First clinical experience with a dedicated MRI-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound system for breast cancer ablation.

PubMed

Merckel, Laura G; Knuttel, Floor M; Deckers, Roel; van Dalen, Thijs; Schubert, Gerald; Peters, Nicky H G M; Weits, Teun; van Diest, Paul J; Mali, Willem P Th M; Vaessen, Paul H H B; van Gorp, Joost M H H; Moonen, Chrit T W; Bartels, Lambertus W; van den Bosch, Maurice A A J

2016-11-01

To assess the safety and feasibility of MRI-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (MR-HIFU) ablation in breast cancer patients using a dedicated breast platform. Patients with early-stage invasive breast cancer underwent partial tumour ablation prior to surgical resection. MR-HIFU ablation was performed using proton resonance frequency shift MR thermometry and an MR-HIFU system specifically designed for breast tumour ablation. The presence and extent of tumour necrosis was assessed by histopathological analysis of the surgical specimen. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relationship between sonication parameters, temperature increase and size of tumour necrosis at histopathology. Ten female patients underwent MR-HIFU treatment. No skin redness or burns were observed in any of the patients. No correlation was found between the applied energy and the temperature increase. In six patients, tumour necrosis was observed with a maximum diameter of 3-11 mm. In these patients, the number of targeted locations was equal to the number of areas with tumour necrosis. A good correlation was found between the applied energy and the size of tumour necrosis at histopathology (Pearson = 0.76, p = 0.002). Our results show that MR-HIFU ablation with the dedicated breast system is safe and results in histopathologically proven tumour necrosis. • MR-HIFU ablation with the dedicated breast system is safe and feasible • In none of the patients was skin redness or burns observed • No correlation was found between the applied energy and the temperature increase • The correlation between applied energy and size of tumour necrosis was good.

An Inverse Modeling Approach to Estimating Phytoplankton Pigment Concentrations from Phytoplankton Absorption Spectra

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moisan, John R.; Moisan, Tiffany A. H.; Linkswiler, Matthew A.

2011-01-01

Phytoplankton absorption spectra and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) pigment observations from the Eastern U.S. and global observations from NASA's SeaBASS archive are used in a linear inverse calculation to extract pigment-specific absorption spectra. Using these pigment-specific absorption spectra to reconstruct the phytoplankton absorption spectra results in high correlations at all visible wavelengths (r(sup 2) from 0.83 to 0.98), and linear regressions (slopes ranging from 0.8 to 1.1). Higher correlations (r(sup 2) from 0.75 to 1.00) are obtained in the visible portion of the spectra when the total phytoplankton absorption spectra are unpackaged by multiplying the entire spectra by a factor that sets the total absorption at 675 nm to that expected from absorption spectra reconstruction using measured pigment concentrations and laboratory-derived pigment-specific absorption spectra. The derived pigment-specific absorption spectra were further used with the total phytoplankton absorption spectra in a second linear inverse calculation to estimate the various phytoplankton HPLC pigments. A comparison between the estimated and measured pigment concentrations for the 18 pigment fields showed good correlations (r(sup 2) greater than 0.5) for 7 pigments and very good correlations (r(sup 2) greater than 0.7) for chlorophyll a and fucoxanthin. Higher correlations result when the analysis is carried out at more local geographic scales. The ability to estimate phytoplankton pigments using pigment-specific absorption spectra is critical for using hyperspectral inverse models to retrieve phytoplankton pigment concentrations and other Inherent Optical Properties (IOPs) from passive remote sensing observations.

Inter-laboratory quality control for hormone-dependent gene expression in human breast tumors using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.

PubMed

de Cremoux, P; Bieche, I; Tran-Perennou, C; Vignaud, S; Boudou, E; Asselain, B; Lidereau, R; Magdelénat, H; Becette, V; Sigal-Zafrani, B; Spyratos, F

2004-09-01

Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) used to detect minor changes in specific mRNA concentrations may be associated with poor reproducibility. Stringent quality control is therefore essential at each step of the protocol, including the PCR procedure. We performed inter-laboratory quality control of quantitative PCR between two independent laboratories, using in-house RT-PCR assays on a series of hormone-related target genes in a retrospective consecutive series of 79 breast tumors. Total RNA was reverse transcribed in a single center. Calibration curves were performed for five target genes (estrogen receptor (ER)alpha, ERbeta, progesterone receptor (PR), CYP19 (aromatase) and Ki 67) and for two reference genes (human acidic ribosomal phosphoprotein PO (RPLPO) and TATA box-binding protein (TBP)). Amplification efficiencies of the calibrator were determined for each run and used to calculate mRNA expression. Correlation coefficients were evaluated for each target and each reference gene. A good correlation was observed for all target and reference genes in both centers using their own protocols and kits (P < 0.0001). The correlation coefficients ranged from 0.90 to 0.98 for the various target genes in the two centers. A good correlation was observed between the level of expression of the ERalpha and the PR transcripts (P < 0.001). A weak inverse correlation was observed in both centers between ERalpha and ERbeta levels, but only when TBP was the reference gene. No other correlation was observed with other parameters. Real-time PCR assays allow convenient quantification of target mRNA transcripts and quantification of target-derived nucleic acids in clinical specimens. This study addresses the importance of inter-laboratory quality controls for the use of a panel of real-time PCR assays devoted to clinical samples and protocols and to ensure their appropriate accuracy. This can also facilitate exchanges and multicenter comparison of data.

Magnetized liquid 3He at finite temperature: A variational calculation approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bordbar, Gholam Hossein; Mohammadi Sabet, Mohammad Taghi

2016-08-01

Using the spin-dependent (SD) and spin-independent (SI) correlation functions, we have investigated the properties of liquid 3He in the presence of magnetic field at finite temperature. Our calculations have been done using the variational method based on cluster expansion of the energy functional. Our results show that the low field magnetic susceptibility obeys Curie law at high temperatures. This behavior is in a good agreement with the experimental data as well as the molecular field theory results in which the spin dependency has been introduced in correlation function. Reduced susceptibility as a function of temperature as well as reduced temperature has been also investigated, and again we have seen that the spin-dependent correlation function leads to a good agreement with the experimental data. The Landau parameter, F0a, has been calculated, and for this parameter, a value about - 0.75 has been found in the case of spin-spin correlation. In the case of spin-independent correlation function, this value is about - 0.7. Therefore, inclusion of spin dependency in the correlation function leads to a more compatible value of F0a with experimental data. The magnetization and susceptibility of liquid 3He have also been investigated as a function of magnetic field. Our results show a downward curvature in magnetization of system with spin-dependent correlation for all densities and relevant temperatures. A metamagnetic behavior has been observed as a maximum in susceptibility versus magnetic field, when the spin-spin correlation has been considered. This maximum occurs at 45T ≤ B ≤ 100T for all densities and temperatures. This behavior has not been observed in the case of spin-independent correlation function.

DETERMINATION OF THE INTRINSIC LUMINOSITY TIME CORRELATION IN THE X-RAY AFTERGLOWS OF GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

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

Dainotti, Maria Giovanna; Petrosian, Vahe'; Singal, Jack

2013-09-10

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which have been observed up to redshifts z Almost-Equal-To 9.5, can be good probes of the early universe and have the potential to test cosmological models. Dainotti's analysis of GRB Swift afterglow light curves with known redshifts and a definite X-ray plateau shows an anti-correlation between the rest-frame time when the plateau ends (the plateau end time) and the calculated luminosity at that time (or approximately an anti-correlation between plateau duration and luminosity). Here, we present an update of this correlation with a larger data sample of 101 GRBs with good light curves. Since some of thismore » correlation could result from the redshift dependences of these intrinsic parameters, namely, their cosmological evolution, we use the Efron-Petrosian method to reveal the intrinsic nature of this correlation. We find that a substantial part of the correlation is intrinsic and describe how we recover it and how this can be used to constrain physical models of the plateau emission, the origin of which is still unknown. The present result could help to clarify the debated nature of the plateau emission.« less

COMFORT scale: a reliable and valid method to measure the amount of stress of ventilated preterm infants.

PubMed

Wielenga, J M; De Vos, R; de Leeuw, R; De Haan, R J

2004-01-01

Assessment of clinimetric properties and diagnostic quality of a stress measurement scale (COMFORT scale). Sample of an open population. Neonatology department (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), Academic Medical Centre/Emma Children's Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. One clinical expert and 9 observers observed ventilated premature born babies simultaneously. Criterion validity was assessed by correlating the COMFORT scale with the clinical judgment regarding the amount of stress. Interobserver reliability was assessed on the clinical judgment as well as on the COMFORT scale. Diagnostic qualities were evaluated with a ROC curve. On 19 ventilated prematurely born babies (mean gestational age 30 weeks, mean birth weight 1385 gm), one clinical expert and 9 observers made 30 paired observations. The criterion validity of the COMFORT scale was good (Pearson's r of 0.84). The interobserver reliability of the clinical judgment was very good (weighted Kappa 0.84). The interobserver reliability of each item varied from good to almost perfect (weighted Kappa of 0.64 for muscle tone to 1.00 on heart rate). The reliability of the total COMFORT scale score was satisfying (intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.94). The diagnostic quality of the COMFORT scale was excellent, at a cut-off point of 20 the sensitivity was 100 percent, the specificity was 77 percent, and the area under the curve (AUC) of 0.95. In this first evaluation, the COMFORT scale appears to be a valid and reliable measurement tool to assess the stress of ventilated prematurely born babies.

The 1976 Helios and Pioneer solar conjunctions-continuing corroboration of the link between Doppler noise and integrated signal path electron density

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berman, A. L.; Wackley, J. A.; Rockwell, S. T.

1976-01-01

Observed Doppler noise (rms phase jitter) from the 1976 solar conjunctions of the Helios 1 and 2 and the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft was processed with a recently developed Doppler noise model ISEDB. Good agreement is obtained between the observed data and the model. Correlation is shown between deviations from the ISEDB model and sunspot activity, but it is insufficient to be modeled. Correlation is also shown between ISEDB model deviations for (spacecraft) signal paths on the same side of the sun.

Melt migration and mantle chromatography, 2: a time-series Os isotope study of Mauna Loa volcano, Hawaii

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hauri, Erik H.; Kurz, Mark D.

1997-12-01

We have determined the major element, trace element, and Os isotopic compositions of a stratigraphic suite of tholeiitic basalts spanning >30,000 years of the eruptive history of Mauna Loa volcano. Good correlations are observed between Os isotopes and the isotopes of Sr, Nd, Pb and He. In addition, the isotopes correlate with fractionation-corrected major element abundances within this single volcano, and provide a record of increased melting of mafic material with time at Mauna Loa. Chromatographic element fractionation during melt transport is shown to be negligible based on the good correlations of the isotopes of the compatible element Os with the other incompatible element tracers. The temporal variation at Mauna Loa is best described by the translation of the volcano over a Hawaiian plume which is radially zoned in composition. The radial zonation is a predicted consequence of thermal entrainment during flow in a mantle plume conduit.

Study of b\\overline{b} correlations in high energy proton-proton collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aaij, R.; Adeva, B.; Adinolfi, M.; Ajaltouni, Z.; Akar, S.; Albrecht, J.; Alessio, F.; Alexander, M.; Alfonso Albero, A.; Ali, S.; Alkhazov, G.; Alvarez Cartelle, P.; Alves, A. A.; Amato, S.; Amerio, S.; Amhis, Y.; An, L.; Anderlini, L.; Andreassi, G.; Andreotti, M.; Andrews, J. E.; Appleby, R. B.; Archilli, F.; d'Argent, P.; Arnau Romeu, J.; Artamonov, A.; Artuso, M.; Aslanides, E.; Auriemma, G.; Baalouch, M.; Babuschkin, I.; Bachmann, S.; Back, J. J.; Badalov, A.; Baesso, C.; Baker, S.; Balagura, V.; Baldini, W.; Baranov, A.; Barlow, R. J.; Barschel, C.; Barsuk, S.; Barter, W.; Baryshnikov, F.; Batozskaya, V.; Battista, V.; Bay, A.; Beaucourt, L.; Beddow, J.; Bedeschi, F.; Bediaga, I.; Beiter, A.; Bel, L. J.; Beliy, N.; Bellee, V.; Belloli, N.; Belous, K.; Belyaev, I.; Ben-Haim, E.; Bencivenni, G.; Benson, S.; Beranek, S.; Berezhnoy, A.; Bernet, R.; Berninghoff, D.; Bertholet, E.; Bertolin, A.; Betancourt, C.; Betti, F.; Bettler, M.-O.; van Beuzekom, M.; Bezshyiko, Ia.; Bifani, S.; Billoir, P.; Birnkraut, A.; Bitadze, A.; Bizzeti, A.; Bjørn, M.; Blake, T.; Blanc, F.; Blouw, J.; Blusk, S.; Bocci, V.; Boettcher, T.; Bondar, A.; Bondar, N.; Bonivento, W.; Bordyuzhin, I.; Borgheresi, A.; Borghi, S.; Borisyak, M.; Borsato, M.; Bossu, F.; Boubdir, M.; Bowcock, T. J. V.; Bowen, E.; Bozzi, C.; Braun, S.; Britton, T.; Brodzicka, J.; Brundu, D.; Buchanan, E.; Burr, C.; Bursche, A.; Buytaert, J.; Byczynski, W.; Cadeddu, S.; Cai, H.; Calabrese, R.; Calladine, R.; Calvi, M.; Calvo Gomez, M.; Camboni, A.; Campana, P.; Campora Perez, D. H.; Capriotti, L.; Carbone, A.; Carboni, G.; Cardinale, R.; Cardini, A.; Carniti, P.; Carson, L.; Carvalho Akiba, K.; Casse, G.; Cassina, L.; Castillo Garcia, L.; Cattaneo, M.; Cavallero, G.; Cenci, R.; Chamont, D.; Chapman, M. G.; Charles, M.; Charpentier, Ph.; Chatzikonstantinidis, G.; Chefdeville, M.; Chen, S.; Cheung, S. F.; Chitic, S.-G.; Chobanova, V.; Chrzaszcz, M.; Chubykin, A.; Ciambrone, P.; Cid Vidal, X.; Ciezarek, G.; Clarke, P. E. L.; Clemencic, M.; Cliff, H. V.; Closier, J.; Cogan, J.; Cogneras, E.; Cogoni, V.; Cojocariu, L.; Collins, P.; Colombo, T.; Comerma-Montells, A.; Contu, A.; Cook, A.; Coombs, G.; Coquereau, S.; Corti, G.; Corvo, M.; Costa Sobral, C. M.; Couturier, B.; Cowan, G. A.; Craik, D. C.; Crocombe, A.; Cruz Torres, M.; Currie, R.; D'Ambrosio, C.; Da Cunha Marinho, F.; Dall'Occo, E.; Dalseno, J.; Davis, A.; De Aguiar Francisco, O.; De Capua, S.; De Cian, M.; De Miranda, J. M.; De Paula, L.; De Serio, M.; De Simone, P.; Dean, C. T.; Decamp, D.; Del Buono, L.; Dembinski, H.-P.; Demmer, M.; Dendek, A.; Derkach, D.; Deschamps, O.; Dettori, F.; Dey, B.; Di Canto, A.; Di Nezza, P.; Dijkstra, H.; Dordei, F.; Dorigo, M.; Dosil Suárez, A.; Douglas, L.; Dovbnya, A.; Dreimanis, K.; Dufour, L.; Dujany, G.; Durante, P.; Dzhelyadin, R.; Dziewiecki, M.; Dziurda, A.; Dzyuba, A.; Easo, S.; Ebert, M.; Egede, U.; Egorychev, V.; Eidelman, S.; Eisenhardt, S.; Eitschberger, U.; Ekelhof, R.; Eklund, L.; Ely, S.; Esen, S.; Evans, H. M.; Evans, T.; Falabella, A.; Farley, N.; Farry, S.; Fay, R.; Fazzini, D.; Federici, L.; Ferguson, D.; Fernandez, G.; Fernandez Declara, P.; Fernandez Prieto, A.; Ferrari, F.; Ferreira Rodrigues, F.; Ferro-Luzzi, M.; Filippov, S.; Fini, R. A.; Fiore, M.; Fiorini, M.; Firlej, M.; Fitzpatrick, C.; Fiutowski, T.; Fleuret, F.; Fohl, K.; Fontana, M.; Fontanelli, F.; Forshaw, D. C.; Forty, R.; Franco Lima, V.; Frank, M.; Frei, C.; Fu, J.; Funk, W.; Furfaro, E.; Färber, C.; Gabriel, E.; Gallas Torreira, A.; Galli, D.; Gallorini, S.; Gambetta, S.; Gandelman, M.; Gandini, P.; Gao, Y.; Garcia Martin, L. M.; García Pardiñas, J.; Garra Tico, J.; Garrido, L.; Garsed, P. J.; Gascon, D.; Gaspar, C.; Gavardi, L.; Gazzoni, G.; Gerick, D.; Gersabeck, E.; Gersabeck, M.; Gershon, T.; Ghez, Ph.; Gianì, S.; Gibson, V.; Girard, O. G.; Giubega, L.; Gizdov, K.; Gligorov, V. V.; Golubkov, D.; Golutvin, A.; Gomes, A.; Gorelov, I. V.; Gotti, C.; Govorkova, E.; Grabowski, J. P.; Graciani Diaz, R.; Granado Cardoso, L. A.; Graugés, E.; Graverini, E.; Graziani, G.; Grecu, A.; Greim, R.; Griffith, P.; Grillo, L.; Gruber, L.; Gruberg Cazon, B. R.; Grünberg, O.; Gushchin, E.; Guz, Yu.; Gys, T.; Göbel, C.; Hadavizadeh, T.; Hadjivasiliou, C.; Haefeli, G.; Haen, C.; Haines, S. C.; Hamilton, B.; Han, X.; Hancock, T. H.; Hansmann-Menzemer, S.; Harnew, N.; Harnew, S. T.; Harrison, J.; Hasse, C.; Hatch, M.; He, J.; Hecker, M.; Heinicke, K.; Heister, A.; Hennessy, K.; Henrard, P.; Henry, L.; van Herwijnen, E.; Heß, M.; Hicheur, A.; Hill, D.; Hombach, C.; Hopchev, P. H.; Huard, Z. C.; Hulsbergen, W.; Humair, T.; Hushchyn, M.; Hutchcroft, D.; Ibis, P.; Idzik, M.; Ilten, P.; Jacobsson, R.; Jalocha, J.; Jans, E.; Jawahery, A.; Jiang, F.; John, M.; Johnson, D.; Jones, C. R.; Joram, C.; Jost, B.; Jurik, N.; Kandybei, S.; Karacson, M.; Kariuki, J. M.; Karodia, S.; Kazeev, N.; Kecke, M.; Kelsey, M.; Kenzie, M.; Ketel, T.; Khairullin, E.; Khanji, B.; Khurewathanakul, C.; Kirn, T.; Klaver, S.; Klimaszewski, K.; Klimkovich, T.; Koliiev, S.; Kolpin, M.; Komarov, I.; Kopecna, R.; Koppenburg, P.; Kosmyntseva, A.; Kotriakhova, S.; Kozeiha, M.; Kravchuk, L.; Kreps, M.; Krokovny, P.; Kruse, F.; Krzemien, W.; Kucewicz, W.; Kucharczyk, M.; Kudryavtsev, V.; Kuonen, A. K.; Kurek, K.; Kvaratskheliya, T.; Lacarrere, D.; Lafferty, G.; Lai, A.; Lanfranchi, G.; Langenbruch, C.; Latham, T.; Lazzeroni, C.; Le Gac, R.; Leflat, A.; Lefrançois, J.; Lefèvre, R.; Lemaitre, F.; Lemos Cid, E.; Leroy, O.; Lesiak, T.; Leverington, B.; Li, P.-R.; Li, T.; Li, Y.; Li, Z.; Likhomanenko, T.; Lindner, R.; Lionetto, F.; Lisovskyi, V.; Liu, X.; Loh, D.; Loi, A.; Longstaff, I.; Lopes, J. H.; Lucchesi, D.; Luchinsky, A.; Lucio Martinez, M.; Luo, H.; Lupato, A.; Luppi, E.; Lupton, O.; Lusiani, A.; Lyu, X.; Machefert, F.; Maciuc, F.; Macko, V.; Mackowiak, P.; Maddrell-Mander, S.; Maev, O.; Maguire, K.; Maisuzenko, D.; Majewski, M. W.; Malde, S.; Malinin, A.; Maltsev, T.; Manca, G.; Mancinelli, G.; Manning, P.; Marangotto, D.; Maratas, J.; Marchand, J. F.; Marconi, U.; Marin Benito, C.; Marinangeli, M.; Marino, P.; Marks, J.; Martellotti, G.; Martin, M.; Martinelli, M.; Martinez Santos, D.; Martinez Vidal, F.; Martins Tostes, D.; Massacrier, L. M.; Massafferri, A.; Matev, R.; Mathad, A.; Mathe, Z.; Matteuzzi, C.; Mauri, A.; Maurice, E.; Maurin, B.; Mazurov, A.; McCann, M.; McNab, A.; McNulty, R.; Mead, J. V.; Meadows, B.; Meaux, C.; Meier, F.; Meinert, N.; Melnychuk, D.; Merk, M.; Merli, A.; Michielin, E.; Milanes, D. A.; Millard, E.; Minard, M.-N.; Minzoni, L.; Mitzel, D. S.; Mogini, A.; Molina Rodriguez, J.; Mombächer, T.; Monroy, I. A.; Monteil, S.; Morandin, M.; Morello, M. J.; Morgunova, O.; Moron, J.; Morris, A. B.; Mountain, R.; Muheim, F.; Mulder, M.; Müller, D.; Müller, J.; Müller, K.; Müller, V.; Naik, P.; Nakada, T.; Nandakumar, R.; Nandi, A.; Nasteva, I.; Needham, M.; Neri, N.; Neubert, S.; Neufeld, N.; Neuner, M.; Nguyen, T. D.; Nguyen-Mau, C.; Nieswand, S.; Niet, R.; Nikitin, N.; Nikodem, T.; Nogay, A.; O'Hanlon, D. P.; Oblakowska-Mucha, A.; Obraztsov, V.; Ogilvy, S.; Oldeman, R.; Onderwater, C. J. G.; Ossowska, A.; Otalora Goicochea, J. M.; Owen, P.; Oyanguren, A.; Pais, P. R.; Palano, A.; Palutan, M.; Papanestis, A.; Pappagallo, M.; Pappalardo, L. L.; Parker, W.; Parkes, C.; Passaleva, G.; Pastore, A.; Patel, M.; Patrignani, C.; Pearce, A.; Pellegrino, A.; Penso, G.; Pepe Altarelli, M.; Perazzini, S.; Perret, P.; Pescatore, L.; Petridis, K.; Petrolini, A.; Petrov, A.; Petruzzo, M.; Picatoste Olloqui, E.; Pietrzyk, B.; Pikies, M.; Pinci, D.; Pisani, F.; Pistone, A.; Piucci, A.; Placinta, V.; Playfer, S.; Plo Casasus, M.; Polci, F.; Poli Lener, M.; Poluektov, A.; Polyakov, I.; Polycarpo, E.; Pomery, G. J.; Ponce, S.; Popov, A.; Popov, D.; Poslavskii, S.; Potterat, C.; Price, E.; Prisciandaro, J.; Prouve, C.; Pugatch, V.; Puig Navarro, A.; Pullen, H.; Punzi, G.; Qian, W.; Quagliani, R.; Quintana, B.; Rachwal, B.; Rademacker, J. H.; Rama, M.; Ramos Pernas, M.; Rangel, M. S.; Raniuk, I.; Ratnikov, F.; Raven, G.; Ravonel Salzgeber, M.; Reboud, M.; Redi, F.; Reichert, S.; dos Reis, A. C.; Remon Alepuz, C.; Renaudin, V.; Ricciardi, S.; Richards, S.; Rihl, M.; Rinnert, K.; Rives Molina, V.; Robbe, P.; Robert, A.; Rodrigues, A. B.; Rodrigues, E.; Rodriguez Lopez, J. A.; Rodriguez Perez, P.; Rogozhnikov, A.; Roiser, S.; Rollings, A.; Romanovskiy, V.; Romero Vidal, A.; Ronayne, J. W.; Rotondo, M.; Rudolph, M. S.; Ruf, T.; Ruiz Valls, P.; Ruiz Vidal, J.; Saborido Silva, J. J.; Sadykhov, E.; Sagidova, N.; Saitta, B.; Salustino Guimaraes, V.; Sanchez Mayordomo, C.; Sanmartin Sedes, B.; Santacesaria, R.; Santamarina Rios, C.; Santimaria, M.; Santovetti, E.; Sarpis, G.; Sarti, A.; Satriano, C.; Satta, A.; Saunders, D. M.; Savrina, D.; Schael, S.; Schellenberg, M.; Schiller, M.; Schindler, H.; Schlupp, M.; Schmelling, M.; Schmelzer, T.; Schmidt, B.; Schneider, O.; Schopper, A.; Schreiner, H. F.; Schubert, K.; Schubiger, M.; Schune, M.-H.; Schwemmer, R.; Sciascia, B.; Sciubba, A.; Semennikov, A.; Sepulveda, E. S.; Sergi, A.; Serra, N.; Serrano, J.; Sestini, L.; Seyfert, P.; Shapkin, M.; Shapoval, I.; Shcheglov, Y.; Shears, T.; Shekhtman, L.; Shevchenko, V.; Siddi, B. G.; Silva Coutinho, R.; Silva de Oliveira, L.; Simi, G.; Simone, S.; Sirendi, M.; Skidmore, N.; Skwarnicki, T.; Smith, E.; Smith, I. T.; Smith, J.; Smith, M.; Soares Lavra, l.; Sokoloff, M. D.; Soler, F. J. P.; Souza De Paula, B.; Spaan, B.; Spradlin, P.; Sridharan, S.; Stagni, F.; Stahl, M.; Stahl, S.; Stefko, P.; Stefkova, S.; Steinkamp, O.; Stemmle, S.; Stenyakin, O.; Stepanova, M.; Stevens, H.; Stone, S.; Storaci, B.; Stracka, S.; Stramaglia, M. E.; Straticiuc, M.; Straumann, U.; Sun, L.; Sutcliffe, W.; Swientek, K.; Syropoulos, V.; Szczekowski, M.; Szumlak, T.; Szymanski, M.; T'Jampens, S.; Tayduganov, A.; Tekampe, T.; Tellarini, G.; Teubert, F.; Thomas, E.; van Tilburg, J.; Tilley, M. J.; Tisserand, V.; Tobin, M.; Tolk, S.; Tomassetti, L.; Tonelli, D.; Toriello, F.; Tourinho Jadallah Aoude, R.; Tournefier, E.; Traill, M.; Tran, M. T.; Tresch, M.; Trisovic, A.; Tsaregorodtsev, A.; Tsopelas, P.; Tully, A.; Tuning, N.; Ukleja, A.; Usachov, A.; Ustyuzhanin, A.; Uwer, U.; Vacca, C.; Vagner, A.; Vagnoni, V.; Valassi, A.; Valat, S.; Valenti, G.; Vazquez Gomez, R.; Vazquez Regueiro, P.; Vecchi, S.; van Veghel, M.; Velthuis, J. J.; Veltri, M.; Veneziano, G.; Venkateswaran, A.; Verlage, T. A.; Vernet, M.; Vesterinen, M.; Viana Barbosa, J. V.; Viaud, B.; Vieira, D.; Vieites Diaz, M.; Viemann, H.; Vilasis-Cardona, X.; Vitti, M.; Volkov, V.; Vollhardt, A.; Voneki, B.; Vorobyev, A.; Vorobyev, V.; Voß, C.; de Vries, J. A.; Vázquez Sierra, C.; Waldi, R.; Wallace, C.; Wallace, R.; Walsh, J.; Wang, J.; Ward, D. R.; Wark, H. M.; Watson, N. K.; Websdale, D.; Weiden, A.; Whitehead, M.; Wicht, J.; Wilkinson, G.; Wilkinson, M.; Williams, M.; Williams, M. P.; Williams, M.; Williams, T.; Wilson, F. F.; Wimberley, J.; Winn, M.; Wishahi, J.; Wislicki, W.; Witek, M.; Wormser, G.; Wotton, S. A.; Wraight, K.; Wyllie, K.; Xie, Y.; Xu, Z.; Yang, Z.; Yang, Z.; Yao, Y.; Yin, H.; Yu, J.; Yuan, X.; Yushchenko, O.; Zarebski, K. A.; Zavertyaev, M.; Zhang, L.; Zhang, Y.; Zhelezov, A.; Zheng, Y.; Zhu, X.; Zhukov, V.; Zonneveld, J. B.; Zucchelli, S.

2017-11-01

Kinematic correlations for pairs of beauty hadrons, produced in high energy proton-proton collisions, are studied. The data sample used was collected with the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb-1. The measurement is performed using inclusive b → J/ ψX decays in the rapidity range 2 < y J/ ψ < 4.5. The observed correlations are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Measurement of long-range angular correlations and azimuthal anisotropies in high-multiplicity p + Au collisions at s NN = 200 GeV

DOE PAGES

Aidala, C.; Akiba, Y.; Alfred, M.; ...

2017-03-24

Inmore » this paper, we present measurements of long-range angular correlations and the transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow ν 2 in high-multiplicity p + Au collisions at s NN = 200 GeV. A comparison of these results to previous measurements in high-multiplicity d + Au and 3He + Au collisions demonstrates a relation between ν 2 and the initial collision eccentricity ε 2, suggesting that the observed momentum-space azimuthal anisotropies in these small systems have a collective origin and reflect the initial geometry. Good agreement is observed between the measured ν 2 and hydrodynamic calculations for all systems, and an argument disfavoring theoretical explanations based on initial momentum-space domain correlations is presented. Finally, the set of measurements presented here allows us to leverage the distinct intrinsic geometry of each of these systems to distinguish between different theoretical descriptions of the long-range correlations observed in small collision systems.« less

Measurement of long-range angular correlations and azimuthal anisotropies in high-multiplicity p + Au collisions at s NN = 200 GeV

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

Aidala, C.; Akiba, Y.; Alfred, M.

Inmore » this paper, we present measurements of long-range angular correlations and the transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow ν 2 in high-multiplicity p + Au collisions at s NN = 200 GeV. A comparison of these results to previous measurements in high-multiplicity d + Au and 3He + Au collisions demonstrates a relation between ν 2 and the initial collision eccentricity ε 2, suggesting that the observed momentum-space azimuthal anisotropies in these small systems have a collective origin and reflect the initial geometry. Good agreement is observed between the measured ν 2 and hydrodynamic calculations for all systems, and an argument disfavoring theoretical explanations based on initial momentum-space domain correlations is presented. Finally, the set of measurements presented here allows us to leverage the distinct intrinsic geometry of each of these systems to distinguish between different theoretical descriptions of the long-range correlations observed in small collision systems.« less

Measurement of long-range angular correlations and azimuthal anisotropies in high-multiplicity p +Au collisions at √{sNN}=200 GeV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aidala, C.; Akiba, Y.; Alfred, M.; Andrieux, V.; Aoki, K.; Apadula, N.; Asano, H.; Ayuso, C.; Azmoun, B.; Babintsev, V.; Bandara, N. S.; Barish, K. N.; Bathe, S.; Bazilevsky, A.; Beaumier, M.; Belmont, R.; Berdnikov, A.; Berdnikov, Y.; Blau, D. S.; Boer, M.; Bok, J. S.; Brooks, M. L.; Bryslawskyj, J.; Bumazhnov, V.; Butler, C.; Campbell, S.; Canoa Roman, V.; Cervantes, R.; Chi, C. Y.; Chiu, M.; Choi, I. J.; Choi, J. B.; Citron, Z.; Connors, M.; Cronin, N.; Csanád, M.; Csörgő, T.; Danley, T. W.; Daugherity, M. S.; David, G.; Deblasio, K.; Dehmelt, K.; Denisov, A.; Deshpande, A.; Desmond, E. J.; Dion, A.; Dixit, D.; Do, J. H.; Drees, A.; Drees, K. A.; Dumancic, M.; Durham, J. M.; Durum, A.; Elder, T.; Enokizono, A.; En'yo, H.; Esumi, S.; Fadem, B.; Fan, W.; Feege, N.; Fields, D. E.; Finger, M.; Finger, M.; Fokin, S. L.; Frantz, J. E.; Franz, A.; Frawley, A. D.; Fukuda, Y.; Gal, C.; Gallus, P.; Garg, P.; Ge, H.; Giordano, F.; Goto, Y.; Grau, N.; Greene, S. V.; Grosse Perdekamp, M.; Gunji, T.; Guragain, H.; Hachiya, T.; Haggerty, J. S.; Hahn, K. I.; Hamagaki, H.; Hamilton, H. F.; Han, S. Y.; Hanks, J.; Hasegawa, S.; Haseler, T. O. S.; He, X.; Hemmick, T. K.; Hill, J. C.; Hill, K.; Hollis, R. S.; Homma, K.; Hong, B.; Hoshino, T.; Hotvedt, N.; Huang, J.; Huang, S.; Imai, K.; Imrek, J.; Inaba, M.; Iordanova, A.; Isenhower, D.; Ito, Y.; Ivanishchev, D.; Jacak, B. V.; Jezghani, M.; Ji, Z.; Jiang, X.; Johnson, B. M.; Jorjadze, V.; Jouan, D.; Jumper, D. S.; Kang, J. H.; Kapukchyan, D.; Karthas, S.; Kawall, D.; Kazantsev, A. V.; Khachatryan, V.; Khanzadeev, A.; Kim, C.; Kim, D. J.; Kim, E.-J.; Kim, M. H.; Kim, M.; Kincses, D.; Kistenev, E.; Klatsky, J.; Kline, P.; Koblesky, T.; Kotov, D.; Kudo, S.; Kurita, K.; Kwon, Y.; Lajoie, J. G.; Lallow, E. O.; Lebedev, A.; Lee, S.; Leitch, M. J.; Leung, Y. H.; Lewis, N. A.; Li, X.; Lim, S. H.; Liu, L. D.; Liu, M. X.; Loggins, V.-R.; Loggins, V.-R.; Lovasz, K.; Lynch, D.; Majoros, T.; Makdisi, Y. I.; Makek, M.; Malaev, M.; Manko, V. I.; Mannel, E.; Masuda, H.; McCumber, M.; McGaughey, P. L.; McGlinchey, D.; McKinney, C.; Mendoza, M.; Mignerey, A. C.; Mihalik, D. E.; Milov, A.; Mishra, D. K.; Mitchell, J. T.; Mitsuka, G.; Miyasaka, S.; Mizuno, S.; Montuenga, P.; Moon, T.; Morrison, D. P.; Morrow, S. I. M.; Murakami, T.; Murata, J.; Nagai, K.; Nagashima, K.; Nagashima, T.; Nagle, J. L.; Nagy, M. I.; Nakagawa, I.; Nakagomi, H.; Nakano, K.; Nattrass, C.; Niida, T.; Nouicer, R.; Novák, T.; Novitzky, N.; Novotny, R.; Nyanin, A. S.; O'Brien, E.; Ogilvie, C. A.; Orjuela Koop, J. D.; Osborn, J. D.; Oskarsson, A.; Ottino, G. J.; Ozawa, K.; Pantuev, V.; Papavassiliou, V.; Park, J. S.; Park, S.; Pate, S. F.; Patel, M.; Peng, W.; Perepelitsa, D. V.; Perera, G. D. N.; Peressounko, D. Yu.; Perezlara, C. E.; Perry, J.; Petti, R.; Phipps, M.; Pinkenburg, C.; Pisani, R. P.; Pun, A.; Purschke, M. L.; Read, K. F.; Reynolds, D.; Riabov, V.; Riabov, Y.; Richford, D.; Rinn, T.; Rolnick, S. D.; Rosati, M.; Rowan, Z.; Runchey, J.; Safonov, A. S.; Sakaguchi, T.; Sako, H.; Samsonov, V.; Sarsour, M.; Sato, K.; Sato, S.; Schaefer, B.; Schmoll, B. K.; Sedgwick, K.; Seidl, R.; Sen, A.; Seto, R.; Sexton, A.; Sharma, D.; Shein, I.; Shibata, T.-A.; Shigaki, K.; Shimomura, M.; Shioya, T.; Shukla, P.; Sickles, A.; Silva, C. L.; Silvermyr, D.; Singh, B. K.; Singh, C. P.; Singh, V.; Slunečka, M.; Smith, K. L.; Snowball, M.; Soltz, R. A.; Sondheim, W. E.; Sorensen, S. P.; Sourikova, I. V.; Stankus, P. W.; Stoll, S. P.; Sugitate, T.; Sukhanov, A.; Sumita, T.; Sun, J.; Syed, S.; Sziklai, J.; Takeda, A.; Tanida, K.; Tannenbaum, M. J.; Tarafdar, S.; Tarnai, G.; Tieulent, R.; Timilsina, A.; Todoroki, T.; Tomášek, M.; Towell, C. L.; Towell, R. S.; Tserruya, I.; Ueda, Y.; Ujvari, B.; van Hecke, H. W.; Vazquez-Carson, S.; Velkovska, J.; Virius, M.; Vrba, V.; Vukman, N.; Wang, X. R.; Wang, Z.; Watanabe, Y.; Watanabe, Y. S.; Wong, C. P.; Woody, C. L.; Xu, C.; Xu, Q.; Xue, L.; Yalcin, S.; Yamaguchi, Y. L.; Yamamoto, H.; Yanovich, A.; Yin, P.; Yoo, J. H.; Yoon, I.; Yu, H.; Yushmanov, I. E.; Zajc, W. A.; Zelenski, A.; Zharko, S.; Zou, L.; Phenix Collaboration

2017-03-01

We present measurements of long-range angular correlations and the transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow v2 in high-multiplicity p +Au collisions at √{s NN}=200 GeV. A comparison of these results to previous measurements in high-multiplicity d +Au and 3He+Au collisions demonstrates a relation between v2 and the initial collision eccentricity ɛ2, suggesting that the observed momentum-space azimuthal anisotropies in these small systems have a collective origin and reflect the initial geometry. Good agreement is observed between the measured v2 and hydrodynamic calculations for all systems, and an argument disfavoring theoretical explanations based on initial momentum-space domain correlations is presented. The set of measurements presented here allows us to leverage the distinct intrinsic geometry of each of these systems to distinguish between different theoretical descriptions of the long-range correlations observed in small collision systems.

Markov models for fMRI correlation structure: Is brain functional connectivity small world, or decomposable into networks?

PubMed

Varoquaux, G; Gramfort, A; Poline, J B; Thirion, B

2012-01-01

Correlations in the signal observed via functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), are expected to reveal the interactions in the underlying neural populations through hemodynamic response. In particular, they highlight distributed set of mutually correlated regions that correspond to brain networks related to different cognitive functions. Yet graph-theoretical studies of neural connections give a different picture: that of a highly integrated system with small-world properties: local clustering but with short pathways across the complete structure. We examine the conditional independence properties of the fMRI signal, i.e. its Markov structure, to find realistic assumptions on the connectivity structure that are required to explain the observed functional connectivity. In particular we seek a decomposition of the Markov structure into segregated functional networks using decomposable graphs: a set of strongly-connected and partially overlapping cliques. We introduce a new method to efficiently extract such cliques on a large, strongly-connected graph. We compare methods learning different graph structures from functional connectivity by testing the goodness of fit of the model they learn on new data. We find that summarizing the structure as strongly-connected networks can give a good description only for very large and overlapping networks. These results highlight that Markov models are good tools to identify the structure of brain connectivity from fMRI signals, but for this purpose they must reflect the small-world properties of the underlying neural systems. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Semimajor Axis Estimation Strategies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

How, Jonathan P.; Alfriend, Kyle T.; Breger, Louis; Mitchell, Megan

2004-01-01

This paper extends previous analysis on the impact of sensing noise for the navigation and control aspects of formation flying spacecraft. We analyze the use of Carrier-phase Differential GPS (CDGPS) in relative navigation filters, with a particular focus on the filter correlation coefficient. This work was motivated by previous publications which suggested that a "good" navigation filter would have a strong correlation (i.e., coefficient near -1) to reduce the semimajor axis (SMA) error, and therefore, the overall fuel use. However, practical experience with CDGPS-based filters has shown this strong correlation seldom occurs (typical correlations approx. -0.1), even when the estimation accuracies are very good. We derive an analytic estimate of the filter correlation coefficient and demonstrate that, for the process and sensor noises levels expected with CDGPS, the expected value will be very low. It is also demonstrated that this correlation can be improved by increasing the time step of the discrete Kalman filter, but since the balance condition is not satisfied, the SMA error also increases. These observations are verified with several linear simulations. The combination of these simulations and analysis provide new insights on the crucial role of the process noise in determining the semimajor axis knowledge.

Correlated Oscillations Due to Similar Multipath Effects Seen in Two Widely Separated Radio Telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diep, P. N.; Phuong, N. T.; Darriulat, P.; Nhung, P. T.; Anh, P. T.; Dong, P. N.; Hoai, D. T.; Thao, N. T.

2014-07-01

A multipath mechanism similar to that used in Australia sixty years ago by the Sea-cliff Interferometer is shown to generate correlations between the periods of oscillations observed by two distant radio telescopes pointed to the Sun. The oscillations are the result of interferences between the direct wave detected in the main antenna lobe and its reflection on ground detected in a side lobe. A model is made of such oscillations in the case of two observatories located at equal longitudes and opposite tropical latitudes, respectively in Ha Noi (Viet Nam) and Learmonth (Australia), where similar radio telescopes are operated at 1.4 GHz. Simple specular reflection from ground is found to give a good description of the observed oscillations and to explain correlations that had been previously observed and for which no satisfactory interpretation, instrumental or other, had been found.

The horizontal and vertical semi-diameters of the Sun observed at the Cape of Good Hope (1834 - 1887) and Paris (1837 - 1906): A report on work in progress

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, C.; Messina, D.

1981-01-01

Cape and Paris meridian observations of the solar limbs which permit an estimate to be made of the solar semi-diameter were surveyed, sampled, and compared with Greenwich and U.S. Naval Observatory observations. Significant systematic errors were found in the Paris work and have been correlated with changes of instruments and observers. Results from the Cape series indicate that work should continue on the compilation of data from Cape observations of the Sun.

Deuterium isotope effects on 13C and 15N chemical shifts of intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded enaminocarbonyl derivatives of Meldrum’s and Tetronic acid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ullah, Saif; Zhang, Wei; Hansen, Poul Erik

2010-07-01

Secondary deuterium isotope effects on 13C and 15N nuclear shieldings in a series of cyclic enamino-diesters and enamino-esters and acyclic enaminones and enamino-esters have been examined and analysed using NMR and DFT (B3LYP/6-31G(d,p)) methods. One-dimensional and two-dimensional NMR spectra of enaminocarbonyl and their deuterated analogues were recorded in CDCl 3 and CD 2Cl 2 at variable temperatures and assigned. 1JNH coupling constants for the derivatives of Meldrum's and tetronic acids reveal that they exist at the NH-form. It was demonstrated that deuterium isotope effects, for the hydrogen bonded compounds, due to the deuterium substitution at the nitrogen nucleus lead to large one-bond isotope effects at nitrogen, 1Δ 15N(D), and two-bond isotope effects on carbon nuclei, 2ΔC(ND), respectively. A linear correlations exist between 2ΔC(ND) and 1Δ 15N(D) whereas the correlation with δNH is divided into two. A good agreement between the experimentally observed 2ΔC(ND) and calculated dσ 13C/dR NH was obtained. A very good correlation between calculated NH bond lengths and observed NH chemical shifts is found. The observed isotope effects are shown to depend strongly on Resonance Assisted Hydrogen bonding.

Psychometric Properties of a Standardized Observation Protocol to Quantify Pediatric Physical Therapy Actions.

PubMed

Sonderer, Patrizia; Akhbari Ziegler, Schirin; Gressbach Oertle, Barbara; Meichtry, André; Hadders-Algra, Mijna

2017-07-01

Pediatric physical therapy (PPT) is characterized by heterogeneity. This blurs the evaluation of effective components of PPT. The Groningen Observation Protocol (GOP) was developed to quantify contents of PPT. This study assesses the reliability and completeness of the GOP. Sixty infant PPT sessions were video-taped. Two random samples of 10 videos were used to determine interrater and intrarater reliability using interclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) with 95% confidence intervals. Completeness of GOP 2.0 was based on 60 videos. Interrater reliability of quantifying PPT actions was excellent (ICC, 0.75-1.0) in 71% and sufficient to good (ICC, 0.4-0.74) in 24% of PPT actions. Intrarater reliability was excellent in 94% and sufficient to good in 6% of PPT actions. Completeness was good for greater than 90% of PPT actions. GOP 2.0 has good reliability and completeness. After appropriate training, it is a useful tool to quantify PPT for children with developmental disorders.

Correlation of ultra-low dose chest CT findings with physiologic measures of asbestosis.

PubMed

Manners, David; Wong, Patrick; Murray, Conor; Teh, Joelin; Kwok, Yi Jin; de Klerk, Nick; Alfonso, Helman; Franklin, Peter; Reid, Alison; Musk, A W Bill; Brims, Fraser J H

2017-08-01

The correlation between ultra low dose computed tomography (ULDCT)-detected parenchymal lung changes and pulmonary function abnormalities is not well described. This study aimed to determine the relationship between ULDCT-detected interstitial lung disease (ILD) and measures of pulmonary function in an asbestos-exposed population. Two thoracic radiologists independently categorised prone ULDCT scans from 143 participants for ILD appearances as absent (score 0), probable (1) or definite (2) without knowledge of asbestos exposure or lung function. Pulmonary function measures included spirometry and diffusing capacity to carbon monoxide (DLCO). Participants were 92% male with a median age of 73.0 years. CT dose index volume was between 0.6 and 1.8 mGy. Probable or definite ILD was reported in 63 (44.1%) participants. Inter-observer agreement was good (k = 0.613, p < 0.001). There was a statistically significant correlation between the ILD score and both forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ) and forced vital capacity (FVC) (r = -0.17, p = 0.04 and r = -0.20, p = 0.02). There was a strong correlation between ILD score and DLCO (r = -0.34, p < 0.0001). Changes consistent with ILD on ULDCT correlate well with corresponding reductions in gas transfer, similar to standard CT. In asbestos-exposed populations, ULDCT may be adequate to detect radiological changes consistent with asbestosis. • Interobserver agreement for the ILD score using prone ULDCT is good. • Prone ULDCT appearances of ILD correlate with changes in spirometric observations. • Prone ULDCT appearances of ILD correlate strongly with changes in gas transfer. • Prone ULDCT may provide sufficient radiological evidence to inform the diagnosis of asbestosis.

A multispacecraft event study of Pc5 ultralow-frequency waves in the magnetosphere and their external drivers

DOE PAGES

Wang, Chih-Ping; Thorne, Richard; Liu, Terry Z.; ...

2017-05-09

We investigate a quiet time event of magnetospheric Pc5 ultralow-frequency (ULF) waves and their likely external drivers using multiple spacecraft observations. Enhancements of electric and magnetic field perturbations in two narrow frequency bands, 1.5–2 mHz and 3.5–4 mHz, were observed over a large radial distance range from r ~ 5 to 11 RE. During the first half of this event, perturbations were mainly observed in the transverse components and only in the 3.5–4 mHz band. In comparison, enhancements were stronger during the second half in both transverse and compressional components and in both frequency bands. No indication of field linemore » resonances was found for these magnetic field perturbations. Perturbations in these two bands were also observed in the magnetosheath, but not in the solar wind dynamic pressure perturbations. For the first interval, good correlations between the flow perturbations in the magnetosphere and magnetosheath and an indirect signature for Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) vortices suggest K-H surface waves as the driver. For the second interval, good correlations are found between the magnetosheath dynamic pressure perturbations, magnetopause deformation, and magnetospheric waves, all in good correspondence to interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) discontinuities. The characteristics of these perturbations can be explained by being driven by foreshock perturbations resulting from these IMF discontinuities. This event shows that even during quiet periods, K-H-unstable magnetopause and ion foreshock perturbations can combine to create a highly dynamic magnetospheric ULF wave environment« less

A multispacecraft event study of Pc5 ultralow-frequency waves in the magnetosphere and their external drivers

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

Wang, Chih-Ping; Thorne, Richard; Liu, Terry Z.

We investigate a quiet time event of magnetospheric Pc5 ultralow-frequency (ULF) waves and their likely external drivers using multiple spacecraft observations. Enhancements of electric and magnetic field perturbations in two narrow frequency bands, 1.5–2 mHz and 3.5–4 mHz, were observed over a large radial distance range from r ~ 5 to 11 RE. During the first half of this event, perturbations were mainly observed in the transverse components and only in the 3.5–4 mHz band. In comparison, enhancements were stronger during the second half in both transverse and compressional components and in both frequency bands. No indication of field linemore » resonances was found for these magnetic field perturbations. Perturbations in these two bands were also observed in the magnetosheath, but not in the solar wind dynamic pressure perturbations. For the first interval, good correlations between the flow perturbations in the magnetosphere and magnetosheath and an indirect signature for Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) vortices suggest K-H surface waves as the driver. For the second interval, good correlations are found between the magnetosheath dynamic pressure perturbations, magnetopause deformation, and magnetospheric waves, all in good correspondence to interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) discontinuities. The characteristics of these perturbations can be explained by being driven by foreshock perturbations resulting from these IMF discontinuities. This event shows that even during quiet periods, K-H-unstable magnetopause and ion foreshock perturbations can combine to create a highly dynamic magnetospheric ULF wave environment« less

Can you really swim? Validation of self and parental reports of swim skill with an inwater swim test among children attending community pools in Washington State.

PubMed

Mercado, Melissa C; Quan, Linda; Bennett, Elizabeth; Gilchrist, Julie; Levy, Benjamin A; Robinson, Candice L; Wendorf, Kristen; Gangan Fife, Maria Aurora; Stevens, Mark R; Lee, Robin

2016-08-01

Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death among US children. Multiple studies describe decreased drowning risk among children possessing some swim skills. Current surveillance for this protective factor is self/proxy-reported swim skill rather than observed inwater performance; however, children's self-report or parents' proxy report of swim skill has not been validated. This is the first US study to evaluate whether children or parents can validly report a child's swim skill. It also explores which swim skill survey measure(s) correlate with children's inwater swim performance. For this cross-sectional convenience-based sample, pilot study, child/parent dyads (N=482) were recruited at three outdoor public pools in Washington State. Agreement between measures of self-reports and parental-reports of children's swim skill was assessed via paired analyses, and validated by inwater swim test results. Participants were representative of pool's patrons (ie, non-Hispanic White, highly educated, high income). There was agreement in child/parent dyads' reports of the following child swim skill measures: 'ever taken swim lessons', perceived 'good swim skills' and 'comfort in water over head'. Correlation analyses suggest that reported 'good swim skills' was the best survey measure to assess a child's swim skill-best if the parent was the informant (r=0.25-0.47). History of swim lessons was not significantly correlated with passing the swim test. Reported 'good swim skills' was most correlated with observed swim skill. Reporting 'yes' to 'ever taken swim lessons' did not correlate with swim skill. While non-generalisable, findings can help inform future studies. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Theoretical Study of Wave Particle Correlation Measurement via 1-D Electromagnetic Particle Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ueda, Yoshikatsu; Omura, Yoshiharu; Kojima, Hiro

Spacecraft observation is essentially "one-point measurement", while numerical simulation can reproduce a whole system of physical processes on a computer. By performing particle simulations of plasma wave instabilities and calculating correlation of waves and particles observed at a single point, we examine how well we can infer the characteristics of the whole system by a one-point measurement. We perform various simulation runs with different plasma parameters using one-dimensional electromagnetic particle code (KEMPO1) and calculate 'E dot v' or other moments at a single point. We find good correlation between the measurement and the macroscopic fluctuations of the total simulation region. We make use of the results of the computer experiments in our system design of new instruments 'One-chip Wave Particle Interaction Analyzer (OWPIA)'.

[Telemedicine correlation in retinopathy of prematurity between experts and non-expert observers].

PubMed

Ossandón, D; Zanolli, M; López, J P; Stevenson, R; Agurto, R; Cartes, C

2015-01-01

To study the correlation between expert and non-expert observers in the reporting images for the diagnosis of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in a telemedicine setting. A cross-sectional, multicenter study, consisting of 25 sets of images of patients screened for ROP. They were evaluated by two experts in ROP and 1 non-expert and classified according to telemedicine classification, zone, stage, plus disease and Ells referral criteria. The telemedicine classification was: no ROP, mild ROP, type 2 ROP, or ROP that requires treatment. Ells referral criteria is defined as the presence at least one of the following: ROP in zone I, Stage 3 in zone I or II, or plus+ For statistical analysis, SPSS 16.0 was used. For correlation, Kappa value was performed. There was a high correlation between observers for the assessment of ROP stage (0.75; 0.54-0.88) plus disease (0.85; 0.71-0.92), and Ells criteria (0.89; 0.83-1.0). However, inter-observer values were low for zone (0.41; 0.27-0.54) and telemedicine classification (0.43; 0.33-0.6). When evaluating telemedicine images by examiners with different levels of expertise in ROP, the Ells criteria gave the best correlation. In addition, stage of disease and plus disease have good correlation among observers. In contrast, the correlation between observers was low for zone and telemedicine classification. Copyright © 2014 Sociedad Española de Oftalmología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Cardiac vagal flexibility and accurate personality impressions: Examining a physiological correlate of the good judge.

PubMed

Human, Lauren J; Mendes, Wendy Berry

2018-02-23

Research has long sought to identify which individuals are best at accurately perceiving others' personalities or are good judges, yet consistent predictors of this ability have been difficult to find. In the current studies, we revisit this question by examining a novel physiological correlate of social sensitivity, cardiac vagal flexibility, which reflects dynamic modulation of cardiac vagal control. We examined whether greater cardiac vagal flexibility was associated with forming more accurate personality impressions, defined as viewing targets more in line with their distinctive self-reported profile of traits, in two studies, including a thin-slice video perceptions study (N = 109) and a dyadic interaction study (N = 175). Across studies, we found that individuals higher in vagal flexibility formed significantly more accurate first impressions of others' more observable personality traits (e.g., extraversion, creativity, warmth). These associations held while including a range of relevant covariates, including cardiac vagal tone, sympathetic activation, and gender. In sum, social sensitivity as indexed by cardiac vagal flexibility is linked to forming more accurate impressions of others' observable traits, shedding light on a characteristic that may help to identify the elusive good judge and providing insight into its neurobiological underpinnings. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Glenoid deformity in the coronal plane correlates with humeral head changes in osteoarthritis: a radiographic analysis.

PubMed

Hawi, Nael; Magosch, Petra; Tauber, Mark; Lichtenberg, Sven; Martetschläger, Frank; Habermeyer, Peter

2017-02-01

A variety of measurements can be used to assess radiographic osteoarthritic changes of the shoulder. This study aimed to analyze the correlation between the radiographic humeral-sided Samilson and Prieto classification system and 3 different radiographic classifications describing the changes of the glenoid in the coronal plane. The study material included standardized radiographs of 50 patients with idiopathic osteoarthritis before anatomic shoulder replacement. On the basis of radiographic measurements, the cases were evaluated using the Samilson and Prieto grading system, angle β, inclination type, and critical shoulder angle by 2 independent observers. Classification measurements showed an excellent agreement between observers. Our results showed that the humeral-sided Samilson and Prieto grading system had a statistically significant good correlation with angle β (observer 1, r = 0.74; observer 2, r = 0.77; P < .05) and a statistically significant excellent correlation with the inclination type of the glenoid (observer 1, r  = 0.86; observer 2, r = 0.8; P < .05). A poor correlation to the critical shoulder angle was observed (r = -0.14, r = 0.03; P > .05). The grade of humeral-sided osteoarthritis according to Samilson and Prieto correlates with the glenoid-sided osteoarthritic changes of the glenoid in the coronal plane described by the angle β and by the inclination type of the glenoid. Higher glenoid-sided inclination is associated with higher grade of osteoarthritis in primary shoulder osteoarthritis. Copyright © 2017 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Correlation of 1.65 and 2.15 micron airglow emissions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kieffaber, L. M.

1974-01-01

The intense infrared airglow is due primarily to vibration-rotation bands of the OH molecule. This airglow has been observed with a 24-in. scanning photometer at two wavelengths. Narrow-band interference filters are used to limit observations to the (9,7) band at 2.15 microns and the (4,2) and (5,3) bands at 1.65 microns. If OH emission results from creation of the excited OH molecule in the v = 9 vibrational state and subsequent cascading through lower vibrational levels, the 1.65 and 2.15 micron radiation will be well correlated in space and time. However, if several mechanisms are involved in producing OH in a variety of initial excitation levels, there is no reason to expect good correlation. Sky maps obtained simultaneously at 1.65 and 2.15 microns show strongly correlated intensity fluctuations. Quantitative analysis of these maps and other investigations of smaller areas of the sky yield correlation coefficients typically in excess of 0.8.

Geodesy/Astrometry with the VLBA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, David

2000-05-01

The RDV experiments are a joint effort between VLBI scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the U.S. Naval Observatory, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (an NSF facility operated by Associated Universities, Inc.). Six RDV geodesy/astrometry experiments are conducted yearly, using the 10 VLBA antennas and up to 10 Mark 4 antennas. Correlation is done on the VLBA correlator, a station-based, geocenter referenced correlator, similar to the new Mark 4 correlators. VLBA correlator output is in the form of cross-spectra phase and amplitude visibility data, which must be further processed using the NRAO AIPS software package to obtain geodetic observables. Most of the geodetic processing has been done at GSFC, using steps developed by NRAO and GSFC staff. These steps are given in a geodesy processing guide, available on-line in AIPS by typing "EXPLAIN ASTROMET". The first 17 RDV experiments, spanning 2.6 years, have been processed and, except for one problem (known as the southern source problem), the results are fairly good. The baseline repeatabilities are generally as good as, or better than, an equivalent span of Mark3/4 data, and many of the experiments can be phase connected between most of the VLBA antennas.

The relationship between transorbital ultrasound measurement of the optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) and invasively measured ICP in children : Part I: repeatability, observer variability and general analysis.

PubMed

Padayachy, Llewellyn C; Padayachy, Vaishali; Galal, Ushma; Gray, Rebecca; Fieggen, A Graham

2016-10-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) measurement and invasively measured intracranial pressure (ICP) in children. ONSD measurement was performed prior to invasive measurement of ICP. The mean binocular ONSD measurement was compared to the ICP reading. Physiological variables including systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), pulse rate, temperature, respiratory rate and end tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) level were recorded at the time of ONSD measurement. Diagnostic accuracy analysis was performed at various ICP thresholds and  repeatability, intra- and inter-observer variability, correlation between measurements in different imaging planes as well the relationship over the entire patient cohort were examined in part I of this study. Data from 174 patients were analysed. Repeatability and intra-observer variability were excellent (α = 0.97-0.99). Testing for inter-observer variability revealed good correlation (r = 0.89, p < 0.001). Imaging in the sagittal plane demonstrated a slightly better correlation with ICP (r = 0.66, p < 0.001). The ONSD measurement with the best diagnostic accuracy for detecting an ICP ≥ 20 mmHg over the entire patient cohort was 5.5 mm, sensitivity 93.2 %, specificity 74 % and odds ratio (OR) of 39.3. Transorbital ultrasound measurement of the OSND is a reliable and reproducible technique, demonstrating a good relationship with ICP and high diagnostic accuracy for detecting raised ICP.

Measurement of Bose-Einstein correlations in e^+e^->W^+W^- events at LEP [rapid communication] L3 Collaboration, P. Achard, O. Adriani, M. Aguilar-Benitez, J. Alcaraz, G. Alemanni, J. Allaby, A. Aloisio, M.G. Alviggi, H. Anderhub, V.P. Andreev, F. Anselmo, A. Arefiev, T. Azemoon, T. Aziz,

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bagnaia, P.; Bajo, A.; Baksay, G.; Baksay, L.; Baldew, S. V.; Banerjee, S.; Banerjee, S.; Barczyk, A.; Barillere, R.; Bartalini, P.; Basile, M.; Batalova, N.; Battiston, R.; Bay, A.; Becattini, F.; Becker, U.; Behner, F.; Bellucci, L.; Berbeco, R.; Berdugo, J.; Berges, P.; Bertucci, B.; Betev, B. L.; Biasini, M.; Biglietti, M.; Biland, A.; Blaising, J. J.; Blyth, S. C.; Bobbink, G. J.; Bohm, A.; Boldizsar, L.; Borgia, B.; Bottai, S.; Bourilkov, D.; Bourquin, M.; Braccini, S.; Branson, J. G.; Brochu, F.; Burger, J. D.; Burger, W. J.; Cai, X. D.; Capell, M.; Romeo, G. Cara; Carlino, G.; Cartacci, A.; Casaus, J.; Cavallari, F.; Cavallo, N.; Cecchi, C.; Cerrada, M.; Chamizo, M.; Chang, Y. H.; Chemarin, M.; Chen, A.; Chen, G.; Chen, G. M.; Chen, H. F.; Chen, H. S.; Chiefari, G.; Cifarelli, L.; Cindolo, F.; Clare, I.; Clare, R.; Coignet, G.; Colino, N.; Costantini, S.; de la Cruz, B.; Cucciarelli, S.; van Dalen, J. A.; de Asmundis, R.; Deglon, P.; Debreczeni, J.; Degre, A.; Dehmelt, K.; Deiters, K.; della Volpe, D.; Delmeire, E.; Denes, P.; DeNotaristefani, F.; De Salvo, A.; Diemoz, M.; Dierckxsens, M.; Dionisi, C.; Dittmar, M.; Doria, A.; Dova, M. T.; Duchesneau, D.; Echenard, B.; Eline, A.; El Mamouni, H.; Engler, A.; Eppling, F. J.; Ewers, A.; Extermann, P.; Falagan, M. A.; Falciano, S.; Favara, A.; Fay, J.; Fedin, O.; Felcini, M.; Ferguson, T.; Fesefeldt, H.; Fiandrini, E.; Field, J. H.; Filthaut, F.; Fisher, P. H.; Fisher, W.; Fisk, I.; Forconi, G.; Freudenreich, K.; Furetta, C.; Galaktionov, Y.; Ganguli, S. N.; Garcia-Abia, P.; Gataullin, M.; Gentile, S.; Giagu, S.; Gong, Z. F.; Grenier, G.; Grimm, O.; Gruenewald, M. W.; Guida, M.; van Gulik, R.; Gupta, V. K.; Gurtu, A.; Gutay, L. J.; Haas, D.; Hakobyan, R. S.; Hatzifotiadou, D.; Hebbeker, T.; Herve, A.; Hirschfelder, J.; Hofer, H.; Hohlmann, M.; Holzner, G.; Hou, S. R.; Hu, Y.; Jin, B. N.; Jones, L. W.; de Jong, P.; Josa-Mutuberra, I.; Kafer, D.; Kaur, M.; Kienzle-Focacci, M. N.; Kim, J. K.; Kirkby, J.; Kittel, W.; Klimentov, A.; Konig, A. C.; Kopal, M.; Koutsenko, V.; Kraber, M.; Kraemer, R. W.; Krenz, W.; Kruger, A.; Kunin, A.; Ladron de Guevara, P.; Laktineh, I.; Landi, G.; Lebeau, M.; Lebedev, A.; Lebrun, P.; Lecomte, P.; Lecoq, P.; Le Coultre, P.; Le Goff, J. M.; Leiste, R.; Levtchenko, M.; Levtchenko, P.; Li, C.; Likhoded, S.; Lin, C. H.; Lin, W. T.; Linde, F. L.; Lista, L.; Liu, Z. A.; Lohmann, W.; Longo, E.; Lu, Y. S.; Lubelsmeyer, K.; Luci, C.; Luminari, L.; Lustermann, W.; Ma, W. G.; Malgeri, L.; Malinin, A.; Mana, C.; Mangeol, D.; Mans, J.; Martin, J. P.; Marzano, F.; Mazumdar, K.; McNeil, R. R.; Mele, S.; Merola, L.; Meschini, M.; Metzger, W. J.; Mihul, A.; Milcent, H.; Mirabelli, G.; Mnich, J.; Mohanty, G. B.; Muanza, G. S.; Muijs, A. J. M.; Musicar, B.; Musy, M.; Nagy, S.; Natale, S.; Napolitano, M.; Nessi-Tedaldi, F.; Newman, H.; Niessen, T.; Nisati, A.; Nowak, H.; Ofierzynski, R.; Organtini, G.; Palomares, C.; Pandoulas, D.; Paolucci, P.; Paramatti, R.; Passaleva, G.; Patricelli, S.; Paul, T.; Pauluzzi, M.; Paus, C.; Pauss, F.; Pedace, M.; Pensotti, S.; Perret-Gallix, D.; Petersen, B.; Piccolo, D.; Pierella, F.; Pioppi, M.; Piroue, P. A.; Pistolesi, E.; Plyaskin, V.; Pohl, M.; Pojidaev, V.; Pothier, J.; Prokofiev, D. O.; Prokofiev, D.; Quartieri, J.; Rahal-Callot, G.; Rahaman, M. A.; Raics, P.; Raja, N.; Ramelli, R.; Rancoita, P. G.; Ranieri, R.; Raspereza, A.; Razis, P.; Ren, D.; Rescigno, M.; Reucroft, S.; Riemann, S.; Riles, K.; Roe, B. P.; Romero, L.; Rosca, A.; Rosier-Lees, S.; Roth, S.; Rosenbleck, C.; Roux, B.; Rubio, J. A.; Ruggiero, G.; Rykaczewski, H.; Sakharov, A.; Saremi, S.; Sarkar, S.; Salicio, J.; Sanchez, E.; Sanders, M. P.; Schafer, C.; Schegelsky, V.; Schmidt-Kaerst, S.; Schmitz, D.; Schopper, H.; Schotanus, D. J.; Schwering, G.; Sciacca, C.; Servoli, L.; Shevchenko, S.; Shivarov, N.; Shoutko, V.; Shumilov, E.; Shvorob, A.; Siedenburg, T.; Son, D.; Souga, C.; Spillantini, P.; Steuer, M.; Stickland, D. P.; Stoyanov, B.; Straessner, A.; Sudhakar, K.; Sultanov, G.; Sun, L. Z.; Sushkov, S.; Suter, H.; Swain, J. D.; Szillasi, Z.; Tang, X. W.; Tarjan, P.; Tauscher, L.; Taylor, L.; Tellili, B.; Teyssier, D.; Timmermans, C.; Ting, C. C.; Ting, S. M.; Tonwar, S. C.; Toth, J.; Tully, C.; Tung, K. L.; Ulbricht, J.; Valente, E.; Van de Walle, R. T.; Vasquez, R.; Veszpremi, V.; Vesztergombi, G.; Vetlitsky, I.; Vicinanza, D.; Viertel, G.; Villa, S.; Vivargent, M.; Vlachos, S.; Vodopianov, I.; Vogel, H.; Vogt, H.; Vorobiev, I.; Vorobyov, A. A.; Wadhwa, M.; Wallraff, W.; Wang, X. L.; Wang, Z. M.; Weber, M.; Wienemann, P.; Wilkens, H.; Wynhoff, S.; Xia, L.; Xu, Z. Z.; Yamamoto, J.; Yang, B. Z.; Yang, C. G.; Yang, H. J.; Yang, M.; Yeh, S. C.; Zalite, A.; Zalite, Y.; Zhang, Z. P.; Zhao, J.; Zhu, G. Y.; Zhu, R. Y.; Zhuang, H. L.; Zichichi, A.; Zimmermann, B.; Zoller, M.

2002-11-01

Bose-Einstein correlations in W-pair production at LEP are investigated in a data sample of 629 pb^-1 collected by the L3 detector at centre-of-mass energies of 189-209 GeV. Bose-Einstein correlations between pions within a W decay are observed and found to be in good agreement with those in light-quark Z decay. No evidence is found for Bose-Einstein correlations between hadrons coming from different W's in the same event.

A new approach for measuring the work and quality of histopathology reporting.

PubMed

Sharma, Vijay; Davey, Jonathan G N; Humphreys, Catherine; Johnston, Peter W

2013-07-01

Cancer datasets drive report quality, but require more work to inform compliant reports. The aim of this study was to correlate the number of words with measures of quality, to examine the impact of the drive for improved quality on the workload of histopathology reporting over time. We examined the first 10 reports of colon, breast, renal, lung and ovarian carcinoma, melanoma resection, nodal lymphoma appendicitis and seborrhoeic keratosis (SK) issued in 1991, 2001 and 2011. Correlations were analysed using Pearson's partial correlation coefficients. Word count increased significantly over time for most specimen types examined. Word count almost always correlated with units of information, indicating that the word count was a good measure of the amount of information contained within the reports; this correlation was preserved following correction for the effect of time. A good correlation with compliance with cancer datasets was also observed, but was weakened or lost following correction for the increase in word count and units of information that occurred between time points. These data indicate that word count could potentially be used as a measure of information content if its integrity and usefulness are continuously validated. Further prospective studies are required to assess and validate this approach. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

[Polyglobulia and bronchopneumopathies: correlations of ferritin and other ferric parameters with various erythrocytic indexes].

PubMed

Sánchez Sánchez, M L; Ciriza de los Ríos, C; Arroyo Vicente, M; Ortega de Heredia, D; Arroyo Ordóñez, M J; Rubio Pérez, P

1993-08-01

In 15 patients with chronic bronchopneumopathy (7 with polyglobulia and 8 without it), we observed that polyglobulic patients had higher average levels of sideremia and basal saturation of transferrin and lower levels of HCM, CHCM and VCM. No significant differences were observed in the average levels of ferritin between both groups. Overall, in this series of 15 patients, a significant inverse correlation was observed between sideremia and HCM (r = -0.52; p < 0.05) and between sideremia and CHCM (r = -0.55, p < 0.5), as well as a trend towards a direct correlation between sideremia and the red blood cells count (r = 0.45, N.S.). There was also a direct correlation between serum ferritin and the sedimentation rate (r = 0.72, p < 0.01) and trends towards inverse correlations although not significant, between ferritin and sideremia (r = -0.25, N.S.). These data reflect a hyperconsumption of iron in the respiratory polyglobulia, with some relative deficit, suggesting as well that serum ferritin is not a good enough criteria in these cases for the evaluation of iron deposits, because it behaves like the sedimentation rate with respect to acute phase reactants when there is inflammation.

The relative reliability of actively participating and passively observing raters in a simulation-based assessment for selection to specialty training in anaesthesia.

PubMed

Roberts, M J; Gale, T C E; Sice, P J A; Anderson, I R

2013-06-01

Selection to specialty training is a high-stakes assessment demanding valuable consultant time. In one initial entry level and two higher level anaesthesia selection centres, we investigated the feasibility of using staff participating in simulation scenarios, rather than observing consultants, to rate candidate performance. We compared participant and observer scores using four different outcomes: inter-rater reliability; score distributions; correlation of candidate rankings; and percentage of candidates whose selection might be affected by substituting participants' for observers' ratings. Inter-rater reliability between observers was good (correlation coefficient 0.73-0.96) but lower between participants (correlation coefficient 0.39-0.92), particularly at higher level where participants also rated candidates more favourably than did observers. Station rank orderings were strongly correlated between the rater groups at entry level (rho 0.81, p < 0.001) but weaker at the two higher level centres (rho 0.52, p = 0.018; rho 0.58, p = 0.001). Substituting participants' for observers' ratings had less effect once scores were combined with those from other selection centre stations. Selection decisions for 0-20% of candidates could have changed, depending on the numbers of training posts available. We conclude that using participating raters is feasible at initial entry level only. Anaesthesia © 2013 The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.

Quaternion Based Thermal Condition Monitoring System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, Wai Kit; Loo, Chu Kiong; Lim, Way Soong; Tan, Poi Ngee

In this paper, we will propose a new and effective machine condition monitoring system using log-polar mapper, quaternion based thermal image correlator and max-product fuzzy neural network classifier. Two classification characteristics namely: peak to sidelobe ratio (PSR) and real to complex ratio of the discrete quaternion correlation output (p-value) are applied in the proposed machine condition monitoring system. Large PSR and p-value observe in a good match among correlation of the input thermal image with a particular reference image, while small PSR and p-value observe in a bad/not match among correlation of the input thermal image with a particular reference image. In simulation, we also discover that log-polar mapping actually help solving rotation and scaling invariant problems in quaternion based thermal image correlation. Beside that, log-polar mapping can have a two fold of data compression capability. Log-polar mapping can help smoother up the output correlation plane too, hence makes a better measurement way for PSR and p-values. Simulation results also show that the proposed system is an efficient machine condition monitoring system with accuracy more than 98%.

Quantitative 4D Transcatheter Intraarterial Perfusion MR Imaging as a Method to Standardize Angiographic Chemoembolization Endpoints

PubMed Central

Jin, Brian; Wang, Dingxin; Lewandowski, Robert J.; Ryu, Robert K.; Sato, Kent T.; Larson, Andrew C.; Salem, Riad; Omary, Reed A.

2011-01-01

PURPOSE We aimed to test the hypothesis that subjective angiographic endpoints during transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) exhibit consistency and correlate with objective intraprocedural reductions in tumor perfusion as determined by quantitative four dimensional (4D) transcatheter intraarterial perfusion (TRIP) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS This prospective study was approved by the institutional review board. Eighteen consecutive patients underwent TACE in a combined MR/interventional radiology (MR-IR) suite. Three board-certified interventional radiologists independently graded the angiographic endpoint of each procedure based on a previously described subjective angiographic chemoembolization endpoint (SACE) scale. A consensus SACE rating was established for each patient. Patients underwent quantitative 4D TRIP-MR imaging immediately before and after TACE, from which mean whole tumor perfusion (Fρ) was calculated. Consistency of SACE ratings between observers was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The relationship between SACE ratings and intraprocedural TRIP-MR imaging perfusion changes was evaluated using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. RESULTS The SACE rating scale demonstrated very good consistency among all observers (ICC = 0.80). The consensus SACE rating was significantly correlated with both absolute (r = 0.54, P = 0.022) and percent (r = 0.85, P < 0.001) intraprocedural perfusion reduction. CONCLUSION The SACE rating scale demonstrates very good consistency between raters, and significantly correlates with objectively measured intraprocedural perfusion reductions during TACE. These results support the use of the SACE scale as a standardized alternative method to quantitative 4D TRIP-MR imaging to classify patients based on embolic endpoints of TACE. PMID:22021520

Influence of livestock activities on residue antibiotic levels of rivers in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Selvam, Ammaiyappan; Kwok, Katrina; Chen, Yumei; Cheung, Anna; Leung, Kelvin S Y; Wong, Jonathan W C

2017-04-01

Occurrence of 10 antibiotics in the Yuen Long (YLR), Kam Tin (KTR), and Shing Mun (SMR) rivers of Hong Kong and possible influence of livestock activities on the concentrations of antibiotics were investigated. Tetracycline (30-497 ng/L), sulfadiazine (2-80 ng/L), sulfamethoxazole (2-152 ng/L), ofloxacin (5-227 ng/L), and erythromycin (1-315 ng/L) were detected in all the three rivers; chlortetracycline (23-227 ng/L), oxytetracycline (7-104 ng/L), ciprofloxacin (12-68 ng/L), and roxithromycin (1-105 ng/L) were detected in YLR and KTR, whereas norfloxacin (3-34 ng/L) was detected in KTR only. Significant correlation between livestock population and antibiotic contamination was observed in YLR only, indicating the influences of other sources in KTR and SMR. Among the antibiotics, significant correlation was observed between tetracyclines and sulfonamides indicating the major influence of livestock farms, whereas tetracyclines/sulfonamides were negatively correlated with fluoroquinolones/macrolides implying the differential origin of the latter class of antibiotics. Water quality of KTR and YLR were highly influenced by the non-point source pollutions, while of SMR was relatively good. Particularly, Escherichia coli populations of the YLR and KTR were 3-4 logs higher than those of the SMR indicating the involvement of livestock farms and sewerages. Good correlation between tetracyclines (TCs)/sulfonamides (SAs) and number of livestock farms and a negative correlation between TCs/SAs and fluoroquinolones (FQs)/macrolides (MLs) could be used as an indicator to trace the possible source of pollution.

Validation of lower tropospheric carbon monoxide inferred from MOZART model simulation over India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yarragunta, Y.; Srivastava, S.; Mitra, D.

2017-02-01

In the present study, MOZART-4 (Model for Ozone and Related chemical Tracers-Version-4) simulation has been made from 2003 to 2007 and compared with satellite and in-situ observations with a specific focus on Indian subcontinent to illustrate the capabilities of MOZART-4 model. The model simulated CO have been compared with latest version (version-6) of MOPITT (Measurement Of Pollution In The Troposphere) carbon monoxide (CO) retrievals at 900, 800 and 700 hPa. Model reproduces major features present in satellite observations. However model significantly overestimates CO over the entire Indian region at 900 hPa and moderately overestimates at 800 hPa and 700 hPa. The frequency distribution of all simulated data points with respect to MOZART error shows maximum in the error range of 10-20% at all pressure levels. Over total Indian landmass, the percentage of gridded CO data that are being overestimated in the range of 0-30% at 900 hPa, 800 hPa and 700 hPa are 58%, 62% and 66% respectively. The study reflects very good correlation between two datasets over Central India (CI) and Southern India (SI). The coefficient of determination (r2) is found to be 0.68-0.78 and 0.70-0.78 over the CI and SI respectively. The weak correlation is evident over Northern India (NI) with r2 values of 0.1-0.3. Over Eastern India (EI), Good correlation at 800 hPa (r2 = 0.72) and 700 hPa (r2 = 0.66) whereas moderately weak correlation at 900 hPa (r2 = 0.48) has been observed. In contrast, Over Western India (WI), strong correlation is evident at 900 hPa (r2 = 0.64) and moderately weak association is found to be present at 800 hPa and 700 hPa. Model fairly reproduces seasonal cycle of CO in the lower troposphere over most of the Indian regions. However, during June to December, model shows overestimation over NI. The magnitude of overestimation is increasing linearly from 900 hPa to 700 hPa level. During April-June months, model results are coinciding with observed CO concentrations over SI region at 900 hPa. Model simulation has been compared with surface in-situ observations over ten Indian locations. Model performance is found to be moderate to good over various observational locations. However, over highly polluted megacities, model underestimates observed CO concentration by up to 3500 ppbv. A case study over the forest fire prone area reveals the clear increase of modeled and retrieved CO in February-March and a decrease in May which is coinciding with biomass burning emissions and fire counts. Model performance is found to be relatively poor over this region with r2 of 0.29 and slope of 0.56.

X-29 High Alpha Test in the National Transonic Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Underwood, Pamela J.; Owens, Lewis R.; Wahls, Richard A.; Williams, Susan

2003-01-01

This paper describes the X-29A research program at the National Transonic Facility. This wind tunnel test leveraged the X-29A high alpha flight test program by enabling ground-to-flight correlation studies with an emphasis on Reynolds number effects. The background and objectives of this test program, as well as the comparison of high Reynolds number wind tunnel data to X-29A flight test data are presented. The effects of Reynolds number on the forebody pressures at high angles of attack are also presented. The purpose of this paper is to document this test and serve as a reference for future ground-to-flight correlation studies, and high angle-of-attack investigations. Good ground-to-flight correlations were observed for angles of attack up to 50 deg, and Reynolds number effects were also observed.

Measurements of spin correlation in top-antitop quark events from proton-proton collisions at √{s }=7 TeV using the ATLAS detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; Abdallah, J.; Abdel Khalek, S.; Abdinov, O.; Aben, R.; Abi, B.; Abolins, M.; Abouzeid, O. S.; Abramowicz, H.; Abreu, H.; Abreu, R.; Abulaiti, Y.; Acharya, B. S.; Adamczyk, L.; Adams, D. L.; Adelman, J.; Adomeit, S.; Adye, T.; Agatonovic-Jovin, T.; Aguilar-Saavedra, J. A.; Agustoni, M.; Ahlen, S. P.; Ahmadov, F.; Aielli, G.; Akerstedt, H.; Åkesson, T. P. A.; Akimoto, G.; Akimov, A. V.; Alberghi, G. L.; Albert, J.; Albrand, S.; Alconada Verzini, M. J.; Aleksa, M.; Aleksandrov, I. N.; Alexa, C.; Alexander, G.; Alexandre, G.; Alexopoulos, T.; Alhroob, M.; Alimonti, G.; Alio, L.; Alison, J.; Allbrooke, B. M. M.; Allison, L. J.; Allport, P. P.; Almond, J.; Aloisio, A.; Alonso, A.; Alonso, F.; Alpigiani, C.; Altheimer, A.; Alvarez Gonzalez, B.; Alviggi, M. G.; Amako, K.; Amaral Coutinho, Y.; Amelung, C.; Amidei, D.; Amor Dos Santos, S. P.; Amorim, A.; Amoroso, S.; Amram, N.; Amundsen, G.; Anastopoulos, C.; Ancu, L. S.; Andari, N.; Andeen, T.; Anders, C. F.; Anders, G.; Anderson, K. J.; Andreazza, A.; Andrei, V.; Anduaga, X. S.; Angelidakis, S.; Angelozzi, I.; Anger, P.; Angerami, A.; Anghinolfi, F.; Anisenkov, A. V.; Anjos, N.; Annovi, A.; Antonaki, A.; Antonelli, M.; Antonov, A.; Antos, J.; Anulli, F.; Aoki, M.; Aperio Bella, L.; Apolle, R.; Arabidze, G.; Aracena, I.; Arai, Y.; Araque, J. P.; Arce, A. T. H.; Arguin, J.-F.; Argyropoulos, S.; Arik, M.; Armbruster, A. J.; Arnaez, O.; Arnal, V.; Arnold, H.; Arratia, M.; Arslan, O.; Artamonov, A.; Artoni, G.; Asai, S.; Asbah, N.; Ashkenazi, A.; Åsman, B.; Asquith, L.; Assamagan, K.; Astalos, R.; Atkinson, M.; Atlay, N. B.; Auerbach, B.; Augsten, K.; Aurousseau, M.; Avolio, G.; Azuelos, G.; Azuma, Y.; Baak, M. A.; Baas, A.; Bacci, C.; Bachacou, H.; Bachas, K.; Backes, M.; Backhaus, M.; Backus Mayes, J.; Badescu, E.; Bagiacchi, P.; Bagnaia, P.; Bai, Y.; Bain, T.; Baines, J. T.; Baker, O. K.; Balek, P.; Balli, F.; Banas, E.; Banerjee, Sw.; Bannoura, A. A. E.; Bansal, V.; Bansil, H. S.; Barak, L.; Baranov, S. P.; Barberio, E. L.; Barberis, D.; Barbero, M.; Barillari, T.; Barisonzi, M.; Barklow, T.; Barlow, N.; Barnett, B. M.; Barnett, R. M.; Barnovska, Z.; Baroncelli, A.; Barone, G.; Barr, A. J.; Barreiro, F.; Barreiro Guimarães da Costa, J.; Bartoldus, R.; Barton, A. E.; Bartos, P.; Bartsch, V.; Bassalat, A.; Basye, A.; Bates, R. L.; Batkova, L.; Batley, J. R.; Battaglia, M.; Battistin, M.; Bauer, F.; Bawa, H. S.; Beau, T.; Beauchemin, P. H.; Beccherle, R.; Bechtle, P.; Beck, H. P.; Becker, K.; Becker, S.; Beckingham, M.; Becot, C.; Beddall, A. J.; Beddall, A.; Bedikian, S.; Bednyakov, V. A.; Bee, C. P.; Beemster, L. J.; Beermann, T. A.; Begel, M.; Behr, K.; Belanger-Champagne, C.; Bell, P. J.; Bell, W. H.; Bella, G.; Bellagamba, L.; Bellerive, A.; Bellomo, M.; Belotskiy, K.; Beltramello, O.; Benary, O.; Benchekroun, D.; Bendtz, K.; Benekos, N.; Benhammou, Y.; Benhar Noccioli, E.; Benitez Garcia, J. A.; Benjamin, D. P.; Bensinger, J. R.; Benslama, K.; Bentvelsen, S.; Berge, D.; Bergeaas Kuutmann, E.; Berger, N.; Berghaus, F.; Beringer, J.; Bernard, C.; Bernat, P.; Bernius, C.; Bernlochner, F. U.; Berry, T.; Berta, P.; Bertella, C.; Bertoli, G.; Bertolucci, F.; Bertsche, D.; Besana, M. I.; Besjes, G. J.; Bessidskaia, O.; Bessner, M. F.; Besson, N.; Betancourt, C.; Bethke, S.; Bhimji, W.; Bianchi, R. M.; Bianchini, L.; Bianco, M.; Biebel, O.; Bieniek, S. P.; Bierwagen, K.; Biesiada, J.; Biglietti, M.; Bilbao de Mendizabal, J.; Bilokon, H.; Bindi, M.; Binet, S.; Bingul, A.; Bini, C.; Black, C. W.; Black, J. E.; Black, K. M.; Blackburn, D.; Blair, R. E.; Blanchard, J.-B.; Blazek, T.; Bloch, I.; Blocker, C.; Blum, W.; Blumenschein, U.; Bobbink, G. J.; Bobrovnikov, V. S.; Bocchetta, S. S.; Bocci, A.; Bock, C.; Boddy, C. R.; Boehler, M.; Boek, T. T.; Bogaerts, J. A.; Bogdanchikov, A. G.; Bogouch, A.; Bohm, C.; Bohm, J.; Boisvert, V.; Bold, T.; Boldea, V.; Boldyrev, A. S.; Bomben, M.; Bona, M.; Boonekamp, M.; Borisov, A.; Borissov, G.; Borri, M.; Borroni, S.; Bortfeldt, J.; Bortolotto, V.; Bos, K.; Boscherini, D.; Bosman, M.; Boterenbrood, H.; Boudreau, J.; Bouffard, J.; Bouhova-Thacker, E. V.; Boumediene, D.; Bourdarios, C.; Bousson, N.; Boutouil, S.; Boveia, A.; Boyd, J.; Boyko, I. R.; Bracinik, J.; Brandt, A.; Brandt, G.; Brandt, O.; Bratzler, U.; Brau, B.; Brau, J. E.; Braun, H. M.; Brazzale, S. F.; Brelier, B.; Brendlinger, K.; Brennan, A. J.; Brenner, R.; Bressler, S.; Bristow, K.; Bristow, T. M.; Britton, D.; Brochu, F. M.; Brock, I.; Brock, R.; Bromberg, C.; Bronner, J.; Brooijmans, G.; Brooks, T.; Brooks, W. K.; Brosamer, J.; Brost, E.; Brown, J.; Bruckman de Renstrom, P. A.; Bruncko, D.; Bruneliere, R.; Brunet, S.; Bruni, A.; Bruni, G.; Bruschi, M.; Bryngemark, L.; Buanes, T.; Buat, Q.; Bucci, F.; Buchholz, P.; Buckingham, R. M.; Buckley, A. G.; Buda, S. I.; Budagov, I. A.; Buehrer, F.; Bugge, L.; Bugge, M. K.; Bulekov, O.; Bundock, A. 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J.; Therhaag, J.; Theveneaux-Pelzer, T.; Thomas, J. P.; Thomas-Wilsker, J.; Thompson, E. N.; Thompson, P. D.; Thompson, P. D.; Thompson, A. S.; Thomsen, L. A.; Thomson, E.; Thomson, M.; Thong, W. M.; Thun, R. P.; Tian, F.; Tibbetts, M. J.; Tikhomirov, V. O.; Tikhonov, Yu. A.; Timoshenko, S.; Tiouchichine, E.; Tipton, P.; Tisserant, S.; Todorov, T.; Todorova-Nova, S.; Toggerson, B.; Tojo, J.; Tokár, S.; Tokushuku, K.; Tollefson, K.; Tomlinson, L.; Tomoto, M.; Tompkins, L.; Toms, K.; Topilin, N. D.; Torrence, E.; Torres, H.; Torró Pastor, E.; Toth, J.; Touchard, F.; Tovey, D. R.; Tran, H. L.; Trefzger, T.; Tremblet, L.; Tricoli, A.; Trigger, I. M.; Trincaz-Duvoid, S.; Tripiana, M. F.; Triplett, N.; Trischuk, W.; Trocmé, B.; Troncon, C.; Trottier-McDonald, M.; Trovatelli, M.; True, P.; Trzebinski, M.; Trzupek, A.; Tsarouchas, C.; Tseng, J. C.-L.; Tsiareshka, P. V.; Tsionou, D.; Tsipolitis, G.; Tsirintanis, N.; Tsiskaridze, S.; Tsiskaridze, V.; Tskhadadze, E. G.; Tsukerman, I. I.; Tsulaia, V.; Tsuno, S.; Tsybychev, D.; Tudorache, A.; Tudorache, V.; Tuna, A. N.; Tupputi, S. A.; Turchikhin, S.; Turecek, D.; Turk Cakir, I.; Turra, R.; Tuts, P. M.; Tykhonov, A.; Tylmad, M.; Tyndel, M.; Uchida, K.; Ueda, I.; Ueno, R.; Ughetto, M.; Ugland, M.; Uhlenbrock, M.; Ukegawa, F.; Unal, G.; Undrus, A.; Unel, G.; Ungaro, F. C.; Unno, Y.; Urbaniec, D.; Urquijo, P.; Usai, G.; Usanova, A.; Vacavant, L.; Vacek, V.; Vachon, B.; Valencic, N.; Valentinetti, S.; Valero, A.; Valery, L.; Valkar, S.; Valladolid Gallego, E.; Vallecorsa, S.; Valls Ferrer, J. A.; van den Wollenberg, W.; van der Deijl, P. C.; van der Geer, R.; van der Graaf, H.; van der Leeuw, R.; van der Ster, D.; van Eldik, N.; van Gemmeren, P.; van Nieuwkoop, J.; van Vulpen, I.; van Woerden, M. C.; Vanadia, M.; Vandelli, W.; Vanguri, R.; Vaniachine, A.; Vankov, P.; Vannucci, F.; Vardanyan, G.; Vari, R.; Varnes, E. W.; Varol, T.; Varouchas, D.; Vartapetian, A.; Varvell, K. E.; Vazeille, F.; Vazquez Schroeder, T.; Veatch, J.; Veloso, F.; Veneziano, S.; Ventura, A.; Ventura, D.; Venturi, M.; Venturi, N.; Venturini, A.; Vercesi, V.; Verducci, M.; Verkerke, W.; Vermeulen, J. C.; Vest, A.; Vetterli, M. C.; Viazlo, O.; Vichou, I.; Vickey, T.; Vickey Boeriu, O. E.; Viehhauser, G. H. A.; Viel, S.; Vigne, R.; Villa, M.; Villaplana Perez, M.; Vilucchi, E.; Vincter, M. G.; Vinogradov, V. B.; Virzi, J.; Vivarelli, I.; Vives Vaque, F.; Vlachos, S.; Vladoiu, D.; Vlasak, M.; Vogel, A.; Vogel, M.; Vokac, P.; Volpi, G.; Volpi, M.; von der Schmitt, H.; von Radziewski, H.; von Toerne, E.; Vorobel, V.; Vorobev, K.; Vos, M.; Voss, R.; Vossebeld, J. H.; Vranjes, N.; Vranjes Milosavljevic, M.; Vrba, V.; Vreeswijk, M.; Vu Anh, T.; Vuillermet, R.; Vukotic, I.; Vykydal, Z.; Wagner, P.; Wagner, W.; Wahlberg, H.; Wahrmund, S.; Wakabayashi, J.; Walder, J.; Walker, R.; Walkowiak, W.; Wall, R.; Waller, P.; Walsh, B.; Wang, C.; Wang, C.; Wang, F.; Wang, H.; Wang, H.; Wang, J.; Wang, J.; Wang, K.; Wang, R.; Wang, S. M.; Wang, T.; Wang, X.; Wanotayaroj, C.; Warburton, A.; Ward, C. P.; Wardrope, D. R.; Warsinsky, M.; Washbrook, A.; Wasicki, C.; Watkins, P. M.; Watson, A. T.; Watson, I. J.; Watson, M. F.; Watts, G.; Watts, S.; Waugh, B. M.; Webb, S.; Weber, M. S.; Weber, S. W.; Webster, J. S.; Weidberg, A. R.; Weigell, P.; Weinert, B.; Weingarten, J.; Weiser, C.; Weits, H.; Wells, P. S.; Wenaus, T.; Wendland, D.; Weng, Z.; Wengler, T.; Wenig, S.; Wermes, N.; Werner, M.; Werner, P.; Wessels, M.; Wetter, J.; Whalen, K.; White, A.; White, M. J.; White, R.; White, S.; Whiteson, D.; Wicke, D.; Wickens, F. J.; Wiedenmann, W.; Wielers, M.; Wienemann, P.; Wiglesworth, C.; Wiik-Fuchs, L. A. M.; Wijeratne, P. A.; Wildauer, A.; Wildt, M. A.; Wilkens, H. G.; Will, J. Z.; Williams, H. H.; Williams, S.; Willis, C.; Willocq, S.; Wilson, A.; Wilson, J. A.; Wingerter-Seez, I.; Winklmeier, F.; Winter, B. T.; Wittgen, M.; Wittig, T.; Wittkowski, J.; Wollstadt, S. J.; Wolter, M. W.; Wolters, H.; Wosiek, B. K.; Wotschack, J.; Woudstra, M. J.; Wozniak, K. W.; Wright, M.; Wu, M.; Wu, S. L.; Wu, X.; Wu, Y.; Wulf, E.; Wyatt, T. R.; Wynne, B. M.; Xella, S.; Xiao, M.; Xu, D.; Xu, L.; Yabsley, B.; Yacoob, S.; Yamada, M.; Yamaguchi, H.; Yamaguchi, Y.; Yamamoto, A.; Yamamoto, K.; Yamamoto, S.; Yamamura, T.; Yamanaka, T.; Yamauchi, K.; Yamazaki, Y.; Yan, Z.; Yang, H.; Yang, H.; Yang, U. K.; Yang, Y.; Yanush, S.; Yao, L.; Yao, W.-M.; Yasu, Y.; Yatsenko, E.; Yau Wong, K. H.; Ye, J.; Ye, S.; Yen, A. L.; Yildirim, E.; Yilmaz, M.; Yoosoofmiya, R.; Yorita, K.; Yoshida, R.; Yoshihara, K.; Young, C.; Young, C. J. S.; Youssef, S.; Yu, D. R.; Yu, J.; Yu, J. M.; Yu, J.; Yuan, L.; Yurkewicz, A.; Yusuff, I.; Zabinski, B.; Zaidan, R.; Zaitsev, A. M.; Zaman, A.; Zambito, S.; Zanello, L.; Zanzi, D.; Zeitnitz, C.; Zeman, M.; Zemla, A.; Zengel, K.; Zenin, O.; Ženiš, T.; Zerwas, D.; Zevi Della Porta, G.; Zhang, D.; Zhang, F.; Zhang, H.; Zhang, J.; Zhang, L.; Zhang, X.; Zhang, Z.; Zhao, Z.; Zhemchugov, A.; Zhong, J.; Zhou, B.; Zhou, L.; Zhou, N.; Zhu, C. G.; Zhu, H.; Zhu, J.; Zhu, Y.; Zhuang, X.; Zhukov, K.; Zibell, A.; Zieminska, D.; Zimine, N. I.; Zimmermann, C.; Zimmermann, R.; Zimmermann, S.; Zimmermann, S.; Zinonos, Z.; Ziolkowski, M.; Zobernig, G.; Zoccoli, A.; Zur Nedden, M.; Zurzolo, G.; Zutshi, V.; Zwalinski, L.; Atlas Collaboration

2014-12-01

Measurements of spin correlation in top quark pair production are presented using data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC with proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb-1 . Events are selected in final states with two charged leptons and at least two jets and in final states with one charged lepton and at least four jets. Four different observables sensitive to different properties of the top quark pair production mechanism are used to extract the correlation between the top and antitop quark spins. Some of these observables are measured for the first time. The measurements are in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction at next-to-leading-order accuracy.

Angiographic assessment of initial balloon angioplasty results.

PubMed

Gardiner, Geoffrey A; Sullivan, Kevin L; Halpern, Ethan J; Parker, Laurence; Beck, Margaret; Bonn, Joseph; Levin, David C

2004-10-01

To determine the influence of three factors involved in the angiographic assessment of balloon angioplasty-interobserver variability, operator bias, and the definition used to determine success-on the primary (technical) results of angioplasty in the peripheral arteries. Percent stenosis in 107 lesions in lower-extremity arteries was graded by three independent, experienced vascular radiologists ("observers") before and after balloon angioplasty and their estimates were compared with the initial interpretations reported by the physician performing the procedure ("operator") and an automated quantitative computer analysis. Observer variability was measured with use of intraclass correlation coefficients and SD. Differences among the operator, observers, and the computer were analyzed with use of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and analysis of variance. For each evaluator, the results in this series of lesions were interpreted with three different definitions of success. Estimation of residual stenosis varied by an average range of 22.76% with an average SD of 8.99. The intraclass correlation coefficients averaged 0.59 for residual stenosis after angioplasty for the three observers but decreased to 0.36 when the operator was included as the fourth evaluator. There was good to very good agreement among the three independent observers and the computer, but poor correlation with the operator (P

Interacting hadron resonance gas model in the K -matrix formalism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dash, Ashutosh; Samanta, Subhasis; Mohanty, Bedangadas

2018-05-01

An extension of hadron resonance gas (HRG) model is constructed to include interactions using relativistic virial expansion of partition function. The noninteracting part of the expansion contains all the stable baryons and mesons and the interacting part contains all the higher mass resonances which decay into two stable hadrons. The virial coefficients are related to the phase shifts which are calculated using K -matrix formalism in the present work. We have calculated various thermodynamics quantities like pressure, energy density, and entropy density of the system. A comparison of thermodynamic quantities with noninteracting HRG model, calculated using the same number of hadrons, shows that the results of the above formalism are larger. A good agreement between equation of state calculated in K -matrix formalism and lattice QCD simulations is observed. Specifically, the lattice QCD calculated interaction measure is well described in our formalism. We have also calculated second-order fluctuations and correlations of conserved charges in K -matrix formalism. We observe a good agreement of second-order fluctuations and baryon-strangeness correlation with lattice data below the crossover temperature.

Accuracy and Reliability Assessment of CT and MR Perfusion Analysis Software Using a Digital Phantom

PubMed Central

Christensen, Soren; Sasaki, Makoto; Østergaard, Leif; Shirato, Hiroki; Ogasawara, Kuniaki; Wintermark, Max; Warach, Steven

2013-01-01

Purpose: To design a digital phantom data set for computed tomography (CT) perfusion and perfusion-weighted imaging on the basis of the widely accepted tracer kinetic theory in which the true values of cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), mean transit time (MTT), and tracer arrival delay are known and to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of postprocessing programs using this digital phantom. Materials and Methods: A phantom data set was created by generating concentration-time curves reflecting true values for CBF (2.5–87.5 mL/100 g per minute), CBV (1.0–5.0 mL/100 g), MTT (3.4–24 seconds), and tracer delays (0–3.0 seconds). These curves were embedded in human brain images. The data were analyzed by using 13 algorithms each for CT and magnetic resonance (MR), including five commercial vendors and five academic programs. Accuracy was assessed by using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) for true values. Delay-, MTT-, or CBV-dependent errors and correlations between time to maximum of residue function (Tmax) were also evaluated. Results: In CT, CBV was generally well reproduced (r > 0.9 in 12 algorithms), but not CBF and MTT (r > 0.9 in seven and four algorithms, respectively). In MR, good correlation (r > 0.9) was observed in one-half of commercial programs, while all academic algorithms showed good correlations for all parameters. Most algorithms had delay-dependent errors, especially for commercial software, as well as CBV dependency for CBF or MTT calculation and MTT dependency for CBV calculation. Correlation was good in Tmax except for one algorithm. Conclusion: The digital phantom readily evaluated the accuracy and characteristics of the CT and MR perfusion analysis software. All commercial programs had delay-induced errors and/or insufficient correlations with true values, while academic programs for MR showed good correlations with true values. © RSNA, 2012 Supplemental material: http://radiology.rsna.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1148/radiol.12112618/-/DC1 PMID:23220899

Cavitation occurrence around ultrasonic dental scalers.

PubMed

Felver, Bernhard; King, David C; Lea, Simon C; Price, Gareth J; Damien Walmsley, A

2009-06-01

Ultrasonic scalers are used in dentistry to remove calculus and other contaminants from teeth. One mechanism which may assist in the cleaning is cavitation generated in cooling water around the scaler. The vibratory motion of three designs of scaler tip in a water bath has been characterised by laser vibrometry, and compared with the spatial distribution of cavitation around the scaler tips observed using sonochemiluminescence from a luminol solution. The type of cavitation was confirmed by acoustic emission analysed by a 'Cavimeter' supplied by NPL. A node/antinode vibration pattern was observed, with the maximum displacement of each type of tip occurring at the free end. High levels of cavitation activity occurred in areas surrounding the vibration antinodes, although minimal levels were observed at the free end of the tip. There was also good correlation between vibration amplitude and sonochemiluminescence at other points along the scaler tip. 'Cavimeter' analysis correlated well with luminol observations, suggesting the presence of primarily transient cavitation.

Dynamical Correlation In Some Liquid Alkaline Earth Metals Near Melting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thakore, B. Y.; Suthar, P. H.; Khambholja, S. G.; Gajjar, P. N.; Jani, A. R.

2010-12-01

The study of dynamical variables: velocity autocorrelation function (VACF) and power spectrum of liquid alkaline earth metals (Ca, Sr, and Ba) have been presented based on the static harmonic well approximation. The effective interatomic potential for liquid metals is computed using our well recognized model potential with the exchange correlation functions due to Hartree, Taylor, Ichimaru and Utsumi, Farid et al. and Sarkar et al. It is observed that the VACF computed using Sarkar et al. gives the good agreement with available molecular dynamics simulation (MD) results [Phys Rev. B 62, 14818 (2000)]. The shoulder of the power spectrum depends upon the type of local field correlation function used.

Urinalysis: The Automated Versus Manual Techniques; Is It Time To Change?.

PubMed

Ahmed, Asmaa Ismail; Baz, Heba; Lotfy, Sarah

2016-01-01

Urinalysis is the third major test in clinical laboratory. Manual technique imprecision urges the need for a rapid reliable automated test. We evaluated the H800-FUSIOO automatic urine sediment analyzer and compared it to the manual urinalysis technique to determine if it may be a competitive substitute in laboratories of central hospitals. 1000 urine samples were examined by the two methods in parallel. Agreement, precision, carryover, drift, sensitivity, specificity, and practicability criteria were tested. Agreement ranged from excellent to good for all urine semi-quantitative components (K > 0.4, p = 0.000), except for granular casts (K = 0.317, p = 0.000). Specific gravity results correlated well between the two methods (r = 0.884, p = 0.000). RBCS and WBCs showed moderate correlation (r = 0.42, p = 0.000) and (r = 0.44, p = 0.000), respectively. The auto-analyzer's within-run precision was > 75% for all semi-quantitative components except for proteins (50% precision). This finding in addition to the granular casts poor agreement indicate the necessity of operator interference at the critical cutoff values. As regards quantitative contents, RBCs showed a mean of 69.8 +/- 3.95, C.V. = 5.7, WBCs showed a mean of 38.9 +/- 1.9, C.V. = 4.9). Specific gravity, pH, microalbumin, and creatinine also showed good precision results with C.Vs of 0.000, 2.6, 9.1, and 0.00 respectively. In the between run precision, positive control showed good precision (C.V. = 2.9), while negative control's C.V. was strikingly high (C.V. = 127). Carryover and drift studies were satisfactory. Manual examination of inter-observer results showed major discrepancies (< 60% similar readings), while intra-observer's results correlated well with each other (r = 0.99, p = 0.000). Automation of urinalysis decreases observer-associated variation and offers prompt competitive results when standardized for screening away from the borderline cutoffs.

Double-labelling immunohistochemistry for MGMT and a “cocktail” of non-tumourous elements is a reliable, quick and easy technique for inferring methylation status in glioblastomas and other primary brain tumours

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Our aim was to develop a new protocol for MGMT immunohistochemistry with good agreement between observers and good correlation with molecular genetic tests of tumour methylation. We examined 40 primary brain tumours (30 glioblastomas and 10 oligodendroglial tumours) with our new technique, namely double-labelling immunohistochemistry for MGMT and a "cocktail" of non-tumour antigens (CD34, CD45 and CD68). We compared the results with single-labelling immunohistochemistry for MGMT and methylation-specific multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MS-MLPA, a recognised molecular genetic technique which we applied as the gold-standard for the methylation status). Results Double-labelling immunohistochemistry for MGMT produced a visual separation of tumourous and non-tumourous elements on the same histological slide, making it quick and easy to determine whether tumour cell nuclei were MGMT-positive or MGMT-negative (and thereby infer the methylation status of the tumour). We found good agreement between observers (kappa 0.76) and within observer (kappa 0.84). Furthermore, double-labelling showed good specificity (80%), sensitivity (73.33%), positive predictive value (PPV, 83.33%) and negative predictive value (NPV, 68.75%) compared to MS-MLPA. Double-labelling was quicker and easier to assess than single-labelling and it outperformed quantitative computerised image analysis of MGMT single-labelling in terms of sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV. Conclusions Double-labelling immunohistochemistry for MGMT and a cocktail of non-tumourous elements provides a "one look" method for determining whether tumour cell nuclei are MGMT-positive or MGMT-negative. This can be used to infer the methylation status of the tumour. There is good observer agreement and good specificity, sensitivity, PPV and NPV compared to a molecular gold-standard. PMID:24252243

Double-labelling immunohistochemistry for MGMT and a "cocktail" of non-tumourous elements is a reliable, quick and easy technique for inferring methylation status in glioblastomas and other primary brain tumours.

PubMed

Burke, Elinor; Grobler, Mariana; Elderfield, Kay; Bond, Frances; Crocker, Matthew; Taylor, Rohan; Bridges, Leslie R

2013-06-10

Our aim was to develop a new protocol for MGMT immunohistochemistry with good agreement between observers and good correlation with molecular genetic tests of tumour methylation. We examined 40 primary brain tumours (30 glioblastomas and 10 oligodendroglial tumours) with our new technique, namely double-labelling immunohistochemistry for MGMT and a "cocktail" of non-tumour antigens (CD34, CD45 and CD68). We compared the results with single-labelling immunohistochemistry for MGMT and methylation-specific multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MS-MLPA, a recognised molecular genetic technique which we applied as the gold-standard for the methylation status). Double-labelling immunohistochemistry for MGMT produced a visual separation of tumourous and non-tumourous elements on the same histological slide, making it quick and easy to determine whether tumour cell nuclei were MGMT-positive or MGMT-negative (and thereby infer the methylation status of the tumour). We found good agreement between observers (kappa 0.76) and within observer (kappa 0.84). Furthermore, double-labelling showed good specificity (80%), sensitivity (73.33%), positive predictive value (PPV, 83.33%) and negative predictive value (NPV, 68.75%) compared to MS-MLPA. Double-labelling was quicker and easier to assess than single-labelling and it outperformed quantitative computerised image analysis of MGMT single-labelling in terms of sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV. Double-labelling immunohistochemistry for MGMT and a cocktail of non-tumourous elements provides a "one look" method for determining whether tumour cell nuclei are MGMT-positive or MGMT-negative. This can be used to infer the methylation status of the tumour. There is good observer agreement and good specificity, sensitivity, PPV and NPV compared to a molecular gold-standard.

Droplets on liquid surfaces: Dual equilibrium states and their energy barrier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shabani, Roxana; Kumar, Ranganathan; Cho, Hyoung J.

2013-05-01

Floating aqueous droplets were formed at oil-air interface, and two stable configurations of (i) non-coalescent droplet and (ii) cap/bead droplet were observed. General solutions for energy and force analysis were obtained for both configurations and were shown to be in good agreement with the experimental observations. The energy barrier obtained for transition from configuration (i) to configuration (ii) was correlated to the droplet release height and the probability of non-coalescent droplet formation.

Validity and Reliability of the Upper Extremity Work Demands Scale.

PubMed

Jacobs, Nora W; Berduszek, Redmar J; Dijkstra, Pieter U; van der Sluis, Corry K

2017-12-01

Purpose To evaluate validity and reliability of the upper extremity work demands (UEWD) scale. Methods Participants from different levels of physical work demands, based on the Dictionary of Occupational Titles categories, were included. A historical database of 74 workers was added for factor analysis. Criterion validity was evaluated by comparing observed and self-reported UEWD scores. To assess structural validity, a factor analysis was executed. For reliability, the difference between two self-reported UEWD scores, the smallest detectable change (SDC), test-retest reliability and internal consistency were determined. Results Fifty-four participants were observed at work and 51 of them filled in the UEWD twice with a mean interval of 16.6 days (SD 3.3, range = 10-25 days). Criterion validity of the UEWD scale was moderate (r = .44, p = .001). Factor analysis revealed that 'force and posture' and 'repetition' subscales could be distinguished with Cronbach's alpha of .79 and .84, respectively. Reliability was good; there was no significant difference between repeated measurements. An SDC of 5.0 was found. Test-retest reliability was good (intraclass correlation coefficient for agreement = .84) and all item-total correlations were >.30. There were two pairs of highly related items. Conclusion Reliability of the UEWD scale was good, but criterion validity was moderate. Based on current results, a modified UEWD scale (2 items removed, 1 item reworded, divided into 2 subscales) was proposed. Since observation appeared to be an inappropriate gold standard, we advise to investigate other types of validity, such as construct validity, in further research.

Global correlation of topographic heights and gravity anomalies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roufosse, M. C.

1977-01-01

The short wavelength features were obtained by subtracting a calculated 24th-degree-and-order field from observed data written in 1 deg x 1 deg squares. The correlation between the two residual fields was examined by a program of linear regression. When run on a worldwide scale over oceans and continents separately, the program did not exhibit any correlation; this can be explained by the fact that the worldwide autocorrelation function for residual gravity anomalies falls off much faster as a function of distance than does that for residual topographic heights. The situation was different when the program was used in restricted areas, of the order of 5 deg x 5 deg square. For 30% of the world,fair-to-good correlations were observed, mostly over continents. The slopes of the regression lines are proportional to apparent densities, which offer a large spectrum of values that are being interpreted in terms of features in the upper mantle consistent with available heat-flow, gravity, and seismic data.

Observation of correlated excitations in bimolecular collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Zhi; Karman, Tijs; Vogels, Sjoerd N.; Besemer, Matthieu; van der Avoird, Ad; Groenenboom, Gerrit C.; van de Meerakker, Sebastiaan Y. T.

2018-02-01

Although collisions between atoms and molecules are largely understood, collisions between two molecules have proven much harder to study. In both experiment and theory, our ability to determine quantum-state-resolved bimolecular cross-sections lags behind their atom-molecule counterparts by decades. For many bimolecular systems, even rules of thumb—much less intuitive understanding—of scattering cross sections are lacking. Here, we report the measurement of state-to-state differential cross sections on the collision of state-selected and velocity-controlled nitric oxide (NO) radicals and oxygen (O2) molecules. Using velocity map imaging of the scattered NO radicals, the full product-pair correlations of rotational excitation that occurs in both collision partners from individual encounters are revealed. The correlated cross sections show surprisingly good agreement with quantum scattering calculations using ab initio NO-O2 potential energy surfaces. The observations show that the well-known energy-gap law that governs atom-molecule collisions does not generally apply to bimolecular excitation processes, and reveal a propensity rule for the vector correlation of product angular momenta.

Validity, reliability and responsiveness of a short version of the Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale in patients receiving rehabilitation.

PubMed

Chen, Hui-fang; Wu, Ching-yi; Lin, Keh-chung; Li, Ming-wei; Yu, Hung-wen

2012-07-01

To examine the measurement properties of a short version of the Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale (SS-QoL-12). Self-report survey of patients with mild to moderate upper extremity dysfunction. A total of 126 patients provided 252 observations before and after treatment. The construct validity and reliability was examined using the Rasch model; the concurrent and predictive validity was estimated using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients. Paired t-test and the standardized response mean (SRM) were performed to estimate the responsiveness of the SS-QoL-12. The 2-factor model (psychosocial and physical domains) fit the data better with smaller deviances. All but 1 item showed acceptable fit, and no item biases were detected. The reliability of the subscales and the whole scale ranged from 0.67 to 0.99. The total score showed fair correlations with the criterion measures at pretreatment (ρ = 0.28-0.40) and fair to good correlations at post-treatment (ρ = 0.39-0.54). The subscales had low to fair correlations at pretreatment (ρ = 0.19-0.49) and fair to good correlations at post-treatment (ρ = 0.31-0.56). The total and the subscales had low to good predictions at baseline (ρ = 0.22-0.52). The whole scale and the psychosocial subscale were mildly responsive to change (SRM = 0.22), but the physical subscale was not responsive to change (SRM = 0.08). The SS-QoL-12 has acceptable to good measurement properties, with an advantage of requiring less time to administer than other scales. The use of the subscale and total scores depends on the purpose of research. Future studies should recruit stroke patients with a broad range of dysfunction and use a large sample size to validate the findings.

Concurrent validity of Physiological Cost Index in walking over ground and during robotic training in subacute stroke patients.

PubMed

Delussu, Anna Sofia; Morone, Giovanni; Iosa, Marco; Bragoni, Maura; Paolucci, Stefano; Traballesi, Marco

2014-01-01

Physiological Cost Index (PCI) has been proposed to assess gait demand. The purpose of the study was to establish whether PCI is a valid indicator in subacute stroke patients of energy cost of walking in different walking conditions, that is, over ground and on the Gait Trainer (GT) with body weight support (BWS). The study tested if correlations exist between PCI and ECW, indicating validity of the measure and, by implication, validity of PCI. Six patients (patient group (PG)) with subacute stroke and 6 healthy age- and size-matched subjects as control group (CG) performed, in a random sequence in different days, walking tests overground and on the GT with 0, 30, and 50% BWS. There was a good to excellent correlation between PCI and ECW in the observed walking conditions: in PG Pearson correlation was 0.919 (p < 0.001); in CG Pearson correlation was 0.852 (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the high significant correlations between PCI and ECW, in all the observed walking conditions, suggest that PCI is a valid outcome measure in subacute stroke patients.

Geophysical and solar activity indices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bossy, L.; Lemaire, J.

1984-04-01

A large number of geophysicists try to correlate their observations with one or even a series of different geophysical or solar activity indices. Yet the right choice of the most appropriate index with which to correlate depends mainly on our understanding of the physical cause-effect relationship between the new set of observations and the index chosen. This best choice will therefore depend on our good understanding of the methods of measurement and derivation of the adopted index in such correlative studies. It relies also on our awareness of the range of applicability of the indices presently available as well as on our understanding of their limitations. It was to achieve these goals that a series of general lectures on geophysical and solar activity indices was organized by L. Bossy and J. Lemaire (Institut d'Aeronomie Spatiale de Belgique (IASB), Brussels), March 26-29, 1984 at Han-sur-Lesse, Belgium.

Measurements of spin correlation in top-antitop quark events from proton-proton collisions at s = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector

DOE PAGES

Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; Abdallah, J.; ...

2014-12-24

We present measurements of spin correlation in top quark pair production using data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC with proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb ₋1. Events are selected in final states with two charged leptons and at least two jets and in final states with one charged lepton and at least four jets. Four different observables sensitive to different properties of the top quark pair production mechanism are used to extract the correlation between the top and antitop quark spins. Some of these observables aremore » measured for the first time. The measurements are in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction at next-to-leading-order accuracy.« less

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

Song, Young-Ho; Lazauskas, Rimantas; Park, Tae-Sun

M1 properties, comprising magnetic moments and radiative capture of thermal neutron observables, are studied in two- and three-nucleon systems. We use meson exchange current derived up to N{sup 3}LO using heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory a la Weinberg. Calculations have been performed for several qualitatively different realistic nuclear Hamiltonians, which permits us to analyze model dependence of our results. Our results are found to be strongly correlated with the effective range parameters such as binding energies and the scattering lengths. Taking into account such correlations, the results are in good agreement with the experimental data with small model dependence.

Translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Bulgarian version of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory.

PubMed

Georgieva-Zhostova, Spaska; Kolev, Ognyan I; Stambolieva, Katerina

2014-09-01

The aim of the present study was the translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory in Bulgarian language (DHI-BG). Ninety-seven vestibular patients (19 men and 78 women, mean age 45.08 ± 13.85 years) took part in the investigation. All participants were asked to fill in the DHI-BG. Internal consistency was estimated using Cronbach's alpha and item-total correlation, reproducibility by calculating Bland-Altman's limits of agreement and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Associations were estimated by Spearman's correlation coefficients. The Cronbach's alpha for the total score, functional, physical and emotional subscales of DHI-BG were 0.88, 0.75, 0.72 and 0.81. The floor and ceiling effects of the DHI-BG total scale were evaluated with respect to the limits of agreement which were ±9.4-14.53 points. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for all scale and subscales were higher than the recommended value of 0.75 and determined good test-retest reliability. The range of items correlation for DHI-BG was from 0.27 (item 12) to 0.72 (item 3). No significant differences were observed in the Cronbach's alpha coefficients between the DHI-BG and the original version, the German and Italian versions of the questionnaire. The most significant difference was observed in comparison with the German version of DHI. Construct validity presented a moderate correlation between Romberg coefficients and DHI-BG scores and strong correlation between all scores of DHI and the self-perceived disability. The results suggest that DHI-BG scores show a good discriminative validity between groups with different levels of self-assessed disability. The Bulgarian version of the DHI is a reliable and valid tool in assessing the impact of dizziness on the quality of life in Bulgarian vestibular patients.

Aortic propagation velocity does not correlate with classical aortic stiffness parameters in healthy individuals.

PubMed

Arı, Hatem; Kahraman, Fatih; Türker, Yasin; Güler, Serdar; Baş, Hasan Aydın; Erdoğan, Doğan

2017-10-30

Aortic stiffness is an important cardiovascular risk marker, which can be determined using different noninvasive techniques. Aortic propagation velocity (APV) has recently been established as a novel echocardiographic parameter of aortic stiffness. This study aimed to investigate the association between APV and the classical echocardiography-derived aortic stiffness parameters, aortic distensibility (AD) and aortic strain (AS), in a group of otherwise healthy individuals. In total, 97 consecutive healthy subjects were recruited in this observational study. APV was measured using color M-mode echocardiography from the suprasternal window in the descending aorta. AS and AD were calculated using clinical blood pressure and the M-mode echocardiography-derived aortic diameters. Correlation analyses were performed between cardiovascular risk factors related to increased aortic stiffness (age, obesity, and blood pressure) and measured stiffness parameters (APV, AS, and AD). Correlation analyses were also performed among the measured stiffness parameters. Good correlation of age, blood pressure, and BMI with AS and AD was observed. One-on-one correlation of age, blood pressure, and BMI with APV was not observed. No correlation was observed between APV and AS (r=-0.05, p=0.6) or between APV and AD (r=-0.17, p=0.8). Although APV has been proposed as a novel and practical echocardiographic parameter of aortic stiffness, especially in patients with coronary artery disease, correlations between classical stiffness parameters (AS and AD) and APV were absent in healthy individuals at low-intermediate risk. The clinical and research applicability of APV should be further evaluated.

Statistical hypothesis tests of some micrometeorological observations

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

SethuRaman, S.; Tichler, J.

Chi-square goodness-of-fit is used to test the hypothesis that the medium scale of turbulence in the atmospheric surface layer is normally distributed. Coefficients of skewness and excess are computed from the data. If the data are not normal, these coefficients are used in Edgeworth's asymptotic expansion of Gram-Charlier series to determine an altrnate probability density function. The observed data are then compared with the modified probability densities and the new chi-square values computed.Seventy percent of the data analyzed was either normal or approximatley normal. The coefficient of skewness g/sub 1/ has a good correlation with the chi-square values. Events withmore » vertical-barg/sub 1/vertical-bar<0.21 were normal to begin with and those with 0.21« less

Intra- and inter-observer agreement on diagnosis of Dupuytren disease, measurements of severity of contracture, and disease extent.

PubMed

Broekstra, Dieuwke C; Lanting, Rosanne; Werker, Paul M N; van den Heuvel, Edwin R

2015-08-01

Dupuytren disease (DD) is a fibrosing disease affecting the palmar aponeurosis, and is mostly treated by surgery based on measurement of severity of flexion contracture of the fingers. Literature concerning the measurement reliability is scarce. This study aimed to determine the intra- and inter-observer agreement of four variables for diagnosing DD, determining severity of contracture, and disease extent. One of them is a new measurement on the area of nodules and cords for measuring the disease extent in early disease stages. An agreement study (n = 54) was performed by two trained investigators. Agreement was calculated per finger, based on an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) using a latent variable model on subjects for diagnosis and Tubiana stage. For total passive extension deficit (TPED) and the area of nodules and cords, agreement was calculated with an ICC using a one-way random effects model with subject as random effect. Inter-observer agreement was very good for diagnosing DD (ICC: 95.5%-99.9%) and good to very good for classifying Tubiana stage (ICC: 73.5%-94.9%). Agreements for area and TPED were moderate (middle finger) to very good (ICC: 48.4%-98.6% and 45.0%-99.5%, respectively). Intra-observer agreement was slightly higher on average than inter-observer agreement. Overall, the intra- and inter-observer agreement in diagnosing DD, and determining the severity of flexion contracture is high. Also, the newly introduced variable area of nodules and cords has high intra- and inter-observer agreement, indicating that it is suitable to measure disease extent. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Detection of serum antibodies against Ehrlichia risticii in Potomac horse fever by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

PubMed

Dutta, S K; Rice, R M; Hughes, T D; Savage, P K; Myrup, A C

1987-01-01

An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed which was specific and sensitive in detecting antibodies to Ehrlichia risticii in Potomac horse fever (PHF). The ELISA antibody titers were correlated with the indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) titers. E. risticii propagated in human histiocyte culture was purified on renografin gradient and the band of the organisms at a density of 1.182 g/ml was used as antigen. ELISA antibody titers were determined through computer assisted analysis, the observed antibody titers were derived by serial serum dilutions and using a resultant standard curve the predicted antibody titers were obtained from a single serum dilution. The standard curve had a correlation coefficient of 0.8975. The observed and predicted antibody titers were in good agreement, as the respective titers fell within a two-fold range. There was a good correlation between ELISA and IFA test results, but the ELISA titers were several times higher. In experimental infections of horses produced with the infected equine whole blood and the Ehrlichia infected macrophage culture, the antibodies were first detected in two weeks and one week postinoculation (PI), respectively. In both cases the titers reached a peak in about 4 weeks PI with a mean titer of 1:16558 and 1:4030, respectively. The antibody titers of the convalescent sera of field cases of PHF were comparatively lower than the experimentally infected horses.

Validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the FIM + FAM in patients with cerebrovascular accident.

PubMed

Miki, Emi; Yamane, Shingo; Yamaoka, Mai; Fujii, Hiroe; Ueno, Hiroka; Kawahara, Toshie; Tanaka, Keiko; Tamashiro, Hiroaki; Inoue, Eiji; Okamoto, Takatsugu; Kuriyama, Masaru

2016-09-01

The study aim was to investigate the validity and reliability of the Functional Independence Measure and Functional Assessment Measure (FIM + FAM), which is unfamiliar in Japan, by using its Japanese version (FIM + FAM-j) in patients with cerebrovascular accident (CVA). Forty-two CVA patients participated. Criterion validity was examined by correlating the full scale and subscales of FIM + FAM-j with several well-established measurements using Spearman's correlation coefficient. Reliability was evaluated by internal consistency (tested by Cronbach's alpha coefficient) and intra-rater reliability (tested by Kendall's tau correlation coefficient). Good-to-excellent criterion validity was found between the full scale and motor subscales of the FIM + FAM-j and the Barthel Index, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, modified Rankin Scale, and lower extremity Brunnstrom Recovery Stage. High internal consistency was observed within the full-scale FIM + FAM-j and the motor and cognitive subscales (Cronbach's alphas were 0.968, 0.954, and 0.948, respectively). Additionally, good intra-rater reliability was observed within the full scale and motor subscales, and excellent reliability for the cognitive subscales (taus were 0.83, 0.80, and 0.98, respectively). This study showed that the FIM + FAM-j demonstrated acceptable levels of validity and reliability when used for CVA as a measure of disability.

Oxidation of edible animal fats. Comparison of the performance of different quantification methods and of a proposed new semi-objective colour scale-based method.

PubMed

Méndez-Cid, Francisco J; Lorenzo, José M; Martínez, Sidonia; Carballo, Javier

2017-02-15

The agreement among the results determined for the main parameters used in the evaluation of the fat auto-oxidation was investigated in animal fats (butter fat, subcutaneous pig back-fat and subcutaneous ham fat). Also, graduated colour scales representing the colour change during storage/ripening were developed for the three types of fat, and the values read in these scales were correlated with the values observed for the different parameters indicating fat oxidation. In general good correlation among the values of the different parameters was observed (e.g. TBA value correlated with the peroxide value: r=0.466 for butter and r=0.898 for back-fat). A reasonable correlation was observed between the values read in the developed colour scales and the values for the other parameters determined (e.g. values of r=0.320 and r=0.793 with peroxide value for butter and back-fat, respectively, and of r=0.767 and r=0.498 with TBA value for back-fat and ham fat, respectively). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors controlling degree of correlation between ISEE 1 and ISEE 3 interplanetary magnetic field measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crooker, N. U.; Siscoe, G. L.; Russell, C. T.; Smith, E. J.

1982-01-01

Correlation variability between ISEE 1 and 3 IMF measurements is investigated, and factors governing the variability are discussed. About 200 two-hour periods when correlation was good, and 200 when correlation was poor, are examined, and both IMF variance and spacecraft separation distance in the plane perpendicular to the earth-sun line exert substantial control. The scale size of magnetic features is larger when variance is high, and abrupt changes in the correlation coefficient from poor to good or good to poor in adjacent two-hour intervals appear to be governed by the sense of change of IMF variance and vice versa. During periods of low variance, good correlations are most likely to occur when the distance between ISEE 1 and 3 perpendicular to the IMF is less than 20 earth radii.

Comparative Analysis of Serum (Anti)oxidative Status Parameters in Healthy Persons

PubMed Central

Jansen, Eugène HJM; Ruskovska, Tatjana

2013-01-01

Five antioxidant and two oxidative stress assays were applied to serum samples of 43 healthy males. The antioxidant tests showed different inter-assay correlations. A very good correlation of 0.807 was observed between the ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) and total antioxidant status (TAS) assay and also a fair correlation of 0.501 between the biological antioxidant potential (BAP) and TAS assay. There was no statistically significant correlation between the BAP and FRAP assay. The anti-oxidant assays have a high correlation with uric acid, especially the TAS (0.922) and FRAP assay (0.869). The BAP assay has a much lower and no statistically significant correlation with uric acid (0.302), which makes BAP more suitable for the antioxidant status. The total thiol assay showed no statistically significant correlation with uric acid (0.114). The total thiol assay, which is based on a completely different principle, showed a good and statistically significant correlation with the BAP assay (0.510) and also to the TAS assay, but to a lower and not significant extent (0.279) and not with the FRAP assay (−0.008). The oxy-adsorbent test (OXY) assay has no correlation with any of the other assays tested. The oxidative stress assays, reactive oxygen metabolites (ROM) and total oxidant status (TOS), based on a different principle, do not show a statistically significant correlation with the serum samples in this study. Both assays showed a negative, but not significant, correlation with the antioxidant assays. In conclusion, the ROM, TOS, BAP and TTP assays are based on different principles and will have an additional value when a combination of these assays will be applied in large-scale population studies. PMID:23507749

The Sign Rule and Beyond: Boundary Effects, Flexibility, and Noise Correlations in Neural Population Codes

PubMed Central

Hu, Yu; Zylberberg, Joel; Shea-Brown, Eric

2014-01-01

Over repeat presentations of the same stimulus, sensory neurons show variable responses. This “noise” is typically correlated between pairs of cells, and a question with rich history in neuroscience is how these noise correlations impact the population's ability to encode the stimulus. Here, we consider a very general setting for population coding, investigating how information varies as a function of noise correlations, with all other aspects of the problem – neural tuning curves, etc. – held fixed. This work yields unifying insights into the role of noise correlations. These are summarized in the form of theorems, and illustrated with numerical examples involving neurons with diverse tuning curves. Our main contributions are as follows. (1) We generalize previous results to prove a sign rule (SR) — if noise correlations between pairs of neurons have opposite signs vs. their signal correlations, then coding performance will improve compared to the independent case. This holds for three different metrics of coding performance, and for arbitrary tuning curves and levels of heterogeneity. This generality is true for our other results as well. (2) As also pointed out in the literature, the SR does not provide a necessary condition for good coding. We show that a diverse set of correlation structures can improve coding. Many of these violate the SR, as do experimentally observed correlations. There is structure to this diversity: we prove that the optimal correlation structures must lie on boundaries of the possible set of noise correlations. (3) We provide a novel set of necessary and sufficient conditions, under which the coding performance (in the presence of noise) will be as good as it would be if there were no noise present at all. PMID:24586128

Three-dimensional ultrasonography of the breast; An adequate replacement for MRI in neoadjuvant chemotherapy tumour response evaluation? - RESPONDER trial.

PubMed

van Egdom, L S E; Lagendijk, M; Heijkoop, E H M; Koning, A H J; van Deurzen, C H M; Jager, A; van Lankeren, W; Koppert, L B

2018-07-01

Accurate measurement of tumour response during and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is important and may influence treatment decisions in invasive breast cancer patients. Breast MRI forms the gold standard but is more burdensome, time consuming and costly. In this study response measurement was done with 3-D ultrasound by Automated Breast Volume Scanner (ABVS) and compared to breast MRI. Moreover, patient satisfaction with both techniques was compared. A single-institution, prospective observational pilot study evaluating tumour response by ABVS in addition to breast MRI (standard care) was performed in 25 invasive breast cancer patients receiving NAC. Tumour response was evaluated comparing longest tumour diameters as well as tumour volumes at predefined time points using Bland-Altman analysis. Volume measurements for breast MRI were obtained using a fully immersive virtual reality system (a Barco I-Space) and V-Scope software. Same software was used to obtain ABVS volume measurements using an in-house developed desktop VR system. Inter- and intra-observer agreement was evaluated by Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Twenty-five patients were eligible for baseline measurement, 20 for a mid-NAC response evaluation, and five for a post-NAC response evaluation. MRI and ABVS showed absolute concordance in 73% of patients for the mid-NAC evaluation, with a 'good' correlation for the difference in longest diameter measurement (ICC 0.73, p < 0.01) as compared to baseline assessment. Concerning difference in volume measurement in the mid-NAC response evaluation showed a 'fair' correlation (ICC 0.52, p < 0.01) and in the post-NAC response evaluation an 'excellent' correlation (ICC 0.98, p < 0.01). 'Excellent' inter- and intra-observer agreement was found (ICC 0.88, p < 0.01) with comparable limits of agreement (LOA) for observer 1 and 2 in both diameter and volume measurement. Patient satisfaction was higher for ABVS compared to breast MRI, 93% versus 12% respectively. ABVS showed 'good' correlation with MRI tumour response evaluation in breast cancer patients during NAC with 'excellent' inter- and intra-observer agreement. ABVS has patients' preference over breast MRI and could be considered as alternative to breast MRI, in case results on an on-going prospective trial confirm these results (NTR6799). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Estimating Soil and Vegetation Parameters using Synergies between Optical and Microwave Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timmermans, J.; Gomez-Dans, J. L.; Lewis, P.; Loew, A.; Schlenz, F.; Mathieu, P. P.; Pounder, N. L.; Styles, J.

2017-12-01

The large amount of remote sensing data available provides a huge potential for various applications, such as crop monitoring. This potential has not been realized yet because inversion-algorithms mostly use a single sensor approach. Consequently, products that combine different low-level observations from different sensors are hard to find. The difficulty in a multi-sensor approach is that 1) different sensor types (microwave/ optical) require different radiative transfer (RT) models and 2) it require consistency between the models. The goal of this research was to investigate the synergistic potential of integrating optical (Opt) and passive microwave (PM) RT models within the Earth Observation Land Data Assimilation System (EOLDAS). EOLDAS uses a Bayesian data assimilation approach together with observation operators such as PROSAIL to estimate state variables. In order to use PM observations, the Community Microwave Emission Model was integrated into the system. Results show a high potential when both Opt and PM observations are used independently. Using only RapidEye only with SAIL RT model, LAI was estimated with R=0.68, with leaf water content and dry matter having lower correlations |R|<0.4. Results for retrieving soil temperature and leaf area index retrievals using only Elbarra observations were good with respectively R=[0.85, 0.79], and for soil moisture also very good with R=0.73 (focusing on dry-spells of at least 9 days only), and with R=0.89 and R=0.77 for respectively the trend and anomalies. Synergistically using Opt and MW observations also shows good potential. Results show that absolute errors decreased (with RMSE=1.22 and S=0.89), but with lower R=0.59; sparse optical observations only improved part of the temporal domain. This shows that PM observations provide good information for the overall trend of the retrieved LAI due to the regular acquisitions, while Opt observations provides better information of the absolute values of the LAI.

Indirect measurement of three-photon correlation in nonclassical light sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ann, Byoung-moo; Song, Younghoon; Kim, Junki; Yang, Daeho; An, Kyungwon

2016-06-01

We observe the three-photon correlation in nonclassical light sources by using an indirect measurement scheme based on the dead-time effect of photon-counting detectors. We first develop a general theory which enables us to extract the three-photon correlation from the two-photon correlation of an arbitrary light source measured with detectors with finite dead times. We then confirm the validity of our measurement scheme in experiments done with a cavity-QED microlaser operating with a large intracavity mean photon number exhibiting both sub- and super-Poissonian photon statistics. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical expectation. Our measurement scheme provides an alternative approach for N -photon correlation measurement employing (N -1 ) detectors and thus a reduced measurement time for a given signal-to-noise ratio, compared to the usual scheme requiring N detectors.

[Cardiorespiratory capacity in children living at moderate altitude].

PubMed

Gómez-Campos, Rossana; Arruda, Miguel; Almonacid-Fierro, Alejandro; Holbold, Edílson; Amaral-Camargo, Cristiane; Gamero, Diego; Cossio-Bolanos, Marco A

2014-04-01

To determine the cardiorespiratory capacity of school children living at moderate altitude. 795 children (394 children and 401 girls) were selected from urban public schools in Arequipa, Peru at moderate altitude (2,320 m). Anthropometric variables (body mass, height, body fat percentage) and cardiorespiratory capacity were assessed using the Course Navette test, considering the following categories: deficient, poor, fair, good, very good and excellent. The results showed significant differences in all categories (p<0.05). It was described that the median values of the poor and deficient categories in both gender were lower than what is considered acceptable (p<0.05). It was concluded that 19% of boys and 21% of girls showed low level of cardiorespiratory capacity and a low negative correlation with overweight (r=-0.20 to -0.22) and a moderate negative correlation with obesity (r=-0.39 to -0.42) were described for both genders. Low levels of cardiorespiratory capacity in boys and girls living at moderate altitude are observed, which is negatively correlated with excess body weight. The results suggest that 1 in 5 children are likely to suffer some type of cardiovascular event.

Peripheral DXA measurement around ankle joint to diagnose osteoporosis as assessed by central DXA measurement.

PubMed

Sung, Ki Hyuk; Choi, Young; Cho, Gyeong Hee; Chung, Chin Youb; Park, Moon Seok; Lee, Kyoung Min

2018-02-05

This study evaluated the correlation between central and peripheral bone mineral density (BMD) of the ankle joint, using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). We also investigated whether peripheral ankle BMD could be used to identify individuals who were diagnosed with osteoporosis, using central DXA. We recruited 134 volunteers aged 20-90 years who agreed to participate in this study. Central BMD of the lumbar spine and left femur, and peripheral BMD of the medial malleolus, distal tibia, lateral malleolus, and talus were measured with DXA. Among the peripheral sites of the ankle, the highest and lowest BMD were observed in the talus and lateral malleolus, respectively. All peripheral DXA measurements of the ankle joint were significantly correlated with central DXA measurements. There was a good correlation (r: 0.656-0.725) between peripheral and central BMD for the older age group (> 50 years), but fair-to-good correlation (r: 0.263-0.654) for the younger age group (< 50 years). The cut-off values for peripheral BMD of the ankle joint between osteoporosis and non-osteoporosis were 0.548 g/cm 2 (sensitivity, 89.0%; specificity, 69.0%) for the medial malleolus, 0.626 g/cm 2 (sensitivity, 83.3%; specificity, 82.8%) for the distal tibia, 0.47 g/cm 2 (sensitivity, 100.0%; specificity, 65.5%) for the lateral malleolus, and 0.973 g/cm 2 (sensitivity, 72.2%; specificity, 83.6%) for the talus (p < 0.001). This study showed good correlation between peripheral BMD around ankle joint and central BMD for older age group. Further study is required to use the ankle DXA as a valid clinical tool for the diagnosis of osteoporosis and fracture risk assessment.

Individual and Partner Correlates of Sexual Satisfaction and Relationship Happiness in Midlife Couples: Dyadic Analysis of the International Survey of Relationships.

PubMed

Fisher, William A; Donahue, Kelly L; Long, J Scott; Heiman, Julia R; Rosen, Raymond C; Sand, Michael S

2015-08-01

The current research reports a dyadic analysis of sexual satisfaction, relationship happiness, and correlates of these couple outcomes in a large multinational dataset consisting of 1,009 midlife heterosexual couples (2,018 individuals) recruited in Japan, Brazil, Germany, Spain, and the United States (Heiman et al., 2011). Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006) identified correlates of sexual satisfaction that included individuals' reports of good health; frequent kissing, cuddling, and caressing; frequent recent sexual activity; attaching importance to one's own and one's partner's orgasm; better sexual functioning; and greater relationship happiness. Even after controlling for individual-level effects, partners' reports of good health; frequent kissing, cuddling, and caressing; frequent recent sexual activity; attaching importance to one's own and one's partner's orgasm; better sexual functioning; and greater relationship happiness contributed significantly to predicting and understanding individuals' sexual satisfaction. Correlates of relationship happiness included individuals' reports of good health; frequent kissing, cuddling, and caressing; frequent recent sexual activity; attaching importance to one's own and one's partner's orgasm; better sexual functioning; and greater sexual satisfaction, and once again, even after controlling for individual-level effects, partners' reports of each of these correlates contributed significantly to predicting and understanding individuals' relationship happiness. Interactions of individual and partner effects with participant gender are also reported. Current results demonstrate empirically that the partner "matters" to an individual's sexual satisfaction and relationship happiness and indicate that a comprehensive understanding of factors contributing to these couple outcomes requires a couple-level research strategy. Partner effects, even when controlling for individual effects, were consistently observed, and explanation of sexual satisfaction and relationship happiness always depended on identifying and understanding mutual and concurrent individual and partner influences.

Dimension-six matrix elements for meson mixing and lifetimes from sum rules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirk, M.; Lenz, A.; Rauh, T.

2017-12-01

The hadronic matrix elements of dimension-six Δ F = 0, 2 operators are crucial inputs for the theory predictions of mixing observables and lifetime ratios in the B and D system. We determine them using HQET sum rules for three-point correlators. The results of the required three-loop computation of the correlators and the one-loop computation of the QCD-HQET matching are given in analytic form. For mixing matrix elements we find very good agreement with recent lattice results and comparable theoretical uncertainties. For lifetime matrix elements we present the first ever determination in the D meson sector and the first determination of Δ B = 0 matrix elements with uncertainties under control — superseeding preliminary lattice studies stemming from 2001 and earlier. With our state-of-the-art determination of the bag parameters we predict: τ( B +)/ τ( B d 0 ) = 1.082 - 0.026 + 0.022 , τ( B s 0 )/ τ( B d 0 ) = 0.9994 ± 0.0025, τ( D +)/ τ( D 0) = 2. 7 - 0.8 + 0.7 and the mixing-observables in the B s and B d system, in good agreement with the most recent experimental averages.

Atmospheric Effects of Biomass Burning in Madagascar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aikin, Arthur C.; Hoegy, Walter R.; Ziemke, Jerry R.; Thorpe, Arthur; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Simultaneous tropospheric ozone and aerosols observed using the TOMS satellite instrument are reported for Madagascar during the 1979 through 1999 time period Ozone observations made using the TOMS tropospheric ozone convective-cloud differential method show that the tropospheric ozone amount associated with Madagascar has an average monthly value of 30 DU (Dobson units). The average value is enhanced by 10 to 15 DU in October This maximum coincides with the time of maximum biomass area burning in Madagascar and parts of southern Africa. The aerosol index derived from TOMS is examined for correlation with biomass burning in Madagascar and southern Africa. There is good correlation between a satellite observation derived fire index for different parts of Madagascar, tropospheric ozone and the TOMS aerosol index in the same geographical area. Aerosols from fires were found to reach their peak in November and to persist over Madagascar until sometime in December.

Inter-Observer, Intra-Observer and Intra-Individual Reliability of Uroflowmetry Tests in Aged Men: A Generalizability Theory Approach.

PubMed

Liu, Ying-Buh; Yang, Stephen S; Hsieh, Cheng-Hsing; Lin, Chia-Da; Chang, Shang-Jen

2014-05-01

To evaluate the inter-observer, intra-observer and intra-individual reliability of uroflowmetry and post-void residual urine (PVR) tests in adult men. Healthy volunteers aged over 40 years were enrolled. Every participant underwent two sets of uroflowmetry and PVR tests with a 2-week interval between the tests. The uroflowmetry tests were interpreted by four urologists independently. Uroflowmetry curves were classified as bell-shaped, bell-shaped with tail, obstructive, restrictive, staccato, interrupted and tower-shaped and scored from 1 (highly abnormal) to 5 (absolutely normal). The agreements between the observers, interpretations and tests within individuals were analyzed using kappa statistics and intraclass correlation coefficients. Generalizability theory with decision analysis was used to determine how many observers, tests, and interpretations were needed to obtain an acceptable reliability (> 0.80). Of 108 volunteers, we randomly selected the uroflowmetry results from 25 participants for the evaluation of reliability. The mean age of the studied adults was 55.3 years. The intra-individual and intra-observer reliability on uroflowmetry tests ranged from good to very good. However, the inter-observer reliability on normalcy and specific type of flow pattern were relatively lower. In generalizability theory, three observers were needed to obtain an acceptable reliability on normalcy of uroflow pattern if the patient underwent uroflowmetry tests twice with one observation. The intra-individual and intra-observer reliability on uroflowmetry tests were good while the inter-observer reliability was relatively lower. To improve inter-observer reliability, the definition of uroflowmetry should be clarified by the International Continence Society. © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Subthalamic Nucleus Visualization on Routine Clinical Preoperative MRI Scans: A Retrospective Study of Clinical and Image Characteristics Predicting Its Visualization.

PubMed

Ranjan, Manish; Boutet, Alexandre; Xu, David S; Lozano, Christopher S; Kumar, Rajeev; Fasano, Alfonso; Kucharczyk, Walter; Lozano, Andres M

2018-05-30

The visualization of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is variable. Studies of the contribution of patient-related factors and intrinsic brain volumetrics to STN visualization have not been reported previously. To assess the visualization of the STN during deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery in a clinical setting. Eighty-two patients undergoing pre-operative MRI to plan for STN DBS for Parkinson disease were retrospectively studied. The visualization of the STN and its borders was assessed and scored by 3 independent observers using a 4-point ordinal scale (from 0 = not seen to 3 = excellent visualization). This measure was then correlated with the patients' clinical information and brain volumes. The mean STN visualization scores were 1.68 and 1.63 for the right and left STN, respectively, with a good interobserver reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.744). Older age and decreased white matter volume were negatively correlated with STN visualization (p < 0.05). STN visualization is only fair to good on routine MRI with good concordance of interindividual rating. Advancing age and decreased white matter are associated with poor visualization of the STN. Knowledge about factors contributing to poor visualization of the STN could alert a surgeon to modify the imaging strategy to optimize surgical targeting. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

First quality score for referral letters in gastroenterology—a validation study

PubMed Central

Eskeland, Sigrun Losada; Brunborg, Cathrine; Seip, Birgitte; Wiencke, Kristine; Hovde, Øistein; Owen, Tanja; Skogestad, Erik; Huppertz-Hauss, Gert; Halvorsen, Fred-Arne; Garborg, Kjetil; Aabakken, Lars; de Lange, Thomas

2016-01-01

Objective To create and validate an objective and reliable score to assess referral quality in gastroenterology. Design An observational multicentre study. Setting and participants 25 gastroenterologists participated in selecting variables for a Thirty Point Score (TPS) for quality assessment of referrals to gastroenterology specialist healthcare for 9 common indications. From May to September 2014, 7 hospitals from the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority participated in collecting and scoring 327 referrals to a gastroenterologist. Main outcome measure Correlation between the TPS and a visual analogue scale (VAS) for referral quality. Results The 327 referrals had an average TPS of 13.2 (range 1–25) and an average VAS of 4.7 (range 0.2–9.5). The reliability of the score was excellent, with an intra-rater intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.87 and inter-rater ICC of 0.91. The overall correlation between the TPS and the VAS was moderate (r=0.42), and ranged from fair to substantial for the various indications. Mean agreement was good (ICC=0.47, 95% CI (0.34 to 0.57)), ranging from poor to good. Conclusions The TPS is reliable, objective and shows good agreement with the subjective VAS. The score may be a useful tool for assessing referral quality in gastroenterology, particularly important when evaluating the effect of interventions to improve referral quality. PMID:27855107

Relationships for electron-vibrational coupling in conjugated π organic systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Neill, L.; Lynch, P.; McNamara, M.; Byrne, H. J.

2005-06-01

A series of π conjugated systems were studied by absorption, photoluminescence and vibrational spectroscopy. As is common for these systems, a linear relationship between the positioning of the absorption and photoluminescence maxima plotted against inverse conjugation length is observed. The relationships are in good agreement with the simple particle in a box method, one of the earliest descriptions of the properties of one-dimensional organic molecules. In addition to the electronic transition energies, it was observed that the Stokes shift also exhibited a well-defined relationship with increasing conjugation length, implying a correlation between the electron-vibrational coupling and chain length. This correlation is further examined using Raman spectroscopy, whereby the integrated Raman scattering is seen to behave superlinearly with chain length. There is a clear indication that the vibrational activity and thus nonradiative decay processes are controllable through molecular structure. The correlations between the Stokes energies and the vibrational structure are also observed in a selection of PPV based polymers and a clear trend of increasing luminescence efficiency with decreasing vibrational activity and Stokes shift is observable. The implications of such structure property relationships in terms of materials design are discussed.

Quality of leadership in multidisciplinary cancer tumor boards: development and evaluation of a leadership assessment instrument (ATLAS).

PubMed

Jalil, Rozh; Soukup, Tayana; Akhter, Waseem; Sevdalis, Nick; Green, James S A

2018-03-03

High-quality leadership and chairing skills are vital for good performance in multidisciplinary tumor boards (MTBs), but no instruments currently exist for assessing and improving these skills. To construct and validate a robust instrument for assessment of MTB leading and chairing skills. We developed an observational MTB leadership assessment instrument (ATLAS). ATLAS includes 12 domains that assess the leadership and chairing skills of the MTB chairperson. ATLAS has gone through a rigorous process of refinement and content validation prior to use to assess the MTB lead by two urological surgeons (blinded to each other) in 7 real-live (n = 286 cases) and 10 video-recorded (n = 131 cases) MTBs. ATLAS domains were analyzed via descriptive statistics. Instrument content was evaluated for validity using the content validation index (CVI). Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to assess inter-observer reliability. Instrument refining resulted in ATLAS including the following 12 domains: time management, communication, encouraging contribution, ability to summarize, ensuring all patients have treatment plan, case prioritization, keeping meeting focused, facilitate discussion, conflict management, leadership, creating good working atmosphere, and recruitment for clinical trials. CVI was acceptable and inter-rater agreement adequate to high for all domains. Agreement was somewhat higher in real-time MTBs compared to video ratings. Concurrent validation evidence was derived via positive and significant correlations between ATLAS and an established validated brief MTB leadership assessment scale. ATLAS is an observational assessment instrument that can be reliably used for assessing leadership and chairing skills in cancer MTBs (both live and video-recorded). The ability to assess and feedback on team leader performance provides the ground for promotion of good practice and continuing professional development of tumor board leaders.

Linear and Poisson models for genetic evaluation of tick resistance in cross-bred Hereford x Nellore cattle.

PubMed

Ayres, D R; Pereira, R J; Boligon, A A; Silva, F F; Schenkel, F S; Roso, V M; Albuquerque, L G

2013-12-01

Cattle resistance to ticks is measured by the number of ticks infesting the animal. The model used for the genetic analysis of cattle resistance to ticks frequently requires logarithmic transformation of the observations. The objective of this study was to evaluate the predictive ability and goodness of fit of different models for the analysis of this trait in cross-bred Hereford x Nellore cattle. Three models were tested: a linear model using logarithmic transformation of the observations (MLOG); a linear model without transformation of the observations (MLIN); and a generalized linear Poisson model with residual term (MPOI). All models included the classificatory effects of contemporary group and genetic group and the covariates age of animal at the time of recording and individual heterozygosis, as well as additive genetic effects as random effects. Heritability estimates were 0.08 ± 0.02, 0.10 ± 0.02 and 0.14 ± 0.04 for MLIN, MLOG and MPOI models, respectively. The model fit quality, verified by deviance information criterion (DIC) and residual mean square, indicated fit superiority of MPOI model. The predictive ability of the models was compared by validation test in independent sample. The MPOI model was slightly superior in terms of goodness of fit and predictive ability, whereas the correlations between observed and predicted tick counts were practically the same for all models. A higher rank correlation between breeding values was observed between models MLOG and MPOI. Poisson model can be used for the selection of tick-resistant animals. © 2013 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Detecting post-fire burn severity and vegetation recovery using multitemporal remote sensing spectral indices and field-collected composite burn index data in a ponderosa pine forest

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chen, Xuexia; Vogelmann, James E.; Rollins, Matt; Ohlen, Donald; Key, Carl H.; Yang, Limin; Huang, Chengquan; Shi, Hua

2011-01-01

It is challenging to detect burn severity and vegetation recovery because of the relatively long time period required to capture the ecosystem characteristics. Multitemporal remote sensing data can providemultitemporal observations before, during and after a wildfire, and can improve the change detection accuracy. The goal of this study is to examine the correlations between multitemporal spectral indices and field-observed burn severity, and to provide a practical method to estimate burn severity and vegetation recovery. The study site is the Jasper Fire area in the Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota, that burned during August and September 2000. Six multitemporal Landsat images acquired from 2000 (pre-fire), 2001 (post-fire), 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007 were used to assess burn severity. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), normalized burn ratio (NBR), integrated forest index (IFI) and the differences of these indices between the pre-fire and post-fire years were computed and analysed with 66 field-based composite burn index (CBI) plots collected in 2002. Results showed that differences of NDVI and differences of EVI between the pre-fire year and the first two years post-fire were highly correlated with the CBI scores. The correlations were low beyond the second year post-fire. Differences of NBR had good correlation with CBI scores in all study years. Differences of IFI had low correlation with CBI in the first year post-fire and had good correlation in later years. A CBI map of the burnt area was produced using regression tree models and the multitemporal images. The dynamics of four spectral indices from 2000 to 2007 indicated that both NBR and IFI are valuable for monitoring long-term vegetation recovery. The high burn severity areas had a much slower recovery than the moderate and low burn areas.

ROI Analysis of the System Architecture Virtual Integration Initiative

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-04-01

The ROI anal- ysis uses conservative estimates of costs and benefits, especially for those parameters that have a proven, strong correlation to overall...formula: • In Section 3, we discuss the exponential growth of avionics software systems in terms of SLOC by analyzing the historical data to correlate ...which implies that the system has good structure (high cohesion, low coupling), good ap- plication clarity (good correlation between program and

Application of artificial neural networks to identify equilibration in computer simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leibowitz, Mitchell H.; Miller, Evan D.; Henry, Michael M.; Jankowski, Eric

2017-11-01

Determining which microstates generated by a thermodynamic simulation are representative of the ensemble for which sampling is desired is a ubiquitous, underspecified problem. Artificial neural networks are one type of machine learning algorithm that can provide a reproducible way to apply pattern recognition heuristics to underspecified problems. Here we use the open-source TensorFlow machine learning library and apply it to the problem of identifying which hypothetical observation sequences from a computer simulation are “equilibrated” and which are not. We generate training populations and test populations of observation sequences with embedded linear and exponential correlations. We train a two-neuron artificial network to distinguish the correlated and uncorrelated sequences. We find that this simple network is good enough for > 98% accuracy in identifying exponentially-decaying energy trajectories from molecular simulations.

SUMER observations detecting downward propagating waves in the solar transition region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wikstol, O.; Judge, P. G.; Hansteen, V.; Wilhelm, K.; Schuehle, U.; Moran, T.

1997-01-01

The O IV density sensitive emission lines around 1400 A, using the solar ultraviolet measurement of emitted radiation (SUMER) instrument onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), are reported on. The data for the quiet sun, obtained close to the disk center and the solar limb were acquired. A systematic correlation between a density sensitive emission line ratio and Doppler shift across the same emission profiles was obtained. The correlation is such that the density is higher in the downflowing than in the upflowing plasma. The results are in good agreement with the simulations of downward propagating waves.

A new music therapy engagement scale for persons with dementia.

PubMed

Tan, Jane; Wee, Shiou-Liang; Yeo, Pei Shi; Choo, Juliet; Ritholz, Michele; Yap, Philip

2018-05-25

ABSTRACTObjectives:To develop and validate a new scale to assess music therapy engagement in persons with dementia (PWDs). A draft scale was derived from literature review and >2 years of qualitative recording of PWDs during music therapy. Content validity was attained through iterative consultations, trial sessions, and revisions. The final five-item Music Therapy Engagement scale for Dementia (MTED) assessed music and non-music related elements. Internal consistency and inter-rater reliability were assessed over 120 music therapy sessions. MTED was validated with the Greater Cincinnati Chapter Well-being Observation Tool, Holden Communication Scale, and Participant Engagement Observation Checklist - Music Sessions. A total of 62 PWDs (83.2 ± 7.7 years, modified version of the mini-mental state examination = 13.2/30 ± 4.1) in an acute hospital dementia unit were involved. The mean MTED score was 13.02/30 ± 4.27; internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.87) and inter-rater reliability (intra-class correlation = 0.96) were good. Principal component analysis revealed a one-factor structure with Eigen value > 1 (3.27), which explained 65.4% of the variance. MTED demonstrated good construct validity. The MTED total score correlated strongly with the combined items comprising Pleasure, Interest, Sadness, and Sustained attention of the Greater Cincinnati Chapter Well-being Observation Tool (rs = 0.88, p < 0.001). MTED is a clinically appropriate and psychometrically valid scale to evaluate music therapy engagement in PWDs.

Correlation between diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) and interstellar extinction using data from Bosscha Compact Spectrograph

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puspitarini, L.; Malasan, H. L.; Aprilia; Arifyanto, M. I.; Lallement, R.; Irfan, M.; Puspitaningrum, E.

2018-04-01

A longstanding challenge in astronomical spectroscopy is to uncover the carriers of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). They are broad absorption features due to the interstellar matter (ISM). They are seen in stellar spectra of background stars or other astronomical objects. Although we do not know utterly the carriers of the DIBs, they can be a promising tracer of the ISM. One of the interesting properties is their correlations with the interstellar (IS) extinction. For each band, the correlation has considerable dispersion and differences that possibly due to the IS physical conditions. Some DIBs are sensitive to the stellar radiation field, and some are not. To study the effect, we measured the DIB observed in Be/B stars spectra. The stars were observed by using Bosscha Compact Spectrograph at the Bosscha Observatory, Lembang, Indonesia. We performed an automated fitting of a combination of a smooth stellar continuum, the DIB profile, and a synthetic telluric transmission to the spectrum. The DIB measurements were compared to the general DIBs-extinction relationship. The correlation is found to be in good agreement with previous determinations.

Fluency and reading comprehension in students with reading difficulties.

PubMed

Nascimento, Tânia Augusto; Carvalho, Carolina Alves Ferreira de; Kida, Adriana de Souza Batista; Avila, Clara Regina Brandão de

2011-12-01

To characterize the performance of students with reading difficulties in decoding and reading comprehension tasks as well as to investigate the possible correlations between them. Sixty students (29 girls) from 3rd to 5th grades of public Elementary Schools were evaluated. Thirty students (Research Group - RG), ten from each grade, were nominated by their teachers as presenting evidences of learning disabilities. The other thirty students were indicated as good readers, and were matched by gender, age and grade to the RG, composing the Comparison Group (CG). All subjects were assessed regarding the parameters of reading fluency (rate and accuracy in words, pseudowords and text reading) and reading comprehension (reading level, number and type of ideas identified, and correct responses on multiple choice questions). The RG presented significantly lower scores than the CG in fluency and reading comprehension. Different patterns of positive and negative correlations, from weak to excellent, among the decoding and comprehension parameters were found in both groups. In the RG, low values of reading rate and accuracy were observed, which were correlated to low scores in comprehension and improvement in decoding, but not in comprehension, with grade increase. In CG, correlation was found between different fluency parameters, but none of them was correlated to the reading comprehension variables. Students with reading and writing difficulties show lower values of reading fluency and comprehension than good readers. Fluency and comprehension are correlated in the group with difficulties, showing that deficits in decoding influence reading comprehension, which does not improve with age increase.

Temperature dependent structural and dynamical properties of liquid Cu80Si20 binary alloy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suthar, P. H.; Shah, A. K.; Gajjar, P. N.

2018-05-01

Ashcroft and Langreth binary structure factor have been used to study for pair correlation function and the study of dynamical variable: velocity auto correlation functions, power spectrum and mean square displacement calculated based on the static harmonic well approximation in liquid Cu80Si20 binary alloy at wide temperature range (1140K, 1175K, 1210K, 1250K, 1373K, 1473K.). The effective interaction for the binary alloy is computed by our well established local pseudopotential along with the exchange and correction functions Sarkar et al(S). The negative dip in velocity auto correlation decreases as the various temperature is increases. For power spectrum as temperature increases, the peak of power spectrum shifts toward lower ω. Good agreement with the experiment is observed for the pair correlation functions. Velocity auto correlation showing the transferability of the local pseudopotential used for metallic liquid environment in the case of copper based binary alloys.

Percolation analysis for cosmic web with discrete points

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jiajun; Cheng, Dalong; Chu, Ming-Chung

2016-03-01

Percolation analysis has long been used to quantify the connectivity of the cosmic web. Unlike most of the previous works using density field on grids, we have studied percolation analysis based on discrete points. Using a Friends-of-Friends (FoF) algorithm, we generate the S-bb relation, between the fractional mass of the largest connected group (S) and the FoF linking length (bb). We propose a new model, the Probability Cloud Cluster Expansion Theory (PCCET) to relate the S-bb relation with correlation functions. We show that the S-bb relation reflects a combination of all orders of correlation functions. We have studied the S-bb relation with simulation and find that the S-bb relation is robust against redshift distortion and incompleteness in observation. From the Bolshoi simulation, with Halo Abundance Matching (HAM), we have generated a mock galaxy catalogue. Good matching of the projected two-point correlation function with observation is confirmed. However, comparing the mock catalogue with the latest galaxy catalogue from SDSS DR12, we have found significant differences in their S-bb relations. This indicates that the mock catalogue cannot accurately recover higher order correlation functions than the two-point correlation function, which reveals the limit of HAM method.

Correlations between jet-quenching observables at energies available at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

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

Jia, J.; Horowitz, W.; Liao, J.

2011-10-01

Focusing on four types of correlation plots, R{sub AA} versus v{sub 2}, R{sub AA} versus I{sub AA}, I{sub AA} versus v{sub 2}{sup I{sub AA}}, and v{sub 2} versus v{sub 2}{sup I{sub AA}}, we demonstrate how the centrality dependence of correlations between multiple jet quenching observables provide valuable insight into the energy loss mechanism in a quark-gluon plasma. In particular, we find that a qualitative energy loss model gives a good description of R{sub AA} versus v{sub 2} only when we take {Delta}E-I{sup 3} and a medium geometry generated by a model of the color glass condensate. This same {Delta}E-I{sup 3}more » model also qualitatively describes the trigger p{sub T} dependence of R{sub AA} versus I{sub AA} data and makes novel predictions for the centrality dependence for this R{sub AA} versus I{sub AA} correlation. Current data suggest, albeit with extremely large uncertainty, that v{sub 2}{sup I{sub AA}} >> v{sub 2}, a correlation that is difficult to reproduce in current energy loss models.« less

Correlations between jet-quenching observables at energies available at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

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

Jia Jiangyong; Physics Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11796; Horowitz, W. A.

2011-09-15

Focusing on four types of correlation plots, R{sub AA} versus v{sub 2}, R{sub AA} versus I{sub AA}, I{sub AA} versus v{sub 2}{sup I{sub AA}}, and v{sub 2} versus v{sub 2}{sup I{sub AA}}, we demonstrate how the centrality dependence of correlations between multiple jet quenching observables provide valuable insight into the energy loss mechanism in a quark-gluon plasma. In particular, we find that a qualitative energy loss model gives a good description of R{sub AA} versus v{sub 2} only when we take {Delta}E{approx}l{sup 3} and a medium geometry generated by a model of the color glass condensate. This same {Delta}E{approx}l{sup 3}more » model also qualitatively describes the trigger p{sub T} dependence of R{sub AA} versus I{sub AA} data and makes novel predictions for the centrality dependence for this R{sub AA} versus I{sub AA} correlation. Current data suggest, albeit with extremely large uncertainty, that v{sub 2}{sup I{sub AA}}>>v{sub 2}, a correlation that is difficult to reproduce in current energy loss models.« less

Reproducibility and Accuracy of Quantitative Myocardial Blood Flow Using 82Rb-PET: Comparison with 13N-Ammonia

PubMed Central

Fakhri, Georges El

2011-01-01

82Rb cardiac PET allows the assessment of myocardial perfusion using a column generator in clinics that lack a cyclotron. We and others have previously shown that quantitation of myocardial blood flow (MBF) and coronary flow reserve (CFR) is feasible using dynamic 82Rb PET and factor and compartment analyses. The aim of the present work was to determine the intra- and inter-observer variability of MBF estimation using 82Rb PET as well as the reproducibility of our generalized factor + compartment analyses methodology to estimate MBF and assess its accuracy by comparing, in the same subjects, 82Rb estimates of MBF to those obtained using 13N-ammonia. Methods Twenty-two subjects were included in the reproducibility and twenty subjects in the validation study. Patients were injected with 60±5mCi of 82Rb and imaged dynamically for 6 minutes at rest and during dipyridamole stress Left and right ventricular (LV+RV) time-activity curves were estimated by GFADS and used as input to a 2-compartment kinetic analysis that estimates parametric maps of myocardial tissue extraction (K1) and egress (k2), as well as LV+RV contributions (fv,rv). Results Our results show excellent reproducibility of the quantitative dynamic approach itself with coefficients of repeatability of 1.7% for estimation of MBF at rest, 1.4% for MBF at peak stress and 2.8% for CFR estimation. The inter-observer reproducibility between the four observers that participated in this study was also very good with correlation coefficients greater than 0.87 between any two given observers when estimating coronary flow reserve. The reproducibility of MBF in repeated 82Rb studies was good at rest and excellent at peak stress (r2=0.835). Furthermore, the slope of the correlation line was very close to 1 when estimating stress MBF and CFR in repeated 82Rb studies. The correlation between myocardial flow estimates obtained at rest and during peak stress in 82Rb and 13N-ammonia studies was very good at rest (r2=0.843) and stress (r2=0.761). The Bland-Altman plots show no significant presence of proportional error at rest or stress, nor a dependence of the variations on the amplitude of the myocardial blood flow at rest or stress. A small systematic overestimation of 13N-ammonia MBF was observed with 82Rb at rest (0.129 ml/g/min) and the opposite, i.e., underestimation, at stress (0.22 ml/g/min). Conclusions Our results show that absolute quantitation of myocardial bloof flow is reproducible and accurate with 82Rb dynamic cardiac PET as compared to 13N-ammonia. The reproducibility of the quantitation approach itself was very good as well as inter-observer reproducibility. PMID:19525467

Comparison of Rotor Structural Loads Calculated using Comprehensive Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Wayne; Yeo, Hyeonsoo

2005-01-01

Blade flap and chord bending and torsion moments are investigated for six rotors operating at transition and high speed: H-34 in flight and wind tunnel, SA 330 (research Puma), SA 349/2, UH-60A full-scale, and BO- 105 model (HART-I). The measured data from flight and wind tunnel tests are compared with calculations obtained using the comprehensive analysis CAMRAD II. The calculations were made using two free wake models: rolled-up and multiple-trailer with consolidation models. At transition speed, there is fair to good agreement for the flap and chord bending moments between the test data and analysis for the H-34, research Puma, and SA 349/2. Torsion moment correlation, in general, is fair to good for all the rotors investigated. Better flap bending and torsion moment correlation is obtained for the UH-60A and BO-105 rotors by using the multiple-trailer with consolidation wake model. In the high speed condition, the analysis shows generally better correlation in magnitude than in phase for the flap bending and torsion moments. However, a significant underprediction of chord bending moment is observed for the research Puma and UH-60A. The poor chord bending moment correlation appears to be caused by the airloads model, not the structural dynamics.

Development of a reactive-dispersive plume model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Hyun S.; Kim, Yong H.; Song, Chul H.

2017-04-01

A reactive-dispersive plume model (RDPM) was developed in this study. The RDPM can consider two main components of large-scale point source plume: i) turbulent dispersion and ii) photochemical reactions. In order to evaluate the simulation performance of newly developed RDPM, the comparisons between the model-predicted and observed mixing ratios were made using the TexAQS II 2006 (Texas Air Quality Study II 2006) power-plant experiment data. Statistical analyses show good correlation (0.61≤R≤0.92), and good agreement with the Index of Agreement (0.70≤R≤0.95). The chemical NOx lifetimes for two power-plant plumes (Monticello and Welsh power plants) were also estimated.

Comparison of sagittal parameters for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, hybrid surgery, and total disc replacement for three levels of cervical spondylosis.

PubMed

Hung, Che-Wei; Wu, Ming-Fang; Yu, Gwo-Fane; Ko, Chin-Chu; Kao, Cheng-Hsing

2018-05-01

To analyze sagittal balance of the cervical spine after three operative methods for three consecutive levels. A retrospective case selection and observational study was performed from December 2012 to December 2015: 20 patients underwent anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, 22 patients underwent hybrid surgery (HS), and 20 patients underwent total disc replacement (TDR). Perioperative parameters, clinical outcomes, and preoperative and postoperative sagittal parameters were recorded. Clinical outcomes improved. Fusion and hybrid groups were associated with more postoperative focal lordosis than the TDR group (no significant difference). The postoperative C2-7 sagittal vertical axis (SVA) was greater in the TDR group (no significant difference). In the fusion group, the postoperative C2-7 SVA was highly correlated with the preoperative C2-7 SVA and postoperative C7 slope (C7SL). Postoperative C2-7 lordosis (C2-7L) was highly correlated with the preoperative C2-7 SVA and preoperative and postoperative C7SL. In the hybrid group, postoperative C2-7L was highly correlated with preoperative C2-7L, preoperative and postoperative focal lordosis, and C7SL. In the TDR group, the postoperative C2-7 SVA was highly correlated with the preoperative C2-7 SVA and postoperative C7 slope. The postoperative C2-7 SVA was also negatively correlated with postoperative C2-7L and focal lordosis. Postoperative C2-7L was highly correlated with postoperative focal lordosis. For three or more levels of cervical degenerative disease, good clinical outcomes can be achieved. TDR may not be a good choice for large preoperative C2-7 SVA. HS provides good cervical range of motion and restores cervical lordosis and C2-7 SVA. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessing distractors and teamwork during surgery: developing an event-based method for direct observation.

PubMed

Seelandt, Julia C; Tschan, Franziska; Keller, Sandra; Beldi, Guido; Jenni, Nadja; Kurmann, Anita; Candinas, Daniel; Semmer, Norbert K

2014-11-01

To develop a behavioural observation method to simultaneously assess distractors and communication/teamwork during surgical procedures through direct, on-site observations; to establish the reliability of the method for long (>3 h) procedures. Observational categories for an event-based coding system were developed based on expert interviews, observations and a literature review. Using Cohen's κ and the intraclass correlation coefficient, interobserver agreement was assessed for 29 procedures. Agreement was calculated for the entire surgery, and for the 1st hour. In addition, interobserver agreement was assessed between two tired observers and between a tired and a non-tired observer after 3 h of surgery. The observational system has five codes for distractors (door openings, noise distractors, technical distractors, side conversations and interruptions), eight codes for communication/teamwork (case-relevant communication, teaching, leadership, problem solving, case-irrelevant communication, laughter, tension and communication with external visitors) and five contextual codes (incision, last stitch, personnel changes in the sterile team, location changes around the table and incidents). Based on 5-min intervals, Cohen's κ was good to excellent for distractors (0.74-0.98) and for communication/teamwork (0.70-1). Based on frequency counts, intraclass correlation coefficient was excellent for distractors (0.86-0.99) and good to excellent for communication/teamwork (0.45-0.99). After 3 h of surgery, Cohen's κ was 0.78-0.93 for distractors, and 0.79-1 for communication/teamwork. The observational method developed allows a single observer to simultaneously assess distractors and communication/teamwork. Even for long procedures, high interobserver agreement can be achieved. Data collected with this method allow for investigating separate or combined effects of distractions and communication/teamwork on surgical performance and patient outcomes. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Analysis of chronic aortic regurgitation by 2D and 3D echocardiography and cardiac MRI

PubMed Central

Stoebe, Stephan; Metze, Michael; Jurisch, Daniel; Tayal, Bhupendar; Solty, Kilian; Laufs, Ulrich; Pfeiffer, Dietrich; Hagendorff, Andreas

2018-01-01

Purpose The study compares the feasibility of the quantitative volumetric and semi-quantitative approach for quantification of chronic aortic regurgitation (AR) using different imaging modalities. Methods Left ventricular (LV) volumes, regurgitant volumes (RVol) and regurgitant fractions (RF) were assessed retrospectively by 2D, 3D echocardiography and cMRI in 55 chronic AR patients. Semi-quantitative parameters were assessed by 2D echocardiography. Results 22 (40%) patients had mild, 25 (46%) moderate and 8 (14%) severe AR. The quantitative volumetric approach was feasible using 2D, 3D echocardiography and cMRI, whereas the feasibility of semi-quantitative parameters varied considerably. LV volume (LVEDV, LVESV, SVtot) analyses showed good correlations between the different imaging modalities, although significantly increased LV volumes were assessed by cMRI. RVol was significantly different between 2D/3D echocardiography and 2D echocardiography/cMRI but was not significantly different between 3D echocardiography/cMRI. RF was not statistically different between 2D echocardiography/cMRI and 3D echocardiography/cMRI showing poor correlations (r < 0.5) between the different imaging modalities. For AR grading by RF, moderate agreement was observed between 2D/3D echocardiography and 2D echocardiography/cMRI and good agreement was observed between 3D echocardiography/cMRI. Conclusion Semi-quantitative parameters are difficult to determine by 2D echocardiography in clinical routine. The quantitative volumetric RF assessment seems to be feasible and can be discussed as an alternative approach in chronic AR. However, RVol and RF did not correlate well between the different imaging modalities. The best agreement for grading of AR severity by RF was observed between 3D echocardiography and cMRI. LV volumes can be verified by different approaches and different imaging modalities. PMID:29519957

Assessing behavioural changes in ALS: cross-validation of ALS-specific measures.

PubMed

Pinto-Grau, Marta; Costello, Emmet; O'Connor, Sarah; Elamin, Marwa; Burke, Tom; Heverin, Mark; Pender, Niall; Hardiman, Orla

2017-07-01

The Beaumont Behavioural Inventory (BBI) is a behavioural proxy report for the assessment of behavioural changes in ALS. This tool has been validated against the FrSBe, a non-ALS-specific behavioural assessment, and further comparison of the BBI against a disease-specific tool was considered. This study cross-validates the BBI against the ALS-FTD-Q. Sixty ALS patients, 8% also meeting criteria for FTD, were recruited. All patients were evaluated using the BBI and the ALS-FTD-Q, completed by a carer. Correlational analysis was performed to assess construct validity. Precision, sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of the BBI when compared to the ALS-FTD-Q, were obtained. The mean score of the whole sample on the BBI was 11.45 ± 13.06. ALS-FTD patients scored significantly higher than non-demented ALS patients (31.6 ± 14.64, 9.62 ± 11.38; p < 0.0001). A significant large positive correlation between the BBI and the ALS-FTD-Q was observed (r = 0.807, p < 0.0001), and no significant correlations between the BBI and other clinical/demographic characteristics indicate good convergent and discriminant validity, respectively. 72% of overall concordance was observed. Precision, sensitivity, and specificity for the classification of severely impaired patients were adequate. However, lower concordance in the classification of mild behavioural changes was observed, with higher sensitivity using the BBI, most likely secondary to BBI items which endorsed behavioural aspects not measured by the ALS-FTD-Q. Good construct validity has been further confirmed when the BBI is compared to an ALS-specific tool. Furthermore, the BBI is a more comprehensive behavioural assessment for ALS, as it measures the whole behavioural spectrum in this condition.

Interlaminar shear stress effects on the postbuckling response of graphite-epoxy panels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Engelstad, S. P.; Knight, N. F., Jr.; Reddy, J. N.

1990-01-01

The influence of shear flexibility on overall postbuckling response was assessed, and transverse shear stress distributions in relation to panel failure were examined. Nonlinear postbuckling results are obtained for finite element models based on classical laminated plate theory and first-order shear deformation theory. Good correlation between test and analysis is obtained. The results presented analytically substantiate the experimentally observed failure mode.

The 3C 279 Campaign of Winter 1999: A Gamma-Optical Correlation?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hartman, R. C.; Villata, M.; Raiteri, C. M.; Sobrito, M.; DeFrancesco, G.; Ostorero, L.; Tosti, G.; Kurtanidze, O.; Nikolashvili, M.; Takalo, L.

2000-01-01

Preliminary results are presented from the gamma-optical campaign of January-February 1999 on 3C 279. During this period we obtained good optical sampling of the source, the best ever for a gamma-bright OVV quasar. Its large and fast variations have been compared with the gamma-ray fluxes obtained simultaneously by Energy Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET), on Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO). Despite rather poor counting statistics in the gamma-ray data, a fair correlation is found, with the gamma variations following those in the optical by 3-4 days. This is the first time such a significant day-scale correlation has been observed between the optical and gamma emissions from a OVV quasar. Its implications are currently under study.

B B ¯ angular correlations at the LHC in the parton Reggeization approach merged with higher-order matrix elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karpishkov, A. V.; Nefedov, M. A.; Saleev, V. A.

2017-11-01

We calculate the angular distribution spectra between beauty (B ) and antibeauty (B ¯) mesons in proton-proton collisions in the leading order approximation of the parton Reggeization approach consistently merged with the next-to-leading order corrections from the emission of an additional hard gluon. To describe b-quark hadronization we use the universal scale-dependent parton-to-meson fragmentation functions extracted from the world e+e- annihilation data. We have obtained good agreement between our predictions and data from the CMS Collaboration at the energy √{S }=7 TeV for B B ¯ angular correlations within uncertainties and without free parameters. Predictions for analogous correlation observables at √{S }=13 TeV are provided.

Correlation between surface carbon concentration and adhesive strength at the Si cell/EVA interface in a PV module

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

Dhere, N.G.; Wollam, M.E.; Gadre, K.S.

1997-12-31

Silicon solar cell/EVA composite is being studied with an objective to further improve the manufacturing technology of PV modules. Sample extraction and adhesion strength measurement process has been modified. Silicon and EVA samples were extracted from solar cells of new and field-deployed modules. Optical microscopy, SEM, and AES of samples from new modules revealed EVA islands covering most of the silicon cell surface indicating a cohesive failure. A good correlation was observed between the adhesive strength and surface concentration of carbon. A low carbon concentration which indicated less EVA clinging to cell surface always resulted in low adhesive strengths. Themore » correlation provides a simple technique for inferring properties of EVA.« less

Statistical analysis of fast hard X-ray bursts by SMM observations and microwave bursts by ground-based observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, Chun-Sheng; Jiang, Shu-Ying

1986-01-01

In order to understand the relationship between fast hard X-ray bursts (HXRB) and microwave bursts (MWB), data were used from the following publications: NASA Technical Memorandum 84998; Solar Geological Data (1980 to 1983); monthly report of Solar Radio Emission; and NASA and NSF: Solar Geophysical Data (1980 to 1983). For analyzing individual events, the criterion of the same event for HXRB and MWB is determined by peak time difference. There is a good linear correlation between the physical parameter of HXRB and MWB.

Pre-surgical CT-assessment of neurogenic myositis ossificans of the hip and risk factors of recurrence: a series of 101 consecutive patients.

PubMed

Law-Ye, Bruno; Hangard, Chloé; Felter, Adrien; Safa, Dominique; Denormandie, Philippe; Genet, François; Carlier, Robert-Yves

2016-10-18

Neurogenic Myositis Ossificans (NMO) is a rare disabling pathology characterized by peri-articular heterotopic ossifications following severe peripheral or central nervous system injuries. It results in ankylosis and vessels or nerves compressions. Our study aimed to describe the pre-operative findings of patients with NMO of the hip using biphasic computerized tomography (CT). Between 2006 and 2012, we retrospectively analyzed 101 consecutive patients with hip NMO. We analyzed all CTs and surgical reports following a standardized grid depicting the osteoma and its relations with joint capsule, vessels and nerves and bone mineralization. We studied surgical complications and recurrence during follow-up. Chi2-test and Fischer's test were performed to compare qualitative values with respectively normal and non-normal distribution. Quantitative values were analyzed with a one factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. Agreement between pre-surgical CT and surgical observations was evaluated with Cohen's kappa test. Correlation between pre-operative CT and surgical findings was excellent regarding relationships with vessels (0,82) and was good concerning relationships with sciatic nerves (0.62) and with joint capsule (0.68). Close contact or disruption of joint capsule (p = 0.005), joint space narrowing (p = 0.007) and bone demineralization (p < 0.001) were correlated with NMO recurrence. Biphasic enhanced-CT allows pre-operative assessment of NMO with good correlation to surgical observations and helps prevent surgical complications.

Variational treatment of entanglement in the Dicke model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakemeier, L.; Alvermann, A.; Fehske, H.

2015-10-01

We introduce a variational ansatz for the Dicke model that extends mean-field theory through the inclusion of spin-oscillator correlations. The correlated variational state is obtained from the mean-field product state via a unitary transformation. The ansatz becomes correct in the limit of large oscillator frequency and in the limit of a large spin, for which it captures the leading quantum corrections to the classical limit exactly including the spin-oscillator entanglement entropy. We explain the origin of the unitary transformation before we show that the ansatz improves substantially upon mean-field theory, giving near exact results for the ground state energy and very good results for other observables. We then discuss why the ansatz still encounters problems in the transition regime at moderate spin lengths, where it fails to capture the precursors of the superradiant quantum phase transition faithfully. This observation illustrates the principal limits of semi-classical formulations, even after they are extended with correlations and entanglement.

Does the LFIR-LHCN Correlation Hold for Low LFIR Isolated Galaxies?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flaquer, B. O.; Leon, S.; Espada, D.; Martín, S.; Lisenfeld, U.; Verley, S.; Sabater, J.; Verdes-Montenegro, L.

2010-10-01

Gao & Solomon (2004a,b) (GS) found a tight linear correlation between LFIR, a good tracer of the SF rate, and LHCN, probing the dense molecular gas for IR-Luminous galaxies. It is open whether this correlation is also followed by galaxies with less active SF. We observed in HCN(1-0) 15 Isolated Galaxies (IG) from the AMIGA sample (VerdesMontenegro et al. 2005) with the IRAM 30m, with the purpose to test whether the GS relation is independent of environment and luminosity. We found that IG have lower LHCN than expected (Fig.1a), with LHCN / LCO ˜ 0.05. However, this might be due to extended HCN missed by our observations in most cases only done at one central pointing. Four galaxies of our sample were mapped. In 2 of them there is substantial emission outside the central parts (Fig.1b+c), and their LHCN value derived from the mapping, follows much closer the relation from GS. Further mapping is needed.

Bringing the cross-correlation method up to date

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Statler, Thomas

1995-01-01

The cross-correlation (XC) method of Tonry & Davis (1979, AJ, 84, 1511) is generalized to arbitrary parametrized line profiles. In the new algorithm the correlation function itself, rather than the observed galaxy spectrum, is fitted by the model line profile: this removes much of the complication in the error analysis caused by template mismatch. Like the Fourier correlation quotient (FCQ) method of Bender (1990, A&A, 229, 441), the inferred line profiles are, up to a normalization constant, independent of template mismatch as long as there are no blended lines. The standard reduced chi(exp 2) is a good measure of the fit of the inferred velocity distribution, largely decoupled from the fit of the spectral template. The updated XC method performs as well as other recently developed methods, with the added virtue of conceptual simplicity.

Upgrading of a small overloaded activated sludge plant using a MBBR system.

PubMed

Andreottola, G; Foladori, P; Gatti, G; Nardelli, P; Pettena, M; Ragazzi, M

2003-01-01

The aim of this research was the application of a biofilm system for the upgrading of a full-scale overloaded activated sludge MWWTP using the MBBR (Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor) technology. The choice of this fixed biomass system appeared appropriate because it offers several advantages including good potential in nitrification process, easiness of management and above all, the possibility to use the existing tank with very few modifications. MBBR system counts only few full-scale plants in Italy at the moment, thus a pilot-scale experimentation was preliminarily carried out. The acquired parameters were used for the fullscale MWWTP upgrading. The upgrading of the activated sludge reactor in the MBBR system has given (1) a relevant increase in the flowrate treated up to 60%; (2) a good efficiency in organic carbon removal and nitrification, equal to 88% and 90% respectively, with HRTs of 5.5-7 h; (3) the overcoming of the hydraulic overload of the secondary settler, applying a lamellar settler. It was observed a good correlation between the results obtained at pilot-scale and those observed in the full-scale plant.

The Measurement of Subjective Value and Its Relation to Contingent Valuation and Environmental Public Goods

PubMed Central

Khaw, Mel W.; Grab, Denise A.; Livermore, Michael A.; Vossler, Christian A.; Glimcher, Paul W.

2015-01-01

Environmental public goods—including national parks, clean air/water, and ecosystem services—provide substantial benefits on a global scale. These goods have unique characteristics in that they are typically “nonmarket” goods, with values from both use and passive use that accrue to a large number of individuals both in current and future generations. In this study, we test the hypothesis that neural signals in areas correlated with subjective valuations for essentially all other previously studied categories of goods (ventromedial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum) also correlate with environmental valuations. We use contingent valuation (CV) as our behavioral tool for measuring valuations of environmental public goods. CV is a standard stated preference approach that presents survey respondents with information on an issue and asks questions that help policymakers determine how much citizens are willing to pay for a public good or policy. We scanned human subjects while they viewed environmental proposals, along with three other classes of goods. The presentation of all four classes of goods yielded robust and similar patterns of temporally synchronized brain activation within attentional networks. The activations associated with the traditional classes of goods replicate previous correlations between neural activity in valuation areas and behavioral preferences. In contrast, CV-elicited values for environmental proposals did not correlate with brain activity at either the individual or population level. For a sub-population of participants, CV-elicited values were correlated with activity within the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, a region associated with cognitive control and shifting decision strategies. The results show that neural activity associated with the subjective valuation of environmental proposals differs profoundly from the neural activity associated with previously examined goods and preference measures. PMID:26221734

Molecular epidemiology, genotype-phenotype correlation and BH4 responsiveness in Spanish patients with phenylketonuria.

PubMed

Aldámiz-Echevarría, Luis; Llarena, Marta; Bueno, María A; Dalmau, Jaime; Vitoria, Isidro; Fernández-Marmiesse, Ana; Andrade, Fernando; Blasco, Javier; Alcalde, Carlos; Gil, David; García, María C; González-Lamuño, Domingo; Ruiz, Mónica; Ruiz, María A; Peña-Quintana, Luis; González, David; Sánchez-Valverde, Felix; Desviat, Lourdes R; Pérez, Belen; Couce, María L

2016-08-01

Phenylketonuria (PKU), the most common inborn error of amino acid metabolism, is caused by mutations in the phenylalanine-4-hydroxylase (PAH) gene. This study aimed to assess the genotype-phenotype correlation in the PKU Spanish population and the usefulness in establishing genotype-based predictions of BH4 responsiveness in our population. It involved the molecular characterization of 411 Spanish PKU patients: mild hyperphenylalaninemia non-treated (mild HPA-NT) (34%), mild HPA (8.8%), mild-moderate (20.7%) and classic (36.5%) PKU. BH4 responsiveness was evaluated using a 6R-BH4 loading test. We assessed genotype-phenotype associations and genotype-BH4 responsiveness in our population according to literature and classification of the mutations. The mutational spectrum analysis showed 116 distinct mutations, most missense (70.7%) and located in the catalytic domain (62.9%). The most prevalent mutations were c.1066-11G>A (9.7%), p.Val388Met (6.6%) and p.Arg261Gln (6.3%). Three novel mutations (c.61-13del9, p.Ile283Val and p.Gly148Val) were reported. Although good genotype-phenotype correlation was observed, there was no exact correlation for some genotypes. Among the patients monitored for the 6R-BH4 loading test: 102 were responders (87, carried either one or two BH4-responsive alleles) and 194 non-responders (50, had two non-responsive mutations). More discrepancies were observed in non-responders. Our data reveal a great genetic heterogeneity in our population. Genotype is quite a good predictor of phenotype and BH4 responsiveness, which is relevant for patient management, treatment and follow-up.

Sensitivity to grid resolution in the ability of a chemical transport model to simulate observed oxidant chemistry under high-isoprene conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Karen; Jacob, Daniel J.; Fisher, Jenny A.; Kim, Patrick S.; Marais, Eloise A.; Miller, Christopher C.; Travis, Katherine R.; Zhu, Lei; Yantosca, Robert M.; Sulprizio, Melissa P.; Cohen, Ron C.; Dibb, Jack E.; Fried, Alan; Mikoviny, Tomas; Ryerson, Thomas B.; Wennberg, Paul O.; Wisthaler, Armin

2016-04-01

Formation of ozone and organic aerosol in continental atmospheres depends on whether isoprene emitted by vegetation is oxidized by the high-NOx pathway (where peroxy radicals react with NO) or by low-NOx pathways (where peroxy radicals react by alternate channels, mostly with HO2). We used mixed layer observations from the SEAC4RS aircraft campaign over the Southeast US to test the ability of the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model at different grid resolutions (0.25° × 0.3125°, 2° × 2.5°, 4° × 5°) to simulate this chemistry under high-isoprene, variable-NOx conditions. Observations of isoprene and NOx over the Southeast US show a negative correlation, reflecting the spatial segregation of emissions; this negative correlation is captured in the model at 0.25° × 0.3125° resolution but not at coarser resolutions. As a result, less isoprene oxidation takes place by the high-NOx pathway in the model at 0.25° × 0.3125° resolution (54 %) than at coarser resolution (59 %). The cumulative probability distribution functions (CDFs) of NOx, isoprene, and ozone concentrations show little difference across model resolutions and good agreement with observations, while formaldehyde is overestimated at coarse resolution because excessive isoprene oxidation takes place by the high-NOx pathway with high formaldehyde yield. The good agreement of simulated and observed concentration variances implies that smaller-scale non-linearities (urban and power plant plumes) are not important on the regional scale. Correlations of simulated vs. observed concentrations do not improve with grid resolution because finer modes of variability are intrinsically more difficult to capture. Higher model resolution leads to decreased conversion of NOx to organic nitrates and increased conversion to nitric acid, with total reactive nitrogen oxides (NOy) changing little across model resolutions. Model concentrations in the lower free troposphere are also insensitive to grid resolution. The overall low sensitivity of modeled concentrations to grid resolution implies that coarse resolution is adequate when modeling continental boundary layer chemistry for global applications.

Pioneer 7 observations of plasma flow and field reversal regions in the distant geomagnetic tail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, R. C.; Lazarus, A. J.; Villante, U.

1975-01-01

The present paper gives the results of an extensive analysis of plasma and magnetic-field data from Pioneer 7 taken in the geomagnetic tail approximately 1000 earth radii downstream from earth. The principal observations are: (1) measurable fluxes of protons in the tail, flowing away from earth, sometimes with a double-peaked velocity distribution; (2) field reversal regions in which the field changes from radial to antiradial by a vector rotation in the north-south plane; and (3) general characteristics of the tail similar to those observed near earth with good correlation between taillike magnetic fields and plasma.

Transport of Solar Wind Fluctuations: A Two-Component Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oughton, S.; Matthaeus, W. H.; Smith, C. W.; Breech, B.; Isenberg, P. A.

2011-01-01

We present a new model for the transport of solar wind fluctuations which treats them as two interacting incompressible components: quasi-two-dimensional turbulence and a wave-like piece. Quantities solved for include the energy, cross helicity, and characteristic transverse length scale of each component, plus the proton temperature. The development of the model is outlined and numerical solutions are compared with spacecraft observations. Compared to previous single-component models, this new model incorporates a more physically realistic treatment of fluctuations induced by pickup ions and yields improved agreement with observed values of the correlation length, while maintaining good observational accord with the energy, cross helicity, and temperature.

Case study of ISWI in Vietnam: A comparison of ionospheric parameters observed over Ho Chi Minh with IRI predictions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lan, Hoang Thai; Tam, Dao Ngoc Hanh

2014-01-01

For the contribution of Vietnam to ISWI activities, there are 3 GPS receivers, 3 Ionosondes, 1 AWESOME and 1 MAGDAS operating in Vietnam. With a special geographical position stretching from the north tropic to the magnetic equator, Vietnam is an interesting area to supplement the data for the Global Space Weather Model. The Ionosphere is an important indicator of Space Weather and the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model has become widely accepted. The first task of ionospheric science in a new location is often comparing the observed data with IRI. This paper presents the results of comparisons of the foF2 and TEC observed over Ho Chi Minh City (10.51 N, 106.33 E) with the values calculated according to the IRI-2007 in order to evaluate the applicability of the model in forecasting for the equatorial region of Vietnam. We compare the critical frequency of layer F (foF2) and Total Electron Content (TEC) values for two phases of solar activity. The results show very good diurnal correlations between the observed foF2 and TEC with IRI values in the decreasing solar activity period 2003 ± 2006 (the deviation < 15%). In the increasing period 2009 ± 2012, good correlation was in the morning time before the foF2 peak at about 10 LT, with a deviation about 10% (except 2012). However, after 10 LT, the IRI-foF2 values rose up and the deviations were about 25% to 30%, especially during evening. In the years with low solar activity (SSN < 40), the IRI-foF2 are almost always higher than the observed foF2 data and vice versa for the years with SSN > 40. This is a note for correction IRI model applying for Vietnam. The comparison of the TEC shows that the correlation between GPS-TEC and IRI-TEC generally was good with coefficients k > 0.8 and R > 0.9 for the period 2006 - 2010. The worst relationship were March, April, September, October, November and December 2011, corresponding to periods when the TEC gradients are highest. The phenomenon of decline in the TEC at noon over Ho Chi Minh City observed pretty weak. This phenomenon appeared only in a few months from April to September, when the ionization is high. In the period from 0 to 5 am local time, the average minimum GPS-TEC observed over Ho Chi Minh City is about 3 tecu, while the IRI-TEC value is ~ 0.3. Thus, the IRI-TEC values should be recalibrated.

Dynamic behavior of solar wind as revealed by a correlation study of magnetic fields observed at the Venus and Earth orbits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marubashi, K.

1995-01-01

Correlations between interplanetary magnetic fields (IMFs) at 0.72 AU and 1.0 AU have been examined using data sets obtained from the Pioneer Venus orbiter and Earth-orbiting spacecraft. While the two-sector structures are evident in long-term variations at these two heliocentric distances, the corresponding auto-correlation coefficients are consistently smaller at 1.0 AU than at 0.72 AU. This suggests that the IMF structures become less persistent at 1.0 AU due to the effects of changing solar wind dynamics between the Venus and Earth orbits. Short-term variations exhibit generally poor correlations between IMFs near Venus and those near Earth, though good correlations are sometimes obtained for well-defined structures when the Sun, Venus, and Earth are closely aligned. The rather poor correlations in the background streams indicate that the IMFs are still changing between the Venus and Earth orbits under the strong influence of solar wind dynamics.

Fluctuation-dissipation theory of input-output interindustrial relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iyetomi, Hiroshi; Nakayama, Yasuhiro; Aoyama, Hideaki; Fujiwara, Yoshi; Ikeda, Yuichi; Souma, Wataru

2011-01-01

In this study, the fluctuation-dissipation theory is invoked to shed light on input-output interindustrial relations at a macroscopic level by its application to indices of industrial production (IIP) data for Japan. Statistical noise arising from finiteness of the time series data is carefully removed by making use of the random matrix theory in an eigenvalue analysis of the correlation matrix; as a result, two dominant eigenmodes are detected. Our previous study successfully used these two modes to demonstrate the existence of intrinsic business cycles. Here a correlation matrix constructed from the two modes describes genuine interindustrial correlations in a statistically meaningful way. Furthermore, it enables us to quantitatively discuss the relationship between shipments of final demand goods and production of intermediate goods in a linear response framework. We also investigate distinctive external stimuli for the Japanese economy exerted by the current global economic crisis. These stimuli are derived from residuals of moving-average fluctuations of the IIP remaining after subtracting the long-period components arising from inherent business cycles. The observation reveals that the fluctuation-dissipation theory is applicable to an economic system that is supposed to be far from physical equilibrium.

Assessing the link between Atlantic Niño 1 and drought over West Africa using CORDEX regional climate models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adeniyi, Mojisola Oluwayemisi; Dilau, Kabiru Alabi

2018-02-01

The skill of Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) models (ARPEGE, CCLM, HIRHAM, RACMO, REMO, PRECIS, RegCM3, RCA, WRF and CRCM) in simulating the climate (precipitation, temperature and drought) of West Africa is determined using a process-based metric. This is done by comparing the CORDEX models' simulated and observed correlation coefficients between Atlantic Niño Index 1 (ATLN1) and the climate over West Africa. Strong positive correlation is observed between ATLN1 and the climate parameters at the Guinea Coast (GC). The Atlantic Ocean has Niño behaviours through the ATLN indices which influence the climate of the tropics. Drought has distinct dipole structure of correlation with ATLN1 (negative at the Sahel); precipitation does not have distinct dipole structure of correlation, while temperature has almost a monopole correlation structure with ATLN1 over West Africa. The magnitude of the correlation increases with closeness to the equatorial eastern Atlantic. Correlations between ATLN1 and temperature are mostly stronger than those between ATLN1 and precipitation over the region. Most models have good performance over the GC, but ARPEGE has the highest skill at GC. The PRECIS is the most skilful over Savannah and RCA over Sahel. These models can be used to downscale the projected climate at the region of their highest skill.

Definition of architectural ideotypes for good yield capacity in Coffea canephora.

PubMed

Cilas, Christian; Bar-Hen, Avner; Montagnon, Christophe; Godin, Christophe

2006-03-01

Yield capacity is a target trait for selection of agronomically desirable lines; it is preferred to simple yields recorded over different harvests. Yield capacity is derived using certain architectural parameters used to measure the components of yield capacity. Observation protocols for describing architecture and yield capacity were applied to six clones of coffee trees (Coffea canephora) in a comparative trial. The observations were used to establish architectural databases, which were explored using AMAPmod, a software dedicated to the analyses of plant architecture data. The traits extracted from the database were used to identify architectural parameters for predicting the yield of the plant material studied. Architectural traits are highly heritable and some display strong genetic correlations with cumulated yield. In particular, the proportion of fruiting nodes at plagiotropic level 15 counting from the top of the tree proved to be a good predictor of yield over two fruiting cycles.

First quality score for referral letters in gastroenterology-a validation study.

PubMed

Eskeland, Sigrun Losada; Brunborg, Cathrine; Seip, Birgitte; Wiencke, Kristine; Hovde, Øistein; Owen, Tanja; Skogestad, Erik; Huppertz-Hauss, Gert; Halvorsen, Fred-Arne; Garborg, Kjetil; Aabakken, Lars; de Lange, Thomas

2016-10-08

To create and validate an objective and reliable score to assess referral quality in gastroenterology. An observational multicentre study. 25 gastroenterologists participated in selecting variables for a Thirty Point Score (TPS) for quality assessment of referrals to gastroenterology specialist healthcare for 9 common indications. From May to September 2014, 7 hospitals from the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority participated in collecting and scoring 327 referrals to a gastroenterologist. Correlation between the TPS and a visual analogue scale (VAS) for referral quality. The 327 referrals had an average TPS of 13.2 (range 1-25) and an average VAS of 4.7 (range 0.2-9.5). The reliability of the score was excellent, with an intra-rater intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.87 and inter-rater ICC of 0.91. The overall correlation between the TPS and the VAS was moderate (r=0.42), and ranged from fair to substantial for the various indications. Mean agreement was good (ICC=0.47, 95% CI (0.34 to 0.57)), ranging from poor to good. The TPS is reliable, objective and shows good agreement with the subjective VAS. The score may be a useful tool for assessing referral quality in gastroenterology, particularly important when evaluating the effect of interventions to improve referral quality. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

A consistency evaluation of signal-to-noise ratio in the quality assessment of human brain magnetic resonance images.

PubMed

Yu, Shaode; Dai, Guangzhe; Wang, Zhaoyang; Li, Leida; Wei, Xinhua; Xie, Yaoqin

2018-05-16

Quality assessment of medical images is highly related to the quality assurance, image interpretation and decision making. As to magnetic resonance (MR) images, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is routinely used as a quality indicator, while little knowledge is known of its consistency regarding different observers. In total, 192, 88, 76 and 55 brain images are acquired using T 2 * , T 1 , T 2 and contrast-enhanced T 1 (T 1 C) weighted MR imaging sequences, respectively. To each imaging protocol, the consistency of SNR measurement is verified between and within two observers, and white matter (WM) and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) are alternately used as the tissue region of interest (TOI) for SNR measurement. The procedure is repeated on another day within 30 days. At first, overlapped voxels in TOIs are quantified with Dice index. Then, test-retest reliability is assessed in terms of intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). After that, four models (BIQI, BLIINDS-II, BRISQUE and NIQE) primarily used for the quality assessment of natural images are borrowed to predict the quality of MR images. And in the end, the correlation between SNR values and predicted results is analyzed. To the same TOI in each MR imaging sequence, less than 6% voxels are overlapped between manual delineations. In the quality estimation of MR images, statistical analysis indicates no significant difference between observers (Wilcoxon rank sum test, p w  ≥ 0.11; paired-sample t test, p p  ≥ 0.26), and good to very good intra- and inter-observer reliability are found (ICC, p icc  ≥ 0.74). Furthermore, Pearson correlation coefficient (r p ) suggests that SNR wm correlates strongly with BIQI, BLIINDS-II and BRISQUE in T 2 * (r p  ≥ 0.78), BRISQUE and NIQE in T 1 (r p  ≥ 0.77), BLIINDS-II in T 2 (r p  ≥ 0.68) and BRISQUE and NIQE in T 1 C (r p  ≥ 0.62) weighted MR images, while SNR csf correlates strongly with BLIINDS-II in T 2 * (r p  ≥ 0.63) and in T 2 (r p  ≥ 0.64) weighted MR images. The consistency of SNR measurement is validated regarding various observers and MR imaging protocols. When SNR measurement performs as the quality indicator of MR images, BRISQUE and BLIINDS-II can be conditionally used for the automated quality estimation of human brain MR images.

Is plasma N-BNP a good indicator of the functional reserve of failing hearts? The FRESH-BNP study.

PubMed

Williams, Simon G; Ng, Leong L; O'Brien, Russell J; Taylor, Steve; Wright, D Jay; Tan, Lip-Bun

2004-12-01

Whether plasma N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (N-BNP) is useful in the diagnosis of heart failure (HF) depends traditionally on whether it is as good as the putative 'gold-standard', left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), in indicating cardiac dysfunction. However, since HF is primarily an impairment of function of the cardiac pump, we explored the relationship between N-BNP and direct and indirect indicators of cardiac pump dysfunction. Eighty-six HF patients (mean age 56 years) with a range of LVEF's (mean 36.9+/-15.2%, range 15-66%) and 10 age-matched healthy controls were recruited into the study and had resting N-BNP measured. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing was performed to assess peak oxygen consumption (Vo(2)). A subgroup of 23 subjects underwent further exercise haemodynamic assessment to evaluate peak cardiac power output (CPO). The CHF group had significantly higher N-BNP (median [interquartile range]) levels (299 [705] fmol/ml) than the control group (7 [51] fmol/ml, P<0.005). Significant correlations between N-BNP and peak Vo(2), and N-BNP and peak CPO were observed (R> or =0.5, P<0.005). Although significant correlation was observed between N-BNP and LVEF (R=0.34, P=0.01), the correlations between LVEF and peak Vo(2) or peak CPO (all R<0.3, P>0.3) were not significant. Multivariate analysis identified plasma N-BNP and NYHA class, but not LVEF, as independent predictors of peak Vo(2). We have found that N-BNP was surprisingly good as a simple indicator of cardiac pump dysfunction. Since heart failure is an inadequacy of function, these results strongly support the notion that N-BNP is a useful blood test in estimating the extent of cardiac pump dysfunction and helpful in establishing positive diagnosis of heart failure.

Variability of FUV Emission Line in Classical T Tauri Stars as a Diagnostic for Disc Accretion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramkumar, B.; Johns-Krull, C. M.

2005-12-01

We present our results of FUV emission line variability studies done on four classical T Tauri stars. We have used the IUE Final Archive spectra of pre-main sequence stars to analyze the sample of four stars BP Tau, DR Tau, RU Lup and RY Tau where each of these low-resolution (R ˜6 Å) spectra was observed in the IUE short-wavelength band pass (1150--1980Å). Given a broad time line of multiple observations being available from the IUE Final archive, an intrinsic variability study has been possible with this sample. Our results indicate that the transition region lines \\ion{Si}{4} and \\ion{C}{4}, produced near the accretion shocks at ˜105 K, have a strong correlation between them in all four stars except DR Tau. We also observe a strong correlation between \\ion{C}{4} & \\ion{He}{2} on our entire sample with a correlation coefficient of 0.549 (false alarm probability = 7.9 x 10-2) or higher. In addition, \\ion{He}{2} correlates with the molecular hydrogen (1503Å) line in all but RU Lup. If the \\ion{He}{2} lines are produced because of X-ray ionization then the observed molecular hydrogen emission is indeed controlled by X-ray ionization and therefore \\ion{He}{2} could serve as an X-ray proxy for future studies. Also, our correlation results strengthen the fact that \\ion{C}{4} is a good predictor of \\ion{Si}{4} and have a common origin i.e. in accretion shocks in the star formation process.

The use of physics practicum to train science process skills and its effect on scientific attitude of vocational high school students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiwin, E.; Kustijono, R.

2018-03-01

The purpose of the study is to describe the use of Physics practicum to train the science process skills and its effect on the scientific attitudes of the vocational high school students. The components of science process skills are: observing, classifying, inferring, predicting, and communicating. The established scientific attitudes are: curiosity, honesty, collaboration, responsibility, and open-mindedness. This is an experimental research with the one-shot case study design. The subjects are 30 Multimedia Program students of SMK Negeri 12 Surabaya. The data collection techniques used are observation and performance tests. The score of science process skills and scientific attitudes are taken from observational and performance instruments. Data analysis used are descriptive statistics and correlation. The results show that: 1) the physics practicum can train the science process skills and scientific attitudes in good category, 2) the relationship between the science process skills and the students' scientific attitude is good category 3) Student responses to the learning process using the practicum in the good category, The results of the research conclude that the physics practicum can train the science process skill and have a significant effect on the scientific attitude of the vocational highschool students.

The brief negative symptom scale: validation of the German translation and convergent validity with self-rated anhedonia and observer-rated apathy.

PubMed

Bischof, Martin; Obermann, Caitriona; Hartmann, Matthias N; Hager, Oliver M; Kirschner, Matthias; Kluge, Agne; Strauss, Gregory P; Kaiser, Stefan

2016-11-22

Negative symptoms are considered core symptoms of schizophrenia. The Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) was developed to measure this symptomatic dimension according to a current consensus definition. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the German version of the BNSS. To expand former findings on convergent validity, we employed the Temporal Experience Pleasure Scale (TEPS), a hedonic self-report that distinguishes between consummatory and anticipatory pleasure. Additionally, we addressed convergent validity with observer-rated assessment of apathy with the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES), which was completed by the patient's primary nurse. Data were collected from 75 in- and outpatients from the Psychiatric Hospital, University Zurich diagnosed with either schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. We assessed convergent and discriminant validity, internal consistency and inter-rater reliability. We largely replicated the findings of the original version showing good psychometric properties of the BNSS. In addition, the primary nurses evaluation correlated moderately with interview-based clinician rating. BNSS anhedonia items showed good convergent validity with the TEPS. Overall, the German BNSS shows good psychometric properties comparable to the original English version. Convergent validity extends beyond interview-based assessments of negative symptoms to self-rated anhedonia and observer-rated apathy.

Comparison of High-Resolution MR Imaging and Digital Subtraction Angiography for the Characterization and Diagnosis of Intracranial Artery Disease.

PubMed

Lee, N J; Chung, M S; Jung, S C; Kim, H S; Choi, C-G; Kim, S J; Lee, D H; Suh, D C; Kwon, S U; Kang, D-W; Kim, J S

2016-12-01

High-resolution MR imaging has recently been introduced as a promising diagnostic modality in intracranial artery disease. Our aim was to compare high-resolution MR imaging with digital subtraction angiography for the characterization and diagnosis of various intracranial artery diseases. Thirty-seven patients who had undergone both high-resolution MR imaging and DSA for intracranial artery disease were enrolled in our study (August 2011 to April 2014). The time interval between the high-resolution MR imaging and DSA was within 1 month. The degree of stenosis and the minimal luminal diameter were independently measured by 2 observers in both DSA and high-resolution MR imaging, and the results were compared. Two observers independently diagnosed intracranial artery diseases on DSA and high-resolution MR imaging. The time interval between the diagnoses on DSA and high-resolution MR imaging was 2 weeks. Interobserver diagnostic agreement for each technique and intermodality diagnostic agreement for each observer were acquired. High-resolution MR imaging showed moderate-to-excellent agreement (interclass correlation coefficient = 0.892-0.949; κ = 0.548-0.614) and significant correlations (R = 0.766-892) with DSA on the degree of stenosis and minimal luminal diameter. The interobserver diagnostic agreement was good for DSA (κ = 0.643) and excellent for high-resolution MR imaging (κ = 0.818). The intermodality diagnostic agreement was good (κ = 0.704) for observer 1 and moderate (κ = 0.579) for observer 2, respectively. High-resolution MR imaging may be an imaging method comparable with DSA for the characterization and diagnosis of various intracranial artery diseases. © 2016 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

Technical note: enumeration of mesophilic aerobes in milk: evaluation of standard official protocols and Petrifilm aerobic count plates.

PubMed

Freitas, R; Nero, L A; Carvalho, A F

2009-07-01

Enumeration of mesophilic aerobes (MA) is the main quality and hygiene parameter for raw and pasteurized milk. High levels of these microorganisms indicate poor conditions in production, storage, and processing of milk, and also the presence of pathogens. Fifteen raw and 15 pasteurized milk samples were submitted for MA enumeration by a conventional plating method (using plate count agar) and Petrifilm Aerobic Count plates (3M, St. Paul, MN), followed by incubation according to 3 official protocols: IDF/ISO (incubation at 30 degrees C for 72 h), American Public Health Association (32 degrees C for 48 h), and Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture (36 degrees C for 48 h). The results were compared by linear regression and ANOVA. Considering the results from conventional methodology, good correlation indices and absence of significant differences between mean counts were observed, independent of type of milk sample (raw or pasteurized) and incubation conditions (IDF/ISO, American Public Health Association, or Ministry of Agriculture). Considering the results from Petrifilm Aerobic Count plates, good correlation indices and absence of significant differences were only observed for raw milk samples. The microbiota of pasteurized milk interfered negatively with the performance of Petrifilm Aerobic Count plates, probably because of the presence of microorganisms that poorly reduce the dye indicator of this system.

An efficient algorithm for generating random number pairs drawn from a bivariate normal distribution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, C. W.

1983-01-01

An efficient algorithm for generating random number pairs from a bivariate normal distribution was developed. Any desired value of the two means, two standard deviations, and correlation coefficient can be selected. Theoretically the technique is exact and in practice its accuracy is limited only by the quality of the uniform distribution random number generator, inaccuracies in computer function evaluation, and arithmetic. A FORTRAN routine was written to check the algorithm and good accuracy was obtained. Some small errors in the correlation coefficient were observed to vary in a surprisingly regular manner. A simple model was developed which explained the qualities aspects of the errors.

Usefulness of a Short Dietary Propensity Questionnaire in Japan.

PubMed

Okuda, Nagako; Itai, Kazuyoshi; Okayama, Akira

2018-05-01

There is a growing need for nutritional education for prevention and non-pharmacological treatment of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). We compared the results of a short dietary propensity questionnaire (SDPQ) with those from the food frequency and quantity survey (FF Quantity), which had been previously quantitatively assessed by comparison with the 24-hr dietary recall (24hr-DR), to examine the usefulness of the SDPQ. The SDPQ was designed to assess dietary propensities of 12 food/nutrients relevant to CVD risk factors. We conducted a dietary survey using the SDPQ on Japanese men and women. After 2-3 weeks, we conducted the FF Quantity survey with the same participants. For each of the 12 food/nutrient categories, the relationships between quintiles of results from the SDPQ and FF Quantity were examined. Results from 79 participants who completed both surveys were used. Spearman's correlation coefficients (r) were significant for all food/nutrient categories. Good correlations were found with alcohol (r=0.792), starchy foods (r=0.566), and milk and dairy products (r=0.687), for which good correlations between the FF Quantity and 24hr-DR had been observed previously. Moderate correlations were found for vegetables (r=0.386) and high-salt foods (r=0.505), although the FF Quantity survey poorly correlated with the 24hr-DR. The SDPQ may be useful for assessment of dietary propensities for alcohol, starchy foods, and milk and dairy products in Japan.

An assessment of relationship between self-esteem, orthodontic concern, and Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) scores among secondary school students in Ibadan, Nigeria.

PubMed

Onyeaso, C O

2003-04-01

To ascertain the correlation between self-esteem, orthodontic concern and orthodontic status using DAI scores in a group of Nigerian potential orthodontic patients. A cross-sectional analytical study. Secondary schools reflecting a good socio-economic spread of adolescents in the town. Randomly selected 520 junior and senior students 276 (53.1%) males and 244 (46.9%) females with mean age of 15.02 +/- 3.26 (SD) years participated in the study. Each student was asked to fill in the questionnaire on orthodontic concern and Global Negative Self-Evaluation scale (GSE) with subsequent assessment of the occlusion according to the DAI by one orthodontist. After obtaining consent, thirty students were re-examined to test intra-examiner reliability which was good (r = 0.98, P < 0.001). The correlations between self-esteem, orthodontic concern and DAI scores were tested using Spearman rank order correlation coefficient. Significant positive correlations were observed between self-esteem and orthodontic concern according to DAI treatment category needs (r = 0.274, p<0.01; r = 0.396, p<0.01; r = 0.347, p<0.05) except for the severe malocclusion group which was positive but not statistically significant (r = 0.136, p> 0.05). Significant correlation was equally noted between DAI scores and orthodontic concern (r = 0.191, p<0.01). Significant positive correlation existed between self-esteem in a group of Nigerian adolescents and their orthodontic concern as well as between their DAI scores and orthodontic concern. DAI should be a relevant and useful occlusal index for the Nigerian orthodontic population.

Correlation of MIC value and disk inhibition zone diameters in clinical Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 isolates.

PubMed

Bruin, Jacob P; Diederen, Bram M W; Ijzerman, Ed P F; Den Boer, Jeroen W; Mouton, Johan W

2013-07-01

Routine use of disk diffusion tests for detecting antibiotic resistance in Legionella pneumophila has not been described. The goal of this study was to determine the correlation of MIC values and inhibition zone diameter (MDcorr) in clinical L. pneumophila isolates. Inhibition zone diameter of 183 L. pneumophila clinical isolates were determined for ten antimicrobials. Disk diffusion results were correlated with MICs as determined earlier with E-tests. Overall the correlation of MIC values and inhibition zone diameters (MDcorr) of the tested antimicrobials is good, and all antimicrobials showed a WT distribution. Of the tested fluoroquinolones levofloxacin showed the best MDcorr. All macrolides showed a wide MIC distribution and good MDcorr. The MDcorr for cefotaxim, doxycycline and tigecycline was good, while for rifampicin and moxifloxacin, they were not. Overall good correlation between MIC value and disk inhibition zone were found for the fluoroquinolones, macrolides and cefotaxim. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Translation into Brazilian Portuguese, cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Stanford presenteeism scale-6 and work instability scale for ankylosing spondylitis.

PubMed

Frauendorf, Renata; de Medeiros Pinheiro, Marcelo; Ciconelli, Rozana Mesquita

2014-12-01

Loss of productivity at work, as a result of health problems, is becoming an issue of interest due to the high burden it represents in society. The measurement of such phenomenon can be made using generic and specific scales for certain diseases such as the Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS-6) and the Work Instability Scale for Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS-WIS), specific for patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). The aim of this study was to translate and perform a cross-cultural adaptation of SPS-6 and AS-WIS into Portuguese and check their psychometric properties. The study also aimed to evaluate the relationship between the general scores of the scales and the main sociodemographic and clinical data, lifestyles, and absenteeism in patients with AS and correlate these variables with SPS-6 and AS-WIS scales. A sample of 120 patients with AS and 80 workers at a university hospital was evaluated. The processes for the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the instruments followed preestablished steps and rules presented in the literature. For the evaluation of measurement properties and correlations between scales, intra-class correlation coefficient (reproducibility analysis), Cronbach alpha (internal consistency), and Pearson correlation coefficient (validity) were employed. The inter-observer (0.986) and intra-observer (0.992) reproducibilities of the AS-WIS were shown to be high as well as the internal consistency (0.995). Similarly, the inter-observer reliability of SPS-6 was considered good (0.890), although it showed a poorer performance when considering the same observer (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.675 and intra-class correlation = 0.656). Internal consistency, for the total number of items, as measured by Cronbach alpha, was 0.889. The validity of the scales was evaluated thru the comparison of the achieved scores with the results of the WLQ, SF-36, ASQoL, BASFI, BASDAI, HAQ-S, and SRQ-20 instruments. Correlations between loss of productivity at work, worse quality of life, presence of emotional disturbances, and worse health conditions were positive. The process of translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and validation of the SPS-6 as a generic measurement for the loss of productivity at work and of the AS-WIS as a specific measurement for patients with AS are valid, reproducible, and specific instruments to be used in Brazil. In both scales, productivity at work was associated to advanced age, higher rate of absenteeism in the last month and year, presence of peripheral arthritis, and a larger number of comorbidities in patients with AS. The AS-WIS and SPS-6 showed a good correlation among them although they are not mutually exclusive but supplementary.

A Signature of Spatial Correlations between rare earth ions and single-wall nanotubes wrapped with DNA in their mixed solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ignatova, Tetyana; Rotkin, Slava V.

2012-02-01

We propose that the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the rare earth ions (REI) and single-wall nanotubes (SWNT) can be used to measure their Coulomb correlation in solution. As a calibration experiment the FRET between two different REIs, being the energy donor and the acceptor, in their mixed solution has been used. From the photoluminescence decay time we were able to extract the characteristic distance between unlike REIs. Our study revealed negative correlation (the repulsion) for Tb-Eu solution. In the case of the solution containing the REI and the SWNTs wrapped with DNA we observed a significant positive correlation (the attraction and the complex formation). The data is in a good agreement with the theoretical estimates and allows to propose REIs and their FRET as a sensitive tool for detecting kinetics of interaction of SWNTs in aqueous solutions.

Pay What You Want! A Pilot Study on Neural Correlates of Voluntary Payments for Music

PubMed Central

Waskow, Simon; Markett, Sebastian; Montag, Christian; Weber, Bernd; Trautner, Peter; Kramarz, Volkmar; Reuter, Martin

2016-01-01

Pay-what-you-want (PWYW) is an alternative pricing mechanism for consumer goods. It describes an exchange situation in which the price for a given good is not set by the seller but freely chosen by the buyer. In recent years, many enterprises have made use of PWYW auctions. The somewhat contra-intuitive success of PWYW has sparked a great deal of behavioral work on economical decision making in PWYW contexts in the past. Empirical studies on the neural basis of PWYW decisions, however, are scarce. In the present paper, we present an experimental protocol to study PWYW decision making while simultaneously acquiring functional magnetic resonance imaging data. Participants have the possibility to buy music either under a traditional “fixed-price” (FP) condition or in a condition that allows them to freely decide on the price. The behavioral data from our experiment replicate previous results on the general feasibility of the PWYW mechanism. On the neural level, we observe distinct differences between the two conditions: In the FP-condition, neural activity in frontal areas during decision-making correlates positively with the participants’ willingness to pay. No such relationship was observed under PWYW conditions in any neural structure. Directly comparing neural activity during PWYW and the FP-condition we observed stronger activity of the lingual gyrus during PWYW decisions. Results demonstrate the usability of our experimental paradigm for future investigations into PWYW decision-making and provides first insights into neural mechanisms during self-determined pricing decisions. PMID:27458416

Assessing the stability of human locomotion: a review of current measures

PubMed Central

Bruijn, S. M.; Meijer, O. G.; Beek, P. J.; van Dieën, J. H.

2013-01-01

Falling poses a major threat to the steadily growing population of the elderly in modern-day society. A major challenge in the prevention of falls is the identification of individuals who are at risk of falling owing to an unstable gait. At present, several methods are available for estimating gait stability, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. In this paper, we review the currently available measures: the maximum Lyapunov exponent (λS and λL), the maximum Floquet multiplier, variability measures, long-range correlations, extrapolated centre of mass, stabilizing and destabilizing forces, foot placement estimator, gait sensitivity norm and maximum allowable perturbation. We explain what these measures represent and how they are calculated, and we assess their validity, divided up into construct validity, predictive validity in simple models, convergent validity in experimental studies, and predictive validity in observational studies. We conclude that (i) the validity of variability measures and λS is best supported across all levels, (ii) the maximum Floquet multiplier and λL have good construct validity, but negative predictive validity in models, negative convergent validity and (for λL) negative predictive validity in observational studies, (iii) long-range correlations lack construct validity and predictive validity in models and have negative convergent validity, and (iv) measures derived from perturbation experiments have good construct validity, but data are lacking on convergent validity in experimental studies and predictive validity in observational studies. In closing, directions for future research on dynamic gait stability are discussed. PMID:23516062

Crustal wavespeed structure of North Texas and Oklahoma based on ambient noise cross-correlation functions and adjoint tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, H.

2017-12-01

Recently, seismologists observed increasing seismicity in North Texas and Oklahoma. Based on seismic observations and other geophysical measurements, some studies suggested possible links between the increasing seismicity and wastewater injection during unconventional oil and gas exploration. To better monitor seismic events and investigate their mechanisms, we need an accurate 3D crustal wavespeed model for North Texas and Oklahoma. Considering the uneven distribution of earthquakes in this region, seismic tomography with local earthquake records have difficulties to achieve good illumination. To overcome this limitation, in this study, ambient noise cross-correlation functions are used to constrain subsurface variations in wavespeeds. I use adjoint tomography to iteratively fit frequency-dependent phase differences between observed and predicted band-limited Green's functions. The spectral-element method is used to numerically calculate the band-limited Green's functions and the adjoint method is used to calculate misfit gradients with respect to wavespeeds. 25 preconditioned conjugate gradient iterations are used to update model parameters and minimize data misfits. Features in the new crustal model M25 correlates with geological units in the study region, including the Llano uplift, the Anadarko basin and the Ouachita orogenic front. In addition, these seismic anomalies correlate with gravity and magnetic observations. This new model can be used to better constrain earthquake source parameters in North Texas and Oklahoma, such as epicenter location and moment tensor solutions, which are important for investigating potential relations between seismicity and unconventional oil and gas exploration.

Spatial resolution of pace mapping of idiopathic ventricular tachycardia/ectopy originating in the right ventricular outflow tract.

PubMed

Bogun, Frank; Taj, Majid; Ting, Michael; Kim, Hyungjin Myra; Reich, Stephen; Good, Eric; Jongnarangsin, Krit; Chugh, Aman; Pelosi, Frank; Oral, Hakan; Morady, Fred

2008-03-01

Pace mapping has been used to identify the site of origin of focal ventricular arrhythmias. The spatial resolution of pace mapping has not been adequately quantified using currently available three-dimensional mapping systems. The purpose of this study was to determine the spatial resolution of pace mapping in patients with idiopathic ventricular tachycardia or premature ventricular contractions originating in the right ventricular outflow tract. In 16 patients with idiopathic ventricular tachycardia/ectopy from the right ventricular outflow tract, comparisons and classifications of pace maps were performed by two observers (good pace map: match >10/12 leads; inadequate pace map: match < or =10/12 leads) and a customized MATLAB 6.0 program (assessing correlation coefficient and normalized root mean square of the difference (nRMSd) between test and template signals). With an electroanatomic mapping system, the correlation coefficient of each pace map was correlated with the distance between the pacing site and the effective ablation site. The endocardial area within the 10-ms activation isochrone was measured. The ablation procedure was effective in all patients. Sites with good pace maps had a higher correlation coefficient and lower nRMSd than sites with inadequate pace maps (correlation coefficient: 0.96 +/- 0.03 vs 0.76 +/- 0.18, P <.0001; nRMSd: 0.41 +/- 0.16 vs 0.89 +/- 0.39, P <.0001). Using receiver operating characteristic curves, appropriate cutoff values were >0.94 for correlation coefficient (sensitivity 81%, specificity 89%) and < or =0.54 for nRMSd (sensitivity 76%, specificity 80%). Good pace maps were located a mean of 7.3 +/- 5.0 mm from the effective ablation site and had a mean activation time of -24 +/- 7 ms. However, in 3 (18%) of 16 patients, the best pace map was inadequate at the effective ablation site, with an endocardial activation time at these sites of -25 +/- 12 ms. Pace maps with correlation coefficient > or =0.94 were confined to an area of 1.8 +/- 0.6 cm2. The 10-ms isochrone measured 1.2 +/- 0.7 cm2. The spatial resolution of a good pace map for targeting ventricular tachycardia/ectopy is 1.8 cm2 in the right ventricular outflow tract and therefore is inferior to the spatial resolution of activation mapping as assessed by isochronal activation. In approximately 20% of patients, pace mapping is unreliable in identifying the site of origin, possibly due a deeper site of origin and preferential conduction via fibers connecting the focus to the endocardial surface.

Time-Series Analysis of Supergranule Characterstics at Solar Minimum

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Peter E.; Pesnell, W. Dean

2013-01-01

Sixty days of Doppler images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) / Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) investigation during the 1996 and 2008 solar minima have been analyzed to show that certain supergranule characteristics (size, size range, and horizontal velocity) exhibit fluctuations of three to five days. Cross-correlating parameters showed a good, positive correlation between supergranulation size and size range, and a moderate, negative correlation between size range and velocity. The size and velocity do exhibit a moderate, negative correlation, but with a small time lag (less than 12 hours). Supergranule sizes during five days of co-temporal data from MDI and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) / Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) exhibit similar fluctuations with a high level of correlation between them. This verifies the solar origin of the fluctuations, which cannot be caused by instrumental artifacts according to these observations. Similar fluctuations are also observed in data simulations that model the evolution of the MDI Doppler pattern over a 60-day period. Correlations between the supergranule size and size range time-series derived from the simulated data are similar to those seen in MDI data. A simple toy-model using cumulative, uncorrelated exponential growth and decay patterns at random emergence times produces a time-series similar to the data simulations. The qualitative similarities between the simulated and the observed time-series suggest that the fluctuations arise from stochastic processes occurring within the solar convection zone. This behavior, propagating to surface manifestations of supergranulation, may assist our understanding of magnetic-field-line advection, evolution, and interaction.

Observing Tsunamis in the Ionosphere Using Ground Based GPS Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Galvan, D. A.; Komjathy, A.; Song, Y. Tony; Stephens, P.; Hickey, M. P.; Foster, J.

2011-01-01

Ground-based Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements of ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) show variations consistent with atmospheric internal gravity waves caused by ocean tsunamis following recent seismic events, including the Tohoku tsunami of March 11, 2011. We observe fluctuations correlated in time, space, and wave properties with this tsunami in TEC estimates processed using JPL's Global Ionospheric Mapping Software. These TEC estimates were band-pass filtered to remove ionospheric TEC variations with periods outside the typical range of internal gravity waves caused by tsunamis. Observable variations in TEC appear correlated with the Tohoku tsunami near the epicenter, at Hawaii, and near the west coast of North America. Disturbance magnitudes are 1-10% of the background TEC value. Observations near the epicenter are compared to estimates of expected tsunami-driven TEC variations produced by Embry Riddle Aeronautical University's Spectral Full Wave Model, an atmosphere-ionosphere coupling model, and found to be in good agreement. The potential exists to apply these detection techniques to real-time GPS TEC data, providing estimates of tsunami speed and amplitude that may be useful for future early warning systems.

Correlation between thigh pain and radiological findings with a proximally porous-coated stem.

PubMed

Kinov, Plamen; Radl, Roman; Zacherl, Maximilian; Leithner, Andreas; Windhager, Reinhard

2007-10-01

Thigh pain has been consistently reported with cementless hip arthroplasty. The correlation between thigh pain and radiological findings and the clinical significance of thigh pain have not been studied in any detail. We carried out a retrospective study to analyse the performance of a proximally porous-coated cementless femoral component. Ninety-eight total hip arthroplasties were followed up clinically and radiologically for an average of 33 months (range: 12 to 64) after operation. The clinical results were good or excellent in 85 cases (87%). Thirteen patients (13%) reported thigh pain at latest follow-up. Subsidence of the stem was recorded in 10 cases, cortical thickening occurred in 14 hips (14%), and 17 hips (17%) presented proximal osteopenia. Proximally, radiolucent lines were observed in 11 cases. Thigh pain correlated with radiolucent lines, femoral thickening, fibrous fixation and stem migration. Bone remodelling was noted to continue even five years after implantation. Our observations demonstrated bone ingrowth in the majority of the cases and a low incidence of thigh pain. The correlation between radiological changes and thigh pain suggests implant micromotion and migration in some hips. Patients with thigh pain, changes in the proximal femur and progressive subsidence need further clinical and radiological follow-up.

Double-time correlation functions of two quantum operations in open systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ban, Masashi

2017-10-01

A double-time correlation function of arbitrary two quantum operations is studied for a nonstationary open quantum system which is in contact with a thermal reservoir. It includes a usual correlation function, a linear response function, and a weak value of an observable. Time evolution of the correlation function can be derived by means of the time-convolution and time-convolutionless projection operator techniques. For this purpose, a quasidensity operator accompanied by a fictitious field is introduced, which makes it possible to derive explicit formulas for calculating a double-time correlation function in the second-order approximation with respect to a system-reservoir interaction. The derived formula explicitly shows that the quantum regression theorem for calculating the double-time correlation function cannot be used if a thermal reservoir has a finite correlation time. Furthermore, the formula is applied for a pure dephasing process and a linear dissipative process. The quantum regression theorem and the the Leggett-Garg inequality are investigated for an open two-level system. The results are compared with those obtained by exact calculation to examine whether the formula is a good approximation.

Validation of the NOSCA - nurses' observation scale of cognitive abilities.

PubMed

Persoon, Anke; Schoonhoven, Lisette; Melis, Rene J F; van Achterberg, Theo; Kessels, Roy P C; Rikkert, Marcel G M Olde

2012-11-01

To examine the psychometric properties of the Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities. Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities is a behavioural rating scale comprising eight subscales that represent different cognitive domains. It is based on observations during contact between nurse and patient. Observational study. A total of 50 patients from two geriatric wards in acute care hospitals participated in this study. Reliability was examined via internal consistency and inter-rater reliability. Construct validity of the Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities and its subscales were explored by means of convergent and divergent validity and post hoc analyses for group differences. Cronbach's αs of the total Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities and its subscales were 0·98 and 0·66-0·93, respectively. The item-total correlations were satisfactory (overall > 0·4). The intra-class coefficients were good (37 of 39 items > 0·4). The convergent validity of the Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities against cognitive ratings (MMSE, NOSGER) and severity of dementia (Clinical Dementia Rating) demonstrated satisfactory correlations (0·59-0·70, p < 0·01), except for IQCODE (0·30, p > 0·05). The divergent validity of the Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities against depressive symptoms was low (0·12, p > 0·05). The construct validity of the Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities subscales against 13 specific neuropsychological tests showed correlations varying from poor to fair (0·18-0·74; 10 of 13 correlations p < 0·05). Validity and reliability of the total Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities are excellent. The correlations between the Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities subscales and standard neuropsychological tests were moderate. More conclusive results may be found if the Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities subscales were to be validated using more ecologically valid tests and in a patient population with less cognitive impairment. Use of the Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities yields standardised, reliable and valid information about patient's cognitive behaviour in daily practice. The Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities aids in tailoring nursing interventions to patients' specific cognitive needs. We advocate the implementation of the Nurses' Observation Scale for Cognitive Abilities both in research and at geriatric units in acute care hospitals. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Delay, probability, and social discounting in a public goods game.

PubMed

Jones, Bryan A; Rachlin, Howard

2009-01-01

A human social discount function measures the value to a person of a reward to another person at a given social distance. Just as delay discounting is a hyperbolic function of delay, and probability discounting is a hyperbolic function of odds-against, social discounting is a hyperbolic function of social distance. Experiment 1 obtained individual social, delay, and probability discount functions for a hypothetical $75 reward; participants also indicated how much of an initial $100 endowment they would contribute to a common investment in a public good. Steepness of discounting correlated, across participants, among all three discount dimensions. However, only social and probability discounting were correlated with the public-good contribution; high public-good contributors were more altruistic and also less risk averse than low contributors. Experiment 2 obtained social discount functions with hypothetical $75 rewards and delay discount functions with hypothetical $1,000 rewards, as well as public-good contributions. The results replicated those of Experiment 1; steepness of the two forms of discounting correlated with each other across participants but only social discounting correlated with the public-good contribution. Most participants in Experiment 2 predicted that the average contribution would be lower than their own contribution.

Transient phenomena in cosmic ray intensity during extreme events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agarwal, Rekha; Mishra, Rajesh K.

2008-04-01

In the present work an analysis has been made of the extreme events occurring during July 2005. Specifically, a rather intense Forbush decrease was observed at different neutron monitors all over the world during 16 July 2005. An effort has been made to study the effect of this unusual event on cosmic ray intensity as well as various solar and interplanetary plasma parameters. It is noteworthy that during 11 to 18 July 2005 the solar activity ranged from low to very active. Especially low levels occurred on 11, 15, and 17 July whereas high levels took place on 14 and 16 July 2005. The Sun is observed to be active during 11 to 18 July 2005, the interplanetary magnetic field intensity lies within 15 nT, and solar wind velocity was limited to ˜500 kms-1. The geomagnetic activity during this period remains very quiet, the Kp index did not exceed 5, the disturbance storm time Dst index remains ˜-70 nT and no sudden storm commencement has been detected during this period. It is noted that for the majority of the hours, the north/south component of the interplanetary magnetic field, Bz, remains negative, and the cosmic ray intensity increases and shows good/high correlation with Bz, as the polarity of Bz tends to shift from negative to positive values, the intensity decreases and shows good/high anti-correlation with Bz. The cosmic ray intensity tends to decrease with increase of interplanetary magnetic field strength (B) and shows anti-correlation for the majority of the days.

[Influence of preoperative bone mass density in periprosthetic bone remodeling after implantation of ABG-II prosthesis: A 10-year follow-up].

PubMed

Aguilar Ezquerra, A; Panisello Sebastiá, J J; Mateo Agudo, J

2016-01-01

Preoperative bone mass index has shown to be an important factor in peri-prosthetic bone remodelling in short follow-up studies. Bone density scans (DXA) were used to perform a 10-year follow-up study of 39 patients with a unilateral, uncemented hip replacement. Bone mass index measurements were made at 6 months, one year, 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years after surgery. Pearson coefficient was used to quantify correlations between preoperative bone mass density (BMD) and peri-prosthetic BMD in the 7 Gruen zones at 6 months, one year, 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years. Pre-operative BMD was a good predictor of peri-prosthetic BMD one year after surgery in zones 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 (Pearson index from 0.61 to 0.75). Three years after surgery it has good predictive power in zones 1, 4 and 5 (0.71-0.61), although in zones 3 and 7 low correlation was observed one year after surgery (0.51 and 0.57, respectively). At the end of the follow-up low correlation was observed in the 7 Gruen zones. Sex and BMI were found to not have a statistically significant influence on peri-prosthetic bone remodelling. Although preoperative BMD seems to be an important factor in peri-prosthetic remodelling one year after hip replacement, it loses its predictive power progressively, until not being a major factor in peri-prosthetic remodelling ten years after surgery. Copyright © 2015 SECOT. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Target immobilization as a strategy for NMR-based fragment screening: comparison of TINS, STD, and SPR for fragment hit identification.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Masakazu; Retra, Kim; Figaroa, Francis; Hollander, Johan G; Ab, Eiso; Heetebrij, Robert J; Irth, Hubertus; Siegal, Gregg

2010-09-01

Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) has become a widely accepted tool that is complementary to high-throughput screening (HTS) in developing small-molecule inhibitors of pharmaceutical targets. Because a fragment campaign can only be as successful as the hit matter found, it is critical that the first stage of the process be optimized. Here the authors compare the 3 most commonly used methods for hit discovery in FBDD: high concentration screening (HCS), solution ligand-observed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). They selected the commonly used saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR spectroscopy and the proprietary target immobilized NMR screening (TINS) as representative of the array of possible NMR methods. Using a target typical of FBDD campaigns, the authors find that HCS and TINS are the most sensitive to weak interactions. They also find a good correlation between TINS and STD for tighter binding ligands, but the ability of STD to detect ligands with affinity weaker than 1 mM K(D) is limited. Similarly, they find that SPR detection is most suited to ligands that bind with K(D) better than 1 mM. However, the good correlation between SPR and potency in a bioassay makes this a good method for hit validation and characterization studies.

Ocean Color and Evidence of Chlorophyll Signature in the TOMS Minimum Reflectivity Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ahmad, Z.; Herman, J. R.; Bhartia, P. K.

2003-01-01

Analysis of the TOMS minimum reflectivity data for 380 nm channel (R380) show regions of high reflectivity values (approx. 7 to 8%) over Sargasso Sea in the Northern Atlantic, anti-cyclonic region in the Southern Atlantic, and a large part of the ocean in the Southern Pacific, and low values (5 approx. 6 %) over the rest of the open ocean. Through radiative transfer simulations we show that these features are highly correlated with the distribution of chlorophyll in the ocean. Theoretical minimum reflectivity values derived with the help of CZCS chlorophyll concentration data as input into a vector ocean-atmosphere radiative transfer code developed by Ahmad and Fraser show very good agreement with TOMS minimum reflectivity data for the winter season of year 1980. For the summer season of year 1980, good qualitative agreement is observed in the equatorial and northern hemisphere but not as good in the southern hemisphere. Also, for cloud-free conditions, we find a very strong correlation between R340 minus R380 values and the chlorophyll concentration in the ocean. Results on the possible effects of absorbing and non-absorbing aerosols on the TOMS minimum reflectivity will also be presented. The results also imply that ocean color will affect the aerosol retrieval over oceans unless corrected.

Observations of strong ion-ion correlations in dense plasmas

DOE PAGES

Ma, T.; Fletcher, L.; Pak, A.; ...

2014-04-24

Using simultaneous spectrally, angularly, and temporally resolved x-ray scattering, we measure the pronounced ion-ion correlation peak in a strongly coupled plasma. Laser-driven shock-compressed aluminum at ~3× solid density is probed with high-energy photons at 17.9 keV created by molybdenum He-α emission in a laser-driven plasma source. The measured elastic scattering feature shows a well-pronounced correlation peak at a wave vector of k=4Å –1. The magnitude of this correlation peak cannot be described by standard plasma theories employing a linear screened Coulomb potential. Advanced models, including a strong short-range repulsion due to the inner structure of the aluminum ions are howevermore » in good agreement with the scattering data. These studies have demonstrated a new highly accurate diagnostic technique to directly measure the state of compression and the ion-ion correlations. Furthermore, we have since applied this new method in single-shot wave-number resolved S(k) measurements to characterize the physical properties of dense plasmas.« less

Correlation-study about the ambient dose rate and the weather conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furuya, Masato; Hatano, Yuko; Aoyama, Tomoo; Igarashi, Yasuhito; Kita, Kazuyuki; Ishizuka, Masahide

2016-04-01

The long-term radiation risks are believed to be heavily affected by the resuspension process. We therefore focus on the surface-atmosphere exchange process of released radioactive materials in this study. Radioactive materials were deposited on the soil and float in the air, and such complicated process are influenced by the weather conditions deeply. We need to reveal the correlation between the weather conditions and the ambient dose rate. In this study, we study the correlation between the weather conditions and the ambient dose rate with the correction of the decrease due to the radioactive decay. We found that there is a negative correlation between the ambient dose rate and the soil water content by the correlation coefficient. Using this result, we reconstruct the ambient dose rate from the weather conditions by the multiple regression analysis and found that the reconstructed data agree with the observation very well. Using Kalman filter, which can be sequentially updates the state estimate, we obtained such a good agreement.

Interlaminar shear stress effects on the postbuckling response of graphite-epoxy panels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Engelstad, S. P.; Reddy, J. N.; Knight, N. F., Jr.

1990-01-01

The objectives of the study are to assess the influence of shear flexibility on overall postbuckling response, and to examine transverse shear stress distributions in relation to panel failure. Nonlinear postbuckling results are obtained for finite element models based on classical laminated plate theory and first-order shear deformation theory. Good correlation between test and analysis is obtained. The results presented in this paper analytically substantiate the experimentally observed failure mode.

A comparison between high-altitude horizon photography and direct sampling of El Chichon cloud particles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coletti, A.; Hofmann, D. J.; Rosen, J. M.

1986-01-01

Perturbations to the visible radiation by the El Chichon aerosol layers in the stratosphere observed on May 18, 1982 in Laredo, Texas using in situ, time-lapsed photography are analyzed. The densitometric data are compared with optical counter data. Good correlation is detected for the scattered light intensities of the sky estimated with the two techniques. It is observed that the optical thickness of the stratosphere from 18.8 km to the top of the atmosphere = 0.18 and the residual optical thickness at 27 km = 0.0007. The relationship between the isodensity contours and the height of the observations, cloud cover, specific vertical aerosol distribution, and earth curvature is examined.

Validation of a polymerase chain reaction aided transcript titration assay (PATTY) for topoisomerase II in lung cancer samples.

PubMed

Dingemans, A M; Van Ark-Otte, J; Smit, E F; Postmus, P E; Giaccone, G

This report describes the validation of a polymerase chain reaction aided transcript titration assay (PATTY) for tumor samples. The results obtained with the PATTY were compared to those of RNase protection in a set of 7 human lung cancer cell lines and in 23 non-small cell lung cancer samples derived from resected patients. Whereas between PATTY and RNase protection assay a good correlation was observed in the cell lines (r = 0.74, p = 0.057), no correlation was observed within the tumor samples (r = 0.06, p = 0.78). This was also the case when only tumors with a high percentage of tumor cells (> 90%) were selected. Although PATTY is a valuable tool to measure mRNA expression in cell lines, our results caution the use of PATTY in human tumor samples without proper validation. The possible causes of these results are discussed.

Resonant activation in a colored multiplicative thermal noise driven closed system.

PubMed

Ray, Somrita; Mondal, Debasish; Bag, Bidhan Chandra

2014-05-28

In this paper, we have demonstrated that resonant activation (RA) is possible even in a thermodynamically closed system where the particle experiences a random force and a spatio-temporal frictional coefficient from the thermal bath. For this stochastic process, we have observed a hallmark of RA phenomena in terms of a turnover behavior of the barrier-crossing rate as a function of noise correlation time at a fixed noise variance. Variance can be fixed either by changing temperature or damping strength as a function of noise correlation time. Our another observation is that the barrier crossing rate passes through a maximum with increase in coupling strength of the multiplicative noise. If the damping strength is appreciably large, then the maximum may disappear. Finally, we compare simulation results with the analytical calculation. It shows that there is a good agreement between analytical and numerical results.

On the Relation between Atmospheric Ozone and Sunspot Number.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angell, J. K.

1989-11-01

Based on data from the Dobson network, between 1960 and 1987 there has been a zero-lag correlation of 0.48 between the 112 unsmoothed seasonal values of sunspot number and global total ozone, significant at the 1% level taking into account the considerable serial correlation in these data. The maximum correlation of 0.54 is found when sunspot number lags total ozone by two seasons, the result mainly of a phase difference early in the record. On the basis of only 2 1/2 solar cycles, the global total ozone has increased by 1.4% for an increase in sunspot number of 100. The correlation between sunspot number and total ozone has been significant at the 5% level in north temperate and tropical zones-the zones with the most representative data. In the north temperate zone, the correlation between sunspot number and total ozone has been much higher in the west-wind phase of the 50 mb equatorial QBO than in the east-wind phase, but in the tropics the correlation has been much higher in the east-wind phase. Umkehr measurements between 1966 and 1987 in the north temperate zone indicate that the correlation between sunspot number and ozone amount has been higher (0.35, almost significant at the 5% level) in the low stratosphere where transport processes dominate than in the high stratosphere where photochemical processes dominate. During 1932-60 there was a significant correlation of 0.35 between sunspot number and Arosa total ozone 14 seasons later, very different from the nearly in-phase relation found after 1960. Considered is the possible impact of long-term change in transport processes in the low stratosphere on the total-ozone record at a single station such as Arosa.Between 1966 and 1985 there has been very good agreement between observed global total ozone, and global total ozone calculated from three 2-D stratospheric models that take into account the solar cycle, the time variation in trace gases, and nuclear tests; both observed and calculated variations are closely related to the variation in sunspot number. Between 1960 and 1966, however, the agreement between observation and calculation is poor, the models indicating a pronounced minimum in global total ozone in 1963 due to the nuclear tests of the early 1960s-a minimum not found in this analysis. The observed variation in global total ozone has been compared with the variation predicted by one of the models up to the sunspot maximum in 1990, and the agreement is shown to be good through the northern summer of 1988 if the impact of the QBO on global total ozone is taken into account. On the basis of the present analysis, there has been a 1.0 ± 0.9% decrease in global total ozone between solar cycles 20 and 21, a decrease 70% larger than that indicated by the three stratospheric models.

Pearson correlation estimation for irregularly sampled time series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rehfeld, K.; Marwan, N.; Heitzig, J.; Kurths, J.

2012-04-01

Many applications in the geosciences call for the joint and objective analysis of irregular time series. For automated processing, robust measures of linear and nonlinear association are needed. Up to now, the standard approach would have been to reconstruct the time series on a regular grid, using linear or spline interpolation. Interpolation, however, comes with systematic side-effects, as it increases the auto-correlation in the time series. We have searched for the best method to estimate Pearson correlation for irregular time series, i.e. the one with the lowest estimation bias and variance. We adapted a kernel-based approach, using Gaussian weights. Pearson correlation is calculated, in principle, as a mean over products of previously centralized observations. In the regularly sampled case, observations in both time series were observed at the same time and thus the allocation of measurement values into pairs of products is straightforward. In the irregularly sampled case, however, measurements were not necessarily observed at the same time. Now, the key idea of the kernel-based method is to calculate weighted means of products, with the weight depending on the time separation between the observations. If the lagged correlation function is desired, the weights depend on the absolute difference between observation time separation and the estimation lag. To assess the applicability of the approach we used extensive simulations to determine the extent of interpolation side-effects with increasing irregularity of time series. We compared different approaches, based on (linear) interpolation, the Lomb-Scargle Fourier Transform, the sinc kernel and the Gaussian kernel. We investigated the role of kernel bandwidth and signal-to-noise ratio in the simulations. We found that the Gaussian kernel approach offers significant advantages and low Root-Mean Square Errors for regular, slightly irregular and very irregular time series. We therefore conclude that it is a good (linear) similarity measure that is appropriate for irregular time series with skewed inter-sampling time distributions.

Modeling the TTL at Continental Scale for a Wet Season: An Evaluation of the BRAMS Mesoscale Model Using TRO-Pico Campaign, and Measurements From Airborne and Spaceborne Sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Behera, Abhinna K.; Rivière, Emmanuel D.; Marécal, Virginie; Rysman, Jean-François; Chantal, Claud; Sèze, Geneviève; Amarouche, Nadir; Ghysels, Mélanie; Khaykin, Sergey M.; Pommereau, Jean-Pierre; Held, Gerhard; Burgalat, Jérémie; Durry, Georges

2018-03-01

In order to better understand the water vapor (WV) intrusion into the tropical stratosphere, a mesoscale simulation of the tropical tropopause layer using the BRAMS (Brazilian version of Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS)) model is evaluated for a wet season. This simulation with a horizontal grid point resolution of 20 km × 20 km cannot resolve the stratospheric overshooting convection (SOC). Its ability to reproduce other key parameters playing a role in the stratospheric WV abundance is investigated using the balloon-borne TRO-Pico campaign measurements, the upper-air soundings over Brazil, and the satellite observations by Aura Microwave Limb Sounder, Microwave Humidity Sounder, and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 12. The BRAMS exhibits a good ability in simulating temperature, cold-point, WV variability around the tropopause. However, the simulation is typically observed to be warmer by ˜2.0°C and wetter by ˜0.4 ppmv at the hygropause, which can be partly affiliated with the grid boundary nudging of the model by European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts operational analyses. The modeled cloud tops show a good correlation (maximum cross-correlation of ˜0.7) with Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 12. Furthermore, the overshooting cells detected by Microwave Humidity Sounder are observed at the locations, where 75% of the modeled cloud tops are higher than 11 km. Finally, the modeled inertia-gravity wave periodicity and wavelength are comparable with those deduced from the radio sounding measurements during TRO-Pico campaign. The good behavior of BRAMS confirms the SOC contribution in the WV abundance, and variability is of lesser importance than the large-scale processes. This simulation can be used as a reference run for upscaling the impact of SOC at a continental scale for future studies.

The Illustris simulation: supermassive black hole-galaxy connection beyond the bulge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mutlu-Pakdil, Burçin; Seigar, Marc S.; Hewitt, Ian B.; Treuthardt, Patrick; Berrier, Joel C.; Koval, Lauren E.

2018-02-01

We study the spiral arm morphology of a sample of the local spiral galaxies in the Illustris simulation and explore the supermassive black hole-galaxy connection beyond the bulge (e.g. spiral arm pitch angle, total stellar mass, dark matter mass, and total halo mass), finding good agreement with other theoretical studies and observational constraints. It is important to study the properties of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies through both observations and simulations and compare their results in order to understand their physics and formative histories. We find that Illustris prediction for supermassive black hole mass relative to pitch angle is in rather good agreement with observations and that barred and non-barred galaxies follow similar scaling relations. Our work shows that Illustris presents very tight correlations between supermassive black hole mass and large-scale properties of the host galaxy, not only for early-type galaxies but also for low-mass, blue and star-forming galaxies. These tight relations beyond the bulge suggest that halo properties determine those of a disc galaxy and its supermassive black hole.

Post-operative rotator cuff integrity, based on Sugaya's classification, can reflect abduction muscle strength of the shoulder.

PubMed

Yoshida, Masahito; Collin, Phillipe; Josseaume, Thierry; Lädermann, Alexandre; Goto, Hideyuki; Sugimoto, Katumasa; Otsuka, Takanobu

2018-01-01

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is common in structural and qualitative assessment of the rotator cuff post-operatively. Rotator cuff integrity has been thought to be associated with clinical outcome. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the inter-observer reliability of cuff integrity (Sugaya's classification) and assess the correlation between Sugaya's classification and the clinical outcome. It was hypothesized that Sugaya's classification would show good reliability and good correlation with the clinical outcome. Post-operative MR images were taken two years post-operatively, following arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. For assessment of inter-rater reliability, all radiographic evaluations for the supraspinatus muscle were done by two orthopaedic surgeons and one radiologist. Rotator cuff integrity was classified into five categories, according to Sugaya's classification. Fatty infiltration was graded into four categories, based on the Fuchs' classification grading system. Muscle hypotrophy was graded as four grades, according to the scale proposed by Warner. The clinical outcome was assessed according to the constant scoring system pre-operatively and 2 years post-operatively. Of the sixty-two consecutive patients with full-thickness rotator cuff tears, fifty-two patients were reviewed in this study. These subjects included twenty-three men and twenty-nine women, with an average age of fifty-seven years. In terms of the inter-rater reliability between orthopaedic surgeons, Sugaya's classification showed the highest agreement [ICC (2.1) = 0.82] for rotator cuff integrity. The grade of fatty infiltration and muscle atrophy demonstrated good agreement, respectively (0.722 and 0.758). With regard to the inter-rater reliability between orthopaedic surgeon and radiologist, Sugaya's classification showed good reliability [ICC (2.1) = 0.70]. On the other hand, fatty infiltration and muscle hypotrophy classifications demonstrated fair and moderate agreement [ICC (2.1) = 0.39 and 0.49]. Although no significant correlation was found between overall post-operative constant score and Sugaya's classification, Sugaya's classification indicated significant correlation with the muscle strength score. Sugaya's classification showed repeatability and good agreement between the orthopaedist and radiologist, who are involved in the patient care for the rotator cuff tear. Common classification of rotator cuff integrity with good reliability will give appropriate information for clinicians to improve the patient care of the rotator cuff tear. This classification also would be helpful to predict the strength of arm abduction in the scapular plane. IV.

Is computed tomography an accurate and reliable method for measuring total knee arthroplasty component rotation?

PubMed

Figueroa, José; Guarachi, Juan Pablo; Matas, José; Arnander, Magnus; Orrego, Mario

2016-04-01

Computed tomography (CT) is widely used to assess component rotation in patients with poor results after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The purpose of this study was to simultaneously determine the accuracy and reliability of CT in measuring TKA component rotation. TKA components were implanted in dry-bone models and assigned to two groups. The first group (n = 7) had variable femoral component rotations, and the second group (n = 6) had variable tibial tray rotations. CT images were then used to assess component rotation. Accuracy of CT rotational assessment was determined by mean difference, in degrees, between implanted component rotation and CT-measured rotation. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was applied to determine intra-observer and inter-observer reliability. Femoral component accuracy showed a mean difference of 2.5° and the tibial tray a mean difference of 3.2°. There was good intra- and inter-observer reliability for both components, with a femoral ICC of 0.8 and 0.76, and tibial ICC of 0.68 and 0.65, respectively. CT rotational assessment accuracy can differ from true component rotation by approximately 3° for each component. It does, however, have good inter- and intra-observer reliability.

Predicted Attenuation Relation and Observed Ground Motion of Gorkha Nepal Earthquake of 25 April 2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, R. P.; Ahmad, R.

2015-12-01

A comparison of recent observed ground motion parameters of recent Gorkha Nepal earthquake of 25 April 2015 (Mw 7.8) with the predicted ground motion parameters using exitsing attenuation relation of the Himalayan region will be presented. The recent earthquake took about 8000 lives and destroyed thousands of poor quality of buildings and the earthquake was felt by millions of people living in Nepal, China, India, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. The knowledge of ground parameters are very important in developing seismic code of seismic prone regions like Himalaya for better design of buildings. The ground parameters recorded in recent earthquake event and aftershocks are compared with attenuation relations for the Himalayan region, the predicted ground motion parameters show good correlation with the observed ground parameters. The results will be of great use to Civil engineers in updating existing building codes in the Himlayan and surrounding regions and also for the evaluation of seismic hazards. The results clearly show that the attenuation relation developed for the Himalayan region should be only used, other attenuation relations based on other regions fail to provide good estimate of observed ground motion parameters.

Spermatozoa micro ribonucleic acid-34c level is correlated with intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes.

PubMed

Cui, Long; Fang, Li; Shi, Biwei; Qiu, Sunquan; Ye, Yinghui

2015-08-01

To assess the effects of micro ribonucleic acid (miR)-34b/c expression levels in human spermatozoa on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes. Retrospective observational study. In vitro fertilization center. A total of 162 patients with idiopathic male infertility who had undergone first ICSI cycles. None. The levels of miR-34b/c in spermatozoa were measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Fertilization, early cleavage, day-3 good-quality embryo, pregnancy, implantation, and live birth rate were assessed. A receiver operating characteristic curve was employed to analyze the cutoff values. No correlation was found between the spermatozoa miR-34b/c levels and the 2 pronuclei early cleavage rate. A correlation was seen between an increased level of miR-34c and a higher percentage of good-quality embryos on day 3. Although miR-34b and miR-34c levels were higher in the pregnancy group, compared with the nonpregnancy group, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that miR-34c levels in spermatozoa were more strongly correlated with ICSI treatment outcomes, compared with miR-34b (area under the curve = 0.75). Patients in the miR-34c-positive group were more likely to exhibit higher rates of good-quality embryos, implantation, pregnancy, and live birth. A multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that miR-34c in spermatozoa (odds ratio: 5.699, with 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.687-12.088) and woman's age (odds ratio: 0.843, with 95% CI: 0.736-0.966) were the 2 parameters that were significantly correlated with pregnancy. Our results demonstrate that miR-34c levels in spermatozoa are correlated with ICSI outcomes, suggesting that paternal miR-34c may play a role in the early phases of embryonic development. Levels of MiR-34c in human spermatozoa may be used as an indicator for ICSI outcomes. Copyright © 2015 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Artificial neural network model of the relationship between Betula pollen and meteorological factors in Szczecin (Poland)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puc, Małgorzata

2012-03-01

Birch pollen is one of the main causes of allergy during spring and early summer in northern and central Europe. The aim of this study was to create a forecast model that can accurately predict daily average concentrations of Betula sp. pollen grains in the atmosphere of Szczecin, Poland. In order to achieve this, a novel data analysis technique—artificial neural networks (ANN)—was used. Sampling was carried out using a volumetric spore trap of the Hirst design in Szczecin during 2003-2009. Spearman's rank correlation analysis revealed that humidity had a strong negative correlation with Betula pollen concentrations. Significant positive correlations were observed for maximum temperature, average temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation. The ANN resulted in multilayer perceptrons 366 8: 2928-7-1:1, time series prediction was of quite high accuracy (SD Ratio between 0.3 and 0.5, R > 0.85). Direct comparison of the observed and calculated values confirmed good performance of the model and its ability to recreate most of the variation.

Geophysical Analysis of Major Geothermal Anomalies in Romania

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panea, Ionelia; Mocanu, Victor

2017-11-01

The Romanian segment of the Eastern Pannonian Basin and the Moesian Platform are known for their geothermal and hydrocarbon-bearing structures. We used seismic, gravity, and geothermal data to analyze the geothermal behavior in the Oradea and Timisoara areas, from the Romanian segment of Eastern Pannonian Basin, and the Craiova-Bals-Optasi area, from the Moesian Platform. We processed 22 seismic reflection data sets recorded in the Oradea and Timisoara areas to obtain P-wave velocity distributions and time seismic sections. The P-wave velocity distributions correlate well with the structural trends observed along the seismic lines. We observed a good correlation between the high areas of crystalline basement seen on the time seismic sections and the high heat flow and gravity-anomaly values. For the Craiova-Bals-Optasi area, we computed a three-dimensional (3D) temperature model using calculated and measured temperature and geothermal gradient values in wells with an irregular distribution on the territory. The high temperatures from the Craiova-Bals-Optasi area correlate very well with the uplifted basement blocks seen on the time seismic sections and high gravity-anomaly values.

Measuring Age-Dependent Myocardial Stiffness across the Cardiac Cycle using MR Elastography: A Reproducibility Study

PubMed Central

Wassenaar, Peter A; Eleswarpu, Chethanya N; Schroeder, Samuel A; Mo, Xiaokui; Raterman, Brian D; White, Richard D; Kolipaka, Arunark

2015-01-01

Purpose To assess reproducibility in measuring left ventricular (LV) myocardial stiffness in volunteers throughout the cardiac cycle using magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) and to determine its correlation with age. Methods Cardiac MRE (CMRE) was performed on 29 normal volunteers, with ages ranging from 21 to 73 years. For assessing reproducibility of CMRE-derived stiffness measurements, scans were repeated per volunteer. Wave images were acquired throughout the LV myocardium, and were analyzed to obtain mean stiffness during the cardiac cycle. CMRE-derived stiffness values were correlated to age. Results Concordance correlation coefficient revealed good inter-scan agreement with rc of 0.77, with p-value<0.0001. Significantly higher myocardial stiffness was observed during end-systole (ES) compared to end-diastole (ED) across all subjects. Additionally, increased deviation between ES and ED stiffness was observed with increased age. Conclusion CMRE-derived stiffness is reproducible, with myocardial stiffness changing cyclically across the cardiac cycle. Stiffness is significantly higher during ES compared to ED. With age, ES myocardial stiffness increases more than ED, giving rise to an increased deviation between the two. PMID:26010456

Thermodynamic equilibrium-air correlations for flowfield applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zoby, E. V.; Moss, J. N.

1981-01-01

Equilibrium-air thermodynamic correlations have been developed for flowfield calculation procedures. A comparison between the postshock results computed by the correlation equations and detailed chemistry calculations is very good. The thermodynamic correlations are incorporated in an approximate inviscid flowfield code with a convective heating capability for the purpose of defining the thermodynamic environment through the shock layer. Comparisons of heating rates computed by the approximate code and a viscous-shock-layer method are good. In addition to presenting the thermodynamic correlations, the impact of several viscosity models on the convective heat transfer is demonstrated.

Validation of the DRAGON Score in a Chinese Population to Predict Functional Outcome of Intravenous Thrombolysis-Treated Stroke Patients.

PubMed

Zhang, Xinmiao; Liao, Xiaoling; Wang, Chunjuan; Liu, Liping; Wang, Chunxue; Zhao, Xingquan; Pan, Yuesong; Wang, Yilong; Wang, Yongjun

2015-08-01

The DRAGON score predicts functional outcome of ischemic stroke patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis. Our aim was to evaluate its utility in a Chinese stroke population. Patients with acute ischemic stroke treated with intravenous thrombolysis were prospectively registered in the Thrombolysis Implementation and Monitor of acute ischemic Stroke in China. We excluded patients with basilar artery occlusion and missing data, leaving 970 eligible patients. We calculated the DRAGON score, and the clinical outcome was measured by the modified Rankin Scale at 3 months. Model discrimination was quantified by calculating the C statistic. Calibration was assessed using Pearson correlation coefficient. The C statistic was .73 (.70-.76) for good outcome and .75 (.70-.79) for miserable outcome. Proportions of patients with good outcome were 94%, 83%, 70%, and 0% for 0 to 1, 2, 3, and 8 to 10 score points, respectively. Proportions of patients with miserable outcome were 0%, 3%, 9%, and 50% for 0 to 1, 2, 3, and 8 to 10 points, respectively. There was high correlation between predicted and observed probability of 3-month favorable and miserable outcome in the external validation cohort (Pearson correlation coefficient, .98 and .98, respectively, both P < .0001). The DRAGON score showed good performance to predict functional outcome after tissue-type plasminogen activator treatment in the Chinese population. This study demonstrated the accuracy and usability of the DRAGON score in the Chinese population in daily practice. Copyright © 2015 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dermoscopic patterns of Melanoma Metastases: inter-observer consistency and accuracy for metastases recognition

PubMed Central

Costa, J.; Ortiz-Ibañez, K.; Salerni, G.; Borges, V.; Carrera, C.; Puig, S.; Malvehy, J.

2013-01-01

Background Cutaneous metastases of malignant melanoma (CMMM) can be confused with other skin lesions. Dermoscopy could be helpful in the differential diagnosis. Objective To describe distinctive dermoscopic patterns that are reproducible and accurate in the identification of CMMM Methods A retrospective study of 146 dermoscopic images of CMMM from 42 patients attending a Melanoma Unit between 2002 and 2009 was performed. Firstly, two investigators established six dermoscopic patterns for CMMM. The correlation of 73 dermoscopic images with their distinctive patterns was assessed by four independent dermatologists to evaluate the reproducibility in the identification of the patterns. Finally, 163 dermoscopic images, including CMMM and non-metastatic lesions, were evaluated by the same four dermatologists to calculate the accuracy of the patterns in the recognition of CMMM. Results Five CMMM dermoscopic patterns had a good inter-observer agreement (blue nevus-like, nevus-like, angioma like, vascular and unspecific). When CMMM were classified according to these patterns, correlation between the investigators and the four dermatologists ranged from κ = 0.56 to 0.7. 71 CMMM, 16 angiomas, 22 blue nevus, 15 malignant melanoma, 11 seborrheic keratosis, 15 melanocytic nevus with globular pattern and 13 pink lesions with vascular pattern were evaluated according to the previously described CMMM dermoscopy patterns, showing an overall sensitivity of 68% (between 54.9–76%) and a specificity of 81% (between 68.6–93.5) for the diagnosis of CMMM. Conclusion Five dermoscopic patterns of CMMM with good inter-observer agreement obtained a high sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of metastasis, the accuracy varying according to the experience of the observer. PMID:23495915

Correlated Debye model for atomic motions in metal nanocrystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scardi, P.; Flor, A.

2018-05-01

The Correlated Debye model for the mean square relative displacement of atoms in near-neighbour coordination shells has been extended to include the effect of finite crystal size. This correctly explains the increase in Debye-Waller coefficient observed for metal nanocrystals. A good match with Molecular Dynamics simulations of Pd nanocrystals is obtained if, in addition to the phonon confinement effect of the finite domain size, proper consideration is also given to the static disorder component caused by the undercoordination of surface atoms. The new model, which addresses the analysis of the Pair Distribution Function and powder diffraction data collected at different temperatures, was preliminarily tested on recently published experimental data on nanocrystalline Pt powders.

Observations on using inside air concentrations as a predictor of outside air concentrations

DOE PAGES

Hawkley, Gavin; Whicker, Jeffrey; Harris, Jason

2015-04-01

Here, excavations of radiological material were performed within confined structures with known operational parameters, such as a filtered exhaust system with known filtration efficiency. Given the known efficiency, the assumption could be made that the air concentrations of radioactivity measured outside the structure would be proportional to the air concentrations measured inside the structure. To investigate this assumption, the inside concentration data was compared with the outside concentration data. The correlation of the data suggested that the inside concentrations were not a good predictor of the outside concentrations. This poor correlation was deemed to be a result of operational unknownsmore » within the structures.« less

[Income inequality, corruption, and life expectancy at birth in Mexico].

PubMed

Idrovo, Alvaro Javier

2005-01-01

To ascertain if the effect of income inequality on life expectancy at birth in Mexico is mediated by corruption, used as a proxy of social capital. An ecological study was carried out with the 32 Mexican federative entities. Global and by sex correlations between life expectancy at birth were estimated by federative entity with the Gini coefficient, the Corruption and Good Government Index, the percentage of Catholics, and the percentage of the population speaking indigenous language. Robust linear regressions, with and without instrumental variables, were used to explore if corruption acts as intermediate variable in the studied relationship. Negative correlations with Spearman's rho near to -0.60 (p < 0.05) and greater than -0.66 (p < 0.05) between life expectancy at birth, the Gini coefficient and the population speaking indigenous language, respectively, were observed. Moreover, the Corruption and Good Government Index correlated with men's life expectancy at birth with Spearman's rho -0.3592 (p < 0.05). Regressions with instruments were more consistent than conventional ones and they show a strong negative effect (p < 0.05) of income inequality on life expectancy at birth. This effect was greater among men. The findings suggest a negative effect of income inequality on life expectancy at birth in Mexico, mediated by corruption levels and other related cultural factors.

Correlation between central venous pressure and peripheral venous pressure with passive leg raise in patients on mechanical ventilation.

PubMed

Kumar, Dharmendra; Ahmed, Syed Moied; Ali, Shahna; Ray, Utpal; Varshney, Ankur; Doley, Kashmiri

2015-11-01

Central venous pressure (CVP) assesses the volume status of patients. However, this technique is not without complications. We, therefore, measured peripheral venous pressure (PVP) to see whether it can replace CVP. To evaluate the correlation and agreement between CVP and PVP after passive leg raise (PLR) in critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation. Prospective observational study in Intensive Care Unit. Fifty critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation were included in the study. CVP and PVP measurements were taken using a water column manometer. Measurements were taken in the supine position and subsequently after a PLR of 45°. Pearson's correlation and Bland-Altman's analysis. This study showed a fair correlation between CVP and PVP after a PLR of 45° (correlation coefficient, r = 0.479; P = 0.0004) when the CVP was <10 cmH2O. However, the correlation was good when the CVP was >10 cmH2O. Bland-Altman analysis showed 95% limits of agreement to be -2.912-9.472. PVP can replace CVP for guiding fluid therapy in critically ill patients.

A study of reacting free and ducted hydrogen/air jets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beach, H. L., Jr.

1975-01-01

The mixing and reaction of a supersonic jet of hydrogen in coaxial free and ducted high temperature test gases were investigated. The importance of chemical kinetics on computed results, and the utilization of free-jet theoretical approaches to compute enclosed flow fields were studied. Measured pitot pressure profiles were correlated by use of a parabolic mixing analysis employing an eddy viscosity model. All computations, including free, ducted, reacting, and nonreacting cases, use the same value of the empirical constant in the viscosity model. Equilibrium and finite rate chemistry models were utilized. The finite rate assumption allowed prediction of observed ignition delay, but the equilibrium model gave the best correlations downstream from the ignition location. Ducted calculations were made with finite rate chemistry; correlations were, in general, as good as the free-jet results until problems with the boundary conditions were encountered.

Geometrical correlations in the nucleosomal DNA conformation and the role of the covalent bonds rigidity

PubMed Central

Ghorbani, Maryam; Mohammad-Rafiee, Farshid

2011-01-01

We develop a simple elastic model to study the conformation of DNA in the nucleosome core particle. In this model, the changes in the energy of the covalent bonds that connect the base pairs of each strand of the DNA double helix, as well as the lateral displacements and the rotation of adjacent base pairs are considered. We show that because of the rigidity of the covalent bonds in the sugar-phosphate backbones, the base pair parameters are highly correlated, especially, strong twist-roll-slide correlation in the conformation of the nucleosomal DNA is vividly observed in the calculated results. This simple model succeeds to account for the detailed features of the structure of the nucleosomal DNA, particularly, its more important base pair parameters, roll and slide, in good agreement with the experimental results. PMID:20972223

Interobserver reliability of echocardiography for prognostication of normotensive patients with pulmonary embolism

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Objectives To evaluate the interobserver reliability of echocardiographic findings of right ventricle (RV) dysfunction for prognosticating normotensive patients with pulmonary embolism (PE). Methods A central panel of cardiologists evaluated echocardiographic studies of 75 patients included in the PROTECT study for the following signs: RV diameter, RV/left ventricular (LV) diameter ratio, hypokinesis of the RV free wall, and tricuspid plane systolic excursion (TAPSE). Investigators used intraclass correlation to assess agreement between the measurements of the central panel and each of the local cardiologists. Investigators used the single weighted kappa statistic to test for agreement between readers of interpretation of RV enlargement and RV hypokinesis. Results The two observers had fair agreement (k = 0.45) for RV enlargement assessed by the RV diameter, and good agreement (k = 0.65) for RV enlargement assessed by the RV/LV diameter ratio. The interobserver reliability of the assessment whether hypokinesis of the RV free wall is present was good (к = 0.70), and whether RV dysfunction (assessed by TAPSE measurement) is present was very good (k = 0.86). The intraclass correlation for the RV/LV diameter ratio was fair (0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.37-0.69), for the RV diameter was good (0.70; 95% CI, 0.56-0.80), and for the TAPSE measurement was very good (0.85; 95% CI, 0.77-0.90). On Bland-Altman analysis, the mean differences for RV diameter, RV/LV diameter ratio and TAPSE measurement were 2.33 (±5.38), 0.06 (±0.23) and 0.08 (±2.20), respectively. Conclusion TAPSE measurement is the least user dependent and most reproducible echocardiographic finding of RV dysfunction in normotensive patients with PE. PMID:25092465

Health impact caused by poor water and sanitation in district Abbottabad.

PubMed

Jabeen, Sadia; Mahmood, Qaisar; Tariq, Sumbal; Nawab, Bahadar; Elahi, Noor

2011-01-01

Large proportions of people still do not have excess to safe drinking water and proper sanitation. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to assess the health impacts. Random households were selected. Information was collected from questionnaire through interview schedule method, group discussion and observation checklist. People rated water and sanitation condition in urban as: 10% very good, 27% good, 20% bad, 43% very bad, and none of them said we don't know While in rural areas they rated 10% very good, 36% good, 44% bad, 6% very bad, and 4% of them said we don't know. Water sources in selected urban and rural areas were different. 37% in urban and 68% in rural area depended on bore wells as water source, 22% depended on hand pumps. In urban areas, the disease ratio was typhoid 20%, hepatitis 13%, diarrhoea 27%, skin infection 23%, stomach problems 53% and allergies 33%. In rural areas, after stomach problems, diarrhoea, hepatitis and typhoid ratio was very high as compared to urban area. In rural community, 70% were unaware of poor water and sanitation consequences on health. The water and sanitation condition in urban as well as in rural community is poor but in rural community it is even worse The drinking water was contaminated with E. coli, Enterobacter, Salmonella and Clostridium. This observation was correlated with prevalence of many water born diseases especially in rural communities of Abbottabad.

[Concordance of glomerular filtration rate with creatinine clearance in 24-hour urine and Schwartz and Schwartz updated].

PubMed

Salazar-Gutiérrez, María Luisa; Ochoa-Ponce, Cristina; Lona-Reyes, Juan Carlos; Gutiérrez-Íñiguez, Sara Ivonne

Reference methods for the quantification of the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) are difficult to use in clinical practice; formulas for evaluating GFR based on serum creatinine (SCr) and/or creatinine clearance are used. The aim of this study was to quantify the correlation and concordance of GFR with creatinine clearance in 24-hour urine (GFR24) and Schwartz and Schwartz updated formulas. Cross-sectional study involving healthy pediatric patients and with chronic kidney disease (CKD) from 5 to 16.9 years. Linear correlation between GFR 24 and two formulas was evaluated with the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). We studied 134 patients, of which 59.7% were male. Mean age was 10.8 years. The average GFR24 was 140.34ml/min/1.73m 2 ; 34.3% (n=46) had GFR <90ml/min/1.73m 2 . Moderate linear correlation between GFR24 and Schwartz (r= 0.63) and Schwartz updated (r= 0.65) formulas was observed. There was good concordance between the GFR24 and Schwartz (ICC= 0.77) and updated Schwartz (ICC= 0.77) formulas. Schwartz classical formula in patients with GFR24 ≥ 90ml/min/1.73m 2 estimated higher values, while Schwartz updated underestimated values. There is moderate correlation and good concordance between the GFR24 and Schwartz and Schwartz updated formulas. The concordance was better in patients with obesity and lower in women, patients with hyperfiltration and normal weight. Copyright © 2016 Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez. Publicado por Masson Doyma México S.A. All rights reserved.

Deep JVLA Imaging of GOODS-N at 20 cm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Owen, Frazer N.

2018-04-01

New wideband continuum observations in the 1–2 GHz band of the GOODS-N field using NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) are presented. The best image with an effective frequency of 1525 MHz reaches an rms noise in the field center of 2.2 μJy, with 1.″6 resolution. A catalog of 795 sources is presented covering a radius of 9 arcminutes centered near the nominal center for the GOODS-N field, very near the nominal VLA pointing center for the observations. Optical/NIR identifications and redshift estimates both from ground-based and HST observations are discussed. Using these optical/NIR data, it is most likely that fewer than 2% of the sources without confusion problems do not have a correct identification. A large subset of the detected sources have radio sizes >1″. It is shown that the radio orientations for such sources correlate well with the HST source orientations, especially for z < 1. This suggests that a least a large subset of the 10 kpc-scale disks of luminous infrared/ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRG/ULIRG) have strong star formation, not just in the nucleus. For the half of the objects with z > 1, the sample must be some mixture of very high star formation rates, typically 300 M ⊙ yr‑1, assuming pure star formation, and an active galactic nucleus (AGN) or a mixed AGN/star formation population.

Correlated Flare and CME Energies for the October/November 2003 Events

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dennis, Brian R.; Haga, Leah; Medlin, Drew; Tolbert, A. Kimberly

2006-01-01

We find a strong correlation between the kinetic energies (KEs) of the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and the radiated energies of the associated solar flares for the events that occurred during the period of intense solar activity between 18 October and 08 November 2003. CME start times, speeds, mass, and KEs were taken from Gopalswamy et al. (2005), who used SOHO/LASCO observations. The GOES observations of the associated flares were analyzed to find the peak SXR flux, the radiated energy in SXRs (L(sub sxr)), and the radiated energy from the SXR emitting plasma across all wavelengths (L(sub hot)). RHESSI observations were also used to find the energy in non-thermal electrons, ions, and the plasma thermal energy for some events. For two events, SORCE/TIM observations of the total solar irradiance during a flare were also available to give the total radiated flare energy (L(sub total)). We find that the total flare energies of the larger events are of the same order of magnitude as the CME KE with a stronger correlation than has been found in the past for other time intervals. The following rule-of-thumb (good to an order of magnitude for the larger events} can be used to relate flare and CME energies: CME KE l(sub total) 10 L(sub hot) 100 L(sub SXR).

Extensive validation of the pain disability index in 3 groups of patients with musculoskeletal pain.

PubMed

Soer, Remko; Köke, Albère J A; Vroomen, Patrick C A J; Stegeman, Patrick; Smeets, Rob J E M; Coppes, Maarten H; Reneman, Michiel F

2013-04-20

A cross-sectional study design was performed. To validate the pain disability index (PDI) extensively in 3 groups of patients with musculoskeletal pain. The PDI is a widely used and studied instrument for disability related to various pain syndromes, although there is conflicting evidence concerning factor structure, test-retest reliability, and missing items. Additionally, an official translation of the Dutch language version has never been performed. For reliability, internal consistency, factor structure, test-retest reliability and measurement error were calculated. Validity was tested with hypothesized correlations with pain intensity, kinesiophobia, Rand-36 subscales, Depression, Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire, Quality of Life, and Work Status. Structural validity was tested with independent backward translation and approval from the original authors. One hundred seventy-eight patients with acute back pain, 425 patients with chronic low back pain and 365 with widespread pain were included. Internal consistency of the PDI was good. One factor was identified with factor analyses. Test-retest reliability was good for the PDI (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.76). Standard error of measurement was 6.5 points and smallest detectable change was 17.9 points. Little correlations between the PDI were observed with kinesiophobia and depression, fair correlations with pain intensity, work status, and vitality and moderate correlations with the Rand-36 subscales and the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire. The PDI-Dutch language version is internally consistent as a 1-factor structure, and test-retest reliable. Missing items seem high in sexual and professional items. Using the PDI as a 2-factor questionnaire has no additional value and is unreliable.

How Well Has Global Ocean Heat Content Variability Been Measured?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, A.; Weiss, J.; Fox-Kemper, B.; Fabienne, G.

2016-12-01

We introduce a new strategy that uses synthetic observations of an ensemble of model simulations to test the fidelity of an observational strategy, quantifying how well it captures the statistics of variability. We apply this test to the 0-700m global ocean heat content anomaly (OHCA) as observed with in-situ measurements by the Coriolis Dataset for Reanalysis (CORA), using the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) version 3.5. One-year running mean OHCAs for the years 2005 onward are found to faithfully capture the variability. During these years, synthetic observations of the model are strongly correlated at 0.94±0.06 with the actual state of the model. Overall, sub-annual variability and data before 2005 are significantly affected by the variability of the observing system. In contrast, the sometimes-used weighted integral of observations is not a good indicator of OHCA as variability in the observing system contaminates dynamical variability.

Accuracy of quantitative visual soil assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Leeuwen, Maricke; Heuvelink, Gerard; Stoorvogel, Jetse; Wallinga, Jakob; de Boer, Imke; van Dam, Jos; van Essen, Everhard; Moolenaar, Simon; Verhoeven, Frank; Stoof, Cathelijne

2016-04-01

Visual soil assessment (VSA) is a method to assess soil quality visually, when standing in the field. VSA is increasingly used by farmers, farm organisations and companies, because it is rapid and cost-effective, and because looking at soil provides understanding about soil functioning. Often VSA is regarded as subjective, so there is a need to verify VSA. Also, many VSAs have not been fine-tuned for contrasting soil types. This could lead to wrong interpretation of soil quality and soil functioning when contrasting sites are compared to each other. We wanted to assess accuracy of VSA, while taking into account soil type. The first objective was to test whether quantitative visual field observations, which form the basis in many VSAs, could be validated with standardized field or laboratory measurements. The second objective was to assess whether quantitative visual field observations are reproducible, when used by observers with contrasting backgrounds. For the validation study, we made quantitative visual observations at 26 cattle farms. Farms were located at sand, clay and peat soils in the North Friesian Woodlands, the Netherlands. Quantitative visual observations evaluated were grass cover, number of biopores, number of roots, soil colour, soil structure, number of earthworms, number of gley mottles and soil compaction. Linear regression analysis showed that four out of eight quantitative visual observations could be well validated with standardized field or laboratory measurements. The following quantitative visual observations correlated well with standardized field or laboratory measurements: grass cover with classified images of surface cover; number of roots with root dry weight; amount of large structure elements with mean weight diameter; and soil colour with soil organic matter content. Correlation coefficients were greater than 0.3, from which half of the correlations were significant. For the reproducibility study, a group of 9 soil scientists and 7 farmers carried out quantitative visual observations all independently from each other. All observers assessed five sites, having a sand, peat or clay soil. For almost all quantitative visual observations the spread of observed values was low (coefficient of variation < 1.0), except for the number of biopores and gley mottles. Furthermore, farmers' observed mean values were significantly higher than soil scientists' mean values, for soil structure, amount of gley mottles and compaction. This study showed that VSA could be a valuable tool to assess soil quality. Subjectivity, due to the background of the observer, might influence the outcome of visual assessment of some soil properties. In countries where soil analyses can easily be carried out, VSA might be a good replenishment to available soil chemical analyses, and in countries where it is not feasible to carry out soil analyses, VSA might be a good start to assess soil quality.

Comparison of Eyemetrics and Orbscan automated method to determine horizontal corneal diameter

PubMed Central

Venkataraman, Arvind; Mardi, Sapna K; Pillai, Sarita

2010-01-01

Purpose: To compare horizontal corneal diameter measurements using the Orbscan Eyemetrics function and Orbscan corneal topographer. Materials and Methods: Seventy-three eyes of 37 patients were included in the study. In all cases, the automated white-to-white (WTW) measurements were obtained using Orbscan by two observers. Using the Eyemetrics function, the WTW was measured manually by the same observers from limbus to limbus using the digital caliper passing through the five point corneal reflections on the Orbscan real image. The data was analyzed using SPSS software for correlation, reliability and inter-rater repeatability. Results: The mean horizontal corneal diameter was 11.74 ± 0.32mm (SD) with the Orbscan and 11.92 ± 0.33mm (SD) with Eyemetrics Software-based measurement. A good positive correlation (Spearman r = 0.720, P = 0.026) was found between these two measurements. The coefficient of inter-rater repeatability was 0.89 for the Orbscan and 0.94 for the Eyemetrics software measurements on the anterior segment images. The Bland and Altman analysis showed large limits of agreement between Orbscan WTW and Eyemetrics WTW measurements. The intra-session repeatability scores for repeat measurements for the Orbscan WTW and Eyemetrics measurements were good. Conclusion: Eyemetrics can be used to measure WTW and the Eyemetrics measured WTW was longer than the WTW measured by Orbscan. PMID:20413925

Crustal wavespeed structure of North Texas and Oklahoma based on ambient noise cross-correlation functions and adjoint tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Hejun

2018-04-01

Recently, seismologists observed increasing seismicity in North Texas and Oklahoma. Based on seismic observations and other geophysical measurements, numerous studies suggested links between the increasing seismicity and wastewater injection during unconventional oil and gas exploration. To better monitor seismic events and investigate their triggering mechanisms, we need an accurate 3D crustal wavespeed model for the study region. Considering the uneven distribution of earthquakes in this area, seismic tomography with local earthquake records have difficulties achieving even illumination. To overcome this limitation, in this study, ambient noise cross-correlation functions are used to constrain subsurface variations in wavespeeds. I use adjoint tomography to iteratively fit frequency-dependent phase differences between observed and predicted band-limited Green's functions. The spectral-element method is used to numerically calculate the band-limited Green's functions and the adjoint method is used to calculate misfit gradients with respect to wavespeeds. Twenty five preconditioned conjugate gradient iterations are used to update model parameters and minimize data misfits. Features in the new crustal model TO25 correlates well with geological provinces in the study region, including the Llano uplift, the Anadarko basin and the Ouachita orogenic front, etc. In addition, there are relatively good correlations between seismic results with gravity and magnetic observations. This new crustal model can be used to better constrain earthquake source parameters in North Texas and Oklahoma, such as epicenter location as well as moment tensor solutions, which are important for investigating triggering mechanisms between these induced earthquakes and unconventional oil and gas exploration activities.

Quality of life of patients undergoing surgery by videolaparoscopy for GERD treatment.

PubMed

Andrade, Francisco José Cavalcante; de Almeida, Eliete Rodrigues; dos Santos, Maria Teresa Botti Rodrigues; Soares-Filho, Eurípedes; Lopes, João Batista; Veras e Silva, Roberto Cavalcante

2012-01-01

Gastroesophageal reflux disease is a chronic disease of high prevalence in Western countries, with negative effects on quality of life. Surgery is indicated for patients with intolerance to continuous medication, prolonged treatment or control, or in complicated forms of the disease. To evaluate the quality of life of patients undergoing surgery by videolaparoscopy for gastroesophageal reflux disease treatment. Sample comprised 43 patients of both genders (mean age = 51.4 years). For quality of life evaluation was made using the questionnaire Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Health Related Quality of Life, translated and validated into Portuguese. Data were analyzed by Epi Info version 3.5.1, using Duncan test and Pearson's correlation coefficient, with 5% for null hypothesis (p ≤ 0.05). Over 50% of participants showed good quality of life (scores <5 of the questionnaire), more than 90% indicated satisfaction with their health. A significant positive correlation between most variables related to heartburn and the time after surgery was observed (p ≤ 0.05). Patients presented good quality of life and high level of satisfaction with their postoperative condition.

The impact of manufacturing complexity drivers on performance-a preliminary study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huah Leang, Suh; Mahmood, Wan Hasrulnizzam Wan; Rahman, Muhamad Arfauz A.

2018-03-01

Manufacturing systems, in pursuit of cost, time and flexibility optimisation are becoming more and more complex, exhibiting a dynamic and nonlinear behaviour. Unpredictability is a distinct characteristic of such behaviour and effects production planning significantly. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate the priority level and current achievement of manufacturing performance in Malaysia’s manufacturing industry and the complexity drivers on manufacturing productivity performance. The results showed that Malaysia’s manufacturing industry prioritised product quality and they managed to achieve a good on time delivery performance. However, for other manufacturing performance, there was a difference where the current achievement of manufacturing performances in Malaysia’s manufacturing industry is slightly lower than the priority given to them. The strong correlation of significant value for priority status was observed between efficient production levelling (finished goods) and finish product management while the strong correlation of significant value for current achievement was minimised the number of workstation and factory transportation system. This indicates that complexity drivers have an impact towards manufacturing performance. Consequently, it is necessary to identify complexity drivers to achieve well manufacturing performance.

Phospholipid bilayer affinities and solvation characteristics by electrokinetic chromatography with a nanodisc pseudostationary phase.

PubMed

Penny, William M; Steele, Harmen B; Ross, J B Alexander; Palmer, Christopher P

2017-03-01

Phospholipid bilayer nanodiscs composed of 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and synthetic maleic acid-styrene copolymer belts have been introduced as a pseudostationary phase (PSP) in electrokinetic chromatography and demonstrated good performance. The nanodiscs provide a suitable migration range and high theoretical plate counts. Using this nanodisc pseudostationary phase, the affinity of the bilayer structure for probe solutes was determined and characterized. Good correlation is observed between retention factors and octanol water partition coefficients for particular categories of solutes, but the general correlation is weak primarily because the nanodiscs show stronger affinity than octanol for hydrogen bond donors. This suggests that a more appropriate application of this technology is to measure and characterize interactions between solutes and lipid bilayers directly. Linear solvation energy relationship analysis of the nanodisc-solute interactions in this study demonstrates that the nanodiscs provide a solvation environment with low cohesivity and weak hydrogen bond donating ability, and provide relatively strong hydrogen bond acceptor strength. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Mixed Gas Hydrogen Sulfide Permeability and Separation Using Supported Polyphosphazene Membranes

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

Frederick F. Stewart; Christopher J. Orme

Three phosphazene polymers were characterized for permeability using a suite of pure gases, including H2S where high permeabilities were measured with respect to the other gases in the study. Furthermore, mixed gas selectivities were determined and compared to the ideal gas selectivities for the H2S/CH4, CO2/CH4, and Ar/CH4 gas pairs. The three phosphazenes represent a set of membrane materials differing by their polarities. Description of the polarity of each was performed using Hansen solubility parameters derived from group contributions for each chemical structure. A good correlation was observed between the polar Hansen parameter (äp) and the gas permeabilities of bothmore » CO2 and H2S. Furthermore, permeant gas critical temperatures were also found to correlate with permeability suggesting a solubility driven transport process. A comparison of the mixed gas permeabilities with the corresponding pure gas data revealed good agreement in the data, although the presence of more condensable gases hinders non-polar gas transport resulting in higher separation factors.« less

Self-rated health among Greenlandic Inuit and Norwegian Sami adolescents: associated risk and protective correlates.

PubMed

Spein, Anna Rita; Pedersen, Cecilia Petrine; Silviken, Anne Cathrine; Melhus, Marita; Kvernmo, Siv Eli; Bjerregaard, Peter

2013-01-01

Self-rated health (SRH) and associated risk and protective correlates were investigated among two indigenous adolescent populations, Greenlandic Inuit and Norwegian Sami. Cross-sectional data were collected from "Well-being among Youth in Greenland" (WBYG) and "The Norwegian Arctic Adolescent Health Study" (NAAHS), conducted during 2003-2005 and comprising 10th and 11th graders, 378 Inuit and 350 Sami. SRH was assessed by one single item, using a 4-point and 5-point scale for NAAHS and WBYG, respectively. Logistic regressions were performed separately for each indigenous group using a dichotomous measure with "very good" (NAAHS) and "very good/good" (WBYG) as reference categories. We simultaneously controlled for various socio-demographics, risk correlates (drinking, smoking, violence and suicidal behaviour) and protective correlates (physical activity, well-being in school, number of close friends and adolescent-parent relationship). A majority of both Inuit (62%) and Sami (89%) youth reported "good" or "very good" SRH. The proportion of "poor/fair/not so good" SRH was three times higher among Inuit than Sami (38% vs. 11%, p≤0.001). Significantly more Inuit females than males reported "poor/fair" SRH (44% vs. 29%, p≤0.05), while no gender differences occurred among Sami (12% vs. 9%, p≤0.08). In both indigenous groups, suicidal thoughts (risk) and physical activity (protective) were associated with poor and good SRH, respectively. In accordance with other studies of indigenous adolescents, suicidal thoughts were strongly associated with poorer SRH among Sami and Inuit. The Inuit-Sami differences in SRH could partly be due to higher "risk" and lower "protective" correlates among Inuit than Sami. The positive impact of physical activity on SRH needs to be targeted in future intervention programs.

Historical Space Climate Data from Finland: Compilation and Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nevanlinna, Heikki

2004-10-01

We have compiled archived geomagnetic observations from the Helsinki magnetic observatory as well as visual sightings of auroral occurrence in Finland. The magnetic database comprises about 2 000 000 observations of H- and D-components measured during 1844-1909 with time resolution of 10 min to 1 h. In addition, magnetic observations carried out in the First and Second Polar Years in Finland have been recompiled. Magnetic activity indices (three-hour K-and daily Ak-figures) have been derived from the magnetic observations. Comparisons between the Finnish indices and simultaneous global aa-index (starting in 1868) show a good mutual correlation. The Helsinki activity index series can be used as a (pseudo) extension of the aa-index series for about two solar cycles 1844d -1868. On the annual level the correlation coefficient is about 0.9 during the overlapped time interval 1868-1897. The auroral database consists of about 20 000 single observations observed in Finland since the year 1748. The database of visual auroras has been completed by auroral occurrence (AO) index data derived from the Finnish all-sky camera recordings during 1973 -1997 at several sites in Lapland. The AO-index reveals both spatial and temporal variations of auroras from diurnal to solar cycle time scales in different space weather conditions.

Quality improvement in multidisciplinary cancer teams: an investigation of teamwork and clinical decision-making and cross-validation of assessments.

PubMed

Lamb, B W; Sevdalis, N; Mostafid, H; Vincent, C; Green, J S A

2011-12-01

Teamworking and clinical decision-making are important in multidisciplinary cancer teams (MDTs). Our objective is to assess the quality of information presentation and MDT members' contribution to decision-making via expert observation and self-report, aiming to cross-validate the two methods and assess the insight of MDT members into their own team performance. Behaviors were scored using (i) a validated observational tool employing Likert scales with objective anchors, and (ii) a 29-question online self-report tool. Data were collected from observation of 164 cases in five MDTs, and 47 surveys from MDT members (response rate 70%). Presentation of information (case history, radiological, pathological, comorbidities, psychosocial, and patients' views) and quality of contribution to decision-making of MDT members (surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, nurses, and MDT coordinators) were analyzed via descriptive statistics and the Jonckheere-Terpstra test. Correlation between observational and self-report assessments was assessed with Spearman's correlations. Quality of information presentation: Case histories and radiology information rated highest; patients' views and comorbidities/psychosocial issues rated lowest (observed: Z = 14.80, P ≤ 0.001; self-report: Z = 3.70, P < 0.001). Contribution to decision-making: Surgeons and oncologists rated highest, nurses and MDT coordinators rated lowest, and others in between (observed: Z = 20.00, P ≤ 0.001; self-report: Z = 8.10, P < 0.001). Correlations between observational and self-report assessments: Median Spearman's rho = 0.74 (range = 0.66-0.91; P < 0.05). The quality of teamworking and clinical decision-making in MDTs can reliably be assessed using observational and self-report metrics. MDT members have good insight into their own team performance. Such robust assessment methods could provide the basis of a toolkit for MDT team evaluation and improvement.

Reliability and clinical features associated with the IPSG MRI tibiotalar and subtalar joint scores in children, adolescents and young adults with haemophilia.

PubMed

Brunel, T; Lobet, S; Deschamps, K; Hermans, C; Peerlinck, K; Vandesande, J; Pialat, J-B

2018-01-01

To assess the reliability of the IPSG MRI scale for tibiotalar (TTJ) and subtalar joint (STJ) changes in young haemophilic patients, correlating MRI findings with functional scores and 3D-rearfoot kinematics. A total of 37 haemophilic patients underwent bilateral MRI of the footankle, clinical evaluation and quantitative assessment of their 3D-rearfoot kinematics during walking. TTJ and STJ soft tissues were assessed twice along with osteochondral changes by two radiologists using the IPSG MRI scale. Inter- and intra-observer reproducibility of MRI scoring were tested by means of kappa statistics. Correlational analyses were performed between MRI findings and the Haemophilia Joint Health Score 2.1 (HJHS) and 3D-rearfoot kinematic data. The intra-reader reliability of MRI scoring was good to excellent (Kappa: 0.62-1), whereas the inter-reader reliability was moderate to good (Kappa: 0.54-0.79). Weak yet significant correlations were found between the frontal plane rearfoot range of motion (ROM) during loading response of gait and STJ score, as well as between frontal plane rearfoot ROM during the terminal stance phase and the rearfoot osteochondral lesions. The IPSG score appears applicable to not only the TTJ but also the STJ. Contrary to TTJ lesions, those of the STJ do not correlate with the HJHS but do with 3D-rearfoot kinematic data. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Using the manual ability classification system in young adults with cerebral palsy and normal intelligence.

PubMed

van Meeteren, Jetty; Nieuwenhuijsen, Channah; de Grund, Arthur; Stam, Henk J; Roebroeck, Marij E

2010-01-01

The study aimed to establish whether the manual ability classification system (MACS), a valid classification system for manual ability in children with cerebral palsy (CP), is applicable in young adults with CP and normal intelligence. The participants (n = 83) were young adults with CP and normal intelligence and had a mean age of 19.9 years. In this study, inter observer reliability of the MACS was determined. We investigated relationships between the MACS level and patient characteristics (such as the gross motor function classification system (GMFCS) level, limb distribution of the spastic paresis and educational level) and with functional activities of the upper extremity (assessed with the Melbourne assessment, the Abilhand questionnaire and the domain self-care of the functional independence measure (FIM)). Furthermore, with a linear regression analysis it was determined whether the MACS is a significant determinant of activity limitations and participation restrictions. The reliability was good (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.83). The Spearman correlation coefficients with GMFCS level, limb distribution of the spastic paresis and educational level were 0.53, 0.46, and 0.26, respectively. MACS level correlated moderately with outcome measures of functional activities (correlations ranging from -0.38 to -0.55). MACS level is, in addition to the GMFCS level, an important determinant for limitations in activities and restrictions in participation. We conclude that the MACS is a feasible method to classify manual ability in young adults with CP and normal intelligence with a good manual ability.

Development of a Chinese version of the Western Ontario Meniscal Evaluation Tool: cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation.

PubMed

Tong, W W; Wang, W; Xu, W D

2016-08-15

The Western Ontario Meniscal Evaluation Tool (WOMET) is a questionnaire designed to evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients with meniscal pathology. Our study aims to culturally adapt and validate the WOMET into a Chinese version. We translated the WOMET into Chinese. Then, a total of 121 patients with meniscal pathology were invited to participate in this study. To assess the test-retest reliability, the Chinese version WOMET was completed twice at 7-day intervals by the participants. The construct validity was assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficient or Spearman's correlation to test for correlations among the Chinese version WOMET and the eight domains of Short Form-36 (SF-36), the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), and the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score. Responsiveness was tested by comparison of the preoperative and postoperative scores of the Chinese version WOMET. The test-retest reliability of the overall scale and different domains were all found to be excellent. The Cronbach's α was 0.90. The Chinese version WOMET correlated well with other questionnaires which suggested good construct validity. We observed no ceiling and floor effects of the Chinese version WOMET. We also found good responsiveness for the effect size, and the standardized response mean values were 0.86 and 1.11. The Chinese version of the WOMET appears to be reliable and valid in evaluating patients with meniscal pathology.

A Technology Integration Education (TIE) Model for Millennial Preservice Teachers: Exploring the Canonical Correlation Relationships among Attitudes, Subjective Norms, Perceived Behavioral Controls, Motivation, and Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) Competencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holland, Denise D.; Piper, Randy T.

2016-01-01

Intellectual goods can follow the same pattern as physical goods with the product life cycle of birth, growth, maturity, and decline. For the intellectual good of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK), its birth began with Shulman (1986, 1987). Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was used to test the relationships among five…

The Generation, Radiation and Prediction of Supersonic Jet Noise. Volume 1

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-10-01

standard, Gaussian correlation function model can yield a good noise spectrum prediction (at 900), but the corresponding axial source distributions do not...forms for the turbulence cross-correlation function. Good agreement was obtained between measured and calculated far- field noise spectra. However, the...complementary error function profile (3.63) was found to provide a good fit to the axial velocity distribution tor a wide range of Mach numbers in the Initial

Monitoring the Behavior of Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater-Impacted Rivers Based on the Use of Fluorescence Excitation Emission Matrixes (EEM).

PubMed

Sgroi, Massimiliano; Roccaro, Paolo; Korshin, Gregory V; Vagliasindi, Federico G A

2017-04-18

This study investigated the applicability of fluorescence indexes based on the interpretation of excitation emission matrices (EEMs) by PARAFAC analysis and by selecting fluorescence intensities at a priori defined excitation/emission pairs as surrogates for monitoring the behavior of emerging organic compounds (EOCs) in two catchment basins impacted by wastewater discharges. Relevant EOC and EEM data were obtained for a 90 km stretch of the Simeto River, the main river in Sicily, and the smaller San Leonardo River, which was investigated for a 17 km stretch. The use of fluorescence indexes developed by these two different approaches resulted in similar observations. Changes of the fluorescence indexes that correspond to a group of humic-like fluorescing species were determined to be highly correlated with the concentrations of recalcitrant contaminants such as sucralose, sulfamethoxazole and carbamazepine, which are typical wastewater markers in river water. Changes of the fluorescence indexes related to tyrosine-like substances were well correlated with the concentrations of ibuprofen and caffeine, anthropogenic indicators of untreated wastewater discharges. Chemical oxygen demand and dissolved organic carbon concentrations were correlated with humic-like fluorescence indexes. The observed correlations were site-specific and characterized by different regression parameters for every collection event. Caffeine and carbamazepine showed correlations with florescence indexes in the San Leonardo River and in the alluvial plain stretch of the Simeto River, whereas sucralose, sulfamethoxazole and ibuprofen have always been well correlated in all the investigated river stretches. However, when data of different collection events from river stretches where correlations were observed were combined, good linear correlations were obtained for data sets generated via the normalization of the measured concentrations by the average value for the corresponding collection event. These results show that fluorescence based indexes can be used to monitor the behavior of some trace organic contaminants in wastewater impacted rivers and to track wastewater discharges in streams and rivers.

Spatiotemporal image correlation-derived volumetric Doppler impedance indices from spherical samples of the placenta: intraobserver reliability and correlation with conventional umbilical artery Doppler indices.

PubMed

Welsh, A W; Hou, M; Meriki, N; Martins, W P

2012-10-01

Volumetric impedance indices derived from spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC) power Doppler ultrasound (PDU) might overcome the influence of machine settings and attenuation. We examined the feasibility of obtaining these indices from spherical samples of anterior placentas in healthy pregnancies, and assessed intraobserver reliability and correlation with conventional umbilical artery (UA) impedance indices. Uncomplicated singleton pregnancies with anterior placenta were included in the study. A single observer evaluated UA pulsatility index (PI), resistance index (RI) and systolic/diastolic ratio (S/D) and acquired three STIC-PDU datasets from the placenta just above the placental cord insertion. Another observer analyzed the STIC-PDU datasets using Virtual Organ Computer-aided AnaLysis (VOCAL) spherical samples from every frame to determine the vascularization index (VI) and vascularization flow index (VFI); maximum, minimum and average values were used to determine the three volumetric impedance indices (vPI, vRI, vS/D). Intraobserver reliability was examined by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and association between volumetric indices from placenta, and UA Doppler indices were assessed by Pearson's correlation coefficient. A total of 25 pregnant women were evaluated but five were excluded because of artifacts observed during analysis. The reliability of measurement of volumetric indices of both VI and VFI from three STIC-PDU datasets was similar, with all ICCs ≥ 0.78. Pearson's r values showed a weak and non-significant correlation between UA pulsed-wave Doppler indices and their respective volumetric indices from spherical samples of placenta (all r ≥ 0.23). VOCAL indices from specific phases of the cardiac cycle showed good repeatability (ICC ≥ 0.92). Volumetric impedance indices determined from spherical samples of placenta are sufficiently reliable but do not correlate with UA Doppler indices in healthy pregnancies. Copyright © 2012 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Urdu translation of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression: Results of a validation study

PubMed Central

Hashmi, Ali M.; Naz, Shahana; Asif, Aftab; Khawaja, Imran S.

2016-01-01

Objective: To develop a standardized validated version of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) in Urdu. Methods: After translation of the HAM-D into the Urdu language following standard guidelines, the final Urdu version (HAM-D-U) was administered to 160 depressed outpatients. Inter-item correlation was assessed by calculating Cronbach alpha. Correlation between HAM-D-U scores at baseline and after a 2-week interval was evaluated for test-retest reliability. Moreover, scores of two clinicians on HAM-D-U were compared for inter-rater reliability. For establishing concurrent validity, scores of HAM-D-U and BDI-U were compared by using Spearman correlation coefficient. The study was conducted at Mayo Hospital, Lahore, from May to December 2014. Results: The Cronbach alpha for HAM-D-U was 0.71. Composite scores for HAM-D-U at baseline and after a 2-week interval were also highly correlated with each other (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.83, p-value < 0.01) indicating good test-retest reliability. Composite scores for HAM-D-U and BDI-U were positively correlated with each other (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.85, p < 0.01) indicating good concurrent validity. Scores of two clinicians for HAM-D-U were also positively correlated (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.82, p-value < 0.01) indicated good inter-rater reliability. Conclusion: The HAM-D-U is a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of Depression. It shows good inter-rater and test-retest reliability. The HAM-D-U can be a tool either for clinical management or research. PMID:28083049

Urdu translation of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression: Results of a validation study.

PubMed

Hashmi, Ali M; Naz, Shahana; Asif, Aftab; Khawaja, Imran S

2016-01-01

To develop a standardized validated version of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) in Urdu. After translation of the HAM-D into the Urdu language following standard guidelines, the final Urdu version (HAM-D-U) was administered to 160 depressed outpatients. Inter-item correlation was assessed by calculating Cronbach alpha. Correlation between HAM-D-U scores at baseline and after a 2-week interval was evaluated for test-retest reliability. Moreover, scores of two clinicians on HAM-D-U were compared for inter-rater reliability. For establishing concurrent validity, scores of HAM-D-U and BDI-U were compared by using Spearman correlation coefficient. The study was conducted at Mayo Hospital, Lahore, from May to December 2014. The Cronbach alpha for HAM-D-U was 0.71. Composite scores for HAM-D-U at baseline and after a 2-week interval were also highly correlated with each other (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.83, p-value < 0.01) indicating good test-retest reliability. Composite scores for HAM-D-U and BDI-U were positively correlated with each other (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.85, p < 0.01) indicating good concurrent validity. Scores of two clinicians for HAM-D-U were also positively correlated (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.82, p-value < 0.01) indicated good inter-rater reliability. The HAM-D-U is a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of Depression. It shows good inter-rater and test-retest reliability. The HAM-D-U can be a tool either for clinical management or research.

Imperfection Insensitivity Analyses of Advanced Composite Tow-Steered Shells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, K. Chauncey; Farrokh, Babak; Stanford, Bret K.; Weaver, Paul M.

2016-01-01

Two advanced composite tow-steered shells, one with tow overlaps and another without overlaps, were previously designed, fabricated and tested in end compression, both without cutouts, and with small and large cutouts. In each case, good agreement was observed between experimental buckling loads and supporting linear bifurcation buckling analyses. However, previous buckling tests and analyses have shown historically poor correlation, perhaps due to the presence of geometric imperfections that serve as failure initiators. For the tow-steered shells, their circumferential variation in axial stiffness may have suppressed this sensitivity to imperfections, leading to the agreement noted between tests and analyses. To investigate this further, a numerical investigation was performed in this study using geometric imperfections measured from both shells. Finite element models of both shells were analyzed first without, and then, with measured imperfections that were then, superposed in different orientations around the shell longitudinal axis. Small variations in both the axial prebuckling stiffness and global buckling load were observed for the range of imperfections studied here, which suggests that the tow steering, and resulting circumferentially varying axial stiffness, may result in the test-analysis correlation observed for these shells.

Assessment of medical residents' satisfaction.

PubMed

González-Martínez, José Francisco; García-García, José Antonio; Del Rosario Arnaud-Viñas, María; Arámbula-Morales, Enna Gabriela; Uriega-González Plata, Silvia; Mendoza-Guerrero, José Antonio

2011-01-01

Modern medical education is focused on students, and it is necessary to assess its level of satisfaction. A questionnaire was validated and we then conducted a study about the educational satisfaction level of medical residents of the Hospital General of Mexico. An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional and prospective study was conducted. A questionnaire of 21 items was validated and then applied to a representative sample of medical residents. Each item was evaluated with a scale from 0 to 10 and then gathered in groups: 0-5 = poor, 6-7 = average, 8 = good, 9 = very good, and 10 = excellent. Descriptive and inferential statistics were carried out using SPSS v.17.0. The questionnaire had internal validity with Cronbach's alpha >0.91 by item. Included in the study were 355 medical residents representing 37 different specialties. The performance perception of the ìheadî professors showed a wide heterogeneity: excellent (23.7%), very good (20.6%), good (16.9%), average (23.1%), poor (15.8%). Fourth-year residents and upward valued the educational performance higher (p = 0.001) as well as medical/surgical residents (p = 0.02). Intermediate-level residents valued the professor higher (p = 0.001), similar to students who were married or living with a partner (p <0.001). Upon contrasting the evaluation of the teacher's performance with the overall course performance, a linear, direct and significant correlation was obtained with Spearman's correlation coefficient = 0.78 and regression coefficient (p <0.001). We found a wide range of heterogeneity of results. Performance of the professors was the basic component to judge the quality of the residents' courses.

On the mode I fracture analysis of cracked Brazilian disc using a digital image correlation method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abshirini, Mohammad; Soltani, Nasser; Marashizadeh, Parisa

2016-03-01

Mode I of fracture of centrally cracked Brazilian disc was investigated experimentally using a digital image correlation (DIC) method. Experiments were performed on PMMA polymers subjected to diametric-compression load. The displacement fields were determined by a correlation between the reference and the deformed images captured before and during loading. The stress intensity factors were calculated by displacement fields using William's equation and the least square algorithm. The parameters involved in the accuracy of SIF calculation such as number of terms in William's equation and the region of analysis around the crack were discussed. The DIC results were compared with the numerical results available in literature and a very good agreement between them was observed. By extending the tests up to the critical state, mode I fracture toughness was determined by analyzing the image of specimen captured at the moment before fracture. The results showed that the digital image correlation was a reliable technique for the calculation of the fracture toughness of brittle materials.

[Descriptive analysis of pelvic asymmetry in an asymptomatic population].

PubMed

Barbosa, A C; Bonifácio, D N; Lopes, I P; Martins, F L M; Barbosa, M C S A; Barbosa, A C

2014-01-01

Pelvic tilt is clinically assessed based on its relationship with spinal conditions, but there is little evidence from the asymptomatic-population for comparison purposes. To analyze an asymptomatic population focusing,on pelvic asymmetries using photogrammetry. 92 subjects (18-35 years old) underwent marking of the anterior and posterior iliac spines and were photographed. Alcimage software was used to measure the pelvic tilt angle. Other tests included: the Kolmogorov normality test, t test, Wilcoxon test, and Pearson coefficient to measure the correlation. 11.96% of males had anteversion and 34.78% normality; 38.04% of females had anteversion and 15.22% normality. Angles between iliacs for bilateral tilt showed no difference, but a difference was seen with the predominance of one side. For unilateral tilt a difference between illacs was seen. Good correlation of predominance versus anteversion was observed, and correlation was poor for side angles. The rest showed a weak or non-significant correlation. Tilt cannot be used individually to characterize pelvic dysfunction or pathology.

Cross-cultural translation of the Lysholm knee score in Chinese and its validation in patients with anterior cruciate ligament injury.

PubMed

Wang, W; Liu, L; Chang, X; Jia, Z Y; Zhao, J Z; Xu, W D

2016-10-19

The Lysholm Knee Score (LKS) is widely used and is one of the most effective questionnaires employed to assess knee injuries. Although LKS has been translated into multiple languages, there is no Chinese version even though China has the largest population of patients with knee-joint injuries. The objective of our study was to develop the Chinese version of LKS (C-LKS) and assess its reliability, validity and responsiveness in Chinese patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. Study participants were mainly recruited among patients with ACL injuries scheduled for arthroscopic ACL reconstruction at our hospital. First, we developed the C-LKS in a five-step translation and cross-cultural adaptation procedure. Next, we calculated the Cronbach's alpha, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Pearson's correlation coefficient (r), effect size (ES), and standardized response mean (SRM) to evaluate the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of C-LKS respectively. Overall, 126 patients with ACL injuries successfully completed the questionnaires. Acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.726) as well as excellent test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.935) was found for C-LKS. Good or moderate correlation (r = 0.514-0.837) was determined among C-LKS and International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form (IKDC), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), physical subscales of SF-36; C-LKS also had fair or moderate correlation (r = 0.207-0.462) with the other subscales of SF-36, which adequately illustrated that good validity was included in C-LKS. In addition, good responsiveness was also observed in C-LKS (ES = 1.36,SRM = 1.26). We have shown that our developed C-LKS questionnaire is reliable, valid and responsible for the evaluation of Chinese-speaking patients with ACL injuries and it would be an effective instrument.

Translation and Validation of the Korean Version of the International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form

PubMed Central

Kim, Jin Goo; Lee, Joong Yub; Seo, Seung Suk; Choi, Choong Hyeok; Lee, Myung Chul

2013-01-01

Purpose To perform a cross-cultural adaptation and to test the measurement properties of the Korean version of International Knee Documentation Committee (K-IKDC) Subjective Knee Form. Materials and Methods According to the guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation, translation and backward translation of the English version of the IKDC Subjective Knee Form were performed. After translation into the Korean version, 150 patients who had knee-related problems were asked to complete the K-IKDC, Lysholm score, and Short Form-36 (SF-36). Of these patients, 126 were retested 2 weeks later to evaluate test-retest reliability, and 104 were recruited 3 months later to evaluate responsiveness. Construct validity was analyzed by investigating the correlation with Lysholm score and SF-36; content validity was also evaluated. Standardized mean response was calculated for evaluating responsiveness. Results The test-retest reliability proved excellent with a high value for the intraclass correlation coefficient (r=0.94). The internal consistency was strong (Cronbach's α=0.91). Good content validity with absence of floor not ceiling effects and good convergent and divergent validity were observed. Moderate responsiveness was shown (standardized mean response=0.689). Conclusions The K-IKDC demonstrated good measurement properties. We suggest that this instrument is an excellent evaluation instrument that can be used for Korean patients with knee-related injuries. PMID:24032098

Measurement of narcolepsy symptoms: The Narcolepsy Severity Scale.

PubMed

Dauvilliers, Yves; Beziat, Severine; Pesenti, Carole; Lopez, Regis; Barateau, Lucie; Carlander, Bertrand; Luca, Gianina; Tafti, Mehdi; Morin, Charles M; Billiard, Michel; Jaussent, Isabelle

2017-04-04

To validate the Narcolepsy Severity Scale (NSS), a brief clinical instrument to evaluate the severity and consequences of symptoms in patients with narcolepsy type 1 (NT1). A 15-item scale to assess the frequency and severity of excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hypnagogic hallucinations, sleep paralysis, and disrupted nighttime sleep was developed and validated by sleep experts with patients' feedback. Seventy untreated and 146 treated adult patients with NT1 were evaluated and completed the NSS in a single reference sleep center. The NSS psychometric properties, score changes with treatment, and convergent validity with other clinical parameters were assessed. The NSS showed good psychometric properties with significant item-total score correlations. The factor analysis indicated a 3-factor solution with good reliability, expressed by satisfactory Cronbach α values. The NSS total score temporal stability was good. Significant NSS score differences were observed between untreated and treated patients (dependent sample, 41 patients before and after sleep therapy; independent sample, 29 drug-free and 105 treated patients). Scores were lower in the treated populations (10-point difference between groups), without ceiling effect. Significant correlations were found among NSS total score and daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Mean Sleep Latency Test), depressive symptoms, and health-related quality of life. The NSS can be considered a reliable and valid clinical tool for the quantification of narcolepsy symptoms to monitor and optimize narcolepsy management. © 2017 American Academy of Neurology.

Correlation between thermodynamical stabilities of metal borohydrides and cation electronegativites: First-principles calculations and experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakamori, Yuko; Miwa, Kazutoshi; Ninomiya, Akihito; Li, Haiwen; Ohba, Nobuko; Towata, Shin-Ichi; Züttel, Andreas; Orimo, Shin-Ichi

2006-07-01

The thermodynamical stabilities for the series of metal borohydrides M(BH4)n ( M=Li , Na, K, Cu, Mg, Zn, Sc, Zr, and Hf; n=1-4 ) have been systematically investigated by first-principles calculations. The results indicated that an ionic bonding between Mn+ cations and [BH4]- anions exists in M(BH4)n , and the charge transfer from Mn+ cations to [BH4]- anions is a key feature for the stability of M(BH4)n . A good correlation between the heat of formation ΔHboro of M(BH4)n and the Pauling electronegativity of the cation χP can be found, which is represented by the linear relation, ΔHboro=248.7χP-390.8 in the unit of kJ/mol BH4 . In order to confirm the predicted correlation experimentally, the hydrogen desorption reactions were studied for M(BH4)n ( M=Li , Na, K, Mg, Zn, Sc, Zr, and Hf), where the samples of the later five borohydrides were mechanochemically synthesized. The thermal desorption analyses indicate that LiBH4 , NaBH4 , and KBH4 desorb hydrogen to hydride phases. Mg(BH4)2 , Sc(BH4)3 , and Zr(BH4)4 show multistep desorption reactions through the intermediate phases of hydrides and/or borides. On the other hand, Zn(BH4)2 desorbs hydrogen and borane to elemental Zn due to instabilities of Zn hydride and boride. A correlation between the desorption temperature Td and the Pauling electronegativity χP is observed experimentally and so χP is an indicator to approximately estimate the stability of M(BH4)n . The enthalpy change for the desorption reaction, ΔHdes , is estimated using the predicted ΔHboro and the reported data for decomposed product, ΔHhyd/boride . The estimated ΔHdes show a good correlation with the observed Td , indicating that the predicted stability of borohydride is experimentally supported. These results are useful for exploring M(BH4)n with appropriate stability as hydrogen storage materials.

Electromagnetically induced transparency with noisy lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Yanhong; Wang, Tun; Baryakhtar, Maria; van Camp, Mackenzie; Crescimanno, Michael; Hohensee, Michael; Jiang, Liang; Phillips, David F.; Lukin, Mikhail D.; Yelin, Susanne F.; Walsworth, Ronald L.

2009-10-01

We demonstrate and characterize two coherent phenomena that can mitigate the effects of laser phase noise for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT): a laser-power-broadening-resistant resonance in the transmitted intensity cross correlation between EIT optical fields, and a resonant suppression of the conversion of laser phase noise to intensity noise when one-photon noise dominates over two-photon-detuning noise. Our experimental observations are in good agreement with both an intuitive physical picture and numerical calculations. The results have wide-ranging applications to spectroscopy, atomic clocks, and magnetometers.

Topside and ground ionosonde observations of a mid-latitude scintillation region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hajkowicz, L. A.

1982-02-01

Ionospheric amplitude scintillations of transmissions in the VHF range from orbiting satellites were compared with topside and ground (bottomside) ionograms of an inhomogeneous region in southern mid-latitudes. It is evident that, for the event considered, there is a good spatial correlation between intense topside and bottomside spread-F and scintillations. The ionospheric disturbance pattern appears to agree with a quasi-sinusoidal model of frontal disturbances (derived from the angle-of-arrival experiments) in the F-region at these geographic latitudes.

Chandra Survey of Nearby Galaxies: Testing the Accretion Model for Low-luminosity AGNs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

She, Rui; Ho, Luis C.; Feng, Hua; Cui, Can

2018-06-01

From a Chandra sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in nearby galaxies, we find that for low-luminosity AGNs, either the intrinsic absorption column density, or the fraction of absorbed AGNs, positively scales with the Eddington ratio for L bol/L Edd ≲ 10‑2. Such a behavior, along with the softness of the X-ray spectrum at low luminosities, is in good agreement with the picture that they are powered by hot accretion flows surrounding supermassive black holes. Numerical simulations find that outflows are inevitable with hot accretion flows, and the outflow rate is correlated with the innermost accretion rate in the low-luminosity regime. This agrees well with our results, suggesting that the X-ray absorption originates from, or is associated with, the outflow material. Gas and dust on larger scales may also produce the observed correlation. Future correlation analyses may help differentiate the two scenarios.

Steady-state chlorophyll fluorescence (Fs) measurements as a tool to follow variations of net CO2 assimilation and stomatal conductance during water-stress in C3 plants.

PubMed

Flexas, Jaume; Escalona, José Mariano; Evain, Sebastian; Gulías, Javier; Moya, Ismaël; Osmond, Charles Barry; Medrano, Hipólito

2002-02-01

Water stress experiments were performed with grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.) and other C3 plants in the field, in potted plants in the laboratory, and with detached leaves. It was found that, in all cases, the ratio of steady state chlorophyll fluorescence (Fs) normalized to dark-adapted intrinsic fluorescence (Fo) inversely correlated with non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). Also, at high irradiance, the ratio Fs/Fo was positively correlated with CO2 assimilation in air, with electron transport rate calculated from fluorescence, and with stomatal conductance, but no clear correlation was observed with qP. The significance of these relationships is discussed. The ratio Fs/Fo, measured with a portable instrument (PAM-2000) or with a remote sensing FIPAM system, provides a good method for the early detection of water stress, and may become a useful guide to irrigation requirements.

Comparative study of the antioxidant capacity and polyphenol content of Douro wines by chemical and electrochemical methods.

PubMed

Rebelo, M J; Rego, R; Ferreira, M; Oliveira, M C

2013-11-01

A comparative study of the antioxidant capacity and polyphenols content of Douro wines by chemical (ABTS and Folin-Ciocalteau) and electrochemical methods (cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry) was performed. A non-linear correlation between cyclic voltammetric results and ABTS or Folin-Ciocalteau data was obtained if all types of wines (white, muscatel, ruby, tawny and red wines) are grouped together in the same correlation plot. In contrast, a very good linear correlation was observed between the electrochemical antioxidant capacity determined by differential pulse voltammetry and the radical scavenging activity of ABTS. It was also found that the antioxidant capacity of wines evaluated by the electrochemical methods (expressed as gallic acid equivalents) depend on background electrolyte of the gallic acid standards, type of electrochemical signal (current or charge) and electrochemical technique. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Heat perturbation spreading in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-β system with next-nearest-neighbor coupling: Competition between phonon dispersion and nonlinearity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiong, Daxing

2017-06-01

We employ the heat perturbation correlation function to study thermal transport in the one-dimensional Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-β lattice with both nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor couplings. We find that such a system bears a peculiar phonon dispersion relation, and thus there exists a competition between phonon dispersion and nonlinearity that can strongly affect the heat correlation function's shape and scaling property. Specifically, for small and large anharmoncities, the scaling laws are ballistic and superdiffusive types, respectively, which are in good agreement with the recent theoretical predictions; whereas in the intermediate range of the nonlinearity, we observe an unusual multiscaling property characterized by a nonmonotonic delocalization process of the central peak of the heat correlation function. To understand these multiscaling laws, we also examine the momentum perturbation correlation function and find a transition process with the same turning point of the anharmonicity as that shown in the heat correlation function. This suggests coupling between the momentum transport and the heat transport, in agreement with the theoretical arguments of mode cascade theory.

Detector Development for the abBA Experiment.

PubMed

Seo, P-N; Bowman, J D; Mitchell, G S; Penttila, S I; Wilburn, W S

2005-01-01

We have developed a new type of field-expansion spectrometer to measure the neutron beta decay correlations (a, b, B, and A). A precision measurement of these correlations places stringent requirements on charged particle detectors. The design employs large area segmented silicon detectors to detect both protons and electrons in coincidence. Other requirements include good energy resolution (< 5 keV), a thin dead layer to allow observation of 30-keV protons, fast timing resolution (~1 ns) to reconstruct electron-backscattering events, and nearly unity efficiency. We report results of testing commercially available surface-barrier silicon detectors for energy resolution and timing performance, and measurement of the dead-layer thickness of ion-implanted silicon detectors with a 3.2 MeV alpha source.

Design data for radars based on 13.9 GHz Skylab scattering coefficient measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, R. K. (Principal Investigator)

1974-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Measurements made at 13.9 GHz with the radar scatterometer on Skylab have been combined to produce median curves of the variation of scattering coefficient with angle of incidence out to 45 deg. Because of the large number of observations, and the large area averaged for each measured data point, these curves may be used as a new design base for radars. A reasonably good fit at larger angles is obtained using the theoretical expression based on an exponential height correlation function and also using Lambert's law. For angles under 10 deg, a different fit based on the exponential correlation function, and a fit based on geometric optics expressions are both reasonably valid.

The GISMO two-millimeter deep field in GOODS-N

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

Staguhn, Johannes G.; Kovács, Attila; Arendt, Richard G.

2014-07-20

We present deep continuum observations using the GISMO camera at a wavelength of 2 mm centered on the Hubble Deep Field in the GOODS-N field. These are the first deep field observations ever obtained at this wavelength. The 1σ sensitivity in the innermost ∼4' of the 7' diameter map is ∼135 μJy beam{sup –1}, a factor of three higher in flux/beam sensitivity than the deepest available SCUBA 850 μm observations, and almost a factor of four higher in flux/beam sensitivity than the combined MAMBO/AzTEC 1.2 mm observations of this region. Our source extraction algorithm identifies 12 sources directly, and anothermore » 3 through correlation with known sources at 1.2 mm and 850 μm. Five of the directly detected GISMO sources have counterparts in the MAMBO/AzTEC catalog, and four of those also have SCUBA counterparts. HDF850.1, one of the first blank-field detected submillimeter galaxies, is now detected at 2 mm. The median redshift of all sources with counterparts of known redshifts is z-tilde =2.91±0.94. Statistically, the detections are most likely real for five of the seven 2 mm sources without shorter wavelength counterparts, while the probability for none of them being real is negligible.« less

Use of PROMIS for Patients Undergoing Primary Total Shoulder Arthroplasty.

PubMed

Dowdle, S Blake; Glass, Natalie; Anthony, Chris A; Hettrich, Carolyn M

2017-09-01

The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) consists of question banks for health domains through computer adaptive testing (CAT). For patients with glenohumeral arthritis, (1) there would be high correlation between traditional patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures and the PROMIS upper extremity item bank (PROMIS UE) and PROMIS physical function CAT (PROMIS PF CAT), and (2) PROMIS PF CAT would not demonstrate ceiling effects. Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 3. Sixty-one patients with glenohumeral osteoarthritis were included. Each patient completed the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) assessment form, Marx Shoulder Activity Scale, Short Form-36 physical function scale (SF-36 PF), EuroQol 5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire, Western Ontario Osteoarthritis Shoulder (WOOS) index, PROMIS PF CAT, and the PROMIS UE. Correlation was defined as high (>0.7), moderate (0.4-0.6), or weak (0.2-0.3). Significant floor and ceiling effects were present if more than 15% of individuals scored the lowest or highest possible total score on any PRO. The PROMIS PF demonstrated excellent correlation with the SF-36 PF ( r = 0.81, P < .0001) and good correlation with the ASES ( r = 0.62, P < .0001), EQ-5D ( r = 0.64, P < .001), and WOOS index ( r = 0.51, P < .01). The PROMIS PF demonstrated low correlation with the Marx scale ( r = 0.29, P = .02). The PROMIS UE demonstrated good correlation with the ASES ( r = 0.55, P < .0001), SF-36 ( r = 0.53, P < .01), EQ-5D ( r = 0.48, P < .01), and WOOS ( r = 0.34, P <.01), and poor correlation with the Marx scale ( r = 0.06, P = .62). There were no ceiling or floor effects observed. The mean number of items administered by the PROMIS PRO was 4. These data suggest that for a patient population with operative shoulder osteoarthritis, PROMIS UE and PROMIS PF CAT may be valid alternative PROs. Additionally, PROMIS PF CAT offers a decreased question burden with no ceiling effects.

Very Long Baseline Interferometry: Dependencies on Frequency Stability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nothnagel, Axel; Nilsson, Tobias; Schuh, Harald

2018-04-01

Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is a differential technique observing radiation of compact extra-galactic radio sources with pairs of radio telescopes. For these observations, the frequency standards at the telescopes need to have very high stability. In this article we discuss why this is, and we investigate exactly how precise the frequency standards need to be. Four areas where good clock performance is needed are considered: coherence, geodetic parameter estimation, correlator synchronization, and UT1 determination. We show that in order to ensure the highest accuracy of VLBI, stability similar to that of a hydrogen maser is needed for time-scales up to a few hours. In the article, we are considering both traditional VLBI where extra-galactic radio sources are observed, as well as observation of man-made artificial radio sources emitted by satellites or spacecrafts.

On the non-Poissonian repetition pattern of FRB121102

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oppermann, Niels; Yu, Hao-Ran; Pen, Ue-Li

2018-04-01

The Fast Radio Burst FRB121102 has been observed to repeat in an irregular fashion. Using published timing data of the observed bursts, we show that Poissonian statistics are not a good description of this random process. As an alternative, we suggest to describe the intervals between bursts with a Weibull distribution with a shape parameter smaller than one, which allows for the clustered nature of the bursts. We quantify the amount of clustering using the parameters of the Weibull distribution and discuss the consequences that it has for the detection probabilities of future observations and for the optimization of observing strategies. Allowing for this generalization, we find a mean repetition rate of r=5.7^{+3.0}_{-2.0} per day and index k=0.34^{+0.06}_{-0.05} for a correlation function ξ(t) = (t/t0)k - 1.

Treatment Planning and Volumetric Response Assessment for Yttrium-90 Radioembolization: Semiautomated Determination of Liver Volume and Volume of Tumor Necrosis in Patients with Hepatic Malignancy

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

Monsky, Wayne L., E-mail: wayne.monsky@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu; Garza, Armando S.; Kim, Isaac

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to demonstrate intraobserver/interobserver reproducibility for novel semiautomated measurements of hepatic volume used for Yttrium-90 dose calculations as well as whole-liver and necrotic-liver (hypodense/nonenhancing) tumor volume after radioembolization. The secondary aim was to provide initial comparisons of tumor volumetric measurements with linear measurements, as defined by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors criteria, and survival outcomes. Methods: Between 2006 and 2009, 23 consecutive radioembolization procedures were performed for 14 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma and 9 cases of hepatic metastases. Baseline and follow-up computed tomography obtained 1 month after treatment were retrospectively analyzed. Threemore » observers measured liver, whole-tumor, and tumor-necrosis volumes twice using semiautomated software. Results: Good intraobserver/interobserver reproducibility was demonstrated (intraclass correlation [ICC] > 0.9) for tumor and liver volumes. Semiautomated measurements of liver volumes were statistically similar to those obtained with manual tracing (ICC = 0.868), but they required significantly less time to perform (p < 0.0001, ICC = 0.088). There was a positive association between change in linear tumor measurements and whole-tumor volume (p < 0.0001). However, linear measurements did not correlate with volume of necrosis (p > 0.05). Dose, change in tumor diameters, tumor volume, and necrotic volume did not correlate with survival (p > 0.05 in all instances). However, Kaplan-Meier curves suggest that a >10% increase in necrotic volume correlated with survival (p = 0.0472). Conclusion: Semiautomated volumetric analysis of liver, whole-tumor, and tumor-necrosis volume can be performed with good intraobserver/interobserver reproducibility. In this small retrospective study, measurements of tumor necrosis were suggested to correlate with survival.« less

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Back Beliefs Questionnaire to the Arabic Language.

PubMed

Alamrani, Samia; Alsobayel, Hana; Alnahdi, Ali H; Moloney, Niamh; Mackey, Martin

2016-06-01

Translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and psychometric testing. To translate the Back Beliefs Questionnaire (BBQ) into Arabic and investigate its psychometric properties in an Arabic-speaking sample of individuals with low back pain (LBP). Back pain beliefs are associated with pain chronicity and disability in people with LBP. The BBQ is a recognized and frequently used tool for measuring these beliefs. To date the BBQ has not been translated into Arabic. The English version of the BBQ was translated and culturally adapted into Arabic (BBQ-Ar) according to published guidelines. The BBQ-Ar was then tested in a sample of 115 Arabic-speaking individuals with LBP. Reliability was evaluated through internal consistency (Cronbach α) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient), the latter in a subgroup of 25. Construct validity was assessed using exploratory factor analysis and by examining the correlation between the BBQ-Ar, the Oswestry Disability Index and a Numerical Pain Rating Scale. Internal consistency of the BBQ-Ar was good (Cronbach α = 0.77). Test-retest reliability was good (intraclass correlation coefficient [2,1] = 0.88). Exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure, explaining 46% of total variance, with the first factor alone explaining 24%. Eight of the nine scoring items were loaded on the first factor thus forming a unidimensional scale. A significant negative correlation was found between Oswestry Disability Index and BBQ-Ar scores (r = -0.307; P < 0.01), whereas no significant correlation was found between BBQ-Ar and Pain Rating Scale scores. No floor or celling effects were observed. The BBQ-Ar is a valid and reliable tool that can be used to assess back pain beliefs in Arabic-speaking individuals. N/A.

Income inequality and status seeking: searching for positional goods in unequal U.S. States.

PubMed

Walasek, Lukasz; Brown, Gordon D A

2015-04-01

It is well established that income inequality is associated with lower societal well-being, but the psychosocial causes of this relationship are poorly understood. A social-rank hypothesis predicts that members of unequal societies are likely to devote more of their resources to status-seeking behaviors such as acquiring positional goods. We used Google Correlate to find search terms that correlated with our measure of income inequality, and we controlled for income and other socioeconomic factors. We found that of the 40 search terms used more frequently in states with greater income inequality, more than 70% were classified as referring to status goods (e.g., designer brands, expensive jewelry, and luxury clothing). In contrast, 0% of the 40 search terms used more frequently in states with less income inequality were classified as referring to status goods. Finally, we showed how residual-based analysis offers a new methodology for using Google Correlate to provide insights into societal attitudes and motivations while avoiding confounds and high risks of spurious correlations. © The Author(s) 2015.

Growth fraction in non-small cell lung cancer estimated by proliferating cell nuclear antigen and comparison with Ki-67 labeling and DNA flow cytometry data.

PubMed Central

Fontanini, G.; Pingitore, R.; Bigini, D.; Vignati, S.; Pepe, S.; Ruggiero, A.; Macchiarini, P.

1992-01-01

Results generated by the immunohistochemical staining with PC10, a new monoclonal antibody recognizing PCNA (a nuclear protein associated with cell proliferation) in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue were compared with those of Ki-67 labeling and DNA flow cytometry in 47 consecutive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). PCNA reactivity was observed in all samples and confined to the nuclei of cancer cells. Its frequency ranged from 0 to 80% (37.7 +/- 23.6) and larger sized, early-staged and DNA aneuploid tumors expressed a significant higher number of PCNA-reactive cells. The PCNA and Ki-67 labeling rates were closely correlated (r = 0.383, P = 0.009). By flow cytometry, we observed a good correlation among PCNA labeling and S-phase fraction (r = 0.422, P = .0093) and G1 phase (r = 0.303, P = .051) of the cell cycle. Results indicate that PCNA labeling with PC10 is a simple method for assessing the proliferative activity in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue of NSCLC and correlates well with Ki-67 labeling and S-phase fraction of the cell cycle. Images Figure 2 PMID:1361306

Comparison of self-reported and observed prevalence of safety belt and helmet use in Florence.

PubMed

Lorini, C; Pieralli, F; Mersi, A; Cecconi, R; Garofalo, G; Santini, M G; Bonaccorsi, G

2014-01-01

Safety belt and helmet use was estimated from PASSI data and measured through Ulisse observations. Between 2008 and 2012 a total of 2,081 cars and motorcycle users were interviewed in the LHU of Florence and a total of 59,787 drivers (11,870 front passengers, 1,129 rear passengers and 16,816 motorcyclists) were observed. The comparison between self-reported and observed prevalences was performed by calculating the over-reporting factor (ORF), defined as the ratio of the self-reported to the observed prevalence of seat belt or helmet use. The time trend of the prevalence (both from self-reported and observed data) and of the ORF was assessed by using linear regression and Poisson's regression, respectively. The correlation between self-reported and observed prevalence is high, with a Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.95 (p <0.05). Regarding front seat belt use rates, the difference between self-reported and observed data increases over time and the ORF range varies from 1.12 to 1.32. Rear seat belt data show a great variability, and the ORF varies from 0.67 to 1.37. In 2011 and 2012, the observed prevalence was higher than the self-reported one (ORF <1). Helmet use rates are very high, close to 100% with both methods; ORF has very small oscillations and ranges from 0.98 to 1, showing a good correlation between self-reported and observational data. There are no significant temporal variations both for the prevalences of use and for the ORF. The reasonable accuracy of self-reported data makes this method fit in the routinary assessment of safety belts and helmet usage, in order to limit the observations of the Ulisse system at predetermined time intervals. However, self-reported estimates need to be adjusted using an appropriate over-reporting factor.

Who Is the Engaged Citizen? Correlates of Secondary School Students' Concepts of Good Citizenship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reichert, Frank

2016-01-01

The opinions about what characterises a good citizen are diverse, yet survey research usually employs variable-centred analytical strategies to examine people's concepts of good citizenship. The present study builds on a person-centred approach towards good citizenship and validates previously identified types of good citizenship among Australian…

Impact of formation water geochemistry and crude oil biodegradation on microbial methanogenesis

USGS Publications Warehouse

Shelton, Jenna L.; McIntosh, Jennifer C.; Warwick, Peter D.; McCray, John E.

2016-01-01

Shallow wells (393–442 m depth) contained highly biodegraded oils associated with low extent of methanogenesis, while the deepest (> 1208 m) wells contained minimally degraded oils and produced fluids suggesting a low extent of methanogenesis. Mid-depth wells (666–857 m) in the central field had the highest indicators of methanogenesis and contained moderately biodegraded oils. Little correlation existed between extents of crude oil biodegradation and methanogenesis across the whole transect (avg.R2 = 0.13). However, when wells with the greatest extent of crude oil biodegradation were eliminated (3 of 6 oilfields), better correlation between extent of methanogenesis and biodegradation (avg. R2 = 0.53) was observed. The results suggest that oil quality and salinity impact methanogenic crude oil biodegradation. Reservoirs indicating moderate extent of crude oil biodegradation and high extent of methanogenesis, such as the central field, would be good candidates for attempting to enhance methanogenic crude oil biodegradation as a result of the observations from the study.

Natural abundance (25)Mg solid-state NMR of mg oxyanion systems: a combined experimental and computational study.

PubMed

Cahill, Lindsay S; Hanna, John V; Wong, Alan; Freitas, Jair C C; Yates, Jonathan R; Harris, Robin K; Smith, Mark E

2009-09-28

Solid-state (25)Mg magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS NMR) data are reported from a range of organic and inorganic magnesium-oxyanion compounds at natural abundance. To constrain the determination of the NMR interaction parameters (delta(iso), chi(Q), eta(Q)) data have been collected at three external magnetic fields (11.7, 14.1 and 18.8 T). Corresponding NMR parameters have also been calculated by using density functional theory (DFT) methods using the GIPAW approach, with good correlations being established between experimental and calculated values of both chi(Q) and delta(iso). These correlations demonstrate that the (25)Mg NMR parameters are very sensitive to the structure, with small changes in the local Mg(2+) environment and the overall hydration state profoundly affecting the observed spectra. The observations suggest that (25)Mg NMR spectroscopy is a potentially potent probe for addressing some key problems in inorganic materials and of metal centres in biologically relevant molecules.

Psychometric properties of the Nurses Work Functioning Questionnaire (NWFQ).

PubMed

Gärtner, Fania R; Nieuwenhuijsen, Karen; van Dijk, Frank J H; Sluiter, Judith K

2011-01-01

The Nurses Work Functioning Questionnaire (NWFQ) is a 50-item self-report questionnaire specifically developed for nurses and allied health professionals. Its seven subscales measure impairments in the work functioning due to common mental disorders. Aim of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the NWFQ, by assessing reproducibility and construct validity. The questionnaire was administered to 314 nurses and allied health professionals with a re-test in 112 subjects. Reproducibility was assessed by the intraclass correlations coefficients (ICC) and the standard error of measurement (SEM). For construct validity, correlations were calculated with a general work functioning scale, the Endicott Work Productivity Scale (EWPS) (convergent validity) and with a physical functioning scale (divergent validity). For discriminative validity, a Mann Whitney U test was performed testing for significant differences between subjects with mental health complaints and without. All subscales showed good reliability (ICC: 0.72-0.86), except for one (ICC = 0.16). Convergent validity was good in six subscales, correlations ranged from 0.38-0.62. However, in one subscale the correlation with the EWPS was too low (0.22). Divergent validity was good in all subscales based on correlations ranged from (-0.06)-(-0.23). Discriminative validity was good in all subscales, based on significant differences between subjects with and without mental health complaints (p<0.001-p = 0.003). The NWFQ demonstrates good psychometric properties, for six of the seven subscales. Subscale "impaired decision making" needs improvement before further use.

Atomic structure, electronic properties, and band offsets of SrRuO3/TiO2 heterojunctions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferdous, Naheed; Ertekin, Elif

2015-03-01

Photocatalytic water splitting by sunlight can in principle be an environmentally green approach to hydrogen fuel production, but at present photocatalytic conversion efficiencies remain too small. In titanium dioxide (TiO2) , the most commonly used photocatalyst, the biggest limitation arises from poor absorption of visible light. One way to increase the visible light absorption is to create a composite heterojunction by integrating TiO2 with a strongly light absorbing material. Inspired by experimental results demonstrating good light absorption in the correlated metal oxide Strontium Ruthenate (SrRuO3) , as well as enhanced photocatalytic activity of SrRuO3/TiO2 heterojunctions, we have carried out electronic structure calculations based on density functional theory to explain and improve on the observed properties of such heterojunctions. Our calculations present that this heterojunction exhibits type-II band alignment which is necessary to transport optically excited electrons from the SrRuO3 to the TiO2, with calculated work functions in good agreement with experimental measurements. Also, DFT calculations help to explain the origin of large light absorption in the correlated metal oxide, which arises from electronic excitations from O 2p levels into the Ru d-orbital quasiparticle states in the material. The use of correlated metal oxide/ TiO2 heterojunctions is a potentially interesting approach to improved photocatalytic activity.

Determination of efavirenz in human dried blood spots by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection.

PubMed

Hoffman, Justin T; Rossi, Steven S; Espina-Quinto, Rowena; Letendre, Scott; Capparelli, Edmund V

2013-04-01

Previously published methods for determination of efavirenz (EFV) in human dried blood spots (DBS) use costly and complex liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. We describe the validation and evaluation of a simple and inexpensive high-performance liquid chromatography method for EFV quantification in human DBS and dried plasma spots (DPS), using ultraviolet detection appropriate for resource-limited settings. One hundred microliters of heparinized whole blood or plasma were spotted onto blood collection cards, dried, punched, and eluted. Eluates are injected onto a C-18 reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography column. EFV is separated isocratically using a potassium phosphate and acetonitrile mobile phase. Ultraviolet detection is at 245 nm. Quantitation is by use of external calibration standards. Following validation, the method was evaluated using whole blood and plasma from HIV-positive patients undergoing EFV therapy. Mean recovery of drug from DBS is 91.5%. The method is linear over the validated concentration range of 0.3125-20.0 μg/mL. A good correlation (Spearman r = 0.96) between paired plasma and DBS EFV concentrations from the clinical samples was observed, and hematocrit level was not found to be a significant determinant of the EFV DBS level. The mean observed C DBS/C plasma ratio was 0.68. A good correlation (Spearman r = 0.96) between paired plasma and DPS EFV concentrations from the clinical samples was observed. The mean percent deviation of DPS samples from plasma samples is 1.68%. Dried whole blood spot or dried plasma spot sampling is well suited for monitoring EFV therapy in resource-limited settings, particularly when high sensitivity is not essential.

Determination of Efavirenz in Human Dried Blood Spots by Reversed-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography with UV Detection

PubMed Central

Hoffman, Justin T; Rossi, Steven S; Espina-Quinto, Rowena; Letendre, Scott; Capparelli, Edmund V

2013-01-01

Background Previously published methods for determination of efavirenz (EFV) in human dried blood spots (DBS) employ costly and complex liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. We describe the validation and evaluation of a simple and inexpensive high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for EFV quantification in human DBS and dried plasma spots (DPS), using ultraviolet (UV) detection appropriate for resource-limited settings. Methods 100μl of heparinized whole blood or plasma were spotted onto blood collection cards, dried, punched, and eluted. Eluates are injected onto a C-18 reversed phase HPLC column. EFV is separated isocratically using a potassium phosphate and ACN mobile phase. UV detection is at 245nm. Quantitation is by use of external calibration standards. Following validation, the method was evaluated using whole blood and plasma from HIV-positive patients undergoing EFV therapy. Results Mean recovery of drug from dried blood spots is 91.5%. The method is linear over the validated concentration range of 0.3125 – 20.0μg/mL. A good correlation (Spearman r=0.96) between paired plasma and DBS EFV concentrations from the clinical samples was observed, and hematocrit level was not found to be a significant determinant of the EFV DBS level. The mean observed CDBS/Cplasma ratio was 0.68. A good correlation (Spearman r=0.96) between paired plasma and DPS EFV concentrations from the clinical samples was observed. The mean percent deviation of DPS samples from plasma samples is 1.68%. Conclusions Dried whole blood spot or dried plasma spot sampling is well suited for monitoring EFV therapy in resource limited settings, particularly when high sensitivity is not essential. PMID:23503446

Low-level wind response to mesoscale pressure systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garratt, J. R.; Physick, W. L.

1983-09-01

Observations are presented which show a strong correlation between low-level wind behaviour (e.g., rotation near the surface) and the passage of mesoscale pressure systems. The latter are associated with frontal transition zones, are dominated by a pressure-jump line and a mesoscale high pressure area, and produce locally large horizontal pressure gradients. The wind observations are simulated by specifying a time sequence of perturbation pressure gradient and subsequently solving the vertically-integrated momentum equations with appropriate initial conditions. Very good agreement is found between observed and calculated winds; in particular, (i) a 360 ° rotation in wind on passage of the mesoscale high; (ii) wind-shift lines produced dynamically by the pressure-jump line; (iii) rapid linear increase in wind speed on passage of the pressure jump.

Development of a Peer Teaching-Assessment Program and a Peer Observation and Evaluation Tool

PubMed Central

Trujillo, Jennifer M.; Barr, Judith; Gonyeau, Michael; Van Amburgh, Jenny A.; Matthews, S. James; Qualters, Donna

2008-01-01

Objectives To develop a formalized, comprehensive, peer-driven teaching assessment program and a valid and reliable assessment tool. Methods A volunteer taskforce was formed and a peer-assessment program was developed using a multistep, sequential approach and the Peer Observation and Evaluation Tool (POET). A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency and practicality of the process and to establish interrater reliability of the tool. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated. Results ICCs for 8 separate lectures evaluated by 2-3 observers ranged from 0.66 to 0.97, indicating good interrater reliability of the tool. Conclusion Our peer assessment program for large classroom teaching, which includes a valid and reliable evaluation tool, is comprehensive, feasible, and can be adopted by other schools of pharmacy. PMID:19325963

Pre-clinical validation of a new intra-operative "dual beam Doppler" blood flowmeter in an artificial circuit.

PubMed

Cikirikcioglu, Mustafa; Cikirikcioglu, Y Banu; Khabiri, Ebrahim; Djebaili, M Karim; Kalangos, Afksendiyos; Walpoth, Beat H

2006-01-01

Intra-operative flow measurement during coronary or peripheral bypass operations is helpful for ruling out technical failures and for prediction of complication and patency rates. Preclinical validation of the flowmeters is required in order to rely on the intra-operatively measured results. The aim of this study is to evaluate a new "dual beam Doppler" blood flowmeter before clinical application and to compare it with the established "transit time flow measure-ment" technique in an artificial circuit. Measurements were performed in an experimental flow model using pig blood and pig arteries. Three different flowmeters were used: Quantix OR (dual beam doppler flowmeter), CardioMed (transit time flowmeter), and Transonic (transit time flowmeter). Three validation tests were performed to assess correlation, precision, and repeatability of devices. (1) Correlation and agreement analysis was performed with various flow amounts (10-350 mL/min) (n = 160). (2) Device reproducibility and measurement stability were tested with a constant flow (flow amount = 300 mL/min) (n = 30). (3) A user accuracy test (intra- and inter-observer variability) was performed by 5 different observers with a constant flow (flow amount = 205 mL/min) (n = 75). Time collected true flow was used as a reference method in all steps and all tests were performed in a blind manner. Results are shown as mean values +/- standard deviations. Pear-son's correlation and Bland-Altman plot analyses were used to compare measurements. The mean flow was 167 +/- 98 mL/min for true flow and 162 +/- 94 mL/min, 165 +/- 94 mL/min, and 166 +/- 100 mL/min for Quantix OR, CardioMed, and Transonic, respectively. Correlation coefficients between Quantix OR, Medi-Stim, Transonic, and time collected true flow were over 0.98 (P = .01). Most of the measured results ( > 90%) were between +/- 1.96 SD agreement limits in Bland and Altman plot analysis. All devices showed good results in the reproducibility test. During the user accuracy test, larger variance changes were observed between intra- and inter-observer results with the dual beam Doppler flowmeter compared to the 2 used transit time flowmeters when used for single sided vessel access without stabilization device (available from the manufacturer). All 3 tested flowmeters showed an excellent correlation to the true flow in an artificial circuit and the accuracy of the tested devices was within agreement limits. Reproducibility of all devices was good and linear. The new dual beam Doppler flow measurement technique compares favorably to the classic transit time method. Clinical use may depend on operator, location, and condition, thus more studies may be required to ensure uniform results using the currently available blood flow measurement devices.

Clinical disintegration time of orally disintegrating tablets clinically available in Japan in healthy volunteers.

PubMed

Yoshita, Tomohiro; Uchida, Shinya; Namiki, Noriyuki

2013-01-01

Disintegration time is an important characteristic of orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs), and evaluation of disintegration time is a key step in formulation development, manufacturing, and clinical practice. In this study, we aimed to clarify the clinical disintegration time of ODTs that are currently used clinically, and to evaluate its correlation with the in vitro disintegration time of ODTs which was measured using Tricorptester, a newly developed disintegration testing apparatus. The clinical disintegration time of 17 ODT products was measured in healthy volunteers (n=9-10; age range, 21-28 years). A randomized single-blind trial was performed; each tablet was placed on the tongues of the participants, and it disintegrated in their oral cavities. No significant difference was observed in the clinical disintegration time of each ODT among the 3 groups to which the subjects were randomly assigned. The clinical disintegration time of the 17 ODT products was between 17.6 s and 33.8 s. The in vitro disintegration time of 26 clinically used ODT products measured using Tricorptester ranged between 4.40 s and 30.4 s. A significant positive correlation was observed between in vitro and clinical disintegration times (r=0.79; p<0.001). This study shows that all the tested products, which are clinically available in Japan, showed good disintegration and that the disintegration time varied according to the product. In addition, the in vitro disintegration time of ODTs measured using Tricorptester is a good reflection of the disintegration time in the oral cavity.

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

Yun, Youngjoo; Cho, Se-Hyung; Kim, Jaeheon

We present the first images of the v = 1 and v = 2 J = 1 → 0 SiO maser lines taken with KaVA, i.e., the combined array of the Korean Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network and the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA), toward the OH/IR star WX Psc. The combination of long and short antenna baselines enabled us to detect a large number of maser spots, which exhibit a typical ring-like structure in both the v = 1 and v = 2 J = 1 → 0 SiO masers as those that have been found inmore » previous VLBI observational results of WX Psc. The relative alignment of the v = 1 and v = 2 SiO maser spots are precisely derived from astrometric analysis, due to the absolute coordinates of the reference maser spot that were well determined in an independent astrometric observation with VERA. The superposition of the v = 1 and v = 2 maser spot maps shows a good spatial correlation between the v = 1 and v = 2 SiO maser features. Nevertheless, it is also shown that the v = 2 SiO maser spot is distributed in an inner region compared to the v = 1 SiO maser by about 0.5 mas on average. These results provide good support for the recent theoretical studies of the SiO maser pumping, in which both the collisional and the radiative pumping predict the strong spatial correlation and the small spatial discrepancy between the v = 1 and v = 2 SiO maser.« less

Evaluation of in silico pharmacokinetic properties and in vitro cytotoxic activity of selected newly synthesized N-succinimide derivatives.

PubMed

Milosevic, Natasa P; Kojic, Vesna; Curcic, Jelena; Jakimov, Dimitar; Milic, Natasa; Banjac, Nebojsa; Uscumlic, Gordana; Kaliszan, Roman

2017-04-15

Design of a new drug entity is usually preceded by analysis of quantitative structure activity (properties) relationships, QSA(P)R. Six newly synthesized succinimide derivatives have been determined for (i) in silico physico-chemical descriptors, pharmacokinetic and toxicity predictors, (ii) in vitro biological activity on four different carcinoma cell lines and on normal fetal lung cells and (iii) lipophilicity on liquid chromatography. All compounds observed were predicted for good permeability and solubility, good oral absorption rate and moderate volume of distribution as well as for modest blood brain permeation, followed by acceptable observed toxicity. In silico determined lipophilicity, permeability through jejunum and aqueous solubility were correlated with experimentally obtained lipophilic constants (by use of high pressure liquid chromatography) and linear correlations were obtained. Absorption rate and volume of distribution were predicted by chromatographic lipophilicity measurements while permeation through blood bran barrier was predicted dominantly by molecular size defined with molecular weight. Five compounds have demonstrated antiproliferative activity toward cervix carcinoma HeLa cell lines; three were cytotoxic against breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells, while one inhibited proliferation of colon carcinoma HT-29 cell lines. Only one compound was cytotoxic toward normal cell lines, while other compounds were proven as safe. Antiproliferative potential against HeLa cells was described as exponential function of lipophilicity. Based on obtained results, lead compounds were selected. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

State of personal hygiene among primary school children: A community based cohort study.

PubMed

Ahmadu, Baba Usman; Rimamchika, Musa; Ibrahim, Ahmad; Nnanubumom, Andy Angela; Godiya, Andrew; Emmanuel, Pembi

2013-01-01

Good personal hygiene in primary school children could be effective towards preventing infectious diseases. This work examined personal cleanliness of primary school children in Banki based on the following variables: bathing, state of uniforms, hair, nails and oral hygiene. One hundred and fifty primary school children in Banki community were selected using the cluster random sampling method. Analysis of variance was used to compare means and to test for significance of data, and coefficient of correlation to investigate the relationship between cleanliness and age of subjects. There were 87 (58 %) boys and 63 (42 %) girls in a ratio of 1.4:1. Ninety six (64 %) pupils belong to low socioeconomic class. Whereas, 53 (35.3 %) were found within 11-13 years age group, the overall mean age was 9 years (Standard deviation [SD] was 2.2), 95 CI (7.0 - 11.0) years. Comparing means for the different categories of personal hygiene, there was significant difference (F= 61.47, p < 0.0001). General personal cleanliness in our participants improved with age, and a positive significant correlation was observed between age and personal cleanliness in (r = 0.971, p = 0.026). In conclusion, significant number of primary school pupils in Banki community had good personal hygiene, which was observed to be directly proportional with age. Therefore, all efforts towards quality health education on personal hygiene as a means of primary prevention of illnesses in primary school pupils should be sustained.

Pilot scanning patterns while viewing cockpit displays of traffic information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ellis, S. R.; Stark, L.

1981-01-01

Scanning eye movements of airline pilots were recorded while they judged air traffic situations displayed on cockpit displays of traffic information (CDTI). The observed 1st order transition patterns between points of interest on the display showed reliable deviation from those patterns predicted by the assumption of statistical independence. However, both patterns of transitions correlated quite well with each other. Accordingly, the assumption of independence provided a surprisingly good model of the results. Nevertheless, the deviation between the observed patterns of transition and that based on the assumption of independence was for all subjects in the direction of increased determinism. Thus, the results provide objective evidence consistent with the existence of "scanpaths" in the data.

Relativistic particles and gamma-ray in quasars and active galactic nuclei

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Protheroe, R. J.; Kazanas, D.

1982-01-01

A model for a class of quasars and active galactic nuclei is described in which a shock around a massive black hole randomizes the infall kinetic energy of spherically accreting matter producing a nonthermal spectrum of high energy protons. These protons may be responsible for the secondary production (via tau + or - decay) of the radio emitting high energy electrons and also of high energy gamma rays (via pi decay and inverse Compton interactions of the electrons). The correlation between radio and gamma ray emission implied by the model is in good agreement with observations of 3C273. Observation of the flux of high energy neutrinos from quasars may provide a test for the model.

Relativistic particles and gamma-rays in quasars and active galactic nuclei

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Protheroe, R. J.; Kazanas, D.

1983-01-01

A model for a class of quasars and active galactic nuclei is described in which a shock around a massive black hole randomizes the infall kinetic energy of spherically accreting matter producing a nonthermal spectrum of high energy protons. These protons may be responsible for the secondary production (via tau + or - decay) of the radio emitting high energy electrons and also of high energy gamma rays (via Pi decay and inverse Compton interactions of the electrons). The correlation between radio and gamma ray emission implied by the model is in good agreement with observations of 3C273. Observation of the flux of high energy neutrinos from quasars may provide a test for the model.

Potential relationships between the river discharge and the precipitation in the Jinsha River basin, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Gaoxu; Zeng, Xiaofan; Zhao, Na; He, Qifang; Bai, Yiran; Zhang, Ruoyu

2018-02-01

The relationships between the river discharge and the precipitation in the Jinsha River basin are discussed in this study. In addition, the future precipitation trend from 2011-2050 and its potential influence on the river discharge are analysed by applying the CCLM-modelled precipitation. According to the observed river discharge and precipitation, the annual river discharge at the two main hydrological stations displays good correlations with the annual precipitation in the Jinsha River basin. The predicted future precipitation tends to change similarly as the change that occurred during the observation period, whereas the monthly distributions over a year could be more uneven, which is unfavourable for water resources management.

Analysis of selected materials flown on interior locations of the Long Duration Exposure Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, H. A.; Nelson, K. M.; Eash, D.; Pippin, H. G.

1994-01-01

This report documents the post-flight condition of selected hardware taken from interior locations on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). This hardware was generally in excellent condition. Outgassing data is presented for heat shrink tubing and fiberglass composite shims. Variation in total mass loss (TML) values for heat shrink tubing were correlated with location. Nylon grommets were evaluated for mechanical integrity; slight embrittlement was observed for flight specimens. Multi-layer insulation blankets, wire bundles, and paints in non-exposed interior locations were all in visibly good condition. Silicon-containing contaminant films were observed on silver-coated hex nuts at the space- and Earth-end interior locations.

RefCNV: Identification of Gene-Based Copy Number Variants Using Whole Exome Sequencing.

PubMed

Chang, Lun-Ching; Das, Biswajit; Lih, Chih-Jian; Si, Han; Camalier, Corinne E; McGregor, Paul M; Polley, Eric

2016-01-01

With rapid advances in DNA sequencing technologies, whole exome sequencing (WES) has become a popular approach for detecting somatic mutations in oncology studies. The initial intent of WES was to characterize single nucleotide variants, but it was observed that the number of sequencing reads that mapped to a genomic region correlated with the DNA copy number variants (CNVs). We propose a method RefCNV that uses a reference set to estimate the distribution of the coverage for each exon. The construction of the reference set includes an evaluation of the sources of variability in the coverage distribution. We observed that the processing steps had an impact on the coverage distribution. For each exon, we compared the observed coverage with the expected normal coverage. Thresholds for determining CNVs were selected to control the false-positive error rate. RefCNV prediction correlated significantly (r = 0.96-0.86) with CNV measured by digital polymerase chain reaction for MET (7q31), EGFR (7p12), or ERBB2 (17q12) in 13 tumor cell lines. The genome-wide CNV analysis showed a good overall correlation (Spearman's coefficient = 0.82) between RefCNV estimation and publicly available CNV data in Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia. RefCNV also showed better performance than three other CNV estimation methods in genome-wide CNV analysis.

Cardiac Computed Tomography versus Echocardiography in the Assessment of Stenotic Rheumatic Mitral Valve.

PubMed

Unal Aksu, Hale; Gorgulu, Sevket; Diker, Mustafa; Celik, Omer; Aksu, Huseyin; Ozturk, Derya; Kırıs, Adem; Kalkan, Ali Kemal; Erturk, Mehmet; Bakır, İhsan

2016-03-01

There are different clinical cardiac applications of dual source computed tomography (DSCT). Here, we aimed to compare the DSCT with the transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) for evaluating the Wilkins score and planimetric mitral valve area (MVA) of a rheumatic stenotic mitral valve. We prospectively evaluated mitral valvular structure and function in 31 patients with known mitral stenosis undergoing electrocardiogram-gated, second-generation DSCT, in our heart center for different indications. Mitral valve was evaluated using Wilkins score, and also, the planimetric MVA was assessed. We found a significant difference between MVAs determined by DSCT (average 1.42 ± 0.44 cm2) and MVAs determined by TTE (average 1.35 ± 0.43 cm2 ; difference 0.07 ± 0.16 cm2; P = 0.018). Linear regression analysis revealed a good correlation between the two techniques (r = 0.934; P < 0.0001). The limits of agreement for DSCT and TTE in the Bland-Altman analysis were ±0.31 cm2 . DSCT using TTE as the reference enabled good discrimination between mild and moderate-to-severe stenosis and had an area under the ROC curve of 0.967 (CI 0.912-1.023; P < 0.0001). Wilkins scores obtained by DSCT (7.51 ± 1.17, range 5-10) and TTE (8.16 ± 1.27, range 6-10) had a moderate correlation (r = 0.686; P < 0.0001). We found that planimetric MVA measurements assessed by DSCT were closely correlated with MVA calculations by TTE. The moderate correlation was observed for the Wilkins score. © 2015, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Clinico-pathological study to evaluate oral lichen planus for the establishment of clinical and histopathological diagnostic criteria.

PubMed

Hiremath, Santhosh; Kale, Alka D; Hallikerimath, Seema

2015-01-01

Lichen planus and lichenoid lesions affecting the oral cavity show similar clinico-pathological features creating a diagnostic dilemma. Hence, the aim of the present study was to establish a clinical and histopathological correlation in the diagnosis of oral lichen planus, based on the modified WHO diagnostic criteria of oral lichen planus and oral lichenoid lesions proposed by Van der Meij and Van der Waal in 2003. In the present study, 100 cases of oral lichen planus were clinically and histopathologically analyzed. Out of the 100 cases, 50 were prospective and 50 were retrospective cases. Prospective cases were collected based on the clinical diagnosis of oral lichen planus and oral lichenoid lesion. Retrospective cases were collected based on the histopathological diagnosis of oral lichen planus. Both the clinical and histopathological analyses were performed based on a proposal for a set of modified diagnostic criteria of oral lichen planus and oral lichenoid lesion. A final diagnosis of oral lichen planus was made only after the correlation of the clinical diagnosis with the histopathological diagnosis. The interobserver agreement among three observers for both prospective and retrospective cases in the final diagnosis of oral lichen planus was found to be "good" to "very good" indicating high reproducibility. However, the final diagnoses of true oral lichen planus after clinico-pathological correlation in prospective and retrospective study groups appeared to be 38.0% and 54.0% respectively. The results of the present study revealed mild to moderate clinico-pathological correlation in the final diagnosis of oral lichen planus for the prospective and retrospective study groups respectively.

Quantification of Abdominal Fat in Obese and Healthy Adolescents Using 3 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Free Software for Image Analysis.

PubMed

Eloi, Juliana Cristina; Epifanio, Matias; de Gonçalves, Marília Maia; Pellicioli, Augusto; Vieira, Patricia Froelich Giora; Dias, Henrique Bregolin; Bruscato, Neide; Soder, Ricardo Bernardi; Santana, João Carlos Batista; Mouzaki, Marialena; Baldisserotto, Matteo

2017-01-01

Computed tomography, which uses ionizing radiation and expensive software packages for analysis of scans, can be used to quantify abdominal fat. The objective of this study is to measure abdominal fat with 3T MRI using free software for image analysis and to correlate these findings with anthropometric and laboratory parameters in adolescents. This prospective observational study included 24 overweight/obese and 33 healthy adolescents (mean age 16.55 years). All participants underwent abdominal MRI exams. Visceral and subcutaneous fat area and percentage were correlated with anthropometric parameters, lipid profile, glucose metabolism, and insulin resistance. Student's t test and Mann-Whitney's test was applied. Pearson's chi-square test was used to compare proportions. To determine associations Pearson's linear correlation or Spearman's correlation were used. In both groups, waist circumference (WC) was associated with visceral fat area (P = 0.001 and P = 0.01 respectively), and triglycerides were associated with fat percentage (P = 0.046 and P = 0.071 respectively). In obese individuals, total cholesterol/HDL ratio was associated with visceral fat area (P = 0.03) and percentage (P = 0.09), and insulin and HOMA-IR were associated with visceral fat area (P = 0.001) and percentage (P = 0.005). 3T MRI can provide reliable and good quality images for quantification of visceral and subcutaneous fat by using a free software package. The results demonstrate that WC is a good predictor of visceral fat in obese adolescents and visceral fat area is associated with total cholesterol/HDL ratio, insulin and HOMA-IR.

Persistence of Gamma-H2AX Foci in Irradiated Bronchial Cells Correlates with Susceptibility to Radiation Associated Lung Cancer in Mice

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ochola, Donasian O.; Sharif, Rabab; Bedford, Joel S.; Keefe, Thomas J.; Kato, Takamitsu A.; Fallgren, Christina M.; Demant, Peter; Costes, Sylvain V.; Weil, Michael M.

2018-01-01

The risk of developing radiation-induced lung cancer differs between different strains of mice, but the underlying cause of the strain differences is unknown. Strains of mice also differ in their ability to efficiently repair DNA double strand breaks resulting from radiation exposure. We phenotyped mouse strains from the CcS/Dem recombinant congenic strain set for their efficacy in repairing DNA double strand breaks during protracted radiation exposures. We monitored persistent gamma-H2AX radiation induced foci (RIF) 24 hours after exposure to chronic gamma-rays as a surrogate marker for repair deficiency in bronchial epithelial cells for 17 of the CcS/Dem strains and the BALB/cHeN founder strain. We observed a very strong correlation R2 = 79.18%, P < 0.001) between the level of persistent RIF and radiogenic lung cancer percent incidence measured in the same strains. Interestingly, spontaneous levels of foci in non-irradiated strains also showed good correlation with lung cancer incidence (R2=32.74%, P =0.013). These results suggest that genetic differences in DNA repair capacity largely account for differing susceptibilities to radiation-induced lung cancer among CcS/Dem mouse strains and that high levels of spontaneous DNA damage is also a relatively good marker of cancer predisposition. In a smaller pilot study, we found that the repair capacity measured in peripheral blood leucocytes also correlated well with radiogenic lung cancer susceptibility, raising the possibility that such phenotyping assay could be used to detect radiogenic lung cancer susceptibility in humans.

OPTION(5) versus OPTION(12) instruments to appreciate the extent to which healthcare providers involve patients in decision-making.

PubMed

Stubenrouch, Fabienne E; Pieterse, Arwen H; Falkenberg, Rijan; Santema, T Katrien B; Stiggelbout, Anne M; van der Weijden, Trudy; Aarts, J Annemijn W M; Ubbink, Dirk T

2016-06-01

The 12-item "observing patient involvement" (OPTION(12))-instrument is commonly used to assess the extent to which healthcare providers involve patients in health-related decision-making. The five-item version (OPTION(5)) claims to be a more efficient measure. In this study we compared the Dutch versions of the OPTION-instruments in terms of inter-rater agreement and correlation in outpatient doctor-patient consultations in various settings, to learn if we can safely switch to the shorter OPTION(5)-instrument. Two raters coded 60 audiotaped vascular surgery and oncology patient consultations using OPTION(12) and OPTION(5). Unweighted Cohen's kappa was used to compute inter-rater agreement on item-level. The association between the total scores of the two OPTION-instruments was investigated using Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) and a Bland & Altman plot. After fine-tuning the OPTION-manuals, inter-rater agreement for OPTION(12) and OPTION(5) was good to excellent (kappa range 0.69-0.85 and 0.63-0.72, respectively). Mean total scores were 23.7 (OPTION(12); SD=7.8) and 39.3 (OPTION(5); SD=12.7). Correlation between the total scores was high (r=0.71; p=0.01). OPTION(5) scored systematically higher with a wider range than OPTION(12). Both OPTION-instruments had a good inter-rater agreement and correlated well. OPTION(5) seems to differentiate better between various levels of patient involvement. The OPTION(5)-instrument is recommended for clinical application. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Scan-rescan reproducibility of segmental aortic wall shear stress as assessed by phase-specific segmentation with 4D flow MRI in healthy volunteers.

PubMed

van der Palen, Roel L F; Roest, Arno A W; van den Boogaard, Pieter J; de Roos, Albert; Blom, Nico A; Westenberg, Jos J M

2018-05-26

The aim was to investigate scan-rescan reproducibility and observer variability of segmental aortic 3D systolic wall shear stress (WSS) by phase-specific segmentation with 4D flow MRI in healthy volunteers. Ten healthy volunteers (age 26.5 ± 2.6 years) underwent aortic 4D flow MRI twice. Maximum 3D systolic WSS (WSSmax) and mean 3D systolic WSS (WSSmean) for five thoracic aortic segments over five systolic cardiac phases by phase-specific segmentations were calculated. Scan-rescan analysis and observer reproducibility analysis were performed. Scan-rescan data showed overall good reproducibility for WSSmean (coefficient of variation, COV 10-15%) with moderate-to-strong intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC 0.63-0.89). The variability in WSSmax was high (COV 16-31%) with moderate-to-good ICC (0.55-0.79) for different aortic segments. Intra- and interobserver reproducibility was good-to-excellent for regional aortic WSSmax (ICC ≥ 0.78; COV ≤ 17%) and strong-to-excellent for WSSmean (ICC ≥ 0.86; COV ≤ 11%). In general, ascending aortic segments showed more WSSmax/WSSmean variability compared to aortic arch or descending aortic segments for scan-rescan, intraobserver and interobserver comparison. Scan-rescan reproducibility was good for WSSmean and moderate for WSSmax for all thoracic aortic segments over multiple systolic phases in healthy volunteers. Intra/interobserver reproducibility for segmental WSS assessment was good-to-excellent. Variability of WSSmax is higher and should be taken into account in case of individual follow-up or in comparative rest-stress studies to avoid misinterpretation.

Treatment adherence and perception in patients on maintenance hemodialysis: a cross - sectional study from Palestine.

PubMed

Naalweh, Karam Sh; Barakat, Mohammad A; Sweileh, Moutaz W; Al-Jabi, Samah W; Sweileh, Waleed M; Zyoud, Sa'ed H

2017-05-30

Adherence to diet recommendations, fluid restriction, prescribed medications, and attendance at hemodialysis (HD) sessions are essential for optimal and effective treatment of patients with end-stage renal disease. No data regarding this issue are available from Palestine. Therefore, this study was carried out to assess adherence to diet, fluid restriction, medications, and HD sessions. A cross-sectional study of HD patients at An-Najah National University Hospital was carried out during summer, 2016. Self-reported adherence behavior was obtained using a valid and reliable questionnaire (End-Stage Renal Disease Adherence Questionnaire: ESRD-AQ). Predialytic serum levels of potassium and phosphate were obtained as clinical indicator of diet and medication adherence respectively. In addition, interdialytic body weight (IDW) was also obtained from medical records and analyzed in relation to reported adherence of fluid restriction. A total of 220 patients answered all questions pertaining to ESRD-AQ. The mean age ± standard deviation of participants was 56.82 ± 14.51 years. Dietary adherence was observed in 24% while that of fluid restriction adherence was observed in 31% of studied patients. Reported adherence to HD sessions was 52% while that for medications was 81%. Overall, 122 (55.5%) patients had good adherence, 89 (40.5%) had moderate adherence, and 9 (4.1%) had poor adherence behavior. Male patients had significantly higher overall adherence scores than females (p = 0.034). A significant correlation between reported diet adherence and serum pre-HD potassium level (p < 0.01) was observed. A significant correlation between reported fluid restriction adherence and IDW (p < 0.01) was also found. However, no significant correlation between reported adherence and pre-HD phosphate level. There was significant correlation between overall perception and overall adherence score (p < 0.001). Counselling of patients regarding importance of adherence modalities was lowest for "staying for the entire dialysis time". Multivariate analysis indicated that elderly male patients who were city residents had higher odds of having higher adherence score. There was a good percentage of patients who had overall moderate or poor adherence. ESRD-AQ could be used to assess some aspects of HD adherence. Counselling and education of patients on HD are important to improve therapeutic outcome.

Radioreceptor assay for analysis of fentanyl and its analogs in biological samples

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

Alburges, M.E.

The assay is based on the competition of these drugs with ({sup 3}H) fentanyl for opioid receptors in membrane preparations of rat forebrain in vitro. The binding in stereospecific, reversible and saturable. Scatchard plots of saturation suggest the presence of high and low affinity binding sites. Morphine and hydromorphone complete with ({sup 3}H)fentanyl for the opioid receptor, but other morphine-like compounds were relatively weak displacers of ({sup 3}H)fentanyl. Many other commonly abused drugs do not compete with ({sup 3}H)fentanyl for the opioid receptors. Urine samples from animals injected with fentanyl, ({plus minus})-cis-3-methylfentanyl, alpha-methylfentanyl, butyrylfentanyl and benzylfentanyl were analyzed by radioreceptormore » assay, radioimmunoassay, and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Urinary analysis of fentanyl showed a good correlation with these three methods; however, discrepancies were observed in the analysis of fentanyl analogs. This radioreceptor assay is well-suited as an initial assay for the detection of active analogs of fentanyl in urine with good correlation with other techniques in the analysis of fentanyl; however, there is substantial disagreement between techniques in the quantitation of fentanyl analogs. The implications of these discrepancies are discussed.« less

CK-MB mass test in ischemic myocardial injury. Comparison of two tests: BioMerieux Vidas and sanofi access immunoassays.

PubMed

Poirey, S; Polge, A; Bertinchant, J P; Bancel, E; Boyer, J C; Fabbro-Peray, P; de Bornier, B M; Ledermann, B; Bonnier, M; Bali, J P

2000-01-01

The analytical and clinical performances of the new fluorescent immunoassay (CK-MB mass Vidas-BioMerieux) were examined and compared to the chemiluminescent test (CK-MB mass Access-Sanofi-Pasteur). Assay precisions of the CK-MB Vidas test within-assay or between-assay were less than 5.4 and 5.3%, respectively. Linearity was tested up to 214 microg/L. The CK-MB Vidas test was free of interference with CK-BB, CK-MM, and macro-CK. One hundred nineteen blood samples from patients with ischemic myocardial injury (IMI): acute myocardial infarction (AMI), suspected myocardial contusion (SMC), and unstable angina pectoris (UA), were tested using both immunoassays. In AMI, a good correlation was found (Y [CK-MB Access] = 1.1372 x [CK-MB Vidas] - 6.3902; r(2) = 0.96). In UA and SMC, low values were observed and both methods were well correlated (Y [CK-MB Access] = 1.3662 x [CK-MB Vidas] + 0.0671; r(2) = 0.97). Clinical data were in good agreement with both immunoassays. ROC analysis performed in AMI demonstrated that the clinical performances of the two assays were similar. Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Comparison of reactivity of Pt(II) center in the mononuclear and binuclear organometallic diimineplatinum complexes toward oxidative addition of methyl iodide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hashemi, Majid

2016-01-01

The reactivities of Pt(II) center in a series of organometallic mononuclear Pt(II), binuclear Pt(II) and binuclear mixed-valence Pt(II)-Pt(IV) complexes toward oxidative addition of MeI have been compared from a theoretical point of view. The nucleophilicity index and electron-donation power were calculated for each of these complexes. The energies of HOMO and dZ2 orbital were determined for these complexes. Very good correlations were found between logk2 (k2 is the experimentally determined second order rate constant for the oxidative addition of MeI on these complexes) and nucleophilicity index or electron-donation power for these complexes. The correlation between logk2 and the energy of HOMO or the energy of dZ2 orbital were also very good. The condensed-to-atom Fukui functions for electrophilic attack on these complexes showed that the Pt(II) center is the preferred site for the oxidative addition of MeI. All of these observations are in agreement with the proposed SN2 type mechanism in the oxidative addition of MeI on the Pt(II) center in these complexes.

Questionnaire for measuring organisational attributes in dental-care practices: psychometric properties and test-retest reliability.

PubMed

Goetz, Katja; Hasse, Philipp; Szecsenyi, Joachim; Campbell, Stephen M

2016-04-01

The consideration of organisational aspects, such as shared goals and clear communication, within the health care team is important to ensure good quality care. In primary health care, the instrument Survey of Organizational Attributes for Primary Care (SOAPC) is available to measure organisational attributes of care. However, there is no instrument available for dental care. The aim of the present study was to investigate psychometric properties and test-retest reliability of the version of SOAPC adapted for dental care, namely the Survey of Organizational Attributes in Dental Care (SOADC). The SOADC consists of 21 items in the following four subscales: communication; decision making; stress/chaos; and history of change. Convergent construct validity was measured using the job satisfaction scale. A total of 287 dental-care practices were asked to participate in the validation study. Psychometric properties and test-retest reliability were observed. A total of 43 dental-care practices responded to the survey. At baseline, 178 dental-care staff completed the questionnaire, and 4 weeks later 138 did so. Internal consistency, measured by Cronbach's alpha, was 0.718 or higher in the subscales. The test-retest reliability for each subscale and the overall SOADC score demonstrated good correlations over the 4-week test-retest interval, except for 'history of change'. A strong correlation with the aggregated job-satisfaction scale showed high convergent construct validity of SOADC. The consideration of organisational aspects from the perspective of dental-care teams is important for providing good quality of care. The SOADC is a reliable instrument with good psychometric properties and is suitable for the evaluation of organisational attributes in dental-care practices. © 2015 FDI World Dental Federation.

Doppler ultrasound study of penis in men with systemic sclerosis: a correlation with Doppler indices of renal and digital arteries.

PubMed

Rosato, E; Barbano, B; Gigante, A; Cianci, R; Molinaro, I; Quarta, S; Digiulio, M A; Messineo, D; Pisarri, S; Salsano, F

2013-01-01

Erectile dysfunction (ED) prevalence in male systemic sclerosis (SSc) is high and its pathogenesis is unclear. The aim of the study is to assess correlation between Doppler ultrasound indices of penis and kidneys or digital arteries in male systemic sclerosis. Fourteen men with systemic sclerosis were enrolled in this study. Erectile function was investigated by the International Index of Erectile Function-5. Peak systolic velocity, end diastolic velocity, resistive index, pulsative index, and systolic/diastolic ratio were measured on the cavernous arteries at the peno-scrotal junction in the flaccid state, on the interlobar artery of both kidneys and all ten proper palmar digital arteries. Ten (71 percent) patients have an International Index of Erectile Function-5 less than 21. Reduction of penis peak systolic velocity was observed in all SSc subjects. Doppler indices of cavernous arteries correlate with the International Index of Erectile Function-5. The renal and digital arteries resistive index demonstrated a good correlation (p less than 0.0001) with International Index of Erectile Function-5. A positive correlation exists between penis and kidney arteries Doppler indices: end diastolic velocity (p less than 0.05, r=0.54), resistive index (p less than 0.0001, r=0.90), systolic/diastolic ratio (p less than 0.01, r=0.69). A positive correlation was observed between penis and digital arteries Doppler indices: peak systolic velocity (p less than 0.01, r=0.68), end diastolic velocity (p less than 0.01, r=0.75), resistive index (p less than 0.001, r=0.79), systolic/diastolic ratio (p less than 0.05, r=0.59). A correlation exists between arterial impairment of penis and renal or digital arteries.

Uptake of alkaline earth metals in Alcyonarian spicules (Octocorallia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taubner, I.; Böhm, F.; Eisenhauer, A.; Garbe-Schönberg, D.; Erez, J.

2012-05-01

Alcyonarian corals (Octocorallia) living in shallow tropical seas produce spicules of high-Mg calcite with ˜13 mol% MgCO3. We cultured the tropical alcyonarian coral Rhythisma fulvum in experiments varying temperature (19-32 °C) and pH (8.15-8.44). Alkalinity depletion caused by spicule formation systematically varied in the temperature experiments increasing from 19 to 29 °C. Spicules were investigated for their elemental ratios (Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca) using ICP-OES, δ44/40Ca using TIMS, as well as δ18O and δ13C by IRMS. Mg/Ca increased with temperature from 146 to 164 mmol/mol, in good agreement with the range observed for marine inorganic calcite. Mg/Ca increased by 1.0 ± 0.4 mmol/mol/°C, similar to the sensitivity of Miliolid foraminifera. The pH experiments revealed a linear relationship between Mg/Ca and carbonate ion concentration of +0.03 ± 0.02 mmol/mol/μMol. Sr/Ca ranges from 2.5 to 2.9 mmol/mol being in good agreement with other high-Mg calcites. Temperature and pH experiments showed linear dependencies of Sr/Ca matching inorganic calcite trends and pointing to a decoupling of crystal precipitation rate and calcification rate. Ca isotopes range between 0.7‰ and 0.9‰ in good agreement with aragonitic scleractinian corals and calcitic coccoliths. Presumably Ca isotopes are fractionated by a biological mechanism that may be independent of the skeletal mineralogy. We observe no temperature trend, but a significant decrease of δ44/40Ca with increasing pH. This inverse correlation may characterise biologically controlled intracellular calcification. Oxygen isotope ratios are higher than expected for isotopic equilibrium with a temperature sensitivity of -0.15 ± 0.03‰/°C. Carbon isotope ratios are significantly lower than expected for equilibrium and positively correlated with temperature with a slope of 0.20 ± 0.04‰/°C. Many of our observations on trace element incorporation in R. fulvum may be explained by inorganic processes during crystal formation, which do not comply with the intracellular mode of calcification in Alcyonarian corals. The observed elemental and isotopic compositions, however, could be explained if the partitioning caused by biological mechanisms mimics the effects of inorganic processes.

CORRELATION OF HARD X-RAY AND WHITE LIGHT EMISSION IN SOLAR FLARES

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

Kuhar, Matej; Krucker, Säm; Battaglia, Marina

A statistical study of the correlation between hard X-ray and white light emission in solar flares is performed in order to search for a link between flare-accelerated electrons and white light formation. We analyze 43 flares spanning GOES classes M and X using observations from the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager. We calculate X-ray fluxes at 30 keV and white light fluxes at 6173 Å summed over the hard X-ray flare ribbons with an integration time of 45 s around the peak hard-X ray time. We find a good correlation between hard X-raymore » fluxes and excess white light fluxes, with a highest correlation coefficient of 0.68 for photons with energy of 30 keV. Assuming the thick target model, a similar correlation is found between the deposited power by flare-accelerated electrons and the white light fluxes. The correlation coefficient is found to be largest for energy deposition by electrons above ∼50 keV. At higher electron energies the correlation decreases gradually while a rapid decrease is seen if the energy provided by low-energy electrons is added. This suggests that flare-accelerated electrons of energy ∼50 keV are the main source for white light production.« less

Assessment of muscle tissue oxygen saturation after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

PubMed

Orban, Jean-Christophe; Scarlatti, Audrey; Danin, Pierre-Eric; Dellamonica, Jean; Bernardin, Gilles; Ichai, Carole

2015-12-01

Pathophysiology of cardiac arrest corresponds to an ischemia-reperfusion syndrome with deep impairment of microcirculation. Muscular tissue oxygen saturation (StO2) is a noninvasive method of evaluation of microcirculation. Our study was aimed at assessing the prognosis value of muscular StO2 in patients admitted for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and treated with hypothermia. We conducted a prospective bicentric observational study including OHCA patients treated with therapeutic hypothermia. Baseline StO2, derived variables (desaturation and resaturation slopes), and lactate levels were compared at different times between patients with good and poor outcomes. Prognosis was assessed by the Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) score at 6 months after admission (CPC 1-2, good outcome; CPC 3-5, poor outcome). Forty-four patients were included, 17 good and 27 poor outcomes at 6 months. At admission, StO2 and lactate levels were lower in good outcome patients. Desaturation and resaturation slopes did not differ between groups. After an OHCA treated with therapeutic hypothermia, StO2 was correlated with outcome. Further research is needed to better understand the pathophysiological process underlying our results. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Characterization of Fissile Assemblies Using Low-Efficiency Detection Systems

DOE PAGES

Chapline, George F.; Verbeke, Jerome M.

2017-02-02

Here, we have investigated the possibility that the amount, chemical form, multiplication, and shape of the fissile material in an assembly can be passively assayed using scintillator detection systems by only measuring the fast neutron pulse height distribution and distribution of time intervals Δt between fast neutrons. We have previously demonstrated that the alpha-ratio can be obtained from the observed pulse height distribution for fast neutrons. In this paper we report that we report that when the distribution of time intervals is plotted as a function of logΔt, the position of the correlated neutron peak is nearly independent of detectormore » efficiency and determines the internal relaxation rate for fast neutrons. If this information is combined with knowledge of the alpha-ratio, then the position of the minimum between the correlated and uncorrelated peaks can be used to rapidly estimate the mass, multiplication, and shape of fissile material. This method does not require a priori knowledge of either the efficiency for neutron detection or the alpha-ratio. Although our method neglects 3-neutron correlations, we have used previously obtained experimental data for metallic and oxide forms of Pu to demonstrate that our method yields good estimates for multiplications as large as 2, and that the only constraint on detector efficiency/observation time is that a peak in the interval time distribution due to correlated neutrons is visible.« less

Surrogate endpoints for overall survival in chemotherapy and radiotherapy trials in operable and locally advanced lung cancer: a re-analysis of meta-analyses of individual patients' data.

PubMed

Mauguen, Audrey; Pignon, Jean-Pierre; Burdett, Sarah; Domerg, Caroline; Fisher, David; Paulus, Rebecca; Mandrekar, Samithra J; Belani, Chandra P; Shepherd, Frances A; Eisen, Tim; Pang, Herbert; Collette, Laurence; Sause, William T; Dahlberg, Suzanne E; Crawford, Jeffrey; O'Brien, Mary; Schild, Steven E; Parmar, Mahesh; Tierney, Jayne F; Le Pechoux, Cécile; Michiels, Stefan

2013-06-01

The gold standard endpoint in clinical trials of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for lung cancer is overall survival. Although reliable and simple to measure, this endpoint takes years to observe. Surrogate endpoints that would enable earlier assessments of treatment effects would be useful. We assessed the correlations between potential surrogate endpoints and overall survival at individual and trial levels. We analysed individual patients' data from 15,071 patients involved in 60 randomised clinical trials that were assessed in six meta-analyses. Two meta-analyses were of adjuvant chemotherapy in non-small-cell lung cancer, three were of sequential or concurrent chemotherapy, and one was of modified radiotherapy in locally advanced lung cancer. We investigated disease-free survival (DFS) or progression-free survival (PFS), defined as the time from randomisation to local or distant relapse or death, and locoregional control, defined as the time to the first local event, as potential surrogate endpoints. At the individual level we calculated the squared correlations between distributions of these three endpoints and overall survival, and at the trial level we calculated the squared correlation between treatment effects for endpoints. In trials of adjuvant chemotherapy, correlations between DFS and overall survival were very good at the individual level (ρ(2)=0.83, 95% CI 0.83-0.83 in trials without radiotherapy, and 0.87, 0.87-0.87 in trials with radiotherapy) and excellent at trial level (R(2)=0.92, 95% CI 0.88-0.95 in trials without radiotherapy and 0.99, 0.98-1.00 in trials with radiotherapy). In studies of locally advanced disease, correlations between PFS and overall survival were very good at the individual level (ρ(2) range 0.77-0.85, dependent on the regimen being assessed) and trial level (R(2) range 0.89-0.97). In studies with data on locoregional control, individual-level correlations were good (ρ(2)=0.71, 95% CI 0.71-0.71 for concurrent chemotherapy and ρ(2)=0.61, 0.61-0.61 for modified vs standard radiotherapy) and trial-level correlations very good (R(2)=0.85, 95% CI 0.77-0.92 for concurrent chemotherapy and R(2)=0.95, 0.91-0.98 for modified vs standard radiotherapy). We found a high level of evidence that DFS is a valid surrogate endpoint for overall survival in studies of adjuvant chemotherapy involving patients with non-small-cell lung cancers, and PFS in those of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for patients with locally advanced lung cancers. Extrapolation to targeted agents, however, is not automatically warranted. Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique, Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer, British Medical Research Council, Sanofi-Aventis. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interinstrument comparison of remote-sensing devices and a new method for calculating on-road nitrogen oxides emissions and validation of vehicle-specific power.

PubMed

Rushton, Christopher E; Tate, James E; Shepherd, Simon P; Carslaw, David C

2018-02-01

Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by vehicles in real driving environments are only partially understood. This has been brought to the attention of the world with recent revelations of the cheating of the type of approval tests exposed in the dieselgate scandal. Remote-sensing devices offer investigators an opportunity to directly measure in situ real driving emissions of tens of thousands of vehicles. Remote-sensing NO 2 measurements are not as widely available as would be desirable. The aim of this study is to improve the ability of investigators to estimate the NO 2 emissions and to improve the confidence of the total NOx results calculated from standard remote-sensing device (RSD) measurements. The accuracy of the RSD speed and acceleration module was also validated using state-of-the-art onboard global positioning system (GPS) tracking. Two RSDs used in roadside vehicle emissions surveys were tested side by side under off-carriageway conditions away from transient pollution sources to ascertain the consistency of their measurements. The speed correlation was consistent across the range of measurements at 95% confidence and the acceleration correlation was consistent at 95% confidence intervals for all but the most extreme acceleration cases. VSP was consistent at 95% confidence across all measurements except for those at VSP ≥ 15 kW t -1 , which show a small underestimate. The controlled distribution gas nitric oxide measurements follow a normal distribution with 2σ equal to 18.9% of the mean, compared to 15% observed during factory calibration indicative of additional error introduced into the system. Systematic errors of +84 ppm were observed but within the tolerance of the control gas. Interinstrument correlation was performed, with the relationship between the FEAT and the RSD4600 being linear with a gradient of 0.93 and an R 2 of 0.85, indicating good correlation. A new method to calculate NOx emissions using fractional NO 2 combined with NO measurements made by the RSD4600 was constructed, validated, and shown to be more accurate than previous methods. Synchronized remote-sensing measurements of NO were taken using two different remote-sensing devices in an off-road study. It was found that the measurements taken by both instruments were well correlated. Fractional NO 2 measurements from a prior study, measurable on only one device, were used to create new NO x emission factors for the device that could not be measured by the second device. These estimates were validated against direct measurement of total NO x emission factors and shown to be an improvement on previous methodologies. Validation of vehicle-specific power was performed with good correlation observed.

Measuring the visual salience of alignments by their non-accidentalness.

PubMed

Blusseau, S; Carboni, A; Maiche, A; Morel, J M; Grompone von Gioi, R

2016-09-01

Quantitative approaches are part of the understanding of contour integration and the Gestalt law of good continuation. The present study introduces a new quantitative approach based on the a contrario theory, which formalizes the non-accidentalness principle for good continuation. This model yields an ideal observer algorithm, able to detect non-accidental alignments in Gabor patterns. More precisely, this parameterless algorithm associates with each candidate percept a measure, the Number of False Alarms (NFA), quantifying its degree of masking. To evaluate the approach, we compared this ideal observer with the human attentive performance on three experiments of straight contours detection in arrays of Gabor patches. The experiments showed a strong correlation between the detectability of the target stimuli and their degree of non-accidentalness, as measured by our model. What is more, the algorithm's detection curves were very similar to the ones of human subjects. This fact seems to validate our proposed measurement method as a convenient way to predict the visibility of alignments. This framework could be generalized to other Gestalts. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Orbital selective pairing and gap structures of iron-based superconductors

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

Kreisel, Andreas; Andersen, Brian M.; Sprau, P. O.

We discuss the in uence on spin-fluctuation pairing theory of orbital selective strong correlation effects in Fe-based superconductors, particularly Fe chalcogenide systems. We propose that a key ingredient for an improved itinerant pairing theory is orbital selectivity, i.e., incorporating the reduced coherence of quasiparticles occupying specific orbital states. This modifies the usual spin-fluctuation via suppression of pair scattering processes involving those less coherent states and results in orbital selective Cooper pairing of electrons in the remaining states. We show that this paradigm yields remarkably good agreement with the experimentally observed anisotropic gap structures in both bulk and monolayer FeSe, asmore » well as LiFeAs, indicating that orbital selective Cooper pairing plays a key role in the more strongly correlated iron-based superconductors.« less

The use of a behavioral response system in the USF/NASA toxicity screening test method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hilado, C. J.; Cumming, H. J.; Packham, S. C.

1977-01-01

Relative toxicity data on the pyrolysis effluents from bisphenol A polycarbonate and wool fabric were obtained, based on visual observations of the behavior of free-moving mice and on an avoidance response behavioral paradigm of restrained rats monitored by an instrumented behavioral system. The initial experiments show an essentially 1:1 correlation between the two systems with regard to first signs of incapacitation, collapse, and death from pyrolysis effluents from polycarbonate. It is hypothesized that similarly good correlations between these two systems might exist for other materials exhibiting predominantly carbon monoxide mechanisms of intoxication. This hypothesis needs to be confirmed, however, by additional experiments. Data with wool fabric exhibited greater variability with both procedures, indicating possibly different mechanisms of intoxication for wool as compared with bisphenol A polycarbonate.

Orbital selective pairing and gap structures of iron-based superconductors

DOE PAGES

Kreisel, Andreas; Andersen, Brian M.; Sprau, P. O.; ...

2017-05-08

We discuss the in uence on spin-fluctuation pairing theory of orbital selective strong correlation effects in Fe-based superconductors, particularly Fe chalcogenide systems. We propose that a key ingredient for an improved itinerant pairing theory is orbital selectivity, i.e., incorporating the reduced coherence of quasiparticles occupying specific orbital states. This modifies the usual spin-fluctuation via suppression of pair scattering processes involving those less coherent states and results in orbital selective Cooper pairing of electrons in the remaining states. We show that this paradigm yields remarkably good agreement with the experimentally observed anisotropic gap structures in both bulk and monolayer FeSe, asmore » well as LiFeAs, indicating that orbital selective Cooper pairing plays a key role in the more strongly correlated iron-based superconductors.« less

Reliability of Two Smartphone Applications for Radiographic Measurements of Hallux Valgus Angles.

PubMed

Mattos E Dinato, Mauro Cesar; Freitas, Marcio de Faria; Milano, Cristiano; Valloto, Elcio; Ninomiya, André Felipe; Pagnano, Rodrigo Gonçalves

The objective of the present study was to assess the reliability of 2 smartphone applications compared with the traditional goniometer technique for measurement of radiographic angles in hallux valgus and the time required for analysis with the different methods. The radiographs of 31 patients (52 feet) with a diagnosis of hallux valgus were analyzed. Four observers, 2 with >10 years' experience in foot and ankle surgery and 2 in-training surgeons, measured the hallux valgus angle and intermetatarsal angle using a manual goniometer technique and 2 smartphone applications (Hallux Angles and iPinPoint). The interobserver and intermethod reliability were estimated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), and the time required for measurement of the angles among the 3 methods was compared using the Friedman test. A very good or good interobserver reliability was found among the 4 observers measuring the hallux valgus angle and intermetatarsal angle using the goniometer (ICC 0.913 and 0.821, respectively) and iPinPoint (ICC 0.866 and 0.638, respectively). Using the Hallux Angles application, a very good interobserver reliability was found for measurements of the hallux valgus angle (ICC 0.962) and intermetatarsal angle (ICC 0.935) only among the more experienced observers. The time required for the measurements was significantly shorter for the measurements using both smartphone applications compared with the goniometer method. One smartphone application (iPinPoint) was reliable for measurements of the hallux valgus angles by either experienced or nonexperienced observers. The use of these tools might save time in the evaluation of radiographic angles in the hallux valgus. Copyright © 2016 American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Physical and morphological properties of z ~ 3 Lyman break galaxies: dependence on Lyα line emission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pentericci, L.; Grazian, A.; Scarlata, C.; Fontana, A.; Castellano, M.; Giallongo, E.; Vanzella, E.

2010-05-01

Aims: We investigate the physical and morphological properties of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at redshift ~2.5 to ~3.5, to determine if and how they depend on the nature and strength of the Lyα emission. Methods: We selected U-dropout galaxies from the z-detected GOODS-MUSIC catalog by adapting the classical Lyman break criteria on the GOODS filter set. We kept only those galaxies with spectroscopic confirmation, mainly from VIMOS and FORS public observations. Using the full multi-wavelength 14-bands information (U to IRAC), we determined the physical properties of the galaxies through a standard spectral energy distribution fitting procedure with the updated Charlot & Bruzual (2009) templates. We also added other relevant observations of the GOODS field, i.e. the 24 μm observations from Spitzer/MIPS and the 2 MSec Chandra X-ray observations. Finally, using non parametric diagnostics (Gini, Concentration, Asymmetry, M20 and ellipticity), we characterized the rest-frame UV morphologies of the galaxies. We then analyzed how these physical and morphological properties correlate with the presence of the Lyα emission line in the optical spectra. Results: We find that unlike at higher redshift, the dependence of physical properties on the Lyα line is milder: galaxies without Lyα in emission tend to be more massive and dustier than the rest of the sample, but all other parameters, ages, star formation rates (SFR), X-ray emission and UV morphology do not depend strongly on the presence of the Lyα emission. A simple scenario where all LBGs have intrinsically high Lyα emission, but where the dust and neutral hydrogen content (which shapes the final appearance of the Lyα) depend on the mass of the galaxies, is able to reproduce the majority of the observed properties at z˜3. Some modification might be needed to account for the observed evolution of these properties with cosmic epoch, which is also discussed.

Spatial and temporal variation of sources contributing to quasi-ultrafine particulate matter PM0.36 in Augsburg, Germany.

PubMed

Li, Fengxia; Schnelle-Kreis, Jürgen; Cyrys, Josef; Wolf, Kathrin; Karg, Erwin; Gu, Jianwei; Orasche, Jürgen; Abbaszade, Gülcin; Peters, Annette; Zimmermann, Ralf

2018-08-01

to study the sources contributing to quasi-ultrafine particle (UFP) organic carbon and the spatial temporal variability of the sources. 24h quasi-UFP (particulate matter <0.36μm in this study) was sampled at a reference site continuously and at one of 5 other sites (T1, T2, T3, T4 and B1) in parallel in Augsburg, Germany from April 11th, 2014 to February 22nd, 2015, attempting to conduct 2-week campaigns at each site in 3 different seasons. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was applied to measured organic tracers for source apportionment analyses. Pearson correlation coefficient r and coefficient of divergence (COD) were calculated to investigate spatial temporal variation of source contributions. 5 sources were identified comprising biomass burning (BB), traffic emissions (Traffic), biogenic secondary organic aerosol (bioSOA), isoprene originated secondary organic aerosol (isoSOA) and biomass burning related secondary organic aerosol (bbSOA). In general, good temporal correlation and uniform distribution within the study area are found for bioSOA and bbSOA, probably resulting from regional formation/transport. Lower temporal correlation and spatial heterogeneity of isoSOA were found at the city background site with local influence from green space and less traffic impact. BB demonstrated very good temporal correlation, but higher contributions at sites influenced by local residential heating emissions were observed. Traffic showed the least seasonality and lower correlation over time among the sources. However, it demonstrated low spatial heterogeneity of absolute contribution, and only a few days of elevated contribution was found at T3 when wind came directly from the street nearby. temporal correlation and spatial variability of sources contributing to the organic fraction of quasi-UFP vary among sites and source types and show source-specific characteristics. Therefore, caution should be taken when using one monitor site measurement to assess human exposure in health effect studies of quasi-UFP. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Allergen-specific IgE measurement with the IMMULITE 2000 system: intermethod comparison of detection performance for allergen-specific IgE antibodies from Korean allergic patients.

PubMed

Lee, Yong Won; Sohn, Jung Ho; Lee, Jae-Hyun; Hong, Chein-Soo; Park, Jung-Won

2009-03-01

Intermethod comparison between IMMULITE 2000 chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) and the established CAP test for allergen-specific IgE (sIgE) has only been evaluated by a few studies. We performed such an interassay comparison using 283 Korean allergic patients with the following: asthma (18.4%), allergic rhinitis (18.4%), both asthma and allergic rhinitis (14.5%), atopic dermatitis (21.9%), and others (26.8%). We compared the sIgE detection performance of both systems for 10 major inhalant allergens (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoides farinae, Blattela germanica, cat dander, dog hair, alder, birch, oak, ragweed, and mugwort) and four food allergens (egg white, cow milk, peanut, and shrimp). After 645 paired comparison tests, close association and significant correlation were observed between the results of both assays for most of these allergens (r=0.525-0.979, p<0.05, respectively), except for shrimp. Intermethod agreement based on sIgE detection was fair to good (74.1-100%, kappa=0.514-1.000, p<0.05, respectively) for most allergens except for B. germanica, ragweed, and shrimp. Although both assays showed good accuracy in ROC curve analysis, some minor differences were noted. IMMULITE 2000 CLEIA for sIgE detection showed fair to good intermethod correlation, association, agreement, and accuracy in comparison to the established CAP assay among Korean allergic patients. However, we should take into account the intermethod differences between both assays for clinical applications.

Lake eutrophication as indicated by ERTS satellite imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scherz, J. P.; Van Domelen, J. F.; Holtje, K.; Johnson, W.

1975-01-01

Light reflectance from water in the laboratory always correlates to the water quality parameter of turbidity. This turbidity is caused by suspended solids in the water and for a particular type of material there is a good correlation between the weight of these suspended solids and turbidity. However, this correlation is different for different types of material. When this suspended material is living green matter as in an eutrophic lake, the changes in reflectance can be detected as changes in brightness on a particular aerial image. Two test sites have shown that there is indeed a good correlation between the brightness on an ERTS image and lake eutrophication.

Flares, ejections, proton events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belov, A. V.

2017-11-01

Statistical analysis is performed for the relationship of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and X-ray flares with the fluxes of solar protons with energies >10 and >100 MeV observed near the Earth. The basis for this analysis was the events that took place in 1976-2015, for which there are reliable observations of X-ray flares on GOES satellites and CME observations with SOHO/LASCO coronagraphs. A fairly good correlation has been revealed between the magnitude of proton enhancements and the power and duration of flares, as well as the initial CME speed. The statistics do not give a clear advantage either to CMEs or the flares concerning their relation with proton events, but the characteristics of the flares and ejections complement each other well and are reasonable to use together in the forecast models. Numerical dependences are obtained that allow estimation of the proton fluxes to the Earth expected from solar observations; possibilities for improving the model are discussed.

Investigating the auroral electrojets with low altitude polar orbiting satellites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moretto, T.; Olsen, N.; Ritter, P.; Lu, G.

2002-07-01

Three geomagnetic satellite missions currently provide high precision magnetic field measurements from low altitude polar orbiting spacecraft. We demonstrate how these data can be used to determine the intensity and location of the horizontal currents that flow in the ionosphere, predominantly in the auroral electrojets. First, we examine the results during a recent geomagnetic storm. The currents derived from two satellites at different altitudes are in very good agreement, which verifies good stability of the method. Further, a very high degree of correlation (correlation coefficients of 0.8 0.9) is observed between the amplitudes of the derived currents and the commonly used auroral electrojet indices based on magnetic measurements at ground. This points to the potential of defining an auroral activity index based on the satellite observations, which could be useful for space weather monitoring. A specific advantage of the satellite observations over the ground-based magnetic measurements is their coverage of the Southern Hemisphere, as well as the Northern. We utilize this in an investigation of the ionospheric currents observed in both polar regions during a period of unusually steady interplanetary magnetic field with a large negative Y-component. A pronounced asymmetry is found between the currents in the two hemispheres, which indicates real inter-hemispheric differences beyond the mirror-asymmetry between hemispheres that earlier studies have revealed. The method is also applied to another event for which the combined measurements of the three satellites provide a comprehensive view of the current systems. The analysis hereof reveals some surprising results concerning the connection between solar wind driver and the resulting ionospheric currents. Specifically, preconditioning of the magnetosphere (history of the interplanetary magnetic field) is seen to play an important role, and in the winther hemisphere, it seems to be harder to drive currents on the nightside than on the dayside.

Estimation of land-atmosphere energy transfer over the Tibetan Plateau by a combination use of geostationary and polar-orbiting satellite data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, L.; Ma, Y.

2017-12-01

Land-atmosphere energy transfer is of great importance in land-atmosphere interactions and atmospheric boundary layer processes over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). The energy fluxes have high temporal variability, especially in their diurnal cycle, which cannot be acquired by polar-orbiting satellites alone because of their low temporal resolution. Therefore, it's of great practical significance to retrieve land surface heat fluxes by a combination use of geostationary and polar orbiting satellites. In this study, a time series of the hourly LST was estimated from thermal infrared data acquired by the Chinese geostationary satellite FengYun 2C (FY-2C) over the TP. The split window algorithm (SWA) was optimized using a regression method based on the observations from the Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP) of the Asia-Australia Monsoon Project (CAMP) on the Tibetan Plateau (CAMP/Tibet) and Tibetan observation and research platform (TORP), the land surface emissivity (LSE) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the water vapor content from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) project. The 10-day composite hourly LST data were generated via the maximum value composite (MVC) method to reduce the cloud effects. The derived LST was validated by the field observations of CAMP/Tibet and TORP. The results show that the retrieved LST and in situ data have a very good correlation (with root mean square error (RMSE), mean bias (MB), mean absolute error (MAE) and correlation coefficient (R) values of 1.99 K, 0.83 K, 1.71 K, and 0.991, respectively). Together with other characteristic parameters derived from polar-orbiting satellites and meteorological forcing data, the energy balance budgets have been retrieved finally. The validation results showed there was a good consistency between estimation results and in-situ measurements over the TP, which prove the robustness of the proposed estimation methodology.

Preliminayr Study on Diffraction Enhanced Radiographic Imaging for a Canine Model of Cartilage Damage

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

Muehleman,C.; Li, J.; Zhong, Z.

2006-01-01

Objective: To demonstrate the ability of a novel radiographic technique, Diffraction Enhanced Radiographic Imaging (DEI), to render high contrast images of canine knee joints for identification of cartilage lesions in situ. Methods: DEI was carried out at the X-15A beamline at Brookhaven National Laboratory on intact canine knee joints with varying levels of cartilage damage. Two independent observers graded the DE images for lesions and these grades were correlated to the gross morphological grade. Results: The correlation of gross visual grades with DEI grades for the 18 canine knee joints as determined by observer 1 (r2=0.8856, P=0.001) and observer 2more » (r2=0.8818, P=0.001) was high. The overall weighted ? value for inter-observer agreement was 0.93, thus considered high agreement. Conclusion: The present study is the first study for the efficacy of DEI for cartilage lesions in an animal joint, from very early signs through erosion down to subchondral bone, representing the spectrum of cartilage changes occurring in human osteoarthritis (OA). Here we show that DEI allows the visualization of cartilage lesions in intact canine knee joints with good accuracy. Hence, DEI may be applicable for following joint degeneration in animal models of OA.« less

Diffusion weighted MRI and 18F-FDG PET/CT in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): does the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) correlate with tracer uptake (SUV)?

PubMed

Regier, M; Derlin, T; Schwarz, D; Laqmani, A; Henes, F O; Groth, M; Buhk, J-H; Kooijman, H; Adam, G

2012-10-01

To investigate the potential correlation of the apparent diffusion coefficient assessed by diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) and glucose metabolism determined by the standardized uptake value (SUV) at 18F-FDG PET/CT in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). 18F-FDG PET/CT and DWI (TR/TE, 2000/66 ms; b-values, 0 and 500 s/mm(2)) were performed in 41 consecutive patients with histologically verified NSCLC. Analysing the PET-CT data calculation of the mean (SUV(mean)) and maximum (SUV(max)) SUV was performed. By placing a region-of-interest (ROI) encovering the entire tumor mean (ADC(mean)) and minimum ADC (ADC(min)) were determined by two independent radiologists. Results of 18F-FDG PET-CT and DWI were compared on a per-patient basis. For statistical analysis Pearson's correlation coefficient, Bland-Altman and regression analysis were assessed. Data analysis revealed a significant inverse correlation of the ADC(min) and SUV(max) (r=-0.46; p=0.032). Testing the correlation of the ADC(min) and SUV(max) for each histological subtype separately revealed that the inverse correlation was good for both adenocarcinomas (r=-0.47; p=0.03) and squamouscell carcinomas (r=-0.71; p=0.002), respectively. No significant correlation was found for the comparison of ADC(min) and SUV(mean) (r=-0.29; p=0.27), ADC(mean) vs. SUV(mean) (r=-0.28; p=0.31) or ADC(mean) vs. SUV(max) (r=-0.33; p=0.23). The κ-value of 0.88 indicated a good agreement between both observers. This preliminary study is the first to verify the relation between the SUV and the ADC in NSCLC. The significant inverse correlation of these two quantitative imaging approaches points out the association of metabolic activity and tumor cellularity. Therefore, DWI with ADC measurement might represent a new prognostic marker in NSCLC. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Good phonetic errors in poor spellers are associated with right-handedness and possible weak utilisation of visuospatial abilities.

PubMed

Eglinton, Elizabeth; Annett, Marian

2008-06-01

Poor spellers in normal schools, who were not poor readers, were studied for handedness, visuospatial and other cognitive abilities in order to explore contrasts between poor spellers with and without good phonology. It was predicted by the right shift (RS) theory of handedness and cerebral dominance that those with good phonology would have strong bias to dextrality and relative weakness of the right hemisphere, while those without good phonology would have reduced bias to dextrality and relative weakness of the left hemisphere. Poor spellers with good phonetic equivalent spelling errors (GFEs) included fewer left-handers (2.4%) than poor spellers without GFEs (24.4%). Differences for hand skill were as predicted. Tests of visuospatial processing found no differences between the groups in levels of ability, but there was a marked difference in pattern of correlations between visuospatial test scores and homophonic word discrimination. Whereas good spellers (GS) and poor spellers without GFEs showed positive correlations between word discrimination and visuospatial ability, there were no significant correlations for poor spellers with GFEs. The differences for handedness and possibly for the utilisation of visuospatial skills suggest that surface dyslexics differ from phonological dyslexics in cerebral specialisation and perhaps in the quality of inter-hemispheric relations.

Correlation of emphysema score with perceived malignancy of pulmonary nodules: a multi-observer study using the LIDC-IDRI CT lung database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiemker, Rafael; Bülow, Thomas; Blaffert, Thomas; Dharaiya, Ekta

2009-02-01

Presence of emphysema is recognized to be one of the single most significant risk factors in risk models for the prediction of lung cancer. Therefore, an automatically computed emphysema score would be a prime candidate as an additional numerical feature for computer aided diagnosis (CADx) for indeterminate pulmonary nodules. We have applied several histogram-based emphysema scores to 460 thoracic CT scans from the IDRI CT lung image database, and analyzed the emphysema scores in conjunction with 3000 nodule malignancy ratings of 1232 pulmonary nodules made by expert observers. Despite the emphysema being a known risk factor, we have not found any impact on the readers' malignancy rating of nodules found in a patient with higher emphysema score. We have also not found any correlation between the number of expert-detected nodules in a patient and his emphysema score, or the relative craniocaudal location of the nodules and their malignancy rating. The inter-observer agreement of the expert ratings was excellent on nodule diameter (as derived from manual delineations), good for calcification, and only modest for malignancy and shape descriptions such as spiculation, lobulation, margin, etc.

Designing Waveform Sets with Good Correlation and Stopband Properties for MIMO Radar via the Gradient-Based Method

PubMed Central

Tang, Liang; Zhu, Yongfeng; Fu, Qiang

2017-01-01

Waveform sets with good correlation and/or stopband properties have received extensive attention and been widely used in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar. In this paper, we aim at designing unimodular waveform sets with good correlation and stopband properties. To formulate the problem, we construct two criteria to measure the correlation and stopband properties and then establish an unconstrained problem in the frequency domain. After deducing the phase gradient and the step size, an efficient gradient-based algorithm with monotonicity is proposed to minimize the objective function directly. For the design problem without considering the correlation weights, we develop a simplified algorithm, which only requires a few fast Fourier transform (FFT) operations and is more efficient. Because both of the algorithms can be implemented via the FFT operations and the Hadamard product, they are computationally efficient and can be used to design waveform sets with a large waveform number and waveform length. Numerical experiments show that the proposed algorithms can provide better performance than the state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of the computational complexity. PMID:28468308

Designing Waveform Sets with Good Correlation and Stopband Properties for MIMO Radar via the Gradient-Based Method.

PubMed

Tang, Liang; Zhu, Yongfeng; Fu, Qiang

2017-05-01

Waveform sets with good correlation and/or stopband properties have received extensive attention and been widely used in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar. In this paper, we aim at designing unimodular waveform sets with good correlation and stopband properties. To formulate the problem, we construct two criteria to measure the correlation and stopband properties and then establish an unconstrained problem in the frequency domain. After deducing the phase gradient and the step size, an efficient gradient-based algorithm with monotonicity is proposed to minimize the objective function directly. For the design problem without considering the correlation weights, we develop a simplified algorithm, which only requires a few fast Fourier transform (FFT) operations and is more efficient. Because both of the algorithms can be implemented via the FFT operations and the Hadamard product, they are computationally efficient and can be used to design waveform sets with a large waveform number and waveform length. Numerical experiments show that the proposed algorithms can provide better performance than the state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of the computational complexity.

Biological effect of fluoride on plants

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

Collet, G.F.

1969-10-01

The action of several fluorine compounds was studied by means of hydroponics. Seedlings of several species were used. In leaves of Prunus armeniaca, a good correlation between the extent of necrosis and the leaf's total fluorine content was noted. Boron plays a spectacular role as it enhances the expected fluorine accumulation. Similar results were obtained with other plant material, an observation which suggests that this phenomenon is universal in plant life. Fluorine accumulation and leaf damage due to fluorine depend upon the chemical nature of the fluorine compound. 11 references, 3 figures, 2 tables.

Reliability and construct validity of the College Student Stress Scale.

PubMed

Feldt, Ronald C; Koch, Chris

2011-04-01

Reliability and construct validity of the 11-item College Student Stress Scale were investigated with exploratory (N = 273) and confirmatory factor analyses (N = 185) in undergraduate college students. Two factors were observed; however, reliability of the 3-item factor was too low and one item failed to load on either factor. A 7-item measure (Factor 1) had acceptable reliability (.81) and good convergence with the Perceived Stress Scale. This measure was significantly correlated with Neuroticism, Test Anxiety, and Self-efficacy for Learning, but not Social Desirability or age.

Mixed hydroblast and missile injury with abdominal eventeration: case report.

PubMed

Marks, Wojciech; Białko, Marek; Stasiak, Mariusz; Deja, Włodzimierz; Penkowski, Michał; Golabek-Dropiewska, Katarzyna; Lasek, Jerzy

2009-01-01

Gunshot injuries are quite common nowadays. Increasing numbers of high-pressure injection injuries are also being observed with a good correlation with industrial progress. High-pressure devices produce pressures and velocities of fluid streams similar to those generated in firearms. However, no missile plays a part in high-pressure injection injuries. We present the unusual case of mixed missile and hydroblast injury, which has not yet been reported. Physical characteristics, typical patterns of injury and the possibility of infectious complications are shown. The importance of educating workers about safety precautions is emphasised.

The reliability and criterion validity of 2D video assessment of single leg squat and hop landing.

PubMed

Herrington, Lee; Alenezi, Faisal; Alzhrani, Msaad; Alrayani, Hasan; Jones, Richard

2017-06-01

The objective was to assess the intra-tester, within and between day reliability of measurement of hip adduction (HADD) and frontal plane projection angles (FPPA) during single leg squat (SLS) and single leg landing (SLL) using 2D video and the validity of these measurements against those found during 3D motion capture. 15 healthy subjects had their SLS and SLL assessed using 3D motion capture and video analysis. Inter-tester reliability for both SLS and SLL when measuring FPPA and HADD show excellent correlations (ICC 2,1 0.97-0.99). Within and between day assessment of SLS and SLL showed good to excellent correlations for both variables (ICC 3,1 0.72-91). 2D FPPA measures were found to have good correlation with knee abduction angle in 3-D (r=0.79, p=0.008) during SLS, and also to knee abduction moment (r=0.65, p=0.009). 2D HADD showed very good correlation with 3D HADD during SLS (r=0.81, p=0.001), and a good correlation during SLL (r=0.62, p=0.013). All other associations were weak (r<0.4). This study suggests that 2D video kinematics have a reasonable association to what is being measured with 3D motion capture. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving the City-scale Emission Inventory of Anthropogenic Air Pollutants: A Case Study of Nanjing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiu, L.; Zhao, Y.; Xu, R.; Xie, F.; Wang, H.; Qin, H.; Wu, X.; Zhang, J.

2014-12-01

To evaluate the improvement of city-scale emission inventory, a high-resolution emission inventory of air pollutants for Nanjing is first developed combining detailed source information, and then justified through quantitative analysis with observations. The best available domestic emission factors and unit-/facility-based activity level data were compiled based on a thorough field survey on major emission sources. Totally 1089 individual emission sources were identified as point sources and all the emission-related parameters including burner type, combustion technology, fuel quality, and removal efficiency of pollution control devices, are carefully investigated and analyzed. Some new data such as detailed information of city fueling-gas stations, construction sites, monthly activity level, data from continuous emission monitoring systems and traffic flow information were combined to improve spatiotemporal distribution of this inventory. For SO2, NOX and CO, good spatial correlations were found between ground observation (9 state controlling air sampling sites in Nanjing) and city-scale emission inventory (R2=0.34, 0.38 and 0.74, respectively). For TSP, PM10 and PM2.5, however, poorer correlation was found due to relatively weaker accuracy in emission estimation and spatial distribution of road dust. The mixing ratios between specific pollutants including OC/EC, BC/CO and CO2/CO, are well correlated between those from ground observation and emission. Compared to MEIC (Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China), there is a better spatial consistence between this city-scale emission inventory and NO2 measured by OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument). In particular, the city-scale emission inventory still correlated well with satellite observations (R2=0.28) while the regional emission inventory showed little correlation with satellite observations (R2=0.09) when grids containing power plants are excluded. It thus confirms the improvement of city-scale emission inventory on industrial and transportation sources other than big power plants. Through the inventory evaluation, the necessity to develop high-resolution emission inventory with comprehensive emission source information is revealed for atmospheric science studies and air quality improvement at local scale.

Characterization and analysis of diesel exhaust odor

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

Shala, F.J.

1983-01-01

An instrumental method known as the Diesel Odor Analysis System or DOAS, has been developed at A.D. Little, Inc. for measuring diesel exhaust odor. It was of interest to determine which compound or compounds in the oxygenated fraction of the exhaust were primarily responsible for the odor correlation as developed at A.D. Little, Inc. This was accomplished by observing how the measurement of the exhaust odor intensity and number of chemical constituents of the oxygenate fraction were changing with respect to the odor values as measured by the DOAS. Benzaldehyde was found to give the best correlation (R = 0.98)more » with odor. A quantitative relationship between exhaust odor as measured by the total intensity of aroma (TIA) and the benzaldehyde concentration (B) in ppm in the exhaust is given by: TIA = 1.11 log/sub 10/(B) + 4.10. This correlation was supported by results obtained from two other diesel engine exhaust sources. A methyl benzaldehyde isomer also yielded a good correlation (R = 0.90) with odor. Air to fuel ratio correlations were determined for the tentatively identified compounds, cinnamaldehyde (R = 0.94) and a C2-benzaldehyde isomer (R = 0.94).« less

Verification of high resolution simulation of precipitation and wind in Portugal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menezes, Isilda; Pereira, Mário; Moreira, Demerval; Carvalheiro, Luís; Bugalho, Lourdes; Corte-Real, João

2017-04-01

Demand of energy and freshwater continues to grow as the global population and demands increase. Precipitation feed the freshwater ecosystems which provides a wealth of goods and services for society and river flow to sustain native species and natural ecosystem functions. The adoption of the wind and hydro-electric power supplies will sustain energy demands/services without restricting the economic growth and accelerated policies scenarios. However, the international meteorological observation network is not sufficiently dense to directly support high resolution climatic research. In this sense, coupled global and regional atmospheric models constitute the most appropriate physical and numerical tool for weather forecasting and downscaling in high resolution grids with the capacity to solve problems resulting from the lack of observed data and measuring errors. Thus, this study aims to calibrate and validate of the WRF regional model from precipitation and wind fields simulation, in high spatial resolution grid cover in Portugal. The simulations were performed in two-way nesting with three grids of increasing resolution (60 km, 20 km and 5 km) and the model performance assessed for the summer and winter months (January and July), using input variables from two different reanalyses and forecasted databases (ERA-Interim and NCEP-FNL) and different forcing schemes. The verification procedure included: (i) the use of several statistics error estimators, correlation based measures and relative errors descriptors; and, (ii) an observed dataset composed by time series of hourly precipitation, wind speed and direction provided by the Portuguese meteorological institute for a comprehensive set of weather stations. Main results suggested the good ability of the WRF to: (i) reproduce the spatial patterns of the mean and total observed fields; (ii) with relatively small values of bias and other errors; and, (iii) and good temporal correlation. These findings are in good agreements with the conclusions of other previous studies with WRF. It is also important to underline the relative independence of the simulations with the datasets used to feed the model and a relatively better performance with one of the tested forced scheme. These findings suggest the skill and robustness of the WRF to produce high resolution simulations of both precipitation and wind. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by: (i) the project Interact - Integrative Research in Environment,Agro-Chain and Technology, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000017, research line BEST, cofinanced by FEDER/NORTE 2020; (ii) the FIREXTR project, PTDC/ATP¬GEO/0462/2014; and, (iii) European Investment Funds by FEDER/COMPETE/POCI-Operacional Competitiveness and Internacionalization Programme, under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006958 and National Funds by FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UID/AGR/04033.

Estimation of surface-level PM concentration based on aerosol type classification and near-surface AOD over Korea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Kwanchul; Noh, Youngmin; Lee, Kwon H.

2016-04-01

Surface-level PM distribution was estimated from the satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) products, taking the account of aerosol type classification and near-surface AOD over Jeju, Korea. For this purpose, data from various instruments such as satellites, sunphotometer, and Micro-pulse Lidar (MPL) was used during March 2008 and October 2009. Initial analyses of comparison with sunphotometer AOD and PM concentration showed some relatively poor relationship over Jeju, Korea. Since the AERONET L2 data has significant number of observations with high AOT values paired to low surface-level PM values, which were believed to be the effect of long-rage transport aerosols like as Asian dust and biomass burning. Stronger correlations (exceeding R = 0.8) were obtained by screening long-rage transport aerosols and calculating near-surface AOT considering aerosol profiles data from MPL and HYSPLIT air mass trajectory. The relationship found between corrected satellite observed AOD and surface-level PM concentration over Jeju is very similar. An approach to reduce the discrepancy between satellite observed AOD and PM concentration is demonstrated by tuning thresholds used to detect aerosol type from sunphotometer inversion data. Finally, the satellite observed AOD-surface PM concentration correlation is significantly improved. Our study clearly demonstrates that satellite observed AOD is a good surrogate for monitoring PM air quality over Korea.

The reliability of the Glasgow Coma Scale: a systematic review.

PubMed

Reith, Florence C M; Van den Brande, Ruben; Synnot, Anneliese; Gruen, Russell; Maas, Andrew I R

2016-01-01

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) provides a structured method for assessment of the level of consciousness. Its derived sum score is applied in research and adopted in intensive care unit scoring systems. Controversy exists on the reliability of the GCS. The aim of this systematic review was to summarize evidence on the reliability of the GCS. A literature search was undertaken in MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL. Observational studies that assessed the reliability of the GCS, expressed by a statistical measure, were included. Methodological quality was evaluated with the consensus-based standards for the selection of health measurement instruments checklist and its influence on results considered. Reliability estimates were synthesized narratively. We identified 52 relevant studies that showed significant heterogeneity in the type of reliability estimates used, patients studied, setting and characteristics of observers. Methodological quality was good (n = 7), fair (n = 18) or poor (n = 27). In good quality studies, kappa values were ≥0.6 in 85%, and all intraclass correlation coefficients indicated excellent reliability. Poor quality studies showed lower reliability estimates. Reliability for the GCS components was higher than for the sum score. Factors that may influence reliability include education and training, the level of consciousness and type of stimuli used. Only 13% of studies were of good quality and inconsistency in reported reliability estimates was found. Although the reliability was adequate in good quality studies, further improvement is desirable. From a methodological perspective, the quality of reliability studies needs to be improved. From a clinical perspective, a renewed focus on training/education and standardization of assessment is required.

Global Terrestrial Water Storage Changes and Connections to ENSO Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ni, Shengnan; Chen, Jianli; Wilson, Clark R.; Li, Jin; Hu, Xiaogong; Fu, Rong

2018-01-01

Improved data quality of extended record of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite gravity solutions enables better understanding of terrestrial water storage (TWS) variations. Connections of TWS and climate change are critical to investigate regional and global water cycles. In this study, we provide a comprehensive analysis of global connections between interannual TWS changes and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, using multiple sources of data, including GRACE measurements, land surface model (LSM) predictions and precipitation observations. We use cross-correlation and coherence spectrum analysis to examine global connections between interannual TWS changes and the Niño 3.4 index, and select four river basins (Amazon, Orinoco, Colorado, and Lena) for more detailed analysis. The results indicate that interannual TWS changes are strongly correlated with ENSO over much of the globe, with maximum cross-correlation coefficients up to 0.70, well above the 95% significance level ( 0.29) derived by the Monte Carlo experiments. The strongest correlations are found in tropical and subtropical regions, especially in the Amazon, Orinoco, and La Plata basins. While both GRACE and LSM TWS estimates show reasonably good correlations with ENSO and generally consistent spatial correlation patterns, notably higher correlations are found between GRACE TWS and ENSO. The existence of significant correlations in middle-high latitudes shows the large-scale impact of ENSO on the global water cycle.

Dynamical properties of epitaxial ferroelectric superlattices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Y.; Gerhardt, R. A.; Erbil, A.

1997-04-01

The dynamical properties of epitaxial ferroelectric heterostructures have been investigated by studying the dielectric behavior under external electric field. A phenomenon with a giant permittivity was observed. At low frequencies, real permittivities as high as 420 000 have been measured. Real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant show large dispersion at high frequencies. In dc measurements, a nonlinear resistance is observed with a well-defined threshold field, correlating with the dc bias-field dependence of ac permittivities. We model these observations as a result of the motion of pinned domain-wall lattices, having sliding-mode motion at high electric fields. The good agreement between the experimental and theoretical results suggests that the deposited interdigitated electrode pattern plays a crucial role in controlling domain-wall dynamics. The pinning of the domain wall comes from a nucleation barrier to the creation of new domain walls.

Comparison of Mean Climate Trends in the Northern Hemisphere Between N.C.E.P. and Two Atmosphere-Ocean Model Forced Runs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lucarini, Valerio; Russell, Gary L.; Hansen, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Results are presented for two greenhouse gas experiments of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies Atmosphere-Ocean Model (AOM). The computed trends of surface pressure, surface temperature, 850, 500 and 200 mb geopotential heights and related temperatures of the model for the time frame 1960-2000 are compared to those obtained from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction observations. A spatial correlation analysis and mean value comparison are performed, showing good agreement. A brief general discussion about the statistics of trend detection is presented. The domain of interest is the Northern Hemisphere (NH) because of the higher reliability of both the model results and the observations. The accuracy that this AOM has in describing the observed regional and NH climate trends makes it reliable in forecasting future climate changes.

Disability after encephalitis: development and validation of a new outcome score

PubMed Central

Begum, Ashia; Ooi, Mong How; Faragher, Brian; Lai, Boon Foo; Sandaradura, Indunil; Mohan, Anand; Mandhan, Gaurav; Meharwade, Pratibha; Subhashini, S; Abhishek, Gulia; Begum, Asma; Penkulinti, Srihari; Shankar, M Veera; Ravikumar, R; Young, Carolyn; Cardosa, Mary Jane; Ravi, V; Wong, See Chang; Kneen, Rachel; Solomon, Tom

2010-01-01

Abstract Objective To develop a simple tool for assessing the severity of disability resulting from Japanese encephalitis and whether, as a result, a child is likely to be dependent. Methods A new outcome score based on a 15-item questionnaire was developed after a literature review, examination of current assessment tools, discussion with experts and a pilot study. The score was used to evaluate 100 children in Malaysia (56 Japanese encephalitis patients, 2 patients with encephalitis of unknown etiology and 42 controls) and 95 in India (36 Japanese encephalitis patients, 41 patients with encephalitis of unknown etiology and 18 controls). Inter- and intra-observer variability in the outcome score was determined and the score was compared with full clinical assessment. Findings There was good inter-observer agreement on using the new score to identify likely dependency (Κ = 0.942 for Malaysian children; Κ = 0.786 for Indian children) and good intra-observer agreement (Κ = 1.000 and 0.902, respectively). In addition, agreement between the new score and clinical assessment was also good (Κ = 0.906 and 0.762, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity of the new score for identifying children likely to be dependent were 100% and 98.4% in Malaysia and 100% and 93.8% in India. Positive and negative predictive values were 84.2% and 100% in Malaysia and 65.6% and 100% in India. Conclusion The new tool for assessing disability in children after Japanese encephalitis was simple to use and scores correlated well with clinical assessment. PMID:20680123

Spanish version of the Kidney Disease Knowledge Survey (KiKS) in Peru: cross-cultural adaptation and validation.

PubMed

Mota-Anaya, Evelin; Yumpo-Cárdenas, Daniel; Alva-Bravo, Edmundo; Wright-Nunes, Julie; Mayta-Tristán, Percy

2016-08-08

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 50 million people globally. Several studies show the importance of implementing interventions that enhance patients’ knowledge about their disease. In 2011 the Kidney Disease Knowledge Survey (KiKS) was developed: a questionnaire that assesses the specific knowledge about chronic kidney disease in pre-dialysis patients. To translate to Spanish, culturally adapt and validate the Kidney Disease Knowledge Survey questionnaire in a population of patients with pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease. We carried out a Spanish translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Kidney Disease Knowledge Survey questionnaire. Subsequently, we determined its validity and reliability. We determined the validity through construct validity; and reliability by evaluating its internal consistency and its intra-observer reliability (test-retest). We found a good internal consistency (Kuder-Richardson = 0.85). The intra-observer reliability was measured by the intra-class correlation coefficient that yielded a value of 0.78 (95% CI: 0.5-1.0). This value indicated a good reproducibility; also, the mean difference of -1.1 test-retest SD 6.0 (p = 0.369) confirms this finding. The translated Spanish version of the Kidney Disease Knowledge Survey is acceptable and equivalent to the original version; it also has a good reliability, validity and reproducibility. Therefore, it can be used in a population of patients with pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease.

Validity and reliability of wii fit balance board for the assessment of balance of healthy young adults and the elderly.

PubMed

Chang, Wen-Dien; Chang, Wan-Yi; Lee, Chia-Lun; Feng, Chi-Yen

2013-10-01

[Purpose] Balance is an integral part of human ability. The smart balance master system (SBM) is a balance test instrument with good reliability and validity, but it is expensive. Therefore, we modified a Wii Fit balance board, which is a convenient balance assessment tool, and analyzed its reliability and validity. [Subjects and Methods] We recruited 20 healthy young adults and 20 elderly people, and administered 3 balance tests. The correlation coefficient and intraclass correlation of both instruments were analyzed. [Results] There were no statistically significant differences in the 3 tests between the Wii Fit balance board and the SBM. The Wii Fit balance board had a good intraclass correlation (0.86-0.99) for the elderly people and positive correlations (r = 0.58-0.86) with the SBM. [Conclusions] The Wii Fit balance board is a balance assessment tool with good reliability and high validity for elderly people, and we recommend it as an alternative tool for assessing balance ability.

Comparison of meteorological forcing (WFDEI, AGRI4CAST) to in-situ observations in a semi arid catchment. The case of Merguellil in Tunisia.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Page, Michel; Gosset, Cindy; Oueslati, Ines; Calvez, Roger; Zribi, Mehrez; Lilli Chabaane, Zohra

2015-04-01

Meteorological forcing is essential to hydrological and hydro-geological modeling. In the case of the semi-arid catchment of Merguellil in Tunisia, long term time series are only available in the plain for a SYNOP station. Other meteorological stations have been installed since 2010. Therefore, this study aims at qualifying the reliability of the meteorological forcing necessary for an integrated model conception. We compare the meteorological data from 7 stations (sources: WMO and our own station), inside and around the Merguellil catchment, with daily gridded data at 25*25 km from AGRI4CAST and 50*50km from WFDEI. AGRI4CAST (Biaveti et al, 2008) is an interpolated dataset based on actual weather stations produced by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) for the Monitoring Agricultural Resources Unit (MARS). The WFDEI second version dataset (Weedon et al, 2014) has been generated using the same methodology as the widely used WATCH Forcing Data (WFD) by making use of the ERA-Interim reanalysis data. The studied meteorological variables are Rs, Tmoy, U2, P, RH and ET0, with the scores RMSE, bias and R pearson. Regarding the AGRI4CAST dataset, the scores are established over different periods according to variables based on stepping between the observed and interpolated data. The scores show good correlations between the observed temperatures, but with a spatial variability bound to the stations elevations. The moderate and interpolated radiations also show a good concordance indicating a good reliability. The R pearson score obtained for the values of relative humidity show a good correlation between the observations and the interpolations, however, the short periods of comparisons do not allow obtaining significant information and the RMSE and bias are important. Wind speed has an important negative bias for a majority of stations (positively for only one). Only one station shows concordances between the data. The study of the data indicates that we shall have to adjust the wind speeds and the relative humidity of the air for the implementation of a model. Finally the reference evapotranspiration seems relatively coherent, in spite of the dispersal observed during the meteorological measures, but with biases rather high and RMSE also rather high (> 1.3 mm). After revised the parameter U2 and RH, AGRI4CAST can possibly be corrected by ancillary ground stations. The analysis of the WFDEI dataset is currently under evaluation. (1) Biavetti, I., Karetsos, S., Ceglar, A., Toreti, A., Panagos P. (2014), European meteorological data: contribution to research, development and policy support, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 9229 922907-1 (2) Weedon, G. P., G. Balsamo, N. Bellouin, S. Gomes, M. J. Best, and P. Viterbo (2014), The WFDEI meteorological forcing data set: WATCH Forcing Data methodology applied to ERA-Interim reanalysis data, Water Resour. Res., 50, 7505-7514, doi:10.1002/ 2014WR015638.

Lymphocytic gastritis: a newly described entity: a retrospective endoscopic and histological study.

PubMed Central

Haot, J; Hamichi, L; Wallez, L; Mainguet, P

1988-01-01

Lymphocytic gastritis is a histopathological entity characterised by the accumulation of small lymphocytes in the surface and foveolar epithelium. In order to investigate the correlation between endoscopy and histology in this condition, 192 observations selected on the basis of a presumed diagnosis of erosive or varioliform gastritis were reviewed. Ninety two instances corresponded to lymphocytic gastritis, while 100 did not show any particular microscopic feature and were labelled non-specific gastritis. There was a good correlation (48 of 58) between the diagnosis of the so-called varioliform gastritis and the histological evidence of lymphocytic gastritis. The correlation was even better when nodules, erosions, and enlarged folds were considered. Lymphocytic gastritis has a typical endoscopical appearance consisting of nodules, erosions, and large folds predominating in the gastric body. This contrasts with non-specific gastritis, which affects the antrum and produces erosions on a flat mucosa. Images Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 PMID:3198002

Evaluation of the use of Leptodactylus ocellatus (Anura: Leptodactylidae) frog tissues as bioindicator of metal contamination in Contas River, Northeastern Brazil.

PubMed

Correia, Lívia O; Siqueira Júnior, Sérgio; Carneiro, Paulo L S; Bezerra, Marcos A

2014-12-01

This paper presents a study on the viability of the use of tissues of the Leptodactylus ocellatus species (Anura Leptodactylidae) as a bioindicator of metal pollution. The study is based on the determination and correlation of the concentrations of manganese, chromium, zinc, nickel, copper and iron in sediments and tissues (skin, muscles and viscera) of the frog Leptodactylus ocellatus collected in the middle region of the Contas River in Bahia, Brazil. The highest levels of the metals studied were found in the viscera of this animal. In this tissue, a higher correlation of the concentration of these metals with those found in sediments was also observed. The concentrations of elements found in the skin and muscles of these amphibians have revealed no correlation with the sediment where they were collected. According to the results obtained, the viscera of the L. ocellatus species presents itself as a good bioindicator of contamination by the metals studied.

Evaluation of the use of Leptodactylus ocellatus (Anura: Leptodactylidae) frog tissues as bioindicator of metal contamination in Contas River, Northeastern Brazil.

PubMed

Correia, Lívia O; Siqueira Júnior, Sérgio; Carneiro, Paulo L S; Bezerra, Marcos A

2014-10-24

This paper presents a study on the viability of the use of tissues of the Leptodactylus ocellatus species (Anura Leptodactylidae) as a bioindicator of metal pollution. The study is based on the determination and correlation of the concentrations of manganese, chromium, zinc, nickel, copper and iron in sediments and tissues (skin, muscles and viscera) of the frog Leptodactylus ocellatus collected in the middle region of the Contas River in Bahia, Brazil. The highest levels of the metals studied were found in the viscera of this animal. In this tissue, a higher correlation of the concentration of these metals with those found in sediments was also observed. The concentrations of elements found in the skin and muscles of these amphibians have revealed no correlation with the sediment where they were collected. According to the results obtained, the viscera of the L. ocellatus species presents itself as a good bioindicator of contamination by the metals studied.

Treatment performance and microorganism community structure of integrated vertical-flow constructed wetland plots for domestic wastewater.

PubMed

Wu, Su-qing; Chang, Jun-jun; Dai, Yanran; Wu, Zhen-bin; Liang, Wei

2013-06-01

In order to investigate the treatment performance and microorganism mechanism of IVCW for domestic wastewater in central of China, two parallel pilot-scale IVCW systems were built to evaluate purification efficiencies, microbial community structure and enzyme activities. The results showed that mean removal efficiencies were 81.03 % for COD, 51.66 % for total nitrogen (TN), 42.50 % for NH4 (+)-N, and 68.01 % for TP. Significant positive correlations between nitrate reductase activities and TN and NH4 (+)-N removal efficiencies, along with a significant correlation between substrate enzyme activity and operation time, were observed. Redundancy analysis demonstrated gram-negative bacteria were mainly responsible for urease and phosphatase activities, and also played a major role in dehydrogenase and nitrate reductase activities. Meanwhile, anaerobic bacteria, gram-negative bacteria, and saturated FA groups, gram-positive bacteria exhibited good correlations with the removal of COD (p=0.388), N (p=0.236), and TP (p=0.074), respectively. The IVCW system can be used to treat domestic wastewater effectively.

Intercomparison of Evapotranspiration Over the Savannah Volta Basin in West Africa Using Remote Sensing Data

PubMed Central

Opoku-Duah, S.; Donoghue, D.N.M.; Burt, T. P.

2008-01-01

This paper compares evapotranspiration estimates from two complementary satellite sensors – NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and ESA's ENVISAT Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) over the savannah area of the Volta basin in West Africa. This was achieved through solving for evapotranspiration on the basis of the regional energy balance equation, which was computationally-driven by the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land algorithm (SEBAL). The results showed that both sensors are potentially good sources of evapotranspiration estimates over large heterogeneous landscapes. The MODIS sensor measured daily evapotranspiration reasonably well with a strong spatial correlation (R2=0.71) with Landsat ETM+ but underperformed with deviations up to ∼2.0 mm day-1, when compared with local eddy correlation observations and the Penman-Monteith method mainly because of scale mismatch. The AATSR sensor produced much poorer correlations (R2=0.13) with Landsat ETM+ and conventional ET methods also because of differences in atmospheric correction and sensor calibration over land. PMID:27879847

Steam pretreatment of agricultural residues facilitates hemicellulose recovery while enhancing enzyme accessibility to cellulose.

PubMed

Chandra, Richard P; Arantes, Valdeir; Saddler, Jack

2015-06-01

The origins of lignocellulosic biomass and the pretreatment used to enhance enzyme accessibility to the cellulosic component are known to be strongly influenced by various substrate characteristics. To assess the impact that fibre properties might have on enzymatic hydrolysis, seven agricultural residues were characterised before and after steam pretreatment using a single pretreatment condition (190°C, 5min, 3% SO2) previously shown to enhance fractionation and hydrolysis of the cellulosic component of corn stover. When the fibre length, width and coarseness, viscosity, water retention value and cellulose crystallinity were monitored, no clear correlation was observed between any single substrate characteristic and the substrate's ease of enzymatic hydrolysis. However, the amount of hemicellulose that was solubilised during pretreatment correlated (r(2)=0.98) with the effectiveness of enzyme hydrolysis of each pretreated substrate. Simons's staining, to measure the cellulose accessibility, showed good correlation (r(2)=0.83) with hemicellulose removal and the extent of enzymatic hydrolysis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mass spectrometry without isotope labeling can be used for rapid protein quantification

PubMed Central

Zhi, Wenbo; Wang, Meiyao

2014-01-01

The validation of putative biomarker candidates has become the major bottle-neck in protein biomarker development. Conventional immunoaffinity methods are limited by the availability of antibodies and kits. Here we demonstrated the feasibility of using the selected reaction monitoring (SRM) without isotope labeling to achieve fast and reproducible quantification of serum proteins. The SRM/MRM assays for three standard serum proteins, including ceruloplasmin (CP), serum aymloid A (SAA) and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) have good linear ranges, generally 103 – 104. There are almost perfect correlations between SRM intensities and the loaded peptide amounts (R2 is usually ~0.99). Our data suggest that SRM/MRM is able to quantify proteins at 0.2 – 2 fmol level, which are comparable to the commercial ELISA/LUMINEX kits for these proteins. Excellent correlations between SRM/MRM and ELISA/LUMINEX assays were observed for SAA and SHBG (R2 = 0.928 and 0.851 respectively). The correlation between SRM/MRM and ELISA for CP is less desirable (R2 = 0.565). The reproducibility for SRM/MRM assays is generally very good but may depend on the proteins/peptides (R2 = 0.931 and 0.882 for SAA and SHBG, and 0.723 for CP). SRM/MRM assay without isotope labeling is a rapid and useful method for protein biomarker validation in a modest number of samples and is especially useful when other assays such as ELISA or Luminex beads are not available. PMID:21594933

A meta-analysis of the validity of FFQ targeted to adolescents.

PubMed

Tabacchi, Garden; Filippi, Anna Rita; Amodio, Emanuele; Jemni, Monèm; Bianco, Antonino; Firenze, Alberto; Mammina, Caterina

2016-05-01

The present work is aimed at meta-analysing validity studies of FFQ for adolescents, to investigate their overall accuracy and variables that can affect it negatively. A meta-analysis of sixteen original articles was performed within the ASSO Project (Adolescents and Surveillance System in the Obesity prevention). The articles assessed the validity of FFQ for adolescents, compared with food records or 24 h recalls, with regard to energy and nutrient intakes. Pearson's or Spearman's correlation coefficients, means/standard deviations, kappa agreement, percentiles and mean differences/limits of agreement (Bland-Altman method) were extracted. Pooled estimates were calculated and heterogeneity tested for correlation coefficients and means/standard deviations. A subgroup analysis assessed variables influencing FFQ accuracy. An overall fair/high correlation between FFQ and reference method was found; a good agreement, measured through the intake mean comparison for all nutrients except sugar, carotene and K, was observed. Kappa values showed fair/moderate agreement; an overall good ability to rank adolescents according to energy and nutrient intakes was evidenced by data of percentiles; absolute validity was not confirmed by mean differences/limits of agreement. Interviewer administration mode, consumption interval of the previous year/6 months and high number of food items are major contributors to heterogeneity and thus can reduce FFQ accuracy. The meta-analysis shows that FFQ are accurate tools for collecting data and could be used for ranking adolescents in terms of energy and nutrient intakes. It suggests how the design and the validation of a new FFQ should be addressed.

Enhanced washout of 99mTc-tetrofosmin in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: quantitative comparisons with regional 123I-BMIPP uptake and wall thickness determined by MRI.

PubMed

Thet-Thet-Lwin; Takeda, Tohoru; Wu, Jin; Fumikura, Yuko; Iida, Keiji; Kawano, Satoru; Yamaguchi, Iwao; Itai, Yuji

2003-07-01

The diagnostic value of technetium-99m tetrofosmin (TF) washout in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) was examined by investigating its relation to the metabolic abnormality depicted by iodine-123 beta-methyl- p-iodophenylpentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) uptake and the left ventricular (LV) myocardial wall thickness as measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). TF washout was evaluated in 31 patients with HCM and 23 normal control subjects using 30-min (early) and 3-h (delayed) TF single-photon emission tomography images. The LV myocardial wall was divided into 19 segments and the percentage TF washout, regional BMIPP uptake and LV wall thickness were measured in each segment. Mean TF washout in the patients with HCM was significantly faster than that in normal control subjects (23.7+/-5.7 vs 13.4+/-4.1, P<0.0001). In the patients with HCM, TF washout showed an excellent correlation with MRI wall thickness ( r=0.82, P<0.0001) and a good inverse correlation with regional BMIPP uptake ( r=-0.72, P<0.0001). In addition, a good linear correlation was observed between TF uptake and MRI wall thickness in the 19 regional segments. In conclusion, the degree of TF washout corresponds well with the severity of myocardial wall thickness and the degree of metabolic abnormality in patients with HCM. These results suggest that enhanced TF washout might provide additional clinical information regarding metabolic alterations in HCM.

Studies on MODIS NDVI and its relation with the south west monsoon, western ghats, India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lakshmi Kumar, Tv; Barbosa, Humberto; Uma, R.; Rao, Koteswara

2012-07-01

Eleven years (2000 to 2010) of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data, derived from Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra with 250m resolution are used in the present study to discuss the changes in the trends of vegetal cover. The interannual variability of NDVI over western ghats (number of test sites are 17) showed increasing trend and the pronounced changes are resulted due to the monsoon variability in terms of its distribution (wide spread/fairly wide spread/scattered/isolated) and activity (vigorous/normal/weak) and are studied in detail. The NDVI progression is observed from June with a minimum value of 0.179 and yielded to maximum at 0.565 during September/October, on average. The study then relates the NDVI with the no of light, moderate and heavy rainfall events via statistical techniques such as correlation and regression to understand the connection in between the ground vegetation and the south west monsoon. The results of the study inferred i) NDVI, Antecedent Precipitation Index (API) are in good agreement throughout the monsoon which is evidenced by correlation as well as by Morlett Wavelet Analysis, ii) NDVI maintained good correlation with no of Light Rainy and Moderate Rainy alternatively but not with no of Heavy Rainy days, iii) Relation of NDVI with Isolated, Scattered distributions and active monsoons is substantial and iv) Phenological stages captured the Rate of Green Up during the crop season over western ghats.

Measurement of elasticity and transepidermal water loss rate of burn scars with the Dermalab(®).

PubMed

Anthonissen, Mieke; Daly, Daniel; Fieuws, Steffen; Massagé, Patrick; Van Brussel, Michel; Vranckx, Jan; Van den Kerckhove, Eric

2013-05-01

This cross-sectional study investigated the reproducibility of repeated elasticity and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) measurements with the DermaLab(®) on 32 active burn scars and healthy skin. Intra- and inter-observer reproducibility was examined by means of intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) and standard error of measurements (SEM). Results showed good ICC values and rather high SEM values for inter- and intra-observer reproducibility of elasticity measurements. For TEWL measurements, ICC values were good and SEM values were high for inter- and intra-observer reproducibility. There was a significant difference between the estimated mean elasticity values of normal skin and grafted scars and between normal skin and spontaneously healed scars (p≤0.003). For the estimated mean TEWL values, there was a significant difference between normal skin and spontaneously healed scars (p=0.036). A significant negative relation was reported between mean TEWL and time after burn (p=0.008). In clinical trials it is necessary to interpret patient-specific changes in elasticity and TEWL with caution, since the SEMs of both modes are rather high. We therefore recommend the use of a mean of repeated measurements of elasticity and TEWL to decrease the SEM. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

An easy-to-use semiquantitative food record validated for energy intake by using doubly labelled water technique.

PubMed

Koebnick, C; Wagner, K; Thielecke, F; Dieter, G; Höhne, A; Franke, A; Garcia, A L; Meyer, H; Hoffmann, I; Leitzmann, P; Trippo, U; Zunft, H J F

2005-09-01

Estimating dietary intake is important for both epidemiological and clinical studies, but often lacks accuracy. To investigate the accuracy and validity of energy intake estimated by an easy-to-use semiquantitative food record (EI(SQFR)) compared to total energy expenditure (TEE) estimated by doubly labelled water technique (EE(DLW)). TEE was measured in 29 nonobese subjects using the doubly labelled water method over a period of 14 days. Within this period, subjects reported their food consumption by a newly developed semiquantitative food record for 4 consecutive days. Energy intake was calculated using the German Food Code and Nutrition Data Base BLS II.3. A good correlation was observed between EI(SQFR) and EE(DLW) (r = 0.685, P < 0.001). The mean difference between EI(SQFR) and EE(DLW) was -1.7+/-2.6 MJ/day (-14+/-21%, P = 0.002). An underestimation of EI(SQFR) <10% was observed in nine subjects (31%), of 10-20% in six subjects (21%), and of >20% in nine subjects (31%). In five subjects (17%), an overestimation of EI(SQFR) was observed. The easy-to-use semiquantitative food record provided good estimates of EI in free-living and nonobese adults without prior detailed verbal instructions. The presented food record has limitations regarding accuracy at the individual level.

Reconstruction of March-June precipitation from tree rings in central Liaoning, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yanchao; Liu, Yu

2017-11-01

A dendrochronological profile was generated from Chinese pines ( Pinus tabulaeformis Carr.) in the Qianshan Mountains in northeastern China. Based on correlation analyses, the pattern of precipitation from March to June ( P 36 ) was reconstructed using a simple linear model, which explained 42.7% of the total variance in observed precipitation from 1951 to 2012. The reconstructed P 36 series revealed a consistently increasing trend in precipitation during the twentieth century in the Qianshan Mountains. The reconstructed data showed trends that were similar to those in the variation in trends for March-June precipitation observed at the Shenyang station, the reconstructed January-May precipitation trends in Shenyang City, and the reconstructed average June-September relative humidity for Yiwulü Mountain. The reconstructed data also showed good agreement with the droughts reported in historical documents and recorded by meteorological stations in Liaoning. Spatial correlation analyses show that the reconstructed data reflect the variability in precipitation that occurs over much of northeastern China. In addition, our reconstruction showed a significant periodicity. The significant correlations between the reconstructed P 36 and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and sunspot numbers indicate that precipitation variability in the Qianshan Mountain region is probably driven by extensive atmosphere-sea interactions and solar activities.

Automation of a spectrophotometric method for measuring L -carnitine in human blood serum.

PubMed

Galan, A; Padros, A; Arambarri, M; Martin, S

1998-01-01

A spectrometric method for the determination of L-carnitine has been developed based on the reaction of the 5,5' dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic) acid (DTNB) and adapted to a Technicon RA-2000 automatic analyser Química Farmacéutica Bayer, S.A.). The detection limit of the method is 13.2 mumol/l, with a measurement interval ranging from 30 to 320 mumoll1. Imprecision and accuracy are good even at levels close to the detection limit (coeffcient of variation of 5.4% for within-run imprecision for a concentration of 35 mumol/l). A good correlation was observed between the method studied and the radiometric method. The method evaluated has suffcient analytical sensitivity to diagnose carnitine deficiencies. The short time period required for sample processing (30 samples in 40min), the simple methodology and apparatus, the ease of personnel training and the low cost of the reagents make this method a good alternative to the classical radiometric method for evaluating serum L-carnitine in clinical laboratories without radioactive installations.

Automation of a spectrophotometric method for measuring L -carnitine in human blood serum

PubMed Central

Galan, Amparo; Padros, Anna; Arambarri, Marta; Martin, Silvia

1998-01-01

A spectrometric method for the determination of L-carnitine has been developed based on the reaction of the 5, 5 ′ dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic) acid (DTNB) and adapted to a Technicon RA-2000 automatic analyser Química Farmacéutica Bayer, S.A.). The detection limit of the method is 13.2 μmol/l, with a measurement interval ranging from 30 to 320 μmoll1. Imprecision and accuracy are good even at levels close to the detection limit (coeffcient of variation of 5.4% for within-run imprecision for a concentration of 35 μmol/l). A good correlation was observed between the method studied and the radiometric method. The method evaluated has suffcient analytical sensitivity to diagnose carnitine deficiencies. The short time period required for sample processing (30 samples in 40min), the simple methodology and apparatus, the ease of personnel training and the low cost of the reagents make this method a good alternative to the classical radiometric method for evaluating serum L-carnitine in clinical laboratories without radioactive installations. PMID:18924818

Percolation analysis for cosmic web with discrete points

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jiajun; Cheng, Dalong; Chu, Ming-Chung

2018-01-01

Percolation analysis has long been used to quantify the connectivity of the cosmic web. Most of the previous work is based on density fields on grids. By smoothing into fields, we lose information about galaxy properties like shape or luminosity. The lack of mathematical modeling also limits our understanding for the percolation analysis. To overcome these difficulties, we have studied percolation analysis based on discrete points. Using a friends-of-friends (FoF) algorithm, we generate the S -b b relation, between the fractional mass of the largest connected group (S ) and the FoF linking length (b b ). We propose a new model, the probability cloud cluster expansion theory to relate the S -b b relation with correlation functions. We show that the S -b b relation reflects a combination of all orders of correlation functions. Using N-body simulation, we find that the S -b b relation is robust against redshift distortion and incompleteness in observation. From the Bolshoi simulation, with halo abundance matching (HAM), we have generated a mock galaxy catalog. Good matching of the projected two-point correlation function with observation is confirmed. However, comparing the mock catalog with the latest galaxy catalog from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release (DR)12, we have found significant differences in their S -b b relations. This indicates that the mock galaxy catalog cannot accurately retain higher-order correlation functions than the two-point correlation function, which reveals the limit of the HAM method. As a new measurement, the S -b b relation is applicable to a wide range of data types, fast to compute, and robust against redshift distortion and incompleteness and contains information of all orders of correlation functions.

Global Multi-Year O3-CO Correlation Patterns from Models and TES Satellite Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Voulgarakis, A.; Telford, P. J.; Aghedo, A. M.; Braesicke, P.; Faluvegi, G.; Abraham, N. L.; Bowman, K. W.; Pyle, J. A.; Shindell, D. T.

2011-01-01

The correlation between measured tropospheric ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) has been used extensively in tropospheric chemistry studies to explore the photochemical characteristics of different regions and to evaluate the ability of models to capture these characteristics. Here, we present the first study that uses multi-year, global, vertically resolved, simultaneous and collocated O3 and CO satellite (Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer) measurements, to determine this correlation in the middle/lower free troposphere for two different seasons, and to evaluate two chemistry-climate models. We find results that are fairly robust across different years, altitudes and timescales considered, which indicates that the correlation maps presented here could be used in future model evaluations. The highest positive correlations (around 0.8) are found in the northern Pacific during summer, which is a common feature in the observations and the G-PUCCINI model. We make quantitative comparisons between the models using a single-figure metric (C), which we define as the correlation coefficient between the modeled and the observed O3-CO correlations for different regions of the globe. On a global scale, the G-PUCCINI model shows a good performance in the summer (C =0.71) and a satisfactory performance in the winter (C = 0.52). It captures midlatitude features very well, especially in the summer, whereas the performance in regions like South America or Central Africa is weaker. The UKCA model (C = 0.46/0.15 for July-August/December-January on a global scale) performs better in certain regions, such as the tropics in winter, and it captures some of the broad characteristics of summer extratropical correlations, but it systematically underestimates the O3-CO correlations over much of the globe. It is noteworthy that the correlations look very different in the two models, even though the ozone distributions are similar. This demonstrates that this technique provides a powerful global constraint for understanding modeled tropospheric chemical processes. We investigated the sources of the correlations by performing a series of sensitivity experiments. In these, the sign of the correlation is, in most cases, insensitive to removing different individual emissions, but its magnitude changes downwind of emission regions when applying such perturbations. Interestingly, we find that the O3-CO correlation does not solely reflect the strength of O3 photochemical production, as often assumed by earlier studies, but is more complicated and may reflect a mixture of different processes such as transport.

Spin-resolved correlations in the warm-dense homogeneous electron gas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arora, Priya; Kumar, Krishan; Moudgil, R. K.

2017-04-01

We have studied spin-resolved correlations in the warm-dense homogeneous electron gas by determining the linear density and spin-density response functions, within the dynamical self-consistent mean-field theory of Singwi et al. The calculated spin-resolved pair-correlation function gσσ'(r) is compared with the recent restricted path-integral Monte Carlo (RPIMC) simulations due to Brown et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 146405 (2013)], while interaction energy Eint and exchange-correlation free energy Fxc with the RPIMC and very recent ab initio quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations by Dornheim et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 156403 (2016)]. g↑↓(r) is found to be in good agreement with the RPIMC data, while a mismatch is seen in g↑↑(r) at small r where it becomes somewhat negative. As an interesting result, it is deduced that a non-monotonic T-dependence of g(0) is driven primarily by g↑↓(0). Our results of Eint and Fxc exhibit an excellent agreement with the QMC study due to Dornheim et al., which deals with the finite-size correction quite accurately. We observe, however, a visible deviation of Eint from the RPIMC data for high densities ( 8% at rs = 1). Further, we have extended our study to the fully spin-polarized phase. Again, with the exception of high density region, we find a good agreement of Eint with the RPIMC data. This points to the need of settling the problem of finite-size correction in the spin-polarized phase also. Interestingly, we also find that the thermal effects tend to oppose spatial localization as well as spin polarization of electrons. Supplementary material in the form of one zip file available from the Journal web page at http://https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2017-70532-y

Overestimation of Albumin Measured by Bromocresol Green vs Bromocresol Purple Method: Influence of Acute-Phase Globulins.

PubMed

Garcia Moreira, Vanessa; Beridze Vaktangova, Nana; Martinez Gago, Maria Dolores; Laborda Gonzalez, Belen; Garcia Alonso, Sara; Fernandez Rodriguez, Eloy

2018-05-22

Usually serum albumin is measured with dye-binding assay as bromocresol green (BCG) and bromocresol purple (BCP) methods. The aim of this paper was to examine the differences in albumin measurements between the Advia2400 BCG method (AlbBCG), Dimension RxL BCP (AlbBCP) and capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). Albumin concentrations from 165 serum samples were analysed using AlbBCG, AlbBCP and CZE. CZE was employed to estimate different serum protein fractions. Influence of globulins on albumin concentration discrepancies between methods was estimated as well as the impact of the albumin method on aCa concentrations. Medcalc was employed for statistical analysis, setting a value of P < 0.05 as significant. Correlation of AlbBCG and AlbBCP was r = 0.948 (p < 0.0001), but mean difference was large. Bland-Altman plots showed greater bias at lower albumin concentrations. AlbBCG were positively biased versus CZE (3.54 g/L). There was good agreement between CZE and ALbBCP (< 1 g/L). The AlbBCG assay bias shows a good correlation with alpha-1-globulin concentrations (r = 0.758); moderate and weak correlations were observed with CRP (r = 0.729) and alpha-2-globulin (r = 0.585); we found no correlation with beta-globulin (r = 0.120) or gamma-globulin (r = -0.303). Mean aCa based on AlbBCG and AlbBCP methods were 2.34 ± 0.15 mmol/L and 2.46 ± 0.16 mmol/L (p < 0.01), with a mean BCG-BCP difference of -0.12. Albumin results from the BCP and BCG methods may result in unacceptable differences and clinical confusion, especially at lower albumin concentrations. Serum acute phase proteins contribute to overestimating the albumin concentration using AlbBCG.

Evaluation and assessment of 25 years of environmental radioactivity monitoring data at Tarapur (India) nuclear site.

PubMed

Rao, D D; Baburajan, A; Sudheendran, V; Verma, P C; Hegde, A G

2010-08-01

The evaluation and assessment of monitoring data generated over a period of 1983-2007 (25 years) of a nuclear facility is presented. Time trends of particulate radioactivity, correlation between (137)Cs in discharge canal seawater and station discharged activity and correlation of (137)Cs, (60)Co, and (131)I in marine species such as sponge and Nerita (gastropod) and corresponding discharged activity are discussed. The concentration of (137)Cs and (131)I in seawater versus biota are discussed. A good correlation between (137)Cs in seawater and (137)Cs in liquid waste discharged was observed (R(2) = 0.8, p < 0.001). Similarly, correlation was good for Nerita and discharged concentration of (137)Cs, (131)I and (60)Co (R(2) = 0.55-0.73 and p < 0.001). The measurements over the years indicated that there is no accumulation of radionuclides in either the terrestrial or aquatic environments. The mean (137)Cs decreased from the pre-operational levels: 7.0-3.6 Bq kg(-1) in soil, 0.91-0.016 Bq L(-1) in milk and 0.28-0.036 Bq kg(-1) in vegetation. Similarly, the mean (90)Sr in these matrixes decreased from 3.9 to 0.26 Bq kg(-1); 0.37-0.011 Bq L(-1) and 0.34-0.022 Bq kg(-1) respectively. Cesium-137 of about 700 microBq m(-3) was measured in the air filter disks during 1986 and there was a decrease of three orders of magnitude in concentration over the 25 years. The evaluation of environmental data indicated that the radionuclide concentrations and potential impacts, in terms of effective dose to the members of public, have significantly reduced since 1969. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developing the Person-Environment Apathy Rating for persons with dementia.

PubMed

Jao, Ying-Ling; Algase, Donna L; Specht, Janet K; Williams, Kristine

2016-08-01

To develop the Person-Environment Apathy Rating (PEAR) scale that measures environmental stimulation and apathy in persons with dementia and to evaluate its psychometrics. The PEAR scale consists of the PEAR-Environment subscale and PEAR-Apathy subscales. The items were developed via literature review, field testing, expert review, and pilot testing. The construct validity and reliability were examined through video observation. The parent study enrolled 185 institutionalized residents with dementia. For this study, 96 videos were selected from 24 participants. The PEAR-Environment subscale was validated using the Ambiance Scale and the Crowding Index. The PEAR-Apathy subscale was validated using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI)-Apathy, Passivity in Dementia Scale (PDS), and NPI-Depression. The PEAR-Environment subscale and PEAR-Apathy subscales each consists of six items rated on a 1-4 scale. For validity, the Crowding Index slightly, yet significantly, correlated with the PEAR-Environment subscale total score and three of the individual scores. Ambiance Scale scores, both engaging and soothing, did not correlate with the PEAR-Environment subscale. The PEAR-Apathy highly correlated with the PDS and NPI-Apathy and moderately correlated with the NPI-Depression, suggesting good convergent validity and moderate discriminant validity. For reliability, both environment and apathy subscales demonstrated excellent internal consistency. Although facial expression and eye contact showed moderate inter-rater reliability, all other items showed good to excellent inter-rater and intra-rater reliability. This study has successfully developed the PEAR scale and established its psychometrics based on the compatible scales available. The PEAR scale is the first scale that concurrently assesses apathy and environmental stimulation, and is recommended for use in persons with dementia.

The validity and reliability of the Thai version of the Kujala score for patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome.

PubMed

Apivatgaroon, Adinun; Angthong, Chayanin; Sanguanjit, Prakasit; Chernchujit, Bancha

2016-10-01

To develop a Thai version of the Kujala score and show the evaluation of the validity and reliability of the score. The Thai version of the Kujala score was developed using the forward-backward translation protocol. The 49 PFPS patients answered the Thai version of questionnaires including the Kujala score, Short Form-36 (SF-36) and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) Subjective Knee Form. The validity between the scores has been tested. The reliability was assessed using test-retest reliability and internal consistency. The Thai version of the Kujala score showed a good correlation with Thai IKDC Subjective Knee Form (Pearson's correlation coefficient; r = 0.74: p < 0.01) and moderate correlation with the Thai SF-36 subscales of physical component summary, total score and role physical (r = 0.586, 0.571 and 0.524, respectively: p < 0.01). The test-retest reliability was excellent with an intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.908 (p < 0.001; 95% CI [0.842-0.947]). The internal consistency was strong with Cronbach's alpha of 0.952 (p < 0.001). No floor and ceiling effects were observed. The Thai version of the Kujala score has shown good validity and reliability. This score can be effectively used for evaluating Thai patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome. Implications for Rehabilitation The Kujala score is a self-administered questionnaire for patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS). The validity and reliability of the Thai version of Kujala are compatible with other versions (Turkish, Chinese and Persian version). The Thai version of Kujala has been shown to have validity and reliability in Thai PFPS patients and can be used for clinical evaluation and also in the research work.

Agreement and correlation between the straight leg raise and slump tests in subjects with leg pain.

PubMed

Walsh, Jeremy; Hall, Toby

2009-01-01

The straight leg raise (SLR) and slump tests have traditionally been used to identify nerve root compression arising from disk herniation. However, they may be more appropriate as tests of lumbosacral neural tissue mechanosensitivity. The aim of this study was to determine agreement and correlation between the SLR and slump tests in a population presenting with back and leg pain. This was an observational, cross-sectional study design. Forty-five subjects with unilateral leg pain were recruited from an outpatient Back Pain Screening Clinic at a large teaching hospital in Ireland. The SLR and slump tests were performed on each side. In the event of symptom reproduction, the ankle was dorsiflexed. Reproduction of presenting symptoms, which were intensified by ankle dorsiflexion, was interpreted as a positive test. An inclinometer was used to measure range of motion (ROM). There was substantial agreement between SLR and slump test interpretation (kappa = 0.69) with good correlation in ROM between the 2 tests (r = 0.64) on the symptomatic side. In subjects who had positive results, ROM for both tests was significantly reduced compared to ROM on the contralateral side and ROM in subjects who had negative results. When the SLR and slump tests are interpreted as positive in the event of reproduction of presenting leg pain that are intensified by ankle dorsiflexion, these tests show substantial agreement and good correlation in the leg pain population. When interpreted in this way, these tests may be appropriate tests of neural tissue mechanosensitivity, but further criteria must be met before a definitive conclusion in relation to neural tissue mechanosensitivity may be drawn.

Thyroid Nodule Size at Ultrasound as a Predictor of Malignancy and Final Pathologic Size.

PubMed

Cavallo, Allison; Johnson, Daniel N; White, Michael G; Siddiqui, Saaduddin; Antic, Tatjana; Mathew, Melvy; Grogan, Raymon H; Angelos, Peter; Kaplan, Edwin L; Cipriani, Nicole A

2017-05-01

Thyroid-related mortality has remained constant despite the increasing incidence of thyroid carcinoma. Most thyroid nodules are benign; therefore, ultrasound and fine needle aspiration (FNA) are integral in cancer screening. We hypothesize that increased nodule size at ultrasound does not predict malignancy and correlation between nodule size at ultrasound and pathologic exam is good. Resected thyroids with preoperative ultrasounds were identified. Nodule size at ultrasound, FNA diagnosis by Bethesda category, size at pathologic examination, and final histologic diagnosis were recorded. Nodule characteristics at ultrasound and FNA diagnoses were correlated with gross characteristics and histologic diagnoses. Nodules for which correlation could not be established were excluded. Of 1003 nodules from 659 patients, 26% were malignant. Nodules <2 cm had the highest malignancy rate (∼30%). Risk was similar (∼20%) for nodules ≥2 cm. Of the 548 subject to FNA, 38% were malignant. Decreasing malignancy rates were observed with increasing size (57% for nodules <1 cm to 20% for nodules >6 cm). At ultrasound size cutoffs of 2, 3, 4, and 5 cm, smaller nodules had higher malignancy rates than larger nodules. Of the 455 not subject to FNA, 11% were malignant. Ultrasound size alone is a poor predictor of malignancy, but a relatively good predictor of final pathologic size (R 2  = 0.748), with less correlation at larger sizes. In nodules subject to FNA, false negative diagnoses were highest (6-8%) in nodules 3-6 cm, mostly due to encapsulated follicular variant of papillary carcinoma. Thyroid nodule size is inversely related to malignancy risk, as larger nodules have lower malignancy rates. However, the relationship of size to malignancy varies by FNA status. All nodules (regardless of FNA status) demonstrate a risk trough at ≥2 cm. Nodules subject to FNA show step-wise decline in malignancy rates by size, demonstrating that size alone should not be considered as an independent risk factor. Size at ultrasound shows relatively good correlation with final pathologic size. False negative rates are low in this series. Lesions with the appropriate constellation of clinical and radiographic findings should undergo FNA regardless of size. Both size and FNA diagnosis should influence the clinical decision-making process.

Preliminary appraisal of the reliability and validity of the Colorado State University Feline Acute Pain Scale.

PubMed

Shipley, Hilary; Guedes, Alonso; Graham, Lynelle; Goudie-DeAngelis, Elizabeth; Wendt-Hornickle, Erin

2018-05-01

Objectives The objective of this study was to determine the inter-rater reliability and convergent validity of the Colorado State University Feline Acute Pain Scale (CSU-FAPS) in a preliminary appraisal of its performance in a clinical teaching setting. Methods Sixty-eight female cats were assessed for pain after ovariohysterectomy. A cohort of 21 cats was examined independently by four raters (two board-certified anesthesiologists and two anesthesia residents) with the CSU-FAPS, and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to determine inter-rater reliability. Weighted Cohen's kappa was used to determine inter-rater reliability centered on the 'need to reassess analgesic plan' (dichotomous scale). A separate cohort of 47 cats was evaluated independently by two raters (one board-certified anesthesiologist and one veterinary small animal rotating intern) using the CSU-FAPS and the Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale (CMPS-Feline), and Spearman rank-order correlation was determined to assess convergent validity. Reliability was interpreted using Altman's classification as very good, good, moderate, fair and poor. Validity was considered adequate if correlation coefficients were between 0.4 and 0.8. Results The ICC was 0.61 for anesthesiologists and 0.67 for residents, indicating good reliability. Weighted Cohen's kappa was 0.79 for anesthesiologists and 0.44 for residents, indicating moderate to good reliability. The Spearman rank correlation indicated a statistically significant ( P = 0.0003) positive correlation (0.31; 95% confidence interval 0.14-0.46) between the CSU-FAPS and the CMPS-Feline. Conclusions and relevance The CSU-FAPS showed moderate-to-good inter-rater reliability when used by veterinarians to assess pain level or need to reassess analgesic plan after ovariohysterectomy in cats. The validity fell short of current guidelines for correlation coefficients and further refinement and testing are warranted to improve its performance.

Sleeping well, aging well: a descriptive and cross-sectional study of sleep in "successful agers" 75 and older.

PubMed

Driscoll, Henry C; Serody, Linda; Patrick, Susan; Maurer, Jennifer; Bensasi, Salem; Houck, Patricia R; Mazumdar, Sati; Nofzinger, Eric A; Bell, Bethany; Nebes, Robert D; Miller, Mark D; Reynolds, Charles F

2008-01-01

To examine diary-based, laboratory-based, and actigraphic measures of sleep in a group of healthy older women and men (> or =75 years of age) without sleep/wake complaints and to describe sleep characteristics which may be correlates of health-related quality of life in old age. Cross-sectional, descriptive study. University-based sleep and chronobiology program. None. Sixty-four older adults (30 women, 34 men; mean age 79). We used diary-, actigraphic-, and laboratory-based measures of sleep, health-related quality of life, mental health, social support, and coping strategies. We used two-group t-tests to compare baseline demographic and clinical measures between men and women, followed by ANOVA on selected EEG measures to examine first-night effects as evidence of physiological adaptability. Finally, we examined correlations between measure of sleep and health-related quality of life. We observed that healthy men and women aged 75 and older can experience satisfactory nocturnal sleep quality and daytime alertness, especially as reflected in self-report and diary-based measures. Polysomnography (psg) suggested the presence of a first-night effect, especially in men, consistent with continued normal adaptability in this cohort of healthy older adults. Continuity and depth of sleep in older women were superior to that of men. Diary-based measures of sleep quality (but not psg measures) correlated positively (small to moderate effect sizes) with physical and mental health-related quality of life. Sleep quality and daytime alertness in late life may be more important aspects of successful aging than previously appreciated. Good sleep may be a marker of good functioning across a variety of domains in old age. Our observations suggest the need to study interventions which protect sleep quality in older adults to determine if doing so fosters continued successful aging.

Correlation between lung to thorax transverse area ratio and observed/expected lung area to head circumference ratio in fetuses with left-sided diaphragmatic hernia.

PubMed

Hidaka, Nobuhiro; Murata, Masaharu; Sasahara, Jun; Ishii, Keisuke; Mitsuda, Nobuaki

2015-05-01

Observed/expected lung area to head circumference ratio (o/e LHR) and lung to thorax transverse area ratio (LTR) are the sonographic indicators of postnatal outcome in fetuses with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), and they are not influenced by gestational age. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between these two parameters in the same subjects with fetal left-sided CDH. Fetuses with left-sided CDH managed between 2005 and 2012 were included. Data of LTR and o/e LHR values measured on the same day prior to 33 weeks' gestation in target fetuses were retrospectively collected. The correlation between the two parameters was estimated using the Spearman's rank-correlation coefficient, and linear regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between them. Data on 61 measurements from 36 CDH fetuses were analyzed to obtain a Spearman's rank-correlation coefficient of 0.74 with the following linear equation: LTR = 0.002 × (o/e LHR) + 0.005. The determination coefficient of this linear equation was sufficiently high at 0.712, and the prediction accuracy obtained with this regression formula was considered satisfactory. A good linear correlation between the LTR and the o/e LHR was obtained, suggesting that we can translate the predictive parameters for each other. This information is expected to be useful to improve our understanding of different investigations focusing on LTR or o/e LHR as a predictor of postnatal outcome in CDH. © 2014 Japanese Teratology Society.

The 400 microsphere per piece "rule" does not apply to all blood flow studies.

PubMed

Polissar, N L; Stanford, D C; Glenny, R W

2000-01-01

Microsphere experiments are useful in measuring regional organ perfusion as well as heterogeneity of blood flow within organs and correlation of perfusion between organ pieces at different time points. A 400 microspheres/piece "rule" is often used in planning experiments or to determine whether experiments are valid. This rule is based on the statement that 400 microspheres must lodge in a region for 95% confidence that the observed flow in the region is within 10% of the true flow. The 400 microspheres precision rule, however, only applies to measurements of perfusion to a single region or organ piece. Examples, simulations, and an animal experiment were carried out to show that good precision for measurements of heterogeneity and correlation can be obtained from many experiments with <400 microspheres/piece. Furthermore, methods were developed and tested for correcting the observed heterogeneity and correlation to remove the Poisson "noise" due to discrete microsphere measurements. The animal experiment shows adjusted values of heterogeneity and correlation that are in close agreement for measurements made with many or few microspheres/piece. Simulations demonstrate that the adjusted values are accurate for a variety of experiments with far fewer than 400 microspheres/piece. Thus the 400 microspheres rule does not apply to many experiments. A "rule of thumb" is that experiments with a total of at least 15,000 microspheres, for all pieces combined, are very likely to yield accurate estimates of heterogeneity. Experiments with a total of at least 25,000 microspheres are very likely to yield accurate estimates of correlation coefficients.

An observational study: associations between nurse-reported hospital characteristics and estimated 30-day survival probabilities

PubMed Central

Tvedt, Christine; Sjetne, Ingeborg Strømseng; Helgeland, Jon; Bukholm, Geir

2014-01-01

Background There is a growing body of evidence for associations between the work environment and patient outcomes. A good work environment may maximise healthcare workers’ efforts to avoid failures and to facilitate quality care that is focused on patient safety. Several studies use nurse-reported quality measures, but it is uncertain whether these outcomes are correlated with clinical outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine the correlations between hospital-aggregated, nurse-assessed quality and safety, and estimated probabilities for 30-day survival in and out of hospital. Methods In a multicentre study involving almost all Norwegian hospitals with more than 85 beds (sample size=30, information about nurses’ perceptions of organisational characteristics were collected. Subscales from this survey were used to describe properties of the organisations: quality system, patient safety management, nurse–physician relationship, staffing adequacy, quality of nursing and patient safety. The average scores for these organisational characteristics were aggregated to hospital level, and merged with estimated probabilities for 30-day survival in and out of hospital (survival probabilities) from a national database. In this observational, ecological study, the relationships between the organisational characteristics (independent variables) and clinical outcomes (survival probabilities) were examined. Results Survival probabilities were correlated with nurse-assessed quality of nursing. Furthermore, the subjective perception of staffing adequacy was correlated with overall survival. Conclusions This study showed that perceived staffing adequacy and nurses’ assessments of quality of nursing were correlated with survival probabilities. It is suggested that the way nurses characterise the microsystems they belong to, also reflects the general performance of hospitals. PMID:24728887

Comparison of human and electronic observation for the measurement of compliance with hand hygiene.

PubMed

Filho, Miguel Almeida O; Marra, Alexandre R; Magnus, Thyago Pereira; Rodrigues, Rodrigo Dias; Prado, Marcelo; de Souza Santini, Tales Roberto; da Silva Victor, Elivane; Ishibe, Eder Issao; Pavão Dos Santos, Oscar Fernando; Edmond, Michael B

2014-11-01

Monitoring of hand hygiene is an important part of the improvement of hospital quality indicators. This study was prospectively performed over a 14-week (electronic observer) period from December 3, 2013-March 9, 2014, to evaluate hand hygiene compliance in an adult step-down unit. We compared electronic handwash counters with the application of radiofrequency identification (RFID - ZigBee; i-Healthsys, São Carlos, Brazil) (electronic observer), which counts each activation of the alcohol gel dispenser to direct observation (human observer) using the iScrub application. For the overall time period of simultaneous electronic and human observation, we found that the electronic observer identified 414 hand hygiene episodes, whereas the human observers identified 448 episodes. Therefore, we found 92% (95% confidence interval [CI], 90%-95%) overall concordance (414/448), with an intraclass correlation coefficient of .87 (95% CI, 0.77-0.92). Our RFID (ZigBee) system showed good accuracy (92%) and is a useful method to monitor hand hygiene compliance. Copyright © 2014 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

OMI and Ground-Based In-Situ Tropospheric Nitrogen Dioxide Observations over Several Important European Cities during 2005-2014.

PubMed

Paraschiv, Spiru; Constantin, Daniel-Eduard; Paraschiv, Simona-Lizica; Voiculescu, Mirela

2017-11-20

In this work we present the evolution of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) content over several important European cities during 2005-2014 using space observations and ground-based in-situ measurements. The NO₂ content was derived using the daily observations provided by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), while the NO₂ volume mixing ratio measurements were obtained from the European Environment Agency (EEA) air quality monitoring stations database. The European cities selected are: Athens (37.98° N, 23.72° E), Berlin (52.51° N, 13.41° E), Bucharest (44.43° N, 26.10° E), Madrid (40.38° N, 3.71° W), Lisbon (38.71° N, 9.13° W), Paris (48.85° N, 2.35° E), Rome (41.9° N, 12.50° E), and Rotterdam (51.91° N, 4.46° E). We show that OMI NO₂ tropospheric column data can be used to assess the evolution of NO₂ over important European cities. According to the statistical analysis, using the seasonal variation, we found good correlations (R > 0.50) between OMI and ground-based in-situ observations for all of the cities presented in this work. Highest correlation coefficients (R > 0.80) between ground-based monitoring stations and OMI observations were calculated for the cities of Berlin, Madrid, and Rome. Both types of observations, in-situ and remote sensing, show an NO₂ negative trend for all of locations presented in this study.

Evaluation of Regional Extended-Range Prediction for Tropical Waves Using COAMPS®

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, X.; Reynolds, C. A.; Doyle, J. D.; May, P. W.; Chen, S.; Flatau, M. K.; O'Neill, L. W.

2014-12-01

The Navy's Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS1) in a two-way coupled mode is used for two-month regional extended-range prediction for the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) and Tropical Cyclone 05 (TC05) that occurred during the DYNAMO period from November to December 2011. Verification and statistics from two experiments with 45-km and 27-km horizontal resolutions indicate that 27-km run provides a better representation of the three MJO events that occurred during this 2-month period, including the two convectively-coupled Kelvin waves associated with the second MJO event as observed. The 27-km run also significantly reduces forecast error after 15-days, reaching a maximum bias reduction of 89% in the third 15-day period due to the well represented MJO propagation over the Maritime Continent. Correlations between the model forecasts and observations or ECMWF analyses show that the MJO suppressed period is more difficult to predict than the active period. In addition, correlation coefficients for cloud liquid water path (CLWP) and precipitation are relatively low for both cases compared to other variables. The study suggests that a good simulation of TC05 and a good simulation of the Kelvin waves and westerly wind bursts are linked. Further research is needed to investigate the capability in regional extended-range forecasts when the lateral boundary conditions are provided from a long-term global forecast to allow for an assessment of potential operational forecast skill. _____________________________________________________ 1COAMPS is a registered trademark of U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

Feasibility study of using a Microsoft Kinect for virtual coaching of wheelchair transfer techniques.

PubMed

Hwang, Seonhong; Tsai, Chung-Ying; Koontz, Alicia M

2017-05-24

The purpose of this study was to test the concurrent validity and test-retest reliability of the Kinect skeleton tracking algorithm for measurement of trunk, shoulder, and elbow joint angle measurement during a wheelchair transfer task. Eight wheelchair users were recruited for this study. Joint positions were recorded simultaneously by the Kinect and Vicon motion capture systems while subjects transferred from their wheelchairs to a level bench. Shoulder, elbow, and trunk angles recorded with the Kinect system followed a similar trajectory as the angles recorded with the Vicon system with correlation coefficients that are larger than 0.71 on both sides (leading arm and trailing arm). The root mean square errors (RMSEs) ranged from 5.18 to 22.46 for the shoulder, elbow, and trunk angles. The 95% limits of agreement (LOA) for the discrepancy between the two systems exceeded the clinical significant level of 5°. For the trunk, shoulder, and elbow angles, the Kinect had very good relative reliability for the measurement of sagittal, frontal and horizontal trunk angles, as indicated by the high intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values (>0.90). Small standard error of the measure (SEM) values, indicating good absolute reliability, were observed for all joints except for the leading arm's shoulder joint. Relatively large minimal detectable changes (MDCs) were observed in all joint angles. The Kinect motion tracking has promising performance levels for some upper limb joints. However, more accurate measurement of the joint angles may be required. Therefore, understanding the limitations in precision and accuracy of Kinect is imperative before utilization of Kinect.

Large-scale structure in a texture-seeded cold dark matter cosmogony

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Park, Changbom; Spergel, David N.; Turok, Nail

1991-01-01

This paper studies the formation of large-scale structure by global texture in a flat universe dominated by cold dark matter. A code for evolution of the texture fields was combined with an N-body code for evolving the dark matter. The results indicate some promising aspects: with only one free parameter, the observed galaxy-galaxy correlation function is reproduced, clusters of galaxies are found to be significantly clustered on a scale of 20-50/h Mpc, and coherent structures of over 50/h Mpc in the galaxy distribution were found. The large-scale streaming motions observed are in good agreement with the observations: the average magnitude of the velocity field smoothed over 30/h Mpc is 430 km/sec. Global texture produces a cosmic Mach number that is compatible with observation. Also, significant evolution of clusters at low redshift was seen. Possible problems for the theory include too high velocity dispersions in clusters, and voids which are not as empty as those observed.

Observing Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Caused by Tsunamis Using GPS TEC Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Galvan, David A.; Komjathy, Attila; Hickey, Michael; Foster, James; Mannucci, Anthony J.

2010-01-01

Ground-based Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements of ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) show variations consistent with atmospheric internal gravity waves caused by ocean tsunamis following two recent seismic events: the American Samoa earthquake of September 29, 2009, and the Chile earthquake of February 27, 2010. Fluctuations in TEC correlated in time, space, and wave properties with these tsunamis were observed in TEC estimates processed using JPL's Global Ionospheric Mapping Software. These TEC estimates were band-pass filtered to remove ionospheric TEC variations with wavelengths and periods outside the typical range of internal gravity waves caused by tsunamis. Observable variations in TEC appear correlated with the tsunamis in certain locations, but not in others. Where variations are observed, the typical amplitude tends to be on the order of 1% of the background TEC value. Variations with amplitudes 0.1 - 0.2 TECU are observable with periods and timing affiliated with the tsunami. These observations are compared to estimates of expected tsunami-driven TEC variations produced by Embry Riddle Aeronautical University's Spectral Full Wave Model, an atmosphere-ionosphere coupling model, and found to be in good agreement in some locations, though there are cases when the model predicts an observable tsunami-driven signature and none is observed. These TEC variations are not always seen when a tsunami is present, but in these two events the regions where a strong ocean tsunami was observed did coincide with clear TEC observations, while a lack of clear TEC observations coincided with smaller tsunami amplitudes. There exists the potential to apply these detection techniques to real-time GPS TEC data, providing estimates of tsunami speed and amplitude that may be useful for early warning systems.

Investigating Various Thresholds as Immunohistochemistry Cutoffs for Observer Agreement.

PubMed

Ali, Asif; Bell, Sarah; Bilsland, Alan; Slavin, Jill; Lynch, Victoria; Elgoweini, Maha; Derakhshan, Mohammad H; Jamieson, Nigel B; Chang, David; Brown, Victoria; Denley, Simon; Orange, Clare; McKay, Colin; Carter, Ross; Oien, Karin A; Duthie, Fraser R

2017-10-01

Clinical translation of immunohistochemistry (IHC) biomarkers requires reliable and reproducible cutoffs or thresholds for interpretation of immunostaining. Most IHC biomarker research focuses on the clinical relevance (diagnostic, prognostic, or predictive utility) of cutoffs, with less emphasis on observer agreement using these cutoffs. From the literature, we identified 3 commonly used cutoffs of 10% positive epithelial cells, 20% positive epithelial cells, and moderate to strong staining intensity (+2/+3 hereafter) to use for investigating observer agreement. A series of 36 images of microarray cores stained for 4 different IHC biomarkers, with variable staining intensity and percentage of positive cells, was used for investigating interobserver and intraobserver agreement. Seven pathologists scored the immunostaining in each image using the 3 cutoffs for positive and negative staining. Kappa (κ) statistic was used to assess the strength of agreement for each cutoff. The interobserver agreement between all 7 pathologists using the 3 cutoffs was reasonably good, with mean κ scores of 0.64, 0.59, and 0.62, respectively, for 10%, 20%, and +2/+3 cutoffs. A good agreement was observed for experienced pathologists using the 10% cutoff, and their agreement was statistically higher than for junior pathologists (P=0.02). In addition, the mean intraobserver agreement for all 7 pathologists using the 3 cutoffs was reasonably good, with mean κ scores of 0.71, 0.60, and 0.73, respectively, for 10%, 20%, and +2/+3 cutoffs. For all 3 cutoffs, a positive correlation was observed with perceived ease of interpretation (P<0.003). Finally, cytoplasmic-only staining achieved higher agreement using all 3 cutoffs than mixed staining patterns. All 3 cutoffs investigated achieve reasonable strength of agreement, modestly decreasing interobserver and intraobserver variability in IHC interpretation. These cutoffs have previously been used in cancer pathology, and this study provides evidence that these cutoffs can be reproducible between practicing pathologists.

A Search for Water Maser Emission from Brown Dwarfs and Low-luminosity Young Stellar Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez, José F.; Palau, Aina; Uscanga, Lucero; Manjarrez, Guillermo; Barrado, David

2017-05-01

We present a survey for water maser emission toward a sample of 44 low-luminosity young objects, comprising (proto-)brown dwarfs, first hydrostatic cores (FHCs), and other young stellar objects (YSOs) with bolometric luminosities lower than 0.4 L ⊙. Water maser emission is a good tracer of energetic processes, such as mass-loss and/or accretion, and is a useful tool to study these processes with very high angular resolution. This type of emission has been confirmed in objects with L bol ≳ 1 L ⊙. Objects with lower luminosities also undergo mass-loss and accretion, and thus, are prospective sites of maser emission. Our sensitive single-dish observations provided a single detection when pointing toward the FHC L1448 IRS 2E. However, follow-up interferometric observations showed water maser emission associated with the nearby YSO L1448 IRS 2 (a Class 0 protostar of L bol ≃ 3.6-5.3 L ⊙) and did not find any emission toward L1448 IRS 2E. The upper limits for water maser emission determined by our observations are one order of magnitude lower than expected from the correlation between water maser luminosities and bolometric luminosities found for YSOs. This suggests that this correlation does not hold at the lower end of the (sub)stellar mass spectrum. Possible reasons are that the slope of this correlation is steeper at L bol ≤ 1 L ⊙ or that there is an absolute luminosity threshold below which water maser emission cannot be produced. Alternatively, if the correlation still stands at low luminosity, the detection rates of masers would be significantly lower than the values obtained in higher-luminosity Class 0 protostars.

Determining the Dimensions of the Heliosphere from the Time-Correlation of IBEX ENA Observations with Variations in the Solar Wind Dynamic Pressure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reisenfeld, D. B.; Bzowski, M.; Funsten, H. O.; Janzen, P. H.; Kubiak, M. A.; McComas, D. J.; Schwadron, N.; Sokol, J. M.

2017-12-01

The IBEX mission has shown that variations in the ENA flux from the outer heliosphere are associated with the solar cycle. In particular, there is a good correlation between the dynamic pressure of the outbound solar wind and variations in the observed IBEX ENA flux (McComas et al, 2017; Reisenfeld et al., 2016). There is, of course, a time difference between observations of the outbound SW and the heliospheric ENAs with which they correlate, ranging from approximately two to four years, depending on ENA energy and look direction. In this study, we use this time difference as a means of "sounding" the heliosheath, that is, finding the average distance to the ENA source region in a particular direction. We use data from the first seven years of the IBEX mission. As each point in the sky is sampled once every six months, this gives us a time series of 14 points per look direction on which to time correlate. Fluxes are transformed from the spacecraft frame into a heliospheric inertial frame to remove the effects of spacecraft/Earth motion. Fluxes are also corrected for ENA extinction due to charge exchange. To improve statistics, we divide the sky into "macropixels" spanning 30 degrees in longitude and varying ranges of latitude to maintain comparable counting statistics per pixel. In calculating the response time, we account for the varying speed of the outbound solar wind by using a time and latitude dependent set of solar wind speeds derived from interplanetary scintillation data (Sokol et al. 2015). Consistent with heliospheric models, we determine the shortest distance to the heliopause is in the nose direction, with a flaring toward the flanks and poles.

Locomotor activity and tissue levels following acute administration of lambda- and gamma-cyhalothrin in rats

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

Moser, Virginia C., E-mail: Moser.ginger@epa.gov

Pyrethroids produce neurotoxicity that depends, in part, on the chemical structure. Common behavioral effects include locomotor activity changes and specific toxic syndromes (types I and II). In general these neurobehavioral effects correlate well with peak internal dose metrics. Products of cyhalothrin, a type II pyrethroid, include mixtures of isomers (e.g., λ-cyhalothrin) as well as enriched active isomers (e.g., γ-cyhalothrin). We measured acute changes in locomotor activity in adult male rats and directly correlated these changes to peak brain and plasma concentrations of λ- and γ-cyhalothrin using a within-subject design. One-hour locomotor activity studies were conducted 1.5 h after oral gavagemore » dosing, and immediately thereafter plasma and brains were collected for analyzing tissue levels using LC/MS/MS methods. Both isomers produced dose-related decreases in activity counts, and the effective dose range for γ-cyhalothrin was lower than for λ-cyhalothrin. Doses calculated to decrease activity by 50% were 2-fold lower for the γ-isomer (1.29 mg/kg) compared to λ-cyhalothrin (2.65 mg/kg). Salivation, typical of type II pyrethroids, was also observed at lower doses of γ-cyhalothrin. Administered dose correlated well with brain and plasma concentrations, which furthermore showed good correlations with activity changes. Brain and plasma levels were tightly correlated across doses. While γ-cyhalothrin was 2-fold more potent based on administered dose, the differences based on internal concentrations were less, with γ-cyhalothrin being 1.3- to 1.6-fold more potent than λ-cyhalothrin. These potency differences are consistent with the purity of the λ-isomer (approximately 43%) compared to the enriched isomer γ-cyhalothrin (approximately 98%). Thus, administered dose as well as differences in cyhalothrin isomers is a good predictor of behavioral effects. - Highlights: • Acute changes in locomotor activity were produced by λ- and γ-cyhalothrin. • γ-Cyhalothrin was about 2-fold more potent than λ-cyhalothrin. • Brain and plasma levels were tightly correlated across doses. • Activity changes correlated well with brain and plasma concentrations.« less

Use of PROMIS for Patients Undergoing Primary Total Shoulder Arthroplasty

PubMed Central

Dowdle, S. Blake; Glass, Natalie; Anthony, Chris A.; Hettrich, Carolyn M.

2017-01-01

Background: The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) consists of question banks for health domains through computer adaptive testing (CAT). Hypothesis: For patients with glenohumeral arthritis, (1) there would be high correlation between traditional patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures and the PROMIS upper extremity item bank (PROMIS UE) and PROMIS physical function CAT (PROMIS PF CAT), and (2) PROMIS PF CAT would not demonstrate ceiling effects. Study Design: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Sixty-one patients with glenohumeral osteoarthritis were included. Each patient completed the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) assessment form, Marx Shoulder Activity Scale, Short Form–36 physical function scale (SF-36 PF), EuroQol 5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire, Western Ontario Osteoarthritis Shoulder (WOOS) index, PROMIS PF CAT, and the PROMIS UE. Correlation was defined as high (>0.7), moderate (0.4-0.6), or weak (0.2-0.3). Significant floor and ceiling effects were present if more than 15% of individuals scored the lowest or highest possible total score on any PRO. Results: The PROMIS PF demonstrated excellent correlation with the SF-36 PF (r = 0.81, P < .0001) and good correlation with the ASES (r = 0.62, P < .0001), EQ-5D (r = 0.64, P < .001), and WOOS index (r = 0.51, P < .01). The PROMIS PF demonstrated low correlation with the Marx scale (r = 0.29, P = .02). The PROMIS UE demonstrated good correlation with the ASES (r = 0.55, P < .0001), SF-36 (r = 0.53, P < .01), EQ-5D (r = 0.48, P < .01), and WOOS (r = 0.34, P <.01), and poor correlation with the Marx scale (r = 0.06, P = .62). There were no ceiling or floor effects observed. The mean number of items administered by the PROMIS PRO was 4. Conclusion: These data suggest that for a patient population with operative shoulder osteoarthritis, PROMIS UE and PROMIS PF CAT may be valid alternative PROs. Additionally, PROMIS PF CAT offers a decreased question burden with no ceiling effects. PMID:28944248

Effects of positive impression management on the NEO Personality Inventory--Revised in a clinical population.

PubMed

Ballenger, J F; Caldwell-Andrews, A; Baer, R A

2001-06-01

Sixty adults in outpatient psychotherapy completed the NEO Personality Inventory--Revised (NEO PI-R, P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992a). Half were instructed to fake good and half were given standard instructions. All completed the Interpersonal Adjective Scale--Revised, Big Five (J. S. Wiggins & P. D. Trapnell, 1997) under standard instructions, and their therapists completed the observer rating form of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. A comparison group of 30 students completed the NEO PI-R under standard instructions. Standard and fake-good participants obtained significantly different NEO PI-R domain scores. Correlations between the NEO PI-R and criterion measures were significantly lower for faking than for standard patients. Validity scales for the NEO PI-R (J. A. Schinka, B. N. Kinder, & T. Kremer, 1997) were moderately accurate in discriminating faking from standard patients, but were only marginally accurate in discriminating faking patients from students.

American Society of Composites, 32nd Technical Conference

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

Aitharaju, Venkat; Yu, Hang; Zhao, Selina

Resin transfer molding (RTM) has become increasingly popular for the manufacturing of composite parts. To enable high volume manufacturing and obtain good quality parts at an acceptable cost to automotive industry, accurate process simulation tools are necessary to optimize the process conditions. Towards that goal, General Motors and the ESI-group are involved in developing a state of the art process simulation tool for composite manufacturing in a project supported by the Department of Energy. This paper describes the modeling of various stages in resin transfer molding such as resin injection, resin curing, and part distortion. An instrumented RTM system locatedmore » at the General Motors Research and Development center was used to perform flat plaque molding experiments. The experimental measurements of fill time, in-mold pressure versus time, cure variation with time, and part deformation were compared with the model predictions and very good correlations were observed.« less

The use of earthquake rate changes as a stress meter at Kilauea volcano.

PubMed

Dieterich, J; Cayol, V; Okubo, P

2000-11-23

Stress changes in the Earth's crust are generally estimated from model calculations that use near-surface deformation as an observational constraint. But the widespread correlation of changes of earthquake activity with stress has led to suggestions that stress changes might be calculated from earthquake occurrence rates obtained from seismicity catalogues. Although this possibility has considerable appeal, because seismicity data are routinely collected and have good spatial and temporal resolution, the method has not yet proven successful, owing to the non-linearity of earthquake rate changes with respect to both stress and time. Here, however, we present two methods for inverting earthquake rate data to infer stress changes, using a formulation for the stress- and time-dependence of earthquake rates. Application of these methods at Kilauea volcano, in Hawaii, yields good agreement with independent estimates, indicating that earthquake rates can provide a practical remote-sensing stress meter.

[INVITED] Evaluation of process observation features for laser metal welding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tenner, Felix; Klämpfl, Florian; Nagulin, Konstantin Yu.; Schmidt, Michael

2016-06-01

In the present study we show how fast the fluid dynamics change when changing the laser power for different feed rates during laser metal welding. By the use of two high-speed cameras and a data acquisition system we conclude how fast we have to image the process to measure the fluid dynamics with a very high certainty. Our experiments show that not all process features which can be measured during laser welding do represent the process behavior similarly well. Despite the good visibility of the vapor plume the monitoring of its movement is less suitable as an input signal for a closed-loop control. The features measured inside the keyhole show a good correlation with changes of process parameters. Due to its low noise, the area of the keyhole opening is well suited as an input signal for a closed-loop control of the process.

Evaluation of chemical parameters in soft mold-ripened cheese during ripening by mid-infrared spectroscopy.

PubMed

Martín-del-Campo, S T; Picque, D; Cosío-Ramírez, R; Corrieu, G

2007-06-01

The suitability of mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIR) to follow the evolution throughout ripening of specific physicochemical parameters in Camembert-type cheeses was evaluated. The infrared spectra were obtained directly from raw cheese samples deposited on an attenuated total reflectance crystal. Significant correlations were observed between physicochemical data, pH, acid-soluble nitrogen, nonprotein nitrogen, ammonia (NH4+), lactose, and lactic acid. Dry matter showed significant correlation only with lactose and nonprotein nitrogen. Principal components analysis factorial maps of physicochemical data showed a ripening evolution in 2 steps, from d 1 to d 7 and from d 8 to d 27, similar to that observed previously from infrared spectral data. Partial least squares regressions made it possible to obtain good prediction models for dry matter, acid-soluble nitrogen, nonprotein nitrogen, lactose, lactic acid, and NH4+ values from spectral data of raw cheese. The values of 3 statistical parameters (coefficient of determination, root mean square error of cross validation, and ratio prediction deviation) are satisfactory. Less precise models were obtained for pH.

On High and Low Starting Frequencies of Type II Radio Bursts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, J.; Mittal, N.

2017-06-01

We have studied the characteristics of type II radio burst during the period May 1996 to March 2015, for the solar cycle 23 and 24, observed by WIND/WAVES radio instrument. A total of 642 events were recorded by the instrument during the study period. We have divided the events with two starting frequency range (high > 1 MHz; low ≤ 1MHz) as type II1 (i.e., 1-16 MHz) radio burst and type II2 (i.e., 20 KHz - 1020 KHz) radio burst which constitute the DH and km type II radio burst observed by WIND spacecraft, and determined their time and frequency characteristics. The mean drift rate of type II1 and type II2 radio bursts is 29.76 × 10-4 MHz/s and 0.17 × 10-4 MHz/s respectively, which shows that type II1 with high start frequency hase larger drift rate than the type II2 with low starting frequencies. We have also reported that the start frequency and the drift rate of type II1 are in good correlation, with a linear correlation coefficient of 0.58.

Toluene emissions from plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heiden, A. C.; Kobel, K.; Komenda, M.; Koppmann, R.; Shao, M.; Wildt, J.

The emission of toluene from different plants was observed in continuously stirred tank reactors and in field measurements. For plants growing without stress, emission rates were low and ranged from the detection limit up to 2·10-16 mol·cm-2·s-1. Under conditions of stress, the emission rates exceeded 10-14 mol·cm-2·s-1. Exposure of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. cv. Gigantheus) to 13CO2 resulted in 13C-labeling of the emitted toluene on a time scale of hours. Although no biochemical pathway for the production of toluene is known, these results indicate that toluene is synthesized by the plants. The emission rates of toluene from sunflower are dependent on nutrient supply and wounding. Since α-pinene emission rates are also influenced by these factors, toluene and α-pinene emissions show a high correlation. During pathogen attack on Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) significant toluene emissions were observed. In this case emissions of toluene and α-pinene also show a good correlation. Toluene emissions were also found in field experiments with pines using branch enclosures.

Experimental study of cone-struts and cavity flameholders in a kerosene-fueled round scramjet combustor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Dongqing; Song, Wenyan

2017-10-01

Experimental investigations of liquid kerosene ignition and flameholding in a round supersonic combustor are presented. Three kinds of flameholders, a cone-struts structure, a cavity and the combination of the both, are studied for the kerosene ignition and flameholding. Results show that ignition and flameholding cannot be achieved by using the sole cone-struts flameholder, although flames are observed at the combustor outlet. The ignition and flameholding are achieved in a narrow range of equivalence ratios by using the cavity flameholder. This range is widened by employing the combination of the cone-struts and the cavity flameholders. It is observed that the back pressure disrupts the isolator entrance flow slightly by using the larger cone-struts (CR = 0.261). However, it does not happen when the smaller cone-struts (CR = 0.221) is employed. Then a characteristic air mass flow rate in the round combustor is redefined to calculate a modified Damkohler number that correlates the nonpremixed flame stability limits. The correlations are in good agreements with the experimental results.

[Family functionality regarding the elderly with cognitive impairments: the caretaker's perception].

PubMed

dos Santos, Ariene Angelini; Pavarini, Sofia Cristina Iost

2012-10-01

The objectives of this study were to characterize the caregivers of elderly individuals with cognitive impairment living in different contexts of social vulnerability, and assess the family functionality of the elderly as perceived by the caregivers. Family functionality was evaluated using the Family APGAR instrument, assessed during home interviews with 72 caretakers. All the ethical aspects were observed. Spearman's correlation and the Mann-Whitney test were used, with 5% significance level (p<0.05). Results show that 82% of caregivers reported a good family functionality, 14% reported moderate family dysfunction, and 4% reported high family dysfunction. A statistically significant correlation was found between Family APGAR and the number of people living in the house (p=0.048). Further studies could verify the relationship between family functionality and the caretaker's overload in the context of elderly persons with dementia.

Effects of oblique air flow on burning rates of square ethanol pool fires.

PubMed

Tao, Changfa; He, Yaping; Li, Yuan; Wang, Xishi

2013-09-15

The effects of downward airflow on the burning rate and/or burning intensity of square alcohol pool fires for different airflow speeds and directions have been studied experimentally in an inclined wind tunnel. An interesting flame-wrapping phenomenon, caused by impingement of air flow, was observed. The mass burning intensity was found to increase with the airflow speed and the impinging angle. The fuel pan rim temperatures were also measured to study the effect of wind direction and speed on heat transfer from the flame to the fuel source. A model based on heat transfer analysis was developed to correlate the burning intensity with the pan rim characteristic temperature. A good correlation was established between the model results and the experimental results. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Reporting Recommended Patch Density from Vehicle Panel Vibration Convergence Studies using both DAF and TBL Fits of the Spatial Correlation Function

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Andrew M.; Davis, Robert Ben; LaVerde, Bruce T.; Jones, Douglas C.; Band, Jonathon L.

2012-01-01

Using the patch method to represent the continuous spatial correlation function of a phased pressure field over a structural surface is an approximation. The approximation approaches the continuous function as patches become smaller. Plotting comparisons of the approximation vs the continuous function may provide insight revealing: (1) For what patch size/density should the approximation be very good? (2) What the approximation looks like when it begins to break down? (3) What the approximation looks like when the patch size is grossly too large. Following these observations with a convergence study using one FEM may allow us to see the importance of patch density. We may develop insights that help us to predict sufficient patch density to provide adequate convergence for the intended purpose frequency range of interest

Correlation of Noninvasive Blood Pressure and Invasive Intra-arterial Blood Pressure in Patients Treated with Vasoactive Medications in a Neurocritical Care Unit.

PubMed

Saherwala, Ali A; Stutzman, Sonja E; Osman, Mohamed; Kalia, Junaid; Figueroa, Stephen A; Olson, DaiWai M; Aiyagari, Venkatesh

2018-03-22

The correlation between noninvasive (oscillometric) blood pressure (NBP) and intra-arterial blood pressure (IAP) in critically ill patients receiving vasoactive medications in a Neurocritical Care Unit has not been systematically studied. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between simultaneously measured NBP and IAP recordings in these patients. Prospective observational study of patients (N = 70) admitted to a neurocritical care unit receiving continuous vasopressor or antihypertensive infusions. Paired NBP/IAP observations along with covariate and demographic data were abstracted via chart audit. Analysis was performed using SAS v9.4. A total of 2177 paired NBP/IAP observations from 70 subjects (49% male, 63% white, mean age 59 years) receiving vasopressors (n = 21) or antihypertensive agents (n = 49) were collected. Paired t test analysis showed significant differences between NBP versus IAP readings: ([systolic blood pressure (SBP): mean = 136 vs. 140 mmHg; p < 0.0001], [diastolic blood pressure (DBP): mean = 70 vs. 68 mmHg, p < 0.0001], [mean arterial blood pressure (MAP): mean = 86 vs. 90 mmHg, p < 0.0001]). Bland-Altman plots for MAP, SBP, and DBP demonstrate good inter-method agreement between paired measures (excluding outliers) and demonstrate NBP-IAP SBP differences at extremes of blood pressures. Pearson correlation coefficients show strong positive correlations for paired MAP (r = 0.82), SBP (r = 0.84), and DBP (r = 0.73) recordings. An absolute NBP-IAP SBP difference of > 20 mmHg was seen in ~ 20% of observations of nicardipine, ~ 25% of observations of norepinephrine, and ~ 35% of observations of phenylephrine. For MAP, the corresponding numbers were ~ 10, 15, and 25% for nicardipine, norepinephrine, and phenylephrine, respectively. Despite overall strong positive correlations between paired NBP and IAP readings of MAP and SBP, clinically relevant differences in blood pressure are frequent. When treating with vasoactive infusions targeted to a specific BP goal, it is important to keep in mind that NBP and IAP values are not interchangeable.

Pre-Processing and Cross-Correlation Techniques for Time-Distance Helioseismology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, N.; de Ridder, S.; Zhao, J.

2014-12-01

In chaotic wave fields excited by a random distribution of noise sources a cross-correlation of the recordings made at two stations yield the interstation wave-field response. After early successes in helioseismology, laboratory studies and earth-seismology, this technique found broad application in global and regional seismology. This development came with an increasing understanding of pre-processing and cross-correlation workflows to yield an optimal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Helioseismologist rely heavily on stacking to increase the SNR. Until now, they have not studied different spectral-whitening and cross-correlation workflows and relies heavily on stacking to increase the SNR. The recordings vary considerably between sunspots and regular portions of the sun. Within the sunspot the periodic effects of the observation satellite orbit are difficult to remove. We remove a running alpha-mean from the data and apply a soft clip to deal with data glitches. The recordings contain energy of both flow and waves. A frequency domain filter selects the wave energy. Then the data is input to several pre-processing and cross-correlation techniques, common to earth seismology. We anticipate that spectral whitening will flatten the energy spectrum of the cross-correlations. We also expect that the cross-correlations converge faster to their expected value when the data is processed over overlapping windows. The result of this study are expected to aid in decreasing the stacking while maintaining good SNR.

Use of environmental tobacco smoke constituents as markers for exposure

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

LaKind, J.S.; Jenkins, R.A.; Naiman, D.Q.

1999-06-01

The 16-City Study analyzed for gas-phase environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) constituents (nicotine, 3-ethenyl pyridine [3-EP], and myosmine) and for particulate-phase constituents (respirable particulate matter [RSP], ultraviolet-absorbing particulate matter [UVPM], fluorescing particulate matter [FPM], scopoletin, and solanesol). In this second of three articles, the authors discuss the merits of each constituent as a marker for ETS and report pair-wise comparisons of the markers. Neither nicotine nor UVPM were good predictors for RSP. However, nicotine and UVPM were good qualitative predictors of each other. Nicotine was correlated with other gas-phase constituents. Comparisons between UVPM and other particulate-phase constituents were performed. Its relationmore » with FPM was excellent, with UVPM approximately 1 1/2 times FPM. The correlation between UVPM and solanesol was good, but the relationship between the two was not linear. The relation between UVPM and scopoletin was not good, largely because of noise in the scopoletin measures around its limit of detection. The authors considered the relation between nicotine and saliva cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine. The two were highly correlated on the group level.« less

The power spectrum of solar convection flows from high-resolution observations and 3D simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yelles Chaouche, L.; Moreno-Insertis, F.; Bonet, J. A.

2014-03-01

Context. Understanding solar surface magnetoconvection requires the study of the Fourier spectra of the velocity fields. Nowadays, observations are available that resolve very small spatial scales, well into the subgranular range, almost reaching the scales routinely resolved in numerical magnetoconvection simulations. Comparison of numerical and observational data at present can provide an assessment of the validity of the observational proxies. Aims: Our aims are: (1) to obtain Fourier spectra for the photospheric velocity fields using the spectropolarimetric observations with the highest spatial resolution so far (~120 km), thus reaching for the first time spatial scales well into the subgranular range; (2) to calculate corresponding Fourier spectra from realistic 3D numerical simulations of magnetoconvection and carry out a proper comparison with their observational counterparts considering the residual instrumental degradation in the observational data; and (3) to test the observational proxies on the basis of the numerical data alone, by comparing the actual velocity field in the simulations with synthetic observations obtained from the numerical boxes. Methods: (a) For the observations, data from the SUNRISE/IMaX spectropolarimeter are used. (b) For the simulations, we use four series of runs obtained with the STAGGER code for different average signed vertical magnetic field values (0, 50, 100, and 200 G). Spectral line profiles are synthesized from the numerical boxes for the same line observed by IMaX (Fe I 5250.2 Å) and degraded to match the performance of the IMaX instrument. Proxies for the velocity field are obtained via Dopplergrams (vertical component) and local correlation tracking (LCT, for the horizontal component). Fourier power spectra are calculated and a comparison between the synthetic and observational data sets carried out. (c) For the internal comparison of the numerical data, velocity values on constant optical depth surfaces are used instead of on horizontal planes. Results: A very good match between observational and simulated Fourier power spectra is obtained for the vertical velocity data for scales between 200 km and 6 Mm. Instead, a clear vertical shift is obtained when the synthetic observations are not degraded to emulate the degradation in the IMaX data. The match for the horizontal velocity data is much less impressive because of the inaccuracies of the LCT procedure. Concerning the internal comparison of the direct velocity values of the numerical boxes with those from the synthetic observations, a high correlation (0.96) is obtained for the vertical component when using the velocity values on the log τ500 = -1 surface in the box. The corresponding Fourier spectra are near each other. A lower maximum correlation (0.5) is reached (at log τ500 = 0) for the horizontal velocities as a result of the coarseness of the LCT procedure. Correspondingly, the Fourier spectra for the LCT-determined velocities is well below that from the actual velocity components. Conclusions: As measured by the Fourier spectra, realistic numerical simulations of surface magnetoconvection provide a very good match to the observational proxies for the photospheric velocity fields at least on scales from several Mm down to around 200 km. Taking into account the spatial and spectral instrumental blurring is essential for the comparison between simulations and observations. Dopplergrams are an excellent proxy for the vertical velocities on constant-τ isosurfaces, while LCT is a much less reliable method of determining the horizontal velocities.

Surrogate endpoints for overall survival in chemotherapy and radiotherapy trials in operable and locally advanced lung cancer: a re-analysis of meta-analyses of individual patients' data

PubMed Central

Mauguen, Audrey; Pignon, Jean-Pierre; Burdett, Sarah; Domerg, Caroline; Fisher, David; Paulus, Rebecca; Mandrekar, Samithra J; Belani, Chandra P; Shepherd, Frances A; Eisen, Tim; Pang, Herbert; Collette, Laurence; Sause, William T; Dahlberg, Suzanne E; Crawford, Jeffrey; O'Brien, Mary; Schild, Steven E; Parmar, Mahesh; Tierney, Jayne F; Pechoux, Cécile Le; Michiels, Stefan

2013-01-01

Summary Background The gold standard endpoint in clinical trials of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for lung cancer is overall survival. Although reliable and simple to measure, this endpoint takes years to observe. Surrogate endpoints that would enable earlier assessments of treatment effects would be useful. We assessed the correlations between potential surrogate endpoints and overall survival at individual and trial levels. Methods We analysed individual patients' data from 15 071 patients involved in 60 randomised clinical trials that were assessed in six meta-analyses. Two meta-analyses were of adjuvant chemotherapy in non-small-cell lung cancer, three were of sequential or concurrent chemotherapy, and one was of modified radiotherapy in locally advanced lung cancer. We investigated disease-free survival (DFS) or progression-free survival (PFS), defined as the time from randomisation to local or distant relapse or death, and locoregional control, defined as the time to the first local event, as potential surrogate endpoints. At the individual level we calculated the squared correlations between distributions of these three endpoints and overall survival, and at the trial level we calculated the squared correlation between treatment effects for endpoints. Findings In trials of adjuvant chemotherapy, correlations between DFS and overall survival were very good at the individual level (ρ2=0·83, 95% CI 0·83–0·83 in trials without radiotherapy, and 0·87, 0·87–0·87 in trials with radiotherapy) and excellent at trial level (R2=0·92, 95% CI 0·88–0·95 in trials without radiotherapy and 0·99, 0·98–1·00 in trials with radiotherapy). In studies of locally advanced disease, correlations between PFS and overall survival were very good at the individual level (ρ2 range 0·77–0·85, dependent on the regimen being assessed) and trial level (R2 range 0·89–0·97). In studies with data on locoregional control, individual-level correlations were good (ρ2=0·71, 95% CI 0·71–0·71 for concurrent chemotherapy and ρ2=0·61, 0·61–0·61 for modified vs standard radiotherapy) and trial-level correlations very good (R2=0·85, 95% CI 0·77–0·92 for concurrent chemotherapy and R2=0·95, 0·91–0·98 for modified vs standard radiotherapy). Interpretation We found a high level of evidence that DFS is a valid surrogate endpoint for overall survival in studies of adjuvant chemotherapy involving patients with non-small-cell lung cancers, and PFS in those of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for patients with locally advanced lung cancers. Extrapolation to targeted agents, however, is not automatically warranted. Funding Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique, Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer, British Medical Research Council, Sanofi-Aventis. PMID:23680111

Saving time and money: a validation of the self ratings on the prospective NIMH Life-Chart Method (NIMH-LCM).

PubMed

Born, Christoph; Amann, Benedikt L; Grunze, Heinz; Post, Robert M; Schärer, Lars

2014-05-07

Careful observation of the longitudinal course of bipolar disorders is pivotal to finding optimal treatments and improving outcome. A useful tool is the daily prospective Life-Chart Method, developed by the National Institute of Mental Health. However, it remains unclear whether the patient version is as valid as the clinician version. We compared the patient-rated version of the Lifechart (LC-self) with the Young-Mania-Rating Scale (YMRS), Inventory of Depressive Symptoms-Clinician version (IDS-C), and Clinical Global Impression-Bipolar version (CGI-BP) in 108 bipolar I and II patients who participated in the Naturalistic Follow-up Study (NFS) of the German centres of the Bipolar Collaborative Network (BCN; formerly Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network). For statistical evaluation, levels of severity of mood states on the Lifechart were transformed numerically and comparison with affective scales was performed using chi-square and t tests. For testing correlations Pearson´s coefficient was calculated. Ratings for depression of LC-self and total scores of IDS-C were found to be highly correlated (Pearson coefficient r = -.718; p < .001), whilst the correlation of ratings for mania with YMRS compared to LC-self were slightly less robust (Pearson coefficient r = .491; p = .001). These results were confirmed by good correlations between the CGI-BP IA (mania), IB (depression) and IC (overall mood state) and the LC-self ratings (Pearson coefficient r = .488, r = .721 and r = .65, respectively; all p < .001). The LC-self shows a significant correlation and good concordance with standard cross sectional affective rating scales, suggesting that the LC-self is a valid and time and money saving alternative to the clinician-rated version which should be incorporated in future clinical research in bipolar disorder. Generalizability of the results is limited by the selection of highly motivated patients in specialized bipolar centres and by the open design of the study.

Internal medicine point-of-care ultrasound assessment of left ventricular function correlates with formal echocardiography.

PubMed

Johnson, Benjamin K; Tierney, David M; Rosborough, Terry K; Harris, Kevin M; Newell, Marc C

2016-02-01

Although focused cardiac ultrasonographic (FoCUS) examination has been evaluated in emergency departments and intensive care units with good correlation to formal echocardiography, accuracy for the assessment of left ventricular systolic function (LVSF) when performed by internal medicine physicians still needs independent evaluation. This prospective observational study in a 640-bed, academic, quaternary care center, included 178 inpatients examined by 10 internal medicine physicians who had completed our internal medicine bedside ultrasound training program. The ability to estimate LVSF with FoCUS as "normal," "mild to moderately decreased," or "severely decreased" was compared with left ventricular ejection fraction (>50%, 31-49%, and <31%, respectively) from formal echocardiography interpreted by a cardiologist. Sensitivity and specificity of FoCUS for any degree of LVSF impairment were 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.80, 0.97) and 0.88 (95% CI 0.81, 0.93), respectively. The interrater agreement between internal medicine physician-performed FoCUS and formal echocardiography for any LVSF impairment was "good/substantial" with κ = 0.77 (p < 0.001), 95% CI (0.67, 0.87). Formal echocardiography was classified as "technically limited due to patient factors" in 20% of patients; however, echogenicity was sufficient in 100% of FoCUS exams to classify LVSF. Internal medicine physicians using FoCUS identify normal versus decreased LVSF with high sensitivity, specificity, and "good/substantial" interrater agreement when compared with formal echocardiography. These results support the role of cardiac FoCUS by properly trained internal medicine physicians for discriminating normal from reduced LVSF. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[Evaluation of left ventricular diastolic function in canine acute myocardial ischemia using velocity vector imaging and quantitative tissue velocity imaging].

PubMed

Zhang, Chuan; Zha, Dao-Gang; DU, Rong-Sheng; Hu, Feng; Li, Sheng-Hui; Wu, Xiao-Yuan; Liu, Yi-Li

2009-07-01

To assess the value of velocity vector imaging (VVI) and quantitative tissue velocity imaging (QTVI) in assessing left ventricular diastolic function of the dogs with acute myocardial ischemia. Six healthy mongrel dogs were subjected to ligation of the left circumflex artery or left anterior descending artery to induce coronary artery stenosis of varying degrees. The mean peak diastolic velocity (Em) of the ventricular walls around the mitral annulus was recorded with VVI or QTVI in the coronary blood flow. The left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) was measured with pigtail catheter in the left ventricle. As the coronary blood flow decreased, LVEDP was gradually increased, and Em measured by VVI or QTVI were also gradually decreased. A good linear correlation was shown between Em measured by VVI or QTVI and LVEDP (r=-0.834, P<0.001, and r=-0.68, P<0.001, respectively). A significant difference was observed in the correlation coefficient between VVI and QTVI (Z=2.625, P=0.0087). VVI and QTVI both provide good noninvasive means for measuring left ventricular diastolic function. VVI, a new echocardiographic modality without angular dependence, is better than QTVI in evaluating left ventricular diastolic function.

The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: validation of the Urdu translation.

PubMed

Hashmi, Ali Madeeh; Khawaja, Imran Shuja; Butt, Zeeshan; Umair, Muhammad; Naqvi, Suhaib Haider; Jawad-Ul-Haq

2014-02-01

To translate and validate the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), a standardized self-administered questionnaire for the assessment of subjective sleep quality into the Urdu language. Validation study. Mayo Hospital, Lahore, from March to April 2012. The PSQI was translated into Urdu following standard guidelines. The final Urdu version (PSQI-U) was administered to 200 healthy volunteers comprising medical students, nursing staff and doctors. Inter-item correlation was assessed by calculating Cronbach alpha. Correlation of component scores with global score was assessed by calculating Spearman correlation coefficient. Correlation between global PSQI-U scores at baseline with global scores for each PSQI-U and PSQI-E at 4-week interval was evaluated by calculating Spearman correlation coefficient. Moreover, scores on individual items of the scale at baseline were compared with respective scores after 4-week by t-test. One hundred and eighty five (185) participants completed the PSQI-U at baseline. The Cronbach alpha for PSQI-U was 0.56. Scores on individual components of the PSQI-U and composite scores were all highly correlated with each other (all p-values < 0.01). Composite scores for PSQI-U at baseline and PSQI-E at 4-week interval were also highly correlated with each other (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.74, p-value < 0.01) indicating good linguistic interchangeability. Composite scores for PSQI-U at baseline and at 4-week interval were positively correlated with each other (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.70, p < 0.01) indicating good test-retest reliability. The PSQI-U is a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of sleep quality. It shows good linguistic interchangeability and test-retest reliability in comparison to the original English version when applied to individuals who speak the Urdu language. The PSQI-U can be a tool either for clinical management or research.

The Genesis of the Milky Way's Thick Disk via Stellar Migration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loebman, Sarah; Roskar, R.; Debattista, V. P.; Ivezic, Z.; Quinn, T. R.; Wadsley, J.

2011-01-01

The separation of the Milky Way disk into a thin and thick component is supported by differences in kinematics and metallicity. These differences have lead to the predominant view that the thick disk formed early via a cataclysmic event and constitutes fossil evidence of the hierarchical growth of the Milky Way. We show here, using N-body simulations, how a double vertical structure, with stellar populations displaying similar dichotomies can arise purely through internal evolution. Stars migrate radially, while retaining nearly circular orbits, as described by Sellwood & Binney (2002). As stars move outwards their vertical motions carry them to larger heights above the mid-plane, populating a thickened component. Such stars found at present time in the solar neighborhood formed early in the disk’s history at smaller radii where stars are more metal-poor and α-enhanced, leading to exactly the properties observed for thick disk stars. Classifying stars as members of the thin or thick disk by either velocity or metallicity leads to an apparent separation in the other property as observed. This scenario is supported by the SDSS observation that stars in the transition region do not show any correlation between rotation and metallicity. Such a correlation is present in young stars and arises because of epicyclic motions but migration radially mixes stars, washing out the correlation. Using the Geneva Copenhagen Survey, we indeed find a velocity-metallicity correlation in the younger stars and none in the older stars. We predict a similar result when separating stars by [α/Fe]. The good qualitative agreement between our simulation and observations are remarkable because the simulation was not tuned to reproduce the Milky Way, hinting that the thick disk may be dominated by stellar migration. Nonetheless, we cannot exclude that some fraction of the thick disk is a fossil of a past more violent history.

The gut microbiota, bile acids and their correlation in primary sclerosing cholangitis associated with inflammatory bowel disease.

PubMed

Torres, J; Palmela, C; Brito, H; Bao, X; Ruiqi, H; Moura-Santos, P; Pereira da Silva, J; Oliveira, A; Vieira, C; Perez, K; Itzkowitz, S H; Colombel, J F; Humbert, L; Rainteau, D; Cravo, M; Rodrigues, C M; Hu, J

2018-02-01

Patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis associated with inflammatory bowel disease (PSC-IBD) have a very high risk of developing colorectal neoplasia. Alterations in the gut microbiota and/or gut bile acids could account for the increase in this risk. However, no studies have yet investigated the net result of cholestasis and a potentially altered bile acid pool interacting with a dysbiotic gut flora in the inflamed colon of PSC-IBD. The aim of this study was to compare the gut microbiota and stool bile acid profiles, as well as and their correlation in patients with PSC-IBD and inflammatory bowel disease alone. Thirty patients with extensive colitis (15 with concomitant primary sclerosing cholangitis) were prospectively recruited and fresh stool samples were collected. The microbiota composition in stool was profiled using bacterial 16S rRNA sequencing. Stool bile acids were assessed by high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The total stool bile acid pool was significantly reduced in PSC-IBD. Although no major differences were observed in the individual bile acid species in stool, their overall combination allowed a good separation between PSC-IBD and inflammatory bowel disease. Compared with inflammatory bowel disease alone, PSC-IBD patients demonstrated a different gut microbiota composition with enrichment in Ruminococcus and Fusobacterium genus compared with inflammatory bowel disease. At the operational taxonomic unit level major shifts were observed within the Firmicutes (73%) and Bacteroidetes phyla (17%). Specific microbiota-bile acid correlations were observed in PSC-IBD, where 12% of the operational taxonomic units strongly correlated with stool bile acids, compared with only 0.4% in non-PSC-IBD. Patients with PSC-IBD had distinct microbiota and microbiota-stool bile acid correlations as compared with inflammatory bowel disease. Whether these changes are associated with, or may predispose to, an increased risk of colorectal neoplasia needs to be further clarified.

Joint analysis of deformation, gravity, and lava lake elevation reveals temporal variations in lava lake density at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carbone, Daniele; Poland, Michael; Patrick, Matthew

2015-04-01

We find a tight correlation between (i) changes in lava level within the summit eruptive vent at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, observed for at least 2 years since early 2011, and (ii) ground deformation in the vicinity of the vent. The observed correlation indicates that changing pressure within the shallow magma reservoir feeding the lava lake influences both deformation and lava level. However, those two parameters are related to chamber pressure through different properties, namely, the density of the lava filling the vent (for the lava level) and the size/position of the reservoir plus the elastic parameters of the host rock (for the deformation). Joint analyses in the time and frequency domains of lava level (determined from thermal camera imagery of the lava lake) and tilt measured on a borehole instrument (~2 km from the summit vent) reveal a good correlation throughout the studied period. The highest correlation occurs over periods ranging between 1 and 20 days. The ratio between lava level and tilt is not constant over time, however. Using data from a continuously recording gravimeter located near the rim of the summit eruptive vent, we demonstrate that the tilt-lava level ratio is controlled by the fluctuations in the density of the lava inside the vent (i.e., its degree of vesicularity). A second continuous gravimeter was installed near the summit eruptive vent in 2014, providing a new observation point for gravity change associated with summit lava lave activity to test models developed from the previously existing instrument. In addition, a continuous gravimeter was installed on the rim of the Puu Oo eruptive vent on Kilauea's East Rift Zone in 2013. Puu Oo is connected via the subvolcanic magma plumbing system to the summit eruptive vent and often deforms in concert with the summit. This growing network of continuously recording gravimeters at Kilauea can be used to examine correlations in gravity change associated with variations in eruptive activity across the volcano.

Origin of diffuse C II 158 micron and Si II 35 micron emission in the Carina nebula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mizutani, M.; Onaka, T.; Shibai, H.

2004-08-01

We present the results of mapping observations with ISO of [O I] 63 μm, 145 μm, [N II] 122 μm, [C II] 158 μm, [Si II] 35 μm, and H_2 9.66 μm line emissions for the Carina nebula, an active star-forming region in the Galactic plane. The observations were made for the central 40 arcmin × 20 arcmin area of the nebula, including the optically bright H II region and molecular cloud lying in front of the ionized gas. Around the center of the observed area is the interface between the H II region and the molecular cloud which creates a typical photodissociation region (PDR). The [C II] 158 μm emission shows a good correlation with the [O I] 63 μm emission and peaks around the H II-molecular region interface. The correlated component has the ratio of [C II] 158 μm to [O I] 63 μm of about 2.8. We estimate from the correlation that about 80% of [C II] emission comes from the PDR in the Carina nebula. The photoelectric heating efficiency estimated from the ratio of the ([C II] 158 μm + [O I] 63 μm) intensity to the total far-infrared intensity ranges from 0.06 to 1.2%. [O I] 145 μm is detected marginally at 10 positions. The average ratio of [O I] 145 μm to [O I] 63 μm of these positions is about 0.09 ± 0.01 and is larger than model predictions. The observed [C II] 158 μm to [O I] 63 μm ratio indicates a relatively low temperature ( <500 K) of the gas, while the large [O I] 145 μm to 63 μm ratio suggests a high temperature (˜ 1000 K). This discrepancy cannot be accounted for consistently by the latest PDR model with the efficient photoelectric heating via polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) even if absorption of [O I] 63 μm by foreground cold gas is taken into account. We suggest that absorption of [C II] 158 μm together with [O I] 63 μm by overlapping PDRs, in which the heating via PAHs is suppressed due to the charge-up effect, may resolve the discrepancy. Quite strong [Si II] 35 μm emission has been detected over the observed area. It shows a good correlation with [N II] 122 μm, but the correlation with [O I] 63 μm is very weak, indicating that [Si II] 35 μm comes mainly from the diffuse ionized gas rather than the PDR. The ratio of [Si II] 35 μm to [N II] 122 μm is about 8 and Si of about 50% of the solar abundance relative to N should be present in the gas phase. The present results suggest that efficient dust destruction takes place and a large fraction of Si returns to the gas in the Carina star-forming region. Based on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments funded by ESA Member States (especially the PI countries: France, Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom) and with the participation of ISAS and NASA. Table 2 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/423/579

Atoms in carbon cages as a source of interstellar diffuse lines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ballester, J. L.; Antoniewicz, P. R.; Smoluchowski, R.

1990-01-01

A model to describe the resonance absorption lines of various atoms trapped in closed carbon cages is presented. These systems may be responsible for some of the as yet unexplained diffuse interstellar bands. Model potentials for possible atom-C60 systems are obtained and used to calculate the resonance lines. The trapped atoms considered are O, N, Si, Mg, Al, Na, and S, and in all cases the resonance lines are shifted toward the red as compared to the isolated atoms. The calculated wavelengths are compared to the range of wavelengths observed for the diffuse interstellar bands, and good agreement is found for Mg and Si resonance lines. Other lines may be caused by other than resonance transitions or by trapped molecules. The oscillator strengths and the abundances are evaluated and compared with observation. Mechanisms to explain the observed band width of the lines and the existence of certain correlated pairs of lines are discussed.

Effect of interphase permittivity on the electric field distribution of epoxy nanocomposites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pradeep, Lavanya; Nelson, Avinash; Preetha, P.

2018-05-01

Epoxy plays a vital role in high voltage insulation system due to its superior electrical and thermal properties. Literature reports the enhancement in these properties by the addition of nanofillers to epoxy and this enhancement is attributed to the effect of interphase. Characterization of polymer nanocomposites proves the importance of interphase formed between the polymer and nanoparticle in the composite. It was observed that the permittivity of the interphase is having a significant effect on the properties of these materials. In this work, a three dimensional Epoxy nanocomposite with 0.5 vol%, 1 vol% of alumina particles are modeled using unit cell approach in COMSOL Multiphysics. Simulation is done using several existing interphase permittivity models and field distribution is observed. Results shows the noticeable influence of interphase permittivity on the electric field distribution. A good correlation of electric field distribution with the AC breakdown strength is observed.

Road traffic noise prediction model for heterogeneous traffic based on ASJ-RTN Model 2008 with consideration of horn

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hustim, M.; Arifin, Z.; Aly, S. H.; Ramli, M. I.; Zakaria, R.; Liputo, A.

2018-04-01

This research aimed to predict the noise produced by the traffic in the road network in Makassar City using ASJ-RTN Model 2008 by calculating the horn sound. Observations were taken at 37 survey points on road side. The observations were conducted at 06.00 - 18.00 and 06.00 - 21.00 which research objects were motorcycle (MC), light vehicle (LV) and heavy vehicle (HV). The observed data were traffic volume, vehicle speed, number of horn and traffic noise using Sound Level Meter Tenmars TM-103. The research result indicates that prediction noise model by calculating the horn sound produces the average noise level value of 78.5 dB having the Pearson’s correlation and RMSE of 0.95 and 0.87. Therefore, ASJ-RTN Model 2008 prediction model by calculating the horn sound is said to be sufficiently good for predicting noise level.

Test-retest and inter- and intrareliability of the quality of the upper-extremity skills test in preschool-age children with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Haga, Nienke; van der Heijden-Maessen, Hélène C; van Hoorn, Jessika F; Boonstra, Anne M; Hadders-Algra, Mijna

2007-12-01

To investigate the test-retest, inter-, and intraobserver reliability of the Quality of Upper Extremity Skills Test (QUEST) in young children with cerebral palsy (CP). For test-retest reliability, a test-retest design was used; for the intra- and interobserver reliability, the videotaped test was scored on 2 occasions by 1 observer and by various observers. Groups of preschool-age children in 2 general rehabilitation centers. Twenty-one children with CP (12 boys, 9 girls) aged 2 to 4.5 years (mean, 39 mo). Not applicable. Spearman correlation coefficient. The data indicated that test-retest reliability was strong (rho range, .85-.94). Intraobserver agreement (rho range, .63-.95) and agreement between various observers (rho range, .72-.90) were moderate to strong. Test-retest and inter- and intraobserver reliability of the QUEST in preschool-age children with CP is good.

Biophysical mechanisms of trichloroethene uptake and loss in baldcypress growing in shallow contaminated groundwater

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nietch, C.T.; Morris, J.T.; Vroblesky, D.A.

1999-01-01

Wetland vegetation may be useful in the remediation of shallow contaminated aquifers. Mesocosm experiments were conducted to describe the regulatory mechanisms affecting trichloroethene (TCE) removal rates from groundwater by flood-adapted wetland trees at a contaminated site. TCE flux through baldcypress [Taxodium distichum (L) Rich] seedlings grown in glass- carboys decreased from day to night and from August to December. The diel fluctuation coincided with changes in leaf-level physiology, as the daytime flux was significantly correlated with net photosynthesis but not with respiration at night. A decrease in seedling water use from summer to winter explained the large seasonal difference in TCE flux. A simple model that simulates gas-phase diffusion through aerenchyma tested the importance of diffusion of TCE vapor from roots to the stem. The modeled diffusive flux was within 64% of the observed value during the winter but could only explain 8% of the summer flux. Seedling water use was a good estimator of flux during the summer. Hence, evapotranspiration (ET) in the summer may serve as a good predictor for the potential of TCE removal by baldcypress trees, while diffusive flux may better approximate potential contaminant loss in the winter.Wetland vegetation may be useful in the remediation of shallow contaminated aquifers. Mesocosm experiments were conducted to describe the regulatory mechanisms affecting trichloroethene (TCE) removal rates from groundwater by flood-adapted wetland trees at a contaminated site. TCE flux through baldcypress [Taxodium distichum (L) Rich] seedlings grown in glass-carboys decreased from day to night and from August to December. The diel fluctuation coincided with changes in leaf-level physiology, as the daytime flux was significantly correlated with net photosynthesis but not with respiration at night. A decrease in seedling water use from summer to winter explained the large seasonal difference in TCE flux. A simple model that simulates gas-phase diffusion through aerenchyma tested the importance of diffusion of TCE vapor from roots to the stem. The modeled diffusive flux was within 64% of the observed value during the winter but could only explain 8% of the summer flux. Seedling water use was a good estimator of flux during the summer. Hence, evapotranspiration (ET) in the summer may serve as a good predictor for the potential of TCE removal by baldcypress trees, while diffusive flux may better approximate potential contaminant loss in the winter.

Debye screening of dislocations.

PubMed

Groma, I; Györgyi, G; Kocsis, B

2006-04-28

Debye-like screening by edge dislocations of some externally given stress is studied by means of a variational approach to coarse grained field theory. Explicitly given are the force field and the induced geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) distribution, in the special case of a single glide axis in 2D, for (i) a single edge dislocation and (ii) a dislocation wall. Numerical simulation demonstrates that the correlation in relaxed dislocation configurations is in good agreement with the induced GND in case (i). Furthermore, the result (ii) well predicts the experimentally observed decay length for the GND developing close to grain boundaries.

Effect of Surface Roughness on Characteristics of Spherical Shock Waves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huber, Paul W.; McFarland, Donald R.

1959-01-01

Measurements of peak overpressure and Mach stem height were made at four burst heights. Data were obtained with instrumentation capable of directly observing the variation of shock wave movement with time. Good similarity of free air shock peak overpressure with larger scale data was found to exist. The net effect of surface roughness on shock peak overpressures slightly. Surface roughness delayed the Mach stem formation at the greatest charge height and lowered the growth at all burst heights. A similarity parameter was found which approximately correlates the triple point path at different burst heights.

Group characteristics of children with cerebral and spinal cord tumours.

PubMed

Stewart, A M; Lennox, E L; Sanders, B M

1973-12-01

A study of 2072 children who developed cerebral or spinal cord tumours of varying degrees of malignancy before 15 years of age has shown that there is equally good representation of fatal and non-fatal cases in official registrations. Attack rates are higher for boys than girls and the prognosis is better for girls than boys. The risk of an early death is negatively correlated with age at diagnosis, and the risk of a late death shows the opposite relationship. These observations and a relatively high incidence of hindbrain tumours are suggestive of an embryonic origin for most of the cases.

The Lattice and Thermal Radiation Conductivity of Thermal Barrier Coatings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhu, Dongming; Spuckler, Charles M.

2008-01-01

The lattice and radiation conductivity of thermal barrier coatings was evaluated using a laser heat flux approach. A diffusion model has been established to correlate the apparent thermal conductivity of the coating to the lattice and radiation conductivity. The radiation conductivity component can be expressed as a function of temperature and the scattering and absorption properties of the coating material. High temperature scattering and absorption of the coating systems can also be derived based on the testing results using the modeling approach. The model prediction is found to have good agreement with experimental observations.

Innovative monitoring of 3D warp interlock fabric during forming process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dufour, C.; Jerkovic, I.; Wang, P.; Boussu, F.; Koncar, V.; Soulat, D.; Grancaric, A. M.; Pineau, P.

2017-10-01

The final geometry of 3D warp interlock fabric needs to be check during the 3D forming step to ensure the right locations of warp and weft yarns inside the final structure. Thus, a new monitoring approach has been proposed based on sensor yarns located in the fabric thickness. To ensure the accuracy of measurements, the observation of the surface deformation of the 3D warp interlock fabric has been joined to the sensor yarns measurements. At the end, it has been revealed a good correlation between strain measurement done globally by camera and locally performed by sensor yarns.

Mixed hydroblast and missile injury with abdominal eventeration: case report

PubMed Central

Marks, Wojciech; Białko, Marek; Stasiak, Mariusz; Deja, Włodzimierz; Penkowski, Michał; Golabek-Dropiewska, Katarzyna; Lasek, Jerzy

2009-01-01

Gunshot injuries are quite common nowadays. Increasing numbers of high-pressure injection injuries are also being observed with a good correlation with industrial progress. High-pressure devices produce pressures and velocities of fluid streams similar to those generated in firearms. However, no missile plays a part in high-pressure injection injuries. We present the unusual case of mixed missile and hydroblast injury, which has not yet been reported. Physical characteristics, typical patterns of injury and the possibility of infectious complications are shown. The importance of educating workers about safety precautions is emphasised. PMID:21686888

Direct Observation of Azimuthal Correlations between DNA in Hydrated Aggregates

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

Kornyshev, Alexei A.; Lee, Dominic J.; Wynveen, Aaron

2005-09-30

This study revisits the classical x-ray diffraction patterns from hydrated, noncrystalline fibers originally used to establish the helical structure of DNA. We argue that changes in these diffraction patterns with DNA packing density reveal strong azimuthally dependent interactions between adjacent molecules up to {approx}40 A interaxial or {approx}20 A surface-to-surface separations. These interactions appear to force significant torsional 'straightening' of DNA and strong azimuthal alignment of nearest neighbor molecules. The results are in good agreement with the predictions of recent theoretical models relating DNA-DNA interactions to the helical symmetry of their surface charge patterns.

A study comparison of two system model performance in estimated lifted index over Indonesia.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

lestari, Juliana tri; Wandala, Agie

2018-05-01

Lifted index (LI) is one of atmospheric stability indices that used for thunderstorm forecasting. Numerical weather Prediction Models are essential for accurate weather forecast these day. This study has completed the attempt to compare the two NWP models these are Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) model and Global Forecasting System (GFS) model in estimates LI at 20 locations over Indonesia and verified the result with observation. Taylor diagram was used to comparing the models skill with shown the value of standard deviation, coefficient correlation and Root mean square error (RMSE). This study using the dataset on 00.00 UTC and 12.00 UTC during mid-March to Mid-April 2017. From the sample of LI distributions, both models have a tendency to overestimated LI value in almost all region in Indonesia while the WRF models has the better ability to catch the LI pattern distribution with observation than GFS model has. The verification result shows how both WRF and GFS model have such a weak relationship with observation except Eltari meteorologi station that its coefficient correlation reach almost 0.6 with the low RMSE value. Mean while WRF model have a better performance than GFS model. This study suggest that estimated LI of WRF model can provide the good performance for Thunderstorm forecasting over Indonesia in the future. However unsufficient relation between output models and observation in the certain location need a further investigation.

Development and evaluation of the "BRISK Scale," a brief observational measure of risk communication competence.

PubMed

Han, Paul K J; Joekes, Katherine; Mills, Greg; Gutheil, Caitlin; Smith, Kahsi; Cochran, Nancy E; Elwyn, Glyn

2016-12-01

To develop and evaluate a brief observational measure of clinical risk communication competence. A 4-item checklist-type measure, the BRISK (Brief Risk Information Skill) Scale, was developed by selecting and refining items from a more comprehensive measure of clinical risk communication competence. Six volunteer raters received brief training on the measure and then used the BRISK Scale to evaluate 52 video-recorded encounters between 2nd-year medical students and standardized patients conducted as part of an Observed Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) involving a risk communication task. Internal consistency reliability, inter-rater reliability, and criterion validity were assessed. Raters reported no difficulties using the BRISK Scale; scores across all raters and subjects ranged from 0 to 16 with a mean score of 6.49 (SD=3.17). The BRISK Scale showed good internal consistency reliability (α=0.64), and inter-rater reliability at the scale level (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC)=0.79 for consistency, and 0.75 for absolute agreement) and individual-item level (ICC range: 0.62-.91). Novice raters' BRISK Scale scores were highly correlated (r=0.84, p<0.01) with expert raters' scores on the Risk Communication Content measure, a more comprehensive measure of risk communication competence. The BRISK Scale is a promising new brief observational measure of clinical risk communication competence. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Validity and Reliability of Wii Fit Balance Board for the Assessment of Balance of Healthy Young Adults and the Elderly

PubMed Central

Chang, Wen-Dien; Chang, Wan-Yi; Lee, Chia-Lun; Feng, Chi-Yen

2013-01-01

[Purpose] Balance is an integral part of human ability. The smart balance master system (SBM) is a balance test instrument with good reliability and validity, but it is expensive. Therefore, we modified a Wii Fit balance board, which is a convenient balance assessment tool, and analyzed its reliability and validity. [Subjects and Methods] We recruited 20 healthy young adults and 20 elderly people, and administered 3 balance tests. The correlation coefficient and intraclass correlation of both instruments were analyzed. [Results] There were no statistically significant differences in the 3 tests between the Wii Fit balance board and the SBM. The Wii Fit balance board had a good intraclass correlation (0.86–0.99) for the elderly people and positive correlations (r = 0.58–0.86) with the SBM. [Conclusions] The Wii Fit balance board is a balance assessment tool with good reliability and high validity for elderly people, and we recommend it as an alternative tool for assessing balance ability. PMID:24259769

Environmental Flow for Sungai Johor Estuary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adilah, A. Kadir; Zulkifli, Yusop; Zainura, Z. Noor; Bakhiah, Baharim N.

2018-03-01

Sungai Johor estuary is a vital water body in the south of Johor and greatly affects the water quality in the Johor Straits. In the development of the hydrodynamic and water quality models for Sungai Johor estuary, the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC) model was selected. In this application, the EFDC hydrodynamic model was configured to simulate time varying surface elevation, velocity, salinity, and water temperature. The EFDC water quality model was configured to simulate dissolved oxygen (DO), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N), phosphate (PO4), and Chlorophyll a. The hydrodynamic and water quality model calibration was performed utilizing a set of site specific data acquired in January 2008. The simulated water temperature, salinity and DO showed good and fairly good agreement with observations. The calculated correlation coefficients between computed and observed temperature and salinity were lower compared with the water level. Sensitivity analysis was performed on hydrodynamic and water quality models input parameters to quantify their impact on modeling results such as water surface elevation, salinity and dissolved oxygen concentration. It is anticipated and recommended that the development of this model be continued to synthesize additional field data into the modeling process.

Validation of Shoulder Response of Human Body Finite-Element Model (GHBMC) Under Whole Body Lateral Impact Condition.

PubMed

Park, Gwansik; Kim, Taewung; Panzer, Matthew B; Crandall, Jeff R

2016-08-01

In previous shoulder impact studies, the 50th-percentile male GHBMC human body finite-element model was shown to have good biofidelity regarding impact force, but under-predicted shoulder deflection by 80% compared to those observed in the experiment. The goal of this study was to validate the response of the GHBMC M50 model by focusing on three-dimensional shoulder kinematics under a whole-body lateral impact condition. Five modifications, focused on material properties and modeling techniques, were introduced into the model and a supplementary sensitivity analysis was done to determine the influence of each modification to the biomechanical response of the body. The modified model predicted substantially improved shoulder response and peak shoulder deflection within 10% of the observed experimental data, and showed good correlation in the scapula kinematics on sagittal and transverse planes. The improvement in the biofidelity of the shoulder region was mainly due to the modifications of material properties of muscle, the acromioclavicular joint, and the attachment region between the pectoralis major and ribs. Predictions of rib fracture and chest deflection were also improved because of these modifications.

Press-Printed Conductive Carbon Black Nanoparticle Films for Molecular Detection at the Microscale.

PubMed

Della Pelle, Flavio; Vázquez, Luis; Del Carlo, Michele; Sergi, Manuel; Compagnone, Dario; Escarpa, Alberto

2016-08-26

Carbon black nanoparticle (CBNP) press-transferred film-based transducers for the molecular detection at the microscale level were proposed for the first time. Current-sensing atomic force microscopy (CS-AFM) revealed that the CBNP films were effectively press-transferred, retaining their good conductivity. A significant correlation between the morphology and the resistance was observed. The highest resistance was localized at the top of the press-transferred film protrusions, whereas low values are usually obtained at the deep crevices or grooves. The amount of press-transferred CBNPs is the key parameter to obtain films with improved conductivity, which is in good agreement with the electrochemical response. In addition, the conductivity of such optimum films was not only Ohmic; in fact, tunneling/hopping contributions were observed, as assessed by CS-AFM. The CBNP films acted as exclusive electrochemical transducers as evidenced by using two classes of molecules, that is, neurotransmitters and environmental organic contaminants. These results revealed the potential of these CBNP press-transferred films for providing new options in microfluidics and other related micro- and nanochemistry applications. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Assessment of the vision-specific quality of life using clustered visual field in glaucoma patients.

PubMed

Sawada, Hideko; Yoshino, Takaiko; Fukuchi, Takeo; Abe, Haruki

2014-02-01

To investigate the significance of vision-specific quality of life (QOL) in glaucoma patients based on the location of visual field defects. We examined 336 eyes of 168 patients. The 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire was used to evaluate patients' QOL. Visual field testing was performed using the Humphrey Field Analyzer; the visual field was divided into 10 clusters. We defined the eye with better mean deviation as the better eye and the fellow eye as the worse eye. A single linear regression analysis was applied to assess the significance of the relationship between QOL and the clustered visual field. The strongest correlation was observed in the lower paracentral visual field in the better eye. The lower peripheral visual field in the better eye also showed a good correlation. Correlation coefficients in the better eye were generally higher than those in the worse eye. For driving, the upper temporal visual field in the better eye was the most strongly correlated (r=0.509). For role limitation and peripheral vision, the lower peripheral visual field in the better eye had the highest correlation coefficients at 0.459 and 0.425, respectively. Overall, clusters in the lower hemifield in the better eye were more strongly correlated with QOL than those in the worse eye. In particular, the lower paracentral visual field in the better eye was correlated most strongly of all. Driving, however, strongly correlated with the upper hemifield in the better eye.

Moving towards Hyper-Resolution Hydrologic Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rouf, T.; Maggioni, V.; Houser, P.; Mei, Y.

2017-12-01

Developing a predictive capability for terrestrial hydrology across landscapes, with water, energy and nutrients as the drivers of these dynamic systems, faces the challenge of scaling meter-scale process understanding to practical modeling scales. Hyper-resolution land surface modeling can provide a framework for addressing science questions that we are not able to answer with coarse modeling scales. In this study, we develop a hyper-resolution forcing dataset from coarser resolution products using a physically based downscaling approach. These downscaling techniques rely on correlations with landscape variables, such as topography, roughness, and land cover. A proof-of-concept has been implemented over the Oklahoma domain, where high-resolution observations are available for validation purposes. Hourly NLDAS (North America Land Data Assimilation System) forcing data (i.e., near-surface air temperature, pressure, and humidity) have been downscaled to 500m resolution over the study area for 2015-present. Results show that correlation coefficients between the downscaled temperature dataset and ground observations are consistently higher than the ones between the NLDAS temperature data at their native resolution and ground observations. Not only correlation coefficients are higher, but also the deviation around the 1:1 line in the density scatterplots is smaller for the downscaled dataset than the original one with respect to the ground observations. Results are therefore encouraging as they demonstrate that the 500m temperature dataset has a good agreement with the ground information and can be adopted to force the land surface model for soil moisture estimation. The study has been expanded to wind speed and direction, incident longwave and shortwave radiation, pressure, and precipitation. Precipitation is well known to vary dramatically with elevation and orography. Therefore, we are pursuing a downscaling technique based on both topographical and vegetation characteristics.

Climatology of mesopause region nocturnal temperature, zonal wind, and sodium density observed by sodium lidar over Hefei, China (32°N, 117°E)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, T.; Ban, C.; Fang, X.; Li, J.; Wu, Z.; Xiong, J.; Feng, W.; Plane, J. M. C.

2017-12-01

The University of Science and Technology of China narrowband sodium temperature/wind lidar, located in Hefei, China (32°N, 117°E), was installed in November 2011 and have made routine nighttime measurements since January 2012. We obtained 154 nights ( 1400 hours) of vertical profiles of temperature, sodium density, and zonal wind, and 83 nights ( 800 hours) of vertical flux of gravity wave (GW) zonal momentum in the mesopause region (80-105 km) during the period of 2012 to 2016. In temperature, it is likely that the diurnal tide dominates below 100 km in spring, while the semidiurnal tide dominates above 100 km throughout the year. A clear semiannual variation in temperature is revealed near 90 km, likely related to the tropical mesospheric semiannual oscillation (MSAO). The variability of sodium density is positively correlated with temperature, suggesting that in addition to dynamics, the chemistry may also play an important role in the formation of sodium atoms. The observed sodium peak density is 1000 cm-3 higher than that simulated by the model. In zonal wind, the diurnal tide dominates in both spring and fall, while semidiurnal tide dominates in winter. The observed semiannual variation in zonal wind near 90 km is out-of-phase with that in temperature, consistent with tropical MSAO. The GW zonal momentum flux is mostly westward in fall and winter, anti-correlated with eastward zonal wind. The annual mean flux averaged over 87-97 km is -0.3 m2/s2 (westward), anti-correlated with eastward zonal wind of 10 m/s. The comparisons of lidar results with those observed by satellite, nearby radar, and simulated by model show generally good agreements.

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: modelling the clustering and halo occupation distribution of BOSS CMASS galaxies in the Final Data Release

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodríguez-Torres, Sergio A.; Chuang, Chia-Hsun; Prada, Francisco; Guo, Hong; Klypin, Anatoly; Behroozi, Peter; Hahn, Chang Hoon; Comparat, Johan; Yepes, Gustavo; Montero-Dorta, Antonio D.; Brownstein, Joel R.; Maraston, Claudia; McBride, Cameron K.; Tinker, Jeremy; Gottlöber, Stefan; Favole, Ginevra; Shu, Yiping; Kitaura, Francisco-Shu; Bolton, Adam; Scoccimarro, Román; Samushia, Lado; Schlegel, David; Schneider, Donald P.; Thomas, Daniel

2016-08-01

We present a study of the clustering and halo occupation distribution of Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) CMASS galaxies in the redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.7 drawn from the Final SDSS-III Data Release. We compare the BOSS results with the predictions of a halo abundance matching (HAM) clustering model that assigns galaxies to dark matter haloes selected from the large BigMultiDark N-body simulation of a flat Λ cold dark matter Planck cosmology. We compare the observational data with the simulated ones on a light cone constructed from 20 subsequent outputs of the simulation. Observational effects such as incompleteness, geometry, veto masks and fibre collisions are included in the model, which reproduces within 1σ errors the observed monopole of the two-point correlation function at all relevant scales: from the smallest scales, 0.5 h-1 Mpc, up to scales beyond the baryon acoustic oscillation feature. This model also agrees remarkably well with the BOSS galaxy power spectrum (up to k ˜ 1 h Mpc-1), and the three-point correlation function. The quadrupole of the correlation function presents some tensions with observations. We discuss possible causes that can explain this disagreement, including target selection effects. Overall, the standard HAM model describes remarkably well the clustering statistics of the CMASS sample. We compare the stellar-to-halo mass relation for the CMASS sample measured using weak lensing in the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Stripe 82 Survey with the prediction of our clustering model, and find a good agreement within 1σ. The BigMD-BOSS light cone including properties of BOSS galaxies and halo properties is made publicly available.

An Investigation into the Prediction of in Vivo Clearance for a Range of Flavin-containing Monooxygenase Substrates.

PubMed

Jones, Barry C; Srivastava, Abhishek; Colclough, Nicola; Wilson, Joanne; Reddy, Venkatesh Pilla; Amberntsson, Sara; Li, Danxi

2017-10-01

Flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMO) are metabolic enzymes mediating the oxygenation of nucleophilic atoms such as nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and selenium. These enzymes share similar properties to the cytochrome P450 system but can be differentiated through heat inactivation and selective substrate inhibition by methimazole. This study investigated 10 compounds with varying degrees of FMO involvement to determine the nature of the correlation between human in vitro and in vivo unbound intrinsic clearance. To confirm and quantify the extent of FMO involvement six of the compounds were investigated in human liver microsomal (HLM) in vitro assays using heat inactivation and methimazole substrate inhibition. Under these conditions FMO contribution varied from 21% (imipramine) to 96% (itopride). Human hepatocyte and HLM intrinsic clearance (CL int ) data were scaled using standard methods to determine the predicted unbound intrinsic clearance (predicted CL int u ) for each compound. This was compared with observed unbound intrinsic clearance (observed CL int u ) values back calculated from human pharmacokinetic studies. A good correlation was observed between the predicted and observed CL int u using hepatocytes ( R 2 = 0.69), with 8 of the 10 compounds investigated within or close to a factor of 2. For HLM the in vitro-in vivo correlation was maintained ( R 2 = 0.84) but the accuracy was reduced with only 3 out of 10 compounds falling within, or close to, twofold. This study demonstrates that human hepatocytes and HLM can be used with standard scaling approaches to predict the human in vivo clearance for FMO substrates. Copyright © 2017 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Continuation of long-term global SO2 pollution monitoring from OMI to OMPS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yan; Li, Can; Krotkov, Nickolay A.; Joiner, Joanna; Fioletov, Vitali; McLinden, Chris

2017-04-01

Over the past 20 years, advances in satellite remote sensing of pollution-relevant species have made space-borne observations an increasingly important part of atmospheric chemistry research and air quality management. This progress has been facilitated by advanced UV-vis spectrometers, such as the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on board the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura satellite, and continues with new instruments, such as the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) on board the NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite. In this study, we demonstrate that it is possible, using our state-of-the-art principal component analysis (PCA) retrieval technique, to continue the long-term global SO2 pollution monitoring started by OMI with the current and future OMPS instruments that will fly on the NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) 1, 2, 3, and 4 satellites in addition to SNPP, with a very good consistency of retrievals from these instruments. Since OMI SO2 data have been primarily used for (1) providing regional context on air pollution and long-range transport on a daily basis and (2) providing information on point emission sources on an annual basis after data averaging, we focused on these two aspects in our OMI-OMPS comparisons. Four years of retrievals (2012-2015) have been compared for three regions: eastern China, Mexico, and South Africa. In general, the comparisons show relatively high correlations (r = 0. 79-0.96) of daily regional averaged SO2 mass between the two instruments and near-unity regression slopes (0.76-0.97). The annual averaged SO2 loading differences between OMI and OMPS are small (< 0.03 Dobson unit (DU) over South Africa and up to 0.1 DU over eastern China). We also found a very good correlation (r = 0. 92-0.97) in the spatial distribution of annual averaged SO2 between OMI and OMPS over the three regions during 2012-2015. The emissions from ˜ 400 SO2 sources calculated with the two instruments also show a very good correlation (r = ˜ 0.9) in each year during 2012-2015. OMPS-detected SO2 point source emissions are slightly lower than those from OMI, but OMI-OMPS differences decrease with increasing strength of source. The OMI-OMPS SO2 mass differences on a pixel by pixel (daily) basis in each region can show substantial differences. The two instruments have a spatial correlation coefficient of 0.7 or better on < ˜ 50 % of the days. It is worth noting that consistent SO2 retrievals were achieved without any explicit adjustments to OMI or OMPS radiance data and that the retrieval agreement may be further improved by introducing a more comprehensive Jacobian lookup table than is currently used.

Esthetic evaluation of maxillary single-tooth implants in the esthetic zone

PubMed Central

Cho, Hae-Lyung; Lee, Jae-Kwan; Um, Heung-Sik

2010-01-01

Purpose The aim of this study is to assess the influence exerted by the observer's dental specialization and compare patients' opinion with observers' opinion of the esthetics of maxillary single-tooth implants in the esthetic zone. Methods Forty-one adult patients, who were treated with a single implant in the esthetic zone, were enrolled in this study. Eight observers (2 periodontists, 2 prosthodontists, 2 orthodontists and 2 senior dental students) applied the pink esthetic score (PES)/white esthetic score (WES) to 41 implant-supported single restorations twice with an interval of 4 weeks. We used a visual analog scale (VAS) to assess the patient's satisfaction with the treatment outcome from an esthetic point of view. Results In the PES/WES, very good and moderate intraobserver agreements were noted between the first and second rating. The mean total PES/WES was 11.19 ± 3.59. The mean PES was 5.17 ± 2.29 and mean WES was 6.02 ± 1.96. In the total PES/WES, the difference between the groups was not significant. However, in the WES, the difference between the groups was significant and prosthodontists were found to have assigned poorer ratings than the other groups. Periodontists gave higher ratings than prosthodontists and senior dental students. Orthodontists were clearly more critical than the other observers. The statistical analysis revealed statistically significant correlation between patients' esthetic perception and dentists' perception of the anterior tooth. However, the correlation between the total PES/WES and the VAS score for the first premolar was not statistically significant. Conclusions The PES/WES is an objective tool in rating the esthetics of implant supported single crowns and adjacent soft tissues. Orthodontists were the most critical observers, while periodontists were more generous than other observers. The statistical analysis revealed a statistically significant correlation between patients' esthetic perception and dentists' perception of the anterior tooth. PMID:20827328

The physical relation between disc and coronal emission in quasars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lusso, Elisabeta; Risaliti, Guido

2017-12-01

We propose a modified version of the observed non-linear relation between the X-ray (2 keV) and the ultraviolet (2500 Å) emission in quasars (i.e. LX ∝ LUV^γ ) which involves the full width at half-maximum, FWHM, of the broad emission line, i.e. LX ∝ L_UV^γ FWHM^β. By analysing a sample of 550 optically selected non-jetted quasars in the redshift range of 0.36–2.23 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey cross matched with the XMM-Newton catalogue 3XMM-DR6, we found that the additional dependence of the observed LX ‑ LUV correlation on the FWHM of the MgII broad emission line is statistically significant. Our statistical analysis leads to a much tighter relation with respect to the one neglecting FWHM, and it does not evolve with redshift. We interpret this new relation within an accretion disc corona scenario where reconnection and magnetic loops above the accretion disc can account for the production of the primary X-ray radiation. For a broad line region size depending on the disc luminosity as R_blr ∝ L^0.5 , we find that L_X ∝ L_UV^4/7 FWHM^4/7, which is in very good agreement with the observed correlation.

A study on the coagulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon clusters to determine their collision efficiency

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

Raj, Abhijeet; Sander, Markus; Janardhanan, Vinod

2010-03-15

This paper presents a theoretical study on the physical interaction between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their clusters of different sizes in laminar premixed flames. Two models are employed for this study: a detailed PAH growth model, referred to as the kinetic Monte Carlo - aromatic site (KMC-ARS) model [Raj et al., Combust. Flame 156 (2009) 896-913]; and a multivariate PAH population balance model, referred to as the PAH - primary particle (PAH-PP) model. Both the models are solved by kinetic Monte Carlo methods. PAH mass spectra are generated using the PAH-PP model, and compared to the experimentally observed spectramore » for a laminar premixed ethylene flame. The position of the maxima of PAH dimers in the spectra and their concentrations are found to depend strongly on the collision efficiency of PAH coagulation. The variation in the collision efficiency with various flame and PAH parameters is studied to determine the factors on which it may depend. A correlation for the collision efficiency is proposed by comparing the computed and the observed spectra for an ethylene flame. With this correlation, a good agreement between the computed and the observed spectra for a number of laminar premixed ethylene flames is found. (author)« less

Prompt optical emission from gamma-ray bursts with multiple timescale variability of central engine activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Si-Yao; Li, Zhuo

2014-04-01

Complete high-resolution light curves of GRB 080319B observed by Swift present an opportunity for detailed temporal analysis of prompt optical emission. With a two-component distribution of initial Lorentz factors, we simulate the dynamical process of shells being ejected from the central engine in the framework of the internal shock model. The emitted radiations are decomposed into different frequency ranges for a temporal correlation analysis between the light curves in different energy bands. The resulting prompt optical and gamma-ray emissions show similar temporal profiles, with both showing a superposition of a component with slow variability and a component with fast variability, except that the gamma-ray light curve is much more variable than its optical counterpart. The variability in the simulated light curves and the strong correlation with a time lag between the optical and gamma-ray emissions are in good agreement with observations of GRB 080319B. Our simulations suggest that the variations seen in the light curves stem from the temporal structure of the shells injected from the central engine of gamma-ray bursts. Future observations with high temporal resolution of prompt optical emission from GRBs, e.g., by UFFO-Pathfinder and SVOM-GWAC, will provide a useful tool for investigating the central engine activity.

The solar wind neon abundance observed with ACE/SWICS and ULYSSES/SWICS

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

Shearer, Paul; Raines, Jim M.; Lepri, Susan T.

Using in situ ion spectrometry data from ACE/SWICS, we determine the solar wind Ne/O elemental abundance ratio and examine its dependence on wind speed and evolution with the solar cycle. We find that Ne/O is inversely correlated with wind speed, is nearly constant in the fast wind, and correlates strongly with solar activity in the slow wind. In fast wind streams with speeds above 600 km s{sup –1}, we find Ne/O = 0.10 ± 0.02, in good agreement with the extensive polar observations by Ulysses/SWICS. In slow wind streams with speeds below 400 km s{sup –1}, Ne/O ranges from amore » low of 0.12 ± 0.02 at solar maximum to a high of 0.17 ± 0.03 at solar minimum. These measurements place new and significant empirical constraints on the fractionation mechanisms governing solar wind composition and have implications for the coronal and photospheric abundances of neon and oxygen. The results are made possible by a new data analysis method that robustly identifies rare elements in the measured ion spectra. The method is also applied to Ulysses/SWICS data, which confirms the ACE observations and extends our view of solar wind neon into the three-dimensional heliosphere.« less

Spatially Resolved Sensitivity of Single-Particle Plasmon Sensors

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

The high sensitivity of localized surface plasmon resonance sensors to the local refractive index allows for the detection of single-molecule binding events. Though binding events of single objects can be detected by their induced plasmon shift, the broad distribution of observed shifts remains poorly understood. Here, we perform a single-particle study wherein single nanospheres bind to a gold nanorod, and relate the observed plasmon shift to the binding location using correlative microscopy. To achieve this we combine atomic force microscopy to determine the binding location, and single-particle spectroscopy to determine the corresponding plasmon shift. As expected, we find a larger plasmon shift for nanospheres binding at the tip of a rod compared to its sides, in good agreement with numerical calculations. However, we also find a broad distribution of shifts even for spheres that were bound at a similar location to the nanorod. Our correlative approach allows us to disentangle effects of nanoparticle dimensions and binding location, and by comparison to numerical calculations we find that the biggest contributor to this observed spread is the dispersion in nanosphere diameter. These experiments provide insight into the spatial sensitivity and signal-heterogeneity of single-particle plasmon sensors and provides a framework for signal interpretation in sensing applications. PMID:29520315

Aeroacoustic measurements on a NACA 0012 applying the Coherent Particle Velocity method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plogmann, B.; Würz, W.

2013-07-01

Aeroacoustic measurements on two NACA 0012 airfoil sections with different chord length and sharp trailing edge were conducted at the Laminar Wind Tunnel (LWT) of the University of Stuttgart. The LWT is a closed test section wind tunnel with a very low turbulence level and an acoustically optimized diffusor section allowing for high-quality aerodynamic as well as aeroacoustic measurements. Trailing edge noise measurements were performed using the Coherent Particle Velocity (CPV) method, which is based on a cross-spectral analysis of two hot-wire sensor signals placed on the suction and the pressure side of the airfoil trailing edge, respectively. At high angles of attack, the cross-spectral analysis of the two sensor signals used for the measurement of the trailing edge noise can be prone to a disturbing influence of hydrodynamic fluctuations. Hence, continuous shifts in the phasing of the cross-correlation are observed mainly for low sensor distances to the trailing edge. The quantitative evaluation of the trailing edge noise predominately in the low frequency range is, therefore, considerably disturbed. A new approach is proposed, which allows for the correction of the cross-correlation function based on the averaged single wire auto-spectrum. The results are compared to measurements with increased sensor distance and show good agreement. In the following, trailing edge noise measurements were performed on a NACA 0012 airfoil in a wide range of angles of attack ( α = 0°-8°) and free-stream velocities (u_{infty} = 30{-}70 {{m/s}}). The tripped flow cases exhibit a very good consistency for the scaling of the 1/3 octave spectra based on outer variables. Moreover, a common intersection point of the sound pressure level was observed for trailing edge noise spectra measured at constant free-stream velocity and different angles of attack. In cases without boundary layer tripping, the presence of an acoustic feedback loop was observed and linked to the presence of a laminar separation bubble on the pressure side in the vicinity of the trailing edge. Finally, a comparison of the aeroacoustic measurements based on the CPV method showed reasonably good agreement with published data obtained with both a microphone array and the Coherent Output Power method in open-test section facilities.

Assessment of CF lung disease using motion corrected PROPELLER MRI: a comparison with CT.

PubMed

Ciet, Pierluigi; Serra, Goffredo; Bertolo, Silvia; Spronk, Sandra; Ros, Mirco; Fraioli, Francesco; Quattrucci, Serena; Assael, M Baroukh; Catalano, Carlo; Pomerri, Fabio; Tiddens, Harm A W M; Morana, Giovanni

2016-03-01

To date, PROPELLER MRI, a breathing-motion-insensitive technique, has not been assessed for cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease. We compared this technique to CT for assessing CF lung disease in children and adults. Thirty-eight stable CF patients (median 21 years, range 6-51 years, 22 female) underwent MRI and CT on the same day. Study protocol included respiratory-triggered PROPELLER MRI and volumetric CT end-inspiratory and -expiratory acquisitions. Two observers scored the images using the CF-MRI and CF-CT systems. Scores were compared with intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman plots. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI versus CT were calculated. MRI sensitivity for detecting severe CF bronchiectasis was 0.33 (CI 0.09-0.57), while specificity was 100% (CI 0.88-1). ICCs for bronchiectasis and trapped air were as follows: MRI-bronchiectasis (0.79); CT-bronchiectasis (0.85); MRI-trapped air (0.51); CT-trapped air (0.87). Bland-Altman plots showed an MRI tendency to overestimate the severity of bronchiectasis in mild CF disease and underestimate bronchiectasis in severe disease. Motion correction in PROPELLER MRI does not improve assessment of CF lung disease compared to CT. However, the good inter- and intra-observer agreement and the high specificity suggest that MRI might play a role in the short-term follow-up of CF lung disease (i.e. pulmonary exacerbations). PROPELLER MRI does not match CT sensitivity to assess CF lung disease. PROPELLER MRI has lower sensitivity than CT to detect severe bronchiectasis. PROPELLER MRI has good to very good intra- and inter-observer variability. PROPELLER MRI can be used for short-term follow-up studies in CF.

Blood glucose control and quality of health care in non-insulin-treated patients with Type 2 diabetes in Spain: a retrospective and cross-sectional observational study

PubMed Central

Rodríguez, A; Calle, A; Vázquez, L; Chacón, F; Polavieja, P; Reviriego, J

2011-01-01

Aims To assess blood glucose control and quality of health care provided to non-insulin-treated patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in routine clinical practice in Spain. Methods In this observational, retrospective, cross-sectional study, patients were grouped as either having good or suboptimal blood glucose control according to International Diabetes Federation or American Diabetes Association HbA1c goals. Clinical and socio-demographic data and compliance with the main standard level of care recommendations of the International Diabetes Federation were recorded during a routine visit. Correlates of glucose control were analysed by logistic regression. Results Many patients were grouped as having suboptimal control under International Diabetes Federation (61.9%) or American Diabetes Association (45.0%) criteria. The mean number of accomplished International Diabetes Federation recommendations (7.3 out of 11) was higher for endocrinologists (than for internists or primary care physicians), and significantly more patients under their care were in the good glucose control group (than with primary care physicians). More recommendations were associated with blood glucose control using International Diabetes Federation than American Diabetes Association criteria, demanding higher quality of health care for achieving stricter goals. Some recommendations were poorly observed, particularly those concerning patients’ education on diabetes, the prompt prescription of effective treatments and monitoring of complications. Diabetes complications were associated with being in the suboptimal control group. Patients’ education on diabetes and HbA1c monitoring were associated with being in the good control group. Conclusions These results demonstrate the need for improvement in the management of patients with non-insulin-treated Type 2 diabetes in actual clinical practice in Spain. Such improvement would entail a stricter adherence to International Diabetes Federation recommendations. PMID:21294772

Digestibility, palatability and emotional status after ingestion of an iced dessert: analysis of subjective responses in 100 healthy volunteers.

PubMed

Garzaro, M; Raimondo, L; Pecorari, G; Sensini, M; Riva, G; Palmo, A; Giordano, C

2011-01-01

Food choices are influenced by many factors, perhaps the most important being availability. However, the desire to consume one item over another may be viewed as an outcome of sensory hedonic likes, situation and current internal state. In a previous preliminary report, an improvement of joy and mood, associated with good data of digestibility and palatability, was observed in a group of 30 healthy female subjects who consumed a coffee-flavoured iced dessert immediately after a standardized meal. The aim of this study is to confirm the results previously obtained in a smaller population and to investigate whether any differences between male and female subjects could be observed concerning the digestive process and emotional status. One hundred volunteers, after ENT and psychological assessment, were asked to fill out a Psycho-Emotional Questionnaire to assess their basal emotional pattern before the consumption of an iced coffee-flavoured dessert after a standard meal. After the meal they completed an Organoleptic-Sensory questionnaire, a Dynamic Digestibility questionnaire and again the Psycho-Emotional Questionnaire. In our study, most of the 100 subjects found the tested coffee-flavoured iced dessert pleasant according to the Organoleptic-Sensorial Questionnaire (OSQ), in terms of taste, aspect, texture and smell; moreover, the Dynamic Digestibility Questionnaire (DDQ) showed a good digestive experience in 71 subjects. According to the Psycho-Emotional Questionnaire (PEQ), an improvement of joy, activation and mood, associated with good data of digestibility and palatability was recorded. All these observations are statistically significant and the results seem to show a positive correlation between pleasure in eating such a product and emotional status. No statistically significant differences were recorded between male and female subjects.

Economic and Educational Correlates of TIMSS Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mikk, Jaan

2005-01-01

The good knowledge of the correlates of educational achievement highlights the ways to the efficient use of economic and human capital in raising the efficiency of education. The present paper investigates the correlates and compares the values of the correlates for the Republic of Lithuania with the average international values. The data for the…

What Is Strong Correlation?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kozak, Marcin

2009-01-01

Interpretation of correlation is often based on rules of thumb in which some boundary values are given to help decide whether correlation is non-important, weak, strong or very strong. This article shows that such rules of thumb may do more harm than good, and instead of supporting interpretation of correlation--which is their aim--they teach a…

A study of frontal dynamics with application to the Australian summertime 'cool change'

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reeder, Michael J.; Smith, Roger K.

1987-01-01

The dynamics of frontal evolution is examined in terms of the Australian summertime cool change using a two-dimensional numerical model. The model is synthesized from observational data on surface cold fronts obtained during the Australian Cold Fronts Research Program, and the model develops a quasi-steady surface cold front during the 24 hours of integration. The characteristics of this model are compared with those of a kinematic model; it is observed that the features of the two models correspond. The two-dimensional and kinematic models are also compared with a 24-hour prediction of the cold front of February 1983 using the three-dimensional nested-grid model of the Australian Numerical Meteorology Research Center, developed by Gauntlett et al. (1984). Good correlation between these models is detected.

Application of ERTS-1 imagery to fracture related mine safety hazards in the coal mining industry. [Indiana

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wier, C. E.; Wobber, F. J. (Principal Investigator); Russell, O. R.; Amato, R. V.; Leshendok, T. V.

1974-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. New fracture detail of Indiana has been observed and mapped from ERTS-1 imagery. Studies so far indicate a close relationship between the directions of fracture traces mapped from the imagery, fractures measured on bedrock outcrops, and fractures measured in the underground mines. First hand observations and discussions with underground mine operators indicate good correlation of mine hazard maps prepared from ERTS-1/aircraft imagery and actual roof falls. The inventory of refuse piles/slurry ponds of the coal field of Indiana has identified over 225 such sites from past mining operations. These data will serve the State Legislature in making tax decisions on coal mining which take on increased importance because of the energy crisis.

Magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect in Pt doped Ni-Mn-Ga

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Sanjay; D'Souza, S. W.; Mukherjee, K.; Kushwaha, P.; Barman, S. R.; Agarwal, Sandeep; Mukhopadhyay, P. K.; Chakrabarti, Aparna; Sampathkumaran, E. V.

2014-06-01

Large magnetocaloric effect is observed in Ni1.8Pt0.2MnGa close to room temperature. The entropy change shows a crossover from positive to negative sign at the martensite transition. It is negative above 1.6 T and its magnitude increases linearly with magnetic field. An increase in the saturation magnetic moment is observed with Pt doping in Ni2MnGa. Ab initio theoretical calculations show that the increase in magnetic moment with Pt doping in Ni2MnGa is associated with increase in the Mn and Pt local moments in the ferromagnetic ground state. The Curie temperature calculated from the exchange interaction parameters is in good agreement with experiment, showing the absence of any antiferromagnetic correlation due to Pt doping.

Comparative evaluation between cervical vertebral morphology and hand-wrist morphology for skeletal maturation assessment.

PubMed

Grippaudo, C; Garcovich, D; Volpe, G; Lajolo, C

2006-05-01

The aim of the study was to find a correlation between the evaluation of skeletal maturation performed by the study of cervical vertebrae maturation indicators and the evaluation obtained by the hand and wrist maturation indicators. Left hand wrist radiographs and the corresponding lateral cephalograms of 90 patients (48 males and 42 females; aged 6 to 14 years) were paired and a study group of 128 pair of radiographs was obtained, having some patients 2 or more radiographs at different times. Hand and wrist radiographs were evaluated according to the protocol proposed by Grave (scores 0 to 9); corresponding lateral cephalograms were evaluated according to the method reported by Baccetti (scores 1 to 5). Values obtained with the 2 methods were analyzed by Spearman's correlation test. When the values were compared globally in the 2 genders a good correlation was obtained (r=0.795; P<0.001); when the correlation was compared separately in the 2 genders a better correlation was observed in females (r=0.84; P<0.001) than in males (r=0.70; P<0.001). The results obtained clearly underline the accuracy of the skeletal maturation evaluation by the analysis of cervical vertebrae in laterolateral cephalograms which can substitute the hand and wrist radiograph for the skeletal maturation evaluation in orthodontic diagnosis.

[Comparative measurement of urine specific gravity: reagent strips, refractometry and hydrometry].

PubMed

Costa, Christian Elías; Bettendorff, Carolina; Bupo, Sol; Ayuso, Sandra; Vallejo, Graciela

2010-06-01

The urine specific gravity is commonly used in clinical practice to measure the renal concentration/dilution ability. Measurement can be performed by three methods: hydrometry, refractometry and reagent strips. To assess the accuracy of different methods to measure urine specific gravity. We analyzed 156 consecutive urine samples of pediatric patients during April and May 2007. Urine specific gravity was measured by hydrometry (UD), refractometry (RE) and reagent strips (TR), simultaneously. Urine osmolarity was considered as the gold standard and was measured by freezing point depression. Correlation between different methods was calculated by simple linear regression. A positive and acceptable correlation was found with osmolarity for the RE as for the UD (r= 0.81 and r= 0.86, respectively). The reagent strips presented low correlation (r= 0.46). Also, we found good correlation between measurements obtained by UD and RE (r= 0.89). Measurements obtained by TR, however, had bad correlation when compared to UD (r= 0.46). Higher values of specific gravity were observed when measured with RE with respect to UD. Reagent strips are not reliable for measuring urine specific gravity and should not be used as an usual test. However, hydrometry and refractometry are acceptable alternatives for measuring urine specific gravity, as long as the same method is used for follow-up.

Spatial patterns and broad-scale weather cues of beech mast seeding in Europe.

PubMed

Vacchiano, Giorgio; Hacket-Pain, Andrew; Turco, Marco; Motta, Renzo; Maringer, Janet; Conedera, Marco; Drobyshev, Igor; Ascoli, Davide

2017-07-01

Mast seeding is a crucial population process in many tree species, but its spatio-temporal patterns and drivers at the continental scale remain unknown . Using a large dataset (8000 masting observations across Europe for years 1950-2014) we analysed the spatial pattern of masting across the entire geographical range of European beech, how it is influenced by precipitation, temperature and drought, and the temporal and spatial stability of masting-weather correlations. Beech masting exhibited a general distance-dependent synchronicity and a pattern structured in three broad geographical groups consistent with continental climate regimes. Spearman's correlations and logistic regression revealed a general pattern of beech masting correlating negatively with temperature in the summer 2 yr before masting, and positively with summer temperature 1 yr before masting (i.e. 2T model). The temperature difference between the two previous summers (DeltaT model) was also a good predictor. Moving correlation analysis applied to the longest eight chronologies (74-114 yr) revealed stable correlations between temperature and masting, confirming consistency in weather cues across space and time. These results confirm widespread dependency of masting on temperature and lend robustness to the attempts to reconstruct and predict mast years using temperature data. © 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust.

Assessment of a solid-phase reagent for urinary specific gravity determination.

PubMed

Chu, S Y; Sparks, D

1984-02-01

We have compared the specific gravity (S.G.) determined by the N-Multistix method with that obtained from the Total Solids (TS) meter. Overall, 88.7% of the specific gravity results obtained with the reagent strip method were within 0.005 of those obtained with the TS meter. There was a good correlation between the methods and there was no bias for the group means obtained by either method. A good correlation was also found between the S.G. on the strip and osmolality (correlation coefficient of 0.955). The results obtained with the reagent strip for urinary specific gravity therefore appear acceptable for routine laboratory purposes.

Evaluation of the Microsemi CRP, an automated hematology analyzer for rapid 3-part WBC differential and CRP using whole blood.

PubMed

Nomura, N; Saito, K; Ikeda, M; Yuasa, S; Pastore, M; Chabert, C; Kono, E; Sakai, A; Tanaka, H; Ikemoto, T; Takubo, T

2015-08-01

We evaluated the basic performance of Microsemi CRP, an unique automated hematology analyzer which can simultaneously measure CBC including 3-part WBC differential (3-Diff) and CRP using whole blood treated with EDTA-2K anticoagulant. We found that it produced generally the acceptable results for all parameters performed (repeatability, reproducibility, linearity, interference effect, carry over, and correlation) using control materials, fresh human whole bloods, and serum samples. CBC data examined using Microsemi CRP showed the good correlation with the previous model, Micros CRP200 (r ≧ 0.9), and also those obtained using the routine analyzer, ADVIA 2120i (r ≧ 0.989). Concerning the 3-Diff, both GRA (%) and LYM (%) showed the excellent correlation coefficient between Microsemi CRP and Micros CRP200 (r ≧ 0.992) as well as ADVIA 2120i (r ≧ 0.957). MON (%) showed good correlation between Microsemi CRP and Micros CRP200 (r = 0.959), but lower correlation between Microsemi CRP and ADVIA 2120 i (r = 0.471). CRP data showed the good correlation with HITACHI7600 (r ≧ 0.997) and Micros CRP200 (r ≧ 0.997). From these findings, we concluded that Microsemi CRP seemed the convenient laboratory analyzer in the setting of point of care testing (POCT) especially at NICU or primary care unit. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Growth response of oaks, beech and pine to Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stojanovic, Dejan; Levanič, Tom; Matović, Bratislav; Orlović, Saša

2017-04-01

Climate change may have various consequences on forests, from more frequent forest fires and windstorms to pest and disease outbreaks. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was chosen for the evaluation of climate change impact to radial forest growth, after comprehensive testing of different climate parameters from CARPATCLIM database. SPI was calculated for periods between 3 and 36 months for different forest stands (lowland and mountainous parts of Serbia, Southeast Europe). Observed were following tree species: Quercus robur, Q. cerris, Fagus sylvatica and Pinus sylvestris. Bootstrapped Pearson's correlation between SPI monthly indices and tree-ring widths was calculated and ranked for all species. We found that 12-month SPI for summer months may be a good predictor for growth of different species at different sites. The strongest positive correlation between tree-ring width indices and SPI was particularly from the year of growth, since the strongest negative correlation for all four species was exclusively from the year prior to growth. The strongest positive correlation were between 12 and 14-month SPI from June to September, which suggests that the high growth rates are expected when autumn of previous-year, winter, spring and summer of the current year are with high precipitation rates.

Interobserver reliability of the 'Welfare Quality(®) Animal Welfare Assessment Protocol for Growing Pigs'.

PubMed

Czycholl, I; Kniese, C; Büttner, K; Beilage, E Grosse; Schrader, L; Krieter, J

2016-01-01

The present paper focuses on evaluating the interobserver reliability of the 'Welfare Quality(®) Animal Welfare Assessment Protocol for Growing Pigs'. The protocol for growing pigs mainly consists of a Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA), direct behaviour observations (BO) carried out by instantaneous scan sampling and checks for different individual parameters (IP), e.g. presence of tail biting, wounds and bursitis. Three trained observers collected the data by performing 29 combined assessments, which were done at the same time and on the same animals; but they were carried out completely independent of each other. The findings were compared by the calculation of Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficients (RS), Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC), Smallest Detectable Changes (SDC) and Limits of Agreements (LoA). There was no agreement found concerning the adjectives belonging to the QBA (e.g. active: RS: 0.50, ICC: 0.30, SDC: 0.38, LoA: -0.05 to 0.45; fearful: RS: 0.06, ICC: 0.0, SDC: 0.26, LoA: -0.20 to 0.30). In contrast, the BO showed good agreement (e.g. social behaviour: RS: 0.45, ICC: 0.50, SDC: 0.09, LoA: -0.09 to 0.03 use of enrichment material: RS: 0.75, ICC: 0.68, SDC: 0.06, LoA: -0.03 to 0.03). Overall, observers agreed well in the IP, e.g. tail biting (RS: 0.52, ICC: 0.88; SDC: 0.05, LoA: -0.01 to 0.02) and wounds (RS: 0.43, ICC: 0.59, SDC: 0.10, LoA: -0.09 to 0.10). The parameter bursitis showed great differences (RS: 0.10, ICC: 0.0, SDC: 0.35, LoA: -0.37 to 0.40), which can be explained by difficulties in the assessment when the animals moved around quickly or their legs were soiled. In conclusion, the interobserver reliability was good in the BO and most IP, but not for the parameter bursitis and the QBA.

Impact assessment of PM10 cement plants emissions on urban air quality using the SCIPUFF dispersion model.

PubMed

Leone, Vincenzo; Cervone, Guido; Iovino, Pasquale

2016-09-01

The Second-order Closure Integrated Puff (SCIPUFF) model was used to study the impact on urban air quality caused by two cement plants emissions located near the city of Caserta, Italy, during the entire year of 2015. The simulated and observed PM10 concentrations were compared using three monitoring stations located in urban and sub-urban area of Caserta city. Both simulated and observed concentrations are shown to be highest in winter, lower in autumn and spring and lowest in summer. Model results generally follow the pattern of the observed concentrations but have a systematic under-prediction of the concentration values. Measures of the bias, NMSE and RMSE indicate a good correlation between observed and estimated values. The SCIPUFF model data analysis suggest that the cement plants are major sources for the measured PM10 values and are responsible for the deterioration of the urban air quality in the city of Caserta.

Nondegenerate parametric oscillations in a tunable superconducting resonator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bengtsson, Andreas; Krantz, Philip; Simoen, Michaël; Svensson, Ida-Maria; Schneider, Ben; Shumeiko, Vitaly; Delsing, Per; Bylander, Jonas

2018-04-01

We investigate nondegenerate parametric oscillations in a superconducting microwave multimode resonator that is terminated by a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). The parametric effect is achieved by modulating magnetic flux through the SQUID at a frequency close to the sum of two resonator-mode frequencies. For modulation amplitudes exceeding an instability threshold, self-sustained oscillations are observed in both modes. The amplitudes of these oscillations show good quantitative agreement with a theoretical model. The oscillation phases are found to be correlated and exhibit strong fluctuations which broaden the oscillation spectral linewidths. These linewidths are significantly reduced by applying a weak on-resonant tone, which also suppresses the phase fluctuations. When the weak tone is detuned, we observe synchronization of the oscillation frequency with the frequency of the input. For the detuned input, we also observe an emergence of three idlers in the output. This observation is in agreement with theory indicating four-mode amplification and squeezing of a coherent input.

Clinical evaluation of the 3M Littmann Electronic Stethoscope Model 3200 in 150 cats.

PubMed

Blass, Keith A; Schober, Karsten E; Bonagura, John D; Scansen, Brian A; Visser, Lance C; Lu, Jennifer; Smith, Danielle N; Ward, Jessica L

2013-10-01

Detection of murmurs and gallops may help to identify cats with heart disease. However, auscultatory findings may be subject to clinically relevant observer variation. The objective of this study was to evaluate an electronic stethoscope (ES) in cats. We hypothesized that the ES would perform at least as well as a conventional stethoscope (CS) in the detection of abnormal heart sounds. One hundred and fifty consecutive cats undergoing echocardiography were enrolled prospectively. Cats were ausculted with a CS (WA Tycos Harvey Elite) by two observers, and heart sounds were recorded digitally using an ES (3M Littmann Stethoscope Model 3200) for off-line analysis. Echocardiography was used as the clinical standard method for validation of auscultatory findings. Additionally, digital recordings (DRs) were assessed by eight independent observers with various levels of expertise, and compared using interclass correlation and Cohen's weighted kappa analyses. Using the CS, a heart murmur (n = 88 cats) or gallop sound (n = 17) was identified in 105 cats, whereas 45 cats lacked abnormal heart sounds. There was good total agreement (83-90%) between the two observers using the CS. In contrast, there was only moderate agreement (P <0.001) between results from the CS and the DRs for murmurs, and poor agreement for gallops. The CS was more sensitive compared with the DRs with regard to murmurs and gallops. Agreement among the eight observers was good-to-excellent for murmur detection (81%). In conclusion, DRs made with the ES are less sensitive but comparably specific to a CS at detecting abnormal heart sounds in cats.

Harmonisation and diagnostics of MIPAS ESA CH4 and N2O profiles using data assimilation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Errera, Quentin; Ceccherini, Simone; Christophe, Yves; Chabrillat, Simon; Hegglin, Michaela I.; Lambert, Alyn; Ménard, Richard; Raspollini, Piera; Skachko, Sergey; van Weele, Michiel; Walker, Kaley A.

2016-12-01

This paper discusses assimilation experiments of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) profiles retrieved from the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS). Here we focus on data versions 6 and 7 provided by the ESA processor. These data sets have been assimilated by the Belgian Assimilation System for Chemical ObsErvations (BASCOE). The CH4 and N2O retrieved profiles can oscillate, especially in the tropical lower stratosphere. Using the averaging kernels of the observations and a background error covariance matrix, which has previously been calibrated, allows the system to partly remedy this issue and provide assimilated fields that are more regular vertically. In general, there is a good agreement between the BASCOE analyses and independent observations from ACE-FTS (CH4 and N2O) and MLS (N2O), demonstrating the general good quality of CH4 and N2O retrievals provided by MIPAS ESA. Nevertheless, this study also identifies two issues in these data sets. First, time series of the observations show unexpected discontinuities due to an abrupt change in the gain of MIPAS band B, generally occurring after the instrument decontamination. Since the calibration is performed weekly, the abrupt change in the gain affects the measurements until the subsequent calibration is performed. Second, the correlations between BASCOE analyses and independent observations are poor in the lower stratosphere, especially in the tropics, probably due to the presence of outliers in the assimilated data. In this region, we recommend using MIPAS CH4 and N2O retrievals with caution.

Usefulness of Doppler assessment of pulmonary vein and left atrial appendage flow following pulmonary vein isolation of chronic atrial fibrillation in predicting recovery of left atrial function.

PubMed

Donal, Erwan; Grimm, Richard A; Yamada, Hirotsugu; Kim, Yong Jin; Marrouche, Nassir; Natale, Andrea; Thomas, James D

2005-04-15

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a widespread condition that causes significant morbidity and mortality. Recently, pulmonary venous (PV) isolation using radiofrequency ablation has been used successfully to exclude the pulmonary venous ostia, resulting in correction of AF. Further, miniaturized high-frequency ultrasound phased-array transducers currently provide Doppler and 2-dimensional imaging during the ablation procedure. We examined atrial function and its determinants using intracardiac echocardiography before and after PV isolation in 45 patients who had chronic AF (56 +/- 11 years old). PV, left atrial (LA) appendage, and mitral and tricuspid flows were recorded. Recovery of booster pump function (defined by the presence of mitral inflow A wave, LA appendage a-wave, and PV A-reversal wave velocities >10 cm/s) was observed in 39 of 45 patients (86.6%). PV flow systolic wave before and after ablation correlated with the degree of LA booster pump function after PV isolation. An early systolic PV flow peak velocity >57.47 cm/s predicted "good" LA booster pump function recovery with 96% specificity. Diastolic LA appendage emptying in AF correlated (p <0.001) and predicted good LA booster pump function with 92% specificity for velocities >46.4 cm/s. Thus, monitoring LA function during PV isolation for chronic AF is feasible. Most patients recovered LA booster pump function immediately after PV isolation, and the degree of recovery correlated with LA reservoir function. Preserved reservoir function during AF is predictive of satisfactory recovery of booster pump function after PV isolation.

External Validation of the Prestroke Independence, Sex, Age, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale Score for Predicting Pneumonia After Stroke Using Data From the China National Stroke Registry.

PubMed

Zhang, Runhua; Ji, Ruijun; Pan, Yuesong; Jiang, Yong; Liu, Gaifen; Wang, Yilong; Wang, Yongjun

2017-05-01

Pneumonia is an important risk factor for mortality and morbidity after stroke. The Prestroke Independence, Sex, Age, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (ISAN) score was shown to be a useful tool for predicting stroke-associated pneumonia based on UK multicenter cohort study. We aimed to externally validate the score using data from the China National Stroke Registry (CNSR). Eligible patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in the CNSR from 2007 to 2008 were included. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) curve was used to evaluate discrimination. The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test and Pearson correlation coefficient were performed to assess calibration of the model. A total of 19,333 patients (AIS = 14400; ICH = 4933) were included and the overall pneumonia rate was 12.7%. The AUC was .76 (95% confidence interval [CI]: .75-.78) for the subgroup of AIS and .70 (95% CI: .68-.72) for the subgroup of ICH. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed the ISAN score with the good calibration for AIS and ICH (P = .177 and .405, respectively). The plot of observed versus predicted pneumonia rates suggested higher correlation for patients with AIS than with ICH (Pearson correlation coefficient = .99 and .83, respectively). The ISAN score was a useful tool for predicting in-hospital pneumonia after acute stroke, especially for patients with AIS. Further validations need to be done in different populations. Copyright © 2017 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of moment structures for assessing relationships among perceived chewing ability, dentition status, muscle strength, and balance in community-dwelling older adults.

PubMed

Moriya, Shingo; Notani, Kenji; Murata, Ayumi; Inoue, Nobuo; Miura, Hiroko

2014-12-01

The aim of this study was to assess relationships among perceived chewing ability, dentition status, muscle strength and balance in community-dwelling older adults using analysis of moment structures (Amos). Physical performance parameters such as muscle strength and balance can predict the future onset of disabilities in activities of daily living among older adults. In this context, elucidation of the relationships among oral conditions and physical performance parameters is necessary. Data on occlusal contact patterns of natural teeth (OPNT), self-assessed masticatory ability (mastication), body mass index (BMI), handgrip strength (HG) and one-leg standing time with eyes open (OLST) were collected from 501 independently living adults aged 65-74 years. The relationships among these parameters were analysed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients and Amos. Subjects of both genders showed significant correlations among OPNT, mastication, HG and OLST, evaluated using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients. For each Amos model, the goodness-of-fit statistic indicated a good level of fit. In both men and women, OPNT was significantly related to mastication, and mastication was related to HG but not to OLST. OPNT was related to neither HG nor OLST in women and was related to OLST but not HG in men. The findings observed in this study present a possible importance of dental status and perceived chewing ability for the onset of disability by influencing physical performance in community-dwelling older adults. © 2012 The Gerodontology Society and John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Inter-observer variability between general pathologists and a specialist in breast pathology in the diagnosis of lobular neoplasia, columnar cell lesions, atypical ductal hyperplasia and ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background This study aimed to assess inter-observer variability between the original diagnostic reports and later review by a specialist in breast pathology considering lobular neoplasias (LN), columnar cell lesions (CCL), atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH), and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast. Methods A retrospective, observational, cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 610 breast specimens that had been formally sent for consultation and/or second opinions to the Breast Pathology Laboratory of Federal University of Minas Gerais were analysed between January 2005 and December 2010. The inter-observer variability between the original report and later review was compared regarding the diagnoses of LN, CCL, ADH, and DCIS. Statistical analyses were conducted using the Kappa index. Results Weak correlations were observed for the diagnoses of columnar cell change (CCC; Kappa = 0.38), columnar cell hyperplasia (CCH; Kappa = 0.32), while a moderate agreement (Kappa = 0.47) was observed for the diagnoses of flat epithelial atypia (FEA). Good agreement was observed in the diagnoses of atypical lobular hyperplasia (ALH; Kappa = 0.62) and lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS; Kappa = 0.66). However, poor agreement was observed for the diagnoses of pleomorphic LCIS (Kappa = 0.22). Moderate agreement was observed for the diagnoses of ADH (Kappa = 0.44), low-grade DCIS (Kappa = 0.47), intermediate-grade DCIS (Kappa = 0.45), and DCIS with microinvasion (Kappa = 0.56). Good agreement was observed between the diagnoses of high-grade DCIS (Kappa = 0.68). Conclusions According to our data, the best diagnostic agreements were observed for high-grade DCIS, ALH, and LCIS. CCL without atypia and pleomorphic LCIS had the worst agreement indices. Virtual Slides The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1640072350119725. PMID:24948027

Inter-observer variability between general pathologists and a specialist in breast pathology in the diagnosis of lobular neoplasia, columnar cell lesions, atypical ductal hyperplasia and ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast.

PubMed

Gomes, Douglas S; Porto, Simone S; Balabram, Débora; Gobbi, Helenice

2014-06-19

This study aimed to assess inter-observer variability between the original diagnostic reports and later review by a specialist in breast pathology considering lobular neoplasias (LN), columnar cell lesions (CCL), atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH), and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast. A retrospective, observational, cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 610 breast specimens that had been formally sent for consultation and/or second opinions to the Breast Pathology Laboratory of Federal University of Minas Gerais were analysed between January 2005 and December 2010. The inter-observer variability between the original report and later review was compared regarding the diagnoses of LN, CCL, ADH, and DCIS. Statistical analyses were conducted using the Kappa index. Weak correlations were observed for the diagnoses of columnar cell change (CCC; Kappa=0.38), columnar cell hyperplasia (CCH; Kappa=0.32), while a moderate agreement (Kappa=0.47) was observed for the diagnoses of flat epithelial atypia (FEA). Good agreement was observed in the diagnoses of atypical lobular hyperplasia (ALH; Kappa=0.62) and lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS; Kappa=0.66). However, poor agreement was observed for the diagnoses of pleomorphic LCIS (Kappa=0.22). Moderate agreement was observed for the diagnoses of ADH (Kappa=0.44), low-grade DCIS (Kappa=0.47), intermediate-grade DCIS (Kappa=0.45), and DCIS with microinvasion (Kappa=0.56). Good agreement was observed between the diagnoses of high-grade DCIS (Kappa=0.68). According to our data, the best diagnostic agreements were observed for high-grade DCIS, ALH, and LCIS. CCL without atypia and pleomorphic LCIS had the worst agreement indices. The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1640072350119725.

Analytic Study of Induced Pressure on Long Bodies of Revolution with Varying Nose Bluntness at Hypersonic Speeds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

VanHise, Vernon

1961-01-01

Pressure distributions and shock shapes for a series of cylindrical afterbodies having nose fineness ratios from 0.4 to 4 have been calculated by using the method of characteristics for a perfect gas. The fluid mediums investigated were air and helium and the Mach number range was from 5 to 40. Flow parameters obtained from blast-wave analogy gave good correlations of blunt-nose induced pressures and shock shapes. Experimental results are found to be in good agreement with the characteristic calculations. The concept of hypersonic similitude enables good correlation of the results with respect to body shape, Mach number, and ratio of specific heats.

Reliability, validity and feasibility of nail ultrasonography in psoriatic arthritis.

PubMed

Arbault, Anaïs; Devilliers, Hervé; Laroche, Davy; Cayot, Audrey; Vabres, Pierre; Maillefert, Jean-Francis; Ornetti, Paul

2016-10-01

To determine the feasibility, reliability and validity of nails ultrasonography in psoriatic arthritis as an outcome measure. Pilot prospective single-centre study of eight ultrasonography parameters in B mode and power Doppler concerning the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint, the matrix, the bed and nail plate. Intra-observer and inter-observer reliability was evaluated for the seven quantitative parameters (ICC and kappa). Correlations between ultrasonography and clinical variables were searched to assess external validity. Feasibility was assessed by the time to carry out the examination and the percentage of missing data. Twenty-seven patients with psoriatic arthritis (age 55.0±16.2 years, disease duration 13.4±9.4 years) were included. Of these, 67% presented nail involvement on ultrasonography vs 37% on physical examination (P<0.05). Reliability was good (ICC and weighted kappa>0.75) for the seven quantitative parameters, except for synovitis of the DIP joint in B mode. The synovitis of the DIP joint revealed by ultrasonography correlated with the total number of clinical synovitis and Doppler US of the nail (matrix and bed). Doppler US of the matrix correlated with VAS pain but not with the ASDAS-CRP or with clinical enthesitis. No significant correlation was found with US nail thickness. The feasibility and reliability of ultrasonography of the nail in psoriatic arthritis appear to be satisfactory. Among the eight parameters evaluated, power Doppler of the matrix which correlated with local inflammation (DIP joint and bed) and with VAS pain could become an interesting outcome measure, provided that it is also sensitive to change. Copyright © 2015 Société française de rhumatologie. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Alternative body sites for heat stress measurement in milking cows under tropical conditions and their relationship to the thermal discomfort of the animals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martello, Luciane S.; Savastano Junior, Holmer; Silva, Saulo L.; Balieiro, Júlio Cesar C.

2010-11-01

This study was conducted to determine the relationship among temperatures measured at different anatomical sites of the animal body and their daily pattern as indicative of the thermal stress in lactating dairy cows under tropical conditions. Environmental dry bulb (DBT) and black globe (BGT) temperatures and relative humidity (RH) were recorded. Rectal temperature (RT), respiratory frequency (RF), body surface (BST), internal base of tail (TT), vulva (VT) and auricular temperatures (AT) were collected, from 37 Black and White Holstein cows at 0700, 1300 and 1800 hours. RT showed a moderately and positive correlations with all body temperatures, ranging from 0.59 with TT to 0.64 with BST. Correlations among AT, VT and TT with RF were very similar (from 0.63 to 0.64) and were greater than those observed for RF with RT (0.55) or with BST (0.54). RF and RT were positively correlated to TT (0.63 and 0.59, respectively), AT (r = 0.63 for both) and VT ( r = 0.64 and 0.63, respectively). Positive and very high correlations were observed among AT, VT and TT (from 0.94 to 0.97) indicating good association of temperatures measured in these anatomical sites. Correlations of BST with AT and VT were positive and very similar (0.71 and 0.72, respectively) and lower with TT (0.66). The AT, TT, VT and BST presented similar patterns and follow the variations of DBT through the day. Temperatures measured at different anatomical sites of the animal body have the potential to be used as indicative of the thermal stress in lactating dairy cows.

Within-person reproducibility of red blood cell mercury over a 10- to 15-year period among women in the Nurses' Health Study II.

PubMed

Kioumourtzoglou, Marianthi-Anna; Roberts, Andrea L; Nielsen, Flemming; Tworoger, Shelley S; Grandjean, Philippe; Weisskopf, Marc G

2016-01-01

Most epidemiologic studies of methylmercury (MeHg) health effects rely on a single measurement of a MeHg biomarker to assess long-term exposures. Long-term reproducibility data are, therefore, needed to assess the reliability of a single measure to reflect long-term exposures. In this study, we assessed within-person reproducibility of red blood cell (RBC) mercury (Hg), a marker of methyl-mercury, over 10-15 years in a sample of 57 women. Fifty-seven women from the Nurses' Health Study II provided two blood samples 10-15-years apart (median: 12 years), which were analyzed for mercury levels in the red blood cells (B-Hg*). To characterize within-person reproducibility, we estimated correlation and intraclass correlation coefficients (r and ICC) across the two samples. Further, we compared different prediction models, including variables on fish and seafood consumption, for B-Hg* at the first sample, using leave-one-out cross-validation to assess predictive ability. Overall, we observed strong correlations over 10-15 years (r=0.69), as well as a high ICC (0.67; 95% CI: 0.49, 0.79). Fish and seafood consumption reported concurrently with the first B-Hg* sample accounted for 26.8% of the variability in that B-Hg*, giving a correlation of r=0.52. Despite decreasing B-Hg* levels over time, we observed strong correlations and high ICC estimates across B-Hg* measured 10-15 years apart, suggesting good relative within-person stability over time. Our results indicate that a single measurement of B-Hg* likely is adequate to represent long-term exposures.

Inter-Observer and Intra-Observer Reliability of Clinical Assessments in Knee Osteoarthritis

PubMed Central

Maricar, Nasimah; Callaghan, Michael J; Parkes, Matthew J; Felson, David T; O’Neill, Terence W

2016-01-01

Background Clinical examination of the knee is subject to measurement error. The aim of this analysis was to determine inter- and intra-observer reliability of commonly used clinical tests in patients with knee osteoarthritis(OA). Methods We studied subjects with symptomatic knee OA who were participants in an open-label clinical trial of intra-articular steroid therapy. Following standardisation of the clinical test procedures, two clinicians assessed 25 subjects independently at the same visit, and the same clinician assessed 88 subjects over an interval period of 2–10 weeks; in both cases prior to the steroid intervention. Clinical examination included assessment of bony enlargement, crepitus, quadriceps wasting, knee effusion, joint-line and anserine tenderness and knee range of movement(ROM). Intra-class correlation coefficients(ICC), estimated kappa(κ), weighted kappa(κω) and Bland and Altman plots were used to determine inter- and intra-observer levels of agreement. Results Using Landis and Koch criteria, inter-observer kappa scores were moderate for patellofemoral joint(κ=0.53) and anserine tenderness(κ=0.48); good for bony enlargement(κ=0.66), quadriceps wasting(κ=0.78), crepitus(κ=0.78), medial tibiofemoral joint tenderness(κ=0.76), and effusion assessed by ballottement(κ=0.73) and bulge sign(κω =0.78); and excellent for lateral tibiofemoral joint tenderness(κ=1.00), flexion(ICC=0.97) and extension(ICC=0.87) ROM. Intra-observer kappa scores were moderate for lateral tibiofemoral joint tenderness(κ=0.60), good for crepitus(κ=0.78), effusion assessed by ballottement test(κ=0.77), patellofemoral joint(κ=0.66), medial tibiofemoral joint(κ=0.64) and anserine(κ=0.73) tenderness and excellent for effusion assessed by bulge sign(κω =0.83), bony enlargement(κ=0.98), quadriceps wasting(κ=0.83), flexion(ICC=0.99) and extension(ICC=0.96) ROM. Conclusion Among individuals with symptomatic knee OA, the reliability of clinical examination of the knee was at least good for the majority of clinical signs of knee OA. PMID:27909143

Interannual Variability of OLR as Observed by AIRS and CERES

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Susskind, Joel; Molnar, Gyula; Iredell, Lena; Loeb, Norman G.

2012-01-01

This paper compares spatial anomaly time series of OLR (Outgoing Longwave Radiation) and OLR(sub CLR) (Clear Sky OLR) as determined using observations from CERES Terra and AIRS over the time period September 2002 through June 2011. Both AIRS and CERES show a significant decrease in global mean and tropical mean OLR over this time period. We find excellent agreement of the anomaly time-series of the two OLR data sets in almost every detail, down to 1 deg X 1 deg spatial grid point level. The extremely close agreement of OLR anomaly time series derived from observations by two different instruments implies that both sets of results must be highly stable. This agreement also validates to some extent the anomaly time series of the AIRS derived products used in the computation of the AIRS OLR product. The paper also examines the correlations of anomaly time series of AIRS and CERES OLR, on different spatial scales, as well as those of other AIRS derived products, with that of the NOAA Sea Surface Temperature (SST) product averaged over the NOAA Nino-4 spatial region. We refer to these SST anomalies as the El Nino Index. Large spatially coherent positive and negative correlations of OLR anomaly time series with that of the El Nino Index are found in different spatial regions. Anomalies of global mean, and especially tropical mean, OLR are highly positively correlated with the El Nino Index. These correlations explain that the recent global and tropical mean decreases in OLR over the period September 2002 through June 2011, as observed by both AIRS and CERES, are primarily the result of a transition from an El Nino condition at the beginning of the data record to La Nina conditions toward the end of the data period. We show that the close correlation of global mean, and especially tropical mean, OLR anomalies with the El Nino Index can be well accounted for by temporal changes of OLR within two spatial regions which lie outside the NOAA Nino-4 region, in which anomalies of cloud cover and mid-tropospheric water vapor are both highly negatively correlated with the El Nino Index. Agreement of the AIRS and CERES OLR(sub CLR) anomaly time series is less good, which may be a result of the large sampling differences in the ensemble of cases included in each OLR(sub CLR) data set.

Hybrid density-functional calculations of phonons in LaCoO3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gryaznov, Denis; Evarestov, Robert A.; Maier, Joachim

2010-12-01

Phonon frequencies at Γ point in nonmagnetic rhombohedral phase of LaCoO3 were calculated using density-functional theory with hybrid exchange correlation functional PBE0. The calculations involved a comparison of results for two types of basis functions commonly used in ab initio calculations, namely, the plane-wave approach and linear combination of atomic orbitals, as implemented in VASP and CRYSTAL computer codes, respectively. A good qualitative, but also within an error margin of less than 30%, a quantitative agreement was observed not only between the two formalisms but also between theoretical and experimental phonon frequency predictions. Moreover, the correlation between the phonon symmetries in cubic and rhombohedral phases is discussed in detail on the basis of group-theoretical analysis. It is concluded that the hybrid PBE0 functional is able to predict correctly the phonon properties in LaCoO3 .

A study of QM/Langevin-MD simulation for oxygen-evolving center of photosystem II

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

Uchida, Waka; Kimura, Yoshiro; Wakabayashi, Masamitsu

2013-12-10

We have performed three QM/Langevin-MD simulations for oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) and surrounding residues, which are different configurations of the oxidation numbers on Mn atoms in the Mn{sub 4}O{sub 5}Ca cluster. By analyzing these trajectories, we have observed sensitivity of the change to the configuration of Mn oxidation state on O atoms of carboxyl on three amino acids, Glu354, Ala344, and Glu333. The distances from Mn to O atoms in residues contacting with the Mn{sub 4}O{sub 5}Ca cluster were analyzed for the three trajectories. We found the good correlation of the distances among the simulations. However, the distances with Glu354, Ala344,more » and Glu333 have not shown the correlation. These residues can be sensitive index of the changes of Mn oxidation numbers.« less

Anomalous Protein-Protein Interactions in Multivalent Salt Solution.

PubMed

Pasquier, Coralie; Vazdar, Mario; Forsman, Jan; Jungwirth, Pavel; Lund, Mikael

2017-04-13

The stability of aqueous protein solutions is strongly affected by multivalent ions, which induce ion-ion correlations beyond the scope of classical mean-field theory. Using all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) and coarse grained Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, we investigate the interaction between a pair of protein molecules in 3:1 electrolyte solution. In agreement with available experimental findings of "reentrant protein condensation", we observe an anomalous trend in the protein-protein potential of mean force with increasing electrolyte concentration in the order: (i) double-layer repulsion, (ii) ion-ion correlation attraction, (iii) overcharge repulsion, and in excess of 1:1 salt, (iv) non Coulombic attraction. To efficiently sample configurational space we explore hybrid continuum solvent models, applicable to many-protein systems, where weakly coupled ions are treated implicitly, while strongly coupled ones are treated explicitly. Good agreement is found with the primitive model of electrolytes, as well as with atomic models of protein and solvent.

Accuracy of visual estimates of joint angle and angular velocity using criterion movements.

PubMed

Morrison, Craig S; Knudson, Duane; Clayburn, Colby; Haywood, Philip

2005-06-01

A descriptive study to document undergraduate physical education majors' (22.8 +/- 2.4 yr. old) estimates of sagittal plane elbow angle and angular velocity of elbow flexion visually was performed. 42 subjects rated videotape replays of 30 movements organized into three speeds of movement and two criterion elbow angles. Video images of the movements were analyzed with Peak Motus to measure actual values of elbow angles and peak angular velocity. Of the subjects 85.7% had speed ratings significantly correlated with true peak elbow angular velocity in all three angular velocity conditions. Few (16.7%) subjects' ratings of elbow angle correlated significantly with actual angles. Analysis of the subjects with good ratings showed the accuracy of visual ratings was significantly related to speed, with decreasing accuracy for slower speeds of movement. The use of criterion movements did not improve the small percentage of novice observers who could accurately estimate body angles during movement.

Capnography as a tool to detect metabolic changes in patients cared for in the emergency setting

PubMed Central

Cereceda-Sánchez, Francisco José; Molina-Mula, Jesús

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Objective: to evaluate the usefulness of capnography for the detection of metabolic changes in spontaneous breathing patients, in the emergency and intensive care settings. Methods: in-depth and structured bibliographical search in the databases EBSCOhost, Virtual Health Library, PubMed, Cochrane Library, among others, identifying studies that assessed the relationship between capnography values and the variables involved in blood acid-base balance. Results: 19 studies were found, two were reviews and 17 were observational studies. In nine studies, capnography values were correlated with carbon dioxide (CO2), eight with bicarbonate (HCO3), three with lactate, and four with blood pH. Conclusions: most studies have found a good correlation between capnography values and blood biomarkers, suggesting the usefulness of this parameter to detect patients at risk of severe metabolic change, in a fast, economical and accurate way. PMID:28513767

Molecular dynamics simulation of the polymer electrolyte poly(ethylene oxide)/LiClO(4). II. Dynamical properties.

PubMed

Siqueira, Leonardo J A; Ribeiro, Mauro C C

2006-12-07

The dynamical properties of the polymer electrolyte poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)LiClO(4) have been investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The effect of changing salt concentration and temperature was evaluated on several time correlation functions. Ionic displacements projected on different directions reveal anisotropy in short-time (rattling) and long-time (diffusive) dynamics of Li(+) cations. It is shown that ionic mobility is coupled to the segmental motion of the polymeric chain. Structural relaxation is probed by the intermediate scattering function F(k,t) at several wave vectors. Good agreement was found between calculated and experimental F(k,t) for pure PEO. A remarkable slowing down of polymer relaxation is observed upon addition of the salt. The ionic conductivity estimated by the Nernst-Einstein equation is approximately ten times higher than the actual conductivity calculated by the time correlation function of charge current.

Evaluation of ERTS data for certain oceanographic uses. [sunglint, algal bloom, water temperature, upwelling, and turbidity of Great Lakes waters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Strong, A. E. (Principal Investigator)

1973-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. (1) Sunglint effects over water can be expected in ERTS-1 images whenever solar elevations exceed 55 deg. (2) Upwellings were viewed coincidently by ERTS-1 and NOAA-2 in Lake Michigan on two occasions during August 1973. (3) A large oil slick was identified 100 km off the Maryland coast in the Atlantic Ocean. Volume of the oil was estimated to be least 200,000 liters (50,000 gallons). (4) ERTS-1 observations of turbidity patterns in Lake St. Clair provide circulation information that correlates well with physical model studies made 10 years ago. (5) Good correlation has been established between ERTS-1 water color densities and NOAA-2 thermal infrared surface temperature measurements. Initial comparisons have been made in Lake Erie during March 1973.

Ab initio correlated study of the Al13H- anion: Isomers, their kinetic stability and vertical detachment energies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moc, Jerzy

2012-01-01

We report correlated ab initio calculations for the Al13H- cluster anion isomers, their kinetic stability and vertical detachment energies (VDEs). Of the two most energetically favored anion structures involving H atom in terminal and threefold bridged sites of the icosahedral Al13-, the higher energy ‘threefold bridged' isomer is shown to be of low kinetic stability. Our results are consistent with the recent photoelectron spectroscopy (PE) study of Grubisic et al. who observed two distinct Al13H- isomers, one of them identified as ‘metastable'. The VDE energies computed at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ//MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ level for the ‘terminal' and ‘threefold bridged' Al13H- isomers of 3.21 and 2.32 eV are in good agreement with those determined in the PE study.

Changes of hierarchical network in local and world stock market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patwary, Enayet Ullah; Lee, Jong Youl; Nobi, Ashadun; Kim, Doo Hwan; Lee, Jae Woo

2017-10-01

We consider the cross-correlation coefficients of the daily returns in the local and global stock markets. We generate the minimal spanning tree (MST) using the correlation matrix. We observe that the MSTs change their structure from chain-like networks to star-like networks during periods of market uncertainty. We quantify the measure of the hierarchical network utilizing the value of the hierarchy measured by the hierarchical path. The hierarchy and betweenness centrality characterize the state of the market regarding the impact of crises. During crises, the non-financial company is established as the central node of the MST. However, before the crisis and during stable periods, the financial company is occupying the central node of the MST in the Korean and the U.S. stock markets. The changes in the network structure and the central node are good indicators of an upcoming crisis.

Comparative evaluation of the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan HIV type 1 test (CAP/CTM) and VERSANT HIV type 1 RNA 3.0 assay (bDNA) for quantifying HIV type 1 viral loads in China.

PubMed

Xu, Sihong; Song, Aijing; Nie, Jianhui; Li, Xiuhua; Li, Jingyun; Bao, Zuoyi; Wang, Youchun

2008-11-01

In the present study, 277 clinical samples from untreated and treated HIV-1-infected patients with different clades were used to assess the agreement between the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 test (CAP/CTM) and VERSANT HIV-1 RNA 3.0 Assay (bDNA). A qualitative comparison of the results of the two assays showed concordance for 255 positive and 15 negative samples (94.95%, kappa = 0.798). However, seven samples with viral loads close to the lower limit of detection for CAP/CTM were negative by bDNA. A significant correlation (r = 0.881, p < 0.001) was observed for 253 samples with viral loads within the dynamic ranges of the two assays, and Bland-Altman analysis showed good agreement (96.05%) between the two assays for these 253 samples [mean (+/-2 SD), 0.389(-0.385, 1.163)]. Furthermore, ART drugs had no impact on the performances of the two assays. For samples with different clades predominant in China, the fitted regression line differed significantly from the line of equality, although significant correlations (r = 0.850-0.891, p < 0.001) and good agreements (92.86-97.25%) were found for the two assays. The mean differences for clade B' and BC samples were significant (p < 0.01). Good precision for clade B' samples was achieved for the CAP/CTM (CV: 20.73%) and bDNA (CV: 12.19%) assays. Furthermore, for clades B', BC, and AE, both assays exhibited good linearities (r = 0.9773-0.9998). Thus, the CAP/CTM and bDNA assays could be useful for quantifying HIV-1 RNA in routine clinical samples and monitoring viral loads in treated and untreated HIV-infected patients in China.

Statistical and observational research of solar flare for total spectra and geometrical features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishimoto, S.; Watanabe, K.; Imada, S.; Kawate, T.; Lee, K. S.

2017-12-01

Impulsive energy release phenomena such as solar flares, sometimes affect to the solar-terrestrial environment. Usually, we use soft X-ray flux (GOES class) as the index of flare scale. However, the magnitude of effect to the solar-terrestrial environment is not proportional to that scale. To identify the relationship between solar flare phenomena and influence to the solar-terrestrial environment, we need to understand the full spectrum of solar flares. There is the solar flare irradiance model named the Flare Irradiance Spectral Model (FISM) (Chamberlin et al., 2006, 2007, 2008). The FISM can estimate solar flare spectra with high wavelength resolution. However, this model can not express the time evolution of emitted plasma during the solar flare, and has low accuracy on short wavelength that strongly effects and/or controls the total flare spectra. For the purpose of obtaining the time evolution of total solar flare spectra, we are performing statistical analysis of the electromagnetic data of solar flares. In this study, we select solar flare events larger than M-class from the Hinode flare catalogue (Watanabe et al., 2012). First, we focus on the EUV emission observed by the SDO/EVE. We examined the intensities and time evolutions of five EUV lines of 55 flare events. As a result, we found positive correlation between the "soft X-ray flux" and the "EUV peak flux" for all EVU lines. Moreover, we found that hot lines peaked earlier than cool lines of the EUV light curves. We also examined the hard X-ray data obtained by RHESSI. When we analyzed 163 events, we found good correlation between the "hard X-ray intensity" and the "soft X-ray flux". Because it seems that the geometrical features of solar flares effect to those time evolutions, we also looked into flare ribbons observed by SDO/AIA. We examined 21 flare events, and found positive correlation between the "GOES duration" and the "ribbon length". We also found positive correlation between the "ribbon length" and the "ribbon distance", however, there was no remarkable correlation of the "ribbon width". To understand physical process of flare emission, we performed numerical simulation (Imada et al., 2015), and compared with the observational flare model. We also discuss the flare numerical model which can be fitted to the observational flare model.

Influence of Food Microorganisms on Staphylococcal Growth and Enterotoxin Production in Meat

PubMed Central

McCoy, D. W.; Faber, J. E.

1966-01-01

Forty-four microorganisms were studied for their influence on staphylococcal growth and enterotoxin production. Inhibition was found to be more common than stimulation. Two types of inhibition were observed: inhibition of staphylococcal growth, and inhibition of enterotoxin formation with no apparent effect on growth. By use of a plate test, 12 of the 44 food microorganisms were found to inhibit staphylococcal growth at 35 C. Of the 12, 3 also inhibited growth at 25 C. No significant differences in inhibition were observed with the 15 strains of enterotoxigenic staphylococci. In meat slurries, inhibition of staphylococcal growth was found to be greater at 25 C than at 35 C. Results on inhibition obtained from the plate test could not be correlated with the effect of the organisms in slurries. Environmental conditions were found to affect markedly the influence of food microorganisms on staphylococci. Of the 44 food microorganisms studied, only Bacillus cereus was observed to stimulate significantly staphylococcal growth and enterotoxin formation. Stimulation was more pronounced with Staphylococcus aureus 196E than with other strains of enterotoxigenic staphylococci. Bacillus megaterium and Brevibacterium linens were inhibited by staphylococci. These organisms were completely inhibited when inoculated in mixed cultures with staphylococci. In pure cultures, good staphylococcal growth was found to be accompanied by enterotoxin production; however, in the presence of food microorganisms, good staphylococcal growth occurred without the formation of detectable levels of enterotoxin A. PMID:5970822

Endoscopic ultrasonography in chronic pancreatitis: a comparative prospective study with conventional ultrasonography, computed tomography, and ERCP.

PubMed

Buscail, L; Escourrou, J; Moreau, J; Delvaux, M; Louvel, D; Lapeyre, F; Tregant, P; Frexinos, J

1995-04-01

The usefulness and accuracy rate of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) in the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis (CP) were prospectively evaluated in 81 patients with suspected pancreatic disease. All underwent EUS, abdominal ultrasonography (AUS), and computed tomography (CT), and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) was performed in 55 of the cases. The diagnosis of CP was established in 44 patients (CP group) including 24 with a calcified form. No pancreatic disease was observed in 18 patients (control group), and 19 patients had a pancreatic tumor. In the CP group AUS was less accurate than EUS in visualizing the pancreas, performances of CT scan being identical to EUS in this respect. A good correlation was observed between EUS and ERCP for visualization and measurement of the Wirsung duct. The most significant changes observed by EUS in the CP group were dilatation of the main pancreatic duct, heterogeneous echogenicity of the pancreatic parenchyma, and cysts < 20 mm in size even in noncalcified CP or with normal pancreatograms. Sensitivity of EUS for diagnosis of CP was 88% (AUS, 58%; ERCP, 74%; CT scan, 75%), the specificity being 100% for ERCP and EUS, 95% for CT scan, and 75% for AUS. The good performances of EUS allow early diagnosis of CP in symptomatic patients since heterogeneous echogenicity of the pancreatic parenchyma seems to be almost specifically associated with the disease.

Comparison of model and human observer performance in FFDM, DBT, and synthetic mammography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ikejimba, Lynda; Glick, Stephen J.; Samei, Ehsan; Lo, Joseph Y.

2016-03-01

Reader studies are important in assessing breast imaging systems. The purpose of this work was to assess task-based performance of full field digital mammography (FFDM), digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), and synthetic mammography (SM) using different phantom types, and to determine an accurate observer model for human readers. Images were acquired on a Hologic Selenia Dimensions system with a uniform and anthropomorphic phantom. A contrast detail insert of small, low-contrast disks was created using an inkjet printer with iodine-doped ink and inserted in the phantoms. The disks varied in diameter from 210 to 630 μm, and in contrast from 1.1% contrast to 2.2% in regular increments. Human and model observers performed a 4-alternative forced choice experiment. The models were a non-prewhitening matched filter with eye model (NPWE) and a channelized Hotelling observer with either Gabor channels (Gabor-CHO) or Laguerre-Gauss channels (LG-CHO). With the given phantoms, reader scores were higher in FFDM and DBT than SM. The structure in the phantom background had a bigger impact on outcome for DBT than for FFDM or SM. All three model observers showed good correlation with humans in the uniform background, with ρ between 0.89 and 0.93. However, in the structured background, only the CHOs had high correlation, with ρ=0.92 for Gabor-CHO, 0.90 for LG-CHO, and 0.77 for NPWE. Because results of any analysis can depend on the phantom structure, conclusions of modality performance may need to be taken in the context of an appropriate model observer and a realistic phantom.

OMI and Ground-Based In-Situ Tropospheric Nitrogen Dioxide Observations over Several Important European Cities during 2005–2014

PubMed Central

Voiculescu, Mirela

2017-01-01

In this work we present the evolution of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) content over several important European cities during 2005–2014 using space observations and ground-based in-situ measurements. The NO2 content was derived using the daily observations provided by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), while the NO2 volume mixing ratio measurements were obtained from the European Environment Agency (EEA) air quality monitoring stations database. The European cities selected are: Athens (37.98° N, 23.72° E), Berlin (52.51° N, 13.41° E), Bucharest (44.43° N, 26.10° E), Madrid (40.38° N, 3.71° W), Lisbon (38.71° N, 9.13° W), Paris (48.85° N, 2.35° E), Rome (41.9° N, 12.50° E), and Rotterdam (51.91° N, 4.46° E). We show that OMI NO2 tropospheric column data can be used to assess the evolution of NO2 over important European cities. According to the statistical analysis, using the seasonal variation, we found good correlations (R > 0.50) between OMI and ground-based in-situ observations for all of the cities presented in this work. Highest correlation coefficients (R > 0.80) between ground-based monitoring stations and OMI observations were calculated for the cities of Berlin, Madrid, and Rome. Both types of observations, in-situ and remote sensing, show an NO2 negative trend for all of locations presented in this study. PMID:29156623

Relationship between synoptic scale weather systems and column averaged atmospheric CO2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naja, M.; Yaremchuk, A.; Onishi, R.; Maksyutov, S.; Inoue, G.

2005-12-01

Analysis of the atmospheric CO2 observations with transport models contributes to the understanding of the geographical distributions of CO2 sources and sinks. Space-borne sensors could be advantageous for CO2 measurements as they can provide wider spatial and temporal coverage. Inversion studies have suggested requirement of better than 1% precision for the space-borne observations. Since sources and sinks are inferred from spatial and temporal gradients in CO2, the space-borne observations must have no significant geographically varying biases. To study the dynamical biases in column CO2 due to possible correlation between clouds and atmospheric CO2 at synoptic scale, we have made simulations of CO2 (1988-2003) using NIES tracer transport model. Model resolution is 2.5o x 2.5o in horizontal and it has 15 vertical sigma-layers. Fluxes for (1) fossil fuels, (2) terrestrial biosphere (CASA NEP), (3) the oceans, and (4) inverse model derived monthly regional fluxes from 11 land and 11 ocean regions are used. SVD truncation is used to filter out noise in the inverse model flux time series. Model reproduces fairly well CO2 global trend and observed time series at monitoring sites around the globe. Lower column CO2 concentration is simulated inside cyclonic systems in summer over North hemispheric continental areas. Surface pressure is used as a proxy for dynamics and it is demonstrated that anomalies in column averaged CO2 has fairly good correlation with the anomalies in surface pressure. Positive correlation, as high as 0.7, has been estimated over parts of Siberia and N. America in summer time. Our explanation is based on that the low-pressure system is associated the upward motion, which leads to lower column CO2 values over these regions due to lifting of CO2-depleted summertime PBL air, and higher column CO2 over source areas. A sensitivity study without inverse model fluxes shows same correlation. The low-pressure systems' induced negative biases are 0.4-0.6 ppmv in summer over Siberia. Therefore it is essential to consider this bias due to covariance with vertical motion, while analyzing the column CO2 from space-borne observations together with in-situ observations, because most optical observations are not available under cloudy conditions typical for the low-pressure system.

The stability of gadolinium-based contrast agents in human serum: A reanalysis of literature data and association with clinical outcomes.

PubMed

Prybylski, John P; Semelka, Richard C; Jay, Michael

2017-05-01

To reanalyze literature data of gadolinium (Gd)-based contrast agents (GBCAs) in plasma with a kinetic model of dissociation to provide a comprehensive assessment of equilibrium conditions for linear GBCAs. Data for the release of Gd from GBCAs in human serum was extracted from a previous report in the literature and fit to a kinetic dissociation/association model. The conditional stabilities (logK cond ) and percent intact over time were calculated using the model rate constants. The correlations between clinical outcomes and logK cond or other stability indices were determined. The release curves for Omniscan®, gadodiamide, OptiMARK®, gadoversetamide Magnevist® and Multihance® were extracted and all fit well to the kinetic model. The logK cond s calculated from the rate constants were on the order of ~4-6, and were not significantly altered by excess ligand or phosphate. The stability constant based on the amount intact by the initial elimination half-life of GBCAs in plasma provided good correlation with outcomes observed in patients. Estimation of the kinetic constants for GBCA dissociation/association revealed that their stability in physiological fluid is much lower than previous approaches would suggest, which correlates well with deposition and pharmacokinetic observations of GBCAs in human patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Structural Characterization of Unsaturated Phosphatidylcholines Using Traveling Wave Ion Mobility Spectrometry

PubMed Central

Kim, Hugh I.; Kim, Hyungjun; Pang, Eric S.; Ryu, Ernest K.; Beegle, Luther W.; Loo, Joseph A.; Goddard, William A.; Kanik, Isik

2009-01-01

A number of phosphatidylcholine (PC) cations spanning a mass range of 400 to 1000 Da are investigated using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry coupled with traveling wave ion mobility spectrometry (TWIMS). A high correlation between mass and mobility is demonstrated with saturated phosphatidylcholine cations in N2. A significant deviation from this mass-mobility correlation line is observed for the unsaturated PC cation. We found that the double bond in the acyl chain causes a 5% reduction in drift time. The drift time is reduced at a rate of ~1% for each additional double bond. Theoretical collision cross sections of PC cations exhibit good agreement with experimentally evaluated values. Collision cross sections are determined using the recently derived relationship between mobility and drift time in TWIMS stacked ring ion guide (SRIG) and compared to estimate collision cross-sections using empiric calibration method. Computational analysis was performed using the modified trajectory (TJ) method with nonspherical N2 molecules as the drift gas. The difference between estimated collision cross-sections and theoretical collision cross-sections of PC cations is related to the sensitivity of the PC cation collision cross-sections to the details of the ion-neutral interactions. The origin of the observed correlation and deviation between mass and mobility of PC cations is discussed in terms of the structural rigidity of these molecules using molecular dynamic simulations. PMID:19764704

CMB-galaxy correlation in Unified Dark Matter scalar field cosmologies

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

Bertacca, Daniele; Bartolo, Nicola; Matarrese, Sabino

We present an analysis of the cross-correlation between the CMB and the large-scale structure (LSS) of the Universe in Unified Dark Matter (UDM) scalar field cosmologies. We work out the predicted cross-correlation function in UDM models, which depends on the speed of sound of the unified component, and compare it with observations from six galaxy catalogues (NVSS, HEAO, 2MASS, and SDSS main galaxies, luminous red galaxies, and quasars). We sample the value of the speed of sound and perform a likelihood analysis, finding that the UDM model is as likely as the ΛCDM, and is compatible with observations for amore » range of values of c{sub ∞} (the value of the sound speed at late times) on which structure formation depends. In particular, we obtain an upper bound of c{sub ∞}{sup 2} ≤ 0.009 at 95% confidence level, meaning that the ΛCDM model, for which c{sub ∞}{sup 2} = 0, is a good fit to the data, while the posterior probability distribution peaks at the value c{sub ∞}{sup 2} = 10{sup −4} . Finally, we study the time dependence of the deviation from ΛCDM via a tomographic analysis using a mock redshift distribution and we find that the largest deviation is for low-redshift sources, suggesting that future low-z surveys will be best suited to constrain UDM models.« less

Hydration and vibrational dynamics of betaine (N,N,N-trimethylglycine)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Tanping; Cui, Yaowen; Mathaga, John; Kumar, Revati; Kuroda, Daniel G.

2015-06-01

Zwitterions are naturally occurring molecules that have a positive and a negative charge group in its structure and are of great importance in many areas of science. Here, the vibrational and hydration dynamics of the zwitterionic system betaine (N,N,N-trimethylglycine) is reported. The linear infrared spectrum of aqueous betaine exhibits an asymmetric band in the 1550-1700 cm-1 region of the spectrum. This band is attributed to the carboxylate asymmetric stretch of betaine. The potential of mean force computed from ab initio molecular dynamic simulations confirms that the two observed transitions of the linear spectrum are related to two different betaine conformers present in solution. A model of the experimental data using non-linear response theory agrees very well with a vibrational model comprising of two vibrational transitions. In addition, our modeling shows that spectral parameters such as the slope of the zeroth contour plot and central line slope are both sensitive to the presence of overlapping transitions. The vibrational dynamics of the system reveals an ultrafast decay of the vibrational population relaxation as well as the correlation of frequency-frequency correlation function (FFCF). A decay of ˜0.5 ps is observed for the FFCF correlation time and is attributed to the frequency fluctuations caused by the motions of water molecules in the solvation shell. The comparison of the experimental observations with simulations of the FFCF from ab initio molecular dynamics and a density functional theory frequency map shows a very good agreement corroborating the correct characterization and assignment of the derived parameters.

Tannin quantification in red grapes and wine: comparison of polysaccharide- and protein-based tannin precipitation techniques and their ability to model wine astringency.

PubMed

Mercurio, Meagan D; Smith, Paul A

2008-07-23

Quantification of red grape tannin and red wine tannin using the methyl cellulose precipitable (MCP) tannin assay and the Adams-Harbertson (A-H) tannin assay were investigated. The study allowed for direct comparison between the repeatability of the assays and for the assessment of other practical considerations such as time efficiency, ease of practice, and throughput, and assessed the relationships between tannin quantification by both analytical techniques. A strong correlation between the two analytical techniques was observed when quantifying grape tannin (r(2) = 0.96), and a good correlation was observed for wine tannins (r(2) = 0.80). However, significant differences in the reported tannin values for the analytical techniques were observed (approximately 3-fold). To explore potential reasons for the difference, investigations were undertaken to determine how several variables influenced the final tannin quantification for both assays. These variables included differences in the amount of tannin precipitated (monitored by HPLC), assay matrix variables, and the monomers used to report the final values. The relationship between tannin quantification and wine astringency was assessed for the MCP and A-H tannin assays, and both showed strong correlations with perceived wine astringency (r(2) = 0.83 and r(2) = 0.90, respectively). The work described here gives guidance to those wanting to understand how the values between the two assays relate; however, a conclusive explanation for the differences in values between the MCP and A-H tannin assays remains unclear, and further work in this area is required.

TRACKING THE SOLAR CYCLE THROUGH IBEX OBSERVATIONS OF ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOM FLUX VARIATIONS AT THE HELIOSPHERIC POLES

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

Reisenfeld, D. B.; Janzen, P. H.; Bzowski, M., E-mail: dan.reisenfeld@umontana.edu, E-mail: paul.janzen@umontana.edu, E-mail: bzowski@cbk.waw.pl

With seven years of Interstellar Boundary Explorer ( IBEX ) observations, from 2009 to 2015, we can now trace the time evolution of heliospheric energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) through over half a solar cycle. At the north and south ecliptic poles, the spacecraft attitude allows for continuous coverage of the ENA flux; thus, signal from these regions has much higher statistical accuracy and time resolution than anywhere else in the sky. By comparing the solar wind dynamic pressure measured at 1 au with the heliosheath plasma pressure derived from the observed ENA fluxes, we show that the heliosheath pressure measuredmore » at the poles correlates well with the solar cycle. The analysis requires time-shifting the ENA measurements to account for the travel time out and back from the heliosheath, which allows us to estimate the scale size of the heliosphere in the polar directions. We arrive at an estimated distance to the center of the ENA source region in the north of 220 au and in the south a distance of 190 au. We also find a good correlation between the solar cycle and the ENA energy spectra at the poles. In particular, the ENA flux for the highest IBEX energy channel (4.3 keV) is quite closely correlated with the areas of the polar coronal holes, in both the north and south, consistent with the notion that polar ENAs at this energy originate from pickup ions of the very high speed wind (∼700 km s{sup −1}) that emanates from polar coronal holes.« less

Hydration and vibrational dynamics of betaine (N,N,N-trimethylglycine)

PubMed Central

Li, Tanping; Cui, Yaowen; Mathaga, John; Kumar, Revati; Kuroda, Daniel G.

2015-01-01

Zwitterions are naturally occurring molecules that have a positive and a negative charge group in its structure and are of great importance in many areas of science. Here, the vibrational and hydration dynamics of the zwitterionic system betaine (N,N,N-trimethylglycine) is reported. The linear infrared spectrum of aqueous betaine exhibits an asymmetric band in the 1550-1700 cm−1 region of the spectrum. This band is attributed to the carboxylate asymmetric stretch of betaine. The potential of mean force computed from ab initio molecular dynamic simulations confirms that the two observed transitions of the linear spectrum are related to two different betaine conformers present in solution. A model of the experimental data using non-linear response theory agrees very well with a vibrational model comprising of two vibrational transitions. In addition, our modeling shows that spectral parameters such as the slope of the zeroth contour plot and central line slope are both sensitive to the presence of overlapping transitions. The vibrational dynamics of the system reveals an ultrafast decay of the vibrational population relaxation as well as the correlation of frequency-frequency correlation function (FFCF). A decay of ∼0.5 ps is observed for the FFCF correlation time and is attributed to the frequency fluctuations caused by the motions of water molecules in the solvation shell. The comparison of the experimental observations with simulations of the FFCF from ab initio molecular dynamics and a density functional theory frequency map shows a very good agreement corroborating the correct characterization and assignment of the derived parameters. PMID:26049458

Genome-based prediction of test cross performance in two subsequent breeding cycles.

PubMed

Hofheinz, Nina; Borchardt, Dietrich; Weissleder, Knuth; Frisch, Matthias

2012-12-01

Genome-based prediction of genetic values is expected to overcome shortcomings that limit the application of QTL mapping and marker-assisted selection in plant breeding. Our goal was to study the genome-based prediction of test cross performance with genetic effects that were estimated using genotypes from the preceding breeding cycle. In particular, our objectives were to employ a ridge regression approach that approximates best linear unbiased prediction of genetic effects, compare cross validation with validation using genetic material of the subsequent breeding cycle, and investigate the prospects of genome-based prediction in sugar beet breeding. We focused on the traits sugar content and standard molasses loss (ML) and used a set of 310 sugar beet lines to estimate genetic effects at 384 SNP markers. In cross validation, correlations >0.8 between observed and predicted test cross performance were observed for both traits. However, in validation with 56 lines from the next breeding cycle, a correlation of 0.8 could only be observed for sugar content, for standard ML the correlation reduced to 0.4. We found that ridge regression based on preliminary estimates of the heritability provided a very good approximation of best linear unbiased prediction and was not accompanied with a loss in prediction accuracy. We conclude that prediction accuracy assessed with cross validation within one cycle of a breeding program can not be used as an indicator for the accuracy of predicting lines of the next cycle. Prediction of lines of the next cycle seems promising for traits with high heritabilities.

A Study of Correlation of Neck Circumference with Framingham Risk Score as a Predictor of Coronary Artery Disease.

PubMed

Koppad, Anand K; Kaulgud, Ram S; Arun, B S

2017-09-01

It has been observed that metabolic syndrome is risk factor for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and exerts its effects through fat deposition and vascular aging. CAD has been acknowledged as a leading cause of death. In earlier studies, the metabolic risk has been estimated by Framingham risk score. Recent studies have shown that Neck Circumference (NC) has a good correlation with other traditional anthropometric measurements and can be used as marker of obesity. It also correlates with Framingham risk score, which is slightly more sophisticated measure of CAD risk. To assess the risk of CAD in a subject based on NC and to correlate the NC to Framingham risk score. The present cross-sectional study, done at Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubli, Karnataka, India, includes 100 subjects. The study duration was of one year from 1 st January 2015 to 31 st December 2015. Anthropometric indices Body Mass Index (BMI) and NC were correlated with 10 year CAD risk as calculated by Framingham risk score. The correlation between BMI, NC, vascular age and Framingham risk score was calculated using Karl Pearson's correlation method. NC has a strong correlation with 10 year CAD risk (p≤0.001). NC was significantly greater in males as compared to females (p≤0.001). Males had greater risk of cardiovascular disease as reflected by higher 10 year Framingham risk score (p≤0.0035). NC gives simple and easy prediction of CAD risk and is more reliable than traditional risk markers like BMI. NC correlates positively with 10 year Framingham risk score.

Comparison between uroflowmetry and sonouroflowmetry in recording of urinary flow in healthy men.

PubMed

Krhut, Jan; Gärtner, Marcel; Sýkora, Radek; Hurtík, Petr; Burda, Michal; Luňáček, Libor; Zvarová, Katarína; Zvara, Peter

2015-08-01

To evaluate the accuracy of sonouroflowmetry in recording urinary flow parameters and voided volume. A total of 25 healthy male volunteers (age 18-63 years) were included in the study. All participants were asked to carry out uroflowmetry synchronous with recording of the sound generated by the urine stream hitting the water level in the urine collection receptacle, using a dedicated cell phone. From 188 recordings, 34 were excluded, because of voided volume <150 mL or technical problems during recording. Sonouroflowmetry recording was visualized in a form of a trace, representing sound intensity over time. Subsequently, the matching datasets of uroflowmetry and sonouroflowmetry were compared with respect to flow time, voided volume, maximum flow rate and average flow rate. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to compare parameters recorded by uroflowmetry with those calculated based on sonouroflowmetry recordings. The flow pattern recorded by sonouroflowmetry showed a good correlation with the uroflowmetry trace. A strong correlation (Pearson's correlation coefficient 0.87) was documented between uroflowmetry-recorded flow time and duration of the sound signal recorded with sonouroflowmetry. A moderate correlation was observed in voided volume (Pearson's correlation coefficient 0.68) and average flow rate (Pearson's correlation coefficient 0.57). A weak correlation (Pearson's correlation coefficient 0.38) between maximum flow rate recorded using uroflowmetry and sonouroflowmetry-recorded peak sound intensity was documented. The present study shows that the basic concept utilizing sound analysis for estimation of urinary flow parameters and voided volume is valid. However, further development of this technology and standardization of recording algorithm are required. © 2015 The Japanese Urological Association.

Reliability of Lactation Assessment Tools Applied to Overweight and Obese Women.

PubMed

Chapman, Donna J; Doughty, Katherine; Mullin, Elizabeth M; Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael

2016-05-01

The interrater reliability of lactation assessment tools has not been evaluated in overweight/obese women. This study aimed to compare the interrater reliability of 4 lactation assessment tools in this population. A convenience sample of 45 women (body mass index > 27.0) was videotaped while breastfeeding (twice daily on days 2, 4, and 7 postpartum). Three International Board Certified Lactation Consultants independently rated each videotaped session using 4 tools (Infant Breastfeeding Assessment Tool [IBFAT], modified LATCH [mLATCH], modified Via Christi [mVC], and Riordan's Tool [RT]). For each day and tool, we evaluated interrater reliability with 1-way repeated-measures analyses of variance, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), and percentage absolute agreement between raters. Analyses of variance showed significant differences between raters' scores on day 2 (all scales) and day 7 (RT). Intraclass correlation coefficient values reflected good (mLATCH) to excellent reliability (IBFAT, mVC, and RT) on days 2 and 7. All day 4 ICCs reflected good reliability. The ICC for mLATCH was significantly lower than all others on day 2 and was significantly lower than IBFAT (day 7). Percentage absolute interrater agreement for scale components ranged from 31% (day 2: observable swallowing, RT) to 92% (day 7: IBFAT, fixing; and mVC, latch time). Swallowing scores on all scales had the lowest levels of interrater agreement (31%-64%). We demonstrated differences in the interrater reliability of 4 lactation assessment tools when applied to overweight/obese women, with the lowest values observed on day 4. Swallowing assessment was particularly unreliable. Researchers and clinicians using these scales should be aware of the differences in their psychometric behavior. © The Author(s) 2015.

Blinded evaluation of interrater reliability of an operative competency assessment tool for direct laryngoscopy and rigid bronchoscopy.

PubMed

Ishman, Stacey L; Benke, James R; Johnson, Kaalan Erik; Zur, Karen B; Jacobs, Ian N; Thorne, Marc C; Brown, David J; Lin, Sandra Y; Bhatti, Nasir; Deutsch, Ellen S

2012-10-01

OBJECTIVES To confirm interrater reliability using blinded evaluation of a skills-assessment instrument to assess the surgical performance of resident and fellow trainees performing pediatric direct laryngoscopy and rigid bronchoscopy in simulated models. DESIGN Prospective, paired, blinded observational validation study. SUBJECTS Paired observers from multiple institutions simultaneously evaluated residents and fellows who were performing surgery in an animal laboratory or using high-fidelity manikins. The evaluators had no previous affiliation with the residents and fellows and did not know their year of training. INTERVENTIONS One- and 2-page versions of an objective structured assessment of technical skills (OSATS) assessment instrument composed of global and a task-specific surgical items were used to evaluate surgical performance. RESULTS Fifty-two evaluations were completed by 17 attending evaluators. The instrument agreement for the 2-page assessment was 71.4% when measured as a binary variable (ie, competent vs not competent) (κ = 0.38; P = .08). Evaluation as a continuous variable revealed a 42.9% percentage agreement (κ = 0.18; P = .14). The intraclass correlation was 0.53, considered substantial/good interrater reliability (69% reliable). For the 1-page instrument, agreement was 77.4% when measured as a binary variable (κ = 0.53, P = .0015). Agreement when evaluated as a continuous measure was 71.0% (κ = 0.54, P < .001). The intraclass correlation was 0.73, considered high interrater reliability (85% reliable). CONCLUSIONS The OSATS assessment instrument is an effective tool for evaluating surgical performance among trainees with acceptable interrater reliability in a simulator setting. Reliability was good for both the 1- and 2-page OSATS checklists, and both serve as excellent tools to provide immediate formative feedback on operational competency.

Impact of Sense of Coherence on Oral Health among Bus Drivers: A Cross-Sectional Study

PubMed Central

Ahmed, Shaik Ijaz; Sudhir, Kudlur Maheswarappa; Reddy, V. Chandra Sekhara; Kumar, R. V. S. Krishna; Srinivasulu, G.; Deepthi, Athuluru

2018-01-01

Aim and Objectives: To assess the sense of coherence (SOC) and the impact of SOC on oral hygiene behaviors and oral health status among bus drivers in Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted during August–September 2017. Cluster random sampling methodology was used for the selection of drivers. Five depots were randomly selected from the list of various Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation depots in Nellore district. The estimated sample size was proportionately divided among these five depots of Nellore district (n = 120). The SOC-related data were obtained using short version of Antonovsky's SOC scale. Every item was scored on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 7. The sum of the scores for SOC was 13–91. A high score indicates a strong SOC. Clinical examination was done for recording oral health status using Oral Hygiene Index-simplified (OHI-S), dental caries, periodontal status, and oral mucosal lesions were recorded according to the WHO criteria 1997. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS ver. 22 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: Majority of the bus drivers who participated in the study had a low SOC (60%). A significant (P < 0.05) positive correlation was observed with age (r = 0.1420), socioeconomic status (r = 0.1467), and visit to dentist (r = 0.1912). A nonsignificant negative correlation was observed with habits (r = −0.0681), OHI-S (r = −0.0772), dental caries (r = −0.0874), Community Periodontal Index (r = −0.0642), loss of attachment (r = −0.0650), and oral mucosal lesions (r = −0.0542). Conclusion: Strong SOC was associated with increase in age, better socioeconomic status, good habits, increased frequency of dental visits, and a good oral health.

Predictive value of tracer studies for /sup 131/I treatment in hyperthyroid cats

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

Broome, M.R.; Turrel, J.M.; Hays, M.T.

In 76 cats with hyperthyroidism, peak thyroidal radioiodine (/sup 131/I) uptakes and effective half-lives were determined after administration of tracer and therapeutic activities of /sup 131/I. In 6 additional hyperthyroid cats, only peak thyroidal uptakes after administration of tracer and therapeutic activities of /sup 131/I were determined. Good correlation was found between peak thyroidal uptakes of tracer and therapeutic /sup 131/I; however, only fair correlation was observed between effective half-lives. In 79% of the cats, the effective half-life for therapeutic /sup 131/I was longer than that for tracer /sup 131/I. After administration of therapeutic activity of /sup 131/I, monoexponential andmore » biphasic decay curves were observed in 51 and 16 cats, respectively. Using therapeutic kinetic data, radiation doses to the thyroid gland were calculated retrospectively on the basis of 2 methods for determining the activity of /sup 131/I administered: (1) actual administration of tracer-compensated activity and (2) hypothetic administration of uniform activity (3 mCi). Because of the good predictive ability of tracer kinetic data for the therapeutic kinetic data, the tracer-compensated radiation doses came significantly (P = 0.008) closer to the therapeutic goal than did the uniform-activity doses. In addition, the use of tracer kinetic information reduced the extent of the tendency for consistently high uniform-activity doses. A manual method for acquiring tracer kinetic data was developed and was an acceptable alternative to computerized techniques. Adoption of this method gives individuals and institutions with limited finances the opportunity to characterize the iodine kinetics in cats before proceeding with administration of therapeutic activities of /sup 131/I.« less

Torsional actuation with extension-torsion composite coupling and a magnetostrictive actuator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bothwell, Christopher M.; Chandra, Ramesh; Chopra, Inderjit

1995-04-01

An analytical-experimental study of using magnetostrictive actuators in conjunction with an extension-torsion coupled composite tube to actuate a rotor blade trailing-edge flap to actively control helicopter vibration is presented. Thin walled beam analysis based on Vlasov theory was used to predict the induced twist and extension in a composite tube with magnetostrictive actuation. The study achieved good correlation between theory and experiment. The Kevlar-epoxy systems showed good correlation between measured and predicted twist values.

The rotation of Titan by latest Cassini data*

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meriggiola, R.; Iess, L.; Stiles, B. W.

2011-12-01

Between 2004 and 2009 the RADAR instrument of the Cassini mission provided 31 SAR images of Titan. With a good coverage of both polar and equatorial regions, SAR imaging revealed the complex and unique landforms of Titan's surface, including hydrocarbon lakes and river channels. As each observed land strip covers a wide interval of latitudes and/or longitudes, there are many regions of the satellite that have been observed twice, at different epochs and mean anomalies. The overlapping portions of the SAR images offer a good opportunity to determine the body's rotational state (spin pole and length of day) by means of landmark tracking. We selected 44 crossings and 252 outstanding surface features for image correlation. Each pair of features was georeferenced using the IAU model of Titan's rotation and correlated to produce a misregistration vector. The mismatching (in the range of 400 m-42 km) is mainly due to the incorrect values of the rotational parameters. A parallax effect due to errors in the presumed surface body shape can also contribute to misregistration. In extreme cases, this effect can contribute > 5 km of misregistration error. To avoid this extra error source we utilize Titan surface height estimates in our fitting procedure. Both systematic and random errors in the image correlation and georeferencing also contribute at the level of 1 km. The misregistration vectors are used as observable quantities in a least-squares fit, where the rotational parameters are adjusted to minimize the weighted residuals. We used the misregistration of tiepoints to estimate spin pole location (right ascension and declination at J2000 epoch) and the spin period. The new pole location, considering also the precession and nutation terms, is compatible with the occupancy of a Cassini state 1. The spin period is found to be compatible with a long-term synchronous rotation within the bounds of the experimental errors. The analysis confirms the large value of the obliquity (> 0.3 degrees), incompatible with the assumption of a rigid body with fully-damped pole and a moment of inertia factor of 0.34 (as determined by gravity measurements). * Portions of the work reported here were performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Monitoring the contents of six steroidal and phenolic endocrine disrupting chemicals in chicken, fish and aquaculture pond water samples using pre-column derivatization and dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with the aid of experimental design methodology.

PubMed

Wu, Hongliang; Li, Guoliang; Liu, Shucheng; Hu, Na; Geng, Dandan; Chen, Guang; Sun, Zhiwei; Zhao, Xianen; Xia, Lian; You, Jinmao

2016-02-01

This research established a sensitive and efficient pre-column derivatization HPLC method based on dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) for the simultaneous determination of six steroidal and phenolic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). In this study, EDCs were firstly labeled by the derivatization reagent 2-(11H-benzo[a]carbazol-11-yl) ethyl carbonochloridate (BCEC-Cl) and then extracted by DLLME. The response surface methodology was employed to investigate the key parameters of pre-column derivatization and DLLME. Under the optimal conditions, a good linear relationship between the peak area and the concentration of analytes was observed with correlation coefficients of >0.9991. Limits of detection for all EDCs derivatives were achieved within the range of 0.02-0.07 μg L(-1). The proposed method has the advantages of simple operation, low consumption of organic solvent, saving time, low output limit and good selectivity. When applied to several food and water samples analysis, it demonstrated good applicability for the determination of EDCs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Outcomes in children with nasolacrimal duct obstruction: Significance of persistent symptoms while stents are in place.

PubMed

Espinoza, Gabriela M; Lueder, Gregg T

2007-04-01

To evaluate the correlation between persistent symptoms while stents are in place and final outcome in children with nasolacrimal duct obstruction (NLDO). A retrospective observational case series, with medical record review that included indications for surgery, surgical procedure, presence of symptoms while stents were in place, and final outcome after stent removal. Twenty-eight children with NLDO had nasolacrimal duct stents placed in 42 eyes. Twenty-one of the 42 eyes (50%) had minimal or no signs or symptoms of NLDO while stents were in place, and 18 of 21 (86%) were symptom-free after stent removal. Twenty-one of the 42 eyes (50%) remained symptomatic while stents were in place. Eleven of these 21 eyes (52%) had good outcomes after stent removal. Ten (48%) of these patients had persistent symptoms after stent removal requiring further treatment. The prognosis for a good outcome is excellent if symptoms of NLDO resolve while stents are in place. The prognosis is poorer if symptoms of NLDO persist, but more than half of such patients still have good outcomes. Careful counseling of parents regarding these outcomes should be performed before considering additional interventions.

The evolution of active galactic nuclei in clusters of galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey

DOE PAGES

Bufanda, E.; Hollowood, D.; Jeltema, T. E.; ...

2016-12-13

The correlation between active galactic nuclei (AGN) and environment provides important clues to AGN fueling and the relationship of black hole growth to galaxy evolution. Here, we analyze the fraction of galaxies in clusters hosting AGN as a function of redshift and cluster richness for X-ray detected AGN associated with clusters of galaxies in Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification data. The present sample includes 33 AGN with L_X > 10 43 ergs s -1 in non-central, host galaxies with luminosity greater than 0.5 L* from a total sample of 432 clusters in the redshift range of 0.10.7. Our resultmore » is in good agreement with previous work and parallels the increase in star formation in cluster galaxies over the same redshift range. But, the AGN fraction in clusters is observed to have no significant correlation with cluster mass. Future analyses with DES Year 1 through Year 3 data will be able to clarify whether AGN activity is correlated to cluster mass and will tightly constrain the relationship between cluster AGN populations and redshift.« less

Chaos synchronization in vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser based on rotated polarization-preserved optical feedback.

PubMed

Nazhan, Salam; Ghassemlooy, Zabih; Busawon, Krishna

2016-01-01

In this paper, the influence of the rotating polarization-preserved optical feedback on the chaos synchronization of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is investigated experimentally. Two VCSELs' polarization modes (XP) and (YP) are gradually rotated and re-injected back into the VCSEL. The anti-phase dynamics synchronization of the two polarization modes is evaluated using the cross-correlation function. For a fixed optical feedback, a clear relationship is found between the cross-correlation coefficient and the polarization angle θp. It is shown that high-quality anti-phase polarization-resolved chaos synchronization is achieved at higher values of θp. The maximum value of the cross-correlation coefficient achieved is -0.99 with a zero time delay over a wide range of θp beyond 65° with a poor synchronization dynamic at θp less than 65°. Furthermore, it is observed that the antiphase irregular oscillation of the XP and YP modes changes with θp. VCSEL under the rotating polarization optical feedback can be a good candidate as a chaotic synchronization source for a secure communication system.

Field measurement evidence for an atmospheric chemical source of formic and acetic acids in the tropic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanhueza, Eugenio; Santana, Magaly; Trapp, Dorothea; de Serves, Claes; Figueroa, Luis; Romero, Rodrigo; Rondón, Alberto; Donoso, Loreto

The simultaneous measurements of atmospheric HCOOH, CH3COOH H2O2, organic peroxides, HCHO, CH3CHO and isoprene made in the Venezuelan savannah region, in the wet season (September, 1993) and during the period of high solar irradiation is reported. The average concentrations (in ppbv) between 10:00 and 16:00 were: HCOOH 0.75±0.32, CH3COOH 0.56±0.28, H2O2 1.37±0.48, the total peroxides 1.83±0.60, HCHO 1.38± .43, CH3CHO 0.35±0.15, and isoprene 2.18±0.78. A good correlation was observed between the concentrations (15 min averages) of both acids. The acids also correlate with isoprene (the most abundant olefin in the savannah atmosphere), H2O2 and the total peroxides. HCOOH also correlates well with HCHO and CH3CHO. These results support the hypothesis that significant amount of formic and acetic acids are produced in the tropical atmosphere as a result of the oxidation of reactive hydrocarbons.

Distributions of positive correlations in sectoral value added growth in the global economic network*

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maluck, Julian; Donner, Reik V.

2017-02-01

International trade has grown considerably during the process of globalization. Complex supply chains for the production of goods have resulted in an increasingly connected International Trade Network (ITN). Traditionally, direct trade relations between industries have been regarded as mediators of supply and demand spillovers. With increasing network connectivity the question arises if higher-order relations become more important in explaining a national sector's susceptibility to supply and demand changes of its trading partner. In this study we address this question by investigating empirically to what extent the topological properties of the ITN provide information about positive correlations in the production of two industry sectors. We observe that although direct trade relations between industries serve as important indicators for correlations in the industries' value added growth, opportunities of substitution for required production inputs as well as second-order trade relations cannot be neglected. Our results contribute to a better understanding of the relation between trade and economic productivity and can serve as a basis for the improvement of crisis spreading models that evaluate contagion threats in the case of a node's failure in the ITN.

Measurement of the correlation between the polar angles of leptons from top quark decays in the helicity basis at √s=7 TeV using the ATLAS detector

DOE PAGES

Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; Abdallah, J.; ...

2016-01-13

A measurement of the correlations between the polar angles of leptons from the decay of pair-produced t andmore » $$\\bar{t}$$ quarks in the helicity basis is reported, using proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb -1 at a center-of-mass energy of √s=7 TeV collected during 2011. Candidate events are selected in the dilepton topology with large missing transverse momentum and at least two jets. The angles θ1 and θ2 between the charged leptons and the direction of motion of the parent quarks in the t$$\\bar{t}$$ rest frame are sensitive to the spin information, and the distribution of cosθ 1•cosθ 2 is sensitive to the spin correlation between the t and $$\\bar{t}$$ quarks. The distribution is unfolded to parton level and compared to the next-to-leading order prediction. A good agreement is observed.« less

A density functional theory study of the correlation between analyte basicity, ZnPc adsorption strength, and sensor response.

PubMed

Tran, N L; Bohrer, F I; Trogler, W C; Kummel, A C

2009-05-28

Density functional theory (DFT) simulations were used to determine the binding strength of 12 electron-donating analytes to the zinc metal center of a zinc phthalocyanine molecule (ZnPc monomer). The analyte binding strengths were compared to the analytes' enthalpies of complex formation with boron trifluoride (BF(3)), which is a direct measure of their electron donating ability or Lewis basicity. With the exception of the most basic analyte investigated, the ZnPc binding energies were found to correlate linearly with analyte basicities. Based on natural population analysis calculations, analyte complexation to the Zn metal of the ZnPc monomer resulted in limited charge transfer from the analyte to the ZnPc molecule, which increased with analyte-ZnPc binding energy. The experimental analyte sensitivities from chemiresistor ZnPc sensor data were proportional to an exponential of the binding energies from DFT calculations consistent with sensitivity being proportional to analyte coverage and binding strength. The good correlation observed suggests DFT is a reliable method for the prediction of chemiresistor metallophthalocyanine binding strengths and response sensitivities.

Comparison of culture media, simplate, and petrifilm for enumeration of yeasts and molds in food.

PubMed

Taniwaki, M H; Silva, N; Banhe, A A; Iamanaka, B T

2001-10-01

The efficacy of three culture media, dichloran rose bengal chloramphenicol (DRBC), dichloran 18% glycerol agar (DG18), and potato dextrose agar (PDA) supplemented with two antibiotics, were compared with the Simplate and Petrifilm techniques for mold and yeast enumeration. The following foods were analyzed: corn meal, wheat flour, cassava flour, bread crumbs, whole meal, sliced bread, ground peanuts, mozzarella cheese, grated parmesan cheese, cheese rolls, orange juice, pineapple pulp, pineapple cake, and mushroom in conserve. Correlation coefficients of DRBC versus PDA and DG18 for recovering total mold and yeast counts from the composite of 14 foods indicated that the three media were generally equivalent. Correlation coefficients for Petrifilm versus culture media were acceptable, although not as good as between culture media. Correlation coefficients of Simplate versus DRBC, DG18, PDA, and Petrifilm for recovering total yeasts and molds from a composite of 11 foods demonstrated that there was no equivalence between the counts obtained by Simplate and other culture media and Petrifilm, with significant differences observed for the most foods analyzed.

Correlation of anisotropy and directional conduction in β-Li 3PS 4 fast Li + conductor

DOE PAGES

Chen, Yan; Cai, Lu; Liu, Zengcai; ...

2015-07-06

Our letter reports the correlation of anisotropy and directional conduction in the fast Li + conductor β-Li 3PS 4, one of the low-symmetry crystalline electrolyte candidates. The material has both high conductivity and good stability that serves well for the large-scale energy storage applications of all-solid-state lithium ion batteries. The anisotropic physical properties, demonstrated here by the thermal expansion coefficients, are crucial for compatibility in the solid-state system and battery performance. Neutron and X-ray powder diffraction measurements were done to determine the crystal structure and thermal stability. Moreover, the crystallographic b-axis was revealed as a fast expansion direction, while negligiblemore » thermal expansion was observed along the a-axis around the battery operating temperatures. The anisotropic behavior has its structural origin from the Li + conduction channels with incomplete Li occupancy and a flexible connection of LiS 4 and PS 4 tetrahedra within the framework. This indicates a strong correlation in the direction of the ionic transport in the low-symmetry Li + conductor.« less

Double Gamow-Teller Transitions and its Relation to Neutrinoless β β Decay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimizu, Noritaka; Menéndez, Javier; Yako, Kentaro

2018-04-01

We study the double Gamow-Teller (DGT) strength distribution of 48Ca with state-of-the-art large-scale nuclear shell model calculations. Our analysis shows that the centroid energy of the DGT giant resonance depends mostly on the isovector pairing interaction, while the resonance width is more sensitive to isoscalar pairing. Pairing correlations are also key in neutrinoless β β (0 ν β β ) decay. We find a simple relation between the centroid energy of the 48Ca DGT giant resonance and the 0 ν β β decay nuclear matrix element. More generally, we observe a very good linear correlation between the DGT transition to the ground state of the final nucleus and the 0 ν β β decay matrix element. The correlation, which originates on the dominant short-range character of both transitions, extends to heavier systems including several β β emitters and also holds in energy-density functional results. Our findings suggest that DGT experiments can be a very valuable tool to obtain information on the value of 0 ν β β decay nuclear matrix elements.

[The appraisal of reliability and validity of subjective workload assessment technique and NASA-task load index].

PubMed

Xiao, Yuan-mei; Wang, Zhi-ming; Wang, Mian-zhen; Lan, Ya-jia

2005-06-01

To test the reliability and validity of two mental workload assessment scales, i.e. subjective workload assessment technique (SWAT) and NASA task load index (NASA-TLX). One thousand two hundred and sixty-eight mental workers were sampled from various kinds of occupations, such as scientific research, education, administration and medicine, etc, with randomized cluster sampling. The re-test reliability, split-half reliability, Cronbach's alpha coefficient and correlation coefficients between item score and total score were adopted to test the reliability. The test of validity included structure validity. The re-test reliability coefficients of these two scales and their items were ranged from 0.516 to 0.753 (P < 0.01), indicating the two scales had good re-test reliability; the split-half reliability of SWAT was 0.645, and its Cronbach's alpha coefficient was more than 0.80, all the correlation coefficients between its items score and total score were more than 0.70; as for NASA-TLX, both the split-half reliability and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were more than 0.80, the correlation coefficients between its items score and total score were all more than 0.60 (P < 0.01) except the item of performance. Both scales had good inner consistency. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the two scales was 0.492 (P < 0.01), implying the results of the two scales had good consistency. Factor analysis showed that the two scales had good structure validity. Both SWAT and NASA-TLX have good reliability and validity and may be used as a valid tool to assess mental workload in China after being revised properly.

Reliability and validity of the Cancer Therapy Satisfaction Questionnaire in lung cancer.

PubMed

Cheung, K; de Mol, M; Visser, S; Den Oudsten, B L; Stricker, B H; Aerts, J G J V

2016-01-01

To test the reliability and validity of the Cancer Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (CTSQ), to assess its relation with quality of life (QoL), and to assess the interpretability of the domain scores in lung cancer patients receiving intravenous chemotherapy. Patients with stage IIIB and IV non-squamous non-small cell lung carcinoma treated with pemetrexed were enrolled in our study. They completed the 16-item CTSQ and two other (health-related) QoL questionnaires. Information about sociodemographic characteristics, cancer stage, and the experience of adverse events was collected. Internal consistency, construct validity, and clinical interpretability were calculated. Fifty-five patients completed the CTSQ. Correlations of the CTSQ items with its domain were all above 0.40. A high correlation between item 8 and the expectations of therapy and satisfaction with therapy domain was observed (0.50 and 0.48, respectively). The CTSQ domains demonstrated good internal consistency and low to moderate correlations of the CTSQ with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-C30 and World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF. No significant differences in mean domain scores were observed in relation to the number and severity of different adverse events and chemotherapy-related adverse events. The Dutch version of the CTSQ was found to be a reliable and valid instrument to assess satisfaction and expectations of treatment in lung cancer patients receiving intravenous chemotherapy. Furthermore, the CTSQ proved to be of additional informative value as not all of its domains correlated with the various domains of the existing HRQoL instruments.

Cosmic shear analysis of archival HST/ACS data. I. Comparison of early ACS pure parallel data to the HST/GEMS survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schrabback, T.; Erben, T.; Simon, P.; Miralles, J.-M.; Schneider, P.; Heymans, C.; Eifler, T.; Fosbury, R. A. E.; Freudling, W.; Hetterscheidt, M.; Hildebrandt, H.; Pirzkal, N.

2007-06-01

Context: This is the first paper of a series describing our measurement of weak lensing by large-scale structure, also termed “cosmic shear”, using archival observations from the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Aims: In this work we present results from a pilot study testing the capabilities of the ACS for cosmic shear measurements with early parallel observations and presenting a re-analysis of HST/ACS data from the GEMS survey and the GOODS observations of the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS). Methods: We describe the data reduction and, in particular, a new correction scheme for the time-dependent ACS point-spread-function (PSF) based on observations of stellar fields. This is currently the only technique which takes the full time variation of the PSF between individual ACS exposures into account. We estimate that our PSF correction scheme reduces the systematic contribution to the shear correlation functions due to PSF distortions to <2 × 10-6 for galaxy fields containing at least 10 stars, which corresponds to ⪉5% of the cosmological signal expected on scales of a single ACS field. Results: We perform a number of diagnostic tests indicating that the remaining level of systematics is consistent with zero for the GEMS and GOODS data confirming the success of our PSF correction scheme. For the parallel data we detect a low level of remaining systematics which we interpret to be caused by a lack of sufficient dithering of the data. Combining the shear estimate of the GEMS and GOODS observations using 96 galaxies arcmin-2 with the photometric redshift catalogue of the GOODS-MUSIC sample, we determine a local single field estimate for the mass power spectrum normalisation σ8, CDFS=0.52+0.11-0.15 (stat) ± 0.07(sys) (68% confidence assuming Gaussian cosmic variance) at a fixed matter density Ω_m=0.3 for a ΛCDM cosmology marginalising over the uncertainty of the Hubble parameter and the redshift distribution. We interpret this exceptionally low estimate to be due to a local under-density of the foreground structures in the CDFS. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the data archives at the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility and the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

Psychometric properties and measurement equivalence of the Multidimensional Fatigue Syndrome Inventory- Short Form (MFSI-SF) amongst breast cancer and lymphoma patients in Singapore.

PubMed

Chan, Alexandre; Lew, Claire; Wang, Xiao Jun; Ng, Terence; Chae, Jung-Woo; Yeo, Hui Ling; Shwe, Maung; Gan, Yan Xiang

2018-01-19

Currently, several fatigue measurement instruments are available to evaluate and measure cancer-related fatigue. Amongst them, Multidimensional Fatigue Syndrome Inventory-Short Form (MFSI-SF) is a self-reported instrument and a multidimensional scale that aims to capture the global, somatic, affective, cognitive and behavioural symptoms of fatigue. This study examines the psychometric properties and measurement equivalence of the English and Chinese versions of MFSI-SF in breast cancer and lymphoma patients in Singapore. Patients were recruited from National Cancer Centre Singapore. Validity, reliability and responsiveness of MFSI-SF were evaluated in this study. Convergent validity was evaluated by correlating total and subscales of MFSI-SF to known related constructs in EORTC QLQ-C30. Known group validity was assessed based on patients' cancer stage, pain, insomnia and depression symptoms. Reliability was evaluated by Cronbach's α. Responsiveness analyses were performed with patients who have undergone at least one cycle of chemotherapy. Multiple regression was used to compare the total and subscale scores of MSFI-SF between the two language versions. Data from 246 (160 English and 86 Chinese version) breast cancer and lymphoma patients were included in the study. Moderate to high correlations were observed between correlated MFSI-SF subscales and EORTC QLQ-C30 domains (|r| = 0.524 to 0.774) except for a poor correlation (r = 0.394) observed between MFSI-SF vigour subscale and EORTC QLQ-C30 role functioning subscale. Total MFSI-SF scores could differentiate between patients with higher depression, pain and insomnia status. Internal consistency of MFSI-SF was also high (α = 0.749 to 0.944). Moderate correlation was observed between change in total MFSI-SF score and change in fatigue symptom scale score and global QoL score on EORTC QLQ-C30 (|r| = 0.478 and 0.404 respectively). Poor correlations were observed between change in scores of hypothesised subscales (|r| = 0.202 to 0.361) except for a moderate correlation between change in MFSI-SF emotional fatigue score and change in EORTC QLQ-C30 emotional functioning domain score. Measurement equivalence was established for all subscales and total MFSI-SF score except for the emotional and vigour subscales. This study supports the use of MFSI-SF as a reasonably valid scale with good internal consistency for measuring fatigue levels in the Singapore cancer population.

Synergistic estimation of surface parameters from jointly using optical and microwave observations in EOLDAS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timmermans, Joris; Gomez-Dans, Jose; Lewis, Philip; Loew, Alexander; Schlenz, Florian

2017-04-01

The large amount of remote sensing data nowadays available provides a huge potential for monitoring crop development, drought conditions and water efficiency. This potential however not been realized yet because algorithms for land surface parameter retrieval mostly use data from only a single sensor. Consequently products that combine different low-level observations from different sensors are hard to find. The lack of synergistic retrieval is caused because it is easier to focus on single sensor types/footprints and temporal observation times, than to find a way to compensate for differences. Different sensor types (microwave/optical) require different radiative transfer (RT) models and also require consistency between the models to have any impact on the retrieval of soil moisture by a microwave instrument. Varying spatial footprints require first proper collocation of the data before one can scale between different resolutions. Considering these problems, merging optical and microwave observations have not been performed yet. The goal of this research was to investigate the potential of integrating optical and microwave RT models within the Earth Observation Land Data Assimilation System (EOLDAS) synergistically to derive biophysical parameters. This system uses a Bayesian data assimilation approach together with observation operators such as the PROSAIL model to estimate land surface parameters. For the purpose of enabling the system to integrate passive microwave radiation (from an ELBARRA II passive microwave radiometer), the Community Microwave Emission Model (CMEM) RT-model, was integrated within the EOLDAS system. In order to quantify the potential, a variety of land surface parameters was chosen to be retrieved from the system, in particular variables that a) impact only optical RT (such as leaf water content and leaf dry matter), b) only impact the microwave RT (such as soil moisture and soil temperature), and c) Leaf Area Index (LAI) that impacts both optical and microwave RT. The results show a high potential when both optical and microwave are used independently. Using only RapidEye only with SAIL RT model, LAI was estimated with R=0.68 with p=0.09, although estimating leaf water content and dry matter showed lower correlations |R|<0.4. The results for retrieving soil temperature and leaf area index retrievals using only (passive microwave) Elbarra-II observations were good with respectively R=[0.85, 0.79], P=[0.0, 0.0], when focusing on dry-spells (of at least 9 days) only the results respectively [R=0.73, and P=0.0], and R=0.89 and R=0.77 for respectively the trend and anomalies. Synergistically using optical and microwave shows also a good potential. This scenario shows that absolute errors improved (with RMSE=1.22 and S=0.89), but with degrading correlations (R=0.59 and P=0.04); the sparse optical observations only improved part of the temporal domain. However in general the synergistic retrieval showed good potential; microwave data provides better information concerning the overall trend of the retrieved LAI due to the regular acquisitions, while optical data provides better information concerning the absolute values of the LAI.

The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) Spitzer Legacy Science Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dickinson, M.; GOODS Team

2004-12-01

The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) is an anthology of observing programs that are creating a rich, public, multiwavelength data set for studying galaxy formation and evolution. GOODS is observing two fields, one in each hemisphere, with extremely deep imaging and spectroscopy using the most powerful telescopes in space and on the ground. The GOODS Spitzer Legacy Science Program completes the trio of observations from NASA's Great Observatories, joining already-completed GOODS data from Chandra and Hubble. Barring unforeseen difficulties, the GOODS Spitzer observing program will have been completed by the end of 2004, and the first data products will have been released to the astronomical community. In this Special Oral Session, and in an accompanying poster session, the GOODS team presents early scientific results from this Spitzer Legacy program, as well as new research based on other GOODS data sets. I will introduce the session with a brief description of the Legacy observations and data set. Support for this work, part of the Spitzer Space Telescope Legacy Science Program, was provided by NASA through Contract Number 1224666 issued by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under NASA contract 1407.

Fine-motor skills testing and prediction of endovascular performance.

PubMed

Bech, Bo; Lönn, Lars; Schroeder, Torben V; Ringsted, Charlotte

2013-12-01

Performing endovascular procedures requires good control of fine-motor digital movements and hand-eye coordination. Objective assessment of such skills is difficult. Trainees acquire control of catheter/wire movements at various paces. However, little is known to what extent talent plays for novice candidates at entry to practice. To study the association between performance in a novel aptitude test of fine-motor skills and performance in simulated procedures. The test was based on manual course-tracking using a proprietary hand-operated roller-bar device coupled to a personal computer with monitor view rotation. A total of 40 test repetitions were conducted separately with each hand. Test scores were correlated with simulator performance. Group A (n = 14), clinicians with various levels of endovascular experience, performed a simulated procedure of contralateral iliac artery stenting. Group B (n = 19), medical students, performed 10 repetitions of crossing a challenging aortic bifurcation in a simulator. The test score differed markedly between the individuals in both groups, in particular with the non-dominant hand. Group A: the test score with the non-dominant hand correlated significantly with simulator performance assessed with the global rating scale SAVE (R = -0.69, P = 0.007). There was no association observed from performances with the dominant hand. Group B: there was no significant association between the test score and endovascular skills acquisition neither with the dominant nor with the non-dominant hand. Clinicians with increasing levels of endovascular technical experience had developed good fine-motor control of the non-dominant hand, in particular, that was associated with good procedural performance in the simulator. The aptitude test did not predict endovascular skills acquisition among medical students, thus, cannot be suggested for selection of novice candidates. Procedural experience and practice probably supplant the influence of innate abilities (talent) over time.

Effect of particle size of rice flour on physical and sensory properties of Sel-roti.

PubMed

Subba, Dilip; Katawal, Surendra Bahadur

2013-02-01

Sel-roti is a delicious, deep-fat fried, puffed, ring shaped spongy doughnut like Nepalese indigenous food prepared from the batter of rice flour, ghee and sugar. A study was conducted to determine the effect of particle size of rice flour on bulk density, oil uptake and texture of Sel-roti. Rice was soaked in water and ground with the help of iron mortar and pestle and the flour was analyzed for particle size distribution by using standard sieves and separated into three particle size categories as coarse (> 890 u), medium (120-890 u) and fine (< 120 u). The rice flour of different particle sizes were mixed in different proportions and Sel-roti was prepared from these flours. Bulk density and oil uptake were determined and sensory test was carried out. The results showed significant good positive correlation between mean particle size and bulk density (r = 0.97, p ≤ 0.05) and a good negative correlation between mean particle size and oil-uptake (r = 0.90, p ≤ 0.05). Good positive correlation of mean particle size with texture attributes like hardness (r = 0.99, p ≤ 0.05) and fracturability (r = 0.96, p ≤ 0.05) and good negative correlation with smoothness (r  = -0.97, p ≤ 0.05), cohesiveness (r = -0.92, p ≤ 0.05), stickiness (r = -0.76, p ≤ 0.05) and oily mouth feel (r = -0.85, p ≤ 0.05) and fair positive correlation with chewiness (r = 0.65, p > 0.05) were found.

A comparison of rat myosin from fast and slow skeletal muscle and the effect of disuse

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Unsworth, B. R.; Witzmann, F. A.; Fitts, R. H.

1981-01-01

Certain enzymatic and structural features of myosin, purified from rat skeletal muscles representative of the fast twitch glycolytic (type IIb), the fast twitch oxidative (type IIa), and the slow twitch oxidative (type I) fiber, were determined and the results were compared with the measured contractile properties. Good correlation was found between the shortening velocities and Ca(2+)-activated ATPase activity for each fiber type. Short term hind limb immobilization caused prolongation of contraction time and one-half relaxation time in the fast twitch muscles and a reduction of these contractile properties in slow twitch soleus. Furthermore, the increased maximum shortening velocity in the immobilized soleus could be correlated with increased Ca(2+)-ATPase, but no change was observed in the enzymatic activity of the fast twitch muscles. No alteration in light chain distribution with disuse was observed in any of the fiber types. The myosin from slow twitch soleus could be distinguished from fast twitch myosins on the basis of the pattern of peptides generated by proteolysis of the heavy chains. Six weeks of hind limb immobilization resulted in both an increased ATPase activity and an altered heavy chain primary structure in the slow twitch soleus muscle.

Comparison of mean climate trends in the Northern Hemisphere between National Centers for Environmental Prediction and two atmosphere-ocean model forced runs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lucarini, Valerio; Russell, Gary L.

2002-08-01

Results are presented for two greenhouse gas experiments of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies atmosphere-ocean model (AOM). The computed trends of surface pressure; surface temperature; 850, 500, and 200 mbar geopotential heights; and related temperatures of the model for the time frame 1960-2000 are compared with those obtained from the National Centers for Enviromental Prediction (NCEP) observations. The domain of interest is the Northern Hemisphere because of the higher reliability of both the model results and the observations. A spatial correlation analysis and a mean value comparison are performed, showing good agreement in terms of statistical significance for most of the variables considered in the winter and annual means. However, the 850 mbar temperature trends do not show significant positive correlation, and the surface pressure and 850 mbar geopotential height mean trends confidence intervals do not overlap. A brief general discussion about the statistics of trend detection is presented. The accuracy that this AOM has in describing the regional and NH mean climate trends inferred from NCEP through the atmosphere suggests that it may be reliable in forecasting future climate changes.

Sub-surface structure of La Soufrière of Guadeloupe lava dome deduced from a ground-based magnetic survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouligand, Claire; Coutant, Olivier; Glen, Jonathan M. G.

2016-07-01

In this study, we present the analysis and interpretation of a new ground magnetic survey acquired at the Soufrière volcano on Guadeloupe Island. Observed short-wavelength magnetic anomalies are compared to those predicted assuming a constant magnetization within the sub-surface. The good correlation between modeled and observed data over the summit of the dome indicates that the shallow sub-surface displays relatively constant and high magnetization intensity. In contrast, the poor correlation at the base of the dome suggests that the underlying material is non- to weakly-magnetic, consistent with what is expected for a talus comprised of randomly oriented and highly altered and weathered boulders. The new survey also reveals a dipole anomaly that is not accounted for by a constant magnetization in the sub-surface and suggests the existence of material with decreased magnetization beneath the Soufrière lava dome. We construct simple models to constrain its dimensions and propose that this body corresponds to hydrothermally altered material within and below the dome. The very large inferred volume for such material may have implications on the stability of the dome.

Measurement and correlation of the solubility of gossypol acetic acid and gossypol acetic acid of optical activity in different solvents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, B.; Tang, H.; Liu, X. Y.; Zhai, X.; Yao, X. C.

2018-01-01

The equilibrium method was used to measure the solubility of gossypol acetic acid and gossypol acetic acid of optical activity in isopropyl alcohol, ethanol, acetic acid and ethyl acetate at temperature from 288.15 to 315.15. The Empirical equation and the Apelblat equation model were adopted to correlate the experimental data. For gossypol acetic acid, the root-mean-square deviations (RMSD) were observed in the range of 0.023-4.979 and 0.0112-0.614 for the Empirical equation and the Apelblat equation, respectively. For gossypol acetic acid of optical activity, the RMSD were observed in the range of 0.021-2.211 and 0.021-2.243 for the Empirical equation and the Apelblat equation, individually. And the maximum relative average deviation was 7.5%. Both equations offered an accurate mathematical expression of the experimental results. The calculated solubility showed a good relationship with the experimental solubility for most of solvents. This study provided valuable datas not only for optimizing the process of purification of gossypol acetic acid of optical activity in industry but also for further theoretical studies.

The Dutch version of the Oxford Ankle and Foot Questionnaire for Children: Useful for evaluation of pediatric foot problems in groups.

PubMed

Burger, Elise; Selles, Ruud; van Nieuwkasteele, Shelly; Bessems, Gert; Pollet, Virginie; Hovius, Steven; van Nieuwenhoven, Christianne

2017-11-04

The purpose of this study is to develop a Dutch version of the Oxford Ankle and Foot Questionnaire for Children (OxAFQ-c) to allow evaluation of pediatric foot care. The OxAFQ-c was translated into Dutch, according to the ISPOR-guidelines. Children with different foot and ankle complaints completed the OxAFQ-c at baseline, after two weeks, and after 4-6 months. Measurement properties were assessed in terms of reliability, responsiveness, and construct validity. Test-retest reliability showed moderate intraclass correlation coefficients. Bland-Altman plots showed wide limits of agreement. After 4-6 months, the group that experienced improvement also showed improved questionnaire outcomes, indicating responsiveness. Moderate correlation between the OxAFQ-c and the Kidscreen and foot-specific VAS-scores were observed, indicating moderate construct validity. The Dutch OxAFQ-c showed moderate to good measurement properties. However, because we observed limited sensitivity to changes and wide limits of agreement in individual patients, we think the questionnaire should only be used in groups. Copyright © 2017 European Foot and Ankle Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Correlation and agreement of self-assessed and objective skin disease severity in a cross-sectional study of patients with acne, psoriasis, and atopic eczema.

PubMed

Magin, Parker J; Pond, C Dimity; Smith, Wayne T; Watson, Alan B; Goode, Susan M

2011-12-01

Previous studies have shown variable correlation of patients' self-assessed skin severity measures and clinician-assessed objective measures of severity. But, generally, correlation has not been as good as might be expected for conditions in which the objective physical extent of skin disease is apparent to the sufferer to an extent that is not applicable in many other diseases. This paper reports agreement and correlation of self-assessed and objective severity measures in a study of 108 subjects with acne, psoriasis, or atopic eczema. The study was a cross-sectional study examining psychological associations of these skin diseases. Objective severity was assessed with the Leeds technique (acne), the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index, and Six Area Six Sign Atopic Dermatitis instruments. Agreement is a more appropriate measure than correlation in this situation and was measured with weighted kappa, while correlation was measured with Spearman's rank correlation. There was a modest correlation of ρ = 0.46 and similarly very modest agreement of 0.35 (weighted kappa) of self-assessed and clinician-assessed disease severity. Furthermore, self-assessed (but not clinician-assessed) severity was statistically associated with psychological morbidity in this study; i.e. - depression, anxiety, and overall psychological morbidity. Clinicians should consider psychological sequelae of skin disease, not only in those with objectively more severe disease but in patients across the severity spectrum. Both observational and interventional studies of skin disease should include both clinician-assessed and self-assessed measures of severity among assessed variables. © 2011 The International Society of Dermatology.

The influence of unsteady aerodynamics on hingeless rotor ground resonance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, W.

1981-01-01

Calculations of the model frequency and damping for a hingeless rotor on a gimballed support in hover are compared with measured results for two configurations (differing in blade flap stiffness). Good correlation is obtaned when an inflow dynamics model is used to account for the influence of the unsteady aerodynamics. The effect of the unsteady aerodynamics is significant for this rotor system. The inflow dynamics model introduces additional states corresponding to perturbations of the wake-induced velocity at the rotor disk. The calculations confirm the experimental observation that the inflow mode introduced by these additional states is measurable for one configuration but not for the other.

Repulsive atomic gas in a harmonic trap on the border of itinerant ferromagnetism.

PubMed

Conduit, G J; Simons, B D

2009-11-13

Alongside superfluidity, itinerant (Stoner) ferromagnetism remains one of the most well-characterized phases of correlated Fermi systems. A recent experiment has reported the first evidence for novel phase behavior on the repulsive side of the Feshbach resonance in a two-component ultracold Fermi gas. By adapting recent theoretical studies to the atomic trap geometry, we show that an adiabatic ferromagnetic transition would take place at a weaker interaction strength than is observed in experiment. This discrepancy motivates a simple nonequilibrium theory that takes account of the dynamics of magnetic defects and three-body losses. The formalism developed displays good quantitative agreement with experiment.

The Growth of Multi-Site Fatigue Damage in Fuselage Lap Joints

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Piascik, Robert S.; Willard, Scott A.

1999-01-01

Destructive examinations were performed to document the progression of multi-site damage (MSD) in three lap joint panels that were removed from a full scale fuselage test article that was tested to 60,000 full pressurization cycles. Similar fatigue crack growth characteristics were observed for small cracks (50 microns to 10 mm) emanating from counter bore rivets, straight shank rivets, and 100 deg counter sink rivets. Good correlation of the fatigue crack growth data base obtained in this study and FASTRAN Code predictions show that the growth of MSD in the fuselage lap joint structure can be predicted by fracture mechanics based methods.