addresses the newly developed early warning technology that can help mitigate the slope failure disasters during heavy rains. Many studies have been carried out in the recent times on early warning that is based on rainfall records. Although those rainfall criteria of slope failure tells the probability of disaster on a regional scale, it is difficult for them to judge the risk of particular slopes. This is because the rainfall intensity is spatially too variable to forecast and the early warning based on rainfall alone cannot take into account the effects of local geology, hydrology and topography that vary spatially as well. In this regard, the authors developed an alternative technology in which the slope displacement/deformation is monitored and early warning is issued when a new criterion is satisfied. The new MEMS-based sensor monitors the tilting angle of an instrument that is embedded at a very shallow depth and the record of the tilting angle corresponds to the lateral displacement at the slope surface. Thus, the rate of tilting angle that exceeds a new criterion value implies an imminent slope failure. This technology has been validated against several events of slope failures as well as against a field rainfall test. Those validations have made it possible to determine the criterion value of the rate of tilting angle to be 0.1 degree/hour. The advantage of the MEMS tilting sensor lies in its low cost. Hence, it is possible to install many low-cost sensors over a suspected slope in which the precise range of what is going to fall down during the next rainfall is unknown. In addition to the past validations, this paper also introduces a recent application to a failed slope in the Izu Oshima Island where a heavy rainfall-induced slope failure occurred in October, 2013.

  19. Support Vector Feature Selection for Early Detection of Anastomosis Leakage From Bag-of-Words in Electronic Health Records.

    PubMed

    Soguero-Ruiz, Cristina; Hindberg, Kristian; Rojo-Alvarez, Jose Luis; Skrovseth, Stein Olav; Godtliebsen, Fred; Mortensen, Kim; Revhaug, Arthur; Lindsetmo, Rolv-Ole; Augestad, Knut Magne; Jenssen, Robert

    2016-09-01

    The free text in electronic health records (EHRs) conveys a huge amount of clinical information about health state and patient history. Despite a rapidly growing literature on the use of machine learning techniques for extracting this information, little effort has been invested toward feature selection and the features' corresponding medical interpretation. In this study, we focus on the task of early detection of anastomosis leakage (AL), a severe complication after elective surgery for colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery, using free text extracted from EHRs. We use a bag-of-words model to investigate the potential for feature selection strategies. The purpose is earlier detection of AL and prediction of AL with data generated in the EHR before the actual complication occur. Due to the high dimensionality of the data, we derive feature selection strategies using the robust support vector machine linear maximum margin classifier, by investigating: 1) a simple statistical criterion (leave-one-out-based test); 2) an intensive-computation statistical criterion (Bootstrap resampling); and 3) an advanced statistical criterion (kernel entropy). Results reveal a discriminatory power for early detection of complications after CRC (sensitivity 100%; specificity 72%). These results can be used to develop prediction models, based on EHR data, that can support surgeons and patients in the preoperative decision making phase.

  20. Mabs monograph, air blast instrumentation, 1943-1993 measurement techniques and instrumentation. Volume 1. The nuclear era. 1945-1963. Technical report, 17 September 1992-31 May 1994

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Reisler, R.E.; Keefer, J.H.; Ethridge, N.H.

    1995-03-01

    Blast wave measurement techniques and instrumentation developed by Military Applications of Blast Simulators (MABS) participating countries to study blast phenomena during the nuclear era are summarized. Passive and active gages both mechanical self-recording and electronic systems deployed on kiloton and megaton explosive tests during the period 1945-1963 are presented. The country and the year the gage was introduced are included with the description. References are also provided. Volume 2 covers measurement techniques and instrumentation for the period 1959-1993 and Volume 3 covers structural target and gage calibration from 1943 to 1993.

  1. A record of reversed polarity carries by the iron sulphide greigite in British early Pleistocene sediments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hallam, D. F.; Maher, B. A.

    1994-01-01

    Palaeomagnetic measurements were made on samples extracted from a short sequence of early Pleistocene estuarine clays, now exposed in a sea cliff near Sheringham on the north Norfolk coast, UK. On the basis of earlier palynological work, these clays had been ascribed a Pastonian (late Tiglian) age. The clays show marked changes in colour, from reddish-brown at the top of the unit, to blue-grey in the middle, and grey-brown at the base. The palaeomagnetic data vary in close association with these colour changes. The top and basal brown clays show scattered normal directions of low intensity, while the middle blue clays show strongly clustered reversed directions, of much higher intensities. Some samples taken from the boundary between the middle blue clays and upper red clays show upon demagnetisation a normal overprint on a stable reversed polarity. Using high-gradient magnetic extraction, magnetic concentrates have been obtained from the strongly magnetic middle blue clays. The presence of iron sulphide minerals in these concentrates was identified using energy-dispersive X-ray analysis during scanning electron microscopy. More specifically, X-ray diffraction identifies greigite as the only detectable ferrimagnetic mineral in the magnetic concentrates. Rock magnetic measurements show clear qualitative differences in the magnetic mineralogies of the three clay subunits, but absolute identification of the magnetic mineralogy of the weakly magnetic upper and basal brown clays has not yet been possible. We interpret the sequence as a primary reversed polarity record. This record is carried by the iron sulphide greigate as a chemical remanence acquired during `syn'-depositional reduction of iron via the decomposition of organic material in these anoxic tidal clays. Subsequently, the upper and basl subunits of the clay have been oxidised by permeation of groundwater from the adjacent coarse-grained sediments. Most of the griegite in the oxidised margins of the clay has

  2. The early Barremian warm pulse and the late Barremian cooling: a high resolution geochemical record of the Boreal Realm

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mutterlose, J.; Malkoc, M.

    2009-04-01

    A high resolution geochemical study of seven Barremian (lower Cretaceous) sections in NW Europe documents warming and cooling periods throughout the investigated interval. A total of 289 belemnite guards from localities in NE England and NW Germany were analysed for their trace elements (Mg, Sr, Fe and Mn) and their stable isotope composition (δ13C, δ18O) in order to reconstruct the palaeotemperature record and to better understand different palaeotemperature proxies (δ18O, Mg/Ca). The material has been collected bed-by-bed from bio- and lithostratigraphically well studied outcrops with a palaeolatitude of 36-38°N. The carbon isotope curve of the Barremian is described by a long term (5my) increase from 1‰ in the early Barremian to 3‰ in the late Barremian. This long term trend is thought to reflect the global signal of the carbon budget of the Barremian oceans. Superimposed on this signature is a short termed peak (~ 105kyrs) of 2.5‰ in the late early Barremian Aulacoteuthis zone. This "Aulacoteuthis peak", which goes along with the widespread deposition of TOC rich mudstones, was caused by increased productivity. It is seen as a regional signal related to warm-humid conditions and palaeoceanographically a quasi lagoonal setting. δ13C shifts of 1.5‰ from specimens collected from one horizon may reflect high resolution seasonal changes of run-off and nutrient supply. The oxygen isotope signature clearly shows similar palaeotemperature variations of the approx. 5my lasting Barremian for all sections investigated. The climatic evolution allows to recognize three different phases. An earliest Barremian cool phase (Praeoxyteuthis pugio zone) is characterized by δ18O values of - 1.2‰ to 0.3‰ (16°C to 10°C) with most data plotting around - 0.2‰ (12°C). This "P. pugio cool phase", which extends into the underlying Hauterivian, is followed by a distinctive warming event in the late early Barremian Aulacoteuthis zone. This "Aulacoteuthis warm pulse

  3. Effects of 'Real World' Radio Chatter on Mid-Phase Instrument Ground Trainer Proficiency: A Pilot Study.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goebel, Ronald A.; And Others

    Under a background condition of either recorded radio chatter or no radio chatter, the individual performances of two flights of mid-phase instrument student pilots were measured during a simulated instrument cross-country mission in the T-38 ground trainer. Operational constraints prevented the exercise of optimal experimental controls, thereby…

  4. Exploring for early bombardments on Earth from pre-3.85 Fa thermal effects recorded in Hadean zircons - a status report

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mojzsis, S. J.; Abramov, O.; Harrison, T. M.; Kring, D. A.; Levison, H. F.; Trail, D.; Watson, E. B.

    2008-12-01

    We report on our progress with high-resolution ion microprobe U-Th-Pb depth profiles and Ti+REEs spot analysis which show that subsequent to their crystallization in melts under typical crustal conditions on Earth, some Hadean (pre-3.85 Ga) zircons record common age domains with unusual chemical and isotopic characteristics consistent with a high-temperature (possibly impact) origin. We have found evidence for later overprints caused by intense thermal alteration between 3.94-3.97 Ga in six of eight studied grains but no evidence for older events. These findings alert us to two fundamental things we did not know before about the probiotic potential of the Earth in the earliest solar system: (i) that the bombardment epoch did not result in complete 'Doomsday' scale destruction of the Earth's crust since the Moon-forming event at ca. 4.5 Ga; and (ii) age constraints on both sides of the ther-mally altered 3.94-3.97 Ga zircon domains are very good and so far our data show that no detectable thermal events are recorded by the zircons before ~3.97 Ga up to about 4.3 Ga. This observation is consistent with the output of new classes of dynamical models that successfully re-create the decay of impactor populations in the early solar system as recorded on the Moon and in meteorites.

  5. Measuring Approaches to Learning in Preschoolers: Validating the Structure of an Instrument for Teachers and Parents

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barbu, Otilia C.; Marx, Ronald W.; Yaden, David B., Jr.; Levine-Donnerstein, Deborah

    2016-01-01

    This study examined a 13-item instrument measuring approaches to learning (AtL) as a component of school readiness in the context of early childhood socio-emotional development. Few instruments, limited to preschool teacher ratings, measure AtL among kindergarteners with short easy-to-use questionnaires. We investigated psychometric properties of…

  6. The Australian Early Development Index: Reshaping Family-Child Relationships in Early Childhood Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peers, Chris

    2011-01-01

    This article addresses the cultural significance of the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) and discusses changes that the discourse of this instrument makes to the way in which the child is conceptualised. It analyses the technological function of the AEDI to examine how it makes the child a universal resource for human capital. The article…

  7. Research and Development on a Public Attitude Instrument for Stuttering

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    St. Louis, Kenneth O.

    2012-01-01

    This paper summarizes research associated with the development of the "Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering" ("POSHA-S"), a survey instrument designed to provide a worldwide standard measure of public attitudes toward stuttering. Pilot studies with early experimental prototypes of the "POSHA-S" are summarized that relate to…

  8. A palaeoequatorial ornithischian and new constraints on early dinosaur diversification.

    PubMed

    Barrett, Paul M; Butler, Richard J; Mundil, Roland; Scheyer, Torsten M; Irmis, Randall B; Sánchez-Villagra, Marcelo R

    2014-09-22

    Current characterizations of early dinosaur evolution are incomplete: existing palaeobiological and phylogenetic scenarios are based on a fossil record dominated by saurischians and the implications of the early ornithischian record are often overlooked. Moreover, the timings of deep phylogenetic divergences within Dinosauria are poorly constrained owing to the absence of a rigorous chronostratigraphical framework for key Late Triassic-Early Jurassic localities. A new dinosaur from the earliest Jurassic of the Venezuelan Andes is the first basal ornithischian recovered from terrestrial deposits directly associated with a precise radioisotopic date and the first-named dinosaur from northern South America. It expands the early palaeogeographical range of Ornithischia to palaeoequatorial regions, an area sometimes thought to be devoid of early dinosaur taxa, and offers insights into early dinosaur growth rates, the evolution of sociality and the rapid tempo of the global dinosaur radiation following the end-Triassic mass extinction, helping to underscore the importance of the ornithischian record in broad-scale discussions of early dinosaur history. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  9. The impact of childhood residential mobility on mental health outcomes in adolescence and early adulthood: a record linkage study.

    PubMed

    Tseliou, Foteini; Maguire, Aideen; Donnelly, Michael; O'Reilly, Dermot

    2016-03-01

    Understanding the causes of poor mental health in early childhood and adolescence is important as this can be a significant determinant of mental well-being in later years. One potential and relatively unexplored factor is residential mobility in formative years. Previous studies have been relatively small and potentially limited due to methodological issues. The main aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between early residential instability and poor mental health among adolescents and young adults in Northern Ireland. A Census-based record linkage study of 28% of children aged 0-8 years in 2001 in Northern Ireland (n=49,762) was conducted, with six monthly address change assessments from health registration data and self-reported mental health status from the 2011 Census. Logistic regression models were built adjusting for socioeconomic status (SES), household composition and marital dissolution. There was a graded relationship between the number of address changes and mental ill-health (adjusted OR 3.67, 95% CIs 2.11 to 6.39 for 5 or more moves). This relationship was not modified by SES or household composition. Marital dissolution was associated with poor mental health but did not modify the relationship between address change and mental health (p=0.206). There was some indication that movement after the age of five was associated with an increased likelihood of poor mental health. This large study clearly confirms the close relationship between address change in early years and later poor mental health. Residential mobility may be a useful marker for children at risk of poorer mental health in adolescence and early adulthood. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  10. Application of low-power, high-rate PCM telemetry in a helicopter instrumentation system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Thomas, Mitchel E.; Diamond, John K.

    1987-01-01

    The use of low-power, high-rate pulse code modulation (PCM) in a helicopter instrumentation system is examined. A Helicopter Instrumentation and Recording System (HIARS) was developed to obtain main rotor blade measurements and fuselage performance measurements. The HIARS consists of a low-power PCM telemeter, a digital PCM system, an optical rotor position sensor, and a PCM decommutation unit; the components and functions of these subsystems are described. Flight tests were conducted to evaluate the ability of the HIARS to measure aircraft parameters. The test data reveal that the PCM telemetry is applicable to helicopter instrumentation systems.

  11. 7 CFR 1962.27 - Termination or satisfaction of chattel security instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 14 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Termination or satisfaction of chattel security... and Liquidation of Chattel Security § 1962.27 Termination or satisfaction of chattel security...) Filing or recording satisfactions. Satisfactions of chattel mortgages and similar instruments will be...

  12. Scientific instrument engineering at Japanese congresses devoted to high-speed imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shchelev, Mikhail Ya

    2011-06-01

    The information about the congresses held in Japan and devoted to fast imaging processes and photonics is presented. Reports devoted to the technique and the results of applications of superhigh-speed recording instrumentation in different fields of science and technology are considered.

  13. Toddlers' Prosocial Behavior: From Instrumental to Empathic to Altruistic Helping

    PubMed Central

    Svetlova, Margarita; Nichols, Sara R.; Brownell, Celia A.

    2010-01-01

    The study explored how the meaning of prosocial behavior changes over toddlerhood. Sixty-five 18- and 30-month-olds could help an adult in three contexts: instrumental (action-based), empathic (emotion-based) and altruistic (costly). Children at both ages helped readily in instrumental tasks. For 18-month-olds, empathic helping was significantly more difficult than instrumental helping and required greater communication from the adult about her needs. Altruistic helping, which involved giving up an object of the child's own, was the most difficult for children at both ages. Findings suggest that over the second year of life, prosocial behavior develops from relying on action understanding and explicit communications to understanding others' emotions from subtle cues. Developmental trajectories of social-understanding and motivational components of early helping are discussed. PMID:21077866

  14. Advanced instrumentation for research in diving and hyperbaric medicine.

    PubMed

    Sieber, Arne; L'Abbate, Antonio; Kuch, Benjamin; Wagner, Matthias; Benassi, Antonio; Passera, Mirko; Bedini, Remo

    2010-01-01

    Improving the safety of diving and increasing knowledge about the adaptation of the human body to underwater and hyperbaric environment require specifically developed underwater instrumentation for physiological measurements. In fact, none of the routine clinical devices for health control is suitable for in-water and/or under-pressure operation. The present paper addresses novel technological acquisitions and the development of three dedicated devices: * an underwater data logger for recording O2 saturation (reflective pulsoxymetry), two-channel ECG, depth and temperature; * an underwater blood pressure meter based on the oscillometric method; and * an underwater echography system. Moreover, examples of recordings are presented and discussed.

  15. Removal of simulated biofilm: a preclinical ergonomic comparison of instruments and operators.

    PubMed

    Graetz, Christian; Plaumann, Anna; Rauschenbach, Sebastian; Bielfeldt, Jule; Dörfer, Christof E; Schwendicke, Falk

    2016-07-01

    Periodontal scaling might cause musculoskeletal disorders, and scaling instruments might not only have different effectiveness and efficiency but also differ in their ergonomic properties. The present study assessed ergonomic working patterns of experienced (EO) and less experienced operators (LO) when using hand and powered devices for periodontal scaling and root planning. In an experimental study using periodontally affected manikins, sonic (AIR), ultrasonic (TIG) and hand instruments (GRA) were used by 11 operators (7 EO/4 LO) during simulated supportive periodontal therapy. Using an electronic motion monitoring system, we objectively assessed the working frequency and positioning of hand, neck and head. Operators' subjective evaluation of the instruments was recorded using a questionnaire. Hand instruments were used with the lowest frequency (2.57 ± 1.08 s(-1)) but greatest wrist deviation (59.57 ± 53.94°). EO used instruments more specifically than LO, and generally worked more ergonomically, with less inclination of head and neck in both the frontal and sagittal planes, especially when using hand instruments. All groups found hand instruments more tiring and difficult to use than powered instruments. Regardless of operators' experience, powered instruments were used more ergonomically and were subjectively preferred compared to hand instruments. The use of hand instruments has potential ergonomic disadvantages. However, with increasing experience, operators are able to recognise and mitigate possible risks.

  16. Development and Implementation of a Comprehensive Health and Nutrition Record. Final Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ingalls, Dorothy M.

    The objectives of this project were: (1) to determine the items necessary for a comprehensive Health and Nutrition Record to be sent to the public and parochial schools from selected preschool day care servicing agencies; (2) to design an instrument on which to record the necessary health and nutrition data; (3) to determine ways of channeling…

  17. Early Eocene biota (ostracoda, foraminifera) and paleoenvironment of the Blue Marls in the Corbieres Hills (Aude, France): building a framework for the identification of early Eocene hyperthermals in continental margin records.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pirkenseer, C.; King, C.; Steurbaut, E.; Speijer, R.

    2009-04-01

    The Corbières Foreland Basin represents the southeastern-most extension of the Aquitanian Basin and is thus palaeo(bio)geographically related to the West-European Cenozoic Basin. During the Ypresian (‘Ilerdien') a succession of marine carbonates (e.g., Calcaires blancs à Alvéolines), marine marls (Blue Marls, Marnes à Térebratulides), brackish marls to sandstones and subsequent fluvio-lacustrine sediments (e.g., Montlaur Molasse) were deposited in the Corbières Hills (Aude, France) area in several depositional sequences. The present study focuses on the upper part of the open marine Blue Marls and the overlying brackish marls and sandstones spanning about 120m thickness close to the village Pradelles-en-Val. Over one hundred samples were collected in 1m intervals in order to document the early Eocene biogeographical and paleoenvironmental evolution of this open marine sequence, through a quantitative analysis of the ostracod assemblages. Furthermore, we aim at identifying anomalous environmental conditions that might be expected to be associated with the early Eocene hyperthermals known as Elmo- (ETM2) and X-event (ETM3). These events are subordinate to the best known hyperthermal, the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, which has been recorded in deep-sea to non-marine depositional settings. ETM2 and ETM3, however, have until now only been demonstrated in deep-sea sequences, not in shelf deposits. In accordance with biostratigraphical data derived from other outcrops in the region, the sampled succession is attributed to the interval of calcareous nannofossil zones NP10-NP12. The occurrences of planktonic foraminifera of the Morozovella subbotinae-group are in agreement with this stratigraphic position (P6-7) for the lower part of the profile. Recorded fossil groups include generally abundant marine ostracoda, bryozoa, benthic and planktonic foraminifera, fragments of echinoderms including ophiuroidea, moulds of gastropods (often pyritised), large dinocysts

  18. Recording of electrohysterogram laplacian potential.

    PubMed

    Alberola-Rubio, J; Garcia-Casado, J; Ye-Lin, Y; Prats-Boluda, G; Perales, A

    2011-01-01

    Preterm birth is the main cause of the neonatal morbidity. Noninvasive recording of uterine myoelectrical activity (electrohysterogram, EHG) could be an alternative to the monitoring of uterine dynamics which are currently based on tocodynamometers (TOCO). The analysis of uterine electromyogram characteristics could help the early diagnosis of preterm birth. Laplacian recordings of other bioelectrical signals have proved to enhance spatial selectivity and to reduce interferences in comparison to monopolar and bipolar surface recordings. The main objective of this paper is to check the feasibility of the noninvasive recording of uterine myoelectrical activity by means of laplacian techniques. Four bipolar EHG signals, discrete laplacian obtained from five monopolar electrodes and the signals picked up by two active concentric-ringed-electrodes were recorded on 5 women with spontaneous or induced labor. Intrauterine pressure (IUP) and TOCO were also simultaneously recorded. To evaluate the uterine contraction detectability of the different noninvasive methods in comparison to IUP the contractions consistency index (CCI) was calculated. Results show that TOCO is less consistent (83%) than most EHG bipolar recording channels (91%, 83%, 87%, and 76%) to detect the uterine contractions identified in IUP. Moreover laplacian EHG signals picked up by ringed-electrodes proved to be as consistent (91%) as the best bipolar recordings in addition to significantly reduce ECG interference.

  19. Systematic Refinement of a Health Information Technology Time and Motion Workflow Instrument for Inpatient Nursing Care using a Standardized Interface Terminology

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Yi; Monsen, Karen A; Adam, Terrence J; Pieczkiewicz, David S; Daman, Megan; Melton, Genevieve B

    2011-01-01

    Time and motion (T&M) studies provide an objective method to measure the expenditure of time by clinicians. While some instruments for T&M studies have been designed to evaluate health information technology (HIT), these instruments have not been designed for nursing workflow. We took an existing open source HIT T&M study application designed to evaluate physicians in the ambulatory setting and rationally adapted it through empiric observations to record nursing activities in the inpatient setting and linked this instrument to an existing interface terminology, the Omaha System. Nursing activities involved several dimensions and could include multiple activities occurring simultaneously, requiring significant instrument redesign. 94% of the activities from the study instrument mapped adequately to the Omaha System. T&M study instruments require customization in design optimize them for different environments, such as inpatient nursing, to enable optimal data collection. Interface terminologies show promise as a framework for recording and analyzing T&M study data. PMID:22195228

  20. A Review of Instrumented Equipment to Investigate Head Impacts in Sport

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    Contact, collision, and combat sports have more head impacts as compared to noncontact sports; therefore, such sports are uniquely suited to the investigation of head impact biomechanics. Recent advances in technology have enabled the development of instrumented equipment, which can estimate the head impact kinematics of human subjects in vivo. Literature pertaining to head impact measurement devices was reviewed and usage, in terms of validation and field studies, of such devices was discussed. Over the past decade, instrumented equipment has recorded millions of impacts in the laboratory, on the field, in the ring, and on the ice. Instrumented equipment is not without limitations; however, in vivo head impact data is crucial to investigate head injury mechanisms and further the understanding of concussion. PMID:27594780

  1. An oxygen isotope record from Lake Xiarinur in Inner Mongolia since the last deglaciation and its implication for tropical monsoon change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Qing; Chu, Guoqiang; Xie, Manman; Zhu, Qingzeng; Su, Youliang; Wang, Xisheng

    2018-04-01

    We present a high-resolution oxygen isotope record from authigenic carbonate (δ18Ocarb) from Lake Xiarinur (Inner Mongolia) since the last deglaciation. The lake is located at the modern northern limit of the monsoon, and is therefore sensitive to the extension of the East Asian summer monsoon. Based on calibration against the instrumental record, the δ18Ocar variation has been interpreted as changes in atmospheric circulation pattern on decadal time scales. On longer time scales, the δ18Ocarb in lake sediments could be mainly regulated by the relative contribution of nearby (remote) water-vapor sources associated with subtropical (tropical) monsoon through changes in the distance from sources to the site of precipitation. Increased remote water vapors from tropical monsoon would lead to lighter isotope value in our study site. Through time the δ18Ocarb record in Lake Xiarinur indicate a notable weak tropical monsoon during the Younger Dryas, a gradual increasing monsoon from the early Holocene and weakening monsoon after the middle Holocene. Oxygen isotope records from lakes and stalagmite in the Asian monsoon region across different localities show a general similar temporal pattern since the last deglaciation, and highlight a fundamental role of the tropical monsoon.

  2. Instrumentation: Software-Driven Instrumentation: The New Wave.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Salit, M. L.; Parsons, M. L.

    1985-01-01

    Software-driven instrumentation makes measurements that demand a computer as an integral part of either control, data acquisition, or data reduction. The structure of such instrumentation, hardware requirements, and software requirements are discussed. Examples of software-driven instrumentation (such as wavelength-modulated continuum source…

  3. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Flaugher, Brenna; Bebek, Chris

    2014-07-01

    The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is a Stage IV ground-based dark energy experiment that will study baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) and the growth of structure through redshift-space distortions with a wide-area galaxy and quasar spectroscopic redshift survey. The DESI instrument consists of a new wide-field (3.2 deg. linear field of view) corrector plus a multi-object spectrometer with up to 5000 robotically positioned optical fibers and will be installed at prime focus on the Mayall 4m telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona. The fibers feed 10 three-arm spectrographs producing spectra that cover a wavelength range from 360-980 nm and have resolution of 2000-5500 depending on the wavelength. The DESI instrument is designed for a 14,000 sq. deg. multi-year survey of targets that trace the evolution of dark energy out to redshift 3.5 using the redshifts of luminous red galaxies (LRGs), emission line galaxies (ELGs) and quasars. DESI is the successor to the successful Stage-III BOSS spectroscopic redshift survey and complements imaging surveys such as the Stage-III Dark Energy Survey (DES, currently operating) and the Stage-IV Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST, planned start early in the next decade).

  4. Effect of Instrumentation Length and Instrumentation Systems: Hand Versus Rotary Files on Apical Crack Formation - An In vitro Study.

    PubMed

    Devale, Madhuri R; Mahesh, M C; Bhandary, Shreetha

    2017-01-01

    Stresses generated during root canal instrumentation have been reported to cause apical cracks. The smaller, less pronounced defects like cracks can later propagate into vertical root fracture, when the tooth is subjected to repeated stresses from endodontic or restorative procedures. This study evaluated occurrence of apical cracks with stainless steel hand files, rotary NiTi RaCe and K3 files at two different instrumentation lengths. In the present in vitro study, 60 mandibular premolars were mounted in resin blocks with simulated periodontal ligament. Apical 3 mm of the root surfaces were exposed and stained using India ink. Preoperative images of root apices were obtained at 100x using stereomicroscope. The teeth were divided into six groups of 10 each. First two groups were instrumented with stainless steel files, next two groups with rotary NiTi RaCe files and the last two groups with rotary NiTi K3 files. The instrumentation was carried out till the apical foramen (Working Length-WL) and 1 mm short of the apical foramen (WL-1) with each file system. After root canal instrumentation, postoperative images of root apices were obtained. Preoperative and postoperative images were compared and the occurrence of cracks was recorded. Descriptive statistical analysis and Chi-square tests were used to analyze the results. Apical root cracks were seen in 30%, 35% and 20% of teeth instrumented with K-files, RaCe files and K3 files respectively. There was no statistical significance among three instrumentation systems in the formation of apical cracks (p=0.563). Apical cracks were seen in 40% and 20% of teeth instrumented with K-files; 60% and 10% of teeth with RaCe files and 40% and 0% of teeth with K3 files at WL and WL-1 respectively. For groups instrumented with hand files there was no statistical significance in number of cracks at WL and WL-1 (p=0.628). But for teeth instrumented with RaCe files and K3 files significantly more number of cracks were seen at WL than

  5. New Early Triassic trace fossil records from South China: implications for biotic recovery following the end-Permian mass extinction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luo, M.; George, A. D.; Chen, Z.; Zhang, Y.

    2013-12-01

    New Early Triassic trace fossil assemblages are documented from the Susong and Tianshengqiao areas in South China to evaluate the mode and tempo of biotic recovery of epifaunal and infaunal organisms following the end-Permian mass extinction. The Susong succession is exposed in Anhui area of the Lower Yangtze region and comprises mudstone and carbonate facies that record overall shallowing from offshore to supratidal settings. The Tianshengqiao succession crops out in the Luoping area, Yuannan Province of the Upper Yangtze region, and consists of mixed carbonate and siliciclastic facies which were deposited in shallow marine to offshore settings. Bivalve and conodont biostratigraphy helps constrain the chronostratigraphic framework of the Lower Triassic successions in these two sections. Griesbachian to Dieneria ichnological records in both successions are characterized by low ichnodiversity, low ichnofabric indices (ii=1-2) and low bedding plane bioturbation indices (bpbi=1-2). Higher ii (ii= 3 and 4) corresponding to densely populated diminutive Skolithos in the Tianshengqiao succession suggest an opportunistic strategy during earliest Triassic deposition. Ichnological data from the Susong succession show an increase in ichnodiversity during the Smithian. A total of 12 ichnogenera including Arenicolites, Chondrites, Gyrochorte, Laevicyclus, Monocraterion, Palaeophycus, Phycodes, Plaolites, Thalassinoides, Treptichnus, Trichichnus and one problematic trace are identified. Ichnofabric indices (ii) and bpbi increase to moderate to high levels (ii = 4-5, bpbi= 3-5). Although complex traces such as Rhizocorallium are in Spathian strata in this section, the low levels of ichnodiversity, ichnofabric indices and diminutive Planolites suggest a decline in recovery. In the Tianshengqiao succession, ichnofabric indices exhibit a moderate to high value (ii= 3 to 5), however, only six ichnogenera are found and Planolites burrows are consistently small (average diameter at 3

  6. Mapping slow waves and spikes in chronically instrumented conscious dogs: implantation techniques and recordings.

    PubMed

    Ver Donck, L; Lammers, W J E P; Moreaux, B; Smets, D; Voeten, J; Vekemans, J; Schuurkes, J A J; Coulie, B

    2006-03-01

    Myoelectric recordings from the intestines in conscious animals have been limited to a few electrode sites with relatively large inter-electrode distances. The aim of this project was to increase the number of recording sites to allow high-resolution reconstruction of the propagation of myoelectrical signals. Sets of six unipolar electrodes, positioned in a 3x2 array, were constructed. A silver ring close to each set served as the reference electrodes. Inter-electrode distances varied from 4 to 8 mm. Electrode sets, to a maximum of 4, were implanted in various configurations allowing recording from 24 sites simultaneously. Four sets of 6 electrodes each were implanted successfully in 11 female Beagles. Implantation sites evaluated were the upper small intestine (n=10), the lower small intestine (n=4) and the stomach (n=3). The implants remained functional for 7.2 months (median; range 1.4-27.3 months). Recorded signals showed slow waves at regular intervals and spike potentials. In addition, when the sets were positioned close together, it was possible to re-construct the propagation of individual slow waves, to determine their direction of propagation and to calculate their propagation velocity. No signs or symptoms of interference with normal GI-function were observed in the tested animals. With this approach, it is possible to implant 24 extracellular electrodes on the serosal surface of the intestines without interfering with its normal physiology. This approach makes it possible to study the electrical activities of the GI system at high resolution in vivo in the conscious animal.

  7. [Early flat colorectal cancer].

    PubMed

    Castelletto, R H; Chiarenza, C; Ottino, A; Garay, M L

    1991-01-01

    We report three cases of flat early colorectal carcinoma which were detected during the examination of 51 surgical specimens of colorectal resection. Two of them were endoscopically diagnosed, but the smallest one was not seen in the luminal instrumental examination. From the bibliographic analysis and our own experience we deduce the importance of flat lesions in the development of early colorectal carcinoma, either originated from pre-existent adenoma or de novo. Flat variants of adenoma, and presumably flush or depressed ones, must be considered as important factors in the early sequence adenoma-cancer. An appropriate endoscopic equipment with employment of additional staining techniques (such as carmine indigo and methylene blue) and the correct investigation during inflation-deflation procedures facilitates the identification of small lesions, their eradication and prevention from advanced forms of colorectal carcinoma.

  8. Mechanical properties of ProTaper Gold nickel-titanium rotary instruments.

    PubMed

    Elnaghy, A M; Elsaka, S E

    2016-11-01

    To evaluate and compare the resistance to cyclic fatigue and torsional stress, flexibility and surface microhardness of ProTaper Gold (PTG; Dentsply, Tulsa Dental Specialties, Tulsa, OK, USA) system with ProTaper Universal (PTU; Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland). PTG and PTU instruments were rotated in simulated canals and the number of cycles to failure was recorded to assess their cyclic fatigue resistance. Torsional strength was measured using a torsiometer after fixing firmly the apical 3 mm of the instrument. A scanning electron microscope was used to characterize the topographic features of the fracture surfaces of the broken instruments. The instruments were tested for bending resistance using cantilever-bending test. Vickers microhardness was measured on the cross section of instruments with 300 g load and 15 s dwell time. Data were analysed statistically using independent t-tests. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. PTG instruments had a significantly higher resistance to cyclic fatigue and flexibility than PTU (P < 0.001). The fractured cross-sectional surfaces revealed typical features of cyclic fractures, including crack origins, fatigue zones and overload fast fracture zones. On the other hand, PTU instruments were associated with higher resistance to torsional stress and microhardness than PTG instruments (P < 0.001). After torsional tests, the fractured cross-sectional surfaces revealed skewed dimples near the centre of the fracture surfaces and circular abrasion streaks. The PTG instrument had improved resistance to cyclic fatigue and flexibility compared with PTU. PTU instruments had improved resistance to torsional stress and microhardness compared with PTG. © 2015 International Endodontic Journal. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  9. Operating Modes and Cooling Capabilities of the Flight ADR for the SXS Instrument on Astro-H

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shirron, Peter; Kimball, Mark; DiPirro, Michael

    2015-01-01

    The microcalorimeter array on the Soft X-ray Spectrometer instrument on Astro-H requires cooling to 50 mK, which will be accomplished by a 3-stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR). The ADR is surrounded by a cryogenic system consisting of a superfluid helium tank, a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocooler, and additional 2-stage Stirling cryocoolers that pre-cool the JT cooler and radiation shields within the cryostat. The unique ADR design allows the instrument to meet all of its science requirements using either the stored cryogen or the JT cryocooler as its heat sink, giving the instrument an unusual degree of tolerance for component failures or degradation in the cryogenic system. The flight detector assembly, ADR and dewar were integrated in early 2014, and have since been extensively characterized and calibrated. At present, the four instruments are being integrated with the spacecraft in preparation for an early 2016 launch. This presentation summarizes the operation and performance of the ADR in all of its operating modes.

  10. Operating manual for the R200 downhole recorder with husky hunter retriever

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Johnson, Roy A.; Rorabaugh, James I.

    1988-01-01

    The R200 Downhole Recorder is a battery-powered device that, when placed in a well casing, monitors water levels for a period of up to 1 year. This instrument measures a 1- to 70-foot range of water levels. These water-level data can be retrieved through use of a commercially available portable microcomputer. The R200 Downhole Recorder was developed at the U.S. Geological Survey 's Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi. This operating manual describes the R200 Downhole Recorder, provides initial set-up instructions, and gives directions for on-site operation. Design specifications and routine maintenance steps are included. The R200 data-retriever program is a user-friendly, menu-driven program. The manual guides the user through the procedures required to perform specific operations. Numerous screens are reproduced in the text with a discussion of user input for desired responses. Help is provided for specific problems. (USGS)

  11. Operating manual for the R200 downhole recorder with Tandy 102 retriever

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Johnson, Roy A.; Rorabaugh, James I.

    1988-01-01

    The R200 Downhole Recorder is a battery-powered device that, when placed in a well casing, monitors water levels for a period of up to 1 year. This instrument measures a 1- to 70-ft range of water levels. These water level data can be retrieved through use of a commercially available portable microcomputer. The R200 Downhole Recorder was developed at the U. S. Geological Survey 's Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi. This operating manual describes the R200 Downhole Recorder, provides initial set-up instructions, and gives directions for on-site operation. Design specifications and routine maintenance steps are included. The R200 data-retriever program is a user-friendly, menu-driven program. The manual guides the user through the procedures required to perform specific operations. Numerous screens are reproduced in the text with a discussion of user input for desired responses. Help is provided for specific problems. (USGS)

  12. Fruits and wood of Parinari from the early Miocene of Panama and the fossil record of Chrysobalanaceae.

    PubMed

    Jud, Nathan A; Nelson, Chris W; Herrera, Fabiany

    2016-02-01

    Chrysobalanaceae are woody plants with over 500 species in 20 genera. They are among the most common trees in tropical forests, but a sparse fossil record has limited our ability to test evolutionary and biogeographic hypotheses, and several previous reports of Chrysobalanaceae megafossils are doubtful. We prepared fossil endocarps and wood collected from the lower Miocene beds along the Panama Canal using the cellulose acetate peel technique and examined them using light microscopy. We compared the fossil endocarps with previously published fossils and with fruits from herbarium specimens. We compared the fossil wood with photographs and descriptions of extant species. Parinari endocarps can be distinguished from other genera within Chrysobalanaceae by a suite of features, i.e., thick wall, a secondary septum, seminal cavities lined with dense, woolly trichomes, and two ovate to lingulate basal germination plugs. Fossil endocarps from the Cucaracha, Culebra, and La Boca Formations confirm that Parinari was present in the neotropics by the early Miocene. The earliest unequivocal evidence of crown-group Chrysobalanaceae is late Oligocene-early Miocene, and the genus Parinari was distinct by at least 19 million years ago. Parinari and other Chrysobalanaceae likely reached the neotropics via long-distance dispersal rather than vicariance. The presence of Parinari in the Cucaracha flora supports the interpretation of a riparian, moist tropical forest environment. Parinari was probably a canopy-dominant tree in the Cucaracha forest and took advantage of the local megafauna for seed dispersal. © 2016 Botanical Society of America.

  13. Warped Linear Prediction of Physical Model Excitations with Applications in Audio Compression and Instrument Synthesis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Glass, Alexis; Fukudome, Kimitoshi

    2004-12-01

    A sound recording of a plucked string instrument is encoded and resynthesized using two stages of prediction. In the first stage of prediction, a simple physical model of a plucked string is estimated and the instrument excitation is obtained. The second stage of prediction compensates for the simplicity of the model in the first stage by encoding either the instrument excitation or the model error using warped linear prediction. These two methods of compensation are compared with each other, and to the case of single-stage warped linear prediction, adjustments are introduced, and their applications to instrument synthesis and MPEG4's audio compression within the structured audio format are discussed.

  14. Paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic records through Marine Isotope Stage 19 at the Chiba composite section, central Japan: A key reference for the Early-Middle Pleistocene Subseries boundary

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Suganuma, Yusuke; Haneda, Yuki; Kameo, Koji; Kubota, Yoshimi; Hayashi, Hiroki; Itaki, Takuya; Okuda, Masaaki; Head, Martin, J.; Sugaya, Manami; Nakazato, Hiroomi; Igarashi, Atsuo; Shikoku, Kizuku; Hongo, Misao; Watanabe, Masami; Satoguchi, Yasufumi; Takeshita, Yoshihiro; Nishida, Naohisa; Izumi, Kentaro; Kawamura, Kenji; Kawamata, Moto; Okuno, Jun'ichi; Yoshida, Takeshi; Ogitsu, Itaru; Yabusaki, Hisashi; Okada, Makoto

    2018-07-01

    Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 19 is an important analogue for the present interglacial because of its similar orbital configuration, especially the phasing of the obliquity maximum to precession minimum. However, sedimentary records suitable for capturing both terrestrial and marine environmental changes are limited, and thus the climatic forcing mechanisms for MIS 19 are still largely unknown. The Chiba composite section, east-central Japanese archipelago, is a continuous and expanded marine sedimentary succession well suited to capture terrestrial and marine environmental changes through MIS 19. In this study, a detailed oxygen isotope chronology is established from late MIS 20 to early MIS 18, supported by a U-Pb zircon age and the presence of the Matuyama-Brunhes boundary. New pollen, marine microfossil, and planktonic foraminiferal δ18O and Mg/Ca paleotemperature records reveal the complex interplay of climatic influences. Our pollen data suggest that the duration of full interglacial conditions during MIS 19 extends from 785.0 to 775.1 ka (9.9 kyr), which offers an important natural baseline in predicting the duration of the present interglacial. A Younger Dryas-type cooling event is present during Termination IX, suggesting that such events are linked to this orbital configuration. Millennial- to multi-millennial-scale variations in our δ18O and Mg/Ca records imply that the Subarctic Front fluctuated in the northwestern Pacific Ocean during late MIS 19, probably in response to East Asian winter monsoon variability. The climatic setting at this time appears to be related to less severe summer insolation minima at 65˚N and/or high winter insolation at 50˚N. Our records do not support a recently hypothesized direct coupling between variations in the geomagnetic field intensity and global/regional climate change. Our highly resolved paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic records, coupled with a well-defined Matuyama-Brunhes boundary (772.9 ka; duration 1.9 kyr

  15. 40 CFR 1065.202 - Data updating, recording, and control.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    .... 1065.202 Section 1065.202 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS ENGINE-TESTING PROCEDURES Measurement Instruments § 1065.202 Data updating, recording... Intake-air or raw-exhaust flow rate N/A 1 Hz means. § 1065.530, § 1065.545 Dilution air if actively...

  16. 40 CFR 1065.202 - Data updating, recording, and control.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    .... 1065.202 Section 1065.202 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS ENGINE-TESTING PROCEDURES Measurement Instruments § 1065.202 Data updating, recording...; § 1065.545 Intake-air or raw-exhaust flow rate 1 Hz means. § 1065.530; § 1065.545 Dilution air flow if...

  17. 40 CFR 1065.202 - Data updating, recording, and control.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    .... 1065.202 Section 1065.202 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS ENGINE-TESTING PROCEDURES Measurement Instruments § 1065.202 Data updating, recording... Intake-air or raw-exhaust flow rate N/A 1 Hz means. § 1065.530, § 1065.545 Dilution air if actively...

  18. 40 CFR 1065.202 - Data updating, recording, and control.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    .... 1065.202 Section 1065.202 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS ENGINE-TESTING PROCEDURES Measurement Instruments § 1065.202 Data updating, recording... Intake-air or raw-exhaust flow rate N/A 1 Hz means. § 1065.530, § 1065.545 Dilution air if actively...

  19. Late-Glacial to Early Holocene Climate Changes from a Central Appalachians Pollen and Macrofossil Record

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kneller, Margaret; Peteet, Dorothy

    1997-01-01

    A Late-glacial to early Holocene record of pollen, plant macrofossils and charcoal, based on two cores, is presented for Browns Pond in the central Appalachians of Virginia. An AMS radiocarbon chronology defines the timing of moist and cold excursions, superimposed upon the overall warming trend from 14,200 to 7,500 C-14 yr B.P. This site shows cold, moist conditions from approximately 14,200 to 12,700 C-14 yr B.P., with warming at 12,730, 11,280 and 10,050 C-14 yr B.P. A decrease in deciduous broad-leaved tree taxa and Pinus strobus (haploxylon) pollen, simultaneous with a re-expansion of Abies denotes a brief, cold reversal from 12,260 to 12,200 C-14 yr B.P. A second cold reversal, inferred from increases in montane conifers, is centered at 7,500 C-14 yr B.P. The cold reversals at Browns Pond may be synchronous with climate change in Greenland, and northwestern Europe. Warming at 11,280 C-14 yr B.P. shows the complexity of regional climate responses during the Younger Dryas chronozone.

  20. Evidence for Water-Mass Changes on the Tasmanian Slope during the Early Miocene (19-16.5 Ma): Stable Isotope and Mg/Ca Records from ODP Leg 189 Site 1168

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pekar, S. F.; Marchitto, T. M.; Lynch-Steiglitz, J.

    2002-12-01

    High-resolution stable isotope (4-10 k.y. resolution) and moderately low-resolution Mg/Ca ratio records were constructed for the late early Miocene (19-16.5 Ma) from ODP Leg 189 Site 1168, located on the southwest slope of Tasmania. These records evaluated paleoceanographic changes that took place during isotopic excursions Mi1b (18.2-17.8 Ma) and Mi2 (16.5 Ma), and the First Climatic Optimum (17.7-16.7 Ma), a time of increased global warmth. Evidence exists that supports the idea for the development of warm saline deep waters (WSDW) originating from the eastern end of the Tethys Sea during the early Miocene. However, questions remain regarding the extent and strength of the WSDW and the possible role it played in the warming that took place during the First Climatic Optimum. Site 1168 is ideally located on the lower slope (estimates place it in lower bathyal waters during the early Miocene) to evaluate the potential penetration of WSDW and into the Southern Ocean. Large fluctuations in the isotope and Mg/Ca ratio records from Site 1168 suggest changes in the water masses that bathed the Tasmanian slope during the early Miocene. Temperature estimates based on Mg/Ca ratios contain a surprisingly high range, from 4° to 10° C. Low temperatures (4°-6° C) are associated with high carbon isotope values (>1.4‰ ) and are interpreted represent Southern Component Waters (SCW). The high carbon isotope values also suggest a proximal source for SCW. High water temperatures (7°-10° C) indicate a warm-water mass and are interpreted to be due to the penetration of WSDW into this area, replacing SCW at various times. Large high-frequency isotopic excursions (low oxygen and carbon isotope values) occurred between 18.7 and 18.4 Ma and were originally thought to be due to either localized effects (e.g., disassociation of hydrates) or possible diagensis. However, a recently published high-resolution isotopic record from the Southern Ocean (Site 1090) also contains large

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