Localized Spatio-Temporal Constraints for Accelerated CMR Perfusion

PubMed Central

Akçakaya, Mehmet; Basha, Tamer A.; Pflugi, Silvio; Foppa, Murilo; Kissinger, Kraig V.; Hauser, Thomas H.; Nezafat, Reza

2013-01-01

Purpose To develop and evaluate an image reconstruction technique for cardiac MRI (CMR)perfusion that utilizes localized spatio-temporal constraints. Methods CMR perfusion plays an important role in detecting myocardial ischemia in patients with coronary artery disease. Breath-hold k-t based image acceleration techniques are typically used in CMR perfusion for superior spatial/temporal resolution, and improved coverage. In this study, we propose a novel compressed sensing based image reconstruction technique for CMR perfusion, with applicability to free-breathing examinations. This technique uses local spatio-temporal constraints by regularizing image patches across a small number of dynamics. The technique is compared to conventional dynamic-by-dynamic reconstruction, and sparsity regularization using a temporal principal-component (pc) basis, as well as zerofilled data in multi-slice 2D and 3D CMR perfusion. Qualitative image scores are used (1=poor, 4=excellent) to evaluate the technique in 3D perfusion in 10 patients and 5 healthy subjects. On 4 healthy subjects, the proposed technique was also compared to a breath-hold multi-slice 2D acquisition with parallel imaging in terms of signal intensity curves. Results The proposed technique results in images that are superior in terms of spatial and temporal blurring compared to the other techniques, even in free-breathing datasets. The image scores indicate a significant improvement compared to other techniques in 3D perfusion (2.8±0.5 vs. 2.3±0.5 for x-pc regularization, 1.7±0.5 for dynamic-by-dynamic, 1.1±0.2 for zerofilled). Signal intensity curves indicate similar dynamics of uptake between the proposed method with a 3D acquisition and the breath-hold multi-slice 2D acquisition with parallel imaging. Conclusion The proposed reconstruction utilizes sparsity regularization based on localized information in both spatial and temporal domains for highly-accelerated CMR perfusion with potential utility in free-breathing 3D acquisitions. PMID:24123058

Interest of HYPR flow dynamic MRA for characterization of cerebral arteriovenous malformations: comparison with TRICKS MRA and catheter DSA.

PubMed

Dautry, Raphaël; Edjlali, Myriam; Roca, Pauline; Rabrait, Cécile; Wu, Yijing; Johnson, Kevin; Wieben, Olivier; Trystram, Denis; Rodriguez-Régent, Christine; Alshareef, Fawaz; Turski, Patrick; Meder, Jean-François; Naggara, Olivier; Oppenheim, Catherine

2015-11-01

HYPR flow is a 3D dynamic contrast-enhanced MRA technique providing isotropic sub-millimetre resolution with half-second temporal resolution. We compared HYPR flow and time-resolved imaging of contrast kinetics (TRICKS) MRA for the characterization of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (cAVMs), using catheter DSA as reference. Twenty-two patients underwent HYPR flow and TRICKS MRA within 15 days of DSA. HYPR flow and TRICKS datasets were reviewed separately by two readers for image quality, Spetzler-Martin grade, venous ectasia, and deep venous drainage. Image quality was better for HYPR flow than for TRICKS (narrower full width at half maximum; larger arterial diagnostic window; greater number of arterial frames, P ≤ 0.05). Using HYPR flow, inter-reader agreement was excellent for all cAVM characteristics. The agreement with DSA for the overall Spetzler-Martin grade was excellent for HYPR flow (ICC = 0.96 and 0.98, depending on the reader) and TRICKS (ICC = 0.82 and 0.95). In comparison to TRICKS, HYPR flow showed higher concordance with DSA for the identification of venous ectasia and deep venous drainage. Owing to an excellent agreement with DSA with respect to depiction of the vascular architecture of cAVMs, HYPR flow could be useful for the non-invasive characterization of cAVMs. • Dynamic MRA is used for cerebral AVM depiction and follow-up • HYPR flow is a new, highly-resolved dynamic MRA sequence • HYPR flow provides whole brain coverage • HYPR flow provides excellent agreement with the Spetzler-Martin grade • Compared to TRICKS MRA, HYPR flow improves cerebral AVM characterization.

MISR Level 2 TOA/Cloud Classifier parameters (MIL2TCCL_V2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diner, David J. (Principal Investigator)

The TOA/Cloud Classifiers contain the Angular Signature Cloud Mask (ASCM), a scene classifier calculated using support vector machine technology (SVM) both of which are on a 1.1 km grid, and cloud fractions at 17.6 km resolution that are available in different height bins (low, middle, high) and are also calculated on an angle-by-angle basis. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=2000-02-24; Stop_Date=] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=17.6 km; Longitude_Resolution=17.6 km; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=10 km - < 50 km or approximately .09 degree - < .5 degree; Temporal_Resolution=about 15 orbits/day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly, Daily - < Weekly].

Coverage vs Frequency : Is Spatial Coverage or Temporal Frequency More Impactful on Transit Ridership?

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-08-01

Transit ridership has long been studied, and the findings are concisely elucidated by Taylor & Fink (2003) when they say To sum, transit ridership is largely, though not completely, a product of factors outside the control of transit managers. ...

Dental Care Coverage and Use: Modeling Limitations and Opportunities

PubMed Central

Moeller, John F.; Chen, Haiyan

2014-01-01

Objectives. We examined why older US adults without dental care coverage and use would have lower use rates if offered coverage than do those who currently have coverage. Methods. We used data from the 2008 Health and Retirement Study to estimate a multinomial logistic model to analyze the influence of personal characteristics in the grouping of older US adults into those with and those without dental care coverage and dental care use. Results. Compared with persons with no coverage and no dental care use, users of dental care with coverage were more likely to be younger, female, wealthier, college graduates, married, in excellent or very good health, and not missing all their permanent teeth. Conclusions. Providing dental care coverage to uninsured older US adults without use will not necessarily result in use rates similar to those with prior coverage and use. We have offered a model using modifiable factors that may help policy planners facilitate programs to increase dental care coverage uptake and use. PMID:24328635

Dental Care Coverage and Use: Modeling Limitations and Opportunities

PubMed Central

Moeller, John F.; Chen, Haiyan

2014-01-01

Objectives. We examined why older US adults without dental care coverage and use would have lower use rates if offered coverage than do those who currently have coverage. Methods. We used data from the 2008 Health and Retirement Study to estimate a multinomial logistic model to analyze the influence of personal characteristics in the grouping of older US adults into those with and those without dental care coverage and dental care use. Results. Compared with persons with no coverage and no dental care use, users of dental care with coverage were more likely to be younger, female, wealthier, college graduates, married, in excellent or very good health, and not missing all their permanent teeth. Conclusions. Providing dental care coverage to uninsured older US adults without use will not necessarily result in use rates similar to those with prior coverage and use. We have offered a model using modifiable factors that may help policy planners facilitate programs to increase dental care coverage uptake and use. PMID:25343171

[Spatio-temporal analysis of the biophysical and ecological conditions of Triatoma dimidiata (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) in the northeast region of Colombia].

PubMed

Badel-Mogollón, Jaime; Rodríguez-Figueroa, Laura; Parra-Henao, Gabriel

2017-03-29

Due to the lack of information regarding biophysical and spatio-temporal conditions (hydrometheorologic and vegetal coverage density) in areas with Triatoma dimidiata in the Colombian departments of Santander and Boyacá, there is a need to elucidate the association patterns of these variables to determine the distribution and control of this species. To make a spatio-temporal analysis of biophysical variables related to the distribution of T. dimidiate observed in the northeast region of Colombia. We used the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (IPCC SRES) data bases registering vector presence and hydrometheorologic data. We studied the variables of environmental temperature, relative humidity, rainfall and vegetal coverage density at regional and local levels, and we conducted spatial geostatistic, descriptive statistical and Fourier temporal series analyses. Temperatures two meters above the ground and on covered surface ranged from 14,5°C to 18,8°C in the areas with the higher density of T. dimidiata. The environmental temperature fluctuated between 30 and 32°C. Vegetal coverage density and rainfall showed patterns of annual and biannual peaks. Relative humidity values fluctuated from 66,8 to 85,1%. Surface temperature and soil coverage were the variables that better explained the life cycle of T. dimidiata in the area. High relative humidity promoted the seek of shelters and an increase of the geographic distribution in the annual and biannual peaks of regional rainfall. The ecologic and anthropic conditions suggest that T. dimidiata is a highly resilient species.

New dimensions from statistical graphics for GIS (geographic information system) analysis and interpretation

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

McCord, R.A.; Olson, R.J.

1988-01-01

Environmental research and assessment activities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) include the analysis of spatial and temporal patterns of ecosystem response at a landscape scale. Analysis through use of geographic information system (GIS) involves an interaction between the user and thematic data sets frequently expressed as maps. A portion of GIS analysis has a mathematical or statistical aspect, especially for the analysis of temporal patterns. ARC/INFO is an excellent tool for manipulating GIS data and producing the appropriate map graphics. INFO also has some limited ability to produce statistical tabulation. At ORNL we have extended our capabilities by graphicallymore » interfacing ARC/INFO and SAS/GRAPH to provide a combined mapping and statistical graphics environment. With the data management, statistical, and graphics capabilities of SAS added to ARC/INFO, we have expanded the analytical and graphical dimensions of the GIS environment. Pie or bar charts, frequency curves, hydrographs, or scatter plots as produced by SAS can be added to maps from attribute data associated with ARC/INFO coverages. Numerous, small, simplified graphs can also become a source of complex map ''symbols.'' These additions extend the dimensions of GIS graphics to include time, details of the thematic composition, distribution, and interrelationships. 7 refs., 3 figs.« less

Water isotope ratio (δ2H and δ18O) measurements in atmospheric moisture using an optical feedback cavity enhanced absorption laser spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iannone, Rosario Q.; Romanini, Daniele; Cattani, Olivier; Meijer, Harro A. J.; Kerstel, Erik R. Th.

2010-05-01

Water vapor isotopes represent an innovative and excellent tool for understanding complex mechanisms in the atmospheric water cycle over different time scales, and they can be used for a variety of applications in the fields of paleoclimatology, hydrology, oceanography, and ecology. We use an ultrasensitive near-infrared spectrometer, originally designed for use on airborne platforms in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, to measure the water deuterium and oxygen-18 isotope ratios in situ, in ground-level tropospheric moisture, with a high temporal resolution (from 300 s down to less than 1 s). We present some examples of continuous monitoring of near-surface atmospheric moisture, demonstrating that our infrared laser spectrometer could be used successfully to record high-concentration atmospheric water vapor mixing ratios in continuous time series, with a data coverage of ˜90%, interrupted only for daily calibration to two isotope ratio mass spectrometry-calibrated local water standards. The atmospheric data show that the water vapor isotopic composition exhibits a high variability that can be related to weather conditions, especially to changes in relative humidity. Besides, the results suggest that observed spatial and temporal variations of the stable isotope content of atmospheric water vapor are strongly related to water vapor transport in the atmosphere.

Integrating real-time and manual monitored data to predict hillslope soil moisture dynamics with high spatio-temporal resolution using linear and non-linear models

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Spatio-temporal variability of soil moisture (') is a challenge that remains to be better understood. A trade-off exists between spatial coverage and temporal resolution when using the manual and real-time ' monitoring methods. This restricted the comprehensive and intensive examination of ' dynamic...

Temporal trend of green space coverage in China and its relationship with urbanization over the last two decades.

PubMed

Zhao, Juanjuan; Chen, Shengbin; Jiang, Bo; Ren, Yin; Wang, Hua; Vause, Jonathan; Yu, Haidong

2013-01-01

Irrespective of which side is taken in the densification-sprawl debate, insights into the relationship between urban green space coverage and urbanization have been recognized as essential for guiding sustainable urban development. However, knowledge of the relationships between socio-economic variables of urbanization and long-term green space change is still limited. In this paper, using simple regression, hierarchical partitioning and multi-regression, the temporal trend in green space coverage and its relationship with urbanization were investigated using data from 286 cities between 1989 and 2009, covering all provinces in mainland China with the exception of Tibet. We found that: [1] average green space coverage of cities investigated increased steadily from 17.0% in 1989 to 37.3% in 2009; [2] cities with higher recent green space coverage also had relatively higher green space coverage historically; [3] cities in the same region exhibited similar long-term trends in green space coverage; [4] eight of the nine variables characterizing urbanization showed a significant positive linear relationship with green space coverage, with 'per capita GDP' having the highest independent contribution (24.2%); [5] among the climatic and geographic factors investigated, only mean elevation showed a significant effect; and [6] using the seven largest contributing individual factors, a linear model to predict variance in green space coverage was constructed. Here, we demonstrated that green space coverage in built-up areas tended to reflect the effects of urbanization rather than those of climatic or geographic factors. Quantification of the urbanization effects and the characteristics of green space development in China may provide a valuable reference for research into the processes of urban sprawl and its relationship with green space change. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Computerized ionospheric tomography based on geosynchronous SAR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Cheng; Tian, Ye; Dong, Xichao; Wang, Rui; Long, Teng

2017-02-01

Computerized ionospheric tomography (CIT) based on spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is an emerging technique to construct the three-dimensional (3-D) image of ionosphere. The current studies are all based on the Low Earth Orbit synthetic aperture radar (LEO SAR) which is limited by long repeat period and small coverage. In this paper, a novel ionospheric 3-D CIT technique based on geosynchronous SAR (GEO SAR) is put forward. First, several influences of complex atmospheric environment on GEO SAR focusing are detailedly analyzed, including background ionosphere and multiple scattering effects (induced by turbulent ionosphere), tropospheric effects, and random noises. Then the corresponding GEO SAR signal model is constructed with consideration of the temporal-variant background ionosphere within the GEO SAR long integration time (typically 100 s to 1000 s level). Concurrently, an accurate total electron content (TEC) retrieval method based on GEO SAR data is put forward through subband division in range and subaperture division in azimuth, obtaining variant TEC value with respect to the azimuth time. The processing steps of GEO SAR CIT are given and discussed. Owing to the short repeat period and large coverage area, GEO SAR CIT has potentials of covering the specific space continuously and completely and resultantly has excellent real-time performance. Finally, the TEC retrieval and GEO SAR CIT construction are performed by employing a numerical study based on the meteorological data. The feasibility and correctness of the proposed methods are verified.

Water vapor profiling using microwave radiometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, J. R.; Wilheit, T. T.

1988-01-01

Water vapor is one of the most important constituents in the Earth's atmosphere. Its spatial and temporal variations affect a wide spectrum of meteorological phenomena ranging from the formation of clouds to the development of severe storms. The passive microwave technique offers an excellent means for water vapor measurements. It can provide both day and night coverage under most cloud conditions. Two water vapor absorption features, at 22 and 183 GHz, were explored in the past years. The line strengths of these features differ by nearly two orders of magnitude. As a consequence, the techniques and the final products of water vapor measurements are also quite different. The research effort in the past few years was to improve and extend the retrieval algorithm to the measurements of water vapor profiles under cloudy conditions. In addition, the retrieval of total precipitable water using 183 GHz measurements, but in a manner analogous to the use of 22 GHz measurements, to increase measurement sensitivity for atmospheres of very low moisture content was also explored.

Profiling of Atmospheric Water Vapor with MIR and LASE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, J. R.; Racette, P.; Triesly, M. E.; Browell, E. V.; Ismail, S.; Chang, L. A.; Hildebrand, Peter H. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This paper presents the first and the only simultaneous measurements of water vapor by MIR (Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer) and LASE (Lidar Atmospheric Sounding Experiment) on board the same ER-2 aircraft. Water vapor is one of the most important constituents in the Earth's atmosphere, as its spatial and temporal variations affect a wide spectrum of meteorological phenomena ranging from the formation of clouds to the development of severe storms. Its concentration, as measured in terms of relative humidity, determines the extinction coefficient of atmospheric aerosol particles and therefore visibility. These considerations point to the need for effective and frequent measurements of the atmospheric water vapor. The MIR and LASE instruments provide measurements of water vapor profiles with two markedly different techniques. LASE can give water vapor profiles with excellent vertical resolution under clear condition, while MIR can retrieve water vapor profiles with a crude vertical resolution even under a moderate cloud cover. Additionally, millimeter-wave measurements are relatively simple and provide better spatial coverage.

Estimation of the fractional coverage of rainfall in climate models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eltahir, E. A. B.; Bras, R. L.

1993-01-01

The fraction of the grid cell area covered by rainfall, mu, is an essential parameter in descriptions of land surface hydrology in climate models. A simple procedure is presented for estimating this fraction, based on extensive observations of storm areas and rainfall volumes. Storm area and rainfall volume are often linearly related; this relation can be used to compute the storm area from the volume of rainfall simulated by a climate model. A formula is developed for computing mu, which describes the dependence of the fractional coverage of rainfall on the season of the year, the geographical region, rainfall volume, and the spatial and temporal resolution of the model. The new formula is applied in computing mu over the Amazon region. Significant temporal variability in the fractional coverage of rainfall is demonstrated. The implications of this variability for the modeling of land surface hydrology in climate models are discussed.

MISR Level 2 TOA/Cloud Classifier parameters (MIL2TCCL_V3)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diner, David J. (Principal Investigator)

The TOA/Cloud Classifiers contain the Angular Signature Cloud Mask (ASCM), a scene classifier calculated using support vector machine technology (SVM) both of which are on a 1.1 km grid, and cloud fractions at 17.6 km resolution that are available in different height bins (low, middle, high) and are also calculated on an angle-by-angle basis. [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=2000-02-24; Stop_Date=] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1.1 km; Longitude_Resolution=1.1 km; Temporal_Resolution=about 15 orbits/day].

High Temporal and Spatial Resolution Coverage of Earth from Commercial AVSTAR Systems in Geostationary Orbit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lecompte, M. A.; Heaps, J. F.; Williams, F. H.

Imaging the earth from Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) allows frequent updates of environmental conditions within an observable hemisphere at time and spatial scales appropriate to the most transient observable terrestrial phenomena. Coverage provided by current GEO Meteorological Satellites (METSATS) fails to fully exploit this advantage due primarily to obsolescent technology and also institutional inertia. With the full benefit of GEO based imaging unrealized, rapidly evolving phenomena, occurring at the smallest spatial and temporal scales that frequently have significant environmental impact remain unobserved. These phenomena may be precursors for the most destructive natural processes that adversely effect society. Timely distribution of information derived from "real-time" observations thus may provide opportunities to mitigate much of the damage to life and property that would otherwise occur. AstroVision International's AVStar Earth monitoring system is designed to overcome the current limitations if GEO Earth coverage and to provide real time monitoring of changes to the Earth's complete atmospheric, land and marine surface environments including fires, volcanic events, lightning and meteoritic events on a "live," true color, and multispectral basis. The understanding of severe storm dynamics and its coupling to the earth's electro-sphere will be greatly enhanced by observations at unprecedented sampling frequencies and spatial resolution. Better understanding of these natural phenomena and AVStar operational real-time coverage may also benefit society through improvements in severe weather prediction and warning. AstroVision's AVStar system, designed to provide this capability with the first of a constellation of GEO- based commercial environmental monitoring satellites to be launched in late 2003 will be discussed, including spatial and temporal resolution, spectral coverage with applications and an inventory of the potential benefits to society, science, commerce and education.

A New Method for Estimating the Coverage of Mass Vaccination Campaigns Against Poliomyelitis From Surveillance Data

PubMed Central

O'Reilly, K. M.; Cori, A.; Durry, E.; Wadood, M. Z.; Bosan, A.; Aylward, R. B.; Grassly, N. C.

2015-01-01

Mass vaccination campaigns with the oral poliovirus vaccine targeting children aged <5 years are a critical component of the global poliomyelitis eradication effort. Monitoring the coverage of these campaigns is essential to allow corrective action, but current approaches are limited by their cross-sectional nature, nonrandom sampling, reporting biases, and accessibility issues. We describe a new Bayesian framework using data augmentation and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to estimate variation in vaccination coverage from children's vaccination histories investigated during surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis. We tested the method using simulated data with at least 200 cases and were able to detect undervaccinated groups if they exceeded 10% of all children and temporal changes in coverage of ±10% with greater than 90% sensitivity. Application of the method to data from Pakistan for 2010–2011 identified undervaccinated groups within the Balochistan/Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions, as well as temporal changes in coverage. The sizes of these groups are consistent with the multiple challenges faced by the program in these regions as a result of conflict and insecurity. Application of this new method to routinely collected data can be a useful tool for identifying poorly performing areas and assisting in eradication efforts. PMID:26568569

Off-Marketplace Enrollment Remains An Important Part Of Health Insurance Under The ACA.

PubMed

Goddeeris, John H; McMorrow, Stacey; Kenney, Genevieve M

2017-08-01

The introduction of Marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act greatly expanded individual-market health insurance coverage in 2014, but millions of adults continued to purchase individual coverage outside of the Marketplaces. They were more likely to be male, be white, have higher incomes, and be in excellent or very good health, compared to Marketplace enrollees. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

CERES Clouds and Radiative Swath (CRS) data in HDF. (CER_CRS_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2B)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Clouds and Radiative Swath (CRS) product contains one hour of instantaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The CRS contains all of the CERES SSF product data. For each CERES footprint on the SSF the CRS also contains vertical flux profiles evaluated at four levels in the atmosphere: the surface, 500-, 70-, and 1-hPa. The CRS fluxes and cloud parameters are adjusted for consistency with a radiative transfer model and adjusted fluxes are evaluated at the four atmospheric levels for both clear-sky and total-sky. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2001-10-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

CERES Clouds and Radiative Swath (CRS) data in HDF (CER_CRS_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2C)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Clouds and Radiative Swath (CRS) product contains one hour of instantaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The CRS contains all of the CERES SSF product data. For each CERES footprint on the SSF the CRS also contains vertical flux profiles evaluated at four levels in the atmosphere: the surface, 500-, 70-, and 1-hPa. The CRS fluxes and cloud parameters are adjusted for consistency with a radiative transfer model and adjusted fluxes are evaluated at the four atmospheric levels for both clear-sky and total-sky. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2000-03-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

CERES Clouds and Radiative Swath (CRS) data in HDF. (CER_CRS_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2A

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Clouds and Radiative Swath (CRS) product contains one hour of instantaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The CRS contains all of the CERES SSF product data. For each CERES footprint on the SSF the CRS also contains vertical flux profiles evaluated at four levels in the atmosphere: the surface, 500-, 70-, and 1-hPa. The CRS fluxes and cloud parameters are adjusted for consistency with a radiative transfer model and adjusted fluxes are evaluated at the four atmospheric levels for both clear-sky and total-sky. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2001-10-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

Air pollution linked to Remote Sensing tools - Science training using a Master's Level e-Learning Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ladstaetter-Weissenmayer, A.; Kanakidou, M.; Richter, A.; Wagner, T.; Borrell, P.; Law, R. J.; Burrows, J. P.

2009-09-01

As we know it today air pollution is a release into the atmosphere of any substances, chemicals or particles, which are harmful both to the human and animal health as well as the health of the wider environment. The use of satellite based instruments is a young and developing research field and excellent for studying air pollution events over large areas at high spatial-temporal resolutions, especially when ground measurements, which are limited in spatial-temporal coverage, are not available. Students on postgraduate level should be trained in using, and analysing remote sensing data from both ground and satellite based or in interpreting the high variety in remote sensing e.g satellite images or maps. As follows an e-learning online module has been devised and constructed to facilitate the teaching of Remote Sensing of Troposphere from Space to research students at a Master's level. The module, which is essentially an interactive on-line text book, is stand alone, although it could be encompassed within a standard course management system. The scientific content is presented as study pages under three headings: remote sensing from space, the basics of radiation transfer, and retrieval procedures for tropospheric satellite data.The student is encouraged to test his or her comprehension of the material through exercises on the scientific topics.

Air pollution linked to Remote Sensing tools - Science training using a Master's Level e-Learning Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ladstätter-Weißenmayer, A.; Kanakidou, M.; Richter, A.; Wagner, T.; Borrell, P.; Law, R. J.; Burrows, J. P.

2009-04-01

As we know it today air pollution is a release into the atmosphere of any substances, chemicals or particles, which are harmful both to the human and animal health as well as the health of the wider environment. The use of satellite based instruments is a young and developing research field and excellent for studying air pollution events over large areas at high spatial-temporal resolutions, especially when ground measurements, which are limited in spatial-temporal coverage, are not available. Students on postgraduate level should be trained in using, and analysing remote sensing data from both ground and satellite based or in interpreting the high variety in remote sensing e.g satellite images or maps. As follows an e-learning online module has been devised and constructed to facilitate the teaching of Remote Sensing of Troposphere from Space to research students at a Master's level. The module, which is essentially an interactive on-line text book, is stand alone, although it could be encompassed within a standard course management system. The scientific content is presented as study pages under three headings: remote sensing from space, the basics of radiation transfer, and retrieval procedures for tropospheric satellite data.The student is encouraged to test his or her comprehension of the material through exercises on the scientific topics.

Estimating daily air temperature across the Southeastern United States using high-resolution satellite data: a statistical modeling study

PubMed Central

Shi, Liuhua; Liu, Pengfei; Kloog, Itai; Lee, Mihye; Kosheleva, Anna; Schwartz, Joel

2015-01-01

Accurate estimates of spatio-temporal resolved near-surface air temperature (Ta) are crucial for environmental epidemiological studies. However, values of Ta are conventionally obtained from weather stations, which have limited spatial coverage. Satellite surface temperature (Ts) measurements offer the possibility of local exposure estimates across large domains. The Southeastern United States has different climatic conditions, more small water bodies and wetlands, and greater humidity in contrast to other regions, which add to the challenge of modeling air temperature. In this study, we incorporated satellite Ts to estimate high resolution (1 km × 1 km) daily Ta across the southeastern USA for 2000-2014. We calibrated Ts to Ta measurements using mixed linear models, land use, and separate slopes for each day. A high out-of-sample cross-validated R2 of 0.952 indicated excellent model performance. When satellite Ts were unavailable, linear regression on nearby monitors and spatio-temporal smoothing was used to estimate Ta. The daily Ta estimations were compared to the NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) model. A good agreement with an R2 of 0.969 and a mean squared prediction error (RMSPE) of 1.376 °C was achieved. Our results demonstrate that Ta can be reliably predicted using this Ts-based prediction model, even in a large geographical area with topography and weather patterns varying considerably. PMID:26717080

Medication coverage for lawmakers may worsen access for everyone else.

PubMed

Taglione, Michael S; Boozary, Andrew; Persaud, Nav

2018-03-01

Despite numerous recommendations for universal public coverage of prescription drugs in Canada based on evidence that millions of Canadians cannot afford medications, no province or territory has adopted first dollar coverage for all residents. However, one group unaffected by the lack of public coverage are lawmakers. Lawmakers receive excellent drug coverage plans for themselves and their immediate families. Evidence suggests that lawmakers' decisions are influenced by their personal circumstances; in this case, they are insulated from the effects of poor access to medications by their drug coverage plans. In contrast, a patchwork system of 46 programs across Canada provides some drug coverage to vulnerable populations. Reducing the disparity in prescription drug access between Canadian lawmakers and the public may promote progress towards better medication access for everyone. This could be achieved either by reducing lawmaker coverage or improving upon the public patchwork system. Since the goal should be to improve the overall access of medications for all Canadians, lawmakers included, the latter method is preferred. A universal drug plan with first dollar coverage could replace the current patchwork system and expand coverage to all Canadians. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Estimating Morning Change in Land Surface Temperature from MODIS Day/Night Observations: Applications for Surface Energy Balance Modeling.

PubMed

Hain, Christopher R; Anderson, Martha C

2017-10-16

Observations of land surface temperature (LST) are crucial for the monitoring of surface energy fluxes from satellite. Methods that require high temporal resolution LST observations (e.g., from geostationary orbit) can be difficult to apply globally because several geostationary sensors are required to attain near-global coverage (60°N to 60°S). While these LST observations are available from polar-orbiting sensors, providing global coverage at higher spatial resolutions, the temporal sampling (twice daily observations) can pose significant limitations. For example, the Atmosphere Land Exchange Inverse (ALEXI) surface energy balance model, used for monitoring evapotranspiration and drought, requires an observation of the morning change in LST - a quantity not directly observable from polar-orbiting sensors. Therefore, we have developed and evaluated a data-mining approach to estimate the mid-morning rise in LST from a single sensor (2 observations per day) of LST from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on the Aqua platform. In general, the data-mining approach produced estimates with low relative error (5 to 10%) and statistically significant correlations when compared against geostationary observations. This approach will facilitate global, near real-time applications of ALEXI at higher spatial and temporal coverage from a single sensor than currently achievable with current geostationary datasets.

Ultraviolet, Infrared, and High-Low Energy Photodissociation of Post-Translationally Modified Peptides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halim, Mohammad A.; MacAleese, Luke; Lemoine, Jérôme; Antoine, Rodolphe; Dugourd, Philippe; Girod, Marion

2018-02-01

Mass spectrometry-based methods have made significant progress in characterizing post-translational modifications in peptides and proteins; however, certain aspects regarding fragmentation methods must still be improved. A good technique is expected to provide excellent sequence information, locate PTM sites, and retain the labile PTM groups. To address these issues, we investigate 10.6 μm IRMPD, 213 nm UVPD, and combined UV and IR photodissociation, known as HiLoPD (high-low photodissociation), for phospho-, sulfo-, and glyco-peptide cations. IRMPD shows excellent backbone fragmentation and produces equal numbers of N- and C-terminal ions. The results reveal that 213 nm UVPD and HiLoPD methods can provide diverse backbone fragmentation producing a/x, b/y, and c/z ions with excellent sequence coverage, locate PTM sites, and offer reasonable retention efficiency for phospho- and glyco-peptides. Excellent sequence coverage is achieved for sulfo-peptides and the position of the SO3 group can be pinpointed; however, widespread SO3 losses are detected irrespective of the methods used herein. Based on the overall performance achieved, we believe that 213 nm UVPD and HiLoPD can serve as alternative options to collision activation and electron transfer dissociations for phospho- and glyco-proteomics.

Analysis on Temporal-Spatial Changes of Vegetation Cverrge in Farming-Pastoral Ecotone of Inner Mongolia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, X.; Li, J.; Yang, Z.

2018-04-01

Chen Barag Banner is located in the typical farming-pastoral ecotone of Inner Mongolia, and it is also the core area of Hulunbuir steppe. Typical agricultural and pastoral staggered production mode so that the vegetation growth of the region not only determines the local ecological environment, and animal husbandry production, but also have a significant impact on the whole Hulunbuir ecological security and economic development. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the change of vegetation in this area. Based on 17 MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) images, the authors reconstructed the dynamic change characteristics of Fraction vegetation coverage (FVC) in Chen Barag Banner from 2000 to 2016. In this paper, first at all, Pixel Decomposition Models was introduced to inversion FVC, and the time series of vegetation coverage was reconstructed. Then we analyzed the temporal-spatial changes of FVC by employing transition matrix. Finally, through image analyzing and processing, the results showed that the vegetation coverage in the study area was influenced by effectors including climate, topography and human actives. In the past 17 years, the overall effect of vegetation coverage showed a downward trend of fluctuation. The average vegetation coverage decreased from 58.81 % in 2000 to 48.14 % in 2016, and the area of vegetation cover degradation accounts for 40.09 % of the total change area. Therefore, the overall degradation trend was obvious.

A New Method for Estimating the Coverage of Mass Vaccination Campaigns Against Poliomyelitis From Surveillance Data.

PubMed

O'Reilly, K M; Cori, A; Durry, E; Wadood, M Z; Bosan, A; Aylward, R B; Grassly, N C

2015-12-01

Mass vaccination campaigns with the oral poliovirus vaccine targeting children aged <5 years are a critical component of the global poliomyelitis eradication effort. Monitoring the coverage of these campaigns is essential to allow corrective action, but current approaches are limited by their cross-sectional nature, nonrandom sampling, reporting biases, and accessibility issues. We describe a new Bayesian framework using data augmentation and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to estimate variation in vaccination coverage from children's vaccination histories investigated during surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis. We tested the method using simulated data with at least 200 cases and were able to detect undervaccinated groups if they exceeded 10% of all children and temporal changes in coverage of ±10% with greater than 90% sensitivity. Application of the method to data from Pakistan for 2010-2011 identified undervaccinated groups within the Balochistan/Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions, as well as temporal changes in coverage. The sizes of these groups are consistent with the multiple challenges faced by the program in these regions as a result of conflict and insecurity. Application of this new method to routinely collected data can be a useful tool for identifying poorly performing areas and assisting in eradication efforts. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Use of Vertically Integrated Ice in WRF-Based Forecasts of Lightning Threat

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McCaul, E. W., jr.; Goodman, S. J.

2008-01-01

Previously reported methods of forecasting lightning threat using fields of graupel flux from WRF simulations are extended to include the simulated field of vertically integrated ice within storms. Although the ice integral shows less temporal variability than graupel flux, it provides more areal coverage, and can thus be used to create a lightning forecast that better matches the areal coverage of the lightning threat found in observations of flash extent density. A blended lightning forecast threat can be constructed that retains much of the desirable temporal sensitivity of the graupel flux method, while also incorporating the coverage benefits of the ice integral method. The graupel flux and ice integral fields contributing to the blended forecast are calibrated against observed lightning flash origin density data, based on Lightning Mapping Array observations from a series of case studies chosen to cover a wide range of flash rate conditions. Linear curve fits that pass through the origin are found to be statistically robust for the calibration procedures.

Surgical Considerations of Intractable Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

PubMed Central

Boling, Warren W.

2018-01-01

Surgery of temporal lobe epilepsy is the best opportunity for seizure freedom in medically intractable patients. The surgical approach has evolved to recognize the paramount importance of the mesial temporal structures in the majority of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy who have a seizure origin in the mesial temporal structures. For those individuals with medically intractable mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, a selective amygdalohippocampectomy surgery can be done that provides an excellent opportunity for seizure freedom and limits the resection to temporal lobe structures primarily involved in seizure genesis. PMID:29461485

Fascial flap reconstruction of the hand: a single surgeon's 30-year experience.

PubMed

Carty, Matthew J; Taghinia, Amir; Upton, Joseph

2010-03-01

The reconstruction of complex hand wounds is challenging due to the requirements for thin and pliable coverage with a reliable vascular supply, potential for sensibility, and provision of a gliding surface. Fascial flaps represent an excellent option for the reconstruction of these complicated defects. A retrospective review of fascial flap reconstructive procedures to the hand undertaken by a single microsurgeon was performed for operations occurring between 1979 and 2009. Both pedicled and free tissue transfer procedures were included in both pediatric and adult patients. Data were culled from a combination of patient charts, hospital records, radiographic studies, and clinical photographs. Sixty fascial flap reconstructive procedures to the hand were analyzed in 60 patients from the defined 30-year period. The most common pathological process necessitating reconstruction was acute trauma (n = 32, 53 percent). Most of the soft-tissue injuries included in the study sample were located on the dorsal hand and wrist (n = 27, 45 percent). The most commonly utilized reconstructive modality was the temporoparietal fascial flap (n = 35, 58 percent). Most reconstructions were completed as free tissue transfers (n = 46, 77 percent). Perioperative complications were relatively minor; no flap losses were recorded. All cases studied demonstrated excellent long-term coverage with no evidence of underlying tendon adhesion or contracture. Fascial flaps represent an excellent option for coverage of soft-tissue defects of the hand that are not amenable to reconstruction with skin grafting alone, particularly for localized defects with denuded tendons or exposed joints.

Time-Distance Helioseismology with the HMI Instrument

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duvall, Thomas L., Jr.

2010-01-01

We expect considerable improvement of time-distance results from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument as opposed to the earlier MDI and GONG data. The higher data rate makes possible several improvements, including faster temporal sampling (45 sec), smaller spatial pixels (0.5 arc sec), better wavelength coverage (6 samples across the line all transmitted to the ground), and year-round coverage of the full disk. The higher spatial resolution makes possible better longitude coverage of active regions and supergranulation and also better latitude coverage. Doppler, continuum, and line depth images have a strong granulation signal. Line core images show little granulation. Analyses to test the limits of these new capabilities will be presented.

J-Adaptive estimation with estimated noise statistics. [for orbit determination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jazwinski, A. H.; Hipkins, C.

1975-01-01

The J-Adaptive estimator described by Jazwinski and Hipkins (1972) is extended to include the simultaneous estimation of the statistics of the unmodeled system accelerations. With the aid of simulations it is demonstrated that the J-Adaptive estimator with estimated noise statistics can automatically estimate satellite orbits to an accuracy comparable with the data noise levels, when excellent, continuous tracking coverage is available. Such tracking coverage will be available from satellite-to-satellite tracking.

Multiheterodyne spectroscopy using interband cascade lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sterczewski, Lukasz A.; Westberg, Jonas; Patrick, Charles Link; Kim, Chul Soo; Kim, Mijin; Canedy, Chadwick L.; Bewley, William W.; Merritt, Charles D.; Vurgaftman, Igor; Meyer, Jerry R.; Wysocki, Gerard

2018-01-01

While midinfrared radiation can be used to identify and quantify numerous chemical species, contemporary broadband midinfrared spectroscopic systems are often hindered by large footprints, moving parts, and high power consumption. In this work, we demonstrate multiheterodyne spectroscopy (MHS) using interband cascade lasers, which combines broadband spectral coverage with high spectral resolution and energy-efficient operation. The lasers generate up to 30 mW of continuous-wave optical power while consuming <0.5 W of electrical power. A computational phase and timing correction algorithm is used to obtain kHz linewidths of the multiheterodyne beat notes and up to 30 dB improvement in signal-to-noise ratio. The versatility of the multiheterodyne technique is demonstrated by performing both rapidly swept absorption and dispersion spectroscopic assessments of low-pressure ethylene (C2H4) acquired by extracting a single beat note from the multiheterodyne signal, as well as broadband MHS of methane (CH4) acquired with all available beat notes with microsecond temporal resolution and an instantaneous optical bandwidth of ˜240 GHz. The technology shows excellent potential for portable and high-resolution solid-state spectroscopic chemical sensors operating in the midinfrared.

Adult congenital heart disease imaging with second-generation dual-source computed tomography: initial experiences and findings.

PubMed

Ghoshhajra, Brian B; Sidhu, Manavjot S; El-Sherief, Ahmed; Rojas, Carlos; Yeh, Doreen Defaria; Engel, Leif-Christopher; Liberthson, Richard; Abbara, Suhny; Bhatt, Ami

2012-01-01

Adult congenital heart disease patients present a unique challenge to the cardiac imager. Patients may present with both acute and chronic manifestations of their complex congenital heart disease and also require surveillance for sequelae of their medical and surgical interventions. Multimodality imaging is often required to clarify their anatomy and physiology. Radiation dose is of particular concern in these patients with lifelong imaging needs for their chronic disease. The second-generation dual-source scanner is a recently available advanced clinical cardiac computed tomography (CT) scanner. It offers a combination of the high-spatial resolution of modern CT, the high-temporal resolution of dual-source technology, and the wide z-axis coverage of modern cone-beam geometry CT scanners. These advances in technology allow novel protocols that markedly reduce scan time, significantly reduce radiation exposure, and expand the physiologic imaging capabilities of cardiac CT. We present a case series of complicated adult congenital heart disease patients imaged by the second-generation dual-source CT scanner with extremely low-radiation doses and excellent image quality. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Human papillomavirus vaccination coverage among females and males, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, United States, 2007-2016.

PubMed

Lewis, Rayleen M; Markowitz, Lauri E

2018-05-03

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination has been routinely recommended at age 11-12 years in the United States for females since 2006 and males since 2011. Coverage can be estimated using self/parent-reported HPV vaccination collected in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for a wider age range than other national surveys. We assessed vaccination coverage in 2015-2016, temporal trends by age, and the validity of self/parent-reported vaccination status. Participants aged 9-59 years completed an interview collecting demographic and vaccination information. Weighted coverage was estimated for two-year NHANES cycles by age group for 2007-2008 to 2015-2016 for females (N = 14318) and 2011-2012 to 2015-2016 for males (N = 7847). Temporal trends in coverage were assessed from 2007-2008 to 2011-2012 for females and from 2011-2012 to 2015-2016 for both sexes. Sensitivity and specificity of self/parent-reported vaccination were assessed using provider-verified vaccination records from a pilot study in 14-29 year-olds. In 2015-2016, ≥1 dose coverage among females was highest in 14-19 (54.7%) and 20-24 (56.0%) year-olds and lower in successively older age groups. Among males, ≥1 dose coverage was highest in 14-19 year-olds (39.5%) and lower at older ages. Coverage was similar in 9-13 year-old females and males. Between 2007-2008 and 2011-2012, there were increases among females younger than 30 years. Between 2011-2012 and 2015-2016, there were increases among female age groups including 20-39 year-olds; male coverage increased among ages 9-13, 14-19, and 20-24 years. Self/parent-reported receipt of ≥1 dose had a sensitivity and specificity of 87.0% and 83.3%. Performance was lower for 3 doses. While overall HPV vaccination coverage remains low, it is higher in females than males, except in 9-13 year-olds. There have been increases in coverage among many age groups, but coverage has stalled in younger females. Adequate validity was demonstrated for self/parent-reported vaccination of ≥1 dose, but not 3 doses, in a pilot study. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interpretation and mapping of gypsy moth defoilation from ERTS (LANDSAT)-1 temporal composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcmurtry, G. J.; Petersen, G. W. (Principal Investigator); Kowalik, W. S.

1975-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Photointerpretation of temporally composited color Diazo transparencies of ERTS(LANDSAT) images is a practical method for detecting and locating levels of widespread defoliation. ERTS 9 x 9 inch images are essentially orthographic and are produced at a nearly constant 1:1,000,000 scale. This allows direct superposition of scenes for temporal composites. ERTS coverage provides a sweeping 180 km (110 mile) wide view, permitting one interpreter to rapidly delineate defoliation in an area requiring days and weeks of work by aerial surveys or computerized processing. Defoliation boundaries can be located on the images within maximum errors on the order of hundreds of meters. The enhancement process is much less expensive than aerial surveys or computerized processing. Maps produced directly from interpretation are manageable working products. The 18 day periodic coverage of ERTS is not frequent enough to replace aerial survey mapping because defoliation and refoliation move as waves.

Coverage Metrics for Requirements-Based Testing: Evaluation of Effectiveness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Staats, Matt; Whalen, Michael W.; Heindahl, Mats P. E.; Rajan, Ajitha

2010-01-01

In black-box testing, the tester creates a set of tests to exercise a system under test without regard to the internal structure of the system. Generally, no objective metric is used to measure the adequacy of black-box tests. In recent work, we have proposed three requirements coverage metrics, allowing testers to objectively measure the adequacy of a black-box test suite with respect to a set of requirements formalized as Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) properties. In this report, we evaluate the effectiveness of these coverage metrics with respect to fault finding. Specifically, we conduct an empirical study to investigate two questions: (1) do test suites satisfying a requirements coverage metric provide better fault finding than randomly generated test suites of approximately the same size?, and (2) do test suites satisfying a more rigorous requirements coverage metric provide better fault finding than test suites satisfying a less rigorous requirements coverage metric? Our results indicate (1) only one coverage metric proposed -- Unique First Cause (UFC) coverage -- is sufficiently rigorous to ensure test suites satisfying the metric outperform randomly generated test suites of similar size and (2) that test suites satisfying more rigorous coverage metrics provide better fault finding than test suites satisfying less rigorous coverage metrics.

The Profile Envision and Splicing Tool (PRESTO): Developing an Atmospheric Wind Analysis Tool for Space Launch Vehicles Using Python

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Orcutt, John M.; Barbre, Robert E., Jr.; Brenton, James C.; Decker, Ryan K.

2017-01-01

Launch vehicle programs require vertically complete atmospheric profiles. Many systems at the ER to make the necessary measurements, but all have different EVR, vertical coverage, and temporal coverage. MSFC Natural Environments Branch developed a tool to create a vertically complete profile from multiple inputs using Python. Forward work: Finish Formal Testing Acceptance Testing, End-to-End Testing. Formal Release

Novel Cyclosilazane-Type Silicon Precursor and Two-Step Plasma for Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition of Silicon Nitride.

PubMed

Park, Jae-Min; Jang, Se Jin; Lee, Sang-Ick; Lee, Won-Jun

2018-03-14

We designed cyclosilazane-type silicon precursors and proposed a three-step plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) process to prepare silicon nitride films with high quality and excellent step coverage. The cyclosilazane-type precursor, 1,3-di-isopropylamino-2,4-dimethylcyclosilazane (CSN-2), has a closed ring structure for good thermal stability and high reactivity. CSN-2 showed thermal stability up to 450 °C and a sufficient vapor pressure of 4 Torr at 60 °C. The energy for the chemisorption of CSN-2 on the undercoordinated silicon nitride surface as calculated by density functional theory method was -7.38 eV. The PEALD process window was between 200 and 500 °C, with a growth rate of 0.43 Å/cycle. The best film quality was obtained at 500 °C, with hydrogen impurity of ∼7 atom %, oxygen impurity less than 2 atom %, low wet etching rate, and excellent step coverage of ∼95%. At 300 °C and lower temperatures, the wet etching rate was high especially at the lower sidewall of the trench pattern. We introduced the three-step PEALD process to improve the film quality and the step coverage on the lower sidewall. The sequence of the three-step PEALD process consists of the CSN-2 feeding step, the NH 3 /N 2 plasma step, and the N 2 plasma step. The H radicals in NH 3 /N 2 plasma efficiently remove the ligands from the precursor, and the N 2 plasma after the NH 3 plasma removes the surface hydrogen atoms to activate the adsorption of the precursor. The films deposited at 300 °C using the novel precursor and the three-step PEALD process showed a significantly improved step coverage of ∼95% and an excellent wet etching resistance at the lower sidewall, which is only twice as high as that of the blanket film prepared by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition.

Coverage-maximization in networks under resource constraints.

PubMed

Nandi, Subrata; Brusch, Lutz; Deutsch, Andreas; Ganguly, Niloy

2010-06-01

Efficient coverage algorithms are essential for information search or dispersal in all kinds of networks. We define an extended coverage problem which accounts for constrained resources of consumed bandwidth B and time T . Our solution to the network challenge is here studied for regular grids only. Using methods from statistical mechanics, we develop a coverage algorithm with proliferating message packets and temporally modulated proliferation rate. The algorithm performs as efficiently as a single random walker but O(B(d-2)/d) times faster, resulting in significant service speed-up on a regular grid of dimension d . The algorithm is numerically compared to a class of generalized proliferating random walk strategies and on regular grids shown to perform best in terms of the product metric of speed and efficiency.

Performance assessment of dynamic spiral scan modes with variable pitch for quantitative perfusion computed tomography.

PubMed

Haberland, Ulrike; Klotz, Ernst; Abolmaali, Nasreddin

2010-07-01

Perfusion computed tomography is increasingly being used in diagnostic radiology. Axial coverage of the traditional approach is limited to the width of the detector. Using continuous periodic table movement coverage can be increased beyond this limit. In this study, we compared tissue flow values determined from scans with a periodic spiral implementation with variable pitch with ones determined from standard dynamic scan modes. A flow phantom (preserved porcine kidney) was scanned with 2 settings of a periodic spiral (Adaptive 4D Spiral) with a range of 100 and 148 mm and a temporal sampling of 1.5 seconds. Additionally, the whole phantom was scanned with the standard dynamic mode (detector width 38.4 mm, temporal sampling 1.0 seconds) at various overlapping positions as a reference. Scan parameters (80 kV, 140 mAs, 40s scan time) were selected similar to a typical brain perfusion study. All scans were repeated 5 times. Tissue flow was calculated with a dedicated deconvolution algorithm. In a center slice and 3 additional slices at various off center positions flow values were recorded in a total of 126 regions of interest (ROI). Reproducibility was determined from the variation of the repeat scans. Agreement between periodic spirals and standard mode was determined by Bland Altman plots and correlation analysis. The reproducibility of the tissue flow determination ranged from 2.7 to 4.4 mL/100 mL/min and was similar for all scan modes. The coefficient of variation ranged from 3.9% to 6.1%. Mean tissue flow in the 126 ROIs ranged from 35 to 121 mL/100 mL/min. There was excellent correlation between both periodic spiral ranges and the standard dynamic mode with a Pearson correlation coefficient of r = 0.97. The regression slope (intercept 0) for the 100 mm range was 1.01, for the 148 mm range it was 0.97. The absolute differences per ROI varied between 1.5 and 4.1 mL/100 mL/min, the relative differences between 1.9% and 6.5%. Differences did not depend on the slice location. Periodic spiral scan modes with variable pitch and a sampling rate of 1.5 seconds can be used for the quantitative determination of tissue flow. Their performance is equivalent to equidistant sampling with standard dynamic scan modes. The ranges of 100 and 148 mm investigated allow coverage of the whole brain or an entire organ for perfusion imaging.

[Spatial and temporal analysis of the coverage for neonatal hearing screening in Brazil (2008-2015)].

PubMed

Paschoal, Monique Ramos; Cavalcanti, Hannalice Gottschalck; Ferreira, Maria Ângela Fernandes

2017-11-01

This article seeks to establish the coverage of neonatal hearing screening in Brazil between January 2008 and June 2015. It is an ecological study that uses the country, through the Urban Articulation Regions, as a base. To calculate the screening coverage percentage, the Live Births Information System, the Outpatient Information System and the Beneficiaries of the National Supplementary Health Agency Information System were used. An exploratory analysis of maps and spatial statistical analysis was conducted using TerraView 4.2.2 software. The coverage of neonatal hearing screening saw an increase of 9.3% to 37.2% during the study period. In 2008-2009 it was observed that the percentage of coverage ranged from 0% to 79.92%, but most areas received coverage from 0% to 20%, though in 2014-2015 coverage ranged from 0% to 171.77%, and there was a visible increase in the percentage of coverage in the country, mainly in the Southern Region. The screening coverage has increased over time, but is still low with an uneven distribution in the territory, which may be explained by local laws and policies and by the existence of different types of auditory health service in the country.

Landscape Characterization and Representativeness Analysis for Understanding Sampling Network Coverage

DOE Data Explorer

Maddalena, Damian; Hoffman, Forrest; Kumar, Jitendra; Hargrove, William

2014-08-01

Sampling networks rarely conform to spatial and temporal ideals, often comprised of network sampling points which are unevenly distributed and located in less than ideal locations due to access constraints, budget limitations, or political conflict. Quantifying the global, regional, and temporal representativeness of these networks by quantifying the coverage of network infrastructure highlights the capabilities and limitations of the data collected, facilitates upscaling and downscaling for modeling purposes, and improves the planning efforts for future infrastructure investment under current conditions and future modeled scenarios. The work presented here utilizes multivariate spatiotemporal clustering analysis and representativeness analysis for quantitative landscape characterization and assessment of the Fluxnet, RAINFOR, and ForestGEO networks. Results include ecoregions that highlight patterns of bioclimatic, topographic, and edaphic variables and quantitative representativeness maps of individual and combined networks.

New Science Opportunities on COSMIC-2/FORMOSAT-7

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mannucci, Anthony J.; Meehan, Thomas K.; Lowe, Stephen T.; Ao, Chi O; Franklin, Garth; Pi, Xiaoqing; Young, Lawrence E.; Kuo, Ying-Hwa (Bill); Schreiner, William S.

2013-01-01

COSMIC-2 Polar (second launch) is an excellent opportunity to extend SSAEM capabilities to global coverage. Enhanced ionospheric remote sensing via oceanic TEC and DORIS. Science: lower-upper atmosphere coupling. Additional payloads are being considered by NSPO/Taiwan.

Single-breath-hold abdominal [Formula: see text]  mapping using 3D Cartesian Look-Locker with spatiotemporal sparsity constraints.

PubMed

Lugauer, Felix; Wetzl, Jens; Forman, Christoph; Schneider, Manuel; Kiefer, Berthold; Hornegger, Joachim; Nickel, Dominik; Maier, Andreas

2018-06-01

Our aim was to develop and validate a 3D Cartesian Look-Locker [Formula: see text] mapping technique that achieves high accuracy and whole-liver coverage within a single breath-hold. The proposed method combines sparse Cartesian sampling based on a spatiotemporally incoherent Poisson pattern and k-space segmentation, dedicated for high-temporal-resolution imaging. This combination allows capturing tissue with short relaxation times with volumetric coverage. A joint reconstruction of the 3D + inversion time (TI) data via compressed sensing exploits the spatiotemporal sparsity and ensures consistent quality for the subsequent multistep [Formula: see text] mapping. Data from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) phantom and 11 volunteers, along with reference 2D Look-Locker acquisitions, are used for validation. 2D and 3D methods are compared based on [Formula: see text] values in different abdominal tissues at 1.5 and 3 T. [Formula: see text] maps obtained from the proposed 3D method compare favorably with those from the 2D reference and additionally allow for reformatting or volumetric analysis. Excellent agreement is shown in phantom [bias[Formula: see text] < 2%, bias[Formula: see text] < 5% for (120; 2000) ms] and volunteer data (3D and 2D deviation < 4% for liver, muscle, and spleen) for clinically acceptable scan (20 s) and reconstruction times (< 4 min). Whole-liver [Formula: see text] mapping with high accuracy and precision is feasible in one breath-hold using spatiotemporally incoherent, sparse 3D Cartesian sampling.

Temporal Stability of Multiple Response Systems to 7.5% Carbon Dioxide Challenge

PubMed Central

Roberson-Nay, Roxann; Gorlin, Eugenia I.; Beadel, Jessica R.; Cash, Therese; Vrana, Scott; Teachman, Bethany A.

2017-01-01

Self-reported anxiety, and potentially physiological response, to maintained inhalation of carbon dioxide (CO2) enriched air shows promise as a putative marker of panic reactivity and vulnerability. Temporal stability of response systems during low-dose, steady-state CO2 breathing challenge is lacking. Outcomes on multiple levels were measured two times, one week apart, in 93 individuals. Stability was highest during the CO2 breathing phase compared to pre-CO2 and recovery phases, with anxiety ratings, respiratory rate, skin conductance level, and heart rate demonstrating good to excellent temporal stability (ICCs ≥ 0.71). Cognitive symptoms tied to panic were somewhat less stable (ICC = 0.58) than physical symptoms (ICC = 0.74) during CO2 breathing. Escape/avoidance behaviors and DSM-5 panic attacks were not stable. Large effect sizes between task phases also were observed. Overall, results suggest good-excellent levels of temporal stability for multiple outcomes during respiratory stimulation via 7.5% CO2. PMID:28163046

Dynamic Assessment on the Landscape Patterns and Spatio-temporal Change in the mainstream of Tarim River

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hui; Xue, Lianqing; Yang, Changbing; Chen, Xinfang; Zhang, Luochen; Wei, Guanghui

2018-01-01

The Tarim River (TR), as the longest inland river at an arid area in China, is a typical regions of vegetation variation research and plays a crucial role in the sustainable development of regional ecological environment. In this paper, the newest dataset of MODND1M NDVI, at a resolution of 500m, were applied to calculate vegetation index in growing season during the period 2000-2015. Using a vegetation coverage index, a trend line analysis, and the local spatial autocorrelation analysis, this paper investigated the landscape patterns and spatio-temporal variation of vegetation coverage at regional and pixel scales over mainstream of the Tarim River, Xinjiang. The results showed that (1) The bare land area on both sides of Tarim River appeared to have a fluctuated downward trend and there were two obvious valley values in 2005 and 2012. (2) Spatially, the vegetation coverage improved areas is mostly distributed in upstream and the degraded areas is mainly distributed in the left bank of midstream and the end of Tarim River during 2000-2005. (3) The local spatial auto-correlation analysis revealed that vegetation coverage was spatially positive autocorrelated and spatial concentrated. The high-high self-related areas are mainly distributed in upstream, where vegetation cover are relatively good, and the low-low self-related areas are mostly with lower vegetation cover in the lower reaches of Tarim River.

SAGE III L2 Monthly Cloud Presence Data (Binary)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2016-06-14

... degrees South Spatial Resolution:  1 km vertical Temporal Coverage:  02/27/2002 - 12/31/2005 ... Parameters:  Cloud Amount/Frequency Cloud Height Cloud Vertical Distribution Order Data:  Search and ...

International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Ice Snow Product in Native (NAT) Format (ISCCP_ICESNOW_NAT)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rossow, William B. (Principal Investigator)

Since 1983 an international group of institutions has collected and analyzed satellite radiance measurements from up to five geostationary and two polar orbiting satellites to infer the global distribution of cloud properties and their diurnal, seasonal and interannual variations. The primary focus of the first phase of the project (1983-1995) was the elucidation of the role of clouds in the radiation budget (top of the atmosphere and surface). In the second phase of the project (1995 onwards) the analysis also concerns improving understanding of clouds in the global hydrological cycle. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1983-07-01; Stop_Date=] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=112 Km; Longitude_Resolution=112 Km; Temporal_Resolution=5-day].

The Surgical Challenge of Carotid Artery and Fallopian Canal Dehiscence in Chronic Ear Disease: A Pitfall for Endoscopic Approach

PubMed Central

Pauna, Henrique F.; Monsanto, Rafael C.; Schachern, Patricia A.; Costa, Sady S.; Kwon, Geeyoun; Paparella, Michael M.; Cureoglu, Sebahattin

2016-01-01

Objective Endoscopic procedures are becoming common in middle ear surgery. Inflammation due to chronic ear disease can cause bony erosion of the carotid artery and Fallopian canals, making them more vulnerable during surgery. The objective of this study was to determine whether or not chronic ear disease increases dehiscence of the carotid artery and Fallopian canals. Design Comparative human temporal bone study. Setting Otopathology laboratory. Participants We selected 78 temporal bones from 55 deceased donors with chronic otitis media or cholesteatoma, and then compared those 2 groups with a control group of 27 temporal bones from 19 deceased donors with no middle ear disease. Main outcome measures We analyzed the middle ear, carotid artery canal, and Fallopian canal, looking for signs of dehiscence of its bony coverage, using light microscopy. Results We found an increased incidence in dehiscence of the carotid artery and Fallopian canals in temporal bones with chronic middle ear disease. The size of the carotid artery canal dehiscence was larger in the middle ear diseased groups, and its bony coverage, when present, was also thinner compared to the control group. Dehiscence of the carotid artery canal was more frequently located closer to the promontory. The incidence of Fallopian canal dehiscence was significantly higher in temporal bones from donors older than 18 years with chronic middle ear disease. Conclusion The increased incidence of the carotid artery and Fallopian canal dehiscence in temporal bones with chronic middle ear disease elevates the risk of adverse events during middle ear surgery. Level of Evidence N/A. PMID:27455393

Spatio-temporal variation of vegetation coverage and its response to climate change in North China plain in the last 33 years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

A, Duo; Zhao, Wenji; Qu, Xinyuan; Jing, Ran; Xiong, Kai

2016-12-01

Global climate change has led to significant vegetation changes in the past half century. North China Plain, the most important grain production base of china, is undergoing a process of prominent warming and drying. The vegetation coverage, which is used to monitor vegetation change, can respond to climate change (temperature and precipitation). In this study, GIMMS (Global Inventory Modelling and Mapping Studies)-NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) data, MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) - NDVI data and climate data, during 1981-2013, were used to investigate the spatial distribution and changes of vegetation. The relationship between climate and vegetation on different spatial (agriculture, forest and grassland) and temporal (yearly, decadal and monthly) scales were also analyzed in North China Plain. (1) It was found that temperature exhibiting a slight increase trend (0.20 °C/10a, P < 0.01). This may be due to the disappearance of 0 °C isotherm, the rise of spring temperature. At the same time, precipitation showed a significant reduction trend (-1.75 mm/10a, P > 0.05). The climate mutation period was during 1991-1994. (2) Vegetation coverage slight increase was observed in the 55% of total study area, with a change rate of 0.00039/10a. Human activities may not only accelerate the changes of the vegetation coverage, but also c effect to the rate of these changes. (3) Overall, the correlation between the vegetation coverage and climatic factor is higher in monthly scale than yearly scale. The correlation analysis between vegetation coverage and climate changes showed that annual vegetation coverage was better correlatend with precipitation in grassland biome; but it showed a better correlated with temperature i the agriculture biome and forest biome. In addition, the vegetation coverage had sensitive time-effect respond to precipitation. (4) The vegetation coverage showed the same increasing trend before and after the climatic variations, but the rate of increase slowed down. From the vegetation coverage point of view, the grassland ecological zone had an obvious response to the climatic variations, but the agricultural ecological zones showed a significant response from the vegetation coverage change rate point of view. The effect of human activity in degradation region was higher than that in improvement area. But after the climate abruptly changing, the effect of human activity in improvement area was higher than that in degradation region, and the influence of human activity will continue in the future.

Wisconsin's approach to variation in traffic data

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-08-01

Traffic data exhibits considerable variability, both spatially and temporally. Given limited resources and the large geographic coverage required for data collection efforts, short period (24-hours to 7-day) traffic data collection must often serve t...

SAGE III L2 Monthly Cloud Presence Data (HDF-EOS)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2016-06-14

... degrees South Spatial Resolution:  1 km vertical Temporal Coverage:  02/27/2002 - 12/31/2005 ... Parameters:  Cloud Amount/Frequency Cloud Height Cloud Vertical Distribution Order Data:  Search and ...

The Liverpool Bay Coastal Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howarth, Michael John; O'Neill, Clare K.; Palmer, Matthew R.

2010-05-01

A pre-operational Coastal Observatory has been functioning since August 2002 in Liverpool Bay, Irish Sea. Its rationale is to develop the science underpinning the ecosystem based approach to marine management, including distinguishing between natural and man-made variability, with particular emphasis on eutrophication and predicting responses of a coastal sea to climate change. Liverpool Bay has strong tidal mixing, receives fresh water principally from the Dee, Mersey and Ribble estuaries, each with different catchment influences, and has enhanced levels of nutrients. Horizontal and vertical density gradients are variable both in space and time. The challenge is to understand and model accurately this variable region which is turbulent, turbid, receives enhanced nutrients and is productive. The Observatory has three components, for each of which the goal is some (near) real-time operation - measurements; coupled 3-D hydrodynamic, wave and ecological models; a data management and web-based data delivery system which provides free access to the data, http://cobs.pol.ac.uk. The integrated measurements are designed to test numerical models and have as a major objective obtaining multi-year records, covering tidal, event (storm / calm / bloom), seasonal and interannual time scales. The four main strands on different complementary space or time scales are:- a) fixed point time series (in situ and shore-based); very good temporal and very poor spatial resolution. These include tide gauges; a meteorological station on Hilbre Island at the mouth of the Dee; two in situ sites, one by the Mersey Bar, measuring waves and the vertical structure of current, temperature and salinity. A CEFAS SmartBuoy whose measurements include surface nutrients is deployed at the Mersey Bar site. b) regular (nine times per year) spatial water column surveys on a 9 km grid; good vertical resolution for some variables, limited spatial coverage and resolution, and limited temporal resolution. The measurements include nutrients and on board pCO2. c) HF radar for surface currents and waves; very good temporal resolution, limited spatial resolution (4 km grid) and range (~75 km). d) an instrumented ferry between Birkenhead and Dublin; along track 100 m resolution, crossing there and back most days. These are supplemented by weekly composite (because of cloud cover) satellite images of sea surface temperature, suspended sediment and chlorophyll; excellent horizontal resolution for surface properties, poor temporal coverage. A suite of coupled 3-D hydrodynamic, wave and ecological models forced by forecast meteorology is being developed. The model domains are nested from a 12 km grid ocean / shelf domain, 1.8 km Irish Sea and finally to 180 m for Liverpool Bay. Making real time forecasts for comparison with measurements is difficult since the forecast is only as good as the forcing data, for instance the meteorology should be on spatial and temporal scales comparable with the oceanographic models' and real-time river flow data is needed (climatological mean data are not good enough, especially for local models). The Observatory's design naturally involved compromises where model predictions can help, for instance should the detailed coverage be wider, including more of the Irish Sea, and / or should it extend closer to the shore, where biologically activity is greater? How many cruises should there be per year - nine visits will over-sample for a well defined seasonal cycle, such as temperature, but not for a variable with a more unpredictable or shorter time scale, such as salinity or phytoplankton? After seven years the main scientific challenges remain both to understand the processes and to translate this into predictive models whose accuracy has been quantified. The challenges relate to physics (salinity, circulation in Liverpool Bay, the flow through the Irish Sea, flushing events); the role of sediments in the optical characteristics of the water column; the ecosystem and eutrophication.

Interictal scalp electroencephalography and intraoperative electrocorticography in magnetic resonance imaging-negative temporal lobe epilepsy surgery.

PubMed

Burkholder, David B; Sulc, Vlastimil; Hoffman, E Matthew; Cascino, Gregory D; Britton, Jeffrey W; So, Elson L; Marsh, W Richard; Meyer, Fredric B; Van Gompel, Jamie J; Giannini, Caterina; Wass, C Thomas; Watson, Robert E; Worrell, Gregory A

2014-06-01

Scalp electroencephalography (EEG) and intraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG) are routinely used in the evaluation of magnetic resonance imaging-negative temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) undergoing standard anterior temporal lobectomy with amygdalohippocampectomy (ATL), but the utility of interictal epileptiform discharge (IED) identification and its role in outcome are poorly defined. To determine whether the following are associated with surgical outcomes in patients with magnetic resonance imaging-negative TLE who underwent standard ATL: (1) unilateral-only IEDs on preoperative scalp EEG; (2) complete resection of tissue generating IEDs on ECoG; (3) complete resection of opioid-induced IEDs recorded on ECoG; and (4) location of IEDs recorded on ECoG. Data were gathered through retrospective medical record review at a tertiary referral center. Adult and pediatric patients with TLE who underwent standard ATL between January 1, 1990, and October 15, 2010, were considered for inclusion. Inclusion criteria were magnetic resonance imaging-negative TLE, standard ECoG performed at the time of surgery, and a minimum follow-up of 12 months. Univariate analysis was performed using log-rank time-to-event analysis. Variables reaching significance with log-rank testing were further analyzed using Cox proportional hazards. Excellent or nonexcellent outcome at time of last follow-up. An excellent outcome was defined as Engel class I and a nonexcellent outcome as Engel classes II through IV. Eighty-seven patients met inclusion criteria, with 48 (55%) achieving an excellent outcome following ATL. Unilateral IEDs on scalp EEG (P = .001) and complete resection of brain regions generating IEDs on baseline intraoperative ECoG (P = .02) were associated with excellent outcomes in univariate analysis. Both were associated with excellent outcomes when analyzed with Cox proportional hazards (unilateral-only IEDs, relative risk = 0.31 [95% CI, 0.16-0.64]; complete resection of IEDs on baseline ECoG, relative risk = 0.39 [95% CI, 0.20-0.76]). Overall, 25 of 35 patients (71%) with both unilateral-only IEDs and complete resection of baseline ECoG IEDs had an excellent outcome. Unilateral-only IEDs on preoperative scalp EEG and complete resection of IEDs on baseline ECoG are associated with better outcomes following standard ATL in magnetic resonance imaging-negative TLE. Prospective evaluation is needed to clarify the use of ECoG in tailoring temporal lobectomy.

Three-Dimensional Host Bone Coverage in Total Hip Arthroplasty for Crowe Types II and III Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip.

PubMed

Xu, Jiawei; Qu, Xinhua; Li, Huiwu; Mao, Yuanqing; Yu, Degang; Zhu, Zhenan

2017-04-01

Recommendations for minimum cup coverage based on anteroposterior radiographs are widely used as an intraoperative guide in total hip arthroplasty for patients with developmental dysplasia of the hip. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of two-dimensional (2D) measurement of coverage with three-dimensional (3D) coverage and to identify parameters for determining the 3D coverage during surgery. We developed a technique to accurately reproduce the intraoperative anatomic geometry of the dysplastic acetabulum and measure the 3D cup coverage postoperatively. With this technique, we retrospectively analyzed the difference and correlation between 2D and 3D measurements of native bone coverage in 35 patients (45 hips) with Crowe II or III DDH. Linear regression analysis was performed to examine the intraoperative parameters related to coverage. The mean follow-up period was 7.64 years (range, 6.1-9.5 years). There was a significant difference and a fair correlation between 2D and 3D measurements. The 2D measurement underestimated the 3D cup coverage by approximately 13%. An excellent linear relationship was noted between the 3D coverage/uncoverage and the height of the uncovered portion (R 2  = 0.8440, P < .0001). There was no case of loosening or revision during the follow-up. Current minimum cup coverage recommendations based on 2D radiograph measurements should not be used as a direct intraoperative guide. The height of the uncovered portion is a useful parameter to determine the 3D coverage during surgery. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Temporal and spatial analysis of vegetation coverage changes in Ordos area based on time series GIMMS-NDVI data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Ruimei; Zou, Youfeng; Ma, Chao; Liu, Pei

2014-11-01

Ordos area is the desert-wind erosion desertification steppe transition zone and the complex ecological zone. As the research area, Ordos City has the similar natural geographic environment to ShenDong coalfield. To research its ecological patterns and natural evolution law, it has instructive to reveal temporal and spatial changes of ecological environment with artificial disturbance in western mining. In this paper, a time series of AVHRR-NDVI(Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) data was used to monitor the change of vegetation temporal and spatial dynamics from 1981 to 2006 in Ordos City and ShenDong coalfield, where were as the research area. The MVC (Maximum Value Composites) method, average operation, linear regression, and gradation for NDVI change trend were used to obtained some results, as follows: ¬vegetation coverage had obvious characteristics with periodic change in research area for 26 years, and vegetation growth peak appeared on August, while the lowest appeared on January. The extreme values in Ordos City were 0.2351 and 0.1176, while they were 0.2657 and 0.1272 in ShenDong coalfield. The NDVI value fluctuation was a modest rise trend overall in research area. The extreme values were 0.3071 and 0.1861 in Ordos City, while they were 0.3454 and 0.1904 in ShenDong coalfield. In spatial distribution, slight improvement area and slight degradation area were accounting for 42.49% and 8.37% in Ordos City, while slight improvement area moderate improvement area were accounting for 70.59% and 29.41% in ShenDong coalfield. Above of results indicated there was less vegetation coverage in research area, which reflected the characteristics of fragile natural geographical environment. In addition, vegetation coverage was with a modest rise on the whole, which reflected the natural environment change.

What are the associated parameters and temporal coverage?

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2014-12-08

... Extinction Coefficient, Cloud Vertical Profile, Radar-only Liquid Water Content, Radar-only Liquid Ice Content, Vertical Flux Profile, ... ISCCP-D2like Cloud fraction, Effective Pressure, Temperature, optical depth, IWP/LWP, particle size, IR Emissivity in ...

Satellite orbit considerations for a global change technology architecture trade study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harrison, Edwin F.; Gibson, Gary G.; Suttles, John T.; Buglia, James J.; Taback, Israel

1991-01-01

A study was conducted to determine satellite orbits for earth observation missions aimed at obtaining data for assessing data global climate change. A multisatellite system is required to meet the scientific requirements for temporal coverage over the globe. The best system consists of four sun-synchronous satellites equally spaced in local time of equatorial crossing. This system can obtain data every three hours for all regions. Several other satellite systems consisting of combinations of sun-synchronous orbits and either the Space Station Freedom or a mid-altitude equatorial satellite can provide three to six hour temporal coverage, which is sufficient for measuring many of the parameters required for the global change monitoring mission. Geosynchronous satellites are required to study atmospheric and surface processes involving variations on the order of a few minutes to an hour. One or two geosynchronous satellites can be relocated in longitude to study processes over selected regions of earth.

Prediction of Low Community Sanitation Coverage Using Environmental and Sociodemographic Factors in Amhara Region, Ethiopia

PubMed Central

Oswald, William E.; Stewart, Aisha E. P.; Flanders, W. Dana; Kramer, Michael R.; Endeshaw, Tekola; Zerihun, Mulat; Melaku, Birhanu; Sata, Eshetu; Gessesse, Demelash; Teferi, Tesfaye; Tadesse, Zerihun; Guadie, Birhan; King, Jonathan D.; Emerson, Paul M.; Callahan, Elizabeth K.; Moe, Christine L.; Clasen, Thomas F.

2016-01-01

This study developed and validated a model for predicting the probability that communities in Amhara Region, Ethiopia, have low sanitation coverage, based on environmental and sociodemographic conditions. Community sanitation coverage was measured between 2011 and 2014 through trachoma control program evaluation surveys. Information on environmental and sociodemographic conditions was obtained from available data sources and linked with community data using a geographic information system. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of low community sanitation coverage (< 20% versus ≥ 20%). The selected model was geographically and temporally validated. Model-predicted probabilities of low community sanitation coverage were mapped. Among 1,502 communities, 344 (22.90%) had coverage below 20%. The selected model included measures for high topsoil gravel content, an indicator for low-lying land, population density, altitude, and rainfall and had reasonable predictive discrimination (area under the curve = 0.75, 95% confidence interval = 0.72, 0.78). Measures of soil stability were strongly associated with low community sanitation coverage, controlling for community wealth, and other factors. A model using available environmental and sociodemographic data predicted low community sanitation coverage for areas across Amhara Region with fair discrimination. This approach could assist sanitation programs and trachoma control programs, scaling up or in hyperendemic areas, to target vulnerable areas with additional activities or alternate technologies. PMID:27430547

Solar-based navigation for robotic explorers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shillcutt, Kimberly Jo

2000-12-01

This thesis introduces the application of solar position and shadowing information to robotic exploration. Power is a critical resource for robots with remote, long-term missions, so this research focuses on the power generation capabilities of robotic explorers during navigational tasks, in addition to power consumption. Solar power is primarily considered, with the possibility of wind power also contemplated. Information about the environment, including the solar ephemeris, terrain features, time of day, and surface location, is incorporated into a planning structure, allowing robots to accurately predict shadowing and thus potential costs and gains during navigational tasks. By evaluating its potential to generate and expend power, a robot can extend its lifetime and accomplishments. The primary tasks studied are coverage patterns, with a variety of plans developed for this research. The use of sun, terrain and temporal information also enables new capabilities of identifying and following sun-synchronous and sun-seeking paths. Digital elevation maps are combined with an ephemeris algorithm to calculate the altitude and azimuth of the sun from surface locations, and to identify and map shadows. Solar navigation path simulators use this information to perform searches through two-dimensional space, while considering temporal changes. Step by step simulations of coverage patterns also incorporate time in addition to location. Evaluations of solar and wind power generation, power consumption, area coverage, area overlap, and time are generated for sets of coverage patterns, with on-board environmental information linked to the simulations. This research is implemented on the Nomad robot for the Robotic Antarctic Meteorite Search. Simulators have been developed for coverage pattern tests, as well as for sun-synchronous and sun-seeking path searches. Results of field work and simulations are reported and analyzed, with demonstrated improvements in efficiency, productivity and lifetime of robotic explorers, along with new solar navigation abilities.

Hydrological Responses of Weather Conditions and Crop Change of Agricultural Area in the Rincon Valley, New Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahn, S.; Sheng, Z.; Abudu, S.

2017-12-01

Hydrologic cycle of agricultural area has been changing due to the impacts of climate and land use changes (crop coverage changes) in an arid region of Rincon Valley, New Mexico. This study is to evaluate the impacts of weather condition and crop coverage change on hydrologic behavior of agricultural area in Rincon Valley (2,466km2) for agricultural watershed management using a watershed-scale hydrologic model, SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool). The SWAT model was developed to incorporate irrigation of different crops using auto irrigation function. For the weather condition and crop coverage change evaluation, three spatial crop coverages including a normal (2008), wet (2009), and dry (2011) years were prepared using USDA crop data layer (CDL) for fourteen different crops. The SWAT model was calibrated for the period of 2001-2003 and validated for the period of 2004-2006 using daily-observed streamflow data. Scenario analysis was performed for wet and dry years based on the unique combinations of crop coverages and releases from Caballo Reservoir. The SWAT model simulated the present vertical water budget and horizontal water transfer considering irrigation practices in the Rincon Valley. Simulation results indicated the temporal and spatial variability for irrigation and non-irrigation seasons of hydrologic cycle in agricultural area in terms of surface runoff, evapotranspiration, infiltration, percolation, baseflow, soil moisture, and groundwater recharge. The water supply of the dry year could not fully cover whole irrigation period due to dry weather conditions, resulting in reduction of crop acreage. For extreme weather conditions, the temporal variation of water budget became robust, which requires careful irrigation management of the agricultural area. The results could provide guidelines for farmers to decide crop patterns in response to different weather conditions and water availability.

A Constellation of CubeSat InSAR Sensors for Rapid-Revisit Surface Deformation Studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wye, L.; Lee, S.; Yun, S. H.; Zebker, H. A.; Stock, J. D.; Wicks, C. W., Jr.; Doe, R.

2016-12-01

The 2007 NRC Decadal Survey for Earth Sciences highlights three major Earth surface deformation themes: 1) solid-earth hazards and dynamics; 2) human health and security; and 3) land-use change, ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity. Space-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) is a key change detection tool for addressing these themes. Here, we describe the mission and radar payload design for a constellation of S-band InSAR sensors specifically designed to provide the global, high temporal resolution, sub-cm level deformation accuracy needed to address some of the major Earth system goals. InSAR observations with high temporal resolution are needed to properly monitor certain nonlinearly time-varying features (e.g., unstable volcanoes, active fault lines, and heavily-used groundwater or hydrocarbon reservoirs). Good temporal coverage is also needed to reduce atmospheric artifacts by allowing multiple acquisitions to be averaged together, since each individual SAR measurement is corrupted by up to several cm of atmospheric noise. A single InSAR platform is limited in how often it can observe a given scene without sacrificing global spatial coverage. Multiple InSAR platforms provide the spatial-temporal flexibility required to maximize the science return. However, building and launching multiple InSAR platforms is cost-prohibitive for traditional satellites. SRI International (SRI) and our collaborators are working to exploit developments in nanosatellite technology, in particular the emergence of the CubeSat standard, to provide high-cadence InSAR capabilities in an affordable package. The CubeSat Imaging Radar for Earth Science (CIRES) subsystem, a prototype SAR elec­tronics package developed by SRI with support from a 2014 NASA ESTO ACT award, is specifically scaled to be a drop-in radar solution for resource-limited delivery systems like CubeSats and small airborne vehicles. Here, we present our mission concept and flow-down requirements for a constellation of 6U InSAR sensors that individually approach the performance capabilities of existing instruments, but collectively surpass the temporal coverage capabilities of single-platform sensors. We discuss the key applications addressed by this constellation and the capabilities that the constellation enables.

Analytical Incorporation of Velocity Parameters into Ice Sheet Elevation Change Rate Computations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagarajan, S.; Ahn, Y.; Teegavarapu, R. S. V.

2014-12-01

NASA, ESA and various other agencies have been collecting laser, optical and RADAR altimetry data through various missions to study the elevation changes of the Cryosphere. The laser altimetry collected by various airborne and spaceborne missions provides multi-temporal coverage of Greenland and Antarctica since 1993 to now. Though these missions have increased the data coverage, considering the dynamic nature of the ice surface, it is still sparse both spatially and temporally for accurate elevation change detection studies. The temporal and spatial gaps are usually filled by interpolation techniques. This presentation will demonstrate a method to improve the temporal interpolation. Considering the accuracy, repeat coverage and spatial distribution, the laser scanning data has been widely used to compute elevation change rate of Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets. A major problem with these approaches is non-consideration of ice sheet velocity dynamics into change rate computations. Though the correlation between velocity and elevation change rate have been noticed by Hurkmans et al., 2012, the corrections for velocity changes were applied after computing elevation change rates by assuming linear or higher polynomial relationship. This research will discuss the possibilities of parameterizing ice sheet dynamics as unknowns (dX and dY) in the adjustment mathematical model that computes elevation change (dZ) rates. It is a simultaneous computation of changes in all three directions of the ice surface. Also, the laser points between two time epochs in a crossover area have different distribution and count. Therefore, a registration method that does not require point-to-point correspondence is required to recover the unknown elevation and velocity parameters. This research will experiment the possibilities of registering multi-temporal datasets using volume minimization algorithm, which determines the unknown dX, dY and dZ that minimizes the volume between two or more time-epoch point clouds. In order to make use of other existing data as well as to constrain the adjustment, InSAR velocity will be used as initial values for the parameters dX and dY. The presentation will discuss the results of analytical incorporation of parameters and the volume based registration method for a test site in Greenland.

Geodetic integration of Sentinel-1A IW data using PSInSAR in Hungary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farkas, Péter; Hevér, Renáta; Grenerczy, Gyula

2015-04-01

ESA's latest Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mission Sentinel-1 is a huge step forward in SAR interferometry. With its default acquisition mode called the Interferometric Wide Swath Mode (IW) areas through all scales can be mapped with an excellent return time of 12 days (while only the Sentinel-1A is in orbit). Its operational data policy is also a novelty, it allows scientific users free and unlimited access to data. It implements a new type of ScanSAR mode called Terrain Observation with Progressive Scan (TOPS) SAR. It has the same resolution as ScanSAR but with better signal-to-noise ratio distribution. The bigger coverage is achieved by rotation of the antenna in the azimuth direction, therefore it requires very precise co-registration because even errors under a pixel accuracy can introduce azimuth phase variations caused by differences in Doppler-centroids. In our work we will summarize the benefits and the drawbacks of the IW mode. We would like to implement the processing chain of GAMMA Remote Sensing of such data for mapping surface motion with special attention to the co-registration step. Not only traditional InSAR but the advanced method of Persistent Scatterer InSAR (PSInSAR) will be performed and presented as well. PS coverage, along with coherence, is expected to be good due to the small perpendicular and temporal baselines. We would also like to integrate these measurements into national geodetic networks using common reference points. We have installed trihedral corner reflectors at some selected sites to aid precise collocation. Thus, we aim to demonstrate that Sentinel-1 can be effectively used for surface movement detection and monitoring and it can also provide valuable information for the improvement of our networks.

Mitigating Uncertainty from Vegetation Spatial Complexity with Highly Portable Lidar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paynter, I.; Schaaf, C.; Peri, F.; Saenz, E. J.; Genest, D.; Strahler, A. H.; Li, Z.

2015-12-01

To fully utilize the excellent spatial coverage and temporal resolution offered by satellite resources for estimating ecological variables, fine-scale observations are required for comparison, calibration and validation. Lidar instruments have proved effective in estimating the properties of vegetation components of ecosystems, but they are often challenged by occlusion, especially in structurally complex and spatially fragmented ecosystems such as tropical forests. Increasing the range of view angles, both horizontally and vertically, by increasing the number of scans, can mitigate occlusion. However these scans must occur within the window of temporal stability for the ecosystem and vegetation property being measured. The Compact Biomass Lidar (CBL) is a TLS optimized for portability and scanning speed, developed and operated by University of Massachusetts Boston. This 905nm wavelength scanner achieves an angular resolution of 0.25 degrees at a rate of 33 seconds per scan. The ability to acquire many scans within narrow windows of temporal stability for ecological variables has facilitated the more complete investigation of ecosystem structural characteristics, and their expression as a function of view angle. The lightweight CBL has facilitated the use of alternative deployment platforms including towers, trams and masts, allowing analysis of the vertical structure of ecosystems, even in highly enclosed environments such as the sub-canopy of tropical forests where aerial vehicles cannot currently operate. We will present results from view angle analyses of lidar surveys of tropical rainforest in La Selva, Costa Rica where the CBL was deployed at heights up to 10m in Carbono long-term research plots utilizing a portable mast, and on a 25m stationary tower; and temperate forest at Harvard Forest, Massachusetts, USA, where the CBL has been deployed biannually at long-term research plots of hardwood and hemlock, as well as at heights of up to 25m utilizing a stationary tower.

Spatio-temporal clustering and density estimation of lightning data for the tracking of convective events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strauss, Cesar; Rosa, Marcelo Barbio; Stephany, Stephan

2013-12-01

Convective cells are cloud formations whose growth, maturation and dissipation are of great interest among meteorologists since they are associated with severe storms with large precipitation structures. Some works suggest a strong correlation between lightning occurrence and convective cells. The current work proposes a new approach to analyze the correlation between precipitation and lightning, and to identify electrically active cells. Such cells may be employed for tracking convective events in the absence of weather radar coverage. This approach employs a new spatio-temporal clustering technique based on a temporal sliding-window and a standard kernel density estimation to process lightning data. Clustering allows the identification of the cells from lightning data and density estimation bounds the contours of the cells. The proposed approach was evaluated for two convective events in Southeast Brazil. Image segmentation of radar data was performed to identify convective precipitation structures using the Steiner criteria. These structures were then compared and correlated to the electrically active cells in particular instants of time for both events. It was observed that most precipitation structures have associated cells, by comparing the ground tracks of their centroids. In addition, for one particular cell of each event, its temporal evolution was compared to that of the associated precipitation structure. Results show that the proposed approach may improve the use of lightning data for tracking convective events in countries that lack weather radar coverage.

CERES Monthly Gridded Single Satellite TOA and Surfaces/Clouds (SFC) data in HDF (CER_SFC_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Beta4)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Monthly Gridded TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SFC) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SFC is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. All instantaneous shortwave, longwave, and window fluxes at the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) and surface from the CERES SSF product for a month are sorted by 1-degree spatial regions and by the local hour of observation. The mean of the instantaneous fluxes for a given region-hour bin is determined and recorded on the SFC along with other flux statistics and scene information. These average fluxes are given for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes. The regional cloud properties are column averaged and are included on the SFC. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2000-03-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=100] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

GABA[subscript A] Receptors Determine the Temporal Dynamics of Memory Retention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNally, Gavan P.; Augustyn, Katarzyna A.; Richardson, Rick

2008-01-01

Four experiments studied the role of GABA[subscript A] receptors in the temporal dynamics of memory retention. Memory for an active avoidance response was a nonmonotonic function of the retention interval. When rats were tested shortly (2 min) or some time (24 h) after training, retention was excellent, but when they were tested at intermediate…

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine coverage achievements in low and middle-income countries 2007-2016.

PubMed

Gallagher, Katherine E; Howard, Natasha; Kabakama, Severin; Mounier-Jack, Sandra; Burchett, Helen E D; LaMontagne, D Scott; Watson-Jones, Deborah

2017-12-01

Since 2007, HPV vaccine has been available to low and middle income countries (LAMIC) for small-scale 'demonstration projects', or national programmes. We analysed coverage achieved in HPV vaccine demonstration projects and national programmes that had completed at least 6 months of implementation between January 2007-2016. A mapping exercise identified 45 LAMICs with HPV vaccine delivery experience. Estimates of coverage and factors influencing coverage were obtained from 56 key informant interviews, a systematic published literature search of 5 databases that identified 61 relevant full texts and 188 solicited unpublished documents, including coverage surveys. Coverage achievements were analysed descriptively against country or project/programme characteristics. Heterogeneity in data, funder requirements, and project/programme design precluded multivariate analysis. Estimates of uptake, schedule completion rates and/or final dose coverage were available from 41 of 45 LAMICs included in the study. Only 17 estimates from 13 countries were from coverage surveys, most were administrative data. Final dose coverage estimates were all over 50% with most between 70% and 90%, and showed no trend over time. The majority of delivery strategies included schools as a vaccination venue. In countries with school enrolment rates below 90%, inclusion of strategies to reach out-of-school girls contributed to obtaining high coverage compared to school-only strategies. There was no correlation between final dose coverage and estimated recurrent financial costs of delivery from cost analyses. Coverage achieved during joint delivery of HPV vaccine combined with another intervention was variable with little/no evaluation of the correlates of success. This is the most comprehensive descriptive analysis of HPV vaccine coverage in LAMICs to date. It is possible to deliver HPV vaccine with excellent coverage in LAMICs. Further good quality data are needed from health facility based delivery strategies and national programmes to aid policymakers to effectively and sustainably scale-up HPV vaccination. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Crop classification using temporal stacks of multispectral satellite imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moody, Daniela I.; Brumby, Steven P.; Chartrand, Rick; Keisler, Ryan; Longbotham, Nathan; Mertes, Carly; Skillman, Samuel W.; Warren, Michael S.

2017-05-01

The increase in performance, availability, and coverage of multispectral satellite sensor constellations has led to a drastic increase in data volume and data rate. Multi-decadal remote sensing datasets at the petabyte scale are now available in commercial clouds, with new satellite constellations generating petabytes/year of daily high-resolution global coverage imagery. The data analysis capability, however, has lagged behind storage and compute developments, and has traditionally focused on individual scene processing. We present results from an ongoing effort to develop satellite imagery analysis tools that aggregate temporal, spatial, and spectral information and can scale with the high-rate and dimensionality of imagery being collected. We investigate and compare the performance of pixel-level crop identification using tree-based classifiers and its dependence on both temporal and spectral features. Classification performance is assessed using as ground-truth Cropland Data Layer (CDL) crop masks generated by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The CDL maps contain 30m spatial resolution, pixel-level labels for around 200 categories of land cover, but are however only available post-growing season. The analysis focuses on McCook county in South Dakota and shows crop classification using a temporal stack of Landsat 8 (L8) imagery over the growing season, from April through October. Specifically, we consider the temporal L8 stack depth, as well as different normalized band difference indices, and evaluate their contribution to crop identification. We also show an extension of our algorithm to map corn and soy crops in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

CERES GEO Ed4 Available Data

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2017-10-11

... Spatial Resolution Temporal Coverage CER_GEO_Ed4_GOE08 Hourly 2-4km observation at nadir, subsampled every 8-9 km 2000-03-01 to 2003-04-01 CER_GEO_Ed4_GOE09 Hourly 2-4km observation at nadir, subsampled ...

Objective coding of content and techniques in workplace-based supervision of an EBT in public mental health.

PubMed

Dorsey, Shannon; Kerns, Suzanne E U; Lucid, Leah; Pullmann, Michael D; Harrison, Julie P; Berliner, Lucy; Thompson, Kelly; Deblinger, Esther

2018-01-24

Workplace-based clinical supervision as an implementation strategy to support evidence-based treatment (EBT) in public mental health has received limited research attention. A commonly provided infrastructure support, it may offer a relatively cost-neutral implementation strategy for organizations. However, research has not objectively examined workplace-based supervision of EBT and specifically how it might differ from EBT supervision provided in efficacy and effectiveness trials. Data come from a descriptive study of supervision in the context of a state-funded EBT implementation effort. Verbal interactions from audio recordings of 438 supervision sessions between 28 supervisors and 70 clinicians from 17 public mental health organizations (in 23 offices) were objectively coded for presence and intensity coverage of 29 supervision strategies (16 content and 13 technique items), duration, and temporal focus. Random effects mixed models estimated proportion of variance in content and techniques attributable to the supervisor and clinician levels. Interrater reliability among coders was excellent. EBT cases averaged 12.4 min of supervision per session. Intensity of coverage for EBT content varied, with some discussed frequently at medium or high intensity (exposure) and others infrequently discussed or discussed only at low intensity (behavior management; assigning/reviewing client homework). Other than fidelity assessment, supervision techniques common in treatment trials (e.g., reviewing actual practice, behavioral rehearsal) were used rarely or primarily at low intensity. In general, EBT content clustered more at the clinician level; different techniques clustered at either the clinician or supervisor level. Workplace-based clinical supervision may be a feasible implementation strategy for supporting EBT implementation, yet it differs from supervision in treatment trials. Time allotted per case is limited, compressing time for EBT coverage. Techniques that involve observation of clinician skills are rarely used. Workplace-based supervision content appears to be tailored to individual clinicians and driven to some degree by the individual supervisor. Our findings point to areas for intervention to enhance the potential of workplace-based supervision for implementation effectiveness. NCT01800266 , Clinical Trials, Retrospectively Registered (for this descriptive study; registration prior to any intervention [part of phase II RCT, this manuscript is only phase I descriptive results]).

A mystery caller evaluation of Medicaid staff responses about state coverage of abortion care.

PubMed

Dennis, Amanda; Blanchard, Kelly

2012-03-01

The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal Medicaid funding for abortion except when a woman is seeking an abortion for a pregnancy that is the result of rape or incest, or that threatens her life. We investigated how Medicaid staff in 17 states responded to inquiries about coverage for abortion in the few circumstances that qualify for federal Medicaid funding. Using a mystery caller approach, we surveyed Medicaid staff about the availability of abortion coverage, the process for obtaining coverage, and the associated costs for an abortion in circumstances of rape and life endangerment in five states where Medicaid coverage should be available to cover most abortions and in 12 states with restrictions on the circumstances under which Medicaid funding can be used for abortion. We were able to complete 82% of surveys. Medicaid staff definitively provided information about the availability of coverage that was consistent with state policies in 64% of surveys. However, 52% of staff reported that coverage could be difficult to obtain and that rigorous documentation of the circumstances of the abortion was required. Information about copays for abortion was given in 78% of surveys. We subjectively rated the caller's experience with Medicaid staff as excellent during 32% of the surveys, adequate in 61% of surveys, and poor in 7% of surveys. Medicaid staff provided inconsistent information that was often discouraging of women seeking abortion coverage, suggesting that women may have difficulties obtaining accurate information about Medicaid coverage of abortion, which may deter access to care. Copyright © 2012 Jacobs Institute of Women

Lidar Data Products and Applications Enabled by Conical Scanning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwemmer, Geary K.; Miller, David O.; Wilkerson, Thomas D.; Lee, Sang-Woo

2004-01-01

Several new data products and applications for elastic backscatter lidar are achieved using simple conical scanning. Atmospheric boundary layer spatial and temporal structure is revealed with resolution not possible with static pointing lidars. Cloud fractional coverage as a function of altitude is possible with high temporal resolution. Wind profiles are retrieved from the cloud and aerosol structure motions revealed by scanning. New holographic technology will soon allow quasi-conical scanning and push-broom lidar imaging without mechanical scanning, high resolution, on the order of seconds.

Media coverage and public reaction to a celebrity cancer diagnosis.

PubMed

Metcalfe, D; Price, C; Powell, J

2011-03-01

Celebrity diagnoses can have important effects on public behaviour. UK television celebrity Jade Goody died from cervical cancer in 2009. We investigated the impact of her illness on media coverage of cervical cancer prevention, health information seeking behaviour and cervical screening coverage. National UK newspaper articles containing the words 'Jade Goody' and 'cancer' were examined for public health messages. Google Insights for Search was used to quantify Internet searches as a measure of public health information seeking. Cervical screening coverage data were examined for temporal associations with this story. Of 1203 articles, 116 (9.6%) included a clear public health message. The majority highlighted screening (8.2%). Fewer articles provided advice about vaccination (3.0%), number of sexual partners (1.4%), smoking (0.6%) and condom use (0.4%). Key events were associated with increased Internet searches for 'cervical cancer' and 'smear test', although only weakly with searches for 'HPV'. Cervical screening coverage increased during this period. Increased public interest in disease prevention can follow a celebrity diagnosis. Although media coverage sometimes included public health information, articles typically focused on secondary instead of primary prevention. There is further potential to maximize the public health benefit of future celebrity diagnoses.

Cosmetic reconstruction of temporal defect following pterional [corrected] craniotomy.

PubMed

Badie, B

1996-04-01

Depression of the temporal fossa that is often caused by atrophy of the temporalis muscle or superficial temporal fat pad may be an unavoidable defect following pterional craniotomy. Various techniques have been previously described to correct this disfiguring defect. Most techniques, however, require drilling holes into the cranium or the synthetic grafts for attachment of the temporalis muscle. A simple method is described by which a temporal fossa depression is repaired with methylmethacrylate bone cement and a new superior temporal line is created for attachment of the temporalis muscle without the need to drill suture holes into the acrylic or the cranium. The technique described has been used on several patients with excellent cosmetic outcome.

Coverage centralities for temporal networks*

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takaguchi, Taro; Yano, Yosuke; Yoshida, Yuichi

2016-02-01

Structure of real networked systems, such as social relationship, can be modeled as temporal networks in which each edge appears only at the prescribed time. Understanding the structure of temporal networks requires quantifying the importance of a temporal vertex, which is a pair of vertex index and time. In this paper, we define two centrality measures of a temporal vertex based on the fastest temporal paths which use the temporal vertex. The definition is free from parameters and robust against the change in time scale on which we focus. In addition, we can efficiently compute these centrality values for all temporal vertices. Using the two centrality measures, we reveal that distributions of these centrality values of real-world temporal networks are heterogeneous. For various datasets, we also demonstrate that a majority of the highly central temporal vertices are located within a narrow time window around a particular time. In other words, there is a bottleneck time at which most information sent in the temporal network passes through a small number of temporal vertices, which suggests an important role of these temporal vertices in spreading phenomena. Contribution to the Topical Issue "Temporal Network Theory and Applications", edited by Petter Holme.Supplementary material in the form of one pdf file available from the Journal web page at http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2016-60498-7

Anti-translational research: from the bedside back to the bench for reflectance confocal microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gareau, Daniel

2014-03-01

The reflectance confocal microscope has made translational progress in dermatology. 0.5 micrometer lateral resolution, 0.75mm field-of-view and excellent temporal resolution at ~15 frames/second serve the VivaScope well in the clinic, but it may be overlooked in basic research. This work reviews high spatiotemporal confocal microscopy and presents images acquired of various samples: zebra fish embryo where melanocytes with excellent contrast overly the spinal column, chicken embryo, where myocardium is seen moving at 15 frames/ second, calcium spikes in dendrites (fluorescence mode) just beyond the temporal resolution, and human skin where blood cells race through the artereovenous microvasculature. For an introduction to confocal microscopy, see: http://dangareau.net.s69818.gridserver.com/science/confocal-microscopy

Clothing Protection from Ultraviolet Radiation: A New Method for Assessment.

PubMed

Gage, Ryan; Leung, William; Stanley, James; Reeder, Anthony; Barr, Michelle; Chambers, Tim; Smith, Moira; Signal, Louise

2017-11-01

Clothing modifies ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure from the sun and has an impact on skin cancer risk and the endogenous synthesis of vitamin D. There is no standardized method available for assessing body surface area (BSA) covered by clothing, which limits generalizability between study findings. We calculated the body cover provided by 38 clothing items using diagrams of BSA, adjusting the values to account for differences in BSA by age. Diagrams displaying each clothing item were developed and incorporated into a coverage assessment procedure (CAP). Five assessors used the CAP and Lund & Browder chart, an existing method for estimating BSA, to calculate the clothing coverage of an image sample of 100 schoolchildren. Values of clothing coverage, inter-rater reliability and assessment time were compared between CAP and Lund & Browder methods. Both methods had excellent inter-rater reliability (>0.90) and returned comparable results, although the CAP method was significantly faster in determining a person's clothing coverage. On balance, the CAP method appears to be a feasible method for calculating clothing coverage. Its use could improve comparability between sun-safety studies and aid in quantifying the health effects of UVR exposure. © 2017 The American Society of Photobiology.

Interictal Scalp Electroencephalography and Intraoperative Electrocorticography in Magnetic Resonance Imaging–Negative Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Surgery

PubMed Central

Burkholder, David B.; Sulc, Vlastimil; Hoffman, E. Matthew; Cascino, Gregory D.; Britton, Jeffrey W.; So, Elson L.; Marsh, W. Richard; Meyer, Fredric B.; Van Gompel, Jamie J.; Giannini, Caterina; Wass, C. Thomas; Watson, Robert E.; Worrell, Gregory A.

2014-01-01

IMPORTANCE Scalp electroencephalography (EEG) and intraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG) are routinely used in the evaluation of magnetic resonance imaging–negative temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) undergoing standard anterior temporal lobectomy with amygdalohippocampectomy (ATL), but the utility of interictal epileptiform discharge (IED) identification and its role in outcome are poorly defined. OBJECTIVES To determine whether the following are associated with surgical outcomes in patients with magnetic resonance imaging–negative TLE who underwent standard ATL: (1) unilateral-only IEDs on preoperative scalp EEG; (2) complete resection of tissue generating IEDs on ECoG; (3) complete resection of opioid-induced IEDs recorded on ECoG; and (4) location of IEDs recorded on ECoG. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Data were gathered through retrospective medical record review at a tertiary referral center. Adult and pediatric patients with TLE who underwent standard ATL between January 1, 1990, and October 15, 2010, were considered for inclusion. Inclusion criteria were magnetic resonance imaging–negative TLE, standard ECoG performed at the time of surgery, and a minimum follow-up of 12 months. Univariate analysis was performed using log-rank time-to-event analysis. Variables reaching significance with log-rank testing were further analyzed using Cox proportional hazards. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Excellent or nonexcellent outcome at time of last follow-up. An excellent outcome was defined as Engel class I and a nonexcellent outcome as Engel classes II through IV. RESULTS Eighty-seven patients met inclusion criteria, with 48 (55%) achieving an excellent outcome following ATL. Unilateral IEDs on scalp EEG (P = .001) and complete resection of brain regions generating IEDs on baseline intraoperative ECoG (P = .02) were associated with excellent outcomes in univariate analysis. Both were associated with excellent outcomes when analyzed with Cox proportional hazards (unilateral-only IEDs, relative risk = 0.31 [95% CI, 0.16-0.64]; complete resection of IEDs on baseline ECoG, relative risk = 0.39 [95% CI, 0.20-0.76]). Overall, 25 of 35 patients (71%) with both unilateral-only IEDs and complete resection of baseline ECoG IEDs had an excellent outcome. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Unilateral-only IEDs on preoperative scalp EEG and complete resection of IEDs on baseline ECoG are associated with better outcomes following standard ATL in magnetic resonance imaging–negative TLE. Prospective evaluation is needed to clarify the use of ECoG in tailoring temporal lobectomy. PMID:24781216

Examination of the Psychometric Properties of the Adult Manifest Anxiety Scale-Elderly Version Scores

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowe, Patricia A.; Reynolds, Cecil R.

2006-01-01

The psychometric properties of the Adult Manifest Anxiety Scale-Elderly Version (AMAS-E) scores were evaluated in two studies. In Study 1, the temporal stability and construct validity of the AMAS-E test scores were examined in a group of 226 older adults, aged 60 years and older. Results indicated adequate to excellent temporal stability (2-week…

It Never Hurts To Go Back and Remind Ourselves about the Basics in Newspaper Journalism.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Konkle, Bruce E.

2002-01-01

Suggests knowing the basics is critical if newspaper advisers and staffs are to move their newspaper into the best, excellent, superior, above average, all-everything category a scholastic press evaluation service may award. Discusses the basic areas of writing, design, photojournalism, advertising, and overall coverage. (RS)

Strategies for satellite-based monitoring of CO2 from distributed area and point sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwandner, Florian M.; Miller, Charles E.; Duren, Riley M.; Natraj, Vijay; Eldering, Annmarie; Gunson, Michael R.; Crisp, David

2014-05-01

Atmospheric CO2 budgets are controlled by the strengths, as well as the spatial and temporal variabilities of CO2 sources and sinks. Natural CO2 sources and sinks are dominated by the vast areas of the oceans and the terrestrial biosphere. In contrast, anthropogenic and geogenic CO2 sources are dominated by distributed area and point sources, which may constitute as much as 70% of anthropogenic (e.g., Duren & Miller, 2012), and over 80% of geogenic emissions (Burton et al., 2013). Comprehensive assessments of CO2 budgets necessitate robust and highly accurate satellite remote sensing strategies that address the competing and often conflicting requirements for sampling over disparate space and time scales. Spatial variability: The spatial distribution of anthropogenic sources is dominated by patterns of production, storage, transport and use. In contrast, geogenic variability is almost entirely controlled by endogenic geological processes, except where surface gas permeability is modulated by soil moisture. Satellite remote sensing solutions will thus have to vary greatly in spatial coverage and resolution to address distributed area sources and point sources alike. Temporal variability: While biogenic sources are dominated by diurnal and seasonal patterns, anthropogenic sources fluctuate over a greater variety of time scales from diurnal, weekly and seasonal cycles, driven by both economic and climatic factors. Geogenic sources typically vary in time scales of days to months (geogenic sources sensu stricto are not fossil fuels but volcanoes, hydrothermal and metamorphic sources). Current ground-based monitoring networks for anthropogenic and geogenic sources record data on minute- to weekly temporal scales. Satellite remote sensing solutions would have to capture temporal variability through revisit frequency or point-and-stare strategies. Space-based remote sensing offers the potential of global coverage by a single sensor. However, no single combination of orbit and sensor provides the full range of temporal sampling needed to characterize distributed area and point source emissions. For instance, point source emission patterns will vary with source strength, wind speed and direction. Because wind speed, direction and other environmental factors change rapidly, short term variabilities should be sampled. For detailed target selection and pointing verification, important lessons have already been learned and strategies devised during JAXA's GOSAT mission (Schwandner et al, 2013). The fact that competing spatial and temporal requirements drive satellite remote sensing sampling strategies dictates a systematic, multi-factor consideration of potential solutions. Factors to consider include vista, revisit frequency, integration times, spatial resolution, and spatial coverage. No single satellite-based remote sensing solution can address this problem for all scales. It is therefore of paramount importance for the international community to develop and maintain a constellation of atmospheric CO2 monitoring satellites that complement each other in their temporal and spatial observation capabilities: Polar sun-synchronous orbits (fixed local solar time, no diurnal information) with agile pointing allow global sampling of known distributed area and point sources like megacities, power plants and volcanoes with daily to weekly temporal revisits and moderate to high spatial resolution. Extensive targeting of distributed area and point sources comes at the expense of reduced mapping or spatial coverage, and the important contextual information that comes with large-scale contiguous spatial sampling. Polar sun-synchronous orbits with push-broom swath-mapping but limited pointing agility may allow mapping of individual source plumes and their spatial variability, but will depend on fortuitous environmental conditions during the observing period. These solutions typically have longer times between revisits, limiting their ability to resolve temporal variations. Geostationary and non-sun-synchronous low-Earth-orbits (precessing local solar time, diurnal information possible) with agile pointing have the potential to provide, comprehensive mapping of distributed area sources such as megacities with longer stare times and multiple revisits per day, at the expense of global access and spatial coverage. An ad hoc CO2 remote sensing constellation is emerging. NASA's OCO-2 satellite (launch July 2014) joins JAXA's GOSAT satellite in orbit. These will be followed by GOSAT-2 and NASA's OCO-3 on the International Space Station as early as 2017. Additional polar orbiting satellites (e.g., CarbonSat, under consideration at ESA) and geostationary platforms may also become available. However, the individual assets have been designed with independent science goals and requirements, and limited consideration of coordinated observing strategies. Every effort must be made to maximize the science return from this constellation. We discuss the opportunities to exploit the complementary spatial and temporal coverage provided by these assets as well as the crucial gaps in the capabilities of this constellation. References Burton, M.R., Sawyer, G.M., and Granieri, D. (2013). Deep carbon emissions from volcanoes. Rev. Mineral. Geochem. 75: 323-354. Duren, R.M., Miller, C.E. (2012). Measuring the carbon emissions of megacities. Nature Climate Change 2, 560-562. Schwandner, F.M., Oda, T., Duren, R., Carn, S.A., Maksyutov, S., Crisp, D., Miller, C.E. (2013). Scientific Opportunities from Target-Mode Capabilities of GOSAT-2. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena CA, White Paper, 6p., March 2013.

Cherenkov detectors for spatial imaging applications using discrete-energy photons

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

Rose, Paul B.; Erickson, Anna S., E-mail: erickson@gatech.edu

Cherenkov detectors can offer a significant advantage in spatial imaging applications when excellent timing response, low noise and cross talk, large area coverage, and the ability to operate in magnetic fields are required. We show that an array of Cherenkov detectors with crude energy resolution coupled with monochromatic photons resulting from a low-energy nuclear reaction can be used to produce a sharp image of material while providing large and inexpensive detector coverage. The analysis of the detector response to relative transmission of photons with various energies allows for reconstruction of material's effective atomic number further aiding in high-Z material identification.

Continuous All-Sky Cloud Measurements: Cloud Fraction Analysis Based on a Newly Developed Instrument

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aebi, C.; Groebner, J.; Kaempfer, N.; Vuilleumier, L.

2017-12-01

Clouds play an important role in the climate system and are also a crucial parameter for the Earth's surface energy budget. Ground-based measurements of clouds provide data in a high temporal resolution in order to quantify its influence on radiation. The newly developed all-sky cloud camera at PMOD/WRC in Davos (Switzerland), the infrared cloud camera (IRCCAM), is a microbolometer sensitive in the 8 - 14 μm wavelength range. To get all-sky information the camera is located on top of a frame looking downward on a spherical gold-plated mirror. The IRCCAM has been measuring continuously (day and nighttime) with a time resolution of one minute in Davos since September 2015. To assess the performance of the IRCCAM, two different visible all-sky cameras (Mobotix Q24M and Schreder VIS-J1006), which can only operate during daytime, are installed in Davos. All three camera systems have different software for calculating fractional cloud coverage from images. Our study analyzes mainly the fractional cloud coverage of the IRCCAM and compares it with the fractional cloud coverage calculated from the two visible cameras. Preliminary results of the measurement accuracy of the IRCCAM compared to the visible camera indicate that 78 % of the data are within ± 1 octa and even 93 % within ± 2 octas. An uncertainty of 1-2 octas corresponds to the measurement uncertainty of human observers. Therefore, the IRCCAM shows similar performance in detection of cloud coverage as the visible cameras and the human observers, with the advantage that continuous measurements with high temporal resolution are possible.

Towards real-time thermometry using simultaneous multislice MRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borman, P. T. S.; Bos, C.; de Boorder, T.; Raaymakers, B. W.; Moonen, C. T. W.; Crijns, S. P. M.

2016-09-01

MR-guided thermal therapies, such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (MRgHIFU) and laser-induced thermal therapy (MRgLITT) are increasingly being applied in oncology and neurology. MRI is used for guidance since it can measure temperature noninvasively based on the proton resonance frequency shift (PRFS). For therapy guidance using PRFS thermometry, high temporal resolution and large spatial coverage are desirable. We propose to use the parallel imaging technique simultaneous multislice (SMS) in combination with controlled aliasing (CAIPIRINHA) to accelerate the acquisition. We compare this with the sensitivity encoding (SENSE) acceleration technique. Two experiments were performed to validate that SMS can be used to increase the spatial coverage or the temporal resolution. The first was performed in agar gel using LITT heating and a gradient-echo sequence with echo-planar imaging (EPI), and the second was performed in bovine muscle using HIFU heating and a gradient-echo sequence without EPI. In both experiments temperature curves from an unaccelerated scan and from SMS, SENSE, and SENSE/SMS accelerated scans were compared. The precision was quantified by a standard deviation analysis of scans without heating. Both experiments showed a good agreement between the temperature curves obtained from the unaccelerated, and SMS accelerated scans, confirming that accuracy was maintained during SMS acceleration. The standard deviations of the temperature measurements obtained with SMS were significantly smaller than when SENSE was used, implying that SMS allows for higher acceleration. In the LITT and HIFU experiments SMS factors up to 4 and 3 were reached, respectively, with a loss of precision of less than a factor of 3. Based on these results we conclude that SMS acceleration of PRFS thermometry is a valuable addition to SENSE, because it allows for a higher temporal resolution or bigger spatial coverage, with a higher precision.

Assessment of liver ablation using cone beam computed tomography.

PubMed

Abdel-Rehim, Mohamed; Ronot, Maxime; Sibert, Annie; Vilgrain, Valérie

2015-01-14

To investigate the feasibility and accuracy of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) in assessing the ablation zone after liver tumor ablation. Twenty-three patients (17 men and 6 women, range: 45-85 years old, mean age 65 years) with malignant liver tumors underwent ultrasound-guided percutaneous tumor ablation [radiofrequency (n = 14), microwave (n = 9)] followed by intravenous contrast-enhanced CBCT. Baseline multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and peri-procedural CBCT images were compared. CBCT image quality was assessed as poor, good, or excellent. Image fusion was performed to assess tumor coverage, and quality of fusion was rated as bad, good, or excellent. Ablation zone volumes on peri-procedural CBCT and post-procedural MDCT were compared using the non-parametric paired Wilcoxon t-test. Rate of primary ablation effectiveness was 100%. There were no complications related to ablation. Local tumor recurrence and new liver tumors were found 3 mo after initial treatment in one patient (4%). The ablation zone was identified in 21/23 (91.3%) patients on CBCT. The fusion of baseline MDCT and peri-procedural CBCT images was feasible in all patients and showed satisfactory tumor coverage (at least 5-mm margin). CBCT image quality was poor, good, and excellent in 2 (9%), 8 (35%), and 13 (56%), patients respectively. Registration quality between peri-procedural CBCT and post-procedural MDCT images was good to excellent in 17/23 (74%) patients. The median ablation volume on peri-procedural CBCT and post-procedural MDCT was 30 cm(3) (range: 4-95 cm(3)) and 30 cm(3) (range: 4-124 cm(3)), respectively (P-value > 0.2). There was a good correlation (r = 0.79) between the volumes of the two techniques. Contrast-enhanced CBCT after tumor ablation of the liver allows early assessment of the ablation zone.

Climate variability and human impact on the environment in South America during the last 2000 years: synthesis and perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flantua, S. G. A.; Hooghiemstra, H.; Vuille, M.; Behling, H.; Carson, J. F.; Gosling, W. D.; Hoyos, I.; Ledru, M. P.; Montoya, E.; Mayle, F.; Maldonado, A.; Rull, V.; Tonello, M. S.; Whitney, B. S.; González-Arango, C.

2015-07-01

An improved understanding of present-day climate variability and change relies on high-quality data sets from the past two millennia. Global efforts to reconstruct regional climate modes are in the process of validating and integrating paleo-proxies. For South America, however, the full potential of vegetation records for evaluating and improving climate models has hitherto not been sufficiently acknowledged due to its unknown spatial and temporal coverage. This paper therefore serves as a guide to high-quality pollen records that capture environmental variability during the last two millennia. We identify the pollen records with the required temporal characteristics for PAGES-2 ka climate modelling and we discuss their sensitivity to the spatial signature of climate modes throughout the continent. Diverse patterns of vegetation response to climate change are observed, with more similar patterns of change in the lowlands and varying intensity and direction of responses in the highlands. Pollen records display local scale responses to climate modes, thus it is necessary to understand how vegetation-climate interactions might diverge under variable settings. Additionally, pollen is an excellent indicator of human impact through time. Evidence for human land use in pollen records is useful for archaeological hypothesis testing and important in distinguishing natural from anthropogenically driven vegetation change. We stress the need for the palynological community to be more familiar with climate variability patterns to correctly attribute the potential causes of observed vegetation dynamics. The LOTRED-SA-2 k initiative provides the ideal framework for the integration of the various paleoclimatic sub-disciplines and paleo-science, thereby jumpstarting and fostering multi-disciplinary research into environmental change on centennial and millennial time scales.

TES/Aura L3 Nitric Acid (HNO3) Daily V4 (TL3HNOD)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-02-28

... 37 x 23 km Spatial Resolution:  2.3 x 23 km Temporal Coverage:  08/22/2004 - 04/10/2005 ... Guide Documents:  Data User's Guide (PDF):  Level 3 Level 3 Algorithms, Requirements, & Products (PDF) ...

Observations of Penetration Electric Fields and Sub-Auroral Ion Drifts With Mid-Latitude SuperDARN Radars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, J. B.; Greenwald, R. A.; Yin, Y.; Ruohoniemi, J. M.; Clausen, L.; Frissell, N. A.; Ribeiro, A. J.

2009-12-01

The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) provides continuous Doppler measurements of ionospheric plasma convection over extended spatial scales with high temporal resolution. First generation SuperDARN radars were constructed at magnetic latitudes near 60 degrees to optimize coverage during periods of moderate geomagnetic activity. In recent years there has been an expansion of the network to middle latitudes to increase coverage during enhanced geomagnetic activity, such as during magnetic storms. In this paper we present measurements of prompt penetration electric fields and sub-auroral ion drift (SAID) events observed by the Wallops and Blackstone radars at middle latitudes. Together, these two radars provide a capability to continuously examine the temporal evolution of these features over an extended local time sector. We present case studies and statistical results showing that transient sub-auroral flow enhancements occur over a wide range of magnetospheric disturbance levels and are often highly correlated with activity at higher latitudes.

Short-term memory stores organized by information domain.

PubMed

Noyce, Abigail L; Cestero, Nishmar; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G; Somers, David C

2016-04-01

Vision and audition have complementary affinities, with vision excelling in spatial resolution and audition excelling in temporal resolution. Here, we investigated the relationships among the visual and auditory modalities and spatial and temporal short-term memory (STM) using change detection tasks. We created short sequences of visual or auditory items, such that each item within a sequence arose at a unique spatial location at a unique time. On each trial, two successive sequences were presented; subjects attended to either space (the sequence of locations) or time (the sequence of inter item intervals) and reported whether the patterns of locations or intervals were identical. Each subject completed blocks of unimodal trials (both sequences presented in the same modality) and crossmodal trials (Sequence 1 visual, Sequence 2 auditory, or vice versa) for both spatial and temporal tasks. We found a strong interaction between modality and task: Spatial performance was best on unimodal visual trials, whereas temporal performance was best on unimodal auditory trials. The order of modalities on crossmodal trials also mattered, suggesting that perceptual fidelity at encoding is critical to STM. Critically, no cost was attributable to crossmodal comparison: In both tasks, performance on crossmodal trials was as good as or better than on the weaker unimodal trials. STM representations of space and time can guide change detection in either the visual or the auditory modality, suggesting that the temporal or spatial organization of STM may supersede sensory-specific organization.

Exoplanetary System HD 189733 - Chromosphere, Transit, Activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krejcova, T.; Czesla, S.; Wolter, U.; Schmitt, J. H. M. M.

2015-01-01

We present a study of the temporal evolution of the chromospherically sensitive lines in the transiting exoplanetary system HD 189733 using high-resolution UVES spectra. With its fast temporal cadence of only 45 s and its wide spectral coverage, our time series is ideal to study the influence of the transiting planetary disk on chromospheric lines . We measured the equivalent width and central line depression of the Ca II H and K lines, Hα, and the Ca II infrared triplet. While all these lines show temporal evolution on a scale potentially induced by the occulting planetary disk, strong intrinsic stellar variability prevents us from uniquely ascribing the observed variation to the planetary transit.

Determination of Earth outgoing radiation using a constellation of satellites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gristey, Jake; Chiu, Christine; Gurney, Robert; Han, Shin-Chan; Morcrette, Cyril

2017-04-01

The outgoing radiation fluxes at the top of the atmosphere, referred to as Earth outgoing radiation (EOR), constitute a vital component of the Earth's energy budget. This EOR exhibits strong diurnal signatures and is inherently connected to the rapidly evolving scene from which the radiation originates, so our ability to accurately monitor EOR with sufficient temporal resolution and spatial coverage is crucial for weather and climate studies. Despite vast improvements in satellite observations in recent decades, achieving these criteria remains challenging from current measurements. A technology revolution in small satellites and sensor miniaturisation has created a new and exciting opportunity for a novel, viable and sustainable observation strategy from a constellation of satellites, capable of providing both global coverage and high temporal resolution simultaneously. To explore the potential of a constellation approach for observing EOR we perform a series of theoretical simulation experiments. Using the results from these simulation experiments, we will demonstrate a baseline constellation configuration capable of accurately monitoring global EOR at unprecedented temporal resolution. We will also show whether it is possible to reveal synoptic scale, fast evolving phenomena by applying a deconvolution technique to the simulated measurements. The ability to observe and understand the relationship between these phenomena and changes in EOR is of fundamental importance in constraining future warming of our climate system.

CERES Monthly TOA and SRB Averages (SRBAVG) data in HDF-EOS Grid (CER_SRBAVG_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2C)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Monthly TOA/Surface Averages (SRBAVG) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SRBAVG is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. The monthly average regional flux is estimated using diurnal models and the 1-degree regional fluxes at the hour of observation from the CERES SFC product. A second set of monthly average fluxes are estimated using concurrent diurnal information from geostationary satellites. These fluxes are given for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes and are spatially averaged from 1-degree regions to 1-degree zonal averages and a global average. For each region, the SRBAVG also contains hourly average fluxes for the month and an overall monthly average. The cloud properties from SFC are column averaged and are included on the SRBAVG. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-02-01; Stop_Date=2003-02-28] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 month; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Monthly - < Annual].

CERES Monthly Gridded Single Satellite TOA and Surfaces/Clouds (SFC) data in HDF (CER_SFC_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2A)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Monthly Gridded TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SFC) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SFC is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. All instantaneous shortwave, longwave, and window fluxes at the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) and surface from the CERES SSF product for a month are sorted by 1-degree spatial regions and by the local hour of observation. The mean of the instantaneous fluxes for a given region-hour bin is determined and recorded on the SFC along with other flux statistics and scene information. These average fluxes are given for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes. The regional cloud properties are column averaged and are included on the SFC. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2003-12-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=100] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

CERES Monthly TOA and SRB Averages (SRBAVG) data in HDF-EOS Grid (CER_SRBAVG_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Monthly TOA/Surface Averages (SRBAVG) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SRBAVG is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. The monthly average regional flux is estimated using diurnal models and the 1-degree regional fluxes at the hour of observation from the CERES SFC product. A second set of monthly average fluxes are estimated using concurrent diurnal information from geostationary satellites. These fluxes are given for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes and are spatially averaged from 1-degree regions to 1-degree zonal averages and a global average. For each region, the SRBAVG also contains hourly average fluxes for the month and an overall monthly average. The cloud properties from SFC are column averaged and are included on the SRBAVG. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-02-01; Stop_Date=2000-03-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 month; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Monthly - < Annual].

CERES Monthly Gridded Single Satellite TOA and Surfaces/Clouds (SFC) data in HDF (CER_SFC_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2C)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Monthly Gridded TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SFC) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SFC is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. All instantaneous shortwave, longwave, and window fluxes at the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) and surface from the CERES SSF product for a month are sorted by 1-degree spatial regions and by the local hour of observation. The mean of the instantaneous fluxes for a given region-hour bin is determined and recorded on the SFC along with other flux statistics and scene information. These average fluxes are given for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes. The regional cloud properties are column averaged and are included on the SFC. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2005-12-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=100] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

CERES Monthly TOA and SRB Averages (SRBAVG) data in HDF-EOS Grid (CER_SRBAVG_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2C)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Monthly TOA/Surface Averages (SRBAVG) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SRBAVG is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. The monthly average regional flux is estimated using diurnal models and the 1-degree regional fluxes at the hour of observation from the CERES SFC product. A second set of monthly average fluxes are estimated using concurrent diurnal information from geostationary satellites. These fluxes are given for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes and are spatially averaged from 1-degree regions to 1-degree zonal averages and a global average. For each region, the SRBAVG also contains hourly average fluxes for the month and an overall monthly average. The cloud properties from SFC are column averaged and are included on the SRBAVG. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-02-01; Stop_Date=2003-02-28] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 month; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Monthly - < Annual].

CERES Monthly Gridded Single Satellite TOA and Surfaces/Clouds (SFC) data in HDF (CER_SFC_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2B)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Monthly Gridded TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SFC) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SFC is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. All instantaneous shortwave, longwave, and window fluxes at the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) and surface from the CERES SSF product for a month are sorted by 1-degree spatial regions and by the local hour of observation. The mean of the instantaneous fluxes for a given region-hour bin is determined and recorded on the SFC along with other flux statistics and scene information. These average fluxes are given for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes. The regional cloud properties are column averaged and are included on the SFC. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2003-10-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=100] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

CERES Monthly TOA and SRB Averages (SRBAVG) data in HDF-EOS Grid (CER_SRBAVG_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2D)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Monthly TOA/Surface Averages (SRBAVG) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SRBAVG is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. The monthly average regional flux is estimated using diurnal models and the 1-degree regional fluxes at the hour of observation from the CERES SFC product. A second set of monthly average fluxes are estimated using concurrent diurnal information from geostationary satellites. These fluxes are given for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes and are spatially averaged from 1-degree regions to 1-degree zonal averages and a global average. For each region, the SRBAVG also contains hourly average fluxes for the month and an overall monthly average. The cloud properties from SFC are column averaged and are included on the SRBAVG. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-02-01; Stop_Date=2004-05-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 month; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Monthly - < Annual].

CERES Monthly Gridded Single Satellite TOA and Surfaces/Clouds (SFC) data in HDF (CER_SFC_Aqua-FM3-MODIS_Edition2A)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Monthly Gridded TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SFC) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SFC is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. All instantaneous shortwave, longwave, and window fluxes at the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) and surface from the CERES SSF product for a month are sorted by 1-degree spatial regions and by the local hour of observation. The mean of the instantaneous fluxes for a given region-hour bin is determined and recorded on the SFC along with other flux statistics and scene information. These average fluxes are given for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes. The regional cloud properties are column averaged and are included on the SFC. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2005-12-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=100] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

A Critique of Books for College Libraries, 2d ed.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pownall, David E.

The second edition of "Books for College Libraries," a six-volume work listing 38,651 titles is flawed, although it shows merit, and should be useful. Quality of selections and coverage range from good through excellent to superb. The primary flaws relate to the quality and extent of selections, particularly for such disciplines as history and…

Remote Access to Earth Science Data by Content, Space and Time

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dobinson, E.; Raskin, G.

1998-01-01

This demo presents the combination on an http-based client/server application that facilitates internet access to Earth science data coupled with a Java applet GUI that allows the user to graphically select data based on spatial and temporal coverage plots and scientific parameters.

Fiber-laser-based, green-pumped, picosecond optical parametric oscillator using fan-out grating PPKTP.

PubMed

Chaitanya Kumar, S; Parsa, S; Ebrahim-Zadeh, M

2016-01-01

We report a stable, Yb-fiber-laser-based, green-pumped, picosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) for the near-infrared based on periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate (PPKTP) nonlinear crystal, using fan-out grating design and operating near room temperature. The OPO is continuously tunable across 726-955 nm in the signal and 1201-1998 nm in the idler, resulting in a total signal plus idler wavelength coverage of 1026 nm by grating tuning at a fixed temperature. The device generates up to 580 mW of average power in the signal at 765 nm and 300 mW in the idler at 1338 nm, with an overall extraction efficiency of up to 52% and a pump depletion >76%. The extracted signal at 765 nm and idler at 1746 nm exhibit excellent passive power stability better than 0.5% and 0.8% rms, respectively, over 1 h with good beam quality in TEM₀₀ mode profile. The output signal pulses have a Gaussian temporal duration of 13.2 ps, with a FWHM spectral bandwidth of 3.4 nm at 79.5 MHz repetition rate. Power scaling limitations of the OPO due to the material properties of PPKTP are studied.

Spatio-Temporal Gap Analysis of OBIS-SEAMAP Project Data: Assessment and Way Forward

PubMed Central

Kot, Connie Y.; Fujioka, Ei; Hazen, Lucie J.; Best, Benjamin D.; Read, Andrew J.; Halpin, Patrick N.

2010-01-01

The OBIS-SEAMAP project has acquired and served high-quality marine mammal, seabird, and sea turtle data to the public since its inception in 2002. As data accumulated, spatial and temporal biases resulted and a comprehensive gap analysis was needed in order to assess coverage to direct data acquisition for the OBIS-SEAMAP project and for taxa researchers should true gaps in knowledge exist. All datasets published on OBIS-SEAMAP up to February 2009 were summarized spatially and temporally. Seabirds comprised the greatest number of records, compared to the other two taxa, and most records were from shipboard surveys, compared to the other three platforms. Many of the point observations and polyline tracklines were located in northern and central Atlantic and the northeastern and central-eastern Pacific. The Southern Hemisphere generally had the lowest representation of data, with the least number of records in the southern Atlantic and western Pacific regions. Temporally, records of observations for all taxa were the lowest in fall although the number of animals sighted was lowest in the winter. Oceanographic coverage of observations varied by platform for each taxa, which showed that using two or more platforms represented habitat ranges better than using only one alone. Accessible and published datasets not already incorporated do exist within spatial and temporal gaps identified. Other related open-source data portals also contain data that fill gaps, emphasizing the importance of dedicated data exchange. Temporal and spatial gaps were mostly a result of data acquisition effort, development of regional partnerships and collaborations, and ease of field data collection. Future directions should include fostering partnerships with researchers in the Southern Hemisphere while targeting datasets containing species with limited representation. These results can facilitate prioritizing datasets needed to be represented and for planning research for true gaps in space and time. PMID:20886047

Spatio-temporal gap analysis of OBIS-SEAMAP project data: assessment and way forward.

PubMed

Kot, Connie Y; Fujioka, Ei; Hazen, Lucie J; Best, Benjamin D; Read, Andrew J; Halpin, Patrick N

2010-09-24

The OBIS-SEAMAP project has acquired and served high-quality marine mammal, seabird, and sea turtle data to the public since its inception in 2002. As data accumulated, spatial and temporal biases resulted and a comprehensive gap analysis was needed in order to assess coverage to direct data acquisition for the OBIS-SEAMAP project and for taxa researchers should true gaps in knowledge exist. All datasets published on OBIS-SEAMAP up to February 2009 were summarized spatially and temporally. Seabirds comprised the greatest number of records, compared to the other two taxa, and most records were from shipboard surveys, compared to the other three platforms. Many of the point observations and polyline tracklines were located in northern and central Atlantic and the northeastern and central-eastern Pacific. The Southern Hemisphere generally had the lowest representation of data, with the least number of records in the southern Atlantic and western Pacific regions. Temporally, records of observations for all taxa were the lowest in fall although the number of animals sighted was lowest in the winter. Oceanographic coverage of observations varied by platform for each taxa, which showed that using two or more platforms represented habitat ranges better than using only one alone. Accessible and published datasets not already incorporated do exist within spatial and temporal gaps identified. Other related open-source data portals also contain data that fill gaps, emphasizing the importance of dedicated data exchange. Temporal and spatial gaps were mostly a result of data acquisition effort, development of regional partnerships and collaborations, and ease of field data collection. Future directions should include fostering partnerships with researchers in the Southern Hemisphere while targeting datasets containing species with limited representation. These results can facilitate prioritizing datasets needed to be represented and for planning research for true gaps in space and time.

Inequalities in full immunization coverage: trends in low- and middle-income countries

PubMed Central

Barros, Aluísio JD; Wong, Kerry LM; Johnson, Hope L; Pariyo, George; França, Giovanny VA; Wehrmeister, Fernando C; Victora, Cesar G

2016-01-01

Abstract Objective To investigate disparities in full immunization coverage across and within 86 low- and middle-income countries. Methods In May 2015, using data from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, we investigated inequalities in full immunization coverage – i.e. one dose of bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine, one dose of measles vaccine, three doses of vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus and three doses of polio vaccine – in 86 low- or middle-income countries. We then investigated temporal trends in the level and inequality of such coverage in eight of the countries. Findings In each of the World Health Organization’s regions, it appeared that about 56–69% of eligible children in the low- and middle-income countries had received full immunization. However, within each region, the mean recorded level of such coverage varied greatly. In the African Region, for example, it varied from 11.4% in Chad to 90.3% in Rwanda. We detected pro-rich inequality in such coverage in 45 of the 83 countries for which the relevant data were available and pro-urban inequality in 35 of the 86 study countries. Among the countries in which we investigated coverage trends, Madagascar and Mozambique appeared to have made the greatest progress in improving levels of full immunization coverage over the last two decades, particularly among the poorest quintiles of their populations. Conclusion Most low- and middle-income countries are affected by pro-rich and pro-urban inequalities in full immunization coverage that are not apparent when only national mean values of such coverage are reported. PMID:27821882

The 2009 multiwavelength campaign on Mrk 421: Variability and correlation studies

DOE PAGES

Aleksić, J.; Ansoldi, S.; Antonelli, L. A.; ...

2015-04-17

We perform an extensive characterization of the broadband emission of Mrk 421, as well as its temporal evolution, during the non-flaring (low) state. The high brightness and nearby location (z = 0.031) of Mrk 421 make it an excellent laboratory to study blazar emission. The goal is to learn about the physical processes responsible for the typical emission of Mrk 421, which might also be extended to other blazars that are located farther away and hence are more difficult to study. We performed a 4.5-month multi-instrument campaign on Mrk 421 between January 2009 and June 2009, which included VLBA, F-GAMMA,more » GASP-WEBT, Swift, RXTE, Fermi-LAT, MAGIC, and Whipple, among other instruments and collaborations. This extensive radio to very-high-energy (VHE; E> 100 GeV) γ-ray dataset provides excellent temporal and energy coverage, which allows detailed studies of the evolution of the broadband spectral energy distribution. As a result, Mrk421 was found in its typical (non-flaring) activity state, with a VHE flux of about half that of the Crab Nebula, yet the light curves show significant variability at all wavelengths, the highest variability being in the X-rays. We determined the power spectral densities (PSD) at most wavelengths and found that all PSDs can be described by power-laws without a break, and with indices consistent with pink/red-noise behavior. We observed a harder-when-brighter behavior in the X-ray spectra and measured a positive correlation between VHE and X-ray fluxes with zero time lag. Such characteristics have been reported many times during flaring activity, but here they are reported for the first time in the non-flaring state. We also observed an overall anti-correlation between optical/UV and X-rays extending over the duration of the campaign. In conclusion, the harder-when-brighter behavior in the X-ray spectra and the measured positive X-ray/VHE correlation during the 2009 multi-wavelength campaign suggests that the physical processes dominating the emission during non-flaring states have similarities with those occurring during flaring activity. In particular, this observation supports leptonic scenarios as being responsible for the emission of Mrk 421 during non-flaring activity. Such a temporally extended X-ray/VHE correlation is not driven by any single flaring event, and hence is difficult to explain within the standard hadronic scenarios. Furthermore, the highest variability is observed in the X-ray band, which, within the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton scenario, indicates that the electron energy distribution is most variable at the highest energies.« less

Serializing Racial Subjects: The Stagnation and Suspense of the O. J. Simpson Saga

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foley, Megan

2010-01-01

While critiques of racial essentialism have demonstrated decisively that race is rhetorically contingent, institutions of white privilege nevertheless remain distressingly durable. The continuing media coverage of Orenthal James "O.J." Simpson since his 1995 acquittal exemplifies this chronic temporality of whiteness discourse. Over time, the…

INDICATOR OF EUTROPHICATION AND SEDIMENT LOAD: HYPERSPECTRAL TECHNIQUE FOR CONTINUOUS COVERAGE OF DEEP RIVERS

EPA Science Inventory

Remote sensing techniques were used to characterize and quantify spatial and temporal variation in water quality of the Great Miami River in Ohio. An initial feasibility study was conducted in the summer of 1999 using a non-imaging hand-held spectroradiometer to ascertain the pr...

HIERARCHIAL BAYESIAN CALIBRATION: AN APPLICATION TO AIRBORNE PARTICULATE MATTER MONITORING DATA

EPA Science Inventory

In studies of the relationship between airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and health, researchers frequently use monitoring data with the most extensive temporal coverage. Such data may come from a monitor that is not a federal reference monitor (FRM), a monitor that is d...

Use of NDVI and land surface temperature for assessing vegetation health: merits and limitations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

To date, most drought indices used in drought monitoring are based on precipitation and meteorological data collected on the ground from distributed monitoring networks. Few satellite-based drought indices are currently in production, although these afford better spatial and temporal coverage and r...

Mars Operational Environmental Satellite (MOES): A post-Mars Observer discovery mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Limaye, Sanjay S.

1993-01-01

Mars Operational Environmental Satellite (MOES) is a Discovery concept mission that is designed to observe the global short-term weather phenomena on Mars in a systematic fashion. Even after the Mariner, Viking, and, soon, Mars Observer missions, crucial aspects of the martian atmosphere will remain unobserved systematically. Achieving a better understanding of the cycles of dust, water vapor, and ices on Mars requires detailed information about atmospheric transports of those quantities associated with the weather systems, particularly those arising in mid latitudes during fall and winter. It also requires a quantitive understanding of the processes responsible for the onset and evolution of dust storms on all scales. Whereas on Earth the system of geosynchronous and polar orbiting satellites provides continuous coverage of the weather systems, on Mars the time history of important events such as regional and global dust storms remains unobserved. To understand the transport of tracers in the martian atmosphere and particularly to identify their sources and sinks, it is necessary to have systematic global, synoptic observations that have yet to be attained. Clearly these requirements are not easy to achieve from a single spacecraft in orbit, but if we focus on specific regions of the planet, e.g., polar vs. low and mid latitudes, then it is possible to attain a nearly ideal coverage at a reasonable spatial and temporal resolution with a system of just two satellites. Mars Observer is about to yield good coverage of the polar latitudes, so we focus initially on the region not covered well in terms of diurnal coverage, and in terms of desired observations will provide the initial data for the numerical models of the martian weather and climate that can be verified only with better temporal and spatial data.

Broadly tunable ultrafast pump-probe system operating at multi-kHz repetition rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grupp, Alexander; Budweg, Arne; Fischer, Marco P.; Allerbeck, Jonas; Soavi, Giancarlo; Leitenstorfer, Alfred; Brida, Daniele

2018-01-01

Femtosecond systems based on ytterbium as active medium are ideal for driving ultrafast optical parametric amplifiers in a broad frequency range. The excellent stability of the source and the repetition rate tunable to up to hundreds of kHz allow for the implementation of an advanced two-color pump probe setup with the capability to achieve excellent signal-to-noise performances with sub-10 fs temporal resolution.

Mapping AIS coverage for trusted surveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lapinski, Anna-Liesa S.; Isenor, Anthony W.

2010-10-01

Automatic Identification System (AIS) is an unattended vessel reporting system developed for collision avoidance. Shipboard AIS equipment automatically broadcasts vessel positional data at regular intervals. The real-time position and identity data from a vessel is received by other vessels in the area thereby assisting with local navigation. As well, AIS broadcasts are beneficial to those concerned with coastal and harbour security. Land-based AIS receiving stations can also collect the AIS broadcasts. However, reception at the land station is dependent upon the ship's position relative to the receiving station. For AIS to be used as a trusted surveillance system, the characteristics of the AIS coverage area in the vicinity of the station (or stations) should be understood. This paper presents some results of a method being investigated at DRDC Atlantic, Canada) to map the AIS coverage characteristics of a dynamic AIS reception network. The method is shown to clearly distinguish AIS reception edges from those edges caused by vessel traffic patterns. The method can also be used to identify temporal changes in the coverage area, an important characteristic for local maritime security surveillance activities. Future research using the coverage estimate technique is also proposed to support surveillance activities.

Comparison of anticancer drug coverage decisions in the United States and United Kingdom: does the evidence support the rhetoric?

PubMed

Mason, Anne; Drummond, Michael; Ramsey, Scott; Campbell, Jonathan; Raisch, Dennis

2010-07-10

In contrast to the United States, several European countries have health technology assessment programs for drugs, many of which assess cost effectiveness. Coverage decisions that consider cost effectiveness may lead to restrictions in access. For a purposive sample of five decision-making bodies, we analyzed US and United Kingdom coverage decisions on all anticancer drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 2004 to 2008. Data sources for the timing and outcome of licensing and coverage decisions included published and unpublished documentation, Web sites, and personal communication. The FDA approved 59 anticancer drugs over the study period, of which 46 were also approved by the European Medicines Agency. In the United States, 100% of drugs were covered, mostly without restriction. However, the United Kingdom bodies made positive coverage decisions for less than half of licensed drugs (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence [NICE]: 39%; Scottish Medicines Consortium [SMC]: 43%). Whereas the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) covered all 59 drugs from the FDA license date, delays were evident for some Regence Group decisions that were informed by cost effectiveness (median, 0 days; semi-interquartile range [SIQR], 122 days; n = 22). Relative to the European Medicines Agency license date, median time to coverage was 783 days (SIQR, 170 days) for NICE and 231 days (SIQR, 129 days) for the SMC. Anticancer drug coverage decisions that consider cost effectiveness are associated with greater restrictions and slower time to coverage. However, this approach may represent an explicit alternative to rationing achieved through the use of patient copayments.

SWATHtoMRM: Development of High-Coverage Targeted Metabolomics Method Using SWATH Technology for Biomarker Discovery.

PubMed

Zha, Haihong; Cai, Yuping; Yin, Yandong; Wang, Zhuozhong; Li, Kang; Zhu, Zheng-Jiang

2018-03-20

The complexity of metabolome presents a great analytical challenge for quantitative metabolite profiling, and restricts the application of metabolomics in biomarker discovery. Targeted metabolomics using multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) technique has excellent capability for quantitative analysis, but suffers from the limited metabolite coverage. To address this challenge, we developed a new strategy, namely, SWATHtoMRM, which utilizes the broad coverage of SWATH-MS technology to develop high-coverage targeted metabolomics method. Specifically, SWATH-MS technique was first utilized to untargeted profile one pooled biological sample and to acquire the MS 2 spectra for all metabolites. Then, SWATHtoMRM was used to extract the large-scale MRM transitions for targeted analysis with coverage as high as 1000-2000 metabolites. Then, we demonstrated the advantages of SWATHtoMRM method in quantitative analysis such as coverage, reproducibility, sensitivity, and dynamic range. Finally, we applied our SWATHtoMRM approach to discover potential metabolite biomarkers for colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis. A high-coverage targeted metabolomics method with 1303 metabolites in one injection was developed to profile colorectal cancer tissues from CRC patients. A total of 20 potential metabolite biomarkers were discovered and validated for CRC diagnosis. In plasma samples from CRC patients, 17 out of 20 potential biomarkers were further validated to be associated with tumor resection, which may have a great potential in assessing the prognosis of CRC patients after tumor resection. Together, the SWATHtoMRM strategy provides a new way to develop high-coverage targeted metabolomics method, and facilitates the application of targeted metabolomics in disease biomarker discovery. The SWATHtoMRM program is freely available on the Internet ( http://www.zhulab.cn/software.php ).

[The coverage of hepatitis A vaccine among 2-29 year olds and the reporting incidence of hepatitis A in China, 2014].

PubMed

Wang, F Z; Zheng, H; Liu, J H; Sun, X J; Miao, N; Shen, L P; Zhang, G M; Cui, F Q

2016-08-10

To evaluate the hepatitis A vaccine coverage among 2-29 year olds and the reported incidence rates of hepatitis A, in China. Based on data from the national sero-survey on hepatitis B in 2014, information on hepatitis A vaccine immunization was collected and the coverage of hepatitis A vaccine was analyzed with SAS software (Version 9.4). Incidence data on hepatitis A was also collected from the National Notifiable Disease Reporting System between 2004 and 2014, and analyzed using the micro-software Excel 2007. Totally, data involving 29 058 people aged 2-29 years were available for analysis and the overall hepatitis A vaccine coverage was 44.6%. The younger the age, the higher the coverage appeared. Among the 2-6 year and the 7-14 year olds, rates of hepatitis A vaccine coverage were 91.2% and 76.0% respectively. From 2004 to 2014, the incidence rates of hepatitis A in the whole population were declining, annually. The incidence rates showed continuously declining as 82.5%, 90.6%, 72.1% among children at the age groups of 2-6 years, 7-14 years and in the whole population, from 2007 to 2013. After the inclusion of hepatitis A vaccine into the Expanded Programe on Immunization (EPI), the coverage of hepatitis A vaccine among the 2-6 year olds increased to over 90%, with no obvious difference between the urban and rural areas. Incidence of hepatitis A in the 2-6 year olds showed a more rapid decline than that in the whole population.

Navigability of multiplex temporal network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yan; Song, Qiao-Zhen

2017-01-01

Real world complex systems have multiple levels of relationships and in many cases, they need to be modeled as multiplex networks where the same nodes can interact with each other in different layers, such as social networks. However, social relationships only appear at prescribed times so the temporal structures of edge activations can also affect the dynamical processes located above them. To consider both factors are simultaneously, we introduce multiplex temporal networks and propose three different walk strategies to investigate the concurrent dynamics of random walks and the temporal structure of multiplex networks. Thus, we derive analytical results for the multiplex centrality and coverage function in multiplex temporal networks. By comparing them with the numerical results, we show how the underlying topology of the layers and the walk strategy affect the efficiency when exploring the networks. In particular, the most interesting result is the emergence of a super-diffusion process, where the time scale of the multiplex is faster than that of both layers acting separately.

A Malaria Ecology Index Predicted Spatial and Temporal Variation of Malaria Burden and Efficacy of Antimalarial Interventions Based on African Serological Data.

PubMed

McCord, Gordon C; Anttila-Hughes, Jesse K

2017-03-01

Reducing the global health burden of malaria is complicated by weak reporting systems for infectious diseases and a paucity of vital statistics registration. This limits our ability to predict changes in malaria health burden intensity, target antimalarial resources where needed, and identify malaria impacts in retrospective data. We refined and deployed a temporally and spatially varying Malaria Ecology Index (MEI) incorporating climatological and ecological data to estimate malaria transmission strength and validate it against cross-sectional serology data from 39,875 children from seven sub-Saharan African countries. The MEI is strongly associated with malaria burden; a 1 standard deviation higher MEI is associated with a 50-117% increase in malaria risk and a 3-5 g/dL lower level of Hg. Results show that the relationship between malaria ecology and disease burden is attenuated with sufficient coverage of insecticide treated nets (ITNs) or indoor residual spraying (IRS). Having both ITNs and IRS reduce the added risk from adverse malaria ecology conditions by half. Readily available climate and ecology data can be used to estimate the spatial and temporal variation in malaria disease burden, providing a feasible alternative to direct surveillance. This will help target resources for malaria programs in the absence of national coverage of active case detection systems, and facilitate malaria research using retrospective health data.

An intercomparison of remotely sensed soil moisture products at various spatial scales over the Iberian penisula

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Soil moisture (SM) can be retrieved from active microwave (AM)-, passive microwave (PM)- and thermal infrared (TIR)-observations, each having their unique spatial- and temporal-coverage. A limitation of TIR-based SM retrievals is its dependency on cloud-free conditions, while microwave retrievals ar...

40 CFR Appendix W to Part 51 - Guideline on Air Quality Models

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... sufficient spatial and temporal coverage are available. c. It would be advantageous to categorize the various... control strategies. These are referred to as refined models. c. The use of screening techniques followed... location of the source in question and its expected impacts. c. In all regulatory analyses, especially if...

Are Two Systemic Fish Assemblage Sampling Programmes on the Upper Mississippi River Telling Us the Same Thing?

EPA Science Inventory

We applied an Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) used on the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) to compare data from three sampling programs. Ability to use multiple sampling programs could greatly extend spatial and temporal coverage of river assessment and monitoring efforts. We an...

Large Area Coverage of a TPC Endcap with GridPix Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaminski, Jochen

2018-02-01

The Large Prototype TPC at DESY, Hamburg, was built by the LCTPC collaboration as a testbed for new readout technologies of Time Projection Chambers. Up to seven modules of about 400 cm2 each can be placed in the endcap. Three of these modules were equipped with a total of 160 GridPix detectors. This is a combination of a highly pixelated readout ASIC and a Micromegas built on top. GridPix detectors have a very high efficiency of detecting primary electrons, which leads to excellent spatial and energy resolutions. For the first time a large number of GridPix detectors has been operated and long segments of tracks have been recorded with excellent precision.

Spatial and Temporal Response of Auroral and Subauroral Plasma Convection to High- Latitude Drivers of Geomagnetic Activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Greenwald, R. A.; Ruohoniemi, M.; Baker, J. B.; Talaat, E.; Lester, M.; Oksavik, K.

2008-12-01

During the IPY, the second of two lower-latitude SuperDARN radars was put into operation in the eastern U.S. Located at Blackstone, VA and directed toward central Canada, it extends the coverage of the preexisting Wallops Island radar to more than 4 hours of magnetic local time and covers 50-70 degrees geomagnetic latitude providing coverage of ionospheric plasma convection and electric fields on magnetic field lines connected to the inner boundary of the plasmasheet, ring current and plasmapause. Although initial measurements with this coordinated pair of radars were made at a time of low geomagnetic activity, there have been many opportunities to examine both the spatial and temporal response of low-latitude auroral and subauroral plasma convection and its associated electric field to a variety of high-latitude magnetospheric drivers including dayside reconnection and midnight sector substorms. In this paper, we discuss the dynamical response of these flows to both dayside reconnection and substorms. We specifically examine the timing, location, spatial extent and intensity of these flow enhancements versus the nature and strength of the driver.

Cost-sharing, physician utilization, and adverse selection among Medicare beneficiaries with chronic health conditions.

PubMed

Hoffman, Geoffrey

2015-02-01

Pooled data from the 2007, 2009, and 2011/2012 California Health Interview Surveys were used to compare the number of self-reported annual physician visits among 36,808 Medicare beneficiaries ≥65 in insurance groups with differential cost-sharing. Adjusted for adverse selection and a set of health covariates, Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) only beneficiaries had similar physician utilization compared with HMO enrollees but fewer visits compared with those with supplemental (1.04, p = .001) and Medicaid (1.55, p = .003) coverage. FFS only beneficiaries in very good or excellent health had fewer visits compared with those of similar health status with supplemental (1.30, p = .001) or Medicaid coverage (2.15, p = .002). For subpopulations with several chronic conditions, FFS only beneficiaries also had fewer visits compared with beneficiaries with supplemental or Medicaid coverage. Observed differences in utilization may reflect efficient and necessary physician utilization among those with chronic health needs. © The Author(s) 2014.

Self-Paced Prioritized Curriculum Learning With Coverage Penalty in Deep Reinforcement Learning.

PubMed

Ren, Zhipeng; Dong, Daoyi; Li, Huaxiong; Chen, Chunlin; Zhipeng Ren; Daoyi Dong; Huaxiong Li; Chunlin Chen; Dong, Daoyi; Li, Huaxiong; Chen, Chunlin; Ren, Zhipeng

2018-06-01

In this paper, a new training paradigm is proposed for deep reinforcement learning using self-paced prioritized curriculum learning with coverage penalty. The proposed deep curriculum reinforcement learning (DCRL) takes the most advantage of experience replay by adaptively selecting appropriate transitions from replay memory based on the complexity of each transition. The criteria of complexity in DCRL consist of self-paced priority as well as coverage penalty. The self-paced priority reflects the relationship between the temporal-difference error and the difficulty of the current curriculum for sample efficiency. The coverage penalty is taken into account for sample diversity. With comparison to deep Q network (DQN) and prioritized experience replay (PER) methods, the DCRL algorithm is evaluated on Atari 2600 games, and the experimental results show that DCRL outperforms DQN and PER on most of these games. More results further show that the proposed curriculum training paradigm of DCRL is also applicable and effective for other memory-based deep reinforcement learning approaches, such as double DQN and dueling network. All the experimental results demonstrate that DCRL can achieve improved training efficiency and robustness for deep reinforcement learning.

The 2010 Eyjafjallajökull and 2011 Grimsvötn ash plumes as seen by GPS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grapenthin, R.; Hreinsdottir, S.; Gudmundsson, M. T.

2015-12-01

The injection of a volcanic plume introduces a dynamic, localized, short-term heterogeneity in the atmosphere. Satellite-imagery based remote sensing techniques provide good spatial coverage for the detection of such plumes, but slow satellite repeat times (>30 minutes) and cloud cover can delay, if not entirely prevent, the detection. GPS, in turn, provides excellent temporal coverage, but requires favorable satellite-station-geometry such that the signal propagates through the plume if it is to be used for plume detection and analysis. Two methods exist to detect / analyze ash plumes with GPS: (a) Ash-heavy plumes result in signal dispersion and hence a lowered signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A lowered SNR, recorded by some receivers, can provide useful information about the plume, such as location and velocity of ascent. These data can be evaluated directly as they are recorded by the receiver; without the need of solving for a receiver's position. (b) Wet plumes refract the GPS signals piercing the plume and hence induce a propagation delay. When solving for a receiver position GPS analysis tools do not model this localized phase delay effect and solutions for plume-piercing satellites do not fit the data well. This can be exploited for plume analysis such as the estimation of changes to the atmospheric refractivity index. We analyze GPS data of the ~2 month 2010 Eyafjallajökull erption and the week-long 2011 Grímsvötn eruption to infer a first order estimate of plume geometry and its progression. Using SNR and phase delay information, we evaluate the evolution of the partitioning of wet versus dry parts of the plume. During the GPS processing we iteratively solve for phase-delay and position and fix other parameters, hence reducing the mapping of least-squares misfit into position estimates and other parameters. Nearly continuous webcam imagery provides independent observations of first-order plume characteristics for the Eyafjallajökull event.

A Geosynchronous Synthetic Aperture Provides for Disaster Management, Measurement of Soil Moisture, and Measurement of Earth-Surface Dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Madsen, Soren; Komar, George (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A GEO-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) could provide daily coverage of basically all of North and South America with very good temporal coverage within the mapped area. This affords a key capability to disaster management, tectonic mapping and modeling, and vegetation mapping. The fine temporal sampling makes this system particularly useful for disaster management of flooding, hurricanes, and earthquakes. By using a fairly long wavelength, changing water boundaries caused by storms or flooding could be monitored in near real-time. This coverage would also provide revolutionary capabilities in the field of radar interferometry, including the capability to study the interferometric signature immediately before and after an earthquake, thus allowing unprecedented studies of Earth-surface dynamics. Preeruptive volcano dynamics could be studied as well as pre-seismic deformation, one of the most controversial and elusive aspects of earthquakes. Interferometric correlation would similarly allow near real-time mapping of surface changes caused by volcanic eruptions, mud slides, or fires. Finally, a GEO SAR provides an optimum configuration for soil moisture measurement that requires a high temporal sampling rate (1-2 days) with a moderate spatial resolution (1 km or better). From a technological point of view, the largest challenges involved in developing a geosynchronous SAR capability relate to the very large slant range distance from the radar to the mapped area. This leads to requirements for large power or alternatively very large antenna, the ability to steer the mapping area to the left and right of the satellite, and control of the elevation and azimuth angles. The weight of this system is estimated to be 2750 kg and it would require 20 kW of DC-power. Such a system would provide up to a 600 km ground swath in a strip-mapping mode and 4000 km dual-sided mapping in a scan-SAR mode.

Technique development of 3D dynamic CS-EPSI for hyperpolarized 13 C pyruvate MR molecular imaging of human prostate cancer.

PubMed

Chen, Hsin-Yu; Larson, Peder E Z; Gordon, Jeremy W; Bok, Robert A; Ferrone, Marcus; van Criekinge, Mark; Carvajal, Lucas; Cao, Peng; Pauly, John M; Kerr, Adam B; Park, Ilwoo; Slater, James B; Nelson, Sarah J; Munster, Pamela N; Aggarwal, Rahul; Kurhanewicz, John; Vigneron, Daniel B

2018-03-25

The purpose of this study was to develop a new 3D dynamic carbon-13 compressed sensing echoplanar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) MR sequence and test it in phantoms, animal models, and then in prostate cancer patients to image the metabolic conversion of hyperpolarized [1- 13 C]pyruvate to [1- 13 C]lactate with whole gland coverage at high spatial and temporal resolution. A 3D dynamic compressed sensing (CS)-EPSI sequence with spectral-spatial excitation was designed to meet the required spatial coverage, time and spatial resolution, and RF limitations of the 3T MR scanner for its clinical translation for prostate cancer patient imaging. After phantom testing, animal studies were performed in rats and transgenic mice with prostate cancers. For patient studies, a GE SPINlab polarizer (GE Healthcare, Waukesha, WI) was used to produce hyperpolarized sterile GMP [1- 13 C]pyruvate. 3D dynamic 13 C CS-EPSI data were acquired starting 5 s after injection throughout the gland with a spatial resolution of 0.5 cm 3 , 18 time frames, 2-s temporal resolution, and 36 s total acquisition time. Through preclinical testing, the 3D CS-EPSI sequence developed in this project was shown to provide the desired spectral, temporal, and spatial 5D HP 13 C MR data. In human studies, the 3D dynamic HP CS-EPSI approach provided first-ever simultaneously volumetric and dynamic images of the LDH-catalyzed conversion of [1- 13 C]pyruvate to [1- 13 C]lactate in a biopsy-proven prostate cancer patient with full gland coverage. The results demonstrate the feasibility to characterize prostate cancer metabolism in animals, and now patients using this new 3D dynamic HP MR technique to measure k PL , the kinetic rate constant of [1- 13 C]pyruvate to [1- 13 C]lactate conversion. © 2018 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Extracting fields snow coverage information with HJ-1A/B satellites data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Wenquan; Meng, Jihua

2015-10-01

The distribution and change of snow coverage are sensitive factors of climate change. In northeast part of China, farmlands are still covered with snow in spring. Since sowing activity can only be done when the snow melted, fields snow coverage monitoring provides reference for the determination of sowing date. Because of the restriction of the sensors and application requirements, current researches on remote sensing of snow focus more on the study of musicale and large scale, rather than the study of small scale, and especially research on snow melting period is rarely reported.HJ-1A/B satellites are parts of little satellite constellation, focusing on environment and disaster monitoring and meteorological forecast. Compared to other data sources, HJ-1A/B satellites both have comparatively higher temporal and spatial resolution and are more conducive to monitor the variations of melting snow coverage at small watershed. This paper was based on HJ-1A/1B data, taking Hongxing farm of Bei'an, Heilongjiang Province, China as the study area. In this paper, we exploited the methods for extraction of snow cover information on farmland in two cases, both HJ-1A/1B CCD with HJ-1B IRS data and just HJ-1A/1B CCD data. The reason we chose the two cases is that, the two optical satellites HJ-1A/B are capable of providing a whole territory coverage period in visible light spectrum in two days, infrared spectrum in four days. So sometimes we can only obtain CCD image. In this case, the method of normalized snow index cannot be used to extract snow coverage information. Using HJ-1A/1B CCD with HJ-1B IRS data, combined with the theory of snow remote sensing monitoring, this paper analyzed spectral response characteristics of HJ-1A/1B satellites data, then the widely used Normalized Difference Snow Index(NDSI) and S3 Index were quoted to the HJ-1A/1B satellites data. The NDSI uses reflectance values of Red and SWIR spectral bands of HJ-1B, and S3 index uses reflectance values of NIR, Red and SWIR spectral bands. With multi-temporal HJ satellite data, the optimal threshold of normalized snow index was determined to divide the farmland into snow covering area, melting snow area and non-snow area. The results are quite similar to each other and of high accuracy, and the melting snow coverage can be well extracted by two types of normalized snow index. When we can only obtain CCD image, we use supervised classification method to extract melting snow coverage. With this method, the accuracy of fields snow coverage extraction is slightly lower than that using normalized snow index methods mentioned above. And in mountain area, the snow coverage area is slightly larger than that is extracted by normalized snow index methods, because the shadows make the color of snow in the valley darker, the supervised classification method divides it into non-snow coverage area, while the normalized snow index method well weakened the effect of shadow. This study shows that extraction accuracy in both cases is assessed, and both of them can meet the needs of practical applications. HJ-1A/1B satellites are conducive to monitor the variations of melting snow coverage over farmland, and they can provide reference for the determination of sowing date.

Evaluation of satellite-retrieved extreme precipitation using gauge observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lockhoff, M.; Zolina, O.; Simmer, C.; Schulz, J.

2012-04-01

Precipitation extremes have already been intensively studied employing rain gauge datasets. Their main advantage is that they represent a direct measurement with a relatively high temporal coverage. Their main limitation however is their poor spatial coverage and thus a low representativeness in many parts of the world. In contrast, satellites can provide global coverage and there are meanwhile data sets available that are on one hand long enough to be used for extreme value analysis and that have on the other hand the necessary spatial and temporal resolution to capture extremes. However, satellite observations provide only an indirect mean to determine precipitation and there are many potential observational and methodological weaknesses in particular over land surfaces that may constitute doubts concerning their usability for the analysis of precipitation extremes. By comparing basic climatological metrics of precipitation (totals, intensities, number of wet days) as well as respective characteristics of PDFs, absolute and relative extremes of satellite and observational data this paper aims at assessing to which extent satellite products are suitable for analysing extreme precipitation events. In a first step the assessment focuses on Europe taking into consideration various satellite products available, e.g. data sets provided by the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP). First results indicate that satellite-based estimates do not only represent the monthly averaged precipitation very similar to rain gauge estimates but they also capture the day-to-day occurrence fairly well. Larger differences can be found though when looking at the corresponding intensities.

Spatial-temporal event detection in climate parameter imagery.

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

McKenna, Sean Andrew; Gutierrez, Karen A.

Previously developed techniques that comprise statistical parametric mapping, with applications focused on human brain imaging, are examined and tested here for new applications in anomaly detection within remotely-sensed imagery. Two approaches to analysis are developed: online, regression-based anomaly detection and conditional differences. These approaches are applied to two example spatial-temporal data sets: data simulated with a Gaussian field deformation approach and weekly NDVI images derived from global satellite coverage. Results indicate that anomalies can be identified in spatial temporal data with the regression-based approach. Additionally, la Nina and el Nino climatic conditions are used as different stimuli applied to themore » earth and this comparison shows that el Nino conditions lead to significant decreases in NDVI in both the Amazon Basin and in Southern India.« less

Temporal bone radiography using the orthopantomograph

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

Tatezawa, T.

1981-09-01

Temporal bone radiographs obtained with an Orthopantomograph were compared with conventional radiographs. In acoustic neurinoma, cholesteatoma, otitis media, and middle fossa tumors, both methods demonstrated the abnormalities well. In two cases with lesions extending beyond the range of conventional projections, the broad orthopantomographic coverage was very valuable. Mastoid air cells, the mastoid process, petrous ridge, and internal auditory meatus were well demonstrated by both techniques. Orthopantomography was found to be superior in the demonstration of the petrous apex, while the superior semicircular canal was better demonstrated on the conventional views. Bilateral symmetry was particularly good and because of fewer films,more » radiation exposure was considerably less with orthopantomography. For many applications, orthopantomography is an adequate convenient substitute for conventional methods of examining the temporal bones.« less

Spatial and Temporal Monitoring Resolutions for CO2 Leakage Detection at Carbon Storage Sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Y. M.; Dilmore, R. M.; Daley, T. M.; Carroll, S.; Mansoor, K.; Gasperikova, E.; Harbert, W.; Wang, Z.; Bromhal, G. S.; Small, M.

2016-12-01

Different leakage monitoring techniques offer different strengths in detection sensitivity, coverage, feedback time, cost, and technology availability, such that they may complement each other when applied together. This research focuses on quantifying the spatial coverage and temporal resolution of detection response for several geophysical remote monitoring and direct groundwater monitoring techniques for an optimal monitoring plan for CO2 leakage detection. Various monitoring techniques with different monitoring depths are selected: 3D time-lapse seismic survey, wellbore pressure, groundwater chemistry and soil gas. The spatial resolution in terms of leakage detectability is quantified through the effective detection distance between two adjacent monitors, given the magnitude of leakage and specified detection probability. The effective detection distances are obtained either from leakage simulations with various monitoring densities or from information garnered from field test data. These spatial leakage detection resolutions are affected by physically feasible monitoring design and detection limits. Similarly, the temporal resolution, in terms of leakage detectability, is quantified through the effective time to positive detection of a given size of leak and a specified detection probability, again obtained either from representative leakage simulations with various monitoring densities or from field test data. The effective time to positive detection is also affected by operational feedback time (associated with sampling, sample analysis and data interpretation), with values obtained mainly through expert interviews and literature review. In additional to the spatial and temporal resolutions of these monitoring techniques, the impact of CO2 plume migration speed and leakage detection sensitivity of each monitoring technique are also discussed with consideration of how much monitoring is necessary for effective leakage detection and how these monitoring techniques can be better combined in a time-space framework. The results of the spatial and temporal leakage detection resolutions for several geophysical monitoring techniques and groundwater monitoring are summarized to inform future monitoring designs at carbon storage sites.

Datacube Interoperability, Encoding Independence, and Analytics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baumann, Peter; Hirschorn, Eric; Maso, Joan

2017-04-01

Datacubes are commonly accepted as an enabling paradigm which provides a handy abstraction for accessing and analyzing the zillions of image files delivered by the manifold satellite instruments and climate simulations, among others. Additionally, datacubes are the classic model for statistical and OLAP datacubes, so a further information category can be integrated. From a standards perspective, spatio-temporal datacubes naturally are included in the concept of coverages which encompass regular and irregular grids, point clouds, and general meshes - or, more abstractly, digital representations of spatio-temporally varying phenomena. ISO 19123, which is identical to OGC Abstract Topic 6, gives a high-level abstract definition which is complemented by the OGC Coverage Implementation Schema (CIS) which is an interoperable, yet format independent concretization of the abstract model. Currently, ISO is working on adopting OGC CIS as ISO 19123-2; the existing ISO 19123 standard is under revision by one of the abstract authors and will become ISO 19123-1. The roadmap agreed by ISO further foresees adoption of the OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS) as an ISO standard so that a complete data and service model will exist. In 2016, INSPIRE has adopted WCS as Coverage Download Service, including the datacube analytics language Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS). The rasdaman technology (www.rasdaman.org) is both OGC and INSPIRE Reference Implementation. In the global EarthServer initiative rasdaman database sizes are exceeding 250 TB today, heading for the Petabyte frontier well in 2017. Technically, CIS defines a compact, efficient model for representing multi-dimensional datacubes in several ways. The classical coverage cube defines a domain set (where are values?), a range set (what are these values?), and range type (what do the values mean?), as well as a "bag" for arbitrary metadata. With CIS 1.1, coordinate/value pair sequences have been added, as well as tiled representations. Further, CIS 1.1 offers a unified model for any kind of regular and irregular grids, also allowing sensor models as per SensorML. Encodings include ASCII formats like GML, JSON, RDF as well as binary formats like GeoTIFF, NetCDF, JPEG2000, and GRIB2; further, a container concept allows mixed representations within one coverage file utilizing zip or other convenient package formats. Through the tight integration with the Sensor Web Enablement (SWE), a lossless "transport" from sensor into coverage world is ensured. The corresponding service model of WCS supports datacube operations ranging from simple data extraction to complex ad-hoc analytics with WPCS. Notably, W3C is working has set out on a coverage model as well; it has been designed relatively independently from the abovementioned standards, but there is informal agreement to link it into the CIS universe (which allows for different, yet interchangeable representations). Particularly interesting in the W3C proposal is the detailed semantic modeling of metadata; as CIS 1.1 supports RDF, a tight coupling seems feasible.

Dynamic monitoring of the Poyang Lake wetland by integrating Landsat and MODIS observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Bin; Chen, Lifan; Huang, Bo; Michishita, Ryo; Xu, Bing

2018-05-01

The spatial and temporal adaptive reflectance fusion models (STARFM) have limited practical applications, because they often enforce the invalid assumption that land cover change does not occur between prior/posterior and target dates. To deal with this challenge, we proposed a spatiotemporal adaptive fusion model for NDVI products (STAFFN), to better blend highly resolved spatial and temporal information from multiple sensors. Compared with existing spatiotemporal fusion models, the proposed model integrates an initial prediction into a hierarchical selection strategy of similar pixels, and can capture landscape changes very well. Experiments using spatial details and temporal abundance comparison among MODIS, Landsat, and fusion results show that the predicted data can accurately capture temporal changes while preserving fine-spatial-resolution details. Model comparison also shows that STAFFNs produce consistently lower biases than STARFMs and the flexible spatiotemporal data fusion models (FSDAFs). A synthetic NDVI product (342 scenes in total) was produced with STAFFNs having a 16-day revisit frequency at 30-m spatial resolution from 2000 to 2014. With this product, we further provided a 15-year spatiotemporal change monitoring map of the Poyang Lake wetland. Results show that the water area in the dry season tended to lose 38.3 km2 yr-1 in coverage over the past 15 years, decreasing by 18.24% of the lake area between 2001 and 2014. The wetland vegetation group tended to increase in coverage, increasing by 10.08% of the lake area in the past 15 years. Our study indicates the STAFFN model can be reasonably applied in monitoring wetland dynamics, and can be easily adapted for the use with other ecosystems.

Temporal trends in coverage of historical cardiac arrests using a volunteer-based network of automated external defibrillators accessible to laypersons and emergency dispatch centers.

PubMed

Hansen, Carolina Malta; Lippert, Freddy Knudsen; Wissenberg, Mads; Weeke, Peter; Zinckernagel, Line; Ruwald, Martin H; Karlsson, Lena; Gislason, Gunnar Hilmar; Nielsen, Søren Loumann; Køber, Lars; Torp-Pedersen, Christian; Folke, Fredrik

2014-11-18

Although increased dissemination of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) has been associated with more frequent AED use, the trade-off between the number of deployed AEDs and coverage of cardiac arrests remains unclear. We investigated how volunteer-based AED dissemination affected public cardiac arrest coverage in high- and low-risk areas. All public cardiac arrests (1994-2011) and all registered AEDs (2007-2011) in Copenhagen, Denmark, were identified and geocoded. AED coverage of cardiac arrests was defined as historical arrests ≤100 m from an AED. High-risk areas were defined as those with ≥1 arrest every 2 years and accounted for 1.0% of the total city area. Of 1864 cardiac arrests, 18.0% (n=335) occurred in high-risk areas throughout the study period. From 2007 to 2011, the number of AEDs and the corresponding coverage of cardiac arrests increased from 36 to 552 and from 2.7% to 32.6%, respectively. The corresponding increase for high-risk areas was from 1 to 30 AEDs and coverage from 5.7% to 51.3%, respectively. Since the establishment of the AED network (2007-2011), few arrests (n=55) have occurred ≤100 m from an AED with only 14.5% (n=8) being defibrillated before the arrival of emergency medical services. Despite the lack of a coordinated public access defibrillation program, the number of AEDs increased 15-fold with a corresponding increase in cardiac arrest coverage from 2.7% to 32.6% over a 5-year period. The highest increase in coverage was observed in high-risk areas (from 5.7% to 51.3%). AED networks can be used as useful tools to optimize AED placement in community settings. © 2014 American Heart Association, Inc.

Wide coverage by volume CT: benefits for cardiac imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sablayrolles, Jean-Louis; Cesmeli, Erdogan; Mintandjian, Laura; Adda, Olivier; Dessalles-Martin, Diane

2005-04-01

With the development of new technologies, computed tomography (CT) is becoming a strong candidate for non-invasive imaging based tool for cardiac disease assessment. One of the challenges of cardiac CT is that a typical scan involves a breath hold period consisting of several heartbeats, about 20 sec with scanners having a longitudinal coverage of 2 cm, and causing the image quality (IQ) to be negatively impacted since beat to beat variation is high likely to occur without any medication, e.g. beta blockers. Because of this and the preference for shorter breath hold durations, a CT scanner with a wide coverage without the compromise in the spatial and temporal resolution of great clinical value. In this study, we aimed at determining the optimum scan duration and the delay relative to beginning of breath hold, to achieve high IQ. We acquired EKG data from 91 consecutive patients (77 M, 14 F; Age: 57 +/- 14) undergoing cardiac CT exams with contrast, performed on LightSpeed 16 and LightSpeed Pro16. As an IQ metric, we adopted the standard deviation of "beat-to-beat variation" (stdBBV) within a virtual scan period. Two radiologists evaluated images by assigning a score of 1 (worst) to 4 best). We validated stdBBV with the radiologist scores, which resulted in a population distribution of 9.5, 9.5, 31, and 50% for the score groups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Based on the scores, we defined a threshold for stdBBV and identified an optimum combination of virtual scan period and a delay. With the assumption that the relationship between the stdBBV and diagnosable scan IQ holds, our analysis suggested that the success rate can be improved to 100% with scan durations equal or less than 5 sec with a delay of 1 - 2 sec. We confirmed the suggested conclusion with LightSpeed VCT (GE Healthcare Technologies, Waukesha, WI), which has a wide longitudinal coverage, fine isotropic spatial resolution, and high temporal resolution, e.g. 40 mm coverage per rotation of 0.35 sec. Under the light of this study, LightSpeed VCT lends itself to be a clinically tested unique platform to achieve routine cardiac imaging.

47 CFR 25.149 - Application requirements for ancillary terrestrial components in the Mobile-Satellite Service...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... be limited to certain frequencies: (i) [Resreved] (ii) In the 1626.5-1660.5 MHz/1525-1559 MHz bands... stations and mobile terminals shall comply with part 1 of this chapter, Subpart I—Procedures Implementing... will comply with the following criteria through certification: (1) Geographic and temporal coverage. (i...

Using Landsat-derived disturbance history (1972-2010) to predict current forest structure

Treesearch

Dirk Pflugmacher; Warren B. Cohen; Robert E. Kennedy

2012-01-01

Lidar is currently the most accurate method for remote estimation of forest structure, but it has limited spatial and temporal coverage. Conversely, Landsat data are more widely available, but exhibit a weaker relationship with structure under medium to high leaf area conditions. One potentially valuable means of enhancing the relationship between Landsat reflectance...

An improved rainfall disaggregation technique for GCMs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Onof, C.; Mackay, N. G.; Oh, L.; Wheater, H. S.

1998-08-01

Meteorological models represent rainfall as a mean value for a grid square so that when the latter is large, a disaggregation scheme is required to represent the spatial variability of rainfall. In general circulation models (GCMs) this is based on an assumption of exponentiality of rainfall intensities and a fixed value of areal rainfall coverage, dependent on rainfall type. This paper examines these two assumptions on the basis of U.K. and U.S. radar data. Firstly, the coverage of an area is strongly dependent on its size, and this dependence exhibits a scaling law over a range of sizes. Secondly, the coverage is, of course, dependent on the resolution at which it is measured, although this dependence is weak at high resolutions. Thirdly, the time series of rainfall coverages has a long-tailed autocorrelation function which is comparable to that of the mean areal rainfalls. It is therefore possible to reproduce much of the temporal dependence of coverages by using a regression of the log of the mean rainfall on the log of the coverage. The exponential assumption is satisfactory in many cases but not able to reproduce some of the long-tailed dependence of some intensity distributions. Gamma and lognormal distributions provide a better fit in these cases, but they have their shortcomings and require a second parameter. An improved disaggregation scheme for GCMs is proposed which incorporates the previous findings to allow the coverage to be obtained for any area and any mean rainfall intensity. The parameters required are given and some of their seasonal behavior is analyzed.

Plant Interactions with Changes in Coverage of Biological Soil Crusts and Water Regime in Mu Us Sandland, China

PubMed Central

Gao, Shuqin; Pan, Xu; Cui, Qingguo; Hu, Yukun; Ye, Xuehua; Dong, Ming

2014-01-01

Plant interactions greatly affect plant community structure. Dryland ecosystems are characterized by low amounts of unpredictable precipitation as well as by often having biological soil crusts (BSCs) on the soil surface. In dryland plant communities, plants interact mostly as they compete for water resources, and the direction and intensity of plant interaction varies as a function of the temporal fluctuation in water availability. Since BSCs influence water redistribution to some extent, a greenhouse experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the intensity and direction of plant interactions in a dryland plant community can be modified by BSCs. In the experiment, 14 combinations of four plant species (Artemisia ordosica, Artemisia sphaerocephala, Chloris virgata and Setaria viridis) were subjected to three levels of coverage of BSCs and three levels of water supply. The results show that: 1) BSCs affected plant interaction intensity for the four plant species: a 100% coverage of BSCs significantly reduced the intensity of competition between neighboring plants, while it was highest with a 50% coverage of BSCs in combination with the target species of A. sphaerocephala and C. virgata; 2) effects of the coverage of BSCs on plant interactions were modified by water regime when the target species were C. virgata and S. viridis; 3) plant interactions were species-specific. In conclusion, the percent coverage of BSCs affected plant interactions, and the effects were species-specific and could be modified by water regimes. Further studies should focus on effects of the coverage of BSCs on plant-soil hydrological processes. PMID:24498173

Plant interactions with changes in coverage of biological soil crusts and water regime in Mu Us Sandland, China.

PubMed

Gao, Shuqin; Pan, Xu; Cui, Qingguo; Hu, Yukun; Ye, Xuehua; Dong, Ming

2014-01-01

Plant interactions greatly affect plant community structure. Dryland ecosystems are characterized by low amounts of unpredictable precipitation as well as by often having biological soil crusts (BSCs) on the soil surface. In dryland plant communities, plants interact mostly as they compete for water resources, and the direction and intensity of plant interaction varies as a function of the temporal fluctuation in water availability. Since BSCs influence water redistribution to some extent, a greenhouse experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the intensity and direction of plant interactions in a dryland plant community can be modified by BSCs. In the experiment, 14 combinations of four plant species (Artemisia ordosica, Artemisia sphaerocephala, Chloris virgata and Setaria viridis) were subjected to three levels of coverage of BSCs and three levels of water supply. The results show that: 1) BSCs affected plant interaction intensity for the four plant species: a 100% coverage of BSCs significantly reduced the intensity of competition between neighboring plants, while it was highest with a 50% coverage of BSCs in combination with the target species of A. sphaerocephala and C. virgata; 2) effects of the coverage of BSCs on plant interactions were modified by water regime when the target species were C. virgata and S. viridis; 3) plant interactions were species-specific. In conclusion, the percent coverage of BSCs affected plant interactions, and the effects were species-specific and could be modified by water regimes. Further studies should focus on effects of the coverage of BSCs on plant-soil hydrological processes.

Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy (SSE) Data Release 5.1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stackhouse, Paul W. (Principal Investigator)

The Surface meteorology and Solar Energy (SSE) data set contains over 200 parameters formulated for assessing and designing renewable energy systems.The SSE data set is formulated from NASA satellite- and reanalysis-derived insolation and meteorological data for the 10-year period July 1983 through June 1993. Results are provided for 1 degree latitude by 1 degree longitude grid cells over the globe. Average daily and monthly measurements for 1195 World Radiation Data Centre ground sites are also available. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1983-07-01; Stop_Date=1993-06-30] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree].

Observing outer planet satellites (except Titan) with JWST: Science justification and observational requirements

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kestay, Laszlo P.; Grundy, Will; Stansberry, John; Sivaramakrishnan, Anand; Thatte, Deepashri; Gudipati, Murthy; Tsang, Constantine; Greenbaum, Alexandra; McGruder, Chima

2016-01-01

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will allow observations with a unique combination of spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution for the study of outer planet satellites within our Solar System. We highlight the infrared spectroscopy of icy moons and temporal changes on geologically active satellites as two particularly valuable avenues of scientific inquiry. While some care must be taken to avoid saturation issues, JWST has observation modes that should provide excellent infrared data for such studies.

Toward a consensus definition of pathological video-gaming: a systematic review of psychometric assessment tools.

PubMed

King, Daniel L; Haagsma, Maria C; Delfabbro, Paul H; Gradisar, Michael; Griffiths, Mark D

2013-04-01

Pathological video-gaming, or its proposed DSM-V classification of "Internet Use Disorder", is of increasing interest to scholars and practitioners in allied health disciplines. This systematic review was designed to evaluate the standards in pathological video-gaming instrumentation, according to Cicchetti (1994) and Groth-Marnat's (2009) criteria and guidelines for sound psychometric assessment. A total of 63 quantitative studies, including eighteen instruments and representing 58,415 participants, were evaluated. Results indicated that reviewed instrumentation may be broadly characterized as inconsistent. Strengths of available measures include: (i) short length and ease of scoring, (ii) excellent internal consistency and convergent validity, and (iii) potentially adequate data for development of standardized norms for adolescent populations. However, key limitations included: (a) inconsistent coverage of core addiction indicators, (b) varying cut-off scores to indicate clinical status, (c) a lack of a temporal dimension, (d) untested or inconsistent dimensionality, and (e) inadequate data on predictive validity and inter-rater reliability. An emerging consensus suggests that pathological video-gaming is commonly defined by (1) withdrawal, (2) loss of control, and (3) conflict. It is concluded that a unified approach to assessment of pathological video-gaming is needed. A synthesis of extant research efforts by meta-analysis may be difficult in the context of several divergent approaches to assessment. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

JPRS Report, Near East and South Asia.

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-07-08

and our culture. We collaborators two excellent connoisseurs of Berber lan- are not going to play at being censors ," Ramdane adds. guage and culture, T...its conceived plan, wars will be started between countries propaganda war, America censored war coverage. The for their consumption. There is only one...way to avoid Western media which protested censor restrictions this new international imperialist system and that is, just imposed during the

Environmental monitoring of Galway Bay: fusing data from remote and in-situ sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Connor, Edel; Hayes, Jer; Smeaton, Alan F.; O'Connor, Noel E.; Diamond, Dermot

2009-09-01

Changes in sea surface temperature can be used as an indicator of water quality. In-situ sensors are being used for continuous autonomous monitoring. However these sensors have limited spatial resolution as they are in effect single point sensors. Satellite remote sensing can be used to provide better spatial coverage at good temporal scales. However in-situ sensors have a richer temporal scale for a particular point of interest. Work carried out in Galway Bay has combined data from multiple satellite sources and in-situ sensors and investigated the benefits and drawbacks of using multiple sensing modalities for monitoring a marine location.

CERES Monthly Gridded Single Satellite Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) in HDF (CER_FSW_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Beta1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator); Barkstrom, Bruce R. (Principal Investigator)

The Monthly Gridded Radiative Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The FSW is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. All instantaneous fluxes from the CERES CRS product for a month are sorted by 1-degree spatial regions and by the Universal Time (UT) hour of observation. The mean of the instantaneous fluxes for a given region-hour bin is determined and recorded on the FSW along with other flux statistics and scene information. The mean adjusted fluxes at the four atmospheric levels defined by CRS are also included for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes. In addition, four cloud height categories are defined by dividing the atmosphere into four intervals with boundaries at the surface, 700-, 500-, 300-hPa, and the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA). The cloud layers from CRS are put into one of the cloud height categories and averaged over the region. The cloud properties are also column averaged and included on the FSW. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2000-03-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 month; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Monthly - < Annual].

CERES Monthly Gridded Single Satellite Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) in HDF (CER_FSW_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2C)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator); Barkstrom, Bruce R. (Principal Investigator)

The Monthly Gridded Radiative Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The FSW is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. All instantaneous fluxes from the CERES CRS product for a month are sorted by 1-degree spatial regions and by the Universal Time (UT) hour of observation. The mean of the instantaneous fluxes for a given region-hour bin is determined and recorded on the FSW along with other flux statistics and scene information. The mean adjusted fluxes at the four atmospheric levels defined by CRS are also included for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes. In addition, four cloud height categories are defined by dividing the atmosphere into four intervals with boundaries at the surface, 700-, 500-, 300-hPa, and the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA). The cloud layers from CRS are put into one of the cloud height categories and averaged over the region. The cloud properties are also column averaged and included on the FSW. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2005-12-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 month; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Monthly - < Annual].

CERES) Monthly Gridded Single Satellite Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) in HDF (CER_FSW_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2C)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator); Barkstrom, Bruce R. (Principal Investigator)

The Monthly Gridded Radiative Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The FSW is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. All instantaneous fluxes from the CERES CRS product for a month are sorted by 1-degree spatial regions and by the Universal Time (UT) hour of observation. The mean of the instantaneous fluxes for a given region-hour bin is determined and recorded on the FSW along with other flux statistics and scene information. The mean adjusted fluxes at the four atmospheric levels defined by CRS are also included for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes. In addition, four cloud height categories are defined by dividing the atmosphere into four intervals with boundaries at the surface, 700-, 500-, 300-hPa, and the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA). The cloud layers from CRS are put into one of the cloud height categories and averaged over the region. The cloud properties are also column averaged and included on the FSW. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2001-10-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 month; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Monthly - < Annual].

Reconstruction of Arctic surface temperature in past 100 years using DINEOF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qiyi; Huang, Jianbin; Luo, Yong

2015-04-01

Global annual mean surface temperature has not risen apparently since 1998, which is described as global warming hiatus in recent years. However, measuring of temperature variability in Arctic is difficult because of large gaps in coverage of Arctic region in most observed gridded datasets. Since Arctic has experienced a rapid temperature change in recent years that called polar amplification, and temperature risen in Arctic is faster than global mean, the unobserved temperature in central Arctic will result in cold bias in both global and Arctic temperature measurement compared with model simulations and reanalysis datasets. Moreover, some datasets that have complete coverage in Arctic but short temporal scale cannot show Arctic temperature variability for long time. Data Interpolating Empirical Orthogonal Function (DINEOF) were applied to fill the coverage gap of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP 250km smooth) product in Arctic with IABP dataset which covers entire Arctic region between 1979 and 1998, and to reconstruct Arctic temperature in 1900-2012. This method provided temperature reconstruction in central Arctic and precise estimation of both global and Arctic temperature variability with a long temporal scale. Results have been verified by extra independent station records in Arctic by statistical analysis, such as variance and standard deviation. The result of reconstruction shows significant warming trend in Arctic in recent 30 years, as the temperature trend in Arctic since 1997 is 0.76°C per decade, compared with 0.48°C and 0.67°C per decade from 250km smooth and 1200km smooth of GISTEMP. And global temperature trend is two times greater after using DINEOF. The discrepancies above stress the importance of fully consideration of temperature variance in Arctic because gaps of coverage in Arctic cause apparent cold bias in temperature estimation. The result of global surface temperature also proves that global warming in recent years is not as slow as thought.

University-Based Teleradiology in the United States.

PubMed

Hunter, Tim B; Krupinski, Elizabeth A

2014-04-15

This article reviews the University of Arizona's more than 15 years of experience with teleradiology and provides an overview of university-based teleradiology practice in the United States (U.S.). In the U.S., teleradiology is a major economic enterprise with many private for-profit companies offering national teleradiology services (i.e., professional interpretation of radiologic studies of all types by American Board of Radiology certified radiologists). The initial thrust for teleradiology was for after-hours coverage of radiologic studies, but teleradiology has expanded its venue to include routine full-time or partial coverage for small hospitals, clinics, specialty medical practices, and urgent care centers. It also provides subspecialty radiologic coverage not available at smaller medical centers and clinics. Many U.S. university-based academic departments of radiology provide teleradiology services usually as an additional for-profit business to supplement departmental income. Since academic-based teleradiology providers have to compete in a very demanding marketplace, their success is not guaranteed. They must provide timely, high-quality professional services for a competitive price. Academic practices have the advantage of house officers and fellows who can help with the coverage, and they have excellent subspecialty expertise. The marketplace is constantly shifting, and university-based teleradiology practices have to be nimble and adjust to ever-changing situations.

Planning Coverage Campaigns for Mission Design and Analysis: CLASP for DESDynl

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knight, Russell L.; McLaren, David A.; Hu, Steven

2013-01-01

Mission design and analysis presents challenges in that almost all variables are in constant flux, yet the goal is to achieve an acceptable level of performance against a concept of operations, which might also be in flux. To increase responsiveness, automated planning tools are used that allow for the continual modification of spacecraft, ground system, staffing, and concept of operations, while returning metrics that are important to mission evaluation, such as area covered, peak memory usage, and peak data throughput. This approach was applied to the DESDynl mission design using the CLASP planning system, but since this adaptation, many techniques have changed under the hood for CLASP, and the DESDynl mission concept has undergone drastic changes. The software produces mission evaluation products, such as memory highwater marks, coverage percentages, given a mission design in the form of coverage targets, concept of operations, spacecraft parameters, and orbital parameters. It tries to overcome the lack of fidelity and timeliness of mission requirements coverage analysis during mission design. Previous techniques primarily use Excel in ad hoc fashion to approximate key factors in mission performance, often falling victim to overgeneralizations necessary in such an adaptation. The new program allows designers to faithfully represent their mission designs quickly, and get more accurate results just as quickly.

Self-scheduling with Microsoft Excel.

PubMed

Irvin, S A; Brown, H N

1999-01-01

Excessive time was being spent by the emergency department (ED) staff, head nurse, and unit secretary on a complex 6-week manual self-scheduling system. This issue, plus inevitable errors and staff dissatisfaction, resulted in a manager-lead initiative to automate elements of the scheduling process using Microsoft Excel. The implementation of this initiative included: common coding of all 8-hour and 12-hour shifts, with each 4-hour period represented by a cell; the creation of a 6-week master schedule using the "count-if" function of Excel based on current staffing guidelines; staff time-off requests then entered by the department secretary; the head nurse, with staff input, then fine-tuned the schedule to provide even unit coverage. Outcomes of these changes included an increase in staff satisfaction, time saved by the head nurse, and staff work time saved because there was less arguing about the schedule. Ultimately, the automated self-scheduling method was expanded to the entire 700-bed hospital.

Seeing the elephant: Importance of spatial and temporal coverage in a large-scale volunteer-based program to monitor horseshoe crabs

USGS Publications Warehouse

Smith, D.R.; Michels, S.F.

2006-01-01

As in John Godfrey Saxe's poem about six blind men and an elephant, conclusions drawn from a monitoring program depend critically on where and when observations are made. We examined results from the Delaware Bay horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) spawning survey to evaluate the effect of spatial and temporal coverage on conclusions about spawning activity. Declines due to previously unregulated harvest triggered an increase in monitoring. Although we detected no apparent trend in bay-wide spawning activity for 1999-2005, conclusions would have differed depending on where and when observations were made. For example, spawning activity in May during the shorebird stopover was a poor predictor of spawning activity over the whole season. Observations made only during peak spawning incorrectly suggested that spawning activity increased during 2001-2005. Trends at one place in the bay were not indicative of trends for the whole bay. Many natural resource issues begin like the blind men and the elephant with dispute partially caused by an incomplete picture of the resource. As sufficient time and funds are directed to gathering necessary data using effective sampling designs, a more complete picture can emerge.

The 2 Pi Charged Particles Analyzer: All-Sky Camera Concept and Development for Space Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vaisberg, O.; Berthellier, J.-J.; Moore, T.; Avanov, L.; Leblanc, F.; Leblanc, F.; Moiseev, P.; Moiseenko, D.; Becker, J.; Collier, M.;

InSAR constraints on soil moisture evolution after the March 2015 extreme precipitation event in Chile.

PubMed

Scott, C P; Lohman, R B; Jordan, T E

2017-07-07

Constraints on soil moisture can guide agricultural practices, act as input into weather, flooding and climate models and inform water resource policies. Space-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) observations provide near-global coverage, even in the presence of clouds, of proxies for soil moisture derived from the amplitude and phase content of radar imagery. We describe results from a 1.5 year-long InSAR time series spanning the March, 2015 extreme precipitation event in the hyperarid Atacama desert of Chile, constraining the immediate increase in soil moisture and drying out over the following months, as well as the response to a later, smaller precipitation event. The inferred temporal evolution of soil moisture is remarkably consistent between independent, overlapping SAR tracks covering a region ~100 km in extent. The unusually large rain event, combined with the extensive spatial and temporal coverage of the SAR dataset, present an unprecedented opportunity to image the time-evolution of soil characteristics over different surface types. Constraints on the timescale of shallow water storage after precipitation events are increasingly valuable as global water resources continue to be stretched to their limits and communities continue to develop in flood-prone areas.

Management of gingival recession with acellular dermal matrix graft: A clinical study

PubMed Central

Balaji, V. R.; Ramakrishnan, T.; Manikandan, D.; Lambodharan, R.; Karthikeyan, B.; Niazi, Thanvir Mohammed; Ulaganathan, G.

2016-01-01

Aims and Objectives: Obtaining root coverage has become an important part of periodontal therapy. The aims of this studyare to evaluate the clinical efficacy of acellular dermal matrix graft in the coverage of denuded roots and also to examine the change in the width of keratinized gingiva. Materials and Methods: A total of 20 sites with more than or equal to 2 mm of recession depth were taken into the study, for treatment with acellular dermal matrix graft. The clinical parameters such as recession depth, recession width, width of keratinized gingiva, probing pocket depth (PD), and clinical attachment level (CAL) were measured at the baseline, 8th week, and at the end of the study (16th week). The defects were treated with a coronally positioned pedicle graft combined with acellular dermal matrix graft. Results: Out of 20 sites treated with acellular dermal matrix graft, seven sites showed complete root coverage (100%), and the mean root coverage obtained was 73.39%. There was a statistically significant reduction in recession depth, recession width, and probing PD. There was also a statistically significant increase in width of keratinized gingiva and also gain in CAL. The postoperative results were both clinically and statistically significant (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: The results of this study were esthetically acceptable to the patients and clinically acceptable in all cases. From this study, it may be concluded that acellular dermal matrix graft is an excellent substitute for autogenous graft in coverage of denuded roots. PMID:27829749

Wide Swath Stereo Mapping from Gaofen-1 Wide-Field-View (WFV) Images Using Calibration

PubMed Central

Chen, Shoubin; Liu, Jingbin; Huang, Wenchao

2018-01-01

The development of Earth observation systems has changed the nature of survey and mapping products, as well as the methods for updating maps. Among optical satellite mapping methods, the multiline array stereo and agile stereo modes are the most common methods for acquiring stereo images. However, differences in temporal resolution and spatial coverage limit their application. In terms of this issue, our study takes advantage of the wide spatial coverage and high revisit frequencies of wide swath images and aims at verifying the feasibility of stereo mapping with the wide swath stereo mode and reaching a reliable stereo accuracy level using calibration. In contrast with classic stereo modes, the wide swath stereo mode is characterized by both a wide spatial coverage and high-temporal resolution and is capable of obtaining a wide range of stereo images over a short period. In this study, Gaofen-1 (GF-1) wide-field-view (WFV) images, with total imaging widths of 800 km, multispectral resolutions of 16 m and revisit periods of four days, are used for wide swath stereo mapping. To acquire a high-accuracy digital surface model (DSM), the nonlinear system distortion in the GF-1 WFV images is detected and compensated for in advance. The elevation accuracy of the wide swath stereo mode of the GF-1 WFV images can be improved from 103 m to 30 m for a DSM with proper calibration, meeting the demands for 1:250,000 scale mapping and rapid topographic map updates and showing improved efficacy for satellite imaging. PMID:29494540

More than just records: analysing natural history collections for biodiversity planning.

PubMed

Ward, Darren F

2012-01-01

Natural History Collections (NHCs) play a central role as sources of data for biodiversity and conservation. Yet, few NHCs have examined whether the data they contain is adequately representative of local biodiversity. I examined over 15,000 databased records of Hymenoptera from 1435 locations across New Zealand collected over the past 90 years. These records are assessed in terms of their geographical, temporal, and environmental coverage across New Zealand. Results showed that the spatial coverage of records was significantly biased, with the top four areas contributing over 51% of all records. Temporal biases were also evident, with a large proportion (40%) of records collected within a short time period. The lack of repeat visits to specific locations indicated that the current set of NHC records would be of limited use for long-term ecological research. Consequently, analyses and interpretation of historical data, for example, shifts in community composition, would be limited. However, in general, NHC records provided good coverage of the diversity of New Zealand habitats and climatic environments, although fewer NHC records were represented at cooler temperatures (<5°C) and the highest rainfalls (>5000 mm/yr). Analyses of NHCs can be greatly enhanced by using simple techniques that examine collection records in terms of environmental and geographical space. NHCs that initiate a systematic sampling strategy will provide higher quality data for biodiversity research than ad hoc or point samples, as is currently the norm. Although NHCs provide a rich source of information they could be far better utilised in a range of large-scale ecological and conservation studies.

More Than Just Records: Analysing Natural History Collections for Biodiversity Planning

PubMed Central

Ward, Darren F.

2012-01-01

Natural History Collections (NHCs) play a central role as sources of data for biodiversity and conservation. Yet, few NHCs have examined whether the data they contain is adequately representative of local biodiversity. I examined over 15,000 databased records of Hymenoptera from 1435 locations across New Zealand collected over the past 90 years. These records are assessed in terms of their geographical, temporal, and environmental coverage across New Zealand. Results showed that the spatial coverage of records was significantly biased, with the top four areas contributing over 51% of all records. Temporal biases were also evident, with a large proportion (40%) of records collected within a short time period. The lack of repeat visits to specific locations indicated that the current set of NHC records would be of limited use for long-term ecological research. Consequently, analyses and interpretation of historical data, for example, shifts in community composition, would be limited. However, in general, NHC records provided good coverage of the diversity of New Zealand habitats and climatic environments, although fewer NHC records were represented at cooler temperatures (<5°C) and the highest rainfalls (>5000 mm/yr). Analyses of NHCs can be greatly enhanced by using simple techniques that examine collection records in terms of environmental and geographical space. NHCs that initiate a systematic sampling strategy will provide higher quality data for biodiversity research than ad hoc or point samples, as is currently the norm. Although NHCs provide a rich source of information they could be far better utilised in a range of large-scale ecological and conservation studies. PMID:23185605

Automated extraction and validation of children's gait parameters with the Kinect.

PubMed

Motiian, Saeid; Pergami, Paola; Guffey, Keegan; Mancinelli, Corrie A; Doretto, Gianfranco

2015-12-02

Gait analysis for therapy regimen prescription and monitoring requires patients to physically access clinics with specialized equipment. The timely availability of such infrastructure at the right frequency is especially important for small children. Besides being very costly, this is a challenge for many children living in rural areas. This is why this work develops a low-cost, portable, and automated approach for in-home gait analysis, based on the Microsoft Kinect. A robust and efficient method for extracting gait parameters is introduced, which copes with the high variability of noisy Kinect skeleton tracking data experienced across the population of young children. This is achieved by temporally segmenting the data with an approach based on coupling a probabilistic matching of stride template models, learned offline, with the estimation of their global and local temporal scaling. A preliminary study conducted on healthy children between 2 and 4 years of age is performed to analyze the accuracy, precision, repeatability, and concurrent validity of the proposed method against the GAITRite when measuring several spatial and temporal children's gait parameters. The method has excellent accuracy and good precision, with segmenting temporal sequences of body joint locations into stride and step cycles. Also, the spatial and temporal gait parameters, estimated automatically, exhibit good concurrent validity with those provided by the GAITRite, as well as very good repeatability. In particular, on a range of nine gait parameters, the relative and absolute agreements were found to be good and excellent, and the overall agreements were found to be good and moderate. This work enables and validates the automated use of the Kinect for children's gait analysis in healthy subjects. In particular, the approach makes a step forward towards developing a low-cost, portable, parent-operated in-home tool for clinicians assisting young children.

Design and coverage of high throughput genotyping arrays optimized for individuals of East Asian, African American, and Latino race/ethnicity using imputation and a novel hybrid SNP selection algorithm.

PubMed

Hoffmann, Thomas J; Zhan, Yiping; Kvale, Mark N; Hesselson, Stephanie E; Gollub, Jeremy; Iribarren, Carlos; Lu, Yontao; Mei, Gangwu; Purdy, Matthew M; Quesenberry, Charles; Rowell, Sarah; Shapero, Michael H; Smethurst, David; Somkin, Carol P; Van den Eeden, Stephen K; Walter, Larry; Webster, Teresa; Whitmer, Rachel A; Finn, Andrea; Schaefer, Catherine; Kwok, Pui-Yan; Risch, Neil

2011-12-01

Four custom Axiom genotyping arrays were designed for a genome-wide association (GWA) study of 100,000 participants from the Kaiser Permanente Research Program on Genes, Environment and Health. The array optimized for individuals of European race/ethnicity was previously described. Here we detail the development of three additional microarrays optimized for individuals of East Asian, African American, and Latino race/ethnicity. For these arrays, we decreased redundancy of high-performing SNPs to increase SNP capacity. The East Asian array was designed using greedy pairwise SNP selection. However, removing SNPs from the target set based on imputation coverage is more efficient than pairwise tagging. Therefore, we developed a novel hybrid SNP selection method for the African American and Latino arrays utilizing rounds of greedy pairwise SNP selection, followed by removal from the target set of SNPs covered by imputation. The arrays provide excellent genome-wide coverage and are valuable additions for large-scale GWA studies. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessment of narrow angles by gonioscopy, Van Herick method and anterior segment optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Park, Seong Bae; Sung, Kyung Rim; Kang, Sung Yung; Jo, Jung Woo; Lee, Kyoung Sub; Kook, Michael S

2011-07-01

To evaluate anterior chamber (AC) angles using gonioscopy, Van Herick technique and anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT). One hundred forty-eight consecutive subjects were enrolled. The agreement between any two of three diagnostic methods, gonioscopy, AS-OCT and Van Herick, was calculated in narrow-angle patients. The area under receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUC) for discriminating between narrow and open angles determined by gonioscopy was calculated in all participants for AS-OCT parameter angle opening distance (AOD), angle recess area, trabecular iris surface area and anterior chamber depth (ACD). As a subgroup analysis, capability of AS-OCT parameters for detecting angle closure defined by AS-OCT was assessed in narrow-angle patients. The agreement between the Van Herick method and gonioscopy in detecting angle closure was excellent in narrow angles (κ = 0.80, temporal; κ = 0.82, nasal). However, agreement between gonioscopy and AS-OCT and between the Van Herick method and AS-OCT was poor (κ = 0.11-0.16). Discrimination capability of AS-OCT parameters between open and narrow angles determined by gonioscopy was excellent for all AS-OCT parameters (AUC, temporal: AOD500 = 0.96, nasal: AOD500 = 0.99). The AUCs for detecting angle closure defined by AS-OCT image in narrow angle subjects was good for all AS-OCT parameters (AUC, 0.80-0.94) except for ACD (temporal: ACD = 0.70, nasal: ACD = 0.63). Assessment of narrow angles by gonioscopy and the Van Herick technique showed good agreement, but both measurements revealed poor agreement with AS-OCT. The angle closure detection capability of AS-OCT parameters was excellent; however, it was slightly lower in ACD.

Towards Semantic Web Services on Large, Multi-Dimensional Coverages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baumann, P.

2009-04-01

Observed and simulated data in the Earth Sciences often come as coverages, the general term for space-time varying phenomena as set forth by standardization bodies like the Open GeoSpatial Consortium (OGC) and ISO. Among such data are 1-d time series, 2-D surface data, 3-D surface data time series as well as x/y/z geophysical and oceanographic data, and 4-D metocean simulation results. With increasing dimensionality the data sizes grow exponentially, up to Petabyte object sizes. Open standards for exploiting coverage archives over the Web are available to a varying extent. The OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS) standard defines basic extraction operations: spatio-temporal and band subsetting, scaling, reprojection, and data format encoding of the result - a simple interoperable interface for coverage access. More processing functionality is available with products like Matlab, Grid-type interfaces, and the OGC Web Processing Service (WPS). However, these often lack properties known as advantageous from databases: declarativeness (describe results rather than the algorithms), safe in evaluation (no request can keep a server busy infinitely), and optimizable (enable the server to rearrange the request so as to produce the same result faster). WPS defines a geo-enabled SOAP interface for remote procedure calls. This allows to webify any program, but does not allow for semantic interoperability: a function is identified only by its function name and parameters while the semantics is encoded in the (only human readable) title and abstract. Hence, another desirable property is missing, namely an explicit semantics which allows for machine-machine communication and reasoning a la Semantic Web. The OGC Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) language, which has been adopted as an international standard by OGC in December 2008, defines a flexible interface for the navigation, extraction, and ad-hoc analysis of large, multi-dimensional raster coverages. It is abstract in that it does not anticipate any particular protocol. One such protocol is given by the OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS) Processing Extension standard which ties WCPS into WCS. Another protocol which makes WCPS an OGC Web Processing Service (WPS) Profile is under preparation. Thereby, WCPS bridges WCS and WPS. The conceptual model of WCPS relies on the coverage model of WCS, which in turn is based on ISO 19123. WCS currently addresses raster-type coverages where a coverage is seen as a function mapping points from a spatio-temporal extent (its domain) into values of some cell type (its range). A retrievable coverage has an identifier associated, further the CRSs supported and, for each range field (aka band, channel), the interpolation methods applicable. The WCPS language offers access to one or several such coverages via a functional, side-effect free language. The following example, which derives the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) from given coverages C1, C2, and C3 within the regions identified by the binary mask R, illustrates the language concept: for c in ( C1, C2, C3 ), r in ( R ) return encode( (char) (c.nir - c.red) / (c.nir + c.red), H˜DF-EOS\\~ ) The result is a list of three HDF-EOS encoded images containing masked NDVI values. Note that the same request can operate on coverages of any dimensionality. The expressive power of WCPS includes statistics, image, and signal processing up to recursion, to maintain safe evaluation. As both syntax and semantics of any WCPS expression is well known the language is Semantic Web ready: clients can construct WCPS requests on the fly, servers can optimize such requests (this has been investigated extensively with the rasdaman raster database system) and automatically distribute them for processing in a WCPS-enabled computing cloud. The WCPS Reference Implementation is being finalized now that the standard is stable; it will be released in open source once ready. Among the future tasks is to extend WCPS to general meshes, in synchronization with the WCS standard. In this talk WCPS is presented in the context of OGC standardization. The author is co-chair of OGC's WCS Working Group (WG) and Coverages WG.

Temporal Evolution and Dose-Volume Histogram Predictors of Visual Acuity After Proton Beam Radiation Therapy of Uveal Melanoma

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

Polishchuk, Alexei L.; Mishra, Kavita K., E-mail: Kavita.Mishra@ucsf.edu; Weinberg, Vivian

2017-01-01

Purpose: To perform an in-depth temporal analysis of visual acuity (VA) outcomes after proton beam radiation therapy (PBRT) in a large, uniformly treated cohort of uveal melanoma (UM) patients, to determine trends in VA evolution depending on pretreatment and temporally defined posttreatment VA measurements; and to investigate the relevance of specific patient, tumor and dose-volume parameters to posttreatment vision loss. Methods and Materials: Uveal melanoma patients receiving PBRT were identified from a prospectively maintained database. Included patients (n=645) received 56 GyE in 4 fractions, had pretreatment best corrected VA (BCVA) in the affected eye of count fingers (CF) or better, withmore » posttreatment VA assessment at specified post-PBRT time point(s). Patients were grouped according to the pretreatment BCVA into favorable (≥20/40) or unfavorable (20/50-20/400) and poor (CF) strata. Temporal analysis of BCVA changes was described, and univariate and forward stepwise multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify predictors for VA loss. Results: Median VA follow-up was 53 months (range, 3-213 months). At 60-month follow up, among evaluable treated eyes with favorable pretreatment BCVA, 45% retained BCVA ≥20/40, whereas among evaluable treated eyes with initially unfavorable/poor BCVA, 21% had vision ≥20/100. Among those with a favorable initial BCVA, attaining BCVA of ≥20/40 at any posttreatment time point was associated with subsequent maintenance of excellent BCVA. Multivariate analysis identified volume of the macula receiving 28GyE (P<.0001) and optic nerve (P=.0004) as independent dose-volume histogram predictors of 48-month post-PBRT vision loss among initially favorable treated eyes. Conclusions: Approximately half of PBRT-treated UM eyes with excellent pretreatment BCVA assessed at 5 years after treatment will retain excellent long-term vision. 28GyE macula and optic nerve dose-volume histogram parameters allow for rational treatment planning optimization that may lead to improved visual outcomes. The detailed temporal analysis with intermediate as well as long-term functional prognosis, and the relationship of outcomes with clinical and treatment planning parameters, is critical for informed care of UM patients before and after PBRT.« less

Uptake and timeliness of rotavirus vaccination in Norway: The first year post-introduction.

PubMed

Valcarcel Salamanca, Beatriz; Hagerup-Jenssen, Maria Elisabeth; Flem, Elmira

2016-09-07

To minimise vaccine-associated risk of intussusception following rotavirus vaccination, Norway adopted very strict age limits for initiating and completing the vaccine series at the time rotavirus vaccination was included in the national immunisation programme, October 2014. Although Norway has a high coverage for routine childhood vaccines, these stringent age limits could negatively affect rotavirus coverage. We documented the status and impact of rotavirus vaccination on other infant vaccines during the first year after its introduction. We used individual vaccination data from the national immunisation register to calculate coverage for rotavirus and other vaccines and examine adherence with the recommended schedules. We identified factors associated with completing the full rotavirus series by performing multiple logistic regression analyses. We also evaluated potential changes in uptake and timeliness of other routine vaccines after the introduction of rotavirus vaccine using the Kaplan-Meier method. The national coverage for rotavirus vaccine achieved a year after the introduction was 89% for one dose and 82% for two doses, respectively. Among fully rotavirus-vaccinated children, 98% received both doses within the upper age limit and 90% received both doses according to the recommended schedule. The child's age at the initiation of rotavirus series and being vaccinated with diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and Haemophilus influenzae type b (DTaP/IPV/Hib) and pneumococcal vaccines were the strongest predictors of completing the full rotavirus series. No major changes in uptake and timeliness of other paediatric vaccines were observed after introduction of rotavirus vaccine. Norway achieved a high national coverage and excellent adherence with the strict age limits for rotavirus vaccine administration during the first year of introduction, indicating robustness of the national immunisation programme. Rotavirus vaccination did not impact coverage or timeliness of other infant vaccines. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A discrete spectral analysis for determining quasi-linear viscoelastic properties of biological materials

PubMed Central

Babaei, Behzad; Abramowitch, Steven D.; Elson, Elliot L.; Thomopoulos, Stavros; Genin, Guy M.

2015-01-01

The viscoelastic behaviour of a biological material is central to its functioning and is an indicator of its health. The Fung quasi-linear viscoelastic (QLV) model, a standard tool for characterizing biological materials, provides excellent fits to most stress–relaxation data by imposing a simple form upon a material's temporal relaxation spectrum. However, model identification is challenging because the Fung QLV model's ‘box’-shaped relaxation spectrum, predominant in biomechanics applications, can provide an excellent fit even when it is not a reasonable representation of a material's relaxation spectrum. Here, we present a robust and simple discrete approach for identifying a material's temporal relaxation spectrum from stress–relaxation data in an unbiased way. Our ‘discrete QLV’ (DQLV) approach identifies ranges of time constants over which the Fung QLV model's typical box spectrum provides an accurate representation of a particular material's temporal relaxation spectrum, and is effective at providing a fit to this model. The DQLV spectrum also reveals when other forms or discrete time constants are more suitable than a box spectrum. After validating the approach against idealized and noisy data, we applied the methods to analyse medial collateral ligament stress–relaxation data and identify the strengths and weaknesses of an optimal Fung QLV fit. PMID:26609064

Accuracy and Coverage of Diagnosis and Procedural Coding of Severely Injured Patients in the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register: Comparison to Patient Files and the Helsinki Trauma Registry.

PubMed

Heinänen, M; Brinck, T; Handolin, L; Mattila, V M; Söderlund, T

2017-09-01

The Finnish Hospital Discharge Register data are frequently used for research purposes. The Finnish Hospital Discharge Register has shown excellent validity in single injuries or disease groups, but no studies have assessed patients with multiple trauma diagnoses. We aimed to evaluate the accuracy and coverage of the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register but at the same time validate the data of the trauma registry of the Helsinki University Hospital's Trauma Unit. We assessed the accuracy and coverage of the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register data by comparing them to the original patient files and trauma registry files from the trauma registry of the Helsinki University Hospital's Trauma Unit. We identified a baseline cohort of patients with severe thorax injury from the trauma registry of the Helsinki University Hospital's Trauma Unit of 2013 (sample of 107 patients). We hypothesized that the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register would lack valuable information about these patients. Using patient files, we identified 965 trauma diagnoses in these 107 patients. From the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register, we identified 632 (65.5%) diagnoses and from the trauma registry of the Helsinki University Hospital's Trauma Unit, 924 (95.8%) diagnoses. A total of 170 (17.6%) trauma diagnoses were missing from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register data and 41 (4.2%) from the trauma registry of the Helsinki University Hospital's Trauma Unit data. The coverage and accuracy of diagnoses in the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register were 65.5% (95% confidence interval: 62.5%-68.5%) and 73.8% (95% confidence interval: 70.4%-77.2%), respectively, and for the trauma registry of the Helsinki University Hospital's Trauma Unit, 95.8% (95% confidence interval: 94.5%-97.0%) and 97.6% (95% confidence interval: 96.7%-98.6%), respectively. According to patient records, these patients were subjects in 249 operations. We identified 40 (16.1%) missing operation codes from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register and 19 (7.6%) from the trauma registry of the Helsinki University Hospital's Trauma Unit. The validity of the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register data is unsatisfactory in terms of the accuracy and coverage of diagnoses in patients with multiple trauma diagnoses. Procedural codes provide greater accuracy. We found the coverage and accuracy of the trauma registry of the Helsinki University Hospital's Trauma Unit to be excellent. Therefore, a special trauma registry, such as the trauma registry of the Helsinki University Hospital's Trauma Unit, provides much more accurate data and should be the preferred registry when extracting data for research or for administrative use, such as resource prioritizing.

Fractional nonablative laser resurfacing: is there a skin tightening effect?

PubMed

Kauvar, Arielle N B

2014-12-01

Fractional photothermolysis, an approach to laser skin resurfacing that creates microscopic thermal wounds in skin separated by islands of spared tissue, was developed to overcome the high incidence of adverse events and prolonged healing times associated with full coverage ablative laser procedures. To examine whether fractional nonablative laser resurfacing induces skin tightening. A literature review was performed to evaluate the clinical and histologic effects of fractional nonablative laser resurfacing and full coverage ablative resurfacing procedures. Fractional nonablative lasers produce excellent outcomes with minimal risk and morbidity for a variety of clinical conditions, including photodamaged skin, atrophic scars, surgical and burn scars. Efforts to induce robust fibroplasia in histologic specimens and skin tightening in the clinical setting have yielded inconsistent results. A better understanding of the histology of fractional laser resurfacing will help to optimize clinical outcomes.

Changing stand structure and regional growth reductions in Georgia's natural pine stands: discussion paper response

Treesearch

W.A. Bechtold; G.A. Ruark; F.T. Lloyd

1991-01-01

This paper was submitted for discussion in the expectation that the discussion format would allow maximum coverage of the many issues associated with the valuation of temporal growth patterns over extensive geographic areas. To this end, the input from the discussants and numerous other reviewers has been extremely valuable, and we are sincerely grateful for their many...

Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy - An overview of surgical techniques.

PubMed

Muzumdar, Dattatraya; Patil, Manoj; Goel, Atul; Ravat, Sangeeta; Sawant, Nina; Shah, Urvashi

2016-12-01

Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy is one of the commonest indications for epilepsy surgery. Presurgical evaluation for drug resistant epilepsy and identification of appropriate candidates for surgery is essential for optimal seizure freedom. The anatomy of mesial temporal lobe is complex and needs to be understood in the context of the advanced imaging, ictal and interictal Video_EEG monitoring, neuropsychology and psychiatric considerations. The completeness of disconnection of epileptogenic neural networks is paramount and is correlated with the extent of resection of the mesial temporal structures. In the Indian subcontinent, a standard but extended anterior temporal lobectomy is a viable option in view of the diverse socioeconomic, cultural and pathological considerations. The maximum utilization of epilepsy surgery services in this region is also a challenge. There is a need for regional comprehensive epilepsy care teams in a tertiary care academic hospital to form centers of excellence catering to a large population. Copyright © 2016 IJS Publishing Group Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Usability and Interoperability Improvements for an EASE-Grid 2.0 Passive Microwave Data Product Using CF Conventions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardman, M.; Brodzik, M. J.; Long, D. G.

2017-12-01

Beginning in 1978, the satellite passive microwave data record has been a mainstay of remote sensing of the cryosphere, providing twice-daily, near-global spatial coverage for monitoring changes in hydrologic and cryospheric parameters that include precipitation, soil moisture, surface water, vegetation, snow water equivalent, sea ice concentration and sea ice motion. Historical versions of the gridded passive microwave data sets were produced as flat binary files described in human-readable documentation. This format is error-prone and makes it difficult to reliably include all processing and provenance. Funded by NASA MEaSUREs, we have completely reprocessed the gridded data record that includes SMMR, SSM/I-SSMIS and AMSR-E. The new Calibrated Enhanced-Resolution Brightness Temperature (CETB) Earth System Data Record (ESDR) files are self-describing. Our approach to the new data set was to create netCDF4 files that use standard metadata conventions and best practices to incorporate file-level, machine- and human-readable contents, geolocation, processing and provenance metadata. We followed the flexible and adaptable Climate and Forecast (CF-1.6) Conventions with respect to their coordinate conventions and map projection parameters. Additionally, we made use of Attribute Conventions for Dataset Discovery (ACDD-1.3) that provided file-level conventions with spatio-temporal bounds that enable indexing software to search for coverage. Our CETB files also include temporal coverage and spatial resolution in the file-level metadata for human-readability. We made use of the JPL CF/ACDD Compliance Checker to guide this work. We tested our file format with real software, for example, netCDF Command-line Operators (NCO) power tools for unlimited control on spatio-temporal subsetting and concatenation of files. The GDAL tools understand the CF metadata and produce fully-compliant geotiff files from our data. ArcMap can then reproject the geotiff files on-the-fly and work with other geolocated data such as coastlines, with no special work required. We expect this combination of standards and well-tested interoperability to significantly improve the usability of this important ESDR for the Earth Science community.

Bayesian Modeling of Temporal Coherence in Videos for Entity Discovery and Summarization.

PubMed

Mitra, Adway; Biswas, Soma; Bhattacharyya, Chiranjib

2017-03-01

A video is understood by users in terms of entities present in it. Entity Discovery is the task of building appearance model for each entity (e.g., a person), and finding all its occurrences in the video. We represent a video as a sequence of tracklets, each spanning 10-20 frames, and associated with one entity. We pose Entity Discovery as tracklet clustering, and approach it by leveraging Temporal Coherence (TC): the property that temporally neighboring tracklets are likely to be associated with the same entity. Our major contributions are the first Bayesian nonparametric models for TC at tracklet-level. We extend Chinese Restaurant Process (CRP) to TC-CRP, and further to Temporally Coherent Chinese Restaurant Franchise (TC-CRF) to jointly model entities and temporal segments using mixture components and sparse distributions. For discovering persons in TV serial videos without meta-data like scripts, these methods show considerable improvement over state-of-the-art approaches to tracklet clustering in terms of clustering accuracy, cluster purity and entity coverage. The proposed methods can perform online tracklet clustering on streaming videos unlike existing approaches, and can automatically reject false tracklets. Finally we discuss entity-driven video summarization- where temporal segments of the video are selected based on the discovered entities, to create a semantically meaningful summary.

Temporal complexity in emission from Anderson localized lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Randhir; Balasubrahmaniyam, M.; Alee, K. Shadak; Mujumdar, Sushil

2017-12-01

Anderson localization lasers exploit resonant cavities formed due to structural disorder. The inherent randomness in the structure of these cavities realizes a probability distribution in all cavity parameters such as quality factors, mode volumes, mode structures, and so on, implying resultant statistical fluctuations in the temporal behavior. Here we provide direct experimental measurements of temporal width distributions of Anderson localization lasing pulses in intrinsically and extrinsically disordered coupled-microresonator arrays. We first illustrate signature exponential decays in the spatial intensity distributions of the lasing modes that quantify their localized character, and then measure the temporal width distributions of the pulsed emission over several configurations. We observe a dependence of temporal widths on the disorder strength, wherein the widths show a single-peaked, left-skewed distribution in extrinsic disorder and a dual-peaked distribution in intrinsic disorder. We propose a model based on coupled rate equations for an emitter and an Anderson cavity with a random mode structure, which gives excellent quantitative and qualitative agreement with the experimental observations. The experimental and theoretical analyses bring to the fore the temporal complexity in Anderson-localization-based lasing systems.

Temporal Topic Modeling to Assess Associations between News Trends and Infectious Disease Outbreaks.

PubMed

Ghosh, Saurav; Chakraborty, Prithwish; Nsoesie, Elaine O; Cohn, Emily; Mekaru, Sumiko R; Brownstein, John S; Ramakrishnan, Naren

2017-01-19

In retrospective assessments, internet news reports have been shown to capture early reports of unknown infectious disease transmission prior to official laboratory confirmation. In general, media interest and reporting peaks and wanes during the course of an outbreak. In this study, we quantify the extent to which media interest during infectious disease outbreaks is indicative of trends of reported incidence. We introduce an approach that uses supervised temporal topic models to transform large corpora of news articles into temporal topic trends. The key advantages of this approach include: applicability to a wide range of diseases and ability to capture disease dynamics, including seasonality, abrupt peaks and troughs. We evaluated the method using data from multiple infectious disease outbreaks reported in the United States of America (U.S.), China, and India. We demonstrate that temporal topic trends extracted from disease-related news reports successfully capture the dynamics of multiple outbreaks such as whooping cough in U.S. (2012), dengue outbreaks in India (2013) and China (2014). Our observations also suggest that, when news coverage is uniform, efficient modeling of temporal topic trends using time-series regression techniques can estimate disease case counts with increased precision before official reports by health organizations.

Temporal Topic Modeling to Assess Associations between News Trends and Infectious Disease Outbreaks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, Saurav; Chakraborty, Prithwish; Nsoesie, Elaine O.; Cohn, Emily; Mekaru, Sumiko R.; Brownstein, John S.; Ramakrishnan, Naren

2017-01-01

In retrospective assessments, internet news reports have been shown to capture early reports of unknown infectious disease transmission prior to official laboratory confirmation. In general, media interest and reporting peaks and wanes during the course of an outbreak. In this study, we quantify the extent to which media interest during infectious disease outbreaks is indicative of trends of reported incidence. We introduce an approach that uses supervised temporal topic models to transform large corpora of news articles into temporal topic trends. The key advantages of this approach include: applicability to a wide range of diseases and ability to capture disease dynamics, including seasonality, abrupt peaks and troughs. We evaluated the method using data from multiple infectious disease outbreaks reported in the United States of America (U.S.), China, and India. We demonstrate that temporal topic trends extracted from disease-related news reports successfully capture the dynamics of multiple outbreaks such as whooping cough in U.S. (2012), dengue outbreaks in India (2013) and China (2014). Our observations also suggest that, when news coverage is uniform, efficient modeling of temporal topic trends using time-series regression techniques can estimate disease case counts with increased precision before official reports by health organizations.

Temporal Topic Modeling to Assess Associations between News Trends and Infectious Disease Outbreaks

PubMed Central

Ghosh, Saurav; Chakraborty, Prithwish; Nsoesie, Elaine O.; Cohn, Emily; Mekaru, Sumiko R.; Brownstein, John S.; Ramakrishnan, Naren

2017-01-01

In retrospective assessments, internet news reports have been shown to capture early reports of unknown infectious disease transmission prior to official laboratory confirmation. In general, media interest and reporting peaks and wanes during the course of an outbreak. In this study, we quantify the extent to which media interest during infectious disease outbreaks is indicative of trends of reported incidence. We introduce an approach that uses supervised temporal topic models to transform large corpora of news articles into temporal topic trends. The key advantages of this approach include: applicability to a wide range of diseases and ability to capture disease dynamics, including seasonality, abrupt peaks and troughs. We evaluated the method using data from multiple infectious disease outbreaks reported in the United States of America (U.S.), China, and India. We demonstrate that temporal topic trends extracted from disease-related news reports successfully capture the dynamics of multiple outbreaks such as whooping cough in U.S. (2012), dengue outbreaks in India (2013) and China (2014). Our observations also suggest that, when news coverage is uniform, efficient modeling of temporal topic trends using time-series regression techniques can estimate disease case counts with increased precision before official reports by health organizations. PMID:28102319

Diurnal Cycles of High Resolution Land Surface Temperatures (LSTs) Determined from UAV Platforms Across a Range of Surface Types

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCabe, M.; Rosas Aguilar, J.; Parkes, S. D.; Aragon, B.

2017-12-01

Observation of land surface temperature (LST) has many practical uses, from studying boundary layer dynamics and land-atmosphere coupling, to investigating surface properties such as soil moisture status, heat stress and surface heat fluxes. Typically, LST is observed via satellite based sensors such as LandSat or via point measurements using IR radiometers. These measurements provide either good spatial coverage and resolution or good temporal coverage. However, neither are able to provide the needed spatial and temporal resolution for many of the research applications described above. Technological developments in the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), together with small thermal frame cameras, has enabled a capacity to overcome this spatiotemporal constraint. Utilising UAV platforms to collect LST measurements across diurnal cycles provides an opportunity to study how meteorological and surface properties vary in both space and time. Here we describe the collection of LST data from a multi-rotor UAV across a study domain that is observed multiple times throughout the day. Flights over crops of Rhodes grass and alfalfa, along with a bare desert surface, were repeated with between 8 and 11 surveys covering the period from early morning to sunset. Analysis of the collected thermal imagery shows that the constructed LST maps illustrate a strong diurnal cycle consistent with expected trends, but with considerable spatial and temporal variability observed within and between the different domains. These results offer new insights into the dynamics of land surface behavior in both dry and wet soil conditions and at spatiotemporal scales that are unable to be replicated using traditional satellite platforms.

CERES BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data in HDF (CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

Each BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data product contains twenty-four hours of Level-1b data for each CERES scanner instrument mounted on each spacecraft. The BDS includes samples taken in normal and short Earth scan elevation profiles in both fixed and rotating azimuth scan modes (including space, internal calibration, and solar calibration views). The BDS contains Level-0 raw (unconverted) science and instrument data as well as the geolocated converted science and instrument data. The BDS contains additional data not found in the Level-0 input file, including converted satellite position and velocity data, celestial data, converted digital status data, and parameters used in the radiance count conversion equations. The following CERES BDS data sets are currently available: CER_BDS_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2005-11-02] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

CERES BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data in HDF (CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

Each BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data product contains twenty-four hours of Level-1b data for each CERES scanner instrument mounted on each spacecraft. The BDS includes samples taken in normal and short Earth scan elevation profiles in both fixed and rotating azimuth scan modes (including space, internal calibration, and solar calibration views). The BDS contains Level-0 raw (unconverted) science and instrument data as well as the geolocated converted science and instrument data. The BDS contains additional data not found in the Level-0 input file, including converted satellite position and velocity data, celestial data, converted digital status data, and parameters used in the radiance count conversion equations. The following CERES BDS data sets are currently available: CER_BDS_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2005-04-02] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

CERES BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data in HDF (CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

Each BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data product contains twenty-four hours of Level-1b data for each CERES scanner instrument mounted on each spacecraft. The BDS includes samples taken in normal and short Earth scan elevation profiles in both fixed and rotating azimuth scan modes (including space, internal calibration, and solar calibration views). The BDS contains Level-0 raw (unconverted) science and instrument data as well as the geolocated converted science and instrument data. The BDS contains additional data not found in the Level-0 input file, including converted satellite position and velocity data, celestial data, converted digital status data, and parameters used in the radiance count conversion equations. The following CERES BDS data sets are currently available: CER_BDS_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2006-11-02] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

CERES BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data in HDF (CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

Each BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data product contains twenty-four hours of Level-1b data for each CERES scanner instrument mounted on each spacecraft. The BDS includes samples taken in normal and short Earth scan elevation profiles in both fixed and rotating azimuth scan modes (including space, internal calibration, and solar calibration views). The BDS contains Level-0 raw (unconverted) science and instrument data as well as the geolocated converted science and instrument data. The BDS contains additional data not found in the Level-0 input file, including converted satellite position and velocity data, celestial data, converted digital status data, and parameters used in the radiance count conversion equations. The following CERES BDS data sets are currently available: CER_BDS_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2006-01-01] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

CERES BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data in HDF (CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

Each BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data product contains twenty-four hours of Level-1b data for each CERES scanner instrument mounted on each spacecraft. The BDS includes samples taken in normal and short Earth scan elevation profiles in both fixed and rotating azimuth scan modes (including space, internal calibration, and solar calibration views). The BDS contains Level-0 raw (unconverted) science and instrument data as well as the geolocated converted science and instrument data. The BDS contains additional data not found in the Level-0 input file, including converted satellite position and velocity data, celestial data, converted digital status data, and parameters used in the radiance count conversion equations. The following CERES BDS data sets are currently available: CER_BDS_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2005-11-02] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

CERES BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data in HDF (CER_BDS_TRMM-PFM_Edition1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

Each BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data product contains twenty-four hours of Level-1b data for each CERES scanner instrument mounted on each spacecraft. The BDS includes samples taken in normal and short Earth scan elevation profiles in both fixed and rotating azimuth scan modes (including space, internal calibration, and solar calibration views). The BDS contains Level-0 raw (unconverted) science and instrument data as well as the geolocated converted science and instrument data. The BDS contains additional data not found in the Level-0 input file, including converted satellite position and velocity data, celestial data, converted digital status data, and parameters used in the radiance count conversion equations. The following CERES BDS data sets are currently available: CER_BDS_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2000-12-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

CERES BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data in HDF (CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

Each BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data product contains twenty-four hours of Level-1b data for each CERES scanner instrument mounted on each spacecraft. The BDS includes samples taken in normal and short Earth scan elevation profiles in both fixed and rotating azimuth scan modes (including space, internal calibration, and solar calibration views). The BDS contains Level-0 raw (unconverted) science and instrument data as well as the geolocated converted science and instrument data. The BDS contains additional data not found in the Level-0 input file, including converted satellite position and velocity data, celestial data, converted digital status data, and parameters used in the radiance count conversion equations. The following CERES BDS data sets are currently available: CER_BDS_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2005-03-29] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

CERES BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data in HDF (CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

Each BiDirectional Scans (BDS) data product contains twenty-four hours of Level-1b data for each CERES scanner instrument mounted on each spacecraft. The BDS includes samples taken in normal and short Earth scan elevation profiles in both fixed and rotating azimuth scan modes (including space, internal calibration, and solar calibration views). The BDS contains Level-0 raw (unconverted) science and instrument data as well as the geolocated converted science and instrument data. The BDS contains additional data not found in the Level-0 input file, including converted satellite position and velocity data, celestial data, converted digital status data, and parameters used in the radiance count conversion equations. The following CERES BDS data sets are currently available: CER_BDS_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_BDS_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_BDS_Terra-FM2_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2006-01-01] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

Simulation of spatially evolving turbulence and the applicability of Taylor's hypothesis in compressible flow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Sangsan; Lele, Sanjiva K.; Moin, Parviz

1992-01-01

For the numerical simulation of inhomogeneous turbulent flows, a method is developed for generating stochastic inflow boundary conditions with a prescribed power spectrum. Turbulence statistics from spatial simulations using this method with a low fluctuation Mach number are in excellent agreement with the experimental data, which validates the procedure. Turbulence statistics from spatial simulations are also compared to those from temporal simulations using Taylor's hypothesis. Statistics such as turbulence intensity, vorticity, and velocity derivative skewness compare favorably with the temporal simulation. However, the statistics of dilatation show a significant departure from those obtained in the temporal simulation. To directly check the applicability of Taylor's hypothesis, space-time correlations of fluctuations in velocity, vorticity, and dilatation are investigated. Convection velocities based on vorticity and velocity fluctuations are computed as functions of the spatial and temporal separations. The profile of the space-time correlation of dilatation fluctuations is explained via a wave propagation model.

Clearing up the hazy road from bench to bedside: a framework for integrating the fourth hurdle into translational medicine.

PubMed

Rogowski, Wolf H; Hartz, Susanne C; John, Jürgen H

2008-09-24

New products evolving from research and development can only be translated to medical practice on a large scale if they are reimbursed by third-party payers. Yet the decision processes regarding reimbursement are highly complex and internationally heterogeneous. This study develops a process-oriented framework for monitoring these so-called fourth hurdle procedures in the context of product development from bench to bedside. The framework is suitable both for new drugs and other medical technologies. The study is based on expert interviews and literature searches, as well as an analysis of 47 websites of coverage decision-makers in England, Germany and the USA. Eight key steps for monitoring fourth hurdle procedures from a company perspective were determined: entering the scope of a healthcare payer; trigger of decision process; assessment; appraisal; setting level of reimbursement; establishing rules for service provision; formal and informal participation; and publication of the decision and supplementary information. Details are given for the English National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the German Federal Joint Committee, Medicare's National and Local Coverage Determinations, and for Blue Cross Blue Shield companies. Coverage determination decisions for new procedures tend to be less formalized than for novel drugs. The analysis of coverage procedures and requirements shows that the proof of patient benefit is essential. Cost-effectiveness is likely to gain importance in future.

Multi-scale Observations of High-Energy Electron Precipitation in the Nightside Transition Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weatherwax, A. T.; Donovan, E.

2012-12-01

In recent years, the riometer has experienced a renaissance as an important tool for tracking the spatio-temporal evolution of high-energy magnetospheric electron (e-) populations. Networks of single beam riometers give a sparsely sampled picture of the global evolution of magnetospheric high energy e- population; existing imaging riometers resolve smaller-scale processes, but because they are isolated from one another, that resolution cannot be applied to the ionospheric signature of mesoscale magnetospheric processes. With funding from an NSF MRI, we are developing an innovative new facility where, for the first time, absorption related to high energy precipitation will be imaged across a large enough region to allow for tracking the effects of mesoscale magnetospheric processes (such as the dispersionless injection, patchy pulsating aurora, and ULF waves) with high enough space and time resolution to address key unresolved geospace questions. We will deploy in central Canada, taking advantage of excellent coverage of our target region by existing and potential future complimentary networks. The figure shows present coverage spanning auroral latitudes in North American by ASIs (including THEMIS-ASI), the mid-latitude SuperDARN HF radars, Meridian Scanning Photometers (MSPs), and magnetometers. The ASI, SuperDARN, and magnetometer networks will provide significantly more extensive coverage than our target region, thus proving information about (lower energy) auroral precipitation, large-scale magnetospheric convection (as impressed on the ionosphere), and ionospheric currents around and within our target region. For the first time, we will simultaneously observe the coupled convection, auroral, and high-energy electron precipitation in this key geospace region. These observations will be important for RBSP, CEDAR, and GEM science.; Figure: Left: Target region for the new imaging riometer array, and FoVs of THEMIS-ASIs and Canadian Multi-Spectral ASIs. Middle: Scan planes (at 110 km) of the five Canadian MSPs, beam directions of relevant mid-latitude SuperDARN HF radars, and the locations of fluxgate magnetometers and single-beam riometers that are currently operating in and around our target region. Right: FoVs of our proposed imaging riometer network (absorption at 95 km imaged to 20° above the horizon) and StormDARN beams (Christmas Valley, Fort Hayes, and Blackstone) plotted over a THEMIS ASI mosaic. The mosaic was created using simultaneous images from five ASIs (sites at top of figure) obtained during the main phase of a small (~ 40 nT DsT) storm. Also shown are typical Radiation Belt Storm Probe (RBSP) magnetic footpoint track, with the thick blue curve indicating the four hours around apogee..

First-pass myocardial perfusion imaging with whole-heart coverage using L1-SPIRiT accelerated variable density spiral trajectories

PubMed Central

Yang, Yang; Kramer, Christopher M.; Shaw, Peter W.; Meyer, Craig H.; Salerno, Michael

2015-01-01

Purpose To design and evaluate 2D L1-SPIRiT accelerated spiral pulse sequences for first-pass myocardial perfusion imaging with whole heart coverage capable of measuring 8 slices at 2 mm in-plane resolution at heart rates up to 125 beats per minute (BPM). Methods Combinations of 5 different spiral trajectories and 4 k-t sampling patterns were retrospectively simulated in 25 fully sampled datasets and reconstructed with L1-SPIRiT to determine the best combination of parameters. Two candidate sequences were prospectively evaluated in 34 human subjects to assess in-vivo performance. Results A dual density broad transition spiral trajectory with either angularly uniform or golden angle in time k-t sampling pattern had the largest structural similarity (SSIM) and smallest root mean square error (RMSE) from the retrospective simulation, and the L1-SPIRiT reconstruction had well-preserved temporal dynamics. In vivo data demonstrated that both of the sampling patterns could produce high quality perfusion images with whole-heart coverage. Conclusion First-pass myocardial perfusion imaging using accelerated spirals with optimized trajectory and k-t sampling pattern can produce high quality 2D-perfusion images with wholeheart coverage at the heart rates up to 125 BPM. PMID:26538511

The role of media and the Internet on vaccine adverse event reporting: a case study of human papillomavirus vaccination.

PubMed

Eberth, Jan M; Kline, Kimberly N; Moskowitz, David A; Montealegre, Jane R; Scheurer, Michael E

2014-03-01

This study aimed to determine the temporal association of print media coverage and Internet search activity with adverse events reports associated with the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil (HPV4) and the meningitis vaccine Menactra (MNQ) among United States adolescents. We used moderated linear regression to test the relationships between print media reports in top circulating newspapers, Internet search activity, and reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) for HPV4 and MNQ during the first 2.5 years after Food and Drug Administration approval. Compared with MNQ, HPV4 had more coverage in the print media and Internet search activity, which corresponded with the frequency of VAERS reports. In February 2007, we observed a spike in print media for HPV4. Although media coverage waned, Internet search activity remained stable and predicted the rise in HPV4-associated VAERS reports. We demonstrate that media coverage and Internet search activity, in particular, may promote increased adverse event reporting. Public health officials who have long recognized the importance of proactive engagement with news media must now consider strategies for meaningful participation in Internet discussions. Copyright © 2014 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A closer look at temperature changes with remote sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metz, Markus; Rocchini, Duccio; Neteler, Markus

2014-05-01

Temperature is a main driver for important ecological processes. Time series temperature data provide key environmental indicators for various applications and research fields. High spatial and temporal resolution is crucial in order to perform detailed analyses in various fields of research. While meteorological station data are commonly used, they often lack completeness or are not distributed in a representative way. Remotely sensed thermal images from polar orbiting satellites are considered to be a good alternative to the scarce meteorological data as they offer almost continuous coverage of the Earth with very high temporal resolution. A drawback of temperature data obtained by satellites is the occurrence of gaps (due to clouds, aerosols) that must be filled. We have reconstructed a seamless and gap-free time series for land surface temperature (LST) at continental scale for Europe from MODIS LST products (Moderate Resolution Imaging Sensor instruments onboard the Terra and Aqua satellites), keeping the temporal resolution of four records per day and enhancing the spatial resolution from 1 km to 250 m. Here we present a new procedure to reconstruct MODIS LST time series with unprecedented detail in space and time, at the same time providing continental coverage. Our method constitutes a unique new combination of weighted temporal averaging with statistical modeling and spatial interpolation. We selected as auxiliary variables datasets which are globally available in order to propose a worldwide reproducible method. Compared to existing similar datasets, the substantial quantitative difference translates to a qualitative difference in applications and results. We consider both our dataset and the new procedure for its creation to be of utmost interest to a broad interdisciplinary audience. Moreover, we provide examples for its implications and applications, such as disease risk assessment, epidemiology, environmental monitoring, and temperature anomalies. In the near future, aggregated derivatives of our dataset (following the BIOCLIM variable scheme) will be freely made online available for direct usage in GIS based applications.

Ocean surface partitioning strategies using ocean colour remote Sensing: A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krug, Lilian Anne; Platt, Trevor; Sathyendranath, Shubha; Barbosa, Ana B.

2017-06-01

The ocean surface is organized into regions with distinct properties reflecting the complexity of interactions between environmental forcing and biological responses. The delineation of these functional units, each with unique, homogeneous properties and underlying ecosystem structure and dynamics, can be defined as ocean surface partitioning. The main purposes and applications of ocean partitioning include the evaluation of particular marine environments; generation of more accurate satellite ocean colour products; assimilation of data into biogeochemical and climate models; and establishment of ecosystem-based management practices. This paper reviews the diverse approaches implemented for ocean surface partition into functional units, using ocean colour remote sensing (OCRS) data, including their purposes, criteria, methods and scales. OCRS offers a synoptic, high spatial-temporal resolution, multi-decadal coverage of bio-optical properties, relevant to the applications and value of ocean surface partitioning. In combination with other biotic and/or abiotic data, OCRS-derived data (e.g., chlorophyll-a, optical properties) provide a broad and varied source of information that can be analysed using different delineation methods derived from subjective, expert-based to unsupervised learning approaches (e.g., cluster, fuzzy and empirical orthogonal function analyses). Partition schemes are applied at global to mesoscale spatial coverage, with static (time-invariant) or dynamic (time-varying) representations. A case study, the highly heterogeneous area off SW Iberian Peninsula (NE Atlantic), illustrates how the selection of spatial coverage and temporal representation affects the discrimination of distinct environmental drivers of phytoplankton variability. Advances in operational oceanography and in the subject area of satellite ocean colour, including development of new sensors, algorithms and products, are among the potential benefits from extended use, scope and applications of ocean surface partitioning using OCRS.

The Sensitivity to Trans-Neptunian Dwarf Planets of the Siding Spring Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bannister, Michele; Brown, M. E.; Schmidt, B. P.; Francis, P.; McNaught, R.; Garrad, G.; Larson, S.; Beshore, E.

2012-10-01

The last decade has seen considerable effort in assessing the populations of icy worlds in the outer Solar System, with major surveys in the Northern and more recently, in the Southern Hemisphere skies. Our archival search of more than ten thousand square degrees of sky south of the ecliptic observed over five years is a bright-object survey, sensitive to dwarf-planet sized trans-Neptunian objects. Our innovative survey analyses observations of the Siding Spring Survey, an ongoing survey for near-Earth asteroids at the 0.5 m Uppsala telescope at Siding Spring Observatory. This survey observed each of 2300 4.55 square degree fields on between 30 and 90 of the nights from early 2004 to late 2009, creating a dataset with dense temporal coverage, which we reprocessed for TNOs with a dedicated pipeline. We assess our survey's sensitivity to trans-Neptunian objects by simulating the observation of the synthetic outer Solar System populations of Grav et al. (2011): Centaurs, Kuiper belt and scattered disk. As our fields span approx. -15 to -70 declination, avoiding the galactic plane by 10 degrees either side, we are particularly sensitive to dwarf planets in high-inclination orbits. Partly due to this coverage far from the ecliptic, all known dwarf planets, including Pluto, do fall outside our survey coverage in its temporal span. We apply the widest plausible range of absolute magnitudes to each observable synthetic object, measuring each subsequent apparent magnitude against the magnitude depth of the survey observations. We evaluate our survey's null detection of new dwarf planets in light of our detection efficiencies as a function of trans-Neptunian orbital parameter space. MTB appreciates the funding support of the Joan Duffield Postgraduate Scholarship, an Australian Postgraduate Award, and the Astronomical Society of Australia.

Exploring space-time structure of human mobility in urban space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, J. B.; Yuan, J.; Wang, Y.; Si, H. B.; Shan, X. M.

2011-03-01

Understanding of human mobility in urban space benefits the planning and provision of municipal facilities and services. Due to the high penetration of cell phones, mobile cellular networks provide information for urban dynamics with a large spatial extent and continuous temporal coverage in comparison with traditional approaches. The original data investigated in this paper were collected by cellular networks in a southern city of China, recording the population distribution by dividing the city into thousands of pixels. The space-time structure of urban dynamics is explored by applying Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to the original data, from temporal and spatial perspectives between which there is a dual relation. Based on the results of the analysis, we have discovered four underlying rules of urban dynamics: low intrinsic dimensionality, three categories of common patterns, dominance of periodic trends, and temporal stability. It implies that the space-time structure can be captured well by remarkably few temporal or spatial predictable periodic patterns, and the structure unearthed by PCA evolves stably over time. All these features play a critical role in the applications of forecasting and anomaly detection.

1988 Wet deposition temporal and spatial patterns in North America

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

Simpson, J.C.; Olsen, A.R.; Bittner, E.A.

1992-03-01

The focus of this report is on North American wet deposition temporal patterns from 1979 to 1988 and spatial patterns for 1988. It is the third in a series of reports that investigate the patterns of annual precipitation-weighted average concentration and annual deposition for nine ion species: hydrogen, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, calcium, chloride, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Mosaic maps, based on surface estimation using kriging, display concentration and deposition spatial patterns of pH, hydrogen, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and calcium ion species for 1988 annual, winter, and summer periods. Temporal pattern analyses use a subset of 35 sites over a 10-yearmore » (1979--1988) period and an expanded subset of 137 sites, with greater spatial coverage, over a 7-year (1982--1988) period. The 10-year period represents the longest period with wet deposition monitoring data available that has a sufficient number of sites with data of known quality to allow a descriptive summary of annual temporal patterns. Sen's median trend estimate and Kendall's seasonal tau (KST) test are calculated for each ion species concentration and deposition at each site in both subsets.« less

Trends in measurement of solar vector magnetic fields using the Zeeman effect

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harvey, J. W.

1985-01-01

Trends in spectropolarimetry as applied to the problem of Zeeman effect measurement are discussed. The use of detector arrays to improve observing efficiency is obtained. Which required new polarization modulation schemes that match the time required to read detector arrays. Another significant trend is narrowband filters, to improve angular and temporal coverage, and to Fourier transform spectrometers, to improve spectral coverage and precision. Low-polarization designs and improved methods for compensating instrumental polarization were developed. A requirement for high angular resolution suggests using adaptive optical devices to subdue the effects of bad seeing. The ultimate strategy to beat the seeing is to loft the telescope above the atmosphere such as is planned with a 30-cm telescope in 1985 and a 1250-cm telescope in 1990.

Temporal Coherence as an Estimate of Decorrelation Time of SAR Interferometric Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foumelis, Michael

2014-05-01

Following a plethora of validations and demonstrations Interferometric SAR (InSAR) has been established as a mature space geodetic technique for providing valuable insights for various phenomena related to geohazards. One of the main advantages of space borne SAR systems with respect to GNSS is the continuous spatial coverage. However, the impact of temporal decorrelation especially in repeat-pass interferometry has been observed during the historical development of InSAR applications. Interferometric coherence is considered as the expression of temporal decorrelation. It is understood that interferometric coherence decreases with time between SAR acquisitions because of changes in surface reflectivity, reducing the accuracy and spatial coverage of SAR phase measurements. This is an intrinsic characteristic of the design of SAR systems that has a significant contribution at longer time scales. Since the majority of geohazards rely on long term observation scenarios, the effect of temporal decorrelation is evident as coherence becomes dominated by temporal changes. Although in the past there was not sufficient amount of SAR data to extract robust statistical metrics, in the present study it is demonstrated that tailored analysis of interferometric coherence by exploiting the large archive of SAR data available by the European Space Agency (ESA), enables the accurate quantification of temporal decorrelation. A methodology to translate the observed rate of coherence loss into decorrelation times over a volcanic landscape is the subject treated in this study. Specifically, a sensitivity analysis based on a large data stack of interferometric pairs in order to quantitatively estimate at a pixel level the time beyond which each interferometric phase becomes practically unusable is presented. The estimation and mapping of the spatial distribution of the temporal decorrelation times in an area without a necessary a priori knowledge of its surface characteristics is a fundamental parameter for the design and establishment of local GNSS networks as well as the definition of optimal monitoring strategy for various geohazards. The dependence of decorrelation on various land cover/use types is also analyzed. The performed analysis is viewed in the framework of future SAR systems, while underlining the necessity for exploitation of archive data. Though the dependence of decorrelation on various land cover/use types is already documented the provision of additional information regarding the expected time of decorrelation is of practical use especially when EO data are utilized in operational activities. Finally, the impact of the revisit time and increased performance of upcoming SAR missions is discussed.

[Responses of plant community structure and species composition to warming and N addition in an alpine meadow, northern Tibetan Plateau, China].

PubMed

Zong, Ning; Chai, Xi; Shi, Pei Li; Jiang, Jing; Niu, Ben; Zhang, Xian Zhou; He, Yong Tao

2016-12-01

Global climate warming and increasing nitrogen (N) deposition, as controversial global environmental issues, may distinctly affect the functions and processes of terrestrial ecosystems. It has been reported that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has been experiencing significant warming in recent decades, especially in winter. Previous studies have mainly focused on the effects of warming all the year round; however, few studies have tested the effects of winter warming. To investigate the effects of winter warming and N addition on plant community structure and species composition of alpine meadow, long-term N addition and simulated warming experiment was conducted in alpine meadow from 2010 in Damxung, northern Tibet. The experiment consisted of three warming patterns: Year-round warming (YW), winter warming (WW) and control (NW), crossed respectively with five N gradients: 0, 10, 20, 40, 80 kg N·hm -2 ·a -1 . From 2012 to 2014, both warming and N addition significantly affected the total coverage of plant community. Specifically, YW significantly decreased the total coverage of plant community. Without N addition, WW remarkably reduced the vegetation coverage. However, with N addition, the total vegetation coverage gradually increased with the increase of N level. Warming and N addition had different effects on plants from different functional groups. Warming significantly reduced the plant coverage of grasses and sedges, while N addition significantly enhanced the plant coverage of grasses. Regression analyses showed that the total coverage of plant community was positively related to soil water content in vigorous growth stages, indicating that the decrease in soil water content resulted from warming during dry seasons might be the main reason for the decline of total community coverage. As soil moisture in semi-arid alpine meadow is mainly regulated by rainfalls, our results indicated that changes in spatial and temporal patterns of rainfalls under the future climate change scenarios would dramatically influence the vegetation coverage and species composition. Additionally, the effects of increasing atmospheric N deposition on vegetation community might also depend on the change of rainfall patterns.

Simulating the Agulhas system in global ocean models - nesting vs. multi-resolution unstructured meshes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biastoch, Arne; Sein, Dmitry; Durgadoo, Jonathan V.; Wang, Qiang; Danilov, Sergey

2018-01-01

Many questions in ocean and climate modelling require the combined use of high resolution, global coverage and multi-decadal integration length. For this combination, even modern resources limit the use of traditional structured-mesh grids. Here we compare two approaches: A high-resolution grid nested into a global model at coarser resolution (NEMO with AGRIF) and an unstructured-mesh grid (FESOM) which allows to variably enhance resolution where desired. The Agulhas system around South Africa is used as a testcase, providing an energetic interplay of a strong western boundary current and mesoscale dynamics. Its open setting into the horizontal and global overturning circulations also requires global coverage. Both model configurations simulate a reasonable large-scale circulation. Distribution and temporal variability of the wind-driven circulation are quite comparable due to the same atmospheric forcing. However, the overturning circulation differs, owing each model's ability to represent formation and spreading of deep water masses. In terms of regional, high-resolution dynamics, all elements of the Agulhas system are well represented. Owing to the strong nonlinearity in the system, Agulhas Current transports of both configurations and in comparison with observations differ in strength and temporal variability. Similar decadal trends in Agulhas Current transport and Agulhas leakage are linked to the trends in wind forcing.

Tribological Properties of NiAl Matrix Composites Filled with Serpentine Powders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xue, Bing; Jing, Peixing; Ma, Weidong

2017-12-01

The unexplored tribological properties of NiAl matrix composites filled with serpentine powders are investigated using a reciprocating ball-on-disk configuration. Tribological test results reveal that increasing the serpentine concentration to some extent reduces the friction coefficients and wear rates of the composites. The best anti-friction and anti-wear performance is displayed by the NiAl matrix composite filled with 8 wt.% serpentine and 2 wt.% TiC (NAST). Microstructural analyses demonstrate that after adding serpentine, the self-lubricating films with different percentages of coverage form on the worn surfaces of the composites. A self-lubricating film with the highest percentage of coverage smears on the worn surface of NAST. This clearly suggests that serpentine can act as a new type of filler for NiAl matrix composites, whereas a combination of serpentine and TiC can enable serpentine to provide a full play to its excellent lubricating performance.

Treatment of fourth-degree hand burns.

PubMed

Nuchtern, J G; Engrav, L H; Nakamura, D Y; Dutcher, K A; Heimbach, D M; Vedder, N B

1995-01-01

Fourth-degree hand burns are rare but devastating injuries. They cannot be grafted readily but often require flaps and amputation, and impairment is significant. We report our 10-year experience (1981 to 1990) with deep hand burns to characterize our treatment and outcome. A total of 25 patients (35 hands) were treated. Eight local flaps, nine distant flaps, and two free-tissue transfers were performed. Eleven hands were treated with K-wire immobilization and grafting. Thirty-three amputations were done. Postburn function was evaluated in 25 salvaged hands. Eleven hands had good outcomes, whereas seven had moderate sequelae and seven were severely affected. Patients who were treated with flap coverage of exposed tendons and joints had better functional outcomes than those treated with delayed closure with immobilization and grafting. The excellent outcomes in the flap coverage group justifies the added commitment of technical and therapeutic resources that this treatment requires.

Immunization Coverage and Medicaid Managed Care in New Mexico: A Multimethod Assessment

PubMed Central

Schillaci, Michael A.; Waitzkin, Howard; Carson, E. Ann; López, Cynthia M.; Boehm, Deborah A.; López, Leslie A.; Mahoney, Sheila F.

2004-01-01

BACKGROUND We wanted to examine the association between Medicaid managed care (MMC) and changing immunization coverage in New Mexico, a predominantly rural, poor, and multiethnic state. METHODS As part of a multimethod assessment of MMC, we studied trends in quantitative data from the National Immunization Survey (NIS) using temporal plots, Fisher’s exact test, and the Cochran-Armitage trend test. To help explain changes in immunization rates in relation to MMC, we analyzed qualitative data gathered through ethnographic observations at safety net institutions: income support (welfare) offices, community health centers, hospital emergency departments, private physicians’ offices, mental health institutions, managed care organizations, and agencies of state government. RESULTS Immunization coverage decreased significantly after implementation of MMC, from 80% in 1996 to 73% in 2001 for the 4:3:1 vaccination series (Fisher’s exact test, P = .031). New Mexico dropped in rank among states from 30th for this vaccination series in 1996 to 50th in 2001. A significant decreasing trend (Cochran-Armitage P = .025) in coverage occurred between 1996 and 2001. Findings from the ethnographic study revealed conditions that might have contributed to decreased immunization coverage: (1) reduced funding for immunizations at public health clinics, and difficulties in gaining access to MMC providers; (2) informal referrals from managed care organizations and contracting physicians to community health centers and state-run public health clinics; and (3) increased workloads and delays at community health centers, linked partly to these informal referrals for immunizations. CONCLUSIONS Medicaid reform in New Mexico did not improve immunization coverage, which declined significantly to among the lowest in the nation. Reduced funding for public health clinics and informal referrals may have contributed to this decline. These observations show how unanticipated and adverse consequences can result from policy interventions in complex insurance systems. PMID:15053278

Challenges facing the United States of America in implementing universal coverage.

PubMed

Rice, Thomas; Unruh, Lynn Y; Rosenau, Pauline; Barnes, Andrew J; Saltman, Richard B; van Ginneken, Ewout

2014-12-01

In 2010, immediately before the United States of America (USA) implemented key features of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 18% of its residents younger than 65 years lacked health insurance. In the USA, gaps in health coverage and unhealthy lifestyles contribute to outcomes that often compare unfavourably with those observed in other high-income countries. By March 2014, the ACA had substantially changed health coverage in the USA but most of its main features--health insurance exchanges, Medicaid expansion, development of accountable care organizations and further oversight of insurance companies--remain works in progress. The ACA did not introduce the stringent spending controls found in many European health systems. It also explicitly prohibits the creation of institutes--for the assessment of the cost-effectiveness of pharmaceuticals, health services and technologies--comparable to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Haute Autorité de Santé in France or the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee in Australia. The ACA was--and remains--weakened by a lack of cross-party political consensus. The ACA's performance and its resulting acceptability to the general public will be critical to the Act's future.

Automatic correction of echo-planar imaging (EPI) ghosting artifacts in real-time interactive cardiac MRI using sensitivity encoding.

PubMed

Kim, Yoon-Chul; Nielsen, Jon-Fredrik; Nayak, Krishna S

2008-01-01

To develop a method that automatically corrects ghosting artifacts due to echo-misalignment in interleaved gradient-echo echo-planar imaging (EPI) in arbitrary oblique or double-oblique scan planes. An automatic ghosting correction technique was developed based on an alternating EPI acquisition and the phased-array ghost elimination (PAGE) reconstruction method. The direction of k-space traversal is alternated at every temporal frame, enabling lower temporal-resolution ghost-free coil sensitivity maps to be dynamically estimated. The proposed method was compared with conventional one-dimensional (1D) phase correction in axial, oblique, and double-oblique scan planes in phantom and cardiac in vivo studies. The proposed method was also used in conjunction with two-fold acceleration. The proposed method with nonaccelerated acquisition provided excellent suppression of ghosting artifacts in all scan planes, and was substantially more effective than conventional 1D phase correction in oblique and double-oblique scan planes. The feasibility of real-time reconstruction using the proposed technique was demonstrated in a scan protocol with 3.1-mm spatial and 60-msec temporal resolution. The proposed technique with nonaccelerated acquisition provides excellent ghost suppression in arbitrary scan orientations without a calibration scan, and can be useful for real-time interactive imaging, in which scan planes are frequently changed with arbitrary oblique orientations.

Utilization of UARS Data in Validation of Photochemical and Dynamical Mechanism in Stratospheric Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rodriquez, Jose M.; Hu, Wenjie; Ko, Malcolm K. W.

1995-01-01

UARS data sets provide global coverage for the distributions of trace gases, which gives us an excellent chance to utilize the data set for model-data intercomparison studies. In the past three months, we have been working on the comparisons of the UARS data between 1992 (a half year after the Pinatubo eruption) and 1993 (one and a half year after the eruption) in an attempt to see how the Pinatubo volcanic eruption may have impacted stratospheric chemistry.

Overall evaluation of Skylab imagery for mapping of Latin America

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Staples, J. E.; Eoldan, J. J. M.; Fernandez, O. W.; Alves, M.; Mutis, J.; Fletcher, A. G.; Ferrero, M. B.; Morell, J. J. H.; Romero, L. E.; Garcia, J. A. G. (Principal Investigator)

1975-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Skylab imagery is both desired and needed by the Latin American catographic agencies. The imagery is cost beneficial for the production of new mapping and maintenance of existing maps at national topographic series scales. If this information was available on a near time routine coverage basis, it would provide an excellent additional data base to the Latin American cartographic community, specifically Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Venezuela.

Recent results from PHOBOS at RHIC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Back, B. B.; Baker, M. D.; Barton, D. S.; Betts, R. R.; Ballintijn, M.; Bickley, A. A.; Bindel, R.; Budzanowski, A.; Busza, W.; Carroll, A.; Decowski, M. P.; García, E.; George, N.; Gulbrandsen, K.; Gushue, S.; Halliwell, C.; Hamblen, J.; Heintzelman, G. A.; Henderson, C.; Hofman, D. J.; Hollis, R. S.; Hołyński, R.; Holzman, B.; Iordanova, A.; Johnson, E.; Kane, J. L.; Katzy, J.; Khan, N.; Kucewicz, W.; Kulinich, P.; Kuo, C. M.; Lin, W. T.; Manly, S.; McLeod, D.; Michałowski, J.; Mignerey, A. C.; Nouicer, R.; Olszewski, A.; Pak, R.; Park, I. C.; Pernegger, H.; Reed, C.; Remsberg, L. P.; Reuter, M.; Roland, C.; Roland, G.; Rosenberg, L.; Sagerer, J.; Sarin, P.; Sawicki, P.; Skulski, W.; Steadman, S. G.; Steinberg, P.; Stephans, G. S. F.; Stodulski, M.; Sukhanov, A.; Tang, J.-L.; Teng, R.; Trzupek, A.; Vale, C.; van Niewwenhuizen, G. J.; Verdier, R.; Wadsworth, B.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Wosiek, B.; Woźniak, K.; Wuosmaa, A. H.; Wysłouch, B.; Robert PakThe Phobos Collaboration

2003-06-01

The PHOBOS experiment at RHIC has recorded measurements for AuAu collisions spanning nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energies from √ SNN = 19.6 GeV to 200 GeV. Global observables such as elliptic flow and charged particle multiplicity provide important constraints on model predictions that characterize the state of matter produced in these collisions. The nearly 4π acceptance of the PHOBOS experiment provides excellent coverage for complete flow and multiplicity measurements. Results including beam energy and centrality dependencies are presented and compared to elementary systems.

[The contribution of patient H.M. to modern neuroscience].

PubMed

Kawachi, Juro

2013-08-01

In 1953, 27-year-old H.M. underwent bilateral medial temporal lobes resection to control his seizures; however, he suffered from severe amnesia as a result. For the next five decades until his death in December 2008 at the age 82, he was the subject of numerous studies performed by over 100 investigators. The reason why research on H.M. continued for so long is mostly attributed to the efficient organization of excellent researchers. The principal findings of H.M. study encouraged the concept of medial temporal lobe memory system and multiple memory systems, and suggested the slow acquisition of semantic knowledge without medial temporal lobe memory system through repeated experience. By the grace of H.M.'s lifelong contribution, the neuroscience of memory is in full flourish.

Statistical Analysis of Small-Scale Magnetic Flux Emergence Patterns: A Useful Subsurface Diagnostic?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamb, Derek A.

2016-10-01

While sunspots follow a well-defined pattern of emergence in space and time, small-scale flux emergence is assumed to occur randomly at all times in the quiet Sun. HMI's full-disk coverage, high cadence, spatial resolution, and duty cycle allow us to probe that basic assumption. Some case studies of emergence suggest that temporal clustering on spatial scales of 50-150 Mm may occur. If clustering is present, it could serve as a diagnostic of large-scale subsurface magnetic field structures. We present the results of a manual survey of small-scale flux emergence events over a short time period, and a statistical analysis addressing the question of whether these events show spatio-temporal behavior that is anything other than random.

Ranking businesses and municipal locations by spatiotemporal cardiac arrest risk to guide public defibrillator placement

PubMed Central

Sun, Christopher L. F.; Brooks, Steven C.; Morrison, Laurie J.; Chan, Timothy C.Y.

2017-01-01

Background Efforts to guide automated external defibrillator (AED) placement for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) treatment have focused on identifying broadly defined location categories without considering hours of operation. Broad location categories may be composed of many businesses with varying accessibility. Identifying specific locations for AED deployment incorporating operating hours and time of OHCA occurrence may improve AED accessibility. We aim to identify specific businesses and municipal locations that maximize OHCA coverage based on spatiotemporal assessment of OHCA risk in the immediate vicinity of franchise locations. Methods This study was a retrospective population-based cohort study using data from the Toronto Regional RescuNET Epistry cardiac arrest database. We identified all non-traumatic public OHCAs occurring in Toronto, Canada from Jan. 2007–Dec. 2015. We identified 41 unique businesses and municipal location types with 20 or more locations in Toronto from the YellowPages, Canadian Franchise Association, and the City of Toronto Open Data Portal. We obtained their geographic coordinates and hours of operation from websites, phone, or in-person. We determined the number of OHCAs that occurred within 100 m of each location when it was open (spatiotemporal coverage) for Toronto overall and downtown. The businesses and municipal locations were then ranked by spatiotemporal OHCA coverage. To evaluate temporal stability of the rankings, we calculated intra-class correlation (ICC) of the annual coverage values. Results There were 2,654 non-traumatic public OHCAs. Tim Hortons ranked first in Toronto covering 286 OHCAs. Starbucks ranked first in downtown covering 110 OHCAs. Coffee shops and bank machines from the five largest Canadian banks occupied eight of the top 10 spots in both Toronto and downtown. The rankings exhibited high temporal stability with ICC values of 0.88 (95% CI, 0.83–0.93) in Toronto and 0.79 (95% CI, 0.71–0.86) in downtown. Conclusions We identified and ranked businesses and municipal locations by spatiotemporal OHCA risk in their immediate vicinity. This approach may help policy makers and funders to identify and prioritize potential partnerships for AED deployment in public access defibrillator programs. PMID:28320803

Ranking Businesses and Municipal Locations by Spatiotemporal Cardiac Arrest Risk to Guide Public Defibrillator Placement.

PubMed

Sun, Christopher L F; Brooks, Steven C; Morrison, Laurie J; Chan, Timothy C Y

2017-03-21

Efforts to guide automated external defibrillator placement for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) treatment have focused on identifying broadly defined location categories without considering hours of operation. Broad location categories may be composed of many businesses with varying accessibility. Identifying specific locations for automated external defibrillator deployment incorporating operating hours and time of OHCA occurrence may improve automated external defibrillator accessibility. We aim to identify specific businesses and municipal locations that maximize OHCA coverage on the basis of spatiotemporal assessment of OHCA risk in the immediate vicinity of franchise locations. This study was a retrospective population-based cohort study using data from the Toronto Regional RescuNET Epistry cardiac arrest database. We identified all nontraumatic public OHCAs occurring in Toronto, ON, Canada, from January 2007 through December 2015. We identified 41 unique businesses and municipal location types with ≥20 locations in Toronto from the YellowPages, Canadian Franchise Association, and the City of Toronto Open Data Portal. We obtained their geographic coordinates and hours of operation from Web sites, by phone, or in person. We determined the number of OHCAs that occurred within 100 m of each location when it was open (spatiotemporal coverage) for Toronto overall and downtown. The businesses and municipal locations were then ranked by spatiotemporal OHCA coverage. To evaluate temporal stability of the rankings, we calculated intraclass correlation of the annual coverage values. There were 2654 nontraumatic public OHCAs. Tim Hortons ranked first in Toronto, covering 286 OHCAs. Starbucks ranked first in downtown, covering 110 OHCAs. Coffee shops and bank machines from the 5 largest Canadian banks occupied 8 of the top 10 spots in both Toronto and downtown. The rankings exhibited high temporal stability with intraclass correlation values of 0.88 (95% confidence interval, 0.83-0.93) in Toronto and 0.79 (95% confidence interval, 0.71-0.86) in downtown. We identified and ranked businesses and municipal locations by spatiotemporal OHCA risk in their immediate vicinity. This approach may help policy makers and funders to identify and prioritize potential partnerships for automated external defibrillator deployment in public-access defibrillator programs. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

New Light Sources and Concepts for Electro-Optic Sampling

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-03-01

Research to improve electro - optic sampling led to the development of several high performance optical phase modulators. These phase modulators serve...method of optical pulse shape measurement was demonstrated with 3 ps time resolution, excellent power sensitivity and relative system simplicity. These experiments have opened up the field of temporal optics. Electro - optic sampling.

Temporal and spatiotemporal variability in comprehensive forearm skin microcirculation assessment during occlusion protocols.

PubMed

Strömberg, Tomas; Sjöberg, Folke; Bergstrand, Sara

2017-09-01

Forearm skin hyperemia during release after brachial occlusion has been proposed for evaluating peripheral arterial disease and endothelial dysfunction. We used a novel fiberoptic system integrating Laser Doppler Flowmetry and Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy for a comprehensive pointwise model based microcirculation characterization. The aim was to evaluate and compare the temporal and the spatiotemporal variabilities in forearm skin microcirculation parameters (speed resolved perfusion; low speed <1mm/s, Perf SR, <1 ; mid-speed 1-10mm/s, high speed >10mm/s, and total perfusion (Perf SR, tot ); the concentration and oxygenation of red blood cells, C RBC and S O2 ). Ten healthy subjects underwent arterial and venous forearm occlusions (AO, VO), repeated within one week. The repeatability was calculated as the coefficient of variation (CV) and the agreement as the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). The temporal CVs for conventional perfusion, Perf conv , Perf SR, tot , C RBC and S O2 were 14%, 12%, 9% and 9%, respectively, while the ICC were >0.75 (excellent). The perfusion measures generally had a higher spatiotemporal than temporal variability, which was not the case for S O2 and C RBC . The corresponding spatiotemporal CVs were 33%, 32%, 18% and 15%, respectively. During VO, C RBC had a CV<35% and ICC>0.40 (fair-good), and after release this was the case for C RBC (AO and VO), S O2 (VO) and Perf SR, <1 (VO). In conclusion, the skin microcirculation parameters showed excellent temporal repeatability, while the spatiotemporal repeatability especially for perfusion was poorer. The parameters with acceptable repeatability and fair-good agreement were: C RBC during and after release of VO, the Perf SR, <1 after release of VO, the S O2 and the C RBC after release of AO. However, the value of these parameters in discriminating endothelial function remains to be studied. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An Innovative Open Data-driven Approach for Improved Interpretation of Coverage Data at NASA JPL's PO.DAA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGibbney, L. J.; Armstrong, E. M.

2016-12-01

Figuratively speaking, Scientific Datasets (SD) are shared by data producers in a multitude of shapes, sizes and flavors. Primarily however they exist as machine-independent manifestations supporting the creation, access, and sharing of array-oriented SD that can on occasion be spread across multiple files. Within the Earth Sciences, the most notable general examples include the HDF family, NetCDF, etc. with other formats such as GRIB being used pervasively within specific domains such as the Oceanographic, Atmospheric and Meteorological sciences. Such file formats contain Coverage Data e.g. a digital representation of some spatio-temporal phenomenon. A challenge for large data producers such as NASA and NOAA as well as consumers of coverage datasets (particularly surrounding visualization and interactive use within web clients) is that this is still not a straight-forward issue due to size, serialization and inherent complexity. Additionally existing data formats are either unsuitable for the Web (like netCDF files) or hard to interpret independently due to missing standard structures and metadata (e.g. the OPeNDAP protocol). Therefore alternative, Web friendly manifestations of such datasets are required.CoverageJSON is an emerging data format for publishing coverage data to the web in a web-friendly, way which fits in with the linked data publication paradigm hence lowering the barrier for interpretation by consumers via mobile devices and client applications, etc. as well as data producers who can build next generation Web friendly Web services around datasets. This work will detail how CoverageJSON is being evaluated at NASA JPL's PO.DAAC as an enabling data representation format for publishing SD as Linked Open Data embedded within SD landing pages as well as via semantic data repositories. We are currently evaluating how utilization of CoverageJSON within SD landing pages addresses the long-standing acknowledgement that SD producers are not currently addressing content-based optimization within their SD landing pages for better crawlability by commercial search engines.

Evaluation of some random effects methodology applicable to bird ringing data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Burnham, K.P.; White, Gary C.

2002-01-01

Existing models for ring recovery and recapture data analysis treat temporal variations in annual survival probability (S) as fixed effects. Often there is no explainable structure to the temporal variation in S1,..., Sk; random effects can then be a useful model: Si = E(S) + ??i. Here, the temporal variation in survival probability is treated as random with average value E(??2) = ??2. This random effects model can now be fit in program MARK. Resultant inferences include point and interval estimation for process variation, ??2, estimation of E(S) and var (E??(S)) where the latter includes a component for ??2 as well as the traditional component for v??ar(S??\\S??). Furthermore, the random effects model leads to shrinkage estimates, Si, as improved (in mean square error) estimators of Si compared to the MLE, S??i, from the unrestricted time-effects model. Appropriate confidence intervals based on the Si are also provided. In addition, AIC has been generalized to random effects models. This paper presents results of a Monte Carlo evaluation of inference performance under the simple random effects model. Examined by simulation, under the simple one group Cormack-Jolly-Seber (CJS) model, are issues such as bias of ??s2, confidence interval coverage on ??2, coverage and mean square error comparisons for inference about Si based on shrinkage versus maximum likelihood estimators, and performance of AIC model selection over three models: Si ??? S (no effects), Si = E(S) + ??i (random effects), and S1,..., Sk (fixed effects). For the cases simulated, the random effects methods performed well and were uniformly better than fixed effects MLE for the Si.

A new sulfur and carbon degassing inventory for the Southern Central American Volcanic Arc: The importance of accurate time-series datasets and possible tectonic processes responsible for temporal variations in arc-scale volatile emissions

USGS Publications Warehouse

de Moor, Maarten; Kern, Christoph; Avard, Geoffroy; Muller, Cyril; Aiuppa, Sandro; Saballos, Armando; Ibarra, Martha; LaFemina, Peter; Protti, Mario; Fischer, Tobias

2017-01-01

This work presents a new database of SO2 and CO2 fluxes from the Southern Central American Volcanic Arc (SCAVA) for the period 2015–2016. We report ∼300 SO2 flux measurements from 10 volcanoes and gas ratios from 11 volcanoes in Costa Rica and Nicaragua representing the most extensive available assessment of this ∼500 km arc segment. The SO2 flux from SCAVA is estimated at 6,240 ± 1,150 T/d, about a factor of three higher than previous estimations (1972–2013). We attribute this increase in part to our more complete assessment of the arc. Another consideration in interpreting the difference is the context of increased volcanic activity, as there were more eruptions in 2015–2016 than in any period since ∼1980. A potential explanation for increased degassing and volcanic activity is a change in crustal stress regime (from compression to extension, opening volcanic conduits) following two large (Mw > 7) earthquakes in the region in 2012. The CO2 flux from the arc is estimated at 22,500 ± 4,900 T/d, which is equal to or greater than estimates of C input into the SCAVA subduction zone. Time‐series data sets for arc degassing need to be improved in temporal and spatial coverage to robustly constrain volatile budgets and tectonic controls. Arc volatile budgets are strongly influenced by short‐lived degassing events and arc systems likely display significant short‐term variations in volatile output, calling for expansion of nascent geochemical monitoring networks to achieve spatial and temporal coverage similar to traditional geophysical networks.

A New Sulfur and Carbon Degassing Inventory for the Southern Central American Volcanic Arc: The Importance of Accurate Time-Series Data Sets and Possible Tectonic Processes Responsible for Temporal Variations in Arc-Scale Volatile Emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Moor, J. M.; Kern, C.; Avard, G.; Muller, C.; Aiuppa, A.; Saballos, A.; Ibarra, M.; LaFemina, P.; Protti, M.; Fischer, T. P.

2017-12-01

This work presents a new database of SO2 and CO2 fluxes from the Southern Central American Volcanic Arc (SCAVA) for the period 2015-2016. We report ˜300 SO2 flux measurements from 10 volcanoes and gas ratios from 11 volcanoes in Costa Rica and Nicaragua representing the most extensive available assessment of this ˜500 km arc segment. The SO2 flux from SCAVA is estimated at 6,240 ± 1,150 T/d, about a factor of three higher than previous estimations (1972-2013). We attribute this increase in part to our more complete assessment of the arc. Another consideration in interpreting the difference is the context of increased volcanic activity, as there were more eruptions in 2015-2016 than in any period since ˜1980. A potential explanation for increased degassing and volcanic activity is a change in crustal stress regime (from compression to extension, opening volcanic conduits) following two large (Mw > 7) earthquakes in the region in 2012. The CO2 flux from the arc is estimated at 22,500 ± 4,900 T/d, which is equal to or greater than estimates of C input into the SCAVA subduction zone. Time-series data sets for arc degassing need to be improved in temporal and spatial coverage to robustly constrain volatile budgets and tectonic controls. Arc volatile budgets are strongly influenced by short-lived degassing events and arc systems likely display significant short-term variations in volatile output, calling for expansion of nascent geochemical monitoring networks to achieve spatial and temporal coverage similar to traditional geophysical networks.

Improving Satellite Quantitative Precipitation Estimation Using GOES-Retrieved Cloud Optical Depth

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

Stenz, Ronald; Dong, Xiquan; Xi, Baike

To address significant gaps in ground-based radar coverage and rain gauge networks in the U.S., geostationary satellite quantitative precipitation estimates (QPEs) such as the Self-Calibrating Multivariate Precipitation Retrievals (SCaMPR) can be used to fill in both the spatial and temporal gaps of ground-based measurements. Additionally, with the launch of GOES-R, the temporal resolution of satellite QPEs may be comparable to that of Weather Service Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) volume scans as GOES images will be available every five minutes. However, while satellite QPEs have strengths in spatial coverage and temporal resolution, they face limitations particularly during convective events. Deep Convective Systemsmore » (DCSs) have large cloud shields with similar brightness temperatures (BTs) over nearly the entire system, but widely varying precipitation rates beneath these clouds. Geostationary satellite QPEs relying on the indirect relationship between BTs and precipitation rates often suffer from large errors because anvil regions (little/no precipitation) cannot be distinguished from rain-cores (heavy precipitation) using only BTs. However, a combination of BTs and optical depth (τ) has been found to reduce overestimates of precipitation in anvil regions (Stenz et al. 2014). A new rain mask algorithm incorporating both τ and BTs has been developed, and its application to the existing SCaMPR algorithm was evaluated. The performance of the modified SCaMPR was evaluated using traditional skill scores and a more detailed analysis of performance in individual DCS components by utilizing the Feng et al. (2012) classification algorithm. SCaMPR estimates with the new rain mask applied benefited from significantly reduced overestimates of precipitation in anvil regions and overall improvements in skill scores.« less

Getting the full picture: Assessing the complementarity of citizen science and agency monitoring data.

PubMed

Hadj-Hammou, Jeneen; Loiselle, Steven; Ophof, Daniel; Thornhill, Ian

2017-01-01

While the role of citizen science in engaging the public and providing large-scale datasets has been demonstrated, the nature of and potential for this science to supplement environmental monitoring efforts by government agencies has not yet been fully explored. To this end, the present study investigates the complementarity of a citizen science programme to agency monitoring of water quality. The Environment Agency (EA) is the governmental public body responsible for, among other duties, managing and monitoring water quality and water resources in England. FreshWater Watch (FWW) is a global citizen science project that supports community monitoring of freshwater quality. FWW and EA data were assessed for their spatio-temporal complementarity by comparing the geographical and seasonal coverage of nitrate (N-NO3) sampling across the River Thames catchment by the respective campaigns between spring 2013 and winter 2015. The analysis reveals that FWW citizen science-collected data complements EA data by filling in both gaps in the spatial and temporal coverage as well as gaps in waterbody type and size. In addition, partial spatio-temporal overlap in sampling efforts by the two actors is discovered, but EA sampling is found to be more consistent than FWW sampling. Statistical analyses indicate that regardless of broader geographical overlap in sampling effort, FWW sampling sites are associated with a lower stream order and water bodies of smaller surface areas than EA sampling sites. FWW also samples more still-water body sites than the EA. As a possible result of such differences in sampling tendencies, nitrate concentrations, a measure of water quality, are lower for FWW sites than EA sites. These findings strongly indicate that citizen science has clear potential to complement agency monitoring efforts by generating information on freshwater ecosystems that would otherwise be under reported.

Getting the full picture: Assessing the complementarity of citizen science and agency monitoring data

PubMed Central

Loiselle, Steven; Ophof, Daniel; Thornhill, Ian

2017-01-01

While the role of citizen science in engaging the public and providing large-scale datasets has been demonstrated, the nature of and potential for this science to supplement environmental monitoring efforts by government agencies has not yet been fully explored. To this end, the present study investigates the complementarity of a citizen science programme to agency monitoring of water quality. The Environment Agency (EA) is the governmental public body responsible for, among other duties, managing and monitoring water quality and water resources in England. FreshWater Watch (FWW) is a global citizen science project that supports community monitoring of freshwater quality. FWW and EA data were assessed for their spatio-temporal complementarity by comparing the geographical and seasonal coverage of nitrate (N-NO3) sampling across the River Thames catchment by the respective campaigns between spring 2013 and winter 2015. The analysis reveals that FWW citizen science-collected data complements EA data by filling in both gaps in the spatial and temporal coverage as well as gaps in waterbody type and size. In addition, partial spatio-temporal overlap in sampling efforts by the two actors is discovered, but EA sampling is found to be more consistent than FWW sampling. Statistical analyses indicate that regardless of broader geographical overlap in sampling effort, FWW sampling sites are associated with a lower stream order and water bodies of smaller surface areas than EA sampling sites. FWW also samples more still-water body sites than the EA. As a possible result of such differences in sampling tendencies, nitrate concentrations, a measure of water quality, are lower for FWW sites than EA sites. These findings strongly indicate that citizen science has clear potential to complement agency monitoring efforts by generating information on freshwater ecosystems that would otherwise be under reported. PMID:29211752

CERES ERBE-like Instantaneous TOA Estimates (ES-8) in HDF (CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The ES-8 archival data product contains a 24-hour, single-satellite, instantaneous view of scanner fluxes at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reduced from spacecraft altitude unfiltered radiances using Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) scanner Inversion algorithms and the ERBE shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) Angular Distribution Models (ADMs). The ES-8 also includes the total (TOT), SW, LW, and window (WN) channel radiometric data; SW, LW, and WN unfiltered radiance values; and the ERBE scene identification for each measurement. These data are organized according to the CERES 3.3-second scan into 6.6-second records. As long as there is one valid scanner measurement within a record, the ES-8 record will be generated. The following CERES ES8 data sets are currently available: CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition2 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Transient-Ops2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2006-01-01] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

CERES ERBE-like Instantaneous TOA Estimates (ES-8) in HDF (CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The ES-8 archival data product contains a 24-hour, single-satellite, instantaneous view of scanner fluxes at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reduced from spacecraft altitude unfiltered radiances using Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) scanner Inversion algorithms and the ERBE shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) Angular Distribution Models (ADMs). The ES-8 also includes the total (TOT), SW, LW, and window (WN) channel radiometric data; SW, LW, and WN unfiltered radiance values; and the ERBE scene identification for each measurement. These data are organized according to the CERES 3.3-second scan into 6.6-second records. As long as there is one valid scanner measurement within a record, the ES-8 record will be generated. The following CERES ES8 data sets are currently available: CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition2 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Transient-Ops2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2006-09-30] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

CERES ERBE-like Instantaneous TOA Estimates (ES-8) in HDF (CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The ES-8 archival data product contains a 24-hour, single-satellite, instantaneous view of scanner fluxes at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reduced from spacecraft altitude unfiltered radiances using Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) scanner Inversion algorithms and the ERBE shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) Angular Distribution Models (ADMs). The ES-8 also includes the total (TOT), SW, LW, and window (WN) channel radiometric data; SW, LW, and WN unfiltered radiance values; and the ERBE scene identification for each measurement. These data are organized according to the CERES 3.3-second scan into 6.6-second records. As long as there is one valid scanner measurement within a record, the ES-8 record will be generated. The following CERES ES8 data sets are currently available: CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition2 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Transient-Ops2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2005-03-29] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

CERES ERBE-like Instantaneous TOA Estimates (ES-8) in HDF (CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The ES-8 archival data product contains a 24-hour, single-satellite, instantaneous view of scanner fluxes at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reduced from spacecraft altitude unfiltered radiances using Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) scanner Inversion algorithms and the ERBE shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) Angular Distribution Models (ADMs). The ES-8 also includes the total (TOT), SW, LW, and window (WN) channel radiometric data; SW, LW, and WN unfiltered radiance values; and the ERBE scene identification for each measurement. These data are organized according to the CERES 3.3-second scan into 6.6-second records. As long as there is one valid scanner measurement within a record, the ES-8 record will be generated. The following CERES ES8 data sets are currently available: CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition2 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Transient-Ops2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2005-11-01] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

CERES ERBE-like Instantaneous TOA Estimates (ES-8) in HDF (CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The ES-8 archival data product contains a 24-hour, single-satellite, instantaneous view of scanner fluxes at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reduced from spacecraft altitude unfiltered radiances using Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) scanner Inversion algorithms and the ERBE shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) Angular Distribution Models (ADMs). The ES-8 also includes the total (TOT), SW, LW, and window (WN) channel radiometric data; SW, LW, and WN unfiltered radiance values; and the ERBE scene identification for each measurement. These data are organized according to the CERES 3.3-second scan into 6.6-second records. As long as there is one valid scanner measurement within a record, the ES-8 record will be generated. The following CERES ES8 data sets are currently available: CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition2 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Transient-Ops2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2000-03-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

CERES ERBE-like Instantaneous TOA Estimates (ES-8) in HDF (CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The ES-8 archival data product contains a 24-hour, single-satellite, instantaneous view of scanner fluxes at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reduced from spacecraft altitude unfiltered radiances using Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) scanner Inversion algorithms and the ERBE shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) Angular Distribution Models (ADMs). The ES-8 also includes the total (TOT), SW, LW, and window (WN) channel radiometric data; SW, LW, and WN unfiltered radiance values; and the ERBE scene identification for each measurement. These data are organized according to the CERES 3.3-second scan into 6.6-second records. As long as there is one valid scanner measurement within a record, the ES-8 record will be generated. The following CERES ES8 data sets are currently available: CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition2 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Transient-Ops2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2005-12-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

Mining moving object trajectories in location-based services for spatio-temporal database update

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Danhuai; Cui, Weihong

2008-10-01

Advances in wireless transmission and mobile technology applied to LBS (Location-based Services) flood us with amounts of moving objects data. Vast amounts of gathered data from position sensors of mobile phones, PDAs, or vehicles hide interesting and valuable knowledge and describe the behavior of moving objects. The correlation between temporal moving patterns of moving objects and geo-feature spatio-temporal attribute was ignored, and the value of spatio-temporal trajectory data was not fully exploited too. Urban expanding or frequent town plan change bring about a large amount of outdated or imprecise data in spatial database of LBS, and they cannot be updated timely and efficiently by manual processing. In this paper we introduce a data mining approach to movement pattern extraction of moving objects, build a model to describe the relationship between movement patterns of LBS mobile objects and their environment, and put up with a spatio-temporal database update strategy in LBS database based on trajectories spatiotemporal mining. Experimental evaluation reveals excellent performance of the proposed model and strategy. Our original contribution include formulation of model of interaction between trajectory and its environment, design of spatio-temporal database update strategy based on moving objects data mining, and the experimental application of spatio-temporal database update by mining moving objects trajectories.

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

Aita, J.F.; Keyes, J.W. Jr.

Two cases of acute infantile hemiplegia are presented. The first case is a patient with moyamoya disease with excellent correlation between the brain scan findings and her clinical signs and symptoms and the carotid arteriogram. The second patient had occlusive cerebrovascular disease secondary to thromboemboli with excellent correlation between the brain scan findings and his clinical state and the neuropathologic examination. In both cases the static brain scans and the radionuclide angiogram were comparable to those reported in adults with cerebrovascular disease both in appearance and in temporal sequence. Radionuclide studies can be an important and reliable diagnostic tool inmore » the evaluation of acute infantile hemiplegia. (auth)« less

IMP series report/bibliography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, J. H.

1971-01-01

The main characteristics of the IMP spacecraft and experiments are considered and the scientific knowledge gained is presented in the form of abstracts of scientific papers using IMP data. Spacecraft characteristics, including temporal and spatial coverages, are presented followed by an annotated bibliography. Experiments conducted on all IMP's (including prelaunch IMP's H and J) are described. Figures are presented showing the time histories, through the end of 1970, of magnetic field, plasma, and energetic particle experiments.

The Interplanetary Network Response to LIGO GW150914

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hurley, K.; Svinkin, D. S.; Aptekar, R.L.; Golenetskii, S. V.; Frederiks, D. D.; Boynton, W.; Mitrofanov, I. G.; Golovin, D. V.; Kozyrev, A. S.; Litvak, M. L.;

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy for Early-Stage Primary Gastric Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: Dosimetric Analysis, Clinical Outcome, and Quality of Life

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

Liu, Xin; Fang, Hui; Tian, Yuan

Purpose: To evaluate the dosimetric superiority, efficacy, toxicity, and quality of life (QOL) data of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in patients with primary gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (PG-DLBCL). Methods and Materials: Forty-six consecutive patients with early-stage PG-DLBCL underwent IMRT after chemotherapy. The majority of patients (61.5%) were subclassified as the non-germinal center B cell–like subtype. Dosimetric parameters of the planning target volume (PTV) and organs at risk were assessed. Survival rates were depicted with the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. Quality of life was evaluated using the QLQ-C30-STO22 questionnaires at the last follow-up contact. Results: Themore » median PTV mean dose was 41.6 Gy. Only 0.73% of the PTV received <95% of the prescribed dose, indicating excellent target coverage. The median kidney V20 and liver V30 were 14.1% and 16.1%, respectively. The 5-year overall survival (OS), progression-free survival, and locoregional control rates for all patients were 80.4%, 75.0%, and 93.2%, respectively. Stage, lactate dehydrogenase level, and immunophenotype were significant prognostic factors for OS, and only stage was a significant factor for locoregional control. Consolidation IMRT in patients with complete response after chemotherapy resulted in significantly better OS and progression-free survival than salvage IMRT in patients with non-complete response. Two of 8 patients who had chronic liver disease experienced grade 4 or grade 5 acute hepatic failure after 4 to 5 cycles of rituximab-based chemotherapy and IMRT (40 Gy). No other serious acute or late toxicity was observed. The long-term global and functional QOL scales were excellent, with negligible symptom scales. Conclusions: Intensity modulated radiation therapy yielded excellent target coverage and critical tissue sparing and achieved favorable outcomes with acceptable toxicity and good long-term QOL in early-stage PG-DLBCL.« less

Comparison of Envisat ASAR GM, AMSR-E Passive Microwave, and MODIS Optical Remote Sensing for Flood Monitoring in Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ticehurst, C. J.; Bartsch, A.; Doubkova, M.; van Dijk, A. I. J. M.

2009-11-01

Continuous flood monitoring can support emergency response, water management and environmental monitoring. Optical sensors such as MODIS allow inundation mapping with high spatial and temporal resolution (250-1000 m, twice daily) but are affected by cloud cover. Passive microwave sensors also acquire observations at high temporal resolution, but coarser spatial resolution (e.g. ca. 5-70 km for AMSR-E) and smaller footprints are also affected by cloud and/or rain. ScanSAR systems allow all-weather monitoring but require spatial resolution to be traded off against coverage and/or temporal resolution; e.g. the ENVISAT ASAR Global Mode observes at ca. 1 km over large regions about twice a week. The complementary role of the AMSR-E and ASAR GM data to that of MODIS is here introduced for three flood events and locations across Australia. Additional improvements can be made by integrating digital elevation models and stream flow gauging data.

Comparing Temporally-Separated Solar Wind Structures at 1 AU (STEREO A and OMNI)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galvin, A. B.; Farrugia, C. J.; Jian, L. K.

2017-12-01

One may use the longitudinal coverage of different spacecraft assets, or the same asset over sequential Carrington Rotations, to study the solar wind behavior from long-lived structures (coronal holes, active regions), or occasionally observe the extent of transient structures (Farrugia et al., 2011). This is of interest as the evolution of the extent and persistence of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and of stream interaction regions (SIRs) have implications for space weather forecasting. One challenge is that one must be aware of the temporal evolution of the structure on the Sun and the affect of `sampling' different solar sources due to different solar latitudes of the in-situ spacecraft observations. Here we look at case studies of recent event time intervals during 2015-2017 where solar wind emanating from long-lived coronal-hole structures are observed both at STEREO A and at near-Earth assets (OMNI2). The observations are taken at similar solar latitudes and longitudes but temporally separated by several days or weeks.

Space and time scales in human-landscape systems.

PubMed

Kondolf, G Mathias; Podolak, Kristen

2014-01-01

Exploring spatial and temporal scales provides a way to understand human alteration of landscape processes and human responses to these processes. We address three topics relevant to human-landscape systems: (1) scales of human impacts on geomorphic processes, (2) spatial and temporal scales in river restoration, and (3) time scales of natural disasters and behavioral and institutional responses. Studies showing dramatic recent change in sediment yields from uplands to the ocean via rivers illustrate the increasingly vast spatial extent and quick rate of human landscape change in the last two millennia, but especially in the second half of the twentieth century. Recent river restoration efforts are typically small in spatial and temporal scale compared to the historical human changes to ecosystem processes, but the cumulative effectiveness of multiple small restoration projects in achieving large ecosystem goals has yet to be demonstrated. The mismatch between infrequent natural disasters and individual risk perception, media coverage, and institutional response to natural disasters results in un-preparedness and unsustainable land use and building practices.

Measuring suspended sediment: Chapter 10

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gray, J.R.; Landers, M.N.

2013-01-01

Suspended sediment in streams and rivers can be measured using traditional instruments and techniques and (or) surrogate technologies. The former, as described herein, consists primarily of both manually deployed isokinetic samplers and their deployment protocols developed by the Federal Interagency Sedimentation Project. They are used on all continents other than Antarctica. The reliability of the typically spatially rich but temporally sparse data produced by traditional means is supported by a broad base of scientific literature since 1940. However, the suspended sediment surrogate technologies described herein – based on hydroacoustic, nephelometric, laser, and pressure difference principles – tend to produce temporally rich but in some cases spatially sparse datasets. The value of temporally rich data in the accuracy of continuous sediment-discharge records is hard to overstate, in part because such data can often overcome the shortcomings of poor spatial coverage. Coupled with calibration data produced by traditional means, surrogate technologies show considerable promise toward providing the fluvial sediment data needed to increase and bring more consistency to sediment-discharge measurements worldwide.

Natural vitamin B12 and fucose supplementation of green smoothies with edible algae and related quality changes during their shelf life.

PubMed

Castillejo, Noelia; Martínez-Hernández, Ginés Benito; Goffi, Valentina; Gómez, Perla A; Aguayo, Encarna; Artés, Francisco; Artés-Hernández, Francisco

2018-04-01

Some algae are an excellent sources of vitamin B12, of special interest for vegetarian/vegan consumers, and of fucose to supplement fruit and vegetable beverages such as smoothies. Nevertheless, supplementation of smoothies with algae may lead to possible quality changes during smoothie shelf life that need to be studied. Therefore, the quality changes in fresh green smoothies supplemented (2.2%) with nine edible algae (sea lettuce, kombu, wakame, thongweed, dulse, Irish moss, nori, Spirulina and Chlorella) were studied throughout 24 days at 5 °C. The initial vitamin C content - 238.7-326.0 mg kg -1 fresh weight (FW) - of a 200 g portion of any of the smoothies ensured full coverage of its recommended daily intake, and still supplying 50-60% of the recommended intake after 7 days. Chlorella and Spirulina smoothies showed the highest vitamin B12 content (33.3 and 15.3 µg kg -1 FW, respectively), while brown algae showed fucose content of 141.1-571.3 mg kg -1 FW. These vitamin B12 and fucose contents were highly maintained during shelf life. The Spirulina supplementation of a 200 g smoothie portion ensured full coverage of the recommended vitamin B12 intake, with lower vitamin C degradation, during a shelf life of 17 days. Furthermore, thongweed and kombu are also considered as excellent fucose sources with similar shelf life. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Repair of retropatellar cartilage defects in the knee with microfracture and a cell-free polymer-based implant.

PubMed

Becher, Christoph; Ettinger, Max; Ezechieli, Marco; Kaps, Christian; Ewig, Marc; Smith, Tomas

2015-07-01

To analyze magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3T and the clinical outcome in a short-term pilot study after treatment of retropatellar cartilage defects with microfracturing and subsequent covering with the cell-free chondrotissue(®) polyglycolic acid-hyaluronan implant. Five consecutive patients after microfracturing and defect coverage with the chondrotissue(®) implant immersed with autologous serum were included. After a mean follow-up of 21 months (range 11-31 months), defect fill and repair tissue quality was assessed by 3-T MRI followed by applying established MRI scoring systems. The patients' situation was assessed using the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and a patients' satisfaction questionnaire. Magnetic resonance imaging showed good to excellent defect fill with complete integration. The mean MOCART score was 61 (range 50-75) points. The mean Henderson score was 7 (range 6-9) points. All patients showed subchondral bone alterations. The KOOS showed good values in all sub-categories in 4 out of 5 patients and a mean overall score of 73 (range 40-90) points. Two patients rated the outcome as excellent, two as good and one as fair. All patients would have the procedure again and recommend it. In this small case series, the coverage of symptomatic retropatellar cartilage defects with the chondrotissue(®) implant after microfracturing was safe and feasible with improvement of the patients' situation at short-term follow-up. IV, case series.

Automated rapid finite fault inversion for megathrust earthquakes: Application to the Maule (2010), Iquique (2014) and Illapel (2015) great earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benavente, Roberto; Cummins, Phil; Dettmer, Jan

2016-04-01

Rapid estimation of the spatial and temporal rupture characteristics of large megathrust earthquakes by finite fault inversion is important for disaster mitigation. For example, estimates of the spatio-temporal evolution of rupture can be used to evaluate population exposure to tsunami waves and ground shaking soon after the event by providing more accurate predictions than possible with point source approximations. In addition, rapid inversion results can reveal seismic source complexity to guide additional, more detailed subsequent studies. This work develops a method to rapidly estimate the slip distribution of megathrust events while reducing subjective parameter choices by automation. The method is simple yet robust and we show that it provides excellent preliminary rupture models as soon as 30 minutes for three great earthquakes in the South-American subduction zone. This may slightly change for other regions depending on seismic station coverage but method can be applied to any subduction region. The inversion is based on W-phase data since it is rapidly and widely available and of low amplitude which avoids clipping at close stations for large events. In addition, prior knowledge of the slab geometry (e.g. SLAB 1.0) is applied and rapid W-phase point source information (time delay and centroid location) is used to constrain the fault geometry and extent. Since the linearization by multiple time window (MTW) parametrization requires regularization, objective smoothing is achieved by the discrepancy principle in two fully automated steps. First, the residuals are estimated assuming unknown noise levels, and second, seeking a subsequent solution which fits the data to noise level. The MTW scheme is applied with positivity constraints and a solution is obtained by an efficient non-negative least squares solver. Systematic application of the algorithm to the Maule (2010), Iquique (2014) and Illapel (2015) events illustrates that rapid finite fault inversion with teleseismic data is feasible and provides meaningful results. The results for the three events show excellent data fits and are consistent with other solutions showing most of the slip occurring close to the trench for the Maule an Illapel events and some deeper slip for the Iquique event. Importantly, the Illapel source model predicts tsunami waveforms of close agreement with observed waveforms. Finally, we develop a new Bayesian approach to approximate uncertainties as part of the rapid inversion scheme with positivity constraints. Uncertainties are estimated by approximating the posterior distribution as a multivariate log-normal distribution. While solving for the posterior adds some additional computational cost, we illustrate that uncertainty estimation is important for meaningful interpretation of finite fault models.

Muscle fatigue in the temporal and masseter muscles in patients with temporomandibular dysfunction.

PubMed

Woźniak, Krzysztof; Lipski, Mariusz; Lichota, Damian; Szyszka-Sommerfeld, Liliana

2015-01-01

The aim of this study is to evaluate muscle fatigue in the temporal and masseter muscles in patients with temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD). Two hundred volunteers aged 19.3 to 27.8 years (mean 21.50, SD 0.97) participated in this study. Electromyographical (EMG) recordings were performed using a DAB-Bluetooth Instrument (Zebris Medical GmbH, Germany). Muscle fatigue was evaluated on the basis of a maximum effort test. The test was performed during a 10-second maximum isometric contraction (MVC) of the jaws. An analysis of changes in the mean power frequency of the two pairs of temporal and masseter muscles (MPF%) revealed significant differences in the groups of patients with varying degrees of temporomandibular disorders according to Di (P < 0.0000). The study showed an increase in the muscle fatigue of the temporal and masseter muscles correlated with the intensity of temporomandibular dysfunction symptoms in patients. The use of surface electromyography in assessing muscle fatigue is an excellent diagnostic tool for identifying patients with temporomandibular dysfunction.

Temporal eye movement strategies during naturalistic viewing

PubMed Central

Wang, Helena X.; Freeman, Jeremy; Merriam, Elisha P.; Hasson, Uri; Heeger, David J.

2011-01-01

The deployment of eye movements to complex spatiotemporal stimuli likely involves a variety of cognitive factors. However, eye movements to movies are surprisingly reliable both within and across observers. We exploited and manipulated that reliability to characterize observers’ temporal viewing strategies. Introducing cuts and scrambling the temporal order of the resulting clips systematically changed eye movement reliability. We developed a computational model that exhibited this behavior and provided an excellent fit to the measured eye movement reliability. The model assumed that observers searched for, found, and tracked a point-of-interest, and that this process reset when there was a cut. The model did not require that eye movements depend on temporal context in any other way, and it managed to describe eye movements consistently across different observers and two movie sequences. Thus, we found no evidence for the integration of information over long time scales (greater than a second). The results are consistent with the idea that observers employ a simple tracking strategy even while viewing complex, engaging naturalistic stimuli. PMID:22262911

Muscle Fatigue in the Temporal and Masseter Muscles in Patients with Temporomandibular Dysfunction

PubMed Central

Woźniak, Krzysztof; Lipski, Mariusz; Lichota, Damian

2015-01-01

The aim of this study is to evaluate muscle fatigue in the temporal and masseter muscles in patients with temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD). Two hundred volunteers aged 19.3 to 27.8 years (mean 21.50, SD 0.97) participated in this study. Electromyographical (EMG) recordings were performed using a DAB-Bluetooth Instrument (Zebris Medical GmbH, Germany). Muscle fatigue was evaluated on the basis of a maximum effort test. The test was performed during a 10-second maximum isometric contraction (MVC) of the jaws. An analysis of changes in the mean power frequency of the two pairs of temporal and masseter muscles (MPF%) revealed significant differences in the groups of patients with varying degrees of temporomandibular disorders according to Di (P < 0.0000). The study showed an increase in the muscle fatigue of the temporal and masseter muscles correlated with the intensity of temporomandibular dysfunction symptoms in patients. The use of surface electromyography in assessing muscle fatigue is an excellent diagnostic tool for identifying patients with temporomandibular dysfunction. PMID:25883949

First-pass myocardial perfusion imaging with whole-heart coverage using L1-SPIRiT accelerated variable density spiral trajectories.

PubMed

Yang, Yang; Kramer, Christopher M; Shaw, Peter W; Meyer, Craig H; Salerno, Michael

2016-11-01

To design and evaluate two-dimensional (2D) L1-SPIRiT accelerated spiral pulse sequences for first-pass myocardial perfusion imaging with whole heart coverage capable of measuring eight slices at 2 mm in-plane resolution at heart rates up to 125 beats per minute (BPM). Combinations of five different spiral trajectories and four k-t sampling patterns were retrospectively simulated in 25 fully sampled datasets and reconstructed with L1-SPIRiT to determine the best combination of parameters. Two candidate sequences were prospectively evaluated in 34 human subjects to assess in vivo performance. A dual density broad transition spiral trajectory with either angularly uniform or golden angle in time k-t sampling pattern had the largest structural similarity and smallest root mean square error from the retrospective simulation, and the L1-SPIRiT reconstruction had well-preserved temporal dynamics. In vivo data demonstrated that both of the sampling patterns could produce high quality perfusion images with whole-heart coverage. First-pass myocardial perfusion imaging using accelerated spirals with optimized trajectory and k-t sampling pattern can produce high quality 2D perfusion images with whole-heart coverage at the heart rates up to 125 BPM. Magn Reson Med 76:1375-1387, 2016. © 2015 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2015 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

High-resolution whole-brain DCE-MRI using constrained reconstruction: Prospective clinical evaluation in brain tumor patients.

PubMed

Guo, Yi; Lebel, R Marc; Zhu, Yinghua; Lingala, Sajan Goud; Shiroishi, Mark S; Law, Meng; Nayak, Krishna

2016-05-01

To clinically evaluate a highly accelerated T1-weighted dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI technique that provides high spatial resolution and whole-brain coverage via undersampling and constrained reconstruction with multiple sparsity constraints. Conventional (rate-2 SENSE) and experimental DCE-MRI (rate-30) scans were performed 20 minutes apart in 15 brain tumor patients. The conventional clinical DCE-MRI had voxel dimensions 0.9 × 1.3 × 7.0 mm(3), FOV 22 × 22 × 4.2 cm(3), and the experimental DCE-MRI had voxel dimensions 0.9 × 0.9 × 1.9 mm(3), and broader coverage 22 × 22 × 19 cm(3). Temporal resolution was 5 s for both protocols. Time-resolved images and blood-brain barrier permeability maps were qualitatively evaluated by two radiologists. The experimental DCE-MRI scans showed no loss of qualitative information in any of the cases, while achieving substantially higher spatial resolution and whole-brain spatial coverage. Average qualitative scores (from 0 to 3) were 2.1 for the experimental scans and 1.1 for the conventional clinical scans. The proposed DCE-MRI approach provides clinically superior image quality with higher spatial resolution and coverage than currently available approaches. These advantages may allow comprehensive permeability mapping in the brain, which is especially valuable in the setting of large lesions or multiple lesions spread throughout the brain.

High-power Broadband Organic THz Generator

PubMed Central

Jeong, Jae-Hyeok; Kang, Bong-Joo; Kim, Ji-Soo; Jazbinsek, Mojca; Lee, Seung-Heon; Lee, Seung-Chul; Baek, In-Hyung; Yun, Hoseop; Kim, Jongtaek; Lee, Yoon Sup; Lee, Jae-Hyeok; Kim, Jae-Ho; Rotermund, Fabian; Kwon, O-Pil

2013-01-01

The high-power broadband terahertz (THz) generator is an essential tool for a wide range of THz applications. Here, we present a novel highly efficient electro-optic quinolinium single crystal for THz wave generation. For obtaining intense and broadband THz waves by optical-to-THz frequency conversion, a quinolinium crystal was developed to fulfill all the requirements, which are in general extremely difficult to maintain simultaneously in a single medium, such as a large macroscopic electro-optic response and excellent crystal characteristics including a large crystal size with desired facets, good environmental stability, high optical quality, wide transparency range, and controllable crystal thickness. Compared to the benchmark inorganic and organic crystals, the new quinolinium crystal possesses excellent crystal properties and THz generation characteristics with broader THz spectral coverage and higher THz conversion efficiency at the technologically important pump wavelength of 800 nm. Therefore, the quinolinium crystal offers great potential for efficient and gap-free broadband THz wave generation. PMID:24220234

Frictional behavior and adhesion of Ag and Au films applied to aluminum oxide by oxygen-ion assisted Screen Cage Ion Plating (SCIP)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spalvins, Talivaldis; Sliney, Harold E.

1994-01-01

A modified dc-diode ion plating system, by utilizing a metallic screen cage as a cathode, is introduced for coating nonconductors such as ceramics. Screen cage ion plating (SCIP) is used to apply Ag and Au lubricating films on aluminum oxide surfaces. This process has excellent ability to coat around corners to produce three-dimensional coverage of the substrate. A dramatic increase in adhesion is achieved when plating is performed in a reactive 50 percent O2 - 50 percent Ar glow discharge compared to the adhesion when plating is performed in 100 percent Ar. The presence of oxygen ion assistance contributes to the excellent adhesion as measured in a pull-type adhesion tester. The Ag and Au film adhesion is significantly increased (less than 70MPa) and generally exceeds the cohesion of the substrate such that portions of the alumina are pulled out.

High-power broadband organic THz generator.

PubMed

Jeong, Jae-Hyeok; Kang, Bong-Joo; Kim, Ji-Soo; Jazbinsek, Mojca; Lee, Seung-Heon; Lee, Seung-Chul; Baek, In-Hyung; Yun, Hoseop; Kim, Jongtaek; Lee, Yoon Sup; Lee, Jae-Hyeok; Kim, Jae-Ho; Rotermund, Fabian; Kwon, O-Pil

2013-11-13

The high-power broadband terahertz (THz) generator is an essential tool for a wide range of THz applications. Here, we present a novel highly efficient electro-optic quinolinium single crystal for THz wave generation. For obtaining intense and broadband THz waves by optical-to-THz frequency conversion, a quinolinium crystal was developed to fulfill all the requirements, which are in general extremely difficult to maintain simultaneously in a single medium, such as a large macroscopic electro-optic response and excellent crystal characteristics including a large crystal size with desired facets, good environmental stability, high optical quality, wide transparency range, and controllable crystal thickness. Compared to the benchmark inorganic and organic crystals, the new quinolinium crystal possesses excellent crystal properties and THz generation characteristics with broader THz spectral coverage and higher THz conversion efficiency at the technologically important pump wavelength of 800 nm. Therefore, the quinolinium crystal offers great potential for efficient and gap-free broadband THz wave generation.

Depolarization of an Ultrashort Pulse in a Disordered Ensemble of Mie Particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gorodnichev, E. E.; Ivliev, S. V.; Kuzovlev, A. I.; Rogozkin, D. B.

2017-12-01

We study propagation of an ultrashort pulse of polarized light through a turbid medium with the Reynolds-McCormick phase function. Within the basic mode approach to the vector radiative transfer equation, the temporal profile of the degree of polarization is calculated analytically with the use of the small-angle approximation. The degree of polarization is shown to be described by the self-similar dependence on some combination of the transport scattering coefficient, the temporal delay and the sample thickness. Our results are in excellent agreement with the data of numerical simulations carried out previously for aqueous suspension of polystyrene microspheres.

Coincident Occurrences of Tropical Individual Cirrus Clouds and Deep Convective Systems Derived from TRMM Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Bing; Xu, Kuan-Man; Minnis, Patrick; Wielicki, Bruce A.; Hu, Yongxiang; Chambers, Lin; Fan, Alice; Sun, Wenbo

2007-01-01

Measurements of cloud properties and atmospheric radiation taken between January and August 1998 by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite were used to investigate the effect of spatial and temporal scales on the coincident occurrences of tropical individual cirrus clouds (ICCs) and deep convective systems (DCSs). It is found that there is little or even negative correlation between instantaneous occurrences of ICC and DCS in small areas, in which both types of clouds cannot grow and expand simultaneously. When spatial and temporal domains are increased, ICCs become more dependent on DCSs due to the origination of many ICCs from DCSs and moisture supply from the DCS in the upper troposphere for the ICCs to grow, resulting in significant positive correlation between the two types of tropical high clouds in large spatial and long temporal scales. This result may suggest that the decrease of tropical high clouds with SST from model simulations is likely caused by restricted spatial domains and limited temporal periods. Finally, the radiative feedback due to the change in tropical high cloud area coverage with sea surface temperature appears small and about -0.14 W/sq m per degree Kelvin.

Evaluation of the global MODIS 30 arc-second spatially and temporally complete snow-free land surface albedo and reflectance anisotropy dataset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Qingsong; Wang, Zhuosen; Li, Zhan; Erb, Angela; Schaaf, Crystal B.

2017-06-01

Land surface albedo is an essential variable for surface energy and climate modeling as it describes the proportion of incident solar radiant flux that is reflected from the Earth's surface. To capture the temporal variability and spatial heterogeneity of the land surface, satellite remote sensing must be used to monitor albedo accurately at a global scale. However, large data gaps caused by cloud or ephemeral snow have slowed the adoption of satellite albedo products by the climate modeling community. To address the needs of this community, we used a number of temporal and spatial gap-filling strategies to improve the spatial and temporal coverage of the global land surface MODIS BRDF, albedo and NBAR products. A rigorous evaluation of the gap-filled values shows good agreement with original high quality data (RMSE = 0.027 for the NIR band albedo, 0.020 for the red band albedo). This global snow-free and cloud-free MODIS BRDF and albedo dataset (established from 2001 to 2015) offers unique opportunities to monitor and assess the impact of the changes on the Earth's land surface.

1988 Wet deposition temporal and spatial patterns in North America

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

Simpson, J.C.; Olsen, A.R.; Bittner, E.A.

1992-03-01

The focus of this report is on North American wet deposition temporal patterns from 1979 to 1988 and spatial patterns for 1988. It is the third in a series of reports that investigate the patterns of annual precipitation-weighted average concentration and annual deposition for nine ion species: hydrogen, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, calcium, chloride, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Mosaic maps, based on surface estimation using kriging, display concentration and deposition spatial patterns of pH, hydrogen, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and calcium ion species for 1988 annual, winter, and summer periods. Temporal pattern analyses use a subset of 35 sites over a 10-yearmore » (1979--1988) period and an expanded subset of 137 sites, with greater spatial coverage, over a 7-year (1982--1988) period. The 10-year period represents the longest period with wet deposition monitoring data available that has a sufficient number of sites with data of known quality to allow a descriptive summary of annual temporal patterns. Sen`s median trend estimate and Kendall`s seasonal tau (KST) test are calculated for each ion species concentration and deposition at each site in both subsets.« less

Demography and population status of polar bears in western Hudson Bay

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lunn, Nicholas J.; Regher, Eric V; Servanty, Sabrina; Converse, Sarah J.; Richardson, Evan S.; Stirling, Ian

2013-01-01

The 2011 abundance estimate from this analysis was 806 bears with a 95% Bayesian credible interval of 653-984. This is lower than, but broadly consistent with, the abundance estimate of 1,030 (95% confidence interval = 745-1406) from a 2011 aerial survey (Stapleton et al. 2014). The capture-recapture and aerial survey approaches have different spatial and temporal coverage of the WH subpopulation and, consequently, the effective study population considered by each approach is different.

Automated Topographic Change Detection via Dem Differencing at Large Scales Using The Arcticdem Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Candela, S. G.; Howat, I.; Noh, M. J.; Porter, C. C.; Morin, P. J.

2016-12-01

In the last decade, high resolution satellite imagery has become an increasingly accessible tool for geoscientists to quantify changes in the Arctic land surface due to geophysical, ecological and anthropomorphic processes. However, the trade off between spatial coverage and spatial-temporal resolution has limited detailed, process-level change detection over large (i.e. continental) scales. The ArcticDEM project utilized over 300,000 Worldview image pairs to produce a nearly 100% coverage elevation model (above 60°N) offering the first polar, high spatial - high resolution (2-8m by region) dataset, often with multiple repeats in areas of particular interest to geo-scientists. A dataset of this size (nearly 250 TB) offers endless new avenues of scientific inquiry, but quickly becomes unmanageable computationally and logistically for the computing resources available to the average scientist. Here we present TopoDiff, a framework for a generalized. automated workflow that requires minimal input from the end user about a study site, and utilizes cloud computing resources to provide a temporally sorted and differenced dataset, ready for geostatistical analysis. This hands-off approach allows the end user to focus on the science, without having to manage thousands of files, or petabytes of data. At the same time, TopoDiff provides a consistent and accurate workflow for image sorting, selection, and co-registration enabling cross-comparisons between research projects.

Wind turbine wake characterization from temporally disjunct 3-D measurements

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

Doubrawa, Paula; Barthelmie, Rebecca J.; Wang, Hui

Scanning LiDARs can be used to obtain three-dimensional wind measurements in and beyond the atmospheric surface layer. In this work, metrics characterizing wind turbine wakes are derived from LiDAR observations and from large-eddy simulation (LES) data, which are used to recreate the LiDAR scanning geometry. The metrics are calculated for two-dimensional planes in the vertical and cross-stream directions at discrete distances downstream of a turbine under single-wake conditions. The simulation data are used to estimate the uncertainty when mean wake characteristics are quantified from scanning LiDAR measurements, which are temporally disjunct due to the time that the instrument takes tomore » probe a large volume of air. Based on LES output, we determine that wind speeds sampled with the synthetic LiDAR are within 10% of the actual mean values and that the disjunct nature of the scan does not compromise the spatial variation of wind speeds within the planes. We propose scanning geometry density and coverage indices, which quantify the spatial distribution of the sampled points in the area of interest and are valuable to design LiDAR measurement campaigns for wake characterization. Lastly, we find that scanning geometry coverage is important for estimates of the wake center, orientation and length scales, while density is more important when seeking to characterize the velocity deficit distribution.« less

High-frame-rate full-vocal-tract 3D dynamic speech imaging.

PubMed

Fu, Maojing; Barlaz, Marissa S; Holtrop, Joseph L; Perry, Jamie L; Kuehn, David P; Shosted, Ryan K; Liang, Zhi-Pei; Sutton, Bradley P

2017-04-01

To achieve high temporal frame rate, high spatial resolution and full-vocal-tract coverage for three-dimensional dynamic speech MRI by using low-rank modeling and sparse sampling. Three-dimensional dynamic speech MRI is enabled by integrating a novel data acquisition strategy and an image reconstruction method with the partial separability model: (a) a self-navigated sparse sampling strategy that accelerates data acquisition by collecting high-nominal-frame-rate cone navigator sand imaging data within a single repetition time, and (b) are construction method that recovers high-quality speech dynamics from sparse (k,t)-space data by enforcing joint low-rank and spatiotemporal total variation constraints. The proposed method has been evaluated through in vivo experiments. A nominal temporal frame rate of 166 frames per second (defined based on a repetition time of 5.99 ms) was achieved for an imaging volume covering the entire vocal tract with a spatial resolution of 2.2 × 2.2 × 5.0 mm 3 . Practical utility of the proposed method was demonstrated via both validation experiments and a phonetics investigation. Three-dimensional dynamic speech imaging is possible with full-vocal-tract coverage, high spatial resolution and high nominal frame rate to provide dynamic speech data useful for phonetic studies. Magn Reson Med 77:1619-1629, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Wind turbine wake characterization from temporally disjunct 3-D measurements

DOE PAGES

Doubrawa, Paula; Barthelmie, Rebecca J.; Wang, Hui; ...

2016-11-10

Scanning LiDARs can be used to obtain three-dimensional wind measurements in and beyond the atmospheric surface layer. In this work, metrics characterizing wind turbine wakes are derived from LiDAR observations and from large-eddy simulation (LES) data, which are used to recreate the LiDAR scanning geometry. The metrics are calculated for two-dimensional planes in the vertical and cross-stream directions at discrete distances downstream of a turbine under single-wake conditions. The simulation data are used to estimate the uncertainty when mean wake characteristics are quantified from scanning LiDAR measurements, which are temporally disjunct due to the time that the instrument takes tomore » probe a large volume of air. Based on LES output, we determine that wind speeds sampled with the synthetic LiDAR are within 10% of the actual mean values and that the disjunct nature of the scan does not compromise the spatial variation of wind speeds within the planes. We propose scanning geometry density and coverage indices, which quantify the spatial distribution of the sampled points in the area of interest and are valuable to design LiDAR measurement campaigns for wake characterization. Lastly, we find that scanning geometry coverage is important for estimates of the wake center, orientation and length scales, while density is more important when seeking to characterize the velocity deficit distribution.« less

A Bayesian spatio-temporal model for forecasting Anaplasma species seroprevalence in domestic dogs within the contiguous United States.

PubMed

Liu, Yan; Watson, Stella C; Gettings, Jenna R; Lund, Robert B; Nordone, Shila K; Yabsley, Michael J; McMahan, Christopher S

2017-01-01

This paper forecasts the 2016 canine Anaplasma spp. seroprevalence in the United States from eight climate, geographic and societal factors. The forecast's construction and an assessment of its performance are described. The forecast is based on a spatial-temporal conditional autoregressive model fitted to over 11 million Anaplasma spp. seroprevalence test results for dogs conducted in the 48 contiguous United States during 2011-2015. The forecast uses county-level data on eight predictive factors, including annual temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, county elevation, forestation coverage, surface water coverage, population density and median household income. Non-static factors are extrapolated into the forthcoming year with various statistical methods. The fitted model and factor extrapolations are used to estimate next year's regional prevalence. The correlation between the observed and model-estimated county-by-county Anaplasma spp. seroprevalence for the five-year period 2011-2015 is 0.902, demonstrating reasonable model accuracy. The weighted correlation (accounting for different sample sizes) between 2015 observed and forecasted county-by-county Anaplasma spp. seroprevalence is 0.987, exhibiting that the proposed approach can be used to accurately forecast Anaplasma spp. seroprevalence. The forecast presented herein can a priori alert veterinarians to areas expected to see Anaplasma spp. seroprevalence beyond the accepted endemic range. The proposed methods may prove useful for forecasting other diseases.

A Bayesian spatio-temporal model for forecasting Anaplasma species seroprevalence in domestic dogs within the contiguous United States

PubMed Central

Liu, Yan; Watson, Stella C.; Gettings, Jenna R.; Lund, Robert B.; Nordone, Shila K.; McMahan, Christopher S.

2017-01-01

This paper forecasts the 2016 canine Anaplasma spp. seroprevalence in the United States from eight climate, geographic and societal factors. The forecast’s construction and an assessment of its performance are described. The forecast is based on a spatial-temporal conditional autoregressive model fitted to over 11 million Anaplasma spp. seroprevalence test results for dogs conducted in the 48 contiguous United States during 2011–2015. The forecast uses county-level data on eight predictive factors, including annual temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, county elevation, forestation coverage, surface water coverage, population density and median household income. Non-static factors are extrapolated into the forthcoming year with various statistical methods. The fitted model and factor extrapolations are used to estimate next year’s regional prevalence. The correlation between the observed and model-estimated county-by-county Anaplasma spp. seroprevalence for the five-year period 2011–2015 is 0.902, demonstrating reasonable model accuracy. The weighted correlation (accounting for different sample sizes) between 2015 observed and forecasted county-by-county Anaplasma spp. seroprevalence is 0.987, exhibiting that the proposed approach can be used to accurately forecast Anaplasma spp. seroprevalence. The forecast presented herein can a priori alert veterinarians to areas expected to see Anaplasma spp. seroprevalence beyond the accepted endemic range. The proposed methods may prove useful for forecasting other diseases. PMID:28738085

Trend analysis of the aerosol optical depth from fusion of MISR and MODIS retrievals over China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Jing; Gu, Xingfa; Yu, Tao; Cheng, Tianhai; Chen, Hao

2014-03-01

Atmospheric aerosol plays an important role in the climate change though direct and indirect processes. In order to evaluate the effects of aerosols on climate, it is necessary to have a research on their spatial and temporal distributions. Satellite aerosol remote sensing is a developing technology that may provide good temporal sampling and superior spatial coverage to study aerosols. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) have provided aerosol observations since 2000, with large coverage and high accuracy. However, due to the complex surface, cloud contamination, and aerosol models used in the retrieving process, the uncertainties still exist in current satellite aerosol products. There are several observed differences in comparing the MISR and MODIS AOD data with the AERONET AOD. Combing multiple sensors could reduce uncertainties and improve observational accuracy. The validation results reveal that a better agreement between fusion AOD and AERONET AOD. The results confirm that the fusion AOD values are more accurate than single sensor. We have researched the trend analysis of the aerosol properties over China based on nine-year (2002-2010) fusion data. Compared with trend analysis in Jingjintang and Yangtze River Delta, the accuracy has increased by 5% and 3%, respectively. It is obvious that the increasing trend of the AOD occurred in Yangtze River Delta, where human activities may be the main source of the increasing AOD.

"Rapid Revisit" Measurements of Sea Surface Winds Using CYGNSS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, J.; Johnson, J. T.

2017-12-01

The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) is a space-borne GNSS-R (GNSS-Reflectometry) mission that launched December 15, 2016 for ocean surface wind speed measurements. CYGNSS includes 8 small satellites in the same LEO orbit, so that the mission provides wind speed products having unprecedented coverage both in time and space to study multi-temporal behaviors of oceanic winds. The nature of CYGNSS coverage results in some locations on Earth experiencing multiple wind speed measurements within a short period of time (a "clump" of observations in time resulting in a "rapid revisit" series of measurements). Such observations could seemingly provide indications of regions experiencing rapid changes in wind speeds, and therefore be of scientific utility. Temporally "clumped" properties of CYGNSS measurements are investigated using early CYGNSS L1/L2 measurements, and the results show that clump durations and spacing vary with latitude. For example, the duration of a clump can extend as long as a few hours at higher latitudes, with gaps between clumps ranging from 6 to as high as 12 hours depending on latitude. Examples are provided to indicate the potential of changes within a clump to produce a "rapid revisit" product for detecting convective activity. Also, we investigate detector design for identifying convective activities. Results from analyses using recent CYGNSS L2 winds will be provided in the presentation.

The inferior, anterior temporal lobes and semantic memory clarified: novel evidence from distortion-corrected fMRI.

PubMed

Visser, M; Embleton, K V; Jefferies, E; Parker, G J; Ralph, M A Lambon

2010-05-01

The neural basis of semantic memory generates considerable debate. Semantic dementia results from bilateral anterior temporal lobe (ATL) atrophy and gives rise to a highly specific impairment of semantic memory, suggesting that this region is a critical neural substrate for semantic processing. Recent rTMS experiments with neurologically-intact participants also indicate that the ATL are a necessary substrate for semantic memory. Exactly which regions within the ATL are important for semantic memory are difficult to detect from these methods (because the damage in SD covers a large part of the ATL). Functional neuroimaging might provide important clues about which specific areas exhibit activation that correlates with normal semantic performance. Neuroimaging studies, however, have not consistently found anterior temporal lobe activation in semantic tasks. A recent meta-analysis indicates that this inconsistency may be due to a collection of technical limitations associated with previous studies, including a reduced field-of-view and magnetic susceptibility artefacts associated with standard gradient echo fMRI. We conducted an fMRI study of semantic memory using a combination of techniques which improve sensitivity to ATL activations whilst preserving whole-brain coverage. As expected from SD patients and ATL rTMS experiments, this method revealed bilateral temporal activation extending from the inferior temporal lobe along the fusiform gyrus to the anterior temporal regions, bilaterally. We suggest that the inferior, anterior temporal lobe region makes a crucial contribution to semantic cognition and utilising this version of fMRI will enable further research on the semantic role of the ATL. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estrellas de carbono galácticas en el VVV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merlo, D. C.

2015-08-01

One of the characteristics of carbon stars is their variability, which depends on the evolutionary state and mass. Therefore, the study of this property is relevant to explain the physical processes occurring in their atmospheres. The VVV survey provides an excellent opportunity to carry out this kind of analysis, as it allows to have deep infrared multi-epoch photometry in order to build high-quality light-curves. Here we present an implemented method for identifying galactic carbon stars within the coverage area of VVV and the first results obtained.

Decreasing Temporal Lobe Dose With Five-Field Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy for Treatment of Pituitary Macroadenomas

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

Parhar, Preeti K.; Duckworth, Tamara; Shah, Parinda

2010-10-01

Purpose: To compare temporal lobe dose delivered by three pituitary macroadenoma irradiation techniques: three-field three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT), three-field intensity-modulated radiotherapy (3F IMRT), and a proposed novel alternative of five-field IMRT (5F IMRT). Methods and Materials: Computed tomography-based external beam radiotherapy planning was performed for 15 pituitary macroadenoma patients treated at New York University between 2002 and 2007 using: 3D-CRT (two lateral, one midline superior anterior oblique [SAO] beams), 3F IMRT (same beam angles), and 5F IMRT (same beam angles with additional right SAO and left SAO beams). Prescription dose was 45 Gy. Target volumes were: gross tumor volume (GTV)more » = macroadenoma, clinical target volume (CTV) = GTV, and planning target volume = CTV + 0.5 cm. Structure contouring was performed by two radiation oncologists guided by an expert neuroradiologist. Results: Five-field IMRT yielded significantly decreased temporal lobe dose delivery compared with 3D-CRT and 3F IMRT. Temporal lobe sparing with 5F IMRT was most pronounced at intermediate doses: mean V25Gy (% of total temporal lobe volume receiving {>=}25 Gy) of 13% vs. 28% vs. 29% for right temporal lobe and 14% vs. 29% vs. 30% for left temporal lobe for 5F IMRT, 3D-CRT, and 3F IMRT, respectively (p < 10{sup -7} for 5F IMRT vs. 3D-CRT and 5F IMRT vs. 3F IMRT). Five-field IMRT plans did not compromise target coverage, exceed normal tissue dose constraints, or increase estimated brain integral dose. Conclusions: Five-field IMRT irradiation technique results in a statistically significant decrease in the dose to the temporal lobes and may thus help prevent neurocognitive sequelae in irradiated pituitary macroadenoma patients.« less

EEG microstates during resting represent personality differences.

PubMed

Schlegel, Felix; Lehmann, Dietrich; Faber, Pascal L; Milz, Patricia; Gianotti, Lorena R R

2012-01-01

We investigated the spontaneous brain electric activity of 13 skeptics and 16 believers in paranormal phenomena; they were university students assessed with a self-report scale about paranormal beliefs. 33-channel EEG recordings during no-task resting were processed as sequences of momentary potential distribution maps. Based on the maps at peak times of Global Field Power, the sequences were parsed into segments of quasi-stable potential distribution, the 'microstates'. The microstates were clustered into four classes of map topographies (A-D). Analysis of the microstate parameters time coverage, occurrence frequency and duration as well as the temporal sequence (syntax) of the microstate classes revealed significant differences: Believers had a higher coverage and occurrence of class B, tended to decreased coverage and occurrence of class C, and showed a predominant sequence of microstate concatenations from A to C to B to A that was reversed in skeptics (A to B to C to A). Microstates of different topographies, putative "atoms of thought", are hypothesized to represent different types of information processing.The study demonstrates that personality differences can be detected in resting EEG microstate parameters and microstate syntax. Microstate analysis yielded no conclusive evidence for the hypothesized relation between paranormal belief and schizophrenia.

Developing Toolsets for AirBorne Data (TAD): Overview of Design Concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parker, L.; Perez, J.; Chen, G.; Benson, A.; Peeters, M. C.

2013-12-01

NASA has conducted airborne tropospheric chemistry studies for about three decades. These field campaigns have generated a great wealth of observations, including a wide range of the trace gases and aerosol properties. Even though the spatial and temporal coverage is limited, the aircraft data offer high resolution and comprehensive simultaneous coverage of many variables, e.g. ozone precursors, intermediate photochemical species, and photochemical products. The recent NASA Earth Venture Program has generated an unprecedented amount of aircraft observations in terms of the sheer number of measurements and data volume. The ASDC Toolset for Airborne Data (TAD) is being designed to meet the user community needs for aircraft data for scientific research on climate change and air quality relevant issues, particularly: 1) Provide timely access to a broad user community, 2) Provide an intuitive user interface to facilitate quick discovery of the variables and data, 3) Provide data products and tools to facilitate model assessment activities, e.g., merge files and data subsetting capabilities, 4) Provide simple utility 'calculators', e.g., unit conversion and aerosol size distribution processing, and 5) Provide Web Coverage Service capable tools to enhance the data usability. The general strategy and design of TAD will be presented.

Three-Year Impacts Of The Affordable Care Act: Improved Medical Care And Health Among Low-Income Adults.

PubMed

Sommers, Benjamin D; Maylone, Bethany; Blendon, Robert J; Orav, E John; Epstein, Arnold M

2017-06-01

Major policy uncertainty continues to surround the Affordable Care Act (ACA) at both the state and federal levels. We assessed changes in health care use and self-reported health after three years of the ACA's coverage expansion, using survey data collected from low-income adults through the end of 2016 in three states: Kentucky, which expanded Medicaid; Arkansas, which expanded private insurance to low-income adults using the federal Marketplace; and Texas, which did not expand coverage. We used a difference-in-differences model with a control group and an instrumental variables model to provide individual-level estimates of the effects of gaining insurance. By the end of 2016 the uninsurance rate in the two expansion states had dropped by more than 20 percentage points relative to the nonexpansion state. For uninsured people gaining coverage, this change was associated with a 41-percentage-point increase in having a usual source of care, a $337 reduction in annual out-of-pocket spending, significant increases in preventive health visits and glucose testing, and a 23-percentage-point increase in "excellent" self-reported health. Among adults with chronic conditions, we found improvements in affordability of care, regular care for those conditions, medication adherence, and self-reported health. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Low-temperature-grown continuous graphene films from benzene by chemical vapor deposition at ambient pressure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jang, Jisu; Son, Myungwoo; Chung, Sunki; Kim, Kihyeun; Cho, Chunhum; Lee, Byoung Hun; Ham, Moon-Ho

2015-12-01

There is significant interest in synthesizing large-area graphene films at low temperatures by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) for nanoelectronic and flexible device applications. However, to date, low-temperature CVD methods have suffered from lower surface coverage because micro-sized graphene flakes are produced. Here, we demonstrate a modified CVD technique for the production of large-area, continuous monolayer graphene films from benzene on Cu at 100-300 °C at ambient pressure. In this method, we extended the graphene growth step in the absence of residual oxidizing species by introducing pumping and purging cycles prior to growth. This led to continuous monolayer graphene films with full surface coverage and excellent quality, which were comparable to those achieved with high-temperature CVD; for example, the surface coverage, transmittance, and carrier mobilities of the graphene grown at 300 °C were 100%, 97.6%, and 1,900-2,500 cm2 V-1 s-1, respectively. In addition, the growth temperature was substantially reduced to as low as 100 °C, which is the lowest temperature reported to date for pristine graphene produced by CVD. Our modified CVD method is expected to allow the direct growth of graphene in device manufacturing processes for practical applications while keeping underlying devices intact.

Challenges facing the United States of America in implementing universal coverage

PubMed Central

Unruh, Lynn Y; Rosenau, Pauline; Barnes, Andrew J; Saltman, Richard B; van Ginneken, Ewout

2014-01-01

Abstract In 2010, immediately before the United States of America (USA) implemented key features of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 18% of its residents younger than 65 years lacked health insurance. In the USA, gaps in health coverage and unhealthy lifestyles contribute to outcomes that often compare unfavourably with those observed in other high-income countries. By March 2014, the ACA had substantially changed health coverage in the USA but most of its main features – health insurance exchanges, Medicaid expansion, development of accountable care organizations and further oversight of insurance companies – remain works in progress. The ACA did not introduce the stringent spending controls found in many European health systems. It also explicitly prohibits the creation of institutes – for the assessment of the cost–effectiveness of pharmaceuticals, health services and technologies – comparable to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Haute Autorité de Santé in France or the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee in Australia. The ACA was – and remains – weakened by a lack of cross-party political consensus. The ACA’s performance and its resulting acceptability to the general public will be critical to the Act’s future. PMID:25552773

A climatology of polar stratospheric cloud composition between 2002 and 2012 based on MIPAS/Envisat observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spang, Reinhold; Hoffmann, Lars; Müller, Rolf; Grooß, Jens-Uwe; Tritscher, Ines; Höpfner, Michael; Pitts, Michael; Orr, Andrew; Riese, Martin

2018-04-01

The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) instrument aboard the European Space Agency (ESA) Envisat satellite operated from July 2002 to April 2012. The infrared limb emission measurements provide a unique dataset of day and night observations of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) up to both poles. A recent classification method for PSC types in infrared (IR) limb spectra using spectral measurements in different atmospheric window regions has been applied to the complete mission period of MIPAS. The method uses a simple probabilistic classifier based on Bayes' theorem with a strong independence assumption on a combination of a well-established two-colour ratio method and multiple 2-D probability density functions of brightness temperature differences. The Bayesian classifier distinguishes between solid particles of ice, nitric acid trihydrate (NAT), and liquid droplets of supercooled ternary solution (STS), as well as mixed types. A climatology of MIPAS PSC occurrence and specific PSC classes has been compiled. Comparisons with results from the classification scheme of the spaceborne lidar Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) on the Cloud-Aerosol-Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite show excellent correspondence in the spatial and temporal evolution for the area of PSC coverage (APSC) even for each PSC class. Probability density functions of the PSC temperature, retrieved for each class with respect to equilibrium temperature of ice and based on coincident temperatures from meteorological reanalyses, are in accordance with the microphysical knowledge of the formation processes with respect to temperature for all three PSC types.This paper represents unprecedented pole-covering day- and nighttime climatology of the PSC distributions and their composition of different particle types. The dataset allows analyses on the temporal and spatial development of the PSC formation process over multiple winters. At first view, a more general comparison of APSC and AICE retrieved from the observations and from the existence temperature for NAT and ice particles based on the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis temperature data shows the high potential of the climatology for the validation and improvement of PSC schemes in chemical transport and chemistry-climate models.

Temporal patterns of scientific information-seeking on Google and Wikipedia.

PubMed

Segev, Elad; Sharon, Aviv J

2017-11-01

In response to the news coverage of scientific events and to science education, people increasingly go online to get more information. This study investigates how patterns of science and technology information-seeking on Google and Wikipedia change over time, in ways that differ between "ad hoc" terms that correspond to news coverage and "cyclic" terms that correspond to the academic period. Findings show that the science and technology activity in Google and Wikipedia was significantly associated with ad hoc and cyclic patterns. While the peak activity in Google and Wikipedia largely overlapped for ad hoc terms, it mismatched for cyclic terms. The findings indicate the importance of external cues such as news media and education, and also of the online engagement process, and particularly the crucial but different role played by Google and Wikipedia in gaining science and technology knowledge. Educators and policy makers could benefit from taking into account those different patterns.

Vestibular evoked myogenic potential testing: Payment policy review for clinicians and payers.

PubMed

Fife, Terry D; Satya-Murti, Saty; Burkard, Robert F; Carey, John P

2018-04-01

A recent American Academy of Neurology Evidence-Based Practice Guideline on vestibular myogenic evoked potential (VEMP) testing has described superior canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS) and evaluated the merits of VEMP in its diagnosis. SCDS is an uncommon but now well-recognized cause of dizziness and auditory symptoms. This article familiarizes health care providers with this syndrome and the utility and shortcomings of VEMP as a diagnostic test and also explores payment policies for VEMP. In carefully selected patients with documented history compatible with the SCDS, both high-resolution temporal bone CT scan and VEMP are valuable aids for diagnosis. Payers might be unfamiliar with both this syndrome and VEMP testing. It is important to raise awareness of VEMP and its possible indications and the rationale for coverage of VEMP testing. Payers may not be readily receptive to VEMP coverage if this test is used in an undifferentiated manner for all common vestibular and auditory symptoms.

Mars NanoOrbiter: A CubeSat for Mars System Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ehlmann, Bethany; Klesh, Andrew; Alsedairy, Talal

2017-10-01

The Mars NanoOrbiter mission consists of two identical 12U spacecraft, launched simultaneously as secondary payloads on a larger planetary mission launch, and deployed to Earth-escape, as early as with Mars 2020. The nominal mission will last for 1 year, during which time the craft will independently navigate to Mars, enter into elliptical orbit, and achieve close flybys of Phobos and Deimos, obtaining unprecedented coverage of each moon. The craft will additionally provide high temporal resolution data of Mars clouds and atmospheric phenomena at multiple times of day. Two spacecraft provide redundancy to reduce the risk in meeting the science objectives at the Mars moons and enhanced coverage of the dynamic Mars atmosphere. This technology is enabled by recent advances in CubeSat propulsion technology, attitude control systems, guidance, navigation and control. NanoOrbiter builds directly on the systems heritage of the MarCO mission, scheduled to launch with the 2018 Discovery mission Insight.

Multi-regional synthesis of temporal trends in biotic assemblages in streams and rivers of the continental United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Miller, Matthew P.; Brasher, Anne M.D.; Keenen, Jonathan G.

2013-01-01

Biotic assemblages in aquatic ecosystems are excellent integrators and indicators of changing environmental conditions within a watershed. Therefore, temporal changes in abiotic environmental variables often can be inferred from temporal changes in biotic assemblages. Algae, macroinvertebrate, and fish assemblage data were collected from 91 sampling sites in 4 geographic regions (northeastern/north-central, southeastern, south-central, and western), collectively encompassing the continental United States, from 1993 to 2009 as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program. This report uses a multivariate approach to synthesize temporal trends in biotic assemblages and correlations with relevant abiotic parameters as a function of biotic assemblage, geographic region, and land use. Of the three groups of biota, algal assemblages had temporal trends at the greatest percentage of sites. Of the regions, a greater percentage of sites in the northeastern/north-central and western regions had temporal trends in biotic assemblages. In terms of land use, a greater percentage of watersheds draining agricultural, urban, and undeveloped areas had significant temporal changes in biota, as compared to watersheds with mixed use. Correlations between biotic assemblages and abiotic variables indicate that, in general, macroinvertebrate assemblages correlated with water quality and fish assemblages correlated with physical habitat. Taken together, results indicate that there are regional differences in how individual biotic assemblages (algae, macroinvertebrates, and fish) respond to different abiotic drivers of change.

High-resolution Monthly Satellite Precipitation Product over the Conterminous United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hashemi, H.; Fayne, J.; Knight, R. J.; Lakshmi, V.

2017-12-01

We present a data set that enhanced the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) monthly product 3B43 in its accuracy and spatial resolution. For this, we developed a correction function to improve the accuracy of TRMM 3B43, spatial resolution of 25 km, by estimating and removing the bias in the satellite data using a ground-based precipitation data set. We observed a strong relationship between the bias and land surface elevation; TRMM 3B43 tends to underestimate the ground-based product at elevations above 1500 m above mean sea level (m.amsl) over the conterminous United States. A relationship was developed between satellite bias and elevation. We then resampled TRMM 3B43 to the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data set at a spatial resolution of 30 arc second ( 1 km on the ground). The produced high-resolution satellite-based data set was corrected using the developed correction function based on the bias-elevation relationship. Assuming that each rain gauge represents an area of 1 km2, we verified our product against 9,200 rain gauges across the conterminous United States. The new product was compared with the gauges, which have 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100% temporal coverage within the TRMM period of 1998 to 2015. Comparisons between the high-resolution corrected satellite-based data and gauges showed an excellent agreement. The new product captured more detail in the changes in precipitation over the mountainous region than the original TRMM 3B43.

Data fusion in data scarce areas using a back-propagation artificial neural network model: a case study of the South China Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zheng; Mao, Zhihua; Xia, Junshi; Du, Peijun; Shi, Liangliang; Huang, Haiqing; Wang, Tianyu; Gong, Fang; Zhu, Qiankun

2018-06-01

The cloud cover for the South China Sea and its coastal area is relatively large throughout the year, which limits the potential application of optical remote sensing. A HJ-charge-coupled device (HJ-CCD) has the advantages of wide field, high temporal resolution, and short repeat cycle. However, this instrument suffers from its use of only four relatively low-quality bands which can't adequately resolve the features of long wavelengths. The Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper-plus (ETM+) provides high-quality data, however, the Scan Line Corrector (SLC) stopped working and caused striping of remote sensed images, which dramatically reduced the coverage of the ETM+ data. In order to combine the advantages of the HJ-CCD and Landsat ETM+ data, we adopted a back-propagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN) to fuse these two data types for this study. The results showed that the fused output data not only have the advantage of data intactness for the HJ-CCD, but also have the advantages of the multi-spectral and high radiometric resolution of the ETM+ data. Moreover, the fused data were analyzed qualitatively, quantitatively and from a practical application point of view. Experimental studies indicated that the fused data have a full spatial distribution, multi-spectral bands, high radiometric resolution, a small difference between the observed and fused output data, and a high correlation between the observed and fused data. The excellent performance in its practical application is a further demonstration that the fused data are of high quality.

Limitations of signal averaging due to temporal correlation in laser remote-sensing measurements.

PubMed

Menyuk, N; Killinger, D K; Menyuk, C R

1982-09-15

Laser remote sensing involves the measurement of laser-beam transmission through the atmosphere and is subject to uncertainties caused by strong fluctuations due primarily to speckle, glint, and atmospheric-turbulence effects. These uncertainties are generally reduced by taking average values of increasing numbers of measurements. An experiment was carried out to directly measure the effect of signal averaging on back-scattered laser return signals from a diffusely reflecting target using a direct-detection differential-absorption lidar (DIAL) system. The improvement in accuracy obtained by averaging over increasing numbers of data points was found to be smaller than that predicted for independent measurements. The experimental results are shown to be in excellent agreement with a theoretical analysis which considers the effect of temporal correlation. The analysis indicates that small but long-term temporal correlation severely limits the improvement available through signal averaging.

Comparison of Three Real-Time Measurement Methods for Airborne Ultrafine Particles in the Silicon Alloy Industry.

PubMed

Kero, Ida Teresia; Jørgensen, Rikke Bramming

2016-09-01

The aim of this study was to compare the applicability and the correlation between three commercially available instruments capable of detection, quantification, and characterization of ultrafine airborne particulate matter in the industrial setting of a tapping area in a silicon alloy production plant. The number concentration of ultrafine particles was evaluated using an Electric Low Pressure Impactor (ELPI(TM)), a Fast Mobility Particle Sizer (FMPS(TM)), and a Condensation Particle Counter (CPC). The results are discussed in terms of particle size distribution and temporal variations linked to process operations. The instruments show excellent temporal covariation and the correlation between the FMPS and ELPI is good. The advantage of the FMPS is the excellent time- and size resolution of the results. The main advantage of the ELPI is the possibility to collect size-fractionated samples of the dust for subsequent analysis by, for example, electron microscopy. The CPC does not provide information about the particle size distribution and its correlation to the other two instruments is somewhat poor. Nonetheless, the CPC gives basic, real-time information about the ultrafine particle concentration and can therefore be used for source identification.

Comparison of Three Real-Time Measurement Methods for Airborne Ultrafine Particles in the Silicon Alloy Industry

PubMed Central

Kero, Ida Teresia; Jørgensen, Rikke Bramming

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to compare the applicability and the correlation between three commercially available instruments capable of detection, quantification, and characterization of ultrafine airborne particulate matter in the industrial setting of a tapping area in a silicon alloy production plant. The number concentration of ultrafine particles was evaluated using an Electric Low Pressure Impactor (ELPITM), a Fast Mobility Particle Sizer (FMPSTM), and a Condensation Particle Counter (CPC). The results are discussed in terms of particle size distribution and temporal variations linked to process operations. The instruments show excellent temporal covariation and the correlation between the FMPS and ELPI is good. The advantage of the FMPS is the excellent time- and size resolution of the results. The main advantage of the ELPI is the possibility to collect size-fractionated samples of the dust for subsequent analysis by, for example, electron microscopy. The CPC does not provide information about the particle size distribution and its correlation to the other two instruments is somewhat poor. Nonetheless, the CPC gives basic, real-time information about the ultrafine particle concentration and can therefore be used for source identification. PMID:27598180

Hydrogenated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and the 2940 and 2850 Wavenumber (3.40 and 3.51 micron) Infrared Emission Features

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bernstein, Max P.; Sandford, Scott A.; Allamadola, Louis J.

1996-01-01

The 3150-2700/cm (3.17-3.70 micron) range of the spectra of a number of Ar-matrix-isolated PAHs containing excess H atoms (H(sub n)-PAHS) are presented. This region covers features produced by aromatic and aliphatic C-H stretching vibrations as well as overtone and combination bands involving lower lying fundamentals. The aliphatic C-H stretches in molecules of this type having low to modest excess H coverage provide excellent fits to a number of the weak emission features superposed on the plateau between 3080 and 2700/cm (3.25 and 3.7 micron) in the spectra of many planetary nebulae, reflection nebulae, and H II regions. Higher H coverage is implied for a few objects. We compare these results in context with the other suggested identifications of the emission features in the 2950-2700/cm (3.39-3.70 micron) region and briefly discuss their astrophysical implications.

Application of remote sensing technology to land evaluation, planning utilization of land resources, and assessment of wildlife areas in eastern South Dakota

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

A soils map for land evaluation in Potter County (Eastern South Dakota) was developed to demonstrate the use of remote sensing technology in the area of diverse parent materials and topography. General land use and soils maps have also been developed for land planning LANDSAT, RB-57 imagery, and USGS photographs are being evaluated for making soils and land use maps. LANDSAT fulfilled the requirements for general land use and a general soils map. RB-57 imagery supplemented by large scale black and white stereo coverage was required to provide the detail needed for the final soils map for land evaluation. Color infrared prints excelled black and white coverage for this soil mapping effort. An identification and classification key for wetland types in the Lake Dakota Plain was developed for June 1975 using color infrared imagery. Wetland types in the region are now being mapped via remote sensing techniques to provide a current inventory for development of mitigation measures.

Incidence of congenital syphilis in Brazil and its relationship with the Family Health Strategy.

PubMed

Araújo, Cinthia Lociks de; Shimizu, Helena Eri; Sousa, Artur Iuri Alves de; Hamann, Edgar Merchán

2012-06-01

To estimate the incidence of congenital syphilis and identify its relationship with Family Health Strategy coverage. An observational ecological study was carried out with both descriptive and analytical components, by two different approaches: one that explores a temporal series (2003 to 2008) and one that focuses on the 2008 data. The secondary data (epidemiological, demographic, and socioeconomic) were obtained from the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Analysis of the possible effects of the implementation of the Family Health Strategy on the prevention of congenital syphilis was performed on selected subgroups of counties according to two approaches: a) the variation of the average annual rate of incidence of congenital syphilis in different strata of Family Health Program coverage between 2003 and 2008 and the calculation of the simple linear regression coefficient; and b) a negative binomial regression analysis of data from 2008 to control for confounding factors. Increasingly trends of congenital syphilis notification in Brazil reflect social inequalities in the distribution of cases. The incidence of congenital syphilis was lower in the counties with high Family Health Strategy coverage; however, after controlling for the co-variables, such an effect might be attributed to the coverage of prenatal care and the demographic characteristics of the counties where the implementation of the Strategy was a priority. Despite the increase in prenatal care coverage, the actions implemented still exhibit low effectiveness in the prevention of congenital syphilis. Prenatal care performed by Family Health Strategy teams did not control syphilis better than the prenatal care performed within the context of other models of assistance.

[Spatio-temporal distribution of carabids and spiders between semi-natural field margin and the adjacent crop fields in agricultural landscape].

PubMed

Zhang, Xu Zhu; Han, Yin; Yu, Zhen Rong; Liu, Yun Hui

2017-06-18

This study was conducted before and after harvesting of wheat and maize in a typical agricultural landscape of the North China Plain. We investigated the diversity of two important natural enemy groups, carabids and spiders, using pitfall traps at crop field margin with different vegetation structures and their neighboring crop field. Throughout the comparison of the spatial and temporal distribution of the diversity of carabids and spiders in field margin and neighboring field, and the investigation of the relationship between arthropod communities and vegetation structure, this study aimed to understand the role of semi-natural field margin in biodiversity conservation of different natural enemy taxa. Results showed that the abundance of spiders was significantly higher in field margin than in neighboring fields over the entire period. No significant difference of the diversity of carabids in field margin and crop field was observed, but the community composition was different. Number of spider families increased in field margin but deceased in crop field after harvesting, indicating a migration activity between field and field margin. Vegetation structure in the field margin had different association with carabids than with spiders, with diversity of dominant carabid species positively associated with herb coverage and negatively with wood coverage, while the diversity of spider family Linyphiidae was positively associated with herb coverage only. Semi-natural habitat benefited the conservation of the diversity of arthropod natural enemies in crop field via promoting their dispersal to crop field, while such impacts differed from different vegetation structures and varied from target beneficial natural enemy communities. Future studies should focus on in-depth understanding of the food and habitat source requirement of different natural enemy taxa, and hence to design suitable semi-natural habitats to maintain a high diversity of natural enemy communities.

Sexual Recruitment in Zostera marina: Progress toward a Predictive Model.

PubMed

Furman, Bradley T; Peterson, Bradley J

2015-01-01

Ecophysiological stress and physical disturbance are capable of structuring meadows through a combination of direct biomass removal and recruitment limitation; however, predicting these effects at landscape scales has rarely been successful. To model environmental influence on sexual recruitment in perennial Zostera marina, we selected a sub-tidal, light-replete study site with seasonal extremes in temperature and wave energy. During an 8-year observation period, areal coverage increased from 4.8 to 42.7%. Gains were stepwise in pattern, attributable to annual recruitment of patches followed by centrifugal growth and coalescence. Recruitment varied from 13 to 4,894 patches per year. Using a multiple linear regression approach, we examined the association between patch appearance and relative wave energy, atmospheric condition and water temperature. Two models were developed, one appropriate for the dispersal of naked seeds, and another for rafted flowers. Results indicated that both modes of sexual recruitment varied as functions of wind, temperature, rainfall and wave energy, with a regime shift in wind-wave energy corresponding to periods of rapid colonization within our site. Temporal correlations between sexual recruitment and time-lagged climatic summaries highlighted floral induction, seed bank and small patch development as periods of vulnerability. Given global losses in seagrass coverage, regions of recovery and re-colonization will become increasingly important. Lacking landscape-scale process models for seagrass recruitment, temporally explicit statistical approaches presented here could be used to forecast colonization trajectories and to provide managers with real-time estimates of future meadow performance; i.e., when to expect a good year in terms of seagrass expansion. To facilitate use as forecasting tools, we did not use statistical composites or normalized variables as our predictors. This study, therefore, represents a first step toward linking remotely acquired environmental data to sexual recruitment, an important measure of seagrass performance that translates directly into landscape-scale coverage change.

Sexual Recruitment in Zostera marina: Progress toward a Predictive Model

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Ecophysiological stress and physical disturbance are capable of structuring meadows through a combination of direct biomass removal and recruitment limitation; however, predicting these effects at landscape scales has rarely been successful. To model environmental influence on sexual recruitment in perennial Zostera marina, we selected a sub-tidal, light-replete study site with seasonal extremes in temperature and wave energy. During an 8-year observation period, areal coverage increased from 4.8 to 42.7%. Gains were stepwise in pattern, attributable to annual recruitment of patches followed by centrifugal growth and coalescence. Recruitment varied from 13 to 4,894 patches per year. Using a multiple linear regression approach, we examined the association between patch appearance and relative wave energy, atmospheric condition and water temperature. Two models were developed, one appropriate for the dispersal of naked seeds, and another for rafted flowers. Results indicated that both modes of sexual recruitment varied as functions of wind, temperature, rainfall and wave energy, with a regime shift in wind-wave energy corresponding to periods of rapid colonization within our site. Temporal correlations between sexual recruitment and time-lagged climatic summaries highlighted floral induction, seed bank and small patch development as periods of vulnerability. Given global losses in seagrass coverage, regions of recovery and re-colonization will become increasingly important. Lacking landscape-scale process models for seagrass recruitment, temporally explicit statistical approaches presented here could be used to forecast colonization trajectories and to provide managers with real-time estimates of future meadow performance; i.e., when to expect a good year in terms of seagrass expansion. To facilitate use as forecasting tools, we did not use statistical composites or normalized variables as our predictors. This study, therefore, represents a first step toward linking remotely acquired environmental data to sexual recruitment, an important measure of seagrass performance that translates directly into landscape-scale coverage change. PMID:26368792

Linking the response of bacterial populations to plant development through analysis of rhizosphere-competence traits of soil bacteria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, H. J.; Karaoz, U.; Zhalnina, K.; Firestone, M. K.; Brodie, E.

2016-12-01

A growing plant root exudes changing combinations of compounds including root litter and other detritus throughout its developmental stages, providing a major source of organic C for rhizosphere bacteria. Clear patterns of microbial succession have been observed in the rhizosphere of a number of plants. These patterns of microbial succession are likely key to the processing of soil organic carbon and nutrient recycling. What is less well understood are the microbial traits, or combinations of traits, selected for during plant development. Are these traits or trait-combinations conserved, and is phylogeny a useful integrator of traits? Understanding the mechanisms underlying ecological succession would enable improved prediction of future rhizosphere states and consequences for C and nutrient cycles. In this study, we resolve the responses of rhizosphere bacteria at strain-level during plant (Avena fatua) developmental stages using both isolation and metagenomic approaches. Metagenome reads from bulk and rhizosphere soils were mapped to the genomes of thirty nine bacterial isolates numerically abundant ( 0.5% in relative abundance) and phylogenetically representative of these soils, and also to ninety six metagenome-derived genome bins. Analysis of temporal coverage patterns demonstrate that bacteria can be classified as positive and negative rhizosphere responders, with traits associated with root exudate utilization being important. Significant strain level diversity was observed and variance in the temporal coverage patterns further distinguished closely related strains of the same genera. For example, while a number of strains from the Bradyrhizobia, Mesorhizobia and Mycobacteria all increased in coverage with root growth, suggesting that recently acquired traits are selected for. Candidate traits distinguishing closely related strains included those related to xylose and other plant cell-wall derived sugar utilization, motility and aromatic organic acid utilization. These combinations of traits act together to influence rhizosphere bacterial succession, and developing linkages to other traits related to carbon and nutrient cycling will be key to understanding the feedbacks between plant response to environmental change and soil biogeochemical cycles.

CT cardiac imaging: evolution from 2D to 3D backprojection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Xiangyang; Pan, Tinsu; Sasaki, Kosuke

2004-04-01

The state-of-the-art multiple detector-row CT, which usually employs fan beam reconstruction algorithms by approximating a cone beam geometry into a fan beam geometry, has been well recognized as an important modality for cardiac imaging. At present, the multiple detector-row CT is evolving into volumetric CT, in which cone beam reconstruction algorithms are needed to combat cone beam artifacts caused by large cone angle. An ECG-gated cardiac cone beam reconstruction algorithm based upon the so-called semi-CB geometry is implemented in this study. To get the highest temporal resolution, only the projection data corresponding to 180° plus the cone angle are row-wise rebinned into the semi-CB geometry for three-dimensional reconstruction. Data extrapolation is utilized to extend the z-coverage of the ECG-gated cardiac cone beam reconstruction algorithm approaching the edge of a CT detector. A helical body phantom is used to evaluate the ECG-gated cone beam reconstruction algorithm"s z-coverage and capability of suppressing cone beam artifacts. Furthermore, two sets of cardiac data scanned by a multiple detector-row CT scanner at 16 x 1.25 (mm) and normalized pitch 0.275 and 0.3 respectively are used to evaluate the ECG-gated CB reconstruction algorithm"s imaging performance. As a reference, the images reconstructed by a fan beam reconstruction algorithm for multiple detector-row CT are also presented. The qualitative evaluation shows that, the ECG-gated cone beam reconstruction algorithm outperforms its fan beam counterpart from the perspective of cone beam artifact suppression and z-coverage while the temporal resolution is well maintained. Consequently, the scan speed can be increased to reduce the contrast agent amount and injection time, improve the patient comfort and x-ray dose efficiency. Based up on the comparison, it is believed that, with the transition of multiple detector-row CT into volumetric CT, ECG-gated cone beam reconstruction algorithms will provide better image quality for CT cardiac applications.

Relationship between Guillain-Barré syndrome, influenza-related hospitalizations, and influenza vaccine coverage.

PubMed

Iqbal, Shahed; Li, Rongxia; Gargiullo, Paul; Vellozzi, Claudia

2015-04-21

Some studies reported an increased risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) within six weeks of influenza vaccination. It has also been suggested that this finding could have been confounded by influenza illnesses. We explored the complex relationship between influenza illness, influenza vaccination, and GBS, from an ecologic perspective using nationally representative data. We also studied seasonal patterns for GBS hospitalizations. Monthly hospitalization data (2000-2009) for GBS, and pneumonia and influenza (P&I) in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample were included. Seasonal influenza vaccination coverage for 2004-2005 through the 2008-2009 influenza seasons (August-May) was estimated from the National Health Interview Survey data. GBS seasonality was determined using Poisson regression. GBS and P&I temporal clusters were identified using scan statistics. The association between P&I and GBS hospitalizations in the same month (concurrent) or in the following month (lagged) were determined using negative binomial regression. Vaccine coverage increased over the years (from 19.7% during 2004-2005 to 35.5% during 2008-2009 season) but GBS hospitalization did not follow a similar pattern. Overall, a significant correlation between monthly P&I and GBS hospitalizations was observed (Spearman's correlation coefficient=0.7016, p<0.0001). A significant (p=0.001) cluster of P&I hospitalizations during December 2004-March 2005 overlapped a significant (p=0.001) cluster of GBS hospitalizations during January 2005-February 2005. After accounting for effects of monthly vaccine coverage and age, P&I hospitalization was significantly associated (p<0.0001) with GBS hospitalization in the concurrent month but not with GBS hospitalization in the following month. Monthly vaccine coverage was not associated with GBS hospitalization in adjusted models (both concurrent and lagged). GBS hospitalizations demonstrated a seasonal pattern with winter months having higher rates compared to the month of June. P&I hospitalization rates were significantly correlated with hospitalization rates for GBS. Vaccine coverage did not significantly affect the rates of GBS hospitalization at the population level. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

An experiment to study energetic particle fluxes in and beyond the earth's outer magnetosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, K. A.; Lin, R. P.; Paoli, R. J.; Parks, G. K.; Lin, C. S.; Reme, H.; Bosqued, J. M.; Martel, F.; Cotin, F.; Cros, A.

1978-01-01

This experiment is designed to take advantage of the ISEE Mother/Daughter dual spacecraft system to study energetic particle phenomena in the earth's outer magnetosphere and beyond. Large geometric factor fixed voltage electrostatic analyzers and passively cooled semiconductor detector telescopes provide high time resolution coverage of the energy range from 1.5 to 300 keV for both ions and electrons. Essentially identical instrumentation is placed on the two spacecraft to separate temporal from spatial effects in the observed particle phenomena.

A Japanese plan: Large radio heliograph in the solar max no. 22

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Enome, Shinzo

1986-01-01

An outline as of February, 1986 is briefly described of a Japanese plan to construct a large radio heliograph in the next solar maximum. The principal performance specifications of the heliograph are 10 arsec by 10 arcsec x SEC(Zenith Distance) spatial resolution, 1 arc degree by 1 arc degree field of view, 1-sec temporal resolution, and six hour coverage of observing time. It will be operated at 17 GHz with possible other frequency of 35GHz.

JESTR: Jupiter Exploration Science in the Time Regime

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Noll, Keith S.; Simon-Miller, A. A.; Wong, M. H.; Choi, D. S.

2012-01-01

Solar system objects are inherently time-varying with changes that occur on timescales ranging from seconds to years. For all planets other than the Earth, temporal coverage of atmospheric phenomena is limited and sparse. Many important atmospheric phenomena, especially those related to atmospheric dynamics, can be studied in only very limited ways with current data. JESTR is a mission concept that would remedy this gap in our exploration of the solar system by ncar-continuous imaging and spectral monitoring of Jupiter over a multi-year mission lifetime.

A comprehensive approach to evaluating and classifying sun-protective clothing.

PubMed

Downs, N J; Harrison, S L

2018-04-01

National standards for clothing designed to protect the wearer from the harmful effects of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) have been implemented in Australia/New Zealand, Europe and the U.S.A. Industry standards reflect the need to protect the skin by covering a considerable proportion of the potentially exposed body surface area (BSA) and by reducing UVR-transmission through fabric (the Ultraviolet Protection Factor; UPF). This research aimed to develop a new index for rating sun-protective clothing that incorporates the BSA coverage of the garment in addition to the UPF of the fabric. A mannequin model was fixed to an optical bench and marked with horizontal lines at 1-cm intervals. An algorithm (the Garment Protector Factor; GPF) was developed based on the number of lines visible on the clothed vs. unclothed mannequin and the UPF of the garment textile. This data was collected in 2015/16 and analysed in 2016. The GPF weights fabric UPF by BSA coverage above the minimum required by international sun-protective clothing standards for upper-body, lower-body and full-body garments. The GPF increases with BSA coverage of the garment and fabric UPF. Three nominal categories are proposed for the GPF: 0 ≤ GPF < 3 for garments that 'meet' minimum standards; 3 ≤ GPF < 6 for garments providing 'good' sun protection; and GPF ≥ 6 indicating 'excellent' protection. Adoption of the proposed rating scheme should encourage manufacturers to design sun-protective garments that exceed the minimum standard for BSA coverage, with positive implications for skin cancer prevention, consumer education and sun-protection awareness. © 2017 British Association of Dermatologists.

How much does it cost to achieve coverage targets for primary healthcare services? A costing model from Aceh, Indonesia.

PubMed

Abdullah, Asnawi; Hort, Krishna; Abidin, Azwar Zaenal; Amin, Fadilah M

2012-01-01

Despite significant investment in improving service infrastructure and training of staff, public primary healthcare services in low-income and middle-income countries tend to perform poorly in reaching coverage targets. One of the factors identified in Aceh, Indonesia was the lack of operational funds for service provision. The objective of this study was to develop a simple and transparent costing tool that enables health planners to calculate the unit costs of providing basic health services to estimate additional budgets required to deliver services in accordance with national targets. The tool was developed using a standard economic approach that linked the input activities to achieving six national priority programs at primary healthcare level: health promotion, sanitation and environment health, maternal and child health and family planning, nutrition, immunization and communicable diseases control, and treatment of common illness. Costing was focused on costs of delivery of the programs that need to be funded by local government budgets. The costing tool consisting of 16 linked Microsoft Excel worksheets was developed and tested in several districts enabled the calculation of the unit costs of delivering of the six national priority programs per coverage target of each program (such as unit costs of delivering of maternal and child health program per pregnant mother). This costing tool can be used by health planners to estimate additional money required to achieve a certain level of coverage of programs, and it can be adjusted for different costs and program delivery parameters in different settings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Genome-wide ancestry and divergence patterns from low-coverage sequencing data reveal a complex history of admixture in wild baboons

PubMed Central

Wall, Jeffrey D; Schlebusch, Stephen A; Alberts, Susan C; Cox, Laura A; Snyder-Mackler, Noah; Nevonen, Kimberly; Carbone, Lucia; Tung, Jenny

2017-01-01

Naturally occurring admixture has now been documented in every major primate lineage, suggesting its key role in primate evolutionary history. Active primate hybrid zones can provide valuable insight into this process. Here, we investigate the history of admixture in one of the best-studied natural primate hybrid zones, between yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus) and anubis baboons (Papio anubis) in the Amboseli ecosystem of Kenya. We generated a new genome assembly for yellow baboon and low coverage genome-wide resequencing data from yellow baboons, anubis baboons, and known hybrids (n=44). Using a novel composite likelihood method for estimating local ancestry from low coverage data, we found high levels of genetic diversity and genetic differentiation between the parent taxa, and excellent agreement between genome-scale ancestry estimates and a priori pedigree, life history, and morphology-based estimates (r2=0.899). However, even putatively unadmixed Amboseli yellow individuals carried a substantial proportion of anubis ancestry, presumably due to historical admixture. Further, the distribution of shared versus fixed differences between a putatively unadmixed Amboseli yellow baboon and an unadmixed anubis baboon, both sequenced at high coverage, are inconsistent with simple isolation-migration or equilibrium migration models. Our findings suggest a complex process of intermittent contact that has occurred multiple times in baboon evolutionary history, despite no obvious fitness costs to hybrids or major geographic or behavioral barriers. In combination with the extensive phenotypic data available for baboon hybrids, our results provide valuable context for understanding the history of admixture in primates, including in our own lineage. PMID:27145036

High-resolution whole-brain DCE-MRI using constrained reconstruction: Prospective clinical evaluation in brain tumor patients

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

Guo, Yi, E-mail: yiguo@usc.edu; Zhu, Yinghua; Lingala, Sajan Goud

Purpose: To clinically evaluate a highly accelerated T1-weighted dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI technique that provides high spatial resolution and whole-brain coverage via undersampling and constrained reconstruction with multiple sparsity constraints. Methods: Conventional (rate-2 SENSE) and experimental DCE-MRI (rate-30) scans were performed 20 minutes apart in 15 brain tumor patients. The conventional clinical DCE-MRI had voxel dimensions 0.9 × 1.3 × 7.0 mm{sup 3}, FOV 22 × 22 × 4.2 cm{sup 3}, and the experimental DCE-MRI had voxel dimensions 0.9 × 0.9 × 1.9 mm{sup 3}, and broader coverage 22 × 22 × 19 cm{sup 3}. Temporal resolution was 5 smore » for both protocols. Time-resolved images and blood–brain barrier permeability maps were qualitatively evaluated by two radiologists. Results: The experimental DCE-MRI scans showed no loss of qualitative information in any of the cases, while achieving substantially higher spatial resolution and whole-brain spatial coverage. Average qualitative scores (from 0 to 3) were 2.1 for the experimental scans and 1.1 for the conventional clinical scans. Conclusions: The proposed DCE-MRI approach provides clinically superior image quality with higher spatial resolution and coverage than currently available approaches. These advantages may allow comprehensive permeability mapping in the brain, which is especially valuable in the setting of large lesions or multiple lesions spread throughout the brain.« less

Cosmetic and functional reconstruction achieved using a split myofascial bone flap for pterional craniotomy. Technical note.

PubMed

Matsumoto, K; Akagi, K; Abekura, M; Ohkawa, M; Tasaki, O; Tomishima, T

2001-04-01

Cosmetic deformities that appear following pterional craniotomy are usually caused by temporal muscle atrophy, injury to the frontotemporal branch of the facial nerve, or bone pits in the craniotomy line. To resolve these problems during pterional craniotomy, an alternative method was developed in which a split myofascial bone flap and a free bone flap are used. The authors have used this method in the treatment of 40 patients over the last 3 years. Excellent cosmetic and functional results have been obtained. This method can provide wide exposure similar to that achieved using Yaşargil's interfascial pterional craniotomy, without limiting the operative field with a bulky temporal muscle flap.

Spatial Metadata for Global Change Investigations Using Remote Sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Emerson, Charles W.; Quattrochi, Dale A.; Lam, Nina Siu-Ngan; Arnold, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Satellite and aircraft-borne remote sensors have gathered petabytes of data over the past 30+ years. These images are an important resource for establishing cause and effect relationships between human-induced land cover changes and alterations in climate and other biophysical patterns at local to global scales. However, the spatial, temporal, and spectral characteristics of these datasets vary, thus complicating long-term studies involving several types of imagery. As the geographical and temporal coverage, the spectral and spatial resolution, and the number of individual sensors increase, the sheer volume and complexity of available data sets will complicate management and use of the rapidly growing archive of earth imagery. Mining this vast data resource for images that provide the necessary information for climate change studies becomes more difficult as more sensors are launched and more imagery is obtained.

BOREAS TE-6 NPP For The Tower Flux, Carbon Evaluation, and Auxiliary Sites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Forrest G. (Editor); Curd, Shelaine (Editor); Gower, Stith T.; Vogel, Jason G.

2000-01-01

The BOREAS TE-6 team collected several data sets to examine the influence of vegetation, climate, and their interactions on the major carbon fluxes for boreal forest species. This data set contains estimates of the biomass produced by the plant species at the TF, CEV, and AUX sites in the SSA and NSA for a given year. Temporally, the data cover the years of 1985 to 1995. The plant biomass production (i.e., aboveground, belowground, understory, litterfall), spatial coverage, and temporal nature of measurements varied between the TF, CEV, and AUX sites as deemed necessary by BOREAS principal investigators. The data are stored in tabular ASCII files. The data files are available on a CD-ROM (see document number 20010000884), or from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distrobuted Activity Archive Center (DAAC).

Health Information-Seeking Patterns of the General Public and Indications for Disease Surveillance: Register-Based Study Using Lyme Disease.

PubMed

Pesälä, Samuli; Virtanen, Mikko J; Sane, Jussi; Mustonen, Pekka; Kaila, Minna; Helve, Otto

2017-11-06

People using the Internet to find information on health issues, such as specific diseases, usually start their search from a general search engine, for example, Google. Internet searches such as these may yield results and data of questionable quality and reliability. Health Library is a free-of-charge medical portal on the Internet providing medical information for the general public. Physician's Databases, an Internet evidence-based medicine source, provides medical information for health care professionals (HCPs) to support their clinical practice. Both databases are available throughout Finland, but the latter is used only by health professionals and pharmacies. Little is known about how the general public seeks medical information from medical sources on the Internet, how this behavior differs from HCPs' queries, and what causes possible differences in behavior. The aim of our study was to evaluate how the general public's and HCPs' information-seeking trends from Internet medical databases differ seasonally and temporally. In addition, we aimed to evaluate whether the general public's information-seeking trends could be utilized for disease surveillance and whether media coverage could affect these seeking trends. Lyme disease, serving as a well-defined disease model with distinct seasonal variation, was chosen as a case study. Two Internet medical databases, Health Library and Physician's Databases, were used. We compared the general public's article openings on Lyme disease from Health Library to HCPs' article openings on Lyme disease from Physician's Databases seasonally across Finland from 2011 to 2015. Additionally, media publications related to Lyme disease were searched from the largest and most popular media websites in Finland. Both databases, Health Library and Physician's Databases, show visually similar patterns in temporal variations of article openings on Lyme disease in Finland from 2011 to 2015. However, Health Library openings show not only an increasing trend over time but also greater fluctuations, especially during peak opening seasons. Outside these seasons, publications in the media coincide with Health Library article openings only occasionally. Lyme disease-related information-seeking behaviors between the general public and HCPs from Internet medical portals share similar temporal variations, which is consistent with the trend seen in epidemiological data. Therefore, the general public's article openings could be used as a supplementary source of information for disease surveillance. The fluctuations in article openings appeared stronger among the general public, thus, suggesting that different factors such as media coverage, affect the information-seeking behaviors of the public versus professionals. However, media coverage may also have an influence on HCPs. Not every publication was associated with an increase in openings, but the higher the media coverage by some publications, the higher the general public's access to Health Library. ©Samuli Pesälä, Mikko J Virtanen, Jussi Sane, Pekka Mustonen, Minna Kaila, Otto Helve. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http://publichealth.jmir.org), 06.11.2017.

Health Information–Seeking Patterns of the General Public and Indications for Disease Surveillance: Register-Based Study Using Lyme Disease

PubMed Central

Virtanen, Mikko J; Sane, Jussi; Mustonen, Pekka; Kaila, Minna; Helve, Otto

2017-01-01

Background People using the Internet to find information on health issues, such as specific diseases, usually start their search from a general search engine, for example, Google. Internet searches such as these may yield results and data of questionable quality and reliability. Health Library is a free-of-charge medical portal on the Internet providing medical information for the general public. Physician’s Databases, an Internet evidence-based medicine source, provides medical information for health care professionals (HCPs) to support their clinical practice. Both databases are available throughout Finland, but the latter is used only by health professionals and pharmacies. Little is known about how the general public seeks medical information from medical sources on the Internet, how this behavior differs from HCPs’ queries, and what causes possible differences in behavior. Objective The aim of our study was to evaluate how the general public’s and HCPs’ information-seeking trends from Internet medical databases differ seasonally and temporally. In addition, we aimed to evaluate whether the general public’s information-seeking trends could be utilized for disease surveillance and whether media coverage could affect these seeking trends. Methods Lyme disease, serving as a well-defined disease model with distinct seasonal variation, was chosen as a case study. Two Internet medical databases, Health Library and Physician’s Databases, were used. We compared the general public’s article openings on Lyme disease from Health Library to HCPs’ article openings on Lyme disease from Physician’s Databases seasonally across Finland from 2011 to 2015. Additionally, media publications related to Lyme disease were searched from the largest and most popular media websites in Finland. Results Both databases, Health Library and Physician’s Databases, show visually similar patterns in temporal variations of article openings on Lyme disease in Finland from 2011 to 2015. However, Health Library openings show not only an increasing trend over time but also greater fluctuations, especially during peak opening seasons. Outside these seasons, publications in the media coincide with Health Library article openings only occasionally. Conclusions Lyme disease–related information-seeking behaviors between the general public and HCPs from Internet medical portals share similar temporal variations, which is consistent with the trend seen in epidemiological data. Therefore, the general public’s article openings could be used as a supplementary source of information for disease surveillance. The fluctuations in article openings appeared stronger among the general public, thus, suggesting that different factors such as media coverage, affect the information-seeking behaviors of the public versus professionals. However, media coverage may also have an influence on HCPs. Not every publication was associated with an increase in openings, but the higher the media coverage by some publications, the higher the general public’s access to Health Library. PMID:29109071

Analysing and recommending options for maintaining universal coverage with long-lasting insecticidal nets: the case of Tanzania in 2011

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Tanzania achieved universal coverage with long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) in October 2011, after three years of free mass net distribution campaigns and is now faced with the challenge of maintaining high coverage as nets wear out and the population grows. A process of exploring options for a continuous or “Keep-Up” distribution system was initiated in early 2011. This paper presents for the first time a comprehensive national process to review the major considerations, findings and recommendations for the implementation of a new strategy. Methods Stakeholder meetings and site visits were conducted in five locations in Tanzania to garner stakeholder input on the proposed distribution systems. Coverage levels for LLINs and their decline over time were modelled using NetCALC software, taking realistic net decay rates, current demographic profiles and other relevant parameters into consideration. Costs of the different distribution systems were estimated using local data. Results LLIN delivery was considered via mass campaigns, Antenatal Care-Expanded Programme on Immunization (ANC/EPI), community-based distribution, schools, the commercial sector and different combinations of the above. Most approaches appeared unlikely to maintain universal coverage when used alone. Mass campaigns, even when combined with a continuation of the Tanzania National Voucher Scheme (TNVS), would produce large temporal fluctuations in coverage levels; over 10 years this strategy would require 63.3 million LLINs and a total cost of $444 million USD. Community mechanisms, while able to deliver the required numbers of LLINs, would require a massive scale-up in monitoring, evaluation and supervision systems to ensure accurate application of identification criteria at the community level. School-based approaches combined with the existing TNVS would reach most Tanzanian households and deliver 65.4 million LLINs over 10 years at a total cost of $449 million USD and ensure continuous coverage. The cost of each strategy was largely driven by the number of LLINs delivered. Conclusions The most cost-efficient strategy to maintain universal coverage is one that best optimizes the numbers of LLINs needed over time. A school-based approach using vouchers targeting all students in Standards 1, 3, 5, 7 and Forms 1 and 2 in combination with the TNVS appears to meet best the criteria of effectiveness, equity and efficiency. PMID:23641705

Memory for temporally dynamic scenes.

PubMed

Ferguson, Ryan; Homa, Donald; Ellis, Derek

2017-07-01

Recognition memory was investigated for individual frames extracted from temporally continuous, visually rich film segments of 5-15 min. Participants viewed a short clip from a film in either a coherent or a jumbled order, followed by a recognition test of studied frames. Foils came either from an earlier or a later part of the film (Experiment 1) or from deleted segments selected from random cuts of varying duration (0.5 to 30 s) within the film itself (Experiment 2). When the foils came from an earlier or later part of the film (Experiment 1), recognition was excellent, with the hit rate far exceeding the false-alarm rate (.78 vs. 18). In Experiment 2, recognition was far worse, with the hit rate (.76) exceeding the false-alarm rate only for foils drawn from the longest cuts (15 and 30 s) and matching the false-alarm rate for the 5 s segments. When the foils were drawn from the briefest cuts (0.5 and 1.0 s), the false-alarm rate exceeded the hit rate. Unexpectedly, jumbling had no effect on recognition in either experiment. These results are consistent with the view that memory for complex visually temporal events is excellent, with the integrity unperturbed by disruption of the global structure of the visual stream. Disruption of memory was observed only when foils were drawn from embedded segments of duration less than 5 s, an outcome consistent with the view that memory at these shortest durations are consolidated with expectations drawn from the previous stream.

Pelvic Nodal Dosing With Registration to the Prostate: Implications for High-Risk Prostate Cancer Patients Receiving Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

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

Kishan, Amar U., E-mail: aukishan@mednet.ucla.edu; Lamb, James M.; Jani, Shyam S.

2015-03-15

Purpose: To determine whether image guidance with rigid registration (RR) to intraprostatic markers (IPMs) yields acceptable coverage of the pelvic lymph nodes in the context of a stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) regimen. Methods and Materials: Four to seven kilovoltage cone-beam CTs (CBCTs) from 12 patients with high-risk prostate cancer were analyzed, allowing approximation of an SBRT regimen. The nodal clinical target volume (CTV{sub N}) and bladder were contoured on all kilovoltage CBCTs. The V{sub 100} CTV{sub N}, expressed as a ratio to the same parameter on the initial plan, and the magnitude of translational shift between RR to themore » IPMs versus RR to the pelvic bones, were computed. The ability of a multimodality bladder filling protocol to minimize bladder height variation was assessed in a separate cohort of 4 patients. Results: Sixty-five CBCTs were assessed. The average V{sub 100} CTV{sub N} was 92.6%, but for a subset of 3 patients the average was 80.0%, compared with 97.8% for the others (P<.0001). The average overall and superior–inferior axis magnitudes of the bony-to-fiducial translations were significantly larger in the subgroup with suboptimal nodal coverage (8.1 vs 3.9 mm and 5.8 vs 2.4 mm, respectively; P<.0001). Relative bladder height changes were also significantly larger in the subgroup with suboptimal nodal coverage (42.9% vs 18.5%; P<.05). Use of a multimodality bladder-filling protocol minimized bladder height variation (P<.001). Conclusion: A majority of patients had acceptable nodal coverage after RR to IPMs, even when approximating SBRT. However, a subset of patients had suboptimal nodal coverage. These patients had large bony-to-fiducial translations and large variations in bladder height. Nodal coverage should be excellent if the superior–inferior axis bony-to-fiducial translation and the relative bladder height change (both easily measured on CBCT) are kept to a minimum. Implementation of a strict bladder filling protocol may achieve this goal.« less

Journey During Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Physician’s Experience

PubMed Central

Hoong, Low Chen; Sharma, Vijay K.

2010-01-01

Acute ischemic stroke is a potentially devastating condition. What follows is a true narration of the experience of a doctor-patient during his treatment for acute ischemic stroke and how the experience changed him. Described is the temporal sequence of events, starting from home to infusion of tissue plasminogen activator, which, when coupled with a multimodal therapeutic approach, resulted in an excellent clinical recovery. PMID:20458112

Temporal Progression of Visual Injury from Blast Exposure

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

significantly different levels of protein among the experimental groups and between the eye ipsilateral and contralateral to the injury in each animal...vitreous biomarkers from the experimental studies. We added additional animals to this group due to some concerns with the accuracy of a small...Scientific Interface 2007 Solomon R Pollack Award for Excellence in Graduate Bioengineering Research 2001-2003 Stephenson Fellowship Award 2000-2004

Count every newborn; a measurement improvement roadmap for coverage data.

PubMed

Moxon, Sarah G; Ruysen, Harriet; Kerber, Kate J; Amouzou, Agbessi; Fournier, Suzanne; Grove, John; Moran, Allisyn C; Vaz, Lara M E; Blencowe, Hannah; Conroy, Niall; Gülmezoglu, A; Vogel, Joshua P; Rawlins, Barbara; Sayed, Rubayet; Hill, Kathleen; Vivio, Donna; Qazi, Shamim A; Sitrin, Deborah; Seale, Anna C; Wall, Steve; Jacobs, Troy; Ruiz Peláez, Juan; Guenther, Tanya; Coffey, Patricia S; Dawson, Penny; Marchant, Tanya; Waiswa, Peter; Deorari, Ashok; Enweronu-Laryea, Christabel; Arifeen, Shams; Lee, Anne C C; Mathai, Matthews; Lawn, Joy E

2015-01-01

The Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP), launched in 2014, aims to end preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths, with national targets of ≤12 neonatal deaths per 1000 live births and ≤12 stillbirths per 1000 total births by 2030. This requires ambitious improvement of the data on care at birth and of small and sick newborns, particularly to track coverage, quality and equity. In a multistage process, a matrix of 70 indicators were assessed by the Every Newborn steering group. Indicators were graded based on their availability and importance to ENAP, resulting in 10 core and 10 additional indicators. A consultation process was undertaken to assess the status of each ENAP core indicator definition, data availability and measurement feasibility. Coverage indicators for the specific ENAP treatment interventions were assigned task teams and given priority as they were identified as requiring the most technical work. Consultations were held throughout. ENAP published 10 core indicators plus 10 additional indicators. Three core impact indicators (neonatal mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio, stillbirth rate) are well defined, with future efforts needed to focus on improving data quantity and quality. Three core indicators on coverage of care for all mothers and newborns (intrapartum/skilled birth attendance, early postnatal care, essential newborn care) have defined contact points, but gaps exist in measuring content and quality of the interventions. Four core (antenatal corticosteroids, neonatal resuscitation, treatment of serious neonatal infections, kangaroo mother care) and one additional coverage indicator for newborns at risk or with complications (chlorhexidine cord cleansing) lack indicator definitions or data, especially for denominators (population in need). To address these gaps, feasible coverage indicator definitions are presented for validity testing. Measurable process indicators to help monitor health service readiness are also presented. A major measurement gap exists to monitor care of small and sick babies, yet signal functions could be tracked similarly to emergency obstetric care. The ENAP Measurement Improvement Roadmap (2015-2020) outlines tools to be developed (e.g., improved birth and death registration, audit, and minimum perinatal dataset) and actions to test, validate and institutionalise proposed coverage indicators. The roadmap presents a unique opportunity to strengthen routine health information systems, crosslinking these data with civil registration and vital statistics and population-based surveys. Real measurement change requires intentional transfer of leadership to countries with the greatest disease burden and will be achieved by working with centres of excellence and existing networks.

[Evolution pattern of impervious surface in the Yuqiao Reservoir Watershed, Tianjin, China during the process of urbanization.

PubMed

Xie, Hui Jun; Li, Chong Wei; Zhang, Ya Juan; Song, Ai Yun

2016-04-22

Imperviousness in watershed is a key index to measure urbanization status which exerts an important impact on both eco-hydrological process and spatio-temporal pattern. Taking Yuqiao Reservoir Watershed as a case study area, based on the ENVI 5.1 software, the basic impervious surface information was extracted from remote sensing images taken in 1984, 1994, 2004 and 2013. The linear spectral mixture analysis (LSMA) model was applied to extract the impervious surface area (ISA) in nine coverage classes of watershed in order to analyze its spatio-temporal varying trend in terms of the landscape pattern metrics. Results showed that the RMSE and IS pixel accuracy of all samples were 0.005 and 85.4% respectively, which indicated that the method of extracting impervious surface on a basin scale was feasible. The average of ISA showed a linear growth, from 0.16 to 0.23, the impervious surface area increased by 4.9% in the whole watershed, and the total impervious surface area increased by 1 time. In the sub-basin road network, the impervious surface area increased gradually with the density of the road network, and its expansion pattern was of infilling growth. The patch shape of the middle coverage degree was irregular, and its fragmentation degree was the highest. The fragmentation degree and diversity of the landscape in the whole river basin increased year by year due to increasing human disturbance.

Urban remote sensing in areas of conflict: TerraSAR-X and Sentinel-1 change detection in the Middle East

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tapete, Deodato; Cigna, Francesca

2016-08-01

Timely availability of images of suitable spatial resolution, temporal frequency and coverage is currently one of the major technical constraints on the application of satellite SAR remote sensing for the conservation of heritage assets in urban environments that are impacted by human-induced transformation. TerraSAR-X and Sentinel-1A, in this regard, are two different models of SAR data provision: very high resolution on-demand imagery with end user-selected acquisition parameters, on one side, and freely accessible GIS-ready products with intended regular temporal coverage, on the other. What this means for change detection analyses in urban areas is demonstrated in this paper via the experiment over Homs, the third largest city of Syria with an history of settlement since 2300 BCE, where the impacts of the recent civil war combine with pre- and post-conflict urban transformation . The potential performance of Sentinel-1A StripMap scenes acquired in an emergency context is simulated via the matching StripMap beam mode offered by TerraSAR-X. Benefits and limitations of the different radar frequency band, spatial resolution and single/multi-channel polarization are discussed, as a proof-of-concept of regular monitoring currently achievable with space-borne SAR in historic urban settings. Urban transformation observed across Homs in 2009, 2014 and 2015 shows the impact of the Syrian conflict on the cityscape and proves that operator-driven interpretation is required to understand the complexity of multiple and overlapping urban changes.

On the Long-Term Variability of Jupiter's Winds and Brightness as Observed from Hubble

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simon-Miller, Amy A.; Gierasch, Peter J.

2010-01-01

Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 imaging data of Jupiter were combined with wind profiles from Voyager and Cassini data to study long-term variability in Jupiter's winds and cloud brightness. Searches for evidence of wind velocity periodicity yielded a few latitudes with potential variability; the most significant periods were found nearly symmetrically about the equator at 0 deg., 10-12 deg. N, and 14-18 deg. S planetographic latitude. The low to mid-latitude signals have components consistent with the measured stratospheric temperature Quasi-Quadrennial Oscillation (QQO) period of-5 years, while the equatorial signal is approximately seasonal and could be tied to mesoscale wave formation, robustness tests indicate that a constant or continuously varying periodic signal near 4.5 years would appear with high significance in the data periodograms as long as uncertainties or noise in the data are not of greater magnitude. However, the lack of a consistent signal over many latitudes makes it difficult to interpret as a QQO-related change. In addition, further analyses of calibrated 410-nm and 953-nm brightness scans found few corresponding changes in troposphere haze and cloud structure on QQO timescales. However, stratospheric haze reflectance at 255-nm did appear to vary on seasonal timescales, though the data do not have enough temporal coverage or photometric accuracy to be conclusive. Sufficient temporal coverage and spacing, as well as data quality, are critical to this type of search.

Evaluation of Uncertainty in Precipitation Datasets for New Mexico, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Besha, A. A.; Steele, C. M.; Fernald, A.

2014-12-01

Climate change, population growth and other factors are endangering water availability and sustainability in semiarid/arid areas particularly in the southwestern United States. Wide coverage of spatial and temporal measurements of precipitation are key for regional water budget analysis and hydrological operations which themselves are valuable tool for water resource planning and management. Rain gauge measurements are usually reliable and accurate at a point. They measure rainfall continuously, but spatial sampling is limited. Ground based radar and satellite remotely sensed precipitation have wide spatial and temporal coverage. However, these measurements are indirect and subject to errors because of equipment, meteorological variability, the heterogeneity of the land surface itself and lack of regular recording. This study seeks to understand precipitation uncertainty and in doing so, lessen uncertainty propagation into hydrological applications and operations. We reviewed, compared and evaluated the TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) precipitation products, NOAA's (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) monthly precipitation dataset, PRISM (Parameter elevation Regression on Independent Slopes Model) data and data from individual climate stations including Cooperative Observer Program (COOP), Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS), Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) and Snowpack Telemetry (SNOTEL) stations. Though not yet finalized, this study finds that the uncertainty within precipitation estimates datasets is influenced by regional topography, season, climate and precipitation rate. Ongoing work aims to further evaluate precipitation datasets based on the relative influence of these phenomena so that we can identify the optimum datasets for input to statewide water budget analysis.

Quantifying the impact of immediate reconstruction in postmastectomy radiation: a large, dose-volume histogram-based analysis.

PubMed

Ohri, Nisha; Cordeiro, Peter G; Keam, Jennifer; Ballangrud, Ase; Shi, Weiji; Zhang, Zhigang; Nerbun, Claire T; Woch, Katherine M; Stein, Nicholas F; Zhou, Ying; McCormick, Beryl; Powell, Simon N; Ho, Alice Y

2012-10-01

To assess the impact of immediate breast reconstruction on postmastectomy radiation (PMRT) using dose-volume histogram (DVH) data. Two hundred forty-seven women underwent PMRT at our center, 196 with implant reconstruction and 51 without reconstruction. Patients with reconstruction were treated with tangential photons, and patients without reconstruction were treated with en-face electron fields and customized bolus. Twenty percent of patients received internal mammary node (IMN) treatment. The DVH data were compared between groups. Ipsilateral lung parameters included V20 (% volume receiving 20 Gy), V40 (% volume receiving 40 Gy), mean dose, and maximum dose. Heart parameters included V25 (% volume receiving 25 Gy), mean dose, and maximum dose. IMN coverage was assessed when applicable. Chest wall coverage was assessed in patients with reconstruction. Propensity-matched analysis adjusted for potential confounders of laterality and IMN treatment. Reconstruction was associated with lower lung V20, mean dose, and maximum dose compared with no reconstruction (all P<.0001). These associations persisted on propensity-matched analysis (all P<.0001). Heart doses were similar between groups (P=NS). Ninety percent of patients with reconstruction had excellent chest wall coverage (D95 >98%). IMN coverage was superior in patients with reconstruction (D95 >92.0 vs 75.7%, P<.001). IMN treatment significantly increased lung and heart parameters in patients with reconstruction (all P<.05) but minimally affected those without reconstruction (all P>.05). Among IMN-treated patients, only lower lung V20 in those without reconstruction persisted (P=.022), and mean and maximum heart doses were higher than in patients without reconstruction (P=.006, P=.015, respectively). Implant reconstruction does not compromise the technical quality of PMRT when the IMNs are untreated. Treatment technique, not reconstruction, is the primary determinant of target coverage and normal tissue doses. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Estimated Budget Impact of Adopting the Affordable Care Act's Required Smoking Cessation Coverage on United States Healthcare Payers.

PubMed

Baker, Christine L; Ferrufino, Cheryl P; Bruno, Marianna; Kowal, Stacey

2017-01-01

Despite abundant information on the negative impacts of smoking, more than 40 million adult Americans continue to smoke. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires tobacco cessation as a preventive service with no patient cost share for all FDA-approved cessation medications. Health plans have a vital role in supporting smoking cessation by managing medication access, but uncertainty remains on the gaps between smoking cessation requirements and what is actually occurring in practice. This study presents current cessation patterns, real-world drug costs and plan benefit design data, and estimates the 1- to 5-year pharmacy budget impact of providing ACA-required coverage for smoking cessation products to understand the fiscal impact to a US healthcare plan. A closed cohort budget impact model was developed in Microsoft Excel ® to estimate current and projected costs for US payers (commercial, Medicare, Medicaid) covering smoking cessation medicines, with assumptions for coverage and smoking cessation product utilization based on current, real-world national and state-level trends for hypothetical commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid plans with 1 million covered lives. A Markov methodology with five health states captures quit attempt and relapse patterns. Results include the number of smokers attempting to quit, number of successful quitters, annual costs, and cost per-member per-month (PMPM). The projected PMPM cost of providing coverage for smoking cessation medications is $0.10 for commercial, $0.06 for Medicare, and $0.07 for Medicaid plans, reflecting a low incremental PMPM impact of covering two attempts ranging from $0.01 for Medicaid to $0.02 for commercial and Medicare payers. The projected PMPM impact of covering two quit attempts with access to all seven cessation medications at no patient cost share remains low. Results of this study reinforce that the impact of adopting the ACA requirements for smoking cessation coverage will have a limited near-term impact on health plan's budgets. Pfizer Inc.

Peri-ictal water drinking and other ictal vegetative symptoms: Localizing and lateralizing the epileptogenic zone in temporal lobe epilepsy? Two case reports and review of the literature.

PubMed

Errguig, L; Lahjouji, F; Belaidi, H; Jiddane, M; Elkhamlichi, A; Dakka, T; Ouazzani, R

2013-11-01

Peri-ictal behavior disorders can be helpful in localizing and lateralizing seizure onset in partial epilepsies, especially those originating in the temporal lobe. In this paper, we present the case of two right-handed women aged 36 and 42 years who presented with partial seizures of mesial temporal type. Both of the patients had drug resistant epilepsy and undergone presurgical evaluation tests including brain magnetic resonance imaging, video-EEG monitoring and neuropsychological testing. The two patients had hippocampal sclerosis in the right temporal lobe and exhibited PIWD behavior concomitant with right temporal lobe discharges documented during video-EEG recordings. Anterior temporal lobectomy was performed in one case with an excellent outcome after surgery. The patient was free of seizures at 3 years follow-up. We reviewed other publications of peri-ictal autonomic symptoms considered to have a lateralizing significance, such as peri-ictal vomiting, urinary urge, ictal pilo-erection. Clinicians should search for these symptoms, even if not spontaneously reported by the patient, because they are often under-estimated, both by the patients themselves and by physicians. Additionally, patients with lateralizing auras during seizures have a significantly better outcome after epilepsy surgery than those without lateralizing features. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Tunable solid-state lasers - An emerging technology for remote sensing of planetary atmospheres

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barnes, Norman P.; Allario, Frank

1988-01-01

The present development status and prospective (1990s) performance-improvement evaluation of tunable solid-state laser technology notes recent trends toward spectrum coverage over the 0.20-14.0 microns range, in addition to dramatic increases in efficiency, service life, and reliability. It is judged that the Ti:Al2O3 laser and the AgGaSe2 optical parametric oscillator pumped by a Ho:YAG laser could cover the near-IR and mid-IR regions of the spectrum. Laser diodes operating at 0.78 microns should provide an excellent pump for a Ho:YAG laser.

Four decades of microwave satellite soil moisture observations: Part 2. Product validation and inter-satellite comparisons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karthikeyan, L.; Pan, Ming; Wanders, Niko; Kumar, D. Nagesh; Wood, Eric F.

2017-11-01

Soil moisture is widely recognized as an important land surface variable that provides a deeper knowledge of land-atmosphere interactions and climate change. Space-borne passive and active microwave sensors have become valuable and essential sources of soil moisture observations at global scales. Over the past four decades, several active and passive microwave sensors have been deployed, along with the recent launch of two fully dedicated missions (SMOS and SMAP). Signifying the four decades of microwave remote sensing of soil moisture, this Part 2 of the two-part review series aims to present an overview of how our knowledge in this field has improved in terms of the design of sensors and their accuracy for retrieving soil moisture. The first part discusses the developments made in active and passive microwave soil moisture retrieval algorithms. We assess the evolution of the products of various sensors over the last four decades, in terms of daily coverage, temporal performance, and spatial performance, by comparing the products of eight passive sensors (SMMR, SSM/I, TMI, AMSR-E, WindSAT, AMSR2, SMOS and SMAP), two active sensors (ERS-Scatterometer, MetOp-ASCAT), and one active/passive merged soil moisture product (ESA-CCI combined product) with the International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN) in-situ stations and the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) land surface model simulations over the Contiguous United States (CONUS). In the process, the regional impacts of vegetation conditions on the spatial and temporal performance of soil moisture products are investigated. We also carried out inter-satellite comparisons to study the roles of sensor design and algorithms on the retrieval accuracy. We find that substantial improvements have been made over recent years in this field in terms of daily coverage, retrieval accuracy, and temporal dynamics. We conclude that the microwave soil moisture products have significantly evolved in the last four decades and will continue to make key contributions to the progress of hydro-meteorological and climate sciences.

Spatial Sampling of Weather Data for Regional Crop Yield Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Van Bussel, Lenny G. J.; Ewert, Frank; Zhao, Gang; Hoffmann, Holger; Enders, Andreas; Wallach, Daniel; Asseng, Senthold; Baigorria, Guillermo A.; Basso, Bruno; Biernath, Christian;

Robust Flood Monitoring Using Sentinel-1 SAR Time Series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeVries, B.; Huang, C.; Armston, J.; Huang, W.

2017-12-01

The 2017 hurricane season in North and Central America has resulted in unprecedented levels of flooding that have affected millions of people and continue to impact communities across the region. The extent of casualties and damage to property incurred by these floods underscores the need for reliable systems to track flood location, timing and duration to aid response and recovery efforts. While a diverse range of data sources provide vital information on flood status in near real-time, only spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors can ensure wall-to-wall coverage over large areas, mostly independently of weather conditions or site accessibility. The European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 constellation represents the only SAR mission currently providing open access and systematic global coverage, allowing for a consistent stream of observations over flood-prone regions. Importantly, both the data and pre-processing software are freely available, enabling the development of improved methods, tools and data products to monitor floods in near real-time. We tracked flood onset and progression in Southeastern Texas, Southern Florida, and Puerto Rico using a novel approach based on temporal backscatter anomalies derived from times series of Sentinel-1 observations and historic baselines defined for each of the three sites. This approach was shown to provide a more objective measure of flood occurrence than the simple backscatter thresholds often employed in operational flood monitoring systems. Additionally, the use of temporal anomaly measures allowed us to partially overcome biases introduced by varying sensor view angles and image acquisition modes, allowing increased temporal resolution in areas where additional targeted observations are available. Our results demonstrate the distinct advantages offered by data from operational SAR missions such as Sentinel-1 and NASA's planned NISAR mission, and call attention to the continuing need for SAR Earth Observation missions that provide systematic repeat observations to facilitate continuous monitoring of flood-affected regions.

Daily Estimation of High Resolution PM2.5 Concentrations over BTH area by Fusing MODIS AOD and Ground Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyu, Baolei; Hu, Yongtao; Chang, Howard; Russell, Armistead; Bai, Yuqi

2017-04-01

The satellite-borne Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol optical depth (AOD) is often used to predict ground-level fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations. The associated estimation accuracy is always reduced by AOD missing values and by insufficiently accounting for the spatio-temporal PM2.5 variations. This study aims to estimate PM2.5 concentrations at a high resolution with enhanced accuracy by fusing MODIS AOD and ground observations in the polluted and populated Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) area of China in 2014 and 2015. A Bayesian-based statistical downscaler was employed to model the spatio-temporally varied AOD-PM2.5 relationships. We resampled a 3 km MODIS AOD product to a 4 km resolution in a Lambert conic conformal projection, to assist comparison and fusion with CMAQ predictions. A two-step method was used to fill the missing AOD values to obtain a full AOD dataset with complete spatial coverage. The downscaler has a relatively good performance in the fitting procedure (R2 = 0.75) and in the cross validation procedure (with two evaluation methods, R2 = 0.58 by random method and R2 = 0.47 by city-specific method). The number of missing AOD values was serious and related to elevated PM2.5 concentrations. The gap-filled AOD values corresponded well with our understanding of PM2.5 pollution conditions in BTH. The prediction accuracy of PM2.5 concentrations were improved in terms of their annual and seasonal mean. As a result of its fine spatio-temporal resolution and complete spatial coverage, the daily PM2.5 estimation dataset could provide extensive and insightful benefits to related studies in the BTH area. This may include understanding the formation processes of regional PM2.5 pollution episodes, evaluating daily human exposure, and establishing pollution controlling measures.

Microwave Radiometer and Lidar Synergy for High Vertical Resolution Thermodynamic Profiling in a Cloudy Scenario

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barrera Verdejo, M.; Crewell, S.; Loehnert, U.; Di Girolamo, P.

2016-12-01

Continuous monitoring of thermodynamic atmospheric profiles is important for many applications, e.g. assessment of atmospheric stability and cloud formation. Nowadays there is a wide variety of ground-based sensors for atmospheric profiling. However, no single instrument is able to simultaneously provide measurements with complete vertical coverage, high vertical and temporal resolution, and good performance under all weather conditions. For this reason, instrument synergies of a wide range of complementary measurements are more and more considered for improving the quality of atmospheric observations. The current work presents synergetic use of a microwave radiometer (MWR) and Raman lidar (RL) within a physically consistent optimal estimation approach. On the one hand, lidar measurements provide humidity and temperature measurements with a high vertical resolution albeit with limited vertical coverage, due to overlapping function problems, sunlight contamination and the presence of clouds. On the other hand, MWRs obtain humidity, temperature and cloud information throughout the troposphere, with however only a very limited vertical resolution. The benefits of MWR+RL synergy have been previously demonstrated for clear sky cases. This work expands this approach to cloudy scenarios. Consistent retrievals of temperature, absolute and relative humidity as well as liquid water path are analyzed. In addition, different measures are presented to demonstrate the improvements achieved via the synergy compared to individual retrievals, e.g. degrees of freedom or theoretical error. We also demonstrate that, compared to the lidar, the higher temporal resolution of the MWR presents a strong advantage for capturing the high temporal variability of the liquid water cloud.. Finally, the results are compared with independent information sources, e.g. GPS or radiosondes, showing good consistency. The study demonstrates the benefits of the sensor combination, being especially strong in regions where lidar data is not available, whereas if both instruments are available, the lidar measurements dominate the retrieval.

Optimal A-Train Data Utilization: A Use Case of Aura OMI L2G and MERRA-2 Aerosol Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zeng, Jian; Shen, Suhung; Wei, Jennifer; Meyer, David J.

2017-01-01

Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aboard NASA's Aura mission measures ozone column and profile, aerosols, clouds, surface UV irradiance, and the trace gases including NO2, SO2, HCHO, BrO, and OClO using UltraViolet electromagnetic spectrum (280 - 400 nm) with a daily global coverage and a pixel spatial resolution of 13 km × 24 km at nadir, and it's been one of the key instruments to study the Earth's atmospheric composition and chemistry. The second Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) is NASA's atmospheric reanalysis using an upgraded version of Goddard Earth Observing System Model, version 5 (GEOS-5) data assimilation system. Compared to its predecessor MERRA, MERRA-2 is enhanced with more aspects of the Earth system among which is aerosol assimilation. When comparing between satellite pixel measurements and modeled grid data, how to properly handle counterpart pairing is critical considering their spatial and temporal variations. The comparison between satellite and model data by simply using Level 3 (L3) products may result biases due to lack of detailed temporal information. It has been preferred to inter-compare or implement satellite derived physical quantity (i.e., Level 2 (L2) Swath type) directly with/to model measurements with higher temporal and spatial resolution as possible. However, this has posed a challenge in the community to handle. Rather than directly handling the L2 or L3 data, there is a Level 2G (L2G) product conserving L2 pixel scientific data quality but in Grid type with the global coverage. In this presentation, we would like to demonstrate the optimal utilization of OMI L2G daily aerosol products by comparing with MERRA-2 hourly aerosol simulations matched well in both space and time.

Redefining the management of pediatric tonsillopharyngitis with cefprozil.

PubMed

Jerath, Nameet; Shetty, Ganesh

2007-12-01

Tonsillopharyngitis is very common in children, with Group A Streptococci being the most common bacterial etiology. Effective antibacterial treatment is imperative due to risk of rheumatic fever. Cephalosporins have been used successfully for the treatment of Group A beta-hemolytic Streptococcal (GABHS) tonsillopharyngitis. Cefprozil is a novel broad-spectrum oral cephalosporin. Cefprozil is rapidly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract with high bioavailability. The excellent penetration of cefprozil into tonsillar and adenoidal tissue corresponds well with the clinical outcome. The drug provides excellent coverage against both gram-negative and -positive bacteria that may cause pharyngitis/tonsillitis. The beta-lactamase stability of cefprozil appears to exceed that of other oral cephalosporins for important gram negative pathogens. In clinical trials, cefprozil appears to be at least as effective as commonly used comparison agents such as cefaclor and cefixime. Additionally, cefprozil is better tolerated than the latter, especially with regard to gastrointestinal adverse effects. Thus cefprozil can be considered a safe and reliable drug for the treatment of Streptococcal tonsillopharyngitis in children.

Systematic and progressive implementation of the centers of excellence for rheumatoid arthritis: a methodological proposal.

PubMed

Santos-Moreno, Pedro; Caballero-Uribe, Carlo V; Massardo, Maria Loreto; Maldonado, Claudio Galarza; Soriano, Enrique R; Pineda, Carlos; Cardiel, Mario; Benavides, Juan Alberto; Beltrán, Paula Andrea

2017-12-01

The implementation of excellence centers in specific diseases has been gaining recognition in the field of health; specifically in rheumatoid arthritis, where the prognosis of the disease is related to an early diagnosis and a timely intervention, it is necessary that the provision of health services is developed in an environment of quality, opportunity, and safety with the highest standards of care. A methodology that allows this implementation in such a way that is achievable by the most of the care centers is a priority to achieve a better attention to populations with this disease. In this paper, we propose a systematic and progressive methodology that will help all the institutions to develop successful models without faltering in the process. The expected impact on public health is defined by a better effective coverage of high-quality treatments, obtaining better health outcomes with safety and accessibility that reduces the budgetary impact for the health systems of our countries.

Family structure and child health outcomes in the United States.

PubMed

Bass, Loretta E; Warehime, M Nicole

2011-01-01

We use categorical and logistic regression models to investigate the extent that family structure affects children’s health outcomes at age five (i.e., child’s type of health insurance coverage, the use of a routine medical doctor, and report of being in excellent health) using a sample of 4,898 children from the "Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study." We find that children with married biological parents are most likely to have private health insurance compared with each of three other relationship statuses. With each additional child in the home, a child is less likely to have private insurance compared with no insurance and Medicaid insurance. Children with cohabiting biological parents are less likely to have a routine doctor compared with children of married biological parents, yet having additional children in the household is not associated with having a routine doctor. Children with biological parents who are not romantically involved and those with additional children in the household are less likely to be in excellent health, all else being equal.

The effect of case management and vector-control interventions on space-time patterns of malaria incidence in Uganda.

PubMed

Ssempiira, Julius; Kissa, John; Nambuusi, Betty; Kyozira, Carol; Rutazaana, Damian; Mukooyo, Eddie; Opigo, Jimmy; Makumbi, Fredrick; Kasasa, Simon; Vounatsou, Penelope

2018-04-12

Electronic reporting of routine health facility data in Uganda began with the adoption of the District Health Information Software System version 2 (DHIS2) in 2011. This has improved health facility reporting and overall data quality. In this study, the effects of case management with artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) and vector control interventions on space-time patterns of disease incidence were determined using DHIS2 data reported during 2013-2016. Bayesian spatio-temporal negative binomial models were fitted on district-aggregated monthly malaria cases, reported by two age groups, defined by a cut-off age of 5 years. The effects of interventions were adjusted for socio-economic and climatic factors. Spatial and temporal correlations were taken into account by assuming a conditional autoregressive and a first-order autoregressive AR(1) process on district and monthly specific random effects, respectively. Fourier trigonometric functions were incorporated in the models to take into account seasonal fluctuations in malaria transmission. The temporal variation in incidence was similar in both age groups and depicted a steady decline up to February 2014, followed by an increase from March 2015 onwards. The trends were characterized by a strong bi-annual seasonal pattern with two peaks during May-July and September-December. Average monthly incidence in children < 5 years declined from 74.7 cases (95% CI 72.4-77.1) in 2013 to 49.4 (95% CI 42.9-55.8) per 1000 in 2015 and followed by an increase in 2016 of up to 51.3 (95% CI 42.9-55.8). In individuals ≥ 5 years, a decline in incidence from 2013 to 2015 was followed by an increase in 2016. A 100% increase in insecticide-treated nets (ITN) coverage was associated with a decline in incidence by 44% (95% BCI 28-59%). Similarly, a 100% increase in ACT coverage reduces incidence by 28% (95% BCI 11-45%) and 25% (95% BCI 20-28%) in children < 5 years and individuals ≥ 5 years, respectively. The ITN effect was not statistically important in older individuals. The space-time patterns of malaria incidence in children < 5 are similar to those of parasitaemia risk predicted from the malaria indicator survey of 2014-15. The decline in malaria incidence highlights the effectiveness of vector-control interventions and case management with ACT in Uganda. This calls for optimizing and sustaining interventions to achieve universal coverage and curb reverses in malaria decline.

CERES Single Scanner Satellite Footprint, TOA, Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) data in HDF (CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2A)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Single Scanner Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) product contains one hour of instantaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SSF combines instantaneous CERES data with scene information from a higher-resolution imager such as Visible/Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on TRMM or Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua. Scene identification and cloud properties are defined at the higher imager resolution and these data are averaged over the larger CERES footprint. For each CERES footprint, the SSF contains the number of cloud layers and for each layer the cloud amount, height, temperature, pressure, optical depth, emissivity, ice and liquid water path, and water particle size. The SSF also contains the CERES filtered radiances for the total, shortwave (SW), and window (WN) channels and the unfiltered SW, longwave (LW), and WN radiances. The SW, LW, and WN radiances at spacecraft altitude are converted to Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) fluxes based on the imager defined scene. These TOA fluxes are used to estimate surface fluxes. Only footprints with adequate imager coverage are included on CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1the SSF which is much less than the full set of footprints on the CERES ES-8 product. The following CERES SSF data sets are currently available: CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A CER_SSF_TRMM-SIM-VIRS_Edition2_VIRSonly CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta1 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM3-MODIS_Beta2 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta2. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2003-12-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

CERES Single Satellite Footprint, TOA and Surface Fluxes, Clouds (SSF) data in HDF (CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Edition2A)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Single Scanner Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) product contains one hour of instantaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SSF combines instantaneous CERES data with scene information from a higher-resolution imager such as Visible/Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on TRMM or Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua. Scene identification and cloud properties are defined at the higher imager resolution and these data are averaged over the larger CERES footprint. For each CERES footprint, the SSF contains the number of cloud layers and for each layer the cloud amount, height, temperature, pressure, optical depth, emissivity, ice and liquid water path, and water particle size. The SSF also contains the CERES filtered radiances for the total, shortwave (SW), and window (WN) channels and the unfiltered SW, longwave (LW), and WN radiances. The SW, LW, and WN radiances at spacecraft altitude are converted to Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) fluxes based on the imager defined scene. These TOA fluxes are used to estimate surface fluxes. Only footprints with adequate imager coverage are included on CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1the SSF which is much less than the full set of footprints on the CERES ES-8 product. The following CERES SSF data sets are currently available: CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A CER_SSF_TRMM-SIM-VIRS_Edition2_VIRSonly CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta1 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM3-MODIS_Beta2 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta2. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2005-09-16] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

CERES Single Scanner Satellite Footprint, TOA, Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) data in HDF (CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Edition1B)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Single Scanner Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) product contains one hour of instantaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SSF combines instantaneous CERES data with scene information from a higher-resolution imager such as Visible/Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on TRMM or Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua. Scene identification and cloud properties are defined at the higher imager resolution and these data are averaged over the larger CERES footprint. For each CERES footprint, the SSF contains the number of cloud layers and for each layer the cloud amount, height, temperature, pressure, optical depth, emissivity, ice and liquid water path, and water particle size. The SSF also contains the CERES filtered radiances for the total, shortwave (SW), and window (WN) channels and the unfiltered SW, longwave (LW), and WN radiances. The SW, LW, and WN radiances at spacecraft altitude are converted to Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) fluxes based on the imager defined scene. These TOA fluxes are used to estimate surface fluxes. Only footprints with adequate imager coverage are included on CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1the SSF which is much less than the full set of footprints on the CERES ES-8 product. The following CERES SSF data sets are currently available: CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A CER_SSF_TRMM-SIM-VIRS_Edition2_VIRSonly CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta1 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM3-MODIS_Beta2 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta2. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2005-03-29] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

CERES Single Scanner Satellite Footprint, TOA, Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF)- Test data in HDF (CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset-Edition1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Single Scanner Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) product contains one hour of instantaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SSF combines instantaneous CERES data with scene information from a higher-resolution imager such as Visible/Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on TRMM or Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua. Scene identification and cloud properties are defined at the higher imager resolution and these data are averaged over the larger CERES footprint. For each CERES footprint, the SSF contains the number of cloud layers and for each layer the cloud amount, height, temperature, pressure, optical depth, emissivity, ice and liquid water path, and water particle size. The SSF also contains the CERES filtered radiances for the total, shortwave (SW), and window (WN) channels and the unfiltered SW, longwave (LW), and WN radiances. The SW, LW, and WN radiances at spacecraft altitude are converted to Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) fluxes based on the imager defined scene. These TOA fluxes are used to estimate surface fluxes. Only footprints with adequate imager coverage are included on CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1the SSF which is much less than the full set of footprints on the CERES ES-8 product. The following CERES SSF data sets are currently available: CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A CER_SSF_TRMM-SIM-VIRS_Edition2_VIRSonly CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta1 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM3-MODIS_Beta2 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta2. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=1998-08-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

CERES Single Satellite Footprint, TOA and Surface Fluxes, Clouds (SSF) data in HDF (CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Ed2A-NoSW)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Single Scanner Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) product contains one hour of instantaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SSF combines instantaneous CERES data with scene information from a higher-resolution imager such as Visible/Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on TRMM or Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua. Scene identification and cloud properties are defined at the higher imager resolution and these data are averaged over the larger CERES footprint. For each CERES footprint, the SSF contains the number of cloud layers and for each layer the cloud amount, height, temperature, pressure, optical depth, emissivity, ice and liquid water path, and water particle size. The SSF also contains the CERES filtered radiances for the total, shortwave (SW), and window (WN) channels and the unfiltered SW, longwave (LW), and WN radiances. The SW, LW, and WN radiances at spacecraft altitude are converted to Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) fluxes based on the imager defined scene. These TOA fluxes are used to estimate surface fluxes. Only footprints with adequate imager coverage are included on CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1the SSF which is much less than the full set of footprints on the CERES ES-8 product. The following CERES SSF data sets are currently available: CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A CER_SSF_TRMM-SIM-VIRS_Edition2_VIRSonly CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta1 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM3-MODIS_Beta2 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta2. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2006-01-01] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

CERES Single Scanner Satellite Footprint, TOA, Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) data in HDF (CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2B)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Single Scanner Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) product contains one hour of instantaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SSF combines instantaneous CERES data with scene information from a higher-resolution imager such as Visible/Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on TRMM or Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua. Scene identification and cloud properties are defined at the higher imager resolution and these data are averaged over the larger CERES footprint. For each CERES footprint, the SSF contains the number of cloud layers and for each layer the cloud amount, height, temperature, pressure, optical depth, emissivity, ice and liquid water path, and water particle size. The SSF also contains the CERES filtered radiances for the total, shortwave (SW), and window (WN) channels and the unfiltered SW, longwave (LW), and WN radiances. The SW, LW, and WN radiances at spacecraft altitude are converted to Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) fluxes based on the imager defined scene. These TOA fluxes are used to estimate surface fluxes. Only footprints with adequate imager coverage are included on CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1the SSF which is much less than the full set of footprints on the CERES ES-8 product. The following CERES SSF data sets are currently available: CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A CER_SSF_TRMM-SIM-VIRS_Edition2_VIRSonly CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta1 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM3-MODIS_Beta2 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta2. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2006-01-01] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

CERES Single Scanner Satellite Footprint, TOA, Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) data in HDF (CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Single Scanner Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) product contains one hour of instantaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SSF combines instantaneous CERES data with scene information from a higher-resolution imager such as Visible/Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on TRMM or Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua. Scene identification and cloud properties are defined at the higher imager resolution and these data are averaged over the larger CERES footprint. For each CERES footprint, the SSF contains the number of cloud layers and for each layer the cloud amount, height, temperature, pressure, optical depth, emissivity, ice and liquid water path, and water particle size. The SSF also contains the CERES filtered radiances for the total, shortwave (SW), and window (WN) channels and the unfiltered SW, longwave (LW), and WN radiances. The SW, LW, and WN radiances at spacecraft altitude are converted to Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) fluxes based on the imager defined scene. These TOA fluxes are used to estimate surface fluxes. Only footprints with adequate imager coverage are included on CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1the SSF which is much less than the full set of footprints on the CERES ES-8 product. The following CERES SSF data sets are currently available: CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A CER_SSF_TRMM-SIM-VIRS_Edition2_VIRSonly CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta1 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM3-MODIS_Beta2 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta2. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2000-03-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

CERES Single Scanner Satellite Footprint, TOA, Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) data in HDF (CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2A)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wielicki, Bruce A. (Principal Investigator)

The Single Scanner Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) product contains one hour of instantaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SSF combines instantaneous CERES data with scene information from a higher-resolution imager such as Visible/Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on TRMM or Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua. Scene identification and cloud properties are defined at the higher imager resolution and these data are averaged over the larger CERES footprint. For each CERES footprint, the SSF contains the number of cloud layers and for each layer the cloud amount, height, temperature, pressure, optical depth, emissivity, ice and liquid water path, and water particle size. The SSF also contains the CERES filtered radiances for the total, shortwave (SW), and window (WN) channels and the unfiltered SW, longwave (LW), and WN radiances. The SW, LW, and WN radiances at spacecraft altitude are converted to Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) fluxes based on the imager defined scene. These TOA fluxes are used to estimate surface fluxes. Only footprints with adequate imager coverage are included on CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1the SSF which is much less than the full set of footprints on the CERES ES-8 product. The following CERES SSF data sets are currently available: CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Subset_Edition1 CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A CER_SSF_TRMM-SIM-VIRS_Edition2_VIRSonly CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2A-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B-TransOps CER_SSF_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition1A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2A CER_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2B CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta1 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM3-MODIS_Beta2 CER_SSF_Aqua-FM4-MODIS_Beta2. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2003-12-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 hour; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Hourly - < Daily].

Systematic Assessment of Seven Solvent and Solid-Phase Extraction Methods for Metabolomics Analysis of Human Plasma by LC-MS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sitnikov, Dmitri G.; Monnin, Cian S.; Vuckovic, Dajana

2016-12-01

The comparison of extraction methods for global metabolomics is usually executed in biofluids only and focuses on metabolite coverage and method repeatability. This limits our detailed understanding of extraction parameters such as recovery and matrix effects and prevents side-by-side comparison of different sample preparation strategies. To address this gap in knowledge, seven solvent-based and solid-phase extraction methods were systematically evaluated using standard analytes spiked into both buffer and human plasma. We compared recovery, coverage, repeatability, matrix effects, selectivity and orthogonality of all methods tested for non-lipid metabolome in combination with reversed-phased and mixed-mode liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis (LC-MS). Our results confirmed wide selectivity and excellent precision of solvent precipitations, but revealed their high susceptibility to matrix effects. The use of all seven methods showed high overlap and redundancy which resulted in metabolite coverage increases of 34-80% depending on LC-MS method employed as compared to the best single extraction protocol (methanol/ethanol precipitation) despite 7x increase in MS analysis time and sample consumption. The most orthogonal methods to methanol-based precipitation were ion-exchange solid-phase extraction and liquid-liquid extraction using methyl-tertbutyl ether. Our results help facilitate rational design and selection of sample preparation methods and internal standards for global metabolomics.

Systematic Assessment of Seven Solvent and Solid-Phase Extraction Methods for Metabolomics Analysis of Human Plasma by LC-MS

PubMed Central

Sitnikov, Dmitri G.; Monnin, Cian S.; Vuckovic, Dajana

2016-01-01

The comparison of extraction methods for global metabolomics is usually executed in biofluids only and focuses on metabolite coverage and method repeatability. This limits our detailed understanding of extraction parameters such as recovery and matrix effects and prevents side-by-side comparison of different sample preparation strategies. To address this gap in knowledge, seven solvent-based and solid-phase extraction methods were systematically evaluated using standard analytes spiked into both buffer and human plasma. We compared recovery, coverage, repeatability, matrix effects, selectivity and orthogonality of all methods tested for non-lipid metabolome in combination with reversed-phased and mixed-mode liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis (LC-MS). Our results confirmed wide selectivity and excellent precision of solvent precipitations, but revealed their high susceptibility to matrix effects. The use of all seven methods showed high overlap and redundancy which resulted in metabolite coverage increases of 34–80% depending on LC-MS method employed as compared to the best single extraction protocol (methanol/ethanol precipitation) despite 7x increase in MS analysis time and sample consumption. The most orthogonal methods to methanol-based precipitation were ion-exchange solid-phase extraction and liquid-liquid extraction using methyl-tertbutyl ether. Our results help facilitate rational design and selection of sample preparation methods and internal standards for global metabolomics. PMID:28000704

Reduced Fatalism and Increased Prevention Behavior After Two High-Profile Lung Cancer Events

PubMed Central

PORTNOY, DAVID B.; LEACH, CORINNE R.; KAUFMAN, ANNETTE R.; MOSER, RICHARD P.; ALFANO, CATHERINE M.

2015-01-01

The positive impact of media coverage of high-profile cancer events on cancer prevention behaviors is well-established. However, less work has focused on potential adverse psychological reactions to such events, such as fatalism. Conducting 3 studies, the authors explored how the lung cancer death of Peter Jennings and diagnosis of Dana Reeve in 2005 related to fatalism. Analysis of a national media sample in Study 1 found that media coverage of these events often focused on reiterating the typical profile of those diagnosed with lung cancer; 38% of the media mentioned at least 1 known risk factor for lung cancer, most often smoking. Data from a nationally representative survey in Study 2 found that respondents reported lower lung cancer fatalism, after, compared with before, the events (OR = 0.16, 95% CI [0.03, 0.93]). A sustained increase in call volume to the national tobacco Quitline after these events was found in Study 3. These results suggest that there is a temporal association between high-profile cancer events, the subsequent media coverage, psychological outcomes, and cancer prevention behaviors. These results suggest that high-profile cancer events could be leveraged as an opportunity for large-scale public heath communication campaigns through the dissemination of cancer prevention messages and services. PMID:24274730

Reduced fatalism and increased prevention behavior after two high-profile lung cancer events.

PubMed

Portnoy, David B; Leach, Corinne R; Kaufman, Annette R; Moser, Richard P; Alfano, Catherine M

2014-01-01

The positive impact of media coverage of high-profile cancer events on cancer prevention behaviors is well-established. However, less work has focused on potential adverse psychological reactions to such events, such as fatalism. Conducting 3 studies, the authors explored how the lung cancer death of Peter Jennings and diagnosis of Dana Reeve in 2005 related to fatalism. Analysis of a national media sample in Study 1 found that media coverage of these events often focused on reiterating the typical profile of those diagnosed with lung cancer; 38% of the media mentioned at least 1 known risk factor for lung cancer, most often smoking. Data from a nationally representative survey in Study 2 found that respondents reported lower lung cancer fatalism, after, compared with before, the events (OR = 0.16, 95% CI [0.03, 0.93]). A sustained increase in call volume to the national tobacco Quitline after these events was found in Study 3. These results suggest that there is a temporal association between high-profile cancer events, the subsequent media coverage, psychological outcomes, and cancer prevention behaviors. These results suggest that high-profile cancer events could be leveraged as an opportunity for large-scale public heath communication campaigns through the dissemination of cancer prevention messages and services.

New insights on historic droughts in the UK: Analysis of 200 river flow reconstructions for 1890-2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parry, Simon; Barker, Lucy; Hannaford, Jamie; Prudhomme, Christel; Smith, Katie; Svensson, Cecilia; Tanguy, Maliko

2017-04-01

Hydrological droughts of the last 50 years in the UK have been well characterised owing to a relatively dense hydrometric network. Prior to this, observed river flow data were generally limited in their spatial coverage and often subject to considerable uncertainty. Whilst qualitative records indicate the occurrence of severe droughts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including scenarios which may cause substantial impacts to contemporary water supply systems, existing observations are not sufficient to describe their spatio-temporal characteristics. As such, insights on drought in the UK are constrained and a range of stakeholders including water companies and regulators would benefit from a more thorough assessment of historic drought characteristics and their variability. The multi-disciplinary Historic Droughts project aims to rigorously characterise droughts in the UK to inform improved drought management and communication. Driven by rainfall and potential evapotranspiration data that have been extended using recovered records, lumped catchment hydrological models are used to reconstruct daily river flows from 1890 to 2015 for more than 200 catchments across the UK. The reconstructions are derived within a state-of-the-art modelling framework which allows a comprehensive assessment of model, structure and parameter uncertainty. Standardised and threshold-based indicators are applied to the river flow reconstructions to identify and characterise hydrological drought events. The reconstructions are most beneficial in comprehensively describing well known but poorly quantified late 19th and early 20th century droughts, placing the spatial and temporal footprint of these often extreme events within the context of modern episodes for the first time. Oscillations between drought-rich and drought-poor periods are shown not to be limited to the recent observational past, providing an increased sample size of events against which to test a range of airflow and oceanic index patterns as potential drivers of streamflow drought. The quantification of changes over time in both the mean and the variability of drought frequency, duration, severity and termination benefits from the temporal extent of the river flow reconstructions, assessing the temporal variability of drought over more prolonged timescales than previous drought trend studies. When considered alongside complimentary reconstructions of rainfall and groundwater levels, the characteristics of propagation from meteorological to hydrological drought are analysed to an extent not previously possible. The unprecedented spatio-temporal coverage of the river flow reconstructions has yielded important new insights on historic droughts in the UK. It is hoped that this more robust assessment of the historical variability of hydrological drought in the UK will underpin enhanced drought planning and management.

Backscatter Analysis Using Multi-Temporal SENTINEL-1 SAR Data for Crop Growth of Maize in Konya Basin, Turkey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdikan, S.; Sekertekin, A.; Ustunern, M.; Balik Sanli, F.; Nasirzadehdizaji, R.

2018-04-01

Temporal monitoring of crop types is essential for the sustainable management of agricultural activities on both national and global levels. As a practical and efficient tool, remote sensing is widely used in such applications. In this study, Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery was utilized to investigate the performance of the sensor backscatter image on crop monitoring. Multi-temporal C-band VV and VH polarized SAR images were acquired simultaneously by in-situ measurements which was conducted at Konya basin, central Anatolia Turkey. During the measurements, plant height of maize plant was collected and relationship between backscatter values and plant height was analysed. The maize growth development was described under Biologische Bundesanstalt, bundessortenamt und CHemische industrie (BBCH). Under BBCH stages, the test site was classified as leaf development, stem elongation, heading and flowering in general. The correlation coefficient values indicated high correlation for both polarimetry during the early stages of the plant, while late stages indicated lower values in both polarimetry. As a last step, multi-temporal coverage of crop fields was analysed to map seasonal land use. To this aim, object based image classification was applied following image segmentation. About 80 % accuracies of land use maps were created in this experiment. As preliminary results, it is concluded that Sentinel-1 data provides beneficial information about plant growth. Dual-polarized Sentinel-1 data has high potential for multi-temporal analyses for agriculture monitoring and reliable mapping.

Use of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to identify interactive meteorological conditions affecting relative throughfall

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Stan, John T.; Gay, Trent E.; Lewis, Elliott S.

2016-02-01

Forest canopies alter rainfall reaching the surface by redistributing it as throughfall. Throughfall supplies water and nutrients to a variety of ecohydrological components (soil microbial communities, stream water discharge/chemistry, and stormflow pathways) and is controlled by canopy structural interactions with meteorological conditions across temporal scales. This work introduces and applies multiple correspondence analyses (MCAs) to a range of meteorological thresholds (median intensity, median absolute deviation (MAD) of intensity, median wind-driven droplet inclination angle, and MAD of wind speed) for an example throughfall problem: identification of interacting storm conditions corresponding to temporal concentration in relative throughfall beyond the median observation (⩾73% of rain). MCA results from the example show that equalling or exceeding rain intensity thresholds (median and MAD) corresponded with temporal concentration of relative throughfall across all storms. Under these intensity conditions, two wind mechanisms produced significant correspondences: (1) high, steady wind-driven droplet inclination angles increased surface wetting; and (2) sporadic winds shook entrained droplets from surfaces. A discussion is provided showing that these example MCA findings agree well with previous work relying on more historically common methods (e.g., multiple regression and analytical models). Meteorological threshold correspondences to temporal concentration of relative throughfall at our site may be a function of heavy Tillandsia usneoides coverage. Applications of MCA within other forests may provide useful insights to how temporal throughfall dynamics are affected for drainage pathways dependent on different structures (leaves, twigs, branches, etc.).

Time-Warp–Invariant Neuronal Processing

PubMed Central

Gütig, Robert; Sompolinsky, Haim

2009-01-01

Fluctuations in the temporal durations of sensory signals constitute a major source of variability within natural stimulus ensembles. The neuronal mechanisms through which sensory systems can stabilize perception against such fluctuations are largely unknown. An intriguing instantiation of such robustness occurs in human speech perception, which relies critically on temporal acoustic cues that are embedded in signals with highly variable duration. Across different instances of natural speech, auditory cues can undergo temporal warping that ranges from 2-fold compression to 2-fold dilation without significant perceptual impairment. Here, we report that time-warp–invariant neuronal processing can be subserved by the shunting action of synaptic conductances that automatically rescales the effective integration time of postsynaptic neurons. We propose a novel spike-based learning rule for synaptic conductances that adjusts the degree of synaptic shunting to the temporal processing requirements of a given task. Applying this general biophysical mechanism to the example of speech processing, we propose a neuronal network model for time-warp–invariant word discrimination and demonstrate its excellent performance on a standard benchmark speech-recognition task. Our results demonstrate the important functional role of synaptic conductances in spike-based neuronal information processing and learning. The biophysics of temporal integration at neuronal membranes can endow sensory pathways with powerful time-warp–invariant computational capabilities. PMID:19582146

Spatial and Temporal Means and Variability of Arctic Sea Ice Climate Indicators from Satellite Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, G.; Meier, W.; Bliss, A. C.; Steele, M.; Dickinson, S.

2017-12-01

Arctic sea ice has been undergoing rapid and accelerated loss since satellite-based measurements became available in late 1970s, especially the summer ice coverage. For the Arctic as a whole, the long-term trend for the annual sea ice extent (SIE) minimum is about -13.5±2.93 % per decade change relative to the 1979-2015 climate average, while the trends of the annual SIE minimum for the local regions can range from 0 to up to -42 % per decade. This presentation aims to examine and baseline spatial and temporal means and variability of Arctic sea ice climate indicators, such as the annual SIE minimum and maximum, snow/ice melt onset, etc., from a consistent, inter-calibrated, long-term time series of remote sensing sea ice data for understanding regional vulnerability and monitoring ice state for climate adaptation and risk mitigation.

Hydrologic Conditions Viewed by the Nimbus Meteorological Satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rabchevsky, G. A.

1971-01-01

The unexploited value of the Nimbus meteorological sensor data relates to the satellites' ability for global, temporal, repetitive and uniform tonal and spatial coverage of the earth's surface. Examples are presented illustrating how synoptic views of large areas increase interpretive capability and enable focusing on large targets of interest. The effect of resolution of the Nimbus imaging systems on these observations is discussed, together with the assessment of the areal and temporal magnitude of changes observed by these systems. Two case studies are presented exemplifying the satellites' ability for repetitive observations enabling phenomena to be monitored under special conditions. One study deals with changes observed in the Antarctic ice conditions utilizing the Nimbus 2 and 3 television picture data. The other study deals with terrestrial changes in the Mississippi River Valley and the Niger River Valley (Africa), observed primarily in the 0.7 to 1.3 micron spectral band.

Improvement of axial excitation confinement in temporal focusing-based multiphoton microscopy via spatially modulated illumination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Chia-Yuan; Chen, Shean-Jen

2017-02-01

Conventional temporal focusing-based multiphoton excitation microscopy (TFMPEM) can offer widefield optical sectioning with an axial excitation confinement (AEC) of a few microns. Herein, a developed TFMPEM with a digital micromirror device (DMD), acting as the blazed grating for light spatial dispersion and simultaneous patterned illumination, has been extended to implement spatially modulated illumination at structured frequency and orientation. By implementing the spatially modulated illumination, the beam coverage at the back-focal aperture of the objective lens can be increased. As a result, the AEC can be condensed from 3.0 μm to 1.5 μm in full width at half maximum for a 2-fold enhancement. Furthermore, by using HiLo microscopy with two structured illuminations at the same spatial frequency but different orientation, biotissue images according to the structured illumination with condensed AEC is obviously superior in contrast and scattering suppression.

The role of helical tomotherapy in the treatment of bone plasmacytoma.

PubMed

Chargari, Cyrus; Hijal, Tarek; Bouscary, Didier; Caussa, Lucas; Dendale, Remi; Zefkili, Sofia; Fourquet, Alain; Kirova, Youlia M

2012-01-01

We evaluated the early clinical outcome of patients with solitary bone plasmacytoma (SP) or a solitary lesion of multiple myeloma (MM) treated with helical tomotherapy (HT) compared with 3D conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT), in terms of target coverage and exposure of critical organs. Ten patients with SP and 3 patients with a solitary lesion of MM underwent radiation therapy (RT) delivered by HT, to a dose of 40 Gy in 20 fractions. Treatment planning was then performed with 3D-CRT and the dosimetric parameters of both techniques were compared. Patients were also assessed for response to treatment and acute toxicities. With a median follow-up of 13 months, 78% of patients with pain before RT had resolution of their symptoms. Coverage of target lesion was adequate with both techniques in 12 of 13 patients. Target coverage was significantly lower for HT (V(95%) = 98.55% vs. 97.15%; p = 0.04, for 3D-CRT and HT, respectively). Target overdoses were also lower with HT (V(105%) = 2.01% vs. 0.19%; p= 0.16), although nonsignificant. Finally, there were no significant differences in organs-at-risk irradiation between both techniques. The early treatment tolerance was excellent, with no toxicity higher than grade I. RT of SP and MM with a solitary lesion can be safely delivered with HT, with no major acute side effects and good symptomatic control. Finally, HT provides a dosimetry similar to that of 3D-CRT in terms of organs-at-risk sparing and target volume coverage. Copyright © 2012 American Association of Medical Dosimetrists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Restricted Field IMRT Dramatically Enhances IMRT Planning for Mesothelioma

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

Allen, Aaron M.; Schofield, Deborah; Hacker, Fred

2007-12-01

Purpose: To improve the target coverage and normal tissue sparing of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for mesothelioma after extrapleural pneumonectomy. Methods and Materials: Thirteen plans from patients previously treated with IMRT for mesothelioma were replanned using a restricted field technique. This technique was novel in two ways. It limited the entrance beams to 200{sup o} around the target and three to four beams per case had their field apertures restricted down to the level of the heart or liver to further limit the contralateral lung dose. New constraints were added that included a mean lung dose of <9.5 Gy and volumemore » receiving {>=}5 Gy of <55%. Results: In all cases, the planning target volume coverage was excellent, with an average of 97% coverage of the planning target volume by the target dose. No change was seen in the target coverage with the new technique. The heart, kidneys, and esophagus were all kept under tolerance in all cases. The average mean lung dose, volume receiving {>=}20 Gy, and volume receiving {>=}5 Gy with the new technique was 6.6 Gy, 3.0%, and 50.8%, respectively, compared with 13.8 Gy, 15%, and 90% with the previous technique (p < 0.0001 for all three comparisons). The maximal value for any case in the cohort was 8.0 Gy, 7.3%, and 57.5% for the mean lung dose, volume receiving {>=}20 Gy, and volume receiving {>=}5 Gy, respectively. Conclusion: Restricted field IMRT provides an improved method to deliver IMRT to a complex target after extrapleural pneumonectomy. An upcoming Phase I trial will provide validation of these results.« less

Breast conserving treatment for breast cancer: dosimetric comparison of different non-invasive techniques for additional boost delivery

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Today it is unclear which technique for delivery of an additional boost after whole breast radiotherapy for breast conserved patients should be state of the art. We present a dosimetric comparison of different non-invasive treatment techniques for additional boost delivery. Methods For 10 different tumor bed localizations, 7 different non-invasive treatment plans were made. Dosimetric comparison of PTV-coverage and dose to organs at risk was performed. Results The Vero system achieved an excellent PTV-coverage and at the same time could minimize the dose to the organs at risk with an average near-maximum-dose (D2) to the heart of 0.9 Gy and the average volume of ipsilateral lung receiving 5 Gy (V5) of 1.5%. The TomoTherapy modalities delivered an average D2 to the heart of 0.9 Gy for the rotational and of 2.3 Gy for the static modality and an average V5 to the ipsilateral lung of 7.3% and 2.9% respectively. A rotational technique offers an adequate conformity at the cost of more low dose spread and a larger build-up area. In most cases a 2-field technique showed acceptable PTV-coverage, but a bad conformity. Electrons often delivered a worse PTV-coverage than photons, with the planning requirements achieved only in 2 patients and with an average D2 to the heart of 2.8 Gy and an average V5 to the ipsilateral lung of 5.8%. Conclusions We present advices which can be used as guidelines for the selection of the best individualized treatment. PMID:24467916

Predicting and comparing long-term measles antibody profiles of different immunization policies.

PubMed

Lee, M S; Nokes, D J

2001-01-01

Measles outbreaks are infrequent and localized in areas with high coverage of measles vaccine. The need is to assess long-term effectiveness of coverage. Since 1991, no measles epidemic affecting the whole island has occurred in Taiwan, China. Epidemiological models are developed to predict the long-term measles antibody profiles and compare the merits of different immunization policies on the island. The current measles immunization policy in Taiwan, China, is 1 dose of measles vaccine at 9 months of age and 1 dose of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine at 15 months of age, plus a 'mop-up' of MMR-unvaccinated schoolchildren at 6 years of age. Refinements involve a change to a two-dose strategy. Five scenarios based on different vaccination strategies are compared. The models are analysed using Microsoft Excel. First, making the assumption that measles vaccine-induced immunity will not wane, the predicted measles IgG seroprevalences in preschool children range from 81% (lower bound) to 94% (upper bound) and in schoolchildren reach 97-98% in all strategy scenarios. Results are dependent on the association of vaccine coverage between the first and second dose of vaccine. Second, if it is assumed that vaccine-induced antibody titres decay, the long-term measles seroprevalence will depend on the initial titres post vaccination, decay rates of antibody titres and cut-off of seropositivity. If MMR coverage at 12 months of age can reach > 90%, it would be worth changing the current policy to 2 doses at 12 months and 6 years of age to induce higher antibody titres. These epidemiological models could be applied wherever a similar stage of measles elimination has been reached.

Exploring the potential of Sentinel-1 data for regional scale slope instability detection using multi-temporal interferometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wasowski, Janusz; Bovenga, Fabio; Nutricato, Raffaele; Nitti, Davide Oscar; Chiaradia, Maria Teresa; Refice, Alberto; Pasquariello, Guido

2016-04-01

Launched in 2014, the European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-1 satellite carrying a medium resolution (20 m) C-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensor holds much promise for new applications of multi-temporal interferometry (MTI) in landslide assessment. Specifically, the regularity of acquisitions, timeliness of data delivery, shorter repeat cycle (currently 12 days with Sentinel-1A sensor), and flexible incidence angle geometry, all imply better practical utility of MTI relying on Sentinel-1 with respect to MTI based on data from earlier ESA's satellite radar C-band sensors (ERS1/2, ENVISAT). Furthermore, the upcoming launch of Sentinel-1B will cut down the repeat cycle to 6 days, thereby further improving temporal coherence and quality and coverage of MTI products. Taking advantage of the Interferometric Wide (IW) Swath acquisition mode of Sentinel-1 (images covering a 250 km swath on the ground), in this work we test the potential of such data for regional scale slope instability detection through MTI. Our test area includes the landslide-prone Apennine Mountains of Southern Italy. We rely on over 30 Sentinel-1 images, most of which acquired in 2015, and MTI processing through the SPINUA algorithm (Stable Points INterferometry in Un-urbanized Areas). The potential of MTI results based on Sentinel-1 data is assessed by comparing the detected ground surface displacements with the MTI results obtained for the same test area using the C-Band data acquired by ERS1/2 and ENVISAT in 1990s and 2000s. Although the initial results are encouraging, it seems evident that longer-term (few years) acquisitions of Sentinel-1 are necessary to reliably detect some extremely slow movements, which were observed in the last two decades and are likely to be still present in peri-urban areas of many hilltop towns in the Apennine Mts. The MTI results obtained from Sentinel-1 data are also locally compared with the MTI outcomes based on the high resolution (3 m) TerraSAR-X imagery. Again, even though there is lack of temporal overlap in the two datasets, the comparison shows some potential benefits of the exploitation different resolution sensor datasets. For example, when considering the costs of MTI applications, an effective approach to slope hazard assessment could rely on the use of coarser imagery MTI to secure long-term wide-area coverage, to be integrated by higher resolution MTI with more focus on urbanized or greater value areas (cf., Wasowski and Bovenga et al., 2014a,b). Now these approaches are facilitated by the regular global coverage and free medium resolution imagery guaranteed by the background satellite radar mission of Sentinel-1. Acknowledgments Study carried out in the framework of the Apulia Space project (PON&REC 2007-2013, Cod: PON03PE_00067_6). We also thank ESA and the German Space Agency (DLR) for providing us radar data. References Wasowski J., Bovenga F. 2014a. Investigating landslides and unstable slopes with satellite Multi Temporal Interferometry: Current issues and future perspectives. Engineering Geology 174: 103-138. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2014.03.003 Wasowski J., Bovenga F. 2014. Remote Sensing of Landslide Motion with Emphasis on Satellite Multitemporal Interferometry Applications: An Overview. In T. Davies (Ed). Landslide Hazards, Risks and Disasters. p. 345-403. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-396452-6.00011-2

Test Score Stability and Construct Validity of the Adult Manifest Anxiety Scale-College Version Scores among College Students: A Brief Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowe, Patricia A.; Papanastasiou, Elena C.; DeRuyck, Kimberly A.; Reynolds, Cecil R.

2005-01-01

In this study, the authors investigated the temporal stability and construct validity of the Adult Manifest Anxiety Scale-College Version (AMAS-C; C. R. Reynolds, B. O. Richmond, & P. A. Lowe, 2003b) scores. Results indicated that the AMAS-C scores had adequate to excellent test score stability, and evidence supported the construct validity of the…

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

Shayduk, Roman; Vonk, Vedran; Strempfer, Jörg

We report on the quantitative determination of the transient surface temperature of Pt(110) upon nanosecond laser pulse heating. We find excellent agreement between heat transport theory and the experimentally determined transient surface temperature as obtained from time-resolved X-ray diffraction on timescales from hundred nanoseconds to milliseconds. Exact knowledge of the surface temperature's temporal evolution after laser excitation is crucial for future pump-probe experiments at synchrotron storage rings and X-ray free electron lasers.

[Changes in mangrove coverage in Culebra Bay, North Pacific of Costa Rica (1945-2010)].

PubMed

Benavides-Varela, Catalina; Samper-Villareal, Jimena; Cortés, Jorge

2016-09-01

Despite the economic and environmental services that mangroves provide, they continue to be threatened by overexploitation, pollution, and land use change. Costa Rica has mangrove areas on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, and cover has been declining since the 1980s. However, data on mangrove coverage are not continually updated and are often based on inaccurate estimates. It is therefore necessary to assess the current extension and variation of the mangrove cover in recent years, to determine changes. The mangrove cover was analyzed in two mangrove forests located in Bahía Culebra, North Pacific: Iguanita and Playa Panamá. For this, aerial photographs and satellite imagery were used to study changes for a 65 year period (1945-2010). Spatio-temporal changes were found in mangroves coverage, and adjacent forests and areas without vegetation. Lower mangrove cover occurred during the 1970s (28.4 ha in Iguanita and 4.8 ha in Playa Panamá); but increased in recent years (38.9 ha in Iguanita and 12.0 ha in Panamá). Changes in forest cover by the Iguanita and Playa Panama mangroves were related to the history of land use around Bahía Culebra. Before 1980, there was extensive and intensive cattle ranching, increasing the deforestation rate; after that year, these practices were abandoned and secondary forest coverage increased until 2000. To ensure the adequate protection of mangroves, it is not only important to protect mangrove forests, but it is also necessary to establish buffer zones on their surroundings, to mitigate and/or reduce possible impacts.

Intellectual property (IP) analysis of embossed hologram business

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hunt, David; Reingand, Nadya; Cantrell, Robert

2006-02-01

This paper presents an overview of patents and patent applications on security embossed holograms, and highlights the possibilities offered by patent searching and analysis. Thousands of patent documents relevant to embossed holograms were uncovered by the study. The search was performed in the following databases: U.S. Patent Office, European Patent Office, Japanese Patent Office and Korean Patent Office for the time frame from 1971 through November 2005. The patent analysis unveils trends in patent temporal distribution, patent families formation, significant technological coverage within the embossed holography market and other interesting insights.

Intellectual property in holographic interferometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reingand, Nadya; Hunt, David

2006-08-01

This paper presents an overview of patents and patent applications on holographic interferometry, and highlights the possibilities offered by patent searching and analysis. Thousands of patent documents relevant to holographic interferometry were uncovered by the study. The search was performed in the following databases: U.S. Patent Office, European Patent Office, Japanese Patent Office and Korean Patent Office for the time frame from 1971 through May 2006. The patent analysis unveils trends in patent temporal distribution, patent families formation, significant technological coverage within the market of system that employ holographic interferometry and other interesting insights.

Satellite Estimates of the Direct Radiative Forcing of Biomass Burning Aerosols Over South America and Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Christopher, Sundar A.; Wang, Min; Kliche, Donna V.; Berendes, Todd; Welch, Ronald M.; Yang, S.K.

1997-01-01

Atmospheric aerosol particles, both natural and anthropogenic are important to the earth's radiative balance. Therefore it is important to provide adequate validation information on the spatial, temporal and radiative properties of aerosols. This will enable us to predict realistic global estimates of aerosol radiative effects more confidently. The current study utilizes 66 AVHRR LAC (Local Area Coverage) and coincident Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) images to characterize the fires, smoke and radiative forcings of biomass burning aerosols over four major ecosystems of South America.

Implementation of RF Circuitry for Real-Time Digital Beam-Forming SAR Calibration Schemes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horst, Stephen J.; Hoffman, James P.; Perkovic-Martin, Dragana; Shaffer, Scott; Thrivikraman, Tushar; Yates, Phil; Veilleux, Louise

2012-01-01

The SweepSAR architecture for space-borne remote sensing applications is an enabling technology for reducing the temporal baseline of repeat-pass interferometers while maintaining near-global coverage. As part of this architecture, real-time digital beam-forming would be performed on the radar return signals across multiple channels. Preserving the accuracy of the combined return data requires real-time calibration of the transmit and receive RF paths on each channel. This paper covers several of the design considerations necessary to produce a practical implementation of this concept.

[Contribution of the scrotal flap for the coverage of ischial and perineal pressure ulcers].

PubMed

Vantomme, M; Viard, R; Aimard, R; Vincent, P-L; Comparin, J-P; Voulliaume, D

2018-04-11

The ischiatric pressure sore is a common pathology in rehabilitated spinal cord injured people, despite careful prevention. Medical treatment by discharge and directed healing is not always sufficient and surgery using local musculocutaneous flaps is often essential. Unfortunately, recidivism is frequent and the availability of local flaps is limited. The scrotal flap is an excellent complement to classic flaps, gluteal flaps or hamstrings. It can be used alone or in addition to another musculocutaneous flap, in first or second intention. The scrotal flap is a musculocutaneous flap, using the Dartos, the platys muscle of the scrotum. It is richly vascularized, extensible and resistant. Its great plasticity makes it adaptable to any form of loss of substance, with an arc of rotation that can reach the anal margin. It can also be desepidermized and buried to fill a deep defect. Ten cases of scrotal flaps and their different indications are reviewed: some are used in first intention, others in addition to musculocutaneous flaps. The removal of a scrotal flap is fast and extremely easy. The simple closure of the donor site allows the sampling of half of the scrotum due to the great local laxity. The scrotal flaps achieved quickly healed, as well as the donor sites. Only one recurrence was observed after an inappropriate treatment of underlying osteitis. No complications have occurred. The scrotal musculocutaneous flap, reliable, resistant, quick and easy to remove is an excellent means of coverage of the perineal region. It can be used for the treatment of any loss of perineal substance in humans, but remains particularly useful for the treatment of ischial or perineal pressure sores. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

High-dose and extended-field intensity modulated radiation therapy for early-stage NK/T-cell lymphoma of Waldeyer's ring: dosimetric analysis and clinical outcome.

PubMed

Bi, Xi-Wen; Li, Ye-Xiong; Fang, Hui; Jin, Jing; Wang, Wei-Hu; Wang, Shu-Lian; Liu, Yue-Ping; Song, Yong-Wen; Ren, Hua; Dai, Jian-Rong

2013-12-01

To assess the dosimetric benefit, treatment outcome, and toxicity of high-dose and extended-field intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in patients with early-stage NK/T-cell lymphoma of Waldeyer's ring (WR-NKTCL). Thirty patients with early-stage WR-NKTCL who received extended-field IMRT were retrospectively reviewed. The prescribed dose was 50 Gy to the primary involved regions and positive cervical lymph nodes (planning target volume requiring radical irradiation [PTV50]) and 40 Gy to the negative cervical nodes (PTV40). Dosimetric parameters for the target volume and critical normal structures were evaluated. Locoregional control (LRC), overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS) were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The median mean doses to the PTV50 and PTV40 were 53.2 Gy and 43.0 Gy, respectively. Only 1.4% of the PTV50 and 0.9% of the PTV40 received less than 95% of the prescribed dose, indicating excellent target coverage. The average mean doses to the left and right parotid glands were 27.7 and 28.4 Gy, respectively. The 2-year OS, PFS, and LRC rates were 71.2%, 57.4%, and 87.8%. Most acute toxicities were grade 1 to 2, except for grade ≥3 dysphagia and mucositis. The most common late toxicity was grade 1-2 xerostomia, and no patient developed any ≥grade 3 late toxicities. A correlation between the mean dose to the parotid glands and the degree of late xerostomia was observed. IMRT achieves excellent target coverage and dose conformity, as well as favorable survival and locoregional control rates with acceptable toxicities in patients with WR-NKTCL. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Datacube Services in Action, Using Open Source and Open Standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baumann, P.; Misev, D.

2016-12-01

Array Databases comprise novel, promising technology for massive spatio-temporal datacubes, extending the SQL paradigm of "any query, anytime" to n-D arrays. On server side, such queries can be optimized, parallelized, and distributed based on partitioned array storage. The rasdaman ("raster data manager") system, which has pioneered Array Databases, is available in open source on www.rasdaman.org. Its declarative query language extends SQL with array operators which are optimized and parallelized on server side. The rasdaman engine, which is part of OSGeo Live, is mature and in operational use databases individually holding dozens of Terabytes. Further, the rasdaman concepts have strongly impacted international Big Data standards in the field, including the forthcoming MDA ("Multi-Dimensional Array") extension to ISO SQL, the OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS) and Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) standards, and the forthcoming INSPIRE WCS/WCPS; in both OGC and INSPIRE, OGC is WCS Core Reference Implementation. In our talk we present concepts, architecture, operational services, and standardization impact of open-source rasdaman, as well as experiences made.

Users guide for the hydroacoustic coverage assessment model (HydroCAM)

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

Farrell, T., LLNL

1997-12-01

A model for predicting the detection and localization performance of hydroacoustic monitoring networks has been developed. The model accounts for major factors affecting global-scale acoustic propagation in the ocean. including horizontal refraction, travel time variability due to spatial and temporal fluctuations in the ocean, and detailed characteristics of the source. Graphical user interfaces are provided to setup the models and visualize the results. The model produces maps of network detection coverage and localization area of uncertainty, as well as intermediate results such as predicted path amplitudes, travel time and travel time variance. This Users Guide for the model is organizedmore » into three sections. First a summary of functionality available in the model is presented, including example output products. The second section provides detailed descriptions of each of models contained in the system. The last section describes how to run the model, including a summary of each data input form in the user interface.« less

Natural guide-star processing for wide-field laser-assisted AO systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Correia, Carlos M.; Neichel, Benoit; Conan, Jean-Marc; Petit, Cyril; Sauvage, Jean-Francois; Fusco, Thierry; Vernet, Joel D. R.; Thatte, Niranjan

2016-07-01

Sky-coverage in laser-assisted AO observations largely depends on the system's capability to guide on the faintest natural guide-stars possible. Here we give an up-to-date status of our natural guide-star processing tailored to the European-ELT's visible and near-infrared (0.47 to 2.45 μm) integral field spectrograph - Harmoni. We tour the processing of both the isoplanatic and anisoplanatic tilt modes using the spatio-angular approach whereby the wavefront is estimated directly in the pupil plane avoiding a cumbersome explicit layered estimation on the 35-layer profiles we're currently using. Taking the case of Harmoni, we cover the choice of wave-front sensors, the number and field location of guide-stars, the optimised algorithms to beat down angular anisoplanatism and the performance obtained with different temporal controllers under split high-order/low-order tomography or joint tomography. We consider both atmospheric and far greater telescope wind buffeting disturbances. In addition we provide the sky-coverage estimates thus obtained.

Using Medical Text Extraction, Reasoning and Mapping System (MTERMS) to Process Medication Information in Outpatient Clinical Notes

PubMed Central

Zhou, Li; Plasek, Joseph M; Mahoney, Lisa M; Karipineni, Neelima; Chang, Frank; Yan, Xuemin; Chang, Fenny; Dimaggio, Dana; Goldman, Debora S.; Rocha, Roberto A.

2011-01-01

Clinical information is often coded using different terminologies, and therefore is not interoperable. Our goal is to develop a general natural language processing (NLP) system, called Medical Text Extraction, Reasoning and Mapping System (MTERMS), which encodes clinical text using different terminologies and simultaneously establishes dynamic mappings between them. MTERMS applies a modular, pipeline approach flowing from a preprocessor, semantic tagger, terminology mapper, context analyzer, and parser to structure inputted clinical notes. Evaluators manually reviewed 30 free-text and 10 structured outpatient clinical notes compared to MTERMS output. MTERMS achieved an overall F-measure of 90.6 and 94.0 for free-text and structured notes respectively for medication and temporal information. The local medication terminology had 83.0% coverage compared to RxNorm’s 98.0% coverage for free-text notes. 61.6% of mappings between the terminologies are exact match. Capture of duration was significantly improved (91.7% vs. 52.5%) from systems in the third i2b2 challenge. PMID:22195230

OCTOCAM: A Workhorse Instrument for the Gemini Telescopes During the Era of LSST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roming, Peter; van der Horst, Alexander; OCTOCAM Team

2018-01-01

The decade of the 2020s are planned to be an era of large surveys and giant telescopes. A trademark of this era will be the large number of interesting objects observed daily by high-cadence surveys, such as the LSST. Because of the sheer numbers, only a very small fraction of these interesting objects will be observed with extremely large telescopes. The follow up workhorses during this era will be the 8-meter class telescopes and corresponding instruments that are prepared to pursue these interesting objects. One such workhorse instrument is OCTOCAM, a highly efficient instrument designed to probe the time domain window with simulatenous broad-wavelength coverage. OCTOCAM optimizes the use of Gemini for broadband imaging and spectroscopic single-target observations. The instrument is designed for high temporal resolution, broad spectral coverage, and moderate spectral resolution. OCTOCAM was selected as part of the Gemini instrumentation program in early 2017. Here we provide a description of the science cases to be addressed, overall instrument design, and current status.

Robust sensor fusion of unobtrusively measured heart rate.

PubMed

Wartzek, Tobias; Brüser, Christoph; Walter, Marian; Leonhardt, Steffen

2014-03-01

Contactless vital sign measurement technologies often have the drawback of severe motion artifacts and periods in which no signal is available. However, using several identical or physically different sensors, redundancy can be used to decrease the error in noncontact heart rate estimation, while increasing the time period during which reliable data are available. In this paper, we show for the first time two major results in case of contactless heart rate measurements deduced from a capacitive ECG and optical pulse signals. First, an artifact detection is an essential preprocessing step to allow a reliable fusion. Second, the robust but computationally efficient median already provides good results; however, using a Bayesian approach, and a short time estimation of the variance, best results in terms of difference to reference heart rate and temporal coverage can be achieved. In this paper, six sensor signals were used and coverage increased from 0-90% to 80-94%, while the difference between the estimated heart rate and the gold standard was less than ±2 BPM.

Temporal variability of the surface and atmosphere of Mars: Viking Orbiter color observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcewen, A. S.

1992-01-01

We are near the final stages in the processing of a large Viking Orbiter global color dataset. Mosaics from 57 spacecraft revolutions (or 'revs' hereafter) were produced, most in both red and violet or red, green, and violet filters. Phase angles range from 13 deg to 85 deg. A total of approximately 2000 frames were processed through radiometric calibration, cosmetic cleanup, geometric control, reprojection, and mosaicking into single-rev mosaics at a scale of 1 km/pixel. All of the mosaics are geometrically tied to the 1/256 deg/pixel Mars Digital Image Mosaic (MDIM). Photometric normalization is in progress, to be followed by production of a 'best coverage' global mosaic at a scale of 1/64 deg/pixel (0.923 km/pixel). Global coverage is near 100 percent in red-filter mosaics and 98 percent and 60 percent in corresponding violet- and green-filter mosaics, respectively. Soon after completion, all final datasets (including single-rev mosaics) will be distributed to the planetary community on compact disks.

Bariatric surgery interest around the world: what Google Trends can teach us.

PubMed

Linkov, Faina; Bovbjerg, Dana H; Freese, Kyle E; Ramanathan, Ramesh; Eid, George Michel; Gourash, William

2014-01-01

Bariatric surgery may prove an effective weight loss option for those struggling with severe obesity, but it is difficult to determine levels of interest in such procedures at the population level through traditional approaches. Analysis of Google Trend information may give providers and healthcare systems useful information regarding Internet users' interest in bariatric procedures. The objective of this study was to gather Google Trend information on worldwide Internet searches for "bariatric surgery", "gastric bypass", "gastric sleeve", "gastric plication", and "lap band" from 2004-2012 and to explore temporal relationships with relevant media events, economic variations, and policy modifications. Data were collected using Google Trends. Trend analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel Version 14.3.5 and Minitab V.16.0. Trend analyses showed that total search volume for the term "bariatric surgery" has declined roughly 25% since January 2004, although interest increased approximately 5% from 2011 to 2012. Interest in lap band procedures declined 30% over the past 5 years, while "gastric sleeve" has increased 15%. Spikes in search numbers show an association with events such as changing policy and insurance guidelines and media coverage for bariatric procedures. This report illustrates that variations in Internet search volume for terms related to bariatric surgery are multifactorial in origin. Although it is impossible to ascertain if reported Internet search volume is based on interest in potentially undergoing bariatric surgery or simply general interest, this analysis reveals that search volume appears to mirror real world events. Therefore, Google Trends could be a way to supplement understanding about interest in bariatric procedures. © 2013 American Society for Bariatric Surgery Published by American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery All rights reserved.

High-performance perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 thin films for solar cells prepared by single-source physical vapour deposition

PubMed Central

Fan, Ping; Gu, Di; Liang, Guang-Xing; Luo, Jing-Ting; Chen, Ju-Long; Zheng, Zhuang-Hao; Zhang, Dong-Ping

2016-01-01

In this work, an alternative route to fabricating high-quality CH3NH3PbI3 thin films is proposed. Single-source physical vapour deposition (SSPVD) without a post-heat-treating process was used to prepare CH3NH3PbI3 thin films at room temperature. This new process enabled complete surface coverage and moisture stability in a non-vacuum solution. Moreover, the challenges of simultaneously controlling evaporation processes of the organic and inorganic sources via dual-source vapour evaporation and the heating process required to obtain high crystallization were avoided. Excellent composition with stoichiometry transferred from the powder material, a high level of tetragonal phase-purity, full surface coverage, well-defined grain structure, high crystallization and reproducibility were obtained. A PCE of approximately 10.90% was obtained with a device based on SSPVD CH3NH3PbI3. These initial results suggest that SSPVD is a promising method to significantly optimize perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 solar cell efficiency. PMID:27426686

Expressing the human proteome for affinity proteomics: optimising expression of soluble protein domains and in vivo biotinylation.

PubMed

Keates, Tracy; Cooper, Christopher D O; Savitsky, Pavel; Allerston, Charles K; Phillips, Claire; Hammarström, Martin; Daga, Neha; Berridge, Georgina; Mahajan, Pravin; Burgess-Brown, Nicola A; Müller, Susanne; Gräslund, Susanne; Gileadi, Opher

2012-06-15

The generation of affinity reagents to large numbers of human proteins depends on the ability to express the target proteins as high-quality antigens. The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) focuses on the production and structure determination of human proteins. In a 7-year period, the SGC has deposited crystal structures of >800 human protein domains, and has additionally expressed and purified a similar number of protein domains that have not yet been crystallised. The targets include a diversity of protein domains, with an attempt to provide high coverage of protein families. The family approach provides an excellent basis for characterising the selectivity of affinity reagents. We present a summary of the approaches used to generate purified human proteins or protein domains, a test case demonstrating the ability to rapidly generate new proteins, and an optimisation study on the modification of >70 proteins by biotinylation in vivo. These results provide a unique synergy between large-scale structural projects and the recent efforts to produce a wide coverage of affinity reagents to the human proteome. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pre-coalescence scaling of graphene island sizes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Das, Shantanu; Drucker, Jeff

2018-05-01

Graphene grown using cold-wall chemical vapor deposition on Cu surfaces follows a classical nucleation and growth mechanism. Following nucleation at the earliest growth stages, isolated crystallites grow, impinge, and coalesce to form a continuous layer. During the pre-coalescence growth regime, the size distributions of graphene crystallites exhibit scaling of the form N(s) = θ/⟨s⟩2 g(s/⟨s⟩), where s is the island area, θ is the graphene coverage, ⟨s⟩ is the average island area, N is the areal density, and g(x) is a scaling function. For graphene grown on Cu surfaces that have been annealed in a reducing Ar + H2 ambient, excellent data collapse onto a universal Avrami scaling function is observed irrespective of graphene coverage, surface roughness, or Cu grain size. This result is interpreted to indicate attachment-limited growth and desorption of diffusing C-containing species. Graphene grown on Cu surfaces that were annealed in a non-reducing environment exhibits a qualitatively different scaling function, indicating diffusion-limited growth with a lower attachment barrier combined with C detachment from the graphene edges.

“It’s Like a Phantom Disease”: Patient Perspectives on Access to Treatment for Chagas Disease in the United States

PubMed Central

Forsyth, Colin J.; Hernandez, Salvador; Flores, Carmen A.; Roman, Mario F.; Nieto, J. Maribel; Marquez, Grecia; Sequeira, Juan; Sequeira, Harry; Meymandi, Sheba K.

2018-01-01

Abstract. Chagas disease (CD) affects > 6 million people globally, including > 300,000 in the United States. Although early detection and etiological treatment prevents chronic complications from CD, < 1% of U.S. cases have been diagnosed and treated. This study explores access to etiological treatment from the perspective of patients with CD. In semi-structured interviews with 50 Latin American–born patients of the Center of Excellence for Chagas Disease at the Olive View–UCLA Medical Center, we collected demographic information and asked patients about their experiences managing the disease and accessing treatment. Patients were highly marginalized, with 63.4% living below the U.S. poverty line, 60% lacking a high school education, and only 12% with private insurance coverage. The main barriers to accessing health care for CD were lack of providers, precarious insurance coverage, low provider awareness, transportation difficulties, and limited time off. Increasing access to diagnosis and treatment will not only require a dramatic increase in provider and public education, but also development of programs which are financially, linguistically, politically, and geographically accessible to patients. PMID:29380723

An evaluation of the suitability of ERTS data for the purposes of petroleum exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Collins, R. J., Jr. (Principal Investigator); Mccown, F. P.; Stonis, L. P.; Petzel, G.

1973-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 imagery seems to be good to excellent for reconnaissance level investigations of large sedimentary basins such as the Anadarko Basin. Many lithologic boundaries, and geomorphic features, and linear features inferred to be indicative of geologic structure are visible in the imagery. This imagery in conjunction with high altitude photography seems to be useful as a tool for intermediate level geologic exploration. Several types of crudely circular anomalous features, such as geomorphic/structural anomalies, hazy areas and tonal anomalies, are identifiable in the imagery. There seems to be a strong correlation between the geomorphic/structural and hazy anomalies and known structurally controlled oil and gas fields. The features recognizable on ERTS-1 imagery and their ease of recognition vary from area to area even in imagery acquired at the same time under essentially uniform atmospheric conditions. Repeated coverage is exceedingly valuable in geologic applications. One time complete coverage even for the various seasons does not reveal all the features that ERTS-1 can reveal.

Thermally evaporated methylammonium tin triiodide thin films for lead-free perovskite solar cell fabrication

DOE PAGES

Yu, Yue; Zhao, Dewei; Grice, Corey R.; ...

2016-09-16

Here, we report on the synthesis of methylammonium tin triiodide (MASnI 3) thin films at room temperature by a hybrid thermal evaporation method and their application in fabricating lead (Pb)-free perovskite solar cells. The as-deposited MASnI 3 thin films exhibit smooth surfaces, uniform coverage across the entire substrate, and strong crystallographic preferred orientation along the < 100 > direction. By incorporating this film with an inverted planar device architecture, our Pb-free perovskite solar cells are able to achieve an open-circuit voltage ( V oc) up to 494 mV. The relatively high V oc is mainly ascribed to the excellent surfacemore » coverage, the compact morphology, the good stoichiometry control of the MASnI 3 thin films, and the effective passivation of the electron-blocking and hole-blocking layers. Finally, our results demonstrate the potential capability of the hybrid evaporation method to prepare high-quality Pb-free MASnI 3 perovskite thin films which can be used to fabricate efficient Pb-free perovskite solar cells.« less

Expressing the human proteome for affinity proteomics: optimising expression of soluble protein domains and in vivo biotinylation

PubMed Central

Keates, Tracy; Cooper, Christopher D.O.; Savitsky, Pavel; Allerston, Charles K.; Phillips, Claire; Hammarström, Martin; Daga, Neha; Berridge, Georgina; Mahajan, Pravin; Burgess-Brown, Nicola A.; Müller, Susanne; Gräslund, Susanne; Gileadi, Opher

2012-01-01

The generation of affinity reagents to large numbers of human proteins depends on the ability to express the target proteins as high-quality antigens. The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) focuses on the production and structure determination of human proteins. In a 7-year period, the SGC has deposited crystal structures of >800 human protein domains, and has additionally expressed and purified a similar number of protein domains that have not yet been crystallised. The targets include a diversity of protein domains, with an attempt to provide high coverage of protein families. The family approach provides an excellent basis for characterising the selectivity of affinity reagents. We present a summary of the approaches used to generate purified human proteins or protein domains, a test case demonstrating the ability to rapidly generate new proteins, and an optimisation study on the modification of >70 proteins by biotinylation in vivo. These results provide a unique synergy between large-scale structural projects and the recent efforts to produce a wide coverage of affinity reagents to the human proteome. PMID:22027370

Leveraging Mechanism Simplicity and Strategic Averaging to Identify Signals from Highly Heterogeneous Spatial and Temporal Ozone Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown-Steiner, B.; Selin, N. E.; Prinn, R. G.; Monier, E.; Garcia-Menendez, F.; Tilmes, S.; Emmons, L. K.; Lamarque, J. F.; Cameron-Smith, P. J.

2017-12-01

We summarize two methods to aid in the identification of ozone signals from underlying spatially and temporally heterogeneous data in order to help research communities avoid the sometimes burdensome computational costs of high-resolution high-complexity models. The first method utilizes simplified chemical mechanisms (a Reduced Hydrocarbon Mechanism and a Superfast Mechanism) alongside a more complex mechanism (MOZART-4) within CESM CAM-Chem to extend the number of simulated meteorological years (or add additional members to an ensemble) for a given modeling problem. The Reduced Hydrocarbon mechanism is twice as fast, and the Superfast mechanism is three times faster than the MOZART-4 mechanism. We show that simplified chemical mechanisms are largely capable of simulating surface ozone across the globe as well as the more complex chemical mechanisms, and where they are not capable, a simple standardized anomaly emulation approach can correct for their inadequacies. The second method uses strategic averaging over both temporal and spatial scales to filter out the highly heterogeneous noise that underlies ozone observations and simulations. This method allows for a selection of temporal and spatial averaging scales that match a particular signal strength (between 0.5 and 5 ppbv), and enables the identification of regions where an ozone signal can rise above the ozone noise over a given region and a given period of time. In conjunction, these two methods can be used to "scale down" chemical mechanism complexity and quantitatively determine spatial and temporal scales that could enable research communities to utilize simplified representations of atmospheric chemistry and thereby maximize their productivity and efficiency given computational constraints. While this framework is here applied to ozone data, it could also be applied to a broad range of geospatial data sets (observed or modeled) that have spatial and temporal coverage.

Postictal aphasia and paresis: a clinical and intracerebral EEG study.

PubMed

Adam, C; Adam, C; Rouleau, I; Saint-Hilaire, J M

2000-02-01

We examined the lateralizing value of postictal language and motor deficits and studied their underlying mechanisms. The total sample consisted of 35 patients (26 temporals, 8 frontals, 1 parietal) with a good postsurgical outcome (Engel's class I and II). Postictal examination was blindly reviewed on videotapes. In 15 cases (29 seizures), postictal language manifestations were analyzed in relation with the diffusion of the epileptic discharge recorded by intracerebral EEG. Language dominance was determined by the intracarotid amobarbital test. Postictal aphasia was observed only when (1) seizure originated in the dominant hemisphere and (2) ictal activity spread to language areas (Wernicke and/or Broca areas). When the epileptic focus was in the nondominant hemisphere, no postictal aphasia was observed even if there was secondary generalization of ictal activity affecting the language areas of the dominant hemisphere. Postictal motor deficits also had a strong lateralizing value even when seizures were secondarily generalized. Postictal aphasia in temporal epilepsies and postical motor deficits in temporal and extra temporal epilepsies provided excellent lateralizing information. Postictal deficits appear to be the result of inhibitory mechanisms induced by previous ictal activity of the structures related to these functions.

Visualization of spatial-temporal data based on 3D virtual scene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xianghong; Liu, Jiping; Wang, Yong; Bi, Junfang

2009-10-01

The main purpose of this paper is to realize the expression of the three-dimensional dynamic visualization of spatialtemporal data based on three-dimensional virtual scene, using three-dimensional visualization technology, and combining with GIS so that the people's abilities of cognizing time and space are enhanced and improved by designing dynamic symbol and interactive expression. Using particle systems, three-dimensional simulation, virtual reality and other visual means, we can simulate the situations produced by changing the spatial location and property information of geographical entities over time, then explore and analyze its movement and transformation rules by changing the interactive manner, and also replay history and forecast of future. In this paper, the main research object is the vehicle track and the typhoon path and spatial-temporal data, through three-dimensional dynamic simulation of its track, and realize its timely monitoring its trends and historical track replaying; according to visualization techniques of spatialtemporal data in Three-dimensional virtual scene, providing us with excellent spatial-temporal information cognitive instrument not only can add clarity to show spatial-temporal information of the changes and developments in the situation, but also be used for future development and changes in the prediction and deduction.

Electroencephalography in Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A Review

PubMed Central

Javidan, Manouchehr

2012-01-01

Electroencephalography (EEG) has an important role in the diagnosis and classification of epilepsy. It can provide information for predicting the response to antiseizure drugs and to identify the surgically remediable epilepsies. In temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) seizures could originate in the medial or lateral neocortical temporal region, and many of these patients are refractory to medical treatment. However, majority of patients have had excellent results after surgery and this often relies on the EEG and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data in presurgical evaluation. If the scalp EEG data is insufficient or discordant, invasive EEG recording with placement of intracranial electrodes could identify the seizure focus prior to surgery. This paper highlights the general information regarding the use of EEG in epilepsy, EEG patterns resembling epileptiform discharges, and the interictal, ictal and postictal findings in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy using scalp and intracranial recordings prior to surgery. The utility of the automated seizure detection and computerized mathematical models for increasing yield of non-invasive localization is discussed. This paper also describes the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value of EEG for seizure recurrence after withdrawal of medications following seizure freedom with medical and surgical therapy. PMID:22957235

Temporal Changes in BEXSERO® Antigen Sequence Type Associated with Genetic Lineages of Neisseria meningitidis over a 15-Year Period in Western Australia

PubMed Central

Mowlaboccus, Shakeel; Perkins, Timothy T.; Smith, Helen; Sloots, Theo; Tozer, Sarah; Prempeh, Lydia-Jessica; Tay, Chin Yen; Peters, Fanny; Speers, David; Keil, Anthony D.; Kahler, Charlene M.

2016-01-01

Neisseria meningitidis is the causative agent of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). The BEXSERO® vaccine which is used to prevent serogroup B disease is composed of four sub-capsular protein antigens supplemented with an outer membrane vesicle. Since the sub-capsular protein antigens are variably expressed and antigenically variable amongst meningococcal isolates, vaccine coverage can be estimated by the meningococcal antigen typing system (MATS) which measures the propensity of the strain to be killed by vaccinated sera. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) which identifies the alleles of the antigens that may be recognised by the antibody response could represent, in future, an alternative estimate of coverage. In this study, WGS of 278 meningococcal isolates responsible for 62% of IMD in Western Australia from 2000–2014 were analysed for association of genetic lineage (sequence type [ST], clonal complex [cc]) with BEXSERO® antigen sequence type (BAST) and MATS to predict the annual vaccine coverage. A hyper-endemic period of IMD between 2000–05 was caused by cc41/44 with the major sequence type of ST-146 which was not predicted by MATS or BAST to be covered by the vaccine. An increase in serogroup diversity was observed between 2010–14 with the emergence of cc11 serogroup W in the adolescent population and cc23 serogroup Y in the elderly. BASTs were statistically associated with clonal complex although individual antigens underwent antigenic drift from the major type. BAST and MATS predicted an annual range of 44–91% vaccine coverage. Periods of low vaccine coverage in years post-2005 were not a result of the resurgence of cc41/44:ST-146 but were characterised by increased diversity of clonal complexes expressing BASTs which were not predicted by MATS to be covered by the vaccine. The driving force behind the diversity of the clonal complex and BAST during these periods of low vaccine coverage is unknown, but could be due to immune selection and inter-strain competition with carriage of non-disease causing meningococci. PMID:27355628

Whitecaps, sea-salt aerosols, and climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anguelova, Magdalena Dimitrova

Oceanic whitecaps are the major source of sea-salt aerosols. Because these aerosols are dominant in remote marine air, they control the radiative properties of the clean background atmosphere by scattering sunlight, changing cloud properties and lifetime, and providing media for chemical reactions. Including sea-salt effects in climate models improves predictions, but simulating their generation is first necessary. To make the sea-salt generation function currently used in climate models more relevant for aerosol investigations, this study proposes two modifications. First, the conventional relation between whitecap coverage, W, and the 10-meter wind speed, U10, used in typical generation functions is expanded to include additional factors that affect whitecaps and sea-salt aerosol formation. Second, the sea-salt generation function is extended to smaller sizes; sea-salt aerosol with initial radii from 0.4 to 20 mum can now be modeled. To achieve these goals, this thesis develops a new method for estimating whitecap coverage on a global scale using satellite measurements of the brightness temperature of the ocean surface. Whitecap coverage evaluated with this method incorporates the effects of atmospheric stability, sea-surface temperature, salinity, wind fetch, wind duration, and the amount of surface-active material. Assimilating satellite-derived values for whitecap coverage in the sea-salt generation function incorporates the effects of all environmental factors on sea-salt production and predicts realistic sea-salt aerosol loadings into the atmosphere. An extensive database of whitecap coverage and sea-salt aerosol fluxes has been compiled with the new method and is used to investigate their spatial and temporal characteristics. The composite effect of all environmental factors suggests a more uniform latitudinal distribution of whitecaps and sea-salt aerosols than that predicted from wind speed alone. The effect of sea-surface temperature, TS, is parameterized for the first time using regression analysis. The resulting parameterization W( U10, TS) is a better predictor of whitecap coverage than the conventional W(U 10) relation. This thesis also considers the contribution of oceanic whitecaps to ocean albedo and CO2 transfer and evaluates the direct effect of sea-salt aerosols on climate, the sea-salt contribution to CCN formation, and the role of sea-salt aerosols in atmospheric chemistry.

Filling in the GAPS: evaluating completeness and coverage of open-access biodiversity databases in the United States

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

Troia, Matthew J.; McManamay, Ryan A.

Primary biodiversity data constitute observations of particular species at given points in time and space. Open-access electronic databases provide unprecedented access to these data, but their usefulness in characterizing species distributions and patterns in biodiversity depend on how complete species inventories are at a given survey location and how uniformly distributed survey locations are along dimensions of time, space, and environment. Our aim was to compare completeness and coverage among three open-access databases representing ten taxonomic groups (amphibians, birds, freshwater bivalves, crayfish, freshwater fish, fungi, insects, mammals, plants, and reptiles) in the contiguous United States. We compiled occurrence records frommore » the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), and federally administered fish surveys (FFS). In this study, we aggregated occurrence records by 0.1° × 0.1° grid cells and computed three completeness metrics to classify each grid cell as well-surveyed or not. Next, we compared frequency distributions of surveyed grid cells to background environmental conditions in a GIS and performed Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests to quantify coverage through time, along two spatial gradients, and along eight environmental gradients. The three databases contributed >13.6 million reliable occurrence records distributed among >190,000 grid cells. The percent of well-surveyed grid cells was substantially lower for GBIF (5.2%) than for systematic surveys (BBS and FFS; 82.5%). Still, the large number of GBIF occurrence records produced at least 250 well-surveyed grid cells for six of nine taxonomic groups. Coverages of systematic surveys were less biased across spatial and environmental dimensions but were more biased in temporal coverage compared to GBIF data. GBIF coverages also varied among taxonomic groups, consistent with commonly recognized geographic, environmental, and institutional sampling biases. Lastly, this comprehensive assessment of biodiversity data across the contiguous United States provides a prioritization scheme to fill in the gaps by contributing existing occurrence records to the public domain and planning future surveys.« less

Filling in the GAPS: evaluating completeness and coverage of open-access biodiversity databases in the United States

DOE PAGES

Troia, Matthew J.; McManamay, Ryan A.

2016-06-12

Primary biodiversity data constitute observations of particular species at given points in time and space. Open-access electronic databases provide unprecedented access to these data, but their usefulness in characterizing species distributions and patterns in biodiversity depend on how complete species inventories are at a given survey location and how uniformly distributed survey locations are along dimensions of time, space, and environment. Our aim was to compare completeness and coverage among three open-access databases representing ten taxonomic groups (amphibians, birds, freshwater bivalves, crayfish, freshwater fish, fungi, insects, mammals, plants, and reptiles) in the contiguous United States. We compiled occurrence records frommore » the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), and federally administered fish surveys (FFS). In this study, we aggregated occurrence records by 0.1° × 0.1° grid cells and computed three completeness metrics to classify each grid cell as well-surveyed or not. Next, we compared frequency distributions of surveyed grid cells to background environmental conditions in a GIS and performed Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests to quantify coverage through time, along two spatial gradients, and along eight environmental gradients. The three databases contributed >13.6 million reliable occurrence records distributed among >190,000 grid cells. The percent of well-surveyed grid cells was substantially lower for GBIF (5.2%) than for systematic surveys (BBS and FFS; 82.5%). Still, the large number of GBIF occurrence records produced at least 250 well-surveyed grid cells for six of nine taxonomic groups. Coverages of systematic surveys were less biased across spatial and environmental dimensions but were more biased in temporal coverage compared to GBIF data. GBIF coverages also varied among taxonomic groups, consistent with commonly recognized geographic, environmental, and institutional sampling biases. Lastly, this comprehensive assessment of biodiversity data across the contiguous United States provides a prioritization scheme to fill in the gaps by contributing existing occurrence records to the public domain and planning future surveys.« less

Can EO afford big data - an assessment of the temporal and monetary costs of existing and emerging big data workflows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clements, Oliver; Walker, Peter

2014-05-01

The cost of working with extremely large data sets is an increasingly important issue within the Earth Observation community. From global coverage data at any resolution to small coverage data at extremely high resolution, the community has always produced big data. This will only increase as new sensors are deployed and their data made available. Over time standard workflows have emerged. These have been facilitated by the production and adoption of standard technologies. Groups such as the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) have been a driving force in this area for many years. The production of standard protocols and interfaces such as OPeNDAP, Web Coverage Service (WCS), Web Processing Service (WPS) and the newer emerging standards such as Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) have helped to galvanise these workflows. An example of a traditional workflow, assume a researcher wants to assess the temporal trend in chlorophyll concentration. This would involve a discovery phase, an acquisition phase, a processing phase and finally a derived product or analysis phase. Each element of this workflow has an associated temporal and monetary cost. Firstly the researcher would require a high bandwidth connection or the acquisition phase would take too long. Secondly the researcher must have their own expensive equipment for use in the processing phase. Both of these elements cost money and time. This can make the whole process prohibitive to scientists from the developing world or "citizen scientists" that do not have the processing infrastructure necessary. The use of emerging technologies can help improve both the monetary and time costs associated with these existing workflows. By utilising a WPS that is hosted at the same location as the data a user is able to apply processing to the data without needing their own processing infrastructure. This however limits the user to predefined processes that are made available by the data provider. The emerging OGC WCPS standard combined with big data analytics engines may provide a mechanism to improve this situation. The technology allows users to create their own queries using an SQL like query language and apply them over available large data archive, once again at the data providers end. This not only removes the processing cost whilst still allowing user defined processes it also reduces the bandwidth required, as only the final analysis or derived product needs to be downloaded. The maturity of the new technologies is a stage where their use should be justified by a quantitative assessment rather than simply by the fact that they are new developments. We will present a study of the time and cost requirements for a selection of existing workflows and then show how new/emerging standards and technologies can help to both reduce the cost to the user by shifting processing to the data, and reducing the required bandwidth for analysing large datasets, making analysis of big-data archives possible for a greater and more diverse audience.

Temporal and spatial variations of rainfall erosivity in Southern Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Ming-Hsi; Lin, Huan-Hsuan; Chu, Chun-Kuang

2014-05-01

Soil erosion models are essential in developing effective soil and water resource conservation strategies. Soil erosion is generally evaluated using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) with an appropriate regional scale description. Among factors in the USLE model, the rainfall erosivity index (R) provides one of the clearest indications of the effects of climate change. Accurate estimation of rainfall erosivity requires continuous rainfall data; however, such data rarely demonstrate good spatial and temporal coverage. The data set consisted of 9240 storm events for the period 1993 to 2011, monitored by 27 rainfall stations of the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) in southern Taiwan, was used to analyze the temporal-spatial variations of rainfall erosivity. The spatial distribution map was plotted based on rainfall erosivity by the Kriging interpolation method. Results indicated that rainfall erosivity is mainly concentrated in rainy season from June to November typically contributed 90% of the yearly R factor. The temporal variations of monthly rainfall erosivity during June to November and annual rainfall erosivity have increasing trend from 1993 to 2011. There is an increasing trend from southwest to northeast in spatial distribution of rainfall erosivity in southern Taiwan. The results further indicated that there is a higher relationship between elevation and rainfall erosivity. The method developed in this study may also be useful for sediment disasters on Climate Change.

Spatial and Temporal Monitoring of Aerosol over Selected Urban Areas in Egypt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shokr, Mohammed; El-Tahan, Mohammed; Ibrahim, Alaa

2015-04-01

We utilize remote sensing data of atmospheric aerosols from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra and Aqua satellites to explore spatio-temporal patterns over selected urban sites in Egypt during 2000-2015. High resolution (10 x 10 km^2) Level 2, collection 5, quality-controlled product was used. The selected sites are characterized by different human and industrial activities as well as landscape and meteorological attributes. These have impacts on the dominant types and intensity of aerosols. Aerosol robotic network (AERONET) data were used to validate the calculations from MODIS. The suitability of the MODIS product in terms of spatial and temporal coverage as well as accuracy and robustness has been established. Seasonal patterns of aerosol concentration are identified and compared between the sites. Spatial gradient of aerosol is assessed in the vicinity of major aerosol-emission sites (e.g. Cairo) to determine the range of influence of the generated pollution. Peak aerosol concentrations are explained in terms of meteorological events and land cover. The limited trends found in the temporal records of the aerosol measurements will be confirmed using calibrated long-term ground observations. The study has been conducted under the PEER 2-239 research project titled "The Impact of Biogenic and Anthropogenic Atmospheric Aerosols to Climate in Egypt". Project website is CleanAirEgypt.org

Spatial-temporal forecasting the sunspot diagram

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Covas, Eurico

2017-09-01

Aims: We attempt to forecast the Sun's sunspot butterfly diagram in both space (I.e. in latitude) and time, instead of the usual one-dimensional time series forecasts prevalent in the scientific literature. Methods: We use a prediction method based on the non-linear embedding of data series in high dimensions. We use this method to forecast both in latitude (space) and in time, using a full spatial-temporal series of the sunspot diagram from 1874 to 2015. Results: The analysis of the results shows that it is indeed possible to reconstruct the overall shape and amplitude of the spatial-temporal pattern of sunspots, but that the method in its current form does not have real predictive power. We also apply a metric called structural similarity to compare the forecasted and the observed butterfly cycles, showing that this metric can be a useful addition to the usual root mean square error metric when analysing the efficiency of different prediction methods. Conclusions: We conclude that it is in principle possible to reconstruct the full sunspot butterfly diagram for at least one cycle using this approach and that this method and others should be explored since just looking at metrics such as sunspot count number or sunspot total area coverage is too reductive given the spatial-temporal dynamical complexity of the sunspot butterfly diagram. However, more data and/or an improved approach is probably necessary to have true predictive power.

National Electrical Manufacturers Association NU-4 performance evaluation of the PET component of the NanoPET/CT preclinical PET/CT scanner.

PubMed

Szanda, Istvan; Mackewn, Jane; Patay, Gergely; Major, Peter; Sunassee, Kavitha; Mullen, Gregory E; Nemeth, Gabor; Haemisch, York; Blower, Philip J; Marsden, Paul K

2011-11-01

The NanoPET/CT represents the latest generation of commercial preclinical PET/CT systems. This article presents a performance evaluation of the PET component of the system according to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) NU-4 2008 standard. The NanoPET/CT consists of 12 lutetium yttrium orthosilicate:cerium modular detectors forming 1 ring, with 9.5-cm axial coverage and a 16-cm animal port. Each detector crystal is 1.12 × 1.12 × 13 mm, and 1 module contains 81 × 39 of these crystals. An optical light guide transmits the scintillation light to the flat-panel multianode position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes. Analog-to-digital converter cards and a field-programmable gate array-based data-collecting card provide the readout. Spatial resolution, sensitivity, counting rate capabilities, and image quality were evaluated in accordance with the NEMA NU-4 standard. Energy and temporal resolution measurements and a mouse imaging study were performed in addition to the standard. Energy resolution was 19% at 511 keV. The spatial resolution, measured as full width at half maximum on single-slice rebinning/filtered backprojection-reconstructed images, approached 1 mm on the axis and remained below 2.5 mm in the central 5-cm transaxial region both in the axial center and at one-quarter field of view. The maximum absolute sensitivity for a point source at the center of the field of view was 7.7%. The maximum noise equivalent counting rates were 430 kcps at 36 MBq and 130 kcps at 27 MBq for the mouse- and rat-sized phantoms, respectively. The uniformity and recovery coefficients were measured with the image-quality phantom, giving good-quality images. In a mouse study with an (18)F-labeled thyroid-specific tracer, the 2 lobes of the thyroid were clearly distinguishable, despite the small size of this organ. The flexible readout system allowed experiments to be performed in an efficient manner, and the system remained stable throughout. The large number of detector crystals, arranged with a fine pitch, results in excellent spatial resolution, which is the best reported for currently available commercial systems. The absolute sensitivity is high over the field of view. Combined with the excellent image quality, these features make the NanoPET/CT a powerful tool for preclinical research.

Variability of Upper-Tropospheric Precipitable from Satellite and Model Reanalysis Datasets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jedlovec, Gary J.; Iwai, Hisaki

1999-01-01

Numerous datasets have been used to quantify water vapor and its variability in the upper-troposphere from satellite and model reanalysis data. These investigations have shown some usefulness in monitoring seasonal and inter-annual variations in moisture either globally, with polar orbiting satellite data or global model output analysis, or regionally, with the higher spatial and temporal resolution geostationary measurements. The datasets are not without limitations, however, due to coverage or limited temporal sampling, and may also contain bias in their representation of moisture processes. The research presented in this conference paper inter-compares the NVAP, NCEP/NCAR and DAO reanalysis models, and GOES satellite measurements of upper-tropospheric,precipitable water for the period from 1988-1994. This period captures several dramatic swings in climate events associated with ENSO events. The data are evaluated for temporal and spatial continuity, inter-compared to assess reliability and potential bias, and analyzed in light of expected trends due to changes in precipitation and synoptic-scale weather features. This work is the follow-on to previous research which evaluated total precipitable water over the same period. The relationship between total and upper-level precipitable water in the datasets will be discussed as well.

Detection and Monitoring of Small-Scale Mining Operations in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Using Multi-Temporal, Multi-Sensor Remote Sensing Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walther, Christian; Frei, Michaela

2017-04-01

Mining of so-called "conflict minerals" is often related with small-scale mining activities. The here discussed activities are located in forested areas in the eastern DRC, which are often remote, difficult to access and insecure for traditional geological field inspection. In order to accelerate their CTC (Certified Trading Chain)-certification process, remote sensing data are used for detection and monitoring of these small-scale mining operations. This requires a high image acquisition frequency due to mining site relocations and for compensation of year-round high cloud coverage, especially for optical data evaluation. Freely available medium resolution optical data of Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 as well as SAR data of Sentinel-1 are used for detecting small mining targets with a minimum size of approximately 0.5 km2. The developed method enables a robust multi-temporal detection of mining sites, monitoring of mining site spatio-temporal relocations and environmental changes. Since qualitative and quantitative comparable results are generated, the followed change detection approach is objective and transparent and may push the certification process forward.

Bamboo mapping of Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda for the year 2016 using multi-temporal Landsat imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yuanyuan; Feng, Duole; Jayaraman, Durai; Belay, Daniel; Sebrala, Heiru; Ngugi, John; Maina, Eunice; Akombo, Rose; Otuoma, John; Mutyaba, Joseph; Kissa, Sam; Qi, Shuhua; Assefa, Fiker; Oduor, Nellie Mugure; Ndawula, Andrew Kalema; Li, Yanxia; Gong, Peng

2018-04-01

Mapping the spatial distribution of bamboo in East Africa is necessary for biodiversity conservation, resource management and policy making for rural poverty reduction. In this study, we produced a contemporary bamboo cover map of Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda for the year 2016 using multi-temporal Landsat imagery series at 30 m spatial resolution. This is the first bamboo map generated using remotely sensed data for these three East African countries that possess most of the African bamboo resource. The producer's and user's accuracies of bamboos are 79.2% and 84.0%, respectively. The hotspots with large amounts of bamboo were identified and the area of bamboo coverage for each region was estimated according to the map. The seasonal growth status of two typical bamboo zones (one highland bamboo and one lowland bamboo) were analyzed and the multi-temporal imagery proved to be useful in differentiating bamboo from other vegetation classes. The images acquired in September to February are less contaminated by clouds and shadows, and the image series cover the dying back process of lowland bamboo, which were helpful for bamboo identification in East Africa.

Benchmarking health system performance across districts in Zambia: a systematic analysis of levels and trends in key maternal and child health interventions from 1990 to 2010.

PubMed

Colson, Katherine Ellicott; Dwyer-Lindgren, Laura; Achoki, Tom; Fullman, Nancy; Schneider, Matthew; Mulenga, Peter; Hangoma, Peter; Ng, Marie; Masiye, Felix; Gakidou, Emmanuela

2015-04-02

Achieving universal health coverage and reducing health inequalities are primary goals for an increasing number of health systems worldwide. Timely and accurate measurements of levels and trends in key health indicators at local levels are crucial to assess progress and identify drivers of success and areas that may be lagging behind. We generated estimates of 17 key maternal and child health indicators for Zambia's 72 districts from 1990 to 2010 using surveys, censuses, and administrative data. We used a three-step statistical model involving spatial-temporal smoothing and Gaussian process regression. We generated estimates at the national level for each indicator by calculating the population-weighted mean of the district values and calculated composite coverage as the average of 10 priority interventions. National estimates masked substantial variation across districts in the levels and trends of all indicators. Overall, composite coverage increased from 46% in 1990 to 73% in 2010, and most of this gain was attributable to the scale-up of malaria control interventions, pentavalent immunization, and exclusive breastfeeding. The scale-up of these interventions was relatively equitable across districts. In contrast, progress in routine services, including polio immunization, antenatal care, and skilled birth attendance, stagnated or declined and exhibited large disparities across districts. The absolute difference in composite coverage between the highest-performing and lowest-performing districts declined from 37 to 26 percentage points between 1990 and 2010, although considerable variation in composite coverage across districts persisted. Zambia has made marked progress in delivering maternal and child health interventions between 1990 and 2010; nevertheless, substantial variations across districts and interventions remained. Subnational benchmarking is important to identify these disparities, allowing policymakers to prioritize areas of greatest need. Analyses such as this one should be conducted regularly and feed directly into policy decisions in order to increase accountability at the local, regional, and national levels.

Temporal Dynamics and Spatial Patterns of Aedes aegypti Breeding Sites, in the Context of a Dengue Control Program in Tartagal (Salta Province, Argentina).

PubMed

Espinosa, Manuel; Weinberg, Diego; Rotela, Camilo H; Polop, Francisco; Abril, Marcelo; Scavuzzo, Carlos Marcelo

2016-05-01

Since 2009, Fundación Mundo Sano has implemented an Aedes aegypti Surveillance and Control Program in Tartagal city (Salta Province, Argentina). The purpose of this study was to analyze temporal dynamics of Ae. aegypti breeding sites spatial distribution, during five years of samplings, and the effect of control actions over vector population dynamics. Seasonal entomological (larval) samplings were conducted in 17,815 fixed sites in Tartagal urban area between 2009 and 2014. Based on information of breeding sites abundance, from satellite remote sensing data (RS), and by the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), spatial analysis (hotspots and cluster analysis) and predictive model (MaxEnt) were performed. Spatial analysis showed a distribution pattern with the highest breeding densities registered in city outskirts. The model indicated that 75% of Ae. aegypti distribution is explained by 3 variables: bare soil coverage percentage (44.9%), urbanization coverage percentage(13.5%) and water distribution (11.6%). This results have called attention to the way entomological field data and information from geospatial origin (RS/GIS) are used to infer scenarios which could then be applied in epidemiological surveillance programs and in the determination of dengue control strategies. Predictive maps development constructed with Ae. aegypti systematic spatiotemporal data, in Tartagal city, would allow public health workers to identify and target high-risk areas with appropriate and timely control measures. These tools could help decision-makers to improve health system responses and preventive measures related to vector control.

Temporal Dynamics and Spatial Patterns of Aedes aegypti Breeding Sites, in the Context of a Dengue Control Program in Tartagal (Salta Province, Argentina)

PubMed Central

Espinosa, Manuel; Weinberg, Diego; Rotela, Camilo H.; Polop, Francisco; Abril, Marcelo; Scavuzzo, Carlos Marcelo

2016-01-01

Background Since 2009, Fundación Mundo Sano has implemented an Aedes aegypti Surveillance and Control Program in Tartagal city (Salta Province, Argentina). The purpose of this study was to analyze temporal dynamics of Ae. aegypti breeding sites spatial distribution, during five years of samplings, and the effect of control actions over vector population dynamics. Methodology/Principal Findings Seasonal entomological (larval) samplings were conducted in 17,815 fixed sites in Tartagal urban area between 2009 and 2014. Based on information of breeding sites abundance, from satellite remote sensing data (RS), and by the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), spatial analysis (hotspots and cluster analysis) and predictive model (MaxEnt) were performed. Spatial analysis showed a distribution pattern with the highest breeding densities registered in city outskirts. The model indicated that 75% of Ae. aegypti distribution is explained by 3 variables: bare soil coverage percentage (44.9%), urbanization coverage percentage(13.5%) and water distribution (11.6%). Conclusions/Significance This results have called attention to the way entomological field data and information from geospatial origin (RS/GIS) are used to infer scenarios which could then be applied in epidemiological surveillance programs and in the determination of dengue control strategies. Predictive maps development constructed with Ae. aegypti systematic spatiotemporal data, in Tartagal city, would allow public health workers to identify and target high-risk areas with appropriate and timely control measures. These tools could help decision-makers to improve health system responses and preventive measures related to vector control. PMID:27223693

TEMPORAL TRENDS AND FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH MEDICATION PRESCRIPTION PATTERNS IN PERITONEAL DIALYSIS PATIENTS.

PubMed

Campos, Ludimila G; Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer; Han, Yun; Moraes, Thyago P; Figueiredo, Ana E; Barretti, Pasqual; Balkrishnan, Rajesh; Saran, Rajiv; Pecoits-Filho, Roberto

2018-06-06

Patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) suffer from a high burden of comorbidities, which are managed with multiple medications. Determinants of prescription patterns are largely unknown in this population. This study assesses temporal changes and factors associated with medication prescription in a nationally representative population of patients on PD under the universal coverage healthcare system in Brazil. Incident patients recruited in the Brazilian Peritoneal Dialysis Study (BRAZPD) from December 2004 to January 2011, stratified by prior hemodialysis (HD) treatment, were included in the analysis. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association between medication prescription and socioeconomic factors. Yearly prevalent cross-sections were calculated to estimate prescription over time. Medication prescription was in general higher among patients who had previously received HD, compared with those who started renal replacement therapy (RRT) directly on PD. Prescription increased from baseline to 6 months of PD therapy, particularly in those who did not previously receive HD. After accounting for patient characteristics, significant associations were found between socioeconomic factors, geographic region, and medication prescription patterns. Finally, the prescription of all cardioprotective and anemia medications and phosphate binders increased significantly over time. In a PD population under universal coverage in a developing country, there was an increase in drug prescription during the first 6 months on PD, and a trend toward more liberal prescription of medications in later years. Independent from patient characteristics and comorbidities, socioeconomic factors influenced drug prescriptions that likely impact patient outcome, calling for public health action to decrease potential inequities in management of comorbidities in PD patients.

Piecing together the puzzle: Improving event content coverage for real-time sub-event detection using adaptive microblog crawling

PubMed Central

Tokarchuk, Laurissa; Wang, Xinyue; Poslad, Stefan

2017-01-01

In an age when people are predisposed to report real-world events through their social media accounts, many researchers value the benefits of mining user generated content from social media. Compared with the traditional news media, social media services, such as Twitter, can provide more complete and timely information about the real-world events. However events are often like a puzzle and in order to solve the puzzle/understand the event, we must identify all the sub-events or pieces. Existing Twitter event monitoring systems for sub-event detection and summarization currently typically analyse events based on partial data as conventional data collection methodologies are unable to collect comprehensive event data. This results in existing systems often being unable to report sub-events in real-time and often in completely missing sub-events or pieces in the broader event puzzle. This paper proposes a Sub-event detection by real-TIme Microblog monitoring (STRIM) framework that leverages the temporal feature of an expanded set of news-worthy event content. In order to more comprehensively and accurately identify sub-events this framework first proposes the use of adaptive microblog crawling. Our adaptive microblog crawler is capable of increasing the coverage of events while minimizing the amount of non-relevant content. We then propose a stream division methodology that can be accomplished in real time so that the temporal features of the expanded event streams can be analysed by a burst detection algorithm. In the final steps of the framework, the content features are extracted from each divided stream and recombined to provide a final summarization of the sub-events. The proposed framework is evaluated against traditional event detection using event recall and event precision metrics. Results show that improving the quality and coverage of event contents contribute to better event detection by identifying additional valid sub-events. The novel combination of our proposed adaptive crawler and our stream division/recombination technique provides significant gains in event recall (44.44%) and event precision (9.57%). The addition of these sub-events or pieces, allows us to get closer to solving the event puzzle. PMID:29107976

Piecing together the puzzle: Improving event content coverage for real-time sub-event detection using adaptive microblog crawling.

PubMed

Tokarchuk, Laurissa; Wang, Xinyue; Poslad, Stefan

2017-01-01

In an age when people are predisposed to report real-world events through their social media accounts, many researchers value the benefits of mining user generated content from social media. Compared with the traditional news media, social media services, such as Twitter, can provide more complete and timely information about the real-world events. However events are often like a puzzle and in order to solve the puzzle/understand the event, we must identify all the sub-events or pieces. Existing Twitter event monitoring systems for sub-event detection and summarization currently typically analyse events based on partial data as conventional data collection methodologies are unable to collect comprehensive event data. This results in existing systems often being unable to report sub-events in real-time and often in completely missing sub-events or pieces in the broader event puzzle. This paper proposes a Sub-event detection by real-TIme Microblog monitoring (STRIM) framework that leverages the temporal feature of an expanded set of news-worthy event content. In order to more comprehensively and accurately identify sub-events this framework first proposes the use of adaptive microblog crawling. Our adaptive microblog crawler is capable of increasing the coverage of events while minimizing the amount of non-relevant content. We then propose a stream division methodology that can be accomplished in real time so that the temporal features of the expanded event streams can be analysed by a burst detection algorithm. In the final steps of the framework, the content features are extracted from each divided stream and recombined to provide a final summarization of the sub-events. The proposed framework is evaluated against traditional event detection using event recall and event precision metrics. Results show that improving the quality and coverage of event contents contribute to better event detection by identifying additional valid sub-events. The novel combination of our proposed adaptive crawler and our stream division/recombination technique provides significant gains in event recall (44.44%) and event precision (9.57%). The addition of these sub-events or pieces, allows us to get closer to solving the event puzzle.

Integration of MODIS Snow, Cloud and Land Area Coverage Data with SNOTEL to Generate Inter-Annual and Within-Season Snow Depletion Curves and Maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qualls, R. J.; Woodruff, C.

2017-12-01

The behavior of inter-annual trends in mountain snow cover would represent extremely useful information for drought and climate change assessment; however, individual data sources exhibit specific limitations for characterizing this behavior. For example, SNOTEL data provide time series point values of Snow Water Equivalent (SWE), but lack spatial content apart from that contained in a sparse network of point values. Satellite observations in the visible spectrum can provide snow covered area, but not SWE at present, and are limited by cloud cover which often obscures visibility of the ground, especially during the winter and spring in mountainous areas. Cloud cover, therefore, often limits both temporal and spatial coverage of satellite remote sensing of snow. Among the platforms providing the best combination of temporal and spatial coverage to overcome the cloud obscuration problem by providing frequent overflights, the Aqua and Terra satellites carrying the MODIS instrument package provide 500 m, daily resolution observations of snow cover. These were only launched in 1999 and the early 2000's, thus limiting the historical period over which these data are available. A hybrid method incorporating SNOTEL and MODIS data has been developed which accomplishes cloud removal, and enables determination of the time series of watershed spatial snow cover when either SNOTEL or MODIS data are available. This allows one to generate spatial snow cover information for watersheds with SNOTEL stations for periods both before and after the launch of the Aqua and Terra satellites, extending the spatial information about snow cover over the period of record of the SNOTEL stations present in a watershed. This method is used to quantify the spatial time series of snow over the 9000 km2 Upper Snake River watershed and to evaluate inter-annual trends in the timing, rate, and duration of melt over the nearly 40 year period from the early 1980's to the present, and shows promise for generating snow cover depletion maps for drought and climate change scenarios.

SU-E-J-157: Improving the Quality of T2-Weighted 4D Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Clinical Evaluation

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

Du, D; Mutic, S; Hu, Y

2014-06-01

Purpose: To develop an imaging technique that enables us to acquire T2- weighted 4D Magnetic Resonance Imaging (4DMRI) with sufficient spatial coverage, temporal resolution and spatial resolution for clinical evaluation. Methods: T2-weighed 4DMRI images were acquired from a healthy volunteer using a respiratory amplitude triggered T2-weighted Turbo Spin Echo sequence. 10 respiratory states were used to equally sample the respiratory range based on amplitude (0%, 20%i, 40%i, 60%i, 80%i, 100%, 80%e, 60%e, 40%e and 20%e). To avoid frequent scanning halts, a methodology was devised that split 10 respiratory states into two packages in an interleaved manner and packages were acquiredmore » separately. Sixty 3mm sagittal slices at 1.5mm in-plane spatial resolution were acquired to offer good spatial coverage and reasonable spatial resolution. The in-plane field of view was 375mm × 260mm with nominal scan time of 3 minutes 42 seconds. Acquired 2D images at the same respiratory state were combined to form the 3D image set corresponding to that respiratory state and reconstructed in the coronal view to evaluate whether all slices were at the same respiratory state. 3D image sets of 10 respiratory states represented a complete 4D MRI image set. Results: T2-weighted 4DMRI image were acquired in 10 minutes which was within clinical acceptable range. Qualitatively, the acquired MRI images had good image quality for delineation purposes. There were no abrupt position changes in reconstructed coronal images which confirmed that all sagittal slices were in the same respiratory state. Conclusion: We demonstrated it was feasible to acquire T2-weighted 4DMRI image set within a practical amount of time (10 minutes) that had good temporal resolution (10 respiratory states), spatial resolution (1.5mm × 1.5mm × 3.0mm) and spatial coverage (60 slices) for future clinical evaluation.« less

SOFIA First Generation Science Instruments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erickson, Edwin F.; Meyer, Allan W.

2003-01-01

SOFIA will provide 0.3- 1600 pm wavelength coverage, excellent FIR/submm angular resolution, a variety of focal plane instruments, and access to them throughout a 20-year lifetime. These attributes assure SOFIA a vital role in future observations of the interstellar medium, and in numerous other studies. SOFIA is a joint program of NASA in the U.S. and DLR in Germany. Observing time will be arranged by annual peer review of proposals, with roughly 80 percent of the time granted by the U.S. and 20 percent of the time granted by Germany. International proposals may be submitted to either time allocation committee. SOFIA is expected to begin science flights in 2005.

Rapid microscale in-gel processing and digestion of proteins using surface acoustic waves.

PubMed

Kulkarni, Ketav P; Ramarathinam, Sri H; Friend, James; Yeo, Leslie; Purcell, Anthony W; Perlmutter, Patrick

2010-06-21

A new method for in-gel sample processing and tryptic digestion of proteins is described. Sample preparation, rehydration, in situ digestion and peptide extraction from gel slices are dramatically accelerated by treating the gel slice with surface acoustic waves (SAWs). Only 30 minutes total workflow time is required for this new method to produce base peak chromatograms (BPCs) of similar coverage and intensity to those observed for traditional processing and overnight digestion. Simple set up, good reproducibility, excellent peptide recoveries, rapid turnover of samples and high confidence protein identifications put this technology at the fore-front of the next generation of proteomics sample processing tools.

Relating structure with morphology: A comparative study of perfect Langmuir Blodgett multilayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukherjee, Smita; Datta, Alokmay; Giglia, Angelo; Mahne, Nichole; Nannarone, Stefano

2008-01-01

Atomic force microscopy and X-ray reflectivity of metal-stearate (MSt) Langmuir-Blodgett films on hydrophilic Silicon (1 0 0), show dramatic reduction in 'pinhole' defects when metal M is changed from Cd to Co, along with excellent periodicity in multilayer, with hydrocarbon tails tilted 9.6° from vertical for CoSt (untilted for CdSt). Near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopies indicate bidentate bridging metal-carboxylate coordination in CoSt (unidentate in CdSt), underscoring role of headgroup structure in determining morphology. FTIR studies also show increased packing density in CoSt, consistent with increased coverage.

Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging of Cerebral Blood Flow

PubMed Central

Dunn, Andrew K.

2011-01-01

Laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) has emerged over the past decade as a powerful, yet simple, method for imaging of blood flow dynamics in real time. The rapid adoption of LSCI for physiological studies is due to the relative ease and low cost of building an instrument as well as the ability to quantify blood flow changes with excellent spatial and temporal resolution. Although measurements are limited to superficial tissues with no depth resolution, LSCI has been instrumental in pre-clinical studies of neurological disorders as well as clinical applications including dermatological, neurosurgical and endoscopic studies. Recently a number of technical advances have been developed to improve the quantitative accuracy and temporal resolution of speckle imaging. This article reviews some of these recent advances and describes several applications of speckle imaging. PMID:22109805

Real-Time Nanoscopy by Using Blinking Enhanced Quantum Dots

PubMed Central

Watanabe, Tomonobu M.; Fukui, Shingo; Jin, Takashi; Fujii, Fumihiko; Yanagida, Toshio

2010-01-01

Superresolution optical microscopy (nanoscopy) is of current interest in many biological fields. Superresolution optical fluctuation imaging, which utilizes higher-order cumulant of fluorescence temporal fluctuations, is an excellent method for nanoscopy, as it requires neither complicated optics nor illuminations. However, it does need an impractical number of images for real-time observation. Here, we achieved real-time nanoscopy by modifying superresolution optical fluctuation imaging and enhancing the fluctuation of quantum dots. Our developed quantum dots have higher blinking than commercially available ones. The fluctuation of the blinking improved the resolution when using a variance calculation for each pixel instead of a cumulant calculation. This enabled us to obtain microscopic images with 90-nm and 80-ms spatial-temporal resolution by using a conventional fluorescence microscope without any optics or devices. PMID:20923631

High Temporal Resolution Permafrost Monitoring Using a Multiple Stack Insar Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eppler, J.; Kubanski, M.; Sharma, J.; Busler, J.

2015-04-01

The combined effect of climate change and accelerated economic development in Northern regions increases the threat of permafrost related surface deformation to buildings and transportation infrastructure. Satellite based InSAR provides a means for monitoring infrastructure that may be both remote and spatially extensive. However, permafrost poses challenges for InSAR monitoring due to the complex temporal deformation patterns caused by both seasonal active layer fluctuations and long-term changes in permafrost thickness. These dynamics suggest a need for increasing the temporal resolution of multi-temporal InSAR methods. To address this issue we have developed a method that combines and jointly processes two or more same side geometry InSAR stacks to provide a high-temporal resolution estimate of surface deformation. The method allows for combining stacks from more than a single SAR sensor and for a combination of frequency bands. Data for this work have been collected and analysed for an area near the community of Umiujaq, Quebec in Northern Canada and include scenes from RADARSAT-2, TerraSAR-X and COSMO-SkyMed. Multiple stack based surface deformation estimates are compared for several cases including results from the three sensors individually and for all sensors combined. The test cases show substantially similar surface deformation results which correlate well with surficial geology. The best spatial coverage of coherent targets was achieved when data from all sensors were combined. The proposed multiple stack method is demonstrated to improve the estimation of surface deformation in permafrost affected areas and shows potential for deriving InSAR based permafrost classification maps to aid in the monitoring of Northern infrastructure.

Count every newborn; a measurement improvement roadmap for coverage data

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Background The Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP), launched in 2014, aims to end preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths, with national targets of ≤12 neonatal deaths per 1000 live births and ≤12 stillbirths per 1000 total births by 2030. This requires ambitious improvement of the data on care at birth and of small and sick newborns, particularly to track coverage, quality and equity. Methods In a multistage process, a matrix of 70 indicators were assessed by the Every Newborn steering group. Indicators were graded based on their availability and importance to ENAP, resulting in 10 core and 10 additional indicators. A consultation process was undertaken to assess the status of each ENAP core indicator definition, data availability and measurement feasibility. Coverage indicators for the specific ENAP treatment interventions were assigned task teams and given priority as they were identified as requiring the most technical work. Consultations were held throughout. Results ENAP published 10 core indicators plus 10 additional indicators. Three core impact indicators (neonatal mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio, stillbirth rate) are well defined, with future efforts needed to focus on improving data quantity and quality. Three core indicators on coverage of care for all mothers and newborns (intrapartum/skilled birth attendance, early postnatal care, essential newborn care) have defined contact points, but gaps exist in measuring content and quality of the interventions. Four core (antenatal corticosteroids, neonatal resuscitation, treatment of serious neonatal infections, kangaroo mother care) and one additional coverage indicator for newborns at risk or with complications (chlorhexidine cord cleansing) lack indicator definitions or data, especially for denominators (population in need). To address these gaps, feasible coverage indicator definitions are presented for validity testing. Measurable process indicators to help monitor health service readiness are also presented. A major measurement gap exists to monitor care of small and sick babies, yet signal functions could be tracked similarly to emergency obstetric care. Conclusions The ENAP Measurement Improvement Roadmap (2015-2020) outlines tools to be developed (e.g., improved birth and death registration, audit, and minimum perinatal dataset) and actions to test, validate and institutionalise proposed coverage indicators. The roadmap presents a unique opportunity to strengthen routine health information systems, crosslinking these data with civil registration and vital statistics and population-based surveys. Real measurement change requires intentional transfer of leadership to countries with the greatest disease burden and will be achieved by working with centres of excellence and existing networks. PMID:26391444

Agreement between the spatio-temporal gait parameters from treadmill-based photoelectric cell and the instrumented treadmill system in healthy young adults and stroke patients.

PubMed

Lee, Myungmo; Song, Changho; Lee, Kyoungjin; Shin, Doochul; Shin, Seungho

2014-07-14

Treadmill gait analysis was more advantageous than over-ground walking because it allowed continuous measurements of the gait parameters. The purpose of this study was to investigate the concurrent validity and the test-retest reliability of the OPTOGait photoelectric cell system against the treadmill-based gait analysis system by assessing spatio-temporal gait parameters. Twenty-six stroke patients and 18 healthy adults were asked to walk on the treadmill at their preferred speed. The concurrent validity was assessed by comparing data obtained from the 2 systems, and the test-retest reliability was determined by comparing data obtained from the 1st and the 2nd session of the OPTOGait system. The concurrent validity, identified by the intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC [2, 1]), coefficients of variation (CVME), and 95% limits of agreement (LOA) for the spatial-temporal gait parameters, were excellent but the temporal parameters expressed as a percentage of the gait cycle were poor. The test-retest reliability of the OPTOGait System, identified by ICC (3, 1), CVME, 95% LOA, standard error of measurement (SEM), and minimum detectable change (MDC95%) for the spatio-temporal gait parameters, was high. These findings indicated that the treadmill-based OPTOGait System had strong concurrent validity and test-retest reliability. This portable system could be useful for clinical assessments.

Development and validity of methods for the estimation of temporal gait parameters from heel-attached inertial sensors in younger and older adults.

PubMed

Misu, Shogo; Asai, Tsuyoshi; Ono, Rei; Sawa, Ryuichi; Tsutsumimoto, Kota; Ando, Hiroshi; Doi, Takehiko

2017-09-01

The heel is likely a suitable location to which inertial sensors are attached for the detection of gait events. However, there are few studies to detect gait events and determine temporal gait parameters using sensors attached to the heels. We developed two methods to determine temporal gait parameters: detecting heel-contact using acceleration and detecting toe-off using angular velocity data (acceleration-angular velocity method; A-V method), and detecting both heel-contact and toe-off using angular velocity data (angular velocity-angular velocity method; V-V method). The aim of this study was to examine the concurrent validity of the A-V and V-V methods against the standard method, and to compare their accuracy. Temporal gait parameters were measured in 10 younger and 10 older adults. The intra-class correlation coefficients were excellent in both methods compared with the standard method (0.80 to 1.00). The root mean square errors of stance and swing time in the A-V method were smaller than the V-V method in older adults, although there were no significant discrepancies in the other comparisons. Our study suggests that inertial sensors attached to the heels, using the A-V method in particular, provide a valid measurement of temporal gait parameters. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Poster - 34: Clinical Implementation of Prone Breast Treatment

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

Jiang, Runqing; Fleming, Katrina; Kobeleva, Sofya

2016-08-15

Purpose: Prone breast treatment is used to reduce acute and late toxicities for large or pendulous breast patients. This study developed and implemented the clinical workflow of prone breast radiotherapy treatment. Methods: Varian kVue Access360™ Prone Breast Couchtop was used as prone breast board. The treatment planning (TP)is performed in Eclipse TP system. TP comparisons between supine deep inspiration breathing hold (DIBH) and prone breast; prone forward field-in-field (FinF) planning and inverse IMRT planning were performed and discussed. For the daily setup, breast coverage was assessed in the room using light field and MV imaging was used at day 1more » and weekly. Results: The first ten patients are CT scanned and planned both supine and prone. The coverage was all excellent for supine DIBH plan and prone breast plan. The plan in the prone position demonstrated improvements in lung sparing comparing to the DIBH plan. Both forward FinF plan and inverse IMRT plan achieved acceptable coverage of the breast, and heart dose is comparable. Considering the daily setup variations and MLC leakage, forward FinF plan was recommended for routine clinical use. The procedure has been tested in phantom and patients were treated clinically. Conclusions: Prone breast irradiation has been advocated for women with large pendulous breasts in order to decrease acute and late toxicities. The workflow for prone breast radiation therapy has been developed and the technique is ready to treat patients.« less

A situation analysis of public health interventions, barriers, and opportunities for improving maternal nutrition in Bihar, India.

PubMed

Noznesky, Elizabeth A; Ramakrishnan, Usha; Martorell, Reynaldo

2012-06-01

Maternal underweight and anemia are highly prevalent in Bihar, especially among adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years. Although numerous programs and platforms exist for delivering efficacious interventions for improving maternal nutrition, the coverage and quality of these interventions are low. To examine existing interventions for reducing maternal undernutrition in Bihar and identify barriers to and opportunities for expanding their coverage and quality. The research was conducted in New Delhi and Bihar between May and August 2010. Forty-eight key informant interviews were conducted with policy makers, program managers, and service providers at multiple levels. Secondary data were collected from survey reports and program documents. All data were analyzed thematically. Barriers to the delivery and uptake of interventions to improve maternal nutrition include the shortage of essential inputs, low prioritization of maternal undernutrition, sterilization bias within the family planning program, weak management systems, poverty, gender inequality, caste discrimination, and flooding. In order to overcome barriers and improve service delivery, the current government and its partners have introduced structural reforms within the public health system, launched new programs for underserved groups, developed innovative approaches, and experimented with new technologies. Since coming to power, the Government of Bihar has achieved impressive increases in the coverage of prioritized health services, such as institutional deliveries and immunization. This success presents it with an excellent opportunity to further reduce maternal and infant mortality by turning its attention to the serious problem of maternal undernutrition and low birthweight.

Universal health coverage in Rwanda: dream or reality.

PubMed

Nyandekwe, Médard; Nzayirambaho, Manassé; Baptiste Kakoma, Jean

2014-01-01

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has been a global concern for a long time and even more nowadays. While a number of publications are almost unanimous that Rwanda is not far from UHC, very few have focused on its financial sustainability and on its extreme external financial dependency. The objectives of this study are: (i) To assess Rwanda UHC based mainly on Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) from 2000 to 2012; (ii) to inform policy makers about observed gaps for a better way forward. A retrospective (2000-2012) SWOT analysis was applied to six metrics as key indicators of UHC achievement related to WHO definition, i.e. (i) health insurance and access to care, (ii) equity, (iii) package of services, (iv) rights-based approach, (v) quality of health care, (vi) financial-risk protection, and (vii) CBHI self-financing capacity (SFC) was added by the authors. The first metric with 96,15% of overall health insurance coverage and 1.07 visit per capita per year versus 1 visit recommended by WHO, the second with 24,8% indigent people subsidized versus 24,1% living in extreme poverty, the third, the fourth, and the fifth metrics excellently performing, the sixth with 10.80% versus ≤40% as limit acceptable of catastrophic health spending level and lastly the CBHI SFC i.e. proper cost recovery estimated at 82.55% in 2011/2012, Rwanda UHC achievements are objectively convincing. Rwanda UHC is not a dream but a reality if we consider all convincing results issued of the seven metrics.

Cuticular permeance in relation to wax and cutin development along the growing barley (Hordeum vulgare) leaf.

PubMed

Richardson, Andrew; Wojciechowski, Tobias; Franke, Rochus; Schreiber, Lukas; Kerstiens, Gerhard; Jarvis, Mike; Fricke, Wieland

2007-05-01

The developing leaf three of barley provides an excellent model system for the direct determination of relationships between amounts of waxes and cutin and cuticular permeance. Permeance of the cuticle was assessed via the time-course of uptake of either toluidine blue or (14)C-labelled benzoic acid ([(14)C] BA) along the length of the developing leaf. Toluidine blue uptake only occurred within the region 0-25 mm from the point of leaf insertion (POLI). Resistance--the inverse of permeance--to uptake of [(14)C] BA was determined for four leaf regions and was lowest in the region 10-20 mm above POLI. At 20-30 and 50-60 mm above POLI, it increased by factors of 6 and a further 32, respectively. Above the point of emergence of leaf three from the sheath of leaf two, which was 76-80 mm above POLI, resistance was as high as at 50-60 mm above POLI. GC-FID/MS analyses of wax and cutin showed that: (1) the initial seven fold increase in cuticular resistance coincided with increase in cutin coverage and appearance of waxes; (2) the second, larger and final increase in cuticle resistance was accompanied by an increase in wax coverage, whereas cutin coverage remained unchanged; (3) cutin deposition in barley leaf epidermis occurred in parallel with cell elongation, whereas deposition of significant amounts of wax commenced as cells ceased to elongate.

Decreasing annual nest counts in a globally important loggerhead sea turtle population.

PubMed

Witherington, Blair; Kubilis, Paul; Brost, Beth; Meylan, Anne

2009-01-01

The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) nests on sand beaches, has both oceanic and neritic life stages, and migrates internationally. We analyzed an 18-year time series of Index Nesting Beach Survey (Index) nest-count data to describe spatial and temporal trends in loggerhead nesting on Florida (USA) beaches. The Index data were highly resolved: 368 fixed zones (mean length 0.88 km) were surveyed daily during annual 109-day survey seasons. Spatial and seasonal coverage averaged 69% of estimated total nesting by loggerheads in the state. We carried out trend analyses on both annual survey-region nest-count totals (N = 18) and annual zone-level nest densities (N = 18 x 368 = 6624). In both analyses, negative binomial regression models were used to fit restricted cubic spline curves to aggregated nest counts. Between 1989 and 2006, loggerhead nest counts on Florida Index beaches increased and then declined, with a net decrease over the 18-year period. This pattern was evident in both a trend model of annual survey-region nest-count totals and a mixed-effect, "single-region" trend model of annual zone-level nest densities that took into account both spatial and temporal correlation between counts. We also saw this pattern in a zone-level model that allowed trend line shapes to vary between six coastal subregions. Annual mean zone-level nest density declined significantly (-28%; 95% CI: -34% to -21%) between 1989 and 2006 and declined steeply (-43%; 95% CI: -48% to -39%) during 1998-2006. Rates of change in annual mean nest density varied more between coastal subregions during the "mostly increasing" period prior to 1998 than during the "steeply declining" period after 1998. The excellent fits (observed vs. expected count R2 > 0.91) of the mixed-effect zone-level models confirmed the presence of strong, positive, within-zone autocorrelation (R > 0.93) between annual counts, indicating a remarkable year-to-year consistency in the longshore spatial distribution of nests over the survey region. We argue that the decline in annual loggerhead nest counts in peninsular Florida can best be explained by a decline in the number of adult female loggerheads in the population. Causes of this decline are explored.

Satellite retrieval of actual evapotranspiration in the Tibetan Plateau: Components partitioning, multidecadal trends and dominated factors identifying

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Weiguang; Li, Jinxing; Yu, Zhongbo; Ding, Yimin; Xing, Wanqiu; Lu, Wenjun

2018-04-01

As the only connecting term between water balance and energy budget in the earth-atmospheric system, evapotranspiration (ET) is considered the most excellent indicator for the activity for the water and energy cycle. Under the background of global change, regional ET estimates, components partitioning as well as their spatial and temporal patterns recognition are of great importance in understanding the hydrological processes and improving water management practices. This is particularly true for the Tibetan Plateau (TP), one of most sensitive and vulnerable region in response to the environment change in the earth. In this study, with flux site observation data and monthly ET data from the monthly water balance method incorporating the terrestrial water storage changes from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite (GRACE) production as the multiple validations, the long-term daily ET in the TP was retrieved by a modified Penman-Monteith-Leuning (PML) model with considering evapotranspiration over snow covered area during 1982-2012. The spatial and temporal changes of partitioned three components of ET, i.e., soil evaporation (Es), transpiration through the stomata of plant (Ec) and canopy interception (Ei), were investigated in the TP. Meanwhile, how the ET components contribute to ET changes and respond to the change in environmental factors in the TP was revealed and discussed. The results indicate that Es dominates ET in most areas of the TP with the mean annual ratio of 65.7%, except southeastern regions where the vegetation coverage is high. Although regional average ET and three main components all present obvious increase trends during the past decades, high spatial heterogeneity for their trends are identified in the TP. Moreover, a mixed changing pattern can be apparently found for Es in southeastern area, Ec and Ei in northwestern and southeastern area. Spatially, the ET variation are mainly attributed to change in Es, followed by Ec and Ei. In addition, compared with evaporation-related meteorological variables, precipitation and leaf area index (LAI) provide the more dominated contributions to the changes of ET and Ei in the TP, while LAI is overwhelming contribution factor for Ec changes. As for Es changes, although precipitation play the important role, the effects of other factors are also non-negligible.

If Medicare Were to Negotiate Drug Prices, How Would it Determine a ‘Fair’ Price for a Cancer Treatment?

Cancer.gov

Steven D. Pearson, MD, MSc, FRCP, is the Founder and President of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER). ICER is a leader in bringing stakeholders together to collaborate in the evaluation of the comparative effectiveness of medical interventions. The Institute also helps translate comparative effectiveness information into distinctive formats for patients, clinicians, and policy makers to enable them to make better use of evidence throughout the health care system. Dr. Pearson is also a Lecturer in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School, as well as serving as Visiting Scientist in the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health. He attended UCSF School of Medicine, completed his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and obtained a Master of Science Degree in Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. An internist, health services researcher, and ethicist, Dr. Pearson has served in many advisory and leadership roles in academia and government. He was awarded an Atlantic Fellowship from the British Government in 2004 and chose to serve as Senior Fellow at the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Returning to the United States in 2005, he was asked to serve for one year as Special Advisor, Technology and Coverage Policy, within the Coverage and Analysis Group at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He has also served as Senior Fellow at America’s Health Insurance Plans, as the Vice Chair of the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee (MedCAC), and as a Member of the Board of Directors of Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi). Dr. Pearson’s ongoing academic work combines efforts in comparative effectiveness research, health policy, and bioethics. His published work includes numerous articles and commentaries on the role of evidence in the health care system, and the book No Margin, No Mission: Health Care Organizations and the Quest for Ethical Excellence. If you are a person with a disability and require an assistive device, services or other reasonable accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program at (240) 276-5626 at least one week in advance of the lecture date to discuss your accommodation needs.

Description of a large measles epidemic in Democratic Republic of Congo, 2010-2013.

PubMed

Mancini, Silvia; Coldiron, Matthew E; Ronsse, Axelle; Ilunga, Benoît Kebela; Porten, Klaudia; Grais, Rebecca F

2014-01-01

Although measles mortality has declined dramatically in Sub-Saharan Africa, measles remains a major public health problem in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Here, we describe the large measles epidemic that occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2010 and 2013 using data from the national surveillance system as well as vaccine coverage surveys to provide a snapshot of the epidemiology of measles in DRC. Standardized national surveillance data were used to describe measles cases from 2010 to 2013. Attack rates and case fatality ratios were calculated and the temporal and spatial evolution of the epidemic described. Data on laboratory confirmation and vaccination coverage surveys as a part of routine program monitoring are also presented. Between week 1 of 2010 and week 45 of 2013, a total of 294,455 cases and 5,045 deaths were reported. The cumulative attack rate (AR) was 0.4%. The Case Fatality Ratio (CFR) was 1.7% among cases reported in health structures through national surveillance. A total of 186,178 cases (63%) were under 5 years old, representing an estimated AR of 1.4% in this age group. Following the first mass vaccination campaigns, weekly reported cases decreased by 21.5%. Results of post-vaccination campaign coverage surveys indicated sub-optimal (under 95%) vaccination coverage among children surveyed. The data reported here highlight the need to seek additional means to reinforce routine immunization as well as ensure the timely implementation of Supplementary Immunization Activities to prevent large and repeated measles epidemics in DRC. Although reactive campaigns were conducted in response to the epidemic, strategies to ensure that children are vaccinated in the routine system remains the foundation of measles control.

Local Media Influence on Opting-Out from an Exception from Informed Consent Trial

PubMed Central

Nelson, Maria J; DeIorio, Nicole M; MD, Terri Schmidt; Griffiths, Denise; Daya, Mohamud; Haywood, Liana; Zive, Dana; Newgard, Craig D

2010-01-01

Objectives News media are used for community education and notification in exception from informed consent clinical trials, yet their effectiveness as an added safeguard in such research remains unknown. We assessed the number of callers requesting opt-out bracelets following each local media report and described the errors and content within each media report. Methods We undertook a descriptive analysis of local media trial coverage (newspaper, television, radio, and weblog) and opt-out requests over a 41-month period at a single site participating in an exception from informed consent out-of-hospital trial. Two non-trial investigators independently assessed forty-one content-based media variables (including background, trial information, graphics, errors, publication information, assessment) using a standardized, semi-qualitative data collection tool. Major errors were considered serious misrepresentation of the trial purpose or protocol, whereas minor errors included misinformation unlikely to mislead the lay reader about the trial. We plotted the temporal relationship between opt-out bracelet requests and media reports. Descriptive information about the news sources and the trial coverage are presented. Results We collected 39 trial-related media reports (33 newspaper, 1 television, 1 radio, and 4 blogs). There were thirteen errors in 9 (23%) publications, 7 of which were major and 6 minor. Of 384 requests for 710 bracelets, 310 requests (80%) occurred within 4 days after trial media coverage. Graphical timeline representation of the data suggested a close association between media reports about the trial and requests for opt-out bracelets. Conclusions Based on results from a single site, local media coverage for an exception from informed consent clinical trial had a substantial portion of errors and appeared closely associated with opt-out requests. PMID:19682770

Spatial and temporal variation in seagrass coverage in Southwest Florida: assessing the relative effects of anthropogenic nutrient load reductions and rainfall in four contiguous estuaries.

PubMed

Tomasko, D A; Corbett, C A; Greening, H S; Raulerson, G E

2005-08-01

The estuaries of Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, Lemon Bay, and Upper Charlotte Harbor are contiguous waterbodies located within the subtropical environment of Southwest Florida. Based on an examination of rainfall data over the period of record (1916-2001) within the watersheds of these estuaries, there is no evidence for spatial differences (at the watershed level) or monotonic trends in annual rainfall. During the 1980s, nitrogen loads into Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay (generated primarily by domestic wastewater treatment facilities) were reduced by 57% and 46%, respectively. In response, both Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay have lower phytoplankton concentrations, greater water clarity and more extensive seagrass coverage in 2002 than in the early 1980s. As there is no evidence of a concurrent trend in rainfall during the period of 1982-2001, it is unlikely that variation in rainfall can account for the observed increase in seagrass coverage in these two bays. In contrast, seagrass coverage has remained relatively constant since the mid 1980s in Lemon Bay and Charlotte Harbor. Domestic wastewater treatment facilities are minor sources of nitrogen to Lemon Bay, and water clarity in Charlotte Harbor varies mostly as a function of dissolved organic matter and non-chlorophyll associated turbidity, not phytoplankton levels. Even in estuaries that share boundaries and are within 100 km of each other, varied responses to anthropogenic changes and natural phenomena were observed in water quality and associated seagrass extent. Resource management strategies must take into account system-specific factors-not all strategies will result in similar results in different systems.

A novel two-step optimization method for tandem and ovoid high-dose-rate brachytherapy treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer.

PubMed

Sharma, Manju; Fields, Emma C; Todor, Dorin A

2015-01-01

To present a novel method allowing fast volumetric optimization of tandem and ovoid high-dose-rate treatments and to quantify its benefits. Twenty-seven CT-based treatment plans from 6 consecutive cervical cancer patients treated with four to five intracavitary tandem and ovoid insertions were used. Initial single-step optimized plans were manually optimized, approved, and delivered plans created with a goal to cover high-risk clinical target volume (HR-CTV) with D90 >90% and minimize rectum, bladder, and sigmoid D2cc. For the two-step optimized (TSO) plan, each single-step optimized plan was replanned adding a structure created from prescription isodose line to the existent physician delineated HR-CTV, rectum, bladder, and sigmoid. New, more rigorous dose-volume histogram constraints for the critical organs at risks (OARs) were used for the optimization. HR-CTV D90 and OAR D2ccs were evaluated in both plans. TSO plans had consistently smaller D2ccs for all three OARs while preserving HR-CTV D90. On plans with "excellent" CTV coverage, average D90 of 96% (91-102%), sigmoid, bladder, and rectum D2cc, respectively, reduced on average by 37% (16-73%), 28% (20-47%), and 27% (15-45%). Similar reductions were obtained on plans with "good" coverage, average D90 of 93% (90-99%). For plans with "inferior" coverage, average D90 of 81%, the coverage increased to 87% with concurrent D2cc reductions of 31%, 18%, and 11% for sigmoid, bladder, and rectum, respectively. The TSO can be added with minimal planning time increase but with the potential of dramatic and systematic reductions in OAR D2ccs and in some cases with concurrent increase in target dose coverage. These single-fraction modifications would be magnified over the course of four to five intracavitary insertions and may have real clinical implications in terms of decreasing both acute and late toxicities. Copyright © 2015 American Brachytherapy Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Universal coverage with insecticide-treated nets - applying the revised indicators for ownership and use to the Nigeria 2010 malaria indicator survey data.

PubMed

Kilian, Albert; Koenker, Hannah; Baba, Ebenezer; Onyefunafoa, Emmanuel O; Selby, Richmond A; Lokko, Kojo; Lynch, Matthew

2013-09-10

Until recently only two indicators were used to evaluate malaria prevention with insecticide-treated nets (ITN): "proportion of households with any ITN" and "proportion of the population using an ITN last night". This study explores the potential of the expanded set of indicators recommended by the Roll Back Malaria Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group (MERG) for comprehensive analysis of universal coverage with ITN by applying them to the Nigeria 2010 Malaria Indicator Survey data. The two additional indicators of "proportion of households with at least one ITN for every two people" and "proportion of population with access to an ITN within the household" were calculated as recommended by MERG. Based on the estimates for each of the four ITN indicators three gaps were calculated: i) households with no ITN, ii) households with any but not enough ITN, iii) population with access to ITN not using it. In addition, coverage with at least one ITN at community level was explored by applying Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) decision rules to the cluster level of the data. All outcomes were analysed by household background characteristics and whether an ITN campaign had recently been done. While the proportion of households with any ITN was only 42% overall, it was 75% in areas with a recent mass campaign and in these areas 66% of communities had coverage of 80% or better. However, the campaigns left a considerable intra-household ownership gap with 66% of households with any ITN not having enough for every family member. In contrast, the analysis comparing actual against potential use showed that ITN utilization was good overall with only 19% of people with access not using the ITN, but with a significant difference between the North, where use was excellent (use gap 11%), and the South (use gap 36%) indicating the need for enhanced behaviour change communication. The expanded ITN indicators to assess universal coverage provide strong tools for a comprehensive system effectiveness analysis that produces clear, actionable evidence of progress as well as the need for specific additional interventions clearly differentiating between gaps in ownership and use.

Genotator: a disease-agnostic tool for genetic annotation of disease.

PubMed

Wall, Dennis P; Pivovarov, Rimma; Tong, Mark; Jung, Jae-Yoon; Fusaro, Vincent A; DeLuca, Todd F; Tonellato, Peter J

2010-10-29

Disease-specific genetic information has been increasing at rapid rates as a consequence of recent improvements and massive cost reductions in sequencing technologies. Numerous systems designed to capture and organize this mounting sea of genetic data have emerged, but these resources differ dramatically in their disease coverage and genetic depth. With few exceptions, researchers must manually search a variety of sites to assemble a complete set of genetic evidence for a particular disease of interest, a process that is both time-consuming and error-prone. We designed a real-time aggregation tool that provides both comprehensive coverage and reliable gene-to-disease rankings for any disease. Our tool, called Genotator, automatically integrates data from 11 externally accessible clinical genetics resources and uses these data in a straightforward formula to rank genes in order of disease relevance. We tested the accuracy of coverage of Genotator in three separate diseases for which there exist specialty curated databases, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Parkinson's Disease, and Alzheimer Disease. Genotator is freely available at http://genotator.hms.harvard.edu. Genotator demonstrated that most of the 11 selected databases contain unique information about the genetic composition of disease, with 2514 genes found in only one of the 11 databases. These findings confirm that the integration of these databases provides a more complete picture than would be possible from any one database alone. Genotator successfully identified at least 75% of the top ranked genes for all three of our use cases, including a 90% concordance with the top 40 ranked candidates for Alzheimer Disease. As a meta-query engine, Genotator provides high coverage of both historical genetic research as well as recent advances in the genetic understanding of specific diseases. As such, Genotator provides a real-time aggregation of ranked data that remains current with the pace of research in the disease fields. Genotator's algorithm appropriately transforms query terms to match the input requirements of each targeted databases and accurately resolves named synonyms to ensure full coverage of the genetic results with official nomenclature. Genotator generates an excel-style output that is consistent across disease queries and readily importable to other applications.

Equity in disease prevention: Vaccines for the older adults - a national workshop, Australia 2014.

PubMed

Raina MacIntyre, C; Menzies, Robert; Kpozehouen, Elizabeth; Chapman, Michael; Travaglia, Joanne; Woodward, Michael; Jackson Pulver, Lisa; Poulos, Christopher J; Gronow, David; Adair, Timothy

2016-11-04

On the 20th June, 2014 the National Health and Medical Research Council's Centre for Research Excellence in Population Health "Immunisation in under Studied and Special Risk Populations", in collaboration with the Public Health Association of Australia, hosted a workshop "Equity in disease prevention: vaccines for the older adults". The workshop featured international and national speakers on ageing and vaccinology. The workshop was attended by health service providers, stakeholders in immunisation, ageing, primary care, researchers, government and non-government organisations, community representatives, and advocacy groups. The aims of the workshop were to: provide an update on the latest evidence around immunisation for the older adults; address barriers for prevention of infection in the older adults; and identify immunisation needs of these groups and provide recommendations to inform policy. There is a gap in immunisation coverage of funded vaccines between adults and infants. The workshop reviewed provider misconceptions, lack of Randomised Control Trials (RCT) and cost-effectiveness data in the frail elderly, loss of autonomy, value judgements and ageism in health care and the need for an adult vaccination register. Workshop recommendations included recognising the right of elderly people to prevention, the need for promotion in the community and amongst healthcare workers of the high burden of vaccine preventable diseases and the need to achieve high levels of vaccination coverage, in older adults and in health workers involved in their care. Research into new vaccine strategies for older adults which address poor coverage, provider attitudes and immunosenescence is a priority. A well designed national register for tracking vaccinations in older adults is a vital and basic requirement for a successful adult immunisation program. Eliminating financial barriers, by addressing inequities in the mechanisms for funding and subsidising vaccines for the older adults compared to those for children, is important to improve equity of access and vaccination coverage. Vaccination coverage rates should be included in quality indicators of care in residential aged care for older adults. Vaccination is key to healthy ageing, and there is a need to focus on reducing the immunisation gap between adults and children. Copyright © 2016.

An Efficient Method of Sharing Mass Spatio-Temporal Trajectory Data Based on Cloudera Impala for Traffic Distribution Mapping in an Urban City.

PubMed

Zhou, Lianjie; Chen, Nengcheng; Yuan, Sai; Chen, Zeqiang

2016-10-29

The efficient sharing of spatio-temporal trajectory data is important to understand traffic congestion in mass data. However, the data volumes of bus networks in urban cities are growing rapidly, reaching daily volumes of one hundred million datapoints. Accessing and retrieving mass spatio-temporal trajectory data in any field is hard and inefficient due to limited computational capabilities and incomplete data organization mechanisms. Therefore, we propose an optimized and efficient spatio-temporal trajectory data retrieval method based on the Cloudera Impala query engine, called ESTRI, to enhance the efficiency of mass data sharing. As an excellent query tool for mass data, Impala can be applied for mass spatio-temporal trajectory data sharing. In ESTRI we extend the spatio-temporal trajectory data retrieval function of Impala and design a suitable data partitioning method. In our experiments, the Taiyuan BeiDou (BD) bus network is selected, containing 2300 buses with BD positioning sensors, producing 20 million records every day, resulting in two difficulties as described in the Introduction section. In addition, ESTRI and MongoDB are applied in experiments. The experiments show that ESTRI achieves the most efficient data retrieval compared to retrieval using MongoDB for data volumes of fifty million, one hundred million, one hundred and fifty million, and two hundred million. The performance of ESTRI is approximately seven times higher than that of MongoDB. The experiments show that ESTRI is an effective method for retrieving mass spatio-temporal trajectory data. Finally, bus distribution mapping in Taiyuan city is achieved, describing the buses density in different regions at different times throughout the day, which can be applied in future studies of transport, such as traffic scheduling, traffic planning and traffic behavior management in intelligent public transportation systems.

Implications of complete watershed soil moisture measurements to hydrologic modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Engman, E. T.; Jackson, T. J.; Schmugge, T. J.

1983-01-01

A series of six microwave data collection flights for measuring soil moisture were made over a small 7.8 square kilometer watershed in southwestern Minnesota. These flights were made to provide 100 percent coverage of the basin at a 400 m resolution. In addition, three flight lines were flown at preselected areas to provide a sample of data at a higher resolution of 60 m. The low level flights provide considerably more information on soil moisture variability. The results are discussed in terms of reproducibility, spatial variability and temporal variability, and their implications for hydrologic modeling.

The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) - Analysis and Data Assimilation for Tropical Convection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, Xuanli; Lang, Timothy J.; Mecikalski, John; Castillo, Tyler; Hoover, Kacie; Chronis, Themis

2017-01-01

Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS): a constellation of 8 micro-satellite observatories launched in November 2016, to measure near-surface oceanic wind speed. Main goal: To monitor surface wind fields of the Tropical Cyclones' inner core, including regions beneath the intense eye wall and rain bands that could not previously be measured from space; Cover 38 deg S -38 deg N with unprecedented temporal resolution and spatial coverage, under all precipitating conditions Low flying satellite: Pass over ocean surface more frequently than one large satellite. A median(mean) revisit time of 2.8(7.2) hrs.

Indices of climate change in the Artic zone derived from radiosondes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Añel, J. A.; Gimeno, L.; de La Torre, L.; Nieto, R.; Tesouro, M.; Ribera, P.; García, R.; Hernández, E.

2003-04-01

The use of indices has been traditionally one of the main tools to identify climatic change. Here we present a study of the interannual variability of parameters derived from radiosonde data to study climate change in the artic zone. Trends, oscillations and the relationship with the principal climate variability mode for this region ( Northern Annular Mode) have been studied. We calculate the indices from the Upper Air Digital Files of the National Climatic Data Center (CARDS). We chose for our work the radiosonde data of stations over the studied region, with a temporal coverage of 27 years (1973-1998).

Southern Ocean Seasonal Net Production from Satellite, Atmosphere, and Ocean Data Sets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keeling, Ralph F.; Campbell, J. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

A new climatology of monthly air-sea O2 flux was developed using the net air-sea heat flux as a template for spatial and temporal interpolation of sparse hydrographic data. The climatology improves upon the previous climatology of Najjar and Keeling in the Southern Hemisphere, where the heat-based approach helps to overcome limitations due to sparse data coverage. The climatology is used to make comparisons with productivity derived from CZCS images. The climatology is also used in support of an investigation of the plausible impact of recent global warming an oceanic O2 inventories.

The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Earth Global Reference Atmospheric Model-2010 Version

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leslie, F. W.; Justus, C. G.

2011-01-01

Reference or standard atmospheric models have long been used for design and mission planning of various aerospace systems. The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Global Reference Atmospheric Model was developed in response to the need for a design reference atmosphere that provides complete global geographical variability and complete altitude coverage (surface to orbital altitudes), as well as complete seasonal and monthly variability of the thermodynamic variables and wind components. In addition to providing the geographical, height, and monthly variation of the mean atmospheric state, it includes the ability to simulate spatial and temporal perturbations.

NASA sounding rockets, 1958 - 1968: A historical summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Corliss, W. R.

1971-01-01

The development and use of sounding rockets is traced from the Wac Corporal through the present generation of rockets. The Goddard Space Flight Center Sounding Rocket Program is discussed, and the use of sounding rockets during the IGY and the 1960's is described. Advantages of sounding rockets are identified as their simplicity and payload simplicity, low costs, payload recoverability, geographic flexibility, and temporal flexibility. The disadvantages are restricted time of observation, localized coverage, and payload limitations. Descriptions of major sounding rockets, trends in vehicle usage, and a compendium of NASA sounding rocket firings are also included.

Temporal and spatial variability of rainfall pH

Treesearch

Richard G. Semonin

1977-01-01

The distribution of average rainwater pH over an area of 1,800 km² containing 81 collectors was determined from 25 storm events. The areal average of the data was pH 4.9, with a range of values from 4.3 to 6.8. A single storm event was studied to determine the change of pH as a function of time. The initial rain was pH 7.1, decreasing to 4.1. An excellent...

First-in-man study evaluating the safety and efficacy of a second generation biodegradable polymer sirolimus-eluting stent in the treatment of patients with de novo coronary lesions: clinical, Angiographic, and OCT outcomes of CREDIT-1.

PubMed

Wang, Geng; Sun, Zhongwei; Jin, Quanmin; Xu, Kai; Li, Yi; Wang, Xiaozeng; Ma, Yingyan; Liu, Haiwei; Zhao, Xin; Wang, Bin; Deng, Jie; Guan, Shaoyi; Ge, Meiling; Wang, Xiaoyan; Xu, Bo; Han, Yaling

2015-03-01

To evaluate the preliminary safety and efficacy of the EXCEL II stent system. Although the first biodegradable polymer drug-eluting stent (BP-DES), EXCEL, was launched nearly a decade ago, in-stent restenosis and stent thrombosis remain pertinent clinical problems in practice. A new cobalt-chromium BP-DES EXCEL II has been developed with the aim of improving stent safety and efficacy. Forty-five patients with single de novo native coronary lesions were enrolled and randomized to two groups in a 2:1 ratio, the 4-month follow-up group (n = 30) and the 12-month follow-up group (n = 15). All patients underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with the EXCEL II stent system. Quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) were used to assess coronary vasculature at the designated 4- or 12-month follow-up. The primary outcome was major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 30 days post-PCI. No MACE, thrombotic events, or target lesion failure was found in the 45 patients during the 12-month follow-up. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) between the two groups in terms of in-stent and in-segment late lumen loss (LLL). No in-stent and in-segment restenosis was found in either group. At follow-up, the ratio of >10% uncovered struts per lesion was 26.67% in the 4-month group and 0% in the 12-month group (P < 0.05). Neointimal coverage in the 12-month group was significantly better than in the 4-month group (98.58% vs. 93.51%, P < 0.01). This first-in-man study demonstrates promising feasibility, safety, and efficacy of EXCEL II stents. These stents were found to have rapid endothelialization and low LLL rates at 4 and 12 months after implantation. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Bridging the Past with Today's Microwave Remote Sensing: A Case Study of Long Term Inundation Patterns in Two River Deltas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDonald, K. C.; Jensen, K.; Schroeder, R.; Tessler, Z. D.

2016-12-01

Surface inundation extent and its predictability vary tremendously across the globe. This dynamic is being and has been captured by three general categories of satellite imagery: a) low-spatial-resolution microwave sensors with global coverage and a long record of observations (e.g., SSM/I), b) optical sensors with high spatial and temporal resolution and global coverage as well, but with cloud contamination (e.g. MODIS), and also c) less frequently in ``snapshot'' form by high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors. We explore the ability to bridge techniques that can exploit the higher spatial resolution of more recent data products back in time with the help of the temporal evolution of lower resolution products. We present a study of long term (20+ yrs) inundation patterns in two river deltas: (1) the Mekong, and (2) the Ganges-Brahmaputra. This research utilizes baseline observations from the Surface Water Microwave Product Series (SWAMPS), an inundation area fraction product derived at 25km scale from active and passive microwave instruments (ERS, QuikSCAT, ASCAT, and SSM/I) that spans from Jan 1992 to the present. Every hydrological basin has unique characteristics - such as its topography, land cover / land use, and spatio-temporal variability - thus, a downscaling algorithm needs to take into account these idiosyncrasies. We merge SWAMPS with topographical information derived from 30m SRTM DEM, river networks from USGS HydroSHEDS, and train a downscaling algorithm to learn from two sets of classified SAR data: (1) L-band imaging radar from ALOS PALSAR, 2007-2010, and (2) more recent C-band imagery from the Sentinel-1 mission (2014 to present). We present an accuracy assessment of retrospective downscaled flood extent with Landsat imagery and address potential sources of biases. With a higher spatial resolution of past flooding extent, we can improve our understanding of how delta surface hydrology has responded to climate events and human activities. This is important both in the short-term for accurate flood prediction, as well as on longer-term planning horizons.

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

Liang, X; Li, Z; Zheng, D

Purpose: In the context of evaluating dosimetric impacts of a variety of uncertainties involved in HDR Tandem-and-Ovoid treatment, to study the correlations between conventional point doses and 3D volumetric doses. Methods: For 5 cervical cancer patients treated with HDR T&O, 150 plans were retrospectively created to study dosimetric impacts of the following uncertainties: (1) inter-fractional applicator displacement between two treatment fractions within a single insertion by applying Fraction#1 plan to Fraction#2 CT; (2) positional dwell error simulated from −5mm to 5mm in 1mm steps; (3) simulated temporal dwell error of 0.05s, 0.1s, 0.5s, and 1s. The original plans were basedmore » on point dose prescription, from which the volume covered by the prescription dose was generated as the pseudo target volume to study the 3D target dose effect. OARs were contoured. The point and volumetric dose errors were calculated by taking the differences between original and simulated plans. The correlations between the point and volumetric dose errors were analyzed. Results: For the most clinically relevant positional dwell uncertainty of 1mm, temporal uncertainty of 0.05s, and inter-fractional applicator displacement within the same insertion, the mean target D90 and V100 deviation were within 1%. Among these uncertainties, the applicator displacement showed the largest potential target coverage impact (2.6% on D90) as well as the OAR dose impact (2.5% and 3.4% on bladder D2cc and rectum D2cc). The Spearman correlation analysis shows a correlation coefficient of 0.43 with a p-value of 0.11 between target D90 coverage and H point dose. Conclusion: With the most clinically relevant positional and temporal dwell uncertainties and patient interfractional applicator displacement within the same insertion, the dose error is within clinical acceptable range. The lack of correlation between H point and 3D volumetric dose errors is a motivator for the use of 3D treatment planning in cervical HDR brachytherapy.« less

Depth-time interpolation of feature trends extracted from mobile microelectrode data with kernel functions.

PubMed

Wong, Stephen; Hargreaves, Eric L; Baltuch, Gordon H; Jaggi, Jurg L; Danish, Shabbar F

2012-01-01

Microelectrode recording (MER) is necessary for precision localization of target structures such as the subthalamic nucleus during deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. Attempts to automate this process have produced quantitative temporal trends (feature activity vs. time) extracted from mobile MER data. Our goal was to evaluate computational methods of generating spatial profiles (feature activity vs. depth) from temporal trends that would decouple automated MER localization from the clinical procedure and enhance functional localization in DBS surgery. We evaluated two methods of interpolation (standard vs. kernel) that generated spatial profiles from temporal trends. We compared interpolated spatial profiles to true spatial profiles that were calculated with depth windows, using correlation coefficient analysis. Excellent approximation of true spatial profiles is achieved by interpolation. Kernel-interpolated spatial profiles produced superior correlation coefficient values at optimal kernel widths (r = 0.932-0.940) compared to standard interpolation (r = 0.891). The choice of kernel function and kernel width resulted in trade-offs in smoothing and resolution. Interpolation of feature activity to create spatial profiles from temporal trends is accurate and can standardize and facilitate MER functional localization of subcortical structures. The methods are computationally efficient, enhancing localization without imposing additional constraints on the MER clinical procedure during DBS surgery. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Temporal self-regulation theory: a neurobiologically informed model for physical activity behavior

PubMed Central

Hall, Peter A.; Fong, Geoffrey T.

2015-01-01

Dominant explanatory models for physical activity behavior are limited by the exclusion of several important components, including temporal dynamics, ecological forces, and neurobiological factors. The latter may be a critical omission, given the relevance of several aspects of cognitive function for the self-regulatory processes that are likely required for consistent implementation of physical activity behavior in everyday life. This narrative review introduces temporal self-regulation theory (TST; Hall and Fong, 2007, 2013) as a new explanatory model for physical activity behavior. Important features of the model include consideration of the default status of the physical activity behavior, as well as the disproportionate influence of temporally proximal behavioral contingencies. Most importantly, the TST model proposes positive feedback loops linking executive function (EF) and the performance of physical activity behavior. Specifically, those with relatively stronger executive control (and optimized brain structures supporting it, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC)) are able to implement physical activity with more consistency than others, which in turn serves to strengthen the executive control network itself. The TST model has the potential to explain everyday variants of incidental physical activity, sport-related excellence via capacity for deliberate practice, and variability in the propensity to schedule and implement exercise routines. PMID:25859196

Chapter 12: Yale lung cancer model.

PubMed

Holford, Theodore R; Ebisu, Keita; McKay, Lisa; Oh, Cheongeun; Zheng, Tongzhang

2012-07-01

The age-period-cohort model is known to provide an excellent description of the temporal trends in lung cancer incidence and mortality. This analytic approach is extended to include the contribution of carcinogenesis models for smoking. Usefulness of this strategy is that it offers a way to temporally calibrate a model that is fitted to population data and it can be readily adopted for the consideration of many different models. In addition, it provides diagnostics that can suggest temporal limitations of a particular carcinogenesis model in describing population rates. Alternative carcinogenesis models can be embedded within this framework. The two-stage clonal expansion model is implemented here. The model was used to estimate the impact of tobacco control after dissemination of knowledge of the harmful effects of cigarette smoking by comparing the observed number of lung cancer deaths to those expected if there had been no control compared to an ideal of complete control in 1965. Results indicate that 35.2% and 26.5% of lung cancer deaths that could have been avoided actually were for males and females, respectively. © 2011 Society for Risk Analysis.

Capabilities and Limitations of Space-Borne Passive Remote Sensing of Dust

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kalashnikova, Olga

2008-01-01

Atmospheric dust particles have significant effects on the climate and the environment and despite notable recent advances in modeling and observation, wind-blown dust radiative effects remain poorly quantified in both magnitude and sign [IPCC, 2001]. To address this issue, many scientists are using passive satellite observations to study dust properties and to constrain emission/transport models, because the information provided is both time-resolved and global in coverage. In order to assess the effects of individual dust outbreaks on atmospheric radiation and circulation, relatively high temporal resolution (of the order of hours or days) is required in the observational data. Data should also be available over large geographical areas, as dust clouds may cover hundreds of thousands of square kilometers and will exhibit significant spatial variation in their vertical structure, composition and optical properties, both between and within dust events. Spatial and temporal data continuity is necessary if the large-scale impact of dust loading on climate over periods ranging from hours to months is to be assessed.

Dynamic MRI of Grid-Tagged Hyperpolarized Helium-3 for the Assessment of Lung Motion During Breathing

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

Cai Jing; Sheng Ke; Benedict, Stanley H.

2009-09-01

Purpose: To develop a dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tagging technique using hyperpolarized helium-3 (HP He-3) to track lung motion. Methods and Materials: An accelerated non-Cartesian k-space trajectory was used to gain acquisition speed, at the cost of introducing image artifacts, providing a viable strategy for obtaining whole-lung coverage with adequate temporal resolution. Multiple-slice two-dimensional dynamic images of the lung were obtained in three healthy subjects after inhaling He-3 gas polarized to 35%-40%. Displacement, strain, and ventilation maps were computed from the observed motion of the grid peaks. Results: Both temporal and spatial variations of pulmonary mechanics were observed inmore » normal subjects, including shear motion between different lobes of the same lung. Conclusion: These initial results suggest that dynamic imaging of grid-tagged hyperpolarized magnetization may potentially be a powerful tool for observing and quantifying pulmonary biomechanics on a regional basis and for assessing, validating, and improving lung deformable image registration algorithms.« less

Mapping Epileptic Activity: Sources or Networks for the Clinicians?

PubMed Central

Pittau, Francesca; Mégevand, Pierre; Sheybani, Laurent; Abela, Eugenio; Grouiller, Frédéric; Spinelli, Laurent; Michel, Christoph M.; Seeck, Margitta; Vulliemoz, Serge

2014-01-01

Epileptic seizures of focal origin are classically considered to arise from a focal epileptogenic zone and then spread to other brain regions. This is a key concept for semiological electro-clinical correlations, localization of relevant structural lesions, and selection of patients for epilepsy surgery. Recent development in neuro-imaging and electro-physiology and combinations, thereof, have been validated as contributory tools for focus localization. In parallel, these techniques have revealed that widespread networks of brain regions, rather than a single epileptogenic region, are implicated in focal epileptic activity. Sophisticated multimodal imaging and analysis strategies of brain connectivity patterns have been developed to characterize the spatio-temporal relationships within these networks by combining the strength of both techniques to optimize spatial and temporal resolution with whole-brain coverage and directional connectivity. In this paper, we review the potential clinical contribution of these functional mapping techniques as well as invasive electrophysiology in human beings and animal models for characterizing network connectivity. PMID:25414692

The History and Legacy of BATSE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fishman, Gerald J.

2012-01-01

The BATSE experiment on the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory was the first large detector system specifically designed for the study of gamma-ray bursts. The eight large-area detectors allowed full-sky coverage and were optimized to operate in the energy region of the peak emission of most GRBs. BATSE provided detailed observations of the temporal and spectral characteristics of large samples of GRBs, and it was the first experiment to provide rapid notifications of the coarse location of many them. It also provided strong evidence for the cosmological distances to GRBs through the observation of the sky distribution and intensity distribution of numerous GRBs. The large number of GRBs observed with the high- sensitivity BATSE detectors continues to provide a database of GRB spectral and temporal properties in the primary energy range of GRB emission that will likely not be exceeded for at least another decade. The origin and development of the BATSE experiment, some highlights from the mission and its continuing legacy are described in this paper.

Estimation of sub-pixel water area on Tibet plateau using multiple endmembers spectral mixture spectral analysis from MODIS data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Qian; Shi, Jiancheng; Xu, Yuanliu

2011-12-01

Water is the basic needs for human society, and the determining factor of stability of ecosystem as well. There are lots of lakes on Tibet Plateau, which will lead to flood and mudslide when the water expands sharply. At present, water area is extracted from TM or SPOT data for their high spatial resolution; however, their temporal resolution is insufficient. MODIS data have high temporal resolution and broad coverage. So it is valuable resource for detecting the change of water area. Because of its low spatial resolution, mixed-pixels are common. In this paper, four spectral libraries are built using MOD09A1 product, based on that, water body is extracted in sub-pixels utilizing Multiple Endmembers Spectral Mixture Analysis (MESMA) using MODIS daily reflectance data MOD09GA. The unmixed result is comparing with contemporaneous TM data and it is proved that this method has high accuracy.

Spatio-Temporal Variations in the Associations between Hourly PM2.5 and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from MODIS Sensors on Terra and Aqua*

PubMed Central

Kim, Minho; Zhang, Xingyou; Holt, James B.; Liu, Yang

2015-01-01

Recent studies have explored the relationship between aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements by satellite sensors and concentrations of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5). However, relatively little is known about spatial and temporal patterns in this relationship across the contiguous United States. In this study, we investigated the relationship between US Environmental Protection Agency estimates of PM2.5 concentrations and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) AOD measurements provided by two NASA satellites (Terra and Aqua) across the contiguous United States during 2005. We found that the combined use of both satellite sensors provided more AOD coverage than the use of either satellite sensor alone, that the correlation between AOD measurements and PM2.5 concentrations varied substantially by geographic location, and that this correlation was stronger in the summer and fall than that in the winter and spring. PMID:26336576

Harmonic regression based multi-temporal cloud filtering algorithm for Landsat 8

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, P.

2015-12-01

Landsat data archive though rich is seen to have missing dates and periods owing to the weather irregularities and inconsistent coverage. The satellite images are further subject to cloud cover effects resulting in erroneous analysis and observations of ground features. In earlier studies the change detection algorithm using statistical control charts on harmonic residuals of multi-temporal Landsat 5 data have been shown to detect few prominent remnant clouds [Brooks, Evan B., et al, 2014]. So, in this work we build on this harmonic regression approach to detect and filter clouds using a multi-temporal series of Landsat 8 images. Firstly, we compute the harmonic coefficients using the fitting models on annual training data. This time series of residuals is further subjected to Shewhart X-bar control charts which signal the deviations of cloud points from the fitted multi-temporal fourier curve. For the process with standard deviation σ we found the second and third order harmonic regression with a x-bar chart control limit [Lσ] ranging between [0.5σ < Lσ < σ] as most efficient in detecting clouds. By implementing second order harmonic regression with successive x-bar chart control limits of L and 0.5 L on the NDVI, NDSI and haze optimized transformation (HOT), and utilizing the seasonal physical properties of these parameters, we have designed a novel multi-temporal algorithm for filtering clouds from Landsat 8 images. The method is applied to Virginia and Alabama in Landsat8 UTM zones 17 and 16 respectively. Our algorithm efficiently filters all types of cloud cover with an overall accuracy greater than 90%. As a result of the multi-temporal operation and the ability to recreate the multi-temporal database of images using only the coefficients of the fourier regression, our algorithm is largely storage and time efficient. The results show a good potential for this multi-temporal approach for cloud detection as a timely and targeted solution for the Landsat 8 research community, catering to the need for innovative processing solutions in the infant stage of the satellite.

Pure-quartic solitons

PubMed Central

Blanco-Redondo, Andrea; Martijn, de Sterke C.; Sipe, J.E.; Krauss, Thomas F.; Eggleton, Benjamin J.; Husko, Chad

2016-01-01

Temporal optical solitons have been the subject of intense research due to their intriguing physics and applications in ultrafast optics and supercontinuum generation. Conventional bright optical solitons result from the interaction of anomalous group-velocity dispersion and self-phase modulation. Here we experimentally demonstrate a class of bright soliton arising purely from the interaction of negative fourth-order dispersion and self-phase modulation, which can occur even for normal group-velocity dispersion. We provide experimental and numerical evidence of shape-preserving propagation and flat temporal phase for the fundamental pure-quartic soliton and periodically modulated propagation for the higher-order pure-quartic solitons. We derive the approximate shape of the fundamental pure-quartic soliton and discover that is surprisingly Gaussian, exhibiting excellent agreement with our experimental observations. Our discovery, enabled by precise dispersion engineering, could find applications in communications, frequency combs and ultrafast lasers. PMID:26822758

Parallel-In-Time For Moving Meshes

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

Falgout, R. D.; Manteuffel, T. A.; Southworth, B.

2016-02-04

With steadily growing computational resources available, scientists must develop e ective ways to utilize the increased resources. High performance, highly parallel software has be- come a standard. However until recent years parallelism has focused primarily on the spatial domain. When solving a space-time partial di erential equation (PDE), this leads to a sequential bottleneck in the temporal dimension, particularly when taking a large number of time steps. The XBraid parallel-in-time library was developed as a practical way to add temporal parallelism to existing se- quential codes with only minor modi cations. In this work, a rezoning-type moving mesh is appliedmore » to a di usion problem and formulated in a parallel-in-time framework. Tests and scaling studies are run using XBraid and demonstrate excellent results for the simple model problem considered herein.« less

Photonic generation of low phase noise arbitrary chirped microwave waveforms with large time-bandwidth product.

PubMed

Xie, Weilin; Xia, Zongyang; Zhou, Qian; Shi, Hongxiao; Dong, Yi; Hu, Weisheng

2015-07-13

We present a photonic approach for generating low phase noise, arbitrary chirped microwave waveforms based on heterodyne beating between high order correlated comb lines extracted from frequency-agile optical frequency comb. Using the dual heterodyne phase transfer scheme, extrinsic phase noises induced by the separate optical paths are efficiently suppressed by 42-dB at 1-Hz offset frequency. Linearly chirped microwave waveforms are achieved within 30-ms temporal duration, contributing to a large time-bandwidth product. The linearity measurement leads to less than 90 kHz RMS frequency error during the entire chirp duration, exhibiting excellent linearity for the microwave and sub-THz waveforms. The capability of generating arbitrary waveforms up to sub-THz band with flexible temporal duration, long repetition period, broad bandwidth, and large time-bandwidth product is investigated and discussed.

Widespread extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) abnormalities in TLE with and without mesial temporal sclerosis.

PubMed

Mueller, Susanne G; Ebel, Andreas; Barakos, Jerome; Scanlon, Cathy; Cheong, Ian; Finlay, Daniel; Garcia, Paul; Weiner, Michael W; Laxer, Kenneth D

2011-04-01

MR spectroscopy has demonstrated extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions in medial temporal lobe epilepsy with (TLE-MTS) and without (TLE-no) mesial temporal sclerosis. Because of the limited brain coverage of those previous studies, it was, however, not possible to assess differences in the distribution and extent of these abnormalities between TLE-MTS and TLE-no. This study used a 3D whole brain echoplanar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) sequence to address the following questions: (1) Do TLE-MTS and TLE-no differ regarding severity and distribution of extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions? (2) Do extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions provide additional information for focus lateralization? Forty-three subjects (12 TLE-MTS, 13 TLE-no, 18 controls) were studied with 3D EPSI. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM2) was used to identify regions of significantly decreased NAA/(Cr+Cho) in TLE groups and in individual patients. TLE-MTS and TLE-no had widespread extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions. NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions had a bilateral fronto-temporal distribution in TLE-MTS and a more diffuse, less well defined distribution in TLE-no. Extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) decreases in the single subject analysis showed a large inter-individual variability and did not provide additional focus lateralizing information. Extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions in TLE-MTS and TLE-no are neither focal nor homogeneous. This reduces their value for focus lateralization and suggests a heterogeneous etiology of extrahippocampal spectroscopic metabolic abnormalities in TLE.

Determination of the Impact of Urbanization on Agricultural Lands using Multi-temporal Satellite Sensor Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaya, S.; Alganci, U.; Sertel, E.; Ustundag, B.

2015-12-01

Throughout the history, agricultural activities have been performed close to urban areas. Main reason behind this phenomenon is the need of fast marketing of the agricultural production to urban residents and financial provision. Thus, using the areas nearby cities for agricultural activities brings out advantage of easy transportation of productions and fast marketing. For decades, heavy migration to cities has directly and negatively affected natural grasslands, forests and agricultural lands. This pressure has caused agricultural lands to be changed into urban areas. Dense urbanization causes increase in impervious surfaces, heat islands and many other problems in addition to destruction of agricultural lands. Considering the negative impacts of urbanization on agricultural lands and natural resources, a periodic monitoring of these changes becomes indisputably important. At this point, satellite images are known to be good data sources for land cover / use change monitoring with their fast data acquisition, large area coverages and temporal resolution properties. Classification of the satellite images provides thematic the land cover / use maps of the earth surface and changes can be determined with GIS based analysis multi-temporal maps. In this study, effects of heavy urbanization over agricultural lands in Istanbul, metropolitan city of Turkey, were investigated with use of multi-temporal Landsat TM satellite images acquired between 1984 and 2011. Images were geometrically registered to each other and classified using supervised maximum likelihood classification algorithm. Resulting thematic maps were exported to GIS environment and destructed agricultural lands by urbanization were determined using spatial analysis.

Whole-animal imaging with high spatio-temporal resolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chhetri, Raghav; Amat, Fernando; Wan, Yinan; Höckendorf, Burkhard; Lemon, William C.; Keller, Philipp J.

2016-03-01

We developed isotropic multiview (IsoView) light-sheet microscopy in order to image fast cellular dynamics, such as cell movements in an entire developing embryo or neuronal activity throughput an entire brain or nervous system, with high resolution in all dimensions, high imaging speeds, good physical coverage and low photo-damage. To achieve high temporal resolution and high spatial resolution at the same time, IsoView microscopy rapidly images large specimens via simultaneous light-sheet illumination and fluorescence detection along four orthogonal directions. In a post-processing step, these four views are then combined by means of high-throughput multiview deconvolution to yield images with a system resolution of ≤ 450 nm in all three dimensions. Using IsoView microscopy, we performed whole-animal functional imaging of Drosophila embryos and larvae at a spatial resolution of 1.1-2.5 μm and at a temporal resolution of 2 Hz for up to 9 hours. We also performed whole-brain functional imaging in larval zebrafish and multicolor imaging of fast cellular dynamics across entire, gastrulating Drosophila embryos with isotropic, sub-cellular resolution. Compared with conventional (spatially anisotropic) light-sheet microscopy, IsoView microscopy improves spatial resolution at least sevenfold and decreases resolution anisotropy at least threefold. Compared with existing high-resolution light-sheet techniques, such as lattice lightsheet microscopy or diSPIM, IsoView microscopy effectively doubles the penetration depth and provides subsecond temporal resolution for specimens 400-fold larger than could previously be imaged.

Long Term Measurement of the Earth's Radiation Budget using a constellation of Broadband Radiometers hosted on Iridium NEXT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Om Prakash; Thoma, Donald; Chaloner, Chris; Russell, Jacqueline; Simpson, Bill; Spilling, David; Morris, Nigel; Caldwell, Martin; Oneill, Alan

The WMO called for "bringing new missions to operational status" and that "ERB should be measured through a constellation of sensors". A unique opportu-nity exists to host a set of Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) sensors on the Iridium NEXT (NEXT) LEO constellation in a cost effective manner that can deliver these requirements. The NEXT constellation, with 66 interconnected satellites in 6 near polar orbiting planes, provides a unique platform for hosting a variety of Earth observation missions including ERB. Launches are planned to begin in 2014 through 2016. The ERB both drives and responds to global climate and monitoring it can provide much insight into the climate system and how it might be changing. A climate quality measurement of the ERB requires high absolute accuracy and excellent stability and a long-term (decades) data record in order to inform the debate about global warming. Measurement of the ERB in terms of the broadband reflected solar (0.3 to 4 µm) and emitted thermal (4 to 200 µm) components have been identified as high priority by the WMO for climate observations. High temporal resolution is the key advantage offered by the NEXT platform and can provide a great step forward in accurately monitoring the energy balance of the planet. The sensor we propose will consist of a broad band instrument and associated imager for scene identification and cloud classification. There is the chance to place two such sensors in each of six different orbital planes this will improve the product refresh time from currently 12 hours to 3 hours. The increased temporal resolution will allow direct measure-ment of the changes to the broadband radiances that result from rapidly varying components of the climate such as cloud and aerosol, and avoid the need of relying on narrow band sensors to infer such changes. Considering that the prediction of cloud response to climate change is still a major source of uncertainty; improved measurement of the cloud effect and possible changes in this quantity are of particular interest. This proposed configuration of twelve ERB sensors on NEXT has been analyzed in a detailed study by this team and demonstrated to have compatibility with proposed NEXT satellites. This study has also demonstrated the following: 1. Full globe coverage, including the poles, and 3 hourly temporal resolution even at the equator 2. Spatial coverage with a swath of each sensor of 1000 km and resolution of 10 km at nadir 3. LEO orbits which are not sun-synchronous so aliasing effects, which are always a concern with single sensors in sun-synchronous orbits, are no longer of concern 4. Twelve sensors in orbit simultaneously, with frequent near-coincidences at high latitudes, so cross-calibration will become a normal part of the system operation. Cross-calibration will also be possible against current sensors such as CERES in LEO and GERB in GEO and offers the possibly of combined products with the sensors. 5. The data stream will be in real-time via the NEXT communications network 6. System robustness is assured since loss of a sensor or satellite is not mission critical 7. Low risk and short lead times because heritage sensors are to be deployed 8. Low chance of launch delays or mission creep, since timing is crucial to the Iridium's business 9. Planned long constellation design life reduces long term cost and continuity problems 10. Near-certain continuity missions as follow-on constellations are part of the host's business plans 11. A move to truly operational observations using real, rather than virtual, constellation 12. A significantly lower cost alternative to traditional methods for collecting this data.

South American smoke coverage and flux estimations from the Fire Locating and Modeling of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE') system.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reid, J. S.; Westphal, D. L.; Christopher, S. A.; Prins, E. M.; Gasso, S.; Reid, E.; Theisen, M.; Schmidt, C. C.; Hunter, J.; Eck, T.

2002-05-01

The Fire Locating and Modeling of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE') project is a joint Navy, NOAA, NASA and university project to integrate satellite products with numerical aerosol models to produce a real time fire and emissions inventory. At the center of the program is the Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF ABBA) which provides real-time fire products and the NRL Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System to model smoke transport. In this presentation we give a brief overview of the system and methods, but emphasize new estimations of smoke coverage and emission fluxes from the South American continent. Temporal and smoke patterns compare reasonably well with AERONET and MODIS aerosol optical depth products for the 2000 and 2001 fire seasons. Fluxes are computed by relating NAAPS output fields and MODIS optical depth maps with modeled wind fields. Smoke emissions and transport fluxes out of the continent can then be estimated by perturbing the modeled emissions to gain agreement with the satellite and wind products. Regional smoke emissions are also presented for grass and forest burning.

Dynamic morphology of gas hydrate on a methane bubble in water: Observations and new insights for hydrate film models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warzinski, Robert P.; Lynn, Ronald; Haljasmaa, Igor; Leifer, Ira; Shaffer, Frank; Anderson, Brian J.; Levine, Jonathan S.

2014-10-01

Predicting the fate of subsea hydrocarbon gases escaping into seawater is complicated by potential formation of hydrate on rising bubbles that can enhance their survival in the water column, allowing gas to reach shallower depths and the atmosphere. The precise nature and influence of hydrate coatings on bubble hydrodynamics and dissolution is largely unknown. Here we present high-definition, experimental observations of complex surficial mechanisms governing methane bubble hydrate formation and dissociation during transit of a simulated oceanic water column that reveal a temporal progression of deep-sea controlling mechanisms. Synergistic feedbacks between bubble hydrodynamics, hydrate morphology, and coverage characteristics were discovered. Morphological changes on the bubble surface appear analogous to macroscale, sea ice processes, presenting new mechanistic insights. An inverse linear relationship between hydrate coverage and bubble dissolution rate is indicated. Understanding and incorporating these phenomena into bubble and bubble plume models will be necessary to accurately predict global greenhouse gas budgets for warming ocean scenarios and hydrocarbon transport from anthropogenic or natural deep-sea eruptions.

Data Sources for an Environmental Quality Index: Availability, Quality, and Utility

PubMed Central

Rappazzo, Kristen; Messer, Lynne C.

2011-01-01

Objectives. An environmental quality index (EQI) for all counties in the United States is under development to explore the relationship between environmental insults and human health. The EQI is potentially useful for investigators researching health disparities to account for other concurrent environmental conditions. This article focused on the identification and assessment of data sources used in developing the EQI. Data source strengths, limitations, and utility were addressed. Methods. Five domains were identified that contribute to environmental quality: air, water, land, built, and sociodemographic environments. An inventory of possible data sources was created. Data sources were evaluated for appropriate spatial and temporal coverage and data quality. Results. The overall data inventory identified multiple data sources for each domain. From the inventory (187 sources, 617 records), the air, water, land, built environment, and sociodemographic domains retained 2, 9, 7, 4, and 2 data sources for inclusion in the EQI, respectively. However, differences in data quality, geographic coverage, and data availability existed between the domains. Conclusions. The data sources identified for use in the EQI may be useful to researchers, advocates, and communities to explore specific environmental quality questions. PMID:21836111

Reporting on Suicide Between 1819 and 1944.

PubMed

Arendt, Florian

2018-04-05

Suicide rates increased substantially in many countries during the 19th century. Little is known about news coverage on suicide in this period and its relationship to suicide rates. To test whether there was a covariation between the quantity of reporting and suicide rates and whether the press relied on sensational reporting. A content analysis of Austrian news coverage between 1819 and 1944 was conducted and compared with contemporary findings. There were similar corresponding troughs and peaks in both time series, indicative of covariation. The analysis revealed that variations in the quantity of reporting predicted the following year's suicide rates, a pattern consistent with a long-term Werther effect. Conversely, suicide rates did not predict future values of the quantity of reporting. Furthermore, the press substantially overrepresented "vivid" firearm suicides compared with other more "pallid" methods such as drowning, indicative of sensational reporting. The causal order of the quantity of reporting and suicide rates should be interpreted with caution. The press may have contributed to the establishment of suicide as a mass phenomenon in the 19th century. The contemporary comparison is indicative of temporal stability.

Analysis and design of Cubesat constellation for the Mediterranean south costal monitoring against illegal immigration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lazreg, Nissen; Ben Bahri, Omar; Besbes, Kamel

2018-02-01

Costal monitoring is focused on fast response to illegal immigration and illegal ship traffic. Especially, the illegal ship traffic has been present in media since April 2015, as the number of reported deaths of immigrants crossing the Mediterranean significantly increased. Satellite images provide a possibility to at least partially control both types of events. This paper defines the principal criteria to select the best satellite constellation architecture for maritime and coastal monitoring, filling the gaps of imagery techniques in term of real-time control. The primary purpose of a constellation is to obtain global measurement improving the temporal resolution. The small size and low-cost are the main factors, which make CubeSats ideal for use in constellations. We propose a constellation of 9 Cubesats distributed evenly in 3 different planes. This reduces the revisit time enhancing the coverage duration. In addition, it also allows observing fire, damage on building and similar disasters. In this analysis, the performance criteria were reported such as the revisit time, the vision duration and the area coverage.

A SmallSat constellation mission architecture for a GRACE-type mission design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deccia, C. M. A.; Nerem, R. S.; Yunck, T.

2017-12-01

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) launched in 2002 and has been providing invaluable information of Earth's time-varying gravity field and GRACE-FO will continue this time series. For this work, we focus on architectures of future post-GRACE-FO like missions. Single pairs of satellites like GRACE and GRACE-FO are inherently limited in their spatio-temporal coverage. Full global coverage for a single pair can take up to 30 days for spatial resolutions of a few hundred kilometers, thus a single satellite pair is unable to observe sub-monthly signals in the Earth's time varying gravity field (e.g. hydrologic signals, etc.). Small satellite systems are becoming increasingly affordable and will soon allow a constellation of GRACE-type satellites to be deployed, with the capability to range between multiple satellites. Here, using simulation studies, we investigate the performance of such a constellation for different numbers of satellites (N) and different orbital configurations, in order to understand the improved performance that might be gained from such future mission architectures.

What Googling Trends Tell Us About Public Interest in Earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Y. J.; Maharjan, R.

2017-12-01

Previous studies have shown that immediately after large earthquakes, there is a period of increased public interest. This represents a window of opportunity for science communication and disaster relief fundraising efforts to reach more people. However, how public interest varies for different earthquakes has not been quantified systematically on a global scale. We analyze how global search interest for the term "earthquake" on Google varies following earthquakes of magnitude ≥ 5.5 from 2004 to 2016. We find that there is a spike in search interest after large earthquakes followed by an exponential temporal decay. Preliminary results suggest that the period of increased search interest scales with death toll and correlates with the period of increased media coverage. This suggests that the relationship between the period of increased public interest in earthquakes and death toll might be an effect of differences in media coverage. However, public interest never remains elevated for more than three weeks. Therefore, to take advantage of this short period of increased public interest, science communication and disaster relief fundraising efforts have to act promptly following devastating earthquakes.

Adsorption of CO on oxide and water ice surfaces - Implications for the Martian atmosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leu, M.-T.; Blamont, J. E.; Anbar, A. D.; Keyser, L. F.; Sander, S. P.

1992-01-01

The adsorption of carbon monoxide (CO) on water ice and on the oxides Fe2O3, Fe3O4, Al2O3, SiO2, CaO, MgO, and TiO2 (rutile and anatase) has been investigated in a flow reactor. A mass spectrometer was employed as a detector to monitor the temporal concentrations of CO. Adsorption coefficients as large as 1 x 10 exp -4 were measured for CO on TiO2 solids in helium at 196 K. The fractional surface coverage for CO on TiO2 solids in helium was also determined to be approximately 10 percent at 196 K. The upper limits of the fractional surface coverage for the other oxides (Fe2O3, Fe3O4, Al2O3, SiO2, CaO, and MgO) and water ice were also measured to be less than 1 percent. The implications for the stability of CO2 in the Martian atmosphere and the 'CO hole' observed by the Phobos/ISM experiment are discussed.

Presurgical EEG-fMRI in a complex clinical case with seizure recurrence after epilepsy surgery

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jing; Liu, Qingzhu; Mei, Shanshan; Zhang, Xiaoming; Wang, Xiaofei; Liu, Weifang; Chen, Hui; Xia, Hong; Zhou, Zhen; Li, Yunlin

2013-01-01

Epilepsy surgery has improved over the last decade, but non-seizure-free outcome remains at 10%–40% in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and 40%–60% in extratemporal lobe epilepsy (ETLE). This paper reports a complex multifocal case. With a normal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) result and nonlocalizing electroencephalography (EEG) findings (bilateral TLE and ETLE, with more interictal epileptiform discharges [IEDs] in the right frontal and temporal regions), a presurgical EEG-functional MRI (fMRI) was performed before the intraoperative intracranial EEG (icEEG) monitoring (icEEG with right hemispheric coverage). Our previous EEG-fMRI analysis results (IEDs in the left hemisphere alone) were contradictory to the EEG and icEEG findings (IEDs in the right frontal and temporal regions). Thus, the EEG-fMRI data were reanalyzed with newly identified IED onsets and different fMRI model options. The reanalyzed EEG-fMRI findings were largely concordant with those of EEG and icEEG, and the failure of our previous EEG-fMRI analysis may lie in the inaccurate identification of IEDs and wrong usage of model options. The right frontal and temporal regions were resected in surgery, and dual pathology (hippocampus sclerosis and focal cortical dysplasia in the extrahippocampal region) was found. The patient became seizure-free for 3 months, but his seizures restarted after antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were stopped. The seizures were not well controlled after resuming AEDs. Postsurgical EEGs indicated that ictal spikes in the right frontal and temporal regions reduced, while those in the left hemisphere became prominent. This case suggested that (1) EEG-fMRI is valuable in presurgical evaluation, but requires caution; and (2) the intact seizure focus in the remaining brain may cause the non-seizure-free outcome. PMID:23926432

Cognitive Function Before and After Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy in Patients With Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Prospective Study

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

Hsiao, Kuan-Yin; Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Science, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Yeh, Shyh-An, E-mail: yehsa@hotmail.co

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of radiation therapy (RT) on neurocognitive function in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods and Materials: Thirty patients with NPC treated with intensity-modulated RT were included. Dose-volume histograms of the temporal lobes were obtained in every patient. Neurocognitive tests were administered individually to each patient 1 day before initiation of RT and at least 12 months after completion of RT. Cognitive functioning status was evaluated as change in scores over time. Results: Among the total of 30 patients, 23 patients (76.7%) had significantly lower post-RT cognitive functioning scores compared with their pre-RT scores (p =more » 0.033). The cognitive functioning scores had significantly declined in the domains of short-term memory, language abilities, and list-generating fluency (p = 0.020, 0.023, and 0.001, respectively). Compared with patients with a mean dose to the temporal lobes of 36 Gy or less, patients with a mean dose of greater than 36 Gy had a significantly greater reduction in cognitive functioning scores (p = 0.017). Patients in whom V60 of the temporal lobes (i.e., the percentage of the temporal lobe volume that had received >60 Gy) was greater than 10% also had a greater reduction in cognitive functioning scores than those in whom V60 was 10% or less (p = 0.039). Conclusions: The results of our study indicated that RT could have deleterious effects on cognitive function in patients with NPC. Efforts should be made to reduce the radiation dose and irradiated volume of temporal lobes without compromising the coverage of target volume.« less

Temporal evolution of ice velocities of Storstrømmen between 1975 and 2016 shows clear signs of a surge event.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Havelund, Natalia; Karlsson, Nanna; Sørensen, Louise; Simonsen, Sebastian; Grinsted, Aslak

2017-04-01

For at least the last two decades the Greenland ice sheet has experienced an increased mass loss due to a warming climate. Many of the outlet glaciers in Greenland have been associated with speed-up in surface velocities in recent years. However, Storstrømmen in North-eastern Greenland displays a different behaviour, with decreasing velocities near the terminus. Here, we present surface velocities of Storstrømmen from the 40-year period 1975-2016 in order to investigate the temporal evolution of this major outlet glacier from the Greenland ice sheet. Surface velocities are derived from optical Landsat images (Landsat 2, 5, 7, and 8) and using the method of feature tracking as implemented in the ImGRAFT toolbox. The successes of the method are highly susceptible to cloud coverage or extended snow coverage. During periods where no optical Landsat images were available, data from MEaSURES (Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments) have been used to fill-in. The two different dataset are seasonally biased, and to bring insights in to the differences between the optical and radar derived velocities, we also investigate the seasonal variability of the velocity using data from Sentinel-1 SAR obtained multiple times during 2015 to 2016. We find that the surface velocities of Storstrømmen peaked in 1985, and have subsequently decreased. Hence, in contrast to the neighbouring Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glacier, Storstrømmen is not experiencing increasing ice velocities. Our findings supports previous studies that found that Storstrømmen glacier was surging between 1978 and 1984. However, in spite of the surge the upper region has remained nearly stagnant during and after the surge.

Observing System Simulations for Small Satellite Formations Estimating Bidirectional Reflectance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nag, Sreeja; Gatebe, Charles K.; de Weck, Olivier

2015-01-01

The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) gives the reflectance of a target as a function of illumination geometry and viewing geometry, hence carries information about the anisotropy of the surface. BRDF is needed in remote sensing for the correction of view and illumination angle effects (for example in image standardization and mosaicing), for deriving albedo, for land cover classification, for cloud detection, for atmospheric correction, and other applications. However, current spaceborne instruments provide sparse angular sampling of BRDF and airborne instruments are limited in the spatial and temporal coverage. To fill the gaps in angular coverage within spatial, spectral and temporal requirements, we propose a new measurement technique: Use of small satellites in formation flight, each satellite with a VNIR (visible and near infrared) imaging spectrometer, to make multi-spectral, near-simultaneous measurements of every ground spot in the swath at multiple angles. This paper describes an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) to evaluate the proposed concept and select the optimal formation architecture that minimizes BRDF uncertainties. The variables of the OSSE are identified; number of satellites, measurement spread in the view zenith and relative azimuth with respect to solar plane, solar zenith angle, BRDF models and wavelength of reflection. Analyzing the sensitivity of BRDF estimation errors to the variables allow simplification of the OSSE, to enable its use to rapidly evaluate formation architectures. A 6-satellite formation is shown to produce lower BRDF estimation errors, purely in terms of angular sampling as evaluated by the OSSE, than a single spacecraft with 9 forward-aft sensors. We demonstrate the ability to use OSSEs to design small satellite formations as complements to flagship mission data. The formations can fill angular sampling gaps and enable better BRDF products than currently possible.

Implications of atmospheric conditions for analysis of surface temperature variability derived from landscape-scale thermography.

PubMed

Hammerle, Albin; Meier, Fred; Heinl, Michael; Egger, Angelika; Leitinger, Georg

2017-04-01

Thermal infrared (TIR) cameras perfectly bridge the gap between (i) on-site measurements of land surface temperature (LST) providing high temporal resolution at the cost of low spatial coverage and (ii) remotely sensed data from satellites that provide high spatial coverage at relatively low spatio-temporal resolution. While LST data from satellite (LST sat ) and airborne platforms are routinely corrected for atmospheric effects, such corrections are barely applied for LST from ground-based TIR imagery (using TIR cameras; LST cam ). We show the consequences of neglecting atmospheric effects on LST cam of different vegetated surfaces at landscape scale. We compare LST measured from different platforms, focusing on the comparison of LST data from on-site radiometry (LST osr ) and LST cam using a commercially available TIR camera in the region of Bozen/Bolzano (Italy). Given a digital elevation model and measured vertical air temperature profiles, we developed a multiple linear regression model to correct LST cam data for atmospheric influences. We could show the distinct effect of atmospheric conditions and related radiative processes along the measurement path on LST cam , proving the necessity to correct LST cam data on landscape scale, despite their relatively low measurement distances compared to remotely sensed data. Corrected LST cam data revealed the dampening effect of the atmosphere, especially at high temperature differences between the atmosphere and the vegetated surface. Not correcting for these effects leads to erroneous LST estimates, in particular to an underestimation of the heterogeneity in LST, both in time and space. In the most pronounced case, we found a temperature range extension of almost 10 K.

High Efficiency Multi-shot Interleaved Spiral-In/Out Acquisition for High Resolution BOLD fMRI

PubMed Central

Jung, Youngkyoo; Samsonov, Alexey A.; Liu, Thomas T.; Buracas, Giedrius T.

2012-01-01

Growing demand for high spatial resolution BOLD functional MRI faces a challenge of the spatial resolution vs. coverage or temporal resolution tradeoff, which can be addressed by methods that afford increased acquisition efficiency. Spiral acquisition trajectories have been shown to be superior to currently prevalent echo-planar imaging in terms of acquisition efficiency, and high spatial resolution can be achieved by employing multiple-shot spiral acquisition. The interleaved spiral in-out trajectory is preferred over spiral-in due to increased BOLD signal CNR and higher acquisition efficiency than that of spiral-out or non-interleaved spiral in/out trajectories (1), but to date applicability of the multi-shot interleaved spiral in-out for high spatial resolution imaging has not been studied. Herein we propose multi-shot interleaved spiral in-out acquisition and investigate its applicability for high spatial resolution BOLD fMRI. Images reconstructed from interleaved spiral-in and -out trajectories possess artifacts caused by differences in T2* decay, off-resonance and k-space errors associated with the two trajectories. We analyze the associated errors and demonstrate that application of conjugate phase reconstruction and spectral filtering can substantially mitigate these image artifacts. After applying these processing steps, the multishot interleaved spiral in-out pulse sequence yields high BOLD CNR images at in-plane resolution below 1x1 mm while preserving acceptable temporal resolution (4 s) and brain coverage (15 slices of 2 mm thickness). Moreover, this method yields sufficient BOLD CNR at 1.5 mm isotropic resolution for detection of activation in hippocampus associated with cognitive tasks (Stern memory task). The multi-shot interleaved spiral in-out acquisition is a promising technique for high spatial resolution BOLD fMRI applications. PMID:23023395

Integration of TerraSAR-X, RapidEye and airborne lidar for remote sensing of intertidal bedforms on the upper flats of Norderney (German Wadden Sea)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adolph, Winny; Jung, Richard; Schmidt, Alena; Ehlers, Manfred; Heipke, Christian; Bartholomä, Alexander; Farke, Hubert

2017-04-01

The Wadden Sea is a large coastal transition area adjoining the southern North Sea uniting ecological key functions with an important role in coastal protection. The region is strictly protected by EU directives and national law and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, requiring frequent quality assessments and regular monitoring. In 2014 an intertidal bedform area characterised by alternating crests and water-covered troughs on the tidal flats of the island of Norderney (German Wadden Sea sector) was chosen to test different remote sensing methods for habitat mapping: airborne lidar, satellite-based radar (TerraSAR-X) and electro-optical sensors (RapidEye). The results revealed that, although sensitive to different surface qualities, all sensors were able to image the bedforms. A digital terrain model generated from the lidar data shows crests and slopes of the bedforms with high geometric accuracy in the centimetre range, but high costs limit the operation area. TerraSAR-X data enabled identifying the positions of the bedforms reflecting the residual water in the troughs also with a high resolution of up to 1.1 m, but with larger footprints and much higher temporal availability. RapidEye data are sensitive to differences in sediment moisture employed to identify crest areas, slopes and troughs, with high spatial coverage but the lowest resolution (6.5 m). Monitoring concepts may differ in their remote sensing requirements regarding areal coverage, spatial and temporal resolution, sensitivity and geometric accuracy. Also financial budgets limit the selection of sensors. Thus, combining differing assets into an integrated concept of remote sensing contributes to solving these issues.

Global Seismic Cross-Correlation Results: Characterizing Repeating Seismic Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vieceli, R.; Dodge, D. A.; Walter, W. R.

2016-12-01

Increases in seismic instrument quality and coverage have led to increased knowledge of earthquakes, but have also revealed the complex and diverse nature of earthquake ruptures. Nonetheless, some earthquakes are sufficiently similar to each other that they produce correlated waveforms. Such repeating events have been used to investigate interplate coupling of subduction zones [e.g. Igarashi, 2010; Yu, 2013], study spatio-temporal changes in slip rate at plate boundaries [e.g. Igarashi et al., 2003], observe variations in seismic wave propagation velocities in the crust [e.g. Schaff and Beroza, 2004; Sawazaki et al., 2015], and assess inner core rotation [e.g. Yu, 2016]. The characterization of repeating events on a global scale remains a very challenging problem. An initial global seismic cross-correlation study used over 310 million waveforms from nearly 3.8 million events recorded between 1970 and 2013 to determine an initial look at global correlated seismicity [Dodge and Walter, 2015]. In this work, we analyze the spatial and temporal distribution of the most highly correlated event clusters or "multiplets" from the Dodge and Walter [2015] study. We examine how the distributions and characteristics of multiplets are effected by tectonic environment, source-station separation, and frequency band. Preliminary results suggest that the distribution of multiplets does not correspond to the tectonic environment in any obvious way, nor do they always coincide with the occurrence of large earthquakes. Future work will focus on clustering correlated pairs and working to reduce the bias introduced by non-uniform seismic station coverage and data availability. This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

Validation of Salinity Data from the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and Aquarius Satellites in the Agulhas Current System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Button, N.

2016-02-01

The Agulhas Current System is an important western boundary current, particularly due to its vital role in the transport of heat and salt from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, such as through Agulhas rings. Accurate measurements of salinity are necessary for assessing the role of the Agulhas Current System and these rings in the global climate system are necessary. With ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and NASA's Aquarius/SAC-D satellites, we now have complete spatial and temporal (since 2009 and 2011, respectively) coverage of salinity data. To use this data to understand the role of the Agulhas Current System in the context of salinity within the global climate system, we must first understand validate the satellite data using in situ and model comparisons. In situ comparisons are important because of the accuracy, but they lack in the spatial and temporal coverage to validate the satellite data. For example, there are approximately 100 floats in the Agulhas Return Current. Therefore, model comparisons, such as the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM), are used along with the in situ data for the validation. For the validation, the satellite data, Argo float data, and HYCOM simulations were compared within box regions both inside and outside of the Agulhas Current. These boxed regions include the main Agulhas Current, Agulhas Return Current, Agulhas Retroflection, and Agulhas rings, as well as a low salinity and high salinity region outside of the current system. This analysis reveals the accuracy of the salinity measurements from the Aquarius/SAC-D and SMOS satellites within the Agulhas Current, which then provides accurate salinity data that can then be used to understand the role of the Agulhas Current System in the global climate system.

A Query Language for Handling Big Observation Data Sets in the Sensor Web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Autermann, Christian; Stasch, Christoph; Jirka, Simon; Koppe, Roland

2017-04-01

The Sensor Web provides a framework for the standardized Web-based sharing of environmental observations and sensor metadata. While the issue of varying data formats and protocols is addressed by these standards, the fast growing size of observational data is imposing new challenges for the application of these standards. Most solutions for handling big observational datasets currently focus on remote sensing applications, while big in-situ datasets relying on vector features still lack a solid approach. Conventional Sensor Web technologies may not be adequate, as the sheer size of the data transmitted and the amount of metadata accumulated may render traditional OGC Sensor Observation Services (SOS) unusable. Besides novel approaches to store and process observation data in place, e.g. by harnessing big data technologies from mainstream IT, the access layer has to be amended to utilize and integrate these large observational data archives into applications and to enable analysis. For this, an extension to the SOS will be discussed that establishes a query language to dynamically process and filter observations at storage level, similar to the OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS) and it's Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) extension. This will enable applications to request e.g. spatial or temporal aggregated data sets in a resolution it is able to display or it requires. The approach will be developed and implemented in cooperation with the The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research whose catalogue of data compromises marine observations of physical, chemical and biological phenomena from a wide variety of sensors, including mobile (like research vessels, aircrafts or underwater vehicles) and stationary (like buoys or research stations). Observations are made with a high temporal resolution and the resulting time series may span multiple decades.

Effectiveness and Sensitivity of the Arctic Observing Network in a Coupled Ocean-Sea Ice State Estimation Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, A. T.; Heimbach, P.; Garg, V.; Ocana, V.

2016-12-01

Over the last few decades, various agencies have invested heavily in the development and deployment of Arctic ocean and sea ice observing platforms, especially moorings, profilers, gliders, and satellite-based instruments. These observational assets are heterogeneous in terms of variables sampled and spatio-temporal coverage, which calls for a dynamical synthesis framework of the diverse data streams. Here we introduce an adjoint-based Arctic Subpolar gyre sTate estimate (ASTE), a medium resolution model-data synthesis that leverages all the possible observational assets. Through an established formal state and parameter estimation framework, the ASTE framework produces a 2002-present ocean-sea ice state that can be used to address Arctic System science questions. It is dynamically and kinematically consistent with known equations of motion and consistent with observations. Four key aspects of ASTE will be discussed: (1) How well is ASTE constrained by the existing observations; (2) which data most effectively constrain the system, and what impact on the solution does spatial and temporal coverage have; (3) how much information does one set of observation (e.g. Fram Strait heat transport) carry about a remote, but dynamically linked component (e.g. heat content in the Beaufort Gyre); and (4) how can the framework be used to assess the value of hypothetical observations in constraining poorly observed parts of the Arctic Ocean and the implied mechanisms responsible for the changes occurring in the Arctic. We will discuss the suggested geographic distribution of new observations to maximize the impact on improving our understanding of the general circulation, water mass distribution and hydrographic changes in the Arctic.

Observing system simulations for small satellite formations estimating bidirectional reflectance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nag, Sreeja; Gatebe, Charles K.; Weck, Olivier de

2015-12-01

The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) gives the reflectance of a target as a function of illumination geometry and viewing geometry, hence carries information about the anisotropy of the surface. BRDF is needed in remote sensing for the correction of view and illumination angle effects (for example in image standardization and mosaicing), for deriving albedo, for land cover classification, for cloud detection, for atmospheric correction, and other applications. However, current spaceborne instruments provide sparse angular sampling of BRDF and airborne instruments are limited in the spatial and temporal coverage. To fill the gaps in angular coverage within spatial, spectral and temporal requirements, we propose a new measurement technique: use of small satellites in formation flight, each satellite with a VNIR (visible and near infrared) imaging spectrometer, to make multi-spectral, near-simultaneous measurements of every ground spot in the swath at multiple angles. This paper describes an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) to evaluate the proposed concept and select the optimal formation architecture that minimizes BRDF uncertainties. The variables of the OSSE are identified; number of satellites, measurement spread in the view zenith and relative azimuth with respect to solar plane, solar zenith angle, BRDF models and wavelength of reflection. Analyzing the sensitivity of BRDF estimation errors to the variables allow simplification of the OSSE, to enable its use to rapidly evaluate formation architectures. A 6-satellite formation is shown to produce lower BRDF estimation errors, purely in terms of angular sampling as evaluated by the OSSE, than a single spacecraft with 9 forward-aft sensors. We demonstrate the ability to use OSSEs to design small satellite formations as complements to flagship mission data. The formations can fill angular sampling gaps and enable better BRDF products than currently possible.

Geomorphic analyses from space imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morisawa, M.

1985-01-01

One of the most obvious applications of space imagery to geomorphological analyses is in the study of drainage patterns and channel networks. LANDSAT, high altitude photography and other types of remote sensing imagery are excellent for depicting stream networks on a regional scale because of their broad coverage in a single image. They offer a valuable tool for comparing and analyzing drainage patterns and channel networks all over the world. Three aspects considered in this geomorphological study are: (1) the origin, evolution and rates of development of drainage systems; (2) the topological studies of network and channel arrangements; and (3) the adjustment of streams to tectonic events and geologic structure (i.e., the mode and rate of adjustment).

The Challenges of Low-Frequency Radio Polarimetry: Lessons from the Murchison Widefield Array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenc, E.; Anderson, C. S.; Barry, N.; Bowman, J. D.; Cairns, I. H.; Farnes, J. S.; Gaensler, B. M.; Heald, G.; Johnston-Hollitt, M.; Kaplan, D. L.; Lynch, C. R.; McCauley, P. I.; Mitchell, D. A.; Morgan, J.; Morales, M. F.; Murphy, Tara; Offringa, A. R.; Ord, S. M.; Pindor, B.; Riseley, C.; Sadler, E. M.; Sobey, C.; Sokolowski, M.; Sullivan, I. S.; O'Sullivan, S. P.; Sun, X. H.; Tremblay, S. E.; Trott, C. M.; Wayth, R. B.

2017-09-01

We present techniques developed to calibrate and correct Murchison Widefield Array low-frequency (72-300 MHz) radio observations for polarimetry. The extremely wide field-of-view, excellent instantaneous (u, v)-coverage and sensitivity to degree-scale structure that the Murchison Widefield Array provides enable instrumental calibration, removal of instrumental artefacts, and correction for ionospheric Faraday rotation through imaging techniques. With the demonstrated polarimetric capabilities of the Murchison Widefield Array, we discuss future directions for polarimetric science at low frequencies to answer outstanding questions relating to polarised source counts, source depolarisation, pulsar science, low-mass stars, exoplanets, the nature of the interstellar and intergalactic media, and the solar environment.

Atomic layer deposition of a high-k dielectric on MoS2 using trimethylaluminum and ozone.

PubMed

Cheng, Lanxia; Qin, Xiaoye; Lucero, Antonio T; Azcatl, Angelica; Huang, Jie; Wallace, Robert M; Cho, Kyeongjae; Kim, Jiyoung

2014-08-13

We present an Al2O3 dielectric layer on molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), deposited using atomic layer deposition (ALD) with ozone/trimethylaluminum (TMA) and water/TMA as precursors. The results of atomic force microscopy and low-energy ion scattering spectroscopy show that using TMA and ozone as precursors leads to the formation of uniform Al2O3 layers, in contrast to the incomplete coverage we observe when using TMA/H2O as precursors. Our Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements indicate minimal variations in the MoS2 structure after ozone treatment at 200 °C, suggesting its excellent chemical resistance to ozone.

Comforts of Home: Home Care of the Terminally Ill

PubMed Central

Fraser, Jacqueline

1990-01-01

When a terminal illness is diagnosed, it is appropriate for the family physician to take a primary role in future management. Care goals change from being disease-focused and cure-directed to being person-focused and comfort-targeted. The patient and family comprise the unit of care. Care of the terminally ill in the home requires good planning, teamwork, excellent symptom management, and a commitment by the family physician to be available or provide alternate coverage. Death in the home should be an option for the patient and family whenever feasible. Caring for patients until death and supporting their families and friends are rewarding and positive parts of family practice. PMID:21233972

Vacuum Ultraviolet Photodissociation and Fourier Transform–Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FT-ICR) Mass Spectrometry: Revisited

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

Shaw, Jared B.; Robinson, Errol W.; Pasa-Tolic, Ljiljana

2016-02-16

We revisited the implementation of UVPD within the ICR cell of a FT-ICR mass spectrometer. UVPD performance characteristics were examined in the context of recent developments in the understanding of UVPD and in-cell tandem mass spectrometry. Efficient UVPD and photo-ECD of a model peptide and small protein within the ICR cell of a FT-ICR mass spectrometer are accomplished through appropriate modulation of laser pulse timing relative to ion magnetron motion and the potential applied to an ion optical element that photons impinge on. It is shown that UVPD yields efficient and extensive fragmentation resulting in excellent sequence coverage for modelmore » peptide and protein cations.« less

Transient quantum coherent effects in the acetylene-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stepanov, S.; Rodríguez Casillas, N.; Ocegueda Miramontes, M.; Hernández Hernández, E.

2017-02-01

Low-pressure acetylene in the hollow-core photonic crystal structure fibers is an excellent medium for the room-temperature investigation of the coherent quantum effects in communication wavelength region. Pulsed excitation enables observation of new coherent phenomena like optical nutation or photon echo and evaluation of important temporal characteristics of the light-molecule interactions. We also report original experimental results on the pulsed excitation of the electromagnetically induced transparency in co- and counter-propagation configurations.

Temporal Changes in FLT3 ITD Regulation of Stem Cell Self Renewal and Leukemogenesis

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-11-01

JAM is a 661   scholar of the Child Health Research Center for Excellence in Developmental 662   Biology at Washington University (K12-HD076224...SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT My goal is to understand how mechanisms that regulate normal hematopoietic development can also influence the mutation...pathways) in fetal, neonatal and adult progenitors. STAT5 was activated by FLT3-ITD at all stages of development , but MAPK was activated only in post