Sources of information used to support quality use of medicines: findings from a national survey of nurse practitioners in Australia.

PubMed

Buckley, Thomas; Stasa, Helen; Cashin, Andrew; Stuart, Meg; Dunn, Sandra V

2015-02-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the sources, both print and electronic formats, which Australian nurse practitioners (NPs) currently use to obtain information regarding quality use of medicines (QUM). An additional aim was to document NPs' preferences for continuing education in relation to QUM. A national electronic survey of Australian NPs was conducted in 2007 and again in 2010. Eighty percent of respondents accessed information on QUM from professional literature, which may include scholarly journal articles, reports, and independent publications. There was a decrease in the percentage of respondents who obtained information from drug industry representatives. NPs prefer to receive medicines information in an electronic form, rather than a paper-based version, and over the time period more NPs are utilizing electronic sources rather than paper. These findings provide important insights into medical information products for the developers who may be able to use these results to ensure that their products meet the needs of NP clinicians. Additionally, the finding that NPs prefer to receive their continuing information related to medicines in electronic format, but also highly value conference proceedings, may help to inform future planning of NP education needs in relation to QUM. ©2014 American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (TIPS)

MedlinePlus Videos and Cool Tools

... in creating the TIPS. top of page Additional Information and Resources Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) - Patient ... Send us your feedback Did you find the information you were looking for? Yes No Please type ...

Children's (Pediatric) CT (Computed Tomography)

MedlinePlus Videos and Cool Tools

... best for your child. top of page Additional Information and Resources The Alliance for Radiation Safety in ... Send us your feedback Did you find the information you were looking for? Yes No Please type ...

Exploring the Design and Role of Mobile Apps for Healthcare Providers to Find Teratogenic Information

PubMed Central

Lie, Lily; Shetty, Vishwas; Gupta, Karan; Polifka, Janine E; Markham, Glen; Albee, Sarah; Collins, Carol; Hsieh, Gary

2017-01-01

Healthcare providers (HCPs) caring for pregnant patients often need information on drug risks to the embryo or fetus, but such complex information takes time to find and is difficult to convey on an app. In this work, we first surveyed 167 HCPs to understand their current teratogen information-seeking practices to help inform our general design goals. Using the insights gained, we then designed a prototype of a mobile app and tested it with 22 HCPs. We learned that HCP ’s information needs in this context can be grouped into 3 types: to understand, to decide, and to explain. Different sets of information and features may be needed to support these different needs. Further, while some HCPs had concerns about appearing unprofessional and unknowledgeable when using the app in front of patients, many did not. They noted that incorporating mobile information apps into practice improves information access, can help signal care and technology-savviness, in addition to providing an opportunity to engage and educate patients. Implications for design and additional features for reference apps for HCPs are discussed. PMID:29854178

RNA as an Enzyme.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cech, Thomas R.

1986-01-01

Reviews current findings that explain RNA's function as an enzyme in addition to being an informational molecule. Highlights recent research efforts and notes changes in the information base on RNA activity. Includes models and diagrams of RNA activity. (ML)

Automatically augmenting lifelog events using pervasively generated content from millions of people.

PubMed

Doherty, Aiden R; Smeaton, Alan F

2010-01-01

In sensor research we take advantage of additional contextual sensor information to disambiguate potentially erroneous sensor readings or to make better informed decisions on a single sensor's output. This use of additional information reinforces, validates, semantically enriches, and augments sensed data. Lifelog data is challenging to augment, as it tracks one's life with many images including the places they go, making it non-trivial to find associated sources of information. We investigate realising the goal of pervasive user-generated content based on sensors, by augmenting passive visual lifelogs with "Web 2.0" content collected by millions of other individuals.

Fact Sheets and Additional information Regarding the 2012 Particulate Matter (PM) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Find tools for particulate matter, maps of nonattainment areas, an overview of the proposal, and information on designations, monitoring and permitting requirements and a presentation on the 2012 PM NAAQS revision.

Mapping Sources of Food Safety Information for U.S. Consumers: Findings From a National Survey.

PubMed

Nan, Xiaoli; Verrill, Linda; Kim, Jarim

2017-03-01

This research examines the sources from which U.S. consumers obtain their food safety information. It seeks to determine differences in the types of information sources used by U.S. consumers of different sociodemographic background, as well as the relationships between the types of information sources used and food safety risk perceptions. Analyzing the 2010 Food Safety Survey (N = 4,568) conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, we found that age, gender, education, and race predicted the use of different sources for food safety information. Additionally, use of several information sources predicted perceived susceptibility to foodborne illnesses and severity of food contamination. Implications of the findings for food safety risk communication are discussed.

Culture and neuroscience: additive or synergistic?

PubMed Central

Dapretto, Mirella; Iacoboni, Marco

2010-01-01

The investigation of cultural phenomena using neuroscientific methods—cultural neuroscience (CN)—is receiving increasing attention. Yet it is unclear whether the integration of cultural study and neuroscience is merely additive, providing additional evidence of neural plasticity in the human brain, or truly synergistic, yielding discoveries that neither discipline could have achieved alone. We discuss how the parent fields to CN: cross-cultural psychology, psychological anthropology and cognitive neuroscience inform the investigation of the role of cultural experience in shaping the brain. Drawing on well-established methodologies from cross-cultural psychology and cognitive neuroscience, we outline a set of guidelines for CN, evaluate 17 CN studies in terms of these guidelines, and provide a summary table of our results. We conclude that the combination of culture and neuroscience is both additive and synergistic; while some CN methodologies and findings will represent the direct union of information from parent fields, CN studies employing the methodological rigor required by this logistically challenging new field have the potential to transform existing methodologies and produce unique findings. PMID:20083533

RadPath: A Web-based System for Integrating and Correlating Radiology and Pathology Findings During Cancer Diagnosis.

PubMed

Arnold, Corey W; Wallace, W Dean; Chen, Shawn; Oh, Andrea; Abtin, Fereidoun; Genshaft, Scott; Binder, Scott; Aberle, Denise; Enzmann, Dieter

2016-01-01

The current paradigm of cancer diagnosis involves uncoordinated communication of findings from radiology and pathology to downstream physicians. Discordance between these findings can require additional time from downstream users to resolve, or given incorrect resolution, may adversely impact treatment decisions. To mitigate this problem, we developed a web-based system, called RadPath, for correlating and integrating radiology and pathology reporting. RadPath includes interfaces to our institution's clinical information systems, which are used to retrieve reports, images, and test results that are structured into an interactive compendium for a diagnostic patient case. The system includes an editing interface for physicians, allowing for the inclusion of additional clinical data, as well as the ability to retrospectively correlate and contextualize imaging findings following pathology diagnosis. During pilot deployment and testing over the course of 1 year, physicians at our institution have completed 60 RadPath cases, requiring an average of 128 seconds from a radiologist and an average of 93 seconds from a pathologist per case. Several technical and workflow challenges were encountered during development, including interfacing with diverse clinical information systems, automatically structuring report contents, and determining the appropriate physicians to create RadPath summaries. Reaction to RadPath has been positive, with users valuing the system's ability to consolidate diagnostic information. With the increasing complexity of medicine and the movement toward team-based disease management, there is a need for improved clinical communication and information exchange. RadPath provides a platform for generating coherent and correlated diagnostic summaries in cancer diagnosis with minimal additional effort from physicians. Copyright © 2016 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing the utility of autofluorescence-based pulmonary optical endomicroscopy to predict the malignant potential of solitary pulmonary nodules in humans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seth, Sohan; Akram, Ahsan R.; McCool, Paul; Westerfeld, Jody; Wilson, David; McLaughlin, Stephen; Dhaliwal, Kevin; Williams, Christopher K. I.

2016-08-01

Solitary pulmonary nodules are common, often incidental findings on chest CT scans. The investigation of pulmonary nodules is time-consuming and often leads to protracted follow-up with ongoing radiological surveillance, however, clinical calculators that assess the risk of the nodule being malignant exist to help in the stratification of patients. Furthermore recent advances in interventional pulmonology include the ability to both navigate to nodules and also to perform autofluorescence endomicroscopy. In this study we assessed the efficacy of incorporating additional information from label-free fibre-based optical endomicrosopy of the nodule on assessing risk of malignancy. Using image analysis and machine learning approaches, we find that this information does not yield any gain in predictive performance in a cohort of patients. Further advances with pulmonary endomicroscopy will require the addition of molecular tracers to improve information from this procedure.

The web-based information system for small and medium enterprises of Tomsk region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Senchenko, P. V.; Zhukovskiy, O. I.; Gritsenko, Yu B.; Senchenko, A. P.; Gritsenko, L. M.; Kovaleva, E. V.

2017-01-01

This paper presents the web enabled automated information data support system of small and medium-sized enterprises of Tomsk region. We define the purpose and application field of the system. In addition, we build a generic architecture and find system functions.

The FIDELIS initiative: innovative strategies for increased case finding.

PubMed

Hinderaker, S G; Rusen, I D; Chiang, C-Y; Yan, L; Heldal, E; Enarson, D A

2011-01-01

Low-income, high tuberculosis (TB) burden countries. To compare case finding of new smear-positive pulmonary TB patients in projects funded to apply innovative approaches. Prospective application of innovative approaches to case finding within routine services to determine the numbers of additional cases detected and the cost per additional case detected, according to the type of approach applied. Between 2003 and 2007, 51 FIDELIS projects were implemented in 18 countries; 273,239 cases were reported, of which 85,267 were additional to the number reported in the previous year. The median cost per additional case was US$103. The interventions employed were: 1) social mobilisation and information, education and communication; 2) engagement of the private sector; 3) innovative approaches for microscopy services; 4) enhanced or semi-active case finding; 5) health systems strengthening; and 6) use of incentives. None of these was significantly more likely to detect additional cases or to have a lower cost per additional case than any of the others. While there was a substantial increase in cases detected, at a moderate cost per additional case, we were unable to show that any single intervention had an advantage over the others.

28 CFR 70.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... information that could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

28 CFR 70.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... information that could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

28 CFR 70.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... information that could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

28 CFR 70.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... information that could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

28 CFR 70.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... information that could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

Coding and Quantization in Communications and Microeconomics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Yun

2013-01-01

Since information theory was developed by Claude E. Shannon, in addition to its primary role in communications and networking, it has broadened to find applications in many other areas of science and technology, such as microeconomics, statistics, and neuroscience. This thesis investigates the application of information theoretic viewpoints to two…

Outcomes Assessment in Accredited Health Information Management Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Dorine

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the use and perceived usefulness of outcomes assessment methods in health information management programs. Additional characteristics of the outcomes assessment practices were recognized. The findings were evaluated for significant differences in results based on age of the program, type of institution,…

Dry Cleaning Facilities: National Perchloroethylene Air Emission Standards

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Learn about the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards for dry cleaning facilities. Find the rule history information, federal register citations, legal authority, and additional resources.

Managing security risks for inter-organisational information systems: a multiagent collaborative model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Nan; Wu, Harris; Li, Minqiang; Wu, Desheng; Chen, Fuzan; Tian, Jin

2016-09-01

Information sharing across organisations is critical to effectively managing the security risks of inter-organisational information systems. Nevertheless, few previous studies on information systems security have focused on inter-organisational information sharing, and none have studied the sharing of inferred beliefs versus factual observations. In this article, a multiagent collaborative model (MACM) is proposed as a practical solution to assess the risk level of each allied organisation's information system and support proactive security treatment by sharing beliefs on event probabilities as well as factual observations. In MACM, for each allied organisation's information system, we design four types of agents: inspection agent, analysis agent, control agent, and communication agent. By sharing soft findings (beliefs) in addition to hard findings (factual observations) among the organisations, each organisation's analysis agent is capable of dynamically predicting its security risk level using a Bayesian network. A real-world implementation illustrates how our model can be used to manage security risks in distributed information systems and that sharing soft findings leads to lower expected loss from security risks.

Information-seeking bias in social anxiety disorder.

PubMed

Aderka, Idan M; Haker, Ayala; Marom, Sofi; Hermesh, Haggai; Gilboa-Schechtman, Eva

2013-02-01

In the present study, we sought to examine information seeking among individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD, n = 31) and nonanxious controls (n = 32) during an impression-formation task. Participants were given an initial description of a protagonist that included polarized information on the social rank dimension (i.e., dominant or submissive) or on the affiliation dimension (i.e., friendly or unfriendly). Participants were told that their task was to rate the protagonist on social rank and affiliation traits and were given the opportunity to obtain additional information in order to make their decisions. Results indicated that compared to controls, individuals with SAD sought less information before making social rank ratings. In addition, individuals with SAD rated dominant protagonists as higher in social rank than did controls. These findings suggest that even in nonevaluative conditions, individuals with SAD may have an information-seeking bias. In addition, individuals with SAD may have a bias in forming impressions of dominant others. Implications for cognitive and interpersonal models of SAD are discussed. 2013 APA, all rights reserved

42 CFR 1004.40 - Action on identification of a violation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... additional information or a written request for a meeting with the QIO to review and discuss the finding, or... practitioner or other person in presenting the testimony of expert witnesses who may appear on the practitioner... finding except for QIO deliberations, as set forth in § 476.139 of this part. ...

The mutual causality analysis between the stock and futures markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Can-Zhong; Lin, Qing-Wen

2017-07-01

In this paper we employ the conditional Granger causality model to estimate the information flow, and find that the improved model outperforms the Granger causality model in revealing the asymmetric correlation between stocks and futures in the Chinese market. First, we find that information flows estimated by Granger causality tests from futures to stocks are greater than those from stocks to futures. Additionally, average correlation coefficients capture some important characteristics between stock prices and information flows over time. Further, we find that direct information flows estimated by conditional Granger causality tests from stocks to futures are greater than those from futures to stocks. Besides, the substantial increases of information flows and direct information flows exhibit a certain degree of synchronism with the occurrences of important events. Finally, the comparative analysis with the asymmetric ratio and the bootstrap technique demonstrates the slight asymmetry of information flows and the significant asymmetry of direct information flows. It reveals that the information flows from futures to stocks are slightly greater than those in the reverse direction, while the direct information flows from stocks to futures are significantly greater than those in the reverse direction.

Ontologies, Knowledge Bases and Knowledge Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-07-01

AFRL-IF-RS-TR-2002-163 Final Technical Report July 2002 ONTOLOGIES, KNOWLEDGE BASES AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT USC Information ...and layer additional information necessary to make specific uses of the knowledge in this core. Finally, while we were able to find adequate solutions... knowledge base and inference engine. Figure 3.2: SDA Editor Interface 46 Although the SDA has access to information about the situation, we wanted the user

Alcohol Use During Pregnancy. [and] Fast Food and the American Diet. [and] Food Additives and Hyperactivity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Terrence; And Others

These three separate pamphlets provide background information, brief discussions of research findings, and guidelines and recommendations concerning selected aspects of diet. The first pamphlet discusses food additives and hyperactivity, focusing on both the Feingold theory and controlled experiments which do not support Feingold's clinical…

75 FR 49460 - Administrative Review of Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From the People's Republic of China...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-13

... results. We find that certain exporters have not sold subject merchandise at less than normal value (``NV...'') submitted additional surrogate value information. On April 6, 2010, Petitioner, Domestic Processors, and Hilltop submitted rebuttal surrogate value information. \\3\\ See Preliminary Results. \\4\\ Petitioner is the...

National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research Survey Report, 2002.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southwest Educational Development Lab., Austin, TX. National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research.

This report focuses on three major areas of disability research information. Part 1 discusses findings from a series of online focus groups conducted from July 2001 through June 2002 that explored types of additional disability-related research information consumers would like to see. Of the total responses received, persons with a disability…

Exploring the Core: An Examination of Required Courses in ALA-Accredited

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Russell A.

2009-01-01

This paper examines the required courses of ALA-accredited Library and Information Science programs as published on their websites. The study expands on previous research in this area. Findings show that the typical core curriculum has grown to include both research and information technology in addition to the more traditional subjects. The…

Halogenated Solvent Cleaning: National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Learn about the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards for halogenated solvent cleaner. Find the rule history information, federal register citations, legal authority, and additional resources.

Understanding variations in secondary findings reporting practices across U.S. genome sequencing laboratories.

PubMed

Ackerman, Sara L; Koenig, Barbara A

2018-01-01

Increasingly used for clinical purposes, genome and exome sequencing can generate clinically relevant information that is not directly related to the reason for testing (incidental or secondary findings). Debates about the ethical implications of secondary findings were sparked by the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) 2013 policy statement, which recommended that laboratories report pathogenic alterations in 56 genes. Although wide variation in laboratories' secondary findings policies has been reported, little is known about its causes. We interviewed 18 laboratory directors and genetic counselors at 10 U.S. laboratories to investigate the motivations and interests shaping secondary findings reporting policies for clinical exome sequencing. Analysis of interview transcripts and laboratory documents was informed by sociological theories of standardization. Laboratories varied widely in terms of the types of secondary findings reported, consent-form language, and choices offered to patients. In explaining their adaptation of the ACMG report, our participants weighed genetic information's clinical, moral, professional, and commercial value in an attempt to maximize benefits for patients and families, minimize the costs of sequencing and analysis, adhere to professional norms, attract customers, and contend with the uncertain clinical implications of much of the genetic information generated. Nearly all laboratories in our study voluntarily adopted ACMG's recommendations, but their actual practices varied considerably and were informed by laboratory-specific judgments about clinical utility and patient benefit. Our findings offer a compelling example of standardization as a complex process that rarely leads simply to uniformity of practice. As laboratories take on a more prominent role in decisions about the return of genetic information, strategies are needed to inform patients, families, and clinicians about the differences between laboratories' practices and ensure that the consent process prompts a discussion of the value of additional genetic information for patients and their families.

Information Content of Aerosol Retrievals in the Sunglint Region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ottaviani, M.; Knobelspiesse, K.; Cairns, B.; Mishchenko, M.

2013-01-01

We exploit quantitative metrics to investigate the information content in retrievals of atmospheric aerosol parameters (with a focus on single-scattering albedo), contained in multi-angle and multi-spectral measurements with sufficient dynamical range in the sunglint region. The simulations are performed for two classes of maritime aerosols with optical and microphysical properties compiled from measurements of the Aerosol Robotic Network. The information content is assessed using the inverse formalism and is compared to that deriving from observations not affected by sunglint. We find that there indeed is additional information in measurements containing sunglint, not just for single-scattering albedo, but also for aerosol optical thickness and the complex refractive index of the fine aerosol size mode, although the amount of additional information varies with aerosol type.

Whats the story? Information needs of trauma teams.

PubMed

Sarcevic, Aleksandra; Burd, Randall S

2008-11-06

This paper reports on information needs of trauma teams based on an ethnographic study in an urban teaching hospital. We focus on questions posed by trauma team members during ten trauma events. We identify major categories of questions, as well as information seekers and providers. In addition to categories known from other critical care settings, we found categories unique to trauma settings. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for information technology support for trauma teams.

Teacher Education, Teacher Effectiveness, and Developmental Psychology. Report No. 75-15.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brophy, Jere E.; Evertson, Carolyn M.

This paper presents some of the major findings of the Texas Teacher Effectiveness Study, an investigation of the teacher characteristics that correlate with ability to produce student learning gain. In addition to general information about the study and its findings, specific attention is drawn to contrasts between optimal behavior in low SES and…

The Efficacy of Galaxy Shape Parameters in Photometric Redshift Estimation: A Neural Network Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singal, J.; Shmakova, M.; Gerke, B.; Griffith, R. L.; Lotz, J.

2011-05-01

We present a determination of the effects of including galaxy morphological parameters in photometric redshift estimation with an artificial neural network method. Neural networks, which recognize patterns in the information content of data in an unbiased way, can be a useful estimator of the additional information contained in extra parameters, such as those describing morphology, if the input data are treated on an equal footing. We use imaging and five band photometric magnitudes from the All-wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS). It is shown that certain principal components of the morphology information are correlated with galaxy type. However, we find that for the data used the inclusion of morphological information does not have a statistically significant benefit for photometric redshift estimation with the techniques employed here. The inclusion of these parameters may result in a tradeoff between extra information and additional noise, with the additional noise becoming more dominant as more parameters are added.

On the Clustering of Europa's Small Craters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bierhaus, E. B.; Chapman, C. R.; Merline, W. J.

2001-01-01

We analyze the spatial distribution of Europa's small craters and find that many are too tightly clustered to result from random, primary impacts. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Perception Gaps on Food Additives among Various Groups in Korea: Food Experts, Teachers, Nutrition Teachers, Nongovernmental Organization Members, and General Consumers.

PubMed

Kang, Hee-Jin; Kim, Suna; Lee, Gunyoung; Lim, Ho Soo; Yun, Sang Soon; Kim, Jeong-Weon

2017-06-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions and information needs of food experts, teachers, nutrition teachers, members of nongovernmental organizations, and general consumers concerning food additives. Questions in a survey format included perceptions, information needs, and preferred communication channels. The survey was conducted both off-line and on-line via e-mail and Google Drive in March 2015. The results indicated that most Korean consumers are concerned about the safety of using food additives in processed foods and do not recognize these additives as safe and useful materials as part of a modern diet. We also identified perception gaps among different groups regarding food additives. Nutrition teachers and members of nongovernmental organizations in Korea appeared to have a biased perception of food additives, which may cause general consumers to have a negative perception of food additives. The group of food experts did not have this bias. Governmental institutions must overcome the low confidence levels of various groups as an information provider about food additives. Based on the findings in this study, it will be possible to develop a strategy for risk communication about food additives for each group.

Fact Sheets about the Fourth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 4)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Fact Sheets explaining the program, contaminants for monitoring, water systems applicable, timeframe & monitoring frequency, monitoring locations, critical requirements, data elements and where to find additional information on monitoring data.

Architectural Coatings: National Volatile Organic Compounds Emission Standards

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Read about the section 183(e) rule for volatile organic compounds for architectural coatings. Read the rule summary and history, find the code of federal regulations test, and additional documents, including compliance information.

78 FR 33843 - Request for Comments on Issues Related to Incidental Findings That Arise in the Clinical...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-05

... by email to [email protected]bioethics.gov or by mail to the following address: Public Commentary, Presidential... Study of Bioethical Issues. Telephone: 202-233-3960. E-Mail: [email protected]bioethics.gov . Additional information may be obtained at http://www.bioethics.gov . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 24, 2009, the...

What the Research Tells Us: Class Size Reduction. Information Capsule. Volume 1001

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romanik, Dale

2010-01-01

This Information Capsule examines the background and history in addition to research findings pertaining to class size reduction (CSR). This Capsule concludes that although educational researchers have not definitively agreed upon the effectiveness of CSR, given its almost universal public appeal, there is little doubt it is here to stay in some…

Finnish physicians' experiences with computer-supported patient information exchange and communication in clinical work.

PubMed

Viitanen, Johanna; Nieminen, Marko; Hypponen, Hannele; Laaveri, Tinja

2011-01-01

Several researchers share the concern of healthcare information systems failing to support communication and collaboration in clinical practices. The objective of this paper is to investigate the current state of computer-supported patient information exchange and associated communication between clinicians. We report findings from a national survey on Finnish physicians? experiences with their currently used clinical information systems with regard to patient information documentation, retrieval, management and exchange-related tasks. The questionnaire study with 3929 physicians indicated the main concern being cross-organisational patient information delivery. In addition, physicians argued computer usage increasingly steals time and attention from caring activities and even disturbs physician?nurse collaboration. Problems in information management were particularly emphasised among those physicians working in hospitals and wards. The survey findings indicated that collaborative applications and mobile or wireless solutions have not been widely adapted in Finnish healthcare and suggested an urgent need for adopting appropriate information and communication technology applications to support information exchange and communication between physicians, and physicians and nurses.

The timing and sources of information for the adoption and implementation of production innovations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ettlie, J. E.

1976-01-01

Two dimensions (personal-impersonal and internal-external) are used to characterize information sources as they become important during the interorganizational transfer of production innovations. The results of three studies are reviewed for the purpose of deriving a model of the timing and importance of different information sources and the utilization of new technology. Based on the findings of two retrospective studies, it was concluded that the pattern of information seeking behavior in user organizations during the awareness stage of adoption is not a reliable predictor of the eventual utilization rate. Using the additional findings of a real-time study, an empirical model of the relative importance of information sources for successful user organizations is presented. These results are extended and integrated into a theoretical model consisting of a time-profile of successful implementations and the relative importance of four types of information sources during seven stages of the adoption-implementation process.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): Operative Findings Correlation in 229 Fistula-in-Ano Patients.

PubMed

Garg, Pankaj; Singh, Pratiksha; Kaur, Baljit

2017-06-01

To correlate the operative findings of patients with fistula-in-ano with preoperative MRI and quantify the information added with MRI. All consecutive fistula-in-ano patients operated between July 2013 and May 2015 were prospectively enrolled. Preoperative MRI was done in every patient. The details of tracts, internal opening and "complex parameters" (additional tract or additional internal opening, horseshoe tract, associated abscess and supralevator extension) found at surgery were compared to the findings determined by MRI. A total of 229 patients (424 tracts) with mean age-49.0 ± 11.3 years were included. M/F 198/31. James hospital classification: Type I 58, II 20, III 49, IV 86 and V 16. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI in diagnosing fistula tracts were 98.8 and 99.7%, respectively, and in identifying internal opening were 97.7 and 98.6%, respectively. MRI added significant information in 46.7% (107/229) patients which was presence of additional tracts in 71 (66.3%), horseshoe tract in 63 (58.8%), supralevator extension in 16 (14.9%), unsuspected abscess in 11 (10.3%) and multiple internal openings in one patient (1%). The proportion of simple/complex fistula (based on history and clinical examination alone) was 32.8/67.2% which changed to 21.4/78.6% after the MRI scan. MRI added significant information about unsuspecting complex parameters which were missed on history and clinical examination in more than one-third (26/75: 34.6%) of simple fistulae and more than half (81/154: 52.5%) of already known complex fistulae. MRI is highly accurate in diagnosing fistula-in-ano and added significant information about unsuspected complex parameters in over one-third (34.6%) of simple and in half (52.5%) of complex fistula-in-ano.

“What’s the Story?” Information Needs of Trauma Teams

PubMed Central

Sarcevic, Aleksandra; Burd, Randall S.

2008-01-01

This paper reports on information needs of trauma teams based on an ethnographic study in an urban teaching hospital. We focus on questions posed by trauma team members during ten trauma events. We identify major categories of questions, as well as information seekers and providers. In addition to categories known from other critical care settings, we found categories unique to trauma settings. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for information technology support for trauma teams. PMID:18999288

Association of eHealth literacy with cancer information seeking and prior experience with cancer screening.

PubMed

Park, Hyejin; Moon, Mikyung; Baeg, Jung Hoon

2014-09-01

Cancer is a critical disease with a high mortality rate in the US. Although useful information exists on the Internet, many people experience difficulty finding information about cancer prevention because they have limited eHealth literacy. This study aimed to identify relationships between the level of eHealth literacy and cancer information seeking experience or prior experience with cancer screening tests. A total of 108 adults participated in this study through questionnaires. Data covering demographics, eHealth literacy, cancer information seeking experience, educational needs for cancer information searching, and previous cancer screening tests were obtained. Study findings show that the level of eHealth literacy influences cancer information seeking. Individuals with low eHealth literacy are likely to be less confident about finding cancer information. In addition, people who have a low level of eHealth literacy need more education about seeking information than do those with a higher level of eHealth literacy. However, there is no significant relationship between eHealth literacy and cancer screening tests. More people today are using the Internet for access to information to maintain good health. It is therefore critical to educate those with low eHealth literacy so they can better self-manage their health.

Aerospace Manufacturing and Rework Facilities: National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Find regulatory information regarding the NESHAP for Aerospace manufacturing and rework facilities. This page contains the rule summary, rule history, and related rules and additional resources for this standard.

Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis or Laryngeal Papillomatosis

MedlinePlus

... Home » Health Info » Voice, Speech, and Language Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis or Laryngeal Papillomatosis On this page: What ... find additional information about RRP? What is recurrent respiratory papillomatosis? Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is a disease ...

The Effects of Three Types of Verbal Cues on the Accuracy and Latency of Aphasic Subjects' Naming Responses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teubner-Rhodes, Louise A.

This study deals with word retrieval problems of aphasic patients. This word-finding difficulty is a common characteristic of aphasics and many methods have been used by aphasia clinicians to attempt to remediate word retrieval skills. Cueing, one of the methods used, presumably facilitates word-finding by supplying additional information to the…

Understanding Health Literacy Measurement Through Eye Tracking

PubMed Central

Mackert, Michael; Champlin, Sara E.; Pasch, Keryn E.; Weiss, Barry D.

2013-01-01

This study used eye-tracking technology to explore how individuals with different levels of health literacy visualize health-related information. The authors recruited 25 university administrative staff (more likely to have adequate health literacy skills) and 25 adults enrolled in an adult literacy program (more likely to have limited health literacy skills). The authors administered the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) health literacy assessment to each participant. The assessment involves having individuals answer questions about a nutrition label while viewing the label. The authors used computerized eye-tracking technology to measure the amount of time each participant spent fixing their view at nutrition label information that was relevant to the questions being asked and the amount of time they spent viewing nonrelevant information. Results showed that lower NVS scores were significantly associated with more time spent on information not relevant for answering the NVS items. This finding suggests that efforts to improve health literacy measurement should include the ability to differentiate not just between individuals who have difficulty interpreting and using health information, but also between those who have difficulty finding relevant information. In addition, this finding suggests that health education material should minimize the inclusion of nonrelevant information. PMID:24093355

FindZebra: a search engine for rare diseases.

PubMed

Dragusin, Radu; Petcu, Paula; Lioma, Christina; Larsen, Birger; Jørgensen, Henrik L; Cox, Ingemar J; Hansen, Lars Kai; Ingwersen, Peter; Winther, Ole

2013-06-01

The web has become a primary information resource about illnesses and treatments for both medical and non-medical users. Standard web search is by far the most common interface to this information. It is therefore of interest to find out how well web search engines work for diagnostic queries and what factors contribute to successes and failures. Among diseases, rare (or orphan) diseases represent an especially challenging and thus interesting class to diagnose as each is rare, diverse in symptoms and usually has scattered resources associated with it. We design an evaluation approach for web search engines for rare disease diagnosis which includes 56 real life diagnostic cases, performance measures, information resources and guidelines for customising Google Search to this task. In addition, we introduce FindZebra, a specialized (vertical) rare disease search engine. FindZebra is powered by open source search technology and uses curated freely available online medical information. FindZebra outperforms Google Search in both default set-up and customised to the resources used by FindZebra. We extend FindZebra with specialized functionalities exploiting medical ontological information and UMLS medical concepts to demonstrate different ways of displaying the retrieved results to medical experts. Our results indicate that a specialized search engine can improve the diagnostic quality without compromising the ease of use of the currently widely popular standard web search. The proposed evaluation approach can be valuable for future development and benchmarking. The FindZebra search engine is available at http://www.findzebra.com/. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developing Methodologies to Find Abbreviated Laboratory Test Names in Narrative Clinical Documents by Generating High Quality Q-Grams.

PubMed

Kim, Kyungmo; Choi, Jinwook

2017-01-01

Laboratory test names are used as basic information to diagnose diseases. However, this kind of medical information is usually written in a natural language. To find this information, lexicon based methods have been good solutions but they cannot find terms that do not have abbreviated expressions, such as "neuts" that means "neutrophils". To address this issue, similar word matching can be used; however, it can be disadvantageous because of significant false positives. Moreover, processing time is longer as the size of terms is bigger. Therefore, we suggest a novel q-gram based algorithm, named modified triangular area filtering, to find abbreviated laboratory test terms in clinical documents, minimizing the possibility to impair the lexicons' precision. In addition, we found the terms using the methodology with reasonable processing time. The results show that this method can achieve 92.54 precision, 87.72 recall, 90.06 f1-score in test sets when edit distance threshold(τ) = 3.

Corporate use of information regarding natural resources and environmental quality

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

Train, R.E.

1984-01-01

This report presents findings and recommendations from a one-year study of the corporate use of information regarding natural resources and environmental quality. Personal interviews were conducted with 229 information users at 45 of America's largest corporations, trade associations, and private information companies. In addition, 110 information users participated in a written survey. Our principal findings are: (1) US corporations urgently need more international data; (2) US corporations feel that the government's natural resource forecasts are not credible; (3) US corporations need upgraded and expanded data on environmental quality; (4) US corporations believe that government information is not timely; (5) informationmore » on natural resources and environmental quality is vital to the success of US corporations; (6) US corporations depend on a large body of this information in making decisions regarding capacity, siting, marketing, production, and strategic planning among others; and (7) the US government is the principal source of information on natural resources and environmental quality.« less

Monogamy, polygamy, and other properties of entanglement of purification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bagchi, Shrobona; Pati, Arun Kumar

2015-04-01

For bipartite pure and mixed quantum states, in addition to the quantum mutual information, there is another measure of total correlation, namely, the entanglement of purification. We study the monogamy, polygamy, and additivity properties of the entanglement of purification for pure and mixed states. In this paper, we show that, in contrast to the quantum mutual information which is strictly monogamous for any tripartite pure states, the entanglement of purification is polygamous for the same. This shows that there can be genuinely two types of total correlation across any bipartite cross in a pure tripartite state. Furthermore, we find the lower bound and actual values of the entanglement of purification for different classes of tripartite and higher-dimensional bipartite mixed states. Thereafter, we show that if entanglement of purification is not additive on tensor product states, it is actually subadditive. Using these results, we identify some states which are additive on tensor products for entanglement of purification. The implications of these findings on the quantum advantage of dense coding are briefly discussed, whereby we show that for tripartite pure states, it is strictly monogamous and if it is nonadditive, then it is superadditive on tensor product states.

The study on knowledge transferring incentive for information system requirement development

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

Li, Yang

2015-03-10

Information system requirement development is a process of users’ knowledge sharing and transferring. However the tacit requirements developing is a main problem during requirement development process, for the reason of difficult to encoding, express, and communicate. Knowledge fusion and corporate effort is needed to finding tacit requirements. Under this background, our paper try to find out the rule of effort dynamic evolutionary of software developer and user by building an evolutionary game model on the condition of incentive system. And in addition this paper provides an in depth discussion at the end of this paper.

Toward More Evidence-Based Practice

PubMed Central

Hotelling, Barbara A.

2005-01-01

Childbirth educators are responsible for providing expectant parents with evidence-based information. In this column, the author suggests resources where educators can find evidence-based research for best practices. Additionally, the author describes techniques for childbirth educators to use in presenting research-based information in their classes. A sample of Web sites and books that offer evidence-based resources for expectant parents is provided. PMID:17273422

Exploring the Transformative Potential of Recognition of Prior Informal Learning for Learners: A Case Study in Scotland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Julie

2017-01-01

This article presents an overview of the findings of a recently completed study exploring the potentially transformative impact upon learners of recognition of prior informal learning (RPL). The specific transformative dimension being reported is learner identity. In addition to providing a starting point for an evidence base within Scotland, the…

30 CFR 773.26 - How to challenge an ownership or control listing or finding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... authority with jurisdiction over the violation and the AVS Office to obtain additional information. (d) A... investigation by the AVS Office. (e) At any time, you, a person listed in AVS as an owner or controller of a surface coal mining operation, may request an informal explanation from the AVS Office as to the reason...

Measuring recreational visitation at U.S. National Parks with crowd-sourced photographs.

PubMed

Sessions, Carrie; Wood, Spencer A; Rabotyagov, Sergey; Fisher, David M

2016-12-01

Land managers rely on visitation data to inform policy and management decisions. However, visitation data is often costly and burdensome to obtain, and provides a limited depth of information. In this paper, we assess the validity of using crowd-sourced, online photographs to infer information about the habits and preferences of recreational visitors by comparing empirical data from the National Park Service to photograph data from the online platform Flickr for 38 National Parks in the western United States. Using multiple regression analysis, we find that the number of photos posted monthly in a park can reliably indicate the number of visitors to a park in a given month. Through additional statistical testing we also find that the home locations of photo-takers, provided voluntarily on an online profile, accurately show the home origins of park visitors. Together, these findings validate a new method for measuring recreational visitation, opening an opportunity for land managers worldwide to track and understand visitation by augmenting current data collection methods with crowd-sourced, online data that is easy and inexpensive to obtain. In addition, it enables future research on how visitation rates change with changes in access, management or infrastructure, weather events, or ecosystem health, and facilitates valuation research, such as travel cost studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Continuing oversight through site monitoring: experiences of an institutional ethics committee in an Indian tertiary-care hospital.

PubMed

Shetty, Yashashri C; Marathe, Padmaja; Kamat, Sandhya; Thatte, Urmila

2012-01-01

WHO-TDR and the Indian Council of Medical Research recommend site visits by institutional ethics committees (IECs) for continued oversight, to ensure the ethical conduct of research. Our IEC conducted seven site visits in 2008-2009 using a standardised format to monitor adherence to protocol and the informed consent process. The study identified issues related to informed consent (6/7), deviation from protocol (5/7), reporting of study progress to the IEC (3/7), recruiting additional participants without IEC approval (2/7), reporting of serious adverse events (1/7), investigator's lack of awareness of protocol and the informed consent document (2/7) and other findings. Investigators were informed about the findings and were asked to submit an explanation. The IEC issued warnings about not repeating such lapses in the future (5/7), restricted enrollment of new participants (2/7), recommended continued good clinical practice training to the study team (4/7), advised the recruitment of additional study coordinators (2/7), and requested the submission of adverse event reports (2/7) or sponsors' audit reports (2/7). Our study showed that the ethical conduct of studies can be ensured by conducting routine site monitoring.

Cognitive Task Analysis of Business Jet Pilots' Weather Flying Behaviors: Preliminary Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Latorella, Kara; Pliske, Rebecca; Hutton, Robert; Chrenka, Jason

2001-01-01

This report presents preliminary findings from a cognitive task analysis (CTA) of business aviation piloting. Results describe challenging weather-related aviation decisions and the information and cues used to support these decisions. Further, these results demonstrate the role of expertise in business aviation decision-making in weather flying, and how weather information is acquired and assessed for reliability. The challenging weather scenarios and novice errors identified in the results provide the basis for experimental scenarios and dependent measures to be used in future flight simulation evaluations of candidate aviation weather information systems. Finally, we analyzed these preliminary results to recommend design and training interventions to improve business aviation decision-making with weather information. The primary objective of this report is to present these preliminary findings and to document the extended CTA methodology used to elicit and represent expert business aviator decision-making with weather information. These preliminary findings will be augmented with results from additional subjects using this methodology. A summary of the complete results, absent the detailed treatment of methodology provided in this report, will be documented in a separate publication.

Visual representation of statistical information improves diagnostic inferences in doctors and their patients.

PubMed

Garcia-Retamero, Rocio; Hoffrage, Ulrich

2013-04-01

Doctors and patients have difficulty inferring the predictive value of a medical test from information about the prevalence of a disease and the sensitivity and false-positive rate of the test. Previous research has established that communicating such information in a format the human mind is adapted to-namely natural frequencies-as compared to probabilities, boosts accuracy of diagnostic inferences. In a study, we investigated to what extent these inferences can be improved-beyond the effect of natural frequencies-by providing visual aids. Participants were 81 doctors and 81 patients who made diagnostic inferences about three medical tests on the basis of information about prevalence of a disease, and the sensitivity and false-positive rate of the tests. Half of the participants received the information in natural frequencies, while the other half received the information in probabilities. Half of the participants only received numerical information, while the other half additionally received a visual aid representing the numerical information. In addition, participants completed a numeracy scale. Our study showed three important findings: (1) doctors and patients made more accurate inferences when information was communicated in natural frequencies as compared to probabilities; (2) visual aids boosted accuracy even when the information was provided in natural frequencies; and (3) doctors were more accurate in their diagnostic inferences than patients, though differences in accuracy disappeared when differences in numerical skills were controlled for. Our findings have important implications for medical practice as they suggest suitable ways to communicate quantitative medical data. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

GIS Application Management for Disabled People

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tongkaw, Sasalak

2017-08-01

This research aimed to develop and design Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for facilitating disabled people by presenting some useful disabled information on the Google Map. The map could provide information about disabled types of people such as blind, deaf and physical movement. This research employed the Multiview 2 theory and method to plan and find out the problems in real world situation. This research used many designing data structure methods such as Data Flow Diagram, and ER-Diagram. The research focused into two parts: server site and client site which included the interface for Web-based application. The clear information of disable people on the map was useful for facilitating disabled people to find some useful information. In addition, it provided specialized data for company and government officers for managing and planning local facilities for disabled people in the cities. The disable could access the system through the Internet access at any time by using mobile or portable devices.

The impact of multiple information on coupled awareness-epidemic dynamics in multiplex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Yaohui; Yan, Zhijun

2018-02-01

Growing interest has emerged in the study of the interplay between awareness and epidemics in multiplex networks. However, previous studies on this issue usually assume that all aware individuals take the same level of precautions, ignoring individual heterogeneity. In this paper, we investigate the coupled awareness-epidemic dynamics in multiplex networks considering individual heterogeneity. Here, the precaution levels are heterogeneous and depend on three types of information: contact information and local and global prevalence information. The results show that contact-based precautions can decrease the epidemic prevalence and augment the epidemic threshold, but prevalence-based precautions, regardless of local or global information, can only decrease the epidemic prevalence. Moreover, unlike previous studies in single-layer networks, we do not find a greater impact of local prevalence information on the epidemic prevalence compared to global prevalence information. In addition, we find that the altruistic behaviors of infected individuals can effectively suppress epidemic spreading, especially when the level of contact-based precaution is high.

Delivering information: A descriptive study of Australian women’s information needs for decision-making about birth facility

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Little information is known about what information women want when choosing a birth facility. The objective of this study was to inform the development of a consumer decision support tool about birth facility by identifying the information needs of maternity care consumers in Queensland, Australia. Methods Participants were 146 women residing in both urban and rural areas of Queensland, Australia who were pregnant and/or had recently given birth. A cross-sectional survey was administered in which participants were asked to rate the importance of 42 information items to their decision-making about birth facility. Participants could also provide up to ten additional information items of interest in an open-ended question. Results On average, participants rated 30 of the 42 information items as important to decision-making about birth facility. While the majority of information items were valued by most participants, those related to policies about support people, other women’s recommendations about the facility, freedom to choose one’s preferred position during labour and birth, the aesthetic quality of the facility, and access to on-site neonatal intensive care were particularly widely valued. Additional items of interest frequently focused on postnatal care and support, policies related to medical intervention, and access to water immersion. Conclusions The women surveyed had significant and diverse information needs for decision-making about birth facility. These findings have immediate applications for the development of decision support tools about birth facility, and highlight the need for tools which provide a large volume of information in an accessible and user-friendly format. These findings may also be used to guide communication and information-sharing by care providers involved in counselling pregnant women and families about their options for birth facility or providing referrals to birth facilities. PMID:22708648

Delivering information: a descriptive study of Australian women's information needs for decision-making about birth facility.

PubMed

Thompson, Rachel; Wojcieszek, Aleena M

2012-06-18

Little information is known about what information women want when choosing a birth facility. The objective of this study was to inform the development of a consumer decision support tool about birth facility by identifying the information needs of maternity care consumers in Queensland, Australia. Participants were 146 women residing in both urban and rural areas of Queensland, Australia who were pregnant and/or had recently given birth. A cross-sectional survey was administered in which participants were asked to rate the importance of 42 information items to their decision-making about birth facility. Participants could also provide up to ten additional information items of interest in an open-ended question. On average, participants rated 30 of the 42 information items as important to decision-making about birth facility. While the majority of information items were valued by most participants, those related to policies about support people, other women's recommendations about the facility, freedom to choose one's preferred position during labour and birth, the aesthetic quality of the facility, and access to on-site neonatal intensive care were particularly widely valued. Additional items of interest frequently focused on postnatal care and support, policies related to medical intervention, and access to water immersion. The women surveyed had significant and diverse information needs for decision-making about birth facility. These findings have immediate applications for the development of decision support tools about birth facility, and highlight the need for tools which provide a large volume of information in an accessible and user-friendly format. These findings may also be used to guide communication and information-sharing by care providers involved in counselling pregnant women and families about their options for birth facility or providing referrals to birth facilities.

Evaluation of the painful athletic hip: imaging options and imaging-guided injections.

PubMed

Jacobson, Jon A; Bedi, Asheesh; Sekiya, Jon K; Blankenbaker, Donna G

2012-09-01

This article reviews diagnostic imaging tests and injections that provide important information for clinical management of patients with sports-related hip pain. In the evaluation of sports-related hip symptoms, MR arthrography is often used to evaluate intraarticular pathology of the hip. The addition of short- and long-acting anesthetic agents with the MR arthrography injection adds additional information that can distinguish between symptomatic and asymptomatic imaging findings. Osseous abnormalities can be characterized with radiography, MRI, or CT. Ultrasound is important in the assessment of iliopsoas abnormalities, including tendon snapping, and to guide diagnostic anesthetic injection.

Impact of clinical history on chest radiograph interpretation.

PubMed

Test, Matthew; Shah, Samir S; Monuteaux, Michael; Ambroggio, Lilliam; Lee, Edward Y; Markowitz, Richard I; Bixby, Sarah; Diperna, Stephanie; Servaes, Sabah; Hellinger, Jeffrey C; Neuman, Mark I

2013-07-01

The inclusion of clinical information may have unrecognized influence in the interpretation of diagnostic testing. The objective of the study was to determine the impact of clinical history on chest radiograph interpretation in the diagnosis of pneumonia. Prospective case-based study. Radiologists interpreted 110 radiographs of children evaluated for suspicion of pneumonia. Clinical information was withheld during the first interpretation. After 6 months the radiographs were reviewed with clinical information. Radiologists reported on pneumonia indicators described by the World Health Organization (ie, any infiltrate, alveolar infiltrate, interstitial infiltrate, air bronchograms, hilar adenopathy, pleural effusion). Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Boston Children's Hospital. Six board-certified radiologists. Inter- and inter-rater reliability were assessed using the kappa statistic. The addition of clinical history did not have a substantial impact on the inter-rater reliability in the identification of any infiltrate, alveolar infiltrate, interstitial infiltrate, pleural effusion, or hilar adenopathy. Inter-rater reliability in the identification of air bronchograms improved from fair (k = 0.32) to moderate (k = 0.53). Intra-rater reliability for the identification of alveolar infiltrate remained substantial to almost perfect for all 6 raters with and without clinical information. One rater had a decrease in inter-rater reliability from almost perfect (k = 1.0) to fair (k = 0.21) in the identification of interstitial infiltrate with the addition of clinical history. Alveolar infiltrate and pleural effusion are findings with high intra- and inter-rater reliability in the diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia. The addition of clinical information did not have a substantial impact on the reliability of these findings. © 2012 Society of Hospital Medicine.

The Importance of 'Likes': The Interplay of Message Framing, Source, and Social Endorsement on Credibility Perceptions of Health Information on Facebook.

PubMed

Borah, Porismita; Xiao, Xizhu

2018-01-01

Online sources not only permeate the information-seeking environment of the younger generation, but also have profound influence in shaping their beliefs and behaviors. In this landscape, examining the factors responsible for credibility perceptions of online information is fundamental, particularly for health-related information. Using a 2 (frames: gain vs. loss) × 2 (source: expert vs. non-expert) × 2 (social endorsement: high vs. low) randomized between-subjects experimental design, this study examines the effect of health message framing and the moderating effects of social endorsement and source type on credibility perceptions of Facebook posts. Testing across two issues--physical activity and alcohol consumption--findings indicate that the gain-framed message was perceived as most credible. Additionally, significant three-way interactions suggest that social endorsement and source type affect the relationship between message framing and credibility perceptions. Specifically, the findings demonstrate that a gain-framed message from an expert source with high number of 'likes' is considered the most credible message. These findings have significant implications for information gathering from social media sources, such as the influence of 'likes' on health information.

Information literacy in science writing: how students find, identify, and use scientific literature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klucevsek, Kristin M.; Brungard, Allison B.

2016-11-01

For undergraduate students to achieve science literacy, they must first develop information literacy skils. These skills align with Information Literacy Standards and include determining appropriate databases, distinguishing among resource types, and citing resources ethically. To effectively improve information literacy and science literacy, we must identify how students interact with authentic scientific texts. In this case study, we addressed this aim by embedding a science librarian into a science writing course, where students wrote a literature review on a research topic of their choice. Library instruction was further integrated through the use of an online guide and outside assistance. To evaluate the evolution of information literacy in our students and provide evidence of student practices, we used task-scaffolded writing assessments, a reflection, and surveys. We found that students improved their ability and confidence in finding research articles using discipline-specific databases as well as their ability to distinguish primary from secondary research articles. We also identified ways students improperly used and cited resources in their writing assignments. While our results reveal a better understanding of how students find and approach scientific research articles, additional research is needed to develop effective strategies to improve long-term information literacy in the sciences.

Learning classification with auxiliary probabilistic information

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Quang; Valizadegan, Hamed; Hauskrecht, Milos

2012-01-01

Finding ways of incorporating auxiliary information or auxiliary data into the learning process has been the topic of active data mining and machine learning research in recent years. In this work we study and develop a new framework for classification learning problem in which, in addition to class labels, the learner is provided with an auxiliary (probabilistic) information that reflects how strong the expert feels about the class label. This approach can be extremely useful for many practical classification tasks that rely on subjective label assessment and where the cost of acquiring additional auxiliary information is negligible when compared to the cost of the example analysis and labelling. We develop classification algorithms capable of using the auxiliary information to make the learning process more efficient in terms of the sample complexity. We demonstrate the benefit of the approach on a number of synthetic and real world data sets by comparing it to the learning with class labels only. PMID:25309141

Learning in practice: experiences and perceptions of high-scoring physicians.

PubMed

Sargeant, Joan; Mann, Karen; Sinclair, Douglas; Ferrier, Suzanne; Muirhead, Philip; van der Vleuten, Cees; Metsemakers, Job

2006-07-01

To increase understanding of informal learning in practice (e.g., consulting with colleagues, reading journals) through exploring the experiences and perceptions of physicians perceived to be performing well. Objectives were to find out how physicians learned in practice and maintained their competence, and how they learned about the communication skills domain specifically. Of 142 family physicians participating in a formal multisource feedback (360-degree) formative assessment, 25 receiving high scores were invited to participate in interviews conducted in 2003 at Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. Twelve responded. Interviews were 1.5 hours each, recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by the research team using accepted qualitative procedures. While formal learning appeared important to most, informal learning, especially through patients and colleagues, appeared to be fundamental. The physicians appeared to learn intentionally from practice and work experiences, and reflection appeared integral to learning and monitoring the impact of learning. Two findings were surprising: participants' conceptions of competence and perceptions that communication skills were innate rather than learned. These physicians' ways of intentional learning from practice concur with current models of informal learning. However, informal learning is largely unrecognized by formal institutions. Additionally, the physicians did not in general share notions of professional competence held by educators and others in authority. These findings suggest the need to make implicit content and learning processes more explicit. Additional research areas include exploring whether physicians across the range of performance levels demonstrate similar processes of reflective learning.

What is Your Cosmic Connection to the Elements?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lochner, J.

2003-01-01

This booklet provides information and classroom activities covering topics in astronomy, physics, and chemistry. Chemistry teachers will find information about the cosmic origin of the chemical elements. The astronomy topics include the big bang, life cycles of small and large stars, supernovae, and cosmic rays. Physics teachers will find information on fusion processes, and physical principles important in stellar evolution. While not meant to replace a textbook, the information provided here is meant to give the necessary background for the theme of :our cosmic connection to the elements." The activities can be used to re-enforce the material across a number of disciplines, using a variety of techniques, and to engage and excite students about the topic. Additional activities, and on-line versions of the activities published here, are available at http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/elements/.

The Printing and Publishing Industry: National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Learn about the NESHAP for the printing and publishing industry by reading the rule summary and history. You can also find the additional resources like fact sheets, background information documents and related rules

The Department of Defense’s Second Chasm in RFID-UID Technology Adoption

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

Lenders Program DFAR Defense Financial Accounting Regulation DoD Department of Defense DoDSIG Department of Defense Suppliers Information Guide EFT ...through electronic funds transfer ( EFT ). Additionally, CCR shares the data with federal government procurement and electronic business systems. (CCR...government contracting procedures. Additionally, the small business contractors can also tap into SBA resources to find out the latest news on

Criteria used by nurses to evaluate practice-related information on the World Wide Web.

PubMed

Cader, Raffik; Campbell, Steve; Watson, Don

2003-01-01

Existing criteria used to evaluate information on the World Wide Web often are not related to nursing, especially in relation to clinical and evidence-based practice. Published criteria have been found orientated to the health-consumer, medicine, or general information. In this study, the process by which nurses evaluate practice-related information and the associated evaluative nursing criteria were investigated using a grounded theory approach. In the first stage of this ongoing investigation, semistructured interviews were used to collect data from UK postregistration nursing students. The findings from this initial study provided indications of the process and the criteria for evaluating information on the World Wide Web. Participating students identified intuition as part of the evaluative process. They identified some criteria similar to existing standards, but critically, with additional criteria that are nursing practice related. Because these new criteria are significant for evaluating nursing information, further refinement of these findings is being undertaken through the next stage of the research program.

Physical Examination Findings Among Children and Adolescents With Obesity: An Evidence-Based Review.

PubMed

Armstrong, Sarah; Lazorick, Suzanne; Hampl, Sarah; Skelton, Joseph A; Wood, Charles; Collier, David; Perrin, Eliana M

2016-02-01

Overweight and obesity affects 1 in 3 US children and adolescents. Clinical recommendations have largely focused on screening guidelines and counseling strategies. However, the physical examination of the child or adolescent with obesity can provide the clinician with additional information to guide management decisions. This expert-based review focuses on physical examination findings specific to children and adolescents with obesity. For each physical examination element, the authors define the finding and its prevalence among pediatric patients with obesity, discuss the importance and relevance of the finding, describe known techniques to assess severity, and review evidence regarding the need for additional evaluation. The recommendations presented represent a comprehensive review of current evidence as well as expert opinion. The goal of this review is to highlight the importance of conducting a targeted physical examination during pediatric weight management visits. Copyright © 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Does contracting with owner operators lead to worse safety outcomes for US motor carriers? Evidence from the Motor Carrier Management Information System.

PubMed

Monaco, Kristen; Redmon, Brydey

2012-03-01

Using data from the Motor Carrier Management Information System, we model crashes as a function of firm characteristics, with a focus on the employment relationship. We find that very small firms (one driver, one truck) and firms that contract with owner operators have fewer crashes than employee-only companies, once other firm characteristics and exposure are controlled. Additionally, though very small firms are more likely to have severe crashes, we find no relationship between the share of owner operators and crash severity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discriminative components of data.

PubMed

Peltonen, Jaakko; Kaski, Samuel

2005-01-01

A simple probabilistic model is introduced to generalize classical linear discriminant analysis (LDA) in finding components that are informative of or relevant for data classes. The components maximize the predictability of the class distribution which is asymptotically equivalent to 1) maximizing mutual information with the classes, and 2) finding principal components in the so-called learning or Fisher metrics. The Fisher metric measures only distances that are relevant to the classes, that is, distances that cause changes in the class distribution. The components have applications in data exploration, visualization, and dimensionality reduction. In empirical experiments, the method outperformed, in addition to more classical methods, a Renyi entropy-based alternative while having essentially equivalent computational cost.

Interpretation bias for uncertain threat: A replication and extension.

PubMed

Oglesby, Mary E; Raines, Amanda M; Short, Nicole A; Capron, Daniel W; Schmidt, Norman B

2016-06-01

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) has been proposed as an important transdiagnostic variable within various anxiety-related disorders. Research has suggested that individuals high in IU may interpret ambiguous information in a more threatening manner, suggesting a negative interpretation bias for uncertain information. However, interpretation biases within IU have not been adequately tested in the literature. The current study evaluated negative interpretation biases for uncertain information by directly measuring an individual's interpretations of ambiguous information across two samples. Participants consisted of 76 (Study 1; 72.4% female) and 31 (Study 2; 81% female) undergraduate students. Results indicated that individuals high in IU interpret ambiguous scenarios as more threatening compared to negative and/or positive scenarios (β = .45, p = .02). In addition, individuals high in IU showed a negative interpretation bias for ambiguous information, but not benign information (Study 1: β = -.40, p < .001; Study 2: β = -.57, p = .002). Future research should attempt to replicate these findings within clinical populations. In addition, future work would benefit from the inclusion of behavioral assessments of IU. These findings are the first to detect the presence of a negative interpretation bias for uncertain information among individuals high in IU utilizing a task designed to directly measure an individual's interpretation of information. Given the efficacy and low economic burden associated with interpretation bias modification protocols, and the transdiagnostic nature of IU, targeting IU within these protocols could have a tremendous public health impact. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Applications of Augmented Reality in Informal Science Learning Sites: a Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goff, Eric E.; Mulvey, Kelly Lynn; Irvin, Matthew J.; Hartstone-Rose, Adam

2018-05-01

The importance of increasing interest in the STEM disciplines has been noted in a number of recent national reports. While many previous studies have focused on such efforts inside of the formal classroom, comparatively few have looked closely at informal learning environments. We investigate the innovative use of technology in informal learning by reviewing research on the incorporation of augmented reality (AR) at exhibit-based informal science education (ISE) settings in the literature. We report on the common STEM-focused topics that are covered by current AR applications for ISE learning, as well as the different devices used to support these applications. Additionally, we report on the prevalence of positive learning outcomes and engagement factors commonly associated with the use AR applications in informal environments. This review aims to foster continued development and implementation of AR technology in exhibit-based ISE settings by informing the community of recent findings and promoting additional rigorous research for the future.

Neighbourhood Built Environment Influences on Physical Activity among Adults: A Systematized Review of Qualitative Evidence

PubMed Central

Salvo, Grazia; Doyle-Baker, Patricia K.; McCormack, Gavin R.

2018-01-01

Qualitative studies can provide important information about how and why the built environment impacts physical activity decision-making—information that is important for informing local urban policies. We undertook a systematized literature review to synthesize findings from qualitative studies exploring how the built environment influences physical activity in adults. Our review included 36 peer-reviewed qualitative studies published from 1998 onwards. Our findings complemented existing quantitative evidence and provided additional insight into how functional, aesthetic, destination, and safety built characteristics influence physical activity decision-making. Sociodemographic characteristics (age, sex, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status) also impacted the BE’s influence on physical activity. Our review findings reinforce the need for synergy between transportation planning, urban design, landscape architecture, road engineering, parks and recreation, bylaw enforcement, and public health to be involved in creating neighbourhood environments that support physical activity. Our findings support a need for local neighbourhood citizens and associations with representation from individuals and groups with different sociodemographic backgrounds to have input into neighbourhood environment planning process. PMID:29724048

The Social Costs of Ubiquitous Information: Consuming Information on Mobile Phones Is Associated with Lower Trust.

PubMed

Kushlev, Kostadin; Proulx, Jason D E

2016-01-01

In an age already saturated with information, the ongoing revolution in mobile computing has expanded the realm of immediate information access far beyond our homes and offices. In addition to changing where people can access information, mobile computing has changed what information people access-from finding specific directions to a restaurant to exploring nearby businesses when on the go. Does this ability to instantly gratify our information needs anytime and anywhere have any bearing on how much we trust those around us-from neighbors to strangers? Using data from a large nationally representative survey (World Values Survey: Wave 6), we found that the more people relied on their mobile phones for information, the less they trusted strangers, neighbors and people from other religions and nationalities. In contrast, obtaining information through any other method-including TV, radio, newspapers, and even the Internet more broadly-predicted higher trust in those groups. Mobile information had no bearing on how much people trusted close others, such as their family. Although causality cannot be inferred, these findings provide an intriguing first glimpse into the possible unforeseen costs of convenient information access for the social lubricant of society-our sense of trust in one another.

Multiple identities in Northern Ireland: hierarchical ordering in the representation of group membership.

PubMed

Crisp, R J; Hewstone, M; Cairns, E

2001-12-01

A study was conducted to explore whether participants in Northern Ireland attend to, and process information about, different group members as a function of a single dimension of category membership (religion) or as a function of additional and/or alternative bases for group membership. Utilizing a bogus 'newspaper story' paradigm, we explored whether participants would differentially recall target attributes as a function of two dimensions of category membership. Findings from this recall measure suggested that information concerning ingroup and outgroup members was processed as an interactive function of both religion and gender intergroup dimensions. Religion was only used to guide processing of more specific information if the story character was also an outgroup member on the gender dimension. These findings suggest a complex pattern of intergroup representation in the processing of group-relevant information in the Northern Irish context.

Database for vertigo.

PubMed

Kentala, E; Pyykkö, I; Auramo, Y; Juhola, M

1995-03-01

An interactive database has been developed to assist the diagnostic procedure for vertigo and to store the data. The database offers a possibility to split and reunite the collected information when needed. It contains detailed information about a patient's history, symptoms, and findings in otoneurologic, audiologic, and imaging tests. The symptoms are classified into sets of questions on vertigo (including postural instability), hearing loss and tinnitus, and provoking factors. Confounding disorders are screened. The otoneurologic tests involve saccades, smooth pursuit, posturography, and a caloric test. In addition, findings from specific antibody tests, clinical neurotologic tests, magnetic resonance imaging, brain stem audiometry, and electrocochleography are included. The input information can be applied to workups for vertigo in an expert system called ONE. The database assists its user in that the input of information is easy. If not only can be used for diagnostic purposes but is also beneficial for research, and in combination with the expert system, it provides a tutorial guide for medical students.

Fact Sheets and Additional Information Regarding the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for Sulfur Dioxide

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Find tools for primary standards for Sulfur Dioxide, maps of nonattainment areas, an overview of the proposal, projected nonattainment areas for 2020, and a presentation on the 2011 SO2 primary NAAQS revision.

Lunar Crustal Magnetism: Correlations with Geology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Halekas, J. S.; Mitchell, D. L.; Lin, R. P.; Frey, S.; Acuna, M. H.; Hood, L. L.; Binder, A. B.

2001-01-01

With Lunar Prospector reflectometry data we now have sufficient surface coverage to allow detailed comparisons between crustal magnetism and geology. We find substantial evidence that lunar magnetism is dominated by the effects of impact processes. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Enlisting User Community Perspectives to Inform Development of a Semantic Web Application for Discovery of Cross-Institutional Research Information and Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johns, E. M.; Mayernik, M. S.; Boler, F. M.; Corson-Rikert, J.; Daniels, M. D.; Gross, M. B.; Khan, H.; Maull, K. E.; Rowan, L. R.; Stott, D.; Williams, S.; Krafft, D. B.

2015-12-01

Researchers seek information and data through a variety of avenues: published literature, search engines, repositories, colleagues, etc. In order to build a web application that leverages linked open data to enable multiple paths for information discovery, the EarthCollab project has surveyed two geoscience user communities to consider how researchers find and share scholarly output. EarthCollab, a cross-institutional, EarthCube funded project partnering UCAR, Cornell University, and UNAVCO, is employing the open-source semantic web software, VIVO, as the underlying technology to connect the people and resources of virtual research communities. This study will present an analysis of survey responses from members of the two case study communities: (1) the Bering Sea Project, an interdisciplinary field program whose data archive is hosted by NCAR's Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL), and (2) UNAVCO, a geodetic facility and consortium that supports diverse research projects informed by geodesy. The survey results illustrate the types of research products that respondents indicate should be discoverable within a digital platform and the current methods used to find publications, data, personnel, tools, and instrumentation. The responses showed that scientists rely heavily on general purpose search engines, such as Google, to find information, but that data center websites and the published literature were also critical sources for finding collaborators, data, and research tools.The survey participants also identify additional features of interest for an information platform such as search engine indexing, connection to institutional web pages, generation of bibliographies and CVs, and outward linking to social media. Through the survey, the user communities prioritized the type of information that is most important to display and describe their work within a research profile. The analysis of this survey will inform our further development of a platform that will facilitate different types of information discovery strategies, and help researchers to find and use the associated resources of a research project.

Radial Bias Is Not Necessary For Orientation Decoding

PubMed Central

Pratte, Michael S.; Sy, Jocelyn L.; Swisher, Jascha D.; Tong, Frank

2015-01-01

Multivariate pattern analysis can be used to decode the orientation of a viewed grating from fMRI signals in early visual areas. Although some studies have reported identifying multiple sources of the orientation information that make decoding possible, a recent study argued that orientation decoding is only possible because of a single source: a coarse-scale retinotopically organized preference for radial orientations. Here we aim to resolve these discrepant findings. We show that there were subtle, but critical, experimental design choices that led to the erroneous conclusion that a radial bias is the only source of orientation information in fMRI signals. In particular, we show that the reliance on a fast temporal-encoding paradigm for spatial mapping can be problematic, as effects of space and time become conflated and lead to distorted estimates of a voxel’s orientation or retinotopic preference. When we implement minor changes to the temporal paradigm or to the visual stimulus itself, by slowing the periodic rotation of the stimulus or by smoothing its contrast-energy profile, we find significant evidence of orientation information that does not originate from radial bias. In an additional block-paradigm experiment where space and time were not conflated, we apply a formal model comparison approach and find that many voxels exhibit more complex tuning properties than predicted by radial bias alone or in combination with other known coarse-scale biases. Our findings support the conclusion that radial bias is not necessary for orientation decoding. In addition, our study highlights potential limitations of using temporal phase-encoded fMRI designs for characterizing voxel tuning properties. PMID:26666900

DDx: diagnostic assistance for the radiologist using PACS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haynor, David R.

1993-09-01

A potentially valuable tool in medical imaging is the development, and integration with PACS, of systems which enhance the interpretive accuracy of the user -- his ability, given a set of findings (in the broad sense, including clinical information about the patient as well as characteristics of the lesion being analyzed), to assign the proper disease label, or diagnosis, to them. Such systems, which we call here interpretive tools (IT), contain a variety of types of information about diseases and their radiologic diagnosis. They can contain information about large numbers of diseases, including statistical information (incidence, characteristic anatomical locations, association with age and gender or with other diseases, probabilities of various findings given a disease), textual information (description of diseases, treatment, literature references, lists of other entities that might be confused with the disease of interest, additional diagnostic points that may not be represented, or even representable, within IT), and image-based information (typical and atypical examples for each entity and radiographic finding, examples of normal anatomy). These databases can be used both for teaching purposes and as a tool for improving interpretive accuracy [Swett, 1987]. This paper describes some of the requirements for these databases and then discusses early work on the implementation of DDx, an IT whose domain is neuroradiology.

Online National Solar Energy Directory and 2005 Solar Decathlon Product Directory. Final report

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

Hamm, Julia; Taylor, Mike

2008-12-31

The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), in partnership with the American Solar Energy Society, developed an online National Solar Energy Directory with clear, comprehensive information on suppliers and purchasing options. The site was originally located at FindSolar.com, but has recently been moved to Find-Solar.org. The original FindSolar.com domain name has been taken by the American Solar Energy Society (a partner in this project) and utilized for a similar but different project. This Find-Solar.org directory offers the rapidly growing base of potential solar customers a simple, straightforward destination to learn about their solar options. Members of the public are able tomore » easily locate contractors in their geographic area and verify companies' qualifications with accurate third-party information. It allows consumers to obtain key information on the economics, incentives, desirability, and workings of a solar energy system, as well as competing quotes from different contractors and reviews from customers they have worked with previously. Find-Solar.org is a means of facilitating the growing public interest in solar power and overcoming a major barrier to widespread development of U.S. solar markets. In addition to the development of Find-Solar.org, SEPA developed a separate online product directory for the 2005 DOE Solar Decathlon to facilitate the communication of information about the energy efficiency and renewable energy products used in each university team's home.« less

Finding online health-related information: usability issues of health portals.

PubMed

Gurel Koybasi, Nergis A; Cagiltay, Kursat

2012-01-01

As Internet and computers become widespread, health portals offering online health-related information become more popular. The most important point for health portals is presenting reliable and valid information. Besides, portal needs to be usable to be able to serve information to users effectively. This study aims to determine usability issues emerging when health-related information is searched on a health portal. User-based usability tests are conducted and eye movement analyses are used in addition to traditional performance measures. Results revealed that users prefer systematic, simple and consistent designs offering interactive tools. Moreover, content and partitions needs to be shaped according to the medical knowledge of target users.

Efficiency and credit ratings: a permutation-information-theory analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandez Bariviera, Aurelio; Zunino, Luciano; Belén Guercio, M.; Martinez, Lisana B.; Rosso, Osvaldo A.

2013-08-01

The role of credit rating agencies has been under severe scrutiny after the subprime crisis. In this paper we explore the relationship between credit ratings and informational efficiency of a sample of thirty nine corporate bonds of US oil and energy companies from April 2008 to November 2012. For this purpose we use a powerful statistical tool, relatively new in the financial literature: the complexity-entropy causality plane. This representation space allows us to graphically classify the different bonds according to their degree of informational efficiency. We find that this classification agrees with the credit ratings assigned by Moody’s. In particular, we detect the formation of two clusters, which correspond to the global categories of investment and speculative grades. Regarding the latter cluster, two subgroups reflect distinct levels of efficiency. Additionally, we also find an intriguing absence of correlation between informational efficiency and firm characteristics. This allows us to conclude that the proposed permutation-information-theory approach provides an alternative practical way to justify bond classification.

Fact Sheets and Additional Information Regarding the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Find tools for primary standards for Nitrogen Dioxide, maps of monitoring areas, an overview of the proposal, monitor requirements, design values for counties, and a presentation on the 2010 NO2 primary NAAQS revision.

Constraints on Gusev Basin Infill from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Topography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carter, B. L.; Frey, H.; Sakimoto, S. E. H.; Roark, J.

2001-01-01

MOLA topography provides volume estimates for Gusev crater based on higher resolution. Revisiting work previously done by Grin and Cabrol (1997), we find a substantial increase in original sedimentation estimates. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

31 CFR 380.5 - Where can I find current information, and who can I contact for additional guidance and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... on Treasury's Bureau of the Public Debt Web site at http://www.treasurydirect.gov. You may also..., Bureau of the Public Debt, Office of the Commissioner, Government Securities Regulations Staff, 799 9th...

Deaf Adolescents’ Learning of Cardiovascular Health Information: Sources and Access Challenges

PubMed Central

Smith, Scott R.; Kushalnagar, Poorna; Hauser, Peter C.

2015-01-01

Deaf individuals have more cardiovascular risks than the general population that are believed to be related to their cardiovascular health knowledge disparities. This phenomenological study describes where 20 deaf sign language-using adolescents from Rochester, New York, many who possess many positive characteristics to support their health literacy, learn cardiovascular health information and their lived experiences accessing health information. The goal is to ultimately use this information to improve the delivery of cardiovascular health education to this population and other deaf adolescents at a higher risk for weak health literacy. Deaf bilingual researchers interviewed deaf adolescents, transcribed and coded the data, and described the findings. Five major sources of cardiovascular health information were identified including family, health education teachers, healthcare providers, printed materials, and informal sources. Despite possessing advantageous characteristics contributing to stronger health literacy, study participants described significant challenges with accessing health information from each source. They also demonstrated inconsistencies in their cardiovascular health knowledge, especially regarding heart attack, stroke, and cholesterol. These findings suggest a great need for additional public funding to research deaf adolescents’ informal health-related learning, develop accessible and culturally appropriate health surveys and health education programming, improve interpreter education, and disseminate information through social media. PMID:26048900

Forensic Evidence and Criminal Investigations: The Impact of Ballistics Information on the Investigation of Violent Crime in Nine Cities.

PubMed

King, William R; Campbell, Bradley A; Matusiak, Matthew C; Katz, Charles M

2017-07-01

We explore the impact of information from ballistics imaging hit reports on the investigation into violent crimes. Ballistics imaging hits link two crimes involving the same firearm by forensically matching tool marks on the fired bullets or cartridge cases. Interview data collected from detectives who received a hit report were used to explore the relationship between the presence of a hit report and outcomes in 65 gun-related violent crime investigations in nine U.S. police agencies. Findings indicate hit reports rarely contribute to identification, arrest, charging, or sentencing of suspects, because of delays in producing hit reports. On average, hit reports were completed 181.4 days after the focal crime. This delay forces investigations to proceed without the benefit of information from ballistics analysis. Additionally, hit reports rarely contained detailed information that was immediately useful to investigators. Instead, hit reports required additional research by the investigator to unlock useful information. © 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Operation Odyssey Dawn and Lessons for the Future

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-02-14

private meeting during the G8 Summit, Sarkozy informed them that French combat aircraft were en route to the Libyan coast. Soon thereafter, Rafale...force of any form on any part of Libyan territory, and requests the Member States concerned to inform the Secretary-General immediately of the...serve as a kind of forward air control air battle manager , sequencing and de-conflicting flights in addition to finding and identifying their own

Getting connected: Both associative and semantic links structure semantic memory for newly learned persons.

PubMed

Wiese, Holger; Schweinberger, Stefan R

2015-01-01

The present study examined whether semantic memory for newly learned people is structured by visual co-occurrence, shared semantics, or both. Participants were trained with pairs of simultaneously presented (i.e., co-occurring) preexperimentally unfamiliar faces, which either did or did not share additionally provided semantic information (occupation, place of living, etc.). Semantic information could also be shared between faces that did not co-occur. A subsequent priming experiment revealed faster responses for both co-occurrence/no shared semantics and no co-occurrence/shared semantics conditions, than for an unrelated condition. Strikingly, priming was strongest in the co-occurrence/shared semantics condition, suggesting additive effects of these factors. Additional analysis of event-related brain potentials yielded priming in the N400 component only for combined effects of visual co-occurrence and shared semantics, with more positive amplitudes in this than in the unrelated condition. Overall, these findings suggest that both semantic relatedness and visual co-occurrence are important when novel information is integrated into person-related semantic memory.

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

Janka, R., E-mail: rolf.janka@idr.imed.uni-erlangen.de; Wenkel, E.; Fellner, C.

The purpose of this work was to find out how often the clinician asks for a conventional angiography (CA) in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) after a magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) has been performed and how often the CA reveals additional information for therapy planning. Quality criteria for the MRA were defined and tested to see whether they can predict the need for an additional CA. In this prospective study, 81 patients suffering from PAOD (Fontaine classification IIa, n = 13; IIb, n = 33; III, n = 10; IV, n = 25) were examined with a 1.5-Tmore » MR-scanner with dedicated coils using a step-by-step technique. The vascular surgeon decided whether he could plan the therapy on the basis of the MRA or if he needed an additional CA. The MRA was assessed in terms of the image quality of the MRA and regarding therapeutic management of the patient in a two-grade scale: sufficient and insufficient. In 27/81 (33%) patients, the clinician asked for a CA, which revealed new information in only 11 patients. The relative number of MRAs with insufficient image quality was significantly higher (p < 0.01) in the group with additional information on CA (8/11) compared to the group without additional information (0/16). The assessment of an MRA based on image quality and regarding therapeutic management of the patient might reduce the number of CAs for therapy planning in patients with PAOD.« less

Print information to inform decisions about mammography screening participation in 16 countries with population-based programs.

PubMed

Zapka, Jane G; Geller, Berta M; Bulliard, Jean-Luc; Fracheboud, Jacques; Sancho-Garnier, Helene; Ballard-Barbash, Rachel

2006-10-01

To profile and compare the content and presentation of written communications related to informed decision-making about mammography. Materials from 16 screening programs organized at the national or regional level were analyzed according to five major information domains suggested by the international literature. A majority of countries provided information on the program (interval, cost and quality). There was considerable variability in comprehensiveness of elements in the domains, e.g., test characteristics (false positive/negative) and pros and cons of screening. The majority noted the likelihood of recall for further tests, few commented on the risks of additional tests or finding unimportant tumors. The audit also found variation in presentation (words and pictures). Presentation of comprehensive, but balanced information on screening benefits and risks is complex and daunting. Issues such as framing effects, coupled with debate about screening efficacy are challenging to the design of effective information tools. The objective of increasing screening prevalence at the population level must be balanced with objectively presenting complete and clear information. Additional research is needed on how information (and mode of presentation) impact screening decisions. Public health officials need to articulate their objectives and review written communication according to important decision-making domains.

Mushrooms (PDQ®)—Health Professional Version

Cancer.gov

Medicinal mushrooms have been used as an addition to standard cancer treatments in Asia. Mushrooms are being studied to find out how they affect the immune system and if they have anticancer effects. Get detailed information about the use of medicinal mushrooms for cancer in this clinician summary.

Reading and Writing in Multimodal Contexts: Exploring the Deictic Nature of Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bailey, Margaret Denice

2012-01-01

This study examined the reading and writing processes that seventh-graders used in hypertext versus traditional print environments. Additionally, it considered the impact of incorporating technology and collaboration into pedagogical practice. Three separate literacy activities involved students in finding information, creating presentations, and…

10 CFR 600.136 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to...

10 CFR 600.136 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to...

36 CFR 1210.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to...

36 CFR 1210.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to...

10 CFR 600.136 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to...

36 CFR 1210.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to...

36 CFR § 1210.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to...

10 CFR 600.136 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to...

10 CFR 600.136 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to...

36 CFR 1210.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to...

Fact Sheets and Additional Information Regarding the 2010 Revision to the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Sulfur Dioxide

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Find tools for primary standards for Sulfur Dioxide, maps of nonattainment areas, an overview of the proposal, projected nonattainment areas for 2020, and a presentation on the 2011 SO2 primary NAAQS revision.

Information needs of case managers caring for persons living with HIV.

PubMed

Schnall, Rebecca; Cimino, James J; Currie, Leanne M; Bakken, Suzanne

2011-05-01

The goals of this study were to explore the information needs of case managers who provide services to persons living with HIV (PLWH) and to assess the applicability of the Information Needs Event Taxonomy in a new population. The study design was observational with data collection via an online survey. Responses to open-ended survey questions about the information needs of case managers (n=94) related to PLWH of three levels of care complexity were categorized using the Information Needs Event Taxonomy. The most frequently identified needs were related to patient education resources (33%), patient data (23%), and referral resources (22%) accounting for 79% of all (N=282) information needs. Study limitations include selection bias, recall bias, and a relatively narrow focus of the study on case-manager information needs in the context of caring for PLWH. The study findings contribute to the evidence base regarding information needs in the context of patient interactions by: (1) supporting the applicability of the Information Needs Event Taxonomy and extending it through addition of a new generic question; (2) providing a foundation for the addition of context-specific links to external information resources within information systems; (3) applying a new approach for elicitation of information needs; and (4) expanding the literature regarding addressing information needs in community-based settings for HIV services.

Informal worker phenomenon in housing construction project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wijayaningtyas, Maranatha; Sipan, Ibrahim; Lukiyanto, Kukuh

2017-11-01

The informal workers phenomenon on housing construction projects in Indonesia is different from workers in other sectors who would always request as permanent employees. Substantively, the informal workers are disinclined to be bound as permanent employees which different from the general labor paradigm. Hence, the objective of this study is to find out how the labour selection process, the factors that affected their performance, and the suitable wage system to achieve the target completion of housing construction project. The qualitative method is used to uncover and understand the meaning behind the phenomena (numina) of informal workers action and their influence on housing construction project which called phenomenological approach. Five informal workers and two project managers were selected as informants based on predetermined criteria with in-depth interviews. The results showed that the informal worker were more satisfied with the wage based on unit price while working in the housing construction project for the flexibility in working hours. In addition, the developer was also relieved because they only control the quality and the achievement of the project completion time which supported by informal worker leader. Therefore, these findings are beneficial for both of developer and government as policy maker to succeed the housing program in Indonesia.

Adaptation of a paradigm for examining the development of fear beliefs through the verbal information pathway in preschool-age children.

PubMed

Rifkin, Lara S; Schofield, Casey A; Beard, Courtney; Armstrong, Thomas

2016-12-01

Verbal threat information has been shown to induce fear beliefs in school-age children (i.e. 6-12 years; for a review see Muris & Field, 2010). The current study adapted an existing paradigm (Field & Lawson, 2003) to examine the impact of verbal threat information on self-report and behavioral measures of fear in preschool-age children. Thirty children (aged 3-5) were provided with threat, positive, or no information about three novel Australian marsupials. There was a significant increase in fear belief for the animal associated with threat information compared to the animal associated with positive or no information. Verbal threat information did not impact behavioral avoidance in the complete sample; however, findings from an exploratory subgroup analysis excluding three-year-olds indicated that children demonstrated significant behavioral avoidance for the threat condition compared to the positive condition. These findings provide additional support for Rachman's theory of fear acquisition (1977, 1991) and suggest this paradigm may be used to examine the age at which verbal threat information becomes a relevant mode of fear acquisition for young children. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phaser.MRage: automated molecular replacement

PubMed Central

Bunkóczi, Gábor; Echols, Nathaniel; McCoy, Airlie J.; Oeffner, Robert D.; Adams, Paul D.; Read, Randy J.

2013-01-01

Phaser.MRage is a molecular-replacement automation framework that implements a full model-generation workflow and provides several layers of model exploration to the user. It is designed to handle a large number of models and can distribute calculations efficiently onto parallel hardware. In addition, phaser.MRage can identify correct solutions and use this information to accelerate the search. Firstly, it can quickly score all alternative models of a component once a correct solution has been found. Secondly, it can perform extensive analysis of identified solutions to find protein assemblies and can employ assembled models for subsequent searches. Thirdly, it is able to use a priori assembly information (derived from, for example, homologues) to speculatively place and score molecules, thereby customizing the search procedure to a certain class of protein molecule (for example, antibodies) and incorporating additional biological information into molecular replacement. PMID:24189240

Phaser.MRage: automated molecular replacement.

PubMed

Bunkóczi, Gábor; Echols, Nathaniel; McCoy, Airlie J; Oeffner, Robert D; Adams, Paul D; Read, Randy J

2013-11-01

Phaser.MRage is a molecular-replacement automation framework that implements a full model-generation workflow and provides several layers of model exploration to the user. It is designed to handle a large number of models and can distribute calculations efficiently onto parallel hardware. In addition, phaser.MRage can identify correct solutions and use this information to accelerate the search. Firstly, it can quickly score all alternative models of a component once a correct solution has been found. Secondly, it can perform extensive analysis of identified solutions to find protein assemblies and can employ assembled models for subsequent searches. Thirdly, it is able to use a priori assembly information (derived from, for example, homologues) to speculatively place and score molecules, thereby customizing the search procedure to a certain class of protein molecule (for example, antibodies) and incorporating additional biological information into molecular replacement.

The biological roots of political extremism.

PubMed

Keene, Justin Robert; Shoenberger, Heather; Berke, Collin K; Bolls, Paul D

2017-01-01

Recent research has revealed the complex origins of political identification and the possible effects of this identification on social and political behavior. This article reports the results of a structural equation analysis of national survey data that attempts to replicate the finding that an individual's negativity bias predicts conservative ideology. The analysis employs the Motivational Activation Measure (MAM) as an index of an individual's positivity offset and negativity bias. In addition, information-seeking behavior is assessed in relation to traditional and interactive media sources of political information. Results show that although MAM does not consistently predict political identification, it can be used to predict extremeness of political views. Specifically, high negativity bias was associated with extreme conservatism, whereas low negativity bias was associated with extreme liberalism. In addition, political identification was found to moderate the relationship between motivational traits and information-seeking behavior.

A Method for Finding Metabolic Pathways Using Atomic Group Tracking.

PubMed

Huang, Yiran; Zhong, Cheng; Lin, Hai Xiang; Wang, Jianyi

2017-01-01

A fundamental computational problem in metabolic engineering is to find pathways between compounds. Pathfinding methods using atom tracking have been widely used to find biochemically relevant pathways. However, these methods require the user to define the atoms to be tracked. This may lead to failing to predict the pathways that do not conserve the user-defined atoms. In this work, we propose a pathfinding method called AGPathFinder to find biochemically relevant metabolic pathways between two given compounds. In AGPathFinder, we find alternative pathways by tracking the movement of atomic groups through metabolic networks and use combined information of reaction thermodynamics and compound similarity to guide the search towards more feasible pathways and better performance. The experimental results show that atomic group tracking enables our method to find pathways without the need of defining the atoms to be tracked, avoid hub metabolites, and obtain biochemically meaningful pathways. Our results also demonstrate that atomic group tracking, when incorporated with combined information of reaction thermodynamics and compound similarity, improves the quality of the found pathways. In most cases, the average compound inclusion accuracy and reaction inclusion accuracy for the top resulting pathways of our method are around 0.90 and 0.70, respectively, which are better than those of the existing methods. Additionally, AGPathFinder provides the information of thermodynamic feasibility and compound similarity for the resulting pathways.

A Method for Finding Metabolic Pathways Using Atomic Group Tracking

PubMed Central

Zhong, Cheng; Lin, Hai Xiang; Wang, Jianyi

2017-01-01

A fundamental computational problem in metabolic engineering is to find pathways between compounds. Pathfinding methods using atom tracking have been widely used to find biochemically relevant pathways. However, these methods require the user to define the atoms to be tracked. This may lead to failing to predict the pathways that do not conserve the user-defined atoms. In this work, we propose a pathfinding method called AGPathFinder to find biochemically relevant metabolic pathways between two given compounds. In AGPathFinder, we find alternative pathways by tracking the movement of atomic groups through metabolic networks and use combined information of reaction thermodynamics and compound similarity to guide the search towards more feasible pathways and better performance. The experimental results show that atomic group tracking enables our method to find pathways without the need of defining the atoms to be tracked, avoid hub metabolites, and obtain biochemically meaningful pathways. Our results also demonstrate that atomic group tracking, when incorporated with combined information of reaction thermodynamics and compound similarity, improves the quality of the found pathways. In most cases, the average compound inclusion accuracy and reaction inclusion accuracy for the top resulting pathways of our method are around 0.90 and 0.70, respectively, which are better than those of the existing methods. Additionally, AGPathFinder provides the information of thermodynamic feasibility and compound similarity for the resulting pathways. PMID:28068354

Improving informed consent: Stakeholder views

PubMed Central

Anderson, Emily E.; Newman, Susan B.; Matthews, Alicia K.

2017-01-01

Purpose Innovation will be required to improve the informed consent process in research. We aimed to obtain input from key stakeholders—research participants and those responsible for obtaining informed consent—to inform potential development of a multimedia informed consent “app.” Methods This descriptive study used a mixed-methods approach. Five 90-minute focus groups were conducted with volunteer samples of former research participants and researchers/research staff responsible for obtaining informed consent. Participants also completed a brief survey that measured background information and knowledge and attitudes regarding research and the use of technology. Established qualitative methods were used to conduct the focus groups and data analysis. Results We conducted five focus groups with 41 total participants: three groups with former research participants (total n = 22), and two groups with researchers and research coordinators (total n = 19). Overall, individuals who had previously participated in research had positive views regarding their experiences. However, further discussion elicited that the informed consent process often did not meet its intended objectives. Findings from both groups are presented according to three primary themes: content of consent forms, experience of the informed consent process, and the potential of technology to improve the informed consent process. A fourth theme, need for lay input on informed consent, emerged from the researcher groups. Conclusions Our findings add to previous research that suggests that the use of interactive technology has the potential to improve the process of informed consent. However, our focus-group findings provide additional insight that technology cannot replace the human connection that is central to the informed consent process. More research that incorporates the views of key stakeholders is needed to ensure that multimedia consent processes do not repeat the mistakes of paper-based consent forms. PMID:28949896

Improving informed consent: Stakeholder views.

PubMed

Anderson, Emily E; Newman, Susan B; Matthews, Alicia K

2017-01-01

Innovation will be required to improve the informed consent process in research. We aimed to obtain input from key stakeholders-research participants and those responsible for obtaining informed consent-to inform potential development of a multimedia informed consent "app." This descriptive study used a mixed-methods approach. Five 90-minute focus groups were conducted with volunteer samples of former research participants and researchers/research staff responsible for obtaining informed consent. Participants also completed a brief survey that measured background information and knowledge and attitudes regarding research and the use of technology. Established qualitative methods were used to conduct the focus groups and data analysis. We conducted five focus groups with 41 total participants: three groups with former research participants (total n = 22), and two groups with researchers and research coordinators (total n = 19). Overall, individuals who had previously participated in research had positive views regarding their experiences. However, further discussion elicited that the informed consent process often did not meet its intended objectives. Findings from both groups are presented according to three primary themes: content of consent forms, experience of the informed consent process, and the potential of technology to improve the informed consent process. A fourth theme, need for lay input on informed consent, emerged from the researcher groups. Our findings add to previous research that suggests that the use of interactive technology has the potential to improve the process of informed consent. However, our focus-group findings provide additional insight that technology cannot replace the human connection that is central to the informed consent process. More research that incorporates the views of key stakeholders is needed to ensure that multimedia consent processes do not repeat the mistakes of paper-based consent forms.

Carbonate Melt Rocks from the Haughton Impact Structure, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Osinski, G. R.; Spray, J. G.; Lee, P.

2002-01-01

The target rocks at the Haughton impact structure, Canada, are predominantly carbonates. The well preserved allochthonous crater-fill deposits are reinterpreted here as being carbonatitic impact melt rocks. The implications of our findings will be discussed. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Isotopic Composition of Barium in Single Presolar Silicon Carbide Grains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Savina, M. R.; Tripa, C. E.; Pellin, M. J.; Davis, A. M.; Clayton, R. N.; Lewis, R. S.; Amari, S.

2002-01-01

We have measured Ba isotope distributions in individual presolar SiC grains. We find that the Ba isotopic composition in mainstream SiC grains is consistent with models of nucleosynthesis in low to intermediate mass asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Hearing-Impaired Children in Venezuela: 1985.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schildroth, Arthur; And Others

1987-01-01

The 1984-85 Venezuelan Survey of Deaf Children collected information on 804 deaf students between ages 3 and 14. Among findings were that 29% of the cases were caused by maternal rubella, that 36% had additional handicaps, and that meningitis was the most frequently reported after-birth cause of hearing losses. (Author/DB)

PISA 2009 Technical Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

OECD Publishing (NJ1), 2012

2012-01-01

The "PISA 2009 Technical Report" describes the methodology underlying the PISA 2009 survey. It examines additional features related to the implementation of the project at a level of detail that allows researchers to understand and replicate its analyses. The reader will find a wealth of information on the test and sample design,…

High School Graduation Minimum Competency Requirements. Final Technical Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Austin Independent School District, TX. Office of Research and Evaluation.

This technical report details the testing results and analyses supporting the evaluation findings related to the Austin (Texas) Independent School District (AISD) minimum competency graduation requirements. The graduation competency status of all AISD students in grades 8 to 12 are documented. The report provides additional information on the data…

Evaluator Training: Content and Topic Valuation in University Evaluation Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davies, Randall; MacKay, Kathryn

2014-01-01

Quality training opportunities for evaluators will always be important to the evaluation profession. While studies have documented the number of university programs providing evaluation training, additional information is needed concerning what content is being taught in current evaluation courses. This article summarizes the findings of a survey…

30 CFR 746.13 - Decision document and recommendation on mining plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... the resource recovery and protection plan; (b) Information prepared in compliance with the National... recovery and protection plan and other requirements of the lease and the Mineral Leasing Act; (f) The... State program; and (g) The findings and recommendations of OSM with respect to the additional...

30 CFR 746.13 - Decision document and recommendation on mining plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... the resource recovery and protection plan; (b) Information prepared in compliance with the National... recovery and protection plan and other requirements of the lease and the Mineral Leasing Act; (f) The... State program; and (g) The findings and recommendations of OSM with respect to the additional...

30 CFR 746.13 - Decision document and recommendation on mining plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... the resource recovery and protection plan; (b) Information prepared in compliance with the National... recovery and protection plan and other requirements of the lease and the Mineral Leasing Act; (f) The... State program; and (g) The findings and recommendations of OSM with respect to the additional...

30 CFR 746.13 - Decision document and recommendation on mining plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... the resource recovery and protection plan; (b) Information prepared in compliance with the National... recovery and protection plan and other requirements of the lease and the Mineral Leasing Act; (f) The... State program; and (g) The findings and recommendations of OSM with respect to the additional...

Careers in Science and Technical Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kastens, Kim

2007-01-01

This article provides practical guidance for science teachers to help students who love both science and writing, and are struggling to find a career that will allow them to combine these disparate talents and interests. It includes descriptions of career paths, suggestions for exploratory steps, and links to sources of additional information. The…

31 CFR 380.5 - Where can I find current information, and who can I contact for additional guidance and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... valuations on Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service Web site at http://www.treasurydirect.gov. You may also... 9th Street, NW., 8th Floor, Washington, DC 20239-0001, or by e-mail at [email protected]gov. ...

22 CFR 145.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in developing...

34 CFR 74.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do not include: (A) Trade... study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published in a peer-reviewed... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data...

43 CFR 12.936 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

7 CFR 3019.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d) (1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

15 CFR 14.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data...

43 CFR 12.936 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

49 CFR 19.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

22 CFR 145.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in developing...

15 CFR 14.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data...

43 CFR 12.936 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

34 CFR 74.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do not include: (A) Trade... study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published in a peer-reviewed... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data...

34 CFR 74.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do not include: (A) Trade... study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published in a peer-reviewed... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data...

20 CFR 435.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

...” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do not include: (A) Trade... study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published in a peer-reviewed... research data. (1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research...

20 CFR 435.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

...” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do not include: (A) Trade... study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published in a peer-reviewed... research data. (1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research...

43 CFR 12.936 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

15 CFR 14.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data...

15 CFR 14.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data...

20 CFR 435.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do not include: (A) Trade... study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published in a peer-reviewed... research data. (1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research...

20 CFR 435.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

...” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do not include: (A) Trade... study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published in a peer-reviewed... research data. (1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research...

7 CFR 3019.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d) (1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

15 CFR 14.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

.... This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do... person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data...

34 CFR 74.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do not include: (A) Trade... study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published in a peer-reviewed... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data...

49 CFR 19.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

20 CFR 435.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

...” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do not include: (A) Trade... study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published in a peer-reviewed... research data. (1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research...

7 CFR 3019.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d) (1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

22 CFR 145.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in developing...

7 CFR 3019.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d) (1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

22 CFR 145.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in developing...

7 CFR 3019.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d) (1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

43 CFR 12.936 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

22 CFR 145.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in developing...

34 CFR 74.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...” material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples). Research data also do not include: (A) Trade... study. (ii) Published is defined as either when: (A) Research findings are published in a peer-reviewed... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data...

49 CFR 19.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

49 CFR 19.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

49 CFR 19.36 - Intangible property.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... could be used to identify a particular person in a research study. (ii) Published is defined as either... purposes. (d)(1) In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for research data relating to published research findings produced under an award that were used by the Federal Government in...

5 CFR 841.1006 - Additional provisions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... request or revocation is effective when processed by OPM. OPM will process each request by the first day...) OPM will provide the State with the information necessary to properly process a request for State... will issue an accounting. If the State finds this accounting unacceptable, it may then and only then...

Impulse Magnetic Fields Generated by Electrostatic Discharges in Protoplanetary Nebulae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tunyi, I.; Guba, P.; Roth, L. E.; Timko, M.

2002-01-01

We examine quantitative aspects associated with the hypothesis of nebular lightnings as a source of impulse magnetic fields. Our findings support our previous accretion model in which a presence of impulse magnetic fields was of a key necessity. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

75 FR 27614 - Shipping Coordinating Committee; Notice of Committee Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-17

... of vital shipping lanes. --External relations: --Report on the status of the Convention and.... Additional information regarding this and other IMO SHC public meetings may be found at: http://www.uscg.mil.... The Department of State finds that there is an exceptional circumstance in that this advisory...

Adolescent Risk Behaviors and Religion: Findings from a National Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinha, Jill W.; Cnaan, Ram A.; Gelles, Richard J.

2007-01-01

Too few studies have assessed the relationship between youth risk behaviors and religiosity using measures which captured the varied extent to which youth are engaged in religion. This study applied three measures of religiosity and risk behaviors. In addition, this study ascertained information about youths' participation in religious activities…

78 FR 21632 - Investigative Hearing

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-11

... goals of this hearing will be to gather additional information on the selection of the lithium ion (Li- ion) battery technology and how this new technology was evaluated, the role of the prime contractor... structure and findings of compliance for the Boeing 787 Li-ion battery system. Parties to the hearing...

Efficient network disintegration under incomplete information: the comic effect of link prediction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Suo-Yi; Wu, Jun; Lü, Linyuan; Li, Meng-Jun; Lu, Xin

2016-03-01

The study of network disintegration has attracted much attention due to its wide applications, including suppressing the epidemic spreading, destabilizing terrorist network, preventing financial contagion, controlling the rumor diffusion and perturbing cancer networks. The crux of this matter is to find the critical nodes whose removal will lead to network collapse. This paper studies the disintegration of networks with incomplete link information. An effective method is proposed to find the critical nodes by the assistance of link prediction techniques. Extensive experiments in both synthetic and real networks suggest that, by using link prediction method to recover partial missing links in advance, the method can largely improve the network disintegration performance. Besides, to our surprise, we find that when the size of missing information is relatively small, our method even outperforms than the results based on complete information. We refer to this phenomenon as the “comic effect” of link prediction, which means that the network is reshaped through the addition of some links that identified by link prediction algorithms, and the reshaped network is like an exaggerated but characteristic comic of the original one, where the important parts are emphasized.

Context-sensitive medical information retrieval.

PubMed

Auerbuch, Mordechai; Karson, Tom H; Ben-Ami, Benjamin; Maimon, Oded; Rokach, Lior

2004-01-01

Substantial medical data such as pathology reports, operative reports, discharge summaries, and radiology reports are stored in textual form. Databases containing free-text medical narratives often need to be searched to find relevant information for clinical and research purposes. Terms that appear in these documents tend to appear in different contexts. The con-text of negation, a negative finding, is of special importance, since many of the most frequently described findings are those denied by the patient or subsequently "ruled out." Hence, when searching free-text narratives for patients with a certain medical condition, if negation is not taken into account, many of the retrieved documents will be irrelevant. The purpose of this work is to develop a methodology for automated learning of negative context patterns in medical narratives and test the effect of context identification on the performance of medical information retrieval. The algorithm presented significantly improves the performance of information retrieval done on medical narratives. The precision im-proves from about 60%, when using context-insensitive retrieval, to nearly 100%. The impact on recall is only minor. In addition, context-sensitive queries enable the user to search for terms in ways not otherwise available

Efficient network disintegration under incomplete information: the comic effect of link prediction.

PubMed

Tan, Suo-Yi; Wu, Jun; Lü, Linyuan; Li, Meng-Jun; Lu, Xin

2016-03-10

The study of network disintegration has attracted much attention due to its wide applications, including suppressing the epidemic spreading, destabilizing terrorist network, preventing financial contagion, controlling the rumor diffusion and perturbing cancer networks. The crux of this matter is to find the critical nodes whose removal will lead to network collapse. This paper studies the disintegration of networks with incomplete link information. An effective method is proposed to find the critical nodes by the assistance of link prediction techniques. Extensive experiments in both synthetic and real networks suggest that, by using link prediction method to recover partial missing links in advance, the method can largely improve the network disintegration performance. Besides, to our surprise, we find that when the size of missing information is relatively small, our method even outperforms than the results based on complete information. We refer to this phenomenon as the "comic effect" of link prediction, which means that the network is reshaped through the addition of some links that identified by link prediction algorithms, and the reshaped network is like an exaggerated but characteristic comic of the original one, where the important parts are emphasized.

Efficient network disintegration under incomplete information: the comic effect of link prediction

PubMed Central

Tan, Suo-Yi; Wu, Jun; Lü, Linyuan; Li, Meng-Jun; Lu, Xin

2016-01-01

The study of network disintegration has attracted much attention due to its wide applications, including suppressing the epidemic spreading, destabilizing terrorist network, preventing financial contagion, controlling the rumor diffusion and perturbing cancer networks. The crux of this matter is to find the critical nodes whose removal will lead to network collapse. This paper studies the disintegration of networks with incomplete link information. An effective method is proposed to find the critical nodes by the assistance of link prediction techniques. Extensive experiments in both synthetic and real networks suggest that, by using link prediction method to recover partial missing links in advance, the method can largely improve the network disintegration performance. Besides, to our surprise, we find that when the size of missing information is relatively small, our method even outperforms than the results based on complete information. We refer to this phenomenon as the “comic effect” of link prediction, which means that the network is reshaped through the addition of some links that identified by link prediction algorithms, and the reshaped network is like an exaggerated but characteristic comic of the original one, where the important parts are emphasized. PMID:26960247

Semantic-episodic interactions in the neuropsychology of disbelief.

PubMed

Ladowsky-Brooks, Ricki; Alcock, James E

2007-03-01

The purpose of this paper is to outline ways in which characteristics of memory functioning determine truth judgements regarding verbally transmitted information. Findings on belief formation from several areas of psychology were reviewed in order to identify general principles that appear to underlie the designation of information in memory as "true" or "false". Studies on belief formation have demonstrated that individuals have a tendency to encode information as "true" and that an additional encoding step is required to tag information as "false". This additional step can involve acquisition and later recall of semantic-episodic associations between message content and contextual cues that signal that information is "false". Semantic-episodic interactions also appear to prevent new information from being accepted as "true" through encoding bias or the assignment of a "false" tag to data that is incompatible with prior knowledge. It is proposed that truth judgements are made through a combined weighting of the reliability of the information source and the compatibility of this information with already stored data. This requires interactions in memory. Failure to integrate different types of memories, such as semantic and episodic memories, can arise from mild hippocampal dysfunction and might result in delusions.

Information transfer in auditoria and room-acoustical quality.

PubMed

Summers, Jason E

2013-04-01

It is hypothesized that room-acoustical quality correlates with the information-transfer rate. Auditoria are considered as multiple-input multiple-output communication channels and a theory of information-transfer is outlined that accounts for time-variant multipath, spatial hearing, and distributed directional sources. Source diversity and spatial hearing are shown to be the mechanisms through which multipath increases the information-transfer rate by overcoming finite spatial resolution. In addition to predictions that are confirmed by recent and historical findings, the theory provides explanations for the influence of factors such as musical repertoire and ensemble size on subjective preference and the influence of multisource, multichannel auralization on perceived realism.

Predictive modelling: parents’ decision making to use online child health information to increase their understanding and/or diagnose or treat their child’s health

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The quantum increases in home Internet access and available online health information with limited control over information quality highlight the necessity of exploring decision making processes in accessing and using online information, specifically in relation to children who do not make their health decisions. The aim of this study was to understand the processes explaining parents’ decisions to use online health information for child health care. Methods Parents (N = 391) completed an initial questionnaire assessing the theory of planned behaviour constructs of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control, as well as perceived risk, group norm, and additional demographic factors. Two months later, 187 parents completed a follow-up questionnaire assessing their decisions to use online information for their child’s health care, specifically to 1) diagnose and/or treat their child’s suspected medical condition/illness and 2) increase understanding about a diagnosis or treatment recommended by a health professional. Results Hierarchical multiple regression showed that, for both behaviours, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, (less) perceived risk, group norm, and (non) medical background were the significant predictors of intention. For parents’ use of online child health information, for both behaviours, intention was the sole significant predictor of behaviour. The findings explain 77% of the variance in parents’ intention to treat/diagnose a child health problem and 74% of the variance in their intentions to increase their understanding about child health concerns. Conclusions Understanding parents’ socio-cognitive processes that guide their use of online information for child health care is important given the increase in Internet usage and the sometimes-questionable quality of health information provided online. Findings highlight parents’ thirst for information; there is an urgent need for health professionals to provide parents with evidence-based child health websites in addition to general population education on how to evaluate the quality of online health information. PMID:23228171

Pattern analysis of fraud case in Taiwan, China and Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kusumo, A. H.; Chi, C.-F.; Dewi, R. S.

2017-11-01

The current study analyzed 125 successful fraud cases happened in Taiwan, China, and Indonesia from 2008 to 2012 published in the English online newspapers. Each of the case report was coded in terms of scam principle, information media (information exchange between fraudsters and victim), money media (media used by fraudsters to obtain unauthorized financial benefit) and other additional information which was judged to be relevant. The Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) was applied to the coded data of information, scam principle and money media to find a subset of predictors that might derive meaningful classifications. A series of flow diagrams was constructed based on CHAID result to illustrate the flow of information (scam) travelling from information media to money media.

Spatiotemporal Processing in Crossmodal Interactions for Perception of the External World: A Review

PubMed Central

Hidaka, Souta; Teramoto, Wataru; Sugita, Yoichi

2015-01-01

Research regarding crossmodal interactions has garnered much interest in the last few decades. A variety of studies have demonstrated that multisensory information (vision, audition, tactile sensation, and so on) can perceptually interact with each other in the spatial and temporal domains. Findings regarding crossmodal interactions in the spatiotemporal domain (i.e., motion processing) have also been reported, with updates in the last few years. In this review, we summarize past and recent findings on spatiotemporal processing in crossmodal interactions regarding perception of the external world. A traditional view regarding crossmodal interactions holds that vision is superior to audition in spatial processing, but audition is dominant over vision in temporal processing. Similarly, vision is considered to have dominant effects over the other sensory modalities (i.e., visual capture) in spatiotemporal processing. However, recent findings demonstrate that sound could have a driving effect on visual motion perception. Moreover, studies regarding perceptual associative learning reported that, after association is established between a sound sequence without spatial information and visual motion information, the sound sequence could trigger visual motion perception. Other sensory information, such as motor action or smell, has also exhibited similar driving effects on visual motion perception. Additionally, recent brain imaging studies demonstrate that similar activation patterns could be observed in several brain areas, including the motion processing areas, between spatiotemporal information from different sensory modalities. Based on these findings, we suggest that multimodal information could mutually interact in spatiotemporal processing in the percept of the external world and that common perceptual and neural underlying mechanisms would exist for spatiotemporal processing. PMID:26733827

The asymmetric reactions of mean and volatility of stock returns to domestic and international information based on a four-regime double-threshold GARCH model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Cathy W. S.; Yang, Ming Jing; Gerlach, Richard; Jim Lo, H.

2006-07-01

In this paper, we investigate the asymmetric reactions of mean and volatility of stock returns in five major markets to their own local news and the US information via linear and nonlinear models. We introduce a four-regime Double-Threshold GARCH (DTGARCH) model, which allows asymmetry in both the conditional mean and variance equations simultaneously by employing two threshold variables, to analyze the stock markets’ reactions to different types of information (good/bad news) generated from the domestic markets and the US stock market. By applying the four-regime DTGARCH model, this study finds that the interaction between the information of domestic and US stock markets leads to the asymmetric reactions of stock returns and their variability. In addition, this research also finds that the positive autocorrelation reported in the previous studies of financial markets may in fact be mis-specified, and actually due to the local market's positive response to the US stock market.

Emotion and working memory: evidence for domain-specific processes for affective maintenance.

PubMed

Mikels, Joseph A; Reuter-Lorenz, Patricia A; Beyer, Jonathan A; Fredrickson, Barbara L

2008-04-01

Working memory is comprised of separable subsystems for visual and verbal information, but what if the information is affective? Does the maintenance of affective information rely on the same processes that maintain nonaffective information? The authors address this question using a novel delayed-response task developed to investigate the short-term maintenance of affective memoranda. Using selective interference methods the authors find that a secondary emotion-regulation task impaired affect intensity maintenance, whereas secondary cognitive tasks disrupted brightness intensity maintenance, but facilitated affect maintenance. Additionally, performance on the affect maintenance task depends on the valence of the maintained feeling, further supporting the domain-specific nature of the task. The importance of affect maintenance per se is further supported by demonstrating that the observed valence effects depend on a memory delay and are not evident with simultaneous presentation of stimuli. These findings suggest that the working memory system may include domain-specific components that are specialized for the maintenance of affective memoranda. (Copyright) 2008 APA.

Informal care motivations and intergenerational transfers in European countries.

PubMed

Jiménez-Martín, Sergi; Vilaplana Prieto, Cristina

2015-03-01

This work sets out to analyze the motivations adult children may have to provide informal care, considering the monetary transfers they receive from their parents. Traditional motivations, such as altruism and exchange, are matched against more recent social bond theories. Our findings indicate that informal caregivers receive less frequent and less generous transfers than non-caregivers; that is, caregivers are more prone to suppress their self-interested motivations in order to prioritize the well being of another person. Additionally, long-term public care benefits increase both the probability of receiving a transfer and its amount, with this effect being more intense for both the poorest and richest households. Our findings suggest that if long-term care benefits are intended to increase the recipients' welfare and represent a higher fraction of total income for the poorest households, the effectiveness of these long-term care policies may be diluted. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Logarithmic entanglement lightcone in many-body localized systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Dong-Ling; Li, Xiaopeng; Pixley, J. H.; Wu, Yang-Le; Das Sarma, S.

2017-01-01

We theoretically study the response of a many-body localized system to a local quench from a quantum information perspective. We find that the local quench triggers entanglement growth throughout the whole system, giving rise to a logarithmic lightcone. This saturates the modified Lieb-Robinson bound for quantum information propagation in many-body localized systems previously conjectured based on the existence of local integrals of motion. In addition, near the localization-delocalization transition, we find that the final states after the local quench exhibit volume-law entanglement. We also show that the local quench induces a deterministic orthogonality catastrophe for highly excited eigenstates, where the typical wave-function overlap between the pre- and postquench eigenstates decays exponentially with the system size.

Does my high blood pressure improve your survival? Overall and subgroup learning curves in health.

PubMed

Van Gestel, Raf; Müller, Tobias; Bosmans, Johan

2017-09-01

Learning curves in health are of interest for a wide range of medical disciplines, healthcare providers, and policy makers. In this paper, we distinguish between three types of learning when identifying overall learning curves: economies of scale, learning from cumulative experience, and human capital depreciation. In addition, we approach the question of how treating more patients with specific characteristics predicts provider performance. To soften collinearity problems, we explore the use of least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression as a variable selection method and Theil-Goldberger mixed estimation to augment the available information. We use data from the Belgian Transcatheter Aorta Valve Implantation (TAVI) registry, containing information on the first 860 TAVI procedures in Belgium. We find that treating an additional TAVI patient is associated with an increase in the probability of 2-year survival by about 0.16%-points. For adverse events like renal failure and stroke, we find that an extra day between procedures is associated with an increase in the probability for these events by 0.12%-points and 0.07%-points, respectively. Furthermore, we find evidence for positive learning effects from physicians' experience with defibrillation, treating patients with hypertension, and the use of certain types of replacement valves during the TAVI procedure. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Quantum-enhanced spectroscopy with entangled multiphoton states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dinani, Hossein T.; Gupta, Manish K.; Dowling, Jonathan P.; Berry, Dominic W.

2016-06-01

Traditionally, spectroscopy is performed by examining the position of absorption lines. However, at frequencies near the transition frequency, additional information can be obtained from the phase shift. In this work we consider the information about the transition frequency obtained from both the absorption and the phase shift, as quantified by the Fisher information in an interferometric measurement. We examine the use of multiple single-photon states, NOON states, and numerically optimized states that are entangled and have multiple photons. We find the optimized states that improve over the standard quantum limit set by independent single photons for some atom number densities.

Analysis of real-time reservoir monitoring : reservoirs, strategies, & modeling.

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

Mani, Seethambal S.; van Bloemen Waanders, Bart Gustaaf; Cooper, Scott Patrick

2006-11-01

The project objective was to detail better ways to assess and exploit intelligent oil and gas field information through improved modeling, sensor technology, and process control to increase ultimate recovery of domestic hydrocarbons. To meet this objective we investigated the use of permanent downhole sensors systems (Smart Wells) whose data is fed real-time into computational reservoir models that are integrated with optimized production control systems. The project utilized a three-pronged approach (1) a value of information analysis to address the economic advantages, (2) reservoir simulation modeling and control optimization to prove the capability, and (3) evaluation of new generation sensormore » packaging to survive the borehole environment for long periods of time. The Value of Information (VOI) decision tree method was developed and used to assess the economic advantage of using the proposed technology; the VOI demonstrated the increased subsurface resolution through additional sensor data. Our findings show that the VOI studies are a practical means of ascertaining the value associated with a technology, in this case application of sensors to production. The procedure acknowledges the uncertainty in predictions but nevertheless assigns monetary value to the predictions. The best aspect of the procedure is that it builds consensus within interdisciplinary teams The reservoir simulation and modeling aspect of the project was developed to show the capability of exploiting sensor information both for reservoir characterization and to optimize control of the production system. Our findings indicate history matching is improved as more information is added to the objective function, clearly indicating that sensor information can help in reducing the uncertainty associated with reservoir characterization. Additional findings and approaches used are described in detail within the report. The next generation sensors aspect of the project evaluated sensors and packaging survivability issues. Our findings indicate that packaging represents the most significant technical challenge associated with application of sensors in the downhole environment for long periods (5+ years) of time. These issues are described in detail within the report. The impact of successful reservoir monitoring programs and coincident improved reservoir management is measured by the production of additional oil and gas volumes from existing reservoirs, revitalization of nearly depleted reservoirs, possible re-establishment of already abandoned reservoirs, and improved economics for all cases. Smart Well monitoring provides the means to understand how a reservoir process is developing and to provide active reservoir management. At the same time it also provides data for developing high-fidelity simulation models. This work has been a joint effort with Sandia National Laboratories and UT-Austin's Bureau of Economic Geology, Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, and the Institute of Computational and Engineering Mathematics.« less

Towards Socially-Responsible Management of Personal Information in Social Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morin, Jean-Henry

Considering the increasing number of Personal Information (PI) used and shared in our now common social networked interactions, privacy issues, retention and how such information are manages have become important. Most approaches rely on one-way disclaimers and policies, often complex, hard to find and lacking ease of understanding for ordinary users of such common networks. Thus leaving little room for users to actually retain any control how the released information is actually used and managed once it has been put online. Additionally, personal information (PI) may include digital artifacts and contributions for which people would legitimately like to retain some rights over their use and their lifetime. Of particular interest in this category is the notion of the "right to forget" we no longer have control over, given the persistent nature of the Internet and its ability to retain information forever. This paper examines this issue from the point of view of the user and social responsibility, arguing for the need to augment information with an additional set of metadata about its usage and management. We discuss the use of DRM technologies in this context as a possible direction.

Flexibility within working memory and the focus of attention for sequential verbal information does not depend on active maintenance.

PubMed

Sandry, Joshua; Schwark, Jeremy D; MacDonald, Justin

2014-10-01

The focus of attention seems to be a static element within working memory when verbal information is serially presented, unless additional time is available for processing or active maintenance. Experiment 1 manipulated the reward associated with early and medial list positions in a probe recognition paradigm and found evidence that these nonterminal list positions could be retrieved faster and more accurately if participants were appropriately motivated-without additional time for processing or active maintenance. Experiment 2 used articulatory suppression and demonstrated that the underlying maintenance mechanism cannot be attributed to rehearsal, leaving attentional refreshing as the more likely mechanism. These findings suggest that the focus of attention within working memory can flexibly maintain nonterminal early and medial list representations at the expense of other list representations even when there is not additional time for processing or active maintenance. Maintenance seems to be accomplished through an attentional refreshing mechanism.

ARTS. Accountability Reporting and Tracking System

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

Jones, J.F.; Faccio, R.M.

ARTS is a micro based prototype of the data elements, screens, and information processing rules that apply to the Accountability Reporting Program. The system focuses on the Accountability Event. The Accountability Event is an occurrence of incurring avoidable costs. The system must be able to CRUD (Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete) instances of the Accountability Event. Additionally, the system must provide for a review committee to update the `event record` with findings and determination information. Lastly, the system must provide for financial representatives to perform a cost reporting process.

COS Target Acquisition Guidelines, Recommendations, and Interpretation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keyes, Charles (Tony) D.; Penton, Steven V.

2010-06-01

Based upon analysis of SMOV and Cycle 17 observations through April 2010, this ISR expands, updates, and supersedes recommendations and information provided about target acquisitions (TA) in the COS Instrument Handbook version 2. This ISR provides an overview of COS TA, presents general guidelines and recommendations for crafting COS TAs, establishes COS TA centering accuracy requirements to achieve COS photometric, velocity, and resolution objectives, and summarizes the performance of the COS on-board TA modes as compared to these centering requirements. Updated TA strategy recommendations are given where appropriate, a user-oriented table lists where to find important quantities for the analysis and interpretation of COS TAs, and a brief appendix with additional supporting information is included. An overview of COS TA strategies is provided in Section 2 and Table 1; important updates to ACQ/SEARCH requirements and SEARCH-SIZE recommendations as a function of target coordinate accuracy are given in Tables 2 and 3; COS TA performance by mode is described in Section 5; important header keywords that are useful for evaluating the quality of COS TAs are listed in Table 5 along with where to find them; Table 6 gives a summary of COS TA modes, options, and recommended values; Section 7 summarizes updated recommendations and guidelines for COS TA; and Appendix A provides additional useful COS TA information.

International outbreak investigation of Salmonella Heidelberg associated with in-flight catering.

PubMed

Rebolledo, J; Garvey, P; Ryan, A; O'Donnell, J; Cormican, M; Jackson, S; Cloak, F; Cullen, L; Swaan, C M; Schimmer, B; Appels, R W; Nygard, K; Finley, R; Sreenivasan, N; Lenglet, A; Gossner, C; McKeown, P

2014-04-01

Rapid and wide dispersal of passengers after flights makes investigation of flight-related outbreaks challenging. An outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg was identified in a group of Irish travellers returning from Tanzania. Additional international cases sharing the same flight were identified. Our aim was to determine the source and potential vehicles of infection. Case-finding utilized information exchange using experts' communication networks and national surveillance systems. Demographic, clinical and food history information was collected. Twenty-five additional cases were identified from Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, USA and Canada. We conducted a case-control study which indicated a significant association between illness and consumption of milk tart (OR 10.2) and an egg dish (OR 6) served on-board the flight. No food consumed before the flight was associated with illness. Cases from countries other than Ireland provided supplementary information that facilitated the identification of likely vehicles of infection. Timely, committed international collaboration is vital in such investigations.

How people think about the chemicals in cigarette smoke: a systematic review.

PubMed

Morgan, Jennifer C; Byron, M Justin; Baig, Sabeeh A; Stepanov, Irina; Brewer, Noel T

2017-08-01

Laws and treaties compel countries to inform the public about harmful chemicals (constituents) in cigarette smoke. To encourage relevant research by behavioral scientists, we provide a primer on cigarette smoke toxicology and summarize research on how the public thinks about cigarette smoke chemicals. We systematically searched PubMed in July 2016 and reviewed citations from included articles. Four central findings emerged across 46 articles that met inclusion criteria. First, people were familiar with very few chemicals in cigarette smoke. Second, people knew little about cigarette additives, assumed harmful chemicals are added during manufacturing, and perceived cigarettes without additives to be less harmful. Third, people wanted more information about constituents. Finally, well-presented chemical information increased knowledge and awareness and may change behavior. This research area is in urgent need of behavioral science. Future research should investigate whether educating the public about these chemicals increases risk perceptions and quitting.

Semantic and phonological information in sentence recall: converging psycholinguistic and neuropsychological evidence.

PubMed

Schweppe, Judith; Rummer, Ralf; Bormann, Tobias; Martin, Randi C

2011-12-01

We present one experiment and a neuropsychological case study to investigate to what extent phonological and semantic representations contribute to short-term sentence recall. We modified Potter and Lombardi's (1990) intrusion paradigm, in which retention of a list interferes with sentence recall such that on the list a semantically related lure is presented, which is expected to intrude into sentence recall. In our version, lure words are either semantically related to target words in the sentence or semantically plus phonologically related. With healthy participants, intrusions are more frequent when lure and target overlap phonologically in addition to semantically than when they solely overlap semantically. When this paradigm is applied to a patient with a phonological short-term memory impairment, both lure types induce the same amount of intrusions. These findings indicate that usually phonological information is retained in sentence recall in addition to semantic information.

Consumer acceptance of a quick response (QR) code for the food traceability system: Application of an extended technology acceptance model (TAM).

PubMed

Kim, Yeong Gug; Woo, Eunju

2016-07-01

The objectives of this study are to apply the TAM using the addition of perceived information to individuals' behavioral intention to use the QR code for the food traceability system; and to determine the moderating effects of food involvement on the relationship between perceived information and perceived usefulness. Results from a survey of 420 respondents are analyzed using structural equation modeling. The study findings reveal that the extended TAM has a satisfactory fit to the data and that the underlying dimensions have a significant effect on consumers' intention to use the QR code for the food traceability system. In addition, food involvement plays a significant moderating function in the relationship between perceived information and perceived usefulness. The implications of this study for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genetic progress in multistage dairy cattle breeding schemes using genetic markers.

PubMed

Schrooten, C; Bovenhuis, H; van Arendonk, J A M; Bijma, P

2005-04-01

The aim of this paper was to explore general characteristics of multistage breeding schemes and to evaluate multistage dairy cattle breeding schemes that use information on quantitative trait loci (QTL). Evaluation was either for additional genetic response or for reduction in number of progeny-tested bulls while maintaining the same response. The reduction in response in multistage breeding schemes relative to comparable single-stage breeding schemes (i.e., with the same overall selection intensity and the same amount of information in the final stage of selection) depended on the overall selection intensity, the selection intensity in the various stages of the breeding scheme, and the ratio of the accuracies of selection in the various stages of the breeding scheme. When overall selection intensity was constant, reduction in response increased with increasing selection intensity in the first stage. The decrease in response was highest in schemes with lower overall selection intensity. Reduction in response was limited in schemes with low to average emphasis on first-stage selection, especially if the accuracy of selection in the first stage was relatively high compared with the accuracy in the final stage. Closed nucleus breeding schemes in dairy cattle that use information on QTL were evaluated by deterministic simulation. In the base scheme, the selection index consisted of pedigree information and own performance (dams), or pedigree information and performance of 100 daughters (sires). In alternative breeding schemes, information on a QTL was accounted for by simulating an additional index trait. The fraction of the variance explained by the QTL determined the correlation between the additional index trait and the breeding goal trait. Response in progeny test schemes relative to a base breeding scheme without QTL information ranged from +4.5% (QTL explaining 5% of the additive genetic variance) to +21.2% (QTL explaining 50% of the additive genetic variance). A QTL explaining 5% of the additive genetic variance allowed a 35% reduction in the number of progeny tested bulls, while maintaining genetic response at the level of the base scheme. Genetic progress was up to 31.3% higher for schemes with increased embryo production and selection of embryos based on QTL information. The challenge for breeding organizations is to find the optimum breeding program with regard to additional genetic progress and additional (or reduced) cost.

Internal Consistency and Associated Characteristics of Informant Discrepancies in Clinic Referred Youths Age 11 to 17 Years

PubMed Central

De Los Reyes, Andres; Youngstrom, Eric A.; Pabón, Shairy C.; Youngstrom, Jennifer K.; Feeny, Norah C.; Findling, Robert L.

2011-01-01

In this study, we examined the internal consistency of informant discrepancies in reports of youth behavior and emotional problems and their unique relations with youth, caregiver, and family characteristics. In a heterogeneous multisite clinic sample of 420 youths (ages 11 to 17 years), high internal consistency estimates were observed across measures of informant discrepancies. Further, latent profile analyses identified systematic patterns of discrepancies, characterized by their magnitude and direction (i.e., which informant reported greater youth problems). Additionally, informant discrepancies systematically and uniquely related to informants' own perspectives of youth mood problems, and these relations remained significant after taking into account multiple informants' reports of informant characteristics widely known to relate to informant discrepancies. These findings call into the question the prevailing view of informant discrepancies as indicative of unreliability and/or bias on the part of informants' reports of youths' behavior. PMID:21229442

Teachers' Perspectives on Their Use of ICT in Teaching and Learning: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kafyulilo, Ayoub; Keengwe, Jared

2014-01-01

This article presents the perspectives of science and mathematics teachers on their use of information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching and learning in Tanzania. The findings show that few teachers used computers for teaching and learning purposes while majority of them used computers for administrative purposes. Additionally,…

Swimming in Deep Water: Childhood Bipolar Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Senokossoff, Gwyn W.; Stoddard, Kim

2009-01-01

The authors focused on one parent's struggles in finding a diagnosis and intervention for a child who had bipolar disorder. The authors explain the process of identification, diagnosis, and intervention of a child who had bipolar disorder. In addition to the personal story, the authors provide information on the disorder and outline strategies…

75 FR 5732 - Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Establishment of a Nonessential Experimental...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-04

... this proposed action and to determine whether to prepare a finding of no significant impact or an environmental impact statement, we will take into consideration all comments and any additional information we... grazing in the United States and Mexico; military activities; recreation; poaching and hunting; clearing...

Assessing the Chances of Success: Naive Statistics versus Kind Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hogarth, Robin M.; Mukherjee, Kanchan; Soyer, Emre

2013-01-01

Additive integration of information is ubiquitous in judgment and has been shown to be effective even when multiplicative rules of probability theory are prescribed. We explore the generality of these findings in the context of estimating probabilities of success in contests. We first define a normative model of these probabilities that takes…

Tennessee forest resources

Treesearch

Richard A. Birdsey

1979-01-01

This report presents the principal findings of a new forest survey of Tennessee. Field work was conducted between March 1979 and November 1980. The inventory is reported for 1980. Data for growth and cut are given for the inter-survey period from 1971 to 1980. A canvass of forest products output in the 1979 provided additional information on removals.

42 CFR 488.54 - Temporary waivers applicable to hospitals.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... in section 1861(e)(1)-(8), in addition to meeting such other requirements as the Secretary finds necessary under section 1861(e)(9). (For further information relating to the exception in section 1861(e)(5) of the Act, see paragraph (c) of this section.) (c) Temporary waiver of 24-hour nursing requirement...

42 CFR 488.54 - Temporary waivers applicable to hospitals.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... in section 1861(e)(1)-(8), in addition to meeting such other requirements as the Secretary finds necessary under section 1861(e)(9). (For further information relating to the exception in section 1861(e)(5) of the Act, see paragraph (c) of this section.) (c) Temporary waiver of 24-hour nursing requirement...

42 CFR 488.54 - Temporary waivers applicable to hospitals.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... in section 1861(e)(1)-(8), in addition to meeting such other requirements as the Secretary finds necessary under section 1861(e)(9). (For further information relating to the exception in section 1861(e)(5) of the Act, see paragraph (c) of this section.) (c) Temporary waiver of 24-hour nursing requirement...

42 CFR 488.54 - Temporary waivers applicable to hospitals.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... in section 1861(e)(1)-(8), in addition to meeting such other requirements as the Secretary finds necessary under section 1861(e)(9). (For further information relating to the exception in section 1861(e)(5) of the Act, see paragraph (c) of this section.) (c) Temporary waiver of 24-hour nursing requirement...

42 CFR 488.54 - Temporary waivers applicable to hospitals.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... in section 1861(e)(1)-(8), in addition to meeting such other requirements as the Secretary finds necessary under section 1861(e)(9). (For further information relating to the exception in section 1861(e)(5) of the Act, see paragraph (c) of this section.) (c) Temporary waiver of 24-hour nursing requirement...

75 FR 53734 - Reports, Forms, and Recordkeeping Requirements; Agency Information Collection Activity Under OMB...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-01

... Restraint Anchorage Systems), in order to provide another, easier method of attaching a child restraint to... take to improve child passenger safety. In addition, NTHSA will publish the findings of this research... observational data on correct and incorrect use of child restraint systems in passenger vehicles, as well as...

The radiographic investigation of two Egyptian mummies.

PubMed

Fodor, J; Malott, J C; King, A Y

1983-01-01

Radiography is a well-recognized method of nondestructive analysis of art objects and ancient relics. The methods and techniques used in the examination of two ancient Egyptian mummies are presented here. Additionally, the use of radiographic findings to help substantiate alleged historical information and to establish sex, age, and pathology of each specimen is discussed.

Acetal Resins, Acrylic & Modacrylic Fibers, Carbon Black, Hydrogen Fluoride, Polycarbonate, Ethylene, Spandex & Cyanide Chemical Manufacturing: NESHAP for Source Categories, Generic Maximum Achievable Control Technology Standards (40 CFR 63, Subpart YY)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Learn about the NESHAP for GMACT for acetal resins, hydrogen fluoride, polycarbonate, ethylene production and cyanide chemicals. Find the rule history information, federal register citations, legal authority, rule summary, and additional resources

Academic reading format preferences and behaviors among university students worldwide: A comparative survey analysis

PubMed Central

Kurbanoglu, Serap; Boustany, Joumana

2018-01-01

This study reports the descriptive and inferential statistical findings of a survey of academic reading format preferences and behaviors of 10,293 tertiary students worldwide. The study hypothesized that country-based differences in schooling systems, socioeconomic development, culture or other factors might have an influence on preferred formats, print or electronic, for academic reading, as well as the learning engagement behaviors of students. The main findings are that country of origin has little to no relationship with or effect on reading format preferences of university students, and that the broad majority of students worldwide prefer to read academic course materials in print. The majority of participants report better focus and retention of information presented in print formats, and more frequently prefer print for longer texts. Additional demographic and post-hoc analysis suggests that format preference has a small relationship with academic rank. The relationship between task demands, format preferences and reading comprehension are discussed. Additional outcomes and implications for the fields of education, psychology, computer science, information science and human-computer interaction are considered. PMID:29847560

Intrinsic and extrinsic effects on image memorability.

PubMed

Bylinskii, Zoya; Isola, Phillip; Bainbridge, Constance; Torralba, Antonio; Oliva, Aude

2015-11-01

Previous studies have identified that images carry the attribute of memorability, a predictive value of whether a novel image will be later remembered or forgotten. Here we investigate the interplay between intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect image memorability. First, we find that intrinsic differences in memorability exist at a finer-grained scale than previously documented. Second, we test two extrinsic factors: image context and observer behavior. Building on prior findings that images that are distinct with respect to their context are better remembered, we propose an information-theoretic model of image distinctiveness. Our model can automatically predict how changes in context change the memorability of natural images. In addition to context, we study a second extrinsic factor: where an observer looks while memorizing an image. It turns out that eye movements provide additional information that can predict whether or not an image will be remembered, on a trial-by-trial basis. Together, by considering both intrinsic and extrinsic effects on memorability, we arrive at a more complete and fine-grained model of image memorability than previously available. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Updating during reading comprehension: why causality matters.

PubMed

Kendeou, Panayiota; Smith, Emily R; O'Brien, Edward J

2013-05-01

The present set of 7 experiments systematically examined the effectiveness of adding causal explanations to simple refutations in reducing or eliminating the impact of outdated information on subsequent comprehension. The addition of a single causal-explanation sentence to a refutation was sufficient to eliminate any measurable disruption in comprehension caused by the outdated information (Experiment 1) but was not sufficient to eliminate its reactivation (Experiment 2). However, a 3 sentence causal-explanation addition to a refutation eliminated both any measurable disruption in comprehension (Experiment 3) and the reactivation of the outdated information (Experiment 4). A direct comparison between the 1 and 3 causal-explanation conditions provided converging evidence for these findings (Experiment 5). Furthermore, a comparison of the 3 sentence causal-explanation condition with a 3 sentence qualified-elaboration condition demonstrated that even though both conditions were sufficient to eliminate any measurable disruption in comprehension (Experiment 6), only the causal-explanation condition was sufficient to eliminate the reactivation of the outdated information (Experiment 7). These results establish a boundary condition under which outdated information will influence comprehension; they also have broader implications for both the updating process and knowledge revision in general.

The Cost of Accumulating Evidence in Perceptual Decision Making

PubMed Central

Drugowitsch, Jan; Moreno-Bote, Rubén; Churchland, Anne K.; Shadlen, Michael N.; Pouget, Alexandre

2012-01-01

Decision making often involves the accumulation of information over time, but acquiring information typically comes at a cost. Little is known about the cost incurred by animals and humans for acquiring additional information from sensory variables, due, for instance, to attentional efforts. Through a novel integration of diffusion models and dynamic programming, we were able to estimate the cost of making additional observations per unit of time from two monkeys and six humans in a reaction time random dot motion discrimination task. Surprisingly, we find that, the cost is neither zero nor constant over time, but for the animals and humans features a brief period in which it is constant but increases thereafter. In addition, we show that our theory accurately matches the observed reaction time distributions for each stimulus condition, the time-dependent choice accuracy both conditional on stimulus strength and independent of it, and choice accuracy and mean reaction times as a function of stimulus strength. The theory also correctly predicts that urgency signals in the brain should be independent of the difficulty, or stimulus strength, at each trial. PMID:22423085

Lost in the crowd? Using eye-tracking to investigate the effect of complexity on attribute non-attendance in discrete choice experiments.

PubMed

Spinks, Jean; Mortimer, Duncan

2016-02-03

The provision of additional information is often assumed to improve consumption decisions, allowing consumers to more accurately weigh the costs and benefits of alternatives. However, increasing the complexity of decision problems may prompt changes in information processing. This is particularly relevant for experimental methods such as discrete choice experiments (DCEs) where the researcher can manipulate the complexity of the decision problem. The primary aims of this study are (i) to test whether consumers actually process additional information in an already complex decision problem, and (ii) consider the implications of any such 'complexity-driven' changes in information processing for design and analysis of DCEs. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) is used to simulate a complex decision problem; here, the choice between complementary and conventional medicine for different health conditions. Eye-tracking technology is used to capture the number of times and the duration that a participant looks at any part of a computer screen during completion of DCE choice sets. From this we can analyse what has become known in the DCE literature as 'attribute non-attendance' (ANA). Using data from 32 participants, we model the likelihood of ANA as a function of choice set complexity and respondent characteristics using fixed and random effects models to account for repeated choice set completion. We also model whether participants are consistent with regard to which characteristics (attributes) they consider across choice sets. We find that complexity is the strongest predictor of ANA when other possible influences, such as time pressure, ordering effects, survey specific effects and socio-demographic variables (including proxies for prior experience with the decision problem) are considered. We also find that most participants do not apply a consistent information processing strategy across choice sets. Eye-tracking technology shows promise as a way of obtaining additional information from consumer research, improving DCE design, and informing the design of policy measures. With regards to DCE design, results from the present study suggest that eye-tracking data can identify the point at which adding complexity (and realism) to DCE choice scenarios becomes self-defeating due to unacceptable increases in ANA. Eye-tracking data therefore has clear application in the construction of guidelines for DCE design and during piloting of DCE choice scenarios. With regards to design of policy measures such as labelling requirements for CAM and conventional medicines, the provision of additional information has the potential to make difficult decisions even harder and may not have the desired effect on decision-making.

SUPPORT Tools for evidence-informed health Policymaking (STP)

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

This article is the Introduction to a series written for people responsible for making decisions about health policies and programmes and for those who support these decision makers. Knowing how to find and use research evidence can help policymakers and those who support them to do their jobs better and more efficiently. Each article in this series presents a proposed tool that can be used by those involved in finding and using research evidence to support evidence-informed health policymaking. The series addresses four broad areas: 1. Supporting evidence-informed policymaking 2. Identifying needs for research evidence in relation to three steps in policymaking processes, namely problem clarification, options framing, and implementation planning 3. Finding and assessing both systematic reviews and other types of evidence to inform these steps, and 4. Going from research evidence to decisions. Each article begins with between one and three typical scenarios relating to the topic. These scenarios are designed to help readers decide on the level of detail relevant to them when applying the tools described. Most articles in this series are structured using a set of questions that guide readers through the proposed tools and show how to undertake activities to support evidence-informed policymaking efficiently and effectively. These activities include, for example, using research evidence to clarify problems, assessing the applicability of the findings of a systematic review about the effects of options selected to address problems, organising and using policy dialogues to support evidence-informed policymaking, and planning policy monitoring and evaluation. In several articles, the set of questions presented offers more general guidance on how to support evidence-informed policymaking. Additional information resources are listed and described in every article. The evaluation of ways to support evidence-informed health policymaking is a developing field and feedback about how to improve the series is welcome. PMID:20018098

Automated Data Cleansing in Data Harvesting and Data Migration

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

Martin, Mark; Vowell, Lance; King, Ian

2011-03-16

In the proposal for this project, we noted how the explosion of digitized information available through corporate databases, data stores and online search systems has resulted in the knowledge worker being bombarded by information. Knowledge workers typically spend more than 20-30% of their time seeking and sorting information, only finding the information 50-60% of the time . This information exists as unstructured, semi-structured and structured data. The problem of information overload is compounded by the production of duplicate or near-duplicate information. In addition, near-duplicate items frequently have different origins, creating a situation in which each item may have unique informationmore » of value, but their differences are not significant enough to justify maintaining them as separate entities. Effective tools can be provided to eliminate duplicate and near-duplicate information. The proposed approach was to extract unique information from data sets and consolidation that information into a single comprehensive file.« less

Irrelevant events affect voters' evaluations of government performance.

PubMed

Healy, Andrew J; Malhotra, Neil; Mo, Cecilia Hyunjung

2010-07-20

Does information irrelevant to government performance affect voting behavior? If so, how does this help us understand the mechanisms underlying voters' retrospective assessments of candidates' performance in office? To precisely test for the effects of irrelevant information, we explore the electoral impact of local college football games just before an election, irrelevant events that government has nothing to do with and for which no government response would be expected. We find that a win in the 10 d before Election Day causes the incumbent to receive an additional 1.61 percentage points of the vote in Senate, gubernatorial, and presidential elections, with the effect being larger for teams with stronger fan support. In addition to conducting placebo tests based on postelection games, we demonstrate these effects by using the betting market's estimate of a team's probability of winning the game before it occurs to isolate the surprise component of game outcomes. We corroborate these aggregate-level results with a survey that we conducted during the 2009 NCAA men's college basketball tournament, where we find that surprising wins and losses affect presidential approval. An experiment embedded within the survey also indicates that personal well-being may influence voting decisions on a subconscious level. We find that making people more aware of the reasons for their current state of mind reduces the effect that irrelevant events have on their opinions. These findings underscore the subtle power of irrelevant events in shaping important real-world decisions and suggest ways in which decision making can be improved.

Irrelevant events affect voters' evaluations of government performance

PubMed Central

Healy, Andrew J.; Malhotra, Neil; Mo, Cecilia Hyunjung

2010-01-01

Does information irrelevant to government performance affect voting behavior? If so, how does this help us understand the mechanisms underlying voters’ retrospective assessments of candidates’ performance in office? To precisely test for the effects of irrelevant information, we explore the electoral impact of local college football games just before an election, irrelevant events that government has nothing to do with and for which no government response would be expected. We find that a win in the 10 d before Election Day causes the incumbent to receive an additional 1.61 percentage points of the vote in Senate, gubernatorial, and presidential elections, with the effect being larger for teams with stronger fan support. In addition to conducting placebo tests based on postelection games, we demonstrate these effects by using the betting market's estimate of a team's probability of winning the game before it occurs to isolate the surprise component of game outcomes. We corroborate these aggregate-level results with a survey that we conducted during the 2009 NCAA men's college basketball tournament, where we find that surprising wins and losses affect presidential approval. An experiment embedded within the survey also indicates that personal well-being may influence voting decisions on a subconscious level. We find that making people more aware of the reasons for their current state of mind reduces the effect that irrelevant events have on their opinions. These findings underscore the subtle power of irrelevant events in shaping important real-world decisions and suggest ways in which decision making can be improved. PMID:20615955

Comparison between the standard and a new alternative format of the Summary-of-Findings tables in Cochrane review users: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Carrasco-Labra, Alonso; Brignardello-Petersen, Romina; Santesso, Nancy; Neumann, Ignacio; Mustafa, Reem A; Mbuagbaw, Lawrence; Ikobaltzeta, Itziar Etxeandia; De Stio, Catherine; McCullagh, Lauren J; Alonso-Coello, Pablo; Meerpohl, Joerg J; Vandvik, Per Olav; Brozek, Jan L; Akl, Elie A; Bossuyt, Patrick; Churchill, Rachel; Glenton, Claire; Rosenbaum, Sarah; Tugwell, Peter; Welch, Vivian; Guyatt, Gordon; Schünemann, Holger

2015-04-16

Systematic reviews represent one of the most important tools for knowledge translation but users often struggle with understanding and interpreting their results. GRADE Summary-of-Findings tables have been developed to display results of systematic reviews in a concise and transparent manner. The current format of the Summary-of-Findings tables for presenting risks and quality of evidence improves understanding and assists users with finding key information from the systematic review. However, it has been suggested that additional methods to present risks and display results in the Summary-of-Findings tables are needed. We will conduct a non-inferiority parallel-armed randomized controlled trial to determine whether an alternative format to present risks and display Summary-of-Findings tables is not inferior compared to the current standard format. We will measure participant understanding, accessibility of the information, satisfaction, and preference for both formats. We will invite systematic review users to participate (that is clinicians, guideline developers, and researchers). The data collection process will be undertaken using the online 'Survey Monkey' system. For the primary outcome understanding, non-inferiority of the alternative format (Table A) to the current standard format (Table C) of Summary-of-Findings tables will be claimed if the upper limit of a 1-sided 95% confidence interval (for the difference of proportion of participants answering correctly a given question) excluded a difference in favor of the current format of more than 10%. This study represents an effort to provide systematic reviewers with additional options to display review results using Summary-of-Findings tables. In this way, review authors will have a variety of methods to present risks and more flexibility to choose the most appropriate table features to display (that is optional columns, risks expressions, complementary methods to display continuous outcomes, and so on). NCT02022631 (21 December 2013).

Augmenting matrix factorization technique with the combination of tags and genres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Tinghuai; Suo, Xiafei; Zhou, Jinjuan; Tang, Meili; Guan, Donghai; Tian, Yuan; Al-Dhelaan, Abdullah; Al-Rodhaan, Mznah

2016-11-01

Recommender systems play an important role in our daily life and are becoming popular tools for users to find what they are really interested in. Matrix factorization methods, which are popular recommendation methods, have gained high attention these years. With the rapid growth of the Internet, lots of information has been created, like social network information, tags and so on. Along with these, a few matrix factorization approaches have been proposed which incorporate the personalized information of users or items. However, except for ratings, most of the matrix factorization models have utilized only one kind of information to understand users' interests. Considering the sparsity of information, in this paper, we try to investigate the combination of different information, like tags and genres, to reveal users' interests accurately. With regard to the generalization of genres, a constraint is added when genres are utilized to find users' similar ;soulmates;. In addition, item regularizer is also considered based on latent semantic indexing (LSI) method with the item tags. Our experiments are conducted on two real datasets: Movielens dataset and Douban dataset. The experimental results demonstrate that the combination of tags and genres is really helpful to reveal users' interests.

Cognition and Health Literacy in Older Adults’ Recall of Self-Care Information

PubMed Central

Madison, Anna; Gao, Xuefei; Graumlich, James F.; Conner-Garcia, Thembi; Murray, Michael D.; Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A. L.; Morrow, Daniel G.

2017-01-01

Abstract Purpose of the Study: Health literacy is associated with health outcomes presumably because it influences the understanding of information needed for self-care. However, little is known about the language comprehension mechanisms that underpin health literacy. Design and Methods: We explored the relationship between a commonly used measure of health literacy (Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults [STOFHLA]) and comprehension of health information among 145 older adults. Results: Results showed that performance on the STOFHLA was associated with recall of health information. Consistent with the Process-Knowledge Model of Health Literacy, mediation analysis showed that both processing capacity and knowledge mediated the association between health literacy and recall of health information. In addition, knowledge moderated the effects of processing capacity limits, such that processing capacity was less likely to be associated with recall for older adults with higher levels of knowledge. Implications: These findings suggest that knowledge contributes to health literacy and can compensate for deficits in processing capacity to support comprehension of health information among older adults. The implications of these findings for improving patient education materials for older adults with inadequate health literacy are discussed. PMID:26209450

Augmenting Traditional Static Analysis With Commonly Available Metadata

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

Cook, Devin

Developers and security analysts have been using static analysis for a long time to analyze programs for defects and vulnerabilities with some success. Generally a static analysis tool is run on the source code for a given program, flagging areas of code that need to be further inspected by a human analyst. These areas may be obvious bugs like potential bu er over flows, information leakage flaws, or the use of uninitialized variables. These tools tend to work fairly well - every year they find many important bugs. These tools are more impressive considering the fact that they only examinemore » the source code, which may be very complex. Now consider the amount of data available that these tools do not analyze. There are many pieces of information that would prove invaluable for finding bugs in code, things such as a history of bug reports, a history of all changes to the code, information about committers, etc. By leveraging all this additional data, it is possible to nd more bugs with less user interaction, as well as track useful metrics such as number and type of defects injected by committer. This dissertation provides a method for leveraging development metadata to find bugs that would otherwise be difficult to find using standard static analysis tools. We showcase two case studies that demonstrate the ability to find 0day vulnerabilities in large and small software projects by finding new vulnerabilities in the cpython and Roundup open source projects.« less

Using patient experiences on Dutch social media to supervise health care services: exploratory study.

PubMed

van de Belt, Tom H; Engelen, Lucien J L P G; Verhoef, Lise M; van der Weide, Marian J A; Schoonhoven, Lisette; Kool, Rudolf B

2015-01-15

Social media has become mainstream and a growing number of people use it to share health care-related experiences, for example on health care rating sites. These users' experiences and ratings on social media seem to be associated with quality of care. Therefore, information shared by citizens on social media could be of additional value for supervising the quality and safety of health care services by regulatory bodies, thereby stimulating participation by consumers. The objective of the study was to identify the added value of social media for two types of supervision by the Dutch Healthcare Inspectorate (DHI), which is the regulatory body charged with supervising the quality and safety of health care services in the Netherlands. These were (1) supervision in response to incidents reported by individuals, and (2) risk-based supervision. We performed an exploratory study in cooperation with the DHI and searched different social media sources such as Twitter, Facebook, and healthcare rating sites to find additional information for these incidents and topics, from five different sectors. Supervision experts determined the added value for each individual result found, making use of pre-developed scales. Searches in social media resulted in relevant information for six of 40 incidents studied and provided relevant additional information in 72 of 116 cases in risk-based supervision of long-term elderly care. The results showed that social media could be used to include the patient's perspective in supervision. However, it appeared that the rating site ZorgkaartNederland was the only source that provided information that was of additional value for the DHI, while other sources such as forums and social networks like Twitter and Facebook did not result in additional information. This information could be of importance for health care inspectorates, particularly for its enforcement by risk-based supervision in care of the elderly. Further research is needed to determine the added value for other health care sectors.

Using Patient Experiences on Dutch Social Media to Supervise Health Care Services: Exploratory Study

PubMed Central

Engelen, Lucien JLPG; Verhoef, Lise M; van der Weide, Marian JA; Schoonhoven, Lisette; Kool, Rudolf B

2015-01-01

Background Social media has become mainstream and a growing number of people use it to share health care-related experiences, for example on health care rating sites. These users’ experiences and ratings on social media seem to be associated with quality of care. Therefore, information shared by citizens on social media could be of additional value for supervising the quality and safety of health care services by regulatory bodies, thereby stimulating participation by consumers. Objective The objective of the study was to identify the added value of social media for two types of supervision by the Dutch Healthcare Inspectorate (DHI), which is the regulatory body charged with supervising the quality and safety of health care services in the Netherlands. These were (1) supervision in response to incidents reported by individuals, and (2) risk-based supervision. Methods We performed an exploratory study in cooperation with the DHI and searched different social media sources such as Twitter, Facebook, and healthcare rating sites to find additional information for these incidents and topics, from five different sectors. Supervision experts determined the added value for each individual result found, making use of pre-developed scales. Results Searches in social media resulted in relevant information for six of 40 incidents studied and provided relevant additional information in 72 of 116 cases in risk-based supervision of long-term elderly care. Conclusions The results showed that social media could be used to include the patient’s perspective in supervision. However, it appeared that the rating site ZorgkaartNederland was the only source that provided information that was of additional value for the DHI, while other sources such as forums and social networks like Twitter and Facebook did not result in additional information. This information could be of importance for health care inspectorates, particularly for its enforcement by risk-based supervision in care of the elderly. Further research is needed to determine the added value for other health care sectors. PMID:25592481

Humor in the eye tracker: attention capture and distraction from context cues.

PubMed

Strick, Madelijn; Holland, Rob W; Van Baaren, Rick; Van Knippenberg, Ad

2010-01-01

The humor effect refers to a robust finding in memory research that humorous information is easily recalled, at the expense of recall of nonhumorous information that was encoded in close temporal proximity. Previous research suggests that memory retrieval processes underlie this effect. That is, free recall is biased toward humorous information, which interferes with the retrieval of nonhumorous information. The present research tested an additional explanation that has not been specifically addressed before: Humor receives enhanced attention during information encoding, which decreases attention for context information. Participants observed humorous, nonhumorous positive, and nonhumorous neutral texts paired with novel consumer brands, while their eye movements were recorded using eye-tracker technology. The results confirmed that humor receives prolonged attention relative to both positive and neutral nonhumorous information. This enhanced attention correlated with impaired brand recognition.

Cognitive bias in action: evidence for a reciprocal relation between confirmation bias and fear in children.

PubMed

Remmerswaal, Danielle; Huijding, Jorg; Bouwmeester, Samantha; Brouwer, Marlies; Muris, Peter

2014-03-01

Some cognitive models propose that information processing biases and fear are reciprocally related. This idea has never been formally tested. Therefore, this study investigated the existence of a vicious circle by which confirmation bias and fear exacerbate each other. One-hundred-and-seventy-one school children (8-13 years) were first provided with threatening, ambiguous, or positive information about an unknown animal. Then they completed a computerized information search task during which they could collect additional (negative, positive, or neutral) information about the novel animal. Because fear levels were repeatedly assessed during the task, it was possible to examine the reciprocal relationship between confirmation bias and fear. A reciprocal relation of mutual reinforcement was found between confirmation bias and fear over the course of the experiment: increases in fear predicted subsequent increases in the search for negative information, and increases in the search for negative information further enhanced fear on a later point-in-time. In addition, the initial information given about the animals successfully induced diverging fear levels in the children, and determined their first inclination to search for additional information. As this study employed a community sample of primary school children, future research should test whether these results can be generalized to clinically anxious youth. These findings provide first support for the notion that fearful individuals may become trapped in a vicious circle in which fear and a fear-related confirmation bias mutually strengthen each other, thereby maintaining the anxiety pathology. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CINERGI: Community Inventory of EarthCube Resources for Geoscience Interoperability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaslavsky, Ilya; Bermudez, Luis; Grethe, Jeffrey; Gupta, Amarnath; Hsu, Leslie; Lehnert, Kerstin; Malik, Tanu; Richard, Stephen; Valentine, David; Whitenack, Thomas

2014-05-01

Organizing geoscience data resources to support cross-disciplinary data discovery, interpretation, analysis and integration is challenging because of different information models, semantic frameworks, metadata profiles, catalogs, and services used in different geoscience domains, not to mention different research paradigms and methodologies. The central goal of CINERGI, a new project supported by the US National Science Foundation through its EarthCube Building Blocks program, is to create a methodology and assemble a large inventory of high-quality information resources capable of supporting data discovery needs of researchers in a wide range of geoscience domains. The key characteristics of the inventory are: 1) collaboration with and integration of metadata resources from a number of large data facilities; 2) reliance on international metadata and catalog service standards; 3) assessment of resource "interoperability-readiness"; 4) ability to cross-link and navigate data resources, projects, models, researcher directories, publications, usage information, etc.; 5) efficient inclusion of "long-tail" data, which are not appearing in existing domain repositories; 6) data registration at feature level where appropriate, in addition to common dataset-level registration, and 7) integration with parallel EarthCube efforts, in particular focused on EarthCube governance, information brokering, service-oriented architecture design and management of semantic information. We discuss challenges associated with accomplishing CINERGI goals, including defining the inventory scope; managing different granularity levels of resource registration; interaction with search systems of domain repositories; explicating domain semantics; metadata brokering, harvesting and pruning; managing provenance of the harvested metadata; and cross-linking resources based on the linked open data (LOD) approaches. At the higher level of the inventory, we register domain-wide resources such as domain catalogs, vocabularies, information models, data service specifications, identifier systems, and assess their conformance with international standards (such as those adopted by ISO and OGC, and used by INSPIRE) or de facto community standards using, in part, automatic validation techniques. The main level in CINERGI leverages a metadata aggregation platform (currently Geoportal Server) to organize harvested resources from multiple collections and contributed by community members during EarthCube end-user domain workshops or suggested online. The latter mechanism uses the SciCrunch toolkit originally developed within the Neuroscience Information Framework (NIF) project and now being extended to other communities. The inventory is designed to support requests such as "Find resources with theme X in geographic area S", "Find datasets with subject Y using query concept expansion", "Find geographic regions having data of type Z", "Find datasets that contain property P". With the added LOD support, additional types of requests, such as "Find example implementations of specification X", "Find researchers who have worked in Domain X, dataset Y, location L", "Find resources annotated by person X", will be supported. Project's website (http://workspace.earthcube.org/cinergi) provides access to the initial resource inventory, a gallery of EarthCube researchers, collections of geoscience models, metadata entry forms, and other software modules and inventories being integrated into the CINERGI system. Support from the US National Science Foundation under award NSF ICER-1343816 is gratefully acknowledged.

Nontargeted Screening Method for Illegal Additives Based on Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography-High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.

PubMed

Fu, Yanqing; Zhou, Zhihui; Kong, Hongwei; Lu, Xin; Zhao, Xinjie; Chen, Yihui; Chen, Jia; Wu, Zeming; Xu, Zhiliang; Zhao, Chunxia; Xu, Guowang

2016-09-06

Identification of illegal additives in complex matrixes is important in the food safety field. In this study a nontargeted screening strategy was developed to find illegal additives based on ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS). First, an analytical method for possible illegal additives in complex matrixes was established including fast sample pretreatment, accurate UHPLC separation, and HRMS detection. Second, efficient data processing and differential analysis workflow were suggested and applied to find potential risk compounds. Third, structure elucidation of risk compounds was performed by (1) searching online databases [Metlin and the Human Metabolome Database (HMDB)] and an in-house database which was established at the above-defined conditions of UHPLC-HRMS analysis and contains information on retention time, mass spectra (MS), and tandem mass spectra (MS/MS) of 475 illegal additives, (2) analyzing fragment ions, and (3) referring to fragmentation rules. Fish was taken as an example to show the usefulness of the nontargeted screening strategy, and six additives were found in suspected fish samples. Quantitative analysis was further carried out to determine the contents of these compounds. The satisfactory application of this strategy in fish samples means that it can also be used in the screening of illegal additives in other kinds of food samples.

Work Stress and Altered Biomarkers: A Synthesis of Findings Based on the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model.

PubMed

Siegrist, Johannes; Li, Jian

2017-11-10

While epidemiological studies provide statistical evidence on associations of exposures such as stressful work with elevated risks of stress-related disorders (e.g., coronary heart disease or depression), additional information on biological pathways and biomarkers underlying these associations is required. In this contribution, we summarize the current state of the art on research findings linking stressful work, in terms of an established theoretical model-effort-reward imbalance-with a broad range of biomarkers. Based on structured electronic literature search and recent available systematic reviews, our synthesis of findings indicates that associations of work stress with heart rate variability, altered blood lipids, and risk of metabolic syndrome are rather consistent and robust. Significant relationships with blood pressure, heart rate, altered immune function and inflammation, cortisol release, and haemostatic biomarkers were also observed, but due to conflicting findings additional data will be needed to reach a firm conclusion. This narrative review of empirical evidence supports the argument that the biomarkers under study can act as mediators of epidemiologically established associations of work stress, as measured by effort-reward imbalance, with incident stress-related disorders.

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

Eto, Joseph H.; Stewart, Emma M.; Smith, Travis

This report addresses the potential use of phasor measurement units (PMUs) within electricity distribution systems, and was written to assess whether or not PMUs could provide significant benefit, at the national level. We analyze examples of present and emerging distribution-system issues related to reliability, integration of distributed energy resources, and the changing electrical characteristics of load. We find that PMUs offer important and irreplaceable advantages over present approaches. However, we also find that additional research and development for standards, testing and calibration, demonstration projects, and information sharing is needed to help industry capture these benefits.

Improving the Effectiveness of Fundraising Messages: The Impact of Charity Goal Attainment, Message Framing, and Evidence on Persuasion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Das, Enny; Kerkhof, Peter; Kuiper, Joyce

2008-01-01

This experimental study assessed the effectiveness of fundraising messages. Based on recent findings regarding the effects of message framing and evidence, effective fundraising messages should combine abstract, statistical information with a negative message frame and anecdotal evidence with a positive message frame. In addition, building on…

Exploring the Use of Faded Worked Examples as a Problem Solving Approach for Underprepared Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hesser, Tiffany L.; Gregory, Jess L.

2015-01-01

It is not uncommon for students to find themselves underprepared when entering a post secondary institution. In additional to lower levels of academic achievement, underprepared students may not be aware that they lack the skills needed to be successful and effectively acquire and process information. Because of this, students that enter…

Watershed Central: Harnessing a social media tool to organize local technical knowledge and find the right watershed resources for your watershed

EPA Science Inventory

Watershed Central was developed to be a bridge between sharing and searching for information relating to watershed issues. This is dependent upon active user support through additions and updates to the Watershed Central Wiki. Since the wiki is user driven, the content and applic...

MOLA Topographic Constraints on Lava Tube Effusion Rates for Alba Patera, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Riedel, S. J.; Sakimoto, S. E. H.

2002-01-01

Using high resolution MOLA (Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter) topographic data to accurately model flow rates, we find that Alba Patera tube-fed flows within the mid to lower flanks could accommodate flow rates between 10 Pa s to 1.308 x 10(exp 6) Pa s. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Errors in Viking Lander Atmospheric Profiles Discovered Using MOLA Topography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Withers, Paul; Lorenz, R. D.; Neumann, G. A.

2002-01-01

Each Viking lander measured a topographic profile during entry. Comparing to MOLA (Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter), we find a vertical error of 1-2 km in the Viking trajectory. This introduces a systematic error of 10-20% in the Viking densities and pressures at a given altitude. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Peer Mediation Services for Conflict Resolution in Schools: What Transformations in Activity Characterise Successful Implementation?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sellman, Edward

2011-01-01

This article presents the findings from research conducted at nine schools (seven primary, two secondary) in England, which had previously implemented a peer mediation service for students experiencing interpersonal conflict. This analysis was informed by themes from a previous stage of research conducted at one additional primary school, where…

Heat Flow, Thermal Conductivity, and the Plausibility of the White Mars Hypothesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urquhart, M. L.; Gulick, V. C.

2002-01-01

Due to the low thermal conductivity of CO2 ice and clathrate vs. water ice, we find that liquid water reservoirs would not be confined to the deep subsurface as predicted by the controversial White Mars model, even assuming low global heat flow. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

76 FR 58649 - Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding on a Petition To List Van Rossem...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-21

.... 2003, pp. 1-14). Gelochelidon is a monotypic genus (a genus with only one species, Gelochelidon... ``existing subspecific names have been created far in advance of any adequate study of the facts.'' Murphy's... conduct a genetics-based study that may yield additional information regarding the distinctiveness between...

Focused Science Delivery makes science make sense.

Treesearch

Rachel W. Scheuering; Jamie Barbour

2004-01-01

Science does not exist in a vacuum, but reading scientific publications might make you think it does. Although the policy and management implications of their findings could often touch a much wider audience, many scientists write only for the few people in the world who share their area of expertise. In addition, most scientific publications provide information that...

A Forgotten Sector; The Training of Ancillary Staff in Hospitals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Duncan N.

A study was made, in England and Wales, of training needs of hospital ancillary staff; it concentrated on a group of hospitals in each of six Hospital Regions. In addition, information was collected at the national level and brief visits were made in other regions. Findings showed large differences in staffing between hospitals of similar types,…

Finding the Return on Investment: A Framework for Monitoring Local Child Welfare Agencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wulczyn, Fred H.; Orlebeke, Britany; Haight, Jennifer

2009-01-01

From year to year, child welfare directors allocate resources in the hope that their efforts will improve children's outcomes. Recently, with the help of the federal government, states have invested significant resources in the sort of information technology needed to run a smarter, more accountable child welfare system. In addition, science has…

Confocal laser scanning microscopy of porcine skin: implications for human wound healing studies

PubMed Central

VARDAXIS, N. J.; BRANS, T. A.; BOON, M. E.; KREIS, R. W.; MARRES, L. M.

1997-01-01

The structure of porcine skin as examined by light microscopy is reviewed and its similarities to and differences from human skin are highlighted. Special imaging techniques and staining procedures are described and their use in gathering morphological information in porcine skin is discussed. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was employed to examine the structure of porcine skin and the findings are presented as an adjunct to the information already available in the literature. It is concluded that CLSM provides valuable additional morphological information to material examined by conventional microscopy and is useful for wound healing studies in the porcine model. PMID:9183682

Information-sharing tendency on Twitter and time evolution of tweeting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwon, H. W.; Kim, H. S.; Lee, K.; Choi, M. Y.

2013-03-01

While topics on Twitter may be categorized according to their predictability and sustainability, some topics have characteristics depending on the time scale. Here we propose a good measure for the transition of sustainability, which we call the information-sharing tendency, and find that the unpredictability on Twitter is provoked by the exposure of Twitter users to external environments, e.g., mass media and other social network services. In addition, it is demonstrated that the numbers of articles and comments on on-line newspapers serve as plausible measures of exposure. From such measures of exposure, the time evolution of tweeting can be described, when the information-sharing tendency is known.

An empirical analysis of journal policy effectiveness for computational reproducibility.

PubMed

Stodden, Victoria; Seiler, Jennifer; Ma, Zhaokun

2018-03-13

A key component of scientific communication is sufficient information for other researchers in the field to reproduce published findings. For computational and data-enabled research, this has often been interpreted to mean making available the raw data from which results were generated, the computer code that generated the findings, and any additional information needed such as workflows and input parameters. Many journals are revising author guidelines to include data and code availability. This work evaluates the effectiveness of journal policy that requires the data and code necessary for reproducibility be made available postpublication by the authors upon request. We assess the effectiveness of such a policy by ( i ) requesting data and code from authors and ( ii ) attempting replication of the published findings. We chose a random sample of 204 scientific papers published in the journal Science after the implementation of their policy in February 2011. We found that we were able to obtain artifacts from 44% of our sample and were able to reproduce the findings for 26%. We find this policy-author remission of data and code postpublication upon request-an improvement over no policy, but currently insufficient for reproducibility.

An empirical analysis of journal policy effectiveness for computational reproducibility

PubMed Central

Seiler, Jennifer; Ma, Zhaokun

2018-01-01

A key component of scientific communication is sufficient information for other researchers in the field to reproduce published findings. For computational and data-enabled research, this has often been interpreted to mean making available the raw data from which results were generated, the computer code that generated the findings, and any additional information needed such as workflows and input parameters. Many journals are revising author guidelines to include data and code availability. This work evaluates the effectiveness of journal policy that requires the data and code necessary for reproducibility be made available postpublication by the authors upon request. We assess the effectiveness of such a policy by (i) requesting data and code from authors and (ii) attempting replication of the published findings. We chose a random sample of 204 scientific papers published in the journal Science after the implementation of their policy in February 2011. We found that we were able to obtain artifacts from 44% of our sample and were able to reproduce the findings for 26%. We find this policy—author remission of data and code postpublication upon request—an improvement over no policy, but currently insufficient for reproducibility. PMID:29531050

Communicating uncertainty in seasonal and interannual climate forecasts in Europe.

PubMed

Taylor, Andrea L; Dessai, Suraje; de Bruin, Wändi Bruine

2015-11-28

Across Europe, organizations in different sectors are sensitive to climate variability and change, at a range of temporal scales from the seasonal to the interannual to the multi-decadal. Climate forecast providers face the challenge of communicating the uncertainty inherent in these forecasts to these decision-makers in a way that is transparent, understandable and does not lead to a false sense of certainty. This article reports the findings of a user-needs survey, conducted with 50 representatives of organizations in Europe from a variety of sectors (e.g. water management, forestry, energy, tourism, health) interested in seasonal and interannual climate forecasts. We find that while many participating organizations perform their own 'in house' risk analysis most require some form of processing and interpretation by forecast providers. However, we also find that while users tend to perceive seasonal and interannual forecasts to be useful, they often find them difficult to understand, highlighting the need for communication formats suitable for both expert and non-expert users. In addition, our results show that people tend to prefer familiar formats for receiving information about uncertainty. The implications of these findings for both the providers and users of climate information are discussed. © 2015 The Authors.

Communicating uncertainty in seasonal and interannual climate forecasts in Europe

PubMed Central

Taylor, Andrea L.; Dessai, Suraje; de Bruin, Wändi Bruine

2015-01-01

Across Europe, organizations in different sectors are sensitive to climate variability and change, at a range of temporal scales from the seasonal to the interannual to the multi-decadal. Climate forecast providers face the challenge of communicating the uncertainty inherent in these forecasts to these decision-makers in a way that is transparent, understandable and does not lead to a false sense of certainty. This article reports the findings of a user-needs survey, conducted with 50 representatives of organizations in Europe from a variety of sectors (e.g. water management, forestry, energy, tourism, health) interested in seasonal and interannual climate forecasts. We find that while many participating organizations perform their own ‘in house’ risk analysis most require some form of processing and interpretation by forecast providers. However, we also find that while users tend to perceive seasonal and interannual forecasts to be useful, they often find them difficult to understand, highlighting the need for communication formats suitable for both expert and non-expert users. In addition, our results show that people tend to prefer familiar formats for receiving information about uncertainty. The implications of these findings for both the providers and users of climate information are discussed. PMID:26460115

Instructed fear learning, extinction, and recall: additive effects of cognitive information on emotional learning of fear.

PubMed

Javanbakht, Arash; Duval, Elizabeth R; Cisneros, Maria E; Taylor, Stephan F; Kessler, Daniel; Liberzon, Israel

2017-08-01

The effects of instruction on learning of fear and safety are rarely studied. We aimed to examine the effects of cognitive information and experience on fear learning. Fourty healthy participants, randomly assigned to three groups, went through fear conditioning, extinction learning, and extinction recall with two conditioned stimuli (CS+). Information was presented about the presence or absence of conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus (CS-US) contingency at different stages of the experiment. Information about the CS-US contingency prior to fear conditioning enhanced fear response and reduced extinction recall. Information about the absence of CS-US contingency promoted extinction learning and recall, while omission of this information prior to recall resulted in fear renewal. These findings indicate that contingency information can facilitate fear expression during fear learning, and can facilitate extinction learning and recall. Information seems to function as an element of the larger context in which conditioning occurs.

Deaf Adolescents' Learning of Cardiovascular Health Information: Sources and Access Challenges.

PubMed

Smith, Scott R; Kushalnagar, Poorna; Hauser, Peter C

2015-10-01

Deaf individuals have more cardiovascular risks than the general population that are believed to be related to their cardiovascular health knowledge disparities. This phenomenological study describes where 20 deaf sign language-using adolescents from Rochester, New York, many who possess many positive characteristics to support their health literacy, learn cardiovascular health information and their lived experiences accessing health information. The goal is to ultimately use this information to improve the delivery of cardiovascular health education to this population and other deaf adolescents at a higher risk for weak health literacy. Deaf bilingual researchers interviewed deaf adolescents, transcribed and coded the data, and described the findings. Five major sources of cardiovascular health information were identified including family, health education teachers, healthcare providers, printed materials, and informal sources. Despite possessing advantageous characteristics contributing to stronger health literacy, study participants described significant challenges with accessing health information from each source. They also demonstrated inconsistencies in their cardiovascular health knowledge, especially regarding heart attack, stroke, and cholesterol. These findings suggest a great need for additional public funding to research deaf adolescents' informal health-related learning, develop accessible and culturally appropriate health surveys and health education programming, improve interpreter education, and disseminate information through social media. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The information-giving skills of resident physicians: relationships with confidence and simulated patient satisfaction.

PubMed

Ishikawa, Hirono; Son, Daisuke; Eto, Masato; Kitamura, Kiyoshi; Kiuchi, Takahiro

2017-02-08

Sharing information is crucial for discussion of problems and treatment decision making by patients and physicians. However, the focus of communication skills training in undergraduate medical education has been on building the relationship and gathering information; thus, resident physicians tend to be less confident about sharing information and planning treatment. This study evaluated the medical interviews conducted by resident physicians with a focus on information giving, and investigated its relationships with their confidence in communication and simulated patient (SP) satisfaction. Among 137 junior resident physicians at a university hospital in Japan who participated in a survey of communication skills, 25 volunteered to conduct simulated medical interviews. The medical interviews were video-recorded and analyzed using the Roter Interaction Analysis System, together with additional coding to explore specific features of information giving. The SPs evaluated their satisfaction with the medical interview. Resident physicians who were more confident in their communication skills provided more information to the patients, while SP satisfaction was associated only with patient-prompted information giving. SPs were more satisfied when the physicians explained the rationales for their opinions and recommendations. Our findings underscore the importance of providing relevant information in response to the patient requests, and explaining the rationales for the opinions and recommendations. Further investigation is needed to clinically confirm our findings and develop an appropriate communication skills training program.

Imaging of thymic disorders

PubMed Central

Bogot, Naama R; Quint, Leslie E

2005-01-01

Evaluation of the thymus poses a challenge to the radiologist. In addition to age-related changes in thymic size, shape, and tissue composition, there is considerable variability in the normal adult thymic appearance within any age group. Many different types of disorders may affect the thymus, including hyperplasia, cysts, and benign and malignant neoplasms, both primary and secondary; clinical and imaging findings typical for each disease process are described in this article. Whereas computed tomography is the mainstay for imaging the thymus, other imaging modalities may occasionally provide additional structural or functional information. PMID:16361143

Expected value information improves financial risk taking across the adult life span.

PubMed

Samanez-Larkin, Gregory R; Wagner, Anthony D; Knutson, Brian

2011-04-01

When making decisions, individuals must often compensate for cognitive limitations, particularly in the face of advanced age. Recent findings suggest that age-related variability in striatal activity may increase financial risk-taking mistakes in older adults. In two studies, we sought to further characterize neural contributions to optimal financial risk taking and to determine whether decision aids could improve financial risk taking. In Study 1, neuroimaging analyses revealed that individuals whose mesolimbic activation correlated with the expected value estimates of a rational actor made more optimal financial decisions. In Study 2, presentation of expected value information improved decision making in both younger and older adults, but the addition of a distracting secondary task had little impact on decision quality. Remarkably, provision of expected value information improved the performance of older adults to match that of younger adults at baseline. These findings are consistent with the notion that mesolimbic circuits play a critical role in optimal choice, and imply that providing simplified information about expected value may improve financial risk taking across the adult life span.

Integrated radiologist's workstation enabling the radiologist as an effective clinical consultant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McEnery, Kevin W.; Suitor, Charles T.; Hildebrand, Stan; Downs, Rebecca; Thompson, Stephen K.; Shepard, S. Jeff

2002-05-01

Since February 2000, radiologists at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have accessed clinical information through an internally developed radiologist's clinical interpretation workstation called RadStation. This project provides a fully integrated digital dictation workstation with clinical data review. RadStation enables the radiologist as an effective clinical consultant with access to pertinent sources of clinical information at the time of dictation. Data sources not only include prior radiology reports from the radiology information system (RIS) but access to pathology data, laboratory data, history and physicals, clinic notes, and operative reports. With integrated clinical information access, a radiologists's interpretation not only comments on morphologic findings but also can enable evaluation of study findings in the context of pertinent clinical presentation and history. Image access is enabled through the integration of an enterprise image archive (Stentor, San Francisco). Database integration is achieved by a combination of real time HL7 messaging and queries to SQL-based legacy databases. A three-tier system architecture accommodates expanding access to additional databases including real-time patient schedule as well as patient medications and allergies.

Caregiver burden and perceived health competence when caring for family members diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia.

PubMed

Bailes, Christine O; Kelley, Colleen M; Parker, Nadine M

2016-10-01

To identify if there is a relationship between perceived health competence and burden of care of informal caregivers of family members with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD). Informal caregivers 18 years and older who received services from the Alzheimer's Resource of Alaska were invited to complete a survey. Findings indicate that there was a negative correlation between perceived health competence and burden of care (N = 64, r = -.54, p < .001). Additionally, there was a negative correlation within the three subscales of the Modified Montgomery-Borgatta Caregiver Burden Scale: objective burden (r = -.65, p = < .001), stress burden (r = -.41, p = .001), and relationship burden (r = -.29, p = .021, p = .001). Based on the findings of an association between increased caregiver burden and the perception of decreased health competence, nurse practitioners (NPs) can play an important role in assessing caregiver burden. The results of this study enlighten NPs about informal caregiver burden and will help guide discussions and assessments during routine healthcare visits with the goal of achieving optimal health for informal caregivers. ©2016 American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Symbolic phase transfer entropy method and its application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ningning; Lin, Aijing; Shang, Pengjian

2017-10-01

In this paper, we introduce symbolic phase transfer entropy (SPTE) to infer the direction and strength of information flow among systems. The advantages of the proposed method are investigated by simulations on synthetic signals and real-world data. We demonstrate that symbolic phase transfer entropy is a robust and efficient tool to infer the information flow between complex systems. Based on the study of the synthetic data, we find a significant advantage of SPTE is its reduced sensitivity to noise. In addition, SPTE requires less amount of data than symbolic transfer entropy(STE). We analyze the direction and strength of information flow between six stock markets during the period from 2006 to 2016. The results indicate that the information flow among stocks varies over different periods. We also find that the interaction network pattern among stocks undergoes hierarchial reorganization with transition from one period to another. It is shown that the clusters are mainly classified according to period, and then by region. The stocks during the same time period are shown to drop into the same cluster.

An empirical research on relationships between subjective judgement, technology acceptance tendency and knowledge transfer

PubMed Central

Dai, Chien-Yun; Chen, Hsiao-Ming; Chen, Wan-Fei; Wu, Chia-Huei; Li, Guodong; Wang, Jiangtao

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among employees' usage intention pertaining to mobile information devices, focusing on subjective judgement, technology acceptance tendency, information sharing behavior and information transfer. A research model was established to verify several hypotheses. The research model based on integrated concepts of knowledge management and technology acceptance modeling. Participants were employees of enterprises in Taiwan, selected by combining snowball and convenience sampling. Data obtained from 779 e-surveys. Multiple-regression analysis was employed for hypothesis verification. The results indicate that perceived ease-of-use of mobile devices was affected by computer self-efficacy and computer playfulness directly; meanwhile, perceived ease-of-use directly affects perceived usefulness. In addition, perceived ease-of-use and perceived usefulness can predict information-sharing behavior in a positive manner, and impact knowledge transfer as well. Based on the research findings, it suggested that enterprises should utilize mobile information devices to create more contact with customers and enrich their service network. In addition, it is recommended that managers use mobile devices to transmit key information to their staff and that they use these devices for problem-solving and decision-making. Further, the staff’s skills pertaining to the operation of mobile information devices and to fully implement their features are reinforced in order to inspire the users' knowledge transfer. Enhancing the playfulness of the interface is also important. In general, it is useful to promote knowledge transfer behavior within an organization by motivating members to share information and ideas via mobile information devices. In addition, a well-designed interface can facilitate employees' use of these devices. PMID:28886088

An empirical research on relationships between subjective judgement, technology acceptance tendency and knowledge transfer.

PubMed

Yuan, Yu-Hsi; Tsai, Sang-Bing; Dai, Chien-Yun; Chen, Hsiao-Ming; Chen, Wan-Fei; Wu, Chia-Huei; Li, Guodong; Wang, Jiangtao

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among employees' usage intention pertaining to mobile information devices, focusing on subjective judgement, technology acceptance tendency, information sharing behavior and information transfer. A research model was established to verify several hypotheses. The research model based on integrated concepts of knowledge management and technology acceptance modeling. Participants were employees of enterprises in Taiwan, selected by combining snowball and convenience sampling. Data obtained from 779 e-surveys. Multiple-regression analysis was employed for hypothesis verification. The results indicate that perceived ease-of-use of mobile devices was affected by computer self-efficacy and computer playfulness directly; meanwhile, perceived ease-of-use directly affects perceived usefulness. In addition, perceived ease-of-use and perceived usefulness can predict information-sharing behavior in a positive manner, and impact knowledge transfer as well. Based on the research findings, it suggested that enterprises should utilize mobile information devices to create more contact with customers and enrich their service network. In addition, it is recommended that managers use mobile devices to transmit key information to their staff and that they use these devices for problem-solving and decision-making. Further, the staff's skills pertaining to the operation of mobile information devices and to fully implement their features are reinforced in order to inspire the users' knowledge transfer. Enhancing the playfulness of the interface is also important. In general, it is useful to promote knowledge transfer behavior within an organization by motivating members to share information and ideas via mobile information devices. In addition, a well-designed interface can facilitate employees' use of these devices.

Formal and informal authority of hospital directors.

PubMed

Nirel, N; Schmid, H; Stern, Z

1994-01-01

Describes and contrasts the perceptions of formal and informal authority of hospital directors of two different kinds of organizations: hospitals that are part of public multi-hospital organizations (PMOs) and independent hospitals. Indicates that all the directors perceive their formal authority to be greater than their formal authority. However, there is a gap in the perception of formal and informal authority by directors of the two types of hospital. Directors of independent hospitals perceive themselves to have more formal and informal authority than do their colleagues at hospitals that are part of PMOs. Both structural and personal explanations for these findings are given. In addition, discusses the implications for policy making of the source of authority, informal, and formal authority in the transition to autonomous semi-independent hospitals in a changing environment.

The concomitant effects of phrase length and informational content in sentence comprehension.

PubMed

Thornton, R; MacDonald, M C; Arnold, J E

2000-03-01

Recent evidence suggests that phrase length plays a crucial role in modification ambiguities. Using a self-paced reading task, we extended these results by examining the additional pragmatic effects that length manipulations may exert. The results demonstrate that length not only modulates modification preferences directly, but that it also necessarily changes the informational content of a sentence, which itself affects modification preferences. Our findings suggest that the same length manipulation affects multiple sources of constraints, both structural and pragmatic, which can each exert differing effects on processing.

The cost of parallel consolidation into visual working memory.

PubMed

Rideaux, Reuben; Edwards, Mark

2016-01-01

A growing body of evidence indicates that information can be consolidated into visual working memory in parallel. Initially, it was suggested that color information could be consolidated in parallel while orientation was strictly limited to serial consolidation (Liu & Becker, 2013). However, we recently found evidence suggesting that both orientation and motion direction items can be consolidated in parallel, with different levels of accuracy (Rideaux, Apthorp, & Edwards, 2015). Here we examine whether there is a cost associated with parallel consolidation of orientation and direction information by comparing performance, in terms of precision and guess rate, on a target recall task where items are presented either sequentially or simultaneously. The results compellingly indicate that motion direction can be consolidated in parallel, but the evidence for orientation is less conclusive. Further, we find that there is a twofold cost associated with parallel consolidation of direction: Both the probability of failing to consolidate one (or both) item/s increases and the precision at which representations are encoded is reduced. Additionally, we find evidence indicating that the increased consolidation failure may be due to interference between items presented simultaneously, and is moderated by item similarity. These findings suggest that a biased competition model may explain differences in parallel consolidation between features.

Are Informant Reports of Personality More Internally Consistent Than Self Reports of Personality?

PubMed

Balsis, Steve; Cooper, Luke D; Oltmanns, Thomas F

2015-08-01

The present study examined whether informant-reported personality was more or less internally consistent than self-reported personality in an epidemiological community sample (n = 1,449). Results indicated that across the 5 NEO (Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness) personality factors and the 10 personality disorder trait dimensions, informant reports tended to be more internally consistent than self reports, as indicated by equal or higher Cronbach's alpha scores and higher average interitem correlations. In addition, the informant reports collectively outperformed the self reports for predicting responses on a global measure of health, indicating that the informant reports are not only more reliable than self reports, but they can also be useful in predicting an external criterion. Collectively these findings indicate that informant reports tend to have greater internal consistency than self reports. © The Author(s) 2014.

Analysis of Network Clustering Algorithms and Cluster Quality Metrics at Scale

PubMed Central

Kobourov, Stephen; Gallant, Mike; Börner, Katy

2016-01-01

Overview Notions of community quality underlie the clustering of networks. While studies surrounding network clustering are increasingly common, a precise understanding of the realtionship between different cluster quality metrics is unknown. In this paper, we examine the relationship between stand-alone cluster quality metrics and information recovery metrics through a rigorous analysis of four widely-used network clustering algorithms—Louvain, Infomap, label propagation, and smart local moving. We consider the stand-alone quality metrics of modularity, conductance, and coverage, and we consider the information recovery metrics of adjusted Rand score, normalized mutual information, and a variant of normalized mutual information used in previous work. Our study includes both synthetic graphs and empirical data sets of sizes varying from 1,000 to 1,000,000 nodes. Cluster Quality Metrics We find significant differences among the results of the different cluster quality metrics. For example, clustering algorithms can return a value of 0.4 out of 1 on modularity but score 0 out of 1 on information recovery. We find conductance, though imperfect, to be the stand-alone quality metric that best indicates performance on the information recovery metrics. Additionally, our study shows that the variant of normalized mutual information used in previous work cannot be assumed to differ only slightly from traditional normalized mutual information. Network Clustering Algorithms Smart local moving is the overall best performing algorithm in our study, but discrepancies between cluster evaluation metrics prevent us from declaring it an absolutely superior algorithm. Interestingly, Louvain performed better than Infomap in nearly all the tests in our study, contradicting the results of previous work in which Infomap was superior to Louvain. We find that although label propagation performs poorly when clusters are less clearly defined, it scales efficiently and accurately to large graphs with well-defined clusters. PMID:27391786

Analysis of Network Clustering Algorithms and Cluster Quality Metrics at Scale.

PubMed

Emmons, Scott; Kobourov, Stephen; Gallant, Mike; Börner, Katy

2016-01-01

Notions of community quality underlie the clustering of networks. While studies surrounding network clustering are increasingly common, a precise understanding of the realtionship between different cluster quality metrics is unknown. In this paper, we examine the relationship between stand-alone cluster quality metrics and information recovery metrics through a rigorous analysis of four widely-used network clustering algorithms-Louvain, Infomap, label propagation, and smart local moving. We consider the stand-alone quality metrics of modularity, conductance, and coverage, and we consider the information recovery metrics of adjusted Rand score, normalized mutual information, and a variant of normalized mutual information used in previous work. Our study includes both synthetic graphs and empirical data sets of sizes varying from 1,000 to 1,000,000 nodes. We find significant differences among the results of the different cluster quality metrics. For example, clustering algorithms can return a value of 0.4 out of 1 on modularity but score 0 out of 1 on information recovery. We find conductance, though imperfect, to be the stand-alone quality metric that best indicates performance on the information recovery metrics. Additionally, our study shows that the variant of normalized mutual information used in previous work cannot be assumed to differ only slightly from traditional normalized mutual information. Smart local moving is the overall best performing algorithm in our study, but discrepancies between cluster evaluation metrics prevent us from declaring it an absolutely superior algorithm. Interestingly, Louvain performed better than Infomap in nearly all the tests in our study, contradicting the results of previous work in which Infomap was superior to Louvain. We find that although label propagation performs poorly when clusters are less clearly defined, it scales efficiently and accurately to large graphs with well-defined clusters.

JCE Feature Columns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmes, Jon L.

1999-05-01

The Features area of JCE Online is now readily accessible through a single click from our home page. In the Features area each column is linked to its own home page. These column home pages also have links to them from the online Journal Table of Contents pages or from any article published as part of that feature column. Using these links you can easily find abstracts of additional articles that are related by topic. Of course, JCE Online+ subscribers are then just one click away from the entire article. Finding related articles is easy because each feature column "site" contains links to the online abstracts of all the articles that have appeared in the column. In addition, you can find the mission statement for the column and the email link to the column editor that I mentioned above. At the discretion of its editor, a feature column site may contain additional resources. As an example, the Chemical Information Instructor column edited by Arleen Somerville will have a periodically updated bibliography of resources for teaching and using chemical information. Due to the increase in the number of these resources available on the WWW, it only makes sense to publish this information online so that you can get to these resources with a simple click of the mouse. We expect that there will soon be additional information and resources at several other feature column sites. Following in the footsteps of the Chemical Information Instructor, up-to-date bibliographies and links to related online resources can be made available. We hope to extend the online component of our feature columns with moderated online discussion forums. If you have a suggestion for an online resource you would like to see included, let the feature editor or JCE Online (jceonline@chem.wisc.edu) know about it. JCE Internet Features JCE Internet also has several feature columns: Chemical Education Resource Shelf, Conceptual Questions and Challenge Problems, Equipment Buyers Guide, Hal's Picks, Mathcad in the Chemistry Curriculum, and WWW Site Review. These columns differ from the print feature columns in that they use the Internet as the publication medium. Doing so allows these features to include continually updated information, digital components, and links to other online resources. The Conceptual Questions and Challenge Problems feature of JCE Internet serves as a good example for the kinds of resources that you can expect to find in an online feature column. Like other columns it contains a mission statement that defines the role of the column. It includes a digital library of continually updated examples of conceptual questions and challenge problems. (As I write this we have just added several new questions to the library.) It also includes a list of links to related online resources, information for authors about how to write questions and problems, and information for teachers about how to use conceptual questions and challenge problems. Teaching with Technology home page at JCE Online. One-Stop Feature Shop The updated Feature area of JCE Online offers information about all JCE feature columns in one place. It gives you a quick and convenient way to access a group of articles in a particular subject area. It provides authors and readers with a good definition of the column and its mission. It complements the print feature columns with online resources. It provides up-to-date bibliographies for selected areas of interest. And last, but not least, it provides that email address you can use to send that message of appreciation to the feature editor for his or her contribution to JCE and the chemical education community.

A diagnostic expert system for structured reports, quality assessment, and training of residents in sonography.

PubMed

Huettig, Matthias; Buscher, Georg; Menzel, Thomas; Scheppach, Wolfgang; Puppe, Frank; Buscher, Hans-Peter

2004-03-15

The quality of medical reports on diagnostic procedures has a considerable impact on the quality of medical care. Handwritten or otherwise unstructured reports tend to be incomplete, whereas structured questionnaires are of limited flexibility and not considered case-adequate. Thus, medical reports of this kind may promote an incomplete and misleading documentation and, therefore, be problematic with respect to their reliability. SonoConsult (SC), an expert system for structured and case-adequate documentation of sonographic findings with an additional diagnostic component, was evaluated with respect to user acceptance and suitability for enhancing the quality of reports and supporting sonographic beginners. The expectations and the attitudes of the users toward the program were evaluated by anonymous questionnaires. The documentation of findings and the diagnostic conclusions in 103 free text reports made by experienced examiners were evaluated by subjecting their information to a subsequent input into SC. Free text reports were checked for information that was asked by SC but not mentioned in the reports. In a series of 150 cases, the system diagnoses were blinded during input of findings into SC-questionnaires and the examiners' diagnostic conclusions were compared with the uncovered SC-diagnoses with respect to forgotten diagnoses. The structured and data-driven acquisition of information by the program was well accepted by the users. However, only a medium interest in the system-delivered diagnoses was noted. The program-generated reports were characterized by a more detailed description of the findings and a higher number of diagnoses in comparison to the unstructured reports before introduction of SC as the only documentation system. When unaware of the system diagnoses, information was entered into the questionnaires, and SC generated some diagnoses which were not mentioned by the examiners in their conclusions. The possibility to inspect the system diagnoses led to an enhancement of the number of diagnoses the examiners mentioned in their conclusions. By contrast, the examiners meant that the influence of the program on their conclusions was minimal or dispensable. Beginners in sonography acknowledged that the program led them to perform a complete examination in an adequate sequence. An expert system for the data-driven, case-adequate information acquisition of abdominal ultrasound examinations may enhance the quality of the reports and, potentially, of the examinations at the same time. In addition, it may help beginners to learn a structured problem- and finding-adequate examination sequence.

Modeling the acceptance of clinical information systems among hospital medical staff: an extended TAM model.

PubMed

Melas, Christos D; Zampetakis, Leonidas A; Dimopoulou, Anastasia; Moustakis, Vassilis

2011-08-01

Recent empirical research has utilized the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to advance the understanding of doctors' and nurses' technology acceptance in the workplace. However, the majority of the reported studies are either qualitative in nature or use small convenience samples of medical staff. Additionally, in very few studies moderators are either used or assessed despite their importance in TAM based research. The present study focuses on the application of TAM in order to explain the intention to use clinical information systems, in a random sample of 604 medical staff (534 physicians) working in 14 hospitals in Greece. We introduce physicians' specialty as a moderator in TAM and test medical staff's information and communication technology (ICT) knowledge and ICT feature demands, as external variables. The results show that TAM predicts a substantial proportion of the intention to use clinical information systems. Findings make a contribution to the literature by replicating, explaining and advancing the TAM, whereas theory is benefited by the addition of external variables and medical specialty as a moderator. Recommendations for further research are discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Piloting an information literacy program for staff nurses: lessons learned.

PubMed

Rosenfeld, Peri; Salazar-Riera, Noraliza; Vieira, Dorice

2002-01-01

Intrinsic to all models of evidence-based practice is the need for information literacy and the critical assessment of information. As part of a house-wide evidence-based practice initiative, the objective of this pilot project was to develop the information literacy skills of staff nurses to increase their ability to find and assess available electronic resources for clinical decision making. An intensive care unit was chosen to pilot a unit-based approach to educate staff nurses to perform patient care-related electronic literature searches. An additional goal was to determine the effectiveness of unit-based training sessions on the frequency and quality of electronic literature searches by participating nurses. In addition to the unit-based instruction, nursing and library staff collaborated to develop a Web-based tutorial to supplement and reinforce the content of the training sessions. A pretest-post-test design was used to evaluate the initiative and to assess the effect of the educational intervention over time. Among the lessons learned from this pilot study was that unit-based instruction presents significant obstacles for effective learning of new technological skills for staff nurses.

A hospital-wide clinical findings dictionary based on an extension of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

PubMed

Bréant, C; Borst, F; Campi, D; Griesser, V; Momjian, S

1999-01-01

The use of a controlled vocabulary set in a hospital-wide clinical information system is of crucial importance for many departmental database systems to communicate and exchange information. In the absence of an internationally recognized clinical controlled vocabulary set, a new extension of the International statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD) is proposed. It expands the scope of the standard ICD beyond diagnosis and procedures to clinical terminology. In addition, the common Clinical Findings Dictionary (CFD) further records the definition of clinical entities. The construction of the vocabulary set and the CFD is incremental and manual. Tools have been implemented to facilitate the tasks of defining/maintaining/publishing dictionary versions. The design of database applications in the integrated clinical information system is driven by the CFD which is part of the Medical Questionnaire Designer tool. Several integrated clinical database applications in the field of diabetes and neuro-surgery have been developed at the HUG.

A hospital-wide clinical findings dictionary based on an extension of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

PubMed Central

Bréant, C.; Borst, F.; Campi, D.; Griesser, V.; Momjian, S.

1999-01-01

The use of a controlled vocabulary set in a hospital-wide clinical information system is of crucial importance for many departmental database systems to communicate and exchange information. In the absence of an internationally recognized clinical controlled vocabulary set, a new extension of the International statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD) is proposed. It expands the scope of the standard ICD beyond diagnosis and procedures to clinical terminology. In addition, the common Clinical Findings Dictionary (CFD) further records the definition of clinical entities. The construction of the vocabulary set and the CFD is incremental and manual. Tools have been implemented to facilitate the tasks of defining/maintaining/publishing dictionary versions. The design of database applications in the integrated clinical information system is driven by the CFD which is part of the Medical Questionnaire Designer tool. Several integrated clinical database applications in the field of diabetes and neuro-surgery have been developed at the HUG. Images Figure 1 PMID:10566451

Can Facebook informational use foster adolescent civic engagement?

PubMed

Lenzi, Michela; Vieno, Alessio; Altoè, Gianmarco; Scacchi, Luca; Perkins, Douglas D; Zukauskiene, Rita; Santinello, Massimo

2015-06-01

The findings on the association between Social Networking Sites and civic engagement are mixed. The present study aims to evaluate a theoretical model linking the informational use of Internet-based social media (specifically, Facebook) with civic competencies and intentions for future civic engagement, taking into account the mediating role of civic discussions with family and friends and sharing the news online. Participants were 114 Italian high school students aged 14-17 years (57 % boys). Path analysis was used to evaluate the proposed theoretical model. Results showed that Facebook informational use was associated with higher levels of adolescent perceived competence for civic action, both directly and through the mediation of civic discussion with parents and friends (offline). Higher levels of civic competencies, then, were associated with a stronger intention to participate in the civic domain in the future. Our findings suggest that Facebook may provide adolescents with additional tools through which they can learn civic activities or develop the skills necessary to participate in the future.

Individual decision making in relation to participation in cardiovascular screening: a study of revealed and stated preferences.

PubMed

Søgaard, Rikke; Lindholt, Jes; Gyrd-Hansen, Dorte

2013-02-01

The (cost-)effectiveness of a screening programme may be strongly influenced by the participation rate. The objective of this study was to compare participants' and non-participants' motives for the attendance decision as well as their overall preferences for participation in cardiovascular disease screening. This study sampled 1053 participants and 1006 non-participants from a screening trial and randomly allocated the participants to receive different levels of additional information about the screening programme. An ad hoc survey questionnaire about doubt and arguments in relation to the participation decision was given to participants and non-participants along with a contingent valuation task. Among participants, 5% had doubt about participation and the most frequent argument was that they did not want the test result. Among non-participants, 40% would reconsider their non-participation decision after having received additional information while the remainder 60% stood by their decision and provided explicit arguments for it. After having received additional information the participants still valued the programme significantly higher than non-participants, but the difference was relatively small. Participants and non-participants in cardiovascular screening programmes seem to have different strengths of preferences, which signals that their behavioural choice is founded in rational thinking. Furthermore, it appears that additional information and a second reflection about the participation decision may affect a substantial proportion of non-participants to reverse their decision, a finding that should receive policy interest.

Comprehension by older people of medication information with or without supplementary pharmaceutical pictograms.

PubMed

Ng, Annie W Y; Chan, Alan H S; Ho, Vincy W S

2017-01-01

This study examined the benefits of pharmaceutical pictograms for improving comprehension of medication information for older people. Fifty Hong Kong Chinese older people completed a medical information comprehension task for five drugs. Participants in the control group were presented with text labels while those in the experimental group were given the text labels plus supplementary pharmaceutical pictograms, and then all reported their understanding of the medication information conveyed. Lower educated older people had poorer understanding of medication information. The addition of pharmaceutical pictograms significantly improved the comprehension of medication information for older people. The majority of older people tested with pictograms favored adding pictograms to text and thought the pictograms were useful for conveying medical information rather than using written text alone. The findings suggested that pharmaceutical and health care professionals should include pharmaceutical pictograms on labels to better convey instructions on medication to older people. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

"I might not have cancer if you didn't mention it": a qualitative study on information needed by culturally diverse cancer survivors.

PubMed

O'Callaghan, Clare; Schofield, Penelope; Butow, Phyllis; Nolte, Linda; Price, Melanie; Tsintziras, Spiri; Sze, Ming; Thein, Thida; Yiu, Dorothy; Mireskandari, Shab; Goldstein, David; Jefford, Michael

2016-01-01

Immigrants from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds diagnosed with cancer face multiple challenges with health systems foreign to them. There is scarce understanding about their needs following cancer treatment in the survivorship phase. Unmet needs were examined in immigrant Chinese and Greek cancer survivors in order to assist development of relevant and useful information resources for these CALD groups. Qualitative descriptive design was used. Adult cancer survivors, whose native language was Mandarin, Cantonese or Greek, were recruited through ethnic cancer support groups and cancer specialists in two Australian cities. Six focus groups were conducted, two in each native language group. Recorded responses were transcribed, translated into English, and thematically analysed. Thirty-nine CALD cancer survivors participated from Greek (11), Cantonese (14) and Mandarin (14) backgrounds. Thematic findings included as follows: ongoing cancer-related stressors, cancer misunderstandings, coping strategies, 'survivor' seldom reflects self-appraisal, and additional CALD survivorship information needed. Immigrant cancer survivors may prefer 'recovery' to 'survivorship' descriptors and need information similar to Caucasian cancer survivors alongside as follows: resources for navigating health care, financial and community entitlements; caregiver-directed information to enhance their support; explanations about differences in health care approaches between survivors' original and adopted countries; and acknowledgment of survivorship diversity within CALD groups. Immigrant cancer survivors' additional requirements to native survivors likely reflect challenges in dealing with foreign environments and varied levels of acculturation within group members. Identification of immigrant cancer survivorship issues may support development of targeted resources for promoting survivors' self-care and capacity for finding, choosing, and using existing support options.

Clinical Trial Results Summary for Laypersons: A User Testing Study.

PubMed

Raynor, D K; Myers, L; Blackwell, K; Kress, B; Dubost, A; Joos, A

2018-01-01

To apply "user testing" to maximize readability and acceptability of a Clinical Trial Results Laypersons Summary-a new European requirement. "User testing" (using questionnaire and semistructured interview) assessed whether people could find and understand key points. Findings were used to improve content and design, prior to retesting. Participants had a range of levels of health literacy and there was a higher education group. Participants accessed the summary on screen. In round 1 we tested 12 points of information. In round 2 a revised summary addressing round 1 findings was tested, leading to a third final version. In round 1, 2 of 12 points of information did not reach the target and interviews raised further format and content issues (some distracting technical explanations and inability to find or understand the 2 main study purposes). These findings informed revisions for the version tested in round 2, with 2 different points not reaching the target (inclusion criteria relating to duration of seasonal allergies and how researchers found out about participants' symptoms). Identified problems in both rounds were addressed and reflected in the final version. Despite improvements, participants did not consistently understand that summaries were intended for the public, or to only interpret results of single trials in the context of additional trials. All readers, including those with higher education, found the clear and straightforward language acceptable. Applying "user testing" resulted in a largely health-literate summary suitable for people across a range of backgrounds.

Exploring relations between task conflict and informational conflict in the Stroop task.

PubMed

Entel, Olga; Tzelgov, Joseph; Bereby-Meyer, Yoella; Shahar, Nitzan

2015-11-01

In this study, we tested the proposal that the Stroop task involves two conflicts--task conflict and informational conflict. Task conflict was defined as the latency difference between color words and non-letter neutrals, and manipulated by varying the proportion of color words versus non-letter neutrals. Informational conflict was defined as the latency difference between incongruent and congruent trials and manipulated by varying the congruent-to-incongruent trial ratio. We replicated previous findings showing that increasing the ratio of incongruent-to-congruent trials reduces the latency difference between the incongruent and congruent condition (i.e., informational conflict), as does increasing the proportion of color words (i.e., task conflict). A significant under-additive interaction between the two proportion manipulations (congruent vs. incongruent and color words vs. neutrals) indicated that the effects of task conflict and informational conflict were not additive. By assessing task conflict as the contrast between color words and neutrals, we found that task conflict existed in all of our experimental conditions. Under specific conditions, when task conflict dominated behavior by explaining most of the variability between congruency conditions, we also found negative facilitation, thus demonstrating that this effect is a special case of task conflict.

Extracting duration information in a picture category decoding task using hidden Markov Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfeiffer, Tim; Heinze, Nicolai; Frysch, Robert; Deouell, Leon Y.; Schoenfeld, Mircea A.; Knight, Robert T.; Rose, Georg

2016-04-01

Objective. Adapting classifiers for the purpose of brain signal decoding is a major challenge in brain-computer-interface (BCI) research. In a previous study we showed in principle that hidden Markov models (HMM) are a suitable alternative to the well-studied static classifiers. However, since we investigated a rather straightforward task, advantages from modeling of the signal could not be assessed. Approach. Here, we investigate a more complex data set in order to find out to what extent HMMs, as a dynamic classifier, can provide useful additional information. We show for a visual decoding problem that besides category information, HMMs can simultaneously decode picture duration without an additional training required. This decoding is based on a strong correlation that we found between picture duration and the behavior of the Viterbi paths. Main results. Decoding accuracies of up to 80% could be obtained for category and duration decoding with a single classifier trained on category information only. Significance. The extraction of multiple types of information using a single classifier enables the processing of more complex problems, while preserving good training results even on small databases. Therefore, it provides a convenient framework for online real-life BCI utilizations.

[Cytology in uropathological diagnostics].

PubMed

Gaisa, N T; Lindemann-Docter, K

2015-11-01

Cytology in uropathological diagnostics is mainly performed for oncological purposes. The assessment of malignancy by urothelial cell morphology is therefore decisive; however, cytology is only sensitive enough to detect high-grade tumor cells and the different low-grade tumors cannot be reliably diagnosed. Thus, the four-tier classification system of cytological findings (i.e. negative, atypical cells but significance uncertain, suspicious and positive) refers to high-grade tumor cells only. Furthermore, for valid cytological diagnostics not only the cytological specimen but also clinical information on cystoscopy findings and, if applicable, a biopsy should be evaluated together. In difficult differential diagnostic settings, e.g. differentiation between reactive versus neoplastic atypia or difficult to access lesions in the upper urinary tract, additional fluorescence in situ hybridization of cytological preparations might be helpful. At the moment there are no indications for further immunocytology or additional biomarker tests.

"My midwife said that having a glass of red wine was actually better for the baby": a focus group study of women and their partner's knowledge and experiences relating to alcohol consumption in pregnancy.

PubMed

Crawford-Williams, Fiona; Steen, Mary; Esterman, Adrian; Fielder, Andrea; Mikocka-Walus, Antonina

2015-04-01

While it is well established that alcohol can cross the placenta to the foetus and can affect an infant's development, many women continue to drink during pregnancy. For this reason it is important to determine what information is being provided, what information may be missing, and the preferred sources of information on this issue. In order to improve prevention strategies, we sought to understand the knowledge and experiences of pregnant women and their partners regarding the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. The current study utilised a qualitative study design in order to gain insight into the views and experiences of pregnant women, newly delivered mothers and their partners. Focus groups examined the participant's knowledge about the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, the sources of information on this issue, and the psycho-social influences on their drinking behaviour. Five focus groups were conducted involving a total of 21 participants (17 female). A six-stage thematic analysis framework was used to analyse all focus group discussions in a systematic way. Seven major themes were identified from the focus group data: 1) knowledge of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders; 2) message content and sources; 3) healthcare system; 4) society and culture; 5) partner role; 6) evaluation of risk; and 7) motivation. The findings indicated that although the majority of participants knew not to drink alcohol in pregnancy they had limited information on the specific harmful effects. In addition, routine enquiry and the provision of information by health care professionals were seen as lacking. The findings of this research provide important insights in to the relationship between pregnant women, their partners, and their healthcare providers. Several recommendations can be made on the basis of these findings. Firstly, public health messages and educational materials need to provide clear and consistent information about the effects of alcohol consumption on the developing baby. Additionally, more thorough and consistent routine enquiry for alcohol consumption in pregnant women needs to occur. Finally, it is important to ensure ongoing education for health professionals on the issue of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

The effect of traffic lights and regulatory statements on the choice between complementary and conventional medicines in Australia: results from a discrete choice experiment.

PubMed

Spinks, Jean; Mortimer, Duncan

2015-01-01

It has been suggested that complementary medicines are currently 'under-regulated' in some countries due to their potential for harm as a direct result from side-effects or interactions; from delaying more effective care; or from the economic cost of purchasing an ineffective or inappropriate treatment. The requirement of additional labelling on complementary medicine products has been suggested in Australia and may provide additional information to consumers at the point of purchase. This paper details a unique way of testing the potential effects on consumer behaviour of including either a traffic light logo or regulatory statement on labels. Using a discrete choice experiment, data were collected in 2012 in a sample of 521 Australians with either type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease. We find that additional labelling can affect consumer behaviour, but in unpredictable ways. The results of this experiment are informative to further the dialogue concerning possible regulatory mechanisms. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cognition and Health Literacy in Older Adults' Recall of Self-Care Information.

PubMed

Chin, Jessie; Madison, Anna; Gao, Xuefei; Graumlich, James F; Conner-Garcia, Thembi; Murray, Michael D; Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A L; Morrow, Daniel G

2017-04-01

Health literacy is associated with health outcomes presumably because it influences the understanding of information needed for self-care. However, little is known about the language comprehension mechanisms that underpin health literacy. We explored the relationship between a commonly used measure of health literacy (Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults [STOFHLA]) and comprehension of health information among 145 older adults. Results showed that performance on the STOFHLA was associated with recall of health information. Consistent with the Process-Knowledge Model of Health Literacy, mediation analysis showed that both processing capacity and knowledge mediated the association between health literacy and recall of health information. In addition, knowledge moderated the effects of processing capacity limits, such that processing capacity was less likely to be associated with recall for older adults with higher levels of knowledge. These findings suggest that knowledge contributes to health literacy and can compensate for deficits in processing capacity to support comprehension of health information among older adults. The implications of these findings for improving patient education materials for older adults with inadequate health literacy are discussed. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The role of gist and verbatim memory in complex decision making: Explaining the unconscious-thought effect.

PubMed

Abadie, Marlène; Waroquier, Laurent; Terrier, Patrice

2017-05-01

Previous research showed that the unconscious-thought effect , which refers to an improvement in complex decision making following a distraction period, was moderated by the presentation format of pieces of information about different options. The aim of the current study was to replicate this finding and further examine the memory representations underlying decision making following a distraction or a deliberation period. Results showed that, when the information was presented blocked per option, participants were better able to differentiate the best option from the others after a distraction period than immediately after the information presentation or after a deliberation period. In addition, distracted participants retrieved more gist representations of the options when the information was presented per option. By contrast, participants were better able to differentiate the best option from the others after a deliberation period when the information was presented per attribute. Participants who deliberated also retrieved more verbatim representations when the information was presented per attribute. Finally, mediation analyses indicated that the accuracy of the evaluations of the options depends on gist memory when distracted but on verbatim memory when deliberating. These findings suggest that the effectiveness of distraction or deliberation depends on the memory representations of the different options. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

MOLA Topography of Small Volcanoes in Tempe Terra and Ceraunius Fossae, Mars: Implications for Eruptive Styles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wong, M. P.; Sakimoto, S. E. H.; Garvin, J. B.

2001-01-01

We use Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data to measure small volcanoes in the Tempe Terra and Ceraunius Fossae regions of Mars. We find that previous geometry estimates based on imagery alone are inaccurate, but MOLA data support image-based interpretations of eruptive style. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Effect of Absolute Spatial Proximity between a Landmark and a Goal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chamizo, V. D.; Rodrigo, T.

2004-01-01

In two experiments rats were trained in a Morris pool to find a hidden platform in the presence of a single landmark. Circular black curtains surrounded the pool, with the single landmark inside this enclosure, so that no other room cues could provide additional information about the location of the platform. This landmark was hung from a false…

75 FR 24892 - Certain Coated Paper Suitable for High-Quality Print Graphics Using Sheet-Fed Presses From the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-06

... Industry Support Calculation Coated Paper Suitable For High-Quality Print Graphics Using Sheet-Fed Presses... employs an industry-wide test to determine whether, under section 773(c)(1)(B), available information in... sections 771(33)(E) and (F) of the Act. In addition, we find that Shandong Sun Paper Industry Joint Stock...

Inequalities at the Outset: Racial, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Differences in Parents' Perceptions of Paying for College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warnock, Deborah M.

2016-01-01

Using NELS data I examine parents' perceptions of paying for college before their students enter high school. Findings suggest that racial wealth disparities may help explain differences in parents' perceptions of paying. In addition, Hispanics and low-income families are less likely to have information about financial aid and more likely to…

MRI and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in hemimegalencephaly.

PubMed

Hoffmann, K T; Amthauer, H; Liebig, T; Hosten, N; Etou, A; Lehmann, T N; Farahati, J; Felix, R

2000-10-01

We report hemimegalencephaly in a 44-year-old woman with mental retardation, epilepsy and a mild hemiparesis. In addition to typical findings on MRI, 2-deoxy-2[18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography (PET) demonstrated glucose hypometabolism of the affected hemisphere. The results of PET have been coregistered with morphological information from the MRI studies by image fusion.

Pesticides in the Nation's Streams and Ground Water, 1992-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gilliom, Robert J.; Barbash, Jack E.; Crawford, Charles G.; Hamilton, Pixie A.; Martin, Jeffrey D.; Nakagaki, Naomi; Nowell, Lisa H.; Scott, Jonathan C.; Stackelberg, Paul E.; Thelin, Gail P.; Wolock, David M.

2006-01-01

This report is one of a series of publications, The Quality of Our Nation's Waters, that describe major findings of the NAWQA Program on water-quality issues of regional and national concern. This report presents evaluations of pesticides in streams and ground water based on findings for the first decadal cycle of NAWQA. 'Pesticides in the Nation's Streams and Ground Water, 1992-2001' greatly expands the analysis of pesticides presented in 'Nutrients and Pesticides,' which was the first report in the series and was based on early results from 1992 to 1995. Other reports in this series cover additional water-quality constituents of concern, such as volatile organic compounds and trace elements, as well as physical and chemical effects on aquatic ecosystems. Each report builds toward a more comprehensive understanding of regional and national water resources. The information in this series is intended primarily for those interested or involved in resource management, conservation, regulation, and policymaking at regional and national levels. In addition, the information might interest those at a local level who wish to know more about the general quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live and how that quality compares with other areas across the Nation.

Aging and the picture superiority effect in recall.

PubMed

Winograd, E; Smith, A D; Simon, E W

1982-01-01

One recurrent theme in the literature on aging and memory is that the decline of memory for nonverbal information is steeper than for verbal information. This research compares verbal and visual encoding using the picture superiority effect, the finding that pictures are remembered better than words. In the first experiment, an interaction was found between age and type of material; younger subjects recalled more pictures than words while older subjects did not. However, the overall effect was small and two further experiments were conducted. In both of these experiments, the picture superiority effect was found in both age groups with no interaction. In addition, performing a semantic orienting task had no effect on recall. The finding of a picture superiority effect in older subjects indicates that nonverbal codes can be effectively used by subjects in all age groups to facilitate memory performance.

Group long-term care insurance: decision-making factors and implications for financing long-term care.

PubMed

Stum, Marlene S

2008-01-01

This study proposes and tests a systemic family decision-making framework to understand group long-term care insurance (LTCI) enrollment decisions. A random sample of public employees who were offered group LTCI as a workplace benefit were examined. Findings reveal very good predictive efficacy for the overall conceptual framework with a pseudo R2 value of .687, and reinforced the contributions of factors within the family system. Enrollees were more likely to have discussed the decision with others, used information sources, and had prior experience when compared to non-enrollees. Perceived health status, financial knowledge, attitudes regarding the role of private insurance, risk taking, and coverage features were additional factors related to enrollment decisions. The findings help to inform policymakers about the potential of LTCI as one strategy for financing long-term care.

The integration of social influence and reward: Computational approaches and neural evidence.

PubMed

Tomlin, Damon; Nedic, Andrea; Prentice, Deborah A; Holmes, Philip; Cohen, Jonathan D

2017-08-01

Decades of research have established that decision-making is dramatically impacted by both the rewards an individual receives and the behavior of others. How do these distinct influences exert their influence on an individual's actions, and can the resulting behavior be effectively captured in a computational model? To address this question, we employed a novel spatial foraging game in which groups of three participants sought to find the most rewarding location in an unfamiliar two-dimensional space. As the game transitioned from one block to the next, the availability of information regarding other group members was varied systematically, revealing the relative impacts of feedback from the environment and information from other group members on individual decision-making. Both reward-based and socially-based sources of information exerted a significant influence on behavior, and a computational model incorporating these effects was able to recapitulate several key trends in the behavioral data. In addition, our findings suggest how these sources were processed and combined during decision-making. Analysis of reaction time, location of gaze, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data indicated that these distinct sources of information were integrated simultaneously for each decision, rather than exerting their influence in a separate, all-or-none fashion across separate subsets of trials. These findings add to our understanding of how the separate influences of reward from the environment and information derived from other social agents are combined to produce decisions.

Sequencing actions: an information-search study of tradeoffs of priorities against spatiotemporal constraints.

PubMed

Gärling, T

1996-09-01

How people choose between sequences of actions was investigated in an everyday errand-planning task. In this task subjects chose the preferred sequence of performing a number of errands in a fictitious environment. Two experiments were conducted with undergraduate students serving as subjects. One group searched information about each alternative. The same information was directly available to another group. In Experiment 1 the results showed that for two errands subjects took into account all attributes describing the errands, thus suggesting a tradeoff between priority, wait time, and travel distance with priority being the most important. Consistent with this finding predominantly intraalternative information search was observed. These results were replicated in Experiment 2 for three errands. In addition choice outcomes, information search, and sequence of responding suggested that for more than two actions sequence choices are made in stages.

Association of health literacy with health information-seeking preference in older people: A correlational, descriptive study.

PubMed

Kim, Su Hyun; Utz, Sonja

2018-02-28

Low health literacy has been recognized as a potential barrier to obtaining knowledge and maintaining self-care in older people. However, little is known about information-seeking preference in relation to health literacy among older people. The aim of the present study was to understand the influence of health literacy on the information-seeking preference of older people. A total of 129 community-residing Korean older people completed a survey in 2016. The findings revealed that health literacy was a significant predictor of information-seeking preference in older people after controlling for demographic and illness variables. Our study highlights the important need to incorporate strategies to increase the desire for information seeking in older people, in addition to adopting communication strategies that address low health literacy. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Students' Understanding of Salt Dissolution: Visualizing Animation in the Chemistry Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malkoc, Ummuhan

The present study explored the effect of animation implementation in learning a chemistry topic. 135 high school students taking chemistry class were selected for this study (quasi-experimental groups = 67 and control groups = 68). Independent samples t-tests were run to compare animation and control groups between and within the schools. The over-arching finding of this research indicated that when science teachers used animations while teaching salt dissolution phenomena, students will benefit the application of animations. In addition, the findings informed the TPACK framework on the idea that visual tools are important in students' understanding of salt dissolution concepts.

Cassia fistula Linn: Potential candidate in the health management

PubMed Central

Rahmani, Arshad H.

2015-01-01

Cassia fistula Linn is known as Golden shower has therapeutics importance in health care since ancient times. Research findings over the last two decade have confirmed the therapeutics consequence of C. fistula in the health management via modulation of biological activities due to the rich source of antioxidant. Several findings based on the animal model have confirmed the pharmacologically safety and efficacy and have opened a new window for human health management. This review reveals additional information about C. fistula in the health management via in vivo and in vitro study which will be beneficial toward diseases control. PMID:26130932

A study of social information control affordances and gender difference in Facebook self-presentation.

PubMed

Kuo, Feng-Yang; Tseng, Chih-Yi; Tseng, Fan-Chuan; Lin, Cathy S

2013-09-01

Affordances refer to how interface features of an IT artifact, perceived by its users in terms of their potentials for action, may predict the intensity of usage. This study investigates three social information affordances for expressive information control, privacy information control, and image information control in Facebook. The results show that the three affordances can significantly explain how Facebook's interface designs facilitate users' self-presentation activities. In addition, the findings reveal that males are more engaged in expressing information than females, while females are more involved in privacy control than males. A practical application of our study is to compare and contrast the level of affordances offered by various social network sites (SNS) like Facebook and Twitter, as well as differences in online self-presentations across cultures. Our approach can therefore be useful to investigate how SNS design features can be tailored to specific gender and culture needs.

Web information retrieval based on ontology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jian

2013-03-01

The purpose of the Information Retrieval (IR) is to find a set of documents that are relevant for a specific information need of a user. Traditional Information Retrieval model commonly used in commercial search engine is based on keyword indexing system and Boolean logic queries. One big drawback of traditional information retrieval is that they typically retrieve information without an explicitly defined domain of interest to the users so that a lot of no relevance information returns to users, which burden the user to pick up useful answer from these no relevance results. In order to tackle this issue, many semantic web information retrieval models have been proposed recently. The main advantage of Semantic Web is to enhance search mechanisms with the use of Ontology's mechanisms. In this paper, we present our approach to personalize web search engine based on ontology. In addition, key techniques are also discussed in our paper. Compared to previous research, our works concentrate on the semantic similarity and the whole process including query submission and information annotation.

Intelligent Information Loss: The Coding of Facial Identity, Head Pose, and Non-Face Information in the Macaque Face Patch System

PubMed Central

Borzello, Mia; Freiwald, Winrich A.; Tsao, Doris

2015-01-01

Faces are a behaviorally important class of visual stimuli for primates. Recent work in macaque monkeys has identified six discrete face areas where most neurons have higher firing rates to images of faces compared with other objects (Tsao et al., 2006). While neurons in these areas appear to have different tuning (Freiwald and Tsao, 2010; Issa and DiCarlo, 2012), exactly what types of information and, consequently, which visual behaviors neural populations within each face area can support, is unknown. Here we use population decoding to better characterize three of these face patches (ML/MF, AL, and AM). We show that neural activity in all patches contains information that discriminates between the broad categories of face and nonface objects, individual faces, and nonface stimuli. Information is present in both high and lower firing rate regimes. However, there were significant differences between the patches, with the most anterior patch showing relatively weaker representation of nonface stimuli. Additionally, we find that pose-invariant face identity information increases as one moves to more anterior patches, while information about the orientation of the head decreases. Finally, we show that all the information we can extract from the population is present in patterns of activity across neurons, and there is relatively little information in the total activity of the population. These findings give new insight into the representations constructed by the face patch system and how they are successively transformed. PMID:25948258

Access to and use of research by rural nurses.

PubMed

Winters, C A; Lee, H J; Besel, J; Strand, A; Echeverri, R; Jorgensen, K P; Dea, J E

2007-01-01

The use of relevant research findings to inform clinical practice is important for nurses, regardless of setting. Although there have been studies addressing the use of research among various practitioners, little is known about how nurses in rural areas access health information (specifically research findings), nor how such findings are incorporated into daily practice. The purpose of this study was to explore rural nurses' access, use and perceived usefulness of research for rural practice. The study was conducted in a sparsely populated state located in the western part of the USA. An ethnographic method was chosen to answer the research questions for this descriptive study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 rural nurses from nine communities by graduate nursing students enrolled in a rural nursing course following in-class instruction and practice. Field notes taken by the students supplemented the interview data. The students' notes included a windshield survey or description of the context and location within which the participants lived and/or practiced as well as the interviewers' observations, thoughts and impressions about the research project. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Once transcribed, the interview narratives, windshield data and field notes were analyzed by the students for common themes; the students then wrote and submitted papers to the faculty addressing the themes that emerged from their interviews. The analysis conducted by the faculty members included four sources of data: transcriptions of interviews; field notes; windshield data; and students' papers. The process of identifying themes was facilitated by using the software program NUD*IST (QSR International; Melbourne, VIC, Australia). Demographic information was entered into the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS Inc; Chicago, IL, USA) to compile descriptive information about the sample. Twenty-seven female and two male nurses participated in the study. The nurses' ages ranged from 31-72 years and their experience in nursing spanned 3-50 years with a range of 1 to 35 years in rural nursing. The interviews revealed that most of the nurses used the term 'research' to mean 'gathering information'. When asked how often they used 'research' the responses ranged from 2-3 times per day to 2-3 times per month. The preferred means of obtaining information was asking a colleague. Additional resources included work-place journals, books, in-services, conferences and the internet. Twenty-three of the nurses reported having internet access at work; 25 had internet access at home. Supportive supervisors and articles in general nursing journals were identified as helpful. Barriers to using research included: lack of knowledge of research methods; lack of time at work or at home to look up information; and the lack of computers and internet access on the nursing units. When computers were available, the nurses reported that poor computer literacy decreased their ability to quickly find and evaluate information. Additional barriers included diminishing financial support from employers and the long travel distances required to attend conferences. The nurses reported finding little clinical research specifically related to rural practice. Education and mentorship is needed about how to evaluate the types and strength of evidence, access research using the internet, interpret findings, and incorporate evidence in clinical practice. Interventions that foster the appreciation and use of research by staff nurses and managers are needed in order to build an evidence based culture. Research is needed, specifically as related to rural clinical practice.

Work Stress and Altered Biomarkers: A Synthesis of Findings Based on the Effort–Reward Imbalance Model

PubMed Central

Siegrist, Johannes; Li, Jian

2017-01-01

While epidemiological studies provide statistical evidence on associations of exposures such as stressful work with elevated risks of stress-related disorders (e.g., coronary heart disease or depression), additional information on biological pathways and biomarkers underlying these associations is required. In this contribution, we summarize the current state of the art on research findings linking stressful work, in terms of an established theoretical model—effort-reward imbalance—with a broad range of biomarkers. Based on structured electronic literature search and recent available systematic reviews, our synthesis of findings indicates that associations of work stress with heart rate variability, altered blood lipids, and risk of metabolic syndrome are rather consistent and robust. Significant relationships with blood pressure, heart rate, altered immune function and inflammation, cortisol release, and haemostatic biomarkers were also observed, but due to conflicting findings additional data will be needed to reach a firm conclusion. This narrative review of empirical evidence supports the argument that the biomarkers under study can act as mediators of epidemiologically established associations of work stress, as measured by effort–reward imbalance, with incident stress-related disorders. PMID:29125555

Government regulation and public opposition create high additional costs for field trials with GM crops in Switzerland.

PubMed

Bernauer, Thomas; Tribaldos, Theresa; Luginbühl, Carolin; Winzeler, Michael

2011-12-01

Field trials with GM crops are not only plant science experiments. They are also social experiments concerning the implications of government imposed regulatory constraints and public opposition for scientific activity. We assess these implications by estimating additional costs due to government regulation and public opposition in a recent set of field trials in Switzerland. We find that for every Euro spent on research, an additional 78 cents were spent on security, an additional 31 cents on biosafety, and an additional 17 cents on government regulatory supervision. Hence the total additional spending due to government regulation and public opposition was around 1.26 Euros for every Euro spent on the research per se. These estimates are conservative; they do not include additional costs that are hard to monetize (e.g. stakeholder information and dialogue activities, involvement of various government agencies). We conclude that further field experiments with GM crops in Switzerland are unlikely unless protected sites are set up to reduce these additional costs.

Predicting Gene Structures from Multiple RT-PCR Tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kováč, Jakub; Vinař, Tomáš; Brejová, Broňa

It has been demonstrated that the use of additional information such as ESTs and protein homology can significantly improve accuracy of gene prediction. However, many sources of external information are still being omitted from consideration. Here, we investigate the use of product lengths from RT-PCR experiments in gene finding. We present hardness results and practical algorithms for several variants of the problem and apply our methods to a real RT-PCR data set in the Drosophila genome. We conclude that the use of RT-PCR data can improve the sensitivity of gene prediction and locate novel splicing variants.

NASA Taxonomy 2.0 Project Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dutra, Jayne; Busch, Joseph

2004-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the project to develop a Taxonomy for NASA. The benefits of this project are: Make it easy for various audiences to find relevant information from NASA programs quickly, specifically (1) Provide easy access for NASA Web resources (2) Information integration for unified queries and management reporting ve search results targeted to user interests the ability to move content through the enterprise to where it is needed most (3) Facilitate Records Management and Retention Requirements. In addition the project will assist NASA in complying with E-Government Act of 2002 and prepare NASA to participate in federal projects.

Human factors considerations for the use of color in display systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Demars, S. A.

1975-01-01

Identified and assessed are those human factor considerations impacting an operator's ability to perform when information is displayed in color as contrasted to monochrome (black and white only). The findings provide valuable guidelines for the assessment of the advantages (and disadvantages) of using a color display system. The use of color provides an additional sensory channel (color perception) which is not available with black and white. The degree to which one can exploit the use of this channel is highly dependent on available display technology, mission information display requirements, and acceptable operational modes.

The value of the first trimester ultrasound in the era of cell free DNA screening.

PubMed

Rao, Rashmi R; Valderramos, Stephanie G; Silverman, Neil S; Han, Christina S; Platt, Lawrence D

2016-12-01

To describe the clinically relevant findings detected by the first trimester ultrasound (FTU) and to determine the additional value of the FTU compared to cell free DNA (cfDNA) alone. Retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing a FTU at a maternal-fetal medicine referral practice. Fetal, gynecologic, and placental findings detected by ultrasound were analyzed with available cfDNA and diagnostic testing results. A subgroup analysis of positive ultrasound findings and cfDNA results was performed to assess the additional benefit of ultrasound evaluation in FT prenatal screening. There were 1906 FTU between 1 October 2013 and 1 October 2014. CfDNA results were available for 959 (50%) patients. FTU detected: 42 fetal (2.2%), 286 gynecologic (15.0%), and 317 placental (16.6%) findings. CfDNA results were discordant with invasive testing results in 8/61 cases (13%) and with ultrasound findings in 18/42 (42%) cases. There were six false positive and two false negative cfDNA results confirmed by diagnostic testing. Subgroup analysis revealed that cfDNA as the sole method of prenatal screening in the FT would miss 95% of the fetal findings detected with ultrasound. The comprehensive FTU provides valuable clinical information about fetal and maternal anatomy that cannot be detected with cfDNA alone. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Formatting modifications in GRADE evidence profiles improved guideline panelists comprehension and accessibility to information. A randomized trial.

PubMed

Vandvik, Per Olav; Santesso, Nancy; Akl, Elie A; You, John; Mulla, Sohail; Spencer, Frederick A; Johnston, Bradley C; Brozek, Jan; Kreis, Julia; Brandt, Linn; Zhou, Qi; Schünemann, Holger J; Guyatt, Gordon

2012-07-01

To determine the effects of formatting alternatives in Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) evidence profiles on guideline panelists' preferences, comprehension, and accessibility. We randomized 116 antithrombotic therapy guideline panelists to review one of two table formats with four formatting alternatives. After answering relevant questions, panelists reviewed the other format and reported their preferences for specific formatting alternatives. Panelists (88 of 116 invited [76%]) preferred presentation of study event rates over no study event rates (median 1 [interquartile range (IQR) 1] on 1-7 scale), absolute risk differences over absolute risks (median 2 [IQR 3]), and additional information in table cells over footnotes (median 1 [IQR 2]). Panelists presented with time frame information in the tables, and not only in footnotes, were more likely to correctly answer questions regarding time frame (58% vs. 11%, P<0.0001), and those presented with risk differences and not absolute risks were more likely to correctly interpret confidence intervals for absolute effects (95% vs. 54%, P<0.0001). Information was considered easy to find, easy to comprehend, and helpful in making recommendations regardless of table format (median 6, IQR 0-1). Panelists found information in GRADE evidence profiles accessible. Correct comprehension of some key information was improved by providing additional information in table and presenting risk differences. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) Evaluation: Results of Supplemental Analyses Conducted in the Contract Extension Period.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carriere, Ronald A.; And Others

This report focuses on a set of supplemental analyses that were performed on portions of the Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) evaluation data. The goal of these analyses was to explore additional relationships in the data that might help to inform program policy, to confirm and/or further explicate some of the findings reported earlier, and to put…

The early emergence and puzzling decline of relational reasoning: Effects of knowledge and search on inferring abstract concepts.

PubMed

Walker, Caren M; Bridgers, Sophie; Gopnik, Alison

2016-11-01

We explore the developmental trajectory and underlying mechanisms of abstract relational reasoning. We describe a surprising developmental pattern: Younger learners are better than older ones at inferring abstract causal relations. Walker and Gopnik (2014) demonstrated that toddlers are able to infer that an effect was caused by a relation between two objects (whether they are the same or different), rather than by individual kinds of objects. While these findings are consistent with evidence that infants recognize same-different relations, they contrast with a large literature suggesting that older children tend to have difficulty inferring these relations. Why might this be? In Experiment 1a, we demonstrate that while younger children (18-30-month-olds) have no difficulty learning these relational concepts, older children (36-48-month-olds) fail to draw this abstract inference. Experiment 1b replicates the finding with 18-30-month-olds using a more demanding intervention task. Experiment 2 tests whether this difference in performance might be because older children have developed the general hypothesis that individual kinds of objects are causal - the high initial probability of this alternative hypothesis might override the data that favors the relational hypothesis. Providing additional information falsifying the alternative hypothesis improves older children's performance. Finally, Experiment 3 demonstrates that prompting for explanations during learning also improves performance, even without any additional information. These findings are discussed in light of recent computational and algorithmic theories of learning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cosmology with photometric weak lensing surveys: Constraints with redshift tomography of convergence peaks and moments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petri, Andrea; May, Morgan; Haiman, Zoltán

2016-09-01

Weak gravitational lensing is becoming a mature technique for constraining cosmological parameters, and future surveys will be able to constrain the dark energy equation of state w . When analyzing galaxy surveys, redshift information has proven to be a valuable addition to angular shear correlations. We forecast parameter constraints on the triplet (Ωm,w ,σ8) for a LSST-like photometric galaxy survey, using tomography of the shear-shear power spectrum, convergence peak counts and higher convergence moments. We find that redshift tomography with the power spectrum reduces the area of the 1 σ confidence interval in (Ωm,w ) space by a factor of 8 with respect to the case of the single highest redshift bin. We also find that adding non-Gaussian information from the peak counts and higher-order moments of the convergence field and its spatial derivatives further reduces the constrained area in (Ωm,w ) by factors of 3 and 4, respectively. When we add cosmic microwave background parameter priors from Planck to our analysis, tomography improves power spectrum constraints by a factor of 3. Adding moments yields an improvement by an additional factor of 2, and adding both moments and peaks improves by almost a factor of 3 over power spectrum tomography alone. We evaluate the effect of uncorrected systematic photometric redshift errors on the parameter constraints. We find that different statistics lead to different bias directions in parameter space, suggesting the possibility of eliminating this bias via self-calibration.

Improving photometric redshift estimation using GPZ: size information, post processing, and improved photometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gomes, Zahra; Jarvis, Matt J.; Almosallam, Ibrahim A.; Roberts, Stephen J.

2018-03-01

The next generation of large-scale imaging surveys (such as those conducted with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and Euclid) will require accurate photometric redshifts in order to optimally extract cosmological information. Gaussian Process for photometric redshift estimation (GPZ) is a promising new method that has been proven to provide efficient, accurate photometric redshift estimations with reliable variance predictions. In this paper, we investigate a number of methods for improving the photometric redshift estimations obtained using GPZ (but which are also applicable to others). We use spectroscopy from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly Data Release 2 with a limiting magnitude of r < 19.4 along with corresponding Sloan Digital Sky Survey visible (ugriz) photometry and the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey Large Area Survey near-IR (YJHK) photometry. We evaluate the effects of adding near-IR magnitudes and angular size as features for the training, validation, and testing of GPZ and find that these improve the accuracy of the results by ˜15-20 per cent. In addition, we explore a post-processing method of shifting the probability distributions of the estimated redshifts based on their Quantile-Quantile plots and find that it improves the bias by ˜40 per cent. Finally, we investigate the effects of using more precise photometry obtained from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program Data Release 1 and find that it produces significant improvements in accuracy, similar to the effect of including additional features.

Improving information retrieval with multiple health terminologies in a quality-controlled gateway.

PubMed

Soualmia, Lina F; Sakji, Saoussen; Letord, Catherine; Rollin, Laetitia; Massari, Philippe; Darmoni, Stéfan J

2013-01-01

The Catalog and Index of French-language Health Internet resources (CISMeF) is a quality-controlled health gateway, primarily for Web resources in French (n=89,751). Recently, we achieved a major improvement in the structure of the catalogue by setting-up multiple terminologies, based on twelve health terminologies available in French, to overcome the potential weakness of the MeSH thesaurus, which is the main and pivotal terminology we use for indexing and retrieval since 1995. The main aim of this study was to estimate the added-value of exploiting several terminologies and their semantic relationships to improve Web resource indexing and retrieval in CISMeF, in order to provide additional health resources which meet the users' expectations. Twelve terminologies were integrated into the CISMeF information system to set up multiple-terminologies indexing and retrieval. The same sets of thirty queries were run: (i) by exploiting the hierarchical structure of the MeSH, and (ii) by exploiting the additional twelve terminologies and their semantic links. The two search modes were evaluated and compared. The overall coverage of the multiple-terminologies search mode was improved by comparison to the coverage of using the MeSH (16,283 vs. 14,159) (+15%). These additional findings were estimated at 56.6% relevant results, 24.7% intermediate results and 18.7% irrelevant. The multiple-terminologies approach improved information retrieval. These results suggest that integrating additional health terminologies was able to improve recall. Since performing the study, 21 other terminologies have been added which should enable us to make broader studies in multiple-terminologies information retrieval.

Optimising Extinction of Conditioned Disgust.

PubMed

Bosman, Renske C; Borg, Charmaine; de Jong, Peter J

2016-01-01

Maladaptive disgust responses are tenacious and resistant to exposure-based interventions. In a similar vein, laboratory studies have shown that conditioned disgust is relatively insensitive to Conditioned Stimulus (CS)-only extinction procedures. The relatively strong resistance to extinction might be explained by disgust's adaptive function to motivate avoidance from contamination threats (pathogens) that cannot be readily detected and are invisible to the naked eye. Therefore, the mere visual presentation of unreinforced disgust eliciting stimuli might not be sufficient to correct a previously acquired threat value of the CS+. Following this, the current study tested whether the efficacy of CS-only exposure can be improved by providing additional safety information about the CS+. For the CSs we included two neutral items a pea soup and a sausage roll, whereas for the Unconditioned Stimulus (US) we used one video clip of a woman vomiting and a neutral one about glass blowing. The additional safety information was conveyed by allowing actual contact with the CS+ or by observing an actress eating the food items representing the CS+. When additional safety information was provided via allowing direct contact with the CS+, there was a relatively strong post-extinction increase in participants' willingness-to-eat the CS+. This beneficial effect was still evident at one-week follow up. Also self-reported disgust was lower at one-week follow up when additional safety information was provided. The current findings help explain why disgust is relatively insensitive to CS-only extinction procedures, and provide helpful starting points to improve interventions that are aimed to reduce distress in disgust-related psychopathology.

Intimate partner violence: a review of online interventions.

PubMed

Rempel, Ebony; Donelle, Lorie; Hall, Jodi; Rodger, Susan

2018-03-14

Violence against women (VAW) is a global social issue affecting health, social, and legal systems. VAW contributes to the inequities with respect to the social determinants of health that many women face today. The onus on self-care in the face of violence remains almost singularly with the victims. Access to information and services in support of women's health and safety is fundamental. However, research gaps exist regarding how women access health information across all stages of an abusive intimate relationship. Given the ubiquity of online access to information, the purpose of this scoping review was to provide an overview of online interventions available to women within the context of intimate partner violence (IPV). Research literature published between 2000 and 2016, inclusive, was reviewed: 11 interventions were identified. Findings suggest that online interventions focused on the act of leaving with less emphasis on the experiences that occur after a woman has left the relationship. In addition, the online interventions concentrated on the individual capacity of the survivor to leave an abusive relationship and demonstrated limited understanding of IPV in relation to the broader social-contextual factors. Findings from this research highlight information gaps for women who require significant support after leaving an abusive relationship.

Improving the Transparency of IAEA Safeguards Reporting

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

Toomey, Christopher; Hayman, Aaron M.; Wyse, Evan T.

2011-07-17

In 2008, the Standing Advisory Group on Safeguards Implementation (SAGSI) indicated that the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Safeguards Implementation Report (SIR) has not kept pace with the evolution of safeguards and provided the IAEA with a set of recommendations for improvement. The SIR is the primary mechanism for providing an overview of safeguards implementation in a given year and reporting on the annual safeguards findings and conclusions drawn by the Secretariat. As the IAEA transitions to State-level safeguards approaches, SIR reporting must adapt to reflect these evolutionary changes. This evolved report will better reflect the IAEA's transition to amore » more qualitative and information-driven approach, based upon State-as-a-whole considerations. This paper applies SAGSI's recommendations to the development of multiple models for an evolved SIR and finds that an SIR repurposed as a 'safeguards portal' could significantly enhance information delivery, clarity, and transparency. In addition, this paper finds that the 'portal concept' also appears to have value as a standardized information presentation and analysis platform for use by Country Officers, for continuity of knowledge purposes, and the IAEA Secretariat in the safeguards conclusion process. Accompanying this paper is a fully functional prototype of the 'portal' concept, built using commercial software and IAEA Annual Report data.« less

Human observers are biased in judging the angular approach of a projectile.

PubMed

Welchman, Andrew E; Tuck, Val L; Harris, Julie M

2004-01-01

How do we decide whether an object approaching us will hit us? The optic array provides information sufficient for us to determine the approaching trajectory of a projectile. However, when using binocular information, observers report that trajectories near the mid-sagittal plane are wider than they actually are. Here we extend this work to consider stimuli containing additional depth cues. We measure observers' estimates of trajectory direction first for computer rendered, stereoscopically presented, rich-cue objects, and then for real objects moving in the world. We find that, under both rich cue conditions and with real moving objects, observers show positive bias, overestimating the angle of approach when movement is near the mid-sagittal plane. The findings question whether the visual system, using both binocular and monocular cues to depth, can make explicit estimates of the 3-D location and movement of objects in depth.

Applications of Technology in Neuropsychological Assessment

PubMed Central

Parsey, Carolyn M.; Schmitter-Edgecombe, Maureen

2013-01-01

Most neuropsychological assessments include at least one measure that is administered, scored, or interpreted by computers or other technologies. Despite supportive findings for these technology-based assessments, there is resistance in the field of neuropsychology to adopt additional measures that incorporate technology components. This literature review addresses the research findings of technology-based neuropsychological assessments, including computer-, and virtual reality-based measures of cognitive and functional abilities. We evaluate the strengths and limitations of each approach, and examine the utility of technology-based assessments to obtain supplemental cognitive and behavioral information that may be otherwise undetected by traditional paper and pencil measures. We argue that the potential of technology use in neuropsychological assessment has not yet been realized, and continued adoption of new technologies could result in more comprehensive assessment of cognitive dysfunction and in turn, better informed diagnosis and treatments. Recommendations for future research are also provided. PMID:24041037

Assessment of Health Effects of Exogenous Urea: Summary and Key Findings.

PubMed

Dickerson, Aisha S; Lee, Janice S; Keshava, Channa; Hotchkiss, Andrew; Persad, Amanda S

2018-05-01

Urea has been utilized as a reductant in diesel fuels to lower emission of nitrogen oxides, igniting interest in probable human health hazards associated with exposure to exogenous urea. Here, we summarize and update key findings on potential health effects of exogenous urea, including carcinogenicity. No definitive target organs for oral exposure were identified; however, results in animal studies suggest that the liver and kidney could be potential target organs of urea toxicity. The available human-subject literature suggests that the impact on lung function is minimal. Based on the literature on exogenous urea, we concluded that there was inadequate information to assess the carcinogenic potential of urea, or perform a quantitative assessment to derive reference values. Given the limited information on exogenous urea, additional research to address gaps for exogenous urea should include long-term cancer bioassays, two-generation reproductive toxicity studies, and mode-of-action investigations.

Applications of technology in neuropsychological assessment.

PubMed

Parsey, Carolyn M; Schmitter-Edgecombe, Maureen

2013-01-01

Most neuropsychological assessments include at least one measure that is administered, scored, or interpreted by computers or other technologies. Despite supportive findings for these technology-based assessments, there is resistance in the field of neuropsychology to adopt additional measures that incorporate technology components. This literature review addresses the research findings of technology-based neuropsychological assessments, including computer- and virtual reality-based measures of cognitive and functional abilities. We evaluate the strengths and limitations of each approach, and examine the utility of technology-based assessments to obtain supplemental cognitive and behavioral information that may be otherwise undetected by traditional paper-and-pencil measures. We argue that the potential of technology use in neuropsychological assessment has not yet been realized, and continued adoption of new technologies could result in more comprehensive assessment of cognitive dysfunction and in turn, better informed diagnosis and treatments. Recommendations for future research are also provided.

Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Few issues in higher education are as fundamental as the ability to search for, evaluate, and synthesize information. The need to develop information literacy, the process of finding, retrieving, organizing, and evaluating the ever-expanding collection of online information, has precipitated the need for training in skill-based competencies in higher education, as well as medical and dental education. Methods The current study evaluated the information literacy skills of first-year dental students, consisting of two, consecutive dental student cohorts (n = 160). An assignment designed to evaluate information literacy skills was conducted. In addition, a survey of student online search engine or database preferences was conducted to identify any significant associations. Subsequently, an intervention was developed, based upon the results of the assessment and survey, to address any deficiencies in information literacy. Results Nearly half of students (n = 70/160 or 43%) missed one or more question components that required finding an evidence-based citation. Analysis of the survey revealed a significantly higher percentage of students who provided incorrect responses (n = 53/70 or 75.7%) reported using Google as their preferred online search method (p < 0.01). In contrast, a significantly higher percentage of students who reported using PubMed (n = 39/45 or 86.7%) were able to provide correct responses (p < 0.01). Following a one-hour intervention by a health science librarian, virtually all students were able to find and retrieve evidence-based materials for subsequent coursework. Conclusions This study confirmed that information literacy among this student population was lacking and that integration of modules within the curriculum can help students to filter and establish the quality of online information, a critical component in the training of new health care professionals. Furthermore, incorporation of these modules early in the curriculum may be of significant value to other dental, medical, health care, and professional schools with similar goals of incorporating the evidence base into teaching and learning activities. PMID:21518448

Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum.

PubMed

Kingsley, Karl; Galbraith, Gillian M; Herring, Matthew; Stowers, Eva; Stewart, Tanis; Kingsley, Karla V

2011-04-25

Few issues in higher education are as fundamental as the ability to search for, evaluate, and synthesize information. The need to develop information literacy, the process of finding, retrieving, organizing, and evaluating the ever-expanding collection of online information, has precipitated the need for training in skill-based competencies in higher education, as well as medical and dental education. The current study evaluated the information literacy skills of first-year dental students, consisting of two, consecutive dental student cohorts (n = 160). An assignment designed to evaluate information literacy skills was conducted. In addition, a survey of student online search engine or database preferences was conducted to identify any significant associations. Subsequently, an intervention was developed, based upon the results of the assessment and survey, to address any deficiencies in information literacy. Nearly half of students (n = 70/160 or 43%) missed one or more question components that required finding an evidence-based citation. Analysis of the survey revealed a significantly higher percentage of students who provided incorrect responses (n = 53/70 or 75.7%) reported using Google as their preferred online search method (p < 0.01). In contrast, a significantly higher percentage of students who reported using PubMed (n = 39/45 or 86.7%) were able to provide correct responses (p < 0.01). Following a one-hour intervention by a health science librarian, virtually all students were able to find and retrieve evidence-based materials for subsequent coursework. This study confirmed that information literacy among this student population was lacking and that integration of modules within the curriculum can help students to filter and establish the quality of online information, a critical component in the training of new health care professionals. Furthermore, incorporation of these modules early in the curriculum may be of significant value to other dental, medical, health care, and professional schools with similar goals of incorporating the evidence base into teaching and learning activities.

The structural, connectomic and network covariance of the human brain.

PubMed

Irimia, Andrei; Van Horn, John D

2013-02-01

Though it is widely appreciated that complex structural, functional and morphological relationships exist between distinct areas of the human cerebral cortex, the extent to which such relationships coincide remains insufficiently appreciated. Here we determine the extent to which correlations between brain regions are modulated by either structural, connectomic or network-theoretic properties using a structural neuroimaging data set of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) volumes acquired from N=110 healthy human adults. To identify the linear relationships between all available pairs of regions, we use canonical correlation analysis to test whether a statistically significant correlation exists between each pair of cortical parcels as quantified via structural, connectomic or network-theoretic measures. In addition to this, we investigate (1) how each group of canonical variables (whether structural, connectomic or network-theoretic) contributes to the overall correlation and, additionally, (2) whether each individual variable makes a significant contribution to the test of the omnibus null hypothesis according to which no correlation between regions exists across subjects. We find that, although region-to-region correlations are extensively modulated by structural and connectomic measures, there are appreciable differences in how these two groups of measures drive inter-regional correlation patterns. Additionally, our results indicate that the network-theoretic properties of the cortex are strong modulators of region-to-region covariance. Our findings are useful for understanding the structural and connectomic relationship between various parts of the brain, and can inform theoretical and computational models of cortical information processing. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Memory retrieval of everyday information under stress.

PubMed

Stock, Lisa-Marie; Merz, Christian J

2018-07-01

Psychosocial stress is known to crucially influence learning and memory processes. Several studies have already shown an impairing effect of elevated cortisol concentrations on memory retrieval. These studies mainly used learning material consisting of stimuli with a limited ecological validity. When using material with a social contextual component or with educational relevant material both impairing and enhancing stress effects on memory retrieval could be observed. In line with these latter studies, the present experiment also used material with a higher ecological validity (a coherent text consisting of daily relevant numeric, figural and verbal information). After encoding, retrieval took place 24 h later after exposure to psychosocial stress or a control procedure (20 healthy men per group). The stress group was further subdivided into cortisol responders and non-responders. Results showed a significantly impaired retrieval of everyday information in non-responders compared to responders and controls. Altogether, the present findings indicate the need of an appropriate cortisol response for the successful memory retrieval of everyday information. Thus, the present findings suggest that cortisol increases - contrary to a stressful experience per se - seem to play a protective role for retrieving everyday information. Additionally, it could be speculated that the previously reported impairing stress effects on memory retrieval might depend on the used learning material. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fluctuations in Wikipedia access-rate and edit-event data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kämpf, Mirko; Tismer, Sebastian; Kantelhardt, Jan W.; Muchnik, Lev

2012-12-01

Internet-based social networks often reflect extreme events in nature and society by drastic increases in user activity. We study and compare the dynamics of the two major complex processes necessary for information spread via the online encyclopedia ‘Wikipedia’, i.e., article editing (information upload) and article access (information viewing) based on article edit-event time series and (hourly) user access-rate time series for all articles. Daily and weekly activity patterns occur in addition to fluctuations and bursting activity. The bursts (i.e., significant increases in activity for an extended period of time) are characterized by a power-law distribution of durations of increases and decreases. For describing the recurrence and clustering of bursts we investigate the statistics of the return intervals between them. We find stretched exponential distributions of return intervals in access-rate time series, while edit-event time series yield simple exponential distributions. To characterize the fluctuation behavior we apply detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), finding that most article access-rate time series are characterized by strong long-term correlations with fluctuation exponents α≈0.9. The results indicate significant differences in the dynamics of information upload and access and help in understanding the complex process of collecting, processing, validating, and distributing information in self-organized social networks.

An information-motivation-behavioral skills (IMB) model-based intervention for CABG patients.

PubMed

Zarani, Fariba; Besharat, Mohammad Ali; Sarami, Gholamreza; Sadeghian, Saeed

2012-12-01

In order to benefit from a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, patients must adhere to medical recommendations and health advices. Despite the importance of adherence in CABG patients, adherence rates are disappointingly low. Despite the low adherence rates, very few articles regarding adherence-enhancing intervention among heart patients have been published. The goal of this study was to assess the effects of the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model-based intervention on the IMB model constructs among patients undergoing CABG and to evaluate the relationship of information, motivation, and behavioral skills with adherence. A total of 152 CABG patients were randomly assigned to either an intervention group or to a standard care control group. Participants completed pretest measures and were reassessed 1 month later. Findings showed mixed support for the effectiveness of the intervention. There was a significant effect of IMB intervention on information and motivation of patients, but no significant effect on behavioral skills. Furthermore, the results revealed that intervention constructs (information, motivation, and behavioral skills) were significantly related to patients' adherence. Findings provided initial evidence for the effectiveness of IMB-based interventions on the IMB constructs and supported the importance of these constructs to improve adherence; however, there are additional factors that need to be identified in order to improve behavioral skills more effectively.

The imprint of f(R) gravity on weak gravitational lensing - II. Information content in cosmic shear statistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirasaki, Masato; Nishimichi, Takahiro; Li, Baojiu; Higuchi, Yuichi

2017-04-01

We investigate the information content of various cosmic shear statistics on the theory of gravity. Focusing on the Hu-Sawicki-type f(R) model, we perform a set of ray-tracing simulations and measure the convergence bispectrum, peak counts and Minkowski functionals. We first show that while the convergence power spectrum does have sensitivity to the current value of extra scalar degree of freedom |fR0|, it is largely compensated by a change in the present density amplitude parameter σ8 and the matter density parameter Ωm0. With accurate covariance matrices obtained from 1000 lensing simulations, we then examine the constraining power of the three additional statistics. We find that these probes are indeed helpful to break the parameter degeneracy, which cannot be resolved from the power spectrum alone. We show that especially the peak counts and Minkowski functionals have the potential to rigorously (marginally) detect the signature of modified gravity with the parameter |fR0| as small as 10-5 (10-6) if we can properly model them on small (˜1 arcmin) scale in a future survey with a sky coverage of 1500 deg2. We also show that the signal level is similar among the additional three statistics and all of them provide complementary information to the power spectrum. These findings indicate the importance of combining multiple probes beyond the standard power spectrum analysis to detect possible modifications to general relativity.

What is bioinformatics? A proposed definition and overview of the field.

PubMed

Luscombe, N M; Greenbaum, D; Gerstein, M

2001-01-01

The recent flood of data from genome sequences and functional genomics has given rise to new field, bioinformatics, which combines elements of biology and computer science. Here we propose a definition for this new field and review some of the research that is being pursued, particularly in relation to transcriptional regulatory systems. Our definition is as follows: Bioinformatics is conceptualizing biology in terms of macromolecules (in the sense of physical-chemistry) and then applying "informatics" techniques (derived from disciplines such as applied maths, computer science, and statistics) to understand and organize the information associated with these molecules, on a large-scale. Analyses in bioinformatics predominantly focus on three types of large datasets available in molecular biology: macromolecular structures, genome sequences, and the results of functional genomics experiments (e.g. expression data). Additional information includes the text of scientific papers and "relationship data" from metabolic pathways, taxonomy trees, and protein-protein interaction networks. Bioinformatics employs a wide range of computational techniques including sequence and structural alignment, database design and data mining, macromolecular geometry, phylogenetic tree construction, prediction of protein structure and function, gene finding, and expression data clustering. The emphasis is on approaches integrating a variety of computational methods and heterogeneous data sources. Finally, bioinformatics is a practical discipline. We survey some representative applications, such as finding homologues, designing drugs, and performing large-scale censuses. Additional information pertinent to the review is available over the web at http://bioinfo.mbb.yale.edu/what-is-it.

Worsening respiratory function in mechanically ventilated intensive care patients: feasibility and value of xenon-enhanced dual energy CT.

PubMed

Hoegl, Sandra; Meinel, Felix G; Thieme, Sven F; Johnson, Thorsten R C; Eickelberg, Oliver; Zwissler, Bernhard; Nikolaou, Konstantin

2013-03-01

To evaluate the feasibility and incremental diagnostic value of xenon-enhanced dual-energy CT in mechanically ventilated intensive care patients with worsening respiratory function. The study was performed in 13 mechanically ventilated patients with severe pulmonary conditions (acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), n=5; status post lung transplantation, n=5; other, n=3) and declining respiratory function. CT scans were performed using a dual-source CT scanner at an expiratory xenon concentration of 30%. Both ventilation images (Xe-DECT) and standard CT images were reconstructed from a single CT scan. Findings were recorded for Xe-DECT and standard CT images separately. Ventilation defects on xenon images were matched to morphological findings on standard CT images and incremental diagnostic information of xenon ventilation images was recorded if present. Mean xenon consumption was 2.95 l per patient. No adverse events occurred under xenon inhalation. In the visual CT analysis, the Xe-DECT ventilation defects matched with pathologic changes in lung parenchyma seen in the standard CT images in all patients. Xe-DECT provided additional diagnostic findings in 4/13 patients. These included preserved ventilation despite early pneumonia (n=1), more confident discrimination between a large bulla and pneumothorax (n=1), detection of an airway-to-pneumothorax fistula (n=1) and exclusion of a suspected airway-to-mediastinum fistula (n=1). In all 4 patients, the additional findings had a substantial impact on patients' management. Xenon-enhanced DECT is safely feasible and can add relevant diagnostic information in mechanically ventilated intensive care patients with worsening respiratory function. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Sexual behavior and sources of information about sex among male adolescents: An 8-year follow-up].

PubMed

Korkmaz Cetin, Saniye; Bildik, Tezan; Erermiş, Serpil; Demiral, Nagehan; Ozbaran, Burcu; Tamar, Müge; Aydin, Cahide

2008-01-01

This study aimed to determine the changes over time in sexual attitude and behavior among adolescents, and to measure the effect of sources information about sex on these changes. This study was conducted in 2 stages, the first in 1996 and the second in 2004. In all, 392 male tenth grade students (150 in the first stage and 242 in the second stage) were evaluated. A personal information questionnaire developed by the authors was used to collect sociodemographic data, including sexual behavior, sexual attitude, and sources of information about sex. The findings show that there was a significant increase in intercourse and flirting behavior from 1996 to 2004, although no significant difference in masturbation was observed. Additionally, the number of male adolescents that reported family and pornographic films as their sources of information about sex increased 1.6-fold and 2.9-fold, respectively. A significant relationship between watching pornographic films and engaging in sexual intercourse was noted. The number of male adolescents age mean 16, engaging in sexual intercourse increased between 1996 and 2004. Pornographic films were observed to be the most common source of information about sex and also predicted the probability of adolescents having sex. Findings that indicate the need for better and more accurate sources of information about sex. The availability of good quality information about sex is critical to the development of the sexual identity and mental health of male adolescents.

Listen to the public and fulfil their information interests - translating vaccine communication research findings into guidance for regulators.

PubMed

Bahri, Priya; Castillon Melero, Mireia

2018-03-24

Regulatory authorities have a crucial role in communicating about the vaccines they license. In terms of content and timing, their communication to the public is usually driven by data on quality, safety and efficacy. However, concerns over safety and vaccine hesitancy have emerged in some communities in various countries, and this demands a new approach to communication, starting with listening to the public debate. Reviewing communication research findings, coming in particular from the cognitive, decision-making and media sciences, constitutes one mechanism of listening and has led the European Union (EU) regulatory network to developing guidance about which common concerns and information needs of the public to address through proactive and prepared communication. The guidance has been welcomed by EU and international fora. The current article summarizes the recommendations and shares the underlying research findings, as well as a proof of concept that communication research can be valuable for regulators. It is critical that regulators integrate the communication process with product risk assessment in the framework of pharmacovigilance, to ensure that public concerns are addressed in the assessments and that information about evidence and uncertainty relating to safety is provided to the public and vaccination policy makers in a specific, clear and accurate manner. Additionally, information from regulatory authorities should support healthcare professionals in their communication with patients. Meeting the information interests of the public is the principal prerequisite for informed decisions as well as safe and effective use of vaccines and medicines overall. This is also fundamental for trust in the authorities' commitment to patient and population health. © 2018 The Authors. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Pharmacological Society.

Evaluating bacterial gene-finding HMM structures as probabilistic logic programs.

PubMed

Mørk, Søren; Holmes, Ian

2012-03-01

Probabilistic logic programming offers a powerful way to describe and evaluate structured statistical models. To investigate the practicality of probabilistic logic programming for structure learning in bioinformatics, we undertook a simplified bacterial gene-finding benchmark in PRISM, a probabilistic dialect of Prolog. We evaluate Hidden Markov Model structures for bacterial protein-coding gene potential, including a simple null model structure, three structures based on existing bacterial gene finders and two novel model structures. We test standard versions as well as ADPH length modeling and three-state versions of the five model structures. The models are all represented as probabilistic logic programs and evaluated using the PRISM machine learning system in terms of statistical information criteria and gene-finding prediction accuracy, in two bacterial genomes. Neither of our implementations of the two currently most used model structures are best performing in terms of statistical information criteria or prediction performances, suggesting that better-fitting models might be achievable. The source code of all PRISM models, data and additional scripts are freely available for download at: http://github.com/somork/codonhmm. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Hard-to-reach? Using health access status as a way to more effectively target segments of the Latino audience.

PubMed

Wilkin, Holley A; Ball-Rokeach, Sandra J

2011-04-01

Health issues disproportionately affect Latinos, but variations within this ethnic group may mean that some Latinos are harder to reach with health messages than others. This paper introduces a methodology grounded in communication infrastructure theory to better target 'hard-to-reach' audiences. A random digit dialing telephone survey of 739 Latinos living in two Los Angeles communities was conducted. The relationships between health access difficulties and connections to an integrated storytelling network as well as individual health communication source connections were explored. Findings suggest that Latinos who are connected to an integrated storytelling network report marginally greater ease finding healthcare, despite not being any more likely to have insurance or a regular place for healthcare. Latinos who have health access problems tended to rely more upon Spanish-language television for health information. In addition, those without healthcare access problems are more likely to indicate that they use health professionals, the Internet, mainstream TV and printed materials like health pamphlets for health information. The theoretical and methodological contributions of this work, its major findings, implications, limitations and policy guidelines are discussed.

Love withdrawal predicts electrocortical responses to emotional faces with performance feedback: a follow-up and extension.

PubMed

Huffmeijer, Renske; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J; Alink, Lenneke R A; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H

2014-06-02

Parental use of love withdrawal is thought to affect children's later psychological functioning because it creates a link between children's performance and relational consequences. In addition, recent studies have begun to show that experiences of love withdrawal also relate to the neural processing of socio-emotional information relevant to a performance-relational consequence link, and can moderate effects of oxytocin on social information processing and behavior. The current study follows-up on our previous results by attempting to confirm and extend previous findings indicating that experiences of maternal love withdrawal are related to electrocortical responses to emotional faces presented with performance feedback. More maternal love withdrawal was related to enhanced early processing of facial feedback stimuli (reflected in more positive VPP amplitudes, and confirming previous findings). However, attentional engagement with and processing of the stimuli at a later stage were diminished in those reporting higher maternal love withdrawal (reflected in less positive LPP amplitudes, and diverging from previous findings). Maternal love withdrawal affects the processing of emotional faces presented with performance feedback differently in different stages of neural processing.

Dynamic search and working memory in social recall.

PubMed

Hills, Thomas T; Pachur, Thorsten

2012-01-01

What are the mechanisms underlying search in social memory (e.g., remembering the people one knows)? Do the search mechanisms involve dynamic local-to-global transitions similar to semantic search, and are these transitions governed by the general control of attention, associated with working memory span? To find out, we asked participants to recall individuals from their personal social networks and measured each participant's working memory capacity. Additionally, participants provided social-category and contact-frequency information about the recalled individuals as well as information about the social proximity among the recalled individuals. On the basis of these data, we tested various computational models of memory search regarding their ability to account for the patterns in which participants recalled from social memory. Although recall patterns showed clustering based on social categories, models assuming dynamic transitions between representations cued by social proximity and frequency information predicted participants' recall patterns best-no additional explanatory power was gained from social-category information. Moreover, individual differences in the time between transitions were positively correlated with differences in working memory capacity. These results highlight the role of social proximity in structuring social memory and elucidate the role of working memory for maintaining search criteria during search within that structure.

Spatial working memory in aging and mild cognitive impairment: effects of task load and contextual cueing.

PubMed

Kessels, Roy P C; Meulenbroek, Olga; Fernández, Guillén; Olde Rikkert, Marcel G M

2010-09-01

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is characterized by episodic memory deficits, while aspects of working memory may also be implicated, but studies into this latter domain are scarce and results are inconclusive. Using a computerized search paradigm, this study compares 25 young adults, 25 typically aging older adults and 15 amnestic MCI patients as to their working-memory capacities for object-location information and potential differential effects of memory load and additional context cues. An age-related deficit in visuospatial working-memory maintenance was found that became more pronounced with increasing task demands. The MCI group additionally showed reduced maintenance of bound information, i.e., object-location associations, again especially at elevated memory load. No effects of contextual cueing were found. The current findings indicate that working memory should be considered when screening patients for suspected MCI and monitoring its progression.

Randomized pilot study and qualitative evaluation of a clinical decision support system for brain tumour diagnosis based on SV ¹H MRS: evaluation as an additional information procedure for novice radiologists.

PubMed

Sáez, Carlos; Martí-Bonmatí, Luis; Alberich-Bayarri, Angel; Robles, Montserrat; García-Gómez, Juan M

2014-02-01

The results of a randomized pilot study and qualitative evaluation of the clinical decision support system Curiam BT are reported. We evaluated the system's feasibility and potential value as a radiological information procedure complementary to magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to assist novice radiologists in diagnosing brain tumours using MR spectroscopy (1.5 and 3.0T). Fifty-five cases were analysed at three hospitals according to four non-exclusive diagnostic questions. Our results show that Curiam BT improved the diagnostic accuracy in all the four questions. Additionally, we discuss the findings of the users' feedback about the system, and the further work to optimize it for real environments and to conduct a large clinical trial. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

MS-Electronic Nose Performance Improvement Using GC Retention Times And 2-Way And 3-Way Data Processing Methods

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

Burian, Cosmin; Llobet, Eduard; Vilanova, Xavier

We have designed a challenging experimental sample set in the form of 20 solutions with a high degree of similarity in order to study whether the addition of chromatographic separation information improves the performance of regular MS based electronic noses. In order to make an initial study of the approach, two different chromatographic methods were used. By processing the data of these experiments with 2 and 3-way algorithms, we have shown that the addition of chromatographic separation information improves the results compared to the 2-way analysis of mass spectra or total ion chromatogram treated separately. Our findings show that whenmore » the chromatographic peaks are resolved (longer measurement times), 2-way methods work better than 3-way methods, whereas in the case of a more challenging measurement (more coeluted chromatograms, much faster GC-MS measurements) 3-way methods work better.« less

Information processing biases concurrently and prospectively predict depressive symptoms in adolescents: Evidence from a self-referent encoding task.

PubMed

Connolly, Samantha L; Abramson, Lyn Y; Alloy, Lauren B

2016-01-01

Negative information processing biases have been hypothesised to serve as precursors for the development of depression. The current study examined negative self-referent information processing and depressive symptoms in a community sample of adolescents (N = 291, Mage at baseline = 12.34 ± 0.61, 53% female, 47.4% African-American, 49.5% Caucasian and 3.1% Biracial). Participants completed a computerised self-referent encoding task (SRET) and a measure of depressive symptoms at baseline and completed an additional measure of depressive symptoms nine months later. Several negative information processing biases on the SRET were associated with concurrent depressive symptoms and predicted increases in depressive symptoms at follow-up. Findings partially support the hypothesis that negative information processing biases are associated with depressive symptoms in a nonclinical sample of adolescents, and provide preliminary evidence that these biases prospectively predict increases in depressive symptoms.

Online games: a novel approach to explore how partial information influences human random searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martínez-García, Ricardo; Calabrese, Justin M.; López, Cristóbal

2017-01-01

Many natural processes rely on optimizing the success ratio of a search process. We use an experimental setup consisting of a simple online game in which players have to find a target hidden on a board, to investigate how the rounds are influenced by the detection of cues. We focus on the search duration and the statistics of the trajectories traced on the board. The experimental data are explained by a family of random-walk-based models and probabilistic analytical approximations. If no initial information is given to the players, the search is optimized for cues that cover an intermediate spatial scale. In addition, initial information about the extension of the cues results, in general, in faster searches. Finally, strategies used by informed players turn into non-stationary processes in which the length of e ach displacement evolves to show a well-defined characteristic scale that is not found in non-informed searches.

Online games: a novel approach to explore how partial information influences human random searches.

PubMed

Martínez-García, Ricardo; Calabrese, Justin M; López, Cristóbal

2017-01-06

Many natural processes rely on optimizing the success ratio of a search process. We use an experimental setup consisting of a simple online game in which players have to find a target hidden on a board, to investigate how the rounds are influenced by the detection of cues. We focus on the search duration and the statistics of the trajectories traced on the board. The experimental data are explained by a family of random-walk-based models and probabilistic analytical approximations. If no initial information is given to the players, the search is optimized for cues that cover an intermediate spatial scale. In addition, initial information about the extension of the cues results, in general, in faster searches. Finally, strategies used by informed players turn into non-stationary processes in which the length of e ach displacement evolves to show a well-defined characteristic scale that is not found in non-informed searches.

Pathway Linking Internet Health Information Seeking to Better Health: A Moderated Mediation Study.

PubMed

Jiang, Shaohai; Street, Richard L

2017-08-01

The Internet increasingly has been recognized as an important medium with respect to population health. However, little is known about the mechanisms that underlie the potential impact of health-related Internet use on health outcomes. Based on the three-stage model of health promotion using interactive media, this study empirically tested a moderated mediation pathway model. Results showed that the effect of Internet health information seeking on three health outcomes (general, emotional, and physical) was completely mediated by respondents' access to social support resources. In addition, users' online health information seeking experience positively moderated this mediation path. The findings have significant theoretical and practical implications for the design of Internet-based health promotion resources to improve health outcomes.

Age differences in attention toward decision-relevant information: education matters.

PubMed

Xing, Cai; Isaacowitz, Derek

2011-01-01

Previous studies suggested that older adults are more likely to engage in heuristic decision-making than young adults. This study used eye tracking technique to examine young adults' and highly educated older adults' attention toward two types of decision-relevant information: heuristic cue vs. factual cues. Surprisingly, highly educated older adults showed the reversed age pattern-they looked more toward factual cues than did young adults. This age difference disappeared after controlling for educational level. Additionally, education correlated with attentional pattern to decision-relevant information. We interpret this finding as an indication of the power of education: education may modify what are thought to be "typical" age differences in decision-making, and education may influence young and older people's decision-making via different paths.

Pathways to change: Use trajectories following trauma-informed treatment of women with co-occurring post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorders.

PubMed

López-Castro, Teresa; Hu, Mei-Chen; Papini, Santiago; Ruglass, Lesia M; Hien, Denise A

2015-05-01

Despite advances towards integration of care for women with co-occurring substance use disorder (SUD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), low abstinence rates following SUD/PTSD treatment remain the norm. The utility of investigating distinct substance use trajectories is a critical innovation in the detection and refining of effective interventions for this clinical population. The present study reanalysed data from the largest randomised clinical trial to date for co-occurring SUD and PTSD in women (National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network; Women and Trauma Study). Randomised participants (n = 353) received one of two interventions in addition to treatment as usual for SUD: (i) trauma-informed integrative treatment for PTSD/SUD; or (ii) an active control psychoeducation course on women's health. The present study utilised latent growth mixture models (LGMM) with multiple groups to estimate women's substance use patterns during the 12-month follow-up period. Findings provided support for three different trajectories of substance use in the post-treatment year: (i) consistently low likelihood and use frequency; (ii) consistently high likelihood and use frequency; and (iii) high likelihood and moderate use frequency. Covariate analyses revealed improvement in PTSD severity was associated with membership in a specific substance use trajectory, although receiving trauma-informed treatment was not. Additionally, SUD severity, age and after-care efforts were shown to be related to trajectory membership. Findings highlight the necessity of accounting for heterogeneity in post-treatment substance use, relevance of trauma-informed care in SUD recovery and benefits of incorporating methodologies like LGMM when evaluating SUD treatment outcomes. © 2015 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Gender differences in justice evaluations: Evidence from fMRI.

PubMed

Dulebohn, James H; Davison, Robert B; Lee, Seungcheol Austin; Conlon, Donald E; McNamara, Gerry; Sarinopoulos, Issidoros C

2016-02-01

Justice research examining gender differences has yielded contrasting findings. This study enlists advanced techniques in cognitive neuroscience (fMRI) to examine gender differences in brain activation patterns in response to procedural and distributive justice manipulations. We integrate social role, information processing, justice, and neuroscience literature to posit and test for gender differences in 2 neural subsystems known to be involved in the appraisal of self-relevant events. Results indicate that the relationship between justice information processing and neural activity in areas representing these subsystems is significantly influenced by gender, with greater activation for females than males during consideration of both procedural and distributive justice information. In addition, we find evidence that gender and distributive injustice interact to influence bargaining behavior, with females rejecting ultimatum game offers more frequently than males. Results also demonstrate activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and ventral striatum brain regions during procedural justice evaluation is associated with offer rejection in females, but not in males. Managerial implications based on the study's support for gender differences in justice perceptions are discussed. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Visualizing Forensic Publication Impacts and Collaborations: Presenting at a Scientific Venue Leads to Increased Collaborations between Researchers and Information Professionals

PubMed Central

Makar, Susan; Malanowski, Amanda; Rapp, Katie

2016-01-01

The Information Services Office (ISO) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) proactively sought out an opportunity to present the findings of a study that showed the impact of NIST’s forensic research output to its internal customers and outside researchers. ISO analyzed the impact of NIST’s contributions to the peer-reviewed forensic journal literature through citation analysis and network visualizations. The findings of this study were compiled into a poster that was presented during the Forensics@NIST Symposium in December 2014. ISO’s study informed the forensic research community where NIST has had some of the greatest scholarly impact. This paper describes the methodology used to assess the impact of NIST’s forensic publications and shares the results, outcomes, and impacts of ISO’s study and poster presentation. This methodology is adaptable and applicable to other research fields and to other libraries. It has improved the recognition of ISO’s capabilities within NIST and resulted in application of the methodology to additional scientific disciplines. PMID:27956754

Building partnerships in community-based participatory research: budgetary and other cost considerations.

PubMed

Hoeft, Theresa J; Burke, Wylie; Hopkins, Scarlett E; Charles, Walkie; Trinidad, Susan B; James, Rosalina D; Boyer, Bert B

2014-03-01

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an important framework for partnering with communities to reduce health disparities. Working in partnership with community incurs additional costs, some that can be represented in a budget summary page and others that are tied to the competing demands placed on community and academic partners. These cost considerations can inform development of community-academic partnerships. We calculated costs from a case study based on an ongoing CBPR project involving a Community Planning Group (CPG) of community co-researchers in rural Alaska and a bicultural liaison group who help bridge communication between CPG and academic co-researchers. Budget considerations specific to CBPR include travel and other communication-related costs, compensation for community partners, and food served at meetings. We also identified sources of competing demands for community and academic partners. Our findings can inform budget discussions in community-academic partnerships. Discussions of competing demands on community partners' time can help plan timelines for CBPR projects. Our findings may also inform discussions about tenure and promotion policies that may represent barriers to participation in CBPR for academic researchers.

Display-based communications for advanced transport aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Alfred T.

1989-01-01

The next generation of civil transport aircraft will depend increasingly upon ground-air-ground and satellite data link for information critical to safe and efficient air transportation. Previous studies which examined the concept of display-based communications in addition to, or in lieu of, conventional voice transmissions are reviewed. A full-mission flight simulation comparing voice and display-based communication modes in an advanced transport aircraft is also described. The results indicate that a display-based mode of information transfer does not result in significantly increased aircrew workload, but does result in substantially increased message acknowledgment times when compared to conventional voice transmissions. User acceptance of the display-based communication system was generally high, replicating the findings of previous studies. However, most pilots tested expressed concern over the potential loss of information available from frequency monitoring which might result from the introduction of discrete address communications. Concern was expressed by some pilots for the reduced time available to search for conflicting traffic when using the communications display system. The implications of the findings for the design of display-based communications are discussed.

Multiple-reason decision making based on automatic processing.

PubMed

Glöckner, Andreas; Betsch, Tilmann

2008-09-01

It has been repeatedly shown that in decisions under time constraints, individuals predominantly use noncompensatory strategies rather than complex compensatory ones. The authors argue that these findings might be due not to limitations of cognitive capacity but instead to limitations of information search imposed by the commonly used experimental tool Mouselab (J. W. Payne, J. R. Bettman, & E. J. Johnson, 1988). The authors tested this assumption in 3 experiments. In the 1st experiment, information was openly presented, whereas in the 2nd experiment, the standard Mouselab program was used under different time limits. The results indicate that individuals are able to compute weighted additive decision strategies extremely quickly if information search is not restricted by the experimental procedure. In a 3rd experiment, these results were replicated using more complex decision tasks, and the major alternative explanations that individuals use more complex heuristics or that they merely encode the constellation of cues were ruled out. In sum, the findings challenge the fundaments of bounded rationality and highlight the importance of automatic processes in decision making. (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved.

Challenges and progress in making DNA-based AIS early ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The ability of DNA barcoding to find additional species in hard-to-sample locations or hard-to-identify samples is well established. Nevertheless, adoption of DNA barcoding into regular monitoring programs has been slow, in part due to issues of standardization and interpretation that need resolving. In this presentation, we describe our progress towards incorporating DNA-based identification into broad-spectrum aquatic invasive species early-detection monitoring in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Our work uses community biodiversity information as the basis for evaluating survey performance for various taxonomic groups. Issues we are tackling in bringing DNA-based data to bear on AIS monitoring design include: 1) Standardizing methodology and work flow from field collection and sample handling through bioinformatics post-processing; 2) Determining detection sensitivity and accounting for inter-species differences in DNA amplification and primer affinity; 3) Differentiating sequencing and barcoding errors from legitimate new finds when range and natural history information is limited; and 4) Accounting for the different nature of morphology- vs. DNA-based biodiversity information in subsequent analysis (e.g., via species accumulation curves, multi-metric indices). not applicable

Turnover Intentions of Employees With Informal Eldercare Responsibilities: The Role of Core Self-Evaluations and Supervisor Support.

PubMed

Greaves, Claire E; Parker, Stacey L; Zacher, Hannes; Jimmieson, Nerina L

2015-12-01

As longevity increases, so does the need for care of older relatives by working family members. This research examined the interactive effect of core self-evaluations and supervisor support on turnover intentions in two samples of employees with informal caregiving responsibilities. Data were obtained from 57 employees from Australia (Study 1) and 66 employees from the United States and India (Study 2). Results of Study 1 revealed a resource compensation effect, that is, an inverse relationship between core self-evaluations and turnover intentions when supervisor care support was low. Results of Study 2 extended these findings by demonstrating resource boosting effects. Specifically, there was an inverse relationship between core self-evaluations and subsequent turnover intentions for those with high supervisor work and care support. In addition, employees' satisfaction and emotional exhaustion from their work mediated the inverse relationship between core self-evaluations and subsequent turnover intentions when supervisor work support and care support were high. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of employee- and supervisor-focused intervention strategies in organizations to support informal caregivers. © The Author(s) 2016.

Navigating the legal and ethical foundations of informed consent and confidentiality in integrated primary care.

PubMed

Hudgins, Cathy; Rose, Sandra; Fifield, Peter Y; Arnault, Steve

2013-03-01

This article describes findings from ongoing research and analysis of current literature in addition to discussions with leaders in the field, communications with lawyers and administrators of advocacy and government agencies pertaining to integrated primary care (IPC). Standards of care are established based on a myriad of factors, including professional codes of ethics, case law, state and federal laws, professional standards, existing best practices, current professional guidelines, administrative rules and regulations, and licensing board regulations. Regulations may differ for behavioral health and medical providers, posing challenges in IPC settings. This article provides a review of these regulations, particularly 42CFR Part 2, a federal law governing confidentiality for substance abuse programs, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and state laws relevant to patient care in IPC settings. On the basis of findings from the study, the authors make recommendations related to patient care practices concerning informed consent and release of information procedures, treatment and warm hand-off protocols, documentation and electronic record keeping, agreements with other providers, and billing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

Improved hybrid information filtering based on limited time window

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Wen-Jun; Guo, Qiang; Liu, Jian-Guo

2014-12-01

Adopting the entire collecting information of users, the hybrid information filtering of heat conduction and mass diffusion (HHM) (Zhou et al., 2010) was successfully proposed to solve the apparent diversity-accuracy dilemma. Since the recent behaviors are more effective to capture the users' potential interests, we present an improved hybrid information filtering of adopting the partial recent information. We expand the time window to generate a series of training sets, each of which is treated as known information to predict the future links proven by the testing set. The experimental results on one benchmark dataset Netflix indicate that by only using approximately 31% recent rating records, the accuracy could be improved by an average of 4.22% and the diversity could be improved by 13.74%. In addition, the performance on the dataset MovieLens could be preserved by considering approximately 60% recent records. Furthermore, we find that the improved algorithm is effective to solve the cold-start problem. This work could improve the information filtering performance and shorten the computational time.

Mental additions and verbal-domain interference in children with developmental dyscalculia.

PubMed

Mammarella, Irene C; Caviola, Sara; Cornoldi, Cesare; Lucangeli, Daniela

2013-09-01

This study examined the involvement of verbal and visuo-spatial domains in solving addition problems with carrying in a sample of children diagnosed with developmental dyscalculia (DD) divided into two groups: (i) those with DD alone and (ii) those with DD and dyslexia. Age and stage matched typically developing (TD) children were also studied. The addition problems were presented horizontally or vertically and associated with verbal or visuo-spatial information. Study results showed that DD children's performance on mental calculation tasks was more impaired when they tackled horizontally presented addition problems compared to vertically presented ones that are associated to verbal domain involvement. The performance pattern in the two DD groups was found to be similar. The theoretical, clinical and educational implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Communicating the Results and Activities of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chatterjee, K.; Parker, K.

2004-12-01

The Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) has a responsibility for credible and effective communications on issues related to climate variability and climate change science. As an essential part of its mission and responsibilities, the CCSP aims to enhance the quality of public discussion by stressing openness and transparency in its scientific research processes and results, and ensuring the widespread availability of credible, science-based information. The CCSP and individual federal agencies generate substantial amounts of authoritative scientific information on climate variability and change. Research findings are generally well reported in the scientific literature, but relevant aspects of these findings need to be reported in formats suitable for use by diverse audiences whose understanding and familiarity with climate change science issues vary. To further its commitment to the effective communication of climate change science information, the CCSP has established the Communications Interagency Working Group, which has produced an implementation plan for Climate Change communication, aimed at achieving the following goals: * Disseminate the results of CCSP activities credibly and effectively * Make CCSP science findings and products easily available to a diverse set of audiences. In addition to CCSP efforts, the individual federal agencies that comprise CCSP disseminate science-based climate information through their agency networks. The agencies of the CCSP are the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Interior, State, and Transportation and the U.S. EPA, NASA, NSF, Smithsonian Institute, and USAID.

Assessing Threat Detection Scenarios through Hypothesis Generation and Testing

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

task of playing chess with that of diagnosing medical conditions. Whereas both chess players and physicians must recognize patterns among a fixed...additional cues, all while maintaining these details in memory. Thus, the common research finding that chess experts can hold and process more information...of General Psychology, 124, 19-34. Chase, W. G., & Simon, H. A. (1973). Perception in chess . Cognitive Psychology, 4, 55-81. Choi, E., & Lee

The Need for and Feasibility of a National Study of Intercollegiate Athletics. A Report to the American Council on Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanford, George H.

This document is the introduction to the main body of a report on the inquiry into the need for and feasibility of a national study of intercollegiate athletics. In addition to outlining the organization of the report on the findings of the inquiry, it consists of five sections designed to provide background information regarding the approach…

Applications for Micrographics in Large Scale Information Systems of the Future. Volume I: Part I. Summary. Part II. Five-Year Plan for DDC Micrographic Development Actions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Information Dynamics Corp., Reading, MA.

A study intended to provide the Defense Documentation Center (DDC) with a five-year plan for the development of improved and new microfiche products, services, and production capabilities is summarized in this report. In addition, the major findings, conclusions, and recommendations developed during the study are noted. The results of the research…

Effects on Fuel Consumption and Diesel Engine Deposits from Nano-Particle Oil Additive

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-01

Disclaimers The findings in this report are not to be construed as an official Department of the Army position unless so designated by other...authorized documents. Trade names cited in this report do not constitute an official endorsement or approval of the use of such commercial hardware or...software. DTIC Availability Notice Qualified requestors may obtain copies of this report from the Defense Technical Information Center

Defense Health Care: US Family Health Plan is Duplicative and Should be Eliminated

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-01

including laws pertaining to the USFHP and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).12 We interviewed DOD officials and officials from DOD’s actuarial ...findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that Additionally, we obtained information from DOD officials and its actuarial ...capitation rates for the designated providers. Overall, the consultant found that DOD’s process for establishing capitation rates was actuarially

An Ontology-Based Reasoning Framework for Querying Satellite Images for Disaster Monitoring.

PubMed

Alirezaie, Marjan; Kiselev, Andrey; Längkvist, Martin; Klügl, Franziska; Loutfi, Amy

2017-11-05

This paper presents a framework in which satellite images are classified and augmented with additional semantic information to enable queries about what can be found on the map at a particular location, but also about paths that can be taken. This is achieved by a reasoning framework based on qualitative spatial reasoning that is able to find answers to high level queries that may vary on the current situation. This framework called SemCityMap, provides the full pipeline from enriching the raw image data with rudimentary labels to the integration of a knowledge representation and reasoning methods to user interfaces for high level querying. To illustrate the utility of SemCityMap in a disaster scenario, we use an urban environment-central Stockholm-in combination with a flood simulation. We show that the system provides useful answers to high-level queries also with respect to the current flood status. Examples of such queries concern path planning for vehicles or retrieval of safe regions such as "find all regions close to schools and far from the flooded area". The particular advantage of our approach lies in the fact that ontological information and reasoning is explicitly integrated so that queries can be formulated in a natural way using concepts on appropriate level of abstraction, including additional constraints.

An Ontology-Based Reasoning Framework for Querying Satellite Images for Disaster Monitoring

PubMed Central

Alirezaie, Marjan; Klügl, Franziska; Loutfi, Amy

2017-01-01

This paper presents a framework in which satellite images are classified and augmented with additional semantic information to enable queries about what can be found on the map at a particular location, but also about paths that can be taken. This is achieved by a reasoning framework based on qualitative spatial reasoning that is able to find answers to high level queries that may vary on the current situation. This framework called SemCityMap, provides the full pipeline from enriching the raw image data with rudimentary labels to the integration of a knowledge representation and reasoning methods to user interfaces for high level querying. To illustrate the utility of SemCityMap in a disaster scenario, we use an urban environment—central Stockholm—in combination with a flood simulation. We show that the system provides useful answers to high-level queries also with respect to the current flood status. Examples of such queries concern path planning for vehicles or retrieval of safe regions such as “find all regions close to schools and far from the flooded area”. The particular advantage of our approach lies in the fact that ontological information and reasoning is explicitly integrated so that queries can be formulated in a natural way using concepts on appropriate level of abstraction, including additional constraints. PMID:29113073

Can the care transitions measure predict rehospitalization risk or home health nursing use of home healthcare patients?

PubMed

Ryvicker, Miriam; McDonald, Margaret V; Trachtenberg, Melissa; Peng, Timothy R; Sridharan, Sridevi; Feldman, Penny H

2013-01-01

The Care Transitions Measure (CTM) was designed to assess the quality of patient transitions from the hospital. Many hospitals are using the measure to inform their efforts to improve transitional care. We sought to determine if the measure would have utility for home healthcare providers by predicting newly admitted patients at heightened risk for emergency department use, rehospitalization, or increased home health nursing visits. The CTM was administered to 495 home healthcare patients shortly after hospital discharge and home healthcare admission. Follow-up interviews were completed 30 and 60 days post hospital discharge. Interview data were supplemented with agency assessment and service use data. We did not find evidence that the CTM could predict home healthcare patients having an elevated risk for emergent care, rehospitalization, or higher home health nursing use. Because Medicare/Medicaid-certified home healthcare providers already use a comprehensive, mandated start of care assessment, the CTM may not provide them additional crucial information. Process and outcome measurement is increasingly becoming part of usual care. Selection of measures appropriate for each service setting requires thorough site-specific evaluation. In light of our findings, we cannot recommend the CTM as an additional measure in the home healthcare setting. © 2013 National Association for Healthcare Quality.

A study of information flow in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings

PubMed Central

DEMIRIS, GEORGE; WASHINGTON, KARLA; OLIVER, DEBRA PARKER; WITTENBERG-LYLES, ELAINE

2009-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore the information flow of hospice interdisciplinary meetings focusing on information access, exchange and documentation. The study participants were members of four hospice interdisciplinary teams in the Midwestern United States. Team members included a diverse range of professionals including physicians, nurses, social workers, bereavement counselors, and others. A total of 81 patient care discussions were videotaped and transcribed. A content analysis revealed several themes that needed to be addressed to improve the overall information flow, such as access to and recording of information, documentation of services, obtaining information from absent team members, data redundancy and updating of recorded information. On average, 5% of all utterances when discussing a patient case were focused on soliciting information from the member who had access to the patient chart. In 12.3% of all discussions, members referred to an absent member who could have provided additional information. In 8.6% of all discussions the same facts were repeated three times or more. Based on the findings we propose guidelines that can address potential informational gaps and enhance team communication in hospice. PMID:19012142

A Delphi study among internal medicine clinicians to determine which therapeutic information is essential to record in a medical record.

PubMed

van Unen, Robert J; Tichelaar, Jelle; Nanayakkara, Prabath W B; van Agtmael, Michiel A; Richir, Milan C; de Vries, Theo P G M

2015-12-01

Several studies have demonstrated that using a template for recording general and diagnostic information in the medical record (MR) improves the completeness of MR documentation, communication between doctors, and performance of doctors. However, little is known about how therapeutic information should be structured in the MR. The aim of this study was to investigate which specific therapeutic information registrars and consultants in internal medicine consider essential to record in the MR. Therefore, we carried out a 2-round Internet Delphi study. Fifty-nine items were assessed on a 5-point scale; an item was considered important if ≥ 80% of the respondents awarded it a score of 4 or 5. In total, 26 registrars and 30 consultants in internal medicine completed both rounds of the study. Overall, they considered it essential to include information about 11 items in the MR. Subgroup analyses revealed that the registrars considered 8 additional items essential, whereas the consultants considered 1 additional item essential to record. Study findings can be used as a starting point to develop a structured section of the MR for therapeutic information for both paper and electronic MRs. This section should contain at least 11 items considered essential by registrars and clinical consultants in internal medicine. © 2015, The American College of Clinical Pharmacology.

Methodological criteria for the assessment of moderators in systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials: a consensus study

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Current methodological guidelines provide advice about the assessment of sub-group analysis within RCTs, but do not specify explicit criteria for assessment. Our objective was to provide researchers with a set of criteria that will facilitate the grading of evidence for moderators, in systematic reviews. Method We developed a set of criteria from methodological manuscripts (n = 18) using snowballing technique, and electronic database searches. Criteria were reviewed by an international Delphi panel (n = 21), comprising authors who have published methodological papers in this area, and researchers who have been active in the study of sub-group analysis in RCTs. We used the Research ANd Development/University of California Los Angeles appropriateness method to assess consensus on the quantitative data. Free responses were coded for consensus and disagreement. In a subsequent round additional criteria were extracted from the Cochrane Reviewers' Handbook, and the process was repeated. Results The recommendations are that meta-analysts report both confirmatory and exploratory findings for sub-groups analysis. Confirmatory findings must only come from studies in which a specific theory/evidence based a-priori statement is made. Exploratory findings may be used to inform future/subsequent trials. However, for inclusion in the meta-analysis of moderators, the following additional criteria should be applied to each study: Baseline factors should be measured prior to randomisation, measurement of baseline factors should be of adequate reliability and validity, and a specific test of the interaction between baseline factors and interventions must be presented. Conclusions There is consensus from a group of 21 international experts that methodological criteria to assess moderators within systematic reviews of RCTs is both timely and necessary. The consensus from the experts resulted in five criteria divided into two groups when synthesising evidence: confirmatory findings to support hypotheses about moderators and exploratory findings to inform future research. These recommendations are discussed in reference to previous recommendations for evaluating and reporting moderator studies. PMID:21281501

Framing clean energy campaigns to promote civic engagement among parents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanus, Nichole; Wong-Parodi, Gabrielle; Hoyos, Lisa; Rauch, Molly

2018-03-01

Civic engagement is one important way citizens can influence the rate of decarbonization in the electricity sector. However, motivating engagement can be challenging even if people are affected and interested in participating. Here we employed a randomized controlled trial to assess the effect of clean energy campaigns emphasizing cost savings, health, climate, or health and climate, or no additional information at all (control) on civic engagement behaviors (signing a petition or making a phone call). We targeted parents as they have been shown to be powerful agents of political and business practice change in other contexts, and hence, could play an important role in the decarbonization of the electricity sector. In Study 1, we recruited n = 292 parents already engaged in climate advocacy; in Study 2, we recruited a representative sample of n = 1254 parents drawn from the general public. Both studies were conducted in Michigan, Florida, and California, as these states have sizable advocacy group membership, divergent energy profiles, and strategic importance to the climate movement. In both studies, we find the odds of taking action are reduced by over 90% when participants are asked to make a phone call and leave a voicemail message, versus signing an online petition. Among the parents already engaged in advocacy, we observe a ceiling effect regarding attitudes towards clean energy and find the cost campaign produces unintended consequences. Among our public sample, we find that participants who believe the campaign to be credible and comprehendible are more likely to take action than those who discredit the campaign or do not understand its message. Additionally, we find parents who have children under the age of 18 negatively adjust their attitudes towards fossil fuels after being presented with health information. Ultimately, we find that campaign messages can influence energy attitudes and parents are willing to take action on the topic if the advocacy action seems like an effective approach.

Noniterative estimation of a nonlinear parameter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bergstroem, A.

1973-01-01

An algorithm is described which solves the parameters X = (x1,x2,...,xm) and p in an approximation problem Ax nearly equal to y(p), where the parameter p occurs nonlinearly in y. Instead of linearization methods, which require an approximate value of p to be supplied as a priori information, and which may lead to the finding of local minima, the proposed algorithm finds the global minimum by permitting the use of series expansions of arbitrary order, exploiting an a priori knowledge that the addition of a particular function, corresponding to a new column in A, will not improve the goodness of the approximation.

Strategies to Engage Men and Boys in Violence Prevention: A Global Organizational Perspective

PubMed Central

Carlson, Juliana; Casey, Erin; Edleson, Jeffrey L.; Tolman, Richard M.; Neugut, Tova B.; Kimball, Ericka

2014-01-01

This study presents descriptive findings from in-depth interviews with 29 representatives of organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and North and South America that engage men and boys in preventing gender-based violence. In particular, the findings suggest that strategies are responsive to the specific cultural, economic and contextual concerns of the local community, with nuanced messages and appropriate messengers. Additionally, respondents reported key principles informing their organizational strategies to deepen men and boys’ engagement. Attention is also paid to respondents’ caution about the risks of framing of engagement practices as separate from both women's organizations and women and girls themselves. PMID:26202155

Executive Function and Personality Predict Instrumental Activities of Daily Living in Alzheimer Disease.

PubMed

Roy, Shumita; Ficarro, Stephanie; Duberstein, Paul; Chapman, Benjamin P; Dubovsky, Steven; Paroski, Margaret; Szigeti, Kinga; Benedict, Ralph H B

2016-11-01

Previous research shows that executive function (EF) and personality independently predict functional decline. Our objective was to determine whether personality traits predict independence with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), after accounting for executive dysfunction, in a mixed sample of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer disease (AD). In a cross-sectional analysis at a university medical center, 63 healthy older adults (median age: 67.6 years; 71% women) and 119 patients (median age: 75.0 years; 58% women) with varying degrees of AD (probable AD: 85; possible AD: 3; amnestic MCI: 31) were studied. Standardized neuropsychological measures, NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and informant-report Lawton and Brody IADL scales were used. All participants underwent neuropsychological evaluation, including administration of self- and informant-report NEO-FFI. Patients additionally underwent neurologic examination, and their informants completed the Lawton and Brody IADL scale. When testing the association between EF and personality on IADLs in the patient sample, conceptual card sorting, informant-report Openness, and informant-report Conscientiousness all significantly predicted IADLs, after accounting for age, education, and depression. In addition, a significant interaction showed that low Conscientiousness and executive dysfunction, in combination, can predict impairment of IADLs. Personality has a unique association with IADLs in patients with AD pathology that is not explained by EF. The findings confirm prior speculation that personality, in addition to cognitive dysfunction, is a risk factor for functional decline. Early identification of vulnerable individuals may allow for intervention to prolong functional independence. Copyright © 2016 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The development of co-speech gesture in the communication of children with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Sowden, Hannah; Clegg, Judy; Perkins, Michael

2013-12-01

Co-speech gestures have a close semantic relationship to speech in adult conversation. In typically developing children co-speech gestures which give additional information to speech facilitate the emergence of multi-word speech. A difficulty with integrating audio-visual information is known to exist for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which may affect development of the speech-gesture system. A longitudinal observational study was conducted with four children with ASD, aged 2;4 to 3;5 years. Participants were video-recorded for 20 min every 2 weeks during their attendance on an intervention programme. Recording continued for up to 8 months, thus affording a rich analysis of gestural practices from pre-verbal to multi-word speech across the group. All participants combined gesture with either speech or vocalisations. Co-speech gestures providing additional information to speech were observed to be either absent or rare. Findings suggest that children with ASD do not make use of the facilitating communicative effects of gesture in the same way as typically developing children.

Feedforward motor information enhances somatosensory responses and sharpens angular tuning of rat S1 barrel cortex neurons.

PubMed

Khateb, Mohamed; Schiller, Jackie; Schiller, Yitzhak

2017-01-06

The primary vibrissae motor cortex (vM1) is responsible for generating whisking movements. In parallel, vM1 also sends information directly to the sensory barrel cortex (vS1). In this study, we investigated the effects of vM1 activation on processing of vibrissae sensory information in vS1 of the rat. To dissociate the vibrissae sensory-motor loop, we optogenetically activated vM1 and independently passively stimulated principal vibrissae. Optogenetic activation of vM1 supra-linearly amplified the response of vS1 neurons to passive vibrissa stimulation in all cortical layers measured. Maximal amplification occurred when onset of vM1 optogenetic activation preceded vibrissa stimulation by 20 ms. In addition to amplification, vM1 activation also sharpened angular tuning of vS1 neurons in all cortical layers measured. Our findings indicated that in addition to output motor signals, vM1 also sends preparatory signals to vS1 that serve to amplify and sharpen the response of neurons in the barrel cortex to incoming sensory input signals.

How interpersonal communication mediates the relationship of multichannel communication connections to health-enhancing and health-threatening behaviors.

PubMed

Seo, Mihye; Matsaganis, Matthew D

2013-08-01

This article examines how everyday media use and interpersonal communication for health information could influence health behaviors beyond intervention or campaign contexts. The authors argue that interpersonal communication works as an independent information channel and mediates the relation between media channels and health behaviors. In addition, the authors investigate whether interpersonal communication differently influences the relation between media connections and health behaviors for more and less educated individuals. Using data from the 2008 Annenberg National Health Communication Survey, the authors show that multiple communication channels for health information encourage health-enhancing behaviors but do not have significant relations with health-threatening behaviors. Interpersonal communication is directly linked to health-enhancing behaviors, but it also mediates the influence of individuals' multichannel media environment on health-enhancing behaviors. The mediating role of interpersonal health communication was only significant for less educated people. In addition, among media channels, television was a more important instigator of health-related conversations with family and friends for the less educated group. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings, as well as suggestions for future research directions, are discussed.

Nudging Healthier Choices in a Hospital Cafeteria: Results From a Field Study.

PubMed

Mazza, Mary Carol; Dynan, Linda; Siegel, Robert M; Tucker, Anita L

2017-11-01

More than two thirds of adults and one third of children are overweight or obese in the United States. These trends have led to initiatives to provide information that supports informed choices. Traffic light labeling has been shown to increase consumer awareness and encourage healthy selections. This article contributes to the literature on healthy choices by comparing the additional contribution of a number of interventions used in combination with traffic light labeling. We conducted a 21-month field study in a workplace cafeteria. We analyzed cash register receipts, focusing on sales of beverages and chips. We found that the traffic light system was effective. The addition of caloric information to traffic light labeling had a positive effect on the purchase of healthy chips. However, other interventions appeared to produce more harm than good, essentially wiping out the benefits from traffic light labeling. These findings suggest that although it is possible to improve on traffic light labeling with selective interventions, caution is in order as some interventions may trigger compensatory behavior that results in the purchase of unhealthy items.

Attribute amnesia reflects a lack of memory consolidation for attended information.

PubMed

Chen, Hui; Wyble, Brad

2016-02-01

A recently reported phenomenon, termed attribute amnesia, challenged the commonly held belief that attention plays the determining role in controlling how information is remembered, by showing that participants fail to remember a specific attended attribute (e.g., the target-defining color), even when they had just used that attribute to perform a task (Chen & Wyble, 2015a). The main purpose of the present study sought to better understand the mechanism underlying this phenomenon. The results revealed that attribute amnesia was nearly eliminated once participants were forced to store and hold attended information for a brief time, suggesting that this amnesia effect most likely reflects a lack of memory consolidation for an attended attribute that had been processed to some certain level. In addition, we demonstrated that the effect is not particular to the use of location report or the repetition of targets. One additional finding is that amnesia was markedly absent for location memory, indicating an important difference between memories for locations and attributes such as color or identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

The information sources and journals consulted or read by UK paediatricians to inform their clinical practice and those which they consider important: a questionnaire survey

PubMed Central

Jones, Teresa H; Hanney, Steve; Buxton, Martin J

2007-01-01

Background Implementation of health research findings is important for medicine to be evidence-based. Previous studies have found variation in the information sources thought to be of greatest importance to clinicians but publication in peer-reviewed journals is the traditional route for dissemination of research findings. There is debate about whether the impact made on clinicians should be considered as part of the evaluation of research outputs. We aimed to determine first which information sources are generally most consulted by paediatricians to inform their clinical practice, and which sources they considered most important, and second, how many and which peer-reviewed journals they read. Methods We enquired, by questionnaire survey, about the information sources and academic journals that UK medical paediatric specialists generally consulted, attended or read and considered important to their clinical practice. Results The same three information sources – professional meetings & conferences, peer-reviewed journals and medical colleagues – were, overall, the most consulted or attended and ranked the most important. No one information source was found to be of greatest importance to all groups of paediatricians. Journals were widely read by all groups, but the proportion ranking them first in importance as an information source ranged from 10% to 46%. The number of journals read varied between the groups, but Archives of Disease in Childhood and BMJ were the most read journals in all groups. Six out of the seven journals previously identified as containing best paediatric evidence are the most widely read overall by UK paediatricians, however, only the two most prominent are widely read by those based in the community. Conclusion No one information source is dominant, therefore a variety of approaches to Continuing Professional Development and the dissemination of research findings to paediatricians should be used. Journals are an important information source. A small number of key ones can be identified and such analysis could provide valuable additional input into the evaluation of clinical research outputs. PMID:17224061

Information literacy skills of occupational therapy graduates: a survey of learning outcomes

PubMed Central

Powell, Carol A.; Case-Smith, Jane

2003-01-01

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to assess whether recent graduates of the Ohio State University's Occupational Therapy division are applying information-seeking skills they learned as undergraduates, and to seek their advice on ways to improve information-literacy instruction for current and future occupational therapy students. Method: A survey was sent to a sample of graduates from 1995–2000. The results were entered into an SPSS database, and descriptive and inferential results were calculated to determine the information-seeking patterns of these recent graduates. Results: A majority of the occupational therapy graduates who responded to the survey prefer to use information resources that are readily available to them, such as advice from their colleagues or supervisors (79%) and the Internet (69%), rather than the evidence available in the journal literature. Twenty-six percent (26%) of the graduates have searched MEDLINE or CINAHL at least once since they graduated. Formal library instruction sessions were considered useful by 42% of the graduates, and 22% of the graduates found informal contacts with librarians to be useful. Conclusions: Librarians and occupational therapy faculty must intensify their efforts to convey the importance of applying research information to patient care and inform students of ways to access this information after they graduate. In addition to teaching searching skills for MEDLINE and CINAHL, they must provide instruction on how to assess the quality of information they find on the Internet. Other findings suggest that occupational therapy practitioners need access to information systems in the clinical setting that synthesize the research in a way that is readily applicable to patient-care issues. PMID:14566378

Using MicroCT to Assess Periodontal Regeneration Outcomes-Comparison of Image-Based and Histologic Results: A Case Report.

PubMed

Rebaudi, Alberto; Trisi, Paolo; Pagni, Giorgio; Wang, Hom-Lay

The purpose of this study was to compare microcomputed tomography (microCT) and histologic analysis outcomes of a periodontal regeneration of a human defect treated with a polylactic- and polyglycolic-acid copolymer. At 11 months following the grafting procedure, the root with the surrounding periodontal tissues was removed and analyzed using microCT and histologic techniques. The results suggest that microCT three-dimensional analysis may be used in synergy with two-dimensional histologic sections to provide additional information for studying the regeneration outcomes normally reported by histologic biopsies in humans. Additional data is needed to validate these findings.

The Limits of Exercise Physiology: From Performance to Health.

PubMed

Gabriel, Brendan M; Zierath, Juleen R

2017-05-02

Many of the established positive health benefits of exercise have been documented by historical discoveries in the field of exercise physiology. These investigations often assess limits: the limits of performance, or the limits of exercise-induced health benefits. Indeed, several key findings have been informed by studying highly trained athletes, in addition to healthy or unhealthy people. Recent progress has been made in regard to skeletal muscle metabolism and personalized exercise regimes. In this perspective, we review some of the historical milestones of exercise physiology, discuss how these inform contemporary knowledge, and speculate on future questions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Recognition of a person named entity from the text written in a natural language

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dolbin, A. V.; Rozaliev, V. L.; Orlova, Y. A.

2017-01-01

This work is devoted to the semantic analysis of texts, which were written in a natural language. The main goal of the research was to compare latent Dirichlet allocation and latent semantic analysis to identify elements of the human appearance in the text. The completeness of information retrieval was chosen as the efficiency criteria for methods comparison. However, it was insufficient to choose only one method for achieving high recognition rates. Thus, additional methods were used for finding references to the personality in the text. All these methods are based on the created information model, which represents person’s appearance.

Barrels, stripes, and fingerprints in the brain - implications for theories of cortical organization.

PubMed

Catania, Kenneth C

2002-01-01

In the last decade improvements in the histological processing of cortical tissue in conjunction with the investigation of additional mammalian species in comparative brain studies has expanded the information available to guide theories of cortical organization. Here I review some of these recent findings in the somatosensory system with an emphasis on modules related to specializations of the peripheral sensory surface. The diversity of modular representations, or cortical "isomorphs" suggest that information from the sensory sheet guides many of the features of cortical maps and suggest that cortex is not constrained to form circular units in the form of a traditional cortical column.

Introduction to Community-Focused Exposure and Risk ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

C-FERST is a web-based “toolkit” of information, with community maps that show environmental data, public health data, and socioeconomic indications. It is used as a guide to help community assessments. With C-FERST you can: View maps of your community • Compare local, county, and state estimates • Explore and learn about issues in your environment • Find additional resources • Plan your project with guides • Interact with other C-FERST. Goals of this presentation: • Understand the purpose, functions, value and limitations of C-FERST • Identify and generate information about environmental public health issues • Describe C-FERST to communities or individuals

Flatbed scanners as a source of imaging. Brightness assessment and additives determination in a nickel electroplating bath.

PubMed

Vidal, M; Amigo, J M; Bro, R; Ostra, M; Ubide, C; Zuriarrain, J

2011-05-23

Desktop flatbed scanners are very well-known devices that can provide digitized information of flat surfaces. They are practically present in most laboratories as a part of the computer support. Several quality levels can be found in the market, but all of them can be considered as tools with a high performance and low cost. The present paper shows how the information obtained with a scanner, from a flat surface, can be used with fine results for exploratory and quantitative purposes through image analysis. It provides cheap analytical measurements for assessment of quality parameters of coated metallic surfaces and monitoring of electrochemical coating bath lives. The samples used were steel sheets nickel-plated in an electrodeposition bath. The quality of the final deposit depends on the bath conditions and, especially, on the concentration of the additives in the bath. Some additives become degraded with the bath life and so is the quality of the plate finish. Analysis of the scanner images can be used to follow the evolution of the metal deposit and the concentration of additives in the bath. Principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to find significant differences in the coating of sheets, to find directions of maximum variability and to identify odd samples. The results found are favorably compared with those obtained by means of specular reflectance (SR), which is here used as a reference technique. Also the concentration of additives SPB and SA-1 along a nickel bath life can be followed using image data handled with algorithms such as partial least squares (PLS) regression and support vector regression (SVR). The quantitative results obtained with these and other algorithms are compared. All this opens new qualitative and quantitative possibilities to flatbed scanners. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

How do practising clinicians and students apply newly learned causal information about mental disorders?

PubMed

de Kwaadsteniet, Leontien; Kim, Nancy S; Yopchick, Jennelle E

2013-02-01

New causal theories explaining the aetiology of psychiatric disorders continuously appear in the literature. How might such new information directly impact clinical practice, to the degree that clinicians are aware of it and accept it? We investigated whether expert clinical psychologists and students use new causal information about psychiatric disorders according to rationalist norms in their diagnostic reasoning. Specifically, philosophical and Bayesian analyses suggest that it is rational to draw stronger inferences about the presence of a disorder when a client's presenting symptoms are from disparate locations in a causal theory of the disorder than when they are from proximal locations. In a controlled experiment, we presented experienced clinical psychologists and students with recently published causal theories for different disorders; specifically, these theories proposed how the symptoms of each disorder stem from a root cause. Participants viewed hypothetical clients with presenting proximal or diverse symptoms, and indicated either the likelihood that the client has the disorder, or what additional information they would seek out to help inform a diagnostic decision. Clinicians and students alike showed a strong preference for diverse evidence, over proximal evidence, in making diagnostic judgments and in seeking additional information. They did not show this preference in the control condition, in which they gave their own opinions prior to learning the causal information. These findings suggest that experienced clinical psychologists and students are likely to use newly learned causal knowledge in a normative, rational way in diagnostic reasoning. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Views of nonmedical, health system professionals regarding the return of whole genome sequencing incidental findings.

PubMed

Strong, Kimberly A; Zusevics, Kaija L; Bick, David P; Veith, Regan

2014-10-01

Use of genome sequencing in the clinic continues to increase. In addition to its potential to provide findings of clinical benefit, it also has the potential to identify findings unrelated to the indication for testing (incidental findings). Incidental findings are the subject of considerable debate, particularly following the publication of recommendations by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. This debate involves how and which results should be returned as well as stakeholders' desires for such results. Part of the difficulty in determining best practice in relation to returning incidental findings is the dearth of empirical data available regarding laypersons' attitudes and desire for the sometimes controversial information. In an effort to contribute data on views regarding the return of incidental findings following genome sequencing in a clinical setting, a survey specifically designed around the various types of incidental findings that occur, ranging from clinically actionable to nonactionable, was administered to a nonmedical population of medical coders working at a medical school (N = 97). Almost all (98%) of the respondents were women, 80% had 6 or more years of experience as a medical coder, and about three-fourths (74%) of participants reported that they had children. The group surveyed was considerably more interested in receiving all types of results for both themselves and their children than previously surveyed genetics professionals. Results from this study offer a snapshot of opinions beyond those of the professional genetic community and demonstrate a striking difference between genetic professionals and a more lay population in terms of their attitudes and desires regarding the return of incidental findings. Additional research is needed to explain the nuances in the perspectives motivating these variations.

The role of early language abilities on math skills among Chinese children.

PubMed

Zhang, Juan; Fan, Xitao; Cheung, Sum Kwing; Meng, Yaxuan; Cai, Zhihui; Hu, Bi Ying

2017-01-01

The present study investigated the role of early language abilities in the development of math skills among Chinese K-3 students. About 2000 children in China, who were on average aged 6 years, were assessed for both informal math (e.g., basic number concepts such as counting objects) and formal math (calculations including addition and subtraction) skills, language abilities and nonverbal intelligence. Correlation analysis showed that language abilities were more strongly associated with informal than formal math skills, and regression analyses revealed that children's language abilities could uniquely predict both informal and formal math skills with age, gender, and nonverbal intelligence controlled. Mediation analyses demonstrated that the relationship between children's language abilities and formal math skills was partially mediated by informal math skills. The current findings indicate 1) Children's language abilities are of strong predictive values for both informal and formal math skills; 2) Language abilities impacts formal math skills partially through the mediation of informal math skills.

The role of early language abilities on math skills among Chinese children

PubMed Central

Fan, Xitao; Cheung, Sum Kwing; Cai, Zhihui; Hu, Bi Ying

2017-01-01

Background The present study investigated the role of early language abilities in the development of math skills among Chinese K-3 students. About 2000 children in China, who were on average aged 6 years, were assessed for both informal math (e.g., basic number concepts such as counting objects) and formal math (calculations including addition and subtraction) skills, language abilities and nonverbal intelligence. Methodology Correlation analysis showed that language abilities were more strongly associated with informal than formal math skills, and regression analyses revealed that children’s language abilities could uniquely predict both informal and formal math skills with age, gender, and nonverbal intelligence controlled. Mediation analyses demonstrated that the relationship between children’s language abilities and formal math skills was partially mediated by informal math skills. Results The current findings indicate 1) Children’s language abilities are of strong predictive values for both informal and formal math skills; 2) Language abilities impacts formal math skills partially through the mediation of informal math skills. PMID:28749950

Providing Global Change Information for Decision-Making: Capturing and Presenting Provenance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ma, Xiaogang; Fox, Peter; Tilmes, Curt; Jacobs, Katherine; Waple, Anne

2014-01-01

Global change information demands access to data sources and well-documented provenance to provide evidence needed to build confidence in scientific conclusions and, in specific applications, to ensure the information's suitability for use in decision-making. A new generation of Web technology, the Semantic Web, provides tools for that purpose. The topic of global change covers changes in the global environment (including alterations in climate, land productivity, oceans or other water resources, atmospheric composition and or chemistry, and ecological systems) that may alter the capacity of the Earth to sustain life and support human systems. Data and findings associated with global change research are of great public, government, and academic concern and are used in policy and decision-making, which makes the provenance of global change information especially important. In addition, since different types of decisions benefit from different types of information, understanding how to capture and present the provenance of global change information is becoming more of an imperative in adaptive planning.

Visual speech information: a help or hindrance in perceptual processing of dysarthric speech.

PubMed

Borrie, Stephanie A

2015-03-01

This study investigated the influence of visual speech information on perceptual processing of neurologically degraded speech. Fifty listeners identified spastic dysarthric speech under both audio (A) and audiovisual (AV) conditions. Condition comparisons revealed that the addition of visual speech information enhanced processing of the neurologically degraded input in terms of (a) acuity (percent phonemes correct) of vowels and consonants and (b) recognition (percent words correct) of predictive and nonpredictive phrases. Listeners exploited stress-based segmentation strategies more readily in AV conditions, suggesting that the perceptual benefit associated with adding visual speech information to the auditory signal-the AV advantage-has both segmental and suprasegmental origins. Results also revealed that the magnitude of the AV advantage can be predicted, to some degree, by the extent to which an individual utilizes syllabic stress cues to inform word recognition in AV conditions. Findings inform the development of a listener-specific model of speech perception that applies to processing of dysarthric speech in everyday communication contexts.

Towards Supporting Patient Decision-making In Online Diabetes Communities

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jing; Marmor, Rebecca; Huh, Jina

2017-01-01

As of 2014, 29.1 million people in the US have diabetes. Patients with diabetes have evolving information needs around complex lifestyle and medical decisions. As their conditions progress, patients need to sporadically make decisions by understanding alternatives and comparing options. These moments along the decision-making process present a valuable opportunity to support their information needs. An increasing number of patients visit online diabetes communities to fulfill their information needs. To understand how patients attempt to fulfill the information needs around decision-making in online communities, we reviewed 801 posts from an online diabetes community and included 79 posts for in-depth content analysis. The findings revealed motivations for posters’ inquiries related to decision-making including the changes in disease state, increased self-awareness, and conflict of information received. Medication and food were the among the most popular topics discussed as part of their decision-making inquiries. Additionally, We present insights for automatically identifying those decision-making inquiries to efficiently support information needs presented in online health communities. PMID:29854261

Base Stock Policy in a Join-Type Production Line with Advanced Demand Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hiraiwa, Mikihiko; Tsubouchi, Satoshi; Nakade, Koichi

Production control such as the base stock policy, the kanban policy and the constant work-in-process policy in a serial production line has been studied by many researchers. Production lines, however, usually have fork-type, join-type or network-type figures. In addition, in most previous studies on production control, a finished product is required at the same time as arrival of demand at the system. Demand information is, however, informed before due date in practice. In this paper a join-type (assembly) production line under base stock control with advanced demand information in discrete time is analyzed. The recursive equations for the work-in-process are derived. The heuristic algorithm for finding appropriate base stock levels of all machines at short time is proposed and the effect of advanced demand information is examined by simulation with the proposed algorithm. It is shown that the inventory cost can decreases with little backlogs by using the appropriate amount of demand information and setting appropriate base stock levels.

Cosmology with photometric weak lensing surveys: Constraints with redshift tomography of convergence peaks and moments

DOE PAGES

Petri, Andrea; May, Morgan; Haiman, Zoltán

2016-09-30

Weak gravitational lensing is becoming a mature technique for constraining cosmological parameters, and future surveys will be able to constrain the dark energy equation of state w. When analyzing galaxy surveys, redshift information has proven to be a valuable addition to angular shear correlations. We forecast parameter constraints on the triplet (Ω m,w,σ 8) for a LSST-like photometric galaxy survey, using tomography of the shear-shear power spectrum, convergence peak counts and higher convergence moments. Here we find that redshift tomography with the power spectrum reduces the area of the 1σ confidence interval in (Ω m,w) space by a factor ofmore » 8 with respect to the case of the single highest redshift bin. We also find that adding non-Gaussian information from the peak counts and higher-order moments of the convergence field and its spatial derivatives further reduces the constrained area in (Ω m,w) by factors of 3 and 4, respectively. When we add cosmic microwave background parameter priors from Planck to our analysis, tomography improves power spectrum constraints by a factor of 3. Adding moments yields an improvement by an additional factor of 2, and adding both moments and peaks improves by almost a factor of 3 over power spectrum tomography alone. We evaluate the effect of uncorrected systematic photometric redshift errors on the parameter constraints. In conclusion, we find that different statistics lead to different bias directions in parameter space, suggesting the possibility of eliminating this bias via self-calibration.« less

DPS Planetary Science Graduate Programs Listing: A Resource for Students and Advisors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klassen, David R.; Roman, Anthony; Meinke, Bonnie

2015-11-01

We began a web page on the DPS Education site in 2013 listing all the graduate programs we could find that can lead to a PhD with a planetary science focus. Since then the static page has evolved into a database-driven, filtered-search site. It is intended to be a useful resource for both undergraduate students and undergraduate advisers, allowing them to find and compare programs across a basic set of search criteria. From the filtered list users can click on links to get a "quick look" at the database information and follow links to the program main site.The reason for such a list is because planetary science is a heading that covers an extremely diverse set of disciplines. The usual case is that planetary scientists are housed in a discipline-placed department so that finding them is typically not easy—undergraduates cannot look for a Planetary Science department, but must (somehow) know to search for them in all their possible places. This can overwhelm even determined undergraduate student, and even many advisers!We present here the updated site and a walk-through of the basic features. In addition we ask for community feedback on additional features to make the system more usable for them. Finally, we call upon those mentoring and advising undergraduates to use this resource, and program admission chairs to continue to review their entry and provide us with the most up-to-date information.The URL for our site is http://dps.aas.org/education/graduate-schools.

Review of APR+ Level 2 PSA. Revision 2

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

Lehner, John R.; Mubayi, Vinod; Pratt, W. Trevor

2012-02-17

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) assisted the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) in reviewing the Level 2 Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) of the APR+ Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) prepared by the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd (KHNP) and KEPCO Engineering & Construction Co., Inc. (KEPCO-E&C). The work described in this report involves a review of the APR+ Level 2 PSA submittal [Ref. 1]. The PSA and, therefore, the review is limited to consideration of accidents initiated by internal events. As part of the review process, the review team also developed three sets of Requests for Additional Informationmore » (RAIs). These RAIs were provided to KHNP and KEPCO-E&C for their evaluation and response. This final detailed report documents the review findings for each technical element of the PSA and includes consideration of all of the RAIs made by the reviewers as well as the associated responses. This final report was preceded by an interim report [Ref. 2] that focused on identifying important issues regarding the PSA. In addition, a final meeting on the project was held at BNL on November 21-22, 2011, where BNL and KINS reviewers discussed their preliminary review findings with KHNP and KEPCO-E&C staffs. Additional information obtained during this final meeting was also used to inform the review findings of this final report. The review focused not only on the robustness of the APR+ design to withstand severe accidents, but also on the capability and acceptability of the Level 2 PSA in terms of level of detail and completeness. The Korean nuclear regulatory authorities will decide whether the PSA is acceptable and the BNL review team is providing its comments for KINS consideration. Section 2.0 provides the basis for the BNL review. Section 3.0 presents the review of each technical element of the PSA. Conclusions and a summary are presented in Section 4.0. Section 5.0 contains the references.« less

A study on Singaporean women's acceptance of using mobile phones to seek health information.

PubMed

Lim, Sherwin; Xue, Lishan; Yen, Ching Chiuan; Chang, Leanne; Chan, Hock Chuan; Tai, Bee Choo; Duh, Henry Been Lirn; Choolani, Mahesh

2011-12-01

This paper is an exploratory study that investigates Singaporean women's acceptance of using mobile phones to seek health information. A mobile web containing health topics was developed to track Singaporean women's actual use of their mobile phones to seek health information. A survey questionnaire measured variables hypothesized to predict Behavioural Intention. The survey responses were then matched to the data collected on actual use. Correlation analysis and hierarchical regression were used to analyze the data collected. Findings revealed that Perceived Usefulness and Self-efficacy positively predicted the intention to use mobile phones to seek health information. The study also confirmed the presence of an intention-behaviour gap among participants. The conversion of intention to actual behaviour hinges on technical concerns and design factors. Prior experiences with health information seeking reinforced women's evaluations of the usefulness of the mobile web application and helped them to feel more self-efficacious about using their mobile phones to seek health information. Using mobile phones to seek health information was found to be complementary to online health information seeking and can be regarded as an alternative source to the internet for seeking health information. This study contributes to the existing literature by applying the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in the context of mobile health information seeking, for which there has been a lack of studies, and demonstrated that the inclusion of additional variables can enhance TAM's predictive power. The empirical presence of an intention-behaviour gap calls for future research to investigate the reasons behind the gap. Finally, the findings from this study can serve as input to promote women's use of mobile phones for better self-management of health. 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Early cosmology constrained

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

Verde, Licia; Jimenez, Raul; Bellini, Emilio

We investigate our knowledge of early universe cosmology by exploring how much additional energy density can be placed in different components beyond those in the ΛCDM model. To do this we use a method to separate early- and late-universe information enclosed in observational data, thus markedly reducing the model-dependency of the conclusions. We find that the 95% credibility regions for extra energy components of the early universe at recombination are: non-accelerating additional fluid density parameter Ω{sub MR} < 0.006 and extra radiation parameterised as extra effective neutrino species 2.3 < N {sub eff} < 3.2 when imposing flatness. Our constraintsmore » thus show that even when analyzing the data in this largely model-independent way, the possibility of hiding extra energy components beyond ΛCDM in the early universe is seriously constrained by current observations. We also find that the standard ruler, the sound horizon at radiation drag, can be well determined in a way that does not depend on late-time Universe assumptions, but depends strongly on early-time physics and in particular on additional components that behave like radiation. We find that the standard ruler length determined in this way is r {sub s} = 147.4 ± 0.7 Mpc if the radiation and neutrino components are standard, but the uncertainty increases by an order of magnitude when non-standard dark radiation components are allowed, to r {sub s} = 150 ± 5 Mpc.« less

Early cosmology constrained

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verde, Licia; Bellini, Emilio; Pigozzo, Cassio; Heavens, Alan F.; Jimenez, Raul

2017-04-01

We investigate our knowledge of early universe cosmology by exploring how much additional energy density can be placed in different components beyond those in the ΛCDM model. To do this we use a method to separate early- and late-universe information enclosed in observational data, thus markedly reducing the model-dependency of the conclusions. We find that the 95% credibility regions for extra energy components of the early universe at recombination are: non-accelerating additional fluid density parameter ΩMR < 0.006 and extra radiation parameterised as extra effective neutrino species 2.3 < Neff < 3.2 when imposing flatness. Our constraints thus show that even when analyzing the data in this largely model-independent way, the possibility of hiding extra energy components beyond ΛCDM in the early universe is seriously constrained by current observations. We also find that the standard ruler, the sound horizon at radiation drag, can be well determined in a way that does not depend on late-time Universe assumptions, but depends strongly on early-time physics and in particular on additional components that behave like radiation. We find that the standard ruler length determined in this way is rs = 147.4 ± 0.7 Mpc if the radiation and neutrino components are standard, but the uncertainty increases by an order of magnitude when non-standard dark radiation components are allowed, to rs = 150 ± 5 Mpc.

A Practical HTS SQUID Magnetometer System for NDI of Aircraft

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-01-10

based on present-day high Tc SQUIDs is feasible, and present a portable design cooled by a miniature cryocooler . In addition, a reevaluation of the basic...integration of this cryocooler with SQUIDs, is that there is no available electromagnetic field emission information. We did not find any for other types ...background signals. Third, there are several other types of cryocoolers , integrated or split, made of plastics available on the market. They will

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

Flammia, Steven T.; Hamma, Alioscia; Hughes, Taylor L.

We generalize the topological entanglement entropy to a family of topological Renyi entropies parametrized by a parameter alpha, in an attempt to find new invariants for distinguishing topologically ordered phases. We show that, surprisingly, all topological Renyi entropies are the same, independent of alpha for all nonchiral topological phases. This independence shows that topologically ordered ground-state wave functions have reduced density matrices with a certain simple structure, and no additional universal information can be extracted from the entanglement spectrum.

Finding of No Significant Impact: First Air Force Air Operations Center, First Air Force Headquarters/Air Force Forces Center, and Highway 98 Overpass at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-11-10

found at the following web address: <http://dep.state.fl.us/air/forms/asbestos.htm#asbestos>. The Air Force is advised to contact Sandra Veazey at...advised to contact Sandra Veazey at (850) 595·8300 for additional information on asbestos issues. http://tlhora6.dep.state.fl.us/clearinghouse/agency

Imaging Findings in Elder Abuse: A Role for Radiologists in Detection.

PubMed

Wong, Natalie Z; Rosen, Tony; Sanchez, Allen M; Bloemen, Elizabeth M; Mennitt, Kevin W; Hentel, Keith; Nicola, Refky; Murphy, Kieran J; LoFaso, Veronica M; Flomenbaum, Neal E; Lachs, Mark S

2017-02-01

Emergency department assessment represents a critical but often missed opportunity to identify elder abuse, which is common and has serious consequences. Among emergency care providers, diagnostic radiologists are optimally positioned to raise suspicion for mistreatment when reviewing imaging of geriatric injury victims. However, little literature exists describing relevant injury patterns, and most radiologists currently receive neither formal nor informal training in elder abuse identification. We present 2 cases to begin characterisation of the radiographic findings in elder abuse. Findings from these cases demonstrate similarities to suspicious findings in child abuse including high-energy fractures that are inconsistent with reported mechanisms and the coexistence of acute and chronic injuries. Specific injuries uncommon to accidental injury are also noted, including a distal ulnar diaphyseal fracture. We hope to raise awareness of elder abuse among diagnostic radiologists to encourage future large-scale research, increased focus on chronic osseous findings, and the addition of elder abuse to differential diagnoses. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Glaucoma history and risk factors.

PubMed

McMonnies, Charles W

Apart from the risk of developing glaucoma there is also the risk that it is not detected and irreversible loss of vision ensues. Some studies of methods of glaucoma diagnosis have examined the results of instrument-based examinations with great if not complete reliance on objective findings in arriving at a diagnosis. The very valuable advances in glaucoma detection instrument technologies, and apparent increasing dependence on them, may have led to reduced consideration of information available from a patient history in those studies. Dependence on objective evidence of glaucomatous pathology may reduce the possibility of detecting glaucoma suspects or patients at risk for becoming glaucoma suspects. A valid positive family history of glaucoma is very valuable information. However, negative family histories can often be unreliable due to large numbers of glaucoma cases being undiagnosed. No evidence of family history is appropriate rather than no family history. In addition the unreliability of a negative family history is increased when patients with glaucoma fail to inform their family members. A finding of no family history can only be stated as no known family history. In examining the potential diagnostic contribution from a patient history, this review considers, age, frailty, race, type and degree of refractive error, systemic hyper- and hypotension, vasospasm, migraine, pigmentary dispersion syndrome, pseudoexfoliation syndrome, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, diabetes, medication interactions and side effects, the degree of exposure to intraocular and intracranial pressure elevations and fluctuations, smoking, and symptoms in addition to genetics and family history of the disease. Copyright © 2016 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Using cross correlations to calibrate lensing source redshift distributions: Improving cosmological constraints from upcoming weak lensing surveys

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

De Putter, Roland; Doré, Olivier; Das, Sudeep

2014-01-10

Cross correlations between the galaxy number density in a lensing source sample and that in an overlapping spectroscopic sample can in principle be used to calibrate the lensing source redshift distribution. In this paper, we study in detail to what extent this cross-correlation method can mitigate the loss of cosmological information in upcoming weak lensing surveys (combined with a cosmic microwave background prior) due to lack of knowledge of the source distribution. We consider a scenario where photometric redshifts are available and find that, unless the photometric redshift distribution p(z {sub ph}|z) is calibrated very accurately a priori (bias andmore » scatter known to ∼0.002 for, e.g., EUCLID), the additional constraint on p(z {sub ph}|z) from the cross-correlation technique to a large extent restores the cosmological information originally lost due to the uncertainty in dn/dz(z). Considering only the gain in photo-z accuracy and not the additional cosmological information, enhancements of the dark energy figure of merit of up to a factor of four (40) can be achieved for a SuMIRe-like (EUCLID-like) combination of lensing and redshift surveys, where SuMIRe stands for Subaru Measurement of Images and Redshifts). However, the success of the method is strongly sensitive to our knowledge of the galaxy bias evolution in the source sample and we find that a percent level bias prior is needed to optimize the gains from the cross-correlation method (i.e., to approach the cosmology constraints attainable if the bias was known exactly).« less

[Knowledge and attitudes toward vaccination among midwives in Quebec].

PubMed

Dubé, Eve; Vivion, Maryline; Valderrama, Alena; Sauvageau, Chantal

2013-01-01

Vaccine acceptability among Quebec midwives is not well documented. The purpose of this study was to examine midwives' knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to immunization in Quebec. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 participants (17 midwives and 8 midwifery students). The mean duration of the interviews was 1 hour. The interviews were conducted in 2010 and were audiotaped, transcribed and submitted to content analysis using NVivo 8 software. In addition to the laws regulating midwifery practice in Quebec, the findings suggest that most midwifery interventions are based on midwifery philosophy. Informed choice is one of the key principles of this philosophy. In order to help women make an informed decision about vaccination, midwives seek to outline the pros and cons of vaccination using government documentation, as well as other sources such as books on naturopathy. Most of the participating midwives recognized that vaccination has advantages, including disease prevention and free vaccines. Various arguments against vaccination were also identified. Most of these were related to the vaccination schedule and to combined vaccines. Some of the participants noted that it was difficult to find unbiased information about vaccination. This study highlights the key role of midwifery philosophy in midwifery practice. Most decisions (such as vaccination) are made on the basis of the principle of informed choice. Most of the participants noted that they lacked information on vaccination.

Random matrix theory for analyzing the brain functional network in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Rong; Wang, Li; Yang, Yong; Li, Jiajia; Wu, Ying; Lin, Pan

2016-11-01

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common childhood neuropsychiatric disorder and affects approximately 6 -7 % of children worldwide. Here, we investigate the statistical properties of undirected and directed brain functional networks in ADHD patients based on random matrix theory (RMT), in which the undirected functional connectivity is constructed based on correlation coefficient and the directed functional connectivity is measured based on cross-correlation coefficient and mutual information. We first analyze the functional connectivity and the eigenvalues of the brain functional network. We find that ADHD patients have increased undirected functional connectivity, reflecting a higher degree of linear dependence between regions, and increased directed functional connectivity, indicating stronger causality and more transmission of information among brain regions. More importantly, we explore the randomness of the undirected and directed functional networks using RMT. We find that for ADHD patients, the undirected functional network is more orderly than that for normal subjects, which indicates an abnormal increase in undirected functional connectivity. In addition, we find that the directed functional networks are more random, which reveals greater disorder in causality and more chaotic information flow among brain regions in ADHD patients. Our results not only further confirm the efficacy of RMT in characterizing the intrinsic properties of brain functional networks but also provide insights into the possibilities RMT offers for improving clinical diagnoses and treatment evaluations for ADHD patients.

Language identification from visual-only speech signals

PubMed Central

Ronquest, Rebecca E.; Levi, Susannah V.; Pisoni, David B.

2010-01-01

Our goal in the present study was to examine how observers identify English and Spanish from visual-only displays of speech. First, we replicated the recent findings of Soto-Faraco et al. (2007) with Spanish and English bilingual and monolingual observers using different languages and a different experimental paradigm (identification). We found that prior linguistic experience affected response bias but not sensitivity (Experiment 1). In two additional experiments, we investigated the visual cues that observers use to complete the language-identification task. The results of Experiment 2 indicate that some lexical information is available in the visual signal but that it is limited. Acoustic analyses confirmed that our Spanish and English stimuli differed acoustically with respect to linguistic rhythmic categories. In Experiment 3, we tested whether this rhythmic difference could be used by observers to identify the language when the visual stimuli is temporally reversed, thereby eliminating lexical information but retaining rhythmic differences. The participants performed above chance even in the backward condition, suggesting that the rhythmic differences between the two languages may aid language identification in visual-only speech signals. The results of Experiments 3A and 3B also confirm previous findings that increased stimulus length facilitates language identification. Taken together, the results of these three experiments replicate earlier findings and also show that prior linguistic experience, lexical information, rhythmic structure, and utterance length influence visual-only language identification. PMID:20675804

Improving Transparency in the Reporting of Safeguards Implementation: FY11 Update

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

Toomey, Christopher; Odlaug, Christopher S.; Wyse, Evan T.

2011-09-30

In 2008, the Standing Advisory Group on Safeguards Implementation (SAGSI) indicated that the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Safeguards Implementation Report (SIR) has not kept pace with the evolution of safeguards and provided the IAEA with a set of recommendations for improvement. The SIR is the primary mechanism for providing an overview of safeguards implementation in a given year and reporting on the annual safeguards findings and conclusions drawn by the Secretariat. As the IAEA transitions to State-level safeguards approaches, SIR reporting must adapt to reflect these evolutionary changes. This evolved report will better reflect the IAEA's transition to amore » more qualitative and information-driven approach, based upon State-as-a-whole considerations. This paper applies SAGSI's recommendations to the development of multiple models for an evolved SIR and finds that an SIR repurposed as a 'safeguards portal' could significantly enhance information delivery, clarity, and transparency. In addition, this paper finds that the 'portal concept' also appears to have value as a standardized information presentation and analysis platform for use by Country Officers, for continuity of knowledge purposes, and the IAEA Secretariat in the safeguards conclusion process. Accompanying this paper is a fully functional prototype of the 'portal' concept, built using commercial software and IAEA Annual Report data and available for viewing at http://safeguardsportal.pnnl.gov.« less

Localized prostate cancer treatment decision-making information online: improving its effectiveness and dissemination for nonprofit and government-supported organizations.

PubMed

Silk, Kami J; Perrault, Evan K; Nazione, Samantha; Pace, Kristin; Hager, Polly; Springer, Steven

2013-12-01

The current study reports findings from evaluation research conducted to identify how online prostate cancer treatment decision-making information can be both improved and more effectively disseminated to those who need it most. A multi-method, multi-target approach was used and guided by McGuire's Communication Matrix Model. Focus groups (n = 31) with prostate cancer patients and their family members, and in-depth interviews with physicians (n = 8), helped inform a web survey (n = 89). Results indicated that physicians remain a key information source for medical advice and the Internet is a primary channel used to help make informed prostate cancer treatment decisions. Participants reported a need for more accessible information related to treatment options and treatment side effects. Additionally, physicians indicated that the best way for agencies to reach them with new information to deliver to patients is by contacting them directly and meeting with them one-on-one. Advice for organizations to improve their current prostate cancer web offerings and further ways to improve information dissemination are discussed.

The role of movement in the recognition of famous faces.

PubMed

Lander, K; Christie, F; Bruce, V

1999-11-01

The effects of movement on the recognition of famous faces shown in difficult conditions were investigated. Images were presented as negatives, upside down (inverted), and thresholded. Results indicate that, under all these conditions, moving faces were recognized significantly better than static ones. One possible explanation of this effect could be that a moving sequence contains more static information about the different views and expressions of the face than does a single static image. However, even when the amount of static information was equated (Experiments 3 and 4), there was still an advantage for moving sequences that contained their original dynamic properties. The results suggest that the dynamics of the motion provide additional information, helping to access an established familiar face representation. Both the theoretical and the practical implications for these findings are discussed.

Pre-fermentation addition of grape tannin increases the varietal thiols content in wine.

PubMed

Larcher, Roberto; Tonidandel, Loris; Román Villegas, Tomás; Nardin, Tiziana; Fedrizzi, Bruno; Nicolini, Giorgio

2015-01-01

The recent finding that grape tannin may contain significant amount of S-glutathionylated (GSH-3MH) and S-cysteinylated (Cys-3MH) precursors of the varietal thiols 3-mercapto-1-hexanol and 3-mercaptohexyl acetate, characteristic of Sauvignon blanc wines, offers new opportunities for enhancing the tropical aroma in fermented beverages. In this study this new hypothesis was investigated: Müller Thurgau (17 samples) and Sauvignon blanc (15 samples) grapes were fermented with and without addition of a selected grape tannin. As expected, the tannin-added juices were higher in precursors, and they produced wines with increased free thiols. Preliminary informal sensory tests confirmed that in particular the Sauvignon wines produced with the tannin addition were often richer with increased "fruity/green" notes than the corresponding reference wines. This outcome confirms that grape tannin addition prior to fermentation can fortify the level of these compounds. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thermal Injuries in Veterinary Forensic Pathology.

PubMed

Wohlsein, P; Peters, M; Schulze, C; Baumgärtner, W

2016-09-01

Localized thermal injuries in animals may be caused by exposure to fire and radiant heat, contact with hot items including hot liquids or steam, inhalation of hot air, and exposure to cold temperatures. In addition, animal fire victims may have intoxications caused by smoke gas. This article reviews the causes, pathogenetic aspects, morphological findings, additional investigations, differential diagnoses, and causes of death in various forms of thermal injuries. Since these cases do not occur frequently in diagnostic pathology, they represent a challenging task in general but also with respect to forensic or criminal aspects, such as whether a lesion represents an accidental or nonaccidental effect. Besides detailed information about the circumstances at the location, thermal injuries in animals require a thorough morphological evaluation, including additional investigations in conjunction with a profound knowledge about the possible lesion spectrum and suitable additional investigations. © The Author(s) 2016.

Computational Process Modeling for Additive Manufacturing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bagg, Stacey; Zhang, Wei

2014-01-01

Computational Process and Material Modeling of Powder Bed additive manufacturing of IN 718. Optimize material build parameters with reduced time and cost through modeling. Increase understanding of build properties. Increase reliability of builds. Decrease time to adoption of process for critical hardware. Potential to decrease post-build heat treatments. Conduct single-track and coupon builds at various build parameters. Record build parameter information and QM Meltpool data. Refine Applied Optimization powder bed AM process model using data. Report thermal modeling results. Conduct metallography of build samples. Calibrate STK models using metallography findings. Run STK models using AO thermal profiles and report STK modeling results. Validate modeling with additional build. Photodiode Intensity measurements highly linear with power input. Melt Pool Intensity highly correlated to Melt Pool Size. Melt Pool size and intensity increase with power. Applied Optimization will use data to develop powder bed additive manufacturing process model.

Access to and value of information to support good practice for staff in Kenyan hospitals

PubMed Central

Muinga, Naomi; Sen, Barbara; Ayieko, Philip; Todd, Jim; English, Mike

2015-01-01

Background Studies have sought to define information needs of health workers within very specific settings or projects. Lacking in the literature is how hospitals in low-income settings are able to meet the information needs of their staff and the use of information communication technologies (ICT) in day-to-day information searching. Objective The study aimed to explore where professionals in Kenyan hospitals turn to for work-related information in their day-to-day work. Additionally, it examined what existing solutions are provided by hospitals with regard to provision of best practice care. Lastly, the study explored the use of ICT in information searching. Design Data for this study were collected in July 2012. Self-administered questionnaires (SAQs) were distributed across 22 study hospitals with an aim to get a response from 34 health workers per hospital. Results SAQs were collected from 657 health workers. The most popular sources of information to guide work were fellow health workers and printed guidelines while the least popular were scientific journals. Of value to health workers were: national treatment policies, new research findings, regular reports from surveillance data, information on costs of services and information on their performance of routine clinical tasks; however, hospitals only partially met these needs. Barriers to accessing information sources included: ‘not available/difficult to get’ and ‘difficult to understand’. ICT use for information seeking was reported and with demographic specific differences noted from the multivariate logistic regression model; nurses compared to medical doctors and older workers were less likely to use ICT for health information searching. Barriers to accessing Internet were identified as: high costs and the lack of the service at home or at work. Conclusions Hospitals need to provide appropriate information by improving information dissemination efforts and providing an enabling environment that allows health workers find the information they need for best practice. PMID:25979113

Access to and value of information to support good practice for staff in Kenyan hospitals.

PubMed

Muinga, Naomi; Sen, Barbara; Ayieko, Philip; Todd, Jim; English, Mike

2015-01-01

Studies have sought to define information needs of health workers within very specific settings or projects. Lacking in the literature is how hospitals in low-income settings are able to meet the information needs of their staff and the use of information communication technologies (ICT) in day-to-day information searching. The study aimed to explore where professionals in Kenyan hospitals turn to for work-related information in their day-to-day work. Additionally, it examined what existing solutions are provided by hospitals with regard to provision of best practice care. Lastly, the study explored the use of ICT in information searching. Data for this study were collected in July 2012. Self-administered questionnaires (SAQs) were distributed across 22 study hospitals with an aim to get a response from 34 health workers per hospital. SAQs were collected from 657 health workers. The most popular sources of information to guide work were fellow health workers and printed guidelines while the least popular were scientific journals. Of value to health workers were: national treatment policies, new research findings, regular reports from surveillance data, information on costs of services and information on their performance of routine clinical tasks; however, hospitals only partially met these needs. Barriers to accessing information sources included: 'not available/difficult to get' and 'difficult to understand'. ICT use for information seeking was reported and with demographic specific differences noted from the multivariate logistic regression model; nurses compared to medical doctors and older workers were less likely to use ICT for health information searching. Barriers to accessing Internet were identified as: high costs and the lack of the service at home or at work. Hospitals need to provide appropriate information by improving information dissemination efforts and providing an enabling environment that allows health workers find the information they need for best practice.

Discovery and information-theoretic characterization of transcription factor binding sites that act cooperatively.

PubMed

Clifford, Jacob; Adami, Christoph

2015-09-02

Transcription factor binding to the surface of DNA regulatory regions is one of the primary causes of regulating gene expression levels. A probabilistic approach to model protein-DNA interactions at the sequence level is through position weight matrices (PWMs) that estimate the joint probability of a DNA binding site sequence by assuming positional independence within the DNA sequence. Here we construct conditional PWMs that depend on the motif signatures in the flanking DNA sequence, by conditioning known binding site loci on the presence or absence of additional binding sites in the flanking sequence of each site's locus. Pooling known sites with similar flanking sequence patterns allows for the estimation of the conditional distribution function over the binding site sequences. We apply our model to the Dorsal transcription factor binding sites active in patterning the Dorsal-Ventral axis of Drosophila development. We find that those binding sites that cooperate with nearby Twist sites on average contain about 0.5 bits of information about the presence of Twist transcription factor binding sites in the flanking sequence. We also find that Dorsal binding site detectors conditioned on flanking sequence information make better predictions about what is a Dorsal site relative to background DNA than detection without information about flanking sequence features.

Age-related differences in the use of spatial and categorical relationships in a visuo-spatial working memory task.

PubMed

Dai, Ruizhi; Thomas, Ayanna K; Taylor, Holly A

2018-01-30

Research examining object identity and location processing in visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) has yielded inconsistent results on whether age differences exist in VSWM. The present study investigated whether these inconsistencies may stem from age-related differences in VSWM sub-processes, and whether processing of component VSWM information can be facilitated. In two experiments, younger and older adults studied 5 × 5 grids containing five objects in separate locations. In a continuous recognition paradigm, participants were tested on memory for object identity, location, or identity and location information combined. Spatial and categorical relationships were manipulated within grids to provide trial-level facilitation. In Experiment 1, randomizing trial types (location, identity, combination) assured that participants could not predict the information that would be queried. In Experiment 2, blocking trials by type encouraged strategic processing. Thus, we manipulated the nature of the task through object categorical relationship and spatial organization, and trial blocking. Our findings support age-related declines in VSWM. Additionally, grid organizations (categorical and spatial relationships), and trial blocking differentially affected younger and older adults. Younger adults used spatial organizations more effectively whereas older adults demonstrated an association bias. Our finding also suggests that older adults may be less efficient than younger adults in strategically engaging information processing.

Focusing on task conflict in the Stroop effect.

PubMed

Entel, Olga; Tzelgov, Joseph

2018-03-01

Two types of conflict underlie performance in the Stroop task-informational (between the incongruent word and its ink color) and task (between the relevant color-naming task and the irrelevant word-reading task). We manipulated congruent-to-neutral trial ratio in an attempt to reveal whether task conflict can be monitored and controlled in the absence of an informational conflict. In our first experiment, no incongruent trials were included, thus allowing examination of a pure task conflict situation. The results revealed an impressively large facilitation when most of the stimuli were congruent and a smaller yet significant facilitation when most of the stimuli were neutrals. In Experiments 2, exposing participants to incongruent trials during pre-experimental practice (but not during the experimental blocks) slowed down the responses to congruent trials, resulting in a reduced facilitation effect in the mostly congruent condition, and in a negative facilitation in the mostly neutral condition. In our third experiment, we replicated our results, eliminating possible contingency and frequency biases. Overall, our findings show that experiencing, or at least expecting, informational conflict is essential to reveal conflict, while control is recruited through task demands. This challenges previous findings and points out that additional research is needed to clarify the necessity of informational conflict for conflict detection.

Comparing the use of an online expert health network against common information sources to answer health questions.

PubMed

Rhebergen, Martijn D F; Lenderink, Annet F; van Dijk, Frank J H; Hulshof, Carel T J

2012-02-02

Many workers have questions about occupational safety and health (OSH). It is unknown whether workers are able to find correct, evidence-based answers to OSH questions when they use common information sources, such as websites, or whether they would benefit from using an easily accessible, free-of-charge online network of OSH experts providing advice. To assess the rate of correct, evidence-based answers to OSH questions in a group of workers who used an online network of OSH experts (intervention group) compared with a group of workers who used common information sources (control group). In a quasi-experimental study, workers in the intervention and control groups were randomly offered 2 questions from a pool of 16 standardized OSH questions. Both questions were sent by mail to all participants, who had 3 weeks to answer them. The intervention group was instructed to use only the online network ArboAntwoord, a network of about 80 OSH experts, to solve the questions. The control group was instructed that they could use all information sources available to them. To assess answer correctness as the main study outcome, 16 standardized correct model answers were constructed with the help of reviewers who performed literature searches. Subsequently, the answers provided by all participants in the intervention (n = 94 answers) and control groups (n = 124 answers) were blinded and compared with the correct model answers on the degree of correctness. Of the 94 answers given by participants in the intervention group, 58 were correct (62%), compared with 24 of the 124 answers (19%) in the control group, who mainly used informational websites found via Google. The difference between the 2 groups was significant (rate difference = 43%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 30%-54%). Additional analysis showed that the rate of correct main conclusions of the answers was 85 of 94 answers (90%) in the intervention group and 75 of 124 answers (61%) in the control group (rate difference = 29%, 95% CI 19%-40%). Remarkably, we could not identify differences between workers who provided correct answers and workers who did not on how they experienced the credibility, completeness, and applicability of the information found (P > .05). Workers are often unable to find correct answers to OSH questions when using common information sources, generally informational websites. Because workers frequently misjudge the quality of the information they find, other strategies are required to assist workers in finding correct answers. Expert advice provided through an online expert network can be effective for this purpose. As many people experience difficulties in finding correct answers to their health questions, expert networks may be an attractive new source of information for health fields in general.

Comparing the Use of an Online Expert Health Network against Common Information Sources to Answer Health Questions

PubMed Central

Lenderink, Annet F; van Dijk, Frank JH; Hulshof, Carel TJ

2012-01-01

Background Many workers have questions about occupational safety and health (OSH). It is unknown whether workers are able to find correct, evidence-based answers to OSH questions when they use common information sources, such as websites, or whether they would benefit from using an easily accessible, free-of-charge online network of OSH experts providing advice. Objective To assess the rate of correct, evidence-based answers to OSH questions in a group of workers who used an online network of OSH experts (intervention group) compared with a group of workers who used common information sources (control group). Methods In a quasi-experimental study, workers in the intervention and control groups were randomly offered 2 questions from a pool of 16 standardized OSH questions. Both questions were sent by mail to all participants, who had 3 weeks to answer them. The intervention group was instructed to use only the online network ArboAntwoord, a network of about 80 OSH experts, to solve the questions. The control group was instructed that they could use all information sources available to them. To assess answer correctness as the main study outcome, 16 standardized correct model answers were constructed with the help of reviewers who performed literature searches. Subsequently, the answers provided by all participants in the intervention (n = 94 answers) and control groups (n = 124 answers) were blinded and compared with the correct model answers on the degree of correctness. Results Of the 94 answers given by participants in the intervention group, 58 were correct (62%), compared with 24 of the 124 answers (19%) in the control group, who mainly used informational websites found via Google. The difference between the 2 groups was significant (rate difference = 43%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 30%–54%). Additional analysis showed that the rate of correct main conclusions of the answers was 85 of 94 answers (90%) in the intervention group and 75 of 124 answers (61%) in the control group (rate difference = 29%, 95% CI 19%–40%). Remarkably, we could not identify differences between workers who provided correct answers and workers who did not on how they experienced the credibility, completeness, and applicability of the information found (P > .05). Conclusions Workers are often unable to find correct answers to OSH questions when using common information sources, generally informational websites. Because workers frequently misjudge the quality of the information they find, other strategies are required to assist workers in finding correct answers. Expert advice provided through an online expert network can be effective for this purpose. As many people experience difficulties in finding correct answers to their health questions, expert networks may be an attractive new source of information for health fields in general. PMID:22356848

Improving the interface between informal carers and formal health and social services: a qualitative study.

PubMed

McPherson, K M; Kayes, N K; Moloczij, N; Cummins, C

2014-03-01

Reports about the impact of caring vary widely, but a consistent finding is that the role is influenced (for better or worse) by how formal services respond to, and work with informal carers and of course the cared for person. We aimed to explore the connection between informal and formal cares and identify how a positive connection or interface might be developed and maintained. We undertook a qualitative descriptive study with focus groups and individual interviews with informal carers, formal care service providers and representatives from carer advocacy groups. Content analysis was used to identify key factors impacting on the interface between informal and formal carers and propose specific recommendations for service development. Community setting including urban and rural areas of New Zealand. Seventy participants (the majority informal carers) took part in 13 focus groups and 22 individual interviews. Four key themes were derived: Quality of care for the care recipient; Knowledge exchange (valuing carer perspectives); One size does not fit all (creating flexible services); and A constant struggle (reducing the burden services add). An optimum interface to address these key areas was proposed. In addition to ensuring quality care for the care recipient, specific structures and processes to support a more positive interface appear warranted if informal carers and services are to work well together. An approach recognising the caring context and carer expertise may decrease the additional burden services contribute, and reduce conflicting information and resultant confusion and/or frustration many carers experience. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A unified approach to the study of temporal, correlational, and rate coding.

PubMed

Panzeri, S; Schultz, S R

2001-06-01

We demonstrate that the information contained in the spike occurrence times of a population of neurons can be broken up into a series of terms, each reflecting something about potential coding mechanisms. This is possible in the coding regime in which few spikes are emitted in the relevant time window. This approach allows us to study the additional information contributed by spike timing beyond that present in the spike counts and to examine the contributions to the whole information of different statistical properties of spike trains, such as firing rates and correlation functions. It thus forms the basis for a new quantitative procedure for analyzing simultaneous multiple neuron recordings and provides theoretical constraints on neural coding strategies. We find a transition between two coding regimes, depending on the size of the relevant observation timescale. For time windows shorter than the timescale of the stimulus-induced response fluctuations, there exists a spike count coding phase, in which the purely temporal information is of third order in time. For time windows much longer than the characteristic timescale, there can be additional timing information of first order, leading to a temporal coding phase in which timing information may affect the instantaneous information rate. In this new framework, we study the relative contributions of the dynamic firing rate and correlation variables to the full temporal information, the interaction of signal and noise correlations in temporal coding, synergy between spikes and between cells, and the effect of refractoriness. We illustrate the utility of the technique by analyzing a few cells from the rat barrel cortex.

Beyond access: barriers to internet health information seeking among the urban poor

PubMed Central

Okechukwu, Cassandra A; Sorensen, Glorian; Viswanath, K

2016-01-01

Objective Communication inequalities deepen health disparities even when internet access is achieved. The goal of this study is to understand how a range of barriers may inhibit individuals from low socioeconomic position (SEP) from engaging with online health information even when it is freely available. Materials and methods Detailed data were collected from 118 low-SEP individuals from a randomized controlled trial providing internet access. Measures triangulated the health-seeking experience through internet use tracked in real-time, call log data, and self-reported barriers. Negative binomial regression models were fitted with technology and perceived predictors, and our outcome, health information seeking, and then stratified by medical status. Results Participants experienced a median of two computer issues (median 6 days) and two internet issues (median 6.5 days). Duration of internet problems was associated with a decrease in the rate of internet health information seeking by a factor of 0.990 (P = .03) for each additional day. Participants with a medical problem who were frustrated in their search for health information had half the rate of health information seeking of those who were not frustrated (incidence rate ratio = 0.395, P = .030). Discussion Despite IT support, participants still experienced internet connectivity issues that negatively impacted their health information seeking. Frustration in their search to find information may serve as an additional barrier to those who have medical issues. Conclusion After initial internet access, a second-level digital divide emerged due to connectivity issues, highlighting the need to understand the complex network of barriers experienced by low-SEP internet users. PMID:27206459

Communicating Genetic and Genomic Information: Health Literacy and Numeracy Considerations

PubMed Central

Lea, D.H.; Kaphingst, K.A.; Bowen, D.; Lipkus, I.; Hadley, D.W.

2011-01-01

Genomic research is transforming our understanding of the role of genes in health and disease. These advances, and their application to common diseases that affect large segments of the general population, suggest that researchers and practitioners in public health genomics will increasingly be called upon to translate genomic information to individuals with varying levels of health literacy and numeracy. This paper discusses the current state of research regarding public understanding of genetics and genomics, the influence of health literacy and numeracy on genetic communication, and behavioral responses to genetic and genomic information. The existing research suggests that members of the general public have some familiarity with genetic and genomic terms but have gaps in understanding of underlying concepts. Findings from the limited research base to date indicate that health literacy affects understanding of print and oral communications about genetic and genomic information. Numeracy is also likely to be an important predictor of being able to understand and apply this information, although little research has been conducted in this area to date. In addition, although some research has examined behavior change in response to the receipt of information about genetic risk for familial disorders and genomic susceptibility to common, complex diseases, the effects of health literacy and numeracy on these responses have not been examined. Potential areas in which additional research is needed are identified and practical suggestions for presenting numeric risk information are outlined. Public health genomics researchers and practitioners are uniquely positioned to engage in research that explores how different audiences react to and use genomic risk information. PMID:20407217

Experiences of college-age youths in families with a recessive genetic condition.

PubMed

Hern, Marcia J; Beery, Theresa A; Barry, Detrice G

2006-05-01

Growing up in a family with a recessive genetic condition can trigger questions about progeny effect. This study explored perceptions of family hardiness and information sharing by 18- to 21-year-olds about genetic risk. Semistructured interviews, the Family Hardiness Index (FHI), and a Family Information Sharing Analog Scale (FISAS) were used. Participants included 11 youths who had relatives with hemophilia and 4 with sickle cell anemia. Findings revealed seven themes: assimilating premature knowledge; caring for others, denying self; cautioning during development; experiencing continual sickness; feeling less than; magnifying transition experiences; and sustaining by faith. There was no significant correlation between total FHI and FISAS. However, there was a statistically significant difference in FISAS between genetic condition variance. Specifically, higher hardiness was found and information sharing correlated among college youths in families with hemophilia. Additional research can lead to nursing interventions to provide genetic information to youths in families for illness variance.

Information Superiority via Formal Concept Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koester, Bjoern; Schmidt, Stefan E.

This chapter will show how to get more mileage out of information. To achieve that, we first start with an introduction to the fundamentals of Formal Concept Analysis (FCA). FCA is a highly versatile field of applied lattice theory, which allows hidden relationships to be uncovered in relational data. Moreover, FCA provides a distinguished supporting framework to subsequently find and fill information gaps in a systematic and rigorous way. In addition, we would like to build bridges via a universal approach to other communities which can be related to FCA in order for other research areas to benefit from a theory that has been elaborated for more than twenty years. Last but not least, the essential benefits of FCA will be presented algorithmically as well as theoretically by investigating a real data set from the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base and also by demonstrating an application in the field of Web Information Retrieval and Web Intelligence.

Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding

PubMed Central

Tamir, Diana I.; Mitchell, Jason P.

2012-01-01

Humans devote 30–40% of speech output solely to informing others of their own subjective experiences. What drives this propensity for disclosure? Here, we test recent theories that individuals place high subjective value on opportunities to communicate their thoughts and feelings to others and that doing so engages neural and cognitive mechanisms associated with reward. Five studies provided support for this hypothesis. Self-disclosure was strongly associated with increased activation in brain regions that form the mesolimbic dopamine system, including the nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area. Moreover, individuals were willing to forgo money to disclose about the self. Two additional studies demonstrated that these effects stemmed from the independent value that individuals placed on self-referential thought and on simply sharing information with others. Together, these findings suggest that the human tendency to convey information about personal experience may arise from the intrinsic value associated with self-disclosure. PMID:22566617

Evoked fear and effects of appeals on attitudes to performing breast self-examination: an information-processing perspective.

PubMed

Ruiter, R A; Kok, G; Verplanken, B; Brug, J

2001-06-01

The effect of fear arousal on attitude toward participating in early detection activities [i.e. breast self-examination (BSE)] was studied from an information-processing perspective. It was hypothesized that fear arousal motivates respondents to more argument-based processing of fear-relevant persuasive information. Respondents first read information about breast cancer in which fear was manipulated. After measuring fear arousal, respondents read a persuasive message about performing BSE. Analyses with reported fear, but not manipulated fear, found support for the hypothesis. Respondents who reported mild fear of breast cancer based their attitude toward BSE more on the arguments provided than respondents who reported low fear of breast cancer. This finding suggests that the use of fear arousal may be an efficient tool in health education practice. However, alternative interpretations are provided, in addition to the suggestion to be careful with using fear arousal in health education messages.

Quantifying lost information due to covariance matrix estimation in parameter inference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sellentin, Elena; Heavens, Alan F.

2017-02-01

Parameter inference with an estimated covariance matrix systematically loses information due to the remaining uncertainty of the covariance matrix. Here, we quantify this loss of precision and develop a framework to hypothetically restore it, which allows to judge how far away a given analysis is from the ideal case of a known covariance matrix. We point out that it is insufficient to estimate this loss by debiasing the Fisher matrix as previously done, due to a fundamental inequality that describes how biases arise in non-linear functions. We therefore develop direct estimators for parameter credibility contours and the figure of merit, finding that significantly fewer simulations than previously thought are sufficient to reach satisfactory precisions. We apply our results to DES Science Verification weak lensing data, detecting a 10 per cent loss of information that increases their credibility contours. No significant loss of information is found for KiDS. For a Euclid-like survey, with about 10 nuisance parameters we find that 2900 simulations are sufficient to limit the systematically lost information to 1 per cent, with an additional uncertainty of about 2 per cent. Without any nuisance parameters, 1900 simulations are sufficient to only lose 1 per cent of information. We further derive estimators for all quantities needed for forecasting with estimated covariance matrices. Our formalism allows to determine the sweetspot between running sophisticated simulations to reduce the number of nuisance parameters, and running as many fast simulations as possible.

Children with new onset seizures: A prospective study of parent variables, child behavior problems, and seizure occurrence.

PubMed

Austin, Joan K; Haber, Linda C; Dunn, David W; Shore, Cheryl P; Johnson, Cynthia S; Perkins, Susan M

2015-12-01

Parent variables (stigma, mood, unmet needs for information and support, and worry) are associated with behavioral difficulties in children with seizures; however, it is not known how this relationship is influenced by additional seizures. This study followed children (ages 4-14 years) and their parents over a 24-month period (with data collected at baseline and 6, 12, and 24 months) and investigated the effect of an additional seizure on the relationship between parenting variables and child behavior difficulties. The sample was parents of 196 children (104 girls and 92 boys) with a first seizure within the past 6 weeks. Child mean age at baseline was 8 years, 3 months (SD 3 years). Data were analyzed using t-tests, chi-square tests, and repeated measures analyses of covariance. Relationships between parent variables, additional seizures, and child behavior problems were consistent across time. Several associations between parent variables and child behavior problems were stronger in the additional seizure group than in the no additional seizure group. Findings suggest that interventions that assist families to respond constructively to the reactions of others regarding their child's seizure condition and to address their needs for information and support could help families of children with continuing seizures to have an improved quality of life. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Children with New Onset Seizures: A Prospective Study of Parent Variables, Child Behavior Problems, and Seizure Occurrence

PubMed Central

Austin, Joan K.; Haber, Linda C.; Dunn, David W.; Shore, Cheryl P.; Johnson, Cynthia S.; Perkins, Susan M.

2015-01-01

Objective Parent variables (stigma, mood, unmet needs for information and support, and worry) are associated with behavioral difficulties in children with seizures, however, it is not known how this relationship is influenced by additional seizures. This study followed children (ages 4 – 14 years) and their parents over a 24-month period (with data collected at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months) and investigated the effect of an additional seizure on the relationship between parenting variables and child behavior difficulties. Methods The sample was parents of 196 children (104 girls and 92 boys) with a first seizure within the past 6 weeks. Child mean age at baseline was 8 years, 3 months (SD 3 years). Data were analyzed using t-tests, chi-square tests, and repeated measures analyses of covariance. Results Relationships between parent variables, additional seizures, and child behavior problems were consistent across time. Several associations between parent variables and child behavior problems were stronger in the additional seizure group than in the no additional seizures group. Conclusions Findings suggest that interventions that assist families to respond constructively to the reactions of others regarding their child's seizure condition and to address their needs for information and support could help families of children with continuing seizures to have an improved quality of life. PMID:26520879

Contrast-enhanced postmortem computed tomography in clinical pathology: enhanced value of 20 clinical autopsies.

PubMed

Westphal, Saskia E; Apitzsch, Jonas C; Penzkofer, Tobias; Kuhl, Christiane K; Mahnken, Andreas H; Knüchel, Ruth

2014-09-01

Postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) is a modern tool that complements autopsy diagnostics. In clinical autopsies, a major cause of death is cardiovascular disease. To improve the performance of PMCT in cardiovascular disease, full body angiography was developed (PMCT angiography [PMCTA]). Twenty PMCTA scans generated before autopsy were compared with native PMCT and clinical autopsy. The objective of the study was to quantify the additional diagnostic value of adding angiography to native imaging and to compare PMCT and PMCTA findings to autopsy findings. The diagnosis of the cause of death was identical or overlapped in 80% of the cases that used PMCTA and 70% that used PMCT. The additional diagnostic yield given by PMCT and PMCTA in combination with autopsy was 55%. PMCT yielded additional diagnoses in the musculoskeletal system. The greatest additional diagnostic value of PMCTA was in association with cardiovascular diagnoses. The accuracy of PMCTA for cardiac causes of death was 80%, and the positive predictive value was 90%. The findings indicate that native PMCT cannot display the cardiovascular system sufficiently clearly for high-quality diagnostic assessment. However, PMCTA is a powerful tool in autopsy cases with a history of cardiovascular disease and/or a suspected cardiovascular cause of death. The combination of PMCTA and clinical autopsy enhances diagnostic quality and completeness of the autopsy report. Furthermore, in cases without consent or with a restricted consent for clinical autopsy, PMCTA has the potential to provide information on cardiovascular causes of death. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

College Students' Health Information Activities on Facebook: Investigating the Impacts of Health Topic Sensitivity, Information Sources, and Demographics.

PubMed

Syn, Sue Yeon; Kim, Sung Un

2016-07-01

College students tend to lack access to health information. Because social networking sites (SNSs) are popularly adopted by college students, SNSs are considered to be good media channels for college students to obtain health-related information. This study examines the factors that influence college students' health information-seeking and -sharing activities on Facebook. An online survey was distributed to college students between the ages of 18 and 29 to determine intentions pertaining to health information activities according to the factors identified for the study. The factors included both contextual factors (such as health topic sensitivity and health information sources) as well as user factors (such as demographics). Our findings showed that college students are willing to read and post health-related information on Facebook when the health topic is not sensitive. In addition, there are clear differences in preferences between professional sources and personal sources as health information sources. It was found that most user factors, except gender, have no influence on health information activities. The impacts of SNS contexts, awareness of information sources, types of interlocutors, and privacy concerns are further discussed.

Cognitive models of pilot categorization and prioritization of flight-deck information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jonsson, Jon E.; Ricks, Wendell R.

1995-01-01

In the past decade, automated systems on modern commercial flight decks have increased dramatically. Pilots now regularly interact and share tasks with these systems. This interaction has led human factors research to direct more attention to the pilot's cognitive processing and mental model of the information flow occurring on the flight deck. The experiment reported herein investigated how pilots mentally represent and process information typically available during flight. Fifty-two commercial pilots participated in tasks that required them to provide similarity ratings for pairs of flight-deck information and to prioritize this information under two contextual conditions. Pilots processed the information along three cognitive dimensions. These dimensions included the flight function and the flight action that the information supported and how frequently pilots refer to the information. Pilots classified the information as aviation, navigation, communications, or systems administration information. Prioritization results indicated a high degree of consensus among pilots, while scaling results revealed two dimensions along which information is prioritized. Pilot cognitive workload for flight-deck tasks and the potential for using these findings to operationalize cognitive metrics are evaluated. Such measures may be useful additions for flight-deck human performance evaluation.

Estimating Preferences for Complex Health Technologies: Lessons Learned and Implications for Personalized Medicine.

PubMed

Marshall, Deborah A; Gonzalez, Juan Marcos; MacDonald, Karen V; Johnson, F Reed

2017-01-01

We examine key study design challenges of using stated-preference methods to estimate the value of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) as a specific example of genomic testing. Assessing the value of WGS is complex because WGS provides multiple findings, some of which can be incidental in nature and unrelated to the specific health concerns that motivated the test. In addition, WGS results can include actionable findings (variants considered to be clinically useful and can be acted on), findings for which evidence for best clinical action is not available (variants considered clinically valid but do not meet as high of a standard for clinical usefulness), and findings of unknown significance. We consider three key challenges encountered in designing our national study on the value of WGS-layers of uncertainty, potential downstream consequences with endogenous aspects, and both positive and negative utility associated with testing information-and potential solutions as strategies to address these challenges. We conceptualized the decision to acquire WGS information as a series of sequential choices that are resolved separately. To determine the value of WGS information at the initial decision to undergo WGS, we used contingent valuation questions, and to elicit respondent preferences for reducing risks of health problems and the consequences of taking the steps to reduce these risks, we used a discrete-choice experiment. We conclude by considering the implications for evaluating the value of other complex health technologies that involve multiple forms of uncertainty. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rare Diseases on the Internet: An Assessment of the Quality of Online Information.

PubMed

Pauer, Frédéric; Litzkendorf, Svenja; Göbel, Jens; Storf, Holger; Zeidler, Jan; Graf von der Schulenburg, Johann-Matthias

2017-01-18

The importance of the Internet as a medium for publishing and sharing health and medical information has increased considerably during the last decade. Nonetheless, comprehensive knowledge and information are scarce and difficult to find, especially for rare diseases. Additionally, the quality of health or medical information about rare diseases is frequently difficult to assess for the patients and their family members. The aim of this study is to assess the quality of information on the Internet about rare diseases. Additionally, the study aims to evaluate if the quality of information on rare diseases varies between different information supplier categories. A total of 13 quality criteria for websites providing medical information about rare diseases were transferred to a self-disclosure questionnaire. Identified providers of information on the Internet about rare diseases were invited to fill out the questionnaire. The questionnaire contained questions about the information provider in general (eg, supplier category, information category, language, use of quality certificates, and target group) and about quality aspects that reflect the 13 quality criteria. Differences in subgroup analyses were performed using t tests. We identified 693 websites containing information about rare diseases. A total of 123 questionnaires (17.7%) were completely filled out by the information suppliers. For the remaining identified suppliers (570/693, 82.3%), the questionnaires were filled out by the authors based on the information available on their website. In many cases, the quality of websites was proportionally low. Furthermore, subgroup analysis showed no statistically significant differences between the quality of information provided by support group/patient organization compared to medical institution (P=.19). The quality of information by individuals (patient/relative) was significantly lower compared to information provided by support group/patient organization (P=.001), medical institution (P=.009), and other associations and sponsoring bodies (P=.001) as well. Overall, the quality of information on the Internet about rare diseases is low. Quality certificates are rarely used and important quality criteria are often not fulfilled completely. Additionally, some information categories are underrepresented (eg, information about psychosocial counseling, social-legal advice, and family planning). Nevertheless, due to the high amount of information provided by support groups, this study shows that these are extremely valuable sources of information for patients suffering from a rare disease and their relatives. ©Frédéric Pauer, Svenja Litzkendorf, Jens Göbel, Holger Storf, Jan Zeidler, Johann-Matthias Graf von der Schulenburg. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 18.01.2017.

Digital imaging and electronic patient records in pathology using an integrated department information system with PACS.

PubMed

Kalinski, Thomas; Hofmann, Harald; Franke, Dagmar-Sybilla; Roessner, Albert

2002-01-01

Picture archiving and communication systems have been widely used in radiology thus far. Owing to the progress made in digital photo technology, their use in medicine opens up further opportunities. In the field of pathology, digital imaging offers new possiblities for the documentation of macroscopic and microscopic findings. Digital imaging has the advantage that the data is permanently and readily available, independent of conventional archives. In the past, PACS was a separate entity. Meanwhile, however, PACS has been integrated in DIS, the department information system, which was also run separately in former times. The combination of these two systems makes the administration of patient data, findings and images easier. Moreover, thanks to the introduction of special communication standards, a data exchange between different department information systems and hospital information systems (HIS) is possible. This provides the basis for a communication platform in medicine, constituting an electronic patient record (EPR) that permits an interdisciplinary treatment of patients by providing data of findings and images from clinics treating the same patient. As the pathologic diagnosis represents a central and often therapy-determining component, it is of utmost importance to add pathologic diagnoses to the EPR. Furthermore, the pathologist's work is considerably facilitated when he is able to retrieve additional data from the patient file. In this article, we describe our experience gained with the combined PACS and DIS systems recently installed at the Department of Pathology, University of Magdeburg. Moreover, we evaluate the current situation and future prospects for PACS in pathology.

Testing enhances subsequent learning in older but not in younger elementary school children.

PubMed

Aslan, Alp; Bäuml, Karl-Heinz T

2016-11-01

In adults, testing can enhance subsequent learning by reducing interference from the tested information. Here, we examined this forward effect of testing in children. Younger and older elementary school children and adult controls studied four lists of items in anticipation of a final cumulative recall test. Following presentation of each of the first three lists, participants were immediately tested on the respective list, or the list was re-presented for additional study. Results revealed that, compared to additional study, immediate testing of Lists 1-3 enhanced memory for the subsequently studied List 4 in adults and older elementary school children, but not in younger elementary school children. The findings indicate that the forward effect of testing is a relatively late-maturing phenomenon that develops over middle childhood and is still inefficient in the early elementary school years. Together with the results of other recent studies, these findings point to a more general problem in young children in combating interference. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Patterns of communication in high-fidelity simulation.

PubMed

Anderson, Judy K; Nelson, Kimberly

2015-01-01

High-fidelity simulation is commonplace in nursing education. However, critical thinking, decision making, and psychomotor skills scenarios are emphasized. Scenarios involving communication occur in interprofessional or intraprofessional settings. The importance of effective nurse-patient communication is reflected in statements from the American Nurses Association and Quality and Safety Education for Nurses, and in the graduate outcomes of most nursing programs. This qualitative study examined the patterns of communication observed in video recordings of a medical-surgical scenario with 71 senior students in a baccalaureate program. Thematic analysis revealed patterns of (a) focusing on tasks, (b) communicating-in-action, and (c) being therapeutic. Additional categories under the patterns included missing opportunities, viewing the "small picture," relying on informing, speaking in "medical tongues," offering choices…okay?, feeling uncomfortable, and using therapeutic techniques. The findings suggest the importance of using high-fidelity simulation to develop expertise in communication. In addition, the findings reinforce the recommendation to prioritize communication aspects of scenarios and debriefing for all simulations. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

Rules of engagement: incomplete and complete pronoun resolution.

PubMed

Love, Jessica; McKoon, Gail

2011-07-01

Research on shallow processing suggests that readers sometimes encode only a superficial representation of a text and fail to make use of all available information. Greene, McKoon, and Ratcliff (1992) extended this work to pronouns, finding evidence that readers sometimes fail to automatically identify referents even when these are unambiguous. In this paper we revisit those findings. In 11 recognition probe, priming, and self-report experiments, we manipulated Greene et al.'s stories to discover under what circumstances a pronoun's referent is automatically understood. We lengthened the stories from 4 to 8 lines. This simple manipulation led to automatic and correct resolution, which we attribute to readers' increased engagement with the stories. We found evidence of resolution even when the additional text did not mention the pronoun's referent. In addition, our results suggest that the pronoun temporarily boosts the referent's accessibility, an advantage that disappears by the end of the next sentence. Finally, we present evidence from memory experiments that supports complete pronoun resolution for the longer but not the shorter stories.

Strategies to Engage Men and Boys in Violence Prevention: A Global Organizational Perspective.

PubMed

Carlson, Juliana; Casey, Erin; Edleson, Jeffrey L; Tolman, Richard M; Walsh, Tova B; Kimball, Ericka

2015-11-01

This study presents descriptive findings from in-depth interviews with 29 representatives of organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and North and South America that engage men and boys in preventing gender-based violence. In particular, the findings suggest that strategies are responsive to the specific cultural, economic, and contextual concerns of the local community, with nuanced messages and appropriate messengers. In addition, respondents reported key principles informing their organizational strategies to deepen men and boys' engagement. Attention is also paid to respondents' caution about the risks of framing of engagement practices as separate from both women's organizations and women and girls themselves. © The Author(s) 2015.

Research on patient safety: falls and medications.

PubMed

Boddice, Sandra Dawn; Kogan, Polina

2009-10-01

Below you will find summaries of published research describing investigations into patient safety issues related to falls and medications. The first summary provides details on the incidence of falls associated with the use of walkers and canes. This is followed by a summary of a fall-prevention intervention study that evaluated the effectiveness of widespread dissemination of evidence-based strategies in a community in Connecticut. The third write up provides information on three classes of medications that are associated with a significant number of emergency room visits. The last summary describes a pharmacist-managed medication reconciliation intervention pilot program. For additional details about the study findings and interventions, we encourage readers to review the original articles.

Parent–Child Aggression Risk in Expectant Mothers and Fathers: A Multimethod Theoretical Approach

PubMed Central

Smith, Tamika L.; Silvia, Paul J.

2016-01-01

The current investigation evaluated whether cognitive processes characteristic of the Social Information Processing model predicted parent-child aggression (PCA) risk independent of personal vulnerabilities and resiliencies. This study utilized a multimethod approach, including analog tasks, with a diverse sample of 203 primiparous expectant mothers and 151 of their partners. Factors considered in this study included PCA approval attitudes, empathy, reactivity, negative child attributions, compliance expectations, and knowledge of non-physical discipline alternatives; additionally, vulnerabilities included psychopathology symptoms, domestic violence victimization, and substance use, whereas resiliencies included perceived social support, partner relationship satisfaction, and coping efficacy. For both mothers and fathers, findings supported the role of greater approval of PCA attitudes, lower empathy, more overreactivity, more negative attributions, and higher compliance expectations in relation to elevated risk of PCA. Moreover, personal vulnerabilities and resiliencies related to PCA risk for mothers; however, fathers and mothers differed on the nature of these relationships with respect to vulnerabilities as well as aspects of empathy and PCA approval attitudes. Findings provide evidence for commonalities in many of the factors investigated between mothers and fathers with some notable distinctions. Results are discussed in terms of how findings could inform prevention programs. PMID:28082826

The Influence of Emotional Stimuli on Attention Orienting and Inhibitory Control in Pediatric Anxiety

PubMed Central

Mueller, Sven C.; Hardin, Michael G.; Mogg, Karin; Benson, Valerie; Bradley, Brendan P.; Reinholdt-Dunne, Marie Louise; Liversedge, Simon P.; Pine, Daniel S.; Ernst, Monique

2012-01-01

Background Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent in children and adolescents, and are associated with aberrant emotion-related attention orienting and inhibitory control. While recent studies conducted with high-trait anxious adults have employed novel emotion-modified antisaccade tasks to examine the influence of emotional information on orienting and inhibition, similar studies have yet to be conducted in youths. Methods Participants were 22 children/adolescents diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, and 22 age-matched healthy comparison youths. Participants completed an emotion-modified antisaccade task that was similar to those used in studies of high-trait anxious adults. This task probed the influence of abruptly appearing neutral, happy, angry, or fear stimuli on orienting (prosaccade) or inhibitory (antisaccade) responses. Results Anxious compared to healthy children showed facilitated orienting towards angry stimuli. With respect to inhibitory processes, threat-related information improved antisaccade accuracy in healthy but not anxious youth. These findings were not linked to individual levels of reported anxiety or specific anxiety disorders. Conclusions Findings suggest that anxious relative to healthy children manifest enhanced orienting towards threat-related stimuli. Additionally, the current findings suggest that threat may modulate inhibitory control during adolescent development. PMID:22409260

Alpha Oscillations during Incidental Encoding Predict Subsequent Memory for New "Foil" Information.

PubMed

Vogelsang, David A; Gruber, Matthias; Bergström, Zara M; Ranganath, Charan; Simons, Jon S

2018-05-01

People can employ adaptive strategies to increase the likelihood that previously encoded information will be successfully retrieved. One such strategy is to constrain retrieval toward relevant information by reimplementing the neurocognitive processes that were engaged during encoding. Using EEG, we examined the temporal dynamics with which constraining retrieval toward semantic versus nonsemantic information affects the processing of new "foil" information encountered during a memory test. Time-frequency analysis of EEG data acquired during an initial study phase revealed that semantic compared with nonsemantic processing was associated with alpha decreases in a left frontal electrode cluster from around 600 msec after stimulus onset. Successful encoding of semantic versus nonsemantic foils during a subsequent memory test was related to decreases in alpha oscillatory activity in the same left frontal electrode cluster, which emerged relatively late in the trial at around 1000-1600 msec after stimulus onset. Across participants, left frontal alpha power elicited by semantic processing during the study phase correlated significantly with left frontal alpha power associated with semantic foil encoding during the memory test. Furthermore, larger left frontal alpha power decreases elicited by semantic foil encoding during the memory test predicted better subsequent semantic foil recognition in an additional surprise foil memory test, although this effect did not reach significance. These findings indicate that constraining retrieval toward semantic information involves reimplementing semantic encoding operations that are mediated by alpha oscillations and that such reimplementation occurs at a late stage of memory retrieval, perhaps reflecting additional monitoring processes.

Route Advising in a Dynamic Environment - A High-Tech Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Firdhous, M. F. M.; Basnayake, D. L.; Kodithuwakku, K. H. L.; Hatthalla, N. K.; Charlin, N. W.; Bandara, P. M. R. I. K.

Finding the optimal path between two locations in the Colombo city is not a straight forward task, because of the complex road system and the huge traffic jams etc. This paper presents a system to find the optimal driving direction between two locations within the Colombo city, considering road rules (one way, two ways or fully closed in both directions). The system contains three main modules - core module, web module and mobile module, additionally there are two user interfaces one for normal users and the other for administrative users. Both these interfaces can be accessed using a web browser or a GPRS enabled mobile phone. The system is developed based on the Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. GIS is considered as the best option to integrate hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. The core of the system is MapServer (MS4W) used along with the other supporting technologies such as PostGIS, PostgreSQL, pgRouting, ASP.NET and C#.

Stability of similarity measurements for bipartite networks

PubMed Central

Liu, Jian-Guo; Hou, Lei; Pan, Xue; Guo, Qiang; Zhou, Tao

2016-01-01

Similarity is a fundamental measure in network analyses and machine learning algorithms, with wide applications ranging from personalized recommendation to socio-economic dynamics. We argue that an effective similarity measurement should guarantee the stability even under some information loss. With six bipartite networks, we investigate the stabilities of fifteen similarity measurements by comparing the similarity matrixes of two data samples which are randomly divided from original data sets. Results show that, the fifteen measurements can be well classified into three clusters according to their stabilities, and measurements in the same cluster have similar mathematical definitions. In addition, we develop a top-n-stability method for personalized recommendation, and find that the unstable similarities would recommend false information to users, and the performance of recommendation would be largely improved by using stable similarity measurements. This work provides a novel dimension to analyze and evaluate similarity measurements, which can further find applications in link prediction, personalized recommendation, clustering algorithms, community detection and so on. PMID:26725688

Doing worse but knowing better: an exploration of the relationship between HIV/AIDS knowledge and sexual behavior among adolescents in Flemish secondary schools.

PubMed

Berten, Hans; Van Rossem, Ronan

2009-10-01

Most studies on sexual behavior have approached the relationship between AIDS knowledge and sexual behavior unidirectionally. This paper sets out to examine a reciprocal relationship between AIDS knowledge and sexual behavior, in which it is possible that adolescents who enter into sexuality may start to actively seek out information on sex. Additionally, the effects of various sources for AIDS-related information and condom use are analyzed. Data from the Flemish Educational Assessment project, which surveyed a sample of adolescents from the 3rd and 5th years of secondary school, were used. Results indicate that the relationship between AIDS knowledge and sexual behavior is quite complex. On one hand, we find that better knowledge leads to a later onset of sexuality and more consistent condom use; on the other hand, we find that adolescents who start sex earlier and use condoms inconsistently tend to be more knowledgeable about AIDS.

Effects of reinforcement on test-enhanced learning in a large, diverse introductory college psychology course.

PubMed

Trumbo, Michael C; Leiting, Kari A; McDaniel, Mark A; Hodge, Gordon K

2016-06-01

A robust finding within laboratory research is that structuring information as a test confers benefit on long-term retention-referred to as the testing effect. Although well characterized in laboratory environments, the testing effect has been explored infrequently within ecologically valid contexts. We conducted a series of 3 experiments within a very large introductory college-level course. Experiment 1 examined the impact of required versus optional frequent low-stakes testing (quizzes) on student grades, revealing students were much more likely to take advantage of quizzing if it was a required course component. Experiment 2 implemented a method of evaluating pedagogical intervention within a single course (thereby controlling for instructor bias and student self-selection), which revealed a testing effect. Experiment 3 ruled out additional exposure to information as an explanation for the findings of Experiment 2 and suggested that students at the college level, enrolled in very large sections, accept frequent quizzing well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Parental communication and children's behaviour following diagnosis of childhood leukaemia.

PubMed

Clarke, Sally-Ann; Davies, Helena; Jenney, Meriel; Glaser, Adam; Eiser, Christine

2005-04-01

Many parents find decisions about what to tell their child with cancer difficult. Open communication is generally considered the best policy and most health care professionals encourage parents to talk openly and honestly about the illness. However, parents differ in their views about what to tell the child. In this study 55 parents of children (36 boys and 19 girls, mean age = 7.33 years) newly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) were interviewed about (i) the child's reactions and behaviour following diagnosis, (ii) their views about what to tell their child and (iii) factors influencing parents' communication with the child. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Most children showed behavioural and mood difficulties after diagnosis. Older children were given more information. In addition, parents' perceptions of childhood cancer affect the way they communicate with their child. These findings may be used to inform training packages in order to facilitate improved communication amongst health professionals. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Stability of similarity measurements for bipartite networks.

PubMed

Liu, Jian-Guo; Hou, Lei; Pan, Xue; Guo, Qiang; Zhou, Tao

2016-01-04

Similarity is a fundamental measure in network analyses and machine learning algorithms, with wide applications ranging from personalized recommendation to socio-economic dynamics. We argue that an effective similarity measurement should guarantee the stability even under some information loss. With six bipartite networks, we investigate the stabilities of fifteen similarity measurements by comparing the similarity matrixes of two data samples which are randomly divided from original data sets. Results show that, the fifteen measurements can be well classified into three clusters according to their stabilities, and measurements in the same cluster have similar mathematical definitions. In addition, we develop a top-n-stability method for personalized recommendation, and find that the unstable similarities would recommend false information to users, and the performance of recommendation would be largely improved by using stable similarity measurements. This work provides a novel dimension to analyze and evaluate similarity measurements, which can further find applications in link prediction, personalized recommendation, clustering algorithms, community detection and so on.

Experimental and Computational Studies of Cortical Neural Network Properties Through Signal Processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clawson, Wesley Patrick

Previous studies, both theoretical and experimental, of network level dynamics in the cerebral cortex show evidence for a statistical phenomenon called criticality; a phenomenon originally studied in the context of phase transitions in physical systems and that is associated with favorable information processing in the context of the brain. The focus of this thesis is to expand upon past results with new experimentation and modeling to show a relationship between criticality and the ability to detect and discriminate sensory input. A line of theoretical work predicts maximal sensory discrimination as a functional benefit of criticality, which can then be characterized using mutual information between sensory input, visual stimulus, and neural response,. The primary finding of our experiments in the visual cortex in turtles and neuronal network modeling confirms this theoretical prediction. We show that sensory discrimination is maximized when visual cortex operates near criticality. In addition to presenting this primary finding in detail, this thesis will also address our preliminary results on change-point-detection in experimentally measured cortical dynamics.

The joint effect of ethnicity and gender on occupational segregation. An approach based on the Mutual Information Index.

PubMed

Guinea-Martin, Daniel; Mora, Ricardo; Ruiz-Castillo, Javier

2015-01-01

In this article, we study the effects of ethnicity and gender on occupational segregation. Traditionally, researchers have examined the two sources of segregation separately. In contrast, we measure their joint effect by applying a multigroup segregation index-the Mutual Information or M index-to the product of the seven ethnic groups and two genders distinguished in our 2001 Census data for England and Wales. We exploit M's additive decomposability property to pose the following two questions: (i) Is there an interaction effect? (ii) How much does each source contribute to occupational segregation, controlling for the effect of the other? Although the role of ethnicity is non-negligible in the areas where minorities are concentrated, our findings confirm the greater importance of gender over ethnicity as a source of segregation. Moreover, we find a small "dwindling" interaction effect between the two sources of segregation: ethnicity slightly weakens the segregating power of gender and vice versa. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

High school students' perceptions of nursing as a career choice.

PubMed

Kohler, P A; Edwards, T A

1990-01-01

Declining enrollments in nursing programs, coupled with the current shortage of practicing registered nurses, prompted this investigation of 306 high school students' beliefs about nurses and nursing. The study also identifies potential numbers of future nursing students from high school populations and their primary source of information about nursing. Using an investigator questionnaire, subjects responded to statements about educational requirements for registered nurses along with their working conditions, earning power, and social status. Findings reveal a projected continuing shortage of nurses based on the very small percentage of subjects even considering nursing as a career. Additional findings show that whereas some perceptions about nursing seem congruent with those of nurses themselves, other beliefs held by high school students are not consistent with the realities of professional nursing today. Results of this study can be used by nurse recruiters to correct misconceptions about nursing and to help high school students perceive the profession in a more positive way. Expanding the informational sources about nursing can facilitate the recruitment process.

Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) provided oversight on the safety aspects of many NASA programs. In addition, ASAP undertook three special studies. At the request of the Administrator, the panel assessed the requirements for an assured crew return vehicle (ACRV) for the space station and reviewed the organization of the safety and mission quality function within NASA. At the behest of Congress, the panel formed an independent, ad hoc working group to examine the safety and reliability of the space shuttle main engine. Section 2 presents findings and recommendations. Section 3 consists of information in support of these findings and recommendations. Appendices A, B, C, and D, respectively, cover the panel membership, the NASA response to the findings and recommendations in the March 1992 report, a chronology of the panel's activities during the reporting period, and the entire ACRV study report.

Effect of Alloying Elements on Nb-Rich Portion of Nb-Si-X Ternary Systems and In Situ Crack Observation of Nb-Si-Based Alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miura, Seiji; Hatabata, Toru; Okawa, Takuya; Mohri, Tetsuo

2014-03-01

To find a new route for microstructure control and to find additive elements beneficial for improving high-temperature strength, a systematic investigation is performed on hypoeutectic Nb-15 at. pct Si-X ternary alloys containing a transition element, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Ru, Rh, Pd, Re, Os, Ir, Pt, or Au. Information on phase equilibrium is classified in terms of phase stability of silicide phases, α Nb5Si3, Nb4SiX, and Nb3Si, and the relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties both at room temperature and high temperature is investigated. All the additive elements are found to stabilize either α Nb5Si3 or Nb4SiX but destabilize Nb3Si. A microstructure of Nbss/α Nb5Si3 alloy composed of spheroidized α Nb5Si3 phase embedded in the Nbss matrix is effective for toughening, regardless of the initial as-cast microstructure. Also the plastic deformation of Nbss dendrites may effectively suppress the propagation of longer cracks. High-temperature strength of alloys is governed by the deformation of Nbss phase and increases with higher melting point additives.

Gender Differences in Patients' Perceptions of Inpatient Care

PubMed Central

Elliott, Marc N; Lehrman, William G; Beckett, Megan K; Goldstein, Elizabeth; Hambarsoomian, Katrin; Giordano, Laura A

2012-01-01

Objective To examine gender differences in inpatient experiences and how they vary by dimensions of care and other patient characteristics. Data Source A total of 1,971,632 patients (medical and surgical service lines) discharged from 3,830 hospitals, July 2007–June 2008, and completing the HCAHPS survey. Study Design We compare the experiences of male and female inpatients on 10 HCAHPS dimensions using multiple linear regression, adjusting for survey mode and patient mix. Additional models add additional patient characteristics and their interactions with patient gender. Principal Findings We find generally less positive experiences for women than men, especially for Communication about Medicines, Discharge Information, and Cleanliness. Gender differences are similar in magnitude to previously reported HCAHPS differences by race/ethnicity. The gender gap is generally larger for older patients and for patients with worse self-reported health status. Gender disparities are largest in for-profit hospitals. Conclusions Targeting the experiences of women may be a promising means of improving overall patient experience scores (because women comprise a majority of all inpatients); the experiences of older and sicker women, and those in for-profit hospitals, may merit additional examination. PMID:22375827

Reaction mechanisms of DNT with hydroxyl radicals for advanced oxidation processes-a DFT study.

PubMed

Zhou, Yang; Yang, Zhilin; Yang, Hong; Zhang, Chaoyang; Liu, Xiaoqiang

2017-04-01

In advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), the detailed degradation mechanisms of a typical explosive of 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) can be investigated by the density function theory (DFT) method at the SMD/M062X/6-311+G(d) level. Several possible degradation routes for DNT were explored in the current study. The results show that, for oxidation of the methyl group, the dominant degradation mechanism of DNT by hydroxyl radicals (•OH) is a series of sequential H-abstraction reactions, and the intermediates obtained are in good agreement with experimental findings. The highest activation energy barrier is less than 20 kcal mol -1 . Other routes are dominated by an addition-elimination mechanism, which is also found in 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, although the experiment did not find the corresponding products. In addition, we also eliminate several impossible mechanisms, such as dehydration, HNO 3 elimination, the simultaneous addition of two •OH radials, and so on. The information gained about these degradation pathways is helpful in elucidating the detailed reaction mechanism between nitroaromatic explosives and hydroxyl radicals for AOPs. Graphical Abstract The degradation mechanism of an important explosive, 2,6-dinitrotoluene (DNT), by the hydroxyl radical for advanced oxidation progresses.

Fuzzy-information-based robustness of interconnected networks against attacks and failures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Qian; Zhu, Zhiliang; Wang, Yifan; Yu, Hai

2016-09-01

Cascading failure is fatal in applications and its investigation is essential and therefore became a focal topic in the field of complex networks in the last decade. In this paper, a cascading failure model is established for interconnected networks and the associated data-packet transport problem is discussed. A distinguished feature of the new model is its utilization of fuzzy information in resisting uncertain failures and malicious attacks. We numerically find that the giant component of the network after failures increases with tolerance parameter for any coupling preference and attacking ambiguity. Moreover, considering the effect of the coupling probability on the robustness of the networks, we find that the robustness of the assortative coupling and random coupling of the network model increases with the coupling probability. However, for disassortative coupling, there exists a critical phenomenon for coupling probability. In addition, a critical value that attacking information accuracy affects the network robustness is observed. Finally, as a practical example, the interconnected AS-level Internet in South Korea and Japan is analyzed. The actual data validates the theoretical model and analytic results. This paper thus provides some guidelines for preventing cascading failures in the design of architecture and optimization of real-world interconnected networks.

Fundamentally Distributed Information Processing Integrates the Motor Network into the Mental Workspace during Mental Rotation.

PubMed

Schlegel, Alexander; Konuthula, Dedeepya; Alexander, Prescott; Blackwood, Ethan; Tse, Peter U

2016-08-01

The manipulation of mental representations in the human brain appears to share similarities with the physical manipulation of real-world objects. In particular, some neuroimaging studies have found increased activity in motor regions during mental rotation, suggesting that mental and physical operations may involve overlapping neural populations. Does the motor network contribute information processing to mental rotation? If so, does it play a similar computational role in both mental and manual rotation, and how does it communicate with the wider network of areas involved in the mental workspace? Here we used multivariate methods and fMRI to study 24 participants as they mentally rotated 3-D objects or manually rotated their hands in one of four directions. We find that information processing related to mental rotations is distributed widely among many cortical and subcortical regions, that the motor network becomes tightly integrated into a wider mental workspace network during mental rotation, and that motor network activity during mental rotation only partially resembles that involved in manual rotation. Additionally, these findings provide evidence that the mental workspace is organized as a distributed core network that dynamically recruits specialized subnetworks for specific tasks as needed.

A Campus-Wide Study of STEM Courses: New Perspectives on Teaching Practices and Perceptions

PubMed Central

Vinson, Erin L.; Smith, Jeremy A.; Lewin, Justin D.; Stetzer, MacKenzie R.

2014-01-01

At the University of Maine, middle and high school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers observed 51 STEM courses across 13 different departments and collected information on the active-engagement nature of instruction. The results of these observations show that faculty members teaching STEM courses cannot simply be classified into two groups, traditional lecturers or instructors who teach in a highly interactive manner, but instead exhibit a continuum of instructional behaviors between these two classifications. In addition, the observation data reveal that student behavior differs greatly in classes with varied levels of lecture. Although faculty members who teach large-enrollment courses are more likely to lecture, we also identified instructors of several large courses using interactive teaching methods. Observed faculty members were also asked to complete a survey about how often they use specific teaching practices, and we find that faculty members are generally self-aware of their own practices. Taken together, these findings provide comprehensive information about the range of STEM teaching practices at a campus-wide level and how such information can be used to design targeted professional development for faculty. PMID:25452485

Analysis of impact of geographic characteristics on suicide rate and visualization of result with Geographic Information System.

PubMed

Oka, Mayumi; Kubota, Takafumi; Tsubaki, Hiroe; Yamauchi, Keita

2015-06-01

The aim of our study was to understand the geographic characteristics of Japanese communities and the impact of these characteristics on suicide rates. We calculated the standardized mortality ratio from suicide statistics of 3318 municipalities from 1972 to 2002. Correlation analysis, multi-regression analysis and generalized additive model were used to find the relation between topographic and climatic variables and suicide rate. We visualized the relation between geographic characteristics and suicide rate on the map of Wakayama Prefecture, using the Geographic Information System. Our study showed that the geographic characteristics of each community are related with its suicide rate. The strongest factor among the geographic characteristics to increase the suicide rate was the slope of the habitable land. It is necessary to take the characteristics of each community into consideration when we work out measures of suicide prevention. Visualization of the findings on the local map should be helpful to promote understanding of problems and to share the information among various parties in charge of suicide prevention. © 2014 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2014 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Chromosomes in a genome-wise order: evidence for metaphase architecture.

PubMed

Weise, Anja; Bhatt, Samarth; Piaszinski, Katja; Kosyakova, Nadezda; Fan, Xiaobo; Altendorf-Hofmann, Annelore; Tanomtong, Alongklod; Chaveerach, Arunrat; de Cioffi, Marcelo Bello; de Oliveira, Edivaldo; Walther, Joachim-U; Liehr, Thomas; Chaudhuri, Jyoti P

2016-01-01

One fundamental finding of the last decade is that, besides the primary DNA sequence information there are several epigenetic "information-layers" like DNA-and histone modifications, chromatin packaging and, last but not least, the position of genes in the nucleus. We postulate that the functional genomic architecture is not restricted to the interphase of the cell cycle but can also be observed in the metaphase stage, when chromosomes are most condensed and microscopically visible. If so, it offers the unique opportunity to directly analyze the functional aspects of genomic architecture in different cells, species and diseases. Another aspect not directly accessible by molecular techniques is the genome merged from two different haploid parental genomes represented by the homologous chromosome sets. Our results show that there is not only a well-known and defined nuclear architecture in interphase but also in metaphase leading to a bilateral organization of the two haploid sets of chromosomes. Moreover, evidence is provided for the parental origin of the haploid grouping. From our findings we postulate an additional epigenetic information layer within the genome including the organization of homologous chromosomes and their parental origin which may now substantially change the landscape of genetics.

Evaluation of participant comprehension of information received in an exercise and diet intervention trial: The DR's EXTRA study.

PubMed

Länsimies-Antikainen, Helena; Pietilä, Anna-Maija; Kiviniemi, Vesa; Rauramaa, Rainer; Laitinen, Tomi

2010-01-01

The informed consent process is the legal and ethical cornerstone of health research and is essential to ensure that participants in health research really understand the information they receive. Clinical studies often fail to provide data that clarify how much participants have understood. To evaluate the comprehension of older volunteer participants in health research. The subjects are a random population sample of 1,410 men and women aged 57-78 years, who are participating in a 4-year randomized controlled intervention trial on the effects of physical exercise and diet on atherosclerosis, endothelial function and cognition. A questionnaire about informed consent was given to all willing participants (n = 1,324) 3 months after the randomization. In addition, participants' long-term continuation in the intervention trial with relation to understanding was evaluated 2 years after the randomization. The response rate was 91%. The majority of respondents (89%) were satisfied with the intelligibility of received information. In addition, the participants' comprehension of the information received seemed to be adequate in 82% of the whole study population. Compared to background variables, higher education (p < 0.001) and satisfaction with one's own health (p = 0.01) were associated with adequate comprehension of the provided information. Furthermore, participants who felt themselves to be healthy were more likely to continue participating in the intervention after 2 years. The findings of this study indicated sufficient understanding of received information in older research participants. However, our results indicate that special efforts should be made with participants with lower educational levels or subjective feelings of impaired health. This study highlights the need for researchers to critically analyze the quality of information and how it is provided. This is especially important in long-term follow-up studies. 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

What’s Important to the Patient?: Informational Needs of Patients Making Decisions about Hepatitis C Treatment

PubMed Central

Evon, Donna M.; Golin, Carol E.; Stoica, Teodora; Jones, Rachel; Willis, Sarah; Galanko, Joseph; Fried, Michael W.

2017-01-01

Background & Objectives Multiple treatment options with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) are now available for hepatitis C virus (HCV). Study aims were to understand (1) The informational topics patients want to have to make informed treatment decisions; (2) The importance patients place on each topic; and (3) The topics patients prioritize as most important. Methods Mixed methods study utilizing two samples recruited from an academic liver center. Participants were not currently on treatment. Sample I (n=45) free-listed all informational topics deemed important to decision-making. Raw responses were coded into several broad and subcategories. Sample II (n=38) rated the importance of the subcategories from Sample I and ranked their highest priorities on two surveys, one containing topics for which sufficient research existed to inform patients (“static”), and the other containing topics that would require additional research. Results The topics listed by Sample I fell into 6 broad categories with 17 total subcategories. The most oft-cited informational topics were harms of treatment (100%), treatment benefits (62%) and treatment regimen details (84%). Sample II rated 16 of 17 subcategories as “pretty important’ or “extremely important.” Sample II prioritized (1) viral cure, (2) long-term survival, and (3) side effects on the survey of topics requiring additional research, and (1) liver disease, (2) lifestyle changes, and (3) medication details on the second survey of the most important static topics patients needed. Conclusions Patients weighed several informational topics to make an informed decision about HCV treatment. These findings lay the groundwork for future patient-centered outcomes research in HCV and patient-provider communication to enhance patients’ informed decision-making regarding DAA treatment options. PMID:27882509

What information do consumers consider, and how do they look for it, when shopping for groceries online?☆

PubMed Central

Benn, Yael; Webb, Thomas L.; Chang, Betty P.I.; Reidy, John

2015-01-01

Previous research investigating what information shoppers seek when purchasing groceries has used either lab-experiments or observed shoppers in supermarkets. The present research investigates this question in a relatively naturalistic online-grocery environment. Forty participants completed their weekly shopping online while their eye-movements were recorded. Ten of the participants were subsequently interviewed to gain insight into their information seeking behaviour. We found that, when looking for products, 95% of participants navigated through the ‘virtual departments’, 80% used the ‘search’ facility, and 68% browsed the special offer pages. Once on the product pages, participants tended to look at the pictures of products, rather than examine detailed product information. To explain these findings, we suggest that online grocery sites simulate familiar supermarket environments, which may explain why consumers prefer to browse categories of products rather than use search terms. We also suggest that additional strategies are needed if consumers are to be encouraged to view detailed product information. PMID:25660339

Familiarity with interest breeds gossip: contributions of emotion, expectation, and reputation.

PubMed

Yao, Bo; Scott, Graham G; McAleer, Phil; O'Donnell, Patrick J; Sereno, Sara C

2014-01-01

Although gossip serves several important social functions, it has relatively infrequently been the topic of systematic investigation. In two experiments, we advance a cognitive-informational approach to gossip. Specifically, we sought to determine which informational components engender gossip. In Experiment 1, participants read brief passages about other people and indicated their likelihood to share this information. We manipulated target familiarity (celebrity, non-celebrity) and story interest (interesting, boring). While participants were more likely to gossip about celebrity than non-celebrity targets and interesting than boring stories, they were even more likely to gossip about celebrity targets embedded within interesting stories. In Experiment 2, we additionally probed participants' reactions to the stories concerning emotion, expectation, and reputation information conveyed. Analyses showed that while such information partially mediated target familiarity and story interest effects, only expectation and reputation accounted for the interactive pattern of gossip behavior. Our findings provide novel insights into the essential components and processing mechanisms of gossip.

Familiarity with Interest Breeds Gossip: Contributions of Emotion, Expectation, and Reputation

PubMed Central

Yao, Bo; Scott, Graham G.; McAleer, Phil; O'Donnell, Patrick J.; Sereno, Sara C.

2014-01-01

Although gossip serves several important social functions, it has relatively infrequently been the topic of systematic investigation. In two experiments, we advance a cognitive-informational approach to gossip. Specifically, we sought to determine which informational components engender gossip. In Experiment 1, participants read brief passages about other people and indicated their likelihood to share this information. We manipulated target familiarity (celebrity, non-celebrity) and story interest (interesting, boring). While participants were more likely to gossip about celebrity than non-celebrity targets and interesting than boring stories, they were even more likely to gossip about celebrity targets embedded within interesting stories. In Experiment 2, we additionally probed participants' reactions to the stories concerning emotion, expectation, and reputation information conveyed. Analyses showed that while such information partially mediated target familiarity and story interest effects, only expectation and reputation accounted for the interactive pattern of gossip behavior. Our findings provide novel insights into the essential components and processing mechanisms of gossip. PMID:25119267

Switching health insurers: the role of price, quality and consumer information search.

PubMed

Boonen, Lieke H H M; Laske-Aldershof, Trea; Schut, Frederik T

2016-04-01

We examine the impact of price, service quality and information search on people's propensity to switch health insurers in the competitive Dutch health insurance market. Using panel data from annual household surveys and data on health insurers' premiums and quality ratings over the period 2006-2012, we estimate a random effects logit model of people's switching decisions. We find that switching propensities depend on health plan price and quality, and on people's age, health, education and having supplementary or group insurance. Young people (18-35 years) are more sensitive to price, whereas older people are more sensitive to quality. Searching for health plan information has a much stronger impact on peoples' sensitivity to price than to service quality. In addition, searching for health plan information has a stronger impact on the switching propensity of higher than lower educated people, suggesting that higher educated people make better use of available health plan information. Finally, having supplementary insurance significantly reduces older people's switching propensity.

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The Thurgood Marshall School of Law Empirical Findings: A Six-Year Study of the First-Time and Ultimate Bar Exam Results of Students According to Law School Admission Council (LSAC) Index

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kadhi, T.; Holley, D.; Beard, J.

2011-01-01

The following report of descriptive statistics addresses the matriculating class of 2001-2007 according to their Law School Admission Council (LSAC) index. Generally, this report will offer information on the first time bar and ultimate performance on the Bar Exam of TMSL students. In addition, graduating GPA according to the LSAC index will also…

The usefulness of (18)F-FDG PET/MRI fusion image in diagnosing pancreatic tumor: comparison with (18)F-FDG PET/CT.

PubMed

Nagamachi, Shigeki; Nishii, Ryuichi; Wakamatsu, Hideyuki; Mizutani, Youichi; Kiyohara, Shogo; Fujita, Seigo; Futami, Shigemi; Sakae, Tatefumi; Furukoji, Eiji; Tamura, Shozo; Arita, Hideo; Chijiiwa, Kazuo; Kawai, Keiichi

2013-07-01

This study aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of retrospectively fused (18)F FDG-PET and MRI (PET/MRI fusion image) in diagnosing pancreatic tumor, in particular differentiating malignant tumor from benign lesions. In addition, we evaluated additional findings characterizing pancreatic lesions by FDG-PET/MRI fusion image. We analyzed retrospectively 119 patients: 96 cancers and 23 benign lesions. FDG-PET/MRI fusion images (PET/T1 WI or PET/T2WI) were made by dedicated software using 1.5 Tesla (T) MRI image and FDG-PET images. These images were interpreted by two well-trained radiologists without knowledge of clinical information and compared with FDG-PET/CT images. We compared the differential diagnostic capability between PET/CT and FDG-PET/MRI fusion image. In addition, we evaluated additional findings such as tumor structure and tumor invasion. FDG-PET/MRI fusion image significantly improved accuracy compared with that of PET/CT (96.6 vs. 86.6 %). As additional finding, dilatation of main pancreatic duct was noted in 65.9 % of solid types and in 22.6 % of cystic types, on PET/MRI-T2 fusion image. Similarly, encasement of adjacent vessels was noted in 43.1 % of solid types and in 6.5 % of cystic types. Particularly in cystic types, intra-tumor structures such as mural nodule (35.4 %) or intra-cystic septum (74.2 %) were detected additionally. Besides, PET/MRI-T2 fusion image could detect extra benign cystic lesions (9.1 % in solid type and 9.7 % in cystic type) that were not noted by PET/CT. In diagnosing pancreatic lesions, FDG-PET/MRI fusion image was useful in differentiating pancreatic cancer from benign lesions. Furthermore, it was helpful in evaluating relationship between lesions and surrounding tissues as well as in detecting extra benign cysts.

Performance of children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism on advanced theory of mind tasks.

PubMed

Kaland, Nils; Callesen, Kirsten; Møller-Nielsen, Annette; Mortensen, Erik Lykke; Smith, Lars

2008-07-01

Although a number of advanced theory of mind tasks have been developed, there is a dearth of information on whether performances on different tasks are associated. The present study examined the performance of 21 children and adolescents with diagnoses of Asperger syndrome (AS) and 20 typically developing controls on three advanced theory of mind tasks: The Eyes Task, the Strange Stories, and the Stories from Everyday Life. The participants in the clinical group demonstrated lower performance than the controls on all the three tasks. The pattern of findings, however, indicates that these tasks may share different information-processing requirements in addition to tapping different mentalizing abilities.

Performance of children with autism spectrum disorder on advanced theory of mind tasks.

PubMed

Brent, Ella; Rios, Patricia; Happé, Francesca; Charman, Tony

2004-09-01

Although a number of advanced theory of mind tasks have been developed, there is sparse information on whether performance on different tasks is associated. The study examined the performance of 20 high-functioning 6- to 12-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder and 20 controls on three high-level theory of mind tasks: Strange Stories, Cartoons and the children's version of the Eyes task. The pattern of findings suggests that the three tasks may share differing, non-specific, information-processing requirements in addition to tapping any putative mentalizing ability. They may also indicate a degree of dissociation between social-cognitive and social-perceptual or affective components of the mentalizing system.

Neural correlates of retrieval-based memory enhancement: An fMRI study of the testing effect

PubMed Central

Wing, Erik A.; Marsh, Elizabeth J.; Cabeza, Roberto

2013-01-01

Restudying material is a common method for learning new information, but not necessarily an effective one. Research on the testing effect shows that practice involving retrieval from memory can facilitate later memory in contrast to passive restudy. Despite extensive behavioral work, the brain processes that make retrieval an effective learning strategy remain unclear. In the present experiment, we explored how initially retrieving items affected memory a day later as compared to a condition involving traditional restudy. In contrast to restudy, initial testing that contributed to future memory success was associated with engagement of several regions including the anterior hippocampus, lateral temporal cortices, and medial prefrontal cortex (PFC). Additionally, testing enhanced hippocampal connectivity with ventrolateral PFC and midline regions. These findings indicate that the testing effect may be contingent on processes that are typically thought to support memory success at encoding (e.g. relational binding, selection and elaboration of semantically-related information) in addition to those more often associated with retrieval (e.g. memory search). PMID:23607935

Distinguishing between direct and indirect directional couplings in large oscillator networks: Partial or non-partial phase analyses?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rings, Thorsten; Lehnertz, Klaus

2016-09-01

We investigate the relative merit of phase-based methods for inferring directional couplings in complex networks of weakly interacting dynamical systems from multivariate time-series data. We compare the evolution map approach and its partialized extension to each other with respect to their ability to correctly infer the network topology in the presence of indirect directional couplings for various simulated experimental situations using coupled model systems. In addition, we investigate whether the partialized approach allows for additional or complementary indications of directional interactions in evolving epileptic brain networks using intracranial electroencephalographic recordings from an epilepsy patient. For such networks, both direct and indirect directional couplings can be expected, given the brain's connection structure and effects that may arise from limitations inherent to the recording technique. Our findings indicate that particularly in larger networks (number of nodes ≫10 ), the partialized approach does not provide information about directional couplings extending the information gained with the evolution map approach.