Nonword Repetition: The Relative Contributions of Phonological Short-Term Memory and Phonological Representations in Children with Language and Reading Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rispens, Judith; Baker, Anne

2012-01-01

Purpose: This study investigates the relative contributions of phonological short-term memory and phonological representations to nonword repetition (NWR). This was evaluated in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and/or reading impairment (RI); it was also studied from a developmental perspective by comparing 2 groups of typically…

Exploring the Recurrence of Contributing Area Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spence, C.; Mengistu, S. G.

2015-12-01

Recent years have witnessed a progression towards using models as a tool for predicting high frequency contributing area dynamics in catchments. High frequency contributing area modeling can become a viable alternative to the current approach for estimating contributing area in Canadian catchments, which assumes a static portion of the catchment's gross drainage area. The current approach does not consider the spatiotemporal variability of contributing area dynamics, and therefore, represents an important challenge for characterizing the recurrence that saturated areas in the catchment can actively connect and contribute to the main channel in response to runoff producing snowmelt or storm events. Such characterizations are useful to assess the relative importance of different areas within a catchment for runoff generation, and nutrient production and transport. In this study, the PDMROF configuration of Environment Canada's MESH model has been applied to simulate areas actively contributing to daily streamflow from four nested catchments of the Qu'Appelle River basin. The return periods of annual maximum contributing areas were computed using Weibull's equation. The research also evaluates if runoff magnitude is always associated with the same extent and recurrence of contributing area and investigates how contributing area and streamflow return periods relate. This work provides the foundation for evaluating the effect of environmental changes (mainly land use and climate associated changes) on contributing area recurrence by conducting similar investigations under various environmental change scenarios.

Cognitive Factors Contributing to Spelling Performance in Children with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

PubMed Central

Glass, Leila; Graham, Diana M.; Akshoomoff, Natacha; Mattson, Sarah N.

2015-01-01

Objective Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with impaired school functioning. Spelling performance has not been comprehensively evaluated. We examined whether children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure demonstrate deficits in spelling and related abilities, including reading, and tested whether there are unique underlying mechanisms for observed deficits in this population. Method Ninety-six school-age children comprised two groups: children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure (AE, n=49) and control children (CON, n=47). Children completed select subtests from the WIAT-II and NEPSY-II. Group differences and relations between spelling and theoretically-related cognitive variables were evaluated using MANOVA and Pearson correlations. Hierarchical regression analyses were utilized to assess contributions of group membership and cognitive variables to spelling performance. The specificity of these deficits and underlying mechanisms was tested by examining the relations between reading ability, group membership, and cognitive variables. Results Groups differed significantly on all variables. Group membership and phonological processing significantly contributed to spelling performance. In addition, a significant group*working memory interaction revealed that working memory independently contributed significantly to spelling only for the AE group. All cognitive variables contributed to reading across groups and a group*working memory interaction revealed that working memory contributed independently to reading only for alcohol-exposed children. Conclusion Alcohol-exposed children demonstrated a unique pattern of spelling deficits. The relation of working memory to spelling and reading was specific to the AE group, suggesting that if prenatal alcohol exposure is known or suspected, working memory ability should be considered in the development and implementation of explicit instruction. PMID:25643217

Forests on the edge: evaluating contributions of and threats to America's private forest lands

Treesearch

Mark Hatfield; Ronald E. McRoberts; Dacia M. Meneguzzo; Mike Dechter; < i> et al< /i>

2007-01-01

The Forests on the Edge project, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, uses geographic information systems to construct and analyze maps depicting ecological, social, and economic contributions of America's private forest lands and threats to those contributions. Watersheds across the conterminous United States are ranked relative to the...

Evaluating WHO Healthy Cities in Europe: issues and perspectives.

PubMed

de Leeuw, Evelyne

2013-10-01

In this introductory article, we situate the findings of the Phase IV evaluation effort of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network in its historic evolutionary development. We review each of the contributions to this supplement in terms of the theoretical and methodological frameworks applied. Although the findings of each are both relevant and generated with a scholarly rigor that is appropriate to the context in which the evaluation took place, we find that particularly these contextual factors have not contributed to optimum quality of research. Any drawbacks in individual contributions cannot be attributed to their analysts and authors but relate to the complicated and evolving nature of the project. These factors are also reviewed.

Career-Related Parental Support of Adolescents with Hearing Loss: Relationships with Parents' Expectations and Occupational Status

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rinat, Michael; Cinamon, Rachel Gali; Most, Tova

2015-01-01

The study examined the contribution of parents' occupational status and expectations regarding persons with hearing loss to career-related support they provide their deaf and hard of hearing (dhh) adolescent children. Thirty-eight parents completed the Evaluation of Occupational Competence Scale (Weisel & Cinamon, 2005), the Evaluation of…

A Study on the Perceived Risk of Surface Sample Collection Systems in Proposal Formulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sunday, Cecily M.

2012-01-01

This project compares design and proposal elements from multiple proposals and presents conclusions and recommendations for sampling systems. Contributions from this project include a list of common evaluation themes, concept and proposal-related strengths and weaknesses and ways in which self-identified risks relate the evaluation of the mission.

Unified method to integrate and blend several, potentially related, sources of information for genetic evaluation.

PubMed

Vandenplas, Jérémie; Colinet, Frederic G; Gengler, Nicolas

2014-09-30

A condition to predict unbiased estimated breeding values by best linear unbiased prediction is to use simultaneously all available data. However, this condition is not often fully met. For example, in dairy cattle, internal (i.e. local) populations lead to evaluations based only on internal records while widely used foreign sires have been selected using internally unavailable external records. In such cases, internal genetic evaluations may be less accurate and biased. Because external records are unavailable, methods were developed to combine external information that summarizes these records, i.e. external estimated breeding values and associated reliabilities, with internal records to improve accuracy of internal genetic evaluations. Two issues of these methods concern double-counting of contributions due to relationships and due to records. These issues could be worse if external information came from several evaluations, at least partially based on the same records, and combined into a single internal evaluation. Based on a Bayesian approach, the aim of this research was to develop a unified method to integrate and blend simultaneously several sources of information into an internal genetic evaluation by avoiding double-counting of contributions due to relationships and due to records. This research resulted in equations that integrate and blend simultaneously several sources of information and avoid double-counting of contributions due to relationships and due to records. The performance of the developed equations was evaluated using simulated and real datasets. The results showed that the developed equations integrated and blended several sources of information well into a genetic evaluation. The developed equations also avoided double-counting of contributions due to relationships and due to records. Furthermore, because all available external sources of information were correctly propagated, relatives of external animals benefited from the integrated information and, therefore, more reliable estimated breeding values were obtained. The proposed unified method integrated and blended several sources of information well into a genetic evaluation by avoiding double-counting of contributions due to relationships and due to records. The unified method can also be extended to other types of situations such as single-step genomic or multi-trait evaluations, combining information across different traits.

Developing Essay Writing Skills: An Evaluation of the Modelling Behaviour Method and the Influence of Student Self-Efficacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Callinan, Carol J.; van der Zee, Emile; Wilson, Garry

2018-01-01

Social cognitive learning theory has shown that observational learning positively influences essay writing development in high-school students, and that self-efficacy impacts on motivation. This study investigated the relative contribution of model observation, model evaluation, post-submission feedback, and factors relating to self-efficacy, as…

Assessing critical habitat: Evaluating the relative contribution of habitats to population

EPA Science Inventory

A principal challenge of species conservation is to identify the specific habitats that are essential for long-term persistence or recovery of imperiled species. However, many approaches to identifying important habitats do not provide direct insight into the contribution of hab...

The Myth of Rational Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Losak, John

A management by objectives approach to evaluation develops performance objectives as a means of minimizing the bias related to individual judgment. This paper focuses on three variables which contribute to the presence of subjectivity in performance evaluation. The first of these is psychological and includes such factors as judgment, power…

Evaluating health inequity interventions: applying a contextual (external) validity framework to programs funded by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation.

PubMed

Phillips, Kaye; Müller-Clemm, Werner; Ysselstein, Margaretha; Sachs, Jonathan

2013-02-01

Including context in the measurement and evaluation of health in equity interventions is critical to understanding how events that occur in an intervention's environment might contribute to or impede its success. This study adapted and piloted a contextual validity assessment framework on a selection of health inequity-related programs funded by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) between 1998 and 2006. The two overarching objectives of this study were (1) to determine the relative amount and quality of attention given to conceptualizing, measuring and validating context within CHSRF funded research final reports related to health-inequity; and (2) to contribute evaluative evidence towards the incorporation of context into the assessment and measurement of health inequity interventions. The study found that of the 42/146 CHSRF programs and projects, judged to be related to health inequity 20 adequately reported on the conceptualization, measurement and validation of context. Amongst these health-inequity related project reports, greatest emphasis was placed on describing the socio-political and economical context over actually measuring and validating contextual evidence. Applying a contextual validity assessment framework was useful for distinguishing between the descriptive (conceptual) versus empirical (measurement and validation) inclusion of documented contextual evidence. Although contextual validity measurement frameworks needs further development, this study contributes insight into identifying funded research related to health inequities and preliminary criteria for assessing interventions targeted at specific populations and jurisdictions. This study also feeds a larger critical dialogue (albeit beyond the scope of this study) regarding the relevance and utility of using evaluative techniques for understanding how specific external conditions support or impede the successful implementation of health inequity interventions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Game auction prices are not related to biodiversity contributions of southern African ungulates and large carnivores.

PubMed

Dalerum, Fredrik; Miranda, Maria

2016-02-25

There is an urgent need for human societies to become environmentally sustainable. Because public policy is largely driven by economic processes, quantifications of the relationship between market prices and environmental values can provide important information for developing strategies towards sustainability. Wildlife in southern Africa is often privately owned and traded at game auctions to be utilized for commercial purposes mostly related to tourism. This market offers an interesting opportunity to evaluate how market prices relate to biologically meaningful species characteristics. In this market, prices were not correlated with species contributions to either phylogenetic or functional diversity, and species contributions to phylogenetic or functional diversity did not influence the trends in prices over time for the past 20 years. Since this economic market did not seem to appreciate evolutionary or ecologically relevant characteristics, we question if the game tourism market may contribute towards biodiversity conservation in southern Africa. We suggest that market prices in general may have limited values as guides for directing conservation and environmental management. We further suggest that there is a need to evaluate what humans value in biological organisms, and how potentially necessary shifts in such values can be instigated.

Game auction prices are not related to biodiversity contributions of southern African ungulates and large carnivores

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalerum, Fredrik; Miranda, Maria

2016-02-01

There is an urgent need for human societies to become environmentally sustainable. Because public policy is largely driven by economic processes, quantifications of the relationship between market prices and environmental values can provide important information for developing strategies towards sustainability. Wildlife in southern Africa is often privately owned and traded at game auctions to be utilized for commercial purposes mostly related to tourism. This market offers an interesting opportunity to evaluate how market prices relate to biologically meaningful species characteristics. In this market, prices were not correlated with species contributions to either phylogenetic or functional diversity, and species contributions to phylogenetic or functional diversity did not influence the trends in prices over time for the past 20 years. Since this economic market did not seem to appreciate evolutionary or ecologically relevant characteristics, we question if the game tourism market may contribute towards biodiversity conservation in southern Africa. We suggest that market prices in general may have limited values as guides for directing conservation and environmental management. We further suggest that there is a need to evaluate what humans value in biological organisms, and how potentially necessary shifts in such values can be instigated.

Game auction prices are not related to biodiversity contributions of southern African ungulates and large carnivores

PubMed Central

Dalerum, Fredrik; Miranda, Maria

2016-01-01

There is an urgent need for human societies to become environmentally sustainable. Because public policy is largely driven by economic processes, quantifications of the relationship between market prices and environmental values can provide important information for developing strategies towards sustainability. Wildlife in southern Africa is often privately owned and traded at game auctions to be utilized for commercial purposes mostly related to tourism. This market offers an interesting opportunity to evaluate how market prices relate to biologically meaningful species characteristics. In this market, prices were not correlated with species contributions to either phylogenetic or functional diversity, and species contributions to phylogenetic or functional diversity did not influence the trends in prices over time for the past 20 years. Since this economic market did not seem to appreciate evolutionary or ecologically relevant characteristics, we question if the game tourism market may contribute towards biodiversity conservation in southern Africa. We suggest that market prices in general may have limited values as guides for directing conservation and environmental management. We further suggest that there is a need to evaluate what humans value in biological organisms, and how potentially necessary shifts in such values can be instigated. PMID:26911226

Cognitive factors contributing to spelling performance in children with prenatal alcohol exposure.

PubMed

Glass, Leila; Graham, Diana M; Akshoomoff, Natacha; Mattson, Sarah N

2015-11-01

Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with impaired school functioning. Spelling performance has not been comprehensively evaluated. We examined whether children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure demonstrate deficits in spelling and related abilities, including reading, and tested whether there are unique underlying mechanisms for observed deficits in this population. Ninety-six school-age children made up 2 groups: children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure (AE, n = 49) and control children (CON, n = 47). Children completed select subtests from the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Second Edition and the NEPSY-II. Group differences and relations between spelling and theoretically related cognitive variables were evaluated using multivariate analysis of variance and Pearson correlations. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to assess contributions of group membership and cognitive variables to spelling performance. The specificity of these deficits and underlying mechanisms was tested by examining the relations between reading ability, group membership, and cognitive variables. Groups differed significantly on all variables. Group membership and phonological processing significantly contributed to spelling performance, whereas for reading, group membership and all cognitive variables contributed significantly. For both reading and spelling, group × working memory interactions revealed that working memory contributed independently only for alcohol-exposed children. Alcohol-exposed children demonstrated a unique pattern of spelling deficits. The relation of working memory to spelling and reading was specific to the AE group, suggesting that if prenatal alcohol exposure is known or suspected, working memory ability should be considered in the development and implementation of explicit instruction. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Self-Test on Structured Classroom Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilkey, Anthony Dean

1977-01-01

The study focused on the effect of the self-evaluation component of self-instructional packets in radiologic technology programs. It was found that the self-evaluation component clearly had a significant positive effect on learning, although the relative learning contribution of the component was not established. (MF)

Response to the commentaries of Melissa S Anderson and Murray J Dyck.

PubMed

Kovacs, Jozsef

2013-08-01

Anderson and Dyck claim that the current trend of almost exclusively using citation-based evaluative metrics to assess the research output of scholars is unsound. I agree with them in this, but I feel that, for practical reasons, this system will not disappear in the near future, so we must concentrate on making it fairer. Both commentators doubt whether numerically expressing each contributor's relative contribution is feasible. I admit that an important precondition for this task is the possibility of an informed, democratic debate among equals about the relative contribution of each contributor to the article. Mechanisms should be established to protect vulnerable researchers in the academic field in the same way as safeguards exist today to protect vulnerable research participants. Theoretically, however, I think that the fair allocation of authorship credit is possible, and much of this task is already being performed routinely when contributors determine the order of their names in the byline, being well aware of the widespread assumption that this order mostly mirrors the order of their relative contributions. All they would have to do as an additional task is to express this order in numbers. If they cannot reach a consensus, they could always choose not to express their relative contribution in numbers, in which case the presumption would be that they contributed equally. My proposal could, at best, make the system fairer and, at worst, not reduce the options that evaluators already have.

Proceedings of the Stake Symposium on Educational Evaluation (Champaign, Illinois, May 8-9, 1998).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Rita, Ed.

A symposium on educational evaluation was held to celebrate the career of Robert E. Stake. Contributions, which relate to many aspects of educational evaluation, include: (1) "The Issue of Advocacy in Evaluation" (Ernest House and Kenneth Howe); (2) "The Meaning of Bias" (Michael Scriven); (3) Commentary on Ernie House and…

The role of event water, a rapid shallow flow component, and catchment size in summer stormflow

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brown, V.A.; McDonnell, Jeffery J.; Burns, Douglas A.; Kendall, C.

1999-01-01

Seven nested headwater catchments (8 to 161 ha) were monitored during five summer rain events to evaluate storm runoff components and the effect of catchment size on water sources. Two-component isotopic hydrograph separation showed that event-water contributions near the time of peakflow ranged from 49% to 62% in the 7 catchments during the highest intensity event. The proportion of event water in stormflow was greater than could be accounted for by direct precipitation onto saturated areas. DOC concentrations in stormflow were strongly correlated with stream 18O composition. Bivariate mixing diagrams indicated that the large event water contributions were likely derived from flow through the soil O-horizon. Results from two-tracer, three-component hydrograph separations showed that the throughfall and O-horizon soil-water components together could account for the estimated contributions of event water to stormflow. End-member mixing analysis confirmed these results. Estimated event-water contributions were inversely related to catchment size, but the relation was significant for only the event with greatest rainfall intensity. Our results suggest that perched, shallow subsurface flow provides a substantial contribution to summer stormflow in these small catchments, but the relative contribution of this component decreases with catchment size.Seven nested headwater catchments (8 to 161 ha) were monitored during five summer rain events to evaluate storm runoff components and the effect of catchment size on water sources. Two-component isotopic hydrograph separation showed that event-water contributions near the time of peakflow ranged from 49% to 62% in the 7 catchments during the highest intensity event. The proportion of event water in stormflow was greater than could be accounted for by direct precipitation onto saturated areas. DOC concentrations in stormflow were strongly correlated with stream 18O composition. Bivariate mixing diagrams indicated that the large event water contributions were likely derived from flow through the soil O-horizon. Results from two-tracer, three-component hydrograph separations showed that the throughfall and O-horizon soil-water components together could account for the estimated contributions of event water to stormflow. End-member mixing analysis confirmed these results. Estimated event-water contributions were inversely related to catchment size, but the relation was significant for only the event with greatest rainfall intensity. Our results suggest that perched, shallow subsurface flow provides a substantial contribution to summer stormflow in these small catchments, but the relative contribution of this component decreases with catchment size.

Computational Integration of Human Genetic Data to Evaluate AOP-Specific Susceptibility

EPA Science Inventory

There is a need for approaches to efficiently evaluate human genetic variability and susceptibility related to environmental chemical exposure. Direct estimation of the genetic contribution to variability in susceptibility to environmental chemicals is only possible in special ca...

Evaluating multiple determinants of the structure of plant-animal mutualistic networks.

PubMed

Vázquez, Diego P; Chacoff, Natacha P; Cagnolo, Luciano

2009-08-01

The structure of mutualistic networks is likely to result from the simultaneous influence of neutrality and the constraints imposed by complementarity in species phenotypes, phenologies, spatial distributions, phylogenetic relationships, and sampling artifacts. We develop a conceptual and methodological framework to evaluate the relative contributions of these potential determinants. Applying this approach to the analysis of a plant-pollinator network, we show that information on relative abundance and phenology suffices to predict several aggregate network properties (connectance, nestedness, interaction evenness, and interaction asymmetry). However, such information falls short of predicting the detailed network structure (the frequency of pairwise interactions), leaving a large amount of variation unexplained. Taken together, our results suggest that both relative species abundance and complementarity in spatiotemporal distribution contribute substantially to generate observed network patters, but that this information is by no means sufficient to predict the occurrence and frequency of pairwise interactions. Future studies could use our methodological framework to evaluate the generality of our findings in a representative sample of study systems with contrasting ecological conditions.

Mechanisms of masked evaluative priming: task sets modulate behavioral and electrophysiological priming for picture and words differentially

PubMed Central

Liegel, Nathalie; Zovko, Monika; Wentura, Dirk

2017-01-01

Abstract Research with the evaluative priming paradigm has shown that affective evaluation processes reliably influence cognition and behavior, even when triggered outside awareness. However, the precise mechanisms underlying such subliminal evaluative priming effects, response activation vs semantic processing, are matter of a debate. In this study, we determined the relative contribution of semantic processing and response activation to masked evaluative priming with pictures and words. To this end, we investigated the modulation of masked pictorial vs verbal priming by previously activated perceptual vs semantic task sets and assessed the electrophysiological correlates of priming using event-related potential (ERP) recordings. Behavioral and electrophysiological effects showed a differential modulation of pictorial and verbal subliminal priming by previously activated task sets: Pictorial priming was only observed during the perceptual but not during the semantic task set. Verbal priming, in contrast, was found when either task set was activated. Furthermore, only verbal priming was associated with a modulation of the N400 ERP component, an index of semantic processing, whereas a priming-related modulation of earlier ERPs, indexing visuo-motor S-R activation, was found for both picture and words. The results thus demonstrate that different neuro-cognitive processes contribute to unconscious evaluative priming depending on the stimulus format. PMID:27998994

Teaching Evaluation: Antecedents of Teachers' Perceived Usefulness of Follow-Up Sessions and Perceived Stress Related to the Evaluation Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lejonberg, Eli; Elstad, Eyvind; Christophersen, Knut Andreas

2018-01-01

This study examines teaching evaluation based on student feedback which is intended to contribute to teachers' professional development. Although studies have highlighted that teaching evaluation is a potential source of professional development and that follow-up sessions are crucial to this benefit, little attention has been paid to the…

Evaluating Text-Based Information on the World Wide Web

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wopereis, Iwan G. J. H.; van Merrienboer, Jeroen J. G.

2011-01-01

This special section contributes to an inclusive cognitive model of information problem solving (IPS) activity, touches briefly IPS learning, and brings to the notice methodological pitfalls related to uncovering IPS processes. Instead of focusing on the IPS process as a whole, the contributing articles turn their attention to what is regarded the…

Flowpath contributions of weathering products to stream fluxes at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed, Georgia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Peters, Norman E.; Aulenbach, Brent T.

2009-01-01

Short-term weathering rates (chemical denudation) of primary weathering products were derived from an analysis of fluxes in precipitation and streamwater. Rainfall, streamflow (runoff), and related water quality have been monitored at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed (PMRW) since 1985. Regression relations of stream solute concentration of major ions including weathering products [sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca) and silica (H4SiO4)] were derived from weekly and storm-based sampling from October 1986 through September 1998; runoff, seasonality, and hydrologic state were the primary independent variables. The regression relations explained from 74 to 90 percent of the variations in solute concentration. Chloride (Cl) fluxes for the study period were used to estimate dry atmospheric deposition (DAD) by subtracting the precipitation flux from the stream flux; net Cl flux varied from years of net retention during dry years to >3 times more exported during wet years. On average, DAD was 56 percent of the total atmospheric deposition (also assumed for the other solutes); average annual net cation and H4SiO4 fluxes were 50.6 and 85.9 mmol m-2, respectively. The annual cumulative density functions of solute flux as a function of runoff were evaluated and compared among solutes to evaluate relative changes in solute sources during stormflows. Stream flux of weathering solutes is primarily associated with groundwater discharge. During stormflow, Ca and Mg contributions increase relative to Na and H4SiO4, particularly during wet years when the contribution is 10 percent of the annual flux. The higher Ca and Mg contributions to the stream during stormflow are consistent with increased contribution from shallow soil horizons where these solutes dominate.

Maternal Acceptance: Its Contribution to Children's Favorable Perceptions of Discipline and Moral Identity.

PubMed

Patrick, Renee B; Gibbs, John C

2016-01-01

The authors examined the contribution of maternal acceptance or warmth to children's and adolescents' perceptions of discipline and formation of moral identity. The sample consisted of 93 male and female students from Grades 5, 8, and 10 and their mothers. Students completed measures pertaining to perceived maternal discipline practices and acceptance-rejection, as well as moral identity. A subsample of mothers reported on their accepting or rejecting actions toward their children. Children were more likely to feel accepted, if their mothers used inductive discipline (vs. power assertion and love withdrawal). Perceived acceptance was also related to more favorable discipline evaluations in certain respects. Specifically, inductive discipline recipients who felt accepted also evaluated induction as appropriate and responded to it with positive and guilt-related emotions. Power assertion was evaluated as appropriate among those children who did feel accepted. Finally, among inductive discipline recipients, those who felt accepted also reported higher moral identity.

Fear-avoidance beliefs and temporal summation of evoked thermal pain influence self-report of disability in patients with chronic low back pain.

PubMed

George, Steven Z; Wittmer, Virgil T; Fillingim, Roger B; Robinson, Michael E

2006-03-01

Quantitative sensory testing has demonstrated a promising link between experimentally determined pain sensitivity and clinical pain. However, previous studies of quantitative sensory testing have not routinely considered the important influence of psychological factors on clinical pain. This study investigated whether measures of thermal pain sensitivity (temporal summation, first pulse response, and tolerance) contributed to clinical pain reports for patients with chronic low back pain, after controlling for depression or fear-avoidance beliefs about work. Consecutive patients (n=27) with chronic low back pain were recruited from an interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation program in Jacksonville, FL. Patients completed validated self-report questionnaires for depression, fear-avoidance beliefs, clinical pain intensity, and clinical pain related disability. Patients also underwent quantitative sensory testing from previously described protocols to determine thermal pain sensitivity (temporal summation, first pulse response, and tolerance). Hierarchical regression models investigated the contribution of depression and thermal pain sensitivity to clinical pain intensity, and fear-avoidance beliefs and thermal pain sensitivity to clinical pain related disability. None of the measures of thermal pain sensitivity contributed to clinical pain intensity after controlling for depression. Temporal summation of evoked thermal pain significantly contributed to clinical pain disability after controlling for fear-avoidance beliefs about work. Measures of thermal pain sensitivity did not contribute to pain intensity, after controlling for depression. Fear-avoidance beliefs about work and temporal summation of evoked thermal pain significantly influenced pain related disability. These factors should be considered as potential outcome predictors for patients with work-related low back pain. This study supported the neuromatrix theory of pain for patients with CLBP, as cognitive-evaluative factor contributed to pain perception, and cognitive-evaluative and sensory-discriminative factors uniquely contributed to an action program in response to chronic pain. Future research will determine if a predictive model consisting of fear-avoidance beliefs and temporal summation of evoked thermal pain has predictive validity for determining clinical outcome in rehabilitation or vocational settings.

The Multidimensional Influence of Acculturation on Digit Symbol-Coding and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in Hispanics.

PubMed

Krch, Denise; Lequerica, Anthony; Arango-Lasprilla, Juan Carlos; Rogers, Heather L; DeLuca, John; Chiaravalloti, Nancy D

2015-01-01

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the relative contribution of acculturation to two tests of nonverbal test performance in Hispanics. This study compared 40 Hispanic and 20 non-Hispanic whites on Digit Symbol-Coding (DSC) and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and evaluated the relative contribution of the various acculturation components to cognitive test performance in the Hispanic group. Hispanics performed significantly worse on DSC and WCST relative to non-Hispanic whites. Multiple regressions conducted within the Hispanic group revealed that language use uniquely accounted for 11.0% of the variance on the DSC, 18.8% of the variance on WCST categories completed, and 13.0% of the variance in perseverative errors on the WCST. Additionally, years of education in the United States uniquely accounted for 14.9% of the variance in DSC. The significant impact of acculturation on DSC and WCST lends support that nonverbal cognitive tests are not necessarily culture free. The differential contribution of acculturation proxies highlights the importance of considering these separate components when interpreting performance on neuropsychological tests in clinical and research settings. Factors, such as the country where education was received, may in fact be more meaningful information than the years of education of education attained. Thus, acculturation should be considered an important factor in any cognitive evaluation of culturally diverse individuals.

Retirement Wealth, Income, and Decision Making in Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, W. Cris

1996-01-01

Retirement programs for college faculty are evaluated in terms of both their wealth-creation attributes and the incentives they provide for retirement. Wealth accumulation and relative cash flow from working compared to retirement are evaluated at various ages under alternative assumptions about rates of return and contribution rates. The nature…

Mechanisms of masked evaluative priming: task sets modulate behavioral and electrophysiological priming for picture and words differentially.

PubMed

Kiefer, Markus; Liegel, Nathalie; Zovko, Monika; Wentura, Dirk

2017-04-01

Research with the evaluative priming paradigm has shown that affective evaluation processes reliably influence cognition and behavior, even when triggered outside awareness. However, the precise mechanisms underlying such subliminal evaluative priming effects, response activation vs semantic processing, are matter of a debate. In this study, we determined the relative contribution of semantic processing and response activation to masked evaluative priming with pictures and words. To this end, we investigated the modulation of masked pictorial vs verbal priming by previously activated perceptual vs semantic task sets and assessed the electrophysiological correlates of priming using event-related potential (ERP) recordings. Behavioral and electrophysiological effects showed a differential modulation of pictorial and verbal subliminal priming by previously activated task sets: Pictorial priming was only observed during the perceptual but not during the semantic task set. Verbal priming, in contrast, was found when either task set was activated. Furthermore, only verbal priming was associated with a modulation of the N400 ERP component, an index of semantic processing, whereas a priming-related modulation of earlier ERPs, indexing visuo-motor S-R activation, was found for both picture and words. The results thus demonstrate that different neuro-cognitive processes contribute to unconscious evaluative priming depending on the stimulus format. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The contribution of tropical cyclones to rainfall in Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agustín Breña-Naranjo, J.; Pedrozo-Acuña, Adrián; Pozos-Estrada, Oscar; Jiménez-López, Salma A.; López-López, Marco R.

Investigating the contribution of tropical cyclones to the terrestrial water cycle can help quantify the benefits and hazards caused by the rainfall generated from this type of hydro-meteorological event. Rainfall induced by tropical cyclones can enhance both flood risk and groundwater recharge, and it is therefore important to characterise its minimum, mean and maximum contributions to a region or country's water balance. This work evaluates the rainfall contribution of tropical depressions, storms and hurricanes across Mexico from 1998 to 2013 using the satellite-derived precipitation dataset TMPA 3B42. Additionally, the sensitivity of rainfall to other datasets was assessed: the national rain gauge observation network, real-time satellite rainfall and a merged product that combines rain gauges with non-calibrated space-borne rainfall measurements. The lower Baja California peninsula had the highest contribution from cyclonic rainfall in relative terms (∼40% of its total annual rainfall), whereas the contributions in the rest of the country showed a low-to-medium dependence on tropical cyclones, with mean values ranging from 0% to 20%. In quantitative terms, southern regions of Mexico can receive more than 2400 mm of cyclonic rainfall during years with significant TC activity. Moreover, (a) the number of tropical cyclones impacting Mexico has been significantly increasing since 1998, but cyclonic contributions in relative and quantitative terms have not been increasing, and (b) wind speed and rainfall intensity during cyclones are not highly correlated. Future work should evaluate the impacts of such contributions on surface and groundwater hydrological processes and connect the knowledge gaps between the magnitude of tropical cyclones, flood hazards, and economic losses.

On illicit drug policies; methods of evaluation and comments on recent practices.

PubMed

Trovato, Giovanni; Vezzani, Antonio

2013-06-01

This contribution provides an overview of different approaches used to analyse drug policies within and across countries. Besides the great number of cost of illness studies which have contributed to the assessment of health harms and risks associated to the drug use, most of the recent efforts have focused on the creation of synthetic indices to classify countries around the world or to evaluate particular law enforcement policies in some countries. This is probably due to a general lack of comparable data across countries. The wide variety of budgetary practices in the drugs field in Europe contributes to the problems that exist in estimating drug-related public expenditure. These heterogeneous accounting practices, together with the complexity of the drug phenomenon and the multiplicity of perspectives on the issue, strongly constrains the possibility of economically evaluate and compare drug laws across countries.

Quantifying the relative contribution of an ecological reserve to conservation objectives

USGS Publications Warehouse

Aagaard, Kevin; Lyons, James E.; Thogmartin, Wayne E.

2017-01-01

Evaluating the role public lands play in meeting conservation goals is an essential step in good governance. We present a tool for comparing the regional contribution of each of a suite of wildlife management units to conservation goals. We use weighted summation (simple additive weighting) to compute a Unit Contribution Index (UCI) based on species richness, population abundance, and a conservation score based on IUCN Red List classified threat levels. We evaluate UCI for a subset of the 729 participating wetlands of the Integrated Waterbird Management and Monitoring (IWMM) Program across U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regions 3 (Midwest USA), 4 (Southeast USA), and 5 (Northeast USA). We found that the median across-Region UCI for Region 5 was greater than Regions 3 and 4, while Region 4 had the greatest within-Region UCI median. This index is a powerful tool for wildlife managers to evaluate the performance of units within the conservation estate.

Morphological awareness and reading comprehension: Examining mediating factors.

PubMed

Levesque, Kyle C; Kieffer, Michael J; Deacon, S Hélène

2017-08-01

The relation between morphological awareness-defined as the awareness of and ability to manipulate the smallest units of meaning in language-and reading comprehension remains in need of specification. In this study, we evaluated four potential intervening variables through which morphological awareness may contribute indirectly to reading comprehension. We assessed word reading and vocabulary as well as children's ability to read and analyze the meaning of morphologically complex words (morphological decoding and morphological analysis, respectively). Controls of phonological awareness and nonverbal ability were included in the model. Participants were 221 English-speaking children in Grade 3. Multivariate path analyses revealed evidence of two indirect relations and one direct relation between morphological awareness and reading comprehension. In the first indirect path, morphological awareness contributed to morphological decoding, which then influenced word reading and finally reading comprehension. In a second indirect path, morphological awareness contributed to morphological analysis, which contributed to reading comprehension. Finally, in a direct path, morphological awareness contributed to reading comprehension beyond all other variables. These findings inform as to the potential mechanisms underlying the relation between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in children. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Linguistic feature analysis for protein interaction extraction

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background The rapid growth of the amount of publicly available reports on biomedical experimental results has recently caused a boost of text mining approaches for protein interaction extraction. Most approaches rely implicitly or explicitly on linguistic, i.e., lexical and syntactic, data extracted from text. However, only few attempts have been made to evaluate the contribution of the different feature types. In this work, we contribute to this evaluation by studying the relative importance of deep syntactic features, i.e., grammatical relations, shallow syntactic features (part-of-speech information) and lexical features. For this purpose, we use a recently proposed approach that uses support vector machines with structured kernels. Results Our results reveal that the contribution of the different feature types varies for the different data sets on which the experiments were conducted. The smaller the training corpus compared to the test data, the more important the role of grammatical relations becomes. Moreover, deep syntactic information based classifiers prove to be more robust on heterogeneous texts where no or only limited common vocabulary is shared. Conclusion Our findings suggest that grammatical relations play an important role in the interaction extraction task. Moreover, the net advantage of adding lexical and shallow syntactic features is small related to the number of added features. This implies that efficient classifiers can be built by using only a small fraction of the features that are typically being used in recent approaches. PMID:19909518

How Student Teachers Describe the Online Collaborative Learning Experience and Evaluate Its Contribution to Their Learning and Their Future Work as Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Margaliot, Adva; Gorev, Dvora; Vaisman, Tami

2018-01-01

This study examined student teachers' attitudes toward online collaborative learning (OCL) as related to their satisfaction, learning experience, contribution to personal knowledge, and future teaching. One hundred and four students participated in a program that retrains university graduates to become K-12 teachers. The study combines both…

Maternal Psychological Control and Peer Victimization in Early Adolescence: An Application of the Family Relational Schema Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Batanova, Milena D.; Loukas, Alexandra

2014-01-01

Guided by the family relational schema model, the current study examined the direct and indirect contributions of maternal psychological control to subsequent relational and overt peer victimization, via early adolescents' conduct problems, fear of negative evaluation, and depressive symptoms. Participants were 499 10- to 14-year-olds (53% female;…

Marginal Words--Sophisticated Attitudinal Meaning Making Resources in the Vietnamese Language: Implications for the Shaping of Vietnamese Teaching in the Australian Curriculum: Languages (Vietnamese)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ngo, Thu Thi Bich

2014-01-01

Evaluation is an important aspect in communication in any language as it not only functions to express language users' evaluative stance but also to construct and maintain relations between interactants. In the teaching of languages in addition to English, paying attention to evaluative language contributes to an understanding of the…

The Effect of Intrinsic Motivation on the Affect and Evaluation of the Creative Process among Fine Arts Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanko-Kaczmarek, Maja

2012-01-01

The main aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the effect of intrinsic motivation on affect, subjective evaluation, and the creative process of young artists. Relations between motivation, affect, and evaluation were treated as a dynamic process and measured several times. The unique contribution of this study is that it…

Evaluating Dialogue Competence in Naturally Occurring Child-Child Interactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naerland, Terje

2011-01-01

The principal aim of this paper is to contribute to the pursuit of evaluating pragmatic language competence in preschool years by observation-based data. Initially, the relations between age and language development measured as mean length of utterance (MLU) and three dialogue skills are described. The occurrences of "focus on the dialogue…

Evaluating a National Science and Technology Program Using the Human Capital and Relational Asset Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hung, Chia-Liang; Chou, Jerome Chih-Lung; Roan, Hung-Wei

2010-01-01

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the performance of the National Science and Technology Program (NSTP) by targeting the Taiwan National Telecommunication Program (NTP) initiated in 1998. The Taiwan telecommunications industry has prospered, currently occupying key positions in global markets even though NTP seldom contributes positively…

Development and Validation of E-Portfolios: The UAE Pre-Service Teachers' Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forawi, Sufian A.; Almekhlafi, Abdurrahman G.; Al-Mekhlafy, Mohamed H.

2012-01-01

Research has indicated the importance of evaluating the experiences related to developing e-portfolios (electronic portfolio) to contribute to the overall excellence in teaching and learning. Researchers (instructors) of the present study used an exit e-portfolios, a questionnaire and follow up interviews to describe development and evaluation of…

The Contribution of Attentional Control and Working Memory to Reading Comprehension and Decoding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arrington, C. Nikki; Kulesz, Paulina A.; Francis, David J.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Barnes, Marcia A.

2014-01-01

Little is known about how specific components of working memory, namely, attentional processes including response inhibition, sustained attention, and cognitive inhibition, are related to reading decoding and comprehension. The current study evaluated the relations of reading comprehension, decoding, working memory, and attentional control in…

Comparison of nanosilver and ionic silver toxicity in Daphnia magna and Pimephales promelas

EPA Science Inventory

This work evaluates the relative contribution of soluble (Ag+) silver and and nano-scale silver particles (n-Ag) and thus addresses an important issue relative to potential ecological risk of n-Ag and of other partially-soluble metal nanoparticles. We used acute to chronic (based...

32 CFR 37.535 - How do I value cost sharing related to real property or equipment?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false How do I value cost sharing related to real... Evaluation Cost Sharing § 37.535 How do I value cost sharing related to real property or equipment? You rarely should accept values for cost sharing contributions of real property or equipment that are in...

Integrating Public Health Policy, Practice, Evaluation, Surveillance, and Research: The School Health Action Planning and Evaluation System

PubMed Central

Cameron, Roy; Manske, Stephen; Brown, K. Stephen; Jolin, Mari Alice; Murnaghan, Donna; Lovato, Chris

2007-01-01

The Canadian Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute of Canada have charged their Centre for Behavioral Research and Program Evaluation with contributing to the development of the country’s systemic capacity to link research, policy, and practice related to population-level interventions. Local data collection and feedback systems are integral to this capacity. Canada’s School Health Action Planning and Evaluation System (SHAPES) allows data to be collected from all of a school’s students, and these data are used to produce computer-generated school “health profiles.” SHAPES is being used for intervention planning, evaluation, surveillance, and research across Canada. Strong demand and multipartner investment suggest that SHAPES is adding value in all of these domains. Such systems can contribute substantially to evidence-informed public health practice, public engagement, participatory action research, and relevant, timely population intervention research. PMID:17329662

A Consideration of the Case for Using Life Story Interviews in the Evaluation of Widening Access Interventions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raven, Neil

2016-01-01

Whilst published data sources exist for evaluating interventions aimed at widening higher education access, there is value for practitioners in conducting their own research. However, recognition of the contribution afforded by generating new data raises questions over which research methods to utilise. One method relatively new to widening…

Associated among endocrine, inflammatory, and bone markers, body composition and weight loss induced bone loss

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Weight loss reduces co-¬morbidities of obesity but decreases bone mass. Our aims were to determine whether adequate dairy intake could prevent weight loss related bone loss and to evaluate the contribution of energy-related hormones and inflammatory markers to bone metabolism. Overweight and obese w...

Relation of Executive Functioning to Pragmatic Outcome following Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Douglas, Jacinta M.

2010-01-01

Purpose: This study was designed to explore the behavioral nature of pragmatic impairment following severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to evaluate the contribution of executive skills to the experience of pragmatic difficulties after TBI. Method: Participants were grouped into 43 TBI dyads (TBI adults and close relatives) and 43 control…

Environmental sub models for a macroeconomic model: agricultural contribution to climate change and acidification in Denmark.

PubMed

Jensen, Trine S; Jensen, Jørgen D; Hasler, Berit; Illerup, Jytte B; Andersen, Frits M

2007-01-01

Integrated modelling of the interaction between environmental pressure and economic development is a useful tool to evaluate environmental consequences of policy initiatives. However, the usefulness of such models is often restricted by the fact that these models only include a limited set of environmental impacts, which are often energy-related emissions. In order to evaluate the development in the overall environmental pressure correctly, these model systems must be extended. In this article an integrated macroeconomic model system of the Danish economy with environmental modules of energy related emissions is extended to include the agricultural contribution to climate change and acidification. Next to the energy sector, the agricultural sector is the most important contributor to these environmental themes and subsequently the extended model complex calculates more than 99% of the contribution to both climate change and acidification. Environmental sub-models are developed for agriculture-related emissions of CH(4), N(2)O and NH(3). Agricultural emission sources related to the production specific activity variables are mapped and emission dependent parameters are identified in order to calculate emission coefficients. The emission coefficients are linked to the economic activity variables of the Danish agricultural production. The model system is demonstrated by projections of agriculture-related emissions in Denmark under two alternative sets of assumptions: a baseline projection of the general economic development and a policy scenario for changes in the husbandry sector within the agricultural sector.

Spatial variability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon load of urban wet weather pollution in combined sewers.

PubMed

Gasperi, J; Moilleron, R; Chebbo, G

2006-01-01

In Paris, the OPUR research programme created an experimental on-site observatory of urban pollutant loads in combined sewer systems in order to characterise the dry and wet weather flows at different spatial scales. This article presents the first results on the spatial variability of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) load during wet weather flow (WWF). At the scale of a rain event, investigations revealed that (i) PAH concentrations were relatively homogenous whatever the spatial scale and were greater than those of the dry weather flow (DWF), (ii) PAH distributions between dissolved and particulate phases were constant, and (iii) PAH fingerprints exhibited a similar pattern for all catchments. Moreover, an evaluation of the contribution of DWF, runoff and erosion of sewer deposits to WWF load was established. According to the hypothesis on the runoff concentration, the contributions were evaluated at 14, 8 and 78%, respectively, at the scale of the Marais catchment. For all the catchments, the runoff contribution was found quite constant and evaluated at approximately 10%. The DWF contribution seems to increase with the catchment area, contrary to the sewer erosion contribution, which seems to decrease. However, this latter still remains an important source of pollution. These first trends should be confirmed and completed by more investigations of rain events.

Entry, Descent, and Landing Aerothermodynamics: NASA Langley Experimental Capabilities and Contributions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hollis, Brian R.; Berger, Karen T.; Berry, Scott A.; Bruckmann, Gregory J.; Buck, Gregory M.; DiFulvio, Michael; Horvath, Thomas J.; Liechty, Derek S.; Merski, N. Ronald; Murphy, Kelly J.;

Factors contributing to work related low back pain among personal care workers in old age.

PubMed

Yeung, Simon S

2012-01-01

This study aims to preliminary explore the work related and individual factors that contributed to the occurrence of low back pain (LBP) that affected work activities of Personal Care Workers (PCWs). A cross-sectional study was conducted to 36 PCWs in an old age home of Hong Kong. The study is divided into three parts: 1) a questionnaire to document the workload exposure factors and the musculoskeletal symptoms survey of the PCWs, 2) work posture evaluation; and 3) an evaluation of the physical fitness and lifting capacity of the PCWs. Univariate analyses were used to explore the risk factors associated with LBP that affected work activities. The results indicated that individual physical profile and lifting capacities did not contribute to occurrence of low back pain at work. For the work demand factors, the perceived physical demands in lifting and lowering heavy objects, awkward sustain neck and back postures, loading on the back, and perceived effort of cleaning task contributed to the occurrence of LBP. For the physical environment factors, thermal stress and improper ventilation were associated with the occurrence of LBP cases. For the individual factor, LBP cases were associated with workers' self perceived muscular effort, and perceived risk of mental illness in response to work requirements.

Acid neutralizing processes in an alpine watershed front range, Colorado, U.S.A.-1: Buffering capacity of dissolved organic carbon in soil solutions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Iggy, Litaor M.; Thurman, E.M.

1988-01-01

Soil interstitial waters in the Green Lakes Valley, Front Range, Colorado were studied to evaluate the capacity of the soil system to buffer acid deposition. In order to determine the contribution of humic substances to the buffering capacity of a given soil, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and pH of the soil solutions were measured. The concentration of the organic anion, Ai-, derived from DOC at sample pH and the concentration of organic anion, Ax- at the equivalence point were calculated using carboxyl contents from isolated and purified humic material from soil solutions. Subtracting Ax- from Ai- yields the contribution of humic substances to the buffering capacity (Aequiv.-). Using this method, one can evaluate the relative contribution of inorganic and organic constituents to the acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) of the soil solutions. The relative contribution of organic acids to the overall ANC was found to be extremely important in the alpine wetland (52%) and the forest-tundra ecotone (40%), and somewhat less important in the alpine tundra sites (20%). A failure to recognize the importance of organic acids in soil solutions to the ANC will result in erroneous estimates of the buffering capacity in the alpine environment of the Front Range, Colorado. ?? 1988.

Assessment of the unattached fraction of indoor radon progeny and its contribution to dose: a pilot study in China.

PubMed

Guo, Qiuju; Zhang, Lei; Guo, Lu

2012-12-01

The unattached fraction of radon progeny (f(p)) is one of the most important factors for accurate evaluation of the effective dose from a unit of radon exposure, and it may vary greatly in different environments. For precise evaluation of the indoor radon exposure dose and the influence of unattached radon progeny, a pilot survey of f(p) in different environments was carried out in China with a portable and integrating monitor. The dose conversion factors for radon progeny are calculated with LUDEP(®) code, and the dose contributions from the unattached and the attached radon progenies were simultaneously evaluated based on the results of field measurements. The results show that even though the concentrations of radon progeny vary significantly among different indoor environments, the variations of f(p) seem relatively small (9.3-16.9%). The dose contribution from unattached radon progeny is generally larger (30.2-46.2%) in an indoor environment.

Predicting storm runoff from different land-use classes using a geographical information system-based distributed model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Y. B.; Gebremeskel, S.; de Smedt, F.; Hoffmann, L.; Pfister, L.

2006-02-01

A method is presented to evaluate the storm runoff contributions from different land-use class areas within a river basin using the geographical information system-based hydrological model WetSpa. The modelling is based on division of the catchment into a grid mesh. Each cell has a unique response function independent of the functioning of other cells. Summation of the flow responses from the cells with the same land-use type results in the storm runoff contribution from these areas. The model was applied on the Steinsel catchment in the Alzette river basin, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, with 52 months of meteo-hydrological measurements. The simulation results show that the direct runoff from urban areas is dominant for a flood event compared with runoff from other land-use areas in this catchment, and this tends to increase for small floods and for the dry-season floods, whereas the interflow from forested, pasture and agricultural field areas contributes to recession flow. It is demonstrated that the relative contribution from urban areas decreases with flow coefficient, that cropland relative contribution is nearly constant, and that the relative contribution from grassland and woodland increases with flow coefficient with regard to their percentage of land-use class areas within the study catchment.

Disentangling the contribution of the paretic and non-paretic ankle to balance control in stroke patients.

PubMed

van Asseldonk, Edwin H F; Buurke, Jaap H; Bloem, Bastiaan R; Renzenbrink, Gerbert J; Nene, Anand V; van der Helm, Frans C T; van der Kooij, Herman

2006-10-01

During stroke recovery, restoration of the paretic ankle and compensation in the non-paretic ankle may contribute to improved balance maintenance. We examine a new approach to disentangle these recovery mechanisms by objectively quantifying the contribution of each ankle to balance maintenance. Eight chronic hemiparetic patients were included. Balance responses were elicited by continuous random platform movements. We measured body sway and ground reaction forces below each foot to calculate corrective ankle torques in each leg. These measurements yielded the Frequency Response Function (FRF) of the stabilizing mechanisms, which expresses the amount and timing of the generated corrective torque in response to sway at the specified frequencies. The FRFs were used to calculate the relative contribution of the paretic and non-paretic ankle to the total amount of generated corrective torque to correct sway. All patients showed a clear asymmetry in the balance contribution in favor of the non-paretic ankle. Paretic balance contribution was significantly smaller than the contribution of the paretic leg to weight bearing, and did not show a clear relation with the contribution to weight bearing. In contrast, a group of healthy subjects instructed to distribute their weight asymmetrically showed a one-on-one relation between the contribution to weight bearing and to balance. We conclude that the presented approach objectively quantifies the contribution of each ankle to balance maintenance. Application of this method in longitudinal surveys of balance rehabilitation makes it possible to disentangle the different recovery mechanisms. Such insights will be critical for the development and evaluation of rehabilitation strategies.

Sources of fine sediment stored in agricultural lowland streams, Midwest, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamba, Jasmeet; Thompson, A. M.; Karthikeyan, K. G.; Fitzpatrick, Faith A.

2015-05-01

Agricultural activities can accelerate the offsite transport of productive soil from fields leading to stream water quality degradation. Identification of the nature and relative contribution of different sources to fine-grained sediment (e.g., silts, clays) in streams is important to effectively focus agricultural best management practices in watersheds. Sediment fingerprinting techniques through the use of geochemical tracers are commonly used to differentiate relative contribution from various sources. Research was conducted in lowland streams in the Pleasant Valley watershed in South Central Wisconsin (USA) to identify provenance of fine-grained sediment deposits and evaluate the impact of land use on relative contributions from the following potential sources: cropland, pasture, woodland, and eroding stream banks. Results show that both agriculture (croplands and pastures) and eroding stream banks are primary sources to fine sediment deposits on the stream bed with contributions ranging from 19 to 100% and 0 to 81%, respectively. The increase in area under agricultural land use within a subwatershed results in greater contribution from agriculture (R2 = 0.846, p = 0.0034). Relative contributions from eroding stream banks increased with increasing area under grasslands and woodlands within a subwatershed (R2 = 0.814, p = 0.0055). Subwatersheds with greater mass of fine sediment deposited on the stream bed per unit area should be prioritized for best management practices. The conservation practices should be targeted to stream banks or croplands depending on the dominant source of fine sediment within a subwatershed. Site specific changes in relative contributions from different sources to fine-grained sediment in this watershed highlights the complexities involved in sediment transport dynamics. The nested sampling sites helped determine that sediment dynamics at the subwatershed scale need to be considered for application of targeted conservation techniques.

Sources of fine sediment stored in agricultural lowland streams, Midwest, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lamba, Jasmeet; Thompson, Anita M.; Karthikeyan, K.G.; Fitzpatrick, Faith A.

2015-01-01

Agricultural activities can accelerate the offsite transport of productive soil from fields leading to stream water quality degradation. Identification of the nature and relative contribution of different sources to fine-grained sediment (e.g., silts, clays) in streams is important to effectively focus agricultural best management practices in watersheds. Sediment fingerprinting techniques through the use of geochemical tracers are commonly used to differentiate relative contribution from various sources. Research was conducted in lowland streams in the Pleasant Valley watershed in South Central Wisconsin (USA) to identify provenance of fine-grained sediment deposits and evaluate the impact of land use on relative contributions from the following potential sources: cropland, pasture, woodland, and eroding stream banks. Results show that both agriculture (croplands and pastures) and eroding stream banks are primary sources to fine sediment deposits on the stream bed with contributions ranging from 19 to 100% and 0 to 81%, respectively. The increase in area under agricultural land use within a subwatershed results in greater contribution from agriculture (R2 = 0.846, p = 0.0034). Relative contributions from eroding stream banks increased with increasing area under grasslands and woodlands within a subwatershed (R2 = 0.814, p = 0.0055). Subwatersheds with greater mass of fine sediment deposited on the stream bed per unit area should be prioritized for best management practices. The conservation practices should be targeted to stream banks or croplands depending on the dominant source of fine sediment within a subwatershed. Site specific changes in relative contributions from different sources to fine-grained sediment in this watershed highlights the complexities involved in sediment transport dynamics. The nested sampling sites helped determine that sediment dynamics at the subwatershed scale need to be considered for application of targeted conservation techniques.

Potentially efficient forest and range applications of remote sensing using earth orbital space craft, circa 1980

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, R. C.

1970-01-01

Sixteen remote sensing applications or groups of related applications judged to be most important of any in the forestry and range disciplines were evaluated. In one application, major land classification, large amounts of useful data are anticipated to be contributed by space sensors in 1980. In four applications moderate amounts are anticipated to be so contributed. These are timber inventory, range inventory, fire weather forecasting, and monitoring snowfields. In the following seven applications small but significant amounts of data are anticipated to be contributed by space sensors: (1) detailed land classification; (2) inventory of wildlife habitat; (3) recreation resource inventory; (4) detecting stresses on the vegetation (5) monitoring air pollution caused by wildfires and prescribed burning; (6) monitoring water cycle, (7) pollution and erosion; and (8) evaluating damage to forests and ranges.

Evaluation of the effect of gate strategies in drayage related emissions.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-03-01

Intermodal Marine Container Terminals are experiencing growth in container volumes and are under pressure to : develop strategies to accommodate increasing demand. One of the major factors contributing to the problem is : inefficient gate operations ...

Studies of transformational leadership in consumer service: leadership trust and the mediating-moderating role of cooperative conflict management.

PubMed

Yang, Yi-Feng

2012-02-01

This is the third in a series of studies evaluating how transformational leadership is associated with related variables such as job satisfaction, change commitment, leadership trust, cooperative conflict management, and market orientation. The present paper evaluates the effects of transformational leadership and cooperative conflict management along with their mediating and moderating of leadership trust in the life insurance industry for two sample groups, sales managers and sales employees. The main effect of leadership trust was mediated and moderated by cooperative conflict management. Cooperative conflict management made a more important contribution than transformational leadership or the moderating effect (interaction), but these three together were the most important variables predicting highest leadership trust. Transformational leadership has an indirect influence on leadership trust. This work summarizes the specific contribution and importance of building successful leadership trust associations with employees in relation to leadership and satisfaction with change commitment.

Flavor characteristics of the juices from fresh market tomatoes differentiated from those from processing tomatoes by combined analysis of volatile profiles with sensory evaluation.

PubMed

Iijima, Yoko; Iwasaki, Yumi; Otagiri, Yuji; Tsugawa, Hiroshi; Sato, Tsuneo; Otomo, Hiroe; Sekine, Yukio; Obata, Akio

2016-12-01

Various commercial tomato juices with different flavors are available at markets worldwide. To clarify the marker compounds related to the flavor characteristics of tomato juice, we analyzed 15 pure commercial tomato juices by a combination of volatile profiling and sensory evaluation. The correlations among volatiles and the relationship between volatiles and sensory descriptors were elucidated by multivariate analyses. Consequently, the tomato juices made from fresh market tomatoes (including the popular Japanese tomato variety "Momotaro") were clearly separated from other juices made from processing tomatoes, by both the volatile composition and sensory profiles. cis-3-Hexenol, hexanal, and apocarotenoids negatively contributed to the juices from fresh market tomatoes, whereas Strecker aldehydes and furfural showed positive contributions to the juices. Accordingly, the sensory characteristics of juices from fresh market tomatoes were related to cooked and fruity flavors but not to green or fresh notes.

Staff Factors Contributing to Family Satisfaction with Long-Term Dementia Care: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

PubMed

Law, Katharine; Patterson, Tom G; Muers, Jane

2017-01-01

The aim of the present review was to critically evaluate empirical evidence regarding staff factors that contribute to families' satisfaction with ongoing care provision for their relatives with dementia in long-term care. Four databases were systematically searched using search terms informed by the aim of the present systematic review. The resulting 14 relevant articles comprised both qualitative and quantitative studies. The findings highlighted three broad areas relating to staff factors that appeared to contribute to families' satisfaction with care provision: family related factors, relating to staff interaction with families; staffing related factors, focusing on staffing organization and composition; and client related factors, focusing on staff interaction with clients and the quality of care provided. The findings have important implications for care staff and managers working in such settings regarding staffing organization, staff training, recruitment and retention. Future research directions are discussed. Families want consistent, knowledgeable staff that interact well and respond appropriately to the needs of their relative as well as their own needs as family members. Staff training in such settings should therefore focus not only on staff education but also on the importance of establishing effective relationships with both clients and families.

An Evaluation of Research Training: The Testing, Research, and Data Processing Unit of the University Counseling Center. Research Report #5-88.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Chalmer E.; Sedlacek, William E.

The relative contributions of a research assistantship experience to graduate training programs in counseling psychology and student personnel were evaluated. The following areas were assessed: (1) the extent to which research competencies are enhanced among former research assistants; (2) the extent to which attitudes toward research are enhanced…

Physical aquatic habitat assessment data, Ozark plateaus, Missouri and Arkansas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jacobson, Robert B.; Johnson, Harold E.; Reuter, Joanna M.; Wright, Maria Panfil

2004-01-01

This report presents data from two related studies on physical habitat in small streams in the Ozark Plateaus Physiographic Province of Missouri and Arkansas. Seventy stream reaches and their contributing drainage basins were assessed using a physical habitat protocol designed to optimize understanding of how stream reach characteristics relate to drainage-basin characteristics. Drainage-basin characteristics were evaluated using geographic information system (GIS) techniques and datasets designed to evaluate the geologic, physiographic, and land-use characteristics of encompassing drainage basins. Reach characteristics were evaluated using a field-based geomorphology and habitat protocol. The data are intended to complement ecological studies on Ozark Plateaus streams.

Combining glass box and black box evaluations in the identification of heart disease risk factors and their temporal relations from clinical records.

PubMed

Grouin, Cyril; Moriceau, Véronique; Zweigenbaum, Pierre

2015-12-01

The determination of risk factors and their temporal relations in natural language patient records is a complex task which has been addressed in the i2b2/UTHealth 2014 shared task. In this context, in most systems it was broadly decomposed into two sub-tasks implemented by two components: entity detection, and temporal relation determination. Task-level ("black box") evaluation is relevant for the final clinical application, whereas component-level evaluation ("glass box") is important for system development and progress monitoring. Unfortunately, because of the interaction between entity representation and temporal relation representation, glass box and black box evaluation cannot be managed straightforwardly at the same time in the setting of the i2b2/UTHealth 2014 task, making it difficult to assess reliably the relative performance and contribution of the individual components to the overall task. To identify obstacles and propose methods to cope with this difficulty, and illustrate them through experiments on the i2b2/UTHealth 2014 dataset. We outline several solutions to this problem and examine their requirements in terms of adequacy for component-level and task-level evaluation and of changes to the task framework. We select the solution which requires the least modifications to the i2b2 evaluation framework and illustrate it with our system. This system identifies risk factor mentions with a CRF system complemented by hand-designed patterns, identifies and normalizes temporal expressions through a tailored version of the Heideltime tool, and determines temporal relations of each risk factor with a One Rule classifier. Giving a fixed value to the temporal attribute in risk factor identification proved to be the simplest way to evaluate the risk factor detection component independently. This evaluation method enabled us to identify the risk factor detection component as most contributing to the false negatives and false positives of the global system. This led us to redirect further effort to this component, focusing on medication detection, with gains of 7 to 20 recall points and of 3 to 6 F-measure points depending on the corpus and evaluation. We proposed a method to achieve a clearer glass box evaluation of risk factor detection and temporal relation detection in clinical texts, which can provide an example to help system development in similar tasks. This glass box evaluation was instrumental in refocusing our efforts and obtaining substantial improvements in risk factor detection. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Recommendations for the treatment of aging in standard technical specifications

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

Orton, R.D.; Allen, R.P.

1995-09-01

As part of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission`s Nuclear Plant Aging Research Program, Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) evaluated the standard technical specifications for nuclear power plants to determine whether the current surveillance requirements (SRs) were effective in detecting age-related degradation. Nuclear Plant Aging Research findings for selected systems and components were reviewed to identify the stressors and operative aging mechanisms and to evaluate the methods available to detect, differentiate, and trend the resulting aging degradation. Current surveillance and testing requirements for these systems and components were reviewed for their effectiveness in detecting degraded conditions and for potential contributions to prematuremore » degradation. When the current surveillance and testing requirements appeared ineffective in detecting aging degradation or potentially could contribute to premature degradation, a possible deficiency in the SRs was identified that could result in undetected degradation. Based on this evaluation, PNL developed recommendations for inspection, surveillance, trending, and condition monitoring methods to be incorporated in the SRs to better detect age- related degradation of these selected systems and components.« less

The structure of vulnerabilities for social anxiety disorder.

PubMed

Rodebaugh, Thomas L; Levinson, Cheri A; Langer, Julia K; Weeks, Justin W; Heimberg, Richard G; Brown, Patrick J; Menatti, Andrew R; Schneier, Franklin R; Blanco, Carlos; Liebowitz, Michael R

2017-04-01

Social anxiety disorder symptoms are generally proposed to be related to broad temperamental vulnerabilities (e.g., a low level of approach and high level of avoidance temperament), specific psychological vulnerabilities (e.g., fears of negative and positive evaluation), and additional disorders (e.g., major depressive disorder). However, existing tests of such a model have either not considered depressive symptoms or relied on samples of undergraduates. We examined these and related questions via a latent variable model in a large dataset (N=2253) that combined participants across a variety of studies. The model had adequate fit in the whole sample, and good fit in a subsample in which more participants completed the depression measure. The model indicated that low level of approach and high level of avoidance temperament contributed to fears of evaluation and social anxiety symptoms, and that fears of evaluation additionally contributed independently to social anxiety symptoms. The relationship between social anxiety and depressive symptoms was entirely accounted for by these vulnerabilities: Depressive symptoms were only predicted by avoidance temperament. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The impact of arbitrarily applicable relational responding on evaluative learning about hypothetical money and shock outcomes.

PubMed

Dymond, Simon; Molet, Mikael; Davies, Lynette

2017-08-01

Evaluative learning comprises changes in preferences after co-occurrences between conditioned stimuli (CSs) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) of affective value. Co-occurrences may involve relational responding. Two experiments examined the impact of arbitrary relational responding on evaluative preferences for hypothetical money and shock outcomes. In Experiment 1, participants were trained to make arbitrary relational responses by placing CSs of the same size but different colours into boxes and were then instructed that these CSs represented different intensities of hypothetical USs (money or shock). Liking ratings of the CSs were altered in accordance with the underlying bigger/smaller than relations. A reversal of preference was also observed: the CS associated with the smallest hypothetical shock was rated more positively than the CS associated with the smallest amount of hypothetical money. In Experiment 2, procedures from Relational Frame Theory (RFT) established a relational network of more than/less than relations consisting of five CSs (A-B-C-D-E). Overall, evaluative preferences were altered, but not reversed, depending on (a) how stimuli had been related to one another during the learning phase and (b) whether those stimuli referred to money or shocks. The contribution of RFT to evaluative learning research is discussed.

Evaluation of the comprehensive palatability of Japanese sake paired with dishes by multiple regression analysis based on subdomains.

PubMed

Nakamura, Ryo; Nakano, Kumiko; Tamura, Hiroyasu; Mizunuma, Masaki; Fushiki, Tohru; Hirata, Dai

2017-08-01

Many factors contribute to palatability. In order to evaluate the palatability of Japanese alcohol sake paired with certain dishes by integrating multiple factors, here we applied an evaluation method previously reported for palatability of cheese by multiple regression analysis based on 3 subdomain factors (rewarding, cultural, and informational). We asked 94 Japanese participants/subjects to evaluate the palatability of sake (1st evaluation/E1 for the first cup, 2nd/E2 and 3rd/E3 for the palatability with aftertaste/afterglow of certain dishes) and to respond to a questionnaire related to 3 subdomains. In E1, 3 factors were extracted by a factor analysis, and the subsequent multiple regression analyses indicated that the palatability of sake was interpreted by mainly the rewarding. Further, the results of attribution-dissections in E1 indicated that 2 factors (rewarding and informational) contributed to the palatability. Finally, our results indicated that the palatability of sake was influenced by the dish eaten just before drinking.

General split helicity gluon tree amplitudes in open twistor string theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dolan, Louise; Goddard, Peter

2010-05-01

We evaluate all split helicity gluon tree amplitudes in open twistor string theory. We show that these amplitudes satisfy the BCFW recurrence relations restricted to the split helicity case and, hence, that these amplitudes agree with those of gauge theory. To do this we make a particular choice of the sextic constraints in the link variables that determine the poles contributing to the contour integral expression for the amplitudes. Using the residue theorem to re-express this integral in terms of contributions from poles at rational values of the link variables, which we determine, we evaluate the amplitudes explicitly, regaining the gauge theory results of Britto et al. [25].

Evaluation of the contribution of smoking to total blood polonium-210 in Saudi population.

PubMed

Shabana, E I; Abd Elaziz, M A; Al-Arifi, M N; Al-Dhawailie, A A; Al-Bokari, M M

2000-01-01

A preliminary study of 210Po concentrations in the blood of some smokers and nonsmokers is presented in order to evaluate the contribution of smoking to total blood 210Po in Saudi population. Blood samples were collected from 30 volunteers and analyzed by high resolution alpha-spectrometry using a radiochemical technique. The technique is based on the separation of polonium from other components of the sample by wet ashing with an HNO3/H2O2 oxidizing mixture and spontaneous deposition on a silver disc under the relevant conditions for alpha-particle counting. The results indicated that a significant fraction (about 30%) of blood 210Po is related to smoking.

Evaluating the Rationale for Affirmative Action in College Admissions: Direct and Indirect Relationships between Campus Diversity and Gains in Understanding Diverse Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pike, Gary R.; Kuh, George D.; Gonyea, Robert M.

2007-01-01

Affirmative action in college admissions is based on the premise that a diverse student body contributes to interactions among students from different backgrounds, which are in turn positively related to desirable outcomes of college. This study evaluates the merits of this rationale for affirmative action by examining the direct and indirect…

On the contribution of atmospheric moisture to dew formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garratt, J. R.; Segal, M.

1988-09-01

The relative contributions of dewfall (a flux of water vapour from air to surface) and distillation (a flux of water vapour from soil to canopy) to dew formation on closed canopy and bare soil surfaces are assessed, and the dependence of dew amount upon wind speed, absolute temperature, atmospheric stability, relative humidity, soil characteristics and cloudiness, all of which are significant factors, is evaluated. Some of these evaluations provide refinements to similar ones given in Monteith (1961). High dewfall rates are usually ≲0.06 mm hr-1 over canopy or bare soil, though upon a canopy under soil-saturated and air-saturated conditions, rates of dew formation may reach 0.07 0.09 mm hr-1 with contributions from distillation. Various sets of observations are reanalyzed to illustrate the importance of the horizontal advection of moisture in the nocturnal boundary layer (NBL) to observed high rates of dew formation arising from the atmospheric contribution of water vapour (dewfall). These locally observed high dewfall rates must be the result of small-scale or mesoscale horizontal advection of moisture in the NBL, since the humidity changes within the typically shallow NBL required to balance the loss of water at the surface are not observed. Over extensive areas of uniform surface (horizontal scales ≫10 km), such continuously high dewfall rates could only be balanced by a local supply of atmospheric moisture since advection of moisture would necessarily be small.

Evaluation of plasma antioxidant activity in rats given excess EGCg with reference to endogenous antioxidants concentrations and assay methods.

PubMed

Yokotani, Kaori; Umegaki, Keizo

2017-02-01

The contribution of (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) intake to in vivo antioxidant activity is unclear, even with respect to plasma. In this study, we examined how administration of EGCg contributes to plasma antioxidant activity, relative to its concentration, endogenous antioxidants, and assay methods, namely oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP). Administration of EGCg (500 mg/kg) to rats increased plasma EGCg (4μmol/L as free form) and ascorbic acid (1.7-fold), as well as ORAC (1.2-fold) and FRAP (3-fold) values. The increase in plasma ascorbic acid following EGCg administration was accompanied by its relocation from the adrenal glands and lymphocytes into plasma, and was related to the increase in FRAP. Plasma deproteinization and assays in plasma model solutions revealed that protein levels significantly contributed to ORAC values, where <3 μmol/L EGCg in the presence of protein exhibited minimal antioxidant activity, as measured by both FRAP and ORAC. As the concentration of plasma ascorbic acid was not influenced by deproteinization, differences in FRAP values with and without deproteinization were estimated to determine the contribution of enhanced ascorbic acid attributable to EGCg administration. These results will help to understand the points that should be considered when evaluating EGCg antioxidant activity in plasma.

The relative contributions of social cognition and self-reflectiveness to clinical insight in enduring schizophrenia.

PubMed

Béland, Sophie; Lepage, Martin

2017-12-01

Poor clinical insight represents a major barrier to recovery in schizophrenia. Research suggests that higher-order social cognitive abilities such as theory of mind (TOM) and metacognition contribute to levels of clinical insight. However, few studies have examined whether social cognitive abilities other than TOM are related to clinical insight. Moreover, to date, no investigation has attempted to determine whether the contribution of metacognitive ability to clinical insight can be differentiated from the contribution of higher-order social cognition, despite their conceptual similarity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relative contribution of different social cognitive abilities, as well as metacognition, to clinical insight in a large sample of 139 enduring schizophrenia patients, and controlling for established predictors of clinical insight. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to evaluate the portion of variance explained by 3 social cognitive abilities: emotion recognition, TOM, and affective empathy, and the metacognitive ability of self-reflectiveness. Clinical insight levels were assessed using the Schedule for the Assessment of Insight-Expanded version. Results indicated that affective empathy and self-reflectiveness are the strongest predictors of clinical insight. These results provide insights on the development of targeted interventions for improving clinical insight in this population. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Relation of baseflow to row crop intensity in Iowa

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schilling, K.E.

2005-01-01

Increasing baseflow and baseflow percentage over the second half of the 20th century in Iowa has contributed to increasing nitrate-nitrogen concentrations measured in Iowa rivers because nitrate is primarily delivered to streams as baseflow and tile drainage. The relation of baseflow and baseflow percentage to row crop land use was evaluated for 11 Iowa rivers and their watersheds for their period of streamflow record (58-73 years period). Results indicated increasing baseflow in Iowa's rivers is significantly related to increasing row crop intensity. A 13-52% increase in row crop percentage in many Iowa watersheds has contributed to an increase of 33-135 mm increase in baseflow and 7-31% increase in baseflow percentage. Limited historical water quality data from two larger Iowa rivers (Cedar and Raccoon rivers) suggest that increasing row crop land use over the 20th century has produced more baseflow and contributed to increasing nitrate concentrations in Iowa's rivers. ?? 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Methodological Reflections on the Contribution of Qualitative Research to the Evaluation of Clinical Ethics Support Services.

PubMed

Wäscher, Sebastian; Salloch, Sabine; Ritter, Peter; Vollmann, Jochen; Schildmann, Jan

2017-05-01

This article describes a process of developing, implementing and evaluating a clinical ethics support service intervention with the goal of building up a context-sensitive structure of minimal clinical-ethics in an oncology department without prior clinical ethics structure. Scholars from different disciplines have called for an improvement in the evaluation of clinical ethics support services (CESS) for different reasons over several decades. However, while a lot has been said about the concepts and methodological challenges of evaluating CESS up to the present time, relatively few empirical studies have been carried out. The aim of this article is twofold. On the one hand, it describes a process of development, modifying and evaluating a CESS intervention as part of the ETHICO research project, using the approach of qualitative-formative evaluation. On the other hand, it provides a methodological analysis which specifies the contribution of qualitative empirical methods to the (formative) evaluation of CESS. We conclude with a consideration of the strengths and limitations of qualitative evaluation research with regards to the evaluation and development of context sensitive CESS. We further discuss our own approach in contrast to rather traditional consult or committee models. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Interfacing theories of program with theories of evaluation for advancing evaluation practice: Reductionism, systems thinking, and pragmatic synthesis.

PubMed

Chen, Huey T

2016-12-01

Theories of program and theories of evaluation form the foundation of program evaluation theories. Theories of program reflect assumptions on how to conceptualize an intervention program for evaluation purposes, while theories of evaluation reflect assumptions on how to design useful evaluation. These two types of theories are related, but often discussed separately. This paper attempts to use three theoretical perspectives (reductionism, systems thinking, and pragmatic synthesis) to interface them and discuss the implications for evaluation practice. Reductionism proposes that an intervention program can be broken into crucial components for rigorous analyses; systems thinking view an intervention program as dynamic and complex, requiring a holistic examination. In spite of their contributions, reductionism and systems thinking represent the extreme ends of a theoretical spectrum; many real-world programs, however, may fall in the middle. Pragmatic synthesis is being developed to serve these moderate- complexity programs. These three theoretical perspectives have their own strengths and challenges. Knowledge on these three perspectives and their evaluation implications can provide a better guide for designing fruitful evaluations, improving the quality of evaluation practice, informing potential areas for developing cutting-edge evaluation approaches, and contributing to advancing program evaluation toward a mature applied science. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A prospective study of differential sources of school-related social support and adolescent global life satisfaction.

PubMed

Siddall, James; Huebner, E Scott; Jiang, Xu

2013-01-01

This study examined the cross-sectional and prospective relationships between three sources of school-related social support (parent involvement, peer support for learning, and teacher-student relationships) and early adolescents' global life satisfaction. The participants were 597 middle school students from 1 large school in the southeastern United States who completed measures of school social climate and life satisfaction on 2 occasions, 5 months apart. The results revealed that school-related experiences in terms of social support for learning contributed substantial amounts of variance to individual differences in adolescents' satisfaction with their lives as a whole. Cross-sectional multiple regression analyses of the differential contributions of the sources of support demonstrated that family and peer support for learning contributed statistically significant, unique variance to global life satisfaction reports. Prospective multiple regression analyses demonstrated that only family support for learning continued to contribute statistically significant, unique variance to the global life satisfaction reports at Time 2. The results suggest that school-related experiences, especially family-school interactions, spill over into adolescents' overall evaluations of their lives at a time when direct parental involvement in schooling and adolescents' global life satisfaction are generally declining. Recommendations for future research and educational policies and practices are discussed. © 2013 American Orthopsychiatric Association.

[The impact of technology in Pathological Anatomy and the contribution of this speciality to technological development].

PubMed

Puras-Gil, A M; López-Cousillas, A

1999-01-01

It is obvious that technology has contributed throughout history to the development of the different sciences. In this article, we define the concept of Pathology as a medical speciality, and we explain its influence in a hospital, considering very different fields such as education, research, quality control, hospital information, and patient care. This speciality has undergone a considerable evolution, to which technological innovation has undoubtedly contributed. As a basic discipline, it is of great importance in pre and post-graduate training, in the medical education at the hospital or outside it, and in the fields previously mentioned. Its relation with other disciplines such us Chemistry, (fixation and dyeing), Physics (mechanical devices), Mathematics (algorithms, morphometry, statistics...) and Telecommunications (telepathology, image analysis...) is examined and their contribution to Pathology is evaluated. We are also aware of contributions made by Pathology to technological innovation in the evaluation of different diagnostic methods or in the recent therapeutic technologies based on Radiotherapy, Hyperthermia, laser, prothesis, etc.; where histological examination provides accurate information about the therapeutic capacity or side-effects, or the rejection reactions caused, aiding the research to obtain adequate results.

Age-Related Differences in Contribution of Rule-Based Thinking toward Moral Evaluations.

PubMed

Caravita, Simona C S; De Silva, Lindamulage N; Pagani, Vera; Colombo, Barbara; Antonietti, Alessandro

2017-01-01

This study aims to investigate the interplay of different criteria of moral evaluation, related to the type of the rule and context characteristics, in moral reasoning of children, early, and late adolescents. Students attending to fourth, seventh, and tenth grade were asked to evaluate the acceptability of rule breaking actions using ad hoc scenarios. Results suggest that the role of different moral evaluation criteria changes by age. During adolescence a greater integration of the moral criteria emerged. Moreover, adolescents also prioritized the evaluation of moral rule (forbidding to harm others) violations as non-acceptable when the perpetrator harms an innocent victim by applying a direct personal force. The relevance of these findings to increase the understanding of how moral reasoning changes by age for the assessment of impairments in moral reasoning of non-normative groups is also discussed.

BUZZARDS BAY EMBAYMENTS, BAYWATCHERS II: NUTRIENT RELATED WATER QUALITY 1992-1998

EPA Science Inventory

Since 1992, the Buzzards Bay Citizens' Water Quality Monitoring Program, known as "Baywatchers", has been monitoring and evaluating bay water quality and particularly the impacts of nitrogen loading. More than 300 dedicated citizen volunteers have contributed to the effort, sampl...

ALIEN SPECIES: THEIR ROLE IN AMPHIBIAN POPULATION DECLINES AND RESTORATION

EPA Science Inventory

Alien species (also referred to as exotic, invasive, introduced, or normative species) have been implicated as causal agents in population declines of many amphibian species. Herein, we evaluate the relative contributions of alien species and other factors in adversely affecting ...

Utilization of Offender Case Information by "Lenient" vs. "Punitive" Clinicians

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holland, Terrill R.; Holt, Norman

1978-01-01

Presentence evaluations conducted by psychologists and psychiatrists (clinicians) and correctional counselors (caseworkers) were subjected to multiple regression analyses in order to specify the relative contribution of inmate characteristics (offense severity and recidivism probability) and decision-maker response biases to sentencing…

Contributions of dysglycemia, obesity and insulin resistance to impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation in humans

PubMed Central

Han, KA; Patel, Y; Lteif, AA; Chisholm, R; Mather, KJ

2011-01-01

Background Individual effects of hyperglycemia and obesity to impair vascular health are recognized. However, the relative contributions of dysglycemia versus other obesity-related traits to vascular dysfunction have not been systematically evaluated. Methods We undertook a cross-sectional evaluation of factors contributing to vascular function in 271 consecutive subjects, categorized as non-obese normal glucose tolerant (n=115), non-obese dysglycemic (n=32), obese normal glucose tolerant (n=57), obese dysglycemic (n=38), or type 2 diabetic (n=29). Vascular function was measured invasively as leg blood flow responses to methacholine chloride, an endothelium-dependent vasodilator. Categorical and continuous analyses were used to assess the contributions of hyperglycemia to vascular dysfunction. Results Even among normoglycemic subjects, obese subjects had impaired vascular function compared to non-obese subjects (p=0.004). Vascular function was also impaired in non-obese dysglycemic subjects (p=0.04 versus non-obese normoglycemic subjects), to a level comparable to normoglycemic obese subjects. Within obese subject groups, gradations of dysglycemia including the presence of diabetes were not associated with further worsening of these vascular responses beyond the effect of obesity alone (p=NS comparing all obese groups, p<0.001 versus lean normoglycemic subjects). In univariate and multivariable modeling analyses we found that effects of glycemia were less powerful than effects of insulin resistance and obesity on vascular dysfunction. Conclusions Dysglycemia contributes to impaired vascular function in non-obese subjects, but obesity and insulin resistance are more important determinants of vascular function in obese and diabetic subjects. PMID:21309061

Stump sprouting potential of oaks in Missouri Ozark forests managed by even- and uneven-aged silviculture

Treesearch

Daniel C. Dey; Randy G. Jensen

2002-01-01

We evaluated the stump sprouting potential of white oak, black oak, and scarlet oak in relation to tree age, stem diameter, and overstory density in Ozark forests managed by even-aged and uneven-aged silvicultural systems. In eastern North America, few studies have evaluated the influence of a forest canopy on the potential of hardwood stumps to sprout and contribute...

Maintenance of Social Anxiety in Stuttering: A Cognitive-Behavioral Model.

PubMed

Iverach, Lisa; Rapee, Ronald M; Wong, Quincy J J; Lowe, Robyn

2017-05-17

Stuttering is a speech disorder frequently accompanied by anxiety in social-evaluative situations. A growing body of research has confirmed a significant rate of social anxiety disorder among adults who stutter. Social anxiety disorder is a chronic and disabling anxiety disorder associated with substantial life impairment. Several influential models have described cognitive-behavioral factors that contribute to the maintenance of social anxiety in nonstuttering populations. The purpose of the present article is to apply these leading models to the experience of social anxiety for people who stutter. Components from existing models were applied to stuttering in order to determine cognitive-behavioral processes that occur before, during, and after social-evaluative situations, which may increase the likelihood of stuttering-related social fears persisting. Maintenance of social anxiety in stuttering may be influenced by a host of interrelated factors, including fear of negative evaluation, negative social-evaluative cognitions, attentional biases, self-focused attention, safety behaviors, and anticipatory and postevent processing. Given the chronic nature of social anxiety disorder, identifying factors that contribute to the persistence of stuttering-related social fears has the potential to inform clinical practice and the development of psychological treatment programs to address the speech and psychological needs of people who stutter with social anxiety.

Study of passenger subjective response to ideal and real-vehicle vibration environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirby, R. H.; Mikulka, P. J.

1975-01-01

The stimulus received by subjects tested on the passenger ride quality apparatus (PRQA) is defined. Additional analyses on the data collected from field tests using buses, were conducted to assess the relation between subjective ratings of ride quality and vibrations measured on the buses, and to better define the vibration stimulus measured in the field. The relation of subjective evaluation of simulations of bus rides produced by the DRQA to subjective evaluations of the actual bus rides is discussed. The relative contribution of the seat and floor vibration to human comfort in a simulated aircraft ride environment is discussed along with the determination of equal comfort curves through magnitude estimation.

Little-known aspect of Theodor Billroth's work: his contribution to musical theory.

PubMed

McLaren, N; Thorbeck, R V

1997-06-01

Theodor Billroth's contribution to musical theory is discussed and evaluated. Billroth was a close friend of the composer Johannes Brahms and was himself extremely musical. At his death he left the manuscript of a book on musical theory, Wer ist-Musikalisch?, which had gone through four editions by 1912. In it he attempted to answer important questions on the nature of sound perception, the importance of rhythm as a fundamental element in music, the relation of pitch, tone, and volume, and the ways in which to account for the affective power of music. This article outlines the main concepts, contributions, and opinions offered by Billroth.

Relational responsibilities in responsive evaluation.

PubMed

Visse, Merel; Abma, Tineke A; Widdershoven, Guy A M

2012-02-01

This article explores how we can enhance our understanding of the moral responsibilities in daily, plural practices of responsive evaluation. It introduces an interpretive framework for understanding the moral aspects of evaluation practice. The framework supports responsive evaluators to better understand and handle their moral responsibilities. A case is introduced to illustrate our argument. Responsive evaluation contributes to the design and implementation of policy by working with stakeholders and coordinating the evaluation process as a relationally responsible practice. Responsive evaluation entails a democratic process in which the evaluator fosters and enters a partnership with stakeholders. The responsibilities of an evaluator generally involve issues such as 'confidentiality', 'accountability' and 'privacy'. The responsive evaluator has specific responsibilities, for example to include stakeholders and vulnerable groups and to foster an ongoing dialogue. In addition, responsive evaluation involves a relational responsibility, which becomes present in daily situations in which stakeholders express expectations and voice demands. In our everyday work as evaluators, it is difficult to respond to all these demands at the same time. In addition, this article demonstrates that novice evaluators experience challenges concerning over- and underidenfitication with stakeholders. Guidelines and quality criteria on how to act are helpful, but need interpretation and application to the unique situation at hand. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Does the Component Processes Task Assess Text-Based Inferences Important for Reading Comprehension? A Path Analysis in Primary School Children

PubMed Central

Wassenburg, Stephanie I.; de Koning, Björn B.; de Vries, Meinou H.; van der Schoot, Menno

2016-01-01

Using a component processes task (CPT) that differentiates between higher-level cognitive processes of reading comprehension provides important advantages over commonly used general reading comprehension assessments. The present study contributes to further development of the CPT by evaluating the relative contributions of its components (text memory, text inferencing, and knowledge integration) and working memory to general reading comprehension within a single study using path analyses. Participants were 173 third- and fourth-grade children. As hypothesized, knowledge integration was the only component of the CPT that directly contributed to reading comprehension, indicating that the text-inferencing component did not assess inferential processes related to reading comprehension. Working memory was a significant predictor of reading comprehension over and above the component processes. Future research should focus on finding ways to ensure that the text-inferencing component taps into processes important for reading comprehension. PMID:27378989

Mainstreaming and the Minority Child.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Reginald L., Ed.

Provided are 16 author-contributed papers dealing with theoretical questions and practical concerns relating to the effect of mainstreaming on the minority child. The text is divided into five parts: overview and perspectives, educational assessment for mainstream placement, curriculum issues and teaching strategies, evaluation and research, and…

Suspended-sediment sources in an urban watershed, Northeast Branch Anacostia River, Maryland

USGS Publications Warehouse

Devereux, Olivia H.; Prestegaard, Karen L.; Needelman, Brian A.; Gellis, Allen C.

2010-01-01

Fine sediment sources were characterized by chemical composition in an urban watershed, the Northeast Branch Anacostia River, which drains to the Chesapeake Bay. Concentrations of 63 elements and two radionuclides were measured in possible land-based sediment sources and suspended sediment collected from the water column at the watershed outlet during storm events. These tracer concentrations were used to determine the relative quantity of suspended sediment contributed by each source. Although this is an urbanized watershed, there was not a distinct urban signature that can be evaluated except for the contributions from road surfaces. We identified the sources of fine sediment by both physiographic province (Piedmont and Coastal Plain) and source locale (streambanks, upland and street residue) by using different sets of elemental tracers. The Piedmont contributed the majority of the fine sediment for seven of the eight measured storms. The streambanks contributed the greatest quantity of fine sediment when evaluated by source locale. Street residue contributed 13% of the total suspended sediment on average and was the source most concentrated in anthropogenically enriched elements. Combining results from the source locale and physiographic province analyses, most fine sediment in the Northeast Branch watershed is derived from streambanks that contain sediment eroded from the Piedmont physiographic province of the watershed. Sediment fingerprinting analyses are most useful when longer term evaluations of sediment erosion and storage are also available from streambank-erosion measurements, sediment budget and other methods.

How much does participatory flood management contribute to stakeholders' social capacity building? Empirical findings based on a triangulation of three evaluation approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buchecker, M.; Menzel, S.; Home, R.

2013-06-01

Recent literature suggests that dialogic forms of risk communication are more effective to build stakeholders' hazard-related social capacities. In spite of the high theoretical expectations, there is a lack of univocal empirical evidence on the relevance of these effects. This is mainly due to the methodological limitations of the existing evaluation approaches. In our paper we aim at eliciting the contribution of participatory river revitalisation projects on stakeholders' social capacity building by triangulating the findings of three evaluation studies that were based on different approaches: a field-experimental, a qualitative long-term ex-post and a cross-sectional household survey approach. The results revealed that social learning and avoiding the loss of trust were more relevant benefits of participatory flood management than acceptance building. The results suggest that stakeholder involvements should be more explicitly designed as tools for long-term social learning.

Using Computer Simulations for Promoting Model-based Reasoning. Epistemological and Educational Dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Develaki, Maria

2017-11-01

Scientific reasoning is particularly pertinent to science education since it is closely related to the content and methodologies of science and contributes to scientific literacy. Much of the research in science education investigates the appropriate framework and teaching methods and tools needed to promote students' ability to reason and evaluate in a scientific way. This paper aims (a) to contribute to an extended understanding of the nature and pedagogical importance of model-based reasoning and (b) to exemplify how using computer simulations can support students' model-based reasoning. We provide first a background for both scientific reasoning and computer simulations, based on the relevant philosophical views and the related educational discussion. This background suggests that the model-based framework provides an epistemologically valid and pedagogically appropriate basis for teaching scientific reasoning and for helping students develop sounder reasoning and decision-taking abilities and explains how using computer simulations can foster these abilities. We then provide some examples illustrating the use of computer simulations to support model-based reasoning and evaluation activities in the classroom. The examples reflect the procedure and criteria for evaluating models in science and demonstrate the educational advantages of their application in classroom reasoning activities.

Assessing physician/patient relationships in the presence of HIV/AIDS: an exploratory study.

PubMed

Taylor, S A; Madrigal, C

1998-01-01

The following study investigates the nature of the relationship between physicians and HIV/AIDS patients within the context of the rapidly evolving services/relationship marketing literatures. The emerging evidence suggests that service providers generally play a critical role in the development of positive consumer attitudes and behaviors, and that relationship marketing practices can contribute to the delivery of health services. However, to date, there appears little evidence supporting the efficacy of employing relationship marketing practices in relation to a target market of HIV/AIDS patients. This exploratory study contributes to the body of knowledge by more closely investigating the nature of the patient-physician relationship relative to HIV/AIDS patients' attitudes, marketing-related behaviors, and overall quality-of-life/life satisfaction judgments. The results of this study first suggest that HIV/AIDS patients use the expectancy disconfirmation model when evaluating the performance of their physician. A reliance on expectancy disconfirmation suggests the likely prevalent role of service quality perceptions and satisfaction judgments in evaluating their relationship with their physician. Second, the results appear to support the conclusion that the patient's evaluation of their physician relationship and subsequent behaviors (e.g., word-of-mouth) are directly related to the patient's general perception of received health services. Thus, the patient/physician relationship may play a particularly powerful role in determining patient (marketing related) outcomes relative to other health service settings. Third, a direct influence is supported between negative affective reactions by patients and subsequent outcome behaviors. This finding lends support for the potential efficacy of service recovery efforts when rendering treatment to HIV/AIDS patients. Finally, evidence is presented demonstrating the effect of positive perceptions of the patient/provider relationship on these patients' overall evaluation of their quality-of-life/life satisfaction. The managerial and research implications of this study are presented and discussed.

EVALUATED NUCLEAR STRUCTURE DATA FILE AND RELATED PRODUCTS.

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

TULI,J.K.

The Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF) is a leading resource for the experimental nuclear data. It is maintained and distributed by the National Nuclear Data Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory. The file is mainly contributed to by an international network of evaluators under the auspice of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The ENSDF is updated, generally by mass number, i.e., evaluating together all isobars for a given mass number. If, however, experimental activity in an isobaric chain is limited to a particular nuclide then only that nuclide is updated. The evaluations are published in the journal Nuclear Data Sheets, Academicmore » Press, a division of Elsevier.« less

Age-Related Differences in Contribution of Rule-Based Thinking toward Moral Evaluations

PubMed Central

Caravita, Simona C. S.; De Silva, Lindamulage N.; Pagani, Vera; Colombo, Barbara; Antonietti, Alessandro

2017-01-01

This study aims to investigate the interplay of different criteria of moral evaluation, related to the type of the rule and context characteristics, in moral reasoning of children, early, and late adolescents. Students attending to fourth, seventh, and tenth grade were asked to evaluate the acceptability of rule breaking actions using ad hoc scenarios. Results suggest that the role of different moral evaluation criteria changes by age. During adolescence a greater integration of the moral criteria emerged. Moreover, adolescents also prioritized the evaluation of moral rule (forbidding to harm others) violations as non-acceptable when the perpetrator harms an innocent victim by applying a direct personal force. The relevance of these findings to increase the understanding of how moral reasoning changes by age for the assessment of impairments in moral reasoning of non-normative groups is also discussed. PMID:28473788

Exploring the role of parent training in the treatment of childhood anxiety.

PubMed

Khanna, Muniya S; Kendall, Philip C

2009-10-01

Data from a randomized clinical trial comparing the relative efficacy of individual cognitive-behavioral therapy (ICBT), family CBT (FCBT), and a family-based education/support/attention control (FESA) condition were used to examine associations between in-session therapeutic techniques related to parent training (PT) and treatment outcomes. This study explored the extent to which therapists' use of PT techniques, specifically (a) parental anxiety management, (b) transfer of control from therapist to parent to child over child's coping, (c) communication skills training, and (d) contingency management training, contributed to treatment outcome in family-based CBT. Children (N = 53; 31 males; 7.8-13.8 years of age; M = 10.1 years, SD = 2.3; 85% Caucasian, 9% African American, 4% Asian, 2% "other" background) with a principal anxiety disorder completed 16 sessions of CBT with their parents. The relative contributions of PT components on treatment outcome were evaluated. As hypothesized, both transfer-of-control and parental anxiety management techniques significantly contributed to improvement on clinician and parent ratings of child global functioning within FCBT. PT did not significantly contribute to improvement on measures of child anxiety. These preliminary findings suggest that when FCBT is conducted for child anxiety, PT (i.e., transfer-of-control and parental anxiety management techniques) may contribute to improvements in the child's global functioning. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Modelling winter organic aerosol at the European scale with CAMx: evaluation and source apportionment with a VBS parameterization based on novel wood burning smog chamber experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciarelli, Giancarlo; Aksoyoglu, Sebnem; El Haddad, Imad; Bruns, Emily A.; Crippa, Monica; Poulain, Laurent; Äijälä, Mikko; Carbone, Samara; Freney, Evelyn; O'Dowd, Colin; Baltensperger, Urs; Prévôt, André S. H.

2017-06-01

We evaluated a modified VBS (volatility basis set) scheme to treat biomass-burning-like organic aerosol (BBOA) implemented in CAMx (Comprehensive Air Quality Model with extensions). The updated scheme was parameterized with novel wood combustion smog chamber experiments using a hybrid VBS framework which accounts for a mixture of wood burning organic aerosol precursors and their further functionalization and fragmentation in the atmosphere. The new scheme was evaluated for one of the winter EMEP intensive campaigns (February-March 2009) against aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) measurements performed at 11 sites in Europe. We found a considerable improvement for the modelled organic aerosol (OA) mass compared to our previous model application with the mean fractional bias (MFB) reduced from -61 to -29 %. We performed model-based source apportionment studies and compared results against positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis performed on OA AMS data. Both model and observations suggest that OA was mainly of secondary origin at almost all sites. Modelled secondary organic aerosol (SOA) contributions to total OA varied from 32 to 88 % (with an average contribution of 62 %) and absolute concentrations were generally under-predicted. Modelled primary hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol (HOA) and primary biomass-burning-like aerosol (BBPOA) fractions contributed to a lesser extent (HOA from 3 to 30 %, and BBPOA from 1 to 39 %) with average contributions of 13 and 25 %, respectively. Modelled BBPOA fractions were found to represent 12 to 64 % of the total residential-heating-related OA, with increasing contributions at stations located in the northern part of the domain. Source apportionment studies were performed to assess the contribution of residential and non-residential combustion precursors to the total SOA. Non-residential combustion and road transportation sector contributed about 30-40 % to SOA formation (with increasing contributions at urban and near industrialized sites), whereas residential combustion (mainly related to wood burning) contributed to a larger extent, around 60-70 %. Contributions to OA from residential combustion precursors in different volatility ranges were also assessed: our results indicate that residential combustion gas-phase precursors in the semivolatile range (SVOC) contributed from 6 to 30 %, with higher contributions predicted at stations located in the southern part of the domain. On the other hand, the oxidation products of higher-volatility precursors (the sum of intermediate-volatility compounds (IVOCs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)) contribute from 15 to 38 % with no specific gradient among the stations. Although the new parameterization leads to a better agreement between model results and observations, it still under-predicts the SOA fraction, suggesting that uncertainties in the new scheme and other sources and/or formation mechanisms remain to be elucidated. Moreover, a more detailed characterization of the semivolatile components of the emissions is needed.

Computerized Online Bibliographic Searching. SPEC Kit #154.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hocker, Susan

For this kit, 106 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) academic libraries were surveyed concerning: (1) current administration/organization; (2) evaluation; (3) patron relations; (4) services; and (5) the impact of online searching on collections. Responses were received from 83 libraries, many of which contributed sample materials. Analyses of…

Assessing critical habitat: Evaluating the relative contribution of habitats to population persistence

EPA Science Inventory

1. A principal challenge of species conservation is to identify the specific habitats that are essential for long-term persistence or recovery of species at risk. However, many commonly used approaches to identifying important habitats do not provide direct insight into the contr...

ARE ALL ARSENIC EXPOSURES TOXIC? SUPPORTING REGIONAL RISK ASSESSMENTS THROUGH IMPROVED ARSENIC SPECIATION METHODOLOGY

EPA Science Inventory

Arsenic exposure assessments require the evaluation of the relative contribution of both media (water, food, etc.) and routes of exposure (ingestion, inhalation, dermal). For arsenic, the important media are predominately water and food and therefore, the route of concern for ...

Global health diplomacy, national integration, and regional development through the monitoring and evaluation of HIV/AIDS programs in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and Samoa.

PubMed

Kevany, Sebastian; Gildea, Amy; Garae, Caleb; Moa, Serafi; Lautusi, Avaia

2015-04-27

The South Pacific countries of Vanuatu, Samoa, and Papua New Guinea have ascended rapidly up the development spectrum in recent years, refining an independent and post-colonial economic and political identity that enhances their recognition on the world stage. All three countries have overcome economic, political and public health challenges in order to stake their claim to sovereignty. In this regard, the contributions of national and international programs for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS, with specific reference to their monitoring and evaluation (M&E) aspects, have contributed not just to public health, but also to broader political and diplomatic goals such as 'nation-building'. This perspective describes the specific contributions of global health programs to the pursuit of national integration, development, and regional international relations, in Vanuatu, Samoa and Papua New Guinea, respectively, based on in-country M&E activities on behalf of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) during 2014 and 2015. Key findings include: (1) that global health programs contribute to non-health goals; (2) that HIV/AIDS programs promote international relations, decentralized development, and internal unity; (3) that arguments in favour of the maintenance and augmentation of global health funding may be enhanced on this basis; and (4) that "smart" global health approaches have been successful in South Pacific countries. © 2015 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Modeling spray drift and runoff-related inputs of pesticides to receiving water.

PubMed

Zhang, Xuyang; Luo, Yuzhou; Goh, Kean S

2018-03-01

Pesticides move to surface water via various pathways including surface runoff, spray drift and subsurface flow. Little is known about the relative contributions of surface runoff and spray drift in agricultural watersheds. This study develops a modeling framework to address the contribution of spray drift to the total loadings of pesticides in receiving water bodies. The modeling framework consists of a GIS module for identifying drift potential, the AgDRIFT model for simulating spray drift, and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for simulating various hydrological and landscape processes including surface runoff and transport of pesticides. The modeling framework was applied on the Orestimba Creek Watershed, California. Monitoring data collected from daily samples were used for model evaluation. Pesticide mass deposition on the Orestimba Creek ranged from 0.08 to 6.09% of applied mass. Monitoring data suggests that surface runoff was the major pathway for pesticide entering water bodies, accounting for 76% of the annual loading; the rest 24% from spray drift. The results from the modeling framework showed 81 and 19%, respectively, for runoff and spray drift. Spray drift contributed over half of the mass loading during summer months. The slightly lower spray drift contribution as predicted by the modeling framework was mainly due to SWAT's under-prediction of pesticide mass loading during summer and over-prediction of the loading during winter. Although model simulations were associated with various sources of uncertainties, the overall performance of the modeling framework was satisfactory as evaluated by multiple statistics: for simulation of daily flow, the Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency Coefficient (NSE) ranged from 0.61 to 0.74 and the percent bias (PBIAS) < 28%; for daily pesticide loading, NSE = 0.18 and PBIAS = -1.6%. This modeling framework will be useful for assessing the relative exposure from pesticides related to spray drift and runoff in receiving waters and the design of management practices for mitigating pesticide exposure within a watershed. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Female reproductive disorders: the roles of endocrine-disrupting compounds and developmental timing

PubMed Central

Crain, D. Andrew; Janssen, Sarah J.; Edwards, Thea M.; Heindel, Jerrold; Ho, Shuk-mei; Hunt, Patricia; Iguchi, Taisen; Juul, Anders; McLachlan, John A.; Schwartz, Jackie; Skakkebaek, Niels; Soto, Ana M.; Swan, Shanna; Walker, Cheryl; Woodruff, Teresa K.; Woodruff, Tracey J.; Giudice, Linda C.; Guillette, Louis J.

2014-01-01

Objective To evaluate the possible role of endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) on female reproductive disorders emphasizing developmental plasticity and the complexity of endocrine-dependent ontogeny of reproductive organs. Declining conception rates and the high incidence of female reproductive disruptions warrant evaluation of the impact of EDCs on female reproductive health. Design Publications related to the contribution of EDCs to disorders of the ovary (aneuploidy, polycystic ovary syndrome, and altered cyclicity), uterus (endometriosis, uterine fibroids, fetal growth restriction, and pregnancy loss), breast (breast cancer, reduced duration of lactation), and pubertal timing were identified, reviewed, and summarized at a workshop. Conclusion(s) The data reviewed illustrate that EDCs contribute to numerous human female reproductive disorders and emphasize the sensitivity of early life-stage exposures. Many research gaps are identified that limit full understanding of the contribution of EDCs to female reproductive problems. Moreover, there is an urgent need to reduce the incidence of these reproductive disorders, which can be addressed by correlative studies on early life exposure and adult reproductive dysfunction together with tools to assess the specific exposures and methods to block their effects. This review of the EDC literature as it relates to female health provides an important platform on which women’s health can be improved. PMID:18929049

Measuring physical activity environments: a brief history.

PubMed

Sallis, James F

2009-04-01

Physical activity is usually done in specific types of places, referred to as physical activity environments. These often include parks, trails, fitness centers, schools, and streets. In recent years, scientific interest has increased notably in measuring physical activity environments. The present paper provides an historical overview of the contributions of the health, planning, and leisure studies fields to the development of contemporary measures. The emphasis is on attributes of the built environment that can be affected by policies to contribute to the promotion of physical activity. Researchers from health fields assessed a wide variety of built environment variables expected to be related to recreational physical activity. Settings of interest were schools, workplaces, and recreation facilities, and most early measures used direct observation methods with demonstrated inter-observer reliability. Investigators from the city planning field evaluated aspects of community design expected to be related to people's ability to walk from homes to destinations. GIS was used to assess walkability defined by the 3Ds of residential density, land-use diversity, and pedestrian-oriented designs. Evaluating measures for reliability or validity was rarely done in the planning-related fields. Researchers in the leisure studies and recreation fields studied mainly people's use of leisure time rather than physical characteristics of parks and other recreation facilities. Although few measures of physical activity environments were developed, measures of aesthetic qualities are available. Each of these fields made unique contributions to the contemporary methods used to assess physical activity environments.

Contributing risk factors for orthopedic device related infections in sina hospital, tehran, iran.

PubMed

Hadadi, A; Zehtab, M J; Babagolzadeh, H; Ashraf, H

2011-02-01

In spite of decreasing incidence of orthopedic device-related infections to 1%, nowadays, device-related infection still remains a diagnostic, therapeutic and cost-related problem. The objective of this study is to evaluate the contributing risk factors for orthopedic device-related infections in Sina Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Three hundred and thirty patients who underwent orthopedic device implantation from 2002-2006 were enrolled; among them, 110 patients were complicated with infection. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the risk factors for device related infections. Patients with infection were older compared to those without infection. The Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest organism. A correlation was observed between wound infection and external fixation, an underlying health condition, and addiction which were independent risk factors for a device related infection. Orthopedic device-related infection puts a great financial burden on patients and hospital resources and could lead to morbidity and mortality in patients. So, appropriate pre and postoperative wound care for dirty wounds, especially when external fixators are used, and in patients with poor conditions or addiction should be done with more caution.

The relative contribution of climate variability and vector control coverage to changes in malaria parasite prevalence in Zambia 2006-2012.

PubMed

Bennett, Adam; Yukich, Josh; Miller, John M; Keating, Joseph; Moonga, Hawela; Hamainza, Busiku; Kamuliwo, Mulakwa; Andrade-Pacheco, Ricardo; Vounatsou, Penelope; Steketee, Richard W; Eisele, Thomas P

2016-08-05

Four malaria indicator surveys (MIS) were conducted in Zambia between 2006 and 2012 to evaluate malaria control scale-up. Nationally, coverage of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) increased over this period, while parasite prevalence in children 1-59 months decreased dramatically between 2006 and 2008, but then increased from 2008 to 2010. We assessed the relative effects of vector control coverage and climate variability on malaria parasite prevalence over this period. Nationally-representative MISs were conducted in April-June of 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012 to collect household-level information on malaria control interventions such as IRS, ITN ownership and use, and child parasite prevalence by microscopic examination of blood smears. We fitted Bayesian geostatistical models to assess the association between IRS and ITN coverage and climate variability and malaria parasite prevalence. We created predictions of the spatial distribution of malaria prevalence at each time point and compared results of varying IRS, ITN, and climate inputs to assess their relative contributions to changes in prevalence. Nationally, the proportion of households owning an ITN increased from 37.8 % in 2006 to 64.3 % in 2010 and 68.1 % in 2012, with substantial heterogeneity sub-nationally. The population-adjusted predicted child malaria parasite prevalence decreased from 19.6 % in 2006 to 10.4 % in 2008, but rose to 15.3 % in 2010 and 13.5 % in 2012. We estimated that the majority of this prevalence increase at the national level between 2008 and 2010 was due to climate effects on transmission, although there was substantial heterogeneity at the provincial level in the relative contribution of changing climate and ITN availability. We predict that if climate factors preceding the 2010 survey were the same as in 2008, the population-adjusted prevalence would have fallen to 9.9 % nationally. These results suggest that a combination of climate factors and reduced intervention coverage in parts of the country contributed to both the reduction and rebound in malaria parasite prevalence. Unusual rainfall patterns, perhaps related to moderate El Niño conditions, may have contributed to this variation. Zambia has demonstrated considerable success in scaling up vector control. This analysis highlights the importance of accounting for climate variability when using cross-sectional data for evaluation of malaria control efforts.

Tumor cells versus host immune cells: whose PD-L1 contributes to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade mediated cancer immunotherapy?

PubMed

Tang, Fei; Zheng, Pan

2018-01-01

Antibody blockade of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway has elicited durable antitumor responses in the therapy of a broad spectrum of cancers. PD-L1 is constitutively expressed in certain tumors and host immune cells, and its expression can be induced or maintained by many factors. The expression of PD-L1 on tumor tissues has been reported to be positively correlated with the efficacy of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy in patients. However, multiple clinical trials indicate that patients with PD-L1-negative tumors also respond to this blockade therapy, which suggests the potential contribution of PD-L1 from host immune cells. Recently, six articles independently evaluated and verified the contributions of PD-L1 from tumor versus non-tumor cells in various mouse tumor models. These studies confirmed that PD-L1 on either tumor cells or host immune cells contributes to tumor escape, and the relative contributions of PD-L1 on these cells seem to be context-dependent. While both tumor- and host-derived PD-L1 can play critical roles in immune suppression, differences in tumor immunogenicity appear to underlie their relative importance. Notably, these reports highlight the essential roles of PD-L1 from host myeloid cells in negatively regulating T cell activation and limiting T cell trafficking. Therefore, comprehensive evaluating the global PD-L1 expression, rather than monitoring PD-L1 expression on tumor cells alone, should be a more accurate way for predicting responses in PD-1/PD-L1 blockade therapy in cancer patients.

Contribution of lifetime smoking habit in France and Northern Ireland to country and socioeconomic differentials in mortality and cardiovascular incidence: the PRIME Study.

PubMed

Yarnell, J W G; Patterson, C C; Arveiler, D; Amouyel, P; Ferrières, J; Woodside, J V; Haas, B; Montaye, M; Ruidavets, J B; Kee, F; Evans, A; Bingham, A; Ducimetière, P

2012-07-01

This study examines the contribution of lifetime smoking habit to the socioeconomic gradient in all-cause and smoking-related mortality and in cardiovascular incidence in two countries. 10,600 men aged 50-59 years were examined in 1991-4 in centres in Northern Ireland and France and followed annually for 10 years. Deaths and cardiovascular events were documented. Current smoking habit, lifetime smoking (pack-years) and other health behaviours were evaluated at baseline. As socio-occupational coding schemes differ between the countries seven proxy socioeconomic indicators were used. Lifetime smoking habit showed marked associations with most socioeconomic indicators in both countries, but lifetime smoking was more than 10 pack-years greater overall in Northern Ireland and smoking patterns differed. Total mortality was 49% higher in Northern Ireland than in France, and smoking-related mortality and cardiovascular incidence were 93% and 92% higher, respectively. Both lifetime smoking and fibrinogen contributed independently to these differentials, but together explained only 42% of the difference in total mortality between countries, adjusted for both biological and lifestyle confounders. Socioeconomic gradients were steeper for total and smoking-related mortality than for cardiovascular incidence. Residual contributions of lifetime smoking habit ranged from 6% to 34% for the seven proxy indicators of socioeconomic position for total and smoking-related mortality. Socioeconomic gradients in cardiovascular incidence were minimal following adjustment for confounders. In Northern Ireland and France lifetime smoking appeared to explain a significant part of the gradients in total and smoking-related mortality between socioeconomic groups, but the contribution of smoking was generally small for cardiovascular incidence.

Doug Kirby's Contribution to the Field of Sex Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kantor, Leslie M.; Rolleri, Lori; Kolios, Katherine

2014-01-01

Doug Kirby transformed the field of sex education by conducting rigorous research that led to new, critical insights about ways to strengthen programmes, evaluation and policies related to sexual health throughout the world. Throughout his career, Kirby was meticulous in compiling evidence and translating findings into actionable recommendations…

Designing IS Curricula for Practical Relevance: Applying Baseball's "Moneyball" Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Surendra, Nanda C.; Denton, James W.

2009-01-01

Baseball's "Moneyball" theory states that the baseball market undervalues some attributes (and players with these attributes) that are key contributors to wins while overvaluing other attributes. Teams who correctly evaluate attributes that contribute to wins have higher winning percentages with relatively low payrolls. We applied the Moneyball…

Evaluation of Orthodontic Education by Recent Graduates.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brin, Ilana; Ben-Bassat, Yocheved

1990-01-01

A survey of 138 Hebrew University Hadassah School of Dental Medicine graduates gathered information on demographic characteristics, assessment of the adequacy of time devoted to each subject taught in the orthodontic curriculum, the relative contribution of the program to daily professional activities, and practice styles. Results are reported and…

STABLE CARBON ISOTOPE RATIO AND COMPOSITION OF MICROBIAL FATTY ACIDS IN TROPICAL SOILS

EPA Science Inventory

The soil microbial community plays a critical part in tropical ecosystem functioning through its role in the soil organic matter (SOM) cycle. This study evaluates the relative effects of soil type and land use on: (1) soil microbial community structure and (2) the contribution o...

Mistaken Evaluation: The School Psychologist or the Case Law?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zirkel, Perry A.

2012-01-01

Given their pivotal position, school psychologists have understandable concerns about the possibility of becoming the target of the relatively frequent legal proceedings under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Indeed, the threat of litigation can contribute to a flight from the profession (Lange, 2011). Yet, an informal…

Improving Teachers' In-Service Professional Development in Mathematics and Science: The Role of Postsecondary Institutions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Desimone Laura; Garet, Michael S.; Birman, Beatrice F.; Porter, Andrew; Yoon, Kwang Suk

2003-01-01

As part of national evaluation of Eisenhower Professional Development Program, examines management and implementation strategies contributing to high-quality inservice teacher professional development in mathematics and science. Finds higher quality professional development is related to management and implementation strategies such as continuous…

A "Scientific Diversity" Intervention to Reduce Gender Bias in a Sample of Life Scientists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moss-Racusin, Corinne A.; van der Toorn, Jojanneke; Dovidio, John F.; Brescoll, Victoria L.; Graham, Mark J.; Handelsman, Jo

2016-01-01

Mounting experimental evidence suggests that subtle gender biases favoring men contribute to the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), including many subfields of the life sciences. However, there are relatively few evaluations of diversity interventions designed to reduce gender biases within…

Delay Discounting of Reward in ADHD: Application in Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Vanessa B.; Mitchell, Suzanne H.; Musser, Erica D.; Schmitt, Colleen F.; Nigg, Joel T.

2011-01-01

Background: A key underlying process that may contribute to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) involves alterations in reward evaluation, including assessing the relative value of immediate over delayed rewards. This study examines whether children with ADHD discount the value of delayed rewards to a greater degree than typically…

Prefrontal Cortex Contributions to Episodic Retrieval Monitoring and Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cruse, Damian; Wilding, Edward L.

2009-01-01

Although the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays roles in episodic memory judgments, the specific processes it supports are not understood fully. Event-related potential (ERP) studies of episodic retrieval have revealed an electrophysiological modulation--the right-frontal ERP old/new effect--which is thought to reflect activity in PFC. The functional…

Facial Attractiveness and Self-Esteem in Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mares, Suzanne H. W.; de Leeuw, Rebecca N. H.; Scholte, Ron H. J.; Engels, Rutger C. M. E.

2010-01-01

Facial attractiveness has been associated with many (social) advantages in life, like greater popularity, acceptance, and social competence. Because social evaluations and acceptance are important factors contributing to self-esteem (SE), we hypothesized that high levels of attractiveness would be related to increased levels of SE. To test this…

The Application of Cost-Benefit Analysis in Manpower Area.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barsby, Steven L.

The relative efficiency of various manpower programs as seen through cost-benefit analysis is assessed, and the contribution that cost-benefit analysis has made in evaluating manpower programs is discussed, taking into account a variety of methodologies presented in different studies. Vocational rehabilitation appears to yield the highest…

Landmark Trials | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

The studies listed below represent the first major clinical trials to evaluate risk reduction for people at high risk of breast, prostate, lung, colorectal, ovarian, cervical, and lung cancer. Analysis of the data gathered from these large trials continues to contribute valuable understanding about related issues, including screening, patient-reported symptoms, quality of

Plasma free amino acid profiles evaluate risk of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension in a large Asian population.

PubMed

Yamaguchi, Natsu; Mahbub, M H; Takahashi, Hidekazu; Hase, Ryosuke; Ishimaru, Yasutaka; Sunagawa, Hiroshi; Amano, Hiroki; Kobayashi-Miura, Mikiko; Kanda, Hideyuki; Fujita, Yasuyuki; Yamamoto, Hiroshi; Yamamoto, Mai; Kikuchi, Shinya; Ikeda, Atsuko; Takasu, Mariko; Kageyama, Naoko; Nakamura, Mina; Tanabe, Tsuyoshi

2017-04-07

Recently, the association of plasma free amino acid (PFAA) profile and lifestyle-related diseases has been reported. However, few studies have been reported in large Asian populations, about the usefulness of PFAAs for evaluating disease risks. We examined the ability of PFAA profiles to evaluate lifestyle-related diseases in so far the largest Asian population. We examined plasma concentrations of 19 amino acids in 8589 Japanese subjects, and determined the association with variables associated with obesity, blood glucose, lipid, and blood pressure. We also evaluated the PFAA indexes that reflect visceral fat obesity and insulin resistance. The contribution of single PFAA level and relevant PFAA indexes was also examined in the risk assessment of lifestyle-related diseases. Of the 19 amino acids, branched-chain amino acids and aromatic amino acids showed association with obesity and lipid variables. The PFAA index related to visceral fat obesity showed relatively higher correlation with variables than that of any PFAA. In the evaluation of lifestyle-related disease risks, the odds ratios of the PFAA index related to visceral fat obesity or insulin resistance with the diseases were higher than most of those of individual amino acid levels even after adjusting for potential confounding factors. The association pattern of the indexes and PFAA with each lifestyle-related disease was distinct. We confirmed the usefulness of PFAA profiles and indexes as markers for evaluating the risks of lifestyle-related diseases, including diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, dyslipidemia, and hypertension in a large Asian population.

Factor contribution to fire occurrence, size, and burn probability in a subtropical coniferous forest in East China.

PubMed

Ye, Tao; Wang, Yao; Guo, Zhixing; Li, Yijia

2017-01-01

The contribution of factors including fuel type, fire-weather conditions, topography and human activity to fire regime attributes (e.g. fire occurrence, size distribution and severity) has been intensively discussed. The relative importance of those factors in explaining the burn probability (BP), which is critical in terms of fire risk management, has been insufficiently addressed. Focusing on a subtropical coniferous forest with strong human disturbance in East China, our main objective was to evaluate and compare the relative importance of fuel composition, topography, and human activity for fire occurrence, size and BP. Local BP distribution was derived with stochastic fire simulation approach using detailed historical fire data (1990-2010) and forest-resource survey results, based on which our factor contribution analysis was carried out. Our results indicated that fuel composition had the greatest relative importance in explaining fire occurrence and size, but human activity explained most of the variance in BP. This implies that the influence of human activity is amplified through the process of overlapping repeated ignition and spreading events. This result emphasizes the status of strong human disturbance in local fire processes. It further confirms the need for a holistic perspective on factor contribution to fire likelihood, rather than focusing on individual fire regime attributes, for the purpose of fire risk management.

Evaluating and redesigning teaching learning sequences at the introductory physics level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guisasola, Jenaro; Zuza, Kristina; Ametller, Jaume; Gutierrez-Berraondo, José

2017-12-01

In this paper we put forward a proposal for the design and evaluation of teaching and learning sequences in upper secondary school and university. We will connect our proposal with relevant contributions on the design of teaching sequences, ground it on the design-based research methodology, and discuss how teaching and learning sequences designed according to our proposal relate to learning progressions. An iterative methodology for evaluating and redesigning the teaching and learning sequence (TLS) is presented. The proposed assessment strategy focuses on three aspects: (a) evaluation of the activities of the TLS, (b) evaluation of learning achieved by students in relation to the intended objectives, and (c) a document for gathering the difficulties found when implementing the TLS to serve as a guide to teachers. Discussion of this guide with external teachers provides feedback used for the TLS redesign. The context of our implementation and evaluation is an innovative calculus-based physics course for first-year engineering and science degree students at the University of the Basque Country.

Subtypes of sleep problems in patients with Alzheimer disease.

PubMed

Ownby, Raymond L; Peruyera, Gloria; Acevedo, Amarilis; Loewenstein, David; Sevush, Steven

2014-02-01

Sleep disturbances are common in patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and can contribute to cognitive dysfunction and a negative impact on patients' and caregivers' quality of life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether subtypes of sleep disturbance could be identified in patients with AD and to assess the relation of these subtypes to patient characteristics and caregiver mood. As part of routine clinical assessment, primary caregivers of 344 patients with AD completed a questionnaire that included five items about the patients' sleep. Patients' cognitive and functional status and their mood were assessed as was caregivers' mood. Latent class analysis was used to define subgroups of patients based on their sleep patterns. After identification of groups of sleep disturbance, the relation of group membership to patient and caregiver characteristics was also evaluated. Analyses revealed groups with moderate and severe sleep problems as well as a group without problems. Patients with more severe sleep disturbance were older, less well educated, and had poorer cognitive and functional status. Caregiver and patient depression was related to membership in the severe group, suggesting that both may contribute to caregivers' ratings of more severe sleep disturbance, whereas only patient depression was related to membership in the moderate group. Sleep problems in patients with AD are related to poorer cognitive and functional status and patient and caregiver depression. Caregiver depression was most closely related to more severe patient sleep disturbance. Copyright © 2014 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Percentage-based Author Contribution Index: a universal measure of author contribution to scientific articles.

PubMed

Boyer, Stéphane; Ikeda, Takayoshi; Lefort, Marie-Caroline; Malumbres-Olarte, Jagoba; Schmidt, Jason M

2017-01-01

Deciphering the amount of work provided by different co-authors of a scientific paper has been a recurrent problem in science. Despite the myriad of metrics available, the scientific community still largely relies on the position in the list of authors to evaluate contributions, a metric that attributes subjective and unfounded credit to co-authors. We propose an easy to apply, universally comparable and fair metric to measure and report co-authors contribution in the scientific literature. The proposed Author Contribution Index (ACI) is based on contribution percentages provided by the authors, preferably at the time of submission. Researchers can use ACI to compare the contributions of different authors, describe the contribution profile of a particular researcher or analyse how contribution changes through time. We provide such an analysis based on contribution percentages provided by 97 scientists from the field of ecology who voluntarily responded to an online anonymous survey. ACI is simple to understand and to implement because it is based solely on percentage contributions and the number of co-authors. It provides a continuous score that reflects the contribution of one author as compared to the average contribution of all other authors. For example, ACI(i) = 3, means that author i contributed three times more than what the other authors contributed on average. Our analysis comprised 836 papers published in 2014-2016 and revealed patterns of ACI values that relate to career advancement. There are many examples of author contribution indices that have been proposed but none has really been adopted by scientific journals. Many of the proposed solutions are either too complicated, not accurate enough or not comparable across articles, authors and disciplines. The author contribution index presented here addresses these three major issues and has the potential to contribute to more transparency in the science literature. If adopted by scientific journals, it could provide job seekers, recruiters and evaluating bodies with a tool to gather information that is essential to them and cannot be easily and accurately obtained otherwise. We also suggest that scientists use the index regardless of whether it is implemented by journals or not.

Relations of surface-water quality to streamflow in the Atlantic Coastal, lower Delaware River, and Delaware Bay basins, New Jersey, water years 1976-93

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hunchak-Kariouk, Kathryn; Buxton, Debra E.; Hickman, R. Edward

1999-01-01

Relations of water quality to streamflow were determined for 18 water-quality constituents at 28 surface-water-quality stations within the drainage area of the Atlantic Coastal, lower Delaware River, and Delaware Bay Basins for water years 1976-93. Surface-water-quality and streamflow data were evaluated for trends (through time) in constituent concentrations during high and low flows, and relations between constituent concentration and streamflow, and between constituent load and streamflow, were determined. Median concentrations were calculated for the entire period of study (water years 1976-93) and for the last 5 years of the period of study (water years 1989-93) to determine whether any large variation in concentration exists between the two periods. Medians also were used to determine the seasonal Kendall\\'s tau statistic, which was then used to evaluate trends in concentrations during high and low flows. Trends in constituent concentrations during high and low flows were evaluated to determine whether the distribution of the observations changes through time for intermittent (nonpoint storm runoff) and constant (point sources and ground water) sources, respectively. High- and low-flow trends in concentrations were determined for some constituents at 26 of the 28 water-quality stations. Seasonal effects on the relations of concentration to streamflow are evident for 10 constituents at 14 or more stations. Dissolved oxygen shows seasonal dependency at all stations. Negative slopes of relations of concentration to streamflow, which indicate a decrease in concentration at high flows, predominate over positive slopes because of dilution of instream concentrations from storm runoff. The slopes of the regression lines of load to streamflow were determined in order to show the relative contributions to the instream load from constant (point sources and ground water) and intermittent sources (storm runoff). Greater slope values indicate larger contributions from storm runoff to instream load, which most likely indicate an increased relative importance of nonpoint sources. Load-to-streamflow relations along a stream reach that tend to increase in a downstream direction indicate the increased relative importance of contributions from storm runoff. Likewise, load-to-streamflow relations along a stream reach that tend to decrease in a downstream direction indicate the increased relative importance of point sources and ground-water discharge. The magnitudes of the load slopes for five constituents increase in the downstream direction along the Great Egg Harbor River, indicating an increased relative importance of storm runoff for these constituents along the river. The magnitudes of the load slopes for 11 constituents decrease in the downstream direction along the Assunpink Creek and for 5 constituents along the Maurice River, indicating a decreased relative importance of storm runoff for these constituents along the rivers.

Relative contributions of gaseous oxidized mercury and fine and coarse particle-bound mercury to mercury wet deposition at nine monitoring sites in North America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Irene; Zhang, Leiming; Mao, Huiting

2015-08-01

Relative contributions to mercury wet deposition by gaseous oxidized mercury (%GOM) and fine and coarse particle-bound mercury (%FPBM and %CPBM) were estimated making use of monitored FPBM air concentration and mercury wet deposition at nine North American locations. Scavenging ratios of particulate inorganic ions (K+ and Ca2+, Mg2+ and Na+) were used as a surrogate for those of FPBM and CPBM, respectively. FPBM and CPBM were estimated to contribute 8-36% and 5-27%, respectively, depending on the location, to total wet deposition. The rest of the 39-87% was attributed to the contribution of GOM. The average %GOM, %FPBM and %CPBM among all locations were 65%, 17%, and 18%, respectively. The relative distributions of %GOM, %FPBM, and %CPBM were influenced by Hg(II) gas-particle partitioning, urban site characteristics, and precipitation type. At the regional scale, %GOM dominated over %FPBM and %CPBM. However, the sum of FPBM and CPBM contributed to nearly half of the total Hg wet deposition in urban areas, which was greater than other site categories and is attributed to higher FPBM air concentrations. At four locations, %FPBM exceeded %GOM during winter in contrast to summer, suggesting the efficient snow scavenging of aerosols. The results from this study are useful in improving mercury transport models since most of these models do not estimate CPBM, but frequently use monitored mercury wet deposition data for model evaluation.

Tracking contributions to human body burden of environmental chemicals by correlating environmental measurements with biomarkers.

PubMed

Shin, Hyeong-Moo; McKone, Thomas E; Sohn, Michael D; Bennett, Deborah H

2014-01-01

The work addresses current knowledge gaps regarding causes for correlations between environmental and biomarker measurements and explores the underappreciated role of variability in disaggregating exposure attributes that contribute to biomarker levels. Our simulation-based study considers variability in environmental and food measurements, the relative contribution of various exposure sources (indoors and food), and the biological half-life of a compound, on the resulting correlations between biomarker and environmental measurements. For two hypothetical compounds whose half-lives are on the order of days for one and years for the other, we generate synthetic daily environmental concentrations and food exposures with different day-to-day and population variability as well as different amounts of home- and food-based exposure. Assuming that the total intake results only from home-based exposure and food ingestion, we estimate time-dependent biomarker concentrations using a one-compartment pharmacokinetic model. Box plots of modeled R2 values indicate that although the R2 correlation between wipe and biological (e.g., serum) measurements is within the same range for the two compounds, the relative contribution of the home exposure to the total exposure could differ by up to 20%, thus providing the relative indication of their contribution to body burden. The novel method introduced in this paper provides insights for evaluating scenarios or experiments where sample, exposure, and compound variability must be weighed in order to interpret associations between exposure data.

User-centered evaluation of Arizona BioPathway: an information extraction, integration, and visualization system.

PubMed

Quiñones, Karin D; Su, Hua; Marshall, Byron; Eggers, Shauna; Chen, Hsinchun

2007-09-01

Explosive growth in biomedical research has made automated information extraction, knowledge integration, and visualization increasingly important and critically needed. The Arizona BioPathway (ABP) system extracts and displays biological regulatory pathway information from the abstracts of journal articles. This study uses relations extracted from more than 200 PubMed abstracts presented in a tabular and graphical user interface with built-in search and aggregation functionality. This paper presents a task-centered assessment of the usefulness and usability of the ABP system focusing on its relation aggregation and visualization functionalities. Results suggest that our graph-based visualization is more efficient in supporting pathway analysis tasks and is perceived as more useful and easier to use as compared to a text-based literature-viewing method. Relation aggregation significantly contributes to knowledge-acquisition efficiency. Together, the graphic and tabular views in the ABP Visualizer provide a flexible and effective interface for pathway relation browsing and analysis. Our study contributes to pathway-related research and biological information extraction by assessing the value of a multiview, relation-based interface that supports user-controlled exploration of pathway information across multiple granularities.

RARE Grant- Atmospheric Dry Deposition: Quantification of Mercury and Nutrients using Novel Surrogate Surface Collector Techniques

EPA Science Inventory

This study will quantify the daily surrogate surface dry deposition of mercury and nutrient species, and evaluate its relative importance to wet deposition at two sites in Florida over a two-year period. It will identify the major sources contributing to the observed mercury and...

Development of Relative Importance Values as Contribution Weights for Evaluating Human Wellbeing: An Ecosystem Services Example

EPA Science Inventory

The dependence of society on the flows, valuation and provisioning of various capital driven services is key to understanding and developing linkages to human wellbeing. By extension, decision makers need knowledge and an array of products that allow them to think more broadly a...

The Interaction between Surface Color and Color Knowledge: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bramao, Ines; Faisca, Luis; Forkstam, Christian; Inacio, Filomena; Araujo, Susana; Petersson, Karl Magnus; Reis, Alexandra

2012-01-01

In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to evaluate the contribution of surface color and color knowledge information in object identification. We constructed two color-object verification tasks--a surface and a knowledge verification task--using high color diagnostic objects; both typical and atypical color versions of the same…

Evaluating Experiential Learning in the Business Context: Contributions to Group-Based and Cross-Functional Working

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piercy, Niall

2013-01-01

The use of experiential learning techniques has become popular in business education. Experiential learning approaches offer major benefits for teaching contemporary management practices such as cross-functional and team-based working. However, there remains relatively little empirical data on the success of experiential pedagogies in supporting…

New Curricular Material for Science Classes: How Do Students Evaluate It?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freire, Sofia; Faria, Claudia; Galvao, Cecilia; Reis, Pedro

2013-01-01

Living in an unpredictable and ever changing society demands from its' citizens the development of complex competencies that challenges school, education and curriculum. PARSEL, a pan-European Project related to science education, emerges as a contribution to curricular development as it proposes a set of teaching-learning materials (modules) in…

Local-scale and watershed-scale determinants of summertime urban stream temperatures

Treesearch

Derek B. Booth; Kristin A. Kraseski; C. Rhett Jackson

2014-01-01

The influence of urbanization on the temperature of small streams is widely recognized, but these effects are confounded by the great natural variety of their contributing watersheds. To evaluate the relative importance of local-scale and watershed-scale factors on summer temperatures in urban streams, hundreds of near-instantaneous temperature measurements throughout...

Deriving Theories of Change from Successful Community Development Partnerships for Youths: Implications for School Improvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawson, Hal A.; Claiborne, Nancy; Hardiman, Eric; Austin, Sandra; Surko, Michael

2007-01-01

Community development partnerships for youths offer valuable resources for school improvement. Unfortunately, these resources may not be tapped because school leaders have not been prepared to understand these partnerships. The evaluative research reported partnership-related understanding, aiming to prepare leaders to contribute to, and benefit…

Marital Problems, Maternal Gatekeeping Attitudes, and Father-Child Relationships in Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevenson, Matthew M.; Fabricius, William V.; Cookston, Jeffrey T.; Parke, Ross D.; Coltrane, Scott; Braver, Sanford L.; Saenz, Delia S.

2014-01-01

We evaluated maternal gatekeeping attitudes as a mediator of the relation between marital problems and father-child relationships in 3 waves when children were in Grades 7-10. We assessed each parent's contribution to the marital problems experienced by the couple. Findings from mediational and cross-lagged structural equation models revealed that…

Chronic Hepatitis C and Antiviral Treatment Regimens: Where Can Psychology Contribute?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evon, Donna M.; Golin, Carol E.; Fried, Michael W.; Keefe, Francis J.

2013-01-01

Objective: Our goal was to evaluate the existing literature on psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of chronic hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection and antiviral treatment; provide the state of the behavioral science in areas that presently hinder HCV-related health outcomes; and make recommendations for areas in which clinical psychology…

Core Self-Evaluations and Individual Strategies of Coping with Unemployment among Displaced Spanish Workers.

PubMed

Virkes, Tihana; Maslić Seršić, Darja; Lopez-Zafra, Esther

2017-10-30

Unemployment has negative but also positive effects on mental health and general well-being depending on which coping strategies the individual use. Our aim was to determine the contribution of core self-evaluations in explaining the coping strategies of job search and job devaluation, as well as to test the potential moderation effect of job search and mediation effect of job devaluation on the relationship between self core-evaluations and both positive and negative experience of unemployment. One hundred seventy-eight individuals who lost their jobs involuntarily for a longer period than one month completed a questionnaire while attending to employment office. Results show that there is a significant relation between core-self evaluations and job devaluation (.37**). Furthermore, core-self evaluations were positively related to positive experience of unemployment (r = .31; p < .01) and negatively related to negative experience of unemployment (r = .60; p < .01). Moreover, self-core evaluations predicted both coping with unemployment strategies (job devaluation; β = .26; p < .01 and job search β = .19; p < .05). However, job search did not moderate the relationship between core self-evaluations and experience of unemployment. But, individuals with a longer duration of the current period of unemployment and higher core self-evaluations had a more positive experience of unemployment, and job devaluation partially mediated this relation (SE = .002; p = .038). These results imply that programs interventions should include the improvement of core self-evaluations and the positive experience of unemployed people.

The possible influence of noise frequency components on the health of exposed industrial workers--a review.

PubMed

Mahendra Prashanth, K V; Venugopalachar, Sridhar

2011-01-01

Noise is a common occupational health hazard in most industrial settings. An assessment of noise and its adverse health effects based on noise intensity is inadequate. For an efficient evaluation of noise effects, frequency spectrum analysis should also be included. This paper aims to substantiate the importance of studying the contribution of noise frequencies in evaluating health effects and their association with physiological behavior within human body. Additionally, a review of studies published between 1988 and 2009 that investigate the impact of industrial/occupational noise on auditory and non-auditory effects and the probable association and contribution of noise frequency components to these effects is presented. The relevant studies in English were identified in Medknow, Medline, Wiley, Elsevier, and Springer publications. Data were extracted from the studies that fulfilled the following criteria: title and/or abstract of the given study that involved industrial/occupational noise exposure in relation to auditory and non-auditory effects or health effects. Significant data on the study characteristics, including noise frequency characteristics, for assessment were considered in the study. It is demonstrated that only a few studies have considered the frequency contributions in their investigations to study auditory effects and not non-auditory effects. The data suggest that significant adverse health effects due to industrial noise include auditory and heart-related problems. The study provides a strong evidence for the claims that noise with a major frequency characteristic of around 4 kHz has auditory effects and being deficient in data fails to show any influence of noise frequency components on non-auditory effects. Furthermore, specific noise levels and frequencies predicting the corresponding health impacts have not yet been validated. There is a need for advance research to clarify the importance of the dominant noise frequency contribution in evaluating health effects.

Caries risk in children: determined by levels of mutans streptococci and Lactobaccilus.

PubMed

Aguilera Galaviz, Luis Alejandro; Premoli, Gloria; Gonzalez, Anajulia; Rodriguez, Rafael Aguilar

2005-01-01

Lactobacullus sp. and S. mutans are microorganisms with cariogenic capacity, however, their presence do not determine the presence of dental caries. We evaluated the relationship between the presence of Lactobacillus sp. and S. mutans and dental caries in a schoolchildren population. The relation PI-DMFT have a value of significance p = 0.001489. In dental caries risk evaluation, the S. mutans and Lactobacillus sp. detection in saliva is a good predictor and contributing to the caries development.

Evaluation of Rock Joint Coefficients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Audy, Ondřej; Ficker, Tomáš

2017-10-01

A computer method for evaluation of rock joint coefficients is described and several applications are presented. The method is based on two absolute numerical indicators that are formed by means of the Fourier replicas of rock joint profiles. The first indicator quantifies the vertical depth of profiles and the second indicator classifies wavy character of profiles. The absolute indicators have replaced the formerly used relative indicators that showed some artificial behavior in some cases. This contribution is focused on practical computations testing the functionality of the newly introduced indicators.

Combine Flash-Based FPGA TID and Long-Term Retention Reliabilities Through VT Shift

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jih-Jong; Rezzak, Nadia; Dsilva, Durwyn; Xue, Fengliang; Samiee, Salim; Singaraju, Pavan; Jia, James; Nguyen, Victor; Hawley, Frank; Hamdy, Esmat

2016-08-01

Reliability test results of data retention and total ionizing dose (TID) in 65 nm Flash-based field programmable gate array (FPGA) are presented. Long-chain inverter design is recommended for reliability evaluation because it is the worst case design for both effects. Based on preliminary test data, both issues are unified and modeled by one natural decay equation. The relative contributions of TID induced threshold-voltage shift and retention mechanisms are evaluated by analyzing test data.

Human frequency-following response to speech-like sounds: correlates of off-frequency masking.

PubMed

Krishnan, Ananthanarayan; Agrawal, Smita

2010-01-01

Off-frequency masking of the second formant by energy at the first formant has been shown to influence both identification and discrimination of the second formant in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. While both excitatory spread and two-tone suppression have been implicated in this simultaneous masking, their relative contribution has been shown to depend on both the level of the masker and the frequency separation between the probe and the masker. Off-frequency masking effects were evaluated in 10 normal-hearing human adults using the frequency-following response (FFR) to two two-tone approximations of vowel stimuli (/a/ and /u/). In the first experiment, the masking effect of F(1) on F(2) was evaluated by attenuating the level of F(1) relative to a fixed F(2) level. In the second experiment, the masking effect was evaluated by increasing the frequency separation between F(1) and F(2) using F(2) frequency as the variable. Results revealed that both attenuation of the F(1) level, and increasing the frequency separation between F(1) and F(2) increased the magnitude of the FFR component at F(2). These results are consistent with a release from off-frequency masking. Given that the results presented here are for high signal and masker levels and for relatively smaller frequency separation between the masker and the probe, it is possible that both suppression and excitatory spread contributed to the masking effects observed in our data. Copyright2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Influence of agricultural activities, forest fires and agro-industries on air quality in Thailand.

PubMed

Phairuang, Worradorn; Hata, Mitsuhiko; Furuuchi, Masami

2017-02-01

Annual and monthly-based emission inventories in northern, central and north-eastern provinces in Thailand, where agriculture and related agro-industries are very intensive, were estimated to evaluate the contribution of agricultural activity, including crop residue burning, forest fires and related agro-industries on air quality monitored in corresponding provinces. The monthly-based emission inventories of air pollutants, or, particulate matter (PM), NOx and SO 2 , for various agricultural crops were estimated based on information on the level of production of typical crops: rice, corn, sugarcane, cassava, soybeans and potatoes using emission factors and other parameters related to country-specific values taking into account crop type and the local residue burning period. The estimated monthly emission inventory was compared with air monitoring data obtained at monitoring stations operated by the Pollution Control Department, Thailand (PCD) for validating the estimated emission inventory. The agro-industry that has the greatest impact on the regions being evaluated, is the sugar processing industry, which uses sugarcane as a raw material and its residue as fuel for the boiler. The backward trajectory analysis of the air mass arriving at the PCD station was calculated to confirm this influence. For the provinces being evaluated which are located in the upper northern, lower northern and northeast in Thailand, agricultural activities and forest fires were shown to be closely correlated to the ambient PM concentration while their contribution to the production of gaseous pollutants is much less. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Bridging international relations and disaster studies: the case of disaster-conflict scholarship.

PubMed

Hollis, Simon

2018-01-01

International relations and disaster studies have much to gain by thinking critically about their respective theoretical and epistemological assumptions. Yet, few studies to date have sought to assess the potential value of linking these two disciplines. This paper begins to address this shortfall by examining the relationship between disasters and conflict as a research sphere that intersects international relations and disaster studies. Through an analysis of whether or not disasters contribute to intra-national and international conflict, this paper not only provides a review of the state of the art, but also serves to invite scholars to reflect on related concepts from other fields to strengthen their own approaches to the study of disasters in an international setting. An evaluation of the conceptual and theoretical contributions of each subject area provides useful heuristics for the development of disaster-conflict scholarship and encourages alternative modes of knowledge production through interdisciplinarity. © 2018 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

Growth and contribution of stocked channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque, 1818): the importance of measuring post-stocking performance

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stewart, David R.; Long, James M.

2015-01-01

In this study it was sought to quantify post-stocking growth, survival, and contribution of advanced size (178 mm total length [TL]) channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus fingerlings, something rarely done. Channel catfish populations were evaluated before (May 2010) and after (May to August 2011 and 2012) stocking. Relative abundance, stocking contribution, and growth were different (P < 0.05) in the two study impoundments (lakes Lone Chimney and Greenleaf, Oklahoma). For fish stocked in Lake Lone Chimney, stocking contribution was lower (3–35%), and average length and weight of stocked fish by age-2 reached 230 mm TL and 85 g, whereas the stocking contribution (84–98%) and growth in length (340 mm TL) and weight (280 g) were higher by age-2 in Lake Greenleaf. Given these unambiguous differences of post-stocking performance, benchmark metrics that represent population-level information such as relative abundance and average length and weight of the sample masked these significant differences, highlighting the importance of marking hatchery-fish and then following them through time to determine the effectiveness of stocking. These results suggest that stock enhancement programmes would benefit from studies that quantify post-stocking performance of hatchery fish.

Astigmatism of the Ex Vivo Human Lens: Surface and Gradient Refractive Index Age-Dependent Contributions.

PubMed

Birkenfeld, Judith; de Castro, Alberto; Marcos, Susana

2015-08-01

We estimated the contribution of the gradient refractive index (GRIN) and lens surfaces to lens astigmatism and lens astigmatic angle as a function of age in human donor lenses. Human lenses were imaged, ex vivo, with 3D-spectral optical coherence tomography (OCT) and their back focal length was measured using laser ray tracing. The contribution of lens surfaces and GRIN to lens astigmatism were evaluated by computational ray tracing on the GRIN lens and a homogenous equivalent index lens. Astigmatism magnitude and relative astigmatic angle of and between lens surfaces, GRIN lens, and lens with homogeneous refractive index were evaluated, and all results were correlated with age. The magnitude of astigmatism in the anterior lens surface decreased with age (slope = -0.005 diopters [D]/y; r = 0.397, P = 0.018). Posterior surface astigmatism and lens astigmatism were not age-dependent. Presence of GRIN did not alter significantly the magnitude or axis of the lens astigmatism. The astigmatism of GRIN lens and lens with homogeneous refractive index correlated with anterior lens surface astigmatism (GRIN, P = 3.9E - 6, r = 0.693; equivalent refractive index lens, P = 4.1E - 4, r = 0.565). The astigmatic angle of posterior surface, GRIN lens, and homogeneous refractive index lens did not change significantly with age. The axis of lens astigmatism is close to the astigmatic axis of the anterior lens surface. Age-related changes in lens astigmatism appear to be related to changes in the anterior lens astigmatism. The influence of the GRIN on lens astigmatism and the astigmatic axis is minor.

Relations of surface-water quality to streamflow in the Hackensack, Passaic, Elizabeth, and Rahway River basins, New Jersey, water years 1976-93

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buxton, Debra E.; Hunchak-Kariouk, Kathryn; Hickman, R. Edward

1998-01-01

Relations of water quality to streamflow were determined for 18 water-quality constituents at 19 surface-water-quality stations within the drainage basins of the Hackensack, Passaic, Elizabeth, and Rahway Rivers in New Jersey for water years 1976-93. Surface-waterquality and streamflow data were evaluated for trends (through time) in constituent concentrations during high and low flows, and relations between constituent concentration and streamflow, and constituent load and streamflow, were determined. Median concentrations were calculated for the entire period of study (water years 1976-93) and for the last 5 years of the period of study (water years 1989-93) to determine whether any large variation in concentration exists between the two periods. Medians also were used to determine the seasonal Kendall’s tau statistic, which was then used to evaluate trends in concentrations during high and low flows.Trends in constituent concentrations during high and low flows were evaluated to determine whether the distribution of the observations changes over time for intermittent (nonpoint storm runoff) or constant (point sources and ground water) sources, respectively. Highand low-flow concentration trends were determined for some constituents at 11 of the 19 waterquality stations; 8 stations have insufficient data to determine trends. Seasonal effects on the relations of concentration to streamflow are evident for 16 of the 18 constituents. Negative slopes of relations of concentration to streamflow, which indicate a decrease in concentration at high flows, predominate over positive slopes because of dilution of instream concentrations from storm runoff.The slopes of the regression lines of load to streamflow were determined in order to show the relative contributions to the instream load from constant (point sources and ground water) and intermittent sources (storm runoff). Greater slope values suggest larger contributions from storm runoff to instream load, which most likely indicate an increased relative importance of nonpoint sources. Load-to-streamflow relations along a stream reach that tend to increase in a downstream direction indicate the increased relative importance of contributions from storm runoff. Likewise, load-to-streamflow relations along a stream reach that tend to decrease in a downstream direction indicate the increased relative importance of point sources and ground-water discharge. For most of the 18 constituents, load-to-streamflow relations at stations along a river reach remain constant or decrease in a downstream direction. The slopes increase in the downstream direction for some or all of the nutrient species at the Ramapo, lower Passaic, and Rahway Rivers; for dissolved solids, dissolved sodium, and dissolved chloride at the lower Passaic River; and for alkalinity and hardness at the Rahway River.

The role of sorption processes in the removal of pharmaceuticals by fungal treatment of wastewater.

PubMed

Lucas, D; Castellet-Rovira, F; Villagrasa, M; Badia-Fabregat, M; Barceló, D; Vicent, T; Caminal, G; Sarrà, M; Rodríguez-Mozaz, S

2018-01-01

The contribution of the sorption processes in the elimination of pharmaceuticals (PhACs) during the fungal treatment of wastewater has been evaluated in this work. The sorption of four PhACs (carbamazepine, diclofenac, iopromide and venlafaxine) by 6 different fungi was first evaluated in batch experiments. Concentrations of PhACs in both liquid and solid (biomass) matrices from the fungal treatment were measured. Contribution of the sorption to the total removal of pollutants ranged between 3% and 13% in relation to the initial amount. The sorption of 47 PhACs in fungi was also evaluated in a fungal treatment performed in 26days in a continuous bioreactor treating wastewater from a veterinary hospital. PhACs levels measured in the fungal biomass were similar to those detected in conventional wastewater treatment (WWTP) sludge. This may suggest the necessity of manage fungal biomass as waste in the same manner that the WWTP sludge is managed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Ergonomic Program Implementation Continuum (EPIC): integration of health and safety--a process evaluation in the healthcare sector.

PubMed

Baumann, Andrea; Holness, D Linn; Norman, Patrica; Idriss-Wheeler, Dina; Boucher, Patricia

2012-07-01

This article presents a health and safety intervention model and the use of process evaluation to assess a participatory ergonomic intervention. The effectiveness of the Ergonomic Program Implementation Continuum (EPIC) was assessed at six healthcare pilot sites in Ontario, Canada. The model provided a framework to demonstrate evaluation findings. Participants reported that EPIC was thorough and identified improvements related to its use. Participants believed the program contributed to advancing an organizational culture of safety (COS). Main barriers to program uptake included resistance to change and need for adequate funding and resources. The dedication of organizational leaders and consultant coaches was identified as essential to the program's success. In terms of impact on industry, findings contribute to the evidence-based knowledge of health and safety interventions and support use of the framework for creating a robust infrastructure to advance organizational COS and link staff safety and wellness with patient safety in healthcare. Copyright © 2012 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quality of Care: A Review of Maternal Deaths in a Regional Hospital in Ghana.

PubMed

Adusi-Poku, Yaw; Antwil, Edward; Osei-Kwakye, Kingsley; Tetteh, Chris; Detoh, Eric Kwame; Antwi, Phyllis

2015-09-01

The government of Ghana and key stakeholders have put into place several interventions aimed at reducing maternal deaths. At the institutional level, the conduct of maternal deaths audit has been instituted. This also contributes to reducing maternal deaths as shortcomings that may have contributed to such deaths could be identified to inform best practice and forestall such occurrences in the future. The objective of this study was to review the quality of maternal care in a regional hospital. A review of maternal deaths using Quality of Care Evaluation Form adapted from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) Maternal Death Audit Evaluation Committee was used. About fifty-five percent, 18 (55%) of cases were deemed to have received adequate documentation, senior clinicians were involved in 26(85%) of cases. Poor documentation, non-involvement of senior clinicians in the management of cases, laboratory related issues particularly in relation to blood and blood products as well as promptness of care and adequacy of intensive care facilities and specialists in the hospital were contributory factors to maternal deaths . These are common themes contributing to maternal deaths in developing countries which need to be urgently tackled. Maternal death review with emphasis on quality of care, coupled with facility gap assessment, is a useful tool to address the adequacy of emergency obstetric care services to prevent further maternal deaths.

Determinants of self-esteem in early psychosis: The role of perceived social dominance.

PubMed

MacDougall, Arlene G; Vandermeer, Matthew R J; Norman, Ross M G

2017-12-01

Self-esteem plays a role in the formation and maintenance of symptoms and in the recovery from psychotic illness. This study examines the relative contribution of perceived social dominance and other known predictors in determining self-esteem in 102 individuals in an early intervention program for psychosis. Regression analysis demonstrated that scores on the Perceived Relational Evaluation Scale (PRES), depressed mood, social dominance, gender and positive symptoms significantly contributed to the prediction of scores on the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES), whereas self-stigma and negative symptoms did not. Our study suggests that low self-esteem in early psychosis can be understood in part as a reflection of low levels of perceived social value and status. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Once more: is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Relative contributions of private and shared taste to judgments of facial attractiveness.

PubMed

Hönekopp, Johannes

2006-04-01

Misconstruing the meaning of Cronbach's alpha, experts on facial attractiveness have conveyed the impression that facial-attractiveness judgment standards are largely shared. This claim is unsubstantiated, because information necessary for deciding whether judgments of facial attractiveness are more influenced by commonly shared or by privately held evaluation standards is lacking. Three experiments, using diverse face and rater samples to investigate the relative contributions of private and shared taste to judgments of facial attractiveness, are reported. These experiments show that for a variety of ancillary conditions, and contrary to the prevalent notion in the literature, private taste is about as powerful as shared taste. Important implications for scientific research strategy and laypeople's self-esteem are discussed.

Relative contribution of stocked walleyes in Tennessee reservoirs

USGS Publications Warehouse

Vandergoot, C.S.; Bettoli, P.W.

2003-01-01

Since the mid-1950s, fisheries biologists with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency have stocked walleyes Stizostedion vitreum in several tributary reservoirs of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers to augment declining native stocks; however, the efficacy of these management actions has never been formally evaluated. The contribution of stocked walleyes in four Tennessee reservoirs was evaluated during 1999 and 2000 by marking fry and fingerlings through oxytetracycline (OTC) immersion. Stocking densities were 13-48 fingerlings/ha, and marking efficacy was high for fish marked as fry (mean = 98%; SE = 1.7%) and fingerlings (mean = 99%; SE = 0.6%). Nearly all (94-100%; N = 509) of the age-1 and age-2 walleyes collected in the four reservoirs were OTC-marked. Based on these findings, fingerling walleyes must be stocked annually to sustain the walleye populations in these tributary impoundments.

Upper extremity paraesthesia: clinical assessment and reasoning.

PubMed

Muscolino, Joseph E

2008-07-01

The art of clinical assessment involves an accurate determination of the cause(s) of a patient's symptoms. Given that a set of symptoms can be influenced by many contributing factors and features, assessment needs to differentially evaluate these. Accurate and appropriate treatment depends on differential assessment based on sound clinical reasoning. Many conditions derive from multiple causes demanding evaluation of as many etiological features as can be identified. The case review presented here involves a patient presenting with paraesthesia spreading into her right upper extremity. A complex history, involving her neck and contralateral upper extremity was assessed. The patient was found to have at least seven underlying, predisposing, and etiological, conditions capable of initiating, aggravating, or maintaining the presenting symptoms. Weighing the relative contributions of these often interacting features, and correlating this with the history, helped to identify a successful course of treatment.

Mild cognitive impairment as a risk factor for Parkinson's disease dementia.

PubMed

Hoogland, Jeroen; Boel, Judith A; de Bie, Rob M A; Geskus, Ronald B; Schmand, Ben A; Dalrymple-Alford, John C; Marras, Connie; Adler, Charles H; Goldman, Jennifer G; Tröster, Alexander I; Burn, David J; Litvan, Irene; Geurtsen, Gert J

2017-07-01

The International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society criteria for mild cognitive impairment in PD were recently formulated. The aim of this international study was to evaluate the predictive validity of the comprehensive (level II) version of these criteria by assessment of their contribution to the hazard of PD dementia. Individual patient data were selected from four separate studies on cognition in PD that provided information on demographics, motor examination, depression, neuropsychological examination suitable for application of level II criteria, and longitudinal follow-up for conversion to dementia. Survival analysis evaluated the predictive value of level II criteria for cognitive decline toward dementia as expressed by the relative hazard of dementia. A total of 467 patients were included. The analyses showed a clear contribution of impairment according to level II mild cognitive impairment criteria, age, and severity of PD motor symptoms to the hazard of dementia. There was a trend of increasing hazard of dementia with declining neuropsychological performance. This is the first large international study evaluating the predictive validity of level II mild cognitive impairment criteria for PD. The results showed a clear and unique contribution of classification according to level II criteria to the hazard of PD dementia. This finding supports their predictive validity and shows that they contribute important new information on the hazard of dementia, beyond known demographic and PD-specific factors of influence. © 2017 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. © 2017 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Laboratory Performance of Five Selected Soil Moisture Sensors Applying Factory and Own Calibration Equations for Two Soil Media of Different Bulk Density and Salinity Levels.

PubMed

Matula, Svatopluk; Báťková, Kamila; Legese, Wossenu Lemma

2016-11-15

Non-destructive soil water content determination is a fundamental component for many agricultural and environmental applications. The accuracy and costs of the sensors define the measurement scheme and the ability to fit the natural heterogeneous conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate five commercially available and relatively cheap sensors usually grouped with impedance and FDR sensors. ThetaProbe ML2x (impedance) and ECH₂O EC-10, ECH₂O EC-20, ECH₂O EC-5, and ECH₂O TE (all FDR) were tested on silica sand and loess of defined characteristics under controlled laboratory conditions. The calibrations were carried out in nine consecutive soil water contents from dry to saturated conditions (pure water and saline water). The gravimetric method was used as a reference method for the statistical evaluation (ANOVA with significance level 0.05). Generally, the results showed that our own calibrations led to more accurate soil moisture estimates. Variance component analysis arranged the factors contributing to the total variation as follows: calibration (contributed 42%), sensor type (contributed 29%), material (contributed 18%), and dry bulk density (contributed 11%). All the tested sensors performed very well within the whole range of water content, especially the sensors ECH₂O EC-5 and ECH₂O TE, which also performed surprisingly well in saline conditions.

Laboratory Performance of Five Selected Soil Moisture Sensors Applying Factory and Own Calibration Equations for Two Soil Media of Different Bulk Density and Salinity Levels

PubMed Central

Matula, Svatopluk; Báťková, Kamila; Legese, Wossenu Lemma

2016-01-01

Non-destructive soil water content determination is a fundamental component for many agricultural and environmental applications. The accuracy and costs of the sensors define the measurement scheme and the ability to fit the natural heterogeneous conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate five commercially available and relatively cheap sensors usually grouped with impedance and FDR sensors. ThetaProbe ML2x (impedance) and ECH2O EC-10, ECH2O EC-20, ECH2O EC-5, and ECH2O TE (all FDR) were tested on silica sand and loess of defined characteristics under controlled laboratory conditions. The calibrations were carried out in nine consecutive soil water contents from dry to saturated conditions (pure water and saline water). The gravimetric method was used as a reference method for the statistical evaluation (ANOVA with significance level 0.05). Generally, the results showed that our own calibrations led to more accurate soil moisture estimates. Variance component analysis arranged the factors contributing to the total variation as follows: calibration (contributed 42%), sensor type (contributed 29%), material (contributed 18%), and dry bulk density (contributed 11%). All the tested sensors performed very well within the whole range of water content, especially the sensors ECH2O EC-5 and ECH2O TE, which also performed surprisingly well in saline conditions. PMID:27854263

Relationship between orofacial function, dentofacial morphology, and bite force in young subjects.

PubMed

Marquezin, M C S; Gavião, M B D; Alonso, M B C C; Ramirez-Sotelo, L R; Haiter-Neto, F; Castelo, P M

2014-09-01

The aim was to evaluate the relationship between orofacial function, dentofacial morphology, and bite force in young subjects. Three hundred and sixteen subjects were divided according to dentition stage (early, intermediate, and late mixed and permanent dentition). Orofacial function was screened using the Nordic Orofacial Test-Screening (NOT-S). Orthodontic treatment need, bite force, lateral and frontal craniofacial dimensions and presence of sleep bruxism were also assessed. The results were submitted to descriptive statistics, normality and correlation tests, analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression to test the relationship between NOT-S scores and the studied independent variables. The variance of NOT-S scores between groups was not significant. The evaluation of the variables that significantly contributed to NOT-S scores variation showed that age and presence of bruxism related to higher NOT-S total scores, while the increase in overbite measurement and presence of closed lip posture related to lower scores. Bite force did not show a significant relationship with scores of orofacial dysfunction. No significant correlations between craniofacial dimensions and NOT-S scores were observed. Age and sleep bruxism were related to higher NOT-S scores, while the increase in overbite measurement and closed lip posture contributed to lower scores of orofacial dysfunction. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of High-Intensity Training on Anaerobic and Aerobic Contributions to Total Energy Release During Repeated Supramaximal Exercise in Obese Adults.

PubMed

Jabbour, Georges; Iancu, Horia-Daniel; Paulin, Anne

Studying relative anaerobic and aerobic metabolism contributions to total energy release during exercise may be valuable in understanding exercise energetic demands and the energetic adaptations that occur in response to acute or chronic exercise in obese adults. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effects of 6 weeks of high-intensity training (HIT) on relative anaerobic and aerobic contributions to total energy release and on peak power output during repeated supramaximal cycling exercises (SCE) in obese adults. Twenty-four obese adults (body mass index = ± 33 kg.m -2 ) were randomized into a control group ( n  = 12) and an HIT group ( n  = 12). Accumulated oxygen deficits (ml.min -1 ) and anaerobic and aerobic contributions (%) were measured in all groups before and after training via repeated SCE. In addition, the peak power output performed during SCE was determined using the force-velocity test. Before HIT, anaerobic contributions to repeated SCE did not differ between the groups and decreased significantly during the third and fourth repetitions. After HIT, anaerobic contributions increased significantly in the HIT group (+11 %, p  < 0.01) and were significantly higher than those of the control group ( p  < 0.01). Moreover, the peak power obtained during SCE increased significantly in the HIT group (+110 W.kg -1 , p  < 0.01) and correlated positively with increases in anaerobic contributions ( r  = 0.9, p  < 0.01). In obese adults, HIT increased anaerobic contributions to energy release which were associated with peak power enhancement in response to repeated SCE. Consequently, HIT may be an appropriate approach for improving energy contributions and muscle power among obese adults.

Factor contribution to fire occurrence, size, and burn probability in a subtropical coniferous forest in East China

PubMed Central

Guo, Zhixing; Li, Yijia

2017-01-01

The contribution of factors including fuel type, fire-weather conditions, topography and human activity to fire regime attributes (e.g. fire occurrence, size distribution and severity) has been intensively discussed. The relative importance of those factors in explaining the burn probability (BP), which is critical in terms of fire risk management, has been insufficiently addressed. Focusing on a subtropical coniferous forest with strong human disturbance in East China, our main objective was to evaluate and compare the relative importance of fuel composition, topography, and human activity for fire occurrence, size and BP. Local BP distribution was derived with stochastic fire simulation approach using detailed historical fire data (1990–2010) and forest-resource survey results, based on which our factor contribution analysis was carried out. Our results indicated that fuel composition had the greatest relative importance in explaining fire occurrence and size, but human activity explained most of the variance in BP. This implies that the influence of human activity is amplified through the process of overlapping repeated ignition and spreading events. This result emphasizes the status of strong human disturbance in local fire processes. It further confirms the need for a holistic perspective on factor contribution to fire likelihood, rather than focusing on individual fire regime attributes, for the purpose of fire risk management. PMID:28207837

Foreign language affects the contribution of intentions and outcomes to moral judgment.

PubMed

Geipel, Janet; Hadjichristidis, Constantinos; Surian, Luca

2016-09-01

We examine whether the use of a foreign language, as opposed to the native language, influences the relative weight intentions versus outcomes carry in moral evaluations. In Study 1, participants were presented with actions that had positive outcomes but were motivated by dubious intentions, while in Study 2 with actions that had negative outcomes but were motivated by positive intentions. Participants received the materials either in their native or a foreign language. Foreign language prompted more positive moral evaluations in Study 1 and less positive evaluations in Study 2. These results show that foreign language reduces the relative weight placed on intentions versus outcomes. We discuss several theoretical accounts that are consistent with the results such as that foreign language attenuates emotions (triggered by intentions) or it depletes cognitive resources. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Heavy metals in Antarctic ice from Law Dome: Initial results

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

Hong, S.; Boutron, C.F.; Edwards, R.

1998-08-01

Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn have been measured using ultraclean procedures in eight sections taken from two well-dated ice cores from Law Dome, an independent small size ice cap with high accumulation rate situated in the coastal area of East Antarctica. Seven sections were dated from the 1830s to 1940s and one was dated from three millennia ago. The data show that there are strong seasonal variations in the concentrations of Pb and Cd, with values {approximately} two- to four-fold higher in winter than in spring-summer. Evaluation of the contributions from the different sources suggests that contribution from sea saltmore » spray is relatively important, especially for Cd. Contribution from marine biogenic emissions could also be very significant. The importance of marine contributions is consistent with strong intrusions of marine air masses at this coastal site, especially during wintertime.« less

Executive function and academic achievement in primary - grade students with Down syndrome.

PubMed

Will, E; Fidler, D J; Daunhauer, L; Gerlach-McDonald, B

2017-02-01

Executive function (EF) plays a critical role in academic outcomes in typically developing children, but the contribution of EF to academic performance in Down syndrome (DS) is less well understood. This study evaluated differences in early academic foundations between primary school aged children with DS and non-verbal mental-age matched typically developing (TD) children. Additionally, the contribution of EF domains to academic outcomes was evaluated in each group. Participants with DS (n = 29) and mental-age matched TD participants (n = 23) were administered the Woodcock Johnson- III NU Tests of Academic Achievement, as well as a laboratory-based EF battery, including measures of working memory, shifting, inhibition and object-planning. Findings indicated a difference in early academic foundations profile between children with DS and mental-age matched TD children. Patterns of EF contributions towards academic outcomes were also observed across groups. Aspects of EF are critical to academic achievement in DS but differentially so relative to typical development. Implications for educational instruction are discussed. © 2016 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Compositional, thermal and microstructural characterization of the Nopal (opuntia ficus indica), for addition in commercial cement mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández Carrillo, C. G.; Gómez-Cuaspud, J. A.; E Martínez Suarez, C.

2017-12-01

The Nopal (opuntia ficus indica) from remote times has contributed like food and additive product in prehispanic constructions; although it grows in all the Colombian territory is very little used and its contribution in mixtures of Colombian cement is unknown. In order to evaluate the hydration characteristics of Nopal, several Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) were performed to evaluate the optimal temperature of dehydration. Initially, the results show that around 175°C the weight loss is approximately 95%, this mass loss corresponds to the process of physical removal, suggesting that at least a remaining amount of 5% (w/w) has the ability to retain large amounts of water which is stored in the micro-structural deposits of Nopal. The evaluation by means Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), confirm that the whole cactus structure enables the water storage at cellular level. The results of infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis allowed the qualitative and semi-quantitative evaluation of the presence of functional groups and elemental chemical composition of Nopal respectively, mainly related with polysaccharide functional groups, which corresponds to 85% of the total composition. Other functional groups, are related with protein and mineral components. This found characteristics are relevant for the water retention in process that require the decrease of water consumption and the reinforcing of mechanical properties and durability, due to ability of Nopal mucilage to restore its hydration characteristics.

Evaluating Disease Severity in Chronic Pain Patients with and without Fibromyalgia: A Comparison of the Symptom Impact Questionnaire and the Polysymptomatic Distress Scale.

PubMed

Friend, Ronald; Bennett, Robert M

2015-12-01

To compare the relative effectiveness of the Polysymptomatic Distress Scale (PSD) with the Symptom Impact Questionnaire (SIQR), the disease-neutral revision of the updated Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR), in their ability to assess disease activity in patients with rheumatic disorders both with and without fibromyalgia (FM). The study included 321 patients from 8 clinical practices with some 16 different chronic pain disorders. Disease severity was assessed by the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36). Univariate analyses were used to assess the magnitude of PSD and SIQR correlations with SF-36 subscales. Hierarchical stepwise regression was used to evaluate the unique contribution of the PSD and SIQR to the SF-36. Random forest regression probed the relative importance of the SIQR and PSD components as predictors of SF-36. The correlations with the SF-36 subscales were significantly higher for the SIQR (0.48 to 0.78) than the PSD (0.29 to 0.56; p < 0.001). Stepwise regression revealed that the SIQR was contributing additional unique variance on SF-36 subscales, which was not the case for the PSD. Random forest regression showed SIQR Function, Symptoms, and Global Impact subscales were more important predictors of SF-36 than the PSD. The single SIQR pain item contributed 55% of SF-36 pain variance compared to 23% with the 19-point WPI (the Widespread Pain Index component of PSD). The SIQR, the disease-neutral revision of the updated FIQ, has several important advantages over the PSD in the evaluation of disease severity in chronic pain disorders.

Climatological and statistical characteristics of the Haines Index for North America

Treesearch

Julie A. Winkler; Brian E. Potter; Dwight F. Wilhelm; Ryan P. Shadbolt; Krerk Piromsopa; Xindi Bian

2007-01-01

The Haines Index is an operational tool for evaluating the potential contribution of dry, unstable air to the development of large or erratic plume-dominated wildfires. The index has three variants related to surface elevation, and is calculated from temperature and humidity measurements at atmospheric pressure levels. To effectively use the Haines Index, fire...

Using meta-regression models to systematically evaluate data in the published literature: relative contributions of agricultural drift, para-occupational, and residential use exposure pathways to house dust pesticide concentrations

EPA Science Inventory

Background: Data reported in the published literature have been used qualitatively to aid exposure assessment activities in epidemiologic studies. Analyzing these data in computational models presents statistical challenges because these data are often reported as summary statist...

Gender-Related Aspects of Transmasculine People's Vocal Situations: Insights from a Qualitative Content Analysis of Interview Transcripts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Azul, David

2016-01-01

Background: Transmasculine people assigned female gender at birth but who do not identify with this classification have traditionally received little consideration in the voice literature. Existing analyses tend to be focused on evaluating speaker voice characteristics, whereas other factors that contribute to the production of vocal gender have…

Critical Care Coding for Neurologists.

PubMed

Nuwer, Marc R; Vespa, Paul M

2015-10-01

Accurate coding is an important function of neurologic practice. This contribution to Continuum is part of an ongoing series that presents helpful coding information along with examples related to the issue topic. Tips for diagnosis coding, Evaluation and Management coding, procedure coding, or a combination are presented, depending on which is most applicable to the subject area of the issue.

Coding of Neuroinfectious Diseases.

PubMed

Barkley, Gregory L

2015-12-01

Accurate coding is an important function of neurologic practice. This contribution to Continuum is part of an ongoing series that presents helpful coding information along with examples related to the issue topic. Tips for diagnosis coding, Evaluation and Management coding, procedure coding, or a combination are presented, depending on which is most applicable to the subject area of the issue.

Diagnostic Coding for Epilepsy.

PubMed

Williams, Korwyn; Nuwer, Marc R; Buchhalter, Jeffrey R

2016-02-01

Accurate coding is an important function of neurologic practice. This contribution to Continuum is part of an ongoing series that presents helpful coding information along with examples related to the issue topic. Tips for diagnosis coding, Evaluation and Management coding, procedure coding, or a combination are presented, depending on which is most applicable to the subject area of the issue.

Prior Education of Open University Students Contributes to Their Capability in Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Repo, Saara; Lehtinen, Taina; Rusanen, Erja; Hyytinen, Heidi

2017-01-01

The focus of this study is on Open University students' entry-level critical thinking skills. The research questions were: how are students' age, and level and discipline of previous education related to critical thinking skills; is the level and discipline of previous education connected to the accuracy of students' self-evaluation of their…

Gender Differences in Depressive Symptoms during Adolescence: The Contributions of Weight-Related Concerns and Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vaughan, Christine A.; Halpern, Carolyn T.

2010-01-01

A theoretical model of gender differences in depressive symptoms during adolescence was evaluated using data from Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The theoretical model under examination was primarily informed by the gender-additive model of gender differences in depressive symptoms during adolescence…

Evaluation of Policy and Research Interventions in Science and Technology: Consequence Assessment of Regulatory and Technology Transfer Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dias, Mary Beatrice

2011-01-01

This research contributes to efforts in assessment studies related to science and technology interventions. The work presented in this thesis focuses on understanding the effects of policies that influence science and technology interventions, and determining the impact of science and technology interventions themselves. Chapter 1 explores how…

The Transfer Velocity Project: A Comprehensive Look at the Transfer Function

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayward, Craig

2011-01-01

The 1999-2000 Transfer Velocity Project (TVP) cohort of 147,207 community college students is used to develop both a college-level endogenous model, appropriate for applied research and guidance for campus action, and a student-level model. Survival analysis (Cox regression) is employed to evaluate the relative contribution of 53 student-level…

Commentary: Advances in Research on Sourcing-Source Credibility and Reliable Processes for Producing Knowledge Claims

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chinn, Clark A.; Rinehart, Ronald W.

2016-01-01

In our commentary on this excellent set of articles on "Sourcing in the Reading Process," we endeavor to synthesize the findings from the seven articles and discuss future research. We discuss significant contributions related to source memory, source evaluation, use of sources in action and belief, integration of information from…

The Effect of Month of Birth on the Attainments of Primary and Secondary School Pupils

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McPhillips, Martin; Jordan-Black, Julie-Anne

2009-01-01

Background: Previous research has produced conflicting results regarding the effects of season of birth and age-position on cognitive attainments. In Northern Ireland the school year divides the summer season into two providing an opportunity to evaluate the relative contribution of season of birth and age-position effects. Aims: To investigate…

Reflections on Feminist Identity Development: Implications for Theory, Measurement, and Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hansen, Nancy Downing

2002-01-01

One of the original authors of the feminist identity model reflects on the 16 subsequent years of work in the field as described in this major contribution. The original model is clarified and measurement issues are examined, particularly in relation to the Synthesis and Active Commitment subscales. The author also evaluates existing research and…

The Contribution of TIMSS to the Link between School and Classroom Factors and Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drent, Marjolein; Meelissen, Martina R. M.; van der Kleij, Fabienne M.

2013-01-01

Worldwide, the interest of policy-makers in participating in studies from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), such as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) has been growing rapidly over the past two decades. These studies offer the opportunity to relate the teaching and…

Lexical Profiles of Comprehensible Second Language Speech: The Role of Appropriateness, Fluency, Variation, Sophistication, Abstractness, and Sense Relations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saito, Kazuya; Webb, Stuart; Trofimovich, Pavel; Isaacs, Talia

2016-01-01

This study examined contributions of lexical factors to native-speaking raters' assessments of comprehensibility (ease of understanding) of second language (L2) speech. Extemporaneous oral narratives elicited from 40 French speakers of L2 English were transcribed and evaluated for comprehensibility by 10 raters. Subsequently, the samples were…

A review of CARE’s Community Score Card experience and evidence

PubMed Central

Gullo, Sara; Galavotti, Christine; Altman, Lara

2016-01-01

The global community’s growing enthusiasm for the potential of social accountability approaches to improve health system performance and accelerate health progress makes it imperative that we learn from social accountability intervention implementation experience and results. To this end, we carried out a review of Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc. (CARE)’s experience with the Community Score Card© (CSC)—a social accountability approach CARE developed in Malawi. We reviewed projects that CARE implemented between 2002 and 2013 that employed the CSC and that had at least one evaluation in English. We systematically collected and synthesized information from evaluations on the projects’ characteristics, CSC-related outcomes and challenges. Eight projects, spanning five countries, met our inclusion criteria. The projects applied the CSC to various focus areas, mostly health. We identified one to three evaluations, mostly qualitative, for each project. While the evaluations had many limitations, consistency of the results, as well as the range of outcomes, suggests that the CSC is contributing to significant changes. All projects reported CSC-related governance outcomes and service outcomes. There is promising evidence that the CSC can contribute to citizen empowerment, service provider and power-holder effectiveness, accountability and responsiveness and spaces for negotiation between the two that are expanded, effective and inclusive. There is also evidence that the CSC may contribute to improvements in service availability, access, utilization and quality. The CSC seems particularly suited to building trust and strengthening relationships between the community and service providers and to improving the user-centred dimension of quality. All of the projects reported challenges, with ensuring national responsiveness and inclusion of marginalized groups in the CSC process proving to be the most intractable. To improve health system performance and accelerate health progress we recommend further CSC use, enhancements and research. PMID:27190223

Evaluation of Fluoride Retention Due to Most Commonly Consumed Estuarine Fishes Among Fish Consuming Population of Andhra Pradesh as a Contributing Factor to Dental Fluorosis: A Cross-Sectional Study

PubMed Central

Ganta, Shravani; Nagaraj, Anup; Pareek, Sonia; Sidiq, Mohsin; Singh, Kushpal; Vishnani, Preeti

2015-01-01

Background Fluoride in drinking water is known for both beneficial and detrimental effects on health. The principal sources of fluoride include water, some species of vegetation, certain edible marine animals, dust and industrial processes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the fluoride retention of most commonly consumed estuarine fishes among fish consuming population of Andhra Pradesh. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the amount of fluoride retention due to ten most commonly consumed estuarine fishes as a contributing factor to Fluorosis by SPADNS Spectrophotometric method. The presence and severity of dental fluorosis among fish consuming population was recorded using Community Fluorosis Index. Statistical analysis was done using MedCalc v12.2.1.0 software. Results For Sea water fishes, the fluoride levels in bone were maximum in Indian Sardine (4.22 ppm). Amongst the river water fishes, the fluoride levels in bone were maximum in Catla (1.51 ppm). Also, the mean total fluoride concentrations of all the river fishes in skin, muscle and bone were less (0.86 ppm) as compared to the sea water fishes (2.59 ppm). It was unveiled that sea fishes accumulate relatively large amounts of Fluoride as compared to the river water fishes. The mean Community Fluorosis Index was found to be 1.06 amongst a sampled fish consuming population. Evaluation by Community Index for Dental fluorosis (CFI) suggested that fluorosis is of medium public health importance. Conclusion It was analysed that bone tends to accumulate more amount of fluoride followed by muscle and skin which might be due to the increased permeability and chemical trapping of fluoride inside the tissues. The amount of fluoride present in the fishes is directly related to the severity of fluorosis amongst fish consuming population, suggesting fishes as a contributing factor to fluorosis depending upon the dietary consumption. PMID:26266208

Evaluation of Fluoride Retention Due to Most Commonly Consumed Estuarine Fishes Among Fish Consuming Population of Andhra Pradesh as a Contributing Factor to Dental Fluorosis: A Cross-Sectional Study.

PubMed

Ganta, Shravani; Yousuf, Asif; Nagaraj, Anup; Pareek, Sonia; Sidiq, Mohsin; Singh, Kushpal; Vishnani, Preeti

2015-06-01

Fluoride in drinking water is known for both beneficial and detrimental effects on health. The principal sources of fluoride include water, some species of vegetation, certain edible marine animals, dust and industrial processes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the fluoride retention of most commonly consumed estuarine fishes among fish consuming population of Andhra Pradesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the amount of fluoride retention due to ten most commonly consumed estuarine fishes as a contributing factor to Fluorosis by SPADNS Spectrophotometric method. The presence and severity of dental fluorosis among fish consuming population was recorded using Community Fluorosis Index. Statistical analysis was done using MedCalc v12.2.1.0 software. For Sea water fishes, the fluoride levels in bone were maximum in Indian Sardine (4.22 ppm). Amongst the river water fishes, the fluoride levels in bone were maximum in Catla (1.51 ppm). Also, the mean total fluoride concentrations of all the river fishes in skin, muscle and bone were less (0.86 ppm) as compared to the sea water fishes (2.59 ppm). It was unveiled that sea fishes accumulate relatively large amounts of Fluoride as compared to the river water fishes. The mean Community Fluorosis Index was found to be 1.06 amongst a sampled fish consuming population. Evaluation by Community Index for Dental fluorosis (CFI) suggested that fluorosis is of medium public health importance. It was analysed that bone tends to accumulate more amount of fluoride followed by muscle and skin which might be due to the increased permeability and chemical trapping of fluoride inside the tissues. The amount of fluoride present in the fishes is directly related to the severity of fluorosis amongst fish consuming population, suggesting fishes as a contributing factor to fluorosis depending upon the dietary consumption.

Field Evaluation of Four Novel Roof Designs for Energy-Efficient Manufactured Homes

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

Levy, E.; Dentz, J.; Ansanelli, E.

2015-12-03

"9A five-bay roof test structure was built, instrumented and monitored in an effort to determine through field testing and analysis the relative contributions of select technologies toward reducing energy use in new manufactured homes. The roof structure in Jamestown, California was designed to examine how differences in roof construction impact space conditioning loads, wood moisture content and attic humidity levels. Conclusions are drawn from the data on the relative energy and moisture performance of various configurations of vented and sealed attics.

Field Evaluation of Four Novel Roof Designs for Energy-Efficient Manufactured Homes

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

Levy, E.; Dentz, J.; Ansanelli, E.

2015-12-01

A five-bay roof test structure was built, instrumented and monitored in an effort to determine through field testing and analysis the relative contributions of select technologies toward reducing energy use in new manufactured homes. The roof structure in Jamestown, California was designed to examine how differences in roof construction impact space conditioning loads, wood moisture content and attic humidity levels. Conclusions are drawn from the data on the relative energy and moisture performance of various configurations of vented and sealed attics.

Changes in contribution of causes of death to socioeconomic mortality inequalities in Korean adults.

PubMed

Jung-Choi, Kyunghee; Khang, Young Ho; Cho, Hong Jun

2011-11-01

This study aimed to analyze long-term trends in the contribution of each cause of death to socioeconomic inequalities in all-cause mortality among Korean adults. Data were collected from death certificates between 1990 and 2004 and from censuses in 1990, 1995, and 2000. Age-standardized death rates by gender were produced according to education as the socioeconomic position indicator, and the slope index of inequality was calculated to evaluate the contribution of each cause of death to socioeconomic inequalities in all-cause mortality. Among adults aged 25-44, accidental injuries with transport accidents, suicide, liver disease and cerebrovascular disease made relatively large contributions to socioeconomic inequalities in all-cause mortality, while, among adults aged 45-64, liver disease, cerebrovascular disease, transport accidents, liver cancer, and lung cancer did so. Ischemic heart disease, a very important contributor to socioeconomic mortality inequality in North America and Western Europe, showed a very low contribution (less than 3%) in both genders of Koreans. Considering the contributions of different causes of death to absolute mortality inequalities, establishing effective strategies to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in mortality is warranted.

Contribution of working conditions to occupational inequalities in depressive symptoms: results from the national French SUMER survey.

PubMed

Niedhammer, Isabelle; Lesuffleur, Thomas; Coutrot, Thomas; Chastang, Jean-François

2016-08-01

Social inequalities in mental health have been observed, but explanations are still lacking. The objectives were to evaluate the contribution of a large set of psychosocial work factors and other occupational exposures to social inequalities in mental health in a national representative sample of employees. The sample from the cross-sectional national French survey SUMER 2010 included 46,962 employees: 26,883 men and 20,079 women. Anxiety and depression symptoms were measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale. Occupation was used as a marker of social position. Psychosocial work factors included various variables related to the classical job strain model, psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, and other understudied variables related to reward, job insecurity, job promotion, esteem, working time/hours, and workplace violence. Other occupational exposures of chemical, biological, physical, and biomechanical nature were also studied. Weighted age-adjusted linear regression analyses were performed. Occupational gradients were found in the exposure to most psychosocial work factors and other occupational exposures. Occupational inequalities were observed for depressive symptoms, but not for anxiety symptoms. The factors related to decision latitude (and its sub-dimensions, skill discretion, and decision authority), social support, and reward (and its sub-dimensions, job promotion, job insecurity, and esteem) contributed to explain occupational inequalities in depressive symptoms. Decision latitude played a major role in the explanation. Workplace violence variables contributed among men only. Other exposures of physical and biomechanical nature also displayed significant contributions. Comprehensive prevention policies at the workplace may help to reduce social inequalities in mental health in the working population.

Elucidating the contributions of multiple aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenases to butanol and ethanol production in Clostridium acetobutylicum.

PubMed

Dai, Zongjie; Dong, Hongjun; Zhang, Yanping; Li, Yin

2016-06-20

Ethanol and butanol biosynthesis in Clostridium acetobutylicum share common aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenases. However, little is known about the relative contributions of these multiple dehydrogenases to ethanol and butanol production respectively. The contributions of six aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenases of C. acetobutylicum on butanol and ethanol production were evaluated through inactivation of the corresponding genes respectively. For butanol production, the relative contributions from these enzymes were: AdhE1 > BdhB > BdhA ≈ YqhD > SMB_P058 > AdhE2. For ethanol production, the contributions were: AdhE1 > BdhB > YqhD > SMB_P058 > AdhE2 > BdhA. AdhE1 and BdhB are two essential enzymes for butanol and ethanol production. AdhE1 was relatively specific for butanol production over ethanol, while BdhB, YqhD, and SMB_P058 favor ethanol production over butanol. Butanol synthesis was increased in the adhE2 mutant, which had a higher butanol/ethanol ratio (8.15:1) compared with wild type strain (6.65:1). Both the SMB_P058 mutant and yqhD mutant produced less ethanol without loss of butanol formation, which led to higher butanol/ethanol ratio, 10.12:1 and 10.17:1, respectively. To engineer a more efficient butanol-producing strain, adhE1 could be overexpressed, furthermore, adhE2, SMB_P058, yqhD are promising gene inactivation targets. This work provides useful information guiding future strain improvement for butanol production.

Drug induced sleep endoscopy: its role in evaluation of the upper airway obstruction and patient selection for surgical and non-surgical treatment

PubMed Central

De Vito, Andrea

2018-01-01

Sleep related breathing disorders cause obstruction of the upper airway which can be alleviated by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, oral devices or surgical intervention. Non-surgical treatment modalities are not always accepted by patients and in order to attain successful surgical outcomes, evaluation of the upper airway is necessary to carefully select the patients who would benefit from surgery. There are numerous techniques available to assess the upper airway obstruction and these include imaging, acoustic analysis, pressure transducer recording and endoscopic evaluation. It is essential to note that the nocturnal obstructive upper airway has limited muscle control compared to the tone of the upper airway lumen during wakefulness. Thus, if one were to attempt to identify the anatomical segments contributing to upper airway obstruction in sleep related breathing disorders; it must be borne in mind that evaluation of the airway must be performed if possible when the patient is awake and asleep albeit during drug induced sleep. This fact as such limits the use of imaging techniques for the purpose. Drug induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) was pioneered at Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, London in 1990 and initially introduced as sleep nasendoscopy. The nomenclature and the technique has been modified by various Institutions but the core value of this evaluation technique remains similar and extremely useful for identifying the anatomical segment responsible for obstructing the upper airway during sleep in patients with sleep related breathing disorders. There have been numerous controversies that have surrounded this technique but over the last two decades most of these have been addressed and it now remains in the forefront of methods of evaluating the upper airway obstruction. A variety of sedative agents and different grading systems have been described and efforts to unify various aspects of the technique have been made. This article will look at its usefulness and advantages and will discuss some important contributions made to the field of evaluation of the upper airway using DISE. PMID:29445527

The contribution of lot-to-lot variation to the measurement uncertainty of an LC-MS-based multi-mycotoxin assay.

PubMed

Stadler, David; Sulyok, Michael; Schuhmacher, Rainer; Berthiller, Franz; Krska, Rudolf

2018-05-01

Multi-mycotoxin determination by LC-MS is commonly based on external solvent-based or matrix-matched calibration and, if necessary, the correction for the method bias. In everyday practice, the method bias (expressed as apparent recovery RA), which may be caused by losses during the recovery process and/or signal/suppression enhancement, is evaluated by replicate analysis of a single spiked lot of a matrix. However, RA may vary for different lots of the same matrix, i.e., lot-to-lot variation, which can result in a higher relative expanded measurement uncertainty (U r ). We applied a straightforward procedure for the calculation of U r from the within-laboratory reproducibility, which is also called intermediate precision, and the uncertainty of RA (u r,RA ). To estimate the contribution of the lot-to-lot variation to U r , the measurement results of one replicate of seven different lots of figs and maize and seven replicates of a single lot of these matrices, respectively, were used to calculate U r . The lot-to-lot variation was contributing to u r,RA and thus to U r for the majority of the 66 evaluated analytes in both figs and maize. The major contributions of the lot-to-lot variation to u r,RA were differences in analyte recovery in figs and relative matrix effects in maize. U r was estimated from long-term participation in proficiency test schemes with 58%. Provided proper validation, a fit-for-purpose U r of 50% was proposed for measurement results obtained by an LC-MS-based multi-mycotoxin assay, independent of the concentration of the analytes.

The Multifactor Measure of Performance: Its Development, Norming, and Validation.

PubMed

Bar-On, Reuven

2018-01-01

This article describes the development as well as the initial norming and validation of the Multifactor Measure of Performance™ (MMP™), which is a psychometric instrument that is designed to study, assess and enhance key predictors of human performance to help individuals perform at a higher level. It was created by the author, for the purpose of going beyond existing conceptual and psychometric models that often focus on relatively few factors that are purported to assess performance at school, in the workplace and elsewhere. The relative sparsity of multifactorial pre-employment assessment instruments exemplifies, for the author, one of the important reasons for developing the MMP™, which attempts to comprehensively evaluate a wider array of factors that are thought to contribute to performance. In that this situation creates a need in the area of test-construction that should be addressed, the author sought to develop a multifactorial assessment and development instrument that could concomitantly evaluate a combination of physical, cognitive, intra-personal, inter-personal, and motivational factors that significantly contribute to performance. The specific aim of this article is to show why, how and if this could be done as well as to present and discuss the potential importance of the results obtained to date. The findings presented here will hopefully add to what is known about human performance and thus contribute to the professional literature, in addition to contribute to the continued development of the MMP™. The impetus for developing the MMP™ is first explained below, followed by a detailed description of the process involved and the findings obtained; and their potential application is then discussed as well as the possible limitations of the present research and the need for future studies to address them.

The Multifactor Measure of Performance: Its Development, Norming, and Validation

PubMed Central

Bar-On, Reuven

2018-01-01

This article describes the development as well as the initial norming and validation of the Multifactor Measure of Performance™ (MMP™)1, which is a psychometric instrument that is designed to study, assess and enhance key predictors of human performance to help individuals perform at a higher level. It was created by the author, for the purpose of going beyond existing conceptual and psychometric models that often focus on relatively few factors that are purported to assess performance at school, in the workplace and elsewhere. The relative sparsity of multifactorial pre-employment assessment instruments exemplifies, for the author, one of the important reasons for developing the MMP™, which attempts to comprehensively evaluate a wider array of factors that are thought to contribute to performance. In that this situation creates a need in the area of test-construction that should be addressed, the author sought to develop a multifactorial assessment and development instrument that could concomitantly evaluate a combination of physical, cognitive, intra-personal, inter-personal, and motivational factors that significantly contribute to performance. The specific aim of this article is to show why, how and if this could be done as well as to present and discuss the potential importance of the results obtained to date. The findings presented here will hopefully add to what is known about human performance and thus contribute to the professional literature, in addition to contribute to the continued development of the MMP™. The impetus for developing the MMP™ is first explained below, followed by a detailed description of the process involved and the findings obtained; and their potential application is then discussed as well as the possible limitations of the present research and the need for future studies to address them. PMID:29515479

Muscle contributions to elbow joint rotational stiffness in preparation for sudden external arm perturbations.

PubMed

Holmes, Michael W R; Keir, Peter J

2014-04-01

Understanding joint stiffness and stability is beneficial for assessing injury risk. The purpose of this study was to examine joint rotational stiffness for individual muscles contributing to elbow joint stability. Fifteen male participants maintained combinations of three body orientations (standing, supine, sitting) and three hand preloads (no load, solid tube, fluid filled tube) while a device imposed a sudden elbow extension. Elbow angle and activity from nine muscles were inputs to a biomechanical model to determine relative contributions to elbow joint rotational stiffness, reported as percent of total stiffness. A body orientation by preload interaction was evident for most muscles (P<.001). Brachioradialis had the largest change in contribution while standing (no load, 18.5%; solid, 23.8%; fluid, 26.3%). Across trials, the greatest contributions were brachialis (30.4±1.9%) and brachioradialis (21.7±2.2%). Contributions from the forearm muscles and triceps were 5.5±0.6% and 9.2±1.9%, respectively. Contributions increased at time points closer to the perturbation (baseline to anticipatory), indicating increased neuromuscular response to resist rotation. This study quantified muscle contributions that resist elbow perturbations, found that forearm muscles contribute marginally and showed that orientation and preload should be considered when evaluating elbow joint stiffness and safety.

Evaluation of psychiatric and genetic risk factors among primary relatives of suicide completers in Delhi NCR region, India.

PubMed

Pasi, Shivani; Singh, Piyoosh Kumar; Pandey, Rajeev Kumar; Dikshit, P C; Jiloha, R C; Rao, V R

2015-10-30

Suicide as a public health problem is studied worldwide and association of psychiatric and genetic risk factors for suicidal behavior are the point of discussion in studies across different ethnic groups. The present study is aimed at evaluating psychiatric and genetic traits among primary relatives of suicide completer families in an urban Indian population. Bi-variate analysis shows significant increase in major depression (PHQ and Hamilton), stress, panic disorder, somatoform disorder and suicide attemptamong primary compared to other relatives. Sib pair correlations also reveal significant results for major depression (Hamilton), stress, suicide attempt, intensity of suicide ideation and other anxiety syndrome. 5-HTTLPR, 5-HTT (Stin2) and COMT risk alleles are higher among primary relatives, though statistically insignificant. Backward conditional logistic regression analysis show only independent variable, Depression (Hamilton) made a unique statistically significant contribution to the model in primary relatives. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contribution of Pollinator-Mediated Crops to Nutrients in the Human Food Supply

PubMed Central

Eilers, Elisabeth J.; Kremen, Claire; Smith Greenleaf, Sarah; Garber, Andrea K.; Klein, Alexandra-Maria

2011-01-01

The contribution of nutrients from animal pollinated world crops has not previously been evaluated as a biophysical measure for the value of pollination services. This study evaluates the nutritional composition of animal-pollinated world crops. We calculated pollinator dependent and independent proportions of different nutrients of world crops, employing FAO data for crop production, USDA data for nutritional composition, and pollinator dependency data according to Klein et al. (2007). Crop plants that depend fully or partially on animal pollinators contain more than 90% of vitamin C, the whole quantity of Lycopene and almost the full quantity of the antioxidants β-cryptoxanthin and β-tocopherol, the majority of the lipid, vitamin A and related carotenoids, calcium and fluoride, and a large portion of folic acid. Ongoing pollinator decline may thus exacerbate current difficulties of providing a nutritionally adequate diet for the global human population. PMID:21731717

Noninvasive evaluation of collagen and hemoglobin contents and scattering property of in vivo keloid scars and normal skin using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy: pilot study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tseng, Sheng-Hao; Hsu, Chao-Kai; Yu-Yun Lee, Julia; Tzeng, Shih-Yu; Chen, Wan-Rung; Liaw, Yu-Kai

2012-07-01

Collagen is a rich component in skin that provides skin structure integrity; however, its contribution to the absorption and scattering properties of various types of skin has not been extensively studied. We considered the contribution of the collagen to the absorption spectrum of in vivo normal skin and keloids of 12 subjects derived from our diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) system in the wavelength range from 550 to 860 nm. It was found that the collagen concentration, the hemoglobin oxygen saturation, and the reduced scattering coefficient of keloids were remarkably different from that of normal skin. Our results suggest that our DRS system could assist clinicians in understanding the functional and structural condition of keloid scars. In the future, we will evaluate the accuracy of our system in the keloid diagnosis and investigate the applicability of our system for other skin-collagen-related studies.

Living Well With a Long-Term Condition: Service Users' Perspectives of a Self-Management Intervention.

PubMed

Stenberg, Nicola; Furness, Penny J

2017-03-01

The outcomes of self-management interventions are commonly assessed using quantitative measurement tools, and few studies ask people with long-term conditions to explain, in their own words, what aspects of the intervention they valued. In this Grounded Theory study, a Health Trainers service in the north of England was evaluated based on interviews with eight service-users. Open, focused, and theoretical coding led to the development of a preliminary model explaining participants' experiences and perceived impact of the service. The model reflects the findings that living well with a long-term condition encompassed social connectedness, changed identities, acceptance, and self-care. Health trainers performed four related roles that were perceived to contribute to these outcomes: conceptualizer, connector, coach, and champion. The evaluation contributes a grounded theoretical understanding of a personalized self-management intervention that emphasizes the benefits of a holistic approach to enable cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and social adjustments.

A regional-scale ecological risk framework for environmental flow evaluations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Brien, Gordon C.; Dickens, Chris; Hines, Eleanor; Wepener, Victor; Stassen, Retha; Quayle, Leo; Fouchy, Kelly; MacKenzie, James; Graham, P. Mark; Landis, Wayne G.

2018-02-01

Environmental flow (E-flow) frameworks advocate holistic, regional-scale, probabilistic E-flow assessments that consider flow and non-flow drivers of change in a socio-ecological context as best practice. Regional-scale ecological risk assessments of multiple stressors to social and ecological endpoints, which address ecosystem dynamism, have been undertaken internationally at different spatial scales using the relative-risk model since the mid-1990s. With the recent incorporation of Bayesian belief networks into the relative-risk model, a robust regional-scale ecological risk assessment approach is available that can contribute to achieving the best practice recommendations of E-flow frameworks. PROBFLO is a holistic E-flow assessment method that incorporates the relative-risk model and Bayesian belief networks (BN-RRM) into a transparent probabilistic modelling tool that addresses uncertainty explicitly. PROBFLO has been developed to evaluate the socio-ecological consequences of historical, current and future water resource use scenarios and generate E-flow requirements on regional spatial scales. The approach has been implemented in two regional-scale case studies in Africa where its flexibility and functionality has been demonstrated. In both case studies the evidence-based outcomes facilitated informed environmental management decision making, with trade-off considerations in the context of social and ecological aspirations. This paper presents the PROBFLO approach as applied to the Senqu River catchment in Lesotho and further developments and application in the Mara River catchment in Kenya and Tanzania. The 10 BN-RRM procedural steps incorporated in PROBFLO are demonstrated with examples from both case studies. PROBFLO can contribute to the adaptive management of water resources and contribute to the allocation of resources for sustainable use of resources and address protection requirements.

Does traffic exhaust contribute to the development of asthma and allergic sensitization in children: findings from recent cohort studies

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

The aim of this review was to assess the evidence from recent prospective studies that long-term traffic pollution could contribute to the development of asthma-like symptoms and allergic sensitization in children. We have reviewed cohort studies published since 2002 and found in PubMed in Oct 2008. In all, 13 papers based on data from 9 cohorts have evaluated the relationship between traffic exposure and respiratory health. All surveys reported associations with at least some of the studied respiratory symptoms. The outcome varied, however, according to the age of the child. Nevertheless, the consistency in the results indicates that traffic exhaust contributes to the development of respiratory symptoms in healthy children. Potential effects of traffic exhaust on the development of allergic sensitization were only assessed in the four European birth cohorts. Long-term exposure to outdoor air pollutants had no association with sensitization in ten-year-old schoolchildren in Norway. In contrast, German, Dutch and Swedish preschool children had an increased risk of sensitization related to traffic exhaust despite fairly similar levels of outdoor air pollution as in Norway. Traffic-related effects on sensitization could be restricted to individuals with a specific genetic polymorphism. Assessment of gene-environment interactions on sensitization has so far only been carried out in a subgroup of the Swedish birth cohort. Further genetic association studies are required and may identify individuals vulnerable to adverse effects from traffic-related pollutants. Future studies should also evaluate effects of traffic exhaust on the development and long term outcome of different phenotypes of asthma and wheezing symptoms. PMID:19371435

The surveillance of occupational diseases in Italy: the MALPROF system.

PubMed

Campo, G; Papale, A; Baldasseroni, A; Di Leone, G; Magna, B; Martini, B; Mattioli, S

2015-11-01

Occupational diseases data can guide efforts to improve worker's health and safety. To describe MALPROF, the Italian system for surveillance of work-related diseases collected by the subregional Department of Prevention. The MALPROF system started in 1999 with contributions from Lombardy and Tuscany and spread in the following years to collect contributions from 14 out of the 20 Italian regions. MALPROF data were explored to follow-up work-related diseases and to detect emerging occupational health risks by calculating proportional reporting ratio (PRR), as in pharmacosurveillance. It classified work-related diseases according to economic sector and job activity in which the exposure occurred. Occupational physicians of the Italian National Health Service evaluate the possible causal relationship with occupational exposures and store the data in a centralized database. From 1999 to 2012, the MALPROF system collected about 112000 cases of workers' diseases. In 2010, more than 13000 cases of occupational diseases were reported. The most frequently reported diseases were hearing loss (n = 4378, 32%), spine disorders (n = 2394, 17%) and carpal tunnel syndrome (n = 1560, 11%). The PRR calculated for cervical disc herniation, a disease whose occupational origin has to be studied, in 1999-2010 was 2.47 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.76-3.47] for drivers and 36.64 (95% CI 22.03-60.93) for air transport workers. MALPROF is a sensitive system for identifying possible associations between occupational risks and diseases, it can contribute to the development of preventive measures, to evaluate the effectiveness of preventive interventions and to stimulate research on new occupational risks and diseases. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Measuring policy and related effects of a health impact assessment related to connectivity.

PubMed

Bias, Thomas K; Abildso, Christiaan G

2017-02-01

Health Impact Assessments are an important tool to help policymakers perceive the potential positive and negative contributions of decisions to public health. While they have been increasingly used in the United States, studies have not examined intermediate effects. Using key stakeholder interviews, this manuscript examines policy outcomes and other related effects of the HIA 21months after completing a Health Impact Assessment Report around connectivity policy. Further, it reflects on the measurement of these effects as part of the monitoring and evaluation stage of the Health Impact Assessment process. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Measuring strategies for learning regulation in medical education: scale reliability and dimensionality in a Swedish sample.

PubMed

Edelbring, Samuel

2012-08-15

The degree of learners' self-regulated learning and dependence on external regulation influence learning processes in higher education. These regulation strategies are commonly measured by questionnaires developed in other settings than in which they are being used, thereby requiring renewed validation. The aim of this study was to psychometrically evaluate the learning regulation strategy scales from the Inventory of Learning Styles with Swedish medical students (N = 206). The regulation scales were evaluated regarding their reliability, scale dimensionality and interrelations. The primary evaluation focused on dimensionality and was performed with Mokken scale analysis. To assist future scale refinement, additional item analysis, such as item-to-scale correlations, was performed. Scale scores in the Swedish sample displayed good reliability in relation to published results: Cronbach's alpha: 0.82, 0.72, and 0.65 for self-regulation, external regulation and lack of regulation scales respectively. The dimensionalities in scales were adequate for self-regulation and its subscales, whereas external regulation and lack of regulation displayed less unidimensionality. The established theoretical scales were largely replicated in the exploratory analysis. The item analysis identified two items that contributed little to their respective scales. The results indicate that these scales have an adequate capacity for detecting the three theoretically proposed learning regulation strategies in the medical education sample. Further construct validity should be sought by interpreting scale scores in relation to specific learning activities. Using established scales for measuring students' regulation strategies enables a broad empirical base for increasing knowledge on regulation strategies in relation to different disciplinary settings and contributes to theoretical development.

Integrated Assessment and the Relation Between Land-Use Change and Climate Change

DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

Dale, V. H.

1994-10-07

Integrated assessment is an approach that is useful in evaluating the consequences of global climate change. Understanding the consequences requires knowledge of the relationship between land-use change and climate change. Methodologies for assessing the contribution of land-use change to atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentrations are considered with reference to a particular case study area: south and southeast Asia. The use of models to evaluate the consequences of climate change on forests must also consider an assessment approach. Each of these points is discussed in the following four sections.

Implementation and evaluation of PM2.5 source contribution ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Source culpability assessments are useful for developing effective emissions control programs. The Integrated Source Apportionment Method (ISAM) has been implemented in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to track contributions from source groups and regions to ambient levels and deposited amounts of primary and secondary inorganic PM2.5. Confidence in this approach is established by comparing ISAM source contribution estimates to emissions zero-out simulations recognizing that these approaches are not always expected to provide the same answer. The comparisons are expected to be most similar for more linear processes such as those involving primary emissions of PM2.5 and most different for non-linear systems like ammonium nitrate formation. Primarily emitted PM2.5 (e.g. elemental carbon), sulfur dioxide, ammonia, and nitrogen oxide contribution estimates compare well to zero-out estimates for ambient concentration and deposition. PM2.5 sulfate ion relationships are strong, but nonlinearity is evident and shown to be related to aqueous phase oxidation reactions in the host model. ISAM and zero-out contribution estimates are less strongly related for PM2.5 ammonium nitrate, resulting from instances of non-linear chemistry and negative responses (increases in PM2.5 due to decreases in emissions). ISAM is demonstrated in the context of an annual simulation tracking well characterized emissions source sectors and boundary conditions shows source contri

Understanding Differences in the Response to Composition Change as Simulated by CCMVal Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Douglass, Anne R.; Strahan, Susan E.; Oman, Luke D.

2012-01-01

Chemistry climate models (CCMs) have a common conceptual basis. Differences in implementation lead to differences in the stratospheric ozone response to changes in composition and climate. Although evaluation by CCMVal-2 identified strengths and weaknesses of participant models, the evaluation results were not used to discriminate among projections for future ozone evolution, at least in part because the overall diagnostic evaluation did not cleanly relate to the differences in CCM response. Here we use a subset of CCMVal diagnostics and additional analysis to understand the differences in response. In the upper stratosphere, differences in simulated temperature and total odd nitrogen prior to increases in chlorine loading explain the large differences in CCM sensitivity. In the lower atmosphere, there are two principle contributions to differences in CCM sensitivity to chlorine and climate change. First, differences in the lower stratospheric ClO affect simulated sensitivity to chlorine. CCMs with best transport performance match NDACC column HCl measurements at a broad range of latitudes. Other CCMs disagree with observations due to differences in total inorganic chlorine, partitioning between HCl and ClONO2, or both. Differences in ClONO2 are directly related to differences in simulated ClO. Second, although all CCMs predict increased tropical upwelling, the rate of increase varies and contributes to differences in tropical ozone and the 60N-60S column average.

Professional Values Competency Evaluation for Students Enrolled in a Concept-Based Curriculum.

PubMed

Elliott, Annette M

2017-01-01

Although many nursing programs have transitioned toward the use of concept-based curricula, the evaluation of student learning associated with the curricular approach has been limited. An evaluation of student learning related to professional values for programs offering concept-based curricula was not evident in the literature. The purpose was to determine how a course competency related to professional values was addressed by nursing students studying in a concept-based nursing curriculum. The qualitative methodology of framework analysis was used to evaluate written assignments (N = 75). The core concept appreciation for professional values and the core concept disillusionment with unprofessional behaviors were identified in students' written reflections. The core concept of appreciation for professional values contributes to an evidence base of contemporary professional values identified in nursing. The core concept of disillusionment with unprofessional behaviors can inform curricular planning and research on how to advocate for professional behaviors. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(1):12-21.]. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

Economics and Environmental Compatibility of Fusion Reactors —Its Analysis and Coming Issues— 4.Economic Effect of Fusion in Energy Market 4.2Various Externalities of Energy Systems and the Integrated Evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ito, Keishiro

The primacy of a nuclear fusion reactor in a competitive energy market remarkably depends on to what extent the reactor contributes to reduce the externalities of energy. The reduction effects are classified into two effects, which have quite dissimilar characteristics. One is an effect of environmental dimensions. The other is related to energy security. In this study I took up the results of EC's Extern Eproject studies as are presentative example of the former effect. Concerning the latter effect, I clarified the fundamental characteristics of externalities related to energy security and the conceptual framework for the purpose of evaluation. In the socio-economical evaluation of research into and development investments in nuclear fusions reactors, the public will require the development of integrated evaluation systems to support the cost-effect analysis of how well the reduction effects of externalities have been integrated with the effects of technological innovation, learning, spillover, etc.

Deficits in Emotional Clarity and Vulnerability to Peer Victimization and Internalizing Symptoms among Early Adolescents

PubMed Central

Hamilton, Jessica L.; Kleiman, Evan M.; Rubenstein, Liza M.; Stange, Jonathan P.; Flynn, Megan; Abramson, Lyn Y.; Alloy, Lauren B.

2015-01-01

Peer victimization is a significant risk factor for a range of negative outcomes during adolescence, including depression and anxiety. Recent research has evaluated individual characteristics that heighten the risk of experiencing peer victimization. However, the role of emotional clarity, or the ability to understand one’s emotions, in being the target of peer victimization remains unclear. Thus, the present study evaluated whether deficits in emotional clarity increased the risk of experiencing peer victimization, particularly among adolescent girls, which, in turn, contributed to prospective levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms. In the present study, 355 early adolescents (ages 12–13; 53% female; 51% African American) who were part of the Adolescent Cognition and Emotion project completed measures of emotional clarity, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms at baseline, and measures of peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms at follow-up. Moderation analyses indicated that deficits in emotional clarity predicted greater peer victimization among adolescent girls, but not adolescent boys. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that deficits in emotional clarity contributed to relational peer victimization, which, in turn, predicted prospective levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms among adolescent girls, but not boys. These findings indicate that deficits in emotional clarity represent a significant risk factor for adolescent girls to experience relational peer victimization, which, in turn, contributed to prospective levels of internalizing symptoms. Thus, prevention programs should target deficits in emotional clarity to prevent peer victimization and subsequent internalizing symptoms among adolescent girls. PMID:25680559

Stoichiometric evaluation of partial nitritation, anammox and denitrification processes in a sequencing batch reactor and interpretation of online monitoring parameters.

PubMed

Langone, Michela; Ferrentino, Roberta; Cadonna, Maria; Andreottola, Gianni

2016-12-01

A laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) performing partial nitritation - anammox and denitrification was used to treat anaerobic digester effluents. The SBR cycle consisted of a short mixing filling phase followed by oxic and anoxic reaction phases. Working at 25 °C, an ammonium conversion efficiency of 96.5%, a total nitrogen removal efficiency of 88.6%, and an organic carbon removal efficiency of 63.5% were obtained at a nitrogen loading rate of 0.15 kg N m -3 d -1 , and a biodegradable organic carbon to nitrogen ratio of 0.37. The potential contribution of each biological process was evaluated by using a stoichiometric model. The nitritation contribution decreased as the temperature decreased, while the contribution from anammox depended on the wastewater type and soluble carbon to nitrogen ratio. Denitrification improved the total nitrogen removal efficiency, and it was influenced by the biodegradable organic carbon to nitrogen ratio. The characteristic patterns of conductivity, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and pH in the SBR cycle were well related to biological processes. Conductivity profiles were found to be directly related to the decreasing profiles of ammonium. Positive ORP values at the end of the anoxic phases were detected for total nitrogen removal efficiency of lower than 85%, and the occurrence of bending points on the ORP curves during the anoxic phases was associated with nitrite depletion by the anammox process. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Effects of Presentation Modality, Task Demand, and Content Structure on Age-Related Memory Differences for Prose.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corgiat, Mark D.; And Others

1989-01-01

Evaluated contributions of age, presentation modality, task demand, and content structure to prose recall variation among adults. Tested 60 young and 60 older adults for recall of ideas in 641-word prose passage. Found recall for total number of idea units was significantly lower for older participants and for auditory presentation across both age…

Short-Term Memory Stages in Sign vs. Speech: The Source of the Serial Span Discrepancy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Matthew L.; Bavelier, Daphne

2011-01-01

Speakers generally outperform signers when asked to recall a list of unrelated verbal items. This phenomenon is well established, but its source has remained unclear. In this study, we evaluate the relative contribution of the three main processing stages of short-term memory--perception, encoding, and recall--in this effect. The present study…

Metacognitive and Motivational Predictors of Surface Approach to Studying and Academic Examination Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spada, Marcantonio M.; Moneta, Giovanni B.

2014-01-01

The objective of this study was to verify the structure of a model of how surface approach to studying is influenced by the trait variables of motivation and metacognition and the state variables of avoidance coping and evaluation anxiety. We extended the model to include: (1) the investigation of the relative contribution of the five…

The Evaluation of Less-Lethal Weapons

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-12-01

following contractor personnel made mijor contributions: W. Busty (Experimental Pathology Laboratories, Inc) A. Tiedemann. I r (AAI, Inc) L. Wiliiams ...matter, participated. The objectives of tile conference were: a. To review the problems and policy issues concerning nonlethal weapons for law enforcement...and related uses, and, b. to develop recommendations for research and development priorities for addressing these technical and policy issues . The

Development of action checkpoints for comfortable computer work.

PubMed

Iwakiri, Kazuyuki; Mori, Ippei; Sotoyama, Midori; Horiguchi, Kaori; Ochiai, Takanori; Jonai, Hiroshi; Saito, Susumu

2004-04-01

We developed a manual including a checklist format for undertaking measures to prevent fatigue in visual display terminals (VDT) workers. With this manual, problems related to VDT work can be recognized by using checklists which allow for self-evaluation by the workers. The manual helps the workers to consider measures for improvement by themselves and will contribute to better occupational health education.

Sense of place in natural resource recreation and tourism: an evaluation and assessment of research findings.

Treesearch

Jennifer Farnum; Troy Hall; Linda E. Kruger

2005-01-01

Understanding sense of place and related concepts often presents challenges for both managers and researchers. Inconsistent application of terms, questions regarding their origin, and a lack of awareness of research findings contribute to the ambiguity of these concepts. This integrative review of research provides relevant, current information on the role of sense of...

A STUDY OF PROCESS CONTRIBUTIONS TO OZONE FORMATION DURING THE 2004 ICARTT PERIOD USING THE ETA-CMAQ FORECAST MODEL OVER THE NORTHEASTERN U.S.

EPA Science Inventory

First, this study evaluates the Eta-CMAQ forecast model performances for O₃, and related chemical species with the observational data from the aircraft (NOAA P-3 and NASA DC-8) flights, Lidar and ozonesonde during the 2004 International Consortium for Atmospheric Resea...

A STUDY OF PROCESS CONTRIBUTIONS TO OZONE FORMATION DURING THE 2004 ICARTT PERIOD USING THE ETA- CMAQ FORECAST MODEL OVER THE NORTHEASTERN U.S.

EPA Science Inventory

First, this study evaluates the Eta-CMAQ forecast model performances for O₃, and related chemical species with the observational data from the aircraft (NOAA P-3 and NASA DC-8) flights, Lidar and ozonesonde during the 2004 International Consortium for Atmospheric Resea...

Selective Maintenance of Motor Performance in Older Adults from Long-Lasting Sport Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dascal, Juliana Bayeux; Teixeira, Luis Augusto

2016-01-01

Purpose: Decline of motor performance in older individuals affects their quality of life. Understanding the contribution of sport-related training in advanced ages might help to attenuate motor performance decay as one gets older. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the extent to which long-lasting training in running or sport-specific skills…

Analysis of the contribution of HLA genes to genetic predisposition in inflammatory bowel disease

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

Naom, I.; Haris, I.; Hodgson, S.V.

1996-07-01

Crohn disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) of unknown etiology. First-degree relatives of IBD patients have a 10-fold increase in risk of developing the same disease, and distinct associations between specific HLA types and both CD and UC have been reported. We have evaluated the contribution of genes at the HLA locus to susceptibility in IBD by linkage analysis of highly informative microsatellite polymorphisms in 43 families with multiple affected cases. No evidence for linkage of HLA to IBD was obtained under any of the four models tested. Analysis of HLA haplotype sharing inmore » affected relatives indicated that the relative risk to a sibling conferred by the HLA locus was 1.11 in UC and 0.75 in CD, with upper (95%) confidence limits of 2.41 and 1.37, respectively. This suggests that other genetic or environmental factors are responsible for most of the familial aggregation in IBD. 31 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs.« less

The impact of experiential exercises on communication and relational skills in a suicide prevention gatekeeper-training program for college resident advisors.

PubMed

Pasco, Susan; Wallack, Cory; Sartin, Robert M; Dayton, Rebecca

2012-01-01

In an effort to identify students at risk for suicide, many colleges are implementing suicide prevention training for campus gatekeepers. This study evaluated the efficacy of a 3-hour, experiential-based gatekeeper training that included an emphasis on enhancing communication skills and relational connection in addition to the didactic foci of standard gatekeeper training. Sixty-five college student resident advisors (RAs) were trained with Campus Connect. The training was dismantled to examine the specific contribution of experiential exercises on training outcomes. Compared to didactic training alone, following participation in experiential exercises RAs' training outcome scores exhibited additional improvement on the Suicide Intervention Response Inventory-2 and a 14-item self-report measure of self-efficacy for specific suicide- and crisis-related knowledge and skills. In gatekeeper training, experiential exercises emphasizing awareness and empathic responding and practice of these skills contribute to an improvement in crisis response skills above and beyond that of didactic training alone.

Using the concept of Shannon's Entropy to evaluate impacts of climate extremes on interannual variability in ecosystem CO2 fluxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, S.; Baldocchi, D. D.

2016-12-01

Although interannual variability in ecosystem CO2 fluxes have been observed in the field and described with empirical or process-based models, we still lack tools for evaluating and comparing impacts of climate extremes or unusual biogeophysical events on the variability. We examined a 15-year-long dataset of net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) measured at a woody savanna and a grassland site in California from 2000 to 2015. We proposed a conceptual framework to quantify season contributions by computing relatively contributions of each season to annual anomalies of gross ecosystem productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Reco). According to the framework, we calculated the Shannon's Entropy for each year. The values of Shannon Entropy were higher in the year that variations in GPP and Reco were beyond predictions of empirical models established for the study site. We specifically examined the outliers compared to model predictions and concluded that the outliers were related to occurrences of unexpected biogeophysical events in those years. This study offers a new application of Shannon's Entropy in understanding complicated biophysical and ecological processes involved in ecosystem carbon cycling.

Assessing youth policies. A system of indicators for local government.

PubMed

Planas, Anna; Soler, Pere; Vilà, Montserrat

2014-08-01

In the current European climate of economic, financial and political crisis and the questioning of the welfare state, assessing public policies assume a primary and strategic relevance in clarifying the results and contributions of policy actions. In this article, we aim to present the current situation in relation to youth policy assessment so as to formulate a system of assessment indicators in the sphere of Spanish local government youth policy. A review is conducted of some of the principal contributions in the field of constructing indicators for evaluating youth policies. We have found that most of these evaluation tools exist on a national or state level and that there is a dearth of local or municipal tools. The article concludes with a concrete proposal for an assessment tool: the SIAPJove (Sistema d'Indicadors d'Avaluació per a les Polítiques Municipals de Joventut or System of Assessment Indicators for Local Government Youth Policies) (web page: http://siapjove.udg.edu/). It provides both quantitative and qualitative indicators for local youth policy managers to obtain assessment reports with relative ease in 12 possible areas for assessment within youth policy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of factors related to arm weakness in patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema.

PubMed

Lee, Daegu; Hwang, Ji Hye; Chu, Inho; Chang, Hyun Ju; Shim, Young Hun; Kim, Jung Hyun

2015-08-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the ratio of significant weakness in the affected arm of breast cancer-related lymphedema patients to their unaffected side. Another purpose was to identify factors related to arm weakness and physical function in patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema. Consecutive patients (n = 80) attended a single evaluation session following their outpatient lymphedema clinic visit. Possible independent factors (i.e., lymphedema, pain, psychological, educational, and behavioral) were evaluated. Handgrip strength was used to assess upper extremity muscle strength and the disabilities of arm, shoulder, and hand (DASH) questionnaire was used to assess upper extremity physical function. Multivariate logistic regression was performed using factors that had significant differences between the handgrip weakness and non-weakness groups. Out of the 80 patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema, 29 patients (36.3 %) had significant weakness in the affected arm. Weakness of the arm with lymphedema was not related to lymphedema itself, but was related to the fear of using the affected limb (odds ratio = 1.76, 95 % confidence interval = 1.30-2.37). Fears of using the affected limb and depression significantly contributed to the variance in DASH scores. Appropriate physical and psychological interventions, including providing accurate information and reassurance of physical activity safety, are necessary to prevent arm weakness and physical dysfunction in patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema.

The role of research methodology in the rational use of technology in monitoring and preventing communication disorders.

PubMed

Chiari, Brasília M; Goulart, Bárbara N G

2009-09-01

Studies showing stronger scientific evidence related to speech, language and hearing pathology (SLP) have an impact on the prevention and rehabilitation of human communication and gained ground in SLP research agenda. In this paper we discuss some aspects and directions that should be considered for in-depth knowledge about speech, language and hearing needs in different population groups (age group, gender and other variables according to specific related disorders) for improved comprehensive care, successful efforts and effective use of financial and human resources. It is also discussed the decision making process for requesting complementary evaluations and tests, from routine to highly complex ones, that should be based on each test and/or procedure and their contribution to the diagnosis and therapeutic planning. In fact, it is crucial to have reliable parameters for planning, preventing and treating human communication and its related disorders. Epidemiology, biostatistics and social sciences can contribute with more specific information in human communication sciences and guide more specific studies on the international science and technology agenda, improving communication sciences involvement in the international health-related scientific scenario.

Improving patient information leaflets: developing and applying an evaluative model of patient-centredness for text.

PubMed

Fage-Butler, Antoinette

2013-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present an evaluative model of patient-centredness for text and to illustrate how this can be applied to patient information leaflets (PILs) that accompany medication in the European Union. Patients have criticized PILs for sidelining their experiences, knowledge and affective needs, and denying their individuality. The health communication paradigm of patient-centredness provides valuable purchase on these issues, taking its starting point in the dignity and integrity of the patient as a person. Employing this evaluative model involves two stages. First, a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis is performed of sender and receiver and of the main discourses in PILs. These aspects are then evaluated using the perspectives of patient-centredness theory relating to the medical practitioner, patient and content. The evaluative model is illustrated via a PIL for medication for depression and panic attacks. Evaluation reveals a preponderance of biomedical statements, with a cluster of patient-centred statements primarily relating to the construction of the patient. The paper contributes a new method and evaluative approach to PIL and qualitative health research, as well as outlining a method that facilitates the investigation of interdiscursivity, a recent focus of critical genre analysis.

Analysis and Evaluation of Processes and Equipment in Tasks 2 and 4 of the Low-cost Solar Array Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolf, M.

1979-01-01

To facilitate the task of objectively comparing competing process options, a methodology was needed for the quantitative evaluation of their relative cost effectiveness. Such a methodology was developed and is described, together with three examples for its application. The criterion for the evaluation is the cost of the energy produced by the system. The method permits the evaluation of competing design options for subsystems, based on the differences in cost and efficiency of the subsystems, assuming comparable reliability and service life, or of competing manufacturing process options for such subsystems, which include solar cells or modules. This process option analysis is based on differences in cost, yield, and conversion efficiency contribution of the process steps considered.

The relative contributions of body image evaluation and investment in the prediction of dietary restraint in men.

PubMed

Ozimok, Brianne; Lamarche, Larkin; Gammage, Kimberley L

2015-05-01

This study examined the importance of body image evaluation and investment to predict dietary restraint in men (N = 272). Measures of physical activity, evaluation, investment and dietary restraint were completed. A hierarchical regression was conducted to predict dietary restraint from physical activity and body mass index (entered on the first step), body image evaluation (entered on the second step) and investment (entered on the final step). The overall regression was significant, F(4, 271) = 15.12, p < .001, R (2) adj = .17). Body mass index, physical activity and body image investment were significant positive predictors of dietary restraint. The present findings emphasize measuring body image investment. © The Author(s) 2015.

Relations between female students' personality traits and reported handicaps to rhythmic gymnastics performance.

PubMed

Ferrand, Claude; Champely, Stephane; Brunel, Philippe C

2005-04-01

The present study evaluated the relative contributions of Self-esteem, Trait anxiety, and Public Self-consciousness to self-handicapping on a sex-typed task, within a specific academic sport context. Prior to the competitive examination used to recruit French Physical Education Teachers, female sport students (N = 74) were asked to list and rate on a 7-point scale handicaps which could be disruptive to their Rhythmic Gymnastics performance. Self-esteem did not account for significant variance in any category of handicaps. Trait Anxiety was negatively related to handicaps related to Rhythmic Gymnastics and to Social and Work Commitments. Public Self-consciousness was significantly related to endorsement of Friends and Family Commitments handicaps. These results were discussed in relation to the literature.

Structure and mechanical behavior of human hair.

PubMed

Yu, Yang; Yang, Wen; Wang, Bin; Meyers, Marc André

2017-04-01

The understanding of the mechanical behavior of hair under various conditions broadens our knowledge in biological materials science and contributes to the cosmetic industry. The hierarchical organization of hair is studied from the intermediate filament to the structural levels. The effects of strain rate, relative humidity, and temperature are evaluated. Hair exhibits a high tensile strength, 150-270MPa, which is significantly dependent on strain rate and humidity. The strain-rate sensitivity, approximately 0.06-0.1, is comparable to that of other keratinous materials and common synthetic polymers. The structures of the internal cortex and surface cuticle are affected by the large tensile extension. One distinguishing feature, the unwinding of the α-helix and the possible transformation to β-sheet structure of keratin under tension, which affects the ductility of hair, is analytically evaluated and incorporated into a constitutive equation. A good agreement with the experimental results is obtained. This model elucidates the tensile response of the α-keratin fibers. The contributions of elastic and plastic strains on reloading are evaluated and correlated to structural changes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Weighty Matter: Heaviness Influences the Evaluation of Disease Severity, Drug Effectiveness, and Side Effects

PubMed Central

Kaspar, Kai

2013-01-01

Peoples' perception of diseases and pharmaceutical drugs is a critical issue in health research. Beliefs about disease severity influence the compliance with recommendations for convalescence and the motivation to perform proper health-behavior. The estimated effectiveness of drugs and severity of side effects influence medication adherence and contribute to placebo effects. The present paper closes the gap between these effects and the concept of embodied cognition from a metaphor-enriched perspective. In five studies, we demonstrate that the bodily sensation of weight influences our evaluations of diseases and drugs. The experience of heaviness enhanced the estimated seriousness of diseases and the estimated effectiveness of drugs. The perceived seriousness of drug side effects was also affected by weight but only when drug effectiveness was not attended to. Moreover, the incidental sensation of weight shows a novel effect when evaluating weight-related drugs. The results are in line with the idea of embodied metaphors and reveal important boundary conditions which contribute to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms. PMID:24244302

Role of complex organic arsenicals in food in aggregate exposure to arsenic.

PubMed

Thomas, David J; Bradham, Karen

2016-11-01

For much of the world's population, food is the major source of exposure to arsenic. Exposure to this non-essential metalloid at relatively low levels may be linked to a wide range of adverse health effects. Thus, evaluating foods as sources of exposure to arsenic is important in assessing risk and developing strategies that protect public health. Although most emphasis has been placed on inorganic arsenic as human carcinogen and toxicant, an array of arsenic-containing species are found in plants and animals used as foods. Here, we 2evaluate the contribution of complex organic arsenicals (arsenosugars, arsenolipids, and trimethylarsonium compounds) that are found in foods and consider their origins, metabolism, and potential toxicity. Commonalities in the metabolism of arsenosugars and arsenolipids lead to the production of di-methylated arsenicals which are known to exert many toxic effects. Evaluating foods as sources of exposure to these complex organic arsenicals and understanding the formation of reactive metabolites may be critical in assessing their contribution to aggregate exposure to arsenic. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

What commodities and countries impact inequality in the global food system?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, Joel A.; D'Odorico, Paolo; Suweis, Samir; Seekell, David A.

2016-09-01

The global distribution of food production is unequal relative to the distribution of human populations. International trade can increase or decrease inequality in food availability, but little is known about how specific countries and commodities contribute to this redistribution. We present a method based on the Gini coefficient for evaluating the contributions of country and commodity specific trade to inequality in the global food system. We applied the method to global food production and trade data for the years 1986-2011 to identify the specific countries and commodities that contribute to increasing and decreasing inequality in global food availability relative to food production. Overall, international trade reduced inequality in food availability by 25%-33% relative to the distribution of food production, depending on the year. Across all years, about 58% of the total trade links acted to reduce inequality with ˜4% of the links providing 95% of the reduction in inequality. Exports from United States of America, Malaysia, Argentina, and Canada are particularly important in decreasing inequality. Specific commodities that reduce inequality when traded include cereals and vegetables. Some trade connections contribute to increasing inequality, but this effect is mostly concentrated within a small number of commodities including fruits, stimulants, and nuts. In terms of specific countries, exports from Slovenia, Oman, Singapore, and Germany act to increase overall inequality. Collectively, our analysis and results represent an opportunity for building an enhanced understanding of global-scale patterns in food availability.

Honorary authorship epidemic in scholarly publications? How the current use of citation-based evaluative metrics make (pseudo)honorary authors from honest contributors of every multi-author article.

PubMed

Kovacs, Jozsef

2013-08-01

The current use of citation-based metrics to evaluate the research output of individual researchers is highly discriminatory because they are uniformly applied to authors of single-author articles as well as contributors of multi-author papers. In the latter case, these quantitative measures are counted, as if each contributor were the single author of the full article. In this way, each and every contributor is assigned the full impact-factor score and all the citations that the article has received. This has a multiplication effect on each contributor's citation-based evaluative metrics of multi-author articles, because the more contributors an article has, the more undeserved credit is assigned to each of them. In this paper, I argue that this unfair system could be made fairer by requesting the contributors of multi-author articles to describe the nature of their contribution, and to assign a numerical value to their degree of relative contribution. In this way, we could create a contribution-specific index of each contributor for each citation metric. This would be a strong disincentive against honorary authorship and publication cartels, because it would transform the current win-win strategy of accepting honorary authors in the byline into a zero-sum game for each contributor.

The "critical limits for crystallinity" in nanoparticles of the elements: A combined thermodynamic and crystallographic critique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelegrina, J. L.; Guillermet, A. Fernández

2018-03-01

The theme of the present work is the procedure for evaluating the minimum size for the stability of a crystalline particle with respect to the same group of atoms but in the amorphous state. A key goal of the study is the critical analysis of an extensively quoted paper by F.G. Shi [J. Mater. Res. 9 (1994) 1307-1313], who presented a criterion for evaluating a "crystallinity distance" (h) through its relation with the "critical diameter" (dC) of a particle, i.e., the diameter below which no particles with the crystalline structure are expected to exist at finite temperatures. Key assumptions of Shi's model are a direct proportionality relation between h and dC , and a prescription for estimating h from crystallographic information. In the present work the accuracy of the Shi model is assessed with particular reference to nanoparticles of the elements. To this end, an alternative way to obtain h, that better realizes Shi's idea of this quantity as "the height of a monolayer of atoms on the bulk crystal surface", is explored. Moreover, a thermodynamic calculation of dC , which involves a description of the bulk- and the surface contributions to the crystalline/amorphous relative phase stability for nanoparticles, is performed. It is shown that the Shi equation does not account for the key features of the h vs. dC relation established in the current work. Consequently, it is concluded that the parameter h obtained only from information about the structure of the crystalline phase, does not provide an accurate route to estimate the quantity dC . In fact, a key result of the current study is that dC crucially depends on the relation between bulk- and surface contributions to the crystalline/amorphous relative thermodynamic stability.

Predictors of Patterns of Alcohol-Related Blackouts Over Time in Youth From the Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism: The Roles of Genetics and Cannabis

PubMed Central

Schuckit, Marc A.; Smith, Tom L.; Shafir, Alexandra; Clausen, Peyton; Danko, George; Gonçalves, Priscila Dib; Anthenelli, Robert M.; Chan, Grace; Kuperman, Samuel; Hesselbrock, Michie; Hesselbrock, Victor; Kramer, John; Bucholz, Kathleen K.

2017-01-01

Objective: Alcohol-related blackouts (ARBs) are anterograde amnesias related to heavy alcohol intake seen in about 50% of drinkers. Although a major determinant of ARBs relates to blood alcohol concentrations, additional contributions come from genetic vulnerabilities and possible impacts of cannabis use disorders (CUDs). We evaluated relationships of genetics and cannabis use to latent class trajectories of ARBs in 829 subjects from the Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). Method: The number of ARBs experienced every 2 years from subjects with average ages of 18 to 25 were entered into a latent class growth analysis in Mplus, and resulting class membership was evaluated in light of baseline characteristics, including CUDs. Correlations of number of ARBs across assessments were also compared for sibling pairs versus unrelated subjects. Results: Latent class growth analysis identified ARB-based Classes 1 (consistent low = 42.5%), 2 (moderate low = 28.3%), 3 (moderate high = 22.9%), and 4 (consistent high = 6.3%). A multinomial logistic regression analysis within latent class growth analysis revealed that baseline CUDs related most closely to Classes 3 and 4. The number of ARBs across time correlated .23 for sibling pairs and -.10 for unrelated subjects. Conclusions: Baseline CUDs related to the most severe latent ARB course over time, even when considered along with other trajectory predictors, including baseline alcohol use disorders and maximum number of drinks. Data indicated significant roles for genetic factors for alcohol use disorder patterns over time. Future research is needed to improve understanding of how cannabis adds to the ARB risk and to find genes that contribute to risks for ARBs among drinkers. PMID:27936363

Understanding the impacts of climate change and human activities on streamflow: a case study of the Soan River basin, Pakistan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shahid, Muhammad; Cong, Zhentao; Zhang, Danwu

2017-09-01

Climate change and land use change are the two main factors that can alter the catchment hydrological process. The objective of this study is to evaluate the relative contribution of climate change and land use change to runoff change of the Soan River basin. The Mann-Kendal and the Pettit tests are used to find out the trends and change point in hydroclimatic variables during the period 1983-2012. Two different approaches including the abcd hydrological model and the Budyko framework are then used to quantify the impact of climate change and land use change on streamflow. The results from both methods are consistent and show that annual runoff has significantly decreased with a change point around 1997. The decrease in precipitation and increases in potential evapotranspiration contribute 68% of the detected change while the rest of the detected change is due to land use change. The land use change acquired from Landsat shows that during post-change period, the agriculture has increased in the Soan basin, which is in line with the positive contribution of land use change to runoff decrease. This study concludes that aforementioned methods performed well in quantifying the relative contribution of land use change and climate change to runoff change.

Optimization of Recycled Glass Fibre-Reinforced Plastics Gear via Integration of the Taguchi Method and Grey Relational Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mizamzul Mehat, Nik; Syuhada Zakarria, Noor; Kamaruddin, Shahrul

2018-03-01

The increase in demand for industrial gears has resulted in the increase in usage of plastic-matrix composites particularly glass fibre-reinforced plastics as the gear materials. The usage of these synthetic fibers is to enhance the mechanical strength and the thermal resistance of the plastic gears. Nevertheless, the production of large quantities of these synthetic fibre-reinforced composites poses a serious threat to the ecosystem. Comprehending to this fact, the present work aimed at investigating the effects of incorporating recycled glass fibre-reinforced plastics in various compositions particularly on dimensional stability and mechanical properties of gear produced with diverse injection moulding processing parameters setting. The integration of Grey relational analysis (GRA) and Taguchi method was adopted to evaluate the influence of recycled glass fibre-reinforced plastics and variation in processing parameters on gear quality. From the experimental results, the blending ratio was found as the most influential parameter of 56.0% contribution in both improving tensile properties as well as in minimizing shrinkage, followed by mould temperature of 24.1% contribution and cooling time of 10.6% contribution. The results obtained from the aforementioned work are expected to contribute to accessing the feasibility of using recycled glass fibre-reinforced plastics especially for gear application.

An evaluation framework for effective public participation in EIA in Pakistan

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

Nadeem, Obaidullah, E-mail: obaidnadeem@yahoo.co; Fischer, Thomas B., E-mail: fischer@liverpool.ac.u

2011-01-15

Evaluating the effectiveness of public participation in EIA related decisions is of crucial importance for developing a better understanding of overall EIA effectiveness. This paper aims to contribute to the professional debate by establishing a country specific evaluation framework for Pakistan, which, it is suggested, could also potentially be used in other developing countries. The framework is used to evaluate performance of public participation in EIA in terms of 40 attributes for four selected projects from the province of Punjab. The evaluation is based on interviews with stakeholders, review of EIA reports as well as public hearing proceedings and environmentalmore » approval conditions. The evaluation of the selected projects revealed an overall weak influence of public participation on substantive quality of EIA and on the final decision. Overall, EIA public participation has succeeded in providing a more egalitarian environment. Furthermore, it appears fair to say that sufficient time for submitting written comments on EIA reports as well as for raising concerns during public hearings had been given. Also, public consultation was significantly contributing to educating participants. Despite some impediments, it is argued that public participation in EIA is gradually gaining ground in Pakistan. Recommendations to enhance EIA public participation effectiveness in Pakistan include applying a more proactive approach which should take place before EIA is conducted and before site selection for development projects is happening.« less

Stress among healthcare students--a cross disciplinary perspective.

PubMed

Jacob, Tamar; Itzchak, Esther Ben; Raz, Olga

2013-07-01

Perceived stress (PS) among healthcare students worldwide is a recognized problem. To address the paucity of data about the actual degree of PS, this study aimed to: 1) evaluate and compare PS across three healthcare programs (Physical Therapy [PT], Communication Disorders [CD], and Nutrition Sciences [NS]) in one university; 2) evaluate changes in PS across study years; 3) identify the contribution of academic- and socio-demographic-related variables to PS; and 4) determine whether the Israeli students' PS levels differ from those of their peers in other countries. A cross-sectional survey was performed among all undergraduate PT, CD, and NS students from one university. Data were collected using anonymous questionnaires. Instruments included the Perceived Stress Scale 10 (PSS) and the Undergraduate Sources of Stress (USOS). ANOVA was used to evaluate the differences between the three programs, and regression analysis to evaluate the contribution of socio-demographic factors to PS and USOS. A total of 312 students (PT--154; CD--92; NS--66) participated in the study. Mean PSS (range: 13.5-13.6) was similar in the three programs. The USOS academic factor was the most reported source of stress in all programs. Most socio-demographic variables were not related to either PS or USOS. Students from PT, CD, and NS programs perceived similar levels of stress. The academic factor was perceived as the most important source of stress by students from the three departments, despite differences in the academic educational programs. Further studies are needed to generalize these results and enable a comparison between healthcare students and other students' stress perceptions.

[The instruments for subjective assessment of work-related stress].

PubMed

Conway, P M

2009-01-01

The instruments for subjective assessment of work-related stress are aimed to evaluate individual perceptions of aspects that are crucial in the causal process linking psychosocial exposure to harmful physical and psychological health effects. Subjective assessment is most commonly performed by means of self-administered questionnaires, non least for their ability to hold down financial and economic costs of both field studies and data analyses. A common problem is that, for the major part of these questionnaires, no Italian validated (or accept) versions exist. Among available questionnaires, those that have been applied to a higher number of subjects in Italy are the Job Content Questionnaire, the Effort/Reward Imbalance Questionnaire, the Occupational Stress Indicator and the Multidimensional Questionnaire of Organizational Health. In this contribution, the main characteristics of the above-mentioned instruments are depicted. Finally, important aspects relating to the usage of self-administered questionnaires are emphasized, mainly when field evaluations are undertaken in specific work contexts.

Adolescent Peer Victimization and Physical Health Problems

PubMed Central

La Greca, Annette M.; Chan, Sherilynn F.

2016-01-01

Objective Peer victimization (PV) is a key interpersonal stressor that can be traumatizing for youth. This study evaluated the relationships between overt, relational, reputational, and cyber PV and adolescents’ somatic complaints and sleep problems. Symptoms of depression and social anxiety were examined as potential mediators. Method Adolescents (N = 1,162; M age = 15.80 years; 57% female; 80% Hispanic) were assessed at three time points, 6 weeks apart, using standardized measures of PV, depression, social anxiety, sleep problems, and somatic complaints. Structural equation modeling evaluated key study aims. Results Relational, reputational, and cyber PV, but not overt PV, were directly or indirectly associated with subsequent somatic complaints and/or sleep problems. Depression and social anxiety mediated relationships between relational PV and health outcomes, whereas reputational PV was indirectly associated with somatic complaints via depression only. Discussion The stress of PV may contribute to adolescents’ sleep problems and somatic complaints and has implications for pediatric psychologists. PMID:26050245

Transcriptomic effects-based monitoring for endocrine active chemicals: Assessing relative contribution of treated wastewater to downstream pollution

USGS Publications Warehouse

Martinovic-Weigelt, Dalma; Mehinto, Alvine C.; Ankley, Gerald T.; Denslow, Nancy D.; Barber, Larry B.; Lee, Kathy E.; King, Ryan J.; Schoenfuss, Heiko L.; Schroeder, Anthony L.; Villeneuve, Daniel L.

2014-01-01

The present study investigated whether a combination of targeted analytical chemistry information with unsupervised, data-rich biological methodology (i.e., transcriptomics) could be utilized to evaluate relative contributions of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents to biological effects. The effects of WWTP effluents on fish exposed to ambient, receiving waters were studied at three locations with distinct WWTP and watershed characteristics. At each location, 4 d exposures of male fathead minnows to the WWTP effluent and upstream and downstream ambient waters were conducted. Transcriptomic analyses were performed on livers using 15 000 feature microarrays, followed by a canonical pathway and gene set enrichment analyses. Enrichment of gene sets indicative of teleost brain–pituitary–gonadal–hepatic (BPGH) axis function indicated that WWTPs serve as an important source of endocrine active chemicals (EACs) that affect the BPGH axis (e.g., cholesterol and steroid metabolism were altered). The results indicated that transcriptomics may even pinpoint pertinent adverse outcomes (i.e., liver vacuolization) and groups of chemicals that preselected chemical analytes may miss. Transcriptomic Effects-Based monitoring was capable of distinguishing sites, and it reflected chemical pollution gradients, thus holding promise for assessment of relative contributions of point sources to pollution and the efficacy of pollution remediation.

Monetary and affective judgments of consumer goods: modes of evaluation matter.

PubMed

Seta, John J; Seta, Catherine E; McCormick, Michael; Gallagher, Ashleigh H

2014-01-01

Participants who evaluated 2 positively valued items separately reported more positive attraction (using affective and monetary measures) than those who evaluated the same two items as a unit. In Experiments 1-3, this separate/unitary evaluation effect was obtained when participants evaluated products that they were purchasing for a friend. Similar findings were obtained in Experiments 4 and 5 when we considered the amount participants were willing to spend to purchase insurance for items that they currently owned. The averaging/summation model was contrasted with several theoretical perspectives and implicated averaging and summation integration processes in how items are evaluated. The procedural and theoretical similarities and differences between this work and related research on unpacking, comparison processes, public goods, and price bundling are discussed. Overall, the results support the operation of integration processes and contribute to an understanding of how these processes influence the evaluation and valuation of private goods.

Intergenerational predictors of birth weight in the Philippines: correlations with mother's and father's birth weight and test of maternal constraint.

PubMed

Kuzawa, Christopher W; Eisenberg, Dan T A

2012-01-01

Birth weight (BW) predicts many health outcomes, but the relative contributions of genes and environmental factors to BW remain uncertain. Some studies report stronger mother-offspring than father-offspring BW correlations, with attenuated father-offspring BW correlations when the mother is stunted. These findings have been interpreted as evidence that maternal genetic or environmental factors play an important role in determining birth size, with small maternal size constraining paternal genetic contributions to offspring BW. Here we evaluate mother-offspring and father-offspring birth weight (BW) associations and evaluate whether maternal stunting constrains genetic contributions to offspring birth size. Data include BW of offspring (n = 1,101) born to female members (n = 382) and spouses of male members (n = 275) of a birth cohort (born 1983-84) in Metropolitan Cebu, Philippines. Regression was used to relate parental and offspring BW adjusting for confounders. Resampling testing was used to evaluate whether false paternity could explain any evidence for excess matrilineal inheritance. In a pooled model adjusting for maternal height and confounders, parental BW was a borderline-significantly stronger predictor of offspring BW in mothers compared to fathers (sex of parent interaction p = 0.068). In separate multivariate models, each kg in mother's and father's BW predicted a 271±53 g (p<0.00001) and 132±55 g (p = 0.017) increase in offspring BW, respectively. Resampling statistics suggested that false paternity rates of >25% and likely 50% would be needed to explain these differences. There was no interaction between maternal stature and maternal BW (interaction p = 0.520) or paternal BW (p = 0.545). Each kg change in mother's BW predicted twice the change in offspring BW as predicted by a change in father's BW, consistent with an intergenerational maternal effect on offspring BW. Evidence for excess matrilineal BW heritability at all levels of maternal stature points to indirect genetic, mitochondrial, or epigenetic maternal contributions to offspring fetal growth.

Quantum trajectories for high-order-harmonic generation from multiple rescattering events in the long-wavelength regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Lixin; Li, Yang; Wang, Zhe; Zhang, Qingbin; Lan, Pengfei; Lu, Peixiang

2014-05-01

We have performed the quantum trajectory analysis for high-order-harmonic generation (HHG) with different driving laser wavelengths. By defining the ratio of HHG yields of the Nth and first rescattering events (YN/Y1), we quantitatively evaluate the HHG contributions from multiple rescatterings. The results show that the HHG yield ratio increases gradually with the increase of the laser wavelength, which demonstrates that high-order rescatterings provide ascendent contributions to HHG at longer wavelength. By calculating the classical electron trajectories, we find significant differences exist in the electron behaviors between the first and high-order rescatterings. Further investigations have demonstrated that the increasing HHG yield ratio is mainly attributed to the relatively smaller contributions from the short path of the first electron rescattering at longer laser wavelength.

Pascalutsa-Vanderhaeghen light-by-light sum rule from photon-photon collisions

DOE PAGES

Dai, Ling -Yun; Pennington, Michael R.

2017-03-06

Light-by-light scattering sumrules based on general field theory principles relate cross-sections with different helicities. In this paper the simplest sumrule is tested for themore » $I=0$ and $2$$ channels for \\lq\\lq real'' photon-photon collisions. Important contributions come from the long-lived pseudoscalar mesons and from di-meson intermediate states. The latest Amplitude Analysis of $$\\gamma\\gamma\\to\\pi\\pi, \\overline{K}K$ allows this contribution to be evaluated. Furthermore, we find that other multi-meson contributions up to 2.5~GeV are required to satisfy the sumrules. While data on three and four pion cross-sections exist, there is no information about their isospin and helicity decomposition. Nevertheless, we show the measured cross-sections are sufficiently large to ensure the sumrules for the helicity differences are likely fulfilled.« less

Identifying Topics in Microblogs Using Wikipedia.

PubMed

Yıldırım, Ahmet; Üsküdarlı, Suzan; Özgür, Arzucan

2016-01-01

Twitter is an extremely high volume platform for user generated contributions regarding any topic. The wealth of content created at real-time in massive quantities calls for automated approaches to identify the topics of the contributions. Such topics can be utilized in numerous ways, such as public opinion mining, marketing, entertainment, and disaster management. Towards this end, approaches to relate single or partial posts to knowledge base items have been proposed. However, in microblogging systems like Twitter, topics emerge from the culmination of a large number of contributions. Therefore, identifying topics based on collections of posts, where individual posts contribute to some aspect of the greater topic is necessary. Models, such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), propose algorithms for relating collections of posts to sets of keywords that represent underlying topics. In these approaches, figuring out what the specific topic(s) the keyword sets represent remains as a separate task. Another issue in topic detection is the scope, which is often limited to specific domain, such as health. This work proposes an approach for identifying domain-independent specific topics related to sets of posts. In this approach, individual posts are processed and then aggregated to identify key tokens, which are then mapped to specific topics. Wikipedia article titles are selected to represent topics, since they are up to date, user-generated, sophisticated articles that span topics of human interest. This paper describes the proposed approach, a prototype implementation, and a case study based on data gathered during the heavily contributed periods corresponding to the four US election debates in 2012. The manually evaluated results (0.96 precision) and other observations from the study are discussed in detail.

Identifying Topics in Microblogs Using Wikipedia

PubMed Central

Yıldırım, Ahmet; Üsküdarlı, Suzan; Özgür, Arzucan

2016-01-01

Twitter is an extremely high volume platform for user generated contributions regarding any topic. The wealth of content created at real-time in massive quantities calls for automated approaches to identify the topics of the contributions. Such topics can be utilized in numerous ways, such as public opinion mining, marketing, entertainment, and disaster management. Towards this end, approaches to relate single or partial posts to knowledge base items have been proposed. However, in microblogging systems like Twitter, topics emerge from the culmination of a large number of contributions. Therefore, identifying topics based on collections of posts, where individual posts contribute to some aspect of the greater topic is necessary. Models, such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), propose algorithms for relating collections of posts to sets of keywords that represent underlying topics. In these approaches, figuring out what the specific topic(s) the keyword sets represent remains as a separate task. Another issue in topic detection is the scope, which is often limited to specific domain, such as health. This work proposes an approach for identifying domain-independent specific topics related to sets of posts. In this approach, individual posts are processed and then aggregated to identify key tokens, which are then mapped to specific topics. Wikipedia article titles are selected to represent topics, since they are up to date, user-generated, sophisticated articles that span topics of human interest. This paper describes the proposed approach, a prototype implementation, and a case study based on data gathered during the heavily contributed periods corresponding to the four US election debates in 2012. The manually evaluated results (0.96 precision) and other observations from the study are discussed in detail. PMID:26991442

Modelling expertise at different levels of granularity using semantic similarity measures in the context of collaborative knowledge-curation platforms.

PubMed

Ziaimatin, Hasti; Groza, Tudor; Tudorache, Tania; Hunter, Jane

2016-12-01

Collaboration platforms provide a dynamic environment where the content is subject to ongoing evolution through expert contributions. The knowledge embedded in such platforms is not static as it evolves through incremental refinements - or micro-contributions. Such refinements provide vast resources of tacit knowledge and experience. In our previous work, we proposed and evaluated a Semantic and Time-dependent Expertise Profiling (STEP) approach for capturing expertise from micro-contributions. In this paper we extend our investigation to structured micro-contributions that emerge from an ontology engineering environment, such as the one built for developing the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) revision 11. We take advantage of the semantically related nature of these structured micro-contributions to showcase two major aspects: (i) a novel semantic similarity metric, in addition to an approach for creating bottom-up baseline expertise profiles using expertise centroids; and (ii) the application of STEP in this new environment combined with the use of the same semantic similarity measure to both compare STEP against baseline profiles, as well as to investigate the coverage of these baseline profiles by STEP.

On the relation between sensory attributes and rheological characterization of cosmetic products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Filip, Petr; Moravkova, Tereza

2017-05-01

Sensory attributes occupy irreplaceable position in offering the cosmetic and food products in the market. However, their evaluation is expensive and time-consuming. One of the possibilities how to eliminate at least partially these shortcomings is represented by an application of instrumental analysis. The aim of this contribution is to present rheological modelling using four eye creams and twelve body lotions. The parameters of the proposed models are coupled with selected sensory attributes. It enables a priori prediction of these attributes in a relatively cheap and fast way.

Dirichlet Component Regression and its Applications to Psychiatric Data.

PubMed

Gueorguieva, Ralitza; Rosenheck, Robert; Zelterman, Daniel

2008-08-15

We describe a Dirichlet multivariable regression method useful for modeling data representing components as a percentage of a total. This model is motivated by the unmet need in psychiatry and other areas to simultaneously assess the effects of covariates on the relative contributions of different components of a measure. The model is illustrated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for assessment of schizophrenia symptoms which, like many other metrics in psychiatry, is composed of a sum of scores on several components, each in turn, made up of sums of evaluations on several questions. We simultaneously examine the effects of baseline socio-demographic and co-morbid correlates on all of the components of the total PANSS score of patients from a schizophrenia clinical trial and identify variables associated with increasing or decreasing relative contributions of each component. Several definitions of residuals are provided. Diagnostics include measures of overdispersion, Cook's distance, and a local jackknife influence metric.

Heat and Mass Transfer with Condensation in Capillary Porous Bodies

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

The purpose of this present work is related to wetting process analysis caused by condensation phenomena in capillary porous material by using a numerical simulation. Special emphasis is given to the study of the mechanism involved and the evaluation of classical theoretical models used as a predictive tool. A further discussion will be given for the distribution of the liquid phase for both its pendular and its funicular state and its consequence on diffusion coefficients of the mathematical model used. Beyond the complexity of the interaction effects between vaporisation-condensation processes on the gas-liquid interfaces, the comparison between experimental and numerical simulations permits to identify the specific contribution and the relative part of mass and energy transport parameters. This analysis allows us to understand the contribution of each part of the mathematical model used and to simplify the study. PMID:24688366

The psychological science of addiction.

PubMed

Gifford, Elizabeth; Humphreys, Keith

2007-03-01

To discuss the contributions and future course of the psychological science of addiction. The psychology of addiction includes a tremendous range of scientific activity, from the basic experimental laboratory through increasingly broad relational contexts, including patient-practitioner interactions, families, social networks, institutional settings, economics and culture. Some of the contributions discussed here include applications of behavioral principles, cognitive and behavioral neuroscience and the development and evaluation of addiction treatment. Psychology has at times been guilty of proliferating theories with relatively little pruning, and of overemphasizing intrapersonal explanations for human behavior. However, at its best, defined as the science of the individual in context, psychology is an integrated discipline using diverse methods well-suited to capture the multi-dimensional nature of addictive behavior. Psychology has a unique ability to integrate basic experimental and applied clinical science and to apply the knowledge gained from multiple levels of analysis to the pragmatic goal of reducing the prevalence of addiction.

SNP in starch biosynthesis genes associated with nutritional and functional properties of rice

PubMed Central

Kharabian-Masouleh, Ardashir; Waters, Daniel L. E.; Reinke, Russell F.; Ward, Rachelle; Henry, Robert J.

2012-01-01

Starch is a major component of human diets. The relative contribution of variation in the genes of starch biosynthesis to the nutritional and functional properties of the rice was evaluated in a rice breeding population. Sequencing 18 genes involved in starch synthesis in a population of 233 rice breeding lines discovered 66 functional SNPs in exonic regions. Five genes, AGPS2b, Isoamylase1, SPHOL, SSIIb and SSIVb showed no polymorphism. Association analysis found 31 of the SNP were associated with differences in pasting and cooking quality properties of the rice lines. Two genes appear to be the major loci controlling traits under human selection in rice, GBSSI (waxy gene) and SSIIa. GBSSI influenced amylose content and retrogradation. Other genes contributing to retrogradation were GPT1, SSI, BEI and SSIIIa. SSIIa explained much of the variation in cooking characteristics. Other genes had relatively small effects. PMID:22870386

Best (but oft-forgotten) practices: mediation analysis.

PubMed

Fairchild, Amanda J; McDaniel, Heather L

2017-06-01

This contribution in the "Best (but Oft-Forgotten) Practices" series considers mediation analysis. A mediator (sometimes referred to as an intermediate variable, surrogate endpoint, or intermediate endpoint) is a third variable that explains how or why ≥2 other variables relate in a putative causal pathway. The current article discusses mediation analysis with the ultimate intention of helping nutrition researchers to clarify the rationale for examining mediation, avoid common pitfalls when using the model, and conduct well-informed analyses that can contribute to improving causal inference in evaluations of underlying mechanisms of effects on nutrition-related behavioral and health outcomes. We give specific attention to underevaluated limitations inherent in common approaches to mediation. In addition, we discuss how to conduct a power analysis for mediation models and offer an applied example to demonstrate mediation analysis. Finally, we provide an example write-up of mediation analysis results as a model for applied researchers. © 2017 American Society for Nutrition.

Best (but oft-forgotten) practices: mediation analysis12

PubMed Central

McDaniel, Heather L

2017-01-01

This contribution in the “Best (but Oft-Forgotten) Practices” series considers mediation analysis. A mediator (sometimes referred to as an intermediate variable, surrogate endpoint, or intermediate endpoint) is a third variable that explains how or why ≥2 other variables relate in a putative causal pathway. The current article discusses mediation analysis with the ultimate intention of helping nutrition researchers to clarify the rationale for examining mediation, avoid common pitfalls when using the model, and conduct well-informed analyses that can contribute to improving causal inference in evaluations of underlying mechanisms of effects on nutrition-related behavioral and health outcomes. We give specific attention to underevaluated limitations inherent in common approaches to mediation. In addition, we discuss how to conduct a power analysis for mediation models and offer an applied example to demonstrate mediation analysis. Finally, we provide an example write-up of mediation analysis results as a model for applied researchers. PMID:28446497

Outcome Measurement in Nursing: Imperatives, Ideals, History, and Challenges

PubMed

Jones, Terry L

2016-05-31

Nurses have a social responsibility to evaluate the effect of nursing practice on patient outcomes in the areas of health promotion; injury and illness prevention; and alleviation of suffering. Quality assessment initiatives are hindered by the paucity of available data related to nursing processes and patient outcomes across these three domains of practice. Direct care nurses are integral to self-regulation for the discipline as they are the best source of information about nursing practice and patient outcomes. Evidence supports the assumption that nurses do contribute to prevention of adverse events but there is insufficient evidence to explain how nurses contribute to these and/or other patient outcomes. The purposes of this article are to examine the imperatives, ideal conditions, history, and challenges related to effective outcome measurement in nursing. The article concludes with recommendations for action to move quality assessment forward, such as substantial investment to support adequate documentation of nursing practice and patient outcomes.

[Individual differences in sense of direction and psychological stress associated with mobility in visually impaired people].

PubMed

Matsunaka, Kumiko; Shibata, Yuki; Yamamoto, Toshikazu

2008-08-01

Study 1 investigated individual differences in spatial cognition amongst visually impaired students and sighted controls, as well as the extent to which visual status contributes to these individual differences. Fifty-eight visually impaired and 255 sighted university students evaluated their sense of direction via self-ratings. Visual impairment contributed to the factors associated with the use and understanding of maps, confirming that maps are generally unfamiliar to visually impaired people. The relationship between psychological stress associated with mobility and individual differences in sense of direction was investigated in Study 2. A stress checklist was administered to the 51 visually impaired students who participated in Study 1. Psychological stress level was related to understanding and use of maps, as well as orientation and renewal, that is, course correction after being got lost. Central visual field deficits were associated with greater mobility-related stress levels than peripheral visual field deficits.

Auditory and Cognitive Factors Associated with Speech-in-Noise Complaints following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

PubMed

Hoover, Eric C; Souza, Pamela E; Gallun, Frederick J

2017-04-01

Auditory complaints following mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) are common, but few studies have addressed the role of auditory temporal processing in speech recognition complaints. In this study, deficits understanding speech in a background of speech noise following MTBI were evaluated with the goal of comparing the relative contributions of auditory and nonauditory factors. A matched-groups design was used in which a group of listeners with a history of MTBI were compared to a group matched in age and pure-tone thresholds, as well as a control group of young listeners with normal hearing (YNH). Of the 33 listeners who participated in the study, 13 were included in the MTBI group (mean age = 46.7 yr), 11 in the Matched group (mean age = 49 yr), and 9 in the YNH group (mean age = 20.8 yr). Speech-in-noise deficits were evaluated using subjective measures as well as monaural word (Words-in-Noise test) and sentence (Quick Speech-in-Noise test) tasks, and a binaural spatial release task. Performance on these measures was compared to psychophysical tasks that evaluate monaural and binaural temporal fine-structure tasks and spectral resolution. Cognitive measures of attention, processing speed, and working memory were evaluated as possible causes of differences between MTBI and Matched groups that might contribute to speech-in-noise perception deficits. A high proportion of listeners in the MTBI group reported difficulty understanding speech in noise (84%) compared to the Matched group (9.1%), and listeners who reported difficulty were more likely to have abnormal results on objective measures of speech in noise. No significant group differences were found between the MTBI and Matched listeners on any of the measures reported, but the number of abnormal tests differed across groups. Regression analysis revealed that a combination of auditory and auditory processing factors contributed to monaural speech-in-noise scores, but the benefit of spatial separation was related to a combination of working memory and peripheral auditory factors across all listeners in the study. The results of this study are consistent with previous findings that a subset of listeners with MTBI has objective auditory deficits. Speech-in-noise performance was related to a combination of auditory and nonauditory factors, confirming the important role of audiology in MTBI rehabilitation. Further research is needed to evaluate the prevalence and causal relationship of auditory deficits following MTBI. American Academy of Audiology

Indication for double parton scatterings in W+ prompt J/ψ production at the LHC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lansberg, Jean-Philippe; Shao, Hua-Sheng; Yamanaka, Nodoka

2018-06-01

We re-analyse the associated production of a prompt J / ψ and a W boson in pp collisions at the LHC following the results of the ATLAS Collaboration. We perform the first study of the Single-Parton-Scattering (SPS) contributions at the Next-to-Leading Order (NLO) in αs in the Colour-Evaporation Model (CEM), an approach based on the quark-hadron-duality. Our study provides clear indications for Double-Parton-Scattering (DPS) contributions, in particular at low transverse momenta, since our SPS CEM evaluation, which can be viewed as a conservative upper limit of the SPS yields, falls short compared to the ATLAS experimental data by 3.1 standard deviations. We also determine a finite allowed region for σeff, inversely proportional to the size of the DPS yields, corresponding to the otherwise opposed hypotheses, namely our NLO CEM evaluation and the LO direct Colour-Singlet (CS) Model contribution. In both cases, the resulting DPS yields are significantly larger than that initially assumed by ATLAS based on jet-related analyses but is consistent with their observed raw-yield azimuthal distribution and with their prompt J / ψ + J / ψ and Z+ prompt J / ψ data.

Large NLO corrections in t\\overline{t}{W}^{± } and t\\overline{t}t\\overline{t} hadroproduction from supposedly subleading EW contributions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frederix, Rikkert; Pagani, Davide; Zaro, Marco

2018-02-01

We calculate the complete-NLO predictions for t\\overline{t}{W}^{± } and t\\overline{t}t\\overline{t} production in proton-proton collisions at 13 and 100 TeV. All the non-vanishing contributions of O({α}_s^i{α}^j) with i + j = 3 , 4 for t\\overline{t}{W}^{± } and i + j = 4 , 5 for t\\overline{t}t\\overline{t} are evaluated without any approximation. For t\\overline{t}{W}^{± } we find that, due to the presence of tW → tW scattering, at 13(100) TeV the O({α}_s{α}^3) contribution is about 12(70)% of the LO, i.e., it is larger than the so-called NLO EW corrections (the O({α}_s^2{α}^2) terms) and has opposite sign. In the case of t\\overline{t}t\\overline{t} production, large contributions from electroweak tt → tt scattering are already present at LO in the O({α}_s^3α ) and O({α}_s^2{α}^2) terms. For the same reason we find that both NLO terms of O({α}_s^4α ) , i.e., the NLO EW corrections, and O({α}_s^3{α}^2) are large (±15% of the LO) and their relative contributions strongly depend on the values of the renormalisation and factorisation scales. However, large accidental cancellations are present (away from the threshold region) between these two contributions. Moreover, the NLO corrections strongly depend on the kinematics and are particularly large at the threshold, where even the relative contribution from O({α}_s^2{α}^3) terms amounts to tens of percents.

Initial poststocking mortality, oxytetracycline marking, and year-class contribution of black-nosed crappies stocked into Tennessee reservoirs

USGS Publications Warehouse

Isermann, D.A.; Bettoli, P.W.; Sammons, S.M.; Churchill, T.N.

2002-01-01

Initial poststocking mortality, oxytetracycline mark persistence, and year-class contribution were evaluated for black-nosed crappies, a morphological variant of the black crappie Pomoxis nigromaculatus, stocked into Tennessee reservoirs during 1997-1999. Average initial poststocking mortality was low (x?? = 13%, N = 44). Lake temperature and the difference between lake and hauling tank water temperatures were significant in explaining variability in arcsine-transformed mortality estimates; however, the variability explained by these factors was low (R2 = 0.15). Oxytetracycline immersion was a highly effective marking tool; 97-100% of all crappies treated were marked, and 99% of the marks were visible 36-110 weeks after marking. All control otoliths were correctly scored as unmarked during the evaluation, and mortality rates did not differ between marked and unmarked crappies. Year-class contribution was variable across reservoirs and was highest in Normandy Reservoir (34-93% at ages 1-3). Contribution at ages 1 and 2 was 11-24% in Woods Reservoir. Stocking did not supplement the crappie population in Lake Graham. Black-nosed crappies made up a significant portion (>50%) of the crappies harvested by anglers in Center Hill Reservoir 3 years after stocking was initiated. Conversely, black-nosed crappies made up a relatively small percentage (???12%) of the crappies harvested in Cherokee Reservoir in the 4 years after initial stocking.

Locus of control, perceived parenting style, and symptoms of anxiety and depression in children with Tourette's syndrome.

PubMed

Cohen, Esther; Sade, Michal; Benarroch, Fortu; Pollak, Yehuda; Gross-Tsur, Varda

2008-08-01

This study explored the contribution of two psychosocial factors, locus of control (LOC) and perceived parenting style, to symptoms of internalizing disorders in children with Tourette syndrome (TS). This contribution was further evaluated in relation to TS severity. Sixty-five children (53 boys, 12 girls) ages 9.0-16.9 years, of normal intelligence, completed questionnaires evaluating their depression and anxiety symptoms, LOC, and maternal parenting style. Their mothers rated TS severity, determined by tic severity, symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive compulsive symptoms (OCS). Higher rates of symptoms of anxiety and depression were associated with a more external LOC and a more rejecting and controlling parenting style. Additionally, depression correlated significantly with tic severity, ADHD and OCS, whereas anxiety correlated only with ADHD symptoms and OCS, but not with tics. Regression analyses showed that LOC, OCS and ADHD symptoms each significantly contributed to predicting anxiety level, whereas LOC and ADHD symptoms significantly contributed to predicting depression symptoms. Rates of symptoms of anxiety and depression in children with TS are markedly influenced by psychosocial factors, extending beyond the influence of ADHD and OCD, both common comorbid disorders in TS. An internal LOC, which is associated with an accepting and autonomy-granting parenting style, appears to be a protective factor against anxiety and depression.

Bulk viscosity of molecular fluids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaeger, Frederike; Matar, Omar K.; Müller, Erich A.

2018-05-01

The bulk viscosity of molecular models of gases and liquids is determined by molecular simulations as a combination of a dilute gas contribution, arising due to the relaxation of internal degrees of freedom, and a configurational contribution, due to the presence of intermolecular interactions. The dilute gas contribution is evaluated using experimental data for the relaxation times of vibrational and rotational degrees of freedom. The configurational part is calculated using Green-Kubo relations for the fluctuations of the pressure tensor obtained from equilibrium microcanonical molecular dynamics simulations. As a benchmark, the Lennard-Jones fluid is studied. Both atomistic and coarse-grained force fields for water, CO2, and n-decane are considered and tested for their accuracy, and where possible, compared to experimental data. The dilute gas contribution to the bulk viscosity is seen to be significant only in the cases when intramolecular relaxation times are in the μs range, and for low vibrational wave numbers (<1000 cm-1); This explains the abnormally high values of bulk viscosity reported for CO2. In all other cases studied, the dilute gas contribution is negligible and the configurational contribution dominates the overall behavior. In particular, the configurational term is responsible for the enhancement of the bulk viscosity near the critical point.

Physically adjusted NDF (paNDF) system for lactating dairy cow rations. I: Deriving equations that identify factors that influence effectiveness of fiber

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Physically effective neutral detergent fiber (peNDF) is defined as the fraction of NDF that stimulates chewing activity and contributes to the floating mat of large particles in the rumen. The objective of this work was to re-evaluate the concept of peNDF by quantitatively relating physical and chem...

New developments in developmental research on social information processing and antisocial behavior.

PubMed

Fontaine, Reid Griffith

2010-07-01

The Special Section on developmental research on social information processing (SIP) and antisocial behavior is here introduced. Following a brief history of SIP theory, comments on several themes-measurement and assessment, attributional and interpretational style, response evaluation and decision, and the relation between emotion and SIP-that tie together four new empirical investigations are provided. Notable contributions of these studies are highlighted.

Gaze Response to Dyadic Bids at 2 Years Related to Outcomes at 3 Years in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Subtyping Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Daniel J.; Shic, Frederick; Macari, Suzanne; Chawarska, Katarzyna

2014-01-01

Variability in attention towards direct gaze and child-directed speech may contribute to heterogeneity of clinical presentation in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). To evaluate this hypothesis, we clustered sixty-five 20-month-old toddlers with ASD based on their visual responses to dyadic cues for engagement, identifying three…

Determination of Physical Properties of Ionic Liquids Using Molecular Simulations

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-08-20

That is, most groups rely on relatively short (100-500 ps) simulations and evaluate the viscosity via conventional Green - Kubo integration . In this...and can contribute to higher than expected viscosities . The liquid structure of the energetic ionic liquid 2-hydroxyethylhydrizinium nitrate was...claimed previously that neglect of polarizability leads to inaccuracies in the computed transport properties of ionic liquids such as viscosities

Respecting and Fulfilling the Right of Post-Primary Pupils to Consent to Participate in Trials and Evaluative Research: A Discussion Paper

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maguire, Lisa K.; Byrne, Bronagh; Kehoe, Susan

2018-01-01

This paper provides an introduction to issues surrounding the participation rights of young people in research and the implications of their growing involvement in research as well as providing a discourse on the ethical implications related to consent. The unique contribution of this paper is that it considers children's rights in respect to the…

Overview of Workplace Issues in the 2002 Status of the Armed Forces Survey

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-11-01

Metropolitan Area (American University and George Mason University) Defense Manpower Data Center Survey & Program Evaluation Division 1600 Wilson...Research Fellows Program contributed to the production of this report. A team including Elizabeth Willis, Rachel Lipari, and Eric Wetzel from DMDC, and...members took more active steps related to leaving the military, including: preparing a resume (23%), attending programs that prepare for civilian

Effect of regional-scale transport on oxidants in the vicinity of Philadelphia during the 1999 NE-OPS field campaign

Treesearch

Jerome D. Fast; Rahul A. Zaveri; Xindi Bian; Elaine G. Chapman; Richard C. Easter

2002-01-01

A new meteorological-chemical model is used to determine the relative contribution of regional-scale transport and local photochemical production on air quality over Philadelphia. The model performance is evaluated using surface and airborne meteorological and chemical measurements made during a 30-day period in July and August of 1999 as part of the Northeast Oxidant...

Influence of skin ageing features on Chinese women's perception of facial age and attractiveness.

PubMed

Porcheron, A; Latreille, J; Jdid, R; Tschachler, E; Morizot, F

2014-08-01

Ageing leads to characteristic changes in the appearance of facial skin. Among these changes, we can distinguish the skin topographic cues (skin sagging and wrinkles), the dark spots and the dark circles around the eyes. Although skin changes are similar in Caucasian and Chinese faces, the age of occurrence and the severity of age-related features differ between the two populations. Little is known about how the ageing of skin influences the perception of female faces in Chinese women. The aim of this study is to evaluate the contribution of the different age-related skin features to the perception of age and attractiveness in Chinese women. Facial images of Caucasian women and Chinese women in their 60s were manipulated separately to reduce the following skin features: (i) skin sagging and wrinkles, (ii) dark spots and (iii) dark circles. Finally, all signs were reduced simultaneously (iv). Female Chinese participants were asked to estimate the age difference between the modified and original images and evaluate the attractiveness of modified and original faces. Chinese women perceived the Chinese faces as younger after the manipulation of dark spots than after the reduction in wrinkles/sagging, whereas they perceived the Caucasian faces as the youngest after the manipulation of wrinkles/sagging. Interestingly, Chinese women evaluated faces with reduced dark spots as being the most attractive whatever the origin of the face. The manipulation of dark circles contributed to making Caucasian and Chinese faces being perceived younger and more attractive than the original faces, although the effect was less pronounced than for the two other types of manipulation. This is the first study to have examined the influence of various age-related skin features on the facial age and attractiveness perception of Chinese women. The results highlight different contributions of dark spots, sagging/wrinkles and dark circles to their perception of Chinese and Caucasian faces. © 2014 The Authors. International Journal of Cosmetic Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Cosmetic Scientists and Societe Francaise de Cosmetologie.

Acetaminophen attenuates error evaluation in cortex

PubMed Central

Kam, Julia W.Y.; Heine, Steven J.; Inzlicht, Michael; Handy, Todd C.

2016-01-01

Acetaminophen has recently been recognized as having impacts that extend into the affective domain. In particular, double blind placebo controlled trials have revealed that acetaminophen reduces the magnitude of reactivity to social rejection, frustration, dissonance and to both negatively and positively valenced attitude objects. Given this diversity of consequences, it has been proposed that the psychological effects of acetaminophen may reflect a widespread blunting of evaluative processing. We tested this hypothesis using event-related potentials (ERPs). Sixty-two participants received acetaminophen or a placebo in a double-blind protocol and completed the Go/NoGo task. Participants’ ERPs were observed following errors on the Go/NoGo task, in particular the error-related negativity (ERN; measured at FCz) and error-related positivity (Pe; measured at Pz and CPz). Results show that acetaminophen inhibits the Pe, but not the ERN, and the magnitude of an individual’s Pe correlates positively with omission errors, partially mediating the effects of acetaminophen on the error rate. These results suggest that recently documented affective blunting caused by acetaminophen may best be described as an inhibition of evaluative processing. They also contribute to the growing work suggesting that the Pe is more strongly associated with conscious awareness of errors relative to the ERN. PMID:26892161

Individual Differences in Algebraic Cognition: Relation to the Approximate Number and Sematic Memory Systems

PubMed Central

Geary, David C.; Hoard, Mary K.; Nugent, Lara; Rouder, Jeffrey N.

2015-01-01

The relation between performance on measures of algebraic cognition and acuity of the approximate number system (ANS) and memory for addition facts was assessed for 171 (92 girls) 9th graders, controlling parental education, sex, reading achievement, speed of numeral processing, fluency of symbolic number processing, intelligence, and the central executive component of working memory. The algebraic tasks assessed accuracy in placing x,y pairs in the coordinate plane, speed and accuracy of expression evaluation, and schema memory for algebra equations. ANS acuity was related to accuracy of placements in the coordinate plane and expression evaluation, but not schema memory. Frequency of fact-retrieval errors was related to schema memory but not coordinate plane or expression evaluation accuracy. The results suggest the ANS may contribute to or is influenced by spatial-numerical and numerical only quantity judgments in algebraic contexts, whereas difficulties in committing addition facts to long-term memory may presage slow formation of memories for the basic structure of algebra equations. More generally, the results suggest different brain and cognitive systems are engaged during the learning of different components of algebraic competence, controlling demographic and domain general abilities. PMID:26255604

Prioritising surveillance for alien organisms transported as stowaways on ships travelling to South Africa

PubMed Central

Faulkner, Katelyn T.

2017-01-01

The global shipping network facilitates the transportation and introduction of marine and terrestrial organisms to regions where they are not native, and some of these organisms become invasive. South Africa was used as a case study to evaluate the potential for shipping to contribute to the introduction and establishment of marine and terrestrial alien species (i.e. establishment debt) and to assess how this varies across shipping routes and seasons. As a proxy for the number of species introduced (i.e. ‘colonisation pressure’) shipping movement data were used to determine, for each season, the number of ships that visited South African ports from foreign ports and the number of days travelled between ports. Seasonal marine and terrestrial environmental similarity between South African and foreign ports was then used to estimate the likelihood that introduced species would establish. These data were used to determine the seasonal relative contribution of shipping routes to South Africa’s marine and terrestrial establishment debt. Additionally, distribution data were used to identify marine and terrestrial species that are known to be invasive elsewhere and which might be introduced to each South African port through shipping routes that have a high relative contribution to establishment debt. Shipping routes from Asian ports, especially Singapore, have a particularly high relative contribution to South Africa’s establishment debt, while among South African ports, Durban has the highest risk of being invaded. There was seasonal variation in the shipping routes that have a high relative contribution to the establishment debt of the South African ports. The presented method provides a simple way to prioritise surveillance effort and our results indicate that, for South Africa, port-specific prevention strategies should be developed, a large portion of the available resources should be allocated to Durban, and seasonal variations and their consequences for prevention strategies should be explored further. PMID:28379957

Prioritising surveillance for alien organisms transported as stowaways on ships travelling to South Africa.

PubMed

Faulkner, Katelyn T; Robertson, Mark P; Rouget, Mathieu; Wilson, John R U

2017-01-01

The global shipping network facilitates the transportation and introduction of marine and terrestrial organisms to regions where they are not native, and some of these organisms become invasive. South Africa was used as a case study to evaluate the potential for shipping to contribute to the introduction and establishment of marine and terrestrial alien species (i.e. establishment debt) and to assess how this varies across shipping routes and seasons. As a proxy for the number of species introduced (i.e. 'colonisation pressure') shipping movement data were used to determine, for each season, the number of ships that visited South African ports from foreign ports and the number of days travelled between ports. Seasonal marine and terrestrial environmental similarity between South African and foreign ports was then used to estimate the likelihood that introduced species would establish. These data were used to determine the seasonal relative contribution of shipping routes to South Africa's marine and terrestrial establishment debt. Additionally, distribution data were used to identify marine and terrestrial species that are known to be invasive elsewhere and which might be introduced to each South African port through shipping routes that have a high relative contribution to establishment debt. Shipping routes from Asian ports, especially Singapore, have a particularly high relative contribution to South Africa's establishment debt, while among South African ports, Durban has the highest risk of being invaded. There was seasonal variation in the shipping routes that have a high relative contribution to the establishment debt of the South African ports. The presented method provides a simple way to prioritise surveillance effort and our results indicate that, for South Africa, port-specific prevention strategies should be developed, a large portion of the available resources should be allocated to Durban, and seasonal variations and their consequences for prevention strategies should be explored further.

Palliative sedation: a focus group study on the experiences of relatives.

PubMed

Bruinsma, Sophie; Rietjens, Judith; van der Heide, Agnes

2013-04-01

Most studies that have investigated the practice of palliative sedation have focused on physicians' practices and attitudes. The aim of this study was to explore relatives' experiences with palliative sedation and to gain more insight in positive and negative elements in their evaluation of palliative sedation. Focus groups and individual interviews. Various care settings in the Netherlands. A total of 14 relatives of patients who received palliative sedation until death participated. Most relatives evaluated the provision of palliative sedation of their dying family member positively. Positive experiences were related to: the beneficial impact of palliative sedation on the patient's suffering, the opportunity that was offered to prepare for the patient's death, their involvement in the decision-making and care for the patient, and the pleasant care environment. However, the majority of the relatives were unsatisfied with one or more aspects of how information was being provided for. Some relatives were frustrated about the fact that nurses were not authorized to make decisions about the care for the patient and about the absence of physicians during weekends. None of the relatives mentioned the loss of the ability to communicate with the patient during the sedation and the possibility of "hastening death" as disadvantages of palliative sedation. Relatives tend to evaluate the provision of palliative sedation to their severely suffering family member positively because it contributes to a peaceful dying process. However, relatives indicated discontent with how information was being provided and with the communication in general.

Obesity, hypertension, and mental health evaluation in adolescents: a comprehensive approach.

PubMed

Kiessling, Stefan G; McClanahan, Kimberly K; Omar, Hatim A

2008-01-01

The global epidemic of childhood and adolescent obesity in developing and developed countries has become a major public health concern. Given the relation between obesity and hypertension as documented in several landmark studies, it is no surprise that as the prevalence of obesity has increased in the pediatric population, the rates of hypertension have also increased substantially. Hypertension is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and stroke; therefore, evaluation and initiation of appropriate treatment are extremely important in the pediatric population. Evaluation for secondary causes of hypertension, including renovascular, renoparenchymal, and endocrine disease is the approach most commonly used in healthcare settings, with the goal to detect abnormalities that already have or might, if left unrecognized, affect the physical health of the child in the future. Children and adolescents are commonly evaluated for organic disease even in situations in which secondary hypertension is unlikely and overweight or obesity is most likely the primary factor contributing to hypertension. Psychological and psychosocial factors, which may play an important role in the etiology of obesity and related blood pressure elevation, are often addressed inadequately or completely ignored, potentially reducing long-term therapy success and increasing the incidence of avoidable complications. It is proposed that a comprehensive evaluation by a behavioral health provider will improve outcomes and potentially reduce long-term morbidity and hypertension-related end organ disease. A framework for mental health evaluation is provided.

Discriminant and convergent validity of TEMPS-A[P]. Correlation with Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ32) during a stressful situation.

PubMed

Rovai, Luca; Leonardi, Annalisa; Bacciardi, Silvia; Maremmani, Angelo Giovanni Icro; Rugani, Fabio; dell'Osso, Liliana; Akiskal, Kareen; Akiskal, Hagop S; Maremmani, Icro

2013-03-20

The Temperament Evaluation of the Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego Questionnaire (TEMPS) has, in its self and rater-wise evaluation form, been designed to evaluate temperamental characteristics in clinical and non-clinical populations. In this study we aim to extend the field of correlations of TEMPS to include the Occupational Personality Questionnaire, ipsative version (OPQ32i). These correlations, if present, could provide a partial contribute to the validation process of TEMPS, currently in progress in various countries. OPQ32 is a self-report personality questionnaire designed to give information on an individual's preferred behavior, as assessed in terms of a number of work-related characteristics. In 921 applicants, who were competing to become cadets in the Italian Navy, we assessed, during the entrance examination, the correlations between TEMPS-A[P] and OPQ32i. Depressive temperament implies a low level of ability to relate to others; hyperthymic temperament implies high levels of feelings and emotions, and the capability to relate to people; cyclothymic temperament appears to be distinguished by creativity and a low level of relationships with others; irritable temperament partly overlaps with cyclothymic temperament, the main difference being the higher level of energy and the lower level of empathy of irritable subjects. The four affective temperaments, in our sample, proved to significantly differ in the work capacity features measured by OPQ32 factors. These observed correlations between the two tests partially contributes to the ongoing validation process of TEMPS-A[P]. From a personality standpoint this study further supports the hypothesis that temperaments belong to the realm of normality rather than that of pathology, in line with their putative adaptive role. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Evaluation of laser speckle contrast imaging as an intrinsic method to monitor blood brain barrier integrity

PubMed Central

Dufour, Suzie; Atchia, Yaaseen; Gad, Raanan; Ringuette, Dene; Sigal, Iliya; Levi, Ofer

2013-01-01

The integrity of the blood brain barrier (BBB) can contribute to the development of many brain disorders. We evaluate laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) as an intrinsic modality for monitoring BBB disruptions through simultaneous fluorescence and LSCI with vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs). We demonstrated that drug-induced BBB opening was associated with a relative change of the arterial and venous blood velocities. Cross-sectional flow velocity ratio (veins/arteries) decreased significantly in rats treated with BBB-opening drugs, ≤0.81 of initial values. PMID:24156049

Contribution mapping: a method for mapping the contribution of research to enhance its impact

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background At a time of growing emphasis on both the use of research and accountability, it is important for research funders, researchers and other stakeholders to monitor and evaluate the extent to which research contributes to better action for health, and find ways to enhance the likelihood that beneficial contributions are realized. Past attempts to assess research 'impact' struggle with operationalizing 'impact', identifying the users of research and attributing impact to research projects as source. In this article we describe Contribution Mapping, a novel approach to research monitoring and evaluation that aims to assess contributions instead of impacts. The approach focuses on processes and actors and systematically assesses anticipatory efforts that aim to enhance contributions, so-called alignment efforts. The approach is designed to be useful for both accountability purposes and for assisting in better employing research to contribute to better action for health. Methods Contribution Mapping is inspired by a perspective from social studies of science on how research and knowledge utilization processes evolve. For each research project that is assessed, a three-phase process map is developed that includes the main actors, activities and alignment efforts during research formulation, production and knowledge extension (e.g. dissemination and utilization). The approach focuses on the actors involved in, or interacting with, a research project (the linked actors) and the most likely influential users, who are referred to as potential key users. In the first stage, the investigators of the assessed project are interviewed to develop a preliminary version of the process map and first estimation of research-related contributions. In the second stage, potential key-users and other informants are interviewed to trace, explore and triangulate possible contributions. In the third stage, the presence and role of alignment efforts is analyzed and the preliminary results are shared with relevant stakeholders for feedback and validation. After inconsistencies are clarified or described, the results are shared with stakeholders for learning, improvement and accountability purposes. Conclusion Contribution Mapping provides an interesting alternative to existing methods that aim to assess research impact. The method is expected to be useful for research monitoring, single case studies, comparing multiple cases and indicating how research can better be employed to contribute to better action for health. PMID:22748169

Simulating ozone dry deposition at a boreal forest with a multi-layer canopy deposition model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Putian; Ganzeveld, Laurens; Rannik, Üllar; Zhou, Luxi; Gierens, Rosa; Taipale, Ditte; Mammarella, Ivan; Boy, Michael

2017-01-01

A multi-layer ozone (O3) dry deposition model has been implemented into SOSAA (a model to Simulate the concentrations of Organic vapours, Sulphuric Acid and Aerosols) to improve the representation of O3 concentration and flux within and above the forest canopy in the planetary boundary layer. We aim to predict the O3 uptake by a boreal forest canopy under varying environmental conditions and analyse the influence of different factors on total O3 uptake by the canopy as well as the vertical distribution of deposition sinks inside the canopy. The newly implemented dry deposition model was validated by an extensive comparison of simulated and observed O3 turbulent fluxes and concentration profiles within and above the boreal forest canopy at SMEAR II (Station to Measure Ecosystem-Atmosphere Relations II) in Hyytiälä, Finland, in August 2010. In this model, the fraction of wet surface on vegetation leaves was parametrised according to the ambient relative humidity (RH). Model results showed that when RH was larger than 70 % the O3 uptake onto wet skin contributed ˜ 51 % to the total deposition during nighttime and ˜ 19 % during daytime. The overall contribution of soil uptake was estimated about 36 %. The contribution of sub-canopy deposition below 4.2 m was modelled to be ˜ 38 % of the total O3 deposition during daytime, which was similar to the contribution reported in previous studies. The chemical contribution to O3 removal was evaluated directly in the model simulations. According to the simulated averaged diurnal cycle the net chemical production of O3 compensated up to ˜ 4 % of dry deposition loss from about 06:00 to 15:00 LT. During nighttime, the net chemical loss of O3 further enhanced removal by dry deposition by a maximum ˜ 9 %. Thus the results indicated an overall relatively small contribution of airborne chemical processes to O3 removal at this site.

Dispersion relation for hadronic light-by-light scattering: two-pion contributions

DOE PAGES

Colangelo, Gilberto; Hoferichter, Martin; Procura, Massimiliano; ...

2017-04-27

In our third paper of a series dedicated to a dispersive treatment of the hadronic light-by-light (HLbL) tensor, we derive a partial-wave formulation for two-pion intermediate states in the HLbL contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon (g - 2) μ, including a detailed discussion of the unitarity relation for arbitrary partial waves. We show that obtaining a final expression free from unphysical helicity partial waves is a subtle issue, which we thoroughly clarify. As a by-product, we obtain a set of sum rules that could be used to constrain future calculations of γ*γ* → ππ. We validate the formalism extensively using the pion-box contribution, defined by two-pion intermediate states with a pion-pole left-hand cut, and demonstrate how the full known result is reproduced when resumming the partial waves. Using dispersive fits to high-statistics data for the pion vector form factor, we provide an evaluation of the full pion box, amore » $$π-box\\atop{μ}$$ =-15.9(2) × 10 -11. As an application of the partial-wave formalism, we present a first calculation of ππ-rescattering effects in HLbL scattering, with γ*γ* → ππ helicity partial waves constructed dispersively using ππ phase shifts derived from the inverse-amplitude method. In this way, the isospin-0 part of our calculation can be interpreted as the contribution of the f0(500) to HLbL scattering in (g - 2) μ. We also argue that the contribution due to charged-pion rescattering implements corrections related to the corresponding pion polarizability and show that these are moderate. Our final result for the sum of pion-box contribution and its S-wave rescattering corrections reads a$$π-box\\atop{μ}$$ + a$$ππ, π-pole LHC\\atop{μ, J=0}$$ = -24(1) × 10 -11.« less

Dispersion relation for hadronic light-by-light scattering: two-pion contributions

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

Colangelo, Gilberto; Hoferichter, Martin; Procura, Massimiliano

In our third paper of a series dedicated to a dispersive treatment of the hadronic light-by-light (HLbL) tensor, we derive a partial-wave formulation for two-pion intermediate states in the HLbL contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon (g - 2) μ, including a detailed discussion of the unitarity relation for arbitrary partial waves. We show that obtaining a final expression free from unphysical helicity partial waves is a subtle issue, which we thoroughly clarify. As a by-product, we obtain a set of sum rules that could be used to constrain future calculations of γ*γ* → ππ. We validate the formalism extensively using the pion-box contribution, defined by two-pion intermediate states with a pion-pole left-hand cut, and demonstrate how the full known result is reproduced when resumming the partial waves. Using dispersive fits to high-statistics data for the pion vector form factor, we provide an evaluation of the full pion box, amore » $$π-box\\atop{μ}$$ =-15.9(2) × 10 -11. As an application of the partial-wave formalism, we present a first calculation of ππ-rescattering effects in HLbL scattering, with γ*γ* → ππ helicity partial waves constructed dispersively using ππ phase shifts derived from the inverse-amplitude method. In this way, the isospin-0 part of our calculation can be interpreted as the contribution of the f0(500) to HLbL scattering in (g - 2) μ. We also argue that the contribution due to charged-pion rescattering implements corrections related to the corresponding pion polarizability and show that these are moderate. Our final result for the sum of pion-box contribution and its S-wave rescattering corrections reads a$$π-box\\atop{μ}$$ + a$$ππ, π-pole LHC\\atop{μ, J=0}$$ = -24(1) × 10 -11.« less

Head Stability and Head-Trunk Coordination in Horseback Riders: The Contribution of Visual Information According to Expertise

PubMed Central

Olivier, Agnès; Faugloire, Elise; Lejeune, Laure; Biau, Sophie; Isableu, Brice

2017-01-01

Maintaining equilibrium while riding a horse is a challenging task that involves complex sensorimotor processes. We evaluated the relative contribution of visual information (static or dynamic) to horseback riders' postural stability (measured from the variability of segment position in space) and the coordination modes they adopted to regulate balance according to their level of expertise. Riders' perceptual typologies and their possible relation to postural stability were also assessed. Our main assumption was that the contribution of visual information to postural control would be reduced among expert riders in favor of vestibular and somesthetic reliance. Twelve Professional riders and 13 Club riders rode an equestrian simulator at a gallop under four visual conditions: (1) with the projection of a simulated scene reproducing what a rider sees in the real context of a ride in an outdoor arena, (2) under stroboscopic illumination, preventing access to dynamic visual cues, (3) in normal lighting but without the projected scene (i.e., without the visual consequences of displacement) and (4) with no visual cues. The variability of the position of the head, upper trunk and lower trunk was measured along the anteroposterior (AP), mediolateral (ML), and vertical (V) axes. We computed discrete relative phase to assess the coordination between pairs of segments in the anteroposterior axis. Visual field dependence-independence was evaluated using the Rod and Frame Test (RFT). The results showed that the Professional riders exhibited greater overall postural stability than the Club riders, revealed mainly in the AP axis. In particular, head variability was lower in the Professional riders than in the Club riders in visually altered conditions, suggesting a greater ability to use vestibular and somesthetic information according to task constraints with expertise. In accordance with this result, RFT perceptual scores revealed that the Professional riders were less dependent on the visual field than were the Club riders. Finally, the Professional riders exhibited specific coordination modes that, unlike the Club riders, departed from pure in-phase and anti-phase patterns and depended on visual conditions. The present findings provide evidence of major differences in the sensorimotor processes contributing to postural control with expertise in horseback riding. PMID:28194100

Chemical weathering and loess inputs to soils in New Zealand's Wairarapa region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lukens, C. E.; Norton, K. P.

2017-12-01

Geochemical mass-balance approaches are commonly used in soils to evaluate patterns in chemical weathering. In conjuction with cosmogenic nuclide measurements of total denudation or soil production, mass-balance approaches have been used to constrain rates of chemical weathering across a variety of landscapes. Here we present geochemical data from a series of soil pits in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand's North Island, where rates of soil production equal rates of total denudation measured using 10Be at sites nearby (i.e., the landscape is in steady state). Soil density increases with depth, consistent with steady weathering over the average soil residence time. However, soil geochemistry indicates very little chemical weathering has occurred, and immobile elements (Zr, Ti, and V) are depleted in soils relative to bedrock. This is contrary to the expected observation, wherein immobile elements should be enriched in soils relative to parent bedrock as weathered mobile solutes are progressively removed from soil. Our geochemical measurements suggest contributions from an exernal source, which has a different chemical composition than the underlying bedrock. We hypothesize that loess constitutes a substantial influx of additional material, and use a mixing model to predict geochemical patterns within soil columns. We evaluate the relative contributions of several likely loess sources, including tephra from the nearby Taupo Volcanic Center, local loess deposits formed during glacial-interglacial transitions, and far-travelling Australian dust. Using an established mass-balance approach with multiple immobile elements, we calculate the fraction of mass in soils contributed by loess to be as much as 25%. Combined with 10Be-derived estimates of soil production, we calculate average loess fluxes up to 320 t/km2/yr, which are consistent with previous estimates of loess acculumation over the late Holocene. Accounting for loess input, we find that chemical weathering fluxes are remarkably low in these soils, which sit atop fractured graywacke that likely contributes very few weatherable primary minerals. The significant loess flux in this region may have important implications for estimates of total denudation and soil production, and must be accounted for to determine patterns in chemical weathering.

Plausible role for CHW peer support groups in increasing care-seeking in an integrated community case management project in Rwanda: a mixed methods evaluation.

PubMed

Langston, Anne; Weiss, Jennifer; Landegger, Justine; Pullum, Thomas; Morrow, Melanie; Kabadege, Melene; Mugeni, Catherine; Sarriot, Eric

2014-08-01

The Kabeho Mwana project (2006-2011) supported the Rwanda Ministry of Health (MOH) in scaling up integrated community case management (iCCM) of childhood illness in 6 of Rwanda's 30 districts. The project trained and equipped community health workers (CHWs) according to national guidelines. In project districts, Kabeho Mwana staff also trained CHWs to conduct household-level health promotion and established supervision and reporting mechanisms through CHW peer support groups (PSGs) and quality improvement systems. The 2005 and 2010 Demographic and Health Surveys were re-analyzed to evaluate how project and non-project districts differed in terms of care-seeking for fever, diarrhea, and acute respiratory infection symptoms and related indicators. We developed a logit regression model, controlling for the timing of the first CHW training, with the district included as a fixed categorical effect. We also analyzed qualitative data from the final evaluation to examine factors that may have contributed to improved outcomes. While there was notable improvement in care-seeking across all districts, care-seeking from any provider for each of the 3 conditions, and for all 3 combined, increased significantly more in the project districts. CHWs contributed a larger percentage of consultations in project districts (27%) than in non-project districts (12%). Qualitative data suggested that the PSG model was a valuable sub-level of CHW organization associated with improved CHW performance, supervision, and social capital. The iCCM model implemented by Kabeho Mwana resulted in greater improvements in care-seeking than those seen in the rest of the country. Intensive monitoring, collaborative supervision, community mobilization, and CHW PSGs contributed to this success. The PSGs were a unique contribution of the project, playing a critical role in improving care-seeking in project districts. Effective implementation of iCCM should therefore include CHW management and social support mechanisms. Finally, re-analysis of national survey data improved evaluation findings by providing impact estimates.

A site-related suitability analysis for the production of biomass as a contribution to sustainable regional land-use.

PubMed

Förster, Michael; Helms, Yvonne; Herberg, Alfred; Köppen, Antje; Kunzmann, Kathrin; Radtke, Dörte; Ross, Lutz; Itzerott, Sibylle

2008-04-01

The use of renewable energy in Europe offers the possibility of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and contributes to energy security and independence. With the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and a variety of recently introduced national directives supporting renewable energy sources in the European Union, the economic attractiveness of bioenergy production has distinctly increased. This article combines an economic evaluation of biomass production with site-related natural conditions of the Havelland region, situated in the north-east area of Germany. Two methods for evaluating site-specific potential biomass yields were compared. For three example biomass crops, evaluations of yield estimations at agricultural lots for site-optimized suitability (SOS) and conventional suitability (CS) were carried out. Both modelling approaches were compared. The results of the GIS modelling indicate that the financial support for increasing the use of renewable energy with the German feed-in system, called Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz (EEG), will possibly lead to an increased cultivation of crops with high biomass output. This monocultural orientation of farming practices and the negative effects on the ecosystem could act in opposition to other environmental initiatives of the EU. The outputs of the SOS analysis show that high biomass production could be integrated into environmental policy proposals. Therefore, new EU policy should take modified subsidies into consideration in order to avoid developing conflicts between small-scale changes in landscape ecosystems caused by large-scale transformations in energy policy.

Crisis intervention related to the use of psychoactive substances in recreational settings--evaluating the Kosmicare Project at Boom Festival.

PubMed

Carvalho, Maria Carmo; de Sousa, Mariana Pinto; Frango, Paula; Dias, Pedro; Carvalho, Joana; Rodrigues, Marta; Rodrigues, Tania

2014-01-01

Kosmicare project implements crisis intervention in situations related to the use of psychoactive substances at Boom Festival (Portugal). We present evaluation research that aims to contribute to the transformation of the project into an evidence-based intervention model. It relies on harm reduction and risk minimization principles, crisis intervention models, and Grof's psychedelic psychotherapy approach for crisis intervention in situations related to unsupervised use of psychedelics. Intervention was expected to produce knowledge about the relation between substance use and mental health impact in reducing potential risk related to the use of psychoactive substances and mental illness, as well as an impact upon target population's views of themselves, their relationship to substance use, and to life events in general. Research includes data on process and outcome indicators through a mixed methods approach, collected next to a sample of n=176 participants. Sample size varied considerably, however, among different research measures. 52% of Kosmicare visitors reported LSD use. Over 40% also presented multiple drug use. Pre-post mental state evaluation showed statistically significant difference (p<.05) confirming crisis resolution. Crisis episodes that presented no resolution were more often related with mental health outburst episodes, with psychoactive substance use or not. Visitors showed high satisfaction with intervention (n=58) and according to follow-up (n=18) this perception was stable over time. Crisis intervention was experienced as very significant. We discuss limitations and implications of evaluating natural setting based interventions, and the relation between psychoactive substance use and psychopathology. Other data on visitor's profile and vulnerability to crisis showed inconclusive.

Optimal combination of illusory and luminance-defined 3-D surfaces: A role for ambiguity.

PubMed

Hartle, Brittney; Wilcox, Laurie M; Murray, Richard F

2018-04-01

The shape of the illusory surface in stereoscopic Kanizsa figures is determined by the interpolation of depth from the luminance edges of adjacent inducing elements. Despite ambiguity in the position of illusory boundaries, observers reliably perceive a coherent three-dimensional (3-D) surface. However, this ambiguity may contribute additional uncertainty to the depth percept beyond what is expected from measurement noise alone. We evaluated the intrinsic ambiguity of illusory boundaries by using a cue-combination paradigm to measure the reliability of depth percepts elicited by stereoscopic illusory surfaces. We assessed the accuracy and precision of depth percepts using 3-D Kanizsa figures relative to luminance-defined surfaces. The location of the surface peak was defined by illusory boundaries, luminance-defined edges, or both. Accuracy and precision were assessed using a depth-discrimination paradigm. A maximum likelihood linear cue combination model was used to evaluate the relative contribution of illusory and luminance-defined signals to the perceived depth of the combined surface. Our analysis showed that the standard deviation of depth estimates was consistent with an optimal cue combination model, but the points of subjective equality indicated that observers consistently underweighted the contribution of illusory boundaries. This systematic underweighting may reflect a combination rule that attributes additional intrinsic ambiguity to the location of the illusory boundary. Although previous studies show that illusory and luminance-defined contours share many perceptual similarities, our model suggests that ambiguity plays a larger role in the perceptual representation of illusory contours than of luminance-defined contours.

[The framing of transgenics in São Paulo newspapers: the potential contribution of information to political participation].

PubMed

Rothberg, Danilo; Berbel, Danilo Brancalhão

2010-06-01

In 2007, Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) conducted an online public consultation to obtain input on its Proposed Technical Regulations for assessing the safety of transgenic food products. The article describes the context and results of a research study that identified the main ways in which the newspapers Folha de S.Paulo and O Estado de S.Paulo framed and addressed topics related to the subject matter of this consultation. Our goal was to evaluate the gamut of information available that could contribute to this form of political participation. The journalistic coverage in question was generally fragmented; 70% of articles offered incomplete views on the topics in question.

Evaluating a national science and technology program using the human capital and relational asset perspectives.

PubMed

Hung, Chia-Liang; Chou, Jerome Chih-Lung; Roan, Hung-Wei

2010-11-01

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the performance of the National Science and Technology Program (NSTP) by targeting the Taiwan National Telecommunication Program (NTP) initiated in 1998. The Taiwan telecommunications industry has prospered, currently occupying key positions in global markets even though NTP seldom contributes positively to patent citation performance. Hence, the authors of this study investigate the qualitative perspective of intellectual capital rather than quantitative technological indices. The current study focuses on both human capital and relational assets through surveys of 53 principal investigators of NTP projects and 63 industrial R&D managers of telecommunications corporations in the Taiwan market. Results show that NSTP member quality and the flow of employment are good indicators of human capital and that both perform better than the middle value in the case of Taiwan NTP. In addition, we find that industrial participants are more likely to share R&D resources than other academic researchers with higher intention of co-publishing, co-funding, and sharing equipment and facilities. The industrial NTP participants also have higher expectations regarding achieving advanced technology breakthroughs in contrast to non-NTP industrial interviewees. Moreover, industrial participants with greater industry-university cooperation intensity indeed obtain a particular advantage, that is, greater knowledge acquisition from other fields related to the effect of knowledge spillovers through the particular NSTP linkage. Accordingly, from the perspectives of human capital and relational assets, the authors conclude by articulating the importance of absorptive capacity resulting from good human capital and knowledge spillover contributed by relational assets within governmental technology policy and NSTP programming. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Kaizen method for esophagectomy patients: improved quality control, outcomes, and decreased costs.

PubMed

Iannettoni, Mark D; Lynch, William R; Parekh, Kalpaj R; McLaughlin, Kelley A

2011-04-01

The majority of costs associated with esophagectomy are related to the initial 3 days of hospital stay requiring intensive care unit stays, ventilator support, and intraoperative time. Additional costs arise from hospital-based services. The major cost increases are related to complications associated with the procedure. We attempted to define these costs and identify expense management by streamlining care through strict adherence to patient care maps, operative standardization, and rapid discharge planning to reduce variability. Utilizing methods of Kaizen philosophy we evaluated all processes related to the entire experience of esophageal resection. This process has taken over 5 years to achieve, with quality and cost being tracked over this time period. Cost analysis included expenses related to intensive care unit, anesthesia, disposables, and hospital services. Quality improvement measures were related to intraoperative complications, in-hospital complications, and postoperative outcomes. The Institutional Review Board approved the use of anonymous data from standard clinical practice because no additional treatment was planned (observational study). Utilizing a continuous process improvement methodology, a 43% reduction in cost per case has been achieved with a significant increase in contribution margin for esophagectomy. The length of stay has been reduced from 14 days to 5. With intraoperative and postoperative standardization the leak rate has dropped from 12% to less than 3% to no leaks in our current Kaizen modification of care in our last 64 patients. Utilizing lean manufacturing techniques and continuous process evaluation we have attempted to eliminate variability, standardized the phases of care resulting in improved outcomes, decreased length of stay, and improved contribution margins. These Kaizen improvements require continuous interventions, strict adherence to care maps, and input from all levels for quality improvements. Copyright © 2011 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Age-Related Susceptibility to Apoptosis in Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells Is Triggered by Disruption of p53–Mdm2 Association

PubMed Central

Bhattacharya, Sujoy; Chaum, Edward; Johnson, Dianna A.; Johnson, Leonard R.

2012-01-01

Purpose. Relatively little is known about the contribution of p53/Mdm2 pathway in apoptosis of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells or its possible link to dysfunction of aging RPE or to related blinding disorders such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods. Age-associated changes in p53 activation were evaluated in primary RPE cultures from human donor eyes of various ages. Apoptosis was evaluated by activation of caspases and DNA fragmentation. Gene-specific small interfering RNA was used to knock down expression of p53. Results. We observed that the basal rate of p53-dependent apoptosis increased in an age-dependent manner in human RPE. The age-dependent increase in apoptosis was linked to alterations in several aspects of the p53 pathway. p53 phosphorylation Ser15 was increased through the stimulation of ATM-Ser1981. p53 acetylation Lys379 was increased through the inhibition of SIRT1/2. These two posttranslational modifications of p53 blocked the sequestration of p53 by Mdm2, thus resulting in an increase in free p53 and of p53 stimulation of apoptosis through increased expression of PUMA (p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis) and activation of caspase-3. Aged RPE also had reduced expression of antiapoptotic Bcl-2, which contributed to the increase in apoptosis. Of particular interest in these studies was that pharmacologic treatments to block p53 phosphorylation, acetylation, or expression were able to protect RPE cells from apoptosis. Conclusions. Our studies suggest that aging in the RPE leads to alterations of specific checkpoints in the apoptotic pathway, which may represent important molecular targets for the treatment of RPE-related aging disorders such as AMD. PMID:23139272

Medical malpractice in urology, 1985 to 2004: 469 consecutive cases closed with indemnity payment.

PubMed

Perrotti, Michael; Badger, William; Prader, Susan; Moran, Michael E

2006-11-01

Malpractice premiums have increased by up to 57% for urologists in the last 3 years, for which the reasons are not clearly reported. We sought to better understand factors contributing to the current medical malpractice crisis in urology. Working with the Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company of New York State we evaluated malpractice claims in urology that were closed with indemnity payment between 1985 and 2004. Individual claims were assessed for the purported negligent act, the procedure when applicable and the expense incurred. We also evaluated the impact of new technologies, eg laparoscopic nephrectomy, on reported claims. A total of 469 urology malpractice claims were closed with indemnity payment during the period evaluated for a total loss indemnity of Dollars 99,335,431. The number of files closed with indemnity payment yearly remained relatively constant at an average of 22 claims. The average indemnity payment increased each year and after correcting for inflation a 191% increase was observed for the period evaluated. The greatest number of claims was related to postoperative events (total of 101), followed by intraoperative events (96), failure to diagnose a given condition (60), medication administration error (21) and a foreign body left following surgery (20). In the area of new technologies laparoscopic surgery accounted for 4 claims and transurethral needle ablation accounted for 1. Vasectomy accounted for 8 claims. In the current study surgical procedures were the greatest generator of claims with the most common being oncological. Emerging and new technologies, eg laparoscopy and robotics, did not account for the increase in indemnity payments observed to date. Only further investigation will determine whether this is secondary to a lag time in the closure of suits related to these emerging technologies or to a lack of such suits. The actual number of claims closed with indemnity payment yearly remained relatively constant. However, the indemnity payment per claim far outpaced that expected for inflation. The observed increase in indemnity payment per claim would appear to be a significant contributing factor to the current malpractice crisis in urology.

Global Economic Effects of USA Biofuel Policy and the Potential Contribution from Advanced Biofuels

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

Gbadebo Oladosu; Keith Kline; Paul Leiby

2012-01-01

This study evaluates the global economic effects of the USA renewable fuel standards (RFS2), and the potential contribution from advanced biofuels. Our simulation results imply that these mandates lead to an increase of 0.21 percent in the global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, including an increase of 0.8 percent in the USA and 0.02 percent in the rest of the world (ROW); relative to our baseline, no-RFS scenario. The incremental contributions to GDP from advanced biofuels in 2022 are estimated at 0.41 percent and 0.04 percent in the USA and ROW, respectively. Although production costs of advanced biofuels aremore » higher than for conventional biofuels in our model, their economic benefits result from reductions in oil use, and their smaller impacts on food markets compared with conventional biofuels. Thus, the USA advanced biofuels targets are expected to have positive economic benefits.« less

Calculation of dose contributions of electron and charged heavy particles inside phantoms irradiated by monoenergetic neutron.

PubMed

Satoh, Daiki; Takahashi, Fumiaki; Endo, Akira; Ohmachi, Yasushi; Miyahara, Nobuyuki

2008-09-01

The radiation-transport code PHITS with an event generator mode has been applied to analyze energy depositions of electrons and charged heavy particles in two spherical phantoms and a voxel-based mouse phantom upon neutron irradiation. The calculations using the spherical phantoms quantitatively clarified the type and energy of charged particles which are released through interactions of neutrons with the phantom elements and contribute to the radiation dose. The relative contribution of electrons increased with an increase in the size of the phantom and with a decrease in the energy of the incident neutrons. Calculations with the voxel-based mouse phantom for 2.0-MeV neutron irradiation revealed that the doses to different locations inside the body are uniform, and that the energy is mainly deposited by recoil protons. The present study has demonstrated that analysis using PHITS can yield dose distributions that are accurate enough for RBE evaluation.

Determination of dose distributions and parameter sensitivity

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

Napier, B.A.; Farris, W.T.; Simpson, J.C.

1992-12-01

A series of scoping calculations has been undertaken to evaluate the absolute and relative contribution of different radionuclides and exposure pathways to doses that may have been received by individuals living in the vicinity of the Hanford site. This scoping calculation (Calculation 005) examined the contributions of numerous parameters to the uncertainty distribution of doses calculated for environmental exposures and accumulation in foods. This study builds on the work initiated in the first scoping study of iodine in cow's milk and the third scoping study, which added additional pathways. Addressed in this calculation were the contributions to thyroid dose ofmore » infants from (1) air submersion and groundshine external dose, (2) inhalation, (3) ingestion of soil by humans, (4) ingestion of leafy vegetables, (5) ingestion of other vegetables and fruits, (6) ingestion of meat, (7) ingestion of eggs, and (8) ingestion of cows' milk from Feeding Regime 1 as described in Calculation 001.« less

Daniel Landis: Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology.

PubMed

2012-11-01

Presents a short biography of one of the co-recipients of the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology. One of the 2012 winners is Daniel Landis for his unparalleled contribution to the field of intercultural research in a distinguished academic career spanning almost half a century. Landis has shaped the field of intercultural research through scholarship of the highest order, reflected in his publications on cross-cultural training and research, the measurement of equal opportunity climate, individual-differences research and methodology, evaluation of social programs, development of theory in social psychology, and cross-cultural aspects of human sexuality. He is the founding editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Intercultural Relations and has edited three editions of the Handbook of Intercultural Training (1983, 1996, 2004). Landis' Award citation and a selected bibliography are also presented. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Predicting the Future Contribution of Himalayan Debris-covered Glaciers to River Discharge: Advances and Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quincey, D. J.; Hubbard, B. P.; Klaar, M. J.; Miles, E.; Miles, K.; Rowan, A. V.; King, O.; Watson, C. S.

2017-12-01

The glaciers and snowfields of the Himalaya are the ultimate source for the many rivers that flow across the Asian subcontinent, but they are diminishing rapidly in the face of sustained climatic change. Predictions of how future river discharge may vary through space and time are hampered by two major knowledge gaps. First, simulations of glacier mass loss in high Asia are severely limited by data availability and assumptions made in the parameterisation of glacier models. Consequently, projections of glacier change vary widely; in Nepal for example, recent estimates of volumetric ice loss by AD2100 have ranged between 8% and 99%. A second major gap in knowledge lies in the coupling between glaciers and downstream areas, and specifically in quantifying the relative contributions of different sources to river flow. Although it is clear that ice and snow melt dominates flow for considerable distances downstream, how this contribution interacts with groundwater supplies with increasing distance from its source remains poorly understood. This presentation will review recent work that closes some of the knowledge gaps in understanding debris-covered glacier behaviour including new results from drilling work on the Khumbu Glacier in Nepal. Additionally, it will report on the outputs from an interdisciplinary study in the Annapurna region of Nepal, which is focussing specifically on disaggregating the relative contributions to flow using isotope-based hydrograph separations. It will finish by exploring the most likely drivers of future changes to water supply, including an evaluation of the impact of glacial lake development, and by identifying the main challenges for future related research.

Locomotor Recovery in Spinal Cord Injury: Insights Beyond Walking Speed and Distance.

PubMed

Awai, Lea; Curt, Armin

2016-08-01

Recovery of locomotor function after incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) is clinically assessed through walking speed and distance, while improvements in these measures might not be in line with a normalization of gait quality and are, on their own, insensitive at revealing potential mechanisms underlying recovery. The objective of this study was to relate changes of gait parameters to the recovery of walking speed while distinguishing between parameters that rather reflect speed improvements from factors contributing to overall recovery. Kinematic data of 16 iSCI subjects were repeatedly recorded during in-patient rehabilitation. The responsiveness of gait parameters to walking speed was assessed by linear regression. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied on the multivariate data across time to identify factors that contribute to recovery after iSCI. Parameters of gait cycle and movement dynamics were both responsive and closely related to the recovery of walking speed, which increased by 96%. Multivariate analysis revealed specific gait parameters (intralimb shape normality and consistency) that, although less related to speed increments, loaded highly on principal component one (PC1) (58.6%) explaining the highest proportion of variance (i.e., recovery of outcome over time). Interestingly, measures of hip, knee, and ankle range of motion showed varying degrees of responsiveness (from very high to very low) while not contributing to gait recovery as revealed by PCA. The conjunct application of two analysis methods distinguishes gait parameters that simply reflect increased walking speed from parameters that actually contribute to gait recovery in iSCI. This distinction may be of value for the evaluation of interventions for locomotor recovery.

Impact of a social network-based intervention promoting diabetes self-management in socioeconomically deprived patients: a qualitative evaluation of the intervention strategies

PubMed Central

Vissenberg, C; Stronks, K; Nijpels, G; Uitewaal, P J M; Middelkoop, B J C; Kohinor, M J E; Hartman, M A; Nierkens, V

2016-01-01

Objective There is a need for effective interventions that improve diabetes self-management (DSM) among socioeconomically deprived patients with type 2 diabetes. The group-based intervention Powerful Together with Diabetes (PTWD) aimed to increase social support for DSM and decrease social influences hindering DSM (eg, peer pressure, social norms) in patients living in deprived neighbourhoods. Through a qualitative process evaluation, this paper aims to study whether this intervention changed social support and social influences, and which elements of the intervention contributed to this. Methods The intervention group (IG) was compared with a standard group-based educational intervention (control group, CG). 27 qualitative in-depth interviews with participants (multiethnic sample) and 24 interviews with group leaders were conducted. Interviews were coded and analysed using MAXQDA according to framework analysis. Results Patients in the IG experienced more emotional support from group members and more instrumental and appraisal support from relatives than those in the CG. Also, they were better able to recognise and cope with influences that hinder their DSM, exhibited more positive norms towards DSM and increased their priority regarding DSM and their adherence. Finally, the engagement in DSM by relatives of participants increased. Creating trust between group members, skills training, practising together and actively involving relatives through action plans contributed to these changes. Conclusions A group-based intervention aimed at creating trust, practising together and involving relatives has the potential to increase social support and diminish social influences hindering DSM in socioeconomically deprived patients with diabetes. Promising elements of the intervention were skills training and providing feedback using role-playing exercises in group sessions with patients, as well as the involvement of patients' significant others in self-management tasks, and actively involving them in making an action plan for self-management. These positive results justify the value of further evaluating the effectiveness of this intervention in a larger sample. Trial registration number NTR1886, Results. PMID:27075842

Conscious worst case definition for risk assessment, part I: a knowledge mapping approach for defining most critical risk factors in integrative risk management of chemicals and nanomaterials.

PubMed

Sørensen, Peter B; Thomsen, Marianne; Assmuth, Timo; Grieger, Khara D; Baun, Anders

2010-08-15

This paper helps bridge the gap between scientists and other stakeholders in the areas of human and environmental risk management of chemicals and engineered nanomaterials. This connection is needed due to the evolution of stakeholder awareness and scientific progress related to human and environmental health which involves complex methodological demands on risk management. At the same time, the available scientific knowledge is also becoming more scattered across multiple scientific disciplines. Hence, the understanding of potentially risky situations is increasingly multifaceted, which again challenges risk assessors in terms of giving the 'right' relative priority to the multitude of contributing risk factors. A critical issue is therefore to develop procedures that can identify and evaluate worst case risk conditions which may be input to risk level predictions. Therefore, this paper suggests a conceptual modelling procedure that is able to define appropriate worst case conditions in complex risk management. The result of the analysis is an assembly of system models, denoted the Worst Case Definition (WCD) model, to set up and evaluate the conditions of multi-dimensional risk identification and risk quantification. The model can help optimize risk assessment planning by initial screening level analyses and guiding quantitative assessment in relation to knowledge needs for better decision support concerning environmental and human health protection or risk reduction. The WCD model facilitates the evaluation of fundamental uncertainty using knowledge mapping principles and techniques in a way that can improve a complete uncertainty analysis. Ultimately, the WCD is applicable for describing risk contributing factors in relation to many different types of risk management problems since it transparently and effectively handles assumptions and definitions and allows the integration of different forms of knowledge, thereby supporting the inclusion of multifaceted risk components in cumulative risk management. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Etiquette for medical students' email communication with faculty members: a single-institution study.

PubMed

Kim, Do-Hwan; Yoon, Hyun Bae; Yoo, Dong-Mi; Lee, Sang-Min; Jung, Hee-Yeon; Kim, Seog Ju; Shin, Jwa-Seop; Lee, Seunghee; Yim, Jae-Joon

2016-04-27

Email is widely used as a means of communication between faculty members and students in medical education because of its practical and educational advantages. However, because of the distinctive nature of medical education, students' inappropriate email etiquette may adversely affect their learning as well as faculty members' perception of them. Little data on medical students' competency in professional email writing is available; therefore, this study explored the strengths and weaknesses of medical students' email etiquette and factors that contribute to professional email writing. A total of 210 emails from four faculty members at Seoul National University College of Medicine were collected. An evaluation criteria and a scoring rubric were developed based on the various email-writing guidelines. The rubric comprised 10 items, including nine items for evaluation related to the email components and one item for the assessment of global impression of politeness. Three evaluators independently assessed all emails according to the criteria. Students were identified as being 61.0% male and 52.8% were in the undergraduate-entry program. The sum of each component score was 62.21 out of 100 and the mean value for global impression was 2.6 out of 4. The results demonstrated that students' email etiquettes remained low-to-mediocre for most criteria, except for readability and honorifics. Three criteria, salutation (r=0.668), closing (r=0.653), and sign-off (r=0.646), showed a strong positive correlation with the global impression of politeness. Whether a student entered a graduate-entry program or an undergraduate-entry program significantly contributed to professional email writing after other variables were controlled. Although students in the graduate-entry program demonstrated a relatively superior level of email etiquette, the majority of medical students did not write emails professionally. Educating all medical students in email etiquette may well contribute to the improvement of student-faculty relationships as well as their email writing.

Humor styles as mediators between self-evaluative standards and psychological well-being.

PubMed

Kuiper, Nicholas A; McHale, Nicola

2009-07-01

The authors examined how certain humor styles mediate the relations between self-evaluative standards (which form the primary evaluative component of the self-schema) and psychological well-being. As predicted, greater endorsement of positive self-evaluative standards led to the use of more affiliative humor, which, in turn, led to higher levels of social self-esteem and lower levels of depression. Also, as predicted, greater endorsement of negative self-evaluative standards led to the use of more self-defeating humor, which resulted in lower levels of social self-esteem and higher levels of depression. Further, affiliative humor also mediated the relation between negative self-evaluative standards and well-being. In this study, the greater endorsement of negative self-evaluative standards led to the use of less affiliative humor, which led to a decrease in social self-esteem. These results suggest that specific features associated with these 2 humor styles may contribute in a differential manner to an individual's level of well-being. In particular, the increased use of affiliative humor may facilitate the development and maintenance of social support networks that foster and enhance well-being. Alternatively, the greater use of self-defeating humor may result in the development of maladaptive social support networks that impede psychological well-being.

The Politics of Leadership: Superintendents and School Boards in Changing Times. Educational Policy in the 21st Century: Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petersen, George J., Ed.; Fusarelli, Lance, Ed.

2006-01-01

The primary contribution of this book, is not its advocacy of a specific position but rather, its objective analysis of cogent topics. The content prompts individuals to consider governance in relation to quality education and to ponder alternative policy strategies that have yet to be fully evaluated. As a young doctoral student more than a few…

EMS helicopter incidents reported to the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Connell, Linda J.; Reynard, William D.

1993-01-01

The objectives of this evaluation were to: Identify the types of safety-related incidents reported to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) in Emergency Medical Service (EMS) helicopter operations; Describe the operational conditions surrounding these incidents, such as weather, airspace, flight phase, time of day; and Assess the contribution to these incidents of selected human factors considerations, such as communication, distraction, time pressure, workload, and flight/duty impact.

Prediction of User Preference over Shared Control Paradigms for a Robotic Wheelchair

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-07-20

the experimentally -observed changes between subject groups and sessions, while providing unique insight into the relative contribution of task metrics...WHEELCHAIR, including the four tested shared- control paradigms. The correlation model and experimental results are provided in Sections IV and V. Section VI...paradigm-specific models. Moreover, we also observe differences between sub- ject groups —meaning that subjects’ evaluations of a control paradigm are

Camping impact management at Isle Royale National Park: An evaluation of visitor activity containment policies from the perspective of social conditions

Treesearch

Tracy A. Farrell; Jeffrey L. Marion

2000-01-01

A survey of backcountry and wilderness campsites at Isle Royale National Park reveals that the park’s policies for managing visitor impacts have been remarkably effective in limiting the areal extent of camping-related disturbance. However, the dense spatial arrangement of designated campsites within backcountry campgrounds has also contributed to problems with visitor...

Hypothermia for neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy: NICHD Neonatal Research Network contribution to the field.

PubMed

Shankaran, Seetha; Natarajan, Girija; Chalak, Lina; Pappas, Athina; McDonald, Scott A; Laptook, Abbot R

2016-10-01

In this article, we summarize the NICHD Neonatal Research Network (NRN) trial of whole-body hypothermia for neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in relation to other randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of hypothermia neuroprotection. We describe the NRN secondary studies that have been published in the past 10 years evaluating clinical, genetic, biochemical, and imaging biomarkers of outcome. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessment of iron chelates efficiency for photo-Fenton at neutral pH.

PubMed

De Luca, Antonella; Dantas, Renato F; Esplugas, Santiago

2014-09-15

In this study, homogeneous photo-Fenton like at neutral pH was applied to remove sulfamethoxazole from water. The process was performed using different chelating agents in order to solubilize iron in a neutral water solution. The chelating agents tested were: ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA); nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA); oxalic acid (OA) and tartaric acid (TA). The iron leaching was monitored over reaction time to evaluate the chelates stability and their resistance to HO· and UV-A radiation. Chelates of EDTA and NTA presented more stability than OA and TA, which also confirmed their higher efficiency. Total Organic Carbon (TOC) analyses were also performed to evaluate the contribution in terms of solution contamination related to the use of chelating agents. The better properties of biodegradability in respect of EDTA combined with better efficiency in terms of microcontaminant removal and the smallest TOC contribution indicate that NTA could represent a useful option to perform photo-Fenton processes at neutral pH. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Feeding Problems and Their Underlying Mechanisms in the Esophageal Atresia–Tracheoesophageal Fistula Patient

PubMed Central

Mahoney, Lisa; Rosen, Rachel

2017-01-01

Feeding difficulties such as dysphagia, coughing, choking, or vomiting during meals, slow eating, oral aversion, food refusal, and stressful mealtimes are common in children with repaired esophageal atresia (EA) and the reasons for this are often multifactorial. The aim of this review is to describe the possible underlying mechanisms contributing to feeding difficulties in patients with EA and approaches to management. Underlying mechanisms for these feeding difficulties include esophageal dysphagia, oropharyngeal dysphagia and aspiration, and aversions related to prolonged gastrostomy tube feeding. The initial diagnostic evaluation for feeding difficulties in a patient with EA may involve an esophagram, videofluoroscopic imaging or fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation during swallowing, upper endoscopy with biopsies, pH-impedance testing, and/or esophageal motility studies. The main goal of management is to reduce the factors contributing to feeding difficulties and may include reducing esophageal stasis, maximizing reflux therapies, treating underlying lung disease, dilating strictures, and altering feeding methods, routes, or schedules. PMID:28620597

Particle size and chemical control of heavy metals in bed sediment from the Rouge River, southeast Michigan

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

Murray, K.S.; Cauvet, D.; Lybeer, M.

1999-04-01

Anthropogenic activities related to 100 years of industrialization in the metropolitan Detroit area have significantly enriched the bed sediment of the lower reaches of the Rouge River in Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn. These enriched elements, which may represent a threat to biota, are predominantly present in sequentially extracted reducible and oxidizable chemical phases with small contributions from residual phases. In size-fractionated samples trace metal concentrations generally increase with decreasing particle size, with the greatest contribution to this increase from the oxidizable phase. Experimental results obtained on replicate samples of river sediment demonstrate that the accuracy of themore » sequential extraction procedure, evaluated by comparing the sums of the three individual fractions, is generally better than 10%. Oxidizable and reducible phases therefore constitute important sources of potentially available heavy metals that need to be explicitly considered when evaluating sediment and water quality impacts on biota.« less

Evaluation of processing factors for selected organic contaminants during virgin olive oil production: Distribution of BTEXS during olives processing.

PubMed

López-Blanco, Rafael; Gilbert-López, Bienvenida; Rojas-Jiménez, Rubén; Robles-Molina, José; Ramos-Martos, Natividad; García-Reyes, Juan F; Molina-Díaz, Antonio

2016-05-15

The presence of BTEXS (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes and styrene) in virgin olive oils can be attributed to environmental contamination, but also to biological processes during oil lipogenesis (styrene). In this work, the processing factor of BTEXS from olives to olive oil during its production was evaluated at lab-scale with an Abencor system. Benzene showed the lowest processing factor (15%), whereas toluene and xylenes showed an intermediate behavior (with 40-60% efficiency), and ethylbenzene and styrene were completely transferred (100%). In addition, an attempt to examine the contribution of potential sources to olives contamination with BTEXS was carried out for the first time. Two types of olives samples were classified according to their proximity to the contamination source (road). Although higher levels of BTEXS were found in samples close to roads, the concentrations were relatively low and do not constitute a major contribution to BTEXS usually detected in olive oil. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recommendations on risk-based strategies for detection and characterization of antibodies against biotechnology products.

PubMed

Koren, Eugen; Smith, Holly W; Shores, Elizabeth; Shankar, Gopi; Finco-Kent, Deborah; Rup, Bonita; Barrett, Yu-Chen; Devanarayan, Viswanath; Gorovits, Boris; Gupta, Shalini; Parish, Thomas; Quarmby, Valerie; Moxness, Michael; Swanson, Steven J; Taniguchi, Gary; Zuckerman, Linda A; Stebbins, Christopher C; Mire-Sluis, Anthony

2008-04-20

The appropriate evaluation of the immunogenicity of biopharmaceuticals is of major importance for their successful development and licensure. Antibodies elicited by these products in many cases cause no detectable clinical effects in humans. However, antibodies to some therapeutic proteins have been shown to cause a variety of clinical consequences ranging from relatively mild to serious adverse events. In addition, antibodies can affect drug efficacy. In non-clinical studies, anti-drug antibodies (ADA) can complicate interpretation of the toxicity, pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) data. Therefore, it is important to develop testing strategies that provide valid assessments of antibody responses in both non-clinical and clinical studies. This document provides recommendations for antibody testing strategies stemming from the experience of contributing authors. The recommendations are intended to foster a more unified approach to antibody testing across the biopharmaceutical industry. The strategies proposed are also expected to contribute to better understanding of antibody responses and to further advance immunogenicity evaluation.

Public health policy decisions on medical innovations: what role can early economic evaluation play?

PubMed

Hartz, Susanne; John, Jürgen

2009-02-01

Our contribution aims to explore the different ways in which early economic data can inform public health policy decisions on new medical technologies. A literature research was conducted to detect methodological contributions covering the health policy perspective. Early economic data on new technologies can support public health policy decisions in several ways. Embedded in horizon scanning and HTA activities, it adds to monitoring and assessment of innovations. It can play a role in the control of technology diffusion by informing coverage and reimbursement decisions as well as the direct public promotion of healthcare technologies, leading to increased efficiency. Major problems include the uncertainty related to economic data at early stages as well as the timing of the evaluation of an innovation. Decision-makers can benefit from the information supplied by early economic data, but the actual use in practice is difficult to determine. Further empirical evidence should be gathered, while the use could be promoted by further standardization.

A critical review about methodologies for the analysis of mucoadhesive properties of drug delivery systems.

PubMed

Bassi da Silva, Jéssica; Ferreira, Sabrina Barbosa de Souza; de Freitas, Osvaldo; Bruschi, Marcos Luciano

2017-07-01

Mucoadhesion is a useful strategy for drug delivery systems, such as tablets, patches, gels, liposomes, micro/nanoparticles, nanosuspensions, microemulsions and colloidal dispersions. Moreover, it has contributed to many benefits like increased residence time at application sites, drug protection, increased drug permeation and improved drug availability. In this context, investigation into the mucoadhesive properties of pharmaceutical dosage forms is fundamental, in order to characterize, understand and simulate the in vivo interaction between the formulation and the biological substrate, contributing to the development of new mucoadhesive systems with effectiveness, safety and quality. There are a lot of in vivo, in vitro and ex vivo methods for the evaluation of the mucoadhesive properties of drug delivery systems. However, there also is a lack of standardization of these techniques, which makes comparison between the results difficult. Therefore, this work aims to show an overview of the most commonly employed methods for mucoadhesion evaluation, relating them to different proposed systems and using artificial or natural mucosa from humans and animals.

Uses of tuberculosis mortality surveillance to identify programme errors and improve database reporting.

PubMed

Selig, L; Guedes, R; Kritski, A; Spector, N; Lapa E Silva, J R; Braga, J U; Trajman, A

2009-08-01

In 2006, 848 persons died from tuberculosis (TB) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, corresponding to a mortality rate of 5.4 per 100 000 population. No specific TB death surveillance actions are currently in place in Brazil. Two public general hospitals with large open emergency rooms in Rio de Janeiro City. To evaluate the contribution of TB death surveillance in detecting gaps in TB control. We conducted a survey of TB deaths from September 2005 to August 2006. Records of TB-related deaths and deaths due to undefined causes were investigated. Complementary data were gathered from the mortality and TB notification databases. Seventy-three TB-related deaths were investigated. Transmission hazards were identified among firefighters, health care workers and in-patients. Management errors included failure to isolate suspected cases, to confirm TB, to correct drug doses in underweight patients and to trace contacts. Following the survey, 36 cases that had not previously been notified were included in the national TB notification database and the outcome of 29 notified cases was corrected. TB mortality surveillance can contribute to TB monitoring and evaluation by detecting correctable and specific programme- and hospital-based care errors, and by improving the accuracy of TB database reporting. Specific local and programmatic interventions can be proposed as a result.

'Money is the vehicle of interaction': insight into social integration of people affected by leprosy in northern Nigeria.

PubMed

Ebenso, Bassey; Ayuba, Mainas

2010-06-01

This paper proposes a mechanism by which socio-economic rehabilitation (SER) reduces stigma in northern Nigeria following are-analysis of the transcripts of interviews conducted to evaluate the impact of SER on leprosy-related stigma. The evaluation combined quantitative questionnaire (P-scale) with qualitative interviews of 20 individuals affected by leprosy, five focus group discussions and 10 key informant interviews. From our data, we developed a leprosy-related stigma framework by integrating emerging themes with the construct of threat to group functioning to describe stigma processes experienced by people affected by leprosy in northern Nigeria. Findings revealed people affected by leprosy are less likely to be stigmatised because of leprosy impairments than for their incapacity to contribute to family/community finances. We also identified micro-credit loans and vocational training as elements of SER for reducing stigma through the mechanism of protecting individuals against the loss of social value, and by facilitating their continued engagement in daily social roles in the family/community. We propose that SER stimulates attitudinal change towards, and inclusion of people affected by leprosy by protecting individuals against the loss of social value and increasing their contributive capacity. We recommend further empirical testing of the proposed framework to ascertain its utility in other cultures.

African American English-speaking students: an examination of the relationship between dialect shifting and reading outcomes.

PubMed

Craig, Holly K; Zhang, Lingling; Hensel, Stephanie L; Quinn, Erin J

2009-08-01

In this study, the authors evaluated the contribution made by dialect shifting to reading achievement test scores of African American English (AAE)-speaking students when controlling for the effects of socioeconomic status (SES), general oral language abilities, and writing skills. Participants were 165 typically developing African American 1st through 5th graders. Half were male and half were female, one third were from low-SES homes, and two-thirds were from middle-SES homes. Dialect shifting away from AAE toward Standard American English (SAE) was determined by comparing AAE production rates during oral and written narratives. Structural equation modeling evaluated the relative contributions of AAE rates, SES, and general oral language and writing skills on standardized reading achievement scores. AAE production rates were inversely related to reading achievement scores and decreased significantly between the oral and written narratives. Lower rates in writing predicted a substantial amount of the variance in reading scores, showing a significant direct effect and a significant indirect effect mediated by measures of oral language comprehension. The findings support a dialect shifting-reading achievement hypothesis, which proposes that AAE-speaking students who learn to use SAE in literacy tasks will outperform their peers who do not make this linguistic adaptation.

Using Gender Schema Theory to Examine Gender Equity in Computing: a Preliminary Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agosto, Denise E.

Women continue to constitute a minority of computer science majors in the United States and Canada. One possible contributing factor is that most Web sites, CD-ROMs, and other digital resources do not reflect girls' design and content preferences. This article describes a pilot study that considered whether gender schema theory can serve as a framework for investigating girls' Web site design and content preferences. Eleven 14- and 15-year-old girls participated in the study. The methodology included the administration of the Children's Sex-Role Inventory (CSRI), Web-surfing sessions, interviews, and data analysis using iterative pattern coding. On the basis of their CSRI scores, the participants were divided into feminine-high (FH) and masculine-high (MH) groups. Data analysis uncovered significant differences in the criteria the groups used to evaluate Web sites. The FH group favored evaluation criteria relating to graphic and multimedia design, whereas the MH group favored evaluation criteria relating to subject content. Models of the two groups' evaluation criteria are presented, and the implications of the findings are discussed.

Looking Across and Looking Beyond the Knowledge Frontier: Intellectual Distance, Novelty, and Resource Allocation in Science.

PubMed

Boudreau, Kevin J; Guinan, Eva C; Lakhani, Karim R; Riedl, Christoph

2016-10-01

Selecting among alternative projects is a core management task in all innovating organizations. In this paper, we focus on the evaluation of frontier scientific research projects. We argue that the "intellectual distance" between the knowledge embodied in research proposals and an evaluator's own expertise systematically relates to the evaluations given. To estimate relationships, we designed and executed a grant proposal process at a leading research university in which we randomized the assignment of evaluators and proposals to generate 2,130 evaluator-proposal pairs. We find that evaluators systematically give lower scores to research proposals that are closer to their own areas of expertise and to those that are highly novel. The patterns are consistent with biases associated with boundedly rational evaluation of new ideas. The patterns are inconsistent with intellectual distance simply contributing "noise" or being associated with private interests of evaluators. We discuss implications for policy, managerial intervention, and allocation of resources in the ongoing accumulation of scientific knowledge.

Assessing Metal Exposures in a Community near a Cement Plant in the Northeast U.S.

PubMed Central

Dong, Zhao; Bank, Michael S.; Spengler, John D.

2015-01-01

Cement production is a major source of metals and metalloids in the environment, while exposures to metals and metalloids may impact human health in the surrounding communities. We recruited 185 participants living in the vicinity of a cement plant in the northeast U.S., and measured the levels of aluminum (Al), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), and selenium (Se) in blood and Hg in hair samples from them. A questionnaire was used to assess potential sources of Hg exposure. Multivariate regressions and spatial analyses were performed to evaluate the relative importance of different routes of exposures. The metal concentrations in blood or hair samples of our study participants were comparable to the U.S. general or regional population. Smoking contributed significantly to Cd and Pb exposures, and seafood consumption contributed significantly to Hg and As exposures, while variables related to the cement plant were not significantly associated with metal concentrations. Our results suggest that our study population was not at elevated health risk due to metal exposures, and that the contribution of the cement plant to metal exposures in the surrounding community was minimal. PMID:25607604

Evaluating Vertical Moisture Structure of the Madden-Julian Oscillation in Contemporary GCMs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guan, B.; Jiang, X.; Waliser, D. E.

2013-12-01

The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) remains a major challenge in our understanding and modeling of the tropical convection and circulation. Many models have troubles in realistically simulating key characteristics of the MJO, such as the strength, period, and eastward propagation. For models that do simulate aspects of the MJO, it remains to be understood what parameters and processes are the most critical in determining the quality of the simulations. This study focuses on the vertical structure of moisture in MJO simulations, with the aim to identify and understand the relationship between MJO simulation qualities and key parameters related to moisture. A series of 20-year simulations conducted by 26 GCMs are analyzed, including four that are coupled to ocean models and two that have a two-dimensional cloud resolving model embedded (i.e., superparameterized). TRMM precipitation and ERA-Interim reanalysis are used to evaluate the model simulations. MJO simulation qualities are evaluated based on pattern correlations of lead/lag regressions of precipitation - a measure of the model representation of the eastward propagating MJO convection. Models with strongest and weakest MJOs (top and bottom quartiles) are compared in terms of differences in moisture content, moisture convergence, moistening rate, and moist static energy. It is found that models with strongest MJOs have better representations of the observed vertical tilt of moisture. Relative importance of convection, advection, boundary layer, and large scale convection/precipitation are discussed in terms of their contribution to the moistening process. The results highlight the overall importance of vertical moisture structure in MJO simulations. The work contributes to the climatological component of the joint WCRP-WWRP/THORPEX YOTC MJO Task Force and the GEWEX Atmosphere System Study (GASS) global model evaluation project focused on the vertical structure and diabatic processes of the MJO.

The contribution of changes in diet, exercise, and stress management to changes in coronary risk in women and men in the multisite cardiac lifestyle intervention program.

PubMed

Daubenmier, Jennifer J; Weidner, Gerdi; Sumner, Michael D; Mendell, Nancy; Merritt-Worden, Terri; Studley, Joli; Ornish, Dean

2007-02-01

The relative contribution of health behaviors to coronary risk factors in multicomponent secondary coronary heart disease (CHD) prevention programs is largely unknown. Our purpose is to evaluate the additive and interactive effects of 3-month changes in health behaviors (dietary fat intake, exercise, and stress management) on 3-month changes in coronary risk and psychosocial factors among 869 nonsmoking CHD patients (34% female) enrolled in the health insurance-based Multisite Cardiac Lifestyle Intervention Program. Analyses of variance for repeated measures were used to analyze health behaviors, coronary risk factors, and psychosocial factors at baseline and 3 months. Multiple regression analyses evaluated changes in dietary fat intake and hours per week of exercise and stress management as predictors of changes in coronary risk and psychosocial factors. Significant overall improvement in coronary risk was observed. Reductions in dietary fat intake predicted reductions in weight, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and interacted with increased exercise to predict reductions in perceived stress. Increases in exercise predicted improvements in total cholesterol and exercise capacity (for women). Increased stress management was related to reductions in weight, total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (for men), triglycerides, hemoglobin A1c (in patients with diabetes), and hostility. Improvements in dietary fat intake, exercise, and stress management were individually, additively and interactively related to coronary risk and psychosocial factors, suggesting that multicomponent programs focusing on diet, exercise, and stress management may benefit patients with CHD.

An analysis of the Research Team-Service User relationship from the Service User perspective: a consideration of 'The Three Rs' (Roles, Relations, and Responsibilities) for healthcare research organisations.

PubMed

Jordan, Melanie; Rowley, Emma; Morriss, Richard; Manning, Nick

2015-12-01

This article debates interview data from service users who engaged with the work of a Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC). The evidence base, to date, concerning the nature of CLAHRC work at the frontline (i.e. What is it actually like to do CLAHRC work?) is meagre; thus, this article represents an original contribution to that literature. Further, this article analyses service users' participation in research - as members of the research team - and so contributes to the body of developing literature regarding involvement too. This article explores the nature of the Research Team-Service User relationship, plus associated roles, relations and responsibilities of collaborative health research. Qualitative social science research was undertaken in a health-care research organization utilizing interview method and a medical sociology and organizational sociology theoretical framework for analysis. Data utilized originate from a larger evaluation study that focuses on the CLAHRC as an iterative organization and explores members' experiences. There can be a disparity between initial expectations and actual experiences of involvement for service users. Therefore, as structured via 'The Three Rs' (Roles, Relations and Responsibilities), aspects of the relationship are evaluated (e.g. motivation, altruism, satisfaction, transparency, scope, feedback, communication, time). Regarding the inclusion of service users in health research teams, a careful consideration of 'The Three Rs' is required to ensure expectations match experiences. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Fuel Breeding and Core Behavior Analyses on In Core Fuel Management of Water Cooled Thorium Reactors

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

Permana, Sidik; Department of Physics, Bandung Institute of Technology, Gedung Fisika, Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung 40132; Sekimoto, Hiroshi

2010-12-23

Thorium fuel cycle with recycled U-233 has been widely recognized having some contributions to improve the water-cooled breeder reactor program which has been shown by a feasible area of breeding and negative void reactivity which confirms that fissile of 233U contributes to better fuel breeding and effective for obtaining negative void reactivity coefficient as the main fissile material. The present study has the objective to estimate the effect of whole core configuration as well as burnup effects to the reactor core profile by adopting two dimensional model of fuel core management. About more than 40 months of cycle period hasmore » been employed for one cycle fuel irradiation of three batches fuel system for large water cooled thorium reactors. All position of fuel arrangement contributes to the total core conversion ratio which gives conversion ratio less than unity of at the BOC and it contributes to higher than unity (1.01) at the EOC after some irradiation process. Inner part and central part give the important part of breeding contribution with increasing burnup process, while criticality is reduced with increasing the irradiation time. Feasibility of breeding capability of water-cooled thorium reactors for whole core fuel arrangement has confirmed from the obtained conversion ratio which shows higher than unity. Whole core analysis on evaluating reactivity change which is caused by the change of voided condition has been employed for conservative assumption that 100% coolant and moderator are voided. It obtained always a negative void reactivity coefficient during reactor operation which shows relatively more negative void coefficient at BOC (fresh fuel composition), and it becomes less negative void coefficient with increasing the operation time. Negative value of void reactivity coefficient shows the reactor has good safety properties in relation to the reactivity profile which is the main parameter in term of criticality safety analysis. Therefore, this evaluation has confirmed that breeding condition and negative coefficient can be obtained simultaneously for water-cooled thorium reactor obtains based on the whole core fuel arrangement.« less

Evaluating Technical Efficiency of Nursing Care Using Data Envelopment Analysis and Multilevel Modeling.

PubMed

Min, Ari; Park, Chang Gi; Scott, Linda D

2016-05-23

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is an advantageous non-parametric technique for evaluating relative efficiency of performance. This article describes use of DEA to estimate technical efficiency of nursing care and demonstrates the benefits of using multilevel modeling to identify characteristics of efficient facilities in the second stage of analysis. Data were drawn from LTCFocUS.org, a secondary database including nursing home data from the Online Survey Certification and Reporting System and Minimum Data Set. In this example, 2,267 non-hospital-based nursing homes were evaluated. Use of DEA with nurse staffing levels as inputs and quality of care as outputs allowed estimation of the relative technical efficiency of nursing care in these facilities. In the second stage, multilevel modeling was applied to identify organizational factors contributing to technical efficiency. Use of multilevel modeling avoided biased estimation of findings for nested data and provided comprehensive information on differences in technical efficiency among counties and states. © The Author(s) 2016.

Radiation levels and image quality in patients undergoing chest X-ray examinations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Oliveira, Paulo Márcio Campos; do Carmo Santana, Priscila; de Sousa Lacerda, Marco Aurélio; da Silva, Teógenes Augusto

2017-11-01

Patient dose monitoring for different radiographic procedures has been used as a parameter to evaluate the performance of radiology services; skin entrance absorbed dose values for each type of examination were internationally established and recommended aiming patient protection. In this work, a methodology for dose evaluation was applied to three diagnostic services: one with a conventional film and two with digital computerized radiography processing techniques. The x-ray beam parameters were selected and "doses" (specifically the entrance surface and incident air kerma) were evaluated based on images approved in European criteria during postero-anterior (PA) and lateral (LAT) incidences. Data were collected from 200 patients related to 200 PA and 100 LAT incidences. Results showed that doses distributions in the three diagnostic services were very different; the best relation between dose and image quality was found in the institution with the chemical film processing. This work contributed for disseminating the radiation protection culture by emphasizing the need of a continuous dose reduction without losing the quality of the diagnostic image.

Evaluating Inequality or Injustice in Water Use for Food

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Odorico, P.; Carr, J. A.; Seekell, D. A.

2014-12-01

Water availability and population density distributions are uneven and therefore inequality exists in human access to freshwater resources; but is this inequality unjust or only regrettable? To examine this question we formulated and evaluated elementary principles of water ethics relative to human rights for water and explored the need for global trade to improve societal access to water by transferring plant and animal commodities and the "virtual water" embedded in them. We defined human welfare benchmarks and evaluated country specific patterns of water use for food with, and without trade, over a 25-year period in order to elucidate the influence of trade and inequality on equability of water use. We found that trade improves mean water use and wellbeing, when related to human welfare benchmarks, suggesting that inequality is regrettable but not necessarily unjust. However, trade has not significantly contributed to redressing inequality. Hence, directed trade decisions can improve future conditions of water and food scarcity through reduced inequality.

Chromaffin cells as a model to evaluate mechanisms of cell death and neuroprotective compounds.

PubMed

de Los Rios, Cristobal; Cano-Abad, Maria F; Villarroya, Mercedes; López, Manuela G

2018-01-01

In this review, we show how chromaffin cells have contributed to evaluate neuroprotective compounds with diverse mechanisms of action. Chromaffin cells are considered paraneurons, as they share many common features with neurons: (i) they synthesize, store, and release neurotransmitters upon stimulation and (ii) they express voltage-dependent calcium, sodium, and potassium channels, in addition to a wide variety of receptors. All these characteristics, together with the fact that primary cultures from bovine adrenal glands or chromaffin cells from the tumor pheochromocytoma cell line PC12 are easy to culture, make them an ideal model to study neurotoxic mechanisms and neuroprotective drugs. In the first part of this review, we will analyze the different cytotoxicity models related to calcium dyshomeostasis and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Along the second part of the review, we describe how different classes of drugs have been evaluated in chromaffin cells to determine their neuroprotective profile in different neurodegenerative-related models.

Chiari malformation type 1-related headache: the importance of a multidisciplinary study.

PubMed

Curone, Marcella; Valentini, L G; Vetrano, I; Beretta, E; Furlanetto, M-; Chiapparini, L; Erbetta, A; Bussone, G

2017-05-01

Chiari type 1 Malformation (CM 1) is a structural defect consisting of a displacement of the cerebellar tonsils through the foramen magnum causing obstruction of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) outflow. CM 1 has a variety of presentation with headache being the most common symptom. The evaluation and treatment of headache related to CM 1 are often difficult, because the pain in the occipital-suboccipital region or headache that is of cough-type suggests symptomatic CM 1, but patients suffering from CM 1 can also report migraine or tension-type headache. In 2015 we started a collaborative project in which our group of neurologists, neurosurgeons and neuroradiologists contribute to create a Chiari Special Outpatient Service; this was set up to provide a multidisciplinary evaluation, treatment and follow-up of patient suffering from CM 1. 201 patients (58 males, 143 females) suffering from CM 1 were multidisciplinary evaluated. Headache characteristics, clinical features, and treatment of patients are discussed. Further progress in multidisciplinary care of headache and CM 1 should be performed to define guidelines.

Measuring human performance on NASA's microgravity aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, Randy B.; Whitmore, Mihriban

1993-01-01

Measuring human performance in a microgravity environment will aid in identifying the design requirements, human capabilities, safety, and productivity of future astronauts. The preliminary understanding of the microgravity effects on human performance can be achieved through evaluations conducted onboard NASA's KC-135 aircraft. These evaluations can be performed in relation to hardware performance, human-hardware interface, and hardware integration. Measuring human performance in the KC-135 simulated environment will contribute to the efforts of optimizing the human-machine interfaces for future and existing space vehicles. However, there are limitations, such as limited number of qualified subjects, unexpected hardware problems, and miscellaneous plane movements which must be taken into consideration. Examples for these evaluations, the results, and their implications are discussed in the paper.

Alternative Significant Contribution Approaches Evaluated

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This Technical Support Document (TSD) discusses alternative approaches that EPA evaluated for defining emissions that constitute each upwind state’s significant contribution to nonattainment and interference with maintenance downwind.

Quantifying acoustic doppler current profiler discharge uncertainty: A Monte Carlo based tool for moving-boat measurements

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mueller, David S.

2017-01-01

This paper presents a method using Monte Carlo simulations for assessing uncertainty of moving-boat acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) discharge measurements using a software tool known as QUant, which was developed for this purpose. Analysis was performed on 10 data sets from four Water Survey of Canada gauging stations in order to evaluate the relative contribution of a range of error sources to the total estimated uncertainty. The factors that differed among data sets included the fraction of unmeasured discharge relative to the total discharge, flow nonuniformity, and operator decisions about instrument programming and measurement cross section. As anticipated, it was found that the estimated uncertainty is dominated by uncertainty of the discharge in the unmeasured areas, highlighting the importance of appropriate selection of the site, the instrument, and the user inputs required to estimate the unmeasured discharge. The main contributor to uncertainty was invalid data, but spatial inhomogeneity in water velocity and bottom-track velocity also contributed, as did variation in the edge velocity, uncertainty in the edge distances, edge coefficients, and the top and bottom extrapolation methods. To a lesser extent, spatial inhomogeneity in the bottom depth also contributed to the total uncertainty, as did uncertainty in the ADCP draft at shallow sites. The estimated uncertainties from QUant can be used to assess the adequacy of standard operating procedures. They also provide quantitative feedback to the ADCP operators about the quality of their measurements, indicating which parameters are contributing most to uncertainty, and perhaps even highlighting ways in which uncertainty can be reduced. Additionally, QUant can be used to account for self-dependent error sources such as heading errors, which are a function of heading. The results demonstrate the importance of a Monte Carlo method tool such as QUant for quantifying random and bias errors when evaluating the uncertainty of moving-boat ADCP measurements.

Demographic consequences of greater clonal than sexual reproduction in Dicentra canadensis.

PubMed

Lin, Chia-Hua; Miriti, Maria N; Goodell, Karen

2016-06-01

Clonality is a widespread life history trait in flowering plants that may be essential for population persistence, especially in environments where sexual reproduction is unpredictable. Frequent clonal reproduction, however, could hinder sexual reproduction by spatially aggregating ramets that compete with seedlings and reduce inter-genet pollination. Nevertheless, the role of clonality in relation to variable sexual reproduction in population dynamics is often overlooked. We combined population matrix models and pollination experiments to compare the demographic contributions of clonal and sexual reproduction in three Dicentra canadensis populations, one in a well-forested landscape and two in isolated forest remnants. We constructed stage-based transition matrices from 3 years of census data to evaluate annual population growth rates, λ. We used loop analysis to evaluate the relative contribution of different reproductive pathways to λ. Despite strong temporal and spatial variation in seed set, populations generally showed stable growth rates. Although we detected some pollen limitation of seed set, manipulative pollination treatments did not affect population growth rates. Clonal reproduction contributed significantly more than sexual reproduction to population growth in the forest remnants. Only at the well-forested site did sexual reproduction contribute as much as clonal reproduction to population growth. Flowering plants were more likely to transition to a smaller size class with reduced reproductive potential in the following year than similarly sized nonflowering plants, suggesting energy trade-offs between sexual and clonal reproduction at the individual level. Seed production had negligible effects on growth and tuber production of individual plants. Our results demonstrate that clonal reproduction is vital for population persistence in a system where sexual reproduction is unpredictable. The bias toward clonality may be driven by low fitness returns for resource investment in sexual reproduction at the individual level. However, chronic failure in sexual reproduction may exacerbate the imbalance between sexual and clonal reproduction and eventually lead to irreversible loss of sex in the population.

Details on suicide among US physicians: data from the National Violent Death Reporting System.

PubMed

Gold, Katherine J; Sen, Ananda; Schwenk, Thomas L

2013-01-01

Physician suicide is an important public health problem as the rate of suicide is higher among physicians than the general population. Unfortunately, few studies have evaluated information about mental health comorbidities and psychosocial stressors which may contribute to physician suicide. We sought to evaluate these factors among physicians versus non-physician suicide victims. We used data from the United States National Violent Death Reporting System to evaluate demographics, mental health variables, recent stressors and suicide methods among physician versus non-physician suicide victims in 17 states. The data set included 31,636 suicide victims of whom 203 were identified as physicians. Multivariable logistic regression found that having a known mental health disorder or a job problem which contributed to the suicide significantly predicted being a physician. Physicians were significantly more likely than non-physicians to have antipsychotics, benzodiazepines and barbiturates present on toxicology testing but not antidepressants. Mental illness is an important comorbidity for physicians who complete a suicide but postmortem toxicology data shows low rates of medication treatment. Inadequate treatment and increased problems related to job stress may be potentially modifiable risk factors to reduce suicidal death among physicians. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic evaluation of oxidoreductive capability of sperm mitochondria.

PubMed

Piasecka, M; Gaczarzewicz, D; Kurzawa, R; Laszczyńska, M; Kram, A

2004-01-01

In the present paper, morphological and functional features of human sperm midpiece, contributing to the assessment of sperm fertility potential, have been described. The NADH-dependent NBT screening assay was used to identify and visualise: 1/ morphological defects of sperm midpiece, 2/ immature sperm forms with extensive cytoplasmic retention, reflecting developmental failure in spermatogenic remodelling process, 3/ cytoplasmic sperm conglomerates, related to apoptotic bodies and 4/ sperm NADH-dependent oxidoreductase system at the mitochondrial level, related to the reaction intensity. The used assay is an adequate marker of sperm mitochondrial activity and sperm maturity. It can also help discover sperm defects that result in asthenozoospermia and can be used as an additional indicator in the evaluation of the sperm midpiece, as well as in routine morphological examination of spermatozoa, having a considerable predictive value for in vivo and in vitro fertilization.

Neural activations are related to body-shape, anxiety, and outcomes in adolescent anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Xu, Jie; Harper, Jessica A; Van Enkevort, Erin A; Latimer, Kelsey; Kelley, Urszula; McAdams, Carrie J

2017-04-01

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an illness that frequently begins during adolescence and involves weight loss. Two groups of adolescent girls (AN-A, weight-recovered following AN) and (HC-A, healthy comparison) completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging task involving social evaluations, allowing comparison of neural activations during self-evaluations, friend-evaluations, and perspective-taking self-evaluations. Although the two groups were not different in their whole-brain activations, anxiety and body shape concerns were correlated with neural activity in a priori regions of interest. A cluster in medial prefrontal cortex and the dorsal anterior cingulate correlated with the body shape questionnaire; subjects with more body shape concerns used this area less during self than friend evaluations. A cluster in medial prefrontal cortex and the cingulate also correlated with anxiety such that more anxiety was associated with engagement when disagreeing rather than agreeing with social terms during self-evaluations. This data suggests that differences in the utilization of frontal brain regions during social evaluations may contribute to both anxiety and body shape concerns in adolescents with AN. Clinical follow-up was obtained, allowing exploration of whether brain function early in course of disease relates to illness trajectory. The adolescents successful in recovery used the posterior cingulate and precuneus more for friend than self evaluations than the adolescents that remained ill, suggesting that neural differences related to social evaluations may provide clinical predictive value. Utilization of both MPFC and the precuneus during social and self evaluations may be a key biological component for achieving sustained weight-recovery in adolescents with AN. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design and testing of classroom and clinical teaching evaluation tools for nursing education.

PubMed

Emerson, Roberta J; Records, Kathie

2007-01-01

Student evaluations of teaching provide administrators an overall picture of the effectiveness of personnel and contribute data for promotion and merit decisions. These evaluations must be assessed for their relevance, validity, and reliability. This paper describes the development process and psychometric testing for clinical (n = 149) and didactic (n = 148) student evaluation of teaching forms for undergraduate and graduate courses in one college of nursing. Validity and reliability results were quite strong for the instruments, both of which evidenced a one-factor solution with factor loadings ranging from .68-.88 and Cronbach's alphas of .96 (Classroom) and .95 (Clinical). The clinical and classroom evaluation tools are relatively short, decreasing the burden on students who need to complete the instruments for multiple instructors in any one semester. Initial testing of the psychometric properties of the tools supports their continued use in colleges of nursing.

On the relative contributions of noncontingent reinforcement and escape extinction in the treatment of food refusal.

PubMed

Reed, Gregory K; Piazza, Cathleen C; Patel, Meeta R; Layer, Stacy A; Bachmeyer, Melanie H; Bethke, Stephanie D; Gutshall, Katharine A

2004-01-01

In the current investigation, we evaluated the relative effects of noncontingent reinforcement (NCR), escape extinction, and a combination of NCR and escape extinction as treatment for the feeding problems exhibited by 4 children. For each participant, consumption increased only when escape extinction was implemented, independent of whether NCR was present or absent. These results were consistent with prior research suggesting that positive reinforcement alone is insufficient for increasing consumption, and that escape extinction often is necessary to increase and maintain food acceptance. However, NCR appeared to decrease inappropriate behavior for some participants.

Experimental evaluation of nonclassical correlations between measurement outcomes and target observable in a quantum measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iinuma, Masataka; Suzuki, Yutaro; Nii, Taiki; Kinoshita, Ryuji; Hofmann, Holger F.

2016-03-01

In general, it is difficult to evaluate measurement errors when the initial and final conditions of the measurement make it impossible to identify the correct value of the target observable. Ozawa proposed a solution based on the operator algebra of observables which has recently been used in experiments investigating the error-disturbance trade-off of quantum measurements. Importantly, this solution makes surprisingly detailed statements about the relations between measurement outcomes and the unknown target observable. In the present paper, we investigate this relation by performing a sequence of two measurements on the polarization of a photon, so that the first measurement commutes with the target observable and the second measurement is sensitive to a complementary observable. While the initial measurement can be evaluated using classical statistics, the second measurement introduces the effects of quantum correlations between the noncommuting physical properties. By varying the resolution of the initial measurement, we can change the relative contribution of the nonclassical correlations and identify their role in the evaluation of the quantum measurement. It is shown that the most striking deviation from classical expectations is obtained at the transition between weak and strong measurements, where the competition between different statistical effects results in measurement values well outside the range of possible eigenvalues.

The effects of training inpatients and their relatives about infection control measures and subsequent rate of infection.

PubMed

Erdek, Funda Ozturkan; Gozutok, Ciler Keles; Merih, Yeliz Dogan; Aliogulları, Aysegul

2017-01-01

Healthcare-associated infections are one of the most important problems of all health institutions. This study was conducted to evaluate results of training about infection control measures provided to patients treated and hospitalized in clinics of obstetrics and gynecology, and to their relatives, as well as subsequent effect on infection rate. The study was conducted in clinics of obstetrics and gynecology of a state hospital. Study group comprised midwives and nursing staff, and inpatients and their relatives. Survey made up of 16 questions was administered to patients and relatives before and after training provided by infection nurses. Survey with 18 questions was administered to midwives/nurses to evaluate compliance of patients and relatives with infection control measures. Study data were analyzed using statistical analysis software and findings were evaluated as numbers and percentages using Student's t-test. According to survey of patients and relatives, mean knowledge level score before and after training was 20.07±46.76 and 96.36±11.85, respectively. Results indicated that training about infection control measures was effective at increasing knowledge level and compliance of patients and their relatives (p<0.05). Of the total, 87.5% of midwives/nurses stated that educating patients and relatives about infection control measures facilitated treatment and healthcare processes. In all, 95.9% of midwives/nurses thought that such education contributed to observance of infection control measures by patients and relatives. It is thought that regular education about infection control measures provided to patients and relatives would have positive effect and reduce incidence rate of healthcare-associated infection.

Efficacy of critical incident monitoring for evaluating disaster medical readiness and response during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

PubMed

Flabouris, Arthas; Nocera, Antony; Garner, Alan

2004-01-01

Multiple casualty incidents (MCI) are infrequent events for medical systems. This renders audit and quality improvement of the medical responses difficult. Quality tools and use of such tools for improvement is necessary to ensure that the design of medical systems facilitates the best possible response to MCI. To describe the utility of incident reporting as a quality monitoring and improvement tool during the deployment of medical teams for mass gatherings and multiple casualty incidents. Voluntary and confidential reporting of incidents was provided by members of the disaster medical response teams during the period of disaster medical team deployment for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Qualitative evaluations were conducted of reported incidents. The main outcome measures included the nature of incident and associated contributing factors, minimization factors, harm potential, and comparison with the post-deployment, cold debriefings. A total of 53 incidents were reported. Management-based decisions, poor or non-existent protocols, and equipment and communication-related issues were the principal contributing factors. Eighty nine percent of the incidents were considered preventable. A potential for harm to patients and/or team members was documented in 58% of reports, of which 76% were likely to cause at least significant harm. Of equipment incidents, personal protective equipment (33%), medical equipment (27%), provision of equipment (22%), and communication equipment (17%) predominated. Personal protective equipment (50%) was reported as the most frequent occupational health and safety incident followed by fatigue (25%). Pre-deployment planning was the most important factor for future incident impact minimization. Incident monitoring was efficacious as a quality tool in identifying incident contributing factors. Incident monitoring allowed for greater systems evaluation. Further evaluation of this quality tool within different disaster settings is required.

Evaluation of PM2.5 surface concentration simulated by Version 1 of the NASA’s MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis over Israel and Taiwan

PubMed Central

Provençal, Simon; Buchard, Virginie; da Silva, Arlindo M.; Leduc, Richard; Barrette, Nathalie; Elhacham, Emily; Wang, Sheng-Hsiang

2018-01-01

Version 1 of the NASA MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero) assimilates bias-corrected aerosol optical depth (AOD) data from MODIS-Terra and MODIS-Aqua, and simulates particulate matter (PM) concentration data to reproduce a consistent database of AOD and PM concentration around the world from 2002 to the end of 2015. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate MERRAero’s simulation of fine PM concentration against surface measurements in two regions of the world with relatively high levels of PM concentration but with profoundly different PM composition, those of Israel and Taiwan. Being surrounded by major deserts, Israel’s PM load is characterized by a significant contribution of mineral dust, and secondary contributions of sea salt particles, given its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea, and sulfate particles originating from Israel’s own urban activities and transported from Europe. Taiwan’s PM load is composed primarily of anthropogenic particles (sulfate, nitrate and carbonaceous particles) locally produced or transported from China, with an additional contribution of springtime transport of mineral dust originating from Chinese and Mongolian deserts. The evaluation in Israel produced favorable results with MERRAero slightly overestimating measurements by 6% on average and reproducing an excellent year-to-year and seasonal fluctuation. The evaluation in Taiwan was less favorable with MERRAero underestimating measurements by 42% on average. Two likely reasons explain this discrepancy: emissions of anthropogenic PM and their precursors are largely uncertain in China, and MERRAero doesn’t include nitrate particles in its simulation, a pollutant of predominately anthropogenic sources. MERRAero nevertheless simulates well the concentration of fine PM during the summer, when Taiwan is least affected by the advection of pollution from China. PMID:29670645

Evaluation of PM2.5 Surface Concentration Simulated by Version 1 of the Nasa's MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis Over Israel and Taiwan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Provencal, Simon; Buchard, Virginie; da Silva, Arlindo M.; Leduc, Richard; Barrette, Nathalie; Elhacham, Emily; Wang, Sheng-Hsiang

2017-01-01

Version 1 of the NASA MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero) assimilates bias-corrected 18 aerosol optical depth (AOD) data from MODIS-Terra and MODIS-Aqua, and simulates particulate 19 matter (PM) concentration data to reproduce a consistent database of AOD and PM concentration around 20 the world from 2002 to the end of 2015. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate MERRAeros simulation 21 of fine PM concentration against surface measurements in two regions of the world with relatively high 22 levels of PM concentration but with profoundly different PM composition, those of Israel and Taiwan. 23 Being surrounded by major deserts, Israels PM load is characterized by a significant contribution of 24 mineral dust, and secondary contributions of sea salt particles, given its proximity to the Mediterranean 25 Sea, and sulfate particles originating from Israels own urban activities and transported from Europe. 26 Taiwans PM load is composed primarily of anthropogenic particles (sulfate, nitrate and carbonaceous 27 particles) locally produced or transported from China, with an additional contribution of springtime 28 transport of mineral dust originating from Chinese and Mongolian deserts. The evaluation in Israel 29 produced favorable results with MERRAero slightly overestimating measurements by 6 on average 30 and reproducing an excellent year-to-year and seasonal fluctuation. The evaluation in Taiwan was less 31 favorable with MERRAero underestimating measurements by 42 on average. Two likely reasons 32 explain this discrepancy: emissions of anthropogenic PM and their precursors are largely uncertain in 33 China, and MERRAero doesnt include nitrate particles in its simulation, a pollutant of predominately 34 anthropogenic sources. MERRAero nevertheless simulates well the concentration of fine PM during the 35 summer, when Taiwan is least affected by the advection of pollution from China.

Relative contribution of biotic and abiotic factors to the population density of the cassava green mite, Mononychellus tanajoa (Acari: Tetranychidae).

PubMed

Rêgo, Adriano S; Teodoro, Adenir V; Maciel, Anilde G S; Sarmento, Renato A

2013-08-01

The cassava green mite, Mononychellus tanajoa, is a key pest of cassava, Manihot esculenta Crantz (Euphorbiaceae), and it may be kept in check by naturally occurring predatory mites of the family Phytoseiidae. In addition to predatory mites, abiotic factors may also contribute to regulate pest mite populations in the field. Here, we evaluated the population densities of both M. tanajoa and the generalist predatory mite Euseius ho DeLeon (Acari: Phytoseiidae) over the cultivation cycle (11 months) of cassava in four study sites located around the city of Miranda do Norte, Maranhão, Brazil. The abiotic variables rainfall, temperature and relative humidity were also recorded throughout the cultivation cycle of cassava. We determined the relative importance of biotic (density of E. ho) and abiotic (rainfall, temperature and relative humidity) factors to the density of M. tanajoa. The density of M. tanajoa increased whereas the density of E. ho remained constant throughout time. A hierarchical partitioning analysis revealed that most of the variance for the density of M. tanajoa was explained by rainfall and relative humidity followed by E. ho density and temperature. We conclude that abiotic factors, especially rainfall, were the main mechanisms driving M. tanajoa densities.

Preinjury somatization symptoms contribute to clinical recovery after sport-related concussion.

PubMed

Nelson, Lindsay D; Tarima, Sergey; LaRoche, Ashley A; Hammeke, Thomas A; Barr, William B; Guskiewicz, Kevin; Randolph, Christopher; McCrea, Michael A

2016-05-17

To determine the degree to which preinjury and acute postinjury psychosocial and injury-related variables predict symptom duration following sport-related concussion. A total of 2,055 high school and collegiate athletes completed preseason evaluations. Concussed athletes (n = 127) repeated assessments serially (<24 hours and days 8, 15, and 45) postinjury. Cox proportional hazard modeling was used to predict concussive symptom duration (in days). Predictors considered included demographic and history variables; baseline psychological, neurocognitive, and balance functioning; acute injury characteristics; and postinjury clinical measures. Preinjury somatic symptom score (Brief Symptom Inventory-18 somatization scale) was the strongest premorbid predictor of symptom duration. Acute (24-hour) postconcussive symptom burden (Sport Concussion Assessment Tool-3 symptom severity) was the best injury-related predictor of recovery. These 2 predictors were moderately correlated (r = 0.51). Path analyses indicated that the relationship between preinjury somatization symptoms and symptom recovery was mediated by postinjury concussive symptoms. Preinjury somatization symptoms contribute to reported postconcussive symptom recovery via their influence on acute postconcussive symptoms. The findings highlight the relevance of premorbid psychological factors in postconcussive recovery, even in a healthy athlete sample relatively free of psychopathology or medical comorbidities. Future research should elucidate the neurobiopsychosocial mechanisms that explain the role of this individual difference variable in outcome following concussive injury. © 2016 American Academy of Neurology.

Modelling expertise at different levels of granularity using semantic similarity measures in the context of collaborative knowledge-curation platforms

PubMed Central

Groza, Tudor; Tudorache, Tania; Hunter, Jane

2015-01-01

Collaboration platforms provide a dynamic environment where the content is subject to ongoing evolution through expert contributions. The knowledge embedded in such platforms is not static as it evolves through incremental refinements – or micro-contributions. Such refinements provide vast resources of tacit knowledge and experience. In our previous work, we proposed and evaluated a Semantic and Time-dependent Expertise Profiling (STEP) approach for capturing expertise from micro-contributions. In this paper we extend our investigation to structured micro-contributions that emerge from an ontology engineering environment, such as the one built for developing the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) revision 11. We take advantage of the semantically related nature of these structured micro-contributions to showcase two major aspects: (i) a novel semantic similarity metric, in addition to an approach for creating bottom-up baseline expertise profiles using expertise centroids; and (ii) the application of STEP in this new environment combined with the use of the same semantic similarity measure to both compare STEP against baseline profiles, as well as to investigate the coverage of these baseline profiles by STEP. PMID:28077914

Baseflow contribution to nitrate-nitrogen export from a large, agricultural watershed, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schilling, K.; Zhang, Y.-K.

2004-01-01

Nitrate-nitrogen export from the Raccoon River watershed in west-central Iowa is among the highest in the United State and contributes to impairment of downstream water quality. We examined a rare long-term record of streamflow and nitrate concentration data (1972-2000) to evaluate annual and seasonal patterns of nitrate losses in streamflow and baseflow from the Raccoon River. Combining hydrograph separation with a load estimation program, we estimated that baseflow contributes approximately two-thirds (17.3 kg/ha) of the mean annual nitrate export (26.1 kg/ha). Baseflow transport was greatest in spring and late fall when baseflow contributed more than 80% of the total export. Herein we propose a 'baseflow enrichment ratio' (BER) to describe the relation of baseflow water with baseflow nitrate loads. The long-term ratio of 1.23 for the Raccoon River suggests preferential leaching of nitrate to baseflow. Seasonal patterns of the BER identified the strong link between the baseflow nitrate loads and seasonal crop nitrogen requirements. Study results demonstrate the utility of assessing the baseflow contribution to nitrate loads to identify appropriate control strategies for reducing baseflow delivery of nitrate. ?? 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Participation of Green Organs to Grain Filling in Triticum turgidum var durum Grown under Mediterranean Conditions

PubMed Central

Monneveux, Philippe

2017-01-01

In wheat, flag leaf, stem, chaff and awns contribute to grain filling through photosynthesis and/or re-mobilization. Environmental and genetic effects on the relative contribution of each organ were examined by analyzing the consequences of sink-source manipulations (shading and excision) and by comparing carbon isotope discrimination (Δ) values in dry matter (at maturity) and sap (two weeks after anthesis) in six durum wheat genotypes grown in two contrasting seasons. The contribution of flag leaf, stem, chaff and awns to grain filling, estimated by sink-source manipulations, highly varied with the season. The contribution of ear photosynthesis and re-mobilization from the stem increased with post-anthesis water stress. They showed a large genetic variation that was, however, not clearly associated to morphological characteristics of ear and stem. Isotopic imprints of chaff on grain Δ were identified as a possible surrogate of the destructive and cumbersome sink-source manipulations to evaluate the contribution of carbon assimilated in ears or re-mobilized from stem. This might facilitate screening of genetic resources and allow the combining of favourable drought tolerance mechanisms in wheat. PMID:29295600

A bibliometric analysis of research in psychopharmacology by psychology departments (1987-2007).

PubMed

Portillo-Salido, Enrique F

2010-05-01

From the very outset of scientific Psychology, psychologists have shown interest for drugs and their effects on behavior. This has given rise to numerous contributions, mostly in the form of Psychopharmacology publications. The aim of this study was to quantitatively evaluate these contributions and compare them with other academic disciplines related to Psychopharmacology. Using the PubMed database, we retrieved information about articles from 15 journals included in the Pharmacology and Pharmacy category of the Journal Citation Reports database for a 21-year period (1987 to 2007). There were 37540 articles which about 52% were represented by 3 journals. About 70% of psychology publications were represented by 2 of these journals. Psychology departments accounted for the 11% of the published papers, which places Psychology third behind Psychiatry and Pharmacology, which contributed to 22.69 and 13% respectively. Psychology contributed to the greatest number of studies in 3 journals, second in 3 and third in 8. This report represents the first effort to explore the contribution of academic Psychology to the multidisciplinary science of psychopharmacology. Although leaders of production of psychopharmacology research were from Psychiatry and Pharmacology, Psychology departments are an important source of studies and thus of knowledge in the field of Psychopharmacology.

The Socioemotional Costs and Benefits of Social-Evaluative Concerns: Do Girls Care Too Much?

PubMed Central

Rudolph, Karen D.; Conley, Colleen S.

2011-01-01

This research investigated the hypothesis that girls’ heightened concerns about social evaluation contribute to sex differences in depression and interpersonal competence during early adolescence. A short-term longitudinal study was conducted with 474 adolescents to examine the consequences of heightened social-evaluative concerns. Adolescents reported on their levels of social-evaluative concerns and depressive symptoms. Teachers provided ratings of adolescents’ competence with peers (displays of prosocial and aggressive behavior). As anticipated, girls demonstrated higher levels of social-evaluative concerns, depressive symptoms, and interpersonal competence than did boys. Moreover, path analysis confirmed that heightened social-evaluative concerns were associated both concurrently and over time with higher levels of depression, as well as with higher levels of interpersonal competence. Notably, social-evaluative concerns accounted fully for the sex difference in depression and partially for the sex difference in interpersonal competence. These findings highlight the need to consider both the socioemotional costs and benefits of sex-linked relational orientations. PMID:15660675

The more you ignore me the closer I get: An ERP study of evaluative priming.

PubMed

Gibbons, Henning; Bachmann, Olga; Stahl, Jutta

2014-12-01

We used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to investigate the various mental processes contributing to evaluative priming-that is, more positive judgments for targets preceded by affectively positive, as opposed to negative, prime stimuli. To ensure ecological validity, we employed a priori meaningful landscape pictures as targets and emotional adjectives as visual primes and presented both primes and targets for relatively long durations (>1 s). Prime-related lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs) revealed response priming as one source of the significant evaluative priming effect. On the other hand, greater right-frontal positive slow wave in the ERP for pictures following negative, as compared with positive, primes indicated altered impression formation, thus supporting automatic spreading activation and/or affect misattribution accounts. Moreover, target LRPs suggested conscious counter-control to reduce the evaluative priming net effect. Finally, when comparing prime ERPs for two groups of participants showing strong versus weak evaluative priming, we found strong evidence for the role of depth of prime processing: In the weak-effect group, prime words evoked an increased visual P1/N1 complex, a larger posterior P2 component, and a greater left-parietal processing negativity presumably reflecting semantic processing. By contrast, a larger medial-frontal P2/N2 complex in the strong-effect group suggested top-down inhibition of the prime's emotional content. Thus, trying to ignore the primes can actually increase, rather than decrease, the evaluative priming effect.

Change in joint space width: hyaline articular cartilage loss or alteration in meniscus?

PubMed

Hunter, D J; Zhang, Y Q; Tu, X; Lavalley, M; Niu, J B; Amin, S; Guermazi, A; Genant, H; Gale, D; Felson, D T

2006-08-01

To explore the relative contribution of hyaline cartilage morphologic features and the meniscus to the radiographic joint space. The Boston Osteoarthritis of the Knee Study is a natural history study of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA). Baseline and 30-month followup assessments included knee magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluoroscopically positioned weight-bearing knee radiographs. Cartilage and meniscal degeneration were scored on MRI in the medial and lateral tibiofemoral joints using a semiquantitative grading system. Meniscal position was measured to the nearest millimeter. The dependent variable was joint space narrowing (JSN) on the plain radiograph (possible range 0-3). The predictor variables were MRI cartilage score, meniscal degeneration, and meniscal position measures. We first conducted a cross-sectional analysis using multivariate regression to determine the relative contribution of meniscal factors and cartilage morphologic features to JSN, adjusting for body mass index (BMI), age, and sex. The same approach was used for change in JSN and change in predictor variables. We evaluated 264 study participants with knee OA (mean age 66.7 years, 59% men, mean BMI 31.4 kg/m(2)). The results from the models demonstrated that meniscal position and meniscal degeneration each contributed to prediction of JSN, in addition to the contribution by cartilage morphologic features. For change in medial joint space, both change in meniscal position and change in articular cartilage score contributed substantially to narrowing of the joint space. The meniscus (both its position and degeneration) accounts for a substantial proportion of the variance explained in JSN, and the change in meniscal position accounts for a substantial proportion of change in JSN.

Role of working conditions in the explanation of occupational inequalities in work injury: findings from the national French SUMER survey.

PubMed

Niedhammer, Isabelle; Lesuffleur, Thomas; Labarthe, Géraldine; Chastang, Jean-François

2018-03-12

Social inequalities in work injury have been observed but explanations are still missing. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the contribution of working conditions in the explanation of social inequalities in work injury in a national representative sample of employees. The study was based on the cross-sectional sample of the national French survey SUMER 2010 including 46,962 employees, 26,883 men and 20,079 women. The number of work injuries within the last 12 months was studied as the outcome. Occupation was used as a marker of social position. Psychosocial work factors included various variables related to the classical job strain model, psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, and other understudied variables related to reward, job insecurity, job promotion, esteem, working time and hours and workplace violence. Occupational exposures of chemical, biological, physical and biomechanical nature were also studied. Weighted age-adjusted Poisson regression analyses were performed. Occupational gradients were observed in the exposure of most psychosocial work factors and occupational exposures. Strong occupational differences in work injury were found, blue-collar workers being more likely to have work injury. Chemical, biological, physical and biomechanical exposures contributed to explain the occupational differences in work injury substantially. Noise, thermic constraints, manual materials handling, postural/articular constraints and vibrations had significant contributions. Psychosocial work factors also contributed to explain the differences especially among women. Prevention policies oriented toward chemical, biological, physical, biomechanical and psychosocial work exposures may contribute to reduce the magnitude of occupational differences in work injury.

Fruit traits and temporal abundance shape plant-frugivore interaction networks in a seasonal tropical forest.

PubMed

Ramos-Robles, Michelle; Dáttilo, Wesley; Díaz-Castelazo, Cecilia; Andresen, Ellen

2018-04-02

Interactions between fleshy fruited plants and frugivores are crucial for the structuring and functioning of biotic communities, particularly in tropical forests where both groups are diverse and play different roles in network organization. However, it remains poorly understood how different groups of frugivore species and fruit traits contribute to network structure. We recorded interactions among 28 plant species and three groups of frugivores (birds, bats, and non-flying mammals) in a seasonal forest in Mexico to determine which species contribute more to network structure and evaluate the importance of each species. We also determined whether fruit abundance, water content, morphology traits, and fruiting phenology are related to network parameters: the number of interactions, species contribution to nestedness, and species strength. We found that plants did not depend on a single group of frugivores, but rather on one species of each group: the bird Pitangus sulphuratus, the bat Sturnira parvidens, and the non-flying mammal Procyon lotor. The abundance, size, and water content of the fruits were significantly related to the contribution to nestedness, number of interactions, and species strength index of plant species. Tree species and birds contributed mainly to the nested structure of the network. We show that the structure of plant-frugivore networks in this seasonal forest is non-random and that fruit traits (i.e., abundance, phenology, size, and water content) are important factors shaping plant-frugivore networks. Identification of the key species and their traits that maintain the complex structure of species interactions is therefore fundamental for the integral conservation of tropical forests.

Strategies to sustain a quality improvement initiative in neonatal resuscitation

PubMed Central

van Heerden, Carlien; Janse van Rensburg, Elsie S.

2016-01-01

Background Many neonatal deaths can be prevented globally through effective resuscitation. South Africa (SA) committed towards attaining the Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG4) set by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, SA’s district hospitals have the highest early neonatal mortality rates. Modifiable and avoidable causes associated with patient-related, administrative and health care provider factors contribute to neonatal mortality. A quality improvement initiative in neonatal resuscitation could contribute towards decreasing neonatal mortality, thereby contributing towards the attainment of the MDG4. Aim The aim of this study was, (1) to explore and describe the existing situation regarding neonatal resuscitation in a district hospital, (2) to develop strategies to sustain a neonatal resuscitation quality improvement initiative and (3) to decrease neonatal mortality. Changes that occurred and the sustainability of strategies were evaluated. Setting A maternity section of a district hospital in South Africa. Methods The National Health Service (NHS) Sustainability Model formed the theoretical framework for the study. The Problem Resolving Action Research model was applied and the study was conducted in three cycles. Purposive sampling was used for the quantitative and qualitative aspects of data collection. Data was analysed accordingly. Results The findings indicated that the strategies formulated and implemented to address factors related to neonatal resuscitation (training, equipment and stock, staff shortages, staff attitude, neonatal transport and protocols) had probable sustainability and contributed towards a reduction in neonatal mortality in the setting. Conclusion These strategies had the probability of sustainability and could potentially improve neonatal outcomes and reduce neonatal mortality to contribute toward South Africa’s’ drive to attain the MDG4. PMID:27380840

Social exclusion in academia through biases in methodological quality evaluation: On the situation of women in science and philosophy.

PubMed

Leuschner, Anna

2015-12-01

Empirical studies show that academia is socially exclusive. I argue that this social exclusion works, at least partly, through the systematic methodological disqualification of contributions from members of underrepresented social groups. As methodological quality criteria are underdetermined their interpretation and weighting can be biased with relation to gender, race, social background, etc. Such biased quality evaluation can take place on a local or global level. The current situation of women in academic philosophy illuminates this. I conclude that only mechanical solutions can effectively change the situation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Association between vitamin deficiency and metabolic disorders related to obesity.

PubMed

Thomas-Valdés, Samanta; Tostes, Maria das Graças V; Anunciação, Pamella C; da Silva, Bárbara P; Sant'Ana, Helena M Pinheiro

2017-10-13

Inappropriate food behavior contributes to obesity and leads to vitamin deficiency. This review discusses the nutritional status of water- and fat-soluble vitamins in obese subjects. We verified that most vitamins are deficient in obese individuals, especially the fat-soluble vitamins, folic acid, vitamin B 12 and vitamin C. However, some vitamins have been less evaluated in cases of obesity. The adipose tissue is considered a metabolic and endocrine organ, which in excess leads to changes in body homeostasis, as well as vitamin deficiency which can aggravate the pathological state. Therefore, the evaluation of vitamin status is of fundamental importance in obese individuals.

Moment analysis of hadronic vacuum polarization. Proposal for a lattice QCD evaluation of gμ - 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Rafael, Eduardo

2014-09-01

I suggest a new approach to the determination of the hadronic vacuum polarization (HVP) contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon aμHVP in lattice QCD. It is based on properties of the Mellin transform of the hadronic spectral function and their relation to the HVP self-energy in the Euclidean. I show how aμHVP is very well approximated by a few moments associated to this Mellin transform and how these moments can be evaluated in lattice QCD, providing thus a series of tests when compared with the corresponding determinations using experimental data.

A technique for evaluating the influence of spatial sampling on the determination of global mean total columnar ozone

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tolson, R. H.

1981-01-01

A technique is described for providing a means of evaluating the influence of spatial sampling on the determination of global mean total columnar ozone. A finite number of coefficients in the expansion are determined, and the truncated part of the expansion is shown to contribute an error to the estimate, which depends strongly on the spatial sampling and is relatively insensitive to data noise. First and second order statistics are derived for each term in a spherical harmonic expansion which represents the ozone field, and the statistics are used to estimate systematic and random errors in the estimates of total ozone.

Individual differences in algebraic cognition: Relation to the approximate number and semantic memory systems.

PubMed

Geary, David C; Hoard, Mary K; Nugent, Lara; Rouder, Jeffrey N

2015-12-01

The relation between performance on measures of algebraic cognition and acuity of the approximate number system (ANS) and memory for addition facts was assessed for 171 ninth graders (92 girls) while controlling for parental education, sex, reading achievement, speed of numeral processing, fluency of symbolic number processing, intelligence, and the central executive component of working memory. The algebraic tasks assessed accuracy in placing x,y pairs in the coordinate plane, speed and accuracy of expression evaluation, and schema memory for algebra equations. ANS acuity was related to accuracy of placements in the coordinate plane and expression evaluation but not to schema memory. Frequency of fact retrieval errors was related to schema memory but not to coordinate plane or expression evaluation accuracy. The results suggest that the ANS may contribute to or be influenced by spatial-numerical and numerical-only quantity judgments in algebraic contexts, whereas difficulties in committing addition facts to long-term memory may presage slow formation of memories for the basic structure of algebra equations. More generally, the results suggest that different brain and cognitive systems are engaged during the learning of different components of algebraic competence while controlling for demographic and domain general abilities. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Acetaminophen attenuates error evaluation in cortex.

PubMed

Randles, Daniel; Kam, Julia W Y; Heine, Steven J; Inzlicht, Michael; Handy, Todd C

2016-06-01

Acetaminophen has recently been recognized as having impacts that extend into the affective domain. In particular, double blind placebo controlled trials have revealed that acetaminophen reduces the magnitude of reactivity to social rejection, frustration, dissonance and to both negatively and positively valenced attitude objects. Given this diversity of consequences, it has been proposed that the psychological effects of acetaminophen may reflect a widespread blunting of evaluative processing. We tested this hypothesis using event-related potentials (ERPs). Sixty-two participants received acetaminophen or a placebo in a double-blind protocol and completed the Go/NoGo task. Participants' ERPs were observed following errors on the Go/NoGo task, in particular the error-related negativity (ERN; measured at FCz) and error-related positivity (Pe; measured at Pz and CPz). Results show that acetaminophen inhibits the Pe, but not the ERN, and the magnitude of an individual's Pe correlates positively with omission errors, partially mediating the effects of acetaminophen on the error rate. These results suggest that recently documented affective blunting caused by acetaminophen may best be described as an inhibition of evaluative processing. They also contribute to the growing work suggesting that the Pe is more strongly associated with conscious awareness of errors relative to the ERN. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Joint Winter Runway Friction Program Accomplishments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yager, Thomas J.; Wambold, James C.; Henry, John J.; Andresen, Arild; Bastian, Matthew

2002-01-01

The major program objectives are: (1) harmonize ground vehicle friction measurements to report consistent friction value or index for similar contaminated runway conditions, for example, compacted snow, and (2) establish reliable correlation between ground vehicle friction measurements and aircraft braking performance. Accomplishing these objectives would give airport operators better procedures for evaluating runway friction and maintaining acceptable operating conditions, providing pilots information to base go/no go decisions, and would contribute to reducing traction-related aircraft accidents.

Application of a prediction model for work-related sensitisation in bakery workers.

PubMed

Meijer, E; Suarthana, E; Rooijackers, J; Grobbee, D E; Jacobs, J H; Meijster, T; de Monchy, J G R; van Otterloo, E; van Rooy, F G B G J; Spithoven, J J G; Zaat, V A C; Heederik, D J J

2010-10-01

Identification of work-related allergy, particularly work-related asthma, in a (nationwide) medical surveillance programme among bakery workers requires an effective and efficient strategy. Bakers at high risk of having work-related allergy were indentified by use of a questionnaire-based prediction model for work-related sensitisation. The questionnaire was applied among 5,325 participating bakers. Sequential diagnostic investigations were performed only in those with an elevated risk. Performance of the model was evaluated in 674 randomly selected bakers who participated in the medical surveillance programme and the validation study. Clinical investigations were evaluated in the first 73 bakers referred at high risk. Overall 90% of bakers at risk of having asthma could be identified. Individuals at low risk showed 0.3-3.8% work-related respiratory symptoms, medication use or absenteeism. Predicting flour sensitisation by a simple questionnaire and score chart seems more effective at detecting work-related allergy than serology testing followed by clinical investigation in all immunoglobulin E class II-positive individuals. This prediction based stratification procedure appeared effective in detecting work-related allergy among bakers and can accurately be used for periodic examination, especially in small enterprises where delivery of adequate care is difficult. This approach may contribute to cost reduction.

West African Monsoon Decadal Variability and Surface-Related Forcings: Second West African Monsoon Modeling and Evaluation Project Experiment (WAMME II)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Xue, Yongkang; De Sales, Fernando; Lau, William K-M; Boone, Aaron; Kim, Kyu-Myong; Mechoso, Carlos R.; Wang, Guiling; Kucharski, Fred; Schiro, Kathleen; Hosaka, Masahiro;

Insight in stable schizophrenia: relations with psychopathology and cognition.

PubMed

Mingrone, Cinzia; Rocca, Paola; Castagna, Filomena; Montemagni, Cristiana; Sigaudo, Monica; Scalese, Mara; Rocca, Giuseppe; Bogetto, Filippo

2013-07-01

This study evaluated the relationship among insight, sociodemographic and clinical variables, symptoms and cognitive functions in a population of outpatients with stable schizophrenia, in order to identify possible contributing factors to awareness. Two-hundred and seventy-six consecutive outpatients with stable schizophrenia were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. All subjects were assessed by psychiatric scales and interview, and a wide neuropsychological battery. A factor analysis was performed to identify cognitive factors and multiple regression analyses were executed to test the contribution of variables considered to insight. Our results showed that positive and negative symptoms, executive functions, verbal memory-learning were contributors of awareness of mental illness; positive and negative symptoms explained variability in awareness of the need for treatment; positive symptoms and executive functions contributed to awareness of the social consequences of disorder. These results suggested that insight was partially influenced by positive and negative symptoms and by cognitive functions. A complex system of overlapping variables may underlie impaired insight, contributing to a different extent to specific dimensions of poor insight in patients with stable schizophrenia. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Application of planetary quarantine methodology and spacecraft sterilization technology to improved health care delivery.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Green, R. H.

1972-01-01

In 1969 the Jet Propulsion Laboratory undertook an investigation to determine which of its space-derived capabilities could make significant contributions to the improvement of health care delivery in the U.S. The area of planetary quarantine was identified as one of high relevance. Two studies were conducted in this connection. The first study, which could contribute to infection reduction and control, was concerned with conversion of infection implicated complex, nonheat sterilizable equipment to dry heat, sterilizable equipment by changes in design and materials of construction. The second study area related to hospital acquired infection is clean room technology. A definite investigation has been performed to demonstrate and statistically evaluate performance under controlled conditions.

Overuse injuries: tendinopathies, stress fractures, compartment syndrome, and shin splints.

PubMed

Wilder, Robert P; Sethi, Shikha

2004-01-01

Approximately 50% of all sports injuries are secondary to overuse and result from repetitive microtrauma that causes local tissue damage. Injuries are most likely with changes in mode, intensity, or duration of training and can accumulate before symptoms appear. Intrinsic factors contributing to injuries are individual bio-mechanical abnormalities such as malalignments, muscle imbalance, inflexibility, weakness, and instability. Contributing extrinsic (avoidable) factors include poor technique, improper equipment, and improper changes in duration or frequency of activity. Injuries are often related to biomechanical abnormalities removed from the specific injury site, requiring evaluation of the entire kinetic chain. This article discusses common overuse injuries of the lower leg, ankle, and foot: tendinopathies, stress fractures, chronic exertional compartment syndrome, and shin splints.

Studies on adaptation to complete dentures. Part II: Oral stereognosis and tactile sensibility.

PubMed

Müller, F; Link, I; Fuhr, K; Utz, K H

1995-10-01

High oral perception is thought to contribute to poor adaptation to new dentures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the oral stereognosis and tactile sensibility in edentate subjects and relate these to patient age and capability of adaptation to new prostheses. A total of 67 patients were provided with new complete dentures 2-3 weeks before the experiment. In 54 subjects, the oral stereognosis was evaluated by 12 different test-pieces, which were placed unseen on the tongue and had to be recognized. In 38 patients, the oral tactile sensibility was determined in the premolar area using copper foils. The capability of adaptation was evaluated by a questionnaire. Denture retention was assessed by clinical examination. The number of correctly identified test-pieces and the average identification time were related to the age, but no relation was found to patients' capability of adaptation. The tactile sensibility was found to be impaired with age and diminished capability of adaptation. Both adaptation and oral tactile sensibility were significantly lower in subjects with poor lower-denture retention. In conclusion, the results cannot support a relationship between high oral stereognosis and adaptation problems. However, good denture retention facilitates the adaptation process.

Relations of surface-water quality to streamflow in the Raritan River basin, New Jersey, water years 1976-93

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buxton, Debra E.; Hunchak-Kariouk, Kathryn; Hickman, R. Edward

1999-01-01

Relations of water quality to streamflow were determined for 18 water-quality constituents at 21 surface-water stations within the drainage area of the Raritan River Basin for water years 1976-93. Surface-water-quality and streamflow data were evaluated for trends (through time) in constituent concentrations during high and low flows, and relations between constituent concentration and streamflow, and between constituent load and streamflow, were determined. Median concentrations were calculated for the entire period of study (water years 1976-93) and for the last 5 years of the period of study (water years 1989-93) to determine whether any large variation in concentration exists between the two periods. Medians also were used to determine the seasonal Kendall’s tau statistic, which was then used to evaluate trends in concentrations during high and low flows. Trends in constituent concentrations during high and low flows were evaluated to determine whether the distribution of the observations changes through time for intermittent (nonpoint storm runoff) or constant (point sources and ground water) sources, respectively. Highand low-flow trends in concentrations were determined for some constituents at 13 of the 21 water-quality stations; 8 stations have insufficient data to determine trends. Seasonal effects on the relations of concentration to streamflow are evident for 16 of the 18 constituents. Negative slopes of relations of concentration to streamflow, which indicate a decrease in concentration at high flows, predominate over positive slopes because of the dilution of instream concentrations by storm runoff. The slopes of the regression lines of load to streamflow were determined in order to show the relative contributions to the instream load from constant (point sources and ground water) and intermittent sources (storm runoff). Greater slope values indicate larger contributions from storm runoff to instream load, which most likely indicate an increased relative importance of nonpoint sources. The slopes of load-to-streamflow relations along a stream reach that tend to increase in a downstream direction indicate the increased relative importance of contributions from storm runoff. The slopes of load-to-streamflow relations increase in the downstream direction for alkalinity at North Branch Raritan and Millstone Rivers, for some or all of the nutrient species at South Branch and North Branch Raritan Rivers, for hardness at South Branch Raritan River, for dissolved solids at North Branch Raritan River, for dissolved sodium at Lamington River, and for suspended sediment and dissolved oxygen at Millstone River. Likewise, the slopes of load-tostreamflow relations along a stream reach that tend to decrease in a downstream direction indicate the increased relative importance of point sources and ground-water discharge. The slopes of load-to-streamflow relations decrease in the downstream direction for dissolved solids at Raritan and Millstone Rivers; for dissolved sodium, dissolved chloride, total ammonia plus organic nitrogen, and total ammonia at South Branch Raritan, Raritan, and Millstone Rivers; for dissolved oxygen at North Branch Raritan and Lamington Rivers; for total nitrite at Lamington, Raritan, and Millstone Rivers; for total boron at South Branch Raritan and Millstone Rivers; for total organic carbon at North Branch Raritan River; for suspended sediment and total nitrogen at Raritan River; and for hardness, total phosphorus, and total lead at Millstone River.

Autonomic Nervous System Responses to Hearing-Related Demand and Evaluative Threat.

PubMed

Mackersie, Carol L; Kearney, Lucia

2017-10-12

This paper consists of 2 parts. The purpose of Part 1 was to review the potential influence of internal (person-related) factors on listening effort. The purpose of Part 2 was to present, in support of Part 1, preliminary data illustrating the interactive effects of an external factor (task demand) and an internal factor (evaluative threat) on autonomic nervous system measures. For Part 1, we provided a brief narrative review of motivation and stress as modulators of listening effort. For Part 2, we described preliminary data from a study using a repeated-measures (2 × 2) design involving manipulations of task demand (high, low) and evaluative threat (high, low). The low-demand task consisted of repetition of sentences from a narrative. The high-demand task consisted of answering questions about the narrative, requiring both comprehension and recall. During the high evaluative threat condition, participants were filmed and told that their video recordings would be evaluated by a panel of experts. During the low evaluative threat condition, no filming occurred; participants were instructed to "do your best." Skin conductance (sympathetic nervous system activity) and heart rate variability (HRV, parasympathetic activity) were measured during the listening tasks. The HRV measure was the root mean square of successive differences of adjacent interbeat intervals. Twelve adults with hearing loss participated. Skin conductance increased and HRV decreased relative to baseline (no task) for all listening conditions. Skin conductance increased significantly with an increase in evaluative threat, but only for the more demanding task. There was no significant change in HRV in response to increasing evaluative threat or task demand. Listening effort may be influenced by factors other than task difficulty, as reviewed in Part 1. This idea is supported by the preliminary data indicating that the sympathetic nervous system response to task demand is modulated by social evaluative threat. More work is needed to determine the relative contributions of motivation and emotional stress on physiological responses during listening tasks.

Self-evaluative emotions and expectations about self-evaluative emotions in health-behaviour change.

PubMed

Dijkstra, Arie; Buunk, Abraham P

2008-03-01

Engaging in a behaviour that has negative physical consequences is considered to be a threat to the self because it makes the self appear inadequate and non-adaptive. This self-threat is experienced as self-evaluative emotions. The self-threat can be removed by refraining from the unhealthy behaviour. The experience of self-threat influences behaviour because it contributes to expectations about the occurrence of self-evaluative emotions in the case of behaviour change. The results of Study 1, conducted among 503 smokers, showed that self-evaluative emotions were the central predictor of quitting activity during a 7-month period, among measures related to the negative consequences of smoking. The results of Study 2, conducted among 409 smokers, showed that expectations about the self-evaluative emotions that follow quitting smoking predicted quitting activity during a 9-month period and that these expectations partly mediated the relation between self-evaluative emotions and quitting. The results of Study 3, conducted among 255 smokers, showed that information on the negative outcomes of smoking led to quitting activity only when there was room to change self-evaluative outcome expectations. In addition, increases in these expectations predicted quitting activity during a 6-month period. The results suggest that negative self-evaluative emotions are a central motive to change unhealthy behaviour and that self-evaluative outcome expectations govern the behaviour change. The results can be understood within Steele's (1999) Self-affirmation theory.

Colorectal cancer chemoprevention: the potential of a selective approach.

PubMed

Ben-Amotz, Oded; Arber, Nadir; Kraus, Sarah

2010-10-01

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer death, and therefore demands special attention. Novel recent approaches for the chemoprevention of CRC focus on selective targeting of key pathways. We review the study by Zhang and colleagues, evaluating a selective approach targeting APC-deficient premalignant cells using retinoid-based therapy and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). This study demonstrates that induction of TRAIL-mediated death signaling contributes to the chemopreventive value of all-trans-retinyl acetate (RAc) by sensitizing premalignant adenoma cells for apoptosis without affecting normal cells. We discuss these important findings, raise few points that deserve consideration, and may further contribute to the development of RAc-based combination therapies with improved efficacy. The authors clearly demonstrate a synergistic interaction between TRAIL, RAc and APC, which leads to the specific cell death of premalignant target cells. The study adds to the growing body of literature related to CRC chemoprevention, and provides solid data supporting a potentially selective approach for preventing CRC using RAc and TRAIL.

Dirichlet Component Regression and its Applications to Psychiatric Data

PubMed Central

Gueorguieva, Ralitza; Rosenheck, Robert; Zelterman, Daniel

2011-01-01

Summary We describe a Dirichlet multivariable regression method useful for modeling data representing components as a percentage of a total. This model is motivated by the unmet need in psychiatry and other areas to simultaneously assess the effects of covariates on the relative contributions of different components of a measure. The model is illustrated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for assessment of schizophrenia symptoms which, like many other metrics in psychiatry, is composed of a sum of scores on several components, each in turn, made up of sums of evaluations on several questions. We simultaneously examine the effects of baseline socio-demographic and co-morbid correlates on all of the components of the total PANSS score of patients from a schizophrenia clinical trial and identify variables associated with increasing or decreasing relative contributions of each component. Several definitions of residuals are provided. Diagnostics include measures of overdispersion, Cook’s distance, and a local jackknife influence metric. PMID:22058582

Unexpected slowdown of US pollutant emission reduction in the past decade

PubMed Central

McDonald, Brian C.; Worden, Helen; Worden, John R.; Miyazaki, Kazuyuki; Qu, Zhen; Henze, Daven K.; Jones, Dylan B. A.; Fischer, Emily V.; Zhu, Liye; Boersma, K. Folkert

2018-01-01

Ground and satellite observations show that air pollution regulations in the United States (US) have resulted in substantial reductions in emissions and corresponding improvements in air quality over the last several decades. However, large uncertainties remain in evaluating how recent regulations affect different emission sectors and pollutant trends. Here we show a significant slowdown in decreasing US emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO) for 2011–2015 using satellite and surface measurements. This observed slowdown in emission reductions is significantly different from the trend expected using US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bottom-up inventories and impedes compliance with local and federal agency air-quality goals. We find that the difference between observations and EPA’s NOx emission estimates could be explained by: (i) growing relative contributions of industrial, area, and off-road sources, (ii) decreasing relative contributions of on-road gasoline, and (iii) slower than expected decreases in on-road diesel emissions. PMID:29712822

Nitrite reductase activity of rat and human xanthine oxidase, xanthine dehydrogenase, and aldehyde oxidase: evaluation of their contribution to NO formation in vivo.

PubMed

Maia, Luisa B; Pereira, Vânia; Mira, Lurdes; Moura, José J G

2015-01-27

Nitrite is presently considered a NO "storage form" that can be made available, through its one-electron reduction, to maintain NO formation under hypoxia/anoxia. The molybdoenzymes xanthine oxidase/dehydrogenase (XO/XD) and aldehyde oxidase (AO) are two of the most promising mammalian nitrite reductases, and in this work, we characterized NO formation by rat and human XO/XD and AO. This is the first characterization of human enzymes, and our results support the employment of rat liver enzymes as suitable models of the human counterparts. A comprehensive kinetic characterization of the effect of pH on XO and AO-catalyzed nitrite reduction showed that the enzyme's specificity constant for nitrite increase 8-fold, while the Km(NO2(-)) decrease 6-fold, when the pH decreases from 7.4 to 6.3. These results demonstrate that the ability of XO/AO to trigger NO formation would be greatly enhanced under the acidic conditions characteristic of ischemia. The dioxygen inhibition was quantified, and the Ki(O2) values found (24.3-48.8 μM) suggest that in vivo NO formation would be fine-tuned by dioxygen availability. The potential in vivo relative physiological relevance of XO/XD/AO-dependent pathways of NO formation was evaluated using HepG2 and HMEC cell lines subjected to hypoxia. NO formation by the cells was found to be pH-, nitrite-, and dioxygen-dependent, and the relative contribution of XO/XD plus AO was found to be as high as 50%. Collectively, our results supported the possibility that XO/XD and AO can contribute to NO generation under hypoxia inside a living human cell. Furthermore, the molecular mechanism of XO/AO-catalyzed nitrite reduction was revised.

Hydrogeologic controls of surface-water chemistry in the Adirondack region of New York State

USGS Publications Warehouse

Peters, N.E.; Driscoll, C.T.

1987-01-01

Relationships between surface-water discharge, water chemistry, and watershed geology were investigated to evaluate factors affecting the sensitivity of drainage waters in the Adirondack region of New York to acidification by atmospheric deposition. Instantaneous discharge per unit area was derived from relationships between flow and staff-gage readings at 10 drainage basins throughout the region. The average chemical composition of the waters was assessed from monthly samples collected from July 1982 through July 1984. The ratio of flow at the 50-percent exceedence level to the flow at the 95-percent exceedence level of flow duration was negatively correlated with mean values of alkalinity or acid-neutralizing capacity (ANC), sum of basic cations (SBC), and dissolved silica, for basins containing predominantly aluminosilicate minerals and little or no carbonate-bearing minerals. Low ratios are indicative of systems in which flow is predominately derived from surface- and ground-water storage, whereas high ratios are characteristic of watersheds with variable flow that is largely derived from surface runoff. In an evaluation of two representative surface-water sites, concentrations of ANC, SBC, and dissolved silica, derived primarily from soil mineral weathering reactions. decreased with increasing flow. Furthermore, the ANC was highest at low flow when the percentage of streamflow derived from ground water was maximum. As flow increased, the ANC decreased because the contribution of dilute surface runoff and lateral flow through the shallow acidic soil horizons to total flow increased. Basins having relatively high ground-water contributions to total flow, in general, have large deposits of thick till or stratified drift. A major factor controlling the sensitivity of these streams and lakes to acidification is the relative contribution of ground water to total discharge. ?? 1987 Martinus Nijhoff/Dr W. Junk Publishers.

Computerized Clinical Decision Support: Contributions from 2015

PubMed Central

Bouaud, J.

2016-01-01

Summary Objective To summarize recent research and select the best papers published in 2015 in the field of computerized clinical decision support for the Decision Support section of the IMIA yearbook. Method A literature review was performed by searching two bibliographic databases for papers related to clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) and computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems. The aim was to identify a list of candidate best papers from the retrieved papers that were then peer-reviewed by external reviewers. A consensus meeting between the two section editors and the IMIA editorial team was finally conducted to conclude in the best paper selection. Results Among the 974 retrieved papers, the entire review process resulted in the selection of four best papers. One paper reports on a CDSS routinely applied in pediatrics for more than 10 years, relying on adaptations of the Arden Syntax. Another paper assessed the acceptability and feasibility of an important CPOE evaluation tool in hospitals outside the US where it was developed. The third paper is a systematic, qualitative review, concerning usability flaws of medication-related alerting functions, providing an important evidence-based, methodological contribution in the domain of CDSS design and development in general. Lastly, the fourth paper describes a study quantifying the effect of a complex, continuous-care, guideline-based CDSS on the correctness and completeness of clinicians’ decisions. Conclusions While there are notable examples of routinely used decision support systems, this 2015 review on CDSSs and CPOE systems still shows that, despite methodological contributions, theoretical frameworks, and prototype developments, these technologies are not yet widely spread (at least with their full functionalities) in routine clinical practice. Further research, testing, evaluation, and training are still needed for these tools to be adopted in clinical practice and, ultimately, illustrate the benefits that they promise. PMID:27830247

Community dialogues for child health: results from a qualitative process evaluation in three countries.

PubMed

Martin, Sandrine; Leitão, Jordana; Muhangi, Denis; Nuwa, Anthony; Magul, Dieterio; Counihan, Helen

2017-06-05

Across the developing world, countries are increasingly adopting the integrated community case management of childhood illnesses (iCCM) strategy in efforts to reduce child mortality. This intervention's effectiveness is dependent on community adoption and changes in care-seeking practices. We assessed the implementation process of a theory-driven community dialogue (CD) intervention specifically designed to strengthen the support and uptake of the newly introduced iCCM services and related behaviours in three African countries. A qualitative process evaluation methodology was chosen and used secondary project data and primary data collected in two districts of each of the three countries, in purposefully sampled communities. The final data set included 67 focus group discussions and 57 key informant interviews, totalling 642 respondents, including caregivers, CD facilitators community leaders, and trainers. Thematic analysis of the data followed the 'Framework Approach' utilising both a deduction and induction process. Results show that CDs contribute to triggering community uptake of and support for iCCM services through filling health information gaps and building cooperation within communities. We found it to be an effective approach for addressing social norms around child care practices. This approach was embraced by communities for its flexibility and value in planning individual and collective change. Regular CDs can contribute to the formation of new habits, particularly in relation to seeking timely care in case of child sickness. This study also confirms the value of process evaluation to unwrap the mechanisms of community mobilisation approaches in context and provides key insights for improving the CD approach.

Impact of Land Surface Initialization Approach on Subseasonal Forecast Skill: a Regional Analysis in the Southern Hemisphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hirsch, Annette L.; Kala, Jatin; Pitman, Andy J.; Carouge, Claire; Evans, Jason P.; Haverd, Vanessa; Mocko, David

2014-01-01

The authors use a sophisticated coupled land-atmosphere modeling system for a Southern Hemisphere subdomain centered over southeastern Australia to evaluate differences in simulation skill from two different land surface initialization approaches. The first approach uses equilibrated land surface states obtained from offline simulations of the land surface model, and the second uses land surface states obtained from reanalyses. The authors find that land surface initialization using prior offline simulations contribute to relative gains in subseasonal forecast skill. In particular, relative gains in forecast skill for temperature of 10%-20% within the first 30 days of the forecast can be attributed to the land surface initialization method using offline states. For precipitation there is no distinct preference for the land surface initialization method, with limited gains in forecast skill irrespective of the lead time. The authors evaluated the asymmetry between maximum and minimum temperatures and found that maximum temperatures had the largest gains in relative forecast skill, exceeding 20% in some regions. These results were statistically significant at the 98% confidence level at up to 60 days into the forecast period. For minimum temperature, using reanalyses to initialize the land surface contributed to relative gains in forecast skill, reaching 40% in parts of the domain that were statistically significant at the 98% confidence level. The contrasting impact of the land surface initialization method between maximum and minimum temperature was associated with different soil moisture coupling mechanisms. Therefore, land surface initialization from prior offline simulations does improve predictability for temperature, particularly maximum temperature, but with less obvious improvements for precipitation and minimum temperature over southeastern Australia.

The use of fault reporting of medical equipment to identify latent design flaws.

PubMed

Flewwelling, C J; Easty, A C; Vicente, K J; Cafazzo, J A

2014-10-01

Poor device design that fails to adequately account for user needs, cognition, and behavior is often responsible for use errors resulting in adverse events. This poor device design is also often latent, and could be responsible for "No Fault Found" (NFF) reporting, in which medical devices sent for repair by clinical users are found to be operating as intended. Unresolved NFF reports may contribute to incident under reporting, clinical user frustration, and biomedical engineering technologist inefficacy. This study uses human factors engineering methods to investigate the relationship between NFF reporting frequency and device usability. An analysis of medical equipment maintenance data was conducted to identify devices with a high NFF reporting frequency. Subsequently, semi-structured interviews and heuristic evaluations were performed in order to identify potential usability issues. Finally, usability testing was conducted in order to validate that latent usability related design faults result in a higher frequency of NFF reporting. The analysis of medical equipment maintenance data identified six devices with a high NFF reporting frequency. Semi-structured interviews, heuristic evaluations and usability testing revealed that usability issues caused a significant portion of the NFF reports. Other factors suspected to contribute to increased NFF reporting include accessory issues, intermittent faults and environmental issues. Usability testing conducted on three of the devices revealed 23 latent usability related design faults. These findings demonstrate that latent usability related design faults manifest themselves as an increase in NFF reporting and that devices containing usability related design faults can be identified through an analysis of medical equipment maintenance data. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The underlying processes of a soil mite metacommunity on a small scale.

PubMed

Dong, Chengxu; Gao, Meixiang; Guo, Chuanwei; Lin, Lin; Wu, Donghui; Zhang, Limin

2017-01-01

Metacommunity theory provides an understanding of how ecological processes regulate local community assemblies. However, few field studies have evaluated the underlying mechanisms of a metacommunity on a small scale through revealing the relative roles of spatial and environmental filtering in structuring local community composition. Based on a spatially explicit sampling design in 2012 and 2013, this study aims to evaluate the underlying processes of a soil mite metacommunity on a small spatial scale (50 m) in a temperate deciduous forest located at the Maoershan Ecosystem Research Station, Northeast China. Moran's eigenvector maps (MEMs) were used to model independent spatial variables. The relative importance of spatial (including trend variables, i.e., geographical coordinates, and broad- and fine-scale spatial variables) and environmental factors in driving the soil mite metacommunity was determined by variation partitioning. Mantel and partial Mantel tests and a redundancy analysis (RDA) were also used to identify the relative contributions of spatial and environmental variables. The results of variation partitioning suggested that the relatively large and significant variance was a result of spatial variables (including broad- and fine-scale spatial variables and trend), indicating the importance of dispersal limitation and autocorrelation processes. The significant contribution of environmental variables was detected in 2012 based on a partial Mantel test, and soil moisture and soil organic matter were especially important for the soil mite metacommunity composition in both years. The study suggested that the soil mite metacommunity was primarily regulated by dispersal limitation due to broad-scale and neutral biotic processes at a fine-scale and that environmental filtering might be of subordinate importance. In conclusion, a combination of metacommunity perspectives between neutral and species sorting theories was suggested to be important in the observed structure of the soil mite metacommunity at the studied small scale.

The underlying processes of a soil mite metacommunity on a small scale

PubMed Central

Guo, Chuanwei; Lin, Lin; Wu, Donghui; Zhang, Limin

2017-01-01

Metacommunity theory provides an understanding of how ecological processes regulate local community assemblies. However, few field studies have evaluated the underlying mechanisms of a metacommunity on a small scale through revealing the relative roles of spatial and environmental filtering in structuring local community composition. Based on a spatially explicit sampling design in 2012 and 2013, this study aims to evaluate the underlying processes of a soil mite metacommunity on a small spatial scale (50 m) in a temperate deciduous forest located at the Maoershan Ecosystem Research Station, Northeast China. Moran’s eigenvector maps (MEMs) were used to model independent spatial variables. The relative importance of spatial (including trend variables, i.e., geographical coordinates, and broad- and fine-scale spatial variables) and environmental factors in driving the soil mite metacommunity was determined by variation partitioning. Mantel and partial Mantel tests and a redundancy analysis (RDA) were also used to identify the relative contributions of spatial and environmental variables. The results of variation partitioning suggested that the relatively large and significant variance was a result of spatial variables (including broad- and fine-scale spatial variables and trend), indicating the importance of dispersal limitation and autocorrelation processes. The significant contribution of environmental variables was detected in 2012 based on a partial Mantel test, and soil moisture and soil organic matter were especially important for the soil mite metacommunity composition in both years. The study suggested that the soil mite metacommunity was primarily regulated by dispersal limitation due to broad-scale and neutral biotic processes at a fine-scale and that environmental filtering might be of subordinate importance. In conclusion, a combination of metacommunity perspectives between neutral and species sorting theories was suggested to be important in the observed structure of the soil mite metacommunity at the studied small scale. PMID:28481906

Objective Fidelity Evaluation in Multisensory Virtual Environments: Auditory Cue Fidelity in Flight Simulation

PubMed Central

Meyer, Georg F.; Wong, Li Ting; Timson, Emma; Perfect, Philip; White, Mark D.

2012-01-01

We argue that objective fidelity evaluation of virtual environments, such as flight simulation, should be human-performance-centred and task-specific rather than measure the match between simulation and physical reality. We show how principled experimental paradigms and behavioural models to quantify human performance in simulated environments that have emerged from research in multisensory perception provide a framework for the objective evaluation of the contribution of individual cues to human performance measures of fidelity. We present three examples in a flight simulation environment as a case study: Experiment 1: Detection and categorisation of auditory and kinematic motion cues; Experiment 2: Performance evaluation in a target-tracking task; Experiment 3: Transferrable learning of auditory motion cues. We show how the contribution of individual cues to human performance can be robustly evaluated for each task and that the contribution is highly task dependent. The same auditory cues that can be discriminated and are optimally integrated in experiment 1, do not contribute to target-tracking performance in an in-flight refuelling simulation without training, experiment 2. In experiment 3, however, we demonstrate that the auditory cue leads to significant, transferrable, performance improvements with training. We conclude that objective fidelity evaluation requires a task-specific analysis of the contribution of individual cues. PMID:22957068

The Relative Importance of Sexual Dimorphism, Fluctuating Asymmetry, and Color Cues to Health during Evaluation of Potential Partners' Facial Photographs : A Conjoint Analysis Study.

PubMed

Mogilski, Justin K; Welling, Lisa L M

2017-03-01

Sexual dimorphism, symmetry, and coloration in human faces putatively signal information relevant to mate selection and reproduction. Although the independent contributions of these characteristics to judgments of attractiveness are well established, relatively few studies have examined whether individuals prioritize certain features over others. Here, participants (N = 542, 315 female) ranked six sets of facial photographs (3 male, 3 female) by their preference for starting long- and short-term romantic relationships with each person depicted. Composite-based digital transformations were applied such that each image set contained 11 different versions of the same identity. Each photograph in each image set had a unique combination of three traits: sexual dimorphism, symmetry, and color cues to health. Using conjoint analysis to evaluate participants' ranking decisions, we found that participants prioritized cues to sexual dimorphism over symmetry and color cues to health. Sexual dimorphism was also found to be relatively more important for the evaluation of male faces than for female faces, whereas symmetry and color cues to health were relatively more important for the evaluation of female faces than for male faces. Symmetry and color cues to health were more important for long-term versus short-term evaluations for female faces, but not male faces. Analyses of utility estimates reveal that our data are consistent with research showing that preferences for facial masculinity and femininity in male and female faces vary according to relationship context. These findings are interpreted in the context of previous work examining the influence of these facial attributes on romantic partner perception.

Global health diplomacy in Iraq: international relations outcomes of multilateral tuberculosis programmes.

PubMed

Kevany, Sebastian; Jaf, Payman; Workneh, Nibretie Gobezie; Abu Dalod, Mohammad; Tabena, Mohammed; Rashid, Sara; Al Hilfi, Thamer Kadum Yousif

2014-01-01

International development programmes, including global health interventions, have the capacity to make important implicit and explicit benefits to diplomatic and international relations outcomes. Conversely, in the absence of awareness of these implications, such programmes may generate associated threats. Due to heightened international tensions in conflict and post-conflict settings, greater attention to diplomatic outcomes may therefore be necessary. We examine related 'collateral' effects of Global Fund-supported tuberculosis programmes in Iraq. During site visits to Iraq conducted during 2012 and 2013 on behalf of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, on-site service delivery evaluations, unstructured interviews with clinical and operational staff, and programme documentary review of Global Fund-supported tuberculosis treatment and care programmes were conducted. During this process, a range of possible external or collateral international relations and diplomatic effects of global health programmes were assessed according to predetermined criteria. A range of positive diplomatic and international relations effects of Global Fund-supported programmes were observed in the Iraq setting. These included (1) geo-strategic accessibility and coverage; (2) provisions for programme sustainability and alignment; (3) contributions to nation-building and peace-keeping initiatives; (4) consistent observation of social, cultural and religious norms in intervention selection; and (5) selection of the most effective and cost-effective tuberculosis treatment and care interventions. Investments in global health programmes have valuable diplomatic, as well as health-related, outcomes, associated with their potential to prevent, mitigate or reverse international tension and hostility in conflict and post-conflict settings, provided that they adhere to appropriate criteria. The associated international presence in such regions may also contribute to peace-keeping efforts. Global health programmes may frequently produce a wider range of 'collateral benefits' that conventional monitoring and evaluation systems should be expanded to assess, in keeping with contemporary efforts to leverage development programmes from a 'global health diplomacy' perspective.

Epidemiologic contributions to recent cancer trends among HIV-infected people in the United States.

PubMed

Robbins, Hilary A; Shiels, Meredith S; Pfeiffer, Ruth M; Engels, Eric A

2014-03-27

HIV-infected people have elevated risk for some cancers. Changing incidence of these cancers over time may reflect changes in three factors: HIV population demographic structure (e.g. age distribution), general population (background) cancer rates, and HIV-associated relative risks. We assessed the contributions of these factors to time trends for 10 cancers during 1996-2010. Population-based registry linkage study. We applied Poisson models to data from the U.S. HIV/AIDS Cancer Match Study to estimate annual percentage changes (APCs) in incidence rates of AIDS-defining cancers [ADCs: Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), and cervical cancer] and seven non-AIDS-defining cancers (NADCs). We evaluated HIV-infected cancer trends with and without adjustment for demographics, trends in background rates, and trends in standardized incidence ratios (SIRs, to capture relative risk). Cancer rates among HIV-infected people rose over time for anal (APC 3.8%), liver (8.5%), and prostate (9.8%) cancers, but declined for Kaposi sarcoma (1996-2000: -29.3%; 2000-2010: -7.8%), NHL (1996-2003: -15.7%; 2003-2010: -5.5%), cervical cancer (-11.1%), Hodgkin lymphoma (-4.0%), and lung cancer (-2.8%). Breast and colorectal cancer incidence did not change over time. Based on comparison to adjusted models, changing demographics contributed to trends for Kaposi sarcoma and breast, colorectal, liver, lung, and prostate cancers (all P < 0.01). Trends in background rates were notable for liver (APC 5.6%) and lung (-3.2%) cancers. SIRs declined for ADCs, Hodgkin lymphoma (APC -3.2%), and lung cancer (-4.4%). Demographic shifts influenced several cancer trends among HIV-infected individuals. Falling relative risks largely explained ADC declines, while background incidence contributed to some NADC trends.

Relative Contribution of P5 and Hap Surface Proteins to Nontypable Haemophilus influenzae Interplay with the Host Upper and Lower Airways

PubMed Central

Viadas, Cristina; Ruiz de los Mozos, Igor; Valle, Jaione; Bengoechea, José Antonio; Garmendia, Junkal

2015-01-01

Nontypable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a major cause of opportunistic respiratory tract disease, and initiates infection by colonizing the nasopharynx. Bacterial surface proteins play determining roles in the NTHi-airways interplay, but their specific and relative contribution to colonization and infection of the respiratory tract has not been addressed comprehensively. In this study, we focused on the ompP5 and hap genes, present in all H. influenzae genome sequenced isolates, and encoding the P5 and Hap surface proteins, respectively. We employed isogenic single and double mutants of the ompP5 and hap genes generated in the pathogenic strain NTHi375 to evaluate P5 and Hap contribution to biofilm growth under continuous flow, to NTHi adhesion, and invasion/phagocytosis on nasal, pharyngeal, bronchial, alveolar cultured epithelial cells and alveolar macrophages, and to NTHi murine pulmonary infection. We show that P5 is not required for bacterial biofilm growth, but it is involved in NTHi interplay with respiratory cells and in mouse lung infection. Mechanistically, P5NTHi375 is not a ligand for CEACAM1 or α5 integrin receptors. Hap involvement in NTHi375-host interaction was shown to be limited, despite promoting bacterial cell adhesion when expressed in H. influenzae RdKW20. We also show that Hap does not contribute to bacterial biofilm growth, and that its absence partially restores the deficiency in lung infection observed for the ΔompP5 mutant. Altogether, this work frames the relative importance of the P5 and Hap surface proteins in NTHi virulence. PMID:25894755

Impact of external industrial sources on the regional and local air quality of Mexico Megacity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Almanza, Victor; Molina, Luisa T.; Li, Guohui; Fast, Jerome; Sosa, Gustavo

2014-05-01

The air quality of megacities can be influenced by external emissions sources on both regional and global scales. At the same time their outflow emissions can exert an important impact to the surrounding environment. The present study evaluates an SO2 peak observed on 24 March 2006 at the suburban supersite and ambient air quality monitoring stations located in the northern region of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) during MILAGRO campaign. We found that this peak could be related to an important episodic emission event coming from Tizayuca region, northeast of the MCMA. Back trajectories analyses suggest that the emission event started in the early morning at 04:00 LST and lasted for about 9 hours. The estimated emission rate is high, about 2 kg s-1. This finding suggests the possibility of 'overlooked' emission sources in Tizayuca region that could influence the air quality of the MCMA. This further motivated us to study the cement plants, including those in the State of Hidalgo and the State of Mexico. We found that they can also contribute SO2 in the NE region of the basin, at the suburban supersite and that at some monitoring stations; their contribution can be even higher than from the Tula Industrial Complex (TIC). The contribution of TIC to regional ozone levels is also estimated. The model suggests low contribution to the MCMA and slightly higher contribution at the suburban and rural supersites. However, the contribution could be high in the upper northwest region of the basin and in the southwest and south-southeast regions of the State of Hidalgo. In addition, a first estimate of the potential contribution from flaring activities to regional ozone levels is presented. Results suggest that part of the total regional ozone from TIC-generated precursors could be related to flaring activities.

Identification of the contribution of contact and aerial biomechanical parameters in acrobatic performance

PubMed Central

Haering, Diane; Huchez, Aurore; Barbier, Franck; Holvoët, Patrice; Begon, Mickaël

2017-01-01

Introduction Teaching acrobatic skills with a minimal amount of repetition is a major challenge for coaches. Biomechanical, statistical or computer simulation tools can help them identify the most determinant factors of performance. Release parameters, change in moment of inertia and segmental momentum transfers were identified in the prediction of acrobatics success. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the relative contribution of these parameters in performance throughout expertise or optimisation based improvements. The counter movement forward in flight (CMFIF) was chosen for its intrinsic dichotomy between the accessibility of its attempt and complexity of its mastery. Methods Three repetitions of the CMFIF performed by eight novice and eight advanced female gymnasts were recorded using a motion capture system. Optimal aerial techniques that maximise rotation potential at regrasp were also computed. A 14-segment-multibody-model defined through the Rigid Body Dynamics Library was used to compute recorded and optimal kinematics, and biomechanical parameters. A stepwise multiple linear regression was used to determine the relative contribution of these parameters in novice recorded, novice optimised, advanced recorded and advanced optimised trials. Finally, fixed effects of expertise and optimisation were tested through a mixed-effects analysis. Results and discussion Variation in release state only contributed to performances in novice recorded trials. Moment of inertia contribution to performance increased from novice recorded, to novice optimised, advanced recorded, and advanced optimised trials. Contribution to performance of momentum transfer to the trunk during the flight prevailed in all recorded trials. Although optimisation decreased transfer contribution, momentum transfer to the arms appeared. Conclusion Findings suggest that novices should be coached on both contact and aerial technique. Inversely, mainly improved aerial technique helped advanced gymnasts increase their performance. For both, reduction of the moment of inertia should be focused on. The method proposed in this article could be generalized to any aerial skill learning investigation. PMID:28422954

Looking Across and Looking Beyond the Knowledge Frontier: Intellectual Distance, Novelty, and Resource Allocation in Science

PubMed Central

Boudreau, Kevin J.; Guinan, Eva C.; Lakhani, Karim R.; Riedl, Christoph

2016-01-01

Selecting among alternative projects is a core management task in all innovating organizations. In this paper, we focus on the evaluation of frontier scientific research projects. We argue that the “intellectual distance” between the knowledge embodied in research proposals and an evaluator’s own expertise systematically relates to the evaluations given. To estimate relationships, we designed and executed a grant proposal process at a leading research university in which we randomized the assignment of evaluators and proposals to generate 2,130 evaluator–proposal pairs. We find that evaluators systematically give lower scores to research proposals that are closer to their own areas of expertise and to those that are highly novel. The patterns are consistent with biases associated with boundedly rational evaluation of new ideas. The patterns are inconsistent with intellectual distance simply contributing “noise” or being associated with private interests of evaluators. We discuss implications for policy, managerial intervention, and allocation of resources in the ongoing accumulation of scientific knowledge. PMID:27746512

Simulation Performance and National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses Outcomes: Field Research Perspectives.

PubMed

Brackney, Dana E; Lane, Susan Hayes; Dawson, Tyia; Koontz, Angie

2017-11-01

This descriptive field study examines processes used to evaluate simulation for senior-level Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students in a capstone course, discusses challenges related to simulation evaluation, and reports the relationship between faculty evaluation of student performance and National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) first-time passing rates. Researchers applied seven terms used to rank BSN student performance (n = 41, female, ages 22-24 years) in a senior-level capstone simulation. Faculty evaluation was correlated with students' NCLEX-RN outcomes. Students evaluated as "lacking confidence" and "flawed" were less likely to pass the NCLEX-RN on the first attempt. Faculty evaluation of capstone simulation performance provided additional evidence of student preparedness for practice in the RN role, as evidenced by the relationship between the faculty assessment and NCLEX-RN success. Simulation has been broadly accepted as a powerful educational tool that may also contribute to verification of student achievement of program outcomes and readiness for the RN role.

[Quantitative Prediction of Drug-Drug Interaction Caused by CYP Inhibition and Induction from In Vivo Data and Its Application in Daily Clinical Practices-Proposal for the Pharmacokinetic Interaction Significance Classification System (PISCS)].

PubMed

Ohno, Yoshiyuki

2018-01-01

　Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) can affect the clearance of various drugs from the body; however, these effects are difficult to sufficiently evaluate in clinical studies. This article outlines our approach to improving methods for evaluating and providing drug information relative to the effects of DDIs. In a previous study, total exposure changes to many substrate drugs of CYP caused by the co-administration of inhibitor or inducer drugs were successfully predicted using in vivo data. There are two parameters for the prediction: the contribution ratio of the enzyme to oral clearance for substrates (CR), and either the inhibition ratio for inhibitors (IR) or the increase in clearance of substrates produced by induction (IC). To apply these predictions in daily pharmacotherapy, the clinical significance of any pharmacokinetic changes must be carefully evaluated. We constructed a pharmacokinetic interaction significance classification system (PISCS) in which the clinical significance of DDIs was considered in a systematic manner, according to pharmacokinetic changes. The PISCS suggests that many current 'alert' classifications are potentially inappropriate, especially for drug combinations in which pharmacokinetics have not yet been evaluated. It is expected that PISCS would contribute to constructing a reliable system to alert pharmacists, physicians and consumers of a broad range of pharmacokinetic DDIs in order to more safely manage daily clinical practices.

Insights on Using Developmental Evaluation for Innovating: A Case Study on the Cocreation of an Innovative Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lam, Chi Yan; Shulha, Lyn M.

2015-01-01

This article contributes to research on evaluation by examining the capacity and contribution of developmental evaluation for innovating. This case study describes the "preformative development" of an educational program (from conceptualization to pilot implementation) and analyzes the processes of innovation within a developmental…

Frontal brain activation during a working memory task: a time-domain fNIRS study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molteni, E.; Baselli, G.; Bianchi, A. M.; Caffini, M.; Contini, D.; Spinelli, L.; Torricelli, A.; Cerutti, S.; Cubeddu, R.

2009-02-01

We evaluated frontal brain activation during a working memory task with graded levels of difficulty in a group of 19 healthy subjects, by means of time-resolved fNIRS technique. Brain activation was computed, and was then separated into a "block-related" and a "tonic" components. Load-related increases of blood oxygenation were studied for the four different levels of task difficulty. Generalized Linear Models were applied to the data in order to explore the metabolic processes occurring during the mental effort and, possibly, their involvement in short term memorization. Results attest the presence of a persistent attentional-related metabolic activity, superimposed to a task-related mnemonic contribution. Moreover, a systemic component probably deriving from the extra-cerebral capillary bed was detected.

Emotion, philosophical issues about.

PubMed

Deonna, Julien; Tappolet, Christine; Teroni, Fabrice

2015-01-01

We start this overview by discussing the place of emotions within the broader affective domain-how different are emotions from moods, sensations, and affective dispositions? Next, we examine the way emotions relate to their objects, emphasizing in the process their intimate relations to values. We move from this inquiry into the nature of emotion to an inquiry into their epistemology. Do they provide reasons for evaluative judgments and, more generally, do they contribute to our knowledge of values? We then address the question of the social dimension of emotions, explaining how the traditional nature versus nurture contrast applies to them. We finish by exploring the relations between emotions, motivation and action, concluding this overview with a more specific focus on how these relations bear on some central ethical issues. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evaluating the evidence base for relational frame theory: a citation analysis.

PubMed

Dymond, Simon; May, Richard J; Munnelly, Anita; Hoon, Alice E

2010-01-01

Relational frame theory (RFT) is a contemporary behavior-analytic account of language and cognition. Since it was first outlined in 1985, RFT has generated considerable controversy and debate, and several claims have been made concerning its evidence base. The present study sought to evaluate the evidence base for RFT by undertaking a citation analysis and by categorizing all articles that cited RFT-related search terms. A total of 174 articles were identified between 1991 and 2008, 62 (36%) of which were empirical and 112 (64%) were nonempirical articles. Further analyses revealed that 42 (68%) of the empirical articles were classified as empirical RFT and 20 (32%) as empirical other, whereas 27 (24%) of the nonempirical articles were assigned to the nonempirical reviews category and 85 (76%) to the nonempirical conceptual category. In addition, the present findings show that the majority of empirical research on RFT has been conducted with typically developing adult populations, on the relational frame of sameness, and has tended to be published in either The Psychological Record or the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Overall, RFT has made a substantial contribution to the literature in a relatively short period of time.

Inequality or injustice in water use for food?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, J. A.; Seekell, D. A.; D'Odorico, P.

2015-02-01

The global distributions of water availability and population density are uneven and therefore inequality exists in human access to freshwater resources. Is this inequality unjust or only regrettable? To examine this question we formulated and evaluated elementary principles of water ethics relative to human rights for water, and the need for global trade to improve societal access to water by transferring ‘virtual water’ embedded in plant and animal commodities. We defined human welfare benchmarks and evaluated patterns of water use with and without trade over a 25-year period to identify the influence of trade and inequality on equitability of water use. We found that trade improves mean water use and wellbeing, relative to human welfare benchmarks, suggesting that inequality is regrettable but not necessarily unjust. However, trade has not significantly contributed to redressing inequality. Hence, directed trade decisions can improve future conditions of water and food scarcity through reduced inequality.

Assessments of SENTINEL-2 Vegetation Red-Edge Spectral Bands for Improving Land Cover Classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiu, S.; He, B.; Yin, C.; Liao, Z.

2017-09-01

The Multi Spectral Instrument (MSI) onboard Sentinel-2 can record the information in Vegetation Red-Edge (VRE) spectral domains. In this study, the performance of the VRE bands on improving land cover classification was evaluated based on a Sentinel-2A MSI image in East Texas, USA. Two classification scenarios were designed by excluding and including the VRE bands. A Random Forest (RF) classifier was used to generate land cover maps and evaluate the contributions of different spectral bands. The combination of VRE bands increased the overall classification accuracy by 1.40 %, which was statistically significant. Both confusion matrices and land cover maps indicated that the most beneficial increase was from vegetation-related land cover types, especially agriculture. Comparison of the relative importance of each band showed that the most beneficial VRE bands were Band 5 and Band 6. These results demonstrated the value of VRE bands for land cover classification.

Developing an evaluation framework for clinical redesign programs: lessons learnt.

PubMed

Samaranayake, Premaratne; Dadich, Ann; Fitzgerald, Anneke; Zeitz, Kathryn

2016-09-19

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present lessons learnt through the development of an evaluation framework for a clinical redesign programme - the aim of which was to improve the patient journey through improved discharge practices within an Australian public hospital. Design/methodology/approach The development of the evaluation framework involved three stages - namely, the analysis of secondary data relating to the discharge planning pathway; the analysis of primary data including field-notes and interview transcripts on hospital processes; and the triangulation of these data sets to devise the framework. The evaluation framework ensured that resource use, process management, patient satisfaction, and staff well-being and productivity were each connected with measures, targets, and the aim of clinical redesign programme. Findings The application of business process management and a balanced scorecard enabled a different way of framing the evaluation, ensuring measurable outcomes were connected to inputs and outputs. Lessons learnt include: first, the importance of mixed-methods research to devise the framework and evaluate the redesigned processes; second, the need for appropriate tools and resources to adequately capture change across the different domains of the redesign programme; and third, the value of developing and applying an evaluative framework progressively. Research limitations/implications The evaluation framework is limited by its retrospective application to a clinical process redesign programme. Originality/value This research supports benchmarking with national and international practices in relation to best practice healthcare redesign processes. Additionally, it provides a theoretical contribution on evaluating health services improvement and redesign initiatives.

Toward Synchronous Evaluation of Source Apportionments for Atmospheric Concentration and Deposition of Sulfate Aerosol Over East Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Itahashi, S.

2018-03-01

Source apportionments for atmospheric concentration, dry deposition, and wet deposition of sulfate aerosol (SO42-) were synchronously evaluated over East Asia, a main source of anthropogenic sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions. Estimating dry deposition was difficult owing to the difficulty of measuring deposition velocity directly; therefore, sensitivity simulations using two dry deposition schemes were conducted. Moreover, sensitivity simulations for different emission inventories, the largest uncertainty source in the air quality model, were also conducted. In total, four experimental settings were used. Model performance was verified for atmospheric concentration and wet deposition using a ground-based observation network in China, Korea, and Japan, and all four model settings captured the observations. The underestimation of wet deposition over China was improved by an adjusted approach that linearly scaled the modeled precipitation values to observations. The synchronous evaluation of source apportionments for atmospheric concentration and dry and wet deposition showed the dominant contribution of anthropogenic emissions from China to the atmospheric concentration and deposition in Japan. The contributions of emissions from volcanoes were more important for wet deposition than for atmospheric concentration. Differences in the dry deposition scheme and emission inventory did not substantially influence the relative ratio of source apportionments over Japan. Because the dry deposition was more attributed to local factors, the differences in dry deposition may be an important determinant of the source contributions from China to Japan. Verification of these findings, including the dry deposition velocity, is necessary for better understanding of the behavior of sulfur compound in East Asia.

- and Cross-Polarization 13C NMR Evidence of Alterations in Molecular Composition of Humic Substances Following Afforestation with Eucalypt in Distinct Brazilian Biomes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, I. R.; Soares, E. M.; Schmidt-Rohr, K.; Novais, R.; Barros, N.; Fernandes, S.

2010-12-01

The effect of planting fast growing tree species on SOM quality in tropical regions has been overlooked. In the present study 13C-NMR approaches were used to evaluate the impact of eucalypt cultivation on humic and fulvic acids molecular composition. The results indicate that the replacement of native vegetation by eucalypt plantations increased the relative contribution of aliphatic groups in HA from soils previously under Atlantic Forest, Grassland, and the Cerrado (Curvelo site only). The same trend was observed for FA, except in the Curvelo site. A trend for degradation and smaller contribution of O-alkyl C (carbohydrates) in HA was observed in soils under eucalyptus in Atlantic Forest and Cerrado. For FA such decreases were seen in Cerrado and Grassland biomes after eucalypt planting. In the area cultivated with pasture in the Atlantic Forest biome and in the Grassland soil, the largest contributions of lignin-derived compounds were detected in HA. The HA from the Cerrado at the Curvelo site, where the woody vegetation is virtually devoid of grassy species, showed the lowest intensity of lignin signal then those from the Cerrado sensu stricto in Itacambira, where grass species are more abundant. At our study sites, charred material are most likely derived from burning of the native vegetation, as naturally occurs in the Cerrado region, or anthropogenic fires in the Grassland biome. Burning of harvest residues in eucalypt fields was also a common practice in the early rotations. The replacement of native vegetation by eucalypt plantations increases the relative contribution of nonpolar alkyl groups in HA from soils previously under Atlantic Forest, Grassland, and the Cerrado (Curvelo site only) biomes. There is evidence of substantial contribution of lignin-derived C to HA and FA, especially in sites planted with Brachiaria sp pastures. Eucalypt introduction decreases the relative contribution of carbohydrates in HA and FA. 13C DP/MAS NMR functional groups in the humic and fulvic acid samples from the Eucalypt and native vegetation soils in the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado and Grassland biomes

Spatial and temporal variability of source contributions to ambient PM10 during winter in Augsburg, Germany using organic and inorganic tracers.

PubMed

Qadir, R M; Schnelle-Kreis, J; Abbaszade, G; Arteaga-Salas, J M; Diemer, J; Zimmermann, R

2014-05-01

Daily PM10 samples were collected during a one-month sampling campaign from February 13 to March 12, 2008 at eight different sampling sites in Augsburg, Southern Germany. Source apportionment was performed to identify the main sources and related contributions by analysis of organic and inorganic tracers. Nine factors were separated comprising: solid fuel combustion, traffic-related emissions, secondary inorganics, and mixed sources. Spatiotemporal variation of the source contributions was evaluated using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and coefficient of divergence (COD). All factors (except hopanes and mixed sources) showed moderate to high (0.60.8) correlation coefficients between the eight sites and were distributed heterogeneously. Secondary sulfate and secondary nitrate factors were relatively more uniformly distributed (compared to other factors) with lower medians of COD value (0.47 and 0.56, respectively) and higher correlation values (r=0.97 and 0.85, respectively). The maximum daily average contribution for coal & wood combustion factor was observed at the LfU suburban site (4.0 μg m(-3)); wood combustion factor at the LSW residential site (5.1 μg m(-3)) ; diesel & fuel oil consumption factor at the Bifa suburban and BP urban sites (both 2.5 μg m(-3)); road dust & tram factor at the KP traffic site (16.2 μg m(-3)) and the BP urban site (6.6 μg m(-3)); hopanes factor at the BP urban and Bifa suburban sites (both 0.7 μg m(-3)); and de-icing NaCl factor at the KP traffic site (4.8 μg m(-3)). Secondary sulfate and secondary nitrate factors had approximately similar contributions (6.2 μg m(-3) and 4.3 μg m(-3), respectively) at all sites. Mixed sources factor had the highest daily average contribution to PM10 mass at the KP traffic site (7.0 μg m(-3)). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of P300 latency jitter on event related potential-based brain-computer interface performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aricò, P.; Aloise, F.; Schettini, F.; Salinari, S.; Mattia, D.; Cincotti, F.

2014-06-01

Objective. Several ERP-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that can be controlled even without eye movements (covert attention) have been recently proposed. However, when compared to similar systems based on overt attention, they displayed significantly lower accuracy. In the current interpretation, this is ascribed to the absence of the contribution of short-latency visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in the tasks performed in the covert attention modality. This study aims to investigate if this decrement (i) is fully explained by the lack of VEP contribution to the classification accuracy; (ii) correlates with lower temporal stability of the single-trial P300 potentials elicited in the covert attention modality. Approach. We evaluated the latency jitter of P300 evoked potentials in three BCI interfaces exploiting either overt or covert attention modalities in 20 healthy subjects. The effect of attention modality on the P300 jitter, and the relative contribution of VEPs and P300 jitter to the classification accuracy have been analyzed. Main results. The P300 jitter is higher when the BCI is controlled in covert attention. Classification accuracy negatively correlates with jitter. Even disregarding short-latency VEPs, overt-attention BCI yields better accuracy than covert. When the latency jitter is compensated offline, the difference between accuracies is not significant. Significance. The lower temporal stability of the P300 evoked potential generated during the tasks performed in covert attention modality should be regarded as the main contributing explanation of lower accuracy of covert-attention ERP-based BCIs.

[Air pollution in an urban area nearby the Rome-Ciampino city airport].

PubMed

Di Menno di Bucchianico, Alessandro; Cattani, Giorgio; Gaeta, Alessandra; Caricchia, Anna Maria; Troiano, Francesco; Sozzi, Roberto; Bolignano, Andrea; Sacco, Fabrizio; Damizia, Sesto; Barberini, Silvia; Caleprico, Roberta; Fabozzi, Tina; Ancona, Carla; Ancona, Laura; Cesaroni, Giulia; Forastiere, Francesco; Gobbi, Gian Paolo; Costabile, Francesca; Angelini, Federico; Barnaba, Francesca; Inglessis, Marco; Tancredi, Francesco; Palumbo, Lorenzo; Fontana, Luca; Bergamaschi, Antonio; Iavicoli, Ivo

2014-01-01

to assess air pollution spatial and temporal variability in the urban area nearby the Ciampino International Airport (Rome) and to investigate the airport-related emissions contribute. the study domain was a 64 km2 area around the airport. Two fifteen-day monitoring campaigns (late spring, winter) were carried out. Results were evaluated using several runs outputs of an airport-related sources Lagrangian particle model and a photochemical model (the Flexible Air quality Regional Model, FARM). both standard and high time resolution air pollutant concentrations measurements: CO, NO, NO2, C6H6, mass and number concentration of several PM fractions. 46 fixed points (spread over the study area) of NO2 and volatile organic compounds concentrations (fifteen days averages); deterministic models outputs. standard time resolution measurements, as well as model outputs, showed the airport contribution to air pollution levels being little compared to the main source in the area (i.e. vehicular traffic). However, using high time resolution measurements, peaks of particles associated with aircraft takeoff (total number concentration and soot mass concentration), and landing (coarse mass concentration) were observed, when the site measurement was downwind to the runway. the frequently observed transient spikes associated with aircraft movements could lead to a not negligible contribute to ultrafine, soot and coarse particles exposure of people living around the airport. Such contribute and its spatial and temporal variability should be investigated when assessing the airports air quality impact.

Advances in Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Production.

PubMed

Koller, Martin

2017-11-02

This editorial paper provides a synopsis of the contributions to the Bioengineering special issue "Advances in Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Production". It illustrates the embedding of the issue's individual research articles in the current global research and development landscape related to polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). The article shows how these articles are interrelated to each other, reflecting the entire PHA process chain including strain selection, metabolic and genetic considerations, feedstock evaluation, fermentation regimes, process engineering, and polymer processing towards high-value marketable products.

Functional Task Test (FTT)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bloomberg, Jacob J.; Mulavara, Ajitkumar; Peters, Brian T.; Rescheke, Millard F.; Wood, Scott; Lawrence, Emily; Koffman, Igor; Ploutz-Snyder, Lori; Spiering, Barry A.; Feeback, Daniel L.;

Quality of care in the intensive care unit from the perspective of patient's relatives: development and psychometric evaluation of the consumer quality index 'R-ICU'.

PubMed

Rensen, Ans; van Mol, Margo M; Menheere, Ilse; Nijkamp, Marjan D; Verhoogt, Ellen; Maris, Bea; Manders, Willeke; Vloet, Lilian; Verharen, Lisbeth

2017-01-24

The quality standards of the Dutch Society of Intensive Care require monitoring of the satisfaction of patient's relatives with respect to care. Currently, no suitable instrument is available in the Netherlands to measure this. This study describes the development and psychometric evaluation of the questionnaire-based Consumer Quality Index 'Relatives in Intensive Care Unit' (CQI 'R-ICU'). The CQI 'R-ICU' measures the perceived quality of care from the perspective of patients' relatives, and identifies aspects of care that need improvement. The CQI 'R-ICU' was developed using a mixed method design. Items were based on quality of care aspects from earlier studies and from focus group interviews with patients' relatives. The time period for the data collection of the psychometric evaluation was from October 2011 until July 2012. Relatives of adult intensive care patients in one university hospital and five general hospitals in the Netherlands were approached to participate. Psychometric evaluation included item analysis, inter-item analysis, and factor analysis. Twelve aspects were noted as being indicators of quality of care, and were subsequently selected for the questionnaire's vocabulary. The response rate of patients' relatives was 81% (n = 455). Quality of care was represented by two clusters, each showing a high reliability: 'Communication' (α = .80) and 'Participation' (α = .84). Relatives ranked the following aspects for quality of care as most important: no conflicting information, information from doctors and nurses is comprehensive, and health professionals take patients' relatives seriously. The least important care aspects were: need for contact with peers, nuisance, and contact with a spiritual counsellor. Aspects that needed the most urgent improvement (highest quality improvement scores) were: information about how relatives can contribute to the care of the patient, information about the use of meal-facilities in the hospital, and involvement in decision-making on the medical treatment of the patient. The CQI 'R-ICU' evaluates quality of care from the perspective of relatives of intensive care patients and provides practical information for quality assurance and improvement programs. The development and psychometric evaluation of the CQI 'R-ICU' led to a draft questionnaire, sufficient to justify further research into the reliability, validity, and the discriminative power of the questionnaire.

Evaluation of SIR-B imagery for geologic and geomorphic mapping, hydrology, and oceanography in Australia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Honey, F. R.; Simpson, C. J.; Huntington, J.; Horwitz, R.; Byrne, G.; Nilsson, C.

1984-01-01

The objectives of a study to evaluate the potential of Shuttle Imaging Radar-B (SIR-B) imagery for various applications are outlined. Specific goals include: the development of techniques for registration multiple acquisition, varied illumination, and incidence-angle SIR-B imagery, and a model for estimation of the relative contributions to the backscattered radiation of topography, surface roughness, and dielectric and conductivity components; (2) the evaluation of SIR-B imagery for delineation of agricultural lands affected by secondary salinity in the southwest and southeast agricultural regions of Australia; (3) the development of techniques for application of SIR-B imagery for geologic, geomorphologic and soils mapping and mineral exploration; and (4) the evaluation of the use of SIR-B imagery in determining ocean currents, current shear patterns, internal waves and bottom features for specific locations off the Australian coast.

Evaluation and Management of Posttraumatic Cognitive Impairments

PubMed Central

Arciniegas, David B.; Frey, Kimberly L.; Newman, Jody; Wortzel, Hal S.

2011-01-01

Psychiatrists are increasingly called upon to care for individuals with cognitive, emotional, and behavioral disturbances after TBI, especially in settings serving military service personnel and Veterans. In both the early and late post-injury periods, cognitive impairments contribute to disability among persons with TBI and are potentially substantial sources of suffering for persons with TBI and their families. In this article, the differential diagnosis, evaluation, and management of posttraumatic cognitive complaints is reviewed. The importance of pre-treatment evaluation as well as consideration of non-cognitive contributors to cognitive problems and functional limitations is emphasized first. The course of recovery after TBI, framed as a progression through posttraumatic encephalopathy, is reviewed next and used to anchor the evaluation and treatment of posttraumatic cognitive impairments in relation to injury severity as well as time post-injury. Finally, pharmacologic and rehabilitative interventions that may facilitate cognitive and functional recovery at each stage of posttraumatic encephalopathy are presented. PMID:21270968

Influence of long-distance seed dispersal on the genetic diversity of seed rain in fragmented Pinus densiflora populations relative to pollen-mediated gene flow.

PubMed

Ozawa, Hajime; Watanabe, Atsushi; Uchiyama, Kentaro; Saito, Yoko; Ide, Yuji

2013-01-01

Long-distance dispersal (LDD) of seeds has a critical impact on species survival in patchy landscapes. However, relative to pollen dispersal, empirical data on how seed LDD affects genetic diversity in fragmented populations have been poorly reported. Thus, we attempted to indirectly evaluate the influence of seed LDD by estimating maternal and paternal inbreeding in the seed rain of fragmented 8 Pinus densiflora populations. In total, the sample size was 458 seeds and 306 adult trees. Inbreeding was estimated by common parentage analysis to evaluate gene flow within populations and by sibship reconstruction analysis to estimate gene flow within and among populations. In the parentage analysis, the observed probability that sampled seeds had the same parents within populations was significantly larger than the expected probability in many populations. This result suggested that gene dispersal was limited to within populations. In the sibship reconstruction, many donors both within and among populations appeared to contribute to sampled seeds. Significant differences in sibling ratios were not detected between paternity and maternity. These results suggested that seed-mediated gene flow and pollen-mediated gene flow from outside population contributed some extent to high genetic diversity of the seed rain (H E > 0.854). We emphasize that pine seeds may have excellent potential for gene exchange within and among populations.

Recent advances in occupational dermatitis.

PubMed

Holness, Dorothy Linn

2013-04-01

This review examined recent advances in occupational contact dermatitis (OCD). Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to OCD. There is continuing growth in our understanding of the genetic factors, particularly related to filaggrin mutations. In spite of increased understanding of irritant exposures, the prevalence of hand eczema in workers with wet work exposures remains high at approximately 20%. Patch test database surveillance systems have documented reductions in the occurrence of sensitivity to some allergens such as chromium wherein regulatory efforts have reduced workplace exposures. These surveillance data have also documented increases in sensitivity to several allergens in particular trades, serving as an effective system to identify new exposure situations or new allergens. The impact of OCD on quality of life and mental health conditions, employment and financial aspects is increasingly documented. Progress in understanding the underreporting of OCD and the underlying reasons continues. Several groups have developed robust multidisciplinary secondary and tertiary prevention programmes and the evaluations demonstrate promise. Although several recent systematic reviews have documented the evidence for various prevention strategies, there is increasing understanding of the gaps in prevention practices in actual workplaces. Understanding of the underlying genetic and environmental agents contributing to OCD is increasing. In spite of progress with reducing exposure to some allergens, the prevalence of OCD continues to be high, particularly related to wet work. New prevention programmes are being developed and evaluated and hold promise for improved outcomes.

Modifications to the Water Vapor Continuum in the Microwave Suggested by Ground-Based 150-GHz Observations

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

Turner, D. D.; Cadeddu, M. P.; Lohnert, U.

2009-10-01

Abstract—Ground-based observations from two different radiometers are used to evaluate commonly used microwave/ millimeter-wave propagation models at 150 GHz. This frequency has strong sensitivity to changes in precipitable water vapor (PWV) and cloud liquid water. The observations were collected near Hesselbach, Germany, as part of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program’s support of the General Observing Period and the Convective and Orographic Precipitation Study. The observations from the two radiometers agree well with each other, with a slope of 0.993 and a mean bias of 0.12 K. The observations demonstrate that the relative sensitivity of the different absorption models to PWVmore » in clear-sky conditions at 150 GHz is significant and that four models differ significantly from the observed brightness temperature. These models were modified to get agreement with the 150-GHz observations, where the PWV ranged from 0.35 to 2.88 cm. The models were modified by adjusting the strength of the foreign- and self-broadened water vapor continuum coefficients, where the magnitude was model dependent. In all cases, the adjustment to the two components of the water vapor continuum was in opposite directions (i.e., increasing the contribution from the foreign-broadened component while decreasing contribution from the self-broadened component or vice versa). While the original models had significant disagreements relative to each other, the resulting modified models show much better agreement relative to each other throughout the microwave spectrum. The modified models were evaluated using independent observations at 31.4 GHz.« less

Some Contributions of General Systems Theory, Cybernetics Theory and Management Control Theory to Evaluation Theory and Practice. Research on Evaluation Program Paper and Report Series. Interim Draft.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cook, Desmond L.

This document, one of a series of reports examining the possible contribution of other disciplines to evaluation methodology, describes the major elements of general systems theory (GST), cybernetics theory (CT) and management control theory (MCT). The author suggests that MCT encapsulates major concerns of evaluation since it reveals that…

Continuing the Exploration of African Americans in the Early History of Evaluation in the United States: Contributions of Ambrose Caliver in the U.S. Office of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hood, Stafford

2017-01-01

This article, based on the remarks delivered by the author at the Eleanor Chelimsky forum at the Eastern Evaluation Research Society annual conference in 2016, discusses Ambrose Caliver, an evaluator of color who worked for the federal government during segregation. Caliver's history is an important contribution to the evaluation tree. This…

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

Karaca, F.; Alagha, O.; Erturk, F.

Daily samples of fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM2.5-10) particles were collected from July 2002 to July 2003 to provide a better understanding of the elemental concentration and source contribution to both PM fractions. Sampling location represents suburban part of Istanbul metropolitan city. Samples were collected on Teflon filters using a 'Dichotomous Sampler.' Concentrations of Al, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn were measured by GFAAS, FAAS, and FAES techniques. Elemental variations of heating and nonheating seasons were discussed. Fossil fuel-related atmospheric metals dramatically increased during the heating season, while natural originatedmore » atmospheric metals increased during the nonheating season. Seasonal variations of source contributions were evaluated using factor analysis, which was separately applied to the collected fine and coarse particles data sets during heating and nonheating seasons (four data sets: PM2.5 heating, PM2.5 nonheating, PM2.5-10 heating, and PM2.5-10 nonheating). Significant seasonal differences in source contributions were observed. Four factor groups were extracted for PM2.5 dataset during the nonheating season, while five factor groups were extracted for all the other cases. Mineral dust transportation, traffic, and industry-related activities were classified as different factor groups in all the cases.« less

Selective influences of oxytocin on the evaluative processing of social stimuli

PubMed Central

Norman, Greg J; Cacioppo, John T; Morris, John S; Karelina, Kate; Malarkey, William B; DeVries, A Courtney; Berntson, Gary G

2013-01-01

The neuropeptide oxytocin has been implicated in a wide range of social processes, such as pair bonding, affiliation, and social judgments that may contribute to normal adjustment and psychiatric states. The present experimental study sought to elucidate potential underlying mechanisms by which oxytocin may impact social processes by examining the effects of intranasal oxytocin on basic evaluative processes. Subjects rated slide stimuli from the International Affective Picture System, varying across multiple categories (pleasant, neutral, unpleasant) and social content. Separate ratings for arousal and for the positive and negative components of valence were obtained in the context of a bivariate evaluative space model. Oxytocin did not have an independent significant effect on positivity or negativity ratings, but instead oxytocin treatment altered the interaction between these component processes for social, relative to non-social stimuli regardless of valence conditions. Specifically, oxytocin, relative to vehicle, significantly decreased arousal ratings to threatening human stimuli without altering ratings of threatening animal stimuli. These results indicate that oxytocin may exert its effects through dynamic alterations in the partially separable neural substrates mediating arousal as well as positive and negative evaluations of social stimuli. PMID:20498133

Vision Issues and Space Flight: Evaluation of One-Carbon Metabolism Polymorphisms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Scott M.; Gregory, Jesse F.; Zeisel, Steven; Ueland, Per; Gibson, C. R.; Mader, Thomas; Kinchen, Jason; Ploutz-Snyder, Robert; Zwart, Sara R.

2015-01-01

Intermediates of the one-carbon metabolic pathway are altered in astronauts who experience vision-related issues during and after space flight. Serum concentrations of homocysteine, cystathionine, 2-methylcitric acid, and methylmalonic acid were higher in astronauts with ophthalmic changes than in those without (Zwart et al., J Nutr, 2012). These differences existed before, during, and after flight. Potential confounding factors did not explain the differences. Genetic polymorphisms could contribute to these differences, and could help explain why crewmembers on the same mission do not all have ophthalmic issues, despite the same environmental factors (e.g., microgravity, exercise, diet). A follow-up study was conducted to evaluate 5 polymorphisms of enzymes in the one-carbon pathway, and to evaluate how these relate to vision and other ophthalmic changes after flight. Preliminary evaluations of the genetic data indicate that all of the crewmembers with the MTRR GG genotype had vision issues to one degree or another. However, not everyone who had vision issues had this genetic polymorphism, so the situation is more complex than the involvement of this single polymorphism. Metabolomic and further data analyses are underway to clarify these findings, but the preliminary assessments are promising.

Plausible role for CHW peer support groups in increasing care-seeking in an integrated community case management project in Rwanda: a mixed methods evaluation

PubMed Central

Langston, Anne; Weiss, Jennifer; Landegger, Justine; Pullum, Thomas; Morrow, Melanie; Kabadege, Melene; Mugeni, Catherine; Sarriot, Eric

2014-01-01

ABSTRACT Background: The Kabeho Mwana project (2006–2011) supported the Rwanda Ministry of Health (MOH) in scaling up integrated community case management (iCCM) of childhood illness in 6 of Rwanda's 30 districts. The project trained and equipped community health workers (CHWs) according to national guidelines. In project districts, Kabeho Mwana staff also trained CHWs to conduct household-level health promotion and established supervision and reporting mechanisms through CHW peer support groups (PSGs) and quality improvement systems. Methods: The 2005 and 2010 Demographic and Health Surveys were re-analyzed to evaluate how project and non-project districts differed in terms of care-seeking for fever, diarrhea, and acute respiratory infection symptoms and related indicators. We developed a logit regression model, controlling for the timing of the first CHW training, with the district included as a fixed categorical effect. We also analyzed qualitative data from the final evaluation to examine factors that may have contributed to improved outcomes. Results: While there was notable improvement in care-seeking across all districts, care-seeking from any provider for each of the 3 conditions, and for all 3 combined, increased significantly more in the project districts. CHWs contributed a larger percentage of consultations in project districts (27%) than in non-project districts (12%). Qualitative data suggested that the PSG model was a valuable sub-level of CHW organization associated with improved CHW performance, supervision, and social capital. Conclusions: The iCCM model implemented by Kabeho Mwana resulted in greater improvements in care-seeking than those seen in the rest of the country. Intensive monitoring, collaborative supervision, community mobilization, and CHW PSGs contributed to this success. The PSGs were a unique contribution of the project, playing a critical role in improving care-seeking in project districts. Effective implementation of iCCM should therefore include CHW management and social support mechanisms. Finally, re-analysis of national survey data improved evaluation findings by providing impact estimates. PMID:25276593

Health-related quality of life research and the capability approach of Amartya Sen.

PubMed

Verkerk, M A; Busschbach, J J; Karssing, E D

2001-01-01

Standardised health-related quality of life questionnaires play an increasing role as measures of outcome in the evaluation of health care interventions. However, problems can arise when the selected functions or dimensions of such standardised measures are not in line with the intervention that is the focus of the research. Furthermore, the subjective element of quality of life makes standardised questionnaires vulnerable to the coping mechanism, thereby decreasing their sensitivity. The capability approach of the economist and philosopher Amartya Sen offers a descriptive concept that contributes to a better understanding of these problems. This article provides an introduction to the ideas of Sen for researchers who wish to go beyond the traditional framework of measuring health-related quality of life.

Deficits in Go and NoGo P3 potentials in patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Ertekin, Erhan; Üçok, Alp; Keskin-Ergen, Yasemin; Devrim-Üçok, Müge

2017-08-01

Cognitive control processes elicited during a cued continuous performance test were evaluated using event-related potentials in 46 patients who were within the first 5 years of diagnosis of schizophrenia, and 29 healthy controls. Patients had longer reaction times, lower hit rates, and higher false alarm rates compared with controls. Patients had an overall P3 amplitude reduction that was more prominent on NoGo compared with Go trials. This greater P3 reduction on NoGo trials was present in central and parietal regions, but was absent in the frontal region, where the P3 reduction was comparable on NoGo and Go trials. Our findings suggest that the neural activity contributing to Go and NoGo P3s are both deteriorated in schizophrenia, but those contributing to central and parietal NoGo P3s are the most severely affected ones. We conclude that the cognitive control processes engaged during execution, and particularly during inhibition of a prepared motor response were disturbed in the early course of schizophrenia. Our findings might be related to our sample being in relatively early stages of schizophrenia and/or related to the use of atypical antipsychotics by most of our patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Object relations predicts borderline personality disorder symptoms beyond emotional dysregulation, negative affect, and impulsivity.

PubMed

Huprich, Steven K; Nelson, Sharon M; Paggeot, Amy; Lengu, Ketrin; Albright, Jeremy

2017-01-01

Many studies have determined that the traits of emotional dysregulation, negative affect, and impulsivity are the strongest predictors of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Although psychodynamic, empirically supported BPD treatments (i.e., transference-focused, mentalization based) focus upon changing the internal representations of self and other, no studies have simultaneously evaluated the contribution of object relations in relation to these traits in predicting BPD symptoms. This study sought to determine the combined effects of emotional dysregulation, negative affect, impulsivity, and object relations in the prediction of BPD through the use of mediation modeling in 4 a priori hypothesized relationships among these variables. One hundred sixty-nine psychiatric outpatients and 171 undergraduate students were evaluated with self-reported trait and object relations measures and were administered 2 semistructured diagnostic interviews for BPD. Although all trait and object relations measures were correlated with BPD symptoms, the best fitting model was one in which object relations partially mediated the relationship of negative affect and impulsivity with BPD symptoms. Direct effects of the traits were also observed in mediation. Self-reported object relational quality had more of an effect on the prediction of BPD than previously recognized within a trait-framework, thus further supporting the model explicated in psychodynamic and relationally based treatments for BPD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Ensuring the Quality of Evidence: Using the Best Design to Answer Health IT Questions.

PubMed

Weir, Charlene R

2016-01-01

The quality of logic in a research design determines the value of the results and our confidence regarding the validity of the findings. The purpose of this contribution is to review the principles of research design as they apply to research and evaluation in health IT. We review the architecture of research design, the definitions of cause, sources of bias and confounds, and the importance of measurement as related to the various types of health IT questions. The goal is to provide practitioners a roadmap for making decisions for their own specific study. The contribution is organized around the Threats to Validity taxonomy and explains how different design models address these threats through the use of blocking, factorial design, control groups and time series analysis. The contribution discusses randomized experiments, and includes regression discontinuity designs and various quasi-experimental designs with a special emphasis on how to improve pre/post designs. At the end, general recommendations are provided for improving weaker designs and general research procedures.

Determination of dose distributions and parameter sensitivity. Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project; dose code recovery activities; Calculation 005

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

Napier, B.A.; Farris, W.T.; Simpson, J.C.

1992-12-01

A series of scoping calculations has been undertaken to evaluate the absolute and relative contribution of different radionuclides and exposure pathways to doses that may have been received by individuals living in the vicinity of the Hanford site. This scoping calculation (Calculation 005) examined the contributions of numerous parameters to the uncertainty distribution of doses calculated for environmental exposures and accumulation in foods. This study builds on the work initiated in the first scoping study of iodine in cow`s milk and the third scoping study, which added additional pathways. Addressed in this calculation were the contributions to thyroid dose ofmore » infants from (1) air submersion and groundshine external dose, (2) inhalation, (3) ingestion of soil by humans, (4) ingestion of leafy vegetables, (5) ingestion of other vegetables and fruits, (6) ingestion of meat, (7) ingestion of eggs, and (8) ingestion of cows` milk from Feeding Regime 1 as described in Calculation 001.« less

[Effective size of the early-run sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka population of Lake Azabach'e, Kamchatka Peninsula evaluation of the effect of interaction between subpopulations within a subdivided population].

PubMed

Efremov, V V

2005-05-01

The effect of subdivision on the effective size (Ne) of the early-run sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka population of Lake Azabach'e (Kamchatka Peninsula) has been studied. The mode of this effect is determined by the relative productivity of the subpopulations and its magnitude, by the rate of individual migration among subpopulations and genetic differentiation. If the contributions of subpopulations (offspring numbers) are different, genetic differentiation can reduce the Ne of the subdivided population. At equal subpopulation contributions, genetic differentiation always increases the Ne of the subdivided population in comparison with a panmictic population. We have found that all sockeye salmon subpopulations of Azabach'e Lake produce equal offspring numbers contributing to the next generation. The genetic differentiation between sockeye salmon subpopulations is low, and the subdivision increases the Ne of the early-run race with reference to the sum of the effective sizes of the subpopulations by as little as 2%.

Bacterial transformation and biodegradation processes simulation in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands using CWM1-RETRASO.

PubMed

Llorens, Esther; Saaltink, Maarten W; Poch, Manel; García, Joan

2011-01-01

The performance and reliability of the CWM1-RETRASO model for simulating processes in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (HSSF CWs) and the relative contribution of different microbial reactions to organic matter (COD) removal in a HSSF CW treating urban wastewater were evaluated. Various different approaches with diverse influent configurations were simulated. According to the simulations, anaerobic processes were more widespread in the simulated wetland and contributed to a higher COD removal rate [72-79%] than anoxic [0-1%] and aerobic reactions [20-27%] did. In all the cases tested, the reaction that most contributed to COD removal was methanogenesis [58-73%]. All results provided by the model were in consonance with literature and experimental field observations, suggesting a good performance and reliability of CWM1-RETRASO. According to the good simulation predictions, CWM1-RETRASO is the first mechanistic model able to successfully simulate the processes described by the CWM1 model in HSSF CWs. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Paid Work and Domestic Labor in Disadvantaged Communities on the Outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon

PubMed Central

Nuwayhid, Iman A.; Yeretzian, Joumana S.

2007-01-01

This article explored the association between economic activity and the contribution to domestic labor in a Middle Eastern society. Analyses were carried out on cross-sectional survey data from 5,998 individuals, aged between 18 and 64 years, in three poor communities in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Domestic labor was evaluated with a composite index that takes into account both the type of task performed and the level of involvement. Housework categories included core household chores, care giving, financial management, home management, and home/car maintenance. Results showed that women continue to do most of the domestic labor in the three communities. However, women's load of domestic labor decreased as they joined the labor market, whereas men's contribution to domestic labor increased with involvement in paid work. Relatively speaking, the difference in contribution to housework between house members engaged and not engaged in paid labor was much higher for women than it was for men. PMID:17372618

CALiPER Exploratory Study: Accounting for Uncertainty in Lumen Measurements

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

Bergman, Rolf; Paget, Maria L.; Richman, Eric E.

2011-03-31

With a well-defined and shared understanding of uncertainty in lumen measurements, testing laboratories can better evaluate their processes, contributing to greater consistency and credibility of lighting testing a key component of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Commercially Available LED Product Evaluation and Reporting (CALiPER) program. Reliable lighting testing is a crucial underlying factor contributing toward the success of many energy-efficient lighting efforts, such as the DOE GATEWAY demonstrations, Lighting Facts Label, ENERGY STAR® energy efficient lighting programs, and many others. Uncertainty in measurements is inherent to all testing methodologies, including photometric and other lighting-related testing. Uncertainty exists for allmore » equipment, processes, and systems of measurement in individual as well as combined ways. A major issue with testing and the resulting accuracy of the tests is the uncertainty of the complete process. Individual equipment uncertainties are typically identified, but their relative value in practice and their combined value with other equipment and processes in the same test are elusive concepts, particularly for complex types of testing such as photometry. The total combined uncertainty of a measurement result is important for repeatable and comparative measurements for light emitting diode (LED) products in comparison with other technologies as well as competing products. This study provides a detailed and step-by-step method for determining uncertainty in lumen measurements, working closely with related standards efforts and key industry experts. This report uses the structure proposed in the Guide to Uncertainty Measurements (GUM) for evaluating and expressing uncertainty in measurements. The steps of the procedure are described and a spreadsheet format adapted for integrating sphere and goniophotometric uncertainty measurements is provided for entering parameters, ordering the information, calculating intermediate values and, finally, obtaining expanded uncertainties. Using this basis and examining each step of the photometric measurement and calibration methods, mathematical uncertainty models are developed. Determination of estimated values of input variables is discussed. Guidance is provided for the evaluation of the standard uncertainties of each input estimate, covariances associated with input estimates and the calculation of the result measurements. With this basis, the combined uncertainty of the measurement results and finally, the expanded uncertainty can be determined.« less

Protocol of the PLeural Effusion And Symptom Evaluation (PLEASE) study on the pathophysiology of breathlessness in patients with symptomatic pleural effusions.

PubMed

Thomas, Rajesh; Azzopardi, Maree; Muruganandan, Sanjeevan; Read, Catherine; Murray, Kevin; Eastwood, Peter; Jenkins, Sue; Singh, Bhajan; Lee, Y C Gary

2016-08-03

Pleural effusion is a common clinical problem that can complicate many medical conditions. Breathlessness is the most common symptom of pleural effusion of any cause and the most common reason for pleural drainage. However, improvement in breathlessness following drainage of an effusion is variable; some patients experience either no benefit or a worsening of their breathlessness. The physiological mechanisms underlying breathlessness in patients with a pleural effusion are unclear and likely to be multifactorial with patient-related and effusion-related factors contributing. A comprehensive study of the physiological and symptom responses to drainage of pleural effusions may provide a clearer understanding of these mechanisms, and may identify predictors of benefit from drainage. The ability to identify those patients whose breathlessness will (or will not) improve after pleural fluid drainage can help avoid unnecessary pleural drainage procedures, their associated morbidities and costs. The PLeural Effusion And Symptom Evaluation (PLEASE) study is a prospective study to comprehensively evaluate factors contributing to pleural effusion-related breathlessness. The PLEASE study is a single-centre prospective study of 150 patients with symptomatic pleural effusions that require therapeutic drainage. The study aims to identify key factors that underlie breathlessness in patients with pleural effusions and develop predictors of improvement in breathlessness following effusion drainage. Participants will undergo evaluation pre-effusion and post-effusion drainage to assess their level of breathlessness at rest and during exercise, respiratory and other physiological responses as well as respiratory muscle mechanics. Pre-drainage and post-drainage parameters will be collected and compared to identify the key factors and mechanisms that correlate with improvement in breathlessness. Approved by the Sir Charles Gairdner Group Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC number 2014-079). Registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12616000820404). Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific meetings. ACTRN12616000820404; Pre-results. 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/

Evaluation of the Contributions of Individual Viral Genes to Newcastle Disease Virus Virulence and Pathogenesis

PubMed Central

Paldurai, Anandan; Kim, Shin-Hee; Nayak, Baibaswata; Xiao, Sa; Shive, Heather; Collins, Peter L.

2014-01-01

ABSTRACT Naturally occurring Newcastle disease virus (NDV) strains vary greatly in virulence. The presence of multibasic residues at the proteolytic cleavage site of the fusion (F) protein has been shown to be a primary determinant differentiating virulent versus avirulent strains. However, there is wide variation in virulence among virulent strains. There also are examples of incongruity between cleavage site sequence and virulence. These observations suggest that additional viral factors contribute to virulence. In this study, we evaluated the contribution of each viral gene to virulence individually and in different combinations by exchanging genes between velogenic (highly virulent) strain GB Texas (GBT) and mesogenic (moderately virulent) strain Beaudette C (BC). These two strains are phylogenetically closely related, and their F proteins contain identical cleavage site sequences, 112RRQKR↓F117. A total of 20 chimeric viruses were constructed and evaluated in vitro, in 1-day-old chicks, and in 2-week-old chickens. The results showed that both the envelope-associated and polymerase-associated proteins contribute to the difference in virulence between rBC and rGBT, with the envelope-associated proteins playing the greater role. The F protein was the major individual contributor and was sometimes augmented by the homologous M and HN proteins. The dramatic effect of F was independent of its cleavage site sequence since that was identical in the two strains. The polymerase L protein was the next major individual contributor and was sometimes augmented by the homologous N and P proteins. The leader and trailer regions did not appear to contribute to the difference in virulence between BC and GBT. IMPORTANCE This study is the first comprehensive and systematic study of NDV virulence and pathogenesis. Genetic exchanges between a mesogenic and a velogenic strain revealed that the fusion glycoprotein is the major virulence determinant regardless of the identical virulence protease cleavage site sequence present in both strains. The contribution of the large polymerase protein to NDV virulence is second only to that of the fusion glycoprotein. The identification of virulence determinants is of considerable importance, because of the potential to generate better live attenuated NDV vaccines. It may also be possible to apply these findings to other paramyxoviruses. PMID:24850737

Approximating genomic reliabilities for national genomic evaluation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

With the introduction of standard methods for approximating effective daughter/data contribution by Interbull in 2001, conventional EDC or reliabilities contributed by daughter phenotypes are directly comparable across countries and used in routine conventional evaluations. In order to make publishe...

[Evaluation for extraction process of Shenqi Tongmai Yizhi particles based on antioxidant capacity in vitro and its spectrum-effect relation].

PubMed

Zhang, Xiao-Li; Liu, Yu-Ling; Fan, Li-Jiao; Wang, Yue-Liang; Chen, Kai; Li, Hui

2016-05-01

Based on DPPH method, the antioxidant activities of Shenqi Tongmai Yizhi particles with different extraction processes were compared. The contribution to the anti-oxidant capacity in vitro was explored by means of grey relational analysis on different chemical compositions in the fingerprint. The results showed that the IC₅₀ concentration values of water extract, water extract from alcohol precipitation, alcohol extract, and alcohol and water extract were 0.801 4, 0.859 1, 0.796 1, 0.918 0 g•L⁻¹; and the alcohol extract is the best method to extract antioxidative components, with the highest antioxidant activity and lowest IC₅₀. When the mass concentration of the herbs reached a certain degree, its free radical clearance rate was similar to that of vitamin C control group. The order of different chemical contributions of constituents to the antioxidant activity in the fingerprint was 4>3>33>53>9>10>11>34>15>59>8>61>52>20>42>18>29. The preliminary exploration for the spectrum efficiency relations provides reference for studying traditional Chinese medicine compound processing method and the pharmacodyamic material basis. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

GIS-based multielement source analysis of dustfall in Beijing: A study of 40 major and trace elements.

PubMed

Luo, Nana; An, Li; Nara, Atsushi; Yan, Xing; Zhao, Wenji

2016-06-01

Dust, as an important carrier of inorganic and organic pollutants, daily exposes to human without any protection. It affects our health adversely, especially its chemical elements and ions. In this research, we investigated the chemical characteristics of dustfall in Beijing, specifically in terms of 40 major and trace elements, and presented semi-quantitative evaluations of the relative local and remote contributions. In total, 58 samples were collected in Beijing and nearby cities during 2013-2014 "the winter heating period". Using multiple statistical methods and GIS techniques, we obtained the relative similarities among certain elements and identified their pollution sources (from local or nearby cities). And more interestingly, the relative contributions of nearby cities can be calculated by the Hysplit4 backward-trajectory model. In addition, the correlation analysis for the 40 elements in dust and soil indicated that traffic restricted interchange between them; the city center, with the heaviest traffic, had the most significant influence. Finally, the resulting source apportionment was examined and modified using land use data and terrain information. We hope it can provide a strong basis for the environmental protection and risk assessment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Target fragmentation in radiobiology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, John W.; Cucinotta, Francis A.; Shinn, Judy L.; Townsend, Lawrence W.

1993-01-01

Nuclear reactions in biological systems produce low-energy fragments of the target nuclei seen as local high events of linear energy transfer (LET). A nuclear-reaction formalism is used to evaluate the nuclear-induced fields within biosystems and their effects within several biological models. On the basis of direct ionization interaction, one anticipates high-energy protons to have a quality factor and relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of unity. Target fragmentation contributions raise the effective quality factor of 10 GeV protons to 3.3 in reasonable agreement with RBE values for induced micronuclei in bean sprouts. Application of the Katz model indicates that the relative increase in RBE with decreasing exposure observed in cell survival experiments with 160 MeV protons is related solely to target fragmentation events. Target fragment contributions to lens opacity given an RBE of 1.4 for 2 GeV protons in agreement with the work of Lett and Cox. Predictions are made for the effective RBE for Harderian gland tumors induced by high-energy protons. An exposure model for lifetime cancer risk is derived from NCRP 98 risk tables, and protraction effects are examined for proton and helium ion exposures. The implications of dose rate enhancement effects on space radiation protection are considered.

Nuisance Flooding and Relative Sea-Level Rise: the Importance of Present-Day Land Motion.

PubMed

Karegar, Makan A; Dixon, Timothy H; Malservisi, Rocco; Kusche, Jürgen; Engelhart, Simon E

2017-09-11

Sea-level rise is beginning to cause increased inundation of many low-lying coastal areas. While most of Earth's coastal areas are at risk, areas that will be affected first are characterized by several additional factors. These include regional oceanographic and meteorological effects and/or land subsidence that cause relative sea level to rise faster than the global average. For catastrophic coastal flooding, when wind-driven storm surge inundates large areas, the relative contribution of sea-level rise to the frequency of these events is difficult to evaluate. For small scale "nuisance flooding," often associated with high tides, recent increases in frequency are more clearly linked to sea-level rise and global warming. While both types of flooding are likely to increase in the future, only nuisance flooding is an early indicator of areas that will eventually experience increased catastrophic flooding and land loss. Here we assess the frequency and location of nuisance flooding along the eastern seaboard of North America. We show that vertical land motion induced by recent anthropogenic activity and glacial isostatic adjustment are contributing factors for increased nuisance flooding. Our results have implications for flood susceptibility, forecasting and mitigation, including management of groundwater extraction from coastal aquifers.

Equity theory and fair inequality: a neuroeconomic study.

PubMed

Cappelen, Alexander W; Eichele, Tom; Hugdahl, Kenneth; Specht, Karsten; Sørensen, Erik Ø; Tungodden, Bertil

2014-10-28

The present paper reports results from, to our knowledge, the first study designed to examine the neuronal responses to income inequality in situations in which individuals have made different contributions in terms of work effort. We conducted an experiment that included a prescanning phase in which the participants earned money by working, and a neuronal scanning phase in which we examined how the brain responded when the participants evaluated different distributions of their earnings. We provide causal evidence for the relative contribution of work effort being crucial for understanding the hemodynamic response in the brain to inequality. We found a significant hemodynamic response in the striatum to deviations from the distribution of income that was proportional to work effort, but found no effect of deviations from the equal distribution of income. We also observed a striking correlation between the hemodynamic response in the striatum and the self-reported evaluation of the income distributions. Our results provide, to our knowledge, the first set of neuronal evidence for equity theory and suggest that people distinguish between fair and unfair inequalities.

Edge momentum transport by neutrals: an interpretive numerical framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omotani, J. T.; Newton, S. L.; Pusztai, I.; Viezzer, E.; Fülöp, T.; The ASDEX Upgrade Team

2017-06-01

Due to their high cross-field mobility, neutrals can contribute to momentum transport even at the low relative densities found inside the separatrix and they can generate intrinsic rotation. We use a charge-exchange dominated solution to the neutral kinetic equation, coupled to neoclassical ions, to evaluate the momentum transport due to neutrals. Numerical solutions to the drift-kinetic equation allow us to cover the full range of collisionality, including the intermediate levels typical of the tokamak edge. In the edge there are several processes likely to contribute to momentum transport in addition to neutrals. Therefore, we present here an interpretive framework that can evaluate the momentum transport through neutrals based on radial plasma profiles. We demonstrate its application by analysing the neutral angular momentum flux for an L-mode discharge in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. The magnitudes of the angular momentum fluxes we find here due to neutrals of 0.6-2 \\text{N} \\text{m} are comparable to the net torque on the plasma from neutral beam injection, indicating the importance of neutrals for rotation in the edge.

Contributions of cultural services to the ecosystem services agenda

PubMed Central

Daniel, Terry C.; Muhar, Andreas; Arnberger, Arne; Aznar, Olivier; Boyd, James W.; Chan, Kai M. A.; Costanza, Robert; Elmqvist, Thomas; Flint, Courtney G.; Gobster, Paul H.; Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne; Lave, Rebecca; Muhar, Susanne; Penker, Marianne; Ribe, Robert G.; Schauppenlehner, Thomas; Sikor, Thomas; Soloviy, Ihor; Spierenburg, Marja; Taczanowska, Karolina; Tam, Jordan; von der Dunk, Andreas

2012-01-01

Cultural ecosystem services (ES) are consistently recognized but not yet adequately defined or integrated within the ES framework. A substantial body of models, methods, and data relevant to cultural services has been developed within the social and behavioral sciences before and outside of the ES approach. A selective review of work in landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage, outdoor recreation, and spiritual significance demonstrates opportunities for operationally defining cultural services in terms of socioecological models, consistent with the larger set of ES. Such models explicitly link ecological structures and functions with cultural values and benefits, facilitating communication between scientists and stakeholders and enabling economic, multicriterion, deliberative evaluation and other methods that can clarify tradeoffs and synergies involving cultural ES. Based on this approach, a common representation is offered that frames cultural services, along with all ES, by the relative contribution of relevant ecological structures and functions and by applicable social evaluation approaches. This perspective provides a foundation for merging ecological and social science epistemologies to define and integrate cultural services better within the broader ES framework. PMID:22615401

A novel three-dimensional smile analysis based on dynamic evaluation of facial curve contour

PubMed Central

Lin, Yi; Lin, Han; Lin, Qiuping; Zhang, Jinxin; Zhu, Ping; Lu, Yao; Zhao, Zhi; Lv, Jiahong; Lee, Mln Kyeong; Xu, Yue

2016-01-01

The influence of three-dimensional facial contour and dynamic evaluation decoding on factors of smile esthetics is essential for facial beauty improvement. However, the kinematic features of the facial smile contour and the contribution from the soft tissue and underlying skeleton are uncharted. Here, the cheekbone-maxilla contour and nasolabial fold were combined into a “smile contour” delineating the overall facial topography emerges prominently in smiling. We screened out the stable and unstable points on the smile contour using facial motion capture and curve fitting, before analyzing the correlation between soft tissue coordinates and hard tissue counterparts of the screened points. Our finding suggests that the mouth corner region was the most mobile area characterizing smile expression, while the other areas remained relatively stable. Therefore, the perioral area should be evaluated dynamically while the static assessment outcome of other parts of the smile contour contribute partially to their dynamic esthetics. Moreover, different from the end piece, morphologies of the zygomatic area and the superior part of the nasolabial crease were determined largely by the skeleton in rest, implying the latter can be altered by orthopedic or orthodontic correction and the former better improved by cosmetic procedures to improve the beauty of smile. PMID:26911450

A novel three-dimensional smile analysis based on dynamic evaluation of facial curve contour

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Yi; Lin, Han; Lin, Qiuping; Zhang, Jinxin; Zhu, Ping; Lu, Yao; Zhao, Zhi; Lv, Jiahong; Lee, Mln Kyeong; Xu, Yue

2016-02-01

The influence of three-dimensional facial contour and dynamic evaluation decoding on factors of smile esthetics is essential for facial beauty improvement. However, the kinematic features of the facial smile contour and the contribution from the soft tissue and underlying skeleton are uncharted. Here, the cheekbone-maxilla contour and nasolabial fold were combined into a “smile contour” delineating the overall facial topography emerges prominently in smiling. We screened out the stable and unstable points on the smile contour using facial motion capture and curve fitting, before analyzing the correlation between soft tissue coordinates and hard tissue counterparts of the screened points. Our finding suggests that the mouth corner region was the most mobile area characterizing smile expression, while the other areas remained relatively stable. Therefore, the perioral area should be evaluated dynamically while the static assessment outcome of other parts of the smile contour contribute partially to their dynamic esthetics. Moreover, different from the end piece, morphologies of the zygomatic area and the superior part of the nasolabial crease were determined largely by the skeleton in rest, implying the latter can be altered by orthopedic or orthodontic correction and the former better improved by cosmetic procedures to improve the beauty of smile.

Perinatal health services organization for preterm births: a multinational comparison.

PubMed

Kelly, L E; Shah, P S; Håkansson, S; Kusuda, S; Adams, M; Lee, S K; Sjörs, G; Vento, M; Rusconi, F; Lehtonen, L; Reichman, B; Darlow, B A; Lui, K; Feliciano, L S; Gagliardi, L; Bassler, D; Modi, N

2017-07-01

To explore population characteristics, organization of health services and comparability of available information for very low birth weight or very preterm neonates born before 32 weeks' gestation in 11 high-income countries contributing data to the International Network for Evaluating Outcomes of Neonates (iNeo). We obtained population characteristics from public domain sources, conducted a survey of organization of maternal and neonatal health services and evaluated the comparability of data contributed to the iNeo collaboration from Australia, Canada, Finland, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and UK. All countries have nationally funded maternal/neonatal health care with >90% of women receiving prenatal care. Preterm birth rate, maternal age, and neonatal and infant mortality rates were relatively similar across countries. Most (50 to >95%) between-hospital transports of neonates born at non-tertiary units were conducted by designated transport teams; 72% (8/11 countries) had designated transfer and 63% (7/11 countries) mandate the presence of a physician. The capacity of 'step-down' units varied between countries, with capacity for respiratory care available in <10% to >75% of units. Heterogeneity in data collection processes for benchmarking and quality improvement activities were identified. Comparability of healthcare outcomes for very preterm low birth weight neonates between countries requires an evaluation of differences in population coverage, healthcare services and meta-data.

Examining the relationships between span of control and manager job and unit performance outcomes.

PubMed

Wong, Carol A; Elliott-Miller, Pat; Laschinger, Heather; Cuddihy, Michael; Meyer, Raquel M; Keatings, Margaret; Burnett, Camille; Szudy, Natalie

2015-03-01

Our aim was to examine the combination of frontline manager (FLM) personal characteristics and span of control (SOC) on their job and unit performance outcomes. Healthcare downsizing and reform have contributed to larger spans for FLMs in Canadian hospitals and increased concerns about manager workload. Despite a heightened awareness of SOC issues among decision makers, there is limited empirical evidence related to the effects of SOC on outcomes. A non-experimental predictive survey design was used to examine FLM SOC in 14 Canadian academic hospitals. Managers (n = 121) completed an online survey of work characteristics and The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) SOC tool. Unit turnover data were collected from organisational databases. The combination of SOC and core self-evaluation significantly predicted role overload, work control and job satisfaction, but only SOC predicted unit adverse outcomes and neither significantly predicted unit turnover. The findings contribute to an understanding of connections between the combination of SOC and core self-evaluation and manager job and unit performance outcomes. Organisational strategies to create manageable FLM SOC are essential to ensure exemplary job and unit outcomes. Core self-evaluation is a personality characteristic that may enhance manager performance in the face of high spans of control. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Contributions of mobile, stationary and biogenic sources to air pollution in the Amazon rainforest: a numerical study with the WRF-Chem model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abou Rafee, Sameh A.; Martins, Leila D.; Kawashima, Ana B.; Almeida, Daniela S.; Morais, Marcos V. B.; Souza, Rita V. A.; Oliveira, Maria B. L.; Souza, Rodrigo A. F.; Medeiros, Adan S. S.; Urbina, Viviana; Freitas, Edmilson D.; Martin, Scot T.; Martins, Jorge A.

2017-06-01

This paper evaluates the contributions of the emissions from mobile, stationary and biogenic sources on air pollution in the Amazon rainforest by using the Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model. The analyzed air pollutants were CO, NOx, SO2, O3, PM2. 5, PM10 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Five scenarios were defined in order to evaluate the emissions by biogenic, mobile and stationary sources, as well as a future scenario to assess the potential air quality impact of doubled anthropogenic emissions. The stationary sources explain the highest concentrations for all air pollutants evaluated, except for CO, for which the mobile sources are predominant. The anthropogenic sources considered resulted an increasing in the spatial peak-temporal average concentrations of pollutants in 3 to 2780 times in relation to those with only biogenic sources. The future scenario showed an increase in the range of 3 to 62 % in average concentrations and 45 to 109 % in peak concentrations depending on the pollutant. In addition, the spatial distributions of the scenarios has shown that the air pollution plume from the city of Manaus is predominantly transported west and southwest, and it can reach hundreds of kilometers in length.

Acute hematogenous septic arthritis of the knee in adults.

PubMed

Sreenivas, T; Nataraj, A R; Menon, Jagdish

2013-10-01

To evaluate the factors associated with acute hematogenous septic arthritis of the knee in adults and to assess the outcome after open knee arthrotomy. We performed a prospective evaluation of 26 adult patients with acute nongonococcal septic arthritis of the knee presenting within 7 days. All patients underwent open knee arthrotomy, and final evaluation by means of Knee society score of the affected knee was compared with the contra lateral normal knee. The average duration of symptoms at the time of presentation was 3.9 days. Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest bacteria isolated in 17 (65.4 %) patients. The average duration of follow-up in our study was 18.5 months. In our study, Knee society score decreases as the age of the patient advances (P < 0.05) and also it was found to be low (P < 0.05) in the affected knee as compared to contra lateral normal knee. Our study shows that age of the patient at presentation is critical as it shows significant reduction in knee score. This explains that the septic arthritis may contribute to the progression of age-related degeneration of the knee joint. There appears to be no definite contributing factors or conditions associated with acute hematogenous septic arthritis of the knee in adults, although further study may be warranted regarding this matter.

Prior knowledge-based approach for associating ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Evaluating the potential human health and/or ecological risks associated with exposures to complex chemical mixtures in the ambient environment is one of the central challenges of chemical safety assessment and environmental protection. There is a need for approaches that can help to integrate chemical monitoring and bio-effects data to evaluate risks associated with chemicals present in the environment. We used prior knowledge about chemical-gene interactions to develop a knowledge assembly model for detected chemicals at five locations near two wastewater treatment plants. The assembly model was used to generate hypotheses about the biological impacts of the chemicals at each location. The hypotheses were tested using empirical hepatic gene expression data from fathead minnows exposed for 12 d at each location. Empirical gene expression data was also mapped to the assembly models to statistically evaluate the likelihood of a chemical contributing to the observed biological responses. The prior knowledge approach was able reasonably hypothesize the biological impacts at one site but not the other. Chemicals most likely contributing to the observed biological responses were identified at each location. Despite limitations to the approach, knowledge assembly models have strong potential for associating chemical occurrence with potential biological effects and providing a foundation for hypothesis generation to guide research and/or monitoring efforts relat

An evaluation of author productivity in international radiography journals 2004–2011

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

Snaith, Beverly A

Radiography, the allied health profession, has changed beyond recognition over the last century; however, in academic terms radiography is a relatively young profession. It is therefore still establishing its professional knowledge base. This article uses peer-review author productivity distribution to evaluate its scholarly maturity. Four peer-reviewed journals in medical radiation sciences were examined over an 8-year period (2004–2011) and author productivity was compared to Lotka's law. Further analysis of the most prolific authors provided an evaluation of their characteristics. The 1306 unique authors contributed 835 articles during the study period. Of these, 1012 (77.5%) contributed only one article to themore » journals studied, with an inverse power relationship of author productivity. At the 0.1 level of significance, radiography does not fit Lotka's law (n = −2.334; c = 0.712; D{sub max} = 0.0627; Critical threshold = 0.0337). There was a significant correlation between the most prolific authors and collaboration (P = 0.002), although variation was noted in author discipline and location. The results of this study add to the discussion of radiography scholarship and demonstrate that the radiography authors have similar productivity distribution to other professions, but do not follow Lotka's law.« less

How People Reason: A Grounded Theory Study of Scientific Reasoning about Global Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Shiyu

Scientific reasoning is crucial in both scientific inquiry and everyday life. While the majority of researchers have studied "how people reason" by focusing on their cognitive processes, factors related to the underpinnings of scientific reasoning are still under-researched. The present study aimed to develop a grounded theory that captures not only the cognitive processes during reasoning but also their underpinnings. In particular, the grounded theory and phenomenographic methodologies were integrated to explore how undergraduate students reason about competing theories and evidence on global climate change. Twenty-six undergraduate students were recruited through theoretical sampling. Constant comparative analysis of responses from interviews and written assessments revealed that participants were mostly drawn to the surface features when reasoning about evidence. While prior knowledge might not directly contribute to participants' performance on evidence evaluation, it affected their level of engagement when reading and evaluating competing arguments on climate issues. More importantly, even though all participants acknowledged the relative correctness of multiple perspectives, they predominantly favored arguments that supported their own beliefs with weak scientific reasoning about the opposing arguments. Additionally, factors such as personal interests, religious beliefs, and reading capacity were also found to have bearings on the way participants evaluated evidence and arguments. In all, this work contributes to the current endeavors in exploring the nature of scientific reasoning. Taking a holistic perspective, it provides an in-depth discussion of factors that may affect or relate to scientific reasoning processes. Furthermore, in comparison with traditional methods used in the literature, the methodological approach employed in this work brought an innovative insight into the investigation of scientific reasoning. Last but not least, this research may help initiate further discussion regarding how to bridge cognitive research with science education to promote student learning of complex scientific issues such as global climate change.

Vaginal birth and de novo stress incontinence: Relative contributions of urethral dysfunction and mobility

PubMed Central

DeLancey, John O. L.; Miller, Janis M.; Kearney, Rohna; Howard, Denise; Reddy, Pranathi; Umek, Wolfgang; Guire, Kenneth E.; Margulies, Rebecca U.; Ashton-Miller, James A.

2009-01-01

Background Vaginal birth increases the chance a woman will develop stress incontinence. This study evaluates the relative contributions of urethral mobility and urethral function to stress incontinence. Methods This is a case-control study with group matching. Eighty primiparous women with self-reported new stress incontinence 9–12 months postpartum were compared to 80 primiparous continent controls to identify impairments specific to stress incontinence. Eighty nulliparous continent controls were evaluated as a comparison group to allow us to determine birth-related changes not associated with stress incontinence. Urethral function was measured with urethral profilometry, and vesical neck mobility was assessed with ultrasound and Q-tip test. Urethral sphincter anatomy and mobility were evaluated using MRI. The association between urethral closure pressure, vesical neck movement, and incontinence were explored using logistic regression. Results Urethral closure pressure in primiparous incontinent women (62.9 +/− 25.2 s.d. cm H20) was lower than in primiparous continent women (83.0 +/− 21.0, p<0.001; effect size d= 0.91) who were similar to nulliparous women (90.3 +/− 25.0, p=0.09). Vesical neck movement measured during cough with ultrasound was the mobility parameter most associated with stress incontinence; 15.6 +/− 6.2 mm in incontinent women versus 10.9 +/− 6.2 in primiparous continent women (p < 0.0001, d = 0.75) or nulliparas (9.9 +/− 5.0, p=0.33). Logistic regression disclosed the two-variable model (max-rescaled R2 =0.37, p < 0.0001) was more strongly associated with stress incontinence than either single variable models, urethral closure pressure (R2 = 0.25, p <0.0001) or vesical neck movement (R2 = 0.16 p < 0.0001). Conclusions Lower maximal urethral closure pressure is the parameter most associated with de novo stress incontinence after first vaginal birth followed by vesical neck mobility. PMID:17666611

The relative contribution of the precipitation and evapotranspiration on total terrestrial water storage change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Y.

2017-12-01

Changes of global terrestrial water storage (TWS) retrieved from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission has been extensively evaluated by previous studies. However, attributions of global TWS changes are still poorly understood. In this study, the responses TWS to two most important surface water fluxes, precipitation (P) and evapotranspiration (ET), were comprehensively examined based on 3 global P datasets and 3 global ET datasets. In addition, the relative contribution of P and ET to TWS changes were quantified using the hierarchical partitioning analysis. Results show that, over the period of Apr. 2002 to July. 2016, more than 40.5% global continent experienced significant TWS decrease, while significant TWS increases were observed over 36% of global continent. A general positive effect of P on TWS was observed over almost all land, but a contrasting response of TWS to ET were identified between arid or cold areas and humid areas with positive and negative TWS-ET relationship, respectively. Global as a whole, precipitation from GPCC and ET simulated by the Noah model forcing by Global land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) has the highest performance in explaining global TWS change. HP analysis suggests that the independent contribution of ET to TWS change is apparently higher than that of P. Furthermore, with the decrease of climate humidity, the contribution of P is decreasing, while the contribution of ET is increasing. Spatially speaking, ET has higher impacts on TWS than P in arid areas, while the opposite function was identified for very humid and cold areas. Knowledge from this study is crucial for the understanding of the response of global TWS change to climate change.

Citizen observations contributing to flood modelling: opportunities and challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Assumpção, Thaine H.; Popescu, Ioana; Jonoski, Andreja; Solomatine, Dimitri P.

2018-02-01

Citizen contributions to science have been successfully implemented in many fields, and water resources is one of them. Through citizens, it is possible to collect data and obtain a more integrated decision-making process. Specifically, data scarcity has always been an issue in flood modelling, which has been addressed in the last decades by remote sensing and is already being discussed in the citizen science context. With this in mind, this article aims to review the literature on the topic and analyse the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. The literature on monitoring, mapping and modelling, was evaluated according to the flood-related variable citizens contributed to. Pros and cons of the collection/analysis methods were summarised. Then, pertinent publications were mapped into the flood modelling cycle, considering how citizen data properties (spatial and temporal coverage, uncertainty and volume) are related to its integration into modelling. It was clear that the number of studies in the area is rising. There are positive experiences reported in collection and analysis methods, for instance with velocity and land cover, and also when modelling is concerned, for example by using social media mining. However, matching the data properties necessary for each part of the modelling cycle with citizen-generated data is still challenging. Nevertheless, the concept that citizen contributions can be used for simulation and forecasting is proved and further work lies in continuing to develop and improve not only methods for collection and analysis, but certainly for integration into models as well. Finally, in view of recent automated sensors and satellite technologies, it is through studies as the ones analysed in this article that the value of citizen contributions, complementing such technologies, is demonstrated.

Assessment of atmospheric trace metal deposition in urban environments using direct and indirect measurement methodology and contributions from wet and dry depositions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omrani, Mehrazin; Ruban, Véronique; Ruban, Gwenaël; Lamprea, Katerine

2017-11-01

Bulk Atmospheric Deposition (BAD), Wet Atmospheric Deposition (WAD) and Dry Atmospheric Deposition (DAD) were all measured within an urban residential area in Nantes (France) over a 9-month period (27 February - 10 December 2014). The objectives of this study were to compare 2 methods for measuring dry and wet atmospheric depositions in the urban environment (DAD and WAD: direct method; BAD and WAD: indirect one), and to characterize as well the variations and relative contributions of these depositions. Trace metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pt and V) were used to carry out these comparison and quantification. BAD was collected with two open polyethylene containers (72 × 54 × 21 cm), while WAD was collected by means of an automated rainwater collector and DAD was determined from both air measurements (recorded by an air sampler) and 7Be deposition velocities. The comparison based on a detailed evaluation of uncertainties showed a significant difference between the direct and indirect methods. Dry and wet depositions varied widely from one month to the next. Zn and Cu were the most abundant elements in both dry and wet depositions. The mean contribution of DAD to the bulk atmospheric deposition during this 9-month study was significant for Zn, Cu and V (about 25%) as well as for Pb (approx. 60%). For this relatively unpolluted urban residential catchment, the contribution of atmospheric deposition to global load at the catchment outlet was low, between 10% and 20% for Zn, Cu, V and Pb, 25% for Cr and about 30% for Ni. For other urban sites exhibiting high atmospheric pollution however, the atmospheric contribution to the global pollution load could be much greater. An accurate and representative estimation of DAD thus proves critical.

An elliptical trainer may render the Wingate all-out test more anaerobic.

PubMed

Ozkaya, Ozgur; Colakoglu, Muzaffer; Kuzucu, Erinc O; Delextrat, Anne

2014-03-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the contribution of the 3 main energy pathways during a 30-second elliptical all-out test (EAT) compared with the Wingate all-out test (WAT). Participants were 12 male team sport players (age, 20.3 ± 1.8 years; body mass, 74.8 ± 12.4 kg; height, 176.0 ± 9.10 cm; body fat, 12.1 ± 1.0%). Net energy outputs from the oxidative, phospholytic, and glycolytic energy systems were calculated from oxygen uptake data recorded during 30-second test, the fast component of postexercise oxygen uptake kinetics, and peak blood lactate concentration, respectively. In addition, mechanical power indices were calculated. The main results showed that compared with WAT, EAT was characterized by significantly lower absolute and relative contributions of the oxidative system (16.9 ± 2.5 J vs. 19.8 ± 4.9 J; p ≤ 0.05 and 11.2 ± 1.5% vs. 15.7 ± 3.28%; p ≤ 0.001). In addition, significantly greater absolute and relative contributions of the phospholytic system (66.1 ± 15.8 J vs. 50.7 ± 15.9 J; p ≤ 0.01 and 43.8 ± 6.62% vs. 39.1 ± 6.87%; p ≤ 0.05) and a significantly greater absolute contribution of the glycolytic system (68.6 ± 18.4 J vs. 57.4 ± 13.7 J; p ≤ 0.01) were observed in EAT compared with WAT. Finally, all power indices, except the fatigue index, were significantly greater in EAT than WAT (p ≤ 0.05). Because of the significantly lower aerobic contribution in EAT compared with WAT, elliptical trainers may be a good alternative to cycle ergometers to assess anaerobic performance in athletes involved in whole-body activities.

Working conditions in the explanation of occupational inequalities in sickness absence in the French SUMER study.

PubMed

Niedhammer, Isabelle; Lesuffleur, Thomas; Memmi, Sarah; Chastang, Jean-François

2017-12-01

Explanations of social inequalities in sickness absence are lacking in the literature. Our objectives were to evaluate the contribution of various occupational exposures in explaining these inequalities in a national representative sample of employees. The study was based on the cross-sectional sample of the SUMER 2010 survey that included 46 962 employees, 26 883 men and 20 079 women. Both sickness absence spells and days within the last 12 months, as health indicators, were studied. Occupation was used as a marker of social position. The study included both psychosocial work factors (variables related to the classical job strain model, psychological demands, decision latitude, social support and understudied variables related to reward, job insecurity, job promotion, esteem, working time/hours and workplace violence) and occupational exposures of chemical, biological, physical and biomechanical nature. Weighted age-adjusted Poisson and negative binomial regression analyses were performed. Strong occupational differences were found for sickness absence spells and days and for exposure to most work factors. Psychosocial work factors contributed to explain occupational differences in sickness absence spells, and the contributing factors were: decision latitude, social support, reward, shift work and workplace violence. Physical exposure, particularly noise, and biomechanical exposure were also found to be contributing factors. Almost no work factor was found to contribute to occupational differences in sickness absence days. Preventive measures at the workplace oriented towards low-skilled occupational groups and both psychosocial work factors and other occupational exposures may be beneficial to reduce sickness absence spells and occupational differences in this outcome. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Health disparities and advertising content of women's magazines: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Duerksen, Susan C; Mikail, Amy; Tom, Laura; Patton, Annie; Lopez, Janina; Amador, Xavier; Vargas, Reynaldo; Victorio, Maria; Kustin, Brenda; Sadler, Georgia Robins

2005-08-18

Disparities in health status among ethnic groups favor the Caucasian population in the United States on almost all major indicators. Disparities in exposure to health-related mass media messages may be among the environmental factors contributing to the racial and ethnic imbalance in health outcomes. This study evaluated whether variations exist in health-related advertisements and health promotion cues among lay magazines catering to Hispanic, African American and Caucasian women. Relative and absolute assessments of all health-related advertising in 12 women's magazines over a three-month period were compared. The four highest circulating, general interest magazines oriented to Black women and to Hispanic women were compared to the four highest-circulating magazines aimed at a mainstream, predominantly White readership. Data were collected and analyzed in 2002 and 2003. Compared to readers of mainstream magazines, readers of African American and Hispanic magazines were exposed to proportionally fewer health-promoting advertisements and more health-diminishing advertisements. Photographs of African American role models were more often used to advertise products with negative health impact than positive health impact, while the reverse was true of Caucasian role models in the mainstream magazines. To the extent that individual levels of health education and awareness can be influenced by advertising, variations in the quantity and content of health-related information among magazines read by different ethnic groups may contribute to racial disparities in health behaviors and health status.

Sex differences in the neuro-immune consequences of stress: Focus on depression and anxiety.

PubMed

Bekhbat, Mandakh; Neigh, Gretchen N

2018-01-01

Women appear to be more vulnerable to the depressogenic effects of inflammation than men. Chronic stress, one of the most pertinent risk factors of depression and anxiety, is known to induce behavioral and affective-like deficits via neuroimmune alterations including activation of the brain's immune cells, pro-inflammatory cytokine expression, and subsequent changes in neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity within stress-related neural circuitry. Despite well-established sexual dimorphisms in the stress response, immunity, and prevalence of stress-linked psychiatric illnesses, much of current research investigating the neuroimmune impact of stress remains exclusively focused on male subjects. We summarize and evaluate here the available data regarding sex differences in the neuro-immune consequences of stress, and some of the physiological factors contributing to these differences. Furthermore, we discuss the extent to which sex differences in stress-related neuroinflammation can account for the overall female bias in stress-linked psychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders. The currently available evidence from rodent studies does not unequivocally support the peripheral inflammatory changes seen in women following stress. Replication of many recent findings in stress-related neuroinflammation in female subjects is necessary in order to build a framework in which we can assess the extent to which sex differences in stress-related inflammation contribute to the overall female bias in stress-related affective disorders. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Social and spatial processes associated with childhood diarrheal disease in Matlab, Bangladesh.

PubMed

Perez-Heydrich, Carolina; Furgurson, Jill M; Giebultowicz, Sophia; Winston, Jennifer J; Yunus, Mohammad; Streatfield, Peter Kim; Emch, Michael

2013-01-01

We develop novel methods for conceptualizing geographic space and social networks to evaluate their respective and combined contributions to childhood diarrheal incidence. After defining maternal networks according to direct familial linkages between females, and road networks using satellite imagery of the study area, we use a spatial econometrics model to evaluate the significance of correlation terms relating childhood diarrheal incidence to the incidence observed within respective networks. Disease was significantly clustered within road networks across time, but only inconsistently correlated within maternal networks. These methods could be widely applied to systems in which both social and spatial processes jointly influence health outcomes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

HTGR plant availability and reliability evaluations. Volume I. Summary of evaluations

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

Cadwallader, G.J.; Hannaman, G.W.; Jacobsen, F.K.

1976-12-01

The report (1) describes a reliability assessment methodology for systematically locating and correcting areas which may contribute to unavailability of new and uniquely designed components and systems, (2) illustrates the methodology by applying it to such components in a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (Public Service Company of Colorado's Fort St. Vrain 330-MW(e) HTGR), and (3) compares the results of the assessment with actual experience. The methodology can be applied to any component or system; however, it is particularly valuable for assessments of components or systems which provide essential functions, or the failure or mishandling of which could result in relatively largemore » economic losses.« less

The data quality analyzer: a quality control program for seismic data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ringler, Adam; Hagerty, M.T.; Holland, James F.; Gonzales, A.; Gee, Lind S.; Edwards, J.D.; Wilson, David; Baker, Adam

2015-01-01

The quantification of data quality is based on the evaluation of various metrics (e.g., timing quality, daily noise levels relative to long-term noise models, and comparisons between broadband data and event synthetics). Users may select which metrics contribute to the assessment and those metrics are aggregated into a “grade” for each station. The DQA is being actively used for station diagnostics and evaluation based on the completed metrics (availability, gap count, timing quality, deviation from a global noise model, deviation from a station noise model, coherence between co-located sensors, and comparison between broadband data and synthetics for earthquakes) on stations in the Global Seismographic Network and Advanced National Seismic System.

Studying the Relation of Postprandial Triglyceride with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD).

PubMed

Manochehri, Mohammad; Moghadam, Adel Johari

2016-07-27

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common cause of mortality worldwide and determination of contributing factors is essential. This study was conducted to study the relation of postprandial triglyceride as a risk of coronary artery disease in patients with proven CAD by angiography, referred to 502 Hospital of Army in 2015. This observational study conducted as a case-control and contained 80 male participants referred to 502 Hospital of Army. Half of these participants had proven CAD by angiography test and the other ones were healthy as a control group. Fasting serum triglyceride was evaluated in all participants and postprandial TG was checked 4 hours after a standard meal. Obtained data were analyzed by SPSS ver. 13. The results indicated that fasting TG and postprandial TG level were significantly higher in CAD patients (P-value=0.001). It was also shown evaluation of postprandial TG is more sensitive test than fasting TG in case of CAD patients. Our obtained results shown, evaluation of high level of postprandial TG is more reliable than fasting TG for patients whom suffer from CAD.

Mechanisms for trace metal enrichment at the surface microlayer in an estuarine salt marsh

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lion, Leonard W.

1982-01-01

The relative contributions of adsorption to particulate surfaces, complexation with surface-active organic ligands and uptake by micro-organisms were evaluated with respect to their importance in the surface microlayer enrichment (‘partitioning’) of Cd, Pb and Cu. The contributions of each process were inferred from field data in which partitioning of the dissolved and particulate forms of Cd, Pb and Cu, total and dissolved organic carbon, particles and total bacteria were observed. In the South San Francisco Bay estuary, particle enrichment appears to control trace metal partitioning. Trace metal association with the particulate phase and the levels of partitioning observed were in the order Pb > Cu > Cd and reflect the calculated equilibrium chemical speciation of these metals in computer-simulated seawater matrices.

Peroxo and Oxo Intermediates in Mononuclear Non-heme Iron Enzymes and Related Active Sites

PubMed Central

Wong, Shaun D.; Liu, Lei V.; Decker, Andrea; Chow, Marina S.

2009-01-01

Summary FeIII–OOH and FeIV=O intermediates have now been documented in a number of non-heme iron active sites. In this Opinion we use spectroscopy combined with electronic structure calculations to define the frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) of these species and their contributions to reactivity. For the low-spin FeIII–OOH species in activated bleomycin we show that the reactivity of this non-heme iron intermediate is very different from that of the analogous Compound 0 of cytochrome P450. For FeIV=O S = 1 model species we experimentally define the electronic structure and its contribution to reactivity, and computationally evaluate how this would change for the FeIV=O S = 2 intermediates found in non-heme iron enzymes. PMID:19278895

Software Reuse Methods to Improve Technological Infrastructure for e-Science

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marshall, James J.; Downs, Robert R.; Mattmann, Chris A.

2011-01-01

Social computing has the potential to contribute to scientific research. Ongoing developments in information and communications technology improve capabilities for enabling scientific research, including research fostered by social computing capabilities. The recent emergence of e-Science practices has demonstrated the benefits from improvements in the technological infrastructure, or cyber-infrastructure, that has been developed to support science. Cloud computing is one example of this e-Science trend. Our own work in the area of software reuse offers methods that can be used to improve new technological development, including cloud computing capabilities, to support scientific research practices. In this paper, we focus on software reuse and its potential to contribute to the development and evaluation of information systems and related services designed to support new capabilities for conducting scientific research.

Contribution of trees and grasses to ecosystem fluxes of water, carbon, and energy throughout the seasons under different nutrient availability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Madany, T. S.; Migliavacca, M.; Perez-Priego, O.; Luo, Y.; Moreno, G.; Carrara, A.; Kolle, O.; Reichstein, M.

2017-12-01

In semi-arid savanna type ecosystems, the carbon and water cycle are closely related to each other. Water availability is the main driver for the development and phenology of the vegetation, especially for annual plants. Depending on tree density, nutrient availability and species the contribution of the tree- and the herbaceous layer to ecosystem fluxes can vary substantially. We present data from an ecosystem scale nutrient manipulation experiment within a Mediterranean savanna type ecosystem which is used for cattle. The footprint areas of two out of three ecosystem eddy co-variance (EC) towers were fertilized with nitrogen (NT) and nitrogen plus phosphorous (NPT) while the third one served as the control tower (CT). At each ecosystem EC-tower an additional herbaceous layer tower was installed that only sampled fluxes from the herbaceous layer. Under certain assumptions flux differences between the ecosystem EC and the herbaceous layer EC systems can be considered as the contribution of the trees to the ecosystem fluxes. Based on phenology of the herbaceous layer estimated through green-chromatic-coordinates from digital imagery the year was separated into spring, senescence, regreening, and winter. The focus of the analysis is (i) the evaluation of the method and how it works throughout the different seasons and (ii) the quantification of the contribution of trees and grasses to ecosystem fluxes of water, carbon, and energy under different environmental conditions and nutrient stoichiometry. The contribution of the trees to total ecosystem fluxes is variable in time. Especially, during the beginning of the senescence period high evapotranspiration rates and largest carbon uptake are measured while the contribution to sensible heat fluxes is largest during the end of the summer. During the regreening and winter the contribution of ET is relatively constant around 0.25 mm d-1. During the peak of the greenness ET and carbon flux of the herbaceous EC tower are sometimes higher than fluxes measured by the ecosystem tower which is most likely caused by the mismatch in footprints. Whenever the herbaceous layer is active it contributes clearly more to the fluxes as compared to the trees.

Transportation systems evaluation methodology development and applications, phase 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuhlthau, A. R.; Jacobson, I. D.; Richards, L. C.

1981-01-01

Transportation systems or proposed changes in current systems are evaluated. Four principal evaluation criteria are incorporated in the process, operating performance characteristics as viewed by potential users, decisions based on the perceived impacts of the system, estimating what is required to reduce the system to practice; and predicting the ability of the concept to attract financial support. A series of matrix multiplications in which the various matrices represent evaluations in a logical sequence of the various discrete steps in a management decision process is used. One or more alternatives are compared with the current situation, and the result provides a numerical rating which determines the desirability of each alternative relative to the norm and to each other. The steps in the decision process are isolated so that contributions of each to the final result are readily analyzed. The ability to protect against bias on the part of the evaluators, and the fact that system parameters which are basically qualitative in nature can be easily included are advantageous.

The Oral History of Evaluation, Part 4: The Professional Evolution of Carol H. Weiss

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Journal of Evaluation, 2006

2006-01-01

During the past 3 years, the Oral History Project Study Team, which comprises Jean King, Mel Mark, and Robin Miller, has conducted interviews with individuals who have made signal contributions to the program evaluation field. Their goal was to capture the professional evolution of those who have contributed to the way evaluation in the United…

Application and Evaluation of a Snowmelt Runoff Model in the Tamor River Basin, Eastern Himalaya Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) Data Assimilation Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Panday, Prajjwal K.; Williams, Christopher A.; Frey, Karen E.; Brown, Molly E.

2013-01-01

Previous studies have drawn attention to substantial hydrological changes taking place in mountainous watersheds where hydrology is dominated by cryospheric processes. Modelling is an important tool for understanding these changes but is particularly challenging in mountainous terrain owing to scarcity of ground observations and uncertainty of model parameters across space and time. This study utilizes a Markov Chain Monte Carlo data assimilation approach to examine and evaluate the performance of a conceptual, degree-day snowmelt runoff model applied in the Tamor River basin in the eastern Nepalese Himalaya. The snowmelt runoff model is calibrated using daily streamflow from 2002 to 2006 with fairly high accuracy (average Nash-Sutcliffe metric approx. 0.84, annual volume bias <3%). The Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach constrains the parameters to which the model is most sensitive (e.g. lapse rate and recession coefficient) and maximizes model fit and performance. Model simulated streamflow using an interpolated precipitation data set decreases the fractional contribution from rainfall compared with simulations using observed station precipitation. The average snowmelt contribution to total runoff in the Tamor River basin for the 2002-2006 period is estimated to be 29.7+/-2.9% (which includes 4.2+/-0.9% from snowfall that promptly melts), whereas 70.3+/-2.6% is attributed to contributions from rainfall. On average, the elevation zone in the 4000-5500m range contributes the most to basin runoff, averaging 56.9+/-3.6% of all snowmelt input and 28.9+/-1.1% of all rainfall input to runoff. Model simulated streamflow using an interpolated precipitation data set decreases the fractional contribution from rainfall versus snowmelt compared with simulations using observed station precipitation. Model experiments indicate that the hydrograph itself does not constrain estimates of snowmelt versus rainfall contributions to total outflow but that this derives from the degree-day melting model. Lastly, we demonstrate that the data assimilation approach is useful for quantifying and reducing uncertainty related to model parameters and thus provides uncertainty bounds on snowmelt and rainfall contributions in such mountainous watersheds.

Systematic review of studies evaluating the broader economic impact of vaccination in low and middle income countries.

PubMed

Deogaonkar, Rohan; Hutubessy, Raymond; van der Putten, Inge; Evers, Silvia; Jit, Mark

2012-10-16

Most health economic evaluations of childhood vaccination only capture the health and short-term economic benefits. Measuring broader, long-term effects of vaccination on productivity and externalities could provide a more complete picture of the value of vaccines. MEDLINE, EconLit and NHS-EED databases were searched for articles published between January 1990 and July 2011, which captured broader economic benefits of vaccines in low and middle income countries. Studies were included if they captured at least one of the following categories on broader economic impact: outcome-related productivity gains, behaviour-related productivity gains, ecological externalities, equity gains, financial sustainability gains or macroeconomic benefits. Twenty-six relevant studies were found, including observational studies, economic models and contingent valuation studies. Of the identified broader impacts, outcome-related productivity gains and ecological externalities were most commonly accounted for. No studies captured behaviour-related productivity gains or macroeconomic effects. There was some evidence to show that vaccinated children 8-14 years of age benefit from increased cognitive ability. Productivity loss due to morbidity and mortality was generally measured using the human capital approach. When included, herd immunity effects were functions of coverage rates or based on reduction in disease outcomes. External effects of vaccines were observed in terms of equitable health outcomes and contribution towards synergistic and financially sustainable healthcare programs. Despite substantial variation in the methods of measurement and outcomes used, the inclusion of broader economic impact was found to improve the attractiveness of vaccination. Further research is needed on how different tools and techniques can be used in combination to capture the broader impact of vaccination in a way that is consistent with other health economic evaluations. In addition, more country level evidence is needed from low and middle income countries to justify future investments in vaccines and immunization programs. Finally, the proposed broader economic impact framework may contribute towards better communication of the economic arguments surrounding vaccine uptake, leading to investments in immunization by stakeholders outside of the traditional health care sector such as ministries of finance and national treasuries.

Impact of a social network-based intervention promoting diabetes self-management in socioeconomically deprived patients: a qualitative evaluation of the intervention strategies.

PubMed

Vissenberg, C; Stronks, K; Nijpels, G; Uitewaal, P J M; Middelkoop, B J C; Kohinor, M J E; Hartman, M A; Nierkens, V

2016-04-13

There is a need for effective interventions that improve diabetes self-management (DSM) among socioeconomically deprived patients with type 2 diabetes. The group-based intervention Powerful Together with Diabetes (PTWD) aimed to increase social support for DSM and decrease social influences hindering DSM (eg, peer pressure, social norms) in patients living in deprived neighbourhoods. Through a qualitative process evaluation, this paper aims to study whether this intervention changed social support and social influences, and which elements of the intervention contributed to this. The intervention group (IG) was compared with a standard group-based educational intervention (control group, CG). 27 qualitative in-depth interviews with participants (multiethnic sample) and 24 interviews with group leaders were conducted. Interviews were coded and analysed using MAXQDA according to framework analysis. Patients in the IG experienced more emotional support from group members and more instrumental and appraisal support from relatives than those in the CG. Also, they were better able to recognise and cope with influences that hinder their DSM, exhibited more positive norms towards DSM and increased their priority regarding DSM and their adherence. Finally, the engagement in DSM by relatives of participants increased. Creating trust between group members, skills training, practising together and actively involving relatives through action plans contributed to these changes. A group-based intervention aimed at creating trust, practising together and involving relatives has the potential to increase social support and diminish social influences hindering DSM in socioeconomically deprived patients with diabetes. Promising elements of the intervention were skills training and providing feedback using role-playing exercises in group sessions with patients, as well as the involvement of patients' significant others in self-management tasks, and actively involving them in making an action plan for self-management. These positive results justify the value of further evaluating the effectiveness of this intervention in a larger sample. NTR1886, Results. 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/

Systematic review of studies evaluating the broader economic impact of vaccination in low and middle income countries

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Most health economic evaluations of childhood vaccination only capture the health and short-term economic benefits. Measuring broader, long-term effects of vaccination on productivity and externalities could provide a more complete picture of the value of vaccines. Method MEDLINE, EconLit and NHS-EED databases were searched for articles published between January 1990 and July 2011, which captured broader economic benefits of vaccines in low and middle income countries. Studies were included if they captured at least one of the following categories on broader economic impact: outcome-related productivity gains, behaviour-related productivity gains, ecological externalities, equity gains, financial sustainability gains or macroeconomic benefits. Results Twenty-six relevant studies were found, including observational studies, economic models and contingent valuation studies. Of the identified broader impacts, outcome-related productivity gains and ecological externalities were most commonly accounted for. No studies captured behaviour-related productivity gains or macroeconomic effects. There was some evidence to show that vaccinated children 8–14 years of age benefit from increased cognitive ability. Productivity loss due to morbidity and mortality was generally measured using the human capital approach. When included, herd immunity effects were functions of coverage rates or based on reduction in disease outcomes. External effects of vaccines were observed in terms of equitable health outcomes and contribution towards synergistic and financially sustainable healthcare programs. Conclusion Despite substantial variation in the methods of measurement and outcomes used, the inclusion of broader economic impact was found to improve the attractiveness of vaccination. Further research is needed on how different tools and techniques can be used in combination to capture the broader impact of vaccination in a way that is consistent with other health economic evaluations. In addition, more country level evidence is needed from low and middle income countries to justify future investments in vaccines and immunization programs. Finally, the proposed broader economic impact framework may contribute towards better communication of the economic arguments surrounding vaccine uptake, leading to investments in immunization by stakeholders outside of the traditional health care sector such as ministries of finance and national treasuries. PMID:23072714

Estimating the relative contributions of maternal genetic, paternal genetic and intrauterine factors to offspring birth weight and head circumference.

PubMed

Rice, Frances; Thapar, Anita

2010-07-01

Genetic factors and the prenatal environment contribute to birth weight. However, very few types of study design can disentangle their relative contribution. To examine maternal genetic and intrauterine contributions to offspring birth weight and head circumference. To compare the contribution of maternal and paternal genetic effects. Mothers and fathers were either genetically related or unrelated to their offspring who had been conceived by in vitro fertilization. 423 singleton full term offspring, of whom 262 were conceived via homologous IVF (both parents related), 66 via sperm donation (mother only related) and 95 via egg donation (father only related). Maternal weight at antenatal booking, current weight and maternal height. Paternal current weight and height were all predictors. Infant birth weight and head circumference were outcomes. Genetic relatedness was the main contributing factor between measures of parental weight and offspring birth weight as correlations were only significant when the parent was related to the child. However, there was a contribution of the intrauterine environment to the association between maternal height and both infant birth weight and infant head circumference as these were significant even when mothers were unrelated to their child. Both maternal and paternal genes made contributions to infant birth weight. Maternal height appeared to index a contribution of the intrauterine environment to infant growth and gestational age. Results suggested a possible biological interaction between the intrauterine environment and maternal inherited characteristics which suppresses the influence of paternal genes. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.