Body size-dependent Cd accumulation in the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha from different routes.

PubMed

Tang, Wen-Li; Evans, Douglas; Kraemer, Lisa; Zhong, Huan

2017-02-01

Understanding body size-dependent metal accumulation in aquatic organisms (i.e., metal allometry) is critical in interpreting biomonitoring data. While growth has received the most attention, little is known about controls of metal exposure routes on metal allometry. Here, size-dependent Cd accumulation in zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) from different routes were investigated by exposing mussels to A.( 111 Cd spiked algae+ 113 Cd spiked river water) or B.( 111 Cd spiked sediments+ 113 Cd spiked river water). After exposure, 111 Cd or 113 Cd levels in mussel tissue were found to be negatively correlated with tissue weight, while Cd allometry coefficients (b values) were dependent on Cd exposure routes: -0.664 for algae, -0.241 for sediments and -0.379 for river water, compared to -0.582 in un-exposed mussels. By comparing different Cd exposure routes, we found that size-dependent Cd bioaccumulation from algae or river water could be more responsible for the overall size-dependent Cd accumulation in mussels, and the relative importance of the two sources was dependent on mussel size ranges: Cadmium obtained from algae (algae-Cd) was more important in size-dependent Cd accumulation in smaller mussels (tissue dry weight < 5 mg), while river water-Cd became more important in larger individuals (tissue dry weight > 5 mg). In contrast, sediment-Cd contributed only a small amount to Cd accumulation in zebra mussels and may have little effect on size-dependent Cd bioaccumulation. Our results suggest that size-dependent Cd accumulation in mussels could be largely affected by exposure routes, which should be considered when trying to interpret Cd biomonitoring data of zebra mussels. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The role of word order in the interpretation of canonical and non-canonical graphic symbol utterances: A developmental study.

PubMed

Trudeau, Natacha; Morford, Jill P; Sutton, Ann

2010-06-01

Graphic symbols are often used to represent words in Augmentative and Alternative Communication systems. Previous findings suggest that different processes operate when using graphic symbols and when using speech. This study assessed the ability of native speakers of French with no communication disorders from four age groups to interpret graphic-symbol sequences of varying length and canonicity. Results reveal that, as they get older, participants show an increase in their capacity to interpret graphic-symbol sequences. Constituent order played an important role in the interpretation of the sequences. However, the specific word-order strategies used varied depending on the age group and the type of sequence presented.

Pore dilation reconsidered

PubMed Central

Bean, Bruce P

2015-01-01

Previous experiments have suggested that many P2X family channels undergo a time-dependent process of pore dilation when activated by ATP. Li et al. now propose a different interpretation of the key experiments. PMID:26505561

Developing Appreciation for Sarcasm and Sarcastic Gossip: It Depends on Perspective.

PubMed

Glenwright, Melanie; Tapley, Brent; Rano, Jacqueline K S; Pexman, Penny M

2017-11-09

Speakers use sarcasm to criticize others and to be funny; the indirectness of sarcasm protects the addressee's face (Brown & Levinson, 1987). Thus, appreciation of sarcasm depends on the ability to consider perspectives. We investigated development of this ability from late childhood into adulthood and examined effects of interpretive perspective and parties present. We presented 9- to 10-year-olds, 13- to 14-year-olds, and adults with sarcastic and literal remarks in three parties-present conditions: private evaluation, public evaluation, and gossip. Participants interpreted the speaker's attitude and humor from the addressee's perspective and, when appropriate, from the bystander's perspective. Children showed no influence of interpretive perspective or parties present on appreciation of the speaker's attitude or humor. Adolescents and adults, however, shifted their interpretations, judging that addressees have less favorable views of criticisms than bystanders. Further, adolescents and adults differed in their perceptions of the social functions of gossip, with adolescents showing more positive attitudes than adults toward sarcastic gossip. We suggest that adults' disapproval of sarcastic gossip shows a deeper understanding of the utility of sarcasm's face-saving function. Thus, the ability to modulate appreciation of sarcasm according to interpretive perspective and parties present continues to develop in adolescence and into adulthood.

Spiritual Well-Being Scale Ethnic Differences between Caucasians and African-Americans: Follow Up Analyses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Geri; Gridley, Betty; Fleming, Willie

This follow up study is in response to Miller, Fleming, and Brown-Andersons (1998) study of ethnic differences between Caucasians and African-Americans where the authors suggested that the Spiritual Well-Being (SWB) Scale may need to be interpreted differently depending on ethnicity. In this study, confirmatory factor analyses were conducted for…

Interpretive Reliability of Six Computer-Based Test Interpretation Programs for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2.

PubMed

Deskovitz, Mark A; Weed, Nathan C; McLaughlan, Joseph K; Williams, John E

2016-04-01

The reliability of six Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Second edition (MMPI-2) computer-based test interpretation (CBTI) programs was evaluated across a set of 20 commonly appearing MMPI-2 profile codetypes in clinical settings. Evaluation of CBTI reliability comprised examination of (a) interrater reliability, the degree to which raters arrive at similar inferences based on the same CBTI profile and (b) interprogram reliability, the level of agreement across different CBTI systems. Profile inferences drawn by four raters were operationalized using q-sort methodology. Results revealed no significant differences overall with regard to interrater and interprogram reliability. Some specific CBTI/profile combinations (e.g., the CBTI by Automated Assessment Associates on a within normal limits profile) and specific profiles (e.g., the 4/9 profile displayed greater interprogram reliability than the 2/4 profile) were interpreted with variable consensus (α range = .21-.95). In practice, users should consider that certain MMPI-2 profiles are interpreted more or less consensually and that some CBTIs show variable reliability depending on the profile. © The Author(s) 2015.

Access to Healthcare Interpreter Services: Where Are We and Where Do We Need to Go?

PubMed Central

Bischoff, Alexander; Hudelson, Patricia

2010-01-01

Due to international migration, health care professionals in Switzerland increasingly encounter language barriers in communication with their patients. In order to examine health professionals’ attitudes and practices related to healthcare interpreting, we sent a self-administered questionnaire to heads of medical and nursing departments in public healthcare services in the canton of Basel-Stadt (N = 205, response rate 56%). Strategies used to communicate with foreign-language speaking patients differed, depending on the patient’s language. While nearly half of respondents relied on patients’ relatives to translate for Albanian, Tamil, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Portuguese and Turkish, a third did so for Spanish, and a fourth did so for Arabic. Eleven percent relied on professional interpreters for Spanish and 31% did so for Tamil and Arabic. Variations in strategies used appear to mainly reflect the availability of bilingual staff members for the different languages. Future efforts should focus on sensitizing health professionals to the problems associated with use of ad hoc interpreters, as well as facilitating access to professional interpreters. PMID:20717543

Quantum Mechanical Calculations of Vibrational Sum-Frequency-Generation (SFG) Spectra of Cellulose: Dependence of the CH and OH Peak Intensity on the Polarity of Cellulose Chains within the SFG Coherence Domain.

PubMed

Lee, Christopher M; Chen, Xing; Weiss, Philip A; Jensen, Lasse; Kim, Seong H

2017-01-05

Vibrational sum-frequency-generation (SFG) spectroscopy is capable of selectively detecting crystalline biopolymers interspersed in amorphous polymer matrices. However, the spectral interpretation is difficult due to the lack of knowledge on how spatial arrangements of crystalline segments influence SFG spectra features. Here we report time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations of cellulose crystallites in intimate contact with two different polarities: parallel versus antiparallel. TD-DFT calculations reveal that the CH/OH intensity ratio is very sensitive to the polarity of the crystallite packing. Theoretical calculations of hyperpolarizability tensors (β abc ) clearly show the dependence of SFG intensities on the polarity of crystallite packing within the SFG coherence length, which provides the basis for interpretation of the empirically observed SFG features of native cellulose in biological systems.

Random walk in nonhomogeneous environments: A possible approach to human and animal mobility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srokowski, Tomasz

2017-03-01

The random walk process in a nonhomogeneous medium, characterized by a Lévy stable distribution of jump length, is discussed. The width depends on a position: either before the jump or after that. In the latter case, the density slope is affected by the variable width and the variance may be finite; then all kinds of the anomalous diffusion are predicted. In the former case, only the time characteristics are sensitive to the variable width. The corresponding Langevin equation with different interpretations of the multiplicative noise is discussed. The dependence of the distribution width on position after jump is interpreted in terms of cognitive abilities and related to such problems as migration in a human population and foraging habits of animals.

Effect of lie labelling on children's evaluation of selfish, polite, and altruistic lies.

PubMed

Cheung, Him; Chan, Yawen; Tsui, Wan Chi Gigi

2016-09-01

This study investigates how 5- and 6-year-olds' evaluations of selfish, polite, and altruistic lies change as a result of whether these false statements are explicitly labelled as lies. We are also interested in how interpretive theory of mind may correlate with such evaluations with and without a lie label. Our results showed that labelling lowered children's evaluations for the polite and altruistic lies, but not for the selfish lies. Interpretive theory of mind correlated positively with the evaluation difference between the polite and altruistic lies and that between the selfish and altruistic lies in the label, but not in the non-label condition. Correlation between the selfish and altruistic lies and that between the polite and altruistic lies were stronger with than without labelling, after controlling for age, and verbal and non-verbal intelligence. We conclude that lie labelling biases children towards more negative evaluations for non-selfish lies and makes them see lies of different motives as more similar. If a lie label is applied, whether lies of different motives are still evaluated differently depends on interpretive theory of mind, which reflects the child's ability to represent and allow different interpretations of an ambiguous reality. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Characterizing crustal and uppermost mantle anisotropy with a depth-dependent tilted hexagonally symmetric elastic tensor: theory and examples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, L.; Xie, J.; Ritzwoller, M. H.

2017-12-01

Two major types of surface wave anisotropy are commonly observed by seismologists but are only rarely interpreted jointly: apparent radial anisotropy, which is the difference in propagation speed between horizontally and vertically polarized waves inferred from Love and Rayleigh waves, and apparent azimuthal anisotropy, which is the directional dependence of surface wave speeds (usually Rayleigh waves). We describe a method of inversion that interprets simultaneous observations of radial and azimuthal anisotropy under the assumption of a hexagonally symmetric elastic tensor with a tilted symmetry axis defined by dip and strike angles. With a full-waveform numerical solver based on the spectral element method (SEM), we verify the validity of the forward theory used for the inversion. We also present two examples, in the US and Tibet, in which we have successfully applied the tomographic method to demonstrate that the two types of apparent anisotropy can be interpreted jointly as a tilted hexagonally symmetric medium.

Comparison of five commercial anti-tetanus toxoid immunoglobulin G enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.

PubMed

Perry, A L; Hayes, A J; Cox, H A; Alcock, F; Parker, A R

2009-12-01

Five commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for the measurement of anti-tetanus toxoid immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies were evaluated for performance. The data suggest that there are manufacturer-dependent differences in sensitivity and accuracy for the determination of tetanus toxoid IgG antibodies that could result in different diagnostic interpretations.

Scheme dependence and transverse momentum distribution interpretation of Collins-Soper-Sterman resummation

DOE PAGES

Prokudin, Alexei; Sun, Peng; Yuan, Feng

2015-10-01

Following an earlier derivation by Catani-de Florian-Grazzini (2000) on the scheme dependence in the Collins-Soper- Sterman (CSS) resummation formalism in hard scattering processes, we investigate the scheme dependence of the Transverse Momentum Distributions (TMDs) and their applications. By adopting a universal C-coefficient function associated with the integrated parton distributions, the difference between various TMD schemes can be attributed to a perturbative calculable function depending on the hard momentum scale. Thus, we further apply several TMD schemes to the Drell-Yan process of lepton pair production in hadronic collisions, and find that the constrained non-perturbative form factors in different schemes are remarkablymore » consistent with each other and with that of the standard CSS formalism.« less

Scheme dependence and transverse momentum distribution interpretation of Collins-Soper-Sterman resummation

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

Prokudin, Alexei; Sun, Peng; Yuan, Feng

Following an earlier derivation by Catani-de Florian-Grazzini (2000) on the scheme dependence in the Collins-Soper- Sterman (CSS) resummation formalism in hard scattering processes, we investigate the scheme dependence of the Transverse Momentum Distributions (TMDs) and their applications. By adopting a universal C-coefficient function associated with the integrated parton distributions, the difference between various TMD schemes can be attributed to a perturbative calculable function depending on the hard momentum scale. Thus, we further apply several TMD schemes to the Drell-Yan process of lepton pair production in hadronic collisions, and find that the constrained non-perturbative form factors in different schemes are remarkablymore » consistent with each other and with that of the standard CSS formalism.« less

Scheme dependence and transverse momentum distribution interpretation of Collins-Soper-Sterman resummation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prokudin, Alexei; Sun, Peng; Yuan, Feng

2015-11-01

Following an earlier derivation by Catani, de Florian and Grazzini (2000) on the scheme dependence in the Collins-Soper-Sterman (CSS) resummation formalism in hard scattering processes, we investigate the scheme dependence of the Transverse Momentum Distributions (TMDs) and their applications. By adopting a universal C-coefficient function associated with the integrated parton distributions, the difference between various TMD schemes can be attributed to a perturbative calculable function depending on the hard momentum scale. We further apply several TMD schemes to the Drell-Yan process of lepton pair production in hadronic collisions, and find that the constrained non-perturbative form factors in different schemes are consistent with each other and with that of the standard CSS formalism.

The “Task B problem” and other considerations in developmental functional neuroimaging

PubMed Central

Church, Jessica A.; Petersen, Steven E.; Schlaggar, Bradley L.

2012-01-01

Functional neuroimaging provides a remarkable tool to allow us to study cognition across the lifespan and in special populations in a safe way. However, experimenters face a number of methodological issues, and these issues are particularly pertinent when imaging children. This brief article discusses assessing task performance, strategies for dealing with group performance differences, controlling for movement, statistical power, proper atlas registration, and data analysis strategies. In addition, there will be discussion of two other topics that have important implications for interpreting fMRI data: the question of whether functional neuroanatomical differences between adults and children are the consequence of putative developmental neurovascular differences, and the issue of interpreting negative blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) signal change. PMID:20496376

The value of core lab stress echocardiography interpretations: observations from the ISCHEMIA Trial.

PubMed

Kataoka, Akihisa; Scherrer-Crosbie, Marielle; Senior, Roxy; Gosselin, Gilbert; Phaneuf, Denis; Guzman, Gabriela; Perna, Gian; Lara, Alfonso; Kedev, Sasko; Mortara, Andrea; El-Hajjar, Mohammad; Shaw, Leslee J; Reynolds, Harmony R; Picard, Michael H

2015-12-18

Stress echocardiography (SE) is dependent on subjective interpretations. As a prelude to the International Study of Comparative Health Effectiveness with Medical and Invasive Approaches (ISCHEMIA) Trial, potential sites were required to submit two SE, one with moderate or severe left ventricular (LV) myocardial ischemia and one with mild ischemia. We evaluated the concordance of site and core lab interpretations. Eighty-one SE were submitted from 41 international sites. Ischemia was classified by the number of new or worsening segmental LV wall motion abnormalities (WMA): none, mild (1 or 2) or moderate or severe (3 or more) by the sites and the core lab. Core lab classified 6 SE as no ischemia, 35 mild and 40 moderate or greater. There was agreement between the site and core in 66 of 81 total cases (81%, weighted kappa coefficient [K] =0.635). Agreement was similar for SE type - 24 of 30 exercise (80%, K = 0.571) vs. 41 of 49 pharmacologic (84%, K = 0.685). The agreement between poor or fair image quality (27 of 36 cases, 75%, K = 0.492) was not as good as for the good or excellent image quality cases (39 of 45 cases, 87%, K = 0.755). Differences in concordance were noted for degree of ischemia with the majority of discordant interpretations (87%) occurring in patients with no or mild LV myocardial ischemia. While site SE interpretations are largely concordant with core lab interpretations, this appears dependent on image quality and the extent of WMA. Thus core lab interpretations remain important in clinical trials where consistency of interpretation across a range of cases is critical. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01471522.

[Historical pain concepts : Cultural influences on pain perception and interpretation].

PubMed

Schäfer, D

2017-02-01

In the age of globalization and cultural diversification differing concepts of pain in patient care are of increasing importance. Historical models of the origin and interpretation of pain, which in this article are presented in a cursory and exemplary way, help to understand the panoply of modern concepts outside of medicine. Basically, pain was viewed not only in religion and philosophy but also by premodern physicians as a psychophysical phenomenon crucially depending on the determination by a "soul" therefore creating therapeutic options even before the discovery of an effective analgesia. Furthermore, the historical interpretations of pain in and outside of medicine can still be of profound importance to patients even today.

Hydrogen Donor-Acceptor Fluctuations from Kinetic Isotope Effects: A Phenomenological Model

PubMed Central

Roston, Daniel; Cheatum, Christopher M.; Kohen, Amnon

2012-01-01

Kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) and their temperature dependence can probe the structural and dynamic nature of enzyme-catalyzed proton or hydride transfers. The molecular interpretation of their temperature dependence requires expensive and specialized QM/MM calculations to provide a quantitative molecular understanding. Currently available phenomenological models use a non-adiabatic assumption that is not appropriate for most hydride and proton-transfer reactions, while others require more parameters than the experimental data justify. Here we propose a phenomenological interpretation of KIEs based on a simple method to quantitatively link the size and temperature dependence of KIEs to a conformational distribution of the catalyzed reaction. The present model assumes adiabatic hydrogen tunneling, and by fitting experimental KIE data, the model yields a population distribution for fluctuations of the distance between donor and acceptor atoms. Fits to data from a variety of proton and hydride transfers catalyzed by enzymes and their mutants, as well as non-enzymatic reactions, reveal that steeply temperature-dependent KIEs indicate the presence of at least two distinct conformational populations, each with different kinetic behaviors. We present the results of these calculations for several published cases and discuss how the predictions of the calculations might be experimentally tested. The current analysis does not replace molecular quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) investigations, but it provides a fast and accessible way to quantitatively interpret KIEs in the context of a Marcus-like model. PMID:22857146

The development of socio-motivational dependency from early to middle adolescence

PubMed Central

Jagenow, Danilo; Raufelder, Diana; Eid, Michael

2015-01-01

Research on students’ motivation has shown that motivation can be enhanced or undermined by social factors. However, when interpreting such findings, interindividual differences, and intraindividual changes underlying students’ perception of peers and teachers as a source of motivation are often neglected. The aim of the present study was to complement our understanding of socio-motivational dependency by investigating differences in the development of students’ socio-motivational dependency from early to middle adolescence. Data from 1088 students on their perceptions of peers and teachers as positive motivators when students were in seventh and eighth grade were compared with data of the same sample 2 years later. Latent class analysis supported four different motivation types (MT): (1) teacher-dependent MT, (2) peer-dependent MT, (3) teacher-and-peer-dependent MT, and (4) teacher-and-peer-independent MT. Latent transition analysis revealed substantial changes between the groups. The perceived teacher influence on students’ academic motivation increased from early to middle adolescence. Divergent roles of peers and teachers on students’ academic motivation are discussed. PMID:25762966

Delayed matching to sample and concurrent learning in nonamnesic humans with alcohol dependence.

PubMed

Bowden, S C; Benedikt, R; Ritter, A J

1992-05-01

Small samples of alcohol-dependent subjects who showed no clinical signs of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome were compared with nonalcohol-dependent controls on two animal memory tests which are performed poorly by human amnesics. Compared to the control subjects, the alcohol-dependent subjects' performance was impaired on a version of the delayed matching to sample task. On concurrent discrimination learning the overall group difference just failed to reach significance. The results are interpreted as suggesting that behavioural impairment may occur in alcohol-dependent subjects who are not clinically amnesic, and that the impairment is similar in type to that observed in cases of severe Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome.

The meaning of "independence" for older people in different residential settings.

PubMed

Hillcoat-Nallétamby, Sarah

2014-05-01

Drawing on older people's understandings of "independence" and Collopy's work on autonomy, the article elaborates an interpretive framework of the concept in relation to 3 residential settings-the private dwelling-home, the extra-care, and the residential-care settings. Data include 91 qualitative interviews with frail, older people living in each setting, collected as part of a larger Welsh study. Thematic analysis techniques were employed to identify patterns in meanings of independence across settings and then interpreted using Collopy's conceptualizations of autonomy, as well as notions of space and interdependencies. Independence has multiple meanings for older people, but certain meanings are common to all settings: Accepting help at hand; doing things alone; having family, friends, and money as resources; and preserving physical and mental capacities. Concepts of delegated, executional, authentic, decisional, and consumer autonomy, as well as social interdependencies and spatial and social independence, do provide appropriate higher order interpretive constructs of these meanings across settings. A broader interpretive framework of "independence" should encompass concepts of relative independence, autonomy(ies), as well as spatial and social independence, and can provide more nuanced interpretations of structured dependency and institutionalization theories when applied to different residential settings.

Interpreting conjunctions.

PubMed

Bott, Lewis; Frisson, Steven; Murphy, Gregory L

2009-04-01

The interpretation generated from a sentence of the form P and Q can often be different to that generated by Q and P, despite the fact that and has a symmetric truth-conditional meaning. We experimentally investigated to what extent this difference in meaning is due to the connective and and to what extent it is due to order of mention of the events in the sentence. In three experiments, we collected interpretations of sentences in which we varied the presence of the conjunction, the order of mention of the events, and the type of relation holding between the events (temporally vs. causally related events). The results indicated that the effect of using a conjunction was dependent on the discourse relation between the events. Our findings contradict a narrative marker theory of and, but provide partial support for a single-unit theory derived from Carston (2002). The results are discussed in terms of conjunction processing and implicatures of temporal order.

Refilling the half-empty glass--Investigating the potential role of the Interpretation Modification Paradigm for Depression (IMP-D).

PubMed

Möbius, Martin; Tendolkar, Indira; Lohner, Valerie; Baltussen, Mirte; Becker, Eni S

2015-12-01

Cognitive biases are known to cause and maintain depression. However, little research has been done on techniques targeting interpretation tendencies found in depression, despite the promising findings of anxiety studies. This paper presents two experiments, investigating the suitability of an Interpretation Modification Paradigm for Depression (IMP-D) in healthy individuals, which has already proven its effectiveness in anxiety (Beard & Amir, 2008). Different from other paradigms, the IMP-D aims at modifying an interpretation bias on response- and on a more implicit reaction time-level, making this task less susceptible to demand effects. The Word-Sentence Association Paradigm for Depression (Hindash & Amir, 2011) was modified and administered in healthy volunteers (experiment I: N = 81; experiment II: N = 105). To enhance a positive interpretation bias, endorsing benign and rejecting negative interpretations of ambiguous scenarios was reinforced through feedback. This intervention was compared to the opposite training (both experiments) and a control training (experiment II only). Both experiments revealed a significant increase in bias towards benign interpretations on the level of overt decisions, while only in the first experiment a change was found on a reaction time level. These modifications are not reflected in group-differences in emotional vulnerability. Possible limitations regarding the reliability of inter-dependent response and reaction time measures are discussed. The IMP-D is able to modify interpretation biases, but adaptations are required to maximize its beneficial effects. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Interpreting change scores of the Behavioural Rating Scale for Geriatric Inpatients (GIP)].

PubMed

Diesfeldt, H F A

2013-09-01

The Behavioural Rating Scale for Geriatric Inpatients (GIP) consists of fourteen, Rasch modelled subscales, each measuring different aspects of behavioural, cognitive and affective disturbances in elderly patients. Four additional measures are derived from the GIP: care dependency, apathy, cognition and affect. The objective of the study was to determine the reproducibility of the 18 measures. A convenience sample of 56 patients in psychogeriatric day care was assessed twice by the same observer (a professional caregiver). The median time interval between rating occasions was 45 days (interquartile range 34-58 days). Reproducibility was determined by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC agreement) for test-retest reliability. The minimal detectable difference (MDD) was calculated based on the standard error of measurement (SEM agreement). Test-retest reliability expressed by the ICCs varied from 0.57 (incoherent behaviour) to 0.93 (anxious behaviour). Standard errors of measurement varied from 0.28 (anxious behaviour) to 1.63 (care dependency). The results show how the GIP can be applied when interpreting individual change in psychogeriatric day care participants.

Dependence of elastic hadron collisions on impact parameter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Procházka, Jiří; Lokajíček, Miloš V.; Kundrát, Vojtěch

2016-05-01

Elastic proton-proton collisions represent probably the greatest ensemble of available measured data, the analysis of which may provide a large amount of new physical results concerning fundamental particles. It is, however, necessary to analyze first some conclusions concerning pp collisions and their interpretations differing fundamentally from our common macroscopic experience. It has been argued, e.g., that elastic hadron collisions have been more central than inelastic ones, even if any explanation of the existence of so different processes, i.e., elastic and inelastic (with hundreds of secondary particles) collisions, under the same conditions has not been given until now. The given conclusion has been based on a greater number of simplifying mathematical assumptions (already done in earlier calculations), without their influence on physical interpretation being analyzed and entitled; the corresponding influence has started to be studied in the approach based on the eikonal model. The possibility of a peripheral interpretation of elastic collisions will be demonstrated and the corresponding results summarized. The arguments will be given on why no preference may be given to the mentioned centrality against the standard peripheral behaviour. The corresponding discussion on the contemporary description of elastic hadronic collision in dependence on the impact parameter will be summarized and the justification of some important assumptions will be considered.

Quantitative interpretation of heavy ion effects: Comparison of different systems and endpoints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiefer, J.

For a quantitative interpretation of biological heavy ion action the following parameters have to be taken into account: variations of energy depositions in microscopical sites, the dependence of primary lesion formation on local energy density and changes in repairability. They can be studied in objects of different size and with different sensitivities. Results on survival and mutation induction in yeast and in mammalian cells will be compared with theoretical predictions. It is shown that shouldered survival curves of diploid yeast can be adequately described if the final slope is adjusted according to the varying production of primary lesions. This is not the case for mammalian cells where the experiments show a rapid loss of the shoulder with LET, contrary to theoretical expectations. This behaviour is interpreted to mean that the repairability of heavy ion lesions is different in the two systems. Mutation induction is theoretically expected to decrease with higher LET. This is found in yeast but not in mammalian cells where it actually increases. These results suggest a higher rate of misrepair in mammalian cells.

Characterisation of the Context-Dependence of the Gene Concept in Research Articles: Possible Consequences for Teaching Concepts with Multiple Meanings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flodin, Veronica S.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to interpret and qualitatively characterise the content in some research articles and evaluate cases of possible difference in meanings of the gene concept used. Using a reformulation of Hirst's criteria of forms of knowledge, articles from five different sub-disciplines in biology (transmission genetic, molecular…

Model dependence and its effect on ensemble projections in CMIP5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abramowitz, G.; Bishop, C.

2013-12-01

Conceptually, the notion of model dependence within climate model ensembles is relatively simple - modelling groups share a literature base, parametrisations, data sets and even model code - the potential for dependence in sampling different climate futures is clear. How though can this conceptual problem inform a practical solution that demonstrably improves the ensemble mean and ensemble variance as an estimate of system uncertainty? While some research has already focused on error correlation or error covariance as a candidate to improve ensemble mean estimates, a complete definition of independence must at least implicitly subscribe to an ensemble interpretation paradigm, such as the 'truth-plus-error', 'indistinguishable', or more recently 'replicate Earth' paradigm. Using a definition of model dependence based on error covariance within the replicate Earth paradigm, this presentation will show that accounting for dependence in surface air temperature gives cooler projections in CMIP5 - by as much as 20% globally in some RCPs - although results differ significantly for each RCP, especially regionally. The fact that the change afforded by accounting for dependence across different RCPs is different is not an inconsistent result. Different numbers of submissions to each RCP by different modelling groups mean that differences in projections from different RCPs are not entirely about RCP forcing conditions - they also reflect different sampling strategies.

Investigating Score Dependability in English/Chinese Interpreter Certification Performance Testing: A Generalizability Theory Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Han, Chao

2016-01-01

As a property of test scores, reliability/dependability constitutes an important psychometric consideration, and it underpins the validity of measurement results. A review of interpreter certification performance tests (ICPTs) reveals that (a) although reliability/dependability checking has been recognized as an important concern, its theoretical…

Residual Gases in Crystal Growth Systems: Their Origin, Magnitude, and Dependence on the Processing Conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Palosz, W.

2003-01-01

Residual gases present in closed ampoules may affect different crystal growth processes. Their presence may affect techniques requiring low pressures and affect the crystal quality in different ways. For that reason a good understanding and control of formation of residual gases may be important for an optimum design and meaningful interpretation of crystal growth experiments. Our extensive experimental and theoretical study includes degassing of silica glass and generation of gases from various source materials. Different materials processing conditions, like outgassing under vacuum, annealing in hydrogen, resublimation, different material preparation procedures, multiple annealings, different processing times, and others were applied and their effect on the amount and composition of gas were analyzed. The experimental results were interpreted based on theoretical calculations on diffusion in silica glass and source materials and thermochemistry of the system. Procedures for a reduction of the amount of gas are also discussed.

Estimation of mountain slope stability depending on ground consistency and slip-slide resistance changes on impact of dynamic forces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayroyan, H. S.; Hayroyan, S. H.; Karapetyan, K. A.

2018-04-01

In this paper, three types of clayish soils with different consistency and humidity properties and slip-slide resistance indexes are considered on impact of different cyclic shear stresses. The side-surface deformation charts are constructed on the basis of experimental data obtained testing cylindrical soil samples. It is shown that the fluctuation amplitude depends on time and the consistency index depends on the humidity condition in the soil inner contact and the connectivity coefficients. Consequently, each experiment is interpreted. The main result of this research is that it is necessary to make corrections in the currently active schemes of slip-hazardous slopes stability estimation, which is a crucial problem requiring ASAP solution.

Seeing "the Dress" in the Right Light: Perceived Colors and Inferred Light Sources.

PubMed

Chetverikov, Andrey; Ivanchei, Ivan

2016-08-01

In the well-known "dress" photograph, people either see the dress as blue with black stripes or as white with golden stripes. We suggest that the perception of colors is guided by the scene interpretation and the inferred positions of light sources. We tested this hypothesis in two online studies using color matching to estimate the colors observers see, while controlling for individual differences in gray point bias and color discrimination. Study 1 demonstrates that the interpretation of the dress corresponds to differences in perceived colors. Moreover, people who perceive the dress as blue-and-black are two times more likely to consider the light source as frontal, than those who see the white-and-gold dress. The inferred light sources, in turn, depend on the circadian changes in ambient light. The interpretation of the scene background as a wall or a mirror is consistent with the perceived colors as well. Study 2 shows that matching provides reliable results on differing devices and replicates the findings on scene interpretation and light sources. Additionally, we show that participants' environmental lighting conditions are an important cue for perceiving the dress colors. The exact mechanisms of how environmental lighting and circadian changes influence the perceived colors of the dress deserve further investigation.

Current-direction dependence of the transport properties in single-crystalline face-centered-cubic cobalt films

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

Xiao, X.; Liang, J. H.; Chen, B. L.

2015-07-28

Face-centered-cubic cobalt films are epitaxially grown on insulating LaAlO{sub 3}(001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Transport measurements are conducted in different current directions relative to the crystal axes. We find that the temperature dependent anisotropic magnetoresistance ratio strongly depends on the current direction. However, the anomalous Hall effect shows isotropic behavior independent of the current direction. Our results demonstrate the interplay between the current direction and the crystalline lattice in single-crystalline ferromagnetic films. A phenomenological analysis is presented to interpret the experimental data.

Understanding the length dependence of molecular junction thermopower.

PubMed

Karlström, Olov; Strange, Mikkel; Solomon, Gemma C

2014-01-28

Thermopower of molecular junctions is sensitive to details in the junction and may increase, decrease, or saturate with increasing chain length, depending on the system. Using McConnell's theory for exponentially suppressed transport together with a simple and easily interpretable tight binding model, we show how these different behaviors depend on the molecular backbone and its binding to the contacts. We distinguish between resonances from binding groups or undercoordinated electrode atoms, and those from the periodic backbone. It is demonstrated that while the former gives a length-independent contribution to the thermopower, possibly changing its sign, the latter determines its length dependence. This means that the question of which orbitals from the periodic chain that dominate the transport should not be inferred from the sign of the thermopower but from its length dependence. We find that the same molecular backbone can, in principle, show four qualitatively different thermopower trends depending on the binding group: It can be positive or negative for short chains, and it can either increase or decrease with length.

New Interpretations of Native American Literature: A Survival Technique.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buller, Galen

1980-01-01

Uses examples from the work of several Native American authors, including N. Scott Momaday and Leslie Silko, to discuss five unique elements in American Indian literature: reverence for words, dependence on a sense of place, sense of ritual, affirmation of the need for community, and a significantly different world view. (SB)

Black-White Summer Learning Gaps: Interpreting the Variability of Estimates across Representations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quinn, David M.

2015-01-01

The estimation of racial test score gap trends plays an important role in monitoring educational equality. Documenting gap trends is complex, however, and estimates can differ depending on the metric, modeling strategy, and psychometric assumptions. The sensitivity of summer learning gap estimates to these factors has been under-examined. Using…

Comparing Standard Deviation Effects across Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ost, Ben; Gangopadhyaya, Anuj; Schiman, Jeffrey C.

2017-01-01

Studies using tests scores as the dependent variable often report point estimates in student standard deviation units. We note that a standard deviation is not a standard unit of measurement since the distribution of test scores can vary across contexts. As such, researchers should be cautious when interpreting differences in the numerical size of…

Context in Generalized Conversational Implicatures: The Case of Some

PubMed Central

Dupuy, Ludivine E.; Van der Henst, Jean-Baptiste; Cheylus, Anne; Reboul, Anne C.

2016-01-01

There is now general agreement about the optionality of scalar implicatures: the pragmatic interpretation will be accessed depending on the context relative to which the utterance is interpreted. The question, then, is what makes a context upper- (vs. lower-) bounding. Neo-Gricean accounts should predict that contexts including factual information will enhance the rate of pragmatic interpretations. Post-Gricean accounts should predict that contexts including psychological attributions will enhance the rate of pragmatic interpretations. We tested two factors using the quantifier scale : (1) the existence of factual information that facilitates the computation of pragmatic interpretations in the context (here, the cardinality of the domain of quantification) and (2) the fact that the context makes the difference between the semantic and the pragmatic interpretations of the target sentence relevant, involving psychological attributions to the speaker (here a question using all). We did three experiments, all of which suggest that while cardinality information may be necessary to the computation of the pragmatic interpretation, it plays a minor role in triggering it; highlighting the contrast between the pragmatic and the semantic interpretations, while it is not necessary to the computation of the pragmatic interpretation, strongly mandates a pragmatic interpretation. These results favor Sperber and Wilson's (1995) post-Gricean account over Chierchia's (2013) neo-Gricean account. Overall, this suggests that highlighting the relevance of the pragmatic vs. semantic interpretations of the target sentence makes a context upper-bounding. Additionally, the results give a small advantage to the post-Gricean account. PMID:27047413

Contrasting two different interpretations of the dynamics in binary glass forming mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valenti, S.; Capaccioli, S.; Ngai, K. L.

2018-02-01

In a series of papers on binary glass-forming mixtures of tripropyl phosphate (TPP) with polystyrene (PS), Kahlau et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 140, 044509 (2014)] and Bock et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 139, 064508 (2013); J. Chem. Phys. 140, 094505 (2014); and J. Non-Cryst. Solids 407, 88-97 (2015)] presented the data on the dynamics of the two components studied over the entire composition range by several experimental methods. From these sets of data, obtained by multiple experimental techniques on mixtures with a large difference ΔTg ≈ 200 K between the glass transition temperatures of two starting glass formers, they obtained two α-relaxations, α1 and α2. The temperature dependence of the slower α1 is Vogel-Fulcher like, but the faster α2 is Arrhenius. We have re-examined their data and show that their α2-relaxation is the Johari-Goldstein (JG) β-relaxation with Arrhenius T-dependence admixed with a true α2-relaxation having a stronger temperature dependence. In support of our interpretation of their data, we made dielectric measurements at elevated pressures P to show that the ratio of the α1 and α2 relaxation times, τα1(T,P)/τα2(T,P), is invariant to variations of T and P, while τα1(T,P) is kept constant. This property proves unequivocally that the α2-relaxation is the JG β-relaxation, the precursor of the α1-relaxation. Subsequently, the true but unresolved α2-relaxation is recovered, and its relaxation times with much stronger temperature dependence are deduced, as expected for the α-relaxation of the TPP component. The results are fully compatible with those found in another binary mixture of methyltetrahydrofuran with tristyrene and PS with ΔTg ≈ 283 K, even larger than ΔTg ≈ 200 K of the mixture of TPP with PS, and in several polymer blends. The contrast between the two very different interpretations brought out in this paper is deemed beneficial for further progress in this research area.

Low adolescent self-esteem leads to multiple interpersonal problems: a test a social-adaptation theory.

PubMed

Kahle, L R; Kulka, R A; Klingel, D M

1980-09-01

This article reports the results of a study that annually monitored the self-esteem and interpersonal problems of over 100 boys during their sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school. Cross-lagged panel correlation differences show that low self-esteem leads to interpersonal problems in all three time lags when multiple interpersonal problems constitute the dependent variable but not when single interpersonal problem criteria constitute the dependent variable. These results are interpreted as supporting social-adaptation theory rather than self-perception theory. Implications for the conceptual status of personality variables as causal antecedents and for the assessment of individual differences are discussed.

Silver diagnosis in neuropathology: principles, practice and revised interpretation

PubMed Central

2007-01-01

Silver-staining methods are helpful for histological identification of pathological deposits. In spite of some ambiguities regarding their mechanism and interpretation, they are widely used for histopathological diagnosis. In this review, four major silver-staining methods, modified Bielschowsky, Bodian, Gallyas (GAL) and Campbell–Switzer (CS) methods, are outlined with respect to their principles, basic protocols and interpretations, thereby providing neuropathologists, technicians and neuroscientists with a common basis for comparing findings and identifying the issues that still need to be clarified. Some consider “argyrophilia” to be a homogeneous phenomenon irrespective of the lesion and the method. Thus, they seek to explain the differences among the methods by pointing to their different sensitivities in detecting lesions (quantitative difference). Comparative studies, however, have demonstrated that argyrophilia is heterogeneous and dependent not only on the method but also on the lesion (qualitative difference). Each staining method has its own lesion-dependent specificity and, within this specificity, its own sensitivity. This “method- and lesion-dependent” nature of argyrophilia enables operational sorting of disease-specific lesions based on their silver-staining profiles, which may potentially represent some disease-specific aspects. Furthermore, comparisons between immunohistochemical and biochemical data have revealed an empirical correlation between GAL+/CS-deposits and 4-repeat (4R) tau (corticobasal degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy and argyrophilic grains) and its complementary reversal between GAL-/CS+deposits and 3-repeat (3R) tau (Pick bodies). Deposits containing both 3R and 4R tau (neurofibrillary tangles of Alzheimer type) are GAL+/CS+. Although no molecular explanations, other than these empiric correlations, are currently available, these distinctive features, especially when combined with immunohistochemistry, are useful because silver-staining methods and immunoreactions are complementary to each other. PMID:17401570

The relation between the quantum discord and quantum teleportation: The physical interpretation of the transition point between different quantum discord decay regimes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roszak, K.; Cywiński, Ł.

2015-10-01

We study quantum teleportation via Bell-diagonal mixed states of two qubits in the context of the intrinsic properties of the quantum discord. We show that when the quantum-correlated state of the two qubits is used for quantum teleportation, the character of the teleportation efficiency changes substantially depending on the Bell-diagonal-state parameters, which can be seen when the worst-case-scenario or best-case-scenario fidelity is studied. Depending on the parameter range, one of two types of single-qubit states is hardest/easiest to teleport. The transition between these two parameter ranges coincides exactly with the transition between the range of classical correlation decay and quantum correlation decay characteristic for the evolution of the quantum discord. The correspondence provides a physical interpretation for the prominent feature of the decay of the quantum discord.

Cued Speech Transliteration: Effects of Speaking Rate and Lag Time on Production Accuracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krause, Jean C.; Tessler, Morgan P.

2016-01-01

Many deaf and hard-of-hearing children rely on interpreters to access classroom communication. Although the exact level of access provided by interpreters in these settings is unknown, it is likely to depend heavily on interpreter accuracy (portion of message correctly produced by the interpreter) and the factors that govern interpreter accuracy.…

Caffeine reduces resting-state BOLD functional connectivity in the motor cortex.

PubMed

Rack-Gomer, Anna Leigh; Liau, Joy; Liu, Thomas T

2009-05-15

In resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), correlations between spontaneous low-frequency fluctuations in the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal are used to assess functional connectivity between different brain regions. Changes in resting-state BOLD connectivity measures are typically interpreted as changes in coherent neural activity across spatially distinct brain regions. However, this interpretation can be complicated by the complex dependence of the BOLD signal on both neural and vascular factors. For example, prior studies have shown that vasoactive agents that alter baseline cerebral blood flow, such as caffeine and carbon dioxide, can significantly alter the amplitude and dynamics of the task-related BOLD response. In this study, we examined the effect of caffeine (200 mg dose) on resting-state BOLD connectivity in the motor cortex across a sample of healthy young subjects (N=9). We found that caffeine significantly (p<0.05) reduced measures of resting-state BOLD connectivity in the motor cortex. Baseline cerebral blood flow and spectral energy in the low-frequency BOLD fluctuations were also significantly decreased by caffeine. These results suggest that caffeine usage should be carefully considered in the design and interpretation of resting-state BOLD fMRI studies.

The Goddard Profiling Algorithm (GPROF): Description and Current Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Olson, William S.; Yang, Song; Stout, John E.; Grecu, Mircea

2004-01-01

Atmospheric scientists use different methods for interpreting satellite data. In the early days of satellite meteorology, the analysis of cloud pictures from satellites was primarily subjective. As computer technology improved, satellite pictures could be processed digitally, and mathematical algorithms were developed and applied to the digital images in different wavelength bands to extract information about the atmosphere in an objective way. The kind of mathematical algorithm one applies to satellite data may depend on the complexity of the physical processes that lead to the observed image, and how much information is contained in the satellite images both spatially and at different wavelengths. Imagery from satellite-borne passive microwave radiometers has limited horizontal resolution, and the observed microwave radiances are the result of complex physical processes that are not easily modeled. For this reason, a type of algorithm called a Bayesian estimation method is utilized to interpret passive microwave imagery in an objective, yet computationally efficient manner.

Universal dependence on the channel conductivity of the competing weak localization and antilocalization in amorphous InGaZnO4 thin-film transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wei-Hsiang; Lyu, Syue-Ru; Heredia, Elica; Liu, Shu-Hao; Jiang, Pei-hsun; Liao, Po-Yung; Chang, Ting-Chang

2017-05-01

We investigate the gate-voltage dependence of the magnetoconductivity of several amorphous InGaZnO4 (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). The magnetoconductivity exhibits gate-voltage-controlled competitions between weak localization (WL) and weak antilocalization (WAL), and the respective weights of WL and WAL contributions demonstrate an intriguing universal dependence on the channel conductivity regardless of the difference in the electrical characteristics of the a-IGZO TFTs. Our findings help build a theoretical interpretation of the competing WL and WAL observed in the electron systems in a-IGZO TFTs.

The Meaning of English Words across Cultures, with a Focus on Cameroon and Hong Kong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bobda, Augustin Simo

2009-01-01

A word, even when considered monosemic, generally has a cluster of meanings, depending on the mental representation of the referent by the speaker/writer or listener/reader. The variation is even more noticeable across cultures. This paper investigates the different ways in which cultural knowledge helps in the interpretation of English lexical…

Why Do Marbles Become Paler on Grinding? Reflectance, Spectroscopy, Color, and Particle Size

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lagorio, Maria Gabriela

2004-01-01

A qualitative description of the color-change problem, which will assist in rationalizing the change in color of marbles after grinding them using a simple physical picture and the qualitative dependence of diffuse reflectance on particle size is presented. Different approaches are discussed but it is seen that the interpretation of nanoparticles…

Origin of Disagreements in Tandem Mass Spectra Interpretation by Search Engines.

PubMed

Tessier, Dominique; Lollier, Virginie; Larré, Colette; Rogniaux, Hélène

2016-10-07

Several proteomic database search engines that interpret LC-MS/MS data do not identify the same set of peptides. These disagreements occur even when the scores of the peptide-to-spectrum matches suggest good confidence in the interpretation. Our study shows that these disagreements observed for the interpretations of a given spectrum are almost exclusively due to the variation of what we call the "peptide space", i.e., the set of peptides that are actually compared to the experimental spectra. We discuss the potential difficulties of precisely defining the "peptide space." Indeed, although several parameters that are generally reported in publications can easily be set to the same values, many additional parameters-with much less straightforward user access-might impact the "peptide space" used by each program. Moreover, in a configuration where each search engine identifies the same candidates for each spectrum, the inference of the proteins may remain quite different depending on the false discovery rate selected.

Zika Virus and the World Health Organization Criteria for Determining Recent Infection Using Plaque Reduction Neutralization Testing.

PubMed

Ward, Matthew J; Alger, Jackeline; Berrueta, Mabel; Bock, Harry; Buekens, Pierre; Cafferata, Maria Luisa; Ciganda, Alvaro; García, Jorge; García, Kimberly; Lorenzana, Ivette; Lopez, Wendy; Parham, Leda; Wesson, Dawn M

2018-06-25

The recent Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic swept across Latin America and the Caribbean, where dengue virus (DENV) is endemic. The antigenic similarities of these closely related flaviviruses left researchers and clinicians with challenges to interpret serological tests. Thirty-six women attending a prenatal clinic in Honduras and with positive DENV IgM enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assays (ELISAs) were screened with a ZIKV IgM ELISA, RT-PCR for ZIKV and DENV 1-4, and plaque reduction neutralization tests (PRNTs) for ZIKV and DENV-2. Plaque reduction neutralization test results were interpreted using the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria. Using the WHO criteria of a PRNT90 titer ≥ 20 and a 4-fold difference between ZIKV and DENV titers, we determined that 69.4% of samples had a recent ZIKV infection, compared with 5.6% using CDC criteria. The interpretation of ZIKV PRNTs in a DENV-endemic region is highly dependent on the choice of interpretation criteria.

Hybrid colored noise process with space-dependent switching rates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bressloff, Paul C.; Lawley, Sean D.

2017-07-01

A fundamental issue in the theory of continuous stochastic process is the interpretation of multiplicative white noise, which is often referred to as the Itô-Stratonovich dilemma. From a physical perspective, this reflects the need to introduce additional constraints in order to specify the nature of the noise, whereas from a mathematical perspective it reflects an ambiguity in the formulation of stochastic differential equations (SDEs). Recently, we have identified a mechanism for obtaining an Itô SDE based on a form of temporal disorder. Motivated by switching processes in molecular biology, we considered a Brownian particle that randomly switches between two distinct conformational states with different diffusivities. In each state, the particle undergoes normal diffusion (additive noise) so there is no ambiguity in the interpretation of the noise. However, if the switching rates depend on position, then in the fast switching limit one obtains Brownian motion with a space-dependent diffusivity of the Itô form. In this paper, we extend our theory to include colored additive noise. We show that the nature of the effective multiplicative noise process obtained by taking both the white-noise limit (κ →0 ) and fast switching limit (ɛ →0 ) depends on the order the two limits are taken. If the white-noise limit is taken first, then we obtain Itô, and if the fast switching limit is taken first, then we obtain Stratonovich. Moreover, the form of the effective diffusion coefficient differs in the two cases. The latter result holds even in the case of space-independent transition rates, where one obtains additive noise processes with different diffusion coefficients. Finally, we show that yet another form of multiplicative noise is obtained in the simultaneous limit ɛ ,κ →0 with ɛ /κ2 fixed.

Comments on the Misunderstandings of Relativity and Theoretical Interpretation of the Kreuzer Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lo, C. Y.

1997-03-01

In 1966, the Kreuzer experiment set an upper limit on the difference in the ratio of active to passive mass between fluorine and bromine, and an interesting interpretation was given by Thorne et al. However, in 1976 Will, with his new parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) approach, interpreted this experiment as providing an upper limit on his parameter combination related to electromagnetism. We show that, from the viewpoint of general relativity, Will's approach remains to be justified. Moreover, his result originates from his unphysical nuclear model, which ignores the isospin-dependent nuclear forces and is actually inconsistent with general relativity. It seems that to determine the constraint on the gravitational coupling to electromagnetism is beyond the valid application of the PPN formalism. As a further step, experimental measurement for the coupling constant to electromagnetism is recommended.

SERE: single-parameter quality control and sample comparison for RNA-Seq.

PubMed

Schulze, Stefan K; Kanwar, Rahul; Gölzenleuchter, Meike; Therneau, Terry M; Beutler, Andreas S

2012-10-03

Assessing the reliability of experimental replicates (or global alterations corresponding to different experimental conditions) is a critical step in analyzing RNA-Seq data. Pearson's correlation coefficient r has been widely used in the RNA-Seq field even though its statistical characteristics may be poorly suited to the task. Here we present a single-parameter test procedure for count data, the Simple Error Ratio Estimate (SERE), that can determine whether two RNA-Seq libraries are faithful replicates or globally different. Benchmarking shows that the interpretation of SERE is unambiguous regardless of the total read count or the range of expression differences among bins (exons or genes), a score of 1 indicating faithful replication (i.e., samples are affected only by Poisson variation of individual counts), a score of 0 indicating data duplication, and scores >1 corresponding to true global differences between RNA-Seq libraries. On the contrary the interpretation of Pearson's r is generally ambiguous and highly dependent on sequencing depth and the range of expression levels inherent to the sample (difference between lowest and highest bin count). Cohen's simple Kappa results are also ambiguous and are highly dependent on the choice of bins. For quantifying global sample differences SERE performs similarly to a measure based on the negative binomial distribution yet is simpler to compute. SERE can therefore serve as a straightforward and reliable statistical procedure for the global assessment of pairs or large groups of RNA-Seq datasets by a single statistical parameter.

SERE: Single-parameter quality control and sample comparison for RNA-Seq

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Assessing the reliability of experimental replicates (or global alterations corresponding to different experimental conditions) is a critical step in analyzing RNA-Seq data. Pearson’s correlation coefficient r has been widely used in the RNA-Seq field even though its statistical characteristics may be poorly suited to the task. Results Here we present a single-parameter test procedure for count data, the Simple Error Ratio Estimate (SERE), that can determine whether two RNA-Seq libraries are faithful replicates or globally different. Benchmarking shows that the interpretation of SERE is unambiguous regardless of the total read count or the range of expression differences among bins (exons or genes), a score of 1 indicating faithful replication (i.e., samples are affected only by Poisson variation of individual counts), a score of 0 indicating data duplication, and scores >1 corresponding to true global differences between RNA-Seq libraries. On the contrary the interpretation of Pearson’s r is generally ambiguous and highly dependent on sequencing depth and the range of expression levels inherent to the sample (difference between lowest and highest bin count). Cohen’s simple Kappa results are also ambiguous and are highly dependent on the choice of bins. For quantifying global sample differences SERE performs similarly to a measure based on the negative binomial distribution yet is simpler to compute. Conclusions SERE can therefore serve as a straightforward and reliable statistical procedure for the global assessment of pairs or large groups of RNA-Seq datasets by a single statistical parameter. PMID:23033915

Global ERS 1 and 2 and NSCAT observations: Upwind/crosswind and upwind/downwind measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quilfen, Y.; Chapron, B.; Bentamy, A.; Gourrion, J.; El Fouhaily, T.; Vandemark, D.

1999-05-01

This paper presents an analysis of the wind speed dependence of upwind/downwind asymmetry (UDA) and upwind-crosswind anisotropy (UCA) as derived from global C band VV-polarized ERS 1 and 2 and Ku band VV- and HH-polarized NASA scatterometer (NSCAT) data. Interpretation of the results relies on identifying relationships between the differing frequencies and incidence angles that are consistent with Bragg scattering theory from gravity-capillary waves. It is shown that globally derived parameters characterizing UDA and UCA hold information on the wind dependence of short gravity and gravity-capillary wave growth and dissipation. In particular, the UCA behavior is found quadratic for both the C and Ku band, peaking at moderate wind speeds. In addition, the dual-frequency results appear to map out the expected, more rapid adjustment of centimeter-scale (Ku band) waves to the wind direction at light winds. However, as wind increases, the directionality associated with these shorter waves saturates at a lower speed than for the slightly longer waves inferred at C band. It is suggested that this observed phenomenon may be related to increasing wave-drift interactions that can potentially inhibit short-scale surface wave growth along the wind direction. Concerning UDA properties, our present analysis reveals that the NSCAT and ERS 1 and 2 scatterometers give quite different results. Our preliminary interpretation is that C band measurements may be easier to interpret using composite Bragg scattering theory and that upwind/downwind contrasts are mainly supported by short gravity waves.

A 3D resistivity model derived from the transient electromagnetic data observed on the Araba fault, Jordan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rödder, A.; Tezkan, B.

2013-01-01

72 inloop transient electromagnetic soundings were carried out on two 2 km long profiles perpendicular and two 1 km and two 500 m long profiles parallel to the strike direction of the Araba fault in Jordan which is the southern part of the Dead Sea transform fault indicating the boundary between the African and Arabian continental plates. The distance between the stations was on average 50 m. The late time apparent resistivities derived from the induced voltages show clear differences between the stations located at the eastern and at the western part of the Araba fault. The fault appears as a boundary between the resistive western (ca. 100 Ωm) and the conductive eastern part (ca. 10 Ωm) of the survey area. On profiles parallel to the strike late time apparent resistivities were almost constant as well in the time dependence as in lateral extension at different stations, indicating a 2D resistivity structure of the investigated area. After having been processed, the data were interpreted by conventional 1D Occam and Marquardt inversion. The study using 2D synthetic model data showed, however, that 1D inversions of stations close to the fault resulted in fictitious layers in the subsurface thus producing large interpretation errors. Therefore, the data were interpreted by a 2D forward resistivity modeling which was then extended to a 3D resistivity model. This 3D model explains satisfactorily the time dependences of the observed transients at nearly all stations.

Water desorption from a confined biopolymer.

PubMed

Pradipkanti, L; Satapathy, Dillip K

2018-03-14

We study desorption of water from a confined biopolymer (chitosan thin films) by employing temperature dependent specular X-ray reflectivity and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The water desorption is found to occur via three distinct stages with significantly different desorption rates. The distinct rates of water desorption are attributed to the presence of different kinds of water with disparate mobilities inside the biopolymer film. We identify two characteristic temperatures (T c1 and T c2 ) at which the water desorption rate changes abruptly. Interestingly, the characteristic temperatures decrease with decreasing the film thickness. The thickness dependence of the characteristic temperature is interpreted in the context of a higher mobility of polymer chains at the free surface for polymers under one-dimensional confinement.

A Tool for Determining the Number of Contributors: Interpreting Complex, Compromised Low-Template Dna Samples

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-09-28

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: In forensic DNA analysis, the interpretation of a sample acquired from the environment may be dependent upon the...sample acquired from the environment may be dependent upon the assumption on the number of individuals from which the evidence arose. Degraded and...NOCIt results to those obtained when allele counting or maxiumum likelihood estimator (MLE) methods are employed. NOCIt does not depend upon an AT and

On sample size and different interpretations of snow stability datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schirmer, M.; Mitterer, C.; Schweizer, J.

2009-04-01

Interpretations of snow stability variations need an assessment of the stability itself, independent of the scale investigated in the study. Studies on stability variations at a regional scale have often chosen stability tests such as the Rutschblock test or combinations of various tests in order to detect differences in aspect and elevation. The question arose: ‘how capable are such stability interpretations in drawing conclusions'. There are at least three possible errors sources: (i) the variance of the stability test itself; (ii) the stability variance at an underlying slope scale, and (iii) that the stability interpretation might not be directly related to the probability of skier triggering. Various stability interpretations have been proposed in the past that provide partly different results. We compared a subjective one based on expert knowledge with a more objective one based on a measure derived from comparing skier-triggered slopes vs. slopes that have been skied but not triggered. In this study, the uncertainties are discussed and their effects on regional scale stability variations will be quantified in a pragmatic way. An existing dataset with very large sample sizes was revisited. This dataset contained the variance of stability at a regional scale for several situations. The stability in this dataset was determined using the subjective interpretation scheme based on expert knowledge. The question to be answered was how many measurements were needed to obtain similar results (mainly stability differences in aspect or elevation) as with the complete dataset. The optimal sample size was obtained in several ways: (i) assuming a nominal data scale the sample size was determined with a given test, significance level and power, and by calculating the mean and standard deviation of the complete dataset. With this method it can also be determined if the complete dataset consists of an appropriate sample size. (ii) Smaller subsets were created with similar aspect distributions to the large dataset. We used 100 different subsets for each sample size. Statistical variations obtained in the complete dataset were also tested on the smaller subsets using the Mann-Whitney or the Kruskal-Wallis test. For each subset size, the number of subsets were counted in which the significance level was reached. For these tests no nominal data scale was assumed. (iii) For the same subsets described above, the distribution of the aspect median was determined. A count of how often this distribution was substantially different from the distribution obtained with the complete dataset was made. Since two valid stability interpretations were available (an objective and a subjective interpretation as described above), the effect of the arbitrary choice of the interpretation on spatial variability results was tested. In over one third of the cases the two interpretations came to different results. The effect of these differences were studied in a similar method as described in (iii): the distribution of the aspect median was determined for subsets of the complete dataset using both interpretations, compared against each other as well as to the results of the complete dataset. For the complete dataset the two interpretations showed mainly identical results. Therefore the subset size was determined from the point at which the results of the two interpretations converged. A universal result for the optimal subset size cannot be presented since results differed between different situations contained in the dataset. The optimal subset size is thus dependent on stability variation in a given situation, which is unknown initially. There are indications that for some situations even the complete dataset might be not large enough. At a subset size of approximately 25, the significant differences between aspect groups (as determined using the whole dataset) were only obtained in one out of five situations. In some situations, up to 20% of the subsets showed a substantially different distribution of the aspect median. Thus, in most cases, 25 measurements (which can be achieved by six two-person teams in one day) did not allow to draw reliable conclusions.

Graphical representations of a television series: a study with deaf and hearing adolescents.

PubMed

Cambra, Cristina; Leal, Aurora; Silvestre, Núria

2010-11-01

The understanding of a television story can be very different depending on the age of the viewer, their background knowledge, the content of the programme and the way in which they combine the information gathered from linguistic, audio and visual elements. This study explores the different ways of interpreting an audiovisual document considering that, due to a hearing impaired, visual, audio and linguistic information could be perceived very differently to the way it is by hearing people. The study involved the participation of 20 deaf and 20 hearing adolescents, aged 12 to 19 years who, after watching a fragment of a television series, were asked to draw a picture of what had happened in the story. The results show that the graphical representation of the film is similar for both groups in terms of the number of scenes, but there is greater profusion, in the deaf group, of details about the context and characters, and there are differences in their interpretations of some of the sequences in the story.

How does context affect assessments of facial emotion? The role of culture and age

PubMed Central

Ko, Seon-Gyu; Lee, Tae-Ho; Yoon, Hyea-Young; Kwon, Jung-Hye; Mather, Mara

2010-01-01

People from Asian cultures are more influenced by context in their visual processing than people from Western cultures. In this study, we examined how these cultural differences in context processing affect how people interpret facial emotions. We found that younger Koreans were more influenced than younger Americans by emotional background pictures when rating the emotion of a central face, especially those younger Koreans with low self-rated stress. In contrast, among older adults, neither Koreans nor Americans showed significant influences of context in their face emotion ratings. These findings suggest that cultural differences in reliance on context to interpret others' emotions depend on perceptual integration processes that decline with age, leading to fewer cultural differences in perception among older adults than among younger adults. Furthermore, when asked to recall the background pictures, younger participants recalled more negative pictures than positive pictures, whereas older participants recalled similar numbers of positive and negative pictures. These age differences in the valence of memory were consistent across culture. PMID:21038967

Is the perception of dysphonia severity language-dependent? A comparison of French and Italian voice assessments.

PubMed

Ghio, Alain; Cantarella, Giovanna; Weisz, Frédérique; Robert, Danièle; Woisard, Virginie; Fussi, Franco; Giovanni, Antoine; Baracca, Giovanna

2015-04-01

In this cross-language study, six Italian and six French voice experts evaluated perceptually the speech of 27 Italian and 40 French patients with dysphonia to determine if there were differences based on native language. French and Italian voice specialists agreed substantially in their evaluations of the overall grade of dysphonia and moderately concerning roughness and breathiness. No statistically significant effects were found related to the language of the speakers with the exception of breathiness, a finding that was interpreted as being due to different voice pathologies in the patient groups. It was concluded that the perception of the overall grade of dysphonia and breathiness is not language-dependent, whereas the significant difference in the perception of roughness may be related to a perception/adaption process.

Low-latitude boundary layer near noon: An open field line model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lyons, L. R.; Schulz, M.; Pridmore-Brown, D. C.; Roeder, J. L.

1994-01-01

We propose that many features of the cusp and low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL) observed near noon MLT can be explained by interpreting the LLBL as being on open lines with an inner boundary at the separatrix between open and closed magnetic field lines. This interpretation places the poleward boundary of the LLBL and equatorward boundary of the cusp along the field line that bifurcates at the cusp neutral point. The interpretation accounts for the abrupt boundary of magnetosheath particles at the inner edge of the LLBL, a feature that is inconsistent with LLBL formation by diffusion onto closed field lines, and for the distribution of magnetosheath particles appearing more as one continuous region than as two distinct regions across the noon cusp/LLBL boundary. Furthermore, we can explain the existence of energetic radiation belt electrons and protons with differing pitch angle distributions within the LLBL and their abrupt cutoff at the poleward boundary of the LLBL. By modeling the LLBL and cusp region quantitatively, we can account for a hemispherical difference in the location of the equatorial boundary of the cusp that is observed to be dependent on the dipole tilt angle but not on the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) x component. We also find important variations and hemispherical differences in that the size of the LLBL that should depend strongly upon the x component of the IMF. This prediction is observationally testable. Finally, we find that when the IMF is strongly northward, the LLBL may include a narrow region adjacent to the magnetopause where field lines are detached (i.e., have both ends connected to the IMF).

Use of First-Hand and Second-Hand Data in Science: Does Data Type Influence Classroom Conversations?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hug, Barbara; McNeill, Katherine L.

2008-01-01

In this paper, we examine how students discuss and interpret data and whether these actions vary depending on the type of data they analyse. More specifically, we are interested in whether students perform differently when analysing first-hand data, which they collect themselves, compared with second-hand data provided to them. Our data analysis…

INTERPRETATION OF THE CANCER RESPONSE TO POTENTIAL RENTAL CARCINOGENS IN THE TSC2 KNOCKOUT (EKER) RAT IS DEPENDENT ON LENGTH OF TREATMENT.

EPA Science Inventory

INTERPRETATION OF THE CANCER RESPONSE TO POTENTIAL RENAL CARCINOGENS IN THE TSC2 KNOCKOUT (EKER) RAT IS DEPENDENT ON LENGTH OF TREATMENT.

Genetically increasing the function of oncogenes or knocking out the function of a tumor supressor gene has dramatically increased the...

Scintillation efficiency measurement of Na recoils in NaI(Tl) below the DAMA/LIBRA energy threshold

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Jingke; Shields, Emily; Calaprice, Frank; Westerdale, Shawn; Froborg, Francis; Suerfu, Burkhant; Alexander, Thomas; Aprahamian, Ani; Back, Henning O.; Casarella, Clark; Fang, Xiao; Gupta, Yogesh K.; Ianni, Aldo; Lamere, Edward; Lippincott, W. Hugh; Liu, Qian; Lyons, Stephanie; Siegl, Kevin; Smith, Mallory; Tan, Wanpeng; Kolk, Bryant Vande

2015-07-01

The dark matter interpretation of the DAMA modulation signal depends on the NaI(Tl) scintillation efficiency of nuclear recoils. Previous measurements for Na recoils have large discrepancies, especially in the DAMA/LIBRA modulation energy region. We report a quenching effect measurement of Na recoils in NaI(Tl) from 3 to 52 keVnr, covering the whole DAMA/LIBRA energy region for dark matter-Na scattering interpretations. By using a low-energy, pulsed neutron beam, a double time-of-flight technique, and pulse-shape discrimination methods, we obtained the most accurate measurement of this kind for NaI(Tl) to date. The results differ significantly from the DAMA reported values at low energies but fall between the other previous measurements. We present the implications of the new quenching results for the dark matter interpretation of the DAMA modulation signal.

Critical examination of quantum oscillations in SmB6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riseborough, Peter S.; Fisk, Z.

2017-11-01

We critically review the results of magnetic torque measurements on SmB6 that show quantum oscillations. Similar studies have been given two different interpretations. One interpretation is based on the existence of metallic surface states, while the second interpretation is in terms of a three-dimensional Fermi surface involving neutral fermionic excitations. We suggest that the low-field oscillations that are seen by both groups for B fields as small as 6 T might be due to metallic surface states. The high-field three-dimensional oscillations are only seen by one group for fields B >18 T. The phenomenon of magnetic breakthrough occurs at high fields and involves the formation of Landau orbits that produces a directional-dependent suppression of Bragg scattering. We argue that the measurements performed under higher-field conditions are fully consistent with expectations based on a three-dimensional semiconducting state with magnetic breakthrough.

Scintillation efficiency measurement of Na recoils in NaI(Tl) below the DAMA/LIBRA energy threshold

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

Xu, Jingke; Shields, Emily; Calaprice, Frank

2015-07-01

The dark matter interpretation of the DAMA modulation signal depends on the NaI(Tl) scintillation efficiency of nuclear recoils. Previous measurements for Na recoils have large discrepancies, especially in the DAMA/LIBRA modulation energy region. We report a quenching effect measurement of Na recoils in NaI(Tl) from 3 to 52 keVnr, covering the whole DAMA/LIBRA energy region for dark matter-Na scattering interpretations. By using a low-energy, pulsed neutron beam, a double time-of-flight technique, and pulse-shape discrimination methods, we obtained the most accurate measurement of this kind for NaI(Tl) to date. The results differ significantly from the DAMA reported values at low energies butmore » fall between the other previous measurements. We present the implications of the new quenching results for the dark matter interpretation of the DAMA modulation signal.« less

Cued Speech Transliteration: Effects of Speaking Rate and Lag Time on Production Accuracy

PubMed Central

Tessler, Morgan P.

2016-01-01

Many deaf and hard-of-hearing children rely on interpreters to access classroom communication. Although the exact level of access provided by interpreters in these settings is unknown, it is likely to depend heavily on interpreter accuracy (portion of message correctly produced by the interpreter) and the factors that govern interpreter accuracy. In this study, the accuracy of 12 Cued Speech (CS) transliterators with varying degrees of experience was examined at three different speaking rates (slow, normal, fast). Accuracy was measured with a high-resolution, objective metric in order to facilitate quantitative analyses of the effect of each factor on accuracy. Results showed that speaking rate had a large negative effect on accuracy, caused primarily by an increase in omitted cues, whereas the effect of lag time on accuracy, also negative, was quite small and explained just 3% of the variance. Increased experience level was generally associated with increased accuracy; however, high levels of experience did not guarantee high levels of accuracy. Finally, the overall accuracy of the 12 transliterators, 54% on average across all three factors, was low enough to raise serious concerns about the quality of CS transliteration services that (at least some) children receive in educational settings. PMID:27221370

Regression Analysis and Calibration Recommendations for the Characterization of Balance Temperature Effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ulbrich, N.; Volden, T.

2018-01-01

Analysis and use of temperature-dependent wind tunnel strain-gage balance calibration data are discussed in the paper. First, three different methods are presented and compared that may be used to process temperature-dependent strain-gage balance data. The first method uses an extended set of independent variables in order to process the data and predict balance loads. The second method applies an extended load iteration equation during the analysis of balance calibration data. The third method uses temperature-dependent sensitivities for the data analysis. Physical interpretations of the most important temperature-dependent regression model terms are provided that relate temperature compensation imperfections and the temperature-dependent nature of the gage factor to sets of regression model terms. Finally, balance calibration recommendations are listed so that temperature-dependent calibration data can be obtained and successfully processed using the reviewed analysis methods.

Arabic-speaking migrants' experiences of the use of interpreters in healthcare: a qualitative explorative study.

PubMed

Hadziabdic, Emina; Hjelm, Katarina

2014-06-16

Arabic-speaking migrants have constituted a growing population in recent years. This entails major challenges to ensure good communication in the healthcare encounter in order to provide individual and holistic healthcare. One of the solutions to ensure good communication between patient and healthcare staff who do not share the same language is to use a professional interpreter. To our knowledge, no previous qualitative studies have been found concerning Arabic-speaking migrants and the use of interpreters. This study aims to ascertain their individual experiences which can help extend our understanding of the studied area. A purposive sample of 13 Arabic-speaking persons with experience of using interpreters in healthcare encounters. Data were collected between November 2012 and March 2013 by four focus-group interviews and analysed with qualitative analysis according to a method described for focus groups. Four categories appeared from the analysis: 1) The professional interpreter as spokesperson; 2) Different types of interpreters and modes of interpretation adapting to the healthcare encounter; 3) The professional interpreter's task and personal properties affected the use of professional interpreters in a healthcare encounter; 4) Future planning of the use of professional interpreters in a healthcare encounter. The main findings were that the use of interpreters was experienced both as a possibility and as a problem. The preferred type of interpreters depended on the interpreter's dialect and ability to interpret correctly. Besides the professional interpreter's qualities of good skill in language and medical terminology, translation ability, neutrality and objectivity, Arabic-speaking participants stated that professional interpreters need to share the same origin, religion, dialect, gender and political views as the patient in order to facilitate the interpreter use and avoid inappropriate treatment. The study showed that the personal qualities of a good interpreter not only cover language ability but also origin, religion, dialect, gender and political views. Thus, there is need to develop strategies for personalized healthcare in order to avoid inappropriate communication, to satisfy the preferences of the person in need of interpreters and improve the impact of interpretation on the quality of healthcare.

Novel formulation of the ℳ model through the Generalized-K distribution for atmospheric optical channels.

PubMed

Garrido-Balsells, José María; Jurado-Navas, Antonio; Paris, José Francisco; Castillo-Vazquez, Miguel; Puerta-Notario, Antonio

2015-03-09

In this paper, a novel and deeper physical interpretation on the recently published Málaga or ℳ statistical distribution is provided. This distribution, which is having a wide acceptance by the scientific community, models the optical irradiance scintillation induced by the atmospheric turbulence. Here, the analytical expressions previously published are modified in order to express them by a mixture of the known Generalized-K and discrete Binomial and Negative Binomial distributions. In particular, the probability density function (pdf) of the ℳ model is now obtained as a linear combination of these Generalized-K pdf, in which the coefficients depend directly on the parameters of the ℳ distribution. In this way, the Málaga model can be physically interpreted as a superposition of different optical sub-channels each of them described by the corresponding Generalized-K fading model and weighted by the ℳ dependent coefficients. The expressions here proposed are simpler than the equations of the original ℳ model and are validated by means of numerical simulations by generating ℳ -distributed random sequences and their associated histogram. This novel interpretation of the Málaga statistical distribution provides a valuable tool for analyzing the performance of atmospheric optical channels for every turbulence condition.

Explaining how the mind works: on the relation between cognitive science and philosophy.

PubMed

Trigg, Jonathan; Kalish, Michael

2011-04-01

In this paper, we argue that under certain prevalent interpretations of the nature and aims of cognitive science, theories of cognition generate a forced choice between a conception of cognition which depends on the possibility of a private language, and a conception of cognition which depends on mereological confusions. We argue, further, that this should not pose a fundamental problem for cognitive scientists since a plausible interpretation of the nature and aims of cognitive science is available that does not generate this forced choice. The crucial difference between these interpretations is that on the one hand the aim of theories of cognition is to tell us what thinking (etc.) is, and on the other it is to tell us what is causally necessary if an intelligent creature is to be able to think. Our argument draws heavily on a Wittgensteinian conception of philosophy in which no philosophical theory can explain what thinking, perceiving, remembering, etc. are, either. The positive, strictly therapeutic, purpose of a philosophy of cognitive science should be to show that, since the traditional problems which constitute the philosophy of mind are chimerical, there is nothing for philosophical theorizing in cognitive science to achieve. Copyright © 2011 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Rapid recalibration of speech perception after experiencing the McGurk illusion.

PubMed

Lüttke, Claudia S; Pérez-Bellido, Alexis; de Lange, Floris P

2018-03-01

The human brain can quickly adapt to changes in the environment. One example is phonetic recalibration: a speech sound is interpreted differently depending on the visual speech and this interpretation persists in the absence of visual information. Here, we examined the mechanisms of phonetic recalibration. Participants categorized the auditory syllables /aba/ and /ada/, which were sometimes preceded by the so-called McGurk stimuli (in which an /aba/ sound, due to visual /aga/ input, is often perceived as 'ada'). We found that only one trial of exposure to the McGurk illusion was sufficient to induce a recalibration effect, i.e. an auditory /aba/ stimulus was subsequently more often perceived as 'ada'. Furthermore, phonetic recalibration took place only when auditory and visual inputs were integrated to 'ada' (McGurk illusion). Moreover, this recalibration depended on the sensory similarity between the preceding and current auditory stimulus. Finally, signal detection theoretical analysis showed that McGurk-induced phonetic recalibration resulted in both a criterion shift towards /ada/ and a reduced sensitivity to distinguish between /aba/ and /ada/ sounds. The current study shows that phonetic recalibration is dependent on the perceptual integration of audiovisual information and leads to a perceptual shift in phoneme categorization.

Size-dependent forced PEG partitioning into channels: VDAC, OmpC, and α-hemolysin

DOE PAGES

Aksoyoglu, M. Alphan; Podgornik, Rudolf; Bezrukov, Sergey M.; ...

2016-07-27

Nonideal polymer mixtures of PEGs of different molecular weights partition differently into nanosize protein channels. Here, we assess the validity of the recently proposed theoretical approach of forced partitioning for three structurally different beta-barrel channels: voltage-dependent anion channel from outer mitochondrial membrane VDAC, bacterial porin OmpC (outer membrane protein C), and bacterial channel-forming toxin alpha-hemolysin. Our interpretation is based on the idea that relatively less-penetrating polymers push the more easily penetrating ones into nanosize channels in excess of their bath concentration. Comparison of the theory with experiments is excellent for VDAC. Polymer partitioning data for the other two channels aremore » consistent with theory if additional assumptions regarding the energy penalty of pore penetration are included. In conclusion, the obtained results demonstrate that the general concept of "polymers pushing polymers" is helpful in understanding and quantification of concrete examples of size-dependent forced partitioning of polymers into protein nanopores.« less

Size-dependent forced PEG partitioning into channels: VDAC, OmpC, and α-hemolysin

PubMed Central

Aksoyoglu, M. Alphan; Podgornik, Rudolf; Bezrukov, Sergey M.; Gurnev, Philip A.; Muthukumar, Murugappan; Parsegian, V. Adrian

2016-01-01

Nonideal polymer mixtures of PEGs of different molecular weights partition differently into nanosize protein channels. Here, we assess the validity of the recently proposed theoretical approach of forced partitioning for three structurally different β-barrel channels: voltage-dependent anion channel from outer mitochondrial membrane VDAC, bacterial porin OmpC (outer membrane protein C), and bacterial channel-forming toxin α-hemolysin. Our interpretation is based on the idea that relatively less-penetrating polymers push the more easily penetrating ones into nanosize channels in excess of their bath concentration. Comparison of the theory with experiments is excellent for VDAC. Polymer partitioning data for the other two channels are consistent with theory if additional assumptions regarding the energy penalty of pore penetration are included. The obtained results demonstrate that the general concept of “polymers pushing polymers” is helpful in understanding and quantification of concrete examples of size-dependent forced partitioning of polymers into protein nanopores. PMID:27466408

Chiral aldehydes in hydrocarbons: diastereoselective nucleophilic addition, NMR, and CD spectroscopy reveal dynamic solvation effects.

PubMed

Cainelli, Gianfranco; Galletti, Paola; Pieraccini, Silvia; Quintavalla, Arianna; Giacomini, Daria; Piero Spada, Gian

2004-01-01

Temperature-dependent studies on the diastereoselective nucleophilic addition of n- BuLi to alpha-chiral aldehydes as (S)-O-(t-butyl-dimethylsilyl)lactal, (S)-O-(t-butyl-dimethylsilyl) mandelic aldehyde, and (R)-2-phenylpropanal in n-decane and n-dodecane reveal dynamic solvation phenomena with the presence of inversion temperatures (T(inv)) in the Eyring plots of ln (anti/syn) vs. 1/ T. These dynamic solvent effects were disclosed by temperature-dependent studies of the (13)C NMR, CD, and UV spectra of the starting aldehydes in solution of n-decane and n-dodecane. The concomitant presence of three peculiar temperatures T(CD), T(UV), and T(NMR), whose values are identical and match T(inv), clearly confirms our earlier interpretation of the solvent-dependent nature of T(inv). The inversion temperature, as well as T(CD), T(UV), and T(NMR) represents the interconversion temperature of two different solvation clusters which act as two different supramolecules with different stereoselectivities. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Context-dependent lexical ambiguity resolution: MEG evidence for the time-course of activity in left inferior frontal gyrus and posterior middle temporal gyrus.

PubMed

Mollo, Giovanna; Jefferies, Elizabeth; Cornelissen, Piers; Gennari, Silvia P

An MEG study investigated the role of context in semantic interpretation by examining the comprehension of ambiguous words in contexts leading to different interpretations. We compared high-ambiguity words in minimally different contexts (to bowl, the bowl) to low-ambiguity counterparts (the tray, to flog). Whole brain beamforming revealed the engagement of left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and posterior middle temporal gyrus (LPMTG). Points of interest analyses showed that both these sites showed a stronger response to verb-contexts by 200 ms post-stimulus and displayed overlapping ambiguity effects that were sustained from 300 ms onwards. The effect of context was stronger for high-ambiguity words than for low-ambiguity words at several different time points, including within the first 100 ms post-stimulus. Unlike LIFG, LPMTG also showed stronger responses to verb than noun contexts in low-ambiguity trials. We argue that different functional roles previously attributed to LIFG and LPMTG are in fact played out at different periods during processing. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Do the coach and athlete have the same "picture" of the situation? Distributed Situation Awareness in an elite sport context.

PubMed

Macquet, Anne-Claire; Stanton, Neville A

2014-05-01

Athletes and their coach interpret the training situations differently and this can have important implications for the development of an elite athlete's performance. It is argued that, from a schema-theoretic perspective, the difference in these interpretations needs to be better understood. A post-performance, self-confrontation, interview was conducted with a number of athletes and their coaches. The interviews revealed differences between the athlete and their coach in the information they are aware of. In comparison with athletes, coaches more frequently compared the phenotype with genotype schemata rather than just describing the phenotype schemata. Results suggest SA information elements showed some common ground but also revealed some important differences between the athlete and coach. The awareness was directed externally towards the environment and internally, towards the individual, depending on his/her role. The investigation showed that the schemata used to 'frame' the information elements were different, but compatible, between athlete and coach. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Methodological Hurdles in Capturing CMC Data: The Case of the Missing Self-Repair

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Bryan

2008-01-01

This paper reports on a study of the use of self-repair among learners of German in a task-based CMC environment. The purpose of the study was two-fold. The first goal sought to establish how potential interpretations of CMC data may be very different depending on the method of data collection and evaluation employed. The second goal was to…

Effect of tip polarity on Kelvin probe force microscopy images of thin insulator CaF2 films on Si(111)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yurtsever, Ayhan; Sugimoto, Yoshiaki; Fukumoto, Masaki; Abe, Masayuki; Morita, Seizo

2012-08-01

We investigate thin insulating CaF2 films on a Si (111) surface using a combination of noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM). Atomic-scale NC-AFM and KPFM images are obtained in different imaging modes by employing two different tip polarities. The KPFM image contrast and the distance-dependent variation of the local contact potential difference (LCPD) give rise to a tip-polarity-dependent contrast inversion. Ca2+ cations had a higher LCPD contrast than F- anions for a positively terminated tip, while the LCPD provided by a negatively charged tip gave a higher contrast for F- anions. Thus, this result implies that it is essential to determine the tip apex polarity to correctly interpret LCPD signals acquired by KPFM.

Reflection: A Socratic approach

PubMed Central

Van Seggelen – Damen, Inge C. M.; Van Hezewijk, René; Helsdingen, Anne S.; Wopereis, Iwan G. J. H.

2017-01-01

Reflection is a fuzzy concept. In this article we reveal the paradoxes involved in studying the nature of reflection. Whereas some scholars emphasize its discursive nature, we go further and underline its resemblance to the self-biased dialogue Socrates had with the slave in Plato’s Meno. The individual and internal nature of the reflection process creates difficulty for studying it validly and reliably. We focus on methodological issues and use Hans Linschoten’s view of coupled systems to identify, analyze, and interpret empirical research on reflection. We argue that researchers and research participants can take on roles in several possible system couplings. Depending on who controls the manipulation of the stimulus, who controls the measuring instrument, who interprets the measurement and the response, different types of research questions can be answered. We conclude that reflection may be validly studied by combining different couplings of experimenter, manipulation, stimulus, participant, measurement, and response. PMID:29249867

Surface vibrational structure at alkane liquid/vapor interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esenturk, Okan; Walker, Robert A.

2006-11-01

Broadband vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy (VSFS) has been used to examine the surface structure of alkane liquid/vapor interfaces. The alkanes range in length from n-nonane (C9H20) to n-heptadecane (C17H36), and all liquids except heptadecane are studied at temperatures well above their bulk (and surface) freezing temperatures. Intensities of vibrational bands in the CH stretching region acquired under different polarization conditions show systematic, chain length dependent changes. Data provide clear evidence of methyl group segregation at the liquid/vapor interface, but two different models of alkane chain structure can predict chain length dependent changes in band intensities. Each model leads to a different interpretation of the extent to which different chain segments contribute to the anisotropic interfacial region. One model postulates that changes in vibrational band intensities arise solely from a reduced surface coverage of methyl groups as alkane chain length increases. The additional methylene groups at the surface must be randomly distributed and make no net contribution to the observed VSF spectra. The second model considers a simple statistical distribution of methyl and methylene groups populating a three dimensional, interfacial lattice. This statistical picture implies that the VSF signal arises from a region extending several functional groups into the bulk liquid, and that the growing fraction of methylene groups in longer chain alkanes bears responsibility for the observed spectral changes. The data and resulting interpretations provide clear benchmarks for emerging theories of molecular structure and organization at liquid surfaces, especially for liquids lacking strong polar ordering.

Arabic-speaking migrants’ experiences of the use of interpreters in healthcare: a qualitative explorative study

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Introduction Arabic-speaking migrants have constituted a growing population in recent years. This entails major challenges to ensure good communication in the healthcare encounter in order to provide individual and holistic healthcare. One of the solutions to ensure good communication between patient and healthcare staff who do not share the same language is to use a professional interpreter. To our knowledge, no previous qualitative studies have been found concerning Arabic-speaking migrants and the use of interpreters. This study aims to ascertain their individual experiences which can help extend our understanding of the studied area. Method A purposive sample of 13 Arabic-speaking persons with experience of using interpreters in healthcare encounters. Data were collected between November 2012 and March 2013 by four focus-group interviews and analysed with qualitative analysis according to a method described for focus groups. Results Four categories appeared from the analysis: 1) The professional interpreter as spokesperson; 2) Different types of interpreters and modes of interpretation adapting to the healthcare encounter; 3) The professional interpreter’s task and personal properties affected the use of professional interpreters in a healthcare encounter; 4) Future planning of the use of professional interpreters in a healthcare encounter. The main findings were that the use of interpreters was experienced both as a possibility and as a problem. The preferred type of interpreters depended on the interpreter’s dialect and ability to interpret correctly. Besides the professional interpreter’s qualities of good skill in language and medical terminology, translation ability, neutrality and objectivity, Arabic-speaking participants stated that professional interpreters need to share the same origin, religion, dialect, gender and political views as the patient in order to facilitate the interpreter use and avoid inappropriate treatment. Conclusion The study showed that the personal qualities of a good interpreter not only cover language ability but also origin, religion, dialect, gender and political views. Thus, there is need to develop strategies for personalized healthcare in order to avoid inappropriate communication, to satisfy the preferences of the person in need of interpreters and improve the impact of interpretation on the quality of healthcare. PMID:24934755

Demystifying the constancy of the Ermakov-Lewis invariant for a time-dependent oscillator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Padmanabhan, T.

2018-03-01

It is well known that the time-dependent harmonic oscillator (TDHO) possesses a conserved quantity, usually called Ermakov-Lewis invariant. I provide a simple physical interpretation of this invariant as well as a whole family of related invariants. This interpretation does not seem to have been noticed in the literature before. The procedure also allows one to tackle some key conceptual issues which arise in the study of quantum fields in the external, time-dependent backgrounds like in the case of particle production in an expanding universe and Schwinger effect.

Polarization-dependent plasmonic photocurrents in two-dimensional electron systems

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

Popov, V. V., E-mail: popov-slava@yahoo.co.uk; Saratov State University, Saratov 410012; Saratov Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saratov 410028

2016-06-27

Plasmonic polarization dependent photocurrents in a homogeneous two-dimensional electron system are studied. Those effects are completely different from the photon drag and electronic photogalvanic effects as well as from the plasmonic ratchet effect in a density modulated two-dimensional electron system. Linear and helicity-dependent contributions to the photocurrent are found. The linear contribution can be interpreted as caused by the longitudinal and transverse plasmon drag effect. The helicity-dependent contribution originates from the non-linear electron convection and changes its sign with reversing the plasmonic field helicity. It is shown that the helicity-dependent component of the photocurrent can exceed the linear one bymore » several orders of magnitude in high-mobility two-dimensional electron systems. The results open possibilities for all-electronic detection of the radiation polarization states by exciting the plasmonic photocurrents in two-dimensional electron systems.« less

Search for ionisation density effects in the radiation absorption stage in LiF:Mg,Ti.

PubMed

Nail, I; Horowitz, Y S; Oster, L; Brandan, M E; Rodríguez-Villafuerte, M; Buenfil, A E; Ruiz-Trejo, C; Gamboa-Debuen, I; Avila, O; Tovar, V M; Olko, P; Ipe, N

2006-01-01

Optical absorption (OA) dose-response of LiF:Mg,Ti (TLD-100) is studied as a function of electron energy (ionisation density) and irradiation dose. Contrary to the situation in thermoluminescence dose-response where the supralinearity is strongly energy-dependent, no dependence of the OA dose filling constants on energy is observed. This result is interpreted as indicating a lack of competitive process in the radiation absorption stage. The lack of an energy dependence of the dose filling constant also suggests that the charge carrier migration distances are sufficiently large to smear out the differences in the non-uniform distribution of ionisation events created by the impinging gamma/electron radiation of various energies.

From spin noise to systematics: stochastic processes in the first International Pulsar Timing Array data release

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lentati, L.; Shannon, R. M.; Coles, W. A.; Verbiest, J. P. W.; van Haasteren, R.; Ellis, J. A.; Caballero, R. N.; Manchester, R. N.; Arzoumanian, Z.; Babak, S.; Bassa, C. G.; Bhat, N. D. R.; Brem, P.; Burgay, M.; Burke-Spolaor, S.; Champion, D.; Chatterjee, S.; Cognard, I.; Cordes, J. M.; Dai, S.; Demorest, P.; Desvignes, G.; Dolch, T.; Ferdman, R. D.; Fonseca, E.; Gair, J. R.; Gonzalez, M. E.; Graikou, E.; Guillemot, L.; Hessels, J. W. T.; Hobbs, G.; Janssen, G. H.; Jones, G.; Karuppusamy, R.; Keith, M.; Kerr, M.; Kramer, M.; Lam, M. T.; Lasky, P. D.; Lassus, A.; Lazarus, P.; Lazio, T. J. W.; Lee, K. J.; Levin, L.; Liu, K.; Lynch, R. S.; Madison, D. R.; McKee, J.; McLaughlin, M.; McWilliams, S. T.; Mingarelli, C. M. F.; Nice, D. J.; Osłowski, S.; Pennucci, T. T.; Perera, B. B. P.; Perrodin, D.; Petiteau, A.; Possenti, A.; Ransom, S. M.; Reardon, D.; Rosado, P. A.; Sanidas, S. A.; Sesana, A.; Shaifullah, G.; Siemens, X.; Smits, R.; Stairs, I.; Stappers, B.; Stinebring, D. R.; Stovall, K.; Swiggum, J.; Taylor, S. R.; Theureau, G.; Tiburzi, C.; Toomey, L.; Vallisneri, M.; van Straten, W.; Vecchio, A.; Wang, J.-B.; Wang, Y.; You, X. P.; Zhu, W. W.; Zhu, X.-J.

2016-05-01

We analyse the stochastic properties of the 49 pulsars that comprise the first International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA) data release. We use Bayesian methodology, performing model selection to determine the optimal description of the stochastic signals present in each pulsar. In addition to spin-noise and dispersion-measure (DM) variations, these models can include timing noise unique to a single observing system, or frequency band. We show the improved radio-frequency coverage and presence of overlapping data from different observing systems in the IPTA data set enables us to separate both system and band-dependent effects with much greater efficacy than in the individual pulsar timing array (PTA) data sets. For example, we show that PSR J1643-1224 has, in addition to DM variations, significant band-dependent noise that is coherent between PTAs which we interpret as coming from time-variable scattering or refraction in the ionized interstellar medium. Failing to model these different contributions appropriately can dramatically alter the astrophysical interpretation of the stochastic signals observed in the residuals. In some cases, the spectral exponent of the spin-noise signal can vary from 1.6 to 4 depending upon the model, which has direct implications for the long-term sensitivity of the pulsar to a stochastic gravitational-wave (GW) background. By using a more appropriate model, however, we can greatly improve a pulsar's sensitivity to GWs. For example, including system and band-dependent signals in the PSR J0437-4715 data set improves the upper limit on a fiducial GW background by ˜60 per cent compared to a model that includes DM variations and spin-noise only.

Results of an inter and intra laboratory exercise on the assessment of complex autosomal DNA profiles.

PubMed

Benschop, Corina C G; Connolly, Edward; Ansell, Ricky; Kokshoorn, Bas

2017-01-01

The interpretation of complex DNA profiles may differ between laboratories and reporting officers, which can lead to discrepancies in the final reports. In this study, we assessed the intra and inter laboratory variation in DNA mixture interpretation for three European ISO17025-accredited laboratories. To this aim, 26 reporting officers analyzed five sets of DNA profiles. Three main aspects were considered: 1) whether the mixed DNA profiles met the criteria for comparison to a reference profile, 2) the actual result of the comparison between references and DNA profiling data and 3) whether the weight of the DNA evidence could be assessed. Similarity in answers depended mostly on the complexity of the tasks. This study showed less variation within laboratories than between laboratories which could be the result of differences between internal laboratory guidelines and methods and tools available. Results show the profile types for which the three laboratories report differently, which informs indirectly on the complexity threshold the laboratories employ. Largest differences between laboratories were caused by the methods available to assess the weight of the DNA evidence. This exercise aids in training forensic scientists, refining laboratory guidelines and explaining differences between laboratories in court. Undertaking more collaborative exercises in future may stimulate dialog and consensus regarding interpretation. For training purposes, DNA profiles of the mixed stains and questioned references are made available. Copyright © 2016 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

How does context affect assessments of facial emotion? The role of culture and age.

PubMed

Ko, Seon-Gyu; Lee, Tae-Ho; Yoon, Hyea-Young; Kwon, Jung-Hye; Mather, Mara

2011-03-01

People from Asian cultures are more influenced by context in their visual processing than people from Western cultures. In this study, we examined how these cultural differences in context processing affect how people interpret facial emotions. We found that younger Koreans were more influenced than younger Americans by emotional background pictures when rating the emotion of a central face, especially those younger Koreans with low self-rated stress. In contrast, among older adults, neither Koreans nor Americans showed significant influences of context in their face emotion ratings. These findings suggest that cultural differences in reliance on context to interpret others' emotions depend on perceptual integration processes that decline with age, leading to fewer cultural differences in perception among older adults than among younger adults. Furthermore, when asked to recall the background pictures, younger participants recalled more negative pictures than positive pictures, whereas older participants recalled similar numbers of positive and negative pictures. These age differences in the valence of memory were consistent across culture. (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

Truth and Evidence in Validity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borsboom, Denny; Markus, Keith A.

2013-01-01

According to Kane (this issue), "the validity of a proposed interpretation or use depends on how well the evidence supports" the claims being made. Because truth and evidence are distinct, this means that the validity of a test score interpretation could be high even though the interpretation is false. As an illustration, we discuss the case of…

Effect of an N-terminus deletion on voltage-dependent gating of the ClC-2 chloride channel

PubMed Central

Varela, Diego; Niemeyer, María Isabel; Cid, L Pablo; Sepúlveda, Francisco V

2002-01-01

ClC-2, a chloride channel widely expressed in mammalian tissues, is activated by hyperpolarisation and extracellular acidification. Deletion of amino acids 16–61 in rat ClC-2 abolishes voltage and pH dependence in two-electrode voltage-clamp experiments in amphibian oocytes. These results have been interpreted in terms of a ball-and-chain type of mechanism in which the N-terminus would behave as a ball that is removed from an inactivating site upon hyperpolarisation. We now report whole-cell patch-clamp measurements in mammalian cells showing hyperpolarization-activation of rClC-2Δ16–61 differing only in presenting faster opening and closing kinetics than rClC-2. The lack of time and voltage dependence observed previously was reproduced, however, in nystatin-perforated patch experiments. The behaviour of wild-type rClC-2 did not differ between conventional and nystatin-perforated patches. Similar results were obtained with ClC-2 from guinea-pig. One possible explanation of the results is that some diffusible component is able to lock the channel in an open state but does so only to the mutated channel. Alternative explanations involving the osmotic state of the cell and cytoskeleton structure are also considered. Low extracellular pH activates the wild-type channel but not rClC-2Δ16–61 when expressed in oocytes, a result that had been interpreted to suggest that protons affect the ball-and-chain mechanism. In our experiments no difference was seen in the effect of extracellular pH upon rClC-2 and rClC-2Δ16–61 in either recording configuration, suggesting that protons act independently from possible effects of the N-terminus on gating. Our observations of voltage-dependent gating of the N-terminal deleted ClC-2 are an argument against a ball-and-chain mechanism for this channel. PMID:12381811

The Measurement Problem: Decoherence and Convivial Solipsism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zwirn, Hervé

2016-06-01

The problem of measurement is often considered an inconsistency inside the quantum formalism. Many attempts to solve (or to dissolve) it have been made since the inception of quantum mechanics. The form of these attempts depends on the philosophical position that their authors endorse. I will review some of them and analyze their relevance. The phenomenon of decoherence is often presented as a solution lying inside the pure quantum formalism and not demanding any particular philosophical assumption. Nevertheless, a widely debated question is to decide between two different interpretations. The first one is to consider that the decoherence process has the effect to actually project a superposed state into one of its classically interpretable component, hence doing the same job as the reduction postulate. For the second one, decoherence is only a way to show why no macroscopic superposed state can be observed, so explaining the classical appearance of the macroscopic world, while the quantum entanglement between the system, the apparatus and the environment never disappears. In this case, explaining why only one single definite outcome is observed remains to do. In this paper, I examine the arguments that have been given for and against both interpretations and defend a new position, the "Convivial Solipsism", according to which the outcome that is observed is relative to the observer, different but in close parallel to the Everett's interpretation and sharing also some similarities with Rovelli's relational interpretation and Quantum Bayesianism. I also show how "Convivial Solipsism" can help getting a new standpoint about the EPR paradox providing a way out of the seemingly unavoidable non-locality of quantum mechanics.

SURFACE CHEMKIN-III: A Fortran package for analyzing heterogeneous chemical kinetics at a solid-surface - gas-phase interface

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

Coltrin, M.E.; Kee, R.J.; Rupley, F.M.

1996-05-01

This document is the user`s manual for the SURFACE CHEMKIN-III package. Together with CHEMKIN-III, this software facilitates the formation, solution, and interpretation of problems involving elementary heterogeneous and gas-phase chemical kinetics in the presence of a solid surface. The package consists of two major software components: an Interpreter and a Surface Subroutine Library. The Interpreter is a program that reads a symbolic description of a user-specified chemical reaction mechanism. One output from the Interpreter is a data file that forms a link to the Surface Subroutine Library, which is a collection of about seventy modular Fortran subroutines that may bemore » called from a user`s application code to return information on chemical production rates and thermodynamic properties. This version of SURFACE CHEMKIN-III includes many modifications to allow treatment of multi-fluid plasma systems, for example modeling the reactions of highly energetic ionic species with a surface. Optional rate expressions allow reaction rates to depend upon ion energy rather than a single thermodynamic temperature. In addition, subroutines treat temperature as an array, allowing an application code to define a different temperature for each species. This version of SURFACE CHEMKIN-III allows use of real (non-integer) stoichiometric coefficients; the reaction order with respect to species concentrations can also be specified independent of the reaction`s stoichiometric coefficients. Several different reaction mechanisms can be specified in the Interpreter input file through the new construct of multiple materials.« less

Assessing the suitability of fractional polynomial methods in health services research: a perspective on the categorization epidemic.

PubMed

Williams, Jennifer Stewart

2011-07-01

To show how fractional polynomial methods can usefully replace the practice of arbitrarily categorizing data in epidemiology and health services research. A health service setting is used to illustrate a structured and transparent way of representing non-linear data without arbitrary grouping. When age is a regressor its effects on an outcome will be interpreted differently depending upon the placing of cutpoints or the use of a polynomial transformation. Although it is common practice, categorization comes at a cost. Information is lost, and accuracy and statistical power reduced, leading to spurious statistical interpretation of the data. The fractional polynomial method is widely supported by statistical software programs, and deserves greater attention and use.

Social Salience Discriminates Learnability of Contextual Cues in an Artificial Language.

PubMed

Rácz, Péter; Hay, Jennifer B; Pierrehumbert, Janet B

2017-01-01

We investigate the learning of contextual meaning by adults in an artificial language. Contextual meaning here refers to the non-denotative contextual information that speakers attach to a linguistic construction. Through a series of short games, played online, we test how well adults can learn different contextual meanings for a word-formation pattern in an artificial language. We look at whether learning contextual meanings depends on the social salience of the context, whether our players interpret these contexts generally, and whether the learned meaning is generalized to new words. Our results show that adults are capable of learning contextual meaning if the context is socially salient, coherent, and interpretable. Once a contextual meaning is recognized, it is readily generalized to related forms and contexts.

MR signal intensity: staying on the bright side in MR image interpretation

PubMed Central

Bloem, Johan L; Reijnierse, Monique; Huizinga, Tom W J

2018-01-01

In 2003, the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded for contribution to the invention of MRI, reflecting the incredible value of MRI for medicine. Since 2003, enormous technical advancements have been made in acquiring MR images. However, MRI has a complicated, accident-prone dark side; images are not calibrated and respective images are dependent on all kinds of subjective choices in the settings of the machine, acquisition technique parameters, reconstruction techniques, data transmission, filtering and postprocessing techniques. The bright side is that understanding MR techniques increases opportunities to unravel characteristics of tissue. In this viewpoint, we summarise the different subjective choices that can be made to generate MR images and stress the importance of communication between radiologists and rheumatologists to correctly interpret images.

Aerodynamics in the amusement park: interpreting sensor data for acceleration and rotation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Löfstrand, Marcus; Pendrill, Ann-Marie

2016-09-01

The sky roller ride depends on interaction with the air to create a rolling motion. In this paper, we analyse forces, torque and angular velocities during different parts of the ride, combining a theoretical analysis, with photos, videos as well as with accelerometer and gyroscopic data, that may be collected e.g. with a smartphone. For interpreting the result, it must be taken into account that the sensors and their coordinate system rotate together with the rider. The sky roller offers many examples for physics education, from simple circular motion, to acceleration and rotation involving several axes, as well as the relation between wing orientation, torque and angular velocities and using barometer pressure to determine the elevation gain.

Coupling of conservative and dissipative forces in frequency-modulation atomic force microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sader, John E.; Jarvis, Suzanne P.

2006-11-01

Frequency modulation atomic force microscopy (FM-AFM) utilizes the principle of self-excitation to ensure the cantilever probe vibrates at its resonant frequency, regardless of the tip-sample interaction. Practically, this is achieved by fixing the phase difference between tip deflection and driving force at precisely 90° . This, in turn, decouples the frequency shift and excitation amplitude signals, enabling quantitative interpretation in terms of conservative and dissipative tip-sample interaction forces. In this article, we theoretically investigate the effect of phase detuning in the self-excitation mechanism on the coupling between conservative and dissipative forces in FM-AFM. We find that this coupling depends only on the relative difference in the drive and resonant frequencies far from the surface, and is thus very weakly dependent on the actual phase error particularly for high quality factors. This establishes that FM-AFM is highly robust with respect to phase detuning, and enables quantitative interpretation of the measured frequency shift and excitation amplitude, even while operating away from the resonant frequency with the use of appropriate replacements in the existing formalism. We also examine the calibration of phase shifts in FM-AFM measurements and demonstrate that the commonly used approach of minimizing the excitation amplitude can lead to significant phase detuning, particularly in liquid environments.

Interpretation bias in Cluster-C and borderline personality disorders.

PubMed

Arntz, Arnoud; Weertman, Anoek; Salet, Sjoerd

2011-08-01

Cognitive therapy (CT) assumes that personality disorders (PDs) are characterized by interpretational biases that maintain the disorder. Changing interpretations is therefore a major aim of CT of PDs. This study tested whether Borderline PD (BPD), Avoidant and Dependent PD (AV/DEPD), and Obsessive-Compulsive PD (OCPD) are characterized by specific interpretations. Among the 122 participants there were 55 PD patients (17 BPD, 30 AV/DEPD, 29 OCPD diagnoses), 26 axis-1 patients, and 41 nonpatients. Participants put themselves into 10 scripts of negative events and noted feelings, thoughts and behaviors that came to mind. Next, they chose between hypothesized BPD-specific, AV/DEPD-specific, and OCPD-specific interpretations of each event (forced choice). Lastly, participants rated belief in each interpretation. Regression analyses revealed that forced choices and belief ratings supported the CT-model of BPD and AV/DEP: interpretations were specific. The alleged OCPD-beliefs were however not specifically related to OCPD, with relatively high popularity in axis-1 patients and nonpatients. The open responses were classified by judges blind for diagnoses, with the following results. BPD was characterized by low levels of solution-focused and healthy-flexible/accepting responses, and higher levels of criticizing others and malevolent interpretations of others. AV/DEPD was characterized by lower levels of solution-focused responses, and higher levels of self-criticism, negative emotions, guilt and fear of judgment, as well as lower levels of other-criticism. OCPD only showed trends for lower healthy responses, and higher compulsiveness and worry. It is concluded that the assumptions of CT are supported for BPD and AV/DEPD, but not - at least not on the explicit interpretational level - for OCPD. CT of OCPD might need a slightly different approach. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of 12 strategies for obtaining second opinions to improve interpretation of breast histopathology: simulation study.

PubMed

Elmore, Joann G; Tosteson, Anna Na; Pepe, Margaret S; Longton, Gary M; Nelson, Heidi D; Geller, Berta; Carney, Patricia A; Onega, Tracy; Allison, Kimberly H; Jackson, Sara L; Weaver, Donald L

2016-06-22

 To evaluate the potential effect of second opinions on improving the accuracy of diagnostic interpretation of breast histopathology.  Simulation study.  12 different strategies for acquiring independent second opinions.  Interpretations of 240 breast biopsy specimens by 115 pathologists, one slide for each case, compared with reference diagnoses derived by expert consensus.  Misclassification rates for individual pathologists and for 12 simulated strategies for second opinions. Simulations compared accuracy of diagnoses from single pathologists with that of diagnoses based on pairing interpretations from first and second independent pathologists, where resolution of disagreements was by an independent third pathologist. 12 strategies were evaluated in which acquisition of second opinions depended on initial diagnoses, assessment of case difficulty or borderline characteristics, pathologists' clinical volumes, or whether a second opinion was required by policy or desired by the pathologists. The 240 cases included benign without atypia (10% non-proliferative, 20% proliferative without atypia), atypia (30%), ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS, 30%), and invasive cancer (10%). Overall misclassification rates and agreement statistics depended on the composition of the test set, which included a higher prevalence of difficult cases than in typical practice.  Misclassification rates significantly decreased (P<0.001) with all second opinion strategies except for the strategy limiting second opinions only to cases of invasive cancer. The overall misclassification rate decreased from 24.7% to 18.1% when all cases received second opinions (P<0.001). Obtaining both first and second opinions from pathologists with a high volume (≥10 breast biopsy specimens weekly) resulted in the lowest misclassification rate in this test set (14.3%, 95% confidence interval 10.9% to 18.0%). Obtaining second opinions only for cases with initial interpretations of atypia, DCIS, or invasive cancer decreased the over-interpretation of benign cases without atypia from 12.9% to 6.0%. Atypia cases had the highest misclassification rate after single interpretation (52.2%), remaining at more than 34% in all second opinion scenarios.  Second opinions can statistically significantly improve diagnostic agreement for pathologists' interpretations of breast biopsy specimens; however, variability in diagnosis will not be completely eliminated, especially for breast specimens with atypia. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Evaluation of 12 strategies for obtaining second opinions to improve interpretation of breast histopathology: simulation study

PubMed Central

Tosteson, Anna NA; Pepe, Margaret S; Longton, Gary M; Nelson, Heidi D; Geller, Berta; Carney, Patricia A; Onega, Tracy; Allison, Kimberly H; Jackson, Sara L; Weaver, Donald L

2016-01-01

Objective To evaluate the potential effect of second opinions on improving the accuracy of diagnostic interpretation of breast histopathology. Design Simulation study. Setting 12 different strategies for acquiring independent second opinions. Participants Interpretations of 240 breast biopsy specimens by 115 pathologists, one slide for each case, compared with reference diagnoses derived by expert consensus. Main outcome measures Misclassification rates for individual pathologists and for 12 simulated strategies for second opinions. Simulations compared accuracy of diagnoses from single pathologists with that of diagnoses based on pairing interpretations from first and second independent pathologists, where resolution of disagreements was by an independent third pathologist. 12 strategies were evaluated in which acquisition of second opinions depended on initial diagnoses, assessment of case difficulty or borderline characteristics, pathologists’ clinical volumes, or whether a second opinion was required by policy or desired by the pathologists. The 240 cases included benign without atypia (10% non-proliferative, 20% proliferative without atypia), atypia (30%), ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS, 30%), and invasive cancer (10%). Overall misclassification rates and agreement statistics depended on the composition of the test set, which included a higher prevalence of difficult cases than in typical practice. Results Misclassification rates significantly decreased (P<0.001) with all second opinion strategies except for the strategy limiting second opinions only to cases of invasive cancer. The overall misclassification rate decreased from 24.7% to 18.1% when all cases received second opinions (P<0.001). Obtaining both first and second opinions from pathologists with a high volume (≥10 breast biopsy specimens weekly) resulted in the lowest misclassification rate in this test set (14.3%, 95% confidence interval 10.9% to 18.0%). Obtaining second opinions only for cases with initial interpretations of atypia, DCIS, or invasive cancer decreased the over-interpretation of benign cases without atypia from 12.9% to 6.0%. Atypia cases had the highest misclassification rate after single interpretation (52.2%), remaining at more than 34% in all second opinion scenarios. Conclusion Second opinions can statistically significantly improve diagnostic agreement for pathologists’ interpretations of breast biopsy specimens; however, variability in diagnosis will not be completely eliminated, especially for breast specimens with atypia. PMID:27334105

Comprehending idioms cross-linguistically.

PubMed

Bortfeld, Heather

2003-01-01

Speakers of three different languages (English, Latvian, and Mandarin) rated sets of idioms from their language for the analyzability of the relationship between each phrase's literal and figurative meaning. For each language, subsets of idioms were selected based on these ratings. Latvian and Mandarin idioms were literally translated into English. Across three experiments, people classified idioms from the three languages according to their figurative meanings. Response times and error rates indicate that participants were able to interpret unfamiliar (e.g., other languages') idioms depending largely on the degree to which they were analyzable, and that different forms of processing were used both within and between languages depending on this analyzability. Results support arguments for a continuum of analyzability (Bortfeld & McGlone, 2001), along which figurative speech ranges from reflecting general conceptual structures to specific cultural and historical references.

Evaluation of an automated milk leukocyte differential test and the California Mastitis Test for detecting intramammary infection in early- and late-lactation quarters and cows.

PubMed

Godden, S M; Royster, E; Timmerman, J; Rapnicki, P; Green, H

2017-08-01

Study objectives were to (1) describe the diagnostic test characteristics of an automated milk leukocyte differential (MLD) test and the California Mastitis Test (CMT) to identify intramammary infection (IMI) in early- (EL) and late-lactation (LL) quarters and cows when using 3 different approaches to define IMI from milk culture, and (2) describe the repeatability of MLD test results at both the quarter and cow level. Eighty-six EL and 90 LL Holstein cows were sampled from 3 Midwest herds. Quarter milk samples were collected for a cow-side CMT test, milk culture, and MLD testing. Quarter IMI status was defined by 3 methods: culture of a single milk sample, culture of duplicate samples with parallel interpretation, and culture of duplicate samples with serial interpretation. The MLD testing was completed in duplicate within 8 h of sample collection; MLD results (positive/negative) were reported at each possible threshold setting (1-18 for EL; 1-12 for LL) and CMT results (positive/negative) were reported at each possible cut-points (trace, ≥1, ≥2, or 3). We created 2 × 2 tables to compare MLD and CMT results to milk culture, at both the quarter and cow level, when using each of 3 different definitions of IMI as the referent test. Paired MLD test results were compared with evaluate repeatability. The MLD test showed excellent repeatability. The choice of definition of IMI from milk culture had minor effects on estimates of MLD and CMT test characteristics. For EL samples, when interpreting MLD and CMT results at the quarter level, and regardless of the referent test used, both tests had low sensitivity (MLD = 11.7-39.1%; CMT = 0-52.2%) but good to very good specificity (MLD = 82.1-95.2%; CMT = 68.1-100%), depending on the cut-point used. Sensitivity improved slightly if diagnosis was interpreted at the cow level (MLD = 25.6-56.4%; CMT = 0-72.2%), though specificity generally declined (MLD = 61.8-100%; CMT = 25.0-100%) depending on the cut-point used. For LL samples, when interpreted at the quarter level, both tests had variable sensitivity (MLD = 46.6-84.8%; CMT = 9.6-72.7%) and variable specificity (MLD = 59.2-79.8%; CMT = 52.5-97.3%), depending on the cut-point used. Test sensitivity improved if interpreted at the cow level (MLD = 59.6-86.4%; CMT = 19.1-86.4%), though specificity declined (MLD = 32.4-56.8%; CMT = 14.3-92.3%). Producers considering adopting either test for LL or EL screening programs will need to carefully consider the goals and priorities of the program (e.g., whether to prioritize test sensitivity or specificity) when deciding on the level of interpretation (quarter or cow) and when selecting the optimal cut-point for interpreting test results. Additional validation studies and large randomized field studies will be needed to evaluate the effect of adopting either test in selective dry cow therapy or fresh cow screening programs on udder health, antibiotic use, and economics. The Authors. Published by the Federation of Animal Science Societies and Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

Interpreting Medical Information Using Machine Learning and Individual Conditional Expectation.

PubMed

Nohara, Yasunobu; Wakata, Yoshifumi; Nakashima, Naoki

2015-01-01

Recently, machine-learning techniques have spread many fields. However, machine-learning is still not popular in medical research field due to difficulty of interpreting. In this paper, we introduce a method of interpreting medical information using machine learning technique. The method gave new explanation of partial dependence plot and individual conditional expectation plot from medical research field.

Rapid recalibration of speech perception after experiencing the McGurk illusion

PubMed Central

Pérez-Bellido, Alexis; de Lange, Floris P.

2018-01-01

The human brain can quickly adapt to changes in the environment. One example is phonetic recalibration: a speech sound is interpreted differently depending on the visual speech and this interpretation persists in the absence of visual information. Here, we examined the mechanisms of phonetic recalibration. Participants categorized the auditory syllables /aba/ and /ada/, which were sometimes preceded by the so-called McGurk stimuli (in which an /aba/ sound, due to visual /aga/ input, is often perceived as ‘ada’). We found that only one trial of exposure to the McGurk illusion was sufficient to induce a recalibration effect, i.e. an auditory /aba/ stimulus was subsequently more often perceived as ‘ada’. Furthermore, phonetic recalibration took place only when auditory and visual inputs were integrated to ‘ada’ (McGurk illusion). Moreover, this recalibration depended on the sensory similarity between the preceding and current auditory stimulus. Finally, signal detection theoretical analysis showed that McGurk-induced phonetic recalibration resulted in both a criterion shift towards /ada/ and a reduced sensitivity to distinguish between /aba/ and /ada/ sounds. The current study shows that phonetic recalibration is dependent on the perceptual integration of audiovisual information and leads to a perceptual shift in phoneme categorization. PMID:29657743

Polarized micro Raman spectroscopy of bilayer graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moon, Hyerim; Yoon, Duhee; Son, Young-Woo; Cheong, Hyeonsik

2009-03-01

The frequency of Raman 2D band of the graphite depends on the excitation laser energy. This phenomenon is explained with double resonance Raman process. In polarized micro-Raman spectroscopy of single layer graphene, Raman G band (˜1586 cm-1) is isotropic, and 2D band (˜2686 cm-1) strongly depends on relative polarizations of the incident and scattered photons. This strong polarization dependence originates from inhomogeneous optical absorption and emission mediated by resonant electron-phonon interaction. In bi-layer graphene, Raman 2D band can be decomposed into four Lorenztian peaks which can be interpreted in terms of the four transition paths in the double resonance Raman process. We investigated the polarization dependence of each Lorenztian peak in the Raman 2D band of bi-layer graphene for different excitation laser energies. Strong polarization dependence of the Raman 2D band, similar to the case of single layer graphene, is observed. The excitation energy dependence of the polarized Raman scattering is analyzed in terms of the band structure of bi-layer graphene.

Copula-based model for rainfall and El- Niño in Banyuwangi Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caraka, R. E.; Supari; Tahmid, M.

2018-04-01

Modelling, describing and measuring the structure dependences between different random events is at the very heart of statistics. Therefore, a broad variety of varying dependence concepts has been developed in the past. Most often, practitioners rely only on the linear correlation to describe the degree of dependence between two or more variables; an approach that can lead to quite misleading conclusions as this measure is only capable of capturing linear relationships. Copulas go beyond dependence measures and provide a sound framework for general dependence modelling. This paper will introduce an application of Copula to estimate, understand, and interpret the dependence structure in a given set of data El-Niño in Banyuwangi, Indonesia. In a nutshell, we proved the flexibility of Copulas Archimedean in rainfall modelling and catching phenomena of El Niño in Banyuwangi, East Java, Indonesia. Also, it was found that SST of nino3, nino4, and nino3.4 are most appropriate ENSO indicators in identifying the relationship of El Nino and rainfall.

Study of Comets Composition and Structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khalaf, S. Z.; Selman, A. A.; Ali, H. S.

2008-12-01

The present paper focuses on the nature of the different interactions between cometary nucleus and tail with solar wind. The dynamics of the comet will impose many features that provide unique behavior of the comet when entering the solar system. These features are reviewed in this paper and few investigations are made. The calculations made in this work represent the analysis and interpretation of the different features of the comet, such as perihelion and eccentricity dependence on the gas production rate, and the dependence of the latter on the composition of the comet nucleus. The dependences of the heliocentric, bow shock, contact surface, and stand-off distances with gas production rate for many types of comets that cover linear and non-linear types are studied in this work. Important results are obtained which indicated the different physical interactions between cometary ions and solar wind. Furthermore, the important relation between mean molecular weight and gas production rate are analyzed and studied in this work and a conclusion is made that, as the gas production rate increases, the mean molecular weight will decrease exponentially. A detailed discussion for this unique relation is given.

Crystal orientation dependence of femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structure on (100) silicon.

PubMed

Jiang, Lan; Han, Weina; Li, Xiaowei; Wang, Qingsong; Meng, Fantong; Lu, Yongfeng

2014-06-01

It is widely believed that laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) are independent of material crystal structures. This Letter reports an abnormal phenomenon of strong dependence of the anisotropic formation of periodic ripples on crystal orientation, when Si (100) is processed by a linearly polarized femtosecond laser (800 nm, 50 fs, 1 kHz). LIPSS formation sensitivity with a π/2 modulation is found along different crystal orientations with a quasi-cosinusoid function when the angle between the crystal orientation and polarization direction is changed from 0° to 180°. Our experiments indicate that it is much easier (or more difficult) to form ripple structures when the polarization direction is aligned with the lattice axis [011]/[011¯] (or [001]). The modulated nonlinear ionization rate along different crystal orientations, which arises from the direction dependence of the effective mass of the electron is proposed to interpret the unexpected anisotropic LIPSS formation phenomenon. Also, we demonstrate that the abnormal phenomenon can be applied to control the continuity of scanned ripple lines along different crystal orientations.

The Computational Complexity of Valuation and Motivational Forces in Decision-Making Processes.

PubMed

Redish, A David; Schultheiss, Nathan W; Carter, Evan C

2016-01-01

The concept of value is fundamental to most theories of motivation and decision making. However, value has to be measured experimentally. Different methods of measuring value produce incompatible valuation hierarchies. Taking the agent's perspective (rather than the experimenter's), we interpret the different valuation measurement methods as accessing different decision-making systems and show how these different systems depend on different information processing algorithms. This identifies the translation from these multiple decision-making systems into a single action taken by a given agent as one of the most important open questions in decision making today. We conclude by looking at how these different valuation measures accessing different decision-making systems can be used to understand and treat decision dysfunction such as in addiction.

Physical Properties of Dust in the Martian Atmosphere: Analysis of Contradictions and Possible Ways of Their Resolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dlugach, Zh. M.; Korablev, O. I.; Morozhenko, A. V.; Moroz, V. I.; Petrova, E. V.; Rodin, A. V.

2003-01-01

Atmospheric aerosols play an important role in forming the Martian climate. However, the basic physical properties of the Martian aerosols are still poorly known; there are many contradictions in their estimates. We present an analytical overview of the published results and potentialities of various methods. We consider mineral dust. Zonally averaged data obtained from mapping IR instruments (TES and IRTM) give the optical thickness of mineral aerosols τ9 = 0.05-0.1 in the 9-μm band for quite atmospheric conditions. There is a problem of comparing these estimates with those obtained in the visible spectral range. We suggest that the commonly used ratio τvis/τ9 >2 depends on the interpretation and it may actually be smaller. The ratio τvis/τ9 ~ 1 is in better agreement with the IRIS data (materials like montmorillonite). If we assume that τvis/τ9 = 1 and take into account the nonspherical particle shape, then the interpretation of ground-based integrated polarimetric observations (τ < 0.04) can be reconciled with IR measurements from the orbit. However, for thin layers, the sensitivity of both methods to the optical thickness is poorly understood: on the one hand, polarimetry depends on the cloud cover and, on the other hand, the interpretation of IR measurements requires that the atmospheric temperature profile and the surface temperature and emissivity be precisely known. For quite atmospheric conditions, the local optical-thickness estimates obtained by the Bouguer-Lambert-Beer method and from the sky brightness measured from Viking 1 and 2 and Mars Pathfinder landers are much larger: τ = 0.3-0.6. Estimates of the contrasts in images from the Viking orbiters yield the same values. Thus, there is still a factor of 3 to 10 difference between different groups of optical-thickness estimates for the quiet atmosphere. This difference is probably explained by the contribution of condensation clouds and/or by local/time variations.

Covariance between predation risk and nutritional preferences confound interpretations of giving-up density experiments.

PubMed

McMahon, Jordan D; Lashley, Marcus A; Brooks, Christopher P; Barton, Brandon T

2018-04-26

Giving-up density (GUD) experiments have been a foundational method to evaluate perceived predation risk, but rely on the assumption that food preferences are absolute, so that areas with higher GUDs can be interpreted as having higher risk. However, nutritional preferences are context dependent and can change with risk. We used spiders and grasshoppers to test the hypothesis that covariance in nutritional preferences and risk may confound the interpretation of GUD experiments. We presented grasshoppers with carbohydrate-rich and protein-rich diets, in the presence and absence of spider predators. Predators reduced grasshopper preference for the protein-rich food, but increased their preference for the carbohydrate-rich food. We then measured GUDs with both food types under different levels of risk (spider density, 0 - 5). As expected, GUDs increased with spider density indicating increasing risk, but only when using protein-rich food. With carbohydrate-rich food, GUD was independent of predation risk. Our results demonstrate that predation risk and nutritional preferences covary and can confound interpretation of GUD experiments. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Investigation to develop a multistage forest sampling inventory system using ERTS-1 imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Langley, P. G.; Vanroessel, J. W. (Principal Investigator); Wert, S. L.

1975-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. The annotation system produced a RMSE of about 200 m ground distance in the MSS data system with the control data used. All the analytical MSS interpretation models tried were highly significant. However, the gains in forest sampling efficiency that can be achieved by using the models vary from zero to over 50 percent depending on the area to which they are applied and the sampling method used. Among the sampling methods tried, regression sampling yielded substantial and the most consistent gains. The single most significant variable in the interpretation model was the difference between bands 5 and 7. The contrast variable, computed by the Hadamard transform was significant but did not contribute much to the interpretation model. Forest areas containing very large timber volumes because of large tree sizes were not separable from areas of similar crown cover but containing smaller trees using ERTS image interpretation only. All correlations between space derived timber volume predictions and estimates obtained from aerial and ground sampling were relatively low but significant and stable. There was a much stronger relationship between variables derived from MSS and U2 data than between U2 and ground data.

Language barriers and qualitative nursing research: methodological considerations.

PubMed

Squires, A

2008-09-01

This review of the literature synthesizes methodological recommendations for the use of translators and interpreters in cross-language qualitative research. Cross-language qualitative research involves the use of interpreters and translators to mediate a language barrier between researchers and participants. Qualitative nurse researchers successfully address language barriers between themselves and their participants when they systematically plan for how they will use interpreters and translators throughout the research process. Experienced qualitative researchers recognize that translators can generate qualitative data through translation processes and by participating in data analysis. Failure to address language barriers and the methodological challenges they present threatens the credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability of cross-language qualitative nursing research. Through a synthesis of the cross-language qualitative methods literature, this article reviews the basics of language competence, translator and interpreter qualifications, and roles for each kind of qualitative research approach. Methodological and ethical considerations are also provided. By systematically addressing the methodological challenges cross-language research presents, nurse researchers can produce better evidence for nursing practice and policy making when working across different language groups. Findings from qualitative studies will also accurately represent the experiences of the participants without concern that the meaning was lost in translation.

Language barriers and qualitative nursing research: methodological considerations

PubMed Central

Squires, A.

2009-01-01

Aim This review of the literature synthesizes methodological recommendations for the use of translators and interpreters in cross-language qualitative research. Background Cross-language qualitative research involves the use of interpreters and translators to mediate a language barrier between researchers and participants. Qualitative nurse researchers successfully address language barriers between themselves and their participants when they systematically plan for how they will use interpreters and translators throughout the research process. Experienced qualitative researchers recognize that translators can generate qualitative data through translation processes and by participating in data analysis. Failure to address language barriers and the methodological challenges they present threatens the credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability of cross-language qualitative nursing research. Through a synthesis of the cross-language qualitative methods literature, this article reviews the basics of language competence, translator and interpreter qualifications, and roles for each kind of qualitative research approach. Methodological and ethical considerations are also provided. Conclusion By systematically addressing the methodological challenges cross-language research presents, nurse researchers can produce better evidence for nursing practice and policy making when working across different language groups. Findings from qualitative studies will also accurately represent the experiences of the participants without concern that the meaning was lost in translation. PMID:19522941

Early detection of lung function decrements in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis using new reference values.

PubMed

Zacharasiewicz, Angela; Renner, Sabine; Haderer, Flora; Weber, Michael; Dehlink, Eleonore; Szepfalusi, Zsolt; Frischer, Thomas

2017-08-01

Interpretation of lung function values in children with cystic fibrosis (CF) depends on the applied reference values. We hypothesize that differences between the new global lung function initiative (GLI) values and the formerly used Zapletal et al. values produce significantly different clinical results. We analyzed 3719 lung function measurements of 108 children and adolescents (n = 54 male; aged 6-18 years) with CF treated between September 1991 and July 2009. Data were analyzed in milliliters (ml) and % predicted (pred.) and interpreted using Zapletal and GLI reference values. Applying GLI compared to Zapletal resulted in significantly lower mean forced expiratory volume in 1s (FEV1)% pred. Zapletal 86.6% (SD 20.6), GLI 79.9% (SD 20.3) and 32% (n = 497/1543) were misclassified as normal when using Zapletal. Despite showing no overall differences in FEV1 and forced vital capacity (FVC) between concomitant Pseudomonas detection (PA+) in n = 938 and Pseudomonas negative (PA-) (n = 2781) using either reference PA+ resulted in lower FEV1 and FVC values with increasing age; however, measurement of small airway obstruction with forced expiratory flow at 75% of FVC (FEF75) values - available for Zapletal -showed significant differences. Reassurance regarding lung function when using old reference values may occur with potential clinical significance. Discrepancies in lung function interpretation underline the importance of using uniform and best available reference values.

Science and Technology Issues Relating to Data Quality in C2 Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

domains. 2 Various investigators have given different definitions of the terms “information” and “data,” depending on the context. For this paper ...in a formalized man- ner suitable for communication, interpretation or processing [2]. In the context of this paper , data includes both raw and...operate faster. Modern C2 systems, especially in a coalition environment, are among the most complex systems imaginable. In this paper , we examine

Deciphering storm-event runoff behavior in a coastal plain watershed using chemical and physical hydrograph separation techniques

Treesearch

Timothy Callahan; Austin E. Morrison

2016-01-01

Interpreting storm-event runoff in coastal plain watersheds is challenging because of the space- and time-variable nature of different sources that contribute to stream flow. These flow vectors and the magnitude of water flux is dependent on the pre-storm soil moisture (as estimated from depth to water table) in the lower coastal plain (LCP) region.

Theoretical model for optical properties of porphyrin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phan, Anh D.; Nga, Do T.; Phan, The-Long; Thanh, Le T. M.; Anh, Chu T.; Bernad, Sophie; Viet, N. A.

2014-12-01

We propose a simple model to interpret the optical absorption spectra of porphyrin in different solvents. Our model successfully explains the decrease in the intensity of optical absorption at maxima of increased wavelengths. We also prove the dependence of the intensity and peak positions in the absorption spectra on the environment. The nature of the Soret band is supposed to derive from π plasmon. Our theoretical calculations are consistent with previous experimental studies.

"FORCE" learning in recurrent neural networks as data assimilation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duane, Gregory S.

2017-12-01

It is shown that the "FORCE" algorithm for learning in arbitrarily connected networks of simple neuronal units can be cast as a Kalman Filter, with a particular state-dependent form for the background error covariances. The resulting interpretation has implications for initialization of the learning algorithm, leads to an extension to include interactions between the weight updates for different neurons, and can represent relationships within groups of multiple target output signals.

Serial dependence in the perception of attractiveness.

PubMed

Xia, Ye; Leib, Allison Yamanashi; Whitney, David

2016-12-01

The perception of attractiveness is essential for choices of food, object, and mate preference. Like perception of other visual features, perception of attractiveness is stable despite constant changes of image properties due to factors like occlusion, visual noise, and eye movements. Recent results demonstrate that perception of low-level stimulus features and even more complex attributes like human identity are biased towards recent percepts. This effect is often called serial dependence. Some recent studies have suggested that serial dependence also exists for perceived facial attractiveness, though there is also concern that the reported effects are due to response bias. Here we used an attractiveness-rating task to test the existence of serial dependence in perceived facial attractiveness. Our results demonstrate that perceived face attractiveness was pulled by the attractiveness level of facial images encountered up to 6 s prior. This effect was not due to response bias and did not rely on the previous motor response. This perceptual pull increased as the difference in attractiveness between previous and current stimuli increased. Our results reconcile previously conflicting findings and extend previous work, demonstrating that sequential dependence in perception operates across different levels of visual analysis, even at the highest levels of perceptual interpretation.

Stimulus dependence of local field potential spectra: experiment versus theory.

PubMed

Barbieri, Francesca; Mazzoni, Alberto; Logothetis, Nikos K; Panzeri, Stefano; Brunel, Nicolas

2014-10-29

The local field potential (LFP) captures different neural processes, including integrative synaptic dynamics that cannot be observed by measuring only the spiking activity of small populations. Therefore, investigating how LFP power is modulated by external stimuli can offer important insights into sensory neural representations. However, gaining such insight requires developing data-driven computational models that can identify and disambiguate the neural contributions to the LFP. Here, we investigated how networks of excitatory and inhibitory integrate-and-fire neurons responding to time-dependent inputs can be used to interpret sensory modulations of LFP spectra. We computed analytically from such models the LFP spectra and the information that they convey about input and used these analytical expressions to fit the model to LFPs recorded in V1 of anesthetized macaques (Macaca mulatta) during the presentation of color movies. Our expressions explain 60%-98% of the variance of the LFP spectrum shape and its dependency upon movie scenes and we achieved this with realistic values for the best-fit parameters. In particular, synaptic best-fit parameters were compatible with experimental measurements and the predictions of firing rates, based only on the fit of LFP data, correlated with the multiunit spike rate recorded from the same location. Moreover, the parameters characterizing the input to the network across different movie scenes correlated with cross-scene changes of several image features. Our findings suggest that analytical descriptions of spiking neuron networks may become a crucial tool for the interpretation of field recordings. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3414589-17$15.00/0.

Impedance Spectrum in Cortical Tissue: Implications for Propagation of LFP Signals on the Microscopic Level

PubMed Central

Miceli, Stéphanie

2017-01-01

Brain research investigating electrical activity within neural tissue is producing an increasing amount of physiological data including local field potentials (LFPs) obtained via extracellular in vivo and in vitro recordings. In order to correctly interpret such electrophysiological data, it is vital to adequately understand the electrical properties of neural tissue itself. An ongoing controversy in the field of neuroscience is whether such frequency-dependent effects bias LFP recordings and affect the proper interpretation of the signal. On macroscopic scales and with large injected currents, previous studies have found various grades of frequency dependence of cortical tissue, ranging from negligible to strong, within the frequency band typically considered relevant for neuroscience (less than a few thousand hertz). Here, we performed a detailed investigation of the frequency dependence of the conductivity within cortical tissue at microscopic distances using small current amplitudes within the typical (neuro)physiological micrometer and sub-nanoampere range. We investigated the propagation of LFPs, induced by extracellular electrical current injections via patch-pipettes, in acute rat brain slice preparations containing the somatosensory cortex in vitro using multielectrode arrays. Based on our data, we determined the cortical tissue conductivity over a 100-fold increase in signal frequency (5–500 Hz). Our results imply at most very weak frequency-dependent effects within the frequency range of physiological LFPs. Using biophysical modeling, we estimated the impact of different putative impedance spectra. Our results indicate that frequency dependencies of the order measured here and in most other studies have negligible impact on the typical analysis and modeling of LFP signals from extracellular brain recordings. PMID:28197543

Impedance Spectrum in Cortical Tissue: Implications for Propagation of LFP Signals on the Microscopic Level.

PubMed

Miceli, Stéphanie; Ness, Torbjørn V; Einevoll, Gaute T; Schubert, Dirk

2017-01-01

Brain research investigating electrical activity within neural tissue is producing an increasing amount of physiological data including local field potentials (LFPs) obtained via extracellular in vivo and in vitro recordings. In order to correctly interpret such electrophysiological data, it is vital to adequately understand the electrical properties of neural tissue itself. An ongoing controversy in the field of neuroscience is whether such frequency-dependent effects bias LFP recordings and affect the proper interpretation of the signal. On macroscopic scales and with large injected currents, previous studies have found various grades of frequency dependence of cortical tissue, ranging from negligible to strong, within the frequency band typically considered relevant for neuroscience (less than a few thousand hertz). Here, we performed a detailed investigation of the frequency dependence of the conductivity within cortical tissue at microscopic distances using small current amplitudes within the typical (neuro)physiological micrometer and sub-nanoampere range. We investigated the propagation of LFPs, induced by extracellular electrical current injections via patch-pipettes, in acute rat brain slice preparations containing the somatosensory cortex in vitro using multielectrode arrays. Based on our data, we determined the cortical tissue conductivity over a 100-fold increase in signal frequency (5-500 Hz). Our results imply at most very weak frequency-dependent effects within the frequency range of physiological LFPs. Using biophysical modeling, we estimated the impact of different putative impedance spectra. Our results indicate that frequency dependencies of the order measured here and in most other studies have negligible impact on the typical analysis and modeling of LFP signals from extracellular brain recordings.

Time-dependent transition density matrix for visualizing charge-transfer excitations in photoexcited organic donor-acceptor systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yonghui; Ullrich, Carsten

2013-03-01

The time-dependent transition density matrix (TDM) is a useful tool to visualize and interpret the induced charges and electron-hole coherences of excitonic processes in large molecules. Combined with time-dependent density functional theory on a real-space grid (as implemented in the octopus code), the TDM is a computationally viable visualization tool for optical excitation processes in molecules. It provides real-time maps of particles and holes which gives information on excitations, in particular those that have charge-transfer character, that cannot be obtained from the density alone. Some illustration of the TDM and comparison with standard density difference plots will be shown for photoexcited organic donor-acceptor molecules. This work is supported by NSF Grant DMR-1005651

BIOMONITORING: INTERPRETATION AND USES

EPA Science Inventory

With advanced technologies, it is now possible to measure very low levels of many chemicals in biological fluids. However, the appropriate use and interpretation of biomarkers will depend upon many factors associated with the exposure, adsorption, deposition, metabolism, and eli...

Extracting Information about the Electronic Quality of Organic Solar-Cell Absorbers from Fill Factor and Thickness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaienburg, Pascal; Rau, Uwe; Kirchartz, Thomas

2016-08-01

Understanding the fill factor in organic solar cells remains challenging due to its complex dependence on a multitude of parameters. By means of drift-diffusion simulations, we thoroughly analyze the fill factor of such low-mobility systems and demonstrate its dependence on a collection coefficient defined in this work. We systematically discuss the effect of different recombination mechanisms, space-charge regions, and contact properties. Based on these findings, we are able to interpret the thickness dependence of the fill factor for different experimental studies from the literature. The presented model provides a facile method to extract the photoactive layer's electronic quality which is of particular importance for the fill factor. We illustrate that over the past 15 years, the electronic quality has not been continuously improved, although organic solar-cell efficiencies increased steadily over the same period of time. Only recent reports show the synthesis of polymers for semiconducting films of high electronic quality that are able to produce new efficiency records.

Context-dependent control of attention capture: Evidence from proportion congruent effects.

PubMed

Crump, Matthew J C; Milliken, Bruce; Leboe-McGowan, Jason; Leboe-McGowan, Launa; Gao, Xiaoqing

2018-06-01

There are several independent demonstrations that attentional phenomena can be controlled in a context-dependent manner by cues associated with differing attentional control demands. The present set of experiments provide converging evidence that attention-capture phenomena can be modulated in a context-dependent fashion. We determined whether methods from the proportion congruent literature (listwide and item- and context-specific proportion congruent designs) that are known to modulate distractor interference effects in Stroop and flanker tasks are capable of modulating attention capture by salient feature singletons. Across experiments we found evidence that attention capture can be modulated by listwide, item-specific, and context-specific manipulations of proportion congruent. We discuss challenges associated with interpreting results from proportion congruent studies but propose that our findings converge with existing work that has demonstrated context-dependent control of attention capture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

On thinking and not being able to think: reflections on viewing the Abu Ghraib photos.

PubMed

Moss, Donald B

2007-04-01

Using experiences from childhood, from encounters with contemporary art, from clinical experience, and, most elaborately, from an initial viewing of the Abu Ghraib photos, the author argues that the interpretability of experience depends upon its being legible. This legibility, in turn, depends upon the interpreter maintaining contact with his/her own capacities for thought, and, more fundamentally, with the vitally necessary community of others with whom he/she shares those capacities.

Drastic changes of (p,t) analyzing powers for the isotopes /sup 58,60,62,64/Ni and marked incident-energy dependence of the analyzing powers

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

Toba Y.; Yagi, K.

1984-01-01

Drastic changes of (p,t) analyzing powers for the four Ni isotopes in ground-state transitions were observed. The changes are not explained by direct one-step processes but are interpreted by including strong two-step (p,d) (d,t) processes. Interference between the two processes of comparable intensities is essential. Marked incident-energy dependence of the analyzing powers is interpreted similarly.

Design and interpretation of anthropometric and fitness testing of basketball players.

PubMed

Drinkwater, Eric J; Pyne, David B; McKenna, Michael J

2008-01-01

The volume of literature on fitness testing in court sports such as basketball is considerably less than for field sports or individual sports such as running and cycling. Team sport performance is dependent upon a diverse range of qualities including size, fitness, sport-specific skills, team tactics, and psychological attributes. The game of basketball has evolved to have a high priority on body size and physical fitness by coaches and players. A player's size has a large influence on the position in the team, while the high-intensity, intermittent nature of the physical demands requires players to have a high level of fitness. Basketball coaches and sport scientists often use a battery of sport-specific physical tests to evaluate body size and composition, and aerobic fitness and power. This testing may be used to track changes within athletes over time to evaluate the effectiveness of training programmes or screen players for selection. Sports science research is establishing typical (or 'reference') values for both within-athlete changes and between-athlete differences. Newer statistical approaches such as magnitude-based inferences have emerged that are providing more meaningful interpretation of fitness testing results in the field for coaches and athletes. Careful selection and implementation of tests, and more pertinent interpretation of data, will enhance the value of fitness testing in high-level basketball programmes. This article presents reference values of fitness and body size in basketball players, and identifies practical methods of interpreting changes within players and differences between players beyond the null-hypothesis.

Proverb comprehension impairments in schizophrenia are related to executive dysfunction.

PubMed

Thoma, Patrizia; Hennecke, Marie; Mandok, Tobias; Wähner, Alfred; Brüne, Martin; Juckel, Georg; Daum, Irene

2009-12-30

The study aimed to investigate the pattern of proverb comprehension impairment and its relationship to proverb familiarity and executive dysfunction in schizophrenia. To assess the specificity of the impairment pattern to schizophrenia, alcohol-dependent patients were included as a psychiatric comparison group, as deficits of executive function and theory of mind as well as dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex, which have been related to proverb comprehension difficulties, are common in both disorders. Twenty-four schizophrenia patients, 20 alcohol-dependent patients and 34 healthy controls were administered a multiple-choice proverb interpretation task incorporating ratings of subjective familiarity and measures of executive function. Schizophrenia patients chose the correct abstract and meaningful interpretations less frequently and instead chose the incorrect concrete (both meaningless and meaningful) proverb interpretations more often than alcohol-dependent patients and healthy controls. Relative to healthy controls, schizophrenia patients also chose more abstract-meaningless response alternatives and were impaired in all executive domains. Impaired divided attention was most consistently associated with proverb interpretation deficits in both patient groups. Taken together, schizophrenia patients showed a specific pattern of proverb comprehension impairments related to executive dysfunction and symptoms. The comparison with the alcohol-dependent subgroup suggests that a more comprehensive and severe impairment of complex higher-order cognitive functions including executive behavioural control and non-literal language comprehension might be associated with frontal dysfunction in schizophrenia as compared to alcohol use disorder.

Social anxiety and perception of (un)trustworthiness in smiling faces.

PubMed

Gutiérrez-García, Aida; Calvo, Manuel G

2016-10-30

In social environments the smile can be driven by different motives and convey different emotions. This makes a smiling face ambiguous and amenable to alternative interpretations. We investigated how social anxiety is related to trustworthiness evaluation of morphed dynamic smiling faces depending on changes in the eye expression. Socially anxious and non-anxious participants judged the un/trustworthiness of people with different smiles. Social anxiety was related to reduced trustworthiness of (a) faces with a neutral mouth unfolding to a smile when the eyes were neutral at the beginning or end of the dynamic sequence, and (b) faces with a smiling mouth when happy eyes slightly changed towards neutrality, surprise, fear, sadness, disgust, or anger. In contrast, social anxiety was not related to trustworthiness judgments for non-ambiguous expressions unfolding from neutral (eyes and mouth) to happy (eyes and mouth) or from happy to neutral. Socially anxious individuals are characterized by an interpretation bias towards mistrusting any ambiguous smile due to the presence of non-happy eyes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Terminology, the importance of defining.

PubMed

van Mil, J W Foppe; Henman, Martin

2016-06-01

Multiple terms and definitions exist to describe specific aspects of pharmacy practice and service provision. This commentary explores the reasons for different interpretations of words and concepts in pharmaceutical care and pharmacy practice research. Reasons for this variation can be found in language, culture, profession and may also depend on developments over time. A list of words is provided where the authors think that currently multiple interpretations are possible. To make sure that the reader understands the essence, it seems imperative that authors include a definition of the topics that they actually study in their papers, and that they clearly cite existing definitions or refer to collections of definitions such as existing glossaries. It is important that presenters, authors and reviewers of pharmacy practice papers pay more attention to this aspect of describing studies.

Effects of chirp on two-dimensional Fourier transform electronic spectra.

PubMed

Tekavec, Patrick F; Myers, Jeffrey A; Lewis, Kristin L M; Fuller, Franklin D; Ogilvie, Jennifer P

2010-05-24

We examine the effect that pulse chirp has on the shape of two- dimensional electronic spectra through calculations and experiments. For the calculations we use a model two electronic level system with a solvent interaction represented by a simple Gaussian correlation function and compare the resulting spectra to experiments carried out on an organic dye molecule (Rhodamine 800). Both calculations and experiments show that distortions due to chirp are most significant when the pulses used in the experiment have different amounts of chirp, introducing peak shape asymmetry that could be interpreted as spectrally dependent relaxation. When all pulses have similar chirp the distortions are reduced but still affect the anti-diagonal symmetry of the peak shapes and introduce negative features that could be interpreted as excited state absorption.

In media res: commenting on the trajectory of lives.

PubMed

Bishop, Jeffery; Barina, Rachelle; Stahl, Devan

2013-01-01

The stories in this issue of Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics demonstrate two important things. First these stories explore the space between bodily impairment and the social structures that both enable and constrain the flourishing of those who are differently embodied. The authors of these narratives resist the dominant biomedical interpretation of their impairments, but also demonstrate their dependency upon others--social, medical, or familial others. Second, in writing these narratives, the authors are also engaged in an act of identity formation, which sometimes challenge and sometimes embrace the label of disability. By telling their stories in the middle of the action of their lives--in media res, taking up or resisting the label of disability-they also demonstrate the way in which lives can be lived open to new possibilities and interpretations.

Social Salience Discriminates Learnability of Contextual Cues in an Artificial Language

PubMed Central

Rácz, Péter; Hay, Jennifer B.; Pierrehumbert, Janet B.

2017-01-01

We investigate the learning of contextual meaning by adults in an artificial language. Contextual meaning here refers to the non-denotative contextual information that speakers attach to a linguistic construction. Through a series of short games, played online, we test how well adults can learn different contextual meanings for a word-formation pattern in an artificial language. We look at whether learning contextual meanings depends on the social salience of the context, whether our players interpret these contexts generally, and whether the learned meaning is generalized to new words. Our results show that adults are capable of learning contextual meaning if the context is socially salient, coherent, and interpretable. Once a contextual meaning is recognized, it is readily generalized to related forms and contexts. PMID:28194122

Interpretation of Na-K-Mg relations in geothermal waters

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fournier, R.O.

1990-01-01

When using a Na-K-???Mg triangular diagram as an aid in the interpretation of a geothermal water, the estimated temperature of last water-rock equilibration may change by as much as 50??C, depending on which of the many Na/K geothermometers one assumes is correct. A particular geothermometer may work well in one place and not in another because of differences in the mineralogy of the phases that are in contact with the reservoir fluid. The position of the full equilibrium line that is used for geothermometry and for assessing degrees of departure from equilibrium also changes as the assumed K/???Mg geothermometer equation changes. The degree of ambiguity can be evaluated by utilizing the results of all the recently published Na/K geothermometers on a single Na-K-???Mg triangular plot.

Successful water quality monitoring: The right combination of intent, measurement, interpretation, and a cooperating ecosystem

USGS Publications Warehouse

Soballe, D.M.

1998-01-01

Water quality monitoring is invaluable to ensure compliance with regulations, detect trends or patterns, and advance ecological understanding. However, monitoring typically measures only a few characteristics in a small fraction of a large and complex system, and thus the information contained in monitoring data depends upon which features of the ecosystem are actually captured by the measurements. Difficulties arise when these data contain something other than intended, but this can be minimized if the purpose of the sampling is clear, and the sampling design, measurements, and data interpretations are all compatible with this purpose. The monitoring program and data interpretation must also be properly matched to the structure and functioning of the system. Obtaining this match is sometimes an iterative process that demands a close link between research and monitoring. This paper focuses on water quality monitoring that is intended to track trends in aquatic resources and advance ecological understanding. It includes examples from three monitoring programs and a simulation exercise that illustrate problems that arise when the information content of monitoring data differs from expectation. The examples show (1) how inconsistencies among, or lack of information about, the basic elements of a monitoring program (intent, design, measurement, interpretation, and the monitored system) can produce a systematic difference (bias) between monitoring measurements and sampling intent or interpretation, and (2) that bias is not just a statistical consideration, but an insidious problem that can undermine the scientific integrity of a monitoring program. Some general suggestions are provided and hopefully these examples will help those engaged in water quality monitoring to enhance and protect the value of their monitoring investment.

Spatial Interpretation of Tower, Chamber and Modelled Terrestrial Fluxes in a Tropical Forest Plantation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whidden, E.; Roulet, N.

2003-04-01

Interpretation of a site average terrestrial flux may be complicated in the presence of inhomogeneities. Inhomogeneity may invalidate the basic assumptions of aerodynamic flux measurement. Chamber measurement may miss or misinterpret important temporal or spatial anomalies. Models may smooth over important nonlinearities depending on the scale of application. Although inhomogeneity is usually seen as a design problem, many sites have spatial variance that may have a large impact on net flux, and in many cases a large homogeneous surface is unrealistic. The sensitivity and validity of a site average flux are investigated in the presence of an inhomogeneous site. Directional differences are used to evaluate the validity of aerodynamic methods and the computation of a site average tower flux. Empirical and modelling methods are used to interpret the spatial controls on flux. An ecosystem model, Ecosys, is used to assess spatial length scales appropriate to the ecophysiologic controls. A diffusion model is used to compare tower, chamber, and model data, by spatially weighting contributions within the tower footprint. Diffusion model weighting is also used to improve tower flux estimates by producing footprint averaged ecological parameters (soil moisture, soil temperature, etc.). Although uncertainty remains in the validity of measurement methods and the accuracy of diffusion models, a detailed spatial interpretation is required at an inhomogeneous site. Flux estimation between methods improves with spatial interpretation, showing the importance to an estimation of a site average flux. Small-scale temporal and spatial anomalies may be relatively unimportant to overall flux, but accounting for medium-scale differences in ecophysiological controls is necessary. A combination of measurements and modelling can be used to define the appropriate time and length scales of significant non-linearity due to inhomogeneity.

Redox biotransformation and delivery of anthracycline anticancer antibiotics: How interpretable structure-activity relationships of lethality using electrophilicity and the London formula for dispersion interaction work.

PubMed

Pang, Siu-Kwong

2017-03-30

Quantum chemical methods and molecular mechanics approaches face a lot of challenges in drug metabolism study because of their either insufficient accuracy or huge computational cost, or lack of clear molecular level pictures for building computational models. Low-cost QSAR methods can often be carried out even though molecular level pictures are not well defined; however, they show difficulty in identifying the mechanisms of drug metabolism and delineating the effects of chemical structures on drug toxicity because a certain amount of molecular descriptors are difficult to be interpreted. In order to make a breakthrough, it was proposed that mechanistically interpretable molecular descriptors were used to correlate with biological activity to establish structure-activity plots. The mechanistically interpretable molecular descriptors used in this study include electrophilicity and the mathematical function in the London formula for dispersion interaction, and they were calculated using quantum chemical methods. The biological activity is the lethality of anthracycline anticancer antibiotics denoted as log LD50, which were obtained by intraperitoneal injection into mice. The results reveal that the plots for electrophilicity, which can be interpreted as redox reactivity of anthracyclines, can describe oxidative degradation for detoxification and reductive bioactivation for toxicity induction. The plots for the dispersion interaction function, which represent the attraction between anthracyclines and biomolecules, can describe efflux from and influx into target cells of toxicity. The plots can also identify three structural scaffolds of anthracyclines that have different metabolic pathways, resulting in their different toxicity behavior. This structure-dependent toxicity behavior revealed in the plots can provide perspectives on design of anthracycline anticancer antibiotics. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Generalized Categorial Grammar for Unbounded Dependencies Recovery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Luan Viet

2014-01-01

Accurate recovery of predicate-argument dependencies is vital for interpretation tasks like information extraction and question answering, and unbounded dependencies may account for a significant portion of the dependencies in any given text. This thesis describes a Generalized Categorial Grammar (GCG) which, like other categorial grammars,…

Reinventing the wheel: comparison of two wheel cage styles for assessing mouse voluntary running activity.

PubMed

Seward, T; Harfmann, B D; Esser, K A; Schroder, E A

2018-04-01

Voluntary wheel cage assessment of mouse activity is commonly employed in exercise and behavioral research. Currently, no standardization for wheel cages exists resulting in an inability to compare results among data from different laboratories. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the distance run or average speed data differ depending on the use of two commonly used commercially available wheel cage systems. Two different wheel cages with structurally similar but functionally different wheels (electromechanical switch vs. magnetic switch) were compared side-by-side to measure wheel running data differences. Other variables, including enrichment and cage location, were also tested to assess potential impacts on the running wheel data. We found that cages with the electromechanical switch had greater inherent wheel resistance and consistently led to greater running distance per day and higher average running speed. Mice rapidly, within 1-2 days, adapted their running behavior to the type of experimental switch used, suggesting these running differences are more behavioral than due to intrinsic musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, or metabolic limits. The presence of enrichment or location of the cage had no detectable impact on voluntary wheel running. These results demonstrate that mice run differing amounts depending on the type of cage and switch mechanism used and thus investigators need to report wheel cage type/wheel resistance and use caution when interpreting distance/speed run across studies. NEW & NOTEWORTHY The results of this study highlight that mice will run different distances per day and average speed based on the inherent resistance present in the switch mechanism used to record data. Rapid changes in running behavior for the same mouse in the different cages demonstrate that a strong behavioral factor contributes to classic exercise outcomes in mice. Caution needs to be taken when interpreting mouse voluntary wheel running activity to include potential behavioral input and physiological parameters.

Cued Speech Transliteration: Effects of Speaking Rate and Lag Time on Production Accuracy.

PubMed

Krause, Jean C; Tessler, Morgan P

2016-10-01

Many deaf and hard-of-hearing children rely on interpreters to access classroom communication. Although the exact level of access provided by interpreters in these settings is unknown, it is likely to depend heavily on interpreter accuracy (portion of message correctly produced by the interpreter) and the factors that govern interpreter accuracy. In this study, the accuracy of 12 Cued Speech (CS) transliterators with varying degrees of experience was examined at three different speaking rates (slow, normal, fast). Accuracy was measured with a high-resolution, objective metric in order to facilitate quantitative analyses of the effect of each factor on accuracy. Results showed that speaking rate had a large negative effect on accuracy, caused primarily by an increase in omitted cues, whereas the effect of lag time on accuracy, also negative, was quite small and explained just 3% of the variance. Increased experience level was generally associated with increased accuracy; however, high levels of experience did not guarantee high levels of accuracy. Finally, the overall accuracy of the 12 transliterators, 54% on average across all three factors, was low enough to raise serious concerns about the quality of CS transliteration services that (at least some) children receive in educational settings. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Langevin dynamics in inhomogeneous media: Re-examining the Itô-Stratonovich dilemma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farago, Oded; Grønbech-Jensen, Niels

2014-01-01

The diffusive dynamics of a particle in a medium with space-dependent friction coefficient is studied within the framework of the inertial Langevin equation. In this description, the ambiguous interpretation of the stochastic integral, known as the Itô-Stratonovich dilemma, is avoided since all interpretations converge to the same solution in the limit of small time steps. We use a newly developed method for Langevin simulations to measure the probability distribution of a particle diffusing in a flat potential. Our results reveal that both the Itô and Stratonovich interpretations converge very slowly to the uniform equilibrium distribution for vanishing time step sizes. Three other conventions exhibit significantly improved accuracy: (i) the "isothermal" (Hänggi) convention, (ii) the Stratonovich convention corrected by a drift term, and (iii) a newly proposed convention employing two different effective friction coefficients representing two different averages of the friction function during the time step. We argue that the most physically accurate dynamical description is provided by the third convention, in which the particle experiences a drift originating from the dissipation instead of the fluctuation term. This feature is directly related to the fact that the drift is a result of an inertial effect that cannot be well understood in the Brownian, overdamped limit of the Langevin equation.

Sedimentology and hydrodynamic implications of a coarse-grained hurricane sequence in a carbonate reef setting

USGS Publications Warehouse

Spiske, M.; Jaffe, B.E.

2009-01-01

Storms and associated surges are major coast-shaping processes. Nevertheless, no typical sequences for storm surge deposits in different coastal settings have been established. This study interprets a coarse-grained hurricane ridge deposit on the island of Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. The sequence was deposited during Hurricane Lenny in November 1999. Insight is gained into the hydrodynamics of surge flow by interpreting textural trends, particle imbrication, and deposit geometry. Vertical textural variations, caused by time-dependent hydrodynamic changes, were used to subdivide the deposit into depositional units that correspond to different stages of the surge, such as setup, peak, and return flow. Particle size and imbrication trends and geometry of the units reflect landward bed-load transport of components during the setup, a nondirectional flow with sediment falling out of suspension during the peak, and a seaward bedload transport during the return flow. Formation of a ridge during setup affected the texture of the return flow unit. Changing angles of imbrication reflect alternating flow velocities during each phase. Normal grading during setup and inverse grading during return flow are caused by decelerating and accelerating flow, respectively. Hence, the interpreted deposit seems to represent the first described complete hurricane surge sequence from a carbonate environment. ?? 2009 Geological Society of America.

Strontium-90 in antlers of red deer: an indicator of environmental contamination by strontium-90.

PubMed

Schönhofer, F; Tataruch, F; Friedrich, M

1994-12-11

The sampling procedures in connection with a very sensitive analytical method are described. Results from different areas in Austria are presented and an interpretion of the results is attempted. Some findings are in accordance with measurements from other substances, some are not. The differences most probably depend on several factors like soil type, precipitation, migration of strontium-90, concentration of stable strontium and calcium. No significant rise in the concentration could be found after 1986 thus in accordance with other measurements of strontium-90 contamination after the Chernobyl accident.

Coherent and incoherent contributions to the carrier-envelope phase control of wave packet localization in quantum double wells

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

Hader, K.; Engel, V., E-mail: voen@phys-chemie.uni-wuerzburg.de

2014-05-14

We study laser excitation processes in a double well potential. The possibility to influence localization via the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of a laser pulse is investigated for various situations which differ in the nature of the initial state prior to the laser interactions. In more detail, the CEP-dependence of asymmetries in the case where initially the system is described by localized wave packets, eigenstates, or incoherent mixtures are calculated and interpreted within time-dependent perturbation theory. It is investigated which contributions to the asymmetry exist and how they can be modified to reveal a more or less pronounced CEP-effect.

Coherent and incoherent contributions to the carrier-envelope phase control of wave packet localization in quantum double wells.

PubMed

Hader, K; Engel, V

2014-05-14

We study laser excitation processes in a double well potential. The possibility to influence localization via the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of a laser pulse is investigated for various situations which differ in the nature of the initial state prior to the laser interactions. In more detail, the CEP-dependence of asymmetries in the case where initially the system is described by localized wave packets, eigenstates, or incoherent mixtures are calculated and interpreted within time-dependent perturbation theory. It is investigated which contributions to the asymmetry exist and how they can be modified to reveal a more or less pronounced CEP-effect.

On the validity of Freud's dream interpretations.

PubMed

Michael, Michael

2008-03-01

In this article I defend Freud's method of dream interpretation against those who criticize it as involving a fallacy-namely, the reverse causal fallacy-and those who criticize it as permitting many interpretations, indeed any that the interpreter wants to put on the dream. The first criticism misconstrues the logic of the interpretative process: it does not involve an unjustified reversal of causal relations, but rather a legitimate attempt at an inference to the best explanation. The judgement of whether or not a particular interpretation is the best explanation depends on the details of the case in question. I outline the kinds of probabilities involved in making the judgement. My account also helps to cash out the metaphors of the jigsaw and crossword puzzles that Freudians have used in response to the 'many interpretations' objection. However, in defending Freud's method of dream interpretation, I do not thereby defend his theory of dreams, which cannot be justified by his interpretations alone.

Mood, mood regulation expectancies and frontal systems functioning in current smokers versus never-smokers in China and Australia.

PubMed

Lyvers, Michael; Carlopio, Cassandra; Bothma, Vicole; Edwards, Mark S

2013-11-01

Indices of mood, mood regulation expectancies and everyday executive functioning were examined in adult current smokers and never-smokers of both genders in Australia (N = 97), where anti-smoking campaigns have dramatically reduced smoking prevalence and acceptability, and in China (N = 222), where smoking prevalence and public acceptance of smoking remain high. Dependent measures included the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), the Negative Mood Regulation (NMR) expectancies scale, the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe), the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVAs) controlling for demographic and recruitment related variables revealed highly significant differences between current smokers and never-smokers in both countries such that smokers indicated worse moods and poorer functioning than never-smokers on all dependent measures. Chinese smokers scored significantly worse on all dependent measures than Australian smokers whereas Chinese and Australian never-smokers did not differ on any of the same measures. Although nicotine dependence level as measured by FTND was significantly higher in Chinese than Australian smokers and was significantly correlated with all other dependent measures, inclusion of FTND scores as another covariate in MANCOVA did not eliminate the highly significant differences between Chinese and Australian smokers. Results are interpreted in light of the relative ease of taking up and continuing smoking in China compared to Australia today. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Computational Complexity of Valuation and Motivational Forces in Decision-Making Processes

PubMed Central

Schultheiss, Nathan W.; Carter, Evan C.

2015-01-01

The concept of value is fundamental to most theories of motivation and decision making. However, value has to be measured experimentally. Different methods of measuring value produce incompatible valuation hierarchies. Taking the agent’s perspective (rather than the experimenter’s), we interpret the different valuation measurement methods as accessing different decision-making systems and show how these different systems depend on different information processing algorithms. This identifies the translation from these multiple decision-making systems into a single action taken by a given agent as one of the most important open questions in decision making today. We conclude by looking at how these different valuation measures accessing different decision-making systems can be used to understand and treat decision dysfunction such as in addiction. PMID:25981912

The role of interpreters in inclusive classrooms.

PubMed

Antia, S D; Kreimeyer, K H

2001-10-01

The roles of interpreters in an inclusive classroom were examined through a qualitative, 3-year case study of three interpreters in an inclusive school. Interviews were conducted with interpreters, classroom teachers, special education teachers, and administrators. The interview data were supplemented with observations and field notes. Results indicate that in addition to sign interpreting between American Sign Language and speech, the interpreters clarified teacher directions, facilitated peer interaction, tutored the deaf children, and kept the teachers and special educators informed of the deaf children's progress. The interpreter/aides and the classroom teachers preferred this full-participant interpreter role, while the special educators and administrators preferred a translator role. Classroom teachers were more comfortable with full-time interpreters who knew the classroom routine, while the special educators and administrators feared that full-time interpreters fostered child and teacher dependence. These issues are discussed in terms of congruence with the Registry of Interpreters code of ethics and how integration of young children might be best facilitated.

Dependence of CdTe response of bias history

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

Sites, J.R.; Sasala, R.A.; Eisgruber, I.L.

1995-11-01

Several time-dependent effect have been observed in CdTe cells and modules in recent years. Some appear to be related to degradation at the back contact, some to changes in temperature at the thin-film junction, and some to the bias history of the cell or module. Back-contact difficulties only occur in some cases, and the other two effects are reversible. Nevertheless, confusion in data interpretation can arise when these effects are not characterized. This confusion can be particularly acute when more than one time-dependent effect occurs during the same measurement cycle. The purpose of this presentation is to help categorize time-dependentmore » effects in CdTe and other thin-film cells to elucidate those related to bias history, and to note differences between cell and module analysis.« less

On the similarity of theories of anelastic and scattering attenuation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wennerberg, Leif; Frankel, Arthur D.

1989-01-01

We point out basic parallels between theories of anelastic and scattering attenuation. We consider approximations to scattering effects presented by O'Doherty and Anstey (1971), Sato (1982), and Wu (1982). We use the linear theory of anelasticity. We note that the frequency dependence of Q can be related to a distribution of scales of physical properties of the medium. The frequency dependence of anelastic Q is related to the distribution of relaxation times in exactly the same manner as the frequency dependence of scattering Q is related to the distribution of scatterer sizes. Thus, the well-known difficulty of separating scattering from intrinsic attenuation is seen from this point of view as a consequence of the fact that certain observables can be interpreted by identical equations resulting from either of two credible physical theories describing fundamentally different processes. -from Authors

On the scale dependence of earthquake stress drop

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cocco, Massimo; Tinti, Elisa; Cirella, Antonella

2016-10-01

We discuss the debated issue of scale dependence in earthquake source mechanics with the goal of providing supporting evidence to foster the adoption of a coherent interpretative framework. We examine the heterogeneous distribution of source and constitutive parameters during individual ruptures and their scaling with earthquake size. We discuss evidence that slip, slip-weakening distance and breakdown work scale with seismic moment and are interpreted as scale dependent parameters. We integrate our estimates of earthquake stress drop, computed through a pseudo-dynamic approach, with many others available in the literature for both point sources and finite fault models. We obtain a picture of the earthquake stress drop scaling with seismic moment over an exceptional broad range of earthquake sizes (-8 < MW < 9). Our results confirm that stress drop values are scattered over three order of magnitude and emphasize the lack of corroborating evidence that stress drop scales with seismic moment. We discuss these results in terms of scale invariance of stress drop with source dimension to analyse the interpretation of this outcome in terms of self-similarity. Geophysicists are presently unable to provide physical explanations of dynamic self-similarity relying on deterministic descriptions of micro-scale processes. We conclude that the interpretation of the self-similar behaviour of stress drop scaling is strongly model dependent. We emphasize that it relies on a geometric description of source heterogeneity through the statistical properties of initial stress or fault-surface topography, in which only the latter is constrained by observations.

Pre- and postselected quantum systems, counterfactual measurements, and consistent histories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cohen, O.

1995-06-01

We examine some surprising results that have been obtained for pre- and postselected quantum systems. We show that these results depend on a counterfactual interpretation of the rule of Aharonov, Bergmann, and Lebowitz [Phys. Rev. 134, B1410 (1964)] (the ABL rule) and that this interpretation is not valid in general. We then argue, with the help of the consistent histories interpretation of quantum mechanics, that there is a special class of situations where application of the counterfactual interpretation of the ABL rule can be justified. We then reexamine the aforementioned surprising results.

Interpretation reduces ecological impacts of visitors to world heritage site.

PubMed

Littlefair, Carolyn; Buckley, Ralf

2008-07-01

Minimal-impact interpretation is widely used to reduce the ecological impacts of visitors to protected areas. We tested whether verbal appeals and/or role-model demonstrations of minimal-impact behavior by a trained guide reduced noise, litter, and trampling impacts on hiking trails in a subtropical rainforest. Interpretation did reduce impacts significantly. Different interpretive techniques were more effective for different impacts. The experimental groups were mature, well-educated professionals; interpretation may differ in effectiveness for different visitors. Interpretation by skilled guides can indeed reduce visitor impacts in protected areas, especially if role modeling is combined with verbal appeals.

Reliability and comparison of gain values with occurrence of saccades in the EyeSeeCam video head impulse test (vHIT).

PubMed

Korsager, Leise Elisabeth Hviid; Schmidt, Jesper Hvass; Faber, Christian; Wanscher, Jens Højberg

2016-12-01

The vHIT (video head impulse test) investigates the vestibular function in two ways: a VOR (vestibulo-ocular reflex) gain value and a head impulse diagram. From the diagram covert and overt saccades can be detected. Evaluation of the vestibular function based on vHIT depends on both parameters. There is a lack of knowledge regarding the reliability of the two parameters. The objective was to investigate the reliability of vHIT by comparing gain values between examiners on the same subjects, and to see how differences affected the occurrence of saccades. 25 subjects who had undergone cochlear implant (CI) surgery. Subjects were tested using the vHIT by two of four different examiners. Two judges interpreted the occurrence of saccades in the diagram. VOR gain values and the occurrence of saccades in the diagram. Differences in gain values between examiners varied from 0.2 to 0.58 with an average of 0.14 (95 % CI 0.12-0.16) on the right ear and 0.17 (95 % CI 0.15-0.19) on the left ear. Occurrences of saccades in the same patient were reproduced in 93 % of the cases by all examiners. Kappa's coefficient on the occurrence of saccades was 0.83. Interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of the gain values between examiners ranged from 0.62 to 0.70. Differences in gain values amongst examiners did not seem to affect the occurrence of saccades in the same patient. The occurrence of saccades, therefore, seems to be more reliable than the gain value in the evaluation of the vestibular function. Interpretation of vHIT results should, therefore, first depend on the occurrence of saccades and second on the gain value.

Healthcare waste management: an interpretive structural modeling approach.

PubMed

Thakur, Vikas; Anbanandam, Ramesh

2016-06-13

Purpose - The World Health Organization identified infectious healthcare waste as a threat to the environment and human health. India's current medical waste management system has limitations, which lead to ineffective and inefficient waste handling practices. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to: first, identify the important barriers that hinder India's healthcare waste management (HCWM) systems; second, classify operational, tactical and strategical issues to discuss the managerial implications at different management levels; and third, define all barriers into four quadrants depending upon their driving and dependence power. Design/methodology/approach - India's HCWM system barriers were identified through the literature, field surveys and brainstorming sessions. Interrelationships among all the barriers were analyzed using interpretive structural modeling (ISM). Fuzzy-Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC) analysis was used to classify HCWM barriers into four groups. Findings - In total, 25 HCWM system barriers were identified and placed in 12 different ISM model hierarchy levels. Fuzzy-MICMAC analysis placed eight barriers in the second quadrant, five in third and 12 in fourth quadrant to define their relative ISM model importance. Research limitations/implications - The study's main limitation is that all the barriers were identified through a field survey and barnstorming sessions conducted only in Uttarakhand, Northern State, India. The problems in implementing HCWM practices may differ with the region, hence, the current study needs to be replicated in different Indian states to define the waste disposal strategies for hospitals. Practical implications - The model will help hospital managers and Pollution Control Boards, to plan their resources accordingly and make policies, targeting key performance areas. Originality/value - The study is the first attempt to identify India's HCWM system barriers and prioritize them.

[Smartphone application for blood gas interpretation].

PubMed

Obiols, Julien; Bardo, Pascale; Garnier, Jean-Pierre; Brouard, Benoît

2013-01-01

Ninety four per cent of health professionals use their smartphone for business purposes and more than 50% has medical applications. The «Blood Gas» application was created to be part of this dynamic and participate to e-health development in France. The «Blood Gas» application facilitates interpretation of the results of blood gas analysis using an algorithm developed with reference to a medical bibliography. It can detect some complex or intricate acid-base disorders in evaluating the effectiveness of the secondary response. The application also studied the respiratory status of the patient by calculating the PaO2/FiO2 ratio and the alveol-arterial gradient. It also indicates the presence of a shunt effect. Finally, a specific module to calculate the SID (strong ion difference) depending on the model of Stewart can detect complex acid-base disorders.

Dependence of trends in and sensitivity of drought over China (1961-2013) on potential evaporation model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jie; Sun, Fubao; Xu, Jijun; Chen, Yaning; Sang, Yan-Fang; Liu, Changming

2016-01-01

The Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) can lead to controversial results in assessing droughts responding to global warming. Here we assess recent changes in the droughts over China (1961-2013) using the PDSI with two different estimates, i.e., the Thornthwaite (PDSI_th) and Penman-Monteith (PDSI_pm) approaches. We found that droughts have become more severe in the PDSI_th but slightly lessened in the PDSI_pm estimate. To quantify and interpret the different responses in the PDSI_th and PDSI_pm, we designed numerical experiments and found that drying trend of the PDSI_th responding to the warming alone is 3.4 times higher than that of the PDSI_pm, and the latter was further compensated by decreases in wind speed and solar radiation causing the slightly wetting in the PDSI_pm. Interestingly, we found that interbasin difference in the PDSI_th and PDSI_pm responses to the warming alone tends to be larger in warmer basins, exponentially depending on mean temperature.

Dielectric properties of crystalline organic molecular films in the limit of zero overlap

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

D’Avino, Gabriele, E-mail: gabriele.davino@gmail.com; Vanzo, Davide; Soos, Zoltán G., E-mail: soos@princeton.edu

2016-01-21

We present the calculation of the static dielectric susceptibility tensor and dipole field sums in thin molecular films in the well-defined limit of zero intermolecular overlap. Microelectrostatic and charge redistribution approaches are applied to study the evolution of dielectric properties from one to a few molecular layers in films of different conjugated molecules with organic electronics applications. Because of the conditional convergence of dipolar interactions, dipole fields depend on the shape of the sample and different values are found in the middle layer of a thick film and in the bulk. The shape dependence is eliminated when depolarization is takenmore » into account, and the dielectric tensor of molecular films converges to the bulk limit within a few molecular layers. We quantify the magnitude of surface effects and interpret general trends among different systems in terms of molecular properties, such as shape, polarizability anisotropy, and supramolecular organization. A connection between atomistic models for molecular dielectrics and simpler theories for polarizable atomic lattices is also provided.« less

[The price-based certainty of purchase influences consumer behavior for discount].

PubMed

Arihara, Katsuhiko; Ariga, Atsunori; Furuya, Takeshi

2016-04-01

Tversky & Kahneman (1981) reported that most participants decided to drive when they could save money on a low-price good as compared to when they could save on a high-price good, even though the discount prices were same. Although this irrational decision making has been interpreted as a rate-dependent estimation of value (prospect theory), this study newly proposes that it can be explained by the certainty of purchase based on the price of goods. Experiment 1 replicated the previously reported difference in decision making, and additionally demonstrated that participants' certainty of purchase was lower for a high- than a low-price good. When it was emphasized that participants' intention to purchase high- and low-price goods were equally sure, decision making did not significantly differ (Experiment 2). Furthermore, decision making differed based only on the certainty of purchase even,when prices of goods were-same (Experiment 3). Consumers' decision making may be rather rational, depending straightforwardly on the certainty of purchase that is susceptible to price.

Pseudoscalar Meson Electroproduction and Transversity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldstein, Gary R.; Liuti, Simonetta

2011-02-01

Exclusive meson leptoproduction from nucleons in the deeply virtual exchanged boson limit can be described by generalized parton distributions (GPDs). Including spin dependence in the description requires 8 independent quark-parton and gluon-parton functions. The chiral even subset of 4 quark-nucleon GPDs are related to nucleon form factors and to parton distribution functions. The chiral odd set of 4 quark-nucleon GPDs are related to transversity, the tensor charge, and other quantities related to transversity. Different meson or photon production processes access different combinations of GPDs. This is analyzed in terms of t-channel exchange quantum numbers, JPC and it is shown that pseudoscalar production can isolate chiral odd GPDs. There is a sensitive dependence in various cross sections and asymmetries on the tensor charge of the nucleon and other transversity parameters. In a second section, analyticity and completeness are shown to limit the partonic interpret ation of the GPDs in the ERBL region.

Adaptation or constraint? Reference-dependent scatter in honey bee dances

PubMed Central

Visscher, P. Kirk

2010-01-01

The waggle dance of the honey bee is used to recruit nest mates to a resource. Dancer bees, however, may indicate many directions within a single dance bout; we show that this scatter in honey bee dances is strongly dependent on the sensory modality used to determine a reference angle in the dance. Dances with a visual reference are more precise than those with a gravity reference. This finding undermines the idea that scatter is introduced into dances, which the bees could perform more precisely, in order to spread recruits out over resource patches. It also calls into question reported interspecific differences that had been interpreted as adaptations of the dance to different habitats. Our results support a non-adaptive hypothesis: that dance scatter results from sensory and performance constraints, rather than modulation of the scatter by the dancing bee. However, an alternative adaptive hypothesis cannot be ruled out. PMID:20585382

Adaptation or constraint? Reference-dependent scatter in honey bee dances.

PubMed

Tanner, David A; Visscher, P Kirk

2010-07-01

The waggle dance of the honey bee is used to recruit nest mates to a resource. Dancer bees, however, may indicate many directions within a single dance bout; we show that this scatter in honey bee dances is strongly dependent on the sensory modality used to determine a reference angle in the dance. Dances with a visual reference are more precise than those with a gravity reference. This finding undermines the idea that scatter is introduced into dances, which the bees could perform more precisely, in order to spread recruits out over resource patches. It also calls into question reported interspecific differences that had been interpreted as adaptations of the dance to different habitats. Our results support a non-adaptive hypothesis: that dance scatter results from sensory and performance constraints, rather than modulation of the scatter by the dancing bee. However, an alternative adaptive hypothesis cannot be ruled out.

Perceptual Learning: Use-Dependent Cortical Plasticity.

PubMed

Li, Wu

2016-10-14

Our perceptual abilities significantly improve with practice. This phenomenon, known as perceptual learning, offers an ideal window for understanding use-dependent changes in the adult brain. Different experimental approaches have revealed a diversity of behavioral and cortical changes associated with perceptual learning, and different interpretations have been given with respect to the cortical loci and neural processes responsible for the learning. Accumulated evidence has begun to put together a coherent picture of the neural substrates underlying perceptual learning. The emerging view is that perceptual learning results from a complex interplay between bottom-up and top-down processes, causing a global reorganization across cortical areas specialized for sensory processing, engaged in top-down attentional control, and involved in perceptual decision making. Future studies should focus on the interactions among cortical areas for a better understanding of the general rules and mechanisms underlying various forms of skill learning.

Carrier mobility in organic field-effect transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Yong; Benwadih, Mohamed; Gwoziecki, Romain; Coppard, Romain; Minari, Takeo; Liu, Chuan; Tsukagoshi, Kazuhito; Chroboczek, Jan; Balestra, Francis; Ghibaudo, Gerard

2011-11-01

A study of carrier transport in top-gate and bottom-contact TIPS-pentacene organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based on mobility is presented. Among three mobilities extracted by different methods, the low-field mobility obtained by the Y function exhibits the best reliability and ease for use, whereas the widely applied field-effect mobility is not reliable, particularly in short-channel transistors and at low temperatures. A detailed study of contact transport reveals its strong impact on short-channel transistors, suggesting that a more intrinsic transport analysis is better implemented in relatively longer-channel devices. The observed temperature dependences of mobility are well explained by a transport model with Gaussian-like diffusivity band tails, different from diffusion in localized states band tails. This model explicitly interprets the non-zero constant mobility at low temperatures and clearly demonstrates the effects of disorder and hopping transport on temperature and carrier density dependences of mobility in organic transistors.

Enhancement of the thermo-optical response of silver nanoparticles due to surface plasmon resonance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hashemi Zadeh, Sakineh; Rashidi-Huyeh, Majid; Palpant, Bruno

2017-10-01

Owing to their remarkable optical properties, noble metals' nanoparticles are proposed for many applications. Controlling the temperature dependence of these properties may then appear to be of great relevance. In this paper, we investigate the thermo-optical properties of silver nanoparticles. Different silver nanocolloids were prepared with different surface plasmon resonance modes. The thermo-extinction spectra of the colloidal solutions were then evaluated by measuring the extinction spectra at different temperatures. This reveals a typical peak-valley profile around each surface plasmon resonance mode. Mie theory was used to study theoretically the impact of nanoparticle size on the thermo-optical properties. The results allow us to interpret properly the experimental findings.

[Communication with Migrant Patients and their Parents in Inpatient General Pediatric Care].

PubMed

Ullrich, S; Briel, D; Nesterko, Y; Hiemisch, A; Brähler, E; Glaesmer, H

2016-04-01

Depending on the ethnic background of patients, the quality of communication between the parents of pediatric patients and clinicians, as well as the type and frequency of interpreter services was studied in an inpatient setting. As part of a questionnaire-based survey, data from parents, doctors and nurses with reference to 220 pediatric patients treated in the Department of Pediatrics at the University Hospital Leipzig from February to May 2013 were analyzed; 18,2% of patients were migrants. No differences were found in the assessment of the quality of communication with clinic staff by migrant and non-migrant parents. Physicians as well as nurses rated the communication with migrant parents compared to non-migrant parents significantly lower. In up to 19,2% (data provided by nursing staff) and 15,3% (data provided by doctors) of the cases characterized by insufficient language skills on the part of migrant parents, interpreter services had to be procured. No professional interpreters were used. The results highlight once more the difficulties in communication between clinicians and migrant patients with insufficient language skills. More attention should be paid to the impact of the use of professional interpreters in the health care services. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Nucleation and hysteresis of vapor-liquid phase transitions in confined spaces: effects of fluid-wall interaction.

PubMed

Men, Yumei; Yan, Qingzhao; Jiang, Guangfeng; Zhang, Xianren; Wang, Wenchuan

2009-05-01

In this work, we propose a method to stabilize a nucleus in the framework of lattice density-functional theory (LDFT) by imposing a suitable constraint. Using this method, the shape of critical nucleus and height of the nucleation barrier can be determined without using a predefined nucleus as input. As an application of this method, we study the nucleation behavior of vapor-liquid transition in nanosquare pores with infinite length and relate the observed hysteresis loop on an adsorption isotherm to the nucleation mechanism. According to the dependence of hysteresis and the nucleation mechanism on the fluid-wall interaction, w , in this work, we have classified w into three regions ( w>0.9 , 0.1< or =w< or =0.9 , and w<0.1 ), which are denoted as strongly, moderately, and weakly attractive fluid-wall interaction, respectively. The dependence of hysteresis on the fluid-wall interaction is interpreted by the different nucleation mechanisms. Our constrained LDFT calculations also show that the different transition paths may induce different nucleation behaviors. The transition path dependence should be considered if morphological transition of nuclei exists during a nucleation process.

Investigation of rock samples by neutron diffraction and ultrasonic sounding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burilichev, D. E.; Ivankina, T. I.; Klima, K.; Locajicek, T.; Nikitin, A. N.; Pros, Z.

2000-03-01

The interpretation of large-scale geophysical anisotropies largely depends upon the knowledge of rock anisotropies of any kind (compositions, foliations, grain shape, physical properties). Almost all physical rock properties (e.g. elastic, thermal, magnetic properties) are related to the textures of the rock constituents since they are anisotropic for the single crystal. Although anisotropy determinations are numerous, systematic investigations are scarce. Therefore, several rock samples with different microfabrics were selected for texture analysis and to determine its P-wave distributions at various confining pressures.

Analysis of isothermal and cooling rate dependent immersion freezing by a unifying stochastic ice nucleation model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alpert, P. A.; Knopf, D. A.

2015-05-01

Immersion freezing is an important ice nucleation pathway involved in the formation of cirrus and mixed-phase clouds. Laboratory immersion freezing experiments are necessary to determine the range in temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) at which ice nucleation occurs and to quantify the associated nucleation kinetics. Typically, isothermal (applying a constant temperature) and cooling rate dependent immersion freezing experiments are conducted. In these experiments it is usually assumed that the droplets containing ice nuclei (IN) all have the same IN surface area (ISA), however the validity of this assumption or the impact it may have on analysis and interpretation of the experimental data is rarely questioned. A stochastic immersion freezing model based on first principles of statistics is presented, which accounts for variable ISA per droplet and uses physically observable parameters including the total number of droplets (Ntot) and the heterogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficient, Jhet(T). This model is applied to address if (i) a time and ISA dependent stochastic immersion freezing process can explain laboratory immersion freezing data for different experimental methods and (ii) the assumption that all droplets contain identical ISA is a valid conjecture with subsequent consequences for analysis and interpretation of immersion freezing. The simple stochastic model can reproduce the observed time and surface area dependence in immersion freezing experiments for a variety of methods such as: droplets on a cold-stage exposed to air or surrounded by an oil matrix, wind and acoustically levitated droplets, droplets in a continuous flow diffusion chamber (CFDC), the Leipzig aerosol cloud interaction simulator (LACIS), and the aerosol interaction and dynamics in the atmosphere (AIDA) cloud chamber. Observed time dependent isothermal frozen fractions exhibiting non-exponential behavior with time can be readily explained by this model considering varying ISA. An apparent cooling rate dependence ofJhet is explained by assuming identical ISA in each droplet. When accounting for ISA variability, the cooling rate dependence of ice nucleation kinetics vanishes as expected from classical nucleation theory. The model simulations allow for a quantitative experimental uncertainty analysis for parameters Ntot, T, RH, and the ISA variability. In an idealized cloud parcel model applying variability in ISAs for each droplet, the model predicts enhanced immersion freezing temperatures and greater ice crystal production compared to a case when ISAs are uniform in each droplet. The implications of our results for experimental analysis and interpretation of the immersion freezing process are discussed.

Analysis of isothermal and cooling-rate-dependent immersion freezing by a unifying stochastic ice nucleation model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alpert, Peter A.; Knopf, Daniel A.

2016-02-01

Immersion freezing is an important ice nucleation pathway involved in the formation of cirrus and mixed-phase clouds. Laboratory immersion freezing experiments are necessary to determine the range in temperature, T, and relative humidity, RH, at which ice nucleation occurs and to quantify the associated nucleation kinetics. Typically, isothermal (applying a constant temperature) and cooling-rate-dependent immersion freezing experiments are conducted. In these experiments it is usually assumed that the droplets containing ice nucleating particles (INPs) all have the same INP surface area (ISA); however, the validity of this assumption or the impact it may have on analysis and interpretation of the experimental data is rarely questioned. Descriptions of ice active sites and variability of contact angles have been successfully formulated to describe ice nucleation experimental data in previous research; however, we consider the ability of a stochastic freezing model founded on classical nucleation theory to reproduce previous results and to explain experimental uncertainties and data scatter. A stochastic immersion freezing model based on first principles of statistics is presented, which accounts for variable ISA per droplet and uses parameters including the total number of droplets, Ntot, and the heterogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficient, Jhet(T). This model is applied to address if (i) a time and ISA-dependent stochastic immersion freezing process can explain laboratory immersion freezing data for different experimental methods and (ii) the assumption that all droplets contain identical ISA is a valid conjecture with subsequent consequences for analysis and interpretation of immersion freezing. The simple stochastic model can reproduce the observed time and surface area dependence in immersion freezing experiments for a variety of methods such as: droplets on a cold-stage exposed to air or surrounded by an oil matrix, wind and acoustically levitated droplets, droplets in a continuous-flow diffusion chamber (CFDC), the Leipzig aerosol cloud interaction simulator (LACIS), and the aerosol interaction and dynamics in the atmosphere (AIDA) cloud chamber. Observed time-dependent isothermal frozen fractions exhibiting non-exponential behavior can be readily explained by this model considering varying ISA. An apparent cooling-rate dependence of Jhet is explained by assuming identical ISA in each droplet. When accounting for ISA variability, the cooling-rate dependence of ice nucleation kinetics vanishes as expected from classical nucleation theory. The model simulations allow for a quantitative experimental uncertainty analysis for parameters Ntot, T, RH, and the ISA variability. The implications of our results for experimental analysis and interpretation of the immersion freezing process are discussed.

IDENTIFICATION AND INTERPRETATION OF DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROTOXICITY EFFECTS: A REPORT FROM THE ILSI RESEARCH FOUNDATION/RISK SCIENCE INSTITUTE EXPERT WORKING GROUP ON NEURODEVELOPMENTAL ENDPOINTS

EPA Science Inventory

The reliable detection, measurement, and interpretation of treatment-related developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) effects depend on appropriate study design and execution, using scientifically established methodologies, with appropriate controls to minimize confounding factors. App...

Moving Beyond Univariate Post-Hoc Testing in Exercise Science: A Primer on Descriptive Discriminate Analysis.

PubMed

Barton, Mitch; Yeatts, Paul E; Henson, Robin K; Martin, Scott B

2016-12-01

There has been a recent call to improve data reporting in kinesiology journals, including the appropriate use of univariate and multivariate analysis techniques. For example, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with univariate post hocs and a Bonferroni correction is frequently used to investigate group differences on multiple dependent variables. However, this univariate approach decreases power, increases the risk for Type 1 error, and contradicts the rationale for conducting multivariate tests in the first place. The purpose of this study was to provide a user-friendly primer on conducting descriptive discriminant analysis (DDA), which is a post-hoc strategy to MANOVA that takes into account the complex relationships among multiple dependent variables. A real-world example using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences syntax and data from 1,095 middle school students on their body composition and body image are provided to explain and interpret the results from DDA. While univariate post hocs increased the risk for Type 1 error to 76%, the DDA identified which dependent variables contributed to group differences and which groups were different from each other. For example, students in the very lean and Healthy Fitness Zone categories for body mass index experienced less pressure to lose weight, more satisfaction with their body, and higher physical self-concept than the Needs Improvement Zone groups. However, perceived pressure to gain weight did not contribute to group differences because it was a suppressor variable. Researchers are encouraged to use DDA when investigating group differences on multiple correlated dependent variables to determine which variables contributed to group differences.

Automatic interpretation and writing report of the adult waking electroencephalogram.

PubMed

Shibasaki, Hiroshi; Nakamura, Masatoshi; Sugi, Takenao; Nishida, Shigeto; Nagamine, Takashi; Ikeda, Akio

2014-06-01

Automatic interpretation of the EEG has so far been faced with significant difficulties because of a large amount of spatial as well as temporal information contained in the EEG, continuous fluctuation of the background activity depending on changes in the subject's vigilance and attention level, the occurrence of paroxysmal activities such as spikes and spike-and-slow-waves, contamination of the EEG with a variety of artefacts and the use of different recording electrodes and montages. Therefore, previous attempts of automatic EEG interpretation have been focussed only on a specific EEG feature such as paroxysmal abnormalities, delta waves, sleep stages and artefact detection. As a result of a long-standing cooperation between clinical neurophysiologists and system engineers, we report for the first time on a comprehensive, computer-assisted, automatic interpretation of the adult waking EEG. This system analyses the background activity, intermittent abnormalities, artefacts and the level of vigilance and attention of the subject, and automatically presents its report in written form. Besides, it also detects paroxysmal abnormalities and evaluates the effects of intermittent photic stimulation and hyperventilation on the EEG. This system of automatic EEG interpretation was formed by adopting the strategy that the qualified EEGers employ for the systematic visual inspection. This system can be used as a supplementary tool for the EEGer's visual inspection, and for educating EEG trainees and EEG technicians. Copyright © 2014 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-order harmonic generation from a two-dimensional band structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Jian-Zhao; Xiao, Xiang-Ru; Liang, Hao; Wang, Mu-Xue; Chen, Si-Ge; Gong, Qihuang; Peng, Liang-You

2018-04-01

In the past few years, harmonic generation in solids has attracted tremendous attention. Recently, some experiments of two-dimensional (2D) monolayer or few-layer materials have been carried out. These studies demonstrated that harmonic generation in the 2D case shows a strong dependence on the laser's orientation and ellipticity, which calls for a quantitative theoretical interpretation. In this work, we carry out a systematic study on the harmonic generation from a 2D band structure based on a numerical solution to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. By comparing with the 1D case, we find that the generation dynamics can have a significant difference due to the existence of many crossing points in the 2D band structure. In particular, the higher conduction bands can be excited step by step via these crossing points and the total contribution of the harmonic is given by the mixing of transitions between different clusters of conduction bands to the valence band. We also present the orientation dependence of the harmonic yield on the laser polarization direction.

Effects of long-term voluntary exercise on learning and memory processes: dependency of the task and level of exercise.

PubMed

García-Capdevila, Sílvia; Portell-Cortés, Isabel; Torras-Garcia, Meritxell; Coll-Andreu, Margalida; Costa-Miserachs, David

2009-09-14

The effect of long-term voluntary exercise (running wheel) on anxiety-like behaviour (plus maze and open field) and learning and memory processes (object recognition and two-way active avoidance) was examined on Wistar rats. Because major individual differences in running wheel behaviour were observed, the data were analysed considering the exercising animals both as a whole and grouped according to the time spent in the running wheel (low, high, and very-high running). Although some variables related to anxiety-like behaviour seem to reflect an anxiogenic compatible effect, the view of the complete set of variables could be interpreted as an enhancement of defensive and risk assessment behaviours in exercised animals, without major differences depending on the exercise level. Effects on learning and memory processes were dependent on task and level of exercise. Two-way avoidance was not affected either in the acquisition or in the retention session, while the retention of object recognition task was affected. In this latter task, an enhancement in low running subjects and impairment in high and very-high running animals were observed.

Spectral regression and correlation coefficients of some benzaldimines and salicylaldimines in different solvents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammud, Hassan H.; Ghannoum, Amer; Masoud, Mamdouh S.

2006-02-01

Sixteen Schiff bases obtained from the condensation of benzaldehyde or salicylaldehyde with various amines (aniline, 4-carboxyaniline, phenylhydrazine, 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine, ethylenediamine, hydrazine, o-phenylenediamine and 2,6-pyridinediamine) are studied with UV-vis spectroscopy to observe the effect of solvents, substituents and other structural factors on the spectra. The bands involving different electronic transitions are interpreted. Computerized analysis and multiple regression techniques were applied to calculate the regression and correlation coefficients based on the equation that relates peak position λmax to the solvent parameters that depend on the H-bonding ability, refractive index and dielectric constant of solvents.

Grain orientation in lunar soil

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mahmood, A.; Mitchell, J. K.; Carrier, W. D., III

1974-01-01

Orientation of lunar soil particles in a vertical plane, as seen in the radiographs of core tubes was characterized by preparing orientation diagrams for the different stratigraphic units. Radiographs of double-core drive tubes 64001/64002, 60009/60010, and 60013/60014 were used. The orientation results reinforced the stratigraphic differences. Another source of fabric data was the laboratory-deposited sample 14163,148. The artificial deposition results showed that the grain arrangements were dependent upon the method of deposition. These results from lunar soil and other data from a crushed basalt simulant can be a basis for the inference that lunar soil grain orientation and properties are useful in interpreting lunar surface history.

Frequency Dependence and Spatial Distribution of Seismic Attenuation in France: Experimental Results and Possible Interpretations

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-09-12

and possible interpretations. M. Campillo Laboratoire de Geophysique Interne et Tectonophysique Universite Joseph Fourier and Observatoire de Grenoble...IRIGM, BP 53X, 38041 Grenoble, France J.L. Plantet Laboratoire de Detection Geophysique Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique BP 12, 91680 Bruyere-le

Problems of Simultaneous Interpreting of Scientific Discussion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chachibaia, Nelly

This article focuses on the problems of simultaneous translation (SI) of scientific discussion at the Conference on Training Translators and Interpreters in the New Millennium, the development of which greatly depends on extralinguistic, external conference conditions. Text linguistics considers text not only as a grammatical unit larger than a…

The role of the situation in leadership.

PubMed

Vroom, Victor H; Jago, Arthur G

2007-01-01

Leadership depends on the situation. Few social scientists would dispute the validity of this statement. But the statement can be interpreted in many different ways, depending, at least in part, on what one means by leadership. This article begins with a definition of leadership and a brief description of 3 historically important theories of leadership. The most recent of these, contingency theories, is argued to be most consistent with existing evidence and most relevant to professional practice. The Vroom, Yetton, and Jago contingency models of participation in decision making are described in depth, and their work provides the basis for identifying 3 distinct ways in which situational or contextual variables are relevant to both research on and the practice of leadership. ((c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)

Elemental or contextual? It depends: individual difference in the hippocampal dependence of associative learning for a simple sensory stimulus

PubMed Central

Lee, Kyung J.; Park, Seong-Beom; Lee, Inah

2014-01-01

Learning theories categorize learning systems into elemental and contextual systems, the former being processed by non-hippocampal regions and the latter being processed in the hippocampus. A set of complex stimuli such as a visual background is often considered a contextual stimulus and simple sensory stimuli such as pure tone and light are considered elemental stimuli. However, this elemental-contextual categorization scheme has only been tested in limited behavioral paradigms and it is largely unknown whether it can be generalized across different learning situations. By requiring rats to respond differently to a common object in association with various types of sensory cues including contextual and elemental stimuli, we tested whether different types of elemental and contextual sensory stimuli depended on the hippocampus to different degrees. In most rats, a surrounding visual background and a tactile stimulus served as contextual (hippocampal dependent) and elemental (non-hippocampal dependent) stimuli, respectively. However, simple tone and light stimuli frequently used as elemental cues in traditional experiments required the hippocampus to varying degrees among rats. Specifically, one group of rats showed a normal contextual bias when both contextual and elemental cues were present. These rats effectively switched to using elemental cues when the hippocampus was inactivated. The other group showed a strong contextual bias (and hippocampal dependence) because these rats were not able to use elemental cues when the hippocampus was unavailable. It is possible that the latter group of rats might have interpreted the elemental cues (light and tone) as background stimuli and depended more on the hippocampus in associating the cues with choice responses. Although exact mechanisms underlying these individual variances are unclear, our findings recommend a caution for adopting a simple sensory stimulus as a non-hippocampal sensory cue only based on the literature. PMID:24982624

Negative BOLD with Large Increases in Neuronal Activity

PubMed Central

Khubchandani, Manjula; Motelow, Joshua E.; Sanganahalli, Basavaraju G.; Hyder, Fahmeed

2008-01-01

Blood oxygen level–dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is widely used in neuroscience to study brain activity. However, BOLD fMRI does not measure neuronal activity directly but depends on cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) consumption. Using fMRI, CBV, CBF, neuronal recordings, and CMRO2 modeling, we investigated how the signals are related during seizures in rats. We found that increases in hemodynamic, neuronal, and metabolic activity were associated with positive BOLD signals in the cortex, but with negative BOLD signals in hippocampus. Our data show that negative BOLD signals do not necessarily imply decreased neuronal activity or CBF, but can result from increased neuronal activity, depending on the interplay between hemodynamics and metabolism. Caution should be used in interpreting fMRI signals because the relationship between neuronal activity and BOLD signals may depend on brain region and state and can be different during normal and pathological conditions. PMID:18063563

Downscaling near-surface soil moisture from field to plot scale: A comparative analysis under different environmental conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nasta, Paolo; Penna, Daniele; Brocca, Luca; Zuecco, Giulia; Romano, Nunzio

2018-02-01

Indirect measurements of field-scale (hectometer grid-size) spatial-average near-surface soil moisture are becoming increasingly available by exploiting new-generation ground-based and satellite sensors. Nonetheless, modeling applications for water resources management require knowledge of plot-scale (1-5 m grid-size) soil moisture by using measurements through spatially-distributed sensor network systems. Since efforts to fulfill such requirements are not always possible due to time and budget constraints, alternative approaches are desirable. In this study, we explore the feasibility of determining spatial-average soil moisture and soil moisture patterns given the knowledge of long-term records of climate forcing data and topographic attributes. A downscaling approach is proposed that couples two different models: the Eco-Hydrological Bucket and Equilibrium Moisture from Topography. This approach helps identify the relative importance of two compound topographic indexes in explaining the spatial variation of soil moisture patterns, indicating valley- and hillslope-dependence controlled by lateral flow and radiative processes, respectively. The integrated model also detects temporal instability if the dominant type of topographic dependence changes with spatial-average soil moisture. Model application was carried out at three sites in different parts of Italy, each characterized by different environmental conditions. Prior calibration was performed by using sparse and sporadic soil moisture values measured by portable time domain reflectometry devices. Cross-site comparisons offer different interpretations in the explained spatial variation of soil moisture patterns, with time-invariant valley-dependence (site in northern Italy) and hillslope-dependence (site in southern Italy). The sources of soil moisture spatial variation at the site in central Italy are time-variant within the year and the seasonal change of topographic dependence can be conveniently correlated to a climate indicator such as the aridity index.

Observation of Charge-Dependent Azimuthal Correlations in p-Pb Collisions and Its Implication for the Search for the Chiral Magnetic Effect.

PubMed

Khachatryan, V; Sirunyan, A M; Tumasyan, A; Adam, W; Asilar, E; Bergauer, T; Brandstetter, J; Brondolin, E; Dragicevic, M; Erö, J; Flechl, M; Friedl, M; Frühwirth, R; Ghete, V M; Hartl, C; Hörmann, N; Hrubec, J; Jeitler, M; König, A; Krätschmer, I; Liko, D; Matsushita, T; Mikulec, I; Rabady, D; Rad, N; Rahbaran, B; Rohringer, H; Schieck, J; Strauss, J; Waltenberger, W; Wulz, C-E; Dvornikov, O; Makarenko, V; Zykunov, V; Mossolov, V; Shumeiko, N; Suarez Gonzalez, J; Alderweireldt, S; De Wolf, E A; Janssen, X; Lauwers, J; Van De Klundert, M; Van Haevermaet, H; Van Mechelen, P; Van Remortel, N; Van Spilbeeck, A; Abu Zeid, S; Blekman, F; D'Hondt, J; Daci, N; De Bruyn, I; Deroover, K; Lowette, S; Moortgat, S; Moreels, L; Olbrechts, A; Python, Q; Tavernier, S; Van Doninck, W; Van Mulders, P; Van Parijs, I; Brun, H; Clerbaux, B; De Lentdecker, G; Delannoy, H; Fasanella, G; Favart, L; Goldouzian, R; Grebenyuk, A; Karapostoli, G; Lenzi, T; Léonard, A; Luetic, J; Maerschalk, T; Marinov, A; Randle-Conde, A; Seva, T; Vander Velde, C; Vanlaer, P; Vannerom, D; Yonamine, R; Zenoni, F; Zhang, F; Cimmino, A; Cornelis, T; Dobur, D; Fagot, A; Garcia, G; Gul, M; Khvastunov, I; Poyraz, D; Salva, S; Schöfbeck, R; Sharma, A; Tytgat, M; Van Driessche, W; Yazgan, E; Zaganidis, N; Bakhshiansohi, H; Beluffi, C; Bondu, O; Brochet, S; Bruno, G; Caudron, A; De Visscher, S; Delaere, C; Delcourt, M; Francois, B; Giammanco, A; Jafari, A; Jez, P; Komm, M; Krintiras, G; Lemaitre, V; Magitteri, A; Mertens, A; Musich, M; Nuttens, C; Piotrzkowski, K; Quertenmont, L; Selvaggi, M; Vidal Marono, M; Wertz, S; Beliy, N; Aldá Júnior, W L; Alves, F L; Alves, G A; Brito, L; Hensel, C; Moraes, A; Pol, M E; Rebello Teles, P; Belchior Batista Das Chagas, E; Carvalho, W; Chinellato, J; Custódio, A; Da Costa, E M; Da Silveira, G G; De Jesus Damiao, D; De Oliveira Martins, C; Fonseca De Souza, S; Huertas Guativa, L M; Malbouisson, H; Matos Figueiredo, D; Mora Herrera, C; Mundim, L; Nogima, H; Prado Da Silva, W L; Santoro, A; Sznajder, A; Tonelli Manganote, E J; Vilela Pereira, A; Ahuja, S; Bernardes, C A; Dogra, S; Fernandez Perez Tomei, T R; Gregores, E M; Mercadante, P G; Moon, C S; Novaes, S F; Padula, Sandra S; Romero Abad, D; Ruiz Vargas, J C; Aleksandrov, A; Hadjiiska, R; Iaydjiev, P; Rodozov, M; Stoykova, S; Sultanov, G; Vutova, M; Dimitrov, A; Glushkov, I; Litov, L; Pavlov, B; Petkov, P; Fang, W; Ahmad, M; Bian, J G; Chen, G M; Chen, H S; Chen, M; Chen, Y; Cheng, T; Jiang, C H; Leggat, D; Liu, Z; Romeo, F; Shaheen, S M; Spiezia, A; Tao, J; Wang, C; Wang, Z; Zhang, H; Zhao, J; Ban, Y; Chen, G; Li, Q; Liu, S; Mao, Y; Qian, S J; Wang, D; Xu, Z; Avila, C; Cabrera, A; Chaparro Sierra, L F; Florez, C; Gomez, J P; González Hernández, C F; Ruiz Alvarez, J D; Sanabria, J C; Godinovic, N; Lelas, D; Puljak, I; Ribeiro Cipriano, P M; Sculac, T; Antunovic, Z; Kovac, M; Brigljevic, V; Ferencek, D; Kadija, K; Mesic, B; Micanovic, S; Sudic, L; Susa, T; Attikis, A; Mavromanolakis, G; Mousa, J; Nicolaou, C; Ptochos, F; Razis, P A; Rykaczewski, H; Tsiakkouri, D; Finger, M; Finger, M; Carrera Jarrin, E; Abdelalim, A A; Mohammed, Y; Salama, E; Kadastik, M; Perrini, L; Raidal, M; Tiko, A; Veelken, C; Eerola, P; Pekkanen, J; Voutilainen, M; Härkönen, J; Järvinen, T; Karimäki, V; Kinnunen, R; Lampén, T; Lassila-Perini, K; Lehti, S; Lindén, T; Luukka, P; Tuominiemi, J; Tuovinen, E; Wendland, L; Talvitie, J; Tuuva, T; Besancon, M; Couderc, F; Dejardin, M; Denegri, D; Fabbro, B; Faure, J L; Favaro, C; Ferri, F; Ganjour, S; Ghosh, S; Givernaud, A; Gras, P; Hamel de Monchenault, G; Jarry, P; Kucher, I; Locci, E; Machet, M; Malcles, J; Rander, J; Rosowsky, A; Titov, M; Zghiche, A; Abdulsalam, A; Antropov, I; Baffioni, S; Beaudette, F; Busson, P; Cadamuro, L; Chapon, E; Charlot, C; Davignon, O; Granier de Cassagnac, R; Jo, M; Lisniak, S; Miné, P; Nguyen, M; Ochando, C; Ortona, G; Paganini, P; Pigard, P; Regnard, S; Salerno, R; Sirois, Y; Strebler, T; Yilmaz, Y; Zabi, A; Agram, J-L; Andrea, J; Aubin, A; Bloch, D; Brom, J-M; Buttignol, M; Chabert, E C; Chanon, N; Collard, C; Conte, E; Coubez, X; Fontaine, J-C; Gelé, D; Goerlach, U; Le Bihan, A-C; Skovpen, K; Van Hove, P; Gadrat, S; Beauceron, S; Bernet, C; Boudoul, G; Bouvier, E; Carrillo Montoya, C A; Chierici, R; Contardo, D; Courbon, B; Depasse, P; El Mamouni, H; Fan, J; Fay, J; Gascon, S; Gouzevitch, M; Grenier, G; Ille, B; Lagarde, F; Laktineh, I B; Lethuillier, M; Mirabito, L; Pequegnot, A L; Perries, S; Popov, A; Sabes, D; Sordini, V; Vander Donckt, M; Verdier, P; Viret, S; Toriashvili, T; Tsamalaidze, Z; Autermann, C; Beranek, S; Feld, L; Heister, A; Kiesel, M K; Klein, K; Lipinski, M; Ostapchuk, A; Preuten, M; Raupach, F; Schael, S; Schomakers, C; Schulz, J; Verlage, T; Weber, H; Zhukov, V; Albert, A; Brodski, M; Dietz-Laursonn, E; Duchardt, D; Endres, M; Erdmann, M; Erdweg, S; Esch, T; Fischer, R; Güth, A; Hamer, M; Hebbeker, T; Heidemann, C; Hoepfner, K; Knutzen, S; Merschmeyer, M; Meyer, A; Millet, P; Mukherjee, S; Olschewski, M; Padeken, K; Pook, T; Radziej, M; Reithler, H; Rieger, M; Scheuch, F; Sonnenschein, L; Teyssier, D; Thüer, S; Cherepanov, V; Flügge, G; Kargoll, B; Kress, T; Künsken, A; Lingemann, J; Müller, T; Nehrkorn, A; Nowack, A; Pistone, C; Pooth, O; Stahl, A; Aldaya Martin, M; Arndt, T; Asawatangtrakuldee, C; Beernaert, K; Behnke, O; Behrens, U; Bin Anuar, A A; Borras, K; Campbell, A; Connor, P; Contreras-Campana, C; Costanza, F; Diez Pardos, C; Dolinska, G; Eckerlin, G; Eckstein, D; Eichhorn, T; Eren, E; Gallo, E; Garay Garcia, J; Geiser, A; Gizhko, A; Grados Luyando, J M; Gunnellini, P; Harb, A; Hauk, J; Hempel, M; Jung, H; Kalogeropoulos, A; Karacheban, O; Kasemann, M; Keaveney, J; Kleinwort, C; Korol, I; Krücker, D; Lange, W; Lelek, A; Leonard, J; Lipka, K; Lobanov, A; Lohmann, W; Mankel, R; Melzer-Pellmann, I-A; Meyer, A B; Mittag, G; Mnich, J; Mussgiller, A; Ntomari, E; Pitzl, D; Placakyte, R; Raspereza, A; Roland, B; Sahin, M Ö; Saxena, P; Schoerner-Sadenius, T; Seitz, C; Spannagel, S; Stefaniuk, N; Van Onsem, G P; Walsh, R; Wissing, C; Blobel, V; Centis Vignali, M; Draeger, A R; Dreyer, T; Garutti, E; Gonzalez, D; Haller, J; Hoffmann, M; Junkes, A; Klanner, R; Kogler, R; Kovalchuk, N; Lapsien, T; Lenz, T; Marchesini, I; Marconi, D; Meyer, M; Niedziela, M; Nowatschin, D; Pantaleo, F; Peiffer, T; Perieanu, A; Poehlsen, J; Sander, C; Scharf, C; Schleper, P; Schmidt, A; Schumann, S; Schwandt, J; Stadie, H; Steinbrück, G; Stober, F M; Stöver, M; Tholen, H; Troendle, D; Usai, E; Vanelderen, L; Vanhoefer, A; Vormwald, B; Akbiyik, M; Barth, C; Baur, S; Baus, C; Berger, J; Butz, E; Caspart, R; Chwalek, T; Colombo, F; De Boer, W; Dierlamm, A; Fink, S; Freund, B; Friese, R; Giffels, M; Gilbert, A; Goldenzweig, P; Haitz, D; Hartmann, F; Heindl, S M; Husemann, U; Katkov, I; Kudella, S; Lobelle Pardo, P; Mildner, H; Mozer, M U; Müller, Th; Plagge, M; Quast, G; Rabbertz, K; Röcker, S; Roscher, F; Schröder, M; Shvetsov, I; Sieber, G; Simonis, H J; Ulrich, R; Wagner-Kuhr, J; Wayand, S; Weber, M; Weiler, T; Williamson, S; Wöhrmann, C; Wolf, R; Anagnostou, G; Daskalakis, G; Geralis, T; Giakoumopoulou, V A; Kyriakis, A; Loukas, D; Topsis-Giotis, I; Kesisoglou, S; Panagiotou, A; Saoulidou, N; Tziaferi, E; Evangelou, I; Flouris, G; Foudas, C; Kokkas, P; Loukas, N; Manthos, N; Papadopoulos, I; Paradas, E; Filipovic, N; Bencze, G; Hajdu, C; Horvath, D; Sikler, F; Veszpremi, V; Vesztergombi, G; Zsigmond, A J; Beni, N; Czellar, S; Karancsi, J; Makovec, A; Molnar, J; Szillasi, Z; Bartók, M; Raics, P; Trocsanyi, Z L; Ujvari, B; Bahinipati, S; Choudhury, S; Mal, P; Mandal, K; Nayak, A; Sahoo, D K; Sahoo, N; Swain, S K; Bansal, S; Beri, S B; Bhatnagar, V; Chawla, R; Bhawandeep, U; Kalsi, A K; Kaur, A; Kaur, M; Kumar, R; Kumari, P; Mehta, A; Mittal, M; Singh, J B; Walia, G; Kumar, Ashok; Bhardwaj, A; Choudhary, B C; Garg, R B; Keshri, S; Malhotra, S; Naimuddin, M; Nishu, N; Ranjan, K; Sharma, R; Sharma, V; Bhattacharya, R; Bhattacharya, S; Chatterjee, K; Dey, S; Dutt, S; Dutta, S; Ghosh, S; Majumdar, N; Modak, A; Mondal, K; Mukhopadhyay, S; Nandan, S; Purohit, A; Roy, A; Roy, D; Roy Chowdhury, S; Sarkar, S; Sharan, M; Thakur, S; Behera, P K; Chudasama, R; Dutta, D; Jha, V; Kumar, V; Mohanty, A K; Netrakanti, P K; Pant, L M; Shukla, P; Topkar, A; Aziz, T; Dugad, S; Kole, G; Mahakud, B; Mitra, S; Mohanty, G B; Parida, B; Sur, N; Sutar, B; Banerjee, S; Bhowmik, S; Dewanjee, R K; Ganguly, S; Guchait, M; Jain, Sa; Kumar, S; Maity, M; Majumder, G; Mazumdar, K; Sarkar, T; Wickramage, N; Chauhan, S; Dube, S; Hegde, V; Kapoor, A; Kothekar, K; Pandey, S; Rane, A; Sharma, S; Behnamian, H; Chenarani, S; Eskandari Tadavani, E; Etesami, S M; Fahim, A; Khakzad, M; Mohammadi Najafabadi, M; Naseri, M; Paktinat Mehdiabadi, S; Rezaei Hosseinabadi, F; Safarzadeh, B; Zeinali, M; Felcini, M; Grunewald, M; Abbrescia, M; Calabria, C; Caputo, C; Colaleo, A; Creanza, D; Cristella, L; De Filippis, N; De Palma, M; Fiore, L; Iaselli, G; Maggi, G; Maggi, M; Miniello, G; My, S; Nuzzo, S; Pompili, A; Pugliese, G; Radogna, R; Ranieri, A; Selvaggi, G; Silvestris, L; Venditti, R; Verwilligen, P; Abbiendi, G; Battilana, C; Bonacorsi, D; Braibant-Giacomelli, S; Brigliadori, L; Campanini, R; Capiluppi, P; Castro, A; Cavallo, F R; Chhibra, S S; Codispoti, G; Cuffiani, M; Dallavalle, G M; Fabbri, F; Fanfani, A; Fasanella, D; Giacomelli, P; Grandi, C; Guiducci, L; Marcellini, S; Masetti, G; Montanari, A; Navarria, F L; Perrotta, A; Rossi, A M; Rovelli, T; Siroli, G P; Tosi, N; Albergo, S; Costa, S; Di Mattia, A; Giordano, F; Potenza, R; Tricomi, A; Tuve, C; Barbagli, G; Ciulli, V; Civinini, C; D'Alessandro, R; Focardi, E; Lenzi, P; Meschini, M; Paoletti, S; Sguazzoni, G; Viliani, L; Benussi, L; Bianco, S; Fabbri, F; Piccolo, D; Primavera, F; Calvelli, V; Ferro, F; Lo Vetere, M; Monge, M R; Robutti, E; Tosi, S; Brianza, L; Dinardo, M E; Fiorendi, S; Gennai, S; Ghezzi, A; Govoni, P; Malberti, M; Malvezzi, S; Manzoni, R A; Menasce, D; Moroni, L; Paganoni, M; Pedrini, D; Pigazzini, S; Ragazzi, S; Tabarelli de Fatis, T; Buontempo, S; Cavallo, N; De Nardo, G; Di Guida, S; Esposito, M; Fabozzi, F; Fienga, F; Iorio, A O M; Lanza, G; Lista, L; Meola, S; Paolucci, P; Sciacca, C; Thyssen, F; Azzi, P; Bacchetta, N; Benato, L; Bisello, D; Boletti, A; Carlin, R; Carvalho Antunes De Oliveira, A; Checchia, P; Dall'Osso, M; De Castro Manzano, P; Dorigo, T; Dosselli, U; Gasparini, F; Gasparini, U; Gozzelino, A; Lacaprara, S; Margoni, M; Meneguzzo, A T; Pazzini, J; Pozzobon, N; Ronchese, P; Simonetto, F; Torassa, E; Zanetti, M; Zotto, P; Zumerle, G; Braghieri, A; Magnani, A; Montagna, P; Ratti, S P; Re, V; Riccardi, C; Salvini, P; Vai, I; Vitulo, P; Alunni Solestizi, L; Bilei, G M; Ciangottini, D; Fanò, L; Lariccia, P; Leonardi, R; Mantovani, G; Menichelli, M; Saha, A; Santocchia, A; Androsov, K; Azzurri, P; Bagliesi, G; Bernardini, J; Boccali, T; Castaldi, R; Ciocci, M A; Dell'Orso, R; Donato, S; Fedi, G; Giassi, A; Grippo, M T; Ligabue, F; Lomtadze, T; Martini, L; Messineo, A; Palla, F; Rizzi, A; Savoy-Navarro, A; Spagnolo, P; Tenchini, R; Tonelli, G; Venturi, A; Verdini, P G; Barone, L; Cavallari, F; Cipriani, M; Del Re, D; Diemoz, M; Gelli, S; Longo, E; Margaroli, F; Marzocchi, B; Meridiani, P; Organtini, G; Paramatti, R; Preiato, F; Rahatlou, S; Rovelli, C; Santanastasio, F; Amapane, N; Arcidiacono, R; Argiro, S; Arneodo, M; Bartosik, N; Bellan, R; Biino, C; Cartiglia, N; Cenna, F; Costa, M; Covarelli, R; Degano, A; Demaria, N; Finco, L; Kiani, B; Mariotti, C; Maselli, S; Migliore, E; Monaco, V; Monteil, E; Monteno, M; Obertino, M M; Pacher, L; Pastrone, N; Pelliccioni, M; Pinna Angioni, G L; Ravera, F; Romero, A; Ruspa, M; Sacchi, R; Shchelina, K; Sola, V; Solano, A; Staiano, A; Traczyk, P; Belforte, S; Casarsa, M; Cossutti, F; Della Ricca, G; Zanetti, A; Kim, D H; Kim, G N; Kim, M S; Lee, S; Lee, S W; Oh, Y D; Sekmen, S; Son, D C; Yang, Y C; Lee, A; Kim, H; Brochero Cifuentes, J A; Kim, T J; Cho, S; Choi, S; Go, Y; Gyun, D; Ha, S; Hong, B; Jo, Y; Kim, Y; Lee, B; Lee, K; Lee, K S; Lee, S; Lim, J; Park, S K; Roh, Y; Almond, J; Kim, J; Lee, H; Oh, S B; Radburn-Smith, B C; Seo, S H; Yang, U K; Yoo, H D; Yu, G B; Choi, M; Kim, H; Kim, J H; Lee, J S H; Park, I C; Ryu, G; Ryu, M S; Choi, Y; Goh, J; Hwang, C; Lee, J; Yu, I; Dudenas, V; Juodagalvis, A; Vaitkus, J; Ahmed, I; Ibrahim, Z A; Komaragiri, J R; Md Ali, M A B; Mohamad Idris, F; Wan Abdullah, W A T; Yusli, M N; Zolkapli, Z; Castilla-Valdez, H; De La Cruz-Burelo, E; Heredia-De La Cruz, I; Hernandez-Almada, A; Lopez-Fernandez, R; Magaña Villalba, R; Mejia Guisao, J; Sanchez-Hernandez, A; Carrillo Moreno, S; Oropeza Barrera, C; Vazquez Valencia, F; Carpinteyro, S; Pedraza, I; Salazar Ibarguen, H A; Uribe Estrada, C; Morelos Pineda, A; Krofcheck, D; Butler, P H; Ahmad, A; Ahmad, M; Hassan, Q; Hoorani, H R; Khan, W A; Saddique, A; Shah, M A; Shoaib, M; Waqas, M; Bialkowska, H; Bluj, M; Boimska, B; Frueboes, T; Górski, M; Kazana, M; Nawrocki, K; Romanowska-Rybinska, K; Szleper, M; Zalewski, P; Bunkowski, K; Byszuk, A; Doroba, K; Kalinowski, A; Konecki, M; Krolikowski, J; Misiura, M; Olszewski, M; Walczak, M; Bargassa, P; Beirão Da Cruz E Silva, C; Calpas, B; Di Francesco, A; Faccioli, P; Ferreira Parracho, P G; Gallinaro, M; Hollar, J; Leonardo, N; Lloret Iglesias, L; Nemallapudi, M V; Rodrigues Antunes, J; Seixas, J; Toldaiev, O; Vadruccio, D; Varela, J; Vischia, P; Afanasiev, S; Bunin, P; Gavrilenko, M; Golutvin, I; Gorbunov, I; Kamenev, A; Karjavin, V; Lanev, A; Malakhov, A; Matveev, V; Palichik, V; Perelygin, V; Shmatov, S; Shulha, S; Skatchkov, N; Smirnov, V; Voytishin, N; Zarubin, A; Chtchipounov, L; Golovtsov, V; Ivanov, Y; Kim, V; Kuznetsova, E; Murzin, V; Oreshkin, V; Sulimov, V; Vorobyev, A; Andreev, Yu; Dermenev, A; Gninenko, S; Golubev, N; Karneyeu, A; Kirsanov, M; Krasnikov, N; Pashenkov, A; Tlisov, D; Toropin, A; Epshteyn, V; Gavrilov, V; Lychkovskaya, N; Popov, V; Pozdnyakov, I; Safronov, G; Spiridonov, A; Toms, M; Vlasov, E; Zhokin, A; Bylinkin, A; Markin, O; Tarkovskii, E; Andreev, V; Azarkin, M; Dremin, I; Kirakosyan, M; Leonidov, A; Terkulov, A; Baskakov, A; Belyaev, A; Boos, E; Ershov, A; Gribushin, A; Kaminskiy, A; Kodolova, O; Korotkikh, V; Lokhtin, I; Miagkov, I; Obraztsov, S; Petrushanko, S; Savrin, V; Snigirev, A; Vardanyan, I; Blinov, V; Skovpen, Y; Shtol, D; Azhgirey, I; Bayshev, I; Bitioukov, S; Elumakhov, D; Kachanov, V; Kalinin, A; Konstantinov, D; Krychkine, V; Petrov, V; Ryutin, R; Sobol, A; Troshin, S; Tyurin, N; Uzunian, A; Volkov, A; Adzic, P; Cirkovic, P; Devetak, D; Dordevic, M; Milosevic, J; Rekovic, V; Alcaraz Maestre, J; Barrio Luna, M; Calvo, E; Cerrada, M; Chamizo Llatas, M; Colino, N; De La Cruz, B; Delgado Peris, A; Escalante Del Valle, A; Fernandez Bedoya, C; Fernández Ramos, J P; Flix, J; Fouz, M C; Garcia-Abia, P; Gonzalez Lopez, O; Goy Lopez, S; Hernandez, J M; Josa, M I; Navarro De Martino, E; Pérez-Calero Yzquierdo, A; Puerta Pelayo, J; Quintario Olmeda, A; Redondo, I; Romero, L; Soares, M S; de Trocóniz, J F; Missiroli, M; Moran, D; Cuevas, J; Fernandez Menendez, J; Gonzalez Caballero, I; González Fernández, J R; Palencia Cortezon, E; Sanchez Cruz, S; Suárez Andrés, I; Vizan Garcia, J M; Cabrillo, I J; Calderon, A; Castiñeiras De Saa, J R; Curras, E; Fernandez, M; Garcia-Ferrero, J; Gomez, G; Lopez Virto, A; Marco, J; Martinez Rivero, C; Matorras, F; Piedra Gomez, J; Rodrigo, T; Ruiz-Jimeno, A; Scodellaro, L; Trevisani, N; Vila, I; Vilar Cortabitarte, R; Abbaneo, D; Auffray, E; Auzinger, G; Bachtis, M; Baillon, P; Ball, A H; Barney, D; Bloch, P; Bocci, A; Bonato, A; Botta, C; Camporesi, T; Castello, R; Cepeda, M; Cerminara, G; D'Alfonso, M; d'Enterria, D; Dabrowski, A; Daponte, V; David, A; De Gruttola, M; De Roeck, A; Di Marco, E; Dobson, M; Dorney, B; du Pree, T; Duggan, D; Dünser, M; Dupont, N; Elliott-Peisert, A; Fartoukh, S; Franzoni, G; Fulcher, J; Funk, W; Gigi, D; Gill, K; Girone, M; Glege, F; Gulhan, D; Gundacker, S; Guthoff, M; Hammer, J; Harris, P; Hegeman, J; Innocente, V; Janot, P; Kieseler, J; Kirschenmann, H; Knünz, V; Kornmayer, A; Kortelainen, M J; Kousouris, K; Krammer, M; Lange, C; Lecoq, P; Lourenço, C; Lucchini, M T; Malgeri, L; Mannelli, M; Martelli, A; Meijers, F; Merlin, J A; Mersi, S; Meschi, E; Milenovic, P; Moortgat, F; Morovic, S; Mulders, M; Neugebauer, H; Orfanelli, S; Orsini, L; Pape, L; Perez, E; Peruzzi, M; Petrilli, A; Petrucciani, G; Pfeiffer, A; Pierini, M; Racz, A; Reis, T; Rolandi, G; Rovere, M; Ruan, M; Sakulin, H; Sauvan, J B; Schäfer, C; Schwick, C; Seidel, M; Sharma, A; Silva, P; Sphicas, P; Steggemann, J; Stoye, M; Takahashi, Y; Tosi, M; Treille, D; Triossi, A; Tsirou, A; Veckalns, V; Veres, G I; Verweij, M; Wardle, N; Wöhri, H K; Zagozdzinska, A; Zeuner, W D; Bertl, W; Deiters, K; Erdmann, W; Horisberger, R; Ingram, Q; Kaestli, H C; Kotlinski, D; Langenegger, U; Rohe, T; Bachmair, F; Bäni, L; Bianchini, L; Casal, B; Dissertori, G; Dittmar, M; Donegà, M; Grab, C; Heidegger, C; Hits, D; Hoss, J; Kasieczka, G; Lecomte, P; Lustermann, W; Mangano, B; Marionneau, M; Martinez Ruiz Del Arbol, P; Masciovecchio, M; Meinhard, M T; Meister, D; Micheli, F; Musella, P; Nessi-Tedaldi, F; Pandolfi, F; Pata, J; Pauss, F; Perrin, G; Perrozzi, L; Quittnat, M; Rossini, M; Schönenberger, M; Starodumov, A; Tavolaro, V R; Theofilatos, K; Wallny, R; Aarrestad, T K; Amsler, C; Caminada, L; Canelli, M F; De Cosa, A; Galloni, C; Hinzmann, A; Hreus, T; Kilminster, B; Ngadiuba, J; Pinna, D; Rauco, G; Robmann, P; Salerno, D; Yang, Y; Zucchetta, A; Candelise, V; Doan, T H; Jain, Sh; Khurana, R; Konyushikhin, M; Kuo, C M; Lin, W; Lu, Y J; Pozdnyakov, A; Yu, S S; Kumar, Arun; Chang, P; Chang, Y H; Chang, Y W; Chao, Y; Chen, K F; Chen, P H; Dietz, C; Fiori, F; Hou, W-S; Hsiung, Y; Liu, Y F; Lu, R-S; Miñano Moya, M; Paganis, E; Psallidas, A; Tsai, J F; Tzeng, Y M; Asavapibhop, B; Singh, G; Srimanobhas, N; Suwonjandee, N; Adiguzel, A; Cerci, S; Damarseckin, S; Demiroglu, Z S; Dozen, C; Dumanoglu, I; Girgis, S; Gokbulut, G; Guler, Y; Hos, I; Kangal, E E; Kara, O; Kayis Topaksu, A; Kiminsu, U; Oglakci, M; Onengut, G; Ozdemir, K; Sunar Cerci, D; Tali, B; Turkcapar, S; Zorbakir, I S; Zorbilmez, C; Bilin, B; Bilmis, S; Isildak, B; Karapinar, G; Yalvac, M; Zeyrek, M; Gülmez, E; Kaya, M; Kaya, O; Yetkin, E A; Yetkin, T; Cakir, A; Cankocak, K; Sen, S; Grynyov, B; Levchuk, L; Sorokin, P; Aggleton, R; Ball, F; Beck, L; Brooke, J J; Burns, D; Clement, E; Cussans, D; Flacher, H; Goldstein, J; Grimes, M; Heath, G P; Heath, H F; Jacob, J; Kreczko, L; Lucas, C; Newbold, D M; Paramesvaran, S; Poll, A; Sakuma, T; Seif El Nasr-Storey, S; Smith, D; Smith, V J; Belyaev, A; Brew, C; Brown, R M; Calligaris, L; Cieri, D; Cockerill, D J A; Coughlan, J A; Harder, K; Harper, S; Olaiya, E; Petyt, D; Shepherd-Themistocleous, C H; Thea, A; Tomalin, I R; Williams, T; Baber, M; Bainbridge, R; Buchmuller, O; Bundock, A; Burton, D; Casasso, S; Citron, M; Colling, D; Corpe, L; Dauncey, P; Davies, G; De Wit, A; Della Negra, M; Di Maria, R; Dunne, P; Elwood, A; Futyan, D; Haddad, Y; Hall, G; Iles, G; James, T; Lane, R; Laner, C; Lucas, R; Lyons, L; Magnan, A-M; Malik, S; Mastrolorenzo, L; Nash, J; Nikitenko, A; Pela, J; Penning, B; Pesaresi, M; Raymond, D M; Richards, A; Rose, A; Seez, C; Summers, S; Tapper, A; Uchida, K; Vazquez Acosta, M; Virdee, T; Wright, J; Zenz, S C; Cole, J E; Hobson, P R; Khan, A; Kyberd, P; Leslie, D; Reid, I D; Symonds, P; Teodorescu, L; Turner, M; Borzou, A; Call, K; Dittmann, J; Hatakeyama, K; Liu, H; Pastika, N; Cooper, S I; Henderson, C; Rumerio, P; West, C; Arcaro, D; Avetisyan, A; Bose, T; Gastler, D; Rankin, D; Richardson, C; Rohlf, J; Sulak, L; Zou, D; Benelli, G; Berry, E; Cutts, D; Garabedian, A; Hakala, J; Heintz, U; Hogan, J M; Jesus, O; Kwok, K H M; Laird, E; Landsberg, G; Mao, Z; Narain, M; Piperov, S; Sagir, S; Spencer, E; Syarif, R; Breedon, R; Breto, G; Burns, D; Calderon De La Barca Sanchez, M; Chauhan, S; Chertok, M; Conway, J; Conway, R; Cox, P T; Erbacher, R; Flores, C; Funk, G; Gardner, M; Ko, W; Lander, R; Mclean, C; Mulhearn, M; Pellett, D; Pilot, J; Shalhout, S; Smith, J; Squires, M; Stolp, D; Tripathi, M; Bravo, C; Cousins, R; Dasgupta, A; Everaerts, P; Florent, A; Hauser, J; Ignatenko, M; Mccoll, N; Saltzberg, D; Schnaible, C; Takasugi, E; Valuev, V; Weber, M; Burt, K; Clare, R; Ellison, J; Gary, J W; Ghiasi Shirazi, S M A; Hanson, G; Heilman, J; Jandir, P; Kennedy, E; Lacroix, F; Long, O R; Olmedo Negrete, M; Paneva, M I; Shrinivas, A; Si, W; Wei, H; Wimpenny, S; Yates, B R; Branson, J G; Cerati, G B; Cittolin, S; Derdzinski, M; Holzner, A; Klein, D; Krutelyov, V; Letts, J; Macneill, I; Olivito, D; Padhi, S; Pieri, M; Sani, M; Sharma, V; Simon, S; Tadel, M; Vartak, A; Wasserbaech, S; Welke, C; Wood, J; Würthwein, F; Yagil, A; Zevi Della Porta, G; Amin, N; Bhandari, R; Bradmiller-Feld, J; Campagnari, C; Dishaw, A; Dutta, V; Franco Sevilla, M; George, C; Golf, F; Gouskos, L; Gran, J; Heller, R; Incandela, J; Mullin, S D; Ovcharova, A; Qu, H; Richman, J; Stuart, D; Suarez, I; Yoo, J; Anderson, D; Apresyan, A; Bendavid, J; Bornheim, A; Bunn, J; Chen, Y; Duarte, J; Lawhorn, J M; Mott, A; Newman, H B; Pena, C; Spiropulu, M; Vlimant, J R; Xie, S; Zhu, R Y; Andrews, M B; Azzolini, V; Ferguson, T; Paulini, M; Russ, J; Sun, M; Vogel, H; Vorobiev, I; Weinberg, M; Cumalat, J P; Ford, W T; Jensen, F; Johnson, A; Krohn, M; Mulholland, T; Stenson, K; Wagner, S R; Alexander, J; Chaves, J; Chu, J; Dittmer, S; Mcdermott, K; Mirman, N; Nicolas Kaufman, G; Patterson, J R; Rinkevicius, A; Ryd, A; Skinnari, L; Soffi, L; Tan, S M; Tao, Z; Thom, J; Tucker, J; Wittich, P; Zientek, M; Winn, D; Abdullin, S; Albrow, M; Apollinari, G; Banerjee, S; Bauerdick, L A T; Beretvas, A; Berryhill, J; Bhat, P C; Bolla, G; Burkett, K; Butler, J N; Cheung, H W K; Chlebana, F; Cihangir, S; Cremonesi, M; Elvira, V D; Fisk, I; Freeman, J; Gottschalk, E; Gray, L; Green, D; Grünendahl, S; Gutsche, O; Hare, D; Harris, R M; Hasegawa, S; Hirschauer, J; Hu, Z; Jayatilaka, B; Jindariani, S; Johnson, M; Joshi, U; Klima, B; Kreis, B; Lammel, S; Linacre, J; Lincoln, D; Lipton, R; Liu, T; Lopes De Sá, R; Lykken, J; Maeshima, K; Magini, N; Marraffino, J M; Maruyama, S; Mason, D; McBride, P; Merkel, P; Mrenna, S; Nahn, S; Newman-Holmes, C; O'Dell, V; Pedro, K; Prokofyev, O; Rakness, G; Ristori, L; Sexton-Kennedy, E; Soha, A; Spalding, W J; Spiegel, L; Stoynev, S; Strobbe, N; Taylor, L; Tkaczyk, S; Tran, N V; Uplegger, L; Vaandering, E W; Vernieri, C; Verzocchi, M; Vidal, R; Wang, M; Weber, H A; Whitbeck, A; Wu, Y; Acosta, D; Avery, P; Bortignon, P; Bourilkov, D; Brinkerhoff, A; Carnes, A; Carver, M; Curry, D; Das, S; Field, R D; Furic, I K; Konigsberg, J; Korytov, A; Low, J F; Ma, P; Matchev, K; Mei, H; Mitselmakher, G; Rank, D; Shchutska, L; Sperka, D; Thomas, L; Wang, J; Wang, S; Yelton, J; Linn, S; Markowitz, P; Martinez, G; Rodriguez, J L; Ackert, A; Adams, J R; Adams, T; Askew, A; Bein, S; Diamond, B; Hagopian, S; Hagopian, V; Johnson, K F; Khatiwada, A; Prosper, H; Santra, A; Yohay, R; Baarmand, M M; Bhopatkar, V; Colafranceschi, S; Hohlmann, M; Noonan, D; Roy, T; Yumiceva, F; Adams, M R; Apanasevich, L; Berry, D; Betts, R R; Bucinskaite, I; Cavanaugh, R; Evdokimov, O; Gauthier, L; Gerber, C E; Hofman, D J; Jung, K; Kurt, P; O'Brien, C; Sandoval Gonzalez, I D; Turner, P; Varelas, N; Wang, H; Wu, Z; Zakaria, M; Zhang, J; Bilki, B; Clarida, W; Dilsiz, K; Durgut, S; Gandrajula, R P; Haytmyradov, M; Khristenko, V; Merlo, J-P; Mermerkaya, H; Mestvirishvili, A; Moeller, A; Nachtman, J; Ogul, H; Onel, Y; Ozok, F; Penzo, A; Snyder, C; Tiras, E; Wetzel, J; Yi, K; Anderson, I; Blumenfeld, B; Cocoros, A; Eminizer, N; Fehling, D; Feng, L; Gritsan, A V; Maksimovic, P; Martin, C; Osherson, M; Roskes, J; Sarica, U; Swartz, M; Xiao, M; Xin, Y; You, C; Al-Bataineh, A; Baringer, P; Bean, A; Boren, S; Bowen, J; Bruner, C; Castle, J; Forthomme, L; Kenny, R P; Khalil, S; Kropivnitskaya, A; Majumder, D; Mcbrayer, W; Murray, M; Sanders, S; Stringer, R; Tapia Takaki, J D; Wang, Q; Ivanov, A; Kaadze, K; Maravin, Y; Mohammadi, A; Saini, L K; Skhirtladze, N; Toda, S; Rebassoo, F; Wright, D; Anelli, C; Baden, A; Baron, O; Belloni, A; Calvert, B; Eno, S C; Ferraioli, C; Gomez, J A; Hadley, N J; Jabeen, S; Kellogg, R G; Kolberg, T; Kunkle, J; Lu, Y; Mignerey, A C; Ricci-Tam, F; Shin, Y H; Skuja, A; Tonjes, M B; Tonwar, S C; Abercrombie, D; Allen, B; Apyan, A; Barbieri, R; Baty, A; Bi, R; Bierwagen, K; Brandt, S; Busza, W; Cali, I A; Demiragli, Z; Di Matteo, L; Gomez Ceballos, G; Goncharov, M; Hsu, D; Iiyama, Y; Innocenti, G M; Klute, M; Kovalskyi, D; Krajczar, K; Lai, Y S; Lee, Y-J; Levin, A; Luckey, P D; Maier, B; Marini, A C; Mcginn, C; Mironov, C; Narayanan, S; Niu, X; Paus, C; Roland, C; Roland, G; Salfeld-Nebgen, J; Stephans, G S F; Sumorok, K; Tatar, K; Varma, M; Velicanu, D; Veverka, J; Wang, J; Wang, T W; Wyslouch, B; Yang, M; Zhukova, V; Benvenuti, A C; Chatterjee, R M; Evans, A; Finkel, A; Gude, A; Hansen, P; Kalafut, S; Kao, S C; Kubota, Y; Lesko, Z; Mans, J; Nourbakhsh, S; Ruckstuhl, N; Rusack, R; Tambe, N; Turkewitz, J; Acosta, J G; Oliveros, S; Avdeeva, E; Bartek, R; Bloom, K; Claes, D R; Dominguez, A; Fangmeier, C; Gonzalez Suarez, R; Kamalieddin, R; Kravchenko, I; Malta Rodrigues, A; Meier, F; Monroy, J; Siado, J E; Snow, G R; Stieger, B; Alyari, M; Dolen, J; George, J; Godshalk, A; Harrington, C; Iashvili, I; Kaisen, J; Kharchilava, A; Kumar, A; Parker, A; Rappoccio, S; Roozbahani, B; Alverson, G; Barberis, E; Hortiangtham, A; Massironi, A; Morse, D M; Nash, D; Orimoto, T; Teixeira De Lima, R; Trocino, D; Wang, R-J; Wood, D; Bhattacharya, S; Charaf, O; Hahn, K A; Kubik, A; Kumar, A; Mucia, N; Odell, N; Pollack, B; Schmitt, M H; Sung, K; Trovato, M; Velasco, M; Dev, N; Hildreth, M; Hurtado Anampa, K; Jessop, C; Karmgard, D J; Kellams, N; Lannon, K; Marinelli, N; Meng, F; Mueller, C; Musienko, Y; Planer, M; Reinsvold, A; Ruchti, R; Smith, G; Taroni, S; Wayne, M; Wolf, M; Woodard, A; Alimena, J; Antonelli, L; Bylsma, B; Durkin, L S; Flowers, S; Francis, B; Hart, A; Hill, C; Hughes, R; Ji, W; Liu, B; Luo, W; Puigh, D; Winer, B L; Wulsin, H W; Cooperstein, S; Driga, O; Elmer, P; Hardenbrook, J; Hebda, P; Lange, D; Luo, J; Marlow, D; Mc Donald, J; Medvedeva, T; Mei, K; Mooney, M; Olsen, J; Palmer, C; Piroué, P; Stickland, D; Svyatkovskiy, A; Tully, C; Zuranski, A; Malik, S; Barker, A; Barnes, V E; Folgueras, S; Gutay, L; Jha, M K; Jones, M; Jung, A W; Miller, D H; Neumeister, N; Schulte, J F; Shi, X; Sun, J; Wang, F; Xie, W; Parashar, N; Stupak, J; Adair, A; Akgun, B; Chen, Z; Ecklund, K M; Geurts, F J M; Guilbaud, M; Li, W; Michlin, B; Northup, M; Padley, B P; Redjimi, R; Roberts, J; Rorie, J; Tu, Z; Zabel, J; Betchart, B; Bodek, A; de Barbaro, P; Demina, R; Duh, Y T; Ferbel, T; Galanti, M; Garcia-Bellido, A; Han, J; Hindrichs, O; Khukhunaishvili, A; Lo, K H; Tan, P; Verzetti, M; Agapitos, A; Chou, J P; Contreras-Campana, E; Gershtein, Y; Gómez Espinosa, T A; Halkiadakis, E; Heindl, M; Hidas, D; Hughes, E; Kaplan, S; Kunnawalkam Elayavalli, R; Kyriacou, S; Lath, A; Nash, K; Saka, H; Salur, S; Schnetzer, S; Sheffield, D; Somalwar, S; Stone, R; Thomas, S; Thomassen, P; Walker, M; Delannoy, A G; Foerster, M; Heideman, J; Riley, G; Rose, K; Spanier, S; Thapa, K; Bouhali, O; Celik, A; Dalchenko, M; De Mattia, M; Delgado, A; Dildick, S; Eusebi, R; Gilmore, J; Huang, T; Juska, E; Kamon, T; Mueller, R; Pakhotin, Y; Patel, R; Perloff, A; Perniè, L; Rathjens, D; Rose, A; Safonov, A; Tatarinov, A; Ulmer, K A; Akchurin, N; Cowden, C; Damgov, J; De Guio, F; Dragoiu, C; Dudero, P R; Faulkner, J; Gurpinar, E; Kunori, S; Lamichhane, K; Lee, S W; Libeiro, T; Peltola, T; Undleeb, S; Volobouev, I; Wang, Z; Greene, S; Gurrola, A; Janjam, R; Johns, W; Maguire, C; Melo, A; Ni, H; Sheldon, P; Tuo, S; Velkovska, J; Xu, Q; Arenton, M W; Barria, P; Cox, B; Goodell, J; Hirosky, R; Ledovskoy, A; Li, H; Neu, C; Sinthuprasith, T; Sun, X; Wang, Y; Wolfe, E; Xia, F; Clarke, C; Harr, R; Karchin, P E; Sturdy, J; Belknap, D A; Buchanan, J; Caillol, C; Dasu, S; Dodd, L; Duric, S; Gomber, B; Grothe, M; Herndon, M; Hervé, A; Klabbers, P; Lanaro, A; Levine, A; Long, K; Loveless, R; Ojalvo, I; Perry, T; Pierro, G A; Polese, G; Ruggles, T; Savin, A; Smith, N; Smith, W H; Taylor, D; Woods, N

2017-03-24

Charge-dependent azimuthal particle correlations with respect to the second-order event plane in p-Pb and PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV have been studied with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurement is performed with a three-particle correlation technique, using two particles with the same or opposite charge within the pseudorapidity range |η|<2.4, and a third particle measured in the hadron forward calorimeters (4.4<|η|<5). The observed differences between the same and opposite sign correlations, as functions of multiplicity and η gap between the two charged particles, are of similar magnitude in p-Pb and PbPb collisions at the same multiplicities. These results pose a challenge for the interpretation of charge-dependent azimuthal correlations in heavy ion collisions in terms of the chiral magnetic effect.

Performance of in silico tools for the evaluation of p16INK4a (CDKN2A) variants in CAGI.

PubMed

Carraro, Marco; Minervini, Giovanni; Giollo, Manuel; Bromberg, Yana; Capriotti, Emidio; Casadio, Rita; Dunbrack, Roland; Elefanti, Lisa; Fariselli, Pietro; Ferrari, Carlo; Gough, Julian; Katsonis, Panagiotis; Leonardi, Emanuela; Lichtarge, Olivier; Menin, Chiara; Martelli, Pier Luigi; Niroula, Abhishek; Pal, Lipika R; Repo, Susanna; Scaini, Maria Chiara; Vihinen, Mauno; Wei, Qiong; Xu, Qifang; Yang, Yuedong; Yin, Yizhou; Zaucha, Jan; Zhao, Huiying; Zhou, Yaoqi; Brenner, Steven E; Moult, John; Tosatto, Silvio C E

2017-09-01

Correct phenotypic interpretation of variants of unknown significance for cancer-associated genes is a diagnostic challenge as genetic screenings gain in popularity in the next-generation sequencing era. The Critical Assessment of Genome Interpretation (CAGI) experiment aims to test and define the state of the art of genotype-phenotype interpretation. Here, we present the assessment of the CAGI p16INK4a challenge. Participants were asked to predict the effect on cellular proliferation of 10 variants for the p16INK4a tumor suppressor, a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor encoded by the CDKN2A gene. Twenty-two pathogenicity predictors were assessed with a variety of accuracy measures for reliability in a medical context. Different assessment measures were combined in an overall ranking to provide more robust results. The R scripts used for assessment are publicly available from a GitHub repository for future use in similar assessment exercises. Despite a limited test-set size, our findings show a variety of results, with some methods performing significantly better. Methods combining different strategies frequently outperform simpler approaches. The best predictor, Yang&Zhou lab, uses a machine learning method combining an empirical energy function measuring protein stability with an evolutionary conservation term. The p16INK4a challenge highlights how subtle structural effects can neutralize otherwise deleterious variants. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Do location specific forecasts pose a new challenge for communicating uncertainty?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abraham, Shyamali; Bartlett, Rachel; Standage, Matthew; Black, Alison; Charlton-Perez, Andrew; McCloy, Rachel

2015-04-01

In the last decade, the growth of local, site-specific weather forecasts delivered by mobile phone or website represents arguably the fastest change in forecast consumption since the beginning of Television weather forecasts 60 years ago. In this study, a street-interception survey of 274 members of the public a clear first preference for narrow weather forecasts above traditional broad weather forecasts is shown for the first time, with a clear bias towards this preference for users under 40. The impact of this change on the understanding of forecast probability and intensity information is explored. While the correct interpretation of the statement 'There is a 30% chance of rain tomorrow' is still low in the cohort, in common with previous studies, a clear impact of age and educational attainment on understanding is shown, with those under 40 and educated to degree level or above more likely to correctly interpret it. The interpretation of rainfall intensity descriptors ('Light', 'Moderate', 'Heavy') by the cohort is shown to be significantly different to official and expert assessment of the same descriptors and to have large variance amongst the cohort. However, despite these key uncertainties, members of the cohort generally seem to make appropriate decisions about rainfall forecasts. There is some evidence that the decisions made are different depending on the communication format used, and the cohort expressed a clear preference for tabular over graphical weather forecast presentation.

The principle of proportionality revisited: interpretations and applications.

PubMed

Hermerén, Göran

2012-11-01

The principle of proportionality is used in many different contexts. Some of these uses and contexts are first briefly indicated. This paper focusses on the use of this principle as a moral principle. I argue that under certain conditions the principle of proportionality is helpful as a guide in decision-making. But it needs to be clarified and to be used with some flexibility as a context-dependent principle. Several interpretations of the principle are distinguished, using three conditions as a starting point: importance of objective, relevance of means, and most favourable option. The principle is then tested against an example, which suggests that a fourth condition, focusing on non-excessiveness, needs to be added. I will distinguish between three main interpretations of the principle, some primarily with uses in research ethics, others with uses in other areas of bioethics, for instance in comparisons of therapeutic means and ends. The relations between the principle of proportionality and the precautionary principle are explored in the following section. It is concluded that the principles are different and may even clash. In the next section the principle of proportionality is applied to some medical examples drawn from research ethics and bioethics. In concluding, the status of the principle of proportionality as a moral principle is discussed. What has been achieved so far and what remains to be done is finally summarized.

What can spontaneous fluctuations of the blood oxygenation-level-dependent signal tell us about psychiatric disorders?

PubMed

Fornito, Alex; Bullmore, Edward T

2010-05-01

Resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) is an increasingly popular technique for studying brain dysfunction in psychiatric patients, and is widely assumed to measure intrinsic properties of functional brain organization. Here, we review rs-fMRI studies of psychiatric populations and consider how recent evidence concerning the neuronal basis, behavioural relevance, and the stability of rs-fMRI measures can inform and constrain interpretation of findings obtained using case-control designs. A range of rs-fMRI measures have been applied to different patient groups, although the findings have not always been consistent. The large-scale organization of rs-fMRI networks is robust and reproducible, and rs-fMRI measures show correlations with behavioural phenotypes relevant to psychiatry. However, evidence that such measures are also influenced by preceding psychological states and contexts, as well as individual variations in physiological arousal, may help to explain inconsistent findings in case-control comparisons. rs-fMRI measures show both stable and dynamic properties, the nature of which are only beginning to be uncovered. As such, interpreting significant differences between patients and controls on rs-fMRI measures as evidence for alterations in intrinsic functional brain organization should be done cautiously. Better understanding of the relationship between stable and transient aspects of spontaneous brain dynamics will be necessary to constrain interpretation of case-control studies and inform pathophysiological models.

Dose equations for tube current modulation in CT scanning and the interpretation of the associated CTDI{sub vol}

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

Dixon, Robert L.; Boone, John M.

2013-11-15

Purpose: The scanner-reported CTDI{sub vol} for automatic tube current modulation (TCM) has a different physical meaning from the traditional CTDI{sub vol} at constant mA, resulting in the dichotomy “CTDI{sub vol} of the first and second kinds” for which a physical interpretation is sought in hopes of establishing some commonality between the two.Methods: Rigorous equations are derived to describe the accumulated dose distributions for TCM. A comparison with formulae for scanner-reported CTDI{sub vol} clearly identifies the source of their differences. Graphical dose simulations are also provided for a variety of TCM tube current distributions (including constant mA), all having the samemore » scanner-reported CTDI{sub vol}.Results: These convolution equations and simulations show that the local dose at z depends only weakly on the local tube current i(z) due to the strong influence of scatter from all other locations along z, and that the “local CTDI{sub vol}(z)” does not represent a local dose but rather only a relative i(z) ≡ mA(z). TCM is a shift-variant technique to which the CTDI-paradigm does not apply and its application to TCM leads to a CTDI{sub vol} of the second kind which lacks relevance.Conclusions: While the traditional CTDI{sub vol} at constant mA conveys useful information (the peak dose at the center of the scan length), CTDI{sub vol} of the second kind conveys no useful information about the associated TCM dose distribution it purportedly represents and its physical interpretation remains elusive. On the other hand, the total energy absorbed E (“integral dose”) as well as its surrogate DLP remain robust between variable i(z) TCM and constant current i{sub 0} techniques, both depending only on the total mAs = t{sub 0}=i{sub 0} t{sub 0} during the beam-on time t{sub 0}.« less

The Lunar Source Disk: Old Lunar Datasets on a New CD-ROM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hiesinger, H.

1998-01-01

A compilation of previously published datasets on CD-ROM is presented. This Lunar Source Disk is intended to be a first step in the improvement/expansion of the Lunar Consortium Disk, in order to create an "image-cube"-like data pool that can be easily accessed and might be useful for a variety of future lunar investigations. All datasets were transformed to a standard map projection that allows direct comparison of different types of information on a pixel-by pixel basis. Lunar observations have a long history and have been important to mankind for centuries, notably since the work of Plutarch and Galileo. As a consequence of centuries of lunar investigations, knowledge of the characteristics and properties of the Moon has accumulated over time. However, a side effect of this accumulation is that it has become more and more complicated for scientists to review all the datasets obtained through different techniques, to interpret them properly, to recognize their weaknesses and strengths in detail, and to combine them synoptically in geologic interpretations. Such synoptic geologic interpretations are crucial for the study of planetary bodies through remote-sensing data in order to avoid misinterpretation. In addition, many of the modem datasets, derived from Earth-based telescopes as well as from spacecraft missions, are acquired at different geometric and radiometric conditions. These differences make it challenging to compare or combine datasets directly or to extract information from different datasets on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Also, as there is no convention for the presentation of lunar datasets, different authors choose different map projections, depending on the location of the investigated areas and their personal interests. Insufficient or incomplete information on the map parameters used by different authors further complicates the reprojection of these datasets to a standard geometry. The goal of our efforts was to transfer previously published lunar datasets to a selected standard geometry in order to create an "image-cube"-like data pool for further interpretation. The starting point was a number of datasets on a CD-ROM published by the Lunar Consortium. The task of creating an uniform data pool was further complicated by some missing or wrong references and keys on the Lunar Consortium CD as well as erroneous reproduction of some datasets in the literature.

An interpretation of flare-induced and decayless coronal-loop oscillations as interference patterns

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

Hindman, Bradley W.; Jain, Rekha, E-mail: hindman@solarz.colorado.edu

2014-04-01

We present an alternative model of coronal-loop oscillations, which considers that the waves are trapped in a two-dimensional waveguide formed by the entire arcade of field lines. This differs from the standard one-dimensional model which treats the waves as the resonant oscillations of just the visible bundle of field lines. Within the framework of our two-dimensional model, the two types of oscillations that have been observationally identified, flare-induced waves and 'decayless' oscillations, can both be attributed to MHD fast waves. The two components of the signal differ only because of the duration and spatial extent of the source that createsmore » them. The flare-induced waves are generated by strong localized sources of short duration, while the decayless background can be excited by a continuous, stochastic source. Further, the oscillatory signal arising from a localized, short-duration source can be interpreted as a pattern of interference fringes produced by waves that have traveled diverse routes of various pathlengths through the waveguide. The resulting amplitude of the fringes slowly decays in time with an inverse square root dependence. The details of the interference pattern depend on the shape of the arcade and the spatial variation of the Alfvén speed. The rapid decay of this wave component, which has previously been attributed to physical damping mechanisms that remove energy from resonant oscillations, occurs as a natural consequence of the interference process without the need for local dissipation.« less

Comparing cerebrovascular reactivity measured using BOLD and cerebral blood flow MRI: The effect of basal vascular tension on vasodilatory and vasoconstrictive reactivity

PubMed Central

Halani, Sheliza; Kwinta, Jonathan B.; Golestani, Ali M.; Khatamian, Yasha B.; Chen, J. Jean

2016-01-01

Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is an important metric of cerebrovascular health. While the BOLD fMRI method in conjunction with carbon-dioxide (CO2) based vascular manipulation has been the most commonly used, the BOLD signal is not a direct measure of vascular changes, and the use of arterial-spin labeling (ASL) cerebral blood flow (CBF) imaging is increasingly advocated. Nonetheless, given the differing dependencies of BOLD and CBF on vascular baseline conditions and the diverse CO2 manipulation types currently used in the literature, knowledge of potential biases introduced by each technique is critical for the interpretation of CVR measurements. In this work, we use simultaneous BOLD-CBF acquisitions during both vasodilatory (hypercapnic) and vasoconstrictive (hypocapnic) stimuli to measure CVR. We further imposed different levels of baseline vascular tension by inducing hypercapnic and hypocapnic baselines, separately from normocapnia by 4 mm Hg. We saw significant and diverse dependencies on vascular stimulus and baseline condition in both BOLD and CBF CVR measurements: (i) BOLD-based CVR is more sensitive to basal vascular tension than CBF-based CVR; (ii) the use of a combination of vasodilatory and vasoconstrictive stimuli maximizes the sensitivity of CBF-based CVR to vascular tension changes; (iii) the BOLD and CBF vascular response delays are both significantly lengthened at predilated baseline. As vascular tension can often be altered by potential pathology, our findings are important considerations when interpreting CVR measurements in health and disease. PMID:25655446

Recruitment of ethnic minorities for public health research: An interpretive synthesis of experiences from six interlinked Danish studies.

PubMed

Nielsen, Annemette Ljungdalh; Jervelund, Signe Smith; Villadsen, Sarah Fredsted; Vitus, Kathrine; Ditlevsen, Kia; TØrslev, Mette Kirstine; Kristiansen, Maria

2017-03-01

This paper examines the importance of recruitment site in relation to the recruitment of ethnic minorities into health research. It presents a synthesis of experiences drawn from six interlinked Danish studies which applied different methods and used healthcare facilities and educational settings as sites for recruitment. Inspired by interpretive reviewing, data on recruitment methods from the different studies were synthesized with a focus on the various levels of recruitment success achieved. This involved an iterative process of comparison, analysis and discussion of experiences among the researchers involved. Success in recruitment seemed to depend partly on recruitment site. Using healthcare facilities as the recruitment site and healthcare professionals as gatekeepers was less efficient than using schools and employees from educational institutions. Successful study designs also depended on the possibility of singling out specific locations with a high proportion of the relevant ethnic minority target population. The findings, though based on a small number of cases, indicate that health professionals and healthcare institutions, despite their interest in high-quality health research into all population groups, fail to facilitate research access to some of the most disadvantaged groups, who need to be included in order to understand the mechanisms behind health disparities. This happens despite the genuine wish of many healthcare professionals to help facilitate such research. In this way, the findings indirectly emphasize the specific challenge of accessing more vulnerable and sick groups in research studies.

HiCRep: assessing the reproducibility of Hi-C data using a stratum-adjusted correlation coefficient

PubMed Central

Yang, Tao; Zhang, Feipeng; Yardımcı, Galip Gürkan; Song, Fan; Hardison, Ross C.; Noble, William Stafford; Yue, Feng; Li, Qunhua

2017-01-01

Hi-C is a powerful technology for studying genome-wide chromatin interactions. However, current methods for assessing Hi-C data reproducibility can produce misleading results because they ignore spatial features in Hi-C data, such as domain structure and distance dependence. We present HiCRep, a framework for assessing the reproducibility of Hi-C data that systematically accounts for these features. In particular, we introduce a novel similarity measure, the stratum adjusted correlation coefficient (SCC), for quantifying the similarity between Hi-C interaction matrices. Not only does it provide a statistically sound and reliable evaluation of reproducibility, SCC can also be used to quantify differences between Hi-C contact matrices and to determine the optimal sequencing depth for a desired resolution. The measure consistently shows higher accuracy than existing approaches in distinguishing subtle differences in reproducibility and depicting interrelationships of cell lineages. The proposed measure is straightforward to interpret and easy to compute, making it well-suited for providing standardized, interpretable, automatable, and scalable quality control. The freely available R package HiCRep implements our approach. PMID:28855260

The Manipulative Complexity of Lower Paleolithic Stone Toolmaking

PubMed Central

Faisal, Aldo; Stout, Dietrich; Apel, Jan; Bradley, Bruce

2010-01-01

Background Early stone tools provide direct evidence of human cognitive and behavioral evolution that is otherwise unavailable. Proper interpretation of these data requires a robust interpretive framework linking archaeological evidence to specific behavioral and cognitive actions. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we employ a data glove to record manual joint angles in a modern experimental toolmaker (the 4th author) replicating ancient tool forms in order to characterize and compare the manipulative complexity of two major Lower Paleolithic technologies (Oldowan and Acheulean). To this end we used a principled and general measure of behavioral complexity based on the statistics of joint movements. Conclusions/Significance This allowed us to confirm that previously observed differences in brain activation associated with Oldowan versus Acheulean technologies reflect higher-level behavior organization rather than lower-level differences in manipulative complexity. This conclusion is consistent with a scenario in which the earliest stages of human technological evolution depended on novel perceptual-motor capacities (such as the control of joint stiffness) whereas later developments increasingly relied on enhanced mechanisms for cognitive control. This further suggests possible links between toolmaking and language evolution. PMID:21072164

Novel methodology to characterize electromagnetic exposure of the brain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crespo-Valero, Pedro; Christopoulou, Maria; Zefferer, Marcel; Christ, Andreas; Achermann, Peter; Nikita, Konstantina S.; Kuster, Niels

2011-01-01

Due to the greatly non-uniform field distribution induced in brain tissues by radio frequency electromagnetic sources, the exposure of anatomical and functional regions of the brain may be a key issue in interpreting laboratory findings and epidemiological studies concerning endpoints related to the central nervous system. This paper introduces the Talairach atlas in characterization of the electromagnetic exposure of the brain. A hierarchical labeling scheme is mapped onto high-resolution human models. This procedure is fully automatic and allows identification of over a thousand different sites all over the brain. The electromagnetic absorption can then be extracted and interpreted in every region or combination of regions in the brain, depending on the characterization goals. The application examples show how this methodology enhances the dosimetry assessment of the brain based on results obtained by either finite difference time domain simulations or measurements delivered by test compliance dosimetry systems. Applications include, among others, the detailed dosimetric analysis of the exposure of the brain during cell phone use, improved design of exposure setups for human studies or medical diagnostic and therapeutic devices using electromagnetic fields or ultrasound.

Spatial design and strength of spatial signal: Effects on covariance estimation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Irvine, Kathryn M.; Gitelman, Alix I.; Hoeting, Jennifer A.

2007-01-01

In a spatial regression context, scientists are often interested in a physical interpretation of components of the parametric covariance function. For example, spatial covariance parameter estimates in ecological settings have been interpreted to describe spatial heterogeneity or “patchiness” in a landscape that cannot be explained by measured covariates. In this article, we investigate the influence of the strength of spatial dependence on maximum likelihood (ML) and restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimates of covariance parameters in an exponential-with-nugget model, and we also examine these influences under different sampling designs—specifically, lattice designs and more realistic random and cluster designs—at differing intensities of sampling (n=144 and 361). We find that neither ML nor REML estimates perform well when the range parameter and/or the nugget-to-sill ratio is large—ML tends to underestimate the autocorrelation function and REML produces highly variable estimates of the autocorrelation function. The best estimates of both the covariance parameters and the autocorrelation function come under the cluster sampling design and large sample sizes. As a motivating example, we consider a spatial model for stream sulfate concentration.

Does the pressure dependence of kinetic isotope effects report usefully on dynamics in enzyme H-transfer reactions?

PubMed

Hoeven, Robin; Heyes, Derren J; Hay, Sam; Scrutton, Nigel S

2015-08-01

The temperature dependence of kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) has emerged as the main experimental probe of enzymatic H-transfer by quantum tunnelling. Implicit in the interpretation is a presumed role for dynamic coupling of H-transfer chemistry to the protein environment, the so-called 'promoting motions/vibrations hypothesis'. This idea remains contentious, and others have questioned the importance and/or existence of promoting motions/vibrations. New experimental methods of addressing this problem are emerging, including use of mass-modulated enzymes and time-resolved spectroscopy. The pressure dependence of KIEs has been considered as a potential probe of quantum tunnelling reactions, because semi-classical KIEs, which are defined by differences in zero-point vibrational energy, are relatively insensitive to kbar changes in pressure. Reported combined pressure and temperature (p-T) dependence studies of H-transfer reactions are, however, limited. Here, we extend and review the available p-T studies that have utilized well-defined experimental systems in which quantum mechanical tunnelling is established. These include flavoproteins, quinoproteins, light-activated enzymes and chemical model systems. We show that there is no clear general trend between the p-T dependencies of the KIEs in these systems. Given the complex nature of p-T studies, we conclude that computational simulations using determined (e.g. X-ray) structures are also needed alongside experimental measurements of reaction rates/KIEs to guide the interpretation of p-T effects. In providing new insight into H-transfer/environmental coupling, combined approaches that unite both atomistic understanding with experimental rate measurements will require careful evaluation on a case-by-case basis. Although individually informative, we conclude that p-T studies do not provide the more generalized insight that has come from studies of the temperature dependence of KIEs. © 2015 The Authors. FEBS Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of FEBS.

[Emotion Regulation and Emotional Vulnerability in Adolescents with Anxiety Disorders].

PubMed

Zimmermann, Peter; Iwanski, Alexandra; Çelik, Fatma

2015-01-01

From an attachment perspective, insecure attachment patterns in both infancy and adolescence are risk factors for the development of anxiety disorders in adolescence. Dysfunctional emotion regulation and biased social information processing are possible mediating processes. This study examines differences in emotion regulation, emotional vulnerability, and behaviour inhibition in adolescents with clinical diagnosis of anxiety disorder and healthy controls. Adolescents with anxiety disorder reported more maladaptive emotion regulation depending on the specific emotion and a higher incidence of reporting hurt feelings in social interactions. In contrast, behaviour inhibition did not explain additional variance. The results suggest that adolescents with anxiety disorders show a bias in the interpretation of social interactions as frequently emotionally hurting, and the use of dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies that minimize the possibility for effective social emotion regulation by close others or therapists. The results are interpreted within attachment framework.

Molecular assays in detecting EGFR gene aberrations: an updated HER2-dependent algorithm for interpreting gene signals; a short technical report.

PubMed

Tsiambas, Evangelos; Ragos, Vasileios; Lefas, Alicia Y; Georgiannos, Stavros N; Rigopoulos, Dimitrios N; Georgakopoulos, Georgios; Stamatelopoulos, Athanasios; Grapsa, Dimitra; Syrigos, Konstantinos

2016-01-01

Purpose: Among oncogenes that have already been identified and cloned, Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) remains one of the most significant. Understanding its deregulation mechanisms improves critically patients' selection for personalized therapies based on modern molecular biology and oncology guidelines. Anti-EGFR targeted therapeutic strategies have been developed based on specific genetic profiles and applied in subgroups of patients suffering by solid cancers of different histogenetic origin. Detection of specific EGFR somatic mutations leads to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) application in subsets of them. Concerning EGFR gene numerical imbalances, identification of pure gene amplification is critical for targeting the molecule via monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). In the current technical paper we demonstrate the main molecular methods applied in EGFR analyses focused also on new data in interpreting numerical imbalances based on ASCO/ACAP guidelines for HER2 in situ hybridization (ISH) clarifications.

Accessing medication information by ethnic minorities: barriers and possible solutions.

PubMed

Schaafsma, Evelyn S; Raynor, Theo D; de Jong-van den Berg, Lolkje T

2003-10-01

This review discusses two main questions: how suitable is current consumer medication information for minority ethnic groups, and what are effective strategies to overcome existing barriers. The focus is on minority groups whose first language is not the language of the healthcare system. We searched electronic databases and printed scientific journals focusing on (ethnic) minorities, health and/or (intercultural) communication. We also asked a discussion group for references. We found only a few articles on intercultural communication on medication or pharmacy information and one article on the improvement of intercultural communication in the pharmacy. Barriers to the access of medication information by ethnic minorities include second language issues and cultural differences due to different health beliefs, together with the low socio-economic status often seen among ethnic minorities. Cultural differences also exist among different socio-economic classes rather than only among ethnic groups. Most often, informal interpreters are used to improve intercultural communication. However, this may result in miscommunication due to a lack of medical knowledge or training on the part of the interpreter. To minimise miscommunication, bilingual health professionals or health interpreters/advocates can be used, although communication problems may still occur. The effectiveness of written information depends on the literacy skills of the target population. Cultural, medical and dialect biases should be avoided by testing the material. Multimedia systems may be alternatives to conventional written information. Barriers that ethnic minorities face in accessing medication information and possible solutions involving counselling and additional tools were identified for pharmacy practice. However, more research is needed to develop effective strategies for patient counselling in pharmacy to meet the needs of ethnic minorities.

Turbulent and Laminar Flow in Karst Conduits Under Unsteady Flow Conditions: Interpretation of Pumping Tests by Discrete Conduit-Continuum Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giese, M.; Reimann, T.; Bailly-Comte, V.; Maréchal, J.-C.; Sauter, M.; Geyer, T.

2018-03-01

Due to the duality in terms of (1) the groundwater flow field and (2) the discharge conditions, flow patterns of karst aquifer systems are complex. Estimated aquifer parameters may differ by several orders of magnitude from local (borehole) to regional (catchment) scale because of the large contrast in hydraulic parameters between matrix and conduit, their heterogeneity and anisotropy. One approach to deal with the scale effect problem in the estimation of hydraulic parameters of karst aquifers is the application of large-scale experiments such as long-term high-abstraction conduit pumping tests, stimulating measurable groundwater drawdown in both, the karst conduit system as well as the fractured matrix. The numerical discrete conduit-continuum modeling approach MODFLOW-2005 Conduit Flow Process Mode 1 (CFPM1) is employed to simulate laminar and nonlaminar conduit flow, induced by large-scale experiments, in combination with Darcian matrix flow. Effects of large-scale experiments were simulated for idealized settings. Subsequently, diagnostic plots and analyses of different fluxes are applied to interpret differences in the simulated conduit drawdown and general flow patterns. The main focus is set on the question to which extent different conduit flow regimes will affect the drawdown in conduit and matrix depending on the hydraulic properties of the conduit system, i.e., conduit diameter and relative roughness. In this context, CFPM1 is applied to investigate the importance of considering turbulent conditions for the simulation of karst conduit flow. This work quantifies the relative error that results from assuming laminar conduit flow for the interpretation of a synthetic large-scale pumping test in karst.

Linking EEG signals, brain functions and mental operations: Advantages of the Laplacian transformation.

PubMed

Vidal, Franck; Burle, Boris; Spieser, Laure; Carbonnell, Laurence; Meckler, Cédric; Casini, Laurence; Hasbroucq, Thierry

2015-09-01

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a very popular technique for investigating brain functions and/or mental processes. To this aim, EEG activities must be interpreted in terms of brain and/or mental processes. EEG signals being a direct manifestation of neuronal activity it is often assumed that such interpretations are quite obvious or, at least, straightforward. However, they often rely on (explicit or even implicit) assumptions regarding the structures supposed to generate the EEG activities of interest. For these assumptions to be used appropriately, reliable links between EEG activities and the underlying brain structures must be established. Because of volume conduction effects and the mixture of activities they induce, these links are difficult to establish with scalp potential recordings. We present different examples showing how the Laplacian transformation, acting as an efficient source separation method, allowed to establish more reliable links between EEG activities and brain generators and, ultimately, with mental operations. The nature of those links depends on the depth of inferences that can vary from weak to strong. Along this continuum, we show that 1) while the effects of experimental manipulation can appear widely distributed with scalp potentials, Laplacian transformation allows to reveal several generators contributing (in different manners) to these modulations, 2) amplitude variations within the same set of generators can generate spurious differences in scalp potential topographies, often interpreted as reflecting different source configurations. In such a case, Laplacian transformation provides much more similar topographies, evidencing the same generator(s) set, and 3) using the LRP as an index of response activation most often produces ambiguous results, Laplacian-transformed response-locked ERPs obtained over motor areas allow resolving these ambiguities. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of transference work in the context of therapeutic alliance and quality of object relations.

PubMed

Høglend, Per; Hersoug, Anne Grete; Bøgwald, Kjell-Petter; Amlo, Svein; Marble, Alice; Sørbye, Øystein; Røssberg, Jan Ivar; Ulberg, Randi; Gabbard, Glen O; Crits-Christoph, Paul

2011-10-01

Transference interpretation is considered as a core active ingredient in dynamic psychotherapy. In common clinical theory, it is maintained that more mature relationships, as well as a strong therapeutic alliance, may be prerequisites for successful transference work. In this study, the interaction between quality of object relations, transference interpretation, and alliance is estimated. One hundred outpatients seeking psychotherapy for depression, anxiety, and personality disorders were randomly assigned to 1 year of weekly sessions of dynamic psychotherapy with transference interpretation or to the same type and duration of treatment, but without the use of transference interpretation. Quality of Object Relations (QOR)-lifelong pattern was evaluated before treatment (P. Høglend, 1994). The Working Alliance Inventory (A. O. Horvath & L. S. Greenberg, 1989; T. J. Tracey & A. M. Kokotovic, 1989) was rated in Session 7. The primary outcome variable was the Psychodynamic Functioning Scales (P. Høglend et al., 2000), measured at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 1 year after treatment termination. A significant Treatment Group × Quality of Object Relations × Alliance interaction was present, indicating that alliance had a significantly different impact on effects of transference interpretation, depending on the level of QOR. The impact of transference interpretation on psychodynamic functioning was more positive within the context of a weak therapeutic alliance for patients with low quality of object relations. For patients with more mature object relations and high alliance, the authors observed a negative effect of transference work. The specific effects of transference work was influenced by the interaction of object relations and alliance, but in the direct opposite direction of what is generally maintained in mainstream clinical theory.

A Rhizotextual Analysis of Philippine Secondary Textbooks in History

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nery-Cura, Ma. Lourdes S.; de Guzman, Allan B.

2018-01-01

Textbooks, as a curriculum document text, are subject to nonlinear entry and points of interpretation and implementation. The interpretation of its content is dependent on the reader or the writer, thus making it open to multimodal ways of meaning-making that underscore rhizomatic tendencies. Delueze and Guattari ("A thousand plateaus:…

EVALUATING PROGRAMMED TEST INTERPRETATION USING EMOTIONAL AROUSAL AS A CRITERION.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

FORSTER, JERALD R.

THE QUESTION AS TO WHETHER OR NOT THE EMOTIONAL ASPECTS OF TEST INTERPRETATION MAKE IT INAPPROPRIATE FOR PROGRAMED METHODS WAS EXAMINED BY TWO METHODS OF TEST RESULT COMMUNICATION--PROGRAMED MATERIALS AND VERBAL COMMUNICATION BY A COUNSELOR. DEPENDENT VARIABLES WERE MEASURES OF EMOTIONAL AROUSAL RECORDED BY SKIN CONDUCTANCE UNITS AND THE GAIN IN…

No Fear of Commitment: Children's Incremental Interpretation in English and Japanese Wh-Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Omaki, Akira; Davidson White, Imogen; Goro, Takuya; Lidz, Jeffrey; Phillips, Colin

2014-01-01

Much work on child sentence processing has demonstrated that children are able to use various linguistic cues to incrementally resolve temporary syntactic ambiguities, but they fail to use syntactic or interpretability cues that arrive later in the sentence. The present study explores whether children incrementally resolve filler-gap dependencies,…

An Introduction to Normalization and Calibration Methods in Functional MRI

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Thomas T.; Glover, Gary H.; Mueller, Bryon A.; Greve, Douglas N.; Brown, Gregory G.

2013-01-01

In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal is often interpreted as a measure of neural activity. However, because the BOLD signal reflects the complex interplay of neural, vascular, and metabolic processes, such an interpretation is not always valid. There is growing evidence that changes…

Explicating Validity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kane, Michael T.

2016-01-01

How we choose to use a term depends on what we want to do with it. If "validity" is to be used to support a score interpretation, validation would require an analysis of the plausibility of that interpretation. If validity is to be used to support score uses, validation would require an analysis of the appropriateness of the proposed…

Clinical laboratories collaborate to resolve differences in variant interpretations submitted to ClinVar.

PubMed

Harrison, Steven M; Dolinsky, Jill S; Knight Johnson, Amy E; Pesaran, Tina; Azzariti, Danielle R; Bale, Sherri; Chao, Elizabeth C; Das, Soma; Vincent, Lisa; Rehm, Heidi L

2017-10-01

Data sharing through ClinVar offers a unique opportunity to identify interpretation differences between laboratories. As part of a ClinGen initiative, four clinical laboratories (Ambry, GeneDx, Partners Healthcare Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, and University of Chicago Genetic Services Laboratory) collaborated to identify the basis of interpretation differences and to investigate if data sharing and reassessment resolve interpretation differences by analyzing a subset of variants. ClinVar variants with submissions from at least two of the four participating laboratories were compared. For a subset of identified differences, laboratories documented the basis for discordance, shared internal data, independently reassessed with the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics-Association for Molecular Pathology (ACMG-AMP) guidelines, and then compared interpretations. At least two of the participating laboratories interpreted 6,169 variants in ClinVar, of which 88.3% were initially concordant. Laboratories reassessed 242/724 initially discordant variants, of which 87.2% (211) were resolved by reassessment with current criteria and/or internal data sharing; 12.8% (31) of reassessed variants remained discordant owing to differences in the application of the ACMG-AMP guidelines. Participating laboratories increased their overall concordance from 88.3 to 91.7%, indicating that sharing variant interpretations in ClinVar-thereby allowing identification of differences and motivation to resolve those differences-is critical to moving toward more consistent variant interpretations.Genet Med advance online publication 09 March 2017.

Children's interpretive understanding, moral judgments, and emotion attributions: relations to social behaviour.

PubMed

Malti, Tina; Gasser, Luciano; Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, Eveline

2010-06-01

The study investigated interpretive understanding, moral judgments, and emotion attributions in relation to social behaviour in a sample of 59 5-year-old, 123 7-year-old, and 130 9-year-old children. Interpretive understanding was assessed by two tasks measuring children's understanding of ambiguous situations. Moral judgments and emotion attributions were measured using two moral rule transgressions. Social behaviour was assessed using teachers' ratings of aggressive and prosocial behaviour. Aggressive behaviour was positively related to interpretive understanding and negatively related to moral reasoning. Prosocial behaviour was positively associated with attribution of fear. Moral judgments and emotion attributions were related, depending on age. Interpretive understanding was unrelated to moral judgments and emotion attributions. The findings are discussed in regard to the role of interpretive understanding and moral and affective knowledge in understanding children's social behaviour.

Variability in Pathologists’ Interpretations of Individual Breast Biopsy Slides: A Population Perspective

PubMed Central

Elmore, Joann G.; Nelson, Heidi D.; Pepe, Margaret S.; Longton, Gary M.; Tosteson, Anna N.A.; Geller, Berta; Onega, Tracy; Carney, Patricia A.; Jackson, Sara L.; Allison, Kimberly H.; Weaver, Donald L.

2016-01-01

Background The effect of physician diagnostic variability on accuracy at a population level depends on the prevalence of diagnoses. Objective To estimate how diagnostic variability affects accuracy from the perspective of a U.S. woman aged 50 to 59 years having a breast biopsy. Design Applied probability using Bayes theorem. Setting B-Path (Breast Pathology) Study comparing pathologists’ interpretations of a single biopsy slide versus a reference consensus interpretation from 3 experts. Participants 115 practicing pathologists (6900 total interpretations from 240 distinct cases). Measurements A single representative slide from each of the 240 cases was used to estimate the proportion of biopsies with a diagnosis that would be verified if the same slide were interpreted by a reference group of 3 expert pathologists. Probabilities of confirmation (predictive values) were estimated using B-Path Study results and prevalence of biopsy diagnoses for women aged 50 to 59 years in the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium. Results Overall, if 1 representative slide were used per case, 92.3% (95% CI, 91.4% to 93.1%) of breast biopsy diagnoses would be verified by reference consensus diagnoses, with 4.6% (CI, 3.9% to 5.3%) overinterpreted and 3.2% (CI, 2.7% to 3.6%) underinterpreted. Verification of invasive breast cancer and benign without atypia diagnoses is highly probable; estimated predictive values were 97.7% (CI, 96.5% to 98.7%) and 97.1% (CI, 96.7% to 97.4%), respectively. Verification is less probable for atypia (53.6% overinterpreted and 8.6% underinterpreted) and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) (18.5% overinterpreted and 11.8% underinterpreted). Limitations Estimates are based on a testing situation with 1 slide used per case and without access to second opinions. Population-adjusted estimates may differ for women from other age groups, unscreened women, or women in different practice settings. Conclusion This analysis, based on interpretation of a single breast biopsy slide per case, predicts a low likelihood that a diagnosis of atypia or DCIS would be verified by a reference consensus diagnosis. This diagnostic gray zone should be considered in clinical management decisions in patients with these diagnoses. Primary Funding Source National Cancer Institute. PMID:26999810

German Children’s Use of Word Order and Case Marking to Interpret Simple and Complex Sentences: Testing Differences Between Constructions and Lexical Items

PubMed Central

Brandt, Silke; Lieven, Elena; Tomasello, Michael

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Children and adults follow cues such as case marking and word order in their assignment of semantic roles in simple transitives (e.g., the dog chased the cat). It has been suggested that the same cues are used for the interpretation of complex sentences, such as transitive relative clauses (RCs) (e.g., that’s the dog that chased the cat) (Bates, Devescovi, & D’Amico, 1999). We used a pointing paradigm to test German-speaking 3-, 4-, and 6-year-old children’s sensitivity to case marking and word order in their interpretation of simple transitives and transitive RCs. In Experiment 1, case marking was ambiguous. The only cue available was word order. In Experiment 2, case was marked on lexical NPs or demonstrative pronouns. In Experiment 3, case was marked on lexical NPs or personal pronouns. Whereas the younger children mainly followed word order, the older children were more likely to base their interpretations on the more reliable case-marking cue. In most cases, children from both age groups were more likely to use these cues in their interpretation of simple transitives than in their interpretation of transitive RCs. Finally, children paid more attention to nominative case when it was marked on first-person personal pronouns than when it was marked on third-person lexical NPs or demonstrative pronouns, such as der Löwe ‘the-NOM lion’ or der ‘he-NOM.’ They were able to successfully integrate this case-marking cue in their sentence processing even when it appeared late in the sentence. We discuss four potential reasons for these differences across development, constructions, and lexical items. (1) Older children are relatively more sensitive to cue reliability. (2) Word order is more reliable in simple transitives than in transitive RCs. (3) The processing of case marking might initially be item-specific. (4) The processing of case marking might depend on its saliency and position in the sentence. PMID:27019652

How Do Children Deal With Conflict? A Developmental Study of Sequential Conflict Modulation

PubMed Central

Smulders, Silvan F. A.; Soetens, Eric L. L.; van der Molen, Maurits W.

2018-01-01

This study examined age-related differences in sequential conflict modulation (SCM), elicited in three tasks requiring the inhibition of pre-potent responses; a Simon task, an S-R compatibility (SRC) task and a hybrid Choice-reaction/NoGo task. The primary focus was on age-related changes in performance changes following a conflict trial. A secondary aim was to assess whether SCM follows different developmental trajectories depending on the type of conflict elicited by the tasks. The tasks were presented to three different groups of participants with an age range between 7- to 25-years—one group of participants for each task. For each task, the response-to-stimulus interval (RSI) was manipulated (50 vs. 500 ms) across trial blocks to assess time-dependent changes in conflict modulation. The results showed SCM for all three tasks, although the specific patterns differed between tasks and RSIs. Importantly, the magnitude of SCM decreased with advancing age, but this developmental trend did not survive when considering age-group differences in basic response speed. The current results contribute to the emerging evidence suggesting that patterns of SCM are task specific and were interpreted in terms of multiple bottom-up control mechanisms. PMID:29875718

Methodological standards and interpretation of video-electroencephalography in adult control rodents. A TASK1-WG1 report of the AES/ILAE Translational Task Force of the ILAE.

PubMed

Kadam, Shilpa D; D'Ambrosio, Raimondo; Duveau, Venceslas; Roucard, Corinne; Garcia-Cairasco, Norberto; Ikeda, Akio; de Curtis, Marco; Galanopoulou, Aristea S; Kelly, Kevin M

2017-11-01

In vivo electrophysiological recordings are widely used in neuroscience research, and video-electroencephalography (vEEG) has become a mainstay of preclinical neuroscience research, including studies of epilepsy and cognition. Studies utilizing vEEG typically involve comparison of measurements obtained from different experimental groups, or from the same experimental group at different times, in which one set of measurements serves as "control" and the others as "test" of the variables of interest. Thus, controls provide mainly a reference measurement for the experimental test. Control rodents represent an undiagnosed population, and cannot be assumed to be "normal" in the sense of being "healthy." Certain physiological EEG patterns seen in humans are also seen in control rodents. However, interpretation of rodent vEEG studies relies on documented differences in frequency, morphology, type, location, behavioral state dependence, reactivity, and functional or structural correlates of specific EEG patterns and features between control and test groups. This paper will focus on the vEEG of standard laboratory rodent strains with the aim of developing a small set of practical guidelines that can assist researchers in the design, reporting, and interpretation of future vEEG studies. To this end, we will: (1) discuss advantages and pitfalls of common vEEG techniques in rodents and propose a set of recommended practices and (2) present EEG patterns and associated behaviors recorded from adult rats of a variety of strains. We will describe the defining features of selected vEEG patterns (brain-generated or artifactual) and note similarities to vEEG patterns seen in adult humans. We will note similarities to normal variants or pathological human EEG patterns and defer their interpretation to a future report focusing on rodent seizure patterns. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 International League Against Epilepsy.

Mass transport in micellar surfactant solutions: 2. Theoretical modeling of adsorption at a quiescent interface.

PubMed

Danov, K D; Kralchevsky, P A; Denkov, N D; Ananthapadmanabhan, K P; Lips, A

2006-01-31

Here, we apply the detailed theoretical model of micellar kinetics from part 1 of this study to the case of surfactant adsorption at a quiescent interface, i.e., to the relaxation of surface tension and adsorption after a small initial perturbation. Our goal is to understand why for some surfactant solutions the surface tension relaxes as inverse-square-root of time, 1/t(1/2), but two different expressions for the characteristic relaxation time are applicable to different cases. In addition, our aim is to clarify why for other surfactant solutions the surface tension relaxes exponentially. For this goal, we carried out a computer modeling of the adsorption process, based on the general system of equations derived in part 1. This analysis reveals the existence of four different consecutive relaxation regimes (stages) for a given micellar solution: two exponential regimes and two inverse-square-root regimes, following one after another in alternating order. Experimentally, depending on the specific surfactant and method, one usually registers only one of these regimes. Therefore, to interpret properly the data, one has to identify which of these four kinetic regimes is observed in the given experiment. Our numerical results for the relaxation of the surface tension, micelle concentration and aggregation number are presented in the form of kinetic diagrams, which reveal the stages of the relaxation process. At low micelle concentrations, "rudimentary" kinetic diagrams could be observed, which are characterized by merging of some stages. Thus, the theoretical modeling reveals a general and physically rich picture of the adsorption process. To facilitate the interpretation of experimental data, we have derived convenient theoretical expressions for the time dependence of surface tension and adsorption in each of the four regimes.

Student reasoning about graphs in different contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivanjek, Lana; Susac, Ana; Planinic, Maja; Andrasevic, Aneta; Milin-Sipus, Zeljka

2016-06-01

This study investigates university students' graph interpretation strategies and difficulties in mathematics, physics (kinematics), and contexts other than physics. Eight sets of parallel (isomorphic) mathematics, physics, and other context questions about graphs, which were developed by us, were administered to 385 first-year students at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. Students were asked to provide explanations and/or mathematical procedures with their answers. Students' main strategies and difficulties identified through the analysis of those explanations and procedures are described. Student strategies of graph interpretation were found to be largely context dependent and domain specific. A small fraction of students have used the same strategy in all three domains (mathematics, physics, and other contexts) on most sets of parallel questions. Some students have shown indications of transfer of knowledge in the sense that they used techniques and strategies developed in physics for solving (or attempting to solve) other context problems. In physics, the preferred strategy was the use of formulas, which sometimes seemed to block the use of other, more productive strategies which students displayed in other domains. Students' answers indicated the presence of slope-height confusion and interval-point confusion in all three domains. Students generally better interpreted graph slope than the area under a graph, although the concept of slope still seemed to be quite vague for many. The interpretation of the concept of area under a graph needs more attention in both physics and mathematics teaching.

Net current measurements and secondary electron emission characteristics of the Voyager plasma science experiment and their impact on data interpretation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcnutt, Ralph L., Jr.

1988-01-01

The Voyager Plasma Science (PLS) instrument is capable of returning integral (DC) current measurements, similar in some respects to measurements made with a Langmuir probe or a retarding potential analyzer, although there are significant differences. The integral measurements were made during a calibration sequence in the solar wind, during Cruise Science Maneuvers, and within the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn by Voyager 1. After the failure of the PLS experiment following the Saturn encounter, that instrument was placed in the DC return mode returning possibly usable data from early 1981 through early 1985. The DC return measurements are difficult to interpret and are above threshold values only for relatively large fluxes; the determination of the measured current level is dependent on the operating temperature of the preamplifiers which further complicates the interpretation. Nevertheless, these measurements can be used to determine the efficiency of the suppressor grid at preventing the loss of secondary electrons off the collector plate. Some DC return measurements have been invaluable in aiding in the interpretation of some electron plasma measurements not previously understood. It is found that electron spectra can be significantly modified by the presence of second generation secondary electrons produced by either first generation secondaries or photoelectrons on the support ring of the negative high voltage modulator grid within the instrument housing.

Effects of information type on children's interrogative suggestibility: is Theory-of-Mind involved?

PubMed

Hünefeldt, Thomas; Rossi-Arnaud, Clelia; Furia, Augusta

2009-08-01

This research was aimed at learning more about the different psychological mechanisms underlying children's suggestibility to leading questions, on the one hand, and children's suggestibility to negative feedback, on the other, by distinguishing between interview questions concerning different types of information. Results showed that, unlike the developmental pattern of children's suggestibility to leading questions, the developmental pattern of children's suggestibility to negative feedback differed depending on whether the interview questions concerned external facts (physical states and events) or internal facts (mental states and events). This difference was not manifested in response to questions concerning central versus peripheral facts. Results are interpreted in terms of the hypothesis that children's suggestibility to negative feedback is differently affected by "Theory-of-Mind" abilities than children's suggestibility to leading questions. Further research is needed in order to test this hypothesis.

Pragmatics as Metacognitive Control

PubMed Central

Kissine, Mikhail

2016-01-01

The term “pragmatics” is often used to refer without distinction, on one hand, to the contextual selection of interpretation norms and, on the other hand, to the context-sensitive processes guided by these norms. Pragmatics in the first acception depends on language-independent contextual factors that can, but need not, involve Theory of Mind; in the second acception, pragmatics is a language-specific metacognitive process, which may unfold at an unconscious level without involving any mental state (meta-)representation. Distinguishing between these two kinds of ways context drives the interpretation of communicative stimuli helps dissolve the dispute between proponents of an entirely Gricean pragmatics and those who claim that some pragmatic processes do not depend on mind-reading capacities. According to the model defended in this paper, the typology of pragmatic processes is not entirely determined by a hierarchy of meanings, but by contextually set norms of interpretation. PMID:26834671

Pragmatics as Metacognitive Control.

PubMed

Kissine, Mikhail

2015-01-01

The term "pragmatics" is often used to refer without distinction, on one hand, to the contextual selection of interpretation norms and, on the other hand, to the context-sensitive processes guided by these norms. Pragmatics in the first acception depends on language-independent contextual factors that can, but need not, involve Theory of Mind; in the second acception, pragmatics is a language-specific metacognitive process, which may unfold at an unconscious level without involving any mental state (meta-)representation. Distinguishing between these two kinds of ways context drives the interpretation of communicative stimuli helps dissolve the dispute between proponents of an entirely Gricean pragmatics and those who claim that some pragmatic processes do not depend on mind-reading capacities. According to the model defended in this paper, the typology of pragmatic processes is not entirely determined by a hierarchy of meanings, but by contextually set norms of interpretation.

The use of interpreters in medical settings and forensic medical examinations in Australia: the relationship between medicine and linguistics.

PubMed

Schreiber, Jason R; Odell, Morris S

2014-07-01

Medical examinations are dependent on combining communication with professional competence. In the development of a global multicultural community with the use of multiple languages, doctors have become increasingly dependent on language facilitation such as interpreting and translation. Despite professional studies, the use of language facilitation with its associated problems has not been fully explored in graduate and post-graduate medical and forensic medical training. There may still be some lack of reciprocal understanding between the medical and linguistic fields, their ethics, obligations and limits although both fields and their ethical frameworks are closer related than might be expected. This article is a discussion that aims at providing a basic understanding of guidelines as to the origin and appropriate use of language interpretation in medical and forensic medical examinations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Effect of defect imbalance on void swelling distributions produced in pure iron irradiated with 3.5 MeV self-ions

DOE PAGES

Shao, Lin; Wei, C. -C.; Gigax, J.; ...

2014-06-10

Ion irradiation has been widely used to simulate radiation damage induced by neutrons. However, there are a number of features of ion-induced damage that differ from neutron-induced damage, and these differences require investigation before behavior arising from neutron bombardment can be confidently predicted from ion data. In this study 3.5 MeV self-ion irradiation of pure iron was used to study the influence on void swelling of the depth-dependent defect imbalance between vacancies and interstitials that arises from various surface effects, forward scattering of displaced atoms, and especially the injected interstitial effect. The depth dependence of void swelling was observed notmore » to follow the behavior anticipated from the depth dependence of the damage rate. Void nucleation and growth develop first in the lower-dose, near-surface region, and then, during continued irradiation, move to progressively deeper and higher-damage depths. This indicates a strong initial suppression of void nucleation in the peak damage region that continued irradiation eventually overcomes. This phenomenon is shown by the Boltzmann transport equation method to be due to depth-dependent defect imbalances created under ion irradiation. These findings thus demonstrate that void swelling does not depend solely on the local dose level and that this sensitivity of swelling to depth must be considered in extracting and interpreting ion-induced swelling data.« less

Size and Crystallographic Orientation Effects on the Mechanical Behavior of 4H-SiC Micro-/nano-pillars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Xiaolei; Guo, Qiang; Li, Zhiqiang; Fan, Genlian; Xiong, Ding-Bang; Su, Yishi; Zhang, Jie; Tan, Zhanqiu; Guo, Cuiping; Zhang, Di

2018-02-01

Single crystalline 4H-SiC micro-/nano-pillars of various sizes and different crystallographic orientations were fabricated and tested by uniaxial compression. The pillars with zero shear stress resolved on the basal slip system were found to fracture in a brittle manner without showing significant size dependence, while the pillars with non-zero resolved shear stress showed a "smaller is stronger" behavior and a jerky plastic flow. These observations were interpreted by homogeneous dislocation nucleation and dislocation glide on the basal plane.

Comment Comparison of the fluorescence lifetimes of Cr 3+ in crystals, glasses and glass ceramics and their use to interpret the effect of pressure on ruby

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Champagnon, B.; Pilla, O.

1989-09-01

A correlation has been proposed by Urošević Panić Jovanić, Zeković and Savić between the lifetimes of Cr 3+ in various environments and the Dq parameter of ligand field theory. We show that these observed lifetimes depend on various factors such as multisite effects, reabsorption, thermal excitation or 2E 4T 2 mixing. The correlation between lifetimes and pressure on ruby has to consider these different effects.

Microarrays in brain research: the good, the bad and the ugly.

PubMed

Mirnics, K

2001-06-01

Making sense of microarray data is a complex process, in which the interpretation of findings will depend on the overall experimental design and judgement of the investigator performing the analysis. As a result, differences in tissue harvesting, microarray types, sample labelling and data analysis procedures make post hoc sharing of microarray data a great challenge. To ensure rapid and meaningful data exchange, we need to create some order out of the existing chaos. In these ground-breaking microarray standardization and data sharing efforts, NIH agencies should take a leading role

Inapplicability of small-polaron model for the explanation of infrared absorption spectrum in acetanilide.

PubMed

Zeković, Slobodan; Ivić, Zoran

2009-01-01

The applicability of small-polaron model for the interpretation of infrared absorption spectrum in acetanilide has been critically reexamined. It is shown that the energy difference between the normal and anomalous peak, calculated by means of small-polaron theory, displays pronounced temperature dependence which is in drastic contradiction with experiment. It is demonstrated that self-trapped states, which are recently suggested to explain theoretically the experimental absorption spectrum in protein, cannot cause the appearance of the peaks in absorption spectrum for acetanilide.

General Theory of Carrier-Envelope Phase Effects

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

Roudnev, V.; Esry, B. D.

2007-11-30

We present a general framework for understanding carrier-envelope phase (CEP) effects in a quantum system interacting with an intense, short laser pulse. We establish a simple connection between the CEP and the wave function that can be exploited to obtain the full CEP dependence of an observable given the wave function at a single CEP. Within this framework, all CEP effects are interpreted as interference between different photon amplitudes which, in turn, can be used to put limits on the pulse lengths and intensities required to see significant CEP effects.

Functional Brain Networks: Does the Choice of Dependency Estimator and Binarization Method Matter?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jalili, Mahdi

2016-07-01

The human brain can be modelled as a complex networked structure with brain regions as individual nodes and their anatomical/functional links as edges. Functional brain networks are constructed by first extracting weighted connectivity matrices, and then binarizing them to minimize the noise level. Different methods have been used to estimate the dependency values between the nodes and to obtain a binary network from a weighted connectivity matrix. In this work we study topological properties of EEG-based functional networks in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). To estimate the connectivity strength between two time series, we use Pearson correlation, coherence, phase order parameter and synchronization likelihood. In order to binarize the weighted connectivity matrices, we use Minimum Spanning Tree (MST), Minimum Connected Component (MCC), uniform threshold and density-preserving methods. We find that the detected AD-related abnormalities highly depend on the methods used for dependency estimation and binarization. Topological properties of networks constructed using coherence method and MCC binarization show more significant differences between AD and healthy subjects than the other methods. These results might explain contradictory results reported in the literature for network properties specific to AD symptoms. The analysis method should be seriously taken into account in the interpretation of network-based analysis of brain signals.

Effect of suction-dependent soil deformability on landslide susceptibility maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lizarraga, Jose J.; Buscarnera, Giuseppe; Frattini, Paolo; Crosta, Giovanni B.

2016-04-01

This contribution presents a physically-based, spatially-distributed model for shallow landslides promoted by rainfall infiltration. The model features a set of Factor of Safety values aimed to capture different failure mechanisms, namely frictional slips with limited mobility and flowslide events associated with the liquefaction of the considered soils. Indices of failure associated with these two modes of instability have been derived from unsaturated soil stability principles. In particular, the propensity to wetting-induced collapse of unsaturated soils is quantified through the introduction of a rigid-plastic model with suction-dependent yielding and strength properties. The model is combined with an analytical approach (TRIGRS) to track the spatio-temporal evolution of soil suction in slopes subjected to transient infiltration. The model has been tested to reply the triggering of shallow landslides in pyroclastic deposits in Sarno (1998, Campania Region, Southern Italy). It is shown that suction-dependent mechanical properties, such as soil deformability, have important effects on the predicted landslide susceptibility scenarios, resulting on computed unstable zones that may encompass a wide range of slope inclinations, saturation levels, and depths. Such preliminary results suggest that the proposed methodology offers an alternative mechanistic interpretation to the variability in behavior of rainfall-induced landslides. Differently to standard methods the explanation to this variability is based on suction-dependent soil behavior characteristics.

The relationship between oxidative stress and exercise.

PubMed

Finkler, Maya; Lichtenberg, Dov; Pinchuk, Ilya

2014-02-01

Physical exercise has many benefits, but it might also have a negative impact on the body, depending on the training level, length of workout, gender, age and fitness. The negative effects of physical exercise are commonly attributed to an imbalance between the levels of antioxidants (both low molecular weight antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes) and reactive oxygen and nitrogen species due to excessive production of free radicals during physical exercise. In this critical review, we look for answers for three specific questions regarding the interrelationship between physical exercise and oxidative stress (OS), namely, (i) the dependence of the steady-state level of OS on fitness, (ii) the effect of intensive exercise on the OS and (iii) the dependence of the effect of the intense exercise on the individual fitness. All these questions have been raised, investigated and answered, but the answers given on the basis of different studies are different. In the present review, we try to explain the reason(s) for the inconsistencies between the conclusions of different investigations, commonly based on the concentrations of specific biomarkers in body fluids. We think that most of the inconsistencies can be attributed to the difference between the criteria of the ill-defined term denoted OS, the methods used to test them and in some cases, between the qualities of the applied assays. On the basis of our interpretation of the differences between different criteria of OS, we consider possible answers to three well-defined questions. Possible partial answers are given, all of which lend strong support to the conclusion that the network responsible for homeostasis of the redox status is very effective. However, much more data are required to address the association between exercise and OS and its dependence on various relevant factors.

Infrared spectroscopic studies of the effect of elevated temperature on the association of pyroglutamic acid with clay and other minerals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macklin, John W.; White, David H.

Fourier transform i.r. measurements of L-pyroglutamic acid dispersed in a matrix of a clay, silica or alumina have been obtained at various temperatures between 25 and 220°C. The i.r. spectrum of L-pyroglutamic acid varies in a manner slightly dependent upon the matrix material and shows considerable change as the temperature of the mixtures is increased. The differences in the spectrum at elevated temperatures are explained in terms of a chemical reaction between hydroxyl groups in the matrix and the carboxylic acid. The i.r. spectra of trimethylsilyl derivatives of L-pyroglutamic acid and aluminum pyroglutamate were also measured to assist the understanding of spectra and interpretation of the spectral changes dependent upon increasing temperature.

Infrared spectroscopic studies of the effect of elevated temperature on the association of pyroglutamic acid with clay and other minerals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macklin, J. W.; White, D. H.

1985-01-01

Fourier transform i.r. measurements of L-pyroglutamic acid dispersed in a matrix of a clay, silica or alumina have been obtained at various temperatures between 25 and 220 degrees C. The i.r. spectrum of L-pyroglutamic acid varies in a manner dependent upon the matrix material and shows considerable change as the temperature of the mixtures is increased. The differences in the spectrum at elevated temperatures are explained in terms of a chemical reaction between hydroxyl groups in the matrix and the carboxylic acid. The i.r. spectra of trimethylsilyl derivatives of L-pyroglutamic acid and aluminum pyroglutamate were also measured to assist the understanding of spectra and interpretation of the spectral changes dependent upon increasing temperature.

HPLC study on the 'history' dependence of gramicidin A conformation in phospholipid model membranes.

PubMed

Bañó, M C; Braco, L; Abad, C

1989-06-19

A novel HPLC methodology for the study of gramicidin A reconstituted in model membranes has been tested in comparison with circular dichroism data. It is shown that this chromatographic technique not only corroborates most of the recent spectroscopic results but allows one to explain them in terms of mass fractions of different actual conformational species of GA in the phospholipid assemblies. In particular, the dependence of the inserted peptide configuration on the organic solvent and other parameters involved in the 'history' of the sample preparation and handling has been analyzed by HPLC in two phospholipid model systems: small unilamellar vesicles and micelles. Moreover, a slow conformational transition of GA towards a beta 6.3-helical configuration, accelerated by heat incubation, has been also chromatographically visualized and quantitatively interpreted.

Investigating the timing of origin and evolutionary processes shaping regional species diversity: Insights from simulated data and neotropical butterfly diversification rates.

PubMed

Matos-Maraví, Pável

2016-07-01

Different diversification scenarios have been proposed to explain the origin of extant biodiversity. However, most existing meta-analyses of time-calibrated phylogenies rely on approaches that do not quantitatively test alternative diversification processes. Here, I highlight the shortcomings of using species divergence ranks, which is a method widely used in meta-analyses. Divergence ranks consist of categorizing cladogenetic events to certain periods of time, typically to either Pleistocene or to pre-Pleistocene ages. This approach has been claimed to shed light on the origin of most extant species and the timing and dynamics of diversification in any biogeographical region. However, interpretations drawn from such method often confound two fundamental questions in macroevolutionary studies, tempo (timing of evolutionary rate shifts) and mode ("how" and "why" of speciation). By using simulated phylogenies under four diversification scenarios, constant-rate, diversity-dependence, high extinction, and high speciation rates in the Pleistocene, I showed that interpretations based on species divergence ranks might have been seriously misleading. Future meta-analyses of dated phylogenies need to be aware of the impacts of incomplete taxonomic sampling, tree topology, and divergence time uncertainties, as well as they might be benefited by including quantitative tests of alternative diversification models that acknowledge extinction and diversity dependence. © 2016 The Author(s).

Fall in C-Peptide During First 2 Years From Diagnosis

PubMed Central

Greenbaum, Carla J.; Beam, Craig A.; Boulware, David; Gitelman, Stephen E.; Gottlieb, Peter A.; Herold, Kevan C.; Lachin, John M.; McGee, Paula; Palmer, Jerry P.; Pescovitz, Mark D.; Krause-Steinrauf, Heidi; Skyler, Jay S.; Sosenko, Jay M.

2012-01-01

Interpretation of clinical trials to alter the decline in β-cell function after diagnosis of type 1 diabetes depends on a robust understanding of the natural history of disease. Combining data from the Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet studies, we describe the natural history of β-cell function from shortly after diagnosis through 2 years post study randomization, assess the degree of variability between patients, and investigate factors that may be related to C-peptide preservation or loss. We found that 93% of individuals have detectable C-peptide 2 years from diagnosis. In 11% of subjects, there was no significant fall from baseline by 2 years. There was a biphasic decline in C-peptide; the C-peptide slope was −0.0245 pmol/mL/month (95% CI −0.0271 to −0.0215) through the first 12 months and −0.0079 (−0.0113 to −0.0050) from 12 to 24 months (P < 0.001). This pattern of fall in C-peptide over time has implications for understanding trial results in which effects of therapy are most pronounced early and raises the possibility that there are time-dependent differences in pathophysiology. The robust data on the C-peptide obtained under clinical trial conditions should be used in planning and interpretation of clinical trials. PMID:22688329

Natural variability of biochemical biomarkers in the macro-zoobenthos: Dependence on life stage and environmental factors.

PubMed

Scarduelli, Lucia; Giacchini, Roberto; Parenti, Paolo; Migliorati, Sonia; Di Brisco, Agnese Maria; Vighi, Marco

2017-11-01

Biomarkers are widely used in ecotoxicology as indicators of exposure to toxicants. However, their ability to provide ecologically relevant information remains controversial. One of the major problems is understanding whether the measured responses are determined by stress factors or lie within the natural variability range. In a previous work, the natural variability of enzymatic levels in invertebrates sampled in pristine rivers was proven to be relevant across both space and time. In the present study, the experimental design was improved by considering different life stages of the selected taxa and by measuring more environmental parameters. The experimental design considered sampling sites in 2 different rivers, 8 sampling dates covering the whole seasonal cycle, 4 species from 3 different taxonomic groups (Plecoptera, Perla grandis; Ephemeroptera, Baetis alpinus and Epeorus alpicula; Tricoptera, Hydropsyche pellucidula), different life stages for each species, and 4 enzymes (acetylcholinesterase, glutathione S-transferase, alkaline phosphatase, and catalase). Biomarker levels were related to environmental (physicochemical) parameters to verify any kind of dependence. Data were statistically elaborated using hierarchical multilevel Bayesian models. Natural variability was found to be relevant across both space and time. The results of the present study proved that care should be paid when interpreting biomarker results. Further research is needed to better understand the dependence of the natural variability on environmental parameters. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:3158-3167. © 2017 SETAC. © 2017 SETAC.

State-dependent decisions cause apparent violations of rationality in animal choice.

PubMed

Schuck-Paim, Cynthia; Pompilio, Lorena; Kacelnik, Alex

2004-12-01

Normative models of choice in economics and biology usually expect preferences to be consistent across contexts, or "rational" in economic language. Following a large body of literature reporting economically irrational behaviour in humans, breaches of rationality by animals have also been recently described. If proven systematic, these findings would challenge long-standing biological approaches to behavioural theorising, and suggest that cognitive processes similar to those claimed to cause irrationality in humans can also hinder optimality approaches to modelling animal preferences. Critical differences between human and animal experiments have not, however, been sufficiently acknowledged. While humans can be instructed conceptually about the choice problem, animals need to be trained by repeated exposure to all contingencies. This exposure often leads to differences in state between treatments, hence changing choices while preserving rationality. We report experiments with European starlings demonstrating that apparent breaches of rationality can result from state-dependence. We show that adding an inferior alternative to a choice set (a "decoy") affects choices, an effect previously interpreted as indicating irrationality. However, these effects appear and disappear depending on whether state differences between choice contexts are present or not. These results open the possibility that some expressions of maladaptive behaviour are due to oversights in the migration of ideas between economics and biology, and suggest that key differences between human and nonhuman research must be recognised if ideas are to safely travel between these fields.

How Facial Expressions in a Rett Syndrome Population Are Recognised and Interpreted by Those around Them as Conveying Emotions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergstrom-Isacsson, Marith; Lagerkvist, Bengt; Holck, Ulla; Gold, Christian

2013-01-01

Rett syndrome (RTT) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, including autonomic nervous system dysfunctions and severe communication impairment with an extremely limited ability to use verbal language. These individuals are therefore dependent on the capacity of caregivers to observe and interpret communicative signals, including emotional expressions.…

Children's Interpretation of Evaluative Feedback: The Effect of Social Cues on Learned Helplessness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dweck, Carol S.

1976-01-01

Examines ways in which social cues, in conjunction with a child's history, influence the child's interpretation of and reaction to failure feedback in evaluative settings. It is suggested that the way in which a child reacts to another's behavior is largely dependent upon subtle but powerful social cues within situation. (JH)

The Low and Narrow: A Preliminary Test of the Association between Depressive Symptoms and Deficits in Producing Divergent Inferences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liknaitzky, Paul; Smillie, Luke D.; Allen, Nicholas B.

2018-01-01

Depression is associated with biased interpretations and beliefs that are resistant to change. This kind of cognitive rigidity may depend on two distinct factors--a reduced ability for processing information that conflicts with these interpretations and beliefs and a reduced ability for generating alternative representations. Although depressive…

A comparison of generic drug prices in seven European countries: a methodological analysis.

PubMed

Wouters, Olivier J; Kanavos, Panos G

2017-03-31

Policymakers and researchers frequently compare the prices of medicines between countries. Such comparisons often serve as barometers of how pricing and reimbursement policies are performing. The aim of this study was to examine methodological challenges to comparing generic drug prices. We calculated all commonly used price indices based on 2013 IMS Health data on sales of 3156 generic drugs in seven European countries. There were large differences in generic drug prices between countries. However, the results varied depending on the choice of index, base country, unit of volume, method of currency conversion, and therapeutic category. The results also differed depending on whether one looked at the prices charged by manufacturers or those charged by pharmacists. Price indices are a useful statistical approach for comparing drug prices across countries, but researchers and policymakers should interpret price indices with caution given their limitations. Price-index results are highly sensitive to the choice of method and sample. More research is needed to determine the drivers of price differences between countries. The data suggest that some governments should aim to reduce distribution costs for generic drugs.

Charge state distributions of oxygen and carbon in the energy range 1 to 300 keV/e observed with AMPTE/CCE in the magnetosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kremser, G.; Stuedemann, W.; Wilken, B.; Gloeckler, G.; Hamilton, D. C.

1985-01-01

Observations of charge state distributions of oxygen and carbon are presented that were obtained with the charge-energy-mass spectrometer onboard the AMPTE/CCE spacecraft. Data were selected for two different local time sectors (apogee at 1300 LT and 0300 LT, respectively), three L-ranges (4-6, 6-8, and greater than 8), and quiet to moderately disturbed days (Kp less than or equal to 4). The charge state distributions reveal the existence of all charge states of oxygen and carbon in the magnetosphere. The relative importance of the different charge states strongly depends on L and much less on local time. The observations confirm that the solar wind and the ionosphere contribute to the oxygen population, whereas carbon only originates from the solar wind. The L-dependence of the charge state distributions can be interpreted in terms of these different ion sources and of charge exchange and diffusion processes that largely influence the distribution of oxygen and carbon in the magnetosphere.

Multi-channel dynamics in high harmonic generation of aligned CO2: ab initio analysis with time-dependent B-spline algebraic diagrammatic construction.

PubMed

Ruberti, M; Decleva, P; Averbukh, V

2018-03-28

Here we present a fully ab initio study of the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) spectrum of aligned CO 2 molecules. The calculations have been performed by using the molecular time-dependent (TD) B-spline algebraic diagrammatic construction (ADC) method. We quantitatively study how the sub-cycle laser-driven multi-channel dynamics, as reflected in the position of the dynamical minimum in the HHG spectrum, is affected by the full inclusion of both correlation-driven and laser-driven dipole interchannel couplings. We calculate channel-resolved spectral intensities as well as the phase differences between contributions of the different ionization-recombination channels to the total HHG spectrum. Our results show that electron correlation effectively controls the relative contributions of the different channels to the total HHG spectrum, leading to the opening of the new ones (1 2 Π u , 1 2 Σ), previously disregarded for the aligned molecular setup. We conclude that inclusion of many-electron effects into the theoretical interpretation of molecular HHG spectra is essential in order to correctly extract ultrafast electron dynamics using HHG spectroscopy.

The integration of palaeogeography and tectonics in refining plate tectonic models: an example from SE Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masterton, S. M.; Markwick, P.; Bailiff, R.; Campanile, D.; Edgecombe, E.; Eue, D.; Galsworthy, A.; Wilson, K.

2012-04-01

Our understanding of lithospheric evolution and global plate motions throughout the Earth's history is based largely upon detailed knowledge of plate boundary structures, inferences about tectonic regimes, ocean isochrons and palaeomagnetic data. Most currently available plate models are either regionally restricted or do not consider palaeogeographies in their construction. Here, we present an integrated methodology in which derived hypotheses have been further refined using global and regional palaeogeographic, palaeotopological and palaeobathymetric maps. Iteration between our self-consistent and structurally constrained global plate model and palaeogeographic interpretations which are built on these reconstructions, allows for greater testing and refinement of results. Our initial structural and tectonic interpretations are based largely on analysis of our extensive global database of gravity and magnetic potential field data, and are further constrained by seismic, SRTM and Landsat data. This has been used as the basis for detailed interpretations that have allowed us to compile a new global map and database of structures, crustal types, plate boundaries and basin definitions. Our structural database is used in the identification of major tectonic terranes and their relative motions, from which we have developed our global plate model. It is subject to an ongoing process of regional evaluation and revisions in an effort to incorporate and reflect new tectonic and geologic interpretations. A major element of this programme is the extension of our existing plate model (GETECH Global Plate Model V1) back to the Neoproterozic. Our plate model forms the critical framework upon which palaeogeographic and palaeotopographic reconstructions have been made for every time stage in the Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Generating palaeogeographies involves integration of a variety of data, such as regional geology, palaeoclimate analyses, lithology, sea-level estimates, thermo-mechanical events and regional tectonics. These data are interpreted to constrain depositional systems and tectonophysiographic terranes. Palaeotopography and palaeobathymetry are derived from these tectonophysiographic terranes and depositional systems, and are further constrained using geological relationships, thermochronometric data, palaeoaltimetry indicators and modern analogues. Throughout this process, our plate model is iteratively tested against our palaeogeographies and their environmental consequences. Both the plate model and the palaeogeographies are refined until we have obtained a consistent and scientifically robust result. In this presentation we show an example from Southeast Asia, where the plate model complexity and wide variation in hypotheses has huge implications for the palaeogeographic interpretation, which can then be tested using geological observations from well and seismic data. For example, the Khorat Plateau Basin, Northeastern Thailand, comprises a succession of fluvial clastics during the Cretaceous, which include the evaporites of the Maha Sarakham Formation. These have been variously interpreted as indicative of saline lake or marine incursion depositional environments. We show how the feasibility of these different hypotheses is dependent on the regional palaeogeography (whether a marine link is possible), which in turn depends on the underlying plate model. We show two models with widely different environmental consequences. A more robust model that takes into account all these consequences, as well as data, can be defined by iterating through the consequences of the plate model and geological observations.

Different structural morphologies of the two surfaces in some Co-based amorphous ribbons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bordin, G.; Buttino, G.

1992-12-01

In nearly zero magnetostriction Co-based Metglas amorphous ribbons, the anomalous Hall effect is used to investigate the behaviour of the surfaces (dull or shiny). The electronic transport properties of a double-layer film, where one of the two layers examined is ferromagnetic and amorphous, and the other is a non-magnetic film, are interpreted on the basis of the mean free path method of Bergmann and Fuchs-Sondheimer theory. The results obtained confirm the different structural morphology of the amorphous surfaces (dull or shiny) already observed by means of bending effects on the initial permeability that depends on the way of winding the ribbons in toroidal samples of the same amorphous materials.

Text messaging: are dependency and Excessive Use discretely different for Japanese university students?

PubMed

Lu, Xi; Katoh, Takahiko; Chen, Zi; Nagata, Toshiaki; Kitamura, Toshinori

2014-05-15

Text messaging may be excessive and young people may be dependent on it. We distributed the Self-perception of Text-message Dependency Scale (STDS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), and Relationship Questionnaire (RQ) to 223 Japanese university students in a two-wave study, separated by a 5-month interval. The STDS yielded a three-factor structure. The STDS scores across the two measurement occasions were stable across time (except for the Relationship Maintenance subscale). A hierarchical cluster analysis suggested a three-class structure interpreted as Normal Users, Excessive Users, and Dependent Users. Excessive Users and Dependent Users were characterized by a young age at initial mobile phone use, more frequent use of text messaging, higher Novelty Seeking, and better Other-Model patterns of adult attachment. Unlike Excessive Users, Dependent Users were characterized by lower Self-directedness, poorer Self-Model of adult attachment, and higher anxiety and depression. The Excessive Users, but not the Dependent Users, were characterized by high Reward Dependence and Co-operativeness. The present study demonstrated that the STDS has a robust factor structure, good construct validity, and temporal stability (except for Relationship Maintenance subscale); students could be classified into normal, excessive, and Dependent Users of the text messaging; and Dependent Users were characterized by Excessive Use and personality immaturity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of isothermal and cooling-rate-dependent immersion freezing by a unifying stochastic ice nucleation model

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

Alpert, Peter A.; Knopf, Daniel A.

Immersion freezing is an important ice nucleation pathway involved in the formation of cirrus and mixed-phase clouds. Laboratory immersion freezing experiments are necessary to determine the range in temperature, T, and relative humidity, RH, at which ice nucleation occurs and to quantify the associated nucleation kinetics. Typically, isothermal (applying a constant temperature) and cooling-rate-dependent immersion freezing experiments are conducted. In these experiments it is usually assumed that the droplets containing ice nucleating particles (INPs) all have the same INP surface area (ISA); however, the validity of this assumption or the impact it may have on analysis and interpretation of the experimentalmore » data is rarely questioned. Descriptions of ice active sites and variability of contact angles have been successfully formulated to describe ice nucleation experimental data in previous research; however, we consider the ability of a stochastic freezing model founded on classical nucleation theory to reproduce previous results and to explain experimental uncertainties and data scatter. A stochastic immersion freezing model based on first principles of statistics is presented, which accounts for variable ISA per droplet and uses parameters including the total number of droplets, N tot, and the heterogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficient, J het( T). This model is applied to address if (i) a time and ISA-dependent stochastic immersion freezing process can explain laboratory immersion freezing data for different experimental methods and (ii) the assumption that all droplets contain identical ISA is a valid conjecture with subsequent consequences for analysis and interpretation of immersion freezing. The simple stochastic model can reproduce the observed time and surface area dependence in immersion freezing experiments for a variety of methods such as: droplets on a cold-stage exposed to air or surrounded by an oil matrix, wind and acoustically levitated droplets, droplets in a continuous-flow diffusion chamber (CFDC), the Leipzig aerosol cloud interaction simulator (LACIS), and the aerosol interaction and dynamics in the atmosphere (AIDA) cloud chamber. Observed time-dependent isothermal frozen fractions exhibiting non-exponential behavior can be readily explained by this model considering varying ISA. An apparent cooling-rate dependence of J het is explained by assuming identical ISA in each droplet. When accounting for ISA variability, the cooling-rate dependence of ice nucleation kinetics vanishes as expected from classical nucleation theory. Finally, the model simulations allow for a quantitative experimental uncertainty analysis for parameters N tot, T, RH, and the ISA variability. We discuss the implications of our results for experimental analysis and interpretation of the immersion freezing process.« less

Analysis of isothermal and cooling-rate-dependent immersion freezing by a unifying stochastic ice nucleation model

DOE PAGES

Alpert, Peter A.; Knopf, Daniel A.

2016-02-24

Immersion freezing is an important ice nucleation pathway involved in the formation of cirrus and mixed-phase clouds. Laboratory immersion freezing experiments are necessary to determine the range in temperature, T, and relative humidity, RH, at which ice nucleation occurs and to quantify the associated nucleation kinetics. Typically, isothermal (applying a constant temperature) and cooling-rate-dependent immersion freezing experiments are conducted. In these experiments it is usually assumed that the droplets containing ice nucleating particles (INPs) all have the same INP surface area (ISA); however, the validity of this assumption or the impact it may have on analysis and interpretation of the experimentalmore » data is rarely questioned. Descriptions of ice active sites and variability of contact angles have been successfully formulated to describe ice nucleation experimental data in previous research; however, we consider the ability of a stochastic freezing model founded on classical nucleation theory to reproduce previous results and to explain experimental uncertainties and data scatter. A stochastic immersion freezing model based on first principles of statistics is presented, which accounts for variable ISA per droplet and uses parameters including the total number of droplets, N tot, and the heterogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficient, J het( T). This model is applied to address if (i) a time and ISA-dependent stochastic immersion freezing process can explain laboratory immersion freezing data for different experimental methods and (ii) the assumption that all droplets contain identical ISA is a valid conjecture with subsequent consequences for analysis and interpretation of immersion freezing. The simple stochastic model can reproduce the observed time and surface area dependence in immersion freezing experiments for a variety of methods such as: droplets on a cold-stage exposed to air or surrounded by an oil matrix, wind and acoustically levitated droplets, droplets in a continuous-flow diffusion chamber (CFDC), the Leipzig aerosol cloud interaction simulator (LACIS), and the aerosol interaction and dynamics in the atmosphere (AIDA) cloud chamber. Observed time-dependent isothermal frozen fractions exhibiting non-exponential behavior can be readily explained by this model considering varying ISA. An apparent cooling-rate dependence of J het is explained by assuming identical ISA in each droplet. When accounting for ISA variability, the cooling-rate dependence of ice nucleation kinetics vanishes as expected from classical nucleation theory. Finally, the model simulations allow for a quantitative experimental uncertainty analysis for parameters N tot, T, RH, and the ISA variability. We discuss the implications of our results for experimental analysis and interpretation of the immersion freezing process.« less

The importance of being apt: metaphor comprehension in Alzheimer's disease

PubMed Central

Roncero, Carlos; de Almeida, Roberto G.

2014-01-01

We investigated the effect of aptness in the comprehension of copular metaphors (e.g., Lawyers are sharks) by Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients. Aptness is the extent to which the vehicle (e.g., shark) captures salient properties of the topic (e.g., lawyers). A group of AD patients provided interpretations for metaphors that varied both in aptness and familiarity. Compared to healthy controls, AD patients produced worse interpretations, but interpretation ability was related to a metaphor's aptness rather than to its familiarity level, and patients with superior abstraction ability produced better interpretations. Therefore, the ability to construct figurative interpretations for metaphors is not always diminished in AD patients nor is it dependent only on the novelty level of the expression. We show that Alzheimer's patients' capacity to build figurative interpretations for metaphors is related to both item variables, such as aptness, and participant variables, such as abstraction ability. PMID:25520642

What Makes Children Defy Majorities? The Role of Dissenters in Chinese and Spanish Preschoolers' Social Judgments.

PubMed

Enesco, Ileana; Sebastián-Enesco, Carla; Guerrero, Silvia; Quan, Siyu; Garijo, Sonia

2016-01-01

When many people say the same thing, the individual is more likely to endorse this information than when just a single person says the same. Yet, the influence of consensus information may be modulated by many personal, contextual and cultural variables. Here, we study the sensitivity of Chinese ( N = 68) and Spanish ( N = 82) preschoolers to consensus in social decision making contexts. Children faced two different types of peer-interaction events, which involved (1) uncertain or ambiguous scenarios open to interpretation (social interpretation context), and (2) explicit scenarios depicting the exclusion of a peer (moral judgment context). Children first observed a video in which a group of teachers offered their opinion about the events, and then they were asked to evaluate the information provided. Participants were assigned to two conditions that differed in the type of consensus: Unanimous majority ( non-dissenter condition) and non-unanimous majority ( dissenter condition). In the dissenter condition, we presented the conflicting opinions of three teachers vs. one teacher. In the non-dissenter condition, we presented the unanimous opinion of three teachers. The general results indicated that children's sensitivity to consensus varies depending both on the degree of ambiguity of the social events and the presence or not of a dissenter: (1) Children were much more likely to endorse the majority view when they were uncertain (social interpretation context), than when they already had a clear interpretation of the situation (moral judgment context); (2) The presence of a dissenter resulted in a significant decrease in children's confidence in majority. Interestingly, in the moral judgment context, Chinese and Spanish children differed in their willingness to defy a majority whose opinion run against their own. While Spanish children maintained their own criteria regardless of the type of condition, Chinese children did so when an "allied" dissenter was present (dissenter condition) but not when confronting a unanimous majority (non-dissenter condition). Tentatively, we suggest that this difference might be related to culture-specific patterns regarding children's deference toward adults.

Context-sensitivity of the feedback-related negativity for zero-value feedback outcomes.

PubMed

Pfabigan, Daniela M; Seidel, Eva-Maria; Paul, Katharina; Grahl, Arvina; Sailer, Uta; Lanzenberger, Rupert; Windischberger, Christian; Lamm, Claus

2015-01-01

The present study investigated whether the same visual stimulus indicating zero-value feedback (€0) elicits feedback-related negativity (FRN) variation, depending on whether the outcomes correspond with expectations or not. Thirty-one volunteers performed a monetary incentive delay (MID) task while EEG was recorded. FRN amplitudes were comparable and more negative when zero-value outcome deviated from expectations than with expected gain or loss, supporting theories emphasising the impact of unexpectedness and salience on FRN amplitudes. Surprisingly, expected zero-value outcomes elicited the most negative FRNs. However, source localisation showed that such outcomes evoked less activation in cingulate areas than unexpected zero-value outcomes. Our study illustrates the context dependency of identical zero-value feedback stimuli. Moreover, the results indicate that the incentive cues in the MID task evoke different reward prediction error signals. These prediction signals differ in FRN amplitude and neuronal sources, and have to be considered in the design and interpretation of future studies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An atomic orbital based real-time time-dependent density functional theory for computing electronic circular dichroism band spectra

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

Goings, Joshua J.; Li, Xiaosong, E-mail: xsli@uw.edu

2016-06-21

One of the challenges of interpreting electronic circular dichroism (ECD) band spectra is that different states may have different rotatory strength signs, determined by their absolute configuration. If the states are closely spaced and opposite in sign, observed transitions may be washed out by nearby states, unlike absorption spectra where transitions are always positive additive. To accurately compute ECD bands, it is necessary to compute a large number of excited states, which may be prohibitively costly if one uses the linear-response time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) framework. Here we implement a real-time, atomic-orbital based TDDFT method for computing the entiremore » ECD spectrum simultaneously. The method is advantageous for large systems with a high density of states. In contrast to previous implementations based on real-space grids, the method is variational, independent of nuclear orientation, and does not rely on pseudopotential approximations, making it suitable for computation of chiroptical properties well into the X-ray regime.« less

Statistical Knowledge and the Over-Interpretation of Student Evaluations of Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boysen, Guy A.

2017-01-01

Research shows that teachers interpret small differences in student evaluations of teaching as meaningful even when available statistical information indicates that the differences are not reliable. The current research explored the effect of statistical training on college teachers' tendency to over-interpret student evaluation differences. A…

Cluster Analysis of Time-Dependent Crystallographic Data: Direct Identification of Time-Independent Structural Intermediates

PubMed Central

Kostov, Konstantin S.; Moffat, Keith

2011-01-01

The initial output of a time-resolved macromolecular crystallography experiment is a time-dependent series of difference electron density maps that displays the time-dependent changes in underlying structure as a reaction progresses. The goal is to interpret such data in terms of a small number of crystallographically refinable, time-independent structures, each associated with a reaction intermediate; to establish the pathways and rate coefficients by which these intermediates interconvert; and thereby to elucidate a chemical kinetic mechanism. One strategy toward achieving this goal is to use cluster analysis, a statistical method that groups objects based on their similarity. If the difference electron density at a particular voxel in the time-dependent difference electron density (TDED) maps is sensitive to the presence of one and only one intermediate, then its temporal evolution will exactly parallel the concentration profile of that intermediate with time. The rationale is therefore to cluster voxels with respect to the shapes of their TDEDs, so that each group or cluster of voxels corresponds to one structural intermediate. Clusters of voxels whose TDEDs reflect the presence of two or more specific intermediates can also be identified. From such groupings one can then infer the number of intermediates, obtain their time-independent difference density characteristics, and refine the structure of each intermediate. We review the principles of cluster analysis and clustering algorithms in a crystallographic context, and describe the application of the method to simulated and experimental time-resolved crystallographic data for the photocycle of photoactive yellow protein. PMID:21244840

Relaxation model of radiation-induced conductivity in polymers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhutayeva, Yu. R.; Khatipov, S. A.

1999-05-01

The paper suggests a relaxation model of radiation-induced conductivity (RIC) in polymers. According to the model, the transfer of charges generated in the polymer volume by ionizing radiation takes place with the participation of molecular relaxation processes. The mechanism of electron transport consists in the transfer of the charge directly between traps when they draw close to one another due to the rotation of macromolecule segments. The numerical solutions of the corresponding kinetic equations for different distribution functions Q( τ) of the times of molecular relaxation and for different functions of the probability P( τ, τ') of charge transfer in the `overlapping' regions of the diffusion spheres of the segments are analyzed. The relaxation model provides an explanation of the non-Arrhenius behavior of the RIC temperature dependence, the power dependence of RIC on the dose rate with a power index in the interval 0.5-1.0, the appearance of maxima in the curves of the RIC temporal dependence and their irreversible character in the region of large dose rates (more than 1 Gy/s). The model can be used for interpreting polymer RIC in conditions of kinetic mobility of macromolecules.

Invariance of single-file water mobility in gramicidin-like peptidic pores as function of pore length.

PubMed

Portella, Guillem; Pohl, Peter; de Groot, Bert L

2007-06-01

We investigated the structural and energetic determinants underlying water permeation through peptidic nanopores, motivated by recent experimental findings that indicate that water mobility in single-file water channels displays nonlinear length dependence. To address the molecular mechanism determining the observed length dependence, we studied water permeability in a series of designed gramicidin-like channels of different length using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. We found that within the studied range of length the osmotic water permeability is independent of pore length. This result is at variance with textbook models, where the relationship is assumed to be linear. Energetic analysis shows that loss of solvation rather than specific water binding sites in the pore form the main energetic barrier for water permeation, consistent with our dynamics results. For this situation, we propose a modified expression for osmotic permeability that fully takes into account water motion collectivity and does not depend on the pore length. Different schematic barrier profiles are discussed that explain both experimental and computational interpretations, and we propose a set of experiments aimed at validation of the presented results. Implications of the results for the design of peptidic channels with desired permeation characteristics are discussed.

A method to decompose spectral changes in Synechocystis PCC 6803 during light-induced state transitions.

PubMed

Acuña, Alonso M; Kaňa, Radek; Gwizdala, Michal; Snellenburg, Joris J; van Alphen, Pascal; van Oort, Bart; Kirilovsky, Diana; van Grondelle, Rienk; van Stokkum, Ivo H M

2016-12-01

Cyanobacteria have developed responses to maintain the balance between the energy absorbed and the energy used in different pigment-protein complexes. One of the relatively rapid (a few minutes) responses is activated when the cells are exposed to high light intensities. This mechanism thermally dissipates excitation energy at the level of the phycobilisome (PB) antenna before it reaches the reaction center. When exposed to low intensities of light that modify the redox state of the plastoquinone pool, the so-called state transitions redistribute energy between photosystem I and II. Experimental techniques to investigate the underlying mechanisms of these responses, such as pulse-amplitude modulated fluorometry, are based on spectrally integrated signals. Previously, a spectrally resolved fluorometry method has been introduced to preserve spectral information. The analysis method introduced in this work allows to interpret SRF data in terms of species-associated spectra of open/closed reaction centers (RCs), (un)quenched PB and state 1 versus state 2. Thus, spectral differences in the time-dependent fluorescence signature of photosynthetic organisms under varying light conditions can be traced and assigned to functional emitting species leading to a number of interpretations of their molecular origins. In particular, we present evidence that state 1 and state 2 correspond to different states of the PB-PSII-PSI megacomplex.

Combination of experimental and numerical methods for mechanical characterization of Al-Si alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kruglova, A.; Roland, M.; Diebels, S.; Mücklich, F.

2017-10-01

In general, mechanical properties of Al-Si alloys strongly depend on the morphology and arrangement of microconstituents, such as primary aluminium dendrites, silicon particles, etc. Therefore, a detailed characterization of morphological and mechanical properties of the alloys is necessary to better understand the relations between the underlined properties and to tailor the material’s microstructure to the specific application needs. The mechanical characterization usually implies numerical simulations and mechanical tests, which allow to investigate the influence of different microstructural aspects on different scales. In this study, the uniaxial tension and compression tests have been carried out on Al-Si alloys having different microstructures. The mechanical behavior of the alloys has been interpreted with respect to the morphology of the microconstituents and has been correlated with the results of numerical simulations. The advantages and limitations of the experimental and numerical methods have been disclosed and the importance of combining both techniques for the interpretation of the mechanical behavior of Al-Si alloys has been shown. Thereby, it has been suggested that the density of Si particles and the size of Al dendrites are more important for the strengthening of the alloys than the size-shape features of the eutectic Si induced by the modification.

Quasiparticle interference in ZrSiS: Strongly band-selective scattering depending on impurity lattice site

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butler, Christopher J.; Wu, Yu-Mi; Hsing, Cheng-Rong; Tseng, Yi; Sankar, Raman; Wei, Ching-Ming; Chou, Fang-Cheng; Lin, Minn-Tsong

2017-11-01

Scanning tunneling microscopy visualizations of quasiparticle interference (QPI) enable powerful insights into the k -space properties of superconducting, topological, Rashba, and other exotic electronic phases, but their reliance on impurities acting as scattering centers is rarely scrutinized. Here, we investigate QPI at the vacuum-cleaved (001) surface of the Dirac semimetal ZrSiS. We find that interference patterns around impurities located on the Zr and S lattice sites appear very different, and can be ascribed to selective scattering of different subsets of the predominantly Zr 4 d -derived band structure, namely, the m =0 and ±1 components. We show that the selectivity of scattering channels requires an explanation beyond the different bands' orbital characteristics and their respective charge density distributions over Zr and S lattice sites. Importantly, this result shows that the usual assumption of generic scattering centers allowing observations of quasiparticle interference to shed light indiscriminately and isotropically upon the q space of scattering events does not hold, and that the scope and interpretation of QPI observations can therefore be be strongly contingent on the material defect chemistry. This finding promises to spur new investigations into the quasiparticle scattering process itself, to inform future interpretations of quasiparticle interference observations, and ultimately to aid the understanding and engineering of quantum electronic transport properties.

Combination of geo- pedo- and technogenic magnetic and geochemical signals in soil profiles - Diversification and its interpretation: A new approach.

PubMed

Szuszkiewicz, Marcin; Łukasik, Adam; Magiera, Tadeusz; Mendakiewicz, Maria

2016-07-01

Magnetic and geochemical parameters of soils are determined with respect to geology, pedogenesis and anthropopression. Depending on local conditions these factors affect magnetic and geochemical signals simultaneously or in various configurations. We examined four type of soils (Entic Podzol, Eutric Cambisol, Humic Cambisol and Dystric Cambisol) developed on various bedrock (the Tumlin Sandstone, basaltoid, amphibolite and serpentinite, respectively). Our primary aim was to characterize the origin and diversification of the magnetic and geochemical signal in soils in order to distinguish the most reliable methods for correct interpretation of measured parameters. Presented data include selected parameters, both magnetic (mass magnetic susceptibility - χ, frequency-dependent magnetic susceptibility - χfd and thermomagnetic susceptibility measurement - TSM), and geochemical (selected heavy metal contents: Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn). Additionally, the enrichment factor (EF) and index of geoaccumulation (Igeo) were calculated. Our results suggest the following: (1) the χ/Fe ratio may be a reliable indicator for determining changes of magnetic signal origin in soil profiles; (2) magnetic and geochemical signals are simultaneously higher (the increment of χ and lead and zinc was noted) in topsoil horizons because of the deposition of technogenic magnetic particles (TMPs); (3) EF and Igeo evaluated for lead and zinc unambiguously showed anthropogenic influence in terms of increasing heavy metal contents in topsoil regardless of bedrock or soil type; (4) magnetic susceptibility measurements supported by TSM curves for soil samples of different genetic horizons are a helpful tool for interpreting the origin and nature of the mineral phases responsible for the changes of magnetic susceptibility values. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fault seal analysis of Okan and Meren fields, Nigeria

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

Eisenberg, R.A.; Brenneman, R.J.; Adeogba, A.A.

The sealing capacity and the dynamic seal behavior of faults between juxtaposed reservoirs were analyzed for Okan and Meren fields, offshore Nigeria. In both fields correlations were found between reservoir performance, juxtaposed fluid types, oil geochemistry, interpreted fluid contact relationships, fault sealing/leaking condition, and calculated smear gouge ratios. Integration of these data has been invaluable in quantifying fault seal risk and may effect depletion strategies for fault-juxtaposed reservoirs within these fields. Fault plane sections defined reservoir juxtapositions and aided visualization of potential cross-fault spill points. Smear gouge ratios calculated from E-logs were used to estimate the composition of fault-gouge materialsmore » between the juxtaposed reservoirs. These tools augmented interpretation of seal/nonseal character based on fluid contact relationships in proved reservoirs and, in addition, were used to quantify fault seal risk of untested fault-dependent closures in Okan. The results of these analyses were then used to interpret production-induced fault seal breakdown within the G-sands and also to risk seal integrity of fault dependent closures within the untested O-sands in an adjacent, upthrown fault block. Within this fault block the presence of potential fault intersection leak points and large areas of sand/sand juxtaposition with high smear gouge ratios (low sealing potential) limits potential reserves within the O-sand package. In Meren Field the E- and G-sands are juxtaposed, on different pressure decline, geochemically distinct, and are characterized by low smear gouge ratios. In contrast, specific G- and H-sands, juxtaposed across the same fault, contain similar OOWCs and are characterized by high smear gouge ratios. The cross-sealing and/or cross-leaking nature of compartment boundaries at Meren is related to fault displacement variation and the composition of displaced stratigraphy.« less

Differences in spirometry interpretation algorithms: influence on decision making among primary-care physicians.

PubMed

He, Xiao-Ou; D'Urzo, Anthony; Jugovic, Pieter; Jhirad, Reuven; Sehgal, Prateek; Lilly, Evan

2015-03-12

Spirometry is recommended for the diagnosis of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in international guidelines and may be useful for distinguishing asthma from COPD. Numerous spirometry interpretation algorithms (SIAs) are described in the literature, but no studies highlight how different SIAs may influence the interpretation of the same spirometric data. We examined how two different SIAs may influence decision making among primary-care physicians. Data for this initiative were gathered from 113 primary-care physicians attending accredited workshops in Canada between 2011 and 2013. Physicians were asked to interpret nine spirograms presented twice in random sequence using two different SIAs and touch pad technology for anonymous data recording. We observed differences in the interpretation of spirograms using two different SIAs. When the pre-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC (forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity) ratio was >0.70, algorithm 1 led to a 'normal' interpretation (78% of physicians), whereas algorithm 2 prompted a bronchodilator challenge revealing changes in FEV1 that were consistent with asthma, an interpretation selected by 94% of physicians. When the FEV1/FVC ratio was <0.70 after bronchodilator challenge but FEV1 increased >12% and 200 ml, 76% suspected asthma and 10% suspected COPD using algorithm 1, whereas 74% suspected asthma versus COPD using algorithm 2 across five separate cases. The absence of a post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC decision node in algorithm 1 did not permit consideration of possible COPD. This study suggests that differences in SIAs may influence decision making and lead clinicians to interpret the same spirometry data differently.

Grizzly bear habitat selection is scale dependent.

PubMed

Ciarniello, Lana M; Boyce, Mark S; Seip, Dale R; Heard, Douglas C

2007-07-01

The purpose of our study is to show how ecologists' interpretation of habitat selection by grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) is altered by the scale of observation and also how management questions would be best addressed using predetermined scales of analysis. Using resource selection functions (RSF) we examined how variation in the spatial extent of availability affected our interpretation of habitat selection by grizzly bears inhabiting mountain and plateau landscapes. We estimated separate models for females and males using three spatial extents: within the study area, within the home range, and within predetermined movement buffers. We employed two methods for evaluating the effects of scale on our RSF designs. First, we chose a priori six candidate models, estimated at each scale, and ranked them using Akaike Information Criteria. Using this method, results changed among scales for males but not for females. For female bears, models that included the full suite of covariates predicted habitat use best at each scale. For male bears that resided in the mountains, models based on forest successional stages ranked highest at the study-wide and home range extents, whereas models containing covariates based on terrain features ranked highest at the buffer extent. For male bears on the plateau, each scale estimated a different highest-ranked model. Second, we examined differences among model coefficients across the three scales for one candidate model. We found that both the magnitude and direction of coefficients were dependent upon the scale examined; results varied between landscapes, scales, and sexes. Greenness, reflecting lush green vegetation, was a strong predictor of the presence of female bears in both landscapes and males that resided in the mountains. Male bears on the plateau were the only animals to select areas that exposed them to a high risk of mortality by humans. Our results show that grizzly bear habitat selection is scale dependent. Further, the selection of resources can be dependent upon the availability of a particular vegetation type on the landscape. From a management perspective, decisions should be based on a hierarchical process of habitat selection, recognizing that selection patterns vary across scales.

Adult Literacy in the United States: A Compendium of Qualitative Data and Interpretive Comments. Research to Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armstrong, William B.; Sticht, Thomas G.

Human cognitive system and information processing theories were used as the theoretical base that frames an interpretation of adult literacy research from World War I (WWI) through 1993. These theoretical perspectives are as follows: (1) literacy learning is grounded in a distinct developmental sequence; and (2) literacy learning is dependent on…

Understanding of Idiomatic Expressions in Context in Skilled and Less Skilled Comprehenders: Online Processing and Interpretation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oakhill, Jane; Cain, Kate; Nesi, Barbara

2016-01-01

This article reports a study in which good and poor comprehenders (in 2 age groups: 8- and 10-year-olds) read short passages containing phrases that could be interpreted as idiomatic or not, depending on the context. Familiarity was manipulated by including real (English) idioms and novel (translations of Italian) idioms. Reading times for the…

Constructive Ontology Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sousan, William L.

2010-01-01

The proliferation of the Semantic Web depends on ontologies for knowledge sharing, semantic annotation, data fusion, and descriptions of data for machine interpretation. However, ontologies are difficult to create and maintain. In addition, their structure and content may vary depending on the application and domain. Several methods described in…

Alcohol and Masculinity: A Review and Reformulaton of the Sex Role, Dependency, and Power Theories of Alcoholism.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lemle, Russell

This review examines three theories of alcohol abuse by American males: (1) the sex role theory which states that men drink heavily because American culture accepts and encourages that activity in males; (2) the dependency theory, which interprets drinking as a means by which men secretly gratify their dependency needs while manifesting an…

Dual photon excitation microscopy and image threshold segmentation in live cell imaging during compression testing.

PubMed

Moo, Eng Kuan; Abusara, Ziad; Abu Osman, Noor Azuan; Pingguan-Murphy, Belinda; Herzog, Walter

2013-08-09

Morphological studies of live connective tissue cells are imperative to helping understand cellular responses to mechanical stimuli. However, photobleaching is a constant problem to accurate and reliable live cell fluorescent imaging, and various image thresholding methods have been adopted to account for photobleaching effects. Previous studies showed that dual photon excitation (DPE) techniques are superior over conventional one photon excitation (OPE) confocal techniques in minimizing photobleaching. In this study, we investigated the effects of photobleaching resulting from OPE and DPE on morphology of in situ articular cartilage chondrocytes across repeat laser exposures. Additionally, we compared the effectiveness of three commonly-used image thresholding methods in accounting for photobleaching effects, with and without tissue loading through compression. In general, photobleaching leads to an apparent volume reduction for subsequent image scans. Performing seven consecutive scans of chondrocytes in unloaded cartilage, we found that the apparent cell volume loss caused by DPE microscopy is much smaller than that observed using OPE microscopy. Applying scan-specific image thresholds did not prevent the photobleaching-induced volume loss, and volume reductions were non-uniform over the seven repeat scans. During cartilage loading through compression, cell fluorescence increased and, depending on the thresholding method used, led to different volume changes. Therefore, different conclusions on cell volume changes may be drawn during tissue compression, depending on the image thresholding methods used. In conclusion, our findings confirm that photobleaching directly affects cell morphology measurements, and that DPE causes less photobleaching artifacts than OPE for uncompressed cells. When cells are compressed during tissue loading, a complicated interplay between photobleaching effects and compression-induced fluorescence increase may lead to interpretations in cell responses to mechanical stimuli that depend on the microscopic approach and the thresholding methods used and may result in contradictory interpretations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Orientation dependence of temporal and spectral properties of high-order harmonics in solids [Orientation dependence of high-harmonic temporal and spectral properties in solids

DOE PAGES

Wu, Mengxi; You, Yongsing; Ghimire, Shambhu; ...

2017-12-18

We investigate the connection between crystal symmetry and temporal and spectral properties of high-order harmonics in solids. We calculate the orientation-dependent harmonic spectrum driven by an intense, linearly polarized infrared laser field, using a momentum-space description of the generation process in terms of strong-field-driven electron dynamics on the band structure. We show that the orientation dependence of both the spectral yield and the subcycle time profile of the harmonic radiation can be understood in terms of the coupling strengths and relative curvatures of the valence band and the low-lying conduction bands. In particular, we show that in some systems thismore » gives rise to a rapid shift of a quarter optical cycle in the timing of harmonics in the secondary plateau as the crystal is rotated relative to the laser polarization. Here, we address recent experimental results in MgO and show that the observed change in orientation dependence for the highest harmonics can be interpreted in the momentum space picture in terms of the contributions of several different conduction bands.« less

Orientation dependence of temporal and spectral properties of high-order harmonics in solids [Orientation dependence of high-harmonic temporal and spectral properties in solids

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

Wu, Mengxi; You, Yongsing; Ghimire, Shambhu

We investigate the connection between crystal symmetry and temporal and spectral properties of high-order harmonics in solids. We calculate the orientation-dependent harmonic spectrum driven by an intense, linearly polarized infrared laser field, using a momentum-space description of the generation process in terms of strong-field-driven electron dynamics on the band structure. We show that the orientation dependence of both the spectral yield and the subcycle time profile of the harmonic radiation can be understood in terms of the coupling strengths and relative curvatures of the valence band and the low-lying conduction bands. In particular, we show that in some systems thismore » gives rise to a rapid shift of a quarter optical cycle in the timing of harmonics in the secondary plateau as the crystal is rotated relative to the laser polarization. Here, we address recent experimental results in MgO and show that the observed change in orientation dependence for the highest harmonics can be interpreted in the momentum space picture in terms of the contributions of several different conduction bands.« less

Effects of ambient oxygen and size-selective mortality on growth and maturation in guppies

PubMed Central

Diaz Pauli, Beatriz; Kolding, Jeppe; Jeyakanth, Geetha

2017-01-01

Abstract Growth, onset of maturity and investment in reproduction are key traits for understanding variation in life-history strategies. Many environmental factors affect variation in these traits, but for fish, hypoxia and size-dependent mortality have become increasingly important because of human activities, such as increased nutrient enrichment (eutrophication), climate warming and selective fishing. Here, we study experimentally the effect of oxygen availability on maturation and growth in guppies (Poecilia reticulata) from two different selected lines, one subjected to positive and the other negative size-dependent fishing. This is the first study to assess the effects of both reduced ambient oxygen and size-dependent mortality in fish. We show that reduced ambient oxygen led to stunting, early maturation and high reproductive investment. Likewise, lineages that had been exposed to high mortality of larger-sized individuals displayed earlier maturation at smaller size, greater investment in reproduction and faster growth. These life-history changes were particularly evident for males. The widely reported trends towards earlier maturation in wild fish populations are often interpreted as resulting from size-selective fishing. Our results highlight that reduced ambient oxygen, which has received little experimental investigation to date, can lead to similar phenotypic changes. Thus, changes in ambient oxygen levels can be a confounding factor that occurs in parallel with fishing, complicating the causal interpretation of changes in life-history traits. We believe that better disentangling of the effects of these two extrinsic factors, which increasingly affect many freshwater and marine ecosystems, is important for making more informed management decisions. PMID:28361001

Spatiotemporal Evolution of Hanle and Zeeman Synthetic Polarization in a Chromospheric Spectral Line

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

Carlin, E. S.; Bianda, M., E-mail: escarlin@irsol.es

Due to the quick evolution of the solar chromosphere, its magnetic field cannot be inferred reliably without accounting for the temporal variations of its polarized light. This has been broadly overlooked in the modeling and interpretation of the polarization, due to technical problems (e.g., lack of temporal resolution or of time-dependent MHD solar models) and/or because many polarization measurements can apparently be explained without dynamics. Here, we show that the temporal evolution is critical for explaining the spectral-line scattering polarization because of its sensitivity to rapidly varying physical quantities and the possibility of signal cancellations and attenuation during extended timemore » integration. For studying the combined effect of time-varying magnetic fields and kinematics, we solved the 1.5D non-LTE problem of the second kind in time-dependent 3D R-MHD solar models and synthesized the Hanle and Zeeman polarization in forward scattering for the chromospheric λ 4227 line. We find that the quiet-Sun polarization amplitudes depend on the periodicity and spectral coherence of the signal enhancements produced by kinematics, but that substantially larger linear polarization signals should exist all over the solar disk for short integration times. The spectral morphology of the polarization is discussed as a combination of Hanle, Zeeman, partial redistribution and dynamic effects. We give physical references for observations by degrading and characterizing our slit time series in different spatiotemporal resolutions. The implications of our results for the interpretation of the second solar spectrum and for the investigation of the solar atmospheric heatings are discussed.« less

The spatial resolving power of earth resources satellites: A review

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Townshend, J. R. G.

1980-01-01

The significance of spatial resolving power on the utility of current and future Earth resources satellites is critically discussed and the relative merits of different approaches in defining and estimating spatial resolution are outlined. It is shown that choice of a particular measure of spatial resolution depends strongly on the particular needs of the user. Several experiments have simulated the capabilities of future satellite systems by degradation of aircraft images. Surprisingly, many of these indicated that improvements in resolution may lead to a reduction in the classification accuracy of land cover types using computer assisted methods. However, where the frequency of boundary pixels is high, the converse relationship is found. Use of imagery dependent upon visual interpretation is likely to benefit more consistently from higher resolutions. Extraction of information from images will depend upon several other factors apart from spatial resolving power: these include characteristics of the terrain being sensed, the image processing methods that are applied as well as certain sensor characteristics.

Magnetization Processes in Ribbons of Soft Magnetic Amorphous Alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skulkina, N. A.; Ivanov, O. A.; Mazeeva, A. K.; Kuznetsov, P. A.; Stepanova, E. A.; Blinova, O. V.; Mikhalitsyna, E. A.

2018-02-01

Using iron-based (Fe-B-Si-C; Fe-Ni-Si-B) and cobalt-based (Co-Fe-Ni-Cr-Mn-Si-B) soft magnetic alloys as examples, we have studied the dependences of the remanence measured using minor hysteresis loops on the maximum induction. The different degrees of stabilization of the 180° and 90° domain walls allows these dependences to be used to analyze the magnetization processes that occur in the rapidly quenched soft magnetic alloys. It has been established from the B r( B m) dependences that, in the ribbons of soft magnetic amorphous alloys, the processes of the rotation of the magnetization oriented perpendicular to the ribbon plane start before the end of the processes of the displacement of the walls of domains with planar magnetization. After the end of the magnetization rotation processes, the magnetization processes can be interpreted as the displacement of the domain walls with a planar magnetization accompanied by a decrease in their number and a transition to a bistable state.

Concentration-dependent polyparameter linear free energy relationships to predict organic compound sorption on carbon nanotubes

PubMed Central

Zhao, Qing; Yang, Kun; Li, Wei; Xing, Baoshan

2014-01-01

Adsorption of organic compounds on carbon nanotubes (CNTs), governed by interactions between molecules and CNTs surfaces, is critical for their fate, transport, bioavailability and toxicity in the environment. Here, we report a promising concentration-dependent polyparameter linear free energy relationships (pp-LFERs) model to describe the compound-CNTs interactions and to predict sorption behavior of chemicals on CNTs in a wide range of concentrations (over five orders of magnitude). The developed pp-LFERs are able to capture the dependence of the ki on equilibrium concentration. The pp-LFERs indexes [r, p, a, b, v] representing different interactions are found to have a good relationship with the aqueous equilibrium concentrations of compounds. This modified model can successfully interpret the relative contribution of each interaction at a given concentration and reliably predict sorption of various chemicals on CNTs. This approach is expected to help develop a better environmental fate and risk assessment model. PMID:24463462

Observation of Charge-Dependent Azimuthal Correlations in p - Pb Collisions and Its Implication for the Search for the Chiral Magnetic Effect

DOE PAGES

Khachatryan, V.; Sirunyan, A. M.; Tumasyan, A.; ...

2017-03-24

Charge-dependent azimuthal particle correlations with respect to the second-order event plane in p-Pb and PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV have been studied with the CMS experiment at the LHC. We performed the measurement with a three-particle correlation technique, using two particles with the same or opposite charge within the pseudorapidity range |η|<2.4, and a third particle measured in the hadron forward calorimeters (4.4<|η|<5). We also observed differences between the same and opposite sign correlations, as functions of multiplicity and η gap between the two charged particles, and found that they were of similar magnitude in p-Pbmore » and PbPb collisions at the same multiplicities. Our results pose a challenge for the interpretation of charge-dependent azimuthal correlations in heavy ion collisions in terms of the chiral magnetic effect.« less

HiCRep: assessing the reproducibility of Hi-C data using a stratum-adjusted correlation coefficient.

PubMed

Yang, Tao; Zhang, Feipeng; Yardımcı, Galip Gürkan; Song, Fan; Hardison, Ross C; Noble, William Stafford; Yue, Feng; Li, Qunhua

2017-11-01

Hi-C is a powerful technology for studying genome-wide chromatin interactions. However, current methods for assessing Hi-C data reproducibility can produce misleading results because they ignore spatial features in Hi-C data, such as domain structure and distance dependence. We present HiCRep, a framework for assessing the reproducibility of Hi-C data that systematically accounts for these features. In particular, we introduce a novel similarity measure, the stratum adjusted correlation coefficient (SCC), for quantifying the similarity between Hi-C interaction matrices. Not only does it provide a statistically sound and reliable evaluation of reproducibility, SCC can also be used to quantify differences between Hi-C contact matrices and to determine the optimal sequencing depth for a desired resolution. The measure consistently shows higher accuracy than existing approaches in distinguishing subtle differences in reproducibility and depicting interrelationships of cell lineages. The proposed measure is straightforward to interpret and easy to compute, making it well-suited for providing standardized, interpretable, automatable, and scalable quality control. The freely available R package HiCRep implements our approach. © 2017 Yang et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Memory Operations and Structures in Sentence Comprehension: Evidence from Ellipsis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Andrea Eyleen

2010-01-01

Natural language often contains dependencies that span words, phrases, or even sentences. Thus, language comprehension relies on recovering recently processed information from memory for subsequent interpretation. This dissertation investigates the memory operations that subserve dependency resolution through the lens of "verb-phrase ellipsis"…

Comparison of interpretation methods of thermocouple psychrometer readouts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guz, Łukasz; Majerek, Dariusz; Sobczuk, Henryk; Guz, Ewa; Połednik, Bernard

2017-07-01

Thermocouple psychrometers allow to determine the water potential, which can be easily recalculated into relative humidity of air in cavity of porous materials. The available typical measuring range of probe is very narrow. The lower limit of water potential measurements is about -200 kPa. On the other hand, the upper limit is approximately equal to -7000 kPa and depends on many factors. These paper presents a comparison of two interpretation methods of thermocouple microvolt output regarding: i) amplitude of voltage during wet-bulb temperature depression, ii) field under microvolt output curve. Previous results of experiments indicate that there is a robust correlation between water potential and field under microvolt output curve. In order to obtain correct results of water potential, each probe should be calibrated. The range of NaCl salt solutions with molality from 0.75M to 2.25M was used for calibration, which enable to obtain the osmotic potential from -3377 kPa to -10865 kPa. During measurements was applied 5mA heating current over a span 5 s and 5 mA cooling current aver a span 30s. The conducted study proves that using only different interpretation method based on field under microvolt output it is possible to achieve about 1000 kPa wider range of water potential. The average relative mean square error (RMSE) of this interpretation method is 1199 kPa while voltage amplitude based method yields average RMSE equaling 1378 kPa during calibration in temperature not stabilized conditions.

Differences in spirometry interpretation algorithms: influence on decision making among primary-care physicians

PubMed Central

He, Xiao-Ou; D’Urzo, Anthony; Jugovic, Pieter; Jhirad, Reuven; Sehgal, Prateek; Lilly, Evan

2015-01-01

Background: Spirometry is recommended for the diagnosis of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in international guidelines and may be useful for distinguishing asthma from COPD. Numerous spirometry interpretation algorithms (SIAs) are described in the literature, but no studies highlight how different SIAs may influence the interpretation of the same spirometric data. Aims: We examined how two different SIAs may influence decision making among primary-care physicians. Methods: Data for this initiative were gathered from 113 primary-care physicians attending accredited workshops in Canada between 2011 and 2013. Physicians were asked to interpret nine spirograms presented twice in random sequence using two different SIAs and touch pad technology for anonymous data recording. Results: We observed differences in the interpretation of spirograms using two different SIAs. When the pre-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC (forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity) ratio was >0.70, algorithm 1 led to a ‘normal’ interpretation (78% of physicians), whereas algorithm 2 prompted a bronchodilator challenge revealing changes in FEV1 that were consistent with asthma, an interpretation selected by 94% of physicians. When the FEV1/FVC ratio was <0.70 after bronchodilator challenge but FEV1 increased >12% and 200 ml, 76% suspected asthma and 10% suspected COPD using algorithm 1, whereas 74% suspected asthma versus COPD using algorithm 2 across five separate cases. The absence of a post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC decision node in algorithm 1 did not permit consideration of possible COPD. Conclusions: This study suggests that differences in SIAs may influence decision making and lead clinicians to interpret the same spirometry data differently. PMID:25763716

Distributional properties of relative phase in bimanual coordination.

PubMed

James, Eric; Layne, Charles S; Newell, Karl M

2010-10-01

Studies of bimanual coordination have typically estimated the stability of coordination patterns through the use of the circular standard deviation of relative phase. The interpretation of this statistic depends upon the assumption of a von Mises distribution. The present study tested this assumption by examining the distributional properties of relative phase in three bimanual coordination patterns. There were significant deviations from the von Mises distribution due to differences in the kurtosis of distributions. The kurtosis depended upon the relative phase pattern performed, with leptokurtic distributions occurring in the in-phase and antiphase patterns and platykurtic distributions occurring in the 30° pattern. Thus, the distributional assumptions needed to validly and reliably use the standard deviation are not necessarily present in relative phase data though they are qualitatively consistent with the landscape properties of the intrinsic dynamics.

Regression models for analyzing costs and their determinants in health care: an introductory review.

PubMed

Gregori, Dario; Petrinco, Michele; Bo, Simona; Desideri, Alessandro; Merletti, Franco; Pagano, Eva

2011-06-01

This article aims to describe the various approaches in multivariable modelling of healthcare costs data and to synthesize the respective criticisms as proposed in the literature. We present regression methods suitable for the analysis of healthcare costs and then apply them to an experimental setting in cardiovascular treatment (COSTAMI study) and an observational setting in diabetes hospital care. We show how methods can produce different results depending on the degree of matching between the underlying assumptions of each method and the specific characteristics of the healthcare problem. The matching of healthcare cost models to the analytic objectives and characteristics of the data available to a study requires caution. The study results and interpretation can be heavily dependent on the choice of model with a real risk of spurious results and conclusions.

Position specific interaction dependent scoring technique for virtual screening based on weighted protein--ligand interaction fingerprint profiles.

PubMed

Nandigam, Ravi K; Kim, Sangtae; Singh, Juswinder; Chuaqui, Claudio

2009-05-01

The desire to exploit structural information to aid structure based design and virtual screening led to the development of the interaction fingerprint for analyzing, mining, and filtering the binding patterns underlying the complex 3D data. In this paper we introduce a new approach, weighted SIFt (or w-SIFt), extending the concept of SIFt to capture the relative importance of different binding interactions. The methodology presented here for determining the weights in w-SIFt involves utilizing a dimensionality reduction technique for eliminating linear redundancies in the data followed by a stochastic optimization. We find that the relative weights of the fingerprint bits provide insight into what interactions are critical in determining inhibitor potency. Moreover, the weighted interaction fingerprint can serve as an interpretable position dependent scoring function for ligand protein interactions.

Characterization of the species Malassezia pachydermatis and re-evaluation of its lipid dependence using a synthetic agar medium

PubMed Central

Puig, Laura; Castellá, Gemma

2017-01-01

The genus Malassezia includes lipophilic yeasts, which are part of the skin microbiota of various mammals and birds. Unlike the rest of Malassezia species, M. pachydermatis is described as non-lipid-dependent, as it is able to grow on Sabouraud glucose agar (SGA) without lipid supplementation. In this study we have examined the phenotypic variability within M. pachydermatis and confirmed its lipid-dependent nature using a synthetic agar medium. We used a selection of representative non-lipid-dependent strains from different animal species and three atypical lipid-dependent strains of this species, which were not able to grow after multiple passages on SGA. More than 400 lipid-dependent Malassezia isolates from animals were studied in order to detect the three lipid-dependent strains of M. pachydermatis. The identity of the atypical strains was confirmed by DNA sequencing. On the other hand, we have modified the Tween diffusion test, which is widely used in the characterization of these yeasts, by using a synthetic agar-based medium instead of SGA. This modification has proved to be useful for differentiation of M. pachydermatis strains, providing reproducible results and a straightforward interpretation. The finding of these peculiar lipid-dependent strains exemplifies the large variability within the species M. pachydermatis, which involves rare atypical strains with particular growth requirements. PMID:28586389

Characterization of the species Malassezia pachydermatis and re-evaluation of its lipid dependence using a synthetic agar medium.

PubMed

Puig, Laura; Bragulat, M Rosa; Castellá, Gemma; Cabañes, F Javier

2017-01-01

The genus Malassezia includes lipophilic yeasts, which are part of the skin microbiota of various mammals and birds. Unlike the rest of Malassezia species, M. pachydermatis is described as non-lipid-dependent, as it is able to grow on Sabouraud glucose agar (SGA) without lipid supplementation. In this study we have examined the phenotypic variability within M. pachydermatis and confirmed its lipid-dependent nature using a synthetic agar medium. We used a selection of representative non-lipid-dependent strains from different animal species and three atypical lipid-dependent strains of this species, which were not able to grow after multiple passages on SGA. More than 400 lipid-dependent Malassezia isolates from animals were studied in order to detect the three lipid-dependent strains of M. pachydermatis. The identity of the atypical strains was confirmed by DNA sequencing. On the other hand, we have modified the Tween diffusion test, which is widely used in the characterization of these yeasts, by using a synthetic agar-based medium instead of SGA. This modification has proved to be useful for differentiation of M. pachydermatis strains, providing reproducible results and a straightforward interpretation. The finding of these peculiar lipid-dependent strains exemplifies the large variability within the species M. pachydermatis, which involves rare atypical strains with particular growth requirements.

Three-channel false colour AFM images for improved interpretation of complex surfaces: a study of filamentous cyanobacteria.

PubMed

Kurk, Toby; Adams, David G; Connell, Simon D; Thomson, Neil H

2010-05-01

Imaging signals derived from the atomic force microscope (AFM) are typically presented as separate adjacent images with greyscale or pseudo-colour palettes. We propose that information-rich false-colour composites are a useful means of presenting three-channel AFM image data. This method can aid the interpretation of complex surfaces and facilitate the perception of information that is convoluted across data channels. We illustrate this approach with images of filamentous cyanobacteria imaged in air and under aqueous buffer, using both deflection-modulation (contact) mode and amplitude-modulation (tapping) mode. Topography-dependent contrast in the error and tertiary signals aids the interpretation of the topography signal by contributing additional data, resulting in a more detailed image, and by showing variations in the probe-surface interaction. Moreover, topography-independent contrast and topography-dependent contrast in the tertiary data image (phase or friction) can be distinguished more easily as a consequence of the three dimensional colour-space.

Clinicians' interpretations of point of care urine culture versus laboratory culture results: analysis from the four-country POETIC trial of diagnosis of uncomplicated urinary tract infection in primary care.

PubMed

Hullegie, Saskia; Wootton, Mandy; Verheij, Theo J M; Thomas-Jones, Emma; Bates, Janine; Hood, Kerenza; Gal, Micaela; Francis, Nick A; Little, Paul; Moore, Michael; Llor, Carl; Pickles, Timothy; Gillespie, David; Kirby, Nigel; Brugman, Curt; Butler, Christopher C

2017-08-01

Urine culture at the point of care minimises delay between obtaining the sample and agar inoculation in a microbiology laboratory, and quantification and sensitivity results can be available more rapidly in primary care. To identify the degree to which clinicians' interpretations of a point-of-care-test (POCT) urine culture (Flexicult™ SSI-Urinary Kit) agrees with laboratory culture in women presenting to primary care with symptoms of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI). Primary care clinicians used the Flexicult™-POCT, recorded their findings and took a photograph of the result, which was interpreted by microbiology laboratory technicians. Urine samples were additionally processed in routine care laboratories. Cross tabulations were used to identify important differences in organism identification, quantification and antibiotic susceptibility between these three sources of data. The influence of various laboratory definitions for UTI on culture were assessed. Primary care clinicians identified 202/289 urine samples (69.9%) as positive for UTI using the Flexicult™-POCT, whereas laboratory culture identified 94-190 (32.5-65.7%) as positive, depending on definition thresholds. 82.9% of samples identified positive for E. coli on laboratory culture were also considered positive for E. coli using the Flexicult™ -POCT, and susceptibilities were reasonably concordant. There were major discrepancies between laboratory staff interpretation of Flexicult™ photographs, clinicians' interpretation of the Flexicult™ test, and laboratory culture results. Flexicult™-POCT overestimated the positivity rate of urine samples for UTI when laboratory culture was used as the reference standard. However, it is unclear whether point-of-care or laboratory based urine culture provides the most valid diagnostic information. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Attribute classification for generating GPR facies models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tronicke, Jens; Allroggen, Niklas

2017-04-01

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is an established geophysical tool to explore near-surface sedimentary environments. It has been successfully used, for example, to reconstruct past depositional environments, to investigate sedimentary processes, to aid hydrogeological investigations, and to assist in hydrocarbon reservoir analog studies. Interpreting such 2D/3D GPR data, usually relies on concepts known as GPR facies analysis, in which GPR facies are defined as units composed of characteristic reflection patterns (in terms of reflection amplitude, continuity, geometry, and internal configuration). The resulting facies models are then interpreted in terms of depositional processes, sedimentary environments, litho-, and hydrofacies. Typically, such GPR facies analyses are implemented in a manual workflow being laborious and rather inefficient especially for 3D data sets. In addition, such a subjective strategy bears the potential of inconsistency because the outcome depends on the expertise and experience of the interpreter. In this presentation, we investigate the feasibility of delineating GPR facies in an objective and largely automated manner. Our proposed workflow relies on a three-step procedure. First, we calculate a variety of geometrical and physical attributes from processed 2D and 3D GPR data sets. Then, we analyze and evaluate this attribute data base (e.g., using statistical tools such as principal component analysis) to reduce its dimensionality and to avoid redundant information, respectively. Finally, we integrate the reduced data base using tools such as composite imaging, cluster analysis, and neural networks. Using field examples that have been acquired across different depositional environments, we demonstrate that the resulting 2D/3D facies models ease and improve the interpretation of GPR data. We conclude that our interpretation strategy allows to generate GPR facies models in a consistent and largely automated manner and might be helpful in variety near-surface applications.

Beware of ligand efficiency (LE): understanding LE data in modeling structure-activity and structure-economy relationships.

PubMed

Polanski, Jaroslaw; Tkocz, Aleksandra; Kucia, Urszula

2017-09-11

On the one hand, ligand efficiency (LE) and the binding efficiency index (BEI), which are binding properties (B) averaged versus the heavy atom count (HAC: LE) or molecular weight (MW: BEI), have recently been declared a novel universal tool for drug design. On the other hand, questions have been raised about the mathematical validity of the LE approach. In fact, neither the critics nor the advocates are precise enough to provide a generally understandable and accepted chemistry of the LE metrics. In particular, this refers to the puzzle of the LE trends for small and large molecules. In this paper, we explain the chemistry and mathematics of the LE type of data. Because LE is a weight metrics related to binding per gram, its hyperbolic decrease with an increasing number of heavy atoms can be easily understood by its 1/MW dependency. Accordingly, we analyzed how this influences the LE trends for ligand-target binding, economic big data or molecular descriptor data. In particular, we compared the trends for the thermodynamic ∆G data of a series of ligands that interact with 14 different target classes, which were extracted from the BindingDB database with the market prices of a commercial compound library of ca. 2.5 mln synthetic building blocks. An interpretation of LE and BEI that clearly explains the observed trends for these parameters are presented here for the first time. Accordingly, we show that the main misunderstanding of the chemical meaning of the BEI and LE parameters is their interpretation as molecular descriptors that are connected with a single molecule, while binding is a statistical effect in which a population of ligands limits the formation of ligand-receptor complexes. Therefore, LE (BEI) should not be interpreted as a molecular (physicochemical) descriptor that is connected with a single molecule but as a property (binding per gram). Accordingly, the puzzle of the surprising behavior of LE is explained by the 1/MW dependency. This effect clearly explains the hyperbolic LE trend not as a real increase in binding potency but as a physical limitation due to the different population of ligands with different MWs in a 1 g sample available for the formation of ligand-receptor complexes. Graphical abstract .

A critical literature review of focused electron beam induced deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Dorp, W. F.; Hagen, C. W.

2008-10-01

An extensive review is given of the results from literature on electron beam induced deposition. Electron beam induced deposition is a complex process, where many and often mutually dependent factors are involved. The process has been studied by many over many years in many different experimental setups, so it is not surprising that there is a great variety of experimental results. To come to a better understanding of the process, it is important to see to which extent the experimental results are consistent with each other and with the existing model. All results from literature were categorized by sorting the data according to the specific parameter that was varied (current density, acceleration voltage, scan patterns, etc.). Each of these parameters can have an effect on the final deposit properties, such as the physical dimensions, the composition, the morphology, or the conductivity. For each parameter-property combination, the available data are discussed and (as far as possible) interpreted. By combining models for electron scattering in a solid, two different growth regimes, and electron beam induced heating, the majority of the experimental results were explained qualitatively. This indicates that the physical processes are well understood, although quantitatively speaking the models can still be improved. The review makes clear that several major issues remain. One issue encountered when interpreting results from literature is the lack of data. Often, important parameters (such as the local precursor pressure) are not reported, which can complicate interpretation of the results. Another issue is the fact that the cross section for electron induced dissociation is unknown. In a number of cases, a correlation between the vertical growth rate and the secondary electron yield was found, which suggests that the secondary electrons dominate the dissociation rather than the primary electrons. Conclusive evidence for this hypothesis has not been found. Finally, there is a limited understanding of the mechanism of electron induced precursor dissociation. In many cases, the deposit composition is not directly dependent on the stoichiometric composition of the precursor and the electron induced decomposition paths can be very different from those expected from calculations or thermal decomposition. The dissociation mechanism is one of the key factors determining the purity of the deposits and a better understanding of this process will help develop electron beam induced deposition into a viable nanofabrication technique.

Companions to α Orionis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karovska, M.; Nisenson, P.; Noyes, R. W.; Stachnik, R.

Detection of two close optical companions to the red supergiant a Ori was accomplished using the PAPA detector for data recording, and speckle imaging for image reconstruction. Our analysis favors an interpretation in which the two optical sources are stellar companions to a Ori.The observed time dependent variations of the polarization of a Ori can be interpreted as being due to a systemic asymmetry created by one of the companions.

Geologic and mineral and water resources investigations in western Colorado using ERTS-1 data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knepper, D. H., Jr. (Compiler)

1973-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Geologic interpretation of ERTS-1 imagery is dependent on recognition of the distribution, continuity, trend, and geometry of key surface features. In the examination of ERTS-1 imagery, lithology must be interpreted largely from the geomorphic expression of the terrain. ERTS-1 imagery is extremely useful in detecting local structures. Most mapped structures are topographically-expressed. Consequently, ERTS-1 imagery acquired during mid-winter, when the solar illumination angle is low, provides the largest amount of structural information. Stereoscopic analyses of ERTS-1 images significantly aid geologic interpretation. Positive transparencies of ERTS-1 images (1:1,000,000) commonly contain more geologic information than can be adequately annotated during geologic interpretation.

Current and Future Constraints on Higgs Couplings in the Nonlinear Effective Theory

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

de Blas, Jorge; Eberhardt, Otto; Krause, Claudius

We perform a Bayesian statistical analysis of the constraints on the nonlinear Effective Theory given by the Higgs electroweak chiral Lagrangian. We obtain bounds on the effective coefficients entering in Higgs observables at the leading order, using all available Higgs-boson signal strengths from the LHC runs 1 and 2. Using a prior dependence study of the solutions, we discuss the results within the context of natural-sized Wilson coefficients. We further study the expected sensitivities to the different Wilson coefficients at various possible future colliders. Finally, we interpret our results in terms of some minimal composite Higgs models.

Power laws, discontinuities and regional city size distributions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Garmestani, A.S.; Allen, Craig R.; Gallagher, C.M.

2008-01-01

Urban systems are manifestations of human adaptation to the natural environment. City size distributions are the expression of hierarchical processes acting upon urban systems. In this paper, we test the entire city size distributions for the southeastern and southwestern United States (1990), as well as the size classes in these regions for power law behavior. We interpret the differences in the size of the regional city size distributions as the manifestation of variable growth dynamics dependent upon city size. Size classes in the city size distributions are snapshots of stable states within urban systems in flux.

Quantization of a theory of 2D dilaton gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Alwis, S. P.

1992-09-01

We discuss the quantization of the 2D gravity theory of Callan, Giddings, Harvey, and Strominger (CGHS), following the procedure of David, and of Distler and Kawai. We find that the physics depends crucially on whether the number of matter fields is greater than or less than 24. In the latter case the singularity pointed out by several authors is absent but the physical interpretation is unclear. In the former case (the one studied by CGHS) the quantum theory which gives CGHS in the linear dilaton semi-classical limit, is different from that which gives CGHS in the extreme Liouville regime.

Solution behavior of metoclopramide in aqueous-alcoholic solutions at 30°C

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deosarkar, S. D.; Sawale, R. T.; Tawde, P. D.; Kalyankar, T. M.

2016-07-01

Densities (ρ) and refractive indices ( n D) of solutions of antiemetic drug metoclopramide (4-amino-5-chloro- N-(2-(diethylamino)ethyl)-2-methoxybenzamide hydrochloride hydrate) in methanolwater and ethanol-water mixtures of different compositions were measured at 30°C. Apparent molar volume (φv) of the drug was calculated from density data and partial molar volumes (φ v 0 ) were determined from Massons relation. Concentration dependence of nD has been studied to determine refractive indices of solution at infinite dilution ( n D 0 ). Results have been interpreted in terms of solute-solvent interactions.

Franz-Keldysh effect in epitaxial ZnO thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bridoux, G.; Villafuerte, M.; Ferreyra, J. M.; Guimpel, J.; Nieva, G.; Figueroa, C. A.; Straube, B.; Heluani, S. P.

2018-02-01

Photoconductance spectroscopy has been studied in epitaxial ZnO thin films with different thicknesses that range between 136 and 21 nm. We report a systematic decrease in photoconductivity and a red shift in band edge photoconductance spectra when the thickness is reduced. For thinner films, it is found that the effective energy gap value diminishes. By time dependent photoconductivity measurements, we found an enhanced contribution of the slow relaxation times for thicker films. These effects are interpreted in terms of a band-bending contribution where the Franz-Keldysh effect and the polarization of ZnO play a major role in thinner films.

EFFECTS OF LASER RADIATION ON MATTER: Influence of the ambient air pressure on short-wavelength radiation from a laser plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Golovin, A. F.; Zemtsov, S. S.; Fedyushin, B. T.

1991-12-01

A detailed experimental investigation was made of the radiation from a plasma created on an aluminum target by a pulsed CO2 laser at different ambient gas pressures. Measurements were made of the energy and angular distribution of the radiation and of the efficiency of conversion of laser energy into reemitted plasma radiation. The intensity of this radiation was found to exhibit pressure-dependent pulsations. The maximum reflection of the laser radiation from the plasma was recorded at a pressure of ~ 40 Torr. An interpretation is given of the experimental data.

Acquisition and extinction in autoshaping.

PubMed

Kakade, Sham; Dayan, Peter

2002-07-01

C. R. Gallistel and J. Gibbon (2000) presented quantitative data on the speed with which animals acquire behavioral responses during autoshaping, together with a statistical model of learning intended to account for them. Although this model captures the form of the dependencies among critical variables, its detailed predictions are substantially at variance with the data. In the present article, further key data on the speed of acquisition are used to motivate an alternative model of learning, in which animals can be interpreted as paying different amounts of attention to stimuli according to estimates of their differential reliabilities as predictors.

Origins of the temperature dependence of hammerhead ribozyme catalysis.

PubMed Central

Peracchi, A

1999-01-01

The difficulties in interpreting the temperature dependence of protein enzyme reactions are well recognized. Here, the hammerhead ribozyme cleavage was investigated under single-turnover conditions between 0 and 60 degrees C as a model for RNA-catalyzed reactions. Under the adopted conditions, the chemical step appears to be rate-limiting. However, the observed rate of cleavage is affected by pre-catalytic equilibria involving deprotonation of an essential group and binding of at least one low-affinity Mg2+ion. Thus, the apparent entropy and enthalpy of activation include contributions from the temperature dependence of these equilibria, precluding a simple physical interpretation of the observed activation parameters. Similar pre-catalytic equilibria likely contribute to the observed activation parameters for ribozyme reactions in general. The Arrhenius plot for the hammerhead reaction is substantially curved over the temperature range considered, which suggests the occurrence of a conformational change of the ribozyme ground state around physiological temperatures. PMID:10390528

Scale Dependence of Oak Woodland Historical Fire Intervals: Contrasting the Barrens of Tennessee and Cross Timbers of Oklahoma, USA

Treesearch

Michael C. Stambaugh; Richard P. Guyette; Joseph M. Marschall; Daniel C. Dey

2016-01-01

Characterization of scale dependence of fire intervals could inform interpretations of fire history and improve fire prescriptions that aim to mimic historical fire regime conditions. We quantified the temporal variability in fire regimes and described the spatial dependence of fire intervals through the analysis of multi-century fire scar records (8 study sites, 332...

Scale-dependent variation in forest structures in naturally dynamic boreal forest landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulha, Niko; Pasanen, Leena; De Grandpré, Louis; Kuuluvainen, Timo; Aakala, Tuomas

2017-04-01

Natural forest structures vary at multiple spatial scales. This variation reflects the occurrence of driving factors, such as disturbances and variation in soil or topography. To explore and understand the linkages of forest structural characteristics and factors driving their variation, we need to recognize how the structural characteristics vary in relation to spatial scale. This can be achieved by identifying scale-dependent features in forest structure within unmanaged forest landscapes. By identifying these features and examining their relationship with potential driving factors, we can better understand the dynamics of forest structural development. Here, we examine the spatial variation in forest structures at multiple spatial scales, utilizing data from old-growth boreal forests in two regions with contrasting disturbance regimes: northern Finland and north-eastern Québec, Canada ( 67° 45'N, 29° 36'E, 49° 39'N, 67° 55'W, respectively). The three landscapes (4 km2 each) in Finland are dominated by Pinus sylvestris and Picea abies, whereas the two landscapes in Québec are dominated by Abies balsamea and Picea mariana. Québec's forests are a subject to cyclic outbreaks of the eastern spruce budworm, causing extensive mortality especially in A. balsamea-dominated stands. In the Finnish landscapes, gap- to patch-scale disturbances due to tree senescence, fungi and wind, as well as infrequent surface fires in areas dominated by P. sylvestris, prevail. Owing to the differences in the species compositions and the disturbance regimes, we expect differing scales of variation between the landscapes. To quantify patterns of variation, we visually interpret stereopairs of recent aerial photographs. From the photographs, we collect information on forest canopy coverage, species composition and dead wood. For the interpretation, each 4 km2 plot is divided into 0.1ha square cells (4096 per plot). Interpretations are validated against field observations and compiled to raster maps. We analyze the raster maps with Bayesian scale space approach (iBSiZer), which aims in capturing credible variations at different spatial scales. As a result, we can detect structural entities (e.g. patches with higher canopy cover), which deviate credibly from their surroundings. The detected entities can further be linked to specific drivers. Our results show that the role of a particular driving factor varies in relation to spatial scale. For example, in the Finnish landscapes, topoedaphic factors exerted a stronger control on broad-scale forest structural characteristics, whereas recent disturbances (quantified as the amount of dead wood) appeared to play an important role in explaining the smaller scale variation of forest structures. Here, we showcase the methodology used in the detection of scale-dependent forest structural entities and present the results of our analysis of the spatial scales of variation in the natural boreal forest structures.

The desired moral attitude of the physician: (I) empathy.

PubMed

Gelhaus, Petra

2012-05-01

In professional medical ethics, the physician traditionally is obliged to fulfil specific duties as well as to embody a responsible and trustworthy personality. In the public discussion, different concepts are suggested to describe the desired underlying attitude of physicians. In this article, one of them--empathy--is presented in an interpretation that is meant to depicture (together with the two additional concepts compassion and care) this attitude. Therefore empathy in the clinical context is defined as the adequate understanding of the inner processes of the patient concerning his health-related problems. Adequacy is scrutinized on behalf of the emotional and subjective involvement of he physician, and on the necessary dependence on medical-moral-goals. In the present interpretation, empathy alone is no guarantee of the right moral attitude, but a necessary instrumental skill in order to perceive and treat a patient as an individual person. The concepts of compassion and care that will be discussed in two forthcoming articles are necessary parts to describe the desired moral attitude of the physician more completely.

Unifying different interpretations of the nonlinear response in glass-forming liquids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gadige, P.; Albert, S.; Michl, M.; Bauer, Th.; Lunkenheimer, P.; Loidl, A.; Tourbot, R.; Wiertel-Gasquet, C.; Biroli, G.; Bouchaud, J.-P.; Ladieu, F.

2017-09-01

This work aims at reconsidering several interpretations coexisting in the recent literature concerning nonlinear susceptibilities in supercooled liquids. We present experimental results on glycerol and propylene carbonate, showing that the three independent cubic susceptibilities have very similar frequency and temperature dependences, for both their amplitudes and phases. This strongly suggests a unique physical mechanism responsible for the growth of these nonlinear susceptibilities. We show that the framework proposed by two of us [J.-P. Bouchaud and G. Biroli, Phys. Rev. B 72, 064204 (2005), 10.1103/PhysRevB.72.064204], where the growth of nonlinear susceptibilities is intimately related to the growth of glassy domains, accounts for all the salient experimental features. We then review several complementary and/or alternative models and show that the notion of cooperatively rearranging glassy domains is a key (implicit or explicit) ingredient to all of them. This paves the way for future experiments, which should deepen our understanding of glasses.

Quantitative Characterization of Tissue Microstructure with Temporal Diffusion Spectroscopy

PubMed Central

Xu, Junzhong; Does, Mark D.; Gore, John C.

2009-01-01

The signals recorded by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) are dependent on the micro-structural properties of biological tissues, so it is possible to obtain quantitative structural information non-invasively from such measurements. Oscillating gradient spin echo (OGSE) methods have the ability to probe the behavior of water diffusion over different time scales and the potential to detect variations in intracellular structure. To assist in the interpretation of OGSE data, analytical expressions have been derived for diffusion-weighted signals with OGSE methods for restricted diffusion in some typical structures, including parallel planes, cylinders and spheres, using the theory of temporal diffusion spectroscopy. These analytical predictions have been confirmed with computer simulations. These expressions suggest how OGSE signals from biological tissues should be analyzed to characterize tissue microstructure, including how to estimate cell nuclear sizes. This approach provides a model to interpret diffusion data obtained from OGSE measurements that can be used for applications such as monitoring tumor response to treatment in vivo. PMID:19616979

Within-species patterns challenge our understanding of the leaf economics spectrum.

PubMed

Anderegg, Leander D L; Berner, Logan T; Badgley, Grayson; Sethi, Meera L; Law, Beverly E; HilleRisLambers, Janneke

2018-05-01

The utility of plant functional traits for predictive ecology relies on our ability to interpret trait variation across multiple taxonomic and ecological scales. Using extensive data sets of trait variation within species, across species and across communities, we analysed whether and at what scales leaf economics spectrum (LES) traits show predicted trait-trait covariation. We found that most variation in LES traits is often, but not universally, at high taxonomic levels (between families or genera in a family). However, we found that trait covariation shows distinct taxonomic scale dependence, with some trait correlations showing opposite signs within vs. across species. LES traits responded independently to environmental gradients within species, with few shared environmental responses across traits or across scales. We conclude that, at small taxonomic scales, plasticity may obscure or reverse the broad evolutionary linkages between leaf traits, meaning that variation in LES traits cannot always be interpreted as differences in resource use strategy. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Diradicals acting through diamagnetic phenylene vinylene bridges: Raman spectroscopy as a probe to characterize spin delocalization

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

González, Sandra Rodríguez; Nieto-Ortega, Belén; González Cano, Rafael C.

2014-04-28

We present a complete Raman spectroscopic study in two structurally well-defined diradical species of different lengths incorporating oligo p-phenylene vinylene bridges between two polychlorinated triphenylmethyl radical units, a disposition that allows sizeable conjugation between the two radicals through and with the bridge. The spectroscopic data are interpreted and supported by quantum chemical calculations. We focus the attention on the Raman frequency changes, interpretable in terms of: (i) bridge length (conjugation length); (ii) bridge conformational structure; and (iii) electronic coupling between the terminal radical units with the bridge and through the bridge, which could delineate through-bond spin polarization, or spin delocalization.more » These items are addressed by using the “oligomer approach” in conjunction with pressure and temperature dependent Raman spectroscopic data. In summary, we have attempted to translate the well-known strategy to study the electron (charge) structure of π−conjugated molecules by Raman spectroscopy to the case of electron (spin) interactions via the spin delocalization mechanism.« less

Visualizing without Vision at the Microscale: Students with Visual Impairments Explore Cells with Touch

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, M. Gail; Minogue, James; Oppewal, Tom; Cook, Michelle P.; Broadwell, Bethany

2006-01-01

Science instruction is typically highly dependent on visual representations of scientific concepts that are communicated through textbooks, teacher presentations, and computer-based multimedia materials. Little is known about how students with visual impairments access and interpret these types of visually-dependent instructional materials. This…

The pressure dependence of oxygen-isotope-exchange rates between solution and apical oxygens on the UO 2(OH) 4 2- ion

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

Harley, Steven J.; Ohlin, C. Andre; Johnson, Rene L.

2011-04-06

The pressure dependence of isotope exchange rate was determined for apical oxygen atoms in the UO 2(OH) 4 2-(aq) ion. The results can be interpreted to indicate an associative character of the reaction.

Treatment Adherence in a Lay Health Adviser Intervention to Treat Tobacco Dependence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hood, N. E.; Ferketich, A. K.; Paskett, E. D.; Wewers, M. E.

2013-01-01

Lay health advisers (LHAs) are increasingly used to deliver tobacco dependence treatment, especially with low-socioeconomic status (SES) populations. More information is needed about treatment adherence to help interpret mixed evidence of LHA intervention effectiveness. This study examined adherence to behavioral counseling and nicotine patches in…

[Clinical importance of thyroid gland cytology].

PubMed

Ting, S; Synoracki, S; Bockisch, A; Führer, D; Schmid, K W

2015-11-01

The cytological evaluation of fine needle biopsies (FNB) of the thyroid gland crucially depends on a close cooperation between clinicians and cytopathologists. Scintigraphy, sonography as well as clinical data and patient history are necessary for a correct interpretation of the indications for FNB; moreover, these data are of outstanding importance for cytopathologists for the correct interpretation of the cytomorphological findings. This overview describes the present standards in the acquisition, technical workup and cytopathological interpretation of thyroid gland tissue obtained by FNB, particularly focusing on the rapidly growing relevance of additional molecular pathological investigations to increase the diagnostic accuracy of thyroid FNB.

Compositions of Normal and Anomalous Eucrite-Type Mafic Achondrites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mittlefehldt, D. W.; Peng, Z. X.; Mertzman, S. A.

2016-01-01

The most common asteroidal igneous meteorites are eucrite-type mafic achondrites - basalts and gabbros composed of ferroan pigeonite, ferroan augite, calcic plagioclase, silica, ilmenite, troilite, Ca-phosphate, chromite and Fe-metal. These rocks are thought to have formed on a single asteroid along with howardites and diogenites. However, high precision O-isotopic analyses have shown that some mafic achondrites have small, well-resolved, non-mass-dependent differences that have been interpreted as indicating derivation from different asteroids. Some of these O-anomalous mafic achondrites also have anomalous petrologic characteristics, strengthening the case that they hail from distinct parent asteroids. We present the results of bulk compositional studies of a suite of normal and anomalous eucrite-type basalts and cumulate gabbros.

Perception of emotional nonsense sentences in China, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Russia, Sweden, and the USA.

PubMed

Waaramaa, Teija

2015-10-01

The present study focused on the identification of emotions in cross-cultural conditions on different continents and among subjects with divergent language backgrounds. The aim was to investigate whether the perception of the basic emotions from nonsense vocal samples was universal, dependent on voice quality, musicality, and/or gender. Listening tests for 350 participants were conducted on location in a variety of cultures: China, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Russia, Sweden, and the USA. The results suggested that the voice quality parameters played a role in the identification of emotions without the linguistic content. Cultural background may affect the interpretation of the emotions more than the presumed universality. Musical interest tended to facilitate emotion identification. No gender differences were found.

Polarisation effects in twin-core fibre: Application for mode locking in a fibre laser

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

Lobach, I A; Kablukov, S I; Podivilov, Evgenii V

2012-09-30

We report the first measurements of the longitudinal power distribution in a twin-core optical fibre at different input light polarisations. Experimental evidence is presented that, because of the difference in birefringence between the cores, the power in them depends on which core the beam is launched into. Experimental data are interpreted in terms of a modified polarisation model for mode coupling in twin-core fibres which takes into account the birefringence of the cores. In addition, we demonstrate for the first time the use of the polarisation properties of a twincore fibre for mode locking in a fibre laser. (optical fibres,more » lasers and amplifiers. properties and applications)« less

Interpretation of geographic patterns in simulated orbital television imagery of earth resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Latham, J. P.; Cross, C. I.; Kuyper, W. H.; Witmer, R. E.

1972-01-01

In order to better determine the effects of the television imagery characteristics upon the interpretation of geographic patterns obtainable from orbital television sensors, and in order to better evaluate the influences of alternative sensor system parameters such as changes in orbital altitudes or scan line rates, a team of three professional interpreters independently mapped thematically the selected geographic phenomena that they could detect in orbital television imagery produced on a fourteen inch monitor and recorded photographically for analysis. Three thematic maps were compiled by each interpreter. The maps were: (1) transportation patterns; (2) other land use; and (3) physical regions. The results from the three interpreters are compared, agreements noted, and differences analyzed for cause such as disagreement on identification of phenomenon, visual acuity, differences in interpretation techniques, and differing professional backgrounds.

A New Microscopic Model of the Rate- and State- Friction Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, T.; Rubin, A. M.

2016-12-01

The Slip (Ruina) law and the Aging (Dieterich) law are the two most common descriptions of the evolution of "state" in rate- and state-dependent friction, behind which are the ideas of slip-dependent and time-dependent fault healing, respectively. Since the mid-1990's, friction experiments have been interpreted as demonstrating that fault healing in rock is primarily time-dependent, and that frictional strength is proportional to contact area (Dieterich and Kilgore, 1994; Beeler et al., 1994). However, a recent re-examination of the data of Beeler et al. (1994) suggests that the evidence for time-dependent healing is equivocal, while large step velocity decreases provide unequivocal evidence of slip-dependent healing (Bhattacharya et al., AGU 2016). Nonetheless, unlike the Aging law, for which see-through experiments showing growing contacts could serve as a physical model, there has been no corresponding physical picture for the Slip law. In this study, we develop a new microscopic model of friction in which each asperity has a heterogeneous strength, with individual portions "remembering" the velocity at which they came into existence. Such a scenario could arise via processes that are more efficient at the margin of a contact than within the interior (e.g., chemical diffusion). A numerical kernel for friction evolution is developed for arbitrary slip histories and an exponential distribution of asperity sizes. For velocity steps we derive an analytical expression that is essentially the Slip law. Numerical inversions show that this model performs as well as the Slip law when fitting velocity step data, but (unfortunately) without improving much the fit to slide-hold-slide data. Because "state" as defined by the Aging law has traditionally been interpreted as contact age, we also use our model to determine whether the "Aging law" actually tracks contact age for general velocity histories. As is traditional, we assume that strength increases logarithmically with age. For reasonable definitions of "age" we obtain results significantly different from the Aging law for velocity step increases. Interestingly, we can obtain an analytical solution for velocity steps that is very close to the Aging law if we adopt a definition of age that we consider to be non-physical.

Autoadaptivity and optimization in distributed ECG interpretation.

PubMed

Augustyniak, Piotr

2010-03-01

This paper addresses principal issues of the ECG interpretation adaptivity in a distributed surveillance network. In the age of pervasive access to wireless digital communication, distributed biosignal interpretation networks may not only optimally solve difficult medical cases, but also adapt the data acquisition, interpretation, and transmission to the variable patient's status and availability of technical resources. The background of such adaptivity is the innovative use of results from the automatic ECG analysis to the seamless remote modification of the interpreting software. Since the medical relevance of issued diagnostic data depends on the patient's status, the interpretation adaptivity implies the flexibility of report content and frequency. Proposed solutions are based on the research on human experts behavior, procedures reliability, and usage statistics. Despite the limited scale of our prototype client-server application, the tests yielded very promising results: the transmission channel occupation was reduced by 2.6 to 5.6 times comparing to the rigid reporting mode and the improvement of the remotely computed diagnostic outcome was achieved in case of over 80% of software adaptation attempts.

Quantitative interpretation of the magnetic susceptibility frequency dependence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ustra, Andrea; Mendonça, Carlos A.; Leite, Aruã; Jovane, Luigi; Trindade, Ricardo I. F.

2018-05-01

Low-field mass-specific magnetic susceptibility (MS) measurements using multifrequency alternating fields are commonly used to evaluate concentration of ferrimagnetic particles in the transition of superparamagnetic (SP) to stable single domain (SSD). In classical palaeomagnetic analyses, this measurement serves as a preliminary assessment of rock samples providing rapid, non-destructive, economical and easy information of magnetic properties. The SP-SSD transition is relevant in environmental studies because it has been associated with several geological and biogeochemical processes affecting magnetic mineralogy. MS is a complex function of mineral-type and grain-size distribution, as well as measuring parameters such as external field magnitude and frequency. In this work, we propose a new technique to obtain quantitative information on grain-size variations of magnetic particles in the SP-SSD transition by inverting frequency-dependent susceptibility. We introduce a descriptive parameter named as `limiting frequency effect' that provides an accurate estimation of MS loss with frequency. Numerical simulations show the methodology capability in providing data fitting and model parameters in many practical situations. Real-data applications with magnetite nanoparticles and core samples from sediments of Poggio le Guaine section of Umbria-Marche Basin (Italy) provide additional information not clearly recognized when interpreting cruder MS data. Caution is needed when interpreting frequency dependence in terms of single relaxation processes, which are not universally applicable and depend upon the nature of magnetic mineral in the material. Nevertheless, the proposed technique is a promising tool for SP-SSD content analyses.

On the Reliability of Source Time Functions Estimated Using Empirical Green's Function Methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gallegos, A. C.; Xie, J.; Suarez Salas, L.

2017-12-01

The Empirical Green's Function (EGF) method (Hartzell, 1978) has been widely used to extract source time functions (STFs). In this method, seismograms generated by collocated events with different magnitudes are deconvolved. Under a fundamental assumption that the STF of the small event is a delta function, the deconvolved Relative Source Time Function (RSTF) yields the large event's STF. While this assumption can be empirically justified by examination of differences in event size and frequency content of the seismograms, there can be a lack of rigorous justification of the assumption. In practice, a small event might have a finite duration when the RSTF is retrieved and interpreted as the large event STF with a bias. In this study, we rigorously analyze this bias using synthetic waveforms generated by convolving a realistic Green's function waveform with pairs of finite-duration triangular or parabolic STFs. The RSTFs are found using a time-domain based matrix deconvolution. We find when the STFs of smaller events are finite, the RSTFs are a series of narrow non-physical spikes. Interpreting these RSTFs as a series of high-frequency source radiations would be very misleading. The only reliable and unambiguous information we can retrieve from these RSTFs is the difference in durations and the moment ratio of the two STFs. We can apply a Tikhonov smoothing to obtain a single-pulse RSTF, but its duration is dependent on the choice of weighting, which may be subjective. We then test the Multi-Channel Deconvolution (MCD) method (Plourde & Bostock, 2017) which assumes that both STFs have finite durations to be solved for. A concern about the MCD method is that the number of unknown parameters is larger, which would tend to make the problem rank-deficient. Because the kernel matrix is dependent on the STFs to be solved for under a positivity constraint, we can only estimate the rank-deficiency with a semi-empirical approach. Based on the results so far, we find that the rank-deficiency makes it improbable to solve for both STFs. To solve for the larger STF we need to assume the shape of the small STF to be known a priori. Thus, the reliability of the estimated large STF depends on the difference between the assumed and true shapes of the small STF. We will show how the reliability varies with realistic scenarios.

Psychological and neuropsychological correlates of dependence-related behaviour in medication overuse headaches: a one year follow-up study.

PubMed

Radat, Françoise; Chanraud, Sandra; Di Scala, Georges; Dousset, Virginie; Allard, Michèle

2013-07-04

Medication Overuse Headache (MOH) can be related in some patients to dependence-related behaviour characterised by craving, a deficit in controlling substance intake, which is associated to orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) dysfunction. The aim of this study was to explore the psychological correlates in MOH patients and the functioning of the OFC through neuropsychological assessment (Iowa Gambling Task: IGT) and to relate it to prognosis at a one year follow-up point. Seventeen subjects suffering from probable MOH were included and compared to 19 migraineurs and to 17 controls. The results show significant between group differences for behavioural dependence, depression, anxiety, catastrophizing. There were no between group differences for impulsivity. Mean IGT score did not allow differentiation of MOH patients from the other groups, whereas the score was significantly different between opiate abusers and other medication abusers (45 +/-5.7 versus 57.1 +/-8.2, p = 0.019). Among the clinical variables rated at inclusion, the amount of acute headache medication taken per month was the only one predicting the prognosis (RR = 1.05, 95% CI = 1-1.06, p = 0.04). A slight increase in risk of relapse at 1 year was observed in patients with poorer IGT scores (RR = 0.92, 95% CI = 0.85-1, p = 0.05) and higher behavioural-dependence scores (RR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1-1.14, p = 0.05). None of the other psychological variables predicted relapse risk. These results must be interpreted with caution due to the low number of subjects. They showed a deficit in decision making processes in MOH patients who overuse medications containing psychoactive substances like opiates. Moreover dependence-related variables are related to the prognosis.

CRITICAL DIFFERENCES AND CLUES IN ETA CAR'S 2009 EVENT ,

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

Mehner, Andrea; Davidson, Kris; Humphreys, Roberta M.

2011-10-20

We monitored Eta Carinae with the Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 and Gemini GMOS throughout the 2009 spectroscopic event, which was expected to differ from its predecessor in 2003. Here we report major observed differences between events and their implications. Some of these results were quite unexpected. (1) The UV brightness minimum was much deeper in 2009. This suggests that physical conditions in the early stages of an event depend on different parameters than the 'normal' inter-event wind. Extra mass ejection from the primary star is one possible cause. (2) The expected He II {lambda}4687 brightness maximum was followed several weeksmore » later by another. We explain why this fact and the timing of the {lambda}4687 maxima strongly support a 'shock breakup' hypothesis for X-ray and {lambda}4687 behavior as proposed 5-10 years ago. (3) We observed a polar view of the star via light reflected by dust in the Homunculus nebula. Surprisingly, at that location, the variations of emission-line brightness and Doppler velocities closely resembled a direct view of the star, which should not have been true for any phenomena related to the orbit. This result casts very serious doubt on all the proposed velocity interpretations that depend on the secondary star's orbital motion. (4) Latitude-dependent variations of H I, He I, and Fe II features reveal aspects of wind behavior during the event. In addition, we discuss implications of the observations for several crucial unsolved problems.« less

State-Dependent Decisions Cause Apparent Violations of Rationality in Animal Choice

PubMed Central

Schuck-Paim, Cynthia; Pompilio, Lorena

2004-01-01

Normative models of choice in economics and biology usually expect preferences to be consistent across contexts, or “rational” in economic language. Following a large body of literature reporting economically irrational behaviour in humans, breaches of rationality by animals have also been recently described. If proven systematic, these findings would challenge long-standing biological approaches to behavioural theorising, and suggest that cognitive processes similar to those claimed to cause irrationality in humans can also hinder optimality approaches to modelling animal preferences. Critical differences between human and animal experiments have not, however, been sufficiently acknowledged. While humans can be instructed conceptually about the choice problem, animals need to be trained by repeated exposure to all contingencies. This exposure often leads to differences in state between treatments, hence changing choices while preserving rationality. We report experiments with European starlings demonstrating that apparent breaches of rationality can result from state-dependence. We show that adding an inferior alternative to a choice set (a “decoy”) affects choices, an effect previously interpreted as indicating irrationality. However, these effects appear and disappear depending on whether state differences between choice contexts are present or not. These results open the possibility that some expressions of maladaptive behaviour are due to oversights in the migration of ideas between economics and biology, and suggest that key differences between human and nonhuman research must be recognised if ideas are to safely travel between these fields. PMID:15550984

Motor demand-dependent activation of ipsilateral motor cortex.

PubMed

Buetefisch, Cathrin M; Revill, Kate Pirog; Shuster, Linda; Hines, Benjamin; Parsons, Michael

2014-08-15

The role of ipsilateral primary motor cortex (M1) in hand motor control during complex task performance remains controversial. Bilateral M1 activation is inconsistently observed in functional (f)MRI studies of unilateral hand performance. Two factors limit the interpretation of these data. As the motor tasks differ qualitatively in these studies, it is conceivable that M1 contributions differ with the demand on skillfulness. Second, most studies lack the verification of a strictly unilateral execution of the motor task during the acquisition of imaging data. Here, we use fMRI to determine whether ipsilateral M1 activity depends on the demand for precision in a pointing task where precision varied quantitatively while movement trajectories remained equal. Thirteen healthy participants used an MRI-compatible joystick to point to targets of four different sizes in a block design. A clustered acquisition technique allowed simultaneous fMRI/EMG data collection and confirmed that movements were strictly unilateral. Accuracy of performance increased with target size. Overall, the pointing task revealed activation in contralateral and ipsilateral M1, extending into contralateral somatosensory and parietal areas. Target size-dependent activation differences were found in ipsilateral M1 extending into the temporal/parietal junction, where activation increased with increasing demand on accuracy. The results suggest that ipsilateral M1 is active during the execution of a unilateral motor task and that its activity is modulated by the demand on precision. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

Misclassification of Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) mammographic density and implications for breast density reporting legislation

PubMed Central

Gard, Charlotte C.; Aiello Bowles, Erin J.; Miglioretti, Diana L.; Taplin, Stephen H.; Rutter, Carolyn M.

2015-01-01

U.S. states have begun legislating mammographic breast density reporting to women, requiring that women undergoing screening mammography who have dense breast tissue (BI-RADS density c or d) receive written notification of their breast density; however, the impact that misclassification of breast density will have on this reporting remains unclear. The aim of this study was to assess reproducibility of the four-category Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) density measure and examine its relationship with a continuous measure of percent density. We enrolled 19 radiologists, experienced in breast imaging, from a single integrated healthcare system. Radiologists interpreted 341 screening mammograms at two points in time six months apart. We assessed intra- and inter-observer agreement in radiologists’ interpretations of BI-RADS density and explored whether agreement depended upon radiologist characteristics. We examined the relationship between BI-RADS density and percent density in a subset of 282 examinations. Intra-radiologist agreement was moderate to substantial, with kappa varying across radiologists from 0.50–0.81 (mean=0.69, 95% CI (0.63, 0.73)). Intra-radiologist agreement was higher for radiologists with ≥10 years experience interpreting mammograms (difference in mean kappa=0.10, 95% CI (0.01, 0.24)). Inter-radiologist agreement varied widely across radiologist pairs from slight to substantial, with kappa ranging from 0.02–0.72 (mean=0.46, 95% CI (0.36, 0.55)). Of 145 examinations interpreted as “non-dense” (BI-RADS density a or b) by the majority of radiologists, 82.8% were interpreted as “dense” (BI-RADS density c or d) by at least one radiologist. Of 187 examinations interpreted as “dense” by the majority of radiologists, 47.1% were interpreted as “non-dense” by at least one radiologist. While the examinations of almost half of the women in our study were interpreted clinically as having BI-RADS density c or d, only about 10% of examinations had percent density >50%. Our results suggest that breast density reporting based on a single BI-RADS density interpretation may be misleading due to high inter-radiologist variability and a lack of correspondence between BI-RADS density and percent density. PMID:26133090

Light distribution in diffractive multifocal optics and its optimization.

PubMed

Portney, Valdemar

2011-11-01

To expand a geometrical model of diffraction efficiency and its interpretation to the multifocal optic and to introduce formulas for analysis of far and near light distribution and their application to multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) and to diffraction efficiency optimization. Medical device consulting firm, Newport Coast, California, USA. Experimental study. Application of a geometrical model to the kinoform (single focus diffractive optical element) was expanded to a multifocal optic to produce analytical definitions of light split between far and near images and light loss to other diffraction orders. The geometrical model gave a simple interpretation of light split in a diffractive multifocal IOL. An analytical definition of light split between far, near, and light loss was introduced as curve fitting formulas. Several examples of application to common multifocal diffractive IOLs were developed; for example, to light-split change with wavelength. The analytical definition of diffraction efficiency may assist in optimization of multifocal diffractive optics that minimize light loss. Formulas for analysis of light split between different foci of multifocal diffractive IOLs are useful in interpreting diffraction efficiency dependence on physical characteristics, such as blaze heights of the diffractive grooves and wavelength of light, as well as for optimizing multifocal diffractive optics. Disclosure is found in the footnotes. Copyright © 2011 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quantitative inference of population response properties across eccentricity from motion-induced maps in macaque V1

PubMed Central

Chen, Ming; Wu, Si; Lu, Haidong D.; Roe, Anna W.

2013-01-01

Interpreting population responses in the primary visual cortex (V1) remains a challenge especially with the advent of techniques measuring activations of large cortical areas simultaneously with high precision. For successful interpretation, a quantitatively precise model prediction is of great importance. In this study, we investigate how accurate a spatiotemporal filter (STF) model predicts average response profiles to coherently drifting random dot motion obtained by optical imaging of intrinsic signals in V1 of anesthetized macaques. We establish that orientation difference maps, obtained by subtracting orthogonal axis-of-motion, invert with increasing drift speeds, consistent with the motion streak effect. Consistent with perception, the speed at which the map inverts (the critical speed) depends on cortical eccentricity and systematically increases from foveal to parafoveal. We report that critical speeds and response maps to drifting motion are excellently reproduced by the STF model. Our study thus suggests that the STF model is quantitatively accurate enough to be used as a first model of choice for interpreting responses obtained with intrinsic imaging methods in V1. We show further that this good quantitative correspondence opens the possibility to infer otherwise not easily accessible population receptive field properties from responses to complex stimuli, such as drifting random dot motions. PMID:23197457

Using the model statement to elicit information and cues to deceit in interpreter-based interviews.

PubMed

Vrij, Aldert; Leal, Sharon; Mann, Samantha; Dalton, Gary; Jo, Eunkyung; Shaboltas, Alla; Khaleeva, Maria; Granskaya, Juliana; Houston, Kate

2017-06-01

We examined how the presence of an interpreter during an interview affects eliciting information and cues to deceit, while using a method that encourages interviewees to provide more detail (model statement, MS). A total of 199 Hispanic, Korean and Russian participants were interviewed either in their own native language without an interpreter, or through an interpreter. Interviewees either lied or told the truth about a trip they made during the last twelve months. Half of the participants listened to a MS at the beginning of the interview. The dependent variables were 'detail', 'complications', 'common knowledge details', 'self-handicapping strategies' and 'ratio of complications'. In the MS-absent condition, the interviews resulted in less detail when an interpreter was present than when an interpreter was absent. In the MS-present condition, the interviews resulted in a similar amount of detail in the interpreter present and absent conditions. Truthful statements included more complications and fewer common knowledge details and self-handicapping strategies than deceptive statements, and the ratio of complications was higher for truth tellers than liars. The MS strengthened these results, whereas an interpreter had no effect on these results. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Context-Dependent Modulation of Functional Connectivity: Secondary Somatosensory Cortex to Prefrontal Cortex Connections in Two-Stimulus-Interval Discrimination Tasks

PubMed Central

Chow, Stephanie S.; Romo, Ranulfo; Brody, Carlos D.

2010-01-01

In a complex world, a sensory cue may prompt different actions in different contexts. A laboratory example of context-dependent sensory processing is the two-stimulus-interval discrimination task. In each trial, a first stimulus (f1) must be stored in short-term memory and later compared with a second stimulus (f2), for the animal to come to a binary decision. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) neurons need to interpret the f1 information in one way (perhaps with a positive weight) and the f2 information in an opposite way (perhaps with a negative weight), although they come from the very same secondary somatosensory cortex (S2) neurons; therefore, a functional sign inversion is required. This task thus provides a clear example of context-dependent processing. Here we develop a biologically plausible model of a context-dependent signal transformation of the stimulus encoding from S2 to PFC. To ground our model in experimental neurophysiology, we use neurophysiological data recorded by R. Romo’s laboratory from both cortical area S2 and PFC in monkeys performing the task. Our main goal is to use experimentally observed context-dependent modulations of firing rates in cortical area S2 as the basis for a model that achieves a context-dependent inversion of the sign of S2 to PFC connections. This is done without requiring any changes in connectivity (Salinas, 2004b). We (1) characterize the experimentally observed context-dependent firing rate modulation in area S2, (2) construct a model that results in the sign transformation, and (3) characterize the robustness and consequent biological plausibility of the model. PMID:19494146

A Vietnamese Head Start Interpreter: A Case Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwa-Froelich, Deborah A.; Westby, Carol E.

2003-01-01

This article presents a case study of a Vietnamese interpreter/health service worker working for a Head Start center. It describes the different role expectations of the various participants and the conflict that occurred because of these differences. Discussion examines the following cultural constructs: interpreter roles;…

Schizotypy in adolescence: the role of gender and age.

PubMed

Fonseca-Pedrero, Eduardo; Lemos-Giráldez, Serafín; Muñiz, José; García-Cueto, Eduardo; Campillo-Alvarez, Angela

2008-02-01

Schizotypy is a multidimensional personality construct that appears to indicate psychosis proneness. Supposedly, schizotypal traits behave differently depending on a person's age and gender, but few studies have examined this relationship. In our study we used the Thinking and Perceptual Style Questionnaire and the Junior Schizotypy Scales. The sample was made up of 321 students (169 males) with an age range of 12 to 17 years. The results show significant differences in gender and age groups. Males score higher than females on Physical Anhedonia, Social Anhedonia, and Impulsive Non-Conformity scales, while females score higher or Positive Symptoms, Negative Evaluation, and Social Paranoia scales. Significant differences were also found among age groups: Unusual experiences, self-referent ideation, social paranoia, thought disorder, and negative evaluation were more frequent in later stages of adolescence. However, the meaning of this difference could be interpreted in terms of emotional turbulence rather than as a direct indicator of vulnerability to psychosis.

Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation of the adsorption isotherms of water molecules on model soot particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moulin, F.; Picaud, S.; Hoang, P. N. M.; Jedlovszky, P.

2007-10-01

The grand canonical Monte Carlo method is used to simulate the adsorption isotherms of water molecules on different types of model soot particles. The soot particles are modeled by graphite-type layers arranged in an onionlike structure that contains randomly distributed hydrophilic sites, such as OH and COOH groups. The calculated water adsorption isotherm at 298K exhibits different characteristic shapes depending both on the type and the location of the hydrophilic sites and also on the size of the pores inside the soot particle. The different shapes of the adsorption isotherms result from different ways of water aggregation in or/and around the soot particle. The present results show the very weak influence of the OH sites on the water adsorption process when compared to the COOH sites. The results of these simulations can help in interpreting the experimental isotherms of water adsorbed on aircraft soot.

Control of the orbital ordering in manganite superlattices and impact on properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koçak, Ayşegül Begüm; Varignon, Julien; Lemal, Sébastien; Ghosez, Philippe; Lepetit, Marie-Bernadette

2017-09-01

The present paper theoretically studies the possibility to control the orbital ordering in manganite superlattices. Indeed, favored dz2eg -orbital occupancy is one of the proposed interpretations for the formation of a "dead" layer at the interfaces in manganite thin films and superlattices. We show here that favored dz2eg -orbital occupancy at the interfaces can be prevented by using alkaline-earth simple oxides as alternating layers in very thin superlattices. Such an alternating layer promotes the contraction of the manganite layers at the interfaces and favors a dx2-y2eg orbital occupancy. This result holds for different manganites, different alkaline-earth simple oxides, as well as different thicknesses of the two layers. While Boltzmann's transport calculations on different superlattices show unexpectedly only weak dependence of the electrical conductivity on the orbital ordering, the enhanced occupation of the dx2-y2 orbital should result in an increased Curie temperature.

Fall in C-peptide during first 2 years from diagnosis: evidence of at least two distinct phases from composite Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet data.

PubMed

Greenbaum, Carla J; Beam, Craig A; Boulware, David; Gitelman, Stephen E; Gottlieb, Peter A; Herold, Kevan C; Lachin, John M; McGee, Paula; Palmer, Jerry P; Pescovitz, Mark D; Krause-Steinrauf, Heidi; Skyler, Jay S; Sosenko, Jay M

2012-08-01

Interpretation of clinical trials to alter the decline in β-cell function after diagnosis of type 1 diabetes depends on a robust understanding of the natural history of disease. Combining data from the Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet studies, we describe the natural history of β-cell function from shortly after diagnosis through 2 years post study randomization, assess the degree of variability between patients, and investigate factors that may be related to C-peptide preservation or loss. We found that 93% of individuals have detectable C-peptide 2 years from diagnosis. In 11% of subjects, there was no significant fall from baseline by 2 years. There was a biphasic decline in C-peptide; the C-peptide slope was -0.0245 pmol/mL/month (95% CI -0.0271 to -0.0215) through the first 12 months and -0.0079 (-0.0113 to -0.0050) from 12 to 24 months (P < 0.001). This pattern of fall in C-peptide over time has implications for understanding trial results in which effects of therapy are most pronounced early and raises the possibility that there are time-dependent differences in pathophysiology. The robust data on the C-peptide obtained under clinical trial conditions should be used in planning and interpretation of clinical trials.

Impact of Immediate Interpretation of Screening Tomosynthesis Mammography on Performance Metrics.

PubMed

Winkler, Nicole S; Freer, Phoebe; Anzai, Yoshimi; Hu, Nan; Stein, Matthew

2018-05-07

This study aimed to compare performance metrics for immediate and delayed batch interpretation of screening tomosynthesis mammograms. This HIPAA compliant study was approved by institutional review board with a waiver of consent. A retrospective analysis of screening performance metrics for tomosynthesis mammograms interpreted in 2015 when mammograms were read immediately was compared to historical controls from 2013 to 2014 when mammograms were batch interpreted after the patient had departed. A total of 5518 screening tomosynthesis mammograms (n = 1212 for batch interpretation and n = 4306 for immediate interpretation) were evaluated. The larger sample size for the latter group reflects a group practice shift to performing tomosynthesis for the majority of patients. Age, breast density, comparison examinations, and high-risk status were compared. An asymptotic proportion test and multivariable analysis were used to compare performance metrics. There was no statistically significant difference in recall or cancer detection rates for the batch interpretation group compared to immediate interpretation group with respective recall rate of 6.5% vs 5.3% = +1.2% (95% confidence interval -0.3 to 2.7%; P = .101) and cancer detection rate of 6.6 vs 7.2 per thousand = -0.6 (95% confidence interval -5.9 to 4.6; P = .825). There was no statistically significant difference in positive predictive values (PPVs) including PPV1 (screening recall), PPV2 (biopsy recommendation), or PPV 3 (biopsy performed) with batch interpretation (10.1%, 42.1%, and 40.0%, respectively) and immediate interpretation (13.6%, 39.2%, and 39.7%, respectively). After adjusting for age, breast density, high-risk status, and comparison mammogram, there was no difference in the odds of being recalled or cancer detection between the two groups. There is no statistically significant difference in interpretation performance metrics for screening tomosynthesis mammograms interpreted immediately compared to those interpreted in a delayed fashion. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

View-angle-dependent AIRS Cloudiness and Radiance Variance: Analysis and Interpretation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gong, Jie; Wu, Dong L.

2013-01-01

Upper tropospheric clouds play an important role in the global energy budget and hydrological cycle. Significant view-angle asymmetry has been observed in upper-level tropical clouds derived from eight years of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) 15 um radiances. Here, we find that the asymmetry also exists in the extra-tropics. It is larger during day than that during night, more prominent near elevated terrain, and closely associated with deep convection and wind shear. The cloud radiance variance, a proxy for cloud inhomogeneity, has consistent characteristics of the asymmetry to those in the AIRS cloudiness. The leading causes of the view-dependent cloudiness asymmetry are the local time difference and small-scale organized cloud structures. The local time difference (1-1.5 hr) of upper-level (UL) clouds between two AIRS outermost views can create parts of the observed asymmetry. On the other hand, small-scale tilted and banded structures of the UL clouds can induce about half of the observed view-angle dependent differences in the AIRS cloud radiances and their variances. This estimate is inferred from analogous study using Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) radiances observed during the period of time when there were simultaneous measurements at two different view-angles from NOAA-18 and -19 satellites. The existence of tilted cloud structures and asymmetric 15 um and 6.7 um cloud radiances implies that cloud statistics would be view-angle dependent, and should be taken into account in radiative transfer calculations, measurement uncertainty evaluations and cloud climatology investigations. In addition, the momentum forcing in the upper troposphere from tilted clouds is also likely asymmetric, which can affect atmospheric circulation anisotropically.

Meta-analysis of pathway enrichment: combining independent and dependent omics data sets.

PubMed

Kaever, Alexander; Landesfeind, Manuel; Feussner, Kirstin; Morgenstern, Burkhard; Feussner, Ivo; Meinicke, Peter

2014-01-01

A major challenge in current systems biology is the combination and integrative analysis of large data sets obtained from different high-throughput omics platforms, such as mass spectrometry based Metabolomics and Proteomics or DNA microarray or RNA-seq-based Transcriptomics. Especially in the case of non-targeted Metabolomics experiments, where it is often impossible to unambiguously map ion features from mass spectrometry analysis to metabolites, the integration of more reliable omics technologies is highly desirable. A popular method for the knowledge-based interpretation of single data sets is the (Gene) Set Enrichment Analysis. In order to combine the results from different analyses, we introduce a methodical framework for the meta-analysis of p-values obtained from Pathway Enrichment Analysis (Set Enrichment Analysis based on pathways) of multiple dependent or independent data sets from different omics platforms. For dependent data sets, e.g. obtained from the same biological samples, the framework utilizes a covariance estimation procedure based on the nonsignificant pathways in single data set enrichment analysis. The framework is evaluated and applied in the joint analysis of Metabolomics mass spectrometry and Transcriptomics DNA microarray data in the context of plant wounding. In extensive studies of simulated data set dependence, the introduced correlation could be fully reconstructed by means of the covariance estimation based on pathway enrichment. By restricting the range of p-values of pathways considered in the estimation, the overestimation of correlation, which is introduced by the significant pathways, could be reduced. When applying the proposed methods to the real data sets, the meta-analysis was shown not only to be a powerful tool to investigate the correlation between different data sets and summarize the results of multiple analyses but also to distinguish experiment-specific key pathways.

Apparent cooperativity of amino acid transport in Halobacterium halobium - Effect of electrical potential

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lanyi, J. K.

1978-01-01

Active serine accumulation in cell envelope vesicles from Halobacterium halobium proceeds by co-transport with Na(+) and can be induced by either transmembrane electrical potential or transmembrane Na(+) concentration difference. It was shown earlier that in the former case the initial transport rate is a fourth-power function of the magnitude of the electrochemical potential difference of sodium ions, and in the latter, a second-power function. A possible interpretation of this finding is cooperativity of sodium-transporting sites in the transport carrier. When both kinds of driving force are imposed simultaneously on the vesicles, fourth-power dependence on the total potential difference of sodium ions is obtained, suggesting that the transport carrier is regulated by the electrical potential. Heat treatment of the vesicles at 48 C partially inactivates transport and abolishes this effect of the electrical potential.

Parametrization and Optimization of Gaussian Non-Markovian Unravelings for Open Quantum Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Megier, Nina; Strunz, Walter T.; Viviescas, Carlos; Luoma, Kimmo

2018-04-01

We derive a family of Gaussian non-Markovian stochastic Schrödinger equations for the dynamics of open quantum systems. The different unravelings correspond to different choices of squeezed coherent states, reflecting different measurement schemes on the environment. Consequently, we are able to give a single shot measurement interpretation for the stochastic states and microscopic expressions for the noise correlations of the Gaussian process. By construction, the reduced dynamics of the open system does not depend on the squeezing parameters. They determine the non-Hermitian Gaussian correlation, a wide range of which are compatible with the Markov limit. We demonstrate the versatility of our results for quantum information tasks in the non-Markovian regime. In particular, by optimizing the squeezing parameters, we can tailor unravelings for improving entanglement bounds or for environment-assisted entanglement protection.

Detection and Interpretation of Fluorescence Signals Generated by Excitable Cells and Tissues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costantino, Anthony J.

Part 1: High-Sensitivity Amplifiers for Detecting Fluorescence . Monitoring electrical activity and Cai 2+ transients in biological tissues and individual cells increasingly utilizes optical sensors based on voltage-dependent and Cai 2+-dependent fluorescent dyes. However, achieving satisfactory signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) often requires increased illumination intensities and/or dye concentrations, which results in photo-toxicity, photo-bleaching and other adverse effects limiting the utility of optical recordings. The most challenging are the recordings from individual cardiac myocytes and neurons. Here we demonstrate that by optimizing a conventional transimpedance topology one can achieve a 10-20 fold increase of sensitivity with photodiode-based recording systems (dependent on application). We provide a detailed comparative analysis of the dynamic and noise characteristics of different transimpedance amplifier topologies as well as the example(s) of their practical implementation. Part 2: Light-Scattering Models for Interpretation of Fluorescence Data. Current interest in understanding light transport in cardiac tissue has been motivated in part by increased use of voltage-sensitive and Ca i2+-sensitive fluorescent probes to map electrical impulse propagation and Cai2+-transients in the heart. The fluorescent signals are recorded using such probes represent contributions from different layers of myocardial tissue and are greatly affected by light scattering. The interpretation of these signals thus requires deconvolution which would not be possible without detailed models of light transport in the respective tissue. Which involves the experimental measurements of the absorption, scattering, and anisotropy coefficients, mua, mu s, and g respectively. The aim of the second part of our thesis was to derive a new method for deriving these parameters from high spatial resolution measurements of forward-directed flux (FDF). To this end, we carried out high spatial resolution measurements of forward-directed flux (FDF) in intact and homogenized cardiac tissue, as well as in intralipid-based tissue phantoms. We demonstrated that in the vicinity of the illuminated surface, the FDF consistently manifested a fast decaying exponent with a space constant comparable to the decay rate of ballistic photons. Using a Monte Carlo model we obtained a simple empirical formula linking the rate of the fast exponent to the scattering coefficient, the anisotropy parameter g, and the numerical aperture of the probe. The estimates of scattering coefficient based on this formula were validated in tissue phantoms. The advantages of the new method are its simplicity and low-cost.

ROC analysis for diagnostic accuracy of fracture by using different monitors.

PubMed

Liang, Zhigang; Li, Kuncheng; Yang, Xiaolin; Du, Xiangying; Liu, Jiabin; Zhao, Xin; Qi, Xiangdong

2006-09-01

The purpose of this study was to compare diagnostic accuracy by using two types of monitors. Four radiologists with 10 years experience twice interpreted the films of 77 fracture cases by using the ViewSonic P75f+ and BARCO MGD221 monitors, with a time interval of 3 weeks. Each time the radiologists used one type of monitor to interpret the images. The image browser used was the Unisight software provided by Atlastiger Company (Shanghai, China), and interpretation result was analyzed via the LABMRMC software. In studies of receiver operating characteristics to score the presence or absence of fracture, the results of images interpreted through monochromic monitors showed significant statistical difference compared to those interpreted using the color monitors. A significant difference was observed in the results obtained by using two kinds of monitors. Color monitors cannot serve as substitutes for monochromatic monitors in the process of interpreting computed radiography (CR) images with fractures.

Minimising human error in malaria rapid diagnosis: clarity of written instructions and health worker performance.

PubMed

Rennie, Waverly; Phetsouvanh, Rattanaxay; Lupisan, Socorro; Vanisaveth, Viengsay; Hongvanthong, Bouasy; Phompida, Samlane; Alday, Portia; Fulache, Mila; Lumagui, Richard; Jorgensen, Pernille; Bell, David; Harvey, Steven

2007-01-01

The usefulness of rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) in malaria case management depends on the accuracy of the diagnoses they provide. Despite their apparent simplicity, previous studies indicate that RDT accuracy is highly user-dependent. As malaria RDTs will frequently be used in remote areas with little supervision or support, minimising mistakes is crucial. This paper describes the development of new instructions (job aids) to improve health worker performance, based on observations of common errors made by remote health workers and villagers in preparing and interpreting RDTs, in the Philippines and Laos. Initial preparation using the instructions provided by the manufacturer was poor, but improved significantly with the job aids (e.g. correct use both of the dipstick and cassette increased in the Philippines by 17%). However, mistakes in preparation remained commonplace, especially for dipstick RDTs, as did mistakes in interpretation of results. A short orientation on correct use and interpretation further improved accuracy, from 70% to 80%. The results indicate that apparently simple diagnostic tests can be poorly performed and interpreted, but provision of clear, simple instructions can reduce these errors. Preparation of appropriate instructions and training as well as monitoring of user behaviour are an essential part of rapid test implementation.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy study on the structure changes of 4-Mercaptophenylboronic Acid under different pH conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Hongyang; Wang, Yue; Yu, Zhi; Liu, Yawen; Zhang, Xiaolei; Wang, Xiaolei; Sui, Huimin; Sun, Chengbin; Zhao, Bing

2017-10-01

4-Mercaptophenylboronic Acid (4-MPBA) plays pivotal role in various fields. The orientation and existing form of the 4-MPBA strongly depend on the pH value of the media. The general aim of this work is to obtain information about the structure changes of 4-MPBA absorbed on Ag nanoparticles in different pH environment. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technique is a simple and rapid method to study adsorption phenomena at molecule level. The investigation is done by means of SERS. In order to interpret the experimental information, a series of SERS spectra is carried out. The relative intensities of the totally symmetric (a1 mode) and non-totally symmetric (b2 mode) bands in the SERS spectra of 4-MPBA change depend on the environmental pH values, which is a manifestation of charge transfer (CT) processes. The degree of charge transfer increases with the pH value of the media changing from acidity to alkalinity. The structure changes of MPBA had been carried out in different pH environment. We envision that this approach will be of great significance in related fields of 4-MPBA-involved detection.

Reinforcer magnitude and rate dependency: evaluation of resistance-to-change mechanisms.

PubMed

Pinkston, Jonathan W; Ginsburg, Brett C; Lamb, Richard J

2014-10-01

Under many circumstances, reinforcer magnitude appears to modulate the rate-dependent effects of drugs such that when schedules arrange for relatively larger reinforcer magnitudes rate dependency is attenuated compared with behavior maintained by smaller magnitudes. The current literature on resistance to change suggests that increased reinforcer density strengthens operant behavior, and such strengthening effects appear to extend to the temporal control of behavior. As rate dependency may be understood as a loss of temporal control, the effects of reinforcer magnitude on rate dependency may be due to increased resistance to disruption of temporally controlled behavior. In the present experiments, pigeons earned different magnitudes of grain during signaled components of a multiple FI schedule. Three drugs, clonidine, haloperidol, and morphine, were examined. All three decreased overall rates of key pecking; however, only the effects of clonidine were attenuated as reinforcer magnitude increased. An analysis of within-interval performance found rate-dependent effects for clonidine and morphine; however, these effects were not modulated by reinforcer magnitude. In addition, we included prefeeding and extinction conditions, standard tests used to measure resistance to change. In general, rate-decreasing effects of prefeeding and extinction were attenuated by increasing reinforcer magnitudes. Rate-dependent analyses of prefeeding showed rate-dependency following those tests, but in no case were these effects modulated by reinforcer magnitude. The results suggest that a resistance-to-change interpretation of the effects of reinforcer magnitude on rate dependency is not viable.

Integrating speech in time depends on temporal expectancies and attention.

PubMed

Scharinger, Mathias; Steinberg, Johanna; Tavano, Alessandro

2017-08-01

Sensory information that unfolds in time, such as in speech perception, relies on efficient chunking mechanisms in order to yield optimally-sized units for further processing. Whether or not two successive acoustic events receive a one-unit or a two-unit interpretation seems to depend on the fit between their temporal extent and a stipulated temporal window of integration. However, there is ongoing debate on how flexible this temporal window of integration should be, especially for the processing of speech sounds. Furthermore, there is no direct evidence of whether attention may modulate the temporal constraints on the integration window. For this reason, we here examine how different word durations, which lead to different temporal separations of sound onsets, interact with attention. In an Electroencephalography (EEG) study, participants actively and passively listened to words where word-final consonants were occasionally omitted. Words had either a natural duration or were artificially prolonged in order to increase the separation of speech sound onsets. Omission responses to incomplete speech input, originating in left temporal cortex, decreased when the critical speech sound was separated from previous sounds by more than 250 msec, i.e., when the separation was larger than the stipulated temporal window of integration (125-150 msec). Attention, on the other hand, only increased omission responses for stimuli with natural durations. We complemented the event-related potential (ERP) analyses by a frequency-domain analysis on the stimulus presentation rate. Notably, the power of stimulation frequency showed the same duration and attention effects than the omission responses. We interpret these findings on the background of existing research on temporal integration windows and further suggest that our findings may be accounted for within the framework of predictive coding. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analyzing signal attenuation in PFG anomalous diffusion via a non-Gaussian phase distribution approximation approach by fractional derivatives.

PubMed

Lin, Guoxing

2016-11-21

Anomalous diffusion exists widely in polymer and biological systems. Pulsed-field gradient (PFG) techniques have been increasingly used to study anomalous diffusion in nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging. However, the interpretation of PFG anomalous diffusion is complicated. Moreover, the exact signal attenuation expression including the finite gradient pulse width effect has not been obtained based on fractional derivatives for PFG anomalous diffusion. In this paper, a new method, a Mainardi-Luchko-Pagnini (MLP) phase distribution approximation, is proposed to describe PFG fractional diffusion. MLP phase distribution is a non-Gaussian phase distribution. From the fractional derivative model, both the probability density function (PDF) of a spin in real space and the PDF of the spin's accumulating phase shift in virtual phase space are MLP distributions. The MLP phase distribution leads to a Mittag-Leffler function based PFG signal attenuation, which differs significantly from the exponential attenuation for normal diffusion and from the stretched exponential attenuation for fractional diffusion based on the fractal derivative model. A complete signal attenuation expression E α (-D f b α,β * ) including the finite gradient pulse width effect was obtained and it can handle all three types of PFG fractional diffusions. The result was also extended in a straightforward way to give a signal attenuation expression of fractional diffusion in PFG intramolecular multiple quantum coherence experiments, which has an n β dependence upon the order of coherence which is different from the familiar n 2 dependence in normal diffusion. The results obtained in this study are in agreement with the results from the literature. The results in this paper provide a set of new, convenient approximation formalisms to interpret complex PFG fractional diffusion experiments.

Quantitative interpretation of molecular dynamics simulations for X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of aqueous solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olivieri, Giorgia; Parry, Krista M.; Powell, Cedric J.; Tobias, Douglas J.; Brown, Matthew A.

2016-04-01

Over the past decade, energy-dependent ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has emerged as a powerful analytical probe of the ion spatial distributions at the vapor (vacuum)-aqueous electrolyte interface. These experiments are often paired with complementary molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in an attempt to provide a complete description of the liquid interface. There is, however, no systematic protocol that permits a straightforward comparison of the two sets of results. XPS is an integrated technique that averages signals from multiple layers in a solution even at the lowest photoelectron kinetic energies routinely employed, whereas MD simulations provide a microscopic layer-by-layer description of the solution composition near the interface. Here, we use the National Institute of Standards and Technology database for the Simulation of Electron Spectra for Surface Analysis (SESSA) to quantitatively interpret atom-density profiles from MD simulations for XPS signal intensities using sodium and potassium iodide solutions as examples. We show that electron inelastic mean free paths calculated from a semi-empirical formula depend strongly on solution composition, varying by up to 30% between pure water and concentrated NaI. The XPS signal thus arises from different information depths in different solutions for a fixed photoelectron kinetic energy. XPS signal intensities are calculated using SESSA as a function of photoelectron kinetic energy (probe depth) and compared with a widely employed ad hoc method. SESSA simulations illustrate the importance of accounting for elastic-scattering events at low photoelectron kinetic energies (<300 eV) where the ad hoc method systematically underestimates the preferential enhancement of anions over cations. Finally, some technical aspects of applying SESSA to liquid interfaces are discussed.

The Pressure Dependence of Oxygen Isotope Exchange Rates Between Solution and Apical Oxygen Atoms on the [UO2(OH)4]2- Ion

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

Harley, Steven J.; Ohlin, C. André; Johnson, Rene L.

2011-04-06

Under pressure: The pressure dependence of isotope exchange rate was determined for apical oxygen atoms in the [UO2(OH)4]2-(aq) ion (see picture). The results can be interpreted to indicate an associative character of the reaction.

Neutral and charged gallium clusters: structures, physical properties and implications for the melting features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Núñez, Sara; López, José M.; Aguado, Andrés

2012-09-01

We report the putative Global Minimum (GM) structures and electronic properties of GaN+, GaN and GaN- clusters with N = 13-37 atoms, obtained from first-principles density functional theory structural optimizations. The calculations include spin polarization and employ an exchange-correlation functional which accounts for van der Waals dispersion interactions (vdW-DFT). We find a wide diversity of structural motifs within the located GM, including decahedral, polyicosahedral, polytetrahedral and layered structures. The GM structures are also extremely sensitive to the number of electrons in the cluster, so that the structures of neutral and charged clusters differ for most sizes. The main magic numbers (clusters with an enhanced stability) are identified and interpreted in terms of electronic and geometric shell closings. The theoretical results are consistent with experimental abundance mass spectra of GaN+ and with photoelectron spectra of GaN-. The size dependence of the latent heats of melting, the shape of the heat capacity peaks, and the temperature dependence of the collision cross-sections, all measured for GaN+ clusters, are properly interpreted in terms of the calculated cohesive energies, spectra of configurational excitations, and cluster shapes, respectively. The transition from ``non-melter'' to ``magic-melter'' behaviour, experimentally observed between Ga30+ and Ga31+, is traced back to a strong geometry change. Finally, the higher-than-bulk melting temperatures of gallium clusters are correlated with a more typically metallic behaviour of the clusters as compared to the bulk, contrary to previous theoretical claims.We report the putative Global Minimum (GM) structures and electronic properties of GaN+, GaN and GaN- clusters with N = 13-37 atoms, obtained from first-principles density functional theory structural optimizations. The calculations include spin polarization and employ an exchange-correlation functional which accounts for van der Waals dispersion interactions (vdW-DFT). We find a wide diversity of structural motifs within the located GM, including decahedral, polyicosahedral, polytetrahedral and layered structures. The GM structures are also extremely sensitive to the number of electrons in the cluster, so that the structures of neutral and charged clusters differ for most sizes. The main magic numbers (clusters with an enhanced stability) are identified and interpreted in terms of electronic and geometric shell closings. The theoretical results are consistent with experimental abundance mass spectra of GaN+ and with photoelectron spectra of GaN-. The size dependence of the latent heats of melting, the shape of the heat capacity peaks, and the temperature dependence of the collision cross-sections, all measured for GaN+ clusters, are properly interpreted in terms of the calculated cohesive energies, spectra of configurational excitations, and cluster shapes, respectively. The transition from ``non-melter'' to ``magic-melter'' behaviour, experimentally observed between Ga30+ and Ga31+, is traced back to a strong geometry change. Finally, the higher-than-bulk melting temperatures of gallium clusters are correlated with a more typically metallic behaviour of the clusters as compared to the bulk, contrary to previous theoretical claims. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Atomic coordinates (in xyz format and Å units) and point group symmetries for the global minimum structures reported in this paper. See DOI: 10.1039/c2nr31222k

Evaluating the functional state of adult-born neurons in the adult dentate gyrus of the hippocampus: from birth to functional integration.

PubMed

Aguilar-Arredondo, Andrea; Arias, Clorinda; Zepeda, Angélica

2015-01-01

Hippocampal neurogenesis occurs in the adult brain in various species, including humans. A compelling question that arose when neurogenesis was accepted to occur in the adult dentate gyrus (DG) is whether new neurons become functionally relevant over time, which is key for interpreting their potential contributions to synaptic circuitry. The functional state of adult-born neurons has been evaluated using various methodological approaches, which have, in turn, yielded seemingly conflicting results regarding the timing of maturation and functional integration. Here, we review the contributions of different methodological approaches to addressing the maturation process of adult-born neurons and their functional state, discussing the contributions and limitations of each method. We aim to provide a framework for interpreting results based on the approaches currently used in neuroscience for evaluating functional integration. As shown by the experimental evidence, adult-born neurons are prone to respond from early stages, even when they are not yet fully integrated into circuits. The ongoing integration process for the newborn neurons is characterised by different features. However, they may contribute differently to the network depending on their maturation stage. When combined, the strategies used to date convey a comprehensive view of the functional development of newly born neurons while providing a framework for approaching the critical time at which new neurons become functionally integrated and influence brain function.

A cautionary note on the use of the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) in classification designs with and without within-subject factors

PubMed Central

Schneider, Bruce A.; Avivi-Reich, Meital; Mozuraitis, Mindaugas

2015-01-01

A number of statistical textbooks recommend using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to control for the effects of extraneous factors that might influence the dependent measure of interest. However, it is not generally recognized that serious problems of interpretation can arise when the design contains comparisons of participants sampled from different populations (classification designs). Designs that include a comparison of younger and older adults, or a comparison of musicians and non-musicians are examples of classification designs. In such cases, estimates of differences among groups can be contaminated by differences in the covariate population means across groups. A second problem of interpretation will arise if the experimenter fails to center the covariate measures (subtracting the mean covariate score from each covariate score) whenever the design contains within-subject factors. Unless the covariate measures on the participants are centered, estimates of within-subject factors are distorted, and significant increases in Type I error rates, and/or losses in power can occur when evaluating the effects of within-subject factors. This paper: (1) alerts potential users of ANCOVA of the need to center the covariate measures when the design contains within-subject factors, and (2) indicates how they can avoid biases when one cannot assume that the expected value of the covariate measure is the same for all of the groups in a classification design. PMID:25954230

Methodological flaws introduce strong bias into molecular analysis of microbial populations.

PubMed

Krakat, N; Anjum, R; Demirel, B; Schröder, P

2017-02-01

In this study, we report how different cell disruption methods, PCR primers and in silico analyses can seriously bias results from microbial population studies, with consequences for the credibility and reproducibility of the findings. Our results emphasize the pitfalls of commonly used experimental methods that can seriously weaken the interpretation of results. Four different cell lysis methods, three commonly used primer pairs and various computer-based analyses were applied to investigate the microbial diversity of a fermentation sample composed of chicken dung. The fault-prone, but still frequently used, amplified rRNA gene restriction analysis was chosen to identify common weaknesses. In contrast to other studies, we focused on the complete analytical process, from cell disruption to in silico analysis, and identified potential error rates. This identified a wide disagreement of results between applied experimental approaches leading to very different community structures depending on the chosen approach. The interpretation of microbial diversity data remains a challenge. In order to accurately investigate the taxonomic diversity and structure of prokaryotic communities, we suggest a multi-level approach combining DNA-based and DNA-independent techniques. The identified weaknesses of commonly used methods to study microbial diversity can be overcome by a multi-level approach, which produces more reliable data about the fate and behaviour of microbial communities of engineered habitats such as biogas plants, so that the best performance can be ensured. © 2016 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Localization of a Speech Target in Nondirectional and Directional Noise as a Function of Sensation Level

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

a listener uses to interpret the auditory environment is interaural difference cues. Interaural difference cues are perceived binaurally , and they...signal in noise is not enough for accurate localization performance. Instead, it appears that both audibility and binaural signal processing of both...be interpreted differently among researchers. 4. Conclusions Accurately processed and interpreted binaural and monaural spatial cues enable a

Interpretation of transport measurements in ZnO-thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petukhov, Vladimir; Stoemenos, John; Rothman, Johan; Bakin, Andrey; Waag, Andreas

2011-01-01

In order to interpret results of temperature dependent Hall measurements in heteroepitaxial ZnO-thin films, we adopted a multilayer conductivity model considering carrier-transport through the interfacial layer with degenerate electron gas as well as the upper part of ZnO layers with lower conductivity. This model was applied to the temperature dependence of the carrier concentration and mobility measured by Hall effect in a ZnO-layer grown on c-sapphire with conventional high-temperature MgO and low-temperature ZnO buffer. We also compared our results with the results of maximum entropy mobility-spectrum analysis (MEMSA). The formation of the highly conductive interfacial layer was explained by analysis of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images taken from similar layers.

Relaxation Revisited: A Fresh Look at Multigrid for Steady Flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roberts, Thomas W.; Swanson, R. C.; Sidilkover, David

1997-01-01

The year 1971 saw the publication of one of the landmark papers in computational aerodynamics, that of Murman and Cole. As with many seminal works, its significance lies not so much in the specific problem that it addressed| small disturbance, plane transonic flow - but in the identification of a general approach to the solution of a technically important and theoretically difficult problem. The key features of Murman and Cole's work were the use of type- dependent differencing to correctly account for the proper domain of dependence of a mixed elliptic/hyperbolic equation, and the introduction of line relaxation to solve the steady flow equation. All subsequent work in transonic potential flows was based on these concepts. Jameson extended Murman and Cole's ideas to the full potential equation with two important contributions. First, he introduced the rotated difference stencil, which generalized the Murman and Cole type-dependent difference operator to general coordinates. Second, he used the interpretation, introduced by Garabedian, of relaxation as an iteration in artificial time to construct stable relaxation schemes, generalizing the original line relaxation method of Reference. The decade of the 1970s saw an explosion of activity in the solution of transonic potential flows, which has been summarized in the review article of Caughey.

Dielectric modelling of cell division for budding and fission yeast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asami, Koji; Sekine, Katsuhisa

2007-02-01

The frequency dependence of complex permittivity or the dielectric spectrum of a system including a cell in cell division has been simulated by a numerical technique based on the three-dimensional finite difference method. Two different types of cell division characteristic of budding and fission yeast were examined. The yeast cells are both regarded as a body of rotation, and thus have anisotropic polarization, i.e. the effective permittivity of the cell depends on the orientation of the cell to the direction of an applied electric field. In the perpendicular orientation, where the rotational axis of the cell is perpendicular to the electric field direction, the dielectric spectra for both yeast cells included one dielectric relaxation and its intensity depended on the cell volume. In the parallel orientation, on the other hand, two dielectric relaxations appeared with bud growth for budding yeast and with septum formation for fission yeast. The low-frequency relaxation was shifted to a lower frequency region by narrowing the neck between the bud and the mother cell for budding yeast and by increasing the degree of septum formation for fission yeast. After cell separation, the low-frequency relaxation disappeared. The simulations well interpreted the oscillation of the relative permittivity of culture broth found for synchronous cell growth of budding yeast.

V1 projection zone signals in human macular degeneration depend on task, not stimulus.

PubMed

Masuda, Yoichiro; Dumoulin, Serge O; Nakadomari, Satoshi; Wandell, Brian A

2008-11-01

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess abnormal cortical signals in humans with juvenile macular degeneration (JMD). These signals have been interpreted as indicating large-scale cortical reorganization. Subjects viewed a stimulus passively or performed a task; the task was either related or unrelated to the stimulus. During passive viewing, or while performing tasks unrelated to the stimulus, there were large unresponsive V1 regions. These regions included the foveal projection zone, and we refer to them as the lesion projection zone (LPZ). In 3 JMD subjects, we observed highly significant responses in the LPZ while they performed stimulus-related judgments. In control subjects, where we presented the stimulus only within the peripheral visual field, there was no V1 response in the foveal projection zone in any condition. The difference between JMD and control responses can be explained by hypotheses that have very different implications for V1 reorganization. In controls retinal afferents carry signals indicating the presence of a uniform (zero-contrast) region of the visual field. Deletion of retinal input may 1) spur the formation of new cortical pathways that carry task-dependent signals (reorganization), or 2) unmask preexisting task-dependent cortical signals that ordinarily are suppressed by the deleted signals (no reorganization).

V1 Projection Zone Signals in Human Macular Degeneration Depend on Task, not Stimulus

PubMed Central

Dumoulin, Serge O.; Nakadomari, Satoshi; Wandell, Brian A.

2008-01-01

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess abnormal cortical signals in humans with juvenile macular degeneration (JMD). These signals have been interpreted as indicating large-scale cortical reorganization. Subjects viewed a stimulus passively or performed a task; the task was either related or unrelated to the stimulus. During passive viewing, or while performing tasks unrelated to the stimulus, there were large unresponsive V1 regions. These regions included the foveal projection zone, and we refer to them as the lesion projection zone (LPZ). In 3 JMD subjects, we observed highly significant responses in the LPZ while they performed stimulus-related judgments. In control subjects, where we presented the stimulus only within the peripheral visual field, there was no V1 response in the foveal projection zone in any condition. The difference between JMD and control responses can be explained by hypotheses that have very different implications for V1 reorganization. In controls retinal afferents carry signals indicating the presence of a uniform (zero-contrast) region of the visual field. Deletion of retinal input may 1) spur the formation of new cortical pathways that carry task-dependent signals (reorganization), or 2) unmask preexisting task-dependent cortical signals that ordinarily are suppressed by the deleted signals (no reorganization). PMID:18250083

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

Sibiryakov, B. P., E-mail: sibiryakovbp@ipgg.sbras.ru; Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, 630090

This paper studies properties of a continuum with structure. The characteristic size of the structure governs the fact that difference relations are nonautomatically transformed into differential ones. It is impossible to consider an infinitesimal volume of a body, to which the major conservation laws could be applied, because the minimum representative volume of the body must contain at least a few elementary microstructures. The corresponding equations of motion are equations of infinite order, solutions of which include, along with usual sound waves, unusual waves with abnormally low velocities without a lower limit. It is shown that in such media weakmore » perturbations can increase or decrease outside the limits. The number of complex roots of the corresponding dispersion equation, which can be interpreted as the number of unstable solutions, depends on the specific surface of cracks and is an almost linear dependence on a logarithmic scale, as in the seismological Gutenberg–Richter law. If the distance between one pore (crack) to another one is a random value with some distribution, we must write another dispersion equation and examine different scenarios depending on the statistical characteristics of the random distribution. In this case, there are sufficient deviations from the Gutenberg–Richter law and this theoretical result corresponds to some field and laboratory observations.« less

Perceptions of scientific research literature and strategies for reading papers depend on academic career stage.

PubMed

Hubbard, Katharine E; Dunbar, Sonja D

2017-01-01

Reading primary research literature is an essential skill for all scientists and students on science degree programmes, however little is known about how researchers at different career stages interact with and interpret scientific papers. To explore this, we conducted a survey of 260 undergraduate students and researchers in Biological Sciences at a research intensive UK university. Responses to Likert scale questions demonstrated increases in confidence and skill with reading the literature between individuals at each career stage, including between postdoctoral researchers and faculty academics. The survey indicated that individuals at different career stages valued different sections of scientific papers, and skill in reading the results section develops slowly over the course of an academic career. Inexperienced readers found the methods and results sections of research papers the most difficult to read, and undervalued the importance of the results section and critical interpretation of data. These data highlight a need for structured support with reading scientific literature at multiple career stages, and for senior academics to be aware that junior colleagues may prioritise their reading differently. We propose a model for the development of literature processing skills, and consider the need for training strategies to help inexperienced readers engage with primary literature, and therefore develop important skills that underpin scientific careers. We also encourage researchers to be mindful of language used when writing papers, and to be more inclusive of diverse audiences when disseminating their work.

Evaluation of Rigid-Body Motion Compensation in Cardiac Perfusion SPECT Employing Polar-Map Quantification

PubMed Central

Pretorius, P. Hendrik; Johnson, Karen L.; King, Michael A.

2016-01-01

We have recently been successful in the development and testing of rigid-body motion tracking, estimation and compensation for cardiac perfusion SPECT based on a visual tracking system (VTS). The goal of this study was to evaluate in patients the effectiveness of our rigid-body motion compensation strategy. Sixty-four patient volunteers were asked to remain motionless or execute some predefined body motion during an additional second stress perfusion acquisition. Acquisitions were performed using the standard clinical protocol with 64 projections acquired through 180 degrees. All data were reconstructed with an ordered-subsets expectation-maximization (OSEM) algorithm using 4 projections per subset and 5 iterations. All physical degradation factors were addressed (attenuation, scatter, and distance dependent resolution), while a 3-dimensional Gaussian rotator was used during reconstruction to correct for six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) rigid-body motion estimated by the VTS. Polar map quantification was employed to evaluate compensation techniques. In 54.7% of the uncorrected second stress studies there was a statistically significant difference in the polar maps, and in 45.3% this made a difference in the interpretation of segmental perfusion. Motion correction reduced the impact of motion such that with it 32.8 % of the polar maps were statistically significantly different, and in 14.1% this difference changed the interpretation of segmental perfusion. The improvement shown in polar map quantitation translated to visually improved uniformity of the SPECT slices. PMID:28042170

Perceptions of scientific research literature and strategies for reading papers depend on academic career stage

PubMed Central

Dunbar, Sonja D.

2017-01-01

Reading primary research literature is an essential skill for all scientists and students on science degree programmes, however little is known about how researchers at different career stages interact with and interpret scientific papers. To explore this, we conducted a survey of 260 undergraduate students and researchers in Biological Sciences at a research intensive UK university. Responses to Likert scale questions demonstrated increases in confidence and skill with reading the literature between individuals at each career stage, including between postdoctoral researchers and faculty academics. The survey indicated that individuals at different career stages valued different sections of scientific papers, and skill in reading the results section develops slowly over the course of an academic career. Inexperienced readers found the methods and results sections of research papers the most difficult to read, and undervalued the importance of the results section and critical interpretation of data. These data highlight a need for structured support with reading scientific literature at multiple career stages, and for senior academics to be aware that junior colleagues may prioritise their reading differently. We propose a model for the development of literature processing skills, and consider the need for training strategies to help inexperienced readers engage with primary literature, and therefore develop important skills that underpin scientific careers. We also encourage researchers to be mindful of language used when writing papers, and to be more inclusive of diverse audiences when disseminating their work. PMID:29284031

The BOLD signal and neurovascular coupling in autism.

PubMed

Reynell, Clare; Harris, Julia J

2013-10-01

BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent) fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) is commonly used to study differences in neuronal activity between human populations. As the BOLD response is an indirect measure of neuronal activity, meaningful interpretation of differences in BOLD responses between groups relies upon a stable relationship existing between neuronal activity and the BOLD response across these groups. However, this relationship can be altered by changes in neurovascular coupling or energy consumption, which would lead to problems in identifying differences in neuronal activity. In this review, we focus on fMRI studies of people with autism, and comparisons that are made of their BOLD responses with those of control groups. We examine neurophysiological differences in autism that may alter neurovascular coupling or energy use, discuss recent studies that have used fMRI to identify differences between participants with autism and control participants, and explore experimental approaches that could help attribute between-group differences in BOLD signals to either neuronal or neurovascular factors. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The BOLD signal and neurovascular coupling in autism

PubMed Central

Reynell, Clare; Harris, Julia J.

2013-01-01

BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent) fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) is commonly used to study differences in neuronal activity between human populations. As the BOLD response is an indirect measure of neuronal activity, meaningful interpretation of differences in BOLD responses between groups relies upon a stable relationship existing between neuronal activity and the BOLD response across these groups. However, this relationship can be altered by changes in neurovascular coupling or energy consumption, which would lead to problems in identifying differences in neuronal activity. In this review, we focus on fMRI studies of people with autism, and comparisons that are made of their BOLD responses with those of control groups. We examine neurophysiological differences in autism that may alter neurovascular coupling or energy use, discuss recent studies that have used fMRI to identify differences between participants with autism and control participants, and explore experimental approaches that could help attribute between-group differences in BOLD signals to either neuronal or neurovascular factors. PMID:23917518

Interpretation miniatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nikolić, Hrvoje

Most physicists do not have patience for reading long and obscure interpretation arguments and disputes. Hence, to attract attention of a wider physics community, in this paper various old and new aspects of quantum interpretations are explained in a concise and simple (almost trivial) form. About the “Copenhagen” interpretation, we note that there are several different versions of it and explain how to make sense of “local nonreality” interpretation. About the many-world interpretation (MWI), we explain that it is neither local nor nonlocal, that it cannot explain the Born rule, that it suffers from the preferred basis problem, and that quantum suicide cannot be used to test it. About the Bohmian interpretation, we explain that it is analogous to dark matter, use it to explain that there is no big difference between nonlocal correlation and nonlocal causation, and use some condensed-matter ideas to outline how nonrelativistic Bohmian theory could be a theory of everything. We also explain how different interpretations can be used to demystify the delayed choice experiment, to resolve the problem of time in quantum gravity, and to provide alternatives to quantum nonlocality. Finally, we explain why is life compatible with the second law.

Similar Ratios of Introns to Intergenic Sequence across Animal Genomes

PubMed Central

Wörheide, Gert

2017-01-01

Abstract One central goal of genome biology is to understand how the usage of the genome differs between organisms. Our knowledge of genome composition, needed for downstream inferences, is critically dependent on gene annotations, yet problems associated with gene annotation and assembly errors are usually ignored in comparative genomics. Here, we analyze the genomes of 68 species across 12 animal phyla and some single-cell eukaryotes for general trends in genome composition and transcription, taking into account problems of gene annotation. We show that, regardless of genome size, the ratio of introns to intergenic sequence is comparable across essentially all animals, with nearly all deviations dominated by increased intergenic sequence. Genomes of model organisms have ratios much closer to 1:1, suggesting that the majority of published genomes of nonmodel organisms are underannotated and consequently omit substantial numbers of genes, with likely negative impact on evolutionary interpretations. Finally, our results also indicate that most animals transcribe half or more of their genomes arguing against differences in genome usage between animal groups, and also suggesting that the transcribed portion is more dependent on genome size than previously thought. PMID:28633296

How does the isomerization rate affect the photoisomerization-induced transport properties of a doped molecular glass-former?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Accary, J.-B.; Teboul, V.

2013-07-01

We investigate the effect of the isomerization rate f on the microscopic mechanisms at the origin of the massive mass transport found in glass-formers doped with isomerizing azobenzene molecules that result in surface relief gratings formation. To this end we simulate the isomerization of dispersed probe molecules embedded into a molecular host glass-former. The host diffusion coefficient first increases linearly with f and then saturates. The saturated value of the diffusion coefficient and of the viscosity does not depend on f but increases with temperature while the linear response for these transport coefficients depends only slightly on the temperature. We interpret this saturation as arising from the appearance of increasingly soft regions around the probes for high isomerization rates, a result in qualitative agreement with experiments. These two different physical behaviors, linear response and saturation, are reminiscent of the two different unexplained mass transport mechanisms observed for small or large light intensities (for small intensities the molecules move towards the dark regions while for large intensities they move towards the illuminated regions).

Species traits and environmental conditions govern the relationship between biodiversity effects across trophic levels

USGS Publications Warehouse

Spooner, D.E.; Vaughn, C.C.; Galbraith, H.S.

2012-01-01

Changing environments can have divergent effects on biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships at alternating trophic levels. Freshwater mussels fertilize stream foodwebs through nutrient excretion, and mussel species-specific excretion rates depend on environmental conditions. We asked how differences in mussel diversity in varying environments influence the dynamics between primary producers and consumers. We conducted field experiments manipulating mussel richness under summer (low flow, high temperature) and fall (moderate flow and temperature) conditions, measured nutrient limitation, algal biomass and grazing chironomid abundance, and analyzed the data with non-transgressive overyielding and tripartite biodiversity partitioning analyses. Algal biomass and chironomid abundance were best explained by trait-independent complementarity among mussel species, but the relationship between biodiversity effects across trophic levels (algae and grazers) depended on seasonal differences in mussel species' trait expression (nutrient excretion and activity level). Both species identity and overall diversity effects were related to the magnitude of nutrient limitation. Our results demonstrate that biodiversity of a resource-provisioning (nutrients and habitat) group of species influences foodweb dynamics and that understanding species traits and environmental context are important for interpreting biodiversity experiments. ?? 2011 Springer-Verlag.

Spin-dependence of the electron scattering cross section by a magnetic layer system and the magneto-resistance

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

Wang, J.T.; Tang, F.; Brown, W.D.

1998-12-20

The authors present a theoretical model for calculating the spin-dependent cross section of the scattering of electrons by a magnetic layer system. The model demonstrates that the cross sections of the scattering are different for spin up and spin down electrons. The model assumes that the electrical resistivity in a conductor is proportional to the scattering cross section of the electron in it. It is believed to support the two channel mechanism in interpreting magneto-resistance (MR). Based on the model without considering the scattering due to the interfacial roughness and the spin flipping scattering, the authors have established a relationshipmore » between MR and the square of the magnetic moment in the bulk sample without considering the scattering due to the interfacial roughness and the spin flipping scattering. It can also qualitatively explain the MR difference between the current in plane (CIP) and current perpendicular to the plane (CPP) configurations. The predictions by the model agree well with the experimental findings.« less

Constraints on temperature-dependent sex determination in the leopard gecko ( Eublepharis macularius): response to Kratochvil et al.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Victoria; Sakata, Jon T.; Rhen, Turk; Coomber, Patricia; Simmonds, Sarah; Crews, David

2008-12-01

Kratochvil et al. (Naturwissenschaften 95:209 215, 2008) reported recently that in the leopard gecko ( Eublepharis macularius) of the family Eublepharidae with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), clutches in which eggs were incubated at the same temperature produce only same-sex siblings. Interpreting this result in light of studies of sex steroid hormone involvement in sex determination, they suggested that maternally derived yolk steroid hormones could constrain sex-determining mechanisms in TSD reptiles. We have worked extensively with this species and have routinely incubated clutches at constant temperatures. To test the consistency of high frequency same-sex clutches across different incubation temperatures, we examined our records of clutches at the University of Texas at Austin from 1992 to 2001. We observed that clutches in which eggs were incubated at the same incubation temperature produced mixed-sex clutches as well as same-sex clutches. Furthermore, cases in which eggs within a clutch were separated and incubated at different temperatures produced the expected number of mixed-sex clutches. These results suggest that maternal influences on sex determination are secondary relative to incubation temperature effects.

How does private finance affect public health care systems? Marshaling the evidence from OECD nations.

PubMed

Tuohy, Carolyn Hughes; Flood, Colleen M; Stabile, Mark

2004-06-01

The impact of private finance on publicly funded health care systems depends on how the relationship between public and private finance is structured. This essay first reviews the experience in five nations that exemplify different ways of drawing the public/private boundary to address the particular questions raised by each model. This review is then used to interpret aggregate empirical analyses of the dynamic effects between public and private finance in OECD nations over time. Our findings suggest that while increases in the private share of health spending substitute in part for public finance (and vice versa), this is the result of a complex mix of factors having as much to do with cross-sectoral shifts as with deliberate policy decisions within sectors and that these effects are mediated by the different dynamics of distinctive national models. On balance, we argue that a resort to private finance is more likely to harm than to help publicly financed systems, although the effects will vary depending on the form of private finance.

Level Anticrossing of Impurity States in Semiconductor Nanocrystals

PubMed Central

Baimuratov, Anvar S.; Rukhlenko, Ivan D.; Turkov, Vadim K.; Ponomareva, Irina O.; Leonov, Mikhail Yu.; Perova, Tatiana S.; Berwick, Kevin; Baranov, Alexander V.; Fedorov, Anatoly V.

2014-01-01

The size dependence of the quantized energies of elementary excitations is an essential feature of quantum nanostructures, underlying most of their applications in science and technology. Here we report on a fundamental property of impurity states in semiconductor nanocrystals that appears to have been overlooked—the anticrossing of energy levels exhibiting different size dependencies. We show that this property is inherent to the energy spectra of charge carriers whose spatial motion is simultaneously affected by the Coulomb potential of the impurity ion and the confining potential of the nanocrystal. The coupling of impurity states, which leads to the anticrossing, can be induced by interactions with elementary excitations residing inside the nanocrystal or an external electromagnetic field. We formulate physical conditions that allow a straightforward interpretation of level anticrossings in the nanocrystal energy spectrum and an accurate estimation of the states' coupling strength. PMID:25369911

A higher-order Skyrme model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gudnason, Sven Bjarke; Nitta, Muneto

2017-09-01

We propose a higher-order Skyrme model with derivative terms of eighth, tenth and twelfth order. Our construction yields simple and easy-to-interpret higher-order Lagrangians. We first show that a Skyrmion with higher-order terms proposed by Marleau has an instability in the form of a baby-Skyrmion string, while the static energies of our construction are positive definite, implying stability against time-independent perturbations. However, we also find that the Hamiltonians of our construction possess two kinds of dynamical instabilities, which may indicate the instability with respect to time-dependent perturbations. Different from the well-known Ostrogradsky instability, the instabilities that we find are intrinsically of nonlinear nature and also due to the fact that even powers of the inverse metric gives a ghost-like higher-order kinetic-like term. The vacuum state is, however, stable. Finally, we show that at sufficiently low energies, our Hamiltonians in the simplest cases, are stable against time-dependent perturbations.

Latent mnemonic strengths are latent: a comment on Mickes, Wixted, and Wais (2007).

PubMed

Rouder, Jeffrey N; Pratte, Michael S; Morey, Richard D

2010-06-01

Mickes, Wixted, and Wais (2007) proposed a simple test of latent strength variability in recognition memory. They asked participants to rate their confidence using either a 20-point or a 99-point strength scale and plotted distributions of the resulting ratings. They found 25% more variability in ratings for studied than for new items, which they interpreted as providing evidence that latent mnemonic strength distributions are 25% more variable for studied than for new items. We show here that this conclusion is critically dependent on assumptions--so much so that these assumptions determine the conclusions. In fact, opposite conclusions, such that study does not affect the variability of latent strength, may be reached by making different but equally plausible assumptions. Because all measurements of mnemonic strength variability are critically dependent on untestable assumptions, all are arbitrary. Hence, there is no principled method for assessing the relative variability of latent mnemonic strength distributions.

The role of kinetic context in apparent biased agonism at GPCRs

PubMed Central

Klein Herenbrink, Carmen; Sykes, David A.; Donthamsetti, Prashant; Canals, Meritxell; Coudrat, Thomas; Shonberg, Jeremy; Scammells, Peter J.; Capuano, Ben; Sexton, Patrick M.; Charlton, Steven J.; Javitch, Jonathan A.; Christopoulos, Arthur; Lane, J. Robert

2016-01-01

Biased agonism describes the ability of ligands to stabilize different conformations of a GPCR linked to distinct functional outcomes and offers the prospect of designing pathway-specific drugs that avoid on-target side effects. This mechanism is usually inferred from pharmacological data with the assumption that the confounding influences of observational (that is, assay dependent) and system (that is, cell background dependent) bias are excluded by experimental design and analysis. Here we reveal that ‘kinetic context', as determined by ligand-binding kinetics and the temporal pattern of receptor-signalling processes, can have a profound influence on the apparent bias of a series of agonists for the dopamine D2 receptor and can even lead to reversals in the direction of bias. We propose that kinetic context must be acknowledged in the design and interpretation of studies of biased agonism. PMID:26905976

Recrystallization of freezable bound water in aqueous solutions of medium concentration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lishan, Zhao; Liqing, Pan; Ailing, Ji; Zexian, Cao; Qiang, Wang

2016-07-01

For aqueous solutions with freezable bound water, vitrification and recrystallization are mingled, which brings difficulty to application and misleads the interpretation of relevant experiments. Here, we report a quantification scheme for the freezable bound water based on the water-content dependence of glass transition temperature, by which also the concentration range for the solutions that may undergo recrystallization finds a clear definition. Furthermore, we find that depending on the amount of the freezable bound water, different temperature protocols should be devised to achieve a complete recrystallization. Our results may be helpful for understanding the dynamics of supercooled aqueous solutions and for improving their manipulation in various industries. Project supported by the Knowledge Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences on Water Science Research (Grant No. KJZD-EW-M03) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11474325 and 11290161).

Rank and independence in contingency table

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsumoto, Shusaku

2004-04-01

A contingency table summarizes the conditional frequencies of two attributes and shows how these two attributes are dependent on each other. Thus, this table is a fundamental tool for pattern discovery with conditional probabilities, such as rule discovery. In this paper, a contingency table is interpreted from the viewpoint of statistical independence and granular computing. The first important observation is that a contingency table compares two attributes with respect to the number of equivalence classes. For example, a n x n table compares two attributes with the same granularity, while a m x n(m >= n) table compares two attributes with different granularities. The second important observation is that matrix algebra is a key point of analysis of this table. Especially, the degree of independence, rank plays a very important role in evaluating the degree of statistical independence. Relations between rank and the degree of dependence are also investigated.

A defect model for UO2+x based on electrical conductivity and deviation from stoichiometry measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia, Philippe; Pizzi, Elisabetta; Dorado, Boris; Andersson, David; Crocombette, Jean-Paul; Martial, Chantal; Baldinozzi, Guido; Siméone, David; Maillard, Serge; Martin, Guillaume

2017-10-01

Electrical conductivity of UO2+x shows a strong dependence upon oxygen partial pressure and temperature which may be interpreted in terms of prevailing point defects. A simulation of this property along with deviation from stoichiometry is carried out based on a model that takes into account the presence of impurities, oxygen interstitials, oxygen vacancies, holes, electrons and clusters of oxygen atoms. The equilibrium constants for each defect reaction are determined to reproduce the experimental data. An estimate of defect concentrations and their dependence upon oxygen partial pressure can then be determined. The simulations carried out for 8 different temperatures (973-1673 K) over a wide range of oxygen partial pressures are discussed and resulting defect equilibrium constants are plotted in an Arrhenius diagram. This provides an estimate of defect formation energies which may further be compared to other experimental data or ab-initio and empirical potential calculations.

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

Khachatryan, V.; Sirunyan, A. M.; Tumasyan, A.

Charge-dependent azimuthal particle correlations with respect to the second-order event plane in p-Pb and PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV have been studied with the CMS experiment at the LHC. We performed the measurement with a three-particle correlation technique, using two particles with the same or opposite charge within the pseudorapidity range |η|<2.4, and a third particle measured in the hadron forward calorimeters (4.4<|η|<5). We also observed differences between the same and opposite sign correlations, as functions of multiplicity and η gap between the two charged particles, and found that they were of similar magnitude in p-Pbmore » and PbPb collisions at the same multiplicities. Our results pose a challenge for the interpretation of charge-dependent azimuthal correlations in heavy ion collisions in terms of the chiral magnetic effect.« less

A Non-Intuitionist's Approach To The Interpretation Problem Of Quantum Mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grelland, Hans Herlof

2005-02-01

A philosophy of physics called "linguistic empiricism" is presented and applied to the interpretation problem of quantum mechanics. This philosophical position is based on the works of Jacques Derrida. The main propositions are (i) that meaning, included the meaning attached to observations, are language-dependent and (ii) that mathematics in physics should be considered as a proper language, not necessary translatable to a more basic language of intuition and immediate experience. This has fundamental implications for quantum mechanics, which is a mathematically coherent and consistent theory; its interpretation problem is associated with its lack of physical images expressible in ordinary language.

Betrixaban: Impact on Routine and Specific Coagulation Assays-A Practical Laboratory Guide.

PubMed

Siriez, Romain; Evrard, Jonathan; Dogné, Jean-Michel; Pochet, Lionel; Gheldof, Damien; Chatelain, Bernard; Mullier, François; Douxfils, Jonathan

2018-06-11

 Betrixaban is a novel direct oral factor Xa inhibitor approved by the Food and Drug Administration for prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism in adult patients hospitalized for an acute illness at risk for thromboembolic complications. Assessment of the anti-coagulant effect of betrixaban may be useful in some situations. Also, clinicians need to know how routine coagulation assays are influenced.  The aim of this study is to determine which coagulation assay(s) should be used to assess the impact of betrixaban on haemostasis and provide laboratory guidance for their interpretation.  Betrixaban was spiked at final concentrations ranging from 0 to 250 ng/mL in platelet-poor plasma. Different reagents from several manufacturers were tested and the impact of betrixaban on pro-thrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), dilute Russel viper venom time (dRVV-T), chromogenic anti-Xa assays, thrombin generation assay (TGA), and a large panel of haemostasis diagnostic tests has been assessed.  A concentration-dependent prolongation of aPTT, PT and dRVV-T is observed. The sensitivity mainly depends on the reagent. Chromogenic anti-Xa assays show high sensitivity depending on the reagent and/or the methodology. These assays applicable for other direct factor Xa inhibitors have to be adapted to obtain a relevant range of measurement. TGA may also be attractive to assess the anti-coagulant activity of betrixaban.  Adapted chromogenic anti-Xa assays are the most appropriate assays to estimate the concentration of betrixaban. Betrixaban significantly affects several haemostasis diagnostic tests and this needs to be taken into consideration when requesting and interpreting such tests. Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart.

Modeling the effect of reward amount on probability discounting.

PubMed

Myerson, Joel; Green, Leonard; Morris, Joshua

2011-03-01

The present study with college students examined the effect of amount on the discounting of probabilistic monetary rewards. A hyperboloid function accurately described the discounting of hypothetical rewards ranging in amount from $20 to $10,000,000. The degree of discounting increased continuously with amount of probabilistic reward. This effect of amount was not due to changes in the rate parameter of the discounting function, but rather was due to increases in the exponent. These results stand in contrast to those observed with the discounting of delayed monetary rewards, in which the degree of discounting decreases with reward amount due to amount-dependent decreases in the rate parameter. Taken together, this pattern of results suggests that delay and probability discounting reflect different underlying mechanisms. That is, the fact that the exponent in the delay discounting function is independent of amount is consistent with a psychophysical scaling interpretation, whereas the finding that the exponent of the probability-discounting function is amount-dependent is inconsistent with such an interpretation. Instead, the present results are consistent with the idea that the probability-discounting function is itself the product of a value function and a weighting function. This idea was first suggested by Kahneman and Tversky (1979), although their prospect theory does not predict amount effects like those observed. The effect of amount on probability discounting was parsimoniously incorporated into our hyperboloid discounting function by assuming that the exponent was proportional to the amount raised to a power. The amount-dependent exponent of the probability-discounting function may be viewed as reflecting the effect of amount on the weighting of the probability with which the reward will be received.

Protein dynamics as seen by (quasi) elastic neutron scattering.

PubMed

Magazù, S; Mezei, F; Falus, P; Farago, B; Mamontov, E; Russina, M; Migliardo, F

2017-01-01

Elastic and quasielastic neutron scattering studies proved to be efficient probes of the atomic mean square displacement (MSD), a fundamental parameter for the characterization of the motion of individual atoms in proteins and its evolution with temperature and compositional environment. We present a technical overview of the different types of experimental situations and the information quasi-elastic neutron scattering approaches can make available. In particular, MSD can crucially depend on the time scale over which the averaging (building of the "mean") takes place, being defined by the instrumental resolution. Due to their high neutron scattering cross section, hydrogen atoms can be particularly sensitively observed with little interference by the other atoms in the sample. A few examples, including new data, are presented for illustration. The incoherent character of neutron scattering on hydrogen atoms restricts the information obtained to the self-correlations in the motion of individual atoms, simplifying at the same time the data analysis. On the other hand, the (often overlooked) exploration of the averaging time dependent character of MSD is crucial for unambiguous interpretation and can provide a wealth of information on micro- and nanoscale atomic motion in proteins. By properly exploiting the broad range capabilities of (quasi)elastic neutron scattering techniques to deliver time dependent characterization of atomic displacements, they offer a sensitive, direct and simple to interpret approach to exploration of the functional activity of hydrogen atoms in proteins. Partial deuteration can add most valuable selectivity by groups of hydrogen atoms. "This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Science for Life" Guest Editor: Dr. Austen Angell, Dr. Salvatore Magazù and Dr. Federica Migliardo". Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Adolescent Emotional Maturation through Divergent Models of Brain Organization

PubMed Central

Oron Semper, Jose V.; Murillo, Jose I.; Bernacer, Javier

2016-01-01

In this article we introduce the hypothesis that neuropsychological adolescent maturation, and in particular emotional management, may have opposing explanations depending on the interpretation of the assumed brain architecture, that is, whether a componential computational account (CCA) or a dynamic systems perspective (DSP) is used. According to CCA, cognitive functions are associated with the action of restricted brain regions, and this association is temporally stable; by contrast, DSP argues that cognitive functions are better explained by interactions between several brain areas, whose engagement in specific functions is temporal and context-dependent and based on neural reuse. We outline the main neurobiological facts about adolescent maturation, focusing on the neuroanatomical and neurofunctional processes associated with adolescence. We then explain the importance of emotional management in adolescent maturation. We explain the interplay between emotion and cognition under the scope of CCA and DSP, both at neural and behavioral levels. Finally, we justify why, according to CCA, emotional management is understood as regulation, specifically because the cognitive aspects of the brain are in charge of regulating emotion-related modules. However, the key word in DSP is integration, since neural information from different brain areas is integrated from the beginning of the process. Consequently, although the terms should not be conceptually confused, there is no cognition without emotion, and vice versa. Thus, emotional integration is not an independent process that just happens to the subject, but a crucial part of personal growth. Considering the importance of neuropsychological research in the development of educational and legal policies concerning adolescents, we intend to expose that the holistic view of adolescents is dependent on whether one holds the implicit or explicit interpretation of brain functioning. PMID:27602012

A helium-based model for the effects of radiation damage annealing on helium diffusion kinetics in apatite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willett, Chelsea D.; Fox, Matthew; Shuster, David L.

2017-11-01

Widely used to study surface processes and the development of topography through geologic time, (U-Th)/He thermochronometry in apatite depends on a quantitative description of the kinetics of 4He diffusion across a range of temperatures, timescales, and geologic scenarios. Empirical observations demonstrate that He diffusivity in apatite is not solely a function of temperature, but also depends on damage to the crystal structure from radioactive decay processes. Commonly-used models accounting for the influence of thermal annealing of radiation damage on He diffusivity assume the net effects evolve in proportion to the rate of fission track annealing, although the majority of radiation damage results from α-recoil. While existing models adequately quantify the net effects of damage annealing in many geologic scenarios, experimental work suggests different annealing rates for the two damage types. Here, we introduce an alpha-damage annealing model (ADAM) that is independent of fission track annealing kinetics, and directly quantifies the influence of thermal annealing on He diffusivity in apatite. We present an empirical fit to diffusion kinetics data and incorporate this fit into a model that tracks the competing effects of radiation damage accumulation and annealing on He diffusivity in apatite through geologic time. Using time-temperature paths to illustrate differences between models, we highlight the influence of damage annealing on data interpretation. In certain, but not all, geologic scenarios, the interpretation of low-temperature thermochronometric data can be strongly influenced by which model of radiation damage annealing is assumed. In particular, geologic scenarios involving 1-2 km of sedimentary burial are especially sensitive to the assumed rate of annealing and its influence on He diffusivity. In cases such as basement rocks in Grand Canyon and the Canadian Shield, (U-Th)/He ages predicted from the ADAM can differ by hundreds of Ma from those predicted by other models for a given thermal path involving extended residence between ∼40-80 °C.

Biological interactions in vitro of zinc oxide nanoparticles of different characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aula, Sangeetha; Lakkireddy, Samyuktha; AVN, Swamy; Kapley, Atya; Jamil, Kaiser; Rao Tata, Narasinga; Hembram, Kaliyan

2014-09-01

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have recently received growing attention for various biomedical applications, including use as therapeutic or carrier for drug delivery and/or imaging. For the above applications, the NPs necessitate administration into the body leading to their systemic exposure. To better anticipate the safety, make risk assessment, and be able to interpret the future preclinical and clinical safety data, it is important to systematically understand the biological interaction of the NPs, the consequences of such interaction, and the mechanisms associated with the toxicity induction, with the important components with which the NPs are expected to be in contact after systemic exposure. In this context, we report here a detailed study on the biological interactions in vitro of the ZnO NPs with healthy human primary lymphocytes as these are the important immune components and the first systemic immune contact, and with the whole human blood. Additionally, the influence, if any, of the NPs shape (spheres and rods) on the biological interaction has been evaluated. The ZnO NPs caused toxicity (30% at 12.5 μg ml-1 spheres and 10.5 μg ml-1 rods; 50% at 22 μg ml-1 spheres and 19.5 μg ml-1 rods) to the lymphocytes at molecular and genetic level in a dose-dependent and shape-dependent manner, while the interaction consequences with the blood and blood components such as RBC, platelets was only dose-dependent and not shape-dependent. This is evident from the decreased RBC count due to increased %Hemolysis (5.3% in both the spheres- and rods-treated blood) and decreased platelet count due to increased %platelet aggregation (28% in spheres-treated and 33% in rods-treated platelet-rich plasma). Such in-depth understanding of the biological interaction of the NPs, the consequences, and the associated mechanisms in vitro could be expected to allow anticipating the NP safety for risk assessment and for interpretation of the preclinical and clinical safety data when available.

Interpretation bias and anxiety in childhood: stability, specificity and longitudinal associations.

PubMed

Creswell, Cathy; O'Connor, Thomas G

2011-03-01

Biases in the interpretation of ambiguous material are central to cognitive models of anxiety; however, understanding of the association between interpretation and anxiety in childhood is limited. To address this, a prospective investigation of the stability and specificity of anxious cognitions and anxiety and the relationship between these factors was conducted. Sixty-five children (10-11 years) from a community sample completed measures of self-reported anxiety, depression, and conduct problems, and responded to ambiguous stories at three time points over one-year. Individual differences in biases in interpretation of ambiguity (specifically "anticipated distress" and "threat interpretation") were stable over time. Furthermore, anticipated distress and threat interpretation were specifically associated with anxiety symptoms. Distress anticipation predicted change in anxiety symptoms over time. In contrast, anxiety scores predicted change in threat interpretation over time. The results suggest that different cognitive constructs may show different longitudinal links with anxiety. These preliminary findings extend research and theory on anxious cognitions and their link with anxiety in children, and suggest that these cognitive processes may be valuable targets for assessment and intervention.

Quantum mechanics of conformally and minimally coupled Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Sang Pyo

1992-10-01

The expansion method by a time-dependent basis of the eigenfunctions for the space-coordinate-dependent sub-Hamiltonian is one of the most natural frameworks for quantum systems, relativistic as well as nonrelativistic. The complete set of wave functions is found in the product integral formulation, whose constants of integration are fixed by Cauchy initial data. The wave functions for the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmology conformally and minimally coupled to a scalar field with a power-law potential or a polynomial potential are expanded in terms of the eigenfunctions of the scalar field sub-Hamiltonian part. The resultant gravitational field part which is an ``intrinsic'' timelike variable-dependent matrix-valued differential equation is solved again in the product integral formulation. There are classically allowed regions for the ``intrinsic'' timelike variable depending on the scalar field quantum numbers and these regions increase accordingly as the quantum numbers increase. For a fixed large three-geometry the wave functions corresponding to the low excited (small quantum number) states of the scalar field are exponentially damped or diverging and the wave functions corresponding to the high excited (large quantum number) states are still oscillatory but become eventually exponential as the three-geometry becomes larger. Furthermore, a proposal is advanced that the wave functions exponentially damped for a large three-geometry may be interpreted as ``tunneling out'' wave functions into, and the wave functions exponentially diverging as ``tunneling in'' from, different universes with the same or different topologies, the former being interpreted as the recently proposed Hawking-Page wormhole wave functions. It is observed that there are complex as well as Euclidean actions depending on the quantum numbers of the scalar field part outside the classically allowed region both of the gravitational and scalar fields, suggesting the usefulness of complex geometry and complex trajectories. From the most general wave functions for the FRW cosmology conformally coupled to scalar field, the boundary conditions for the wormhole wave functions are modified so that the modulus of wave functions, instead of the wave functions themselves, should be exponentially damped for a large three-geometry and be regular up to some negative power of the three-geometry as the three-geometry collapses. The wave functions for the FRW cosmology minimally coupled to an inhomogeneous scalar field are similarly found in the product integral formulation. The role of a large number of the inhomogeneous modes of the scalar field is not only to increase the classically allowed regions for the gravitational part but also to provide a mechanism of the decoherence of quantum interferences between the different sizes of the universe.

The right inferior frontal gyrus processes nested non-local dependencies in music.

PubMed

Cheung, Vincent K M; Meyer, Lars; Friederici, Angela D; Koelsch, Stefan

2018-02-28

Complex auditory sequences known as music have often been described as hierarchically structured. This permits the existence of non-local dependencies, which relate elements of a sequence beyond their temporal sequential order. Previous studies in music have reported differential activity in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) when comparing regular and irregular chord-transitions based on theories in Western tonal harmony. However, it is unclear if the observed activity reflects the interpretation of hierarchical structure as the effects are confounded by local irregularity. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we found that violations to non-local dependencies in nested sequences of three-tone musical motifs in musicians elicited increased activity in the right IFG. This is in contrast to similar studies in language which typically report the left IFG in processing grammatical syntax. Effects of increasing auditory working demands are moreover reflected by distributed activity in frontal and parietal regions. Our study therefore demonstrates the role of the right IFG in processing non-local dependencies in music, and suggests that hierarchical processing in different cognitive domains relies on similar mechanisms that are subserved by domain-selective neuronal subpopulations.

Computational Tools for Interpreting Ion Channel pH-Dependence.

PubMed

Sazanavets, Ivan; Warwicker, Jim

2015-01-01

Activity in many biological systems is mediated by pH, involving proton titratable groups with pKas in the relevant pH range. Experimental analysis of pH-dependence in proteins focusses on particular sidechains, often with mutagenesis of histidine, due to its pKa near to neutral pH. The key question for algorithms that predict pKas is whether they are sufficiently accurate to effectively narrow the search for molecular determinants of pH-dependence. Through analysis of inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir) channels and acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs), mutational effects on pH-dependence are probed, distinguishing between groups described as pH-coupled or pH-sensor. Whereas mutation can lead to a shift in transition pH between open and closed forms for either type of group, only for pH-sensor groups does mutation modulate the amplitude of the transition. It is shown that a hybrid Finite Difference Poisson-Boltzmann (FDPB) - Debye-Hückel continuum electrostatic model can filter mutation candidates, providing enrichment for key pH-coupled and pH-sensor residues in both ASICs and Kir channels, in comparison with application of FDPB alone.

Computational Tools for Interpreting Ion Channel pH-Dependence

PubMed Central

Sazanavets, Ivan; Warwicker, Jim

2015-01-01

Activity in many biological systems is mediated by pH, involving proton titratable groups with pKas in the relevant pH range. Experimental analysis of pH-dependence in proteins focusses on particular sidechains, often with mutagenesis of histidine, due to its pKa near to neutral pH. The key question for algorithms that predict pKas is whether they are sufficiently accurate to effectively narrow the search for molecular determinants of pH-dependence. Through analysis of inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir) channels and acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs), mutational effects on pH-dependence are probed, distinguishing between groups described as pH-coupled or pH-sensor. Whereas mutation can lead to a shift in transition pH between open and closed forms for either type of group, only for pH-sensor groups does mutation modulate the amplitude of the transition. It is shown that a hybrid Finite Difference Poisson-Boltzmann (FDPB) – Debye-Hückel continuum electrostatic model can filter mutation candidates, providing enrichment for key pH-coupled and pH-sensor residues in both ASICs and Kir channels, in comparison with application of FDPB alone. PMID:25915903

Current-voltage characteristics of manganite-titanite perovskite junctions.

PubMed

Ifland, Benedikt; Peretzki, Patrick; Kressdorf, Birte; Saring, Philipp; Kelling, Andreas; Seibt, Michael; Jooss, Christian

2015-01-01

After a general introduction into the Shockley theory of current voltage (J-V) characteristics of inorganic and organic semiconductor junctions of different bandwidth, we apply the Shockley theory-based, one diode model to a new type of perovskite junctions with polaronic charge carriers. In particular, we studied manganite-titanate p-n heterojunctions made of n-doped SrTi1- y Nb y O3, y = 0.002 and p-doped Pr1- x Ca x MnO3, x = 0.34 having a strongly correlated electron system. The diffusion length of the polaron carriers was analyzed by electron beam-induced current (EBIC) in a thin cross plane lamella of the junction. In the J-V characteristics, the polaronic nature of the charge carriers is exhibited mainly by the temperature dependence of the microscopic parameters, such as the hopping mobility of the series resistance and a colossal electro-resistance (CER) effect in the parallel resistance. We conclude that a modification of the Shockley equation incorporating voltage-dependent microscopic polaron parameters is required. Specifically, the voltage dependence of the reverse saturation current density is analyzed and interpreted as a voltage-dependent electron-polaron hole-polaron pair generation and separation at the interface.

Orientation dependence of temporal and spectral properties of high-order harmonics in solids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Mengxi; You, Yongsing; Ghimire, Shambhu; Reis, David A.; Browne, Dana A.; Schafer, Kenneth J.; Gaarde, Mette B.

2017-12-01

We investigate the connection between crystal symmetry and temporal and spectral properties of high-order harmonics in solids. We calculate the orientation-dependent harmonic spectrum driven by an intense, linearly polarized infrared laser field, using a momentum-space description of the generation process in terms of strong-field-driven electron dynamics on the band structure. We show that the orientation dependence of both the spectral yield and the subcycle time profile of the harmonic radiation can be understood in terms of the coupling strengths and relative curvatures of the valence band and the low-lying conduction bands. In particular, we show that in some systems this gives rise to a rapid shift of a quarter optical cycle in the timing of harmonics in the secondary plateau as the crystal is rotated relative to the laser polarization. We address recent experimental results in MgO [Y. S. You et al., Nat. Phys. 13, 345 (2017)., 10.1038/nphys3955] and show that the observed change in orientation dependence for the highest harmonics can be interpreted in the momentum space picture in terms of the contributions of several different conduction bands.

Current–voltage characteristics of manganite–titanite perovskite junctions

PubMed Central

Ifland, Benedikt; Peretzki, Patrick; Kressdorf, Birte; Saring, Philipp; Kelling, Andreas; Seibt, Michael

2015-01-01

Summary After a general introduction into the Shockley theory of current voltage (J–V) characteristics of inorganic and organic semiconductor junctions of different bandwidth, we apply the Shockley theory-based, one diode model to a new type of perovskite junctions with polaronic charge carriers. In particular, we studied manganite–titanate p–n heterojunctions made of n-doped SrTi1− yNbyO3, y = 0.002 and p-doped Pr1− xCaxMnO3, x = 0.34 having a strongly correlated electron system. The diffusion length of the polaron carriers was analyzed by electron beam-induced current (EBIC) in a thin cross plane lamella of the junction. In the J–V characteristics, the polaronic nature of the charge carriers is exhibited mainly by the temperature dependence of the microscopic parameters, such as the hopping mobility of the series resistance and a colossal electro-resistance (CER) effect in the parallel resistance. We conclude that a modification of the Shockley equation incorporating voltage-dependent microscopic polaron parameters is required. Specifically, the voltage dependence of the reverse saturation current density is analyzed and interpreted as a voltage-dependent electron–polaron hole–polaron pair generation and separation at the interface. PMID:26199851

Gambling-Related Cognition Scale (GRCS): Are skills-based games at a disadvantage?

PubMed

Lévesque, David; Sévigny, Serge; Giroux, Isabelle; Jacques, Christian

2017-09-01

The Gambling-Related Cognition Scale (GRCS; Raylu & Oei, 2004) was developed to evaluate gambling-related cognitive distortions for all types of gamblers, regardless of their gambling activities (poker, slot machine, etc.). It is therefore imperative to ascertain the validity of its interpretation across different types of gamblers; however, some skills-related items endorsed by players could be interpreted as a cognitive distortion despite the fact that they play skills-related games. Using an intergroup (168 poker players and 73 video lottery terminal [VLT] players) differential item functioning (DIF) analysis, this study examined the possible manifestation of item biases associated with the GRCS. DIF was analyzed with ordinal logistic regressions (OLRs) and Ramsay's (1991) nonparametric kernel smoothing approach with TestGraf. Results show that half of the items display at least moderate DIF between groups and, depending on the type of analysis used, 3 to 7 items displayed large DIF. The 5 items with the most DIF were more significantly endorsed by poker players (uniform DIF) and were all related to skills, knowledge, learning, or probabilities. Poker players' interpretations of some skills-related items may lead to an overestimation of their cognitive distortions due to their total score increased by measurement artifact. Findings indicate that the current structure of the GRCS contains potential biases to be considered when poker players are surveyed. The present study conveys new and important information on bias issues to ponder carefully before using and interpreting the GRCS and other similar wide-range instruments with poker players. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

A single-substrate model to interpret high-resolution intra-annual stable isotope signals in tree ring cellulose

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogée, J.; Barbour, M. M.; Dewar, R. C.; Wingate, L.; Bert, D.; Bosc, A.; Lambrot, C.; Stievenard, M.; Bariac, T.; Berbigier, P.; Loustau, D.

2007-12-01

High-resolution measurements of the carbon and oxygen stable isotope composition of cellulose in annual tree rings (δ13Ccellulose and δ18Ocellulose, respectively) reveal well-defined seasonal patterns that could contain valuable records of past climate and tree function. Interpreting these signals is nonetheless complex because they not only record the signature of current assimilates, but also depend on carbon allocation dynamics within the trees. Here, we will present a single-substrate model for wood growth in order to interpret qualitatively and quantitatively these seasonal isotopic signals. We will also show how this model can relate to more complex models of phloem transport and cambial activity. The model will then be tested against an isotopic intra-annual chronology collected on a Pinus pinaster tree equipped with point dendrometers and growing on a Carboeurope site where climate, soil and flux variables are also monitored. The empirical δ13Ccellulose and δ18Ocellulose signals exhibit dynamic seasonal patterns with clear differences between years, which makes it suitable for model testing. We will show how our simple model of carbohydrate reserves, forced by sap flow and eddy covariance measurements, enables us to interpret these seasonal and inter-annual patterns. Finally, we will present a sensitivity analysis of the model, showing how gas-exchange parameters, carbon and water pool sizes or wood maturation times affect these isotopic signals. Acknowledgements: this study benefited from the CarboEurope-IP Bray site facilities and was funded by the French INSU programme Eclipse, with an additional support from the INRA department EFPA.

CHEMKIN-III: A FORTRAN chemical kinetics package for the analysis of gas-phase chemical and plasma kinetics

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

Kee, R.J.; Rupley, F.M.; Meeks, E.

1996-05-01

This document is the user`s manual for the third-generation CHEMKIN package. CHEMKIN is a software package whose purpose is to facilitate the formation, solution, and interpretation of problems involving elementary gas-phase chemical kinetics. It provides a flexible and powerful tool for incorporating complex chemical kinetics into simulations of fluid dynamics. The package consists of two major software components: an Interpreter and a Gas-Phase Subroutine Library. The Interpreter is a program that reads a symbolic description of an elementary, user-specified chemical reaction mechanism. One output from the Interpreter is a data file that forms a link to the Gas-Phase Subroutine Library.more » This library is a collection of about 100 highly modular FORTRAN subroutines that may be called to return information on equations of state, thermodynamic properties, and chemical production rates. CHEMKIN-III includes capabilities for treating multi-fluid plasma systems, that are not in thermal equilibrium. These new capabilities allow researchers to describe chemistry systems that are characterized by more than one temperature, in which reactions may depend on temperatures associated with different species; i.e. reactions may be driven by collisions with electrons, ions, or charge-neutral species. These new features have been implemented in such a way as to require little or no changes to CHEMKIN implementation for systems in thermal equilibrium, where all species share the same gas temperature. CHEMKIN-III now has the capability to handle weakly ionized plasma chemistry, especially for application related to advanced semiconductor processing.« less

Dynamic stress changes during earthquake rupture

USGS Publications Warehouse

Day, S.M.; Yu, G.; Wald, D.J.

1998-01-01

We assess two competing dynamic interpretations that have been proposed for the short slip durations characteristic of kinematic earthquake models derived by inversion of earthquake waveform and geodetic data. The first interpretation would require a fault constitutive relationship in which rapid dynamic restrengthening of the fault surface occurs after passage of the rupture front, a hypothesized mechanical behavior that has been referred to as "self-healing." The second interpretation would require sufficient spatial heterogeneity of stress drop to permit rapid equilibration of elastic stresses with the residual dynamic friction level, a condition we refer to as "geometrical constraint." These interpretations imply contrasting predictions for the time dependence of the fault-plane shear stresses. We compare these predictions with dynamic shear stress changes for the 1992 Landers (M 7.3), 1994 Northridge (M 6.7), and 1995 Kobe (M 6.9) earthquakes. Stress changes are computed from kinematic slip models of these earthquakes, using a finite-difference method. For each event, static stress drop is highly variable spatially, with high stress-drop patches embedded in a background of low, and largely negative, stress drop. The time histories of stress change show predominantly monotonic stress change after passage of the rupture front, settling to a residual level, without significant evidence for dynamic restrengthening. The stress change at the rupture front is usually gradual rather than abrupt, probably reflecting the limited resolution inherent in the underlying kinematic inversions. On the basis of this analysis, as well as recent similar results obtained independently for the Kobe and Morgan Hill earthquakes, we conclude that, at the present time, the self-healing hypothesis is unnecessary to explain earthquake kinematics.

The psychotherapist and the sign language interpreter.

PubMed

de Bruin, Ed; Brugmans, Petra

2006-01-01

Specialized psychotherapy for deaf people in the Dutch and Western European mental health systems is still a rather young specialism. A key policy principle in Dutch mental health care for the deaf is that they should receive treatment in the language most accessible to them, which is usually Dutch Sign Language (Nederlandse Gebarentaal or NGT). Although psychotherapists for the deaf are trained to use sign language, situations will always arise in which a sign language interpreter is needed. Most psychotherapists have the opinion that working with a sign language interpreter in therapy sessions can be a valuable alternative option but also see it as a second-best solution because of its impact on the therapeutic process. This paper describes our years of collaborationship as a therapist and a sign language interpreter. If this collaborationship is optimal, it can generate a certain "therapeutic power" in the therapy sessions. Achieving this depends largely on the interplay between the therapist and the interpreter, which in our case is the result of literature research and our experiences during the last 17 years. We analyze this special collaborative relationship, which has several dimensions and recurrent themes like, the role conception of the interpreter, situational interpreting, organizing the interpretation setting, or managing therapeutic phenomena during therapy sessions.

CORRELATES OF RECOVERY FROM ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE: A PROSPECTIVE STUDY OVER A 3-YEAR FOLLOW-UP INTERVAL

PubMed Central

Dawson, Deborah A.; Goldstein, Risë B.; Ruan, W. June; Grant, Bridget F.

2011-01-01

Background Correlates of recovery from alcohol dependence have been identified through a variety of study designs characterized by different strengths and limitations. The goal of this study was to compare correlates of recovery based on a 3-year prospective design with those based on cross-sectional analyses of data from the same source. Methods Data from the 2001-2002 Wave 1 and 2004-2005 Wave 2 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) were used to examine baseline characteristics associated with Wave 2 recovery from alcohol dependence, among those who classified with past-year DSM-IV alcohol dependence at Wave 1 (n=1,172). Results Abstinent recovery (AR) was significantly associated with Black/Asian/Hispanic race/ethnicity, children <1 year of age in the household at baseline, attending religious services ≥weekly at follow-up, and having initiated help seeking that comprised/included 12-step participation within <3 years prior to baseline. Nonabstinent recovery (NR) was positively associated with being never married at baseline, having job problems or being unemployed in the year preceding baseline, attending religious services

Asymptotic expansion of pair production probability in a time-dependent electric field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arai, Takashi

2015-12-01

We study particle creation in a single pulse of an electric field in scalar quantum electrodynamics. We investigate the parameter condition for the case where the dynamical pair creation and Schwinger mechanism respectively dominate. Then, an asymptotic expansion for the particle distribution in terms of the time interval of the applied electric field is derived. We compare our result with particle creation in a constant electric field with a finite-time interval. These results coincide in an extremely strong field, however they differ in general field strength. We interpret the reason of this difference as a nonperturbative effect of high-frequency photons in external electric fields. Moreover, we find that the next-to-leading-order term in our asymptotic expansion coincides with the derivative expansion of the effective action.

Stencil computations for PDE-based applications with examples from DUNE and hypre

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

Engwer, C.; Falgout, R. D.; Yang, U. M.

Here, stencils are commonly used to implement efficient on–the–fly computations of linear operators arising from partial differential equations. At the same time the term “stencil” is not fully defined and can be interpreted differently depending on the application domain and the background of the software developers. Common features in stencil codes are the preservation of the structure given by the discretization of the partial differential equation and the benefit of minimal data storage. We discuss stencil concepts of different complexity, show how they are used in modern software packages like hypre and DUNE, and discuss recent efforts to extend themore » software to enable stencil computations of more complex problems and methods such as inf–sup–stable Stokes discretizations and mixed finite element discretizations.« less

The biomechanics of leg ulceration.

PubMed Central

Chant, A.

1999-01-01

Research performed in the late 1960s, using 24Na, suggested that the perfusion of skin and subcutaneous tissues is critically dependent on the relationship between capillary (Pc) and tissue pressures (Pt). Perfusion changes differed significantly between controls and patients with venous disease and the differences could be interpreted as evidence that Pt remained high in venous diseased patients. From this starting point, a biomechanical theory for the aetiology of venous ulceration was developed and tested by measuring skin elasticity, limb cross-sectional area and laser Doppler flux. The results confirm that, modelled as a two-compartment system (vascular and interstitial fluid), forces can be demonstrated sufficient to cause intermittent capillary closure and subsequent reperfusion injury. These forces are maximal in the gaiter area, the site of most leg ulcers. Images Figure 2 Figure 4 PMID:10364960

DC thermal microscopy: study of the thermal exchange between a probe and a sample

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gomès, Séverine; Trannoy, Nathalie; Grossel, Philippe

1999-09-01

The Scanning Thermal Microscopic (SThM) probe, a thin Pt resistance wire, is used in the constant force mode of an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). Thermal signal-distance curves for differing degrees of relative humidity and different surrounding gases demonstrate how heat is transferred from the heated probe to the sample. It is known that water affects atomic force microscopy and thermal measurements; we report here on the variation of the water interaction on the thermal coupling versus the probe temperature. Measurements were taken for several solid materials and show that the predominant heat transfer mechanisms taking part in thermal coupling are dependent on the thermal conductivity of the sample. The results have important implications for any quantitative interpretation of thermal images made in air.

Stencil computations for PDE-based applications with examples from DUNE and hypre

DOE PAGES

Engwer, C.; Falgout, R. D.; Yang, U. M.

2017-02-24

Here, stencils are commonly used to implement efficient on–the–fly computations of linear operators arising from partial differential equations. At the same time the term “stencil” is not fully defined and can be interpreted differently depending on the application domain and the background of the software developers. Common features in stencil codes are the preservation of the structure given by the discretization of the partial differential equation and the benefit of minimal data storage. We discuss stencil concepts of different complexity, show how they are used in modern software packages like hypre and DUNE, and discuss recent efforts to extend themore » software to enable stencil computations of more complex problems and methods such as inf–sup–stable Stokes discretizations and mixed finite element discretizations.« less

Characterizing Geological Facies using Seismic Waveform Classification in Sarawak Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zahraa, Afiqah; Zailani, Ahmad; Prasad Ghosh, Deva

2017-10-01

Numerous effort have been made to build relationship between geology and geophysics using different techniques throughout the years. The integration of these two most important data in oil and gas industry can be used to reduce uncertainty in exploration and production especially for reservoir productivity enhancement and stratigraphic identification. This paper is focusing on seismic waveform classification to different classes using neural network and to link them according to the geological facies which are established using the knowledge on lithology and log motif of well data. Seismic inversion is used as the input for the neural network to act as the direct lithology indicator reducing dependency on well calibration. The interpretation of seismic facies classification map provides a better understanding towards the lithology distribution, depositional environment and help to identify significant reservoir rock

Graphic Symbols as "The Mind on Paper": Links between Children's Interpretive Theory of Mind and Symbol Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Lauren J.; Liben, Lynn S.

2012-01-01

Children gradually develop interpretive theory of mind (iToM)--the understanding that different people may interpret identical events or stimuli differently. The present study tested whether more advanced iToM underlies children's recognition that map symbols' meanings must be communicated to others when symbols are iconic (resemble their…

Shared function knowledge: infants' attention to function information in communicative contexts.

PubMed

Träuble, Birgit; Bätz, Johannes

2014-08-01

Humans are specifically adapted to knowledge acquisition and transfer by social communication. According to natural pedagogy theory, infants are highly sensitive to signals that indicate a teacher's communicative intention and are biased to interpret communicative contexts as conveying relevant and generalizable knowledge that is also shared by other conspecifics. We investigated whether infants as young as 12 months interpret ostensively communicated object-directed emotion expressions as generalizable and shareable with others. Given that young infants pay particular attention to information about objects' functions, we were interested in whether the shareability assumption also holds for emotional attitudes toward functional features of unfamiliar objects. The results suggest that 12-month-olds (N=80) flexibly interpret another person's emotion displays toward unfamiliar artifacts either as object-centered and generalizable attitudes or as person-centered subjective attitudes, depending on the communicative characteristics of the learning context. Furthermore, the transfer of ostensively communicated information about the artifacts depended on their functional usability, which is consistent with infants' early sensitivity to function information in various areas of cognitive development. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ECG interpretation in Emergency Department residents: an update and e-learning as a resource to improve skills.

PubMed

Barthelemy, Francois X; Segard, Julien; Fradin, Philippe; Hourdin, Nicolas; Batard, Eric; Pottier, Pierre; Potel, Gilles; Montassier, Emmanuel

2017-04-01

ECG interpretation is a pivotal skill to acquire during residency, especially for Emergency Department (ED) residents. Previous studies reported that ECG interpretation competency among residents was rather low. However, the optimal resource to improve ECG interpretation skills remains unclear. The aim of our study was to compare two teaching modalities to improve the ECG interpretation skills of ED residents: e-learning and lecture-based courses. The participants were first-year and second-year ED residents, assigned randomly to the two groups. The ED residents were evaluated by means of a precourse test at the beginning of the study and a postcourse test after the e-learning and lecture-based courses. These evaluations consisted of the interpretation of 10 different ECGs. We included 39 ED residents from four different hospitals. The precourse test showed that the overall average score of ECG interpretation was 40%. Nineteen participants were then assigned to the e-learning course and 20 to the lecture-based course. Globally, there was a significant improvement in ECG interpretation skills (accuracy score=55%, P=0.0002). However, this difference was not significant between the two groups (P=0.14). Our findings showed that the ECG interpretation was not optimal and that our e-learning program may be an effective tool for enhancing ECG interpretation skills among ED residents. A large European study should be carried out to evaluate ECG interpretation skills among ED residents before the implementation of ECG learning, including e-learning strategies, during ED residency.

Mozambican Student-Teachers' Perceptions of Developing Their Understanding of Teaching Spatially Dependent Geometry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dinis da Costa, Daniel

2014-01-01

This article presents student-teachers' perceptions of spatial 3D-descriptive geometry education in Mozambique. To interpret a 3D object through 2D projections and vice-versa requires spatial abilities that are deemed crucial for learning in any spatially dependent discipline such as 3D-descriptive geometry, engineering and technical-vocational…

Are Alternative Conceptions Dependent on Researchers' Methodology and Definition?: A Review of Empirical Studies Related to Concepts of Heat

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Chee Leong; Chu, Hye-Eun; Yap, Kueh Chin

2016-01-01

Currently, there is no agreement among scientists and science educators on whether heat should be defined as a "process of energy transfer" or "form of energy." For example, students may conceive of heat as "molecular kinetic energy," but the interpretation of this alternative conception is dependent on educational…

Monitoring changes of paramagnetically-shifted 31P signals in phospholipid vesicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joyce, Rebecca E.; Williams, Thomas L.; Serpell, Louise C.; Day, Iain J.

2016-03-01

Phospholipid vesicles are commonly used as biomimetics in the investigation of the interaction of various species with cell membranes. In this letter we present a 31P NMR investigation of a simple vesicle system using a paramagnetic shift reagent to probe the inner and outer layers of the lipid bilayer. Time-dependent changes in the 31P NMR signal are observed, which differ whether the paramagnetic species is inside or outside the vesicle, and on the choice of buffer solution used. An interpretation of these results is given in terms of the interaction of the paramagnetic shift reagent with the lipids.

"Abnormal" salt and solvent effects on anion/cation electron-transfer reactions: an interpretation based on Marcus-Hush treatment.

PubMed

Garcia-Fernandez, E; Prado-Gotor, R; Sanchez, F

2005-08-11

Salt and solvent effects on the kinetics of the reactions [Fe(CN)6]3- + [Ru(NH3)5pz](2+) right arrow over left arrow [Fe(CN)6]4- + [Ru(NH3)5pz]3+ (pz = pyrazine) have been studied through T-jump measurements. The forward and reverse reactions show different behaviors: "abnormal" salt and solvent effects in the first case and normal effects in the second one. These facts imply an asymmetric behavior of anion/cation reactions depending on the charge of the oxidant. The results can be rationalized by using the Marcus-Hush treatment for electron-transfer reactions.

Mahan excitons in degenerate wurtzite InN: Photoluminescence spectroscopy and reflectivity measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feneberg, Martin; Däubler, Jürgen; Thonke, Klaus; Sauer, Rolf; Schley, Pascal; Goldhahn, Rüdiger

2008-06-01

Unintentionally degenerately doped n -type hexagonal wurtzite InN samples were studied by using Fourier-transform photoluminescence spectroscopy and reflectivity measurements. We found in luminescence overlapping band acceptor (e,A0) transitions related to two different acceptors with a strong enhancement of their intensities close to the Fermi energy of the electrons recombining with the localized holes. Our explanation is in terms of a Fermi-edge singularity of the electrons due to strongly increased electron-hole scattering. Electron-hole pairs with such resonantly enhanced oscillator strengths have been referred to as Mahan excitons. Temperature-dependent reflectivity measurements confirm this interpretation.

Suppression of Dyakonov-Perel Spin Relaxation in High-Mobility n-GaAs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dzhioev, R. I.; Kavokin, K. V.; Korenev, V. L.; Lazarev, M. V.; Poletaev, N. K.; Zakharchenya, B. P.; Stinaff, E. A.; Gammon, D.; Bracker, A. S.; Ware, M. E.

2004-11-01

We report a large and unexpected suppression of the free electron spin-relaxation in lightly doped n-GaAs bulk crystals. The spin-relaxation rate shows a weak mobility dependence and saturates at a level 30 times less than that predicted by the Dyakonov-Perel theory. The dynamics of the spin-orbit field differs substantially from the usual scheme: although all the experimental data can be self-consistently interpreted as a precessional spin-relaxation induced by a random spin-orbit field, the correlation time of this random field, surprisingly, is much shorter than, and is independent of, the momentum relaxation time determined from transport measurements.

Suppression of Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation in high-mobility n-GaAs.

PubMed

Dzhioev, R I; Kavokin, K V; Korenev, V L; Lazarev, M V; Poletaev, N K; Zakharchenya, B P; Stinaff, E A; Gammon, D; Bracker, A S; Ware, M E

2004-11-19

We report a large and unexpected suppression of the free electron spin-relaxation in lightly doped n-GaAs bulk crystals. The spin-relaxation rate shows a weak mobility dependence and saturates at a level 30 times less than that predicted by the Dyakonov-Perel theory. The dynamics of the spin-orbit field differs substantially from the usual scheme: although all the experimental data can be self-consistently interpreted as a precessional spin-relaxation induced by a random spin-orbit field, the correlation time of this random field, surprisingly, is much shorter than, and is independent of, the momentum relaxation time determined from transport measurements.

Energy absorption due to spatial resonance of Alfven waves at continuum tip

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Eugene; Berk, Herb; Breizman, Boris; Zheng, Linjin

2011-10-01

We investigate the response of tokamak plasma to an external driving source. An impedance-like function depending on the driving frequency that is growing at a small rate, is calculated and interpreted with different source profiles. Special attention is devoted to the case where driving frequency approaches that of the TAE continuum tip. The calculation can be applied to the estimation of TAE damping rate by analytically continuing the inverse of the impedance function to the lower half plane. The root of the analytic continuation corresponds to the existence of a quasi-mode, from which the damping rate can be found.

Fluorescence of carotenoids. Effect of oxygenation and cis/trans isomerization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jørgensen, Kevin; Stapelfeldt, Henrik; Skibsted, Leif H.

1992-03-01

C 40 carotenoids fall, with respect to fluorescence in homogeneous solution, into two distinct groups depending on the presence of a CO group in the molecule. Excitation spectra agree with absorption spectra for the carbonyl derivatives astaxanthin and canthaxanthin. In contrast, zeaxanthin and isomers of β-carotene have a twentyfold increase in fluorescence quantum yield for excitation around 350 nm compared to excitation near the absorption maximum (at approximatively 430 nm). These differences are interpreted in terms of the role of non-emitting 1(n, π*) states related to the CO group in facilitating non-radiative deactivation of higher 1(π, π*) states.

Dissipative dynamics in quasifission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oberacker, V. E.; Umar, A. S.; Simenel, C.

2014-11-01

Quasifission is the primary reaction mechanism that prevents the formation of superheavy elements in heavy-ion fusion experiments. Employing the time-dependent density functional theory approach, we study quasifission in the systems Ca,4840+238U . Results show that for 48Ca projectiles the quasifission is substantially reduced in comparison to the 40Ca case. This partly explains the success of superheavy element formation with 48Ca beams. For the first time, we also calculate the repartition of excitation energies of the two fragments in a dynamic microscopic theory. The differences between both systems are interpreted in terms of initial neutron to proton asymmetry of the colliding partners.

Viscomagnetic effect: j-magnitude weighting for Ar-N2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Snider, R. F.

1984-10-01

A continuing question in the study of the viscomagnetic effect has been the dependence on j magnitude, of the angular momentum polarization. It has been generally accepted that neither the normalized nor the unrenormalized angular momentum quadrupole correctly interprets the experimental results. IOS calculations of the production and relaxation cross sections are performed keeping the full j-magnitude dependence. Predictions of the field dependence of the viscomagnetic effect are made and it is found that the j dependence of both the production cross sections and of the relaxation matrix influence the detailed field dependence of the viscomagnetic effect.

The effect of SUV discretization in quantitative FDG-PET Radiomics: the need for standardized methodology in tumor texture analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leijenaar, Ralph T. H.; Nalbantov, Georgi; Carvalho, Sara; van Elmpt, Wouter J. C.; Troost, Esther G. C.; Boellaard, Ronald; Aerts, Hugo J. W. L.; Gillies, Robert J.; Lambin, Philippe

2015-08-01

FDG-PET-derived textural features describing intra-tumor heterogeneity are increasingly investigated as imaging biomarkers. As part of the process of quantifying heterogeneity, image intensities (SUVs) are typically resampled into a reduced number of discrete bins. We focused on the implications of the manner in which this discretization is implemented. Two methods were evaluated: (1) RD, dividing the SUV range into D equally spaced bins, where the intensity resolution (i.e. bin size) varies per image; and (2) RB, maintaining a constant intensity resolution B. Clinical feasibility was assessed on 35 lung cancer patients, imaged before and in the second week of radiotherapy. Forty-four textural features were determined for different D and B for both imaging time points. Feature values depended on the intensity resolution and out of both assessed methods, RB was shown to allow for a meaningful inter- and intra-patient comparison of feature values. Overall, patients ranked differently according to feature values-which was used as a surrogate for textural feature interpretation-between both discretization methods. Our study shows that the manner of SUV discretization has a crucial effect on the resulting textural features and the interpretation thereof, emphasizing the importance of standardized methodology in tumor texture analysis.

An Overview of Interrater Agreement on Likert Scales for Researchers and Practitioners

PubMed Central

O'Neill, Thomas A.

2017-01-01

Applications of interrater agreement (IRA) statistics for Likert scales are plentiful in research and practice. IRA may be implicated in job analysis, performance appraisal, panel interviews, and any other approach to gathering systematic observations. Any rating system involving subject-matter experts can also benefit from IRA as a measure of consensus. Further, IRA is fundamental to aggregation in multilevel research, which is becoming increasingly common in order to address nesting. Although, several technical descriptions of a few specific IRA statistics exist, this paper aims to provide a tractable orientation to common IRA indices to support application. The introductory overview is written with the intent of facilitating contrasts among IRA statistics by critically reviewing equations, interpretations, strengths, and weaknesses. Statistics considered include rwg, rwg*, r′wg, rwg(p), average deviation (AD), awg, standard deviation (Swg), and the coefficient of variation (CVwg). Equations support quick calculation and contrasting of different agreement indices. The article also includes a “quick reference” table and three figures in order to help readers identify how IRA statistics differ and how interpretations of IRA will depend strongly on the statistic employed. A brief consideration of recommended practices involving statistical and practical cutoff standards is presented, and conclusions are offered in light of the current literature. PMID:28553257

A Comparative Experimental Study on the Use of Machine Learning Approaches for Automated Valve Monitoring Based on Acoustic Emission Parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ali, Salah M.; Hui, K. H.; Hee, L. M.; Salman Leong, M.; Al-Obaidi, M. A.; Ali, Y. H.; Abdelrhman, Ahmed M.

2018-03-01

Acoustic emission (AE) analysis has become a vital tool for initiating the maintenance tasks in many industries. However, the analysis process and interpretation has been found to be highly dependent on the experts. Therefore, an automated monitoring method would be required to reduce the cost and time consumed in the interpretation of AE signal. This paper investigates the application of two of the most common machine learning approaches namely artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM) to automate the diagnosis of valve faults in reciprocating compressor based on AE signal parameters. Since the accuracy is an essential factor in any automated diagnostic system, this paper also provides a comparative study based on predictive performance of ANN and SVM. AE parameters data was acquired from single stage reciprocating air compressor with different operational and valve conditions. ANN and SVM diagnosis models were subsequently devised by combining AE parameters of different conditions. Results demonstrate that ANN and SVM models have the same results in term of prediction accuracy. However, SVM model is recommended to automate diagnose the valve condition in due to the ability of handling a high number of input features with low sampling data sets.

The ratio of profile peak separations as a probe of pulsar radio-beam structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dyks, J.; Pierbattista, M.

2015-12-01

The known population of pulsars contains objects with four- and five-component profiles, for which the peak-to-peak separations between the inner and outer components can be measured. These Q- and M-type profiles can be interpreted as a result of sightline cut through a nested-cone beam, or through a set of azimuthal fan beams. We show that the ratio RW of the components' separations provides a useful measure of the beam shape, which is mostly independent of parameters that determine the beam scale and complicate interpretation of simpler profiles. In particular, the method does not depend on the emission altitude and the dipole tilt distribution. The different structures of the radio beam imply manifestly different statistical distributions of RW, with the conal model being several orders of magnitude less consistent with data than the fan-beam model. To bring the conal model into consistency with data, strong effects of observational selection need to be called for, with 80 per cent of Q and M profiles assumed to be undetected because of intrinsic blending effects. It is concluded that the statistical properties of Q and M profiles are more consistent with the fan-shaped beams, than with the traditional nested-cone geometry.

Analysis and interpretation of the leaching behaviour of waste thermal treatment bottom ash by batch and column tests.

PubMed

Di Gianfilippo, Martina; Costa, Giulia; Verginelli, Iason; Gavasci, Renato; Lombardi, Francesco

2016-10-01

This paper investigates the leaching behaviour of specific types of waste thermal treatment bottom ash (BA) as a function of both pH and the liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S). Specifically, column percolation tests and different types of batch tests (including pH-dependence) were applied to BA produced by hospital waste incineration (HW-I), Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) gasification (RDF-G) and RDF incineration (RDF-I). The results of these tests were interpreted applying an integrated graphical and modelling approach aimed at identifying the main mechanisms (solubility, availability or time-controlled dissolution and diffusion) governing the release of specific constituents from each type of BA. The final aim of this work was in fact to gain insight on the information that can be provided by the leaching tests applied, and hence on which ones may be more suitable to apply for assessing the leaching concentrations expected in the field. The results of the leaching tests showed that the three samples of analysed BA presented differences of orders of magnitude in their leaching behaviour, especially as a function of pH, but also in terms of the L/S. These were mainly related to the differences in mineralogy of the samples. In addition, for the same type of bottom ash, the comparison between the results of batch and percolation column tests, expressed in terms of cumulative release, showed that for some constituents (e.g. Mg for HW-I BA and Cu for RDF-G BA) differences of over one order of magnitude were obtained due to variations in pH and DOC release. Similarly, the eluate concentrations observed in the percolation tests, for most of the investigated elements, were not directly comparable with the results of the pH-dependence tests. In particular, in some cases the percolation test results showed eluate concentrations of some constituents (e.g. K and Ca in HW-I BA) of up to one order of magnitude higher than the values obtained from the pH-dependence experiments at the same pH value. This was attributed to a rapid washout from the column of the soluble phases present in the BA. In contrast, for other constituents (e.g. Mg and Ba for the RDF-G BA), especially at high L/S ratios, the concentrations in the column tests were of up to one order of magnitude lower than the solubility value, indicating release under non-equilibrium conditions. In these cases, batch pH-dependence tests should be preferred, since column tests results could underestimate the concentrations expected in the field. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tradeoff between picture element dimensions and noncoherent averaging in side-looking airborne radar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, R. K.

1979-01-01

An experiment was performed in which three synthetic-aperture images and one real-aperture image were successively degraded in spatial resolution, both retaining the same number of independent samples per pixel and using the spatial degradation to allow averaging of different numbers of independent samples within each pixel. The original and degraded images were provided to three interpreters familiar with both aerial photographs and radar images. The interpreters were asked to grade each image in terms of their ability to interpret various specified features on the image. The numerical interpretability grades were then used as a quantitative measure of the utility of the different kinds of image processing and different resolutions. The experiment demonstrated empirically that the interpretability is related exponentially to the SGL volume which is the product of azimuth, range, and gray-level resolution.

A local structure model for network analysis

DOE PAGES

Casleton, Emily; Nordman, Daniel; Kaiser, Mark

2017-04-01

The statistical analysis of networks is a popular research topic with ever widening applications. Exponential random graph models (ERGMs), which specify a model through interpretable, global network features, are common for this purpose. In this study we introduce a new class of models for network analysis, called local structure graph models (LSGMs). In contrast to an ERGM, a LSGM specifies a network model through local features and allows for an interpretable and controllable local dependence structure. In particular, LSGMs are formulated by a set of full conditional distributions for each network edge, e.g., the probability of edge presence/absence, depending onmore » neighborhoods of other edges. Additional model features are introduced to aid in specification and to help alleviate a common issue (occurring also with ERGMs) of model degeneracy. Finally, the proposed models are demonstrated on a network of tornadoes in Arkansas where a LSGM is shown to perform significantly better than a model without local dependence.« less

A local structure model for network analysis

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

Casleton, Emily; Nordman, Daniel; Kaiser, Mark

The statistical analysis of networks is a popular research topic with ever widening applications. Exponential random graph models (ERGMs), which specify a model through interpretable, global network features, are common for this purpose. In this study we introduce a new class of models for network analysis, called local structure graph models (LSGMs). In contrast to an ERGM, a LSGM specifies a network model through local features and allows for an interpretable and controllable local dependence structure. In particular, LSGMs are formulated by a set of full conditional distributions for each network edge, e.g., the probability of edge presence/absence, depending onmore » neighborhoods of other edges. Additional model features are introduced to aid in specification and to help alleviate a common issue (occurring also with ERGMs) of model degeneracy. Finally, the proposed models are demonstrated on a network of tornadoes in Arkansas where a LSGM is shown to perform significantly better than a model without local dependence.« less

Unravelling the physics of size-dependent dislocation-mediated plasticity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Awady, Jaafar A.

2015-01-01

Size-affected dislocation-mediated plasticity is important in a wide range of materials and technologies. Here we develop a generalized size-dependent dislocation-based model that predicts strength as a function of crystal/grain size and the dislocation density. Three-dimensional (3D) discrete dislocation dynamics (DDD) simulations reveal the existence of a well-defined relationship between strength and dislocation microstructure at all length scales for both single crystals and polycrystalline materials. The results predict a transition from dislocation-source strengthening to forest-dominated strengthening at a size-dependent critical dislocation density. It is also shown that the Hall-Petch relationship can be physically interpreted by coupling with an appropriate kinetic equation of the evolution of the dislocation density in polycrystals. The model is shown to be in remarkable agreement with experiments. This work presents a micro-mechanistic framework to predict and interpret strength size-scale effects, and provides an avenue towards performing multiscale simulations without ad hoc assumptions.

Is thought-action fusion related to religiosity? Differences between Christians and Jews.

PubMed

Siev, Jedidiah; Cohen, Adam B

2007-04-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between thought-action fusion (TAF) and religiosity in Christians and Jews (Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform). There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that religiosity is related to obsessive cognitions in Christian samples, but conceptual and empirical ambiguities complicate the interpretation of that literature and its application to non-Christian groups. As predicted on the basis of previous research, Christians scored higher than Jews on moral TAF. This effect was large and not explained by differences in self-reported religiosity. The Jewish groups did not differ from each other. Furthermore, religiosity was significantly associated with TAF only within the Christian group. These results qualify the presumed association between religiosity and obsessive cognitions. General religiosity is not associated with TAF; it rather depends on what religious group. Moreover, large group differences in a supposed maladaptive construct without evidence of corresponding differences in prevalence rates call into question the assumption that TAF is always a marker of pathology.

Systems medicine: a new approach to clinical practice.

PubMed

Cardinal-Fernández, Pablo; Nin, Nicolás; Ruíz-Cabello, Jesús; Lorente, José A

2014-10-01

Most respiratory diseases are considered complex diseases as their susceptibility and outcomes are determined by the interaction between host-dependent factors (genetic factors, comorbidities, etc.) and environmental factors (exposure to microorganisms or allergens, treatments received, etc.) The reductionist approach in the study of diseases has been of fundamental importance for the understanding of the different components of a system. Systems biology or systems medicine is a complementary approach aimed at analyzing the interactions between the different components within one organizational level (genome, transcriptome, proteome), and then between the different levels. Systems medicine is currently used for the interpretation and understanding of the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of different diseases, biomarker discovery, design of innovative therapeutic targets, and the drawing up of computational models for different biological processes. In this review we discuss the most relevant concepts of the theory underlying systems medicine, as well as its applications in the various biological processes in humans. Copyright © 2013 SEPAR. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Lessons learned from translators and interpreters from the Dinka tribe of southern Sudan.

PubMed

Baird, Martha B

2011-04-01

This article discusses the methodological challenges associated with working with translators and interpreters from the Dinka tribe of southern Sudan during an ethnographic study with refugee Dinka women who were resettled with their children in the United States. Navigating the cultural differences between the researcher, the translator, and the interpreters provided a deeper understanding about the culture of the study population. The lessons learned included the importance of cultural congruence between the interpreters and participants; the education, training, and experience of the interpreters; and the difficulties encountered in preparing interpreters according to university institutional review board requirements. Cultural differences such as time perception and communication and literacy styles were negotiated throughout each phase of the study. The most valuable lesson learned from this experience was the importance of the relationship between the researcher, the translator, and the interpreters as well as between the interpreters and participants to achieve credibility and trustworthiness of the study results.

Temperature dependence of optically induced cell deformations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fritsch, Anatol; Kiessling, Tobias R.; Stange, Roland; Kaes, Josef A.

2012-02-01

The mechanical properties of any material change with temperature, hence this must be true for cellular material. In biology many functions are known to undergo modulations with temperature, like myosin motor activity, mechanical properties of actin filament solutions, CO2 uptake of cultured cells or sex determination of several species. As mechanical properties of living cells are considered to play an important role in many cell functions it is surprising that only little is known on how the rheology of single cells is affected by temperature. We report the systematic temperature dependence of single cell deformations in Optical Stretcher (OS) measurements. The temperature is changed on a scale of about 20 minutes up to hours and compared to defined temperature shocks in the range of milliseconds. Thereby, a strong temperature dependence of the mechanics of single suspended cells is revealed. We conclude that the observable differences arise rather from viscosity changes of the cytosol than from structural changes of the cytoskeleton. These findings have implications for the interpretation of many rheological measurements, especially for laser based approaches in biological studies.

(E)-3-(2-Alkyl-10H-phenothiazin-3-yl)-1-arylprop-2-en-1-ones: Preparative, IR, NMR and DFT study on their substituent-dependent reactivity in hydrazinolysis and sonication-assisted oxidation with copper(II)nitrate.

PubMed

Găină, Luiza; Csámpai, Antal; Túrós, György; Lovász, Tamás; Zsoldos-Mády, Virág; Silberg, Ioan A; Sohár, Pál

2006-12-07

A series of novel 3(5)-aryl/ferrocenyl-5(3)-phenothiazinylpyrazoles and pyrazolines were obtained by substituent-dependent regioselective condensation of the corresponding (E)-3-(2-alkyl-10H-phenothiazin-3-yl)-1-aryl/ferrocenylprop-2-en-1-one with hydrazine or methylhydrazine in acetic acid. The different propensity of the primary formed beta-hydrazino adducts to undergo competitive retro-Mannich reaction was interpreted in terms of tautomerisation equilibrium constants calculated by DFT using a solvent model. The regioselectivity of the cyclisation reactions with methylhydrazine and the substituent-dependent redox properties of pyrazolines were also rationalized by comparative DFT calculations performed for simplified model molecules. On the effect of ultrasound-promoted oxidation with copper(II)nitrate phenothiazine-containing pyrazolines, enones and oxo-compounds were selectively transformed into sulfoxides. Only one sulfoxide enone was partially converted into an oxirane derivative. The structure of the novel products was determined by IR and NMR spectroscopy including COSY, HSQC, HMBC and DNOE measurements.

Variables in psychology: a critique of quantitative psychology.

PubMed

Toomela, Aaro

2008-09-01

Mind is hidden from direct observation; it can be studied only by observing behavior. Variables encode information about behaviors. There is no one-to-one correspondence between behaviors and mental events underlying the behaviors, however. In order to understand mind it would be necessary to understand exactly what information is represented in variables. This aim cannot be reached after variables are already encoded. Therefore, statistical data analysis can be very misleading in studies aimed at understanding mind that underlies behavior. In this article different kinds of information that can be represented in variables are described. It is shown how informational ambiguity of variables leads to problems of theoretically meaningful interpretation of the results of statistical data analysis procedures in terms of hidden mental processes. Reasons are provided why presence of dependence between variables does not imply causal relationship between events represented by variables and absence of dependence between variables cannot rule out the causal dependence of events represented by variables. It is concluded that variable-psychology has a very limited range of application for the development of a theory of mind-psychology.

Temperature and composition dependent density of states extracted using overlapping large polaron tunnelling model in MnxCo1-xFe2O4 (x=0.25, 0.5, 0.75) nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jamil, Arifa; Afsar, M. F.; Sher, F.; Rafiq, M. A.

2017-03-01

We report detailed ac electrical and structural characterization of manganese cobalt ferrite nanoparticles, prepared by coprecipitation technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed single-phase cubic spinel structure of the nanoparticles. Tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) group complexes were present in the spinel lattice as determined by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images revealed presence of spherical shape nanoparticles having an average diameter 50-80 nm. Composition, temperature and frequency dependent ac electrical study of prepared nanoparticles interpreted the role of cationic distribution between A and B sites. Overlapping large polaron tunnelling (OLPT) conduction mechanism was observed from 290 to 200 K. Frequency exponent s was fitted theoretically using OLPT model. High values of Density of States (DOS) of the order of 1022-1024 eV-1 cm-3 were extracted from ac conductivity for different compositions. We found that DOS was dependent on distribution of cations in the tunnel-type cavities along the a and b axis.

Magnetoelectric effects in the spin-1/2 XXZ model with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

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

Thakur, Pradeep; Durganandini, P., E-mail: pdn@physics.unipune.ac.in

2015-06-24

We study the 1D spin-1/2 XXZ chain in the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (D-M) interaction and with longitudinal and transverse magnetic fields. We assume the spin-current mechanism of Katsura-Nagaosa-Balatsky at play and interpret the D-M interaction as a coupling between the local electric polarization and an external electric field. We study the interplay of electric and magnetic order in the ground state using the numerical density matrix renormalization group(DMRG) method. Specifically, we investigate the dependences of the magnetization and electric polarization on the external electric and magnetic fields. We find that for transverse magnetic fields, there are two different regimesmore » of polarization while for longitudinal magnetic fields, there are three different regimes of polarization. The different regimes can be tuned by the external magnetic fields.« less

Variable learning performance: the levels of behaviour organization.

PubMed

Csányi, V; Altbäcker, V

1990-01-01

Our experiments were focused on some special aspects of learning in the paradise fish. Passive avoidance conditioning method was used with different success depending on the complexity of the learning tasks. In the case of simple behavioural elements various "constrains" on avoidance learning were found. In a small, covered place the fish were ready to perform freezing reaction and mild punishment increased the frequency and duration of the freezing bouts very substantially. However, it was very difficult to enhance the frequency of freezing by punishment in a tank with transparent walls, where the main response to punishment was escape. The most easily learned tasks were the complex ones which had several different solutions. The fish learned to avoid either side of an aquarium very easily because they could use various behavioural elements to solve the problem. These findings could be interpreted within the framework of different organizational levels of behaviour.

Creep test observation of viscoelastic failure of edible fats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vithanage, C. R.; Grimson, M. J.; Smith, B. G.; Wills, P. R.

2011-03-01

A rheological creep test was used to investigate the viscoelastic failure of five edible fats. Butter, spreadable blend and spread were selected as edible fats because they belong to three different groups according to the Codex Alimentarius. Creep curves were analysed according to the Burger model. Results were fitted to a Weibull distribution representing the strain-dependent lifetime of putative fibres in the material. The Weibull shape and scale (lifetime) parameters were estimated for each substance. A comparison of the rheometric measurements of edible fats demonstrated a clear difference between the three different groups. Taken together the results indicate that butter has a lower threshold for mechanical failure than spreadable blend and spread. The observed behaviour of edible fats can be interpreted using a model in which there are two types of bonds between fat crystals; primary bonds that are strong and break irreversibly, and secondary bonds, which are weaker but break and reform reversibly.

Ion nose spectral structures observed by the Van Allen Probes

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

Ferradas, C. P.; Zhang, J. -C.; Spence, H. E.

Here, we present a statistical study of nose-like structures observed in energetic hydrogen, helium, and oxygen ions near the inner edge of the plasma sheet. Nose structures are spectral features named after the characteristic shapes of energy bands or gaps in the energy-time spectrograms of in situ measured ion fluxes. Using 22 months of observations from the Helium Oxygen Proton Electron (HOPE) instrument onboard Van Allen Probe A, we determine the number of noses observed, and the minimum L-shell reached and energy of each nose on each pass through the inner magnetosphere. We find that multiple noses occur more frequentlymore » in heavy ions than in H +, and are most often observed during quiet times. The heavy-ion noses penetrate to lower L shells than H + noses and there is an energy-magnetic local time (MLT) dependence in the nose locations and energies that is similar for all species. The observations are interpreted using a steady-state model of ion drift in the inner magnetosphere. The model is able to explain the energy and MLT dependence of the different types of nose structures. Different ion charge exchange lifetimes are the main cause for the deeper penetration of heavy-ion noses. The species dependence and preferred geomagnetic conditions of multiple-nose events indicate that they must be on long drift paths, leading to strong charge-exchange effects. The results provide important insight into the spatial distribution, species dependence, and geomagnetic conditions under which nose structures occur.« less

Ion nose spectral structures observed by the Van Allen Probes

DOE PAGES

Ferradas, C. P.; Zhang, J. -C.; Spence, H. E.; ...

2016-11-22

Here, we present a statistical study of nose-like structures observed in energetic hydrogen, helium, and oxygen ions near the inner edge of the plasma sheet. Nose structures are spectral features named after the characteristic shapes of energy bands or gaps in the energy-time spectrograms of in situ measured ion fluxes. Using 22 months of observations from the Helium Oxygen Proton Electron (HOPE) instrument onboard Van Allen Probe A, we determine the number of noses observed, and the minimum L-shell reached and energy of each nose on each pass through the inner magnetosphere. We find that multiple noses occur more frequentlymore » in heavy ions than in H +, and are most often observed during quiet times. The heavy-ion noses penetrate to lower L shells than H + noses and there is an energy-magnetic local time (MLT) dependence in the nose locations and energies that is similar for all species. The observations are interpreted using a steady-state model of ion drift in the inner magnetosphere. The model is able to explain the energy and MLT dependence of the different types of nose structures. Different ion charge exchange lifetimes are the main cause for the deeper penetration of heavy-ion noses. The species dependence and preferred geomagnetic conditions of multiple-nose events indicate that they must be on long drift paths, leading to strong charge-exchange effects. The results provide important insight into the spatial distribution, species dependence, and geomagnetic conditions under which nose structures occur.« less

Ion nose spectral structures observed by the Van Allen Probes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferradas, C. P.; Zhang, J.-C.; Spence, H. E.; Kistler, L. M.; Larsen, B. A.; Reeves, G.; Skoug, R.; Funsten, H.

2016-12-01

We present a statistical study of nose-like structures observed in energetic hydrogen, helium, and oxygen ions near the inner edge of the plasma sheet. Nose structures are spectral features named after the characteristic shapes of energy bands or gaps in the energy-time spectrograms of in situ measured ion fluxes. Using 22 months of observations from the Helium Oxygen Proton Electron instrument onboard Van Allen Probe A, we determine the number of noses observed, and the minimum L shell reached and energy of each nose on each pass through the inner magnetosphere. We find that multiple noses occur more frequently in heavy ions than in H+ and are most often observed during quiet times. The heavy-ion noses penetrate to lower L shells than H+ noses, and there is an energy-magnetic local time (MLT) dependence in the nose locations and energies that is similar for all species. The observations are interpreted by using a steady state model of ion drift in the inner magnetosphere. The model is able to explain the energy and MLT dependence of the different types of nose structures. Different ion charge-exchange lifetimes are the main cause for the deeper penetration of heavy-ion noses. The species dependence and preferred geomagnetic conditions of multiple-nose events indicate that they must be on long drift paths, leading to strong charge-exchange effects. The results provide important insight into the spatial distribution, species dependence, and geomagnetic conditions under which nose structures occur.

Brain signals do not demonstrate unconscious decision making: an interpretation based on graded conscious awareness.

PubMed

Miller, Jeff; Schwarz, Wolf

2014-02-01

Neuroscientific studies have shown that brain activity correlated with a decision to move can be observed before a person reports being consciously aware of having made that decision (e.g., Libet, Gleason, Wright, & Pearl, 1983; Soon, Brass, Heinze, & Haynes, 2008). Given that a later event (i.e., conscious awareness) cannot cause an earlier one (i.e., decision-related brain activity), such results have been interpreted as evidence that decisions are made unconsciously (e.g., Libet, 1985). We argue that this interpretation depends upon an all-or-none view of consciousness, and we offer an alternative interpretation of the early decision-related brain activity based on models in which conscious awareness of the decision to move develops gradually up to the level of a reporting criterion. Under this interpretation, the early brain activity reflects sub-criterion levels of awareness rather than complete absence of awareness and thus does not suggest that decisions are made unconsciously. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Population dynamics of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Spruce Creek Pennsylvania: A quarter-century perspective

USGS Publications Warehouse

Grossman, Gary D.; Carline, Robert F.; Wagner, Tyler

2017-01-01

We examined the relationship between density-independent and density-dependent factors on the demography of a dense, relatively unexploited population of brown trout in Spruce Creek Pennsylvania between 1985 and 2011.Individual PCAs of flow and temperature data elucidated groups of years with multiple high flow versus multiple low flow characteristics and high versus low temperature years, although subtler patterns of variation also were observed.Density and biomass displayed similar temporal patterns, ranging from 710 to 1,803 trout/ha and 76–263 kg/ha. We detected a significantly negative linear stock-recruitment relationship (R2 = .39) and there was no evidence that flow or water temperature affected recruitment.Both annual survival and the per-capita rate of increase (r) for the population varied over the study, and density-dependent mechanisms possessed the greatest explanatory power for annual survival data. Temporal trends in population r suggested it displayed a bounded equilibrium with increases observed in 12 years and decreases detected in 13 years.Model selection analysis of per-capita rate of increase data for age 1, and adults (N = eight interpretable models) indicated that both density-dependent (five of eight) and negative density-independent processes (five of eight, i.e. high flows or temperatures), affected r. Recruitment limitation also was identified in three of eight models. Variation in the per-capita rate of increase for the population was most strongly affected by positive density independence in the form of increasing spring–summer temperatures and recruitment limitation.Model selection analyses describing annual variation in both mean length and mass data yielded similar results, although maximum wi values were low ranging from 0.09 to 0.23 (length) and 0.13 to 0.22 (mass). Density-dependence was included in 15 of 15 interpretable models for length and all ten interpretable models for mass. Similarly, positive density-independent effects in the form of increasing autumn–winter flow were present in seven of 15 interpretable models for length and five of ten interpretable models for mass. Negative density independent effects also were observed in the form of high spring–summer flows or temperatures (N = 4), or high autumn–winter temperatures (N = 1).Our analyses of the factors affecting population regulation in an introduced population of brown trout demonstrate that density-dependent forces affected every important demographic characteristic (recruitment, survivorship, the rate of increase, and size) within this population. However, density-independent forces in the form of seasonal variations in flow and temperature also helped explain annual variation in the per-capita rate of increase, and mean length and mass data. Consequently, population regulation within this population is driven by a complex of biotic and environmental factors, although it seems clear that density-dependent factors play a dominant role.

Legal and Ethical Imperatives for Using Certified Sign Language Interpreters in Health Care Settings: How to "Do No Harm" When "It's (All) Greek" (Sign Language) to You.

PubMed

Nonaka, Angela M

2016-09-01

Communication obstacles in health care settings adversely impact patient-practitioner interactions by impeding service efficiency, reducing mutual trust and satisfaction, or even endangering health outcomes. When interlocutors are separated by language, interpreters are required. The efficacy of interpreting, however, is constrained not just by interpreters' competence but also by health care providers' facility working with interpreters. Deaf individuals whose preferred form of communication is a signed language often encounter communicative barriers in health care settings. In those environments, signing Deaf people are entitled to equal communicative access via sign language interpreting services according to the Americans with Disabilities Act and Executive Order 13166, the Limited English Proficiency Initiative. Yet, litigation in states across the United States suggests that individual and institutional providers remain uncertain about their legal obligations to provide equal communicative access. This article discusses the legal and ethical imperatives for using professionally certified (vs. ad hoc) sign language interpreters in health care settings. First outlining the legal terrain governing provision of sign language interpreting services, the article then describes different types of "sign language" (e.g., American Sign Language vs. manually coded English) and different forms of "sign language interpreting" (e.g., interpretation vs. transliteration vs. translation; simultaneous vs. consecutive interpreting; individual vs. team interpreting). This is followed by reviews of the formal credentialing process and of specialized forms of sign language interpreting-that is, certified deaf interpreting, trilingual interpreting, and court interpreting. After discussing practical steps for contracting professional sign language interpreters and addressing ethical issues of confidentiality, this article concludes by offering suggestions for working more effectively with Deaf clients via professional sign language interpreters.

THE NATURE AND NURTURE OF BARS AND DISKS

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

Mendez-Abreu, J.; Aguerri, J. A. L.; Zarattini, S.

The effects that interactions produce on galaxy disks and how they modify the subsequent formation of bars need to be distinguished to fully understand the relationship between bars and environment. To this aim we derive the bar fraction in three different environments ranging from the field to Virgo and Coma Clusters, covering an unprecedentedly large range of galaxy luminosities (or, equivalently, stellar masses). We confirm that the fraction of barred galaxies strongly depends on galaxy luminosity. We also show that the difference between the bar fraction distributions as a function of galaxy luminosity (and mass) in the field and Comamore » Cluster is statistically significant, with Virgo being an intermediate case. The fraction of barred galaxies shows a maximum of about 50% at M{sub r} {approx_equal} - 20.5 in clusters, whereas the peak is shifted to M{sub r} {approx_equal} - 19 in the field. We interpret this result as a variation of the effect of environment on bar formation depending on galaxy luminosity. We speculate that brighter disk galaxies are stable enough against interactions to keep their cold structure, thus, the interactions are able to trigger bar formation. For fainter galaxies, the interactions become strong enough to heat up the disks inhibiting bar formation and even destroying the disks. Finally, we point out that the controversy regarding whether the bar fraction depends on environment could be resolved by taking into account the different luminosity ranges probed by the galaxy samples studied so far.« less

What makes moral dilemma judgments "utilitarian" or "deontological"?

PubMed

Gawronski, Bertram; Beer, Jennifer S

2017-12-01

The distinction between utilitarianism and deontology has become a prevailing framework for conceptualizing moral judgment. According to the principle of utilitarianism, the morality of an action depends on its outcomes. In contrast, the principle of deontology states that the morality of an action depends on its consistency with moral norms. To identify the processes underlying utilitarian and deontological judgments, research in psychology and neuroscience has investigated responses to moral dilemmas that pit one principle against the other (e.g., trolley dilemma). However, the interpretation of responses in this paradigm is ambiguous, because the defining aspects of utilitarianism and deontology, outcomes and norms, are not manipulated. We illustrate how this shortcoming distorts interpretations of empirical findings and describe an alternative approach that overcomes the limitations of the traditional paradigm.

Massenmedien und Bildung: Eine padagogische Interpretation der Adorno-Benjamin-Kontroverse (Mass Media and Education: A Pedagogical Interpretation of the Controversy between Theodore Adorno and Walter Benjamin).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Imai, Yasuo

1997-01-01

Gives a pedagogical interpretation of the controversy between Adorno (Theodore) and Benjamin (Walter). Sketches their different conceptions of what constitutes a pedagogical problem and discusses differences between their positions against the background of their shared concern, best described as "experiential poverty." (DSK)

[Do different interpretative methods used for evaluation of checkerboard synergy test affect the results?].

PubMed

Ozseven, Ayşe Gül; Sesli Çetin, Emel; Ozseven, Levent

2012-07-01

In recent years, owing to the presence of multi-drug resistant nosocomial bacteria, combination therapies are more frequently applied. Thus there is more need to investigate the in vitro activity of drug combinations against multi-drug resistant bacteria. Checkerboard synergy testing is among the most widely used standard technique to determine the activity of antibiotic combinations. It is based on microdilution susceptibility testing of antibiotic combinations. Although this test has a standardised procedure, there are many different methods for interpreting the results. In many previous studies carried out with multi-drug resistant bacteria, different rates of synergy have been reported with various antibiotic combinations using checkerboard technique. These differences might be attributed to the different features of the strains. However, different synergy rates detected by checkerboard method have also been reported in other studies using the same drug combinations and same types of bacteria. It was thought that these differences in synergy rates might be due to the different methods of interpretation of synergy test results. In recent years, multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii has been the most commonly encountered nosocomial pathogen especially in intensive-care units. For this reason, multidrug resistant A.baumannii has been the subject of a considerable amount of research about antimicrobial combinations. In the present study, the in vitro activities of frequently preferred combinations in A.baumannii infections like imipenem plus ampicillin/sulbactam, and meropenem plus ampicillin/sulbactam were tested by checkerboard synergy method against 34 multi-drug resistant A.baumannii isolates. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for imipenem, meropenem and ampicillin/sulbactam were determined by the broth microdilution method. Subsequently the activity of two different combinations were tested in the dilution range of 4 x MIC and 0.03 x MIC in 96-well checkerboard plates. The results were obtained separately using the four different interpretation methods frequently preferred by researchers. Thus, it was aimed to detect to what extent the rates of synergistic, indifferent and antagonistic interactions were affected by different interpretation methods. The differences between the interpretation methods were tested by chi-square analysis for each combination used. Statistically significant differences were detected between the four different interpretation methods for the determination of synergistic and indifferent interactions (p< 0.0001). Highest rates of synergy were observed with both combinations by the method that used the lowest fractional inhibitory concentration index of all the non-turbid wells along the turbidity/non-turbidity interface. There was no statistically significant difference between the four methods for the detection of antagonism (p> 0.05). In conclusion although there is a standard procedure for checkerboard synergy testing it fails to exhibit standard results owing to different methods of interpretation of the results. Thus, there is a need to standardise the interpretation method for checkerboard synergy testing. To determine the most appropriate method of interpretation further studies investigating the clinical benefits of synergic combinations and additionally comparing the consistency of the results obtained from the other standard combination tests like time-kill studies, are required.

Exploring the Relationship Between Eye Movements and Electrocardiogram Interpretation Accuracy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davies, Alan; Brown, Gavin; Vigo, Markel; Harper, Simon; Horseman, Laura; Splendiani, Bruno; Hill, Elspeth; Jay, Caroline

2016-12-01

Interpretation of electrocardiograms (ECGs) is a complex task involving visual inspection. This paper aims to improve understanding of how practitioners perceive ECGs, and determine whether visual behaviour can indicate differences in interpretation accuracy. A group of healthcare practitioners (n = 31) who interpret ECGs as part of their clinical role were shown 11 commonly encountered ECGs on a computer screen. The participants’ eye movement data were recorded as they viewed the ECGs and attempted interpretation. The Jensen-Shannon distance was computed for the distance between two Markov chains, constructed from the transition matrices (visual shifts from and to ECG leads) of the correct and incorrect interpretation groups for each ECG. A permutation test was then used to compare this distance against 10,000 randomly shuffled groups made up of the same participants. The results demonstrated a statistically significant (α  0.05) result in 5 of the 11 stimuli demonstrating that the gaze shift between the ECG leads is different between the groups making correct and incorrect interpretations and therefore a factor in interpretation accuracy. The results shed further light on the relationship between visual behaviour and ECG interpretation accuracy, providing information that can be used to improve both human and automated interpretation approaches.

Brane decay and an initial spacelike singularity.

PubMed

Kawai, Shinsuke; Keski-Vakkuri, Esko; Leigh, Robert G; Nowling, Sean

2006-01-27

We present a novel string theory scenario where matter in a spacetime originates from a decaying brane at the origin of time. The decay could be considered as a big-bang-like event at X0=0. The closed string interpretation is a time-dependent spacetime with a semi-infinite time direction, with the initial energy of the brane converted into energy flux from the origin. The open string interpretation can be viewed as a string theoretic nonsingular initial condition.

Cortical lamina-dependent blood volume changes in human brain at 7 T.

PubMed

Huber, Laurentius; Goense, Jozien; Kennerley, Aneurin J; Trampel, Robert; Guidi, Maria; Reimer, Enrico; Ivanov, Dimo; Neef, Nicole; Gauthier, Claudine J; Turner, Robert; Möller, Harald E

2015-02-15

Cortical layer-dependent high (sub-millimeter) resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in human or animal brain can be used to address questions regarding the functioning of cortical circuits, such as the effect of different afferent and efferent connectivities on activity in specific cortical layers. The sensitivity of gradient echo (GE) blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) responses to large draining veins reduces its local specificity and can render the interpretation of the underlying laminar neural activity impossible. The application of the more spatially specific cerebral blood volume (CBV)-based fMRI in humans has been hindered by the low sensitivity of the noninvasive modalities available. Here, a vascular space occupancy (VASO) variant, adapted for use at high field, is further optimized to capture layer-dependent activity changes in human motor cortex at sub-millimeter resolution. Acquired activation maps and cortical profiles show that the VASO signal peaks in gray matter at 0.8-1.6mm depth, and deeper compared to the superficial and vein-dominated GE-BOLD responses. Validation of the VASO signal change versus well-established iron-oxide contrast agent based fMRI methods in animals showed the same cortical profiles of CBV change, after normalization for lamina-dependent baseline CBV. In order to evaluate its potential of revealing small lamina-dependent signal differences due to modulations of the input-output characteristics, layer-dependent VASO responses were investigated in the ipsilateral hemisphere during unilateral finger tapping. Positive activation in ipsilateral primary motor cortex and negative activation in ipsilateral primary sensory cortex were observed. This feature is only visible in high-resolution fMRI where opposing sides of a sulcus can be investigated independently because of a lack of partial volume effects. Based on the results presented here, we conclude that VASO offers good reproducibility, high sensitivity and lower sensitivity than GE-BOLD to changes in larger vessels, making it a valuable tool for layer-dependent fMRI studies in humans. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Biodiversity patterns of crustacean suprabenthic assemblages along an oligotrophic gradient in the bathyal Mediterranean Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Almeida, Mariana; Frutos, Inmaculada; Tecchio, Samuele; Lampadariou, Nikolaos; Company, Joan B.; Ramirez-Llodra, Eva; Cunha, Marina R.

2017-03-01

Crustacean suprabenthic abundance, community structure, α-diversity (both taxonomic and trophic) and β-diversity were studied along a West-East gradient of oligotrophy in the deep Mediterranean Sea. The assemblages were sampled with a suprabenthic sledge in three regions (western, central and eastern basins) at three water depths (1200, 2000 and 3000 m) in May-June 2009. Environmental data were obtained at each sampling location including sediment properties, oceanographic variables near the seafloor and in the water column, and proxies of epipelagic productivity at the surface. Our results, concerning the crustacean component of the suprabenthos, showed complex trends in community structure and biodiversity across different spatial scales (longitudinal, bathymetric, and near-bottom distribution). A decrease in the number of species and abundance, accompanied by changes in the trophic structure of the assemblages were observed from West to East. In the eastern region the assemblages were impoverished in number of trophic guilds and trophic diversity. The West-East oligotrophic gradient was identified as the main driver in community structure as shown by the significant correlation with trophic environmental variables. Differences in community structure across regions were more marked at greater depths, while at the shallower sites assemblages were more similar. Within each basin, abundance, number of species and number of trophic groups decreased with depth, showing high turnover rates between 1200 and 2000 m depths. The small-scale (0-150 cm) vertical distribution of the suprabenthos was interpreted in relation to the species' functional traits (e.g. swimming activity, migratory behaviour, bottom dependence, feeding habits). Bottom-dependent and more mobile components of the suprabenthos were apparently responding differently to the various environmental challenges imposed by the large-scale longitudinal and bathymetric gradients. We propose that the bathyal suprabenthos in the Mediterranean Sea may be essentially modulated by environmental sorting, but while the more mobile faunal component has more efficient dispersal mechanisms, the bottom-dependent component may be affected by limited dispersal. However, this empirical interpretation has still to be proved given the important caveats of our study (e.g. typically low densities of the Mediterranean bathyal suprabenthos; limited number of samples; difficulties in standardization inherent to suprabenthic sampling operations in the deep sea).

Coupled transport in field-reversed configurations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinhauer, L. C.; Berk, H. L.; TAE Team

2018-02-01

Coupled transport is the close interconnection between the cross-field and parallel fluxes in different regions due to topological changes in the magnetic field. This occurs because perpendicular transport is necessary for particles or energy to leave closed field-line regions, while parallel transport strongly affects evolution of open field-line regions. In most toroidal confinement systems, the periphery, namely, the portion with open magnetic surfaces, is small in thickness and volume compared to the core plasma, the portion with closed surfaces. In field-reversed configurations (FRCs), the periphery plays an outsized role in overall confinement. This effect is addressed by an FRC-relevant model of coupled particle transport that is well suited for immediate interpretation of experiments. The focus here is particle confinement rather than energy confinement since the two track together in FRCs. The interpretive tool yields both the particle transport rate χn and the end-loss time τǁ. The results indicate that particle confinement depends on both χn across magnetic surfaces throughout the plasma and τǁ along open surfaces and that they provide roughly equal transport barriers, inhibiting particle loss. The interpretation of traditional FRCs shows Bohm-like χn and inertial (free-streaming) τǁ. However, in recent advanced beam-driven FRC experiments, χn approaches the classical rate and τǁ is comparable to classic empty-loss-cone mirrors.

DNA binding of a proflavine derivative bearing a platinum hanging residue.

PubMed

Biagini, Silvia; Bianchi, Antonio; Biver, Tarita; Boggioni, Alessia; Nikolayenko, Igor V; Secco, Fernando; Venturini, Marcella

2011-04-01

New platinum(II) complex of 3,6-diamine-9-[6,6-bis(2-aminohethyl)-1,6-diaminohexyl]acridine, AzaPt, has been synthesised and characterised. Behaviour of AzaPt in solution (protonation and possible self-aggregation phenomena) has been investigated by spectral methods (absorbance and fluorescence) at I=0.1M and 25°C, and the equilibrium parameters of binding to calf thymus DNA have been established. Two different modes of DNA binding by the complex were detected, which depend on the polymer to dye molar ratio (P/D). At relatively low P/D values the mode was interpreted as binding by the polyamine residue external to the base pairs, while at high P/D values the binding corresponds to intercalation of the proflavine residue. Such interpretation is supported by the observed salt effect on binding and the temperature variation of the binding constants, which allowed estimating the ΔH and ΔS values contributions. Spectrophotometric analysis of the long time range binding revealed that AzaPt is involved in a slow reaction, interpreted as an attack by the platinum ion on the nucleobases. The time constant for such interaction was calculated and found to be the same order of magnitude as for processes responsible for the action of anti-tumour drugs that do covalently bind to polynucleotides. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Scaling of the critical slip distance for seismic faulting with shear strain in fault zones

USGS Publications Warehouse

Marone, Chris; Kilgore, Brian D.

1993-01-01

THEORETICAL and experimentally based laws for seismic faulting contain a critical slip distance1-5, Dc, which is the slip over which strength breaks down during earthquake nucleation. On an earthquake-generating fault, this distance plays a key role in determining the rupture nucleation dimension6, the amount of premonitory and post-seismic slip7-10, and the maximum seismic ground acceleration1,11. In laboratory friction experiments, Dc has been related to the size of surface contact junctions2,5,12; thus, the discrepancy between laboratory measurements of Dc (??? 10-5 m) and values obtained from modelling earthquakes (??? 10-2 m) has been attributed to differences in roughness between laboratory surfaces and natural faults5. This interpretation predicts a dependence of Dc on the particle size of fault gouge 2 (breccia and wear material) but not on shear strain. Here we present experimental results showing that Dc scales with shear strain in simulated fault gouge. Our data suggest a new physical interpretation for the critical slip distance, in which Dc is controlled by the thickness of the zone of localized shear strain. As gouge zones of mature faults are commonly 102-103 m thick13-17, whereas laboratory gouge layers are 1-10 mm thick, our data offer an alternative interpretation of the discrepancy between laboratory and field-based estimates of Dc.

Ambiguous taxa: Effects on the characterization and interpretation of invertebrate assemblages

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cuffney, T.F.; Bilger, Michael D.; Haigler, A.M.

2007-01-01

Damaged and immature specimens often result in macroinvertebrate data that contain ambiguous parent-child pairs (i.e., abundances associated with multiple related levels of the taxonomic hierarchy such as Baetis pluto and the associated ambiguous parent Baetis sp.). The choice of method used to resolve ambiguous parent-child pairs may have a very large effect on the characterization of invertebrate assemblages and the interpretation of responses to environmental change because very large proportions of taxa richness (73-78%) and abundance (79-91%) can be associated with ambiguous parents. To address this issue, we examined 16 variations of 4 basic methods for resolving ambiguous taxa: RPKC (remove parent, keep child), MCWP (merge child with parent), RPMC (remove parent or merge child with parent depending on their abundances), and DPAC (distribute parents among children). The choice of method strongly affected assemblage structure, assemblage characteristics (e.g., metrics), and the ability to detect responses along environmental (urbanization) gradients. All methods except MCWP produced acceptable results when used consistently within a study. However, the assemblage characteristics (e.g., values of assemblage metrics) differed widely depending on the method used, and data should not be combined unless the methods used to resolve ambiguous taxa are well documented and are known to be comparable. The suitability of the methods was evaluated and compared on the basis of 13 criteria that considered conservation of taxa richness and abundance, consistency among samples, methods, and studies, and effects on the interpretation of the data. Methods RPMC and DPAC had the highest suitability scores regardless of whether ambiguous taxa were resolved for each sample separately or for a group of samples. Method MCWP gave consistently poor results. Methods MCWP and DPAC approximate the use of family-level identifications and operational taxonomic units (OTU), respectively. Our results suggest that restricting identifications to the family level is not a good method of resolving ambiguous taxa, whereas generating OTUs works well provided that documentation issues are addressed. ?? 2007 by The North American Benthological Society.

Selection and validation of reference genes for quantitative gene expression analyses in various tissues and seeds at different developmental stages in Bixa orellana L.

PubMed

Moreira, Viviane S; Soares, Virgínia L F; Silva, Raner J S; Sousa, Aurizangela O; Otoni, Wagner C; Costa, Marcio G C

2018-05-01

Bixa orellana L., popularly known as annatto, produces several secondary metabolites of pharmaceutical and industrial interest, including bixin, whose molecular basis of biosynthesis remain to be determined. Gene expression analysis by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) is an important tool to advance such knowledge. However, correct interpretation of qPCR data requires the use of suitable reference genes in order to reduce experimental variations. In the present study, we have selected four different candidates for reference genes in B. orellana , coding for 40S ribosomal protein S9 (RPS9), histone H4 (H4), 60S ribosomal protein L38 (RPL38) and 18S ribosomal RNA (18SrRNA). Their expression stabilities in different tissues (e.g. flower buds, flowers, leaves and seeds at different developmental stages) were analyzed using five statistical tools (NormFinder, geNorm, BestKeeper, ΔCt method and RefFinder). The results indicated that RPL38 is the most stable gene in different tissues and stages of seed development and 18SrRNA is the most unstable among the analyzed genes. In order to validate the candidate reference genes, we have analyzed the relative expression of a target gene coding for carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase 1 (CCD1) using the stable RPL38 and the least stable gene, 18SrRNA , for normalization of the qPCR data. The results demonstrated significant differences in the interpretation of the CCD1 gene expression data, depending on the reference gene used, reinforcing the importance of the correct selection of reference genes for normalization.

On the nature of liquid junction and membrane potentials.

PubMed

Perram, John W; Stiles, Peter J

2006-09-28

Whenever a spatially inhomogeneous electrolyte, composed of ions with different mobilities, is allowed to diffuse, charge separation and an electric potential difference is created. Such potential differences across very thin membranes (e.g. biomembranes) are often interpreted using the steady state Goldman equation, which is usually derived by assuming a spatially constant electric field. Through the fundamental Poisson equation of electrostatics, this implies the absence of free charge density that must provide the source of any such field. A similarly paradoxical situation is encountered for thick membranes (e.g. in ion-selective electrodes) for which the diffusion potential is normally interpreted using the Henderson equation. Standard derivations of the Henderson equation appeal to local electroneutrality, which is also incompatible with sources of electric fields, as these require separated charges. We analyse self-consistent solutions of the Nernst-Planck-Poisson equations for a 1 : 1-univalent electrolyte to show that the Goldman and Henderson steady-state membrane potentials are artefacts of extraneous charges created in the reservoirs of electrolyte solution on either side of the membrane, due to the unphysical nature of the usual (Dirichlet) boundary conditions assumed to apply at the membrane-electrolyte interfaces. We also show, with the aid of numerical simulations, that a transient electric potential difference develops in any confined, but initially non-uniform, electrolyte solution. This potential difference ultimately decays to zero in the real steady state of the electrolyte, which corresponds to thermodynamic equilibrium. We explain the surprising fact that such transient potential differences are well described by the Henderson equation by using a computer algebra system to extend previous steady-state singular perturbation theories to the time-dependent case. Our work therefore accounts for the success of the Henderson equation in analysing experimental liquid-junction potentials.

Comparative evaluation of topographical data of dental implant surfaces applying optical interferometry and scanning electron microscopy.

PubMed

Kournetas, N; Spintzyk, S; Schweizer, E; Sawada, T; Said, F; Schmid, P; Geis-Gerstorfer, J; Eliades, G; Rupp, F

2017-08-01

Comparability of topographical data of implant surfaces in literature is low and their clinical relevance often equivocal. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of scanning electron microscopy and optical interferometry to assess statistically similar 3-dimensional roughness parameter results and to evaluate these data based on predefined criteria regarded relevant for a favorable biological response. Four different commercial dental screw-type implants (NanoTite Certain Prevail, TiUnite Brånemark Mk III, XiVE S Plus and SLA Standard Plus) were analyzed by stereo scanning electron microscopy and white light interferometry. Surface height, spatial and hybrid roughness parameters (Sa, Sz, Ssk, Sku, Sal, Str, Sdr) were assessed from raw and filtered data (Gaussian 50μm and 5μm cut-off-filters), respectively. Data were statistically compared by one-way ANOVA and Tukey-Kramer post-hoc test. For a clinically relevant interpretation, a categorizing evaluation approach was used based on predefined threshold criteria for each roughness parameter. The two methods exhibited predominantly statistical differences. Dependent on roughness parameters and filter settings, both methods showed variations in rankings of the implant surfaces and differed in their ability to discriminate the different topographies. Overall, the analyses revealed scale-dependent roughness data. Compared to the pure statistical approach, the categorizing evaluation resulted in much more similarities between the two methods. This study suggests to reconsider current approaches for the topographical evaluation of implant surfaces and to further seek after proper experimental settings. Furthermore, the specific role of different roughness parameters for the bioresponse has to be studied in detail in order to better define clinically relevant, scale-dependent and parameter-specific thresholds and ranges. Copyright © 2017 The Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

BCR-ABL1 expression, RT-qPCR and treatment decisions in chronic myeloid leukaemia.

PubMed

Latham, Susan; Bartley, Paul A; Budgen, Bradley; Ross, David M; Hughes, Elizabeth; Branford, Susan; White, Deborah; Hughes, Timothy P; Morley, Alexander A

2016-09-01

RT-qPCR is used to quantify minimal residual disease (MRD) in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) in order to make decisions on treatment, but its results depend on the level of BCR-ABL1 expression as well as leukaemic cell number. The aims of the study were to quantify inter-individual differences in expression level, to determine the relationship between expression level and response to treatment, and to investigate the effect of expression level on interpretation of the RT-qPCR result. BCR-ABL1 expression was studied in 248 samples from 65 patients with CML by determining the difference between MRD quantified by RT-qPCR and DNA-qPCR. The results were analysed statistically and by simple indicative modelling. Inter-individual levels of expression approximated a normal distribution with an SD of 0.36 log. Expression at diagnosis correlated with expression during treatment. Response to treatment, as measured by the number of leukaemic cells after 3, 6 or 12 months of treatment, was not related to the level of expression. Indicative modelling suggested that interpretation of RT-qPCR results in relation to treatment guidelines could be affected by variation in expression when MRD was around 10% at 3 months and by both expression variation and Poisson variation when MRD was around or below the limit of detection of RT-qPCR. Variation between individuals in expression of BCR-ABL1 can materially affect interpretation of the RT-qPCR when this test is used to make decisions on treatment. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

The sweet spot of clinical intuitions: Predictors of the effects of context on impressions of conduct disorder symptoms.

PubMed

Marsh, Jessecae K; Burke, Christopher T; De Los Reyes, Andres

2016-02-01

How people interpret a mental disorder symptom has been shown to depend on the contextual life factors surrounding its presentation. Specifically, people are more likely to judge a symptom as clinically relevant if that symptom presents in a high-risk environment (e.g., child associates with deviant peers) relative to a low-risk environment (e.g., child associates with normative peer group). Importantly, not all symptoms are influenced by context to the same extent, and there is low agreement across people as to how this influence manifests. In this paper, we explore what factors predict the extent to which clinicians and laypeople interpret mental disorder symptoms as a function of diagnosis-congruent versus incongruent contextual information. We tested the impact of 2 statistical factors (prevalence and diagnosticity) and 2 more intuitive factors (diagnostic importance and abnormality) on the degree to which a symptom is interpreted differently in different contexts. Clinicians' impressions of the diagnosticity and importance of a symptom evidenced a curvilinear relationship with the use of context, with extremely important and unimportant as well as extremely diagnostic and nondiagnostic symptoms being less influenced by context. Laypeople showed a similar curvilinear relation between diagnosticity judgments and context effects. Additionally, clinicians showed a linear relationship between abnormality judgments and context use, with extremely abnormal symptoms being influenced less by context, whereas laypeople showed a curvilinear relationship between symptom abnormality and context use, with extremely abnormal and normal symptoms being influenced the most by context. We discuss implications of these findings for clinical diagnosis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Method of interpretation of remotely sensed data and applications to land use

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parada, N. D. J. (Principal Investigator); Dossantos, A. P.; Foresti, C.; Demoraesnovo, E. M. L.; Niero, M.; Lombardo, M. A.

1981-01-01

Instructional material describing a methodology of remote sensing data interpretation and examples of applicatons to land use survey are presented. The image interpretation elements are discussed for different types of sensor systems: aerial photographs, radar, and MSS/LANDSAT. Visual and automatic LANDSAT image interpretation is emphasized.

Measurements of mechanical anisotropy in brain tissue and implications for transversely isotropic material models of white matter

PubMed Central

Feng, Yuan; Okamoto, Ruth J.; Namani, Ravi; Genin, Guy M.; Bayly, Philip V.

2013-01-01

White matter in the brain is structurally anisotropic, consisting largely of bundles of aligned, myelin-sheathed axonal fibers. White matter is believed to be mechanically anisotropic as well. Specifically, transverse isotropy is expected locally, with the plane of isotropy normal to the local mean fiber direction. Suitable material models involve strain energy density functions that depend on the I4 and I5 pseudo-invariants of the Cauchy–Green strain tensor to account for the effects of relatively stiff fibers. The pseudo-invariant I4 is the square of the stretch ratio in the fiber direction; I5 contains contributions of shear strain in planes parallel to the fiber axis. Most, if not all, published models of white matter depend on I4 but not on I5. Here, we explore the small strain limits of these models in the context of experimental measurements that probe these dependencies. Models in which strain energy depends on I4 but not I5 can capture differences in Young’s (tensile) moduli, but will not exhibit differences in shear moduli for loading parallel and normal to the mean direction of axons. We show experimentally, using a combination of shear and asymmetric indentation tests, that white matter does exhibit such differences in both tensile and shear moduli. Indentation tests were interpreted through inverse fitting of finite element models in the limit of small strains. Results highlight that: (1) hyperelastic models of transversely isotropic tissues such as white matter should include contributions of both the I4 and I5 strain pseudo-invariants; and (2) behavior in the small strain regime can usefully guide the choice and initial parameterization of more general material models of white matter. PMID:23680651

Knowledge discovery from data as a framework to decision support in medical domains

PubMed Central

Gibert, Karina

2009-01-01

Introduction Knowledge discovery from data (KDD) is a multidisciplinary discipline which appeared in 1996 for “non trivial identifying of valid, novel, potentially useful, ultimately understandable patterns in data”. Pre-treatment of data and post-processing is as important as the data exploitation (Data Mining) itself. Different analysis techniques can be properly combined to produce explicit knowledge from data. Methods Hybrid KDD methodologies combining Artificial Intelligence with Statistics and visualization have been used to identify patterns in complex medical phenomena: experts provide prior knowledge (pK); it biases the search of distinguishable groups of homogeneous objects; support-interpretation tools (CPG) assisted experts in conceptualization and labelling of discovered patterns, consistently with pK. Results Patterns of dependency in mental disabilities supported decision-making on legislation of the Spanish Dependency Law in Catalonia. Relationships between type of neurorehabilitation treatment and patterns of response for brain damage are assessed. Patterns of the perceived QOL along time are used in spinal cord lesion to improve social inclusion. Conclusion Reality is more and more complex and classical data analyses are not powerful enough to model it. New methodologies are required including multidisciplinarity and stressing on production of understandable models. Interaction with the experts is critical to generate meaningful results which can really support decision-making, particularly convenient transferring the pK to the system, as well as interpreting results in close interaction with experts. KDD is a valuable paradigm, particularly when facing very complex domains, not well understood yet, like many medical phenomena.

Investigating the uniformity of the excess gamma rays towards the galactic center region

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

Horiuchi, Shunsaku; Kaplinghat, Manoj; Kwa, Anna, E-mail: horiuchi@vt.edu, E-mail: mkapling@uci.edu, E-mail: akwa@uci.edu

2016-11-01

We perform a composite likelihood analysis of subdivided regions within the central 26° × 20° of the Milky Way, with the aim of characterizing the spectrum of the gamma-ray galactic center excess in regions of varying galactocentric distance. Outside of the innermost few degrees, we find that the radial profile of the excess is background-model dependent and poorly constrained. The spectrum of the excess emission is observed to extend upwards of 10 GeV outside ∼5° in radius, but cuts off steeply between 10–20 GeV only in the innermost few degrees. If interpreted as a real feature of the excess, thismore » radial variation in the spectrum has important implications for both astrophysical and dark matter interpretations of the galactic center excess. Single-component dark matter annihilation models face challenges in reproducing this variation; on the other hand, a population of unresolved millisecond pulsars contributing both prompt and secondary inverse Compton emission may be able to explain the spectrum as well as its spatial dependency. We show that the expected differences in the photon-count distributions of a smooth dark matter annihilation signal and an unresolved point source population are an order of magnitude smaller than the fluctuations in residuals after fitting the data, which implies that mismodeling is an important systematic effect in point source analyses aimed at resolving the gamma-ray excess.« less

How well do you know your mutation? Complex effects of genetic background on expressivity, complementation, and ordering of allelic effects

PubMed Central

Choi, Lin; DeNieu, Michael; Sonnenschein, Anne; Hummel, Kristen; Marier, Christian; Victory, Andrew; Porter, Cody; Mammel, Anna; Holms, Julie; Sivaratnam, Gayatri

2017-01-01

For a given gene, different mutations influence organismal phenotypes to varying degrees. However, the expressivity of these variants not only depends on the DNA lesion associated with the mutation, but also on factors including the genetic background and rearing environment. The degree to which these factors influence related alleles, genes, or pathways similarly, and whether similar developmental mechanisms underlie variation in the expressivity of a single allele across conditions and among alleles is poorly understood. Besides their fundamental biological significance, these questions have important implications for the interpretation of functional genetic analyses, for example, if these factors alter the ordering of allelic series or patterns of complementation. We examined the impact of genetic background and rearing environment for a series of mutations spanning the range of phenotypic effects for both the scalloped and vestigial genes, which influence wing development in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetic background and rearing environment influenced the phenotypic outcome of mutations, including intra-genic interactions, particularly for mutations of moderate expressivity. We examined whether cellular correlates (such as cell proliferation during development) of these phenotypic effects matched the observed phenotypic outcome. While cell proliferation decreased with mutations of increasingly severe effects, surprisingly it did not co-vary strongly with the degree of background dependence. We discuss these findings and propose a phenomenological model to aid in understanding the biology of genes, and how this influences our interpretation of allelic effects in genetic analysis. PMID:29166655

On observation of local strong heterogeneity in the Earth's inner core below southeastern Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krasnoshchekov, D. N.; Kaazik, P. B.; Ovtchinnikov, V. M.

2016-12-01

The dimensions and nature of multi-scale structural heterogeneities in the Earth's inner core (IC) provide important constraints on its mineralogy and formation history. Teleseismic body waves with turn points close to the inner core boundary (ICB) provide a unique tool for imaging the fine structure of the upper IC. In this study, we invoke differential travel times and amplitudes of PKPBC and PKPDF waveforms observed in crossing polar and equatorial paths to provide more constraints on the heterogeneity previously located in the quasi-eastern hemisphere of the IC (Kaazik et al., 2015; Krasnoshchekov et al., 2016). A more refined analysis of quasi-polar PKPBC/PKPDF amplitude ratios measured within the heterogeneity indicates that seismic attenuation is both frequency and depth dependent, and its relatively low Q-factor at 1 Hz of approximately 118 tends to grow with depth. Outside the heterogeneity, no pronounced polar-equatorial differences are observed; the estimated Q factor is about twice as large and not directionally dependent. We also analyse new differential travel times of rays that enable sampling of the anomaly at greater depths. The analysis exhibits the polar - equatorial contrasts observed in the heterogeneity terminate at approximately 520 km below the ICB, which we interpret to be its bottom. The earlier interpretation of the heterogeneity in terms of strong anisotropic volume amidst the almost isotropic eastern hemisphere of the IC can be retained, and the lower bound of anisotropy strength within the anomaly is determined to be 2%.

The History and Timing of Depression Onset as Predictors of Young-Adult Self-Esteem

PubMed Central

Lloyd, Donald A.; Ueno, Koji

2010-01-01

Depression often emerges early in the lifecourse and is consistently shown to be associated with poor self-esteem. The three main objectives of the current study are to (1) evaluate the association between a history major depression and self-esteem in young adulthood; (2) assess the relationship between timing of depression onset and young adult self-esteem; and (3) help rule out the alternative interpretation that the relationship between major depression and self-esteem is due to state dependence bias stemming from recent depressive symptoms and stressful life events. To address these objectives we use data from a two-wave panel study based on a community sample of young adults in Miami-Dade County, Florida (n = 1,197). Results indicated a history of major depression during sensitive periods of social development is associated with negative changes in self-esteem over a two-year period during the transition to young adulthood. Among those with a history of depression, earlier onset was more problematic than later onset for young adult self-esteem, although the difference disappeared once the level of self-esteem two years prior was controlled. The linkages between the history and timing of depression onset with self-esteem were observed net of recent depressive symptoms and stressful life events, and thus robust to an alternative interpretation of state dependence. The findings support the argument that major depression, especially if it develops earlier during child-adolescent development, has negative consequences for one’s self-esteem. PMID:21860585

Network Inference via the Time-Varying Graphical Lasso

PubMed Central

Hallac, David; Park, Youngsuk; Boyd, Stephen; Leskovec, Jure

2018-01-01

Many important problems can be modeled as a system of interconnected entities, where each entity is recording time-dependent observations or measurements. In order to spot trends, detect anomalies, and interpret the temporal dynamics of such data, it is essential to understand the relationships between the different entities and how these relationships evolve over time. In this paper, we introduce the time-varying graphical lasso (TVGL), a method of inferring time-varying networks from raw time series data. We cast the problem in terms of estimating a sparse time-varying inverse covariance matrix, which reveals a dynamic network of interdependencies between the entities. Since dynamic network inference is a computationally expensive task, we derive a scalable message-passing algorithm based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) to solve this problem in an efficient way. We also discuss several extensions, including a streaming algorithm to update the model and incorporate new observations in real time. Finally, we evaluate our TVGL algorithm on both real and synthetic datasets, obtaining interpretable results and outperforming state-of-the-art baselines in terms of both accuracy and scalability. PMID:29770256

Tensile and shear methods for measuring strength of bilayer tablets.

PubMed

Chang, Shao-Yu; Li, Jian-Xin; Sun, Changquan Calvin

2017-05-15

Both shear and tensile measurement methods have been used to quantify interfacial bonding strength of bilayer tablets. The shear method is more convenient to perform, but reproducible strength data requires careful control of the placement of tablet and contact point for shear force application. Moreover, data obtained from the shear method depend on the orientation of the bilayer tablet. Although more time-consuming to perform, the tensile method yields data that are straightforward to interpret. Thus, the tensile method is preferred in fundamental bilayer tableting research to minimize ambiguity in data interpretation. Using both shear and tensile methods, we measured the mechanical strength of bilayer tablets made of several different layer combinations of lactose and microcrystalline cellulose. We observed a good correlation between strength obtained by the tensile method and carefully conducted shear method. This suggests that the shear method may be used for routine quality test of bilayer tablets during manufacturing because of its speed and convenience, provided a protocol for careful control of the placement of the tablet interface, tablet orientation, and blade is implemented. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A New Viewpoint (The expanding universe, Dark energy and Dark matter)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cwele, Daniel

2011-10-01

Just as the relativity paradox once threatened the validity of physics in Albert Einstein's days, the cosmos paradox, the galaxy rotation paradox and the experimental invalidity of the theory of dark matter and dark energy threaten the stability and validity of physics today. These theories and ideas and many others, including the Big Bang theory, all depend almost entirely on the notion of the expanding universe, Edwin Hubble's observations and reports and the observational inconsistencies of modern day theoretical Physics and Astrophysics on related subjects. However, much of the evidence collected in experimental Physics and Astronomy aimed at proving many of these ideas and theories is ambiguous, and can be used to prove other theories, given a different interpretation of its implications. The argument offered here is aimed at providing one such interpretation, attacking the present day theories of dark energy, dark matter and the Big Bang, and proposing a new Cosmological theory based on a modification of Isaac Newton's laws and an expansion on Albert Einstein's theories, without assuming any invalidity or questionability on present day cosmological data and astronomical observations.

Mesoscopic structure conditions the emergence of cooperation on social networks

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

Lozano, S.; Arenas, A.; Sanchez, A.

We study the evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma on two social networks substrates obtained from actual relational data. We find very different cooperation levels on each of them that cannot be easily understood in terms of global statistical properties of both networks. We claim that the result can be understood at the mesoscopic scale, by studying the community structure of the networks. We explain the dependence of the cooperation level on the temptation parameter in terms of the internal structure of the communities and their interconnections. We then test our results on community-structured, specifically designed artificial networks, finding a good agreement withmore » the observations in both real substrates. Our results support the conclusion that studies of evolutionary games on model networks and their interpretation in terms of global properties may not be sufficient to study specific, real social systems. Further, the study allows us to define new quantitative parameters that summarize the mesoscopic structure of any network. In addition, the community perspective may be helpful to interpret the origin and behavior of existing networks as well as to design structures that show resilient cooperative behavior.« less