Cluster and principal component analysis based on SSR markers of Amomum tsao-ko in Jinping County of Yunnan Province

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Mengli; Lei, En; Meng, Hengling; Wang, Tiantao; Xie, Linyan; Shen, Dong; Xianwang, Zhou; Lu, Bingyue

2017-08-01

Amomum tsao-ko is a commercial plant that used for various purposes in medicinal and food industries. For the present investigation, 44 germplasm samples were collected from Jinping County of Yunnan Province. Clusters analysis and 2-dimensional principal component analysis (PCA) was used to represent the genetic relations among Amomum tsao-ko by using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Clustering analysis clearly distinguished the samples groups. Two major clusters were formed; first (Cluster I) consisted of 34 individuals, the second (Cluster II) consisted of 10 individuals, Cluster I as the main group contained multiple sub-clusters. PCA also showed 2 groups: PCA Group 1 included 29 individuals, PCA Group 2 included 12 individuals, consistent with the results of cluster analysis. The purpose of the present investigation was to provide information on genetic relationship of Amomum tsao-ko germplasm resources in main producing areas, also provide a theoretical basis for the protection and utilization of Amomum tsao-ko resources.

75 FR 75811 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for Office of Management and Budget Review...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-06

... samples from individual human donors, including donors of whole blood and blood components intended for....S. blood collections have been testing donors using a licensed assay. We believe these... cruzi Infection in Whole Blood and Blood Components Intended for Transfusion AGENCY: Food and Drug...

The Program Evaluation Guide: A Preliminary Review of Special Education Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nulty, Elizabeth C.

2017-01-01

Special education programs vary in the quality of services provided across states, cities, and school districts. There are three major components necessary for a quality special education program for children with complex learning needs. These components include systems level analysis, capacity building for staff, and strong individual student…

Methods for designing interventions to change healthcare professionals' behaviour: a systematic review.

PubMed

Colquhoun, Heather L; Squires, Janet E; Kolehmainen, Niina; Fraser, Cynthia; Grimshaw, Jeremy M

2017-03-04

Systematic reviews consistently indicate that interventions to change healthcare professional (HCP) behaviour are haphazardly designed and poorly specified. Clarity about methods for designing and specifying interventions is needed. The objective of this review was to identify published methods for designing interventions to change HCP behaviour. A search of MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO was conducted from 1996 to April 2015. Using inclusion/exclusion criteria, a broad screen of abstracts by one rater was followed by a strict screen of full text for all potentially relevant papers by three raters. An inductive approach was first applied to the included studies to identify commonalities and differences between the descriptions of methods across the papers. Based on this process and knowledge of related literatures, we developed a data extraction framework that included, e.g. level of change (e.g. individual versus organization); context of development; a brief description of the method; tasks included in the method (e.g. barrier identification, component selection, use of theory). 3966 titles and abstracts and 64 full-text papers were screened to yield 15 papers included in the review, each outlining one design method. All of the papers reported methods developed within a specific context. Thirteen papers included barrier identification and 13 included linking barriers to intervention components; although not the same 13 papers. Thirteen papers targeted individual HCPs with only one paper targeting change across individual, organization, and system levels. The use of theory and user engagement were included in 13/15 and 13/15 papers, respectively. There is an agreement across methods of four tasks that need to be completed when designing individual-level interventions: identifying barriers, selecting intervention components, using theory, and engaging end-users. Methods also consist of further additional tasks. Examples of methods for designing the organisation and system-level interventions were limited. Further analysis of design tasks could facilitate the development of detailed guidelines for designing interventions.

Associations Between Adiposity and Metabolic Syndrome Over Time: The Healthy Twin Study.

PubMed

Song, Yun-Mi; Sung, Joohon; Lee, Kayoung

2017-04-01

We evaluated the association between changes in adiposity traits including anthropometric and fat mass indicators and changes in metabolic syndrome traits including metabolic syndrome clustering and individual components over time. We also assessed the shared genetic and environmental correlations between the two traits. Participants were 284 South Korean twin individuals and 279 nontwin family members had complete data for changes in adiposity traits and metabolic syndrome traits of the Healthy Twin study. Mixed linear model and bivariate variance-component analysis were applied. Over a period of 3.1 ± 0.6 years of study, changes in adiposity traits [body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, total fat mass, and fat mass to lean mass ratio] had significant associations with changes in metabolic syndrome clustering [high blood pressure, high serum glucose, high triglycerides (TG), and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol] after adjusting for intra-familial and sibling correlations, age, sex, baseline metabolic syndrome clustering, and socioeconomic factors and health behaviors at follow-up. Change in BMI associated significantly with changes in individual metabolic syndrome components compared to other adiposity traits. Change in metabolic syndrome component TG was a better predictor of changes in adiposity traits compared to changes in other metabolic components. These associations were explained by significant environmental correlations but not by genetic correlations. Changes in anthropometric and fat mass indicators were positively associated with changes in metabolic syndrome clustering and those associations appeared to be regulated by environmental influences.

Utility of Formal Preference Assessments for Individuals Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leaf, Justin B.; Leaf, Ronald; Alcalay, Aditt; Leaf, Jeremy A.; Ravid, Daniel; Dale, Stephanie; Kassardjian, Alyne; Tsuji, Kathleen; Taubman, Mitchell; McEachin, John; Oppenheim-Leaf, Misty

2015-01-01

The systematic use of reinforcers is an essential component of behavioral intervention for individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Today, the use of rigorous formal preference assessments, including paired-preference assessments, are widely conducted to help determine which items to use as reinforcers during intervention. Although…

Individualized Instruction in Hebrew.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grossberg, Daniel; DeBenedetti, Jana

The Hebrew program at the State University of New York at Albany uses a variety of instructional approaches tailored to individual learning styles. A major program component is the use of 108 half-hour videotaped lessons that include opportunities for student response, graphics, and skits demonstrating and eliciting appropriate usage. Many of the…

Nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics.

PubMed

Farhud, Dd; Zarif Yeganeh, M; Zarif Yeganeh, M

2010-01-01

The nutrients are able to interact with molecular mechanisms and modulate the physiological functions in the body. The Nutritional Genomics focuses on the interaction between bioactive food components and the genome, which includes Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics. The influence of nutrients on f genes expression is called Nutrigenomics, while the heterogeneous response of gene variants to nutrients, dietary components and developing nutraceticals is called Nutrigenetics. Genetic variation is known to affect food tolerances among human subpopulations and may also influence dietary requirements and raising the possibility of individualizing nutritional intake for optimal health and disease prevention on the basis of an individual's genome. Nutrigenomics provides a genetic understanding for how common dietary components affect the balance between health and disease by altering the expression and/or structure of an individual's genetic makeup. Nutrigenetics describes that the genetic profile have impact on the response of body to bioactive food components by influencing their absorption, metabolism, and site of action.In this way, considering different aspects of gene-nutrient interaction and designing appropriate diet for every specific genotype that optimize individual health, diagnosis and nutritional treatment of genome instability, we could prevent and control conversion of healthy phenotype to diseases.

WNDCOM: estimating surface winds in mountainous terrain

Treesearch

Bill C. Ryan

1983-01-01

WNDCOM is a mathematical model for estimating surface winds in mountainous terrain. By following the procedures described, the sheltering and diverting effect of terrain, the individual components of the windflow, and the surface wind in remote mountainous areas can be estimated. Components include the contribution from the synoptic scale pressure gradient, the sea...

The Placement Handbook. A Guide for the Competitive Employment of the Handicapped.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horn, Adelaide; Drury, Stephen

This handbook stresses those components that are considered peripheral to the placement process but that must precede the actual placement. The philosophy of placement upon which this guide is based appears first. Discussions follow of the basic components of the process of training and placement of handicapped individuals, including a varied…

Comprehensive dynamic analysis of a bladed disk-turborotor-bearing system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaushal, Ashok

The dynamic behavior of a bladed disk-turborotor-bearing system is studied employing analytical, numerical, and experimental methods. The system consists of several subsystems such as turbine disk, blades, bearings, support pedestals etc. In order to completely understand the dynamic behavior of the turborotor system an appropriate model for each individual component of the system is first developed. The individual components are modeled to include various design parameters and the effect of these parameters on the vibrational behavior is studied. The vibration studies on the individual components are carried out using Rayleigh-Ritz method boundary characteristic orthogonal polynomials as assumed shape functions. The individual components are then assembled using the finite element technique. The turborotor system is studied from a system point of view and the natural frequencies and mode shapes are obtained for various rotational speeds. The results show that the natural frequencies of the system are different from those obtained by analyzing individual components, suggesting that a system approach must be adopted for proper design of a turborotor system. The amplitude of vibration and stresses due to harmonic and centrifugal loading on the blades and the disk are also obtained. The results indicate that for the turborotor speed of operation, the centrifugal loading is the major factor in determining the critical stresses in comparison to the gas forces on the blade modeled as harmonic loading. Experimental validation of the analytical model is carried out and suggestions for future work are given.

Food Patterns Equivalents Intakes from Food: Mean Amounts Consumed per Individual, What We Eat in America, NHANES 2005-2006, Tables 1-4

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The four table sets include national estimates of mean intakes of the 37 Food Patterns (FP) components per individual estimated from the day 1 dietary intake data of 8,549 individuals, ages 2 years and over, in the What We Eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (WWEIA, NHAN...

Food Patterns Equivalents Intakes from Food: Mean Amounts Consumer per Individual, What We Eat in America, NHANES 2011-12; Tables 1-4

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The four table sets include national estimates of mean intakes of the 37 Food Patterns (FP) components per individual estimated from the day 1 dietary intake data of 7,933 individuals, ages 2 years and over, in What We Eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (WWEIA, NHANES),...

OAKSIM: An individual-tree growth and yield simulator for managed, even-aged, upland oak stands

Treesearch

Donald E. Hilt; Donald E. Hilt

1985-01-01

OAKSIM is an individual-tree growth and yield simulator for managed, even-aged, upland oak stands. Growth and yield projections for various thinning alternatives can be made with OAKSIM for a period of up to 50 years. Simulator components include an individual-tree diameter growth model, a mortality model, height prediction equations, bark ratio equations, a taper-...

Quantifying the ice-albedo feedback through decoupling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kravitz, B.; Rasch, P. J.

2017-12-01

The ice-albedo feedback involves numerous individual components, whereby warming induces sea ice melt, inducing reduced surface albedo, inducing increased surface shortwave absorption, causing further warming. Here we attempt to quantify the sea ice albedo feedback using an analogue of the "partial radiative perturbation" method, but where the governing mechanisms are directly decoupled in a climate model. As an example, we can isolate the insulating effects of sea ice on surface energy and moisture fluxes by allowing sea ice thickness to change but fixing Arctic surface albedo, or vice versa. Here we present results from such idealized simulations using the Community Earth System Model in which individual components are successively fixed, effectively decoupling the ice-albedo feedback loop. We isolate the different components of this feedback, including temperature change, sea ice extent/thickness, and air-sea exchange of heat and moisture. We explore the interactions between these different components, as well as the strengths of the total feedback in the decoupled feedback loop, to quantify contributions from individual pieces. We also quantify the non-additivity of the effects of the components as a means of investigating the dominant sources of nonlinearity in the ice-albedo feedback.

Toward understanding the role of individual fluorescent components in DOM-metal binding.

PubMed

Wu, Jun; Zhang, Hua; Yao, Qi-Sheng; Shao, Li-Ming; He, Pin-Jing

2012-05-15

Knowledge on the function of individual fractions in dissolved organic matter (DOM) is essential for understanding the impact of DOM on metal speciation and migration. Herein, fluorescence excitation-emission matrix quenching and parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis were adopted for bulk DOM and chemically isolated fractions from landfill leachate, i.e., humic acids (HA), fulvic acids and hydrophilic (HyI) fraction, to elucidate the role of individual fluorescent components in metal binding (Cu(II) and Cd(II)). Three components were identified by PARAFAC model, including one humic substance (HS)-like, one protein-like and one component highly correlated with the HyI fraction. Among them, the HS-like and protein-like components were responsible for Cu(II) binding, while the protein-like component was the only fraction involved in Cd(II) complexation. It was further identified that the slight quenching effect of HA fraction by Cd(II) was induced by the presence of proteinaceous materials in HA. Fluorescent substances in the HyI fraction of landfill leachate did not play as important a role as HS did. Therefore, it was suggested that the potential risk of aged leachate (more humified) as a carrier of heavy metal should not be overlooked. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Establishing the LINC (Learning Individualized for Canadians) Program: A Manual for Administrators and Instructors.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tippett, Glen; Mullen, Vernon

A manual to accompany LINC courses in communications and mathematics, containing information on background, objectives, components, individualized process, and procedures for curriculum development and implementation of LINC Program, is presented. It was formerly referred to as The LINC Program User's Manual. An appendix includes a Reading List…

Evaluating fire-damaged components of historic covered bridges

Treesearch

Brian Kukay; Charles Todd; Tyler Jahn; Jenson Sannon; Logan Dunlap; Robert White; Mark Dietenberger

2016-01-01

Arson continues to claim many historic covered bridges. Site-specific, post-fire evaluations of the structural integrity of a bridge are often necessary in a fire’s aftermath. Decisions on whether individual wood components can be rehabilitated, reconstructed, or replaced must be made. This report includes coverage of existing approaches and exploratory approaches that...

Biomarkers for diet and cancer prevention research: potentials and challenges.

PubMed

Davis, Cindy D; Milner, John A

2007-09-01

As cancer incidence is projected to increase for decades there is a need for effective preventive strategies. Fortunately, evidence continues to mount that altering dietary habits is an effective and cost-efficient approach for reducing cancer risk and for modifying the biological behavior of tumors. Predictive, validated and sensitive biomarkers, including those that reliably evaluate "intake" or exposure to a specific food or bioactive component, that assess one or more specific biological "effects" that are linked to cancer, and that effectively predict individual "susceptibility" as a function of nutrient-nutrient interactions and genetics, are fundamental to evaluating who will benefit most from dietary interventions. These biomarkers must be readily accessible, easily and reliably assayed, and predictive of a key process(es) involved in cancer. The response to a food is determined not only by the effective concentration of the bioactive food component(s) reaching the target tissue, but also by the amount of the target requiring modification. Thus, this threshold response to foods and their components will vary from individual to individual. The key to understanding a personalized response is a greater knowledge of nutrigenomics, proteomics and metabolomics.

Unique honey bee (Apis mellifera) hive component-based communities as detected by a hybrid of phospholipid fatty-acid and fatty-acid methyl ester analyses.

PubMed

Grubbs, Kirk J; Scott, Jarrod J; Budsberg, Kevin J; Read, Harry; Balser, Teri C; Currie, Cameron R

2015-01-01

Microbial communities (microbiomes) are associated with almost all metazoans, including the honey bee Apis mellifera. Honey bees are social insects, maintaining complex hive systems composed of a variety of integral components including bees, comb, propolis, honey, and stored pollen. Given that the different components within hives can be physically separated and are nutritionally variable, we hypothesize that unique microbial communities may occur within the different microenvironments of honey bee colonies. To explore this hypothesis and to provide further insights into the microbiome of honey bees, we use a hybrid of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) and phospholipid-derived fatty acid (PLFA) analysis to produce broad, lipid-based microbial community profiles of stored pollen, adults, pupae, honey, empty comb, and propolis for 11 honey bee hives. Averaging component lipid profiles by hive, we show that, in decreasing order, lipid markers representing fungi, Gram-negative bacteria, and Gram-positive bacteria have the highest relative abundances within honey bee colonies. Our lipid profiles reveal the presence of viable microbial communities in each of the six hive components sampled, with overall microbial community richness varying from lowest to highest in honey, comb, pupae, pollen, adults and propolis, respectively. Finally, microbial community lipid profiles were more similar when compared by component than by hive, location, or sampling year. Specifically, we found that individual hive components typically exhibited several dominant lipids and that these dominant lipids differ between components. Principal component and two-way clustering analyses both support significant grouping of lipids by hive component. Our findings indicate that in addition to the microbial communities present in individual workers, honey bee hives have resident microbial communities associated with different colony components.

Unique Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Hive Component-Based Communities as Detected by a Hybrid of Phospholipid Fatty-Acid and Fatty-Acid Methyl Ester Analyses

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Microbial communities (microbiomes) are associated with almost all metazoans, including the honey bee Apis mellifera. Honey bees are social insects, maintaining complex hive systems composed of a variety of integral components including bees, comb, propolis, honey, and stored pollen. Given that the different components within hives can be physically separated and are nutritionally variable, we hypothesize that unique microbial communities may occur within the different microenvironments of honey bee colonies. To explore this hypothesis and to provide further insights into the microbiome of honey bees, we use a hybrid of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) and phospholipid-derived fatty acid (PLFA) analysis to produce broad, lipid-based microbial community profiles of stored pollen, adults, pupae, honey, empty comb, and propolis for 11 honey bee hives. Averaging component lipid profiles by hive, we show that, in decreasing order, lipid markers representing fungi, Gram-negative bacteria, and Gram-positive bacteria have the highest relative abundances within honey bee colonies. Our lipid profiles reveal the presence of viable microbial communities in each of the six hive components sampled, with overall microbial community richness varying from lowest to highest in honey, comb, pupae, pollen, adults and propolis, respectively. Finally, microbial community lipid profiles were more similar when compared by component than by hive, location, or sampling year. Specifically, we found that individual hive components typically exhibited several dominant lipids and that these dominant lipids differ between components. Principal component and two-way clustering analyses both support significant grouping of lipids by hive component. Our findings indicate that in addition to the microbial communities present in individual workers, honey bee hives have resident microbial communities associated with different colony components. PMID:25849080

AAC Modeling Intervention Research Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sennott, Samuel C.; Light, Janice C.; McNaughton, David

2016-01-01

A systematic review of research on the effects of interventions that include communication partner modeling of aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) on the language acquisition of individuals with complex communication needs was conducted. Included studies incorporated AAC modeling as a primary component of the intervention,…

Using participant hedonic ratings of food images to construct data driven food groupings.

PubMed

Johnson, Susan L; Boles, Richard E; Burger, Kyle S

2014-08-01

Little is known regarding how individuals' hedonic ratings of a variety of foods interrelate and how hedonic ratings correspond to habitual dietary intake. Participant ratings of food appeal of 104 food images were collected while participants were in a fed state (n = 129). Self-reported frequency of intake of the food items, perceived hunger, body mass index (BMI), and dietary restraint were also assessed. Principal components analysis (PCA) was employed to analyze hedonic ratings of the foods, to identify component structures and to reduce the number of variables. The resulting component structures comprised 63 images loading on seven components including Energy-Dense Main Courses, Light Main Courses and Seafood as well as components more analogous to traditional food groups (e.g., Fruits, Grains, Desserts, Meats). However, vegetables were not represented in a unique, independent component. All components were positively correlated with reported intake of the food items (r's = .26-.52, p <.05), except for the Light Main Course component (r = .10). BMI showed a small positive relation with aggregated food appeal ratings (r = .19; p <.05), which was largely driven by the relations between BMI and appeal ratings for Energy-Dense Main Courses (r = .24; p <.01) and Desserts (r = .27; p <.01). Dietary restraint showed a small significant negative relation to Energy-Dense Main Courses (r = -.21; p <.05), and Meats (r = -.18; p <.05). The present investigation provides novel evidence regarding how individuals' hedonic ratings of foods aggregate into food components and how these component ratings relate to dietary intake. The notable absence of a vegetable component suggests that individuals' liking for vegetables is highly variable and, from an empirical standpoint, not related to how they respond hedonically to other food categories. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PERSONAL, INDOOR, AND OUTDOOR CONCENTRATIONS OF PM2.5, PARTICULATE NITRATE, AND ELEMENTAL CARBON FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH COPD IN LOS ANGELES, CA

EPA Science Inventory

This study characterizes the personal, indoor, and outdoor concentrations of PM2.5 and the major components of PM2.5, including nitrate (NO3-), elemental carbon (EC), and the elements for individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) living in Los Angeles, CA. ...

Supported education for individuals with psychiatric disabilities: State of the practice and policy implications.

PubMed

Ringeisen, Heather; Langer Ellison, Marsha; Ryder-Burge, Amy; Biebel, Kathleen; Alikhan, Shums; Jones, Emily

2017-06-01

Supported education (SEd) is a promising practice that supports and encourages educational goals and attainment among individuals with psychiatric disabilities. This paper provides insights into how SEd objectives are pursued in different settings, assesses the evidence base, and discusses policy implications. Insights from 3 data sources were synthesized: published literature, an environmental scan, and 3 site visits to programs that support the education goals of individuals with psychiatric disabilities. While setting, target populations, level of coordination with supported employment, and financing strategies varied, common SEd components emerged: specialized and dedicated staffing, one-on-one and group skill-building activities, assistance with navigating the academic setting and coordinating different services, and linkages with mental health counseling. The evidence base is growing; however, many published studies to date do not employ rigorous methodology. Conclusions and Implications for Policy and Practice: Continued specification, operationalization, and testing of SEd core components are needed. The components of the evolving SEd model would benefit from rigorous testing to evaluate impact on degree completion and other key impacts such as employment; health, mental health, or recovery; and community participation. In addition to funding streams from special education and Medicaid, new opportunities for increasing the availability of SEd include the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act (WIOA) reauthorization, which requires state vocational rehabilitation agencies to fund preemployment services for transition-age individuals. New "set-aside" requirements for the Mental Health Services Block Grant will increase funding for early intervention services for individuals with serious mental illness, potentially including SEd. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Burnout Prevention Programs: A Must for Staff Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Casteel, Jim Frank; Matthews, Doris B.

Following a description of the pattern of burnout symptoms, which include attitudinal, emotional, and physical components, measures are discussed for determining individuals' reactions to stress and their tendencies to "burnout." A discussion on strategies to cure or prevent burnout includes consideration of three basic methods: cognitive…

Screening for frailty in older adults using a self-reported instrument.

PubMed

Nunes, Daniella Pires; Duarte, Yeda Aparecida de Oliveira; Santos, Jair Lício Ferreira; Lebrão, Maria Lúcia

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE To validate a screening instrument using self-reported assessment of frailty syndrome in older adults. METHODS This cross-sectional study used data from the Saúde, Bem-estar e Envelhecimento study conducted in Sao Paulo, SP, Southeastern Brazil. The sample consisted of 433 older adult individuals (≥ 75 years) assessed in 2009. The self-reported instrument can be applied to older adults or their proxy respondents and consists of dichotomous questions directly related to each component of the frailty phenotype, which is considered the gold standard model: unintentional weight loss, fatigue, low physical activity, decreased physical strength, and decreased walking speed. The same classification proposed in the phenotype was utilized: not frail (no component identified); pre-frail (presence of one or two components), and frail (presence of three or more components). Because this is a screening instrument, "process of frailty" was included as a category (pre-frail and frail). Cronbach's α was used in psychometric analysis to evaluate the reliability and validity of the criterion, the sensitivity, the specificity, as well as positive and negative predictive values. Factor analysis was used to assess the suitability of the proposed number of components. RESULTS Decreased walking speed and decreased physical strength showed good internal consistency (α = 0.77 and 0.72, respectively); however, low physical activity was less satisfactory (α = 0.63). The sensitivity and specificity for identifying pre-frail individuals were 89.7% and 24.3%, respectively, while those for identifying frail individuals were 63.2% and 71.6%, respectively. In addition, 89.7% of the individuals from both the evaluations were identified in the "process of frailty" category. CONCLUSIONS The self-reported assessment of frailty can identify the syndrome among older adults and can be used as a screening tool. Its advantages include simplicity, rapidity, low cost, and ability to be used by different professionals.

Screening for frailty in older adults using a self-reported instrument

PubMed Central

Nunes, Daniella Pires; Duarte, Yeda Aparecida de Oliveira; Santos, Jair Lício Ferreira; Lebrão, Maria Lúcia

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE To validate a screening instrument using self-reported assessment of frailty syndrome in older adults. METHODS This cross-sectional study used data from the Saúde, Bem-estar e Envelhecimento study conducted in Sao Paulo, SP, Southeastern Brazil. The sample consisted of 433 older adult individuals (≥ 75 years) assessed in 2009. The self-reported instrument can be applied to older adults or their proxy respondents and consists of dichotomous questions directly related to each component of the frailty phenotype, which is considered the gold standard model: unintentional weight loss, fatigue, low physical activity, decreased physical strength, and decreased walking speed. The same classification proposed in the phenotype was utilized: not frail (no component identified); pre-frail (presence of one or two components), and frail (presence of three or more components). Because this is a screening instrument, “process of frailty” was included as a category (pre-frail and frail). Cronbach’s α was used in psychometric analysis to evaluate the reliability and validity of the criterion, the sensitivity, the specificity, as well as positive and negative predictive values. Factor analysis was used to assess the suitability of the proposed number of components. RESULTS Decreased walking speed and decreased physical strength showed good internal consistency (α = 0.77 and 0.72, respectively); however, low physical activity was less satisfactory (α = 0.63). The sensitivity and specificity for identifying pre-frail individuals were 89.7% and 24.3%, respectively, while those for identifying frail individuals were 63.2% and 71.6%, respectively. In addition, 89.7% of the individuals from both the evaluations were identified in the “process of frailty” category. CONCLUSIONS The self-reported assessment of frailty can identify the syndrome among older adults and can be used as a screening tool. Its advantages include simplicity, rapidity, low cost, and ability to be used by different professionals. PMID:25741658

The Betrayal Aversion Elicitation Task: An Individual Level Betrayal Aversion Measure.

PubMed

Aimone, Jason; Ball, Sheryl; King-Casas, Brooks

2015-01-01

Research on betrayal aversion shows that individuals' response to risk depends not only on probabilities and payoffs, but also on whether the risk includes a betrayal of trust. While previous studies focus on measuring aggregate levels of betrayal aversion, the connection between an individual's own betrayal aversion and other individually varying factors, including risk preferences, are currently unexplored. This paper develops a new task to elicit an individual's level of betrayal aversion that can then be compared to individual characteristics. We demonstrate the feasibility of our new task and show that our aggregate individual results are consistent with previous studies. We then use this classification to ask whether betrayal aversion is correlated with risk aversion. While we find risk aversion and betrayal aversion have no significant relationship, we do observe that risk aversion is correlated with non-social risk preferences, but not the social, betrayal related, risk component of the new task.

S/EV 1992: Solar and Electric Vehicles. Volume 1: Proceedings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

These proceedings include the morning plenary sessions and then sessions on each of the following topics: Electric Vehicle (EV) fundamentals, advanced EV's, photovoltaics, policy, and fleets. Many individual topics are considered to include: EV races, environmental benefits, demonstration programs, lightweight composite materials, advanced components, and electric batteries.

A Futuristic Alternative: Campus Fitness Programming.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mueller, C. E.; Oatey, Jennifer Sue

1980-01-01

The components of a prescription physical fitness program include a physical examination, fitness and dietary assessment, consultations to determine the fitness and diet prescriptions, instructional sessions, and periodic reviews of the individual's prescription. (CJ)

Development of sustainable precision farming systems for swine: estimating real-time individual amino acid requirements in growing-finishing pigs.

PubMed

Hauschild, L; Lovatto, P A; Pomar, J; Pomar, C

2012-07-01

The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a mathematical model used to estimate the daily amino acid requirements of individual growing-finishing pigs. The model includes empirical and mechanistic model components. The empirical component estimates daily feed intake (DFI), BW, and daily gain (DG) based on individual pig information collected in real time. Based on DFI, BW, and DG estimates, the mechanistic component uses classic factorial equations to estimate the optimal concentration of amino acids that must be offered to each pig to meet its requirements. The model was evaluated with data from a study that investigated the effect of feeding pigs with a 3-phase or daily multiphase system. The DFI and BW values measured in this study were compared with those estimated by the empirical component of the model. The coherence of the values estimated by the mechanistic component was evaluated by analyzing if it followed a normal pattern of requirements. Lastly, the proposed model was evaluated by comparing its estimates with those generated by the existing growth model (InraPorc). The precision of the proposed model and InraPorc in estimating DFI and BW was evaluated through the mean absolute error. The empirical component results indicated that the DFI and BW trajectories of individual pigs fed ad libitum could be predicted 1 d (DFI) or 7 d (BW) ahead with the average mean absolute error of 12.45 and 1.85%, respectively. The average mean absolute error obtained with the InraPorc for the average individual of the population was 14.72% for DFI and 5.38% for BW. Major differences were observed when estimates from InraPorc were compared with individual observations. The proposed model, however, was effective in tracking the change in DFI and BW for each individual pig. The mechanistic model component estimated the optimal standardized ileal digestible Lys to NE ratio with reasonable between animal (average CV = 7%) and overtime (average CV = 14%) variation. Thus, the amino acid requirements estimated by model are animal- and time-dependent and follow, in real time, the individual DFI and BW growth patterns. The proposed model can follow the average feed intake and feed weight trajectory of each individual pig in real time with good accuracy. Based on these trajectories and using classical factorial equations, the model makes it possible to estimate dynamically the AA requirements of each animal, taking into account the intake and growth changes of the animal.

The Impact of Professional Development on the Quality of the Transition Components of IEPs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flannery, K. Brigid; Lombardi, Allison; Kato, Mimi McGrath

2015-01-01

Under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), transition needs and services are to be discussed as part of the Individual Education Program (IEP) planning process, and decisions based on students' future goals are to be documented in the IEP. These transition requirements were included in IDEA in order to plan with the student,…

Fear of falling, balance confidence and health-related quality of life in individuals with postpolio syndrome.

PubMed

Legters, Kristine; Verbus, Nicole Barber; Kitchen, Sara; Tomecsko, Jennifer; Urban, Nicole

2006-06-01

The purposes of this study were to examine prevalence of fear of falling (FOF) and decreased balance confidence in individuals with postpolio syndrome (PPS) and to determine whether balance confidence was correlated with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in this population. A survey, which included demographic questions, the Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale, and the MOS SF-36v2, was made available by mail and electronically to individuals with PPS. Descriptive and correlation statistics were used to analyze the responses. Fear of falling was reported in 95% of respondents, with 80% indicating that FOF affected their quality of life. Median ABC score (42 of 100), physical component score (27 of 100), and mental component score (47 of 100) were below average compared with the general population. A moderate correlation (r = 0.4; p < 0.001) was found between balance confidence and the physical component score of HRQOL in PPS. There was an overwhelming presence of FOF and severely impaired balance confidence in the majority of those with PPS. A fair correlation between the physical functioning component of HRQOL and balance confidence was noted in this population.

Nontechnical skill training and the use of scenarios in modern surgical education.

PubMed

Brunckhorst, Oliver; Khan, Muhammad S; Dasgupta, Prokar; Ahmed, Kamran

2017-07-01

Nontechnical skills are being increasingly recognized as a core reason of surgical errors. Combined with the changing nature of surgical training, there has therefore been an increase in nontechnical skill research in the literature. This review therefore aims to: define nontechnical skillsets, assess current training methods, explore assessment modalities and suggest future research aims. The literature demonstrates an increasing understanding of the components of nontechnical skills within surgery. This has led to a greater availability of validated training methods for its training, including the use of didactic teaching, e-learning and simulation-based scenarios. In addition, there are now various extensively validated assessment tools for nontechnical skills including NOTSS, the Oxford NOTECHS and OTAS. Finally, there is now more focus on the development of tools which target individual nontechnical skill components and an attempt to understand which of these play a greater role in specific procedures such as laparoscopic or robotic surgery. Current evidence demonstrates various training methods and tools for the training of nontechnical skills. Future research is likely to focus increasingly on individual nontechnical skill components and procedure-specific skills.

The NuMI neutrino beam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamson, P.; Anderson, K.; Andrews, M.; Andrews, R.; Anghel, I.; Augustine, D.; Aurisano, A.; Avvakumov, S.; Ayres, D. S.; Baller, B.; Barish, B.; Barr, G.; Barrett, W. L.; Bernstein, R. H.; Biggs, J.; Bishai, M.; Blake, A.; Bocean, V.; Bock, G. J.; Boehnlein, D. J.; Bogert, D.; Bourkland, K.; Cao, S. V.; Castromonte, C. M.; Childress, S.; Choudhary, B. C.; Coelho, J. A. B.; Cobb, J. H.; Corwin, L.; Crane, D.; Cravens, J. P.; Cronin-Hennessy, D.; Ducar, R. J.; De Jong, J. K.; Devan, A. V.; Devenish, N. E.; Diwan, M. V.; Erwin, A. R.; Escobar, C. O.; Evans, J. J.; Falk, E.; Feldman, G. J.; Fields, T. H.; Ford, R.; Frohne, M. V.; Gallagher, H. R.; Garkusha, V.; Gomes, R. A.; Goodman, M. C.; Gouffon, P.; Graf, N.; Gran, R.; Grossman, N.; Grzelak, K.; Habig, A.; Hahn, S. R.; Harding, D.; Harris, D.; Harris, P. G.; Hartnell, J.; Hatcher, R.; Hays, S.; Heller, K.; Holin, A.; Huang, J.; Hylen, J.; Ibrahim, A.; Indurthy, D.; Irwin, G. M.; Isvan, Z.; Jaffe, D. E.; James, C.; Jensen, D.; Johnstone, J.; Kafka, T.; Kasahara, S. M. S.; Koizumi, G.; Kopp, S.; Kordosky, M.; Kreymer, A.; Lang, K.; Laughton, C.; Lefeuvre, G.; Ling, J.; Litchfield, P. J.; Loiacono, L.; Lucas, P.; Mann, W. A.; Marchionni, A.; Marshak, M. L.; Mayer, N.; McGivern, C.; Medeiros, M. M.; Mehdiyev, R.; Meier, J. R.; Messier, M. D.; Michael, D. G.; Milburn, R. H.; Miller, J. L.; Miller, W. H.; Mishra, S. R.; Moed Sher, S.; Moore, C. D.; Morfín, J.; Mualem, L.; Mufson, S.; Murgia, S.; Murtagh, M.; Musser, J.; Naples, D.; Nelson, J. K.; Newman, H. B.; Nichol, R. J.; Nowak, J. A.; O`Connor, J.; Oliver, W. P.; Olsen, M.; Orchanian, M.; Osprey, S.; Pahlka, R. B.; Paley, J.; Para, A.; Patterson, R. B.; Patzak, T.; Pavlović, Ž.; Pawloski, G.; Perch, A.; Peterson, E. A.; Petyt, D. A.; Pfützner, M. M.; Phan-Budd, S.; Plunkett, R. K.; Poonthottathil, N.; Prieto, P.; Pushka, D.; Qiu, X.; Radovic, A.; Rameika, R. A.; Ratchford, J.; Rebel, B.; Reilly, R.; Rosenfeld, C.; Rubin, H. A.; Ruddick, K.; Sanchez, M. C.; Saoulidou, N.; Sauer, L.; Schneps, J.; Schoo, D.; Schreckenberger, A.; Schreiner, P.; Shanahan, P.; Sharma, R.; Smart, W.; Smith, C.; Sousa, A.; Stefanik, A.; Tagg, N.; Talaga, R. L.; Tassotto, G.; Thomas, J.; Thompson, J.; Thomson, M. A.; Tian, X.; Timmons, A.; Tinsley, D.; Tognini, S. C.; Toner, R.; Torretta, D.; Trostin, I.; Tzanakos, G.; Urheim, J.; Vahle, P.; Vaziri, K.; Villegas, E.; Viren, B.; Vogel, G.; Webber, R. C.; Weber, A.; Webb, R. C.; Wehmann, A.; White, C.; Whitehead, L.; Whitehead, L. H.; Wojcicki, S. G.; Wong-Squires, M. L.; Yang, T.; Yumiceva, F. X.; Zarucheisky, V.; Zwaska, R.

2016-01-01

This paper describes the hardware and operations of the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beam at Fermilab. It elaborates on the design considerations for the beam as a whole and for individual elements. The most important design details of individual components are described. Beam monitoring systems and procedures, including the tuning and alignment of the beam and NuMI long-term performance, are also discussed.

Simultaneous determination of intestinal permeability and potential drug interactions of complex mixtures using Caco-2 cells and high-resolution mass spectrometry: Studies with Rauwolfia serpentina extract.

PubMed

Flynn, Thomas J; Vohra, Sanah N

2018-06-25

Caco-2 cells are a commonly used model for estimating the intestinal bioavailability of single chemical entity pharmaceuticals. Caco-2 cells, when induced with calcitriol, also express other biological functions such as phase I (CYP) and phase II (glucuronosyltransferases) drug metabolizing enzymes which are relevant to drug-supplement interactions. Intestinal bioavailability is an important factor in the overall safety assessment of products consumed orally. Foods, including herbal dietary supplements, are complex substances with multiple chemical components. Because of potential interactions between components of complex mixtures, more reliable safety assessments can be obtained by studying the commercial products "as consumed" rather than by testing individual chemical components one at a time. The present study evaluated the apparent intestinal permeability (P app ) of a model herbal extract, Rauwolfia serpentina, using both whole plant extracts and the individual purified Rauwolfia alkaloids. All test compounds, endpoint substrates, and their metabolites were quantified using liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry. The P app values for individual Rauwolfia alkaloids were comparable whether measured individually or as components of the complete extract. Both Rauwolfia extract and all individual Rauwolfia alkaloids except yohimbine inhibited CYP3A4 activity (midazolam 1'-hydroxylation). Both Rauwolfia extract and all individual Rauwolfia alkaloids except corynanthine and reserpic acid significantly increased glucuronosyltransferase activity (glucuronidation of 4-methylumbelliferone). The positive control, ketoconazole, significantly inhibited both CYP3A4 and glucuronosyltransferase activities. These findings suggest that the Caco-2 assay is capable of simultaneously identifying both bioavailability and potentially hazardous intestinal drug-supplement interactions in complex mixtures. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Incorporating affective bias in models of human decision making

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nygren, Thomas E.

1991-01-01

Research on human decision making has traditionally focused on how people actually make decisions, how good their decisions are, and how their decisions can be improved. Recent research suggests that this model is inadequate. Affective as well as cognitive components drive the way information about relevant outcomes and events is perceived, integrated, and used in the decision making process. The affective components include how the individual frames outcomes as good or bad, whether the individual anticipates regret in a decision situation, the affective mood state of the individual, and the psychological stress level anticipated or experienced in the decision situation. A focus of the current work has been to propose empirical studies that will attempt to examine in more detail the relationships between the latter two critical affective influences (mood state and stress) on decision making behavior.

[Usefulness of the comprehensive geriatric assessment for evaluating the health of older adults].

PubMed

Gálvez-Cano, Miguel; Chávez-Jimeno, Helver; Aliaga-Diaz, Elizabeth

2016-06-01

Older adults comprise a heterogeneous population group that usually has a high disease burden, comorbidities, and, in many cases, subclinical conditions that compromise their health and quality of life. In addition to the physical component, the health conditions of elderly individuals are significantly influenced by cognitive and affective components, social and family factors such as abandonment, and functional factors including the ability to perform everyday activities. In response to this complex scenario, the comprehensive geriatric evaluation constitutes a multidimensional and interdisciplinary diagnostic tool that assesses the health of older adults in all of its complexity by considering the physical, mental, social/family, and functional needs to obtain full knowledge of older person's health status and creating a plan that consists of appropriate and individualized interventions that considers the preferences and values of older individuals and their families.

Internal motion in high vacuum systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frank, J. M.

Three transfer and positioning mechanisms have been developed for the non-air exposed, multistep processing of components in vacuum chambers. The functions to be performed in all of the systems include ultraviolet/ozone cleaning, vacuum baking, deposition of thin films, and thermocompression sealing of the enclosures. Precise positioning of the components is required during the evaporation and sealing processes. The three methods of transporting and positioning the components were developed to accommodate the design criteria and goals of each individual system. The design philosophy, goals, and operation of the three mechanisms are discussed.

System for estimating fatigue damage

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

LeMonds, Jeffrey; Guzzo, Judith Ann; Liu, Shaopeng

In one aspect, a system for estimating fatigue damage in a riser string is provided. The system includes a plurality of accelerometers which can be deployed along a riser string and a communications link to transmit accelerometer data from the plurality of accelerometers to one or more data processors in real time. With data from a limited number of accelerometers located at sensor locations, the system estimates an optimized current profile along the entire length of the riser including riser locations where no accelerometer is present. The optimized current profile is then used to estimate damage rates to individual risermore » components and to update a total accumulated damage to individual riser components. The number of sensor locations is small relative to the length of a deepwater riser string, and a riser string several miles long can be reliably monitored along its entire length by fewer than twenty sensor locations.« less

Polymer materials and component evaluation in acidic-radiation environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Celina, M.; Gillen, K. T.; Malone, G. M.; Clough, R. L.; Nelson, W. H.

2001-07-01

Polymeric materials used for cable/wire insulation, electrical connectors, O-rings, seals, and in critical components such as motors, level switches and resistive thermo-devices were evaluated under accelerated degradation conditions in combined radiation-oxidative elevated-temperature acidic-vapor (nitric/oxalic) environments relevant to conditions in isotope processing facilities. Experiments included the assessment of individual materials such as PEEK, polyimides, polyolefin based cable insulation, EPDM rubbers, various epoxy systems, commercial caulking materials as well as some functional testing of components. We discuss how to conduct laboratory experiments to simulate such complex hostile environments, describe some degradation effects encountered, and evaluate the impact on appropriate material and component selection.

Solar industrial process heat systems: An assessment of standards for materials and components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossiter, W. J.; Shipp, W. E.

1981-09-01

A study was conducted to obtain information on the performance of materials and components in operational solar industrial process heat (PH) systems, and to provide recommendations for the development of standards including evaluative test procedures for materials and components. An assessment of the needs for standards for evaluating the long-term performance of materials and components of IPH systems was made. The assessment was based on the availability of existing standards, and information obtained from a field survey of operational systems, the literature, and discussions with individuals in the industry. Field inspections of 10 operational IPH systems were performed.

Impact of multilayered compression bandages on sub-bandage interface pressure: a model.

PubMed

Al Khaburi, J; Nelson, E A; Hutchinson, J; Dehghani-Sanij, A A

2011-03-01

Multi-component medical compression bandages are widely used to treat venous leg ulcers. The sub-bandage interface pressures induced by individual components of the multi-component compression bandage systems are not always simply additive. Current models to explain compression bandage performance do not take account of the increase in leg circumference when each bandage is applied, and this may account for the difference between predicted and actual pressures. To calculate the interface pressure when a multi-component compression bandage system is applied to a leg. Use thick wall cylinder theory to estimate the sub-bandage pressure over the leg when a multi-component compression bandage is applied to a leg. A mathematical model was developed based on thick cylinder theory to include bandage thickness in the calculation of the interface pressure in multi-component compression systems. In multi-component compression systems, the interface pressure corresponds to the sum of the pressures applied by individual bandage layers. However, the change in the limb diameter caused by additional bandage layers should be considered in the calculation. Adding the interface pressure produced by single components without considering the bandage thickness will result in an overestimate of the overall interface pressure produced by the multi-component compression systems. At the ankle (circumference 25 cm) this error can be 19.2% or even more in the case of four components bandaging systems. Bandage thickness should be considered when calculating the pressure applied using multi-component compression systems.

Independent associations between a metabolic syndrome severity score and future diabetes by sex and race: the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study and Jackson Heart Study.

PubMed

Gurka, Matthew J; Golden, Sherita H; Musani, Solomon K; Sims, Mario; Vishnu, Abhishek; Guo, Yi; Cardel, Michelle; Pearson, Thomas A; DeBoer, Mark D

2017-07-01

The study aimed to assess for an association between the degree of severity of the metabolic syndrome and risk of type 2 diabetes beyond that conferred by the individual components of the metabolic syndrome. We assessed HRs for an Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP-III) metabolic syndrome score (ATP-III MetS) and a sex- and race-specific continuous metabolic syndrome severity z score related to incident diabetes over a median of 7.8 years of follow-up among participants of two observational cohorts, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study (n = 10,957) and the Jackson Heart Study (n = 2137). The ATP-III MetS had an HR for incident diabetes of 4.36 (95% CI 3.83, 4.97), which was attenuated in models that included the individual metabolic syndrome components. By contrast, participants in the fourth quartile of metabolic syndrome severity (compared with the first quartile) had an HR of 17.4 (95% CI 12.6, 24.1) for future diabetes; in models that also included the individual metabolic syndrome components, this remained significant, with an HR of 3.69 (95% CI 2.42, 5.64). There was a race × metabolic syndrome interaction in these models such that HR was greater for black participants (5.30) than white participants (2.24). When the change in metabolic syndrome severity score was included in the hazard models, this conferred a further association, with changes in metabolic syndrome severity score of ≥0.5 having a HR of 2.66 compared with changes in metabolic syndrome severity score of ≤0. Use of a continuous sex- and race-specific metabolic syndrome severity z score provided an additional prediction of risk of diabetes beyond that of the individual metabolic syndrome components, suggesting an added risk conferred by the processes underlying the metabolic syndrome. Increases in this score over time were associated with further risk, supporting the potential clinical utility of following metabolic syndrome severity over time.

Defining genetic and chemical diversity in wheat grain by 1H‐NMR spectroscopy of polar metabolites

PubMed Central

Corol, Delia I.; Jones, Huw D.; Beale, Michael H.; Ward, Jane L.

2017-01-01

Scope The application of high‐throughput 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H‐NMR) of unpurified extracts to determine genetic diversity and the contents of polar components in grain of wheat. Methods and results Milled whole wheat grain was extracted with 80:20 D2O:CD3OD containing 0.05% d4–trimethylsilylpropionate. 1H‐NMR spectra were acquired under automation at 300°K using an Avance Spectrometer operating at 600.0528 MHz. Regions for individual metabolites were identified by comparison to a library of known standards run under identical conditions. The individual 1H‐NMR peaks or levels of known metabolites were then compared by Principal Component Analysis using SIMCA‐P software. Conclusions High‐throughput 1H‐NMR is an excellent tool to compare the extent of genetic diversity within and between wheat species, and to quantify specific components (including glycine betaine, choline, and asparagine) in individual genotypes. It can also be used to monitor changes in composition related to environmental factors and to support comparisons of the substantial equivalence of transgenic lines. PMID:28087883

45 CFR Appendix A to Part 96 - Uniform Definitions of Services

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

...-hour day. Component services or activities may include opportunity for social interaction... activities for children, recreation, meals and snacks, transportation, health support services, social... those educational, comprehensive medical or social services or activities which enable individuals...

75 FR 25185 - Broadband Initiatives Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-07

..., excluding desktop or laptop computers, computer hardware and software (including anti-virus, anti-spyware, and other security software), audio or video equipment, computer network components... 10 desktop or laptop computers and individual workstations to be located within the rural library...

The Effect of Combined Magnetic Geometries on Thermally Driven Winds. II. Dipolar, Quadrupolar, and Octupolar Topologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finley, Adam J.; Matt, Sean P.

2018-02-01

During the lifetime of Sun-like or low-mass stars a significant amount of angular momentum is removed through magnetized stellar winds. This process is often assumed to be governed by the dipolar component of the magnetic field. However, observed magnetic fields can host strong quadrupolar and/or octupolar components, which may influence the resulting spin-down torque on the star. In Paper I, we used the MHD code PLUTO to compute steady-state solutions for stellar winds containing a mixture of dipole and quadrupole geometries. We showed the combined winds to be more complex than a simple sum of winds with these individual components. This work follows the same method as Paper I, including the octupole geometry, which not only increases the field complexity but also, more fundamentally, looks for the first time at combining the same symmetry family of fields, with the field polarity of the dipole and octupole geometries reversing over the equator (unlike the symmetric quadrupole). We show, as in Paper I, that the lowest-order component typically dominates the spin-down torque. Specifically, the dipole component is the most significant in governing the spin-down torque for mixed geometries and under most conditions for real stars. We present a general torque formulation that includes the effects of complex, mixed fields, which predicts the torque for all the simulations to within 20% precision, and the majority to within ≈5%. This can be used as an input for rotational evolution calculations in cases where the individual magnetic components are known.

The NuMI neutrino beam

DOE PAGES

Adamson, P.; Anderson, K.; Andrews, M.; ...

2015-10-20

Our paper describes the hardware and operations of the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beam at Fermilab. It elaborates on the design considerations for the beam as a whole and for individual elements. The most important part of our design details pertaining to individual components is described. Beam monitoring systems and procedures, including the tuning and alignment of the beam and NuMI long-term performance, are also discussed.

Proteomic and transcriptomic analyses to explain the pleiotropic effects of Ankaferd blood stopper

PubMed Central

Simsek, Cem; Selek, Sebnem; Koca, Meltem; Haznedaroglu, Ibrahim Celal

2017-01-01

Ankaferd blood stopper is a standardized mixture of the plants Thymus vulgaris, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Vitis vinifera, Alpinia officinarum, and Urtica dioica and has been used as a topical hemostatic agent and with its clinical application established in randomized controlled trials and case reports. Ankaferd has been successfully used in gastrointestinal endobronchial mucosal and cutaneous bleedings and also in abdominal, thoracic, dental and oropharyngeal, and pelvic surgeries. Ankaferd’s hemostatic action is thought to form a protein complex with coagulation factors that facilitate adhesion of blood components. Besides its hemostatic action, Ankaferd has demonstrated pleiotropic effects, including anti-neoplastic and anti-microbial activities and tissue-healing properties; the underlying mechanisms for these have not been well studied. Ankaferd’s individual components were determined by proteomic and chemical analyses. Ankaferd also augments transcription of some transcription factors which is shown with transcriptomic analysis. The independent effects of these ingredients and augmented transcription factors are not known precisely. Here, we review what is known of Ankaferd blood stopper components from chemical, proteomic, and transcriptomic analyses and propose that individual components can explain some pleiotropic effects of Ankaferd. Certainly more research is needed focusing on individual ingredients of Ankaferd to elucidate their precise and effects. PMID:28839937

China SLAT Plan Template

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

Dietrich, Richard E.

2016-07-01

This document serves as the System-Level Acceptance Test (SLAT) Plan for Site Name, City, Country. This test plan is to provide independent testing of the Radiation Detection System (RDS) installed at Site Name to verify that Customs has been delivered a fully-functioning system as required by all contractual commitments. The system includes all installed hardware and software components. The SLAT plan will verify that separate components are working individually and collectively from a system perspective.

Altered Methylation in Tandem Repeat Element and Elemental Component Levels in Inhalable Air Particles

PubMed Central

Hou, Lifang; Zhang, Xiao; Zheng, Yinan; Wang, Sheng; Dou, Chang; Guo, Liqiong; Byun, Hyang-Min; Motta, Valeria; McCracken, John; Díaz, Anaité; Kang, Choong-Min; Koutrakis, Petros; Bertazzi, Pier Alberto; Li, Jingyun; Schwartz, Joel; Baccarelli, Andrea A.

2014-01-01

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) has been associated with lung cancer risk in epidemiology investigations. Elemental components of PM have been suggested to have critical roles in PM toxicity, but the molecular mechanisms underlying their association with cancer risks remain poorly understood. DNA methylation has emerged as a promising biomarker for environmental-related diseases, including lung cancer. In this study, we evaluated the effects of PM elemental components on methylation of three tandem repeats in a highly-exposed population in Beijing, China. The Beijing Truck Driver Air Pollution Study was conducted shortly before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games (June 15-July 27, 2008) and included 60 truck drivers and 60 office workers. On two days separated by 1-2 weeks, we measured blood DNA methylation of SATα, NBL2, D4Z4, and personal exposure to eight elemental components in PM2.5, including aluminum (Al), silicon (Si), sulfur (S), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) titanium (Ti), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn). We estimated the associations of individual elemental component with each tandem repeat methylation in generalized estimating equations (GEE) models adjusted for PM2.5 mass and other covariates. Out of the eight examined elements, NBL2 methylation was positively associated with concentrations of Si (0.121, 95%CI: 0.030; 0.212, FDR=0.047) and Ca (0.065, 95%CI: 0.014; 0.115, FDR=0.047) in truck drivers. In office workers, SATα methylation was positively associated with concentrations of S (0.115, 95%CI: 0.034; 0.196, FDR=0.042). PM-associated differences in blood tandem-repeat methylation may help detect biological effects of the exposure and identify individuals who may eventually experience higher lung cancer risk. PMID:24273195

Spacesuit Portable Life Support System Breadboard (PLSS 1.0) Development and Test Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vogel, Matt R.; Watts, Carly

2011-01-01

A multi-year effort has been carried out at NASA-JSC to develop an advanced Extravehicular Activity (EVA) PLSS design intended to further the current state of the art by increasing operational flexibility, reducing consumables, and increasing robustness. Previous efforts have focused on modeling and analyzing the advanced PLSS architecture, as well as developing key enabling technologies. Like the current International Space Station (ISS) Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) PLSS, the advanced PLSS comprises of three subsystems required to sustain the crew during EVA including the Thermal, Ventilation, and Oxygen Subsystems. This multi-year effort has culminated in the construction and operation of PLSS 1.0, a test rig that simulates full functionality of the advanced PLSS design. PLSS 1.0 integrates commercial off the shelf hardware with prototype technology development components, including the primary and secondary oxygen regulators, ventilation loop fan, Rapid Cycle Amine (RCA) swingbed, and Spacesuit Water Membrane Evaporator (SWME). Testing accumulated 239 hours over 45 days, while executing 172 test points. Specific PLSS 1.0 test objectives assessed during this testing include: confirming key individual components perform in a system level test as they have performed during component level testing; identifying unexpected system-level interactions; operating PLSS 1.0 in nominal steady-state EVA modes to baseline subsystem performance with respect to metabolic rate, ventilation loop pressure and flow rate, and environmental conditions; simulating nominal transient EVA operational scenarios; simulating contingency EVA operational scenarios; and further evaluating individual technology development components. Successful testing of the PLSS 1.0 provided a large database of test results that characterize system level and component performance. With the exception of several minor anomalies, the PLSS 1.0 test rig performed as expected; furthermore, many system responses trended in accordance with pre-test predictions.

BIOPHYSICAL EVALUATION OF INDIVIDUAL COMPONENT LEVELS AND SELECTED CONFIGURATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS COLD-WEATHER CLOTHING ENSEMBLE

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-01-02

TECHNICAL REPORT NO. T18-01 DATE January 2018 BIOPHYSICAL EVALUATION OF INDIVIDUAL COMPONENT...USARIEM TECHNICAL REPORT T18-01 BIOPHYSICAL EVALUATION OF INDIVIDUAL COMPONENT LEVELS AND...OF TABLES Table Page Table 1. Clothing and individual equipment descriptions ................................................. 3 Table 2. Surface

The Influence of Individual Variability on Zooplankton Population Dynamics under Different Environmental Conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bi, R.; Liu, H.

2016-02-01

Understanding how biological components respond to environmental changes could be insightful to predict ecosystem trajectories under different climate scenarios. Zooplankton are key components of marine ecosystems and changes in their dynamics could have major impact on ecosystem structure. We developed an individual-based model of a common coastal calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa to examine how environmental factors affect zooplankton population dynamics and explore the role of individual variability in sustaining population under various environmental conditions consisting of temperature, food concentration and salinity. Total abundance, egg production and proportion of survival were used to measure population success. Results suggested population benefits from high level of individual variability under extreme environmental conditions including unfavorable temperature, salinity, as well as low food concentration, and selection on fast-growers becomes stronger with increasing individual variability and increasing environmental stress. Multiple regression analysis showed that temperature, food concentration, salinity and individual variability have significant effects on survival of A. tonsa population. These results suggest that environmental factors have great influence on zooplankton population, and individual variability has important implications for population survivability under unfavorable conditions. Given that marine ecosystems are at risk from drastic environmental changes, understanding how individual variability sustains populations could increase our capability to predict population dynamics in a changing environment.

Child Disaster Mental Health Interventions: Therapy Components

PubMed Central

Pfefferbaum, Betty; Sweeton, Jennifer L.; Nitiéma, Pascal; Noffsinger, Mary A.; Varma, Vandana; Nelson, Summer D.; Newman, Elana

2015-01-01

Children face innumerable challenges following exposure to disasters. To address trauma sequelae, researchers and clinicians have developed a variety of mental health interventions. While the overall effectiveness of multiple interventions has been examined, few studies have focused on the individual components of these interventions. As a preliminary step to advancing intervention development and research, this literature review identifies and describes nine common components that comprise child disaster mental health interventions. This review concluded that future research should clearly define the constituent components included in available interventions. This will require that future studies dismantle interventions to examine the effectiveness of specific components and identify common therapeutic elements. Issues related to populations studied (eg, disaster exposure, demographic and cultural influences) and to intervention delivery (eg, timing and optimal sequencing of components) also warrant attention. PMID:25225954

Optimization of replacement and inspection decisions for multiple components on a power system

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

Mauney, D.A.

1994-12-31

The use of optimization on the rescheduling of replacement dates provided a very proactive approach to deciding when components on individual units need to be addressed with a run/repair/replace decision. Including the effects of time value of money and taxes and unit need inside the spreadsheet model allowed the decision maker to concentrate on the effects of engineering input and replacement date decisions on the final net present value (NPV). The personal computer (PC)-based model was applied to a group of 140 forced outage critical fossil plant tube components across a power system. The estimated resulting NPV of the optimizationmore » was in the tens of millions of dollars. This PC spreadsheet model allows the interaction of inputs from structural reliability risk assessment models, plant foreman interviews, and actual failure history on a by component by unit basis across a complete power production system. This model includes not only the forced outage performance of these components caused by tube failures but, in addition, the forecasted need of the individual units on the power system and the expected cost of their replacement power if forced off line. The use of cash flow analysis techniques in the spreadsheet model results in the calculation of an NPV for a whole combination of replacement dates. This allows rapid assessments of {open_quotes}what if{close_quotes} scenarios of major maintenance projects on a systemwide basis and not just on a unit-by-unit basis.« less

Management of obesity in low-income African Americans.

PubMed Central

Kaul, L.; Nidiry, J. J.

1999-01-01

The Bariatrics Clinic at Howard University Hospital was initiated to help low-income African-American adults with low literacy skills in obesity control. Fourteen African-American women and two men participated in the study. Essential components of the treatment included nutrition education, exercise, and behavior modification related to food intake. The nutrition education component involved teaching nutritional needs, taking into account low literacy skills, low economic status, and individual food preferences. A realistic diet plan was based on individual needs, economic status, availability of food, likes and dislikes, lifestyle, and family dynamics. On average, patients lost 2 lb a week on this program. On average, a 14-lb weight loss occurred in seven weeks. There has been a 10% dropout from this program as opposed to drop out rates of 40% to 50% with other treatments. The main reasons for the success of this program is that it is individualized and is sensitive to food preferences. PMID:10203915

5 CFR 430.303 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

..., including customers and employees. Critical element means a key component of an executive's work that.... Performance management system means the framework of policies and practices that an agency establishes under..., developing, evaluating, and rewarding both individual and organizational performance and for using resulting...

5 CFR 430.303 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

..., including customers and employees. Critical element means a key component of an executive's work that.... Performance management system means the framework of policies and practices that an agency establishes under..., developing, evaluating, and rewarding both individual and organizational performance and for using resulting...

5 CFR 430.303 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

..., including customers and employees. Critical element means a key component of an executive's work that.... Performance management system means the framework of policies and practices that an agency establishes under..., developing, evaluating, and rewarding both individual and organizational performance and for using resulting...

Hierarchical control and performance evaluation of multi-vehicle autonomous systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balakirsky, Stephen; Scrapper, Chris; Messina, Elena

2005-05-01

This paper will describe how the Mobility Open Architecture Tools and Simulation (MOAST) framework can facilitate performance evaluations of RCS compliant multi-vehicle autonomous systems. This framework provides an environment that allows for simulated and real architectural components to function seamlessly together. By providing repeatable environmental conditions, this framework allows for the development of individual components as well as component performance metrics. MOAST is composed of high-fidelity and low-fidelity simulation systems, a detailed model of real-world terrain, actual hardware components, a central knowledge repository, and architectural glue to tie all of the components together. This paper will describe the framework"s components in detail and provide an example that illustrates how the framework can be utilized to develop and evaluate a single architectural component through the use of repeatable trials and experimentation that includes both virtual and real components functioning together

Dissecting components of population-level variation in seed production and the evolution of masting behavior.

Treesearch

W. D. Koenig; D. Kelly; V. L. Sork; R. P. Duncan; J. S. Elkinton; M.S. Peltonen; R. D. Westfall

2003-01-01

Mast-fruiting or masting behavior is the cumulative result of the reproductive patterns of individuals within a population and thus involves components of individual variability, between-individual synchrony, and endogenous cycles of temporal autocorrelation. Extending prior work by Herrera, we explore the interrelationships of these components using data on individual...

Integrating Water, Actors, and Structure to Study Socio-Hydro-Ecological Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hale, R. L.; Armstrong, A.; Baker, M. A.; Bedingfield, S.; Betts, D.; Buahin, C. A.; Buchert, M.; Crowl, T.; Dupont, R.; Endter-Wada, J.; Flint, C.; Grant, J.; Hinners, S.; Horns, D.; Horsburgh, J. S.; Jackson-Smith, D.; Jones, A. S.; Licon, C.; Null, S. E.; Odame, A.; Pataki, D. E.; Rosenberg, D. E.; Runburg, M.; Stoker, P.; Strong, C.

2014-12-01

Urbanization, climate uncertainty, and ecosystem change represent major challenges for managing water resources. Water systems and the forces acting upon them are complex, and there is a need to understand and generically represent the most important system components and linkages. We developed a framework to facilitate understanding of water systems including potential vulnerabilities and opportunities for sustainability. Our goal was to produce an interdisciplinary framework for water resources research to address water issues across scales (e.g., city to region) and domains (e.g., water supply and quality, urban and transitioning landscapes). An interdisciplinary project (iUTAH - innovative Urban Transitions and Aridregion Hydro-sustainability) with a large (N=~100), diverse team having expertise spanning the hydrologic, biological, ecological, engineering, social, planning, and policy sciences motivated the development of this framework. The framework was developed through review of the literature, meetings with individual researchers, and workshops with participants. The Structure-Water-Actor Framework (SWAF) includes three main components: water (quality and quantity), structure (natural, built, and social), and actors (individual and organizational). Key linkages include: 1) ecological and hydrological processes, 2) ecosystem and geomorphic change, 3) planning, design, and policy, 4) perceptions, information, and experience, 5) resource access, and 6) operational water use and management. Our expansive view of structure includes natural, built, and social components, allowing us to examine a broad set of tools and levers for water managers and decision-makers to affect system sustainability and understand system outcomes. We validate the SWAF and illustrate its flexibility to generate insights for three research and management problems: green stormwater infrastructure in an arid environment, regional water supply and demand, and urban river restoration. These applications show that the framework can help identify key components and linkages across diverse water systems.

Nutrigenomics: implications for breast and colon cancer prevention.

PubMed

Riscuta, Gabriela; Dumitrescu, Ramona G

2012-01-01

Nutrigenomics refers to the interaction between one's diet and his/her genes. These interactions can markedly influence digestion, absorption, and the elimination of bioactive food components, as well as influence their site of actions/molecular targets. Nutrigenomics comprises nutrigenetics, epigenetics, and transcriptomics, coupled with other "omic," such as proteomics and metabolomics, that apparently account for the wide variability in cancer risk among individuals with similar dietary habits. Multiple food components including essential nutrients, phytochemical, zoochemicals, fungochemical, and bacterochemicals have been implicated in cancer risk and tumor behavior, admittedly with mixed results. Such findings suggest that not all individuals respond identically to a diet. This chapter highlights the influence of single-nucleotide polymorphism, copy number, epigenetic events, and transcriptomic homeostasis as factors influencing the response to food components and ultimately health, including cancer risk. Both breast and colorectal cancers are reviewed as examples about how nutrigenomics may influence the response to dietary intakes. As the concept that "one size fits all" comes to an end and personalized approaches surface, additional research data will be required to identify those who will benefit most from dietary change and any who might be placed at risk because of an adjustment.

Detailed Post-Soft Impact Progressive Damage Assessment for Hybrid Structure Jet Engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Siddens, Aaron; Bayandor, Javid; Celestina, Mark L.

2014-01-01

Currently, certification of engine designs for resistance to bird strike is reliant on physical tests. Predictive modeling of engine structural damage has mostly been limited to evaluation of individual forward section components, such as fan blades within a fixed frame of reference, to direct impact with a bird. Such models must be extended to include interactions among engine components under operating conditions to evaluate the full extent of engine damage. This paper presents the results of a study aim to develop a methodology for evaluating bird strike damage in advanced propulsion systems incorporating hybrid composite/metal structures. The initial degradation and failure of individual fan blades struck by a bird were investigated. Subsequent damage to other fan blades and engine components due to resultant violent fan assembly vibrations and fragmentation was further evaluated. Various modeling parameters for the bird and engine components were investigated to determine guidelines for accurately capturing initial damage and progressive failure of engine components. Then, a novel hybrid structure modeling approach was investigated and incorporated into the crashworthiness methodology. Such a tool is invaluable to the process of design, development, and certification of future advanced propulsion systems.

Component costs of foodborne illness: a scoping review

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Governments require high-quality scientific evidence to prioritize resource allocation and the cost-of-illness (COI) methodology is one technique used to estimate the economic burden of a disease. However, variable cost inventories make it difficult to interpret and compare costs across multiple studies. Methods A scoping review was conducted to identify the component costs and the respective data sources used for estimating the cost of foodborne illnesses in a population. This review was accomplished by: (1) identifying the research question and relevant literature, (2) selecting the literature, (3) charting, collating, and summarizing the results. All pertinent data were extracted at the level of detail reported in a study, and the component cost and source data were subsequently grouped into themes. Results Eighty-four studies were identified that described the cost of foodborne illness in humans. Most studies (80%) were published in the last two decades (1992–2012) in North America and Europe. The 10 most frequently estimated costs were due to illnesses caused by bacterial foodborne pathogens, with non-typhoidal Salmonella spp. being the most commonly studied. Forty studies described both individual (direct and indirect) and societal level costs. The direct individual level component costs most often included were hospital services, physician personnel, and drug costs. The most commonly reported indirect individual level component cost was productivity losses due to sick leave from work. Prior estimates published in the literature were the most commonly used source of component cost data. Data sources were not provided or specifically linked to component costs in several studies. Conclusions The results illustrated a highly variable depth and breadth of individual and societal level component costs, and a wide range of data sources being used. This scoping review can be used as evidence that there is a lack of standardization in cost inventories in the cost of foodborne illness literature, and to promote greater transparency and detail of data source reporting. By conforming to a more standardized cost inventory, and by reporting data sources in more detail, there will be an increase in cost of foodborne illness research that can be interpreted and compared in a meaningful way. PMID:24885154

49 CFR 236.903 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... electrical, mechanical, hardware, or software) that is part of a system or subsystem. Configuration..., including the hardware components and software version, is documented and maintained through the life-cycle... or compensates individuals to perform the duties specified in § 236.921 (a). Executive software means...

49 CFR 236.903 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... electrical, mechanical, hardware, or software) that is part of a system or subsystem. Configuration..., including the hardware components and software version, is documented and maintained through the life-cycle... or compensates individuals to perform the duties specified in § 236.921 (a). Executive software means...

49 CFR 236.903 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... electrical, mechanical, hardware, or software) that is part of a system or subsystem. Configuration..., including the hardware components and software version, is documented and maintained through the life-cycle... or compensates individuals to perform the duties specified in § 236.921 (a). Executive software means...

49 CFR 236.903 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... electrical, mechanical, hardware, or software) that is part of a system or subsystem. Configuration..., including the hardware components and software version, is documented and maintained through the life-cycle... or compensates individuals to perform the duties specified in § 236.921 (a). Executive software means...

The infinitesimal model: Definition, derivation, and implications.

PubMed

Barton, N H; Etheridge, A M; Véber, A

2017-12-01

Our focus here is on the infinitesimal model. In this model, one or several quantitative traits are described as the sum of a genetic and a non-genetic component, the first being distributed within families as a normal random variable centred at the average of the parental genetic components, and with a variance independent of the parental traits. Thus, the variance that segregates within families is not perturbed by selection, and can be predicted from the variance components. This does not necessarily imply that the trait distribution across the whole population should be Gaussian, and indeed selection or population structure may have a substantial effect on the overall trait distribution. One of our main aims is to identify some general conditions on the allelic effects for the infinitesimal model to be accurate. We first review the long history of the infinitesimal model in quantitative genetics. Then we formulate the model at the phenotypic level in terms of individual trait values and relationships between individuals, but including different evolutionary processes: genetic drift, recombination, selection, mutation, population structure, …. We give a range of examples of its application to evolutionary questions related to stabilising selection, assortative mating, effective population size and response to selection, habitat preference and speciation. We provide a mathematical justification of the model as the limit as the number M of underlying loci tends to infinity of a model with Mendelian inheritance, mutation and environmental noise, when the genetic component of the trait is purely additive. We also show how the model generalises to include epistatic effects. We prove in particular that, within each family, the genetic components of the individual trait values in the current generation are indeed normally distributed with a variance independent of ancestral traits, up to an error of order 1∕M. Simulations suggest that in some cases the convergence may be as fast as 1∕M. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Return-to-Work Within a Complex and Dynamic Organizational Work Disability System.

PubMed

Jetha, Arif; Pransky, Glenn; Fish, Jon; Hettinger, Lawrence J

2016-09-01

Background Return-to-work (RTW) within a complex organizational system can be associated with suboptimal outcomes. Purpose To apply a sociotechnical systems perspective to investigate complexity in RTW; to utilize system dynamics modeling (SDM) to examine how feedback relationships between individual, psychosocial, and organizational factors make up the work disability system and influence RTW. Methods SDMs were developed within two companies. Thirty stakeholders including senior managers, and frontline supervisors and workers participated in model building sessions. Participants were asked questions that elicited information about the structure of the work disability system and were translated into feedback loops. To parameterize the model, participants were asked to estimate the shape and magnitude of the relationship between key model components. Data from published literature were also accessed to supplement participant estimates. Data were entered into a model created in the software program Vensim. Simulations were conducted to examine how financial incentives and light duty work disability-related policies, utilized by the participating companies, influenced RTW likelihood and preparedness. Results The SDMs were multidimensional, including individual attitudinal characteristics, health factors, and organizational components. Among the causal pathways uncovered, psychosocial components including workplace social support, supervisor and co-worker pressure, and supervisor-frontline worker communication impacted RTW likelihood and preparedness. Interestingly, SDM simulations showed that work disability-related policies in both companies resulted in a diminishing or opposing impact on RTW preparedness and likelihood. Conclusion SDM provides a novel systems view of RTW. Policy and psychosocial component relationships within the system have important implications for RTW, and may contribute to unanticipated outcomes.

UManSysProp: An online and open-source facility for molecular property prediction and atmospheric aerosol calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Topping, David; Barley, Mark; McFiggans, Gordon; Aumont, Bernard

2016-04-01

The many thousands of individual aerosol components ensure that explicit manual calculation of properties that influence their environmental impacts is laborious and time-consuming. The emergence of explicit automatic mechanism generation techniques, including up to many millions of individual gas phase products as aerosol precursors, renders manual calculations impossible and automation is necessary. It can be difficult to establish what factors are responsible for the outcome of a model prediction. This is particularly true when the number of components might be high in, for example, SOA mass partitioning simulations. It then becomes difficult for others in the community to assess the results presented. This might be complicated by the need to include pure component vapour pressures or activity coefficient predictions for a wide range of highly multifunctional compounds. It isn't clear to what extent replication of results is ever achieved for a range of aerosol simulations. Whilst this might also be an issue with results from instrumentation, the development of community driven software at least enables modellers to tackle this problem directly. Here we describe the development and application of a new web based facility, UManSysProp, to tackle such issues. Current facilities include: pure component vapour pressures, critical properties and sub-cooled densities of organic molecules; activity coefficient predictions for mixed inorganic-organic liquid systems; hygroscopic growth factors and CCN activation potential of mixed inorganic/organic aerosol particles with associated Kappa-Kohler values; absorptive partitioning calculations with/without a treatment of non-ideality. The website can be found here: http://umansysprop.seaes.manchester.ac.uk/

Concurrent white matter bundles and grey matter networks using independent component analysis.

PubMed

O'Muircheartaigh, Jonathan; Jbabdi, Saad

2018-04-15

Developments in non-invasive diffusion MRI tractography techniques have permitted the investigation of both the anatomy of white matter pathways connecting grey matter regions and their structural integrity. In parallel, there has been an expansion in automated techniques aimed at parcellating grey matter into distinct regions based on functional imaging. Here we apply independent component analysis to whole-brain tractography data to automatically extract brain networks based on their associated white matter pathways. This method decomposes the tractography data into components that consist of paired grey matter 'nodes' and white matter 'edges', and automatically separates major white matter bundles, including known cortico-cortical and cortico-subcortical tracts. We show how this framework can be used to investigate individual variations in brain networks (in terms of both nodes and edges) as well as their associations with individual differences in behaviour and anatomy. Finally, we investigate correspondences between tractography-based brain components and several canonical resting-state networks derived from functional MRI. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Adaptation to Environmental Stimuli within the Host: Two-Component Signal Transduction Systems of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

PubMed Central

Bretl, Daniel J.; Demetriadou, Chrystalla; Zahrt, Thomas C.

2011-01-01

Summary: Pathogenic microorganisms encounter a variety of environmental stresses following infection of their respective hosts. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the etiological agent of tuberculosis, is an unusual bacterial pathogen in that it is able to establish lifelong infections in individuals within granulomatous lesions that are formed following a productive immune response. Adaptation to this highly dynamic environment is thought to be mediated primarily through transcriptional reprogramming initiated in response to recognition of stimuli, including low-oxygen tension, nutrient depletion, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, altered pH, toxic lipid moieties, cell wall/cell membrane-perturbing agents, and other environmental cues. To survive continued exposure to these potentially adverse factors, M. tuberculosis encodes a variety of regulatory factors, including 11 complete two-component signal transduction systems (TCSSs) and several orphaned response regulators (RRs) and sensor kinases (SKs). This report reviews our current knowledge of the TCSSs present in M. tuberculosis. In particular, we discuss the biochemical and functional characteristics of individual RRs and SKs, the environmental stimuli regulating their activation, the regulons controlled by the various TCSSs, and the known or postulated role(s) of individual TCSSs in the context of M. tuberculosis physiology and/or pathogenesis. PMID:22126994

SEPAC flight software detailed design specifications, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

The detailed design specifications (as built) for the SEPAC Flight Software are defined. The design includes a description of the total software system and of each individual module within the system. The design specifications describe the decomposition of the software system into its major components. The system structure is expressed in the following forms: the control-flow hierarchy of the system, the data-flow structure of the system, the task hierarchy, the memory structure, and the software to hardware configuration mapping. The component design description includes details on the following elements: register conventions, module (subroutines) invocaton, module functions, interrupt servicing, data definitions, and database structure.

On the additive and dominant variance and covariance of individuals within the genomic selection scope.

PubMed

Vitezica, Zulma G; Varona, Luis; Legarra, Andres

2013-12-01

Genomic evaluation models can fit additive and dominant SNP effects. Under quantitative genetics theory, additive or "breeding" values of individuals are generated by substitution effects, which involve both "biological" additive and dominant effects of the markers. Dominance deviations include only a portion of the biological dominant effects of the markers. Additive variance includes variation due to the additive and dominant effects of the markers. We describe a matrix of dominant genomic relationships across individuals, D, which is similar to the G matrix used in genomic best linear unbiased prediction. This matrix can be used in a mixed-model context for genomic evaluations or to estimate dominant and additive variances in the population. From the "genotypic" value of individuals, an alternative parameterization defines additive and dominance as the parts attributable to the additive and dominant effect of the markers. This approach underestimates the additive genetic variance and overestimates the dominance variance. Transforming the variances from one model into the other is trivial if the distribution of allelic frequencies is known. We illustrate these results with mouse data (four traits, 1884 mice, and 10,946 markers) and simulated data (2100 individuals and 10,000 markers). Variance components were estimated correctly in the model, considering breeding values and dominance deviations. For the model considering genotypic values, the inclusion of dominant effects biased the estimate of additive variance. Genomic models were more accurate for the estimation of variance components than their pedigree-based counterparts.

Neural Systems Underlying Individual Differences in Intertemporal Decision-making.

PubMed

Elton, Amanda; Smith, Christopher T; Parrish, Michael H; Boettiger, Charlotte A

2017-03-01

Excessively choosing immediate over larger future rewards, or delay discounting (DD), associates with multiple clinical conditions. Individual differences in DD likely depend on variations in the activation of and functional interactions between networks, representing possible endophenotypes for associated disorders, including alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Numerous fMRI studies have probed the neural bases of DD, but investigations of large-scale networks remain scant. We addressed this gap by testing whether activation within large-scale networks during Now/Later decision-making predicts individual differences in DD. To do so, we scanned 95 social drinkers (18-40 years old; 50 women) using fMRI during hypothetical choices between small monetary amounts available "today" or larger amounts available later. We identified neural networks engaged during Now/Later choice using independent component analysis and tested the relationship between component activation and degree of DD. The activity of two components during Now/Later choice correlated with individual DD rates: A temporal lobe network positively correlated with DD, whereas a frontoparietal-striatal network negatively correlated with DD. Activation differences between these networks predicted individual differences in DD, and their negative correlation during Now/Later choice suggests functional competition. A generalized psychophysiological interactions analysis confirmed a decrease in their functional connectivity during decision-making. The functional connectivity of these two networks negatively correlates with alcohol-related harm, potentially implicating these networks in AUDs. These findings provide novel insight into the neural underpinnings of individual differences in impulsive decision-making with potential implications for addiction and related disorders in which impulsivity is a defining feature.

Effective Management of a Volunteer Corps.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tedrick, Ted; And Others

1984-01-01

Prior to improving volunteer services, a leisure agency should have a realistic expectation of the desired accomplishments, both in individual and organizational terms. A systems approach to volunteer management is discussed that includes the components of planning and coordination; recruitment and orientation; training and placement; and…

34 CFR 76.565 - General management costs-restricted rate.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... similar officer along with immediate support staff of these individuals. The term does not include the...) Components of the grantee are those organizational units supervised directly or indirectly by the chief executive officer. These organizational units generally exist one management level below the executive...

Defining genetic and chemical diversity in wheat grain by 1H-NMR spectroscopy of polar metabolites.

PubMed

Shewry, Peter R; Corol, Delia I; Jones, Huw D; Beale, Michael H; Ward, Jane L

2017-07-01

The application of high-throughput 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) of unpurified extracts to determine genetic diversity and the contents of polar components in grain of wheat. Milled whole wheat grain was extracted with 80:20 D 2 O:CD 3 OD containing 0.05% d 4 -trimethylsilylpropionate. 1H-NMR spectra were acquired under automation at 300°K using an Avance Spectrometer operating at 600.0528 MHz. Regions for individual metabolites were identified by comparison to a library of known standards run under identical conditions. The individual 1H-NMR peaks or levels of known metabolites were then compared by Principal Component Analysis using SIMCA-P software. High-throughput 1H-NMR is an excellent tool to compare the extent of genetic diversity within and between wheat species, and to quantify specific components (including glycine betaine, choline, and asparagine) in individual genotypes. It can also be used to monitor changes in composition related to environmental factors and to support comparisons of the substantial equivalence of transgenic lines. © 2017 Rothamsted Research. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Iterative development of Stand Up Australia: a multi-component intervention to reduce workplace sitting

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Sitting, particularly in prolonged, unbroken bouts, is widespread within the office workplace, yet few interventions have addressed this newly-identified health risk behaviour. This paper describes the iterative development process and resulting intervention procedures for the Stand Up Australia research program focusing on a multi-component workplace intervention to reduce sitting time. Methods The development of Stand Up Australia followed three phases. 1) Conceptualisation: Stand Up Australia was based on social cognitive theory and social ecological model components. These were operationalised via a taxonomy of intervention strategies and designed to target multiple levels of influence including: organisational structures (e.g. via management consultation), the physical work environment (via provision of height-adjustable workstations), and individual employees (e.g. via face-to-face coaching). 2) Formative research: Intervention components were separately tested for their feasibility and acceptability. 3) Pilot studies: Stand Up Comcare tested the integrated intervention elements in a controlled pilot study examining efficacy, feasibility and acceptability. Stand Up UQ examined the additional value of the organisational- and individual-level components over height-adjustable workstations only in a three-arm controlled trial. In both pilot studies, office workers’ sitting time was measured objectively using activPAL3 devices and the intervention was refined based on qualitative feedback from managers and employees. Results Results and feedback from participants and managers involved in the intervention development phases suggest high efficacy, acceptance, and feasibility of all intervention components. The final version of the Stand Up Australia intervention includes strategies at the organisational (senior management consultation, representatives consultation workshop, team champions, staff information and brainstorming session with information booklet, and supportive emails from managers to staff), environmental (height-adjustable workstations), and individual level (face-to-face coaching session and telephone support). Stand Up Australia is currently being evaluated in the context of a cluster-randomised controlled trial at the Department of Human Services (DHS) in Melbourne, Australia. Conclusions Stand Up Australia is an evidence-guided and systematically developed workplace intervention targeting reductions in office workers’ sitting time. PMID:24559162

Aircraft noise reduction technology. [to show impact on individuals and communities, component noise sources, and operational procedures to reduce impact

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

Aircraft and airport noise reduction technology programs conducted by NASA are presented. The subjects discussed are: (1) effects of aircraft noise on individuals and communities, (2) status of aircraft source noise technology, (3) operational procedures to reduce the impact of aircraft noise, and (4) NASA relations with military services in aircraft noise problems. References to more detailed technical literature on the subjects discussed are included.

Risk Factors as Major Determinants of Resilience: A Replication Study.

PubMed

Eshel, Yohanan; Kimhi, Shaul; Lahad, Mooli; Leykin, Dmitry; Goroshit, Marina

2018-03-16

The present study was conducted in the context of current concerns about replication in psychological research. It claims that risk factors should be regarded as an integral part of the definition of individual resilience, which should be defined in terms of the balance between individual strength or protective factors, and individual vulnerability or risk factors (IND-SVR). Five independent samples, including 3457 Israeli participants, were employed to determine the effects of resilience promoting and resilience suppressing variables on the IND-SVR index of resilience, and on its two components: recovery from adversity, and distress symptoms. Five path analyses were employed for determining the role of distress symptoms as a measure of psychological resilience, as compared to other indices of this resilience. Results indicated the major role of risk factors (distress symptoms) as an integral component of resilience. This role was generally replicated in the five investigated samples. Risk factors are legitimate, valid, and useful parts of the definition of psychological resilience. Resilience research has shifted away from studying individual risk factors to investigating the process through which individuals overcome the hardships they experience. The present data seem to suggest that this shift should be reexamined.

The Betrayal Aversion Elicitation Task: An Individual Level Betrayal Aversion Measure

PubMed Central

Aimone, Jason; Ball, Sheryl; King-Casas, Brooks

2015-01-01

Research on betrayal aversion shows that individuals’ response to risk depends not only on probabilities and payoffs, but also on whether the risk includes a betrayal of trust. While previous studies focus on measuring aggregate levels of betrayal aversion, the connection between an individual’s own betrayal aversion and other individually varying factors, including risk preferences, are currently unexplored. This paper develops a new task to elicit an individual’s level of betrayal aversion that can then be compared to individual characteristics. We demonstrate the feasibility of our new task and show that our aggregate individual results are consistent with previous studies. We then use this classification to ask whether betrayal aversion is correlated with risk aversion. While we find risk aversion and betrayal aversion have no significant relationship, we do observe that risk aversion is correlated with non-social risk preferences, but not the social, betrayal related, risk component of the new task. PMID:26331944

Functional-anatomic correlates of individual differences in memory.

PubMed

Kirchhoff, Brenda A; Buckner, Randy L

2006-07-20

Memory abilities differ greatly across individuals. To explore a source of these differences, we characterized the varied strategies people adopt during unconstrained encoding. Participants intentionally encoded object pairs during functional MRI. Principal components analysis applied to a strategy questionnaire revealed that participants variably used four main strategies to aid learning. Individuals' use of verbal elaboration and visual inspection strategies independently correlated with their memory performance. Verbal elaboration correlated with activity in a network of regions that included prefrontal regions associated with controlled verbal processing, while visual inspection correlated with activity in a network of regions that included an extrastriate region associated with object processing. Activity in regions associated with use of these strategies was also correlated with memory performance. This study reveals functional-anatomic correlates of verbal and perceptual strategies that are variably used by individuals during encoding. These strategies engage distinct brain regions and may separately influence memory performance.

Feasibility and effects of TAI CHI for the promotion of sleep quality and quality of life: a single-group study in a sample of older Chinese individuals in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Lo, Catherine Mei-Han; Lee, Paul H

2014-03-01

Poor sleep in later life is a global issue that reduces many individuals' quality of life (QOL). The purpose of this pilot study was to test the feasibility and effects of a simplified tai chi exercise intervention on sleep quality and QOL among Chinese community-dwelling older adults with poor sleep quality. This single-group, descriptive feasibility study included 34 individuals with poor sleep quality who agreed to participate in a 12-week tai chi intervention. Twenty-six individuals completed the program (23.5% dropout rate). Older adults with poor sleep quality who completed the intervention showed significant improvement in the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 mental component and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index global and component scores. The low recruitment and attendance and high dropout rates might be associated with participants' age, gender, and sleep quality. Further long-term studies are required to examine the potential effects of the tai chi intervention. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 40(3), 46-52.]. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

Feature extraction across individual time series observations with spikes using wavelet principal component analysis.

PubMed

Røislien, Jo; Winje, Brita

2013-09-20

Clinical studies frequently include repeated measurements of individuals, often for long periods. We present a methodology for extracting common temporal features across a set of individual time series observations. In particular, the methodology explores extreme observations within the time series, such as spikes, as a possible common temporal phenomenon. Wavelet basis functions are attractive in this sense, as they are localized in both time and frequency domains simultaneously, allowing for localized feature extraction from a time-varying signal. We apply wavelet basis function decomposition of individual time series, with corresponding wavelet shrinkage to remove noise. We then extract common temporal features using linear principal component analysis on the wavelet coefficients, before inverse transformation back to the time domain for clinical interpretation. We demonstrate the methodology on a subset of a large fetal activity study aiming to identify temporal patterns in fetal movement (FM) count data in order to explore formal FM counting as a screening tool for identifying fetal compromise and thus preventing adverse birth outcomes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Applying GRADE-CERQual to qualitative evidence synthesis findings-paper 3: how to assess methodological limitations.

PubMed

Munthe-Kaas, Heather; Bohren, Meghan A; Glenton, Claire; Lewin, Simon; Noyes, Jane; Tunçalp, Özge; Booth, Andrew; Garside, Ruth; Colvin, Christopher J; Wainwright, Megan; Rashidian, Arash; Flottorp, Signe; Carlsen, Benedicte

2018-01-25

The GRADE-CERQual (Confidence in Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research) approach has been developed by the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) Working Group. The approach has been developed to support the use of findings from qualitative evidence syntheses in decision-making, including guideline development and policy formulation. CERQual includes four components for assessing how much confidence to place in findings from reviews of qualitative research (also referred to as qualitative evidence syntheses): (1) methodological limitations, (2) coherence, (3) adequacy of data and (4) relevance. This paper is part of a series providing guidance on how to apply CERQual and focuses on CERQual's methodological limitations component. We developed the methodological limitations component by searching the literature for definitions, gathering feedback from relevant research communities and developing consensus through project group meetings. We tested the CERQual methodological limitations component within several qualitative evidence syntheses before agreeing on the current definition and principles for application. When applying CERQual, we define methodological limitations as the extent to which there are concerns about the design or conduct of the primary studies that contributed evidence to an individual review finding. In this paper, we describe the methodological limitations component and its rationale and offer guidance on how to assess methodological limitations of a review finding as part of the CERQual approach. This guidance outlines the information required to assess methodological limitations component, the steps that need to be taken to assess methodological limitations of data contributing to a review finding and examples of methodological limitation assessments. This paper provides guidance for review authors and others on undertaking an assessment of methodological limitations in the context of the CERQual approach. More work is needed to determine which criteria critical appraisal tools should include when assessing methodological limitations. We currently recommend that whichever tool is used, review authors provide a transparent description of their assessments of methodological limitations in a review finding. We expect the CERQual approach and its individual components to develop further as our experiences with the practical implementation of the approach increase.

Is the medical loss ratio a good target measure for regulation in the individual market for health insurance?

PubMed

Karaca-Mandic, Pinar; Abraham, Jean M; Simon, Kosali

2015-01-01

Effective January 1, 2011, individual market health insurers must meet a minimum medical loss ratio (MLR) of 80%. This law aims to encourage 'productive' forms of competition by increasing the proportion of premium dollars spent on clinical benefits. To date, very little is known about the performance of firms in the individual health insurance market, including how MLRs are related to insurer and market characteristics. The MLR comprises one component of the price-cost margin, a traditional gauge of market power; the other component is percent of premiums spent on administrative expenses. We use data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (2001-2009) to evaluate whether the MLR is a good target measure for regulation by comparing the two components of the price-cost margin between markets that are more competitive versus those that are not, accounting for firm and market characteristics. We find that insurers with monopoly power have lower MLRs. Moreover, we find no evidence suggesting that insurers' administrative expenses are lower in more concentrated insurance markets. Thus, our results are largely consistent with the interpretation that the MLR could serve as a target measure of market power in regulating the individual market for health insurance but with notable limited ability to capture product and firm heterogeneity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Career Development in Correctional Institutions: Needs, Programs and Practices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Earl J.; Miller, Thomas B.

1979-01-01

Recommends comprehensive career development programs for prison inmates to include a life career curriculum, individual development, placement and follow-through activities, and on-call responsive services. Describes several programs with one or two of the recommended components which are now in a number of prisons. (MF)

Real-time sensing of lint quality

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Modem cotton gins have the purpose of extracting lint (the cotton) from trash and seeds- usually the sticks, leaves and burrs that are entrained with the cotton. These modem gins include many individual machine components that are operated sequentially to form the gin processing line. Recent on-line...

Microcomputers and the Future.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Uhlig, George E.

Dangers are inherent in predicting the future. In discussing the future of computers, specifically, it is useful to consider the brief history of computers from the development of ENIAC to microcomputers. Advances in computer technology can be seen by looking at changes in individual components, including internal and external memory, the…

Metabolic syndrome and its components as predictors of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in a northern urban Han Chinese population: a prospective cohort study.

PubMed

Zhang, Tao; Zhang, Chengqi; Zhang, Yongyuan; Tang, Fang; Li, Hongkai; Zhang, Qian; Lin, Haiyan; Wu, Shuo; Liu, Yanxun; Xue, Fuzhong

2015-05-01

To explore the longitudinal effect of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components on the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and to evaluate the significance of MetS and its components as early markers of NAFLD risk in a northern urban Han Chinese population. A total of 15,791 cohort members without NAFLD at baseline were included in the current study between 2005 and 2011. The baseline characteristics of the cohort were compared by MetS status at baseline and NAFLD status after follow-up. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the unadjusted or adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for development of NAFLD among individuals with MetS compared with individuals without MetS at baseline. During 51,652 person-years of follow-up, 3913 (24.78%) new cases of NAFLD occurred between 2005 and 2011. In the unadjusted model, the HR (95% confidence interval [CI]) for NAFLD was 2.51 (2.30, 2.73). After adjusting for gender, age, diet, smoking status, and regular exercise, the HR was 1.94 (1.78, 2.13). Gender differences were observed, with adjusted HRs (95% CIs) of 1.89 (1.71, 2.09) and 1.72 (1.43, 2.07) among males and females, respectively. Compared with individuals without MetS components, the HRs were 1.92 (1.76, 2.09), 2.64 (2.40, 2.90) and 3.51 (3.15, 3.91) for individuals with one, two, or three or more MetS components, respectively. Moreover, participants with obesity or hyperlipidemia had a higher risk of NAFLD than patients with hypertension or hyperglycemia, with HRs of 2.03 (1.83, 2.25) for obesity, 1.94 (1.72, 2.19) for hyperlipidemia, and 3.01 (2.68, 3.37) for these factors in combination. The present study indicates that MetS and its components independently predict the risk of NAFLD in a northern urban Han Chinese population and suggests that people with MetS or its component should initiate lifestyle changes to prevent the development of NAFLD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of exhaust emissions from diesel-powered passenger cars with particular reference to unregulated components

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

Lies, K.H.; Postulka, A.; Gring, H.

Besides regulated components VW's research program in the field of characterization of diesel emissions comprises a detailed analysis of the particulates and a comprehensive study of a number of unregulated gaseous compounds. The following chemical compounds and classes of compounds are measured: particulates, traces of metals, major elements, sulfates, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen cyanide, aldehydes, ammonia, phenols, individual hydrocarbons, and odor (DOAS). The test fleet of this investigation included a number of VW and Audi cars equipped with 4-, and 5-cylinder diesel engines (naturally aspirated and turbocharged). All measurements were performed on a chassis dynamometer in accordance with themore » specification of the known US-test-procedures: Federal Test Procedure, Sulfate Emission Test, Fuel Economy Test. For sampling , in principle, the dilution tunnel technique was used combined with an automatically working collection system. This micro-processor controlled system involves 13 individual sample lines, 8 for gaseous and 5 for particulate components.« less

A Gas-Kinetic Scheme for Multimaterial Flows and Its Application in Chemical Reaction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lian, Yongsheng; Xu, Kun

1999-01-01

This paper concerns the extension of the multicomponent gas-kinetic BGK-type scheme to multidimensional chemical reactive flow calculations. In the kinetic model, each component satisfies its individual gas-kinetic BGK equation and the equilibrium states of both components are coupled in space and time due to the momentum and energy exchange in the course of particle collisions. At the same time, according to the chemical reaction rule one component can be changed into another component with the release of energy, where the reactant and product could have different gamma. Many numerical test cases are included in this paper, which show the robustness and accuracy of kinetic approach in the description of multicomponent reactive flows.

Analyte species and concentration identification using differentially functionalized microcantilever arrays and artificial neural networks

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

Senesac, Larry R; Datskos, Panos G; Sepaniak, Michael J

2006-01-01

In the present work, we have performed analyte species and concentration identification using an array of ten differentially functionalized microcantilevers coupled with a back-propagation artificial neural network pattern recognition algorithm. The array consists of ten nanostructured silicon microcantilevers functionalized by polymeric and gas chromatography phases and macrocyclic receptors as spatially dense, differentially responding sensing layers for identification and quantitation of individual analyte(s) and their binary mixtures. The array response (i.e. cantilever bending) to analyte vapor was measured by an optical readout scheme and the responses were recorded for a selection of individual analytes as well as several binary mixtures. Anmore » artificial neural network (ANN) was designed and trained to recognize not only the individual analytes and binary mixtures, but also to determine the concentration of individual components in a mixture. To the best of our knowledge, ANNs have not been applied to microcantilever array responses previously to determine concentrations of individual analytes. The trained ANN correctly identified the eleven test analyte(s) as individual components, most with probabilities greater than 97%, whereas it did not misidentify an unknown (untrained) analyte. Demonstrated unique aspects of this work include an ability to measure binary mixtures and provide both qualitative (identification) and quantitative (concentration) information with array-ANN-based sensor methodologies.« less

Identification of Novel Components Influencing Colonization Factor Antigen I Expression in Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli

PubMed Central

Haines, Sara; Gautheron, Sylviane; Nasser, William; Renauld-Mongénie, Geneviève

2015-01-01

Colonization factors (CFs) mediate early adhesion of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) in the small intestine. Environmental signals including bile, glucose, and contact with epithelial cells have previously been shown to modulate CF expression in a strain dependent manner. To identify novel components modulating CF surface expression, 20 components relevant to the intestinal environment were selected for evaluation. These included mucin, bicarbonate, norepinephrine, lincomycin, carbon sources, and cations. Effects of individual components on surface expression of the archetype CF, CFA/I, were screened using a fractional factorial Hadamard matrix incorporating 24 growth conditions. As most CFs agglutinate erythrocytes, surface expression was evaluated by mannose resistant hemagglutination. Seven components, including porcine gastric mucin, lincomycin, glutamine, and glucose were found to induce CFA/I surface expression in vitro in a minimal media while five others were inhibitory, including leucine and 1,10-phenanthroline. To further explore the effect of components positively influencing CFA/I surface expression, a response surface methodology (RSM) was designed incorporating 36 growth conditions. The optimum concentration for each component was identified, thereby generating a novel culture media, SP1, for CFA/I expression. CFs closely related to CFA/I, including CS4 and CS14 were similarly induced in SP1 media. Other epidemiologically relevant CFs were also induced when compared to the level obtained in minimal media. These results indicate that although CF surface expression is complex and highly variable among strains, the CF response can be predicted for closely related strains. A novel culture media inducing CFs in the CF5a group was successfully identified. In addition, mucin was found to positively influence CF expression in strains expressing either CFA/I or CS1 and CS3, and may function as a common environmental cue. PMID:26517723

Identification of Novel Components Influencing Colonization Factor Antigen I Expression in Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

PubMed

Haines, Sara; Gautheron, Sylviane; Nasser, William; Renauld-Mongénie, Geneviève

2015-01-01

Colonization factors (CFs) mediate early adhesion of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) in the small intestine. Environmental signals including bile, glucose, and contact with epithelial cells have previously been shown to modulate CF expression in a strain dependent manner. To identify novel components modulating CF surface expression, 20 components relevant to the intestinal environment were selected for evaluation. These included mucin, bicarbonate, norepinephrine, lincomycin, carbon sources, and cations. Effects of individual components on surface expression of the archetype CF, CFA/I, were screened using a fractional factorial Hadamard matrix incorporating 24 growth conditions. As most CFs agglutinate erythrocytes, surface expression was evaluated by mannose resistant hemagglutination. Seven components, including porcine gastric mucin, lincomycin, glutamine, and glucose were found to induce CFA/I surface expression in vitro in a minimal media while five others were inhibitory, including leucine and 1,10-phenanthroline. To further explore the effect of components positively influencing CFA/I surface expression, a response surface methodology (RSM) was designed incorporating 36 growth conditions. The optimum concentration for each component was identified, thereby generating a novel culture media, SP1, for CFA/I expression. CFs closely related to CFA/I, including CS4 and CS14 were similarly induced in SP1 media. Other epidemiologically relevant CFs were also induced when compared to the level obtained in minimal media. These results indicate that although CF surface expression is complex and highly variable among strains, the CF response can be predicted for closely related strains. A novel culture media inducing CFs in the CF5a group was successfully identified. In addition, mucin was found to positively influence CF expression in strains expressing either CFA/I or CS1 and CS3, and may function as a common environmental cue.

Design for pressure regulating components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wichmann, H.

1973-01-01

The design development for Pressure Regulating Components included a regulator component trade-off study with analog computer performance verification to arrive at a final optimized regulator configuration for the Space Storable Propulsion Module, under development for a Jupiter Orbiter mission. This application requires the pressure regulator to be capable of long-term fluorine exposure. In addition, individual but basically identical (for purposes of commonality) units are required for separate oxidizer and fuel pressurization. The need for dual units requires improvement in the regulation accuracy over present designs. An advanced regulator concept was prepared featuring redundant bellows, all metallic/ceramic construction, friction-free guidance of moving parts, gas damping, and the elimination of coil springs normally used for reference forces. The activities included testing of actual size seat/poppet components to determine actual discharge coefficients and flow forces. The resulting data was inserted into the computer model of the regulator. Computer simulation of the propulsion module performance over two mission profiles indicated satisfactory minimization of propellant residual requirements imposed by regulator performance uncertainties.

Application of ambient ionization high resolution mass spectrometry to determination of the botanical provenance of the constituents of psychoactive drug mixtures.

PubMed

Lesiak, Ashton D; Musah, Rabi A

2016-09-01

A continuing challenge in analytical chemistry is species-level determination of the constituents of mixtures that are made of a combination of plant species. There is an added urgency to identify components in botanical mixtures that have mind altering properties, due to the increasing global abuse of combinations of such plants. Here we demonstrate the proof of principle that ambient ionization mass spectrometry, namely direct analysis in real time-high resolution mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS), and statistical analysis tools can be used to rapidly determine the individual components within a psychoactive brew (Ayahuasca) made from a mixture of botanicals. Five plant species used in Ayahuasca preparations were subjected to DART-HRMS analysis. The chemical fingerprint of each was reproducible but unique, thus enabling discrimination between them. The presence of important biomarkers, including N,N-dimethyltryptamine, harmaline and harmine, was confirmed using in-source collision-induced dissociation (CID). Six Ayahuasca brews made from combinations of various plant species were shown to possess a high level of similarity, despite having been made from different constituents. Nevertheless, the application of principal component analysis (PCA) was useful in distinguishing between each of the brews based on the botanical species used in the preparations. From a training set based on 900 individual analyses, three principal components covered 86.38% of the variance, and the leave-one-out cross validation was 98.88%. This is the first report of ambient ionization MS being successfully used for determination of the individual components of plant mixtures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Economic and cultural correlates of subjective wellbeing in countries using data from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

PubMed

Gaygisiz, Esma

2010-06-01

The correlations among indicators of objective well-being, cultural dimensions, and subjective well-being were investigated using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data from 35 countries. The subjective well-being measures included life satisfaction as well as six positive and six negative indexes of experience. Positive and negative experience scores were subjected to principal component analysis, and two positive experience components (labeled as "positive experiences" and "time management") and two negative experience components (labeled as "pain, worry, and sadness" and "anger and boredom") were extracted. Objective well-being included economic indicators, education, and health. The cultural variables included Hofstede's and Schwartz's cultural dimensions, national Big Five personality scores, and national IQs. High life satisfaction was positively related to Gross Domestic Product, life expectancy, education, individualism, affective and intellectual autonomy, egalitarianism, and conscientiousness, whereas low life satisfaction was related to unemployment, unequal income distribution, power distance, masculinity uncertainty avoidance, embeddedness, hierarchy, and neuroticism.

Scaling Impacts in Life Support Architecture and Technology Selection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lange, Kevin

2016-01-01

For long-duration space missions outside of Earth orbit, reliability considerations will drive higher levels of redundancy and/or on-board spares for life support equipment. Component scaling will be a critical element in minimizing overall launch mass while maintaining an acceptable level of system reliability. Building on an earlier reliability study (AIAA 2012-3491), this paper considers the impact of alternative scaling approaches, including the design of technology assemblies and their individual components to maximum, nominal, survival, or other fractional requirements. The optimal level of life support system closure is evaluated for deep-space missions of varying duration using equivalent system mass (ESM) as the comparative basis. Reliability impacts are included in ESM by estimating the number of component spares required to meet a target system reliability. Common cause failures are included in the analysis. ISS and ISS-derived life support technologies are considered along with selected alternatives. This study focusses on minimizing launch mass, which may be enabling for deep-space missions.

Helium Mass Spectrometer Leak Detection: A Method to Quantify Total Measurement Uncertainty

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mather, Janice L.; Taylor, Shawn C.

2015-01-01

In applications where leak rates of components or systems are evaluated against a leak rate requirement, the uncertainty of the measured leak rate must be included in the reported result. However, in the helium mass spectrometer leak detection method, the sensitivity, or resolution, of the instrument is often the only component of the total measurement uncertainty noted when reporting results. To address this shortfall, a measurement uncertainty analysis method was developed that includes the leak detector unit's resolution, repeatability, hysteresis, and drift, along with the uncertainty associated with the calibration standard. In a step-wise process, the method identifies the bias and precision components of the calibration standard, the measurement correction factor (K-factor), and the leak detector unit. Together these individual contributions to error are combined and the total measurement uncertainty is determined using the root-sum-square method. It was found that the precision component contributes more to the total uncertainty than the bias component, but the bias component is not insignificant. For helium mass spectrometer leak rate tests where unit sensitivity alone is not enough, a thorough evaluation of the measurement uncertainty such as the one presented herein should be performed and reported along with the leak rate value.

University of Virginia infrared sensor experiment (UVIRSE)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dawson, Jeffrey R.; Bell, Meredith A.; Powers, Michael C.; Laufer, Gabriel

2001-03-01

A suite consisting of an infrared sensor, optical sensors and a video camera are prepared for launch by a group of students at University of Virginia (UVA) and James Madison University (JMU). The sensors are a first step in the development of a Gas Filter Correlation Radiometer (GFCR) that will detect stratospheric methane (CH4) when flown on sub-orbital sounding rockets and/or from the hypersonic X-34 reusable launch vehicle. The current payload has a threefold purpose: (a) to provide space heritage to a thermoelectrically cooled mercury cadmium telluride sensor, (b) to demonstrate methods for correlating the IR reading of the sensor with ground topography, and (c) to flight test all the payload components that will become part of the sub- orbital methane GFCR sensor. Once completed the system will serve as host to other undergraduate research design projects that require space environment, microgravity, or remote sensing capabilities. The payload components have been received and tested, and the supporting structure has been designed and built. Data from previous rocket flights was used to analyze the environmental strains placed on the experiment and components. Payload components are being integrated and tested as a system to ensure functionality in the flight environment. This includes thermal testing for individual components, vibration testing from individual components and overall payload, and load testing of the external structure. Launch is scheduled for Spring 2001.

Estimating individual influences of behavioral intentions: an application of random-effects modeling to the theory of reasoned action.

PubMed

Hedeker, D; Flay, B R; Petraitis, J

1996-02-01

Methods are proposed and described for estimating the degree to which relations among variables vary at the individual level. As an example of the methods, M. Fishbein and I. Ajzen's (1975; I. Ajzen & M. Fishbein, 1980) theory of reasoned action is examined, which posits first that an individual's behavioral intentions are a function of 2 components: the individual's attitudes toward the behavior and the subjective norms as perceived by the individual. A second component of their theory is that individuals may weight these 2 components differently in assessing their behavioral intentions. This article illustrates the use of empirical Bayes methods based on a random-effects regression model to estimate these individual influences, estimating an individual's weighting of both of these components (attitudes toward the behavior and subjective norms) in relation to their behavioral intentions. This method can be used when an individual's behavioral intentions, subjective norms, and attitudes toward the behavior are all repeatedly measured. In this case, the empirical Bayes estimates are derived as a function of the data from the individual, strengthened by the overall sample data.

The association between macronutrient intake and the metabolic syndrome and its components in type 1 diabetes.

PubMed

Ahola, Aila J; Harjutsalo, Valma; Thorn, Lena M; Freese, Riitta; Forsblom, Carol; Mäkimattila, Sari; Groop, Per-Henrik

2017-02-01

Diet is a major modifiable lifestyle factor that may affect the components of the metabolic syndrome. We aimed to investigate the association between relative proportions of macronutrients and the components of the metabolic syndrome in a population of individuals with type 1 diabetes. In all, 791 individuals without nephropathy, with plausible energy intake and known metabolic syndrome status, taking part in the Finnish Diabetic Nephropathy Study were included in the analyses. Dietary data were collected with a diet record. The association between the relative macronutrient intake and the outcome variables were analysed using multivariable nutrient density substitution models. The relative proportions of dietary macronutrients or fatty acids were not associated with the presence of the metabolic syndrome. In men, however, favouring carbohydrates over fats was associated with lower odds of the waist component, whereas favouring either carbohydrates or fats over proteins was associated with lower odds of the blood pressure component of the metabolic syndrome. In women, substituting carbohydrates for fats was associated with lower HDL-cholesterol concentration. Substituting carbohydrates or fats for alcohol or protein was, in men, associated with lower systolic blood pressure. To conclude, the relative distribution of macronutrients may have some relevance for the metabolic syndrome.

Full elastic strain and stress tensor measurements from individual dislocation cells in copper through-Si vias

DOE PAGES

Levine, Lyle E.; Okoro, Chukwudi A.; Xu, Ruqing

2015-09-30

We report non-destructive measurements of the full elastic strain and stress tensors from individual dislocation cells distributed along the full extent of a 50 mm-long polycrystalline copper via in Si is reported. Determining all of the components of these tensors from sub-micrometre regions within deformed metals presents considerable challenges. The primary issues are ensuring that different diffraction peaks originate from the same sample volume and that accurate determination is made of the peak positions from plastically deformed samples. For these measurements, three widely separated reflections were examined from selected, individual grains along the via. The lattice spacings and peak positionsmore » were measured for multiple dislocation cell interiors within each grain and the cell-interior peaks were sorted out using the measured included angles. A comprehensive uncertainty analysis using a Monte Carlo uncertainty algorithm provided uncertainties for the elastic strain tensor and stress tensor components.« less

The Role of Meditation in Addiction Recovery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pruett, James M.; Nishimura, Nancy J.; Priest, Ronnie

2007-01-01

The authors examined the role of meditation as an important component in addiction recovery. Successful addiction recovery is often related to an individual's ability to develop and use a repertoire of coping behaviors, including the ability to maintain an ongoing awareness of one's vulnerability. These learned behaviors serve as reliable…

Appraisal Distortions and Intimate Partner Violence: Gender, Power, and Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whiting, Jason B.; Oka, Megan; Fife, Stephen T.

2012-01-01

In relationships characterized by control, abuse, or violence, many appraisal distortions occur including denial and minimization. However, the nature of the distortion varies depending on the individual's role in the relationship (i.e., abuser or victim). Reducing these distortions is an important component in treatment success and involves…

The Charismatic Leader. Behind the Mystique of Exceptional Leadership.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conger, Jay A.

A systematic understanding of how various behavioral components (vision, articulation skills, empowerment, unconventionality, and risk-taking) work together to set apart certain individuals as charismatic leaders is presented. Using illustrations from the careers of charismatic leaders, including Steve Jobs, Lee Iacocca, Mary Kay, John DeLorean,…

Preparation for Employment: Programs at Illinois Public Community Colleges.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Illinois Community Coll. Board, Springfield.

This report highlights the involvement of Illinois public community colleges in preparing individuals for employment, including instruction and services offered to students and businesses. After providing an overview of the state's community college system, the report describes the following components and aspects of employment preparation: (1)…

A Genetic Analysis of Individual Differences in Dissociative Behaviors in Childhood and Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becker-Blease, Kathryn A.; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Eley, Thalia; Freyd, Jennifer J.; Stevenson, Jim; Plomin, Robert

2004-01-01

Background: Dissociation--a pattern of general disruption in memory and consciousness--has been found to be an important cognitive component of children's and adults' coping with severe trauma. Dissociative experiences include amnesia, identity disturbance, age regression, difficulty with concentration, and trance states. Stable individual…

Reduced representation bisulphite sequencing of the ten bovine somatic tissues reveals DNA methylation patterns

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

As a major component epigenetics, DNA methylation has been proved that widely functions in individual development and various diseases. It has been well studied in model organisms and human but includes limited data for the economic animals. Using reduced representation bisulphite sequencing (RRBS),...

Pesticides: A Community Action Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bumstead, Cynthia, Ed.; And Others

Developed to provide an introduction to the issues surrounding the use of chemical pesticides, this booklet encourages individuals and communities to become active in determining the safe use and regulation of pesticides. The major components of the guide include: (1) an explanation of the issue; (2) pesticides and their effect on human health;…

FARSITE: Fire Area Simulator-model development and evaluation

Treesearch

Mark A. Finney

1998-01-01

A computer simulation model, FARSITE, includes existing fire behavior models for surface, crown, spotting, point-source fire acceleration, and fuel moisture. The model's components and assumptions are documented. Simulations were run for simple conditions that illustrate the effect of individual fire behavior models on two-dimensional fire growth.

76 FR 3090 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Alaska Region; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-19

... submitted on or before March 21, 2011. ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Diana Hynek, Departmental... fisheries. Program components include quota share allocation, processor quota share allocation, individual... Binding Arbitration process, and fee collection. II. Method of Collection Responses are mailed, except the...

The 5L Instructional Design For Exploring Legacies through Biography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boulware, Beverly J.; Monroe, Eula E.; Wilcox, Bradley Ray

2013-01-01

People who have impacted generations have left legacies we can explore today through biographies. The 5L instructional design introduced in this article includes five components: Listen, Learn, Locate, Link, and Legacy. In the "Listen" section, teachers use storytelling and read-alouds to introduce individuals who shaped history. During…

Nutrigenomics and Cancer

PubMed Central

Ardekani, Ali M.; Jabbari, Sepideh

2009-01-01

Cancer incidence is projected to increase in the future and an effectual preventive strategy is required to face this challenge. Alteration of dietary habits is potentially an effective approach for reducing cancer risk. Assessment of biological effects of a specific food or bioactive component that is linked to cancer and prediction of individual susceptibility as a function of nutrient-nutrient interactions and genetics is an essential element to evaluate the beneficiaries of dietary interventions. In general, the use of biomarkers to evaluate individuals susceptibilities to cancer must be easily accessible and reliable. However, the response of individuals to bioactive food components depends not only on the effective concentration of the bioactive food components, but also on the target tissues. This fact makes the response of individuals to food components vary from one individual to another. Nutrigenomics focuses on the understanding of interactions between genes and diet in an individual and how the response to bioactive food components is influenced by an individual's genes. Nutrients have shown to affect gene expression and to induce changes in DNA and protein molecules. Nutrigenomic approaches provide an opportunity to study how gene expression is regulated by nutrients and how nutrition affects gene variations and epigenetic events. Finding the components involved in interactions between genes and diet in an individual can potentially help identify target molecules important in preventing and/or reducing the symptoms of cancer. PMID:23407612

A guide to understanding meta-analysis.

PubMed

Israel, Heidi; Richter, Randy R

2011-07-01

With the focus on evidence-based practice in healthcare, a well-conducted systematic review that includes a meta-analysis where indicated represents a high level of evidence for treatment effectiveness. The purpose of this commentary is to assist clinicians in understanding meta-analysis as a statistical tool using both published articles and explanations of components of the technique. We describe what meta-analysis is, what heterogeneity is, and how it affects meta-analysis, effect size, the modeling techniques of meta-analysis, and strengths and weaknesses of meta-analysis. Common components like forest plot interpretation, software that may be used, special cases for meta-analysis, such as subgroup analysis, individual patient data, and meta-regression, and a discussion of criticisms, are included.

Application of Intervention Mapping to develop a community-based health promotion pre-pregnancy intervention for adolescent girls in rural South Africa: Project Ntshembo (Hope).

PubMed

Draper, Catherine E; Micklesfield, Lisa K; Kahn, Kathleen; Tollman, Stephen M; Pettifor, John M; Dunger, David B; Norris, Shane A

2014-01-01

South Africa (SA) is undergoing multiple transitions with an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases and high levels of overweight and obesity in adolescent girls and women. Adolescence is key to addressing trans-generational risk and a window of opportunity to intervene and positively impact on individuals' health trajectories into adulthood. Using Intervention Mapping (IM), this paper describes the development of the Ntshembo intervention, which is intended to improve the health and well-being of adolescent girls in order to limit the inter-generational transfer of risk of metabolic disease, in particular diabetes risk. This paper describes the application of the first four steps of IM. Evidence is provided to support the selection of four key behavioural objectives: viz. to eat a healthy, balanced diet, increase physical activity, reduce sedentary behaviour, and promote reproductive health. Appropriate behaviour change techniques are suggested and a theoretical framework outlining components of relevant behaviour change theories is presented. It is proposed that the Ntshembo intervention will be community-based, including specialist adolescent community health workers who will deliver a complex intervention comprising of individual, peer, family and community mobilisation components. The Ntshembo intervention is novel, both in SA and globally, as it is: (1) based on strong evidence, extensive formative work and best practice from evaluated interventions; (2) combines theory with evidence to inform intervention components; (3) includes multiple domains of influence (community through to the individual); (4) focuses on an at-risk target group; and (5) embeds within existing and planned health service priorities in SA.

In Vitro Analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Virulence Using Conditions That Mimic the Environment at Specific Infection Sites.

PubMed

Colmer-Hamood, J A; Dzvova, N; Kruczek, C; Hamood, A N

2016-01-01

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen that causes chronic lung infection in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and acute systemic infections in severely burned patients and immunocompromised patients including cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and HIV infected individuals. In response to the environmental conditions at specific infection sites, P. aeruginosa expresses certain sets of cell-associated and extracellular virulence factors that produce tissue damage. Analyzing the mechanisms that govern the production of these virulence factors in vitro requires media that closely mimic the environmental conditions within the infection sites. In this chapter, we review studies based on media that closely resemble three in vivo conditions, the thick mucus accumulated within the lung alveoli of CF patients, the serum-rich wound bed and the bloodstream. Media resembling the CF alveolar mucus include standard laboratory media supplemented with sputum obtained from CF patients as well as prepared synthetic mucus media formulated to contain the individual components of CF sputum. Media supplemented with serum or individual serum components have served as surrogates for the soluble host components of wound infections, while whole blood has been used to investigate the adaptation of pathogens to the bloodstream. Studies using these media have provided valuable information regarding P. aeruginosa gene expression in different host environments as varying sets of genes were differentially regulated during growth in each medium. The unique effects observed indicate the essential role of these in vitro media that closely mimic the in vivo conditions in providing accurate information regarding the pathogenesis of P. aeruginosa infections. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Individualized Quality of Life Scale (IQOLS): Psychometric Properties and Comparative Population Norms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Downs, Karen M.; Wagner, Mervyn K.

The Individualized Quality of Life Scale (IQOLS) is a two-component scale designed to measure the quality of life (QOL) of cancer patients. The two components are the patient's satisfaction with 14 different life areas and the importance of the life areas to the individual. By combining the two components, an overall QOL score can be obtained that…

Developing a stability assessment method for power electronics-based microgrids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Austin, Peter M.

Modern microgrids with microsources and energy storage are dependent on power electronics for control and regulation. Under certain circumstances power electronics can be destabilizing to the system due to an effect called negative incremental impedance. A careful review of the theory and literature on the subject is presented. This includes stability criteria for both AC and DC systems, as well as a discussion on the limitations posed by the analysis. A method to integrate stability assessment with higher-level microgrid architectural design is proposed. Crucial to this is impedance characterization of individual components, which was accomplished through simulation. DC and AC impedance measurement blocks were created in Matlab simulink to automate the process. A detailed switching-level model of a DC microgrid was implemented in simulink, including wind turbine microsource, battery storage, and three phase inverter. Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) was included to maximize the efficiency of the turbine and was implemented through three rectifier alternatives and control schemes. The stability characteristics of each was compared in the final analysis. Impedance data was collected individually from the components and used to assess stability in the system as a whole. The results included the assessment of stability, margin, and unstable operating points to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach.

The Individual Virtual Eye: a Computer Model for Advanced Intraocular Lens Calculation

PubMed Central

Einighammer, Jens; Oltrup, Theo; Bende, Thomas; Jean, Benedikt

2010-01-01

Purpose To describe the individual virtual eye, a computer model of a human eye with respect to its optical properties. It is based on measurements of an individual person and one of its major application is calculating intraocular lenses (IOLs) for cataract surgery. Methods The model is constructed from an eye's geometry, including axial length and topographic measurements of the anterior corneal surface. All optical components of a pseudophakic eye are modeled with computer scientific methods. A spline-based interpolation method efficiently includes data from corneal topographic measurements. The geometrical optical properties, such as the wavefront aberration, are simulated with real ray-tracing using Snell's law. Optical components can be calculated using computer scientific optimization procedures. The geometry of customized aspheric IOLs was calculated for 32 eyes and the resulting wavefront aberration was investigated. Results The more complex the calculated IOL is, the lower the residual wavefront error is. Spherical IOLs are only able to correct for the defocus, while toric IOLs also eliminate astigmatism. Spherical aberration is additionally reduced by aspheric and toric aspheric IOLs. The efficient implementation of time-critical numerical ray-tracing and optimization procedures allows for short calculation times, which may lead to a practicable method integrated in some device. Conclusions The individual virtual eye allows for simulations and calculations regarding geometrical optics for individual persons. This leads to clinical applications like IOL calculation, with the potential to overcome the limitations of those current calculation methods that are based on paraxial optics, exemplary shown by calculating customized aspheric IOLs.

Associations of social environment, socioeconomic position and social mobility with immune response in young adults: the Jerusalem Perinatal Family Follow-Up Study

PubMed Central

Lawrence, Gabriella M; Friedlander, Yehiel; Calderon-Margalit, Ronit; Enquobahrie, Daniel A; Huang, Jonathan Yinhao; Tracy, Russell P; Manor, Orly; Siscovick, David S; Hochner, Hagit

2017-01-01

Objectives Immune response to cytomegalovirus (CMV) impacts adult chronic disease. This study investigates associations of childhood and adulthood social environment, socioeconomic position (SEP) and social mobility with CMV response in young adults. Design Historical prospective study design. Setting Subcohort of all 17 003 births to residents of Jerusalem between 1974 and 1976. Participants Participants included 1319 young adults born in Jerusalem with extensive archival and follow-up data, including childhood and adulthood SEP-related factors and anti-CMV IgG titre levels and seroprevalence measured at age 32. Main exposure and outcome measures Principal component analysis was used to transform correlated social environment and SEP-related variables at two time points (childhood and adulthood) into two major scores reflecting household (eg, number of siblings/children, religiosity) and socioeconomic (eg, occupation, education) components. Based on these components, social mobility variables were created. Linear and Poisson regression models were used to investigate associations of components and mobility with anti-CMV IgG titre level and seroprevalence, adjusted for confounders. Results Lower levels of household and socioeconomic components in either childhood or adulthood were associated with higher anti-CMV IgG titre level and seropositivity at age 32. Compared with individuals with stable favourable components, anti-CMV IgG titre level and risk for seropositivity were higher in stable unfavourable household and socioeconomic components (household: β=3.23, P<0.001; relative risk (RR)=1.21, P<0.001; socioeconomic: β=2.20, P=0.001; RR=1.14, P=0.01), downward household mobility (β=4.32, P<0.001; RR=1.26, P<0.001) and upward socioeconomic mobility (β=1.37, P=0.04; RR=1.19, P<0.001). Among seropositive individuals, associations between household components and mobility with anti-CMV IgG titre level were maintained and associations between socioeconomic components and mobility with anti-CMV IgG titre level were attenuated. Conclusions Our study provides evidence that accumulating low SEP from childhood through adulthood and social mobility may compromise immune response in young adulthood. PMID:29273651

16S rRNA analysis provides evidence of biofilms on all components of three infected periprosthetic knees including permanent braided suture.

PubMed

Swearingen, Matthew C; DiBartola, Alex C; Dusane, Devendra; Granger, Jeffrey; Stoodley, Paul

2016-10-01

Bacterial biofilms are the main etiological agent of periprosthetic joint infections (PJI); however, it is unclear if biofilms colonize one or multiple components. Because biofilms can colonize a variety of surfaces, we hypothesized that biofilms would be present on all components. 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing analysis was used to identify bacteria recovered from individual components and non-absorbable suture material recovered from three PJI total knee revision cases. Bray-Curtis non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis revealed no significant differences in similarity when factoring component, material type, or suture versus non-suture material, but did reveal significant differences in organism profile between patients (P < 0.001) and negative controls (P < 0.001). Confocal microscopy and a novel agar encasement culturing method also confirmed biofilm growth on a subset of components. While 16S sequencing suggested that the microbiology was more complex than revealed by culture contaminating, bacterial DNA generates a risk of false positives. This report highlights that biofilm bacteria may colonize all infected prosthetic components including braided suture material, and provides further evidence that clinical culture can fail to sufficiently identify the full pathogen profile in PJI cases. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Contribution of the GOCE gradiometer components to regional gravity solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naeimi, Majid; Bouman, Johannes

2017-05-01

The contribution of the GOCE gravity gradients to regional gravity field solutions is investigated in this study. We employ radial basis functions to recover the gravity field on regional scales over Amazon and Himalayas as our test regions. In the first step, four individual solutions based on the more accurate gravity gradient components Txx, Tyy, Tzz and Txz are derived. The Tzz component gives better solution than the other single-component solutions despite the less accuracy of Tzz compared to Txx and Tyy. Furthermore, we determine five more solutions based on several selected combinations of the gravity gradient components including a combined solution using the four gradient components. The Tzz and Tyy components are shown to be the main contributors in all combined solutions whereas the Txz adds the least value to the regional gravity solutions. We also investigate the contribution of the regularization term. We show that the contribution of the regularization significantly decreases as more gravity gradients are included. For the solution using all gravity gradients, regularization term contributes to about 5 per cent of the total solution. Finally, we demonstrate that in our test areas, regional gravity modelling based on GOCE data provide more reliable gravity signal in medium wavelengths as compared to pre-GOCE global gravity field models such as the EGM2008.

Intercellular signaling pathways active during intervertebral disc growth, differentiation, and aging.

PubMed

Dahia, Chitra Lekha; Mahoney, Eric J; Durrani, Atiq A; Wylie, Christopher

2009-03-01

Intervertebral discs at different postnatal ages were assessed for active intercellular signaling pathways. To generate a spatial and temporal map of the signaling pathways active in the postnatal intervertebral disc (IVD). The postnatal IVD is a complex structure, consisting of 3 histologically distinct components, the nucleus pulposus, fibrous anulus fibrosus, and endplate. These differentiate and grow during the first 9 weeks of age in the mouse. Identification of the major signaling pathways active during and after the growth and differentiation period will allow functional analysis using mouse genetics and identify targets for therapy for individual components of the disc. Antibodies specific for individual cell signaling pathways were used on cryostat sections of IVD at different postnatal ages to identify which components of the IVD were responding to major classes of intercellular signal, including sonic hedgehog, Wnt, TGFbeta, FGF, and BMPs. We present a spatial/temporal map of these signaling pathways during growth, differentiation, and aging of the disc. During growth and differentiation of the disc, its different components respond at different times to different intercellular signaling ligands. Most of these are dramatically downregulated at the end of disc growth.

Nutrigenomics and Nutrigenetics

PubMed Central

Farhud, DD; Zarif Yeganeh, M; Zarif Yeganeh, M

2010-01-01

The nutrients are able to interact with molecular mechanisms and modulate the physiological functions in the body. The Nutritional Genomics focuses on the interaction between bioactive food components and the genome, which includes Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics. The influence of nutrients on f genes expression is called Nutrigenomics, while the heterogeneous response of gene variants to nutrients, dietary components and developing nutraceticals is called Nutrigenetics. Genetic variation is known to affect food tolerances among human subpopulations and may also influence dietary requirements and raising the possibility of individualizing nutritional intake for optimal health and disease prevention on the basis of an individual’s genome. Nutrigenomics provides a genetic understanding for how common dietary components affect the balance between health and disease by altering the expression and/or structure of an individual’s genetic makeup. Nutrigenetics describes that the genetic profile have impact on the response of body to bioactive food components by influencing their absorption, metabolism, and site of action. In this way, considering different aspects of gene–nutrient interaction and designing appropriate diet for every specific genotype that optimize individual health, diagnosis and nutritional treatment of genome instability, we could prevent and control conversion of healthy phenotype to diseases. PMID:23113033

Engagement of large-scale networks is related to individual differences in inhibitory control

PubMed Central

Congdon, Eliza; Mumford, Jeanette A.; Cohen, Jessica R.; Galvan, Adriana; Aron, Adam R.; Xue, Gui; Miller, Eric; Poldrack, Russell A.

2010-01-01

Understanding which brain regions regulate the execution, and suppression, of goal-directed behavior has implications for a number of areas of research. In particular, understanding which brain regions engaged during tasks requiring the execution and inhibition of a motor response provides insight into the mechanisms underlying individual differences in response inhibition ability. However, neuroimaging studies examing the relation between activation and stopping have been inconsistent regarding the direction of the relationship, and also regarding the anatomical location of regions that correlate with behavior. These limitations likely arise from the relatively low power of vox-elwise correlations with small sample sizes. Here, we pooled data over five separate fMRI studies of the Stop-signal task in order to obtain a sufficiently large sample size to robustly detect brain/behavior correlations. In addition, rather than performing mass univariate correlation analysis across all voxels, we increased statistical power by reducing the dimensionality of the data set using independent components analysis and then examined correlations between behavior and the resulting component scores. We found that components reflecting activity in regions thought to be involved in stopping were associated with better stopping ability, while activity in a default-mode network was associated with poorer stopping ability across individuals. These results clearly show a relationship between individual differences in stopping ability in specific activated networks, including regions known to be critical for the behavior. The results also highlight the usefulness of using dimensionality reduction to increase the power to detect brain/behavior correlations in individual differences research. PMID:20600962

Annular feed air breathing fuel cell stack

DOEpatents

Wilson, Mahlon S.

1996-01-01

A stack of polymer electrolyte fuel cells is formed from a plurality of unit cells where each unit cell includes fuel cell components defining a periphery and distributed along a common axis, where the fuel cell components include a polymer electrolyte membrane, an anode and a cathode contacting opposite sides of the membrane, and fuel and oxygen flow fields contacting the anode and the cathode, respectively, wherein the components define an annular region therethrough along the axis. A fuel distribution manifold within the annular region is connected to deliver fuel to the fuel flow field in each of the unit cells. In a particular embodiment, a single bolt through the annular region clamps the unit cells together. In another embodiment, separator plates between individual unit cells have an extended radial dimension to function as cooling fins for maintaining the operating temperature of the fuel cell stack.

Peer Models in Mental Health for Caregivers and Families.

PubMed

Acri, Mary; Hooley, Cole D; Richardson, Nicole; Moaba, Lily B

2017-02-01

Peer-delivered mental health models may hold important benefits for family members, yet their prevalence, components, and outcomes are unknown. We conducted a review of peer-delivered services for families of children and adults with mental health problems. Randomized studies of interventions published between 1990 and 2014 were included if the intervention contained a component for family members and examined familial outcomes. Of 77 studies that were assessed for their eligibility, six met criteria. Familial components included coping and parenting skills, knowledge about mental health, and emotional support. Outcomes were uneven, although significant improvements in family functioning, knowledge about mental illness, parental concerns about their child, and parenting skills were associated with the intervention. Peer-delivered services for family members may have important benefits to family members and individuals with mental health problems; however, the research base remains thin. A research agenda to develop and examine these models is discussed.

The effect of compression on individual pressure vessel nickel/hydrogen components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manzo, Michelle A.; Perez-Davis, Marla E.

1988-01-01

Compression tests were performed on representative Individual Pressure Vessel (IPV) Nickel/Hydrogen cell components in an effort to better understand the effects of force on component compression and the interactions of components under compression. It appears that the separator is the most easily compressed of all of the stack components. It will typically partially compress before any of the other components begin to compress. The compression characteristics of the cell components in assembly differed considerably from what would be predicted based on individual compression characteristics. Component interactions played a significant role in the stack response to compression. The results of the compression tests were factored into the design and selection of Belleville washers added to the cell stack to accommodate nickel electrode expansion while keeping the pressure on the stack within a reasonable range of the original preset.

Geographical and Temporal Body Size Variation in a Reptile: Roles of Sex, Ecology, Phylogeny and Ecology Structured in Phylogeny

PubMed Central

Aragón, Pedro; Fitze, Patrick S.

2014-01-01

Geographical body size variation has long interested evolutionary biologists, and a range of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the observed patterns. It is considered to be more puzzling in ectotherms than in endotherms, and integrative approaches are necessary for testing non-exclusive alternative mechanisms. Using lacertid lizards as a model, we adopted an integrative approach, testing different hypotheses for both sexes while incorporating temporal, spatial, and phylogenetic autocorrelation at the individual level. We used data on the Spanish Sand Racer species group from a field survey to disentangle different sources of body size variation through environmental and individual genetic data, while accounting for temporal and spatial autocorrelation. A variation partitioning method was applied to separate independent and shared components of ecology and phylogeny, and estimated their significance. Then, we fed-back our models by controlling for relevant independent components. The pattern was consistent with the geographical Bergmann's cline and the experimental temperature-size rule: adults were larger at lower temperatures (and/or higher elevations). This result was confirmed with additional multi-year independent data-set derived from the literature. Variation partitioning showed no sex differences in phylogenetic inertia but showed sex differences in the independent component of ecology; primarily due to growth differences. Interestingly, only after controlling for independent components did primary productivity also emerge as an important predictor explaining size variation in both sexes. This study highlights the importance of integrating individual-based genetic information, relevant ecological parameters, and temporal and spatial autocorrelation in sex-specific models to detect potentially important hidden effects. Our individual-based approach devoted to extract and control for independent components was useful to reveal hidden effects linked with alternative non-exclusive hypothesis, such as those of primary productivity. Also, including measurement date allowed disentangling and controlling for short-term temporal autocorrelation reflecting sex-specific growth plasticity. PMID:25090025

Using principal component analysis to capture individual differences within a unified neuropsychological model of chronic post-stroke aphasia: Revealing the unique neural correlates of speech fluency, phonology and semantics.

PubMed

Halai, Ajay D; Woollams, Anna M; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A

2017-01-01

Individual differences in the performance profiles of neuropsychologically-impaired patients are pervasive yet there is still no resolution on the best way to model and account for the variation in their behavioural impairments and the associated neural correlates. To date, researchers have generally taken one of three different approaches: a single-case study methodology in which each case is considered separately; a case-series design in which all individual patients from a small coherent group are examined and directly compared; or, group studies, in which a sample of cases are investigated as one group with the assumption that they are drawn from a homogenous category and that performance differences are of no interest. In recent research, we have developed a complementary alternative through the use of principal component analysis (PCA) of individual data from large patient cohorts. This data-driven approach not only generates a single unified model for the group as a whole (expressed in terms of the emergent principal components) but is also able to capture the individual differences between patients (in terms of their relative positions along the principal behavioural axes). We demonstrate the use of this approach by considering speech fluency, phonology and semantics in aphasia diagnosis and classification, as well as their unique neural correlates. PCA of the behavioural data from 31 patients with chronic post-stroke aphasia resulted in four statistically-independent behavioural components reflecting phonological, semantic, executive-cognitive and fluency abilities. Even after accounting for lesion volume, entering the four behavioural components simultaneously into a voxel-based correlational methodology (VBCM) analysis revealed that speech fluency (speech quanta) was uniquely correlated with left motor cortex and underlying white matter (including the anterior section of the arcuate fasciculus and the frontal aslant tract), phonological skills with regions in the superior temporal gyrus and pars opercularis, and semantics with the anterior temporal stem. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

A consumer's guide to superorganisms.

PubMed

Ghiselin, Michael T

2011-01-01

The organism, like the molecule, the cell, and the species, is one of the fundamental levels in our hierarchical classification of life and its components. The units ranked at these levels, being concrete, particular things, are individuals in the broadest philosophical sense. But in a much narrower and more familiar sense, individual means an individual organism. Like species, the term individual is hard to define, but in most biological discourse it has meant the unit of philosophical autonomy. Some authors have attempted to revise this terminology, restricting individual to organisms, and redefining organism to include families and other units. Such semantic surgery is unnecessary if the goal is merely to justify selection at more than one level. Analogies between levels may be interesting, but many of them do not deserve to be taken seriously.

A novel mentorship programme for residents integrating academic development, clinical teaching and graduate medical education assessment.

PubMed

Bhatia, Kriti; Takayesu, James Kimo; Nadel, Eric S

2016-02-01

Mentorship fosters career development and growth. During residency training, mentorship should support clinical development along with intellectual and academic interests. Reported resident mentoring programmes do not typically include clinical components. We designed a programme that combines academic development with clinical feedback and assessment in a four-year emergency medicine residency programme. Incoming interns were assigned an advisor. At the conclusion of the intern year, residents actively participated in selecting a mentor for the duration of residency. The programme consisted of quarterly meetings, direct clinical observation and specific competency assessment, assistance with lecture preparation, real-time feedback on presentations, simulation coaching sessions, and discussions related to career development. Faculty participation was recognized as a valuable component of the annual review process. Residents were surveyed about the overall programme and individual components. Over 88 % of the respondents said that the programme was valuable and should be continued. Senior residents most valued the quarterly meetings and presentation help and feedback. Junior residents strongly valued the clinical observation and simulation sessions. A comprehensive mentorship programme integrating clinical, professional and academic development provides residents individualized feedback and coaching and is valued by trainees. Individualized assessment of clinical competencies can be conducted through such a programme.

Anorexia, bulimia, and the female athlete triad: evaluation and management.

PubMed

Mendelsohn, Felicia A; Warren, Michelle P

2010-03-01

The female athlete triad is an increasingly prevalent condition involving disordered eating, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis. An athlete can suffer from all 3 components of the triad, or just 1 or 2 of the individual conditions. The main element underlying all the aspects of the triad is an adaptation to a negative caloric balance. Screening for these disorders should be an important component of an athlete's care. Prevention and treatment should involve a team approach, including a physician, a nutritionist, and a mental health provider. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Intra-Individual Response Variability Assessed by Ex-Gaussian Analysis may be a New Endophenotype for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

PubMed

Henríquez-Henríquez, Marcela Patricia; Billeke, Pablo; Henríquez, Hugo; Zamorano, Francisco Javier; Rothhammer, Francisco; Aboitiz, Francisco

2014-01-01

Intra-individual variability of response times (RTisv) is considered as potential endophenotype for attentional deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Traditional methods for estimating RTisv lose information regarding response times (RTs) distribution along the task, with eventual effects on statistical power. Ex-Gaussian analysis captures the dynamic nature of RTisv, estimating normal and exponential components for RT distribution, with specific phenomenological correlates. Here, we applied ex-Gaussian analysis to explore whether intra-individual variability of RTs agrees with criteria proposed by Gottesman and Gould for endophenotypes. Specifically, we evaluated if normal and/or exponential components of RTs may (a) present the stair-like distribution expected for endophenotypes (ADHD > siblings > typically developing children (TD) without familiar history of ADHD) and (b) represent a phenotypic correlate for previously described genetic risk variants. This is a pilot study including 55 subjects (20 ADHD-discordant sibling-pairs and 15 TD children), all aged between 8 and 13 years. Participants resolved a visual Go/Nogo with 10% Nogo probability. Ex-Gaussian distributions were fitted to individual RT data and compared among the three samples. In order to test whether intra-individual variability may represent a correlate for previously described genetic risk variants, VNTRs at DRD4 and SLC6A3 were identified in all sibling-pairs following standard protocols. Groups were compared adjusting independent general linear models for the exponential and normal components from the ex-Gaussian analysis. Identified trends were confirmed by the non-parametric Jonckheere-Terpstra test. Stair-like distributions were observed for μ (p = 0.036) and σ (p = 0.009). An additional "DRD4-genotype" × "clinical status" interaction was present for τ (p = 0.014) reflecting a possible severity factor. Thus, normal and exponential RTisv components are suitable as ADHD endophenotypes.

Construction of a fusion protein carrying antigenic determinants of enteric clostridial toxins.

PubMed

Belyi, Iouri F; Varfolomeeva, Nina A

2003-08-29

Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens type A are infectious agents of enteric diseases. The main virulence factors of these microorganisms include toxins A and B of C. difficile (ToxA and ToxB) and enterotoxin of C. perfringens (Cpe). In this study genetic constructions have been created for the expression of ToxA, ToxB and Cpe fragments either as individual components or as a hybrid multidomain (ToxA-ToxB-Cpe) protein. Rabbit monospecific sera raised against individual peptides reacted with the chimeric product indicating that the corresponding antigenic determinants were correctly expressed on the hybrid molecule. Furthermore, mice immunized with the fusion protein produced antibodies specific to each of the three separate components. These data suggest that the constructed three-domain molecule could be used in future studies for development of a vaccine against enteric clostridial diseases.

Individual Component Map of Rotatory Strength (ICM-RS) and Rotatory Strength Density (RSD) plots as analysis tools of circular dicroism spectra of complex systems.

PubMed

Chang, Le; Baseggio, Oscar; Sementa, Luca; Cheng, Daojian; Fronzoni, Giovanna; Toffoli, Daniele; Aprà, Edoardo; Stener, Mauro; Fortunelli, Alessandro

2018-06-13

We introduce Individual Component Maps of Rotatory Strength (ICM-RS) and Rotatory Strength Density (RSD) plots as analysis tools of chiro-optical linear response spectra deriving from time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) simulations. ICM-RS and RSD allow one to visualize the origin of chiro-optical response in momentum or real space, including signed contributions and therefore highlighting cancellation terms that are ubiquitous in chirality phenomena, and should be especially useful in analyzing the spectra of complex systems. As test cases, we use ICM-RS and RSD to analyze circular dichroism spectra of selected (Ag-Au)30(SR)18 monolayer-protected metal nanoclusters, showing the potential of the proposed tools to derive insight and understanding, and eventually rational design, in chiro-optical studies of complex systems.

Stationary Engineers Apprenticeship. Related Training Modules. 15.1-15.5 Turbines.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lane Community Coll., Eugene, OR.

This learning module, one in a series of 20 related training modules for apprentice stationary engineers, deals with turbines. addressed in the individual instructional packages included in the module are the following topics: types and components of steam turbines, steam turbine auxiliaries, operation and maintenance of steam turbines, and gas…

Window Insulation: How to Sort Through the Options.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Barbara

This two-part report explores the efforts of businesses and individuals to improve the thermal performance of windows. Part I discusses the basics of what makes a window product insulate or save energy. Topic areas addressed include saving energy lost through windows, key components of window insulation, three basic types of window insulation,…

About the Nutritional Science Research Group | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

The Nutritional Science Research Group (NSRG) promotes and supports studies establishing a comprehensive understanding of the precise role of diet and food components in modulating cancer risk and tumor cell behavior. This focus includes approaches to characterize molecular targets and variability in individual responses to nutrients and dietary patterns. |

Learning Tasks, Peer Interaction, and Cognition Process: An Online Collaborative Design Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Du, Jianxia; Durrington, Vance A.

2013-01-01

This paper illustrates a model for Online Group Collaborative Learning. The authors based the foundation of the Online Collaborative Design Model upon Piaget's concepts of assimilation and accommodation, and Vygotsky's theory of social interaction. The four components of online collaborative learning include: individual processes, the task(s)…

Queering Constructs: Proposing a Dynamic Gender and Sexuality Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jourian, T. J.

2015-01-01

Higher education educators commonly understand social identities, including gender, to be fluid and dynamic. Lev's (2004) model of four components of sexual identity is commonly used to demonstrate the fluidity of sex, gender, and sexuality for individuals, but it does little to address the fixedness of those constructs. Through a multipronged…

32 CFR 1701.12 - ODNI responsibility for responding to requests for accounting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... record. The POC shall work with the component's information management officer and the systems... known address and include a copy of the order and a description of the information disclosed. No notice... mailed to the individual's last known address and shall state the nature of the information disclosed...

32 CFR 1701.12 - ODNI responsibility for responding to requests for accounting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... record. The POC shall work with the component's information management officer and the systems... known address and include a copy of the order and a description of the information disclosed. No notice... mailed to the individual's last known address and shall state the nature of the information disclosed...

32 CFR 1701.12 - ODNI responsibility for responding to requests for accounting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... record. The POC shall work with the component's information management officer and the systems... known address and include a copy of the order and a description of the information disclosed. No notice... mailed to the individual's last known address and shall state the nature of the information disclosed...

32 CFR 1701.12 - ODNI responsibility for responding to requests for accounting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... record. The POC shall work with the component's information management officer and the systems... known address and include a copy of the order and a description of the information disclosed. No notice... mailed to the individual's last known address and shall state the nature of the information disclosed...

32 CFR 1701.12 - ODNI responsibility for responding to requests for accounting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... record. The POC shall work with the component's information management officer and the systems... known address and include a copy of the order and a description of the information disclosed. No notice... mailed to the individual's last known address and shall state the nature of the information disclosed...

Functional Analysis Identified Habit Reversal Components for the Treatment of Motor Tics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dufrene, Brad A.; Harpole, Lauren Lestremau; Sterling, Heather E.; Perry, Erin J.; Burton, Britney; Zoder-Martell, Kimberly

2013-01-01

This study included brief functional analyses and treatment for motor tics exhibited by two children with Tourette Syndrome. Brief functional analyses were conducted in an outpatient treatment center and results were used to develop individualized habit reversal procedures. Treatment data were collected in clinic for one child and in clinic and…

75 FR 41214 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Extension of a Currently Approved Information...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-15

... proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical.../Collection: Non-Immigrant Checkout Letter. (3) Agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of... abstract: Primary: Individual or Households. When an alien (other than one who is required to depart under...

Advanced Respite Care: Medically Challenged. Teacher Edition. Respite Care Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

This curriculum guide is designed to help teachers to provide advanced-level training for care providers who want to work with individuals who are chronically or terminally ill and require specialized care. The curriculum contains seven units. Each of the instructional units includes some or all of these basic components: performance objectives,…

Temporal processing and long-latency auditory evoked potential in stutterers.

PubMed

Prestes, Raquel; de Andrade, Adriana Neves; Santos, Renata Beatriz Fernandes; Marangoni, Andrea Tortosa; Schiefer, Ana Maria; Gil, Daniela

Stuttering is a speech fluency disorder, and may be associated with neuroaudiological factors linked to central auditory processing, including changes in auditory processing skills and temporal resolution. To characterize the temporal processing and long-latency auditory evoked potential in stutterers and to compare them with non-stutterers. The study included 41 right-handed subjects, aged 18-46 years, divided into two groups: stutterers (n=20) and non-stutters (n=21), compared according to age, education, and sex. All subjects were submitted to the duration pattern tests, random gap detection test, and long-latency auditory evoked potential. Individuals who stutter showed poorer performance on Duration Pattern and Random Gap Detection tests when compared with fluent individuals. In the long-latency auditory evoked potential, there was a difference in the latency of N2 and P3 components; stutterers had higher latency values. Stutterers have poor performance in temporal processing and higher latency values for N2 and P3 components. Copyright © 2017 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with flame ionization and time-of-flight mass spectrometry detection: qualitative and quantitative analysis of West Australian sandalwood oil.

PubMed

Shellie, Robert; Marriott, Philip; Morrison, Paul

2004-09-01

The use of gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS), GC-time-of-flight MS (TOFMS), comprehensive two-dimensional GC (GCxGC)-flame ionization detection (FID), and GCxGC-TOFMS is discussed for the characterization of the eight important representative components, including Z-alpha-santalol, epi-alpha-bisabolol, Z-alpha-trans-bergamotol, epi-beta-santalol, Z-beta-santalol, E,E-farnesol, Z-nuciferol, and Z-lanceol, in the oil of west Australian sandalwood (Santalum spicatum). Single-column GC-MS lacks the resolving power to separate all of the listed components as pure peaks and allow precise analytical measurement of individual component abundances. With enhanced peak resolution capabilities in GCxGC, these components are sufficiently well resolved to be quantitated using flame ionization detection, following initial characterization of components by using GCxGC-TOFMS.

Exergo-Economic Analysis of an Experimental Aircraft Turboprop Engine Under Low Torque Condition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atilgan, Ramazan; Turan, Onder; Aydin, Hakan

Exergo-economic analysis is an unique combination of exergy analysis and cost analysis conducted at the component level. In exergo-economic analysis, cost of each exergy stream is determined. Inlet and outlet exergy streams of the each component are associated to a monetary cost. This is essential to detect cost-ineffective processes and identify technical options which could improve the cost effectiveness of the overall energy system. In this study, exergo-economic analysis is applied to an aircraft turboprop engine. Analysis is based on experimental values at low torque condition (240 N m). Main components of investigated turboprop engine are the compressor, the combustor, the gas generator turbine, the free power turbine and the exhaust. Cost balance equations have been formed for all components individually and exergo-economic parameters including cost rates and unit exergy costs have been calculated for each component.

Differences in the Nature of Body Image Disturbances between Female Obese Individuals with versus without a Comorbid Binge Eating Disorder: An Exploratory Study Including Static and Dynamic Aspects of Body Image

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Legenbauer, Tanja; Vocks, Silja; Betz, Sabrina; Puigcerver, Maria Jose Baguena; Benecke, Andrea; Troje, Nikolaus F.; Ruddel, Heinz

2011-01-01

Various components of body image were measured to assess body image disturbances in patients with obesity. To overcome limitations of previous studies, a photo distortion technique and a biological motion distortion device were included to assess static and dynamic aspects of body image. Questionnaires assessed cognitive-affective aspects, bodily…

The relationship between metabolic syndrome, its components, and erectile dysfunction: a systematic review and a meta-analysis of observational studies.

PubMed

Besiroglu, Huseyin; Otunctemur, Alper; Ozbek, Emin

2015-06-01

The studies examining the association between metabolic syndrome (MetS), its components, and erectile dysfunction (ED) should be reevaluated to arrive at comprehensive results in this field. Our aim was to gather individual studies in order to achieve a more reliable conclusion regarding the relationship between MetS, its components, and ED. Three investigators searched the Pubmed-Medline and Embase databases using the key words "metabolic syndrome" and "erectile dysfunction." The individual studies were evaluated for selection of suitable studies. Eight studies that met all inclusion criteria were chosen, and a pooled analysis of odds ratio (ORs) between MetS and ED was calculated. The components of MetS to ED were also estimated. Eight observational studies with a total of 12,067 participants were examined. The overall analysis revealed a 2.6-fold increase in patients with MetS having ED (2.67[1.79-3.96]; P < 0.0001). All individual components of MetS except high-density lipoprotein level were also found to correlate with an increased prevalence of ED. Of those, fasting blood sugar was detected highest rate for ED with OR of 2.07 ([1.49-2.87]; P < 0.0001). Metabolic syndrome is associated with a high risk rate of ED, and patients with MetS should be informed about this association and encouraged to make lifestyle modifications to improve their general health and to limit cardiovascular risk as well as ED prevalence. However, manuscripts included in meta-analysis were observational studies that prohibits ascertainment of temporal associations and necessitates further prospective studies. © 2015 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

Individualized Educational Programming for the Mentally Retarded.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, Nirbhay N.; Ahrens, Michael G.

1980-01-01

The minimal components of a model which utilizes a computer for summarizing individual performance records for teaching educational skills to the mentally retarded are described. The most important components are assessment, individual and group programing, continuous data collection, and program evaluation. (Author)

A Healthy Lifestyle Score Is Associated with Cardiometabolic and Neuroendocrine Risk Factors among Puerto Rican Adults123

PubMed Central

Sotos-Prieto, Mercedes; Bhupathiraju, Shilpa N; Falcón, Luis M; Gao, Xiang; Tucker, Katherine L; Mattei, Josiemer

2015-01-01

Background: Although individual healthy lifestyle behaviors may reduce cardiovascular disease risk, few studies have analyzed the combined effect of multiple lifestyle components as one all-inclusive measure on such outcomes, much less in minority populations. Objective: We aimed to develop a Healthy Lifestyle Score (HLS) that included several lifestyle recommendations and to test its association with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and allostatic load (AL) and their cardiometabolic and neuroendocrine factors in Puerto Ricans. Methods: In a cross-sectional study in 787 Puerto Ricans living in Boston (aged 45–75 y), we developed an HLS that ranged from 0 to 190 (higher score indicative of healthier lifestyle) and included 5 components (diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviors, smoking, social support and network, and sleep). Multivariable-adjusted models were used to test associations between the HLS and biomarkers of dysregulation and odds of MetS and high AL (≥4 out of 10 components). Results: The HLS showed adequate internal consistency (ρ = 0.31–0.69) and was inversely associated with urinary cortisol (β ± SE = −0.22 ± 0.11; P = 0.042), epinephrine (−0.20 ± 0.09; P = 0.017), and norepinephrine (−0.26 ± 0.11; P = 0.016); waist circumference (−0.014 ± 0.004; P = 0.003); and serum insulin (−0.30 ± 0.13; P = 0.028) and positively associated with plasma HDL cholesterol (0.007 ± 0.003; P = 0.021) after adjustment for potential confounders. For each 20-unit increase in HLS, participants had 19% (95% CI: 2%, 33%) and 25% (11%, 36%) lower odds of MetS or AL, respectively. Healthier scores for social support and network and smoking components were associated with lower odds of high AL (P < 0.005). No significant associations were observed for other individual lifestyle components. Conclusions: Following an overall healthy lifestyle that comprises a combination of multiple behaviors may provide stronger protection against MetS and AL in Puerto Rican adults than individual components. The HLS may be a useful tool for examining health-related outcomes. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01231958. PMID:25948783

Modeling individual differences in text reading fluency: a different pattern of predictors for typically developing and dyslexic readers

PubMed Central

Zoccolotti, Pierluigi; De Luca, Maria; Marinelli, Chiara V.; Spinelli, Donatella

2014-01-01

This study was aimed at predicting individual differences in text reading fluency. The basic proposal included two factors, i.e., the ability to decode letter strings (measured by discrete pseudo-word reading) and integration of the various sub-components involved in reading (measured by Rapid Automatized Naming, RAN). Subsequently, a third factor was added to the model, i.e., naming of discrete digits. In order to use homogeneous measures, all contributing variables considered the entire processing of the item, including pronunciation time. The model, which was based on commonality analysis, was applied to data from a group of 43 typically developing readers (11- to 13-year-olds) and a group of 25 chronologically matched dyslexic children. In typically developing readers, both orthographic decoding and integration of reading sub-components contributed significantly to the overall prediction of text reading fluency. The model prediction was higher (from ca. 37 to 52% of the explained variance) when we included the naming of discrete digits variable, which had a suppressive effect on pseudo-word reading. In the dyslexic readers, the variance explained by the two-factor model was high (69%) and did not change when the third factor was added. The lack of a suppression effect was likely due to the prominent individual differences in poor orthographic decoding of the dyslexic children. Analyses on data from both groups of children were replicated by using patches of colors as stimuli (both in the RAN task and in the discrete naming task) obtaining similar results. We conclude that it is possible to predict much of the variance in text-reading fluency using basic processes, such as orthographic decoding and integration of reading sub-components, even without taking into consideration higher-order linguistic factors such as lexical, semantic and contextual abilities. The approach validity of using proximal vs. distal causes to predict reading fluency is discussed. PMID:25477856

Supporting home care for the dying: an evaluation of healthcare professionals' perspectives of an individually tailored hospice at home service.

PubMed

Jack, Barbara A; Baldry, Catherine R; Groves, Karen E; Whelan, Alison; Sephton, Janice; Gaunt, Kathryn

2013-10-01

To explore health care professionals' perspective of hospice at home service that has different components, individually tailored to meet the needs of patients. Over 50% of adults diagnosed with a terminal illness and the majority of people who have cancer, prefer to be cared for and to die in their own home. Despite this, most deaths occur in hospital. Increasing the options available for patients, including their place of care and death is central to current UK policy initiatives. Hospice at home services aim to support patients to remain at home, yet there are wide variations in the design of services and delivery. A hospice at home service was developed to provide various components (accompanied transfer home, crisis intervention and hospice aides) that could be tailored to meet the individual needs of patients. An evaluation study. Data were collected from 75 health care professionals. District nurses participated in one focus group (13) and 31 completed an electronic survey. Palliative care specialist nurses participated in a focus group (9). One hospital discharge co-ordinator and two general practitioners participated in semi-structured interviews and a further 19 general practitioners completed the electronic survey. Health care professionals reported the impact and value of each of the components of the service, as helping to support patients to remain at home, by individually tailoring care. They also positively reported that support for family carers appeared to enable them to continue coping, rapid access to the service was suggested to contribute to faster hospital discharges and the crisis intervention service was identified as helping patients remain in their own home, where they wanted to be. Health care professionals perceived that the additional individualised support provided by this service contributed to enabling patients to continue be cared for and to die at home in their place of choice. This service offers various components of a hospice at home service, enabling a tailor made package to meet individual and local area needs. Developing an individually tailored package of care appears to be able to meet specific needs. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Spectral Parameters of HRV In Yoga Practitioners, Athletes And Sedentary Males.

PubMed

Peter, Rosemary; Sood, Sushma; Dhawan, Ashwani

2015-01-01

Physical inactivity is an important risk factor for cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Exercise is considered an acceptable method for improving and maintaining physical and emotional health. Although yoga is historically a spiritual discipline, a growing body of evidence supports the belief that yoga benefits physical and mental health. The objective of this study was to evaluate heart rate variability which reflects autonomic control of heart among yoga practitioners, athletes and individuals with sedentary lifestyle. The study was carried out in the departments of physiology at MAMC Agroha, Hisar and Pt. BD Sharma PGIMS Rohtak, Haryana. The study group comprised of 1200 healthy male volunteers of 16 to 55 years of age. The study group was divided into four age groups: Group A of age 16 to 25 years; Group B of age 26 to 35 years; Group C of age 36 to 45 years and Group D of age 46 to 55 years. All age groups were further divided into three categories i.e athlete (runner), yoga (yoga practitioners) and sedentary in which individuals with sedentary life style were included. The basal recording of ECG in lead II was done for 5 minutes. The Polyrite-D ECG data was used for analysis of heart rate variability by frequency domain method. Two spectral components were recorded namely high frequency (HF) component (0.15-0.4 Hz), an indicator of vagal efferent activity and low frequency (LF) component (0.04-.15 Hz), replicator of composite sympatho-vagal interplay. HF component in normalized unit was found significantly high in age group B and C in yoga practitioners and athletes as compared to sedentary individuals and in age group D significantly high in yoga practitioners as compared to athletes and sedentary individuals. Significantly decreased LF/HF ratio was found in age group B and C in yoga and athlete subjects as compared to sedentary individuals and in age group D in yoga practitioners as compared to athletes and sedentary individuals. This indicates that parasympathetic activity is substantially greater in yoga practitioners.

Lateralization and Binaural Interaction of Middle-Latency and Late-Brainstem Components of the Auditory Evoked Response.

PubMed

Dykstra, Andrew R; Burchard, Daniel; Starzynski, Christian; Riedel, Helmut; Rupp, Andre; Gutschalk, Alexander

2016-08-01

We used magnetoencephalography to examine lateralization and binaural interaction of the middle-latency and late-brainstem components of the auditory evoked response (the MLR and SN10, respectively). Click stimuli were presented either monaurally, or binaurally with left- or right-leading interaural time differences (ITDs). While early MLR components, including the N19 and P30, were larger for monaural stimuli presented contralaterally (by approximately 30 and 36 % in the left and right hemispheres, respectively), later components, including the N40 and P50, were larger ipsilaterally. In contrast, MLRs elicited by binaural clicks with left- or right-leading ITDs did not differ. Depending on filter settings, weak binaural interaction could be observed as early as the P13 but was clearly much larger for later components, beginning at the P30, indicating some degree of binaural linearity up to early stages of cortical processing. The SN10, an obscure late-brainstem component, was observed consistently in individuals and showed linear binaural additivity. The results indicate that while the MLR is lateralized in response to monaural stimuli-and not ITDs-this lateralization reverses from primarily contralateral to primarily ipsilateral as early as 40 ms post stimulus and is never as large as that seen with fMRI.

Hydrologic budgets for the Madison and Minnelusa aquifers, Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming, water years 1987-96

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carter, Janet M.; Driscoll, Daniel G.; Hamade, Ghaith R.; Jarrell, Gregory J.

2001-01-01

The Madison and Minnelusa aquifers are two of the most important aquifers in the Black Hills area of South Dakota and Wyoming. Quantification and evaluation of various hydrologic budget components are important for managing and understanding these aquifers. Hydrologic budgets are developed for two scenarios, including an overall budget for the entire study area and more detailed budgets for subareas. Budgets generally are combined for the Madison and Minnelusa aquifers because most budget components cannot be quantified individually for the aquifers. An average hydrologic budget for the entire study area is computed for water years 1987-96, for which change in storage is approximately equal to zero. Annual estimates of budget components are included in detailed budgets for nine subareas, which consider periods of decreasing storage (1987-92) and increasing storage (1993-96). Inflow components include recharge, leakage from adjacent aquifers, and ground-water inflows across the study area boundary. Outflows include springflow (headwater and artesian), well withdrawals, leakage to adjacent aquifers, and ground-water outflow across the study area boundary. Leakage, ground-water inflows, and ground-water outflows are difficult to quantify and cannot be distinguished from one another. Thus, net ground-water flow, which includes these components, is calculated as a residual, using estimates for the other budget components. For the overall budget for water years 1987-96, net ground-water outflow from the study area is computed as 100 ft3/s (cubic feet per second). Estimates of average combined budget components for the Madison and Minnelusa aquifers are: 395 ft3/s for recharge, 78 ft3/s for headwater springflow, 189 ft3/s for artesian springflow, and 28 ft3/s for well withdrawals. Hydrologic budgets also are quantified for nine subareas for periods of decreasing storage (1987-92) and increasing storage (1993-96), with changes in storage assumed equal but opposite. Common subareas are identified for the Madison and Minnelusa aquifers, and previous components from the overall budget generally are distributed over the subareas. Estimates of net ground-water flow for the two aquifers are computed, with net ground-water outflow exceeding inflow for most subareas. Outflows range from 5.9 ft3/s in the area east of Rapid City to 48.6 ft3/s along the southwestern flanks of the Black Hills. Net groundwater inflow exceeds outflow for two subareas where the discharge of large artesian springs exceeds estimated recharge within the subareas. More detailed subarea budgets also are developed, which include estimates of flow components for the individual aquifers at specific flow zones. The net outflows and inflows from the preliminary subarea budgets are used to estimate transmissivity of flow across specific flow zones based on Darcy?s Law. For estimation purposes, it is assumed that transmissivities of the Madison and Minnelusa aquifers are equal in any particular flow zone. The resulting transmissivity estimates range from 90 ft2/d to about 7,400 ft2/d, which is similar to values reported by previous investigators. The highest transmissivity estimates are for areas in the northern and southwestern parts of the study area, and the lowest transmissivity estimates are along the eastern study area boundary. Evaluation of subarea budgets provides confidence in budget components developed for the overall budget, especially regarding precipitation recharge, which is particularly difficult to estimate. Recharge estimates are consistently compatible with other budget components, including artesian springflow, which is a dominant component in many subareas. Calculated storage changes for subareas also are consistent with other budget components, specifically artesian springflow and net ground-water flow, and also are consistent with water-level fluctuations for observation wells. Ground-water budgets and flowpaths are especially complex i

Ethiopian Genetic Diversity Reveals Linguistic Stratification and Complex Influences on the Ethiopian Gene Pool

PubMed Central

Pagani, Luca; Kivisild, Toomas; Tarekegn, Ayele; Ekong, Rosemary; Plaster, Chris; Gallego Romero, Irene; Ayub, Qasim; Mehdi, S. Qasim; Thomas, Mark G.; Luiselli, Donata; Bekele, Endashaw; Bradman, Neil; Balding, David J.; Tyler-Smith, Chris

2012-01-01

Humans and their ancestors have traversed the Ethiopian landscape for millions of years, and present-day Ethiopians show great cultural, linguistic, and historical diversity, which makes them essential for understanding African variability and human origins. We genotyped 235 individuals from ten Ethiopian and two neighboring (South Sudanese and Somali) populations on an Illumina Omni 1M chip. Genotypes were compared with published data from several African and non-African populations. Principal-component and STRUCTURE-like analyses confirmed substantial genetic diversity both within and between populations, and revealed a match between genetic data and linguistic affiliation. Using comparisons with African and non-African reference samples in 40-SNP genomic windows, we identified “African” and “non-African” haplotypic components for each Ethiopian individual. The non-African component, which includes the SLC24A5 allele associated with light skin pigmentation in Europeans, may represent gene flow into Africa, which we estimate to have occurred ∼3 thousand years ago (kya). The non-African component was found to be more similar to populations inhabiting the Levant rather than the Arabian Peninsula, but the principal route for the expansion out of Africa ∼60 kya remains unresolved. Linkage-disequilibrium decay with genomic distance was less rapid in both the whole genome and the African component than in southern African samples, suggesting a less ancient history for Ethiopian populations. PMID:22726845

Differences in early and late stages of information processing between slow versus fast participants.

PubMed

Portella, Claudio; Machado, Sergio; Paes, Flávia; Cagy, Mauricio; Sack, Alexander T; Sandoval-Carrillo, Ada; Salas-Pacheco, Jose; Silva, Adriana Cardoso; Piedade, Roberto; Ribeiro, Pedro; Nardi, Antonio Egídio; Arias-Carrión, Oscar

2014-01-01

The human brain is a system consisting of various interconnected neural networks, with functional specialization coexisting with functional integration occurring both; temporally and spatially at many levels. The current study ranked and compared fast and slow participants in processing information by assessing latency and amplitude of early and late Event-Related Potential (ERP) components, including P200, N200, Premotor Potential (PMP) and P300. In addition, the Reaction Time (RT) of participants was compared and related to the respective ERP components. For this purpose, twenty right-handed and healthy individuals were subjected to a classical ERP "Oddball" paradigm. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Discriminant Function analyses (DFA) used PRE components and the Reaction Time (RT) to classify individuals. Our results indicate that latencies of P200 (O2 electrode), N200 (O2), PMP (C3) and P300 (Pz) components are significantly reduced in the group of fast responding participants. In addition, the P200 amplitude is significantly increased in the group of fast responding participants. Based on these findings, we suggest that the ERP is able to detect even minimal impairments, in the processing of somatosensory information and cognitive and motor stages. Hence, the study of ERP might also be capable of assessing sensorimotor dysfunctions in healthy old-aged people and in neuropsychiatric patients (suffering from dementia, Parkinson's disease, and other neurological disorders).

Behavioral interventions to improve infection control practices.

PubMed

Kretzer, E K; Larson, E L

1998-06-01

No single intervention has been successful in improving and sustaining such infection control practices as universal precautions and handwashing by health care professionals. This paper examines several behavioral theories (Health Belief Model, Theory of Reasoned Action and Theory of Planned Behavior, self-efficacy, and the Transtheoretic Model) and relates them to individual factors, also considering interpersonal and organizational factors. Further, this article includes recommendations of individual and organizational components to be addressed when planning a theoretically based intervention for improving infection control practices. A hypothetic framework to enhance handwashing practice is proposed.

The Metabolic Syndrome

PubMed Central

Cornier, Marc-Andre; Dabelea, Dana; Hernandez, Teri L.; Lindstrom, Rachel C.; Steig, Amy J.; Stob, Nicole R.; Van Pelt, Rachael E.; Wang, Hong; Eckel, Robert H.

2008-01-01

The “metabolic syndrome” (MetS) is a clustering of components that reflect overnutrition, sedentary lifestyles, and resultant excess adiposity. The MetS includes the clustering of abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and elevated blood pressure and is associated with other comorbidities including the prothrombotic state, proinflammatory state, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and reproductive disorders. Because the MetS is a cluster of different conditions, and not a single disease, the development of multiple concurrent definitions has resulted. The prevalence of the MetS is increasing to epidemic proportions not only in the United States and the remainder of the urbanized world but also in developing nations. Most studies show that the MetS is associated with an approximate doubling of cardiovascular disease risk and a 5-fold increased risk for incident type 2 diabetes mellitus. Although it is unclear whether there is a unifying pathophysiological mechanism resulting in the MetS, abdominal adiposity and insulin resistance appear to be central to the MetS and its individual components. Lifestyle modification and weight loss should, therefore, be at the core of treating or preventing the MetS and its components. In addition, there is a general consensus that other cardiac risk factors should be aggressively managed in individuals with the MetS. Finally, in 2008 the MetS is an evolving concept that continues to be data driven and evidence based with revisions forthcoming. PMID:18971485

Characterization of ictal slow waves in epileptic spasms.

PubMed

Honda, Ryoko; Saito, Yoshiaki; Okumura, Akihisa; Abe, Shinpei; Saito, Takashi; Nakagawa, Eiji; Sugai, Kenji; Sasaki, Masayuki

2015-12-01

We characterized the clinico-neurophysiological features of epileptic spasms, particularly focusing on high-voltage slow waves during ictal EEG. We studied 22 patients with epileptic spasms recorded during digital video-scalp EEG, including five individuals who still had persistent spasms after callosotomy. We analysed the duration, amplitude, latency to onset of electromyographic bursts, and distribution of the highest positive and negative peaks of slow waves in 352 spasms. High-voltage positive slow waves preceded the identifiable muscle contractions of spasms. The mean duration of these positive waves was 569±228 m, and the mean latency to electromyographic onset was 182±127 m. These parameters varied markedly even within a patient. The highest peak of the positive component was distributed in variable regions, which was not consistent with the location of lesions on MRI. The peak of the negative component following the positivity was distributed in the neighbouring or opposite areas of the positive peak distribution. No changes were evident in the pre- or post-surgical distributions of the positive peak, or in the interhemispheric delay between both hemispheres, in individuals with callosotomy. Our data imply that ictal positive slow waves are the most common EEG changes during spasms associated with a massive motor component. Plausible explanations for these widespread positive slow waves include the notion that EEG changes possibly reflect involvement of both cortical and subcortical structures.

Robust inference of population structure for ancestry prediction and correction of stratification in the presence of relatedness.

PubMed

Conomos, Matthew P; Miller, Michael B; Thornton, Timothy A

2015-05-01

Population structure inference with genetic data has been motivated by a variety of applications in population genetics and genetic association studies. Several approaches have been proposed for the identification of genetic ancestry differences in samples where study participants are assumed to be unrelated, including principal components analysis (PCA), multidimensional scaling (MDS), and model-based methods for proportional ancestry estimation. Many genetic studies, however, include individuals with some degree of relatedness, and existing methods for inferring genetic ancestry fail in related samples. We present a method, PC-AiR, for robust population structure inference in the presence of known or cryptic relatedness. PC-AiR utilizes genome-screen data and an efficient algorithm to identify a diverse subset of unrelated individuals that is representative of all ancestries in the sample. The PC-AiR method directly performs PCA on the identified ancestry representative subset and then predicts components of variation for all remaining individuals based on genetic similarities. In simulation studies and in applications to real data from Phase III of the HapMap Project, we demonstrate that PC-AiR provides a substantial improvement over existing approaches for population structure inference in related samples. We also demonstrate significant efficiency gains, where a single axis of variation from PC-AiR provides better prediction of ancestry in a variety of structure settings than using 10 (or more) components of variation from widely used PCA and MDS approaches. Finally, we illustrate that PC-AiR can provide improved population stratification correction over existing methods in genetic association studies with population structure and relatedness. © 2015 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

Comprehension Tools for Teachers: Reading for Understanding from Prekindergarten through Fourth Grade

PubMed Central

Connor, Carol McDonald; Phillips, Beth M.; Kaschak, Michael; Apel, Kenn; Kim, Young-Suk; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Crowe, Elizabeth C.; Thomas-Tate, Shurita; Johnson, Lakeisha Cooper; Lonigan, Christopher J.

2015-01-01

This paper describes the theoretical framework, as well as the development and testing of the intervention, Comprehension Tools for Teachers (CTT), which is composed of eight component interventions targeting malleable language and reading comprehension skills that emerging research indicates contribute to proficient reading for understanding for prekindergarteners through fourth graders. Component interventions target processes considered largely automatic as well as more reflective processes, with interacting and reciprocal effects. Specifically, we present component interventions targeting cognitive, linguistic, and text-specific processes, including morphological awareness, syntax, mental-state verbs, comprehension monitoring, narrative and expository text structure, enacted comprehension, academic knowledge, and reading to learn from informational text. Our aim was to develop a tool set composed of intensive meaningful individualized small group interventions. We improved feasibility in regular classrooms through the use of design-based iterative research methods including careful lesson planning, targeted scripting, pre- and postintervention proximal assessments, and technology. In addition to the overall framework, we discuss seven of the component interventions and general results of design and efficacy studies. PMID:26500420

Characterization of PMR-15 polyimide composition in thermo-oxidatively exposed graphite fiber composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alston, W. B.

1980-01-01

The contributions of individual resin components to total resin weight loss in 600 F air aged Celion 6000/PMR-15 polyimide composites were determined from the overall resin weight loss in the composite by chemically separating the PMR-15 matrix resin into its monomeric components. The individual resin components were also analyzed by spectroscopic techniques in order to elucidate curing and degradation mechanisms of the PMR-15 matrix resin. The isothermal weight loss of the individual resin components during prolonged 600 F thermo-oxidative aging of the composite was correlated to the changes observed in the Fourier Transform infrared spectra and Fourier Transform nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of the individual resin components. The correlation was used to identify the molecular site of the thermo-oxidative changes in PMR-15 polyimide matrix resin during 600 F curing the prolonged 600 F thermo-oxidative aging.

Sociodemographic Factors Associated With Changes in Successful Aging in Spain: A Follow-Up Study.

PubMed

Domènech-Abella, Joan; Perales, Jaime; Lara, Elvira; Moneta, Maria Victoria; Izquierdo, Ana; Rico-Uribe, Laura Alejandra; Mundó, Jordi; Haro, Josep Maria

2017-06-01

Successful aging (SA) refers to maintaining well-being in old age. Several definitions or models of SA exist (biomedical, psychosocial, and mixed). We examined the longitudinal association between various SA models and sociodemographic factors, and analyzed the patterns of change within these models. This was a nationally representative follow-up in Spain including 3,625 individuals aged ≥50 years. Some 1,970 individuals were interviewed after 3 years. Linear regression models were used to analyze the survey data. Age, sex, and occupation predicted SA in the biomedical model, while marital status, educational level, and urbanicity predicted SA in the psychosocial model. The remaining models included different sets of these predictors as significant. In the psychosocial model, individuals tended to improve over time but this was not the case in the biomedical model. The biomedical and psychosocial components of SA need to be addressed specifically to achieve the best aging trajectories.

Examining adherence to components of cognitive-behavioral therapy for youth anxiety after training and consultation.

PubMed

Edmunds, Julie M; Brodman, Douglas M; Ringle, Vanesa A; Read, Kendra L; Kendall, Philip C; Beidas, Rinad S

2017-02-01

The present study examined 115 service providers' adherence to components of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for youth anxiety prior to training, post workshop training, and after three months of weekly consultation. Adherence was measured using a role-play with a trained actor. We examined differences in individual adherence to CBT components across time and the relationship between number of consultation sessions attended and adherence ratings following consultation. Findings indicated that somatic arousal identification and relaxation were the most used treatment components prior to training. Adherence to all components of CBT increased following workshop training, except the usage of problem-solving. Adherence to problem-solving, positive reinforcement, the identification of anxious self-talk, and the creation of coping thoughts increased following consultation but usage of problem-solving remained low compared to other treatment components. Overall adherence remained less than optimal at the final measurement point. Number of consultation sessions attended predicted post-consultation adherence to identification of somatic arousal, identification of anxious self-talk, and positive reinforcement. Implications include tailoring future training based on baseline levels of adherence and spending more time during training and consultation on underutilized CBT components, such as problem-solving. Limitations of the present study, including how adherence was measured, are discussed. This study adds to the implementation science literature by providing more nuanced information on changes in adherence over the course of training and consultation of service providers.

A comprehensive methodology for the multidimensional and synchronic data collecting in soundscape.

PubMed

Kogan, Pablo; Turra, Bruno; Arenas, Jorge P; Hinalaf, María

2017-02-15

The soundscape paradigm is comprised of complex living systems where individuals interact moment-by-moment among one another and with the physical environment. The real environments provide promising conditions to reveal deep soundscape behavior, including the multiple components involved and their interrelations as a whole. However, measuring and analyzing the numerous simultaneous variables of soundscape represents a challenge that is not completely understood. This work proposes and applies a comprehensive methodology for multidimensional and synchronic data collection in soundscape. The soundscape variables were organized into three main entities: experienced environment, acoustic environment, and extra-acoustic environment, containing, in turn, subgroups of variables called components. The variables contained in these components were acquired through synchronic field techniques that include surveys, acoustic measurements, audio recordings, photography, and video. The proposed methodology was tested, optimized, and applied in diverse open environments, including squares, parks, fountains, university campuses, streets, and pedestrian areas. The systematization of this comprehensive methodology provides a framework for soundscape research, a support for urban and environment management, and a preliminary procedure for standardization in soundscape data collecting. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Responses of hydrochemical inorganic ions in the rainfall-runoff processes of the experimental catchments and its significance for tracing

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gu, W.-Z.; Lu, J.-J.; Zhao, X.; Peters, N.E.

2007-01-01

Aimed at the rainfall-runoff tracing using inorganic ions, the experimental study is conducted in the Chuzhou Hydrology Laboratory with special designed experimental catchments, lysimeters, etc. The various runoff components including the surface runoff, interflow from the unsaturated zone and the groundwater flow from saturated zone were monitored hydrometrically. Hydrochemical inorganic ions including Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, SO42-, HCO3- + CO32-, NO3-, F-, NH4-, PO42-, SiO2 and, pH, EC, 18O were measured within a one month period for all processes of rainfall, various runoff components and groundwater within the catchment from 17 boreholes distributed in the Hydrohill Catchment, few soil water samples were also included. The results show that: (a) all the runoff components are distinctly identifiable from both the relationships of Ca2+ versus Cl-/SO42-, EC versus Na+/(Na+ + Ca2+) and, from most inorganic ions individually; (b) the variation of inorganic ions in surface runoff is the biggest than that in other flow components; (c) most ions has its lowermost concentration in rainfall process but it increases as the generation depths of runoff components increased; (d) quantitatively, ion processes of rainfall and groundwater flow display as two end members of that of other runoff components; and (e) the 18O processes of rainfall and runoff components show some correlation with that of inorganic ions. The results also show that the rainfall input is not always the main source of inorganic ions of various runoff outputs due to the process of infiltration and dissolution resulted from the pre-event processes. The amount and sources of Cl- of runoff components with various generation mechanisms challenge the current method of groundwater recharge estimation using Cl-.

Polygenic Versus Monogenic Causes of Hypercholesterolemia Ascertained Clinically.

PubMed

Wang, Jian; Dron, Jacqueline S; Ban, Matthew R; Robinson, John F; McIntyre, Adam D; Alazzam, Maher; Zhao, Pei Jun; Dilliott, Allison A; Cao, Henian; Huff, Murray W; Rhainds, David; Low-Kam, Cécile; Dubé, Marie-Pierre; Lettre, Guillaume; Tardif, Jean-Claude; Hegele, Robert A

2016-12-01

Next-generation sequencing technology is transforming our understanding of heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, including revision of prevalence estimates and attribution of polygenic effects. Here, we examined the contributions of monogenic and polygenic factors in patients with severe hypercholesterolemia referred to a specialty clinic. We applied targeted next-generation sequencing with custom annotation, coupled with evaluation of large-scale copy number variation and polygenic scores for raised low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in a cohort of 313 individuals with severe hypercholesterolemia, defined as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol >5.0 mmol/L (>194 mg/dL). We found that (1) monogenic familial hypercholesterolemia-causing mutations detected by targeted next-generation sequencing were present in 47.3% of individuals; (2) the percentage of individuals with monogenic mutations increased to 53.7% when copy number variations were included; (3) the percentage further increased to 67.1% when individuals with extreme polygenic scores were included; and (4) the percentage of individuals with an identified genetic component increased from 57.0% to 92.0% as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level increased from 5.0 to >8.0 mmol/L (194 to >310 mg/dL). In a clinically ascertained sample with severe hypercholesterolemia, we found that most patients had a discrete genetic basis detected using a comprehensive screening approach that includes targeted next-generation sequencing, an assay for copy number variations, and polygenic trait scores. © 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.

Individual Differences in Dual Task Performance. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lansman, Marcy; Hunt, Earl

This report summarizes the research results and provides a reference. The basic question addressed was, "Is performance on multi-component tasks predicted by performance on the individual components performed separately?" In the first series of experiments, a dual task involving memory and verbal processing components to predict a…

A Novel Framework for the Comparative Analysis of Biological Networks

PubMed Central

Pache, Roland A.; Aloy, Patrick

2012-01-01

Genome sequencing projects provide nearly complete lists of the individual components present in an organism, but reveal little about how they work together. Follow-up initiatives have deciphered thousands of dynamic and context-dependent interrelationships between gene products that need to be analyzed with novel bioinformatics approaches able to capture their complex emerging properties. Here, we present a novel framework for the alignment and comparative analysis of biological networks of arbitrary topology. Our strategy includes the prediction of likely conserved interactions, based on evolutionary distances, to counter the high number of missing interactions in the current interactome networks, and a fast assessment of the statistical significance of individual alignment solutions, which vastly increases its performance with respect to existing tools. Finally, we illustrate the biological significance of the results through the identification of novel complex components and potential cases of cross-talk between pathways and alternative signaling routes. PMID:22363585

Core components of a comprehensive quality assurance program in anatomic pathology.

PubMed

Nakhleh, Raouf E

2009-11-01

In this article the core components of a comprehensive quality assurance and improvement plan are outlined. Quality anatomic pathology work comes with focus on accurate, timely, and complete reports. A commitment to continuous quality improvement and a systems approach with a persistent effort helps to achieve this end. Departments should have a quality assurance and improvement plan that includes a risk assessment of real and potential problems facing the laboratory. The plan should also list the individuals responsible for carrying out the program with adequate resources, a defined timetable, and annual assessment for progress and future directions. Quality assurance monitors should address regulatory requirements and be organized by laboratory division (surgical pathology, cytology, etc) as well as 5 segments (preanalytic, analytic, postanalytic phases of the test cycle, turn-around-time, and customer satisfaction). Quality assurance data can also be used to evaluate individual pathologists using multiple parameters with peer group comparison.

Evaluate, Analyze, Describe (EAD): Confronting Underlying Issues of Racism and Other Prejudices for Effective Intercultural Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Velasco, Daniel

2015-01-01

Racism and other prejudices have hindered efforts to diversify and further many fields, including education, psychology, politics, law, and healthcare (Race for Opportunity, 2010). Although there are many ways to combat these prejudices, intercultural communication continues to be a vital component in assisting individuals and groups with valuing…

Effects of Aging and Adult Development Education and Service Learning on Attitude, Anxiety, and Occupational Interest

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boswell, Stefanie S.

2015-01-01

This study investigated the effect of a semester-long aging and adult development course that included an intergenerational, service-learning component on attitudes toward older adult men and women, aging anxiety, and interest in occupations that serve older adults among individuals training for careers in healthcare and social services. It also…

Bottom Line: From the "Right to Fail" to the "Right to Succeed"--Black Males in Community Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, J. Luke

2012-01-01

"Open access" is a core mission component of the community college. Through this mission, public two-year colleges provide postsecondary opportunities to nearly all individuals desiring further education. However, access is not necessarily synonymous with success. Many students, including black males, have concerning levels of success, or the lack…

Mountain Plains Learning Experience Guide: Automotive Repair. Course: Automotive Fuel Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osland, Walt

One of twelve individualized courses included in an automotive repair curriculum, this course covers the theory, operation, and repair of the carburetor, fuel pump, and other related fuel system components and parts. The course is comprised of six units: (1) Fundamentals of Fuel Systems, (2) Fuel Pumps, (3) Fuel Lines and Filters, (4) Carburetors,…

Impression Management in Kindergarten Classrooms: An Analysis of Children's Face-Work in Peer Interactions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatch, J. Amos

A systematic analysis was made of the communications of 5- and 6-year-old children in two kindergarten classrooms to discover whether children's face-to-face interactions with peers included "face work" components (rituals through which individuals manage impressions when it becomes difficult to maintain a social situation) and, if so,…

Modeling Force Transfer around Openings in Wood-Frame Shear Walls

Treesearch

Minghao Li; Frank Lam; Borjen Yeh; Tom Skaggs; Doug Rammer; James Wacker

2012-01-01

This paper presented a modeling study on force transfer around openings (FTAO) in wood-frame shear walls detailed for FTAO. To understand the load transfer in the walls, this study used a finite-element model WALL2D, which is able to model individual wall components, including framing members, sheathing panels, oriented panel-frame nailed connections, framing...

Effects of a Sports Camp Practicum on Attitudes toward Children with Visual Impairments and Deafblindness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lieberman, Lauren J.; Wilson, Sandy

2005-01-01

Physical activity is an important component of a positive quality of life for all individuals. Lack of physical activity can lead to increased risk of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. For all children, physical activity that includes fitness (cardiovascular and muscular endurance, muscle strength, flexibility, and…

Mountain Plains Learning Experience Guide: Automotive Repair. Course: Brake Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schramm, C.; Osland, Walt

One of twelve individualized courses included in an automotive repair curriculum, this course covers theory, operation, and repair of drum brakes, disc brakes, and brake system components. The course is comprised of six units: (1) Fundamentals of Brake Systems, (2) Master Cylinder, (3) Drum Brakes, (4) Disc Brakes, (5) Power Brakes, and (6)…

33 CFR 148.105 - What must I include in my application?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... each director, or their equivalents. (e) Address for service of documents. The name and address of one... name and address of one individual who may receive other documents. (f) Location and use. The proposed... studies. (1) A copy of each contract that the applicant made for the construction of any component of the...

33 CFR 148.105 - What must I include in my application?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... each director, or their equivalents. (e) Address for service of documents. The name and address of one... name and address of one individual who may receive other documents. (f) Location and use. The proposed... studies. (1) A copy of each contract that the applicant made for the construction of any component of the...

Carryover Effect of Joint Attention to Repeated Events in Chimpanzees and Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okamoto-Barth, Sanae; Moore, Chris; Barth, Jochen; Subiaul, Francys; Povinelli, Daniel J.

2011-01-01

Gaze following is a fundamental component of triadic social interaction which includes events and an object shared with other individuals and is found in both human and nonhuman primates. Most previous work has focused only on the immediate reaction after following another's gaze. In contrast, this study investigated whether gaze following is…

Incorporating Family Assessment and Individualized Family Service Plans into Early Intervention Programs: A Developmental, Decision Making Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kochanek, Thomas T.; Friedman, Donna Haig

The monograph presents essential components of a decision making sequence used to incorporate formalized family assessment and service planning procedures into two existing early intervention programs in Massachusetts. The 1-year effort used a consultant to: (1) redefine screening and assessment processes to include both child and family centered…

Totally Unofficial: Raphael Lemkin and the Genocide Convention. The Making History Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eshet, Dan

2007-01-01

This case study highlighting the story of Raphael Lemkin challenges everyone to think deeply about what it will take for individuals, groups, and nations to take up Lemkin's challenge. To make this material accessible for classrooms, this resource includes several components: an introduction by Genocide scholar Omer Bartov; a historical case study…

Physical therapy approaches to reduce fall and fracture risk among older adults.

PubMed

Karinkanta, Saija; Piirtola, Maarit; Sievänen, Harri; Uusi-Rasi, Kirsti; Kannus, Pekka

2010-07-01

Falls and fall-related injuries, such as fractures, are a growing problem among older adults, often causing longstanding pain, functional impairments, reduced quality of life and excess health-care costs and mortality. These problems have led to a variety of single component or multicomponent intervention strategies to prevent falls and subsequent injuries. The most effective physical therapy approach for the prevention of falls and fractures in community-dwelling older adults is regular multicomponent exercise; a combination of balance and strength training has shown the most success. Home-hazard assessment and modification, as well as assistive devices, such as canes and walkers, might be useful for older people at a high risk of falls. Hip protectors are effective in nursing home residents and potentially among other high-risk individuals. In addition, use of anti-slip shoe devices in icy conditions seems beneficial for older people walking outdoors. To be effective, multifactorial preventive programs should include an exercise component accompanied by individually tailored measures focused on high-risk populations. In this Review, we focus on evidence-based physical therapy approaches, including exercise, vibration training and improvements of safety at home and during periods of mobility. Additionally, the benefits of multifaceted interventions, which include risk factor assessment, dietary supplements, elements of physical therapy and exercise, are addressed.

Design and control strategies for CELSS - Integrating mechanistic paradigms and biological complexities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, B., III; Kaufmann, R.; Reinhold, C.

1981-01-01

Systems analysis and control theory consideration are given to simulations of both individual components and total systems, in order to develop a reliable control strategy for a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) which includes complex biological components. Because of the numerous nonlinearities and tight coupling within the biological component, classical control theory may be inadequate and the statistical analysis of factorial experiments more useful. The range in control characteristics of particular species may simplify the overall task by providing an appropriate balance of stability and controllability to match species function in the overall design. The ultimate goal of this research is the coordination of biological and mechanical subsystems in order to achieve a self-supporting environment.

Parallel Optical Random Access Memory (PORAM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alphonse, G. A.

1989-01-01

It is shown that the need to minimize component count, power and size, and to maximize packing density require a parallel optical random access memory to be designed in a two-level hierarchy: a modular level and an interconnect level. Three module designs are proposed, in the order of research and development requirements. The first uses state-of-the-art components, including individually addressed laser diode arrays, acousto-optic (AO) deflectors and magneto-optic (MO) storage medium, aimed at moderate size, moderate power, and high packing density. The next design level uses an electron-trapping (ET) medium to reduce optical power requirements. The third design uses a beam-steering grating surface emitter (GSE) array to reduce size further and minimize the number of components.

A Cost-Utility Model of Care for Peristomal Skin Complications

PubMed Central

Inglese, Gary; Manson, Andrea; Townshend, Arden

2016-01-01

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the economic and humanistic implications of using ostomy components to prevent subsequent peristomal skin complications (PSCs) in individuals who experience an initial, leakage-related PSC event. DESIGN: Cost-utility analysis. METHODS: We developed a simple decision model to consider, from a payer's perspective, PSCs managed with and without the use of ostomy components over 1 year. The model evaluated the extent to which outcomes associated with the use of ostomy components (PSC events avoided; quality-adjusted life days gained) offset the costs associated with their use. RESULTS: Our base case analysis of 1000 hypothetical individuals over 1 year assumes that using ostomy components following a first PSC reduces recurrent events versus PSC management without components. In this analysis, component acquisition costs were largely offset by lower resource use for ostomy supplies (barriers; pouches) and lower clinical utilization to manage PSCs. The overall annual average resource use for individuals using components was about 6.3% ($139) higher versus individuals not using components. Each PSC event avoided yielded, on average, 8 additional quality-adjusted life days over 1 year. CONCLUSIONS: In our analysis, (1) acquisition costs for ostomy components were offset in whole or in part by the use of fewer ostomy supplies to manage PSCs and (2) use of ostomy components to prevent PSCs produced better outcomes (fewer repeat PSC events; more health-related quality-adjusted life days) over 1 year compared to not using components. PMID:26633166

Electric vehicle motors and controllers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Secunde, R. R.

1981-01-01

Improved and advanced components being developed include electronically commutated permanent magnet motors of both drum and disk configuration, an unconventional brush commutated motor, and ac induction motors and various controllers. Test results on developmental motors, controllers, and combinations thereof indicate that efficiencies of 90% and higher for individual components, and 80% to 90% for motor/controller combinations can be obtained at rated power. The simplicity of the developmental motors and the potential for ultimately low cost electronics indicate that one or more of these approaches to electric vehicle propulsion may eventually displace presently used controllers and brush commutated dc motors.

Electric vehicle motors and controllers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Secunde, R. R.

Improved and advanced components being developed include electronically commutated permanent magnet motors of both drum and disk configuration, an unconventional brush commutated motor, and ac induction motors and various controllers. Test results on developmental motors, controllers, and combinations thereof indicate that efficiencies of 90% and higher for individual components, and 80% to 90% for motor/controller combinations can be obtained at rated power. The simplicity of the developmental motors and the potential for ultimately low cost electronics indicate that one or more of these approaches to electric vehicle propulsion may eventually displace presently used controllers and brush commutated dc motors.

School nurse summer institute: a model for professional development.

PubMed

Neighbors, Marianne; Barta, Kathleen

2004-06-01

The components of a professional development model designed to empower school nurses to become leaders in school health services is described. The model was implemented during a 3-day professional development institute that included clinical and leadership components, especially coalition building, with two follow-up sessions in the fall and spring. Coalition building is an important tool to enhance the influence of the school nurse in improving the health of individuals, families, and communities. School nurses and nursing educators with expertise in the specialty of school nursing could replicate this model in their own regions.

Study of component technologies for fuel cell on-site integrated energy system. Volume 2: Appendices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, W. D.; Mathias, S.

1980-01-01

This data base catalogue was compiled in order to facilitate the analysis of various on site integrated energy system with fuel cell power plants. The catalogue is divided into two sections. The first characterizes individual components in terms of their performance profiles as a function of design parameters. The second characterizes total heating and cooling systems in terms of energy output as a function of input and control variables. The integrated fuel cell systems diagrams and the computer analysis of systems are included as well as the cash flows series for baseline systems.

A Theoretical Treatment of the Steady-Flow, Linear, Crossed-Field, Direct-Current Plasma Accelerator for Inviscid, Adiabatic, Isothermal, Constant-Area Flow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wood, George P.; Carter, Arlen F.; Lintz, Hubert K.; Pennington, J. Byron

1961-01-01

The theory is developed from the individual equations of motion of the three components of the plasma. The effect of the ion cyclotron angle (omega tau), which is the product of the ion cyclotron frequency and the ion mean free time between collisions with neutral particles and which is proportional to the axial component of the ion slip velocity, on both Joule heating rate and accelerator length is included in the results and is shown to be small only for values of about 10(exp -3) radian or less.

A summary of the mechanical design, testing and performance of the IMP-H and J attitude control systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Metzger, J. R.

1974-01-01

The main aspects of the attitude control system used on both the IMP-H and J spacecraft are presented. The mechanical configuration is described. Information on all the specific components comprising the flight system is provided. The acceptance and qualification testing of both individual components and the installed system are summarized. Functional information regarding the operation and performance in relation to the orbiting spacecraft and its mission is included. Related topics which are discussed are: (1) safety requirements, (2) servicing procedures, (3) anomalous behavior, and (4) pyrotechnic devices.

Metabolic rate covaries with fitness and the pace of the life history in the field

PubMed Central

Pettersen, Amanda K.; White, Craig R.; Marshall, Dustin J.

2016-01-01

Metabolic rate reflects the ‘pace of life’ in every organism. Metabolic rate is related to an organism's capacity for essential maintenance, growth and reproduction—all of which interact to affect fitness. Although thousands of measurements of metabolic rate have been made, the microevolutionary forces that shape metabolic rate remain poorly resolved. The relationship between metabolic rate and components of fitness are often inconsistent, possibly because these fitness components incompletely map to actual fitness and often negatively covary with each other. Here we measure metabolic rate across ontogeny and monitor its effects on actual fitness (lifetime reproductive output) for a marine bryozoan in the field. We also measure key components of fitness throughout the entire life history including growth rate, longevity and age at the onset of reproduction. We found that correlational selection favours individuals with higher metabolic rates in one stage and lower metabolic rates in the other—individuals with similar metabolic rates in each developmental stage displayed the lowest fitness. Furthermore, individuals with the lowest metabolic rates lived for longer and reproduced more, but they also grew more slowly and took longer to reproduce initially. That metabolic rate is related to the pace of the life history in nature has long been suggested by macroevolutionary patterns but this study reveals the microevolutionary processes that probably generated these patterns. PMID:27226476

Comparisons of methods for determining dominance rank in male and female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogastor)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lanctot, Richard B.; Best, Louis B.

2000-01-01

Dominance ranks in male and female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) were determined from 6 measurements that mimicked environmental situations that might be encountered by prairie voles in communal groups, including agonistic interactions resulting from competition for food and water and encounters in burrows. Male and female groups of 6 individuals each were tested against one another in pairwise encounters (i.e., dyads) for 5 of the measurements and together as a group in a 6th measurement. Two types of response variables, aggressive behaviors and possession time of a limiting resource, were collected during trials, and those data were used to determine cardinal ranks and principal component ranks for all animals within each group. Cardinal ranks and principal component ranks seldom yielded similar rankings for each animal across measurements. However, dominance measurements that were conducted in similar environmental contexts, regardless of the response variable recorded, ranked animals similarly. Our results suggest that individual dominance measurements assessed situation- or resource-specific responses. Our study demonstrates problems inherent in determining dominance rankings of individuals within groups, including choosing measurements, response variables, and statistical techniques. Researchers should avoid using a single measurement to represent social dominance until they have first demonstrated that a dominance relationship between 2 individuals has been learned (i.e., subsequent interactions show a reduced response rather than an escalation), that this relationship is relatively constant through time, and that the relationship is not context dependent. Such assessments of dominance status between all dyads then can be used to generate dominance rankings within social groups.

Associations of social environment, socioeconomic position and social mobility with immune response in young adults: the Jerusalem Perinatal Family Follow-Up Study.

PubMed

Lawrence, Gabriella M; Friedlander, Yehiel; Calderon-Margalit, Ronit; Enquobahrie, Daniel A; Huang, Jonathan Yinhao; Tracy, Russell P; Manor, Orly; Siscovick, David S; Hochner, Hagit

2017-12-21

Immune response to cytomegalovirus (CMV) impacts adult chronic disease. This study investigates associations of childhood and adulthood social environment, socioeconomic position (SEP) and social mobility with CMV response in young adults. Historical prospective study design. Subcohort of all 17 003 births to residents of Jerusalem between 1974 and 1976. Participants included 1319 young adults born in Jerusalem with extensive archival and follow-up data, including childhood and adulthood SEP-related factors and anti-CMV IgG titre levels and seroprevalence measured at age 32. Principal component analysis was used to transform correlated social environment and SEP-related variables at two time points (childhood and adulthood) into two major scores reflecting household (eg, number of siblings/children, religiosity) and socioeconomic (eg, occupation, education) components. Based on these components, social mobility variables were created. Linear and Poisson regression models were used to investigate associations of components and mobility with anti-CMV IgG titre level and seroprevalence, adjusted for confounders. Lower levels of household and socioeconomic components in either childhood or adulthood were associated with higher anti-CMV IgG titre level and seropositivity at age 32. Compared with individuals with stable favourable components, anti-CMV IgG titre level and risk for seropositivity were higher in stable unfavourable household and socioeconomic components (household: β=3.23, P<0.001; relative risk (RR)=1.21, P<0.001; socioeconomic: β=2.20, P=0.001; RR=1.14, P=0.01), downward household mobility (β=4.32, P<0.001; RR=1.26, P<0.001) and upward socioeconomic mobility (β=1.37, P=0.04; RR=1.19, P<0.001). Among seropositive individuals, associations between household components and mobility with anti-CMV IgG titre level were maintained and associations between socioeconomic components and mobility with anti-CMV IgG titre level were attenuated. Our study provides evidence that accumulating low SEP from childhood through adulthood and social mobility may compromise immune response in young adulthood. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Building Strategically Aligned Individualized Education Programs for Transition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flannery, K. Brigid; Hellemn, Lisa A.

2015-01-01

The Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for students 16 years of age or above must address specific transition components. Studies to date have focused on the presence and quality of these transition components, yet the alignment of these components and their role in leading the development of the IEP is just as critical. This qualitative…

Motor neuronal activity varies least among individuals when it matters most for behavior

PubMed Central

Cullins, Miranda J.; Shaw, Kendrick M.; Gill, Jeffrey P.

2014-01-01

How does motor neuronal variability affect behavior? To explore this question, we quantified activity of multiple individual identified motor neurons mediating biting and swallowing in intact, behaving Aplysia californica by recording from the protractor muscle and the three nerves containing the majority of motor neurons controlling the feeding musculature. We measured multiple motor components: duration of the activity of identified motor neurons as well as their relative timing. At the same time, we measured behavioral efficacy: amplitude of grasping movement during biting and amplitude of net inward food movement during swallowing. We observed that the total duration of the behaviors varied: Within animals, biting duration shortened from the first to the second and third bites; between animals, biting and swallowing durations varied. To study other sources of variation, motor components were divided by behavior duration (i.e., normalized). Even after normalization, distributions of motor component durations could distinguish animals as unique individuals. However, the degree to which a motor component varied among individuals depended on the role of that motor component in a behavior. Motor neuronal activity that was essential for the expression of biting or swallowing was similar among animals, whereas motor neuronal activity that was not essential for that behavior varied more from individual to individual. These results suggest that motor neuronal activity that matters most for the expression of a particular behavior may vary least from individual to individual. Shaping individual variability to ensure behavioral efficacy may be a general principle for the operation of motor systems. PMID:25411463

Annular feed air breathing fuel cell stack

DOEpatents

Wilson, Mahlon S.; Neutzler, Jay K.

1997-01-01

A stack of polymer electrolyte fuel cells is formed from a plurality of unit cells where each unit cell includes fuel cell components defining a periphery and distributed along a common axis, where the fuel cell components include a polymer electrolyte membrane, an anode and a cathode contacting opposite sides of the membrane, and fuel and oxygen flow fields contacting the anode and the cathode, respectively, wherein the components define an annular region therethrough along the axis. A fuel distribution manifold within the annular region is connected to deliver fuel to the fuel flow field in each of the unit cells. The fuel distribution manifold is formed from a hydrophilic-like material to redistribute water produced by fuel and oxygen reacting at the cathode. In a particular embodiment, a single bolt through the annular region clamps the unit cells together. In another embodiment, separator plates between individual unit cells have an extended radial dimension to function as cooling fins for maintaining the operating temperature of the fuel cell stack.

Predicting stress from the ability to eavesdrop on feelings: Emotional intelligence and testosterone jointly predict cortisol reactivity.

PubMed

Bechtoldt, Myriam N; Schneider, Vanessa K

2016-09-01

While emotional intelligence (EI) is recognized as a resource in social interactions, we hypothesized a positive association with stress in socially evaluative contexts. In particular, we expected emotion recognition, the core component of EI, to inflict stress on individuals in negatively valenced interactions. We expected this association to be stronger for status-driven individuals, that is, for individuals scoring high on basal testosterone. In a laboratory experiment, N = 166 male participants underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (Kirschbaum, Pirke, & Hellhammer, 1993). As expected, EI measured by the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT V2.0; Mayer et al., 2003) predicted higher cortisol reactivity, including slower recovery from stress. The effect was moderated by basal testosterone, such that the association was positive when basal testosterone was high but not when it was low. On the component level of EI, the interaction was replicated for negative emotion recognition. These findings lend support to the hypothesis that EI is associated with higher activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in contexts where social status is at stake, particularly for those individuals who are more status-driven. Thus, the effects of EI are not unequivocally positive: While EI may positively affect the course of social interactions, it also inflicts stress on the emotionally intelligent individuals themselves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Analysis of Fission Products on the AGR-1 Capsule Components

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

Paul A. Demkowicz; Jason M. Harp; Philip L. Winston

2013-03-01

The components of the AGR-1 irradiation capsules were analyzed to determine the retained inventory of fission products in order to determine the extent of in-pile fission product release from the fuel compacts. This includes analysis of (i) the metal capsule components, (ii) the graphite fuel holders, (iii) the graphite spacers, and (iv) the gas exit lines. The fission products most prevalent in the components were Ag-110m, Cs 134, Cs 137, Eu-154, and Sr 90, and the most common location was the metal capsule components and the graphite fuel holders. Gamma scanning of the graphite fuel holders was also performed tomore » determine spatial distribution of Ag-110m and radiocesium. Silver was released from the fuel components in significant fractions. The total Ag-110m inventory found in the capsules ranged from 1.2×10 2 (Capsule 3) to 3.8×10 1 (Capsule 6). Ag-110m was not distributed evenly in the graphite fuel holders, but tended to concentrate at the axial ends of the graphite holders in Capsules 1 and 6 (located at the top and bottom of the test train) and near the axial center in Capsules 2, 3, and 5 (in the center of the test train). The Ag-110m further tended to be concentrated around fuel stacks 1 and 3, the two stacks facing the ATR reactor core and location of higher burnup, neutron fluence, and temperatures compared with Stack 2. Detailed correlation of silver release with fuel type and irradiation temperatures is problematic at the capsule level due to the large range of temperatures experienced by individual fuel compacts in each capsule. A comprehensive Ag 110m mass balance for the capsules was performed using measured inventories of individual compacts and the inventory on the capsule components. For most capsules, the mass balance was within 11% of the predicted inventory. The Ag-110m release from individual compacts often exhibited a very large range within a particular capsule.« less

The XRD Amorphous Component in John Klein Drill Fines at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, Richard V.; Ming,, Douglas W.; Blake, David; Vaniman, David; Bish, David L; Chipera, Steve; Downs, Robert; Morrison, Shaunna; Gellert, Ralf; Campbell, Iain;

Greater impairment of postprandial triacylglycerol than glucose response in metabolic syndrome subjects with fasting hyperglycaemia.

PubMed

Jackson, Kim G; Walden, Charlotte M; Murray, Peter; Smith, Adrian M; Minihane, Anne M; Lovegrove, Julie A; Williams, Christine M

2013-08-01

Studies have started to question whether a specific component or combinations of metabolic syndrome (MetS) components may be more important in relation to cardiovascular disease risk. Our aim was to examine the impact of the presence of raised fasting glucose as a MetS component on postprandial lipaemia. Men classified with the MetS underwent a sequential test meal investigation, in which blood samples were taken at regular intervals after a test breakfast (t=0 min) and lunch (t=330 min). Lipids, glucose and insulin were measured in the fasting and postprandial samples. MetS subjects with 3 or 4 components were subdivided into those without (n=34) and with (n=23) fasting hyperglycaemia (≥5.6 mmol/l), irrespective of the combination of components. Fasting lipids and insulin were similar in the two groups, with glucose significantly higher in the men with glucose as a MetS component (P<0.001). Following the test meals, there were higher maximum concentration (maxC), area under the curve (AUC) and incremental AUC (P ≤0.016) for the postprandial triacylglycerol (TAG) response in men with fasting hyperglycaemia. Greater glucose AUC (P<0.001) and insulin maxC (P=0.010) were also observed in these individuals after the test meals. Multiple regression analysis revealed fasting glucose to be an important predictor of the postprandial TAG and glucose response. Our data analysis has revealed a greater impairment of postprandial TAG than glucose response in MetS subjects with raised fasting glucose. The worsening of postprandial lipaemic control may contribute to the greater CVD risk reported in individuals with MetS component combinations which include hyperglycaemia. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The hemoglobin system of the primitive fish, Amia calva: isolation and functional characterization of the individual hemoglobin components.

PubMed

Weber, R E; Sullivan, B; Bonaventura, J; Bonaventura, C

1976-05-20

Blood from the primitive holostean fish, the bowfin, Amia calva, contains 2 mo of ATP per mol of hemoglobin. The hemolysates contain at least five tetrameric hemoglobin components which differ in their oxygen affinities and their response to cofactors such as ATP. The binding of oxygen by each chromatographically isolated component, including a cathodal component, is influenced by pH and organic phosphates; there is no significant differentiation of function or structure as seen in trout and certain other fish hemolysates. Kinetic analyses of ligand binding indicate that the Bohr and Root effects of Amia calva hemoglobins are best explained by changes in both the "on" and "off" constants. At low pH, the increase in the "off" constant is smaller than for most other Root hemoglobins. The hemoglobin system of Amina calva is functionally undifferentiated and may be representative of the ancestral condition in teleosts.

Christodoulou Memory of GW150914 - Prospects of Detection in LIGO and Future Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Aaron; Kapadia, Shasvath; Kennefick, Daniel

2017-01-01

The event GW150914 produced strains of the order 10-21 in the two instruments comprising the Laser Interferometric Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO). The event has been interpreted as originating in a coalescing black hole binary, with individual components of about 30 solar masses each. A striking aspect of the coalescence deduced from the signal is the emission of 3 solar masses of energy in the oscillating gravitational wave. Theory predicts a DC component of the gravitational signal associated with the emission of such large amounts of gravitational wave energy known as the Christodoulou memory. The memory, as a non-linear component of the signal, is expected to be an order of magnitude smaller than the amplitude of the primary AC component of the gravitational waves. We discuss the prospects of detecting the Christodoulou memory in similar future signals, both with LIGO and with other detectors, including future space-based instruments.

Affective picture processing: An integrative review of ERP findings

PubMed Central

Olofsson, Jonas K.; Nordin, Steven; Sequeira, Henrique; Polich, John

2008-01-01

The review summarizes and integrates findings from 40 years of event-related potential (ERP) studies using pictures that differ in valence (unpleasant-to-pleasant) and arousal (low-to-high) and that are used to elicit emotional processing. Affective stimulus factors primarily modulate ERP component amplitude, with little change in peak latency observed. Arousal effects are consistently obtained, and generally occur at longer latencies. Valence effects are inconsistently reported at several latency ranges, including very early components. Some affective ERP modulations vary with recording methodology, stimulus factors, as well as task-relevance and emotional state. Affective ERPs have been linked theoretically to attention orientation for unpleasant pictures at earlier components (< 300 ms). Enhanced stimulus processing has been associated with memory encoding for arousing pictures of assumed intrinsic motivational relevance, with task-induced differences contributing to emotional reactivity at later components (> 300 ms). Theoretical issues, stimulus factors, task demands, and individual differences are discussed. PMID:18164800

Cytomegalovirus infection enhances the immune response to influenza.

PubMed

Furman, David; Jojic, Vladimir; Sharma, Shalini; Shen-Orr, Shai S; Angel, Cesar J L; Onengut-Gumuscu, Suna; Kidd, Brian A; Maecker, Holden T; Concannon, Patrick; Dekker, Cornelia L; Thomas, Paul G; Davis, Mark M

2015-04-01

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a β-herpesvirus present in a latent form in most people worldwide. In immunosuppressed individuals, CMV can reactivate and cause serious clinical complications, but the effect of the latent state on healthy people remains elusive. We undertook a systems approach to understand the differences between seropositive and negative subjects and measured hundreds of immune system components from blood samples including cytokines and chemokines, immune cell phenotyping, gene expression, ex vivo cell responses to cytokine stimuli, and the antibody response to seasonal influenza vaccination. As expected, we found decreased responses to vaccination and an overall down-regulation of immune components in aged individuals regardless of CMV status. In contrast, CMV-seropositive young adults exhibited enhanced antibody responses to influenza vaccination, increased CD8(+) T cell sensitivity, and elevated levels of circulating interferon-γ compared to seronegative individuals. Experiments with young mice infected with murine CMV also showed significant protection from an influenza virus challenge compared with uninfected animals, although this effect declined with time. These data show that CMV and its murine equivalent can have a beneficial effect on the immune response of young, healthy individuals, which may explain the ubiquity of CMV infection in humans and many other species. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Connectivity patterns in cognitive control networks predict naturalistic multitasking ability.

PubMed

Wen, Tanya; Liu, De-Cyuan; Hsieh, Shulan

2018-06-01

Multitasking is a fundamental aspect of everyday life activities. To achieve a complex, multi-component goal, the tasks must be subdivided into sub-tasks and component steps, a critical function of prefrontal networks. The prefrontal cortex is considered to be organized in a cascade of executive processes from the sensorimotor to anterior prefrontal cortex, which includes execution of specific goal-directed action, to encoding and maintaining task rules, and finally monitoring distal goals. In the current study, we used a virtual multitasking paradigm to tap into real-world performance and relate it to each individual's resting-state functional connectivity in fMRI. While did not find any correlation between global connectivity of any of the major networks with multitasking ability, global connectivity of the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) was predictive of multitasking ability. Further analysis showed that multivariate connectivity patterns within the sensorimotor network (SMN), and between-network connectivity of the frontoparietal network (FPN) and dorsal attention network (DAN), predicted individual multitasking ability and could be generalized to novel individuals. Together, these results support previous research that prefrontal networks underlie multitasking abilities and show that connectivity patterns in the cascade of prefrontal networks may explain individual differences in performance. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Decomposing decision components in the Stop-signal task: A model-based approach to individual differences in inhibitory control

PubMed Central

White, Corey N.; Congdon, Eliza; Mumford, Jeanette A.; Karlsgodt, Katherine H.; Sabb, Fred W.; Freimer, Nelson B.; London, Edythe D.; Cannon, Tyrone D.; Bilder, Robert M.; Poldrack, Russell A.

2014-01-01

The Stop-signal task (SST), in which participants must inhibit prepotent responses, has been used to identify neural systems that vary with individual differences in inhibitory control. To explore how these differences relate to other aspects of decision-making, a drift diffusion model of simple decisions was fitted to SST data from Go trials to extract measures of caution, motor execution time, and stimulus processing speed for each of 123 participants. These values were used to probe fMRI data to explore individual differences in neural activation. Faster processing of the Go stimulus correlated with greater activation in the right frontal pole for both Go and Stop trials. On Stop trials stimulus processing speed also correlated with regions implicated in inhibitory control, including the right inferior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, and basal ganglia. Individual differences in motor execution time correlated with activation of the right parietal cortex. These findings suggest a robust relationship between the speed of stimulus processing and inhibitory processing at the neural level. This model-based approach provides novel insight into the interrelationships among decision components involved in inhibitory control, and raises interesting questions about strategic adjustments in performance and inhibitory deficits associated with psychopathology. PMID:24405185

Prospective Associations Between Intervention Components and Website Engagement in a Publicly Available Physical Activity Website: The Case of 10,000 Steps Australia

PubMed Central

Corry, Kelly; Van Itallie, Anetta; Vandelanotte, Corneel; Caperchione, Cristina; Mummery, W Kerry

2012-01-01

Background Effectiveness of and engagement with website-delivered physical activity interventions is moderate at best. Increased exposure to Internet interventions is reported to increase their effectiveness; however, there is a lack of knowledge about which specific intervention elements are able to maintain website engagement. Objective To prospectively study the associations of website engagement and exposure to intervention components for a publicly available physical activity website (10,000 Steps Australia). Methods Between June and July 2006 a total of 348 members of 10,000 Steps completed a Web-based survey to collect demographic characteristics. Website engagement was subsequently assessed over a 2-year period and included engagement data on website components; individual challenges, team challenges, and virtual walking buddies; and indicators of website engagement (average steps logged, days logging steps, and active users). Results On average participants logged steps on 169 (SD 228.25) days. Over a 2-year period this equated to an average of 1.6 logons per week. Binary logistic regression showed that individuals who participated in individual challenges were more likely to achieve an average of 10,000 steps per day (odds ratio [OR] = 2.80, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.45–5.40), log steps on a higher than average number of days (OR = 6.81, 95% CI 2.87–13.31), and remain an active user (OR = 4.36, 95% CI 2.17–8.71). Additionally, those using virtual walking buddies (OR = 5.83, 95% CI 1.27–26.80) and of older age logged steps on a higher than average number of days. No significant associations were found for team challenges. Conclusions Overall engagement with the 10,000 Steps website was high, and the results demonstrate the relative effectiveness of interactive components to enhance website engagement. However, only exposure to the interactive individual challenge feature was positively associated with all website engagement indicators. More research is needed to examine the influence of intervention components on website engagement, as well as the relationship between website engagement and physical activity change. PMID:22260810

G-Protein Genomic Association With Normal Variation in Gray Matter Density

PubMed Central

Chen, Jiayu; Calhoun, Vince D.; Arias-Vasquez, Alejandro; Zwiers, Marcel P.; van Hulzen, Kimm; Fernández, Guillén; Fisher, Simon E.; Franke, Barbara; Turner, Jessica A.; Liu, Jingyu

2017-01-01

While detecting genetic variations underlying brain structures helps reveal mechanisms of neural disorders, high data dimensionality poses a major challenge for imaging genomic association studies. In this work, we present the application of a recently proposed approach, parallel independent component analysis with reference (pICA-R), to investigate genomic factors potentially regulating gray matter variation in a healthy population. This approach simultaneously assesses many variables for an aggregate effect and helps to elicit particular features in the data. We applied pICA-R to analyze gray matter density (GMD) images (274,131 voxels) in conjunction with single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data (666,019 markers) collected from 1,256 healthy individuals of the Brain Imaging Genetics (BIG) study. Guided by a genetic reference derived from the gene GNA14, pICA-R identified a significant SNP-GMD association (r = −0.16, P = 2.34 × 10−8), implying that subjects with specific genotypes have lower localized GMD. The identified components were then projected to an independent dataset from the Mind Clinical Imaging Consortium (MCIC) including 89 healthy individuals, and the obtained loadings again yielded a significant SNP-GMD association (r = −0.25, P = 0.02). The imaging component reflected GMD variations in frontal, precuneus, and cingulate regions. The SNP component was enriched in genes with neuronal functions, including synaptic plasticity, axon guidance, molecular signal transduction via PKA and CREB, highlighting the GRM1, PRKCH, GNA12, and CAMK2B genes. Collectively, our findings suggest that GNA12 and GNA14 play a key role in the genetic architecture underlying normal GMD variation in frontal and parietal regions. PMID:26248772

The limits of crop productivity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bugbee, Bruce; Monje, Oscar

1992-01-01

The component processes that govern yield limits in food crops are reviewed and how each process can be individually measured is described. The processes considered include absorption of photosynthetic radiation by green tissue, carbon-fixation efficiency in photosynthesis, carbon use efficiency in respiration, biomass allocation to edible products, and efficiency of photosynthesis and respiration. The factors limiting yields in optimal environments are considered.

The Impact of Collaborative Groups versus Individuals in Undergraduate Inquiry-Based Astronomy Laboratory Learning Exercises

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sibbernsen, Kendra J.

2010-01-01

One of the long-standing general undergraduate education requirements common to many colleges and universities is a science course with a laboratory experience component. One of the objectives frequently included in the description of most of these courses is that a student will understand the nature and processes of scientific inquiry. However,…

Nectar Attracts Foraging Honey Bees with Components of Their Queen Pheromones.

PubMed

Liu, Fanglin; Gao, Jie; Di, Nayan; Adler, Lynn S

2015-11-01

Floral nectar often contains chemicals that are deterrent to pollinators, presenting potential challenges to outcrossing plant species. Plants may be able to co-opt pollinator chemical signals to mitigate the negative effects of nectar deterrent compounds on pollination services. We found that buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) and Mexican sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) produce nectar with abundant phenolics, including three components of the Apis honeybee queen mandibular pheromone (QMP). In addition, these nectars contain a non-pheromonal phenolic, chlorogenic acid (CA), which was toxic to honeybees, and T. diversifolia nectar also contained isochlorogenic acid (IA). Fresh nectar or solutions containing nectar phenolics reduced Apis individual feeding compared to sucrose solutions. However, freely foraging bees preferred solutions with QMP components to control solutions, and QMP components over-rode or reversed avoidance of CA and IA. Furthermore, prior exposure to the presence or just the odor of QMP components removed the deterrent effects of CA and IA. By mimicking the honey bee pheromone blend, nectar may maintain pollinator attraction in spite of deterrent nectar compounds.

A New 4D Trajectory-Based Approach Unveils Abnormal LV Revolution Dynamics in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

PubMed Central

Madeo, Andrea; Piras, Paolo; Re, Federica; Gabriele, Stefano; Nardinocchi, Paola; Teresi, Luciano; Torromeo, Concetta; Chialastri, Claudia; Schiariti, Michele; Giura, Geltrude; Evangelista, Antonietta; Dominici, Tania; Varano, Valerio; Zachara, Elisabetta; Puddu, Paolo Emilio

2015-01-01

The assessment of left ventricular shape changes during cardiac revolution may be a new step in clinical cardiology to ease early diagnosis and treatment. To quantify these changes, only point registration was adopted and neither Generalized Procrustes Analysis nor Principal Component Analysis were applied as we did previously to study a group of healthy subjects. Here, we extend to patients affected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy the original approach and preliminarily include genotype positive/phenotype negative individuals to explore the potential that incumbent pathology might also be detected. Using 3D Speckle Tracking Echocardiography, we recorded left ventricular shape of 48 healthy subjects, 24 patients affected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and 3 genotype positive/phenotype negative individuals. We then applied Generalized Procrustes Analysis and Principal Component Analysis and inter-individual differences were cleaned by Parallel Transport performed on the tangent space, along the horizontal geodesic, between the per-subject consensuses and the grand mean. Endocardial and epicardial layers were evaluated separately, different from many ecocardiographic applications. Under a common Principal Component Analysis, we then evaluated left ventricle morphological changes (at both layers) explained by first Principal Component scores. Trajectories’ shape and orientation were investigated and contrasted. Logistic regression and Receiver Operating Characteristic curves were used to compare these morphometric indicators with traditional 3D Speckle Tracking Echocardiography global parameters. Geometric morphometrics indicators performed better than 3D Speckle Tracking Echocardiography global parameters in recognizing pathology both in systole and diastole. Genotype positive/phenotype negative individuals clustered with patients affected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy during diastole, suggesting that incumbent pathology may indeed be foreseen by these methods. Left ventricle deformation in patients affected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy compared to healthy subjects may be assessed by modern shape analysis better than by traditional 3D Speckle Tracking Echocardiography global parameters. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy pathophysiology was unveiled in a new manner whereby also diastolic phase abnormalities are evident which is more difficult to investigate by traditional ecocardiographic techniques. PMID:25875818

Components of cultural competence in three mental health programs.

PubMed

Siegel, Carole; Haugland, Gary; Reid-Rose, Lenora; Hopper, Kim

2011-06-01

The aim of this study was to identify components of cultural competence in mental health programs developed for cultural groups by community and mental health professionals from these groups. Three programs were studied: a prevention program primarily serving African-American and Afro-Caribbean youth, a Latino adult acute inpatient unit, and a Chinese day treatment program in a community-based agency. Nine study-trained field researchers used a semistructured instrument that captures program genealogy, structure, processes, and cultural infusion. Program cultural elements were identified from field notes and from individual and group interviews of consumers and staff (N=104). A research-group consensus process with feedback from program staff was used to group elements by shared characteristics into the program components of cultural competence. Components included communication competencies (with use of colloquialisms and accepted forms of address); staff in culturally acceptable roles; culturally framed trust building (such as pairing youths with mentors), stigma reduction, friendly milieus (such as serving culturally familiar foods and playing music popular with the culture), and services; and peer, family, and community involvement (including use of peer counselors and mentors, hosting parent weekends, and linking clients with senior center and community services). Incorporating these components into any program in which underserved cultural populations are seen is recommended for improving cultural competence.

Prebiotics in the management of components of the metabolic syndrome.

PubMed

O'Connor, Sarah; Chouinard-Castonguay, Sarah; Gagnon, Claudia; Rudkowska, Iwona

2017-10-01

Components of the metabolic syndrome (MetS), including abdominal obesity, low-grade chronic systemic inflammation, altered glucose metabolism, dyslipidemia and high blood pressure, are major threats to healthy aging in modern societies. The connection between MetS components and gut microflora is now acknowledged and multiple therapeutic strategies have been proposed to change the composition of the gut microbiota in order to promote optimal metabolic health. Prebiotics have the ability to favour growth of beneficial bacteria, especially short-chain fatty-acids (SCFA) producers. Increased SCFA in the gut is associated with improved satiety and weight loss, reduced systemic inflammation by increasing the gut barrier function, and improved glucose and lipid metabolism. The objective of this review is to examine the recent literature in order to determine the types and doses of prebiotics that could be recommended for the management of MetS. A review of the literature was executed using the MEDLINE database and clinical trials from 2013 to 2017 were selected for analysis. In conclusion, a daily supplementation of 10g of inulin, resistant starches or fructo-oligosaccharide-enriched inulin could have beneficial effects on MetS components in individuals with type 2 diabetes. In healthy subjects or in individuals with the MetS, the results are too heterogeneous and scarce to be able to set any specific recommendations. More clinical studies are needed to better understand the role of prebiotics in the management of MetS components. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Physical activity promotion in the primary care setting in pre- and type 2 diabetes - the Sophia step study, an RCT.

PubMed

Rossen, Jenny; Yngve, Agneta; Hagströmer, Maria; Brismar, Kerstin; Ainsworth, Barbara E; Iskull, Christina; Möller, Peter; Johansson, Unn-Britt

2015-07-12

Physical activity prevents or delays progression of impaired glucose tolerance in high-risk individuals. Physical activity promotion should serve as a basis in diabetes care. It is necessary to develop and evaluate health-promoting methods that are feasible as well as cost-effective within diabetes care. The aim of Sophia Step Study is to evaluate the impact of a multi-component and a single component physical activity intervention aiming at improving HbA1c (primary outcome) and other metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors, physical activity levels and overall health in patients with pre- and type 2 diabetes. Sophia Step Study is a randomized controlled trial and participants are randomly assigned to either a multi-component intervention group (A), a pedometer group (B) or a control group (C). In total, 310 patients will be included and followed for 24 months. Group A participants are offered pedometers and a website to register steps, physical activity on prescription with yearly follow-ups, motivational interviewing (10 occasions) and group consultations (including walks, 12 occasions). Group B participants are offered pedometers and a website to register steps. Group C are offered usual care. The theoretical framework underpinning the interventions is the Health Belief Model, the Stages of Change Model, and the Social Cognitive Theory. Both the multi-component intervention (group A) and the pedometer intervention (group B) are using several techniques for behavior change such as self-monitoring, goal setting, feedback and relapse prevention. Measurements are made at week 0, 8, 12, 16, month 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24, including metabolic and cardiovascular biomarkers (HbA1c as primary health outcome), accelerometry and daily steps. Furthermore, questionnaires were used to evaluate dietary intake, physical activity, perceived ability to perform physical activity, perceived support for being active, quality of life, anxiety, depression, well-being, perceived treatment, perceived stress and diabetes self- efficacy. This study will show if a multi-component intervention using pedometers with group- and individual consultations is more effective than a single- component intervention using pedometers alone, in increasing physical activity and improving HbA1c, other metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors, physical activity levels and overall health in patients with pre- and type 2 diabetes. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02374788 . Registered 28 January 2015.

Architecting Systems for Human Space Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wocken, Gerald

2002-01-01

Human-system interactions have been largely overlooked in the traditional systems engineering process. Awareness of human factors (HF) has increased in the past few years, but the involvement of HF specialists is still often too little and too late. In systems involving long-duration human space flight, it is essential that the human component be properly considered in the initial architectural definition phase, as well as throughout the system design process. HF analysis must include not only the strengths and limitations of humans in general, but the variability between individuals and within an individual over time, and the dynamics of group interactions.

Effectiveness of rifampicin chemoprophylaxis in preventing leprosy in patient contacts: a systematic review of quantitative and qualitative evidence.

PubMed

Ferreira, Silvana Margarida Benevides; Yonekura, Tatiana; Ignotti, Eliane; Oliveira, Larissa Bertacchini de; Takahashi, Juliana; Soares, Cassia Baldini

2017-10-01

Individuals in contact with patients who have leprosy have an increased risk of disease exposure, which reinforces the need for chemoprophylactic measures, such as the use of rifampicin. The objective of the review was to synthesize the best available evidence regarding the effectiveness of rifampicin chemoprophylaxis for contacts with patients with leprosy, and to synthesize the best available evidence on the experience and acceptability of rifampicin chemoprophylaxis as reported by the contacts and health professionals involved in the treatment of leprosy or Hansen's disease. In the quantitative component, individuals in contact with leprosy patients were included. In the qualitative component, in addition to contacts, health professionals who were in the practice of treating leprosy were included. The quantitative component considered as an intervention rifampicin at any dose, frequency and mode of administration, and rifampicin combination regimens.The qualitative component considered as phenomena of interest the experience and acceptability of rifampicin chemoprophylaxis. The quantitative component considered experimental and observational studies whereas the qualitative component considered studies that focused on qualitative data, including but not limited to, designs such as phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography and action-research. The quantitative component considered studies that reported on outcomes such as the development of clinical leprosy in the contacts of patients who had leprosy, incidence rates, adverse effects and safety/harmful effects of the intervention. A three-step strategy for published and unpublished literature was used. The search for published studies included: PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature; and Google Scholar and EVIPnet for unpublished studies. Studies published from the time of the respective database inception to January 2016 in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese were considered. Two reviewers independently assessed the studies for methodological quality using standardized critical appraisal instruments from the Joanna Briggs Institute. Standardized data extraction tools developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute were used to extract quantitative and qualitative data from papers included in the review. Due to clinical and methodological heterogeneity in the interventions of the included studies, no statistical meta-analysis was possible. Quantitative and qualitative research findings are presented in narrative form. Following critical appraisal, eight studies were included in this review, seven quantitative and one qualitative. The reduction in incidence of leprosy, using one dose of rifampicin in the first two years, was 56.5%; in the follow up period of one to four years, the reduction was 34.9%. The combination of rifampicin and the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine showed a preventative effect of 80% against the disease. The only controlled clinical trial using two doses of rifampicin was community-based and did not indicate effectiveness of the intervention. The qualitative findings showed social acceptability of rifampicin. Chemoprophylaxis with one dose of rifampicin is found to be effective in preventing contacts of leprosy patients from contracting the disease. Also, there is indication that this strategy is socially accepted.

Radio-frequency flexible and stretchable electronics: the need, challenges and opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Yei Hwan; Seo, Jung-Hun; Zhang, Huilong; Lee, Juhwan; Cho, Sang June; Chang, Tzu-Hsuan; Ma, Zhenqiang

2017-05-01

Successful integration of ultrathin flexible or stretchable systems with new applications, such as medical devices and biodegradable electronics, have intrigued many researchers and industries around the globe to seek materials and processes to create high-performance, non-invasive and cost-effective electronics to match those of state-of-the-art devices. Nevertheless, the crucial concept of transmitting data or power wirelessly for such unconventional devices has been difficult to realize due to limitations of radio-frequency (RF) electronics in individual components that form a wireless circuitry, such as antenna, transmission line, active devices, passive devices etc. To overcome such challenges, these components must be developed in a step-by-step manner, as each component faces a number of different challenges in ultrathin formats. Here, we report on materials and design considerations for fabricating flexible and stretchable electronics systems that operate in the microwave level. High-speed flexible active devices, including cost effective Si-based strained MOSFETs, GaAs-based HBTs and GaN-based HEMTs, performing at multi-gigahertz frequencies are presented. Furthermore, flexible or stretchable passive devices, including capacitors, inductors and transmission lines that are vital parts of a microwave circuitry are also demonstrated. We also present unique applications using the presented flexible or stretchable RF components, including wearable RF electronics and biodegradable RF electronics, which were impossible to achieve using conventional rigid, wafer-based technology. Further opportunities like implantable systems exist utilizing such ultrathin RF components, which are discussed in this report as well.

Psychosocial interventions for reducing vocal challenging behavior in persons with autistic disorder: a multilevel meta-analysis of single-case experiments.

PubMed

Vanderkerken, Lien; Heyvaert, Mieke; Maes, Bea; Onghena, Patrick

2013-12-01

Vocal challenging behavior (VCB) forms a common problem in individuals with autistic disorder. Since VCB is associated with negative outcomes for the individual and his or her environment, it is important to know how to manage this type of CB. To evaluate the effectiveness of several psychosocial interventions applied to decrease VCB in individuals with autistic disorder, we conducted a meta-analysis of single-case experiments (SCEs). Fifty-two SCEs, including 74 participants, were combined using a multilevel meta-analysis. The overall treatment effect was large and statistically significant. However, the effect varied significantly over the included studies and participants. Examining this variance, evidence was found for a moderator effect of VCB type and intervention type, with, on average, the largest effects for interventions used to reduce VCB including stereotypical VCB and for interventions containing both antecedent and consequence components. Age, gender, primary treatment setting, publication year, and study quality did not significantly moderate the intervention effect. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A model of suicidal behavior in war veterans with posttraumatic mood disorder.

PubMed

Sher, Leo

2009-08-01

Many wars have been fought during the history of civilization. About 30 armed conflicts are occurring now around the globe involving more than 25 countries. Many war veterans have symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) including suicidal ideation and behavior. PTSD is frequently comorbid with MDD. I have previously proposed that some or all individuals diagnosed with comorbid PTSD and MDD have a separate psychobiological condition that can be termed "posttraumatic mood disorder" (PTMD). This idea was based on the fact that a significant number of studies suggested that patients suffering from comorbid PTSD and MDD differed clinically and biologically from individuals with PTSD alone or MDD alone. Individuals with comorbid PTSD and MDD are characterized by greater severity of symptoms, increased suicidality and the higher level of impairment in social and occupational functioning compared to individuals with PTSD alone or MDD alone. Neurobiological evidence supporting the concept of PTMD includes the findings from neuroendocrine challenge, cerebrospinal fluid, neuroimaging, sleep and other studies. In this paper, I propose a model of suicidal behavior in war veterans with PTMD. The model consists of the following components: (1) genetic factors; (2) prenatal development; (3) biological and psychosocial influences from birth to mobilization/deployment; (4) mobilization/pre-deployment stress; (5) combat stress, traumatic brain injury, and physical injury; (6) post-deployment stress; (7) biological and psychosocial influences after the deployment; (8) trigger (precipitant) of a suicidal act; and (9) suicidal act. The first four components determine vulnerability to combat stress. The first seven components determine predisposition to suicidal behavior, a key element that differentiates PTMD patients who are at high risk from those at lower risk. Suicidal behavior in PTMD can be attributed to the coincidence of a trigger with a predisposition for suicidal behavior. Suicide prevention in war veterans with PTMD should focus on (1) improvement in recognition of PTMD; (2) treating symptoms of PTMD; (3) preventing a relapse when the patient is in remission; (4) treating suicidal ideation; (5) treating comorbid psychiatric conditions including alcohol and drug abuse; (6) treating medical and neurological disorders including traumatic brain injury; and (7) social support. It is extremely important to understand PTMD, to optimize assessment and treatment for people with PTMD, and to identify processes that facilitate recovery from exposure to traumatic events. Every nation, every generation, faces traumas that cause suicide. The world needs to deal with this and it is one thing that the world can come together on.

Movement ecology: size-specific behavioral response of an invasive snail to food availability.

PubMed

Snider, Sunny B; Gilliam, James F

2008-07-01

Immigration, emigration, migration, and redistribution describe processes that involve movement of individuals. These movements are an essential part of contemporary ecological models, and understanding how movement is affected by biotic and abiotic factors is important for effectively modeling ecological processes that depend on movement. We asked how phenotypic heterogeneity (body size) and environmental heterogeneity (food resource level) affect the movement behavior of an aquatic snail (Tarebia granifera), and whether including these phenotypic and environmental effects improves advection-diffusion models of movement. We postulated various elaborations of the basic advection diffusion model as a priori working hypotheses. To test our hypotheses we measured individual snail movements in experimental streams at high- and low-food resource treatments. Using these experimental movement data, we examined the dependency of model selection on resource level and body size using Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC). At low resources, large individuals moved faster than small individuals, producing a platykurtic movement distribution; including size dependency in the model improved model performance. In stark contrast, at high resources, individuals moved upstream together as a wave, and body size differences largely disappeared. The model selection exercise indicated that population heterogeneity is best described by the advection component of movement for this species, because the top-ranked model included size dependency in advection, but not diffusion. Also, all probable models included resource dependency. Thus population and environmental heterogeneities both influence individual movement behaviors and the population-level distribution kernels, and their interaction may drive variation in movement behaviors in terms of both advection rates and diffusion rates. A behaviorally informed modeling framework will integrate the sentient response of individuals in terms of movement and enhance our ability to accurately model ecological processes that depend on animal movement.

Observational Tests of Recent MHD Turbulence Perspectives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ghosh, Sanjoy; Guhathakurta, M. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This grant seeks to analyze the Heliospheric Missions data to test current theories on the angular dependence (with respect to mean magnetic field direction) of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in the solar wind. Solar wind turbulence may be composed of two or more dynamically independent components. Such components include magnetic pressure-balanced structures, velocity shears, quasi-2D turbulence, and slab (Alfven) waves. We use a method, developed during the first two years of this grant, for extracting the individual reduced spectra of up to three separate turbulence components from a single spacecraft time series. The method has been used on ISEE-3 data, Pioneer Venus Orbiter, Ulysses, and Voyager data samples. The correlation of fluctuations as a function of angle between flow direction and magnetic-field direction is the focus of study during the third year.

Markov and semi-Markov switching linear mixed models used to identify forest tree growth components.

PubMed

Chaubert-Pereira, Florence; Guédon, Yann; Lavergne, Christian; Trottier, Catherine

2010-09-01

Tree growth is assumed to be mainly the result of three components: (i) an endogenous component assumed to be structured as a succession of roughly stationary phases separated by marked change points that are asynchronous among individuals, (ii) a time-varying environmental component assumed to take the form of synchronous fluctuations among individuals, and (iii) an individual component corresponding mainly to the local environment of each tree. To identify and characterize these three components, we propose to use semi-Markov switching linear mixed models, i.e., models that combine linear mixed models in a semi-Markovian manner. The underlying semi-Markov chain represents the succession of growth phases and their lengths (endogenous component) whereas the linear mixed models attached to each state of the underlying semi-Markov chain represent-in the corresponding growth phase-both the influence of time-varying climatic covariates (environmental component) as fixed effects, and interindividual heterogeneity (individual component) as random effects. In this article, we address the estimation of Markov and semi-Markov switching linear mixed models in a general framework. We propose a Monte Carlo expectation-maximization like algorithm whose iterations decompose into three steps: (i) sampling of state sequences given random effects, (ii) prediction of random effects given state sequences, and (iii) maximization. The proposed statistical modeling approach is illustrated by the analysis of successive annual shoots along Corsican pine trunks influenced by climatic covariates. © 2009, The International Biometric Society.

Middle and inner ear malformations in mutation-proven branchio-oculo-facial (BOF) syndrome: case series and review of the literature.

PubMed

Carter, Melissa T; Blaser, Susan; Papsin, Blake; Meschino, Wendy; Reardon, Willie; Klatt, Regan; Babul-Hirji, Riyana; Milunsky, Jeff; Chitayat, David

2012-08-01

Hearing impairment is common in individuals with branchio-oculo-facial (BOF) syndrome. The majority of described individuals have conductive hearing impairment due to malformed ossicles and/or external canal stenosis or atresia, although a sensorineural component to the hearing impairment in BOF syndrome is increasingly being reported. Sophisticated computed tomography (CT) of the temporal bone has revealed middle and inner ear malformations in three previous reports. We present middle and inner ear abnormalities in three additional individuals with mutation-proven BOF syndrome. We suggest that temporal bone CT imaging be included in the medical workup of a child with BOF syndrome, in order to guide management. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Nonlinear dynamic simulation of single- and multi-spool core engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schobeiri, T.; Lippke, C.; Abouelkheir, M.

1993-01-01

In this paper a new computational method for accurate simulation of the nonlinear dynamic behavior of single- and multi-spool core engines, turbofan engines, and power generation gas turbine engines is presented. In order to perform the simulation, a modularly structured computer code has been developed which includes individual mathematical modules representing various engine components. The generic structure of the code enables the dynamic simulation of arbitrary engine configurations ranging from single-spool thrust generation to multi-spool thrust/power generation engines under adverse dynamic operating conditions. For precise simulation of turbine and compressor components, row-by-row calculation procedures were implemented that account for the specific turbine and compressor cascade and blade geometry and characteristics. The dynamic behavior of the subject engine is calculated by solving a number of systems of partial differential equations, which describe the unsteady behavior of the individual components. In order to ensure the capability, accuracy, robustness, and reliability of the code, comprehensive critical performance assessment and validation tests were performed. As representatives, three different transient cases with single- and multi-spool thrust and power generation engines were simulated. The transient cases range from operating with a prescribed fuel schedule, to extreme load changes, to generator and turbine shut down.

Somatotype of the individuals with lower extremity amputation and its association with cardiovascular risk.

PubMed

Mozumdar, Arupendra; Roy, Subrata K

2008-03-01

Anthropometric somatotyping is one of the methods to describe the shape of the human body, which shows some associations with an individual's health and disease condition, especially with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Individuals with lower extremity amputation (LEA) are known to be more vulnerable to the cardiovascular risk. The objectives of the present study are to report the somatotype of the individuals having lower extremity amputation, to study the possible variation in somatotype between two groups of amputated individuals, and to study the association between cardiovascular disease risk factor and somatotype components among individuals with locomotor disability. 102 adult male individuals with unilateral lower-extremity amputation residing in Calcutta and adjoining areas were investigated. The anthropometric data for somatotyping and data on cardiovascular risk traits (such as body mass index, blood pressure measurements, blood lipids) have been collected. The somatotyping technique of Carter & Heath (1990) has been followed. The result shows high mean values of endomorphy and mesomorphy components and a low mean value of the ectomorphy component among the amputated individuals having cardiovascular risks. The results of both discriminant analysis and logistic regression analysis show a significant relationship between somatotype components and CVD risk among the individuals with LEA. The findings of the present study support the findings of similar studies conducted on the normal population. Diagnosis of CVD risk condition through somatotyping can be utilized in prevention/treatment management for the individuals with LEA.

Environmental Approaches to Prevention in College Settings

PubMed Central

Saltz, Robert F.

2011-01-01

Because of concerns regarding drinking among college students and its harmful consequences, numerous prevention efforts have been targeted to this population. These include individual-level and community-level interventions, as well as other measures (e.g., online approaches). Community-level interventions whose effects have been evaluated in college populations include programs that were developed for the community at large as well as programs aimed specifically at college students, such as A Matter of Degree, the Southwest DUI Enforcement Project, Neighborhoods Engaging With Students, the Study to Prevent Alcohol-Related Consequences, and Safer California Universities. Evaluations of these programs have found evidence of their effectiveness in reducing college drinking and related consequences. The most effective approaches to reducing alcohol consumption among college students likely will blend individual-, group-, campus-, and community-level prevention components. PMID:22330219

Foraminiferal Metabolism Under Hypoxia: Sub-Cellular NanoSIMS Imaging of Intertidal Ammonia tepida Feeding Behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LeKieffre, C.; Spangenberg, J.; Geslin, E.; Meibom, A.

2016-02-01

Hypoxic events particularly affect benthic ecosystems on continental shelves and in coastal areas where renewal of bottom waters slow. Foraminifera living in such environments are among the most tolerant to hypoxia in the meiofauna. Some foraminifera species are able to survive hypoxia, and even anoxia, for weeks to months. Different species must have developed different mechanisms for survival - hypotheses include reduction of the metabolism, symbiosis with bacteria, or denitrification. NanoSIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) imaging is a powerful analytical technique to visualize and quantify the incorporation and transfer of isotopically labeled compounds in organisms with subcellular resolution. We used NanoSIMS imaging, correlated with TEM ultrastructural observations of individual foraminifera, to study the metabolism of intertidal Ammonia tepida, which has shown strongly reduced metabolism under anoxia. Individuals were fed with a 13C-labeled microalgal biofilm and incubated for 4 weeks in oxic and anoxic conditions, respectively. NanoSIMS imaging reveal strongly contrasting cellular-level dynamics of integration and transfer of the ingested biofilm components under the two conditions. In oxic conditions, ingested biofilm components are internalized, metabolized, and used for biosynthesis of different cellular components on a time scale of 24 hours: Lipid droplets are formed, then consumed through respiration. In contrast, upon the onset of anoxia, individual internalized biofilm components remain visible within the cytoplasm after 4 weeks. Lipids of different compositions are initially formed but then not respired. These observations indicate that foraminifera do initially have an active heterotrophic metabolism in the absence of oxygen, but this it is strongly reduced when oxygen is no longer available. Isotopic labeling experiments, NanoSIMS and TEM imaging, and GC-MS will be key to study metabolic mechanisms under anoxic conditions in marine environments.

Physical Activity and Exercise: Perspectives of Adults With Ankylosing Spondylitis.

PubMed

O'Dwyer, Tom; McGowan, Emer; O'Shea, Finbar; Wilson, Fiona

2016-05-01

Exercise is a key component of the management of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Despite numerous benefits, compliance with exercise programs is low. Little attention has been accorded to the experiences of individuals with AS toward physical activity (PA). This study aimed to explore the attitudes toward PA and exercise of adults with AS. A qualitative descriptive design using thematic analysis was used. Seventeen adults with AS participated in individual, semistructured interviews. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded and analyzed for themes and subthemes. Four themes emerged from the analysis: (1) benefits, (2) barriers, (3) motivation, and (4) strategies and enablers. Benefits included amelioration of symptoms, improvements in general health, and enhancement of quality of life. Subthemes of barriers to PA included lack of resources, negative attitudes to exercise, misinformation, and condition-related factors. Motivation to exercise was influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Participants proposed strategies to enhance PA participation and exercise engagement. Awareness of the benefits of PA appears insufficient to motivate individuals with AS to exercise; a number of factors influence individual motivation to exercise. Many perceived barriers to PA may be considered modifiable. Individually-tailored interventions, collaboratively developed by the individual and the healthcare professionals, were proposed as strategies for effective PA and exercise prescription.

From multidimensional neuropsychological outcomes to a cognitive complication rate: The International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial

PubMed Central

Scott, Richard B; Eccles, Fiona; Lloyd, Andrew; Carpenter, Katherine

2008-01-01

Background The neuropsychological arm of the International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial (N-ISAT) evaluated the cognitive outcome of 573 patients at 12 months following subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). The assessment included 29 psychometric measures, yielding a substantial and complex body of data. We have explored alternative and optimal methodologies for analysing and summarising these data to enable the estimation of a cognitive complication rate (CCR). Any differences in cognitive outcome between the two arms of the trial are not however reported here. Methods All individual test scores were transformed into z-scores and a 5th percentile cut-off for impairment was established. A principal components analysis (PCA) was applied to these data to mathematically transform correlated test scores into a smaller number of uncorrelated principal components, or cognitive 'domains'. These domains formed the basis for grouping and weighting individual patients' impaired scores on individual measures. In order to increase the sample size, a series of methods for handling missing data were applied. Results We estimated a 34.1% CCR in all those patients seen face-to-face, rising to 37.4% CCR with the inclusion of patients who were unable to attend assessment for reason related to the index SAH. This group demonstrated significantly more self and carer/relative rated disability on a Health Related Quality of Life questionnaire, than patients classified as having no functionally significant cognitive deficits. Conclusion Evaluating neuropsychological outcome in a large RCT involves unique methodological and organizational challenges. We have demonstrated how these problems may be addressed by re-classifying interval data from 29 measures into a dichotomous CCR. We have presented a 'sliding scale' of undifferentiated individual cognitive impairments, and then on the basis of PCA-derived cognitive 'domains', included consideration of the distribution of impairments in these terms. In order to maximize sample size we have suggested ways for patients who did not complete the entire protocol to be included in the overall CCR. ISAT trial registration ISRCTN49866681 PMID:18341689

Using WNTR to Model Water Distribution System Resilience ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Water Network Tool for Resilience (WNTR) is a new open source Python package developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Sandia National Laboratories to model and evaluate resilience of water distribution systems. WNTR can be used to simulate a wide range of disruptive events, including earthquakes, contamination incidents, floods, climate change, and fires. The software includes the EPANET solver as well as a WNTR solver with the ability to model pressure-driven demand hydraulics, pipe breaks, component degradation and failure, changes to supply and demand, and cascading failure. Damage to individual components in the network (i.e. pipes, tanks) can be selected probabilistically using fragility curves. WNTR can also simulate different types of resilience-enhancing actions, including scheduled pipe repair or replacement, water conservation efforts, addition of back-up power, and use of contamination warning systems. The software can be used to estimate potential damage in a network, evaluate preparedness, prioritize repair strategies, and identify worse case scenarios. As a Python package, WNTR takes advantage of many existing python capabilities, including parallel processing of scenarios and graphics capabilities. This presentation will outline the modeling components in WNTR, demonstrate their use, give the audience information on how to get started using the code, and invite others to participate in this open source project. This pres

Individuals motivated to participate in adherence, care and treatment (imPACT): development of a multi-component intervention to help HIV-infected recently incarcerated individuals link and adhere to HIV care.

PubMed

Golin, Carol E; Knight, Kevin; Carda-Auten, Jessica; Gould, Michele; Groves, Jennifer; L White, Becky; Bradley-Bull, Steve; Amola, Kemi; Fray, Niasha; Rosen, David L; Mugavaro, Michael J; Pence, Brian W; Flynn, Patrick M; Wohl, David

2016-09-06

Policy-makers promote a seek, test, treat and retain (STTR) strategy to expand HIV testing, support linkage and engagement in care, and enhance the continuous use of antiretroviral therapy for those HIV-infected. This HIV prevention strategy is particularly appropriate in correctional settings where HIV screening and treatment are routinely available yet many HIV-infected individuals have difficulty sustaining sufficient linkage and engagement in care, disease management, and viral suppression after prison release. Our research team developed Project imPACT (individuals motivated to Participate in Adherence, Care and Treatment), a multi-component approach for HIV-Infected recently incarcerated individuals that specifically targets their care linkage, retention, and medication adherence by addressing multiple barriers to care engagement after release. The ultimate goals of this intervention are to improve the health of HIV-infected individuals recently released from prison and reduce HIV transmission to their communities by maintaining viral suppression. This paper describes the intervention and technology development processes, based on best practices for intervention development and process evaluation. These processes included: 1) identifying the target population; 2) clarifying the theoretical basis for intervention design; 3) describing features of its foundational interventions; 4) conducting formative qualitative research; 5) integrating and adapting foundational interventions to create and refine intervention content based on target audience feedback. These stages along with the final intervention product are described in detail. The intervention is currently being evaluation and a two arm randomized, controlled trial in two US state prison systems. Based on a literature review, qualitative research, integration of proven interventions and behavioral theory, the final imPACT intervention focused on the transition period two to three months before and three months after prison release. It emphasized pre-release readiness, pre- and post-release supportive non-judgmental counseling, linking individuals to a HIV care clinic and technological supports through videos and text messages. This article provides a useful model for how researchers can develop, test, and refine multi-component interventions to address HIV care linkage, retention and adherence. NCT01629316 , first registered 6-4-2012; last updated 6-9-2015.

Program for the development of high temperature electrical materials and components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neff, W. S.; Lowry, L. R.

1972-01-01

Evaluation of high temperature, space-vacuum performance of selected electrical materials and components, high temperature capacitor development, and evaluation, construction, and endurance testing of compression sealed pyrolytic boron nitride slot insulation are described. The first subject above covered the aging evaluation of electrical devices constructed from selected electrical materials. Individual materials performances were also evaluated and reported. The second subject included study of methods of improving electrical performance of pyrolytic boron nitride capacitors. The third portion was conducted to evaluate the thermal and electrical performance of pyrolytic boron nitride as stator slot liner material under varied temperature and compressive loading. Conclusions and recommendations are presented.

Component Selection for Sterile Compounding.

PubMed

Dilzer, Richard H

2017-01-01

This article describes the factors to consider, as well as the process of proper component selection, for use in preparing compounded sterile preparations. Special emphasis is placed on individual chemical factors that may impact a preparation's accuracy and potency. Values reported in a typical certificate of analysis are discussed, including methods of identifying any required adjustments to a master formulation or compounding record during the compounding of sterile preparations. Proper screening of the certificate of analysis, the Safety Data Sheet, procedural documentation, and the filing of all certificates of conformance are crucial to the operation of a sterile compounding facility. Copyright© by International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding, Inc.

Multilevel examination of the association of urbanization with inflammation in Chinese adults

PubMed Central

Thompson, Amanda L.; Houck, Kelly M.; Adair, Linda; Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Popkin, Barry

2014-01-01

We examine the associations between overall urbanicity and specific physical and social components of community-level urbanization with C-reactive protein (CRP) in adults participating in the China Health and Nutrition Study. Higher overall urbanicity and environment-related urbanicity component scores, including education, housing quality, and access to markets, were associated with elevated CRP in multilevel models controlling for clustering by community. These associations differed by age and gender and persisted after controlling for individual-level anthropometric, diet, and pathogenic risk factors. These results highlight the importance of place in relation to inflammation across the spectrum of rural and urban environments. PMID:24908386

Social Monogamy in Nonhuman Primates: Phylogeny, Phenotype, and Physiology.

PubMed

French, Jeffrey A; Cavanaugh, Jon; Mustoe, Aaryn C; Carp, Sarah B; Womack, Stephanie L

Monogamy as a social system has been both a scientific puzzle and a sociocultural issue for decades. In this review, we examine social monogamy from a comparative perspective with a focus on primates, our closest genetic relatives. We break down monogamy into component elements, including pair-bonding and partner preference, mate guarding or jealousy, social attachment, and biparental care. Our survey of primates shows that not all features are present in species classified as socially monogamous, in the same way that human monogamous relationships may not include all elements-a perspective we refer to as "monogamy à la carte." Our review includes a survey of the neurobiological correlates of social monogamy in primates, exploring unique or common pathways for the elemental components of monogamy. This compilation reveals that the components of monogamy are modulated by a suite of androgenic steroids, glucocorticoid hormones, the nonapeptide hormones oxytocin and vasopressin, and other neurotransmitter systems (e.g., dopamine and opioids). We propose that efforts to understand the biological underpinnings of complex human and animal sociosexual relationships will be well served by exploring individual phenotypic traits, as opposed to pursuing these questions with the assumption that monogamy is a unitary trait or a species-specific characteristic.

Theoretical and practical outline of the Copenhagen PACT narrative-based exercise counselling manual to promote physical activity in post-therapy cancer survivors.

PubMed

Midtgaard, Julie

2013-02-01

Sedentary behaviour and reduced exercise capacity are potential persisting effects of anti-cancer therapy that may predispose to serious health conditions. It is well-established that physical exercise may prevent some of these problems. However, the extent to which cancer survivors are able to adopt long-term physical activity habits depends largely on their motivation. This theoretical paper aims to outline how researchers and practitioners can draw from Antonovsky's salutogenetic theory and White & Epston's Narrative Therapy to develop and implement intervention efforts centered on promotion of long-term physical activity behaviour, while at the same time increasing the individual cancer survivor's sense of meaning and personal health resources. The Copenhagen PACT (Physical Activity after Cancer Treatment) Study targeting adoption and maintenance of regular physical activity in post-therapy cancer survivors is briefly presented including a brief review of the theoretical rationale behind the psychological component of the intervention, i.e. a narrative-based exercise counselling programme. Subsequently, particular attention is given to the core principles, different components and structure of the counselling manual including sample questions and examples of written documents that have emanated from the individual counselling sessions. The discussion includes consideration of some methodological challenges that arise when attempting to evaluate narrative-based interventions in the context of physical activity promotion in cancer rehabilitation and survivorship care.

Hypersensitivity reactions to vaccine constituents: a case series and review of the literature.

PubMed

Leventhal, Jonathan S; Berger, Emily M; Brauer, Jeremy A; Cohen, David E

2012-01-01

Vaccines are composed of immunogens, preservatives, adjuvants, antibiotics, and manufacturing by-products. Components of vaccines may rarely elicit adverse reactions in susceptible individuals, thus raising concerns regarding vaccine safety. In this report, we add to the medical literature 3 cases of cutaneous delayed-type hypersensitivity to the vaccine preservative aluminum. We provide a review of major constituents in vaccines that have elicited immediate-type or delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions and describe their clinical manifestations. We include a table of the Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccines, which lists the quantities of major components including ovalbumin (egg protein), gelatin, aluminum, neomycin, 2-phenoxyethanol, thimerosal, and formaldehyde. Our goals were to inform physicians on the variety of hypersensitivity reactions to common vaccines and to provide information on the choice of vaccines in patients with suspected hypersensitivity.

Mechanisms Underlying Motivational Deficits in Psychopathology: Similarities and Differences in Depression and Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Barch, Deanna M; Pagliaccio, David; Luking, Katherine

2016-01-01

Motivational and hedonic impairments are core aspects of a variety of types of psychopathology. These impairments cut across diagnostic categories and may be critical to understanding major aspects of the functional impairments accompanying psychopathology. Given the centrality of motivational and hedonic systems to psychopathology, the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative includes a "positive valence" systems domain that outlines a number of constructs that may be key to understanding the nature and mechanisms of motivational and hedonic impairments in psychopathology. These component constructs include initial responsiveness to reward, reward anticipation or expectancy, incentive or reinforcement learning, effort valuation, and action selection. Here, we review behavioral and neuroimaging studies providing evidence for impairments in these constructs in individuals with psychosis versus in individuals with depressive pathology. There are important differences in the nature of reward-related and hedonic deficits associated with psychosis versus depression that have major implications for our understanding of etiology and treatment development. In particular, the literature strongly suggests the presence of impairments in in-the-moment hedonics or "liking" in individuals with depressive pathology, particularly among those who experience anhedonia. Such deficits may propagate forward and contribute to impairments in other constructs that are dependent on hedonic responses, such as anticipation, learning, effort, and action selection. Such hedonic impairments could reflect alterations in dopamine and/or opioid signaling in the striatum related to depression or specifically to anhedonia in depressed populations. In contrast, the literature points to relatively intact in-the-moment hedonic processing in psychosis, but provides much evidence for impairments in other components involved in translating reward to action selection. Particularly, individuals with schizophrenia exhibit altered reward prediction and associated striatal and prefrontal activation, impaired reward learning, and impaired reward-modulated action selection.

Association between executive function and outcome measure of treatment in therapeutic community among cocaine dependent individuals.

PubMed

Vergara-Moragues, Esperanza; Verdejo-García, Antonio; Lozano, Oscar M; Santiago-Ramajo, Sandra; González-Saiz, Francisco; Betanzos Espinosa, Patricia; Pérez García, Miguel

2017-07-01

The aim of this study was to examine the association between baseline executive functioning and outcome measure of treatment in 226 cocaine dependent individuals who initiated treatment in therapeutic communities TCs. The study was conducted across six TCs located in the region of Andalusia (southern Spain). Neuropsychological testing included tests of working memory, reasoning, inhibition, switching, attention interference and decision making. The outcome measures were type of discharge (treatment dropout vs. therapeutic discharge) and clinical impression of the TC outcome (clinically significant vs. non-significant changes). In the present study a prospective comparative design was used. We found significant performance differences on selective executive components which account for the type of discharge: treatment quitters had poorer attention response inhibition and attention switching than non-quitters, and the individuals who failed to achieve therapeutic objectives had poorer attention interference and inhibitory control than compliers. No significant differences were found between the outcome measure and the neuropsychological performance score on the other tasks. The results provide important information about the impact of executive components on in-treatment follow-up outcomes among dependence disorders in TC. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hemiparesis is a clinical correlate of general adaptive dysfunction in children and adolescents with Sturge-Weber syndrome.

PubMed

Reesman, Jennifer; Gray, Robert; Suskauer, Stacy J; Ferenc, Lisa M; Kossoff, Eric H; Lin, Doris D M; Turin, Elizabeth; Comi, Anne M; Brice, Patrick J; Zabel, T Andrew

2009-06-01

This study sought to identify neurologic correlates of adaptive functioning in individuals with Sturge-Weber syndrome. A total of 18 children, adolescents, and young adults with Sturge-Weber syndrome with brain involvement were recruited from our Sturge-Weber center. All underwent neurologic examination (including review of clinical brain magnetic resonance imaging) and neuropsychological assessment. Neuropsychological assessment included measures of intellectual ability and standardized parent report of adaptive functioning. Overall, Full Scale IQ and ratings of global adaptive functioning were both lower than the population-based norms (P < .05). Negative correlations were identified between adaptive functioning ratings, clinician ratings of cortical abnormality, and ratings of neurologic status. Hemiparesis (minimal versus prominent) was the only individual component of the rating scales that differentiated between individuals with nonimpaired and impaired adaptive functioning scores. Information obtained during neurological examination of children and adolescents with Sturge-Weber syndrome particularly hemiparetic status is useful for identifying children who may need additional intervention.

Interventions for Primary School Children With Difficulties in Mathematics.

PubMed

Dowker, Ann

2017-01-01

Difficulty with arithmetic is a common problem for children and adults, though there has been some work on the topic for a surprisingly long time. This chapter will review some of the research that has been done over the years on interventions with primary school children. Interventions can be of various levels of intensiveness, ranging from whole-class approaches that take account of individual differences through small-group and limited-time individual interventions to extended-time individual interventions. Interventions discussed here include those involving peer tuition and group collaboration; those involving board and computer games; and those that involve assessing children's strengths and weaknesses in different components of mathematics; and targeting remedial activities to the assessed weaknesses. Most of the interventions discussed in this chapter specifically involve mathematics (usually mainly arithmetic), but there is also some discussion of attempts to improve mathematics by training children in domain-general skills, including Piagetian operations, metacognition, and executive functions. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Association between age, distress, and orientations to happiness in individuals with disabilities.

PubMed

Terrill, Alexandra L; Müller, Rachel; Jensen, Mark P; Molton, Ivan R; Ipsen, Catherine; Ravesloot, Craig

2015-02-01

To determine how age and distress are associated in individuals with disabilities, and how happiness and its components (meaning, pleasure, and engagement) mediate or moderate this relationship. These were cross-sectional analyses of survey data from 508 community-dwelling adults with a variety of self-reported health conditions and functional disabilities. Measures included the Orientations to Happiness Questionnaire and items from the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System. Greater distress was associated with lower global happiness in both mediation and moderation models. The mediation model showed that middle-aged participants (age: 45-64) scored lowest in global happiness, and the effect of age on distress was partially mediated by happiness. None of the happiness components mediated the relationship of age on distress. The moderation model showed a significant interaction effect for age and global happiness on distress, where younger participants low on happiness were significantly more distressed. Of the three happiness components, only meaning was significantly associated with distress. There was a significant interaction between age and meaning, where participants who were younger and scored low on the meaning scale reported significantly higher distress. Findings from this study lay groundwork for the development of clinical interventions to address distress in individuals with functional disabilities. Middle-aged and younger people with disabilities may be particularly affected by lower levels of happiness and might benefit from psychological interventions that focus on increasing overall well-being and providing meaning and purpose in life. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Curcumin-free turmeric exhibits anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities: Identification of novel components of turmeric.

PubMed

Aggarwal, Bharat B; Yuan, Wei; Li, Shiyou; Gupta, Subash C

2013-09-01

Turmeric, a dried powder derived from the rhizome of Curcuma longa, has been used for centuries in certain parts of the world and has been linked to numerous biological activities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antigrowth, anti-arthritic, anti-atherosclerotic, antidepressant, anti-aging, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, wound healing, and memory-enhancing activities. One component of turmeric is curcumin, which has been extensively studied, as indicated by more than 5600 citations, most of which have appeared within the past decade. Recent research has identified numerous chemical entities from turmeric other than curcumin. It is unclear whether all of the activities ascribed to turmeric are due to curcumin or whether other compounds in turmeric can manifest these activities uniquely, additively, or synergistically with curcumin. However, studies have indicated that turmeric oil, present in turmeric, can enhance the bioavailability of curcumin. Studies over the past decade have indicated that curcumin-free turmeric (CFT) components possess numerous biological activities including anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antidiabetic activities. Elemene derived from turmeric is approved in China for the treatment of cancer. The current review focuses on the anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities exhibited by CFT and by some individual components of turmeric, including turmerin, turmerone, elemene, furanodiene, curdione, bisacurone, cyclocurcumin, calebin A, and germacrone. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Five challenges for spatial epidemic models

PubMed Central

Riley, Steven; Eames, Ken; Isham, Valerie; Mollison, Denis; Trapman, Pieter

2015-01-01

Infectious disease incidence data are increasingly available at the level of the individual and include high-resolution spatial components. Therefore, we are now better able to challenge models that explicitly represent space. Here, we consider five topics within spatial disease dynamics: the construction of network models; characterising threshold behaviour; modelling long-distance interactions; the appropriate scale for interventions; and the representation of population heterogeneity. PMID:25843387

Team Performance and Risk-Adjusted Health Outcomes in the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mukamel, Dana B.; Temkin-Greener, Helena; Delavan, Rachel; Peterson, Derick R.; Gross, Diane; Kunitz, Stephen; Williams, T. Franklin

2006-01-01

Purpose: The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) is a community-based program providing primary, acute, and long-term care to frail elderly individuals. A central component of the PACE model is the interdisciplinary care team, which includes both professionals and non-professionals. The purpose of this study was to examine the…

An individual-tree basal area growth model for loblolly pine stands

Treesearch

Paul A. Murphy; Michael G. Shelton

1996-01-01

Tree basal area growth has been modeled as a combination of a potential growth function and a modifier function, in which the potential function is fitted separately from open-grown tree data or a subset of the data and the modifier function includes stand and site variables. We propose a modification of this by simultaneously fitting both a growth component and a...

Electronic Collection Management and Electronic Information Services

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-04-01

compilation report, use: ADA415655 The component part is provided here to allow users access to individually authored sections f proceedings, annals...providers or as brokers between the user and the primary service provider. There has also been a significant reorientation from concept of "ownership...access. It will also look at the major trends in electronic user services including electronic information delivery and electronic reference. Finally, it

Comparative Effects of Antihistamines on Aircrew Mission Effectiveness under Sustained Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-06-01

measures consist mainly of process measures. Process measures are measures of activities used to accomplish the mission and produce the final results...They include task completion times and response variability, and information processing rates as they relate to unique task assignment. Performance...contains process measures that assess the Individual contributions of hardware/software and human components to overall system performance. Measures

A Test Review: Gilliam, J. E. (2014). "Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-Third Edition (GARS-3)." Austin, TX: Pro-Ed

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karren, Benjamin C.

2017-01-01

The Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-Third Edition (GARS-3) is a norm-referenced tool designed to screen for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in individuals between the ages of 3 and 22 (Gilliam, 2014). The GARS-3 test kit consists of three different components and includes an "Examiner's Manual," summary/response forms (50), and the…

On the possibility of a place code for the low pitch of high-frequency complex tonesa

PubMed Central

Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten; Oxenham, Andrew J.

2012-01-01

Harmonics are considered unresolved when they interact with neighboring harmonics and cannot be heard out separately. Several studies have suggested that the pitch derived from unresolved harmonics is coded via temporal fine-structure cues emerging from their peripheral interactions. Such conclusions rely on the assumption that the components of complex tones with harmonic ranks down to at least 9 were indeed unresolved. The present study tested this assumption via three different measures: (1) the effects of relative component phase on pitch matches, (2) the effects of dichotic presentation on pitch matches, and (3) listeners' ability to hear out the individual components. No effects of relative component phase or dichotic presentation on pitch matches were found in the tested conditions. Large individual differences were found in listeners' ability to hear out individual components. Overall, the results are consistent with the coding of individual harmonic frequencies, based on the tonotopic activity pattern or phase locking to individual harmonics, rather than with temporal coding of single-channel interactions. However, they are also consistent with more general temporal theories of pitch involving the across-channel summation of information from resolved and/or unresolved harmonics. Simulations of auditory-nerve responses to the stimuli suggest potential benefits to a spatiotemporal mechanism. PMID:23231119

A federated design for a neurobiological simulation engine: the CBI federated software architecture.

PubMed

Cornelis, Hugo; Coop, Allan D; Bower, James M

2012-01-01

Simulator interoperability and extensibility has become a growing requirement in computational biology. To address this, we have developed a federated software architecture. It is federated by its union of independent disparate systems under a single cohesive view, provides interoperability through its capability to communicate, execute programs, or transfer data among different independent applications, and supports extensibility by enabling simulator expansion or enhancement without the need for major changes to system infrastructure. Historically, simulator interoperability has relied on development of declarative markup languages such as the neuron modeling language NeuroML, while simulator extension typically occurred through modification of existing functionality. The software architecture we describe here allows for both these approaches. However, it is designed to support alternative paradigms of interoperability and extensibility through the provision of logical relationships and defined application programming interfaces. They allow any appropriately configured component or software application to be incorporated into a simulator. The architecture defines independent functional modules that run stand-alone. They are arranged in logical layers that naturally correspond to the occurrence of high-level data (biological concepts) versus low-level data (numerical values) and distinguish data from control functions. The modular nature of the architecture and its independence from a given technology facilitates communication about similar concepts and functions for both users and developers. It provides several advantages for multiple independent contributions to software development. Importantly, these include: (1) Reduction in complexity of individual simulator components when compared to the complexity of a complete simulator, (2) Documentation of individual components in terms of their inputs and outputs, (3) Easy removal or replacement of unnecessary or obsoleted components, (4) Stand-alone testing of components, and (5) Clear delineation of the development scope of new components.

A Federated Design for a Neurobiological Simulation Engine: The CBI Federated Software Architecture

PubMed Central

Cornelis, Hugo; Coop, Allan D.; Bower, James M.

2012-01-01

Simulator interoperability and extensibility has become a growing requirement in computational biology. To address this, we have developed a federated software architecture. It is federated by its union of independent disparate systems under a single cohesive view, provides interoperability through its capability to communicate, execute programs, or transfer data among different independent applications, and supports extensibility by enabling simulator expansion or enhancement without the need for major changes to system infrastructure. Historically, simulator interoperability has relied on development of declarative markup languages such as the neuron modeling language NeuroML, while simulator extension typically occurred through modification of existing functionality. The software architecture we describe here allows for both these approaches. However, it is designed to support alternative paradigms of interoperability and extensibility through the provision of logical relationships and defined application programming interfaces. They allow any appropriately configured component or software application to be incorporated into a simulator. The architecture defines independent functional modules that run stand-alone. They are arranged in logical layers that naturally correspond to the occurrence of high-level data (biological concepts) versus low-level data (numerical values) and distinguish data from control functions. The modular nature of the architecture and its independence from a given technology facilitates communication about similar concepts and functions for both users and developers. It provides several advantages for multiple independent contributions to software development. Importantly, these include: (1) Reduction in complexity of individual simulator components when compared to the complexity of a complete simulator, (2) Documentation of individual components in terms of their inputs and outputs, (3) Easy removal or replacement of unnecessary or obsoleted components, (4) Stand-alone testing of components, and (5) Clear delineation of the development scope of new components. PMID:22242154

Location, Location, Location: Eye-Tracking Evidence that Consumers Preferentially View Prominently Positioned Nutrition Information

PubMed Central

Graham, Dan J.; Jeffery, Robert W.

2012-01-01

Background Nutrition Facts labels can keep consumers better informed about their diets' nutritional composition, however, consumers currently do not understand these labels well or use them often. Thus, modifying existing labels may benefit public health. Objective The present study tracked the visual attention of individuals making simulated food-purchasing decisions to assess Nutrition Facts label viewing. Primary research questions were how self-reported viewing of Nutrition Facts labels and their components relates to measured viewing and whether locations of labels and specific label components relate to viewing. Design The study involved a simulated grocery shopping exercise conducted on a computer equipped with an eye-tracking camera. A post-task survey assessed self-reported nutrition information viewing, health behaviors, and demographics. Subjects/setting Individuals 18 years old and older and capable of reading English words on a computer (n=203) completed the 1-hour protocol at the University of Minnesota during Spring 2010. Statistical analyses Primary analyses included χ2, analysis of variance, and t tests comparing self-reported and measured viewing of label components in different presentation configurations. Results Self-reported viewing of Nutrition Facts label components was higher than objectively measured viewing. Label components at the top of the label were viewed more than those at the bottom, and labels positioned in the center of the screen were viewed more than those located on the sides. Conclusions Nutrition Facts label position within a viewing area and position of specific components on a label relate to viewing. Eye tracking is a valuable technology for evaluating consumers' attention to nutrition information, informing nutrition labeling policy (eg, front-of-pack labels), and designing labels that best support healthy dietary decisions. PMID:22027053

MMPI-2-RF characteristics of individuals with interstitial cystitis.

PubMed

Fazio, Rachel L; Wunderlich, Ted; Wilson, Nicolas; Akeson, Steven

2014-11-01

This study aimed to describe the psychological functioning of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome patients utilizing MMPI-2-RF scoring. The MMPI-2 was administered to 60 individuals who reported a diagnosis of IC. Responses were scored in the MMPI-2-RF format. Fifty-one protocols were deemed valid. Elevations were discovered on scales FBS-r (symptom validity), RC1 (somatic complaints), and MLS (malaise). Participants were split into two groups based on extreme elevations on RC1; the high RC1 group produced higher scores on 39 scales including clinically significant elevations on 17 scales. Over 25% of this sample had an emotional component to their physical concerns. This knowledge about the psychological characteristics of IC patients may have clinical utility for physicians and other treatment providers. The results argue strongly for psychological evaluation as a component of IC diagnosis and treatment. Those with significant emotional overlay to their somatic complaints may be best managed through psychological interventions and minimally invasive treatments. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mixed-effects Gaussian process functional regression models with application to dose-response curve prediction.

PubMed

Shi, J Q; Wang, B; Will, E J; West, R M

2012-11-20

We propose a new semiparametric model for functional regression analysis, combining a parametric mixed-effects model with a nonparametric Gaussian process regression model, namely a mixed-effects Gaussian process functional regression model. The parametric component can provide explanatory information between the response and the covariates, whereas the nonparametric component can add nonlinearity. We can model the mean and covariance structures simultaneously, combining the information borrowed from other subjects with the information collected from each individual subject. We apply the model to dose-response curves that describe changes in the responses of subjects for differing levels of the dose of a drug or agent and have a wide application in many areas. We illustrate the method for the management of renal anaemia. An individual dose-response curve is improved when more information is included by this mechanism from the subject/patient over time, enabling a patient-specific treatment regime. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Division of labour between Myc and G1 cyclins in cell cycle commitment and pace control.

PubMed

Dong, Peng; Maddali, Manoj V; Srimani, Jaydeep K; Thélot, François; Nevins, Joseph R; Mathey-Prevot, Bernard; You, Lingchong

2014-09-01

A body of evidence has shown that the control of E2F transcription factor activity is critical for determining cell cycle entry and cell proliferation. However, an understanding of the precise determinants of this control, including the role of other cell-cycle regulatory activities, has not been clearly defined. Here, recognizing that the contributions of individual regulatory components could be masked by heterogeneity in populations of cells, we model the potential roles of individual components together with the use of an integrated system to follow E2F dynamics at the single-cell level and in real time. These analyses reveal that crossing a threshold amplitude of E2F accumulation determines cell cycle commitment. Importantly, we find that Myc is critical in modulating the amplitude, whereas cyclin D/E activities have little effect on amplitude but do contribute to the modulation of duration of E2F activation, thereby affecting the pace of cell cycle progression.

Components of an Anticancer Diet: Dietary Recommendations, Restrictions and Supplements of the Bill Henderson Protocol

PubMed Central

Mannion, Cynthia; Page, Stacey; Bell, Laurie Heilman; Verhoef, Marja

2010-01-01

The use of complementary and alternative medicines including dietary supplements, herbals and special diets to prevent or treat disease continues to be popular. The following paper provides a description of an alternative dietary approach to the self-management and treatment of cancer, the Bill Henderson Protocol (BHP). This diet encourages daily intake of raw foods, a combination of cottage cheese and flaxseed oil and a number of supplements. Some foods and food groups are restricted (e.g., gluten, meat, dairy). Early background theory that contributed to the protocol’s development is presented as is a summary of relevant evidence concerning the anti-cancer fighting properties of the individual components. Supplement intake is considered in relation to daily recommended intakes. Challenges and risks to protocol adherence are discussed. As with many complementary and alternative interventions, clear evidence of this dietary protocol’s safety and efficacy is lacking. Consumers of this protocol may require guidance on the ability of this protocol to meet their individual nutritional needs. PMID:22254073

Factors Associated With Reflection Among Students After an Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) in Sweden

PubMed Central

Lindblad, Åsa Kettis; Gustavsson, Maria; Ring, Lena

2009-01-01

Objective To identify individual and social factors associated with pharmacy students' level of reflection in an advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE). Methods A postal questionnaire, including a reflective assignment, was sent to all pharmacy interns (n=262) at Uppsala University, Sweden, for 4 semesters in 2005-2007. Results In a univariate analysis, 7 factors were found to be associated with students' level of reflection. After controlling for covariates, 3 social factors were found to be independently associated with reflection: having a formal preceptor (OR=5.3), being at a small pharmacy (OR=19.8), and students' perception of the importance of discussing critical thinking with the preceptor (OR=1.2). No correlation could be observed between level of reflection and critical thinking, nor learning style. Conclusion Social components seem to be of higher importance than individual components in students' reflective levels after pharmacy internship experience. Trained preceptors are important to foster reflection skills. PMID:19885076

Team Synergies in Sport: Theory and Measures.

PubMed

Araújo, Duarte; Davids, Keith

2016-01-01

Individual players act as a coherent unit during team sports performance, forming a team synergy. A synergy is a collective property of a task-specific organization of individuals, such that the degrees of freedom of each individual in the system are coupled, enabling the degrees of freedom of different individuals to co-regulate each other. Here, we present an explanation for the emergence of such collective behaviors, indicating how these can be assessed and understood through the measurement of key system properties that exist, considering the contribution of each individual and beyond These include: to (i) dimensional compression, a process resulting in independent degree of freedom being coupled so that the synergy has fewer degrees of freedom than the set of components from which it arises; (ii) reciprocal compensation, if one element do not produce its function, other elements should display changes in their contributions so that task goals are still attained; (iii) interpersonal linkages, the specific contribution of each element to a group task; and (iv), degeneracy, structurally different components performing a similar, but not necessarily identical, function with respect to context. A primary goal of our analysis is to highlight the principles and tools required to understand coherent and dynamic team behaviors, as well as the performance conditions that make such team synergies possible, through perceptual attunement to shared affordances in individual performers. A key conclusion is that teams can be trained to perceive how to use and share specific affordances, explaining how individual's behaviors self-organize into a group synergy. Ecological dynamics explanations of team behaviors can transit beyond mere ratification of sport performance, providing a comprehensive conceptual framework to guide the implementation of diagnostic measures by sport scientists, sport psychologists and performance analysts. Complex adaptive systems, synergies, group behaviors, team sport performance, ecological dynamics, performance analysis.

Long-Term Species, Sexual and Individual Variations in Foraging Strategies of Fur Seals Revealed by Stable Isotopes in Whiskers

PubMed Central

Kernaléguen, Laëtitia; Cazelles, Bernard; Arnould, John P. Y.; Richard, Pierre; Guinet, Christophe; Cherel, Yves

2012-01-01

Background Individual variations in the use of the species niche are an important component of diversity in trophic interactions. A challenge in testing consistency of individual foraging strategy is the repeated collection of information on the same individuals. Methodology/Principal Findings The foraging strategies of sympatric fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella and A. tropicalis) were examined using the stable isotope signature of serially sampled whiskers. Most whiskers exhibited synchronous δ13C and δ15N oscillations that correspond to the seal annual movements over the long term (up to 8 years). δ13C and δ15N values were spread over large ranges, with differences between species, sexes and individuals. The main segregating mechanism operates at the spatial scale. Most seals favored foraging in subantarctic waters (where the Crozet Islands are located) where they fed on myctophids. However, A. gazella dispersed in the Antarctic Zone and A. tropicalis more in the subtropics. Gender differences in annual time budget shape the seal movements. Males that do not perform any parental care exhibited large isotopic oscillations reflecting broad annual migrations, while isotopic values of females confined to a limited foraging range during lactation exhibited smaller changes. Limited inter-individual isotopic variations occurred in female seals and in male A. tropicalis. In contrast, male A. gazella showed large inter-individual variations, with some males migrating repeatedly to high-Antarctic waters where they fed on krill, thus meaning that individual specialization occurred over years. Conclusions/Significance Whisker isotopic signature yields unique long-term information on individual behaviour that integrates the spatial, trophic and temporal dimensions of the ecological niche. The method allows depicting the entire realized niche of the species, including some of its less well-known components such as age-, sex-, individual- and migration-related changes. It highlights intrapopulation heterogeneity in foraging strategies that could have important implications for likely demographic responses to environmental variability. PMID:22431988

International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Sets for cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder, and attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Schiariti, Verónica; Mahdi, Soheil; Bölte, Sven

2018-05-30

Capturing functional information is crucial in childhood disability. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets promote assessments of functional abilities and disabilities in clinical practice regarding circumscribed diagnoses. However, the specificity of ICF Core Sets for childhood-onset disabilities has been doubted. This study aimed to identify content commonalities and differences among the ICF Core Sets for cerebral palsy (CP), and the newly developed Core Sets for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The categories within each Core Set were aggregated at the ICF component and chapter levels. Content comparison was conducted using descriptive analyses. The activities and participation component of the ICF was the most covered across all Core Sets. Main differences included representation of ICF components and coverage of ICF chapters within each component. CP included all ICF components, while ADHD and ASD predominantly focused on activities and participation. Environmental factors were highly represented in the ADHD Core Sets (40.5%) compared to the ASD (28%) and CP (27%) Core Sets. International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Sets for CP, ASD, and ADHD capture both common but also unique functional information, showing the importance of creating condition-specific, ICF-based tools to build functional profiles of individuals with childhood-onset disabilities. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets for cerebral palsy (CP), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) include unique functional information. The ICF-based tools for CP, ASD, and ADHD differ in terms of representation and coverage of ICF components and ICF chapters. Representation of environmental factors uniquely influences functioning and disability across ICF Core Sets for CP, ASD and ADHD. © 2018 Mac Keith Press.

Mental illness stigma and suicidality: the role of public and individual stigma.

PubMed

Oexle, N; Waldmann, T; Staiger, T; Xu, Z; Rüsch, N

2018-04-01

Suicide rates are increased among unemployed individuals and mental illness stigma can contribute to both unemployment and suicidality. Persons with mental illness perceive negative attitudes among the general public and experience discrimination in their everyday life (=public stigma components) potentially leading to self-stigma and anticipated discrimination (=individual stigma components). Previous research found evidence for an association between aspects of mental illness stigma and suicidality, but has not yet clarified the underlying pathways explaining how different stigma components interact and contribute to suicidal ideation. Public and individual stigma components and their association with suicidal ideation were examined among 227 unemployed persons with mental illness. A path model linking public stigma components (experienced discrimination, perceived stigma) with suicidal ideation, mediated by individual stigma components (anticipated discrimination, self-stigma), was examined using structural equation modelling within Mplus. Our sample was equally split in terms of gender, on average 43 years old and about half reported no suicidal ideation during the past 30 days. In bivariate analyses all stigma components were significantly associated with suicidal ideation. In the path model and controlling for symptoms, the association between experienced discrimination and suicidal ideation was fully mediated by anticipated discrimination and self-stigma. Perceived stigma's contribution to suicidal ideation was fully mediated by anticipated discrimination, but not by self-stigma. In general, programmes addressing multiple stigma components seem to be most effective in improving suicide prevention. Besides interventions targeting negative attitudes and discriminating behaviours of the general public, programmes to support persons with mental illness in coping with perceived and experienced stigma could improve suicide prevention. Future studies should test the short- and long-term effects of such interventions on suicidality and further investigate the role of stigma coping (e.g. secrecy) and emotional consequences (e.g. hopelessness and loneliness) for the association between stigma components and suicidality.

Bonded foil pressure transducers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daube, Bernie W.

The design of bonded-foil pressure transducers is discussed, with consideration given to individual components of both the electrical and the mechanical sections of the bonded-foil pressure transducers, as well as to the temperature control and the accuracy specification of these devices. Particular attention is given to applications of bonded foil pressure transducers, which include solid and liquid rocket engine testing for fuel and exhaust pressures, fuel and oil pressure monitoring on jet engines, and nuclear underground safety system pressure monitoring and nuclear test monitoring. A diagram of a transducer cutaway view is included.

Characteristics of meta-analyses and their component studies in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews: a cross-sectional, descriptive analysis

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Cochrane systematic reviews collate and summarise studies of the effects of healthcare interventions. The characteristics of these reviews and the meta-analyses and individual studies they contain provide insights into the nature of healthcare research and important context for the development of relevant statistical and other methods. Methods We classified every meta-analysis with at least two studies in every review in the January 2008 issue of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) according to the medical specialty, the types of interventions being compared and the type of outcome. We provide descriptive statistics for numbers of meta-analyses, numbers of component studies and sample sizes of component studies, broken down by these categories. Results We included 2321 reviews containing 22,453 meta-analyses, which themselves consist of data from 112,600 individual studies (which may appear in more than one meta-analysis). Meta-analyses in the areas of gynaecology, pregnancy and childbirth (21%), mental health (13%) and respiratory diseases (13%) are well represented in the CDSR. Most meta-analyses address drugs, either with a control or placebo group (37%) or in a comparison with another drug (25%). The median number of meta-analyses per review is six (inter-quartile range 3 to 12). The median number of studies included in the meta-analyses with at least two studies is three (inter-quartile range 2 to 6). Sample sizes of individual studies range from 2 to 1,242,071, with a median of 91 participants. Discussion It is clear that the numbers of studies eligible for meta-analyses are typically very small for all medical areas, outcomes and interventions covered by Cochrane reviews. This highlights the particular importance of suitable methods for the meta-analysis of small data sets. There was little variation in number of studies per meta-analysis across medical areas, across outcome data types or across types of interventions being compared. PMID:22114982

Towards Cooperative Predictive Data Mining in Competitive Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lisý, Viliam; Jakob, Michal; Benda, Petr; Urban, Štěpán; Pěchouček, Michal

We study the problem of predictive data mining in a competitive multi-agent setting, in which each agent is assumed to have some partial knowledge required for correctly classifying a set of unlabelled examples. The agents are self-interested and therefore need to reason about the trade-offs between increasing their classification accuracy by collaborating with other agents and disclosing their private classification knowledge to other agents through such collaboration. We analyze the problem and propose a set of components which can enable cooperation in this otherwise competitive task. These components include measures for quantifying private knowledge disclosure, data-mining models suitable for multi-agent predictive data mining, and a set of strategies by which agents can improve their classification accuracy through collaboration. The overall framework and its individual components are validated on a synthetic experimental domain.

Identification and quantification of antioxidant components of honeys from various floral sources.

PubMed

Gheldof, Nele; Wang, Xiao-Hong; Engeseth, Nicki J

2002-10-09

Little is known about the individual components of honey that are responsible for its antioxidant activity. The present study was carried out to characterize the phenolics and other antioxidants present in honeys from seven floral sources. Chromatograms of the phenolic nonpolar fraction of the honeys indicated that most honeys have similar but quantitatively different phenolic profiles. Many of the flavonoids and phenolic acids identified have been previously described as potent antioxidants. A linear correlation between phenolic content and ORAC activity was demonstrated (R(2) = 0.963, p < 0.0001). Honeys were separated by solid-phase extraction into four fractions for sugar removal and separation based on solubility to identify the relative contribution of each fraction to the antioxidant activity of honey. Antioxidant analysis of the different honey fractions suggested that the water-soluble fraction contained most of the antioxidant components. Specific water-soluble antioxidant components were quantified, including protein; gluconic acid; ascorbic acid; hydroxymethylfuraldehyde; and the combined activities of the enzymes glucose oxidase, catalase and peroxidase. Of these components, a significant correlation could be established only between protein content and ORAC activity (R(2) = 0.674, p = 0.024). In general, the antioxidant capacity of honey appeared to be a result of the combined activity of a wide range of compounds including phenolics, peptides, organic acids, enzymes, Maillard reaction products, and possibly other minor components. The phenolic compounds contributed significantly to the antioxidant capacity of honey but were not solely responsible for it.

An object oriented generic controller using CLIPS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nivens, Cody R.

1990-01-01

In today's applications, the need for the division of code and data has focused on the growth of object oriented programming. This philosophy gives software engineers greater control over the environment of an application. Yet the use of object oriented design does not exclude the need for greater understanding by the application of what the controller is doing. Such understanding is only possible by using expert systems. Providing a controller that is capable of controlling an object by using rule-based expertise would expedite the use of both object oriented design and expert knowledge of the dynamic of an environment in modern controllers. This project presents a model of a controller that uses the CLIPS expert system and objects in C++ to create a generic controller. The polymorphic abilities of C++ allow for the design of a generic component stored in individual data files. Accompanying the component is a set of rules written in CLIPS which provide the following: the control of individual components, the input of sensory data from components and the ability to find the status of a given component. Along with the data describing the application, a set of inference rules written in CLIPS allows the application to make use of sensory facts and status and control abilities. As a demonstration of this ability, the control of the environment of a house is provided. This demonstration includes the data files describing the rooms and their contents as far as devices, windows and doors. The rules used for the home consist of the flow of people in the house and the control of devices by the home owner.

The Role of Sleep Hygiene in Promoting Public Health: A Review of Empirical Evidence

PubMed Central

Irish, Leah A.; Kline, Christopher E.; Gunn, Heather E.; Buysse, Daniel J.; Hall, Martica H.

2014-01-01

Summary The ineffectiveness of sleep hygiene as a treatment in clinical sleep medicine has raised some interesting questions. If it is known that, individually, each specific component of sleep hygiene is related to sleep, why wouldn't addressing multiple individual components (i.e., sleep hygiene education) result in improved sleep? Is there still a use for sleep hygiene? Global public health concern over poor sleep has increased the demand for effective sleep promotion strategies that are easily accessible to the general population. However, the extent to which sleep hygiene principles and strategies apply outside of clinical settings is not well known. The present review sought to evaluate the empirical evidence for several common sleep hygiene recommendations, including regular exercise, stress management, noise reduction, sleep timing regularity, and avoidance of caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and daytime napping, with a particular emphasis on their public health utility. Thus, our review is not intended to be exhaustive regarding the clinical application of these techniques, but rather to focus on broader applications. Overall, though epidemiologic and experimental research generally supported an association between individual sleep hygiene recommendations and nocturnal sleep, the direct effects of individual recommendations on sleep remains largely untested in the general population. Suggestions for further clarification of sleep hygiene recommendations and considerations for the use of sleep hygiene in nonclinical populations are discussed. PMID:25454674

[Neural and cognitive correlates of social cognition: findings on neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies].

PubMed

Kobayakawa, Mutsutaka; Kawamura, Mitsuru

2011-12-01

Social cognition includes various components of information processing related to communication with other individuals. In this review, we have discussed 3 components of social cognitive function: face recognition, empathy, and decision making. Our social behavior involves recognition based on facial features and also involves empathizing with others; while making decisions, it is important to consider the social consequences of the course of action followed. Face recognition is divided into 2 routes for information processing: a route responsible for overt recognition of the face's identity and a route for emotional and orienting responses based on the face's personal affective significance. Two systems are possibly involved in empathy: a basic emotional contagion "mirroring" system and a more advanced "theory of mind" system that considers the cognitive perspective. Decision making is mediated by a widespread system that includes several cortical and subcortical components. Numerous lesion and neuroimaging studies have contributed to clarifying the neural correlates of social cognitive function, and greater information can be obtained on social cognitive function by combining these 2 approaches.

'Faceness' and affectivity: evidence for genetic contributions to distinct components of electrocortical response to human faces.

PubMed

Shannon, Robert W; Patrick, Christopher J; Venables, Noah C; He, Sheng

2013-12-01

The ability to recognize a variety of different human faces is undoubtedly one of the most important and impressive functions of the human perceptual system. Neuroimaging studies have revealed multiple brain regions (including the FFA, STS, OFA) and electrophysiological studies have identified differing brain event-related potential (ERP) components (e.g., N170, P200) possibly related to distinct types of face information processing. To evaluate the heritability of ERP components associated with face processing, including N170, P200, and LPP, we examined ERP responses to fearful and neutral face stimuli in monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins. Concordance levels for early brain response indices of face processing (N170, P200) were found to be stronger for MZ than DZ twins, providing evidence of a heritable basis to each. These findings support the idea that certain key neural mechanisms for face processing are genetically coded. Implications for understanding individual differences in recognition of facial identity and the emotional content of faces are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Prevalence of clinically and empirically defined talents and strengths in autism.

PubMed

Meilleur, Andrée-Anne S; Jelenic, Patricia; Mottron, Laurent

2015-05-01

Outstanding skills, including special isolated skills (SIS) and perceptual peaks (PP) are frequent features of autism. However, their reported prevalence varies between studies and their co-occurrence is unknown. We determined the prevalence of SIS in a large group of 254 autistic individuals and searched for PP in 46 of these autistic individuals and 46 intelligence and age-matched typically developing controls. The prevalence of SIS among autistic individuals was 62.5% and that of PP was 58% (13% in controls). The prevalence of SIS increased with intelligence and age. The existence of an SIS in a particular modality was not associated with the presence of a PP in the same modality. This suggests that talents involve an experience-dependent component in addition to genetically defined alterations of perceptual encoding.

Estimating age from the pubic symphysis: A new component-based system.

PubMed

Dudzik, Beatrix; Langley, Natalie R

2015-12-01

The os pubis is one of the most widely used areas of the skeleton for age estimation. Current pubic symphyseal aging methods for adults combine the morphology associated with the developmental changes that occur into the mid-30s with the degenerative changes that span the latter portion of the age spectrum. The most popular methods are phase-based; however, the definitions currently used to estimate age intervals may not be adequately defined and/or accurately understood by burgeoning researchers and seasoned practitioners alike. This study identifies patterns of growth and maturation in the pubic symphysis to derive more precise age estimates for individuals under 40 years of age. Emphasis is placed on young adults to provide more informative descriptions of epiphyseal changes associated with the final phases of skeletal maturation before degeneration commences. This study investigated macroscopic changes in forensically relevant modern U.S. samples of known age, sex, and ancestry from the Maricopa County Forensic Science Center in Phoenix, Arizona as well as donated individuals from the William M. Bass Forensic and Donated Collections at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (n=237). Age-related traits at locations with ontogenetic and biomechanical relevance were broken into components and scored. The components included the pubic tubercle, the superior apex of the face, the ventral and dorsal demifaces, and the ventral and dorsal symphyseal margins. Transition analysis was applied to elucidate the transition ages between the morphological states of each component. The categorical scores and transition analysis ages were subjected to multinomial logistic regression and decision tree analysis to derive accurate age interval estimates. Results of these analyses were used to construct a decision tree-style flow chart for practitioner use. High inter-rater agreement of the individual component traits (linear weighted kappa values ≥0.665 for all traits in the decision tree) indicates that the method offers unambiguous scoring for age-related changes of the pubic symphysis. Validation of the flow chart on a sample of 47 individuals provided by the Montana State Crime Lab yielded 94% accuracy overall, indicating that the method has the potential to deliver precise and accurate age estimates of individuals prior to the onset of advanced degenerative changes. A pubic symphysis that exhibits epiphyseal changes and/or billowing is suitable for this method; a pubic symphysis that exhibits degenerative changes (i.e. porosity and/or rim erosion) is not suitable. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of the dietary inclusion of soybean components on the innate immune system in zebrafish.

PubMed

Fuentes-Appelgren, Pamela; Opazo, Rafael; Barros, Luis; Feijoó, Carmen G; Urzúa, Victoria; Romero, Jaime

2014-02-01

Some components of plant-based meals, such as saponins and vegetal proteins, have been proposed as inducers of intestinal inflammation in some fish. However, the molecular and cellular bases for this phenomenon have not been reported. In this work, zebrafish were used as a model to evaluate the effects of individual soybean meal components, such as saponins and soy proteins. Zebrafish larvae fed a fish meal feed containing soy components were assessed according to low and high inclusion levels. The granulocytes associated with the digestive tract and the induction of genes related to the immune system were quantitated as markers of the effects of the dietary components. A significant increase in the number of granulocytes was observed after feeding fish diets containing high saponin or soy protein contents. These dietary components also induced the expression of genes related to the innate immune system, including myeloid-specific peroxidase, as well as the complement protein and cytokines. These results reveal the influence of dietary components on the stimulation of the immune system. These observations could be significant to understanding the contributions of saponin and soy protein to the onset of enteritis in aqua-cultured fish, and this knowledge may aid in defining the role of the innate immune system in other inflammatory diseases involving dietary components in mammals.

Obese individuals with more components of the metabolic syndrome and/or prediabetes demonstrate decreased activation of reward-related brain centers in response to food cues in both the fed and fasting states: a preliminary fMRI study.

PubMed

Farr, O M; Mantzoros, C S

2017-03-01

It remains unknown whether obese individuals with more components of the metabolic syndrome and/or prediabetes demonstrate altered activation of brain centers in response to food cues. We examined obese individuals with prediabetes (n=26) vs obese individuals without prediabetes (n=11) using fMRI. We also performed regression analyses on the basis of the number of MetS components per subject. Obese individuals with prediabetes have decreased activation of the reward-related putamen in the fasting state and decreased activation of the salience- and reward-related insula after eating. Obese individuals with more components of MetS demonstrate decreased activation of the putamen while fasting. All these activations remain significant when corrected for BMI, waist circumference (WC), HbA1c and gender. Decreased activation in the reward-related central nervous system areas among the obese is more pronounced in subjects with prediabetes and MetS. Prospective studies are needed to quantify their contributions to the development of prediabetes/MetS and to study whether they may predispose to the exacerbation of obesity and the development of comorbidities over time.

Association Between Mortality and Heritability of the Scale of Aging Vigor in Epidemiology.

PubMed

Sanders, Jason L; Singh, Jatinder; Minster, Ryan L; Walston, Jeremy D; Matteini, Amy M; Christensen, Kaare; Mayeux, Richard; Borecki, Ingrid B; Perls, Thomas; Newman, Anne B

2016-08-01

To investigate the association between mortality and heritability of a rescaled Fried frailty index, the Scale of Aging Vigor in Epidemiology (SAVE), to determine its value for genetic analyses. Longitudinal, community-based cohort study. The Long Life Family Study (LLFS) in the United States and Denmark. Long-lived individuals (N = 4,875, including 4,075 genetically related individuals) and their families (N = 551). The SAVE was administered to 3,599 participants and included weight change, weakness (grip strength), fatigue (questionnaire), physical activity (days walked in prior 2 weeks), and slowness (gait speed); each component was scored 0, 1, or 2 using approximate tertiles, and summed (range 0 (vigorous) to 10 (frail)). Heritability was determined using a variance component-based family analysis using a polygenic model. Association with mortality in the proband generation (N = 1,421) was calculated using Cox proportional hazards mixed-effect models. Heritability of the SAVE was 0.23 (P < .001) overall (n = 3,599), 0.31 (P < .001) in probands (n = 1,479), and 0.26 (P < .001) in offspring (n = 2,120). In adjusted models, higher SAVE scores were associated with higher mortality (score 5-6: hazard ratio (HR) = 2.83, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.46-5.51; score 7-10: HR = 3.40, 95% CI = 1.72-6.71) than lower scores (0-2). The SAVE was associated with mortality and was moderately heritable in the LLFS, suggesting a genetic component to age-related vigor and frailty and supporting its use for further genetic analyses. © 2016, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2016, The American Geriatrics Society.

Exploring novel objective functions for simulating muscle coactivation in the neck.

PubMed

Mortensen, J; Trkov, M; Merryweather, A

2018-04-11

Musculoskeletal modeling allows for analysis of individual muscles in various situations. However, current techniques to realistically simulate muscle response when significant amounts of intentional coactivation is required are inadequate. This would include stiffening the neck or spine through muscle coactivation in preparation for perturbations or impacts. Muscle coactivation has been modeled previously in the neck and spine using optimization techniques that seek to maximize the joint stiffness by maximizing total muscle activation or muscle force. These approaches have not sought to replicate human response, but rather to explore the possible effects of active muscle. Coactivation remains a challenging feature to include in musculoskeletal models, and may be improved by extracting optimization objective functions from experimental data. However, the components of such an objective function must be known before fitting to experimental data. This study explores the effect of components in several objective functions, in order to recommend components to be used for fitting to experimental data. Four novel approaches to modeling coactivation through optimization techniques are presented, two of which produce greater levels of stiffness than previous techniques. Simulations were performed using OpenSim and MATLAB cooperatively. Results show that maximizing the moment generated by a particular muscle appears analogous to maximizing joint stiffness. The approach of optimizing for maximum moment generated by individual muscles may be a good candidate for developing objective functions that accurately simulate muscle coactivation in complex joints. This new approach will be the focus of future studies with human subjects. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neuroforecasting Aggregate Choice

PubMed Central

Knutson, Brian; Genevsky, Alexander

2018-01-01

Advances in brain-imaging design and analysis have allowed investigators to use neural activity to predict individual choice, while emerging Internet markets have opened up new opportunities for forecasting aggregate choice. Here, we review emerging research that bridges these levels of analysis by attempting to use group neural activity to forecast aggregate choice. A survey of initial findings suggests that components of group neural activity might forecast aggregate choice, in some cases even beyond traditional behavioral measures. In addition to demonstrating the plausibility of neuroforecasting, these findings raise the possibility that not all neural processes that predict individual choice forecast aggregate choice to the same degree. We propose that although integrative choice components may confer more consistency within individuals, affective choice components may generalize more broadly across individuals to forecast aggregate choice. PMID:29706726

Body integrity identity disorder: from a psychological to a neurological syndrome.

PubMed

Sedda, Anna

2011-12-01

Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) is a condition in which individuals experience an intense desire for amputation of an healthy limb. Recently, McGeoch and colleagues provided the first direct evidence that this syndrome may be neurological rather than psychological in its origin. However, before including BIID in body ownership disorders, several concerns should be clarified, exploring other components of body representation and not only somatosensory perception.

Evolution of solid rocket booster component testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lessey, Joseph A.

1989-01-01

The evolution of one of the new generation of test sets developed for the Solid Rocket Booster of the U.S. Space Transportation System. Requirements leading to factory checkout of the test set are explained, including the evolution from manual to semiautomated toward fully automated status. Individual improvements in the built-in test equipment, self-calibration, and software flexibility are addressed, and the insertion of fault detection to improve reliability is discussed.

Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Cocaine Selective Severity Assessment to evaluate cocaine withdrawal in treatment-seeking individuals.

PubMed

Pérez de los Cobos, José; Trujols, Joan; Siñol, Núria; Vasconcelos e Rego, Lisiane; Iraurgi, Ioseba; Batlle, Francesca

2014-09-01

Reliable and valid assessment of cocaine withdrawal is relevant for treating cocaine-dependent patients. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Cocaine Selective Severity Assessment (CSSA), an instrument that measures cocaine withdrawal. Participants were 170 cocaine-dependent inpatients receiving detoxification treatment. Principal component analysis revealed a 4-factor structure for CSSA that included the following components: 'Cocaine Craving and Psychological Distress', 'Lethargy', 'Carbohydrate Craving and Irritability', and 'Somatic Depressive Symptoms'. These 4 components accounted for 56.0% of total variance. Internal reliability for these components ranged from unacceptable to good (Chronbach's alpha: 0.87, 0.65, 0.55, and 0.22, respectively). All components except Somatic Depressive Symptoms presented concurrent validity with cocaine use. In summary, while some properties of the Spanish version of the CSSA are satisfactory, such as interpretability of factor structure and test-retest reliability, other properties, such as internal reliability and concurrent validity of some factors, are inadequate. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pandemics and immune memory in the noisy Penna model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cebrat, Stanisław; Bonkowska, Katarzyna; Biecek, Przemysław

2007-06-01

In the noisy Penna model of ageing, instead of counting the number of defective loci which eventually kill an individual, the noise describing the health status of individuals is introduced. This white noise is composed of two components: the environmental one and the personal one. If the sum of both trespasses the limit set for the individuals homeodynamics the individual dies. The energy of personal fluctuations depends on the number of defective loci expressed in the individuals genome. Environmental fluctuations, the same for all individuals can include some signals, corresponding to the exposition to pathogens which could be dangerous for a fraction of the organisms. Personal noise and the component of random environmental fluctuations, when superimposed on the signal can be life threatening if they are stronger than the limit set for individuals homeodynamics. Nevertheless, some organisms survive the period of dangerous signal and they may remember the signal in the future, like antigens are remembered by our immune systems. Unfortunately, this memory weakens with time and, even worse, some additional defective genes are switched on during the ageing. If the same pathogens (signals) emerge during the lifespan of the population, a fraction of the population could remember it and could respond by increasing the resistance to it. Again, unfortunately for some individuals, their memory could be too weak and their own health status has worsened due to the accumulated mutations, they have to die. Though, a fraction of individuals can survive the pandemics due to the immune memory, but a fraction of population has no such a memory because they were born after the last pandemic or they didnt notice this pandemic. Our simple model, by implementing the noise instead of deterministic threshold of genetic defects, describes how the impact of pandemics on populations depends on the time which elapsed between the two incidents and how the different age groups of populations can respond for the second pandemic.

Reaching a Consensus on the Definition of Genetic Literacy that Is Required from a Twenty-First-Century Citizen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boerwinkel, Dirk Jan; Yarden, Anat; Waarlo, Arend Jan

2017-12-01

To determine what knowledge of genetics is needed for decision-making on genetic-related issues, a consensus-reaching approach was used. An international group of 57 experts, involved in teaching, studying, or developing genetic education and communication or working with genetic applications in medicine, agriculture, or forensics, answered the questions: "What knowledge of genetics is relevant to those individuals not professionally involved in science?" and "Why is this knowledge relevant?" The answers were classified in different knowledge components following the PISA 2015 science framework. During a workshop with the participants, the results were discussed and applied to seven cases in which genetic knowledge is relevant for decision-making. The analysis of these discussions resulted in a revised framework consisting of nine conceptual knowledge components, three sociocultural components, and four epistemic components. The framework can be used in curricular decisions; its open character allows for including new technologies and applications and facilitates comparisons of different cases.

Update: Cold weather injuries, active and reserve components, U.S. Armed Forces, July 2011-June 2016.

PubMed

O'Donnell, Francis L; Taubman, Stephen B

2016-10-01

From July 2015 through June 2016, a total of 447 members of the active (n=383) and reserve (n=64) components had at least one medical encounter with a primary diagnosis of cold injury. The numbers of affected individuals in both components were the lowest since the 2011-2012 cold season, when the total was 394. In the active component, the service-specific incidence rates for each of the four services were lower than the respective rates for the previous (2014-2015) cold season. Frostbite was the most common type of cold injury. During the five cold seasons in the surveillance period (2011-2016), rates tended to be higher among service members who were in the youngest age groups; female; black, non-Hispanic; or in the Army. The numbers of cold injuries associated with service in Iraq and Afghanistan have fallen precipitously in the past four cold seasons and included just 11 cases in the most recent year.

Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome Components in an Urban Mexican Sample: Comparison between Two Classifications

PubMed Central

Isordia-Salas, Irma; Santiago-Germán, David; Rodrìguez-Navarro, Helem; Almaráz-Delgado, Martín; Leaños-Miranda, Alfredo; Anaya-Gómez, Francisco; Borrayo-Sánchez, Gabriela; Majluf-Cruz, Abraham

2012-01-01

Background. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) components in an urban Mexican sample. Methods. A total of 854 subjects were included. Anthropometric, blood pressure measurements, clinical data, and overnight fasting blood samples were obtained from all subjects. Results. In accordance with definitions by the American Heart Association/ National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (AHA/NHLBI) and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the prevalence of MS among participants was 59.7 and 68.7%, respectively. The prevalence of MS was higher in women and in individuals older than 45 years of age. More than 40% of the subjects fulfilled four criterions of MS according to both definitions. Conclusions. There was a high prevalence of MS components in an urban Mexican sample. Therefore, strong strategies had to be developed for early detection of MS and its components to prevent DMT2 and atherothrombotic complications in these patients. PMID:22203834

Risk-Assessment for Equipment Operating on the Lunar Surface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richmond, R. C.; Kusiak, A.; Ramachandran, N.

2008-01-01

Particle-size distribution of lunar dust simulant is evaluated using scanning electron spectroscopy in order to consider approaches to evaluating risk to individual mechanical components operating on the lunar surface. Assessing component risk and risk-mitigation during actual operations will require noninvasive continuous data gathering on numerous parameters. Those data sets would best be evaluated using data-mining algorithms to assess risk, and recovery from risk, of individual mechanical components in real-time.

Stakeholder evaluation of an online program to promote physical activity and workplace safety for individuals with disability.

PubMed

Nery-Hurwit, Mara; Kincl, Laurel; Driver, Simon; Heller, Brittany

2017-08-01

Individuals with disabilities face increasing health and employment disparities, including increased risk of morbidity and mortality and decreased earnings, occupational roles, and greater risk of injury at work. Thus, there is a need to improve workplace safety and health promotion efforts for people with disability. The purpose of this study was to obtain stakeholder feedback about an online program, Be Active, Work Safe, which was developed to increase the physical activity and workplace safety practices of individuals with disability. Eight stakeholders (content experts and individuals with disability) evaluated the 8-week online program and provided feedback on accessibility, usability, and content using quantitative and qualitative approaches. Stakeholders suggested changes to the organization, layout and accessibility, and content. This included making a stronger connection between the physical activity and workplace safety components of the program, broadening content to apply to individuals in different vocational fields, and reducing the number of participant assessments. Engaging stakeholders in the development of health promotion programs is critical to ensure the unique issues of the population are addressed and facilitate engagement in the program. Feedback provided by stakeholders improved the program and provided insight on barriers for adoption of the program. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Isotopic studies of the diet of the people of the coast of British Columbia.

PubMed

Schwarcz, Henry P; Chisholm, Brian S; Burchell, Meghan

2014-11-01

In 1982, Chisholm et al. used δ(13) C data for human burials from shell midden sites widely distributed on the coast of British Columbia (BC) to show the extreme dependence of these individuals on high trophic level marine consumers, principally salmon and marine mammals. Here, we present previously unpublished analyses of δ(15) N for some of the same individuals as well as δ(13) C data for additional individuals. Nitrogen isotope data show that the diet was dominated by high trophic level marine fauna including carnivorous fish and marine mammals. Although most burials were found in shell middens, marine mollusks made up of only a minor component of diet. The data for δ(13) C demonstrate that terrestrial faunal foods are undetectable in the diet of the majority of individuals, and seldom constitute more than 10% of the dietary protein of individuals living on the coast although terrestrial fauna were widely available as a potential source of protein. This dietary pattern of exclusion of land-based animals from their diet persisted for almost 6,000 years along a wide expanse of coastline. In contrast, people from the BC interior (100 km or more from the coast) consumed a mixed diet of terrestrial and marine foods including spawning salmon. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Components of Individual Differences in Human Intelligence. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sternberg, Robert J.

This final report reviews the main theoretical and empirical developments concerning components of individual differences in human intelligence. The report is divided into three main sections. The first briefly reviews alternative approaches to understanding the nature of intelligence. The second provides the proposed componential metatheory, a…

32 CFR 1701.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... have the meanings indicated: Access means making a record available to a subject individual. Act means the Privacy Act of 1974. Agency means the ODNI or any of its components. Component means any...). Disclosure means making a record about an individual available to or releasing it to another party. FOIA...

INHERITED NEUROPATHIES: CLINICAL OVERVIEW AND UPDATE

PubMed Central

KLEIN, CHRISTOPHER J.; DUAN, XIAOHUI; SHY, MICHAEL E.

2014-01-01

Inherited neuropathy is a group of common neurologic disorders with heterogeneous clinical presentations and genetic causes. Detailed neuromuscular evaluations, including nerve conduction studies, laboratory testing, and histopathologic examination, can assist in identification of the inherited component beyond family history. Genetic testing increasingly enables definitive diagnosis of specific inherited neuropathies. Diagnosis, however, is often complex, and neurologic disability may have both genetic and acquired components in individual patients. The decision of which genetic test to order or whether to order genetic tests is often complicated, and the strategies to maximize the value of testing are evolving. Apart from rare inherited metabolic neuropathies, treatment approaches remain largely supportive. We provide a clinical update of the various types of inherited neuropathies, their differential diagnoses, and distinguishing clinical features (where available). A framework is provided for clinical evaluations, including the inheritance assessment, electrophysiologic examinations, and specific genetic tests. PMID:23801417

Source-Modeling Auditory Processes of EEG Data Using EEGLAB and Brainstorm.

PubMed

Stropahl, Maren; Bauer, Anna-Katharina R; Debener, Stefan; Bleichner, Martin G

2018-01-01

Electroencephalography (EEG) source localization approaches are often used to disentangle the spatial patterns mixed up in scalp EEG recordings. However, approaches differ substantially between experiments, may be strongly parameter-dependent, and results are not necessarily meaningful. In this paper we provide a pipeline for EEG source estimation, from raw EEG data pre-processing using EEGLAB functions up to source-level analysis as implemented in Brainstorm. The pipeline is tested using a data set of 10 individuals performing an auditory attention task. The analysis approach estimates sources of 64-channel EEG data without the prerequisite of individual anatomies or individually digitized sensor positions. First, we show advanced EEG pre-processing using EEGLAB, which includes artifact attenuation using independent component analysis (ICA). ICA is a linear decomposition technique that aims to reveal the underlying statistical sources of mixed signals and is further a powerful tool to attenuate stereotypical artifacts (e.g., eye movements or heartbeat). Data submitted to ICA are pre-processed to facilitate good-quality decompositions. Aiming toward an objective approach on component identification, the semi-automatic CORRMAP algorithm is applied for the identification of components representing prominent and stereotypic artifacts. Second, we present a step-wise approach to estimate active sources of auditory cortex event-related processing, on a single subject level. The presented approach assumes that no individual anatomy is available and therefore the default anatomy ICBM152, as implemented in Brainstorm, is used for all individuals. Individual noise modeling in this dataset is based on the pre-stimulus baseline period. For EEG source modeling we use the OpenMEEG algorithm as the underlying forward model based on the symmetric Boundary Element Method (BEM). We then apply the method of dynamical statistical parametric mapping (dSPM) to obtain physiologically plausible EEG source estimates. Finally, we show how to perform group level analysis in the time domain on anatomically defined regions of interest (auditory scout). The proposed pipeline needs to be tailored to the specific datasets and paradigms. However, the straightforward combination of EEGLAB and Brainstorm analysis tools may be of interest to others performing EEG source localization.

What Are the Real Procedural Costs of Bariatric Surgery? A Systematic Literature Review of Published Cost Analyses.

PubMed

Doble, Brett; Wordsworth, Sarah; Rogers, Chris A; Welbourn, Richard; Byrne, James; Blazeby, Jane M

2017-08-01

This review aims to evaluate the current literature on the procedural costs of bariatric surgery for the treatment of severe obesity. Using a published framework for the conduct of micro-costing studies for surgical interventions, existing cost estimates from the literature are assessed for their accuracy, reliability and comprehensiveness based on their consideration of seven 'important' cost components. MEDLINE, PubMed, key journals and reference lists of included studies were searched up to January 2017. Eligible studies had to report per-case, total procedural costs for any type of bariatric surgery broken down into two or more individual cost components. A total of 998 citations were screened, of which 13 studies were included for analysis. Included studies were mainly conducted from a US hospital perspective, assessed either gastric bypass or adjustable gastric banding procedures and considered a range of different cost components. The mean total procedural costs for all included studies was US$14,389 (range, US$7423 to US$33,541). No study considered all of the recommended 'important' cost components and estimation methods were poorly reported. The accuracy, reliability and comprehensiveness of the existing cost estimates are, therefore, questionable. There is a need for a comparative cost analysis of the different approaches to bariatric surgery, with the most appropriate costing approach identified to be micro-costing methods. Such an analysis will not only be useful in estimating the relative cost-effectiveness of different surgeries but will also ensure appropriate reimbursement and budgeting by healthcare payers to ensure barriers to access this effective treatment by severely obese patients are minimised.

The Association of Arsenic Exposure and Arsenic Metabolism with the Metabolic Syndrome and its Individual Components: Prospective Evidence from the Strong Heart Family Study.

PubMed

Spratlen, Miranda J; Grau-Perez, Maria; Best, Lyle G; Yracheta, Joseph; Lazo, Mariana; Vaidya, Dhananjay; Balakrishnan, Poojitha; Gamble, Mary V; Francesconi, Kevin A; Goessler, Walter; Cole, Shelley A; Umans, Jason G; Howard, Barbara V; Navas-Acien, Ana

2018-03-15

Inorganic arsenic exposure is ubiquitous and both exposure and inter-individual differences in its metabolism have been associated with cardiometabolic risk. The association between arsenic exposure and arsenic metabolism with metabolic syndrome and its individual components, however, is relatively unknown. We used poisson regression with robust variance to evaluate the association between baseline arsenic exposure (urine arsenic levels) and metabolism (relative percentage of arsenic species over their sum) with incident metabolic syndrome and its individual components (elevated waist circumference, elevated triglycerides, reduced HDL, hypertension, elevated fasting plasma glucose) in 1,047 participants from the Strong Heart Family Study, a prospective family-based cohort in American Indian communities (baseline visits in 1998-1999 and 2001-2003, follow-up visits in 2001-2003 and 2006-2009). 32% of participants developed metabolic syndrome over follow-up. An IQR increase in arsenic exposure was associated with 1.19 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.41) greater risk for elevated fasting plasma glucose but not with other individual components or overall metabolic syndrome. Arsenic metabolism, specifically lower MMA% and higher DMA% was associated with higher risk of overall metabolic syndrome and elevated waist circumference, but not with any other component. These findings support there is a contrasting and independent association between arsenic exposure and arsenic metabolism with metabolic outcomes which may contribute to overall diabetes risk.

Tritium monitor with improved gamma-ray discrimination

DOEpatents

Cox, S.A.; Bennett, E.F.; Yule, T.J.

1982-10-21

Apparatus and method are presented for selective measurement of tritium oxide in an environment which may include other radioactive components and gamma radiation, the measurement including the selective separation of tritium oxide from a sample gas through a membrane into a counting gas, the generation of electrical pulses individually representative by rise times of tritium oxide and other radioactivity in the counting gas, separation of the pulses by rise times, and counting of those pulses representative of tritium oxide. The invention further includes the separate measurement of any tritium in the sample gas by oxidizing the tritium to tritium oxide and carrying out a second separation and analysis procedure as described above.

Tritium monitor with improved gamma-ray discrimination

DOEpatents

Cox, Samson A.; Bennett, Edgar F.; Yule, Thomas J.

1985-01-01

Apparatus and method for selective measurement of tritium oxide in an environment which may include other radioactive components and gamma radiation, the measurement including the selective separation of tritium oxide from a sample gas through a membrane into a counting gas, the generation of electrical pulses individually representative by rise times of tritium oxide and other radioactivity in the counting gas, separation of the pulses by rise times, and counting of those pulses representative of tritium oxide. The invention further includes the separate measurement of any tritium in the sample gas by oxidizing the tritium to tritium oxide and carrying out a second separation and analysis procedure as described above.

The ATLAS Simulation Infrastructure

DOE PAGES

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

2010-09-25

The simulation software for the ATLAS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider is being used for large-scale production of events on the LHC Computing Grid. This simulation requires many components, from the generators that simulate particle collisions, through packages simulating the response of the various detectors and triggers. All of these components come together under the ATLAS simulation infrastructure. In this paper, that infrastructure is discussed, including that supporting the detector description, interfacing the event generation, and combining the GEANT4 simulation of the response of the individual detectors. Also described are the tools allowing the software validation, performance testing, andmore » the validation of the simulated output against known physics processes.« less

The locator system for wandering individuals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davidson, Shayla

1992-01-01

Configurations and operation strategies are described for a wanderer locator system based on wireless radio frequency communication designed to monitor elderly patients who may wander beyond safe perimeters in the home or in an institutional setting. The modular components of this wandering notification system are (1) portable transmitter/receivers to be worn or carried by the patient and the caretaker, (2) detectors to be mounted in doorways or other perimeters of a safe area, (3) programmable central processing units to control, communicate with, and/or trace the portable and remote devices, and (4) a cathode ray tube that can display information on patient location or system status. Photographs of all system components and illustrations of operations concepts are included.

Documentation for the machine-readable version of the SAO-HD-GC-DM cross index version 1983

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roman, N. G.; Warren, W. H., Jr.; Schofield, N., Jr.

1983-01-01

An updated and extended machine readable version of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory star catalog (SAO) is described. A correction of all errors which were found since preparation of the original catalog which resulted from misidentifications and omissions of components in multiple star systems and missing Durchmusterung numbers (the common identifier) in the SAO Catalog are included and component identifications from the Index of Visual Double Stars (IDS) are appended to all multiple SAO entries with the same DM numbers, and lower case letter identifiers for supplemental BD stars are added. A total of 11,398 individual corrections and data additions is incorporated into the present version of the cross index.

Psychosocial approaches to violence and aggression: contextually anchored and trauma-informed interventions.

PubMed

Horowitz, Deborah; Guyer, Margaret; Sanders, Kathy

2015-06-01

Psychosocial interventions are part of the complex understanding and treatment of violent behavior in our state mental health hospitals. A comprehensive assessment of violence and aggression includes attention to all 3 domains of prevention and assessment (primary-institutional, secondary-structural, and tertiary-direct). Trauma experiences and their consequences may include behavioral violence and aggression. The authors' premise is that trauma is a universal component in the individual assessment of violent behavior. Therapeutic interventions must include a trauma-informed formulation to be effective. Organizational commitment to trauma-informed, person-centered, recovery-oriented (TPR) care is crucial to the efficacy of any of the interventions discussed. Thus, the dynamic nature of the individual, interpersonal, environmental, and cultural factors associated with the daily operations of the inpatient unit need to be assessed through the lens of primary and secondary violence prevention, building on the recognition that the majority of persons served and staff have significant trauma histories. Once a compassionate, respectful, empathic, and empowering approach is embraced by leadership and staff, the work with individuals can proceed more effectively. Interventions used include a variety of cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and somatosensory therapies. These interventions, when effectively applied, result in more self-esteem, self-mastery, self-control for the person served, and diminished behavioral violence.

Design of an Air Pollution Monitoring Campaign in Beijing for Application to Cohort Health Studies.

PubMed

Vedal, Sverre; Han, Bin; Xu, Jia; Szpiro, Adam; Bai, Zhipeng

2017-12-15

No cohort studies in China on the health effects of long-term air pollution exposure have employed exposure estimates at the fine spatial scales desirable for cohort studies with individual-level health outcome data. Here we assess an array of modern air pollution exposure estimation approaches for assigning within-city exposure estimates in Beijing for individual pollutants and pollutant sources to individual members of a cohort. Issues considered in selecting specific monitoring data or new monitoring campaigns include: needed spatial resolution, exposure measurement error and its impact on health effect estimates, spatial alignment and compatibility with the cohort, and feasibility and expense. Sources of existing data largely include administrative monitoring data, predictions from air dispersion or chemical transport models and remote sensing (specifically satellite) data. New air monitoring campaigns include additional fixed site monitoring, snapshot monitoring, passive badge or micro-sensor saturation monitoring and mobile monitoring, as well as combinations of these. Each of these has relative advantages and disadvantages. It is concluded that a campaign in Beijing that at least includes a mobile monitoring component, when coupled with currently available spatio-temporal modeling methods, should be strongly considered. Such a campaign is economical and capable of providing the desired fine-scale spatial resolution for pollutants and sources.

Design of an Air Pollution Monitoring Campaign in Beijing for Application to Cohort Health Studies

PubMed Central

Vedal, Sverre; Han, Bin; Szpiro, Adam; Bai, Zhipeng

2017-01-01

No cohort studies in China on the health effects of long-term air pollution exposure have employed exposure estimates at the fine spatial scales desirable for cohort studies with individual-level health outcome data. Here we assess an array of modern air pollution exposure estimation approaches for assigning within-city exposure estimates in Beijing for individual pollutants and pollutant sources to individual members of a cohort. Issues considered in selecting specific monitoring data or new monitoring campaigns include: needed spatial resolution, exposure measurement error and its impact on health effect estimates, spatial alignment and compatibility with the cohort, and feasibility and expense. Sources of existing data largely include administrative monitoring data, predictions from air dispersion or chemical transport models and remote sensing (specifically satellite) data. New air monitoring campaigns include additional fixed site monitoring, snapshot monitoring, passive badge or micro-sensor saturation monitoring and mobile monitoring, as well as combinations of these. Each of these has relative advantages and disadvantages. It is concluded that a campaign in Beijing that at least includes a mobile monitoring component, when coupled with currently available spatio-temporal modeling methods, should be strongly considered. Such a campaign is economical and capable of providing the desired fine-scale spatial resolution for pollutants and sources. PMID:29244738

Intimate Partner Violence Programs in a Children's Hospital: Comprehensive Assessment Utilizing a Delphi Instrument.

PubMed

Randell, Kimberly A; Evans, Sarah E; O'Malley, Donna; Dowd, M Denise

2015-03-01

The purpose of this study was to conduct a baseline assessment of intimate partner violence (IPV) practices in a pediatric hospital system. The Delphi Instrument for Hospital-based Domestic Violence Programs was used to assess the structure and components of the hospital system's IPV practices. Through key stakeholder interviews, we also assessed IPV practices in individual patient care areas. Qualitative analysis of interview data used a grounded theory approach. The hospital scored 17 of 100 points on the Delphi instrument assessment. Key areas of weakness identified by the Delphi instrument and interviews included lack of coordinated provider training and evaluation of IPV-related processes and no standards for IPV screening, safety assessment, and documentation. Most interviewees supported addressing IPV; all identified barriers to IPV screening at individual provider and institutional levels. Institutional barriers included lack of a standardized response to IPV disclosure, need for individualized screening protocols for different patient care settings, lack of standardized provider training, concerns about overextending social work resources, and lack of resources for hospital staff experiencing vicarious trauma. Individual barriers included concern that screening may harm physician-patient-family relationships and the perception that physicians are unwilling to address psychosocial issues. The Delphi Instrument for Hospital-based Domestic Violence Programs identified weaknesses and key areas for improvement in IPV practices. Deficiencies revealed by the Delphi instrument were affirmed by individual interview results. Institutional and individual provider level barriers must be addressed to optimize IPV practices in a pediatric hospital system. Copyright © 2015 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Fine-scaled human genetic structure revealed by SNP microarrays.

PubMed

Xing, Jinchuan; Watkins, W Scott; Witherspoon, David J; Zhang, Yuhua; Guthery, Stephen L; Thara, Rangaswamy; Mowry, Bryan J; Bulayeva, Kazima; Weiss, Robert B; Jorde, Lynn B

2009-05-01

We report an analysis of more than 240,000 loci genotyped using the Affymetrix SNP microarray in 554 individuals from 27 worldwide populations in Africa, Asia, and Europe. To provide a more extensive and complete sampling of human genetic variation, we have included caste and tribal samples from two states in South India, Daghestanis from eastern Europe, and the Iban from Malaysia. Consistent with observations made by Charles Darwin, our results highlight shared variation among human populations and demonstrate that much genetic variation is geographically continuous. At the same time, principal components analyses reveal discernible genetic differentiation among almost all identified populations in our sample, and in most cases, individuals can be clearly assigned to defined populations on the basis of SNP genotypes. All individuals are accurately classified into continental groups using a model-based clustering algorithm, but between closely related populations, genetic and self-classifications conflict for some individuals. The 250K data permitted high-level resolution of genetic variation among Indian caste and tribal populations and between highland and lowland Daghestani populations. In particular, upper-caste individuals from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh form one defined group, lower-caste individuals from these two states form another, and the tribal Irula samples form a third. Our results emphasize the correlation of genetic and geographic distances and highlight other elements, including social factors that have contributed to population structure.

Obese individuals with more components of the metabolic syndrome and/or prediabetes demonstrate decreased activation of reward-related brain centers in response to food cues in both the fed and fasting states: A preliminary fMRI study

PubMed Central

Farr, Olivia M.; Mantzoros, Christos S.

2016-01-01

It remains unknown whether obese individuals with more components of the metabolic syndrome and/or prediabetes demonstrate altered activation of brain centers in response to food cues. We examined obese prediabetics (n=26) vs. obese nondiabetics (n=11) using fMRI. We also performed regression analyses on the basis of the number of MetS components per subject. Obese individuals with prediabetes have decreased activation of the reward-related putamen in the fasting state and decreased activation of the salience- and reward-related insula after eating. Obese individuals with more components of MetS demonstrate decreased activation of the putamen while fasting. All these activations remain significant when corrected for BMI, waist circumference (WC), HbA1c and gender. Decreased activation in reward-related brain areas between obese individuals is more pronounced in subjects with prediabetes and MetS. Prospective studies are needed to quantify their contributions to the development of prediabetes/MetS and to study whether these conditions may predispose to the exacerbation of obesity and the development of comorbidities over time. PMID:28017966

Integrated smart panel and support structure response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeGiorgi, Virginia G.

1998-06-01

The performance of smart structures is a complex interaction between active and passive components. Active components, even when non-activated, can have an impact on structural performance and, conversely, structural characteristics of passive components can have a measurable impact on active component performance. The present work is an evaluation of the structural characteristics of an active panel designed for acoustic quieting. The support structure is included in the panel design as evaluated. Finite element methods are used to determine the active panel-support structure response. Two conditions are considered; a hollow unfilled support structure and the same structure filled with a polymer compound. Finite element models were defined so that stiffness values corresponding to the center of individual pistons could be determined. Superelement techniques were used to define mass and stiffness values representative of the combined active and support structure at the center of each piston. Results of interest obtained from the analysis include mode shapes, natural frequencies, and equivalent spring stuffiness for use in structural response models to represent the support structure. The effects on plate motion on piston performance cannot be obtained from this analysis, however mass and stiffness matrices for use in an integrated system model to determine piston head velocities can be obtained from this work.

CEBS: a comprehensive annotated database of toxicological data

PubMed Central

Lea, Isabel A.; Gong, Hui; Paleja, Anand; Rashid, Asif; Fostel, Jennifer

2017-01-01

The Chemical Effects in Biological Systems database (CEBS) is a comprehensive and unique toxicology resource that compiles individual and summary animal data from the National Toxicology Program (NTP) testing program and other depositors into a single electronic repository. CEBS has undergone significant updates in recent years and currently contains over 11 000 test articles (exposure agents) and over 8000 studies including all available NTP carcinogenicity, short-term toxicity and genetic toxicity studies. Study data provided to CEBS are manually curated, accessioned and subject to quality assurance review prior to release to ensure high quality. The CEBS database has two main components: data collection and data delivery. To accommodate the breadth of data produced by NTP, the CEBS data collection component is an integrated relational design that allows the flexibility to capture any type of electronic data (to date). The data delivery component of the database comprises a series of dedicated user interface tables containing pre-processed data that support each component of the user interface. The user interface has been updated to include a series of nine Guided Search tools that allow access to NTP summary and conclusion data and larger non-NTP datasets. The CEBS database can be accessed online at http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/databases/cebs/. PMID:27899660

Chemical Composition and Potential Environmental Impacts of Water-Soluble Polar Crude Oil Components Inferred from ESI FT-ICR MS

PubMed Central

Liu, Yina; Kujawinski, Elizabeth B.

2015-01-01

Polar petroleum components enter marine environments through oil spills and natural seepages each year. Lately, they are receiving increased attention due to their potential toxicity to marine organisms and persistence in the environment. We conducted a laboratory experiment and employed state-of-the-art Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) to characterize the polar petroleum components within two operationally-defined seawater fractions: the water-soluble fraction (WSF), which includes only water-soluble molecules, and the water-accommodated fraction (WAF), which includes WSF and microscopic oil droplets. Our results show that compounds with higher heteroatom (N, S, O) to carbon ratios (NSO:C) than the parent oil were selectively partitioned into seawater in both fractions, reflecting the influence of polarity on aqueous solubility. WAF and WSF were compositionally distinct, with unique distributions of compounds across a range of hydrophobicity. These compositional differences will likely result in disparate impacts on environmental health and organismal toxicity, and thus highlight the need to distinguish between these often-interchangeable terminologies in toxicology studies. We use an empirical model to estimate hydrophobicity character for individual molecules within these complex mixtures and provide an estimate of the potential environmental impacts of different crude oil components. PMID:26327219

A Bayes network approach to uncertainty quantification in hierarchically developed computational models

DOE PAGES

Urbina, Angel; Mahadevan, Sankaran; Paez, Thomas L.

2012-03-01

Here, performance assessment of complex systems is ideally accomplished through system-level testing, but because they are expensive, such tests are seldom performed. On the other hand, for economic reasons, data from tests on individual components that are parts of complex systems are more readily available. The lack of system-level data leads to a need to build computational models of systems and use them for performance prediction in lieu of experiments. Because their complexity, models are sometimes built in a hierarchical manner, starting with simple components, progressing to collections of components, and finally, to the full system. Quantification of uncertainty inmore » the predicted response of a system model is required in order to establish confidence in the representation of actual system behavior. This paper proposes a framework for the complex, but very practical problem of quantification of uncertainty in system-level model predictions. It is based on Bayes networks and uses the available data at multiple levels of complexity (i.e., components, subsystem, etc.). Because epistemic sources of uncertainty were shown to be secondary, in this application, aleatoric only uncertainty is included in the present uncertainty quantification. An example showing application of the techniques to uncertainty quantification of measures of response of a real, complex aerospace system is included.« less

Integrated fluorescence analysis system

DOEpatents

Buican, Tudor N.; Yoshida, Thomas M.

1992-01-01

An integrated fluorescence analysis system enables a component part of a sample to be virtually sorted within a sample volume after a spectrum of the component part has been identified from a fluorescence spectrum of the entire sample in a flow cytometer. Birefringent optics enables the entire spectrum to be resolved into a set of numbers representing the intensity of spectral components of the spectrum. One or more spectral components are selected to program a scanning laser microscope, preferably a confocal microscope, whereby the spectrum from individual pixels or voxels in the sample can be compared. Individual pixels or voxels containing the selected spectral components are identified and an image may be formed to show the morphology of the sample with respect to only those components having the selected spectral components. There is no need for any physical sorting of the sample components to obtain the morphological information.

Formula Compatibility Identification of Dachengqi Decoction Based on the Effects of Absorbed Components in Cerulein-Injured Pancreatic AR42J Cells

PubMed Central

Zhang, Yumei; Zhu, Lin; Wang, Jia; Zhao, Jianlei; Zhao, Xianlin; Guo, Hui; Li, Juan; Tang, Wenfu

2016-01-01

Objective. To identify the herbal formula compatibility law based on the effects of the absorbed components from DCQD on the cerulein-injured AR42J cells. Methods. AR42J cells were pretreated for 30 min with or without the different concentrations of the absorbed components from DCQD individually or in combination or DCQD and coincubated with cerulein (10 nM) for a further 24 h. Cell viability, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, and the levels of apoptosis and necrosis were measured. Results. Compared to DCQD, the individual or combination components partially protected cerulein-injured AR42J cells by increasing cell viability, reducing LDH release, and promoting apoptosis. Rhein, naringin, and honokiol were the main absorbed components from DCQD in cerulein-induced pancreatitis. Moreover, rhein in combination with naringin and honokiol had synergistic effects in protecting cerulein-injured AR42J cells and was better than the individual or the pairwise combination of the three components. Conclusions. The ten effective components from DCQD may elicit similar protective effects as DCQD on cerulein-induced pancreatitis. The principle of the formula compatibility of DCQD may be identified based on the effects of its absorbed components in cerulein-injured AR42J cells. PMID:27123032

Cardiovascular disease in spinal cord injury: an overview of prevalence, risk, evaluation, and management.

PubMed

Myers, Jonathan; Lee, Matthew; Kiratli, Jenny

2007-02-01

Cardiovascular disease is a growing concern for the spinal cord-injured (SCI) population. For long-term SCI, morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular causes now exceeds that caused by renal and pulmonary conditions, the primary causes of mortality in previous decades. Although risk estimates commonly used for ambulatory individuals have not been established from follow-up studies in SCI, nearly all risk factors tend to be more prevalent in SCI subjects compared with ambulatory subjects. These risks include a greater prevalence of obesity, lipid disorders, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes. Daily energy expenditure is significantly lower in SCI individuals, not only because of a lack of motor function, but also because of a lack of accessibility and fewer opportunities to engage in physical activity. Autonomic dysfunction caused by SCI is also associated with several conditions that contribute to heightened cardiovascular risk, including abnormalities in blood pressure, heart rate variability, arrhythmias, and a blunted cardiovascular response to exercise that can limit the capacity to perform physical activity. Thus, screening, recognition, and treatment of cardiovascular disease should be an essential component of managing individuals with SCI, and judicious treatment of risk factors can play an important role in minimizing the incidence of cardiovascular disease in these individuals. This article reviews the cardiovascular consequences of chronic SCI, including the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and risk factors unique to these individuals, and provides a synopsis of management of cardiovascular disease in this population.

Spatiotemporal neural dynamics of moral judgment: A high-density ERP study

PubMed Central

Yoder, Keith J.

2014-01-01

Morality is a pervasive aspect of human nature across all cultures, and neuroscience investigations are necessary for identifying what computational mechanisms underpin moral cognition. The current study used high-density ERPs to examine how moral evaluations are mediated by automatic and controlled processes as well as how quickly information and causal-intentional representations can be extracted when viewing morally laden behavior. The study also explored the extent to which individual dispositions in affective and cognitive empathy as well as justice sensitivity influence the encoding of moral valence when healthy participants make moral judgments about prosocial (interpersonal assistance) and antisocial (interpersonal harm) actions. Moral judgment differences were reflected in differential amplitudes for components associated with cognitive appraisal (LPP) as well as early components associated with emotional salience (N1 and N2). Moreover, source estimation was performed to indicate potential neural generators. A posterior-to-anterior shift was observed, with current density peaks first in right inferior parietal cortex (at the temporoparietal junction), then later in medial prefrontal cortex. Cognitive empathy scores predicted behavioral ratings of blame as well as differential amplitudes in LPP and component activity at posterior sites. Overall, this study offers important insights into the temporal unfolding of moral evaluations, including when in time individual differences in empathy influence neural encoding of moral valence. PMID:24905282

Motivations, concerns and preferences of personal genome sequencing research participants: Baseline findings from the HealthSeq project

PubMed Central

Sanderson, Saskia C; Linderman, Michael D; Suckiel, Sabrina A; Diaz, George A; Zinberg, Randi E; Ferryman, Kadija; Wasserstein, Melissa; Kasarskis, Andrew; Schadt, Eric E

2016-01-01

Whole exome/genome sequencing (WES/WGS) is increasingly offered to ostensibly healthy individuals. Understanding the motivations and concerns of research participants seeking out personal WGS and their preferences regarding return-of-results and data sharing will help optimize protocols for WES/WGS. Baseline interviews including both qualitative and quantitative components were conducted with research participants (n=35) in the HealthSeq project, a longitudinal cohort study of individuals receiving personal WGS results. Data sharing preferences were recorded during informed consent. In the qualitative interview component, the dominant motivations that emerged were obtaining personal disease risk information, satisfying curiosity, contributing to research, self-exploration and interest in ancestry, and the dominant concern was the potential psychological impact of the results. In the quantitative component, 57% endorsed concerns about privacy. Most wanted to receive all personal WGS results (94%) and their raw data (89%); a third (37%) consented to having their data shared to the Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP). Early adopters of personal WGS in the HealthSeq project express a variety of health- and non-health-related motivations. Almost all want all available findings, while also expressing concerns about the psychological impact and privacy of their results. PMID:26036856

A shirt containing multistage phase change material and active cooling components was associated with increased exercise capacity in a hot, humid environment.

PubMed

McFarlin, Brian K; Henning, Andrea L; Venable, Adam S; Williams, Randall R; Best Sampson, Jill N

2016-08-01

Recent advances in clothing design include the incorporation of phase change materials (PCM) and other active cooling components (ACC) to provide better body heat dissipation. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of wearing a shirt containing multistage PCM/ACC on exercise capacity at low (5.0), moderate-high (7.5) and extreme (9.0) levels of the physiological strain index (PSI). Fourteen individuals tested two shirts (control vs. cooling) during 45-min of interval running in a hot, humid (35 ± 1 °C; 55 ± 6% RH) environment. The cooling shirt resulted in an 8% improvement in exercise capacity at a PSI of 7.5 (p < 0.05). The observed increase in exercise capacity would likely translate to a significant improvement in exercise performance. More research is needed to determine a best practice approach for the use of cooling clothing as a counter to exercise-induced heat exposure. Practitioner Summary: In this report, we demonstrate that when forced to exercise in a hot, humid environment, an individual's exercise capacity may increase by as much as 8% when wearing a shirt composed of multistage phase change material and active cooling components.

Amber Plug-In for Protein Shop

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

Oliva, Ricardo

2004-05-10

The Amber Plug-in for ProteinShop has two main components: an AmberEngine library to compute the protein energy models, and a module to solve the energy minimization problem using an optimization algorithm in the OPTI-+ library. Together, these components allow the visualization of the protein folding process in ProteinShop. AmberEngine is a object-oriented library to compute molecular energies based on the Amber model. The main class is called ProteinEnergy. Its main interface methods are (1) "init" to initialize internal variables needed to compute the energy. (2) "eval" to evaluate the total energy given a vector of coordinates. Additional methods allow themore » user to evaluate the individual components of the energy model (bond, angle, dihedral, non-bonded-1-4, and non-bonded energies) and to obtain the energy of each individual atom. The Amber Engine library source code includes examples and test routines that illustrate the use of the library in stand alone programs. The energy minimization module uses the AmberEngine library and the nonlinear optimization library OPT++. OPT++ is open source software available under the GNU Lesser General Public License. The minimization module currently makes use of the LBFGS optimization algorithm in OPT++ to perform the energy minimization. Future releases may give the user a choice of other algorithms available in OPT++.« less

Characterization of Autophagic Responses in Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Xu, T; Kumar, S; Denton, D

2017-01-01

Drosophila is an excellent model system for studying autophagy during animal development due to the availability of genetic reagents and opportunity for in vivo cell biological analysis. The regulation and mechanism of autophagy are highly evolutionarily conserved and the role of autophagy has been characterized during various stages of Drosophila development as well as following starvation. Studies in Drosophila have revealed novel insights into the role of distinct components of the autophagy machinery. This chapter describes protocols for examining autophagy during Drosophila development. A crucial step in the induction of autophagy is the incorporation of Atg8a into the autophagosome. This can be measured as autophagic puncta using live fluorescent imaging, immunostaining, or immunoblot analysis of LC3/Atg8a processing. The level of autophagy can also be examined using other specific components of the autophagy pathway as markers detected by immunofluorescent imaging. Based on the distinct morphology of autophagy, it can also be examined by transmission electron microscopy. In addition, one of the advantages of using Drosophila as a model is the ability to undertake genetic analysis of individual components of the autophagy machinery. Current approaches that can be used to monitor autophagy, including the overall flux and individual steps in Drosophila melanogaster, will be discussed. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Early Improper Motion Detection in Golf Swings Using Wearable Motion Sensors: The First Approach

PubMed Central

Stančin, Sara; Tomažič, Sašo

2013-01-01

This paper presents an analysis of a golf swing to detect improper motion in the early phase of the swing. Led by the desire to achieve a consistent shot outcome, a particular golfer would (in multiple trials) prefer to perform completely identical golf swings. In reality, some deviations from the desired motion are always present due to the comprehensive nature of the swing motion. Swing motion deviations that are not detrimental to performance are acceptable. This analysis is conducted using a golfer's leading arm kinematic data, which are obtained from a golfer wearing a motion sensor that is comprised of gyroscopes and accelerometers. Applying the principal component analysis (PCA) to the reference observations of properly performed swings, the PCA components of acceptable swing motion deviations are established. Using these components, the motion deviations in the observations of other swings are examined. Any unacceptable deviations that are detected indicate an improper swing motion. Arbitrarily long observations of an individual player's swing sequences can be included in the analysis. The results obtained for the considered example show an improper swing motion in early phase of the swing, i.e., the first part of the backswing. An early detection method for improper swing motions that is conducted on an individual basis provides assistance for performance improvement. PMID:23752563

Early improper motion detection in golf swings using wearable motion sensors: the first approach.

PubMed

Stančin, Sara; Tomažič, Sašo

2013-06-10

This paper presents an analysis of a golf swing to detect improper motion in the early phase of the swing. Led by the desire to achieve a consistent shot outcome, a particular golfer would (in multiple trials) prefer to perform completely identical golf swings. In reality, some deviations from the desired motion are always present due to the comprehensive nature of the swing motion. Swing motion deviations that are not detrimental to performance are acceptable. This analysis is conducted using a golfer's leading arm kinematic data, which are obtained from a golfer wearing a motion sensor that is comprised of gyroscopes and accelerometers. Applying the principal component analysis (PCA) to the reference observations of properly performed swings, the PCA components of acceptable swing motion deviations are established. Using these components, the motion deviations in the observations of other swings are examined. Any unacceptable deviations that are detected indicate an improper swing motion. Arbitrarily long observations of an individual player's swing sequences can be included in the analysis. The results obtained for the considered example show an improper swing motion in early phase of the swing, i.e., the first part of the backswing. An early detection method for improper swing motions that is conducted on an individual basis provides assistance for performance improvement.

Task 90-17: Decontaminability study on the U. S. Army Resuscitation Device, Individual, Chemical (RDIC). Final report, 1 Oct 90-24 Jan 91

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

Dill, G.S.; Leonard, R.D.

1991-04-01

A study was performed to determine the effect of three commonly used field decontaminants, DS2, super tropical bleach (STB), and the M270 Decontaminating Kit, Individual (DKIE), on the Resuscitation Device, Chemical, Individual (RDIC). The RDIC system was analyzed to determine which components were accessible to chemical agents and could be degraded by them. The chemical agent susceptibility of the silicone rubber components is the weakest point in the RDIC system. The lack of accessibility of key components to the wetted DKIE wipes and the deterioration of key components by DS2 eliminates these two methods as possible decontaminant methods. STB hadmore » no noticeable effects on the RDIC and is recommended as the best field decontamination method.« less

Helping Homeless Individuals with Co-Occurring Disorders: The Four Components

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, An-Pyng

2012-01-01

Homeless individuals with co-occurring disorders (CODs) of severe mental illness and substance use disorder are one of the most vulnerable populations. This article provides practitioners with a framework and strategies for helping this client population. Four components emerged from a literature review: (1) ensuring an effective transition for…

Compliance and Practices in Transition Planning: A Review of Individualized Education Program Documents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landmark, Leena Jo; Zhang, Dalun

2013-01-01

This study examined the extent to which transition components of students’ Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) were compliant with IDEIA 2004; the extent to which transition components provided evidence of best practices; the association among disability, ethnicity, compliance, and practices; and the relationship between compliance and best…

Medicare and Medicaid; payment for the cost of malpractice insurance--HCFA. Interim final rule with comment period.

PubMed

1986-04-01

In this final rule we are adopting an apportionment methodology for determining reasonable cost reimbursement for hospital malpractice insurance costs. The new apportionment policy for hospitals will divide total malpractice insurance premium cost into two components. The "administrative component," which accounts for 8.5 percent of total premium cost, will be included in the General and Administrative cost center and will be apportioned on the basis of the individual hospital's Medicare utilization rate. The "risk component," which comprises 91.5 percent of total cost, will be apportioned on the basis of a formula that takes into account the individual hospital's utilization as well as the national Medicare patient utilization rate and the national Medicare malpractice loss ratio (as adjusted to account for associated claims handling costs). Effectively, the "scaling factor formula" will relate the national utilization rate to the adjusted national loss ratio. As a hospital's own utilization rate exceeds or falls below the national utilization rate, the risk component will be reimbursed on the basis of a "scaling factor" that is more or less than the national Medicare malpractice loss ratio. Different apportionment policies are being adopted for Medicare skilled nursing facilities and for providers of services under the Medicaid and Maternal and Child Health programs. This final rule replaces our current apportionment policy for reimbursement of malpractice insurance costs and is applicable, subject to the rules of reopening and administrative finality, to cost reporting periods beginning on or after July 1, 1979.

Validating the content of a brief informational intervention to empower patients and spouses facing breast cancer: perspectives of both couple members.

PubMed

Blais, Marie-Claude; Maunsell, Elizabeth; Grenier, Sophie; Lauzier, Sophie; Dorval, Michel; Pelletier, Sylvie; Guay, Stéphane; Robidoux, André; Provencher, Louise

2014-09-01

The study objectives were to identify key information components that would be the basic content of a brief informational intervention, developed from a population perspective, to empower individual couple members facing breast cancer and to validate the relevance and acceptability of these components. A review of information relevant to couples facing cancer presented in internet sites and documents of national cancer organizations was made to identify information components to include in a brief informational intervention. These information components were framed as messages, that is, very brief sentences or tips. To validate the relevance and acceptability of these messages, six focus groups were conducted in Quebec City and Montreal among women who had had breast cancer and their spouses. Reactions to the messages were synthesized by analyzing the verbatim transcripts. A total of 70 individuals (35 women with an average of 14 months since diagnosis and 35 spouses) participated in the groups. The content of almost all messages was seen as relevant, although nuances and improvements were discussed. However, the message format provoked irritation and will need improvement. Findings provide validation of the relevance, from the viewpoint of women and their spouses, of the message content to be part of a brief informational intervention intended to empower couples as they cope with breast cancer. Couples approved of the idea of being guided in their adjustment to breast cancer. However, the message format requires adaptation and further testing.

Clarifying the Use of Aggregated Exposures in Multilevel Models: Self-Included vs. Self-Excluded Measures

PubMed Central

Suzuki, Etsuji; Yamamoto, Eiji; Takao, Soshi; Kawachi, Ichiro; Subramanian, S. V.

2012-01-01

Background Multilevel analyses are ideally suited to assess the effects of ecological (higher level) and individual (lower level) exposure variables simultaneously. In applying such analyses to measures of ecologies in epidemiological studies, individual variables are usually aggregated into the higher level unit. Typically, the aggregated measure includes responses of every individual belonging to that group (i.e. it constitutes a self-included measure). More recently, researchers have developed an aggregate measure which excludes the response of the individual to whom the aggregate measure is linked (i.e. a self-excluded measure). In this study, we clarify the substantive and technical properties of these two measures when they are used as exposures in multilevel models. Methods Although the differences between the two aggregated measures are mathematically subtle, distinguishing between them is important in terms of the specific scientific questions to be addressed. We then show how these measures can be used in two distinct types of multilevel models—self-included model and self-excluded model—and interpret the parameters in each model by imposing hypothetical interventions. The concept is tested on empirical data of workplace social capital and employees' systolic blood pressure. Results Researchers assume group-level interventions when using a self-included model, and individual-level interventions when using a self-excluded model. Analytical re-parameterizations of these two models highlight their differences in parameter interpretation. Cluster-mean centered self-included models enable researchers to decompose the collective effect into its within- and between-group components. The benefit of cluster-mean centering procedure is further discussed in terms of hypothetical interventions. Conclusions When investigating the potential roles of aggregated variables, researchers should carefully explore which type of model—self-included or self-excluded—is suitable for a given situation, particularly when group sizes are relatively small. PMID:23251609

Team Synergies in Sport: Theory and Measures

PubMed Central

Araújo, Duarte; Davids, Keith

2016-01-01

Individual players act as a coherent unit during team sports performance, forming a team synergy. A synergy is a collective property of a task-specific organization of individuals, such that the degrees of freedom of each individual in the system are coupled, enabling the degrees of freedom of different individuals to co-regulate each other. Here, we present an explanation for the emergence of such collective behaviors, indicating how these can be assessed and understood through the measurement of key system properties that exist, considering the contribution of each individual and beyond These include: to (i) dimensional compression, a process resulting in independent degree of freedom being coupled so that the synergy has fewer degrees of freedom than the set of components from which it arises; (ii) reciprocal compensation, if one element do not produce its function, other elements should display changes in their contributions so that task goals are still attained; (iii) interpersonal linkages, the specific contribution of each element to a group task; and (iv), degeneracy, structurally different components performing a similar, but not necessarily identical, function with respect to context. A primary goal of our analysis is to highlight the principles and tools required to understand coherent and dynamic team behaviors, as well as the performance conditions that make such team synergies possible, through perceptual attunement to shared affordances in individual performers. A key conclusion is that teams can be trained to perceive how to use and share specific affordances, explaining how individual’s behaviors self-organize into a group synergy. Ecological dynamics explanations of team behaviors can transit beyond mere ratification of sport performance, providing a comprehensive conceptual framework to guide the implementation of diagnostic measures by sport scientists, sport psychologists and performance analysts. Complex adaptive systems, synergies, group behaviors, team sport performance, ecological dynamics, performance analysis. PMID:27708609

Mutations in CTC1, Encoding the CTS Telomere Maintenance Complex Component 1, Cause Cerebroretinal Microangiopathy with Calcifications and Cysts

PubMed Central

Polvi, Anne; Linnankivi, Tarja; Kivelä, Tero; Herva, Riitta; Keating, James P.; Mäkitie, Outi; Pareyson, Davide; Vainionpää, Leena; Lahtinen, Jenni; Hovatta, Iiris; Pihko, Helena; Lehesjoki, Anna-Elina

2012-01-01

Cerebroretinal microangiopathy with calcifications and cysts (CRMCC) is a rare multisystem disorder characterized by extensive intracranial calcifications and cysts, leukoencephalopathy, and retinal vascular abnormalities. Additional features include poor growth, skeletal and hematological abnormalities, and recurrent gastrointestinal bleedings. Autosomal-recessive inheritance has been postulated. The pathogenesis of CRMCC is unknown, but its phenotype has key similarities with Revesz syndrome, which is caused by mutations in TINF2, a gene encoding a member of the telomere protecting shelterin complex. After a whole-exome sequencing approach in four unrelated individuals with CRMCC, we observed four recessively inherited compound heterozygous mutations in CTC1, which encodes the CTS telomere maintenance complex component 1. Sanger sequencing revealed seven more compound heterozygous mutations in eight more unrelated affected individuals. Two individuals who displayed late-onset cerebral findings, a normal fundus appearance, and no systemic findings did not have CTC1 mutations, implying that systemic findings are an important indication for CTC1 sequencing. Of the 11 mutations identified, four were missense, one was nonsense, two resulted in in-frame amino acid deletions, and four were short frameshift-creating deletions. All but two affected individuals were compound heterozygous for a missense mutation and a frameshift or nonsense mutation. No individuals with two frameshift or nonsense mutations were identified, which implies that severe disturbance of CTC1 function from both alleles might not be compatible with survival. Our preliminary functional experiments did not show evidence of severely affected telomere integrity in the affected individuals. Therefore, determining the underlying pathomechanisms associated with deficient CTC1 function will require further studies. PMID:22387016

Evolution in fluctuating environments: decomposing selection into additive components of the Robertson-Price equation.

PubMed

Engen, Steinar; Saether, Bernt-Erik

2014-03-01

We analyze the stochastic components of the Robertson-Price equation for the evolution of quantitative characters that enables decomposition of the selection differential into components due to demographic and environmental stochasticity. We show how these two types of stochasticity affect the evolution of multivariate quantitative characters by defining demographic and environmental variances as components of individual fitness. The exact covariance formula for selection is decomposed into three components, the deterministic mean value, as well as stochastic demographic and environmental components. We show that demographic and environmental stochasticity generate random genetic drift and fluctuating selection, respectively. This provides a common theoretical framework for linking ecological and evolutionary processes. Demographic stochasticity can cause random variation in selection differentials independent of fluctuating selection caused by environmental variation. We use this model of selection to illustrate that the effect on the expected selection differential of random variation in individual fitness is dependent on population size, and that the strength of fluctuating selection is affected by how environmental variation affects the covariance in Malthusian fitness between individuals with different phenotypes. Thus, our approach enables us to partition out the effects of fluctuating selection from the effects of selection due to random variation in individual fitness caused by demographic stochasticity. © 2013 The Author(s). Evolution © 2013 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

The 4-Celled Tetrabaena socialis Nuclear Genome Reveals the Essential Components for Genetic Control of Cell Number at the Origin of Multicellularity in the Volvocine Lineage.

PubMed

Featherston, Jonathan; Arakaki, Yoko; Hanschen, Erik R; Ferris, Patrick J; Michod, Richard E; Olson, Bradley J S C; Nozaki, Hisayoshi; Durand, Pierre M

2018-04-01

Multicellularity is the premier example of a major evolutionary transition in individuality and was a foundational event in the evolution of macroscopic biodiversity. The volvocine chlorophyte lineage is well suited for studying this process. Extant members span unicellular, simple colonial, and obligate multicellular taxa with germ-soma differentiation. Here, we report the nuclear genome sequence of one of the most morphologically simple organisms in this lineage-the 4-celled colonial Tetrabaena socialis and compare this to the three other complete volvocine nuclear genomes. Using conservative estimates of gene family expansions a minimal set of expanded gene families was identified that associate with the origin of multicellularity. These families are rich in genes related to developmental processes. A subset of these families is lineage specific, which suggests that at a genomic level the evolution of multicellularity also includes lineage-specific molecular developments. Multiple points of evidence associate modifications to the ubiquitin proteasomal pathway (UPP) with the beginning of coloniality. Genes undergoing positive or accelerating selection in the multicellular volvocines were found to be enriched in components of the UPP and gene families gained at the origin of multicellularity include components of the UPP. A defining feature of colonial/multicellular life cycles is the genetic control of cell number. The genomic data presented here, which includes diversification of cell cycle genes and modifications to the UPP, align the genetic components with the evolution of this trait.

Photovoltaic performance and reliability workshop

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

Kroposki, B

1996-10-01

This proceedings is the compilation of papers presented at the ninth PV Performance and Reliability Workshop held at the Sheraton Denver West Hotel on September 4--6, 1996. This years workshop included presentations from 25 speakers and had over 100 attendees. All of the presentations that were given are included in this proceedings. Topics of the papers included: defining service lifetime and developing models for PV module lifetime; examining and determining failure and degradation mechanisms in PV modules; combining IEEE/IEC/UL testing procedures; AC module performance and reliability testing; inverter reliability/qualification testing; standardization of utility interconnect requirements for PV systems; need activitiesmore » to separate variables by testing individual components of PV systems (e.g. cells, modules, batteries, inverters,charge controllers) for individual reliability and then test them in actual system configurations; more results reported from field experience on modules, inverters, batteries, and charge controllers from field deployed PV systems; and system certification and standardized testing for stand-alone and grid-tied systems.« less

Culture, morality and individual differences: comparability and incomparability across species.

PubMed

Saucier, Gerard

2018-04-19

Major routes to identifying individual differences (in diverse species) include studies of behaviour patterns as represented in language and neurophysiology. But results from these approaches appear not to converge on some major dimensions. Identifying dimensions of human variation least applicable to non-human species may help to partition human-specific individual differences of recent evolutionary origin from those shared across species. Human culture includes learned, enforced social-norm systems that are symbolically reinforced and referenced in displays signalling adherence. At a key juncture in human evolution bullying aggression and deception-based cheating apparently became censured in the language of a moral community, enabling mutual observation coordinated in gossip, associated with external sanctions. That still-conserved cultural paradigm moralistically regulates selfish advantage-taking, with shared semantics and explicit rules. Ethics and moral codes remain critical and universal components of human culture and have a stronger imprint in language than most aspects of the currently popular Big-Five taxonomy, a model that sets out five major lines of individual-differences variation in human personality. In other species (e.g. chimpanzees), human observers might see apparent individual differences in morality-relevant traits, but not because the animals have human-analogue sanctioning systems. Removing the moral dimension of personality and other human-specific manifestations (e.g. religion) may aid in identifying those other bases of individual differences more ubiquitous across species.This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'. © 2018 The Author(s).

A comparison of insight in body dysmorphic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

PubMed

Phillips, Katharine A; Pinto, Anthony; Hart, Ashley S; Coles, Meredith E; Eisen, Jane L; Menard, William; Rasmussen, Steven A

2012-10-01

Insight/delusionality of beliefs is an important dimension of psychopathology across psychiatric disorders. This construct is of increasing interest in obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Even though OCD and BDD are considered closely related, no prior study has compared these disorders across a range of categories of global insight (excellent, good, fair, poor, absent/delusional), and only one study has compared these disorders on individual components of insight. Using the reliable and valid Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale (BABS), this study examined insight/delusionality of OCD- or BDD-related beliefs in 211 individuals with primary OCD versus 68 individuals with primary BDD. In both disorders, levels of insight spanned the full range, from excellent to absent (i.e., delusional beliefs). However, the distribution of BABS scores across insight categories differed significantly by disorder, with the majority of OCD subjects showing excellent or good insight, and the majority of BDD subjects showing poor or absent insight. Compared to OCD subjects, BDD subjects had significantly poorer insight both overall (total BABS score) and on all individual BABS items. BABS score was significantly correlated with BDD and OCD severity, but in regressions it accounted for only 21% of the variance in OCD and 28% in BDD. In summary, both global insight and its individual components are poorer in BDD than in OCD, which has implications for research and clinical care, as well as understanding of the relationship between these disorders. Disorder severity is associated with but not equivalent to insight/delusionality. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Novel Thin Film Sensor Technology for Turbine Engine Hot Section Components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wrbanek, John D.; Fralick, Gustave C.

2007-01-01

Degradation and damage that develops over time in hot section components can lead to catastrophic failure of the turbine section of aircraft engines. A range of thin film sensor technology has been demonstrated enabling on-component measurement of multiple parameters either individually or in sensor arrays including temperature, strain, heat flux, and flow. Conductive ceramics are beginning to be investigated as new materials for use as thin film sensors in the hot section, leveraging expertise in thin films and high temperature materials. The current challenges are to develop new sensor and insulation materials capable of withstanding the extreme hot section environment, and to develop techniques for applying sensors onto complex high temperature structures for aging studies of hot propulsion materials. The technology research and development ongoing at NASA Glenn Research Center for applications to future aircraft, launch vehicles, space vehicles, and ground systems is outlined.

Quantitative characterization of solid epoxy resins using comprehensive two dimensional liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Julka, Samir; Cortes, Hernan; Harfmann, Robert; Bell, Bruce; Schweizer-Theobaldt, Andreas; Pursch, Matthias; Mondello, Luigi; Maynard, Shawn; West, David

2009-06-01

A comprehensive multidimensional liquid chromatography system coupled to Electrospray Ionization-Mass Spectrometry (LCxLC-ESI-MS) was developed for detailed characterization and quantitation of solid epoxy resin components. The two orthogonal modes of separation selected were size exclusion chromatography (SEC) in the first dimension and liquid chromatography at critical conditions (LCCC) in the second dimension. Different components present in the solid epoxy resins were separated and quantitated for the first time based on the functional groups and molecular weight heterogeneity. Coupling LCxLC separations with mass spectrometry enabled the identification of components resolved in the two-dimensional space. Several different functional group families of compounds were separated and identified, including epoxy-epoxy and epoxy-alpha-glycol functional oligomers, and their individual molecular weight ranges were determined. Repeatability obtained ranged from 0.5% for the main product to 21% for oligomers at the 0.4% concentration level.

Calculating the bidirectional reflectance of natural vegetation covers using Boolean models and geometric optics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Strahler, Alan H.; Li, Xiao-Wen; Jupp, David L. B.

1991-01-01

The bidirectional radiance or reflectance of a forest or woodland can be modeled using principles of geometric optics and Boolean models for random sets in a three dimensional space. This model may be defined at two levels, the scene includes four components; sunlight and shadowed canopy, and sunlit and shadowed background. The reflectance of the scene is modeled as the sum of the reflectances of the individual components as weighted by their areal proportions in the field of view. At the leaf level, the canopy envelope is an assemblage of leaves, and thus the reflectance is a function of the areal proportions of sunlit and shadowed leaf, and sunlit and shadowed background. Because the proportions of scene components are dependent upon the directions of irradiance and exitance, the model accounts for the hotspot that is well known in leaf and tree canopies.

Measuring self-rated productivity: factor structure and variance component analysis of the Health and Work Questionnaire.

PubMed

von Thiele Schwarz, Ulrica; Sjöberg, Anders; Hasson, Henna; Tafvelin, Susanne

2014-12-01

To test the factor structure and variance components of the productivity subscales of the Health and Work Questionnaire (HWQ). A total of 272 individuals from one company answered the HWQ scale, including three dimensions (efficiency, quality, and quantity) that the respondent rated from three perspectives: their own, their supervisor's, and their coworkers'. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed, and common and unique variance components evaluated. A common factor explained 81% of the variance (reliability 0.95). All dimensions and rater perspectives contributed with unique variance. The final model provided a perfect fit to the data. Efficiency, quality, and quantity and three rater perspectives are valid parts of the self-rated productivity measurement model, but with a large common factor. Thus, the HWQ can be analyzed either as one factor or by extracting the unique variance for each subdimension.

PVC: health implications and production trends.

PubMed Central

Karstadt, M

1976-01-01

Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is a complex plastic system. Individual components of the PVC system, including residual vinyl chloride monomer (RVCM) and certain additives, may pose risks of harm to human health. There have been significant reductions in the RVCM content of PVC resin since 1974, reducing the cancer risk of workers in PVC fabrication plants and consumers of PVC products. A "no-effect" level for vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)-induced carcinogenesis has not been found to date; therefore, the significance of human exposure to low levels of RVCM remains to be determined. Exposure to PVC dust may cause pulmonary dysfunctions. Pulmonary and other possible health effects of PVC dust require further study. The PVC plastics system should be characterized as to interactions among its various components and as to interactions of the components and the PVC system as a whole with biological systems. Images FIGURE 1. FIGURE 2. PMID:799961

Integrating a geographic information system, a scientific visualization system and an orographic precipitation model

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hay, L.; Knapp, L.

1996-01-01

Investigating natural, potential, and man-induced impacts on hydrological systems commonly requires complex modelling with overlapping data requirements, and massive amounts of one- to four-dimensional data at multiple scales and formats. Given the complexity of most hydrological studies, the requisite software infrastructure must incorporate many components including simulation modelling, spatial analysis and flexible, intuitive displays. There is a general requirement for a set of capabilities to support scientific analysis which, at this time, can only come from an integration of several software components. Integration of geographic information systems (GISs) and scientific visualization systems (SVSs) is a powerful technique for developing and analysing complex models. This paper describes the integration of an orographic precipitation model, a GIS and a SVS. The combination of these individual components provides a robust infrastructure which allows the scientist to work with the full dimensionality of the data and to examine the data in a more intuitive manner.

Evaluating the potential energy landscape over single molecules at room temperature with lateral force microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weymouth, Alfred J.; Riegel, Elisabeth; Matencio, Sonia; Giessibl, Franz J.

2018-04-01

One of the challenges of AFM, in contrast to STM, is that the measured signal includes both long-range and short-range components. The most accurate method for removing long-range components is to measure both on and off an adsorbate and to subtract the difference. This on-off method is challenging at room temperature due to thermal drift. By moving to a non-contact scheme in which the lateral component of the force interaction is probed, the measurement is dominated by short-range interactions. We use frequency-modulation lateral force microscopy to measure individual PTCDA molecules adsorbed on Ag/Si(111)-( √{3 }×√{3 } ). By fitting the data to a model potential, we can extract the depth and width of the potential. When the tip is closer to the sample, a repulsive feature can be observed in the data.

Kidneys: Key Modulators of HDL Levels and Function

PubMed Central

Yang, Haichun; Fogo, Agnes B.; Kon, Valentina

2016-01-01

Purpose of review This review will examine advances in our understanding of the role kidneys play in HDL metabolism and the effect on levels, composition, and function of HDL particles. Recent findings Components of the HDL particles can cross the glomerular filtration barrier. Some of these components, including apolipoproteins and enzymes involved in lipid metabolism, are taken up by the proximal tubule and degraded, modified, salvaged/returned to the circulation, or lost in the urine. Injury of the glomerular capillaries or tubules can affect these intrarenal processes and modify HDL. Changes in the plasma and urine levels of HDL may be novel markers of kidney damage and/or mechanism(s) of kidney disease. Summary The kidneys have a significant role in metabolism of individual HDL components, which in turn modulate HDL levels, composition and functionality of HDL particles. These intrarenal effects may be useful markers of kidney damage and have consequences on kidney-related perturbations in HDL. PMID:27008596

Performance monitoring can boost turboexpander efficiency

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

McIntire, R.

1982-07-05

This paper discusses ways of improving the productivity of the turboexpander/refrigeration system's radial expander and radial compressor through systematic review of component performance. It reviews several techniques to determine the performance of an expander and compressor. It suggests that any performance improvement program requires quantifying the performance of separate components over a range of operating conditions; estimating the increase in performance associated with any hardware change; and developing an analytical (computer) model of the entire system by using the performance curve of individual components. The model is used to quantify the economic benefits of any change in the system, eithermore » a change in operating procedures or a hardware modification. Topics include proper ways of using antisurge control valves and modifying flow rate/shaft speed (Q/N). It is noted that compressor efficiency depends on the incidence angle of blade at the rotor leading edge and the angle of the incoming gas stream.« less

a New Architecture for Intelligent Systems with Logic Based Languages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saini, K. K.; Saini, Sanju

2008-10-01

People communicate with each other in sentences that incorporate two kinds of information: propositions about some subject, and metalevel speech acts that specify how the propositional information is used—as an assertion, a command, a question, or a promise. By means of speech acts, a group of people who have different areas of expertise can cooperate and dynamically reconfigure their social interactions to perform tasks and solve problems that would be difficult or impossible for any single individual. This paper proposes a framework for intelligent systems that consist of a variety of specialized components together with logic-based languages that can express propositions and speech acts about those propositions. The result is a system with a dynamically changing architecture that can be reconfigured in various ways: by a human knowledge engineer who specifies a script of speech acts that determine how the components interact; by a planning component that generates the speech acts to redirect the other components; or by a committee of components, which might include human assistants, whose speech acts serve to redirect one another. The components communicate by sending messages to a Linda-like blackboard, in which components accept messages that are either directed to them or that they consider themselves competent to handle.

Independent tasks scheduling in cloud computing via improved estimation of distribution algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Haisheng; Xu, Rui; Chen, Huaping

2018-04-01

To minimize makespan for scheduling independent tasks in cloud computing, an improved estimation of distribution algorithm (IEDA) is proposed to tackle the investigated problem in this paper. Considering that the problem is concerned with multi-dimensional discrete problems, an improved population-based incremental learning (PBIL) algorithm is applied, which the parameter for each component is independent with other components in PBIL. In order to improve the performance of PBIL, on the one hand, the integer encoding scheme is used and the method of probability calculation of PBIL is improved by using the task average processing time; on the other hand, an effective adaptive learning rate function that related to the number of iterations is constructed to trade off the exploration and exploitation of IEDA. In addition, both enhanced Max-Min and Min-Min algorithms are properly introduced to form two initial individuals. In the proposed IEDA, an improved genetic algorithm (IGA) is applied to generate partial initial population by evolving two initial individuals and the rest of initial individuals are generated at random. Finally, the sampling process is divided into two parts including sampling by probabilistic model and IGA respectively. The experiment results show that the proposed IEDA not only gets better solution, but also has faster convergence speed.

Social Capital in an Outdoor Recreation Context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mann, Marilynne; Leahy, Jessica

2010-02-01

This study examined social capital development in three all-terrain vehicles (ATV) clubs in Maine using an adapted version of Lin’s (2001) social capital theory model. The structural components of social capital identified included collective assets and individual assets in the form of normative behavior and trust relationships. Also identified were counter-norms for individual ATV riders identified as having divergent norms from club members. The second component of social capital is access to and mobilization of network contacts and resources. Access networks in the context of the ATV clubs studied were identified as community and landowner relations while mobilization of resources was existent in club membership attempts toward self-governance and efforts of the statewide “umbrella” organization. Instrumental outcomes benefit society and expressive outcomes benefit the individual. Both types of returns are present in the data suggesting that ATV clubs are creating social capital. This is important information to clubs who desire to market themselves, improve their reputations, and enhance their volunteer association. It is of further interest to state governments who fund clubs through trail grants as proof that a return on investment is being realized. Theoretical and applied implications for these and other types of recreation-based volunteer associations (e.g., clubs, friends groups, advocacy groups) are presented.

Development of a Guided Internet-based Psycho-education Intervention Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Self-Management for Individuals with Chronic Pain.

PubMed

Perry, Jennifer; VanDenKerkhof, Elizabeth G; Wilson, Rosemary; Tripp, Dean A

2017-04-01

Evidence-based chronic pain treatment includes nonpharmacologic therapies. When addressing barriers to treatment, there is a need to deliver these therapies in a way that is accessible to all individuals who may benefit. To develop a guided Internet-based intervention for individuals with chronic pain, program content and sequence of evidence-based treatments for chronic pain, traditionally delivered via in-person sessions, were identified to be adapted for Internet delivery. With consideration to historical barriers to treatment, and through use of a concept map, therapeutic components and educational material were situated, in an ordered sequence, into six modules. An Internet-based chronic pain intervention was constructed to improve access to evidence-based chronic pain therapies. Research using this intervention, in the form of a pilot study for intervention refinement, was conducted, and a large-scale study to assess effectiveness is necessary prior to implementation. As clients may face barriers to multimodal treatment for chronic pain, nurses could introduce components of education, cognitive behavioral therapy and self-management to clients and prepare them for the "work" of managing chronic pain, through use of this Internet-based intervention. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Pain Management Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the nutrition counselling component of a fitness programme for children with disabilities.

PubMed

Fragala-Pinkham, Maria A; Bradford, Laura; Haley, Stephen M

2006-01-01

To describe and evaluate the nutrition counselling component of a fitness programme for children with disabilities. Twenty-eight children with disabilities, ages 6-14 years, participated in a 16-week comprehensive fitness programme consisting of twice weekly exercise sessions, nutrition counselling and physical activity promotion education sessions. Nutrition sessions consisted of three individual and two group sessions. Individual nutrition goals were developed for each child using 3-day food intake diaries and parent interview. Body Mass Index (BMI) and progress towards nutrition goals were documented. No significant BMI changes were recorded for the entire group (n=28) or a sub-group with a goal to decrease BMI (n=8). Most of the children made improvements in individual goals indicating improvements in healthy eating habits. This included eating the daily recommended amount of servings of each food group, trying new foods and limiting foods containing saturated and trans fats, sodium and sugar. Short-term changes were noted in eating habits and behaviours during the 16-week fitness programme, although the effects did not influence overall BMI during the 16-week programme. Children with disabilities are at nutritional risk, and long-term follow-up is needed to determine if initial changes in parent-reported child eating behaviours will impact long-term nutrition, BMI and overall health.

Energy Metabolism Profile in Individuals with Prader-Willi Syndrome and Implications for Clinical Management: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Alsaif, Maha; Elliot, Sarah A; MacKenzie, Michelle L; Prado, Carla M; Field, Catherine J; Haqq, Andrea M

2017-11-01

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic disorder associated with excessive weight gain. Hyperphagia associated with PWS may result in higher energy intake, but alterations in energy expenditure may also contribute to energy imbalance. The purpose of this critical literature review is to determine the presence of alterations in energy expenditure in individuals with PWS. Ten studies that measured total energy expenditure (TEE), resting energy expenditure (REE), sleep energy expenditure (SEE), activity energy expenditure (AEE), and diet induced thermogenesis (DIT) were included in this review. The studies provided evidence that absolute TEE, REE, SEE, and AEE are lower in individuals with PWS than in age-, sex-, and body mass index-matched individuals without the syndrome. Alterations in lean body mass and lower physical activity amounts appear to be responsible for the lower energy expenditure in PWS rather than metabolic differences. Regardless of the underlying mechanism for lower TEE, the estimation of energy requirements with the use of equations derived for the general population would result in weight gain in individuals with PWS. The determination of energy requirements for weight management in individuals with PWS requires a more comprehensive understanding of energy metabolism. Future studies should aim to comprehensively profile all specific components of energy expenditure in individuals with PWS with the use of appropriately matched controls and gold standard methods to measure energy metabolism and body composition. One component of energy expenditure that is yet to be explored in detail in PWS is DIT. A reduced DIT (despite differences in fat free mass), secondary to hormonal dysregulation, may be present in PWS individuals, leading to a reduced overall energy expenditure. Further research exploring DIT in PWS needs to be conducted. Dietary energy recommendations for weight management in PWS have not yet been clearly established. © 2017 American Society for Nutrition.

Behavior Of Aircraft Components Under Crash-Type Loads

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carden, Huey D.; Boitnott, Richard L.; Fasanella, Edwin L.

1993-01-01

Report presents overview of research involving use of concepts of aircraft elements and substructures not necessarily designed or optimized with respect to energy-absorption or crash-loading considerations. Experimental and analytical data presented in report indicate some general trends in failure behaviors of class of composite-material structures including individual fuselage frames, skeleton subfloors with stringers and floor beams but without skin covering, and subfloors with skin added to frame/stringer arrangement.

Mass spectrometry in life science research.

PubMed

Lehr, Stefan; Markgraf, Daniel

2016-12-01

Investigating complex signatures of biomolecules by mass spectrometry approaches has become indispensable in molecular life science research. Nowadays, various mass spectrometry-based omics technologies are available to monitor qualitative and quantitative changes within hundreds or thousands of biological active components, including proteins/peptides, lipids and metabolites. These comprehensive investigations have the potential to decipher the pathophysiology of disease development at a molecular level and to monitor the individual response of pharmacological treatment or lifestyle intervention.

Selection of a turbine cooling system applying multi-disciplinary design considerations.

PubMed

Glezer, B

2001-05-01

The presented paper describes a multi-disciplinary cooling selection approach applied to major gas turbine engine hot section components, including turbine nozzles, blades, discs, combustors and support structures, which maintain blade tip clearances. The paper demonstrates benefits of close interaction between participating disciplines starting from early phases of the hot section development. The approach targets advancements in engine performance and cost by optimizing the design process, often requiring compromises within individual disciplines.

Five challenges for spatial epidemic models.

PubMed

Riley, Steven; Eames, Ken; Isham, Valerie; Mollison, Denis; Trapman, Pieter

2015-03-01

Infectious disease incidence data are increasingly available at the level of the individual and include high-resolution spatial components. Therefore, we are now better able to challenge models that explicitly represent space. Here, we consider five topics within spatial disease dynamics: the construction of network models; characterising threshold behaviour; modelling long-distance interactions; the appropriate scale for interventions; and the representation of population heterogeneity. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The HITRAN 2008 Molecular Spectroscopic Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rothman, Laurence S.; Gordon, Iouli E.; Barbe, Alain; Benner, D. Chris; Bernath, Peter F.; Birk, Manfred; Boudon, V.; Brown, Linda R.; Campargue, Alain; Champion, J.-P.;

THE EMERGENCE OF ANTIBODIES WITH EITHER IDENTICAL OR UNRELATED INDIVIDUAL ANTIGENIC SPECIFICITY DURING REPEATED IMMUNIZATIONS WITH STREPTOCOCCAL VACCINES

PubMed Central

Eichmann, Klaus; Braun, Dietmar G.; Feizi, Ten; Krause, Richard M.

1970-01-01

Electrophoretically monodisperse antibody components in rabbit antisera to the carbohydrates of the Groups A and C streptococci have been examined for their individual antigenic specificity. In these antibody components which were isolated by preparative electrophoresis, individual antigenic specificity was confined to the specific antibody and was absent in the nonantibody γ-globulin. Radioprecipitation experiments and the use of immune absorbent columns constructed from goat anti-antisera, which had been absorbed with fraction II, revealed that all the specific antibody in an electrophoretically monodisperse component was reactive with the homologous anti-antibody. Antibodies with either identical or distinct individual antigenic specificities may occur in the same rabbit with repeated immunizations. Antibodies with identical antigenic specificity had identical electrophoretic mobility, whereas antibodies with unrelated antigenic specificities had distinct electrophoretic mobilities. In the interval between immunizations, if antibody to the carbohydrate antigen was absent, there was no detectable antibody with individual antigenic specificity. PMID:4192569

A benchmark testing ground for integrating homology modeling and protein docking.

PubMed

Bohnuud, Tanggis; Luo, Lingqi; Wodak, Shoshana J; Bonvin, Alexandre M J J; Weng, Zhiping; Vajda, Sandor; Schueler-Furman, Ora; Kozakov, Dima

2017-01-01

Protein docking procedures carry out the task of predicting the structure of a protein-protein complex starting from the known structures of the individual protein components. More often than not, however, the structure of one or both components is not known, but can be derived by homology modeling on the basis of known structures of related proteins deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). Thus, the problem is to develop methods that optimally integrate homology modeling and docking with the goal of predicting the structure of a complex directly from the amino acid sequences of its component proteins. One possibility is to use the best available homology modeling and docking methods. However, the models built for the individual subunits often differ to a significant degree from the bound conformation in the complex, often much more so than the differences observed between free and bound structures of the same protein, and therefore additional conformational adjustments, both at the backbone and side chain levels need to be modeled to achieve an accurate docking prediction. In particular, even homology models of overall good accuracy frequently include localized errors that unfavorably impact docking results. The predicted reliability of the different regions in the model can also serve as a useful input for the docking calculations. Here we present a benchmark dataset that should help to explore and solve combined modeling and docking problems. This dataset comprises a subset of the experimentally solved 'target' complexes from the widely used Docking Benchmark from the Weng Lab (excluding antibody-antigen complexes). This subset is extended to include the structures from the PDB related to those of the individual components of each complex, and hence represent potential templates for investigating and benchmarking integrated homology modeling and docking approaches. Template sets can be dynamically customized by specifying ranges in sequence similarity and in PDB release dates, or using other filtering options, such as excluding sets of specific structures from the template list. Multiple sequence alignments, as well as structural alignments of the templates to their corresponding subunits in the target are also provided. The resource is accessible online or can be downloaded at http://cluspro.org/benchmark, and is updated on a weekly basis in synchrony with new PDB releases. Proteins 2016; 85:10-16. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The effectiveness of working memory training with individuals with intellectual disabilities - a meta-analytic review.

PubMed

Danielsson, Henrik; Zottarel, Valentina; Palmqvist, Lisa; Lanfranchi, Silvia

2015-01-01

Working memory (WM) training has been increasingly popular in the last years. Previous studies have shown that individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) have low WM capacity and therefore would benefit by this type of intervention. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of WM and cognitive training for individuals with ID. The effects reported in previous studies have varied and therefore a meta-analysis of articles in the major databases was conducted. Inclusion criteria included to have a pretest-posttest design with a training group and a control group and to have measures of WM or short-term memory. Ten studies with 28 comparisons were included. The results reveal a significant, but small, overall pretest-posttest effect size (ES) for WM training for individuals with ID compared to controls. A mixed WM approach, including both verbal and visuo-spatial components working mainly on strategies, was the only significant training type with a medium ES. The most commonly reported training type, visuo-spatial WM training, was performed in 60 percent of the included comparisons and had a non-significant ES close to zero. We conclude that even if there is an overall effect of WM training, a mixed WM approach appears to cause this effect. Given the few studies included and the different characteristics of the included studies, interpretations should be done with caution. However, different types of interventions appear to have different effects. Even if the results were promising, more studies are needed to better understand how to design an effective WM intervention for this group and to understand if, and how, these short-term effects remain over time and transfer to everyday activities.

The effectiveness of working memory training with individuals with intellectual disabilities – a meta-analytic review

PubMed Central

Danielsson, Henrik; Zottarel, Valentina; Palmqvist, Lisa; Lanfranchi, Silvia

2015-01-01

Working memory (WM) training has been increasingly popular in the last years. Previous studies have shown that individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) have low WM capacity and therefore would benefit by this type of intervention. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of WM and cognitive training for individuals with ID. The effects reported in previous studies have varied and therefore a meta-analysis of articles in the major databases was conducted. Inclusion criteria included to have a pretest–posttest design with a training group and a control group and to have measures of WM or short-term memory. Ten studies with 28 comparisons were included. The results reveal a significant, but small, overall pretest–posttest effect size (ES) for WM training for individuals with ID compared to controls. A mixed WM approach, including both verbal and visuo-spatial components working mainly on strategies, was the only significant training type with a medium ES. The most commonly reported training type, visuo-spatial WM training, was performed in 60 percent of the included comparisons and had a non-significant ES close to zero. We conclude that even if there is an overall effect of WM training, a mixed WM approach appears to cause this effect. Given the few studies included and the different characteristics of the included studies, interpretations should be done with caution. However, different types of interventions appear to have different effects. Even if the results were promising, more studies are needed to better understand how to design an effective WM intervention for this group and to understand if, and how, these short-term effects remain over time and transfer to everyday activities. PMID:26347692

Principal Component and Linkage Analysis of Cardiovascular Risk Traits in the Norfolk Isolate

PubMed Central

Cox, Hannah C.; Bellis, Claire; Lea, Rod A.; Quinlan, Sharon; Hughes, Roger; Dyer, Thomas; Charlesworth, Jac; Blangero, John; Griffiths, Lyn R.

2009-01-01

Objective(s) An individual's risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) is influenced by genetic factors. This study focussed on mapping genetic loci for CVD-risk traits in a unique population isolate derived from Norfolk Island. Methods This investigation focussed on 377 individuals descended from the population founders. Principal component analysis was used to extract orthogonal components from 11 cardiovascular risk traits. Multipoint variance component methods were used to assess genome-wide linkage using SOLAR to the derived factors. A total of 285 of the 377 related individuals were informative for linkage analysis. Results A total of 4 principal components accounting for 83% of the total variance were derived. Principal component 1 was loaded with body size indicators; principal component 2 with body size, cholesterol and triglyceride levels; principal component 3 with the blood pressures; and principal component 4 with LDL-cholesterol and total cholesterol levels. Suggestive evidence of linkage for principal component 2 (h2 = 0.35) was observed on chromosome 5q35 (LOD = 1.85; p = 0.0008). While peak regions on chromosome 10p11.2 (LOD = 1.27; p = 0.005) and 12q13 (LOD = 1.63; p = 0.003) were observed to segregate with principal components 1 (h2 = 0.33) and 4 (h2 = 0.42), respectively. Conclusion(s): This study investigated a number of CVD risk traits in a unique isolated population. Findings support the clustering of CVD risk traits and provide interesting evidence of a region on chromosome 5q35 segregating with weight, waist circumference, HDL-c and total triglyceride levels. PMID:19339786

Family matters: Intergenerational and interpersonal processes of executive function and attentive behavior

PubMed Central

Deater-Deckard, Kirby

2014-01-01

Individual differences in self-regulation include executive function (EF) components that serve self-regulation of attentive behavior by modulating reactive responses to the environment. These factors “run in families”. The purpose of this review is to summarize a program of research that addresses familial inter-generational transmission and inter-personal processes in development. Self-regulation of attentive behavior involves inter-related aspects of executive function (EF) including attention, inhibitory control, and working memory. Individual differences in EF skills develop in systematic ways over childhood, resulting in moderately stable differences between people by early adolescence. Through complex gene-environment transactions, EF is transmitted across generations within parent-child relationships that provide powerful socialization and experiential contexts in which EF and related attentive behavior are forged and practiced. Families matter as parents regulate home environments and themselves as best they can while also supporting cognitive self-regulation of attentive behavior in their children. PMID:25197171

Metabolic syndrome: An independent risk factor for erectile dysfunction

PubMed Central

Sanjay, Saran; Bharti, Gupta Sona; Manish, Gutch; Rajeev, Philip; Pankaj, Agrawal; Puspalata, Agroiya; Keshavkumar, Gupta

2015-01-01

Objective: The objective was to determine the role of various components of metabolic syndrome (MetS) as independent risk factor for erectile dysfunction (ED). Materials and Methods: A total of 113 subjects of MetS, as recommended by recent IDF and AHA/NHLBI joint interim statement were selected for study who presented for ED. After doing Anthropometric examination, fasting laboratory assay for fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting insulin, hemoglobin A1c, triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and 2 h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was done. Erectile function was assessed by completing questions one through five of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5). A multiple linear regression analysis was carried out on 66 subjects with IIEF-5 score as dependent variable and components of MetS FPG, 2 h OGTT, TG, HDL, and waist circumference as independent variables. Results: Using a multiple linear regression analysis, we observed that presence of the various components of MetS was associated with ED and a decrease IIEF-5 score and this effect was greater than the effect associated with any of the individual components. Of the individual components of the MetS, HDL (B = 0.136; P = 0.004) and FPG (B = −0.069; P = 0.007) conferred the strongest effect on IIEF-5 score. However, overall age had most significant effect on IIEF-5 score. Conclusion: It is crucial to formulate strategies and implement them to prevent or control the epidemic of the MetS and its consequences. The early identification and treatment of risk factors might be helpful to prevent ED and secondary cardiovascular disease, including diet and lifestyle interventions. PMID:25729692

Metabolic syndrome: An independent risk factor for erectile dysfunction.

PubMed

Sanjay, Saran; Bharti, Gupta Sona; Manish, Gutch; Rajeev, Philip; Pankaj, Agrawal; Puspalata, Agroiya; Keshavkumar, Gupta

2015-01-01

The objective was to determine the role of various components of metabolic syndrome (MetS) as independent risk factor for erectile dysfunction (ED). A total of 113 subjects of MetS, as recommended by recent IDF and AHA/NHLBI joint interim statement were selected for study who presented for ED. After doing Anthropometric examination, fasting laboratory assay for fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting insulin, hemoglobin A1c, triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and 2 h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was done. Erectile function was assessed by completing questions one through five of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5). A multiple linear regression analysis was carried out on 66 subjects with IIEF-5 score as dependent variable and components of MetS FPG, 2 h OGTT, TG, HDL, and waist circumference as independent variables. Using a multiple linear regression analysis, we observed that presence of the various components of MetS was associated with ED and a decrease IIEF-5 score and this effect was greater than the effect associated with any of the individual components. Of the individual components of the MetS, HDL (B = 0.136; P = 0.004) and FPG (B = -0.069; P = 0.007) conferred the strongest effect on IIEF-5 score. However, overall age had most significant effect on IIEF-5 score. It is crucial to formulate strategies and implement them to prevent or control the epidemic of the MetS and its consequences. The early identification and treatment of risk factors might be helpful to prevent ED and secondary cardiovascular disease, including diet and lifestyle interventions.

Using the systems framework for postural control to analyze the components of balance evaluated in standardized balance measures: a scoping review.

PubMed

Sibley, Kathryn M; Beauchamp, Marla K; Van Ooteghem, Karen; Straus, Sharon E; Jaglal, Susan B

2015-01-01

To identify components of postural control included in standardized balance measures for adult populations. Electronic searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL databases using keyword combinations of postural balance/equilibrium, psychometrics/reproducibility of results/predictive value of tests/validation studies, instrument construction/instrument validation, geriatric assessment/disability evaluation, gray literature, and hand searches. Inclusion criteria were measures with a stated objective to assess balance, adult populations (18y and older), at least 1 psychometric evaluation, 1 standing task, a standardized protocol and evaluation criteria, and published in English. Two reviewers independently identified studies for inclusion. Sixty-six measures were included. A research assistant extracted descriptive characteristics and 2 reviewers independently coded components of balance in each measure using the Systems Framework for Postural Control, a widely recognized model of balance. Components of balance evaluated in these measures were underlying motor systems (100% of measures), anticipatory postural control (71%), dynamic stability (67%), static stability (64%), sensory integration (48%), functional stability limits (27%), reactive postural control (23%), cognitive influences (17%), and verticality (8%). Thirty-four measures evaluated 3 or fewer components of balance, and 1 measure-the Balance Evaluation Systems Test-evaluated all components of balance. Several standardized balance measures provide only partial information on postural control and omit important components of balance related to avoiding falls. As such, the choice of measure(s) may limit the overall interpretation of an individual's balance ability. Continued work is necessary to increase the implementation of comprehensive balance assessment in research and practice. Copyright © 2015 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of inflow distortion profiles on fan tone noise calculated using a 3-D theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kobayashi, H.; Groeneweg, J. F.

1979-01-01

Calculations of the fan tone acoustic power and modal structure generated by complex distortions in axial inflow velocity are presented. The model used treats the motor as a rotating three-dimensional cascade and calculates the acoustic field from the distortion-produced dipole distribution on the blades including noncompact source effects. Radial and circumferential distortion shapes are synthesized from Fourier-Bessel components representing individual distortion modes. The relation between individual distortion modes and the generated acoustic modes is examined for particular distortion cases. Comparisons between theoretical and experimental results for distortions produced by wakes from upstream radial rods show that the analysis is a good predictor of acoustic power dependence on disturbance strength.

The evaluation of a number of prototypes for the free-tip rotor constant-moment controller

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, L. A.

1986-01-01

The development of several prototypes of a constant moment controller, a critical component of the free-tip rotor (FTR) concept, is described. Also presented are the experimental results of a whirl test designed to select a final controller configuration to be included in a future wind-tunnel test of this innovative rotor system. A brief explanation of the FTR concept and its history are included. The paper documents the controller design constraints, each prototype's operating principle, the evaluation test, and the individual prototype test results. A recommended design is identified, along with the selection rationale.

T-Cell response profiling to biological threat agents including the SARS coronavirus.

PubMed

Gioia, C; Horejsh, D; Agrati, C; Martini, F; Capobianchi, M R; Ippolito, G; Poccia, F

2005-01-01

The emergence of pathogens such as SARS and the increased threat of bioterrorism has stimulated the development of novel diagnostic assays for differential diagnosis. Rather than focusing on the detection of an individual pathogen component, we have developed a T cell profiling system to monitor responses to the pathogens in an array format. Using a matrix of antigens specific for different pathogens, a specific T cell profile was generated for each individual by monitoring the intracellular production of interferon-gamma by flow cytometry. This assay allows for the testing of multiple proteins or peptides at a single time and provides a quantitative and phenotypic assessment of CD4(+) and CD8(+) responding cells. We present profiling examples for several positive individuals, including those vaccinated with the smallpox and anthrax vaccines. We also show antigen optimization for the SARS-hCoV, as studies revealed that these proteins contain peptides which cross-react with more common coronaviruses, a cause of the common cold. The T cell array is an early and sensitive multiplex measure of active infection, exposure to a pathogen, or effective, recent vaccination.

A Hydrodynamic Theory for Spatially Inhomogeneous Semiconductor Lasers: Microscopic Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, Jianzhong; Ning, C. Z.; Biegel, Bryan A. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Starting from the microscopic semiconductor Bloch equations (SBEs) including the Boltzmann transport terms in the distribution function equations for electrons and holes, we derived a closed set of diffusion equations for carrier densities and temperatures with self-consistent coupling to Maxwell's equation and to an effective optical polarization equation. The coherent many-body effects are included within the screened Hartree-Fock approximation, while scatterings are treated within the second Born approximation including both the in- and out-scatterings. Microscopic expressions for electron-hole (e-h) and carrier-LO (c-LO) phonon scatterings are directly used to derive the momentum and energy relaxation rates. These rates expressed as functions of temperatures and densities lead to microscopic expressions for self- and mutual-diffusion coefficients in the coupled density-temperature diffusion equations. Approximations for reducing the general two-component description of the electron-hole plasma (EHP) to a single-component one are discussed. In particular, we show that a special single-component reduction is possible when e-h scattering dominates over c-LO phonon scattering. The ambipolar diffusion approximation is also discussed and we show that the ambipolar diffusion coefficients are independent of e-h scattering, even though the diffusion coefficients of individual components depend sensitively on the e-h scattering rates. Our discussions lead to new perspectives into the roles played in the single-component reduction by the electron-hole correlation in momentum space induced by scatterings and the electron-hole correlation in real space via internal static electrical field. Finally, the theory is completed by coupling the diffusion equations to the lattice temperature equation and to the effective optical polarization which in turn couples to the laser field.

The association between individual and combined components of metabolic syndrome and chronic kidney disease among African Americans: the Jackson Heart Study.

PubMed

Mendy, Vincent L; Azevedo, Mario J; Sarpong, Daniel F; Rosas, Sylvia E; Ekundayo, Olugbemiga T; Sung, Jung Hye; Bhuiyan, Azad R; Jenkins, Brenda C; Addison, Clifton

2014-01-01

Approximately 26.3 million people in the United States have chronic kidney disease and many more are at risk of developing the condition. The association between specific metabolic syndrome components and chronic kidney disease in African American individuals is uncertain. Baseline data from 4,933 participants of the Jackson Heart Study were analyzed. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds and 95% confidence intervals of chronic kidney disease associated with individual components, metabolic syndrome, the number of components, and specific combinations of metabolic syndrome components. Metabolic syndrome was common with a prevalence of 42.0%. Chronic kidney disease was present in 19.4% of participants. The prevalence of metabolic components was high: elevated blood pressure (71.8%), abdominal obesity (65.8%), low fasting high density lipoprotein cholesterol (37.3%), elevated fasting glucose (32.2%) and elevated triglycerides (16.2%). Elevated blood pressure, triglycerides, fasting blood glucose, and abdominal obesity were significantly associated with increased odds of chronic kidney disease. Participants with metabolic syndrome had a 2.22-fold (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.22; 95% CI, 1.78-2.78) increase in the odds of chronic kidney disease compared to participants without metabolic syndrome. The combination of elevated fasting glucose, elevated triglycerides, and abdominal obesity was associated with the highest odds for chronic kidney disease (AOR 25.11; 95% CI, 6.94-90.90). Metabolic syndrome as well as individual or combinations of metabolic syndrome components are independently associated with chronic kidney disease in African American adults.

Selective impact of disease on short-term and long-term components of self-reported memory: a population-based HUNT study

PubMed Central

Almkvist, Ove; Bosnes, Ole; Bosnes, Ingunn; Stordal, Eystein

2017-01-01

Background Subjective memory is commonly considered to be a unidimensional measure. However, theories of performance-based memory suggest that subjective memory could be divided into more than one dimension. Objective To divide subjective memory into theoretically related components of memory and explore the relationship to disease. Methods In this study, various aspects of self-reported memory were studied with respect to demographics and diseases in the third wave of the HUNT epidemiological study in middle Norway. The study included all individuals 55 years of age or older, who responded to a nine-item questionnaire on subjective memory and questionnaires on health (n=18 633). Results A principle component analysis of the memory items resulted in two memory components; the criterion used was an eigenvalue above 1, which accounted for 54% of the total variance. The components were interpreted as long-term memory (LTM; the first component; 43% of the total variance) and short-term memory (STM; the second component; 11% of the total variance). Memory impairment was significantly related to all diseases (except Bechterew’s disease), most strongly to brain infarction, heart failure, diabetes, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and whiplash. For most diseases, the STM component was more affected than the LTM component; however, in cancer, the opposite pattern was seen. Conclusions Subjective memory impairment as measured in HUNT contained two components, which were differentially associated with diseases. PMID:28490551

Characterization of the interaction between subunits of the botulinum toxin complex produced by serotype D through tryptic susceptibility of the isolated components and complex forms.

PubMed

Suzuki, Tomonori; Watanabe, Toshihiro; Mutoh, Shingo; Hasegawa, Kimiko; Kouguchi, Hirokazu; Sagane, Yoshimasa; Fujinaga, Yukako; Oguma, Keiji; Ohyama, Tohru

2005-05-01

The 650 kDa large toxin complex (L-TC) produced by Clostridium botulinum serotype D strain 4947 (D-4947) has a subunit structure composed of unnicked components, i.e. neurotoxin (NT), non-toxic non-haemagglutinin (NTNHA) and three haemagglutinin subcomponents (HA-70, HA-33 and HA-17). In this study, subunit interactions were investigated through the susceptibilities of the toxin components to limited trypsin proteolysis. Additionally, complex forms were reconstituted in vitro by various combinations of individual components. Trypsin treatment of intact D-4947 L-TC led to the formation of mature L-TC with nicks at specific sites of each component, which is usually observed in other strains of serotype D. NT, NTNHA and HA-17 were cleaved at their specific sites in either the single or complex forms, but HA-33 showed no sign of proteolysis. Unlike the other components, HA-70 was digested into random fragments as a single form, but it was cleaved into two fragments in the complex form. Based on the relative position of exposed or hidden regions of the individual components in the complex derived from their tryptic susceptibilities, an assembly model is proposed for the arrangement of individual subunits in the botulinum L-TC.

Lifestyle Approaches for People With Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Multiple Case Analysis.

PubMed

Steenbergen, Henderika Annegien; Van der Schans, Cees P; Van Wijck, Ruud; De Jong, Johan; Waninge, Aly

2017-11-01

Health care organizations supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities (IDs) carry out a range of interventions to support and improve a healthy lifestyle. However, it is difficult to implement an active and healthy lifestyle into daily support. The presence of numerous intervention components, multiple levels of influence, and the explicit use of theory are factors that are considered to be essential for implementation in practice. A comprehensive written lifestyle policy provides for sustainability of a lifestyle approach. It is unknown to what extent these crucial factors for successful implementation are taken into consideration by health care organizations supporting this population. To analyze the intervention components, levels of influence, explicit use of theory, and conditions for sustainability of currently used lifestyle interventions within lifestyle approaches aiming at physical activity and nutrition in health care organizations supporting people with ID. In this descriptive multiple case study of 9 health care organizations, qualitative data of the lifestyle approaches with accompanying interventions and their components were compiled with a newly developed online inventory form. From 9 health care organizations, 59 interventions were included, of which 31% aimed to improve physical activity, 10% nutrition, and 59% a combination of both. Most (49%) interventions aimed at the educational component and less at daily (19%) and generic activities (16%) and the evaluation component (16%). Most interventions targeted individuals with ID and the professionals whereas social levels were underrepresented. Although 52% of the interventions were structurally embedded, only 10 of the 59 interventions were theory-driven. Health care organizations could improve their lifestyle approaches by using an explicit theoretical basis by expanding the current focus of the interventions that primarily concentrate on their clients and professionals toward also targeting the social and external environment as well as the introduction of a written lifestyle policy. This policy should encompass all interventions and should be the responsibility of those in the organization working with individuals with ID. In conclusion, comprehensive, integrated, and theory-driven approaches at multiple levels should be promoted. Copyright © 2017 AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) movement and habitat use: Implications for conservation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fellers, G.M.; Kleeman, P.M.

2007-01-01

Nonbreeding habitats are critically important for Rana draytonii, especially for individuals that breed in temporary bodies of water. We radiotracked 123 frogs to evaluate seasonal habitat use. Individual frogs were continuously tracked for up to 16 months. Some individuals remained at breeding ponds all year, but 66% of female and 25% of male frogs moved to nonbreeding areas, even when the breeding site retained water. Frogs at our main study site moved 150 m (median), roughly the distance to the nearest suitable nonbreeding area. The greatest straight-line distance traveled was 1.4 km, although the presumed distance traveled was 2.8 km. Females were more likely than males to move from permanent ponds (38% of females, 16% of males), but among dispersing frogs, males and females did not differ in distance moved. Some frogs left breeding sites shortly after oviposition (median = 12 days for females, 42.5 days for males), but many individuals remained until the site was nearly dry. Fog provided moisture for dispersal or migration throughout the summer. Our data demonstrate that maintaining populations of pond-breeding amphibians requires that all essential habitat components be protected; these include (1) breeding habitat, (2) nonbreeding habitat, and (3) migration corridors. In addition, a buffer is needed around all three areas to ensure that outside activities do not degrade any of the three habitat components. Copyright 2007 Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.

Externalizing psychopathology and gain-loss feedback in a simulated gambling task: dissociable components of brain response revealed by time-frequency analysis.

PubMed

Bernat, Edward M; Nelson, Lindsay D; Steele, Vaughn R; Gehring, William J; Patrick, Christopher J

2011-05-01

Externalizing is a broad construct that reflects propensity toward a variety of impulse control problems, including antisocial personality disorder and substance use disorders. Two event-related potential responses known to be reduced among individuals high in externalizing proneness are the P300, which reflects postperceptual processing of a stimulus, and the error-related negativity (ERN), which indexes performance monitoring based on endogenous representations. In the current study, the authors used a simulated gambling task to examine the relation between externalizing proneness and the feedback-related negativity (FRN), a brain response that indexes performance monitoring related to exogenous cues, which is thought to be highly related to the ERN. Time-frequency (TF) analysis was used to disentangle the FRN from the accompanying P300 response to feedback cues by parsing the overall feedback-locked potential into distinctive theta (4-7 Hz) and delta (<3 Hz) TF components. Whereas delta-P300 amplitude was reduced among individuals high in externalizing proneness, theta-FRN response was unrelated to externalizing. These findings suggest that in contrast with previously reported deficits in endogenously based performance monitoring (as indexed by the ERN), individuals prone to externalizing problems show intact monitoring of exogenous cues (as indexed by the FRN). The results also contribute to a growing body of evidence indicating that the P300 is attenuated across a broad range of task conditions in high-externalizing individuals.

Design of the Balance@Work project: systematic development, evaluation and implementation of an occupational health guideline aimed at the prevention of weight gain among employees.

PubMed

Verweij, Lisanne M; Proper, Karin I; Weel, Andre N H; Hulshof, Carel T J; van Mechelen, Willem

2009-12-14

Occupational health professionals may play an important role in preventive health promotion activities for employees. However, due to a lack of knowledge and evidence- and practice based methods and strategies, interventions are hardly being implemented by occupational physicians to date. The aim of the Balance@Work project is to develop, evaluate, and implement an occupational health guideline aimed at the prevention of weight gain among employees. Following the guideline development protocol of the Netherlands Society of Occupational Medicine and the Intervention Mapping protocol, the guideline was developed based on literature, interviews with relevant stakeholders, and consensus among an expert group. The guideline consists of an individual and an environmental component. The individual component includes recommendations for occupational physicians on how to promote physical activity and healthy dietary behavior based on principles of motivational interviewing. The environmental component contains an obesogenic environment assessment tool. The guideline is evaluated in a randomised controlled trial among 20 occupational physicians. Occupational physicians in the intervention group apply the guideline to eligible workers during 6 months. Occupational physicians in the control group provide care as usual. Measurements take place at baseline and 6, 12, and 18 months thereafter. Primary outcome measures include waist circumference, daily physical activity and dietary behavior. Secondary outcome measures include sedentary behavior, determinants of behavior change, body weight and body mass index, cardiovascular disease risk profile, and quality of life. Additionally, productivity, absenteeism, and cost-effectiveness are assessed. Improving workers' daily physical activity and dietary behavior may prevent weight gain and subsequently improve workers' health, increase productivity, and reduce absenteeism. After an effect- and process evaluation the guideline will be adjusted and, after authorisation, published. Together with several implementation aids, the published guideline will be disseminated broadly by the Netherlands Society of Occupational Medicine. ISRCTN73545254/NTR1190.

Design of the Balance@Work project: systematic development, evaluation and implementation of an occupational health guideline aimed at the prevention of weight gain among employees

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background Occupational health professionals may play an important role in preventive health promotion activities for employees. However, due to a lack of knowledge and evidence- and practice based methods and strategies, interventions are hardly being implemented by occupational physicians to date. The aim of the Balance@Work project is to develop, evaluate, and implement an occupational health guideline aimed at the prevention of weight gain among employees. Methods Following the guideline development protocol of the Netherlands Society of Occupational Medicine and the Intervention Mapping protocol, the guideline was developed based on literature, interviews with relevant stakeholders, and consensus among an expert group. The guideline consists of an individual and an environmental component. The individual component includes recommendations for occupational physicians on how to promote physical activity and healthy dietary behavior based on principles of motivational interviewing. The environmental component contains an obesogenic environment assessment tool. The guideline is evaluated in a randomised controlled trial among 20 occupational physicians. Occupational physicians in the intervention group apply the guideline to eligible workers during 6 months. Occupational physicians in the control group provide care as usual. Measurements take place at baseline and 6, 12, and 18 months thereafter. Primary outcome measures include waist circumference, daily physical activity and dietary behavior. Secondary outcome measures include sedentary behavior, determinants of behavior change, body weight and body mass index, cardiovascular disease risk profile, and quality of life. Additionally, productivity, absenteeism, and cost-effectiveness are assessed. Discussion Improving workers' daily physical activity and dietary behavior may prevent weight gain and subsequently improve workers' health, increase productivity, and reduce absenteeism. After an effect- and process evaluation the guideline will be adjusted and, after authorisation, published. Together with several implementation aids, the published guideline will be disseminated broadly by the Netherlands Society of Occupational Medicine. Trial Registration ISRCTN73545254/NTR1190 PMID:20003405

Creating a driving profile for older adults using GPS devices and naturalistic driving methodology.

PubMed

Babulal, Ganesh M; Traub, Cindy M; Webb, Mollie; Stout, Sarah H; Addison, Aaron; Carr, David B; Ott, Brian R; Morris, John C; Roe, Catherine M

2016-01-01

Background/Objectives : Road tests and driving simulators are most commonly used in research studies and clinical evaluations of older drivers. Our objective was to describe the process and associated challenges in adapting an existing, commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS), in-vehicle device for naturalistic, longitudinal research to better understand daily driving behavior in older drivers. Design : The Azuga G2 Tracking Device TM was installed in each participant's vehicle, and we collected data over 5 months (speed, latitude/longitude) every 30-seconds when the vehicle was driven.  Setting : The Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine. Participants : Five individuals enrolled in a larger, longitudinal study assessing preclinical Alzheimer disease and driving performance.  Participants were aged 65+ years and had normal cognition. Measurements :  Spatial components included Primary Location(s), Driving Areas, Mean Centers and Unique Destinations.  Temporal components included number of trips taken during different times of the day.  Behavioral components included number of hard braking, speeding and sudden acceleration events. Methods :  Individual 30-second observations, each comprising one breadcrumb, and trip-level data were collected and analyzed in R and ArcGIS.  Results : Primary locations were confirmed to be 100% accurate when compared to known addresses.  Based on the locations of the breadcrumbs, we were able to successfully identify frequently visited locations and general travel patterns.  Based on the reported time from the breadcrumbs, we could assess number of trips driven in daylight vs. night.  Data on additional events while driving allowed us to compute the number of adverse driving alerts over the course of the 5-month period. Conclusions : Compared to cameras and highly instrumented vehicle in other naturalistic studies, the compact COTS device was quickly installed and transmitted high volumes of data. Driving Profiles for older adults can be created and compared month-to-month or year-to-year, allowing researchers to identify changes in driving patterns that are unavailable in controlled conditions.

Effect of Individual Component Life Distribution on Engine Life Prediction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zaretsky, Erwin V.; Hendricks, Robert C.; Soditus, Sherry M.

2003-01-01

The effect of individual engine component life distributions on engine life prediction was determined. A Weibull-based life and reliability analysis of the NASA Energy Efficient Engine was conducted. The engine s life at a 95 and 99.9 percent probability of survival was determined based upon the engine manufacturer s original life calculations and assumed values of each of the component s cumulative life distributions as represented by a Weibull slope. The lives of the high-pressure turbine (HPT) disks and blades were also evaluated individually and as a system in a similar manner. Knowing the statistical cumulative distribution of each engine component with reasonable engineering certainty is a condition precedent to predicting the life and reliability of an entire engine. The life of a system at a given reliability will be less than the lowest-lived component in the system at the same reliability (probability of survival). Where Weibull slopes of all the engine components are equal, the Weibull slope had a minimal effect on engine L(sub 0.1) life prediction. However, at a probability of survival of 95 percent (L(sub 5) life), life decreased with increasing Weibull slope.

Knowing versus liking: Separating normative knowledge from social desirability in first impressions of personality.

PubMed

Rogers, Katherine H; Biesanz, Jeremy C

2015-12-01

There are strong differences between individuals in the tendency to view the personality of others as similar to the average person. That is, some people tend to form more normatively accurate impressions than do others. However, the process behind the formation of normatively accurate first impressions is not yet fully understood. Given that the average individual's personality is highly socially desirable (Borkenau & Zaltauskas, 2009; Wood, Gosling & Potter, 2007), individuals may achieve high normative accuracy by viewing others as similar to the average person or by viewing them in an overly socially desirable manner. The average self-reported personality profile and social desirability, despite being strongly correlated, independently and strongly predict first impressions. Further, some individuals have a more accurate understanding of the average individual's personality than do others. Perceivers with more accurate knowledge about the average individual's personality rated the personality of specific others more normatively accurately (more similar to the average person), suggesting that individual differences in normative judgments include a component of accurate knowledge regarding the average personality. In contrast, perceivers who explicitly evaluated others more positively formed more socially desirable impressions, but not more normatively accurate impressions. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

What distinguishes individual stocks from the index?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, F.; Milaković, M.; Alfarano, S.

2010-01-01

Stochastic volatility models decompose the time series of financial returns into the product of a volatility factor and an iid noise factor. Assuming a slow dynamic for the volatility factor, we show via nonparametric tests that both the index as well as its individual stocks share a common volatility factor. While the noise component is Gaussian for the index, individual stock returns turn out to require a leptokurtic noise. Thus we propose a two-component model for stocks, given by the sum of Gaussian noise, which reflects market-wide fluctuations, and Laplacian noise, which incorporates firm-specific factors such as firm profitability or growth performance, both of which are known to be Laplacian distributed. In the case of purely Gaussian noise, the chi-squared probability for the density of individual stock returns is typically on the order of 10-20, while it increases to values of O(1) by adding the Laplace component.

The sulfiredoxin-peroxiredoxin (Srx-Prx) axis in cell signal transduction and cancer development.

PubMed

Mishra, Murli; Jiang, Hong; Wu, Lisha; Chawsheen, Hedy A; Wei, Qiou

2015-10-01

Redox signaling is a critical component of cell signaling pathways that are involved in the regulation of cell growth, metabolism, hormone signaling, immune regulation and variety of other physiological functions. Peroxiredoxin (Prx) is a family of thiol-based peroxidase that acts as a regulator of redox signaling. Members of Prx family can act as antioxidants and chaperones. Sulfiredoxin (Srx) is an antioxidant protein that exclusively reduces over-oxidized typical 2-Cys Prx. Srx has different affinities for individual Prx and it also catalyzes the deglutathionylation of variety of substrates. Individual component of the Srx-Prx system plays critical role in carcinogenesis by modulating cell signaling pathways involved in cell proliferation, migration and metastasis. Expression levels of individual component of the Srx-Prx axis have been correlated with patient survival outcome in multiple cancer types. This review will summarize the molecular basis of differences in the affinity of Srx for individual Prx and the role of individual component of the Srx-Prx system in tumor progression and metastasis. This enhanced understanding of molecular aspects of Srx-Prx interaction and its role in cell signal transduction will help define the Srx-Prx system as a future therapeutic target in human cancer. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation design for a complex intervention program targeting loneliness in non-institutionalized elderly Dutch people.

PubMed

de Vlaming, Rianne; Haveman-Nies, Annemien; Van't Veer, Pieter; de Groot, Lisette Cpgm

2010-09-13

The aim of this paper is to provide the rationale for an evaluation design for a complex intervention program targeting loneliness among non-institutionalized elderly people in a Dutch community. Complex public health interventions characteristically use the combined approach of intervening on the individual and on the environmental level. It is assumed that the components of a complex intervention interact with and reinforce each other. Furthermore, implementation is highly context-specific and its impact is influenced by external factors. Although the entire community is exposed to the intervention components, each individual is exposed to different components with a different intensity. A logic model of change is used to develop the evaluation design. The model describes what outcomes may logically be expected at different points in time at the individual level. In order to address the complexity of a real-life setting, the evaluation design of the loneliness intervention comprises two types of evaluation studies. The first uses a quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design to evaluate the effectiveness of the overall intervention. A control community comparable to the intervention community was selected, with baseline measurements in 2008 and follow-up measurements scheduled for 2010. This study focuses on changes in the prevalence of loneliness and in the determinants of loneliness within individuals in the general elderly population. Complementarily, the second study is designed to evaluate the individual intervention components and focuses on delivery, reach, acceptance, and short-term outcomes. Different means of project records and surveys among participants are used to collect these data. Combining these two evaluation strategies has the potential to assess the effectiveness of the overall complex intervention and the contribution of the individual intervention components thereto.

Evaluation design for a complex intervention program targeting loneliness in non-institutionalized elderly Dutch people

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background The aim of this paper is to provide the rationale for an evaluation design for a complex intervention program targeting loneliness among non-institutionalized elderly people in a Dutch community. Complex public health interventions characteristically use the combined approach of intervening on the individual and on the environmental level. It is assumed that the components of a complex intervention interact with and reinforce each other. Furthermore, implementation is highly context-specific and its impact is influenced by external factors. Although the entire community is exposed to the intervention components, each individual is exposed to different components with a different intensity. Methods/Design A logic model of change is used to develop the evaluation design. The model describes what outcomes may logically be expected at different points in time at the individual level. In order to address the complexity of a real-life setting, the evaluation design of the loneliness intervention comprises two types of evaluation studies. The first uses a quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design to evaluate the effectiveness of the overall intervention. A control community comparable to the intervention community was selected, with baseline measurements in 2008 and follow-up measurements scheduled for 2010. This study focuses on changes in the prevalence of loneliness and in the determinants of loneliness within individuals in the general elderly population. Complementarily, the second study is designed to evaluate the individual intervention components and focuses on delivery, reach, acceptance, and short-term outcomes. Different means of project records and surveys among participants are used to collect these data. Discussion Combining these two evaluation strategies has the potential to assess the effectiveness of the overall complex intervention and the contribution of the individual intervention components thereto. PMID:20836840

Privacy-related context information for ubiquitous health.

PubMed

Seppälä, Antto; Nykänen, Pirkko; Ruotsalainen, Pekka

2014-03-11

Ubiquitous health has been defined as a dynamic network of interconnected systems. A system is composed of one or more information systems, their stakeholders, and the environment. These systems offer health services to individuals and thus implement ubiquitous computing. Privacy is the key challenge for ubiquitous health because of autonomous processing, rich contextual metadata, lack of predefined trust among participants, and the business objectives. Additionally, regulations and policies of stakeholders may be unknown to the individual. Context-sensitive privacy policies are needed to regulate information processing. Our goal was to analyze privacy-related context information and to define the corresponding components and their properties that support privacy management in ubiquitous health. These properties should describe the privacy issues of information processing. With components and their properties, individuals can define context-aware privacy policies and set their privacy preferences that can change in different information-processing situations. Scenarios and user stories are used to analyze typical activities in ubiquitous health to identify main actors, goals, tasks, and stakeholders. Context arises from an activity and, therefore, we can determine different situations, services, and systems to identify properties for privacy-related context information in information-processing situations. Privacy-related context information components are situation, environment, individual, information technology system, service, and stakeholder. Combining our analyses and previously identified characteristics of ubiquitous health, more detailed properties for the components are defined. Properties define explicitly what context information for different components is needed to create context-aware privacy policies that can control, limit, and constrain information processing. With properties, we can define, for example, how data can be processed or how components are regulated or in what kind of environment data can be processed. This study added to the vision of ubiquitous health by analyzing information processing from the viewpoint of an individual's privacy. We learned that health and wellness-related activities may happen in several environments and situations with multiple stakeholders, services, and systems. We have provided new knowledge regarding privacy-related context information and corresponding components by analyzing typical activities in ubiquitous health. With the identified components and their properties, individuals can define their personal preferences on information processing based on situational information, and privacy services can capture privacy-related context of the information-processing situation.

Differentiation of Organically and Conventionally Grown Tomatoes by Chemometric Analysis of Combined Data from Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Mid-infrared Spectroscopy and Stable Isotope Analysis.

PubMed

Hohmann, Monika; Monakhova, Yulia; Erich, Sarah; Christoph, Norbert; Wachter, Helmut; Holzgrabe, Ulrike

2015-11-04

Because the basic suitability of proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H NMR) to differentiate organic versus conventional tomatoes was recently proven, the approach to optimize (1)H NMR classification models (comprising overall 205 authentic tomato samples) by including additional data of isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS, δ(13)C, δ(15)N, and δ(18)O) and mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy was assessed. Both individual and combined analytical methods ((1)H NMR + MIR, (1)H NMR + IRMS, MIR + IRMS, and (1)H NMR + MIR + IRMS) were examined using principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and common components and specific weight analysis (ComDim). With regard to classification abilities, fused data of (1)H NMR + MIR + IRMS yielded better validation results (ranging between 95.0 and 100.0%) than individual methods ((1)H NMR, 91.3-100%; MIR, 75.6-91.7%), suggesting that the combined examination of analytical profiles enhances authentication of organically produced tomatoes.

Treating childhood traumatic grief: a pilot study.

PubMed

Cohen, Judith A; Mannarino, Anthony P; Knudsen, Kraig

2004-10-01

To examine the potential efficacy and specific timing of treatment response of individual child and parent trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy for childhood traumatic grief (CTG), a condition in which trauma symptoms impinge on the child's ability to successfully address the normal tasks of grieving. Twenty-two children and their primary caretakers received a manual-based 16-week treatment with sequential trauma- and grief-focused interventions. Children experienced significant improvements in CTG, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depressive, anxiety, and behavioral problems, with PTSD symptoms improving only during the trauma-focused treatment components and CTG improving during both trauma- and grief-focused components. Participating parents also experienced significant improvement in PTSD and depressive symptoms. The timing of improvements in CTG and PTSD symptoms lends support to providing sequential trauma- and grief-focused interventions and to the concept that CTG is related to but distinct from PTSD. The results also suggest the benefit of individual treatment for CTG and for including parents in the treatment of CTG. Randomized, controlled trials are needed to further test the efficacy of this treatment model.

Assembly of the Auditory Circuitry by a Hox Genetic Network in the Mouse Brainstem

PubMed Central

Di Bonito, Maria; Narita, Yuichi; Avallone, Bice; Sequino, Luigi; Mancuso, Marta; Andolfi, Gennaro; Franzè, Anna Maria; Puelles, Luis; Rijli, Filippo M.; Studer, Michèle

2013-01-01

Rhombomeres (r) contribute to brainstem auditory nuclei during development. Hox genes are determinants of rhombomere-derived fate and neuronal connectivity. Little is known about the contribution of individual rhombomeres and their associated Hox codes to auditory sensorimotor circuitry. Here, we show that r4 contributes to functionally linked sensory and motor components, including the ventral nucleus of lateral lemniscus, posterior ventral cochlear nuclei (VCN), and motor olivocochlear neurons. Assembly of the r4-derived auditory components is involved in sound perception and depends on regulatory interactions between Hoxb1 and Hoxb2. Indeed, in Hoxb1 and Hoxb2 mutant mice the transmission of low-level auditory stimuli is lost, resulting in hearing impairments. On the other hand, Hoxa2 regulates the Rig1 axon guidance receptor and controls contralateral projections from the anterior VCN to the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body, a circuit involved in sound localization. Thus, individual rhombomeres and their associated Hox codes control the assembly of distinct functionally segregated sub-circuits in the developing auditory brainstem. PMID:23408898

Assembly of the auditory circuitry by a Hox genetic network in the mouse brainstem.

PubMed

Di Bonito, Maria; Narita, Yuichi; Avallone, Bice; Sequino, Luigi; Mancuso, Marta; Andolfi, Gennaro; Franzè, Anna Maria; Puelles, Luis; Rijli, Filippo M; Studer, Michèle

2013-01-01

Rhombomeres (r) contribute to brainstem auditory nuclei during development. Hox genes are determinants of rhombomere-derived fate and neuronal connectivity. Little is known about the contribution of individual rhombomeres and their associated Hox codes to auditory sensorimotor circuitry. Here, we show that r4 contributes to functionally linked sensory and motor components, including the ventral nucleus of lateral lemniscus, posterior ventral cochlear nuclei (VCN), and motor olivocochlear neurons. Assembly of the r4-derived auditory components is involved in sound perception and depends on regulatory interactions between Hoxb1 and Hoxb2. Indeed, in Hoxb1 and Hoxb2 mutant mice the transmission of low-level auditory stimuli is lost, resulting in hearing impairments. On the other hand, Hoxa2 regulates the Rig1 axon guidance receptor and controls contralateral projections from the anterior VCN to the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body, a circuit involved in sound localization. Thus, individual rhombomeres and their associated Hox codes control the assembly of distinct functionally segregated sub-circuits in the developing auditory brainstem.

Identifying and quantifying urban recharge: a review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lerner, David N.

2002-02-01

The sources of and pathways for groundwater recharge in urban areas are more numerous and complex than in rural environments. Buildings, roads, and other surface infrastructure combine with man-made drainage networks to change the pathways for precipitation. Some direct recharge is lost, but additional recharge can occur from storm drainage systems. Large amounts of water are imported into most cities for supply, distributed through underground pipes, and collected again in sewers or septic tanks. The leaks from these pipe networks often provide substantial recharge. Sources of recharge in urban areas are identified through piezometry, chemical signatures, and water balances. All three approaches have problems. Recharge is quantified either by individual components (direct recharge, water-mains leakage, septic tanks, etc.) or holistically. Working with individual components requires large amounts of data, much of which is uncertain and is likely to lead to large uncertainties in the final result. Recommended holistic approaches include the use of groundwater modelling and solute balances, where various types of data are integrated. Urban recharge remains an under-researched topic, with few high-quality case studies reported in the literature.

The Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone System and Insulin Resistance in Humans

PubMed Central

Underwood, Patricia C

2012-01-01

Alterations in the renin angiotensin aldosterone system (RAAS) contribute to the underlying pathophysiology of insulin resistance in humans; however, individual differences in the treatment response of insulin resistance to RAAS blockade persist. Thus, understanding inter-individual differences in the relationship between the RAAS and insulin resistance may provide insights into improved personalized treatments and improved outcomes. The effects of the systemic RAAS on blood pressure regulation and glucose metabolism have been studied extensively; however, recent discoveries on the influence of local tissue RAAS in the skeletal muscle, heart, vasculature, adipocytes, and pancreas have led to an improved understanding of how activated tissue RAAS influences the development of insulin resistance and diabetes in humans. Angiotensin II (ANGII) is the predominant RAAS component contributing to insulin resistance; however, other players such as aldosterone, renin, and ACE2 are also involved. This review examines the role of local ANGII activity on insulin resistance development in skeletal muscle, adipocytes, and pancreas, followed by a discussion of the other RAAS components implicated in insulin resistance, including ACE2, Ang1-7, renin, and aldosterone. PMID:23242734

Abnormal-induced theta activity supports early directed-attention network deficits in progressive MCI.

PubMed

Deiber, Marie-Pierre; Ibañez, Vicente; Missonnier, Pascal; Herrmann, François; Fazio-Costa, Lara; Gold, Gabriel; Giannakopoulos, Panteleimon

2009-09-01

The electroencephalography (EEG) theta frequency band reacts to memory and selective attention paradigms. Global theta oscillatory activity includes a posterior phase-locked component related to stimulus processing and a frontal-induced component modulated by directed attention. To investigate the presence of early deficits in the directed attention-related network in elderly individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), time-frequency analysis at baseline was used to assess global and induced theta oscillatory activity (4-6Hz) during n-back working memory tasks in 29 individuals with MCI and 24 elderly controls (EC). At 1-year follow-up, 13 MCI patients were still stable and 16 had progressed. Baseline task performance was similar in stable and progressive MCI cases. Induced theta activity at baseline was significantly reduced in progressive MCI as compared to EC and stable MCI in all n-back tasks, which were similar in terms of directed attention requirements. While performance is maintained, the decrease of induced theta activity suggests early deficits in the directed-attention network in progressive MCI, whereas this network is functionally preserved in stable MCI.

Degradation mechanisms and accelerated testing in PEM fuel cells

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

Borup, Rodney L; Mukundan, Rangachary

2010-01-01

The durability of PEM fuel cells is a major barrier to the commercialization of these systems for stationary and transportation power applications. Although there has been recent progress in improving durability, further improvements are needed to meet the commercialization targets. Past improvements have largely been made possible because of the fundamental understanding of the underlying degradation mechanisms. By investigating component and cell degradation modes; defining the fundamental degradation mechanisms of components and component interactions new materials can be designed to improve durability. Various factors have been shown to affect the useful life of PEM fuel cells. Other issues arise frommore » component optimization. Operational conditions (such as impurities in either the fuel and oxidant stream), cell environment, temperature (including subfreezing exposure), pressure, current, voltage, etc.; or transient versus continuous operation, including start-up and shutdown procedures, represent other factors that can affect cell performance and durability. The need for Accelerated Stress Tests (ASTs) can be quickly understood given the target lives for fuel cell systems: 5000 hours ({approx} 7 months) for automotive, and 40,000 hrs ({approx} 4.6 years) for stationary systems. Thus testing methods that enable more rapid screening of individual components to determine their durability characteristics, such as off-line environmental testing, are needed for evaluating new component durability in a reasonable turn-around time. This allows proposed improvements in a component to be evaluated rapidly and independently, subsequently allowing rapid advancement in PEM fuel cell durability. These tests are also crucial to developers in order to make sure that they do not sacrifice durability while making improvements in costs (e.g. lower platinum group metal [PGM] loading) and performance (e.g. thinner membrane or a GDL with better water management properties). To achieve a deeper understanding and improve PEM fuel cell durability LANL is conducting research to better define fuel cell component degradation mechanisms and correlate AST measurements to component in 'real-world' situations.« less

Factors associated with active aging in Finland, Poland, and Spain.

PubMed

Perales, Jaime; Martin, Steven; Ayuso-Mateos, Jose Luis; Chatterji, Somnath; Garin, Noe; Koskinen, Seppo; Leonardi, Matilde; Miret, Marta; Moneta, Victoria; Olaya, Beatriz; Tobiasz-Adamczyk, Beata; Haro, Josep Maria

2014-08-01

Continuous population aging has raised international policy interest in promoting active aging (AA). AA theoretical models have been defined from a biomedical or a psychosocial perspective. These models may be expanded including components suggested by lay individuals. This paper aims to study the correlates of AA in three European countries, namely, Spain, Poland, and Finland using four different definitions of AA. The EU COURAGE in Europe project was a cross-sectional general adult population survey conducted in a representative sample of the noninstitutionalized population of Finland, Poland, and Spain. Participants (10,800) lived in the community. This analysis focuses on individuals aged 50 years old and over (7,987). Four definitions (two biomedical, one psychosocial, and a complete definition including biomedical, psychosocial, and external variables) of AA were analyzed. Differences in AA were found for country, age, education, and occupation. Finland scored consistently the highest in AA followed by Spain and Poland. Younger age was associated with higher AA. Higher education and occupation was associated with AA. Being married or cohabiting was associated with better AA compared to being widowed or separated in most definitions. Gender and urbanicity were not associated with AA, with few exceptions. Men scored higher in AA only in Spain, whereas there was no gender association in the other two countries. Being widowed was only associated with lower AA in Poland and not being married was associated with lower AA in Poland and Finland but not Spain. Associations with education, marital status, and occupation suggest that these factors are the most important components of AA. These association patterns, however, seem to vary across the three countries. Actions to promote AA in these countries may be addressed at reducing inequalities in occupation and education or directly tackling the components of AA lacking in each country.

Application of Intervention Mapping to develop a community-based health promotion pre-pregnancy intervention for adolescent girls in rural South Africa: Project Ntshembo (Hope)

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background South Africa (SA) is undergoing multiple transitions with an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases and high levels of overweight and obesity in adolescent girls and women. Adolescence is key to addressing trans-generational risk and a window of opportunity to intervene and positively impact on individuals’ health trajectories into adulthood. Using Intervention Mapping (IM), this paper describes the development of the Ntshembo intervention, which is intended to improve the health and well-being of adolescent girls in order to limit the inter-generational transfer of risk of metabolic disease, in particular diabetes risk. Methods This paper describes the application of the first four steps of IM. Evidence is provided to support the selection of four key behavioural objectives: viz. to eat a healthy, balanced diet, increase physical activity, reduce sedentary behaviour, and promote reproductive health. Appropriate behaviour change techniques are suggested and a theoretical framework outlining components of relevant behaviour change theories is presented. It is proposed that the Ntshembo intervention will be community-based, including specialist adolescent community health workers who will deliver a complex intervention comprising of individual, peer, family and community mobilisation components. Conclusions The Ntshembo intervention is novel, both in SA and globally, as it is: (1) based on strong evidence, extensive formative work and best practice from evaluated interventions; (2) combines theory with evidence to inform intervention components; (3) includes multiple domains of influence (community through to the individual); (4) focuses on an at-risk target group; and (5) embeds within existing and planned health service priorities in SA. PMID:25080940

Postearthquake relaxation after the 2004 M6 Parkfield, California, earthquake and rate-and-state friction

USGS Publications Warehouse

Savage, J.C.; Langbein, J.

2008-01-01

An unusually complete set of measurements (including rapid rate GPS over the first 10 days) of postseismic deformation is available at 12 continuous GPS stations located close to the epicenter of the 2004 M6.0 Parkfield earthquake. The principal component modes for the relaxation of the ensemble of those 12 GPS stations were determined. The first mode alone furnishes an adequate approximation to the data. Thus, the relaxation at all stations can be represented by the product of a common temporal function and distinct amplitudes for each component (north or east) of relaxation at each station. The distribution in space of the amplitudes indicates that the relaxation is dominantly strike slip. The temporal function, which spans times from about 5 min to 900 days postearthquake, can be fit by a superposition of three creep terms, each of the form ??l loge(1 + t/??l), with characteristic times ??, = 4.06, 0.11, and 0.0001 days. It seems likely that what is actually involved is a broad spectrum of characteristic times, the individual components of which arise from afterslip on different fault patches. Perfettini and Avouac (2004) have shown that an individual creep term can be explained by the spring-slider model with rate-dependent (no state variable) friction. The observed temporal function can also be explained using a single spring-slider model (i.e., single fault patch) that includes rate-and-state-dependent friction, a single-state variable, and either of the two commonly used (aging and slip) state evolution laws. In the latter fits, the rate-and-state friction parameter b is negative.

Error analysis and correction of discrete solutions from finite element codes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thurston, G. A.; Stein, P. A.; Knight, N. F., Jr.; Reissner, J. E.

1984-01-01

Many structures are an assembly of individual shell components. Therefore, results for stresses and deflections from finite element solutions for each shell component should agree with the equations of shell theory. This paper examines the problem of applying shell theory to the error analysis and the correction of finite element results. The general approach to error analysis and correction is discussed first. Relaxation methods are suggested as one approach to correcting finite element results for all or parts of shell structures. Next, the problem of error analysis of plate structures is examined in more detail. The method of successive approximations is adapted to take discrete finite element solutions and to generate continuous approximate solutions for postbuckled plates. Preliminary numerical results are included.

The psychology of doing nothing: forms of decision avoidance result from reason and emotion.

PubMed

Anderson, Christopher J

2003-01-01

Several independent lines of research bear on the question of why individuals avoid decisions by postponing them, failing to act, or accepting the status quo. This review relates findings across several different disciplines and uncovers 4 decision avoidance effects that offer insight into this common but troubling behavior: choice deferral, status quo bias, omission bias, and inaction inertia. These findings are related by common antecedents and consequences in a rational-emotional model of the factors that predispose humans to do nothing. Prominent components of the model include cost-benefit calculations, anticipated regret, and selection difficulty. Other factors affecting decision avoidance through these key components, such as anticipatory negative emotions, decision strategies, counterfactual thinking, and preference uncertainty, are also discussed.

Integrative approach for the treatment of PTSD in 9/11 first responders: Three core techniques

PubMed Central

Haugen, Peter T.; Splaun, Allison Keisler; Evces, Mark R.; Weiss, Daniel S.

2014-01-01

We describe an integrative psychotherapy for first responders to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, including those who continue to be psychologically impacted by these events, most of whom meet criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD. Three core techniques utilized in this treatment are described: (a) an emphasis on meaning making, particularly regarding the traumatic event; (b) focus on the most affect-laden components of the traumatic exposure; and (c) identifying and challenging the implicit strategies used by individuals to avoid discussion of components of their traumatic memories and the attendant negative affect. For each intervention, a theoretical rationale and the presumed mechanism of operation are presented. We discuss the clinical and research implications of this intervention. PMID:24000847

Evidence-Based Reading Instruction for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

PubMed Central

Whalon, Kelly J.; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Delano, Monica E.

2009-01-01

Legislation mandates that all children, including children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) be taught to read in ways that are consistent with reading research, and target the five components of evidence-based reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension strategies. The purpose of this review is to synthesize the literature on reading instruction for children with ASD that encompasses one or more of the five components of reading. The review yielded 11 studies with 61 participants ages 4 to 17. Results indicate that children with ASD can benefit from reading instruction consistent with reading research. Research in this area is still preliminary, and more research is needed to guide practice. Possible directions for future research are provided. PMID:20161582

Serological Reactivity and Identification of Immunoglobulin E-Binding Polypeptides of Ganoderma applanatum Crude Spore Cytoplasmic Extract in Puerto Rican Subjects.

PubMed

Vilá-Héreter, Frances; Rivera-Mariani, Félix E; Bolaños-Rosero, Benjamín

2017-01-01

The allergenic potential of Ganoderma applanatum basidiospores has been demonstrated previously in Puerto Rico. However, basidiomycete allergens are not available for inclusion in allergy diagnostic panels. Therefore, we sought to confirm allergic sensitization to G. applanatum crude spore cytoplasmic extract through reactivity in serological assays and detection of immunoglobulin E (IgE)-binding polypeptides. Via an indirect ELISA, serological reactivity was compared between groups of individuals with different allergic profiles. Group 1 (n = 51) consisted of individuals with sIgE to the allergens included in the diagnostic panels; group 2 (n = 14) comprised individuals with no sIgE to the allergens tested; and group 3 (n = 22) included individuals with no allergic history. To visualize IgE-binding polypeptides, group 1 sera were examined via Western blotting (WB). Polypeptide bands with the highest reactivity were analyzed by mass spectrometry (MS) for putative identification. The serological reactivity of group 1 was significantly higher than that of group 3 in an indirect ELISA (p = 0.03). Sixty-five percent of group 1 individuals showed reactivity to polypeptide bands in WB. Bands of 81 and 56 kDa had the highest reactivity proportions among the reactive sera, followed by a 45-kDa band. MS analysis of these 3 polypeptides suggests that they are basidiomycete-derived enzymes with aconitate hydratase, catalase, and enolase functions. G. applanatum spores have allergenic components recognized by Puerto Rican individuals, which could eventually be considered as markers in cases of fungal allergy and be included in diagnostic allergen panels in Puerto Rico and tropical regions. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Effects of virtual reality for stroke individuals based on the International Classification of Functioning and Health: a systematic review.

PubMed

Palma, Gisele Carla Dos Santos; Freitas, Tatiana Beline; Bonuzzi, Giordano Márcio Gatinho; Soares, Marcos Antonio Arlindo; Leite, Paulo Henrique Wong; Mazzini, Natália Araújo; Almeida, Murilo Ruas Groschitz; Pompeu, José Eduardo; Torriani-Pasin, Camila

2017-05-01

This review determines the effects of virtual reality interventions for stroke subjects based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability,and Health (ICF) framework. Virtual reality is a promising tool for therapy for stroke rehabilitation, but the effects of virtual reality interventions on post-stroke patients based on the specific ICF domains (Body Structures, Body Functions, Activity, and Participation) have not been investigated. A systematic review was conducted, including trials with adults with a clinical diagnosis of a chronic, subacute, or acute stroke. Eligible trials had to include studies with an intervention protocol and follow-up, with a focus on upper limbs and/or lower limbs and/or balance. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) was used to assess the methodological quality of randomized controlled trials. Each trial was separated according to methodological quality into a high-quality trial (PEDro ≥ 6) and a low-quality trial (PEDro ≤ 6). Only high-quality trials were analyzed specifically based on the outcome of these trials. In total, 54 trials involving 1811 participants were included. Of the papers included and considered high quality, 14 trials evaluated areas of the Body Structures component, 20 trials of the Body Functions domain, 17 trials of the Activity component, and 8 trials of the Participation domain. In relation to ICF Part 2, four trials evaluated areas of the Personal Factors component and one trial evaluated domains of the Environmental Factors component. The effects of virtual reality on stroke rehabilitation based on the ICF framework are positive in Body Function and Body Structure. However, the results in the domains Activity and Participation are inconclusive. More high-quality clinical trials are needed to confirm the effectiveness of virtual reality in the domains of Activity and Participation.

Mapping International University Partnerships Identified by East African Universities as Strengthening Their Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health Programs.

PubMed

Yarmoshuk, Aaron N; Guantai, Anastasia Nkatha; Mwangu, Mughwira; Cole, Donald C; Zarowsky, Christina

International university partnerships are recommended for increasing the capacity of sub-Saharan African universities. Many publications describe individual partnerships and projects, and tools are available for guiding collaborations, but systematic mappings of the basic, common characteristics of partnerships are scarce. To document and categorize the international interuniversity partnerships deemed significant to building the capacity of medicine, nursing, and public health programs of 4 East African universities. Two universities in Kenya and 2 in Tanzania were purposefully selected. Key informant interviews, conducted with 42 senior representatives of the 4 universities, identified partnerships they considered significant for increasing the capacity of their institutions' medicine, nursing, and public health programs in education, research, or service. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Partners were classified by country of origin and corresponding international groupings, duration, programs, and academic health science components. One hundred twenty-nine university-to-university partnerships from 23 countries were identified. Each university reported between 25 and 36 international university partners. Seventy-four percent of partnerships were with universities in high-income countries, 15% in low- and middle-income countries, and 11% with consortia. Seventy percent included medicine, 37% nursing, and 45% public health; 15% included all 3 programs. Ninety-two percent included an education component, 47% research, and 24% service; 12% included all 3 components. This study confirms the rapid growth of interuniversity cross-border health partnerships this century. It also finds, however, that there is a pool of established international partnerships from numerous countries at each university. Most partnerships that seek to strengthen universities in East Africa should likely ensure they have a significant education component. Universities should make more systematic information about past and existing partnerships available publicly. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Telomeres shorten more slowly in slow-aging wild animals than in fast-aging ones.

PubMed

Dantzer, Ben; Fletcher, Quinn E

2015-11-01

Research on the physiological causes of senescence aim to identify common physiological mechanisms that explain age-related declines in fitness across taxonomic groups. Telomeres are repetitive nucleotide sequences found on the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. Past research indicates that telomere attrition is strongly correlated with inter-specific rates of aging, though these studies cannot distinguish whether telomere attrition is a cause or consequence of the aging process. We extend previous research on this topic by incorporating recent studies to test the hypothesis that telomeres shorten more slowly with age in slow-aging animals than in fast-aging ones. We assembled all studies that have quantified cross-sectional (i.e. between-individual) telomere rates of change (TROC) over the lifespans of wild animals. This included 22 estimates reflecting absolute TROC (TROCabs, bp/yr, primarily measured using the terminal restriction fragment length method), and 10 estimates reflecting relative TROC (TROCrel, relative telomere length/yr, measured using qPCR), from five classes (Aves, Mammalia, Bivalvia, Reptilia, and Actinopterygii). In 14 bird species, we correlated between-individual (i.e. cross-sectional) TROCabs estimates with both maximum lifespan and a phylogenetically-corrected principle component axis (pcPC1) that reflected the slow-fast axis of life-history variation. Bird species characterized by faster life-histories and shorter maximum lifespans had faster TROCabs. In nine studies, both between-individual and within-individual TROC estimates were available (n=8 for TROCabs, n=1 for TROCrel). Within-individual TROC estimates were generally greater than between-individual TROC estimates, which is indicative of selective disappearance of individuals with shorter telomeres. However, the difference between within- and between-individual TROC estimates was only significant in two out of nine studies. The relationship between within-individual TROCabs and maximum lifespan did not differ from the relationship of between-individual TROCabs and maximum lifespan. Overall, our results provide additional support for the hypothesis that TROC is correlated with inter-specific rates of aging and complement the intra-specific research that also find relationships between telomere attrition and components of fitness. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Set up for Success: An Examination of the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program's Mentoring Component

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wyre, Dwuena Cene

2011-01-01

Often, individuals are set up to fail. However, effective mentoring can set individuals up to succeed. This nonexperimental cross-sectional, predictive study examines the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program's mentoring component. Specific focus is placed on faculty mentor competency and its impact on McNair student intent to…

45 CFR 2540.202 - What two search components of the National Service Criminal History Check must I satisfy to...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... Criminal History Check must I satisfy to determine an individual's suitability to serve in a covered... Service Criminal History Check must I satisfy to determine an individual's suitability to serve in a... National Service Criminal History Check, which consists of the following two search components: (a) State...

45 CFR 2540.202 - What two search components of the National Service Criminal History Check must I satisfy to...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Criminal History Check must I satisfy to determine an individual's suitability to serve in a covered... Service Criminal History Check must I satisfy to determine an individual's suitability to serve in a... National Service Criminal History Check, which consists of the following two search components: (a) State...

Toward human resource management in inter-professional health practice: linking organizational culture, group identity and individual autonomy.

PubMed

Tataw, David

2012-01-01

The literature on team and inter-professional care practice describes numerous barriers to the institutionalization of inter-professional healthcare. Responses to slow institutionalization of inter-professional healthcare practice have failed to describe change variables and to identify change agents relevant to inter-professional healthcare practice. The purpose of this paper is to (1) describe individual and organizational level barriers to collaborative practice in healthcare; (2) identify change variables relevant to the institutionalization of inter-professional practice at individual and organizational levels of analysis; and (3) identify human resource professionals as change agents and describe how the strategic use of the human resource function could transform individual and organizational level change variables and therefore facilitate the healthcare system's shift toward inter-professional practice. A proposed program of institutionalization includes the following components: a strategic plan to align human resource functions with organizational level inter-professional healthcare strategies, activities to enhance professional competencies and the organizational position of human resource personnel, activities to integrate inter-professional healthcare practices into the daily routines of institutional and individual providers, activities to stand up health provider champions as permanent leaders of inter-professional teams with human resource professionals as consultants and activities to bring all key players to the table including health providers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Barriers and facilitators to antiretroviral therapy adherence among Peruvian adolescents living with HIV: A qualitative study

PubMed Central

Wong, Milagros; Muñoz, Maribel; Valle, Emiliano; Leon, Segundo R.; Díaz Perez, Dayana; Kolevic, Lenka; Franke, Molly

2018-01-01

AIDS deaths among adolescents are increasing globally. This qualitative study investigated the barriers and facilitators to cART adherence among Peruvian adolescents living with HIV. Guided by a social ecological model, we analyzed transcripts from 24 psychosocial support groups for HIV-positive adolescents aged 13–17 years and 15 individual, in-depth interviews with cART providers and caregivers to identify the barriers and facilitators to cART adherence at the individual, family/caregiver and hospital levels. Most barriers and facilitators to cART adherence clustered at the individual and family/caregiver levels, centering on support provided to adolescents; history of declining health due to suboptimal cART adherence; side effects from antiretroviral drugs; and cART misinformation. Interventions to support adolescent HIV cART adherence should begin at the individual and family/caregiver levels and include an educational component. No adolescent living with HIV should die from AIDS in an era of accessible cART. PMID:29447226

Uncovering homo-and hetero-interactions on the cell membrane using single particle tracking approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torreno-Pina, Juan A.; Manzo, Carlo; Garcia-Parajo, Maria F.

2016-03-01

The plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells is responsible for a myriad of functions that regulate cell physiology and plays a crucial role in a multitude of processes that include adhesion, migration, signaling recognition and cell-cell communication. This is accomplished by specific interactions between different membrane components such as lipids and proteins on the lipid bilayer but also through interactions with the underlying cortical actin cytoskeleton on the intracellular side and the glycocalyx matrix in close proximity to the extracellular side. Advanced biophysical techniques, including single particle tracking (SPT) have revealed that the lateral diffusion of molecular components on the plasma membrane represents a landmark manifestation of such interactions. Indeed, by studying changes in the diffusivity of individual membrane molecules, including sub-diffusion, confined diffusion and/or transient arrest of molecules in membrane compartments, it has been possible to gain insight on the nature of molecular interactions and to infer on its functional role for cell response. In this review, we will revise some exciting results where SPT has been crucial to reveal homo- and hetero-interactions on the cell membrane.

Anatomy of health care reform proposals.

PubMed Central

Soffel, D; Luft, H S

1993-01-01

The current proliferation of proposals for health care reform makes it difficult to sort out the differences among plans and the likely outcome of different approaches to reform. The current health care system has two basic features. The first, enrollment and eligibility functions, includes how people get into the system and gain coverage for health care services. We describe 4 models, ranging from an individual, voluntary approach to a universal, tax-based model. The second, the provision of health care, includes how physician services are organized, how they are paid for, what mechanisms are in place for quality assurance, and the degree of organization and oversight of the health care system. We describe 7 models of the organization component, including the current fee-for-service system with no national health budget, managed care, salaried providers under a budget, and managed competition with and without a national health budget. These 2 components provide the building blocks for health care plans, presented as a matrix. We also evaluate several reform proposals by how they combine these 2 elements. PMID:8273344

Unsupervised Learning of Overlapping Image Components Using Divisive Input Modulation

PubMed Central

Spratling, M. W.; De Meyer, K.; Kompass, R.

2009-01-01

This paper demonstrates that nonnegative matrix factorisation is mathematically related to a class of neural networks that employ negative feedback as a mechanism of competition. This observation inspires a novel learning algorithm which we call Divisive Input Modulation (DIM). The proposed algorithm provides a mathematically simple and computationally efficient method for the unsupervised learning of image components, even in conditions where these elementary features overlap considerably. To test the proposed algorithm, a novel artificial task is introduced which is similar to the frequently-used bars problem but employs squares rather than bars to increase the degree of overlap between components. Using this task, we investigate how the proposed method performs on the parsing of artificial images composed of overlapping features, given the correct representation of the individual components; and secondly, we investigate how well it can learn the elementary components from artificial training images. We compare the performance of the proposed algorithm with its predecessors including variations on these algorithms that have produced state-of-the-art performance on the bars problem. The proposed algorithm is more successful than its predecessors in dealing with overlap and occlusion in the artificial task that has been used to assess performance. PMID:19424442

Automatic assembly of micro-optical components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gengenbach, Ulrich K.

1996-12-01

Automatic assembly becomes an important issue as hybrid micro systems enter industrial fabrication. Moving from a laboratory scale production with manual assembly and bonding processes to automatic assembly requires a thorough re- evaluation of the design, the characteristics of the individual components and of the processes involved. Parts supply for automatic operation, sensitive and intelligent grippers adapted to size, surface and material properties of the microcomponents gain importance when the superior sensory and handling skills of a human are to be replaced by a machine. This holds in particular for the automatic assembly of micro-optical components. The paper outlines these issues exemplified at the automatic assembly of a micro-optical duplexer consisting of a micro-optical bench fabricated by the LIGA technique, two spherical lenses, a wavelength filter and an optical fiber. Spherical lenses, wavelength filter and optical fiber are supplied by third party vendors, which raises the question of parts supply for automatic assembly. The bonding processes for these components include press fit and adhesive bonding. The prototype assembly system with all relevant components e.g. handling system, parts supply, grippers and control is described. Results of first automatic assembly tests are presented.

[Working environment and educational environment are two sides of the same coin].

PubMed

Kannegaard, Pia Nimann; Holm, Ellen Astrid

2014-01-20

Educational environment is of major importance for job satisfaction and it consists of several components including curriculum and values of the organization. Educational climate is the environment, as the individual physicians perceive it. Motivation is important for job satisfaction as well as for learning. Autonomy, responsibility, supervision, feedback are all important factors influencing motivation and learning. These factors must be supported through appropriate organization of work in hospital departments and in general practice.

The Top 30 Rising Stars Program: an inter-organizational approach to leadership succession planning.

PubMed

Dilworth, Katie; Lankshear, Sara; Cava, Maureen; Aldred, Jacqueline; Hawkes, Nancy; Lefebre, Nancy; Price, Jennifer; Lawler, Valerie

2011-01-01

An effective leadership development program is an organizational investment that advances individual performance while strengthening organizational capabilities. The Top 30 Rising Stars Program is a leadership succession program designed to enable leadership capacity building within and across organizations. Key components of the program include formal learning, stretch opportunities, and mentorship. Evaluation results reveal high participant satisfaction and an increase in reported self-confidence in their ability to assume a formal leadership position.

Performance Prediction and Simulation of Gas Turbine Engine Operation for Aircraft, Marine, Vehicular, and Power Generation

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-02-01

gas turbine systems is the Brayton cycle that passes atmospheric air, the working fluid, through the turbine only once. The thermodynamic steps of the... Brayton cycle include compression of atmospheric air, introduction and ignition of fuel, and expansion of the heated combustion gases through the...the two heat recovery steam generators to generate steam. The gas turbine model is built by connecting the individual components of the Brayton

NASIS data base management system - IBM 360/370 OS MVT implementation. 2: Overviews

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

The systems overviews of the NASA Aerospace Safety Information System (NASIS) are presented. The overviews are directed toward informing management of a system's capabilities and requirements. The intent of the overviews is to introduce the system features to interested individuals. Each overview contains a description of the component's activities and roles in the overall system. The description includes charts and diagrams and a discussion of the performance requirements and growth potential of the module.

Social and Behavioral Risk Marker Clustering Associated with Biological Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease: NHANES 2001–2004

PubMed Central

Everage, Nicholas J.; Linkletter, Crystal D.; Gjelsvik, Annie; McGarvey, Stephen T.; Loucks, Eric B.

2014-01-01

Background. Social and behavioral risk markers (e.g., physical activity, diet, smoking, and socioeconomic position) cluster; however, little is known whether clustering is associated with coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. Objectives were to determine if sociobehavioral clustering is associated with biological CHD risk factors (total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference, and diabetes) and whether associations are independent of individual clustering components. Methods. Participants included 4,305 males and 4,673 females aged ≥20 years from NHANES 2001–2004. Sociobehavioral Risk Marker Index (SRI) included a summary score of physical activity, fruit/vegetable consumption, smoking, and educational attainment. Regression analyses evaluated associations of SRI with aforementioned biological CHD risk factors. Receiver operator curve analyses assessed independent predictive ability of SRI. Results. Healthful clustering (SRI = 0) was associated with improved biological CHD risk factor levels in 5 of 6 risk factors in females and 2 of 6 risk factors in males. Adding SRI to models containing age, race, and individual SRI components did not improve C-statistics. Conclusions. Findings suggest that healthful sociobehavioral risk marker clustering is associated with favorable CHD risk factor levels, particularly in females. These findings should inform social ecological interventions that consider health impacts of addressing social and behavioral risk factors. PMID:24719858

Dietary self-efficacy predicts AHEI diet quality in women with previous gestational diabetes.

PubMed

Ferranti, Erin Poe; Narayan, K M Venkat; Reilly, Carolyn M; Foster, Jennifer; McCullough, Marjorie; Ziegler, Thomas R; Guo, Ying; Dunbar, Sandra B

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the association of intrapersonal influences of diet quality as defined by the Health Belief Model constructs in women with recent histories of gestational diabetes. A descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional design was used to analyze relationships between diet quality and intrapersonal variables, including perceptions of threat of type 2 diabetes mellitus development, benefits and barriers of healthy eating, and dietary self-efficacy, in a convenience sample of 75 community-dwelling women (55% minority; mean age, 35.5 years; SD, 5.5 years) with previous gestational diabetes mellitus. Diet quality was defined by the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI). Multiple regression was used to identify predictors of AHEI diet quality. Women had moderate AHEI diet quality (mean score, 47.6; SD, 14.3). Only higher levels of education and self-efficacy significantly predicted better AHEI diet quality, controlling for other contributing variables. There is a significant opportunity to improve diet quality in women with previous gestational diabetes mellitus. Improving self-efficacy may be an important component to include in nutrition interventions. In addition to identifying other important individual components, future studies of diet quality in women with previous gestational diabetes mellitus are needed to investigate the scope of influence beyond the individual to potential family, social, and environmental factors. © 2014 The Author(s).

Genomic BLUP including additive and dominant variation in purebreds and F1 crossbreds, with an application in pigs.

PubMed

Vitezica, Zulma G; Varona, Luis; Elsen, Jean-Michel; Misztal, Ignacy; Herring, William; Legarra, Andrès

2016-01-29

Most developments in quantitative genetics theory focus on the study of intra-breed/line concepts. With the availability of massive genomic information, it becomes necessary to revisit the theory for crossbred populations. We propose methods to construct genomic covariances with additive and non-additive (dominance) inheritance in the case of pure lines and crossbred populations. We describe substitution effects and dominant deviations across two pure parental populations and the crossbred population. Gene effects are assumed to be independent of the origin of alleles and allelic frequencies can differ between parental populations. Based on these assumptions, the theoretical variance components (additive and dominant) are obtained as a function of marker effects and allelic frequencies. The additive genetic variance in the crossbred population includes the biological additive and dominant effects of a gene and a covariance term. Dominance variance in the crossbred population is proportional to the product of the heterozygosity coefficients of both parental populations. A genomic BLUP (best linear unbiased prediction) equivalent model is presented. We illustrate this approach by using pig data (two pure lines and their cross, including 8265 phenotyped and genotyped sows). For the total number of piglets born, the dominance variance in the crossbred population represented about 13 % of the total genetic variance. Dominance variation is only marginally important for litter size in the crossbred population. We present a coherent marker-based model that includes purebred and crossbred data and additive and dominant actions. Using this model, it is possible to estimate breeding values, dominant deviations and variance components in a dataset that comprises data on purebred and crossbred individuals. These methods can be exploited to plan assortative mating in pig, maize or other species, in order to generate superior crossbred individuals in terms of performance.

Multidimensional structure of a questionnaire to assess barriers to and motivators of physical activity in recipients of solid organ transplantation.

PubMed

van Adrichem, Edwin J; Krijnen, Wim P; Dekker, Rienk; Ranchor, Adelita V; Dijkstra, Pieter U; van der Schans, Cees P

2017-11-01

To explore the underlying dimensions of the Barriers and Motivators Questionnaire that is used to assess barriers to and motivators of physical activity experienced by recipients of solid organ transplantation and thereby improve the application in research and clinical settings. A cross-sectional study was performed in recipients of solid organ transplantation (n = 591; median (IQR) age = 59 (49; 66); 56% male). The multidimensional structure of the questionnaire was analyzed by exploratory principal component analysis. Cronbach's α was calculated to determine internal consistency of the entire questionnaire and individual components. The barriers scale had a Cronbach's α of 0.86 and was subdivided into four components; α of the corresponding subscales varied between 0.80 and 0.66. The motivator scale had an α of 0.91 and was subdivided into four components with an α between 0.88 to 0.70. Nine of the original barrier items and two motivator items were not included in the component structure. A four-dimensional structure for both the barriers and motivators scale of the questionnaire is supported. The use of the indicated subscales increases the usability in research and clinical settings compared to the overall scores and provide opportunities to identify modifiable constructs to be targeted in interventions. Implications for rehabilitation Organ transplant recipients are less active than the general population despite established health benefits of physical activity. A multidimensional structure is shown in the Barriers and Motivators Questionnaire, the use of the identified subscales increases applicability in research and clinical settings. The use of the questionnaire with its component structure in the clinical practice of a rehabilitation physician could result in a faster assessment of problem areas in daily practice and result in a higher degree of clarity as opposed to the use of the individual items of the questionnaire.

The InSAR Scientific Computing Environment (ISCE): An Earth Science SAR Processing Framework, Toolbox, and Foundry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agram, P. S.; Gurrola, E. M.; Lavalle, M.; Sacco, G. F.; Rosen, P. A.

2016-12-01

The InSAR Scientific Computing Environment (ISCE) provides both a modular, flexible, and extensible framework for building software components and applications that work together seamlessly as well as a toolbox for processing InSAR data into higher level geodetic image products from a diverse array of radar satellites and aircraft. ISCE easily scales to serve as the SAR processing engine at the core of the NASA JPL Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) Center for Natural Hazards as well as a software toolbox for individual scientists working with SAR data. ISCE is planned as the foundational element in processing NISAR data, enabling a new class of analyses that take greater advantage of the long time and large spatial scales of these data. ISCE in ARIA is also a SAR Foundry for development of new processing components and workflows to meet the needs of both large processing centers and individual users. The ISCE framework contains object-oriented Python components layered to construct Python InSAR components that manage legacy Fortran/C InSAR programs. The Python user interface enables both command-line deployment of workflows as well as an interactive "sand box" (the Python interpreter) where scientists can "play" with the data. Recent developments in ISCE include the addition of components to ingest Sentinel-1A SAR data (both stripmap and TOPS-mode) and a new workflow for processing the TOPS-mode data. New components are being developed to exploit polarimetric-SAR data to provide the ecosystem and land-cover/land-use change communities with rigorous and efficient tools to perform multi-temporal, polarimetric and tomographic analyses in order to generate calibrated, geocoded and mosaicked Level-2 and Level-3 products (e.g., maps of above-ground biomass or forest disturbance). ISCE has been downloaded by over 200 users by a license for WinSAR members through the Unavco.org website. Others may apply directly to JPL for a license at download.jpl.nasa.gov.

Plant and algal cell walls: diversity and functionality

PubMed Central

Popper, Zoë A.; Ralet, Marie-Christine; Domozych, David S.

2014-01-01

Background Although plants and many algae (e.g. the Phaeophyceae, brown, and Rhodophyceae, red) are only very distantly related they are united in their possession of carbohydrate-rich cell walls, which are of integral importance being involved in many physiological processes. Furthermore, wall components have applications within food, fuel, pharmaceuticals, fibres (e.g. for textiles and paper) and building materials and have long been an active topic of research. As shown in the 27 papers in this Special Issue, as the major deposit of photosynthetically fixed carbon, and therefore energy investment, cell walls are of undisputed importance to the organisms that possess them, the photosynthetic eukaryotes (plants and algae). The complexities of cell wall components along with their interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment are becoming increasingly revealed. Scope The importance of plant and algal cell walls and their individual components to the function and survival of the organism, and for a number of industrial applications, are illustrated by the breadth of topics covered in this issue, which includes papers concentrating on various plants and algae, developmental stages, organs, cell wall components, and techniques. Although we acknowledge that there are many alternative ways in which the papers could be categorized (and many would fit within several topics), we have organized them as follows: (1) cell wall biosynthesis and remodelling, (2) cell wall diversity, and (3) application of new technologies to cell walls. Finally, we will consider future directions within plant cell wall research. Expansion of the industrial uses of cell walls and potentially novel uses of cell wall components are both avenues likely to direct future research activities. Fundamentally, it is the continued progression from characterization (structure, metabolism, properties and localization) of individual cell wall components through to defining their roles in almost every aspect of plant and algal physiology that will present many of the major challenges in future cell wall research. PMID:25453142

Plant and algal cell walls: diversity and functionality.

PubMed

Popper, Zoë A; Ralet, Marie-Christine; Domozych, David S

2014-10-01

Although plants and many algae (e.g. the Phaeophyceae, brown, and Rhodophyceae, red) are only very distantly related they are united in their possession of carbohydrate-rich cell walls, which are of integral importance being involved in many physiological processes. Furthermore,wall components have applications within food, fuel, pharmaceuticals, fibres (e.g. for textiles and paper) and building materials and have long been an active topic of research. As shown in the 27 papers in this Special Issue, as the major deposit of photosynthetically fixed carbon, and therefore energy investment, cell walls are of undisputed importance to the organisms that possess them, the photosynthetic eukaryotes ( plants and algae). The complexities of cell wall components along with their interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment are becoming increasingly revealed. The importance of plant and algal cell walls and their individual components to the function and survival of the organism, and for a number of industrial applications, are illustrated by the breadth of topics covered in this issue, which includes papers concentrating on various plants and algae, developmental stages, organs, cell wall components, and techniques. Although we acknowledge that there are many alternative ways in which the papers could be categorized (and many would fit within several topics), we have organized them as follows: (1) cell wall biosynthesis and remodelling, (2) cell wall diversity, and (3) application of new technologies to cell walls. Finally, we will consider future directions within plant cell wall research. Expansion of the industrial uses of cell walls and potentially novel uses of cell wall components are both avenues likely to direct future research activities. Fundamentally, it is the continued progression from characterization (structure, metabolism, properties and localization) of individual cell wall components through to defining their roles in almost every aspect of plant and algal physiology that will present many of the major challenges in future cell wall research.

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

Lin, Liyong, E-mail: linl@uphs.upenn.edu; Huang, Sheng; Kang, Minglei

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the utility of a comprehensive test pattern in validating calculation models that include the halo component (low-dose tails) of proton pencil beam scanning (PBS) spots. Such a pattern has been used previously for quality assurance purposes to assess spot shape, position, and dose. Methods: In this study, a scintillation detector was used to measure the test pattern in air at isocenter for two proton beam energies (115 and 225 MeV) of two IBA universal nozzles (UN #1 and UN #2). Planar measurements were compared with calculated dose distributions based on themore » weighted superposition of location-independent (UN #1) or location-dependent (UN #2) spot profiles, previously measured using a pair-magnification method and between two nozzles. Results: Including the halo component below 1% of the central dose is shown to improve the gamma-map comparison between calculation and measurement from 94.9% to 98.4% using 2 mm/2% criteria for the 115 MeV proton beam of UN #1. In contrast, including the halo component below 1% of the central dose does not improve the gamma agreement for the 115 MeV proton beam of UN #2, due to the cutoff of the halo component at off-axis locations. When location-dependent spot profiles are used for calculation instead of spot profiles at central axis, the gamma agreement is improved from 98.0% to 99.5% using 2 mm/2% criteria. The two nozzles clearly have different characteristics, as a direct comparison of measured data shows a passing rate of 89.7% for the 115 MeV proton beam. At 225 MeV, the corresponding gamma comparisons agree better between measurement and calculation, and between measurements in the two nozzles. Conclusions: In addition to confirming the primary component of individual PBS spot profiles, a comprehensive test pattern is useful for the validation of the halo component at off-axis locations, especially for low energy protons.« less

Optimal Lifestyle Components in Young Adulthood Are Associated With Maintaining the Ideal Cardiovascular Health Profile Into Middle Age.

PubMed

Gooding, Holly C; Shay, Christina M; Ning, Hongyan; Gillman, Matthew W; Chiuve, Stephanie E; Reis, Jared P; Allen, Norrina B; Lloyd-Jones, Donald M

2015-10-29

Middle-aged adults with ideal blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose levels exhibit substantially lower cardiovascular mortality than those with unfavorable levels. Four healthy lifestyle components-optimal body weight, diet, physical activity, and not smoking-are recommended for cardiovascular health (CVH). This study quantified associations between combinations of healthy lifestyle components measured in young adulthood and loss of the ideal CVH profile into middle age. Analyses included 2164 young adults in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study with the ideal CVH profile (defined as untreated blood pressure <120/80 mm Hg, total cholesterol <200 mg/dL, fasting blood glucose <100 mg/dL, and absence of cardiovascular disease) at baseline. Cox proportional hazards regression models estimated hazard ratios for loss of the ideal CVH profile over 25 years according to 4 individual and 16 combinations of optimal healthy lifestyle components measured in young adulthood: body mass index, physical activity, nonsmoking status, and diet quality. Models were adjusted for age, sex, race, education, study center, and baseline blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose. Eighty percent (n=1737) of participants lost the ideal CVH profile by middle age; loss was greatest for young adults with no optimal healthy lifestyle components at baseline. Relative to young adults with no optimal healthy lifestyle components, those with all 4 were less likely to lose the ideal CVH profile (hazard ratio 0.59, 95% CI 0.44-0.80). Combinations that included optimal body mass index and nonsmoking status were each associated with lower risk. Optimal body mass index and not smoking in young adulthood were protective against loss of the ideal CVH profile through middle age. Importance of diet and physical activity may be included through their effects on healthy weight. © 2015 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley Blackwell.

Novel entries in a fungal biofilm matrix encyclopedia.

PubMed

Zarnowski, Robert; Westler, William M; Lacmbouh, Ghislain Ade; Marita, Jane M; Bothe, Jameson R; Bernhardt, Jörg; Lounes-Hadj Sahraoui, Anissa; Fontaine, Joël; Sanchez, Hiram; Hatfield, Ronald D; Ntambi, James M; Nett, Jeniel E; Mitchell, Aaron P; Andes, David R

2014-08-05

Virulence of Candida is linked with its ability to form biofilms. Once established, biofilm infections are nearly impossible to eradicate. Biofilm cells live immersed in a self-produced matrix, a blend of extracellular biopolymers, many of which are uncharacterized. In this study, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the matrix manufactured by Candida albicans both in vitro and in a clinical niche animal model. We further explore the function of matrix components, including the impact on drug resistance. We uncovered components from each of the macromolecular classes (55% protein, 25% carbohydrate, 15% lipid, and 5% nucleic acid) in the C. albicans biofilm matrix. Three individual polysaccharides were identified and were suggested to interact physically. Surprisingly, a previously identified polysaccharide of functional importance, β-1,3-glucan, comprised only a small portion of the total matrix carbohydrate. Newly described, more abundant polysaccharides included α-1,2 branched α-1,6-mannans (87%) associated with unbranched β-1,6-glucans (13%) in an apparent mannan-glucan complex (MGCx). Functional matrix proteomic analysis revealed 458 distinct activities. The matrix lipids consisted of neutral glycerolipids (89.1%), polar glycerolipids (10.4%), and sphingolipids (0.5%). Examination of matrix nucleic acid identified DNA, primarily noncoding sequences. Several of the in vitro matrix components, including proteins and each of the polysaccharides, were also present in the matrix of a clinically relevant in vivo biofilm. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis demonstrated interaction of aggregate matrix with the antifungal fluconazole, consistent with a role in drug impedance and contribution of multiple matrix components. Importance: This report is the first to decipher the complex and unique macromolecular composition of the Candida biofilm matrix, demonstrate the clinical relevance of matrix components, and show that multiple matrix components are needed for protection from antifungal drugs. The availability of these biochemical analyses provides a unique resource for further functional investigation of the biofilm matrix, a defining trait of this lifestyle. Copyright © 2014 Zarnowski et al.

Multimodal evidence of regional midcingulate gray matter volume underlying conflict monitoring

PubMed Central

Parvaz, Muhammad A.; Maloney, Thomas; Moeller, Scott J.; Malaker, Pias; Konova, Anna B.; Alia-Klein, Nelly; Goldstein, Rita Z.

2014-01-01

Functional neuroimaging studies have long implicated the mid-cingulate cortex (MCC) in conflict monitoring, but it is not clear whether its structural integrity (i.e., the gray matter volume) influences its conflict monitoring function. In this multimodal study, we used T1-weighted MRI scans as well as event-related potentials (ERPs) to test whether the MCC gray matter volume is associated with the electrocortical marker (i.e., No-go N200 ERP component) of conflict monitoring in healthy individuals. The specificity of such a relationship in health was determined in two ways: by (A) acquiring the same data from individuals with cocaine use disorder (CUD), known to have deficits in executive function including behavioral monitoring; and (B) acquiring the P300 ERP component that is linked with attention allocation and not specifically with conflict monitoring. Twenty-five (39.1 ± 8.4 years; 8 females) healthy individuals and 25 (42.7 ± 5.9 years; 6 females) individuals with CUD underwent a rewarded Go/No-go task during which the ERP data was collected, and they also underwent a structural MRI scan. The whole brain regression analysis showed a significant correlation between MCC structural integrity and the well-known ERP measure of conflict monitoring (N200, but not the P300) in healthy individuals, which was absent in CUD who were characterized by reduced MCC gray matter volume, N200 abnormalities as well as reduced task accuracy. In individuals with CUD instead, the N200 amplitude was associated with drug addiction symptomatology. These results show that the integrity of MCC volume is directly associated with the electrocortical correlates of conflict monitoring in healthy individuals, and such an association breaks down in psychopathologies that impact these brain processes. Taken together, this MCC–N200 association may serve as a biomarker of improved behavioral monitoring processes in diseased populations. PMID:24918068

Multimodal evidence of regional midcingulate gray matter volume underlying conflict monitoring.

PubMed

Parvaz, Muhammad A; Maloney, Thomas; Moeller, Scott J; Malaker, Pias; Konova, Anna B; Alia-Klein, Nelly; Goldstein, Rita Z

2014-01-01

Functional neuroimaging studies have long implicated the mid-cingulate cortex (MCC) in conflict monitoring, but it is not clear whether its structural integrity (i.e., the gray matter volume) influences its conflict monitoring function. In this multimodal study, we used T1-weighted MRI scans as well as event-related potentials (ERPs) to test whether the MCC gray matter volume is associated with the electrocortical marker (i.e., No-go N200 ERP component) of conflict monitoring in healthy individuals. The specificity of such a relationship in health was determined in two ways: by (A) acquiring the same data from individuals with cocaine use disorder (CUD), known to have deficits in executive function including behavioral monitoring; and (B) acquiring the P300 ERP component that is linked with attention allocation and not specifically with conflict monitoring. Twenty-five (39.1 ± 8.4 years; 8 females) healthy individuals and 25 (42.7 ± 5.9 years; 6 females) individuals with CUD underwent a rewarded Go/No-go task during which the ERP data was collected, and they also underwent a structural MRI scan. The whole brain regression analysis showed a significant correlation between MCC structural integrity and the well-known ERP measure of conflict monitoring (N200, but not the P300) in healthy individuals, which was absent in CUD who were characterized by reduced MCC gray matter volume, N200 abnormalities as well as reduced task accuracy. In individuals with CUD instead, the N200 amplitude was associated with drug addiction symptomatology. These results show that the integrity of MCC volume is directly associated with the electrocortical correlates of conflict monitoring in healthy individuals, and such an association breaks down in psychopathologies that impact these brain processes. Taken together, this MCC-N200 association may serve as a biomarker of improved behavioral monitoring processes in diseased populations.

PARAFAC Modeling of Irradiation- and Oxidation-Induced Changes in Fluorescent Dissolved Organic Matter Extracted from Poultry Litter.

PubMed

Mangalgiri, Kiranmayi P; Timko, Stephen A; Gonsior, Michael; Blaney, Lee

2017-07-18

Parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) applied to fluorescence excitation emission matrices (EEMs) allows quantitative assessment of the composition of fluorescent dissolved organic matter (DOM). In this study, we fit a four-component EEM-PARAFAC model to characterize DOM extracted from poultry litter. The data set included fluorescence EEMs from 291 untreated, irradiated (253.7 nm, 310-410 nm), and oxidized (UV-H 2 O 2 , ozone) poultry litter extracts. The four components were identified as microbial humic-, terrestrial humic-, tyrosine-, and tryptophan-like fluorescent signatures. The Tucker's congruence coefficients for components from the global (i.e., aggregated sample set) model and local (i.e., single poultry litter source) models were greater than 0.99, suggesting that the global EEM-PARAFAC model may be suitable to study poultry litter DOM from individual sources. In general, the transformation trends of the four fluorescence components were comparable for all poultry litter sources tested. For irradiation at 253.7 nm, ozonation, and UV-H 2 O 2 advanced oxidation, transformation of the humic-like components was slower than that of the tryptophan-like component. The opposite trend was observed for irradiation at 310-410 nm, due to differences in UV absorbance properties of components. Compared to the other EEM-PARAFAC components, the tyrosine-like component was fairly recalcitrant in irradiation and oxidation processes. This novel application of EEM-PARAFAC modeling provides insight into the composition and fate of agricultural DOM in natural and engineered systems.

Brachycephalic airway obstructive syndrome in dogs: 90 cases (1991-2008).

PubMed

Fasanella, Frank J; Shivley, Jacob M; Wardlaw, Jennifer L; Givaruangsawat, Sumalee

2010-11-01

To determine the prevalence of individual anatomic components of brachycephalic airway obstructive syndrome (BAOS), including everted tonsils, and analyze the frequency with which each component occurs with 1 or more other components of BAOS in brachycephalic dogs. Retrospective case series. 90 dogs with BAOS. Medical records were reviewed for signalment, clinical signs at time of admission, historical and physical examination findings, BAOS components found on laryngoscopic examination of the pharynx and larynx, surgical procedures performed, and perioperative complications. English Bulldogs (55/90 [61%]), Pugs (19/90 [21%]), and Boston Terriers (8/90 [9%]) were the most common breeds with BAOS. The most common components of BAOS were elongated soft palate (85/90 [94%]), stenotic nares (69/90 [77%]), everted laryngeal saccules (59/90 [66%]), and everted tonsils (50/90 [56%]). Dogs most commonly had 3 or 4 components of BAOS, with the most common combination being stenotic nares, elongated soft palate, everted laryngeal saccules, and everted tonsils. Dogs with stenotic nares were significantly more likely to have everted laryngeal saccules (50/69 [72%]), and dogs with everted laryngeal saccules were significantly more likely to have everted tonsils (39/59 [66%]). Postoperative surgical complications occurred in 12% (10/83) of dogs that received corrective surgery. No specific BAOS component made dogs more likely to have complications. The prevalence of components of BAOS in brachycephalic dogs of this study differed from that reported previously, especially for everted tonsils. Thorough examination of the pharynx and larynx is necessary for detection of BAOS components.

Estimating variation in stomatal frequency at intra-individual, intra-site, and inter-taxonomic levels in populations of the Leonardoxa africana (Fabaceae) complex over environmental gradients in Cameroon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finsinger, Walter; Dos Santos, Thibaut; McKey, Doyle

2013-07-01

Variation of stomatal frequency (stomatal density and stomatal index) includes genetically-based, potentially-adaptive variation, and variation due to phenotypic plasticity, the degree of which may be fundamental to the ability to maintain high water-use efficiency and thus to deal with environmental change. We analysed stomatal frequency and morphology (pore length, pore width) in leaves from several individuals from nine populations of four sub-species of the Leonardoxa africana complex. The dataset represents a hierarchical sampling wherein factors are nested within each level (leaves in individuals, individuals in sites, etc.), allowing estimation of the contribution of different levels to overall variation, using variance-component analysis. SI showed significant variation among sites ("site" is largely confounded with "sub-species"), being highest in the sub-species localized in the highest-elevation site. However, most of the observed variance was accounted for at intra-site and intra-individual levels. This variance could reflect great phenotypic plasticity, presumably in response to highly local variation in micro-environmental conditions.

Force production in the rugby union scrum.

PubMed

Quarrie, K L; Wilson, B D

2000-04-01

In this study, we examined the relationship between anthropometric, strength and power characteristics of rugby forwards, their body position when scrummaging, and their ability to apply force when scrummaging. Force applied to an instrumented scrum machine was measured for 56 players, both individually and as scrum packs. Measurements of body position for individuals were made by digitizing videotape records of the trials. Forty players subsequently had their anthropometry assessed and completed several strength and power tests. Body mass, each component of somatotype, maximal anaerobic power developed on a cycle ergometer, and isokinetic knee extension strength correlated significantly with individual scrummaging force. A regression model (P < 0.001) including body mass, mesomorphy, maximal anaerobic power and hip angle while in the scrummaging position accounted for 45% of the variance in individual scrummaging force. The packs that produced the largest scrummaging forces were, in general, characterized by a greater pack force to sum of individual force ratio than the packs producing lower forces. Our results emphasize the need for a scrum pack to develop technique and coordination as a unit to maximize scrummaging force.

Component Structure of Individual Differences in True and False Recognition of Faces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bartlett, James C.; Shastri, Kalyan K.; Abdi, Herve; Neville-Smith, Marsha

2009-01-01

Principal-component analyses of 4 face-recognition studies uncovered 2 independent components. The first component was strongly related to false-alarm errors with new faces as well as to facial "conjunctions" that recombine features of previously studied faces. The second component was strongly related to hits as well as to the conjunction/new…

Motivation and Justice at Work: The Role of Emotion and Cognition Components of Personal and Collective Work Identity

PubMed Central

Nordhall, Ola; Knez, Igor

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of personal and collective work identity (including emotion and cognition components), in predicting work motivation (operationalized as work self-determined motivation) and organizational justice (operationalized as organizational pay justice). Digitized questionnaires were distributed by e-mail to 2905 members, teachers, of a Swedish trade union. A total of 768 individuals answered the questionnaire and by that participated in this study. Personal- compared to collective work identity was shown to positively associate with self-determined motivation accounted for by the emotion component of personal work identity. Collective compared to personal work identity was reported to positively associate with organizational pay justice accounted for by the cognition component of collective work identity. All this suggests that both work-related motivation and organizational justice might be, to some extent, accounted for by the psychological mechanisms of work identity and that, as predicted, different types of work identity, play different significant roles in predicting motivation and justice at work. More precisely, the emotion component of work identity was more pronounced in personal work-bonding relationships, and the cognitive component, of work identity in contrast, was more pronounced in collective work-bonding relationships. PMID:29379454

Motivation and Justice at Work: The Role of Emotion and Cognition Components of Personal and Collective Work Identity.

PubMed

Nordhall, Ola; Knez, Igor

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of personal and collective work identity (including emotion and cognition components), in predicting work motivation (operationalized as work self-determined motivation) and organizational justice (operationalized as organizational pay justice). Digitized questionnaires were distributed by e-mail to 2905 members, teachers, of a Swedish trade union. A total of 768 individuals answered the questionnaire and by that participated in this study. Personal- compared to collective work identity was shown to positively associate with self-determined motivation accounted for by the emotion component of personal work identity. Collective compared to personal work identity was reported to positively associate with organizational pay justice accounted for by the cognition component of collective work identity. All this suggests that both work-related motivation and organizational justice might be, to some extent, accounted for by the psychological mechanisms of work identity and that, as predicted, different types of work identity, play different significant roles in predicting motivation and justice at work. More precisely, the emotion component of work identity was more pronounced in personal work-bonding relationships, and the cognitive component, of work identity in contrast, was more pronounced in collective work-bonding relationships.

Anger, hostility, and hospitalizations in patients with heart failure.

PubMed

Keith, Felicia; Krantz, David S; Chen, Rusan; Harris, Kristie M; Ware, Catherine M; Lee, Amy K; Bellini, Paula G; Gottlieb, Stephen S

2017-09-01

Heart failure patients have a high hospitalization rate, and anger and hostility are associated with coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality. Using structural equation modeling, this prospective study assessed the predictive validity of anger and hostility traits for cardiovascular and all-cause rehospitalizations in patients with heart failure. 146 heart failure patients were administered the STAXI and Cook-Medley Hostility Inventory to measure anger, hostility, and their component traits. Hospitalizations were recorded for up to 3 years following baseline. Causes of hospitalizations were categorized as heart failure, total cardiac, noncardiac, and all-cause (sum of cardiac and noncardiac). Measurement models were separately fit for Anger and Hostility, followed by a Confirmatory Factor Analysis to estimate the relationship between the Anger and Hostility constructs. An Anger model consisted of State Anger, Trait Anger, Anger Expression Out, and Anger Expression In, and a Hostility model included Cynicism, Hostile Affect, Aggressive Responding, and Hostile Attribution. The latent construct of Anger did not predict any of the hospitalization outcomes, but Hostility significantly predicted all-cause hospitalizations. Analyses of individual trait components of each of the 2 models indicated that Anger Expression Out predicted all-cause and noncardiac hospitalizations, and Trait Anger predicted noncardiac hospitalizations. None of the individual components of Hostility were related to rehospitalizations or death. The construct of Hostility and several components of Anger are predictive of hospitalizations that were not specific to cardiac causes. Mechanisms common to a variety of health problems, such as self-care and risky health behaviors, may be involved in these associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Test of mindfulness and hope components in a psychological intervention for women with cancer recurrence.

PubMed

Thornton, Lisa M; Cheavens, Jennifer S; Heitzmann, Carolyn A; Dorfman, Caroline S; Wu, Salene M; Andersen, Barbara L

2014-12-01

Psychological interventions can attenuate distress and enhance coping for those with an initial diagnosis of cancer, but there are few intervention options for individuals with cancer recurrence. To address this gap, we developed and tested a novel treatment combining Mindfulness, Hope Therapy, and biobehavioral components. An uncontrolled, repeated measures design was used. Women (N = 32) with recurrent breast or gynecologic cancers were provided 20 treatment sessions in individual (n = 12) or group (n = 20) formats. On average, participants were middle aged (M = 58) and Caucasian (81%). Independent variables (i.e., hope and mindfulness) and psychological outcomes (i.e., depression, negative mood, worry, and symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder) were assessed pre-treatment and 2, 4, and 7 months later. Session-by-session therapy process (positive and negative affect, quality-of-life) and mechanism (use of intervention-specific skills) measures were also included. Distress, anxiety, and negative affect decreased, whereas positive affect and mental-health-related quality-of-life increased over the course of treatment, as demonstrated in mixed-effects models with the intent-to-treat sample. Both hope and mindfulness increased, and use of mindfulness skills was related to decreased anxiety. This treatment was feasible to deliver and was acceptable to patients. The trial serves as preliminary evidence for a multi-component intervention tailored to treat difficulties specific to recurrent cancer. The blending of the components was novel as well as theoretically and practically consistent. A gap in the literature is addressed, providing directions for testing interventions designed for patients coping with the continuing stressors and challenges of cancer recurrence.

Aging memories: differential decay of episodic memory components.

PubMed

Talamini, Lucia M; Gorree, Eva

2012-05-17

Some memories about events can persist for decades, even a lifetime. However, recent memories incorporate rich sensory information, including knowledge on the spatial and temporal ordering of event features, while old memories typically lack this "filmic" quality. We suggest that this apparent change in the nature of memories may reflect a preferential loss of hippocampus-dependent, configurational information over more cortically based memory components, including memory for individual objects. The current study systematically tests this hypothesis, using a new paradigm that allows the contemporaneous assessment of memory for objects, object pairings, and object-position conjunctions. Retention of each memory component was tested, at multiple intervals, up to 3 mo following encoding. The three memory subtasks adopted the same retrieval paradigm and were matched for initial difficulty. Results show differential decay of the tested episodic memory components, whereby memory for configurational aspects of a scene (objects' co-occurrence and object position) decays faster than memory for featured objects. Interestingly, memory requiring a visually detailed object representation decays at a similar rate as global object recognition, arguing against interpretations based on task difficulty and against the notion that (visual) detail is forgotten preferentially. These findings show that memories undergo qualitative changes as they age. More specifically, event memories become less configurational over time, preferentially losing some of the higher order associations that are dependent on the hippocampus for initial fast encoding. Implications for theories of long-term memory are discussed.

Sweat glucose and GLUT2 expression in atopic dermatitis: Implication for clinical manifestation and treatment

PubMed Central

Ono, Emi; Mori, Yuki; Yoshioka, Yoshichika; Nomura, Yuko; Munetsugu, Takichi; Yokozeki, Hiroo; Katayama, Ichiro

2018-01-01

Sweat includes active components and metabolites, which are needed to maintain skin homeostasis. Component changes in sweat derived from atopic dermatitis (AD) have been reported. To investigate the influence of sweat components on the pathogenesis of AD, we performed a multifaceted assessment, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy-based metabolomic analysis, and linked these features to clinical features of AD. Distinctive properties of AD sweat are the quite-variation in protein, anti-microbial peptides and glucose concentrations. pH, sodium, and other salt levels in sweat of AD were comparable to that of healthy subjects. Sweat from AD patients with acute inflammation had a more prominent increase in glucose concentration than sweat from healthy individuals or those with AD with chronic inflammation. Topical glucose application delayed recovery of transepidermal water loss in barrier-disrupted mice. Furthermore, the glucose transporter GLUT2 was highly expressed in the lumen of sweat glands from AD patients. AD patients with chronic inflammation had significantly increased GLUT2 mRNA expression and near normal sweat glucose levels. Despite the small sample size in our study, we speculate that the increased glucose levels might be affected by AD severity and phenotype. We hope that this report will bring novel insight into the impact of sweat components on the clinical manifestation of AD. PMID:29677207

Rehabilitation Interventions for Older Individuals with Cognitive Impairment Post Hip Fracture: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Resnick, Barbara; Beaupre, Lauren; McGilton, Katherine S; Galik, Elizabeth; Liu, Wen; Neuman, Mark D.; Gruber-Baldini, Ann L.; Orwig, Denise; Magaziner, Jay

2015-01-01

Purpose Currently, most rehabilitation services for individuals who sustain a hip fracture are not designed to meet the complex needs of those who also have cognitive impairment. The goal of this review was to identify current best practices for rehabilitation in long term care settings and approaches to optimize outcomes among individuals with dementia and other cognitive impairments post hip fracture. Procedures The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (the PRISMA Statement) was used to guide the review. Five electronic databases, including Pubmed, EMBASE, CINAHL (EBSCO), Medline (EBSCO) and PsycINFO (EBSCO), were searched for intervention studies published in English language journals. Studies were eligible if they focused on rehabilitation interventions post hip fracture among older individuals (≥ 65 years) with cognitive impairment who were living in or transferred to long-term care or post-acute/rehabilitation settings post hip fracture. Studies were excluded if they did not enroll individuals with cognitive impairment, the study was descriptive without any intervention content, or the intervention components were only medication, surgical approach or medical treatment. Main Findings A total of 4,478 records were identified, 1915 of which were duplicative, 2,563 were relevant based on title and after careful review seven studies were included. Two included studies were randomized controlled trials, one was a single group pre- and post-test, one a descriptive comparison between those with and without cognitive impairment, one a case controlled matched trial, one a nonequivalent groups trial, and one a case report. The interventions varied between manipulating the type and amount of exercise or testing multifactorial issues including environmental interventions and the use of an interdisciplinary team to address psychosocial factors, medication management, use of assistive devices, and specific preferences or concerns of the individuals. Conclusions The evidence summarized in this review suggests that it is feasible to implement rehabilitation programs focused on individuals with cognitive impairment in post-acute care settings. Moreover, there was evidence to suggest that intensive rehabilitation and exercise activities are beneficial, although innovative approaches may be needed to engage individuals with cognitive impairment. PMID:26612482

Rehabilitation Interventions for Older Individuals With Cognitive Impairment Post-Hip Fracture: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Resnick, Barbara; Beaupre, Lauren; McGilton, Katherine S; Galik, Elizabeth; Liu, Wen; Neuman, Mark D; Gruber-Baldini, Ann L; Orwig, Denise; Magaziner, Jay

2016-03-01

Currently, most rehabilitation services for individuals who sustain a hip fracture are not designed to meet the complex needs of those who also have cognitive impairment. The goal of this review was to identify current best practices for rehabilitation in long-term care settings and approaches to optimize outcomes among individuals with dementia and other cognitive impairments post-hip fracture. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Statement was used to guide the review. Five electronic databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL (EBSCO), Medline (EBSCO), and PsycINFO (EBSCO), were searched for intervention studies published in English language journals. Studies were eligible if they focused on rehabilitation interventions post-hip fracture among older individuals (≥ 65 years) with cognitive impairment who were living in or transferred to long-term care or postacute/rehabilitation settings post-hip fracture. Studies were excluded if they did not enroll individuals with cognitive impairment, the study was descriptive without any intervention content, or the intervention components were only medication, surgical approach or medical treatment. A total of 4478 records were identified, 1915 of which were duplicative, 2563 were relevant based on title, and after careful review 7 studies were included. Two included studies were randomized controlled trials, one was a single group pre- and post-test, one a descriptive comparison between those with and without cognitive impairment, one a case controlled matched trial, one a nonequivalent groups trial, and one a case report. The interventions varied between manipulating the type and amount of exercise or testing multifactorial issues including environmental interventions and the use of an interdisciplinary team to address psychosocial factors, medication management, use of assistive devices, and specific preferences or concerns of the individuals. The evidence summarized in this review suggests that it is feasible to implement rehabilitation programs focused on individuals with cognitive impairment in postacute care settings. Moreover, there was evidence to suggest that intensive rehabilitation and exercise activities are beneficial, although innovative approaches may be needed to engage individuals with cognitive impairment. Copyright © 2016 AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Agent-based models of cellular systems.

PubMed

Cannata, Nicola; Corradini, Flavio; Merelli, Emanuela; Tesei, Luca

2013-01-01

Software agents are particularly suitable for engineering models and simulations of cellular systems. In a very natural and intuitive manner, individual software components are therein delegated to reproduce "in silico" the behavior of individual components of alive systems at a given level of resolution. Individuals' actions and interactions among individuals allow complex collective behavior to emerge. In this chapter we first introduce the readers to software agents and multi-agent systems, reviewing the evolution of agent-based modeling of biomolecular systems in the last decade. We then describe the main tools, platforms, and methodologies available for programming societies of agents, possibly profiting also of toolkits that do not require advanced programming skills.

Addition of posttraumatic stress and sensory hypersensitivity more accurately estimates disability and pain than fear avoidance measures alone after whiplash injury.

PubMed

Pedler, Ashley; Kamper, Steven J; Sterling, Michele

2016-08-01

The fear avoidance model (FAM) has been proposed to explain the development of chronic disability in a variety of conditions including whiplash-associated disorders (WADs). The FAM does not account for symptoms of posttraumatic stress and sensory hypersensitivity, which are associated with poor recovery from whiplash injury. The aim of this study was to explore a model for the maintenance of pain and related disability in people with WAD including symptoms of PTSD, sensory hypersensitivity, and FAM components. The relationship between individual components in the model and disability and how these relationships changed over the first 12 weeks after injury were investigated. We performed a longitudinal study of 103 (74 female) patients with WAD. Measures of pain intensity, cold and mechanical pain thresholds, symptoms of posttraumatic stress, pain catastrophising, kinesiophobia, and fear of cervical spine movement were collected within 6 weeks of injury and at 12 weeks after injury. Mixed-model analysis using Neck Disability Index (NDI) scores and average 24-hour pain intensity as the dependent variables revealed that overall model fit was greatest when measures of fear of movement, posttraumatic stress, and sensory hypersensitivity were included. The interactive effects of time with catastrophising and time with fear of activity of the cervical spine were also included in the best model for disability. These results provide preliminary support for the addition of neurobiological and stress system components to the FAM to explain poor outcome in patients with WAD.

Community-based exercise programs as a strategy to optimize function in chronic disease: a systematic review.

PubMed

Desveaux, Laura; Beauchamp, Marla; Goldstein, Roger; Brooks, Dina

2014-03-01

Chronic diseases are the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Preliminary evidence suggests that community-based exercise (CBE) improves functional capacity (FC) and health-related quality of life (HRQL). To describe the structure and delivery of CBE programs for chronic disease populations and compare their impact on FC and HRQL to standard care. Randomized trials examining CBE programs for individuals with stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, osteoarthritis, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease were identified. Quality was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Meta-analyses were conducted using Review Manager 5.1. The protocol was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42012002786). Sixteen studies (2198 individuals, mean age 66.8±4.9 y) were included to describe program structures, which were comparable in their design and components, irrespective of the chronic disease. Aerobic exercise and resistance training were the primary interventions in 85% of studies. Nine studies were included in the meta-analysis. The weighted mean difference for FC, evaluated using the 6-minute walk test, was 41.7 m (95% confidence interval [CI], 20.5-62.8). The standardized mean difference for all FC measures was 0.18 (95% CI, 0.05-0.3). The standardized mean difference for the physical component of HRQL measures was 0.21 (95% CI, 0.05-0.4) and 0.38 (95% CI, 0.04-0.7) for the total score. CBE programs across chronic disease populations have similar structures. These programs appear superior to standard care with respect to optimizing FC and HRQL in individuals with osteoarthritis; however, the effect beyond this population is unknown. Long-term sustainability of these programs remains to be established.

Genetic and environmental transmission of body mass index fluctuation.

PubMed

Bergin, Jocilyn E; Neale, Michael C; Eaves, Lindon J; Martin, Nicholas G; Heath, Andrew C; Maes, Hermine H

2012-11-01

This study sought to determine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) fluctuation and cardiovascular disease phenotypes, diabetes, and depression and the role of genetic and environmental factors in individual differences in BMI fluctuation using the extended twin-family model (ETFM). This study included 14,763 twins and their relatives. Health and Lifestyle Questionnaires were obtained from 28,492 individuals from the Virginia 30,000 dataset including twins, parents, siblings, spouses, and children of twins. Self-report cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and depression data were available. From self-reported height and weight, BMI fluctuation was calculated as the difference between highest and lowest BMI after age 18, for individuals 18-80 years. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between BMI fluctuation and disease status. The ETFM was used to estimate the significance and contribution of genetic and environmental factors, cultural transmission, and assortative mating components to BMI fluctuation, while controlling for age. We tested sex differences in additive and dominant genetic effects, parental, non-parental, twin, and unique environmental effects. BMI fluctuation was highly associated with disease status, independent of BMI. Genetic effects accounted for ~34 % of variance in BMI fluctuation in males and ~43 % of variance in females. The majority of the variance was accounted for by environmental factors, about a third of which were shared among twins. Assortative mating, and cultural transmission accounted for only a small proportion of variance in this phenotype. Since there are substantial health risks associated with BMI fluctuation and environmental components of BMI fluctuation account for over 60 % of variance in males and over 50 % of variance in females, environmental risk factors may be appropriate targets to reduce BMI fluctuation.

An Excel-Based System to Manage Radiation Safety for the Family of Patients Undergoing 131I Therapy.

PubMed

Steward, Palmer G

2017-06-01

The purpose of this study was to develop spreadsheet workbooks that assist in the radiation safety counseling of 131 I therapy patients and their families, providing individualized guidelines that avoid imposing overly conservative restrictions on family members and others. Methods: The mathematic model included biphasic patient radionuclide retention. The extrathyroidal component was a cylindric volume with a diameter corresponding to the patient's size and included patient self-absorption, whereas the thyroidal component was a point source whose transmission was reduced by self-absorption. A separate model in which the thyroid, extrathyroid, and bladder compartments fed serially from one to the next was developed to depict the radionuclide levels within the patient and to estimate the activity entering the environment at each urination. Results: The system was organized into a set of 4 workbooks: the first to be used with ablation patients prepared using thyrogen, the second with ablation patients prepared by deprivation, the third with hyperthyroid patients, and the fourth with the unusual hyperthyroid patient who finds the restrictions to be oppressive and returns 5-10 d after administration for a measurement and reassessment. The workbooks evaluated the radiation field strength external to the patient and indicated restrictions based on selected dose limits. To assist physicians in suggesting contamination precautions, the workbooks also evaluated the radioactivity present within the patient and the estimated discharge into the environment as a function of time. Conclusion: The workbooks that were developed assist the radiation safety counselor in individualizing radiation protection procedures for the family of patients undergoing 131 I therapy. The workbook system avoids overly conservative assumptions while permitting selection of appropriate dose limits for each individual. © 2017 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.

Defining quality of care.

PubMed

Campbell, S M; Roland, M O; Buetow, S A

2000-12-01

This paper defines quality of health care. We suggest that there are two principal dimensions of quality of care for individual patients; access and effectiveness. In essence, do users get the care they need, and is the care effective when they get it? Within effectiveness, we define two key components--effectiveness of clinical care and effectiveness of inter-personal care. These elements are discussed in terms of the structure of the health care system, processes of care, and outcomes resulting from care. The framework relates quality of care to individual patients and we suggest that quality of care is a concept that is at its most meaningful when applied to the individual user of health care. However, care for individuals must placed in the context of providing health care for populations which introduces additional notions of equity and efficiency. We show how this framework can be of practical value by applying the concepts to a set of quality indicators contained within the UK National Performance Assessment Framework and to a set of widely used indicators in the US (HEDIS). In so doing we emphasise the differences between US and UK measures of quality. Using a conceptual framework to describe the totality of quality of care shows which aspects of care any set of quality indicators actually includes and measures and, and which are not included.

Ethics, policy, and educational issues in genetic testing.

PubMed

Williams, Janet K; Skirton, Heather; Masny, Agnes

2006-01-01

Analyze ethics, public policy, and education issues that arise in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) when genomic information acquired as a result of genetic testing is introduced into healthcare services. Priorities in the Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues Research Program include privacy, integration of genetic services into clinical health care, and educational preparation of the nursing workforce. These constructs are used to examine health policies in the US and UK, and professional interactions of individuals and families with healthcare providers. Individual, family, and societal goals may conflict with current healthcare practices and policies when genetic testing is done. Current health policies do not fully address these concerns. Unresolved issues include protection of privacy of individuals while considering genetic information needs of family members, determination of appropriate monitoring of genetic tests, addressing genetic healthcare discrepancies, and assuring appropriate nursing workforce preparation. Introduction of genetic testing into health care requires that providers are knowledgeable regarding ethical, policy, and practice issues in order to minimize risk for harm, protect the rights of individuals and families, and consider societal context in the management of genetic test results. Understanding of these issues is a component of genetic nursing competency that must be addressed at all levels of nursing education.

Physiotherapy for Ankylosing Spondylitis: Systematic Review and a Proposed Rehabilitation Protocol.

PubMed

Sharan, Deepak; Rajkumar, Joshua S

2017-01-01

Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease with gradual onset, largely affecting the axial skeleton. As leads to varying degrees of restricted spinal mobility, pain and loss of functional capacity. Rehabilitation, especially physiotherapy and exercises, are considered integral components of its management. Various rehabilitation modalities are available for the benefit of individuals with AS, but a sequenced protocol has not been reported. A scientific review was performed using the following search engines: MEDLINE (Pubmed), COCHRANE Library and Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). Studies, which had at least one of the groups receiving rehabilitation, and the major outcomes studied including pain, stiffness, mobility (spine and chest wall) and physical function (disease activity, ADL, QOL and global function) were selected. A total of 28 studies were shortlisted for the review which included a total of 1926 subjects with AS. The review of literature showed that individuals with AS had beneficial effects from exercise programmes compared to no exercise. Patient education, active involvement and motivation of individuals with AS played an important role in the overall treatment outcomes. Based on the review, a four-phase sequenced rehabilitation protocol has been laid down for the benefit of individuals with AS. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Components of Sexual Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shively, Michael G.; DeCecco, John P.

1977-01-01

This paper examines the four components of sexual identity: biological sex, gender identity, social sex-role, and sexual orientation. Theories about the development of each component and how they combine and conflict to form the individual's sexual identity are discussed. (Author)

Mapping gravitational-wave backgrounds using methods from CMB analysis: Application to pulsar timing arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gair, Jonathan; Romano, Joseph D.; Taylor, Stephen; Mingarelli, Chiara M. F.

2014-10-01

We describe an alternative approach to the analysis of gravitational-wave backgrounds, based on the formalism used to characterize the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. In contrast to standard analyses, this approach makes no assumptions about the nature of the background and so has the potential to reveal much more about the physical processes that generated it. An arbitrary background can be decomposed into modes whose angular dependence on the sky is given by gradients and curls of spherical harmonics. We derive the pulsar timing overlap reduction functions for the individual modes, which are given by simple combinations of spherical harmonics evaluated at the pulsar locations. We show how these can be used to recover the components of an arbitrary background, giving explicit results for both isotropic and anisotropic uncorrelated backgrounds. We also find that the response of a pulsar timing array to curl modes is identically zero, so half of the gravitational-wave sky will never be observed using pulsar timing, no matter how many pulsars are included in the array. An isotropic, unpolarized and uncorrelated background can be accurately represented using only three modes, and so a search of this type will be only slightly more complicated than the standard cross-correlation search using the Hellings and Downs overlap reduction function. However, by measuring the components of individual modes of the background and checking for consistency with isotropy, this approach has the potential to reveal much more information. Each individual mode on its own describes a background that is correlated between different points on the sky. A measurement of the components that indicates the presence of correlations in the background on large angular scales would suggest startling new physics.

Precision Orbit of δ Delphini and Prospects for Astrometric Detection of Exoplanets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gardner, Tyler; Monnier, John D.; Fekel, Francis C.; Williamson, Mike; Duncan, Douglas K.; White, Timothy R.; Ireland, Michael; Adams, Fred C.; Barman, Travis; Baron, Fabien; ten Brummelaar, Theo; Che, Xiao; Huber, Daniel; Kraus, Stefan; Roettenbacher, Rachael M.; Schaefer, Gail; Sturmann, Judit; Sturmann, Laszlo; Swihart, Samuel J.; Zhao, Ming

2018-03-01

Combining visual and spectroscopic orbits of binary stars leads to a determination of the full 3D orbit, individual masses, and distance to the system. We present a full analysis of the evolved binary system δ Delphini using astrometric data from the MIRC and PAVO instruments on the CHARA long-baseline interferometer, 97 new spectra from the Fairborn Observatory, and 87 unpublished spectra from the Lick Observatory. We determine the full set of orbital elements for δ Del, along with masses of 1.78 ± 0.07 M ⊙ and 1.62 ± 0.07 M ⊙ for each component, and a distance of 63.61 ± 0.89 pc. These results are important in two contexts: for testing stellar evolution models and for defining the detection capabilities for future planet searches. We find that the evolutionary state of this system is puzzling, as our measured flux ratios, radii, and masses imply a ∼200 Myr age difference between the components, using standard stellar evolution models. Possible explanations for this age discrepancy include mass transfer scenarios with a now-ejected tertiary companion. For individual measurements taken over a span of two years, we achieve <10 μas precision on the differential position with 10 minute observations. The high precision of our astrometric orbit suggests that exoplanet detection capabilities are within reach of MIRC at CHARA. We compute exoplanet detection limits around δ Del and conclude that, if this precision is extended to wider systems, we should be able to detect most exoplanets >2 M J on orbits >0.75 au around individual components of hot binary stars via differential astrometry.

Specificity of antibodies directed against the cytolethal distending toxin of Haemophilus ducreyi in patients with chancroid.

PubMed

Mbwana, Judica; Ahmed, Hinda J; Ahlman, Karin; Sundaeus, Vivian; Dahlén, Gunnar; Lyamuya, Eligius; Lagergård, Teresa

2003-09-01

Antibodies specific for the cytolethal-distending toxin of Haemophilus ducreyi (HdCDT) complex and for the CdtA, CdtB, and CdtC components were measured by ELISA in the sera of 50 patients with culture and/or PCR proven chancroid, 42 patients with periodontitis, 50 blood donors from Tanzania, 50 blood donors from Sweden. In addition, the biological activity e.g. neutralization capacity of the sera were tested. Our results demonstrate that majority of chancroid patients and healthy individuals had detectable levels of serum antibodies to HdCDT complex and to separate toxin components. However, high levels (> or =100 units) of antibodies to HdCDT complex were significantly more prevalent in the sera of patients with both chancroid and periodontitis than in the sera of the corresponding controls (P=0.001 and P=0.04, respectively). In the sera of the 50 patients with chancroid, antibodies to CdtA, CdtB, and CdtC were detected in 50, 35, and 34 individuals, respectively. Antibodies to CdtC, being less frequently detected than the antibodies to other components, show a good correlation with the neutralizing capacity of sera. High levels of neutralizing antibodies (> or =160) were detected in only 22 and 2% of the patients with chancroid and periodontitis, respectively. The data suggest that the low levels of anti-HdCDT antibodies, which include neutralizing antibodies, may contribute to limited protection in chancroid and since anti-HdCDT antibodies, may be detected in healthy individuals and in patients with certain disease conditions (e.g. periodontitis), they may not be specific markers for chancroid infection.

Semi-blind Bayesian inference of CMB map and power spectrum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vansyngel, Flavien; Wandelt, Benjamin D.; Cardoso, Jean-François; Benabed, Karim

2016-04-01

We present a new blind formulation of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) inference problem. The approach relies on a phenomenological model of the multifrequency microwave sky without the need for physical models of the individual components. For all-sky and high resolution data, it unifies parts of the analysis that had previously been treated separately such as component separation and power spectrum inference. We describe an efficient sampling scheme that fully explores the component separation uncertainties on the inferred CMB products such as maps and/or power spectra. External information about individual components can be incorporated as a prior giving a flexible way to progressively and continuously introduce physical component separation from a maximally blind approach. We connect our Bayesian formalism to existing approaches such as Commander, spectral mismatch independent component analysis (SMICA), and internal linear combination (ILC), and discuss possible future extensions.

Organization of rescue behaviour sequences in ants, Cataglyphis cursor, reflects goal-directedness, plasticity and memory.

PubMed

Duhoo, Thierry; Durand, Jean-Luc; Hollis, Karen L; Nowbahari, Elise

2017-06-01

The experimental study of rescue behaviour in ants, behaviour in which individuals help entrapped nestmates in distress, has revealed that rescuers respond to victims with very precisely targeted behaviour. In Cataglyphis cursor, several different components of rescue behaviour have been observed, demonstrating the complexity of this behaviour, including sand digging and sand transport to excavate the victim, followed by pulling on the victim's limbs as well as the object holding the victim in place, behaviour that serves to free the victim. Although previous work suggested that rescue was optimally organized, first to expose and then to extricate the victim under a variety of differing circumstances, experimental analysis of that organization has been lacking. Here, using experimental data, we characterize the pattern of individual rescue behaviour in C. cursor by analysing the probabilities of transitions from one behavioural component to another. The results show that the execution of each behavioural component is determined by the interplay of previous acts. In particular, we show not only that ants move sand away from the victim in an especially efficient sequence of behaviour that greatly minimizes energy expenditure, but also that ants appear to form some kind of memory of what they did in the past, a memory that directs their future behaviour. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Distributed acoustic cues for caller identity in macaque vocalization.

PubMed

Fukushima, Makoto; Doyle, Alex M; Mullarkey, Matthew P; Mishkin, Mortimer; Averbeck, Bruno B

2015-12-01

Individual primates can be identified by the sound of their voice. Macaques have demonstrated an ability to discern conspecific identity from a harmonically structured 'coo' call. Voice recognition presumably requires the integrated perception of multiple acoustic features. However, it is unclear how this is achieved, given considerable variability across utterances. Specifically, the extent to which information about caller identity is distributed across multiple features remains elusive. We examined these issues by recording and analysing a large sample of calls from eight macaques. Single acoustic features, including fundamental frequency, duration and Weiner entropy, were informative but unreliable for the statistical classification of caller identity. A combination of multiple features, however, allowed for highly accurate caller identification. A regularized classifier that learned to identify callers from the modulation power spectrum of calls found that specific regions of spectral-temporal modulation were informative for caller identification. These ranges are related to acoustic features such as the call's fundamental frequency and FM sweep direction. We further found that the low-frequency spectrotemporal modulation component contained an indexical cue of the caller body size. Thus, cues for caller identity are distributed across identifiable spectrotemporal components corresponding to laryngeal and supralaryngeal components of vocalizations, and the integration of those cues can enable highly reliable caller identification. Our results demonstrate a clear acoustic basis by which individual macaque vocalizations can be recognized.

Distributed acoustic cues for caller identity in macaque vocalization

PubMed Central

Doyle, Alex M.; Mullarkey, Matthew P.; Mishkin, Mortimer; Averbeck, Bruno B.

2015-01-01

Individual primates can be identified by the sound of their voice. Macaques have demonstrated an ability to discern conspecific identity from a harmonically structured ‘coo’ call. Voice recognition presumably requires the integrated perception of multiple acoustic features. However, it is unclear how this is achieved, given considerable variability across utterances. Specifically, the extent to which information about caller identity is distributed across multiple features remains elusive. We examined these issues by recording and analysing a large sample of calls from eight macaques. Single acoustic features, including fundamental frequency, duration and Weiner entropy, were informative but unreliable for the statistical classification of caller identity. A combination of multiple features, however, allowed for highly accurate caller identification. A regularized classifier that learned to identify callers from the modulation power spectrum of calls found that specific regions of spectral–temporal modulation were informative for caller identification. These ranges are related to acoustic features such as the call’s fundamental frequency and FM sweep direction. We further found that the low-frequency spectrotemporal modulation component contained an indexical cue of the caller body size. Thus, cues for caller identity are distributed across identifiable spectrotemporal components corresponding to laryngeal and supralaryngeal components of vocalizations, and the integration of those cues can enable highly reliable caller identification. Our results demonstrate a clear acoustic basis by which individual macaque vocalizations can be recognized. PMID:27019727

A novel approach in extracorporeal circulation: individual, integrated, and interactive heart-lung assist (I3-Assist).

PubMed

Wagner, Georg; Schlanstein, Peter; Fiehe, Sandra; Kaufmann, Tim; Kopp, Rüdger; Bensberg, Ralf; Schmitz-Rode, Thomas; Steinseifer, Ulrich; Arens, Jutta

2014-04-01

Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is a well-established technique for the treatment of different cardiac and pulmonary diseases, e.g., congenital heart disease and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Additionally, severely ill patients who cannot be weaned from the heart-lung machine directly after surgery have to be put on ECLS for further therapy. Although both systems include identical components, a seamless transition is not possible yet. The adaption of the circuit to the patients' size and demand is limited owing to the components available. The project I³-Assist aims at a novel concept for extracorporeal circulation. To better match the patient's therapeutic demand of support, an individual number of one-size oxygenators and heat exchangers will be combined. A seamless transition between cardiopulmonary bypass and ECLS will be possible as well as the exchange of components during therapy to enhance circuit maintenance throughout long-term support. Until today, a novel oxygenator and heat exchanger along with a simplified manufacturing protocol have been established. The first layouts of the unit to allow the spill- and bubble-free connection and disconnection of modules as well as improved cannulas and a rotational pump are investigated using computational fluid dynamics. Tests were performed according to current guidelines in vitro and in vivo. The test results show the feasibility and potential of the concept.

Role of social environment and social clustering in spread of opinions in coevolving networks.

PubMed

Malik, Nishant; Mucha, Peter J

2013-12-01

Taking a pragmatic approach to the processes involved in the phenomena of collective opinion formation, we investigate two specific modifications to the coevolving network voter model of opinion formation studied by Holme and Newman [Phys. Rev. E 74, 056108 (2006)]. First, we replace the rewiring probability parameter by a distribution of probability of accepting or rejecting opinions between individuals, accounting for heterogeneity and asymmetric influences in relationships between individuals. Second, we modify the rewiring step by a path-length-based preference for rewiring that reinforces local clustering. We have investigated the influences of these modifications on the outcomes of simulations of this model. We found that varying the shape of the distribution of probability of accepting or rejecting opinions can lead to the emergence of two qualitatively distinct final states, one having several isolated connected components each in internal consensus, allowing for the existence of diverse opinions, and the other having a single dominant connected component with each node within that dominant component having the same opinion. Furthermore, more importantly, we found that the initial clustering in the network can also induce similar transitions. Our investigation also indicates that these transitions are governed by a weak and complex dependence on system size. We found that the networks in the final states of the model have rich structural properties including the small world property for some parameter regimes.

Investigation of the dermal sensitization potential of various essential oils in the local lymph node assay.

PubMed

Lalko, J; Api, A M

2006-05-01

Essential oils are commonly used fragrance ingredients. The oils themselves are complex mixtures, which may contain naturally occurring contact sensitizers. The local lymph node assay was used to evaluate the dermal sensitization potential of basil, citronella, clove leaf, geranium, litsea cubeba, lemongrass, and palmarosa oils. Three of the major components--citral, eugenol, and geraniol--were included to investigate any difference in sensitization potential arising from their exposure in a mixture. Each fragrance material was tested at five concentration ranging from 2.5% to 50% w/v in 1:3 ethanol:diethyl phthalate. The stimulation index (SI) values were calculated for each dose level, an SI > or = 3 was considered a positive response. The estimated concentration (EC3) required to elicit a positive was calculated and taken as a measure of relative potency. The EC3 values and potency classification for basil, clove leaf, litsea cubeba, lemongrass and palmarosa oils were calculated to be <2.5% (> or = moderate), 7.1% (weak), 8.4% (weak), 6.5% (weak) and 9.6% (weak), respectively. Citronella and geranium oils were negative. The individual components citral, eugenol and geraniol resulted in EC3 values of 6.3%, 5.4% and 11.4%, respectively. In general, the potency of each essential oil did not differ significantly from that observed for its main individual component.

The burden of prenatal exposure to alcohol: revised measurement of cost.

PubMed

Stade, Brenda; Ali, Alaa; Bennett, Dainel; Campbell, Douglas; Johnston, Mary; Lens, Cynthia; Tran, Sofia; Koren, Gideon

2009-01-01

In Canada the incidence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is estimated to be 1 in 100 live births. FASD is the leading cause of developmental and cognitive disabilities in Canada. Only one study has examined the cost of FASD in Canada. In that study we did not include prospective data for infants under the age of one year, costs for adults beyond 21 years or costs for individuals living in institutions. To calculate a revised estimate of direct and indirect costs associated with FASD at the patient level. Cross-sectional study design was used. Two-hundred and fifty (250) participants completed the study tool. Participants included caregivers of children, youth and adults, with FASD, from day of birth to 53 years, living in urban and rural communities throughout Canada participated. Participants completed the Health Services Utilization Inventory (HSUI). Key cost components were elicited: direct costs: medical, education, social services, out-of-pocket costs; and indirect costs: productivity losses. Total average costs per individual with FASD were calculated by summing the costs for each in each cost component, and dividing by the sample size. Costs were extrapolated to one year. A stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to identify significant determinants of costs and to calculate the adjusted annual costs associated with FASD. Total adjusted annual costs associated with FASD at the individual level was $21,642 (95% CI, $19,842; $24,041), compared to $14,342 (95% CI, $12,986; $15,698) in the first study. Severity of the individual's condition, age, and relationship of the individual to the caregiver (biological, adoptive, foster) were significant determinants of costs (p < 0.001). Cost of FASD annually to Canada of those from day of birth to 53 years old, was $5.3 billion (95% CI, $4.12 billion; $6.4 billion). Study results demonstrated the cost burden of FASD in Canada was profound. Inclusion of infants aged 0 to 1 years, adults beyond the age of 21 years and costs associated with residing in institutions provided a more accurate estimate of the costs of FASD. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed. Key words: Alcohol, pregnancy, cost, economic burden, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Emotional Development in the First Two Years.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ricciuti, Henry N.

Concerning the issues of emotional development, general agreement can only be reached on the definition of "emotional" behavior. Behavior is emotional when it varies from an individual's behavioral baseline by the addition of three components: (1) an action component, (2) an arousal component, and (3) a subjective "feeling" component. In all areas…

10 CFR 611.207 - Small automobile and component manufacturers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Small automobile and component manufacturers. 611.207... VEHICLES MANUFACTURER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM Facility/Funding Awards § 611.207 Small automobile and component... individuals; and (2) Manufactures automobiles or components of automobiles. (b) Set Aside—Of the amount of...

10 CFR 611.207 - Small automobile and component manufacturers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Small automobile and component manufacturers. 611.207... VEHICLES MANUFACTURER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM Facility/Funding Awards § 611.207 Small automobile and component... individuals; and (2) Manufactures automobiles or components of automobiles. (b) Set Aside—Of the amount of...

10 CFR 611.207 - Small automobile and component manufacturers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Small automobile and component manufacturers. 611.207... VEHICLES MANUFACTURER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM Facility/Funding Awards § 611.207 Small automobile and component... individuals; and (2) Manufactures automobiles or components of automobiles. (b) Set Aside—Of the amount of...