Long-term consequences of adolescent gang membership for adult functioning.

PubMed

Gilman, Amanda B; Hill, Karl G; Hawkins, J David

2014-05-01

We examined the possible public health consequences of adolescent gang membership for adult functioning. Data were drawn from the Seattle Social Development Project, a longitudinal study focusing on the development of positive and problem outcomes. Using propensity score matching and logistic regression analyses, we assessed the effects of adolescent gang membership on illegal behavior, educational and occupational attainment, and physical and mental health at the ages of 27, 30, and 33 years. In comparison with their nongang peers, who had been matched on 23 confounding risk variables known to be related to selection into gang membership, those who had joined a gang in adolescence had poorer outcomes in multiple areas of adult functioning, including higher rates of self-reported crime, receipt of illegal income, incarceration, drug abuse or dependence, poor general health, and welfare receipt and lower rates of high school graduation. The finding that adolescent gang membership has significant consequences in adulthood beyond criminal behavior indicates the public health importance of the development of effective gang prevention programs.

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.

45 CFR 1700.3 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Membership. 1700.3 Section 1700.3 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL COMMISSION ON LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION SCIENCE ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONS § 1700.3 Membership. (a) The Commission is composed of the Librarian of Congress...

45 CFR 1700.3 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Membership. 1700.3 Section 1700.3 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL COMMISSION ON LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION SCIENCE ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONS § 1700.3 Membership. (a) The Commission is composed of the Librarian of Congress...

45 CFR 1700.3 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Membership. 1700.3 Section 1700.3 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL COMMISSION ON LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION SCIENCE ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONS § 1700.3 Membership. (a) The Commission is composed of the Librarian of Congress...

45 CFR 1700.3 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Membership. 1700.3 Section 1700.3 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL COMMISSION ON LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION SCIENCE ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONS § 1700.3 Membership. (a) The Commission is composed of the Librarian of Congress...

45 CFR 1700.3 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Membership. 1700.3 Section 1700.3 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL COMMISSION ON LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION SCIENCE ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONS § 1700.3 Membership. (a) The Commission is composed of the Librarian of Congress...

Model Based Predictive Control of Multivariable Hammerstein Processes with Fuzzy Logic Hypercube Interpolated Models

PubMed Central

Coelho, Antonio Augusto Rodrigues

2016-01-01

This paper introduces the Fuzzy Logic Hypercube Interpolator (FLHI) and demonstrates applications in control of multiple-input single-output (MISO) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processes with Hammerstein nonlinearities. FLHI consists of a Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy inference system where membership functions act as kernel functions of an interpolator. Conjunction of membership functions in an unitary hypercube space enables multivariable interpolation of N-dimensions. Membership functions act as interpolation kernels, such that choice of membership functions determines interpolation characteristics, allowing FLHI to behave as a nearest-neighbor, linear, cubic, spline or Lanczos interpolator, to name a few. The proposed interpolator is presented as a solution to the modeling problem of static nonlinearities since it is capable of modeling both a function and its inverse function. Three study cases from literature are presented, a single-input single-output (SISO) system, a MISO and a MIMO system. Good results are obtained regarding performance metrics such as set-point tracking, control variation and robustness. Results demonstrate applicability of the proposed method in modeling Hammerstein nonlinearities and their inverse functions for implementation of an output compensator with Model Based Predictive Control (MBPC), in particular Dynamic Matrix Control (DMC). PMID:27657723

Distinguishing Family from Friends : Implicit Cognitive Differences Regarding General Dispositions, Attitude Similarity, and Group Membership.

PubMed

O'Gorman, Rick; Roberts, Ruth

2017-09-01

Kinship and friendship are key human relationships. Increasingly, data suggest that people are not less altruistic toward friends than close kin. Some accounts suggest that psychologically we do not distinguish between them; countering this is evidence that kinship provides a unique explanatory factor. Using the Implicit Association Test, we examined how people implicitly think about close friends versus close kin in three contexts. In Experiment 1, we examined generic attitudinal dispositions toward friends and family. In Experiment 2, attitude similarity as a marker of family and friends was examined, and in Experiments 3 and 4, strength of in-group membership for family and friends was examined. Findings show that differences exist in implicit cognitive associations toward family and friends. There is some evidence that people hold more positive general dispositions toward friends, associate attitude similarity more with friends, consider family as more representative of the in-group than friends, but see friends as more in-group than distant kin.

Fuzzy membership functions for analysis of high-resolution CT images of diffuse pulmonary diseases.

PubMed

Almeida, Eliana; Rangayyan, Rangaraj M; Azevedo-Marques, Paulo M

2015-08-01

We propose the use of fuzzy membership functions to analyze images of diffuse pulmonary diseases (DPDs) based on fractal and texture features. The features were extracted from preprocessed regions of interest (ROIs) selected from high-resolution computed tomography images. The ROIs represent five different patterns of DPDs and normal lung tissue. A Gaussian mixture model (GMM) was constructed for each feature, with six Gaussians modeling the six patterns. Feature selection was performed and the GMMs of the five significant features were used. From the GMMs, fuzzy membership functions were obtained by a probability-possibility transformation and further statistical analysis was performed. An average classification accuracy of 63.5% was obtained for the six classes. For four of the six classes, the classification accuracy was superior to 65%, and the best classification accuracy was 75.5% for one class. The use of fuzzy membership functions to assist in pattern classification is an alternative to deterministic approaches to explore strategies for medical diagnosis.

Grey fuzzy optimization model for water quality management of a river system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karmakar, Subhankar; Mujumdar, P. P.

2006-07-01

A grey fuzzy optimization model is developed for water quality management of river system to address uncertainty involved in fixing the membership functions for different goals of Pollution Control Agency (PCA) and dischargers. The present model, Grey Fuzzy Waste Load Allocation Model (GFWLAM), has the capability to incorporate the conflicting goals of PCA and dischargers in a deterministic framework. The imprecision associated with specifying the water quality criteria and fractional removal levels are modeled in a fuzzy mathematical framework. To address the imprecision in fixing the lower and upper bounds of membership functions, the membership functions themselves are treated as fuzzy in the model and the membership parameters are expressed as interval grey numbers, a closed and bounded interval with known lower and upper bounds but unknown distribution information. The model provides flexibility for PCA and dischargers to specify their aspirations independently, as the membership parameters for different membership functions, specified for different imprecise goals are interval grey numbers in place of a deterministic real number. In the final solution optimal fractional removal levels of the pollutants are obtained in the form of interval grey numbers. This enhances the flexibility and applicability in decision-making, as the decision-maker gets a range of optimal solutions for fixing the final decision scheme considering technical and economic feasibility of the pollutant treatment levels. Application of the GFWLAM is illustrated with case study of the Tunga-Bhadra river system in India.

Continuous-time model of structural balance

PubMed Central

Marvel, Seth A.; Kleinberg, Jon; Kleinberg, Robert D.; Strogatz, Steven H.

2011-01-01

It is not uncommon for certain social networks to divide into two opposing camps in response to stress. This happens, for example, in networks of political parties during winner-takes-all elections, in networks of companies competing to establish technical standards, and in networks of nations faced with mounting threats of war. A simple model for these two-sided separations is the dynamical system dX/dt = X2, where X is a matrix of the friendliness or unfriendliness between pairs of nodes in the network. Previous simulations suggested that only two types of behavior were possible for this system: Either all relationships become friendly or two hostile factions emerge. Here we prove that for generic initial conditions, these are indeed the only possible outcomes. Our analysis yields a closed-form expression for faction membership as a function of the initial conditions and implies that the initial amount of friendliness in large social networks (started from random initial conditions) determines whether they will end up in intractable conflict or global harmony. PMID:21199953

Continuous-time model of structural balance.

PubMed

Marvel, Seth A; Kleinberg, Jon; Kleinberg, Robert D; Strogatz, Steven H

2011-02-01

It is not uncommon for certain social networks to divide into two opposing camps in response to stress. This happens, for example, in networks of political parties during winner-takes-all elections, in networks of companies competing to establish technical standards, and in networks of nations faced with mounting threats of war. A simple model for these two-sided separations is the dynamical system dX/dt = X(2), where X is a matrix of the friendliness or unfriendliness between pairs of nodes in the network. Previous simulations suggested that only two types of behavior were possible for this system: Either all relationships become friendly or two hostile factions emerge. Here we prove that for generic initial conditions, these are indeed the only possible outcomes. Our analysis yields a closed-form expression for faction membership as a function of the initial conditions and implies that the initial amount of friendliness in large social networks (started from random initial conditions) determines whether they will end up in intractable conflict or global harmony.

Learning control of inverted pendulum system by neural network driven fuzzy reasoning: The learning function of NN-driven fuzzy reasoning under changes of reasoning environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hayashi, Isao; Nomura, Hiroyoshi; Wakami, Noboru

1991-01-01

Whereas conventional fuzzy reasonings are associated with tuning problems, which are lack of membership functions and inference rule designs, a neural network driven fuzzy reasoning (NDF) capable of determining membership functions by neural network is formulated. In the antecedent parts of the neural network driven fuzzy reasoning, the optimum membership function is determined by a neural network, while in the consequent parts, an amount of control for each rule is determined by other plural neural networks. By introducing an algorithm of neural network driven fuzzy reasoning, inference rules for making a pendulum stand up from its lowest suspended point are determined for verifying the usefulness of the algorithm.

Gaussian membership functions are most adequate in representing uncertainty in measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kreinovich, V.; Quintana, C.; Reznik, L.

1992-01-01

In rare situations, like fundamental physics, we perform experiments without knowing what their results will be. In the majority of real-life measurement situations, we more or less know beforehand what kind of results we will get. Of course, this is not the precise knowledge of the type 'the result will be between alpha - beta and alpha + beta,' because in this case, we would not need any measurements at all. This is usually a knowledge that is best represented in uncertain terms, like 'perhaps (or 'most likely', etc.) the measured value x is between alpha - beta and alpha + beta.' Traditional statistical methods neglect this additional knowledge and process only the measurement results. So it is desirable to be able to process this uncertain knowledge as well. A natural way to process it is by using fuzzy logic. But, there is a problem; we can use different membership functions to represent the same uncertain statements, and different functions lead to different results. What membership function do we choose? In the present paper, we show that under some reasonable assumptions, Gaussian functions mu(x) = exp(-beta(x(exp 2))) are the most adequate choice of the membership functions for representing uncertainty in measurements. This representation was efficiently used in testing jet engines to airplanes and spaceships.

Variability in perceived satisfaction of reservoir management objectives

USGS Publications Warehouse

Owen, W.J.; Gates, T.K.; Flug, M.

1997-01-01

Fuzzy set theory provides a useful model to address imprecision in interpreting linguistically described objectives for reservoir management. Fuzzy membership functions can be used to represent degrees of objective satisfaction for different values of management variables. However, lack of background information, differing experiences and qualifications, and complex interactions of influencing factors can contribute to significant variability among membership functions derived from surveys of multiple experts. In the present study, probabilistic membership functions are used to model variability in experts' perceptions of satisfaction of objectives for hydropower generation, fish habitat, kayaking, rafting, and scenery preservation on the Green River through operations of Flaming Gorge Dam. Degree of variability in experts' perceptions differed among objectives but resulted in substantial uncertainty in estimation of optimal reservoir releases.

Systematic design of membership functions for fuzzy-logic control: A case study on one-stage partial nitritation/anammox treatment systems.

PubMed

Boiocchi, Riccardo; Gernaey, Krist V; Sin, Gürkan

2016-10-01

A methodology is developed to systematically design the membership functions of fuzzy-logic controllers for multivariable systems. The methodology consists of a systematic derivation of the critical points of the membership functions as a function of predefined control objectives. Several constrained optimization problems corresponding to different qualitative operation states of the system are defined and solved to identify, in a consistent manner, the critical points of the membership functions for the input variables. The consistently identified critical points, together with the linguistic rules, determine the long term reachability of the control objectives by the fuzzy logic controller. The methodology is highlighted using a single-stage side-stream partial nitritation/Anammox reactor as a case study. As a result, a new fuzzy-logic controller for high and stable total nitrogen removal efficiency is designed. Rigorous simulations are carried out to evaluate and benchmark the performance of the controller. The results demonstrate that the novel control strategy is capable of rejecting the long-term influent disturbances, and can achieve a stable and high TN removal efficiency. Additionally, the controller was tested, and showed robustness, against measurement noise levels typical for wastewater sensors. A feedforward-feedback configuration using the present controller would give even better performance. In comparison, a previously developed fuzzy-logic controller using merely expert and intuitive knowledge performed worse. This proved the importance of using a systematic methodology for the derivation of the membership functions for multivariable systems. These results are promising for future applications of the controller in real full-scale plants. Furthermore, the methodology can be used as a tool to help systematically design fuzzy logic control applications for other biological processes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

40 CFR 721.10663 - Functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (generic).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Specific Chemical Substances § 721.10663 Functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (generic). (a... generically as functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (PMN P-12-44) is subject to reporting under this... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Functionalized multi-walled carbon...

40 CFR 721.10663 - Functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (generic).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Specific Chemical Substances § 721.10663 Functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (generic). (a... generically as functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (PMN P-12-44) is subject to reporting under this... 40 Protection of Environment 31 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Functionalized multi-walled carbon...

A multi-valued neutrosophic qualitative flexible approach based on likelihood for multi-criteria decision-making problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Juan-juan; Wang, Jian-qiang; Yang, Wu-E.

2017-01-01

In this paper, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems based on the qualitative flexible multiple criteria method (QUALIFLEX), in which the criteria values are expressed by multi-valued neutrosophic information, are investigated. First, multi-valued neutrosophic sets (MVNSs), which allow the truth-membership function, indeterminacy-membership function and falsity-membership function to have a set of crisp values between zero and one, are introduced. Then the likelihood of multi-valued neutrosophic number (MVNN) preference relations is defined and the corresponding properties are also discussed. Finally, an extended QUALIFLEX approach based on likelihood is explored to solve MCDM problems where the assessments of alternatives are in the form of MVNNs; furthermore an example is provided to illustrate the application of the proposed method, together with a comparison analysis.

LMI-based stability analysis of fuzzy-model-based control systems using approximated polynomial membership functions.

PubMed

Narimani, Mohammand; Lam, H K; Dilmaghani, R; Wolfe, Charles

2011-06-01

Relaxed linear-matrix-inequality-based stability conditions for fuzzy-model-based control systems with imperfect premise matching are proposed. First, the derivative of the Lyapunov function, containing the product terms of the fuzzy model and fuzzy controller membership functions, is derived. Then, in the partitioned operating domain of the membership functions, the relations between the state variables and the mentioned product terms are represented by approximated polynomials in each subregion. Next, the stability conditions containing the information of all subsystems and the approximated polynomials are derived. In addition, the concept of the S-procedure is utilized to release the conservativeness caused by considering the whole operating region for approximated polynomials. It is shown that the well-known stability conditions can be special cases of the proposed stability conditions. Simulation examples are given to illustrate the validity of the proposed approach.

Bayesian assessment of moving group membership: importance of models and prior knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Jinhee; Song, Inseok

2018-04-01

Young nearby moving groups are important and useful in many fields of astronomy such as studying exoplanets, low-mass stars, and the stellar evolution of the early planetary systems over tens of millions of years, which has led to intensive searches for their members. Identification of members depends on the used models sensitively; therefore, careful examination of the models is required. In this study, we investigate the effects of the models used in moving group membership calculations based on a Bayesian framework (e.g. BANYAN II) focusing on the beta-Pictoris moving group (BPMG). Three improvements for building models are suggested: (1) updating a list of accepted members by re-assessing memberships in terms of position, motion, and age, (2) investigating member distribution functions in XYZ, and (3) exploring field star distribution functions in XYZ and UVW. The effect of each change is investigated, and we suggest using all of these improvements simultaneously in future membership probability calculations. Using this improved MG membership calculation and the careful examination of the age, 57 bona fide members of BPMG are confirmed including 12 new members. We additionally suggest 17 highly probable members.

22 CFR 8.6 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE GENERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MANAGEMENT § 8.6 Membership. (a) The act requires a balanced... committee's functions and should be chosen from different vocations having knowledge in the subject. (b) It..., sex, or color. (c) The committee office will keep the Advisory Committee Management Officer currently...

Council Membership Directory 1969.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Council of Organizations Serving the Deaf, Washington, DC.

Information is provided on the purposes, goals, functions, membership, board of directors, calendar of events, publications, and names and addresses of the officers or executive committees of 19 national organizations serving the deaf. Organizations included are the Council of Organizations Serving the Deaf, Alexander Graham Bell Association for…

22 CFR 8.6 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE GENERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MANAGEMENT § 8.6 Membership. (a) The act requires a balanced... committee's functions and should be chosen from different vocations having knowledge in the subject. (b) It..., sex, or color. (c) The committee office will keep the Advisory Committee Management Officer currently...

Optimal Binarization of Gray-Scaled Digital Images via Fuzzy Reasoning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominguez, Jesus A. (Inventor); Klinko, Steven J. (Inventor)

2007-01-01

A technique for finding an optimal threshold for binarization of a gray scale image employs fuzzy reasoning. A triangular membership function is employed which is dependent on the degree to which the pixels in the image belong to either the foreground class or the background class. Use of a simplified linear fuzzy entropy factor function facilitates short execution times and use of membership values between 0.0 and 1.0 for improved accuracy. To improve accuracy further, the membership function employs lower and upper bound gray level limits that can vary from image to image and are selected to be equal to the minimum and the maximum gray levels, respectively, that are present in the image to be converted. To identify the optimal binarization threshold, an iterative process is employed in which different possible thresholds are tested and the one providing the minimum fuzzy entropy measure is selected.

Improved Membership Probability for Moving Groups: Bayesian and Machine Learning Approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Jinhee; Song, Inseok

2018-01-01

Gravitationally unbound loose stellar associations (i.e., young nearby moving groups: moving groups hereafter) have been intensively explored because they are important in planet and disk formation studies, exoplanet imaging, and age calibration. Among the many efforts devoted to the search for moving group members, a Bayesian approach (e.g.,using the code BANYAN) has become popular recently because of the many advantages it offers. However, the resultant membership probability needs to be carefully adopted because of its sensitive dependence on input models. In this study, we have developed an improved membership calculation tool focusing on the beta-Pic moving group. We made three improvements for building models used in BANYAN II: (1) updating a list of accepted members by re-assessing memberships in terms of position, motion, and age, (2) investigating member distribution functions in XYZ, and (3) exploring field star distribution functions in XYZUVW. Our improved tool can change membership probability up to 70%. Membership probability is critical and must be better defined. For example, our code identifies only one third of the candidate members in SIMBAD that are believed to be kinematically associated with beta-Pic moving group.Additionally, we performed cluster analysis of young nearby stars using an unsupervised machine learning approach. As more moving groups and their members are identified, the complexity and ambiguity in moving group configuration has been increased. To clarify this issue, we analyzed ~4,000 X-ray bright young stellar candidates. Here, we present the preliminary results. By re-identifying moving groups with the least human intervention, we expect to understand the composition of the solar neighborhood. Moreover better defined moving group membership will help us understand star formation and evolution in relatively low density environments; especially for the low-mass stars which will be identified in the coming Gaia release.

Optimal Distinctiveness Signals Membership Trust.

PubMed

Leonardelli, Geoffrey J; Loyd, Denise Lewin

2016-07-01

According to optimal distinctiveness theory, sufficiently small minority groups are associated with greater membership trust, even among members otherwise unknown, because the groups are seen as optimally distinctive. This article elaborates on the prediction's motivational and cognitive processes and tests whether sufficiently small minorities (defined by relative size; for example, 20%) are associated with greater membership trust relative to mere minorities (45%), and whether such trust is a function of optimal distinctiveness. Two experiments, examining observers' perceptions of minority and majority groups and using minimal groups and (in Experiment 2) a trust game, revealed greater membership trust in minorities than majorities. In Experiment 2, participants also preferred joining minorities over more powerful majorities. Both effects occurred only when minorities were 20% rather than 45%. In both studies, perceptions of optimal distinctiveness mediated effects. Discussion focuses on the value of relative size and optimal distinctiveness, and when membership trust manifests. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Reliability analysis of repairable systems using Petri nets and vague Lambda-Tau methodology.

PubMed

Garg, Harish

2013-01-01

The main objective of the paper is to developed a methodology, named as vague Lambda-Tau, for reliability analysis of repairable systems. Petri net tool is applied to represent the asynchronous and concurrent processing of the system instead of fault tree analysis. To enhance the relevance of the reliability study, vague set theory is used for representing the failure rate and repair times instead of classical(crisp) or fuzzy set theory because vague sets are characterized by a truth membership function and false membership functions (non-membership functions) so that sum of both values is less than 1. The proposed methodology involves qualitative modeling using PN and quantitative analysis using Lambda-Tau method of solution with the basic events represented by intuitionistic fuzzy numbers of triangular membership functions. Sensitivity analysis has also been performed and the effects on system MTBF are addressed. The methodology improves the shortcomings of the existing probabilistic approaches and gives a better understanding of the system behavior through its graphical representation. The washing unit of a paper mill situated in a northern part of India, producing approximately 200 ton of paper per day, has been considered to demonstrate the proposed approach. The results may be helpful for the plant personnel for analyzing the systems' behavior and to improve their performance by adopting suitable maintenance strategies. Copyright © 2012 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Use of morphological characteristics to define functional groups of predatory fishes in the Celtic Sea.

PubMed

Reecht, Y; Rochet, M-J; Trenkel, V M; Jennings, S; Pinnegar, J K

2013-08-01

An ecomorphological method was developed, with a focus on predation functions, to define functional groups in the Celtic Sea fish community. Eleven functional traits, measured for 930 individuals from 33 species, led to 11 functional groups. Membership of functional groups was linked to body size and taxonomy. For seven species, there were ontogenetic changes in group membership. When diet composition, expressed as the proportions of different prey types recorded in stomachs, was compared among functional groups, morphology-based predictions accounted for 28-56% of the interindividual variance in prey type. This was larger than the 12-24% of variance that could be explained solely on the basis of body size. © 2013 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Group Membership Based Authorization to CADC Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Damian, A.; Dowler, P.; Gaudet, S.; Hill, N.

2012-09-01

The Group Membership Service (GMS), implemented at the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC), is a prototype of what could eventually be an IVOA standard for a distributed and interoperable group membership protocol. Group membership is the core authorization concept that enables teamwork and collaboration amongst astronomers accessing distributed resources and services. The service integrates and complements other access control related IVOA standards such as single-sign-on (SSO) using X.509 proxy certificates and the Credential Delegation Protocol (CDP). The GMS has been used at CADC for several years now, initially as a subsystem and then as a stand-alone Web service. It is part of the authorization mechanism for controlling the access to restricted Web resources as well as the VOSpace service hosted by the CADC. We present the role that GMS plays within the access control system at the CADC, including the functionality of the service and how the different CADC services make use of it to assert user authorization to resources. We also describe the main advantages and challenges of using the service as well as future work to increase its robustness and functionality.

Protein-protein interaction site prediction in Homo sapiens and E. coli using an interaction-affinity based membership function in fuzzy SVM.

PubMed

Sriwastava, Brijesh Kumar; Basu, Subhadip; Maulik, Ujjwal

2015-10-01

Protein-protein interaction (PPI) site prediction aids to ascertain the interface residues that participate in interaction processes. Fuzzy support vector machine (F-SVM) is proposed as an effective method to solve this problem, and we have shown that the performance of the classical SVM can be enhanced with the help of an interaction-affinity based fuzzy membership function. The performances of both SVM and F-SVM on the PPI databases of the Homo sapiens and E. coli organisms are evaluated and estimated the statistical significance of the developed method over classical SVM and other fuzzy membership-based SVM methods available in the literature. Our membership function uses the residue-level interaction affinity scores for each pair of positive and negative sequence fragments. The average AUC scores in the 10-fold cross-validation experiments are measured as 79.94% and 80.48% for the Homo sapiens and E. coli organisms respectively. On the independent test datasets, AUC scores are obtained as 76.59% and 80.17% respectively for the two organisms. In almost all cases, the developed F-SVM method improves the performances obtained by the corresponding classical SVM and the other classifiers, available in the literature.

Computer aided planning of orthopaedic surgeries: the definition of generic planning steps for bone removal procedures.

PubMed

Putzer, David; Moctezuma, Jose Luis; Nogler, Michael

2017-11-01

An increasing number of orthopaedic surgeons are using computer aided planning tools for bone removal applications. The aim of the study was to consolidate a set of generic functions to be used for a 3D computer assisted planning or simulation. A limited subset of 30 surgical procedures was analyzed and verified in 243 surgical procedures of a surgical atlas. Fourteen generic functions to be used in 3D computer assisted planning and simulations were extracted. Our results showed that the average procedure comprises 14 ± 10 (SD) steps with ten different generic planning steps and four generic bone removal steps. In conclusion, the study shows that with a limited number of 14 planning functions it is possible to perform 243 surgical procedures out of Campbell's Operative Orthopedics atlas. The results may be used as a basis for versatile generic intraoperative planning software.

SOS based robust H(∞) fuzzy dynamic output feedback control of nonlinear networked control systems.

PubMed

Chae, Seunghwan; Nguang, Sing Kiong

2014-07-01

In this paper, a methodology for designing a fuzzy dynamic output feedback controller for discrete-time nonlinear networked control systems is presented where the nonlinear plant is modelled by a Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model and the network-induced delays by a finite state Markov process. The transition probability matrix for the Markov process is allowed to be partially known, providing a more practical consideration of the real world. Furthermore, the fuzzy controller's membership functions and premise variables are not assumed to be the same as the plant's membership functions and premise variables, that is, the proposed approach can handle the case, when the premise of the plant are not measurable or delayed. The membership functions of the plant and the controller are approximated as polynomial functions, then incorporated into the controller design. Sufficient conditions for the existence of the controller are derived in terms of sum of square inequalities, which are then solved by YALMIP. Finally, a numerical example is used to demonstrate the validity of the proposed methodology.

ASICs Approach for the Implementation of a Symmetric Triangular Fuzzy Coprocessor and Its Application to Adaptive Filtering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Starks, Scott; Abdel-Hafeez, Saleh; Usevitch, Bryan

1997-01-01

This paper discusses the implementation of a fuzzy logic system using an ASICs design approach. The approach is based upon combining the inherent advantages of symmetric triangular membership functions and fuzzy singleton sets to obtain a novel structure for fuzzy logic system application development. The resulting structure utilizes a fuzzy static RAM to store the rule-base and the end-points of the triangular membership functions. This provides advantages over other approaches in which all sampled values of membership functions for all universes must be stored. The fuzzy coprocessor structure implements the fuzzification and defuzzification processes through a two-stage parallel pipeline architecture which is capable of executing complex fuzzy computations in less than 0.55us with an accuracy of more than 95%, thus making it suitable for a wide range of applications. Using the approach presented in this paper, a fuzzy logic rule-base can be directly downloaded via a host processor to an onchip rule-base memory with a size of 64 words. The fuzzy coprocessor's design supports up to 49 rules for seven fuzzy membership functions associated with each of the chip's two input variables. This feature allows designers to create fuzzy logic systems without the need for additional on-board memory. Finally, the paper reports on simulation studies that were conducted for several adaptive filter applications using the least mean squared adaptive algorithm for adjusting the knowledge rule-base.

A Quantitative Method to Identify Lithology Beneath Cover

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gettings, M. E.

2008-12-01

Geophysical terranes (map areas of similar potential field data response) can be used in the estimation of geological map units beneath cover (bedrock, alluvium, or tectonic block). Potential field data over nearby bedrock terranes defines "candidate terranes". Geophysical anomaly dimensions, shapes, amplitudes, trends/structural grain, and fractal measures yield a vector of measures characterizing the terrane. To compare candidate terranes fields with those for covered areas, the effect of depth of cover must be taken into account. Gravity anomaly data yields depth estimates by which the aeromagnetic data of candidate terranes are then upward continued. Comparison of characteristics of the upward continued fields from the candidate terranes to those of covered areas rank the candidates. Because of signal loss in upward continuation and overlap of physical properties, the vectors of measures for the candidate terranes are usually not unique. Possibility theory offers a relatively objective and robust method that can be used to rank terrane types that includes uncertainty. The strategy is to prepare membership functions for each measure of each candidate terrane and the covered area, based on observed values and degree of knowledge, and then form the fuzzy-logical combination of these to estimate the possibility and its uncertainty for each candidate terrane. Membership functions include uncertainty by the degree of membership for various possibility values. With no other information, uncertainty is based on information content from survey specifications and geologic features dimensions. Geologic data can also be included, such as structural trends, proximity, and tectonic history. Little knowledge implies wide membership functions; perfect knowledge, a delta function. This and the combination rules in fuzzy logic yield a robust estimation method. An uncertain membership function of a characteristic contributes much less to the possibility than a precise one. The final result for each covered area is a ranked possibility function for each candidate terrane as the underlying bedrock of the covered area that honors the aeromagnetic field and the geologic constraints that have been included. An example of the application of this method is presented for an area in south central Arizona.

Certifying Domain-Specific Policies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lowry, Michael; Pressburger, Thomas; Rosu, Grigore; Koga, Dennis (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Proof-checking code for compliance to safety policies potentially enables a product-oriented approach to certain aspects of software certification. To date, previous research has focused on generic, low-level programming-language properties such as memory type safety. In this paper we consider proof-checking higher-level domain -specific properties for compliance to safety policies. The paper first describes a framework related to abstract interpretation in which compliance to a class of certification policies can be efficiently calculated Membership equational logic is shown to provide a rich logic for carrying out such calculations, including partiality, for certification. The architecture for a domain-specific certifier is described, followed by an implemented case study. The case study considers consistency of abstract variable attributes in code that performs geometric calculations in Aerospace systems.

The international union of psychological science and the politics of membership: psychological associations in South Africa and the German Democratic Republic.

PubMed

Dumont, K; Louw, J

2001-11-01

This article examines the origins and the development of psychological associations in the German Democratic Republic and the Republic of South Africa and the ways membership in the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS)--founded in 1951--figured in the process. The political regimes in these 2 countries had difficulties of their own in achieving a standing in the international community and, as a result, psychologists faced significant dilemmas in gaining legitimacy for the discipline. Membership in the IUPsyS served an important function in gaining legitimacy for the discipline in both countries, but it also contradicted legitimizing strategies that involved the countries' distinctive political and social structures. Membership in the IUPsyS was sufficiently important for psychologists to try to strike a compromise between different legitimation strategies.

Fuzzy Neuron: Method and Hardware Realization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krasowski, Michael J.; Prokop, Norman F.

2014-01-01

This innovation represents a method by which single-to-multi-input, single-to-many-output system transfer functions can be estimated from input/output data sets. This innovation can be run in the background while a system is operating under other means (e.g., through human operator effort), or may be utilized offline using data sets created from observations of the estimated system. It utilizes a set of fuzzy membership functions spanning the input space for each input variable. Linear combiners associated with combinations of input membership functions are used to create the output(s) of the estimator. Coefficients are adjusted online through the use of learning algorithms.

The Longitudinal Stability and Dynamics of Group Membership in the Dual-Factor Model of Mental Health: Psychosocial Predictors of Mental Health

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Ryan M.; Hills, Kimberly J.; Huebner, E. Scott; McQuillin, Samuel D.

2012-01-01

This study examined the longitudinal stability and dynamics of group membership within the Greenspoon and Sakflofske's dual-factor model of mental health. This expanded model incorporates information about subjective well-being (SWB), in addition to psychopathological symptoms, to better identify the mental health status and current functioning of…

76 FR 59379 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for Research in Development...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-26

...-XXXX. Type of Review: Generic Clearance Request. Title: Generic Clearance for Research in Development..., filing of petitions and applications and agency #0;statements of organization and functions are examples... Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for Research in Development of...

Integration of Genetic Algorithms and Fuzzy Logic for Urban Growth Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foroutan, E.; Delavar, M. R.; Araabi, B. N.

2012-07-01

Urban growth phenomenon as a spatio-temporal continuous process is subject to spatial uncertainty. This inherent uncertainty cannot be fully addressed by the conventional methods based on the Boolean algebra. Fuzzy logic can be employed to overcome this limitation. Fuzzy logic preserves the continuity of dynamic urban growth spatially by choosing fuzzy membership functions, fuzzy rules and the fuzzification-defuzzification process. Fuzzy membership functions and fuzzy rule sets as the heart of fuzzy logic are rather subjective and dependent on the expert. However, due to lack of a definite method for determining the membership function parameters, certain optimization is needed to tune the parameters and improve the performance of the model. This paper integrates genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic as a genetic fuzzy system (GFS) for modeling dynamic urban growth. The proposed approach is applied for modeling urban growth in Tehran Metropolitan Area in Iran. Historical land use/cover data of Tehran Metropolitan Area extracted from the 1988 and 1999 Landsat ETM+ images are employed in order to simulate the urban growth. The extracted land use classes of the year 1988 include urban areas, street, vegetation areas, slope and elevation used as urban growth physical driving forces. Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve as an fitness function has been used to evaluate the performance of the GFS algorithm. The optimum membership function parameter is applied for generating a suitability map for the urban growth. Comparing the suitability map and real land use map of 1999 gives the threshold value for the best suitability map which can simulate the land use map of 1999. The simulation outcomes in terms of kappa of 89.13% and overall map accuracy of 95.58% demonstrated the efficiency and reliability of the proposed model.

Possibilistic clustering for shape recognition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keller, James M.; Krishnapuram, Raghu

1993-01-01

Clustering methods have been used extensively in computer vision and pattern recognition. Fuzzy clustering has been shown to be advantageous over crisp (or traditional) clustering in that total commitment of a vector to a given class is not required at each iteration. Recently fuzzy clustering methods have shown spectacular ability to detect not only hypervolume clusters, but also clusters which are actually 'thin shells', i.e., curves and surfaces. Most analytic fuzzy clustering approaches are derived from Bezdek's Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) algorithm. The FCM uses the probabilistic constraint that the memberships of a data point across classes sum to one. This constraint was used to generate the membership update equations for an iterative algorithm. Unfortunately, the memberships resulting from FCM and its derivatives do not correspond to the intuitive concept of degree of belonging, and moreover, the algorithms have considerable trouble in noisy environments. Recently, the clustering problem was cast into the framework of possibility theory. Our approach was radically different from the existing clustering methods in that the resulting partition of the data can be interpreted as a possibilistic partition, and the membership values may be interpreted as degrees of possibility of the points belonging to the classes. An appropriate objective function whose minimum will characterize a good possibilistic partition of the data was constructed, and the membership and prototype update equations from necessary conditions for minimization of our criterion function were derived. The ability of this approach to detect linear and quartic curves in the presence of considerable noise is shown.

Possibilistic clustering for shape recognition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keller, James M.; Krishnapuram, Raghu

1992-01-01

Clustering methods have been used extensively in computer vision and pattern recognition. Fuzzy clustering has been shown to be advantageous over crisp (or traditional) clustering in that total commitment of a vector to a given class is not required at each iteration. Recently fuzzy clustering methods have shown spectacular ability to detect not only hypervolume clusters, but also clusters which are actually 'thin shells', i.e., curves and surfaces. Most analytic fuzzy clustering approaches are derived from Bezdek's Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) algorithm. The FCM uses the probabilistic constraint that the memberships of a data point across classes sum to one. This constraint was used to generate the membership update equations for an iterative algorithm. Unfortunately, the memberships resulting from FCM and its derivatives do not correspond to the intuitive concept of degree of belonging, and moreover, the algorithms have considerable trouble in noisy environments. Recently, we cast the clustering problem into the framework of possibility theory. Our approach was radically different from the existing clustering methods in that the resulting partition of the data can be interpreted as a possibilistic partition, and the membership values may be interpreted as degrees of possibility of the points belonging to the classes. We constructed an appropriate objective function whose minimum will characterize a good possibilistic partition of the data, and we derived the membership and prototype update equations from necessary conditions for minimization of our criterion function. In this paper, we show the ability of this approach to detect linear and quartic curves in the presence of considerable noise.

A two-stage mixed-integer fuzzy programming with interval-valued membership functions approach for flood-diversion planning.

PubMed

Wang, S; Huang, G H

2013-03-15

Flood disasters have been extremely severe in recent decades, and they account for about one third of all natural catastrophes throughout the world. In this study, a two-stage mixed-integer fuzzy programming with interval-valued membership functions (TMFP-IMF) approach is developed for flood-diversion planning under uncertainty. TMFP-IMF integrates the fuzzy flexible programming, two-stage stochastic programming, and integer programming within a general framework. A concept of interval-valued fuzzy membership function is introduced to address complexities of system uncertainties. TMFP-IMF can not only deal with uncertainties expressed as fuzzy sets and probability distributions, but also incorporate pre-regulated water-diversion policies directly into its optimization process. TMFP-IMF is applied to a hypothetical case study of flood-diversion planning for demonstrating its applicability. Results indicate that reasonable solutions can be generated for binary and continuous variables. A variety of flood-diversion and capacity-expansion schemes can be obtained under four scenarios, which enable decision makers (DMs) to identify the most desired one based on their perceptions and attitudes towards the objective-function value and constraints. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimized Vertex Method and Hybrid Reliability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Steven A.; Krishnamurthy, T.; Mason, B. H.

2002-01-01

A method of calculating the fuzzy response of a system is presented. This method, called the Optimized Vertex Method (OVM), is based upon the vertex method but requires considerably fewer function evaluations. The method is demonstrated by calculating the response membership function of strain-energy release rate for a bonded joint with a crack. The possibility of failure of the bonded joint was determined over a range of loads. After completing the possibilistic analysis, the possibilistic (fuzzy) membership functions were transformed to probability density functions and the probability of failure of the bonded joint was calculated. This approach is called a possibility-based hybrid reliability assessment. The possibility and probability of failure are presented and compared to a Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) of the bonded joint.

Space Generic Open Avionics Architecture (SGOAA) standard specification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wray, Richard B.; Stovall, John R.

1994-01-01

This standard establishes the Space Generic Open Avionics Architecture (SGOAA). The SGOAA includes a generic functional model, processing structural model, and an architecture interface model. This standard defines the requirements for applying these models to the development of spacecraft core avionics systems. The purpose of this standard is to provide an umbrella set of requirements for applying the generic architecture models to the design of a specific avionics hardware/software processing system. This standard defines a generic set of system interface points to facilitate identification of critical services and interfaces. It establishes the requirement for applying appropriate low level detailed implementation standards to those interfaces points. The generic core avionics functions and processing structural models provided herein are robustly tailorable to specific system applications and provide a platform upon which the interface model is to be applied.

An optimal generic model for multi-parameters and big data optimizing: a laboratory experimental study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Utama, D. N.; Ani, N.; Iqbal, M. M.

2018-03-01

Optimization is a process for finding parameter (parameters) that is (are) able to deliver an optimal value for an objective function. Seeking an optimal generic model for optimizing is a computer science study that has been being practically conducted by numerous researchers. Generic model is a model that can be technically operated to solve any varieties of optimization problem. By using an object-oriented method, the generic model for optimizing was constructed. Moreover, two types of optimization method, simulated-annealing and hill-climbing, were functioned in constructing the model and compared to find the most optimal one then. The result said that both methods gave the same result for a value of objective function and the hill-climbing based model consumed the shortest running time.

Fuzzy efficiency optimization of AC induction motors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jani, Yashvant; Sousa, Gilberto; Turner, Wayne; Spiegel, Ron; Chappell, Jeff

1993-01-01

This paper describes the early states of work to implement a fuzzy logic controller to optimize the efficiency of AC induction motor/adjustable speed drive (ASD) systems running at less than optimal speed and torque conditions. In this paper, the process by which the membership functions of the controller were tuned is discussed and a controller which operates on frequency as well as voltage is proposed. The membership functions for this dual-variable controller are sketched. Additional topics include an approach for fuzzy logic to motor current control which can be used with vector-controlled drives. Incorporation of a fuzzy controller as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) microchip is planned.

Estimating the effect of gang membership on nonviolent and violent delinquency: a counterfactual analysis.

PubMed

Barnes, J C; Beaver, Kevin M; Miller, J Mitchell

2010-01-01

This study reconsiders the well-known link between gang membership and criminal involvement. Recently developed analytical techniques enabled the approximation of an experimental design to determine whether gang members, after being matched with similarly situated nongang members, exhibited greater involvement in nonviolent and violent delinquency. Findings indicated that while gang membership is a function of self-selection, selection effects alone do not account for the greater involvement in delinquency exhibited by gang members. After propensity score matching was employed, gang members maintained a greater involvement in both nonviolent and violent delinquency when measured cross-sectionally, but only violent delinquency when measured longitudinally. Additional analyses using inverse probability of treatment weights reaffirmed these conclusions. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

[Fuzzy mathematic quantitative law of composing principle in the study of traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Liu, Ming; Gao, Yue; Xiao, Rui; Zhang, Bo-li

2009-01-01

This study is to analyze microcosmic significance of Chinese medicine composing principle "principal, assistant, complement and mediating guide" and it's fuzzy mathematic quantitative law. According to molecular biology and maximal membership principle, fuzzy subset and membership functions were proposed. Using in vivo experiment on the effects of SiWu Decoction and its ingredients on mice with radiation-induced blood deficiency, it is concluded that DiHuang and DangGui belonged to the principal and assistant subset, BaiShao belonged to the contrary complement subset, ChuanXiong belonged to the mediating guide subset by maximal membership principle. It is discussed that traditional Chinese medicine will be consummate medical science when its theory can be described by mathematic language.

Dominance-based ranking functions for interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets.

PubMed

Chen, Liang-Hsuan; Tu, Chien-Cheng

2014-08-01

The ranking of interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IvIFSs) is difficult since they include the interval values of membership and nonmembership. This paper proposes ranking functions for IvIFSs based on the dominance concept. The proposed ranking functions consider the degree to which an IvIFS dominates and is not dominated by other IvIFSs. Based on the bivariate framework and the dominance concept, the functions incorporate not only the boundary values of membership and nonmembership, but also the relative relations among IvIFSs in comparisons. The dominance-based ranking functions include bipolar evaluations with a parameter that allows the decision-maker to reflect his actual attitude in allocating the various kinds of dominance. The relationship for two IvIFSs that satisfy the dual couple is defined based on four proposed ranking functions. Importantly, the proposed ranking functions can achieve a full ranking for all IvIFSs. Two examples are used to demonstrate the applicability and distinctiveness of the proposed ranking functions.

A Generic Expert Scheduling System Architecture and Toolkit: GUESS (Generically Used Expert Scheduling System)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liebowitz, Jay; Krishnamurthy, Vijaya; Rodens, Ira; Houston, Chapman; Liebowitz, Alisa; Baek, Seung; Radko, Joe; Zeide, Janet

1996-01-01

Scheduling has become an increasingly important element in today's society and workplace. Within the NASA environment, scheduling is one of the most frequently performed and challenging functions. Towards meeting NASA's scheduling needs, a research version of a generic expert scheduling system architecture and toolkit has been developed. This final report describes the development and testing of GUESS (Generically Used Expert Scheduling System).

Why are dunkels sticky? Preschoolers infer functionality and intentional creation for artifact properties learned from generic language.

PubMed

Cimpian, Andrei; Cadena, Cristina

2010-10-01

Artifacts pose a potential learning problem for children because the mapping between their features and their functions is often not transparent. In solving this problem, children are likely to rely on a number of information sources (e.g., others' actions, affordances). We argue that children's sensitivity to nuances in the language used to describe artifacts is an important, but so far unacknowledged, piece of this puzzle. Specifically, we hypothesize that children are sensitive to whether an unfamiliar artifact's features are highlighted using generic (e.g., "Dunkels are sticky") or non-generic (e.g., "This dunkel is sticky") language. Across two studies, older-but not younger-preschoolers who heard such features introduced via generic statements inferred that they are a functional part of the artifact's design more often than children who heard the same features introduced via non-generic statements. The ability to pick up on this linguistic cue may expand considerably the amount of conceptual information about artifacts that children derive from conversations with adults. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Evaluation of Gastric Mucosal Injury Model Animals of Rebamipide Formulation--Study of Therapeutic Equivalence].

PubMed

Abe, Noriaki; Funato, Hiroki; Hirata, Ayumu; Nakai, Megumi; Iizuka, Michiro; Shiraishi, Hisashi; Jobu, Kohei; Yagi, Yusuke; Kadota, Aki; Ogi, Kyoko; Yokota, Junko; Miyamura, Mitsuhiko

2016-01-01

The introduction of generic drugs is promoted from the perspective of medical economics. In this context, we need to understand not only the bioequivalence of generic drugs specified in "the Guidelines for Bioequivalence Studies of Generic Products", but also formulation properties to consider their effect on pharmacological therapy. We evaluated the pharmaceutical characteristics of rebamipide formulations, a brand-name drug and two generic drugs, and their clinical functionality by using rat models of gastric mucosal injury induced by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Pharmaceutical evaluation showed significant differences in hardness. The inter-lot variation was small in all rebamipide formulations. In the clinical functionality study, biochemistry test values 7 d after the administration of rebamipide showed no differences among formulations. Higher levels of mucosal fluid secretion and antioxidative enzymes were observed in the groups administered rebamipide than in the control group. The levels of lipid peroxide were lower in the groups administered rebamipide than the control group. Multivariate analysis showed slight divergence between the brand-name and generic drugs. In future, it will be necessary to select generic drugs after careful consideration of bioequivalence, clinical functionality, and therapeutic equivalence by reviewing scientific evidence such as indication and formulation design, not to mention stable provision.

Generic Kalman Filter Software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lisano, Michael E., II; Crues, Edwin Z.

2005-01-01

The Generic Kalman Filter (GKF) software provides a standard basis for the development of application-specific Kalman-filter programs. Historically, Kalman filters have been implemented by customized programs that must be written, coded, and debugged anew for each unique application, then tested and tuned with simulated or actual measurement data. Total development times for typical Kalman-filter application programs have ranged from months to weeks. The GKF software can simplify the development process and reduce the development time by eliminating the need to re-create the fundamental implementation of the Kalman filter for each new application. The GKF software is written in the ANSI C programming language. It contains a generic Kalman-filter-development directory that, in turn, contains a code for a generic Kalman filter function; more specifically, it contains a generically designed and generically coded implementation of linear, linearized, and extended Kalman filtering algorithms, including algorithms for state- and covariance-update and -propagation functions. The mathematical theory that underlies the algorithms is well known and has been reported extensively in the open technical literature. Also contained in the directory are a header file that defines generic Kalman-filter data structures and prototype functions and template versions of application-specific subfunction and calling navigation/estimation routine code and headers. Once the user has provided a calling routine and the required application-specific subfunctions, the application-specific Kalman-filter software can be compiled and executed immediately. During execution, the generic Kalman-filter function is called from a higher-level navigation or estimation routine that preprocesses measurement data and post-processes output data. The generic Kalman-filter function uses the aforementioned data structures and five implementation- specific subfunctions, which have been developed by the user on the basis of the aforementioned templates. The GKF software can be used to develop many different types of unfactorized Kalman filters. A developer can choose to implement either a linearized or an extended Kalman filter algorithm, without having to modify the GKF software. Control dynamics can be taken into account or neglected in the filter-dynamics model. Filter programs developed by use of the GKF software can be made to propagate equations of motion for linear or nonlinear dynamical systems that are deterministic or stochastic. In addition, filter programs can be made to operate in user-selectable "covariance analysis" and "propagation-only" modes that are useful in design and development stages.

Generalized Browder's and Weyl's theorems for Banach space operators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Curto, Raúl E.; Han, Young Min

2007-12-01

We find necessary and sufficient conditions for a Banach space operator T to satisfy the generalized Browder's theorem. We also prove that the spectral mapping theorem holds for the Drazin spectrum and for analytic functions on an open neighborhood of [sigma](T). As applications, we show that if T is algebraically M-hyponormal, or if T is algebraically paranormal, then the generalized Weyl's theorem holds for f(T), where f[set membership, variant]H((T)), the space of functions analytic on an open neighborhood of [sigma](T). We also show that if T is reduced by each of its eigenspaces, then the generalized Browder's theorem holds for f(T), for each f[set membership, variant]H([sigma](T)).

Platform Routing and Data Fusion Technologies for Cooperative ISR - fmCortex (Trademark)

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-06-13

first “fuzzify” the “ crisp ” or real-values of pertinent parameters and, using membership functions, represent a degree to which the effects of that...IAVO Research and Scientific STTR Final Report: FA9550-07-C-0085 Scenario Range Aspect TTLE ! R ! T ! A Input: Crisp Data Membership...for vulnerable resource rv!V. 0 Dm 2 Number of time slices for which continuous task m must be performed. 0 nmmin 3 Minimum number of resources

3 CFR 13652 - Executive Order 13652 of September 30, 2013. Continuance of Certain Federal Advisory Committees

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... sectors and their functional systems, physical assets, and cyber networks. “(a) Membership. The NIAC shall... critical infrastructure and their supporting functional systems, physical assets, and cyber networks, and...

Functions of Aggression and Delinquency: The Moderating Role of Parent Criminality and Friends' Gang Membership.

PubMed

Ang, Rebecca P; Huan, Vivien S; Li, Xiang; Chan, Wei Teng

2016-03-02

This study examined the relationships between two functions of aggression (i.e., reactive and proactive) and delinquency, including the moderating effects of parent criminality and friends' gang membership, in a sample of 1,027 Singaporean adolescents from Grade 7 to Grade 9, with age ranging from 12 to 19 years (M = 14.10, SD = 1.15). Findings suggested that both reactive aggression and proactive aggression significantly and positively predicted delinquency (after controlling for proactive aggression and reactive aggression, respectively), with proactive aggression being a stronger predictor. Friends' gang membership was found to moderate the relationship between reactive aggression and delinquency, and proactive aggression and delinquency, with stronger moderator effects for the latter. Those who were aggressive proactively and who had friends in a gang appear to be impacted most negatively with respect to delinquency. Parent criminality did not moderate these relationships. These findings highlight the need to effectively address the issues of child and adolescent aggression. Also, developing positive peer relations early is crucial for delinquency prevention. © The Author(s) 2016.

Space Generic Open Avionics Architecture (SGOAA): Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wray, Richard B.; Stovall, John R.

1992-01-01

A space generic open avionics architecture created for NASA is described. It will serve as the basis for entities in spacecraft core avionics, capable of being tailored by NASA for future space program avionics ranging from small vehicles such as Moon ascent/descent vehicles to large ones such as Mars transfer vehicles or orbiting stations. The standard consists of: (1) a system architecture; (2) a generic processing hardware architecture; (3) a six class architecture interface model; (4) a system services functional subsystem architectural model; and (5) an operations control functional subsystem architectural model.

Understanding advanced theory of mind and empathy in high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Mathersul, Danielle; McDonald, Skye; Rushby, Jacqueline A

2013-01-01

It has been argued that higher functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have specific deficits in advanced but not simple theory of mind (ToM), yet the questionable ecological validity of some tasks reduces the strength of this assumption. The present study employed The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), which uses video vignettes to assess comprehension of subtle conversational inferences (sarcasm, lies/deception). Given the proposed relationships between advanced ToM and cognitive and affective empathy, these associations were also investigated. As expected, the high-functioning adults with ASDs demonstrated specific deficits in comprehending the beliefs, intentions, and meaning of nonliteral expressions. They also had significantly lower cognitive and affective empathy. Cognitive empathy was related to ToM and group membership whereas affective empathy was only related to group membership.

Short-range forecast of Shershnevskoie (South Ural) water-storage algal blooms: preliminary results of predictors' choosing and membership functions' construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gayazova, Anna; Abdullaev, Sanjar

2014-05-01

Short-range forecasting of algal blooms in drinking water reservoirs and other waterbodies is an actual element of water treatment system. Particularly, Shershnevskoie reservoir - the source of drinking water for Chelyabinsk city (South Ural region of Russia) - is exposed to interannual, seasonal and short-range fluctuations of blue-green alga Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and other dominant species abundance, which lead to technological problems and economic costs and adversely affect the water treatment quality. Whereas the composition, intensity and the period of blooms affected not only by meteorological seasonal conditions but also by ecological specificity of waterbody, that's important to develop object-oriented forecasting, particularly, search for an optimal number of predictors for such forecasting. Thereby, firstly fuzzy logic and fuzzy artificial neural network patterns for blue-green alga Microcystis aeruginosa (M. aeruginosa) blooms prediction in nearby undrained Smolino lake were developed. These results subsequently served as the base to derive membership functions for Shernevskoie reservoir forecasting patterns. Time series with the total lenght about 138-159 days of dominant species seasonal abundance, water temperature, cloud cover, wind speed, mineralization, phosphate and nitrate concentrations were obtained through field observations held at Lake Smolino (Chelyabinsk) in the warm season of 2009 and 2011 with time resolution of 2-7 days. The cross-correlation analysis of the data revealed the potential predictors of M. aeruginosa abundance quasi-periodic oscillations: green alga Pediastrum duplex (P. duplex) abundance and mineralization for 2009, P. duplex abundance, water temperature and concentration of nitrates for 2011. According to the results of cross-correlation analysis one membership function "P. duplex abundance" and one rule linking M. aeruginosa and P. duplex abundances were set up for database of 2009. Analogically, for database of 2011 three rules, linking membership functions of temperature, P. duplex abundance, nitrate concentration and M. aeruginosa abundance were set up. Developed fuzzy logic rules were good to predict M. aeruginosa intense outbreaks. For ANN method of forecasting specially written program was used to train the fuzzy artificial neural network on number of input selected predictors' values and output predicted factor's values to set up the predictive rules and membership functions automatically. As a result, two models based on mineralization and P. duplex abundance were developed for 2009. For 2011 four patterns were developed, the best result was obtained for model based on temperature and P. duplex abundance. Developed methods of forecasting were applied to predict outbreaks of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and M. aeruginosa abundance in Shershnevskoie reservoir. For this purpose long-term data of chemical parameters, measured once in a month, data of dominant species abundance, measured fifth in a week and data of turbidity, water color, alkalinity, pH, obtained each day, were analyzed. Based on these empirical data significant factors were determined, membership functions were set up and preliminary models for Shershnevskoie reservoir were developed. As expected, these models differ significantly from developed for Smolino lake ones and should be tested on new data sets.

77 FR 10725 - Establishment of the Consumer Advisory Board and Solicitation of Nominations for Membership

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-23

...''), the Bureau's primary functions are: 1. Conducting financial education programs; 2. Collecting... the Bureau's functions under the Federal consumer financial protection laws, and which will provide... information relevant to the function of markets for consumer financial products and services to identify risks...

20 CFR 641.856 - What functions and activities constitute administrative costs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

..., including: (i) Accounting, budgeting, financial, and cash management functions; (ii) Procurement and... management, accounting, and payroll systems) including the purchase, systems development, and operating costs of such systems and; (6) Costs of technical assistance, professional organization membership dues...

20 CFR 641.856 - What functions and activities constitute administrative costs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

..., including: (i) Accounting, budgeting, financial, and cash management functions; (ii) Procurement and... management, accounting, and payroll systems) including the purchase, systems development, and operating costs of such systems and; (6) Costs of technical assistance, professional organization membership dues...

20 CFR 641.856 - What functions and activities constitute administrative costs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

..., including: (i) Accounting, budgeting, financial, and cash management functions; (ii) Procurement and... management, accounting, and payroll systems) including the purchase, systems development, and operating costs of such systems and; (6) Costs of technical assistance, professional organization membership dues...

20 CFR 641.856 - What functions and activities constitute administrative costs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

..., including: (i) Accounting, budgeting, financial, and cash management functions; (ii) Procurement and... management, accounting, and payroll systems) including the purchase, systems development, and operating costs of such systems and; (6) Costs of technical assistance, professional organization membership dues...

Fuzzy Energy and Reserve Co-optimization With High Penetration of Renewable Energy

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

Liu, Cong; Botterud, Audun; Zhou, Zhi

In this study, we propose a fuzzy-based energy and reserve co-optimization model with consideration of high penetration of renewable energy. Under the assumption of a fixed uncertainty set of renewables, a two-stage robust model is proposed for clearing energy and reserves in the first stage and checking the feasibility and robustness of re-dispatches in the second stage. Fuzzy sets and their membership functions are introduced into the optimization model to represent the satisfaction degree of the variable uncertainty sets. The lower bound of the uncertainty set is expressed as fuzzy membership functions. The solutions are obtained by transforming the fuzzymore » mathematical programming formulation into traditional mixed integer linear programming problems.« less

Tuning fuzzy PD and PI controllers using reinforcement learning.

PubMed

Boubertakh, Hamid; Tadjine, Mohamed; Glorennec, Pierre-Yves; Labiod, Salim

2010-10-01

In this paper, we propose a new auto-tuning fuzzy PD and PI controllers using reinforcement Q-learning (QL) algorithm for SISO (single-input single-output) and TITO (two-input two-output) systems. We first, investigate the design parameters and settings of a typical class of Fuzzy PD (FPD) and Fuzzy PI (FPI) controllers: zero-order Takagi-Sugeno controllers with equidistant triangular membership functions for inputs, equidistant singleton membership functions for output, Larsen's implication method, and average sum defuzzification method. Secondly, the analytical structures of these typical fuzzy PD and PI controllers are compared to their classical counterpart PD and PI controllers. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is proven through simulation examples. Copyright © 2010 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fuzzy Energy and Reserve Co-optimization With High Penetration of Renewable Energy

DOE PAGES

Liu, Cong; Botterud, Audun; Zhou, Zhi; ...

2016-10-21

In this study, we propose a fuzzy-based energy and reserve co-optimization model with consideration of high penetration of renewable energy. Under the assumption of a fixed uncertainty set of renewables, a two-stage robust model is proposed for clearing energy and reserves in the first stage and checking the feasibility and robustness of re-dispatches in the second stage. Fuzzy sets and their membership functions are introduced into the optimization model to represent the satisfaction degree of the variable uncertainty sets. The lower bound of the uncertainty set is expressed as fuzzy membership functions. The solutions are obtained by transforming the fuzzymore » mathematical programming formulation into traditional mixed integer linear programming problems.« less

Use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Generic-30 Set for the characterization of outpatients: Italian Society of Physical and Rehabilitative Medicine Residents Section Project.

PubMed

Gimigliano, Francesca; De Sire, Alessandro; Gastaldo, Marco; Maghini, Irene; Paoletta, Marco; Pasquini, Andrea; Boldrini, Paolo; Selb, Melissa; Prodinger, Birgit

2018-06-11

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Generic- 30 Set (previously referred to as Rehabilitation Set) is a minimal set of ICF categories for reporting and assessing functioning and disability in clinical populations with different health conditions along the continuum of care. Recently, the Italian Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (SIMFER) developed an Italian modification of the simple and intuitive descriptions (SID) of these categories. This study was the first one to implement the use of the SID in practice. 1) To implement the use of the ICF in clinical practice and research among Italian Residents in PRM. 2) To verify if the SID made the application of ICF Generic 30 Set more user-friendly than the original descriptions. 3) To examine the prevalence of functioning problems of patients accessing Rehabilitation Services to serve as reference for the development of an ICF-based clinical data collection tool. Multicenter cross-sectional study. Italian Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PRM) outpatient rehabilitation services. Patients referring to Italian PRM outpatient rehabilitation services and Italian Residents in PRM. Each School of Specialization involved, randomly, received the ICF Generic-30 Set with the original descriptions or with the SID. Residents collected over a 4-month period (April-July 2016) patients data related to the ICF Generic-30 Set categories. Moreover, the residents self- assessed their difficulty in using the ICF Generic-30 Set with the original descriptions or with the SID, through a Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). Ninety-three residents collected functioning data of 864 patients (mean aged 57.7±19.3) with ICF Generic-30 Set: 304 with the original descriptions and 560 with SID. The difficulty in using the ICF Generic-30 Set with SID was rated as lower than using the original descriptions (NRS = 2.8±2.5 vs 3.5±3.1; p<0.001). The most common disease was the back pain (9.6%) and the most common altered ICF categories were b280 (76.3%) and b710 (72.9%). This multicenter cross-sectional study shown that the ICF Generic-30 Set is a valuable instrument for reporting and assessing functioning and disability in clinical populations with different health conditions and along the continuum of care and that SID facilitate the understanding of the ICF categories and therefore their use in clinical practice. This National survey, improving the knowledge of ICF among Italian PRM residents, represents an important step towards the system-wide implementation of ICF in the healthcare system.

Association between School Membership and Substance Use among Adolescents.

PubMed

Gaete, Jorge; Rojas, Graciela; Fritsch, Rosemarie; Araya, Ricardo

2018-01-01

Substance use among adolescents is a major problem worldwide, producing many health and economic consequences. Even though there are well-known personal, familial, and social factors associated with drug use, less is known about the effect of school-related factors. School membership is a recognized variable affecting academic performance among students; however, its effect on substance use is less understood. The primary aim of this study was to explore the association between school membership and cigarette, alcohol, and cannabis use among a representative sample of secondary students from municipal state-funded schools in Santiago of Chile, and secondly, to test the hypothesis that depressive or anxiety symptoms mediate this association. A total of 2,508 students from 22 state-funded schools in Santiago, Chile, answered a questionnaire. This instrument included an abbreviated version of the psychological sense of school membership (PSSM), questions regarding the use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis and scales of psychological functioning (depression, anxiety, self-concept, and problem-solving). The association analyses were performed using adjusted regression models for each outcome using all independent variables while controlling for gender and age. For the mediation effect, a combination of ordinary least square and logistic regression analyses was conducted. There was an association between a strong PSSM and low risk for smoking (OR 0.57; 95% CI 0.46-0.72), drinking (0.65; 95% CI: 0.51-0.83), and cannabis use (0.52; 95% CI 0.37-0.74). We also found that depressive and anxiety symptoms do not fully mediate the association between school membership and any substance use, and 73% of this effect in the case of smoking, 80% in the case of drinking, and 78.5% in the case of cannabis use, was direct. This is the first study in Latin America exploring the association between school membership and substance use among secondary students. School membership seems to be an important and independent factor to be included in preventive interventions. Therefore, these results support future research aiming to test interventions at increasing the sense of school membership to prevent substance use among adolescents. ISRCTN19466209. Retrospectively registered.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Proper motions of PM2000 open clusters (Krone-Martins+, 2010)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krone-Martins, A.; Soubiran, C.; Ducourant, C.; Teixeira, R.; Le Campion, J. F.

2010-04-01

We present lists of proper-motions and kinematic membership probabilities in the region of 49 open clusters or possible open clusters. The stellar proper motions were taken from the Bordeaux PM2000 catalogue. The segregation between cluster and field stars and the assignment of membership probabilities was accomplished by applying a fully automated method based on parametrisations for the probability distribution functions and genetic algorithm optimisation heuristics associated with a derivative-based hill climbing algorithm for the likelihood optimization. (3 data files).

The impact of conversion from prograf to generic tacrolimus in liver and kidney transplant recipients with stable graft function.

PubMed

Momper, J D; Ridenour, T A; Schonder, K S; Shapiro, R; Humar, A; Venkataramanan, R

2011-09-01

Bioequivalence of the recently available generic tacrolimus formulation, manufactured by Sandoz, to the reference product (Prograf; Astellas Pharma, Tokyo, Japan) has been demonstrated in healthy subjects. However, the safety and efficacy of substitution with generic tacrolimus in transplant patients have not been evaluated. Tacrolimus trough concentrations and indices of liver and kidney function were recorded before and after generic substitution in 48 liver and 55 kidney transplant recipients. In liver transplant patients, the mean tacrolimus concentration/dose (C/D) ratio (± SD) was 184.1 (± 123.2) ([ng/mL]/[mg/kg/day]) for the reference product and 154.7 (± 87.8) ([ng/mL]/[mg/kg/day]) for the generic product (p < 0.05). The mean C/D-ratios in kidney transplant patients were 125.3 (± 92.7) and 110.4 (± 79.2) ([ng/mL]/[mg/kg/day]) for the reference and generic products, respectively (p < 0.05). Actual trough concentrations declined by an average of 1.98 ng/mL in liver and 0.87 ng/mL in kidney transplant patients following the switch, after accounting for all significant covariates. No change was observed in biochemical indices of liver or kidney function and no cases of acute rejection occurred following the substitution. These results suggest that transplant patients currently taking the reference tacrolimus formulation may be safely switched to the Sandoz-generic product provided trough concentrations are closely monitored following the substitution. © 2011 The Authors Journal compilation © 2011 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

Mathematical solution of multilevel fractional programming problem with fuzzy goal programming approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lachhwani, Kailash; Poonia, Mahaveer Prasad

2012-08-01

In this paper, we show a procedure for solving multilevel fractional programming problems in a large hierarchical decentralized organization using fuzzy goal programming approach. In the proposed method, the tolerance membership functions for the fuzzily described numerator and denominator part of the objective functions of all levels as well as the control vectors of the higher level decision makers are respectively defined by determining individual optimal solutions of each of the level decision makers. A possible relaxation of the higher level decision is considered for avoiding decision deadlock due to the conflicting nature of objective functions. Then, fuzzy goal programming approach is used for achieving the highest degree of each of the membership goal by minimizing negative deviational variables. We also provide sensitivity analysis with variation of tolerance values on decision vectors to show how the solution is sensitive to the change of tolerance values with the help of a numerical example.

FPGA implementation of neuro-fuzzy system with improved PSO learning.

PubMed

Karakuzu, Cihan; Karakaya, Fuat; Çavuşlu, Mehmet Ali

2016-07-01

This paper presents the first hardware implementation of neuro-fuzzy system (NFS) with its metaheuristic learning ability on field programmable gate array (FPGA). Metaheuristic learning of NFS for all of its parameters is accomplished by using the improved particle swarm optimization (iPSO). As a second novelty, a new functional approach, which does not require any memory and multiplier usage, is proposed for the Gaussian membership functions of NFS. NFS and its learning using iPSO are implemented on Xilinx Virtex5 xc5vlx110-3ff1153 and efficiency of the proposed implementation tested on two dynamic system identification problems and licence plate detection problem as a practical application. Results indicate that proposed NFS implementation and membership function approximation is as effective as the other approaches available in the literature but requires less hardware resources. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

77 FR 40261 - The Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) Bylaws, Rules, and Appeal Procedures

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-09

... in order to fulfill the Panel's functions. (d) Member vacancies. Vacancies among the primary members... (Article I). 2003.2 Authority (Article II). 2003.3 Functions (Article III). 2003.4 Membership (Article IV... section 3.5 of the Order. 2003.14 Dissemination of ISCAP decisions. 2003.15 Additional functions...

Vitiligo

MedlinePlus

... of Giving Governance By-Laws Committees Committee Service Conflict of Interest Policy Meeting Minutes Archive History Mission Statement Membership AOCD Membership Life Membership Membership Applications and Renewals Membership Benefits Fellows ...

Application of fuzzy set theory for integral assessment of agricultural products quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Derkanosova, N. M.; Ponomareva, I. N.; Shurshikova, G. V.; Vasilenko, O. A.

2018-05-01

The methodology of integrated assessment of quality and safety of agricultural products, approbated by the example of indicators of wheat grain in relation to the provision of consumer properties of bakery products, was developed. Determination of the level of quality of the raw ingredients will allow direct using of agricultural raw materials for food production, taking into account ongoing technology, types of products, and, respectively, rational use of resource potential of the agricultural sector. The mathematical tool of the proposed method is a fuzzy set theory. The fuzzy classifier to evaluate the properties of the grain is formed. The set of six indicators normalized by the national standard is determined; values are ordered and represented by linguistic variables with a trapeziform membership function; the rules for calculation of membership functions are presented. Specific criteria values for individual indicators in shaping the quality of the finished products are considered. For one of the samples of wheat grain values of membership; functions of the linguistic variable "level" for all indicators and the linguistic variable "level of quality" were calculated. It is established that the studied sample of grain obtains the 2 (average) level of quality. Accordingly, it can be recommended for the production of bakery products with higher requirements for the structural-mechanical properties bakery and puff pastry products hearth bread and flour confectionery products of the group of hard dough cookies and crackers

Dermatomyositis (DM)

MedlinePlus

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Dermatology Procedures

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Pityriasis Alba

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Bullous Pemphigoid

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Dermatitis Herpetiformis

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Subungual Hematoma

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Erythema Nodosum

MedlinePlus

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The Generic Data Capture Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Connell, Edward B.; Barnes, William P.; Stallings, William H.

1987-01-01

The Generic Data Capture Facility, which can provide data capture support for a variety of different types of spacecraft while enabling operations costs to be carefully controlled, is discussed. The data capture functions, data protection, isolation of users from data acquisition problems, data reconstruction, and quality and accounting are addressed. The TDM and packet data formats utilized by the system are described, and the development of generic facilities is considered.

12 CFR 323.6 - Professional association membership; competency.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional association membership; competency... OF GENERAL POLICY APPRAISALS § 323.6 Professional association membership; competency. (a) Membership... membership or lack of membership in any particular appraisal organization. (b) Competency. All staff and fee...

Intersubjective decision-making for computer-aided forging technology design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanyukov, S. I.; Konovalov, A. V.; Muizemnek, O. Yu.

2017-12-01

We propose a concept of intersubjective decision-making for problems of open-die forging technology design. The intersubjective decisions are chosen from a set of feasible decisions using the fundamentals of the decision-making theory in fuzzy environment according to the Bellman-Zadeh scheme. We consider the formalization of subjective goals and the choice of membership functions for the decisions depending on subjective goals. We study the arrangement of these functions into an intersubjective membership function. The function is constructed for a resulting decision, which is chosen from a set of feasible decisions. The choice of the final intersubjective decision is discussed. All the issues are exemplified by a specific technological problem. The considered concept of solving technological problems under conditions of fuzzy goals allows one to choose the most efficient decisions from a set of feasible ones. These decisions correspond to the stated goals. The concept allows one to reduce human participation in automated design. This concept can be used to develop algorithms and design programs for forging numerous types of forged parts.

Progressive Pigmentary Purpura

MedlinePlus

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Discoid Lupus Erythematosus

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Fungus Infections: Preventing Recurrence

MedlinePlus

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Female Pattern Hair Loss

MedlinePlus

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Keloids and Hypertrophic Scars

MedlinePlus

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Long-term consequences of membership in trajectory groups of delinquent behavior in an urban sample: violence, drug use, interpersonal, and neighborhood attributes.

PubMed

Brook, Judith S; Lee, Jung Yeon; Finch, Stephen J; Brown, Elaine N; Brook, David W

2013-01-01

Research on stability and change in delinquent behavior over time has important implications for both the individual and the criminal justice system. The present research looks at this issue by examining the associations between the trajectories of delinquent behavior in adolescence and adult functioning. Data for the present study are from a four-wave longitudinal study of African American and Hispanic participants. Participants provided information at mean ages 14, 19, 24, and 29. We used growth mixture modeling to extract trajectory groups of delinquent behavior in adolescence and young adulthood. Regression analyses were conducted to examine whether memberships in the trajectory groups of delinquent behavior from mean age 14 to mean age 24 were associated with violence, substance abuse and dependence, partner discord, peer substance use, and residence in a high-crime neighborhood at mean age 29 when compared with the reference trajectory group of participants with low or no delinquent behavior. Four trajectory groups of delinquent behavior were identified: the no/low, the decreasing, the moderate, and the high persistent trajectory groups. Memberships in the trajectory groups were significantly correlated with variations in adult functioning. Memberships in some trajectory groups of delinquent behavior are significant predictors of later violent behavior, substance abuse and dependence, partner discord, peer substance use, and residence in a high-crime neighborhood. The findings reinforce the importance of investing in interventions to address different patterns of delinquent behavior. Findings are discussed in relation to previous investigations with non-Hispanic White samples. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Generic expansion of the Jastrow correlation factor in polynomials satisfying symmetry and cusp conditions

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

Lüchow, Arne, E-mail: luechow@rwth-aachen.de; Jülich Aachen Research Alliance; Sturm, Alexander

2015-02-28

Jastrow correlation factors play an important role in quantum Monte Carlo calculations. Together with an orbital based antisymmetric function, they allow the construction of highly accurate correlation wave functions. In this paper, a generic expansion of the Jastrow correlation function in terms of polynomials that satisfy both the electron exchange symmetry constraint and the cusp conditions is presented. In particular, an expansion of the three-body electron-electron-nucleus contribution in terms of cuspless homogeneous symmetric polynomials is proposed. The polynomials can be expressed in fairly arbitrary scaling function allowing a generic implementation of the Jastrow factor. It is demonstrated with a fewmore » examples that the new Jastrow factor achieves 85%–90% of the total correlation energy in a variational quantum Monte Carlo calculation and more than 90% of the diffusion Monte Carlo correlation energy.« less

Mathematical models of the simplest fuzzy PI/PD controllers with skewed input and output fuzzy sets.

PubMed

Mohan, B M; Sinha, Arpita

2008-07-01

This paper unveils mathematical models for fuzzy PI/PD controllers which employ two skewed fuzzy sets for each of the two-input variables and three skewed fuzzy sets for the output variable. The basic constituents of these models are Gamma-type and L-type membership functions for each input, trapezoidal/triangular membership functions for output, intersection/algebraic product triangular norm, maximum/drastic sum triangular conorm, Mamdani minimum/Larsen product/drastic product inference method, and center of sums defuzzification method. The existing simplest fuzzy PI/PD controller structures derived via symmetrical fuzzy sets become special cases of the mathematical models revealed in this paper. Finally, a numerical example along with its simulation results are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the simplest fuzzy PI controllers.

Incomplete fuzzy data processing systems using artificial neural network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patyra, Marek J.

1992-01-01

In this paper, the implementation of a fuzzy data processing system using an artificial neural network (ANN) is discussed. The binary representation of fuzzy data is assumed, where the universe of discourse is decartelized into n equal intervals. The value of a membership function is represented by a binary number. It is proposed that incomplete fuzzy data processing be performed in two stages. The first stage performs the 'retrieval' of incomplete fuzzy data, and the second stage performs the desired operation on the retrieval data. The method of incomplete fuzzy data retrieval is proposed based on the linear approximation of missing values of the membership function. The ANN implementation of the proposed system is presented. The system was computationally verified and showed a relatively small total error.

Endogenous versus exogenous generic reference pricing for pharmaceuticals.

PubMed

Antoñanzas, F; Juárez-Castelló, C A; Rodríguez-Ibeas, R

2017-12-01

In this paper we carry out a vertical differentiation duopoly model applied to pharmaceutical markets to analyze how endogenous and exogenous generic reference pricing influence competition between generic and branded drugs producers. Unlike the literature, we characterize for the exogenous case the equilibrium prices for all feasible relevant reference prices. Competition is enhanced after the introduction of a reference pricing system. We also compare both reference pricing systems on welfare grounds, assuming two different objective functions for health authorities: (i) standard social welfare and (ii) gross consumer surplus net of total pharmaceutical expenditures. We show that regardless of the objective function, health authorities will never choose endogenous reference pricing. When health authorities are paternalistic, the exogenous reference price that maximizes standard social welfare is such that the price of the generic drug is the reference price while the price of the branded drug is higher than the reference price. When health authorities are not paternalistic, the optimal exogenous reference price is such that the price of the branded drug is the reference price while the price of the generic drug is lower than the reference price.

Brain structures in the sciences and humanities.

PubMed

Takeuchi, Hikaru; Taki, Yasuyuki; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Nouchi, Rui; Kotozaki, Yuka; Nakagawa, Seishu; Miyauchi, Carlos Makoto; Iizuka, Kunio; Yokoyama, Ryoichi; Shinada, Takamitsu; Yamamoto, Yuki; Hanawa, Sugiko; Araki, Tsuyoshi; Hashizume, Hiroshi; Sassa, Yuko; Kawashima, Ryuta

2015-11-01

The areas of academic interest (sciences or humanities) and area of study have been known to be associated with a number of factors associated with autistic traits. However, despite the vast amount of literature on the psychological and physiological characteristics associated with faculty membership, brain structural characteristics associated with faculty membership have never been investigated directly. In this study, we used voxel-based morphometry to investigate differences in regional gray matter volume (rGMV)/regional white matter volume (rWMV) between science and humanities students to test our hypotheses that brain structures previously robustly shown to be altered in autistic subjects are related to differences in faculty membership. We examined 312 science students (225 males and 87 females) and 179 humanities students (105 males and 74 females). Whole-brain analyses of covariance revealed that after controlling for age, sex, and total intracranial volume, the science students had significantly larger rGMV in an anatomical cluster around the medial prefrontal cortex and the frontopolar area, whereas the humanities students had significantly larger rWMV in an anatomical cluster mainly concentrated around the right hippocampus. These anatomical structures have been linked to autism in previous studies and may mediate cognitive functions that characterize differences in faculty membership. The present results may support the ideas that autistic traits and characteristics of the science students compared with the humanities students share certain characteristics from neuroimaging perspectives. This study improves our understanding of differences in faculty membership which is the link among cognition, biological factors, disorders, and education (academia).

A Discrete Model for Color Naming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menegaz, G.; Le Troter, A.; Sequeira, J.; Boi, J. M.

2006-12-01

The ability to associate labels to colors is very natural for human beings. Though, this apparently simple task hides very complex and still unsolved problems, spreading over many different disciplines ranging from neurophysiology to psychology and imaging. In this paper, we propose a discrete model for computational color categorization and naming. Starting from the 424 color specimens of the OSA-UCS set, we propose a fuzzy partitioning of the color space. Each of the 11 basic color categories identified by Berlin and Kay is modeled as a fuzzy set whose membership function is implicitly defined by fitting the model to the results of an ad hoc psychophysical experiment (Experiment 1). Each OSA-UCS sample is represented by a feature vector whose components are the memberships to the different categories. The discrete model consists of a three-dimensional Delaunay triangulation of the CIELAB color space which associates each OSA-UCS sample to a vertex of a 3D tetrahedron. Linear interpolation is used to estimate the membership values of any other point in the color space. Model validation is performed both directly, through the comparison of the predicted membership values to the subjective counterparts, as evaluated via another psychophysical test (Experiment 2), and indirectly, through the investigation of its exploitability for image segmentation. The model has proved to be successful in both cases, providing an estimation of the membership values in good agreement with the subjective measures as well as a semantically meaningful color-based segmentation map.

School Self-Concept in Adolescents With Chronic Pain.

PubMed

Logan, Deirdre E; Gray, Laura S; Iversen, Christina N; Kim, Susan

2017-09-01

This study investigated school self-efficacy and sense of school membership (collectively "school self-concept") as potential influences on impaired school function among adolescents with chronic pain, including comparison of adolescents with primary pain to those with disease-based pain and pain-free peers. In all, 264 adolescents (12-17 years old) with primary pain conditions, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, or no pain completed measures of functional disability, school functioning, pain characteristics, and school self-concept, the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for School Situations (SEQ-SS), and Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM). Both the SEQ-SS and PSSM demonstrated reliability and some validity, with the SEQ-SS more strongly supported. As a group, adolescents with primary pain conditions reported poorer school self-concept. School self-efficacy, but not school belongingness, predicted school functioning later in the school year. School self-concept, especially as assessed with the SEQ-SS, is relevant and important to assess when addressing school functioning in youth with chronic pain. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Effect of defuzzification method of fuzzy modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lapohos, Tibor; Buchal, Ralph O.

1994-10-01

Imprecision can arise in fuzzy relational modeling as a result of fuzzification, inference and defuzzification. These three sources of imprecision are difficult to separate. We have determined through numerical studies that an important source of imprecision is the defuzzification stage. This imprecision adversely affects the quality of the model output. The most widely used defuzzification algorithm is known by the name of `center of area' (COA) or `center of gravity' (COG). In this paper, we show that this algorithm not only maps the near limit values of the variables improperly but also introduces errors for middle domain values of the same variables. Furthermore, the behavior of this algorithm is a function of the shape of the reference sets. We compare the COA method to the weighted average of cluster centers (WACC) procedure in which the transformation is carried out based on the values of the cluster centers belonging to each of the reference membership functions instead of using the functions themselves. We show that this procedure is more effective and computationally much faster than the COA. The method is tested for a family of reference sets satisfying certain constraints, that is, for any support value the sum of reference membership function values equals one and the peak values of the two marginal membership functions project to the boundaries of the universe of discourse. For all the member sets of this family of reference sets the defuzzification errors do not get bigger as the linguistic variables tend to their extreme values. In addition, the more reference sets that are defined for a certain linguistic variable, the less the average defuzzification error becomes. In case of triangle shaped reference sets there is no defuzzification error at all. Finally, an alternative solution is provided that improves the performance of the COA method.

Update on ONC's Substellar IMF: A Second Peak in the Brown Dwarf Regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drass, Holger; Bayo, A.; Chini, R.; Haas, M.

2017-06-01

The Orion Nebular Cluster (ONC) has become the prototype cluster for studying the Initial Mass Function (IMF). In a deep JHK survey of the ONC with HAWK-I we detected a large population of 900 Brown Dwarfs and Planetary Mass Object candidates presenting a pronounced second peak in the substellar IMF. One of the most obvious issues of this result is the verification of cluster membership. The analysis so far was mainly based on statistical consideration. In this presentation I will show the results from using different high-resolution extinction map to determine the ONC membership.

Reliability and validity of functional health status and health-related quality of life questionnaires in children with recurrent acute otitis media

PubMed Central

Brouwer, Carole N. M.; Schilder, Anne G. M.; van Stel, Henk F.; Rovers, Maroeska M.; Veenhoven, Reinier H.; Grobbee, Diederick E.; Sanders, Elisabeth A. M.

2007-01-01

In this study the reliability and validity of generic and disease-specific questionnaires has been assessed focusing on responsiveness. This is part of a study on the effects of recurrent acute otitis media (rAOM) on functional health status (FHS) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in 383 children with rAOM participating in a randomized clinical trial. The following generic questionnaires were studied: 1. RAND general health rating index, 2. Functional Status Questionnaire (FSQ Generic and FSQ Specific), 3. TNO-AZL Infant Quality of Life (TAIQOL), and the following disease-specific questionnaires: 1. Otitis Media-6 (OM-6), 2. Numerical rating scales (NRS) for child and caregiver (NRS Child and NRS Caregiver), and 3. a new Family Functioning Questionnaire (FFQ). Reliability was good to excellent (Cronbach’s α range 0.80–0.90, intraclass correlation coefficient range 0.76–0.93). Moderate to strong correlations were found between the questionnaires as well as between questionnaires and relevant clinical indicators (r = 0.29–0.49), demonstrating construct validity. Discriminant validity for children with few versus frequent episodes of acute otitis media per year was good for most questionnaires (P < 0.004) but poor for the otitis media-related subscales of the TAIQOL (P = 0.10–0.97) and both NRS (P = 0.22 and 0.48). Except for the TAIQOL subscales, change scores were significant (P < 0.003) for generic and disease-specific questionnaires. Effect sizes were somewhat higher for disease-specific compared to generic questionnaires (0.55–0.95 versus 0.32–0.60) except for the TAIQOL subscales, which showed very poor sensitivity to change. Anchor-based methods resulted in a somewhat larger range of estimates of MCID than distribution-based methods. Combining distribution-based and anchor-based methods resulted in similar ranges for the minimally clinical important differences for generic and disease-specific questionnaires: 2–15 points on a 0–100 scale. Apart from the generic TAIQOL subscales, both generic and disease-specific questionnaires used in this study showed good psychometric qualities and responsiveness for use in clinical studies on children with rAOM. PMID:17668290

Essential equivalence of the general equation for the nonequilibrium reversible-irreversible coupling (GENERIC) and steepest-entropy-ascent models of dissipation for nonequilibrium thermodynamics.

PubMed

Montefusco, Alberto; Consonni, Francesco; Beretta, Gian Paolo

2015-04-01

By reformulating the steepest-entropy-ascent (SEA) dynamical model for nonequilibrium thermodynamics in the mathematical language of differential geometry, we compare it with the primitive formulation of the general equation for the nonequilibrium reversible-irreversible coupling (GENERIC) model and discuss the main technical differences of the two approaches. In both dynamical models the description of dissipation is of the "entropy-gradient" type. SEA focuses only on the dissipative, i.e., entropy generating, component of the time evolution, chooses a sub-Riemannian metric tensor as dissipative structure, and uses the local entropy density field as potential. GENERIC emphasizes the coupling between the dissipative and nondissipative components of the time evolution, chooses two compatible degenerate structures (Poisson and degenerate co-Riemannian), and uses the global energy and entropy functionals as potentials. As an illustration, we rewrite the known GENERIC formulation of the Boltzmann equation in terms of the square root of the distribution function adopted by the SEA formulation. We then provide a formal proof that in more general frameworks, whenever all degeneracies in the GENERIC framework are related to conservation laws, the SEA and GENERIC models of the dissipative component of the dynamics are essentially interchangeable, provided of course they assume the same kinematics. As part of the discussion, we note that equipping the dissipative structure of GENERIC with the Leibniz identity makes it automatically SEA on metric leaves.

10 CFR 50.54 - Conditions of licenses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... to the licensee's facility; (iii) The use of generic organizational position titles that clearly...; (iv) The use of generic organizational charts to indicate functional relationships, authorities, and... which the licensee is committed; and (vi) Organizational revisions that ensure that persons and...

The efficacy and safety of on-demand Elonza; a generic product of sildenafil in Thai men with erectile dysfunction.

PubMed

Wijitsettakul, Udomsak; Pempongkosol, Sompol

2013-06-01

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Elonza (generic product of sildenafil) 100 mg, a phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitor, in Thai men with erectile dysfunction (ED). This prospective, Cohort study was conducted for eight weeks. Two hundred ten male patients, older than 20 years of age with ED were enrolled to receive generic product of sildenafil 100 mg taken as needed. Efficacy is evaluated through the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) scores for the five separate response domains, erectile function, orgasmic function, sexual desire, intercourse satisfaction, and overall satisfaction domain. After sildenafil administration, erectile function domain scores were significantly increased from baseline, 5.02 (p < 0.001) and 7.19 (p < 0.001) in one month and two months, respectively. Intercourse satisfaction domain scores and overall satisfaction domain scores were significantly increased from baseline, 3.17 (p < 0.001) and 1.74 (p < 0.001) in two months, respectively. Most treatment emergent adverse events were mild or moderate. The most frequent treatment-emergent adverse events were flushing (13.2%), nasal congestion (9.8%), abnormal vision (4.9%), headache (4.4%), dizziness (2.9%), and dyspepsia (0.5%). Elonza, a generic product of sildenafil, was an effective and well-tolerated treatment for ED in Thai men.

12 CFR 722.6 - Professional association membership; competency.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional association membership; competency... CREDIT UNIONS APPRAISALS § 722.6 Professional association membership; competency. (a) Membership in... membership in any particular appraisal organization. (b) Competency. All staff and fee appraisers performing...

12 CFR 564.6 - Professional association membership; competency.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional association membership; competency... APPRAISALS § 564.6 Professional association membership; competency. (a) Membership in appraisal organizations... membership in any particular appraisal organization. (b) Competency. All staff and fee appraisers performing...

26 CFR 1.528-9 - Exempt function income.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... that the source of income be labeled as membership dues, fees, or assessments. What is important is... owner-members rather than in some other capacity such as customers for services. Generally, for the...

American Academy of Pediatrics Guidelines for Infant Bioethics Committees.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

College and University, 1985

1985-01-01

Examples are given of points hospitals must consider when adopting and implementing infant bioethics committees, including committee functions (educational, policy development, and consultative), structure, membership, jurisdiction, recordkeeping, and legal issues. (MSE)

A neural fuzzy controller learning by fuzzy error propagation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nauck, Detlef; Kruse, Rudolf

1992-01-01

In this paper, we describe a procedure to integrate techniques for the adaptation of membership functions in a linguistic variable based fuzzy control environment by using neural network learning principles. This is an extension to our work. We solve this problem by defining a fuzzy error that is propagated back through the architecture of our fuzzy controller. According to this fuzzy error and the strength of its antecedent each fuzzy rule determines its amount of error. Depending on the current state of the controlled system and the control action derived from the conclusion, each rule tunes the membership functions of its antecedent and its conclusion. By this we get an unsupervised learning technique that enables a fuzzy controller to adapt to a control task by knowing just about the global state and the fuzzy error.

Subtypes of sleep problems in patients with Alzheimer disease.

PubMed

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

2014-02-01

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

Profiles of family needs of children and youth with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Almasri, N; Palisano, R J; Dunst, C; Chiarello, L A; O'Neil, M E; Polansky, M

2012-11-01

To identify profiles of family needs of families of children and youth with cerebral palsy (CP), and determine whether profile membership is related to child, family and service characteristics. Participants were mostly mothers (80%) of 579 children and youth with CP. A family member completed modified version of the Family Needs Survey and questionnaires about their child, family and services. Research assistants determined the Gross Motor Function Classification System levels. K-means cluster analysis identified profiles of needs. Cluster membership was analysed to examine differences in clusters based on selected characteristics. Four profiles of needs were identified: Low needs, Needs related to community and financial resources, Needs related to child health condition and High needs. Profile membership was differentiated based on child/youth gross motor function, adaptive behaviour, family relationships, family income, access and effort to co-ordinate services. Despite heterogeneity among individuals with CP and their families, four profiles of family needs were identified. In total, 51% of families had low needs suggesting that they are effectively managing their children's health conditions while 11% of families had high needs that may require high levels of services and supports. Service providers are encouraged to partner with families, provide anticipatory guidance and co-ordinate services. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

12 CFR 34.46 - Professional association membership; competency.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional association membership; competency... ESTATE LENDING AND APPRAISALS Appraisals § 34.46 Professional association membership; competency. (a... membership or lack of membership in any particular appraisal organization. (b) Competency. All staff and fee...

Efficacy of generic allometric equations for estimating biomass: a test in Japanese natural forests.

PubMed

Ishihara, Masae I; Utsugi, Hajime; Tanouchi, Hiroyuki; Aiba, Masahiro; Kurokawa, Hiroko; Onoda, Yusuke; Nagano, Masahiro; Umehara, Toru; Ando, Makoto; Miyata, Rie; Hiura, Tsutom

2015-07-01

Accurate estimation of tree and forest biomass is key to evaluating forest ecosystem functions and the global carbon cycle. Allometric equations that estimate tree biomass from a set of predictors, such as stem diameter and tree height, are commonly used. Most allometric equations are site specific, usually developed from a small number of trees harvested in a small area, and are either species specific or ignore interspecific differences in allometry. Due to lack of site-specific allometries, local equations are often applied to sites for which they were not originally developed (foreign sites), sometimes leading to large errors in biomass estimates. In this study, we developed generic allometric equations for aboveground biomass and component (stem, branch, leaf, and root) biomass using large, compiled data sets of 1203 harvested trees belonging to 102 species (60 deciduous angiosperm, 32 evergreen angiosperm, and 10 evergreen gymnosperm species) from 70 boreal, temperate, and subtropical natural forests in Japan. The best generic equations provided better biomass estimates than did local equations that were applied to foreign sites. The best generic equations included explanatory variables that represent interspecific differences in allometry in addition to stem diameter, reducing error by 4-12% compared to the generic equations that did not include the interspecific difference. Different explanatory variables were selected for different components. For aboveground and stem biomass, the best generic equations had species-specific wood specific gravity as an explanatory variable. For branch, leaf, and root biomass, the best equations had functional types (deciduous angiosperm, evergreen angiosperm, and evergreen gymnosperm) instead of functional traits (wood specific gravity or leaf mass per area), suggesting importance of other traits in addition to these traits, such as canopy and root architecture. Inclusion of tree height in addition to stem diameter improved the performance of the generic equation only for stem biomass and had no apparent effect on aboveground, branch, leaf, and root biomass at the site level. The development of a generic allometric equation taking account of interspecific differences is an effective approach for accurately estimating aboveground and component biomass in boreal, temperate, and subtropical natural forests.

Differential Item Functioning Analysis of the Mental, Emotional, and Bodily Toughness Inventory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gao, Yong; Mack, Mick G.; Ragan, Moira A.; Ragan, Brian

2012-01-01

In this study the authors used differential item functioning analysis to examine if there were items in the Mental, Emotional, and Bodily Toughness Inventory functioning differently across gender and athletic membership. A total of 444 male (56.3%) and female (43.7%) participants (30.9% athletes and 69.1% non-athletes) responded to the Mental,…

When Is Group Membership Zero-Sum? Effects of Ethnicity, Threat, and Social Identity on Dual National Identity.

PubMed

Smithson, Michael; Sopeña, Arthur; Platow, Michael J

2015-01-01

This paper presents an investigation into marginalizing racism, a form of prejudice whereby ingroup members claim that specific individuals belong to their group, but also exclude them by not granting them all of the privileges of a full ingroup member. One manifestation of this is that perceived degree of outgroup membership will covary negatively with degree of ingroup membership. That is, group membership may be treated as a zero-sum quantity (e.g., one cannot be both Australian and Iraqi). Study 1 demonstrated that judges allocate more zero-sum membership assignments and lower combined membership in their country of origin and their adopted country to high-threat migrants than low-threat migrants. Study 2 identified a subtle type of zero-sum reasoning which holds that stronger degree of membership in one's original nationality constrains membership in a new nationality to a greater extent than stronger membership in the new nationality constrains membership in one's original nationality. This pattern is quite general, being replicated in large samples from four nations (USA, UK, India, and China). Taken together, these studies suggest that marginalizing racism is more than a belief that people retain a "stain" from membership in their original group. Marginalizing racism also manifests itself as conditional zero-sum beliefs about multiple group memberships.

Multiple Group Membership and Well-Being: Is There Always Strength in Numbers?

PubMed Central

Sønderlund, Anders L.; Morton, Thomas A.; Ryan, Michelle K.

2017-01-01

A growing body of research points to the value of multiple group memberships for individual well-being. However, much of this work considers group memberships very broadly and in terms of number alone. We conducted two correlational studies exploring how the relationship between multiple group membership and well-being is shaped by (a) the complexity of those groups within the overall self-concept (i.e., social identity complexity: SIC), and (b) the perceived value and visibility of individual group memberships to others (i.e., stigma). Study 1 (N = 112) found a positive relationship between multiple group membership and well-being, but only for individuals high in SIC. This effect was mediated by perceived identity expression and access to social support. Study 2 (N = 104) also found that multiple group memberships indirectly contributed to well-being via perceived identity expression and social support, as well as identity compatibility and perceived social inclusion. But, in this study the relationship between multiple group memberships and well-being outcomes was moderated by the perceived value and visibility of group memberships to others. Specifically, possessing multiple, devalued and visible group memberships compromised well-being relative to multiple valued group memberships, or devalued group memberships that were invisible. Together, these studies suggest that the benefits of multiple group membership depend on factors beyond their number. Specifically, the features of group memberships, individually and in combination, and the way in which these guide self-expression and social action, determine whether these are a benefit or burden for individual well-being. PMID:28680414

VOMS/VOMRS utilization patterns and convergence plan

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

Ceccanti, A.; /INFN, CNAF; Ciaschini, V.

2010-01-01

The Grid community uses two well-established registration services, which allow users to be authenticated under the auspices of Virtual Organizations (VOs). The Virtual Organization Membership Service (VOMS), developed in the context of the Enabling Grid for E-sciencE (EGEE) project, is an Attribute Authority service that issues attributes expressing membership information of a subject within a VO. VOMS allows to partition users in groups, assign them roles and free-form attributes which are then used to drive authorization decisions. The VOMS administrative application, VOMS-Admin, manages and populates the VOMS database with membership information. The Virtual Organization Management Registration Service (VOMRS), developed atmore » Fermilab, extends the basic registration and management functionalities present in VOMS-Admin. It implements a registration workflow that requires VO usage policy acceptance and membership approval by administrators. VOMRS supports management of multiple grid certificates, and handling users' request for group and role assignments, and membership status. VOMRS is capable of interfacing to local systems with personnel information (e.g. the CERN Human Resource Database) and of pulling relevant member information from them. VOMRS synchronizes the relevant subset of information with VOMS. The recent development of new features in VOMS-Admin raises the possibility of rationalizing the support and converging on a single solution by continuing and extending existing collaborations between EGEE and OSG. Such strategy is supported by WLCG, OSG, US CMS, US Atlas, and other stakeholders worldwide. In this paper, we will analyze features in use by major experiments and the use cases for registration addressed by the mature single solution.« less

VOMS/VOMRS utilization patterns and convergence plan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ceccanti, A.; Ciaschini, V.; Dimou, M.; Garzoglio, G.; Levshina, T.; Traylen, S.; Venturi, V.

2010-04-01

The Grid community uses two well-established registration services, which allow users to be authenticated under the auspices of Virtual Organizations (VOs). The Virtual Organization Membership Service (VOMS), developed in the context of the Enabling Grid for E-sciencE (EGEE) project, is an Attribute Authority service that issues attributes expressing membership information of a subject within a VO. VOMS allows to partition users in groups, assign them roles and free-form attributes which are then used to drive authorization decisions. The VOMS administrative application, VOMS-Admin, manages and populates the VOMS database with membership information. The Virtual Organization Management Registration Service (VOMRS), developed at Fermilab, extends the basic registration and management functionalities present in VOMS-Admin. It implements a registration workflow that requires VO usage policy acceptance and membership approval by administrators. VOMRS supports management of multiple grid certificates, and handling users' request for group and role assignments, and membership status. VOMRS is capable of interfacing to local systems with personnel information (e.g. the CERN Human Resource Database) and of pulling relevant member information from them. VOMRS synchronizes the relevant subset of information with VOMS. The recent development of new features in VOMS-Admin raises the possibility of rationalizing the support and converging on a single solution by continuing and extending existing collaborations between EGEE and OSG. Such strategy is supported by WLCG, OSG, US CMS, US Atlas, and other stakeholders worldwide. In this paper, we will analyze features in use by major experiments and the use cases for registration addressed by the mature single solution.

Big Bang Bifurcation Analysis and Allee Effect in Generic Growth Functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leonel Rocha, J.; Taha, Abdel-Kaddous; Fournier-Prunaret, D.

2016-06-01

The main purpose of this work is to study the dynamics and bifurcation properties of generic growth functions, which are defined by the population size functions of the generic growth equation. This family of unimodal maps naturally incorporates a principal focus of ecological and biological research: the Allee effect. The analysis of this kind of extinction phenomenon allows to identify a class of Allee’s functions and characterize the corresponding Allee’s effect region and Allee’s bifurcation curve. The bifurcation analysis is founded on the performance of fold and flip bifurcations. The dynamical behavior is rich with abundant complex bifurcation structures, the big bang bifurcations of the so-called “box-within-a-box” fractal type being the most outstanding. Moreover, these bifurcation cascades converge to different big bang bifurcation curves with distinct kinds of boxes, where for the corresponding parameter values several attractors are associated. To the best of our knowledge, these results represent an original contribution to clarify the big bang bifurcation analysis of continuous 1D maps.

Factors involved in making post-performance judgments in mathematics problem-solving.

PubMed

García Fernández, Trinidad; Kroesbergen, Evelyn; Rodríguez Pérez, Celestino; González-Castro, Paloma; González-Pienda, Julio A

2015-01-01

This study examines the impact of executive functions, affective-motivational variables related to mathematics, mathematics achievement and task characteristics on fifth and sixth graders’ calibration accuracy after completing two mathematical problems. A sample of 188 students took part in the study. They were divided into two groups as function of their judgment accuracy after completing the two tasks (accurate= 79, inaccurate= 109). Differences between these groups were examined. The discriminative value of these variables to predict group membership was analyzed, as well as the effect of age, gender, and grade level. The results indicated that accurate students showed better levels of executive functioning, and more positive feelings, beliefs, and motivation related to mathematics. They also spent more time on the tasks. Mathematics achievement, perceived usefulness of mathematics, and time spent on Task 1 significantly predicted group membership, classifying 71.3% of the sample correctly. These results support the relationship between academic achievement and calibration accuracy, suggesting the need to consider a wide range of factors when explaining performance judgments.

Best quadrature formula on Sobolev class with Chebyshev weight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Congcong

2008-05-01

Using best interpolation function based on a given function information, we present a best quadrature rule of function on Sobolev class KWr[-1,1] with Chebyshev weight. The given function information means that the values of a function f[set membership, variant]KWr[-1,1] and its derivatives up to r-1 order at a set of nodes x are given. Error bounds are obtained, and the method is illustrated by some examples.

Conceptual influences on category-based induction

PubMed Central

Gelman, Susan A.; Davidson, Natalie S.

2013-01-01

One important function of categories is to permit rich inductive inferences. Prior work shows that children use category labels to guide their inductive inferences. However, there are competing theories to explain this phenomenon, differing in the roles attributed to conceptual information versus perceptual similarity. Seven experiments with 4- to 5-year-old children and adults (N = 344) test these theories by teaching categories for which category membership and perceptual similarity are in conflict, and varying the conceptual basis of the novel categories. Results indicate that for non-natural kind categories that have little conceptual coherence, children make inferences based on perceptual similarity, whereas adults make inferences based on category membership. In contrast, for basic- and ontological-level categories that have a principled conceptual basis, children and adults alike make use of category membership more than perceptual similarity as the basis of their inferences. These findings provide evidence in favor of the role of conceptual information in preschoolers’ inferences, and further demonstrate that labeled categories are not all equivalent; they differ in their inductive potential. PMID:23517863

Dendritic growth model of multilevel marketing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pang, James Christopher S.; Monterola, Christopher P.

2017-02-01

Biologically inspired dendritic network growth is utilized to model the evolving connections of a multilevel marketing (MLM) enterprise. Starting from agents at random spatial locations, a network is formed by minimizing a distance cost function controlled by a parameter, termed the balancing factor bf, that weighs the wiring and the path length costs of connection. The paradigm is compared to an actual MLM membership data and is shown to be successful in statistically capturing the membership distribution, better than the previously reported agent based preferential attachment or analytic branching process models. Moreover, it recovers the known empirical statistics of previously studied MLM, specifically: (i) a membership distribution characterized by the existence of peak levels indicating limited growth, and (ii) an income distribution obeying the 80 - 20 Pareto principle. Extensive types of income distributions from uniform to Pareto to a "winner-take-all" kind are also modeled by varying bf. Finally, the robustness of our dendritic growth paradigm to random agent removals is explored and its implications to MLM income distributions are discussed.

Kinematical Focus on NGC 7086

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tadross, A. L.

2005-12-01

The main physical parameters; the cluster center, distance, radius, age, reddening, and visual absorbtion; have been re-estimated and improved for the open cluster NGC 7086. The metal abundance, galactic distances, membership richness, luminosity function, mass function, and the total mass of NGC 7086 have been examined for the first time here using Monet et al. (2003) catalog.

Investigating the cognitive structure of stereotypes: Generic beliefs about groups predict social judgments better than statistical beliefs.

PubMed

Hammond, Matthew D; Cimpian, Andrei

2017-05-01

Stereotypes are typically defined as beliefs about groups, but this definition is underspecified. Beliefs about groups can be generic or statistical. Generic beliefs attribute features to entire groups (e.g., men are strong), whereas statistical beliefs encode the perceived prevalence of features (e.g., how common it is for men to be strong). In the present research, we sought to determine which beliefs-generic or statistical-are more central to the cognitive structure of stereotypes. Specifically, we tested whether generic or statistical beliefs are more influential in people's social judgments, on the assumption that greater functional importance indicates greater centrality in stereotype structure. Relative to statistical beliefs, generic beliefs about social groups were significantly stronger predictors of expectations (Studies 1-3) and explanations (Study 4) for unfamiliar individuals' traits. In addition, consistent with prior evidence that generic beliefs are cognitively simpler than statistical beliefs, generic beliefs were particularly predictive of social judgments for participants with more intuitive (vs. analytic) cognitive styles and for participants higher (vs. lower) in authoritarianism, who tend to view outgroups in simplistic, all-or-none terms. The present studies suggest that generic beliefs about groups are more central than statistical beliefs to the cognitive structure of stereotypes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

10 CFR 63.144 - Quality assurance program change.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... assurance program at the time of the change; (2) The use of generic organizational position titles that... titles; (3) The use of generic organizational charts to indicate functional relationships, authorities... assurance standards to which the licensee is committed; and (5) Organizational revisions that ensure that...

When Is Group Membership Zero-Sum? Effects of Ethnicity, Threat, and Social Identity on Dual National Identity

PubMed Central

Smithson, Michael; Sopeña, Arthur; Platow, Michael J.

2015-01-01

This paper presents an investigation into marginalizing racism, a form of prejudice whereby ingroup members claim that specific individuals belong to their group, but also exclude them by not granting them all of the privileges of a full ingroup member. One manifestation of this is that perceived degree of outgroup membership will covary negatively with degree of ingroup membership. That is, group membership may be treated as a zero-sum quantity (e.g., one cannot be both Australian and Iraqi). Study 1 demonstrated that judges allocate more zero-sum membership assignments and lower combined membership in their country of origin and their adopted country to high-threat migrants than low-threat migrants. Study 2 identified a subtle type of zero-sum reasoning which holds that stronger degree of membership in one’s original nationality constrains membership in a new nationality to a greater extent than stronger membership in the new nationality constrains membership in one’s original nationality. This pattern is quite general, being replicated in large samples from four nations (USA, UK, India, and China). Taken together, these studies suggest that marginalizing racism is more than a belief that people retain a “stain” from membership in their original group. Marginalizing racism also manifests itself as conditional zero-sum beliefs about multiple group memberships. PMID:26098735

Membership and Dynamical Parameters of the Open Cluster NGC 1039

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jiaxin; Ma, Jun; Wu, Zhenyu; Zhou, Xu

2017-11-01

In this paper, we analyze the open cluster NGC 1039. This young open cluster is observed as a part of Beijing-Arizona-Taiwan-Connecticut Multicolor Sky Survey. Combining our observations with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometric data, we employ the Padova stellar model and the zero-age main-sequence curve to the data to derive a reddening, E(B-V)=0.10+/- 0.02, and a distance modulus, {(m-M)}0=8.4+/- 0.2, for NGC 1039. The photometric membership probabilities of stars in the region of NGC 1039 are derived using the spectral energy distribution-fitting method. According to the membership probabilities ({P}{SED}) obtained here, 582 stars are cluster members with {P}{SED} larger than 60%. In addition, we determine the structural parameters of NGC 1039 by fitting its radial density profile with the King model. These parameters are a core radius, {R}{{c}}=4.44+/- 1.31 {pc}; a tidal radius, {R}{{t}}=13.57+/- 4.85 {pc}; and a concentration parameter of {C}0={log}({R}{{t}}/{R}{{c}})=0.49+/- 0.20. We also fit the observed mass function of NGC 1039 with masses from 0.3 {M}⊙ to 1.65 {M}⊙ with a power-law function {{Φ }}(m)\\propto {m}α to derive its slopes of mass functions of different spatial regions. The results obtained here show that the slope of the mass function of NGC 1039 is flatter in the central regions (α = 0.117), becomes steeper at larger radii (α = -2.878), and breaks at {m}{break}≈ 0.80 {M}⊙ . In particular, for the first time, our results show that the mass segregation appears in NGC 1039.

Advanced ADA Workshop Held in Biloxi, Mississippi on 24-27 January 1989

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-01-27

Software Engineering (Break at 2:30j 6:30-8:00 Keesler AFB Reception Officers’ Club WEDNESDAY - 25 JANIJ1APY 9:00-12:00 Bldc 1002 Generics (Break at 10...TextIO.FileType: -- NO! procedure Wrong; -- problem is FileType is limited private Object Parameters A More Useful Example generic Control -Block : in out... control the precision used Float Type Parameters An Example generic type FloatType is digits <>; function Sqrt(X : FloatType) return FloatType

Generic Surface-to-Air Missile Model.

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-10-01

describes the Generic Surface-to-Air Missile Model (GENSAM) which evaluates the outcome of an engagement between a surface-to-air missile system and an...DETAILS OF THE GENERIC SAM MODEL 3-1 3.1 Coordinate Transformations 3-1 3.1.1 Coordinate Systems 3-1 3.1.2 Coordinate Transformations 3-4 3.1.3 Functions...Tracking Radars 3-54 3.3.11 Deception Jamming and Tracking Radars 3-55 3.3.12 Jaming and Track Radar Downlinks 3-56 3.3.13 Infrared Surveillance Systems 3

45 CFR 1627.4 - Membership fees or dues.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Membership fees or dues. 1627.4 Section 1627.4... AND MEMBERSHIP FEES OR DUES § 1627.4 Membership fees or dues. (a) LSC funds may not be used to pay membership fees or dues to any private or nonprofit organization, whether on behalf of a recipient or an...

Disciplinary Politics and the Institutionalization of the Generic Triad in Classical Rhetoric.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Yameng

1995-01-01

Discusses the concepts of rhetoric in general and specifically the generic triad in classical rhetoric. Outlines contemporary versions of the function and realm of rhetoric. Discusses the clash between Aristotle and Quintilian regarding the triad and its relationship to contemporary debates. (HB)

Having a Lot of a Good Thing: Multiple Important Group Memberships as a Source of Self-Esteem

PubMed Central

Jetten, Jolanda; Branscombe, Nyla R.; Haslam, S. Alexander; Haslam, Catherine; Cruwys, Tegan; Jones, Janelle M.; Cui, Lijuan; Dingle, Genevieve; Liu, James; Murphy, Sean; Thai, Anh; Walter, Zoe; Zhang, Airong

2015-01-01

Membership in important social groups can promote a positive identity. We propose and test an identity resource model in which personal self-esteem is boosted by membership in additional important social groups. Belonging to multiple important group memberships predicts personal self-esteem in children (Study 1a), older adults (Study 1b), and former residents of a homeless shelter (Study 1c). Study 2 shows that the effects of multiple important group memberships on personal self-esteem are not reducible to number of interpersonal ties. Studies 3a and 3b provide longitudinal evidence that multiple important group memberships predict personal self-esteem over time. Studies 4 and 5 show that collective self-esteem mediates this effect, suggesting that membership in multiple important groups boosts personal self-esteem because people take pride in, and derive meaning from, important group memberships. Discussion focuses on when and why important group memberships act as a social resource that fuels personal self-esteem. PMID:26017554

A possibility for standoff bomb detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akar Tarim, U.; Ozmutlu, E. N.; Gurler, O.; Yalcin, S.

2015-01-01

The response functions of backscattered photons, which are initially collimated with an energy of 662 keV, were obtained by a Monte Carlo method in an NaI(Tl) scintillation detector using a suitcase or briefcase full of paper, clothing, ammonium nitrate or other generic explosives, as these can be used for terrorism. The results show that characteristic response functions for ammonium nitrate and generic explosives may be found, and using this information, standoff detection of these materials may be possible.

Religiosity as identity: toward an understanding of religion from a social identity perspective.

PubMed

Ysseldyk, Renate; Matheson, Kimberly; Anisman, Hymie

2010-02-01

As a social identity anchored in a system of guiding beliefs and symbols, religion ought to serve a uniquely powerful function in shaping psychological and social processes. Religious identification offers a distinctive "sacred" worldview and "eternal" group membership, unmatched by identification with other social groups. Thus, religiosity might be explained, at least partially, by the marked cognitive and emotional value that religious group membership provides. The uniqueness of a positive social group, grounded in a belief system that offers epistemological and ontological certainty, lends religious identity a twofold advantage for the promotion of well-being. However, that uniqueness may have equally negative impacts when religious identity itself is threatened through intergroup conflict. Such consequences are illustrated by an examination of identities ranging from religious fundamentalism to atheism. Consideration of religion's dual function as a social identity and a belief system may facilitate greater understanding of the variability in its importance across individuals and groups.

A study of consumers' perceptions and prediction of consumption patterns for generic health functional foods

PubMed Central

Kang, Nam E; Kim, Ju Hyeon; Lee, Yeon Kyoung; Lee, Hye Young

2011-01-01

The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) revised the Health Functional Food Act in 2008 and extended the form of health functional foods to general food types. Therefore, this study was performed to investigate consumers' perceptions of the expanded form of health functional food and to predict consumption patterns. For this study, 1,006 male and female adults aged 19 years and older were selected nationwide by multi-stage stratified random sampling and were surveyed in 1:1 interviews. The questionnaire survey was conducted by Korea Gallup. The subjects consisted of 497 (49.4%) males and 509 (50.6%) females. About 57.9% of the subjects recognized the KFDA's permission procedures for health functional foods. Regarding the health functional foods that the subjects had consumed, red ginseng products were the highest (45.3%), followed by nutritional supplements (34.9%), ginseng products (27.9%), lactobacillus-containing products (21.0%), aloe products (20.3%), and Japanese apricot extract products (18.4%). Opinions on expanding the form of health functional foods to general food types scored 4.7 points on a 7-point scale, showing positive responses. In terms of the effects of medicine-type health functional foods versus generic health functional foods, the highest response was 'same effects if the same ingredients are contained' at a rate of 34.7%. For intake frequency by food type, the response of 'daily consistent intake' was 31.7% for capsules, tablets, and pills, and 21.7% for extracts. For general food types, 'daily consistent intake' was 44.5% for rice and 22.8% for beverages, which were higher rates than those for medicine types. From the above results, consumers had positive opinions of the expansion of health functional foods to generic forms but are not expected to maintain accurate intake frequencies or amounts. Thus, continuous promotion and education are needed for proper intake of generic health functional foods. PMID:21994526

The Fabric for Frontier Experiments Project at Fermilab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirby, Michael

2014-06-01

The FabrIc for Frontier Experiments (FIFE) project is a new, far-reaching initiative within the Fermilab Scientific Computing Division to drive the future of computing services for experiments at FNAL and elsewhere. It is a collaborative effort between computing professionals and experiment scientists to produce an end-to-end, fully integrated set of services for computing on the grid and clouds, managing data, accessing databases, and collaborating within experiments. FIFE includes 1) easy to use job submission services for processing physics tasks on the Open Science Grid and elsewhere; 2) an extensive data management system for managing local and remote caches, cataloging, querying, moving, and tracking the use of data; 3) custom and generic database applications for calibrations, beam information, and other purposes; 4) collaboration tools including an electronic log book, speakers bureau database, and experiment membership database. All of these aspects will be discussed in detail. FIFE sets the direction of computing at Fermilab experiments now and in the future, and therefore is a major driver in the design of computing services worldwide.

Travel Time Estimation Using Freeway Point Detector Data Based on Evolving Fuzzy Neural Inference System.

PubMed

Tang, Jinjun; Zou, Yajie; Ash, John; Zhang, Shen; Liu, Fang; Wang, Yinhai

2016-01-01

Travel time is an important measurement used to evaluate the extent of congestion within road networks. This paper presents a new method to estimate the travel time based on an evolving fuzzy neural inference system. The input variables in the system are traffic flow data (volume, occupancy, and speed) collected from loop detectors located at points both upstream and downstream of a given link, and the output variable is the link travel time. A first order Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy rule set is used to complete the inference. For training the evolving fuzzy neural network (EFNN), two learning processes are proposed: (1) a K-means method is employed to partition input samples into different clusters, and a Gaussian fuzzy membership function is designed for each cluster to measure the membership degree of samples to the cluster centers. As the number of input samples increases, the cluster centers are modified and membership functions are also updated; (2) a weighted recursive least squares estimator is used to optimize the parameters of the linear functions in the Takagi-Sugeno type fuzzy rules. Testing datasets consisting of actual and simulated data are used to test the proposed method. Three common criteria including mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute relative error (MARE) are utilized to evaluate the estimation performance. Estimation results demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the EFNN method through comparison with existing methods including: multiple linear regression (MLR), instantaneous model (IM), linear model (LM), neural network (NN), and cumulative plots (CP).

Travel Time Estimation Using Freeway Point Detector Data Based on Evolving Fuzzy Neural Inference System

PubMed Central

Tang, Jinjun; Zou, Yajie; Ash, John; Zhang, Shen; Liu, Fang; Wang, Yinhai

2016-01-01

Travel time is an important measurement used to evaluate the extent of congestion within road networks. This paper presents a new method to estimate the travel time based on an evolving fuzzy neural inference system. The input variables in the system are traffic flow data (volume, occupancy, and speed) collected from loop detectors located at points both upstream and downstream of a given link, and the output variable is the link travel time. A first order Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy rule set is used to complete the inference. For training the evolving fuzzy neural network (EFNN), two learning processes are proposed: (1) a K-means method is employed to partition input samples into different clusters, and a Gaussian fuzzy membership function is designed for each cluster to measure the membership degree of samples to the cluster centers. As the number of input samples increases, the cluster centers are modified and membership functions are also updated; (2) a weighted recursive least squares estimator is used to optimize the parameters of the linear functions in the Takagi-Sugeno type fuzzy rules. Testing datasets consisting of actual and simulated data are used to test the proposed method. Three common criteria including mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute relative error (MARE) are utilized to evaluate the estimation performance. Estimation results demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the EFNN method through comparison with existing methods including: multiple linear regression (MLR), instantaneous model (IM), linear model (LM), neural network (NN), and cumulative plots (CP). PMID:26829639

How are memory complaints in functional memory disorder related to measures of affect, metamemory and cognition?

PubMed

Metternich, Birgitta; Schmidtke, Klaus; Hüll, Michael

2009-05-01

Memory complaints are a common finding in outpatients, especially in psychosomatic and neurological practice. In a substantial group of patients persistent memory complaints are found in the absence of abnormal neuropsychology. Different labels such as "functional memory complaint" have been suggested for this phenomenon. We characterise a group of patients with such memory complaints, which we termed functional memory disorder (FMD). The aim of the present study is to describe patients with FMD. Thirty-nine patients with FMD were compared to 38 control subjects. Data were collected on the German version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning test and the Zahlenverbindungstest (cognitive speed), subscales of the Metamemory in Adulthood questionnaire (MIA), the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ), the Global Severity Index (GSI) of the Symptom Checklist, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and other psychological questionnaire measures. We found significant group differences on all psychological questionnaire measures, with more pathological scores in the patient group. GSI and PSQ were the best predictors of memory self-efficacy. MIA-Memory Self-Efficacy (MSE), MIA-Achievement, and BDI were the best predictors of group membership (FMD vs. control group). When MSE was excluded, MIA-Achievement and BDI or GSI were the only predictors of group membership. Neuropsychological measures predicted neither MSE nor group membership. Pathological scores on measures of metamemory, stress, and depression are typical of FMD. Low MSE and a high memory-related achievement motivation seem to be key features of FMD. Other important features are increased perceived stress, general psychosomatic complaint, and elevated depression scores. Neuropsychological test performance is not associated with FMD symptoms.

[Intention of purchasing generic prescription drugs on the part of consumers in Asturias, Spain].

PubMed

González Hernando, Santiago; González Mieres, Celina; Díaz Martín, Ana M

2003-01-01

Ascertaining how consumers perceive the risk related to the use of generic prescription drugs and those factors which have the greatest impact on the intention to request a generic drug from the prescribing physician and/or the pharmacist for the purpose of determining any possible barriers or hindrances to the acceptance of generics and to gather information to aid healthcare managers in their decision-making processes. Study on prescription drug use revolving around the degree to which patients are willing to request an EFG. In this quantitative transversal study, a total of 542 individuals were individually surveyed upon exiting a healthcare center or pharmacy in Asturias. A scale for measuring the perceived risk involved in the purchase of a prescription drug including 15 attributes grouped into five aspects was included in the questionnaire. Information was also gathered regarding the intention of using generic prescription drugs and on the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of those surveyed. For the analysis of the results, a factorial confirmational analysis, multiple regression and univariate analysis were used. The data was processed using the EQS and SPSS statistics programs. Mean perception of the risk (scales 1-7): functional: 2.75; physical: 2.68: financial: 2.19; psychological: 1.99; social: 1.42. Factors having a bearing on the intention of requesting generic prescription drugs from their physician: psychological risk (p = 0.000). On requesting the same from their pharmacist: psychological risk (p = 0.000) and social risk (p = 0.020). The agents interested in the development on the EFG market should target their communication efforts on putting the functional and financial aspects of the manufacturer's specialties and generic specialties on the same level, but should not leave out psychological and social aspects of the consumers' purchasing behavior.

Identification and prediction of group-based glycemic control trajectories during the transition to adolescence.

PubMed

Rohan, Jennifer M; Rausch, Joseph R; Pendley, Jennifer Shroff; Delamater, Alan M; Dolan, Lawrence; Reeves, Grafton; Drotar, Dennis

2014-10-01

To identify trajectories of glycemic control over a period of 3 years in a pediatric sample of youth diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes transitioning to adolescence. A second aim was to examine a set of modifiable individual and family level baseline predictors of glycemic control group membership. This multisite, prospective study included 239 children and adolescents (ages 9-11 years at baseline) diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and their caregivers. Glycemic control was based on hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) collected at 6-month intervals over a period of 3 years. Predictors of glycemic control membership included baseline global executive functioning, diabetes self-management, diabetes-specific family conflict, blood glucose monitoring frequency, and relevant individual and family level covariates. Group-based trajectory analyses were used to describe patterns of glycemic control from baseline to 36 months and 3 trajectories were identified: low risk (42.9%), elevated risk (44.6%), and high risk (12.1%) subgroups. Baseline maternal-reported family conflict, blood glucose monitoring frequency, and gender were significant predictors of glycemic control group membership. Higher levels of baseline family conflict, lower frequency of blood glucose monitoring, and female gender were associated with elevated and high-risk group membership. These findings underscore the importance of examining trajectories of HbA1c across time. These results suggest that problematic trajectories of glycemic control are evident during the transition to adolescence. Furthermore, there are modifiable individual and family level characteristics that predict group membership and hence could be targeted in interventions to ensure adequate glycemic control is maintained over time and that risks for diabetes-related complications are reduced.

Identification and Prediction of Group-Based Glycemic Control Trajectories during the Transition to Adolescence

PubMed Central

Rohan, Jennifer M.; Rausch, Joseph R.; Pendley, Jennifer Shroff; Delamater, Alan M.; Dolan, Lawrence; Reeves, Grafton; Drotar, Dennis

2014-01-01

Objective To identify trajectories of glycemic control over a period of three years in a pediatric sample of youth diagnosed with type 1 diabetes transitioning to adolescence. A second aim was to examine a set of modifiable individual and family-level baseline predictors of glycemic control group membership. Methods This multisite, prospective study included 239 children and adolescents (ages 9–11 years at baseline) diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and their caregivers. Glycemic control was based on hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) collected at six month intervals over a period of three years. Predictors of glycemic control membership included baseline global executive functioning, diabetes self-management, diabetes-specific family conflict, blood glucose monitoring frequency, and relevant individual and family level covariates. Results Group-based trajectory analyses were used to describe patterns of glycemic control from baseline to 36 months and three trajectories were identified: low risk (42.9%), elevated risk (44.6%), and high risk (12.1%) subgroups. Baseline maternal-reported family conflict, blood glucose monitoring frequency, and gender were significant predictors of glycemic control group membership. Higher levels of baseline family conflict, lower frequency of blood glucose monitoring, and female gender were associated with elevated and high risk group membership. Conclusions These findings underscore the importance of examining trajectories of HbA1c across time. These results suggest that problematic trajectories of glycemic control are evident during the transition to adolescence. Furthermore, there are modifiable individual and family-level characteristics that predict group membership and hence could be targeted in interventions to ensure adequate glycemic control is maintained over time and that risks for diabetes-related complications are reduced. PMID:24274797

A Systematic Review of Physicians' and Pharmacists' Perspectives on Generic Drug Use: What are the Global Challenges?

PubMed

Toverud, Else-Lydia; Hartmann, Katrin; Håkonsen, Helle

2015-08-01

Generic substitution has been introduced in most countries in order to reduce costs and improve access to drugs. However, regulations and the generic drugs available vary between countries. It is the prescriber or dispenser of the drug who is the final decision maker. Nevertheless, physicians' and pharmacists' perceptions of generic drug use are not well documented to date. This study presents a systematic review of physicians' and pharmacists' perspectives on generic drug use worldwide. A systematic literature search was performed to retrieve all articles published between 2002 and 2012 regarding physicians' and/or pharmacists' experiences with generic drugs and generic substitution. Of 1322 publications initially identified, 24 were eligible for inclusion. Overall, the studies revealed that physicians and pharmacists were aware of the cost-saving function of generic drugs and their role in improving global access to drugs. Nevertheless, marked differences were observed between countries when studying physicians' and pharmacists' perceptions of the available generic drugs. In less mature healthcare systems, large variations regarding, for example, control routines, bioequivalence requirements, and manufacturer standards were reported. A lack of reliable information and mistrust in the efficacy and quality were also mentioned by these participants. In the most developed healthcare systems, the participants trusted the quality of the generic drugs and did not hesitate to offer them to all patients regardless of socioeconomic status. In general, pharmacists seemed to have better knowledge of the concept of bioequivalence and generic drug aspects than physicians. The present study indicates that physicians and pharmacists are aware of the role of generic drugs in the improvement of global access to drugs. However, there are marked differences regarding how these health professionals view the quality of generic drugs depending on the maturity of their country's healthcare system. This can be attributed to the fact that developed healthcare systems have more reliable public control routines for drugs in general as well as better bioequivalence requirements concerning generics in particular.

Gang Membership and Pathways to Maladaptive Parenting

PubMed Central

Augustyn, Megan Bears; Thornberry, Terence P.; Krohn, Marvin D.

2014-01-01

A limited amount of research examines the short-term consequences of gang membership. Rarer, though, is the examination of more distal consequences of gang membership. This is unfortunate because it understates the true detrimental effect of gang membership across the life course, as well as the effects it may have on children of former gang members. Using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study, this work investigates the impact of gang membership in adolescence (ages 12-18) on a particularly problematic style of parenting, child maltreatment. Using discrete time survival analysis, this study finds that gang membership increases the likelihood of child maltreatment and this relationship is mediated by the more proximal outcomes of gang membership during adolescence, precocious transitions to adulthood. PMID:24883000

77 FR 13389 - Art Advisory Panel of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-06

... 2512 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. In order for the Panel to perform this function, Panel... Administration, has also approved renewal of the Panel. The membership of the Panel is balanced between museum...

Predicting Protein-Protein Interaction Sites with a Novel Membership Based Fuzzy SVM Classifier.

PubMed

Sriwastava, Brijesh K; Basu, Subhadip; Maulik, Ujjwal

2015-01-01

Predicting residues that participate in protein-protein interactions (PPI) helps to identify, which amino acids are located at the interface. In this paper, we show that the performance of the classical support vector machine (SVM) algorithm can further be improved with the use of a custom-designed fuzzy membership function, for the partner-specific PPI interface prediction problem. We evaluated the performances of both classical SVM and fuzzy SVM (F-SVM) on the PPI databases of three different model proteomes of Homo sapiens, Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces Cerevisiae and calculated the statistical significance of the developed F-SVM over classical SVM algorithm. We also compared our performance with the available state-of-the-art fuzzy methods in this domain and observed significant performance improvements. To predict interaction sites in protein complexes, local composition of amino acids together with their physico-chemical characteristics are used, where the F-SVM based prediction method exploits the membership function for each pair of sequence fragments. The average F-SVM performance (area under ROC curve) on the test samples in 10-fold cross validation experiment are measured as 77.07, 78.39, and 74.91 percent for the aforementioned organisms respectively. Performances on independent test sets are obtained as 72.09, 73.24 and 82.74 percent respectively. The software is available for free download from http://code.google.com/p/cmater-bioinfo.

Monoamine oxidase A genotype is associated with gang membership and weapon use.

PubMed

Beaver, Kevin M; DeLisi, Matt; Vaughn, Michael G; Barnes, J C

2010-01-01

A functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene has been found to be associated with a broad range of antisocial phenotypes, including physical violence. At the same time, it is well known that gang members represent some of the most serious violent offenders. Even so, no research has ever examined the association between MAOA and gang membership. The aim of this study is to examine the association between MAOA and gang membership and between MAOA and weapon use. We examined the effects of MAOA by using a molecular genetic association research design. A nonclinical sample was used in this study. Participants were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (1155 females, 1041 males). The outcome measures of this study are gang membership and weapon use. The low MAOA activity alleles conferred an increased risk of joining a gang and using a weapon in a fight for males but not for females. Moreover, among male gang members, those who used weapons in a fight were more likely to have a low MAOA activity allele when compared with male gang members who do not use weapons in a fight. Male carriers of low MAOA activity alleles are at risk for becoming a gang member and, once a gang member, are at risk for using weapons in a fight. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Is There Evidence to Support Brand to Generic Interchange of the Mycophenolic Acid Products?

PubMed

Phillips, Karen; Reddy, Prabashni; Gabardi, Steven

2017-02-01

The uptake of generic immunosuppressants lags comparatively to other drug classes, despite that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) uses identical bioequivalence standards for all drugs. Transplant societies acknowledge the cost savings associated with generic immunosuppressants and support their use following heart, lung, kidney, or bone marrow transplantation. Seven studies of the pharmacokinetics or clinical efficacy of generic mycophenolate mofetil compared to the innovator product are published; all studies and products were ex-United States. Three studies did not demonstrate any pharmacokinetic differences between generic and innovator products in healthy subjects, achieving FDA bioequivalence requirements. Two studies in renal allograft recipients demonstrated no difference in area under the curves between generic and innovator products, and in one, the maximum concentration (Cmax) fell outside the FDA regulatory range. Two studies revealed no difference in acute organ rejection or graft function in renal allograft recipients. Patient surveys indicate that cost is a barrier to immunosuppressant adherence. Generics present a viable method to reduce costs to payers, patients, and health care systems. Adherence to immunosuppressants is crucial to prevent graft failure. An affordable regimen potentially confers greater adherence. Concerns regarding the presumed inferiority of generic immunosuppressants should be assuaged by regulatory requirements for bioequivalency testing, transplant society position statements, and pharmacokinetic and clinical studies.

A Generic Modeling Process to Support Functional Fault Model Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maul, William A.; Hemminger, Joseph A.; Oostdyk, Rebecca; Bis, Rachael A.

2016-01-01

Functional fault models (FFMs) are qualitative representations of a system's failure space that are used to provide a diagnostic of the modeled system. An FFM simulates the failure effect propagation paths within a system between failure modes and observation points. These models contain a significant amount of information about the system including the design, operation and off nominal behavior. The development and verification of the models can be costly in both time and resources. In addition, models depicting similar components can be distinct, both in appearance and function, when created individually, because there are numerous ways of representing the failure space within each component. Generic application of FFMs has the advantages of software code reuse: reduction of time and resources in both development and verification, and a standard set of component models from which future system models can be generated with common appearance and diagnostic performance. This paper outlines the motivation to develop a generic modeling process for FFMs at the component level and the effort to implement that process through modeling conventions and a software tool. The implementation of this generic modeling process within a fault isolation demonstration for NASA's Advanced Ground System Maintenance (AGSM) Integrated Health Management (IHM) project is presented and the impact discussed.

Colony membership is reflected by variations in cuticular hydrocarbon profile in a Neotropical paper wasp, Polistes satan (Hymenoptera, Vespidae).

PubMed

Tannure-Nascimento, I C; Nascimento, F S; Turatti, I C; Lopes, N P; Trigo, J R; Zucchi, R

2007-06-27

Nestmate recognition is one the most important features in social insect colonies. Although epicuticular lipids or cuticular hydrocarbons have both structural and defensive functions in insects, they also seem to be involved in several aspects of communication in wasps, bees and ants. We analyzed and described for the first time the cuticular hydrocarbons of a Neotropical paper wasp, Polistes satan, and found that variation in hydrocarbon profile was sufficiently strong to discriminate individuals according to their colony membership. Therefore, it seems that small differences in the proportion of these compounds can be detected and used as a chemical-based cue by nestmates to detect invaders and avoid usurpation.

Fuzzy approaches to supplier selection problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozkok, Beyza Ahlatcioglu; Kocken, Hale Gonce

2013-09-01

Supplier selection problem is a multi-criteria decision making problem which includes both qualitative and quantitative factors. In the selection process many criteria may conflict with each other, therefore decision-making process becomes complicated. In this study, we handled the supplier selection problem under uncertainty. In this context; we used minimum criterion, arithmetic mean criterion, regret criterion, optimistic criterion, geometric mean and harmonic mean. The membership functions created with the help of the characteristics of used criteria, and we tried to provide consistent supplier selection decisions by using these memberships for evaluating alternative suppliers. During the analysis, no need to use expert opinion is a strong aspect of the methodology used in the decision-making.

Functional Description of Air Traffic Control

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1971-04-01

The document contains a description of air traffic control in terms of generic operational functions. The functions are grouped by flight phase and by major system function (navigation, surveillance, control and communication). More detailed descript...

The formal verification of generic interpreters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Windley, P.; Levitt, K.; Cohen, G. C.

1991-01-01

The task assignment 3 of the design and validation of digital flight control systems suitable for fly-by-wire applications is studied. Task 3 is associated with formal verification of embedded systems. In particular, results are presented that provide a methodological approach to microprocessor verification. A hierarchical decomposition strategy for specifying microprocessors is also presented. A theory of generic interpreters is presented that can be used to model microprocessor behavior. The generic interpreter theory abstracts away the details of instruction functionality, leaving a general model of what an interpreter does.

16 CFR 1018.35 - Termination of membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Termination of membership. 1018.35 Section 1018.35 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION GENERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MANAGEMENT Administration of Advisory Committees § 1018.35 Termination of membership. Advisory committee membership may be...

Some design constraints required for the assembly of software components: The incorporation of atomic abstract types into generically structured abstract types

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Charles S.

1986-01-01

It is nearly axiomatic, that to take the greatest advantage of the useful features available in a development system, and to avoid the negative interactions of those features, requires the exercise of a design methodology which constrains their use. A major design support feature of the Ada language is abstraction: for data, functions processes, resources, and system elements in general. Atomic abstract types can be created in packages defining those private types and all of the overloaded operators, functions, and hidden data required for their use in an application. Generically structured abstract types can be created in generic packages defining those structured private types, as buildups from the user-defined data types which are input as parameters. A study is made of the design constraints required for software incorporating either atomic or generically structured abstract types, if the integration of software components based on them is to be subsequently performed. The impact of these techniques on the reusability of software and the creation of project-specific software support environments is also discussed.

Preparing for the workplace: fostering generic attributes in allied health education programs.

PubMed

Higgs, J; Hunt, A

1999-01-01

Allied health curricula need to extend beyond the learning of discipline-specific skills to encompass broader learning goals. In particular, the acquisition of generic skills is necessary to enable graduates to function more competently and confidently within their rapidly changing work, professional, and societal environments. In health sciences education particularly, the rate of change in practice and education is rapid and unprecedented. If educators focus on components of the curriculum rather than the entire learning experience, they are likely to significantly limit the students' acquisition of such generic skills. To achieve the desired generic skills outcomes, an overarching, integrated, and consistently applied curriculum strategy is advocated. This article considers a number of such strategies relevant to allied health education.

GERICOS: A Generic Framework for the Development of On-Board Software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plasson, P.; Cuomo, C.; Gabriel, G.; Gauthier, N.; Gueguen, L.; Malac-Allain, L.

2016-08-01

This paper presents an overview of the GERICOS framework (GEneRIC Onboard Software), its architecture, its various layers and its future evolutions. The GERICOS framework, developed and qualified by LESIA, offers a set of generic, reusable and customizable software components for the rapid development of payload flight software. The GERICOS framework has a layered structure. The first layer (GERICOS::CORE) implements the concept of active objects and forms an abstraction layer over the top of real-time kernels. The second layer (GERICOS::BLOCKS) offers a set of reusable software components for building flight software based on generic solutions to recurrent functionalities. The third layer (GERICOS::DRIVERS) implements software drivers for several COTS IP cores of the LEON processor ecosystem.

22 CFR 214.12 - Considerations in membership selection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Considerations in membership selection. 214.12... Establishment of Advisory Committees § 214.12 Considerations in membership selection. Membership is to be fairly... also given to factors of sex, race, creed, national origin, and religion. ...

22 CFR 214.12 - Considerations in membership selection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Considerations in membership selection. 214.12... Establishment of Advisory Committees § 214.12 Considerations in membership selection. Membership is to be fairly... also given to factors of sex, race, creed, national origin, and religion. ...

22 CFR 214.12 - Considerations in membership selection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Considerations in membership selection. 214.12... Establishment of Advisory Committees § 214.12 Considerations in membership selection. Membership is to be fairly... also given to factors of sex, race, creed, national origin, and religion. ...

22 CFR 214.12 - Considerations in membership selection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Considerations in membership selection. 214.12... Establishment of Advisory Committees § 214.12 Considerations in membership selection. Membership is to be fairly... also given to factors of sex, race, creed, national origin, and religion. ...

22 CFR 214.12 - Considerations in membership selection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Considerations in membership selection. 214.12 Section 214.12 Foreign Relations AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MANAGEMENT Establishment of Advisory Committees § 214.12 Considerations in membership selection. Membership is to be fairly...

12 CFR 575.5 - Membership rights.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Membership rights. 575.5 Section 575.5 Banks... Membership rights. (a) Depositors and borrowers of resulting associations, acquiree associations, and... existing and future depositors of the resulting association the same membership rights in the mutual...

33 CFR 5.11 - Membership in military organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Membership in military... GENERAL COAST GUARD AUXILIARY § 5.11 Membership in military organizations. Members of the Auxiliary may... not a bar to membership in any other naval or military organization. ...

Community Health Coalitions in Context: Associations between Geographic Context, Member Type and Length of Membership with Coalition Functions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sánchez, V.; Sanders, M.; Andrews, M. L.; Hale, R.; Carrillo, C.

2014-01-01

The coalition literature recognizes context (geography, demographics and history) as a variable of interest, yet few coalition evaluation studies have focused on it. This study explores the association between geographic context and structures (e.g. member type) with functional characteristics (e.g. decision making or levels of conflict) in a…

Patterns of Functioning and Predictive Factors in Children Born Moderately Preterm or at Term

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cserjesi, Renata; van Braeckel, Koenraad N. J. A.; Timmerman, Marieke; Butcher, Phillipa R.; Kerstjens, Jorien M.; Reijneveld, Sijmen A.; Bouma, Anke; Bos, Arend F.; Geuze, Reint H.

2012-01-01

Aim: The aim of this study was to identify subgroups of children born moderately preterm (MPT) and term with distinctive levels and patterns of functioning, and the perinatal and demographic factors that predict subgroup membership. Method: A total of 378 children aged 7 years, 248 MPT (138 males, 110 females; gestational age 32-36 wks) and a…

Displaying uncertainty: investigating the effects of display format and specificity.

PubMed

Bisantz, Ann M; Marsiglio, Stephanie Schinzing; Munch, Jessica

2005-01-01

We conducted four studies regarding the representation of probabilistic information. Experiments 1 through 3 compared performance on a simulated stock purchase task, in which information regarding stock profitability was probabilistic. Two variables were manipulated: display format for probabilistic information (blurred and colored icons, linguistic phrases, numeric expressions, and combinations) and specificity level (in which the number and size of discrete steps into which the probabilistic information was mapped differed). Results indicated few performance differences attributable to display format; however, performance did improve with greater specificity. Experiment 4, in which participants generated membership functions corresponding to three display formats, found a high degree of similarity in functions across formats and participants and a strong relationship between the shape of the membership function and the intended meaning of the representation. These results indicate that participants can successfully interpret nonnumeric representations of uncertainty and can use such representations in a manner similar to the way numeric expressions are used in a decision-making task. Actual or potential applications of this research include the use of graphical representations of uncertainty in systems such as command and control and situation displays.

Female transference and mate choice among Tana River red colobus.

PubMed

Marsh, C W

1979-10-18

Red colobus are one of a small number of primate species in which females have been reported to transfer between breeding groups more commonly than males. Several authors have hypothesised that in such species transference may serve to reduce the risk to females of producing offspring of lower fitness through inbreeding. The hypothesis offers no explanation of why females rather than males are responsible for outbreeding in these species, but remains plausible so long as male membership of breeding groups is relatively stable; for once members of one sex have evolved dispersal mechanisms reducing the risk of inbreeding, pressures on the other sex to do likewise will be lowered. Hence, if both sexes commonly migrate, the hypothesis is weakened. I describe here the membership dynamics of a group of Tana River red colobus, Colobus badius rufomitratus, which provide the first evidence of high rates of membership turnover by both sexes in primates, and speculate that the function of female transference in this case may be related to mate choice and the avoidance of infanticide.

Associations Between Long-Term Gang Membership and Informal Social Control Processes, Drug Use, and Delinquent Behavior Among Mexican American Youth

PubMed Central

Cepeda, Alice; Saint Onge, Jarron M.; Nowotny, Kathryn M.; Valdez, Avelardo

2018-01-01

Research has found that among juveniles weak ties to informal social control entities such as parents, school, and conventional peers increase the probability of the initiation and continuation of deviant behaviors such as drug use and crime. Given the weak ties of formal social control mechanisms in highly disadvantaged communities, informal social control mechanisms are often an important deterrent that reduce or moderate engagement in deviant behaviors among serious and persistent offenders. This analysis examines the association between long-term gang membership and adolescent informal social control processes, drug use, and delinquency. This research is based on data from a study of 160 Mexican American male gang members between the ages of 16 and 20. Findings suggest that among gang members in this context, commonly studied informal control mechanisms such as the family and schools do not function to deter long-term gang membership that is associated with serious criminal and violent behavior and drug use. The implications for future research on desistance or continuation of antisocial behavior across the life course are discussed. PMID:25979430

Evaluation of safety in clinical use of generic paclitaxel [NK] for injection.

PubMed

Tsukiyama, Ikuto; Hotta, Kazuo; Takeuchi, Masayuki; Onishi, Masahumi; Toyama, Yukio; Saito, Hiroko; Sai, Yoshimichi; Miyamoto, Ken-Ichi; Hasegawa, Takaaki

2012-04-01

The introduction of generic drugs is a favored strategy in reducing medical costs, but some clinicians are often reluctant to use them because of lack of information with regard to their side effects. Generic paclitaxel [NK] differs from the proprietary version, Taxol®, in containing added citric acid and a more pure form of castor oil. However, little information exists regarding the effects of these additives on adverse events such as vascular pain, phlebitis, hypersensitivity and hepatic dysfunction. To compensate for this lack of information and to validate the safety of using generic paclitaxel, we investigated adverse events in response to generic paclitaxel [NK]. Our investigation focused on patients treated with both the proprietary formulation (Taxol® for injection) and the generic version(paclitaxel [NK] for injection)sequentially from April 2008 to March 2009. Adverse events were investigated retrospectively. Incidence of vascular pain, phlebitis and hypersensitivity was similar to that with the original product. Although the expression of some liver enzymes was slightly increased and some gastrointestinal events were reduced following generic paclitaxel [NK] treatment there was no statistically significant difference. The profiles of other adverse events were not significantly different. Increased vascular pain and phlebitis, predicted due to low pH conditions caused by citric acid, were not observed. Similarly, the pure castor oil included in generic paclitaxel [NK] did not influence hypersensitivity and hepatic function. We found no significant differences in our study of proprietary and generic paclitaxel [NK]. Thus, clinicians have no reason for prejudice against using generic paclitaxel [NK] on the basis of increased risk of side effects.

Generic mission planning concepts for space astronomy missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guffin, O. T.; Onken, J. F.

1993-01-01

The past two decades have seen the rapid development of space astronomy, both manned and unmanned, and the concurrent proliferation of the operational concepts and software that have been produced to support each individual project. Having been involved in four of these missions since the '70's and three yet to fly in the present decade, the authors believe it is time to step back and evaluate this body of experience from a macro-systems point of view to determine the potential for generic mission planning concepts that could be applied to future missions. This paper presents an organized evaluation of astronomy mission planning functions, functional flows, iteration cycles, replanning activities, and the requirements that drive individual concepts to specific solutions. The conclusions drawn from this exercise are then used to propose a generic concept that could support multiple missions.

Abide with me: religious group identification among older adults promotes health and well-being by maintaining multiple group memberships.

PubMed

Ysseldyk, Renate; Haslam, S Alexander; Haslam, Catherine

2013-01-01

Aging is associated with deterioration in health and well-being, but previous research suggests that this can be attenuated by maintaining group memberships and the valued social identities associated with them. In this regard, religious identification may be especially beneficial in helping individuals withstand the challenges of aging, partly because religious identity serves as a basis for a wider social network of other group memberships. This paper aims to examine relationships between religion (identification and group membership) and well-being among older adults. The contribution of having and maintaining multiple group memberships in mediating these relationships is assessed, and also compared to patterns associated with other group memberships (social and exercise). Study 1 (N = 42) surveyed older adults living in residential care homes in Canada, who completed measures of religious identity, other group memberships, and depression. Study 2 (N = 7021) longitudinally assessed older adults in the UK on similar measures, but with the addition of perceived physical health. In Study 1, religious identification was associated with fewer depressive symptoms, and membership in multiple groups mediated that relationship. However, no relationships between social or exercise groups and mental health were evident. Study 2 replicated these patterns, but additionally, maintaining multiple group memberships over time partially mediated the relationship between religious group membership and physical health. Together these findings suggest that religious social networks are an especially valuable source of social capital among older adults, supporting well-being directly and by promoting additional group memberships (including those that are non-religious).

Mixed Membership Distributions with Applications to Modeling Multiple Strategy Usage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galyardt, April

2012-01-01

This dissertation examines two related questions. "How do mixed membership models work?" and "Can mixed membership be used to model how students use multiple strategies to solve problems?". Mixed membership models have been used in thousands of applications from text and image processing to genetic microarray analysis. Yet…

Rehabilitation Counseling Professional Associations: Membership, Membership Intentions, and Levels of Commitment among Rehabilitation Counseling Professionals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, Brian N.

2011-01-01

Declining membership is a concerning, yet poorly understood issue affecting professional associations across many disciplines (Bauman, 2008). The discipline of rehabilitation counseling is experiencing membership decline even as the number of certified rehabilitation counselors continues to increase (Leahy, 2009). Little empirical research…

13 CFR 120.822 - CDC membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false CDC membership. 120.822 Section... Company Loan Program (504) Requirements for Cdc Certification and Operation § 120.822 CDC membership. (a) CDC Membership. A CDC must have at least 25 members (or stockholders for for-profit CDCs approved...

13 CFR 120.822 - CDC membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false CDC membership. 120.822 Section... Company Loan Program (504) Requirements for Cdc Certification and Operation § 120.822 CDC membership. (a) CDC Membership. A CDC must have at least 25 members (or stockholders for for-profit CDCs approved...

13 CFR 120.822 - CDC membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false CDC membership. 120.822 Section... Company Loan Program (504) Requirements for Cdc Certification and Operation § 120.822 CDC membership. (a) CDC Membership. A CDC must have at least 25 members (or stockholders for for-profit CDCs approved...

13 CFR 120.822 - CDC membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false CDC membership. 120.822 Section... Company Loan Program (504) Requirements for Cdc Certification and Operation § 120.822 CDC membership. (a) CDC Membership. A CDC must have at least 25 members (or stockholders for for-profit CDCs approved...

13 CFR 120.822 - CDC membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false CDC membership. 120.822 Section... Company Loan Program (504) Requirements for Cdc Certification and Operation § 120.822 CDC membership. (a) CDC Membership. A CDC must have at least 25 members (or stockholders for for-profit CDCs approved...

Interrogation of Mammalian Protein Complex Structure, Function, and Membership Using Genome-Scale Fitness Screens. | Office of Cancer Genomics

Cancer.gov

Protein complexes are assemblies of subunits that have co-evolved to execute one or many coordinated functions in the cellular environment. Functional annotation of mammalian protein complexes is critical to understanding biological processes, as well as disease mechanisms. Here, we used genetic co-essentiality derived from genome-scale RNAi- and CRISPR-Cas9-based fitness screens performed across hundreds of human cancer cell lines to assign measures of functional similarity.

Concept for a Satellite-Based Advanced Air Traffic Management System : Volume 8. Operational Logic Flow Diagrams for a Generic Advanced Air Traffic Management system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1974-02-01

The volume presents a description of the services a generic Advanced Air Traffic Management System (AATMS) should provide to the useres of the system to facilitate the safe, efficient flow of traffic. It provides a definition of the functions which t...

De novo use of a generic formulation of tacrolimus versus reference tacrolimus in kidney transplantation: evaluation of the clinical results, histology in protocol biopsies, and immunological monitoring.

PubMed

Melilli, Edoardo; Crespo, Elena; Sandoval, Diego; Manonelles, Anna; Sala, Neus; Mast, Richard; Padulles, Ariadna; Grinyo, Josep M; Bestard, Oriol; Cruzado, Josep Maria

2015-11-01

The use of generic formulations of immunosuppressive drugs in renal transplantation has been and still is a controversial subject. The lack of clinical studies about safety and efficacy in transplant patients is one of the factors restricting the diffusion of generic drugs in the renal transplant field. Since March 2013, our transplant unit has incorporated generic tacrolimus (Adoport(®) ; Sandoz), replacing the one we were currently using (Prograf(®) ; Astellas). When carrying out our retrospective analysis comparing the two different formulations, we evaluated several clinical results: tacrolimus trough concentrations (C0) at 5-7 days; 1, 3, and 6 months post-transplantation; concentration/dose ratio at 6 months; acute rejection incidence; delayed graft function (DGF); renal function (as CKD-EPI); and proteinuria at 6 months in 120 patients (1:1 ratio of Prograf(®) versus Adoport(®) ), noticing no important differences. We also evaluated the results of protocol biopsies at 6 months in a subgroup of patients, thus verifying the safety and efficacy of this particular generic drug versus the reference product on a histological basis as well. No difference in the development of dnDSA (de novo donor-specific antibody) was found between the two groups. © 2015 Steunstichting ESOT.

[A functional analysis of healthcare auditors' skills in Venezuela, 2008].

PubMed

Chirinos-Muñoz, Mónica S

2010-10-01

Using functional analysis for identifying the basic, working, specific and generic skills and values which a health service auditor must have. Implementing the functional analysis technique with 10 experts, identifying specific, basic, generic skills and values by means of deductive logic. A functional map was obtained which started by establishing a key purpose based on improving healthcare and service quality from which three key functions emerged. The main functions and skills' units were then broken down into the competitive elements defining what a health service auditor is able to do. This functional map (following functional analysis methodology) shows in detail the simple and complex tasks which a healthcare auditor should apply in the workplace, adopting a forward management approach for improving healthcare and health service quality. This methodology, expressing logical-deductive awareness raising, provides expert consensual information validating each element regarding overall skills.

Membership in CBE's Industry Consortium

Science.gov Websites

Membership Benefits of Membership Membership FAQs Become a Member Board Meeting Logistics CBE's Overview CBE's research program is supported and guided by its Industry Advisory Board (IAB). Twice a year projects, and identify new research topics. Our Industry Advisory Board mirrors the diversity of the

What procedure to choose while designing a fuzzy control? Towards mathematical foundations of fuzzy control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kreinovich, Vladik YA.; Quintana, Chris; Lea, Robert

1991-01-01

Fuzzy control has been successfully applied in industrial systems. However, there is some caution in using it. The reason is that it is based on quite reasonable ideas, but each of these ideas can be implemented in several different ways, and depending on which of the implementations chosen different results are achieved. Some implementations lead to a high quality control, some of them not. And since there are no theoretical methods for choosing the implementation, the basic way to choose it now is experimental. But if one chooses a method that is good for several examples, there is no guarantee that it will work fine in all of them. Hence the caution. A theoretical basis for choosing the fuzzy control procedures is provided. In order to choose a procedure that transforms a fuzzy knowledge into a control, one needs, first, to choose a membership function for each of the fuzzy terms that the experts use, second, to choose operations of uncertainty values that corresponds to 'and' and 'or', and third, when a membership function for control is obtained, one must defuzzy it, that is, somehow generate a value of the control u that will be actually used. A general approach that will help to make all these choices is described: namely, it is proved that under reasonable assumptions membership functions should be linear or fractionally linear, defuzzification must be described by a centroid rule and describe all possible 'and' and 'or' operations. Thus, a theoretical explanation of the existing semi-heuristic choices is given and the basis for the further research on optimal fuzzy control is formulated.

Neuro-fuzzy and neural network techniques for forecasting sea level in Darwin Harbor, Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karimi, Sepideh; Kisi, Ozgur; Shiri, Jalal; Makarynskyy, Oleg

2013-03-01

Accurate predictions of sea level with different forecast horizons are important for coastal and ocean engineering applications, as well as in land drainage and reclamation studies. The methodology of tidal harmonic analysis, which is generally used for obtaining a mathematical description of the tides, is data demanding requiring processing of tidal observation collected over several years. In the present study, hourly sea levels for Darwin Harbor, Australia were predicted using two different, data driven techniques, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and artificial neural network (ANN). Multi linear regression (MLR) technique was used for selecting the optimal input combinations (lag times) of hourly sea level. The input combination comprises current sea level as well as five previous level values found to be optimal. For the ANFIS models, five different membership functions namely triangular, trapezoidal, generalized bell, Gaussian and two Gaussian membership function were tested and employed for predicting sea level for the next 1 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h. The used ANN models were trained using three different algorithms, namely, Levenberg-Marquardt, conjugate gradient and gradient descent. Predictions of optimal ANFIS and ANN models were compared with those of the optimal auto-regressive moving average (ARMA) models. The coefficient of determination, root mean square error and variance account statistics were used as comparison criteria. The obtained results indicated that triangular membership function was optimal for predictions with the ANFIS models while adaptive learning rate and Levenberg-Marquardt were most suitable for training the ANN models. Consequently, ANFIS and ANN models gave similar forecasts and performed better than the developed for the same purpose ARMA models for all the prediction intervals.

Cluster membership probability: polarimetric approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medhi, Biman J.; Tamura, Motohide

2013-04-01

Interstellar polarimetric data of the six open clusters Hogg 15, NGC 6611, NGC 5606, NGC 6231, NGC 5749 and NGC 6250 have been used to estimate the membership probability for the stars within them. For proper-motion member stars, the membership probability estimated using the polarimetric data is in good agreement with the proper-motion cluster membership probability. However, for proper-motion non-member stars, the membership probability estimated by the polarimetric method is in total disagreement with the proper-motion cluster membership probability. The inconsistencies in the determined memberships may be because of the fundamental differences between the two methods of determination: one is based on stellar proper motion in space and the other is based on selective extinction of the stellar output by the asymmetric aligned dust grains present in the interstellar medium. The results and analysis suggest that the scatter of the Stokes vectors q (per cent) and u (per cent) for the proper-motion member stars depends on the interstellar and intracluster differential reddening in the open cluster. It is found that this method could be used to estimate the cluster membership probability if we have additional polarimetric and photometric information for a star to identify it as a probable member/non-member of a particular cluster, such as the maximum wavelength value (λmax), the unit weight error of the fit (σ1), the dispersion in the polarimetric position angles (overline{ɛ }), reddening (E(B - V)) or the differential intracluster reddening (ΔE(B - V)). This method could also be used to estimate the membership probability of known member stars having no membership probability as well as to resolve disagreements about membership among different proper-motion surveys.

Associations of diet quality with dairy group membership, membership duration and non-membership for Kenyan farm women and children: a comparative study.

PubMed

Walton, Colleen; Taylor, Jennifer; VanLeeuwen, John; Yeudall, Fiona; Mbugua, Samwel

2014-02-01

To examine associations among diet quality and dairy group membership, membership duration and non-member status for women and school-aged children in rural Kenya. A cross-sectional survey, using chain referral sampling, was conducted and diet quality indices and prevalence of inadequate intake (PII) were estimated using the 'estimated average requirement' cut-off point method from single 24 h recalls, using a Kenyan nutrient database. PII was compared among members and non-members and among membership-duration groups. Women and children of dairy group members (n 88), across membership-duration groups (1-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10+ years), and non-members (n 23) living among members. Small farms in central Kenya. Members had higher energy, percentage of energy from animal-source foods and dietary diversity. Member women and children had lower PII for respectively seven and three of eleven micronutrients. Reduced PII for milk-source micronutrients was associated with membership duration for women. Many member women (38%) had inadequate vitamin A intake and 39% of member children had inadequate Zn intake. Members' PII was also high (>45%) for Fe, Ca and vitamin B12. A higher prevalence of being overweight among member women compared with non-member women suggested nutrition transition effects of higher farm productivity. Dairy group membership was positively associated with adequate quantity and quality of diets for women and children. Long-term membership was insufficient to address micronutrient deficiencies. Understanding and addressing barriers to better diet quality and strategies to mitigate negative nutrition transition effects are needed to optimize nutritional outcomes of dairy group membership.

Blow-up profile to the solutions of two-coupled Schroedinger equations

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

Chen Jianqing; Guo Boling

2009-02-15

The model of the following two-coupled Schroedinger equations, i{sub t}+(1/2){delta}u=(g{sub 11}|u|{sup 2p}+g|u|{sup p-1}|v|{sup p+1})uu, (t,x)(set-membership sign)R{sub +}xR{sup N}, and iv{sub t}+(1/2){delta}v=(g|u|{sup p+1}|v|{sup p-1}+g{sub 22}|v|{sup 2p})v, (t,x)(set-membership sign)R{sub +}xR{sup N}, is proposed in the study of the Bose-Einstein condensates [Mitchell, et al., ''Self-traping of partially spatially incoherent light,'' Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 490 (1996)]. We prove that for suitable initial data and p the solution blows up exactly like {delta} function. As a by-product, we prove that similar phenomenon occurs for the critical two-coupled Schroedinger equations with harmonic potential [Perez-Garcia, V. M. and Beitia, T. B., ''Sybiotic solitons in heteronuclear multicomponentmore » Bose-Einstein condensates,'' Phys. Rev. A 72, 033620 (2005)], iu{sub t}+(1/2){delta}u=({omega}/2)|x|{sup 2}u+(g{sub 11}|u|{sup 2p}+g|u|{sup p-1}|v|{sup p+1})u, x(set-membership sign)R{sup N}, and iv{sub t}+(1/2){delta}v=({omega}/2)|x|{sup 2}v+(g|u|{sup p+1}|v|{sup p-1}+g{sub 22}|v|{sup 2p})v, x(set-membership sign)R{sup N}.« less

Airway morphometry in the lungs as depicted in chest CT examinations variability of measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leader, J. K.; Zheng, Bin; Scuirba, Frank C.; Coxson, Harvey O.; Weissfeld, Joel L.; Fuhrman, Carl R.; Maitz, Glenn S.; Gur, David

2006-03-01

The purpose of the study was to decrease the variability of computed tomographic airway measurements. We to developed and evaluated a novel computer scheme to automatically segment airways depicted on chest CT examinations at the level of the lobar and segmental bronchi and to decrease. The computer scheme begins with manual selection of a seed point within the airway from which the airway wall and lumen are automatically segmented and airway pixels were assigned full or partial membership to the lumen or wall. Airway pixels not assigned full membership to the lumen (< -900 HU) or wall (> 0 HU) were assigned partial membership to the lumen and wall. In fifteen subjects with no visible signs of emphysema and a range of pulmonary obstruction from none to severe, airway measures were compared to pulmonary function parameters in a rank order analysis to evaluate measuring a single airway versus multiple airways. The quality of the automated airway segmentation was visually acceptable. The Pearson Correlation coefficients for the ranking of FEV I versus wall area percent (percent of total airway size) and FVC versus wall area percent were 0.164 and 0.175 for a single measurement, respectively, and were 0.243 and 0.239 for multiple measurements, respectively. Our preliminary results suggest that averaging the measurements from multiple airways may improve the relation between airway measures and lung function compared to measurement from a single airway, which improve quantification of airway remodeling in COPD patients.

Studies of the Virgo Cluster. II - A catalog of 2096 galaxies in the Virgo Cluster area. V - Luminosity functions of Virgo Cluster galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Binggeli, B.; Tammann, G. A.; Sandage, A.

1985-01-01

The present catalog of 2096 galaxies within an area of about 140 sq deg approximately centered on the Virgo cluster should be an essentially complete listing of all certain and possible cluster members, independent of morphological type. Cluster membership is essentially decided by galaxy morphology; for giants and the rare class of high surface brightness dwarfs, membership rests on velocity data. While 1277 of the catalog entries are considered members of the Virgo cluster, 574 are possible members and 245 appear to be background Zwicky galaxies. Major-to-minor axis ratios are given for all galaxies brighter than B(T) = 18, as well as for many fainter ones.

Estimating the average length of hospitalization due to pneumonia: a fuzzy approach.

PubMed

Nascimento, L F C; Rizol, P M S R; Peneluppi, A P

2014-08-29

Exposure to air pollutants is associated with hospitalizations due to pneumonia in children. We hypothesized the length of hospitalization due to pneumonia may be dependent on air pollutant concentrations. Therefore, we built a computational model using fuzzy logic tools to predict the mean time of hospitalization due to pneumonia in children living in São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil. The model was built with four inputs related to pollutant concentrations and effective temperature, and the output was related to the mean length of hospitalization. Each input had two membership functions and the output had four membership functions, generating 16 rules. The model was validated against real data, and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed to evaluate model performance. The values predicted by the model were significantly correlated with real data. Sulfur dioxide and particulate matter significantly predicted the mean length of hospitalization in lags 0, 1, and 2. This model can contribute to the care provided to children with pneumonia.

Estimating the average length of hospitalization due to pneumonia: a fuzzy approach.

PubMed

Nascimento, L F C; Rizol, P M S R; Peneluppi, A P

2014-11-01

Exposure to air pollutants is associated with hospitalizations due to pneumonia in children. We hypothesized the length of hospitalization due to pneumonia may be dependent on air pollutant concentrations. Therefore, we built a computational model using fuzzy logic tools to predict the mean time of hospitalization due to pneumonia in children living in São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil. The model was built with four inputs related to pollutant concentrations and effective temperature, and the output was related to the mean length of hospitalization. Each input had two membership functions and the output had four membership functions, generating 16 rules. The model was validated against real data, and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed to evaluate model performance. The values predicted by the model were significantly correlated with real data. Sulfur dioxide and particulate matter significantly predicted the mean length of hospitalization in lags 0, 1, and 2. This model can contribute to the care provided to children with pneumonia.

ANFIS multi criteria decision making for overseas construction projects: a methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Utama, W. P.; Chan, A. P. C.; Zulherman; Zahoor, H.; Gao, R.; Jumas, D. Y.

2018-02-01

A critical part when a company targeting a foreign market is how to make a better decision in connection with potential project selection. Since different attributes of information are often incomplete, imprecise and ill-defined in overseas projects selection, the process of decision making by relying on the experiences and intuition is a risky attitude. This paper aims to demonstrate a decision support method in deciding overseas construction projects (OCPs). An Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), the amalgamation of Neural Network and Fuzzy Theory, was used as decision support tool to decide to go or not go on OCPs. Root mean square error (RMSE) and coefficient of correlation (R) were employed to identify the ANFIS system indicating an optimum and efficient result. The optimum result was obtained from ANFIS network with two input membership functions, Gaussian membership function (gaussmf) and hybrid optimization method. The result shows that ANFIS may help the decision-making process for go/not go decision in OCPs.

Classification of underground pipe scanned images using feature extraction and neuro-fuzzy algorithm.

PubMed

Sinha, S K; Karray, F

2002-01-01

Pipeline surface defects such as holes and cracks cause major problems for utility managers, particularly when the pipeline is buried under the ground. Manual inspection for surface defects in the pipeline has a number of drawbacks, including subjectivity, varying standards, and high costs. Automatic inspection system using image processing and artificial intelligence techniques can overcome many of these disadvantages and offer utility managers an opportunity to significantly improve quality and reduce costs. A recognition and classification of pipe cracks using images analysis and neuro-fuzzy algorithm is proposed. In the preprocessing step the scanned images of pipe are analyzed and crack features are extracted. In the classification step the neuro-fuzzy algorithm is developed that employs a fuzzy membership function and error backpropagation algorithm. The idea behind the proposed approach is that the fuzzy membership function will absorb variation of feature values and the backpropagation network, with its learning ability, will show good classification efficiency.

Fuzzy difference-of-Gaussian-based iris recognition method for noisy iris images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Byung Jun; Park, Kang Ryoung; Yoo, Jang-Hee; Moon, Kiyoung

2010-06-01

Iris recognition is used for information security with a high confidence level because it shows outstanding recognition accuracy by using human iris patterns with high degrees of freedom. However, iris recognition accuracy can be reduced by noisy iris images with optical and motion blurring. We propose a new iris recognition method based on the fuzzy difference-of-Gaussian (DOG) for noisy iris images. This study is novel in three ways compared to previous works: (1) The proposed method extracts iris feature values using the DOG method, which is robust to local variations of illumination and shows fine texture information, including various frequency components. (2) When determining iris binary codes, image noises that cause the quantization error of the feature values are reduced with the fuzzy membership function. (3) The optimal parameters of the DOG filter and the fuzzy membership function are determined in terms of iris recognition accuracy. Experimental results showed that the performance of the proposed method was better than that of previous methods for noisy iris images.

Identifying patterns of motor performance, executive functioning, and verbal ability in preschool children: A latent profile analysis.

PubMed

Houwen, Suzanne; Kamphorst, Erica; van der Veer, Gerda; Cantell, Marja

2018-04-30

A relationship between motor performance and cognitive functioning is increasingly being recognized. Yet, little is known about the precise nature of the relationship between both domains, especially in early childhood. To identify distinct constellations of motor performance, executive functioning (EF), and verbal ability in preschool aged children; and to explore how individual and contextual variables are related to profile membership. The sample consisted of 119 3- to 4-year old children (62 boys; 52%). The home based assessments consisted of a standardized motor test (Movement Assessment Battery for Children - 2), five performance-based EF tasks measuring inhibition and working memory, and the Receptive Vocabulary subtest from the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Third Edition. Parents filled out the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Preschool version. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to delineate profiles of motor performance, EF, and verbal ability. Chi-square statistics and multinomial logistic regression analysis were used to examine whether profile membership was predicted by age, gender, risk of motor coordination difficulties, ADHD symptomatology, language problems, and socioeconomic status (SES). LPA yielded three profiles with qualitatively distinct response patterns of motor performance, EF, and verbal ability. Quantitatively, the profiles showed most pronounced differences with regard to parent ratings and performance-based tests of EF, as well as verbal ability. Risk of motor coordination difficulties and ADHD symptomatology were associated with profile membership, whereas age, gender, language problems, and SES were not. Our results indicate that there are distinct subpopulations of children who show differential relations with regard to motor performance, EF, and verbal ability. The fact that we found both quantitative as well as qualitative differences between the three patterns of profiles underscores the need for a person-centered approach with a focus on patterns of individual characteristics. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Generic antibiotics in Japan.

PubMed

Fujimura, Shigeru; Watanabe, Akira

2012-08-01

Generic drugs have been used extensively in many developed countries, although their use in Japan has been limited. Generic drugs reduce drug expenses and thereby national medical expenditure. Because generic drugs provide advantages for both public administration and consumers, it is expected that they will be more widely used in the future. However, the diffusion rate of generic drugs in Japan is quite low compared with that of other developed countries. An investigation on generic drugs conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan revealed that 17.2 % of doctors and 37.2 % of patients had not used generic drugs. The major reasons for this low use rate included distrust of off-patent products and lower drug price margin compared with the brand name drug. The generic drugs available in the market include external drugs such as wet packs, antihypertensive agents, analgesics, anticancer drugs, and antibiotics. Among them, antibiotics are frequently used in cases of acute infectious diseases. When the treatment of these infections is delayed, the infection might be aggravated rapidly. The pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics (PK-PD) theory has been adopted in recent chemotherapy, and in many cases, the most appropriate dosage and administration of antibiotics are determined for individual patients considering renal function; high-dosage antibiotics are used preferably for a short duration. Therefore, a highly detailed antimicrobial agent is necessary. However, some of the generic antibiotics have less antibacterial potency or solubility than the brand name products. We showed that the potency of the generic products of vancomycin and teicoplanin is lower than that of the branded drugs by 14.6 % and 17.3 %, respectively. Furthermore, we confirmed that a generic meropenem drug for injection required about 82 s to solubilize in saline, whereas the brand product required only about 21 s. It was thought that the cause may be the difference in size of bulk particle and amount of solubilizer. The Japanese government hopes to increase the diffusion rate of generic drugs (in terms of quantity) from 20.2 % in 2010 to 30 % or more in 2012, and therefore it will be necessary to clarify the advantages of generic antibiotics in terms of expenditure and equivalency with the branded drugs.

Sensitivity of estimated muscle force in forward simulation of normal walking

PubMed Central

Xiao, Ming; Higginson, Jill

2009-01-01

Generic muscle parameters are often used in muscle-driven simulations of human movement estimate individual muscle forces and function. The results may not be valid since muscle properties vary from subject to subject. This study investigated the effect of using generic parameters in a muscle-driven forward simulation on muscle force estimation. We generated a normal walking simulation in OpenSim and examined the sensitivity of individual muscle to perturbations in muscle parameters, including the number of muscles, maximum isometric force, optimal fiber length and tendon slack length. We found that when changing the number muscles included in the model, only magnitude of the estimated muscle forces was affected. Our results also suggest it is especially important to use accurate values of tendon slack length and optimal fiber length for ankle plantarflexors and knee extensors. Changes in force production one muscle were typically compensated for by changes in force production by muscles in the same functional muscle group, or the antagonistic muscle group. Conclusions regarding muscle function based on simulations with generic musculoskeletal parameters should be interpreted with caution. PMID:20498485

Process management using component thermal-hydraulic function classes

DOEpatents

Morman, James A.; Wei, Thomas Y. C.; Reifman, Jaques

1999-01-01

A process management expert system where following malfunctioning of a component, such as a pump, for determining system realignment procedures such as for by-passing the malfunctioning component with on-line speeds to maintain operation of the process at full or partial capacity or to provide safe shut down of the system while isolating the malfunctioning component. The expert system uses thermal-hydraulic function classes at the component level for analyzing unanticipated as well as anticipated component malfunctions to provide recommended sequences of operator actions. Each component is classified according to its thermal-hydraulic function, and the generic and component-specific characteristics for that function. Using the diagnosis of the malfunctioning component and its thermal hydraulic class, the expert system analysis is carried out using generic thermal-hydraulic first principles. One aspect of the invention employs a qualitative physics-based forward search directed primarily downstream from the malfunctioning component in combination with a subsequent backward search directed primarily upstream from the serviced component. Generic classes of components are defined in the knowledge base according to the three thermal-hydraulic functions of mass, momentum and energy transfer and are used to determine possible realignment of component configurations in response to thermal-hydraulic function imbalance caused by the malfunctioning component. Each realignment to a new configuration produces the accompanying sequence of recommended operator actions. All possible new configurations are examined and a prioritized list of acceptable solutions is produced.

Process management using component thermal-hydraulic function classes

DOEpatents

Morman, J.A.; Wei, T.Y.C.; Reifman, J.

1999-07-27

A process management expert system where following malfunctioning of a component, such as a pump, for determining system realignment procedures such as for by-passing the malfunctioning component with on-line speeds to maintain operation of the process at full or partial capacity or to provide safe shut down of the system while isolating the malfunctioning component. The expert system uses thermal-hydraulic function classes at the component level for analyzing unanticipated as well as anticipated component malfunctions to provide recommended sequences of operator actions. Each component is classified according to its thermal-hydraulic function, and the generic and component-specific characteristics for that function. Using the diagnosis of the malfunctioning component and its thermal hydraulic class, the expert system analysis is carried out using generic thermal-hydraulic first principles. One aspect of the invention employs a qualitative physics-based forward search directed primarily downstream from the malfunctioning component in combination with a subsequent backward search directed primarily upstream from the serviced component. Generic classes of components are defined in the knowledge base according to the three thermal-hydraulic functions of mass, momentum and energy transfer and are used to determine possible realignment of component configurations in response to thermal-hydraulic function imbalance caused by the malfunctioning component. Each realignment to a new configuration produces the accompanying sequence of recommended operator actions. All possible new configurations are examined and a prioritized list of acceptable solutions is produced. 5 figs.

The Arizona Telemedicine Program business model.

PubMed

Barker, Gail P; Krupinski, Elizabeth A; McNeely, Richard A; Holcomb, Michael J; Lopez, Ana Maria; Weinstein, Ronald S

2005-01-01

The Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP) was established in 1996 when state funding was provided to implement eight telemedicine sites. Since then the ATP has expanded to connect 55 health-care organizations through a membership programme formalized through legal contracts. The ATP's membership model is based on an application service provider (ASP) concept, whereby organizations can share services at lower cost; that is, the ATP acts as a broker for services. The membership fee schedule is flexible, allowing clients to purchase only those services desired. An annual membership fee is paid by every user, based on the services requested. The membership programme income has provided a steady revenue stream for the ATP. The membership-derived revenue represented 30% of the ATP's 2.6 million dollars total income during fiscal year 2003/04.

Performance of Geno-Fuzzy Model on rainfall-runoff predictions in claypan watersheds

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Fuzzy logic provides a relatively simple approach to simulate complex hydrological systems while accounting for the uncertainty of environmental variables. The objective of this study was to develop a fuzzy inference system (FIS) with genetic algorithm (GA) optimization for membership functions (MF...

32 CFR 1901.41 - Establishment of appeals structure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... HRPB is the Director, Information Management. The Chair may request interested parties to participate... take action when a simple majority of the total membership is present. The Panel shall advise and... interested parties to participate when special equities or expertise are involved. The Panel, functioning as...

13 CFR 304.2 - District Organizations: Formation, organizational requirements and operations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... body shall also have at least a simple majority of its membership who are elected officials and/or... the public adequate opportunity to review and react to proposals. District Organizations should... out economic development research, planning, implementation and advisory functions identified in the...

13 CFR 304.2 - District Organizations: Formation, organizational requirements and operations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... body shall also have at least a simple majority of its membership who are elected officials and/or... the public adequate opportunity to review and react to proposals. District Organizations should... out economic development research, planning, implementation and advisory functions identified in the...

Generic HTML Form Processor: A versatile PHP script to save web-collected data into a MySQL database.

PubMed

Göritz, Anja S; Birnbaum, Michael H

2005-11-01

The customizable PHP script Generic HTML Form Processor is intended to assist researchers and students in quickly setting up surveys and experiments that can be administered via the Web. This script relieves researchers from the burdens of writing new CGI scripts and building databases for each Web study. Generic HTML Form Processor processes any syntactically correct HTML forminput and saves it into a dynamically created open-source database. We describe five modes for usage of the script that allow increasing functionality but require increasing levels of knowledge of PHP and Web servers: The first two modes require no previous knowledge, and the fifth requires PHP programming expertise. Use of Generic HTML Form Processor is free for academic purposes, and its Web address is www.goeritz.net/brmic.

A Demographic Analysis of American Geophysical Union Membership with Implications for Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rhodes, D. D.

2006-12-01

Demographers use population pyramids to characterize the age/gender structure of societal groups. Diagrams of the population of age cohorts for both sexes assume the shape of a pyramid in rapidly expanding groups, having many more young people than older adults. Stable populations have similar numbers of people in age cohorts from infants through middle-age adults. Shrinking populations have fewer children and relatively larger numbers of adults. Demographic analysis of the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) membership reveals significant differences among the numerous specialties and the membership as a whole. The population structure diagram of the total AGU membership is highly asymmetrical with 77.5% male and 22.5% female. Males outnumber females in every age cohort. This is most noticeable among members born prior to 1945. Males belonging to these cohorts make up 16.5% of the total membership, while female members of equivalent age include 0.8% of the total. The largest membership cohort (29% of the total) is comprised of males born between 1950 and 1964, a group that includes both the "baby boom" generation and post-war petroleum exploration expansion. In contrast, the female cohort with birth years from 1970 to 1979 is the largest grouping of women members (8.4% of AGU's membership). Furthermore, women comprise 36% of the members born since 1965, and only 14.5% of those born before 1965. Considered separately, the female membership's age structure is characteristic of a growing population, while the male side is in relative decline. The population structure of the entire membership is mirrored in some specialties, but there are remarkable differences in others. The largest specialty group (hydrology) includes 16.9% of the total AGU membership and has a population structure that differs little from that of the whole organization. Four specialties, Atmospheric Chemistry, Biogeosciences, and Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, and Marine Geochemistry differ significantly from the aggregate membership. The population structures of these groups are pyramidal, indicating a strong potential for growth. Women also comprise more than 30% of each of these groups and outnumber men in some recent cohorts. Growth potential is unevenly distributed throughout AGU's membership with traditional specialties likely to experience significant decline as the older cohorts retire and die. Strongest growth is most likely to occur in recently recognized interdisciplinary specialties, especially those in which women already constitute a significant fraction of the membership.

About PESP Membership

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP) is a voluntary membership program that promotes the adoption of innovative, alternative pest control practices such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Learn about membership benefits and how to join.

Classification of Clouds in Satellite Imagery Using Adaptive Fuzzy Sparse Representation.

PubMed

Jin, Wei; Gong, Fei; Zeng, Xingbin; Fu, Randi

2016-12-16

Automatic cloud detection and classification using satellite cloud imagery have various meteorological applications such as weather forecasting and climate monitoring. Cloud pattern analysis is one of the research hotspots recently. Since satellites sense the clouds remotely from space, and different cloud types often overlap and convert into each other, there must be some fuzziness and uncertainty in satellite cloud imagery. Satellite observation is susceptible to noises, while traditional cloud classification methods are sensitive to noises and outliers; it is hard for traditional cloud classification methods to achieve reliable results. To deal with these problems, a satellite cloud classification method using adaptive fuzzy sparse representation-based classification (AFSRC) is proposed. Firstly, by defining adaptive parameters related to attenuation rate and critical membership, an improved fuzzy membership is introduced to accommodate the fuzziness and uncertainty of satellite cloud imagery; secondly, by effective combination of the improved fuzzy membership function and sparse representation-based classification (SRC), atoms in training dictionary are optimized; finally, an adaptive fuzzy sparse representation classifier for cloud classification is proposed. Experiment results on FY-2G satellite cloud image show that, the proposed method not only improves the accuracy of cloud classification, but also has strong stability and adaptability with high computational efficiency.

Exponential operations and aggregation operators of interval neutrosophic sets and their decision making methods.

PubMed

Ye, Jun

2016-01-01

An interval neutrosophic set (INS) is a subclass of a neutrosophic set and a generalization of an interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy set, and then the characteristics of INS are independently described by the interval numbers of its truth-membership, indeterminacy-membership, and falsity-membership degrees. However, the exponential parameters (weights) of all the existing exponential operational laws of INSs and the corresponding exponential aggregation operators are crisp values in interval neutrosophic decision making problems. As a supplement, this paper firstly introduces new exponential operational laws of INSs, where the bases are crisp values or interval numbers and the exponents are interval neutrosophic numbers (INNs), which are basic elements in INSs. Then, we propose an interval neutrosophic weighted exponential aggregation (INWEA) operator and a dual interval neutrosophic weighted exponential aggregation (DINWEA) operator based on these exponential operational laws and introduce comparative methods based on cosine measure functions for INNs and dual INNs. Further, we develop decision-making methods based on the INWEA and DINWEA operators. Finally, a practical example on the selecting problem of global suppliers is provided to illustrate the applicability and rationality of the proposed methods.

Fissured Tongue

MedlinePlus

Menu Member Login About Us Mission and Vision Leadership Executive Committee Board of Trustees Bylaws Past Presidents Staff/Contact History Awards Our Partners Membership Membership Categories Renew Your Membership Login Certification Am Board of Oral Medicine Academic Fellowship ...

Gingival Enlargement

MedlinePlus

Menu Member Login About Us Mission and Vision Leadership Executive Committee Board of Trustees Bylaws Past Presidents Staff/Contact History Awards Our Partners Membership Membership Categories Renew Your Membership Login Certification Am Board of Oral Medicine Academic Fellowship ...

Enhancement of brain tumor MR images based on intuitionistic fuzzy sets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Wankai; Deng, He; Cheng, Lifang

2015-12-01

Brain tumor is one of the most fatal cancers, especially high-grade gliomas are among the most deadly. However, brain tumor MR images usually have the disadvantages of low resolution and contrast when compared with the optical images. Consequently, we present a novel adaptive intuitionistic fuzzy enhancement scheme by combining a nonlinear fuzzy filtering operation with fusion operators, for the enhancement of brain tumor MR images in this paper. The presented scheme consists of the following six steps: Firstly, the image is divided into several sub-images. Secondly, for each sub-image, object and background areas are separated by a simple threshold. Thirdly, respective intuitionistic fuzzy generators of object and background areas are constructed based on the modified restricted equivalence function. Fourthly, different suitable operations are performed on respective membership functions of object and background areas. Fifthly, the membership plane is inversely transformed into the image plane. Finally, an enhanced image is obtained through fusion operators. The comparison and evaluation of enhancement performance demonstrate that the presented scheme is helpful to determine the abnormal functional areas, guide the operation, judge the prognosis, and plan the radiotherapy by enhancing the fine detail of MR images.

Coronal Activity in the R CrA T Association

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patten, Brian M.; Oliversen, Ronald J. (Technical Monitor)

2005-01-01

Brian Patten is the Principal Investigator of the NASA ROSS-ADP project Coronal Activity in the R CrA T Association. For this project we have extracted net counts and variability information for all of the X-ray sources found in 23 archival ROSAT PSPC and HRI images in the region of the R CrA T association. These data have been merged with an extensive database of optical and near-infrared photometry, optical spectroscopy, and parallax data. These data have been used to (1) identify new association members and clarify the membership status of a number of previously suspected members of the association, and (2) derive, for the first time, an accurate coronal luminosity function for the T Tauri members of this T association and make direct comparisons between the coronal luminosity functions for other T associations and those of large clusters. We have used our survey data to assess (a) the importance of the star-formation environment in initial coronal activity levels, (b) the effects of PMS evolution on dynamo activity as a function of mass and age, and (c) the level of contamination by field post-T Tauri stars on association membership surveys.

Simulation system architecture design for generic communications link

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tsang, Chit-Sang; Ratliff, Jim

1986-01-01

This paper addresses a computer simulation system architecture design for generic digital communications systems. It addresses the issues of an overall system architecture in order to achieve a user-friendly, efficient, and yet easily implementable simulation system. The system block diagram and its individual functional components are described in detail. Software implementation is discussed with the VAX/VMS operating system used as a target environment.

Pharmacists' views and reported practices in relation to a new generic drug substitution policy in Lebanon: a mixed methods study.

PubMed

El-Jardali, Fadi; Fadlallah, Racha; Morsi, Rami Z; Hemadi, Nour; Al-Gibbawi, Mounir; Haj, Magda; Khalil, Suzan; Saklawi, Youssef; Jamal, Diana; Akl, Elie A

2017-02-17

Governments in both developed and developing countries have adopted generic drug substitution policies to decrease pharmaceutical expenditures and improve access to medicine. In August 2015, the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) in Lebanon introduced generic drug substitution and a unified medical prescription form as policy instruments to promote generic drug use. The objective of this exploratory study was to examine the attitudes of community pharmacists and the reported practices in relation to the implementation of the new generic drug substitution policy. We used a cross-sectional mixed methods approach composed of self-administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The study population consisted of community pharmacists in Lebanon. We randomly approached one pharmacy personnel from each selected community pharmacy. We conducted descriptive analyses to assess responses to questionnaire and regression analyses to understand associations between responses and respondent demographics. We analyzed qualitative data thematically. Out of 204 invited community pharmacies, 153 pharmacies participated (75% response rate). The majority of respondents (64%) were in favor of generic drug substitution; however, less than half (40%) indicated they have substituted brand drugs for generic equivalents. Moreover, 57% indicated that the existing pricing system discourages them from performing generic drug substitution. Most respondents indicated that physicians are overusing the "non-substitutable" option (84%) and that there are technical problems with processing the new prescription form (78%). Less than half (47%) reported that the MOPH is performing regular audits on the forms collected by the pharmacy. While 45% of the respondents indicated that consumers have accepted most of the generic substitutions, 21% perceived the increase in generic drug dispensing to be significant. Findings suggested a potentially significant association between being informed about generic drugs and respondents' support of the policy. Suggested strategies to address implementation challenges included strengthening stewardship function of MOPH, securing full commitment of health care providers, conducting educational and awareness campaigns about generic drugs and generic drug substitution, and aligning incentive systems of the key stakeholders. The majority of community pharmacists were supportive of generic drug substitution in general but not of the current implementation of the policy in Lebanon. Findings revealed implementation challenges at the provider, patient, and system level which are hindering attainment of the policy objectives. The key lessons derived from this study can be used for continuous improvement of the policy and its implementation.

A Generic Theory of the Integer Quantum Hall Effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Yu

The integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) is usually modeled by a Galilean or rotationally invariant Hamiltonian. These are not generic symmetries for electrons moving in a crystal background and can potentially confuse non-topological quantities with topological ones and identify otherwise distinct geometrical properties. In this thesis we present a generic theory for the IQHE. First we show that a generic guiding-center coherent state, defined by a natural metric in each Landau level, has the form of an antiholomorphic function times a Gaussian factor. Then by numerically solving the eigenproblem for a quartic Hamiltonian and finding the roots of the antiholomorphic part we are able to define a topological spin sn = n + 1/2 where n is the number of central roots that are enclosed by the semiclassical orbit. We derive a generic formula for the Hall viscosity in the absence of rotational symmetry and show that the previous interpretation of the scalar Hall viscosity as the "intrinsic orbital angular momentum" breaks down since the concept of angular momentum requires the presence of rotational symmetry. We also calculate generic electromagnetic responses and differentiate between universal terms that are diagonal with respect to Landau level index and non-universal terms that depend on inter-Landau-level mixing. We conclude that the generic theory offers a fundamental definition for the topological spin and reveals finer structure in the geometrical properties of the IQHE.

25 CFR 83.7 - Mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... among the membership. (v) Evidence of strong patterns of discrimination or other social distinctions by...) Cultural patterns shared among a significant portion of the group that are different from those of the non-Indian populations with whom it interacts. These patterns must function as more than a symbolic...

Know your community - Biochar: agronomic and environmental uses community

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The “Biochar: Agronomic and Environmental Uses” Community was formed in November 2010 (https://www.agronomy.org/membership/communities/biochar-agronomic-and-environmental-uses). The community’s initial function has been providing a forum at the tri-society’s national meetings to fill the need for a ...

On Measuring Quantitative Interpretations of Reasonable Doubt

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dhami, Mandeep K.

2008-01-01

Beyond reasonable doubt represents a probability value that acts as the criterion for conviction in criminal trials. I introduce the membership function (MF) method as a new tool for measuring quantitative interpretations of reasonable doubt. Experiment 1 demonstrated that three different methods (i.e., direct rating, decision theory based, and…

Evidence for Specificity of Motor Impairments in Catching and Balance in Children with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ament, Katarina; Mejia, Amanda; Buhlman, Rebecca; Erklin, Shannon; Caffo, Brian; Mostofsky, Stewart; Wodka, Ericka

2015-01-01

To evaluate evidence for motor impairment specificity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children completed performance-based assessment of motor functioning (Movement Assessment Battery for Children: MABC-2). Logistic regression models were used to predict group membership. In the models…

Cultural Barriers to Change in Assessment Practices in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jenkins, Deborah Bainer

2007-01-01

The culture at the authors' institution raised barriers to changing from traditional assessment to portfolio assessment in the doctoral program. A Culture of Independence presented barriers of time and functional inadequacy. A Culture of Compliance raised trust, group process, and membership issues. These barriers were managed and overcome using…

Applying a Metrics Report Card

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klubeck, Martin; Langthorne, Michael

2008-01-01

In this article, the authors suggest that providing a report card enables an IT department to check its progress and overall performance; communicate the department's effectiveness to university leadership, IT membership, and customers; and make any necessary adjustments. A report card will not show how efficiently the IT department functions, but…

Recognizing Chromospheric Objects via Markov Chain Monte Carlo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mukhtar, Saleem; Turmon, Michael J.

1997-01-01

The solar chromosphere consists of three classes which contribute differentially to ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth. We describe a data set of solar images, means of segmenting the images into the constituent classes, and a novel high-level representation for compact objects based on a triangulated spatial membership function.

Coalition Building for Adult Literacy: Historical and Organizational Perspectives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newman, Anabel P.; Lehman, Bernadette

Selected successful literacy coalitions were examined to identify key issues and trends in coalition building. The six key issues identified (focus and functions, funding, governance, membership, key figures, and evaluation) were used as a framework to review the early efforts, current activities, and future visions of literacy coalitions…

The Association of Childhood Personality Type with Volunteering during Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atkins, Robert; Hart, Daniel; Donnelly, Thomas M.

2005-01-01

Using a longitudinal design, we investigated the relation of childhood personality type to volunteering during adolescence. We hypothesized that participants with more adaptive personality functioning during childhood would be more likely to volunteer during adolescence and that membership in social organizations would mediate the relation of…

Decision-Making Theory Applied to Architectural Programming: Some Research Implications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Meg

The implications of delineating and determining the sequence of programming decisions are shown in the selection of building committee membership. The role relationships of client and architect are discussed in terms of decision-making function. Decision tables are described as aids in problem analysis. Other topics include information and…

Democracy predicts sport and recreation membership: Insights from 52 countries.

PubMed

Balish, Shea M

2017-03-01

Although evidence suggests sport and recreation are powerful contributors to worldwide public health, sizable gender differences persist. It is unknown whether country characteristics moderate gender differences across countries. The primary purpose of this study was to examine if countries' levels of democracy and/or gender inequality moderate gender differences in sport and recreation membership across countries. The secondary purpose was to examine if democracy and/or gender inequality predicts overall rates of sport and recreation membership for both males and females. This study involved a nested cross-sectional design and employed the sixth wave (2013) of the world value survey (n Ss =71,901, n countries =52). Multiple hierarchal nonlinear Bernoulli models tested: (1) if countries' levels of democracy moderate gender differences in sport and recreation membership; and (2) if democracy is associated with increased sport and recreation membership for both males and females. Countries' level of democracy fully moderated gender differences in sport and recreation membership across countries. Moreover, democracy was positively associated with both male and female membership, even when controlling for individual and country-level covariates. Democratic political regimes may confer health benefits via increased levels of sport and recreation membership, especially for females. Future research should test mediating mechanisms. Copyright © 2016 Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Fabric for Frontier Experiments Project at Fermilab

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

Kirby, Michael

2014-01-01

The FabrIc for Frontier Experiments (FIFE) project is a new, far-reaching initiative within the Fermilab Scientific Computing Division to drive the future of computing services for experiments at FNAL and elsewhere. It is a collaborative effort between computing professionals and experiment scientists to produce an end-to-end, fully integrated set of services for computing on the grid and clouds, managing data, accessing databases, and collaborating within experiments. FIFE includes 1) easy to use job submission services for processing physics tasks on the Open Science Grid and elsewhere, 2) an extensive data management system for managing local and remote caches, cataloging, querying,more » moving, and tracking the use of data, 3) custom and generic database applications for calibrations, beam information, and other purposes, 4) collaboration tools including an electronic log book, speakers bureau database, and experiment membership database. All of these aspects will be discussed in detail. FIFE sets the direction of computing at Fermilab experiments now and in the future, and therefore is a major driver in the design of computing services worldwide.« less

Membership in conservation groups and outdoor clubs

Treesearch

John C. Hendee

1971-01-01

Conservation groups and outdoor clubs are a major influence on natural resource policy through their articulate members. Different kinds of groups are described - their membership, representativeness, potential growth, multiple memberships, and comparability with other voluntary organizations.

Developing Membership in the Education of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in Inclusive Settings.

PubMed

Antia, Shirin D; Stinson, Michael S; Gaustad, Martha Gonter

2002-01-01

This article discusses the importance of membership in the inclusive education of deaf/hard-of-hearing (D/HH) students. Membership refers to being an integral part of the classroom and school communities. Membership is a key philosophical concept in inclusion that may influence how classroom teachers and teachers of D/HH students share their expertise and how they work with students and each other. Membership can be contrasted with "visitorship." When programs treat D/HH students as visitors, these students face greater barriers to obtaining a quality education in classes with hearing students. A social constructivist perspective of learning and teaching that requires students in the classroom to interact with one another and the teacher may best promote learning and is consistent with a focus on membership. We suggest that inclusion is possible, but to sustain students as full members of their classes and school, programs must go beyond placement and communication access issues. To facilitate membership, inclusive programs must carefully address teacher attitudes, teacher roles and relationships, student knowledge and curriculum, structural barriers, extracurricular activities, community relationships, and parental support.

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

PubMed

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

2015-11-01

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

The Open Access Association? EAHIL's new model for sustainability.

PubMed

McSean, Tony; Jakobsson, Arne

2009-12-01

To discover a governance structure and a business model for the European Association for Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL) which will be economically sustainable in the medium term, arresting a long-term gradual decline in membership numbers and implementing new revenue streams to sustain association activity. Reviewed survival strategies of other professional associations, investigated potential of emerging interactive web technologies, investigated alternative revenue streams based around the 'franchise' of the annual EAHIL conferences and workshops. A fully worked-through and costed alternative structure was produced, based on abolition of the subscription, web-based procedures and functions, increased income from advertising and sponsorship and a large measure of member participation and engagement. Statutes and Rules of Procedure were rewritten to reflect the changes. This plan was put through the Association's approval cycle and implemented in 2005. The new financial model has proved itself sustainable on the basis of the first 2 years' operations. The long-term gradual decline in membership was reversed, with membership numbers trebling across the EAHIL region. The software worked with minimal problems, including the online electoral process. With no identified precedent from other professional associations, the changes represented a considerable risk, which was justifiable because long-term projections made it clear that continuing the traditional model was not viable. The result is a larger, healthier association with a stronger link to its membership. Long-term risks include the high level of member commitment and expertise. There are also important questions about scalability-diseconomies of scale probably limit the applicability of the overall open access model to larger associations.

75 FR 71417 - Manufacturing Council Membership

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-23

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Manufacturing Council Membership AGENCY: International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce ACTION: Notice of an opportunity to apply for membership on the Manufacturing Council. SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce is currently seeking...

Generic command interpreter for robot controllers

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

Werner, J.

1991-04-09

Generic command interpreter programs have been written for robot controllers at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). Each interpreter program resides on a robot controller and interfaces the controller with a supervisory program on another (host) computer. We call these interpreter programs monitors because they wait, monitoring a communication line, for commands from the supervisory program. These monitors are designed to interface with the object-oriented software structure of the supervisory programs. The functions of the monitor programs are written in each robot controller's native language but reflect the object-oriented functions of the supervisory programs. These functions and other specifics of the monitormore » programs written for three different robots at SNL will be discussed. 4 refs., 4 figs.« less

Dual little strings and their partition functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bastian, Brice; Hohenegger, Stefan; Iqbal, Amer; Rey, Soo-Jong

2018-05-01

We study the topological string partition function of a class of toric, double elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds XN ,M at a generic point in the Kähler moduli space. These manifolds engineer little string theories in five dimensions or lower and are dual to stacks of M5-branes probing a transverse orbifold singularity. Using the refined topological vertex formalism, we explicitly calculate a generic building block which allows us to compute the topological string partition function of XN ,M as a series expansion in different Kähler parameters. Using this result, we give further explicit proof for a duality found previously in the literature, which relates XN ,M˜XN',M' for N M =N'M' and gcd (N ,M )=gcd (N',M') .

Smart Plasmonic Glucose Nanosensors as Generic Theranostic Agents for Targeting-Free Cancer Cell Screening and Killing.

PubMed

Chen, Limei; Li, Haijuan; He, Haili; Wu, Haoxi; Jin, Yongdong

2015-07-07

Fast and accurate identification of cancer cells from healthy normal cells in a simple, generic way is very crucial for early cancer detection and treatment. Although functional nanoparticles, like fluorescent quantum dots and plasmonic Au nanoparticles (NPs), have been successfully applied for cancer cell imaging and photothermal therapy, they suffer from the main drawback of needing time-consuming targeting preparation for specific cancer cell detection and selective ablation. The lack of a generic and effective method therefore limits their potential high-throughput cancer cell preliminary screening and theranostic applications. We report herein a generic in vitro method for fast, targeting-free (avoiding time-consuming preparations of targeting moiety for specific cancer cells) visual screening and selective killing of cancer cells from normal cells, by using glucose-responsive/-sensitive glucose oxidase-modified Ag/Au nanoshells (Ag/Au-GOx NSs) as a smart plasmonic theranostic agent. The method is generic to some extent since it is based on the distinct localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) responses (and colors) of the smart nanoprobe with cancer cells (typically have a higher glucose uptake level) and normal cells.

Delineation of the riparian zone in data-scarce regions using fuzzy membership functions: An evaluation based on the case of the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Betz, Florian; Lauermann, Magdalena; Cyffka, Bernd

2018-04-01

Riparian zones contain important ecosystems with a high biodiversity and relevant ecosystem services. From a process point of view, riparian zones are characterized by the interaction of hydrological, geomorphological and ecological processes. Consequently, their boundary is dynamic and blurred as it depends on not only the local valley morphology but also the hydrological regime. This makes a delineation of riparian zones from digital elevation data a challenging task as it should represent this blurred nature of riparian zone boundaries. While the application of high resolution topography from LIDAR and hydraulic models have become standard in many developed countries, studies and applications in remote areas still commonly rely on the freely available coarse resolution digital elevation models. In this article, we present the delineation of riparian zones from the SRTM-1 elevation model and fuzzy membership functions for the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan having a length of approximately 700 km. We evaluate the extraction of the underlying channel network as well as the different indicator variables. The maximum user's accuracy for the delineation of riparian zones along the entire Naryn River is 82.14% reflecting the uncertainty arising from the heterogeneity of the riverscape as well as from the quality of the underlying elevation data. Despite the uncertainty, the fuzzy membership approach is considered as an appropriate method for riparian zone delineation as it reflects their dynamic, transitional character and can be used as indicator of connectivity within a riverscape.

Evaluating fuzzy operators of an object-based image analysis for detecting landslides and their changes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feizizadeh, Bakhtiar; Blaschke, Thomas; Tiede, Dirk; Moghaddam, Mohammad Hossein Rezaei

2017-09-01

This article presents a method of object-based image analysis (OBIA) for landslide delineation and landslide-related change detection from multi-temporal satellite images. It uses both spatial and spectral information on landslides, through spectral analysis, shape analysis, textural measurements using a gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), and fuzzy logic membership functionality. Following an initial segmentation step, particular combinations of various information layers were investigated to generate objects. This was achieved by applying multi-resolution segmentation to IRS-1D, SPOT-5, and ALOS satellite imagery in sequential steps of feature selection and object classification, and using slope and flow direction derivatives from a digital elevation model together with topographically-oriented gray level co-occurrence matrices. Fuzzy membership values were calculated for 11 different membership functions using 20 landslide objects from a landslide training data. Six fuzzy operators were used for the final classification and the accuracies of the resulting landslide maps were compared. A Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation (FSE) approach was adapted for validation of the results and for an accuracy assessment using the landslide inventory database. The FSE approach revealed that the AND operator performed best with an accuracy of 93.87% for 2005 and 94.74% for 2011, closely followed by the MEAN Arithmetic operator, while the OR and AND (*) operators yielded relatively low accuracies. An object-based change detection was then applied to monitor landslide-related changes that occurred in northern Iran between 2005 and 2011. Knowledge rules to detect possible landslide-related changes were developed by evaluating all possible landslide-related objects for both time steps.

Neuropsychological phenotypes among men with and without HIV disease in the multicenter AIDS cohort study.

PubMed

Molsberry, Samantha A; Cheng, Yu; Kingsley, Lawrence; Jacobson, Lisa; Levine, Andrew J; Martin, Eileen; Miller, Eric N; Munro, Cynthia A; Ragin, Ann; Sacktor, Ned; Becker, James T

2018-05-11

Mild forms of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) remain prevalent in the combination anti-retroviral therapy (cART) era. This study's objective was to identify neuropsychological subgroups within the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) based on the participant-based latent structure of cognitive function and to identify factors associated with subgroups. The MACS is a four-site longitudinal study of the natural and treated history of HIV disease among gay and bisexual men. Using neuropsychological domain scores we used a cluster variable selection algorithm to identify the optimal subset of domains with cluster information. Latent profile analysis was applied using scores from identified domains. Exploratory and post-hoc analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with cluster membership and the drivers of the observed associations. Cluster variable selection identified all domains as containing cluster information except for Working Memory. A three-profile solution produced the best fit for the data. Profile 1 performed below average on all domains, Profile 2 performed average on executive functioning, motor, and speed and below average on learning and memory, Profile 3 performed at or above average across all domains. Several demographic, cognitive, and social factors were associated with profile membership; these associations were driven by differences between Profile 1 and the other profiles. There is an identifiable pattern of neuropsychological performance among MACS members determined by all domains except Working Memory. Neither HIV nor HIV-related biomarkers were related with cluster membership, consistent with other findings that cognitive performance patterns do not map directly onto HIV serostatus.

77 FR 64794 - Membership of the Economic Development Administration Performance Review Board

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-23

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Economic Development Administration Membership of the Economic Development Administration Performance Review Board AGENCY: Economic Development Administration, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of Membership on the Economic Development Administration's Performance Review Board...

75 FR 63813 - Membership of the Economic Development Administration Performance Review Board

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-18

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Economic Development Administration Membership of the Economic Development Administration Performance Review Board AGENCY: Economic Development Administration, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of membership on the Economic Development Administration's Performance Review Board...

Prediction of Membership in Rehabilitation Counseling Professional Associations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, Brian N.; Leahy, Michael J.

2012-01-01

Declining membership is a concerning yet poorly understood issue affecting professional associations across disciplines (Bauman, 2008). Rehabilitation counseling association membership is in decline even while number of certified rehabilitation counselors continues to increase (Leahy, 2009). Factors influencing rehabilitation counseling…

47 CFR 301.100 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Membership. 301.100 Section 301.100 Telecommunication NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE RELOCATION OF AND SPECTRUM SHARING BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STATIONS Technical Panel § 301.100 Membership. (a...

47 CFR 301.100 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Membership. 301.100 Section 301.100 Telecommunication NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE RELOCATION OF AND SPECTRUM SHARING BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STATIONS Technical Panel § 301.100 Membership. (a...

Generic controller dedicated to telemetry-controlled microsystems.

PubMed

Sodagar, Amir M; Wise, Kensall D; Najafi, Khalil

2006-01-01

This paper introduces a generic controller designed for telemetry-controlled microsystems. This controller receives a data packet through a serial link carrying a command word and the associated data, and is capable of generating a variety of control/timing signals according to the definition of the received command. The flexible microprogrammed architecture of the controller allows for defining the commands functions in an on-chip mask-programmable read-only memory.

Geometric analysis characterizes molecular rigidity in generic and non-generic protein configurations

PubMed Central

Budday, Dominik; Leyendecker, Sigrid; van den Bedem, Henry

2015-01-01

Proteins operate and interact with partners by dynamically exchanging between functional substates of a conformational ensemble on a rugged free energy landscape. Understanding how these substates are linked by coordinated, collective motions requires exploring a high-dimensional space, which remains a tremendous challenge. While molecular dynamics simulations can provide atomically detailed insight into the dynamics, computational demands to adequately sample conformational ensembles of large biomolecules and their complexes often require tremendous resources. Kinematic models can provide high-level insights into conformational ensembles and molecular rigidity beyond the reach of molecular dynamics by reducing the dimensionality of the search space. Here, we model a protein as a kinematic linkage and present a new geometric method to characterize molecular rigidity from the constraint manifold Q and its tangent space Q at the current configuration q. In contrast to methods based on combinatorial constraint counting, our method is valid for both generic and non-generic, e.g., singular configurations. Importantly, our geometric approach provides an explicit basis for collective motions along floppy modes, resulting in an efficient procedure to probe conformational space. An atomically detailed structural characterization of coordinated, collective motions would allow us to engineer or allosterically modulate biomolecules by selectively stabilizing conformations that enhance or inhibit function with broad implications for human health. PMID:26213417

Geometric analysis characterizes molecular rigidity in generic and non-generic protein configurations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Budday, Dominik; Leyendecker, Sigrid; van den Bedem, Henry

2015-10-01

Proteins operate and interact with partners by dynamically exchanging between functional substates of a conformational ensemble on a rugged free energy landscape. Understanding how these substates are linked by coordinated, collective motions requires exploring a high-dimensional space, which remains a tremendous challenge. While molecular dynamics simulations can provide atomically detailed insight into the dynamics, computational demands to adequately sample conformational ensembles of large biomolecules and their complexes often require tremendous resources. Kinematic models can provide high-level insights into conformational ensembles and molecular rigidity beyond the reach of molecular dynamics by reducing the dimensionality of the search space. Here, we model a protein as a kinematic linkage and present a new geometric method to characterize molecular rigidity from the constraint manifold Q and its tangent space Tq Q at the current configuration q. In contrast to methods based on combinatorial constraint counting, our method is valid for both generic and non-generic, e.g., singular configurations. Importantly, our geometric approach provides an explicit basis for collective motions along floppy modes, resulting in an efficient procedure to probe conformational space. An atomically detailed structural characterization of coordinated, collective motions would allow us to engineer or allosterically modulate biomolecules by selectively stabilizing conformations that enhance or inhibit function with broad implications for human health.

[Memantine: from the original brand to generics].

PubMed

Titova, N V

Memantine is the first clinically available glutamate antagonist, with an antagonist action at the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors in the brain, for correction of cognitive and behavioral functions in neurodegenerative disorders. Glutamate mediated excitotoxic neuronal damage has been implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other parkinsonism-related dementias and, therefore, memantine represents a novel mode of action to counteract the glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity. In moderate to severe AD, 20 mg of memantine shows a positive effect on cognition, mood, behavior and the ability to perform activities of daily living. Long-term studies show good tolerability of memantine with an acceptable side-effect profile. In recent years, there have been a proliferation of a number of companies producing generic memantine with different trade names. In Russia, the first memantine generic drug noojerone was approved in 2010 and its use has since been supported by a growing evidence base of efficacy in real-life clinical practice. Postmarketing studies show that noojerone provides long-term and effective therapy in patients with moderate and severe Alzheimer's dementia. This observation is supported by the clinically significant therapeutic effect of noojerone on cognitive and daily functioning, behavioral and psychotic symptoms of dementia and a reduction of the burden on caregivers. This generic version of memantine is affordable and, therefore, reduces financial burden on patients and improves compliance with treatment.

Factors Influencing Texas Physical Therapy Students' Membership in the American Physical Therapy Association and the Texas Physical Therapy Association: Implications for Academicians, Clinicians, and Professional Associations.

PubMed

Hughes, Lynne C; Book, Ashley; Lewis, Harriet

2016-01-01

To determine the factors impacting the decisions of student physical therapists (PTs) and physical therapist assistants (PTAs) to join and maintain membership in the American Physical Therapy Association and the Texas Physical Therapy Association, in light of a membership initiative of Reach 100 that was adopted in Texas. Survey, descriptive. An online membership survey invitation was distributed to Texas PT and PTA students. A total of 479 students responded to the survey. A majority of participants (67%) reported being members, while 33% reported being non-members. The primary reason students (74%) reported for being a member was that they were encouraged by their academic program. Students who are not members (87%) cited the high cost of national dues. A majority of participants (n=379, 83%) rated faculty promotion of membership as somewhat high to high. In contrast, only 26% rated the promotion of membership by their clinical education sites as somewhat high to high. Professional growth and development was cited as the main reason to maintain membership. Although students are being encouraged to join, a third of the respondents still do not belong. It is imperative that clinical mentors model and support membership activities. Association leadership may use this information to develop strategic plans to be inclusive of the student and new professional.

A LabVIEW® based generic CT scanner control software platform.

PubMed

Dierick, M; Van Loo, D; Masschaele, B; Boone, M; Van Hoorebeke, L

2010-01-01

UGCT, the Centre for X-ray tomography at Ghent University (Belgium) does research on X-ray tomography and its applications. This includes the development and construction of state-of-the-art CT scanners for scientific research. Because these scanners are built for very different purposes they differ considerably in their physical implementations. However, they all share common principle functionality. In this context a generic software platform was developed using LabVIEW® in order to provide the same interface and functionality on all scanners. This article describes the concept and features of this software, and its potential for tomography in a research setting. The core concept is to rigorously separate the abstract operation of a CT scanner from its actual physical configuration. This separation is achieved by implementing a sender-listener architecture. The advantages are that the resulting software platform is generic, scalable, highly efficient, easy to develop and to extend, and that it can be deployed on future scanners with minimal effort.

16 CFR 1018.15 - Membership composition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Membership composition. 1018.15 Section 1018.15 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION GENERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MANAGEMENT Establishment of Advisory Committees § 1018.15 Membership composition. The Toxicological Advisory Board, as...

CAP waveform estimation from the measured electrical bioimpedance values: Patient's heart rate variability analysis.

PubMed

Krivoshei, A; Uuetoa, H; Min, M; Annus, P; Uuetoa, T; Lamp, J

2015-08-01

The paper presents analysis of the generic transfer function (TF) between Electrical Bioimpedance (EBI) measured non-invasively on the wrist and Central Aortic Pressure (CAP) invasively measured at the aortic root. Influence of the Heart Rate (HR) variations on the generic TF and on reconstructed CAP waveforms is investigated. The HR variation analysis is provided on a single patient data to exclude inter-patient influences at the current research stage. A new approach for the generic TF estimating from a data ensemble is presented as well. Moreover, an influence of the cardiac period beginning point selection is analyzed and empirically optimal solution for its selection is proposed.

Patients' Preferences for Generic and Branded Over-the-Counter Medicines: An Adaptive Conjoint Analysis Approach.

PubMed

Halme, Merja; Linden, Kari; Kääriä, Kimmo

2009-12-01

: Despite increased use of generic medicines, little is known about either the attitudes of patients towards them or the decision-making process surrounding them. Young adults use over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics relatively often. : To assess the preferences of patients for generic and branded OTC pain medicines, to identify clusters with different preference structures, and to estimate the price elasticity of a generic alternative among university students. : Finnish university students (n = 256; students in courses at the Helsinki School of Economics) responded to an adaptive conjoint analysis (ACA) questionnaire on the choice between branded and generic OTC ibuprofen products. Product attributes of price, brand, onset time of effect, place of purchase and source of information were included in the questionnaire on the basis of the literature, a focus group and a previous pilot study. Several socioeconomic and health behavior descriptors were employed. Individual-level utility functions were estimated, preference clusters were identified, and the price elasticity of the generic medicine was assessed. : Five clusters with characteristic individual-level preferences and price elasticity but few differences in socioeconomic background were detected. Approximately half of the respondents were strongly price sensitive while the others had other preferences such as brand or an opportunity to buy the medicine at a pharmacy or to have a physician or a pharmacist as an information source. : The study provided new information on the concomitant effects of brand, price and other essential product attributes on the choice by patients between branded and generic medicines.

Modeling Peer Assessment as Agent Negotiation in a Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lai, K. Robert; Lan, Chung Hsien

2006-01-01

This work presents a novel method for modeling collaborative learning as multi-issue agent negotiation using fuzzy constraints. Agent negotiation is an iterative process, through which, the proposed method aggregates student marks to reduce personal bias. In the framework, students define individual fuzzy membership functions based on their…

Alcohol Consumption and Abuse among College Students: Alarming Rates among the Best and the Brightest

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuertes, Jairo N.; Hoffman, Alexander

2016-01-01

Objective: This study examined alcohol consumption at two college campuses, a "dry" urban campus and a "wet" rural campus. We examined alcohol consumption as a function of students' membership in: Greek Organizations, NCAA Varsity Athletic teams, or as being Unaffiliated in these groups. Participants: Two hundred eighty-eight…

Gang Membership and Subsequent Engagement into a Drug Free Therapeutic Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Widlitz, Michelle; Dermatis, Helen; Galanter, Marc; Bunt, Gregory

2007-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to assess the relationship of history of gang involvement to engagement in Therapeutic Community (TC) treatment. Residents (N = 222) at two Daytop facilities completed a survey assessing sociodemographic characteristics, prior gang involvement and multiple aspects of TC functioning. Residents with prior gang…

VizieR Online Data Catalog: The Seven Sisters DANCe. I. Pleiades (Bouy+, 2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouy, H.; Bertin, E.; Sarro, L. M.; Barrado, D.; Moraux, E.; Bouvier, J.; Cuillandre, J.-C.; Berihuete, A.; Olivares, J.; Beletsky, Y.

2015-02-01

Position, proper motion, multi-wavelength ugrizYJHK photometry and membership probability to the Pleiades cluster for 1972245 sources. Present-day system bolometric luminosity and mass-functions of the Pleiades cluster. Empirical sequence of the Pleiades cluster in ugrizYJHK and BT,VT,JHK photometric systems. (7 data files).

KWICgrouper--Designing a Tool for Corpus-Driven Concordance Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Donnell, Matthew Brook

2008-01-01

The corpus-driven analysis of concordance data often results in the identification of groups of lines in which repeated patterns around the node item establish membership in a particular function meaning group (Mahlberg, 2005). This paper explains the KWICgrouper, a concept designed to support this kind of concordance analysis. Groups are defined…

16 CFR 1018.16 - Membership selection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Membership selection. 1018.16 Section 1018... Establishment of Advisory Committees § 1018.16 Membership selection. (a) Whenever new applicants are required... Candidate Evaluation Panel, using selection criteria established by the Commission, shall evaluate all...

16 CFR 1018.16 - Membership selection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Membership selection. 1018.16 Section 1018... Establishment of Advisory Committees § 1018.16 Membership selection. (a) Whenever new applicants are required... Candidate Evaluation Panel, using selection criteria established by the Commission, shall evaluate all...

16 CFR 1018.16 - Membership selection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Membership selection. 1018.16 Section 1018... Establishment of Advisory Committees § 1018.16 Membership selection. (a) Whenever new applicants are required... Candidate Evaluation Panel, using selection criteria established by the Commission, shall evaluate all...

16 CFR 1018.16 - Membership selection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Membership selection. 1018.16 Section 1018... Establishment of Advisory Committees § 1018.16 Membership selection. (a) Whenever new applicants are required... Candidate Evaluation Panel, using selection criteria established by the Commission, shall evaluate all...

7 CFR 981.31 - Membership representation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Agreements and Orders; Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ALMONDS GROWN IN CALIFORNIA Order Regulating Handling Almond Board of California § 981.31 Membership representation. Membership of the Board... who market their almonds through cooperative handlers; and (2) Those growers who market their almonds...

7 CFR 927.20 - Establishment and membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Establishment and membership. 927.20 Section 927.20 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Marketing... production in its relation to existing districts; (3) The equitable relationship between membership and...

12 CFR 225.66 - Professional association membership; competency.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional association membership; competency...; competency. (a) Membership in appraisal organizations. A State certified appraiser or a State licensed...) Competency. All staff and fee appraisers performing appraisals in connection with federally related...

12 CFR 614.4267 - Professional association membership; competency.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional association membership; competency...; competency. (a) Membership in appraisal organizations. A State certified appraiser or a State licensed...) Competency. All staff and fee evaluators, including appraisers, performing evaluations in connection with...

5 CFR 960.104 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Membership. 960.104 Section 960.104 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED) CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS (CONTINUED) FEDERAL EXECUTIVE BOARDS § 960.104 Membership. (a) Presidential Directive. The President has directed the heads of...

7 CFR 1425.9 - Open membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Open membership. 1425.9 Section 1425.9 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS COOPERATIVE MARKETING ASSOCIATIONS § 1425.9 Open membership...

7 CFR 1425.9 - Open membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Open membership. 1425.9 Section 1425.9 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS COOPERATIVE MARKETING ASSOCIATIONS § 1425.9 Open membership...

7 CFR 1425.9 - Open membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Open membership. 1425.9 Section 1425.9 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS COOPERATIVE MARKETING ASSOCIATIONS § 1425.9 Open membership...

7 CFR 1425.9 - Open membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Open membership. 1425.9 Section 1425.9 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS COOPERATIVE MARKETING ASSOCIATIONS § 1425.9 Open membership...

7 CFR 1425.9 - Open membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Open membership. 1425.9 Section 1425.9 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS COOPERATIVE MARKETING ASSOCIATIONS § 1425.9 Open membership...

76 FR 35399 - SES Performance Review Board Membership

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-17

... BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS SES Performance Review Board Membership AGENCY: Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). ACTION: Notice of Membership of SES Performance Review Board. SUMMARY: Title 5... member of a performance review board (PRB) shall be published in the Federal Register. The following...

Detection and classification of interstitial lung diseases and emphysema using a joint morphological-fuzzy approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang Chien, Kuang-Che; Fetita, Catalin; Brillet, Pierre-Yves; Prêteux, Françoise; Chang, Ruey-Feng

2009-02-01

Multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) has high accuracy and specificity on volumetrically capturing serial images of the lung. It increases the capability of computerized classification for lung tissue in medical research. This paper proposes a three-dimensional (3D) automated approach based on mathematical morphology and fuzzy logic for quantifying and classifying interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) and emphysema. The proposed methodology is composed of several stages: (1) an image multi-resolution decomposition scheme based on a 3D morphological filter is used to detect and analyze the different density patterns of the lung texture. Then, (2) for each pattern in the multi-resolution decomposition, six features are computed, for which fuzzy membership functions define a probability of association with a pathology class. Finally, (3) for each pathology class, the probabilities are combined up according to the weight assigned to each membership function and two threshold values are used to decide the final class of the pattern. The proposed approach was tested on 10 MDCT cases and the classification accuracy was: emphysema: 95%, fibrosis/honeycombing: 84% and ground glass: 97%.

32 CFR 2003.4 - Membership (Article IV).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Membership (Article IV). 2003.4 Section 2003.4 National Defense Other Regulations Relating to National Defense INFORMATION SECURITY OVERSIGHT OFFICE...) BYLAWS, RULES, AND APPEAL PROCEDURES Bylaws § 2003.4 Membership (Article IV). (a) Member organizations...

32 CFR 2003.4 - Membership (Article IV).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Membership (Article IV). 2003.4 Section 2003.4 National Defense Other Regulations Relating to National Defense INFORMATION SECURITY OVERSIGHT OFFICE...) BYLAWS, RULES, AND APPEAL PROCEDURES Bylaws § 2003.4 Membership (Article IV). (a) Member organizations...

17 CFR 5.22 - Registered futures association membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Registered futures association membership. 5.22 Section 5.22 Commodity and Securities Exchanges COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION OFF-EXCHANGE FOREIGN CURRENCY TRANSACTIONS § 5.22 Registered futures association membership. (a) Each person...

49 CFR 95.7 - Industry advisory committees: Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Industry advisory committees: Membership. 95.7 Section 95.7 Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation ADVISORY COMMITTEES § 95.7 Industry advisory committees: Membership. Each industry advisory committee must be reasonably representative of the...

49 CFR 95.7 - Industry advisory committees: Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Industry advisory committees: Membership. 95.7 Section 95.7 Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation ADVISORY COMMITTEES § 95.7 Industry advisory committees: Membership. Each industry advisory committee must be reasonably representative of the...

49 CFR 95.7 - Industry advisory committees: Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Industry advisory committees: Membership. 95.7 Section 95.7 Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation ADVISORY COMMITTEES § 95.7 Industry advisory committees: Membership. Each industry advisory committee must be reasonably representative of the...

12 CFR 725.3 - Regular membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Regular membership. 725.3 Section 725.3 Banks and Banking NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS AFFECTING CREDIT UNIONS NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION CENTRAL LIQUIDITY FACILITY § 725.3 Regular membership. (a) A natural person credit...

The role of delinquency, proactive aggression, psychopathy and behavioral school engagement in reported youth gang membership.

PubMed

Ang, Rebecca P; Huan, Vivien S; Chan, Wei Teng; Cheong, Siew Ann; Leaw, Jia Ning

2015-06-01

Given the robust positive association between gangs and crime, a better understanding of factors related to reported youth gang membership is critical and especially since youth in gangs are a universal concern. The present study investigated the role of delinquency, proactive aggression, psychopathy and behavioral school engagement in reported youth gang membership using a large sample of 1027 Singapore adolescents. Results from logistic regression showed that delinquency, proactive aggression, and behavioral school engagement were statistically significant risk factors for reported youth gang membership, and that psychopathy was not related to reported gang membership. Implications for prevention and intervention work with respect to youth gang membership were discussed. In particular, strengthening students' engagement with school and meaningful school-related activities and developing supportive teacher-student relationships are particularly important in working with young people with respect to prevention work. Additionally, the present study's theoretical and empirical contributions were also discussed. Copyright © 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interpreting Abstract Interpretations in Membership Equational Logic

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fischer, Bernd; Rosu, Grigore

2001-01-01

We present a logical framework in which abstract interpretations can be naturally specified and then verified. Our approach is based on membership equational logic which extends equational logics by membership axioms, asserting that a term has a certain sort. We represent an abstract interpretation as a membership equational logic specification, usually as an overloaded order-sorted signature with membership axioms. It turns out that, for any term, its least sort over this specification corresponds to its most concrete abstract value. Maude implements membership equational logic and provides mechanisms to calculate the least sort of a term efficiently. We first show how Maude can be used to get prototyping of abstract interpretations "for free." Building on the meta-logic facilities of Maude, we further develop a tool that automatically checks and abstract interpretation against a set of user-defined properties. This can be used to select an appropriate abstract interpretation, to characterize the specified loss of information during abstraction, and to compare different abstractions with each other.

Predicting plantar fasciitis in runners.

PubMed

Warren, B L; Jones, C J

1987-02-01

Ninety-one runners were studied to determine whether specific variables were indicative of runners who had suffered with plantar fasciitis either presently or formerly vs runners who had never suffered with plantar fasciitis. Each runner was asked to complete a running history, was subjected to several anatomical measurements, and was asked to run on a treadmill in both a barefoot and shoe condition at a speed of 3.35 mps (8 min mile pace). Factor coefficients were used in a discriminant function analysis which revealed that, when group membership was predicted, 63% of the runners could be correctly assigned to their group. Considering that 76% of the control group was correctly predicted, it was concluded that the predictor variables were able to correctly predict membership of the control group, but not able to correctly predict the presently or formerly injured sufferers of plantar fasciitis.

Data mining in the young open cluster IC2391

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dodd, R. J.

2004-12-01

Large-scale astrometric and photometric data bases have been used to search for and confirm stellar membership of the open cluster IC2391. 125 stars were found that satisfied criteria for membership based on proper motion components and BRI photometry from the United States Naval Observatory B (USNO-B) catalogue and JHK photometry from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) catalogue. This listing was compared with others recently published. A distance to the cluster of 147.7 +/- 5.5 pc was found with mean proper motion components, from the Tycho2 catalogue of (-25.04 +/- 1.53 masyr-1+23.19+/-1.23 masyr-1). A revised Trumpler classification of II3r is suggested. Luminosity and mass functions for the candidate stars were constructed and compared with those of field stars and other clusters.

The implementation of hybrid clustering using fuzzy c-means and divisive algorithm for analyzing DNA human Papillomavirus cause of cervical cancer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andryani, Diyah Septi; Bustamam, Alhadi; Lestari, Dian

2017-03-01

Clustering aims to classify the different patterns into groups called clusters. In this clustering method, we use n-mers frequency to calculate the distance matrix which is considered more accurate than using the DNA alignment. The clustering results could be used to discover biologically important sub-sections and groups of genes. Many clustering methods have been developed, while hard clustering methods considered less accurate than fuzzy clustering methods, especially if it is used for outliers data. Among fuzzy clustering methods, fuzzy c-means is one the best known for its accuracy and simplicity. Fuzzy c-means clustering uses membership function variable, which refers to how likely the data could be members into a cluster. Fuzzy c-means clustering works using the principle of minimizing the objective function. Parameters of membership function in fuzzy are used as a weighting factor which is also called the fuzzier. In this study we implement hybrid clustering using fuzzy c-means and divisive algorithm which could improve the accuracy of cluster membership compare to traditional partitional approach only. In this study fuzzy c-means is used in the first step to find partition results. Furthermore divisive algorithms will run on the second step to find sub-clusters and dendogram of phylogenetic tree. To find the best number of clusters is determined using the minimum value of Davies Bouldin Index (DBI) of the cluster results. In this research, the results show that the methods introduced in this paper is better than other partitioning methods. Finally, we found 3 clusters with DBI value of 1.126628 at first step of clustering. Moreover, DBI values after implementing the second step of clustering are always producing smaller IDB values compare to the results of using first step clustering only. This condition indicates that the hybrid approach in this study produce better performance of the cluster results, in term its DBI values.

Comparison between utility of the Thai Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scales and 3.0 Cerebral Palsy Module.

PubMed

Tantilipikorn, Pinailug; Watter, Pauline; Prasertsukdee, Saipin

2013-03-01

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is increasingly being considered in the management of patients with various conditions. HRQOL instruments can be broadly classified as generic or disease-specific measures. Several generic HRQOL instruments in different languages have been developed for paediatric populations including the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL 4.0) Generic Core Scale. This tool and a condition-specific tool, PedsQL 3.0 Cerebral Palsy (CP) Module, are widely used in children with CP. No psychometric properties have been reported for Thai PedsQL 4.0. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the psychometric properties of the Thai version of the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales and compare these with the values for the Thai PedsQL 3.0 CP Module reported previously. Thai PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales and the PedsQL 3.0 CP Module were completed, respectively, by children with CP and their parents or caregivers twice within 2-4 weeks. Respondents were 97 parents or caregivers and 54 children. Minimal missing data were found in most scales. Acceptable internal consistency was supported, except for Emotional, Social, and School Functioning. Intraclass correlation coefficients for parent-proxy report and self-report were good to excellent (0.625-0.849). The feasibility and reliability of the Thai PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales were supported. The Thai PedsQL 3.0 CP Module showed higher values for the psychometric properties. Low-to-good correlations were found among the scales between the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales and the 3.0 CP Module. Both instruments could be used to measure HRQOL for children with CP, and may provide different information.

5 CFR 960.104 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Membership. 960.104 Section 960.104 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED) CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS (CONTINUED) FEDERAL EXECUTIVE BOARDS § 960.104 Membership. (a) Presidential Directive. The President has directed the heads of agencies to arrange for the...

Female Gang Members: A Profile of Aggression and Victimization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molidor, Christian E.

1996-01-01

Most gang membership research studies males; few examine the etiology of female gang membership. Presents themes of female gang membership gathered from interviews with 15 young women. Examines demographic material, family structure, initiation rites, and criminal behaviors. Explores implications for social work practice and research. (FC)

14 CFR 1209.304 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Membership. 1209.304 Section 1209.304 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION BOARDS AND COMMITTEES Contract Adjustment Board § 1209.304 Membership. The Board will consist of a chairperson and four other members, all of whom...

7 CFR 948.151 - Colorado Potato Committee membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Colorado Potato Committee membership. 948.151 Section... POTATOES GROWN IN COLORADO Rules and Regulations Modification of Inspection Requirements § 948.151 Colorado Potato Committee membership. The Colorado Potato Committee shall be comprised of six members and...

16 CFR § 1018.16 - Membership selection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Membership selection. § 1018.16 Section Â... Establishment of Advisory Committees § 1018.16 Membership selection. (a) Whenever new applicants are required... Candidate Evaluation Panel, using selection criteria established by the Commission, shall evaluate all...

76 FR 56877 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Form 13013, and 13013-D

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-14

... Form 13013, Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) Membership Application, and Form 13013-D, Taxpayer Advocacy... Panel (TAP) Membership Application; Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Tax Check Waiver. OMB Number: 1545-1788. Form Numbers: 13013, 13013-D. Abstract: Form 13013, Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) Membership...

12 CFR 239.5 - Membership rights.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Membership rights. 239.5 Section 239.5 Banks and Banking FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM (CONTINUED) BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM (CONTINUED) MUTUAL HOLDING COMPANIES (REGULATION MM) Mutual Holding Companies § 239.5 Membership rights. (a...

12 CFR 239.5 - Membership rights.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Membership rights. 239.5 Section 239.5 Banks and Banking FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM (CONTINUED) BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM (CONTINUED) MUTUAL HOLDING COMPANIES (REGULATION MM) Mutual Holding Companies § 239.5 Membership rights. (a...

12 CFR 239.5 - Membership rights.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Membership rights. 239.5 Section 239.5 Banks and Banking FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM (CONTINUED) BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM (CONTINUED) MUTUAL HOLDING COMPANIES (REGULATION MM) Mutual Holding Companies § 239.5 Membership rights. (a...

7 CFR 948.151 - Colorado Potato Committee membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Colorado Potato Committee membership. 948.151 Section... POTATOES GROWN IN COLORADO Rules and Regulations Modification of Inspection Requirements § 948.151 Colorado Potato Committee membership. The Colorado Potato Committee shall be comprised of six members and...

7 CFR 948.151 - Colorado Potato Committee membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Colorado Potato Committee membership. 948.151 Section... POTATOES GROWN IN COLORADO Rules and Regulations Modification of Inspection Requirements § 948.151 Colorado Potato Committee membership. The Colorado Potato Committee shall be comprised of six members and...

7 CFR 948.151 - Colorado Potato Committee membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Colorado Potato Committee membership. 948.151 Section... POTATOES GROWN IN COLORADO Rules and Regulations Modification of Inspection Requirements § 948.151 Colorado Potato Committee membership. The Colorado Potato Committee shall be comprised of six members and...

7 CFR 948.151 - Colorado Potato Committee membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 8 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Colorado Potato Committee membership. 948.151 Section... POTATOES GROWN IN COLORADO Rules and Regulations Modification of Inspection Requirements § 948.151 Colorado Potato Committee membership. The Colorado Potato Committee shall be comprised of six members and...

Interactive lesion segmentation on dynamic contrast enhanced breast MRI using a Markov model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Qiu; Salganicoff, Marcos; Krishnan, Arun; Fussell, Donald S.; Markey, Mia K.

2006-03-01

The purpose of this study is to develop a method for segmenting lesions on Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced (DCE) breast MRI. DCE breast MRI, in which the breast is imaged before, during, and after the administration of a contrast agent, enables a truly 3D examination of breast tissues. This functional angiogenic imaging technique provides noninvasive assessment of microcirculatory characteristics of tissues in addition to traditional anatomical structure information. Since morphological features and kinetic curves from segmented lesions are to be used for diagnosis and treatment decisions, lesion segmentation is a key pre-processing step for classification. In our study, the ROI is defined by a bounding box containing the enhancement region in the subtraction image, which is generated by subtracting the pre-contrast image from 1st post-contrast image. A maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimate of the class membership (lesion vs. non-lesion) for each voxel is obtained using the Iterative Conditional Mode (ICM) method. The prior distribution of the class membership is modeled as a multi-level logistic model, a Markov Random Field model in which the class membership of each voxel is assumed to depend upon its nearest neighbors only. The likelihood distribution is assumed to be Gaussian. The parameters of each Gaussian distribution are estimated from a dozen voxels manually selected as representative of the class. The experimental segmentation results demonstrate anatomically plausible breast tissue segmentation and the predicted class membership of voxels from the interactive segmentation algorithm agrees with the manual classifications made by inspection of the kinetic enhancement curves. The proposed method is advantageous in that it is efficient, flexible, and robust.

RORA and posttraumatic stress trajectories: main effects and interactions with childhood physical abuse history

PubMed Central

Lowe, Sarah R; Meyers, Jacquelyn L; Galea, Sandro; Aiello, Allison E; Uddin, Monica; Wildman, Derek E; Koenen, Karestan C

2015-01-01

Background Longitudinal studies of posttraumatic stress (PTS) have documented environmental factors as predictors of trajectories of higher, versus lower, symptoms, among them experiences of childhood physical abuse. Although it is now well-accepted that genes and environments jointly shape the risk of PTS, no published studies have investigated genes, or gene-by-environment interactions (GxEs), as predictors of PTS trajectories. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap. Methods and Materials We examined associations between variants of the retinoid-related orphan receptor alpha (RORA) gene and trajectory membership among a sample of predominantly non-Hispanic Black urban adults (N = 473). The RORA gene was selected based on its association with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the first PTSD genome wide association study. Additionally, we explored GxEs between RORA variants and childhood physical abuse history. Results We found that the minor allele of the RORA SNP rs893290 was a significant predictor of membership in a trajectory of consistently high PTS, relatively to a trajectory of consistently low PTS. Additionally, the GxE of rs893290 with childhood physical abuse was significant. Decomposition of the interaction showed that minor allele frequency was more strongly associated with membership in consistently high or decreasing PTS trajectories, relative to a consistently low PTS trajectory, among participants with higher levels of childhood physical abuse. Conclusion The results of the study provide preliminary evidence that variation in the RORA gene is associated with membership in trajectories of higher PTS and that these associations are stronger among persons exposed to childhood physical abuse. Replication and analysis of functional data are needed to further our understanding of how RORA relates to PTS trajectories. PMID:25798337

Do Coffee Farmers Benefit in Food Security from Participating in Coffee Cooperatives? Evidence from Southwest Ethiopia Coffee Cooperatives.

PubMed

Shumeta, Zekarias; D'Haese, Marijke

2018-06-01

Most coffee in Ethiopia is produced by smallholder farmers who face a daily struggle to get sufficient income but also to feed their families. At the same time, many smallholder coffee producers are members of cooperatives. Yet, literature has paid little attention to the effect of cooperatives on combating food insecurity among cash crop producers including coffee farmers. The objective of the study was to investigate how coffee cooperative membership may affect food security among coffee farm households in Southwest Ethiopia. The study used cross-sectional household data on income, expenditure on food, staple food production (maize and teff), and utilization of improved inputs (fertilizer and improved seed) collected from 256 randomly selected farm households (132 cooperative members and 124 nonmembers) and applied an inverse probability weighting (IPW) estimation to assess the impact of cooperative membership on food security. The result revealed that cooperative membership has a positive and significant effect on staple food production (maize and teff) and facilitated technological transformation via increased utilization of fertilizer and improved seeds. Nonetheless, the effect on food expenditure and income could not be confirmed. Findings suggest a trade-off between coffee marketing and input supply functions of the cooperatives, impairing their true food security impact from the pooled income and production effect.

Modeling Temporal Behavior in Large Networks: A Dynamic Mixed-Membership Model

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

Rossi, R; Gallagher, B; Neville, J

Given a large time-evolving network, how can we model and characterize the temporal behaviors of individual nodes (and network states)? How can we model the behavioral transition patterns of nodes? We propose a temporal behavior model that captures the 'roles' of nodes in the graph and how they evolve over time. The proposed dynamic behavioral mixed-membership model (DBMM) is scalable, fully automatic (no user-defined parameters), non-parametric/data-driven (no specific functional form or parameterization), interpretable (identifies explainable patterns), and flexible (applicable to dynamic and streaming networks). Moreover, the interpretable behavioral roles are generalizable, computationally efficient, and natively supports attributes. We applied ourmore » model for (a) identifying patterns and trends of nodes and network states based on the temporal behavior, (b) predicting future structural changes, and (c) detecting unusual temporal behavior transitions. We use eight large real-world datasets from different time-evolving settings (dynamic and streaming). In particular, we model the evolving mixed-memberships and the corresponding behavioral transitions of Twitter, Facebook, IP-Traces, Email (University), Internet AS, Enron, Reality, and IMDB. The experiments demonstrate the scalability, flexibility, and effectiveness of our model for identifying interesting patterns, detecting unusual structural transitions, and predicting the future structural changes of the network and individual nodes.« less

Classification of Clouds in Satellite Imagery Using Adaptive Fuzzy Sparse Representation

PubMed Central

Jin, Wei; Gong, Fei; Zeng, Xingbin; Fu, Randi

2016-01-01

Automatic cloud detection and classification using satellite cloud imagery have various meteorological applications such as weather forecasting and climate monitoring. Cloud pattern analysis is one of the research hotspots recently. Since satellites sense the clouds remotely from space, and different cloud types often overlap and convert into each other, there must be some fuzziness and uncertainty in satellite cloud imagery. Satellite observation is susceptible to noises, while traditional cloud classification methods are sensitive to noises and outliers; it is hard for traditional cloud classification methods to achieve reliable results. To deal with these problems, a satellite cloud classification method using adaptive fuzzy sparse representation-based classification (AFSRC) is proposed. Firstly, by defining adaptive parameters related to attenuation rate and critical membership, an improved fuzzy membership is introduced to accommodate the fuzziness and uncertainty of satellite cloud imagery; secondly, by effective combination of the improved fuzzy membership function and sparse representation-based classification (SRC), atoms in training dictionary are optimized; finally, an adaptive fuzzy sparse representation classifier for cloud classification is proposed. Experiment results on FY-2G satellite cloud image show that, the proposed method not only improves the accuracy of cloud classification, but also has strong stability and adaptability with high computational efficiency. PMID:27999261

78 FR 30737 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Reestablishment of Membership on the Colorado Potato...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-23

... contains regulatory documents #0;having general applicability and legal effect, most of which are keyed #0... FR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Reestablishment of Membership on the Colorado Potato...: This final rule reestablishes the membership on the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, Area No...

32 CFR 219.107 - IRB membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 32 National Defense 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false IRB membership. 219.107 Section 219.107 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (CONTINUED) MISCELLANEOUS PROTECTION OF HUMAN SUBJECTS § 219.107 IRB membership. (a) Each IRB shall have at least five members, with...

22 CFR 40.34 - Immigrant membership in totalitarian party.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... an alien's membership in, or affiliation with, any proscribed party or organization, and shall not.... If an alien continues or continued membership in or affiliation with a proscribed organization on or after reaching 16 years of age, only the alien's activities after reaching that age shall be pertinent...

22 CFR 40.34 - Immigrant membership in totalitarian party.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... an alien's membership in, or affiliation with, any proscribed party or organization, and shall not.... If an alien continues or continued membership in or affiliation with a proscribed organization on or after reaching 16 years of age, only the alien's activities after reaching that age shall be pertinent...

22 CFR 40.34 - Immigrant membership in totalitarian party.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... an alien's membership in, or affiliation with, any proscribed party or organization, and shall not.... If an alien continues or continued membership in or affiliation with a proscribed organization on or after reaching 16 years of age, only the alien's activities after reaching that age shall be pertinent...

78 FR 78513 - Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group; Solicitation of Application for Membership

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-26

... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group; Solicitation of Application for Membership AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (``FinCEN''), Treasury... institutions and trade groups for membership on the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group. New members will be...

Birth Order, Club Membership and Mass Media Exposure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tomeh, Aida K.

1976-01-01

Examines the relationship between birth order, club membership and mass media exposure for women college students in Lebanon. Findings show the total membership rate and mass media consumption are higher among last born girls than first born. Birth order differences are explained in terms of the differential socialization of children. (Author)

75 FR 15704 - Old Dominion Electric Cooperative; North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, Complainants v...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-30

... Electric Cooperative; North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, Complainants v. Virginia Electric and... the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 824(e) and 825(e), Old Dominion Electric Cooperative and North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation (Complainants) filed a formal complaint against Virginia Electric...

7 CFR 1205.402 - Determination of Cotton Board membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Determination of Cotton Board membership. 1205.402... COTTON RESEARCH AND PROMOTION Members of Cotton Board § 1205.402 Determination of Cotton Board membership. (a) In determining whether any cotton-producing state is entitled to be represented by more than one...

7 CFR 1205.402 - Determination of Cotton Board membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Determination of Cotton Board membership. 1205.402... COTTON RESEARCH AND PROMOTION Members of Cotton Board § 1205.402 Determination of Cotton Board membership. (a) In determining whether any cotton-producing state is entitled to be represented by more than one...

7 CFR 1205.402 - Determination of Cotton Board membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Determination of Cotton Board membership. 1205.402... COTTON RESEARCH AND PROMOTION Members of Cotton Board § 1205.402 Determination of Cotton Board membership. (a) In determining whether any cotton-producing state is entitled to be represented by more than one...

7 CFR 1205.402 - Determination of Cotton Board membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Determination of Cotton Board membership. 1205.402... COTTON RESEARCH AND PROMOTION Members of Cotton Board § 1205.402 Determination of Cotton Board membership. (a) In determining whether any cotton-producing state is entitled to be represented by more than one...

7 CFR 1205.402 - Determination of Cotton Board membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Determination of Cotton Board membership. 1205.402... COTTON RESEARCH AND PROMOTION Members of Cotton Board § 1205.402 Determination of Cotton Board membership. (a) In determining whether any cotton-producing state is entitled to be represented by more than one...

77 FR 42257 - General Conference Committee of the National Poultry Improvement Plan; Solicitation for Membership

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-18

...] General Conference Committee of the National Poultry Improvement Plan; Solicitation for Membership AGENCY... regional membership for the General Conference Committee of the National Poultry Improvement Plan. DATES... INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. C. Stephen Roney, Senior Coordinator, National Poultry Improvement Plan, VS, APHIS...

12 CFR 925.30 - Readmission to membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Readmission to membership. 925.30 Section 925.30 Banks and Banking FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE BOARD FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK MEMBERS AND HOUSING... transfers membership between two Banks without interruption shall not be deemed to have withdrawn from Bank...

77 FR 15445 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.; Notice of Filing...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-15

... Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change To Amend Online Form NMA, the Standardized Membership Application Form... online Form NMA, the standardized membership application form applicants must file pursuant to NASD Rule...), each applicant for FINRA membership must complete and electronically file the standardized online Form...

12 CFR 725.4 - Agent membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Agent membership. 725.4 Section 725.4 Banks and Banking NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS AFFECTING CREDIT UNIONS NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION CENTRAL LIQUIDITY FACILITY § 725.4 Agent membership. (a) A central credit union or a group of...

14 CFR § 1203.802 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Membership. § 1203.802 Section § 1203.802 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION SECURITY PROGRAM Delegation of Authority To Make Determinations in Original Classification Matters § 1203.802 Membership. The Committee...

7 CFR 1767.19 - Liabilities and other credits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Issued A. This account shall include the face value of membership certificates outstanding. A detailed....2Memberships Subscribed But Unissued This account shall include the face value of memberships subscribed for... account shall include, in a separate subdivision for each class and series of bonds, the face value of the...

7 CFR 1767.19 - Liabilities and other credits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... Issued A. This account shall include the face value of membership certificates outstanding. A detailed....2Memberships Subscribed But Unissued This account shall include the face value of memberships subscribed for... account shall include, in a separate subdivision for each class and series of bonds, the face value of the...

7 CFR 1767.19 - Liabilities and other credits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Issued A. This account shall include the face value of membership certificates outstanding. A detailed....2Memberships Subscribed But Unissued This account shall include the face value of memberships subscribed for... account shall include, in a separate subdivision for each class and series of bonds, the face value of the...

7 CFR 1767.19 - Liabilities and other credits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Issued A. This account shall include the face value of membership certificates outstanding. A detailed....2Memberships Subscribed But Unissued This account shall include the face value of memberships subscribed for... account shall include, in a separate subdivision for each class and series of bonds, the face value of the...

12 CFR 925.2 - Membership application requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... three years after the Bank decides whether to approve or deny membership and the resolution of any... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Membership application requirements. 925.2 Section 925.2 Banks and Banking FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE BOARD FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK MEMBERS AND HOUSING...

12 CFR 925.26 - Voluntary withdrawal from membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Voluntary withdrawal from membership. 925.26 Section 925.26 Banks and Banking FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE BOARD FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK MEMBERS AND HOUSING ASSOCIATES MEMBERS OF THE BANKS Withdrawal and Removal From Membership § 925.26 Voluntary withdrawal from...

Fuzzifying historical peak water levels: case study of the river Rhine at Basel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salinas, Jose Luis; Kiss, Andrea; Blöschl, Günter

2016-04-01

Hydrological information comes from a variety of sources, which in some cases might be non-precise. In particular, this is an important issue for the available information on water stages during historical floods. An accurate estimation of the water level profile, together with an elevation model of the riverbed and floodplain areas is fundamental for the hydraulic reconstruction of historical flood events, allowing the back calculation of flood peak discharges, velocity and erosion fields, damages, among others. For the greatest floods during the last 1700 years, Wetter et al. (2011) reconstructed the water levels and historical discharges at different locations in the old city centre from a variety of historical sources (stone marks, official documents, paintings, etc). This work presents a model for the inherent unpreciseness of these historical water levels. This is, with the arithmetics of fuzzy numbers, described by their membership functions, in a similar fashion as the probability density function describes the uncertainty of a random variable. Additional to the in-site collected water stages from floodmarks and other documentary evidence (e.g. preserved in narratives and newspaper flood reports) are prone to be modeled in a fuzzy way. This study presents the use of fuzzy logic to transform historical information from different sources, in this case of flood water stages, into membership functions. This values might then introduced in the mathematical framework of Fuzzy Bayesian Inference to perform the statistical analyses with the rules of fuzzy numbers algebra. The results of this flood frequency analysis, as in the traditional non-fuzzy way, link discharges with exceedance probabilities or return periods. The main difference is, that the modeled discharge quantiles are not precise values, but fuzzy numbers instead, represented by their membership functions explicitly including the unpreciseness of the historical information used. Wetter, O., Pfister, C., Weingartner, R., Luterbacher, J., Reist, T., & Trösch, J. (2011) The largest floods in the High Rhine basin since 1268 assessed from documentary and instrumental evidence. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(5), 733-758.

Multi-scale clustering by building a robust and self correcting ultrametric topology on data points.

PubMed

Fushing, Hsieh; Wang, Hui; Vanderwaal, Kimberly; McCowan, Brenda; Koehl, Patrice

2013-01-01

The advent of high-throughput technologies and the concurrent advances in information sciences have led to an explosion in size and complexity of the data sets collected in biological sciences. The biggest challenge today is to assimilate this wealth of information into a conceptual framework that will help us decipher biological functions. A large and complex collection of data, usually called a data cloud, naturally embeds multi-scale characteristics and features, generically termed geometry. Understanding this geometry is the foundation for extracting knowledge from data. We have developed a new methodology, called data cloud geometry-tree (DCG-tree), to resolve this challenge. This new procedure has two main features that are keys to its success. Firstly, it derives from the empirical similarity measurements a hierarchy of clustering configurations that captures the geometric structure of the data. This hierarchy is then transformed into an ultrametric space, which is then represented via an ultrametric tree or a Parisi matrix. Secondly, it has a built-in mechanism for self-correcting clustering membership across different tree levels. We have compared the trees generated with this new algorithm to equivalent trees derived with the standard Hierarchical Clustering method on simulated as well as real data clouds from fMRI brain connectivity studies, cancer genomics, giraffe social networks, and Lewis Carroll's Doublets network. In each of these cases, we have shown that the DCG trees are more robust and less sensitive to measurement errors, and that they provide a better quantification of the multi-scale geometric structures of the data. As such, DCG-tree is an effective tool for analyzing complex biological data sets.

Academic and Social Functioning Associated with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Latent Class Analyses of Trajectories from Kindergarten to Fifth Grade.

PubMed

DuPaul, George J; Morgan, Paul L; Farkas, George; Hillemeier, Marianne M; Maczuga, Steve

2016-10-01

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are known to exhibit significantly lower academic and social functioning than other children. Yet the field currently lacks knowledge about specific impairment trajectories experienced by children with ADHD, which may constrain early screening and intervention effectiveness. Data were analyzed from a nationally representative U.S. cohort in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K) for 590 children (72.7 % male) whose parents reported a formal diagnosis of ADHD. Children's math, reading, and interpersonal skills were assessed at 5 time points between kindergarten and fifth grade. Growth mixture model analyses indicated 4 latent trajectory classes for reading, 8 classes for math, and 4 classes for interpersonal skills. Membership in reading and math trajectory classes was strongly related; overlaps with interpersonal skills classes were weaker. Trajectory class membership was correlated with demographic characteristics and behavioral functioning. Children with ADHD display substantial heterogeneity in their reading, math, and interpersonal growth trajectories, with some groups of children especially likely to display relatively severe levels of academic and social impairment over time. Early screening and intervention to address impairment, particularly reading difficulties, among kindergarten students with ADHD is warranted.

Performance degradation of a model helicopter rotor with a generic ice shape

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Korkan, K. D.; Cross, E. J., Jr.; Miller, T. L.

1984-01-01

An experimental program using a commercially available remotely controlled model helicopter in the Texas A&M University (TAMU) subsonic wind tunnel has been conducted to investigate the performance degradation resulting from the simulated formation of ice on the leading edge of the main rotor blades in both hover and forward flight. The rotor blades utilized a NACA 0012 airfoil with a 2.5-in. constant chord. A generic ice shape derived from a predetermined natural ice condition was applied to the 53.375-in.-diameter main rotor, and thrust and torque coefficients were measured for the main rotor as functions of velocity, main rotor rpm, fuselage angle of incidence, collective pitch angle, and spanwise extent of icing. The model helicopter test exhibited significant performance degradation of the main rotor when generic ice was added. An increase of approximately 150 percent in torque coefficient to maintain a constant thrust coefficient was noted when generic ice had been applied to the 85 percent rotor radial location. Also, considerable additional degradation occurred when generic ice was applied to the 100 percent rotor radial location, as compared with the 85 percent simulated ice performance values, indicating the sensitivity of the rotor tip region.

External validity of a generic safety climate scale for lone workers across different industries and companies.

PubMed

Lee, Jin; Huang, Yueng-hsiang; Robertson, Michelle M; Murphy, Lauren A; Garabet, Angela; Chang, Wen-Ruey

2014-02-01

The goal of this study was to examine the external validity of a 12-item generic safety climate scale for lone workers in order to evaluate the appropriateness of generalized use of the scale in the measurement of safety climate across various lone work settings. External validity evidence was established by investigating the measurement equivalence (ME) across different industries and companies. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)-based and item response theory (IRT)-based perspectives were adopted to examine the ME of the generic safety climate scale for lone workers across 11 companies from the trucking, electrical utility, and cable television industries. Fairly strong evidence of ME was observed for both organization- and group-level generic safety climate sub-scales. Although significant invariance was observed in the item intercepts across the different lone work settings, absolute model fit indices remained satisfactory in the most robust step of CFA-based ME testing. IRT-based ME testing identified only one differentially functioning item from the organization-level generic safety climate sub-scale, but its impact was minimal and strong ME was supported. The generic safety climate scale for lone workers reported good external validity and supported the presence of a common feature of safety climate among lone workers. The scale can be used as an effective safety evaluation tool in various lone work situations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Docudrama Techniques and Negotiating One's Identity in David Edgar's "Pentecost"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al Sharadgeh, Samer Ziyad

2018-01-01

Edgar manages to invert the subordinate function of generally accepted objective indicators of membership of a particular national group--language, religion, common history, and territory--into the essential mode of imperative distinction shaping the unique national identity. In other words, it is the fresco and the value assigned to it that…

Emotion Regulation and Internalizing Symptoms in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rieffe, Carolien; Oosterveld, Paul; Terwogt, Mark Meerum; Mootz, Saskia; van Leeuwen, Edwin; Stockmann, Lex

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the unique contribution of two aspects of emotion regulation (awareness and coping) to the development of internalizing problems in 11-year-old high-functioning children with an autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) and a control group, and the moderating effect of group membership on this. The results revealed…

With All Those Perks, How Do College Presidents Spend Their Money?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fogg, Piper

2007-01-01

Many college presidents get a load of freebies--big house, nice car, fancy meals, country-club membership. The perks help them perform official duties, like holding college functions at home and courting donors on the golf course. Since many of their living expenses are taken care of, they have cash to spare. The median compensation, including…

Assessing Sense of School Belonging across Cultural Contexts Using the PSSM: Measurement and Functional Invariance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abubakar, Amina; van de Vijver, Fons J. R.; Alonso-Arbiol, Itziar; Suryani, Angela O.; Pandia, Weny Savitry; Handani, Penny; Arasa, Josephine; Mazrui, Lubna; Murugumi, Margaret

2016-01-01

Despite its popularity, the factorial structure of the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) Questionnaire remains controversial. The current study set out to clarify its structure across different cultural contexts. The study was carried out among 1,928 adolescents aged 11 to 20 years in the Netherlands, Kenya, Indonesia, and Spain.…

Religious Conservatism and Women's Market Behavior Following Marriage and Childbirth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glass, Jennifer; Nath, Leda E.

2006-01-01

This study explores the effect of religious conservatism on the labor force behavior of women who marry or add a new child to their household, using the 1988-1993 National Survey of Families and Households (N = 3,494). We model changes in labor supply, occupation, and wages as a function of either conservative denominational membership or…

Diabetes: Guidelines of Care for Children with Special Health Care Needs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minnesota State Dept. of Health, Minneapolis. Services for Children with Handicaps.

This booklet contains guidelines to help families coordinate health care of a child with diabetes. The first section provides general information covering what diabetes mellitus-Type I is, the symptoms of diabetes, causes of Type I diabetes, and effects of diabetes. A section on health care focuses on the membership and functions of the Family…

Texas Community College Graduation and Persistence Rates as a Function of Student Ethnicity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spangler, J. Mark; Slate, John R.

2015-01-01

In this investigation, the graduation and persistence rates of Texas community college students by ethnic membership (i.e., White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian) for the 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 academic years were examined. Statistically significant differences were present between the 2000 and the 2010 graduation and…

Poverty Lines Based on Fuzzy Sets Theory and Its Application to Malaysian Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abdullah, Lazim

2011-01-01

Defining the poverty line has been acknowledged as being highly variable by the majority of published literature. Despite long discussions and successes, poverty line has a number of problems due to its arbitrary nature. This paper proposes three measurements of poverty lines using membership functions based on fuzzy set theory. The three…

A randomized, double-blind, cross-over, phase IV trial of oros-methylphenidate (CONCERTA(®)) and generic novo-methylphenidate ER-C (NOVO-generic).

PubMed

Fallu, Angelo; Dabouz, Farida; Furtado, Melissa; Anand, Leena; Katzman, Martin A

2016-08-01

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurobehavioral disorder with onset during childhood. Multiple aspects of a child's development are hindered, in both home and school settings, with negative impacts on social, emotional, and cognitive functioning. If left untreated, ADHD is commonly associated with poor academic achievement and low occupational status, as well as increased risk of substance abuse and delinquency. The objective of this study was to evaluate adult ADHD subject reported outcomes when switched from a stable dose of CONCERTA(®) to the same dose of generic Novo-methylphenidate ER-C(®). Randomized, double-blind, cross-over, phase IV trial consisted of two phases in which participants with a primary diagnosis of ADHD were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to 3 weeks of treatment with CONCERTA or generic Novo-Methylphenidate ER-C. Following 3 weeks of treatment, participants were crossed-over to receive the other treatment for an additional 3 weeks. Primary efficacy was assessed through the use of the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication, Version II (TSQM-II). Participants with ADHD treated with CONCERTA were more satisfied in terms of efficacy and side effects compared to those receiving an equivalent dose of generic Novo-Methylphenidate ER-C. All participants chose to continue with CONCERTA treatment at the conclusion of the study. Although CONCERTA and generic Novo-Methylphenidate ER-C have been deemed bioequivalent, however the present findings demonstrate clinically and statistically significant differences between generic and branded CONCERTA. Further investigation of these differences is warranted.

Bioequivalence between innovator and generic tacrolimus in liver and kidney transplant recipients: A randomized, crossover clinical trial

PubMed Central

Vinks, Alexander A.; Fukuda, Tsuyoshi; King, Eileen C.; Zou, Yuanshu; Jiang, Wenlei; Klawitter, Jelena; Christians, Uwe

2017-01-01

Background Although the generic drug approval process has a long-term successful track record, concerns remain for approval of narrow therapeutic index generic immunosuppressants, such as tacrolimus, in transplant recipients. Several professional transplant societies and publications have generated skepticism of the generic approval process. Three major areas of concern are that the pharmacokinetic properties of generic products and the innovator (that is, “brand”) product in healthy volunteers may not reflect those in transplant recipients, bioequivalence between generic and innovator may not ensure bioequivalence between generics, and high-risk patients may have specific bioequivalence concerns. Such concerns have been fueled by anecdotal observations and retrospective and uncontrolled published studies, while well-designed, controlled prospective studies testing the validity of the regulatory bioequivalence testing approach for narrow therapeutic index immunosuppressants in transplant recipients have been lacking. Thus, the present study prospectively assesses bioequivalence between innovator tacrolimus and 2 generics in individuals with a kidney or liver transplant. Methods and findings From December 2013 through October 2014, a prospective, replicate dosing, partially blinded, randomized, 3-treatment, 6-period crossover bioequivalence study was conducted at the University of Cincinnati in individuals with a kidney (n = 35) or liver transplant (n = 36). Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDA) data that included manufacturing and healthy individual pharmacokinetic data for all generics were evaluated to select the 2 most disparate generics from innovator, and these were named Generic Hi and Generic Lo. During the 8-week study period, pharmacokinetic studies assessed the bioequivalence of Generic Hi and Generic Lo with the Innovator tacrolimus and with each other. Bioequivalence of the major tacrolimus metabolite was also assessed. All products fell within the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) average bioequivalence (ABE) acceptance criteria of a 90% confidence interval contained within the confidence limits of 80.00% and 125.00%. Within-subject variability was similar for the area under the curve (AUC) (range 12.11–15.81) and the concentration maximum (Cmax) (range 17.96–24.72) for all products. The within-subject variability was utilized to calculate the scaled average bioequivalence (SCABE) 90% confidence interval. The calculated SCABE 90% confidence interval was 84.65%–118.13% and 80.00%–125.00% for AUC and Cmax, respectively. The more stringent SCABE acceptance criteria were met for all product comparisons for AUC and Cmax in both individuals with a kidney transplant and those with a liver transplant. European Medicines Agency (EMA) acceptance criteria for narrow therapeutic index drugs were also met, with the only exception being in the case of Brand versus Generic Lo, in which the upper limits of the 90% confidence intervals were 111.30% (kidney) and 112.12% (liver). These were only slightly above the upper EMA acceptance criteria limit for an AUC of 111.11%. SCABE criteria were also met for the major tacrolimus metabolite 13-O-desmethyl tacrolimus for AUC, but it failed the EMA criterion. No acute rejections, no differences in renal function in all individuals, and no differences in liver function were observed in individuals with a liver transplant using the Tukey honest significant difference (HSD) test for multiple comparisons. Fifty-two percent and 65% of all individuals with a kidney or liver transplant, respectively, reported an adverse event. The Exact McNemar test for paired categorical data with adjustments for multiple comparisons was used to compare adverse event rates among the products. No statistically significant differences among any pairs of products were found for any adverse event code or for adverse events overall. Limitations of this study include that the observations were made under strictly controlled conditions that did not allow for the impact of nonadherence or feeding on the possible pharmacokinetic differences. Generic Hi and Lo were selected based upon bioequivalence data in healthy volunteers because no pharmacokinetic data in recipients were available for all products. The safety data should be interpreted in light of the small number of participants and the short observation periods. Lastly, only the 1 mg tacrolimus strength was utilized in this study. Conclusions Using an innovative, controlled bioequivalence study design, we observed equivalence between tacrolimus innovator and 2 generic products as well as between 2 generic products in individuals after kidney or liver transplantation following current FDA bioequivalence metrics. These results support the position that bioequivalence for the narrow therapeutic index drug tacrolimus translates from healthy volunteers to individuals receiving a kidney or liver transplant and provides evidence that generic products that are bioequivalent with the innovator product are also bioequivalent to each other. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01889758. PMID:29135993

Bioequivalence between innovator and generic tacrolimus in liver and kidney transplant recipients: A randomized, crossover clinical trial.

PubMed

Alloway, Rita R; Vinks, Alexander A; Fukuda, Tsuyoshi; Mizuno, Tomoyuki; King, Eileen C; Zou, Yuanshu; Jiang, Wenlei; Woodle, E Steve; Tremblay, Simon; Klawitter, Jelena; Klawitter, Jost; Christians, Uwe

2017-11-01

Although the generic drug approval process has a long-term successful track record, concerns remain for approval of narrow therapeutic index generic immunosuppressants, such as tacrolimus, in transplant recipients. Several professional transplant societies and publications have generated skepticism of the generic approval process. Three major areas of concern are that the pharmacokinetic properties of generic products and the innovator (that is, "brand") product in healthy volunteers may not reflect those in transplant recipients, bioequivalence between generic and innovator may not ensure bioequivalence between generics, and high-risk patients may have specific bioequivalence concerns. Such concerns have been fueled by anecdotal observations and retrospective and uncontrolled published studies, while well-designed, controlled prospective studies testing the validity of the regulatory bioequivalence testing approach for narrow therapeutic index immunosuppressants in transplant recipients have been lacking. Thus, the present study prospectively assesses bioequivalence between innovator tacrolimus and 2 generics in individuals with a kidney or liver transplant. From December 2013 through October 2014, a prospective, replicate dosing, partially blinded, randomized, 3-treatment, 6-period crossover bioequivalence study was conducted at the University of Cincinnati in individuals with a kidney (n = 35) or liver transplant (n = 36). Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDA) data that included manufacturing and healthy individual pharmacokinetic data for all generics were evaluated to select the 2 most disparate generics from innovator, and these were named Generic Hi and Generic Lo. During the 8-week study period, pharmacokinetic studies assessed the bioequivalence of Generic Hi and Generic Lo with the Innovator tacrolimus and with each other. Bioequivalence of the major tacrolimus metabolite was also assessed. All products fell within the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) average bioequivalence (ABE) acceptance criteria of a 90% confidence interval contained within the confidence limits of 80.00% and 125.00%. Within-subject variability was similar for the area under the curve (AUC) (range 12.11-15.81) and the concentration maximum (Cmax) (range 17.96-24.72) for all products. The within-subject variability was utilized to calculate the scaled average bioequivalence (SCABE) 90% confidence interval. The calculated SCABE 90% confidence interval was 84.65%-118.13% and 80.00%-125.00% for AUC and Cmax, respectively. The more stringent SCABE acceptance criteria were met for all product comparisons for AUC and Cmax in both individuals with a kidney transplant and those with a liver transplant. European Medicines Agency (EMA) acceptance criteria for narrow therapeutic index drugs were also met, with the only exception being in the case of Brand versus Generic Lo, in which the upper limits of the 90% confidence intervals were 111.30% (kidney) and 112.12% (liver). These were only slightly above the upper EMA acceptance criteria limit for an AUC of 111.11%. SCABE criteria were also met for the major tacrolimus metabolite 13-O-desmethyl tacrolimus for AUC, but it failed the EMA criterion. No acute rejections, no differences in renal function in all individuals, and no differences in liver function were observed in individuals with a liver transplant using the Tukey honest significant difference (HSD) test for multiple comparisons. Fifty-two percent and 65% of all individuals with a kidney or liver transplant, respectively, reported an adverse event. The Exact McNemar test for paired categorical data with adjustments for multiple comparisons was used to compare adverse event rates among the products. No statistically significant differences among any pairs of products were found for any adverse event code or for adverse events overall. Limitations of this study include that the observations were made under strictly controlled conditions that did not allow for the impact of nonadherence or feeding on the possible pharmacokinetic differences. Generic Hi and Lo were selected based upon bioequivalence data in healthy volunteers because no pharmacokinetic data in recipients were available for all products. The safety data should be interpreted in light of the small number of participants and the short observation periods. Lastly, only the 1 mg tacrolimus strength was utilized in this study. Using an innovative, controlled bioequivalence study design, we observed equivalence between tacrolimus innovator and 2 generic products as well as between 2 generic products in individuals after kidney or liver transplantation following current FDA bioequivalence metrics. These results support the position that bioequivalence for the narrow therapeutic index drug tacrolimus translates from healthy volunteers to individuals receiving a kidney or liver transplant and provides evidence that generic products that are bioequivalent with the innovator product are also bioequivalent to each other. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01889758.

77 FR 30993 - Secretary's Advisory Committee on Animal Health; Notice of Solicitation for Membership

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-24

.... R.J. Cabrera, Writing, Editing, and Regulatory Coordination, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 35... within or outside its membership. Nomination forms are available on the Internet at http://www.ocio.usda... taken into account the needs of the diverse groups served by the Department, membership should include...

Fraternity as "Enabling Environment:" Does Membership Lead to Gambling Problems?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biddix, J. Patrick; Hardy, Thomas W.

2008-01-01

Researchers have suggested that fraternity membership is the most reliable predictor of gambling and gambling problems on campus. The purpose of this study was to determine if problematic gambling could be linked to specific aspects of fraternity membership. Though the null hypothesis (no enabling environment) failed to be rejected, descriptive…

A Model of Sustainability for Professional Organizations: Using a Learning Management System to Offer Continuing Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sparrow, Gregory S.

2017-01-01

Professional membership organizations have long maintained their exposure and revenue stream through a variety of traditional avenues, most notably memberships, sponsored conferences, and professional journals. The synergy of this three-tiered model has depended on a certain enhanced status derived from membership benefits and proprietary…

21 CFR 14.147 - Membership of a color additive advisory committee.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Membership of a color additive advisory committee... SERVICES GENERAL PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE A PUBLIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE Color Additive Advisory Committees § 14.147 Membership of a color additive advisory committee. (a) The members of a color additive advisory...

78 FR 53728 - Corporation for Travel Promotion (dba Brand USA)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-30

... opportunity for travel and tourism industry leaders to apply for membership on the Board of Directors of the... travel and tourism leaders from specific industries for membership on the Board of Directors (Board) of... Register a ``Notice of an opportunity for travel and tourism industry leaders to apply for membership on...

Diagnosticity and Prototypicality in Category Learning: A Comparison of Inference Learning and Classification Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chin-Parker, Seth; Ross, Brian H.

2004-01-01

Category knowledge allows for both the determination of category membership and an understanding of what the members of a category are like. Diagnostic information is used to determine category membership; prototypical information reflects the most likely features given category membership. Two experiments examined 2 means of category learning,…

78 FR 40138 - Notification of Deletion of System of Records: Kid's Club Membership List (EPA-57)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-03

... System of Records: Kid's Club Membership List (EPA-57) AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA... Kids Club Membership List (EPA-57) published in the Federal Register on March 2, 2006, from its... CONTACT: Megan Gavin, (312) 353-5282. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: General Information The Kid's Club...

A Little Salesmanship "Grows" a Long Way

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montas, Leah

2012-01-01

Goshen Elementary PTA's membership shrank the first year the author was PTA president. In the back of her mind, she was bothered by the fact that their membership numbers had dropped. So, after she attended a regional session with her vice president on growing membership, she got the courage to propose something different. They discussed with…

Analysing "Migrant" Membership Frames through Education Policy Discourse: An Example of Restrictive "Integration" Policy within Europe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dubois-Shaik, Farah

2014-01-01

This article proposes combining discourse theory and perspectives on political membership developments in Western European societies. It combines theories and examples of policy discourses about "migrant integration" in the Swiss national context in the sphere of education. This examination aims to deconstruct specific membership framing…

Moral accounts and membership categorization in primary care medical interviews.

PubMed

Dillon, Patrick J

2011-01-01

Although the link between health and morality has been well established, few studies have examined how issues of morality emerge and are addressed in primary care medical encounters. This paper addresses the need to examine morality as it is (re) constructed in everyday health care interactions. A Membership Categorization Analysis of 96 medical interviews reveals how patients orient to particular membership categories and distance themselves from others as a means of accounting (Buttny 1993; Scott and Lyman 1968) for morally questionable health behaviours. More specifically, this paper examines how patients use membership categorizations in order to achieve specific social identity(ies) (Schubert et al. 2009) through two primary strategies: defensive detailing and prioritizing alternative membership categories. Thus, this analysis tracks the emergence of cultural and moral knowledge about social life as it takes place in primary care medical encounters.

Wilson polynomials/functions and intertwining operators for the generic quantum superintegrable system on the 2-sphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, W., Jr.; Li, Q.

2015-04-01

The Wilson and Racah polynomials can be characterized as basis functions for irreducible representations of the quadratic symmetry algebra of the quantum superintegrable system on the 2-sphere, HΨ = EΨ, with generic 3-parameter potential. Clearly, the polynomials are expansion coefficients for one eigenbasis of a symmetry operator L2 of H in terms of an eigenbasis of another symmetry operator L1, but the exact relationship appears not to have been made explicit. We work out the details of the expansion to show, explicitly, how the polynomials arise and how the principal properties of these functions: the measure, 3-term recurrence relation, 2nd order difference equation, duality of these relations, permutation symmetry, intertwining operators and an alternate derivation of Wilson functions - follow from the symmetry of this quantum system. This paper is an exercise to show that quantum mechancal concepts and recurrence relations for Gausian hypergeometrc functions alone suffice to explain these properties; we make no assumptions about the structure of Wilson polynomial/functions, but derive them from quantum principles. There is active interest in the relation between multivariable Wilson polynomials and the quantum superintegrable system on the n-sphere with generic potential, and these results should aid in the generalization. Contracting function space realizations of irreducible representations of this quadratic algebra to the other superintegrable systems one can obtain the full Askey scheme of orthogonal hypergeometric polynomials. All of these contractions of superintegrable systems with potential are uniquely induced by Wigner Lie algebra contractions of so(3, C) and e(2,C). All of the polynomials produced are interpretable as quantum expansion coefficients. It is important to extend this process to higher dimensions.

AAS Statistics and the 60% Cohort

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marvel, K. B.

2004-05-01

I will present the latest statistics available describing the gender of the AAS membership including an update on the so-called 60% cohort (that group of AAS members from the ages of 18 to 25 who are 60% women and 40% men). The AAS membership has changed significantly in the past 30 years from an overall female membership percentage of about 10% to a level around 30% today. This trend is accelerating and indicates the ongoing inclusion of women in the physical sciences, especially astronomy. By the year 2030, the AAS membership should reach gender parity if the present trend continues.

Orbital construction support equipment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

Approximately 200 separate construction steps were defined for the three solar power satellite (SPS) concepts. Detailed construction scenarios were developed which describe the specific tasks to be accomplished, and identify general equipment requirements. The scenarios were used to perform a functional analysis, which resulted in the definition of 100 distinct SPS elements. These elements are the components, parts, subsystems, or assemblies upon which construction activities take place. The major SPS elements for each configuration are shown. For those elements, 300 functional requirements were identified in seven generic processes. Cumulatively, these processes encompass all functions required during SPS construction/assembly. Individually each process is defined such that it includes a specific type of activity. Each SPS element may involve activities relating to any or all of the generic processes. The processes are listed, and examples of the requirements defined for a typical element are given.

A Generic Nonlinear Aerodynamic Model for Aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grauer, Jared A.; Morelli, Eugene A.

2014-01-01

A generic model of the aerodynamic coefficients was developed using wind tunnel databases for eight different aircraft and multivariate orthogonal functions. For each database and each coefficient, models were determined using polynomials expanded about the state and control variables, and an othgonalization procedure. A predicted squared-error criterion was used to automatically select the model terms. Modeling terms picked in at least half of the analyses, which totalled 45 terms, were retained to form the generic nonlinear aerodynamic (GNA) model. Least squares was then used to estimate the model parameters and associated uncertainty that best fit the GNA model to each database. Nonlinear flight simulations were used to demonstrate that the GNA model produces accurate trim solutions, local behavior (modal frequencies and damping ratios), and global dynamic behavior (91% accurate state histories and 80% accurate aerodynamic coefficient histories) under large-amplitude excitation. This compact aerodynamics model can be used to decrease on-board memory storage requirements, quickly change conceptual aircraft models, provide smooth analytical functions for control and optimization applications, and facilitate real-time parametric system identification.

Sport and Recreation Are Associated With Happiness Across Countries.

PubMed

Balish, Shea M; Conacher, Dan; Dithurbide, Lori

2016-12-01

Preliminary findings suggest sport participation is positively associated with happiness. However, it is unknown if this association is universal and how sport compares to other leisure activities in terms of an association with happiness. This study had 3 objectives: (a) to test if sport membership is associated with happiness, (b) to test if this relationship is universal, and (c) to compare sport membership to other leisure activities. Hierarchal Bernoulli modeling was used to analyze the 6th wave (2014) of the World Values Survey (n Ss  = 67,736, n countries  = 48). The critical variables included measures of membership in different leisure activities (e.g., sport membership) and self-reported happiness. Even when controlling for known covariates such as perceived health, those who report sport/recreation membership are more likely to report being happy compared with non-sport members (OR = 1.38; 95% CI [1.24, 1.53]). Being a member of a sport organization had a greater association with happiness than did being a member of other leisure activities. Follow-up analyses suggested that this association is nearly universal. This study offers initial evidence that sport membership elicits happiness across many different societies. Although the causal direction remains unclear, this study establishes a positive association between happiness and sport membership. Future research should target the mechanism(s) of this effect, which we hypothesize are meaningful social relations.

Rejected applications: an early American Academy of Neurology struggles to define its membership.

PubMed

Louis, Elan D

2014-07-22

To review membership application materials (especially rejected applications) to the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) during its formative years (1947-1953). Detailed study of materials in the AAN Historical Collection. The author identified 73 rejected applications. Rejected applicants (71 male, 2 female) lived in 25 states. The largest number was for the Associate membership category (49). These were individuals "in related fields who have made and are making contributions to the field of neurology." By contrast, few applicants to Active membership or Fellowship status were rejected. The largest numbers of rejectees were neuropsychiatrists (19), neurosurgeons (16), and psychiatrists (14). The AAN, established in the late 1940s, was a small and politically vulnerable organization. A defining feature of the fledgling society was its inclusiveness; its membership was less restrictive than that of the older American Neurological Association. At the same time, the society needed to preserve its core as a neurologic society rather than one of psychiatry or neurosurgery. Hence, the balance between inclusiveness and exclusive identity was a difficult one to maintain. The Associate membership category, more than any other, was at the heart of this issue of self-definition. Associate members were largely practitioners of psychiatry or neurosurgery. Their membership was a source of consternation and was to be carefully been held in check during these critical formative years. © 2014 American Academy of Neurology.

Lattice QCD exploration of parton pseudo-distribution functions

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

Orginos, Kostas; Radyushkin, Anatoly; Karpie, Joseph

Here, we demonstrate a new method of extracting parton distributions from lattice calculations. The starting idea is to treat the generic equal-time matrix elementmore » $${\\cal M} (Pz_3, z_3^2)$$ as a function of the Ioffe time $$\

Lattice QCD exploration of parton pseudo-distribution functions

DOE PAGES

Orginos, Kostas; Radyushkin, Anatoly; Karpie, Joseph; ...

2017-11-08

Here, we demonstrate a new method of extracting parton distributions from lattice calculations. The starting idea is to treat the generic equal-time matrix elementmore » $${\\cal M} (Pz_3, z_3^2)$$ as a function of the Ioffe time $$\

Prediction model for peninsular Indian summer monsoon rainfall using data mining and statistical approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vathsala, H.; Koolagudi, Shashidhar G.

2017-01-01

In this paper we discuss a data mining application for predicting peninsular Indian summer monsoon rainfall, and propose an algorithm that combine data mining and statistical techniques. We select likely predictors based on association rules that have the highest confidence levels. We then cluster the selected predictors to reduce their dimensions and use cluster membership values for classification. We derive the predictors from local conditions in southern India, including mean sea level pressure, wind speed, and maximum and minimum temperatures. The global condition variables include southern oscillation and Indian Ocean dipole conditions. The algorithm predicts rainfall in five categories: Flood, Excess, Normal, Deficit and Drought. We use closed itemset mining, cluster membership calculations and a multilayer perceptron function in the algorithm to predict monsoon rainfall in peninsular India. Using Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology data, we found the prediction accuracy of our proposed approach to be exceptionally good.

Chemotaxis with logistic source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winkler, Michael

2008-12-01

We consider the chemotaxis system in a smooth bounded domain , where [chi]>0 and g generalizes the logistic function g(u)=Au-bu[alpha] with [alpha]>1, A[greater-or-equal, slanted]0 and b>0. A concept of very weak solutions is introduced, and global existence of such solutions for any nonnegative initial data u0[set membership, variant]L1([Omega]) is proved under the assumption that . Moreover, boundedness properties of the constructed solutions are studied. Inter alia, it is shown that if b is sufficiently large and u0[set membership, variant]L[infinity]([Omega]) has small norm in L[gamma]([Omega]) for some then the solution is globally bounded. Finally, in the case that additionally holds, a bounded set in L[infinity]([Omega]) can be found which eventually attracts very weak solutions emanating from arbitrary L1 initial data. The paper closes with numerical experiments that illustrate some of the theoretically established results.

A novel dynamical community detection algorithm based on weighting scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ju; Yu, Kai; Hu, Ke

2015-12-01

Network dynamics plays an important role in analyzing the correlation between the function properties and the topological structure. In this paper, we propose a novel dynamical iteration (DI) algorithm, which incorporates the iterative process of membership vector with weighting scheme, i.e. weighting W and tightness T. These new elements can be used to adjust the link strength and the node compactness for improving the speed and accuracy of community structure detection. To estimate the optimal stop time of iteration, we utilize a new stability measure which is defined as the Markov random walk auto-covariance. We do not need to specify the number of communities in advance. It naturally supports the overlapping communities by associating each node with a membership vector describing the node's involvement in each community. Theoretical analysis and experiments show that the algorithm can uncover communities effectively and efficiently.

78 FR 9629 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Reestablishment of Membership on the Colorado Potato...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-11

... Service 7 CFR Part 948 [Doc. No. AMS-FV-12-0044; FV12-948-2 PR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Reestablishment of Membership on the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, Area No. 2 AGENCY: Agricultural... membership on the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, Area No. 2 (Committee). The Committee locally...

25 CFR 39.210 - When must a school drop a student from its membership?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... SCHOOL EQUALIZATION PROGRAM Administrative Procedures, Student Counts, and Verifications § 39.210 When must a school drop a student from its membership? If a student is absent for 10 consecutive school days... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false When must a school drop a student from its membership? 39...

25 CFR 39.209 - When may a school count a student for membership purposes?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... INDIAN SCHOOL EQUALIZATION PROGRAM Administrative Procedures, Student Counts, and Verifications § 39.209 When may a school count a student for membership purposes? If a student is enrolled, is in attendance... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false When may a school count a student for membership purposes...

An examination of the relationship between strategic group membership and hospital performance.

PubMed

Marlin, Dan; Huonker, John W; Sun, Minghe

2002-01-01

Membership in a particular strategic group, where a strategic group can be defined as groups of firms in an industry following similar competitive approaches and having similar market positions, defines the essentials of a firm's strategy. This study longitudinally examines the relationship between strategic group membership and performance in the hospital industry.

The Effect of Religious Membership on Teen Abortion Rates.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tomal, Annette

2001-01-01

Studied abortion rates among teenagers in 1,024 counties in 18 states that report abortion numbers. Results show that counties with high levels of religious membership were more likely to be in a state with a parental involvement law for teenage abortions. Both religious membership level and a parental involvement law were negatively related to…

41 CFR 60-1.11 - Payment or reimbursement of membership fees and other expenses to private clubs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

..., religion, sex, or national origin of employees. (2) Payment or reimbursement by contractors of membership... bars, restricts or limits its membership on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin..., color, religion, sex, or national origin. OFCCP shall provide the contractor with the opportunity to...

41 CFR 60-1.11 - Payment or reimbursement of membership fees and other expenses to private clubs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

..., religion, sex, or national origin of employees. (2) Payment or reimbursement by contractors of membership... bars, restricts or limits its membership on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin..., color, religion, sex, or national origin. OFCCP shall provide the contractor with the opportunity to...

41 CFR 60-1.11 - Payment or reimbursement of membership fees and other expenses to private clubs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

..., religion, sex, or national origin of employees. (2) Payment or reimbursement by contractors of membership... bars, restricts or limits its membership on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin..., color, religion, sex, or national origin. OFCCP shall provide the contractor with the opportunity to...

A Statewide Study of Gang Membership in California Secondary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Estrada, Joey Nuñez, Jr.; Gilreath, Tamika D.; Astor, Ron Avi; Benbenishty, Rami

2016-01-01

To date, there is a paucity of empirical evidence that examines gang membership in schools. Using statewide data of 7th-, 9th-, and 11th-grade students from California, this study focuses on the prevalence of gang membership by county, region, ethnicity, and grade level. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed with…

Three Steps to Engage Volunteers in Membership Marketing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rossell, Tony

2011-01-01

There is a big world out there, and volunteers can make a significant impact in helping one reach out to others and grow his/her PTA membership. In fact, word-of-mouth marketing tied for the top spot as the most effective method of new member recruitment in Marketing General's 2010 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report. So getting volunteers'…

Union Membership and Political Participation in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerrissey, Jasmine; Schofer, Evan

2013-01-01

This article examines the effect of union membership on civic and political participation in the late 20th century in the United States. We discuss why and how unions seek to mobilize their members and where mobilization is channeled. We argue that union membership affects electoral and collective action outcomes and will be larger for low…

U.S. Juvenile Arrests: Gang Membership, Social Class, and Labeling Effects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tapia, Mike

2011-01-01

This study addresses the link between gang membership and arrest frequency, exploring the Gang x Socioeconomic status interaction on those arrests. Notoriously poor, delinquent, and often well-known to police, America's gang youth should have very high odds of arrest. Yet it is unclear whether mere membership in a gang increases the risk of arrest…

What Does Your ASE Membership Say about You?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrence, Liz

2009-01-01

In this article, the author shares her view about her ASE membership and what it says about her. What she hopes her ASE membership says about her is that she is committed to her own professional development and the professional development of others; she values the opportunity to engage with the wider perspective, to take on responsibilities or…

41 CFR 60-1.11 - Payment or reimbursement of membership fees and other expenses to private clubs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

..., religion, sex, or national origin of employees. (2) Payment or reimbursement by contractors of membership... bars, restricts or limits its membership on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin..., color, religion, sex, or national origin. OFCCP shall provide the contractor with the opportunity to...

Trends in Female Authorships, Editorial Board Memberships, and Editorships in Educational Psychology Journals from 2003 to 2008

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fong, Carlton J.; Yoo, Julia H.; Jones, Sara J.; Torres, Laura G.; Decker, Mark Lowry

2009-01-01

Robinson, McKay, Katayama, and Fan ("Contemporary Educational Psychology," 23, 331-343, 1998) reported that women were underrepresented in terms of authorships, editorial board memberships, and editorships in the field of educational psychology based on membership trends. More recently, Evans, Hsieh, and Robinson ("Educational Psychology Review,"…

Understanding Gang Membership and Crime Victimization among Jail Inmates: Testing the Effects of Self-Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Kathleen A.; Lane, Jodi; Akers, Ronald L.

2013-01-01

Although previous research has examined factors related to gang membership and offending, research on the relationship between gangs and victimization is limited. The present study builds on previous research and examines gang membership, victimization, and self-control among 2,414 jail inmates. Results from self-report surveys indicate that gang…

I want to join the zoo! A conjoint study of membership program preferences

Treesearch

David B. Klenosky; Chi-Ok Oh; Christopher C. Panek; Jerry F. Luebke

2009-01-01

Membership programs are an important and often vital element for the success and economic sustainability of leisure and tourism visitor attractions. Unfortunately, very little research is available to guide membership program development and promotion efforts. To address this gap in the research literature, a research project assessed member and nonmember preferences...

Separability and Entanglement in the Hilbert Space Reference Frames Related Through the Generic Unitary Transform for Four Level System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Man'ko, V. I.; Markovich, L. A.

2018-02-01

Quantum correlations in the state of four-level atom are investigated by using generic unitary transforms of the classical (diagonal) density matrix. Partial cases of pure state, X-state, Werner state are studied in details. The geometrical meaning of unitary Hilbert reference-frame rotations generating entanglement in the initially separable state is discussed. Characteristics of the entanglement in terms of concurrence, entropy and negativity are obtained as functions of the unitary matrix rotating the reference frame.

Bethe states of the trigonometric SU(3) spin chain with generic open boundaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Pei; Xin, Zhirong; Qiao, Yi; Wen, Fakai; Hao, Kun; Cao, Junpeng; Li, Guang-Liang; Yang, Tao; Yang, Wen-Li; Shi, Kangjie

2018-06-01

By combining the algebraic Bethe ansatz and the off-diagonal Bethe ansatz, we investigate the trigonometric SU (3) model with generic open boundaries. The eigenvalues of the transfer matrix are given in terms of an inhomogeneous T - Q relation, and the corresponding eigenstates are expressed in terms of nested Bethe-type eigenstates which have well-defined homogeneous limit. This exact solution provides a basis for further analyzing the thermodynamic properties and correlation functions of the anisotropic models associated with higher rank algebras.

Scattering transform for nonstationary Schroedinger equation with bidimensionally perturbed N-soliton potential

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

Boiti, M.; Pempinelli, F.; Pogrebkov, A. K.

2006-12-15

In the framework of the extended resolvent approach the direct and inverse scattering problems for the nonstationary Schroedinger equation with a potential being a perturbation of the N-soliton potential by means of a generic bidimensional smooth function decaying at large spaces are introduced and investigated. The initial value problem of the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili I equation for a solution describing N wave solitons on a generic smooth decaying background is then linearized, giving the time evolution of the spectral data.

Membership nominations in international scientific assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leifeld, Philip; Fisher, Dana R.

2017-10-01

International scientific assessments are transnational knowledge-based expert networks with a mandate to advise policymakers. A well-known example is the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), which synthesized research on ecosystem services between 2001 and 2005, utilizing the knowledge of 1,360 expert members. Little, however, is known about the membership composition and the driving forces behind membership nominations in the MA and similar organizations. Here we introduce a survey data set on recruitment in the MA and analyse nomination patterns among experts as a complex network. The results indicate that membership recruitment was governed by prior contacts in other transnational elite organizations and a range of other factors related to personal affinity. Network analysis demonstrates how some core individuals were particularly influential in shaping the overall membership composition of the group. These findings add to recently noted concerns about the lack of diversity of views represented in international scientific assessments.

The effects of collaboration and minimal-group membership on children's prosocial behavior, liking, affiliation, and trust.

PubMed

Plötner, Maria; Over, Harriet; Carpenter, Malinda; Tomasello, Michael

2015-11-01

Recent theoretical work has highlighted potential links between interpersonal collaboration and group membership in the evolution of human sociality. Here we compared the effects of collaboration and minimal-group membership on young children's prosocial behavior (i.e., helping and resource allocation), liking, affiliation, and trust. In a design that matched as closely as possible these two ways of connecting with others, we showed that 5-year-olds' behavior was affected similarly by collaboration and minimal-group membership; both increased children's preference for their partners on multiple dimensions and produced overall effects of a similar magnitude. In contrast, 3.5-year-olds did not have a strong preference for either collaborators or minimal in-group members. Thus, both collaboration and minimal-group membership are similarly effective in their influence on children's prosocial behavior and social preferences. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Social identity continuity and mental health among Syrian refugees in Turkey.

PubMed

Smeekes, Anouk; Verkuyten, Maykel; Çelebi, Elif; Acartürk, Ceren; Onkun, Samed

2017-10-01

Building upon social psychological work on social identity and mental health, this study among Syrian refugees in Turkey examined the importance of multiple group memberships and identity continuity for mental health and well-being. A survey study was conducted among the very difficult to reach population of Syrian refugees (N = 361). With path analysis in AMOS the associations were examined between multiple group memberships, social identity continuity and mental health and psychological well-being. Indicate that belonging to multiple groups before migration was related to a higher likelihood of having preserved group memberships after migration (i.e., sense of social identity continuity), which, in turn, predicted greater life satisfaction and lower levels of depression. Multiple group membership, however, was also directly related to higher depression. Findings are discussed in relation to the importance of multiple group membership and feelings of identity continuity for refugees.

Generic icing effects on forward flight performance of a model helicopter rotor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tinetti, Ana F.; Korkan, Kenneth D.

1989-01-01

An experimental program using a commercially available model helicopter has been conducted in the TAMU 7 ft x 10 ft Subsonic Wind Tunnel to investigate main rotor performance degradation due to generic ice adhesion. Base and iced performance data were gathered as functions of fuselage incidence, blade collective pitch, main rotor rotational velocity, and freestream velocity. The experimental values have shown that, in general, the presence of generic ice introduces decrements in performance caused by leading edge separation regions and increased surface roughness. In addition to the expected changes in aerodynamic forces caused by variations in test Reynolds number, forward flight data seemed to be influenced by changes in freestream and rotational velocity. The dependence of the data upon such velocity variations was apparently enhanced by increases in blade chord.

Competition and the Reference Pricing Scheme for pharmaceuticals.

PubMed

Ghislandi, Simone

2011-12-01

By introducing n (>1) firms with infinite cross-price elasticity (i.e. generic drugs), we explore the effects of competition on the optimal pricing strategies under a Reference Pricing Scheme (RPS). A two-stage model repeated infinite number of times is presented. When stage 1 is competitive, the equilibrium in pure strategies exists and is efficient only if the reference price (R) does not depend on the price of the branded product. When generics collude, the way R is designed is crucial for both the stability of the cartel among generics and the collusive prices in equilibrium. An optimally designed RPS must set R as a function only of the infinitely elastic side of the market and should provide the right incentives for competition. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dissemination activities: a critical new role for substance abuse treatment organizations.

PubMed

Fields, Dail; Blum, Terry C; Roman, Paul M

2014-10-01

The Affordable Care Act calls for integration of substance abuse treatment into medical care via medical homes and continuing specialty care. For this integration to occur in the substance abuse treatment field, substantial sharing and dissemination of information by treatment providers is required. This study explored the determinants of organizational activities directed at disseminating evidence-based practices (EBPs) undertaken by 193 community treatment programs who are members of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials Network. Using factor analysis, the research identified two generic categories reflecting different motivations for dissemination activities and explored both treatment center leadership and organizational characteristics as determinants of these different types of dissemination activities. Organizational characteristics predicting treatment center dissemination activities included size, previous involvement in research protocols, linkages with other providers, and having non-profit status. The treatment center leader's membership in professional organizations was also a significant determinant. Organization variables account for a larger portion of the variance in treatment center dissemination activities. The results suggest that the willingness of treatment providers to help disseminate EBPs within the industry may be heavily influenced through shared network connections with other treatment organizations.

Dissemination Activities: A Critical New Role for Substance Abuse Treatment Organizations

PubMed Central

Blum, Terry C.; Roman, Paul M.

2014-01-01

The Affordable Care Act calls for integration of substance abuse treatment into medical care via medical homes and continuing specialty care. For this integration to occur in the substance abuse treatment field, substantial sharing and dissemination of information by treatment providers is required. This study explored the determinants of organizational activities directed at disseminating evidence-based practices (EBP) undertaken by 193 community treatment programs who are members of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials Network. Using factor analysis, the research identified two generic categories reflecting different motivations for dissemination activities, and explored both treatment center leadership and organizational characteristics as determinants of these different types of dissemination activities. Organizational characteristics predicting treatment center dissemination activities included size, previous involvement in research protocols, linkages with other providers, and having non-profit status. The treatment center leader's membership in professional organizations was also a significant determinant. Organization variables account for a larger portion of the variance in treatment center dissemination activities. The results suggest that the willingness of treatment providers to help disseminate EBPs within the industry may be heavily influenced through shared network connections with other treatment organizations. PMID:24722825

Density Dependent Functional Forms Drive Compensation in Populations Exposed to Stressors

EPA Science Inventory

The interaction between density dependence (DD) and environmental stressors can result in a compensatory or synergistic response in population growth, and population models that use density-independent demographic rates or generic DD functions may be introducing bias into managem...

Unruh effect for general trajectories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obadia, N.; Milgrom, M.

2007-03-01

We consider two-level detectors coupled to a scalar field and moving on arbitrary trajectories in Minkowski space-time. We first derive a generic expression for the response function using a (novel) regularization procedure based on the Feynman prescription that is explicitly causal, and we compare it to other expressions used in the literature. We then use this expression to study, analytically and numerically, the time dependence of the response function in various nonstationarity situations. We show that, generically, the response function decreases like a power in the detector’s level spacing, E, for high E. It is only for stationary worldlines that the response function decays faster than any power law, in keeping with the known exponential behavior for some stationary cases. Under some conditions the (time-dependent) response function for a nonstationary worldline is well approximated by the value of the response function for a stationary worldline having the same instantaneous acceleration, torsion, and hypertorsion. While we cannot offer general conditions for this to apply, we discuss special cases; in particular, the low-energy limit for linear space trajectories.

Gastrointestinal symptoms predictors of health-related quality of life in pediatric patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders.

PubMed

Varni, James W; Shulman, Robert J; Self, Mariella M; Nurko, Samuel; Saps, Miguel; Saeed, Shehzad A; Patel, Ashish S; Dark, Chelsea Vaughan; Bendo, Cristiane B; Pohl, John F

2017-04-01

To investigate the patient-reported multidimensional gastrointestinal symptoms predictors of generic health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in pediatric patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs). The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™) Gastrointestinal Symptoms Scales and PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales were completed in a 9-site study by 259 pediatric patients with functional constipation, functional abdominal pain (FAP), or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Gastrointestinal Symptoms Scales measuring stomach pain, stomach discomfort when eating, food and drink limits, trouble swallowing, heartburn and reflux, nausea and vomiting, gas and bloating, constipation, blood in poop, and diarrhea were identified as clinically important symptom differentiators from healthy controls based on prior findings, and subsequently tested for bivariate and multivariate linear associations with overall HRQOL. Gastrointestinal symptoms were differentially associated with decreased HRQOL in bivariate analyses for the three FGIDs. In predictive models utilizing hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for age, gender, and race/ethnicity, gastrointestinal symptoms differentially accounted for an additional 47, 40, and 60 % of the variance in patient-reported HRQOL for functional constipation, FAP, and IBS, respectively, reflecting large effect sizes. Significant individual gastrointestinal symptoms predictors were identified after controlling for the other gastrointestinal symptoms in the FGID-specific predictive models. Gastrointestinal symptoms represent potentially modifiable predictors of generic HRQOL in pediatric patients with FGIDs. Identifying the condition-specific gastrointestinal symptoms that are the most important predictors from the patient perspective facilitates a patient-centered approach to targeted interventions designed to ameliorate impaired overall HRQOL.

The Future of the American Council on Education. A Report on Its Governmental and Related Activities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Honey, John C.; Crowley, John C.

Beginning with an examination of how the ACE's federal relationships might be strengthened, the report evolved into a study of such broad questions as the overall role and objectives of the organizations. Attention is directed to the makeup of its membership, the composition of his board of directors and the functions of the board, relationships…

Wolves, Confederates, and the Happy Few: The Influence of Comprehension, Agreement, and Group Membership on the Attitude toward Irony

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Mulken, Margot; Burgers, Christian; van der Plas, Bram

2011-01-01

Comprehension is an important factor in the functioning of irony. Readers who are unaware of the irony in an utterance are "sheep," whereas readers who understand the irony are "wolves" (Gibbs & Izett, 2005). Factors that may impact on the attitude toward irony not only include comprehension, but agreement (agreeing with…

Defining Group Membership: The Impact of Multiple versus Single Ethnic/Racial Categories on Testing Practices. Research Notes. RN-13

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wendler, Cathy; Feigenbaum, Miriam; Escandón, Mérida

2001-01-01

The SAT Program undertook two studies aimed at evaluating the impact of allowing students to indicate more than one ethnic/racial category. Results of this study indicated that there is little impact on DIF [differential item functioning] analyses when different definitions of ethnic/racial classifications are used compared to traditionally…

A STUDY OF FOREMAN'S CLUBS, THEIR EXTENT, THEIR ORGANIZATION, THEIR FUNCTION. SUMMARY REPORT TO THE FOREMANSHIP FOUNDATION.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

KAMEL, I.A.; ODIORNE, G.S.

THERE ARE ABOUT TWO MILLION FOREMEN EMPLOYED IN THE UNITED STATES, SOME OF THEM UNION MEMBERS, BUT MANY BELONGING TO SOCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS. TO DETERMINE FOREMAN MEMBERSHIP IN NON-UNION FOREMAN ORGANIZATIONS, THE PURPOSE, ORGANIZATION, FINANCIAL SUPPORT, AND PROGRAMS OF SUCH CLUBS, AND THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE CLUB TO THE COMPANY…

Minutes and Report, Annual Meeting and Conference (Glendon College, York University, Toronto, June 6-8, 1968).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canadian Association for Adult Education, Toronto (Ontario).

Discussions at this annual meeting of the Canadian Association for Adult Education (CAAE) centered on the nature and function of the CAAE itself and on the setting of priorities. A paper dealt with political involvement by the CAAE; another raised questions on membership and member participation. Discussion following the chairman's address on the…

Ethics, morals, and integrity: focus at the top.

PubMed

Stango, Marty R

2006-06-01

Five questions provide a good starting point for CFOs to verify that their organizations are operating ethically: Do we have clearly outlined policies and procedures in place? How frequently does our board's membership change? Do we consistently give our board enough information to make informed decisions? What is the nature of our internal audit function? Do we have a chief compliance officer?

Between a Ball and a Harsh Place: A Study of Black Male Community College Student-Athletes and Academic Progress

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horton, David, Jr.

2015-01-01

Objective: This study examined to what extent differences exist in pre-college characteristics and academic performance between Black male student-athletes and their student-athlete peers. Method: Data provided by the Florida Department of Education's PK-20 Education Data Warehouse (EDW) were analyzed as a function of group membership (gender and…

Fuzzy Sets in Dynamic Adaptation of Parameters of a Bee Colony Optimization for Controlling the Trajectory of an Autonomous Mobile Robot

PubMed Central

Amador-Angulo, Leticia; Mendoza, Olivia; Castro, Juan R.; Rodríguez-Díaz, Antonio; Melin, Patricia; Castillo, Oscar

2016-01-01

A hybrid approach composed by different types of fuzzy systems, such as the Type-1 Fuzzy Logic System (T1FLS), Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Logic System (IT2FLS) and Generalized Type-2 Fuzzy Logic System (GT2FLS) for the dynamic adaptation of the alpha and beta parameters of a Bee Colony Optimization (BCO) algorithm is presented. The objective of the work is to focus on the BCO technique to find the optimal distribution of the membership functions in the design of fuzzy controllers. We use BCO specifically for tuning membership functions of the fuzzy controller for trajectory stability in an autonomous mobile robot. We add two types of perturbations in the model for the Generalized Type-2 Fuzzy Logic System to better analyze its behavior under uncertainty and this shows better results when compared to the original BCO. We implemented various performance indices; ITAE, IAE, ISE, ITSE, RMSE and MSE to measure the performance of the controller. The experimental results show better performances using GT2FLS then by IT2FLS and T1FLS in the dynamic adaptation the parameters for the BCO algorithm. PMID:27618062

Fuzzy model approach for estimating time of hospitalization due to cardiovascular diseases.

PubMed

Coutinho, Karine Mayara Vieira; Rizol, Paloma Maria Silva Rocha; Nascimento, Luiz Fernando Costa; de Medeiros, Andréa Paula Peneluppi

2015-08-01

A fuzzy linguistic model based on the Mamdani method with input variables, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, temperature and wind obtained from CETESB with two membership functions each was built to predict the average hospitalization time due to cardiovascular diseases related to exposure to air pollutants in São José dos Campos in the State of São Paulo in 2009. The output variable is the average length of hospitalization obtained from DATASUS with six membership functions. The average time given by the model was compared to actual data using lags of 0 to 4 days. This model was built using the Matlab v. 7.5 fuzzy toolbox. Its accuracy was assessed with the ROC curve. Hospitalizations with a mean time of 7.9 days (SD = 4.9) were recorded in 1119 cases. The data provided revealed a significant correlation with the actual data according to the lags of 0 to 4 days. The pollutant that showed the greatest accuracy was sulfur dioxide. This model can be used as the basis of a specialized system to assist the city health authority in assessing the risk of hospitalizations due to air pollutants.

Feedback error learning control of magnetic satellites using type-2 fuzzy neural networks with elliptic membership functions.

PubMed

Khanesar, Mojtaba Ahmadieh; Kayacan, Erdal; Reyhanoglu, Mahmut; Kaynak, Okyay

2015-04-01

A novel type-2 fuzzy membership function (MF) in the form of an ellipse has recently been proposed in literature, the parameters of which that represent uncertainties are de-coupled from its parameters that determine the center and the support. This property has enabled the proposers to make an analytical comparison of the noise rejection capabilities of type-1 fuzzy logic systems with its type-2 counterparts. In this paper, a sliding mode control theory-based learning algorithm is proposed for an interval type-2 fuzzy logic system which benefits from elliptic type-2 fuzzy MFs. The learning is based on the feedback error learning method and not only the stability of the learning is proved but also the stability of the overall system is shown by adding an additional component to the control scheme to ensure robustness. In order to test the efficiency and efficacy of the proposed learning and the control algorithm, the trajectory tracking problem of a magnetic rigid spacecraft is studied. The simulations results show that the proposed control algorithm gives better performance results in terms of a smaller steady state error and a faster transient response as compared to conventional control algorithms.

Fuzzy Control of Robotic Arm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Kyaw Kyaw; Soe, Aung Kyaw; Thu, Theint Theint

2008-10-01

This research work investigates a Self-Tuning Proportional Derivative (PD) type Fuzzy Logic Controller (STPDFLC) for a two link robot system. The proposed scheme adjusts on-line the output Scaling Factor (SF) by fuzzy rules according to the current trend of the robot. The rule base for tuning the output scaling factor is defined on the error (e) and change in error (de). The scheme is also based on the fact that the controller always tries to manipulate the process input. The rules are in the familiar if-then format. All membership functions for controller inputs (e and de) and controller output (UN) are defined on the common interval [-1,1]; whereas the membership functions for the gain updating factor (α) is defined on [0,1]. There are various methods to calculate the crisp output of the system. Center of Gravity (COG) method is used in this application due to better results it gives. Performances of the proposed STPDFLC are compared with those of their corresponding PD-type conventional Fuzzy Logic Controller (PDFLC). The proposed scheme shows a remarkably improved performance over its conventional counterpart especially under parameters variation (payload). The two-link results of analysis are simulated. These simulation results are illustrated by using MATLAB® programming.

Design of an iterative auto-tuning algorithm for a fuzzy PID controller

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saeed, Bakhtiar I.; Mehrdadi, B.

2012-05-01

Since the first application of fuzzy logic in the field of control engineering, it has been extensively employed in controlling a wide range of applications. The human knowledge on controlling complex and non-linear processes can be incorporated into a controller in the form of linguistic terms. However, with the lack of analytical design study it is becoming more difficult to auto-tune controller parameters. Fuzzy logic controller has several parameters that can be adjusted, such as: membership functions, rule-base and scaling gains. Furthermore, it is not always easy to find the relation between the type of membership functions or rule-base and the controller performance. This study proposes a new systematic auto-tuning algorithm to fine tune fuzzy logic controller gains. A fuzzy PID controller is proposed and applied to several second order systems. The relationship between the closed-loop response and the controller parameters is analysed to devise an auto-tuning method. The results show that the proposed method is highly effective and produces zero overshoot with enhanced transient response. In addition, the robustness of the controller is investigated in the case of parameter changes and the results show a satisfactory performance.

The role of a food policy coalition in influencing a local food environment: an Australian case study.

PubMed

McCartan, Julia; Palermo, Claire

2017-04-01

To explore how an Australian rural food policy coalition acts to influence a local food environment, focusing specifically on its composition, functions and processes as well as its food-related strategies and policy outputs. A qualitative case study approach was undertaken. Three sources were used to triangulate data: eleven semi-structured in-depth interviews with coalition members, analysis of thirty-seven documents relating to the coalition and observation at one coalition meeting. Data were analysed using a thematic and constant comparison approach. Community Coalition Action Theory provided a theoretical framework from which to interpret findings. Two rural local government areas on the south-eastern coast of Victoria, Australia. Eleven members of the food policy coalition. Five themes emerged from the data analysis. The themes described the coalition's leadership processes, membership structure, function to pool resources for food system advocacy, focus on collaborative cross-jurisdictional strategies and ability to influence policy change. This Australian case study demonstrates that with strong leadership, a small-sized core membership and focus on collaborative strategies, food policy coalitions may be a mechanism to positively influence local food environments.

17 CFR 240.15b9-2 - Exemption from SRO membership for OTC derivatives dealers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 3 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Exemption from SRO membership for OTC derivatives dealers. 240.15b9-2 Section 240.15b9-2 Commodity and Securities Exchanges... § 240.15b9-2 Exemption from SRO membership for OTC derivatives dealers. An OTC derivatives dealer, as...

Differentiating low-molecular-weight heparins based on chemical, biological, and pharmacologic properties: implications for the development of generic versions of low-molecular-weight heparins.

PubMed

Jeske, Walter P; Walenga, Jeanine M; Hoppensteadt, Debra A; Vandenberg, Curtis; Brubaker, Aleah; Adiguzel, Cafer; Bakhos, Mamdouh; Fareed, Jawed

2008-02-01

Low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) are polypharmacologic drugs used to treat thrombotic and cardiovascular disorders. These drugs are manufactured using different chemical and enzymatic methods, resulting in products with distinct chemical and pharmacologic profiles. Generic LMWHs have been introduced in Asia and South America, and several generic suppliers are seeking regulatory approval in the United States and the European Union. For simple small-molecule drugs, generic drugs have the same chemical structure, potency, and bioavailability as the innovator drug. Applying this definition to complex biological products such as the LMWHs has proved difficult. One major issue is defining appropriate criteria to demonstrate bioequivalence; pharmacopoeial specifications alone appear to be inadequate. Whereas available generic versions of LMWHs exhibit similar molecular and pharmacopoeial profiles, marked differences in their biological and pharmacologic behavior have been noted. Preliminary studies have demonstrated differences in terms of anti-Xa activity and tissue factor pathway inhibitor release after subcutaneous administration, as well as antiplatelet and profibrinolytic effects. The current data emphasize the need to consider multiple functional parameters when defining bioequivalence of biologic drugs with complex structures and activities and also underscore the importance of further pharmacologic studies involving animal models and human clinical trials. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicine Evaluation Agency are currently developing guidelines for the acceptance of biosimilar agents including LMWHs. Until such guidelines are complete, generic interchange may not be feasible.

Differences in Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes between Brand-Name and Generic Tacrolimus Used in Stable Liver Transplant Recipients.

PubMed

Kim, Jong Man; Kwon, Choon Hyuck David; Joh, Jae-Won; Sinn, Dong Hyun; Choi, Gyu-Seong; Park, Jae Berm; Kang, Eun-Suk; Lee, Suk-Koo

2017-01-01

In this study, peripheral blood lymphocytes were compared between a brand-name and a generic tacrolimus group in stable liver transplant recipients. Sixteen patients who underwent ABO-compatible living donor liver transplants between 2012 and 2013 and had stable graft function were included in this study. Ten patients received brand-name tacrolimus and 6 patients received generic tacrolimus. CD3, CD4, CD8, γδ, CD4+FoxP3+, and CD3-CD56+ T cells were analyzed in peripheral blood obtained preoperatively and 4, 8, 12, and 24 weeks after liver transplantation. Categorical variables were compared using a χ2 test or Fisher exact test, and continuous variables were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. Regarding the baseline and perioperative characteristics, there were no statistically significant differences between the 2 groups. Immunosuppression also was not different. Subtype analysis of T-cell populations carried out in parallel showed similar levels of CD3, CD4, CD8, and γδT cells with brand-name tacrolimus and generic tacrolimus in stable liver transplant recipients. However, the levels of CD4+Foxp3+ and CD3-CD56+ T cells were higher in the brand-name tacrolimus group than in the generic tacrolimus group 8 weeks after transplantation (p < 0.05). The level of CD4+Foxp3+ T cells was higher in the brand-name tacrolimus group than in the generic tacrolimus group after transplantation. This finding showed that brand-name tacrolimus could have more potential immunosuppressive activity than generic tacrolimus regarding the contribution of CD4+Foxp3+ T cells to graft tolerance in liver transplant recipients. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Study of electrical and chemical propulsion systems for auxiliary propulsion of large space systems, volume 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, W. W.

1981-01-01

The five major tasks of the program are reported. Task 1 is a literature search followed by selection and definition of seven generic spacecraft classes. Task 2 covers the determination and description of important disturbance effects. Task 3 applies the disturbances to the generic spacecraft and adds maneuver and stationkeeping functions to define total auxiliary propulsion systems requirements for control. The important auxiliary propulsion system characteristics are identified and sensitivities to control functions and large space system characteristics determined. In Task 4, these sensitivities are quantified and the optimum auxiliary propulsion system characteristics determined. Task 5 compares the desired characteristics with those available for both electrical and chemical auxiliary propulsion systems to identify the directions technology advances should take.

Evolving Relationship Structures in Multi-sourcing Arrangements: The Case of Mission Critical Outsourcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heitlager, Ilja; Helms, Remko; Brinkkemper, Sjaak

Information Technology Outsourcing practice and research mainly considers the outsourcing phenomenon as a generic fulfilment of the IT function by external parties. Inspired by the logic of commodity, core competencies and economies of scale; assets, existing departments and IT functions are transferred to external parties. Although the generic approach might work for desktop outsourcing, where standardisation is the dominant factor, it does not work for the management of mission critical applications. Managing mission critical applications requires a different approach where building relationships is critical. The relationships involve inter and intra organisational parties in a multi-sourcing arrangement, called an IT service chain, consisting of multiple (specialist) parties that have to collaborate closely to deliver high quality services.

Generic HRTFs May be Good Enough in Virtual Reality. Improving Source Localization through Cross-Modal Plasticity.

PubMed

Berger, Christopher C; Gonzalez-Franco, Mar; Tajadura-Jiménez, Ana; Florencio, Dinei; Zhang, Zhengyou

2018-01-01

Auditory spatial localization in humans is performed using a combination of interaural time differences, interaural level differences, as well as spectral cues provided by the geometry of the ear. To render spatialized sounds within a virtual reality (VR) headset, either individualized or generic Head Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs) are usually employed. The former require arduous calibrations, but enable accurate auditory source localization, which may lead to a heightened sense of presence within VR. The latter obviate the need for individualized calibrations, but result in less accurate auditory source localization. Previous research on auditory source localization in the real world suggests that our representation of acoustic space is highly plastic. In light of these findings, we investigated whether auditory source localization could be improved for users of generic HRTFs via cross-modal learning. The results show that pairing a dynamic auditory stimulus, with a spatio-temporally aligned visual counterpart, enabled users of generic HRTFs to improve subsequent auditory source localization. Exposure to the auditory stimulus alone or to asynchronous audiovisual stimuli did not improve auditory source localization. These findings have important implications for human perception as well as the development of VR systems as they indicate that generic HRTFs may be enough to enable good auditory source localization in VR.

Clinical tolerability of generic versus brand beta blockers in heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction: a retrospective cohort from heart failure clinic.

PubMed

Chanchai, Rattanachai; Kanjanavanit, Rungsrit; Leemasawat, Krit; Amarittakomol, Anong; Topaiboon, Paleerat; Phrommintikul, Arintaya

2018-01-01

Background: Beta-blockers have been shown to decrease mortality and morbidity in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) patients. However, the side effects are also dose-related, leading to the underdosing. Cost constraint may be one of the limitations of appropriate beta-blocker use; this can be improved with generic drugs. However, the effects in real life practice have not been investigated. Methods and results: This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of generic and brand beta-blockers in HFrEF patients. We performed a retrospective cohort analysis in HFrEF patients who received either generic or brand beta-blocker in Chiang Mai Heart Failure Clinic. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients who received at least 50% target dose of beta-blocker between generic and brand beta-blockers. Adverse events were secondary endpoints. 217 patients (119 and 98 patients received generic and brand beta-blocker, respectively) were enrolled. There were no differences between groups regarding age, gender, etiology of heart failure, New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), rate of receiving angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI), angiotensin recepter blocker (ARB), or spironolactone. Patients receiving brand beta-blockers had lower resting heart rate at baseline (74.9 and 84.2 bpm, p  = .001). Rate of achieved 50% target dose and target daily dose did not differ between groups (40.4 versus 44.5% and 48.0 versus 55.0%, p  > .05, respectively). Rate of side effects was not different between groups (32.3 versus 29.5%, p  > .05) and the most common side effect was hypotension. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that beta-blocker tolerability was comparable between brand and generic formulations. Generic or brand beta-blockers should be prescribed to HFrEF patients who have no contraindications.

Clinical tolerability of generic versus brand beta blockers in heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction: a retrospective cohort from heart failure clinic

PubMed Central

Chanchai, Rattanachai; Kanjanavanit, Rungsrit; Leemasawat, Krit; Amarittakomol, Anong; Topaiboon, Paleerat; Phrommintikul, Arintaya

2018-01-01

Abstract Background: Beta-blockers have been shown to decrease mortality and morbidity in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) patients. However, the side effects are also dose-related, leading to the underdosing. Cost constraint may be one of the limitations of appropriate beta-blocker use; this can be improved with generic drugs. However, the effects in real life practice have not been investigated. Methods and results: This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of generic and brand beta-blockers in HFrEF patients. We performed a retrospective cohort analysis in HFrEF patients who received either generic or brand beta-blocker in Chiang Mai Heart Failure Clinic. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients who received at least 50% target dose of beta-blocker between generic and brand beta-blockers. Adverse events were secondary endpoints. 217 patients (119 and 98 patients received generic and brand beta-blocker, respectively) were enrolled. There were no differences between groups regarding age, gender, etiology of heart failure, New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), rate of receiving angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI), angiotensin recepter blocker (ARB), or spironolactone. Patients receiving brand beta-blockers had lower resting heart rate at baseline (74.9 and 84.2 bpm, p = .001). Rate of achieved 50% target dose and target daily dose did not differ between groups (40.4 versus 44.5% and 48.0 versus 55.0%, p > .05, respectively). Rate of side effects was not different between groups (32.3 versus 29.5%, p > .05) and the most common side effect was hypotension. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that beta-blocker tolerability was comparable between brand and generic formulations. Generic or brand beta-blockers should be prescribed to HFrEF patients who have no contraindications. PMID:29379674

Shall Organized Medicine be Unified, or Separate?

PubMed Central

1971-01-01

At present, physicians in California who choose to join organized medicine do so through their county medical societies, and membership in the California Medical Association and the American Medical Association is then automatic. At the March meeting of the CMA House of Delegates, question was raised whether membership in CMA, and the AMA, or both should remain automatic. The House requested an ad hoc committee to cause a “poll and its attendant statements to be developed by May 21 for copy distribution to component medical societies and printing in the CMA membership news media—with mailing of the official questionnaires to the society members on September 1, 1971.” Members will be asked to express their opinions by ballot in September. The Speaker of the House appointed an ad hoc committee of the House to conduct this informed opinion poll of the membership. The committee has met to set ground rules, prepare accurate pro and con statements and write the poll questions—in accord with the directions of the House action. The Informed Membership Opinion Poll Committee, with the advice of Decision Making Information, Inc., an independent consultant, prepared statements regarding unified and separate membership in CMA and AMA from comments which were solicited from every county medical society. A statement by legal counsel for the California Medical Association on the structural relationship of AMA, CMA and component societies, and the statements on unified or separate membership prepared by the committee appear on the following two pages. PMID:18730549

High-density PhyloChip profiling of stimulated aquifer microbial communities reveals a complex response to acetate amendment

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

Handley, Kim M.; Wrighton, Kelly C.; Piceno, Yvette M.

2012-04-13

There is increasing interest in harnessing the functional capacities of indigenous microbial communities to transform and remediate a wide range of environmental contaminants. Information about which community members respond to stimulation can guide the interpretation and development of remediation approaches. To comprehensively determine community membership and abundance patterns among a suite of samples associated with uranium bioremediation experiments we employed a high-density microarray (PhyloChip). Samples were unstimulated, naturally reducing, or collected during Fe(III) (early) and sulfate reduction (late biostimulation) from an acetate re-amended/amended aquifer in Rifle, Colorado, and from laboratory experiments using field-collected materials. Deep community sampling with PhyloChip identifiedmore » hundreds-to-thousands of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) present during amendment, and revealed close similarity among highly enriched taxa from drill-core and groundwater well-deployed column sediment. Overall, phylogenetic data suggested stimulated community membership was most affected by a carryover effect between annual stimulation events. Nevertheless, OTUs within the Fe(III)- and sulfate-reducing lineages, Desulfuromonadales and Desulfobacterales, were repeatedly stimulated. Less consistent, co-enriched taxa represented additional lineages associated with Fe(III) and sulfate reduction (for example, Desulfovibrionales; Syntrophobacterales; Peptococcaceae) and autotrophic sulfur oxidation (Sulfurovum; Campylobacterales). These data imply complex membership among highly stimulated taxa, and by inference biogeochemical responses to acetate, a non-fermentable substrate.« less

Approximate controllability of a system of parabolic equations with delay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carrasco, Alexander; Leiva, Hugo

2008-09-01

In this paper we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the approximate controllability of the following system of parabolic equations with delay: where [Omega] is a bounded domain in , D is an n×n nondiagonal matrix whose eigenvalues are semi-simple with nonnegative real part, the control and B[set membership, variant]L(U,Z) with , . The standard notation zt(x) defines a function from [-[tau],0] to (with x fixed) by zt(x)(s)=z(t+s,x), -[tau][less-than-or-equals, slant]s[less-than-or-equals, slant]0. Here [tau][greater-or-equal, slanted]0 is the maximum delay, which is supposed to be finite. We assume that the operator is linear and bounded, and [phi]0[set membership, variant]Z, [phi][set membership, variant]L2([-[tau],0];Z). To this end: First, we reformulate this system into a standard first-order delay equation. Secondly, the semigroup associated with the first-order delay equation on an appropriate product space is expressed as a series of strongly continuous semigroups and orthogonal projections related with the eigenvalues of the Laplacian operator (); this representation allows us to reduce the controllability of this partial differential equation with delay to a family of ordinary delay equations. Finally, we use the well-known result on the rank condition for the approximate controllability of delay system to derive our main result.

Generic functional requirements for a NASA general-purpose data base management system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lohman, G. M.

1981-01-01

Generic functional requirements for a general-purpose, multi-mission data base management system (DBMS) for application to remotely sensed scientific data bases are detailed. The motivation for utilizing DBMS technology in this environment is explained. The major requirements include: (1) a DBMS for scientific observational data; (2) a multi-mission capability; (3) user-friendly; (4) extensive and integrated information about data; (5) robust languages for defining data structures and formats; (6) scientific data types and structures; (7) flexible physical access mechanisms; (8) ways of representing spatial relationships; (9) a high level nonprocedural interactive query and data manipulation language; (10) data base maintenance utilities; (11) high rate input/output and large data volume storage; and adaptability to a distributed data base and/or data base machine configuration. Detailed functions are specified in a top-down hierarchic fashion. Implementation, performance, and support requirements are also given.

Work Experience Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guo, Daniel

2017-01-01

The NASA Platform for Autonomous Systems (NPAS) toolkit is currently being used at the NASA John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) to develop the INSIGHT program, which will autonomously monitor and control the Nitrogen System of the High Pressure Gas Facility (HPGF) on site. The INSIGHT program is in need of generic timing capabilities in order to perform timing based actions such as pump usage timing and sequence step timing. The purpose of this project was to develop a timing module that could fulfill these requirements and be adaptable for expanded use in the future. The code was written in Gensym G2 software platform, the same as INSIGHT, and was written generically to ensure compatibility with any G2 program. Currently, the module has two timing capabilities, a stopwatch function and a countdown function. Although the module has gone through some functionality testing, actual integration of the module into NPAS and the INSIGHT program is contingent on the module passing later checks.

Mapping functional connectivity

Treesearch

Peter Vogt; Joseph R. Ferrari; Todd R. Lookingbill; Robert H. Gardner; Kurt H. Riitters; Katarzyna Ostapowicz

2009-01-01

An objective and reliable assessment of wildlife movement is important in theoretical and applied ecology. The identification and mapping of landscape elements that may enhance functional connectivity is usually a subjective process based on visual interpretations of species movement patterns. New methods based on mathematical morphology provide a generic, flexible,...

Gastrointestinal symptoms predictors of health-related quality of life in pediatric patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

To investigate the patient-reported multidimensional gastrointestinal symptoms predictors of generic health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in pediatric patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs). The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) Gastrointestinal Symptoms Scales and ...

Determinant of factors associated with child health outcomes and service utilization in Ghana: multiple indicator cluster survey conducted in 2011.

PubMed

Dwumoh, Duah; Essuman, Edward Eyipe; Afagbedzi, Seth Kwaku

2014-01-01

The effects of National Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana and its impact on child health outcome and service utilization cannot be underestimated. Despite the tremendous improvement in child health care in Ghana, there are still some challenges in relation to how National health insurance membership, socioeconomic status and other demographic factors impacts on child health outcomes. The study seeks to determine the association between NHIS membership, socio-economic status, geographic location and other relevant background factors, on child health service utilization and outcomes. Secondary data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey conducted in 2011 was used. Multivariate analysis based on Binary Logistic Regression Models and Multiple linear regression techniques was applied to determine factors associated with child health outcomes and service utilization. Collection of best models was based on Hosmer-Lemeshow Goodness-Of-Fit as one criterion of fit and the Akaike Information Criterion. Controlling for confounding effect of socioeconomic status, age of the child, mothers education level and geographic location, the odds of a child developing anemia for children with National Health Insurance Scheme Membership is 65.2% [95% CI: 52.9-80.2] times less than children without National Health Insurance Scheme Membership. The odds of being fully immunized against common childhood illnesses for children with NHIS membership is 2.3[95% CI: 1.4-3.7] times higher than children without National Health Insurance Scheme Membership. There was no association between National Health Insurance Scheme Membership and stunted growth in children. National Health Insurance Scheme Membership was found to be related to child health service utilization (full immunization) of children under five a child's anemia status. Children with NHIS are more likely to be fully immunized against common childhood diseases and are less likely to develop anemia. Stunted growth of children was not associated with National Health Insurance Scheme Membership. Health Education on the registration and the use of the National Health Insurance should be made a national priority to enable the Ministry of Health achieve routine Immunization targets and to reduce to the bearers minimum prevalence of anemia.

Adaptive Bloom Filter: A Space-Efficient Counting Algorithm for Unpredictable Network Traffic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsumoto, Yoshihide; Hazeyama, Hiroaki; Kadobayashi, Youki

The Bloom Filter (BF), a space-and-time-efficient hashcoding method, is used as one of the fundamental modules in several network processing algorithms and applications such as route lookups, cache hits, packet classification, per-flow state management or network monitoring. BF is a simple space-efficient randomized data structure used to represent a data set in order to support membership queries. However, BF generates false positives, and cannot count the number of distinct elements. A counting Bloom Filter (CBF) can count the number of distinct elements, but CBF needs more space than BF. We propose an alternative data structure of CBF, and we called this structure an Adaptive Bloom Filter (ABF). Although ABF uses the same-sized bit-vector used in BF, the number of hash functions employed by ABF is dynamically changed to record the number of appearances of a each key element. Considering the hash collisions, the multiplicity of a each key element on ABF can be estimated from the number of hash functions used to decode the membership of the each key element. Although ABF can realize the same functionality as CBF, ABF requires the same memory size as BF. We describe the construction of ABF and IABF (Improved ABF), and provide a mathematical analysis and simulation using Zipf's distribution. Finally, we show that ABF can be used for an unpredictable data set such as real network traffic.

Resting State Network Estimation in Individual Subjects

PubMed Central

Hacker, Carl D.; Laumann, Timothy O.; Szrama, Nicholas P.; Baldassarre, Antonello; Snyder, Abraham Z.

2014-01-01

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to study brain networks associated with both normal and pathological cognitive function. The objective of this work is to reliably compute resting state network (RSN) topography in single participants. We trained a supervised classifier (multi-layer perceptron; MLP) to associate blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) correlation maps corresponding to pre-defined seeds with specific RSN identities. Hard classification of maps obtained from a priori seeds was highly reliable across new participants. Interestingly, continuous estimates of RSN membership retained substantial residual error. This result is consistent with the view that RSNs are hierarchically organized, and therefore not fully separable into spatially independent components. After training on a priori seed-based maps, we propagated voxel-wise correlation maps through the MLP to produce estimates of RSN membership throughout the brain. The MLP generated RSN topography estimates in individuals consistent with previous studies, even in brain regions not represented in the training data. This method could be used in future studies to relate RSN topography to other measures of functional brain organization (e.g., task-evoked responses, stimulation mapping, and deficits associated with lesions) in individuals. The multi-layer perceptron was directly compared to two alternative voxel classification procedures, specifically, dual regression and linear discriminant analysis; the perceptron generated more spatially specific RSN maps than either alternative. PMID:23735260

Fear extinction, persistent disruptive behavior and psychopathic traits: fMRI in late adolescence.

PubMed

Cohn, Moran D; van Lith, Koen; Kindt, Merel; Pape, Louise E; Doreleijers, Theo A H; van den Brink, Wim; Veltman, Dick J; Popma, Arne

2016-07-01

Children diagnosed with a Disruptive Behavior Disorder (DBD, i.e. Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Conduct Disorder), especially those with psychopathic traits, are at risk of developing persistent and severe antisocial behavior. Reduced fear conditioning has been proposed to underlie persistent antisocial development. However, we have recently shown that both DBD persisters and desisters are characterized by increased fear conditioning compared with healthy controls (HCs). In this study, we investigated whether brain function during fear extinction is associated with DBD subgroup-membership and psychopathic traits. Adolescents from a childhood arrestee cohort (mean age 17.6 years, s.d. 1.4) who met criteria for a DBD diagnosis during previous assessments were re-assessed and categorized as persistent DBD (n = 25) or desistent DBD (n = 25). Functional MRI during the extinction phase of a classical fear-conditioning task was used to compare regional brain function between these subgroups and 25 matched controls. Both DBD persisters and desisters showed hyperreactivity during fear extinction, when compared with HCs. Impulsive-irresponsible psychopathic traits were positively associated with responses in the fear neurocircuitry and mediated the association between neural activation and group membership. These results suggest that fear acquisition and fear extinction deficits may provide an endophenotype for an emotionally hyperreactive subtype of antisocial development. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Implementing the space shuttle data processing system with the space generic open avionics architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wray, Richard B.; Stovall, John R.

1993-01-01

This paper presents an overview of the application of the Space Generic Open Avionics Architecture (SGOAA) to the Space Shuttle Data Processing System (DPS) architecture design. This application has been performed to validate the SGOAA, and its potential use in flight critical systems. The paper summarizes key elements of the Space Shuttle avionics architecture, data processing system requirements and software architecture as currently implemented. It then summarizes the SGOAA architecture and describes a tailoring of the SGOAA to the Space Shuttle. The SGOAA consists of a generic system architecture for the entities in spacecraft avionics, a generic processing external and internal hardware architecture, a six class model of interfaces and functional subsystem architectures for data services and operations control capabilities. It has been proposed as an avionics architecture standard with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), through its Strategic Avionics Technology Working Group, and is being considered by the Society of Aeronautic Engineers (SAE) as an SAE Avionics Standard. This architecture was developed for the Flight Data Systems Division of JSC by the Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company, Houston, Texas.

Membership in fraternities and sororities, depression, and suicidal ideation.

PubMed

Ridgway, Rachael; Tang, Connie; Lester, David

2014-06-01

College student membership in fraternities/sororities may have positive or negative effects on their behavior. This study investigated the relationships between fraternity/sorority membership, depression, and suicidal behavior. 293 undergraduate students (232 women, 61 men; M age = 22.6 yr., SD = 1.5, range = 18-24; 127 sorority sisters, 35 fraternity brothers) from a rural state college participated in the study. Depression, self-esteem and perceived social support were measured with the Beck Depression Inventory, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, respectively. Depression and suicidal ideation correlated negatively with self-esteem and perceived social support, but were not correlated with membership in fraternities/sororities.

"Photographing money" task pricing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Zhongxiang

2018-05-01

"Photographing money" [1]is a self-service model under the mobile Internet. The task pricing is reasonable, related to the success of the commodity inspection. First of all, we analyzed the position of the mission and the membership, and introduced the factor of membership density, considering the influence of the number of members around the mission on the pricing. Multivariate regression of task location and membership density using MATLAB to establish the mathematical model of task pricing. At the same time, we can see from the life experience that membership reputation and the intensity of the task will also affect the pricing, and the data of the task success point is more reliable. Therefore, the successful point of the task is selected, and its reputation, task density, membership density and Multiple regression of task positions, according to which a nhew task pricing program. Finally, an objective evaluation is given of the advantages and disadvantages of the established model and solution method, and the improved method is pointed out.

Impacts of extension access and cooperative membership on technology adoption and household welfare.

PubMed

Wossen, Tesfamicheal; Abdoulaye, Tahirou; Alene, Arega; Haile, Mekbib G; Feleke, Shiferaw; Olanrewaju, Adetunji; Manyong, Victor

2017-08-01

This paper examines the impacts of access to extension services and cooperative membership on technology adoption, asset ownership and poverty using household-level data from rural Nigeria. Using different matching techniques and endogenous switching regression approach, we find that both extension access and cooperative membership have a positive and statistically significant effect on technology adoption and household welfare. Moreover, we find that both extension access and cooperative membership have heterogeneous impacts. In particular, we find evidence of a positive selection as the average treatment effects of extension access and cooperative membership are higher for farmers with the highest propensity to access extension and cooperative services. The impact of extension services on poverty reduction and of cooperatives on technology adoption is significantly stronger for smallholders with access to formal credit than for those without access. This implies that expanding rural financial markets can maximize the potential positive impacts of extension and cooperative services on farmers' productivity and welfare.

Intergroup visual perspective-taking: Shared group membership impairs self-perspective inhibition but may facilitate perspective calculation.

PubMed

Simpson, Austin J; Todd, Andrew R

2017-09-01

Reasoning about what other people see, know, and want is essential for navigating social life. Yet, even neurodevelopmentally healthy adults make perspective-taking errors. Here, we examined how the group membership of perspective-taking targets (ingroup vs. outgroup) affects processes underlying visual perspective-taking. In three experiments using two bases of group identity (university affiliation and minimal groups), interference from one's own differing perspective (i.e., egocentric intrusion) was stronger when responding from an ingroup versus an outgroup member's perspective. Spontaneous perspective calculation, as indexed by interference from another's visual perspective when reporting one's own (i.e., altercentric intrusion), did not differ across target group membership in any of our experiments. Process-dissociation analyses, which aim to isolate automatic processes underlying altercentric-intrusion effects, further revealed negligible effects of target group membership on perspective calculation. Meta-analytically, however, there was suggestive evidence that shared group membership facilitates responding from others' perspectives when self and other perspectives are aligned. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Franchising Reproductive Health Services

PubMed Central

Stephenson, Rob; Tsui, Amy Ong; Sulzbach, Sara; Bardsley, Phil; Bekele, Getachew; Giday, Tilahun; Ahmed, Rehana; Gopalkrishnan, Gopi; Feyesitan, Bamikale

2004-01-01

Objectives Networks of franchised health establishments, providing a standardized set of services, are being implemented in developing countries. This article examines associations between franchise membership and family planning and reproductive health outcomes for both the member provider and the client. Methods Regression models are fitted examining associations between franchise membership and family planning and reproductive health outcomes at the service provider and client levels in three settings. Results Franchising has a positive association with both general and family planning client volumes, and the number of family planning brands available. Similar associations with franchise membership are not found for reproductive health service outcomes. In some settings, client satisfaction is higher at franchised than other types of health establishments, although the association between franchise membership and client outcomes varies across the settings. Conclusions Franchise membership has apparent benefits for both the provider and the client, providing an opportunity to expand access to reproductive health services, although greater attention is needed to shift the focus from family planning to a broader reproductive health context. PMID:15544644

Franchising reproductive health services.

PubMed

Stephenson, Rob; Tsui, Amy Ong; Sulzbach, Sara; Bardsley, Phil; Bekele, Getachew; Giday, Tilahun; Ahmed, Rehana; Gopalkrishnan, Gopi; Feyesitan, Bamikale

2004-12-01

Networks of franchised health establishments, providing a standardized set of services, are being implemented in developing countries. This article examines associations between franchise membership and family planning and reproductive health outcomes for both the member provider and the client. Regression models are fitted examining associations between franchise membership and family planning and reproductive health outcomes at the service provider and client levels in three settings. Franchising has a positive association with both general and family planning client volumes, and the number of family planning brands available. Similar associations with franchise membership are not found for reproductive health service outcomes. In some settings, client satisfaction is higher at franchised than other types of health establishments, although the association between franchise membership and client outcomes varies across the settings. Franchise membership has apparent benefits for both the provider and the client, providing an opportunity to expand access to reproductive health services, although greater attention is needed to shift the focus from family planning to a broader reproductive health context.

Factors associated with Spanish older people's membership in political organizations: the role of active aging activities.

PubMed

Serrat, Rodrigo; Villar, Feliciano; Celdrán, Montserrat

2015-09-01

This study explores older people's membership in political organizations by using data from the Survey on older people 2010, carried out by Spain's National Institute for older people and social services. The objectives were to describe the extent of this kind of participation among Spaniards aged 65 and over, and to analyze the factors that are associated with it. Results show that only slightly less than 7 % of the sample belonged to a political organization. To analyze the factors related to this membership, a set of models of multivariate analyses were run, including socioeconomic resources and participation in other types of active aging activity (participation in leisure, learning, and productive activities). Educational level, leisure activities, learning activities, and only volunteering in the case of productive activities were found to be associated with membership in political organizations. Results provide partial support for the socioeconomic resources model and suggest that engagement in leisure activities, learning activities, and volunteering might have an enhancing effect on membership in political organizations.

Health-Related Quality of Life of Nepalese Children With Leukemia Using Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scale.

PubMed

V K, Anu; Onta, Mandira; Joshi, Sarala

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an essential measure to consider when evaluating the full impact of illness in children diagnosed with leukemia. The purpose of the current study was to assess the overall HRQOL and specific functioning subscales of Nepalese children with leukemia using Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scale (PedsQL 4.0), compare self-report with parent proxy report of HRQOL and to identify the determinants affecting HRQOL. After cultural linguistic validation of PedsQL, a descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 43 children with leukemia and their parents in B. P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Bharatpur via interview schedule. Among the subscales of HRQOL both the child's self-report and parent proxy report scores were highest in social functioning and lowest in emotional functioning subscale. Intraclass correlation coefficient between proxy reports and self-reports were highest (0.828) in physical functioning and lowest (0.493) in social functioning subscales. Age group was significantly associated with the total score, physical functioning subscale, and emotional functioning subscale of only proxy scores. Leukemic children's age-specific needs should be addressed properly to improve their overall HRQOL.

A GIS-based generic real-time risk assessment framework and decision tools for chemical spills in the river basin.

PubMed

Jiang, Jiping; Wang, Peng; Lung, Wu-seng; Guo, Liang; Li, Mei

2012-08-15

This paper presents a generic framework and decision tools of real-time risk assessment on Emergency Environmental Decision Support System for response to chemical spills in river basin. The generic "4-step-3-model" framework is able to delineate the warning area and the impact on vulnerable receptors considering four types of hazards referring to functional area, societal impact, and human health and ecology system. Decision tools including the stand-alone system and software components were implemented on GIS platform. A detailed case study on the Songhua River nitrobenzene spill illustrated the goodness of the framework and tool Spill first responders and decision makers of catchment management will benefit from the rich, visual and dynamic hazard information output from the software. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Current utilization, interpretation, and recommendations: the musculoskeletal function assessments (MFA/SMFA).

PubMed

Barei, David P; Agel, Julie; Swiontkowski, Marc F

2007-01-01

The development of patient-oriented health status measurements has resulted in the emergence of several generic condition-specific and anatomic-specific instruments. These instruments are generally designed to measure the function of the individual as a whole from the individual's own point of view. They are not intended to replace traditional physician-oriented clinical outcome measures, such as complication rates, ranges of motion, or time to fracture union; instead, they are an attempt to measure the results of a treatment or condition from the patient's perspective. Over the past decade, the Musculoskeletal Function Assessment (MFA) instrument has been developed and used as one of the primary generic musculoskeletal functional assessment tools, in part because of its validity, reliability, and responsiveness. Despite the numerous publications reporting the MFA/SMFA, we are unaware of any publications that have used those results to subsequently affect patient care. We hope that this special interest article highlights the current underutilization of the available data and encourages the orthopedic community to maximize the clinical and research potential of the MFA/SMFA (Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment).

Turkey’s Membership in the European Union: Analyzing Potential Benefits and Drawbacks

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

THE EUROPEAN UNION: ANALYZING POTENTIAL BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS by Abdi Pehlivan December 2008 Thesis Co-Advisors: David S. Yost...DATES COVERED Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Turkey’s Membership in the European Union: Analyzing Potential Benefits and Drawbacks 6...EU. This thesis analyzes the potential advantages and drawbacks of Turkey’s EU membership for both Turkey and the EU. It considers economic, social

Developmental Pathways of Youth Gang Membership: A Structural Test of the Social Development Model

PubMed Central

Hill, Karl G.; Gilman, Amanda B.; Howell, James C.; Catalano, Richard F.; Hawkins, J. David

2017-01-01

As a result of nearly 40 years of research using a risk and protective factor approach, much is known about the predictors of gang onset. Little theoretical work, however, has been done to situate this approach to studying gang membership within a more comprehensive developmental model. Using structural equation modeling techniques, the current study is the first to test the capacity of the social development model (SDM) to predict the developmental pathways that increase and decrease the likelihood of gang membership. Results suggest that the SDM provides a good accounting of the social developmental processes at age 13 that are predictive of later gang membership. These findings support the promotion of a theoretical understanding of gang membership that specifies both pro- and antisocial developmental pathways. Additionally, as the SDM is intended as a model that can guide preventive intervention, results also hold practical utility for designing strategies that can be implemented in early adolescence to address the likelihood of later gang involvement. Three key preventive intervention points to address gang membership are discussed, including promoting efforts to enhance social skills, increasing the availability of prosocial opportunities and rewarding engagement in these opportunities, and reducing antisocial socialization experiences throughout the middle- and high school years. PMID:29403146

Validation of the Spanish Version of the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) Scale in Chilean Adolescents and Its Association with School-Related Outcomes and Substance Use

PubMed Central

Gaete, Jorge; Montero-Marin, Jesus; Rojas-Barahona, Cristian A.; Olivares, Esterbina; Araya, Ricardo

2016-01-01

School membership appears to be an important factor in explaining the relationship between students and schools, including school staff. School membership is associated with several school-related outcomes, such as academic performance and expectations. Most studies on school membership have been conducted in developed countries. The Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) scale (18 items: 13 positively worded items, 5 negatively worded items) has been widely used to measure this construct, but no studies regarding its validity and reliability have been conducted in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. This study investigates the psychometric properties, factor structure and reliability of this scale in a sample of 1250 early adolescents in Chile. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provide evidence of an excellent fit for a one-factor solution after removing the negatively worded items. The internal consistency of this new abbreviated version was 0.92. The association analyses demonstrated that high school membership was associated with better academic performance, stronger school bonding, a reduced likelihood of school misbehavior, and reduced likelihood of substance use. Analyses showed support for the reliability and validity of the PSSM among Chilean adolescents. PMID:27999554

An ANFIS-based on B2C electronic commerce transaction

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

Lin, Juan, E-mail: linjuanliucaihong@qq.com; Liu, Chenlian, E-mail: chenglian.liu@gmail.com; Guo, Yongning, E-mail: guoyn@163.com

2014-10-06

The purpose of this study is to use an adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system to model a fuzzy logic-based system (FIS) for supporting decision-making process in B2C electronic commerce transaction. Firstly we introduce FIS in B2C electronic commerce transaction and ANFIS. Then we use ANFIS to model FIS with different membership functions(MF). Lastly we give a conclusion.

An ANFIS-based on B2C electronic commerce transaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Juan; Liu, Chenlian; Guo, Yongning

2014-10-01

The purpose of this study is to use an adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system to model a fuzzy logic-based system (FIS) for supporting decision-making process in B2C electronic commerce transaction. Firstly we introduce FIS in B2C electronic commerce transaction and ANFIS. Then we use ANFIS to model FIS with different membership functions(MF). Lastly we give a conclusion.

The Race Relations Advisory Group: An Intergroup Intervention.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-03-01

Washington, DC 20548 National Institute of Education EOLC/SMO 1200 19th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20208 National Inntitute of Mental Health Division...of Extramural Research Programs 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, HD 20852 National Institute of Mental Health Minority Group Mental Health Programs Room 7...organization members, balances membership by nender within race, and reflects a repre- sentative cross-section of hierarchical levels and functional

Three-Dimensional Road Network by Fusion of Polarimetric and Interferometric SAR Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gamba, P.; Houshmand, B.

1998-01-01

In this paper a fuzzy classification procedure is applied to polarimetric radar measurements, and street pixels are detected. These data are successively grouped into consistent roads by means of a dynamic programming approach based on the fuzzy membership function values. Further fusion of the 2D road network extracted and 3D TOPSAR measurements provides a powerful way to analyze urban infrastructures.

An analysis of possible applications of fuzzy set theory to the actuarial credibility theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ostaszewski, Krzysztof; Karwowski, Waldemar

1992-01-01

In this work, we review the basic concepts of actuarial credibility theory from the point of view of introducing applications of the fuzzy set-theoretic method. We show how the concept of actuarial credibility can be modeled through the fuzzy set membership functions and how fuzzy set methods, especially fuzzy pattern recognition, can provide an alternative tool for estimating credibility.

Report from AmSECT's International Consortium for Evidence-Based Perfusion: American Society of Extracorporeal Technology Standards and Guidelines for Perfusion Practice: 2013.

PubMed

Baker, Robert A; Bronson, Shahna L; Dickinson, Timothy A; Fitzgerald, David C; Likosky, Donald S; Mellas, Nicholas B; Shann, Kenneth G

2013-09-01

One of the roles of a professional society is to develop standards and guidelines of practice as an instrument to guide safe and effective patient care. The American Society of Extracorporeal Technology (AmSECT) first published its Essentials for Perfusion Practice, Clinical Function: Conduct of Extracorporeal Circulation in 1993. The International Consortium for Evidence-Based Perfusion (ICEBP), a committee within AmSECT, was tasked with updating this document in 2010. The aim of this report is to describe the method of development and content of AmSECT's new professional standards and guidelines. The ICEBP committee independently evaluated and provided input regarding the current "Essentials and Guidelines." Structural changes were made to the entire document, and a draft document was developed, presented, and circulated to the AmSECT Board of Directors and broader membership for comment. Informed by these reviews, a revised document was then presented to the Society for a membership vote. The final document consists of 15 areas of practice covered by 50 Standards and 38 Guidelines (see Appendix 1) with the first standard focusing on the development of institutional protocols to support their implementation and use. A majority of the membership voted to accept the document (81.2% of the voting membership accepting, 18.8% rejecting). After an audit of the balloting process by AmSECT's Ethics Committee, the results were reported to the membership and the document was officially adopted on July 24, 2013. The Standards and Guidelines will serve as a useful guide for cardiac surgical teams that wish to develop institution-specific standards and guidelines to improve the reliability, safety, and effectiveness of adult cardiopulmonary bypass. The ICEBP recognizes that the development of a Standards and Guidelines statement alone will not change care. Safe, reliable, and effective care will be best served through the development and implementation of institutional protocols based on these standards. AmSECT's Standards and Guidelines for Perfusion Practice reflect the changing landscape of our profession as we work toward a safer and optimal provision of cardiopulmonary bypass for all our patients as well as a work environment that is supportive of delivering this care. standards, guidelines, cardiopulmonary bypass, perfusion, cardiac surgery.

An expert system based software sizing tool, phase 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Friedlander, David

1990-01-01

A software tool was developed for predicting the size of a future computer program at an early stage in its development. The system is intended to enable a user who is not expert in Software Engineering to estimate software size in lines of source code with an accuracy similar to that of an expert, based on the program's functional specifications. The project was planned as a knowledge based system with a field prototype as the goal of Phase 2 and a commercial system planned for Phase 3. The researchers used techniques from Artificial Intelligence and knowledge from human experts and existing software from NASA's COSMIC database. They devised a classification scheme for the software specifications, and a small set of generic software components that represent complexity and apply to large classes of programs. The specifications are converted to generic components by a set of rules and the generic components are input to a nonlinear sizing function which makes the final prediction. The system developed for this project predicted code sizes from the database with a bias factor of 1.06 and a fluctuation factor of 1.77, an accuracy similar to that of human experts but without their significant optimistic bias.

Protein addressing on patterned microchip by coupling chitosan electrodeposition and 'electro-click' chemistry.

PubMed

Shi, Xiao-Wen; Qiu, Ling; Nie, Zhen; Xiao, Ling; Payne, Gregory F; Du, Yumin

2013-12-01

Many applications in proteomics and lab-on-chip analysis require methods that guide proteins to assemble at surfaces with high spatial and temporal control. Electrical inputs are particularly convenient to control, and there has been considerable effort to discover simple and generic mechanisms that allow electrical inputs to trigger protein assembly on-demand. Here, we report the electroaddressing of a protein to a patterned surface by coupling two generic electroaddressing mechanisms. First, we electrodeposit the stimuli-responsive film-forming aminopolysaccharide chitosan to form a hydrogel matrix at the electrode surface. After deposition, the matrix is chemically functionalized with alkyne groups. Second, we ''electro-click' an azide-tagged protein to the functionalized matrix using electrical signals to trigger conjugation by Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions. Specifically, a cathodic potential is applied to the matrix-coated electrode to reduce Cu(II) to Cu(I) which is required for the click reaction. Using fluorescently-labeled bovine serum albumin as our model, we demonstrate that protein conjugation can be controlled spatially and temporally. We anticipate that the coupling of polysaccharide electrodeposition and electro-click chemistry will provide a simple and generic approach to electroaddress proteins within compatible hydrogel matrices.

Demographic Change in the American Geophysical Union's United States Membership, 2006-2014

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rhodes, D. D.

2014-12-01

AGU's demographic characteristics changed during the period 2006-2014 in response to the aging of the Baby Boom generation and an increase in the number of women geoscientists. This analysis deals only with the portion of AGU's membership with mailing addresses within the US, a group that comprised 65% of the worldwide total in 2006 and 61% of the total membership in 2014. Using the US membership data that include both the members' birthdate and gender, a comparison of the population structures in 2006 and 2014 reveals characteristics of the changing US workforce. Since 2006, the percent of the US membership represented by the Baby Boom has decreased 5.2%, from 37.2% to 32.0%. That trend will continue for the next 20 years and the rate will accelerate before slowing again. At the same time the Boomers are decreasing in number, the percentage of the membership represented by the more recent age-cohorts (born 1965-1989) has grown. For example, in 2006, the 1985-1989 cohort was barely represented (0.14%). By February 2014, the cohort had become 8.25% of the U.S. membership. The four cohorts covering birth years 1965 through 1984, each increased slightly in size. In addition, each had a larger number of women, reflecting AGU's increased female membership from 22.5% to 25.3%. The 1985-1989 cohort is somewhat smaller than the previous four cohorts. If the smaller size of this represents a reversal of the growth trend over the last 25 years, the implications for the size of the US workforce are important. Perhaps the most significant change in the demographic structure of AGU's US membership is that the general shape of the age-gender diagram, while still asymmetrical because of the larger number of men, is becoming more straight sided due to the similar size of recent cohorts. This shape is characteristic of stable populations when dealing with self-reproducing groups. The implications for the future of a scientific society are less clear, but the cause reflects a period of relative stability without radical changes (either growth or shrinkage). As the members who were born during the Baby Boom and those who reached the workforce during the petroleum bust of the 1980's continue to leave AGU, the society's US membership (and to some degree the size of the workforce) seems to have stabilized at something near current levels.

Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Pediatric Quality Of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core scales among pediatric cancer patients.

PubMed

Yeung, Nelson C Y; Lau, Joseph T F; Yu, Xiao-nan; Chu, Yvonne; Shing, Matthew M K; Leung, Ting Fan; Li, Chi Kong; Fok, Tai Fai; Mak, Winnie W S

2013-01-01

The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) 4.0 Generic Core Scales are commonly used to assess health-related quality of life of healthy children and pediatric patients. Validation of the Generic Core Scales among Chinese pediatric cancer patients has not been reported in the literature. The scales can serve to measure different quality-of-life domains that are not captured by the PedsQL Cancer Module. Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the PedsQL 4.0 among pediatric cancer patients and their caretakers were examined. The Generic Core Scales were administered to 335 pairs of pediatric cancer patients (aged 8-18 years) and their caretakers in Hong Kong. A 5-factor structure (physical, emotional, social, school-related cognitive function, and missed school) was identified in the patient and proxy versions of the scales using confirmatory factor analysis. Both versions of the total scale reported Cronbach α's of .90 or greater, with almost all subscales reporting α's of .70 or greater. Test-retest reliability at 2 weeks was acceptable (intraclass correlations ≥0.60) for a majority of subscales. Agreement between patients' and caretakers' ratings was medium. The scales demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties and construct validity. This study validated the Chinese version of the Generic Core Scales among pediatric cancer patients and their caretakers, which supports the future use of the scales in clinical settings. The Generic Core Scales can also be supplementary to the PedsQL Cancer Module for measuring multiple domains of quality of life in cancer population.

Space Allocation in the Award-Winning Adult ICUs of the Last Two Decades (1993-2012): An Exploratory Study.

PubMed

Rashid, Mahbub

2014-01-01

This exploratory study describes space allocation among different generic categories of functions in adult intensive care units (ICUs) showing how the amount of space of any one functional category is related to that of another functional category, and how different strategic choices, such as size, construction type, specialty type, and layout type, affect space allocation in these ICUs. Even though critical care practice has already undergone significant changes in the last few decades, it is still an evolving domain of medical practice. As a result, ICU design is also evolving as new regulatory standards, new technologies, and new clinical models are being introduced. A good understanding of the above issues regarding space allocation may help us better guide the evolution of ICU design. The study includes a set of 25 adult ICUs that were recognized between 1993 and 2012 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACCN), and the American Institute of Architects Academy of Architecture for Health (AIA AAH) for their efforts to promote healing of the critically ill and injured patients through the design of the critical care unit environment. The study finds notable differences in space allocation among different generic categories of functions between the ICUs of the first decade (1993-2002) and the second decade (2003-2012). The study also finds notable differences in space allocation among different generic categories of functions in relation to size, construction type, specialty type, and layout type. Despite several limitations, the study should help design better adult ICUs based on an evidence-based understanding of the relationships between space allocation and strategic choices. Construction, critical care/intensive care, evidence-based design, planning, project management.

Parallel RNAi screens across different cell lines identify generic and cell type-specific regulators of actin organization and cell morphology.

PubMed

Liu, Tao; Sims, David; Baum, Buzz

2009-01-01

In recent years RNAi screening has proven a powerful tool for dissecting gene functions in animal cells in culture. However, to date, most RNAi screens have been performed in a single cell line, and results then extrapolated across cell types and systems. Here, to dissect generic and cell type-specific mechanisms underlying cell morphology, we have performed identical kinome RNAi screens in six different Drosophila cell lines, derived from two distinct tissues of origin. This analysis identified a core set of kinases required for normal cell morphology in all lines tested, together with a number of kinases with cell type-specific functions. Most significantly, the screen identified a role for minibrain (mnb/DYRK1A), a kinase associated with Down's syndrome, in the regulation of actin-based protrusions in CNS-derived cell lines. This cell type-specific requirement was not due to the peculiarities in the morphology of CNS-derived cells and could not be attributed to differences in mnb expression. Instead, it likely reflects differences in gene expression that constitute the cell type-specific functional context in which mnb/DYRK1A acts. Using parallel RNAi screens and gene expression analyses across cell types we have identified generic and cell type-specific regulators of cell morphology, which include mnb/DYRK1A in the regulation of protrusion morphology in CNS-derived cell lines. This analysis reveals the importance of using different cell types to gain a thorough understanding of gene function across the genome and, in the case of kinases, the difficulties of using the differential gene expression to predict function.

A Numerical Optimization Approach for Tuning Fuzzy Logic Controllers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woodard, Stanley E.; Garg, Devendra P.

1998-01-01

This paper develops a method to tune fuzzy controllers using numerical optimization. The main attribute of this approach is that it allows fuzzy logic controllers to be tuned to achieve global performance requirements. Furthermore, this approach allows design constraints to be implemented during the tuning process. The method tunes the controller by parameterizing the membership functions for error, change-in-error and control output. The resulting parameters form a design vector which is iteratively changed to minimize an objective function. The minimal objective function results in an optimal performance of the system. A spacecraft mounted science instrument line-of-sight pointing control is used to demonstrate results.

Stemming the Growth: Exploring the Risk Factors in Group Membership in Domestic Street Gangs and Foreign Terrorist Organizations

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

attempt to explain gang membership and offending and delinquent behavior. New CVE program developers may be able to use these same theories to help...outcome in question—in this case, gang membership. Gang research scholars have discovered a multitude of risk factors that are statistically linked...and offending and delinquent behavior, including cultural diffusion, differential association, social disorganization and strain theory. CVE program

Prescription, Dispensation, and Generic Medicine Replacement Ratios: Influence on Japanese Medicine Costs

PubMed Central

Yokoi, Masayuki; Tashiro, Takao

2016-01-01

This study used publicly available data to examine the effect of the separation of dispensing and prescribing medicines between pharmacists in pharmacies and doctors in medical institutions (the separation system) and the generic medicine replacement ratio on the cost of various medicines in Japanese prefectures. For Japanese medical institutions, participation in the separation system is optional. Consequently, the expansion rate of the separation system for each administrative district is highly variable. In our multiple regression analysis, the dependent variables were the costs of daily medicines, specifically, total, internal, external, and injection medicines, as well as medical devices, and the independent variables were the expansion rate of the separation system and generic medicine replacement ratio. The expansion rate of the separation system showed a significant negative partial correlation with the daily costs of total, internal, and injection medicines as well as medical devices. Moreover, the rate of replacing brand name medicines with generic medicines showed a significant negative partial correlation with the daily costs of total and internal medicines. However, external and injection medicines and medical devices did not because only a few or no generic products of these types were sold in the Japanese market. Otherwise, expansion of the separation system was effective in reducing medicine costs, except in the case of external medicines. This suggests that the cost efficiency effect of the separation system does not function all the time. PMID:26234979

Synthesizing Safety Conditions for Code Certification Using Meta-Level Programming

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eusterbrock, Jutta

2004-01-01

In code certification the code consumer publishes a safety policy and the code producer generates a proof that the produced code is in compliance with the published safety policy. In this paper, a novel viewpoint approach towards an implementational re-use oriented framework for code certification is taken. It adopts ingredients from Necula's approach for proof-carrying code, but in this work safety properties can be analyzed on a higher code level than assembly language instructions. It consists of three parts: (1) The specification language is extended to include generic pre-conditions that shall ensure safety at all states that can be reached during program execution. Actual safety requirements can be expressed by providing domain-specific definitions for the generic predicates which act as interface to the environment. (2) The Floyd-Hoare inductive assertion method is refined to obtain proof rules that allow the derivation of the proof obligations in terms of the generic safety predicates. (3) A meta-interpreter is designed and experimentally implemented that enables automatic synthesis of proof obligations for submitted programs by applying the modified Floyd-Hoare rules. The proof obligations have two separate conjuncts, one for functional correctness and another for the generic safety obligations. Proof of the generic obligations, having provided the actual safety definitions as context, ensures domain-specific safety of program execution in a particular environment and is simpler than full program verification.

14 CFR 1203.902 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Committee membership: (a) Associate Administrator for: (1) Aero-Space Technology. (2) Space Science. (3) Space Flight. (4) External Relations. (5) Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications. (b) Associate...

14 CFR 1203.902 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Committee membership: (a) Associate Administrator for: (1) Aero-Space Technology. (2) Space Science. (3) Space Flight. (4) External Relations. (5) Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications. (b) Associate...

14 CFR 1203.902 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Committee membership: (a) Associate Administrator for: (1) Aero-Space Technology. (2) Space Science. (3) Space Flight. (4) External Relations. (5) Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications. (b) Associate...

14 CFR 1203.902 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... Committee membership: (a) Associate Administrator for: (1) Aero-Space Technology. (2) Space Science. (3) Space Flight. (4) External Relations. (5) Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications. (b) Associate...

A randomized comparison of platelet reactivity in patients after treatment with various commercial clopidogrel preparations: the CLO-CLO trial.

PubMed

Oberhänsli, Markus; Lehner, Cédric; Puricel, Serban; Lehmann, Sonja; Togni, Mario; Stauffer, Jean-Christophe; Baeriswyl, Gérard; Goy, Jean-Jacques; Cook, Stéphane

2012-11-01

The salt linked to the clopidogrel molecule in generic preparations is suspected to affect its clinical efficacy. There is a lack of information about inhibition of platelet reactivity by generic preparations. To compare the effect of original clopidogrel (clopidogrel bisulphate [Plavix(®)]), generic clopidogrel preparations (clopidogrel hydrochloride [Clopidogrel-Mepha(®)]; clopidogrel besylate [Clopidogrel Sandoz(®)]) and prasugrel (Efient(®)) on platelet reactivity in patients with coronary artery disease. Patients with coronary artery disease treated with stents received, in a random sequence, original clopidogrel bisulphate, clopidogrel hydrochloride and clopidogrel besylate. Platelet function was assessed with the Multiplate analyser after an initial loading dose (600 mg) and at day 10 after each treatment period. Prasugrel was given for another 10 days. An adenosine diphosphate (ADP) test value<46 antiaggregation units (U) was defined as therapeutic platelet inhibition. Sixty patients (mean age 69 ± 10 years; 50 men) were randomized. Original clopidogrel bisulphate, clopidogrel hydrochloride and clopidogrel besylate provided similar inhibition of platelet reactivity with values of 31 ± 25, 33 ± 28 and 28 ± 23 U, respectively (P not significant). Prasugrel provided better inhibition of platelet function (10 ± 11 vs. 31 ± 25 U for clopidogrel bisulphate; P<0.001). An ADP test value>46 U was measured in 11 patients (18%) with clopidogrel bisulphate, 13 (22%) with clopidogrel besylate and 13 (22%) with clopidogrel hydrochloride compared with only one (2%) with prasugrel. Generic clopidogrel preparations provided similar inhibition of platelet reactivity to original clopidogrel bisulphate, although prasugrel was more efficient. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

14 CFR § 1203.902 - Membership.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Committee membership: (a) Associate Administrator for: (1) Aero-Space Technology. (2) Space Science. (3) Space Flight. (4) External Relations. (5) Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications. (b) Associate...

Are clusters of dietary patterns and cluster membership stable over time? Results of a longitudinal cluster analysis study.

PubMed

Walthouwer, Michel Jean Louis; Oenema, Anke; Soetens, Katja; Lechner, Lilian; de Vries, Hein

2014-11-01

Developing nutrition education interventions based on clusters of dietary patterns can only be done adequately when it is clear if distinctive clusters of dietary patterns can be derived and reproduced over time, if cluster membership is stable, and if it is predictable which type of people belong to a certain cluster. Hence, this study aimed to: (1) identify clusters of dietary patterns among Dutch adults, (2) test the reproducibility of these clusters and stability of cluster membership over time, and (3) identify sociodemographic predictors of cluster membership and cluster transition. This study had a longitudinal design with online measurements at baseline (N=483) and 6 months follow-up (N=379). Dietary intake was assessed with a validated food frequency questionnaire. A hierarchical cluster analysis was performed, followed by a K-means cluster analysis. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the sociodemographic predictors of cluster membership and cluster transition. At baseline and follow-up, a comparable three-cluster solution was derived, distinguishing a healthy, moderately healthy, and unhealthy dietary pattern. Male and lower educated participants were significantly more likely to have a less healthy dietary pattern. Further, 251 (66.2%) participants remained in the same cluster, 45 (11.9%) participants changed to an unhealthier cluster, and 83 (21.9%) participants shifted to a healthier cluster. Men and people living alone were significantly more likely to shift toward a less healthy dietary pattern. Distinctive clusters of dietary patterns can be derived. Yet, cluster membership is unstable and only few sociodemographic factors were associated with cluster membership and cluster transition. These findings imply that clusters based on dietary intake may not be suitable as a basis for nutrition education interventions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Disproportionate Participation of Males and Females in Academic Pediatric Orthopaedics: An Analysis of Abstract Authorship at POSNA 2009-2013.

PubMed

Sharkey, Melinda S; Feinn, Richard S; Tate, Victoria V; Carter, Cordelia W; Cassese, Todd T

2016-06-01

Despite increasing numbers of female orthopaedic surgeons, we hypothesized that women were not actively participating at national and international meetings in numbers proportional to their membership. A retrospective review of the 2009-2013 POSNA Annual Meeting Final Programs was performed. The following information was recorded for all members: name, sex, membership level, years of membership, and if the individual was an author on at least 1 abstract. To compare proportion of abstract authorship between sexes across years, while controlling for years of membership, general estimating equations with a binomial model and logit link were used. The study population was limited to candidate and active POSNA members only, as this group represents the most active practicing pediatric orthopaedic surgeons. Over the 5-year period studied, females comprised 16.6% (204/1227) of the total POSNA membership and 20.9% (184/880) of members at candidate and active status. The percentage of females with candidate or active member status in POSNA who had at least 1 abstract presentation during the 5 years was 37% and this was significantly lower (P=0.003) than the percentage of men (49%) who presented at least 1 abstract. Analysis across the 5 years showed a consistent difference between the sexes with no trend of convergence in abstract rates (P=0.65). Controlling for years membership, female members still presented abstracts at lower rates than their male colleagues (P=0.002). Female members of POSNA, in the most active part of their careers, participated at significantly lower rates than their male peers as accepted abstract authors for the 2009-2013 POSNA meetings than would be expected for their proportional size of total membership.

Resolving the faint end of the satellite luminosity function for the nearest elliptical Centaurus A

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crnojevic, Denija

2014-10-01

We request HST/ACS imaging to follow up 15 new faint candidate dwarfs around the nearest elliptical Centaurus A (3.8 Mpc). The dwarfs were found via a systematic ground-based (Magellan/Megacam) survey out to ~150 kpc, designed to directly confront the "missing satellites" problem in a wholly new environment. Current Cold Dark Matter models for structure formation fail to reproduce the shallow slope of the satellite luminosity function in spiral-dominated groups for which dwarfs fainter than M_V<-14 have been surveyed (the Local Group and the nearby, interacting M81 group). Clusters of galaxies show a better agreement with cosmological predictions, suggesting an environmental dependence of the (poorly-understood) physical processes acting on the evolution of low mass galaxies (e.g., reionization). However, the luminosity function completeness for these rich environments quickly drops due to the faintness of the satellites and to the difficult cluster membership determination. We target a yet unexplored "intermediate" environment, a nearby group dominated by an elliptical galaxy, ideal due to its proximity: accurate (10%) distance determinations for its members can be derived from resolved stellar populations. The proposed observations of the candidate dwarfs will confirm their nature, group membership, and constrain their luminosities, metallicities, and star formation histories. We will obtain the first complete census of dwarf satellites of an elliptical down to an unprecedented M_V<-9. Our results will crucially constrain cosmological predictions for the faint end of the satellite luminosity function to achieve a more complete picture of the galaxy formation process.

CERN: A global project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voss, Rüdiger

2017-07-01

In the most important shift of paradigm of its membership rules in 60 years, CERN in 2010 introduced a policy of “Geographical Enlargement” which for the first time opened the door for membership of non-European States in the Organization. This short article reviews briefly the history of CERN’s membership rules, discusses the rationale behind the new policy, its relationship with the emerging global roadmap of particle physics, and gives a short overview of the status of the enlargement process.

The Geoinformatica free and open source software stack

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jolma, A.

2012-04-01

The Geoinformatica free and open source software (FOSS) stack is based mainly on three established FOSS components, namely GDAL, GTK+, and Perl. GDAL provides access to a very large selection of geospatial data formats and data sources, a generic geospatial data model, and a large collection of geospatial analytical and processing functionality. GTK+ and the Cairo graphics library provide generic graphics and graphical user interface capabilities. Perl is a programming language, for which there is a very large set of FOSS modules for a wide range of purposes and which can be used as an integrative tool for building applications. In the Geoinformatica stack, data storages such as FOSS RDBMS PostgreSQL with its geospatial extension PostGIS can be used below the three above mentioned components. The top layer of Geoinformatica consists of a C library and several Perl modules. The C library comprises a general purpose raster algebra library, hydrological terrain analysis functions, and visualization code. The Perl modules define a generic visualized geospatial data layer and subclasses for raster and vector data and graphs. The hydrological terrain functions are already rather old and they suffer for example from the requirement of in-memory rasters. Newer research conducted using the platform include basic geospatial simulation modeling, visualization of ecological data, linking with a Bayesian network engine for spatial risk assessment in coastal areas, and developing standards-based distributed water resources information systems in Internet. The Geoinformatica stack constitutes a platform for geospatial research, which is targeted towards custom analytical tools, prototyping and linking with external libraries. Writing custom analytical tools is supported by the Perl language and the large collection of tools that are available especially in GDAL and Perl modules. Prototyping is supported by the GTK+ library, the GUI tools, and the support for object-oriented programming in Perl. New feature types, geospatial layer classes, and tools as extensions with specific features can be defined, used, and studied. Linking with external libraries is possible using the Perl foreign function interface tools or with generic tools such as Swig. We are interested in implementing and testing linking Geoinformatica with existing or new more specific hydrological FOSS.

Rejected applications

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Objective: To review membership application materials (especially rejected applications) to the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) during its formative years (1947–1953). Methods: Detailed study of materials in the AAN Historical Collection. Results: The author identified 73 rejected applications. Rejected applicants (71 male, 2 female) lived in 25 states. The largest number was for the Associate membership category (49). These were individuals “in related fields who have made and are making contributions to the field of neurology.” By contrast, few applicants to Active membership or Fellowship status were rejected. The largest numbers of rejectees were neuropsychiatrists (19), neurosurgeons (16), and psychiatrists (14). Conclusion: The AAN, established in the late 1940s, was a small and politically vulnerable organization. A defining feature of the fledgling society was its inclusiveness; its membership was less restrictive than that of the older American Neurological Association. At the same time, the society needed to preserve its core as a neurologic society rather than one of psychiatry or neurosurgery. Hence, the balance between inclusiveness and exclusive identity was a difficult one to maintain. The Associate membership category, more than any other, was at the heart of this issue of self-definition. Associate members were largely practitioners of psychiatry or neurosurgery. Their membership was a source of consternation and was to be carefully been held in check during these critical formative years. PMID:24944256

A generic, cost-effective, and scalable cell lineage analysis platform

PubMed Central

Biezuner, Tamir; Spiro, Adam; Raz, Ofir; Amir, Shiran; Milo, Lilach; Adar, Rivka; Chapal-Ilani, Noa; Berman, Veronika; Fried, Yael; Ainbinder, Elena; Cohen, Galit; Barr, Haim M.; Halaban, Ruth; Shapiro, Ehud

2016-01-01

Advances in single-cell genomics enable commensurate improvements in methods for uncovering lineage relations among individual cells. Current sequencing-based methods for cell lineage analysis depend on low-resolution bulk analysis or rely on extensive single-cell sequencing, which is not scalable and could be biased by functional dependencies. Here we show an integrated biochemical-computational platform for generic single-cell lineage analysis that is retrospective, cost-effective, and scalable. It consists of a biochemical-computational pipeline that inputs individual cells, produces targeted single-cell sequencing data, and uses it to generate a lineage tree of the input cells. We validated the platform by applying it to cells sampled from an ex vivo grown tree and analyzed its feasibility landscape by computer simulations. We conclude that the platform may serve as a generic tool for lineage analysis and thus pave the way toward large-scale human cell lineage discovery. PMID:27558250

A Generic Approach for Pen-Based User Interface Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macé, Sébastien; Anquetil, Éric

Pen-based interaction is an intuitive way to realize hand drawn structured documents, but few applications take advantage of it. Indeed, the interpretation of the user hand drawn strokes in the context of document is a complex problem. In this paper, we propose a new generic approach to develop such systems based on three independent components. The first one is a set of graphical and editing functions adapted to pen interaction. The second one is a rule-based formalism that models structured document composition and the corresponding interpretation process. The last one is a hand drawn stroke analyzer that is able to interpret strokes progressively, directly while the user is drawing. We highlight in particular the human-computer interaction induced from this progressive interpretation process. Thanks to this generic approach, three pen-based system prototypes have already been developed, for musical score editing, for graph editing, and for UML class diagram editing