On the non-linear spectroscopy including saturated absorption and four-wave mixing in two and multi-level atoms: a computational study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, M.; De Jager, G.; Nkosi, Z.; Wyngaard, A.; Govender, K.

2017-10-01

In this paper we report on the study of two and multi-level atoms interacting with multiple laser beams. The semi-classical approach is used to describe the system in which the atoms are treated quantum mechanically via the density matrix operator, while the laser beams are treated classically using Maxwells equations. We present results of a two level atom interacting with single and multiple laser beams and demonstrate Rabi oscillations between the levels. The effects of laser modulation on the dynamics of the atom (atomic populations and coherences) are examined by solving the optical Bloch equations. Plots of the density matrix elements as a function of time are presented for various parameters such as laser intensity, detuning, modulation etc. In addition, phase-space plots and Fourier analysis of the density matrix elements are provided. The atomic polarization, estimated from the coherence terms of the density matrix elements, is used in the numerical solution of Maxwells equations to determine the behaviour of the laser beams as they propagate through the atomic ensemble. The effects of saturation and hole-burning are demonstrated in the case of two counter propagating beams with one being a strong beam and the other being very weak. The above work is extended to include four-wave mixing in four level atoms in a diamond configuration. Two co-propagating beams of different wavelengths drive the atoms from a ground state |1〉 to an excited state |3〉 via an intermediate state |2〉. The atoms then move back to the ground state via another intermediate state |4〉, resulting in the generation of two additional correlated photon beams. The characteristics of these additional photons are studied.

The importance of multi-level Rydberg interaction in electric field tuned Förster resonances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kondo, Jorge; Booth, Donald; Gonçalves, Luis; Shaffer, James; Marcassa, Luis

2016-05-01

Many-body physics has been investigated in ultracold Rydberg atom systems, mainly because important parameters, such as density and interaction strength, can be controlled. Several puzzling experimental observations on Förster resonances have been associated to many-body effects, usually by comparison to complex theoretical models. In this work, we investigate the dc electric field dependence of 2 Förster resonant processes in ultracold 85 Rb, 37D5 / 2 + 37D5 / 2 --> 35 L(L = O , Q) + 39P3 / 2 , as a function of the atomic density in an optical dipole trap. At low densities, the 39 P yield as a function of electric field exhibits resonances. With increasing density, the linewidths increase until the peaks merge. Even under these extreme conditions, where many-body effects were expected to play a role, the 39 P population depends quadratically on the total Rydberg atom population. In order to explain our results, we implement a theoretical model which takes into account the multi-level character of the interactions and Rydberg atom blockade process using only atom pair interactions. The comparison between the experimental data and the model is very good, suggesting that the Förster resonant processes are dominated by 2-body interactions. This work is supported by FAPESP, AFOSR, NSF, INCT-IQ and CNPq.

Microcavities coupled to multilevel atoms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmid, Sandra Isabelle; Evers, Jörg

2011-11-01

A three-level atom in the Λ configuration coupled to a microcavity is studied. The two transitions of the atom are assumed to couple to different counterpropagating mode pairs in the cavity. We analyze the dynamics both in the strong-coupling and the bad-cavity limits. We find that, compared to a two-level setup, the third atomic state and the additional control field modes crucially modify the system dynamics and enable more advanced control schemes. All results are explained using appropriate dressed-state and eigenmode representations. As potential applications, we discuss optical switching and turnstile operations and detection of particles close to the resonator surface.

The role of nitrogen doping in ALD Ta2O5 and its influence on multilevel cell switching in RRAM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sedghi, N.; Li, H.; Brunell, I. F.; Dawson, K.; Potter, R. J.; Guo, Y.; Gibbon, J. T.; Dhanak, V. R.; Zhang, W. D.; Zhang, J. F.; Robertson, J.; Hall, S.; Chalker, P. R.

2017-03-01

The role of nitrogen doping on the stability and memory window of resistive state switching in N-doped Ta2O5 deposited by atomic layer deposition is elucidated. Nitrogen incorporation increases the stability of resistive memory states which is attributed to neutralization of electronic defect levels associated with oxygen vacancies. The density functional simulations with the screened exchange hybrid functional approximation show that the incorporation of nitrogen dopant atoms in the oxide network removes the O vacancy midgap defect states, thus nullifying excess defects and eliminating alternative conductive paths. By effectively reducing the density of vacancy-induced defect states through N doping, 3-bit multilevel cell switching is demonstrated, consisting of eight distinctive resistive memory states achieved by either controlling the set current compliance or the maximum voltage during reset. Nitrogen doping has a threefold effect: widening the switching memory window to accommodate the more intermediate states, improving the stability of states, and providing a gradual reset for multi-level cell switching during reset. The N-doped Ta2O5 devices have relatively small set and reset voltages (< 1 V) with reduced variability due to doping.

Quantum fuel with multilevel atomic coherence for ultrahigh specific work in a photonic Carnot engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Türkpençe, Deniz; Müstecaplıoǧlu, Özgür E.

2016-01-01

We investigate scaling of work and efficiency of a photonic Carnot engine with a number of quantum coherent resources. Specifically, we consider a generalization of the "phaseonium fuel" for the photonic Carnot engine, which was first introduced as a three-level atom with two lower states in a quantum coherent superposition by M. O. Scully, M. Suhail Zubairy, G. S. Agarwal, and H. Walther [Science 299, 862 (2003), 10.1126/science.1078955], to the case of N +1 level atoms with N coherent lower levels. We take into account atomic relaxation and dephasing as well as the cavity loss and derive a coarse-grained master equation to evaluate the work and efficiency analytically. Analytical results are verified by microscopic numerical examination of the thermalization dynamics. We find that efficiency and work scale quadratically with the number of quantum coherent levels. Quantum coherence boost to the specific energy (work output per unit mass of the resource) is a profound fundamental difference of quantum fuel from classical resources. We consider typical modern resonator set ups and conclude that multilevel phaseonium fuel can be utilized to overcome the decoherence in available systems. Preparation of the atomic coherences and the associated cost of coherence are analyzed and the engine operation within the bounds of the second law is verified. Our results bring the photonic Carnot engines much closer to the capabilities of current resonator technologies.

Effect of magnetic field on the optical properties of an inhomogeneously broadened multilevel Λ-system in Rb vapor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaur, Paramjit; Wasan, Ajay

2017-03-01

We present a theoretical model, using density matrix approach, to study the effect of external longitudinal and transverse magnetic fields on the optical properties of an inhomogeneously broadened multilevel Λ-system using the D2 line in 85Rb and 87Rb atoms. The presence of closely spaced multiple excited states causes asymmetry in the absorption and dispersion profiles. We observe a wide EIT window with a positive slope at the line center for a stationary atom. While for a moving atom, the linewidth of EIT window reduces and positive dispersion becomes steeper. When magnetic field is applied, our calculations show multiple EIT subwindows that are significantly narrower and shallow than single EIT window. The number of EIT subwindows depend on the orientation of the magnetic field. We also obtain multiple positive dispersive regions for subluminal propagation in the medium. The anomalous dispersion exists in between two subwindows showing the superluminal light propagation. Our theoretical analysis explain the experiments performed by Wei et al. [Phys. Rev. A 72, 023806 (2005)] and Iftiquar et al. [Phys. Rev. A 79, 013808 (2009)].

Time evolution, Lamb shift, and emission spectra of spontaneous emission of two identical atoms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Da-Wei; Li, Zheng-Hong; Zheng, Hang; Zhu, Shi-Yao

2010-04-01

A unitary transformation method is used to investigate the dynamic evolution of two multilevel atoms, in the basis of symmetric and antisymmetric states, with one atom being initially prepared in the first excited state and the other in the ground state. The unitary transformation guarantees that our calculations are based on the ground state of the atom-field system and the self-energy is subtracted at the beginning. The total Lamb shifts of the symmetric and antisymmetric states are divided into transformed shift and dynamic shift. The transformed shift is due to emitting and reabsorbing of virtual photons, by a single atom (nondynamic single atomic shift) and between the two atoms (quasi-static shift). The dynamic shift is due to the emitting and reabsorbing of real photons, by a single atom (dynamic single atomic shift) and between the two atoms (dynamic interatomic shift). The emitting and reabsorbing of virtual and real photons between the two atoms result in the interatomic shift, which does not exist for the one-atom case. The spectra at the long-time limit are calculated. If the distance between the two atoms is shorter than or comparable to the wavelength, the strong coupling between the two atoms splits the spectrum into two peaks, one from the symmetric state and the other from the antisymmetric state. The origin of the red or blue shifts for the symmetric and antisymmetric states mainly lies in the negative or positive interaction energy between the two atoms. In the investigation of the short time evolution, we find the modification of the effective density of states by the interaction between two atoms can modulate the quantum Zeno and quantum anti-Zeno effects in the decays of the symmetric and antisymmetric states.

Multiple imputation by chained equations for systematically and sporadically missing multilevel data.

PubMed

Resche-Rigon, Matthieu; White, Ian R

2018-06-01

In multilevel settings such as individual participant data meta-analysis, a variable is 'systematically missing' if it is wholly missing in some clusters and 'sporadically missing' if it is partly missing in some clusters. Previously proposed methods to impute incomplete multilevel data handle either systematically or sporadically missing data, but frequently both patterns are observed. We describe a new multiple imputation by chained equations (MICE) algorithm for multilevel data with arbitrary patterns of systematically and sporadically missing variables. The algorithm is described for multilevel normal data but can easily be extended for other variable types. We first propose two methods for imputing a single incomplete variable: an extension of an existing method and a new two-stage method which conveniently allows for heteroscedastic data. We then discuss the difficulties of imputing missing values in several variables in multilevel data using MICE, and show that even the simplest joint multilevel model implies conditional models which involve cluster means and heteroscedasticity. However, a simulation study finds that the proposed methods can be successfully combined in a multilevel MICE procedure, even when cluster means are not included in the imputation models.

Self-balanced modulation and magnetic rebalancing method for parallel multilevel inverters

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

Li, Hui; Shi, Yanjun

A self-balanced modulation method and a closed-loop magnetic flux rebalancing control method for parallel multilevel inverters. The combination of the two methods provides for balancing of the magnetic flux of the inter-cell transformers (ICTs) of the parallel multilevel inverters without deteriorating the quality of the output voltage. In various embodiments a parallel multi-level inverter modulator is provide including a multi-channel comparator to generate a multiplexed digitized ideal waveform for a parallel multi-level inverter and a finite state machine (FSM) module coupled to the parallel multi-channel comparator, the FSM module to receive the multiplexed digitized ideal waveform and to generate amore » pulse width modulated gate-drive signal for each switching device of the parallel multi-level inverter. The system and method provides for optimization of the output voltage spectrum without influence the magnetic balancing.« less

Quantum fuel with multilevel atomic coherence for ultrahigh specific work in a photonic Carnot engine.

PubMed

Türkpençe, Deniz; Müstecaplıoğlu, Özgür E

2016-01-01

We investigate scaling of work and efficiency of a photonic Carnot engine with a number of quantum coherent resources. Specifically, we consider a generalization of the "phaseonium fuel" for the photonic Carnot engine, which was first introduced as a three-level atom with two lower states in a quantum coherent superposition by M. O. Scully, M. Suhail Zubairy, G. S. Agarwal, and H. Walther [Science 299, 862 (2003)SCIEAS0036-807510.1126/science.1078955], to the case of N+1 level atoms with N coherent lower levels. We take into account atomic relaxation and dephasing as well as the cavity loss and derive a coarse-grained master equation to evaluate the work and efficiency analytically. Analytical results are verified by microscopic numerical examination of the thermalization dynamics. We find that efficiency and work scale quadratically with the number of quantum coherent levels. Quantum coherence boost to the specific energy (work output per unit mass of the resource) is a profound fundamental difference of quantum fuel from classical resources. We consider typical modern resonator set ups and conclude that multilevel phaseonium fuel can be utilized to overcome the decoherence in available systems. Preparation of the atomic coherences and the associated cost of coherence are analyzed and the engine operation within the bounds of the second law is verified. Our results bring the photonic Carnot engines much closer to the capabilities of current resonator technologies.

Coherent Radiation in Atomic Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutherland, Robert Tyler

Over the last century, quantum mechanics has dramatically altered our understanding of light and matter. Impressively, exploring the relationship between the two continues to provide important insights into the physics of many-body systems. In this thesis, we add to this still growing field of study. Specifically, we discuss superradiant line-broadening and cooperative dipole-dipole interactions for cold atom clouds in the linear-optics regime. We then discuss how coherent radiation changes both the photon scattering properties and the excitation distribution of atomic arrays. After that, we explore the nature of superradiance in initially inverted clouds of multi-level atoms. Finally, we explore the physics of clouds with degenerate Zeeman ground states, and show that this creates quantum effects that fundamentally change the photon scattering of atomic ensembles.

Accelerating ab initio path integral molecular dynamics with multilevel sampling of potential surface

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

Geng, Hua Y., E-mail: huay.geng@gmail.com; Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Baker Laboratory, Ithaca, NY 14853

A multilevel approach to sample the potential energy surface in a path integral formalism is proposed. The purpose is to reduce the required number of ab initio evaluations of energy and forces in ab initio path integral molecular dynamics (AI-PIMD) simulation, without compromising the overall accuracy. To validate the method, the internal energy and free energy of an Einstein crystal are calculated and compared with the analytical solutions. As a preliminary application, we assess the performance of the method in a realistic model—the FCC phase of dense atomic hydrogen, in which the calculated result shows that the acceleration rate ismore » about 3 to 4-fold for a two-level implementation, and can be increased up to 10 times if extrapolation is used. With only 16 beads used for the ab initio potential sampling, this method gives a well converged internal energy. The residual error in pressure is just about 3 GPa, whereas it is about 20 GPa for a plain AI-PIMD calculation with the same number of beads. The vibrational free energy of the FCC phase of dense hydrogen at 300 K is also calculated with an AI-PIMD thermodynamic integration method, which gives a result of about 0.51 eV/proton at a density of r{sub s}=0.912.« less

Modified two-photon absorption and dispersion of ultrafast third-order polarization beats via twin noisy driving fields

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

Zhang Yanpeng; Department of Electronic Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049; Gan Chenli

2006-05-15

We investigate the color-locked twin-noisy-field correlation effects in third-order nonlinear absorption and dispersion of ultrafast polarization beats. We demonstrate a phase-sensitive method for studying the two-photon nondegenerate four-wave mixing (NDFWM) due to atomic coherence in a multilevel system. The reference signal is another one-photon degenerate four-wave-mixing signal, which propagates along the same optical path as the NDFWM signal. This method is used for studying the phase dispersion of the third-order susceptibility and for the optical heterodyne detection of the NDFWM signal. The third-order nonlinear response can be controlled and modified through the color-locked correlation of twin noisy fields.

Master equation theory applied to the redistribution of polarized radiation in the weak radiation field limit. V. The two-term atom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bommier, Véronique

2017-11-01

Context. In previous papers of this series, we presented a formalism able to account for both statistical equilibrium of a multilevel atom and coherent and incoherent scatterings (partial redistribution). Aims: This paper provides theoretical expressions of the redistribution function for the two-term atom. This redistribution function includes both coherent (RII) and incoherent (RIII) scattering contributions with their branching ratios. Methods: The expressions were derived by applying the formalism outlined above. The statistical equilibrium equation for the atomic density matrix is first formally solved in the case of the two-term atom with unpolarized and infinitely sharp lower levels. Then the redistribution function is derived by substituting this solution for the expression of the emissivity. Results: Expressions are provided for both magnetic and non-magnetic cases. Atomic fine structure is taken into account. Expressions are also separately provided under zero and non-zero hyperfine structure. Conclusions: Redistribution functions are widely used in radiative transfer codes. In our formulation, collisional transitions between Zeeman sublevels within an atomic level (depolarizing collisions effect) are taken into account when possible (I.e., in the non-magnetic case). However, the need for a formal solution of the statistical equilibrium as a preliminary step prevents us from taking into account collisional transfers between the levels of the upper term. Accounting for these collisional transfers could be done via a numerical solution of the statistical equilibrium equation system.

Resilience of the quantum Rabi model in circuit QED

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

E Manucharyan, Vladimir; Baksic, Alexandre; Ciuti, Cristiano

2017-07-01

In circuit quantum electrodynamics (circuit QED), an artificial ‘circuit atom’ can couple to a quantized microwave radiation much stronger than its real atomic counterpart. The celebrated quantum Rabi model describes the simplest interaction of a two-level system with a single-mode boson field. When the coupling is large enough, the bare multilevel structure of a realistic circuit atom cannot be ignored even if the circuit is strongly anharmonic. We explored this situation theoretically for flux (fluxonium) and charge (Cooper pair box) type multi-level circuits tuned to their respective flux/charge degeneracy points. We identified which spectral features of the quantum Rabi model survive and which are renormalized for large coupling. Despite significant renormalization of the low-energy spectrum in the fluxonium case, the key quantum Rabi feature—nearly-degenerate vacuum consisting of an atomic state entangled with a multi-photon field—appears in both types of circuits when the coupling is sufficiently large. Like in the quantum Rabi model, for very large couplings the entanglement spectrum is dominated by only two, nearly equal eigenvalues, in spite of the fact that a large number of bare atomic states are actually involved in the atom-resonator ground state. We interpret the emergence of the two-fold degeneracy of the vacuum of both circuits as an environmental suppression of flux/charge tunneling due to their dressing by virtual low-/high-impedance photons in the resonator. For flux tunneling, the dressing is nothing else than the shunting of a Josephson atom with a large capacitance of the resonator. Suppression of charge tunneling is a manifestation of the dynamical Coulomb blockade of transport in tunnel junctions connected to resistive leads.

Testing Group Mean Differences of Latent Variables in Multilevel Data Using Multiple-Group Multilevel CFA and Multilevel MIMIC Modeling.

PubMed

Kim, Eun Sook; Cao, Chunhua

2015-01-01

Considering that group comparisons are common in social science, we examined two latent group mean testing methods when groups of interest were either at the between or within level of multilevel data: multiple-group multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MG ML CFA) and multilevel multiple-indicators multiple-causes modeling (ML MIMIC). The performance of these methods were investigated through three Monte Carlo studies. In Studies 1 and 2, either factor variances or residual variances were manipulated to be heterogeneous between groups. In Study 3, which focused on within-level multiple-group analysis, six different model specifications were considered depending on how to model the intra-class group correlation (i.e., correlation between random effect factors for groups within cluster). The results of simulations generally supported the adequacy of MG ML CFA and ML MIMIC for multiple-group analysis with multilevel data. The two methods did not show any notable difference in the latent group mean testing across three studies. Finally, a demonstration with real data and guidelines in selecting an appropriate approach to multilevel multiple-group analysis are provided.

Non-Hermitian optics in atomic systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zhaoyang; Ma, Danmeng; Sheng, Jiteng; Zhang, Yiqi; Zhang, Yanpeng; Xiao, Min

2018-04-01

A wide class of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians can possess entirely real eigenvalues when they have parity-time (PT) symmetric potentials. Recently, this family of non-Hermitian systems has attracted considerable attention in diverse areas of physics due to their extraordinary properties, especially in optical systems based on solid-state materials, such as coupled gain-loss waveguides and microcavities. Considering the desired refractive index can be effectively manipulated through atomic coherence, it is important to realize such non-Hermitian optical potentials and further investigate their distinct properties in atomic systems. In this paper, we review the recent theoretical and experimental progress of non-Hermitian optics with coherently prepared multi-level atomic configurations. The realizations of (anti-) PT symmetry with different schemes have extensively demonstrated the special optical properties of non-Hermitian optical systems with atomic coherence.

Multilevel filtering elliptic preconditioners

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuo, C. C. Jay; Chan, Tony F.; Tong, Charles

1989-01-01

A class of preconditioners is presented for elliptic problems built on ideas borrowed from the digital filtering theory and implemented on a multilevel grid structure. They are designed to be both rapidly convergent and highly parallelizable. The digital filtering viewpoint allows the use of filter design techniques for constructing elliptic preconditioners and also provides an alternative framework for understanding several other recently proposed multilevel preconditioners. Numerical results are presented to assess the convergence behavior of the new methods and to compare them with other preconditioners of multilevel type, including the usual multigrid method as preconditioner, the hierarchical basis method and a recent method proposed by Bramble-Pasciak-Xu.

Extending the Multi-level Method for the Simulation of Stochastic Biological Systems.

PubMed

Lester, Christopher; Baker, Ruth E; Giles, Michael B; Yates, Christian A

2016-08-01

The multi-level method for discrete-state systems, first introduced by Anderson and Higham (SIAM Multiscale Model Simul 10(1):146-179, 2012), is a highly efficient simulation technique that can be used to elucidate statistical characteristics of biochemical reaction networks. A single point estimator is produced in a cost-effective manner by combining a number of estimators of differing accuracy in a telescoping sum, and, as such, the method has the potential to revolutionise the field of stochastic simulation. In this paper, we present several refinements of the multi-level method which render it easier to understand and implement, and also more efficient. Given the substantial and complex nature of the multi-level method, the first part of this work reviews existing literature, with the aim of providing a practical guide to the use of the multi-level method. The second part provides the means for a deft implementation of the technique and concludes with a discussion of a number of open problems.

Multilevel Interventions: Measurement and Measures

PubMed Central

Charns, Martin P.; Alligood, Elaine C.; Benzer, Justin K.; Burgess, James F.; Mcintosh, Nathalie M.; Burness, Allison; Partin, Melissa R.; Clauser, Steven B.

2012-01-01

Background Multilevel intervention research holds the promise of more accurately representing real-life situations and, thus, with proper research design and measurement approaches, facilitating effective and efficient resolution of health-care system challenges. However, taking a multilevel approach to cancer care interventions creates both measurement challenges and opportunities. Methods One-thousand seventy two cancer care articles from 2005 to 2010 were reviewed to examine the state of measurement in the multilevel intervention cancer care literature. Ultimately, 234 multilevel articles, 40 involving cancer care interventions, were identified. Additionally, literature from health services, social psychology, and organizational behavior was reviewed to identify measures that might be useful in multilevel intervention research. Results The vast majority of measures used in multilevel cancer intervention studies were individual level measures. Group-, organization-, and community-level measures were rarely used. Discussion of the independence, validity, and reliability of measures was scant. Discussion Measurement issues may be especially complex when conducting multilevel intervention research. Measurement considerations that are associated with multilevel intervention research include those related to independence, reliability, validity, sample size, and power. Furthermore, multilevel intervention research requires identification of key constructs and measures by level and consideration of interactions within and across levels. Thus, multilevel intervention research benefits from thoughtful theory-driven planning and design, an interdisciplinary approach, and mixed methods measurement and analysis. PMID:22623598

Design and Analysis of an Axisymmetric Phased Array Fed Gregorian Reflector System for Limited Scanning

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-01-22

Numerical electromagnetic simulations based on the multilevel fast multipole method (MLFMM) were used to analyze and optimize the antenna...and are not necessarily endorsed by the United States Government. numerical simulations with the multilevel fast multipole method (MLFMM...and optimized using numerical simulations conducted with the multilevel fast multipole method (MLFMM) using FEKO software (www.feko.info). The

Large-scale quantum transport calculations for electronic devices with over ten thousand atoms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Wenchang; Lu, Yan; Xiao, Zhongcan; Hodak, Miro; Briggs, Emil; Bernholc, Jerry

The non-equilibrium Green's function method (NEGF) has been implemented in our massively parallel DFT software, the real space multigrid (RMG) code suite. Our implementation employs multi-level parallelization strategies and fully utilizes both multi-core CPUs and GPU accelerators. Since the cost of the calculations increases dramatically with the number of orbitals, an optimal basis set is crucial for including a large number of atoms in the ``active device'' part of the simulations. In our implementation, the localized orbitals are separately optimized for each principal layer of the device region, in order to obtain an accurate and optimal basis set. As a large example, we calculated the transmission characteristics of a Si nanowire p-n junction. The nanowire is along (110) direction in order to minimize the number dangling bonds that are saturated by H atoms. Its diameter is 3 nm. The length of 24 nm is necessary because of the long-range screening length in Si. Our calculations clearly show the I-V characteristics of a diode, i.e., the current increases exponentially with forward bias and is near zero with backward bias. Other examples will also be presented, including three-terminal transistors and large sensor structures.

Photon scattering from a system of multilevel quantum emitters. II. Application to emitters coupled to a one-dimensional waveguide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Das, Sumanta; Elfving, Vincent E.; Reiter, Florentin; Sørensen, Anders S.

2018-04-01

In a preceding paper we introduced a formalism to study the scattering of low-intensity fields from a system of multilevel emitters embedded in a three-dimensional (3 D ) dielectric medium. Here we show how this photon-scattering relation can be used to analyze the scattering of single photons and weak coherent states from any generic multilevel quantum emitter coupled to a one-dimensional (1 D ) waveguide. The reduction of the photon-scattering relation to 1 D waveguides provides a direct solution of the scattering problem involving low-intensity fields in the waveguide QED regime. To show how our formalism works, we consider examples of multilevel emitters and evaluate the transmitted and reflected field amplitude. Furthermore, we extend our study to include the dynamical response of the emitters for scattering of a weak coherent photon pulse. As our photon-scattering relation is based on the Heisenberg picture, it is quite useful for problems involving photodetection in the waveguide architecture. We show this by considering a specific problem of state generation by photodetection in a multilevel emitter, where our formalism exhibits its full potential. Since the considered emitters are generic, the 1 D results apply to a plethora of physical systems such as atoms, ions, quantum dots, superconducting qubits, and nitrogen-vacancy centers coupled to a 1 D waveguide or transmission line.

A multilevel preconditioner for domain decomposition boundary systems

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

Bramble, J.H.; Pasciak, J.E.; Xu, Jinchao.

1991-12-11

In this note, we consider multilevel preconditioning of the reduced boundary systems which arise in non-overlapping domain decomposition methods. It will be shown that the resulting preconditioned systems have condition numbers which be bounded in the case of multilevel spaces on the whole domain and grow at most proportional to the number of levels in the case of multilevel boundary spaces without multilevel extensions into the interior.

Enhancement of resistive switching properties in Al2O3 bilayer-based atomic switches: multilevel resistive switching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vishwanath, Sujaya Kumar; Woo, Hyunsuk; Jeon, Sanghun

2018-06-01

Atomic switches are considered to be building blocks for future non-volatile data storage and internet of things. However, obtaining device structures capable of ultrahigh density data storage, high endurance, and long data retention, and more importantly, understanding the switching mechanisms are still a challenge for atomic switches. Here, we achieved improved resistive switching performance in a bilayer structure containing aluminum oxide, with an oxygen-deficient oxide as the top switching layer and stoichiometric oxide as the bottom switching layer, using atomic layer deposition. This bilayer device showed a high on/off ratio (105) with better endurance (∼2000 cycles) and longer data retention (104 s) than single-oxide layers. In addition, depending on the compliance current, the bilayer device could be operated in four different resistance states. Furthermore, the depth profiles of the hourglass-shaped conductive filament of the bilayer device was observed by conductive atomic force microscopy.

A new spin on primordial hydrogen recombination and a refined model for spinning dust radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ali-Haimoud, Yacine

2011-08-01

This thesis describes theoretical calculations in two subjects: the primordial recombination of the electron-proton plasma about 400,000 years after the Big Bang and electric dipole radiation from spinning dust grains in the present-day interstellar medium. Primordial hydrogen recombination has recently been the subject of a renewed attention because of the impact of its theoretical uncertainties on predicted cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy power spectra. The physics of the primordial recombination problem can be divided into two qualitatively different aspects. On the one hand, a detailed treatment of the non-thermal radiation field in the optically thick Lyman lines is required for an accurate recombination history near the peak of the visibility function. On the other hand, stimulated recombinations and out-of equilibrium effects are important at late times and a multilevel calculation is required to correctly compute the low-redshift end of the ionization history. Another facet of the problem is the requirement of computational efficiency, as a large number of recombination histories must be evaluated in Markov chains when analyzing CMB data. In this thesis, an effective multilevel atom method is presented, that speeds up multilevel atom computations by more than 5 orders of magnitude. The impact of previously ignored radiative transfer effects is quantified, and explicitly shown to be negligible. Finally, the numerical implementation of a fast and highly accurate primordial recombination code partly written by the author is described. The second part of this thesis is devoted to one of the potential galactic foregrounds for CMB experiments: the rotational emission from small dust grains. The rotational state of dust grains is described, first classically, and assuming that grains are rotating about their axis of greatest inertia. This assumption is then lifted, and a quantum-mechanical calculation is presented for disk-like grains with a randomized nutation state. In both cases, the probability distribution for the total grain angular momentum is computed with a Fokker-Planck equation, and the resulting emissivity is evaluated, as a function of environmental parameters. These computations are implemented in a public code written by the author.

On-chip photonic transistor based on the spike synchronization in circuit QED

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gül, Yusuf

2018-03-01

We consider the single photon transistor in coupled cavity system of resonators interacting with multilevel superconducting artificial atom simultaneously. Effective single mode transformation is used for the diagonalization of the Hamiltonian and impedance matching in terms of the normal modes. Storage and transmission of the incident field are described by the interactions between the cavities controlling the atomic transitions of lowest lying states. Rabi splitting of vacuum-induced multiphoton transitions is considered in input/output relations by the quadrature operators in the absence of the input field. Second-order coherence functions are employed to investigate the photon blockade and delocalization-localization transitions of cavity fields. Spontaneous virtual photon conversion into real photons is investigated in localized and oscillating regimes. Reflection and transmission of cavity output fields are investigated in the presence of the multilevel transitions. Accumulation and firing of the reflected and transmitted fields are used to investigate the synchronization of the bunching spike train of transmitted field and population imbalance of cavity fields. In the presence of single photon gate field, gain enhancement is explained for transmitted regime.

A Methodological Review of Statistical Methods for Handling Multilevel Non-Nested Longitudinal Data in Educational Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Shuyan; Pan, Wei

2014-01-01

As applications of multilevel modelling in educational research increase, researchers realize that multilevel data collected in many educational settings are often not purely nested. The most common multilevel non-nested data structure is one that involves student mobility in longitudinal studies. This article provides a methodological review of…

Alternative Methods for Assessing Mediation in Multilevel Data: The Advantages of Multilevel SEM

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preacher, Kristopher J.; Zhang, Zhen; Zyphur, Michael J.

2011-01-01

Multilevel modeling (MLM) is a popular way of assessing mediation effects with clustered data. Two important limitations of this approach have been identified in prior research and a theoretical rationale has been provided for why multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) should be preferred. However, to date, no empirical evidence of MSEM's…

General method to find the attractors of discrete dynamic models of biological systems.

PubMed

Gan, Xiao; Albert, Réka

2018-04-01

Analyzing the long-term behaviors (attractors) of dynamic models of biological networks can provide valuable insight. We propose a general method that can find the attractors of multilevel discrete dynamical systems by extending a method that finds the attractors of a Boolean network model. The previous method is based on finding stable motifs, subgraphs whose nodes' states can stabilize on their own. We extend the framework from binary states to any finite discrete levels by creating a virtual node for each level of a multilevel node, and describing each virtual node with a quasi-Boolean function. We then create an expanded representation of the multilevel network, find multilevel stable motifs and oscillating motifs, and identify attractors by successive network reduction. In this way, we find both fixed point attractors and complex attractors. We implemented an algorithm, which we test and validate on representative synthetic networks and on published multilevel models of biological networks. Despite its primary motivation to analyze biological networks, our motif-based method is general and can be applied to any finite discrete dynamical system.

General method to find the attractors of discrete dynamic models of biological systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gan, Xiao; Albert, Réka

2018-04-01

Analyzing the long-term behaviors (attractors) of dynamic models of biological networks can provide valuable insight. We propose a general method that can find the attractors of multilevel discrete dynamical systems by extending a method that finds the attractors of a Boolean network model. The previous method is based on finding stable motifs, subgraphs whose nodes' states can stabilize on their own. We extend the framework from binary states to any finite discrete levels by creating a virtual node for each level of a multilevel node, and describing each virtual node with a quasi-Boolean function. We then create an expanded representation of the multilevel network, find multilevel stable motifs and oscillating motifs, and identify attractors by successive network reduction. In this way, we find both fixed point attractors and complex attractors. We implemented an algorithm, which we test and validate on representative synthetic networks and on published multilevel models of biological networks. Despite its primary motivation to analyze biological networks, our motif-based method is general and can be applied to any finite discrete dynamical system.

Long bone reconstruction using multilevel lengthening of bone defect fragments.

PubMed

Borzunov, Dmitry Y

2012-08-01

This paper presents experimental findings to substantiate the use of multilevel bone fragment lengthening for managing extensive long bone defects caused by diverse aetiologies and shows its clinical introduction which could provide a solution for the problem of reducing the total treatment time. Both experimental and clinical multilevel lengthening to bridge bone defect gaps was performed with the use of the Ilizarov method only. The experimental findings and clinical outcomes showed that multilevel defect fragment lengthening could provide sufficient bone formation and reduction of the total osteosynthesis time in one stage as compared to traditional Ilizarov bone transport. The method of multilevel regeneration enabled management of critical-size defects that measured on average 13.5 ± 0.7 cm in 78 patients. The experimental and clinical results proved the efficiency of the Ilizarov non-free multilevel bone plasty that can be recommended for practical use.

Accurate Mapping of Multilevel Rydberg Atoms on Interacting Spin-1 /2 Particles for the Quantum Simulation of Ising Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Léséleuc, Sylvain; Weber, Sebastian; Lienhard, Vincent; Barredo, Daniel; Büchler, Hans Peter; Lahaye, Thierry; Browaeys, Antoine

2018-03-01

We study a system of atoms that are laser driven to n D3 /2 Rydberg states and assess how accurately they can be mapped onto spin-1 /2 particles for the quantum simulation of anisotropic Ising magnets. Using nonperturbative calculations of the pair potentials between two atoms in the presence of electric and magnetic fields, we emphasize the importance of a careful selection of experimental parameters in order to maintain the Rydberg blockade and avoid excitation of unwanted Rydberg states. We benchmark these theoretical observations against experiments using two atoms. Finally, we show that in these conditions, the experimental dynamics observed after a quench is in good agreement with numerical simulations of spin-1 /2 Ising models in systems with up to 49 spins, for which numerical simulations become intractable.

Planarization of metal films for multilevel interconnects

DOEpatents

Tuckerman, D.B.

1985-06-24

In the fabrication of multilevel integrated circuits, each metal layer is planarized by heating to momentarily melt the layer. The layer is melted by sweeping lase pulses of suitable width, typically about 1 microsecond duration, over the layer in small increments. The planarization of each metal layer eliminates irregular and discontinuous conditions between successive layers. The planarization method is particularly applicable to circuits having ground or power planes and allows for multilevel interconnects. Dielectric layers can also be planarized to produce a fully planar multilevel interconnect structure. The method is useful for the fabrication of VLSI circuits, particularly for wafer-scale integration.

Planarization of metal films for multilevel interconnects

DOEpatents

Tuckerman, David B.

1987-01-01

In the fabrication of multilevel integrated circuits, each metal layer is anarized by heating to momentarily melt the layer. The layer is melted by sweeping laser pulses of suitable width, typically about 1 microsecond duration, over the layer in small increments. The planarization of each metal layer eliminates irregular and discontinuous conditions between successive layers. The planarization method is particularly applicable to circuits having ground or power planes and allows for multilevel interconnects. Dielectric layers can also be planarized to produce a fully planar multilevel interconnect structure. The method is useful for the fabrication of VLSI circuits, particularly for wafer-scale integration.

Planarization of metal films for multilevel interconnects

DOEpatents

Tuckerman, David B.

1989-01-01

In the fabrication of multilevel integrated circuits, each metal layer is anarized by heating to momentarily melt the layer. The layer is melted by sweeping laser pulses of suitable width, typically about 1 microsecond duration, over the layer in small increments. The planarization of each metal layer eliminates irregular and discontinuous conditions between successive layers. The planarization method is particularly applicable to circuits having ground or power planes and allows for multilevel interconnects. Dielectric layers can also be planarized to produce a fully planar multilevel interconnect structure. The method is useful for the fabrication of VLSI circuits, particularly for wafer-scale integration.

Planarization of metal films for multilevel interconnects

DOEpatents

Tuckerman, D.B.

1985-08-23

In the fabrication of multilevel integrated circuits, each metal layer is planarized by heating to momentarily melt the layer. The layer is melted by sweeping laser pulses of suitable width, typically about 1 microsecond duration, over the layer in small increments. The planarization of each metal layer eliminates irregular and discontinuous conditions between successive layers. The planarization method is particularly applicable to circuits having ground or power planes and allows for multilevel interconnects. Dielectric layers can also be planarized to produce a fully planar multilevel interconnect structure. The method is useful for the fabrication of VLSI circuits, particularly for wafer-scale integration.

Planarization of metal films for multilevel interconnects

DOEpatents

Tuckerman, D.B.

1989-03-21

In the fabrication of multilevel integrated circuits, each metal layer is planarized by heating to momentarily melt the layer. The layer is melted by sweeping laser pulses of suitable width, typically about 1 microsecond duration, over the layer in small increments. The planarization of each metal layer eliminates irregular and discontinuous conditions between successive layers. The planarization method is particularly applicable to circuits having ground or power planes and allows for multilevel interconnects. Dielectric layers can also be planarized to produce a fully planar multilevel interconnect structure. The method is useful for the fabrication of VLSI circuits, particularly for wafer-scale integration. 6 figs.

A spatially filtered multilevel model to account for spatial dependency: application to self-rated health status in South Korea

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background This study aims to suggest an approach that integrates multilevel models and eigenvector spatial filtering methods and apply it to a case study of self-rated health status in South Korea. In many previous health-related studies, multilevel models and single-level spatial regression are used separately. However, the two methods should be used in conjunction because the objectives of both approaches are important in health-related analyses. The multilevel model enables the simultaneous analysis of both individual and neighborhood factors influencing health outcomes. However, the results of conventional multilevel models are potentially misleading when spatial dependency across neighborhoods exists. Spatial dependency in health-related data indicates that health outcomes in nearby neighborhoods are more similar to each other than those in distant neighborhoods. Spatial regression models can address this problem by modeling spatial dependency. This study explores the possibility of integrating a multilevel model and eigenvector spatial filtering, an advanced spatial regression for addressing spatial dependency in datasets. Methods In this spatially filtered multilevel model, eigenvectors function as additional explanatory variables accounting for unexplained spatial dependency within the neighborhood-level error. The specification addresses the inability of conventional multilevel models to account for spatial dependency, and thereby, generates more robust outputs. Results The findings show that sex, employment status, monthly household income, and perceived levels of stress are significantly associated with self-rated health status. Residents living in neighborhoods with low deprivation and a high doctor-to-resident ratio tend to report higher health status. The spatially filtered multilevel model provides unbiased estimations and improves the explanatory power of the model compared to conventional multilevel models although there are no changes in the signs of parameters and the significance levels between the two models in this case study. Conclusions The integrated approach proposed in this paper is a useful tool for understanding the geographical distribution of self-rated health status within a multilevel framework. In future research, it would be useful to apply the spatially filtered multilevel model to other datasets in order to clarify the differences between the two models. It is anticipated that this integrated method will also out-perform conventional models when it is used in other contexts. PMID:24571639

A Multi-level Fuzzy Evaluation Method for Smart Distribution Network Based on Entropy Weight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jianfang; Song, Xiaohui; Gao, Fei; Zhang, Yu

2017-05-01

Smart distribution network is considered as the future trend of distribution network. In order to comprehensive evaluate smart distribution construction level and give guidance to the practice of smart distribution construction, a multi-level fuzzy evaluation method based on entropy weight is proposed. Firstly, focus on both the conventional characteristics of distribution network and new characteristics of smart distribution network such as self-healing and interaction, a multi-level evaluation index system which contains power supply capability, power quality, economy, reliability and interaction is established. Then, a combination weighting method based on Delphi method and entropy weight method is put forward, which take into account not only the importance of the evaluation index in the experts’ subjective view, but also the objective and different information from the index values. Thirdly, a multi-level evaluation method based on fuzzy theory is put forward. Lastly, an example is conducted based on the statistical data of some cites’ distribution network and the evaluation method is proved effective and rational.

Integrated structure/control law design by multilevel optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gilbert, Michael G.; Schmidt, David K.

1989-01-01

A new approach to integrated structure/control law design based on multilevel optimization is presented. This new approach is applicable to aircraft and spacecraft and allows for the independent design of the structure and control law. Integration of the designs is achieved through use of an upper level coordination problem formulation within the multilevel optimization framework. The method requires the use of structure and control law design sensitivity information. A general multilevel structure/control law design problem formulation is given, and the use of Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control law design and design sensitivity methods within the formulation is illustrated. Results of three simple integrated structure/control law design examples are presented. These results show the capability of structure and control law design tradeoffs to improve controlled system performance within the multilevel approach.

Multilevel algorithms for nonlinear optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alexandrov, Natalia; Dennis, J. E., Jr.

1994-01-01

Multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) gives rise to nonlinear optimization problems characterized by a large number of constraints that naturally occur in blocks. We propose a class of multilevel optimization methods motivated by the structure and number of constraints and by the expense of the derivative computations for MDO. The algorithms are an extension to the nonlinear programming problem of the successful class of local Brown-Brent algorithms for nonlinear equations. Our extensions allow the user to partition constraints into arbitrary blocks to fit the application, and they separately process each block and the objective function, restricted to certain subspaces. The methods use trust regions as a globalization strategy, and they have been shown to be globally convergent under reasonable assumptions. The multilevel algorithms can be applied to all classes of MDO formulations. Multilevel algorithms for solving nonlinear systems of equations are a special case of the multilevel optimization methods. In this case, they can be viewed as a trust-region globalization of the Brown-Brent class.

Planarization of metal films for multilevel interconnects by pulsed laser heating

DOEpatents

Tuckerman, David B.

1987-01-01

In the fabrication of multilevel integrated circuits, each metal layer is planarized by heating to momentarily melt the layer. The layer is melted by sweeping laser pulses of suitable width, typically about 1 microsecond duration, over the layer in small increments. The planarization of each metal layer eliminates irregular and discontinuous conditions between successive layers. The planarization method is particularly applicable to circuits having ground or power planes and allows for multilevel interconnects. Dielectric layers can also be planarized to produce a fully planar multilevel interconnect structure. The method is useful for the fabrication of VLSI circuits, particularly for wafer-scale integration.

Integrated logic circuits using single-atom transistors

PubMed Central

Mol, J. A.; Verduijn, J.; Levine, R. D.; Remacle, F.

2011-01-01

Scaling down the size of computing circuits is about to reach the limitations imposed by the discrete atomic structure of matter. Reducing the power requirements and thereby dissipation of integrated circuits is also essential. New paradigms are needed to sustain the rate of progress that society has become used to. Single-atom transistors, SATs, cascaded in a circuit are proposed as a promising route that is compatible with existing technology. We demonstrate the use of quantum degrees of freedom to perform logic operations in a complementary-metal–oxide–semiconductor device. Each SAT performs multilevel logic by electrically addressing the electronic states of a dopant atom. A single electron transistor decodes the physical multivalued output into the conventional binary output. A robust scalable circuit of two concatenated full adders is reported, where by utilizing charge and quantum degrees of freedom, the functionality of the transistor is pushed far beyond that of a simple switch. PMID:21808050

A multilevel control system for the large space telescope. [numerical analysis/optimal control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Siljak, D. D.; Sundareshan, S. K.; Vukcevic, M. B.

1975-01-01

A multilevel scheme was proposed for control of Large Space Telescope (LST) modeled by a three-axis-six-order nonlinear equation. Local controllers were used on the subsystem level to stabilize motions corresponding to the three axes. Global controllers were applied to reduce (and sometimes nullify) the interactions among the subsystems. A multilevel optimization method was developed whereby local quadratic optimizations were performed on the subsystem level, and global control was again used to reduce (nullify) the effect of interactions. The multilevel stabilization and optimization methods are presented as general tools for design and then used in the design of the LST Control System. The methods are entirely computerized, so that they can accommodate higher order LST models with both conceptual and numerical advantages over standard straightforward design techniques.

Enhancement of resistive switching properties in Al2O3 bilayer-based atomic switches: multilevel resistive switching.

PubMed

Vishwanath, Sujaya Kumar; Woo, Hyunsuk; Jeon, Sanghun

2018-06-08

Atomic switches are considered to be building blocks for future non-volatile data storage and internet of things. However, obtaining device structures capable of ultrahigh density data storage, high endurance, and long data retention, and more importantly, understanding the switching mechanisms are still a challenge for atomic switches. Here, we achieved improved resistive switching performance in a bilayer structure containing aluminum oxide, with an oxygen-deficient oxide as the top switching layer and stoichiometric oxide as the bottom switching layer, using atomic layer deposition. This bilayer device showed a high on/off ratio (10 5 ) with better endurance (∼2000 cycles) and longer data retention (10 4 s) than single-oxide layers. In addition, depending on the compliance current, the bilayer device could be operated in four different resistance states. Furthermore, the depth profiles of the hourglass-shaped conductive filament of the bilayer device was observed by conductive atomic force microscopy.

Quantum Ensemble Classification: A Sampling-Based Learning Control Approach.

PubMed

Chen, Chunlin; Dong, Daoyi; Qi, Bo; Petersen, Ian R; Rabitz, Herschel

2017-06-01

Quantum ensemble classification (QEC) has significant applications in discrimination of atoms (or molecules), separation of isotopes, and quantum information extraction. However, quantum mechanics forbids deterministic discrimination among nonorthogonal states. The classification of inhomogeneous quantum ensembles is very challenging, since there exist variations in the parameters characterizing the members within different classes. In this paper, we recast QEC as a supervised quantum learning problem. A systematic classification methodology is presented by using a sampling-based learning control (SLC) approach for quantum discrimination. The classification task is accomplished via simultaneously steering members belonging to different classes to their corresponding target states (e.g., mutually orthogonal states). First, a new discrimination method is proposed for two similar quantum systems. Then, an SLC method is presented for QEC. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for the binary classification of two-level quantum ensembles and the multiclass classification of multilevel quantum ensembles.

Use of Computer-Generated Holograms in Security Hologram Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bulanovs, A.; Bakanas, R.

2016-10-01

The article discusses the use of computer-generated holograms (CGHs) for the application as one of the security features in the relief-phase protective holograms. An improved method of calculating CGHs is presented, based on ray-tracing approach in the case of interference of parallel rays. Software is developed for the calculation of multilevel phase CGHs and their integration in the application of security holograms. Topology of calculated computer-generated phase holograms was recorded on the photoresist by the optical greyscale lithography. Parameters of the recorded microstructures were investigated with the help of the atomic-force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods. The results of the research have shown highly protective properties of the security elements based on CGH microstructures. In our opinion, a wide use of CGHs is very promising in the structure of complex security holograms for increasing the level of protection against counterfeit.

Predicting multi-level drug response with gene expression profile in multiple myeloma using hierarchical ordinal regression.

PubMed

Zhang, Xinyan; Li, Bingzong; Han, Huiying; Song, Sha; Xu, Hongxia; Hong, Yating; Yi, Nengjun; Zhuang, Wenzhuo

2018-05-10

Multiple myeloma (MM), like other cancers, is caused by the accumulation of genetic abnormalities. Heterogeneity exists in the patients' response to treatments, for example, bortezomib. This urges efforts to identify biomarkers from numerous molecular features and build predictive models for identifying patients that can benefit from a certain treatment scheme. However, previous studies treated the multi-level ordinal drug response as a binary response where only responsive and non-responsive groups are considered. It is desirable to directly analyze the multi-level drug response, rather than combining the response to two groups. In this study, we present a novel method to identify significantly associated biomarkers and then develop ordinal genomic classifier using the hierarchical ordinal logistic model. The proposed hierarchical ordinal logistic model employs the heavy-tailed Cauchy prior on the coefficients and is fitted by an efficient quasi-Newton algorithm. We apply our hierarchical ordinal regression approach to analyze two publicly available datasets for MM with five-level drug response and numerous gene expression measures. Our results show that our method is able to identify genes associated with the multi-level drug response and to generate powerful predictive models for predicting the multi-level response. The proposed method allows us to jointly fit numerous correlated predictors and thus build efficient models for predicting the multi-level drug response. The predictive model for the multi-level drug response can be more informative than the previous approaches. Thus, the proposed approach provides a powerful tool for predicting multi-level drug response and has important impact on cancer studies.

Optical Pattern Formation in Cold Atoms: Explaining the Red-Blue Asymmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmittberger, Bonnie; Gauthier, Daniel

2013-05-01

The study of pattern formation in atomic systems has provided new insight into fundamental many-body physics and low-light-level nonlinear optics. Pattern formation in cold atoms in particular is of great interest in condensed matter physics and quantum information science because atoms undergo self-organization at ultralow input powers. We recently reported the first observation of pattern formation in cold atoms but found that our results were not accurately described by any existing theoretical model of pattern formation. Previous models describing pattern formation in cold atoms predict that pattern formation should occur using both red and blue-detuned pump beams, favoring a lower threshold for blue detunings. This disagrees with our recent work, in which we only observed pattern formation with red-detuned pump beams. Previous models also assume a two-level atom, which cannot account for the cooling processes that arise when beams counterpropagate through a cold atomic vapor. We describe a new model for pattern formation that accounts for Sisyphus cooling in multi-level atoms, which gives rise to a new nonlinearity via spatial organization of the atoms. This spatial organization causes a sharp red-blue detuning asymmetry, which agrees well with our experimental observations. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the NSF through Grant #PHY-1206040.

Multilevel Mixture Kalman Filter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Dong; Wang, Xiaodong; Chen, Rong

2004-12-01

The mixture Kalman filter is a general sequential Monte Carlo technique for conditional linear dynamic systems. It generates samples of some indicator variables recursively based on sequential importance sampling (SIS) and integrates out the linear and Gaussian state variables conditioned on these indicators. Due to the marginalization process, the complexity of the mixture Kalman filter is quite high if the dimension of the indicator sampling space is high. In this paper, we address this difficulty by developing a new Monte Carlo sampling scheme, namely, the multilevel mixture Kalman filter. The basic idea is to make use of the multilevel or hierarchical structure of the space from which the indicator variables take values. That is, we draw samples in a multilevel fashion, beginning with sampling from the highest-level sampling space and then draw samples from the associate subspace of the newly drawn samples in a lower-level sampling space, until reaching the desired sampling space. Such a multilevel sampling scheme can be used in conjunction with the delayed estimation method, such as the delayed-sample method, resulting in delayed multilevel mixture Kalman filter. Examples in wireless communication, specifically the coherent and noncoherent 16-QAM over flat-fading channels, are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed multilevel mixture Kalman filter.

Multilevel Green's function interpolation method for scattering from composite metallic and dielectric objects.

PubMed

Shi, Yan; Wang, Hao Gang; Li, Long; Chan, Chi Hou

2008-10-01

A multilevel Green's function interpolation method based on two kinds of multilevel partitioning schemes--the quasi-2D and the hybrid partitioning scheme--is proposed for analyzing electromagnetic scattering from objects comprising both conducting and dielectric parts. The problem is formulated using the surface integral equation for homogeneous dielectric and conducting bodies. A quasi-2D multilevel partitioning scheme is devised to improve the efficiency of the Green's function interpolation. In contrast to previous multilevel partitioning schemes, noncubic groups are introduced to discretize the whole EM structure in this quasi-2D multilevel partitioning scheme. Based on the detailed analysis of the dimension of the group in this partitioning scheme, a hybrid quasi-2D/3D multilevel partitioning scheme is proposed to effectively handle objects with fine local structures. Selection criteria for some key parameters relating to the interpolation technique are given. The proposed algorithm is ideal for the solution of problems involving objects such as missiles, microstrip antenna arrays, photonic bandgap structures, etc. Numerical examples are presented to show that CPU time is between O(N) and O(N log N) while the computer memory requirement is O(N).

Only the chemical state of Indium changes in Mn-doped In3Sb1Te2 (Mn: 10 at.%) during multi-level resistance changes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Y. M.; Ahn, D.; Kim, J.-Y.; Kim, Y. S.; Cho, S.; Ahn, M.; Cho, M.-H.; Jung, M. S.; Choi, D. K.; Jung, M.-C.; Qi, Y. B.

2014-04-01

We fabricated and characterized the material with Mn (10 at.%: atomic percent) doped In3Sb1Te2 (MIST) using co-sputtering and synchrotron radiation, respectively. The MIST thin film showed phase-changes at 97 and 320°C, with sheet resistances of ~10 kΩsq (amorphous), ~0.2 kΩsq (first phase-change), and ~10 Ωsq (second phase-change). MIST did not exhibit any chemical separation or increased structural instability during either phase-change, as determined with high-resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Chemical state changes were only depended for In without concomitant changes of Sb and Te. Apparently, doped Mn atoms can be induced with movement of only In atoms.

Variable-speed wind power system with improved energy capture via multilevel conversion

DOEpatents

Erickson, Robert W.; Al-Naseem, Osama A.; Fingersh, Lee Jay

2005-05-31

A system and method for efficiently capturing electrical energy from a variable-speed generator are disclosed. The system includes a matrix converter using full-bridge, multilevel switch cells, in which semiconductor devices are clamped to a known constant DC voltage of a capacitor. The multilevel matrix converter is capable of generating multilevel voltage wave waveform of arbitrary magnitude and frequencies. The matrix converter can be controlled by using space vector modulation.

Transient Evolutional Dynamics of Quantum-Dot Molecular Phase Coherence for Sensitive Optical Switching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Jian Qi; Gu, Jing

2018-04-01

Atomic phase coherence (quantum interference) in a multilevel atomic gas exhibits a number of interesting phenomena. Such an atomic quantum coherence effect can be generalized to a quantum-dot molecular dielectric. Two quantum dots form a quantum-dot molecule, which can be described by a three-level Λ-configuration model { |0> ,|1> ,|2> } , i.e., the ground state of the molecule is the lower level |0> and the highly degenerate electronic states in the two quantum dots are the two upper levels |1> ,|2> . The electromagnetic characteristics due to the |0>-|1> transition can be controllably manipulated by a tunable gate voltage (control field) that drives the |2>-|1> transition. When the gate voltage is switched on, the quantum-dot molecular state can evolve from one steady state (i.e., |0>-|1> two-level dressed state) to another steady state (i.e., three-level coherent-population-trapping state). In this process, the electromagnetic characteristics of a quantum-dot molecular dielectric, which is modified by the gate voltage, will also evolve. In this study, the transient evolutional behavior of the susceptibility of a quantum-dot molecular thin film and its reflection spectrum are treated by using the density matrix formulation of the multilevel systems. The present field-tunable and frequency-sensitive electromagnetic characteristics of a quantum-dot molecular thin film, which are sensitive to the applied gate voltage, can be utilized to design optical switching devices.

Modeling of BN Lifetime Prediction of a System Based on Integrated Multi-Level Information

PubMed Central

Wang, Xiaohong; Wang, Lizhi

2017-01-01

Predicting system lifetime is important to ensure safe and reliable operation of products, which requires integrated modeling based on multi-level, multi-sensor information. However, lifetime characteristics of equipment in a system are different and failure mechanisms are inter-coupled, which leads to complex logical correlations and the lack of a uniform lifetime measure. Based on a Bayesian network (BN), a lifetime prediction method for systems that combine multi-level sensor information is proposed. The method considers the correlation between accidental failures and degradation failure mechanisms, and achieves system modeling and lifetime prediction under complex logic correlations. This method is applied in the lifetime prediction of a multi-level solar-powered unmanned system, and the predicted results can provide guidance for the improvement of system reliability and for the maintenance and protection of the system. PMID:28926930

Modeling of BN Lifetime Prediction of a System Based on Integrated Multi-Level Information.

PubMed

Wang, Jingbin; Wang, Xiaohong; Wang, Lizhi

2017-09-15

Predicting system lifetime is important to ensure safe and reliable operation of products, which requires integrated modeling based on multi-level, multi-sensor information. However, lifetime characteristics of equipment in a system are different and failure mechanisms are inter-coupled, which leads to complex logical correlations and the lack of a uniform lifetime measure. Based on a Bayesian network (BN), a lifetime prediction method for systems that combine multi-level sensor information is proposed. The method considers the correlation between accidental failures and degradation failure mechanisms, and achieves system modeling and lifetime prediction under complex logic correlations. This method is applied in the lifetime prediction of a multi-level solar-powered unmanned system, and the predicted results can provide guidance for the improvement of system reliability and for the maintenance and protection of the system.

Multilevel summation method for electrostatic force evaluation.

PubMed

Hardy, David J; Wu, Zhe; Phillips, James C; Stone, John E; Skeel, Robert D; Schulten, Klaus

2015-02-10

The multilevel summation method (MSM) offers an efficient algorithm utilizing convolution for evaluating long-range forces arising in molecular dynamics simulations. Shifting the balance of computation and communication, MSM provides key advantages over the ubiquitous particle–mesh Ewald (PME) method, offering better scaling on parallel computers and permitting more modeling flexibility, with support for periodic systems as does PME but also for semiperiodic and nonperiodic systems. The version of MSM available in the simulation program NAMD is described, and its performance and accuracy are compared with the PME method. The accuracy feasible for MSM in practical applications reproduces PME results for water property calculations of density, diffusion constant, dielectric constant, surface tension, radial distribution function, and distance-dependent Kirkwood factor, even though the numerical accuracy of PME is higher than that of MSM. Excellent agreement between MSM and PME is found also for interface potentials of air–water and membrane–water interfaces, where long-range Coulombic interactions are crucial. Applications demonstrate also the suitability of MSM for systems with semiperiodic and nonperiodic boundaries. For this purpose, simulations have been performed with periodic boundaries along directions parallel to a membrane surface but not along the surface normal, yielding membrane pore formation induced by an imbalance of charge across the membrane. Using a similar semiperiodic boundary condition, ion conduction through a graphene nanopore driven by an ion gradient has been simulated. Furthermore, proteins have been simulated inside a single spherical water droplet. Finally, parallel scalability results show the ability of MSM to outperform PME when scaling a system of modest size (less than 100 K atoms) to over a thousand processors, demonstrating the suitability of MSM for large-scale parallel simulation.

Performance of WCN diffusion barrier for Cu multilevel interconnects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Seung Yeon; Ju, Byeong-Kwon; Kim, Yong Tae

2018-04-01

The electrical and thermal properties of a WCN diffusion barrier have been studied for Cu multilevel interconnects. The WCN has been prepared using an atomic layer deposition system with WF6-CH4-NH3-H2 gases and has a very low resistivity of 100 µΩ cm and 96.9% step coverage on the high-aspect-ratio vias. The thermally stable WCN maintains an amorphous state at 800 °C and Cu/WCN contact resistance remains within a 10% deviation from the initial value after 700 °C. The mean time to failure suggests that the Cu/WCN interconnects have a longer lifetime than Cu/TaN and Cu/WN interconnects because WCN prevents Cu migration owing to the stress evolution from tensile to compressive.

Formation of a Spin Texture in a Quantum Gas Coupled to a Cavity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landini, M.; Dogra, N.; Kroeger, K.; Hruby, L.; Donner, T.; Esslinger, T.

2018-06-01

We observe cavity mediated spin-dependent interactions in an off-resonantly driven multilevel atomic Bose-Einstein condensate that is strongly coupled to an optical cavity. Applying a driving field with adjustable polarization, we identify the roles of the scalar and the vectorial components of the atomic polarizability tensor for single and multicomponent condensates. Beyond a critical strength of the vectorial coupling, we infer the formation of a spin texture in a condensate of two internal states from the analysis of the cavity output field. Our work provides perspectives for global dynamical gauge fields and self-consistently spin-orbit coupled gases.

Spatial intensity distribution of controlled-NOT gate carrying orbital angular momentum via photonic band gap structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yan; Wang, Xiaorui; Zhe Zhang, Yun

2018-07-01

By employing the different topological charges of a Laguerre–Gaussian beam as a qubit, we experimentally demonstrate a controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate with light beams carrying orbital angular momentum via a photonic band gap structure in a hot atomic ensemble. Through a degenerate four-wave mixing process, the spatial distribution of the CNOT gate including splitting and spatial shift can be affected by the Kerr nonlinear effect in multilevel atomic systems. Moreover, the intensity variations of the CNOT gate can be controlled by the relative phase modulation. This research can be useful for applications in quantum information processing.

Zero-field dichroism in the solar chromosphere.

PubMed

Sainz, R Manso; Bueno, J Trujillo

2003-09-12

We explain the linear polarization of the Ca ii infrared triplet observed close to the edge of the solar disk. In particular, we demonstrate that the physical origin of the enigmatic polarizations of the 866.2 and 854.2 nm lines lies in the existence of atomic polarization in their metastable (2)D(3)(/2, 5/2) lower levels, which produces differential absorption of polarization components (dichroism). To this end, we have solved the problem of the generation and transfer of polarized radiation by taking fully into account all the relevant optical pumping mechanisms in multilevel atomic models. We argue that "zero-field" dichroism may be of great diagnostic value in astrophysics.

Validation of Multilevel Constructs: Validation Methods and Empirical Findings for the EDI

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forer, Barry; Zumbo, Bruno D.

2011-01-01

The purposes of this paper are to highlight the foundations of multilevel construct validation, describe two methodological approaches and associated analytic techniques, and then apply these approaches and techniques to the multilevel construct validation of a widely-used school readiness measure called the Early Development Instrument (EDI;…

The Impact of Sample Size and Other Factors When Estimating Multilevel Logistic Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schoeneberger, Jason A.

2016-01-01

The design of research studies utilizing binary multilevel models must necessarily incorporate knowledge of multiple factors, including estimation method, variance component size, or number of predictors, in addition to sample sizes. This Monte Carlo study examined the performance of random effect binary outcome multilevel models under varying…

A General Multilevel SEM Framework for Assessing Multilevel Mediation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preacher, Kristopher J.; Zyphur, Michael J.; Zhang, Zhen

2010-01-01

Several methods for testing mediation hypotheses with 2-level nested data have been proposed by researchers using a multilevel modeling (MLM) paradigm. However, these MLM approaches do not accommodate mediation pathways with Level-2 outcomes and may produce conflated estimates of between- and within-level components of indirect effects. Moreover,…

Comparing methods of analysing datasets with small clusters: case studies using four paediatric datasets.

PubMed

Marston, Louise; Peacock, Janet L; Yu, Keming; Brocklehurst, Peter; Calvert, Sandra A; Greenough, Anne; Marlow, Neil

2009-07-01

Studies of prematurely born infants contain a relatively large percentage of multiple births, so the resulting data have a hierarchical structure with small clusters of size 1, 2 or 3. Ignoring the clustering may lead to incorrect inferences. The aim of this study was to compare statistical methods which can be used to analyse such data: generalised estimating equations, multilevel models, multiple linear regression and logistic regression. Four datasets which differed in total size and in percentage of multiple births (n = 254, multiple 18%; n = 176, multiple 9%; n = 10 098, multiple 3%; n = 1585, multiple 8%) were analysed. With the continuous outcome, two-level models produced similar results in the larger dataset, while generalised least squares multilevel modelling (ML GLS 'xtreg' in Stata) and maximum likelihood multilevel modelling (ML MLE 'xtmixed' in Stata) produced divergent estimates using the smaller dataset. For the dichotomous outcome, most methods, except generalised least squares multilevel modelling (ML GH 'xtlogit' in Stata) gave similar odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals within datasets. For the continuous outcome, our results suggest using multilevel modelling. We conclude that generalised least squares multilevel modelling (ML GLS 'xtreg' in Stata) and maximum likelihood multilevel modelling (ML MLE 'xtmixed' in Stata) should be used with caution when the dataset is small. Where the outcome is dichotomous and there is a relatively large percentage of non-independent data, it is recommended that these are accounted for in analyses using logistic regression with adjusted standard errors or multilevel modelling. If, however, the dataset has a small percentage of clusters greater than size 1 (e.g. a population dataset of children where there are few multiples) there appears to be less need to adjust for clustering.

Prediction of reacting atoms for the major biotransformation reactions of organic xenobiotics.

PubMed

Rudik, Anastasia V; Dmitriev, Alexander V; Lagunin, Alexey A; Filimonov, Dmitry A; Poroikov, Vladimir V

2016-01-01

The knowledge of drug metabolite structures is essential at the early stage of drug discovery to understand the potential liabilities and risks connected with biotransformation. The determination of the site of a molecule at which a particular metabolic reaction occurs could be used as a starting point for metabolite identification. The prediction of the site of metabolism does not always correspond to the particular atom that is modified by the enzyme but rather is often associated with a group of atoms. To overcome this problem, we propose to operate with the term "reacting atom", corresponding to a single atom in the substrate that is modified during the biotransformation reaction. The prediction of the reacting atom(s) in a molecule for the major classes of biotransformation reactions is necessary to generate drug metabolites. Substrates of the major human cytochromes P450 and UDP-glucuronosyltransferases from the Biovia Metabolite database were divided into nine groups according to their reaction classes, which are aliphatic and aromatic hydroxylation, N- and O-glucuronidation, N-, S- and C-oxidation, and N- and O-dealkylation. Each training set consists of positive and negative examples of structures with one labelled atom. In the positive examples, the labelled atom is the reacting atom of a particular reaction that changed adjacency. Negative examples represent non-reacting atoms of a particular reaction. We used Labelled Multilevel Neighbourhoods of Atoms descriptors for the designation of reacting atoms. A Bayesian-like algorithm was applied to estimate the structure-activity relationships. The average invariant accuracy of prediction obtained in leave-one-out and 20-fold cross-validation procedures for five human isoforms of cytochrome P450 and all isoforms of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase varies from 0.86 to 0.99 (0.96 on average). We report that reacting atoms may be predicted with reasonable accuracy for the major classes of metabolic reactions-aliphatic and aromatic hydroxylation, N- and O-glucuronidation, N-, S- and C-oxidation, and N- and O-dealkylation. The proposed method is implemented as a freely available web service at http://www.way2drug.com/RA and may be used for the prediction of the most probable biotransformation reaction(s) and the appropriate reacting atoms in drug-like compounds.Graphical abstract.

Study of atomic coherence effects in multi-level V+Ξ system involving Rydberg state

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaur, Amanjot; Singh, Neeraj; Kaur, Paramjit

2018-06-01

We present theoretical model to investigate the influence of hyperfine levels on the atomic coherences of V+Ξ Rydberg system. Using density matrix formulation, an analytical expression of atomic coherence for weak probe field is derived. The closely spaced hyperfine levels cause asymmetry and red shift while wavelength mismatching induced due to Rydberg state leads to reduction in magnitude and broadening of group index, absorption and dispersion profiles for moving atoms. Our system shows both Rydberg Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) with subluminal behavior and Rydberg Electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) with superluminal propagation by adjusting the strengths of control and switching fields. Variation of group index with probe detuning reveals anomalous dispersion regions at Autler-Townes doublet positions. Group index for Doppler-broadened atoms at resonance condition has lower magnitude as compared to the stationary atoms and hence the group delay time of the pulse is also reduced. We also explore in-depth non-degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) which is ignited due to the presence of three electromagnetic (e.m.) fields and concurrently, establish relationship between FWM and multi-photon atomic coherence. The transient behavior is also studied for practical realization of our considered system as optical switch.

On the Multilevel Solution Algorithm for Markov Chains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horton, Graham

1997-01-01

We discuss the recently introduced multilevel algorithm for the steady-state solution of Markov chains. The method is based on an aggregation principle which is well established in the literature and features a multiplicative coarse-level correction. Recursive application of the aggregation principle, which uses an operator-dependent coarsening, yields a multi-level method which has been shown experimentally to give results significantly faster than the typical methods currently in use. When cast as a multigrid-like method, the algorithm is seen to be a Galerkin-Full Approximation Scheme with a solution-dependent prolongation operator. Special properties of this prolongation lead to the cancellation of the computationally intensive terms of the coarse-level equations.

Representation of the quantum Fourier transform on multilevel basic elements by a sequence of selective rotation operators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ermilov, A. S.; Zobov, V. E.

2007-12-01

To experimentally realize quantum computations on d-level basic elements (qudits) at d > 2, it is necessary to develop schemes for the technical realization of elementary logical operators. We have found sequences of selective rotation operators that represent the operators of the quantum Fourier transform (Walsh-Hadamard matrices) for d = 3-10. For the prime numbers 3, 5, and 7, the well-known method of linear algebra is applied, whereas, for the factorable numbers 6, 9, and 10, the representation of virtual spins is used (which we previously applied for d = 4, 8). Selective rotations can be realized, for example, by means of pulses of an RF magnetic field for systems of quadrupole nuclei or laser pulses for atoms and ions in traps.

Multi-level tree analysis of pulmonary artery/vein trees in non-contrast CT images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Zhiyun; Grout, Randall W.; Hoffman, Eric A.; Saha, Punam K.

2012-02-01

Diseases like pulmonary embolism and pulmonary hypertension are associated with vascular dystrophy. Identifying such pulmonary artery/vein (A/V) tree dystrophy in terms of quantitative measures via CT imaging significantly facilitates early detection of disease or a treatment monitoring process. A tree structure, consisting of nodes and connected arcs, linked to the volumetric representation allows multi-level geometric and volumetric analysis of A/V trees. Here, a new theory and method is presented to generate multi-level A/V tree representation of volumetric data and to compute quantitative measures of A/V tree geometry and topology at various tree hierarchies. The new method is primarily designed on arc skeleton computation followed by a tree construction based topologic and geometric analysis of the skeleton. The method starts with a volumetric A/V representation as input and generates its topologic and multi-level volumetric tree representations long with different multi-level morphometric measures. A new recursive merging and pruning algorithms are introduced to detect bad junctions and noisy branches often associated with digital geometric and topologic analysis. Also, a new notion of shortest axial path is introduced to improve the skeletal arc joining two junctions. The accuracy of the multi-level tree analysis algorithm has been evaluated using computer generated phantoms and pulmonary CT images of a pig vessel cast phantom while the reproducibility of method is evaluated using multi-user A/V separation of in vivo contrast-enhanced CT images of a pig lung at different respiratory volumes.

A multilevel correction adaptive finite element method for Kohn-Sham equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Guanghui; Xie, Hehu; Xu, Fei

2018-02-01

In this paper, an adaptive finite element method is proposed for solving Kohn-Sham equation with the multilevel correction technique. In the method, the Kohn-Sham equation is solved on a fixed and appropriately coarse mesh with the finite element method in which the finite element space is kept improving by solving the derived boundary value problems on a series of adaptively and successively refined meshes. A main feature of the method is that solving large scale Kohn-Sham system is avoided effectively, and solving the derived boundary value problems can be handled efficiently by classical methods such as the multigrid method. Hence, the significant acceleration can be obtained on solving Kohn-Sham equation with the proposed multilevel correction technique. The performance of the method is examined by a variety of numerical experiments.

Multi-level trellis coded modulation and multi-stage decoding

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.; Wu, Jiantian; Lin, Shu

1990-01-01

Several constructions for multi-level trellis codes are presented and many codes with better performance than previously known codes are found. These codes provide a flexible trade-off between coding gain, decoding complexity, and decoding delay. New multi-level trellis coded modulation schemes using generalized set partitioning methods are developed for Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and Phase Shift Keying (PSK) signal sets. New rotationally invariant multi-level trellis codes which can be combined with differential encoding to resolve phase ambiguity are presented.

Optical image encryption using QR code and multilevel fingerprints in gyrator transform domains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Yang; Yan, Aimin; Dong, Jiabin; Hu, Zhijuan; Zhang, Jingtao

2017-11-01

A new concept of GT encryption scheme is proposed in this paper. We present a novel optical image encryption method by using quick response (QR) code and multilevel fingerprint keys in gyrator transform (GT) domains. In this method, an original image is firstly transformed into a QR code, which is placed in the input plane of cascaded GTs. Subsequently, the QR code is encrypted into the cipher-text by using multilevel fingerprint keys. The original image can be obtained easily by reading the high-quality retrieved QR code with hand-held devices. The main parameters used as private keys are GTs' rotation angles and multilevel fingerprints. Biometrics and cryptography are integrated with each other to improve data security. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the validity and feasibility of the proposed encryption scheme. In the future, the method of applying QR codes and fingerprints in GT domains possesses much potential for information security.

Multi-level bandwidth efficient block modulation codes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Shu

1989-01-01

The multilevel technique is investigated for combining block coding and modulation. There are four parts. In the first part, a formulation is presented for signal sets on which modulation codes are to be constructed. Distance measures on a signal set are defined and their properties are developed. In the second part, a general formulation is presented for multilevel modulation codes in terms of component codes with appropriate Euclidean distances. The distance properties, Euclidean weight distribution and linear structure of multilevel modulation codes are investigated. In the third part, several specific methods for constructing multilevel block modulation codes with interdependency among component codes are proposed. Given a multilevel block modulation code C with no interdependency among the binary component codes, the proposed methods give a multilevel block modulation code C which has the same rate as C, a minimum squared Euclidean distance not less than that of code C, a trellis diagram with the same number of states as that of C and a smaller number of nearest neighbor codewords than that of C. In the last part, error performance of block modulation codes is analyzed for an AWGN channel based on soft-decision maximum likelihood decoding. Error probabilities of some specific codes are evaluated based on their Euclidean weight distributions and simulation results.

Multilevel metallization method for fabricating a metal oxide semiconductor device

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hollis, B. R., Jr.; Feltner, W. R.; Bouldin, D. L.; Routh, D. E. (Inventor)

1978-01-01

An improved method is described of constructing a metal oxide semiconductor device having multiple layers of metal deposited by dc magnetron sputtering at low dc voltages and low substrate temperatures. The method provides multilevel interconnections and cross over between individual circuit elements in integrated circuits without significantly reducing the reliability or seriously affecting the yield.

Using Visual Analysis to Evaluate and Refine Multilevel Models of Single-Case Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baek, Eun Kyeng; Petit-Bois, Merlande; Van den Noortgate, Wim; Beretvas, S. Natasha; Ferron, John M.

2016-01-01

In special education, multilevel models of single-case research have been used as a method of estimating treatment effects over time and across individuals. Although multilevel models can accurately summarize the effect, it is known that if the model is misspecified, inferences about the effects can be biased. Concern with the potential for model…

A multi-level solution algorithm for steady-state Markov chains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horton, Graham; Leutenegger, Scott T.

1993-01-01

A new iterative algorithm, the multi-level algorithm, for the numerical solution of steady state Markov chains is presented. The method utilizes a set of recursively coarsened representations of the original system to achieve accelerated convergence. It is motivated by multigrid methods, which are widely used for fast solution of partial differential equations. Initial results of numerical experiments are reported, showing significant reductions in computation time, often an order of magnitude or more, relative to the Gauss-Seidel and optimal SOR algorithms for a variety of test problems. The multi-level method is compared and contrasted with the iterative aggregation-disaggregation algorithm of Takahashi.

Electron impact polarization of atomic spectral lines. I - A general theoretical scheme

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fineschi, Silvano; Degl'innocenti, Egidio L.

1992-01-01

A suitable theoretical scheme able to describe, in a wide variety of astrophysical situations, the phenomenon of atomic line polarization by electron impact is developed. Starting from the general principles of quantum mechanics and assuming the Born approximation, the rate equations for the density matrix elements of a multilevel atomic system, interacting with a nonrelativistic electron beam having any kind of angular distribution, are derived in full generality. The resulting theory generalizes the previous ones by accounting for the collisional rates and the cross sections concerning both inelastic and superelastic collisions (in any geometrical situation), and, moreover, by taking into account the coherences among Zeeman sublevels split by a magnetic field. As an example of particular relevance, the general formulas derived in the first sections of the paper are subsequently particularized to the case of the electric dipole interaction.

GROUND WATER MONITORING AND SAMPLING: MULTI-LEVEL VERSUS TRADITIONAL METHODS WHATS WHAT?

EPA Science Inventory

After years of research and many publications, the question still remains: What is the best method to collect representative ground water samples from monitoring wells? Numerous systems and devices are currently available for obtaining both multi-level samples as well as traditi...

Covariate Selection for Multilevel Models with Missing Data

PubMed Central

Marino, Miguel; Buxton, Orfeu M.; Li, Yi

2017-01-01

Missing covariate data hampers variable selection in multilevel regression settings. Current variable selection techniques for multiply-imputed data commonly address missingness in the predictors through list-wise deletion and stepwise-selection methods which are problematic. Moreover, most variable selection methods are developed for independent linear regression models and do not accommodate multilevel mixed effects regression models with incomplete covariate data. We develop a novel methodology that is able to perform covariate selection across multiply-imputed data for multilevel random effects models when missing data is present. Specifically, we propose to stack the multiply-imputed data sets from a multiple imputation procedure and to apply a group variable selection procedure through group lasso regularization to assess the overall impact of each predictor on the outcome across the imputed data sets. Simulations confirm the advantageous performance of the proposed method compared with the competing methods. We applied the method to reanalyze the Healthy Directions-Small Business cancer prevention study, which evaluated a behavioral intervention program targeting multiple risk-related behaviors in a working-class, multi-ethnic population. PMID:28239457

Multi-Level Discourse Analysis in a Physics Teaching Methods Course from the Psychological Perspective of Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vieira, Rodrigo Drumond; Kelly, Gregory J.

2014-01-01

In this paper, we present and apply a multi-level method for discourse analysis in science classrooms. This method is based on the structure of human activity (activity, actions, and operations) and it was applied to study a pre-service physics teacher methods course. We argue that such an approach, based on a cultural psychological perspective,…

Direct handling of equality constraints in multilevel optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Renaud, John E.; Gabriele, Gary A.

1990-01-01

In recent years there have been several hierarchic multilevel optimization algorithms proposed and implemented in design studies. Equality constraints are often imposed between levels in these multilevel optimizations to maintain system and subsystem variable continuity. Equality constraints of this nature will be referred to as coupling equality constraints. In many implementation studies these coupling equality constraints have been handled indirectly. This indirect handling has been accomplished using the coupling equality constraints' explicit functional relations to eliminate design variables (generally at the subsystem level), with the resulting optimization taking place in a reduced design space. In one multilevel optimization study where the coupling equality constraints were handled directly, the researchers encountered numerical difficulties which prevented their multilevel optimization from reaching the same minimum found in conventional single level solutions. The researchers did not explain the exact nature of the numerical difficulties other than to associate them with the direct handling of the coupling equality constraints. The coupling equality constraints are handled directly, by employing the Generalized Reduced Gradient (GRG) method as the optimizer within a multilevel linear decomposition scheme based on the Sobieski hierarchic algorithm. Two engineering design examples are solved using this approach. The results show that the direct handling of coupling equality constraints in a multilevel optimization does not introduce any problems when the GRG method is employed as the internal optimizer. The optimums achieved are comparable to those achieved in single level solutions and in multilevel studies where the equality constraints have been handled indirectly.

The Integrated Multi-Level Bilingual Teaching of "Social Research Methods"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhu, Yanhan; Ye, Jian

2012-01-01

"Social Research Methods," as a methodology course, combines theories and practices closely. Based on the synergy theory, this paper tries to establish an integrated multi-level bilingual teaching mode. Starting from the transformation of teaching concepts, we should integrate interactions, experiences, and researches together and focus…

Atoms and Molecules Interacting with Light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Straten, Peter; Metcalf, Harold

2016-02-01

Part I. Atom-Light Interaction: 1. The classical physics pathway; Appendix 1.A. Damping force on an accelerating charge; Appendix 1.B. Hanle effect; Appendix 1.C. Optical tweezers; 2. Interaction of two-level atoms and light; Appendix 2.A. Pauli matrices for motion of the bloch vector; Appendix 2.B. The Ramsey method; Appendix 2.C. Echoes and interferometry; Appendix 2.D. Adiabatic rapid passage; Appendix 2.E Superposition and entanglement; 3. The atom-light interaction; Appendix 3.A. Proof of the oscillator strength theorem; Appendix 3.B. Electromagnetic fields; Appendix 3.C. The dipole approximation; Appendix 3.D. Time resolved fluorescence from multi-level atoms; 4. 'Forbidden' transitions; Appendix 4.A. Higher order approximations; 5. Spontaneous emission; Appendix 5.A. The quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator; Appendix 5.B. Field quantization; Appendix 5.C. Alternative theories to QED; 6. The density matrix; Appendix 6.A. The Liouville-von Neumann equation; Part II. Internal Structure: 7. The hydrogen atom; Appendix 7.A. Center-of-mass motion; Appendix 7.B. Coordinate systems; Appendix 7.C. Commuting operators; Appendix 7.D. Matrix elements of the radial wavefunctions; 8. Fine structure; Appendix 8.A. The Sommerfeld fine-structure constant; Appendix 8.B. Measurements of the fine structure 9. Effects of the nucleus; Appendix 9.A. Interacting magnetic dipoles; Appendix 9.B. Hyperfine structure for two spin =2 particles; Appendix 9.C. The hydrogen maser; 10. The alkali-metal atoms; Appendix 10.A. Quantum defects for the alkalis; Appendix 10.B. Numerov method; 11. Atoms in magnetic fields; Appendix 11.A. The ground state of atomic hydrogen; Appendix 11.B. Positronium; Appendix 11.C. The non-crossing theorem; Appendix 11.D. Passage through an anticrossing: Landau-Zener transitions; 12. Atoms in electric fields; 13. Rydberg atoms; 14. The helium atom; Appendix 14.A. Variational calculations; Appendix 14.B. Detail on the variational calculations of the ground state; 15. The periodic system of the elements; Appendix 15. A paramagnetism; Appendix 15.B. The color of gold; 16. Molecules; Appendix 16.A. Morse potential; 17. Binding in the hydrogen molecule; Appendix 17.A. Confocal elliptical coordinates; Appendix 17.B. One-electron two-center integrals; Appendix 17.C. Electron-electron interaction in molecular hydrogen; 18. Ultra-cold chemistry; Part III. Applications: 19. Optical forces and laser cooling; 20. Confinement of neutral atoms; 21. Bose-Einstein condensation; Appendix 21.A. Distribution functions; Appendix 21.B. Density of states; 22. Cold molecules; 23. Three level systems; Appendix 23.A. General Case for _1 , _2; 24. Fundamental physics; Part IV. Appendices: Appendix A. Notation and definitions; Appendix B. Units and notation; Appendix C. Angular momentum in quantum mechanics; Appendix D. Transition strengths; References; Index.

Weighted graph cuts without eigenvectors a multilevel approach.

PubMed

Dhillon, Inderjit S; Guan, Yuqiang; Kulis, Brian

2007-11-01

A variety of clustering algorithms have recently been proposed to handle data that is not linearly separable; spectral clustering and kernel k-means are two of the main methods. In this paper, we discuss an equivalence between the objective functions used in these seemingly different methods--in particular, a general weighted kernel k-means objective is mathematically equivalent to a weighted graph clustering objective. We exploit this equivalence to develop a fast, high-quality multilevel algorithm that directly optimizes various weighted graph clustering objectives, such as the popular ratio cut, normalized cut, and ratio association criteria. This eliminates the need for any eigenvector computation for graph clustering problems, which can be prohibitive for very large graphs. Previous multilevel graph partitioning methods, such as Metis, have suffered from the restriction of equal-sized clusters; our multilevel algorithm removes this restriction by using kernel k-means to optimize weighted graph cuts. Experimental results show that our multilevel algorithm outperforms a state-of-the-art spectral clustering algorithm in terms of speed, memory usage, and quality. We demonstrate that our algorithm is applicable to large-scale clustering tasks such as image segmentation, social network analysis and gene network analysis.

Physics of Spin-Polarized Media

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-06

below, and we will provide citations where more details can be found from papers we have published. Most of the work supported by this AFOSR grant has...important for imaging of space objects, and much of the early work on this important technology was done at the Starfire Optical Range at Kirtland Air... space , together with modern scientific computing software makes it practical to analyze the full, multilevel system of optically pumped atoms. Sections

Multilevel modelling: Beyond the basic applications.

PubMed

Wright, Daniel B; London, Kamala

2009-05-01

Over the last 30 years statistical algorithms have been developed to analyse datasets that have a hierarchical/multilevel structure. Particularly within developmental and educational psychology these techniques have become common where the sample has an obvious hierarchical structure, like pupils nested within a classroom. We describe two areas beyond the basic applications of multilevel modelling that are important to psychology: modelling the covariance structure in longitudinal designs and using generalized linear multilevel modelling as an alternative to methods from signal detection theory (SDT). Detailed code for all analyses is described using packages for the freeware R.

Multilevel structural equation models for assessing moderation within and across levels of analysis.

PubMed

Preacher, Kristopher J; Zhang, Zhen; Zyphur, Michael J

2016-06-01

Social scientists are increasingly interested in multilevel hypotheses, data, and statistical models as well as moderation or interactions among predictors. The result is a focus on hypotheses and tests of multilevel moderation within and across levels of analysis. Unfortunately, existing approaches to multilevel moderation have a variety of shortcomings, including conflated effects across levels of analysis and bias due to using observed cluster averages instead of latent variables (i.e., "random intercepts") to represent higher-level constructs. To overcome these problems and elucidate the nature of multilevel moderation effects, we introduce a multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) logic that clarifies the nature of the problems with existing practices and remedies them with latent variable interactions. This remedy uses random coefficients and/or latent moderated structural equations (LMS) for unbiased tests of multilevel moderation. We describe our approach and provide an example using the publicly available High School and Beyond data with Mplus syntax in Appendix. Our MSEM method eliminates problems of conflated multilevel effects and reduces bias in parameter estimates while offering a coherent framework for conceptualizing and testing multilevel moderation effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Translating multilevel theory into multilevel research: Challenges and opportunities for understanding the social determinants of psychiatric disorders

PubMed Central

Dunn, Erin C.; Masyn, Katherine E.; Yudron, Monica; Jones, Stephanie M.; Subramanian, S.V.

2014-01-01

The observation that features of the social environment, including family, school, and neighborhood characteristics, are associated with individual-level outcomes has spurred the development of dozens of multilevel or ecological theoretical frameworks in epidemiology, public health, psychology, and sociology, among other disciplines. Despite the widespread use of such theories in etiological, intervention, and policy studies, challenges remain in bridging multilevel theory and empirical research. This paper set out to synthesize these challenges and provide specific examples of methodological and analytical strategies researchers are using to gain a more nuanced understanding of the social determinants of psychiatric disorders, with a focus on children’s mental health. To accomplish this goal, we begin by describing multilevel theories, defining their core elements, and discussing what these theories suggest is needed in empirical work. In the second part, we outline the main challenges researchers face in translating multilevel theory into research. These challenges are presented for each stage of the research process. In the third section, we describe two methods being used as alternatives to traditional multilevel modeling techniques to better bridge multilevel theory and multilevel research. These are: (1) multilevel factor analysis and multilevel structural equation modeling; and (2) dynamic systems approaches. Through its review of multilevel theory, assessment of existing strategies, and examination of emerging methodologies, this paper offers a framework to evaluate and guide empirical studies on the social determinants of child psychiatric disorders as well as health across the lifecourse. PMID:24469555

Engineering applications of heuristic multilevel optimization methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barthelemy, Jean-Francois M.

1988-01-01

Some engineering applications of heuristic multilevel optimization methods are presented and the discussion focuses on the dependency matrix that indicates the relationship between problem functions and variables. Coordination of the subproblem optimizations is shown to be typically achieved through the use of exact or approximate sensitivity analysis. Areas for further development are identified.

Engineering applications of heuristic multilevel optimization methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barthelemy, Jean-Francois M.

1989-01-01

Some engineering applications of heuristic multilevel optimization methods are presented and the discussion focuses on the dependency matrix that indicates the relationship between problem functions and variables. Coordination of the subproblem optimizations is shown to be typically achieved through the use of exact or approximate sensitivity analysis. Areas for further development are identified.

Multilevel poisson regression modelling for determining factors of dengue fever cases in bandung

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arundina, Davila Rubianti; Tantular, Bertho; Pontoh, Resa Septiani

2017-03-01

Scralatina or Dengue Fever is a kind of fever caused by serotype virus which Flavivirus genus and be known as Dengue Virus. Dengue Fever caused by Aedes Aegipty Mosquito bites who infected by a dengue virus. The study was conducted in 151 villages in Bandung. Health Analysts believes that there are two factors that affect the dengue cases, Internal factor (individual) and external factor (environment). The data who used in this research is hierarchical data. The method is used for hierarchical data modelling is multilevel method. Which is, the level 1 is village and level 2 is sub-district. According exploration data analysis, the suitable Multilevel Method is Random Intercept Model. Penalized Quasi Likelihood (PQL) approach on multilevel Poisson is a proper analysis to determine factors that affecting dengue cases in the city of Bandung. Clean and Healthy Behavior factor from the village level have an effect on the number of cases of dengue fever in the city of Bandung. Factor from the sub-district level has no effect.

Multilevel Space-Time Aggregation for Bright Field Cell Microscopy Segmentation and Tracking

PubMed Central

Inglis, Tiffany; De Sterck, Hans; Sanders, Geoffrey; Djambazian, Haig; Sladek, Robert; Sundararajan, Saravanan; Hudson, Thomas J.

2010-01-01

A multilevel aggregation method is applied to the problem of segmenting live cell bright field microscope images. The method employed is a variant of the so-called “Segmentation by Weighted Aggregation” technique, which itself is based on Algebraic Multigrid methods. The variant of the method used is described in detail, and it is explained how it is tailored to the application at hand. In particular, a new scale-invariant “saliency measure” is proposed for deciding when aggregates of pixels constitute salient segments that should not be grouped further. It is shown how segmentation based on multilevel intensity similarity alone does not lead to satisfactory results for bright field cells. However, the addition of multilevel intensity variance (as a measure of texture) to the feature vector of each aggregate leads to correct cell segmentation. Preliminary results are presented for applying the multilevel aggregation algorithm in space time to temporal sequences of microscope images, with the goal of obtaining space-time segments (“object tunnels”) that track individual cells. The advantages and drawbacks of the space-time aggregation approach for segmentation and tracking of live cells in sequences of bright field microscope images are presented, along with a discussion on how this approach may be used in the future work as a building block in a complete and robust segmentation and tracking system. PMID:20467468

An efficient multilevel optimization method for engineering design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanderplaats, G. N.; Yang, Y. J.; Kim, D. S.

1988-01-01

An efficient multilevel deisgn optimization technique is presented. The proposed method is based on the concept of providing linearized information between the system level and subsystem level optimization tasks. The advantages of the method are that it does not require optimum sensitivities, nonlinear equality constraints are not needed, and the method is relatively easy to use. The disadvantage is that the coupling between subsystems is not dealt with in a precise mathematical manner.

Analyzing Multiple Outcomes in Clinical Research Using Multivariate Multilevel Models

PubMed Central

Baldwin, Scott A.; Imel, Zac E.; Braithwaite, Scott R.; Atkins, David C.

2014-01-01

Objective Multilevel models have become a standard data analysis approach in intervention research. Although the vast majority of intervention studies involve multiple outcome measures, few studies use multivariate analysis methods. The authors discuss multivariate extensions to the multilevel model that can be used by psychotherapy researchers. Method and Results Using simulated longitudinal treatment data, the authors show how multivariate models extend common univariate growth models and how the multivariate model can be used to examine multivariate hypotheses involving fixed effects (e.g., does the size of the treatment effect differ across outcomes?) and random effects (e.g., is change in one outcome related to change in the other?). An online supplemental appendix provides annotated computer code and simulated example data for implementing a multivariate model. Conclusions Multivariate multilevel models are flexible, powerful models that can enhance clinical research. PMID:24491071

Triggered generation of single guided photons from a single atom in a nanofiber cavity

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

Le Kien, Fam; Hakuta, K.

2011-04-15

We study the deterministic generation of single guided-mode photons from an atom in the vicinity of a nanofiber with two fiber-Bragg-grating (FBG) mirrors. The technique is based on a cavity-enhanced Raman scattering process involving an adiabatic passage. We take into account the scattering of the pump field from the fiber, the multilevel structure of the atom, and the surface-induced van der Waals potential in describing the photon generation process. We find that, due to the confinement of the cavity field in the transverse plane of the fiber and in the space between the FBG mirrors, the probability of the generationmore » of a single guided-mode photon can be close to unity even when the finesse of the nanofiber cavity is moderate. We show the possibilities of saturation and power broadening in the behavior of the number of photons emitted into the nanofiber.« less

Efficient Radiative Transfer for Dynamically Evolving Stratified Atmospheres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Judge, Philip G.

2017-12-01

We present a fast multi-level and multi-atom non-local thermodynamic equilibrium radiative transfer method for dynamically evolving stratified atmospheres, such as the solar atmosphere. The preconditioning method of Rybicki & Hummer (RH92) is adopted. But, pressed for the need of speed and stability, a “second-order escape probability” scheme is implemented within the framework of the RH92 method, in which frequency- and angle-integrals are carried out analytically. While minimizing the computational work needed, this comes at the expense of numerical accuracy. The iteration scheme is local, the formal solutions for the intensities are the only non-local component. At present the methods have been coded for vertical transport, applicable to atmospheres that are highly stratified. The probabilistic method seems adequately fast, stable, and sufficiently accurate for exploring dynamical interactions between the evolving MHD atmosphere and radiation using current computer hardware. Current 2D and 3D dynamics codes do not include this interaction as consistently as the current method does. The solutions generated may ultimately serve as initial conditions for dynamical calculations including full 3D radiative transfer. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Multilevel Atomicity - A New Correctness Criterion for Database Concurrency Control.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-09-01

Research Office Contract #DAAG29-79-C-0155, Office of Naval Research Contract #N00014.79-C-0873, and Advanced Research PRojecta Agecy of the Department...steps of V. Since the transactions need not be straight-line programs , but can branch in complicated ways. I am forced to describe separately the places...not know whether these specializations provide efficient implementations. This question is a topic for future study. The new programming language

Finite Volume Element (FVE) discretization and multilevel solution of the axisymmetric heat equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Litaker, Eric T.

1994-12-01

The axisymmetric heat equation, resulting from a point-source of heat applied to a metal block, is solved numerically; both iterative and multilevel solutions are computed in order to compare the two processes. The continuum problem is discretized in two stages: finite differences are used to discretize the time derivatives, resulting is a fully implicit backward time-stepping scheme, and the Finite Volume Element (FVE) method is used to discretize the spatial derivatives. The application of the FVE method to a problem in cylindrical coordinates is new, and results in stencils which are analyzed extensively. Several iteration schemes are considered, including both Jacobi and Gauss-Seidel; a thorough analysis of these schemes is done, using both the spectral radii of the iteration matrices and local mode analysis. Using this discretization, a Gauss-Seidel relaxation scheme is used to solve the heat equation iteratively. A multilevel solution process is then constructed, including the development of intergrid transfer and coarse grid operators. Local mode analysis is performed on the components of the amplification matrix, resulting in the two-level convergence factors for various combinations of the operators. A multilevel solution process is implemented by using multigrid V-cycles; the iterative and multilevel results are compared and discussed in detail. The computational savings resulting from the multilevel process are then discussed.

A new, double-inversion mechanism of the F- + CH3Cl SN2 reaction in aqueous solution.

PubMed

Liu, Peng; Wang, Dunyou; Xu, Yulong

2016-11-23

Atomic-level, bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction mechanisms have been studied mostly in the gas phase, but the gas-phase results cannot be expected to reliably describe condensed-phase chemistry. As a novel, double-inversion mechanism has just been found for the F - + CH 3 Cl S N 2 reaction in the gas phase [Nat. Commun., 2015, 6, 5972], here, using multi-level quantum mechanics methods combined with the molecular mechanics method, we discovered a new, double-inversion mechanism for this reaction in aqueous solution. However, the structures of the stationary points along the reaction path show significant differences from those in the gas phase due to the strong influence of solvent and solute interactions, especially due to the hydrogen bonds formed between the solute and the solvent. More importantly, the relationship between the two double-inversion transition states is not clear in the gas phase, but, here we revealed a novel intermediate complex serving as a "connecting link" between the two transition states of the abstraction-induced inversion and the Walden-inversion mechanisms. A detailed reaction path was constructed to show the atomic-level evolution of this novel double reaction mechanism in aqueous solution. The potentials of mean force were calculated and the obtained Walden-inversion barrier height agrees well with the available experimental value.

A parallel algorithm for multi-level logic synthesis using the transduction method. M.S. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lim, Chieng-Fai

1991-01-01

The Transduction Method has been shown to be a powerful tool in the optimization of multilevel networks. Many tools such as the SYLON synthesis system (X90), (CM89), (LM90) have been developed based on this method. A parallel implementation is presented of SYLON-XTRANS (XM89) on an eight processor Encore Multimax shared memory multiprocessor. It minimizes multilevel networks consisting of simple gates through parallel pruning, gate substitution, gate merging, generalized gate substitution, and gate input reduction. This implementation, called Parallel TRANSduction (PTRANS), also uses partitioning to break large circuits up and performs inter- and intra-partition dynamic load balancing. With this, good speedups and high processor efficiencies are achievable without sacrificing the resulting circuit quality.

A Multilevel AR(1) Model: Allowing for Inter-Individual Differences in Trait-Scores, Inertia, and Innovation Variance.

PubMed

Jongerling, Joran; Laurenceau, Jean-Philippe; Hamaker, Ellen L

2015-01-01

In this article we consider a multilevel first-order autoregressive [AR(1)] model with random intercepts, random autoregression, and random innovation variance (i.e., the level 1 residual variance). Including random innovation variance is an important extension of the multilevel AR(1) model for two reasons. First, between-person differences in innovation variance are important from a substantive point of view, in that they capture differences in sensitivity and/or exposure to unmeasured internal and external factors that influence the process. Second, using simulation methods we show that modeling the innovation variance as fixed across individuals, when it should be modeled as a random effect, leads to biased parameter estimates. Additionally, we use simulation methods to compare maximum likelihood estimation to Bayesian estimation of the multilevel AR(1) model and investigate the trade-off between the number of individuals and the number of time points. We provide an empirical illustration by applying the extended multilevel AR(1) model to daily positive affect ratings from 89 married women over the course of 42 consecutive days.

A new rational-based optimal design strategy of ship structure based on multi-level analysis and super-element modeling method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Li; Wang, Deyu

2011-09-01

A new multi-level analysis method of introducing the super-element modeling method, derived from the multi-level analysis method first proposed by O. F. Hughes, has been proposed in this paper to solve the problem of high time cost in adopting a rational-based optimal design method for ship structural design. Furthermore, the method was verified by its effective application in optimization of the mid-ship section of a container ship. A full 3-D FEM model of a ship, suffering static and quasi-static loads, was used as the analyzing object for evaluating the structural performance of the mid-ship module, including static strength and buckling performance. Research results reveal that this new method could substantially reduce the computational cost of the rational-based optimization problem without decreasing its accuracy, which increases the feasibility and economic efficiency of using a rational-based optimal design method in ship structural design.

Feasibility study of current pulse induced 2-bit/4-state multilevel programming in phase-change memory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yan; Fan, Xi; Chen, Houpeng; Wang, Yueqing; Liu, Bo; Song, Zhitang; Feng, Songlin

2017-08-01

In this brief, multilevel data storage for phase-change memory (PCM) has attracted more attention in the memory market to implement high capacity memory system and reduce cost-per-bit. In this work, we present a universal programing method of SET stair-case current pulse in PCM cells, which can exploit the optimum programing scheme to achieve 2-bit/ 4state resistance-level with equal logarithm interval. SET stair-case waveform can be optimized by TCAD real time simulation to realize multilevel data storage efficiently in an arbitrary phase change material. Experimental results from 1 k-bit PCM test-chip have validated the proposed multilevel programing scheme. This multilevel programming scheme has improved the information storage density, robustness of resistance-level, energy efficient and avoiding process complexity.

A method of Modelling and Simulating the Back-to-Back Modular Multilevel Converter HVDC Transmission System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Lei; Fan, Youping; Zhang, Dai; Ge, Mengxin; Zou, Xianbin; Li, Jingjiao

2017-09-01

This paper proposes a method to simulate a back-to-back modular multilevel converter (MMC) HVDC transmission system. In this paper we utilize an equivalent networks to simulate the dynamic power system. Moreover, to account for the performance of converter station, core components of model of the converter station gives a basic model of simulation. The proposed method is applied to an equivalent real power system.

The Application of a Multiphase Triangulation Approach to Mixed Methods: The Research of an Aspiring School Principal Development Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Youngs, Howard; Piggot-Irvine, Eileen

2012-01-01

Mixed methods research has emerged as a credible alternative to unitary research approaches. The authors show how a combination of a triangulation convergence model with a triangulation multilevel model was used to research an aspiring school principal development pilot program. The multilevel model is used to show the national and regional levels…

A multilevel-ROI-features-based machine learning method for detection of morphometric biomarkers in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Peng, Bo; Wang, Suhong; Zhou, Zhiyong; Liu, Yan; Tong, Baotong; Zhang, Tao; Dai, Yakang

2017-06-09

Machine learning methods have been widely used in recent years for detection of neuroimaging biomarkers in regions of interest (ROIs) and assisting diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. The innovation of this study is to use multilevel-ROI-features-based machine learning method to detect sensitive morphometric biomarkers in Parkinson's disease (PD). Specifically, the low-level ROI features (gray matter volume, cortical thickness, etc.) and high-level correlative features (connectivity between ROIs) are integrated to construct the multilevel ROI features. Filter- and wrapper- based feature selection method and multi-kernel support vector machine (SVM) are used in the classification algorithm. T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance (MR) images of 69 PD patients and 103 normal controls from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) dataset are included in the study. The machine learning method performs well in classification between PD patients and normal controls with an accuracy of 85.78%, a specificity of 87.79%, and a sensitivity of 87.64%. The most sensitive biomarkers between PD patients and normal controls are mainly distributed in frontal lobe, parental lobe, limbic lobe, temporal lobe, and central region. The classification performance of our method with multilevel ROI features is significantly improved comparing with other classification methods using single-level features. The proposed method shows promising identification ability for detecting morphometric biomarkers in PD, thus confirming the potentiality of our method in assisting diagnosis of the disease. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multi-level methods and approximating distribution functions

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

Wilson, D., E-mail: daniel.wilson@dtc.ox.ac.uk; Baker, R. E.

2016-07-15

Biochemical reaction networks are often modelled using discrete-state, continuous-time Markov chains. System statistics of these Markov chains usually cannot be calculated analytically and therefore estimates must be generated via simulation techniques. There is a well documented class of simulation techniques known as exact stochastic simulation algorithms, an example of which is Gillespie’s direct method. These algorithms often come with high computational costs, therefore approximate stochastic simulation algorithms such as the tau-leap method are used. However, in order to minimise the bias in the estimates generated using them, a relatively small value of tau is needed, rendering the computational costs comparablemore » to Gillespie’s direct method. The multi-level Monte Carlo method (Anderson and Higham, Multiscale Model. Simul. 10:146–179, 2012) provides a reduction in computational costs whilst minimising or even eliminating the bias in the estimates of system statistics. This is achieved by first crudely approximating required statistics with many sample paths of low accuracy. Then correction terms are added until a required level of accuracy is reached. Recent literature has primarily focussed on implementing the multi-level method efficiently to estimate a single system statistic. However, it is clearly also of interest to be able to approximate entire probability distributions of species counts. We present two novel methods that combine known techniques for distribution reconstruction with the multi-level method. We demonstrate the potential of our methods using a number of examples.« less

Assessing dose–response effects of national essential medicine policy in China: comparison of two methods for handling data with a stepped wedge-like design and hierarchical structure

PubMed Central

Ren, Yan; Yang, Min; Li, Qian; Pan, Jay; Chen, Fei; Li, Xiaosong; Meng, Qun

2017-01-01

Objectives To introduce multilevel repeated measures (RM) models and compare them with multilevel difference-in-differences (DID) models in assessing the linear relationship between the length of the policy intervention period and healthcare outcomes (dose–response effect) for data from a stepped-wedge design with a hierarchical structure. Design The implementation of national essential medicine policy (NEMP) in China was a stepped-wedge-like design of five time points with a hierarchical structure. Using one key healthcare outcome from the national NEMP surveillance data as an example, we illustrate how a series of multilevel DID models and one multilevel RM model can be fitted to answer some research questions on policy effects. Setting Routinely and annually collected national data on China from 2008 to 2012. Participants 34 506 primary healthcare facilities in 2675 counties of 31 provinces. Outcome measures Agreement and differences in estimates of dose–response effect and variation in such effect between the two methods on the logarithm-transformed total number of outpatient visits per facility per year (LG-OPV). Results The estimated dose–response effect was approximately 0.015 according to four multilevel DID models and precisely 0.012 from one multilevel RM model. Both types of model estimated an increase in LG-OPV by 2.55 times from 2009 to 2012, but 2–4.3 times larger SEs of those estimates were found by the multilevel DID models. Similar estimates of mean effects of covariates and random effects of the average LG-OPV among all levels in the example dataset were obtained by both types of model. Significant variances in the dose–response among provinces, counties and facilities were estimated, and the ‘lowest’ or ‘highest’ units by their dose–response effects were pinpointed only by the multilevel RM model. Conclusions For examining dose–response effect based on data from multiple time points with hierarchical structure and the stepped wedge-like designs, multilevel RM models are more efficient, convenient and informative than the multilevel DID models. PMID:28399510

Experimental detection of active defects in few layers MoS2 through random telegraphic signals analysis observed in its FET characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Nan; Nagashio, Kosuke; Toriumi, Akira

2017-03-01

Transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), are expected to be promising for next generation device applications. The existence of sulfur vacancies formed in MoS2, however, will potentially make devices unstable and problematic. Random telegraphic signals (RTSs) have often been studied in small area Si metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) to identify the carrier capture and emission processes at defects. In this paper, we have systemically analyzed RTSs observed in atomically thin layer MoS2 FETs. Several types of RTSs have been analyzed. One is the simple on/off type of telegraphic signals, the second is multilevel telegraphic signals with a superposition of the simple signals, and the third is multilevel telegraphic signals that are correlated with each other. The last one is discussed from the viewpoint of the defect-defect interaction in MoS2 FETs with a weak screening in atomically confined two-dimensional electron-gas systems. Furthermore, the position of defects causing RTSs has also been investigated by preparing MoS2 FETs with multi-probes. The electron beam was locally irradiated to intentionally generate defects in the MoS2 channel. It is clearly demonstrated that the MoS2 channel is one of the RTS origins. RTS analysis enables us to analyze the defect dynamics of TMD devices.

Multilevel and quasi-Monte Carlo methods for uncertainty quantification in particle travel times through random heterogeneous porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crevillén-García, D.; Power, H.

2017-08-01

In this study, we apply four Monte Carlo simulation methods, namely, Monte Carlo, quasi-Monte Carlo, multilevel Monte Carlo and multilevel quasi-Monte Carlo to the problem of uncertainty quantification in the estimation of the average travel time during the transport of particles through random heterogeneous porous media. We apply the four methodologies to a model problem where the only input parameter, the hydraulic conductivity, is modelled as a log-Gaussian random field by using direct Karhunen-Loéve decompositions. The random terms in such expansions represent the coefficients in the equations. Numerical calculations demonstrating the effectiveness of each of the methods are presented. A comparison of the computational cost incurred by each of the methods for three different tolerances is provided. The accuracy of the approaches is quantified via the mean square error.

Multilevel and quasi-Monte Carlo methods for uncertainty quantification in particle travel times through random heterogeneous porous media.

PubMed

Crevillén-García, D; Power, H

2017-08-01

In this study, we apply four Monte Carlo simulation methods, namely, Monte Carlo, quasi-Monte Carlo, multilevel Monte Carlo and multilevel quasi-Monte Carlo to the problem of uncertainty quantification in the estimation of the average travel time during the transport of particles through random heterogeneous porous media. We apply the four methodologies to a model problem where the only input parameter, the hydraulic conductivity, is modelled as a log-Gaussian random field by using direct Karhunen-Loéve decompositions. The random terms in such expansions represent the coefficients in the equations. Numerical calculations demonstrating the effectiveness of each of the methods are presented. A comparison of the computational cost incurred by each of the methods for three different tolerances is provided. The accuracy of the approaches is quantified via the mean square error.

Multilevel and quasi-Monte Carlo methods for uncertainty quantification in particle travel times through random heterogeneous porous media

PubMed Central

Power, H.

2017-01-01

In this study, we apply four Monte Carlo simulation methods, namely, Monte Carlo, quasi-Monte Carlo, multilevel Monte Carlo and multilevel quasi-Monte Carlo to the problem of uncertainty quantification in the estimation of the average travel time during the transport of particles through random heterogeneous porous media. We apply the four methodologies to a model problem where the only input parameter, the hydraulic conductivity, is modelled as a log-Gaussian random field by using direct Karhunen–Loéve decompositions. The random terms in such expansions represent the coefficients in the equations. Numerical calculations demonstrating the effectiveness of each of the methods are presented. A comparison of the computational cost incurred by each of the methods for three different tolerances is provided. The accuracy of the approaches is quantified via the mean square error. PMID:28878974

Variability of multilevel switching in scaled hybrid RS/CMOS nanoelectronic circuits: theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heittmann, Arne; Noll, Tobias G.

2013-07-01

A theory is presented which describes the variability of multilevel switching in scaled hybrid resistive-switching/CMOS nanoelectronic circuits. Variability is quantified in terms of conductance variation using the first two moments derived from the probability density function (PDF) of the RS conductance. For RS, which are based on the electrochemical metallization effect (ECM), this variability is - to some extent - caused by discrete events such as electrochemical reactions, which occur on atomic scale and are at random. The theory shows that the conductance variation depends on the joint interaction between the programming circuit and the resistive switch (RS), and explicitly quantifies the impact of RS device parameters and parameters of the programming circuit on the conductance variance. Using a current mirror as an exemplary programming circuit an upper limit of 2-4 bits (dependent on the filament surface area) is estimated as the storage capacity exploiting the multilevel capabilities of an ECM cell. The theoretical results were verified by Monte Carlo circuit simulations on a standard circuit simulation environment using an ECM device model which models the filament growth by a Poisson process. Contribution to the Topical Issue “International Semiconductor Conference Dresden-Grenoble - ISCDG 2012”, Edited by Gérard Ghibaudo, Francis Balestra and Simon Deleonibus.

Integrated control/structure optimization by multilevel decomposition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zeiler, Thomas A.; Gilbert, Michael G.

1990-01-01

A method for integrated control/structure optimization by multilevel decomposition is presented. It is shown that several previously reported methods were actually partial decompositions wherein only the control was decomposed into a subsystem design. One of these partially decomposed problems was selected as a benchmark example for comparison. The system is fully decomposed into structural and control subsystem designs and an improved design is produced. Theory, implementation, and results for the method are presented and compared with the benchmark example.

Multilevel Modeling with Correlated Effects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Jee-Seon; Frees, Edward W.

2007-01-01

When there exist omitted effects, measurement error, and/or simultaneity in multilevel models, explanatory variables may be correlated with random components, and standard estimation methods do not provide consistent estimates of model parameters. This paper introduces estimators that are consistent under such conditions. By employing generalized…

Master equation theory applied to the redistribution of polarized radiation in the weak radiation field limit. IV. Application to the second solar spectrum of the Na I D1 and D2 lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bommier, Véronique

2016-06-01

Context. The spectrum of the linear polarization, which is formed by scattering and observed on the solar disk close to the limb, is very different from the intensity spectrum and thus able to provide new information, in particular about anisotropies in the solar surface plasma and magnetic fields. In addition, a large number of lines show far wing polarization structures assigned to partial redistribution (PRD), which we prefer to denote as Rayleigh/Raman scattering. The two-level or two-term atom approximation without any lower level polarization is insufficient for many lines. Aims: In the previous paper of this series, we presented our theory generalized to the multilevel and multiline atom and comprised of statistical equilibrium equations for the atomic density matrix elements and radiative transfer equation for the polarized radiation. The present paper is devoted to applying this theory to model the second solar spectrum of the Na I D1 and D2 lines. Methods: The solution method is iterative, of the lambda-iteration type. The usual acceleration techniques were considered or even applied, but we found these to be unsuccessful, in particular because of nonlinearity or large number of quantities determining the radiation at each depth. Results: The observed spectrum is qualitatively reproduced in line center, but the convergence is yet to be reached in the far wings and the observed spectrum is not totally reproduced there. Conclusions: We need to investigate noniterative resolution methods. The other limitation lies in the one-dimensional (1D) atmosphere model, which is unable to reproduce the intermittent matter structure formed of small loops or spicules in the chromosphere. This modeling is rough, but the computing time in the presence of hyperfine structure and PRD prevents us from envisaging a three-dimensional (3D) model at this instant.

On the utility of the multi-level algorithm for the solution of nearly completely decomposable Markov chains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leutenegger, Scott T.; Horton, Graham

1994-01-01

Recently the Multi-Level algorithm was introduced as a general purpose solver for the solution of steady state Markov chains. In this paper, we consider the performance of the Multi-Level algorithm for solving Nearly Completely Decomposable (NCD) Markov chains, for which special-purpose iteractive aggregation/disaggregation algorithms such as the Koury-McAllister-Stewart (KMS) method have been developed that can exploit the decomposability of the the Markov chain. We present experimental results indicating that the general-purpose Multi-Level algorithm is competitive, and can be significantly faster than the special-purpose KMS algorithm when Gauss-Seidel and Gaussian Elimination are used for solving the individual blocks.

Application of a multi-level grid method to transonic flow calculations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

South, J. C., Jr.; Brandt, A.

1976-01-01

A multi-level grid method was studied as a possible means of accelerating convergence in relaxation calculations for transonic flows. The method employs a hierarchy of grids, ranging from very coarse to fine. The coarser grids are used to diminish the magnitude of the smooth part of the residuals. The method was applied to the solution of the transonic small disturbance equation for the velocity potential in conservation form. Nonlifting transonic flow past a parabolic arc airfoil is studied with meshes of both constant and variable step size.

Integrated control/structure optimization by multilevel decomposition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zeiler, Thomas A.; Gilbert, Michael G.

1990-01-01

A method for integrated control/structure optimization by multilevel decomposition is presented. It is shown that several previously reported methods were actually partial decompositions wherein only the control was decomposed into a subsystem design. One of these partially decomposed problems was selected as a benchmark example for comparison. The present paper fully decomposes the system into structural and control subsystem designs and produces an improved design. Theory, implementation, and results for the method are presented and compared with the benchmark example.

Phantom Effects in Multilevel Compositional Analysis: Problems and Solutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pokropek, Artur

2015-01-01

This article combines statistical and applied research perspective showing problems that might arise when measurement error in multilevel compositional effects analysis is ignored. This article focuses on data where independent variables are constructed measures. Simulation studies are conducted evaluating methods that could overcome the…

GROUND WATER MONITORING AND SAMPLING: MULTI-LEVEL VERSUS TRADITIONAL METHODS – WHAT’S WHAT?

EPA Science Inventory

Recent studies have been conducted to evaluate different sampling techniques for determining VOC concentrations in groundwater. Samples were obtained using multi-level and traditional sampling techniques in three monitoring wells at the Raymark Superfund site in Stratford, CT. Ve...

Multilevel resistive information storage and retrieval

DOEpatents

Lohn, Andrew; Mickel, Patrick R.

2016-08-09

The present invention relates to resistive random-access memory (RRAM or ReRAM) systems, as well as methods of employing multiple state variables to form degenerate states in such memory systems. The methods herein allow for precise write and read steps to form multiple state variables, and these steps can be performed electrically. Such an approach allows for multilevel, high density memory systems with enhanced information storage capacity and simplified information retrieval.

Selective harmonic elimination strategy in eleven level inverter for PV system with unbalanced DC sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghoudelbourk, Sihem.; Dib, D.; Meghni, B.; Zouli, M.

2017-02-01

The paper deals with the multilevel converters control strategy for photovoltaic system integrated in distribution grids. The objective of the proposed work is to design multilevel inverters for solar energy applications so as to reduce the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and to improve the power quality. The multilevel inverter power structure plays a vital role in every aspect of the power system. It is easier to produce a high-power, high-voltage inverter with the multilevel structure. The topologies of multilevel inverter have several advantages such as high output voltage, lower total harmonic distortion (THD) and reduction of voltage ratings of the power semiconductor switching devices. The proposed control strategy ensures an implementation of selective harmonic elimination (SHE) modulation for eleven levels. SHE is a very important and efficient strategy of eliminating selected harmonics by judicious selection of the firing angles of the inverter. Harmonics elimination technique eliminates the need of the expensive low pass filters in the system. Previous research considered that constant and equal DC sources with invariant behavior; however, this research extends earlier work to include variant DC sources, which are typical of lead-acid batteries when used in system PV. This Study also investigates methods to minimize the total harmonic distortion of the synthesized multilevel waveform and to help balance the battery voltage. The harmonic elimination method was used to eliminate selected lower dominant harmonics resulting from the inverter switching action.

Multilevel Preconditioners for Discontinuous Galerkin Approximations of Elliptic Problems with Jump Coefficients

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

discontinuous coefficients on geometrically nonconforming substructures. Technical Report Serie A 634, Instituto de Matematica Pura e Aplicada, Brazil, 2009...Instituto de Matematica Pura e Aplicada, Brazil, 2010. submitted. [41] M. Dryja, M. V. Sarkis, and O. B. Widlund. Multilevel Schwarz methods for

Assessing dose-response effects of national essential medicine policy in China: comparison of two methods for handling data with a stepped wedge-like design and hierarchical structure.

PubMed

Ren, Yan; Yang, Min; Li, Qian; Pan, Jay; Chen, Fei; Li, Xiaosong; Meng, Qun

2017-02-22

To introduce multilevel repeated measures (RM) models and compare them with multilevel difference-in-differences (DID) models in assessing the linear relationship between the length of the policy intervention period and healthcare outcomes (dose-response effect) for data from a stepped-wedge design with a hierarchical structure. The implementation of national essential medicine policy (NEMP) in China was a stepped-wedge-like design of five time points with a hierarchical structure. Using one key healthcare outcome from the national NEMP surveillance data as an example, we illustrate how a series of multilevel DID models and one multilevel RM model can be fitted to answer some research questions on policy effects. Routinely and annually collected national data on China from 2008 to 2012. 34 506 primary healthcare facilities in 2675 counties of 31 provinces. Agreement and differences in estimates of dose-response effect and variation in such effect between the two methods on the logarithm-transformed total number of outpatient visits per facility per year (LG-OPV). The estimated dose-response effect was approximately 0.015 according to four multilevel DID models and precisely 0.012 from one multilevel RM model. Both types of model estimated an increase in LG-OPV by 2.55 times from 2009 to 2012, but 2-4.3 times larger SEs of those estimates were found by the multilevel DID models. Similar estimates of mean effects of covariates and random effects of the average LG-OPV among all levels in the example dataset were obtained by both types of model. Significant variances in the dose-response among provinces, counties and facilities were estimated, and the 'lowest' or 'highest' units by their dose-response effects were pinpointed only by the multilevel RM model. For examining dose-response effect based on data from multiple time points with hierarchical structure and the stepped wedge-like designs, multilevel RM models are more efficient, convenient and informative than the multilevel DID models. 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/.

Fitting aerodynamic forces in the Laplace domain: An application of a nonlinear nongradient technique to multilevel constrained optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tiffany, S. H.; Adams, W. M., Jr.

1984-01-01

A technique which employs both linear and nonlinear methods in a multilevel optimization structure to best approximate generalized unsteady aerodynamic forces for arbitrary motion is described. Optimum selection of free parameters is made in a rational function approximation of the aerodynamic forces in the Laplace domain such that a best fit is obtained, in a least squares sense, to tabular data for purely oscillatory motion. The multilevel structure and the corresponding formulation of the objective models are presented which separate the reduction of the fit error into linear and nonlinear problems, thus enabling the use of linear methods where practical. Certain equality and inequality constraints that may be imposed are identified; a brief description of the nongradient, nonlinear optimizer which is used is given; and results which illustrate application of the method are presented.

Multilevel Analysis Methods for Partially Nested Cluster Randomized Trials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanders, Elizabeth A.

2011-01-01

This paper explores multilevel modeling approaches for 2-group randomized experiments in which a treatment condition involving clusters of individuals is compared to a control condition involving only ungrouped individuals, otherwise known as partially nested cluster randomized designs (PNCRTs). Strategies for comparing groups from a PNCRT in the…

Marginal Mean Weighting through Stratification: Adjustment for Selection Bias in Multilevel Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hong, Guanglei

2010-01-01

Defining causal effects as comparisons between marginal population means, this article introduces marginal mean weighting through stratification (MMW-S) to adjust for selection bias in multilevel educational data. The article formally shows the inherent connections among the MMW-S method, propensity score stratification, and…

Multilevel Quantum Mechanics Theories and Molecular Mechanics Calculations of the Cl- + CH3I Reaction in Water.

PubMed

Liu, Peng; Li, Chen; Wang, Dunyou

2017-10-19

The Cl - + CH 3 I → CH 3 Cl + I - reaction in water was studied using combined multilevel quantum mechanism theories and molecular mechanics with an explicit water solvent model. The study shows a significant influence of aqueous solution on the structures of the stationary points along the reaction pathway. A detailed, atomic-level evolution of the reaction mechanism shows a concerted one-bond-broken and one-bond-formed mechanism, as well as a synchronized charge-transfer process. The potentials of mean force calculated with the CCSD(T) and DFT treatments of the solute produce a free activation barrier at 24.5 and 19.0 kcal/mol, respectively, which agrees with the experimental one at 22.0 kcal/mol. The solvent effects have also been quantitatively analyzed: in total, the solvent effects raise the activation energy by 20.2 kcal/mol, which shows a significant impact on this reaction in water.

A Multilevel, Hierarchical Sampling Technique for Spatially Correlated Random Fields

DOE PAGES

Osborn, Sarah; Vassilevski, Panayot S.; Villa, Umberto

2017-10-26

In this paper, we propose an alternative method to generate samples of a spatially correlated random field with applications to large-scale problems for forward propagation of uncertainty. A classical approach for generating these samples is the Karhunen--Loève (KL) decomposition. However, the KL expansion requires solving a dense eigenvalue problem and is therefore computationally infeasible for large-scale problems. Sampling methods based on stochastic partial differential equations provide a highly scalable way to sample Gaussian fields, but the resulting parametrization is mesh dependent. We propose a multilevel decomposition of the stochastic field to allow for scalable, hierarchical sampling based on solving amore » mixed finite element formulation of a stochastic reaction-diffusion equation with a random, white noise source function. Lastly, numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the scalability of the sampling method as well as numerical results of multilevel Monte Carlo simulations for a subsurface porous media flow application using the proposed sampling method.« less

Theoretical and software considerations for general dynamic analysis using multilevel substructured models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schmidt, R. J.; Dodds, R. H., Jr.

1985-01-01

The dynamic analysis of complex structural systems using the finite element method and multilevel substructured models is presented. The fixed-interface method is selected for substructure reduction because of its efficiency, accuracy, and adaptability to restart and reanalysis. This method is extended to reduction of substructures which are themselves composed of reduced substructures. The implementation and performance of the method in a general purpose software system is emphasized. Solution algorithms consistent with the chosen data structures are presented. It is demonstrated that successful finite element software requires the use of software executives to supplement the algorithmic language. The complexity of the implementation of restart and reanalysis porcedures illustrates the need for executive systems to support the noncomputational aspects of the software. It is shown that significant computational efficiencies can be achieved through proper use of substructuring and reduction technbiques without sacrificing solution accuracy. The restart and reanalysis capabilities and the flexible procedures for multilevel substructured modeling gives economical yet accurate analyses of complex structural systems.

A Multilevel, Hierarchical Sampling Technique for Spatially Correlated Random Fields

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

Osborn, Sarah; Vassilevski, Panayot S.; Villa, Umberto

In this paper, we propose an alternative method to generate samples of a spatially correlated random field with applications to large-scale problems for forward propagation of uncertainty. A classical approach for generating these samples is the Karhunen--Loève (KL) decomposition. However, the KL expansion requires solving a dense eigenvalue problem and is therefore computationally infeasible for large-scale problems. Sampling methods based on stochastic partial differential equations provide a highly scalable way to sample Gaussian fields, but the resulting parametrization is mesh dependent. We propose a multilevel decomposition of the stochastic field to allow for scalable, hierarchical sampling based on solving amore » mixed finite element formulation of a stochastic reaction-diffusion equation with a random, white noise source function. Lastly, numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the scalability of the sampling method as well as numerical results of multilevel Monte Carlo simulations for a subsurface porous media flow application using the proposed sampling method.« less

Interviewer effects on non-response propensity in longitudinal surveys: a multilevel modelling approach

PubMed Central

Vassallo, Rebecca; Durrant, Gabriele B; Smith, Peter W F; Goldstein, Harvey

2015-01-01

The paper investigates two different multilevel approaches, the multilevel cross-classified and the multiple-membership models, for the analysis of interviewer effects on wave non-response in longitudinal surveys. The models proposed incorporate both interviewer and area effects to account for the non-hierarchical structure, the influence of potentially more than one interviewer across waves and possible confounding of area and interviewer effects arising from the non-random allocation of interviewers across areas. The methods are compared by using a data set: the UK Family and Children Survey. PMID:25598587

A longitudinal multilevel CFA-MTMM model for interchangeable and structurally different methods

PubMed Central

Koch, Tobias; Schultze, Martin; Eid, Michael; Geiser, Christian

2014-01-01

One of the key interests in the social sciences is the investigation of change and stability of a given attribute. Although numerous models have been proposed in the past for analyzing longitudinal data including multilevel and/or latent variable modeling approaches, only few modeling approaches have been developed for studying the construct validity in longitudinal multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) measurement designs. The aim of the present study was to extend the spectrum of current longitudinal modeling approaches for MTMM analysis. Specifically, a new longitudinal multilevel CFA-MTMM model for measurement designs with structurally different and interchangeable methods (called Latent-State-Combination-Of-Methods model, LS-COM) is presented. Interchangeable methods are methods that are randomly sampled from a set of equivalent methods (e.g., multiple student ratings for teaching quality), whereas structurally different methods are methods that cannot be easily replaced by one another (e.g., teacher, self-ratings, principle ratings). Results of a simulation study indicate that the parameters and standard errors in the LS-COM model are well recovered even in conditions with only five observations per estimated model parameter. The advantages and limitations of the LS-COM model relative to other longitudinal MTMM modeling approaches are discussed. PMID:24860515

Emitter signal separation method based on multi-level digital channelization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Xun; Ping, Yifan; Wang, Sujun; Feng, Ying; Kuang, Yin; Yang, Xinquan

2018-02-01

To solve the problem of emitter separation under complex electromagnetic environment, a signal separation method based on multi-level digital channelization is proposed in this paper. A two-level structure which can divide signal into different channel is designed first, after that, the peaks of different channels are tracked using the track filter and the coincident signals in time domain are separated in time-frequency domain. Finally, the time domain waveforms of different signals are acquired by reverse transformation. The validness of the proposed method is proved by experiment.

Conservative treatment of boundary interfaces for overlaid grids and multi-level grid adaptations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moon, Young J.; Liou, Meng-Sing

1989-01-01

Conservative algorithms for boundary interfaces of overlaid grids are presented. The basic method is zeroth order, and is extended to a higher order method using interpolation and subcell decomposition. The present method, strictly based on a conservative constraint, is tested with overlaid grids for various applications of unsteady and steady supersonic inviscid flows with strong shock waves. The algorithm is also applied to a multi-level grid adaptation in which the next level finer grid is overlaid on the coarse base grid with an arbitrary orientation.

Polarization effects in the interaction between multi-level atoms and two optical fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colín-Rodríguez, R.; Flores-Mijangos, J.; Hernández-Gómez, S.; Jáuregui, R.; López-Hernández, O.; Mojica-Casique, C.; Ponciano-Ojeda, F.; Ramírez-Martínez, F.; Sahagún, D.; Volke-Sepúlveda, K.; Jiménez-Mier, J.

2015-06-01

Polarized velocity selective spectra for rubidium atoms in a room temperature cell are presented. The experiments were performed in the lambda configuration (D2 manifold) and in the 5s\\to 5{{p}3/2}\\to 5{{d}j} ladder configuration. For the lambda configuration the effect of the probe beam intensity in the absorption and polarization spectra are compared with results of a rate equation approximation. Good overall agreement between experiment and theory is found. The results indicate different saturation rates for each of the atomic transitions. Distinctive polarization signals with hyperfine-resolved components are found for the ladder 5{{d}3/2} and 5{{d}5/2} upper states. Fluorescence detection of the 420 nm that results from the second step in the cascade decay 5{{d}j}\\to 6{{p}{{j\\prime }}}\\to 5s was used in the ladder experiments. This fluorescence was also used for the detection of the 5{{p}3/2}\\to 6{{p}3/2} electric dipole forbidden transition in atomic rubidium that occurs at 911 nm. The 6{{p}3/2} hyperfine structure was resolved in this continuous wave, non-dipole excitation.

Jansen-MIDAS: A multi-level photomicrograph segmentation software based on isotropic undecimated wavelets.

PubMed

de Siqueira, Alexandre Fioravante; Cabrera, Flávio Camargo; Nakasuga, Wagner Massayuki; Pagamisse, Aylton; Job, Aldo Eloizo

2018-01-01

Image segmentation, the process of separating the elements within a picture, is frequently used for obtaining information from photomicrographs. Segmentation methods should be used with reservations, since incorrect results can mislead when interpreting regions of interest (ROI). This decreases the success rate of extra procedures. Multi-Level Starlet Segmentation (MLSS) and Multi-Level Starlet Optimal Segmentation (MLSOS) were developed to be an alternative for general segmentation tools. These methods gave rise to Jansen-MIDAS, an open-source software. A scientist can use it to obtain several segmentations of hers/his photomicrographs. It is a reliable alternative to process different types of photomicrographs: previous versions of Jansen-MIDAS were used to segment ROI in photomicrographs of two different materials, with an accuracy superior to 89%. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Multi-level Quantum Mechanics and Molecular Mechanics Study of Ring Opening Process of Guanine Damage by Hydroxyl Radical in Aqueous Solution.

PubMed

Liu, Peng; Wang, Qiong; Niu, Meixing; Wang, Dunyou

2017-08-10

Combining multi-level quantum mechanics theories and molecular mechanics with an explicit water model, we investigated the ring opening process of guanine damage by hydroxyl radical in aqueous solution. The detailed, atomic-level ring-opening mechanism along the reaction pathway was revealed in aqueous solution at the CCSD(T)/MM levels of theory. The potentials of mean force in aqueous solution were calculated at both the DFT/MM and CCSD(T)/MM levels of the theory. Our study found that the aqueous solution has a significant effect on this reaction in solution. In particular, by comparing the geometries of the stationary points between in gas phase and in aqueous solution, we found that the aqueous solution has a tremendous impact on the torsion angles much more than on the bond lengths and bending angles. Our calculated free-energy barrier height 31.6 kcal/mol at the CCSD(T)/MM level of theory agrees well with the one obtained based on gas-phase reaction profile and free energies of solvation. In addition, the reaction path in gas phase was also mapped using multi-level quantum mechanics theories, which shows a reaction barrier at 19.2 kcal/mol at the CCSD(T) level of theory, agreeing very well with a recent ab initio calculation result at 20.8 kcal/mol.

Fault diagnosis method based on FFT-RPCA-SVM for Cascaded-Multilevel Inverter.

PubMed

Wang, Tianzhen; Qi, Jie; Xu, Hao; Wang, Yide; Liu, Lei; Gao, Diju

2016-01-01

Thanks to reduced switch stress, high quality of load wave, easy packaging and good extensibility, the cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter is widely used in wind power system. To guarantee stable operation of system, a new fault diagnosis method, based on Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Relative Principle Component Analysis (RPCA) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), is proposed for H-bridge multilevel inverter. To avoid the influence of load variation on fault diagnosis, the output voltages of the inverter is chosen as the fault characteristic signals. To shorten the time of diagnosis and improve the diagnostic accuracy, the main features of the fault characteristic signals are extracted by FFT. To further reduce the training time of SVM, the feature vector is reduced based on RPCA that can get a lower dimensional feature space. The fault classifier is constructed via SVM. An experimental prototype of the inverter is built to test the proposed method. Compared to other fault diagnosis methods, the experimental results demonstrate the high accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. Copyright © 2015 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transforming SIBTEST to Account for Multilevel Data Structures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

French, Brian F.; Finch, W. Holmes

2015-01-01

SIBTEST is a differential item functioning (DIF) detection method that is accurate and effective with small samples, in the presence of group mean differences, and for assessment of both uniform and nonuniform DIF. The presence of multilevel data with DIF detection has received increased attention. Ignoring such structure can inflate Type I error.…

A multilevel model of the impact of farm-level best management practices on phosphorus runoff

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Multilevel or hierarchical models have been applied for a number of years in the social sciences but only relatively recently in the environmental sciences. These models can be developed in either a frequentist or Bayesian context and have similarities to other methods such as empirical Bayes analys...

Introduction to Multilevel Item Response Theory Analysis: Descriptive and Explanatory Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sulis, Isabella; Toland, Michael D.

2017-01-01

Item response theory (IRT) models are the main psychometric approach for the development, evaluation, and refinement of multi-item instruments and scaling of latent traits, whereas multilevel models are the primary statistical method when considering the dependence between person responses when primary units (e.g., students) are nested within…

A Multilevel Evaluation of a Comprehensive Child Abuse Prevention Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawson, Michael A.; Alameda-Lawson, Tania; Byrnes, Edward C.

2012-01-01

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which participation in a county-wide prevention program leads to improvements in protective factors associated with child abuse prevention (CAP) and whether improvements in measured protective factors relate to decreased odds of child abuse. Method: Using multilevel growth modeling,…

Using Multilevel Analysis to Monitor Test Performance across Administrations. Research Report. ETS RR-14-29

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wei, Youhua; Qu, Yanxuan

2014-01-01

For a testing program with frequent administrations, it is important to understand and monitor the stability and fluctuation of test performance across administrations. Different methods have been proposed for this purpose. This study explored the potential of using multilevel analysis to understand and monitor examinees' test performance across…

The Impact of a Multilevel Intervention on Special Education Induction Teacher Retention Indicators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Imel, Breck

2012-01-01

This mixed methods action research study explores the impact of a multilevel intervention on retention indicators of special education induction teachers and the leadership capacities of the special education induction coaches and coordinator. The purpose of this investigation was to understand the impact of developing and implementing an action…

Multilevel Modeling: Overview and Applications to Research in Counseling Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kahn, Jeffrey H.

2011-01-01

Multilevel modeling (MLM) is rapidly becoming the standard method of analyzing nested data, for example, data from students within multiple schools, data on multiple clients seen by a smaller number of therapists, and even longitudinal data. Although MLM analyses are likely to increase in frequency in counseling psychology research, many readers…

Multiple Imputation of Multilevel Missing Data-Rigor versus Simplicity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drechsler, Jörg

2015-01-01

Multiple imputation is widely accepted as the method of choice to address item-nonresponse in surveys. However, research on imputation strategies for the hierarchical structures that are typically found in the data in educational contexts is still limited. While a multilevel imputation model should be preferred from a theoretical point of view if…

TEMPEST in a gallimaufry: applying multilevel systems theory to person-in-context research.

PubMed

Peck, Stephen C

2007-12-01

Terminological ambiguity and inattention to personal and contextual multilevel systems undermine personality, self, and identity theories. Hierarchical and heterarchical systems theories are used to describe contents and processes existing within and across three interrelated multilevel systems: levels of organization, representation, and integration. Materially nested levels of organization are used to distinguish persons from contexts and personal from social identity. Functionally nested levels of representation are used to distinguish personal identity from the sense of identity and symbolic (belief) from iconic (schema) systems. Levels of integration are hypothesized to unfold separately but interdependently across levels of representation. Multilevel system configurations clarify alternative conceptualizations of traits and contextualized identity. Methodological implications for measurement and analysis (e.g., integrating variable- and pattern-centered methods) are briefly described.

Multilevel Interventions To Address Health Disparities Show Promise In Improving Population Health.

PubMed

Paskett, Electra; Thompson, Beti; Ammerman, Alice S; Ortega, Alexander N; Marsteller, Jill; Richardson, DeJuran

2016-08-01

Multilevel interventions are those that affect at least two levels of influence-for example, the patient and the health care provider. They can be experimental designs or natural experiments caused by changes in policy, such as the implementation of the Affordable Care Act or local policies. Measuring the effects of multilevel interventions is challenging, because they allow for interaction among levels, and the impact of each intervention must be assessed and translated into practice. We discuss how two projects from the National Institutes of Health's Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities used multilevel interventions to reduce health disparities. The interventions, which focused on the uptake of the human papillomavirus vaccine and community-level dietary change, had mixed results. The design and implementation of multilevel interventions are facilitated by input from the community, and more advanced methods and measures are needed to evaluate the impact of the various levels and components of such interventions. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Multigrid contact detection method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Kejing; Dong, Shoubin; Zhou, Zhaoyao

2007-03-01

Contact detection is a general problem of many physical simulations. This work presents a O(N) multigrid method for general contact detection problems (MGCD). The multigrid idea is integrated with contact detection problems. Both the time complexity and memory consumption of the MGCD are O(N) . Unlike other methods, whose efficiencies are influenced strongly by the object size distribution, the performance of MGCD is insensitive to the object size distribution. We compare the MGCD with the no binary search (NBS) method and the multilevel boxing method in three dimensions for both time complexity and memory consumption. For objects with similar size, the MGCD is as good as the NBS method, both of which outperform the multilevel boxing method regarding memory consumption. For objects with diverse size, the MGCD outperform both the NBS method and the multilevel boxing method. We use the MGCD to solve the contact detection problem for a granular simulation system based on the discrete element method. From this granular simulation, we get the density property of monosize packing and binary packing with size ratio equal to 10. The packing density for monosize particles is 0.636. For binary packing with size ratio equal to 10, when the number of small particles is 300 times as the number of big particles, the maximal packing density 0.824 is achieved.

Multilevel Optimization Framework for Hierarchical Stiffened Shells Accelerated by Adaptive Equivalent Strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Bo; Tian, Kuo; Zhao, Haixin; Hao, Peng; Zhu, Tianyu; Zhang, Ke; Ma, Yunlong

2017-06-01

In order to improve the post-buckling optimization efficiency of hierarchical stiffened shells, a multilevel optimization framework accelerated by adaptive equivalent strategy is presented in this paper. Firstly, the Numerical-based Smeared Stiffener Method (NSSM) for hierarchical stiffened shells is derived by means of the numerical implementation of asymptotic homogenization (NIAH) method. Based on the NSSM, a reasonable adaptive equivalent strategy for hierarchical stiffened shells is developed from the concept of hierarchy reduction. Its core idea is to self-adaptively decide which hierarchy of the structure should be equivalent according to the critical buckling mode rapidly predicted by NSSM. Compared with the detailed model, the high prediction accuracy and efficiency of the proposed model is highlighted. On the basis of this adaptive equivalent model, a multilevel optimization framework is then established by decomposing the complex entire optimization process into major-stiffener-level and minor-stiffener-level sub-optimizations, during which Fixed Point Iteration (FPI) is employed to accelerate convergence. Finally, the illustrative examples of the multilevel framework is carried out to demonstrate its efficiency and effectiveness to search for the global optimum result by contrast with the single-level optimization method. Remarkably, the high efficiency and flexibility of the adaptive equivalent strategy is indicated by compared with the single equivalent strategy.

Realist explanatory theory building method for social epidemiology: a protocol for a mixed method multilevel study of neighbourhood context and postnatal depression.

PubMed

Eastwood, John G; Jalaludin, Bin B; Kemp, Lynn A

2014-01-01

A recent criticism of social epidemiological studies, and multi-level studies in particular has been a paucity of theory. We will present here the protocol for a study that aims to build a theory of the social epidemiology of maternal depression. We use a critical realist approach which is trans-disciplinary, encompassing both quantitative and qualitative traditions, and that assumes both ontological and hierarchical stratification of reality. We describe a critical realist Explanatory Theory Building Method comprising of an: 1) emergent phase, 2) construction phase, and 3) confirmatory phase. A concurrent triangulated mixed method multilevel cross-sectional study design is described. The Emergent Phase uses: interviews, focus groups, exploratory data analysis, exploratory factor analysis, regression, and multilevel Bayesian spatial data analysis to detect and describe phenomena. Abductive and retroductive reasoning will be applied to: categorical principal component analysis, exploratory factor analysis, regression, coding of concepts and categories, constant comparative analysis, drawing of conceptual networks, and situational analysis to generate theoretical concepts. The Theory Construction Phase will include: 1) defining stratified levels; 2) analytic resolution; 3) abductive reasoning; 4) comparative analysis (triangulation); 5) retroduction; 6) postulate and proposition development; 7) comparison and assessment of theories; and 8) conceptual frameworks and model development. The strength of the critical realist methodology described is the extent to which this paradigm is able to support the epistemological, ontological, axiological, methodological and rhetorical positions of both quantitative and qualitative research in the field of social epidemiology. The extensive multilevel Bayesian studies, intensive qualitative studies, latent variable theory, abductive triangulation, and Inference to Best Explanation provide a strong foundation for Theory Construction. The study will contribute to defining the role that realism and mixed methods can play in explaining the social determinants and developmental origins of health and disease.

An adaptive multi-level simulation algorithm for stochastic biological systems

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

Lester, C., E-mail: lesterc@maths.ox.ac.uk; Giles, M. B.; Baker, R. E.

2015-01-14

Discrete-state, continuous-time Markov models are widely used in the modeling of biochemical reaction networks. Their complexity often precludes analytic solution, and we rely on stochastic simulation algorithms (SSA) to estimate system statistics. The Gillespie algorithm is exact, but computationally costly as it simulates every single reaction. As such, approximate stochastic simulation algorithms such as the tau-leap algorithm are often used. Potentially computationally more efficient, the system statistics generated suffer from significant bias unless tau is relatively small, in which case the computational time can be comparable to that of the Gillespie algorithm. The multi-level method [Anderson and Higham, “Multi-level Montemore » Carlo for continuous time Markov chains, with applications in biochemical kinetics,” SIAM Multiscale Model. Simul. 10(1), 146–179 (2012)] tackles this problem. A base estimator is computed using many (cheap) sample paths at low accuracy. The bias inherent in this estimator is then reduced using a number of corrections. Each correction term is estimated using a collection of paired sample paths where one path of each pair is generated at a higher accuracy compared to the other (and so more expensive). By sharing random variables between these paired paths, the variance of each correction estimator can be reduced. This renders the multi-level method very efficient as only a relatively small number of paired paths are required to calculate each correction term. In the original multi-level method, each sample path is simulated using the tau-leap algorithm with a fixed value of τ. This approach can result in poor performance when the reaction activity of a system changes substantially over the timescale of interest. By introducing a novel adaptive time-stepping approach where τ is chosen according to the stochastic behaviour of each sample path, we extend the applicability of the multi-level method to such cases. We demonstrate the efficiency of our method using a number of examples.« less

Dark channels in resonant tunneling transport through artificial atoms.

PubMed

Vaz, Eduardo; Kyriakidis, Jordan

2008-07-14

We investigate sequential tunneling through a multilevel quantum dot confining multiple electrons in the regime where several channels are available for transport within the bias window. By analyzing solutions to the master equations of the reduced density matrix, we give general conditions on when the presence of a second transport channel in the bias window quenches transport through the quantum dot. These conditions are in terms of distinct tunneling anisotropies which may aid in explaining the occurrence of negative differential conductance in quantum dots in the nonlinear regime.

Using iMCFA to Perform the CFA, Multilevel CFA, and Maximum Model for Analyzing Complex Survey Data.

PubMed

Wu, Jiun-Yu; Lee, Yuan-Hsuan; Lin, John J H

2018-01-01

To construct CFA, MCFA, and maximum MCFA with LISREL v.8 and below, we provide iMCFA (integrated Multilevel Confirmatory Analysis) to examine the potential multilevel factorial structure in the complex survey data. Modeling multilevel structure for complex survey data is complicated because building a multilevel model is not an infallible statistical strategy unless the hypothesized model is close to the real data structure. Methodologists have suggested using different modeling techniques to investigate potential multilevel structure of survey data. Using iMCFA, researchers can visually set the between- and within-level factorial structure to fit MCFA, CFA and/or MAX MCFA models for complex survey data. iMCFA can then yield between- and within-level variance-covariance matrices, calculate intraclass correlations, perform the analyses and generate the outputs for respective models. The summary of the analytical outputs from LISREL is gathered and tabulated for further model comparison and interpretation. iMCFA also provides LISREL syntax of different models for researchers' future use. An empirical and a simulated multilevel dataset with complex and simple structures in the within or between level was used to illustrate the usability and the effectiveness of the iMCFA procedure on analyzing complex survey data. The analytic results of iMCFA using Muthen's limited information estimator were compared with those of Mplus using Full Information Maximum Likelihood regarding the effectiveness of different estimation methods.

An improved AE detection method of rail defect based on multi-level ANC with VSS-LMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xin; Cui, Yiming; Wang, Yan; Sun, Mingjian; Hu, Hengshan

2018-01-01

In order to ensure the safety and reliability of railway system, Acoustic Emission (AE) method is employed to investigate rail defect detection. However, little attention has been paid to the defect detection at high speed, especially for noise interference suppression. Based on AE technology, this paper presents an improved rail defect detection method by multi-level ANC with VSS-LMS. Multi-level noise cancellation based on SANC and ANC is utilized to eliminate complex noises at high speed, and tongue-shaped curve with index adjustment factor is proposed to enhance the performance of variable step-size algorithm. Defect signals and reference signals are acquired by the rail-wheel test rig. The features of noise signals and defect signals are analyzed for effective detection. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing with the previous study, and different filter lengths are investigated to obtain a better noise suppression performance. Meanwhile, the detection ability of the proposed method is verified at the top speed of the test rig. The results clearly illustrate that the proposed method is effective in detecting rail defects at high speed, especially for noise interference suppression.

On some variational acceleration techniques and related methods for local refinement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teigland, Rune

1998-10-01

This paper shows that the well-known variational acceleration method described by Wachspress (E. Wachspress, Iterative Solution of Elliptic Systems and Applications to the Neutron Diffusion Equations of Reactor Physics, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1966) and later generalized to multilevels (known as the additive correction multigrid method (B.R Huthchinson and G.D. Raithby, Numer. Heat Transf., 9, 511-537 (1986))) is similar to the FAC method of McCormick and Thomas (S.F McCormick and J.W. Thomas, Math. Comput., 46, 439-456 (1986)) and related multilevel methods. The performance of the method is demonstrated for some simple model problems using local refinement and suggestions for improving the performance of the method are given.

Nanofabrication

DOEpatents

Tuominen, Mark; Bal, Mustafa; Russell, Thomas P.; Ursache, Andrei

2007-03-13

Pathways to rapid and reliable fabrication of three-dimensional nanostructures are provided. Simple methods are described for the production of well-ordered, multilevel nanostructures. This is accomplished by patterning block copolymer templates with selective exposure to a radiation source. The resulting multi-scale lithographic template can be treated with post-fabrication steps to produce multilevel, three-dimensional, integrated nanoscale media, devices, and systems.

Multilevel Multidimensional Item Response Model with a Multilevel Latent Covariate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cho, Sun-Joo; Bottge, Brian A.

2015-01-01

In a pretest-posttest cluster-randomized trial, one of the methods commonly used to detect an intervention effect involves controlling pre-test scores and other related covariates while estimating an intervention effect at post-test. In many applications in education, the total post-test and pre-test scores that ignores measurement error in the…

Pretest-Posttest-Posttest Multilevel IRT Modeling of Competence Growth of Students in Higher Education in Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, Susanne; Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, Olga; Fox, Jean-Paul

2016-01-01

Longitudinal research in higher education faces several challenges. Appropriate methods of analyzing competence growth of students are needed to deal with those challenges and thereby obtain valid results. In this article, a pretest-posttest-posttest multivariate multilevel IRT model for repeated measures is introduced which is designed to address…

Multilevel Latent Class Analysis: An Application of Adolescent Smoking Typologies with Individual and Contextual Predictors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henry, Kimberly L.; Muthen, Bengt

2010-01-01

Latent class analysis (LCA) is a statistical method used to identify subtypes of related cases using a set of categorical or continuous observed variables. Traditional LCA assumes that observations are independent. However, multilevel data structures are common in social and behavioral research and alternative strategies are needed. In this…

DIF Analysis with Multilevel Data: A Simulation Study Using the Latent Variable Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jin, Ying; Eason, Hershel

2016-01-01

The effects of mean ability difference (MAD) and short tests on the performance of various DIF methods have been studied extensively in previous simulation studies. Their effects, however, have not been studied under multilevel data structure. MAD was frequently observed in large-scale cross-country comparison studies where the primary sampling…

When Cannabis Is Available and Visible at School--A Multilevel Analysis of Students' Cannabis Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuntsche, Emmanuel

2010-01-01

Aims: To investigate the links between the visibility of cannabis use in school (measured by teachers' reports of students being under the influence of cannabis on school premises), the proportion of cannabis users in the class, perceived availability of cannabis, as well as adolescent cannabis use. Methods: A multilevel regression model was…

A Multilevel Analysis of the Relationship between Shared Leadership and Creativity in Inter-Organizational Teams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gu, Jibao; Chen, Zhi; Huang, Qian; Liu, Hefu; Huang, Shenglan

2018-01-01

An inter-organizational team, which consists of diverse members from different organizations to conduct an initiative, has been widely treated as a critical method to improve organizational innovation. This study proposes a multilevel model to test the relationship between shared leadership and creativity at both team- and individual level in the…

Asymptotic Effect of Misspecification in the Random Part of the Multilevel Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berkhof, Johannes; Kampen, Jarl Kennard

2004-01-01

The authors examine the asymptotic effect of omitting a random coefficient in the multilevel model and derive expressions for the change in (a) the variance components estimator and (b) the estimated variance of the fixed effects estimator. They apply the method of moments, which yields a closed form expression for the omission effect. In…

Multilevel Modeling in the Presence of Outliers: A Comparison of Robust Estimation Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Finch, Holmes

2017-01-01

Multilevel models (MLMs) have proven themselves to be very useful in social science research, as data from a variety of sources is sampled such that individuals at level-1 are nested within clusters such as schools, hospitals, counseling centers, and business entities at level-2. MLMs using restricted maximum likelihood estimation (REML) provide…

Multilevel Analyses of School and Children's Characteristics Associated with Physical Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gomes, Thayse Natacha; dos Santos, Fernanda K.; Zhu, Weimo; Eisenmann, Joey; Maia, José A. R.

2014-01-01

Background: Children spend most of their awake time at school, and it is important to identify individual and school-level correlates of their physical activity (PA) levels. This study aimed to identify the between-school variability in Portuguese children PA and to investigate student and school PA correlates using multilevel modeling. Methods:…

Enabling multi-level relevance feedback on PubMed by integrating rank learning into DBMS.

PubMed

Yu, Hwanjo; Kim, Taehoon; Oh, Jinoh; Ko, Ilhwan; Kim, Sungchul; Han, Wook-Shin

2010-04-16

Finding relevant articles from PubMed is challenging because it is hard to express the user's specific intention in the given query interface, and a keyword query typically retrieves a large number of results. Researchers have applied machine learning techniques to find relevant articles by ranking the articles according to the learned relevance function. However, the process of learning and ranking is usually done offline without integrated with the keyword queries, and the users have to provide a large amount of training documents to get a reasonable learning accuracy. This paper proposes a novel multi-level relevance feedback system for PubMed, called RefMed, which supports both ad-hoc keyword queries and a multi-level relevance feedback in real time on PubMed. RefMed supports a multi-level relevance feedback by using the RankSVM as the learning method, and thus it achieves higher accuracy with less feedback. RefMed "tightly" integrates the RankSVM into RDBMS to support both keyword queries and the multi-level relevance feedback in real time; the tight coupling of the RankSVM and DBMS substantially improves the processing time. An efficient parameter selection method for the RankSVM is also proposed, which tunes the RankSVM parameter without performing validation. Thereby, RefMed achieves a high learning accuracy in real time without performing a validation process. RefMed is accessible at http://dm.postech.ac.kr/refmed. RefMed is the first multi-level relevance feedback system for PubMed, which achieves a high accuracy with less feedback. It effectively learns an accurate relevance function from the user's feedback and efficiently processes the function to return relevant articles in real time.

Enabling multi-level relevance feedback on PubMed by integrating rank learning into DBMS

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Finding relevant articles from PubMed is challenging because it is hard to express the user's specific intention in the given query interface, and a keyword query typically retrieves a large number of results. Researchers have applied machine learning techniques to find relevant articles by ranking the articles according to the learned relevance function. However, the process of learning and ranking is usually done offline without integrated with the keyword queries, and the users have to provide a large amount of training documents to get a reasonable learning accuracy. This paper proposes a novel multi-level relevance feedback system for PubMed, called RefMed, which supports both ad-hoc keyword queries and a multi-level relevance feedback in real time on PubMed. Results RefMed supports a multi-level relevance feedback by using the RankSVM as the learning method, and thus it achieves higher accuracy with less feedback. RefMed "tightly" integrates the RankSVM into RDBMS to support both keyword queries and the multi-level relevance feedback in real time; the tight coupling of the RankSVM and DBMS substantially improves the processing time. An efficient parameter selection method for the RankSVM is also proposed, which tunes the RankSVM parameter without performing validation. Thereby, RefMed achieves a high learning accuracy in real time without performing a validation process. RefMed is accessible at http://dm.postech.ac.kr/refmed. Conclusions RefMed is the first multi-level relevance feedback system for PubMed, which achieves a high accuracy with less feedback. It effectively learns an accurate relevance function from the user’s feedback and efficiently processes the function to return relevant articles in real time. PMID:20406504

Introducing the Event Related Fixed Interval Area (ERFIA) Multilevel Technique: a Method to Analyze the Complete Epoch of Event-Related Potentials at Single Trial Level

PubMed Central

Vossen, Catherine J.; Vossen, Helen G. M.; Marcus, Marco A. E.; van Os, Jim; Lousberg, Richel

2013-01-01

In analyzing time-locked event-related potentials (ERPs), many studies have focused on specific peaks and their differences between experimental conditions. In theory, each latency point after a stimulus contains potentially meaningful information, regardless of whether it is peak-related. Based on this assumption, we introduce a new concept which allows for flexible investigation of the whole epoch and does not primarily focus on peaks and their corresponding latencies. For each trial, the entire epoch is partitioned into event-related fixed-interval areas under the curve (ERFIAs). These ERFIAs, obtained at single trial level, act as dependent variables in a multilevel random regression analysis. The ERFIA multilevel method was tested in an existing ERP dataset of 85 healthy subjects, who underwent a rating paradigm of 150 painful and non-painful somatosensory electrical stimuli. We modeled the variability of each consecutive ERFIA with a set of predictor variables among which were stimulus intensity and stimulus number. Furthermore, we corrected for latency variations of the P2 (260 ms). With respect to known relationships between stimulus intensity, habituation, and pain-related somatosensory ERP, the ERFIA method generated highly comparable results to those of commonly used methods. Notably, effects on stimulus intensity and habituation were also observed in non-peak-related latency ranges. Further, cortical processing of actual stimulus intensity depended on the intensity of the previous stimulus, which may reflect pain-memory processing. In conclusion, the ERFIA multilevel method is a promising tool that can be used to study event-related cortical processing. PMID:24224018

The Effect of Experimental Geometry and Initial Conditions on the Shape of Coherent Population Trapping Resonances on the Fine Structure Levels of Thallium Atoms

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

Karagodova, T.Ya.

2005-06-15

Specific features of the coherent population trapping effect are considered in the generalized {lambda} system whose lower levels are the magnetic sublevels of the fine structure levels of the thallium atom. Numerical experiments were performed aimed at examination of the coherent population trapping for the case of nontrivial, but feasible, initial populations of the upper metastable fine structure level. Such populations may be obtained, for example, due to the photodissociation of TlBr molecules. The possibility of reducing the number of resonances of the coherent population trapping in a multilevel system, which may be useful for high-resolution spectroscopy, is demonstrated. Itmore » is shown that the magnitude and shape of the resonances can be controlled by varying the orientation of the polarization vectors of the light field components with respect to each other and to a magnetic field. In addition, studying the shape of the coherent population trapping resonances for the atoms obtained by photodissociation of molecules may provide information about these molecules.« less

Multi-level meta-workflows: new concept for regularly occurring tasks in quantum chemistry.

PubMed

Arshad, Junaid; Hoffmann, Alexander; Gesing, Sandra; Grunzke, Richard; Krüger, Jens; Kiss, Tamas; Herres-Pawlis, Sonja; Terstyanszky, Gabor

2016-01-01

In Quantum Chemistry, many tasks are reoccurring frequently, e.g. geometry optimizations, benchmarking series etc. Here, workflows can help to reduce the time of manual job definition and output extraction. These workflows are executed on computing infrastructures and may require large computing and data resources. Scientific workflows hide these infrastructures and the resources needed to run them. It requires significant efforts and specific expertise to design, implement and test these workflows. Many of these workflows are complex and monolithic entities that can be used for particular scientific experiments. Hence, their modification is not straightforward and it makes almost impossible to share them. To address these issues we propose developing atomic workflows and embedding them in meta-workflows. Atomic workflows deliver a well-defined research domain specific function. Publishing workflows in repositories enables workflow sharing inside and/or among scientific communities. We formally specify atomic and meta-workflows in order to define data structures to be used in repositories for uploading and sharing them. Additionally, we present a formal description focused at orchestration of atomic workflows into meta-workflows. We investigated the operations that represent basic functionalities in Quantum Chemistry, developed the relevant atomic workflows and combined them into meta-workflows. Having these workflows we defined the structure of the Quantum Chemistry workflow library and uploaded these workflows in the SHIWA Workflow Repository.Graphical AbstractMeta-workflows and embedded workflows in the template representation.

High performance SONOS flash memory with in-situ silicon nanocrystals embedded in silicon nitride charge trapping layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Jae-Gab; Yang, Seung-Dong; Yun, Ho-Jin; Jung, Jun-Kyo; Park, Jung-Hyun; Lim, Chan; Cho, Gyu-seok; Park, Seong-gye; Huh, Chul; Lee, Hi-Deok; Lee, Ga-Won

2018-02-01

In this paper, SONOS-type flash memory device with highly improved charge-trapping efficiency is suggested by using silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs) embedded in silicon nitride (SiNX) charge trapping layer. The Si-NCs were in-situ grown by PECVD without additional post annealing process. The fabricated device shows high program/erase speed and retention property which is suitable for multi-level cell (MLC) application. Excellent performance and reliability for MLC are demonstrated with large memory window of ∼8.5 V and superior retention characteristics of 7% charge loss for 10 years. High resolution transmission electron microscopy image confirms the Si-NC formation and the size is around 1-2 nm which can be verified again in X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) where pure Si bonds increase. Besides, XPS analysis implies that more nitrogen atoms make stable bonds at the regular lattice point. Photoluminescence spectra results also illustrate that Si-NCs formation in SiNx is an effective method to form deep trap states.

Joint modelling compared with two stage methods for analysing longitudinal data and prospective outcomes: A simulation study of childhood growth and BP.

PubMed

Sayers, A; Heron, J; Smith, Adac; Macdonald-Wallis, C; Gilthorpe, M S; Steele, F; Tilling, K

2017-02-01

There is a growing debate with regards to the appropriate methods of analysis of growth trajectories and their association with prospective dependent outcomes. Using the example of childhood growth and adult BP, we conducted an extensive simulation study to explore four two-stage and two joint modelling methods, and compared their bias and coverage in estimation of the (unconditional) association between birth length and later BP, and the association between growth rate and later BP (conditional on birth length). We show that the two-stage method of using multilevel models to estimate growth parameters and relating these to outcome gives unbiased estimates of the conditional associations between growth and outcome. Using simulations, we demonstrate that the simple methods resulted in bias in the presence of measurement error, as did the two-stage multilevel method when looking at the total (unconditional) association of birth length with outcome. The two joint modelling methods gave unbiased results, but using the re-inflated residuals led to undercoverage of the confidence intervals. We conclude that either joint modelling or the simpler two-stage multilevel approach can be used to estimate conditional associations between growth and later outcomes, but that only joint modelling is unbiased with nominal coverage for unconditional associations.

The Role of School Culture and Basic Psychological Needs on Iranian Adolescents' Academic Alienation: A Multi-Level Examination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahmoudi, Hojjat; Brown, Monica R.; Amani Saribagloo, Javad; Dadashzadeh, Shiva

2018-01-01

This aim of this current research was a multi-level analysis of the relationship between school culture, basic psychological needs, and adolescents' academic alienation. One thousand twenty-nine (N = 1,029) high school students from Qom City were randomly selected through a multi-phase cluster sampling method and answered questions regarding…

Multi-level optimization of a beam-like space truss utilizing a continuum model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yates, K.; Gurdal, Z.; Thangjitham, S.

1992-01-01

A continuous beam model is developed for approximate analysis of a large, slender, beam-like truss. The model is incorporated in a multi-level optimization scheme for the weight minimization of such trusses. This scheme is tested against traditional optimization procedures for savings in computational cost. Results from both optimization methods are presented for comparison.

Multilevel Analysis of the Impact of School-Level Tobacco Policies on Adolescent Smoking: The Case of Michigan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paek, Hye-Jin; Hove, Thomas; Oh, Hyun Jung

2013-01-01

Background: In efforts to curb and prevent youth smoking, school tobacco policies have become an important and effective strategy. This study explores the degrees and types of tobacco-free school policy (TFSP) enforcement that are associated with adolescent smoking. Methods: A multilevel analysis was performed using 983 students who are nested in…

Estimating Multi-Level Discrete-Time Hazard Models Using Cross-Sectional Data: Neighborhood Effects on the Onset of Adolescent Cigarette Use.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reardon, Sean F.; Brennan, Robert T.; Buka, Stephen L.

2002-01-01

Developed procedures for constructing a retrospective person-period data set from cross-sectional data and discusses modeling strategies for estimating multilevel discrete-time event history models. Applied the methods to the analysis of cigarette use by 1,979 urban adolescents. Results show the influence of the racial composition of the…

The Effect of Small Sample Size on Two-Level Model Estimates: A Review and Illustration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNeish, Daniel M.; Stapleton, Laura M.

2016-01-01

Multilevel models are an increasingly popular method to analyze data that originate from a clustered or hierarchical structure. To effectively utilize multilevel models, one must have an adequately large number of clusters; otherwise, some model parameters will be estimated with bias. The goals for this paper are to (1) raise awareness of the…

Are Environmental Influences on Physical Activity Distinct for Urban, Suburban, and Rural Schools? A Multilevel Study among Secondary School Students in Ontario, Canada

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hobin, Erin P.; Leatherdale, Scott; Manske, Steve; Dubin, Joel A.; Elliott, Susan; Veugelers, Paul

2013-01-01

Background: This study examined differences in students' time spent in physical activity (PA) across secondary schools in rural, suburban, and urban environments and identified the environment-level factors associated with these between school differences in students' PA. Methods: Multilevel linear regression analyses were used to examine the…

Modeling of Academic Achievement of Primary School Students in Ethiopia Using Bayesian Multilevel Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sebro, Negusse Yohannes; Goshu, Ayele Taye

2017-01-01

This study aims to explore Bayesian multilevel modeling to investigate variations of average academic achievement of grade eight school students. A sample of 636 students is randomly selected from 26 private and government schools by a two-stage stratified sampling design. Bayesian method is used to estimate the fixed and random effects. Input and…

Constructing and validating readability models: the method of integrating multilevel linguistic features with machine learning.

PubMed

Sung, Yao-Ting; Chen, Ju-Ling; Cha, Ji-Her; Tseng, Hou-Chiang; Chang, Tao-Hsing; Chang, Kuo-En

2015-06-01

Multilevel linguistic features have been proposed for discourse analysis, but there have been few applications of multilevel linguistic features to readability models and also few validations of such models. Most traditional readability formulae are based on generalized linear models (GLMs; e.g., discriminant analysis and multiple regression), but these models have to comply with certain statistical assumptions about data properties and include all of the data in formulae construction without pruning the outliers in advance. The use of such readability formulae tends to produce a low text classification accuracy, while using a support vector machine (SVM) in machine learning can enhance the classification outcome. The present study constructed readability models by integrating multilevel linguistic features with SVM, which is more appropriate for text classification. Taking the Chinese language as an example, this study developed 31 linguistic features as the predicting variables at the word, semantic, syntax, and cohesion levels, with grade levels of texts as the criterion variable. The study compared four types of readability models by integrating unilevel and multilevel linguistic features with GLMs and an SVM. The results indicate that adopting a multilevel approach in readability analysis provides a better representation of the complexities of both texts and the reading comprehension process.

Multidisciplinary design and analytic approaches to advance prospective research on the multilevel determinants of child health.

PubMed

Johnson, Sara B; Little, Todd D; Masyn, Katherine; Mehta, Paras D; Ghazarian, Sharon R

2017-06-01

Characterizing the determinants of child health and development over time, and identifying the mechanisms by which these determinants operate, is a research priority. The growth of precision medicine has increased awareness and refinement of conceptual frameworks, data management systems, and analytic methods for multilevel data. This article reviews key methodological challenges in cohort studies designed to investigate multilevel influences on child health and strategies to address them. We review and summarize methodological challenges that could undermine prospective studies of the multilevel determinants of child health and ways to address them, borrowing approaches from the social and behavioral sciences. Nested data, variation in intervals of data collection and assessment, missing data, construct measurement across development and reporters, and unobserved population heterogeneity pose challenges in prospective multilevel cohort studies with children. We discuss innovations in missing data, innovations in person-oriented analyses, and innovations in multilevel modeling to address these challenges. Study design and analytic approaches that facilitate the integration across multiple levels, and that account for changes in people and the multiple, dynamic, nested systems in which they participate over time, are crucial to fully realize the promise of precision medicine for children and adolescents. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Coherent Population Trapping in a Superconducting Phase Qubit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelly, William R.; Dutton, Zachary; Ohki, Thomas A.; Schlafer, John; Mookerji, Bhaskar; Kline, Jeffery S.; Pappas, David P.

2010-03-01

The phenomenon of Coherent Population Trapping (CPT) of an atom (or solid state ``artificial atom''), and the associated effect of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT), are clear demonstrations of quantum interference due to coherence in multi-level quantum systems. We report observation of CPT in a superconducting phase qubit by simultaneously driving two coherent transitions in a λ-type configuration, utilizing the three lowest lying levels of a local minimum of the phase qubit. We observe ˜60% suppression of excited state population under conditions of two-photon resonance, where EIT and CPT are expected to occur. We present data and matching theoretical simulations showing the development of CPT in time. We also used the observed time dependence of the excited state population to characterize quantum dephasing times of the system, as predicted in [1]. [1] K.V. Murali, Z. Dutton, W.D. Oliver, D.S. Crankshaw, and T.P.Orlando, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 087003 (2004).

Ultrathin Nonlinear Metasurface for Optical Image Encoding.

PubMed

Walter, Felicitas; Li, Guixin; Meier, Cedrik; Zhang, Shuang; Zentgraf, Thomas

2017-05-10

Security of optical information is of great importance in modern society. Many cryptography techniques based on classical and quantum optics have been widely explored in the linear optical regime. Nonlinear optical encryption in which encoding and decoding involve nonlinear frequency conversions represents a new strategy for securing optical information. Here, we demonstrate that an ultrathin nonlinear photonic metasurface, consisting of meta-atoms with 3-fold rotational symmetry, can be used to hide optical images under illumination with a fundamental wave. However, the hidden image can be read out from second harmonic generation (SHG) waves. This is achieved by controlling the destructive and constructive interferences of SHG waves from two neighboring meta-atoms. In addition, we apply this concept to obtain gray scale SHG imaging. Nonlinear metasurfaces based on space variant optical interference open new avenues for multilevel image encryption, anticounterfeiting, and background free image reconstruction.

The use of simple reparameterizations to improve the efficiency of Markov chain Monte Carlo estimation for multilevel models with applications to discrete time survival models.

PubMed

Browne, William J; Steele, Fiona; Golalizadeh, Mousa; Green, Martin J

2009-06-01

We consider the application of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation methods to random-effects models and in particular the family of discrete time survival models. Survival models can be used in many situations in the medical and social sciences and we illustrate their use through two examples that differ in terms of both substantive area and data structure. A multilevel discrete time survival analysis involves expanding the data set so that the model can be cast as a standard multilevel binary response model. For such models it has been shown that MCMC methods have advantages in terms of reducing estimate bias. However, the data expansion results in very large data sets for which MCMC estimation is often slow and can produce chains that exhibit poor mixing. Any way of improving the mixing will result in both speeding up the methods and more confidence in the estimates that are produced. The MCMC methodological literature is full of alternative algorithms designed to improve mixing of chains and we describe three reparameterization techniques that are easy to implement in available software. We consider two examples of multilevel survival analysis: incidence of mastitis in dairy cattle and contraceptive use dynamics in Indonesia. For each application we show where the reparameterization techniques can be used and assess their performance.

Design of shared unit-dose drug distribution network using multi-level particle swarm optimization.

PubMed

Chen, Linjie; Monteiro, Thibaud; Wang, Tao; Marcon, Eric

2018-03-01

Unit-dose drug distribution systems provide optimal choices in terms of medication security and efficiency for organizing the drug-use process in large hospitals. As small hospitals have to share such automatic systems for economic reasons, the structure of their logistic organization becomes a very sensitive issue. In the research reported here, we develop a generalized multi-level optimization method - multi-level particle swarm optimization (MLPSO) - to design a shared unit-dose drug distribution network. Structurally, the problem studied can be considered as a type of capacitated location-routing problem (CLRP) with new constraints related to specific production planning. This kind of problem implies that a multi-level optimization should be performed in order to minimize logistic operating costs. Our results show that with the proposed algorithm, a more suitable modeling framework, as well as computational time savings and better optimization performance are obtained than that reported in the literature on this subject.

Structural optimization by multilevel decomposition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sobieszczanski-Sobieski, J.; James, B.; Dovi, A.

1983-01-01

A method is described for decomposing an optimization problem into a set of subproblems and a coordination problem which preserves coupling between the subproblems. The method is introduced as a special case of multilevel, multidisciplinary system optimization and its algorithm is fully described for two level optimization for structures assembled of finite elements of arbitrary type. Numerical results are given for an example of a framework to show that the decomposition method converges and yields results comparable to those obtained without decomposition. It is pointed out that optimization by decomposition should reduce the design time by allowing groups of engineers, using different computers to work concurrently on the same large problem.

FAMBE-pH: A Fast and Accurate Method to Compute the Total Solvation Free Energies of Proteins

PubMed Central

Vorobjev, Yury N.; Vila, Jorge A.

2009-01-01

A fast and accurate method to compute the total solvation free energies of proteins as a function of pH is presented. The method makes use of a combination of approaches, some of which have already appeared in the literature; (i) the Poisson equation is solved with an optimized fast adaptive multigrid boundary element (FAMBE) method; (ii) the electrostatic free energies of the ionizable sites are calculated for their neutral and charged states by using a detailed model of atomic charges; (iii) a set of optimal atomic radii is used to define a precise dielectric surface interface; (iv) a multilevel adaptive tessellation of this dielectric surface interface is achieved by using multisized boundary elements; and (v) 1:1 salt effects are included. The equilibrium proton binding/release is calculated with the Tanford–Schellman integral if the proteins contain more than ∼20–25 ionizable groups; for a smaller number of ionizable groups, the ionization partition function is calculated directly. The FAMBE method is tested as a function of pH (FAMBE-pH) with three proteins, namely, bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI), hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL), and bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A (RNaseA). The results are (a) the FAMBE-pH method reproduces the observed pKa's of the ionizable groups of these proteins within an average absolute value of 0.4 pK units and a maximum error of 1.2 pK units and (b) comparison of the calculated total pH-dependent solvation free energy for BPTI, between the exact calculation of the ionization partition function and the Tanford–Schellman integral method, shows agreement within 1.2 kcal/mol. These results indicate that calculation of total solvation free energies with the FAMBE-pH method can provide an accurate prediction of protein conformational stability at a given fixed pH and, if coupled with molecular mechanics or molecular dynamics methods, can also be used for more realistic studies of protein folding, unfolding, and dynamics, as a function of pH. PMID:18683966

The Effects of Including Observed Means or Latent Means as Covariates in Multilevel Models for Cluster Randomized Trials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aydin, Burak; Leite, Walter L.; Algina, James

2016-01-01

We investigated methods of including covariates in two-level models for cluster randomized trials to increase power to detect the treatment effect. We compared multilevel models that included either an observed cluster mean or a latent cluster mean as a covariate, as well as the effect of including Level 1 deviation scores in the model. A Monte…

Examining Brain Morphometry Associated with Self-Esteem in Young Adults Using Multilevel-ROI-Features-Based Classification Method

PubMed Central

Peng, Bo; Lu, Jieru; Saxena, Aditya; Zhou, Zhiyong; Zhang, Tao; Wang, Suhong; Dai, Yakang

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study is to exam self-esteem related brain morphometry on brain magnetic resonance (MR) images using multilevel-features-based classification method. Method: The multilevel region of interest (ROI) features consist of two types of features: (i) ROI features, which include gray matter volume, white matter volume, cerebrospinal fluid volume, cortical thickness, and cortical surface area, and (ii) similarity features, which are based on similarity calculation of cortical thickness between ROIs. For each feature type, a hybrid feature selection method, comprising of filter-based and wrapper-based algorithms, is used to select the most discriminating features. ROI features and similarity features are integrated by using multi-kernel support vector machines (SVMs) with appropriate weighting factor. Results: The classification performance is improved by using multilevel ROI features with an accuracy of 96.66%, a specificity of 96.62%, and a sensitivity of 95.67%. The most discriminating ROI features that are related to self-esteem spread over occipital lobe, frontal lobe, parietal lobe, limbic lobe, temporal lobe, and central region, mainly involving white matter and cortical thickness. The most discriminating similarity features are distributed in both the right and left hemisphere, including frontal lobe, occipital lobe, limbic lobe, parietal lobe, and central region, which conveys information of structural connections between different brain regions. Conclusion: By using ROI features and similarity features to exam self-esteem related brain morphometry, this paper provides a pilot evidence that self-esteem is linked to specific ROIs and structural connections between different brain regions. PMID:28588470

Examining Brain Morphometry Associated with Self-Esteem in Young Adults Using Multilevel-ROI-Features-Based Classification Method.

PubMed

Peng, Bo; Lu, Jieru; Saxena, Aditya; Zhou, Zhiyong; Zhang, Tao; Wang, Suhong; Dai, Yakang

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study is to exam self-esteem related brain morphometry on brain magnetic resonance (MR) images using multilevel-features-based classification method. Method: The multilevel region of interest (ROI) features consist of two types of features: (i) ROI features, which include gray matter volume, white matter volume, cerebrospinal fluid volume, cortical thickness, and cortical surface area, and (ii) similarity features, which are based on similarity calculation of cortical thickness between ROIs. For each feature type, a hybrid feature selection method, comprising of filter-based and wrapper-based algorithms, is used to select the most discriminating features. ROI features and similarity features are integrated by using multi-kernel support vector machines (SVMs) with appropriate weighting factor. Results: The classification performance is improved by using multilevel ROI features with an accuracy of 96.66%, a specificity of 96.62%, and a sensitivity of 95.67%. The most discriminating ROI features that are related to self-esteem spread over occipital lobe, frontal lobe, parietal lobe, limbic lobe, temporal lobe, and central region, mainly involving white matter and cortical thickness. The most discriminating similarity features are distributed in both the right and left hemisphere, including frontal lobe, occipital lobe, limbic lobe, parietal lobe, and central region, which conveys information of structural connections between different brain regions. Conclusion: By using ROI features and similarity features to exam self-esteem related brain morphometry, this paper provides a pilot evidence that self-esteem is linked to specific ROIs and structural connections between different brain regions.

Teleportation between distant qudits via scattering of mobile qubits

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

Ciccarello, Francesco; Zarcone, Michelangelo; Bose, Sougato

2010-04-15

We consider a one-dimensional structure where noninteracting spin-s scattering centers, such as quantum impurities or multilevel atoms, are embedded at given positions. We show that the injection into the structure of unpolarized flying qubits, such as electrons or photons, along with path detection suffice to accomplish spin-state teleportation between two centers via a third ancillary one. No action over the internal quantum state of both the spin-s particles and the flying qubits is required. The protocol enables the transfer of quantum information between well-separated static entities in nanostructures by exploiting a very low control mechanism, namely scattering.

3D GGO candidate extraction in lung CT images using multilevel thresholding on supervoxels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Shan; Liu, Xiabi; Han, Guanghui; Zhao, Xinming; Zhao, Yanfeng; Zhou, Chunwu

2018-02-01

The earlier detection of ground glass opacity (GGO) is of great importance since GGOs are more likely to be malignant than solid nodules. However, the detection of GGO is a difficult task in lung cancer screening. This paper proposes a novel GGO candidate extraction method, which performs multilevel thresholding on supervoxels in 3D lung CT images. Firstly, we segment the lung parenchyma based on Otsu algorithm. Secondly, the voxels which are adjacent in 3D discrete space and sharing similar grayscale are clustered into supervoxels. This procedure is used to enhance GGOs and reduce computational complexity. Thirdly, Hessian matrix is used to emphasize focal GGO candidates. Lastly, an improved adaptive multilevel thresholding method is applied on segmented clusters to extract GGO candidates. The proposed method was evaluated on a set of 19 lung CT scans containing 166 GGO lesions from the Lung CT Imaging Signs (LISS) database. The experimental results show that our proposed GGO candidate extraction method is effective, with a sensitivity of 100% and 26.3 of false positives per scan (665 GGO candidates, 499 non-GGO regions and 166 GGO regions). It can handle both focal GGOs and diffuse GGOs.

Overcoming pain thresholds with multilevel models-an example using quantitative sensory testing (QST) data.

PubMed

Hirschfeld, Gerrit; Blankenburg, Markus R; Süß, Moritz; Zernikow, Boris

2015-01-01

The assessment of somatosensory function is a cornerstone of research and clinical practice in neurology. Recent initiatives have developed novel protocols for quantitative sensory testing (QST). Application of these methods led to intriguing findings, such as the presence lower pain-thresholds in healthy children compared to healthy adolescents. In this article, we (re-) introduce the basic concepts of signal detection theory (SDT) as a method to investigate such differences in somatosensory function in detail. SDT describes participants' responses according to two parameters, sensitivity and response-bias. Sensitivity refers to individuals' ability to discriminate between painful and non-painful stimulations. Response-bias refers to individuals' criterion for giving a "painful" response. We describe how multilevel models can be used to estimate these parameters and to overcome central critiques of these methods. To provide an example we apply these methods to data from the mechanical pain sensitivity test of the QST protocol. The results show that adolescents are more sensitive to mechanical pain and contradict the idea that younger children simply use more lenient criteria to report pain. Overall, we hope that the wider use of multilevel modeling to describe somatosensory functioning may advance neurology research and practice.

Multi-Level Bitmap Indexes for Flash Memory Storage

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

Wu, Kesheng; Madduri, Kamesh; Canon, Shane

2010-07-23

Due to their low access latency, high read speed, and power-efficient operation, flash memory storage devices are rapidly emerging as an attractive alternative to traditional magnetic storage devices. However, tests show that the most efficient indexing methods are not able to take advantage of the flash memory storage devices. In this paper, we present a set of multi-level bitmap indexes that can effectively take advantage of flash storage devices. These indexing methods use coarsely binned indexes to answer queries approximately, and then use finely binned indexes to refine the answers. Our new methods read significantly lower volumes of data atmore » the expense of an increased disk access count, thus taking full advantage of the improved read speed and low access latency of flash devices. To demonstrate the advantage of these new indexes, we measure their performance on a number of storage systems using a standard data warehousing benchmark called the Set Query Benchmark. We observe that multi-level strategies on flash drives are up to 3 times faster than traditional indexing strategies on magnetic disk drives.« less

Multilevel cervical laminectomy and fusion with posterior cervical cages

PubMed Central

Bou Monsef, Jad N; Siemionow, Krzysztof B

2017-01-01

Context: Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is a progressive disease that can result in significant disability. Single-level stenosis can be effectively decompressed through either anterior or posterior techniques. However, multilevel pathology can be challenging, especially in the presence of significant spinal stenosis. Three-level anterior decompression and fusion are associated with higher nonunion rates and prolonged dysphagia. Posterior multilevel laminectomies with foraminotomies jeopardize the bone stock required for stable fixation with lateral mass screws (LMSs). Aims: This is the first case series of multilevel laminectomy and fusion for CSM instrumented with posterior cervical cages. Settings and Design: Three patients presented with a history of worsening neck pain, numbness in bilateral upper extremities and gait disturbance, and examination findings consistent with myeloradiculopathy. Cervical magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated multilevel spondylosis resulting in moderate to severe bilateral foraminal stenosis at three cervical levels. Materials and Methods: The patients underwent a multilevel posterior cervical laminectomy and instrumented fusion with intervertebral cages placed between bilateral facet joints over three levels. Oswestry disability index and visual analog scores were collected preoperatively and at each follow-up. Pre- and post-operative images were analyzed for changes in cervical alignment and presence of arthrodesis. Results: Postoperatively, all patients showed marked improvement in neurological symptoms and neck pain. They had full resolution of radicular symptoms by 6 weeks postoperatively. At 12-month follow-up, they demonstrated solid arthrodesis on X-rays and computed tomography scan. Conclusions: Posterior cervical cages may be an alternative option to LMSs in multilevel cervical laminectomy and fusion for cervical spondylotic myeloradiculopathy. PMID:29403242

Tunable two-dimensional arrays of single Rydberg atoms for realizing quantum Ising models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Labuhn, Henning; Barredo, Daniel; Ravets, Sylvain; de Léséleuc, Sylvain; Macrì, Tommaso; Lahaye, Thierry; Browaeys, Antoine

2016-06-01

Spin models are the prime example of simplified many-body Hamiltonians used to model complex, strongly correlated real-world materials. However, despite the simplified character of such models, their dynamics often cannot be simulated exactly on classical computers when the number of particles exceeds a few tens. For this reason, quantum simulation of spin Hamiltonians using the tools of atomic and molecular physics has become a very active field over the past years, using ultracold atoms or molecules in optical lattices, or trapped ions. All of these approaches have their own strengths and limitations. Here we report an alternative platform for the study of spin systems, using individual atoms trapped in tunable two-dimensional arrays of optical microtraps with arbitrary geometries, where filling fractions range from 60 to 100 per cent. When excited to high-energy Rydberg D states, the atoms undergo strong interactions whose anisotropic character opens the way to simulating exotic matter. We illustrate the versatility of our system by studying the dynamics of a quantum Ising-like spin-1/2 system in a transverse field with up to 30 spins, for a variety of geometries in one and two dimensions, and for a wide range of interaction strengths. For geometries where the anisotropy is expected to have small effects on the dynamics, we find excellent agreement with ab initio simulations of the spin-1/2 system, while for strongly anisotropic situations the multilevel structure of the D states has a measurable influence. Our findings establish arrays of single Rydberg atoms as a versatile platform for the study of quantum magnetism.

Using multilevel modeling to assess case-mix adjusters in consumer experience surveys in health care.

PubMed

Damman, Olga C; Stubbe, Janine H; Hendriks, Michelle; Arah, Onyebuchi A; Spreeuwenberg, Peter; Delnoij, Diana M J; Groenewegen, Peter P

2009-04-01

Ratings on the quality of healthcare from the consumer's perspective need to be adjusted for consumer characteristics to ensure fair and accurate comparisons between healthcare providers or health plans. Although multilevel analysis is already considered an appropriate method for analyzing healthcare performance data, it has rarely been used to assess case-mix adjustment of such data. The purpose of this article is to investigate whether multilevel regression analysis is a useful tool to detect case-mix adjusters in consumer assessment of healthcare. We used data on 11,539 consumers from 27 Dutch health plans, which were collected using the Dutch Consumer Quality Index health plan instrument. We conducted multilevel regression analyses of consumers' responses nested within health plans to assess the effects of consumer characteristics on consumer experience. We compared our findings to the results of another methodology: the impact factor approach, which combines the predictive effect of each case-mix variable with its heterogeneity across health plans. Both multilevel regression and impact factor analyses showed that age and education were the most important case-mix adjusters for consumer experience and ratings of health plans. With the exception of age, case-mix adjustment had little impact on the ranking of health plans. On both theoretical and practical grounds, multilevel modeling is useful for adequate case-mix adjustment and analysis of performance ratings.

A dynamic multi-level optimal design method with embedded finite-element modeling for power transformers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yunpeng; Ho, Siu-lau; Fu, Weinong

2018-05-01

This paper proposes a dynamic multi-level optimal design method for power transformer design optimization (TDO) problems. A response surface generated by second-order polynomial regression analysis is updated dynamically by adding more design points, which are selected by Shifted Hammersley Method (SHM) and calculated by finite-element method (FEM). The updating stops when the accuracy requirement is satisfied, and optimized solutions of the preliminary design are derived simultaneously. The optimal design level is modulated through changing the level of error tolerance. Based on the response surface of the preliminary design, a refined optimal design is added using multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA). The effectiveness of the proposed optimal design method is validated through a classic three-phase power TDO problem.

Multi-level slug tests in highly permeable formations: 2. Hydraulic conductivity identification, method verification, and field applications

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zlotnik, V.A.; McGuire, V.L.

1998-01-01

Using the developed theory and modified Springer-Gelhar (SG) model, an identification method is proposed for estimating hydraulic conductivity from multi-level slug tests. The computerized algorithm calculates hydraulic conductivity from both monotonic and oscillatory well responses obtained using a double-packer system. Field verification of the method was performed at a specially designed fully penetrating well of 0.1-m diameter with a 10-m screen in a sand and gravel alluvial aquifer (MSEA site, Shelton, Nebraska). During well installation, disturbed core samples were collected every 0.6 m using a split-spoon sampler. Vertical profiles of hydraulic conductivity were produced on the basis of grain-size analysis of the disturbed core samples. These results closely correlate with the vertical profile of horizontal hydraulic conductivity obtained by interpreting multi-level slug test responses using the modified SG model. The identification method was applied to interpret the response from 474 slug tests in 156 locations at the MSEA site. More than 60% of responses were oscillatory. The method produced a good match to experimental data for both oscillatory and monotonic responses using an automated curve matching procedure. The proposed method allowed us to drastically increase the efficiency of each well used for aquifer characterization and to process massive arrays of field data. Recommendations generalizing this experience to massive application of the proposed method are developed.Using the developed theory and modified Springer-Gelhar (SG) model, an identification method is proposed for estimating hydraulic conductivity from multi-level slug tests. The computerized algorithm calculates hydraulic conductivity from both monotonic and oscillatory well responses obtained using a double-packer system. Field verification of the method was performed at a specially designed fully penetrating well of 0.1-m diameter with a 10-m screen in a sand and gravel alluvial aquifer (MSEA site, Shelton, Nebraska). During well installation, disturbed core samples were collected every 0.6 m using a split-spoon sampler. Vertical profiles of hydraulic conductivity were produced on the basis of grain-size analysis of the disturbed core samples. These results closely correlate with the vertical profile of horizontal hydraulic conductivity obtained by interpreting multi-level slug test responses using the modified SG model. The identification method was applied to interpret the response from 474 slug tests in 156 locations at the MSEA site. More than 60% of responses were oscillatory. The method produced a good match to experimental data for both oscillatory and monotonic responses using an automated curve matching procedure. The proposed method allowed us to drastically increase the efficiency of each well used for aquifer characterization and to process massive arrays of field data. Recommendations generalizing this experience to massive application of the proposed method are developed.

Social Capital and Health: A Review of Prospective Multilevel Studies

PubMed Central

Murayama, Hiroshi; Fujiwara, Yoshinori; Kawachi, Ichiro

2012-01-01

Background This article presents an overview of the concept of social capital, reviews prospective multilevel analytic studies of the association between social capital and health, and discusses intervention strategies that enhance social capital. Methods We conducted a systematic search of published peer-reviewed literature on the PubMed database and categorized studies according to health outcome. Results We identified 13 articles that satisfied the inclusion criteria for the review. In general, both individual social capital and area/workplace social capital had positive effects on health outcomes, regardless of study design, setting, follow-up period, or type of health outcome. Prospective studies that used a multilevel approach were mainly conducted in Western countries. Although we identified some cross-sectional multilevel studies that were conducted in Asian countries, including Japan, no prospective studies have been conducted in Asia. Conclusions Prospective evidence from multilevel analytic studies of the effect of social capital on health is very limited at present. If epidemiologic findings on the association between social capital and health are to be put to practical use, we must gather additional evidence and explore the feasibility of interventions that build social capital as a means of promoting health. PMID:22447212

Anterior Cervical Corpectomy with free vascularized fibular graft versus multilevel discectomy and grafting for Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy

PubMed Central

Addosooki, Ahmad I; El-deen, Mohamed Alam

2015-01-01

Purpose A retrospective study to compare the radiologic and clinical outcomes of 2 different anterior approaches, multilevel anterior cervical discectomy with fusion (ACDF) using autologus ticortical bone graft versus anterior cervical corpectomy with fusion (ACCF) using free vascularized fibular graft (FVFG) for the management of cervical spondylotic myelopathy(CSM). Methods A total of 15 patients who underwent ACDF or ACCF using FVFG for multilevel CSM were divided into two groups. Group A (n = 7) underwent ACDF and group B (n = 8) ACCF. Clinical outcomes using Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, perioperative parameters including operation time and hospital stay, radiological parameters including fusion rate and cervical lordosis, and complications were compared. Results Both group A and group B demonstrated significant increases in JOA scores. Patients who underwent ACDF experienced significantly shorter operation times and hospital stay. Both groups showed significant increases in postoperative cervical lordosis and achieved the same fusion rate (100 %). No major complications were encountered in both groups. Conclusion Both ACDF and ACCF using FVFG provide satisfactory clinical outcomes and fusion rates for multilevel CSM. However, multilevel ACDF is associated with better radiologic parameters, shorter hospital stay and shorter operative times. PMID:26767152

Analyzing chromatographic data using multilevel modeling.

PubMed

Wiczling, Paweł

2018-06-01

It is relatively easy to collect chromatographic measurements for a large number of analytes, especially with gradient chromatographic methods coupled with mass spectrometry detection. Such data often have a hierarchical or clustered structure. For example, analytes with similar hydrophobicity and dissociation constant tend to be more alike in their retention than a randomly chosen set of analytes. Multilevel models recognize the existence of such data structures by assigning a model for each parameter, with its parameters also estimated from data. In this work, a multilevel model is proposed to describe retention time data obtained from a series of wide linear organic modifier gradients of different gradient duration and different mobile phase pH for a large set of acids and bases. The multilevel model consists of (1) the same deterministic equation describing the relationship between retention time and analyte-specific and instrument-specific parameters, (2) covariance relationships relating various physicochemical properties of the analyte to chromatographically specific parameters through quantitative structure-retention relationship based equations, and (3) stochastic components of intra-analyte and interanalyte variability. The model was implemented in Stan, which provides full Bayesian inference for continuous-variable models through Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. Graphical abstract Relationships between log k and MeOH content for acidic, basic, and neutral compounds with different log P. CI credible interval, PSA polar surface area.

Recommendations for level-determined sampling in wells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lerner, David N.; Teutsch, Georg

1995-10-01

Level-determined samples of groundwater are increasingly important for hydrogeological studies. The techniques for collecting them range from the use of purpose drilled wells, sometimes with sophisticated dedicated multi-level samplers in them, to a variety of methods used in open wells. Open, often existing, wells are frequently used on cost grounds, but there are risks of obtaining poor and unrepresentative samples. Alternative approaches to level-determined sampling incorporate seven concepts: depth sampling; packer systems; individual wells; dedicated multi-level systems; separation pumping; baffle systems; multi-port sock samplers. These are outlined and evaluated in terms of the environment to be sampled, and the features and performance of the methods. Recommendations are offered to match methods to sampling problems.

The Life History Calendar Method and Multilevel Modeling: Application to Research on Intimate Partner Violence.

PubMed

Yoshihama, Mieko; Bybee, Deborah

2011-03-01

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is prevalent and often recurrent in women's lives. To better understand the changing risk of IPV over the life course, which could guide more effective policies and program responses, methodological innovations are needed. Life History Calendar methods enhance respondents' recall of the timing of specific types of IPV experienced over the life course. Multilevel modeling provides a way to analyze individual and collective trajectories and examine covariates of IPV risk. We apply these complementary methods to examine IPV trajectories for a sample of women of Filipina descent living in the United States, examining life course timing and cohort effects. © The Author(s) 2011.

Method of Grassland Information Extraction Based on Multi-Level Segmentation and Cart Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiao, Y.; Chen, T.; He, J.; Wen, Q.; Liu, F.; Wang, Z.

2018-04-01

It is difficult to extract grassland accurately by traditional classification methods, such as supervised method based on pixels or objects. This paper proposed a new method combing the multi-level segmentation with CART (classification and regression tree) model. The multi-level segmentation which combined the multi-resolution segmentation and the spectral difference segmentation could avoid the over and insufficient segmentation seen in the single segmentation mode. The CART model was established based on the spectral characteristics and texture feature which were excavated from training sample data. Xilinhaote City in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was chosen as the typical study area and the proposed method was verified by using visual interpretation results as approximate truth value. Meanwhile, the comparison with the nearest neighbor supervised classification method was obtained. The experimental results showed that the total precision of classification and the Kappa coefficient of the proposed method was 95 % and 0.9, respectively. However, the total precision of classification and the Kappa coefficient of the nearest neighbor supervised classification method was 80 % and 0.56, respectively. The result suggested that the accuracy of classification proposed in this paper was higher than the nearest neighbor supervised classification method. The experiment certificated that the proposed method was an effective extraction method of grassland information, which could enhance the boundary of grassland classification and avoid the restriction of grassland distribution scale. This method was also applicable to the extraction of grassland information in other regions with complicated spatial features, which could avoid the interference of woodland, arable land and water body effectively.

Resolving the structure of Ti 3C 2T x MXenes through multilevel structural modeling of the atomic pair distribution function

DOE PAGES

Wesolowski, David J.; Wang, Hsiu -Wen; Page, Katharine L.; ...

2015-12-08

MXenes are a recently discovered family of two-dimensional (2D) early transition metal carbides and carbonitrides, which have already shown many attractive properties and great promise in energy storage and many other applications. But, a complex surface chemistry and small coherence length have been obstacles in some applications of MXenes, also limiting the accuracy of predictions of their properties. In this study, we describe and benchmark a novel way of modeling layered materials with real interfaces (diverse surface functional groups and stacking order between the adjacent monolayers) against experimental data. The structures of three kinds of Ti 3C 2T x MXenesmore » (T stands for surface terminating species, including O, OH, and F) produced under different synthesis conditions were resolved for the first time using atomic pair distribution function obtained by high-quality neutron total scattering. We present the true nature of the material can be easily captured with the sensitivity of neutron scattering to the surface species of interest and the detailed “third-generation” structure model. The modeling approach leads to new understanding of MXene structural properties and can replace the currently used idealized models in predictions of a variety of physical, chemical, and functional properties of Ti 3C 2-based MXenes. Moreover, the developed models can be employed to guide the design of new MXene materials with selected surface termination and controlled contact angle, catalytic, optical, electrochemical, and other properties. Finally, we suggest that the multilevel structural modeling should form the basis for a generalized methodology on modeling diffraction and pair distribution function data for 2D and layered materials.« less

Developing soft skill training for salespersons to increase total sales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mardatillah, A.; Budiman, I.; Tarigan, U. P. P.; Sembiring, A. C.; Hendi

2018-04-01

This research was conducted in the multilevel marketing industry. Unprofessional salespersons behavior and responsibility can ruin the image of the multilevel marketing industry and distrust to the multilevel marketing industry. This leads to decreased company revenue due to lack of public interest in multilevel marketing products. Seeing these conditions, researcher develop training programs to improve the competence of salespersons in making sales. It was done by looking at factors that affect the level of salespersons sales. The research analyzes several factors that influence the salesperson’s sales level: presentation skills, questioning ability, adaptability, technical knowledge, self-control, interaction involvement, sales environment, and intrapersonal skills. Through the analysis of these factors with One Sample T-Test and Multiple Linear Regression methods, researchers design a training program for salespersons to increase their sales. The developed training for salespersons is basic training and special training and before training was given, salespersons need to be assessed for the effectivity and efficiency reasons.

A “dry and wet hybrid” lithography technique for multilevel replication templates: Applications to microfluidic neuron culture and two-phase global mixing

PubMed Central

Paul, Debjani; Saias, Laure; Pedinotti, Jean-Cedric; Chabert, Max; Magnifico, Sebastien; Pallandre, Antoine; De Lambert, Bertrand; Houdayer, Claude; Brugg, Bernard; Peyrin, Jean-Michel; Viovy, Jean-Louis

2011-01-01

A broad range of microfluidic applications, ranging from cell culture to protein crystallization, requires multilevel devices with different heights and feature sizes (from micrometers to millimeters). While state-of-the-art direct-writing techniques have been developed for creating complex three-dimensional shapes, replication molding from a multilevel template is still the preferred method for fast prototyping of microfluidic devices in the laboratory. Here, we report on a “dry and wet hybrid” technique to fabricate multilevel replication molds by combining SU-8 lithography with a dry film resist (Ordyl). We show that the two lithography protocols are chemically compatible with each other. Finally, we demonstrate the hybrid technique in two different microfluidic applications: (1) a neuron culture device with compartmentalization of different elements of a neuron and (2) a two-phase (gas-liquid) global micromixer for fast mixing of a small amount of a viscous liquid into a larger volume of a less viscous liquid. PMID:21559239

Multilevel sparse functional principal component analysis.

PubMed

Di, Chongzhi; Crainiceanu, Ciprian M; Jank, Wolfgang S

2014-01-29

We consider analysis of sparsely sampled multilevel functional data, where the basic observational unit is a function and data have a natural hierarchy of basic units. An example is when functions are recorded at multiple visits for each subject. Multilevel functional principal component analysis (MFPCA; Di et al. 2009) was proposed for such data when functions are densely recorded. Here we consider the case when functions are sparsely sampled and may contain only a few observations per function. We exploit the multilevel structure of covariance operators and achieve data reduction by principal component decompositions at both between and within subject levels. We address inherent methodological differences in the sparse sampling context to: 1) estimate the covariance operators; 2) estimate the functional principal component scores; 3) predict the underlying curves. Through simulations the proposed method is able to discover dominating modes of variations and reconstruct underlying curves well even in sparse settings. Our approach is illustrated by two applications, the Sleep Heart Health Study and eBay auctions.

A Multi-Level Decision Fusion Strategy for Condition Based Maintenance of Composite Structures

PubMed Central

Sharif Khodaei, Zahra; Aliabadi, M.H.

2016-01-01

In this work, a multi-level decision fusion strategy is proposed which weighs the Value of Information (VoI) against the intended functions of a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system. This paper presents a multi-level approach for three different maintenance strategies in which the performance of the SHM systems is evaluated against its intended functions. Level 1 diagnosis results in damage existence with minimum sensors covering a large area by finding the maximum energy difference for the guided waves propagating in pristine structure and the post-impact state; Level 2 diagnosis provides damage detection and approximate localization using an approach based on Electro-Mechanical Impedance (EMI) measures, while Level 3 characterizes damage (exact location and size) in addition to its detection by utilising a Weighted Energy Arrival Method (WEAM). The proposed multi-level strategy is verified and validated experimentally by detection of Barely Visible Impact Damage (BVID) on a curved composite fuselage panel. PMID:28773910

Demonstration of Protection of a Superconducting Qubit from Energy Decay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Yen-Hsiang; Nguyen, Long B.; Grabon, Nicholas; San Miguel, Jonathan; Pankratova, Natalia; Manucharyan, Vladimir E.

2018-04-01

Long-lived transitions occur naturally in atomic systems due to the abundance of selection rules inhibiting spontaneous emission. By contrast, transitions of superconducting artificial atoms typically have large dipoles, and hence their lifetimes are determined by the dissipative environment of a macroscopic electrical circuit. We designed a multilevel fluxonium artificial atom such that the qubit's transition dipole can be exponentially suppressed by flux tuning, while it continues to dispersively interact with a cavity mode by virtual transitions to the noncomputational states. Remarkably, energy decay time T1 grew by 2 orders of magnitude, proportionally to the inverse square of the transition dipole, and exceeded the benchmark value of T1>2 ms (quality factor Q1>4 ×107) without showing signs of saturation. The dephasing time was limited by the first-order coupling to flux noise to about 4 μ s . Our circuit validated the general principle of hardware-level protection against bit-flip errors and can be upgraded to the 0 -π circuit [P. Brooks, A. Kitaev, and J. Preskill, Phys. Rev. A 87, 052306 (2013), 10.1103/PhysRevA.87.052306], adding protection against dephasing and certain gate errors.

Element-resolved atomic structure imaging of rocksalt Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} phase-change material

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

Zhang, Bin; Chen, Yongjin; Han, Xiaodong, E-mail: wzhang0@mail.xjtu.edu.cn, E-mail: ema@jhu.edu, E-mail: xdhan@bjut.edu.cn

Disorder-induced electron localization and metal-insulator transitions (MITs) have been a very active research field starting from the seminal paper by Anderson half a century ago. However, pure Anderson insulators are very difficult to identify due to ubiquitous electron-correlation effects. Recently, an MIT has been observed in electrical transport measurements on the crystalline state of phase-change GeSbTe compounds, which appears to be exclusively disorder driven. Subsequent density functional theory simulations have identified vacancy disorder to localize electrons at the Fermi level. Here, we report a direct atomic scale chemical identification experiment on the rocksalt structure obtained upon crystallization of amorphous Ge{submore » 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5}. Our results confirm the two-sublattice structure resolving the distribution of chemical species and demonstrate the existence of atomic disorder on the Ge/Sb/vacancy sublattice. Moreover, we identify a gradual vacancy ordering process upon further annealing. These findings not only provide a structural underpinning of the observed Anderson localization but also have implications for the development of novel multi-level data storage within the crystalline phases.« less

Deconvolution of mixing time series on a graph

PubMed Central

Blocker, Alexander W.; Airoldi, Edoardo M.

2013-01-01

In many applications we are interested in making inference on latent time series from indirect measurements, which are often low-dimensional projections resulting from mixing or aggregation. Positron emission tomography, super-resolution, and network traffic monitoring are some examples. Inference in such settings requires solving a sequence of ill-posed inverse problems, yt = Axt, where the projection mechanism provides information on A. We consider problems in which A specifies mixing on a graph of times series that are bursty and sparse. We develop a multilevel state-space model for mixing times series and an efficient approach to inference. A simple model is used to calibrate regularization parameters that lead to efficient inference in the multilevel state-space model. We apply this method to the problem of estimating point-to-point traffic flows on a network from aggregate measurements. Our solution outperforms existing methods for this problem, and our two-stage approach suggests an efficient inference strategy for multilevel models of multivariate time series. PMID:25309135

Individual Battery-Power Control for a Battery Energy Storage System Using a Modular Multilevel Cascade Converter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamagishi, Tsukasa; Maharjan, Laxman; Akagi, Hirofumi

This paper focuses on a battery energy storage system that can be installed in a 6.6-kV power distribution system. This system comprises a combination of a modular multilevel cascade converter based on single-star bridge-cells (MMCC-SSBC) and multiple battery modules. Each battery module is connected to the dc side of each bridge-cell, where the battery modules are galvanically isolated from each other. Three-phase multilevel line-to-line voltages with extremely low voltage steps on the ac side of the converter help in solving problems related to line harmonic currents and electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues. This paper proposes a control method that allows each bridge-cell to independently adjust the battery power flowing into or out of each battery module. A three-phase energy storage system using nine nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) battery modules, each rated at 72V and 5.5Ah, is designed, constructed, and tested to verify the viability and effectiveness of the proposed control method.

Adaptive Selective Harmonic Minimization Based on ANNs for Cascade Multilevel Inverters With Varying DC Sources

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

Filho, Faete; Maia, Helder Z; Mateus, Tiago Henrique D

2013-01-01

A new approach for modulation of an 11-level cascade multilevel inverter using selective harmonic elimination is presented in this paper. The dc sources feeding the multilevel inverter are considered to be varying in time, and the switching angles are adapted to the dc source variation. This method uses genetic algorithms to obtain switching angles offline for different dc source values. Then, artificial neural networks are used to determine the switching angles that correspond to the real-time values of the dc sources for each phase. This implies that each one of the dc sources of this topology can have different valuesmore » at any time, but the output fundamental voltage will stay constant and the harmonic content will still meet the specifications. The modulating switching angles are updated at each cycle of the output fundamental voltage. This paper gives details on the method in addition to simulation and experimental results.« less

Estimating trajectories of energy intake through childhood and adolescence using linear-spline multilevel models.

PubMed

Anderson, Emma L; Tilling, Kate; Fraser, Abigail; Macdonald-Wallis, Corrie; Emmett, Pauline; Cribb, Victoria; Northstone, Kate; Lawlor, Debbie A; Howe, Laura D

2013-07-01

Methods for the assessment of changes in dietary intake across the life course are underdeveloped. We demonstrate the use of linear-spline multilevel models to summarize energy-intake trajectories through childhood and adolescence and their application as exposures, outcomes, or mediators. The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children assessed children's dietary intake several times between ages 3 and 13 years, using both food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) and 3-day food diaries. We estimated energy-intake trajectories for 12,032 children using linear-spline multilevel models. We then assessed the associations of these trajectories with maternal body mass index (BMI), and later offspring BMI, and also their role in mediating the relation between maternal and offspring BMIs. Models estimated average and individual energy intake at 3 years, and linear changes in energy intake from age 3 to 7 years and from age 7 to 13 years. By including the exposure (in this example, maternal BMI) in the multilevel model, we were able to estimate the average energy-intake trajectories across levels of the exposure. When energy-intake trajectories are the exposure for a later outcome (in this case offspring BMI) or a mediator (between maternal and offspring BMI), results were similar, whether using a two-step process (exporting individual-level intercepts and slopes from multilevel models and using these in linear regression/path analysis), or a single-step process (multivariate multilevel models). Trajectories were similar when FFQs and food diaries were assessed either separately, or when combined into one model. Linear-spline multilevel models provide useful summaries of trajectories of dietary intake that can be used as an exposure, outcome, or mediator.

Multi-level discriminative dictionary learning with application to large scale image classification.

PubMed

Shen, Li; Sun, Gang; Huang, Qingming; Wang, Shuhui; Lin, Zhouchen; Wu, Enhua

2015-10-01

The sparse coding technique has shown flexibility and capability in image representation and analysis. It is a powerful tool in many visual applications. Some recent work has shown that incorporating the properties of task (such as discrimination for classification task) into dictionary learning is effective for improving the accuracy. However, the traditional supervised dictionary learning methods suffer from high computation complexity when dealing with large number of categories, making them less satisfactory in large scale applications. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-level discriminative dictionary learning method and apply it to large scale image classification. Our method takes advantage of hierarchical category correlation to encode multi-level discriminative information. Each internal node of the category hierarchy is associated with a discriminative dictionary and a classification model. The dictionaries at different layers are learnt to capture the information of different scales. Moreover, each node at lower layers also inherits the dictionary of its parent, so that the categories at lower layers can be described with multi-scale information. The learning of dictionaries and associated classification models is jointly conducted by minimizing an overall tree loss. The experimental results on challenging data sets demonstrate that our approach achieves excellent accuracy and competitive computation cost compared with other sparse coding methods for large scale image classification.

A multilevel layout algorithm for visualizing physical and genetic interaction networks, with emphasis on their modular organization

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Graph drawing is an integral part of many systems biology studies, enabling visual exploration and mining of large-scale biological networks. While a number of layout algorithms are available in popular network analysis platforms, such as Cytoscape, it remains poorly understood how well their solutions reflect the underlying biological processes that give rise to the network connectivity structure. Moreover, visualizations obtained using conventional layout algorithms, such as those based on the force-directed drawing approach, may become uninformative when applied to larger networks with dense or clustered connectivity structure. Methods We implemented a modified layout plug-in, named Multilevel Layout, which applies the conventional layout algorithms within a multilevel optimization framework to better capture the hierarchical modularity of many biological networks. Using a wide variety of real life biological networks, we carried out a systematic evaluation of the method in comparison with other layout algorithms in Cytoscape. Results The multilevel approach provided both biologically relevant and visually pleasant layout solutions in most network types, hence complementing the layout options available in Cytoscape. In particular, it could improve drawing of large-scale networks of yeast genetic interactions and human physical interactions. In more general terms, the biological evaluation framework developed here enables one to assess the layout solutions from any existing or future graph drawing algorithm as well as to optimize their performance for a given network type or structure. Conclusions By making use of the multilevel modular organization when visualizing biological networks, together with the biological evaluation of the layout solutions, one can generate convenient visualizations for many network biology applications. PMID:22448851

Method for sequentially processing a multi-level interconnect circuit in a vacuum chamber

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Routh, D. E.; Sharma, G. C. (Inventor)

1982-01-01

The processing of wafer devices to form multilevel interconnects for microelectronic circuits is described. The method is directed to performing the sequential steps of etching the via, removing the photo resist pattern, back sputtering the entire wafer surface and depositing the next layer of interconnect material under common vacuum conditions without exposure to atmospheric conditions. Apparatus for performing the method includes a vacuum system having a vacuum chamber in which wafers are processed on rotating turntables. The vacuum chamber is provided with an RF sputtering system and a DC magnetron sputtering system. A gas inlet is provided in the chamber for the introduction of various gases to the vacuum chamber and the creation of various gas plasma during the sputtering steps.

Structural synthesis: Precursor and catalyst

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schmit, L. A.

1984-01-01

More than twenty five years have elapsed since it was recognized that a rather general class of structural design optimization tasks could be properly posed as an inequality constrained minimization problem. It is suggested that, independent of primary discipline area, it will be useful to think about: (1) posing design problems in terms of an objective function and inequality constraints; (2) generating design oriented approximate analysis methods (giving special attention to behavior sensitivity analysis); (3) distinguishing between decisions that lead to an analysis model and those that lead to a design model; (4) finding ways to generate a sequence of approximate design optimization problems that capture the essential characteristics of the primary problem, while still having an explicit algebraic form that is matched to one or more of the established optimization algorithms; (5) examining the potential of optimum design sensitivity analysis to facilitate quantitative trade-off studies as well as participation in multilevel design activities. It should be kept in mind that multilevel methods are inherently well suited to a parallel mode of operation in computer terms or to a division of labor between task groups in organizational terms. Based on structural experience with multilevel methods general guidelines are suggested.

Multimillion atom simulations of dynamics of oxidation of an aluminum nanoparticle and nanoindentation on ceramics.

PubMed

Vashishta, Priya; Kalia, Rajiv K; Nakano, Aiichiro

2006-03-02

We have developed a first-principles-based hierarchical simulation framework, which seamlessly integrates (1) a quantum mechanical description based on the density functional theory (DFT), (2) multilevel molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on a reactive force field (ReaxFF) that describes chemical reactions and polarization, a nonreactive force field that employs dynamic atomic charges, and an effective force field (EFF), and (3) an atomistically informed continuum model to reach macroscopic length scales. For scalable hierarchical simulations, we have developed parallel linear-scaling algorithms for (1) DFT calculation based on a divide-and-conquer algorithm on adaptive multigrids, (2) chemically reactive MD based on a fast ReaxFF (F-ReaxFF) algorithm, and (3) EFF-MD based on a space-time multiresolution MD (MRMD) algorithm. On 1920 Intel Itanium2 processors, we have demonstrated 1.4 million atom (0.12 trillion grid points) DFT, 0.56 billion atom F-ReaxFF, and 18.9 billion atom MRMD calculations, with parallel efficiency as high as 0.953. Through the use of these algorithms, multimillion atom MD simulations have been performed to study the oxidation of an aluminum nanoparticle. Structural and dynamic correlations in the oxide region are calculated as well as the evolution of charges, surface oxide thickness, diffusivities of atoms, and local stresses. In the microcanonical ensemble, the oxidizing reaction becomes explosive in both molecular and atomic oxygen environments, due to the enormous energy release associated with Al-O bonding. In the canonical ensemble, an amorphous oxide layer of a thickness of approximately 40 angstroms is formed after 466 ps, in good agreement with experiments. Simulations have been performed to study nanoindentation on crystalline, amorphous, and nanocrystalline silicon nitride and silicon carbide. Simulation on nanocrystalline silicon carbide reveals unusual deformation mechanisms in brittle nanophase materials, due to coexistence of brittle grains and soft amorphous-like grain boundary phases. Simulations predict a crossover from intergranular continuous deformation to intragrain discrete deformation at a critical indentation depth.

Using multilevel models to quantify heterogeneity in resource selection

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wagner, Tyler; Diefenbach, Duane R.; Christensen, Sonja; Norton, Andrew S.

2011-01-01

Models of resource selection are being used increasingly to predict or model the effects of management actions rather than simply quantifying habitat selection. Multilevel, or hierarchical, models are an increasingly popular method to analyze animal resource selection because they impose a relatively weak stochastic constraint to model heterogeneity in habitat use and also account for unequal sample sizes among individuals. However, few studies have used multilevel models to model coefficients as a function of predictors that may influence habitat use at different scales or quantify differences in resource selection among groups. We used an example with white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to illustrate how to model resource use as a function of distance to road that varies among deer by road density at the home range scale. We found that deer avoidance of roads decreased as road density increased. Also, we used multilevel models with sika deer (Cervus nippon) and white-tailed deer to examine whether resource selection differed between species. We failed to detect differences in resource use between these two species and showed how information-theoretic and graphical measures can be used to assess how resource use may have differed. Multilevel models can improve our understanding of how resource selection varies among individuals and provides an objective, quantifiable approach to assess differences or changes in resource selection.

How to compare cross-lagged associations in a multilevel autoregressive model.

PubMed

Schuurman, Noémi K; Ferrer, Emilio; de Boer-Sonnenschein, Mieke; Hamaker, Ellen L

2016-06-01

By modeling variables over time it is possible to investigate the Granger-causal cross-lagged associations between variables. By comparing the standardized cross-lagged coefficients, the relative strength of these associations can be evaluated in order to determine important driving forces in the dynamic system. The aim of this study was twofold: first, to illustrate the added value of a multilevel multivariate autoregressive modeling approach for investigating these associations over more traditional techniques; and second, to discuss how the coefficients of the multilevel autoregressive model should be standardized for comparing the strength of the cross-lagged associations. The hierarchical structure of multilevel multivariate autoregressive models complicates standardization, because subject-based statistics or group-based statistics can be used to standardize the coefficients, and each method may result in different conclusions. We argue that in order to make a meaningful comparison of the strength of the cross-lagged associations, the coefficients should be standardized within persons. We further illustrate the bivariate multilevel autoregressive model and the standardization of the coefficients, and we show that disregarding individual differences in dynamics can prove misleading, by means of an empirical example on experienced competence and exhaustion in persons diagnosed with burnout. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Mechanical equivalent of quantum heat engines.

PubMed

Arnaud, Jacques; Chusseau, Laurent; Philippe, Fabrice

2008-06-01

Quantum heat engines employ as working agents multilevel systems instead of classical gases. We show that under some conditions quantum heat engines are equivalent to a series of reservoirs at different altitudes containing balls of various weights. A cycle consists of picking up at random a ball from one reservoir and carrying it to the next, thereby performing or absorbing some work. In particular, quantum heat engines, employing two-level atoms as working agents, are modeled by reservoirs containing balls of weight 0 or 1. The mechanical model helps us prove that the maximum efficiency of quantum heat engines is the Carnot efficiency. Heat pumps and negative temperatures are considered.

Double dark resonance in inverted Y system and its application in attenuating the optical switching action

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ali, Sabir; Ray, Ayan; Chakrabarti, Alok

2016-02-01

Electromagnetically Induced Transparency as a novel type optical memory has gained enough attention in the field of research related to optical communication. This kind of transparency is an artificially created spectral window used to slow and spatially compress light pulses. Hence controlling and manipulation of such transparency window in a multilevel atom-photon system will, in turn, help in opening newer avenues of applications. In the present work an inverted Y linkage (established in the 5S1/2 → 5P3/2 → 5D5/2 hyperfine levels of 87Rb atom) is used for this purpose. The formation of matched double dark resonance in the system has been studied in details. On the application front we have demonstrated using the system as an attenuator of optical switch. This type of necessity may arise for futuristic optical communication system. Overall the system response resembles the performance of a combination logic gate.

Analysis of Raman lasing without inversion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheldon, Paul Martin

1999-12-01

Properties of lasing without inversion were studied analytically and numerically using Maple computer assisted algebra software. Gain for probe electromagnetic field without population inversion in detuned three level atomic schemes has been found. Matter density matrix dynamics and coherence is explored using Pauli matrices in 2-level systems and Gell-Mann matrices in 3-level systems. It is shown that extreme inversion produces no coherence and hence no lasing. Unitary transformation from the strict field-matter Hamiltonian to an effective two-photon Raman Hamiltonian for multilevel systems has been derived. Feynman diagrams inherent in the derivation show interesting physics. An additional picture change was achieved and showed cw gain possible. Properties of a Raman-like laser based on injection of 3- level coherently driven Λ-type atoms whose Hamiltonian contains the Raman Hamiltonian and microwave coupling the two bottom states have been studied in the limits of small and big photon numbers in the drive field. Another picture change removed the microwave coupler to all orders and simplified analysis. New possibilities of inversionless generation were found.

Athermally photoreduced graphene oxides for three-dimensional holographic images

PubMed Central

Li, Xiangping; Ren, Haoran; Chen, Xi; Liu, Juan; Li, Qin; Li, Chengmingyue; Xue, Gaolei; Jia, Jia; Cao, Liangcai; Sahu, Amit; Hu, Bin; Wang, Yongtian; Jin, Guofan; Gu, Min

2015-01-01

The emerging graphene-based material, an atomic layer of aromatic carbon atoms with exceptional electronic and optical properties, has offered unprecedented prospects for developing flat two-dimensional displaying systems. Here, we show that reduced graphene oxide enabled write-once holograms for wide-angle and full-colour three-dimensional images. This is achieved through the discovery of subwavelength-scale multilevel optical index modulation of athermally reduced graphene oxides by a single femtosecond pulsed beam. This new feature allows for static three-dimensional holographic images with a wide viewing angle up to 52 degrees. In addition, the spectrally flat optical index modulation in reduced graphene oxides enables wavelength-multiplexed holograms for full-colour images. The large and polarization-insensitive phase modulation over π in reduced graphene oxide composites enables to restore vectorial wavefronts of polarization discernible images through the vectorial diffraction of a reconstruction beam. Therefore, our technique can be leveraged to achieve compact and versatile holographic components for controlling light. PMID:25901676

Theoretical studies of chromospheres and winds in cool stars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dupree, A.

1983-01-01

The formation of spectral lines in expanding spherical atmospheres was determined in a physically realistic way, taking into account multilevel atomic processes, partial frequency redistribution, and other non-LTE transfer effects that affect the formation of optically thick lines. The formation of MgII and Ca II circumstellar absorption lines in late type giants and supergiants is investigated. The radiative cooling rate as a function of density and temperature was calculated from the results of plane parallel chromospheric models and these results were used to approximate the radiative cooling in an extended wind. The run of temperature was calculated along with the density and velocity profiles. The most important prediction of these models is that a warm zone in the wind must exist as a result of the wave heating. Within this zone, the Ca II and Mg II atoms can be ionized to Ca III and Mg III, so that the gas is transparent in the resonance transitions.

Constrained Multi-Level Algorithm for Trajectory Optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adimurthy, V.; Tandon, S. R.; Jessy, Antony; Kumar, C. Ravi

The emphasis on low cost access to space inspired many recent developments in the methodology of trajectory optimization. Ref.1 uses a spectral patching method for optimization, where global orthogonal polynomials are used to describe the dynamical constraints. A two-tier approach of optimization is used in Ref.2 for a missile mid-course trajectory optimization. A hybrid analytical/numerical approach is described in Ref.3, where an initial analytical vacuum solution is taken and gradually atmospheric effects are introduced. Ref.4 emphasizes the fact that the nonlinear constraints which occur in the initial and middle portions of the trajectory behave very nonlinearly with respect the variables making the optimization very difficult to solve in the direct and indirect shooting methods. The problem is further made complex when different phases of the trajectory have different objectives of optimization and also have different path constraints. Such problems can be effectively addressed by multi-level optimization. In the multi-level methods reported so far, optimization is first done in identified sub-level problems, where some coordination variables are kept fixed for global iteration. After all the sub optimizations are completed, higher-level optimization iteration with all the coordination and main variables is done. This is followed by further sub system optimizations with new coordination variables. This process is continued until convergence. In this paper we use a multi-level constrained optimization algorithm which avoids the repeated local sub system optimizations and which also removes the problem of non-linear sensitivity inherent in the single step approaches. Fall-zone constraints, structural load constraints and thermal constraints are considered. In this algorithm, there is only a single multi-level sequence of state and multiplier updates in a framework of an augmented Lagrangian. Han Tapia multiplier updates are used in view of their special role in diagonalised methods, being the only single update with quadratic convergence. For a single level, the diagonalised multiplier method (DMM) is described in Ref.5. The main advantage of the two-level analogue of the DMM approach is that it avoids the inner loop optimizations required in the other methods. The scheme also introduces a gradient change measure to reduce the computational time needed to calculate the gradients. It is demonstrated that the new multi-level scheme leads to a robust procedure to handle the sensitivity of the constraints, and the multiple objectives of different trajectory phases. Ref. 1. Fahroo, F and Ross, M., " A Spectral Patching Method for Direct Trajectory Optimization" The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, Vol.48, 2000, pp.269-286 Ref. 2. Phililps, C.A. and Drake, J.C., "Trajectory Optimization for a Missile using a Multitier Approach" Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol.37, 2000, pp.663-669 Ref. 3. Gath, P.F., and Calise, A.J., " Optimization of Launch Vehicle Ascent Trajectories with Path Constraints and Coast Arcs", Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 24, 2001, pp.296-304 Ref. 4. Betts, J.T., " Survey of Numerical Methods for Trajectory Optimization", Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol.21, 1998, pp. 193-207 Ref. 5. Adimurthy, V., " Launch Vehicle Trajectory Optimization", Acta Astronautica, Vol.15, 1987, pp.845-850.

Negative differential resistance effect induced by metal ion implantation in SiO2 film for multilevel RRAM application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Facai; Si, Shuyao; Shi, Tuo; Zhao, Xiaolong; Liu, Qi; Liao, Lei; Lv, Hangbing; Long, Shibing; Liu, Ming

2018-02-01

Pt/SiO2:metal nanoparticles/Pt sandwich structure is fabricated with the method of metal ion (Ag) implantation. The device exhibits multilevel storage with appropriate R off/R on ratio, good endurance and retention properties. Based on transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometer analysis, we confirm that Pt nanoparticles are spurted into SiO2 film from Pt bottom electrode by Ag implantation; during electroforming, the local electric field can be enhanced by these Pt nanoparticles, meanwhile the Ag nanoparticles constantly migrate toward the Pt nanoparticles. The implantation induced nanoparticles act as trap sites in the resistive switching layer and play critical roles in the multilevel storage, which is evidenced by the negative differential resistance effect in the current-voltage (I-V) measurements.

Multilevel-Dc-Bus Inverter For Providing Sinusoidal And Pwm Electrical Machine Voltages

DOEpatents

Su, Gui-Jia [Knoxville, TN

2005-11-29

A circuit for controlling an ac machine comprises a full bridge network of commutation switches which are connected to supply current for a corresponding voltage phase to the stator windings, a plurality of diodes, each in parallel connection to a respective one of the commutation switches, a plurality of dc source connections providing a multi-level dc bus for the full bridge network of commutation switches to produce sinusoidal voltages or PWM signals, and a controller connected for control of said dc source connections and said full bridge network of commutation switches to output substantially sinusoidal voltages to the stator windings. With the invention, the number of semiconductor switches is reduced to m+3 for a multi-level dc bus having m levels. A method of machine control is also disclosed.

New modified multi-level residue harmonic balance method for solving nonlinearly vibrating double-beam problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, Md. Saifur; Lee, Yiu-Yin

2017-10-01

In this study, a new modified multi-level residue harmonic balance method is presented and adopted to investigate the forced nonlinear vibrations of axially loaded double beams. Although numerous nonlinear beam or linear double-beam problems have been tackled and solved, there have been few studies of this nonlinear double-beam problem. The geometric nonlinear formulations for a double-beam model are developed. The main advantage of the proposed method is that a set of decoupled nonlinear algebraic equations is generated at each solution level. This heavily reduces the computational effort compared with solving the coupled nonlinear algebraic equations generated in the classical harmonic balance method. The proposed method can generate the higher-level nonlinear solutions that are neglected by the previous modified harmonic balance method. The results from the proposed method agree reasonably well with those from the classical harmonic balance method. The effects of damping, axial force, and excitation magnitude on the nonlinear vibrational behaviour are examined.

How Well Can Modern Density Functionals Predict Internuclear Distances at Transition States?

PubMed

Xu, Xuefei; Alecu, I M; Truhlar, Donald G

2011-06-14

We introduce a new database called TSG48 containing 48 transition state geometrical data (in particular, internuclear distances in transition state structures) for 16 main group reactions. The 16 reactions are the 12 reactions in the previously published DBH24 database (which includes hydrogen transfer reactions, heavy-atom transfer reactions, nucleophilic substitution reactions, and association reactions plus one unimolecular isomerization) plus four H-transfer reactions in which a hydrogen atom is abstracted by the methyl or hydroperoxyl radical from the two different positions in methanol. The data in TSG48 include data for four reactions that have previously been treated at a very high level in the literature. These data are used to test and validate methods that are affordable for the entire test suite, and the most accurate of these methods is found to be the multilevel BMC-CCSD method. The data that constitute the TSG48 database are therefore taken to consist of these very high level calculations for the four reactions where they are available and BMC-CCSD calculations for the other 12 reactions. The TSG48 database is used to assess the performance of the eight Minnesota density functionals from the M05-M08 families and 26 other high-performance and popular density functionals for locating transition state geometries. For comparison, the MP2 and QCISD wave function methods have also been tested for transition state geometries. The MC3BB and MC3MPW doubly hybrid functionals and the M08-HX and M06-2X hybrid meta-GGAs are found to have the best performance of all of the density functionals tested. M08-HX is the most highly recommended functional due to the excellent performance for all five subsets of TSG48, as well as having a lower cost when compared to doubly hybrid functionals. The mean absolute errors in transition state internuclear distances associated with breaking and forming bonds as calculated by the B2PLYP, MP2, and B3LYP methods are respectively about 2, 3, and 5 times larger than those calculated by MC3BB and M08-HX.

Macro-actor execution on multilevel data-driven architectures

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

Gaudiot, J.L.; Najjar, W.

1988-12-31

The data-flow model of computation brings to multiprocessors high programmability at the expense of increased overhead. Applying the model at a higher level leads to better performance but also introduces loss of parallelism. We demonstrate here syntax directed program decomposition methods for the creation of large macro-actors in numerical algorithms. In order to alleviate some of the problems introduced by the lower resolution interpretation, we describe a multi-level of resolution and analyze the requirements for its actual hardware and software integration.

Development of full-field optical spatial coherence tomography system for automated identification of malaria using the multilevel ensemble classifier.

PubMed

Singla, Neeru; Srivastava, Vishal; Mehta, Dalip Singh

2018-05-01

Malaria is a life-threatening infectious blood disease affecting humans and other animals caused by parasitic protozoans belonging to the Plasmodium type especially in developing countries. The gold standard method for the detection of malaria is through the microscopic method of chemically treated blood smears. We developed an automated optical spatial coherence tomographic system using a machine learning approach for a fast identification of malaria cells. In this study, 28 samples (15 healthy, 13 malaria infected stages of red blood cells) were imaged by the developed system and 13 features were extracted. We designed a multilevel ensemble-based classifier for the quantitative prediction of different stages of the malaria cells. The proposed classifier was used by repeating k-fold cross validation dataset and achieve a high-average accuracy of 97.9% for identifying malaria infected late trophozoite stage of cells. Overall, our proposed system and multilevel ensemble model has a substantial quantifiable potential to detect the different stages of malaria infection without staining or expert. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Bioinspired Functional Materials

DOE PAGES

Zheng, Yongmei; Wang, Jingxia; Hou, Yongping; ...

2014-11-25

This special issue is focused on the nanoscale or micro-/nanoscale structures similar to the biological features in multilevels or hierarchy and so on. Research by mimicking biological systems has shown more impact on many applications due to the well-designed micro-/nanostructures inspired from the biological surfaces or interfaces; therefore, the materials may achieve the fascinating functionality. In conclusion, the bioinspired functional materials may be fabricated by developing novel technology or methods such as synthesis, self-assembly, and soft lithography at micro- or nanolevel or multilevels and, in addition, the multidisciplinary procedures of physical or chemical methods and nanotechnology to mimic the biologicalmore » multiscale micro-/nanostructures onto one-/two-dimensional surface materials.« less

Control Strategy of Active Power Filter Based on Modular Multilevel Converter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Xifeng

2018-03-01

To improve the capacity, pressure resistance and the equivalent switching frequency of active power filter (APF), a control strategy of APF based on Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) is presented. In this Control Strategy, the indirect current control method is used to achieve active current and reactive current decoupling control; Voltage Balance Control Strategy is to stabilize sub-module capacitor voltage, the predictive current control method is used to Track and control of harmonic currents. As a result, the harmonic current is restrained, and power quality is improved. Finally, the simulation model of active power filter controller based on MMC is established in Matlab/Simulink, the simulation proves that the proposed strategy is feasible and correct.

Structural optimization by generalized, multilevel decomposition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sobieszczanski-Sobieski, J.; James, B. B.; Riley, M. F.

1985-01-01

The developments toward a general multilevel optimization capability and results for a three-level structural optimization are described. The method partitions a structure into a number of substructuring levels where each substructure corresponds to a subsystem in the general case of an engineering system. The method is illustrated by a portal framework that decomposes into individual beams. Each beam is a box that can be further decomposed into stiffened plates. Substructuring for this example spans three different levels: (1) the bottom level of finite elements representing the plates; (2) an intermediate level of beams treated as substructures; and (3) the top level for the assembled structure. The three-level case is now considered to be qualitatively complete.

Multigrid techniques for the solution of the passive scalar advection-diffusion equation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Phillips, R. E.; Schmidt, F. W.

1985-01-01

The solution of elliptic passive scalar advection-diffusion equations is required in the analysis of many turbulent flow and convective heat transfer problems. The accuracy of the solution may be affected by the presence of regions containing large gradients of the dependent variables. The multigrid concept of local grid refinement is a method for improving the accuracy of the calculations in these problems. In combination with the multilevel acceleration techniques, an accurate and efficient computational procedure is developed. In addition, a robust implementation of the QUICK finite-difference scheme is described. Calculations of a test problem are presented to quantitatively demonstrate the advantages of the multilevel-multigrid method.

A Si I atomic model for NLTE spectropolarimetric diagnostics of the 10 827 Å line

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shchukina, N. G.; Sukhorukov, A. V.; Trujillo Bueno, J.

2017-07-01

Aims: The Si I 10 827 Å line is commonly used for spectropolarimetric diagnostics of the solar atmosphere. First, we aim at quantifying the sensitivity of the Stokes profiles of this line to non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects. Second, we aim at facilitating NLTE diagnostics of the Si I 10 827 Å line. To this end, we propose the use of a relatively simple silicon model atom, which allows a fast and accurate computation of Stokes profiles. The NLTE Stokes profiles calculated using this simple model atom are very similar to those obtained via the use of a very comprehensive silicon model atom. Methods: We investigate the impact of the NLTE effects on the Si I 10 827 Å line by means of multilevel radiative transfer calculations in a three-dimensional (3D) model atmosphere taken from a state-of-the-art magneto-convection simulation with small-scale dynamo action. We calculate the emergent Stokes profiles for this line at the solar disk center and for every vertical column of the 3D snapshot model, neglecting the effects of horizontal radiative transfer. Results: We find significant departures from LTE in the Si I 10 827 Å line, not only in the intensity but also in the linearly and circularly polarized profiles. At wavelengths around 0.1 Å, where most of the Stokes Q, U, and V peaks of the Si I 10 827 Å line occur, the differences between the NLTE and LTE profiles are comparable with the Stokes amplitudes themselves. The deviations from LTE increase with increasing Stokes Q, U, and V signals. Concerning the Stokes V profiles, the NLTE effects correlate with the magnetic field strength in the layers where such circular polarization signals are formed. Conclusions: The NLTE effects should be taken into account when diagnosing the emergent Stokes I profiles as well as the Stokes Q, U, and V profiles of the Si I 10 827 Å line. The sixteen-level silicon model atom proposed here, with six radiative bound-bound transitions, is suitable to account for the physics of formation of the Si I 10 827 Å line and for modeling and inverting its Stokes profiles without assuming LTE.

Estimating multilevel logistic regression models when the number of clusters is low: a comparison of different statistical software procedures.

PubMed

Austin, Peter C

2010-04-22

Multilevel logistic regression models are increasingly being used to analyze clustered data in medical, public health, epidemiological, and educational research. Procedures for estimating the parameters of such models are available in many statistical software packages. There is currently little evidence on the minimum number of clusters necessary to reliably fit multilevel regression models. We conducted a Monte Carlo study to compare the performance of different statistical software procedures for estimating multilevel logistic regression models when the number of clusters was low. We examined procedures available in BUGS, HLM, R, SAS, and Stata. We found that there were qualitative differences in the performance of different software procedures for estimating multilevel logistic models when the number of clusters was low. Among the likelihood-based procedures, estimation methods based on adaptive Gauss-Hermite approximations to the likelihood (glmer in R and xtlogit in Stata) or adaptive Gaussian quadrature (Proc NLMIXED in SAS) tended to have superior performance for estimating variance components when the number of clusters was small, compared to software procedures based on penalized quasi-likelihood. However, only Bayesian estimation with BUGS allowed for accurate estimation of variance components when there were fewer than 10 clusters. For all statistical software procedures, estimation of variance components tended to be poor when there were only five subjects per cluster, regardless of the number of clusters.

Multi-level, multi-scale resource selection functions and resistance surfaces for conservation planning: Pumas as a case study

PubMed Central

Vickers, T. Winston; Ernest, Holly B.; Boyce, Walter M.

2017-01-01

The importance of examining multiple hierarchical levels when modeling resource use for wildlife has been acknowledged for decades. Multi-level resource selection functions have recently been promoted as a method to synthesize resource use across nested organizational levels into a single predictive surface. Analyzing multiple scales of selection within each hierarchical level further strengthens multi-level resource selection functions. We extend this multi-level, multi-scale framework to modeling resistance for wildlife by combining multi-scale resistance surfaces from two data types, genetic and movement. Resistance estimation has typically been conducted with one of these data types, or compared between the two. However, we contend it is not an either/or issue and that resistance may be better-modeled using a combination of resistance surfaces that represent processes at different hierarchical levels. Resistance surfaces estimated from genetic data characterize temporally broad-scale dispersal and successful breeding over generations, whereas resistance surfaces estimated from movement data represent fine-scale travel and contextualized movement decisions. We used telemetry and genetic data from a long-term study on pumas (Puma concolor) in a highly developed landscape in southern California to develop a multi-level, multi-scale resource selection function and a multi-level, multi-scale resistance surface. We used these multi-level, multi-scale surfaces to identify resource use patches and resistant kernel corridors. Across levels, we found puma avoided urban, agricultural areas, and roads and preferred riparian areas and more rugged terrain. For other landscape features, selection differed among levels, as did the scales of selection for each feature. With these results, we developed a conservation plan for one of the most isolated puma populations in the U.S. Our approach captured a wide spectrum of ecological relationships for a population, resulted in effective conservation planning, and can be readily applied to other wildlife species. PMID:28609466

Multi-level, multi-scale resource selection functions and resistance surfaces for conservation planning: Pumas as a case study.

PubMed

Zeller, Katherine A; Vickers, T Winston; Ernest, Holly B; Boyce, Walter M

2017-01-01

The importance of examining multiple hierarchical levels when modeling resource use for wildlife has been acknowledged for decades. Multi-level resource selection functions have recently been promoted as a method to synthesize resource use across nested organizational levels into a single predictive surface. Analyzing multiple scales of selection within each hierarchical level further strengthens multi-level resource selection functions. We extend this multi-level, multi-scale framework to modeling resistance for wildlife by combining multi-scale resistance surfaces from two data types, genetic and movement. Resistance estimation has typically been conducted with one of these data types, or compared between the two. However, we contend it is not an either/or issue and that resistance may be better-modeled using a combination of resistance surfaces that represent processes at different hierarchical levels. Resistance surfaces estimated from genetic data characterize temporally broad-scale dispersal and successful breeding over generations, whereas resistance surfaces estimated from movement data represent fine-scale travel and contextualized movement decisions. We used telemetry and genetic data from a long-term study on pumas (Puma concolor) in a highly developed landscape in southern California to develop a multi-level, multi-scale resource selection function and a multi-level, multi-scale resistance surface. We used these multi-level, multi-scale surfaces to identify resource use patches and resistant kernel corridors. Across levels, we found puma avoided urban, agricultural areas, and roads and preferred riparian areas and more rugged terrain. For other landscape features, selection differed among levels, as did the scales of selection for each feature. With these results, we developed a conservation plan for one of the most isolated puma populations in the U.S. Our approach captured a wide spectrum of ecological relationships for a population, resulted in effective conservation planning, and can be readily applied to other wildlife species.

Assessment of Differential Item Functioning in Health-Related Outcomes: A Simulation and Empirical Analysis with Hierarchical Polytomous Data

PubMed Central

Sharafi, Zahra

2017-01-01

Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two methods of detecting differential item functioning (DIF) in the presence of multilevel data and polytomously scored items. The assessment of DIF with multilevel data (e.g., patients nested within hospitals, hospitals nested within districts) from large-scale assessment programs has received considerable attention but very few studies evaluated the effect of hierarchical structure of data on DIF detection for polytomously scored items. Methods The ordinal logistic regression (OLR) and hierarchical ordinal logistic regression (HOLR) were utilized to assess DIF in simulated and real multilevel polytomous data. Six factors (DIF magnitude, grouping variable, intraclass correlation coefficient, number of clusters, number of participants per cluster, and item discrimination parameter) with a fully crossed design were considered in the simulation study. Furthermore, data of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™) 4.0 collected from 576 healthy school children were analyzed. Results Overall, results indicate that both methods performed equivalently in terms of controlling Type I error and detection power rates. Conclusions The current study showed negligible difference between OLR and HOLR in detecting DIF with polytomously scored items in a hierarchical structure. Implications and considerations while analyzing real data were also discussed. PMID:29312463

A Tutorial on Multilevel Survival Analysis: Methods, Models and Applications

PubMed Central

Austin, Peter C.

2017-01-01

Summary Data that have a multilevel structure occur frequently across a range of disciplines, including epidemiology, health services research, public health, education and sociology. We describe three families of regression models for the analysis of multilevel survival data. First, Cox proportional hazards models with mixed effects incorporate cluster-specific random effects that modify the baseline hazard function. Second, piecewise exponential survival models partition the duration of follow-up into mutually exclusive intervals and fit a model that assumes that the hazard function is constant within each interval. This is equivalent to a Poisson regression model that incorporates the duration of exposure within each interval. By incorporating cluster-specific random effects, generalised linear mixed models can be used to analyse these data. Third, after partitioning the duration of follow-up into mutually exclusive intervals, one can use discrete time survival models that use a complementary log–log generalised linear model to model the occurrence of the outcome of interest within each interval. Random effects can be incorporated to account for within-cluster homogeneity in outcomes. We illustrate the application of these methods using data consisting of patients hospitalised with a heart attack. We illustrate the application of these methods using three statistical programming languages (R, SAS and Stata). PMID:29307954

A Tutorial on Multilevel Survival Analysis: Methods, Models and Applications.

PubMed

Austin, Peter C

2017-08-01

Data that have a multilevel structure occur frequently across a range of disciplines, including epidemiology, health services research, public health, education and sociology. We describe three families of regression models for the analysis of multilevel survival data. First, Cox proportional hazards models with mixed effects incorporate cluster-specific random effects that modify the baseline hazard function. Second, piecewise exponential survival models partition the duration of follow-up into mutually exclusive intervals and fit a model that assumes that the hazard function is constant within each interval. This is equivalent to a Poisson regression model that incorporates the duration of exposure within each interval. By incorporating cluster-specific random effects, generalised linear mixed models can be used to analyse these data. Third, after partitioning the duration of follow-up into mutually exclusive intervals, one can use discrete time survival models that use a complementary log-log generalised linear model to model the occurrence of the outcome of interest within each interval. Random effects can be incorporated to account for within-cluster homogeneity in outcomes. We illustrate the application of these methods using data consisting of patients hospitalised with a heart attack. We illustrate the application of these methods using three statistical programming languages (R, SAS and Stata).

Robust Mediation Analysis Based on Median Regression

PubMed Central

Yuan, Ying; MacKinnon, David P.

2014-01-01

Mediation analysis has many applications in psychology and the social sciences. The most prevalent methods typically assume that the error distribution is normal and homoscedastic. However, this assumption may rarely be met in practice, which can affect the validity of the mediation analysis. To address this problem, we propose robust mediation analysis based on median regression. Our approach is robust to various departures from the assumption of homoscedasticity and normality, including heavy-tailed, skewed, contaminated, and heteroscedastic distributions. Simulation studies show that under these circumstances, the proposed method is more efficient and powerful than standard mediation analysis. We further extend the proposed robust method to multilevel mediation analysis, and demonstrate through simulation studies that the new approach outperforms the standard multilevel mediation analysis. We illustrate the proposed method using data from a program designed to increase reemployment and enhance mental health of job seekers. PMID:24079925

Multi-level Discourse Analysis in a Physics Teaching Methods Course from the Psychological Perspective of Activity Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vieira, Rodrigo Drumond; Kelly, Gregory J.

2014-11-01

In this paper, we present and apply a multi-level method for discourse analysis in science classrooms. This method is based on the structure of human activity (activity, actions, and operations) and it was applied to study a pre-service physics teacher methods course. We argue that such an approach, based on a cultural psychological perspective, affords opportunities for analysts to perform a theoretically based detailed analysis of discourse events. Along with the presentation of analysis, we show and discuss how the articulation of different levels offers interpretative criteria for analyzing instructional conversations. We synthesize the results into a model for a teacher's practice and discuss the implications and possibilities of this approach for the field of discourse analysis in science classrooms. Finally, we reflect on how the development of teachers' understanding of their activity structures can contribute to forms of progressive discourse of science education.

Comparative assessment of analytical approaches to quantify the risk for introduction of rare animal diseases: the example of avian influenza in Spain.

PubMed

Sánchez-Vizcaíno, Fernando; Perez, Andrés; Martínez-López, Beatriz; Sánchez-Vizcaíno, José Manuel

2012-08-01

Trade of animals and animal products imposes an uncertain and variable risk for exotic animal diseases introduction into importing countries. Risk analysis provides importing countries with an objective, transparent, and internationally accepted method for assessing that risk. Over the last decades, European Union countries have conducted probabilistic risk assessments quite frequently to quantify the risk for rare animal diseases introduction into their territories. Most probabilistic animal health risk assessments have been typically classified into one-level and multilevel binomial models. One-level models are more simple than multilevel models because they assume that animals or products originate from one single population. However, it is unknown whether such simplification may result in substantially different results compared to those obtained through the use of multilevel models. Here, data used on a probabilistic multilevel binomial model formulated to assess the risk for highly pathogenic avian influenza introduction into Spain were reanalyzed using a one-level binomial model and their outcomes were compared. An alternative ordinal model is also proposed here, which makes use of simpler assumptions and less information compared to those required by traditional one-level and multilevel approaches. Results suggest that, at least under certain circumstances, results of the one-level and ordinal approaches are similar to those obtained using multilevel models. Consequently, we argue that, when data are insufficient to run traditional probabilistic models, the ordinal approach presented here may be a suitable alternative to rank exporting countries in terms of the risk that they impose for the spread of rare animal diseases into disease-free countries. © 2012 Society for Risk Analysis.

FAST TRACK COMMUNICATION: \\ {P}\\ {T}-symmetry, Cartan decompositions, Lie triple systems and Krein space-related Clifford algebras

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Günther, Uwe; Kuzhel, Sergii

2010-10-01

Gauged \\ {P}\\ {T} quantum mechanics (PTQM) and corresponding Krein space setups are studied. For models with constant non-Abelian gauge potentials and extended parity inversions compact and noncompact Lie group components are analyzed via Cartan decompositions. A Lie-triple structure is found and an interpretation as \\ {P}\\ {T}-symmetrically generalized Jaynes-Cummings model is possible with close relation to recently studied cavity QED setups with transmon states in multilevel artificial atoms. For models with Abelian gauge potentials a hidden Clifford algebra structure is found and used to obtain the fundamental symmetry of Krein space-related J-self-adjoint extensions for PTQM setups with ultra-localized potentials.

Coherent Population Trapping and Optical Ramsey Interference for Compact Rubidium Clock Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warren, Zachary Aron

Coherent population trapping (CPT) and optical Ramsey interference provide new avenues for developing compact, high-performance atomic clocks. In this work, I have studied the fundamental aspects of CPT and optical Ramsey interference for Raman clock development. This thesis research is composed of two parts: theoretical and experimental studies. The theoretical component of the research was initially based on pre-existing atomic models of a three-level ?-type system in which the phenomena of CPT and Ramsey interference are formed. This model served as a starting point for studying basic characteristics of CPT and Ramsey interference such as power dependence of CPT, effects of average detuning, and ground-state decoherence on linewidth, which directly impact the performance of the Raman clock. The basic three-level model was also used to model pulsed CPT excitation and measure light shift in Ramsey interference which imposes a fundamental limit on the long-term frequency stability of the Raman clock. The theoretical calculations illustrate reduction (or suppression) of light shift in Ramsey interference as an important advantage over CPT for Raman clock development. To make the model more accurate than an ideal three-level system, I developed a comprehensive atomic model using density-matrix equations including all sixteen Zeeman sublevels in the D1 manifold of 87Rb atoms in a vapor medium. The multi-level atomic model has been used for investigating characteristics of CPT and Ramsey interference under different optical excitation schemes pertaining to the polarization states of the frequency-modulated CPT beam in a Raman clock. It is also used to study the effects of axial and traverse magnetic fields on the contrast of CPT and Ramsey interference. More importantly, the multi-level atomic model is also used to accurately calculate light shift in Ramsey interference in the D1 manifold of 87Rb atoms by taking into account all possible off-resonant excitations and the ground-state decoherence among the Zeeman sublevels. Light shift suppression in Ramsey interference with pulse saturation is also found to be evident in this comprehensive model. In the experimental component of the research, I designed a prototype of the Raman clock using a small (2 cm in length), buffer-gas filled, and isotopically pure 87Rb cell. A fiber-coupled waveguide electro-optic modulator was used to generate the frequency-modulated CPT beam for the experiments. The experimental setup was operated either by continuous excitation or pulsed excitation for experimentally characterizing CPT and Ramsey interference under different experimental conditions and for testing different optical excitation schemes which were investigated theoretically. Several iterations of the clock physics package were developed in order to attain better frequency stability performance in the Raman clock. The experimental work also provided a basis to develop a new repeated-query technique for producing an ultra-narrow linewidth central fringe with a high S/N ratio, and suppressing the side fringes in Ramsey interference. The above described research was carried out keeping in mind compact, high-performance clock development, which relies on technologies that can be miniaturized. Vapor cell based atomic clocks are ideal candidates for compact clock technology. The CPT phenomenon, observed by Raman excitation in a vapor medium, is a promising candidate for compact, high-performance Raman clock development. However, atom-field interaction involved in a vapor medium is often more complex than other media such as cold atom or atomic beam. It is difficult to model this interaction in order to predict its influence on CPT characteristics and, hence, the performance of the Raman clock. This dissertation addresses one such problem by developing a comprehensive atomic model to investigate light shift and modification of light shift in the Raman clock, particularly with pulsed excitation. It demonstrates a clear possibility of reducing (or suppressing) the light shift associated with Ramsey interference in a vapor medium for achieving higher frequency stability in the Raman clock. Additionally, theoretical comparisons of various optical excitation techniques have been calculated to demonstrate the relative strengths and weaknesses of different schemes for Raman clock development. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

An improved computational approach for multilevel optimum design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haftka, R. T.

1984-01-01

A penalty-function algorithm employing Newton's method with approximate second derivatives (Haftka and Starnes, 1980) is developed for two-level hierarchical design optimization problems. The difficulties posed by discontinuous behavior in typical multilevel problems are explained and illustrated for the case of a three-bar truss; the algorithm is formulated; and its advantages are demonstrated in the problem of a portal framework having three beams (described by six cross-section parameters), subjected to two loading conditions, and to be constructed in six different materials for comparison. The final design parameters are listed in a table.

Multi-level resistive switching behaviors and retention characteristics in ZnO/Nb:SrTiO3 heterojunction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Yong; Li, Jiachen; Zhang, Weifeng; Jia, Caihong

2017-10-01

Epitaxial ZnO thin films were grown on SrTiO3:Nb (NSTO) substrates by rf magnetron sputtering method. The multi-level resistance states were observed by applying different amplitudes and/or polarities of voltage pulses, which is supposed to be related to the drift of oxygen vacancies. Furthermore, the decay of retention is also corresponding to the migration of oxygen vacancies. The retention and cycle stability implies that the ZnO/Nb:SrTiO3 heterojunctions are promising for high density memory application.

Near-Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure within Multilevel Coupled Cluster Theory.

PubMed

Myhre, Rolf H; Coriani, Sonia; Koch, Henrik

2016-06-14

Core excited states are challenging to calculate, mainly because they are embedded in a manifold of high-energy valence-excited states. However, their locality makes their determination ideal for local correlation methods. In this paper, we demonstrate the performance of multilevel coupled cluster theory in computing core spectra both within the core-valence separated and the asymmetric Lanczos implementations of coupled cluster linear response theory. We also propose a visualization tool to analyze the excitations using the difference between the ground-state and excited-state electron densities.

Three-level multilevel growth models for nested change data: a guide for group treatment researchers.

PubMed

Tasca, Giorgio A; Illing, Vanessa; Joyce, Anthony S; Ogrodniczuk, John S

2009-07-01

Researchers have known for years about the negative impact on Type I error rates caused by dependencies in hierarchically nested and longitudinal data. Despite this, group treatment researchers do not consistently use methods such as multilevel models (MLMs) to assess dependence and appropriately analyse their nested data. The goals of this study are to review some of the study design issues with regard to hierarchically nested and longitudinal data, discuss MLMs for assessing and handling dependence in data, and present a guide for developing a three-level growth MLM that is appropriate for group treatment data, design, and research questions. The authors present an example from group treatment research to illustrate these issues and methods.

Utilities of gossip across organizational levels : Multilevel selection, free-riders, and teams.

PubMed

Kniffin, Kevin M; Wilson, David Sloan

2005-09-01

Gossip is a subject that has been studied by researchers from an array of disciplines with various foci and methods. We measured the content of language use by members of a competitive sports team across 18 months, integrating qualitative ethnographic methods with quantitative sampling and analysis. We hypothesized that the use of gossip will vary significantly depending on whether it is used for self-serving or group-serving purposes. Our results support a model of gossip derived from multilevel selection theory that expects gossip to serve group-beneficial rules when rewards are partitioned at the group level on a scale that permits mutual monitoring. We integrate our case study with earlier studies of gossip conducted by anthropologists, psychologists, and management researchers.

An empirical study of statistical properties of variance partition coefficients for multi-level logistic regression models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Li, Ji; Gray, B.R.; Bates, D.M.

2008-01-01

Partitioning the variance of a response by design levels is challenging for binomial and other discrete outcomes. Goldstein (2003) proposed four definitions for variance partitioning coefficients (VPC) under a two-level logistic regression model. In this study, we explicitly derived formulae for multi-level logistic regression model and subsequently studied the distributional properties of the calculated VPCs. Using simulations and a vegetation dataset, we demonstrated associations between different VPC definitions, the importance of methods for estimating VPCs (by comparing VPC obtained using Laplace and penalized quasilikehood methods), and bivariate dependence between VPCs calculated at different levels. Such an empirical study lends an immediate support to wider applications of VPC in scientific data analysis.

Finding Chemical Reaction Paths with a Multilevel Preconditioning Protocol

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Finding transition paths for chemical reactions can be computationally costly owing to the level of quantum-chemical theory needed for accuracy. Here, we show that a multilevel preconditioning scheme that was recently introduced (Tempkin et al. J. Chem. Phys.2014, 140, 184114) can be used to accelerate quantum-chemical string calculations. We demonstrate the method by finding minimum-energy paths for two well-characterized reactions: tautomerization of malonaldehyde and Claissen rearrangement of chorismate to prephanate. For these reactions, we show that preconditioning density functional theory (DFT) with a semiempirical method reduces the computational cost for reaching a converged path that is an optimum under DFT by several fold. The approach also shows promise for free energy calculations when thermal noise can be controlled. PMID:25516726

Multi-level analysis in information systems research: the case of enterprise resource planning system usage in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Yuan; Bhattacherjee, Anol

2011-11-01

Information technology (IT) usage within organisations is a multi-level phenomenon that is influenced by individual-level and organisational-level variables. Yet, current theories, such as the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, describe IT usage as solely an individual-level phenomenon. This article postulates a model of organisational IT usage that integrates salient organisational-level variables such as user training, top management support and technical support within an individual-level model to postulate a multi-level model of IT usage. The multi-level model was then empirically validated using multi-level data collected from 128 end users and 26 managers in 26 firms in China regarding their use of enterprise resource planning systems and analysed using the multi-level structural equation modelling (MSEM) technique. We demonstrate the utility of MSEM analysis of multi-level data relative to the more common structural equation modelling analysis of single-level data and show how single-level data can be aggregated to approximate multi-level analysis when multi-level data collection is not possible. We hope that this article will motivate future scholars to employ multi-level data and multi-level analysis for understanding organisational phenomena that are truly multi-level in nature.

PsiQuaSP-A library for efficient computation of symmetric open quantum systems.

PubMed

Gegg, Michael; Richter, Marten

2017-11-24

In a recent publication we showed that permutation symmetry reduces the numerical complexity of Lindblad quantum master equations for identical multi-level systems from exponential to polynomial scaling. This is important for open system dynamics including realistic system bath interactions and dephasing in, for instance, the Dicke model, multi-Λ system setups etc. Here we present an object-oriented C++ library that allows to setup and solve arbitrary quantum optical Lindblad master equations, especially those that are permutationally symmetric in the multi-level systems. PsiQuaSP (Permutation symmetry for identical Quantum Systems Package) uses the PETSc package for sparse linear algebra methods and differential equations as basis. The aim of PsiQuaSP is to provide flexible, storage efficient and scalable code while being as user friendly as possible. It is easily applied to many quantum optical or quantum information systems with more than one multi-level system. We first review the basics of the permutation symmetry for multi-level systems in quantum master equations. The application of PsiQuaSP to quantum dynamical problems is illustrated with several typical, simple examples of open quantum optical systems.

Multilevel fast multipole method based on a potential formulation for 3D electromagnetic scattering problems.

PubMed

Fall, Mandiaye; Boutami, Salim; Glière, Alain; Stout, Brian; Hazart, Jerome

2013-06-01

A combination of the multilevel fast multipole method (MLFMM) and boundary element method (BEM) can solve large scale photonics problems of arbitrary geometry. Here, MLFMM-BEM algorithm based on a scalar and vector potential formulation, instead of the more conventional electric and magnetic field formulations, is described. The method can deal with multiple lossy or lossless dielectric objects of arbitrary geometry, be they nested, in contact, or dispersed. Several examples are used to demonstrate that this method is able to efficiently handle 3D photonic scatterers involving large numbers of unknowns. Absorption, scattering, and extinction efficiencies of gold nanoparticle spheres, calculated by the MLFMM, are compared with Mie's theory. MLFMM calculations of the bistatic radar cross section (RCS) of a gold sphere near the plasmon resonance and of a silica coated gold sphere are also compared with Mie theory predictions. Finally, the bistatic RCS of a nanoparticle gold-silver heterodimer calculated with MLFMM is compared with unmodified BEM calculations.

Error and Complexity Analysis for a Collocation-Grid-Projection Plus Precorrected-FFT Algorithm for Solving Potential Integral Equations with LaPlace or Helmholtz Kernels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Phillips, J. R.

1996-01-01

In this paper we derive error bounds for a collocation-grid-projection scheme tuned for use in multilevel methods for solving boundary-element discretizations of potential integral equations. The grid-projection scheme is then combined with a precorrected FFT style multilevel method for solving potential integral equations with 1/r and e(sup ikr)/r kernels. A complexity analysis of this combined method is given to show that for homogeneous problems, the method is order n natural log n nearly independent of the kernel. In addition, it is shown analytically and experimentally that for an inhomogeneity generated by a very finely discretized surface, the combined method slows to order n(sup 4/3). Finally, examples are given to show that the collocation-based grid-projection plus precorrected-FFT scheme is competitive with fast-multipole algorithms when considering realistic problems and 1/r kernels, but can be used over a range of spatial frequencies with only a small performance penalty.

Operating Quantum States in Single Magnetic Molecules: Implementation of Grover's Quantum Algorithm.

PubMed

Godfrin, C; Ferhat, A; Ballou, R; Klyatskaya, S; Ruben, M; Wernsdorfer, W; Balestro, F

2017-11-03

Quantum algorithms use the principles of quantum mechanics, such as, for example, quantum superposition, in order to solve particular problems outperforming standard computation. They are developed for cryptography, searching, optimization, simulation, and solving large systems of linear equations. Here, we implement Grover's quantum algorithm, proposed to find an element in an unsorted list, using a single nuclear 3/2 spin carried by a Tb ion sitting in a single molecular magnet transistor. The coherent manipulation of this multilevel quantum system (qudit) is achieved by means of electric fields only. Grover's search algorithm is implemented by constructing a quantum database via a multilevel Hadamard gate. The Grover sequence then allows us to select each state. The presented method is of universal character and can be implemented in any multilevel quantum system with nonequal spaced energy levels, opening the way to novel quantum search algorithms.

Multilevel modeling: overview and applications to research in counseling psychology.

PubMed

Kahn, Jeffrey H

2011-04-01

Multilevel modeling (MLM) is rapidly becoming the standard method of analyzing nested data, for example, data from students within multiple schools, data on multiple clients seen by a smaller number of therapists, and even longitudinal data. Although MLM analyses are likely to increase in frequency in counseling psychology research, many readers of counseling psychology journals have had only limited exposure to MLM concepts. This paper provides an overview of MLM that blends mathematical concepts with examples drawn from counseling psychology. This tutorial is intended to be a first step in learning about MLM; readers are referred to other sources for more advanced explorations of MLM. In addition to being a tutorial for understanding and perhaps even conducting MLM analyses, this paper reviews recent research in counseling psychology that has adopted a multilevel framework, and it provides ideas for MLM approaches to future research in counseling psychology. 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Improved Bat Algorithm Applied to Multilevel Image Thresholding

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Multilevel image thresholding is a very important image processing technique that is used as a basis for image segmentation and further higher level processing. However, the required computational time for exhaustive search grows exponentially with the number of desired thresholds. Swarm intelligence metaheuristics are well known as successful and efficient optimization methods for intractable problems. In this paper, we adjusted one of the latest swarm intelligence algorithms, the bat algorithm, for the multilevel image thresholding problem. The results of testing on standard benchmark images show that the bat algorithm is comparable with other state-of-the-art algorithms. We improved standard bat algorithm, where our modifications add some elements from the differential evolution and from the artificial bee colony algorithm. Our new proposed improved bat algorithm proved to be better than five other state-of-the-art algorithms, improving quality of results in all cases and significantly improving convergence speed. PMID:25165733

Theoretical and software considerations for nonlinear dynamic analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schmidt, R. J.; Dodds, R. H., Jr.

1983-01-01

In the finite element method for structural analysis, it is generally necessary to discretize the structural model into a very large number of elements to accurately evaluate displacements, strains, and stresses. As the complexity of the model increases, the number of degrees of freedom can easily exceed the capacity of present-day software system. Improvements of structural analysis software including more efficient use of existing hardware and improved structural modeling techniques are discussed. One modeling technique that is used successfully in static linear and nonlinear analysis is multilevel substructuring. This research extends the use of multilevel substructure modeling to include dynamic analysis and defines the requirements for a general purpose software system capable of efficient nonlinear dynamic analysis. The multilevel substructuring technique is presented, the analytical formulations and computational procedures for dynamic analysis and nonlinear mechanics are reviewed, and an approach to the design and implementation of a general purpose structural software system is presented.

Multiplex lithography for multilevel multiscale architectures and its application to polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, Hyesung; Moon Kim, Sang; Sik Kang, Yun; Kim, Junsoo; Jang, Segeun; Kim, Minhyoung; Park, Hyunchul; Won Bang, Jung; Seo, Soonmin; Suh, Kahp-Yang; Sung, Yung-Eun; Choi, Mansoo

2015-09-01

The production of multiscale architectures is of significant interest in materials science, and the integration of those structures could provide a breakthrough for various applications. Here we report a simple yet versatile strategy that allows for the LEGO-like integrations of microscale membranes by quantitatively controlling the oxygen inhibition effects of ultraviolet-curable materials, leading to multilevel multiscale architectures. The spatial control of oxygen concentration induces different curing contrasts in a resin allowing the selective imprinting and bonding at different sides of a membrane, which enables LEGO-like integration together with the multiscale pattern formation. Utilizing the method, the multilevel multiscale Nafion membranes are prepared and applied to polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. Our multiscale membrane fuel cell demonstrates significant enhancement of performance while ensuring mechanical robustness. The performance enhancement is caused by the combined effect of the decrease of membrane resistance and the increase of the electrochemical active surface area.

Multi-level structure in the large scale distribution of optically luminous galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Xin-fa; Deng, Zu-gan; Liu, Yong-zhen

1992-04-01

Fractal dimensions in the large scale distribution of galaxies have been calculated with the method given by Wen et al. [1] Samples are taken from CfA redshift survey in northern and southern galactic [2] hemisphere in our analysis respectively. Results from these two regions are compared with each other. There are significant differences between the distributions in these two regions. However, our analyses do show some common features of the distributions in these two regions. All subsamples show multi-level fractal character distinctly. Combining it with the results from analyses of samples given by IRAS galaxies and results from samples given by redshift survey in pencil-beam fields, [3,4] we suggest that multi-level fractal structure is most likely to be a general and important character in the large scale distribution of galaxies. The possible implications of this character are discussed.

Operating Quantum States in Single Magnetic Molecules: Implementation of Grover's Quantum Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Godfrin, C.; Ferhat, A.; Ballou, R.; Klyatskaya, S.; Ruben, M.; Wernsdorfer, W.; Balestro, F.

2017-11-01

Quantum algorithms use the principles of quantum mechanics, such as, for example, quantum superposition, in order to solve particular problems outperforming standard computation. They are developed for cryptography, searching, optimization, simulation, and solving large systems of linear equations. Here, we implement Grover's quantum algorithm, proposed to find an element in an unsorted list, using a single nuclear 3 /2 spin carried by a Tb ion sitting in a single molecular magnet transistor. The coherent manipulation of this multilevel quantum system (qudit) is achieved by means of electric fields only. Grover's search algorithm is implemented by constructing a quantum database via a multilevel Hadamard gate. The Grover sequence then allows us to select each state. The presented method is of universal character and can be implemented in any multilevel quantum system with nonequal spaced energy levels, opening the way to novel quantum search algorithms.

Comparison of Functional and Radiological Outcomes Between Two Posterior Approaches in the Treatment of Multilevel Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy

PubMed Central

Ren, Da-Jiang; Li, Fang; Zhang, Zhi-Cheng; Kai, Guan; Shan, Jian-Lin; Zhao, Guang-Min; Sun, Tian-Sheng

2015-01-01

Background: Posterior cervical decompression is an accepted treatment for multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). Each posterior technique has its own advantages and disadvantages. In the present study, we compared the functional and radiological outcomes of expansive hemilaminectomy and laminoplasty with mini titanium plate in the treatment of multilevel CSM. Methods: Forty-four patients with multilevel CSM treated with posterior cervical surgery in Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Beijing Army General Hospital from March 2011 to June 2012 were enrolled in this retrospective study. Patients were divided into two groups by surgical procedure: Laminoplasty (Group L) and hemilaminectomy (Group H). Perioperative parameters including age, sex, duration of symptoms, operative duration, and intraoperative blood loss were recorded and compared. Spinal canal area, calculated using AutoCAD® software (Autodesk Inc., San Rafael, CA, USA), and neurological improvement, evaluated with Japanese Orthopedic Association score, were also compared. Results: Neurological improvement did not differ significantly between groups. Group H had a significantly shorter operative duration and significantly less blood loss. Mean expansion ratio was significantly greater in Group L (77.83 ± 6.41%) than in Group H (62.72 ± 3.86%) (P < 0.01). Conclusions: Both surgical approaches are safe and effective in treating multilevel CSM. Laminoplasty provides a greater degree of enlargement of the spinal canal, whereas expansive hemilaminectomy has the advantages of shorter operative duration and less intraoperative blood loss. PMID:26228218

Development of an efficient multigrid method for the NEM form of the multigroup neutron diffusion equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Chalabi, Rifat M. Khalil

1997-09-01

Development of an improvement to the computational efficiency of the existing nested iterative solution strategy of the Nodal Exapansion Method (NEM) nodal based neutron diffusion code NESTLE is presented. The improvement in the solution strategy is the result of developing a multilevel acceleration scheme that does not suffer from the numerical stalling associated with a number of iterative solution methods. The acceleration scheme is based on the multigrid method, which is specifically adapted for incorporation into the NEM nonlinear iterative strategy. This scheme optimizes the computational interplay between the spatial discretization and the NEM nonlinear iterative solution process through the use of the multigrid method. The combination of the NEM nodal method, calculation of the homogenized, neutron nodal balance coefficients (i.e. restriction operator), efficient underlying smoothing algorithm (power method of NESTLE), and the finer mesh reconstruction algorithm (i.e. prolongation operator), all operating on a sequence of coarser spatial nodes, constitutes the multilevel acceleration scheme employed in this research. Two implementations of the multigrid method into the NESTLE code were examined; the Imbedded NEM Strategy and the Imbedded CMFD Strategy. The main difference in implementation between the two methods is that in the Imbedded NEM Strategy, the NEM solution is required at every MG level. Numerical tests have shown that the Imbedded NEM Strategy suffers from divergence at coarse- grid levels, hence all the results for the different benchmarks presented here were obtained using the Imbedded CMFD Strategy. The novelties in the developed MG method are as follows: the formulation of the restriction and prolongation operators, and the selection of the relaxation method. The restriction operator utilizes a variation of the reactor physics, consistent homogenization technique. The prolongation operator is based upon a variant of the pin power reconstruction methodology. The relaxation method, which is the power method, utilizes a constant coefficient matrix within the NEM non-linear iterative strategy. The choice of the MG nesting within the nested iterative strategy enables the incorporation of other non-linear effects with no additional coding effort. In addition, if an eigenvalue problem is being solved, it remains an eigenvalue problem at all grid levels, simplifying coding implementation. The merit of the developed MG method was tested by incorporating it into the NESTLE iterative solver, and employing it to solve four different benchmark problems. In addition to the base cases, three different sensitivity studies are performed, examining the effects of number of MG levels, homogenized coupling coefficients correction (i.e. restriction operator), and fine-mesh reconstruction algorithm (i.e. prolongation operator). The multilevel acceleration scheme developed in this research provides the foundation for developing adaptive multilevel acceleration methods for steady-state and transient NEM nodal neutron diffusion equations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Family structure and posttraumatic stress reactions: a longitudinal study using multilevel analyses

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background There is limited research on the relevance of family structures to the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress following disasters. We longitudinally studied the effects of marital and parental statuses on posttraumatic stress reactions after the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami and whether persons in the same households had more shared stress reactions than others. Method The study included a tourist population of 641 Norwegian adult citizens, many of them from families with children. We measured posttraumatic stress symptoms with the Impact of Event Scale-Revised at 6 months and 2 years post-disaster. Analyses included multilevel methods with mixed effects models. Results Results showed that neither marital nor parental status was significantly related to posttraumatic stress. At both assessments, adults living in the same household reported levels of posttraumatic stress that were more similar to one another than adults who were not living together. Between households, disaster experiences were closely related to the variance in posttraumatic stress symptom levels at both assessments. Within households, however, disaster experiences were less related to the variance in symptom level at 2 years than at 6 months. Conclusions These results indicate that adult household members may influence one another's posttraumatic stress reactions as well as their interpretations of the disaster experiences over time. Our findings suggest that multilevel methods may provide important information about family processes after disasters. PMID:22171549

On the Multilevel Nature of Meta-Analysis: A Tutorial, Comparison of Software Programs, and Discussion of Analytic Choices.

PubMed

Pastor, Dena A; Lazowski, Rory A

2018-01-01

The term "multilevel meta-analysis" is encountered not only in applied research studies, but in multilevel resources comparing traditional meta-analysis to multilevel meta-analysis. In this tutorial, we argue that the term "multilevel meta-analysis" is redundant since all meta-analysis can be formulated as a special kind of multilevel model. To clarify the multilevel nature of meta-analysis the four standard meta-analytic models are presented using multilevel equations and fit to an example data set using four software programs: two specific to meta-analysis (metafor in R and SPSS macros) and two specific to multilevel modeling (PROC MIXED in SAS and HLM). The same parameter estimates are obtained across programs underscoring that all meta-analyses are multilevel in nature. Despite the equivalent results, not all software programs are alike and differences are noted in the output provided and estimators available. This tutorial also recasts distinctions made in the literature between traditional and multilevel meta-analysis as differences between meta-analytic choices, not between meta-analytic models, and provides guidance to inform choices in estimators, significance tests, moderator analyses, and modeling sequence. The extent to which the software programs allow flexibility with respect to these decisions is noted, with metafor emerging as the most favorable program reviewed.

Enhanced switching stability in Ta2O5 resistive RAM by fluorine doping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sedghi, N.; Li, H.; Brunell, I. F.; Dawson, K.; Guo, Y.; Potter, R. J.; Gibbon, J. T.; Dhanak, V. R.; Zhang, W. D.; Zhang, J. F.; Hall, S.; Robertson, J.; Chalker, P. R.

2017-08-01

The effect of fluorine doping on the switching stability of Ta2O5 resistive random access memory devices is investigated. It shows that the dopant serves to increase the memory window and improve the stability of the resistive states due to the neutralization of oxygen vacancies. The ability to alter the current in the low resistance state with set current compliance coupled with large memory window makes multilevel cell switching more favorable. The devices have set and reset voltages of <1 V with improved stability due to the fluorine doping. Density functional modeling shows that the incorporation of fluorine dopant atoms at the two-fold O vacancy site in the oxide network removes the defect state in the mid bandgap, lowering the overall density of defects capable of forming conductive filaments. This reduces the probability of forming alternative conducting paths and hence improves the current stability in the low resistance states. The doped devices exhibit more stable resistive states in both dc and pulsed set and reset cycles. The retention failure time is estimated to be a minimum of 2 years for F-doped devices measured by temperature accelerated and stress voltage accelerated retention failure methods.

The Importance of Proximal Fusion Level Selection for Outcomes of Multi-Level Lumbar Posterolateral Fusion

PubMed Central

Nam, Woo Dong

2015-01-01

Background There are few studies about risk factors for poor outcomes from multi-level lumbar posterolateral fusion limited to three or four level lumbar posterolateral fusions. The purpose of this study was to analyze the outcomes of multi-level lumbar posterolateral fusion and to search for possible risk factors for poor surgical outcomes. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 37 consecutive patients who underwent multi-level lumbar or lumbosacral posterolateral fusion with posterior instrumentation. The outcomes were deemed either 'good' or 'bad' based on clinical and radiological results. Many demographic and radiological factors were analyzed to examine potential risk factors for poor outcomes. Student t-test, Fisher exact test, and the chi-square test were used based on the nature of the variables. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to exclude confounding factors. Results Twenty cases showed a good outcome (group A, 54.1%) and 17 cases showed a bad outcome (group B, 45.9%). The overall fusion rate was 70.3%. The revision procedures (group A: 1/20, 5.0%; group B: 4/17, 23.5%), proximal fusion to L2 (group A: 5/20, 25.0%; group B: 10/17, 58.8%), and severity of stenosis (group A: 12/19, 63.3%; group B: 3/11, 27.3%) were adopted as possible related factors to the outcome in univariate analysis. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that only the proximal fusion level (superior instrumented vertebra, SIV) was a significant risk factor. The cases in which SIV was L2 showed inferior outcomes than those in which SIV was L3. The odds ratio was 6.562 (95% confidence interval, 1.259 to 34.203). Conclusions The overall outcome of multi-level lumbar or lumbosacral posterolateral fusion was not as high as we had hoped it would be. Whether the SIV was L2 or L3 was the only significant risk factor identified for poor outcomes in multi-level lumbar or lumbosacral posterolateral fusion in the current study. Thus, the authors recommend that proximal fusion levels be carefully determined when multi-level lumbar fusions are considered. PMID:25729522

Theory and modelling of light-matter interactions in photonic crystal cavity systems coupled to quantum dot ensembles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cartar, William K.

Photonic crystal microcavity quantum dot lasers show promise as high quality-factor, low threshold lasers, that can be integrated on-chip, with tunable room temperature opera- tions. However, such semiconductor microcavity lasers are notoriously difficult to model in a self-consistent way and are primarily modelled by simplified rate equation approxima- tions, typically fit to experimental data, which limits investigations of their optimization and fundamental light-matter interaction processes. Moreover, simple cavity mode optical theory and rate equations have recently been shown to fail in explaining lasing threshold trends in triangular lattice photonic crystal cavities as a function of cavity size, and the potential impact of fabrication disorder is not well understood. In this thesis, we develop a simple but powerful numerical scheme for modelling the quantum dot active layer used for lasing in these photonic crystal cavity structures, as an ensemble of randomly posi- tioned artificial two-level atoms. Each two-level atom is defined by optical Bloch equations solved by a quantum master equation that includes phenomenological pure dephasing and an incoherent pump rate that effectively models a multi-level gain system. Light-matter in- teractions of both passive and lasing structures are analyzed using simulation defined tools and post-simulation Green function techniques. We implement an active layer ensemble of up to 24,000 statistically unique quantum dots in photonic crystal cavity simulations, using a self-consistent finite-difference time-domain method. This method has the distinct advantage of capturing effects such as dipole-dipole coupling and radiative decay, without the need for any phenomenological terms, since the time-domain solution self-consistently captures these effects. Our analysis demonstrates a powerful ability to connect with recent experimental trends, while remaining completely general in its set-up; for example, we do not invoke common approximations such as the rotating-wave or slowly-varying envelope approximations, and solve dynamics with zero a priori knowledge.

Implementation of Hybrid V-Cycle Multilevel Methods for Mixed Finite Element Systems with Penalty

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lai, Chen-Yao G.

1996-01-01

The goal of this paper is the implementation of hybrid V-cycle hierarchical multilevel methods for the indefinite discrete systems which arise when a mixed finite element approximation is used to solve elliptic boundary value problems. By introducing a penalty parameter, the perturbed indefinite system can be reduced to a symmetric positive definite system containing the small penalty parameter for the velocity unknown alone. We stabilize the hierarchical spatial decomposition approach proposed by Cai, Goldstein, and Pasciak for the reduced system. We demonstrate that the relative condition number of the preconditioner is bounded uniformly with respect to the penalty parameter, the number of levels and possible jumps of the coefficients as long as they occur only across the edges of the coarsest elements.

Finding Chemical Reaction Paths with a Multilevel Preconditioning Protocol

DOE PAGES

Kale, Seyit; Sode, Olaseni; Weare, Jonathan; ...

2014-11-07

Finding transition paths for chemical reactions can be computationally costly owing to the level of quantum-chemical theory needed for accuracy. Here, we show that a multilevel preconditioning scheme that was recently introduced (Tempkin et al. J. Chem. Phys. 2014, 140, 184114) can be used to accelerate quantum-chemical string calculations. We demonstrate the method by finding minimum-energy paths for two well-characterized reactions: tautomerization of malonaldehyde and Claissen rearrangement of chorismate to prephanate. For these reactions, we show that preconditioning density functional theory (DFT) with a semiempirical method reduces the computational cost for reaching a converged path that is an optimum undermore » DFT by several fold. In conclusion, the approach also shows promise for free energy calculations when thermal noise can be controlled.« less

Array-based Hierarchical Mesh Generation in Parallel

DOE PAGES

Ray, Navamita; Grindeanu, Iulian; Zhao, Xinglin; ...

2015-11-03

In this paper, we describe an array-based hierarchical mesh generation capability through uniform refinement of unstructured meshes for efficient solution of PDE's using finite element methods and multigrid solvers. A multi-degree, multi-dimensional and multi-level framework is designed to generate the nested hierarchies from an initial mesh that can be used for a number of purposes such as multi-level methods to generating large meshes. The capability is developed under the parallel mesh framework “Mesh Oriented dAtaBase” a.k.a MOAB. We describe the underlying data structures and algorithms to generate such hierarchies and present numerical results for computational efficiency and mesh quality. Inmore » conclusion, we also present results to demonstrate the applicability of the developed capability to a multigrid finite-element solver.« less

On Selecting Commercial Information Systems

PubMed Central

Möhr, J.R.; Sawinski, R.; Kluge, A.; Alle, W.

1984-01-01

As more commercial information systems become available, the methodology for their selection gains importance. An instances where the method employed for the selection of laboratory information systems was multilevel assessment. The method is described and the experience gained in the project is summarized and discussed. Evidence is provided that the employed method is comprehensive, reproducible, valid and economic.

University and Student Segmentation: Multilevel Latent-Class Analysis of Students' Attitudes towards Research Methods and Statistics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mutz, Rudiger; Daniel, Hans-Dieter

2013-01-01

Background: It is often claimed that psychology students' attitudes towards research methods and statistics affect course enrolment, persistence, achievement, and course climate. However, the inter-institutional variability has been widely neglected in the research on students' attitudes towards research methods and statistics, but it is important…

Multilevel Monte Carlo simulation of Coulomb collisions

DOE PAGES

Rosin, M. S.; Ricketson, L. F.; Dimits, A. M.; ...

2014-05-29

We present a new, for plasma physics, highly efficient multilevel Monte Carlo numerical method for simulating Coulomb collisions. The method separates and optimally minimizes the finite-timestep and finite-sampling errors inherent in the Langevin representation of the Landau–Fokker–Planck equation. It does so by combining multiple solutions to the underlying equations with varying numbers of timesteps. For a desired level of accuracy ε , the computational cost of the method is O(ε –2) or (ε –2(lnε) 2), depending on the underlying discretization, Milstein or Euler–Maruyama respectively. This is to be contrasted with a cost of O(ε –3) for direct simulation Monte Carlomore » or binary collision methods. We successfully demonstrate the method with a classic beam diffusion test case in 2D, making use of the Lévy area approximation for the correlated Milstein cross terms, and generating a computational saving of a factor of 100 for ε=10 –5. Lastly, we discuss the importance of the method for problems in which collisions constitute the computational rate limiting step, and its limitations.« less

A Structural Modeling Approach to a Multilevel Random Coefficients Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rovine, Michael J.; Molenaar, Peter C. M.

2000-01-01

Presents a method for estimating the random coefficients model using covariance structure modeling and allowing one to estimate both fixed and random effects. The method is applied to real and simulated data, including marriage data from J. Belsky and M. Rovine (1990). (SLD)

Program scheme using common source lines in channel stacked NAND flash memory with layer selection by multilevel operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Do-Bin; Kwon, Dae Woong; Kim, Seunghyun; Lee, Sang-Ho; Park, Byung-Gook

2018-02-01

To obtain high channel boosting potential and reduce a program disturbance in channel stacked NAND flash memory with layer selection by multilevel (LSM) operation, a new program scheme using boosted common source line (CSL) is proposed. The proposed scheme can be achieved by applying proper bias to each layer through its own CSL. Technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations are performed to verify the validity of the new method in LSM. Through TCAD simulation, it is revealed that the program disturbance characteristics is effectively improved by the proposed scheme.

Probabilistic Multi-Scale, Multi-Level, Multi-Disciplinary Analysis and Optimization of Engine Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chamis, Christos C.; Abumeri, Galib H.

2000-01-01

Aircraft engines are assemblies of dynamically interacting components. Engine updates to keep present aircraft flying safely and engines for new aircraft are progressively required to operate in more demanding technological and environmental requirements. Designs to effectively meet those requirements are necessarily collections of multi-scale, multi-level, multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization methods and probabilistic methods are necessary to quantify respective uncertainties. These types of methods are the only ones that can formally evaluate advanced composite designs which satisfy those progressively demanding requirements while assuring minimum cost, maximum reliability and maximum durability. Recent research activities at NASA Glenn Research Center have focused on developing multi-scale, multi-level, multidisciplinary analysis and optimization methods. Multi-scale refers to formal methods which describe complex material behavior metal or composite; multi-level refers to integration of participating disciplines to describe a structural response at the scale of interest; multidisciplinary refers to open-ended for various existing and yet to be developed discipline constructs required to formally predict/describe a structural response in engine operating environments. For example, these include but are not limited to: multi-factor models for material behavior, multi-scale composite mechanics, general purpose structural analysis, progressive structural fracture for evaluating durability and integrity, noise and acoustic fatigue, emission requirements, hot fluid mechanics, heat-transfer and probabilistic simulations. Many of these, as well as others, are encompassed in an integrated computer code identified as Engine Structures Technology Benefits Estimator (EST/BEST) or Multi-faceted/Engine Structures Optimization (MP/ESTOP). The discipline modules integrated in MP/ESTOP include: engine cycle (thermodynamics), engine weights, internal fluid mechanics, cost, mission and coupled structural/thermal, various composite property simulators and probabilistic methods to evaluate uncertainty effects (scatter ranges) in all the design parameters. The objective of the proposed paper is to briefly describe a multi-faceted design analysis and optimization capability for coupled multi-discipline engine structures optimization. Results are presented for engine and aircraft type metrics to illustrate the versatility of that capability. Results are also presented for reliability, noise and fatigue to illustrate its inclusiveness. For example, replacing metal rotors with composites reduces the engine weight by 20 percent, 15 percent noise reduction, and an order of magnitude improvement in reliability. Composite designs exist to increase fatigue life by at least two orders of magnitude compared to state-of-the-art metals.

Computer Science Techniques Applied to Parallel Atomistic Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakano, Aiichiro

1998-03-01

Recent developments in parallel processing technology and multiresolution numerical algorithms have established large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations as a new research mode for studying materials phenomena such as fracture. However, this requires large system sizes and long simulated times. We have developed: i) Space-time multiresolution schemes; ii) fuzzy-clustering approach to hierarchical dynamics; iii) wavelet-based adaptive curvilinear-coordinate load balancing; iv) multilevel preconditioned conjugate gradient method; and v) spacefilling-curve-based data compression for parallel I/O. Using these techniques, million-atom parallel MD simulations are performed for the oxidation dynamics of nanocrystalline Al. The simulations take into account the effect of dynamic charge transfer between Al and O using the electronegativity equalization scheme. The resulting long-range Coulomb interaction is calculated efficiently with the fast multipole method. Results for temperature and charge distributions, residual stresses, bond lengths and bond angles, and diffusivities of Al and O will be presented. The oxidation of nanocrystalline Al is elucidated through immersive visualization in virtual environments. A unique dual-degree education program at Louisiana State University will also be discussed in which students can obtain a Ph.D. in Physics & Astronomy and a M.S. from the Department of Computer Science in five years. This program fosters interdisciplinary research activities for interfacing High Performance Computing and Communications with large-scale atomistic simulations of advanced materials. This work was supported by NSF (CAREER Program), ARO, PRF, and Louisiana LEQSF.

HIV sexual risk behaviors and multilevel determinants among male labor migrants from Tajikistan.

PubMed

Weine, Stevan; Bahromov, Mahbat; Loue, Sana; Owens, Linda

2013-08-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate HIV risk behaviors and their multilevel determinants in male labor migrants from Tajikistan to Moscow. In Russia and Central Asia, where AIDS rates are amongst the world's highest, conditions in both sending and receiving countries pose serious challenges to HIV prevention. A survey of Tajik married male seasonal labor migrants in Moscow was completed by 200 workers from 4 bazaars and 200 workers from 18 construction sites as part of a mixed method study. The quantitative results indicated that male labor migrants were at risk for HIV due to higher sexual behaviors including sexual relations with sex workers (92 %), multiple partnering in the past month (86 %), unprotected sex with sex workers (33 %), and reduced frequency of condom use while drinking alcohol (57 %). Multivariate tests indicated the multilevel factors that increased HIV sexual risks including: pre-migration factors (e.g. used sex workers in Tajikistan); migrant work and lifestyle factors (e.g. greater number of times visited Moscow); migrant sexual and relational factors (e.g. regular partner in Moscow); and migrant health and mental health factors (e.g. increased frequency of alcohol use). Qualitative findings from longitudinal ethnographic interviews and observations of a subset of 40 purposively sampled Tajik male migrants demonstrated how these multilevel pre-migration and migration factors account for HIV risk and protective behaviors in context. These findings underscore the seriousness of HIV risk for labor migrants and call both for multilevel approaches to prevention and for further study.

A multilevel layout algorithm for visualizing physical and genetic interaction networks, with emphasis on their modular organization.

PubMed

Tuikkala, Johannes; Vähämaa, Heidi; Salmela, Pekka; Nevalainen, Olli S; Aittokallio, Tero

2012-03-26

Graph drawing is an integral part of many systems biology studies, enabling visual exploration and mining of large-scale biological networks. While a number of layout algorithms are available in popular network analysis platforms, such as Cytoscape, it remains poorly understood how well their solutions reflect the underlying biological processes that give rise to the network connectivity structure. Moreover, visualizations obtained using conventional layout algorithms, such as those based on the force-directed drawing approach, may become uninformative when applied to larger networks with dense or clustered connectivity structure. We implemented a modified layout plug-in, named Multilevel Layout, which applies the conventional layout algorithms within a multilevel optimization framework to better capture the hierarchical modularity of many biological networks. Using a wide variety of real life biological networks, we carried out a systematic evaluation of the method in comparison with other layout algorithms in Cytoscape. The multilevel approach provided both biologically relevant and visually pleasant layout solutions in most network types, hence complementing the layout options available in Cytoscape. In particular, it could improve drawing of large-scale networks of yeast genetic interactions and human physical interactions. In more general terms, the biological evaluation framework developed here enables one to assess the layout solutions from any existing or future graph drawing algorithm as well as to optimize their performance for a given network type or structure. By making use of the multilevel modular organization when visualizing biological networks, together with the biological evaluation of the layout solutions, one can generate convenient visualizations for many network biology applications.

Linear spline multilevel models for summarising childhood growth trajectories: A guide to their application using examples from five birth cohorts.

PubMed

Howe, Laura D; Tilling, Kate; Matijasevich, Alicia; Petherick, Emily S; Santos, Ana Cristina; Fairley, Lesley; Wright, John; Santos, Iná S; Barros, Aluísio Jd; Martin, Richard M; Kramer, Michael S; Bogdanovich, Natalia; Matush, Lidia; Barros, Henrique; Lawlor, Debbie A

2016-10-01

Childhood growth is of interest in medical research concerned with determinants and consequences of variation from healthy growth and development. Linear spline multilevel modelling is a useful approach for deriving individual summary measures of growth, which overcomes several data issues (co-linearity of repeat measures, the requirement for all individuals to be measured at the same ages and bias due to missing data). Here, we outline the application of this methodology to model individual trajectories of length/height and weight, drawing on examples from five cohorts from different generations and different geographical regions with varying levels of economic development. We describe the unique features of the data within each cohort that have implications for the application of linear spline multilevel models, for example, differences in the density and inter-individual variation in measurement occasions, and multiple sources of measurement with varying measurement error. After providing example Stata syntax and a suggested workflow for the implementation of linear spline multilevel models, we conclude with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the linear spline approach compared with other growth modelling methods such as fractional polynomials, more complex spline functions and other non-linear models. © The Author(s) 2013.

Disentangling the Relative Influence of Schools and Neighborhoods on Adolescents’ Risk for Depressive Symptoms

PubMed Central

Milliren, Carly E.; Evans, Clare R.; Subramanian, S. V.; Richmond, Tracy K.

2015-01-01

Objectives. Although schools and neighborhoods influence health, little is known about their relative importance, or the influence of one context after the influence of the other has been taken into account. We simultaneously examined the influence of each setting on depression among adolescents. Methods. Analyzing data from wave 1 (1994–1995) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we used cross-classified multilevel modeling to examine between-level variation and individual-, school-, and neighborhood-level predictors of adolescent depressive symptoms. Also, we compared the results of our cross-classified multilevel models (CCMMs) with those of a multilevel model wherein either school or neighborhood was excluded. Results. In CCMMs, the school-level random effect was significant and more than 3 times the neighborhood-level random effect, even after individual-level characteristics had been taken into account. Individual-level indicators (e.g., race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status) were associated with depressive symptoms, but there was no association with either school- or neighborhood-level fixed effects. The between-level variance in depressive symptoms was driven largely by schools as opposed to neighborhoods. Conclusions. Schools appear to be more salient than neighborhoods in explaining variation in depressive symptoms. Future work incorporating cross-classified multilevel modeling is needed to understand the relative effects of schools and neighborhoods. PMID:25713969

Promoting and Protecting Against Stigma in Assisted Living and Nursing Homes

PubMed Central

Zimmerman, Sheryl; Dobbs, Debra; Roth, Erin G.; Goldman, Susan; Peeples, Amanda D.; Wallace, Brandy

2016-01-01

Purpose of the Study: To determine the extent to which structures and processes of care in multilevel settings (independent living, assisted living, and nursing homes) result in stigma in assisted living and nursing homes. Design and Methods: Ethnographic in-depth interviews were conducted in 5 multilevel settings with 256 residents, families, and staff members. Qualitative analyses identified the themes that resulted when examining text describing either structures of care or processes of care in relation to 7 codes associated with stigma. Results: Four themes related to structures of care and stigma were identified, including the physical environment, case mix, staff training, and multilevel settings; five themes related to processes of care and stigma, including dining, independence, respect, privacy, and care provision. For each theme, examples were identified illustrating how structures and processes of care can potentially promote or protect against stigma. Implications: In no instance were examples or themes identified that suggested the staff intentionally promoted stigma; on the other hand, there was indication that some structures and processes were intentionally in place to protect against stigma. Perhaps the most important theme is the stigma related to multilevel settings, as it has the potential to reduce individuals’ likelihood to seek and accept necessary care. Results suggest specific recommendations to modify care and reduce stigma. PMID:24928555

Contextual effects and cancer outcomes in the United States: a systematic review of characteristics in multilevel analyses.

PubMed

Zahnd, Whitney E; McLafferty, Sara L

2017-11-01

There is increasing call for the utilization of multilevel modeling to explore the relationship between place-based contextual effects and cancer outcomes in the United States. To gain a better understanding of how contextual factors are being considered, we performed a systematic review. We reviewed studies published between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2016 and assessed the following attributes: (1) contextual considerations such as geographic scale and contextual factors used; (2) methods used to quantify contextual factors; and (3) cancer type and outcomes. We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science and initially identified 1060 studies. One hundred twenty-two studies remained after exclusions. Most studies utilized a two-level structure; census tracts were the most commonly used geographic scale. Socioeconomic factors, health care access, racial/ethnic factors, and rural-urban status were the most common contextual factors addressed in multilevel models. Breast and colorectal cancers were the most common cancer types, and screening and staging were the most common outcomes assessed in these studies. Opportunities for future research include deriving contextual factors using more rigorous approaches, considering cross-classified structures and cross-level interactions, and using multilevel modeling to explore understudied cancers and outcomes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

To center or not to center? Investigating inertia with a multilevel autoregressive model.

PubMed

Hamaker, Ellen L; Grasman, Raoul P P P

2014-01-01

Whether level 1 predictors should be centered per cluster has received considerable attention in the multilevel literature. While most agree that there is no one preferred approach, it has also been argued that cluster mean centering is desirable when the within-cluster slope and the between-cluster slope are expected to deviate, and the main interest is in the within-cluster slope. However, we show in a series of simulations that if one has a multilevel autoregressive model in which the level 1 predictor is the lagged outcome variable (i.e., the outcome variable at the previous occasion), cluster mean centering will in general lead to a downward bias in the parameter estimate of the within-cluster slope (i.e., the autoregressive relationship). This is particularly relevant if the main question is whether there is on average an autoregressive effect. Nonetheless, we show that if the main interest is in estimating the effect of a level 2 predictor on the autoregressive parameter (i.e., a cross-level interaction), cluster mean centering should be preferred over other forms of centering. Hence, researchers should be clear on what is considered the main goal of their study, and base their choice of centering method on this when using a multilevel autoregressive model.

To center or not to center? Investigating inertia with a multilevel autoregressive model

PubMed Central

Hamaker, Ellen L.; Grasman, Raoul P. P. P.

2015-01-01

Whether level 1 predictors should be centered per cluster has received considerable attention in the multilevel literature. While most agree that there is no one preferred approach, it has also been argued that cluster mean centering is desirable when the within-cluster slope and the between-cluster slope are expected to deviate, and the main interest is in the within-cluster slope. However, we show in a series of simulations that if one has a multilevel autoregressive model in which the level 1 predictor is the lagged outcome variable (i.e., the outcome variable at the previous occasion), cluster mean centering will in general lead to a downward bias in the parameter estimate of the within-cluster slope (i.e., the autoregressive relationship). This is particularly relevant if the main question is whether there is on average an autoregressive effect. Nonetheless, we show that if the main interest is in estimating the effect of a level 2 predictor on the autoregressive parameter (i.e., a cross-level interaction), cluster mean centering should be preferred over other forms of centering. Hence, researchers should be clear on what is considered the main goal of their study, and base their choice of centering method on this when using a multilevel autoregressive model. PMID:25688215

Linear spline multilevel models for summarising childhood growth trajectories: A guide to their application using examples from five birth cohorts

PubMed Central

Tilling, Kate; Matijasevich, Alicia; Petherick, Emily S; Santos, Ana Cristina; Fairley, Lesley; Wright, John; Santos, Iná S.; Barros, Aluísio JD; Martin, Richard M; Kramer, Michael S; Bogdanovich, Natalia; Matush, Lidia; Barros, Henrique; Lawlor, Debbie A

2013-01-01

Childhood growth is of interest in medical research concerned with determinants and consequences of variation from healthy growth and development. Linear spline multilevel modelling is a useful approach for deriving individual summary measures of growth, which overcomes several data issues (co-linearity of repeat measures, the requirement for all individuals to be measured at the same ages and bias due to missing data). Here, we outline the application of this methodology to model individual trajectories of length/height and weight, drawing on examples from five cohorts from different generations and different geographical regions with varying levels of economic development. We describe the unique features of the data within each cohort that have implications for the application of linear spline multilevel models, for example, differences in the density and inter-individual variation in measurement occasions, and multiple sources of measurement with varying measurement error. After providing example Stata syntax and a suggested workflow for the implementation of linear spline multilevel models, we conclude with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the linear spline approach compared with other growth modelling methods such as fractional polynomials, more complex spline functions and other non-linear models. PMID:24108269

Method and apparatus for quantum information processing using entangled neutral-atom qubits

DOEpatents

Jau, Yuan Yu; Biedermann, Grant; Deutsch, Ivan

2018-04-03

A method for preparing an entangled quantum state of an atomic ensemble is provided. The method includes loading each atom of the atomic ensemble into a respective optical trap; placing each atom of the atomic ensemble into a same first atomic quantum state by impingement of pump radiation; approaching the atoms of the atomic ensemble to within a dipole-dipole interaction length of each other; Rydberg-dressing the atomic ensemble; during the Rydberg-dressing operation, exciting the atomic ensemble with a Raman pulse tuned to stimulate a ground-state hyperfine transition from the first atomic quantum state to a second atomic quantum state; and separating the atoms of the atomic ensemble by more than a dipole-dipole interaction length.

EFFECTS-BASED CUMULATIVE RISK ASSESSMENT IN A LOW-INCOME URBAN COMMUNITY NEAR A SUPERFUND SITE

EPA Science Inventory

We will introduce into the cumulative risk assessment framework novel methods for non-cancer risk assessment, techniques for dose-response modeling that extend insights from chemical mixtures frameworks to non-chemical stressors, multilevel statistical methods used to address ...

Multilevel Model Prediction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frees, Edward W.; Kim, Jee-Seon

2006-01-01

Multilevel models are proven tools in social research for modeling complex, hierarchical systems. In multilevel modeling, statistical inference is based largely on quantification of random variables. This paper distinguishes among three types of random variables in multilevel modeling--model disturbances, random coefficients, and future response…

The density matrix method in photonic bandgap and antiferromagnetic materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barrie, Scott B.

In this thesis, a theory for dispersive polaritonic bandgap (DPBG) and photonic bandgap (PBG) materials is developed. An ensemble of multi-level nanoparticles, such as non-interacting two-, three- and four-level atoms doped in DPBG and PBG materials is considered. The optical properties of these materials such as spontaneous emission, line broadening, fluorescence and narrowing of the natural linewidth have been studied using the density matrix method. Numerical simulations for these properties have been performed for the DPBG materials SiC and InAs, and for a PBG material with a 20 percent gap-to-midgap ratio. When a three-level nanoparticle is doped into a DPBG material, it is predicted that one or two bound states exist when one or both resonance energies, respectively, lie in the bandgap. It is shown when a resonance energy lies below the bandgap, its spectral density peak weakens and broadens as the resonance energy increases to the lower band edge. For the first time it is predicted that when a nanoparticle's resonance energy lies above the bandgap, its spectral density peak weakens and broadens as the resonance energy increases. A relation is also found between spectral structure and gap-to-midgap ratios. The dressed states of a two-level atom doped into a DPBG material under the influence of an intense monochromatic laser field are examined. The splitting of the dressed state energies is calculated, and it is predicted that the splitting depends on the polariton density of states and the Rabi frequency of laser field. The fluoresence is also examined, and for the first time two distinct control processes are found for the transition from one peak to three peaks. It was previously known that the Rabi frequency controlled the Stark effect, but this thesis predicts that the local of the peak with respect to the optical bandgap can cause a transition from one to three peaks even with a weak Rabi frequency. The transient linewidth narrowing of PBG crystal emission peaks doped with four-level atoms is studied. It is found that linewidth narrowing is only dependent upon time delay when the resonance energy is not near a band edge. This is a new discovery. The density matrix method is employed to find the critical magnetic field at which spin flopping occurs in antiferromagnetic high temperature superconductors. It is found that this magnetic field depends upon the temperature, the anisotropy parameter and the doping concentration. Results are calculated for 1-2-3 HTSCs. Keywords. Quantum Optics, Density Matrix, Photonic Bandgap Materials, Dispersive Polaritonic Bandgap Materials, Antiferromagnets.

Care pathways across the primary-hospital care continuum: using the multi-level framework in explaining care coordination

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Care pathways are widely used in hospitals for a structured and detailed planning of the care process. There is a growing interest in extending care pathways into primary care to improve quality of care by increasing care coordination. Evidence is sparse about the relationship between care pathways and care coordination. The multi-level framework explores care coordination across organizations and states that (inter)organizational mechanisms have an effect on the relationships between healthcare professionals, resulting in quality and efficiency of care. The aim of this study was to assess the extent to which care pathways support or create elements of the multi-level framework necessary to improve care coordination across the primary - hospital care continuum. Methods This study is an in-depth analysis of five existing local community projects located in four different regions in Flanders (Belgium) to determine whether the available empirical evidence supported or refuted the theoretical expectations from the multi-level framework. Data were gathered using mixed methods, including structured face-to-face interviews, participant observations, documentation and a focus group. Multiple cases were analyzed performing a cross case synthesis to strengthen the results. Results The development of a care pathway across the primary-hospital care continuum, supported by a step-by-step scenario, led to the use of existing and newly constructed structures, data monitoring and the development of information tools. The construction and use of these inter-organizational mechanisms had a positive effect on exchanging information, formulating and sharing goals, defining and knowing each other’s roles, expectations and competences and building qualitative relationships. Conclusion Care pathways across the primary-hospital care continuum enhance the components of care coordination. PMID:23919518

Fault detection and diagnosis in asymmetric multilevel inverter using artificial neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raj, Nithin; Jagadanand, G.; George, Saly

2018-04-01

The increased component requirement to realise multilevel inverter (MLI) fallout in a higher fault prospect due to power semiconductors. In this scenario, efficient fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) strategies to detect and locate the power semiconductor faults have to be incorporated in addition to the conventional protection systems. Even though a number of FDD methods have been introduced in the symmetrical cascaded H-bridge (CHB) MLIs, very few methods address the FDD in asymmetric CHB-MLIs. In this paper, the gate-open circuit FDD strategy in asymmetric CHB-MLI is presented. Here, a single artificial neural network (ANN) is used to detect and diagnose the fault in both binary and trinary configurations of the asymmetric CHB-MLIs. In this method, features of the output voltage of the MLIs are used as to train the ANN for FDD method. The results prove the validity of the proposed method in detecting and locating the fault in both asymmetric MLI configurations. Finally, the ANN response to the input parameter variation is also analysed to access the performance of the proposed ANN-based FDD strategy.

A Novel Multilevel-SVD Method to Improve Multistep Ahead Forecasting in Traffic Accidents Domain.

PubMed

Barba, Lida; Rodríguez, Nibaldo

2017-01-01

Here is proposed a novel method for decomposing a nonstationary time series in components of low and high frequency. The method is based on Multilevel Singular Value Decomposition (MSVD) of a Hankel matrix. The decomposition is used to improve the forecasting accuracy of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) linear and nonlinear models. Three time series coming from traffic accidents domain are used. They represent the number of persons with injuries in traffic accidents of Santiago, Chile. The data were continuously collected by the Chilean Police and were weekly sampled from 2000:1 to 2014:12. The performance of MSVD is compared with the decomposition in components of low and high frequency of a commonly accepted method based on Stationary Wavelet Transform (SWT). SWT in conjunction with the Autoregressive model (SWT + MIMO-AR) and SWT in conjunction with an Autoregressive Neural Network (SWT + MIMO-ANN) were evaluated. The empirical results have shown that the best accuracy was achieved by the forecasting model based on the proposed decomposition method MSVD, in comparison with the forecasting models based on SWT.

A Novel Multilevel-SVD Method to Improve Multistep Ahead Forecasting in Traffic Accidents Domain

PubMed Central

Rodríguez, Nibaldo

2017-01-01

Here is proposed a novel method for decomposing a nonstationary time series in components of low and high frequency. The method is based on Multilevel Singular Value Decomposition (MSVD) of a Hankel matrix. The decomposition is used to improve the forecasting accuracy of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) linear and nonlinear models. Three time series coming from traffic accidents domain are used. They represent the number of persons with injuries in traffic accidents of Santiago, Chile. The data were continuously collected by the Chilean Police and were weekly sampled from 2000:1 to 2014:12. The performance of MSVD is compared with the decomposition in components of low and high frequency of a commonly accepted method based on Stationary Wavelet Transform (SWT). SWT in conjunction with the Autoregressive model (SWT + MIMO-AR) and SWT in conjunction with an Autoregressive Neural Network (SWT + MIMO-ANN) were evaluated. The empirical results have shown that the best accuracy was achieved by the forecasting model based on the proposed decomposition method MSVD, in comparison with the forecasting models based on SWT. PMID:28261267

New evidence favoring multilevel decomposition and optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Padula, Sharon L.; Polignone, Debra A.

1990-01-01

The issue of the utility of multilevel decomposition and optimization remains controversial. To date, only the structural optimization community has actively developed and promoted multilevel optimization techniques. However, even this community acknowledges that multilevel optimization is ideally suited for a rather limited set of problems. It is warned that decomposition typically requires eliminating local variables by using global variables and that this in turn causes ill-conditioning of the multilevel optimization by adding equality constraints. The purpose is to suggest a new multilevel optimization technique. This technique uses behavior variables, in addition to design variables and constraints, to decompose the problem. The new technique removes the need for equality constraints, simplifies the decomposition of the design problem, simplifies the programming task, and improves the convergence speed of multilevel optimization compared to conventional optimization.

The Performance of Methods to Test Upper-Level Mediation in the Presence of Nonnormal Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pituch, Keenan A.; Stapleton, Laura M.

2008-01-01

A Monte Carlo study compared the statistical performance of standard and robust multilevel mediation analysis methods to test indirect effects for a cluster randomized experimental design under various departures from normality. The performance of these methods was examined for an upper-level mediation process, where the indirect effect is a fixed…

Assessment of Differential Item Functioning in Health-Related Outcomes: A Simulation and Empirical Analysis with Hierarchical Polytomous Data.

PubMed

Sharafi, Zahra; Mousavi, Amin; Ayatollahi, Seyyed Mohammad Taghi; Jafari, Peyman

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two methods of detecting differential item functioning (DIF) in the presence of multilevel data and polytomously scored items. The assessment of DIF with multilevel data (e.g., patients nested within hospitals, hospitals nested within districts) from large-scale assessment programs has received considerable attention but very few studies evaluated the effect of hierarchical structure of data on DIF detection for polytomously scored items. The ordinal logistic regression (OLR) and hierarchical ordinal logistic regression (HOLR) were utilized to assess DIF in simulated and real multilevel polytomous data. Six factors (DIF magnitude, grouping variable, intraclass correlation coefficient, number of clusters, number of participants per cluster, and item discrimination parameter) with a fully crossed design were considered in the simulation study. Furthermore, data of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™) 4.0 collected from 576 healthy school children were analyzed. Overall, results indicate that both methods performed equivalently in terms of controlling Type I error and detection power rates. The current study showed negligible difference between OLR and HOLR in detecting DIF with polytomously scored items in a hierarchical structure. Implications and considerations while analyzing real data were also discussed.

Algebraic aspects of the driven dynamics in the density operator and correlation functions calculation for multi-level open quantum systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogolubov, Nikolai N.; Soldatov, Andrey V.

2017-12-01

Exact and approximate master equations were derived by the projection operator method for the reduced statistical operator of a multi-level quantum system with finite number N of quantum eigenstates interacting with arbitrary external classical fields and dissipative environment simultaneously. It was shown that the structure of these equations can be simplified significantly if the free Hamiltonian driven dynamics of an arbitrary quantum multi-level system under the influence of the external driving fields as well as its Markovian and non-Markovian evolution, stipulated by the interaction with the environment, are described in terms of the SU(N) algebra representation. As a consequence, efficient numerical methods can be developed and employed to analyze these master equations for real problems in various fields of theoretical and applied physics. It was also shown that literally the same master equations hold not only for the reduced density operator but also for arbitrary nonequilibrium multi-time correlation functions as well under the only assumption that the system and the environment are uncorrelated at some initial moment of time. A calculational scheme was proposed to account for these lost correlations in a regular perturbative way, thus providing additional computable terms to the correspondent master equations for the correlation functions.

Multilevel Models for Intensive Longitudinal Data with Heterogeneous Autoregressive Errors: The Effect of Misspecification and Correction with Cholesky Transformation

PubMed Central

Jahng, Seungmin; Wood, Phillip K.

2017-01-01

Intensive longitudinal studies, such as ecological momentary assessment studies using electronic diaries, are gaining popularity across many areas of psychology. Multilevel models (MLMs) are most widely used analytical tools for intensive longitudinal data (ILD). Although ILD often have individually distinct patterns of serial correlation of measures over time, inferences of the fixed effects, and random components in MLMs are made under the assumption that all variance and autocovariance components are homogenous across individuals. In the present study, we introduced a multilevel model with Cholesky transformation to model ILD with individually heterogeneous covariance structure. In addition, the performance of the transformation method and the effects of misspecification of heterogeneous covariance structure were investigated through a Monte Carlo simulation. We found that, if individually heterogeneous covariances are incorrectly assumed as homogenous independent or homogenous autoregressive, MLMs produce highly biased estimates of the variance of random intercepts and the standard errors of the fixed intercept and the fixed effect of a level 2 covariate when the average autocorrelation is high. For intensive longitudinal data with individual specific residual covariance, the suggested transformation method showed lower bias in those estimates than the misspecified models when the number of repeated observations within individuals is 50 or more. PMID:28286490

Performance of a parallel algebraic multilevel preconditioner for stabilized finite element semiconductor device modeling

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

Lin, Paul T.; Shadid, John N.; Sala, Marzio

In this study results are presented for the large-scale parallel performance of an algebraic multilevel preconditioner for solution of the drift-diffusion model for semiconductor devices. The preconditioner is the key numerical procedure determining the robustness, efficiency and scalability of the fully-coupled Newton-Krylov based, nonlinear solution method that is employed for this system of equations. The coupled system is comprised of a source term dominated Poisson equation for the electric potential, and two convection-diffusion-reaction type equations for the electron and hole concentration. The governing PDEs are discretized in space by a stabilized finite element method. Solution of the discrete system ismore » obtained through a fully-implicit time integrator, a fully-coupled Newton-based nonlinear solver, and a restarted GMRES Krylov linear system solver. The algebraic multilevel preconditioner is based on an aggressive coarsening graph partitioning of the nonzero block structure of the Jacobian matrix. Representative performance results are presented for various choices of multigrid V-cycles and W-cycles and parameter variations for smoothers based on incomplete factorizations. Parallel scalability results are presented for solution of up to 10{sup 8} unknowns on 4096 processors of a Cray XT3/4 and an IBM POWER eServer system.« less

A multilevel model for comorbid outcomes: obesity and diabetes in the US.

PubMed

Congdon, Peter

2010-02-01

Multilevel models are overwhelmingly applied to single health outcomes, but when two or more health conditions are closely related, it is important that contextual variation in their joint prevalence (e.g., variations over different geographic settings) is considered. A multinomial multilevel logit regression approach for analysing joint prevalence is proposed here that includes subject level risk factors (e.g., age, race, education) while also taking account of geographic context. Data from a US population health survey (the 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System or BRFSS) are used to illustrate the method, with a six category multinomial outcome defined by diabetic status and weight category (obese, overweight, normal). The influence of geographic context is partly represented by known geographic variables (e.g., county poverty), and partly by a model for latent area influences. In particular, a shared latent variable (common factor) approach is proposed to measure the impact of unobserved area influences on joint weight and diabetes status, with the latent variable being spatially structured to reflect geographic clustering in risk.

Multiplex lithography for multilevel multiscale architectures and its application to polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

PubMed Central

Cho, Hyesung; Moon Kim, Sang; Sik Kang, Yun; Kim, Junsoo; Jang, Segeun; Kim, Minhyoung; Park, Hyunchul; Won Bang, Jung; Seo, Soonmin; Suh, Kahp-Yang; Sung, Yung-Eun; Choi, Mansoo

2015-01-01

The production of multiscale architectures is of significant interest in materials science, and the integration of those structures could provide a breakthrough for various applications. Here we report a simple yet versatile strategy that allows for the LEGO-like integrations of microscale membranes by quantitatively controlling the oxygen inhibition effects of ultraviolet-curable materials, leading to multilevel multiscale architectures. The spatial control of oxygen concentration induces different curing contrasts in a resin allowing the selective imprinting and bonding at different sides of a membrane, which enables LEGO-like integration together with the multiscale pattern formation. Utilizing the method, the multilevel multiscale Nafion membranes are prepared and applied to polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. Our multiscale membrane fuel cell demonstrates significant enhancement of performance while ensuring mechanical robustness. The performance enhancement is caused by the combined effect of the decrease of membrane resistance and the increase of the electrochemical active surface area. PMID:26412619

Multilevel Correlates of Satisfaction with Neighborhood Availability of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

PubMed Central

Zenk, Shannon N.; Schulz, Amy J.; Lachance, Laurie L.; Mentz, Graciela; Kannan, Srimathi; Ridella, William; Galea, Sandro

2009-01-01

Background Little is known about influences on perceptions of neighborhood food environments, despite their relevance for food-shopping behaviors and food choices. Purpose This study examined relationships between multilevel factors (neighborhood structure, independently observed neighborhood food environment, individual socioeconomic position) and satisfaction with neighborhood availability of fruits and vegetables. Methods The multilevel regression analysis drew on data from a community survey of urban adults, in-person audit and mapping of food stores, and the 2000 Census. Results Satisfaction with neighborhood availability of fruits and vegetables was lower in neighborhoods that were further from a supermarket and that had proportionately more African-American residents. Neighborhood poverty and independently observed neighborhood fruit and vegetable characteristics (variety, prices, quality) were not associated with satisfaction. Individual education modified relationships between neighborhood availability of smaller food stores (small grocery stores, convenience stores, liquor stores) and satisfaction. Conclusions Individual-level and neighborhood-level factors affect perceptions of neighborhood food environments. PMID:19809859

Precisely detecting atomic position of atomic intensity images.

PubMed

Wang, Zhijun; Guo, Yaolin; Tang, Sai; Li, Junjie; Wang, Jincheng; Zhou, Yaohe

2015-03-01

We proposed a quantitative method to detect atomic position in atomic intensity images from experiments such as high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and simulation such as phase field crystal modeling. The evaluation of detection accuracy proves the excellent performance of the method. This method provides a chance to precisely determine atomic interactions based on the detected atomic positions from the atomic intensity image, and hence to investigate the related physical, chemical and electrical properties. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multilevel Propensity Score Matching within and across Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelcey, Benjamin

2011-01-01

A central issue in nonexperimental studies is the identification of comparable individuals (e.g. students) to remove selection bias. One such increasingly common method to identify comparable individuals and address selection bias is the propensity score (PS). PS methods rely on a model of the treatment assignment to identify comparable…

Multilevel Models for Binary Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powers, Daniel A.

2012-01-01

The methods and models for categorical data analysis cover considerable ground, ranging from regression-type models for binary and binomial data, count data, to ordered and unordered polytomous variables, as well as regression models that mix qualitative and continuous data. This article focuses on methods for binary or binomial data, which are…

From least squares to multilevel modeling: A graphical introduction to Bayesian inference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loredo, Thomas J.

2016-01-01

This tutorial presentation will introduce some of the key ideas and techniques involved in applying Bayesian methods to problems in astrostatistics. The focus will be on the big picture: understanding the foundations (interpreting probability, Bayes's theorem, the law of total probability and marginalization), making connections to traditional methods (propagation of errors, least squares, chi-squared, maximum likelihood, Monte Carlo simulation), and highlighting problems where a Bayesian approach can be particularly powerful (Poisson processes, density estimation and curve fitting with measurement error). The "graphical" component of the title reflects an emphasis on pictorial representations of some of the math, but also on the use of graphical models (multilevel or hierarchical models) for analyzing complex data. Code for some examples from the talk will be available to participants, in Python and in the Stan probabilistic programming language.

Optical image encryption using multilevel Arnold transform and noninterferometric imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Wen; Chen, Xudong

2011-11-01

Information security has attracted much current attention due to the rapid development of modern technologies, such as computer and internet. We propose a novel method for optical image encryption using multilevel Arnold transform and rotatable-phase-mask noninterferometric imaging. An optical image encryption scheme is developed in the gyrator transform domain, and one phase-only mask (i.e., phase grating) is rotated and updated during image encryption. For the decryption, an iterative retrieval algorithm is proposed to extract high-quality plaintexts. Conventional encoding methods (such as digital holography) have been proven vulnerably to the attacks, and the proposed optical encoding scheme can effectively eliminate security deficiency and significantly enhance cryptosystem security. The proposed strategy based on the rotatable phase-only mask can provide a new alternative for data/image encryption in the noninterferometric imaging.

Towards Highly-Efficient Phototriggered Data Storage by Utilizing a Diketopyrrolopyrrole-Based Photoelectronic Small Molecule.

PubMed

Li, Yang; Li, Hua; He, Jinghui; Xu, Qingfeng; Li, Najun; Chen, Dongyun; Lu, Jianmei

2016-07-20

A cooperative photoelectrical strategy is proposed for effectively modulating the performance of a multilevel data-storage device. By taking advantage of organic photoelectronic molecules as storage media, the fabricated device exhibited enhanced working parameters under the action of both optical and electrical inputs. In cooperation with UV light, the operating voltages of the memory device were decreased, which was beneficial for low energy consumption. Moreover, the ON/OFF current ratio was more tunable and facilitated high-resolution multilevel storage. Compared with previous methods that focused on tuning the storage media, this study provides an easy approach for optimizing organic devices through multiple physical channels. More importantly, this method holds promise for integrating multiple functionalities into high-density data-storage devices. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Multilevel adaptive control of nonlinear interconnected systems.

PubMed

Motallebzadeh, Farzaneh; Ozgoli, Sadjaad; Momeni, Hamid Reza

2015-01-01

This paper presents an adaptive backstepping-based multilevel approach for the first time to control nonlinear interconnected systems with unknown parameters. The system consists of a nonlinear controller at the first level to neutralize the interaction terms, and some adaptive controllers at the second level, in which the gains are optimally tuned using genetic algorithm. The presented scheme can be used in systems with strong couplings where completely ignoring the interactions leads to problems in performance or stability. In order to test the suitability of the method, two case studies are provided: the uncertain double and triple coupled inverted pendulums connected by springs with unknown parameters. The simulation results show that the method is capable of controlling the system effectively, in both regulation and tracking tasks. Copyright © 2014 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multilevel SEM Strategies for Evaluating Mediation in Three-Level Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preacher, Kristopher J.

2011-01-01

Strategies for modeling mediation effects in multilevel data have proliferated over the past decade, keeping pace with the demands of applied research. Approaches for testing mediation hypotheses with 2-level clustered data were first proposed using multilevel modeling (MLM) and subsequently using multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) to…

Multilevel segmentation of intracranial aneurysms in CT angiography images

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

Wang, Yan; Zhang, Yue, E-mail: y.zhang525@gmail.com; Navarro, Laurent

Purpose: Segmentation of aneurysms plays an important role in interventional planning. Yet, the segmentation of both the lumen and the thrombus of an intracranial aneurysm in computed tomography angiography (CTA) remains a challenge. This paper proposes a multilevel segmentation methodology for efficiently segmenting intracranial aneurysms in CTA images. Methods: The proposed methodology first uses the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to extract the lumen part directly from the original image. Then, the LBM is applied again on an intermediate image whose lumen part is filled by the mean gray-level value outside the lumen, to yield an image region containing part ofmore » the aneurysm boundary. After that, an expanding disk is introduced to estimate the complete contour of the aneurysm. Finally, the contour detected is used as the initial contour of the level set with ellipse to refine the aneurysm. Results: The results obtained on 11 patients from different hospitals showed that the proposed segmentation was comparable with manual segmentation, and that quantitatively, the average segmentation matching factor (SMF) reached 86.99%, demonstrating good segmentation accuracy. Chan–Vese method, Sen’s model, and Luca’s model were used to compare the proposed method and their average SMF values were 39.98%, 40.76%, and 77.11%, respectively. Conclusions: The authors have presented a multilevel segmentation method based on the LBM and level set with ellipse for accurate segmentation of intracranial aneurysms. Compared to three existing methods, for all eleven patients, the proposed method can successfully segment the lumen with the highest SMF values for nine patients and second highest SMF values for the two. It also segments the entire aneurysm with the highest SMF values for ten patients and second highest SMF value for the one. This makes it potential for clinical assessment of the volume and aspect ratio of the intracranial aneurysms.« less

Multi-level Monte Carlo Methods for Efficient Simulation of Coulomb Collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ricketson, Lee

2013-10-01

We discuss the use of multi-level Monte Carlo (MLMC) schemes--originally introduced by Giles for financial applications--for the efficient simulation of Coulomb collisions in the Fokker-Planck limit. The scheme is based on a Langevin treatment of collisions, and reduces the computational cost of achieving a RMS error scaling as ɛ from O (ɛ-3) --for standard Langevin methods and binary collision algorithms--to the theoretically optimal scaling O (ɛ-2) for the Milstein discretization, and to O (ɛ-2 (logɛ)2) with the simpler Euler-Maruyama discretization. In practice, this speeds up simulation by factors up to 100. We summarize standard MLMC schemes, describe some tricks for achieving the optimal scaling, present results from a test problem, and discuss the method's range of applicability. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. DOE by the University of California, Los Angeles, under grant DE-FG02-05ER25710, and by LLNL under contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

Principle and Reconstruction Algorithm for Atomic-Resolution Holography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsushita, Tomohiro; Muro, Takayuki; Matsui, Fumihiko; Happo, Naohisa; Hosokawa, Shinya; Ohoyama, Kenji; Sato-Tomita, Ayana; Sasaki, Yuji C.; Hayashi, Kouichi

2018-06-01

Atomic-resolution holography makes it possible to obtain the three-dimensional (3D) structure around a target atomic site. Translational symmetry of the atomic arrangement of the sample is not necessary, and the 3D atomic image can be measured when the local structure of the target atomic site is oriented. Therefore, 3D local atomic structures such as dopants and adsorbates are observable. Here, the atomic-resolution holography comprising photoelectron holography, X-ray fluorescence holography, neutron holography, and their inverse modes are treated. Although the measurement methods are different, they can be handled with a unified theory. The algorithm for reconstructing 3D atomic images from holograms plays an important role. Although Fourier transform-based methods have been proposed, they require the multiple-energy holograms. In addition, they cannot be directly applied to photoelectron holography because of the phase shift problem. We have developed methods based on the fitting method for reconstructing from single-energy and photoelectron holograms. The developed methods are applicable to all types of atomic-resolution holography.

Formulation and Application of the Generalized Multilevel Facets Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Wen-Chung; Liu, Chih-Yu

2007-01-01

In this study, the authors develop a generalized multilevel facets model, which is not only a multilevel and two-parameter generalization of the facets model, but also a multilevel and facet generalization of the generalized partial credit model. Because the new model is formulated within a framework of nonlinear mixed models, no efforts are…

Method to fabricate multi-level silicon-based microstructures via use of an etching delay layer

DOEpatents

Manginell, Ronald P.; Schubert, W. Kent; Shul, Randy J.

2005-08-16

New methods for fabrication of silicon microstructures have been developed. In these methods, an etching delay layer is deposited and patterned so as to provide differential control on the depth of features being etched into a substrate material. Structures having features with different depth can be formed thereby in a single etching step.

THE HANLE AND ZEEMAN POLARIZATION SIGNALS OF THE SOLAR Ca II 8542 Å LINE

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

Štěpán, Jiri; Bueno, Javier Trujillo

We highlight the main results of a three-dimensional (3D) multilevel radiative transfer investigation about the solar disk-center polarization of the Ca ii 8542 Å line. First, through the use of a 3D model of the solar atmosphere, we investigate the linear polarization that occurs due to the atomic level polarization produced by the absorption and scattering of anisotropic radiation, taking into account the symmetry-breaking effects caused by its thermal, dynamic, and magnetic structure. Second, we study the contribution of the Zeeman effect to the linear and circular polarization. Finally, we show examples of the Stokes profiles produced by the jointmore » action of the atomic level polarization and the Hanle and Zeeman effects. We find that the Zeeman effect tends to dominate the linear polarization signals only in the localized patches of opposite magnetic polarity, where the magnetic field is relatively strong and slightly inclined; outside such very localized patches, the linear polarization is often dominated by the contribution of atomic level polarization. We demonstrate that a correct modeling of this last contribution requires taking into account the symmetry-breaking effects caused by the thermal, dynamic, and magnetic structure of the solar atmosphere, and that in the 3D model used the Hanle effect in forward-scattering geometry (disk-center observation) mainly reduces the polarization corresponding to the zero-field case. We emphasize that, in general, a reliable modeling of the linear polarization in the Ca ii 8542 Å line requires taking into account the joint action of atomic level polarization and the Hanle and Zeeman effects.« less

Cellular Gauge Symmetry and the Li Organization Principle: A Mathematical Addendum. Quantifying energetic dynamics in physical and biological systems through a simple geometric tool and geodetic curves.

PubMed

Yurkin, Alexander; Tozzi, Arturo; Peters, James F; Marijuán, Pedro C

2017-12-01

The present Addendum complements the accompanying paper "Cellular Gauge Symmetry and the Li Organization Principle"; it illustrates a recently-developed geometrical physical model able to assess electronic movements and energetic paths in atomic shells. The model describes a multi-level system of circular, wavy and zigzag paths which can be projected onto a horizontal tape. This model ushers in a visual interpretation of the distribution of atomic electrons' energy levels and the corresponding quantum numbers through rather simple tools, such as compasses, rulers and straightforward calculations. Here we show how this geometrical model, with the due corrections, among them the use of geodetic curves, might be able to describe and quantify the structure and the temporal development of countless physical and biological systems, from Langevin equations for random paths, to symmetry breaks occurring ubiquitously in physical and biological phenomena, to the relationships among different frequencies of EEG electric spikes. Therefore, in our work we explore the possible association of binomial distribution and geodetic curves configuring a uniform approach for the research of natural phenomena, in biology, medicine or the neurosciences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contextual determinants of neonatal mortality using two analysis methods, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

PubMed

Zanini, Roselaine Ruviaro; Moraes, Anaelena Bragança de; Giugliani, Elsa Regina Justo; Riboldi, João

2011-02-01

To analyze neonatal mortality determinants using multilevel logistic regression and classic hierarchical models. Cohort study including 138,407 live births with birth certificates and 1,134 neonatal deaths recorded in 2003, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil. The Information System on Live Births and mortality records were linked for gathering information on individual-level exposures. Sociodemographic data and information on the pregnancy, childbirth care and characteristics of the children at birth were collected. The associated factors were estimated and compared by traditional and multilevel logistic regression analysis. The neonatal mortality rate was 8.19 deaths per 1,000 live births. Low birth weight, 1- and 5-minute Apgar score below eight, congenital malformation, pre-term birth and previous fetal loss were associated with neonatal death in the traditional model. Elective cesarean section had a protective effect. Previous fetal loss did not remain significant in the multilevel model, but the inclusion of a contextual variable (poverty rate) showed that 15% of neonatal mortality variation can be explained by varying poverty rates in the microregions. The use of multilevel models showed a small effect of contextual determinants on the neonatal mortality rate. There was found a positive association with the poverty rate in the general model, and the proportion of households with water supply among preterm newborns.

A Multilevel Comprehensive Assessment of International Accreditation for Business Programmes-Based on AMBA Accreditation of GDUFS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jiang, Yong

2017-01-01

Traditional mathematical methods built around exactitude have limitations when applied to the processing of educational information, due to their uncertainty and imperfection. Alternative mathematical methods, such as grey system theory, have been widely applied in processing incomplete information systems and have proven effective in a number of…

Boundary based on exchange symmetry theory for multilevel simulations. I. Basic theory.

PubMed

Shiga, Motoyuki; Masia, Marco

2013-07-28

In this paper, we lay the foundations for a new method that allows multilevel simulations of a diffusive system, i.e., a system where a flux of particles through the boundaries might disrupt the primary region. The method is based on the use of flexible restraints that maintain the separation between inner and outer particles. It is shown that, by introducing a bias potential that accounts for the exchange symmetry of the system, the correct statistical distribution is preserved. Using a toy model consisting of non-interacting particles in an asymmetric potential well, we prove that the method is formally exact, and that it could be simplified by considering only up to a couple of particle exchanges without a loss of accuracy. A real-world test is then made by considering a hybrid MM(∗)/MM calculation of cesium ion in water. In this case, the single exchange approximation is sound enough that the results superimpose to the exact solutions. Potential applications of this method to many different hybrid QM/MM systems are discussed, as well as its limitations and strengths in comparison to existing approaches.

Nucleus segmentation in histology images with hierarchical multilevel thresholding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmady Phoulady, Hady; Goldgof, Dmitry B.; Hall, Lawrence O.; Mouton, Peter R.

2016-03-01

Automatic segmentation of histological images is an important step for increasing throughput while maintaining high accuracy, avoiding variation from subjective bias, and reducing the costs for diagnosing human illnesses such as cancer and Alzheimer's disease. In this paper, we present a novel method for unsupervised segmentation of cell nuclei in stained histology tissue. Following an initial preprocessing step involving color deconvolution and image reconstruction, the segmentation step consists of multilevel thresholding and a series of morphological operations. The only parameter required for the method is the minimum region size, which is set according to the resolution of the image. Hence, the proposed method requires no training sets or parameter learning. Because the algorithm requires no assumptions or a priori information with regard to cell morphology, the automatic approach is generalizable across a wide range of tissues. Evaluation across a dataset consisting of diverse tissues, including breast, liver, gastric mucosa and bone marrow, shows superior performance over four other recent methods on the same dataset in terms of F-measure with precision and recall of 0.929 and 0.886, respectively.

Random telegraph noise in 2D hexagonal boron nitride dielectric films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ranjan, A.; Puglisi, F. M.; Raghavan, N.; O'Shea, S. J.; Shubhakar, K.; Pavan, P.; Padovani, A.; Larcher, L.; Pey, K. L.

2018-03-01

This study reports the observation of low frequency random telegraph noise (RTN) in a 2D layered hexagonal boron nitride dielectric film in the pre- and post-soft breakdown phases using conductive atomic force microscopy as a nanoscale spectroscopy tool. The RTN traces of the virgin and electrically stressed dielectric (after percolation breakdown) were compared, and the signal features were statistically analyzed using the Factorial Hidden Markov Model technique. We observe a combination of both two-level and multi-level RTN signals in h-BN, akin to the trends commonly observed for bulk oxides such as SiO2 and HfO2. Experimental evidence suggests frequent occurrence of unstable and anomalous RTN traces in 2D dielectrics which makes extraction of defect energetics challenging.

A multi-level quantum mechanics and molecular mechanics study of SN2 reaction at nitrogen: NH2Cl + OH(-) in aqueous solution.

PubMed

Lv, Jing; Zhang, Jingxue; Wang, Dunyou

2016-02-17

We employed a multi-level quantum mechanics and molecular mechanics approach to study the reaction NH2Cl + OH(-) in aqueous solution. The multi-level quantum method (including the DFT method with both the B3LYP and M06-2X exchange-correlation functionals and the CCSD(T) method, and both methods with the aug-cc-pVDZ basis set) was used to treat the quantum reaction region in different stages of the calculation in order to obtain an accurate potential of mean force. The obtained free energy activation barriers at the DFT/MM level of theory yielded a big difference of 21.8 kcal mol(-1) with the B3LYP functional and 27.4 kcal mol(-1) with the M06-2X functional respectively. Nonetheless, the barrier heights become very close when shifted from DFT to CCSD(T): 22.4 kcal mol(-1) and 22.9 kcal mol(-1) at CCSD(T)(B3LYP)/MM and CCSD(T)(M06-2X)/MM levels of theory, respectively. The free reaction energy obtained using CCSD(T)(M06-2X)/MM shows an excellent agreement with the one calculated using the available gas-phase data. Aqueous solution plays a significant role in shaping the reaction profile. In total, the water solution contributes 13.3 kcal mol(-1) and 14.6 kcal mol(-1) to the free energy barrier heights at CCSD(T)(B3LYP)/MM and CCSD(T)(M06-2X)/MM respectively. The title reaction at nitrogen is a faster reaction than the corresponding reaction at carbon, CH3Cl + OH(-).

Detecting Differential Item Discrimination (DID) and the Consequences of Ignoring DID in Multilevel Item Response Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Woo-yeol; Cho, Sun-Joo

2017-01-01

Cross-level invariance in a multilevel item response model can be investigated by testing whether the within-level item discriminations are equal to the between-level item discriminations. Testing the cross-level invariance assumption is important to understand constructs in multilevel data. However, in most multilevel item response model…

The National Criminal Justice Treatment Practices survey: Multilevel survey methods and procedures⋆

PubMed Central

Taxman, Faye S.; Young, Douglas W.; Wiersema, Brian; Rhodes, Anne; Mitchell, Suzanne

2007-01-01

The National Criminal Justice Treatment Practices (NCJTP) survey provides a comprehensive inquiry into the nature of programs and services provided to adult and juvenile offenders involved in the justice system in the United States. The multilevel survey design covers topics such as the mission and goals of correctional and treatment programs; organizational climate and culture for providing services; organizational capacity and needs; opinions of administrators and staff regarding rehabilitation, punishment, and services provided to offenders; treatment policies and procedures; and working relationships between correctional and other agencies. The methodology generates national estimates of the availability of programs and services for offenders. This article details the methodology and sampling frame for the NCJTP survey, response rates, and survey procedures. Prevalence estimates of juvenile and adult offenders under correctional control are provided with externally validated comparisons to illustrate the veracity of the methodology. Limitations of the survey methods are also discussed. PMID:17383548

Multilevel Monte Carlo for two phase flow and Buckley–Leverett transport in random heterogeneous porous media

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

Müller, Florian, E-mail: florian.mueller@sam.math.ethz.ch; Jenny, Patrick, E-mail: jenny@ifd.mavt.ethz.ch; Meyer, Daniel W., E-mail: meyerda@ethz.ch

2013-10-01

Monte Carlo (MC) is a well known method for quantifying uncertainty arising for example in subsurface flow problems. Although robust and easy to implement, MC suffers from slow convergence. Extending MC by means of multigrid techniques yields the multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method. MLMC has proven to greatly accelerate MC for several applications including stochastic ordinary differential equations in finance, elliptic stochastic partial differential equations and also hyperbolic problems. In this study, MLMC is combined with a streamline-based solver to assess uncertain two phase flow and Buckley–Leverett transport in random heterogeneous porous media. The performance of MLMC is compared tomore » MC for a two dimensional reservoir with a multi-point Gaussian logarithmic permeability field. The influence of the variance and the correlation length of the logarithmic permeability on the MLMC performance is studied.« less

Multilevel Dynamic Generalized Structured Component Analysis for Brain Connectivity Analysis in Functional Neuroimaging Data.

PubMed

Jung, Kwanghee; Takane, Yoshio; Hwang, Heungsun; Woodward, Todd S

2016-06-01

We extend dynamic generalized structured component analysis (GSCA) to enhance its data-analytic capability in structural equation modeling of multi-subject time series data. Time series data of multiple subjects are typically hierarchically structured, where time points are nested within subjects who are in turn nested within a group. The proposed approach, named multilevel dynamic GSCA, accommodates the nested structure in time series data. Explicitly taking the nested structure into account, the proposed method allows investigating subject-wise variability of the loadings and path coefficients by looking at the variance estimates of the corresponding random effects, as well as fixed loadings between observed and latent variables and fixed path coefficients between latent variables. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach by applying the method to the multi-subject functional neuroimaging data for brain connectivity analysis, where time series data-level measurements are nested within subjects.

Control method for peak power delivery with limited DC-bus voltage

DOEpatents

Edwards, John; Xu, Longya; Bhargava, Brij B.

2006-09-05

A method for driving a neutral point-clamped multi-level voltage source inverter supplying a synchronous motor is provided. A DC current is received at a neutral point-clamped multi-level voltage source inverter. The inverter has first, second, and third output nodes. The inverter also has a plurality of switches. A desired speed of a synchronous motor connected to the inverter by the first second and third nodes is received by the inverter. The synchronous motor has a rotor and the speed of the motor is defined by the rotational rate of the rotor. A position of the rotor is sensed, current flowing to the motor out of at least two of the first, second, and third output nodes is sensed, and predetermined switches are automatically activated by the inverter responsive to the sensed rotor position, the sensed current, and the desired speed.

Construction of Covariance Functions with Variable Length Fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gaspari, Gregory; Cohn, Stephen E.; Guo, Jing; Pawson, Steven

2005-01-01

This article focuses on construction, directly in physical space, of three-dimensional covariance functions parametrized by a tunable length field, and on an application of this theory to reproduce the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) in the Goddard Earth Observing System, Version 4 (GEOS-4) data assimilation system. These Covariance models are referred to as multi-level or nonseparable, to associate them with the application where a multi-level covariance with a large troposphere to stratosphere length field gradient is used to reproduce the QBO from sparse radiosonde observations in the tropical lower stratosphere. The multi-level covariance functions extend well-known single level covariance functions depending only on a length scale. Generalizations of the first- and third-order autoregressive covariances in three dimensions are given, providing multi-level covariances with zero and three derivatives at zero separation, respectively. Multi-level piecewise rational covariances with two continuous derivatives at zero separation are also provided. Multi-level powerlaw covariances are constructed with continuous derivatives of all orders. Additional multi-level covariance functions are constructed using the Schur product of single and multi-level covariance functions. A multi-level powerlaw covariance used to reproduce the QBO in GEOS-4 is described along with details of the assimilation experiments. The new covariance model is shown to represent the vertical wind shear associated with the QBO much more effectively than in the baseline GEOS-4 system.

A Multilevel Algorithm for the Solution of Second Order Elliptic Differential Equations on Sparse Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pflaum, Christoph

1996-01-01

A multilevel algorithm is presented that solves general second order elliptic partial differential equations on adaptive sparse grids. The multilevel algorithm consists of several V-cycles. Suitable discretizations provide that the discrete equation system can be solved in an efficient way. Numerical experiments show a convergence rate of order Omicron(1) for the multilevel algorithm.

DC-DC Type High-Frequency Link DC for Improved Power Quality of Cascaded Multilevel Inverter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadikin, Muhammad; Senjyu, Tomonobu; Yona, Atsushi

2013-06-01

Multilevel inverters are emerging as a new breed of power converter options for power system applications. Recent advances in power switching devices enabled the suitability of multilevel inverters for high voltage and high power applications because they are connecting several devices in series without the need of component matching. Usually, a transformerless battery energy storage system, based on a cascaded multilevel inverter, is used as a measure for voltage and frequency deviations. System can be reduced in size, weight, and cost of energy storage system. High-frequency link circuit topology is advantageous in realizing compact and light-weight power converters for uninterruptible power supply systems, new energy systems using photovoltaic-cells, fuel-cells and so on. This paper presents a DC-DC type high-frequency link DC (HFLDC) cascaded multilevel inverter. Each converter cell is implemented a control strategy for two H-bridge inverters that are controlled with the same multicarrier pulse width modulation (PWM) technique. The proposed cascaded multilevel inverter generates lower voltage total harmonic distortion (THD) in comparison with conventional cascaded multilevel inverter. Digital simulations are carried out using PSCAD/EMTDC to validate the performance of the proposed cascaded multilevel inverter.

Determination of gold in geologic materials by solvent extraction and atomic-absorption spectrometry

USGS Publications Warehouse

Huffman, Claude; Mensik, J.D.; Riley, L.B.

1967-01-01

The two methods presented for the determination of traces of gold in geologic materials are the cyanide atomic-absorption method and the fire-assay atomic-absorption method. In the cyanide method gold is leached with a sodium-cyanide solution. The monovalent gold is then oxidized to the trivalent state and concentrated by extracting into methyl isobutyl ketone prior to estimation by atomic absorption. In the fire-assay atomic-absorption method, the gold-silver bead obtained from fire assay is dissolved in nitric and hydrochloric acids. Gold is then concentrated by extracting into methyl isobutyl ketone prior to determination by atomic absorption. By either method concentrations as low as 50 parts per billion of gold can be determined in a 15-gram sample.

Multiple-image authentication with a cascaded multilevel architecture based on amplitude field random sampling and phase information multiplexing.

PubMed

Fan, Desheng; Meng, Xiangfeng; Wang, Yurong; Yang, Xiulun; Pan, Xuemei; Peng, Xiang; He, Wenqi; Dong, Guoyan; Chen, Hongyi

2015-04-10

A multiple-image authentication method with a cascaded multilevel architecture in the Fresnel domain is proposed, in which a synthetic encoded complex amplitude is first fabricated, and its real amplitude component is generated by iterative amplitude encoding, random sampling, and space multiplexing for the low-level certification images, while the phase component of the synthetic encoded complex amplitude is constructed by iterative phase information encoding and multiplexing for the high-level certification images. Then the synthetic encoded complex amplitude is iteratively encoded into two phase-type ciphertexts located in two different transform planes. During high-level authentication, when the two phase-type ciphertexts and the high-level decryption key are presented to the system and then the Fresnel transform is carried out, a meaningful image with good quality and a high correlation coefficient with the original certification image can be recovered in the output plane. Similar to the procedure of high-level authentication, in the case of low-level authentication with the aid of a low-level decryption key, no significant or meaningful information is retrieved, but it can result in a remarkable peak output in the nonlinear correlation coefficient of the output image and the corresponding original certification image. Therefore, the method realizes different levels of accessibility to the original certification image for different authority levels with the same cascaded multilevel architecture.

Evaluating flow cytometer performance with weighted quadratic least squares analysis of LED and multi-level bead data

PubMed Central

Parks, David R.; Khettabi, Faysal El; Chase, Eric; Hoffman, Robert A.; Perfetto, Stephen P.; Spidlen, Josef; Wood, James C.S.; Moore, Wayne A.; Brinkman, Ryan R.

2017-01-01

We developed a fully automated procedure for analyzing data from LED pulses and multi-level bead sets to evaluate backgrounds and photoelectron scales of cytometer fluorescence channels. The method improves on previous formulations by fitting a full quadratic model with appropriate weighting and by providing standard errors and peak residuals as well as the fitted parameters themselves. Here we describe the details of the methods and procedures involved and present a set of illustrations and test cases that demonstrate the consistency and reliability of the results. The automated analysis and fitting procedure is generally quite successful in providing good estimates of the Spe (statistical photoelectron) scales and backgrounds for all of the fluorescence channels on instruments with good linearity. The precision of the results obtained from LED data is almost always better than for multi-level bead data, but the bead procedure is easy to carry out and provides results good enough for most purposes. Including standard errors on the fitted parameters is important for understanding the uncertainty in the values of interest. The weighted residuals give information about how well the data fits the model, and particularly high residuals indicate bad data points. Known photoelectron scales and measurement channel backgrounds make it possible to estimate the precision of measurements at different signal levels and the effects of compensated spectral overlap on measurement quality. Combining this information with measurements of standard samples carrying dyes of biological interest, we can make accurate comparisons of dye sensitivity among different instruments. Our method is freely available through the R/Bioconductor package flowQB. PMID:28160404

A frozen Gaussian approximation-based multi-level particle swarm optimization for seismic inversion

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

Li, Jinglai, E-mail: jinglaili@sjtu.edu.cn; Lin, Guang, E-mail: lin491@purdue.edu; Computational Sciences and Mathematics Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352

2015-09-01

In this paper, we propose a frozen Gaussian approximation (FGA)-based multi-level particle swarm optimization (MLPSO) method for seismic inversion of high-frequency wave data. The method addresses two challenges in it: First, the optimization problem is highly non-convex, which makes hard for gradient-based methods to reach global minima. This is tackled by MLPSO which can escape from undesired local minima. Second, the character of high-frequency of seismic waves requires a large number of grid points in direct computational methods, and thus renders an extremely high computational demand on the simulation of each sample in MLPSO. We overcome this difficulty by threemore » steps: First, we use FGA to compute high-frequency wave propagation based on asymptotic analysis on phase plane; Then we design a constrained full waveform inversion problem to prevent the optimization search getting into regions of velocity where FGA is not accurate; Last, we solve the constrained optimization problem by MLPSO that employs FGA solvers with different fidelity. The performance of the proposed method is demonstrated by a two-dimensional full-waveform inversion example of the smoothed Marmousi model.« less

A model and variance reduction method for computing statistical outputs of stochastic elliptic partial differential equations

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

Vidal-Codina, F., E-mail: fvidal@mit.edu; Nguyen, N.C., E-mail: cuongng@mit.edu; Giles, M.B., E-mail: mike.giles@maths.ox.ac.uk

We present a model and variance reduction method for the fast and reliable computation of statistical outputs of stochastic elliptic partial differential equations. Our method consists of three main ingredients: (1) the hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) discretization of elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs), which allows us to obtain high-order accurate solutions of the governing PDE; (2) the reduced basis method for a new HDG discretization of the underlying PDE to enable real-time solution of the parameterized PDE in the presence of stochastic parameters; and (3) a multilevel variance reduction method that exploits the statistical correlation among the different reduced basismore » approximations and the high-fidelity HDG discretization to accelerate the convergence of the Monte Carlo simulations. The multilevel variance reduction method provides efficient computation of the statistical outputs by shifting most of the computational burden from the high-fidelity HDG approximation to the reduced basis approximations. Furthermore, we develop a posteriori error estimates for our approximations of the statistical outputs. Based on these error estimates, we propose an algorithm for optimally choosing both the dimensions of the reduced basis approximations and the sizes of Monte Carlo samples to achieve a given error tolerance. We provide numerical examples to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.« less

A multi-level approach for investigating socio-economic and agricultural risk factors associated with rates of reported cases of Escherichia coli O157 in humans in Alberta, Canada.

PubMed

Pearl, D L; Louie, M; Chui, L; Doré, K; Grimsrud, K M; Martin, S W; Michel, P; Svenson, L W; McEwen, S A

2009-10-01

Using negative binomial and multi-level Poisson models, the authors determined the statistical significance of agricultural and socio-economic risk factors for rates of reported disease associated with Escherichia coli O157 in census subdivisions (CSDs) in Alberta, Canada, 2000-2002. Variables relating to population stability, aboriginal composition of the CSDs, and the economic relationship between CSDs and urban centres were significant risk factors. The percentage of individuals living in low-income households was not a statistically significant risk factor for rates of disease. The statistical significance of cattle density, recorded at a higher geographical level, depended on the method used to correct for overdispersion, the number of levels included in the multi-level models, and the choice of using all reported cases or only sporadic cases. Our results highlight the importance of local socio-economic risk factors in determining rates of disease associated with E. coli O157, but their relationship with individual risk factors requires further evaluation.

A Multilevel Model for Comorbid Outcomes: Obesity and Diabetes in the US

PubMed Central

Congdon, Peter

2010-01-01

Multilevel models are overwhelmingly applied to single health outcomes, but when two or more health conditions are closely related, it is important that contextual variation in their joint prevalence (e.g., variations over different geographic settings) is considered. A multinomial multilevel logit regression approach for analysing joint prevalence is proposed here that includes subject level risk factors (e.g., age, race, education) while also taking account of geographic context. Data from a US population health survey (the 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System or BRFSS) are used to illustrate the method, with a six category multinomial outcome defined by diabetic status and weight category (obese, overweight, normal). The influence of geographic context is partly represented by known geographic variables (e.g., county poverty), and partly by a model for latent area influences. In particular, a shared latent variable (common factor) approach is proposed to measure the impact of unobserved area influences on joint weight and diabetes status, with the latent variable being spatially structured to reflect geographic clustering in risk. PMID:20616977

An Integrative, Multilevel, and Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Challenges of Work, Family, and Health

PubMed Central

Bray, Jeremy W.; Kelly, Erin L.; Hammer, Leslie B.; Almeida, David M.; Dearing, James W.; King, Rosalind B.; Buxton, Orfeu M.

2013-01-01

Recognizing a need for rigorous, experimental research to support the efforts of workplaces and policymakers in improving the health and wellbeing of employees and their families, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention formed the Work, Family & Health Network (WFHN). The WFHN is implementing an innovative multisite study with a rigorous experimental design (adaptive randomization, control groups), comprehensive multilevel measures, a novel and theoretically based intervention targeting the psychosocial work environment, and translational activities. This paper describes challenges and benefits of designing a multilevel and transdisciplinary research network that includes an effectiveness study to assess intervention effects on employees, families, and managers; a daily diary study to examine effects on family functioning and daily stress; a process study to understand intervention implementation; and translational research to understand and inform diffusion of innovation. Challenges were both conceptual and logistical, spanning all aspects of study design and implementation. In dealing with these challenges, however, the WFHN developed innovative, transdisciplinary, multi-method approaches to conducting workplace research that will benefit both the research and business communities. PMID:24618878

Assessing variance components in multilevel linear models using approximate Bayes factors: A case study of ethnic disparities in birthweight

PubMed Central

Saville, Benjamin R.; Herring, Amy H.; Kaufman, Jay S.

2013-01-01

Racial/ethnic disparities in birthweight are a large source of differential morbidity and mortality worldwide and have remained largely unexplained in epidemiologic models. We assess the impact of maternal ancestry and census tract residence on infant birth weights in New York City and the modifying effects of race and nativity by incorporating random effects in a multilevel linear model. Evaluating the significance of these predictors involves the test of whether the variances of the random effects are equal to zero. This is problematic because the null hypothesis lies on the boundary of the parameter space. We generalize an approach for assessing random effects in the two-level linear model to a broader class of multilevel linear models by scaling the random effects to the residual variance and introducing parameters that control the relative contribution of the random effects. After integrating over the random effects and variance components, the resulting integrals needed to calculate the Bayes factor can be efficiently approximated with Laplace’s method. PMID:24082430

Barriers to Clinical Trial Enrollment in Racial and Ethnic Minority Patients With Cancer

PubMed Central

Hamel, Lauren M.; Penner, Louis A.; Albrecht, Terrance L.; Heath, Elisabeth; Gwede, Clement K.; Eggly, Susan

2016-01-01

Background Clinical trials that study cancer are essential for testing the safety and effectiveness of promising treatments, but most people with cancer never enroll in a clinical trial — a challenge exemplified in racial and ethnic minorities. Underenrollment of racial and ethnic minorities reduces the generalizability of research findings and represents a disparity in access to high-quality health care. Methods Using a multilevel model as a framework, potential barriers to trial enrollment of racial and ethnic minorities were identified at system, individual, and interpersonal levels. Exactly how each level directly or indirectly contributes to doctor–patient communication was also reviewed. Selected examples of implemented interventions are included to help address these barriers. We then propose our own evidence-based intervention addressing barriers at the individual and interpersonal levels. Results Barriers to enrolling a diverse population of patients in clinical trials are complex and multilevel. Interventions focused at each level have been relatively successful, but multilevel interventions have the greatest potential for success. Conclusion To increase the enrollment of racial and ethnic minorities in clinical trials, future interventions should address barriers at multiple levels. PMID:27842322

Using Cross-Classified Multilevel Models to Disentangle School and Neighborhood Effects: An Example Focusing on Smoking Behaviors among Adolescents in the United States

PubMed Central

Dunn, Erin C.; Richmond, Tracy K.; Milliren, Carly E.; Subramanian, S.V.

2015-01-01

Background Despite much interest in understanding the influence of contexts on health, most research has focused on one context at a time despite the reality that individuals have simultaneous memberships in multiple settings. Method Using the example of smoking behavior among adolescents in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we applied cross-classified multilevel modeling (CCMM) to examine fixed and random effects for schools and neighborhoods. We compared the CCMM results with those obtained from a traditional multilevel model (MLM) focused on either the school and neighborhood separately. Results In the MLMs, 5.2% of the variation in smoking was due to differences between neighborhoods (when schools were ignored) and 6.3% to differences between schools (when neighborhoods were ignored). However in the CCMM examining neighborhood and school variation simultaneously, the neighborhood-level variation was reduced to 0.4%. Conclusion Results suggest that using MLM, instead of CCMM, could lead to overestimating the importance of certain contexts and could ultimately lead to targeting interventions or policies to the wrong settings. PMID:25579227

Active phase locking of thirty fiber channels using multilevel phase dithering method

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

Huang, Zhimeng; Luo, Yongquan, E-mail: yongquan-l@sina.com; Liu, Cangli

2016-03-15

An active phase locking of a large-scale fiber array with thirty channels has been demonstrated experimentally. In the experiment, the first group of thirty phase controllers is used to compensate the phase noises between the elements and the second group of thirty phase modulators is used to impose additional phase disturbances to mimic the phase noises in the high power fiber amplifiers. A multi-level phase dithering algorithm using dual-level rectangular-wave phase modulation and time division multiplexing can achieve the same phase control as single/multi-frequency dithering technique, but without coherent demodulation circuit. The phase locking efficiency of 30 fiber channels ismore » achieved about 98.68%, 97.82%, and 96.50% with no additional phase distortion, modulated phase distortion I (±1 rad), and phase distortion II (±2 rad), corresponding to the phase error of λ/54, λ/43, and λ/34 rms. The contrast of the coherent combined beam profile is about 89%. Experimental results reveal that the multi-level phase dithering technique has great potential in scaling to a large number of laser beams.« less

Effective atomic numbers of some tissue substitutes by different methods: A comparative study.

PubMed

Singh, Vishwanath P; Badiger, N M

2014-01-01

Effective atomic numbers of some human organ tissue substitutes such as polyethylene terephthalate, red articulation wax, paraffin 1, paraffin 2, bolus, pitch, polyphenylene sulfide, polysulfone, polyvinylchloride, and modeling clay have been calculated by four different methods like Auto-Zeff, direct, interpolation, and power law. It was found that the effective atomic numbers computed by Auto-Zeff, direct and interpolation methods were in good agreement for intermediate energy region (0.1 MeV < E < 5 MeV) where the Compton interaction dominates. A large difference in effective atomic numbers by direct method and Auto-Zeff was observed in photo-electric and pair-production regions. Effective atomic numbers computed by power law were found to be close to direct method in photo-electric absorption region. The Auto-Zeff, direct and interpolation methods were found to be in good agreement for computation of effective atomic numbers in intermediate energy region (100 keV < E < 10 MeV). The direct method was found to be appropriate method for computation of effective atomic numbers in photo-electric region (10 keV < E < 100 keV). The tissue equivalence of the tissue substitutes is possible to represent by any method for computation of effective atomic number mentioned in the present study. An accurate estimation of Rayleigh scattering is required to eliminate effect of molecular, chemical, or crystalline environment of the atom for estimation of gamma interaction parameters.

Effective atomic numbers of some tissue substitutes by different methods: A comparative study

PubMed Central

Singh, Vishwanath P.; Badiger, N. M.

2014-01-01

Effective atomic numbers of some human organ tissue substitutes such as polyethylene terephthalate, red articulation wax, paraffin 1, paraffin 2, bolus, pitch, polyphenylene sulfide, polysulfone, polyvinylchloride, and modeling clay have been calculated by four different methods like Auto-Zeff, direct, interpolation, and power law. It was found that the effective atomic numbers computed by Auto-Zeff, direct and interpolation methods were in good agreement for intermediate energy region (0.1 MeV < E < 5 MeV) where the Compton interaction dominates. A large difference in effective atomic numbers by direct method and Auto-Zeff was observed in photo-electric and pair-production regions. Effective atomic numbers computed by power law were found to be close to direct method in photo-electric absorption region. The Auto-Zeff, direct and interpolation methods were found to be in good agreement for computation of effective atomic numbers in intermediate energy region (100 keV < E < 10 MeV). The direct method was found to be appropriate method for computation of effective atomic numbers in photo-electric region (10 keV < E < 100 keV). The tissue equivalence of the tissue substitutes is possible to represent by any method for computation of effective atomic number mentioned in the present study. An accurate estimation of Rayleigh scattering is required to eliminate effect of molecular, chemical, or crystalline environment of the atom for estimation of gamma interaction parameters. PMID:24600169

Metal oxide multilayer hard mask system for 3D nanofabrication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Zhongmei; Salmi, Emma; Vehkamäki, Marko; Leskelä, Markku; Ritala, Mikko

2018-02-01

We demonstrate the preparation and exploitation of multilayer metal oxide hard masks for lithography and 3D nanofabrication. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) and focused ion beam (FIB) technologies are applied for mask deposition and mask patterning, respectively. A combination of ALD and FIB was used and a patterning procedure was developed to avoid the ion beam defects commonly met when using FIB alone for microfabrication. ALD grown Al2O3/Ta2O5/Al2O3 thin film stacks were FIB milled with 30 keV gallium ions and chemically etched in 5% tetramethylammonium hydroxide at 50 °C. With metal evaporation, multilayers consisting of amorphous oxides Al2O3 and Ta2O5 can be tailored for use in 2D lift-off processing, in preparation of embedded sub-100 nm metal lines and for multilevel electrical contacts. Good pattern transfer was achieved by lift-off process from the 2D hard mask for micro- and nano-scaled fabrication. As a demonstration of the applicability of this method to 3D structures, self-supporting 3D Ta2O5 masks were made from a film stack on gold particles. Finally, thin film resistors were fabricated by utilizing controlled stiction of suspended Ta2O5 structures.

The Multilevel Mixed Intact Group Analysis: A Mixed Method to Seek, Detect, Describe, and Explain Differences Among Intact Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schoonenboom, Judith

2016-01-01

Educational innovations often involve intact subgroups, such as school classes or university departments. In small-scale educational evaluation research, typically involving 1 to 20 subgroups, differences among these subgroups are often neglected. This article presents a mixed method from a qualitative perspective, in which differences among…

Clustering Methods; Part IV of Scientific Report No. ISR-18, Information Storage and Retrieval...

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY. Dept. of Computer Science.

Two papers are included as Part Four of this report on Salton's Magical Automatic Retriever of Texts (SMART) project report. The first paper: "A Controlled Single Pass Classification Algorithm with Application to Multilevel Clustering" by D. B. Johnson and J. M. Laferente presents a single pass clustering method which compares favorably…

A Comparison of Methods to Test for Mediation in Multisite Experiments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pituch, Keenan A.; Whittaker, Tiffany A.; Stapleton, Laura M.

2005-01-01

A Monte Carlo study extended the research of MacKinnon, Lockwood, Hoffman, West, and Sheets (2002) for single-level designs by examining the statistical performance of four methods to test for mediation in a multilevel experimental design. The design studied was a two-group experiment that was replicated across several sites, included a single…

Multilevel Interventions: Study Design and Analysis Issues

PubMed Central

Gross, Cary P.; Zaslavsky, Alan M.; Taplin, Stephen H.

2012-01-01

Multilevel interventions, implemented at the individual, physician, clinic, health-care organization, and/or community level, increasingly are proposed and used in the belief that they will lead to more substantial and sustained changes in behaviors related to cancer prevention, detection, and treatment than would single-level interventions. It is important to understand how intervention components are related to patient outcomes and identify barriers to implementation. Designs that permit such assessments are uncommon, however. Thus, an important way of expanding our knowledge about multilevel interventions would be to assess the impact of interventions at different levels on patients as well as the independent and synergistic effects of influences from different levels. It also would be useful to assess the impact of interventions on outcomes at different levels. Multilevel interventions are much more expensive and complicated to implement and evaluate than are single-level interventions. Given how little evidence there is about the value of multilevel interventions, however, it is incumbent upon those arguing for this approach to do multilevel research that explicates the contributions that interventions at different levels make to the desired outcomes. Only then will we know whether multilevel interventions are better than more focused interventions and gain greater insights into the kinds of interventions that can be implemented effectively and efficiently to improve health and health care for individuals with cancer. This chapter reviews designs for assessing multilevel interventions and analytic ways of controlling for potentially confounding variables that can account for the complex structure of multilevel data. PMID:22623596

Identifying factors associated with the uptake of prevention of mother to child HIV transmission programme in Tigray region, Ethiopia: a multilevel modeling approach.

PubMed

Lerebo, Wondwossen; Callens, Steven; Jackson, Debra; Zarowsky, Christina; Temmerman, Marleen

2014-04-23

Prevention of mother to child HIV transmission (PMTCT) remains a challenge in low and middle-income countries. Determinants of utilization occur--and often interact--at both individual and community levels, but most studies do not address how determinants interact across levels. Multilevel models allow for the importance of both groups and individuals in understanding health outcomes and provide one way to link the traditionally distinct ecological- and individual-level studies. This study examined individual and community level determinants of mother and child receiving PMTCT services in Tigray region, Ethiopia. A multistage probability sampling method was used for this 2011 cross-sectional study of 220 HIV positive post-partum women attending child immunization services at 50 health facilities in 46 districts. In view of the nested nature of the data, we used multilevel modeling methods and assessed macro level random effects. Seventy nine percent of mothers and 55.7% of their children had received PMTCT services. Multivariate multilevel modeling found that mothers who delivered at a health facility were 18 times (AOR = 18.21; 95% CI 4.37,75.91) and children born at a health facility were 5 times (AOR = 4.77; 95% CI 1.21,18.83) more likely to receive PMTCT services, compared to mothers delivering at home. For every addition of one nurse per 1500 people, the likelihood of getting PMTCT services for a mother increases by 7.22 fold (AOR = 7.22; 95% CI 1.02,51.26), when other individual and community level factors were controlled simultaneously. In addition, district-level variation was low for mothers receiving PMTCT services (0.6% between districts) but higher for children (27.2% variation between districts). This study, using a multilevel modeling approach, was able to identify factors operating at both individual and community levels that affect mothers and children getting PMTCT services. This may allow differentiating and accentuating approaches for different settings in Ethiopia. Increasing health facility delivery and HCT coverage could increase mother-child pairs who are getting PMTCT. Reducing the distance to health facility and increasing the number of nurses and laboratory technicians are also important variables to be considered by the government.

Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia (DUQuA): a study protocol for a nationwide, multilevel analysis of relationships between hospital quality management systems and patient factors

PubMed Central

Taylor, Natalie; Clay-Williams, Robyn; Hogden, Emily; Pye, Victoria; Li, Zhicheng; Groene, Oliver; Suñol, Rosa; Braithwaite, Jeffrey

2015-01-01

Introduction Despite the growing body of research on quality and safety in healthcare, there is little evidence of the association between the way hospitals are organised for quality and patient factors, limiting our understanding of how to effect large-scale change. The ‘Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia’ (DUQuA) study aims to measure and examine relationships between (1) organisation and department-level quality management systems (QMS), clinician leadership and culture, and (2) clinical treatment processes, clinical outcomes and patient-reported perceptions of care within Australian hospitals. Methods and analysis The DUQuA project is a national, multilevel, cross-sectional study with data collection at organisation (hospital), department, professional and patient levels. Sample size calculations indicate a minimum of 43 hospitals are required to adequately power the study. To allow for rejection and attrition, 70 hospitals across all Australian jurisdictions that meet the inclusion criteria will be invited to participate. Participants will consist of hospital quality management professionals; clinicians; and patients with stroke, acute myocardial infarction and hip fracture. Organisation and department-level QMS, clinician leadership and culture, patient perceptions of safety, clinical treatment processes, and patient outcomes will be assessed using validated, evidence-based or consensus-based measurement tools. Data analysis will consist of simple correlations, linear and logistic regression and multilevel modelling. Multilevel modelling methods will enable identification of the amount of variation in outcomes attributed to the hospital and department levels, and the factors contributing to this variation. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained. Results will be disseminated to individual hospitals in de-identified national and international benchmarking reports with data-driven recommendations. This ground-breaking national study has the potential to influence decision-making on the implementation of quality and safety systems and processes in Australian and international hospitals. PMID:26644128

An investigation of emotion dynamics in major depressive disorder patients and healthy persons using sparse longitudinal networks.

PubMed

de Vos, Stijn; Wardenaar, Klaas J; Bos, Elisabeth H; Wit, Ernst C; Bouwmans, Mara E J; de Jonge, Peter

2017-01-01

Differences in within-person emotion dynamics may be an important source of heterogeneity in depression. To investigate these dynamics, researchers have previously combined multilevel regression analyses with network representations. However, sparse network methods, specifically developed for longitudinal network analyses, have not been applied. Therefore, this study used this approach to investigate population-level and individual-level emotion dynamics in healthy and depressed persons and compared this method with the multilevel approach. Time-series data were collected in pair-matched healthy persons and major depressive disorder (MDD) patients (n = 54). Seven positive affect (PA) and seven negative affect (NA) items were administered electronically at 90 times (30 days; thrice per day). The population-level (healthy vs. MDD) and individual-level time series were analyzed using a sparse longitudinal network model based on vector autoregression. The population-level model was also estimated with a multilevel approach. Effects of different preprocessing steps were evaluated as well. The characteristics of the longitudinal networks were investigated to gain insight into the emotion dynamics. In the population-level networks, longitudinal network connectivity was strongest in the healthy group, with nodes showing more and stronger longitudinal associations with each other. Individually estimated networks varied strongly across individuals. Individual variations in network connectivity were unrelated to baseline characteristics (depression status, neuroticism, severity). A multilevel approach applied to the same data showed higher connectivity in the MDD group, which seemed partly related to the preprocessing approach. The sparse network approach can be useful for the estimation of networks with multiple nodes, where overparameterization is an issue, and for individual-level networks. However, its current inability to model random effects makes it less useful as a population-level approach in case of large heterogeneity. Different preprocessing strategies appeared to strongly influence the results, complicating inferences about network density.

A multi-level rapid prototyping drill guide template reduces the perforation risk of pedicle screw placement in the lumbar and sacral spine.

PubMed

Merc, Matjaz; Drstvensek, Igor; Vogrin, Matjaz; Brajlih, Tomaz; Recnik, Gregor

2013-07-01

The method of free-hand pedicle screw placement is generally safe although it carries potential risks. For this reason, several highly accurate computer-assisted systems were developed and are currently on the market. However, these devices have certain disadvantages. We have developed a method of pedicle screw placement in the lumbar and sacral region using a multi-level drill guide template, created with the rapid prototyping technology and have validated it in a clinical study. The aim of the study was to manufacture and evaluate the accuracy of a multi-level drill guide template for lumbar and first sacral pedicle screw placement and to compare it with the free-hand technique under fluoroscopy supervision. In 2011 and 2012, a randomized clinical trial was performed on 20 patients. 54 screws were implanted in the trial group using templates and 54 in the control group using the fluoroscopy-supervised free-hand technique. Furthermore, applicability for the first sacral level was tested. Preoperative CT-scans were taken and templates were designed using the selective laser sintering method. Postoperative evaluation and statistical analysis of pedicle violation, displacement, screw length and deviation were performed for both groups. The incidence of cortex perforation was significantly reduced in the template group; likewise, the deviation and displacement level of screws in the sagittal plane. In both groups there was no significantly important difference in deviation and displacement level in the transversal plane as not in pedicle screw length. The results for the first sacral level resembled the main investigated group. The method significantly lowers the incidence of cortex perforation and is therefore potentially applicable in clinical practice, especially in some selected cases. The applied method, however, carries a potential for errors during manufacturing and practical usage and therefore still requires further improvements.

Improvement of multi-level resistive switching characteristics in solution-processed AlO x -based non-volatile resistive memory using microwave irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Seung-Tae; Cho, Won-Ju

2018-01-01

We fabricated a resistive random access memory (ReRAM) device on a Ti/AlO x /Pt structure with solution-processed AlO x switching layer using microwave irradiation (MWI), and demonstrated multi-level cell (MLC) operation. To investigate the effect of MWI power on the MLC characteristics, post-deposition annealing was performed at 600-3000 W after AlO x switching layer deposition, and the MLC operation was compared with as-deposited (as-dep) and conventional thermally annealing (CTA) treated devices. All solution-processed AlO x -based ReRAM devices exhibited bipolar resistive switching (BRS) behavior. We found that these devices have four-resistance states (2 bits) of MLC operation according to the modulation of the high-resistance state (HRSs) through reset voltage control. Particularly, compared to the as-dep and CTA ReRAM devices, the MWI-treated ReRAM devices showed a significant increase in the memory window and stable endurance for multi-level operation. Moreover, as the MWI power increased, excellent MLC characteristics were exhibited because the resistance ratio between each resistance state was increased. In addition, it exhibited reliable retention characteristics without deterioration at 25 °C and 85 °C for 10 000 s. Finally, the relationship between the chemical characteristics of the solution-processed AlO x switching layer and BRS-based multi-level operation according to the annealing method and MWI power was investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Design of mulitlevel OLF approach ("V"-shaped decompressive laminoplasty) based on 3D printing technology.

PubMed

Ling, Qinjie; He, Erxing; Ouyang, Hanbin; Guo, Jing; Yin, Zhixun; Huang, Wenhua

2017-07-27

To introduce a new surgical approach to the multilevel ossification of the ligamentum flavum (OLF) aided by three-dimensional (3D) printing technology. A multilevel OLF patient (male, 66 years) was scanned using computed tomography (CT). His saved DICOM format data were inputted to the Mimics14.0 3D reconstruction software (Materialise, Belgium). The resulting 3D model was used to observe the anatomical features of the multilevel OLF area and to design the surgical approach. At the base of the spinous process, two channels were created using an osteotomy bilaterally to create a "V" shape to remove the bone ligamentous complex (BLC). The decompressive laminoplasty using mini-plate fixation was simulated with the computer. The physical model was manufactured using 3D printing technology. The patient was subsequently treated using the designed surgery. The operation was completed successfully without any complications. The operative time was 90 min, and blood loss was 200 ml. One month after the operation, neurologic function was recovered well, and the JOA score was improved from 6 preoperatively to 10. Postoperative CT scanning showed that the OLF was totally removed, and the replanted BLC had not subsided. 3D printing technology is an effective, reliable, and minimally invasive method to design operations. The technique can be an option for multilevel OLF surgical treatment. This can provide sufficient decompression with minimum damage to the spine and other intact anatomical structures.

Preliminary application of a multi-level 3D printing drill guide template for pedicle screw placement in severe and rigid scoliosis.

PubMed

Liu, Kun; Zhang, Qiang; Li, Xin; Zhao, Changsong; Quan, Xuemin; Zhao, Rugang; Chen, Zongfeng; Li, Yansheng

2017-06-01

Accurate implantation of pedicle screw in spinal deformity correction surgeries is always challenging. We have developed a method of pedicle screw placement in severe and rigid scoliosis with a multi-level 3D printing drill guide template. From November 2011 to March 2015, ten patients (4 males and 6 females) with severe and rigid scoliosis (Cobb angle >70° and flexibility <30%)were included. Multi-level template was designed and manufactured according to the part (two or three levels) of the most severe deformity. The drill template was then placed on the corresponding vertebral surface. Then, pedicle screws were carefully inserted along the trajectories. The other screws were placed in free hand. After surgery, the positions of the pedicle screws were evaluated by CT scan and graded for validation. 48 screws were implanted using templates, other 104 screws in free hand, and the accuracies were 93.8 and 78.8%, respectively, with significant difference. The deformity correction ratio was 67.1 and 41.2% in coronal and sagittal plane post-operatively, respectively. The average operation time was 234.0 ± 34.1 min, and average blood loss was 557 ± 67.4 ml. With the application of multi-level template, the incidence of cortex perforation in severe and rigid scoliosis decreased and this technology is, therefore, potentially applicable in clinical practice.

Multilevel Monte Carlo and improved timestepping methods in atmospheric dispersion modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katsiolides, Grigoris; Müller, Eike H.; Scheichl, Robert; Shardlow, Tony; Giles, Michael B.; Thomson, David J.

2018-02-01

A common way to simulate the transport and spread of pollutants in the atmosphere is via stochastic Lagrangian dispersion models. Mathematically, these models describe turbulent transport processes with stochastic differential equations (SDEs). The computational bottleneck is the Monte Carlo algorithm, which simulates the motion of a large number of model particles in a turbulent velocity field; for each particle, a trajectory is calculated with a numerical timestepping method. Choosing an efficient numerical method is particularly important in operational emergency-response applications, such as tracking radioactive clouds from nuclear accidents or predicting the impact of volcanic ash clouds on international aviation, where accurate and timely predictions are essential. In this paper, we investigate the application of the Multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method to simulate the propagation of particles in a representative one-dimensional dispersion scenario in the atmospheric boundary layer. MLMC can be shown to result in asymptotically superior computational complexity and reduced computational cost when compared to the Standard Monte Carlo (StMC) method, which is currently used in atmospheric dispersion modelling. To reduce the absolute cost of the method also in the non-asymptotic regime, it is equally important to choose the best possible numerical timestepping method on each level. To investigate this, we also compare the standard symplectic Euler method, which is used in many operational models, with two improved timestepping algorithms based on SDE splitting methods.

Influence of a Confined Methanol Solvent on the Reactivity of Active Sites in UiO-66.

PubMed

Caratelli, Chiara; Hajek, Julianna; Rogge, Sven M J; Vandenbrande, Steven; Meijer, Evert Jan; Waroquier, Michel; Van Speybroeck, Veronique

2018-02-19

UiO-66, composed of Zr-oxide bricks and terephthalate linkers, is currently one of the most studied metal-organic frameworks due to its exceptional stability. Defects can be introduced in the structure, creating undercoordinated Zr atoms which are Lewis acid sites. Here, additional Brønsted sites can be generated by coordinated protic species from the solvent. In this Article, a multilevel modeling approach was applied to unravel the effect of a confined methanol solvent on the active sites in UiO-66. First, active sites were explored with static periodic density functional theory calculations to investigate adsorption of water and methanol. Solvent was then introduced in the pores with grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations, followed by a series of molecular dynamics simulations at operating conditions. A hydrogen-bonded network of methanol molecules is formed, allowing the protons to shuttle between solvent methanol, adsorbed water, and the inorganic brick. Upon deprotonation of an active site, the methanol solvent aids the transfer of protons and stabilizes charged configurations via hydrogen bonding, which could be crucial in stabilizing reactive intermediates. The multilevel modeling approach adopted here sheds light on the important role of a confined solvent on the active sites in the UiO-66 material, introducing dynamic acidity in the system at finite temperatures by which protons may be easily shuttled from various positions at the active sites. © 2018 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

Complex-valued multistate associative memory with nonlinear multilevel functions for gray-level image reconstruction.

PubMed

Tanaka, Gouhei; Aihara, Kazuyuki

2009-09-01

A widely used complex-valued activation function for complex-valued multistate Hopfield networks is revealed to be essentially based on a multilevel step function. By replacing the multilevel step function with other multilevel characteristics, we present two alternative complex-valued activation functions. One is based on a multilevel sigmoid function, while the other on a characteristic of a multistate bifurcating neuron. Numerical experiments show that both modifications to the complex-valued activation function bring about improvements in network performance for a multistate associative memory. The advantage of the proposed networks over the complex-valued Hopfield networks with the multilevel step function is more outstanding when a complex-valued neuron represents a larger number of multivalued states. Further, the performance of the proposed networks in reconstructing noisy 256 gray-level images is demonstrated in comparison with other recent associative memories to clarify their advantages and disadvantages.

A rational approach to heavy-atom derivative screening

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

Joyce, M. Gordon; Radaev, Sergei; Sun, Peter D., E-mail: psun@nih.gov

2010-04-01

In order to overcome the difficulties associated with the ‘classical’ heavy-atom derivatization procedure, an attempt has been made to develop a rational crystal-free heavy-atom-derivative screening method and a quick-soak derivatization procedure which allows heavy-atom compound identification. Despite the development in recent times of a range of techniques for phasing macromolecules, the conventional heavy-atom derivatization method still plays a significant role in protein structure determination. However, this method has become less popular in modern high-throughput oriented crystallography, mostly owing to its trial-and-error nature, which often results in lengthy empirical searches requiring large numbers of well diffracting crystals. In addition, the phasingmore » power of heavy-atom derivatives is often compromised by lack of isomorphism or even loss of diffraction. In order to overcome the difficulties associated with the ‘classical’ heavy-atom derivatization procedure, an attempt has been made to develop a rational crystal-free heavy-atom derivative-screening method and a quick-soak derivatization procedure which allows heavy-atom compound identification. The method includes three basic steps: (i) the selection of likely reactive compounds for a given protein and specific crystallization conditions based on pre-defined heavy-atom compound reactivity profiles, (ii) screening of the chosen heavy-atom compounds for their ability to form protein adducts using mass spectrometry and (iii) derivatization of crystals with selected heavy-metal compounds using the quick-soak method to maximize diffraction quality and minimize non-isomorphism. Overall, this system streamlines the process of heavy-atom compound identification and minimizes the problem of non-isomorphism in phasing.« less

Method of performing MRI with an atomic magnetometer

DOEpatents

Savukov, Igor Mykhaylovich; Matlashov, Andrei Nikolaevich; Espy, Michelle A.; Volegov, Petr Lvovich; Kraus, Jr., Robert Henry; Zotev, Vadim Sergeyevich

2012-11-06

A method and apparatus are provided for performing an in-situ magnetic resonance imaging of an object. The method includes the steps of providing an atomic magnetometer, coupling a magnetic field generated by magnetically resonating samples of the object through a flux transformer to the atomic magnetometer and measuring a magnetic resonance of the atomic magnetometer.

Method of performing MRI with an atomic magnetometer

DOEpatents

Savukov, Igor Mykhaylovich; Matlashov, Andrei Nikolaevich; Espy, Michelle A; Volegov, Petr Lvovich; Kraus, Jr., Robert Henry; Zotev, Vadim Sergeyevich

2013-08-27

A method and apparatus are provided for performing an in-situ magnetic resonance imaging of an object. The method includes the steps of providing an atomic magnetometer, coupling a magnetic field generated by magnetically resonating samples of the object through a flux transformer to the atomic magnetometer and measuring a magnetic resonance of the atomic magnetometer.

Interrelated structures of the transport shock and collisional relaxation layer in a multitemperature, multilevel ionized gas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vinolo, A. R.; Clarke, J. H.

1972-01-01

The gas dynamic structures of the transport shock and the downstream collisional relaxation layer are evaluated for partially ionized monatomic gases. Elastic and inelastic collisional nonequilibrium effects are taken into consideration. Three electronic levels are accounted for in the microscopic model of the atom. Nonequilibrium processes with respect to population of levels and species plus temperature are considered. By using an asymptotic technique the shock morphology is found on a continuum flow basis. The asymptotic procedure gives two distinct layers in which the nonequilibrium effects to be considered are different. A transport shock appears as the inner solution to an outer collisional relaxation layer in which the gas reaches local equilibrium. A family of numerical examples is displayed for different flow regimes. Argon and helium models are used in these examples.

Student Perceptions of the Fairness of Grading Procedures: A Multilevel Investigation of the Role of the Academic Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burger, Roland

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of assessment method (essays vs. examinations) and instruction method (seminars vs. lectures) on student perceptions of the fairness of the assessment process. Department-specific combinations of these factors give a unique profile to the assessment process and to the way students interact with…

Simulator for multilevel optimization research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Padula, S. L.; Young, K. C.

1986-01-01

A computer program designed to simulate and improve multilevel optimization techniques is described. By using simple analytic functions to represent complex engineering analyses, the simulator can generate and test a large variety of multilevel decomposition strategies in a relatively short time. This type of research is an essential step toward routine optimization of large aerospace systems. The paper discusses the types of optimization problems handled by the simulator and gives input and output listings and plots for a sample problem. It also describes multilevel implementation techniques which have value beyond the present computer program. Thus, this document serves as a user's manual for the simulator and as a guide for building future multilevel optimization applications.

Approximate l-fold cross-validation with Least Squares SVM and Kernel Ridge Regression

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

Edwards, Richard E; Zhang, Hao; Parker, Lynne Edwards

2013-01-01

Kernel methods have difficulties scaling to large modern data sets. The scalability issues are based on computational and memory requirements for working with a large matrix. These requirements have been addressed over the years by using low-rank kernel approximations or by improving the solvers scalability. However, Least Squares Support VectorMachines (LS-SVM), a popular SVM variant, and Kernel Ridge Regression still have several scalability issues. In particular, the O(n^3) computational complexity for solving a single model, and the overall computational complexity associated with tuning hyperparameters are still major problems. We address these problems by introducing an O(n log n) approximate l-foldmore » cross-validation method that uses a multi-level circulant matrix to approximate the kernel. In addition, we prove our algorithm s computational complexity and present empirical runtimes on data sets with approximately 1 million data points. We also validate our approximate method s effectiveness at selecting hyperparameters on real world and standard benchmark data sets. Lastly, we provide experimental results on using a multi-level circulant kernel approximation to solve LS-SVM problems with hyperparameters selected using our method.« less

Fast inverse scattering solutions using the distorted Born iterative method and the multilevel fast multipole algorithm

PubMed Central

Hesford, Andrew J.; Chew, Weng C.

2010-01-01

The distorted Born iterative method (DBIM) computes iterative solutions to nonlinear inverse scattering problems through successive linear approximations. By decomposing the scattered field into a superposition of scattering by an inhomogeneous background and by a material perturbation, large or high-contrast variations in medium properties can be imaged through iterations that are each subject to the distorted Born approximation. However, the need to repeatedly compute forward solutions still imposes a very heavy computational burden. To ameliorate this problem, the multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA) has been applied as a forward solver within the DBIM. The MLFMA computes forward solutions in linear time for volumetric scatterers. The typically regular distribution and shape of scattering elements in the inverse scattering problem allow the method to take advantage of data redundancy and reduce the computational demands of the normally expensive MLFMA setup. Additional benefits are gained by employing Kaczmarz-like iterations, where partial measurements are used to accelerate convergence. Numerical results demonstrate both the efficiency of the forward solver and the successful application of the inverse method to imaging problems with dimensions in the neighborhood of ten wavelengths. PMID:20707438

Longitudinal analysis of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire scores of the Millennium Cohort Study children in England using M-quantile random-effects regression.

PubMed

Tzavidis, Nikos; Salvati, Nicola; Schmid, Timo; Flouri, Eirini; Midouhas, Emily

2016-02-01

Multilevel modelling is a popular approach for longitudinal data analysis. Statistical models conventionally target a parameter at the centre of a distribution. However, when the distribution of the data is asymmetric, modelling other location parameters, e.g. percentiles, may be more informative. We present a new approach, M -quantile random-effects regression, for modelling multilevel data. The proposed method is used for modelling location parameters of the distribution of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire scores of children in England who participate in the Millennium Cohort Study. Quantile mixed models are also considered. The analyses offer insights to child psychologists about the differential effects of risk factors on children's outcomes.

A Note on Multigrid Theory for Non-nested Grids and/or Quadrature

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Douglas, C. C.; Douglas, J., Jr.; Fyfe, D. E.

1996-01-01

We provide a unified theory for multilevel and multigrid methods when the usual assumptions are not present. For example, we do not assume that the solution spaces or the grids are nested. Further, we do not assume that there is an algebraic relationship between the linear algebra problems on different levels. What we provide is a computationally useful theory for adaptively changing levels. Theory is provided for multilevel correction schemes, nested iteration schemes, and one way (i.e., coarse to fine grid with no correction iterations) schemes. We include examples showing the applicability of this theory: finite element examples using quadrature in the matrix assembly and finite volume examples with non-nested grids. Our theory applies directly to other discretizations as well.

A multilevel-skin neighbor list algorithm for molecular dynamics simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Chenglong; Zhao, Mingcan; Hou, Chaofeng; Ge, Wei

2018-01-01

Searching of the interaction pairs and organization of the interaction processes are important steps in molecular dynamics (MD) algorithms and are critical to the overall efficiency of the simulation. Neighbor lists are widely used for these steps, where thicker skin can reduce the frequency of list updating but is discounted by more computation in distance check for the particle pairs. In this paper, we propose a new neighbor-list-based algorithm with a precisely designed multilevel skin which can reduce unnecessary computation on inter-particle distances. The performance advantages over traditional methods are then analyzed against the main simulation parameters on Intel CPUs and MICs (many integrated cores), and are clearly demonstrated. The algorithm can be generalized for various discrete simulations using neighbor lists.

Coherent population transfer in multilevel systems with magnetic sublevels. II. Algebraic analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, J.; Shore, B. W.; Bergmann, K.

1995-07-01

We extend previous theoretical work on coherent population transfer by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage for states involving nonzero angular momentum. The pump and Stokes fields are either copropagating or counterpropagating with the corresponding linearly polarized electric-field vectors lying in a common plane with the magnetic-field direction. Zeeman splitting lifts the magnetic sublevel degeneracy. We present an algebraic analysis of dressed-state properties to explain the behavior noted in numerical studies. In particular, we discuss conditions which are likely to lead to a failure of complete population transfer. The applied strategy, based on simple methods of linear algebra, will also be successful for other types of discrete multilevel systems, provided the rotating-wave and adiabatic approximation are valid.

Multilevel DC link inverter

DOEpatents

Su, Gui-Jia

2003-06-10

A multilevel DC link inverter and method for improving torque response and current regulation in permanent magnet motors and switched reluctance motors having a low inductance includes a plurality of voltage controlled cells connected in series for applying a resulting dc voltage comprised of one or more incremental dc voltages. The cells are provided with switches for increasing the resulting applied dc voltage as speed and back EMF increase, while limiting the voltage that is applied to the commutation switches to perform PWM or dc voltage stepping functions, so as to limit current ripple in the stator windings below an acceptable level, typically 5%. Several embodiments are disclosed including inverters using IGBT's, inverters using thyristors. All of the inverters are operable in both motoring and regenerating modes.

Novel atomic absorption spectrometric and rapid spectrophotometric methods for the quantitation of paracetamol in saliva: application to pharmacokinetic studies.

PubMed

Issa, M M; Nejem, R M; El-Abadla, N S; Al-Kholy, M; Saleh, Akila A

2008-01-01

A novel atomic absorption spectrometric method and two highly sensitive spectrophotometric methods were developed for the determination of paracetamol. These techniques based on the oxidation of paracetamol by iron (III) (method I); oxidation of p-aminophenol after the hydrolysis of paracetamol (method II). Iron (II) then reacts with potassium ferricyanide to form Prussian blue color with a maximum absorbance at 700 nm. The atomic absorption method was accomplished by extracting the excess iron (III) in method II and aspirates the aqueous layer into air-acetylene flame to measure the absorbance of iron (II) at 302.1 nm. The reactions have been spectrometrically evaluated to attain optimum experimental conditions. Linear responses were exhibited over the ranges 1.0-10, 0.2-2.0 and 0.1-1.0 mug/ml for method I, method II and atomic absorption spectrometric method, respectively. A high sensitivity is recorded for the proposed methods I and II and atomic absorption spectrometric method value indicate: 0.05, 0.022 and 0.012 mug/ml, respectively. The limit of quantitation of paracetamol by method II and atomic absorption spectrometric method were 0.20 and 0.10 mug/ml. Method II and the atomic absorption spectrometric method were applied to demonstrate a pharmacokinetic study by means of salivary samples in normal volunteers who received 1.0 g paracetamol. Intra and inter-day precision did not exceed 6.9%.

Novel Atomic Absorption Spectrometric and Rapid Spectrophotometric Methods for the Quantitation of Paracetamol in Saliva: Application to Pharmacokinetic Studies

PubMed Central

Issa, M. M.; Nejem, R. M.; El-Abadla, N. S.; Al-Kholy, M.; Saleh, Akila. A.

2008-01-01

A novel atomic absorption spectrometric method and two highly sensitive spectrophotometric methods were developed for the determination of paracetamol. These techniques based on the oxidation of paracetamol by iron (III) (method I); oxidation of p-aminophenol after the hydrolysis of paracetamol (method II). Iron (II) then reacts with potassium ferricyanide to form Prussian blue color with a maximum absorbance at 700 nm. The atomic absorption method was accomplished by extracting the excess iron (III) in method II and aspirates the aqueous layer into air-acetylene flame to measure the absorbance of iron (II) at 302.1 nm. The reactions have been spectrometrically evaluated to attain optimum experimental conditions. Linear responses were exhibited over the ranges 1.0-10, 0.2-2.0 and 0.1-1.0 μg/ml for method I, method II and atomic absorption spectrometric method, respectively. A high sensitivity is recorded for the proposed methods I and II and atomic absorption spectrometric method value indicate: 0.05, 0.022 and 0.012 μg/ml, respectively. The limit of quantitation of paracetamol by method II and atomic absorption spectrometric method were 0.20 and 0.10 μg/ml. Method II and the atomic absorption spectrometric method were applied to demonstrate a pharmacokinetic study by means of salivary samples in normal volunteers who received 1.0 g paracetamol. Intra and inter-day precision did not exceed 6.9%. PMID:20046743

Influence of Parameters of a Reactive Interatomic Potential on the Properties of Saturated Hydrocarbons

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-01-01

Methodology 3 2.1 Modified Embedded-Atom Method Theory 3 2.1.1 Embedding Energy Function 3 2.1.2 Screening Factor 8 2.1.3 Modified Embedded-Atom...Simulation Methodology 2.1 Modified Embedded-Atom Method Theory In the EAM and MEAM formalisms1,2,5 the total energy of a system of atoms (Etot) is...An interatomic potential for saturated hydrocarbons using the modified embedded-atom method (MEAM), a semiempirical many-body potential based on

Income inequality and mortality: a multilevel prospective study of 521 248 individuals in 50 US states.

PubMed

Backlund, Eric; Rowe, Geoff; Lynch, John; Wolfson, Michael C; Kaplan, George A; Sorlie, Paul D

2007-06-01

Some of the most consistent evidence in favour of an association between income inequality and health has been among US states. However, in multilevel studies of mortality, only two out of five studies have reported a positive relationship with income inequality after adjustment for the compositional characteristics of the state's inhabitants. In this study, we attempt to clarify these mixed results by analysing the relationship within age-sex groups and by applying a previously unused analytical method to a database that contains more deaths than any multilevel study to date. The US National Longitudinal Mortality Study (NLMS) was used to model the relationship between income inequality in US states and mortality using both a novel and previously used methodologies that fall into the general framework of multilevel regression. We adjust age-sex specific models for nine socioeconomic and demographic variables at the individual level and percentage black and region at the state level. The preponderance of evidence from this study suggests that 1990 state-level income inequality is associated with a 40% differential in state level mortality rates (95% CI = 26-56%) for men 25-64 years and a 14% (95% CI = 3-27%) differential for women 25-64 years after adjustment for compositional factors. No such relationship was found for men or women over 65. The relationship between income inequality and mortality is only robust to adjustment for compositional factors in men and women under 65. This explains why income inequality is not a major driver of mortality trends in the United States because most deaths occur at ages 65 and over. This analysis does suggest, however, the certain causes of death that occur primarily in the population under 65 may be associated with income inequality. Comparison of analytical techniques also suggests coefficients for income inequality in previous multilevel mortality studies may be biased, but further research is needed to provide a definitive answer.

Evaluating flow cytometer performance with weighted quadratic least squares analysis of LED and multi-level bead data.

PubMed

Parks, David R; El Khettabi, Faysal; Chase, Eric; Hoffman, Robert A; Perfetto, Stephen P; Spidlen, Josef; Wood, James C S; Moore, Wayne A; Brinkman, Ryan R

2017-03-01

We developed a fully automated procedure for analyzing data from LED pulses and multilevel bead sets to evaluate backgrounds and photoelectron scales of cytometer fluorescence channels. The method improves on previous formulations by fitting a full quadratic model with appropriate weighting and by providing standard errors and peak residuals as well as the fitted parameters themselves. Here we describe the details of the methods and procedures involved and present a set of illustrations and test cases that demonstrate the consistency and reliability of the results. The automated analysis and fitting procedure is generally quite successful in providing good estimates of the Spe (statistical photoelectron) scales and backgrounds for all the fluorescence channels on instruments with good linearity. The precision of the results obtained from LED data is almost always better than that from multilevel bead data, but the bead procedure is easy to carry out and provides results good enough for most purposes. Including standard errors on the fitted parameters is important for understanding the uncertainty in the values of interest. The weighted residuals give information about how well the data fits the model, and particularly high residuals indicate bad data points. Known photoelectron scales and measurement channel backgrounds make it possible to estimate the precision of measurements at different signal levels and the effects of compensated spectral overlap on measurement quality. Combining this information with measurements of standard samples carrying dyes of biological interest, we can make accurate comparisons of dye sensitivity among different instruments. Our method is freely available through the R/Bioconductor package flowQB. © 2017 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry. © 2017 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Algebraic dynamic multilevel method for compositional flow in heterogeneous porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cusini, Matteo; Fryer, Barnaby; van Kruijsdijk, Cor; Hajibeygi, Hadi

2018-02-01

This paper presents the algebraic dynamic multilevel method (ADM) for compositional flow in three dimensional heterogeneous porous media in presence of capillary and gravitational effects. As a significant advancement compared to the ADM for immiscible flows (Cusini et al., 2016) [33], here, mass conservation equations are solved along with k-value based thermodynamic equilibrium equations using a fully-implicit (FIM) coupling strategy. Two different fine-scale compositional formulations are considered: (1) the natural variables and (2) the overall-compositions formulation. At each Newton's iteration the fine-scale FIM Jacobian system is mapped to a dynamically defined (in space and time) multilevel nested grid. The appropriate grid resolution is chosen based on the contrast of user-defined fluid properties and on the presence of specific features (e.g., well source terms). Consistent mapping between different resolutions is performed by the means of sequences of restriction and prolongation operators. While finite-volume restriction operators are employed to ensure mass conservation at all resolutions, various prolongation operators are considered. In particular, different interpolation strategies can be used for the different primary variables, and multiscale basis functions are chosen as pressure interpolators so that fine scale heterogeneities are accurately accounted for across different resolutions. Several numerical experiments are conducted to analyse the accuracy, efficiency and robustness of the method for both 2D and 3D domains. Results show that ADM provides accurate solutions by employing only a fraction of the number of grid-cells employed in fine-scale simulations. As such, it presents a promising approach for large-scale simulations of multiphase flow in heterogeneous reservoirs with complex non-linear fluid physics.

A multilevel simultaneous equations model for within-cluster dynamic effects, with an application to reciprocal parent-child and sibling effects.

PubMed

Steele, Fiona; Rasbash, Jon; Jenkins, Jennifer

2013-03-01

There has been substantial interest in the social and health sciences in the reciprocal causal influences that people in close relationships have on one another. Most research has considered reciprocal processes involving only 2 units, although many social relationships of interest occur within a larger group (e.g., families, work groups, peer groups, classrooms). This article presents a general longitudinal multilevel modeling framework for the simultaneous estimation of reciprocal relationships among individuals with unique roles operating in a social group. We use family data for illustrative purposes, but the model is generalizable to any social group in which measurements of individuals in the social group occur over time, individuals have unique roles, and clustering of the data is evident. We allow for the possibility that the outcomes of family members are influenced by a common set of unmeasured family characteristics. The multilevel model we propose allows for residual variation in the outcomes of parents and children at the occasion, individual, and family levels and residual correlation between parents and children due to the unmeasured shared environment, genetic factors, and shared measurement. Another advantage of this method over approaches used in previous family research is it can handle mixed family sizes. The method is illustrated in an analysis of maternal depression and child delinquency using data from the Avon Brothers and Sisters Study. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Multi-level obstruction in obstructive sleep apnoea: prevalence, severity and predictive factors.

PubMed

Phua, C Q; Yeo, W X; Su, C; Mok, P K H

2017-11-01

To characterise multi-level obstruction in terms of prevalence, obstructive sleep apnoea severity and predictive factors, and to collect epidemiological data on upper airway morphology in obstructive sleep apnoea patients. Retrospective review of 250 obstructive sleep apnoea patients. On clinical examination, 171 patients (68.4 per cent) had multi-level obstruction, 49 (19.6 per cent) had single-level obstruction and 30 (12 per cent) showed no obstruction. Within each category of obstructive sleep apnoea severity, multi-level obstruction was more prevalent. Multi-level obstruction was associated with severe obstructive sleep apnoea (more than 30 events per hour) (p = 0.001). Obstructive sleep apnoea severity increased with the number of obstruction sites (correlation coefficient = 0.303, p < 0.001). Multi-level obstruction was more likely in younger (p = 0.042), male (p = 0.045) patients, with high body mass index (more than 30 kg/m2) (p < 0.001). Palatal (p = 0.004), tongue (p = 0.026) and lateral pharyngeal wall obstructions (p = 0.006) were associated with severe obstructive sleep apnoea. Multi-level obstruction is more prevalent in obstructive sleep apnoea and is associated with increased severity. Obstruction at certain anatomical levels contributes more towards obstructive sleep apnoea severity.

Multilevel Classes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Connections: A Journal of Adult Literacy, 1997

1997-01-01

This issue contains 12 articles written by teachers who have investigated various aspects of the multilevel question in their own classrooms. "The Multilevel Question" (Lenore Balliro) provides an introduction. "Deconstructing the Great Wall of Print" (Richard Goldberg) investigates reading strategies that allow students with a wide range of…

Multilevel ensemble Kalman filtering

DOE PAGES

Hoel, Hakon; Law, Kody J. H.; Tempone, Raul

2016-06-14

This study embeds a multilevel Monte Carlo sampling strategy into the Monte Carlo step of the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) in the setting of finite dimensional signal evolution and noisy discrete-time observations. The signal dynamics is assumed to be governed by a stochastic differential equation (SDE), and a hierarchy of time grids is introduced for multilevel numerical integration of that SDE. Finally, the resulting multilevel EnKF is proved to asymptotically outperform EnKF in terms of computational cost versus approximation accuracy. The theoretical results are illustrated numerically.

Fast and accurate grid representations for atom-based docking with partner flexibility.

PubMed

de Vries, Sjoerd J; Zacharias, Martin

2017-06-30

Macromolecular docking methods can broadly be divided into geometric and atom-based methods. Geometric methods use fast algorithms that operate on simplified, grid-like molecular representations, while atom-based methods are more realistic and flexible, but far less efficient. Here, a hybrid approach of grid-based and atom-based docking is presented, combining precalculated grid potentials with neighbor lists for fast and accurate calculation of atom-based intermolecular energies and forces. The grid representation is compatible with simultaneous multibody docking and can tolerate considerable protein flexibility. When implemented in our docking method ATTRACT, grid-based docking was found to be ∼35x faster. With the OPLSX forcefield instead of the ATTRACT coarse-grained forcefield, the average speed improvement was >100x. Grid-based representations may allow atom-based docking methods to explore large conformational spaces with many degrees of freedom, such as multiple macromolecules including flexibility. This increases the domain of biological problems to which docking methods can be applied. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Information Extraction from Large-Multi-Layer Social Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-08-06

mization [4]. Methods that fall into this category include spec- tral algorithms, modularity methods, and methods that rely on statistical inference...Snijders and Chris Baerveldt, “A multilevel network study of the effects of delinquent behavior on friendship evolution,” Journal of mathematical sociol- ogy...1970. [10] Ulrike Luxburg, “A tutorial on spectral clustering,” Statistics and Computing, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 395–416, Dec. 2007. [11] R. A. Fisher, “On

HD-MTL: Hierarchical Deep Multi-Task Learning for Large-Scale Visual Recognition.

PubMed

Fan, Jianping; Zhao, Tianyi; Kuang, Zhenzhong; Zheng, Yu; Zhang, Ji; Yu, Jun; Peng, Jinye

2017-02-09

In this paper, a hierarchical deep multi-task learning (HD-MTL) algorithm is developed to support large-scale visual recognition (e.g., recognizing thousands or even tens of thousands of atomic object classes automatically). First, multiple sets of multi-level deep features are extracted from different layers of deep convolutional neural networks (deep CNNs), and they are used to achieve more effective accomplishment of the coarseto- fine tasks for hierarchical visual recognition. A visual tree is then learned by assigning the visually-similar atomic object classes with similar learning complexities into the same group, which can provide a good environment for determining the interrelated learning tasks automatically. By leveraging the inter-task relatedness (inter-class similarities) to learn more discriminative group-specific deep representations, our deep multi-task learning algorithm can train more discriminative node classifiers for distinguishing the visually-similar atomic object classes effectively. Our hierarchical deep multi-task learning (HD-MTL) algorithm can integrate two discriminative regularization terms to control the inter-level error propagation effectively, and it can provide an end-to-end approach for jointly learning more representative deep CNNs (for image representation) and more discriminative tree classifier (for large-scale visual recognition) and updating them simultaneously. Our incremental deep learning algorithms can effectively adapt both the deep CNNs and the tree classifier to the new training images and the new object classes. Our experimental results have demonstrated that our HD-MTL algorithm can achieve very competitive results on improving the accuracy rates for large-scale visual recognition.

Isolating and moving single atoms using silicon nanocrystals

DOEpatents

Carroll, Malcolm S.

2010-09-07

A method is disclosed for isolating single atoms of an atomic species of interest by locating the atoms within silicon nanocrystals. This can be done by implanting, on the average, a single atom of the atomic species of interest into each nanocrystal, and then measuring an electrical charge distribution on the nanocrystals with scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) or electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) to identify and select those nanocrystals having exactly one atom of the atomic species of interest therein. The nanocrystals with the single atom of the atomic species of interest therein can be sorted and moved using an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip. The method is useful for forming nanoscale electronic and optical devices including quantum computers and single-photon light sources.

Fast Three-Dimensional Method of Modeling Atomic Oxygen Undercutting of Protected Polymers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snyder, Aaron; Banks, Bruce A.

2002-01-01

A method is presented to model atomic oxygen erosion of protected polymers in low Earth orbit (LEO). Undercutting of protected polymers by atomic oxygen occurs in LEO due to the presence of scratch, crack or pin-window defects in the protective coatings. As a means of providing a better understanding of undercutting processes, a fast method of modeling atomic-oxygen undercutting of protected polymers has been developed. Current simulation methods often rely on computationally expensive ray-tracing procedures to track the surface-to-surface movement of individual "atoms." The method introduced in this paper replaces slow individual particle approaches by substituting a model that utilizes both a geometric configuration-factor technique, which governs the diffuse transport of atoms between surfaces, and an efficient telescoping series algorithm, which rapidly integrates the cumulative effects stemming from the numerous atomic oxygen events occurring at the surfaces of an undercut cavity. This new method facilitates the systematic study of three-dimensional undercutting by allowing rapid simulations to be made over a wide range of erosion parameters.

Rydberg Molecules for Ion-Atom Scattering in the Ultracold Regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmid, T.; Veit, C.; Zuber, N.; Löw, R.; Pfau, T.; Tarana, M.; Tomza, M.

2018-04-01

We propose a novel experimental method to extend the investigation of ion-atom collisions from the so far studied cold, essentially classical regime to the ultracold, quantum regime. The key aspect of this method is the use of Rydberg molecules to initialize the ultracold ion-atom scattering event. We exemplify the proposed method with the lithium ion-atom system, for which we present simulations of how the initial Rydberg molecule wave function, freed by photoionization, evolves in the presence of the ion-atom scattering potential. We predict bounds for the ion-atom scattering length from ab initio calculations of the interaction potential. We demonstrate that, in the predicted bounds, the scattering length can be experimentally determined from the velocity of the scattered wave packet in the case of 6Li+ = 6Li and from the molecular ion fraction in the case of 7Li+ - 7Li. The proposed method to utilize Rydberg molecules for ultracold ion-atom scattering, here particularized for the lithium ion-atom system, is readily applicable to other ion-atom systems as well.

Rydberg Molecules for Ion-Atom Scattering in the Ultracold Regime.

PubMed

Schmid, T; Veit, C; Zuber, N; Löw, R; Pfau, T; Tarana, M; Tomza, M

2018-04-13

We propose a novel experimental method to extend the investigation of ion-atom collisions from the so far studied cold, essentially classical regime to the ultracold, quantum regime. The key aspect of this method is the use of Rydberg molecules to initialize the ultracold ion-atom scattering event. We exemplify the proposed method with the lithium ion-atom system, for which we present simulations of how the initial Rydberg molecule wave function, freed by photoionization, evolves in the presence of the ion-atom scattering potential. We predict bounds for the ion-atom scattering length from ab initio calculations of the interaction potential. We demonstrate that, in the predicted bounds, the scattering length can be experimentally determined from the velocity of the scattered wave packet in the case of ^{6}Li^{+}-^{6}Li and from the molecular ion fraction in the case of ^{7}Li^{+}-^{7}Li. The proposed method to utilize Rydberg molecules for ultracold ion-atom scattering, here particularized for the lithium ion-atom system, is readily applicable to other ion-atom systems as well.

A new method for mapping the three-dimensional atomic distribution within nanoparticles by atom probe tomography (APT).

PubMed

Kim, Se-Ho; Kang, Phil Woong; Park, O Ok; Seol, Jae-Bok; Ahn, Jae-Pyoung; Lee, Ji Yeong; Choi, Pyuck-Pa

2018-07-01

We present a new method of preparing needle-shaped specimens for atom probe tomography from freestanding Pd and C-supported Pt nanoparticles. The method consists of two steps, namely electrophoresis of nanoparticles on a flat Cu substrate followed by electrodeposition of a Ni film acting as an embedding matrix for the nanoparticles. Atom probe specimen preparation can be subsequently carried out by means of focused-ion-beam milling. Using this approach, we have been able to perform correlative atom probe tomography and transmission electron microscopy analyses on both nanoparticle systems. Reliable mass spectra and three-dimensional atom maps could be obtained for Pd nanoparticle specimens. In contrast, atom probe samples prepared from C-supported Pt nanoparticles showed uneven field evaporation and hence artifacts in the reconstructed atom maps. Our developed method is a viable means of mapping the three-dimensional atomic distribution within nanoparticles and is expected to contribute to an improved understanding of the structure-composition-property relationships of various nanoparticle systems. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Modular PV System Using Chain-Link-Type Multilevel Converter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hatano, Nobuhiko; Ise, Toshifumi

This paper presents a modular photovoltaic system (MPVS) that uses a chain-link-type multilevel converter (CLMC). In large-scale PV generating systems, the DC power supply is generally composed of a large number of PV panels. Hence, losses are caused by differences in the maximum power point at each PV panel. An MPVS has been proposed to address the above mentioned problem. It helps improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency by applying maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control to each group of PV panels. In addition, if a CLMC is used in an MPVS, a high voltage can be output from the AC side and transmission losses can be decreased. However, with this circuit configuration, the current output from the AC side may be unbalanced. Therefore, we propose a method to output balanced current from the AC side, even if the output of the DC power supply is unbalanced. The validity of the proposed method is examined by digital simulation.

Optical colour image watermarking based on phase-truncated linear canonical transform and image decomposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Yonggang; Tang, Chen; Li, Biyuan; Lei, Zhenkun

2018-05-01

This paper presents a novel optical colour image watermarking scheme based on phase-truncated linear canonical transform (PT-LCT) and image decomposition (ID). In this proposed scheme, a PT-LCT-based asymmetric cryptography is designed to encode the colour watermark into a noise-like pattern, and an ID-based multilevel embedding method is constructed to embed the encoded colour watermark into a colour host image. The PT-LCT-based asymmetric cryptography, which can be optically implemented by double random phase encoding with a quadratic phase system, can provide a higher security to resist various common cryptographic attacks. And the ID-based multilevel embedding method, which can be digitally implemented by a computer, can make the information of the colour watermark disperse better in the colour host image. The proposed colour image watermarking scheme possesses high security and can achieve a higher robustness while preserving the watermark’s invisibility. The good performance of the proposed scheme has been demonstrated by extensive experiments and comparison with other relevant schemes.

A Multilevel Assessment of Differential Item Functioning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shen, Linjun

A multilevel approach was proposed for the assessment of differential item functioning and compared with the traditional logistic regression approach. Data from the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination for 2,300 freshman osteopathic medical students were analyzed. The multilevel approach used three-level hierarchical generalized…

A Bayesian Multilevel Model for Microcystin Prediction in ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The frequency of cyanobacteria blooms in North American lakes is increasing. A major concernwith rising cyanobacteria blooms is microcystin, a common cyanobacterial hepatotoxin. Toexplore the conditions that promote high microcystin concentrations, we analyzed the US EPANational Lake Assessment (NLA) dataset collected in the summer of 2007. The NLA datasetis reported for nine eco-regions. We used the results of random forest modeling as a means ofvariable selection from which we developed a Bayesian multilevel model of microcystin concentrations.Model parameters under a multilevel modeling framework are eco-region specific, butthey are also assumed to be exchangeable across eco-regions for broad continental scaling. Theexchangeability assumption ensures that both the common patterns and eco-region specific featureswill be reflected in the model. Furthermore, the method incorporates appropriate estimatesof uncertainty. Our preliminary results show associations between microcystin and turbidity, totalnutrients, and N:P ratios. The NLA 2012 will be used for Bayesian updating. The results willhelp develop management strategies to alleviate microcystin impacts and improve lake quality. This work provides a probabilistic framework for predicting microcystin presences in lakes. It would allow for insights to be made about how changes in nutrient concentrations could potentially change toxin levels.

Neighborhood Predictors of Dating Violence Victimization and Perpetration in Young Adulthood: A Multilevel Study

PubMed Central

Buka, Stephen L.; Subramanian, S. V.; Molnar, Beth E.

2010-01-01

Objectives. We examined whether social processes of neighborhoods, such as collective efficacy, during individual's adolescent years affect the likelihood of being involved in physical dating violence during young adulthood. Methods. Using longitudinal data on 633 urban youths aged 13 to 19 years at baseline and data from their neighborhoods (collected by the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods), we ran multilevel linear regression models separately by gender to assess the association between collective efficacy and physical dating violence victimization and perpetration, controlling for individual covariates, neighborhood poverty, and perceived neighborhood violence. Results. Females were significantly more likely than were males to be perpetrators of dating violence during young adulthood (38% vs 19%). Multilevel analyses revealed some variation in dating violence at the neighborhood level, partly accounted for by collective efficacy. Collective efficacy was predictive of victimization for males but not females after control for confounders; it was marginally associated with perpetration (P = .07). The effects of collective efficacy varied by neighborhood poverty. Finally, a significant proportion (intraclass correlation = 14%–21%) of the neighborhood-level variation in male perpetration remained unexplained after modeling. Conclusions. Community-level strategies may be useful in preventing dating violence. PMID:20634470

Agent-based model with multi-level herding for complex financial systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jun-Jie; Tan, Lei; Zheng, Bo

2015-02-01

In complex financial systems, the sector structure and volatility clustering are respectively important features of the spatial and temporal correlations. However, the microscopic generation mechanism of the sector structure is not yet understood. Especially, how to produce these two features in one model remains challenging. We introduce a novel interaction mechanism, i.e., the multi-level herding, in constructing an agent-based model to investigate the sector structure combined with volatility clustering. According to the previous market performance, agents trade in groups, and their herding behavior comprises the herding at stock, sector and market levels. Further, we propose methods to determine the key model parameters from historical market data, rather than from statistical fitting of the results. From the simulation, we obtain the sector structure and volatility clustering, as well as the eigenvalue distribution of the cross-correlation matrix, for the New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges. These properties are in agreement with the empirical ones. Our results quantitatively reveal that the multi-level herding is the microscopic generation mechanism of the sector structure, and provide new insight into the spatio-temporal interactions in financial systems at the microscopic level.

Agent-based model with multi-level herding for complex financial systems

PubMed Central

Chen, Jun-Jie; Tan, Lei; Zheng, Bo

2015-01-01

In complex financial systems, the sector structure and volatility clustering are respectively important features of the spatial and temporal correlations. However, the microscopic generation mechanism of the sector structure is not yet understood. Especially, how to produce these two features in one model remains challenging. We introduce a novel interaction mechanism, i.e., the multi-level herding, in constructing an agent-based model to investigate the sector structure combined with volatility clustering. According to the previous market performance, agents trade in groups, and their herding behavior comprises the herding at stock, sector and market levels. Further, we propose methods to determine the key model parameters from historical market data, rather than from statistical fitting of the results. From the simulation, we obtain the sector structure and volatility clustering, as well as the eigenvalue distribution of the cross-correlation matrix, for the New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges. These properties are in agreement with the empirical ones. Our results quantitatively reveal that the multi-level herding is the microscopic generation mechanism of the sector structure, and provide new insight into the spatio-temporal interactions in financial systems at the microscopic level. PMID:25669427

Investigation of the CH3Cl + CN(-) reaction in water: Multilevel quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics study.

PubMed

Xu, Yulong; Zhang, Jingxue; Wang, Dunyou

2015-06-28

The CH3Cl + CN(-) reaction in water was studied using a multilevel quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (MM) method with the multilevels, electrostatic potential, density functional theory (DFT) and coupled-cluster single double triple (CCSD(T)), for the solute region. The detailed, back-side attack SN2 reaction mechanism was mapped along the reaction pathway. The potentials of mean force were calculated under both the DFT and CCSD(T) levels for the reaction region. The CCSD(T)/MM level of theory presents a free energy activation barrier height at 20.3 kcal/mol, which agrees very well with the experiment value at 21.6 kcal/mol. The results show that the aqueous solution has a dominant role in shaping the potential of mean force. The solvation effect and the polarization effect together increase the activation barrier height by ∼11.4 kcal/mol: the solvation effect plays a major role by providing about 75% of the contribution, while polarization effect only contributes 25% to the activation barrier height. Our calculated potential of mean force under the CCSD(T)/MM also has a good agreement with the one estimated using data from previous gas-phase studies.

Multi-Level and Multi-Scale Feature Aggregation Using Pretrained Convolutional Neural Networks for Music Auto-Tagging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Jongpil; Nam, Juhan

2017-08-01

Music auto-tagging is often handled in a similar manner to image classification by regarding the 2D audio spectrogram as image data. However, music auto-tagging is distinguished from image classification in that the tags are highly diverse and have different levels of abstractions. Considering this issue, we propose a convolutional neural networks (CNN)-based architecture that embraces multi-level and multi-scaled features. The architecture is trained in three steps. First, we conduct supervised feature learning to capture local audio features using a set of CNNs with different input sizes. Second, we extract audio features from each layer of the pre-trained convolutional networks separately and aggregate them altogether given a long audio clip. Finally, we put them into fully-connected networks and make final predictions of the tags. Our experiments show that using the combination of multi-level and multi-scale features is highly effective in music auto-tagging and the proposed method outperforms previous state-of-the-arts on the MagnaTagATune dataset and the Million Song Dataset. We further show that the proposed architecture is useful in transfer learning.

[Multilevel model analysis on the relevant factors influencing the total amount of drinking water consumed daily by Beijing residents].

PubMed

Zhao, Jinhui; Wei, Jianrong; Chen, Huajie; Liu, Yumin; Li, Tiantian; Sun, Qinghua; Liu, Qiaolan

2012-09-01

To investigate the influencing factors for daily water intake of Beijing residents. A multi-stage sampling method was constructed to interview 270 Beijing residents in the winter of 2009 and in the summer of 2010 by using a questionnaire to collect data on daily drinking water consumption. Multilevel models were used to analyze the variation and influencing factors for the amount of water intake. Multilevel model results showed that the average daily water intake of residents living in different villages or neighborhood committees was statistically significant (sigma2 mu0 = = 0.030 (0.009), P < 0.05). The individual variation in the same village or neighborhood committee was also significant (sigma2 e0 = 0.157 (0.010), P < 0.05). Season, gender, and body weight affected the daily water intake (P < 0.05). There were interaction between season and source of water supply. The average daily water intake of residents was affected by several factors. In the health risk assessment of drinking water, it needs considering not only the individual characteristics but also the differences of villages/neighborhood committees and the seasonal variation.

Diffractive optics fabricated by direct write methods with an electron beam

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kress, Bernard; Zaleta, David; Daschner, Walter; Urquhart, Kris; Stein, Robert; Lee, Sing H.

1993-01-01

State-of-the-art diffractive optics are fabricated using e-beam lithography and dry etching techniques to achieve multilevel phase elements with very high diffraction efficiencies. One of the major challenges encountered in fabricating diffractive optics is the small feature size (e.g. for diffractive lenses with small f-number). It is not only the e-beam system which dictates the feature size limitations, but also the alignment systems (mask aligner) and the materials (e-beam and photo resists). In order to allow diffractive optics to be used in new optoelectronic systems, it is necessary not only to fabricate elements with small feature sizes but also to do so in an economical fashion. Since price of a multilevel diffractive optical element is closely related to the e-beam writing time and the number of etching steps, we need to decrease the writing time and etching steps without affecting the quality of the element. To do this one has to utilize the full potentials of the e-beam writing system. In this paper, we will present three diffractive optics fabrication techniques which will reduce the number of process steps, the writing time, and the overall fabrication time for multilevel phase diffractive optics.

Investigation of the CH3Cl + CN- reaction in water: Multilevel quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Yulong; Zhang, Jingxue; Wang, Dunyou

2015-06-01

The CH3Cl + CN- reaction in water was studied using a multilevel quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (MM) method with the multilevels, electrostatic potential, density functional theory (DFT) and coupled-cluster single double triple (CCSD(T)), for the solute region. The detailed, back-side attack SN2 reaction mechanism was mapped along the reaction pathway. The potentials of mean force were calculated under both the DFT and CCSD(T) levels for the reaction region. The CCSD(T)/MM level of theory presents a free energy activation barrier height at 20.3 kcal/mol, which agrees very well with the experiment value at 21.6 kcal/mol. The results show that the aqueous solution has a dominant role in shaping the potential of mean force. The solvation effect and the polarization effect together increase the activation barrier height by ˜11.4 kcal/mol: the solvation effect plays a major role by providing about 75% of the contribution, while polarization effect only contributes 25% to the activation barrier height. Our calculated potential of mean force under the CCSD(T)/MM also has a good agreement with the one estimated using data from previous gas-phase studies.

Norman Ramsey and the Separated Oscillatory Fields Method

Science.gov Websites

methods of investigation; in particular, he contributed many refinements of the molecular beam method for the study of atomic and molecular properties, he invented the separated oscillatory field method of atomic and molecular spectroscopy and it is the practical basis for the most precise atomic clocks

An Integrated Multilevel Converter with Sigma Delta Control for LED Lighting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerber, Daniel L.

High brightness LEDs have become a mainstream lighting technology due to their efficiency, life span, and environmental benefits. As such, the lighting industry values LED drivers with low cost, small form factor, and long life span. Additional specifications that define a high quality LED driver are high efficiency, high power factor, wide-range dimming, minimal flicker, and a galvanically isolated output. The flyback LED driver is a popular topology that satisfies all these specifications, but it requires a bulky and costly flyback transformer. In addition, its passive methods for cancelling AC power ripple require electrolytic capacitors, which have been known to have life span issues. This dissertation details the design, construction, and verification of a novel LED driver that satisfies all the specifications. In addition, it does not require a flyback transformer or electrolytic capacitors, thus marking an improvement over the flyback driver on size, cost, and life span. This dissertation presents an integrated circuit (IC) LED driver, which features a pair of generalized multilevel converters that are controlled via sigma-delta modulation. The first is a multilevel rectifier responsible for power factor correction (PFC) and dimming. The PFC rectifier employs a second order sigma-delta loop to precisely control the input current harmonics and amplitude. The second is a bidirectional multilevel inverter used to cancel AC power ripple from the DC bus. This ripple-cancellation module transfers energy to and from a storage capacitor. It uses a first order sigma-delta loop with a preprogrammed waveform to swing the storage capacitor voltage. The system also contains an output stage that powers the LEDs with DC and provides for galvanic isolation. The output stage consists of an H-bridge stack that connects to the output through a small toroid transformer. The IC LED driver was simulated and prototyped on an ABCD silicon test chip. Testing and verification indicates functional performance for all the modules in the LED driver. The driver exhibits moderate efficiency at half voltage. Although the part was only testable to half voltage, loss models predict that its efficiency would be much higher at full voltage. The driver also meets specifications on the line current harmonics and ripple cancellation. This dissertation introduces multilevel circuit techniques to the IC and LED research space. The prototype's functional performance indicates that integrated multilevel converters are a viable topology for lighting and other similar applications.

Post test review of a single car test of multi-level passenger equipment

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-04-22

The single car test of multi-level equipment described in : this paper was designed to help evaluate the crashworthiness of : a multi-level car in a controlled collision. The data collected : from this test will be used to refine engineering models. ...

Multilevel Modeling of Social Segregation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leckie, George; Pillinger, Rebecca; Jones, Kelvyn; Goldstein, Harvey

2012-01-01

The traditional approach to measuring segregation is based upon descriptive, non-model-based indices. A recently proposed alternative is multilevel modeling. The authors further develop the argument for a multilevel modeling approach by first describing and expanding upon its notable advantages, which include an ability to model segregation at a…

Multilevel and Diverse Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baurain, Bradley, Ed.; Ha, Phan Le, Ed.

2010-01-01

The benefits and advantages of classroom practices incorporating unity-in-diversity and diversity-in-unity are what "Multilevel and Diverse Classrooms" is all about. Multilevel classrooms--also known as mixed-ability or heterogeneous classrooms--are a fact of life in ESOL programs around the world. These classrooms are often not only…

Scaling Support Vector Machines On Modern HPC Platforms

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

You, Yang; Fu, Haohuan; Song, Shuaiwen

2015-02-01

We designed and implemented MIC-SVM, a highly efficient parallel SVM for x86 based multicore and many-core architectures, such as the Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs and Intel Xeon Phi co-processor (MIC). We propose various novel analysis methods and optimization techniques to fully utilize the multilevel parallelism provided by these architectures and serve as general optimization methods for other machine learning tools.

The learner’s perspective in GP teaching practices with multi-level learners: a qualitative study

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Medical students, junior hospital doctors on rotation and general practice (GP) registrars are undertaking their training in clinical general practices in increasing numbers in Australia. Some practices have four levels of learner. This study aimed to explore how multi-level teaching (also called vertical integration of GP education and training) is occurring in clinical general practice and the impact of such teaching on the learner. Methods A qualitative research methodology was used with face-to-face, semi-structured interviews of medical students, junior hospital doctors, GP registrars and GP teachers in eight training practices in the region that taught all levels of learners. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Qualitative analysis was conducted using thematic analysis techniques aided by the use of the software package N-Vivo 9. Primary themes were identified and categorised by the co-investigators. Results 52 interviews were completed and analysed. Themes were identified relating to both the practice learning environment and teaching methods used. A practice environment where there is a strong teaching culture, enjoyment of learning, and flexible learning methods, as well as learning spaces and organised teaching arrangements, all contribute to positive learning from a learners’ perspective. Learners identified a number of innovative teaching methods and viewed them as positive. These included multi-level learner group tutorials in the practice, being taught by a team of teachers, including GP registrars and other health professionals, and access to a supernumerary GP supervisor (also termed “GP consultant teacher”). Other teaching methods that were viewed positively were parallel consulting, informal learning and rural hospital context integrated learning. Conclusions Vertical integration of GP education and training generally impacted positively on all levels of learner. This research has provided further evidence about the learning culture, structures and teaching processes that have a positive impact on learners in the clinical general practice setting where there are multiple levels of learners. It has also identified some innovative teaching methods that will need further examination. The findings reinforce the importance of the environment for learning and learner centred approaches and will be important for training organisations developing vertically integrated practices and in their training of GP teachers. PMID:24645670

Multilevel Effects of Wealth on Women's Contraceptive Use in Mozambique

PubMed Central

Dias, José G.; de Oliveira, Isabel Tiago

2015-01-01

Objective This paper analyzes the impact of wealth on the use of contraception in Mozambique unmixing the contextual effects due to community wealth from the individual effects associated with the women's situation within the community of residence. Methods Data from the 2011 Mozambican Demographic and Health Survey on women who are married or living together are analyzed for the entire country and also for the rural and urban areas separately. We used single level and multilevel probit regression models. Findings A single level probit regression reveals that region, religion, age, previous fertility, education, and wealth impact contraceptive behavior. The multilevel analysis shows that average community wealth and the women’s relative socioeconomic position within the community have significant positive effects on the use of modern contraceptives. The multilevel framework proved to be necessary in rural settings but not relevant in urban areas. Moreover, the contextual effects due to community wealth are greater in rural than in urban areas and this feature is associated with the higher socioeconomic heterogeneity within the richest communities. Conclusion This analysis highlights the need for the studies on contraceptive behavior to specifically address the individual and contextual effects arising from the poverty-wealth dimension in rural and urban areas separately. The inclusion in a particular community of residence is not relevant in urban areas, but it is an important feature in rural areas. Although the women's individual position within the community of residence has a similar effect on contraceptive adoption in rural and urban settings, the impact of community wealth is greater in rural areas and smaller in urban areas. PMID:25786228

A Filtering Method to Reveal Crystalline Patterns from Atom Probe Microscopy Desorption Maps

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-26

Gault, S.P. Ringer, J.M. Cairney, Atom probe crystallography : characterization of grain boundary orientation relationships in nanocrystalline...J.M. Cairney, Atom probe crystallography : atomic- scale 3-D orientation mapping, Scr. Mater. 66 (11) (2012) 907. L. Yao /MethodsX 3 (2016) 268–273 273

A Method for Finding Metabolic Pathways Using Atomic Group Tracking.

PubMed

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

2017-01-01

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

A Method for Finding Metabolic Pathways Using Atomic Group Tracking

PubMed Central

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

2017-01-01

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

Multilevel Higher-Order Item Response Theory Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Hung-Yu; Wang, Wen-Chung

2014-01-01

In the social sciences, latent traits often have a hierarchical structure, and data can be sampled from multiple levels. Both hierarchical latent traits and multilevel data can occur simultaneously. In this study, we developed a general class of item response theory models to accommodate both hierarchical latent traits and multilevel data. The…

Translating the Social-Ecological Perspective into Multilevel Interventions for Family Planning: How Far Are We?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schölmerich, Vera L. N.; Kawachi, Ichiro

2016-01-01

Scholars and practitioners frequently make recommendations to develop family planning interventions that are "multilevel." Such interventions take explicit account of the role of environments by incorporating multilevel or social-ecological frameworks into their design and implementation. However, research on how interventions have…

Multilevel Modeling: A Review of Methodological Issues and Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dedrick, Robert F.; Ferron, John M.; Hess, Melinda R.; Hogarty, Kristine Y.; Kromrey, Jeffrey D.; Lang, Thomas R.; Niles, John D.; Lee, Reginald S.

2009-01-01

This study analyzed the reporting of multilevel modeling applications of a sample of 99 articles from 13 peer-reviewed journals in education and the social sciences. A checklist, derived from the methodological literature on multilevel modeling and focusing on the issues of model development and specification, data considerations, estimation, and…

Building Path Diagrams for Multilevel Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curran, Patrick J.; Bauer, Daniel J.

2007-01-01

Multilevel models have come to play an increasingly important role in many areas of social science research. However, in contrast to other modeling strategies, there is currently no widely used approach for graphically diagramming multilevel models. Ideally, such diagrams would serve two functions: to provide a formal structure for deriving the…

Quantification of mold contamination in multi-level buildings using the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index

EPA Science Inventory

The goal of this study was to evaluate the possible use of the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI) to quantify mold contamination in multi-level, office buildings. Settled-dust samples were collected in multi-level, office buildings and the ERMI value for each sample de...

Teaching Multilevel Adult ESL Classes. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shank, Cathy C.; Terrill, Lynda R.

Teachers in multilevel adult English-as-a-Second-Language classes are challenged to use a variety of materials, activities, and techniques to engage the interest of the learners and assist them in their educational goals. This digest recommends ways to choose and organize content for multilevel classes, explains grouping strategies, discusses a…

Sample Size Limits for Estimating Upper Level Mediation Models Using Multilevel SEM

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Xin; Beretvas, S. Natasha

2013-01-01

This simulation study investigated use of the multilevel structural equation model (MLSEM) for handling measurement error in both mediator and outcome variables ("M" and "Y") in an upper level multilevel mediation model. Mediation and outcome variable indicators were generated with measurement error. Parameter and standard…

Conducting Multilevel Analyses in Medical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zyphur, Michael J.; Kaplan, Seth A.; Islam, Gazi; Barsky, Adam P.; Franklin, Michael S.

2008-01-01

A significant body of education literature has begun using multilevel statistical models to examine data that reside at multiple levels of analysis. In order to provide a primer for medical education researchers, the current work gives a brief overview of some issues associated with multilevel statistical modeling. To provide an example of this…

Design and Implementation of 13 Levels Multilevel Inverter for Photovoltaic System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subramani, C.; Dhineshkumar, K.; Palanivel, P.

2018-04-01

This paper approaches the appearing and modernization of S-Type PV based 13- level multilevel inverter with less quantity of switch. The current S-Type Multi level inverter contains more number of switches and voltage sources. Multilevel level inverter is a be understandable among the most gainful power converters for high power application and present day applications with reduced switches. The fundamental good arrangement of the 13-level multilevel inverter is to get ventured voltage from a couple of levels of DC voltages.. The controller gives actual way day and age to switches through driver circuit using PWM methodology. The execution assessment of proposed multilevel inverter is checked using MATLAB/Simulink. This is the outstanding among other techniquem appeared differently in relation to all other existing system

Method for generating maximally entangled states of multiple three-level atoms in cavity QED

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

Jin Guangsheng; Li Shushen; Feng Songlin

2004-03-01

We propose a scheme to generate maximally entangled states (MESs) of multiple three-level atoms in microwave cavity QED based on the resonant atom-cavity interaction. In the scheme, multiple three-level atoms initially in their ground states are sequently sent through two suitably prepared cavities. After a process of appropriate atom-cavity interaction, a subsequent measurement on the second cavity field projects the atoms onto the MESs. The practical feasibility of this method is also discussed.

Methods of producing armor systems, and armor systems produced using such methods

DOEpatents

Chu, Henry S; Lillo, Thomas M; McHugh, Kevin M

2013-02-19

An armor system and method involves providing a core material and a stream of atomized coating material that comprises a liquid fraction and a solid fraction. An initial layer is deposited on the core material by positioning the core material in the stream of atomized coating material wherein the solid fraction of the stream of atomized coating material is less than the liquid fraction of the stream of atomized coating material on a weight basis. An outer layer is then deposited on the initial layer by positioning the core material in the stream of atomized coating material wherein the solid fraction of the stream of atomized coating material is greater than the liquid fraction of the stream of atomized coating material on a weight basis.

Method of making polymer powders and whiskers as well as particulate products of the method and atomizing apparatus

DOEpatents

Otaigbe, Joshua U.; McAvoy, Jon M.; Anderson, Iver E.; Ting, Jason; Mi, Jia; Terpstra, Robert

2001-01-09

Method for making polymer particulates, such as spherical powder and whiskers, by melting a polymer material under conditions to avoid thermal degradation of the polymer material, atomizing the melt using gas jet means in a manner to form atomized droplets, and cooling the droplets to form polymer particulates, which are collected for further processing. Atomization parameters can be controlled to produce polymer particulates with controlled particle shape, particle size, and particle size distribution. For example, atomization parameters can be controlled to produce spherical polymer powders, polymer whiskers, and combinations of spherical powders and whiskers. Atomizing apparatus also is provided for atoomizing polymer and metallic materials.

Atomic charges of sulfur in ionic liquids: experiments and calculations.

PubMed

Fogarty, Richard M; Rowe, Rebecca; Matthews, Richard P; Clough, Matthew T; Ashworth, Claire R; Brandt, Agnieszka; Corbett, Paul J; Palgrave, Robert G; Smith, Emily F; Bourne, Richard A; Chamberlain, Thomas W; Thompson, Paul B J; Hunt, Patricia A; Lovelock, Kevin R J

2017-12-14

Experimental near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra, X-ray photoelectron (XP) spectra and Auger electron spectra are reported for sulfur in ionic liquids (ILs) with a range of chemical structures. These values provide experimental measures of the atomic charge in each IL and enable the evaluation of the suitability of NEXAFS spectroscopy and XPS for probing the relative atomic charge of sulfur. In addition, we use Auger electron spectroscopy to show that when XPS binding energies differ by less than 0.5 eV, conclusions on atomic charge should be treated with caution. Our experimental data provides a benchmark for calculations of the atomic charge of sulfur obtained using different methods. Atomic charges were computed for lone ions and ion pairs, both in the gas phase (GP) and in a solvation model (SMD), with a wide range of ion pair conformers considered. Three methods were used to compute the atomic charges: charges from the electrostatic potential using a grid based method (ChelpG), natural bond orbital (NBO) population analysis and Bader's atoms in molecules (AIM) approach. By comparing the experimental and calculated measures of the atomic charge of sulfur, we provide an order for the sulfur atoms, ranging from the most negative to the most positive atomic charge. Furthermore, we show that both ChelpG and NBO are reasonable methods for calculating the atomic charge of sulfur in ILs, based on the agreement with both the XPS and NEXAFS spectroscopy results. However, the atomic charges of sulfur derived from ChelpG are found to display significant, non-physical conformational dependence. Only small differences in individual atomic charge of sulfur were observed between lone ion (GP) and ion pair IL(SMD) model systems, indicating that ion-ion interactions do not strongly influence individual atomic charges.

General method of solving the Schroedinger equation of atoms and molecules

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

Nakatsuji, Hiroshi

2005-12-15

We propose a general method of solving the Schroedinger equation of atoms and molecules. We first construct the wave function having the exact structure, using the ICI (iterative configuration or complement interaction) method and then optimize the variables involved by the variational principle. Based on the scaled Schroedinger equation and related principles, we can avoid the singularity problem of atoms and molecules and formulate a general method of calculating the exact wave functions in an analytical expansion form. We choose initial function {psi}{sub 0} and scaling g function, and then the ICI method automatically generates the wave function that hasmore » the exact structure by using the Hamiltonian of the system. The Hamiltonian contains all the information of the system. The free ICI method provides a flexible and variationally favorable procedure of constructing the exact wave function. We explain the computational procedure of the analytical ICI method routinely performed in our laboratory. Simple examples are given using hydrogen atom for the nuclear singularity case, the Hooke's atom for the electron singularity case, and the helium atom for both cases.« less

Hybrid statistics-simulations based method for atom-counting from ADF STEM images.

PubMed

De Wael, Annelies; De Backer, Annick; Jones, Lewys; Nellist, Peter D; Van Aert, Sandra

2017-06-01

A hybrid statistics-simulations based method for atom-counting from annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (ADF STEM) images of monotype crystalline nanostructures is presented. Different atom-counting methods already exist for model-like systems. However, the increasing relevance of radiation damage in the study of nanostructures demands a method that allows atom-counting from low dose images with a low signal-to-noise ratio. Therefore, the hybrid method directly includes prior knowledge from image simulations into the existing statistics-based method for atom-counting, and accounts in this manner for possible discrepancies between actual and simulated experimental conditions. It is shown by means of simulations and experiments that this hybrid method outperforms the statistics-based method, especially for low electron doses and small nanoparticles. The analysis of a simulated low dose image of a small nanoparticle suggests that this method allows for far more reliable quantitative analysis of beam-sensitive materials. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multi-level adaptive finite element methods. 1: Variation problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brandt, A.

1979-01-01

A general numerical strategy for solving partial differential equations and other functional problems by cycling between coarser and finer levels of discretization is described. Optimal discretization schemes are provided together with very fast general solvers. It is described in terms of finite element discretizations of general nonlinear minimization problems. The basic processes (relaxation sweeps, fine-grid-to-coarse-grid transfers of residuals, coarse-to-fine interpolations of corrections) are directly and naturally determined by the objective functional and the sequence of approximation spaces. The natural processes, however, are not always optimal. Concrete examples are given and some new techniques are reviewed. Including the local truncation extrapolation and a multilevel procedure for inexpensively solving chains of many boundary value problems, such as those arising in the solution of time-dependent problems.

Multilevel Effects in a Driven Generalized Rabi Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pietikäinen, I.; Danilin, S.; Kumar, K. S.; Tuorila, J.; Paraoanu, G. S.

2018-01-01

We study numerically the onset of higher-level excitations and resonance frequency shifts in the generalized multilevel Rabi model with dispersive coupling under strong driving. The response to a weak probe is calculated using the Floquet method, which allows us to calculate the probe spectrum and extract the resonance frequency. We test our predictions using a superconducting circuit consisting of a transmon coupled capacitively to a coplanar waveguide resonator. This system is monitored by a weak probe field and at the same time driven at various powers by a stronger microwave tone. We show that the transition from the quantum to the classical regime is accompanied by a rapid increase of the transmon occupation and consequently that the qubit approximation is valid only in the extreme quantum limit.

Improving multilevel Monte Carlo for stochastic differential equations with application to the Langevin equation

PubMed Central

Müller, Eike H.; Scheichl, Rob; Shardlow, Tony

2015-01-01

This paper applies several well-known tricks from the numerical treatment of deterministic differential equations to improve the efficiency of the multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method for stochastic differential equations (SDEs) and especially the Langevin equation. We use modified equations analysis as an alternative to strong-approximation theory for the integrator, and we apply this to introduce MLMC for Langevin-type equations with integrators based on operator splitting. We combine this with extrapolation and investigate the use of discrete random variables in place of the Gaussian increments, which is a well-known technique for the weak approximation of SDEs. We show that, for small-noise problems, discrete random variables can lead to an increase in efficiency of almost two orders of magnitude for practical levels of accuracy. PMID:27547075

Multilevel Effects in a Driven Generalized Rabi Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pietikäinen, I.; Danilin, S.; Kumar, K. S.; Tuorila, J.; Paraoanu, G. S.

2018-06-01

We study numerically the onset of higher-level excitations and resonance frequency shifts in the generalized multilevel Rabi model with dispersive coupling under strong driving. The response to a weak probe is calculated using the Floquet method, which allows us to calculate the probe spectrum and extract the resonance frequency. We test our predictions using a superconducting circuit consisting of a transmon coupled capacitively to a coplanar waveguide resonator. This system is monitored by a weak probe field and at the same time driven at various powers by a stronger microwave tone. We show that the transition from the quantum to the classical regime is accompanied by a rapid increase of the transmon occupation and consequently that the qubit approximation is valid only in the extreme quantum limit.

Least reliable bits coding (LRBC) for high data rate satellite communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanderaar, Mark; Budinger, James; Wagner, Paul

1992-01-01

LRBC, a bandwidth efficient multilevel/multistage block-coded modulation technique, is analyzed. LRBC uses simple multilevel component codes that provide increased error protection on increasingly unreliable modulated bits in order to maintain an overall high code rate that increases spectral efficiency. Soft-decision multistage decoding is used to make decisions on unprotected bits through corrections made on more protected bits. Analytical expressions and tight performance bounds are used to show that LRBC can achieve increased spectral efficiency and maintain equivalent or better power efficiency compared to that of BPSK. The relative simplicity of Galois field algebra vs the Viterbi algorithm and the availability of high-speed commercial VLSI for block codes indicates that LRBC using block codes is a desirable method for high data rate implementations.

Improving multilevel Monte Carlo for stochastic differential equations with application to the Langevin equation.

PubMed

Müller, Eike H; Scheichl, Rob; Shardlow, Tony

2015-04-08

This paper applies several well-known tricks from the numerical treatment of deterministic differential equations to improve the efficiency of the multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method for stochastic differential equations (SDEs) and especially the Langevin equation. We use modified equations analysis as an alternative to strong-approximation theory for the integrator, and we apply this to introduce MLMC for Langevin-type equations with integrators based on operator splitting. We combine this with extrapolation and investigate the use of discrete random variables in place of the Gaussian increments, which is a well-known technique for the weak approximation of SDEs. We show that, for small-noise problems, discrete random variables can lead to an increase in efficiency of almost two orders of magnitude for practical levels of accuracy.

Magneto-optical cooling of atoms.

PubMed

Raizen, Mark G; Budker, Dmitry; Rochester, Simon M; Narevicius, Julia; Narevicius, Edvardas

2014-08-01

We propose an alternative method to laser cooling. Our approach utilizes the extreme brightness of a supersonic atomic beam, and the adiabatic atomic coilgun to slow atoms in the beam or to bring them to rest. We show how internal-state optical pumping and stimulated optical transitions, combined with magnetic forces, can be used to cool the translational motion of atoms. This approach does not rely on momentum transfer from photons to atoms, as in laser cooling. We predict that our method can surpass laser cooling in terms of flux of ultracold atoms and phase-space density, with lower required laser power.

Atto-Joule, high-speed, low-loss plasmonic modulator based on adiabatic coupled waveguides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalir, Hamed; Mokhtari-Koushyar, Farzad; Zand, Iman; Heidari, Elham; Xu, Xiaochuan; Pan, Zeyu; Sun, Shuai; Amin, Rubab; Sorger, Volker J.; Chen, Ray T.

2018-05-01

In atomic multi-level systems, adiabatic elimination (AE) is a method used to minimize complicity of the system by eliminating irrelevant and strongly coupled levels by detuning them from one another. Such a three-level system, for instance, can be mapped onto physically in the form of a three-waveguide system. Actively detuning the coupling strength between the respective waveguide modes allows modulating light to propagate through the device, as proposed here. The outer waveguides act as an effective two-photonic-mode system similar to ground and excited states of a three-level atomic system, while the center waveguide is partially plasmonic. In AE regime, the amplitude of the middle waveguide oscillates much faster when compared to the outer waveguides leading to a vanishing field build up. As a result, the plasmonic intermediate waveguide becomes a "dark state," hence nearly zero decibel insertion loss is expected with modulation depth (extinction ratio) exceeding 25 dB. Here, the modulation mechanism relies on switching this waveguide system from a critical coupling regime to AE condition via electrostatically tuning the free-carrier concentration and hence the optical index of a thin indium thin oxide (ITO) layer resides in the plasmonic center waveguide. This alters the effective coupling length and the phase mismatching condition thus modulating in each of its outer waveguides. Our results also promise a power consumption as low as 49.74aJ/bit. Besides, we expected a modulation speed of 160 GHz reaching to millimeter wave range applications. Such anticipated performance is a direct result of both the unity-strong tunability of the plasmonic optical mode in conjunction with utilizing ultra-sensitive modal coupling between the critically coupled and the AE regimes. When taken together, this new class of modulators paves the way for next generation both for energy and speed conscience optical short-reach communication such as those found in interconnects.

Impulse voltage control of continuously tunable bipolar resistive switching in Pt/Bi0.9Eu0.1FeO3/Nb-doped SrTiO3 heterostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Maocai; Liu, Meifeng; Wang, Xiuzhang; Li, Meiya; Zhu, Yongdan; Zhao, Meng; Zhang, Feng; Xie, Shuai; Hu, Zhongqiang; Liu, Jun-Ming

2017-03-01

Epitaxial Bi0.9Eu0.1FeO3 (BEFO) thin films are deposited on Nb-doped SrTiO3 (NSTO) substrates by pulsed laser deposition to fabricate the Pt/BEFO/NSTO (001) heterostructures. These heterostructures possess bipolar resistive switching, where the resistances versus writing voltage exhibits a distinct hysteresis loop and a memristive behavior with good retention and anti-fatigue characteristics. The local resistive switching is confirmed by the conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM), suggesting the possibility to scale down the memory cell size. The observed memristive behavior could be attributed to the ferroelectric polarization effect, which modulates the height of potential barrier and width of depletion region at the BEFO/NSTO interface. The continuously tunable resistive switching behavior could be useful to achieve non-volatile, high-density, multilevel random access memory with low energy consumption.

Integrable time-dependent Hamiltonians, solvable Landau-Zener models and Gaudin magnets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuzbashyan, Emil A.

2018-05-01

We solve the non-stationary Schrödinger equation for several time-dependent Hamiltonians, such as the BCS Hamiltonian with an interaction strength inversely proportional to time, periodically driven BCS and linearly driven inhomogeneous Dicke models as well as various multi-level Landau-Zener tunneling models. The latter are Demkov-Osherov, bow-tie, and generalized bow-tie models. We show that these Landau-Zener problems and their certain interacting many-body generalizations map to Gaudin magnets in a magnetic field. Moreover, we demonstrate that the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for the above models has a similar structure and is integrable with a similar technique as Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations. We also discuss applications of our results to the problem of molecular production in an atomic Fermi gas swept through a Feshbach resonance and to the evaluation of the Landau-Zener transition probabilities.

Importance of Cross-redistribution in Scattering Polarization of Spectral Lines: The Cases of {sup 3}P−{sup 3}S Triplets of Mg i and Ca i

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

Sampoorna, M.; Nagendra, K. N., E-mail: sampoorna@iiap.res.in, E-mail: knn@iiap.res.in

Scattering on a multi-level atomic system has dominant contributions from resonance and Raman scattering. While initial and final levels are the same for resonance scattering, they are different for Raman scattering. The frequency redistribution for resonance scattering is described by the usual partial frequency redistribution functions of Hummer, while that for Raman scattering is described by cross-redistribution (XRD) function. In the present paper, we investigate the importance of XRD on linear polarization profiles of {sup 3}P−{sup 3}S triplets of Mg i and Ca i formed in an isothermal one-dimensional atmosphere. We show that XRD produces significant effects on the linearmore » polarization profiles when the wavelength separations between the line components of the multiplet are small, like in the cases of Mg i b and Ca i triplets.« less

Detailed non-LTE calculations of the iron emission from NGC 1068

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Band, David L.; Klein, Richard I.; Castor, John I.; Nash, J. K.

1989-01-01

The X-ray iron line emission from NGC 1068 observed by the Ginga satellite is modeled using the new multiline, multilevel, non-LTE radiative transport code ALTAIR and a detailed atomic model for Ne-like through stripped iron. The parameter space of the obscured type 1 Seyfert nucleus model for this object is studied. The equivalent width is greater than previously predicted. It is found that detailed radiative transfer can have a significant effect on the observed line flux both for the K alpha line and for the L-shell emission. The ionization of the iron increases with temperature. Therefore the K alpha equivalent width and energy is a function not only of the ionization parameter, but also of the column depth and temperature. For a likely model of NGC 1068 it is found that the iron abundance is about twice solar, but that modifications of this model may permit a smaller abundance.

Effects of Teacher-Student Relationships on Peer Harassment: A Multilevel Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lucas-Molina, Beatriz; Williamson, Ariel A.; Pulido, Rosa; Pérez-Albéniz, Alicia

2015-01-01

Peer harassment is a major social problem affecting children and adolescents internationally. Much research has focused on student-to-student harassment from either an individual or a multilevel perspective. There is a paucity of multilevel research on students' relationships with the classroom teacher. The purpose of this study was to use a…

Coping with Multi-Level Classes Effectively and Creatively.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strasheim, Lorraine A.

This paper includes a discussion of the problem of multilevel Latin classes, a description of various techniques and perspectives the teacher might use in dealing with these classes, and copies of materials and exercises that have proved useful in multilevel classes. Because the reasons for the existence of such classes are varied, it is suggested…

Multilevel Evaluation Alignment: An Explication of a Four-Step Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Huilan; Shen, Jianping; Cao, Honggao; Warfield, Charles

2004-01-01

Using the evaluation work on the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Unleashing Resources Initiative as an example, in this article we explicate a general four-step model appropriate for multilevel evaluation alignment. We review the relevant literature, argue for the need for evaluation alignment in a multilevel context, explain the four-step model,…

Alternatives to Multilevel Modeling for the Analysis of Clustered Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Francis L.

2016-01-01

Multilevel modeling has grown in use over the years as a way to deal with the nonindependent nature of observations found in clustered data. However, other alternatives to multilevel modeling are available that can account for observations nested within clusters, including the use of Taylor series linearization for variance estimation, the design…

Toward A Multilevel Theory of Career Development: Advancing Human Resource Development Theory Building

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Upton, Matthew G.; Egan, Toby Marshall

2007-01-01

The established limitations of career development (CD) theory and human resource development (HRD) theory building are addressed by expanding the framing of these issues to multilevel contexts. Multilevel theory building is an approach most effectively aligned with HRD literature and CD and HRD practice realities. An innovative approach multilevel…

Multilevel Motivation and Engagement: Assessing Construct Validity across Students and Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Andrew J.; Malmberg, Lars-Erik; Liem, Gregory Arief D.

2010-01-01

Statistical biases associated with single-level analyses underscore the importance of partitioning variance/covariance matrices into individual and group levels. From a multilevel perspective based on data from 21,579 students in 58 high schools, the present study assesses the multilevel factor structure of motivation and engagement with a…

The Consequences of Ignoring Individuals' Mobility in Multilevel Growth Models: A Monte Carlo Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luo, Wen; Kwok, Oi-man

2012-01-01

In longitudinal multilevel studies, especially in educational settings, it is fairly common that participants change their group memberships over time (e.g., students switch to different schools). Participant's mobility changes the multilevel data structure from a purely hierarchical structure with repeated measures nested within individuals and…

Application of Hierarchical Linear Models/Linear Mixed-Effects Models in School Effectiveness Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ker, H. W.

2014-01-01

Multilevel data are very common in educational research. Hierarchical linear models/linear mixed-effects models (HLMs/LMEs) are often utilized to analyze multilevel data nowadays. This paper discusses the problems of utilizing ordinary regressions for modeling multilevel educational data, compare the data analytic results from three regression…

The Effects of Autonomy and Empowerment on Employee Turnover: Test of a Multilevel Model in Teams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Dong; Zhang, Shu; Wang, Lei; Lee, Thomas W.

2011-01-01

Extending research on voluntary turnover in the team setting, this study adopts a multilevel self-determination theoretical approach to examine the unique roles of individual and social-contextual motivational precursors, autonomy orientation and autonomy support, in reducing team member voluntary turnover. Analysis of multilevel time-lagged data…

Multilevel Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness in Indian Technical Education: The Mediating Role of Communication, Power and Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gochhayat, Jyotiranjan; Giri, Vijai N.; Suar, Damodar

2017-01-01

This study provides a new conceptualization of educational leadership with a multilevel and integrative approach. It examines the impact of multilevel leadership (MLL) on the effectiveness of technical educational institutes through the mediating effects of organizational communication, bases of power and organizational culture. Data were…

Multilevel corporate environmental responsibility.

PubMed

Karassin, Orr; Bar-Haim, Aviad

2016-12-01

The multilevel empirical study of the antecedents of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been identified as "the first knowledge gap" in CSR research. Based on an extensive literature review, the present study outlines a conceptual multilevel model of CSR, then designs and empirically validates an operational multilevel model of the principal driving factors affecting corporate environmental responsibility (CER), as a measure of CSR. Both conceptual and operational models incorporate three levels of analysis: institutional, organizational, and individual. The multilevel nature of the design allows for the assessment of the relative importance of the levels and of their components in the achievement of CER. Unweighted least squares (ULS) regression analysis reveals that the institutional-level variables have medium relationships with CER, some variables having a negative effect. The organizational level is revealed as having strong and positive significant relationships with CER, with organizational culture and managers' attitudes and behaviors as significant driving forces. The study demonstrates the importance of multilevel analysis in improving the understanding of CSR drivers, relative to single level models, even if the significance of specific drivers and levels may vary by context. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multilevel processes and cultural adaptation: Examples from past and present small-scale societies.

PubMed

Reyes-García, V; Balbo, A L; Gomez-Baggethun, E; Gueze, M; Mesoudi, A; Richerson, P; Rubio-Campillo, X; Ruiz-Mallén, I; Shennan, S

2016-12-01

Cultural adaptation has become central in the context of accelerated global change with authors increasingly acknowledging the importance of understanding multilevel processes that operate as adaptation takes place. We explore the importance of multilevel processes in explaining cultural adaptation by describing how processes leading to cultural (mis)adaptation are linked through a complex nested hierarchy, where the lower levels combine into new units with new organizations, functions, and emergent properties or collective behaviours. After a brief review of the concept of "cultural adaptation" from the perspective of cultural evolutionary theory and resilience theory, the core of the paper is constructed around the exploration of multilevel processes occurring at the temporal, spatial, social and political scales. We do so by examining small-scale societies' case studies. In each section, we discuss the importance of the selected scale for understanding cultural adaptation and then present an example that illustrates how multilevel processes in the selected scale help explain observed patterns in the cultural adaptive process. We end the paper discussing the potential of modelling and computer simulation for studying multilevel processes in cultural adaptation.

Multilevel processes and cultural adaptation: Examples from past and present small-scale societies

PubMed Central

Reyes-García, V.; Balbo, A. L.; Gomez-Baggethun, E.; Gueze, M.; Mesoudi, A.; Richerson, P.; Rubio-Campillo, X.; Ruiz-Mallén, I.; Shennan, S.

2016-01-01

Cultural adaptation has become central in the context of accelerated global change with authors increasingly acknowledging the importance of understanding multilevel processes that operate as adaptation takes place. We explore the importance of multilevel processes in explaining cultural adaptation by describing how processes leading to cultural (mis)adaptation are linked through a complex nested hierarchy, where the lower levels combine into new units with new organizations, functions, and emergent properties or collective behaviours. After a brief review of the concept of “cultural adaptation” from the perspective of cultural evolutionary theory and resilience theory, the core of the paper is constructed around the exploration of multilevel processes occurring at the temporal, spatial, social and political scales. We do so by examining small-scale societies’ case studies. In each section, we discuss the importance of the selected scale for understanding cultural adaptation and then present an example that illustrates how multilevel processes in the selected scale help explain observed patterns in the cultural adaptive process. We end the paper discussing the potential of modelling and computer simulation for studying multilevel processes in cultural adaptation. PMID:27774109

Studying Individual Differences in Predictability with Gamma Regression and Nonlinear Multilevel Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Culpepper, Steven Andrew

2010-01-01

Statistical prediction remains an important tool for decisions in a variety of disciplines. An equally important issue is identifying factors that contribute to more or less accurate predictions. The time series literature includes well developed methods for studying predictability and volatility over time. This article develops…

High density circuit technology, part 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wade, T. E.

1982-01-01

A multilevel metal interconnection system for very large scale integration (VLSI) systems utilizing polyimides as the interlayer dielectric material is described. A complete characterization of polyimide materials is given as well as experimental methods accomplished using a double level metal test pattern. A low temperature, double exposure polyimide patterning procedure is also presented.

Rationale, design, and methods for process evaluation in the Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration project

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The cross-site process evaluation plan for the Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration (CORD) project is described here. The CORD project comprises 3 unique demonstration projects designed to integrate multi-level, multi-setting health care and public health interventions over a 4-year funding peri...

Disparities in Overweight and Obesity among US College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Toben F.; Gortmaker, Steven L.; Subramanian, S. V.; Cheung, Lilian; Wechsler, Henry

2007-01-01

Objectives: To examine social disparities and behavioral correlates of overweight and obesity over time among college students. Methods: Multilevel analyses of BMI, physical activity, and television viewing from 2 representative surveys of US college students (n=24,613). Results: Overweight and obesity increased over time and were higher among…

Longitudinal Associations across Prematurity, Attention, and Language in School-Age Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahurin-Smith, Jamie; DeThorne, Laura S.; Petrill, Stephen A.

2017-01-01

Purpose: This research note explores the potential role of attention in mediating previously reported associations between language outcomes and prematurity. Method: As a follow-up investigation to Mahurin Smith, DeThorne, Logan, Channell, and Petrill (2014), we employed multilevel modeling to analyze longitudinal data on language and attention…

Assessing Readiness for Online Education--Research Models for Identifying Students at Risk

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wladis, Claire; Conway, Katherine M.; Hachey, Alyse C.

2016-01-01

This study explored the interaction between student characteristics and the online environment in predicting course performance and subsequent college persistence among students in a large urban U.S. university system. Multilevel modeling, propensity score matching, and the KHB decomposition method were used. The most consistent pattern observed…

Student Perceptions of Classroom Achievement Goal Structure: Is It Appropriate to Aggregate?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lam, Arena C.; Ruzek, Erik A.; Schenke, Katerina; Conley, AnneMarie M.; Karabenick, Stuart A.

2015-01-01

Student reports are a common approach to characterizing how students experience their classrooms. We used a recently developed method--multilevel confirmatory factor analysis--to determine whether commonly employed measures of achievement goal structure constructs (mastery and performance) typically verified at the student level can be verified at…

The Structure of Women's Employment in Comparative Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pettit, Becky; Hook, Jennifer Lynn

2005-01-01

In this paper we analyze social survey data from 19 countries using multi-level modeling methods in an effort to synthesize structural and institutional accounts for variation in women's employment. Observed demographic characteristics show much consistency in their relationship to women's employment across countries, yet there is significant…

A Noncentral "t" Regression Model for Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camilli, Gregory; de la Torre, Jimmy; Chiu, Chia-Yi

2010-01-01

In this article, three multilevel models for meta-analysis are examined. Hedges and Olkin suggested that effect sizes follow a noncentral "t" distribution and proposed several approximate methods. Raudenbush and Bryk further refined this model; however, this procedure is based on a normal approximation. In the current research literature, this…

School Health Promotion Policies and Adolescent Risk Behaviors in Israel: A Multilevel Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tesler, Riki; Harel-Fisch, Yossi; Baron-Epel, Orna

2016-01-01

Background: Health promotion policies targeting risk-taking behaviors are being implemented across schools in Israel. This study identified the most effective components of these policies influencing cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption among adolescents. Methods: Logistic hierarchical linear model (HLM) analysis of data for 5279 students in…

Multilevel Concatenated Block Modulation Codes for the Frequency Non-selective Rayleigh Fading Channel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Shu; Rhee, Dojun

1996-01-01

This paper is concerned with construction of multilevel concatenated block modulation codes using a multi-level concatenation scheme for the frequency non-selective Rayleigh fading channel. In the construction of multilevel concatenated modulation code, block modulation codes are used as the inner codes. Various types of codes (block or convolutional, binary or nonbinary) are being considered as the outer codes. In particular, we focus on the special case for which Reed-Solomon (RS) codes are used as the outer codes. For this special case, a systematic algebraic technique for constructing q-level concatenated block modulation codes is proposed. Codes have been constructed for certain specific values of q and compared with the single-level concatenated block modulation codes using the same inner codes. A multilevel closest coset decoding scheme for these codes is proposed.