Sample records for obtained show good

  1. Collagen-Immobilized Lipases Show Good Activity and Reusability for Butyl Butyrate Synthesis.

    PubMed

    Dewei, Song; Min, Chen; Haiming, Cheng

    2016-11-01

    Candida rugosa lipases were immobilized onto collagen fibers through glutaraldehyde cross-linking method. The immobilization process has been optimized. Under the optimal immobilization conditions, the activity of the collagen-immobilized lipase reached 340 U/g. The activity was recovered of 28.3 % by immobilization. The operational stability of the obtained collagen-immobilized lipase for hydrolysis of olive oil emulsion was determined. The collagen-immobilized lipase showed good tolerance to temperature and pH variations in comparison to free lipase. The collagen-immobilized lipase was also applied as biocatalyst for synthesis of butyl butyrate from butyric acid and 1-butanol in n-hexane. The conversion yield was 94 % at the optimal conditions. Of its initial activity, 64 % was retained after 5 cycles for synthesizing butyl butyrate in n-hexane.

  2. Can You Show You Are a Good Lecturer?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wood, Leigh N.; Harding, Ansie

    2007-01-01

    Measurement of the quality of teaching activities is becoming increasingly important since universities are rewarding performance in terms of promotion, awards and bonuses and research is no longer the only key performance indicator. Good teaching is not easy to identify and measure. This paper specifically deals with the issue of good teaching in…

  3. Analysis of quantitative data obtained from toxicity studies showing non-normal distribution.

    PubMed

    Kobayashi, Katsumi

    2005-05-01

    The data obtained from toxicity studies are examined for homogeneity of variance, but, usually, they are not examined for normal distribution. In this study I examined the measured items of a carcinogenicity/chronic toxicity study with rats for both homogeneity of variance and normal distribution. It was observed that a lot of hematology and biochemistry items showed non-normal distribution. For testing normal distribution of the data obtained from toxicity studies, the data of the concurrent control group may be examined, and for the data that show a non-normal distribution, non-parametric tests with robustness may be applied.

  4. Method for obtaining a collimated near-unity aspect ratio output beam from a DFB-GSE laser with good beam quality.

    PubMed

    Liew, S K; Carlson, N W

    1992-05-20

    A simple method for obtaining a collimated near-unity aspect ratio output beam from laser sources with extremely large (> 100:1) aspect ratios is demonstrated by using a distributed-feedback grating-surfaceemitting laser. Far-field power-in-the-bucket measurements of the laser indicate good beam quality with a high Strehl ratio.

  5. Pressurized fluidized-bed component test program shows good promise

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

    Not Available

    1985-04-01

    The test program described has involved extensive theoretical and laboratory work since 1976, which culminated in a series of PFBC rig tests at the Coal Utilization Research Laboratories (CURL) in Leatherhead, England, and eventually in the design and construction of a component test facility (CTF) at the Oresund Power Station of Sydkraft in Malmo, Sweden. The rig tests are listed. Those preceding the 1000-hr test in 1979 were carried out with and without cooling tubes in the bed, and with different bed characteristics; the main emphasis was on gas clean-up, combustion efficiency, and emission of sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Inmore » these tests, the exhaust gases from the PFBC were passed through a cyclone train containing two cyclones to remove particulate matter, and then through a static cascade that contained parts of turbine blades from an ASEA STAL GT-120 machine. Good performance data, for the most part, are reported. 4 references, 3 figures.« less

  6. Adaptive governance good practice: Show me the evidence!

    PubMed

    Sharma-Wallace, Lisa; Velarde, Sandra J; Wreford, Anita

    2018-09-15

    -based adaptive governance good practice within and across diverse sectors, issues, and contexts. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  7. Good Agreements Make Good Friends

    PubMed Central

    Han, The Anh; Pereira, Luís Moniz; Santos, Francisco C.; Lenaerts, Tom

    2013-01-01

    When starting a new collaborative endeavor, it pays to establish upfront how strongly your partner commits to the common goal and what compensation can be expected in case the collaboration is violated. Diverse examples in biological and social contexts have demonstrated the pervasiveness of making prior agreements on posterior compensations, suggesting that this behavior could have been shaped by natural selection. Here, we analyze the evolutionary relevance of such a commitment strategy and relate it to the costly punishment strategy, where no prior agreements are made. We show that when the cost of arranging a commitment deal lies within certain limits, substantial levels of cooperation can be achieved. Moreover, these levels are higher than that achieved by simple costly punishment, especially when one insists on sharing the arrangement cost. Not only do we show that good agreements make good friends, agreements based on shared costs result in even better outcomes. PMID:24045873

  8. Evaluating the Good Ontology Design Guideline (GoodOD) with the Ontology Quality Requirements and Evaluation Method and Metrics (OQuaRE)

    PubMed Central

    Duque-Ramos, Astrid; Boeker, Martin; Jansen, Ludger; Schulz, Stefan; Iniesta, Miguela; Fernández-Breis, Jesualdo Tomás

    2014-01-01

    Objective To (1) evaluate the GoodOD guideline for ontology development by applying the OQuaRE evaluation method and metrics to the ontology artefacts that were produced by students in a randomized controlled trial, and (2) informally compare the OQuaRE evaluation method with gold standard and competency questions based evaluation methods, respectively. Background In the last decades many methods for ontology construction and ontology evaluation have been proposed. However, none of them has become a standard and there is no empirical evidence of comparative evaluation of such methods. This paper brings together GoodOD and OQuaRE. GoodOD is a guideline for developing robust ontologies. It was previously evaluated in a randomized controlled trial employing metrics based on gold standard ontologies and competency questions as outcome parameters. OQuaRE is a method for ontology quality evaluation which adapts the SQuaRE standard for software product quality to ontologies and has been successfully used for evaluating the quality of ontologies. Methods In this paper, we evaluate the effect of training in ontology construction based on the GoodOD guideline within the OQuaRE quality evaluation framework and compare the results with those obtained for the previous studies based on the same data. Results Our results show a significant effect of the GoodOD training over developed ontologies by topics: (a) a highly significant effect was detected in three topics from the analysis of the ontologies of untrained and trained students; (b) both positive and negative training effects with respect to the gold standard were found for five topics. Conclusion The GoodOD guideline had a significant effect over the quality of the ontologies developed. Our results show that GoodOD ontologies can be effectively evaluated using OQuaRE and that OQuaRE is able to provide additional useful information about the quality of the GoodOD ontologies. PMID:25148262

  9. Evaluating the Good Ontology Design Guideline (GoodOD) with the ontology quality requirements and evaluation method and metrics (OQuaRE).

    PubMed

    Duque-Ramos, Astrid; Boeker, Martin; Jansen, Ludger; Schulz, Stefan; Iniesta, Miguela; Fernández-Breis, Jesualdo Tomás

    2014-01-01

    To (1) evaluate the GoodOD guideline for ontology development by applying the OQuaRE evaluation method and metrics to the ontology artefacts that were produced by students in a randomized controlled trial, and (2) informally compare the OQuaRE evaluation method with gold standard and competency questions based evaluation methods, respectively. In the last decades many methods for ontology construction and ontology evaluation have been proposed. However, none of them has become a standard and there is no empirical evidence of comparative evaluation of such methods. This paper brings together GoodOD and OQuaRE. GoodOD is a guideline for developing robust ontologies. It was previously evaluated in a randomized controlled trial employing metrics based on gold standard ontologies and competency questions as outcome parameters. OQuaRE is a method for ontology quality evaluation which adapts the SQuaRE standard for software product quality to ontologies and has been successfully used for evaluating the quality of ontologies. In this paper, we evaluate the effect of training in ontology construction based on the GoodOD guideline within the OQuaRE quality evaluation framework and compare the results with those obtained for the previous studies based on the same data. Our results show a significant effect of the GoodOD training over developed ontologies by topics: (a) a highly significant effect was detected in three topics from the analysis of the ontologies of untrained and trained students; (b) both positive and negative training effects with respect to the gold standard were found for five topics. The GoodOD guideline had a significant effect over the quality of the ontologies developed. Our results show that GoodOD ontologies can be effectively evaluated using OQuaRE and that OQuaRE is able to provide additional useful information about the quality of the GoodOD ontologies.

  10. Cooperation and the common good.

    PubMed

    Johnstone, Rufus A; Rodrigues, António M M

    2016-02-05

    In this paper, we draw the attention of biologists to a result from the economic literature, which suggests that when individuals are engaged in a communal activity of benefit to all, selection may favour cooperative sharing of resources even among non-relatives. Provided that group members all invest some resources in the public good, they should refrain from conflict over the division of these resources. The reason is that, given diminishing returns on investment in public and private goods, claiming (or ceding) a greater share of total resources only leads to the actor (or its competitors) investing more in the public good, such that the marginal costs and benefits of investment remain in balance. This cancels out any individual benefits of resource competition. We illustrate how this idea may be applied in the context of biparental care, using a sequential game in which parents first compete with one another over resources, and then choose how to allocate the resources they each obtain to care of their joint young (public good) versus their own survival and future reproductive success (private good). We show that when the two parents both invest in care to some extent, they should refrain from any conflict over the division of resources. The same effect can also support asymmetric outcomes in which one parent competes for resources and invests in care, whereas the other does not invest but refrains from competition. The fact that the caring parent gains higher fitness pay-offs at these equilibria suggests that abandoning a partner is not always to the latter's detriment, when the potential for resource competition is taken into account, but may instead be of benefit to the 'abandoned' mate. © 2016 The Author(s).

  11. Cooperation and the common good

    PubMed Central

    Johnstone, Rufus A.; Rodrigues, António M. M.

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we draw the attention of biologists to a result from the economic literature, which suggests that when individuals are engaged in a communal activity of benefit to all, selection may favour cooperative sharing of resources even among non-relatives. Provided that group members all invest some resources in the public good, they should refrain from conflict over the division of these resources. The reason is that, given diminishing returns on investment in public and private goods, claiming (or ceding) a greater share of total resources only leads to the actor (or its competitors) investing more in the public good, such that the marginal costs and benefits of investment remain in balance. This cancels out any individual benefits of resource competition. We illustrate how this idea may be applied in the context of biparental care, using a sequential game in which parents first compete with one another over resources, and then choose how to allocate the resources they each obtain to care of their joint young (public good) versus their own survival and future reproductive success (private good). We show that when the two parents both invest in care to some extent, they should refrain from any conflict over the division of resources. The same effect can also support asymmetric outcomes in which one parent competes for resources and invests in care, whereas the other does not invest but refrains from competition. The fact that the caring parent gains higher fitness pay-offs at these equilibria suggests that abandoning a partner is not always to the latter's detriment, when the potential for resource competition is taken into account, but may instead be of benefit to the ‘abandoned’ mate. PMID:26729926

  12. Defining the Good Reading Teacher.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kupersmith, Judy; And Others

    In the quest for a definition of the good reading teacher, a review of the literature shows that new or copious materials, one specific teaching method, and static teaching behaviors are not responsible for effective teaching. However, observations of five reading teachers, with good references and good reputations but with widely divergent…

  13. Assessing the sense of `good at' and `not good at' toward learning topics of mathematics with conjoint analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Izuta, Giido; Nishikawa, Tomoko

    2017-05-01

    Over the past years, educational psychology and pedagogy communities have focused on the metacognition formalism as a helpful approach to carry out investigations on the feeling of difficulty in mastering some classroom materials that students acquire through their subjective experiences of learning in schools. Motivated by hitherto studies, this work deals with the assessment of the awareness of `good at' and `not good at' that Japanese junior high school students have towards the main learning modules in their three years of mathematics. More specifically, the aims here are (i) to shed some light into how the awareness varies across the grades and gender; (ii) to get some insights into the extent to what the conjoint analysis can be applied to understand the students' feelings toward learning activities. To accomplish them, a conjoint analysis survey with three conjoint attributes, each with two levels, were designed to assess the learners' perceptions of `good at' and `not good at' with respect to arithmetic (algebraic operations), geometry and functions, which make up the three major modules of their curricula. The measurements took place in a public junior high school with 616 school children. It turned out that the conjoint analyses for boys and girls of each grade generated the partial utility and importance graphs which along with a pre-established precision of measurement allowed us to form groups of pupils according to their `sense of being good at' characteristics. Moreover, the results showed that the number of groups obtained differed for boys and girls as well as grades when the gender and school years were considered for comparisons. These findings suggesting that female students outnumbers their peers in number of `good at' despite the low number of females pursuing careers in mathematics and related fields imply that investigation on the causes of this juxtaposition has to be taken into account in the future.

  14. Sequential selection of economic good and action in medial frontal cortex of macaques during value-based decisions

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Xiaomo; Stuphorn, Veit

    2015-01-01

    Value-based decisions could rely either on the selection of desired economic goods or on the selection of the actions that will obtain the goods. We investigated this question by recording from the supplementary eye field (SEF) of monkeys during a gambling task that allowed us to distinguish chosen good from chosen action signals. Analysis of the individual neuron activity, as well as of the population state-space dynamic, showed that SEF encodes first the chosen gamble option (the desired economic good) and only ~100 ms later the saccade that will obtain it (the chosen action). The action selection is likely driven by inhibitory interactions between different SEF neurons. Our results suggest that during value-based decisions, the selection of economic goods precedes and guides the selection of actions. The two selection steps serve different functions and can therefore not compensate for each other, even when information guiding both processes is given simultaneously. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09418.001 PMID:26613409

  15. The public goods game with a new form of shared reward

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Chunyan; Chen, Zengqiang

    2016-10-01

    Altruistic contribution to a common good evenly enjoyed by all group members is hard to explain because of the greater benefits obtained by a defector than a cooperator. A variety of mechanisms have been proposed to resolve the collective dilemma over the years, including rewards for altruism. An underrated and easily ignored phenomenon is that the altruistic behaviors of cooperators not only directly enhance the benefits of their game opponents, but also indirectly produce good influences to other allied members in their surroundings (e.g. relatives or friends). Here we propose a shared reward, in the form of extensive benefits, to extend the traditional definition of the public goods game. Mathematical analysis using the Moran process helps us to obtain the fixation probability for one ‘mutant’ cooperator to invade and dominate the whole defecting population. Results suggest that a tunable parameter exists, above a certain critical value of which natural selection favors cooperation over defection. In addition, analytical results with replicator dynamics show that this critical value influencing the evolution of altruism is closely correlated with the population size, the gaming group size and the synergy factor of the public goods game. These results, based on an extended notion of shared reward and extensive benefits, are expected to provide novel explanations for the emergence of altruistic behaviors.

  16. Regulatory theory: commercially sustainable markets rely upon satisfying the public interest in obtaining credible goods.

    PubMed

    Warren-Jones, Amanda

    2017-10-01

    Regulatory theory is premised on the failure of markets, prompting a focus on regulators and industry from economic perspectives. This article argues that overlooking the public interest in the sustainability of commercial markets risks markets failing completely. This point is exemplified through health care markets - meeting an essential need - and focuses upon innovative medicines as the most desired products in that market. If this seemingly invulnerable market risks failure, there is a pressing need to consider the public interest in sustainable markets within regulatory literature and practice. Innovative medicines are credence goods, meaning that the sustainability of the market fundamentally relies upon the public trusting regulators to vouch for product quality. Yet, quality is being eroded by patent bodies focused on economic benefits from market growth, rather than ensuring innovatory value. Remunerative bodies are not funding medicines relative to market value, and market authorisation bodies are not vouching for robust safety standards or confining market entry to products for 'unmet medical need'. Arguably, this failure to assure quality heightens the risk of the market failing where it cannot be substituted by the reputation or credibility of providers of goods and/or information such as health care professionals/institutions, patient groups or industry.

  17. Good Mathematics Teaching from Mexican High School Students' Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martinez-Sierra, Gustavo

    2014-01-01

    This paper reports a qualitative research that identifies the characteristics of good mathematics teaching from the perspective of Mexican high school students. For this purpose, the social representations of a good mathematics teacher and a good mathematics class were identified in a group of 67 students. In order to obtain information, a…

  18. Behavioral Patterns in Special Education. Good Teaching Practices.

    PubMed

    Rodríguez-Dorta, Manuela; Borges, África

    2017-01-01

    Providing quality education means to respond to the diversity in the classroom. The teacher is a key figure in responding to the various educational needs presented by students. Specifically, special education professionals are of great importance as they are the ones who lend their support to regular classroom teachers and offer specialized educational assistance to students who require it. Therefore, special education is different from what takes place in the regular classroom, demanding greater commitment by the teacher. There are certain behaviors, considered good teaching practices, which teachers have always been connected with to achieve good teaching and good learning. To ensure that these teachers are carrying out their educational work properly it is necessary to evaluate. This means having appropriate instruments. The Observational Protocol for Teaching Functions in Primary School and Special Education (PROFUNDO-EPE, v.3., in Spanish) allows to capture behaviors from these professionals and behavioral patterns that correspond to good teaching practices. This study evaluates the behavior of two special education teachers who work with students from different educational stages and educational needs. It reveals that the analyzed teachers adapt their behavior according the needs and characteristics of their students to the students responding more adequately to the needs presented by the students and showing good teaching practices. The patterns obtained indicate that they offer support, help and clear guidelines to perform the tasks. They motivate them toward learning by providing positive feedback and they check that students have properly assimilated the contents through questions or non-verbal supervision. Also, they provide a safe and reliable climate for learning.

  19. Evaluation of several microcrystalline celluloses obtained from agricultural by-products

    PubMed Central

    Rojas, John; Lopez, Alvin; Guisao, Santiago; Ortiz, Carlos

    2011-01-01

    Microcrystalline cellulose (MCCI) has been widely used as an excipient for direct compression due to its good flowability, compressibility, and compactibility. In this study, MCCI was obtained from agricultural by-products, such as corn cob, sugar cane bagasse, rice husk, and cotton by pursuing acid hydrolysis, neutralization, clarification, and drying steps. Further, infrared spectroscopy (IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy, degree of polymerization (DP), and powder and tableting properties were evaluated and compared to those of Avicel PH101, Avicel PH102, and Avicel PH200. Except for the commercial products, all materials showed a DP from 55 to 97. Particles of commercial products and corn cob had an irregular shape, whereas bagasse particles were elongated and thick. Rice and cotton particles exhibited a flake-like and fiber-like shape, respectively. MCCI as obtained from rice husk and cotton was the most densified material, while that produced from corn cob and bagasse was bulky, porous, and more compressible. All products had a moisture content of less than 10% and yields from 7.4% to 60.4%. MCCI as obtained from bagasse was the most porous and compressible material among all materials. This product also showed the best tableting properties along with Avicel products. Likewise, all MCCI products obtained from the above-mentioned sources showed a more rapid disintegration time than that of Avicel products. These materials can be used as a potential source of MCCI in the production of solid dosage forms. PMID:22171310

  20. GOODS Far Infrared Imaging with Herschel

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Frayer, David T.; Elbaz, D.; Dickinson, M.; GOODS-Herschel Team

    2010-01-01

    Most of the stars in galaxies formed at high redshift in dusty environments, where their energy was absorbed and re-radiated at infrared wavelengths. Similarly, much of the growth of nuclear black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGN) was also obscured from direct view at UV/optical and X-ray wavelengths. The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey Herschel (GOODS-H) open time key program will obtain the deepest far-infrared view of the distant universe, mapping the history of galaxy growth and AGN activity over a broad swath of cosmic time. GOODS-H will image the GOODS-North field with the PACS and SPIRE instruments at 100 to 500 microns, matching the deep survey of GOODS-South in the guaranteed time key program. GOODS-H will also observe an ultradeep sub-field within GOODS-South with PACS, reaching the deepest flux limits planned for Herschel (0.6 mJy at 100 microns with S/N=5). GOODS-H data will detect thousands of luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies out to z=4 or beyond, measuring their far-infrared luminosities and spectral energy distributions, and providing the best constraints on star formation rates and AGN activity during this key epoch of galaxy and black hole growth in the young universe.

  1. Innovative Formulation Combining Al, Zr and Si Precursors to Obtain Anticorrosion Hybrid Sol-Gel Coating.

    PubMed

    Genet, Clément; Menu, Marie-Joëlle; Gavard, Olivier; Ansart, Florence; Gressier, Marie; Montpellaz, Robin

    2018-05-10

    The aim of our study is to improve the aluminium alloy corrosion resistance with Organic-Inorganic Hybrid (OIH) sol-gel coating. Coatings are obtained from unusual formulation with precursors mixing: glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS), zirconium (IV) propoxide (TPOZ) and aluminium tri-sec-butoxide (ASB). This formulation was characterized and compared with sol formulations GPTMS/TPOZ and GPTMS/ASB. In each formulation, a corrosion inhibitor, cerium (III) nitrate hexahydrate, is employed to improve the corrosion performance. Coatings obtained from sol based on GPTMS/TPOZ/ASB have good anti-corrosion performances with Natural Salt Spray (NSS) resistance of 500 h for a thickness lower than 4 µm. Contact angle measurement showed a coating hydrophobic behaviour. To understand these performances, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses were performed, results make sol-gel coating condensation evident and are in very good agreement with previous results.

  2. Robust data enables managers to promote good practice.

    PubMed

    Bassett, Sally; Westmore, Kathryn

    2012-11-01

    This is the third in a series of articles examining the components of good corporate governance. The effective and efficient use of information and sources of information is crucial for good governance. This article explores the ways in which boards and management can obtain and use information to monitor performance and promote good practice, and how boards can be assured about the quality of information on which they rely. The final article in this series will look at the role of accountability in corporate governance.

  3. "Everyone just ate good food": 'Good food' in Islamabad, Pakistan.

    PubMed

    Hasnain, Saher

    2018-08-01

    In recent years, consumption of alternatively produced foods has increased in popularity in response to the deleterious effects of rapidly globalising and industrialised food systems. Concerns over food safety in relation to these changes may result from elevated levels of risk and changing perceptions associated with food production practices. This paper explores how the middle class residents of Islamabad, Pakistan, use the concept of 'good food' to reconnect themselves with nature, changing food systems, and traditional values. The paper also demonstrates how these ideas relate to those of organic, local, and traditional food consumption as currently used in more economically developed states in the Global North. Through research based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews, this paper illustrates that besides price and convenience, purity, freshness, association with specific places, and 'Pakistani-ness' were considered as the basis for making decisions about 'good food'. The results show that while individuals are aware of and have some access to imported organic and local food, they prefer using holistic and culturally informed concepts of 'good food' instead that reconnect them with food systems. I argue that through conceptualisations of 'good food', the urban middle class in Islamabad is reducing their disconnection and dis-embeddedness from nature, the food systems, and their social identities. The paper contributes to literature on food anxieties, reconnections in food geography, and 'good food' perceptions, with a focus on Pakistan. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  4. Good vaccination practice: it all starts with a good vaccine storage temperature.

    PubMed

    Vangroenweghe, Frédéric

    2017-01-01

    Recent introduction of strategies to reduce antibiotic use in food animal production implies an increased use of vaccines in order to prevent the economic impact of several important diseases in swine. Good Vaccination Practice (GVP) is an overall approach on the swine farm aiming to obtain maximal efficacy of vaccination through good storage, preparation and finally correct application to the target animals. In order to have a better insight into GVP on swine farms and the vaccine storage conditions, a survey on vaccination practices was performed on a farmers' fair and temperatures in the vaccine storage refrigerators were measured during farm visits over a period of 1 year. The survey revealed that knowledge on GVP, such as vaccine storage and handling, needle management and injection location could be improved. Less than 10% had a thermometer in their vaccine storage refrigerator on the moment of the visit. Temperature measurement revealed that only 71% of the measured refrigerators were in line with the recommended temperature range of +2 °C to +8 °C. Both below +2 °C and above +8 °C temperatures were registered during all seasons of the year. Compliance was lower during summer with an average temperature of 9.2 °C while only 43% of the measured temperatures were within the recommended range. The present study clearly showed the need for continuous education on GVP for swine veterinarians, swine farmers and their farm personnel in general and vaccine storage management in particular. In veterinary medicine, the correct storage of vaccines is crucial since both too low and too high temperatures can provoke damage to specific vaccine types. Adjuvanted killed or subunit vaccines can be damaged (e.g. structure of aluminiumhydroxide in adjuvans) by too low temperatures (below 0 °C), whereas lyophilized live vaccines are susceptible (e.g. loss of vaccine potency) to heat damage by temperatures above +8 °C. In conclusion, knowledge and awareness of GVP

  5. Behavioral Patterns in Special Education. Good Teaching Practices

    PubMed Central

    Rodríguez-Dorta, Manuela; Borges, África

    2017-01-01

    Providing quality education means to respond to the diversity in the classroom. The teacher is a key figure in responding to the various educational needs presented by students. Specifically, special education professionals are of great importance as they are the ones who lend their support to regular classroom teachers and offer specialized educational assistance to students who require it. Therefore, special education is different from what takes place in the regular classroom, demanding greater commitment by the teacher. There are certain behaviors, considered good teaching practices, which teachers have always been connected with to achieve good teaching and good learning. To ensure that these teachers are carrying out their educational work properly it is necessary to evaluate. This means having appropriate instruments. The Observational Protocol for Teaching Functions in Primary School and Special Education (PROFUNDO-EPE, v.3., in Spanish) allows to capture behaviors from these professionals and behavioral patterns that correspond to good teaching practices. This study evaluates the behavior of two special education teachers who work with students from different educational stages and educational needs. It reveals that the analyzed teachers adapt their behavior according the needs and characteristics of their students to the students responding more adequately to the needs presented by the students and showing good teaching practices. The patterns obtained indicate that they offer support, help and clear guidelines to perform the tasks. They motivate them toward learning by providing positive feedback and they check that students have properly assimilated the contents through questions or non-verbal supervision. Also, they provide a safe and reliable climate for learning. PMID:28512437

  6. Quantitative Comparison of Tandem Mass Spectra Obtained on Various Instruments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bazsó, Fanni Laura; Ozohanics, Oliver; Schlosser, Gitta; Ludányi, Krisztina; Vékey, Károly; Drahos, László

    2016-08-01

    The similarity between two tandem mass spectra, which were measured on different instruments, was compared quantitatively using the similarity index (SI), defined as the dot product of the square root of peak intensities in the respective spectra. This function was found to be useful for comparing energy-dependent tandem mass spectra obtained on various instruments. Spectral comparisons show the similarity index in a 2D "heat map", indicating which collision energy combinations result in similar spectra, and how good this agreement is. The results and methodology can be used in the pharma industry to design experiments and equipment well suited for good reproducibility. We suggest that to get good long-term reproducibility, it is best to adjust the collision energy to yield a spectrum very similar to a reference spectrum. It is likely to yield better results than using the same tuning file, which, for example, does not take into account that contamination of the ion source due to extended use may influence instrument tuning. The methodology may be used to characterize energy dependence on various instrument types, to optimize instrumentation, and to study the influence or correlation between various experimental parameters.

  7. Parameter estimation techniques based on optimizing goodness-of-fit statistics for structural reliability

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Starlinger, Alois; Duffy, Stephen F.; Palko, Joseph L.

    1993-01-01

    New methods are presented that utilize the optimization of goodness-of-fit statistics in order to estimate Weibull parameters from failure data. It is assumed that the underlying population is characterized by a three-parameter Weibull distribution. Goodness-of-fit tests are based on the empirical distribution function (EDF). The EDF is a step function, calculated using failure data, and represents an approximation of the cumulative distribution function for the underlying population. Statistics (such as the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic and the Anderson-Darling statistic) measure the discrepancy between the EDF and the cumulative distribution function (CDF). These statistics are minimized with respect to the three Weibull parameters. Due to nonlinearities encountered in the minimization process, Powell's numerical optimization procedure is applied to obtain the optimum value of the EDF. Numerical examples show the applicability of these new estimation methods. The results are compared to the estimates obtained with Cooper's nonlinear regression algorithm.

  8. Student perceptions of a good teacher: the gender perspective.

    PubMed

    Jules, V; Kutnick, P

    1997-12-01

    A large-scale survey of pupils' perceptions of a good teacher in the Caribbean republic of Trinidad and Tobago is reported. An essay-based, interpretative mode of research was used to elicit and identify constructs used by boys and girls. The study explores similarities and differences between boys and girls in their perceptions of a good teacher, in a society where girls achieve superior academic performance (than boys). A total of 1756 pupils and students aged between 8 and 16 provided the sample, which was proportional, stratified, clustered. Within these constraints classrooms were randomly selected to be representative of primary and secondary schools across the two islands. Altogether 1539 essays and 217 interviews were content analysed, coded for age development and compared between boys and girls. Content items identified by the pupils were logically grouped into: physical and personal characteristics of the teacher, quality of the relationship between the teacher and pupil, control of behaviour by the teacher, descriptions of the teaching process, and educational and other outcomes obtained by pupils due to teacher efforts. Female pupils identified more good teacher concepts at all age levels than males. There was some commonality between the sexes in concepts regarding interpersonal relationships and inclusiveness in the good teachers' teaching practices and boys showed significantly greater concerns regarding teacher control and use of punishment. Males as young as 8 years stated that good teachers should be sensitive to their needs. Only among the 16-year-old males were males noted as good teachers. Consideration is given to the roles of male and female teachers, how their classroom actions may set the basis for future success (or failure) of their pupils, and the needs of pupils with regard to teacher support within developing and developed countries.

  9. One-pot synthesis of fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots with good biocompatibility for cell labeling.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Zhengwei; Yan, Kun; Yang, Qiulian; Liu, Yanhua; Yan, Zhengyu; Chen, Jianqiu

    2017-12-01

    Here we report an easy and economical hydrothermal carbonization approach to synthesize the fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) that was developed using citric acid and triethanolamine as the precursors. The synthesis conditions were optimized to obtain the N-CDs with superior fluorescence performances. The as-prepared N-CDs are monodispersed sphere nanoparticles with good water solubility, and exhibited strong fluorescence, favourable photostability and excitation wavelength-dependent behavior. Furthermore, the in vitro cytotoxicity and cellular labeling of N-CDs were investigated using the rat glomerular mesangial cells. The results showed the N-CDs have more inconspicuous cytotoxicity and better biosafety in comparison with ZnSe quantum dots, although both targeted the cells successfully. Considering their admirable photostability, low toxicity and good compatibility, the as-obtained N-CDs could have potential applications in biosensors, cellular imaging, and other fields. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

    PubMed

    Jones, Bryan A; Rachlin, Howard

    2009-01-01

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

  11. Carbon nanofibers obtained from electrospinning process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bovi de Oliveira, Juliana; Müller Guerrini, Lília; Sizuka Oishi, Silvia; Rogerio de Oliveira Hein, Luis; dos Santos Conejo, Luíza; Cerqueira Rezende, Mirabel; Cocchieri Botelho, Edson

    2018-02-01

    In recent years, reinforcements consisting of carbon nanostructures, such as carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, graphenes, and carbon nanofibers have received significant attention due mainly to their chemical inertness and good mechanical, electrical and thermal properties. Since carbon nanofibers comprise a continuous reinforcing with high specific surface area, associated with the fact that they can be obtained at a low cost and in a large amount, they have shown to be advantageous compared to traditional carbon nanotubes. The main objective of this work is the processing of carbon nanofibers, using polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a precursor, obtained by the electrospinning process via polymer solution, with subsequent use for airspace applications as reinforcement in polymer composites. In this work, firstly PAN nanofibers were produced by electrospinning with diameters in the range of (375 ± 85) nm, using a dimethylformamide solution. Using a furnace, the PAN nanofiber was converted into carbon nanofiber. Morphologies and structures of PAN and carbon nanofibers were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, Raman Spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analyses and differential scanning calorimeter. The resulting residual weight after carbonization was approximately 38% in weight, with a diameters reduction of 50%, and the same showed a carbon yield of 25%. From the analysis of the crystalline structure of the carbonized material, it was found that the material presented a disordered structure.

  12. Comparison of aerodynamic coefficients obtained from theoretical calculations wind tunnel tests and flight tests data reduction for the alpha jet aircraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Guiot, R.; Wunnenberg, H.

    1980-01-01

    The methods by which aerodynamic coefficients are determined and discussed. These include: calculations, wind tunnel experiments and experiments in flight for various prototypes of the Alpha Jet. A comparison of obtained results shows good correlation between expectations and in-flight test results.

  13. Obtaining an equivalent beam

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Butler, Thomas G.

    1990-01-01

    In modeling a complex structure the researcher was faced with a component that would have logical appeal if it were modeled as a beam. The structure was a mast of a robot controlled gantry crane. The structure up to this point already had a large number of degrees of freedom, so the idea of conserving grid points by modeling the mast as a beam was attractive. The researcher decided to make a separate problem of of the mast and model it in three dimensions with plates, then extract the equivalent beam properties by setting up the loading to simulate beam-like deformation and constraints. The results could then be used to represent the mast as a beam in the full model. A comparison was made of properties derived from models of different constraints versus manual calculations. The researcher shows that the three-dimensional model is ineffective in trying to conform to the requirements of an equivalent beam representation. If a full 3-D plate model were used in the complete representation of the crane structure, good results would be obtained. Since the attempt is to economize on the size of the model, a better way to achieve the same results is to use substructuring and condense the mast to equivalent end boundary and intermediate mass points.

  14. Good soldiers and good actors: prosocial and impression management motives as interactive predictors of affiliative citizenship behaviors.

    PubMed

    Grant, Adam M; Mayer, David M

    2009-07-01

    Researchers have discovered inconsistent relationships between prosocial motives and citizenship behaviors. We draw on impression management theory to propose that impression management motives strengthen the association between prosocial motives and affiliative citizenship by encouraging employees to express citizenship in ways that both "do good" and "look good." We report 2 studies that examine the interactions of prosocial and impression management motives as predictors of affiliative citizenship using multisource data from 2 different field samples. Across the 2 studies, we find positive interactions between prosocial and impression management motives as predictors of affiliative citizenship behaviors directed toward other people (helping and courtesy) and the organization (initiative). Study 2 also shows that only prosocial motives predict voice-a challenging citizenship behavior. Our results suggest that employees who are both good soldiers and good actors are most likely to emerge as good citizens in promoting the status quo.

  15. Substantial Goodness and Nascent Human Life.

    PubMed

    Floyd, Shawn

    2015-09-01

    Many believe that moral value is--at least to some extent--dependent on the developmental states necessary for supporting rational activity. My paper rejects this view, but does not aim simply to register objections to it. Rather, my essay aims to answer the following question: if a human being's developmental state and occurrent capacities do not bequeath moral standing, what does? The question is intended to prompt careful consideration of what makes human beings objects of moral value, dignity, or (to employ my preferred term) goodness. Not only do I think we can answer this question, I think we can show that nascent human life possesses goodness of precisely this sort. I appeal to Aquinas's metaethics to establish the conclusion that the goodness of a human being--even if that being is an embryo or fetus--resides at the substratum of her existence. If she possesses goodness, it is because human existence is good.

  16. Optimization of the parameters for obtaining zirconia-alumina coatings, made by flame spraying from results of numerical simulation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferrer, M.; Vargas, F.; Peña, G.

    2017-12-01

    The K-Sommerfeld values (K) and the melting percentage (% F) obtained by numerical simulation using the Jets et Poudres software were used to find the projection parameters of zirconia-alumina coatings by thermal spraying flame, in order to obtain coatings with good morphological and structural properties to be used as thermal insulation. The experimental results show the relationship between the Sommerfeld parameter and the porosity of the zirconia-alumina coatings. It is found that the lowest porosity is obtained when the K-Sommerfeld value is close to 45 with an oxidant flame, on the contrary, when superoxidant flames are used K values are close 52, which improve wear resistance.

  17. Active bilayer films of thermoplastic starch and polycaprolactone obtained by compression molding.

    PubMed

    Ortega-Toro, Rodrigo; Morey, Iris; Talens, Pau; Chiralt, Amparo

    2015-08-20

    Bilayer films consisting of one layer of PCL with either one of thermoplastic starch (S) or one of thermoplastic starch with 5% PCL (S95) were obtained by compression molding. Before compression, aqueous solutions of ascorbic acid or potassium sorbate were sprayed onto the S or S95 layers in order to plasticize them and favor layer adhesion. S95 films formed bilayers with PCL with very good adhesion and good mechanical performance, especially when potassium sorbate was added at the interface. All bilayers enhanced their barrier properties to water vapour (up to 96% compared to net starch films) and oxygen (up to 99% compared to PCL pure). Bilayers consisting of PCL and starch containing 5% PCL, with potassium sorbate at the interface, showed the best mechanical and barrier properties and interfacial adhesion while having active properties, associated with the antimicrobial action of potassium sorbate. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. [Acquired hypogammaglobulinemia associated with thymoma: Good syndrome].

    PubMed

    Aouadi, Samira; Ghrairi, Najla; Braham, Emna; Kaabi, Manel; Maâlej, Sonia; Elgharbi, Leila Douik

    2017-01-01

    Good syndrome (GS) is defined as the association between thymoma and immune deficiency. It is often complicated by broncho-pulmonary bacterial infections and rhinosinusitis. This disease accounts for only 5% of all parathymic syndromes. These recurrent respiratory infections can cause bronchiectasis associated with Good syndrome. We report the case of a 52-year old woman hospitalized for non resolutive infectious pneumonitis. Chest CT scan showed bronchiectasis associated with thymoma confirmed by biopsy. The discovery of hypogammaglobulinemia allowed the diagnosis of Good syndrome.

  19. Determination of skeleton and sign map for phase obtaining from a single ESPI image

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Xia; Yu, Qifeng; Fu, Sihua

    2009-06-01

    A robust method of determining the sign map and skeletons for ESPI images is introduced in this paper. ESPI images have high speckle noise which makes it difficult to obtain the fringe information, especially from a single image. To overcome the effects of high speckle noise, local directional computing windows are designed according to the fringe directions. Then by calculating the gradients from the filtered image in directional windows, sign map and good skeletons can be determined robustly. Based on the sign map, single image phase-extracting methods such as quadrature transform can be improved. And based on skeletons, fringe phases can be obtained directly by normalization methods. Experiments show that this new method is robust and effective for extracting phase from a single ESPI fringe image.

  20. Proximate analyses and predicting HHV of chars obtained from cocracking of petroleum vacuum residue with coal, plastics and biomass.

    PubMed

    Ahmaruzzaman, M

    2008-07-01

    Higher heating value (HHV) and analysis of chars obtained from cocracking of petroleum vacuum residue (XVR) with coal (SC), biomass (BG, CL) and plastics (PP, PS, BL) are important which define the energy content and determine the clean and efficient use of these chars. The main aim of the present study is to analyze the char obtained from cocracking in terms of their proximate analysis data and determination of the HHV of the chars. The char obtained from XVR+PP cocracking showed a HHV of 32.84 MJ/kg, whereas that from CL cracking showed a HHV of 18.52 MJ/kg. The experimentally determined heating values of the char samples obtained from cocracking have been correlated with the theoretical equation based on proximate analysis data. There exists a variety of correlations for predicting HHV from proximate analysis of fuels. Based upon proximate analysis data, the models were tested. The best results show coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.965 and average absolute and bias error of 3.07% and 0.41%, respectively. The heating values obtained from the model were in good agreement with that obtained by experiment. Proximate analysis of the chars obtained from the cocracking of XVR with coal, biomass and plastics showed that there exists a definite interaction of the reactive species, when they were cocracked together.

  1. Thermal Effusivity of Vegetable Oils Obtained by a Photothermal Technique

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cervantes-Espinosa, L. M.; de L. Castillo-Alvarado, F.; Lara-Hernández, G.; Cruz-Orea, A.; Hernández-Aguilar, C.; Domínguez-Pacheco, A.

    2014-10-01

    Thermal properties of several vegetable oils such as soy, corn, and avocado commercial oils were obtained by using a photopyroelectric technique. The inverse photopyroelectric configuration was used in order to obtain the thermal effusivity of the oil samples. The theoretical equation for the photopyroelectric signal in this configuration, as a function of the incident light modulation frequency, was fitted to the experimental data in order to obtain the thermal effusivity of these samples. The obtained results are in good agreement with the thermal effusivity reported for other vegetable oils. All measurements were done at room temperature.

  2. Avoiding or restricting defectors in public goods games?

    PubMed

    Han, The Anh; Pereira, Luís Moniz; Lenaerts, Tom

    2015-02-06

    When creating a public good, strategies or mechanisms are required to handle defectors. We first show mathematically and numerically that prior agreements with posterior compensations provide a strategic solution that leads to substantial levels of cooperation in the context of public goods games, results that are corroborated by available experimental data. Notwithstanding this success, one cannot, as with other approaches, fully exclude the presence of defectors, raising the question of how they can be dealt with to avoid the demise of the common good. We show that both avoiding creation of the common good, whenever full agreement is not reached, and limiting the benefit that disagreeing defectors can acquire, using costly restriction mechanisms, are relevant choices. Nonetheless, restriction mechanisms are found the more favourable, especially in larger group interactions. Given decreasing restriction costs, introducing restraining measures to cope with public goods free-riding issues is the ultimate advantageous solution for all participants, rather than avoiding its creation. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  3. PRISMA and AMSTAR Show Systematic Reviews of Health Literacy and Cancer Screening are Good Quality.

    PubMed

    Sharma, Sakshi; Oremus, Mark

    2018-04-11

    To evaluate the reporting and methodological quality of systematic reviews (SRs) in health literacy and cancer screening; to investigate factors that may influence overall quality. A review of SRs published between 2009 and 2017. We calculated indices to represent the included SRs' adherence to PRISMA and AMSTAR. To assess possible determinants of SR quality, we regressed the index scores on year and region of publication, journal impact factor, authors' reported use of PRISMA, and presence of funding statements. We included 19 SRs and median index scores were 0.86 for PRISMA (interquartile range [IQR] = 0.11; range = 0.32 to 1.00) and 0.67 for AMSTAR (IQR = 0.30; range = 0.22 to 1.00). Methodological and reporting problems pertained to protocol registration or publication, number of raters used, gray literature searches, excluded article lists, and unintegrated discussions of risk of bias and efficacy. Only journal impact factor was statistically significantly associated (positively) with PRISMA and AMSTAR index scores. The quality of SRs in health literacy and cancer screening was generally good. Systematic reviewers should register or publish their protocols, include PRISMA and AMSTAR checklists when submitting SRs to journals, and self-evaluate their SRs before submission. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  4. Synthesis and Thermal Characterization of Hydroxyapatite Powders Obtained by Sol-Gel Technique

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jiménez-Flores, Y.; Camacho, N.; Rojas-Trigos, J. B.; Suárez, M.

    The development of bioactive materials presents an interesting and an extremely relevant problem to solve, in the development of customized cranial and maxillofacial prosthesis, bioactive coating, and cements, for example. In such areas, one of the more employed materials is the synthetic hydroxyapatite, due to its proved biocompatibility with the human body; however, there are few studies about the thermal affinity with the biological surroundings, and most of them are centered in the thermal stability of the hydroxyapatite instead of its transient thermal response. In the present paper, the synthesis and physical-chemical characterization of hydroxyapatite samples, obtained by the sol-gel technique employing ultrasonic mixing, are reported. Employing X-ray diffraction patterns, XEDS and FTIR spectra, the crystal symmetry, chemical elements, and the present functional groups of the studied samples were determined and found to correspond to those reported in the literature, with a stoichiometry close to the ideal for biological applications. Additionally, by means of the photoacoustic detection and infrared photothermal radiometry (IPTR) techniques, the thermal response of the samples was obtained. Analyzing the photoacoustic data, the synthetized samples show photoacoustic opaqueness, responding in the thermally thick regime in the measurement range, and their thermal effusivity was also determined, having values of 1.47 folds the thermal effusivity of the mandibular human bone. Finally, from the IPTR measurements, the thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity of the samples were also determined, having good agreement with the reported values for synthetic hydroxyapatite. The structural and thermophysical properties of the here reported samples show that the synthesized samples have good thermal affinity with the mandibular human bone tissue, and are suitable for biomedical applications.

  5. Good Education, the Good Teacher, and a Practical Art of Living a Good Life: A Catholic Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hermans, Chris

    2017-01-01

    What is good education? We value education for reasons connected to the good provided by education in society. This good is connected to be the pedagogical aim of education. This article distinguishes five criteria for good education based on the concept of "Bildung". Next, these five criteria are used to develop the idea of the good…

  6. The risk of bias in systematic reviews tool showed fair reliability and good construct validity.

    PubMed

    Bühn, Stefanie; Mathes, Tim; Prengel, Peggy; Wegewitz, Uta; Ostermann, Thomas; Robens, Sibylle; Pieper, Dawid

    2017-11-01

    There is a movement from generic quality checklists toward a more domain-based approach in critical appraisal tools. This study aimed to report on a first experience with the newly developed risk of bias in systematic reviews (ROBIS) tool and compare it with A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR), that is, the most common used tool to assess methodological quality of systematic reviews while assessing validity, reliability, and applicability. Validation study with four reviewers based on 16 systematic reviews in the field of occupational health. Interrater reliability (IRR) of all four raters was highest for domain 2 (Fleiss' kappa κ = 0.56) and lowest for domain 4 (κ = 0.04). For ROBIS, median IRR was κ = 0.52 (range 0.13-0.88) for the experienced pair of raters compared to κ = 0.32 (range 0.12-0.76) for the less experienced pair of raters. The percentage of "yes" scores of each review of ROBIS ratings was strongly correlated with the AMSTAR ratings (r s  = 0.76; P = 0.01). ROBIS has fair reliability and good construct validity to assess the risk of bias in systematic reviews. More validation studies are needed to investigate reliability and applicability, in particular. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Coupled Oscillator Model of the Business Cycle withFluctuating Goods Markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ikeda, Y.; Aoyama, H.; Fujiwara, Y.; Iyetomi, H.; Ogimoto, K.; Souma, W.; Yoshikawa, H.

    The sectoral synchronization observed for the Japanese business cycle in the Indices of Industrial Production data is an example of synchronization. The stability of this synchronization under a shock, e.g., fluctuation of supply or demand, is a matter of interest in physics and economics. We consider an economic system made up of industry sectors and goods markets in order to analyze the sectoral synchronization observed for the Japanese business cycle. A coupled oscillator model that exhibits synchronization is developed based on the Kuramoto model with inertia by adding goods markets, and analytic solutions of the stationary state and the coupling strength are obtained. We simulate the effects on synchronization of a sectoral shock for systems with different price elasticities and the coupling strengths. Synchronization is reproduced as an equilibrium solution in a nearest neighbor graph. Analysis of the order parameters shows that the synchronization is stable for a finite elasticity, whereas the synchronization is broken and the oscillators behave like a giant oscillator with a certain frequency additional to the common frequency for zero elasticity.

  8. Punishment and reputation in spatial public goods games.

    PubMed

    Brandt, Hannelore; Hauert, Christoph; Sigmund, Karl

    2003-05-22

    The puzzle of the emergence of cooperation between unrelated individuals is shared across diverse fields of behavioural sciences and economics. In this article we combine the public goods game originating in economics with evolutionary approaches traditionally used in biology. Instead of pairwise encounters, we consider the more complex case of groups of three interacting individuals. We show that territoriality is capable of promoting cooperative behaviour, as in the case of the Prisoner's Dilemma. Moreover, by adding punishment opportunities, the readiness to cooperate is greatly enhanced and asocial strategies can be largely suppressed. Finally, as soon as players carry a reputation for being willing or unwilling to punish, highly cooperative and fair outcomes are achieved. This group-beneficial result is obtained, intriguingly, by making individuals more likely to exploit their co-players if they can get away with it. Thus, less-cooperative individuals make more-cooperative societies.

  9. Do good actions inspire good actions in others?

    PubMed

    Capraro, Valerio; Marcelletti, Alessandra

    2014-12-12

    Actions such as sharing food and cooperating to reach a common goal have played a fundamental role in the evolution of human societies. Despite the importance of such good actions, little is known about if and how they can spread from person to person to person. For instance, does being recipient of an altruistic act increase your probability of being cooperative with a third party? We have conducted an experiment on Amazon Mechanical Turk to test this mechanism using economic games. We have measured willingness to be cooperative through a standard Prisoner's dilemma and willingness to act altruistically using a binary Dictator game. In the baseline treatments, the endowments needed to play were given by the experimenters, as usual; in the control treatments, they came from a good action made by someone else. Across four different comparisons and a total of 572 subjects, we have never found a significant increase of cooperation or altruism when the endowment came from a good action. We conclude that good actions do not necessarily inspire good actions in others. While this is consistent with the theoretical prediction, it challenges the majority of other experimental studies.

  10. Optional contributions have positive effects for volunteering public goods games

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Song, Qi-Qing; Li, Zhen-Peng; Fu, Chang-He; Wang, Lai-Sheng

    2011-11-01

    Public goods (PG) games with the volunteering mechanism are referred to as volunteering public goods (VPG) games, in which loners are introduced to the PG games, and a loner obtains a constant payoff but not participating the game. Considering that small contributions may have positive effects to encourage more players with bounded rationality to contribute, this paper introduces optional contributions (high value or low value) to these typical VPG games-a cooperator can contribute a high or low payoff to the public pools. With the low contribution, the logit dynamics show that cooperation can be promoted in a well mixed population comparing to the typical VPG games, furthermore, as the multiplication factor is greater than a threshold, the average payoff of the population is also enhanced. In spatial VPG games, we introduce a new adjusting mechanism that is an approximation to best response. Some results in agreement with the prediction of the logit dynamics are found. These simulation results reveal that for VPG games the option of low contributions may be a better method to stimulate the growth of cooperation frequency and the average payoff of the population.

  11. Kinetic study of Candida antarctica lipase B immobilization using poly(methyl methacrylate) nanoparticles obtained by miniemulsion polymerization as support.

    PubMed

    Valério, Alexsandra; Nicoletti, Gabrieli; Cipolatti, Eliane P; Ninow, Jorge L; Araújo, Pedro H H; Sayer, Cláudia; de Oliveira, Débora

    2015-03-01

    With the objective to obtain immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B (CalB) with good activity and improved utilization rate, this study evaluated the influence of enzyme and crodamol concentrations and initiator type on the CalB enzyme immobilization in nanoparticles consisting of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) obtained by miniemulsion polymerization. The kinetic study of immobilized CalB enzyme in PMMA nanoparticles was evaluated in terms of monomer conversion, particle size, zeta potential, and relative activity. The optimum immobilization condition for CalB was compared with free enzyme in the p-NPL hydrolysis activity measurement. Results showed a higher CalB enzyme stability after 20 hydrolysis cycles compared with free CalB enzyme; in particular, the relative immobilized enzyme activity was maintained up to 40%. In conclusion, PMMA nanoparticles proved to be a good support for the CalB enzyme immobilization and may be used as a feasible alternative catalyst in industrial processes.

  12. CLEIA CA125 evidences: good analytical performance avoiding "Hook effect".

    PubMed

    Falzarano, R; Viggiani, V; Michienzi, S; Colaprisca, B; Longo, F; Frati, L; Anastasi, E

    2013-02-01

    Cancer antigen 125 (CA125) is a coelomic epithelium-related antigen carried by a high molecular weight glycoprotein complex. It is commonly used as a tumor marker for ovarian cancer to monitor disease progression and response to therapy and as an early detection for recurrence after treatment. The aim of this study was to test the reliability of two different assay methods, a radioimmunometric assay (RIA) and an automated chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) system, by measuring CA125 serum levels using both methods in 357 patients and comparing the results. Patients were recruited from Oncologic Unit A, Policlinico Umberto I, Roma. Eighty-six were healthy donors, while 271 were oncologic patients representing a variety of diagnoses. Within this group, 76 patients were diagnosed with an ovarian related pathology (28 cancerous and 48 benign). The evaluation of CA125 marker blood levels showed a high agreement in healthy donors group (R (2) = 0.9003). Interesting results emerged when sera collected from oncologic patients were assessed: significant differences between the two assays were found in nine samples. When assayed again with RIA after a dilution, new values agreed with undiluted CLEIA values (R (2) = 0.9847). Our data suggest an overall good comparison between the two methods. However, some artifacts were obtained with RIA and indicate an underlying presence of "hook effect". CLEIA automated assay showed a good reliability and should be preferred to one-step radioimmunoassays in order to minimize errors.

  13. Improved Correction of Atmospheric Pressure Data Obtained by Smartphones through Machine Learning

    PubMed Central

    Kim, Yong-Hyuk; Ha, Ji-Hun; Kim, Na-Young; Im, Hyo-Hyuc; Sim, Sangjin; Choi, Reno K. Y.

    2016-01-01

    A correction method using machine learning aims to improve the conventional linear regression (LR) based method for correction of atmospheric pressure data obtained by smartphones. The method proposed in this study conducts clustering and regression analysis with time domain classification. Data obtained in Gyeonggi-do, one of the most populous provinces in South Korea surrounding Seoul with the size of 10,000 km2, from July 2014 through December 2014, using smartphones were classified with respect to time of day (daytime or nighttime) as well as day of the week (weekday or weekend) and the user's mobility, prior to the expectation-maximization (EM) clustering. Subsequently, the results were analyzed for comparison by applying machine learning methods such as multilayer perceptron (MLP) and support vector regression (SVR). The results showed a mean absolute error (MAE) 26% lower on average when regression analysis was performed through EM clustering compared to that obtained without EM clustering. For machine learning methods, the MAE for SVR was around 31% lower for LR and about 19% lower for MLP. It is concluded that pressure data from smartphones are as good as the ones from national automatic weather station (AWS) network. PMID:27524999

  14. An identified antioxidant peptide obtained from ostrich (Struthio camelus) egg white protein hydrolysate shows wound healing properties.

    PubMed

    Homayouni-Tabrizi, Masoud; Asoodeh, Ahmad; Abbaszadegan, Mohammad-Reza; Shahrokhabadi, Khadijeh; Nakhaie Moghaddam, Mahboobeh

    2015-08-01

    Ostrich (Struthio camelus) egg possesses a high amount of food proteins and thus plays an important role in nutrition. Ostrich egg white proteins were hydrolyzed with pepsin and pancreatin to examine its antioxidant properties and further characterized the most active peptide. Ostrich egg white protein hydrolysate (OEWPH) was fractionized using reversed phase high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). The antioxidant activity of OEWPH and its HPLC fraction were investigated based on their scavenging capacity1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, 2,2'-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS), superoxide ([Formula: see text]), hydroxyl (OH(•-)) radicals, and Cu(+2) chelating. In a wound healing assay, paravertebral excision (1 cm diameter) was made on the skin and the percentage of wound closure was measured at defined intervals (0, 3, 7, and 14 d). A potent antioxidant peptide named DG-10 with the sequence DAESLSRLLG (MW: 1060.18 ± 0.5 Da) was identified from OEWPH. The peptide DG-10 showed DPPH (IC50 = 0.0085 mg/ml), ABTS(•+) (IC50 = 0.56 mg/ml), superoxide (IC50 = 0.36 mg/ml), and hydroxyl (IC50 = 0.4 mg/ml) radical scavenger and copper chelating activity (IC50 = 0.28 mg/ml). In vitro cultured HFLF-pI 5, the cell model, also revealed that DG-10 could protect HFLF-pI 5 cells against H2O2-treated necrosis. Ointment composed of DG-10 peptide exhibited wound-healing properties on adult rats (Wistar strain). The percentage of wound closure in peptide-treated group was 98% by day 14. Our results suggested that DG-10 is a natural agent obtained from ostrich egg possessing considerable antioxidant and wound-healing properties.

  15. The Role of Forgetting in Undermining Good Intentions

    PubMed Central

    Olson, Kristina R.; Heberlein, Andrea S.; Kensinger, Elizabeth; Burrows, Christopher; Dweck, Carol S.; Spelke, Elizabeth S.; Banaji, Mahzarin R.

    2013-01-01

    Evaluating others is a fundamental feature of human social interaction–we like those who help more than those who hinder. In the present research, we examined social evaluation of those who not only intentionally performed good and bad actions but also those to whom good things have happened (the lucky) and those to whom bad things have happened (the unlucky). In Experiment 1a, subjects demonstrated a sympathetic preference for the unlucky. However, under cognitive load (Experiment 1b), no such preference was expressed. Further, in Experiments 2a and 2b, when a time delay between impression formation (learning) and evaluation (memory test) was introduced, results showed that younger (Experiment 2a) and older adults (Experiment 2b) showed a significant preference for the lucky. Together these experiments show that a consciously motivated sympathetic preference for those who are unlucky dissolves when memory is disrupted. The observed dissociation provides evidence for the presence of conscious good intentions (favoring the unlucky) and the cognitive compromising of such intentions when memory fails. PMID:24236093

  16. Pedagogical Uses of the Public Goods Concept in Economics.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kiesling, Herbert J.

    1990-01-01

    Describes some of the relatively unknown aspects of the concept of public goods and shows how they might be brought into undergraduate textbooks in microeconomic principles, public finance, and welfare economics. Illustrates how these aspects of public goods can be brought into undergraduate instruction. (DB)

  17. [Obtaining a fermented chickpea extract (Cicer arietinum L.) and its use as a milk extensor].

    PubMed

    Morales de León, J; Cassís Nosthas, M L; Cecin Salomón, P

    2000-06-01

    Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) is cultivated in the North part of México and it is considered a good source of vegetal protein of low cost (20% average), nevertheless, the 80% used for the exportation and only the 20% less was used for animal feeding. The main objective in this study is to obtain a fermented chickpea extract for using in dairy extensor. Chickpea water absorbtion kinetics were carried out in e temperature conditions:while the conditions were established, chickpea was grounded and fermented in different amounts with its natural flora, L. casei, L. plantarum and a mixture culture of both microorganism in logarithmic phase. The results showed that the presence of microorganism of chickpea natural flora interferes during the fermentation, so before the inoculation it was necessary treat the chickpea extract (CE) terminally in a dilution 1:4 during 20 min at 7.7 kg/cm2 of pressure. The use of a mixture culture of 5% of L. casei and 5% L. plantarum inoculated in MRS broth was used to decrease fermentation time. Its addition in logarithmic phase to the sterile chickpea extract increased the lactic acid production and decreased the pH value in 6 h which was less time that one obtained with each of lactobacillus. The fermented extract obtained finally, presented similar sensory characteristics to the ones of dairy products. Therefore, chickpea is a good alternative as a extensor for this kind of products.

  18. Capillary pressure curves for low permeability chalk obtained by NMR imaging of core saturation profiles

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

    Norgaard, J.V.; Olsen, D.; Springer, N.

    1995-12-31

    A new technique for obtaining water-oil capillary pressure curves, based on NMR imaging of the saturation distribution in flooded cores is presented. In this technique, a steady state fluid saturation profile is developed by flooding the core at a constant flow rate. At the steady state situation where the saturation distribution no longer changes, the local pressure difference between the wetting and non-wetting phases represents the capillary pressure. The saturation profile is measured using an NMR technique and for a drainage case, the pressure in the non-wetting phase is calculated numerically. The paper presents the NMR technique and the proceduremore » for calculating the pressure distribution in the sample. Inhomogeneous samples produce irregular saturation profiles, which may be interpreted in terms of variation in permeability, porosity, and capillary pressure. Capillary pressure curves for North Sea chalk obtained by the new technique show good agreement with capillary pressure curves obtained by traditional techniques.« less

  19. 19 CFR 10.521 - Goods eligible for tariff preference level claims.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement Tariff Preference Level § 10.521 Goods eligible for tariff... assembled in Singapore from fabric or yarn produced or obtained outside the territory of Singapore or the...

  20. Treatment-resistant depressed patients show a good response to Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy

    PubMed Central

    Kenny, M.A.; Williams, J.M.G.

    2007-01-01

    Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a class-based programme designed for use in the prevention of relapse of major depression. Its aim is to teach participants to disengage from those cognitive processes that may render them vulnerable to future episodes. These same cognitive processes are also known to maintain depression once established, hence a clinical audit was conducted to explore the use of MBCT in patients who were currently actively depressed, and who had not responded fully to standard treatments. The study showed that it was acceptable to these patients and resulted in an improvement in depression scores (pre-post Effect Size=1.04), with a significant proportion of patients returning to normal or near-normal levels of mood. PMID:16797486

  1. Switch for Good Community Program

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

    Crawford, Tabitha; Amran, Martha

    2013-11-19

    Switch4Good is an energy-savings program that helps residents reduce consumption from behavior changes; it was co-developed by Balfour Beatty Military Housing Management (BB) and WattzOn in Phase I of this grant. The program was offered at 11 Navy bases. Three customer engagement strategies were evaluated, and it was found that Digital Nudges (a combination of monthly consumption statements with frequent messaging via text or email) was most cost-effective. The program was delivered on-time and on-budget, and its success is based on the teamwork of local BB staff and the WattzOn team. The following graphic shows Switch4Good “by the numbers”, e.g.more » the scale of operations achieved during Phase I.« less

  2. Depreciation of public goods in spatial public goods games

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shi, Dong-Mei; Zhuang, Yong; Li, Yu-Jian; Wang, Bing-Hong

    2011-10-01

    In real situations, the value of public goods will be reduced or even lost because of external factors or for intrinsic reasons. In this work, we investigate the evolution of cooperation by considering the effect of depreciation of public goods in spatial public goods games on a square lattice. It is assumed that each individual gains full advantage if the number of the cooperators nc within a group centered on that individual equals or exceeds the critical mass (CM). Otherwise, there is depreciation of the public goods, which is realized by rescaling the multiplication factor r to (nc/CM)r. It is shown that the emergence of cooperation is remarkably promoted for CM > 1 even at small values of r, and a global cooperative level is achieved at an intermediate value of CM = 4 at a small r. We further study the effect of depreciation of public goods on different topologies of a regular lattice, and find that the system always reaches global cooperation at a moderate value of CM = G - 1 regardless of whether or not there exist overlapping triangle structures on the regular lattice, where G is the group size of the associated regular lattice.

  3. VizieR Online Data Catalog: GOODS-S CANDELS multiwavelength catalog (Guo+, 2013)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Y.; Ferguson, H. C.; Giavalisco, M.; Barro, G.; Willner, S. P.; Ashby, M. L. N.; Dahlen, T.; Donley, J. L.; Faber, S. M.; Fontana, A.; Galametz, A.; Grazian, A.; Huang, K.-H.; Kocevski, D. D.; Koekemoer, A. M.; Koo, D. C.; McGrath, E. J.; Peth, M.; Salvato, M.; Wuyts, S.; Castellano, M.; Cooray, A. R.; Dickinson, M. E.; Dunlop, J. S.; Fazio, G. G.; Gardner, J. P.; Gawiser, E.; Grogin, N. A.; Hathi, N. P.; Hsu, L.-T.; Lee, K.-S.; Lucas, R. A.; Mobasher, B.; Nandra, K.; Newman, J. A.; van der Wel, A.

    2014-04-01

    The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS; Grogin et al. 2011ApJS..197...35G; Koekemoer et al. 2011ApJS..197...36K) is designed to document galaxy formation and evolution over the redshift range of z=1.5-8. The core of CANDELS is to use the revolutionary near-infrared HST/WFC3 camera, installed on HST in 2009 May, to obtain deep imaging of faint and faraway objects. The GOODS-S field, centered at RAJ2000=03:32:30 and DEJ2000=-27:48:20 and located within the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS; Giacconi et al. 2002, Cat. J/ApJS/139/369), is a sky region of about 170arcmin2 which has been targeted for some of the deepest observations ever taken by NASA's Great Observatories, HST, Spitzer, and Chandra as well as by other world-class telescopes. The field has been (among others) imaged in the optical wavelength with HST/ACS in F435W, F606W, F775W, and F850LP bands as part of the HST Treasury Program: the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS; Giavalisco et al. 2004, Cat. II/261); in the mid-IR (3.6-24um) wavelength with Spitzer as part of the GOODS Spitzer Legacy Program (PI: M. Dickinson). The CDF-S/GOODS field was observed by the MOSAIC II imager on the CTIO 4m Blanco telescope to obtain deep U-band observations in 2001 September. Another U-band survey in GOODS-S was carried out using the VIMOS instrument mounted at the Melipal Unit Telescope of the VLT at ESO's Cerro Paranal Observatory, Chile. This large program of ESO (168.A-0485; PI: C. Cesarsky) was obtained in service mode observations in UT3 between 2004 August and fall 2006. In the ground-based NIR, imaging observations of the CDFS were carried out in J, H, Ks bands using the ISAAC instrument mounted at the Antu Unit Telescope of the VLT. Data were obtained as part of the ESO Large Programme 168.A-0485 (PI: C. Cesarsky) as well as ESO Programmes 64.O-0643, 66.A-0572, and 68.A-0544 (PI: E. Giallongo) with a total allocation time of ~500 hr from 1999 October to 2007 January

  4. Comparison of ozone profiles obtained with NIES DIAL and SAGE II measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nakane, Hideaki; Sasano, Yasuhiro; Hayashida-Amano, Sachiko; Sugimoto, Nobuo; Matsui, Ichiro; Minato, Atsushi; Mccormick, M. P.

    1993-01-01

    Ozone profiles obtained with the Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) (Tsukuba, Japan) were compared with data provided by the satellite sensor SAGE II. The SAGE II data were selected based on criteria of spatial and temporal differences between the DIAL and the SAGE II measurements: five degrees in latitude and 15 degrees in longitude, within a latitudinal band from 31 deg to 41 deg N, and within one, three and five days after or before the DIAL measurements. Results show very good agreement for the individual and the zonal-mean profiles. The average mean difference between the DIAL and the SAGE II measurements over the altitudes 15-50 km was about 10 percent.

  5. Pigeons can discriminate "good" and "bad" paintings by children.

    PubMed

    Watanabe, Shigeru

    2010-01-01

    Humans have the unique ability to create art, but non-human animals may be able to discriminate "good" art from "bad" art. In this study, I investigated whether pigeons could be trained to discriminate between paintings that had been judged by humans as either "bad" or "good". To do this, adult human observers first classified several children's paintings as either "good" (beautiful) or "bad" (ugly). Using operant conditioning procedures, pigeons were then reinforced for pecking at "good" paintings. After the pigeons learned the discrimination task, they were presented with novel pictures of both "good" and "bad" children's paintings to test whether they had successfully learned to discriminate between these two stimulus categories. The results showed that pigeons could discriminate novel "good" and "bad" paintings. Then, to determine which cues the subjects used for the discrimination, I conducted tests of the stimuli when the paintings were of reduced size or grayscale. In addition, I tested their ability to discriminate when the painting stimuli were mosaic and partial occluded. The pigeons maintained discrimination performance when the paintings were reduced in size. However, discrimination performance decreased when stimuli were presented as grayscale images or when a mosaic effect was applied to the original stimuli in order to disrupt spatial frequency. Thus, the pigeons used both color and pattern cues for their discrimination. The partial occlusion did not disrupt the discriminative behavior suggesting that the pigeons did not attend to particular parts, namely upper, lower, left or right half, of the paintings. These results suggest that the pigeons are capable of learning the concept of a stimulus class that humans name "good" pictures. The second experiment showed that pigeons learned to discriminate watercolor paintings from pastel paintings. The subjects showed generalization to novel paintings. Then, as the first experiment, size reduction test

  6. Virtual goods recommendations in virtual worlds.

    PubMed

    Chen, Kuan-Yu; Liao, Hsiu-Yu; Chen, Jyun-Hung; Liu, Duen-Ren

    2015-01-01

    Virtual worlds (VWs) are computer-simulated environments which allow users to create their own virtual character as an avatar. With the rapidly growing user volume in VWs, platform providers launch virtual goods in haste and stampede users to increase sales revenue. However, the rapidity of development incurs virtual unrelated items which will be difficult to remarket. It not only wastes virtual global companies' intelligence resources, but also makes it difficult for users to find suitable virtual goods fit for their virtual home in daily virtual life. In the VWs, users decorate their houses, visit others' homes, create families, host parties, and so forth. Users establish their social life circles through these activities. This research proposes a novel virtual goods recommendation method based on these social interactions. The contact strength and contact influence result from interactions with social neighbors and influence users' buying intention. Our research highlights the importance of social interactions in virtual goods recommendation. The experiment's data were retrieved from an online VW platform, and the results show that the proposed method, considering social interactions and social life circle, has better performance than existing recommendation methods.

  7. Virtual Goods Recommendations in Virtual Worlds

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Kuan-Yu; Liao, Hsiu-Yu; Chen, Jyun-Hung; Liu, Duen-Ren

    2015-01-01

    Virtual worlds (VWs) are computer-simulated environments which allow users to create their own virtual character as an avatar. With the rapidly growing user volume in VWs, platform providers launch virtual goods in haste and stampede users to increase sales revenue. However, the rapidity of development incurs virtual unrelated items which will be difficult to remarket. It not only wastes virtual global companies' intelligence resources, but also makes it difficult for users to find suitable virtual goods fit for their virtual home in daily virtual life. In the VWs, users decorate their houses, visit others' homes, create families, host parties, and so forth. Users establish their social life circles through these activities. This research proposes a novel virtual goods recommendation method based on these social interactions. The contact strength and contact influence result from interactions with social neighbors and influence users' buying intention. Our research highlights the importance of social interactions in virtual goods recommendation. The experiment's data were retrieved from an online VW platform, and the results show that the proposed method, considering social interactions and social life circle, has better performance than existing recommendation methods. PMID:25834837

  8. Model of wealth and goods dynamics in a closed market

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ausloos, Marcel; Peķalski, Andrzej

    2007-01-01

    A simple computer simulation model of a closed market on a fixed network with free flow of goods and money is introduced. The model contains only two variables: the amount of goods and money beside the size of the system. An initially flat distribution of both variables is presupposed. We show that under completely random rules, i.e. through the choice of interacting agent pairs on the network and of the exchange rules that the market stabilizes in time and shows diversification of money and goods. We also indicate that the difference between poor and rich agents increases for small markets, as well as for systems in which money is steadily deduced from the market through taxation. It is also found that the price of goods decreases when taxes are introduced, likely due to the less availability of money.

  9. Preparation and characterisation of titania/hydroxyapatite composite coatings obtained by sol-gel process.

    PubMed

    Milella, E; Cosentino, F; Licciulli, A; Massaro, C

    2001-06-01

    In the present work a titania network encapsulating a hydroxyapatite particulate phase is proposed as a bioceramic composite coating. The coating on a titanium substrate was produced starting from a sol containing a mixture of titania colloidal particles and hydroxyapatite submicron particles using the dip-coating technique. The microstructure, the morphology and the surface chemical composition of the coating were characterised using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. Adhesion tests were also performed. These analyses showed that the obtained coating was chemically clean, homogeneous, rough, porous, with a low thickness and well-defined phase composition as well as a good adhesion to the substrate.

  10. 19 CFR 10.605 - Goods classifiable as goods put up in sets.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ...-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement Rules of Origin § 10.605 Goods classifiable as goods... 19 Customs Duties 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Goods classifiable as goods put up in sets. 10.605 Section 10.605 Customs Duties U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY...

  11. Goodness-of-Fit Assessment of Item Response Theory Models

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maydeu-Olivares, Alberto

    2013-01-01

    The article provides an overview of goodness-of-fit assessment methods for item response theory (IRT) models. It is now possible to obtain accurate "p"-values of the overall fit of the model if bivariate information statistics are used. Several alternative approaches are described. As the validity of inferences drawn on the fitted model…

  12. Problems in obtaining perfect images by single-particle electron cryomicroscopy of biological structures in amorphous ice.

    PubMed

    Henderson, Richard; McMullan, Greg

    2013-02-01

    Theoretical considerations together with simulations of single-particle electron cryomicroscopy images of biological assemblies in ice demonstrate that atomic structures should be obtainable from images of a few thousand asymmetric units, provided the molecular weight of the whole assembly being studied is greater than the minimum needed for accurate position and orientation determination. However, with present methods of specimen preparation and current microscope and detector technologies, many more particles are needed, and the alignment of smaller assemblies is difficult or impossible. Only larger structures, with enough signal to allow good orientation determination and with enough images to allow averaging of many hundreds of thousands or even millions of asymmetric units, have successfully produced high-resolution maps. In this review, we compare the contrast of experimental electron cryomicroscopy images of two smaller molecular assemblies, namely apoferritin and beta-galactosidase, with that expected from perfect simulated images calculated from their known X-ray structures. We show that the contrast and signal-to-noise ratio of experimental images still require significant improvement before it will be possible to realize the full potential of single-particle electron cryomicroscopy. In particular, although reasonably good orientations can be obtained for beta-galactosidase, we have been unable to obtain reliable orientation determination from experimental images of apoferritin. Simulations suggest that at least 2-fold improvement of the contrast in experimental images at ~10 Å resolution is needed and should be possible.

  13. Shelf life of packaged bakery goods--a review.

    PubMed

    Galić, K; Curić, D; Gabrić, D

    2009-05-01

    Packaging requirements for fresh bakery goods are often minimal as many of the products are for immediate consumption. However, packaging can be an important factor in extending the shelf life of other cereal-based goods (toast, frozen products, biscuits, cakes, pastas). Some amount of the texture changes and flavor loss manifest over the shelf life of a soft-baked good can usually be minimized or delayed by effective use of packaging materials. The gains in the extension of shelf life will be application specific. It is recognized that defining the shelf life of a food is a difficult task and is an area of intense research for food product development scientists (food technologists, microbiologists, packaging experts). Proper application of chemical kinetic principles to food quality loss allows for efficiently designing appropriate shelf-life tests and maximizing the useful information that can be obtained from the resulting data. In the development of any new food product including reformulating, change of packaging, or storage/distribution condition (to penetrate into a new market), one important aspect is the knowledge of shelf life.

  14. "Good mothering" or "good citizenship"?

    PubMed

    Porter, Maree; Kerridge, Ian H; Jordens, Christopher F C

    2012-03-01

    Umbilical cord blood banking is one of many biomedical innovations that confront pregnant women with new choices about what they should do to secure their own and their child's best interests. Many mothers can now choose to donate their baby's umbilical cord blood (UCB) to a public cord blood bank or pay to store it in a private cord blood bank. Donation to a public bank is widely regarded as an altruistic act of civic responsibility. Paying to store UCB may be regarded as a "unique opportunity" to provide "insurance" for the child's future. This paper reports findings from a survey of Australian women that investigated the decision to either donate or store UCB. We conclude that mothers are faced with competing discourses that force them to choose between being a "good mother" and fulfilling their role as a "good citizen." We discuss this finding with reference to the concept of value pluralism.

  15. Sensitivity of control-augmented structure obtained by a system decomposition method

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sobieszczanskisobieski, Jaroslaw; Bloebaum, Christina L.; Hajela, Prabhat

    1988-01-01

    The verification of a method for computing sensitivity derivatives of a coupled system is presented. The method deals with a system whose analysis can be partitioned into subsets that correspond to disciplines and/or physical subsystems that exchange input-output data with each other. The method uses the partial sensitivity derivatives of the output with respect to input obtained for each subset separately to assemble a set of linear, simultaneous, algebraic equations that are solved for the derivatives of the coupled system response. This sensitivity analysis is verified using an example of a cantilever beam augmented with an active control system to limit the beam's dynamic displacements under an excitation force. The verification shows good agreement of the method with reference data obtained by a finite difference technique involving entire system analysis. The usefulness of a system sensitivity method in optimization applications by employing a piecewise-linear approach to the same numerical example is demonstrated. The method's principal merits are its intrinsically superior accuracy in comparison with the finite difference technique, and its compatibility with the traditional division of work in complex engineering tasks among specialty groups.

  16. A Positive Approach to Good Grammar

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kuehner, Alison V.

    2016-01-01

    Correct grammar is important for precise, accurate, academic prose, but the traditional skills-based approach to teaching grammar is not effective if the goal is good writing. The sentence-combining approach shows promise. However, sentence modeling is more likely to produce strong writing and enhance reading comprehension. Through sentence…

  17. Gender Equality or Primacy of the Mother? Ambivalent Descriptions of Good Parents

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perl-Littunen, Satu

    2007-01-01

    The ideology of gender equality is accepted as the norm in the Nordic countries. When asked to describe what they thought was required to be a good mother and a good father, Finnish informants (N = 387) showed uneasiness in describing good parents separately, however, often describing only a good mother. This article aims to explore the ambivalent…

  18. VizieR Online Data Catalog: GOODS-MUSIC sample: multicolour catalog (Grazian+, 2006)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Grazian, A.; Fontana, A.; de Santis, C.; Nonino, M.; Salimbeni, S.; Giallongo, E.; Cristiani, S.; Gallozzi, S.; Vanzella, E.

    2006-02-01

    The GOODS-MUSIC multi-wavelength catalog provides photometric and spectroscopic information for galaxies in the GOODS Southern field. It includes two U images obtained with the ESO 2.2m telescope and one U band image from VLT-VIMOS, the ACS-HST images in four optical (B,V,i,z) bands, the VLT-ISAAC J, H, and Ks bands as well as the Spitzer images in at 3.5, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 micron. Most of these images have been made publicly available in the coadded version by the GOODS team, while the U band data were retrieved in raw format and reduced by our team. We also collected all the available spectroscopic information from public spectroscopic surveys and cross-correlated the spectroscopic redshifts with our photometric catalog. For the unobserved fraction of the objects, we applied our photometric redshift code to obtain well-calibrated photometric redshifts. The final catalog is made up of 14847 objects, with at least 72 known stars, 68 AGNs, and 928 galaxies with spectroscopic redshift (668 galaxies with reliable redshift determination). (3 data files).

  19. Bioactive and biocompatible pieces of HA/sol-gel glass mixtures obtained by the gel-casting method.

    PubMed

    Padilla, S; Sánchez-Salcedo, S; Vallet-Regí, M

    2005-10-01

    Hydroxyapatite (HA)/glass mixtures have shown a faster bioactive behaviour than HA itself. On the other hand, the gel-casting method is a simple and reproducible colloidal method to produce ceramic pieces with complex shapes. In this work, pieces of HA/glass mixtures were prepared by the gel-casting method. A study for obtaining concentrated slurries of these mixtures is reported; the bioactivity and biocompatibility of the obtained pieces have been studied also. The influence of pH, dispersant concentration, the content and milling of glass, and the way to prepare the suspensions were investigated. The lowest viscosity and better rheological properties were achieved with the lowest glass content, when the glass was added after the dispersion of the HA powder and when the glass was not milled after calcination. Fluid suspensions with a high solid content (50 vol.%) could be prepared and well-shaped pieces were obtained from these slurries. These pieces showed in vitro bioactive behavior in simulated body fluid; additionally, the proliferation and spreading assays with osteoblastic cells (HOS) showed that the pieces are biocompatible. The results obtained indicate that the gel-casting of HA/glass mixtures produces bioactive and biocompatible pieces with the required shapes. Therefore, these materials could be good candidates for clinical applications and scaffolds for tissue engineering. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Residuals and the Residual-Based Statistic for Testing Goodness of Fit of Structural Equation Models

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Foldnes, Njal; Foss, Tron; Olsson, Ulf Henning

    2012-01-01

    The residuals obtained from fitting a structural equation model are crucial ingredients in obtaining chi-square goodness-of-fit statistics for the model. The authors present a didactic discussion of the residuals, obtaining a geometrical interpretation by recognizing the residuals as the result of oblique projections. This sheds light on the…

  1. Public goods games on adaptive coevolutionary networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pichler, Elgar; Shapiro, Avi M.

    2017-07-01

    Productive societies feature high levels of cooperation and strong connections between individuals. Public Goods Games (PGGs) are frequently used to study the development of social connections and cooperative behavior in model societies. In such games, contributions to the public good are made only by cooperators, while all players, including defectors, reap public goods benefits, which are shares of the contributions amplified by a synergy factor. Classic results of game theory show that mutual defection, as opposed to cooperation, is the Nash Equilibrium of PGGs in well-mixed populations, where each player interacts with all others. In this paper, we explore the coevolutionary dynamics of a low information public goods game on a complex network in which players adapt to their environment in order to increase individual payoffs relative to past payoffs parameterized by greediness. Players adapt by changing their strategies, either to cooperate or to defect, and by altering their social connections. We find that even if players do not know other players' strategies and connectivity, cooperation can arise and persist despite large short-term fluctuations.

  2. Public goods games on adaptive coevolutionary networks.

    PubMed

    Pichler, Elgar; Shapiro, Avi M

    2017-07-01

    Productive societies feature high levels of cooperation and strong connections between individuals. Public Goods Games (PGGs) are frequently used to study the development of social connections and cooperative behavior in model societies. In such games, contributions to the public good are made only by cooperators, while all players, including defectors, reap public goods benefits, which are shares of the contributions amplified by a synergy factor. Classic results of game theory show that mutual defection, as opposed to cooperation, is the Nash Equilibrium of PGGs in well-mixed populations, where each player interacts with all others. In this paper, we explore the coevolutionary dynamics of a low information public goods game on a complex network in which players adapt to their environment in order to increase individual payoffs relative to past payoffs parameterized by greediness. Players adapt by changing their strategies, either to cooperate or to defect, and by altering their social connections. We find that even if players do not know other players' strategies and connectivity, cooperation can arise and persist despite large short-term fluctuations.

  3. An Introduction to Goodness of Fit for PMU Parameter Estimation

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

    Riepnieks, Artis; Kirkham, Harold

    2017-10-01

    New results of measurements of phasor-like signals are presented based on our previous work on the topic. In this document an improved estimation method is described. The algorithm (which is realized in MATLAB software) is discussed. We examine the effect of noisy and distorted signals on the Goodness of Fit metric. The estimation method is shown to be performing very well with clean data and with a measurement window as short as a half a cycle and as few as 5 samples per cycle. The Goodness of Fit decreases predictably with added phase noise, and seems to be acceptable evenmore » with visible distortion in the signal. While the exact results we obtain are specific to our method of estimation, the Goodness of Fit method could be implemented in any phasor measurement unit.« less

  4. Comparison of biometric measurements obtained by the Verion Image-Guided System versus the auto-refracto-keratometer.

    PubMed

    Velasco-Barona, Cecilio; Cervantes-Coste, Guadalupe; Mendoza-Schuster, Erick; Corredor-Ortega, Claudia; Casillas-Chavarín, Nadia L; Silva-Moreno, Alejandro; Garza-León, Manuel; Gonzalez-Salinas, Roberto

    2018-06-01

    To compare the biometric measurements obtained from the Verion Image-Guided System to those obtained by auto-refracto-keratometer in normal eyes. This is a prospective, observational, comparative study conducted at the Asociación para Evitar la Ceguera en México I.A.P., Mexico. Three sets of keratometry measurements were obtained using the image-guided system to assess the coefficient of variation, the within-subject standard deviation and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). A paired Student t test was used to assess statistical significance between the Verion and the auto-refracto-keratometer. A Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) was obtained for all measurements, and the level of agreement was verified using Bland-Altman plots. The right eyes of 73 patients were evaluated by each platform. The Verion coefficient of variation was 0.3% for the flat and steep keratometry, with the ICC being greater than 0.9 for all parameters measured. Paired t test showed statistically significant differences between groups (P = 0.0001). A good correlation was evidenced for keratometry values between platforms (r = 0.903, P = 0.0001 for K1, and r = 0.890, P = 0.0001). Bland-Altman plots showed a wide data spread for all variables. The image-guided system provided highly repeatable corneal power and keratometry measurements. However, significant differences were evidenced between the two platforms, and although values were highly correlated, they showed a wide data spread for all analysed variables; therefore, their interchangeable use for biometry assessment is not advisable.

  5. AGN Variability in the GOODS Fields

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sarajedini, Vicki

    2007-07-01

    Variability is a proven method to identify intrinsically faint active nuclei in galaxies found in deep HST surveys. We propose to extend our short-term variability study of the GOODS fields to include the more recent epochs obtained via supernovae searchers, increasing the overall time baseline from 6 months to 2.5 years. Based on typical AGN lightcurves, we expect to detect 70% more AGN by including these more recent epochs. Variable-detected AGN samples complement current X-ray and mid-IR surveys for AGN by providing unambigous evidence of nuclear activity. Additionallty, a significant number of variable nuclei are not associated with X-ray or mid-IR sources and would thus go undetected. With the increased time baseline, we will be able to construct the structure function {variability amplitude vs. time} for low-luminosity AGN to z 1. The inclusion of the longer time interval will allow for better descrimination among the various models describing the nature of AGN variability. The variability survey will be compared against spectroscopically selected AGN from the Team Keck Redshift Survey of the GOODS-N and the upcoming Flamingos-II NIR survey of the GOODS-S. The high-resolution ACS images will be used to separate the AGN from the host galaxy light and study the morphology, size and environment of the host galaxy. These studies will address questions concerning the nature of low-luminosity AGN evolution and variability at z 1.

  6. Thermoluminescence properties of CaO powder obtained from chicken eggshells

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nagabhushana, K. R.; Lokesha, H. S.; Satyanarayana Reddy, S.; Prakash, D.; Veerabhadraswamy, M.; Bhagyalakshmi, H.; Jayaramaiah, J. R.

    2017-09-01

    Eggshell wastage has created serious problem in disposal of the food processing industry which has been triggered the thoughts of researchers to use wasted eggshells as good source of calcium. In the present work, calcium oxide (CaO) has been synthesized by combustion process in furnace (F-CaO) and microwave oven (M-CaO) using the source of chicken eggshells. The obtained F-CaO and M-CaO are characterized by XRD, SEM with EDX and thermoluminescence (TL) technique. XRD pattern of both the samples show cubic phase with crystallite size 45-52 nm. TL glow curves are recorded for various gamma radiation dose (300-4000 Gy). Two TL glows, a small peak at 424 K and stronger peak at 597 K are observed. TL response of M-CaO is 2.67 times higher than F-CaO sample. TL kinetic parameters are calculated by computerized curve deconvolution analysis (CCDA) and discussed.

  7. The relationship between ischaemia-modified albumin and good coronary collateral circulation.

    PubMed

    Gök, Murat; Kundi, Harun; Kızıltunç, Emrullah; Topcuoglu, Canan; Ornek, Ender

    2018-01-01

    It is important to determine the grade of the coronary collateral circulation (CCC) in patients with stable coronary artery disease. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between the ischaemia-modified albumin (IMA) level and good CCC. A total of 95 patients with coronary angiography and at least one epicardial coronary artery obstruction were included in the study. The Rentrop classification was used with CCC grading, where 0 and 1 were defined as poor collateral, and 2 and 3 were defined as good collateral. The IMA level of the patients was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The receiver-operating characteristic curve was used to show the sensitivity and specificity of IMA levels and the optimal cut-off value for predicting good CCC. The multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the IMA level in the good CCC group was higher (p < 0.045). Conversely, the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level was lower in the good CCC group (p < 0.023). We found an IMA cut-off value (4.7 ng/mL) that indicated good CCC level, and this shows good CCC with 70.2% sensitivity and 60.3% specificity. The IMA level could serve as a simple and useful predictor of well-developed CCC.

  8. Monetary and affective judgments of consumer goods: modes of evaluation matter.

    PubMed

    Seta, John J; Seta, Catherine E; McCormick, Michael; Gallagher, Ashleigh H

    2014-01-01

    Participants who evaluated 2 positively valued items separately reported more positive attraction (using affective and monetary measures) than those who evaluated the same two items as a unit. In Experiments 1-3, this separate/unitary evaluation effect was obtained when participants evaluated products that they were purchasing for a friend. Similar findings were obtained in Experiments 4 and 5 when we considered the amount participants were willing to spend to purchase insurance for items that they currently owned. The averaging/summation model was contrasted with several theoretical perspectives and implicated averaging and summation integration processes in how items are evaluated. The procedural and theoretical similarities and differences between this work and related research on unpacking, comparison processes, public goods, and price bundling are discussed. Overall, the results support the operation of integration processes and contribute to an understanding of how these processes influence the evaluation and valuation of private goods.

  9. In vitro performance of ceramic coatings obtained by high velocity oxy-fuel spray.

    PubMed

    Melero, H; Garcia-Giralt, N; Fernández, J; Díez-Pérez, A; Guilemany, J M

    2014-01-01

    Hydroxyapatite coatings obtained by plasma-spraying have been used for many years to improve biological performance of bone implants, but several studies have drawn attention to the problems arising from high temperatures and the lack of mechanical properties. In this study, plasma-spraying is substituted by high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) spray, with lower temperatures reached, and TiO2 is added in low amounts to hydroxyapatite in order to improve the mechanical properties. Four conditions have been tested to evaluate which are those with better biological properties. Viability and proliferation tests, as well as differentiation assays and morphology observation, are performed with human osteoblast cultures onto the studied coatings. The hydroxyapatite-TiO2 coatings maintain good cell viability and proliferation, especially the cases with higher amorphous phase amount and specific surface, and promote excellent differentiation, with a higher ALP amount for these cases than for polystyrene controls. Observation by SEM corroborates this excellent behaviour. In conclusion, these coatings are a good alternative to those used industrially, and an interesting issue would be improving biological behaviour of the worst cases, which in turn show the better mechanical properties.

  10. Toxicity assessments of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in isolated mitochondria, rat hepatocytes, and zebrafish show good concordance across chemical classes

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

    Nadanaciva, Sashi; Aleo, Michael D.; Strock, Christopher J.

    To reduce costly late-stage compound attrition, there has been an increased focus on assessing compounds in in vitro assays that predict attributes of human safety liabilities, before preclinical in vivo studies are done. Relevant questions when choosing a panel of assays for predicting toxicity are (a) whether there is general concordance in the data among the assays, and (b) whether, in a retrospective analysis, the rank order of toxicity of compounds in the assays correlates with the known safety profile of the drugs in humans. The aim of our study was to answer these questions using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)more » as a test set since NSAIDs are generally associated with gastrointestinal injury, hepatotoxicity, and/or cardiovascular risk, with mitochondrial impairment and endoplasmic reticulum stress being possible contributing factors. Eleven NSAIDs, flufenamic acid, tolfenamic acid, mefenamic acid, diclofenac, meloxicam, sudoxicam, piroxicam, diflunisal, acetylsalicylic acid, nimesulide, and sulindac (and its two metabolites, sulindac sulfide and sulindac sulfone), were tested for their effects on (a) the respiration of rat liver mitochondria, (b) a panel of mechanistic endpoints in rat hepatocytes, and (c) the viability and organ morphology of zebrafish. We show good concordance for distinguishing among/between NSAID chemical classes in the observations among the three approaches. Furthermore, the assays were complementary and able to correctly identify “toxic” and “non-toxic” drugs in accordance with their human safety profile, with emphasis on hepatic and gastrointestinal safety. We recommend implementing our multi-assay approach in the drug discovery process to reduce compound attrition. - Highlights: • NSAIDS cause liver and GI toxicity. • Mitochondrial uncoupling contributes to NSAID liver toxicity. • ER stress is a mechanism that contributes to liver toxicity. • Zebrafish and cell based assays are complimentary.« less

  11. Efficient Computing Budget Allocation for Finding Simplest Good Designs

    PubMed Central

    Jia, Qing-Shan; Zhou, Enlu; Chen, Chun-Hung

    2012-01-01

    In many applications some designs are easier to implement, require less training data and shorter training time, and consume less storage than the others. Such designs are called simple designs, and are usually preferred over complex ones when they all have good performance. Despite the abundant existing studies on how to find good designs in simulation-based optimization (SBO), there exist few studies on finding simplest good designs. We consider this important problem in this paper, and make the following contributions. First, we provide lower bounds for the probabilities of correctly selecting the m simplest designs with top performance, and selecting the best m such simplest good designs, respectively. Second, we develop two efficient computing budget allocation methods to find m simplest good designs and to find the best m such designs, respectively; and show their asymptotic optimalities. Third, we compare the performance of the two methods with equal allocations over 6 academic examples and a smoke detection problem in wireless sensor networks. We hope that this work brings insight to finding the simplest good designs in general. PMID:23687404

  12. A Good Teaching Technique: WebQuests

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Halat, Erdogan

    2008-01-01

    In this article, the author first introduces and describes a new teaching tool called WebQuests to practicing teachers. He then provides detailed information about the structure of a good WebQuest. Third, the author shows the strengths and weaknesses of using Web-Quests in teaching and learning. Last, he points out the challenges for practicing…

  13. Characterization of the carbonaceous materials obtained from different agro-industrial wastes.

    PubMed

    Ensuncho-Muñoz, A E; Carriazo, J G

    2015-01-01

    This paper reports the preparation and characterization of carbonaceous materials obtained from three types of vegetable wastes provided by agricultural industries. Soft carbonization (280°C) and H3PO4-activation procedures were used to convert the agricultural wastes to carbon powders with high adsorbent capacities. This process is excellent for eliminating and exploiting the huge masses (many tons) of vegetable residues remaining after each harvest every year in several Colombian agro-industries. The powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), IR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and N2-adsorption isotherms. XRD and IR verified the formation of carbons, and SEM showed small particles (20-500 µm) with characteristic morphology for each type of residue used and abundant cavities of different sizes. The N2-adsorption analyses showed that the carbons had high adsorption capacities with important surface area values and large pore volumes. The use of the activated carbonaceous materials as adsorbent of azo dyes (allura red and sunset yellow) from aqueous solutions was evaluated. The results showed a good adsorption capacity indicating the potentiality of these materials as pollutant adsorbents in food industry wastewaters. These results indicate that these powders can be used as potential adsorbents for different gaseous or liquid pollutants.

  14. 42 CFR 456.655 - Validation of showings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Administrator will not find an agency's showing satisfactory if the information obtained through his validation... 42 Public Health 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Validation of showings. 456.655 Section 456.655... Showing of an Effective Institutional Utilization Control Program § 456.655 Validation of showings. (a...

  15. Return on research investments: personal good versus public good

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fox, P. A.

    2017-12-01

    For some time the outputs, i.e. what's produced, of publicly and privately funded research while necessary, are far from sufficient, when considering an overall return on (research) investment. At the present time products such as peer-reviewed papers, websites, data, and software are recognized by funders on timescales related to research awards and reporting. However, from a consumer perspective impact and value are determined at the time a product is discovered, accessed, assessed and used. As is often the case, the perspectives of producer and consumer communities can be distinct and not intersect at all. We contrast personal good, i.e. credit, reputation, with that of public good, e.g. interest, leverage, exploitation, and more. This presentation will elaborate on both the metaphorical and idealogical aspects of applying a "return on investment" frame for the topic of assessing "good".

  16. Obtaining orthotropic elasticity tensor using entries zeroing method.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gierlach, Bartosz; Danek, Tomasz

    2017-04-01

    rotation. Computations were parallelized with OpenMP to decrease computational time what enables different tensors to be processed by different threads. As a result the distributions of rotated tensor entries values were obtained. For the entries which were to be zeroed we can observe almost normal distributions having mean equal to zero or sum of two normal distributions having inverse means. Non-zero entries represent different distributions with two or three maxima. Analysis of obtained results shows that described method produces consistent values of quaternions used to rotate tensors. Despite of less complex target function in a process of optimization in comparison to common approach, entries zeroing method provides results which can be applied to obtain an orthotropic tensor with good reliability. Modification of the method can produce also a tool for obtaining effective tensors belonging to another symmetry classes. This research was supported by the Polish National Science Center under contract No. DEC-2013/11/B/ST10/0472.

  17. Liquid hydrocarbon fuels obtained by the pyrolysis of soybean oils.

    PubMed

    Junming, Xu; Jianchun, Jiang; Yanju, Lu; Jie, Chen

    2009-10-01

    The pyrolysis reactions of soybean oils have been studied. The pyrolytic products were analyzed by GC-MS and FTIR and show the formation of olefins, paraffins, carboxylic acids and aldehydes. Several kinds of catalysts were compared. It was found that the amounts of carboxylic acids and aldehydes were significantly decreased by using base catalysts such as Na(2)CO(3) and K(2)CO(3). The low acid value pyrolytic products showed good cold flow properties and good solubility in diesel oil at low temperature. The results presented in this work have shown that the pyrolysis of soybean oils generates fuels that have chemical composition similar to petroleum based fuels.

  18. Homicides, Public Goods, and Population Health in the Context of High Urban Violence Rates in Cali, Colombia.

    PubMed

    Martínez, Lina; Prada, Sergio; Estrada, Daniela

    2018-06-01

    Obesity and frequent mental and physical distress are often associated with major health problems. The characteristics of the urban environment, such as homicide rates and public goods provision, play an important role in influencing participation in physical activity and in overall mental health. This study aimed to determine whether there was a relationship between homicide rates and public goods provision on the health outcomes of the citizens of Cali, Colombia, a city known for its high urban violence rate and low municipal investment in public goods. We used a linear probability model to relate homicide rates and public goods provision (lighted parks, effective public space per inhabitant, and bus stations) at the district level to health outcomes (obesity and frequent mental and physical distress). Individual data were obtained from the 2014 CaliBRANDO survey, and urban context characteristics were obtained from official government statistics. After controlling for individual covariates, results showed that homicide rates were a risk factor in all examined outcomes. An increase in 1.0 m 2 of public space per inhabitant reduced the probability of an individual being obese or overweight by 0.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) = - 0.004 to - 0.001) and the probability of frequent physical distress by 0.1% (95% CI = - 0.002 to - 0.001). On average, the presence of one additional bus station increased the probability of being obese or overweight by 1.1%, the probability of frequent mental distress by 0.3% (95% CI = 0.001-0.004), and the probability of frequent physical distress by 0.02% (95% CI = 0.000-0.003). Living in districts with adequate public space and lighted parks lowers the probability of being obese and high homicide rates, which are correlated with poor health outcomes in Cali, Colombia. Investments in public goods provision and urban safety to reduce obesity rates may contribute to a better quality of life for the population.

  19. Bounded rationality in volunteering public goods games.

    PubMed

    Xu, Zhaojin; Wang, Zhen; Zhang, Lianzhong

    2010-05-07

    It is one of the fundamental problems in biology and social sciences how to maintain high levels of cooperation among selfish individuals. Theorists present an effective mechanism promoting cooperation by allowing for voluntary participation in public goods games. But Nash's theory predicts that no one can do better or worse than loners (players unwilling to join the public goods game) in the long run, and that the frequency of participants is independent of loners' payoff. In this paper, we introduce a degree of rationality and investigate the model by means of an approximate best response dynamics. Our research shows that the payoffs of the loners have a significant effect in anonymous voluntary public goods games by this introduction and that the dynamics will drive the system to a fixed point, which is different from the Nash equilibrium. In addition, we also qualitatively explain the existing experimental results. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Size-controlled gold nanoparticles obtained from electrodeposited amidoferrocenylpoly(propyleneimine) dendrimer-templates for the electrochemical sensing of dopamine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Villena, Carlos; Bravo, Marta; Alonso, Beatriz; Casado, Carmen M.; Losada, José; García Armada, M. Pilar

    2017-10-01

    Nanometer-scale gold particles exhibit size-dependent electronic properties with important sensing and biosensing applications. In the same way, a lot of analytes show some type of surface-sensitive reaction and the electrode material has a strong influence on the catalytic activity. In this work we study the kinetics and electrochemistry of electrodes with size controlled gold nanoparticles, obtained by electrodeposited amidoferrocenylpoly(propyleneimine) dendrimers of two generations as templates, and the kinetics and the analytical response to the oxidation of dopamine. We demonstrate that the four-types of modified electrodes show good catalytic responses toward the oxidation of dopamine via different processes in relation with the absence or presence of gold nanoparticles and their size. The best response was obtained with the largest nanoparticles, obtained with the first generation dendrimer-template at 0.3 V vs. SCE, with three linear ranges (0-70, 70-600 and 600-1000 μM), with sensitivities 585.7; 466.0 and 314.3 μA/mM cm2, and limit of detection of 0.01 μM. The effect of interfering substances has been studied by differential pulse voltammetry and the developed sensor has been successfully used for the determination of dopamine in a commercial dopamine hydrochloride injection and in spiked Human urine.

  1. Spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis of nanocrystalline silicon carbide obtained at low temperature

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kerdiles, S.; Madelon, R.; Rizk, R.

    2001-12-01

    Thin films of silicon carbide obtained by hydrogen-reactive magnetron sputtering with various substrate temperatures TS (100-600 °C) were analysed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). The TEM images show evidence of the growth of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon carbide (nc-SiC:H) deposited at TS as low as 300 °C, with an average grain size of 4-5 nm. The SE spectra were reproduced by using the Forouhi-Bloomer model and assuming a 7 nm thick overlayer with a void fraction of 45%. The observed increase of the refractive index with TS is assigned to the improvement of both crystallinity and compactness of the layer. The expected increase of the optical gap seems to be offset by the drop of hydrogen content, leaving the gap unchanged. The fabrication and characteristics of nc-SiC:H/c-Si diode are finally described and the data indicate a good rectifying behaviour, together with a low leakage current.

  2. Design and Application of Automatic Falling Device for Different Brands of Goods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Xudong; Ge, Qingkuan; Zuo, Ping; Peng, Tao; Dong, Weifu

    2017-12-01

    The Goods-Falling device is an important device in the intelligent sorting goods sorting system, which is responsible for the temporary storage and counting of the goods, and the function of putting the goods on the conveyor belt according to certain precision requirements. According to the present situation analysis and actual demand of the domestic goods sorting equipment, a vertical type Goods - Falling Device is designed and the simulation model of the device is established. The dynamic characteristics such as the angular error of the opening and closing mechanism are carried out by ADAMS software. The simulation results show that the maximum angular error is 0.016rad. Through the test of the device, the goods falling speed is 7031/hour, the good of the falling position error within 2mm, meet the crawl accuracy requirements of the palletizing robot.

  3. Dynamic pricing of network goods with boundedly rational consumers.

    PubMed

    Radner, Roy; Radunskaya, Ami; Sundararajan, Arun

    2014-01-07

    We present a model of dynamic monopoly pricing for a good that displays network effects. In contrast with the standard notion of a rational-expectations equilibrium, we model consumers as boundedly rational and unable either to pay immediate attention to each price change or to make accurate forecasts of the adoption of the network good. Our analysis shows that the seller's optimal price trajectory has the following structure: The price is low when the user base is below a target level, is high when the user base is above the target, and is set to keep the user base stationary once the target level has been attained. We show that this pricing policy is robust to a number of extensions, which include the product's user base evolving over time and consumers basing their choices on a mixture of a myopic and a "stubborn" expectation of adoption. Our results differ significantly from those that would be predicted by a model based on rational-expectations equilibrium and are more consistent with the pricing of network goods observed in practice.

  4. Dynamic pricing of network goods with boundedly rational consumers

    PubMed Central

    Radner, Roy; Radunskaya, Ami; Sundararajan, Arun

    2014-01-01

    We present a model of dynamic monopoly pricing for a good that displays network effects. In contrast with the standard notion of a rational-expectations equilibrium, we model consumers as boundedly rational and unable either to pay immediate attention to each price change or to make accurate forecasts of the adoption of the network good. Our analysis shows that the seller’s optimal price trajectory has the following structure: The price is low when the user base is below a target level, is high when the user base is above the target, and is set to keep the user base stationary once the target level has been attained. We show that this pricing policy is robust to a number of extensions, which include the product’s user base evolving over time and consumers basing their choices on a mixture of a myopic and a “stubborn” expectation of adoption. Our results differ significantly from those that would be predicted by a model based on rational-expectations equilibrium and are more consistent with the pricing of network goods observed in practice. PMID:24367101

  5. Cefepime shows good efficacy and no antibiotic resistance in pneumonia caused by Serratia marcescens and Proteus mirabilis - an observational study.

    PubMed

    Yayan, Josef; Ghebremedhin, Beniam; Rasche, Kurt

    2016-03-23

    Many antibiotics have no effect on Gram-positive and Gram-negative microbes, which necessitates the prescription of broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents that can lead to increased risk of antibiotic resistance. These pathogens constitute a further threat because they are also resistant to numerous beta-lactam antibiotics, as well as other antibiotic groups. This study retrospectively investigates antimicrobial resistance in hospitalized patients suffering from pneumonia triggered by Gram-negative Serratia marcescens or Proteus mirabilis. The demographic and clinical data analyzed in this study were obtained from the clinical databank of the HELIOS Clinic, Witten/Herdecke University, Wuppertal, Germany, for inpatients presenting with pneumonia triggered by S. marcescens or P. mirabilis from 2004 to 2014. An antibiogram was conducted for the antibiotics utilized as part of the management of patients with pneumonia triggered by these two pathogens. Pneumonia was caused by Gram-negative bacteria in 115 patients during the study period from January 1, 2004, to August 12, 2014. Of these, 43 (37.4 %) hospitalized patients [26 males (60.5 %, 95 % CI 45.9 %-75.1 %) and 17 females (39.5 %, 95 % CI 24.9 %-54.1 %)] with mean age of 66.2 ± 13.4 years had pneumonia triggered by S. marcescens, while 20 (17.4 %) patients [14 males (70 %, 95 % CI 49.9 %-90.1 %) and 6 females (30 %, 95 % CI 9.9 %-50.1 %)] with a mean age of 64.6 ± 12.8 years had pneumonia caused by P. mirabilis. S. marcescens showed an increased antibiotic resistance to ampicillin (100 %), ampicillin-sulbactam (100 %), and cefuroxime (100 %). P. mirabilis had a high resistance to tetracycline (100 %) and ampicillin (55 %). S. marcescens (P < 0.0001) and P. mirabilis (P = 0.0003) demonstrated no resistance to cefepime in these patients with pneumonia. S. marcescens and P. mirabilis were resistant to several commonly used antimicrobial agents, but showed no resistance to

  6. The Good Work.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly

    2003-01-01

    Examines the working lives of geneticists and journalists to place into perspective what lies behind personal ethics and success. Defines "good work" as productive activity that is valued socially and loved by people engaged in it. Asserts that certain cultural values, social controls, and personal standards are necessary to maintain good work and…

  7. Changes during storage of quality parameters and in vitro antioxidant activity of extra virgin monovarietal oils obtained with two extraction technologies.

    PubMed

    Fadda, C; Del Caro, A; Sanguinetti, A M; Urgeghe, P P; Vacca, V; Arca, P P; Piga, A

    2012-10-01

    Extraction technology has a great effect on quality of olive oils. This paper studied 18 months of storage of two Sardinian extra virgin monovarietal oils obtained with a traditional and with a low oxidative stress technology. Oil samples were subjected to the following chemical analyses: acidity, peroxide value, ultraviolet light absorption K₂₃₂ and K₂₇₀, carotenoids, chlorophylls, tocopherols and total polyphenols. The antioxidant capacity of oils, polyphenol extract and oil extract (remaining after polyphenol extraction) was also determined as radical scavenging activity. The results show that both extraction technologies resulted in minor changes in legal and quality indices during storage, due surely to the high quality of the oils as well as to the very good storage conditions used. Oils obtained with the low oxidative stress technology showed lower peroxide value and acidity and resulted in up to 103% higher total polyphenol content as well as increased radical-scavenging activity, with respect to oils obtained with the traditional technology. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. [Identification of Good-Practice Projects in Promoting Physical Activity - Methods, Pitfalls and Sampled Outcomes].

    PubMed

    Henn, Annette; Karger, Claudia; Wöhlken, Katrin; Meier, Diana; Ungerer-Röhrich, Ulrike; Graf, Christine; Woll, Alexander

    2017-03-01

    The aim of this paper is to identify and show examples of good practice of public health promotion. For this, uniform quality criteria were worked out under consideration of national and international scientific literature.For the identification of examples of good practice, a comparison of different quality criteria was carried out and combined with each other in a first step. In the following step, examples of good practice were identified after a comprehensive search. The choice of the "good-practice" projects is exemplary and lays no claim to completeness.6 main quality criteria (QC) of programs promoting physical activity could be identified in the national and international context. The analysis showed altogether 10 projects which can exemplarily be classified as examples of good practice of the target groups of children and teenagers, adults, older people and people with pre-existing illnesses. These projects, however, show major differences in their (methodological) quality.The analysis reports a lack of "Good-Practice" examples. Deficits lie mainly in documentation and sustainability. Because of incomplete documentation, an assessment as a "Good-Practice" example is only possible to a limited extent; a lot of information, particularly in the evaluation, is missing. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  9. Planning Good Change with Technology and Literacy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKenzie, Jamie

    This book describes strategies to put information literacy and student learning at the center of technology planning. Filled with stories of success and with models of good planning, the book shows how to clarify purpose, involve important stakeholders, and pace the change process to maximize the daily use of new technologies. The following…

  10. Phonological Coding in Good and Poor Readers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Briggs, Pamela; Underwood, Geoffrey

    1982-01-01

    A set of four experiments investigates the relationship between phonological coding and reading ability, using a picture-word interference task and a decoding task. Results with regard to both adults and children suggest that while poor readers possess weak decoding skills, good and poor readers show equivalent evidence of direct semantic and…

  11. Compliance With Recommended Food Safety Practices in Television Cooking Shows.

    PubMed

    Cohen, Nancy L; Olson, Rita Brennan

    Examine compliance with recommended food safety practices in television cooking shows. Using a tool based on the Massachusetts Food Establishment Inspection Report, raters examined 39 episodes from 10 television cooking shows. Chefs demonstrated conformance with good retail practices for proper use and storage of utensils in 78% of episodes; preventing contamination (62%), and fingernail care (82%). However, 50% to 88% of episodes were found to be out of compliance with other personal hygiene practices, proper use of gloves and barriers (85% to 100%), and maintaining proper time and temperature controls (93%). Over 90% failed to conform to recommendations regarding preventing contamination through wiping cloths and washing produce. In only 13% of episodes were food safety practices mentioned. There appears to be little attention to food safety during most cooking shows. Celebrity and competing chefs have the opportunity to model and teach good food safety practices for millions of viewers. Copyright © 2016 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Papillary Thyroid Cancer: The Good and Bad of the "Good Cancer".

    PubMed

    Randle, Reese W; Bushman, Norah M; Orne, Jason; Balentine, Courtney J; Wendt, Elizabeth; Saucke, Megan; Pitt, Susan C; Macdonald, Cameron L; Connor, Nadine P; Sippel, Rebecca S

    2017-07-01

    Papillary thyroid cancer is often described as the "good cancer" because of its treatability and relatively favorable survival rates. This study sought to characterize the thoughts of papillary thyroid cancer patients as they relate to having the "good cancer." This qualitative study included 31 papillary thyroid cancer patients enrolled in an ongoing randomized trial. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants at the preoperative visit and two weeks, six weeks, six months, and one year after thyroidectomy. Grounded theory was used, inductively coding the first 113 interview transcripts with NVivo 11. The concept of thyroid cancer as "good cancer" emerged unprompted from 94% (n = 29) of participants, mostly concentrated around the time of diagnosis. Patients encountered this perception from healthcare providers, Internet research, friends, and preconceived ideas about other cancers. While patients generally appreciated optimism, this perspective also generated negative feelings. It eased the diagnosis of cancer but created confusion when individual experiences varied from expectations. Despite initially feeling reassured, participants described feeling the "good cancer" characterization invalidated their fears of having cancer. Thyroid cancer patients expressed that they did not want to hear that it's "only thyroid cancer" and that it's "no big deal," because "cancer is cancer," and it is significant. Patients with papillary thyroid cancer commonly confront the perception that their malignancy is "good," but the favorable prognosis and treatability of the disease do not comprehensively represent their cancer fight. The "good cancer" perception is at the root of many mixed and confusing emotions. Clinicians emphasize optimistic outcomes, hoping to comfort, but they might inadvertently invalidate the impact thyroid cancer has on patients' lives.

  13. "Good Citizen" Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Placer Hills Union Elementary School District, Meadow Vista, CA.

    THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: The "Good Citizen" Program was developed for many reasons: to keep the campus clean, to reward students for improvement, to reward students for good deeds, to improve the total school climate, to reward students for excellence, and to offer staff members a method of reward for positive…

  14. Partition coefficients of methylated DNA bases obtained from free energy calculations with molecular electron density derived atomic charges.

    PubMed

    Lara, A; Riquelme, M; Vöhringer-Martinez, E

    2018-05-11

    Partition coefficients serve in various areas as pharmacology and environmental sciences to predict the hydrophobicity of different substances. Recently, they have also been used to address the accuracy of force fields for various organic compounds and specifically the methylated DNA bases. In this study, atomic charges were derived by different partitioning methods (Hirshfeld and Minimal Basis Iterative Stockholder) directly from the electron density obtained by electronic structure calculations in a vacuum, with an implicit solvation model or with explicit solvation taking the dynamics of the solute and the solvent into account. To test the ability of these charges to describe electrostatic interactions in force fields for condensed phases, the original atomic charges of the AMBER99 force field were replaced with the new atomic charges and combined with different solvent models to obtain the hydration and chloroform solvation free energies by molecular dynamics simulations. Chloroform-water partition coefficients derived from the obtained free energies were compared to experimental and previously reported values obtained with the GAFF or the AMBER-99 force field. The results show that good agreement with experimental data is obtained when the polarization of the electron density by the solvent has been taken into account, and when the energy needed to polarize the electron density of the solute has been considered in the transfer free energy. These results were further confirmed by hydration free energies of polar and aromatic amino acid side chain analogs. Comparison of the two partitioning methods, Hirshfeld-I and Minimal Basis Iterative Stockholder (MBIS), revealed some deficiencies in the Hirshfeld-I method related to the unstable isolated anionic nitrogen pro-atom used in the method. Hydration free energies and partitioning coefficients obtained with atomic charges from the MBIS partitioning method accounting for polarization by the implicit solvation model

  15. Pure human urine is a good fertiliser for cucumbers.

    PubMed

    Heinonen-Tanski, Helvi; Sjöblom, Annalena; Fabritius, Helena; Karinen, Päivi

    2007-01-01

    Human urine obtained from separating toilets was tested as a fertiliser for cultivation of outdoor cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) in a Nordic climate. The urine used contained high amounts of nitrogen with some phosphorus and potassium, but numbers of enteric microorganisms were low even though urine had not been preserved before sampling. The cucumber yield after urine fertilisation was similar or slightly better than the yield obtained from control rows fertilised with commercial mineral fertiliser. None of the cucumbers contained any enteric microorganisms (coliforms, enterococci, coliphages and clostridia). In the taste assessment, 11 out of 20 persons could recognise which cucumber of three cucumbers was different but they did not prefer one over the other cucumber samples, since all of them were assessed as equally good.

  16. A Good Suit Beats a Good Idea.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Machiavelli, Nick

    1992-01-01

    Inspired by Niccolo Machiavelli, this column offers beleaguered school executives advice on looking good, dressing well, losing weight, beating the proper enemy, and saying nothing. Administrators who follow these simple rules should have an easier life, jealous colleagues, well-tended gardens, and respectful board members. (MLH)

  17. Five Good Reasons to Show "Great Guy" (1936) in Our U.S. History and American Studies Classes (and the Challenges We'll Face)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Allocco, Katherine

    2010-01-01

    One of the most versatile and multi-faceted films that an educator can use to illustrate urban America in the 1930s is "Great Guy," a relatively obscure film from 1936 directed by John G. Blystone and starring James Cagney and Mae Clarke. There are some simple practical considerations that make the film such a good fit for an American history or…

  18. 29 CFR 776.20 - “Goods.”

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... ingredient thereof, but does not include goods after their delivery into the actual physical possession of... pointed out in Lenroot v. Western Union Tel. Co., 141 F. 2d 400 (C.A. 2), the legislative history shows... amendment. 19 Western Union Tel. Co. v. Lenroot 323 U.S. 490. 20 Mabee v. White Plains Pub. Co., 327 U.S...

  19. Memories of good deeds past: The reinforcing power of prosocial behavior in children.

    PubMed

    Tasimi, Arber; Young, Liane

    2016-07-01

    Does considering one's past prosociality affect future behavior? Prior research has revealed instances in which adults engage in additional prosocial behavior-moral reinforcement-as well as instances in which adults engage in worse behavior-moral licensing. The current study examined the developmental origins of these effects by testing whether 6- to 8-year-old children (N=225) are more or less generous after recalling their own good deeds. Children were asked to recount a time when they were nice, were mean, or watched a movie. Children behaved more generously after recalling a time when they were nice. We show that this boost in generosity was not simply the result of instructing children to consider nice behavior; children's giving did not increase after recalling others' good deeds. We also show that, even after recounting multiple instances of their past goodness, children continue to behave more generously. These findings suggest that doing good leads to more good in children. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Sleep-readiness signals in insomniacs and good sleepers.

    PubMed

    Giganti, Fiorenza; Guidi, Sara; Aboudan, Samir; Baiardi, Simone; Mondini, Susanna; Cirignotta, Fabio; Salzarulo, Piero

    2016-05-01

    Sleep is preceded by physiological and behavioural events that inform the subject that it is time to sleep. Our hypothesis is that insomniacs do not adequately recognize such signals, thus missing the best time to go to bed. Eighty-seven chronic insomniac participants and 76 age-matched good sleeper controls were recruited. Semi-structured interviews focused on three aspects of nocturnal sleep: features, habitual activities and signals that they usually rely on in order to decide their readiness to sleep. The results showed that insomniacs relied more than good sleepers on external signals (time) than on bodily ones to decide to go to sleep. © The Author(s) 2014.

  1. Improving delivery routes using combined heuristic and optimization in a consumer goods distribution company

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wibisono, E.; Santoso, A.; Sunaryo, M. A.

    2017-11-01

    XYZ is a distributor of various consumer goods products. The company plans its delivery routes daily and in order to obtain route construction in a short amount of time, it simplifies the process by assigning drivers based on geographic regions. This approach results in inefficient use of vehicles leading to imbalance workloads. In this paper, we propose a combined method involving heuristic and optimization to obtain better solutions in acceptable computation time. The heuristic is based on a time-oriented, nearest neighbor (TONN) to form clusters if the number of locations is higher than a certain value. The optimization part uses a mathematical modeling formulation based on vehicle routing problem that considers heterogeneous vehicles, time windows, and fixed costs (HVRPTWF) and is used to solve routing problem in clusters. A case study using data from one month of the company’s operations is analyzed, and data from one day of operations are detailed in this paper. The analysis shows that the proposed method results in 24% cost savings on that month, but it can be as high as 54% in a day.

  2. The very good property for parabolic vector bundles over curves

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Soibelman, Alexander

    2018-06-01

    The purpose of this note is to extend Beilinson and Drinfeld's "very good" property to moduli stacks of parabolic vector bundles on curves of genuses g = 0 and g = 1. Beilinson and Drinfeld show that for g > 1 a trivial parabolic structure is sufficient for the moduli stacks to be "very good." We give a sufficient condition on the parabolic structure for this property to hold in the case of nontrivial parabolic structure.

  3. Good News for Borehole Climatology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rath, Volker; Fidel Gonzalez-Rouco, J.; Goosse, Hugues

    2010-05-01

    Though the investigation of observed borehole temperatures has proved to be a valuable tool for the reconstruction of ground surface temperature histories, there are many open questions concerning the significance and accuracy of the reconstructions from these data. In particular, the temperature signal of the warming after the Last glacial Maximum (LGM) is still present in borehole temperature profiles. It influences the relatively shallow boreholes used in current paleoclimate inversions to estimate temperature changes in the last centuries. This is shown using Monte Carlo experiments on past surface temperature change, using plausible distributions for the most important parameters, i.e.,amplitude and timing of the glacial-interglacial transition, the prior average temperature, and petrophysical properties. It has been argued that the signature of the last glacial-interglacial transition could be responsible for the high amplitudes of millennial temperature reconstructions. However, in shallow boreholes the additional effect of past climate can reasonably approximated by a linear variation of temperature with depth, and thus be accommodated by a "biased" background heat flow. This is good news for borehole climate, but implies that the geological heat flow values have to be interpreted accordingly. Borehole climate reconstructions from these shallow are most probably underestimating past variability due to the diffusive character of the heat conduction process, and the smoothness constraints necessary for obtaining stable solutions of this ill-posed inverse problem. A simple correction based on subtracting an appropriate prior surface temperature history shows promising results reducing these errors considerably, also with deeper boreholes, where the heat flow signal can not be approximated linearly, and improves the comparisons with AOGCM modeling results.

  4. Cyclic public goods games: Compensated coexistence among mutual cheaters stabilized by optimized penalty taxation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Griffin, Christopher; Belmonte, Andrew

    2017-05-01

    We study the problem of stabilized coexistence in a three-species public goods game in which each species simultaneously contributes to one public good while freeloading off another public good ("cheating"). The proportional population growth is governed by an appropriately modified replicator equation, depending on the returns from the public goods and the cost. We show that the replicator dynamic has at most one interior unstable fixed point and that the population becomes dominated by a single species. We then show that by applying an externally imposed penalty, or "tax" on success can stabilize the interior fixed point, allowing for the symbiotic coexistence of all species. We show that the interior fixed point is the point of globally minimal total population growth in both the taxed and untaxed cases. We then formulate an optimal taxation problem and show that it admits a quasilinearization, resulting in novel necessary conditions for the optimal control. In particular, the optimal control problem governing the tax rate must solve a certain second-order ordinary differential equation.

  5. Cyclic public goods games: Compensated coexistence among mutual cheaters stabilized by optimized penalty taxation.

    PubMed

    Griffin, Christopher; Belmonte, Andrew

    2017-05-01

    We study the problem of stabilized coexistence in a three-species public goods game in which each species simultaneously contributes to one public good while freeloading off another public good ("cheating"). The proportional population growth is governed by an appropriately modified replicator equation, depending on the returns from the public goods and the cost. We show that the replicator dynamic has at most one interior unstable fixed point and that the population becomes dominated by a single species. We then show that by applying an externally imposed penalty, or "tax" on success can stabilize the interior fixed point, allowing for the symbiotic coexistence of all species. We show that the interior fixed point is the point of globally minimal total population growth in both the taxed and untaxed cases. We then formulate an optimal taxation problem and show that it admits a quasilinearization, resulting in novel necessary conditions for the optimal control. In particular, the optimal control problem governing the tax rate must solve a certain second-order ordinary differential equation.

  6. Bunkhouse basement interior showing storage area and a conveyor belt ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    Bunkhouse basement interior showing storage area and a conveyor belt (circa 1936) used to unload dry goods into the basement through an opening on the east side of the bunkhouse. - Sespe Ranch, Bunkhouse, 2896 Telegraph Road, Fillmore, Ventura County, CA

  7. Good Concrete Activity Is Good Mental Activity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McDonough, Andrea

    2016-01-01

    Early years mathematics classrooms can be colourful, exciting, and challenging places of learning. Andrea McDonough and fellow teachers have noticed that some students make good decisions about using materials to assist their problem solving, but this is not always the case. These experiences lead her to ask the following questions: (1) Are…

  8. Quantum chi-squared and goodness of fit testing

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

    Temme, Kristan; Verstraete, Frank

    2015-01-15

    A quantum mechanical hypothesis test is presented for the hypothesis that a certain setup produces a given quantum state. Although the classical and the quantum problems are very much related to each other, the quantum problem is much richer due to the additional optimization over the measurement basis. A goodness of fit test for i.i.d quantum states is developed and a max-min characterization for the optimal measurement is introduced. We find the quantum measurement which leads both to the maximal Pitman and Bahadur efficiencies, and determine the associated divergence rates. We discuss the relationship of the quantum goodness of fitmore » test to the problem of estimating multiple parameters from a density matrix. These problems are found to be closely related and we show that the largest error of an optimal strategy, determined by the smallest eigenvalue of the Fisher information matrix, is given by the divergence rate of the goodness of fit test.« less

  9. Effect of the depreciation of public goods in spatial public goods games

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shi, Dong-Mei; Zhuang, Yong; Wang, Bing-Hong

    2012-02-01

    In this work, the depreciation effect of public goods is considered in the public goods games, which is realized by rescaling the multiplication factor r of each group as r‧=r( (β≥0). It is assumed that each individual enjoys the full profit r of the public goods if all the players of this group are cooperators. Otherwise, the value of public goods is reduced to r‧. It is found that compared with the original version (β=0), the emergence of cooperation is remarkably promoted for β>0, and there exist intermediate values of β inducing the best cooperation. Particularly, there exists a range of β inducing the highest cooperative level, and this range of β broadens as r increases. It is further presented that the variation of cooperator density with noise has close relations with the values of β and r, and cooperation at an intermediate value of β=1.0 is most tolerant to noise.

  10. Kinetic models for goods exchange in a multi-agent market

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brugna, Carlo; Toscani, Giuseppe

    2018-06-01

    In this paper we introduce a system of kinetic equations describing an exchange market consisting of two populations of agents (dealers and speculators) expressing the same preferences for two goods, but applying different strategies in their exchanges. Similarly to the model proposed in Toscani et al. (2013), we describe the trading of the goods by means of some fundamental rules in price theory, in particular by using Cobb-Douglas utility functions for the exchange. The strategy of the speculators is to recover maximal utility from the trade by suitably acting on the percentage of goods which are exchanged. This microscopic description leads to a system of linear Boltzmann-type equations for the probability distributions of the goods on the two populations, in which the post-interaction variables depend from the pre-interaction ones in terms of the mean quantities of the goods present in the market. In this case, it is shown analytically that the strategy of the speculators can drive the price of the two goods towards a zone in which there is a branded utility for their group. Also, according to Toscani et al. (2013), the general system of nonlinear kinetic equations of Boltzmann type for the probability distributions of the goods on the two populations is described in details. Numerical experiments then show how the policy of speculators can modify the final price of goods in this nonlinear setting.

  11. Social diversity promotes the emergence of cooperation in public goods games.

    PubMed

    Santos, Francisco C; Santos, Marta D; Pacheco, Jorge M

    2008-07-10

    Humans often cooperate in public goods games and situations ranging from family issues to global warming. However, evolutionary game theory predicts that the temptation to forgo the public good mostly wins over collective cooperative action, and this is often also seen in economic experiments. Here we show how social diversity provides an escape from this apparent paradox. Up to now, individuals have been treated as equivalent in all respects, in sharp contrast with real-life situations, where diversity is ubiquitous. We introduce social diversity by means of heterogeneous graphs and show that cooperation is promoted by the diversity associated with the number and size of the public goods game in which each individual participates and with the individual contribution to each such game. When social ties follow a scale-free distribution, cooperation is enhanced whenever all individuals are expected to contribute a fixed amount irrespective of the plethora of public goods games in which they engage. Our results may help to explain the emergence of cooperation in the absence of mechanisms based on individual reputation and punishment. Combining social diversity with reputation and punishment will provide instrumental clues on the self-organization of social communities and their economical implications.

  12. Drying effects on the antioxidant properties of polysaccharides obtained from Agaricus blazei Murrill.

    PubMed

    Wu, Songhai; Li, Feng; Jia, Shaoyi; Ren, Haitao; Gong, Guili; Wang, Yanyan; Lv, Zesheng; Liu, Yong

    2014-03-15

    Three polysaccharides (ABMP-F, ABMP-V, ABMP-A) were obtained from Agaricus blazei Murrill via methods such as freeze drying, vacuum drying and air drying, respectively. Their chemical compositions were examined, and antioxidant activities were investigated on the basis of assay for hydroxyl radical, DPPH radical, ABTS free radical scavenging ability and assay for Fe(2+)-chelating ability. Results showed that the three ABMPs have different physicochemical and antioxidant properties. Compared with air drying and vacuum drying methods, freeze drying method resulted to ABMP with higher neutral sugar, polysaccharide yield, uronic acid content, and stronger antioxidant abilities of hydroxyl radical, DPPH radical, ABTS radical scavenging and Fe(2+)-chelating. As a result, Agaricus blazei Murrill polysaccharides are natural antioxidant and freeze drying method serves as a good choice for the preparation of such polysaccharides and should be used to produce antioxidants for food industry. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  13. Reconsidering the "Good Divorce"

    PubMed

    Amato, Paul R; Kane, Jennifer B; James, Spencer

    2011-12-01

    This study attempted to assess the notion that a "good divorce" protects children from the potential negative consequences of marital dissolution. A cluster analysis of data on postdivorce parenting from 944 families resulted in three groups: cooperative coparenting, parallel parenting, and single parenting. Children in the cooperative coparenting (good divorce) cluster had the smallest number of behavior problems and the closest ties to their fathers. Nevertheless, children in this cluster did not score significantly better than other children on 10 additional outcomes. These findings provide only modest support for the good divorce hypothesis.

  14. Surface morphology of ultrathin graphene oxide films obtained by the SAW atomization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Balachova, Olga V.; Balashov, Sergey M.; Costa, Carlos A. R.; Pavani Filho, A.

    2015-08-01

    Lately, graphene oxide (GO) thin films have attracted much attention: they can be used as humidity-sensitive coatings in the surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors; being functionalized, they can be used in optoelectronic or biodevices, etc. In this research we study surface morphology of small-area thin GO films obtained on Si and quartz substrates by deposition of very small amounts of H2O-GO aerosols produced by the SAW atomizer. An important feature of this method is the ability to work with submicrovolumes of liquids during deposition that provides relatively good control over the film thickness and quality, in particular, minimization of the coffee ring effect. The obtained films were examined using AFM and electron microscopy. Image analysis showed that the films consist of GO sheets of different geometry and sizes and may form discrete or continuous coatings at the surface of the substrates with the minimum thickness of 1.0-1.8 nm which corresponds to one or two monolayers of GO. The thickness and quality of the deposited films depend on the parameters of the SAW atomization (number of atomized droplets, a volume of the initial droplet, etc.) and on sample surface preparation (activation in oxygen plasma). We discuss the structure of the obtained films, uniformity and the surface coverage as a function of parameters of the film deposition process and sample preparation. Qualitative analysis of adhesion of GO films is made by rinsing the samples in DI water and subsequent evaluation of morphology of the remained films.

  15. Distinct Aging Effects on Functional Networks in Good and Poor Cognitive Performers

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Annie; Tan, Mingzhen; Qiu, Anqi

    2016-01-01

    Brain network hubs are susceptible to normal aging processes and disruptions of their functional connectivity are detrimental to decline in cognitive functions in older adults. However, it remains unclear how the functional connectivity of network hubs cope with cognitive heterogeneity in an aging population. This study utilized cognitive and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data, cluster analysis, and graph network analysis to examine age-related alterations in the network hubs’ functional connectivity of good and poor cognitive performers. Our results revealed that poor cognitive performers showed age-dependent disruptions in the functional connectivity of the right insula and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), while good cognitive performers showed age-related disruptions in the functional connectivity of the left insula and PCC. Additionally, the left PCC had age-related declines in the functional connectivity with the left medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Most interestingly, good cognitive performers showed age-related declines in the functional connectivity of the left insula and PCC with their right homotopic structures. These results may provide insights of neuronal correlates for understanding individual differences in aging. In particular, our study suggests prominent protection roles of the left insula and PCC and bilateral ACC in good performers. PMID:27667972

  16. Fast batch injection analysis of H(2)O(2) using an array of Pt-modified gold microelectrodes obtained from split electronic chips.

    PubMed

    Pacheco, Bruno D; Valério, Jaqueline; Angnes, Lúcio; Pedrotti, Jairo J

    2011-06-24

    A fast and robust analytical method for amperometric determination of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) based on batch injection analysis (BIA) on an array of gold microelectrodes modified with platinum is proposed. The gold microelectrode array (n=14) was obtained from electronic chips developed for surface mounted device technology (SMD), whose size offers advantages to adapt them in batch cells. The effect of the dispensing rate, volume injected, distance between the platinum microelectrodes and the pipette tip, as well as the volume of solution in the cell on the analytical response were evaluated. The method allows the H(2)O(2) amperometric determination in the concentration range from 0.8 μmolL(-1) to 100 μmolL(-1). The analytical frequency can attain 300 determinations per hour and the detection limit was estimated in 0.34 μmolL(-1) (3σ). The anodic current peaks obtained after a series of 23 successive injections of 50 μL of 25 μmolL(-1) H(2)O(2) showed an RSD<0.9%. To ensure the good selectivity to detect H(2)O(2), its determination was performed in a differential mode, with selective destruction of the H(2)O(2) with catalase in 10 mmolL(-1) phosphate buffer solution. Practical application of the analytical procedure involved H(2)O(2) determination in rainwater of São Paulo City. A comparison of the results obtained by the proposed amperometric method with another one which combines flow injection analysis (FIA) with spectrophotometric detection showed good agreement. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Wood-Polymer composites obtained by gamma irradiation

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

    Gago, J.; Lopez, A.; Rodriguez, J.

    2007-10-26

    In this work we impregnate three Peruvian woods (Calycophy spruceanum Be, Aniba amazonica Meiz and Hura crepitans L) with styrene-polyester resin and methyl methacrylate. The polymerization of the system was promoted by gamma radiation and the experimental optimal condition was obtained with styrene-polyester 1:1 and 15 kGy. The obtained composites show reduced water absorption and better mechanical properties compared to the original wood. The structure of the wood-polymer composites was studied by light microscopy. Water absorption and hardness were also obtained.

  18. Equivalence and test-retest reproducibility of conventional and extended-high-frequency audiometric thresholds obtained using pure-tone and narrow-band-noise stimuli.

    PubMed

    John, Andrew B; Kreisman, Brian M

    2017-09-01

    Extended high-frequency (EHF) audiometry is useful for evaluating ototoxic exposures and may relate to speech recognition, localisation and hearing aid benefit. There is a need to determine whether common clinical practice for EHF audiometry using tone and noise stimuli is reliable. We evaluated equivalence and compared test-retest (TRT) reproducibility for audiometric thresholds obtained using pure tones and narrowband noise (NBN) from 0.25 to 16 kHz. Thresholds and test-retest reproducibility for stimuli in the conventional (0.25-6 kHz) and EHF (8-16 kHz) frequency ranges were compared in a repeated-measures design. A total of 70 ears of adults with normal hearing. Thresholds obtained using NBN were significantly lower than thresholds obtained using pure tones from 0.5 to 16 kHz, but not 0.25 kHz. Good TRT reproducibility (within 2 dB) was observed for both stimuli at all frequencies. Responses at the lower limit of the presentation range for NBN centred at 14 and 16 kHz suggest unreliability for NBN as a threshold stimulus at these frequencies. Thresholds in the conventional and EHF ranges showed good test-retest reproducibility, but differed between stimulus types. Care should be taken when comparing pure-tone thresholds with NBN thresholds especially at these frequencies.

  19. Hospice in Assisted Living: Promoting Good Quality Care at End of Life

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cartwright, Juliana C.; Miller, Lois; Volpin, Miriam

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe good quality care at the end of life (EOL) for hospice-enrolled residents in assisted living facilities (ALFs). Design and Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used to obtain detailed descriptions of EOL care provided by ALF medication aides, caregivers, nurses, and hospice nurses in…

  20. When being narrow minded is a good thing: locally biased people show stronger contextual cueing.

    PubMed

    Bellaera, Lauren; von Mühlenen, Adrian; Watson, Derrick G

    2014-01-01

    Repeated contexts allow us to find relevant information more easily. Learning such contexts has been proposed to depend upon either global processing of the repeated contexts, or alternatively processing of the local region surrounding the target information. In this study, we measured the extent to which observers were by default biased to process towards a more global or local level. The findings showed that the ability to use context to help guide their search was strongly related to an observer's local/global processing bias. Locally biased people could use context to help improve their search better than globally biased people. The results suggest that the extent to which context can be used depends crucially on the observer's attentional bias and thus also to factors and influences that can change this bias.

  1. Management Documentation: Indicators & Good Practice at Cultural Heritage Places

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eppich, R.; Garcia Grinda, J. L.

    2015-08-01

    Documentation for cultural heritage places usually refers to describing the physical attributes, surrounding context, condition or environment; most of the time with images, graphics, maps or digital 3D models in their various forms with supporting textural information. Just as important as this type of information is the documentation of managerial attributes. How do managers of cultural heritage places collect information related to financial or economic well-being? How are data collected over time measured, and what are significant indicators for improvement? What quality of indicator is good enough? Good management of cultural heritage places is essential for conservation longevity, preservation of values and enjoyment by the public. But how is management documented? The paper will describe the research methodology, selection and description of attributes or indicators related to good management practice. It will describe the criteria for indicator selection and why they are important, how and when they are collected, by whom, and the difficulties in obtaining this information. As importantly it will describe how this type of documentation directly contributes to improving conservation practice. Good practice summaries will be presented that highlight this type of documentation including Pamplona and Ávila, Spain and Valletta, Malta. Conclusions are drawn with preliminary recommendations for improvement of this important aspect of documentation. Documentation of this nature is not typical and presents a unique challenge to collect, measure and communicate easily. However, it is an essential category that is often ignored yet absolutely essential in order to conserve cultural heritage places.

  2. Understanding AlN Obtaining Through Computational Thermodynamics Combined with Experimental Investigation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Florea, R. M.

    2017-06-01

    Basic material concept, technology and some results of studies on aluminum matrix composite with dispersive aluminum nitride reinforcement was shown. Studied composites were manufactured by „in situ” technique. Aluminum nitride (AlN) has attracted large interest recently, because of its high thermal conductivity, good dielectric properties, high flexural strength, thermal expansion coefficient matches that of Si and its non-toxic nature, as a suitable material for hybrid integrated circuit substrates. AlMg alloys are the best matrix for AlN obtaining. Al2O3-AlMg, AlN-Al2O3, and AlN-AlMg binary diagrams were thermodynamically modelled. The obtained Gibbs free energies of components, solution parameters and stoichiometric phases were used to build a thermodynamic database of AlN- Al2O3-AlMg system. Obtaining of AlN with Liquid-phase of AlMg as matrix has been studied and compared with the thermodynamic results. The secondary phase microstructure has a significant effect on the final thermal conductivity of the obtained AlN. Thermodynamic modelling of AlN-Al2O3-AlMg system provided an important basis for understanding the obtaining behavior and interpreting the experimental results.

  3. Cooperation among cancer cells as public goods games on Voronoi networks.

    PubMed

    Archetti, Marco

    2016-05-07

    Cancer cells produce growth factors that diffuse and sustain tumour proliferation, a form of cooperation that can be studied using mathematical models of public goods in the framework of evolutionary game theory. Cell populations, however, form heterogeneous networks that cannot be described by regular lattices or scale-free networks, the types of graphs generally used in the study of cooperation. To describe the dynamics of growth factor production in populations of cancer cells, I study public goods games on Voronoi networks, using a range of non-linear benefits that account for the known properties of growth factors, and different types of diffusion gradients. The results are surprisingly similar to those obtained on regular graphs and different from results on scale-free networks, revealing that network heterogeneity per se does not promote cooperation when public goods diffuse beyond one-step neighbours. The exact shape of the diffusion gradient is not crucial, however, whereas the type of non-linear benefit is an essential determinant of the dynamics. Public goods games on Voronoi networks can shed light on intra-tumour heterogeneity, the evolution of resistance to therapies that target growth factors, and new types of cell therapy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. What makes a face photo a 'good likeness'?

    PubMed

    Ritchie, Kay L; Kramer, Robin S S; Burton, A Mike

    2018-01-01

    Photographs of people are commonly said to be 'good likenesses' or 'poor likenesses', and this is a concept that we readily understand. Despite this, there has been no systematic investigation of what makes an image a good likeness, or of which cognitive processes are involved in making such a judgement. In three experiments, we investigate likeness judgements for different types of images: natural images of film stars (Experiment 1), images of film stars from specific films (Experiment 2), and iconic images and face averages (Experiment 3). In all three experiments, participants rated images for likeness and completed speeded name verification tasks. We consistently show that participants are faster to identify images which they have previously rated asa good likeness compared to a poor likeness. We also consistently show that the more familiar we are with someone, the higher likeness rating we give to all images of them. A key finding is that our perception of likeness is idiosyncratic (Experiments 1 and 2), and can be tied to our specific experience of each individual (Experiment 2). We argue that likeness judgements require a comparison between the stimulus and our own representation of the person, and that this representation differs according to our prior experience with that individual. This has theoretical implications for our understanding of how we represent familiar people, and practical implications for how we go about selecting images for identity purposes such as photo-ID. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Good life good death according to Christiaan Barnard.

    PubMed

    Toledo-Pereyra, Luis H

    2010-06-01

    Christiaan Barnard (1922-2002), pioneering heart transplant surgeon, introduced his ideas on euthanasia in a well-written and researched book, Good Life Good Death. A Doctor's Case for Euthanasia and Suicide, published in 1980. His courage in analyzing this topic in a forthright and clear manner is worth reviewing today. In essence, Barnard supported and practiced passive euthanasia (the ending of life by indirect methods, such as stopping of life support) and discussed, but never practiced, active euthanasia (the ending of life by direct means). Barnard believed that "the primary goal of medicine was to alleviate suffering-not merely to prolong life-he argued that advances in modern medical technology demanded that we evaluate our view of death and the handling of terminal illness." Some in the surgical community took issue with Barnard when he publicized his personal views on euthanasia. We discuss Barnard's beliefs and attempt to clarify some misunderstandings regarding this particular controversial area of medicine.

  6. The public goods hypothesis for the evolution of life on Earth

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    It is becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile the observed extent of horizontal gene transfers with the central metaphor of a great tree uniting all evolving entities on the planet. In this manuscript we describe the Public Goods Hypothesis and show that it is appropriate in order to describe biological evolution on the planet. According to this hypothesis, nucleotide sequences (genes, promoters, exons, etc.) are simply seen as goods, passed from organism to organism through both vertical and horizontal transfer. Public goods sequences are defined by having the properties of being largely non-excludable (no organism can be effectively prevented from accessing these sequences) and non-rival (while such a sequence is being used by one organism it is also available for use by another organism). The universal nature of genetic systems ensures that such non-excludable sequences exist and non-excludability explains why we see a myriad of genes in different combinations in sequenced genomes. There are three features of the public goods hypothesis. Firstly, segments of DNA are seen as public goods, available for all organisms to integrate into their genomes. Secondly, we expect the evolution of mechanisms for DNA sharing and of defense mechanisms against DNA intrusion in genomes. Thirdly, we expect that we do not see a global tree-like pattern. Instead, we expect local tree-like patterns to emerge from the combination of a commonage of genes and vertical inheritance of genomes by cell division. Indeed, while genes are theoretically public goods, in reality, some genes are excludable, particularly, though not only, when they have variant genetic codes or behave as coalition or club goods, available for all organisms of a coalition to integrate into their genomes, and non-rival within the club. We view the Tree of Life hypothesis as a regionalized instance of the Public Goods hypothesis, just like classical mechanics and euclidean geometry are seen as regionalized

  7. The Public Goods Hypothesis for the evolution of life on Earth.

    PubMed

    McInerney, James O; Pisani, Davide; Bapteste, Eric; O'Connell, Mary J

    2011-08-23

    It is becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile the observed extent of horizontal gene transfers with the central metaphor of a great tree uniting all evolving entities on the planet. In this manuscript we describe the Public Goods Hypothesis and show that it is appropriate in order to describe biological evolution on the planet. According to this hypothesis, nucleotide sequences (genes, promoters, exons, etc.) are simply seen as goods, passed from organism to organism through both vertical and horizontal transfer. Public goods sequences are defined by having the properties of being largely non-excludable (no organism can be effectively prevented from accessing these sequences) and non-rival (while such a sequence is being used by one organism it is also available for use by another organism). The universal nature of genetic systems ensures that such non-excludable sequences exist and non-excludability explains why we see a myriad of genes in different combinations in sequenced genomes. There are three features of the public goods hypothesis. Firstly, segments of DNA are seen as public goods, available for all organisms to integrate into their genomes. Secondly, we expect the evolution of mechanisms for DNA sharing and of defense mechanisms against DNA intrusion in genomes. Thirdly, we expect that we do not see a global tree-like pattern. Instead, we expect local tree-like patterns to emerge from the combination of a commonage of genes and vertical inheritance of genomes by cell division. Indeed, while genes are theoretically public goods, in reality, some genes are excludable, particularly, though not only, when they have variant genetic codes or behave as coalition or club goods, available for all organisms of a coalition to integrate into their genomes, and non-rival within the club. We view the Tree of Life hypothesis as a regionalized instance of the Public Goods hypothesis, just like classical mechanics and euclidean geometry are seen as regionalized

  8. Good Workers for Good Jobs: Improving Education and Workforce Systems in the US. National Poverty Center Working Paper Series #12-20

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Holzer, Harry J.

    2012-01-01

    Stagnant earnings and growing inequality in the US labor market reflect both a slowdown in the growth of worker skills and the growing matching of good-paying jobs to skilled workers. Improving the ties between colleges, workforce institutions, and employers would help more workers gain the needed skills. Evaluation evidence shows that training…

  9. Theoretical verification of experimentally obtained conformation-dependent electronic conductance in a biphenyl molecule

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maiti, Santanu K.

    2014-07-01

    The experimentally obtained (Venkataraman et al. [1]) cosine squared relation of electronic conductance in a biphenyl molecule is verified theoretically within a tight-binding framework. Using Green's function formalism we numerically calculate two-terminal conductance as a function of relative twist angle among the molecular rings and find that the results are in good agreement with the experimental observation.

  10. VizieR Online Data Catalog: GOODS-MUSIC catalog updated version (Santini+, 2009)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Santini, P.; Fontana, A.; Grazian, A.; Salimbeni, S.; Fiore, F.; Fontanot, F.; Boutsia, K.; Castelllano, M.; Cristiani, S.; de Santis, C.; Gallozzi, S.; Giallongo, E.; Nonino, M.; Menci, N.; Paris, D.; Pentericci, L.; Vanzella, E.

    2009-06-01

    The GOODS-MUSIC multiwavelength catalog provides photometric and spectroscopic information for galaxies in the GOODS Southern field. It includes two U images obtained with the ESO 2.2m telescope and one U band image from VLT-VIMOS, the ACS-HST images in four optical (B,V,i,z) bands, the VLT-ISAAC J, H, and Ks bands as well as the Spitzer images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 micron (IRAC) and 24 micron (MIPS). Most of these images have been made publicly available in the coadded version by the GOODS team, while the U band data were retrieved in raw format and reduced by our team. We also collected all the available spectroscopic information from public spectroscopic surveys and cross-correlated the spectroscopic redshifts with our photometric catalog. For the unobserved fraction of the objects, we applied our photometric redshift code to obtain well-calibrated photometric redshifts. The final catalog is made up of 15208 objects, with 209 known stars and 61 AGNs. The major new feature of this updated release is the inclusion of 24 micron photometry. Further improvements concern a revised photometry in the four IRAC bands (mainly based on the use of new PSF-matching kernerls and on a revised procedure for estimating the background), the enlargement of the sample of galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts, the addition of objects selected on the IRAC 4.5 micron image and a more careful selection of AGN sources. (1 data file).

  11. Reflexion on linear regression trip production modelling method for ensuring good model quality

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Suprayitno, Hitapriya; Ratnasari, Vita

    2017-11-01

    Transport Modelling is important. For certain cases, the conventional model still has to be used, in which having a good trip production model is capital. A good model can only be obtained from a good sample. Two of the basic principles of a good sampling is having a sample capable to represent the population characteristics and capable to produce an acceptable error at a certain confidence level. It seems that this principle is not yet quite understood and used in trip production modeling. Therefore, investigating the Trip Production Modelling practice in Indonesia and try to formulate a better modeling method for ensuring the Model Quality is necessary. This research result is presented as follows. Statistics knows a method to calculate span of prediction value at a certain confidence level for linear regression, which is called Confidence Interval of Predicted Value. The common modeling practice uses R2 as the principal quality measure, the sampling practice varies and not always conform to the sampling principles. An experiment indicates that small sample is already capable to give excellent R2 value and sample composition can significantly change the model. Hence, good R2 value, in fact, does not always mean good model quality. These lead to three basic ideas for ensuring good model quality, i.e. reformulating quality measure, calculation procedure, and sampling method. A quality measure is defined as having a good R2 value and a good Confidence Interval of Predicted Value. Calculation procedure must incorporate statistical calculation method and appropriate statistical tests needed. A good sampling method must incorporate random well distributed stratified sampling with a certain minimum number of samples. These three ideas need to be more developed and tested.

  12. No effect of intraspecific relatedness on public goods cooperation in a complex community

    PubMed Central

    O'Brien, Siobhán; Hesse, Elze; Luján, Adela; Hodgson, David J.; Gardner, Andy; Buckling, Angus

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Many organisms—notably microbes—are embedded within complex communities where cooperative behaviors in the form of excreted public goods can benefit other species. Under such circumstances, intraspecific interactions are likely to be less important in driving the evolution of cooperation. We first illustrate this idea with a simple theoretical model, showing that relatedness—the extent to which individuals with the same cooperative alleles interact with each other—has a reduced impact on the evolution of cooperation when public goods are shared between species. We test this empirically using strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that vary in their production of metal‐chelating siderophores in copper contaminated compost (an interspecific public good). We show that nonsiderophore producers grow poorly relative to producers under high relatedness, but this cost can be alleviated by the presence of the isogenic producer (low relatedness) and/or the compost microbial community. Hence, relatedness can become unimportant when public goods provide interspecific benefits. PMID:29611186

  13. What Are Good Universities?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Connell, Raewyn

    2016-01-01

    This paper considers how we can arrive at a concept of the good university. It begins with ideas expressed by Australian Vice-Chancellors and in the "league tables" for universities, which essentially reproduce existing privilege. It then considers definitions of the good university via wish lists, classic texts, horror lists, structural…

  14. The global public good concept: a means of promoting good veterinary governance.

    PubMed

    Eloit, M

    2012-08-01

    At the outset, the concept of a 'public good' was associated with economic policies. However, it has now evolved not only from a national to a global concept (global public good), but also from a concept applying solely to the production of goods to one encompassing societal issues (education, environment, etc.) and fundamental rights, including the right to health and food. Through their actions, Veterinary Services, as defined by the Terrestrial Animal Health Code (Terrestrial Code) of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), help to improve animal health and reduce production losses. In this way they contribute directly and indirectly to food security and to safeguarding human health and economic resources. The organisation and operating procedures of Veterinary Services are therefore key to the efficient governance required to achieve these objectives. The OIE is a major player in global cooperation and governance in the fields of animal and public health through the implementation of its strategic standardisation mission and other programmes for the benefit of Veterinary Services and OIE Member Countries. Thus, the actions of Veterinary Services and the OIE deserve to be recognised as a global public good, backed by public investment to ensure that all Veterinary Services are in a position to apply the principles of good governance and to comply with the international standards for the quality of Veterinary Services set out in the OIE Terrestrial Code (Section 3 on Quality of Veterinary Services) and Aquatic Animal Health Code (Section 3 on Quality of Aquatic Animal Health Services).

  15. How Good Are Statistical Models at Approximating Complex Fitness Landscapes?

    PubMed Central

    du Plessis, Louis; Leventhal, Gabriel E.; Bonhoeffer, Sebastian

    2016-01-01

    Fitness landscapes determine the course of adaptation by constraining and shaping evolutionary trajectories. Knowledge of the structure of a fitness landscape can thus predict evolutionary outcomes. Empirical fitness landscapes, however, have so far only offered limited insight into real-world questions, as the high dimensionality of sequence spaces makes it impossible to exhaustively measure the fitness of all variants of biologically meaningful sequences. We must therefore revert to statistical descriptions of fitness landscapes that are based on a sparse sample of fitness measurements. It remains unclear, however, how much data are required for such statistical descriptions to be useful. Here, we assess the ability of regression models accounting for single and pairwise mutations to correctly approximate a complex quasi-empirical fitness landscape. We compare approximations based on various sampling regimes of an RNA landscape and find that the sampling regime strongly influences the quality of the regression. On the one hand it is generally impossible to generate sufficient samples to achieve a good approximation of the complete fitness landscape, and on the other hand systematic sampling schemes can only provide a good description of the immediate neighborhood of a sequence of interest. Nevertheless, we obtain a remarkably good and unbiased fit to the local landscape when using sequences from a population that has evolved under strong selection. Thus, current statistical methods can provide a good approximation to the landscape of naturally evolving populations. PMID:27189564

  16. 19 CFR 102.12 - Fungible goods.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... RULES OF ORIGIN Rules of Origin § 102.12 Fungible goods. When fungible goods of different countries of origin are commingled the country of origin of the goods: (a) Is the countries of origin of those... the origin of the commingled good is not practical, the country or countries of origin may be...

  17. Ti–Ag–Pd alloy with good mechanical properties and high potential for biological applications

    PubMed Central

    Zadorozhnyy, V. Yu.; Shi, X.; Gorshenkov, M. V.; Kozak, D. S.; Wada, T.; Louzguine-Luzgin, D. V.; Inoue, A.; Kato, H.

    2016-01-01

    Ti-based alloys containing Ag were produced by tilt-casting method and their properties were studied. Even in its as-cast state, Ti94Ag3Pd3 showed relatively high tensile properties, good electrochemical behavior, and good biocompatibility. The relatively good mechanical properties of the as-cast α-Ti-type Ti94Ag3Pd3 alloy (tensile strength up to 850 MPa and elongation of ~10%) can be explained by its severely deformed, fine crystalline structure. The high biocompatibility of Ti94Ag3Pd3 can be explained by the Ag–Pd interaction, which inhibits the release of Ag ions from the surface. Ag, in combination with Pd has no toxic effects and demonstrates useful antimicrobial properties. The Ti94Ag3Pd3 alloy shows a good potential to be applied as a biomedical implant alloy. PMID:27122177

  18. A quantum algorithm for obtaining the lowest eigenstate of a Hamiltonian assisted with an ancillary qubit system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bang, Jeongho; Lee, Seung-Woo; Lee, Chang-Woo; Jeong, Hyunseok

    2015-01-01

    We propose a quantum algorithm to obtain the lowest eigenstate of any Hamiltonian simulated by a quantum computer. The proposed algorithm begins with an arbitrary initial state of the simulated system. A finite series of transforms is iteratively applied to the initial state assisted with an ancillary qubit. The fraction of the lowest eigenstate in the initial state is then amplified up to 1. We prove that our algorithm can faithfully work for any arbitrary Hamiltonian in the theoretical analysis. Numerical analyses are also carried out. We firstly provide a numerical proof-of-principle demonstration with a simple Hamiltonian in order to compare our scheme with the so-called "Demon-like algorithmic cooling (DLAC)", recently proposed in Xu (Nat Photonics 8:113, 2014). The result shows a good agreement with our theoretical analysis, exhibiting the comparable behavior to the best `cooling' with the DLAC method. We then consider a random Hamiltonian model for further analysis of our algorithm. By numerical simulations, we show that the total number of iterations is proportional to , where is the difference between the two lowest eigenvalues and is an error defined as the probability that the finally obtained system state is in an unexpected (i.e., not the lowest) eigenstate.

  19. Goodness-of-Fit Tests for Generalized Normal Distribution for Use in Hydrological Frequency Analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Das, Samiran

    2018-04-01

    The use of three-parameter generalized normal (GNO) as a hydrological frequency distribution is well recognized, but its application is limited due to unavailability of popular goodness-of-fit (GOF) test statistics. This study develops popular empirical distribution function (EDF)-based test statistics to investigate the goodness-of-fit of the GNO distribution. The focus is on the case most relevant to the hydrologist, namely, that in which the parameter values are unidentified and estimated from a sample using the method of L-moments. The widely used EDF tests such as Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Cramer von Mises, and Anderson-Darling (AD) are considered in this study. A modified version of AD, namely, the Modified Anderson-Darling (MAD) test, is also considered and its performance is assessed against other EDF tests using a power study that incorporates six specific Wakeby distributions (WA-1, WA-2, WA-3, WA-4, WA-5, and WA-6) as the alternative distributions. The critical values of the proposed test statistics are approximated using Monte Carlo techniques and are summarized in chart and regression equation form to show the dependence of shape parameter and sample size. The performance results obtained from the power study suggest that the AD and a variant of the MAD (MAD-L) are the most powerful tests. Finally, the study performs case studies involving annual maximum flow data of selected gauged sites from Irish and US catchments to show the application of the derived critical values and recommends further assessments to be carried out on flow data sets of rivers with various hydrological regimes.

  20. Modelling category goodness judgments in children with residual sound errors.

    PubMed

    Dugan, Sarah Hamilton; Silbert, Noah; McAllister, Tara; Preston, Jonathan L; Sotto, Carolyn; Boyce, Suzanne E

    2018-05-24

    This study investigates category goodness judgments of /r/ in adults and children with and without residual speech errors (RSEs) using natural speech stimuli. Thirty adults, 38 children with RSE (ages 7-16) and 35 age-matched typically developing (TD) children provided category goodness judgments on whole words, recorded from 27 child speakers, with /r/ in various phonetic environments. The salient acoustic property of /r/ - the lowered third formant (F3) - was normalized in two ways. A logistic mixed-effect model quantified the relationships between listeners' responses and the third formant frequency, vowel context and clinical group status. Goodness judgments from the adult group showed a statistically significant interaction with the F3 parameter when compared to both child groups (p < 0.001) using both normalization methods. The RSE group did not differ significantly from the TD group in judgments of /r/. All listeners were significantly more likely to judge /r/ as correct in a front-vowel context. Our results suggest that normalized /r/ F3 is a statistically significant predictor of category goodness judgments for both adults and children, but children do not appear to make adult-like judgments. Category goodness judgments do not have a clear relationship with /r/ production abilities in children with RSE. These findings may have implications for clinical activities that include category goodness judgments in natural speech, especially for recorded productions.

  1. "Act in Good Faith."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKay, Robert B.

    1979-01-01

    It is argued that the Supreme Court's Bakke decision overturning the University of California's minority admissions program is good for those who favor affirmative action programs in higher education. The Supreme Court gives wide latitude for devising programs that take race and ethnic background into account if colleges are acting in good faith.…

  2. A Pretty Good Paper about Pretty Good Privacy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCollum, Roy

    With today's growth in the use of electronic information systems for e-mail, data development and research, and the relative ease of access to such resources, protecting one's data and correspondence has become a great concern. "Pretty Good Privacy" (PGP), an encryption program developed by Phil Zimmermann, may be the software tool that…

  3. 42 CFR 93.210 - Good faith.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 42 Public Health 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Good faith. 93.210 Section 93.210 Public Health... MISCONDUCT Definitions § 93.210 Good faith. Good faith as applied to a complainant or witness, means having a... allegation or cooperation with a research misconduct proceeding is not in good faith if made with knowing or...

  4. 42 CFR 93.210 - Good faith.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 42 Public Health 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Good faith. 93.210 Section 93.210 Public Health... MISCONDUCT Definitions § 93.210 Good faith. Good faith as applied to a complainant or witness, means having a... allegation or cooperation with a research misconduct proceeding is not in good faith if made with knowing or...

  5. 42 CFR 93.210 - Good faith.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 42 Public Health 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Good faith. 93.210 Section 93.210 Public Health... MISCONDUCT Definitions § 93.210 Good faith. Good faith as applied to a complainant or witness, means having a... allegation or cooperation with a research misconduct proceeding is not in good faith if made with knowing or...

  6. Public Goods and Services.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zicht, Barbara, Ed.; And Others

    1982-01-01

    This document includes an introduction to the role of government in the production of public goods and services and 3 brief teaching units. The introduction describes the nature of a mixed economy and points out why most people identify the production of goods and services with private enterprise rather than government. It develops a rationale for…

  7. Productivity and Capital Goods.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zicht, Barbara, Ed.; And Others

    1981-01-01

    Providing teacher background on the concepts of productivity and capital goods, this document presents 3 teaching units about these ideas for different grade levels. The grade K-2 unit, "How Do They Do It?," is designed to provide students with an understanding of how physical capital goods add to productivity. Activities include a field trip to…

  8. Correlation between radio-induced lymphocyte apoptosis measurements obtained from two French centres.

    PubMed

    Mirjolet, C; Merlin, J L; Dalban, C; Maingon, P; Azria, D

    2016-07-01

    In the era of modern treatment delivery, increasing the dose delivered to the target to improve local control might be modulated by the patient's intrinsic radio-sensitivity. A predictive assay based on radio-induced lymphocyte apoptosis quantification highlighted the significant correlation between CD4 and CD8 T-lymphocyte apoptosis and grade 2 or 3 radiation-induced late toxicities. By conducting this assay at several technical platforms, the aim of this study was to demonstrate that radio-induced lymphocyte apoptosis values obtained from two different platforms were comparable. For 25 patients included in the PARATOXOR trial running in Dijon the radio-induced lymphocyte apoptosis results obtained from the laboratory of Montpellier (IRCM, Inserm U1194, France), considered as the reference (referred to as Lab 1), were compared with those from the laboratory located at the Institut de cancérologie de Lorraine (ICL, France), referred to as Lab 2. Different statistical methods were used to measure the agreement between the radio-induced lymphocyte apoptosis data from the two laboratories (quantitative data). The Bland-Altman plot was used to identify potential bias. All statistical tests demonstrated good agreement between radio-induced lymphocyte apoptosis values obtained from both sites and no major bias was identified. Since radio-induced lymphocyte apoptosis values, which predict tolerance to radiotherapy, could be assessed by two laboratories and showed a high level of robustness and consistency, we can suggest that this assay be extended to any laboratories that use the same technique. Copyright © 2016 Société française de radiothérapie oncologique (SFRO). Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

  9. Reading comprehension and expressive writing: a comparison between good and poor comprehenders.

    PubMed

    Carretti, Barbara; Re, Anna Maria; Arfè, Barbara

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated expressive writing in 8- to 10-year-old children with different levels of reading comprehension. Poor and good comprehenders were presented with three expressive writing tasks where the modality (pictorial vs. verbal) and the text genre (narrative vs. descriptive) varied. Results showed that poor comprehenders' performance was minimally influenced by the modality of the prompt. In fact, their performance was generally worse than that of good comprehenders and affected by the text genre, as the quality of their narratives was generally lower than that of good comprehenders. However, in the descriptive text condition, their performance was comparable to that of good comprehenders. One can conclude that their problems depend on the characteristics of the narrative text where coherence and causality are important elements.

  10. 'She sort of shines': midwives' accounts of 'good' midwifery and 'good' leadership.

    PubMed

    Byrom, Sheena; Downe, Soo

    2010-02-01

    to explore midwives' accounts of the characteristics of 'good' leadership and 'good' midwifery. a phenomenological interview survey. Participants were asked about what made both good and poor midwives and leaders. two maternity departments within National Health Service trusts in the North West of England. qualified midwives, selected by random sampling stratified to encompass senior and junior grades. thematic analysis, carried out manually. ten midwives were interviewed. Sixteen codes and six sub-themes were generated. Across the responses, two clear dimensions (themes) were identified, relating on the one hand to aspects of knowledge, skill and competence (termed 'skilled competence'), and on the other hand to specific personality characteristics (termed 'emotional intelligence'). This study suggests that the ability to act knowledgeably, safely and competently was seen as a basic requirement for both clinical midwives and midwife leaders. The added element which made both the midwife and the leader 'good' was the extent of their emotional capability. this small-scale in-depth study could form the basis for hypothesis generation for larger scale work in this area in future. The findings offer some reinforcement for the potential applicability of theories of transformational leadership to midwifery management and practice. Copyright 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activities of Citrus Water-Extracts Obtained by Microwave-Assisted and Conventional Methods.

    PubMed

    Caputo, Leonardo; Quintieri, Laura; Cavalluzzi, Maria Maddalena; Lentini, Giovanni; Habtemariam, Solomon

    2018-06-17

    Citrus pomace is a huge agro-food industrial waste mostly composed of peels and traditionally used as compost or animal feed. Owing to its high content of compounds beneficial to humans (e.g., flavonoids, phenol-like acids, and terpenoids), citrus waste is increasingly used to produce valuable supplements, fragrance, or antimicrobials. However, such processes require sustainable and efficient extraction strategies by solvent-free techniques for environmentally-friendly good practices. In this work, we evaluated the antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity of water extracts of three citrus peels (orange, lemon, and citron) against ten different sanitary relevant bacteria. Both conventional extraction methods using hot water (HWE) and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) were used. Even though no extract fully inhibited the growth of the target bacteria, these latter (mostly pseudomonads) showed a significant reduction in biofilm biomass. The most active extracts were obtained from orange and lemon peel by using MAE at 100 °C for 8 min. These results showed that citrus peel water infusions by MAE may reduce biofilm formation possibly enhancing the susceptibility of sanitary-related bacteria to disinfection procedures.

  12. Triple Gene Analysis Using Samples Obtained by Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Kyungjong; Um, Sang-Won; Jeong, Byeong-Ho; Yang, Jung Wook; Choi, Yoon-La; Han, Joungho; Kim, Hojoong; Kwon, O Jung

    2016-01-01

    Objective A mutational analysis of tumor tissue samples is an important part of advanced lung cancer treatment strategies. This study evaluated the efficacy of a triple gene analysis using samples obtained via endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA). Methods Either metastatic lymph nodes or primary lung mass samples obtained by EBUS-TBNA were collected between May 2011 and May 2013. We consecutively analyzed epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), V-Ki-ras2 Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS), and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion genes using remnant tissue samples. Results A total of 109 patients were diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Of these, 70% were adenocarcinoma, 27% squamous cell carcinoma with NSCLC, and 3% were related to other types of lung cancer. EGFR mutations were detected in 23 cases (21.1%), KRAS mutations in 13 cases (11.9%), and ALK fusion genes in 5 cases (4.9%). The ALK fusion genes could not be analyzed in four cases because of insufficient tissue samples remaining after routine histochemistry and an EGFR/KRAS mutation analysis. We found that small biopsy samples from EBUS-TBNA were adequate for performing a triple gene analysis in 97 patients (96%). ALK fusion protein immunohistochemistry (IHC) was 100% consistent with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Conclusion Small samples obtained by EBUS-TBNA were found to be sufficient for performing a triple gene analysis following routine histology and IHC. ALK IHC showed a very good concordance with FISH for detecting ALK fusion genes. PMID:27803402

  13. The prevalence and characterization of self-medication for obtaining pain relief among undergraduate nursing students.

    PubMed

    Souza, Layz Alves Ferreira; da Silva, Camila Damázio; Ferraz, Gisely Carvalho; Sousa, Fátima Aparecida Emm Faleiros; Pereira, Lílian Varanda

    2011-01-01

    This study investigates the prevalence of self-medication among undergraduate nursing students seeking to relieve pain and characterizes the pain and relief obtained through the used medication. This epidemiological and cross-sectional study was carried out with 211 nursing students from a public university in Goiás, GO, Brazil. A numerical scale (0-10) measured pain intensity and relief. The prevalence of self-medication was 38.8%. The source and main determining factor of this practice were the student him/herself (54.1%) and lack of time to go to a doctor (50%), respectively. The most frequently used analgesic was dipyrone (59.8%) and pain relief was classified as good (Md=8.5;Max=10;Min=0). The prevalence of self-medication was higher than that observed in similar studies. Many students reported that relief obtained through self-medication was good, a fact that can delay the clarification of a diagnosis and its appropriate treatment.

  14. 41 CFR 302-7.201 - Is temporary storage in excess of authorized limits and excess valuation of goods and services...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... excess of authorized limits and excess valuation of goods and services payable at Government expense? 302... Government expense? No, charges for excess weight, valuation above the minimum amount, and services obtained... HOUSEHOLD GOODS AND PROFESSIONAL BOOKS, PAPERS, AND EQUIPMENT (PBP&E) Actual Expense Method § 302-7.201 Is...

  15. 41 CFR 302-7.201 - Is temporary storage in excess of authorized limits and excess valuation of goods and services...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... excess of authorized limits and excess valuation of goods and services payable at Government expense? 302... Government expense? No, charges for excess weight, valuation above the minimum amount, and services obtained... HOUSEHOLD GOODS AND PROFESSIONAL BOOKS, PAPERS, AND EQUIPMENT (PBP&E) Actual Expense Method § 302-7.201 Is...

  16. Good Health Before Pregnancy: Preconception Care

    MedlinePlus

    ... Advocacy For Patients About ACOG Good Health Before Pregnancy: Preconception Care Home For Patients Search FAQs Good ... FAQ056, April 2017 PDF Format Good Health Before Pregnancy: Preconception Care Pregnancy What is a preconception care ...

  17. Moral identity and the experience of moral elevation in response to acts of uncommon goodness.

    PubMed

    Aquino, Karl; McFerran, Brent; Laven, Marjorie

    2011-04-01

    Four studies using survey and experimental designs examined whether people whose moral identity is highly self-defining are more susceptible to experiencing a state of moral elevation after being exposed to acts of uncommon moral goodness. Moral elevation consists of a suite of responses that motivate prosocial action tendencies. Study 1 showed that people higher (vs. lower) in moral identity centrality reported experiencing more intense elevating emotions, had more positive views of humanity, and were more desirous of becoming a better person after reading about an act of uncommon goodness than about a merely positive situation or an act of common benevolence. Study 2 showed that those high in moral identity centrality were more likely to recall acts of moral goodness and experience moral elevation in response to such events more strongly. These experiences were positively related to self-reported prosocial behavior. Study 3 showed a direct effect on behavior using manipulated, rather than measured, moral identity centrality. Study 4 replicated the effect of moral identity on the states of elevation as well as on self-reported physical sensations and showed that the elevation mediates the relationship between moral identity, witnessing uncommon goodness, and prosocial behavior.

  18. 28 CFR 523.14 - Industrial good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ..., AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.14 Industrial good time. Extra good time... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Industrial good time. 523.14 Section 523... Industries is not awarded industrial good time until actually employed. ...

  19. 28 CFR 523.14 - Industrial good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ..., AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.14 Industrial good time. Extra good time... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Industrial good time. 523.14 Section 523... Industries is not awarded industrial good time until actually employed. ...

  20. 28 CFR 523.14 - Industrial good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ..., AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.14 Industrial good time. Extra good time... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Industrial good time. 523.14 Section 523... Industries is not awarded industrial good time until actually employed. ...

  1. 28 CFR 523.14 - Industrial good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ..., AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.14 Industrial good time. Extra good time... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Industrial good time. 523.14 Section 523... Industries is not awarded industrial good time until actually employed. ...

  2. 28 CFR 523.14 - Industrial good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ..., AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.14 Industrial good time. Extra good time... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Industrial good time. 523.14 Section 523... Industries is not awarded industrial good time until actually employed. ...

  3. Entanglement Between Demand and Supply in Markets with Bandwagon Goods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gordon, Mirta B.; Nadal, Jean-Pierre; Phan, Denis; Semeshenko, Viktoriya

    2013-05-01

    Whenever customers' choices (e.g. to buy or not a given good) depend on others choices (cases coined `positive externalities' or `bandwagon effect' in the economic literature), the demand may be multiply valued: for a same posted price, there is either a small number of buyers, or a large one—in which case one says that the customers coordinate. This leads to a dilemma for the seller: should he sell at a high price, targeting a small number of buyers, or at low price targeting a large number of buyers? In this paper we show that the interaction between demand and supply is even more complex than expected, leading to what we call the curse of coordination: the pricing strategy for the seller which aimed at maximizing his profit corresponds to posting a price which, not only assumes that the customers will coordinate, but also lies very near the critical price value at which such high demand no more exists. This is obtained by the detailed mathematical analysis of a particular model formally related to the Random Field Ising Model and to a model introduced in social sciences by T.C. Schelling in the 70's.

  4. Wide-undermining neck liposuction: tips and tricks for good results.

    PubMed

    Innocenti, Alessandro; Andretto Amodeo, Chiara; Ciancio, Francesco

    2014-08-01

    Neck rejuvenation is one of the most sought after procedures in the restoration of the facial contour. Numerous techniques to improve the aesthetic outcome and reduce downtime have been described. In our experience, wide undermining and local anesthesia are key to obtaining good results in selected patients who want a quick recovery. This article presents our experience with liposuction of the neck and proposes some tips and tricks to master wide-undermining neck liposuction. From January 2005 to September 2012, a total of 118 patients (34 males, 84 females) underwent neck liposuction. Patient selection was based mainly on age and neck-aging features. The procedure was performed with the patients under local anesthesia. A wide rhomboid-shaped skin undermining of the submandibular and neck area was performed and a very thin fat layer was preserved. Dressing was applied for 3 days. Improvement of the neck's contour was observed in all patients. Redefinition of the cervicomandibular angle and skin redraping of the cervical area occurred in all cases. No further touch-ups were needed. Edema and ecchymosis resolved in a few days. No major complications were observed. Our results show that wide-undermining neck liposuction performed under local anesthesia is an effective and safe procedure. Patient selection based on age and anatomical features was fundamental to obtain impressive improvement of neck contour. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

  5. Evolutionary stability in continuous nonlinear public goods games.

    PubMed

    Molina, Chai; Earn, David J D

    2017-01-01

    We investigate a type of public goods games played in groups of individuals who choose how much to contribute towards the production of a common good, at a cost to themselves. In these games, the common good is produced based on the sum of contributions from all group members, then equally distributed among them. In applications, the dependence of the common good on the total contribution is often nonlinear (e.g., exhibiting synergy or diminishing returns). To date, most theoretical and experimental studies have addressed scenarios in which the set of possible contributions is discrete. However, in many real-world situations, contributions are continuous (e.g., individuals volunteering their time). The "n-player snowdrift games" that we analyze involve continuously varying contributions. We establish under what conditions populations of contributing (or "cooperating") individuals can evolve and persist. Previous work on snowdrift games, using adaptive dynamics, has found that what we term an "equally cooperative" strategy is locally convergently and evolutionarily stable. Using static evolutionary game theory, we find conditions under which this strategy is actually globally evolutionarily stable. All these results refer to stability to invasion by a single mutant. We broaden the scope of existing stability results by showing that the equally cooperative strategy is locally stable to potentially large population perturbations, i.e., allowing for the possibility that mutants make up a non-negligible proportion of the population (due, for example, to genetic drift, environmental variability or dispersal).

  6. Directional learning and the provisioning of public goods.

    PubMed

    Nax, Heinrich H; Perc, Matjaž

    2015-01-26

    We consider an environment where players are involved in a public goods game and must decide repeatedly whether to make an individual contribution or not. However, players lack strategically relevant information about the game and about the other players in the population. The resulting behavior of players is completely uncoupled from such information, and the individual strategy adjustment dynamics are driven only by reinforcement feedbacks from each player's own past. We show that the resulting "directional learning" is sufficient to explain cooperative deviations away from the Nash equilibrium. We introduce the concept of k-strong equilibria, which nest both the Nash equilibrium and the Aumann-strong equilibrium as two special cases, and we show that, together with the parameters of the learning model, the maximal k-strength of equilibrium determines the stationary distribution. The provisioning of public goods can be secured even under adverse conditions, as long as players are sufficiently responsive to the changes in their own payoffs and adjust their actions accordingly. Substantial levels of public cooperation can thus be explained without arguments involving selflessness or social preferences, solely on the basis of uncoordinated directional (mis)learning.

  7. Directional learning and the provisioning of public goods

    PubMed Central

    Nax, Heinrich H.; Perc, Matjaž

    2015-01-01

    We consider an environment where players are involved in a public goods game and must decide repeatedly whether to make an individual contribution or not. However, players lack strategically relevant information about the game and about the other players in the population. The resulting behavior of players is completely uncoupled from such information, and the individual strategy adjustment dynamics are driven only by reinforcement feedbacks from each player's own past. We show that the resulting “directional learning” is sufficient to explain cooperative deviations away from the Nash equilibrium. We introduce the concept of k–strong equilibria, which nest both the Nash equilibrium and the Aumann-strong equilibrium as two special cases, and we show that, together with the parameters of the learning model, the maximal k–strength of equilibrium determines the stationary distribution. The provisioning of public goods can be secured even under adverse conditions, as long as players are sufficiently responsive to the changes in their own payoffs and adjust their actions accordingly. Substantial levels of public cooperation can thus be explained without arguments involving selflessness or social preferences, solely on the basis of uncoordinated directional (mis)learning. PMID:25619192

  8. Adaptive play stabilizes cooperation in continuous public goods games

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Te; Wang, Long

    2018-04-01

    We construct a model to study the effects of repeated interaction on the evolution of cooperation in continuous public goods games. Instead of preassigning the duration of repeatedness, the likelihood of group entering next round interaction is positively dependent on the group's current cooperativeness. Meanwhile, when the disturbance happens, the interaction terminates. Under rare mutations, we show that such adaptive play can lead to the dominance of full cooperative state for weak disturbance. For fairly strong disturbance, all-or-none cooperative states share higher fractions of time in the long run, results similar to the ones reported in the study (Pinheiro et al., 2014) while differing from the ones reported in another relevant study (Van Segbroeck et al., 2012), although only strategy space and way determining next round vary. Our results remain valid when groups enter next round with a given probability independent of groups' cooperativeness. In the synergic public goods games, the positive effects of repeated interactions on promoting cooperation is further strengthened. In the discounted public goods game, only very weak disturbance can lead to the dominance of full cooperative state while fairly strong disturbance can favor both full cooperative state and a partially cooperative state. Our study thus enriches the literature on the evolution of cooperation in repeated public goods games.

  9. Qualities of a good Singaporean psychiatrist: Qualitative differences between psychiatrists and patients.

    PubMed

    Tor, Phern-Chern; Tan, Jacinta O A

    2015-06-01

    Pilot studies in Singapore established four themes (personal values, professional, relationship, academic-executive) relating to the qualities of a good psychiatrist, and suggested potential differences of opinion between patients and psychiatrists. We sought to explore differences between patients and psychiatrists regarding the qualities of a good psychiatrist. Qualitative analysis of interviews using a modified grounded theory approach with 21 voluntary psychiatric inpatients and 18 psychiatrists. One hundred thirty-one separate qualities emerged from the data. The qualities of a good psychiatrist were viewed in the context of motivations, functions, methods, and results obtained, mirroring the themes established in the pilot studies. Patients and psychiatrists mostly concurred on the qualities of a good psychiatrist, with 62.6% of the qualities emerging from both groups. However significant differences existed. Patient-specific qualities included proof of altruistic motives, diligence, clinical competence, and positive results. What the psychiatrist represented to patients in relation to gender, culture, and clinical prestige also mattered to patients. Psychiatrist-specific qualities related to societal (e.g. public protection) and professional concerns (e.g. boundary issues). The results of this study demonstrate that patients and psychiatrists have different views about the qualities of a good psychiatrist. Patients may expect proof of care, diligence, and competence from the psychiatrist, along with positive results. In addition, psychiatrists should be mindful of what they represent to patients and how that can impact the doctor-patient relationship. © 2014 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

  10. Phase Transitions and Volunteering in Spatial Public Goods Games

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Szabó, György; Hauert, Christoph

    2002-08-01

    We present a simple yet effective mechanism promoting cooperation under full anonymity by allowing for voluntary participation in public goods games. This natural extension leads to ``rock-scissors-paper''-type cyclic dominance of the three strategies, cooperate, defect, and loner. In spatial settings with players arranged on a regular lattice, this results in interesting dynamical properties and intriguing spatiotemporal patterns. In particular, variations of the value of the public good leads to transitions between one-, two-, and three-strategy states which either are in the class of directed percolation or show interesting analogies to Ising-type models. Although volunteering is incapable of stabilizing cooperation, it efficiently prevents successful spreading of selfish behavior.

  11. Leading by Example in a Public Goods Experiment with Heterogeneity and Incomplete Information

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levati, M. Vittoria; Sutter, Matthias; van der Heijden, Eline

    2007-01-01

    We study the effects of leadership on the private provision of a public good when group members are heterogeneously endowed. Leadership is implemented as a sequential public goods game where one group member contributes first and all the others follow. Our results show that the presence of a leader increases average contribution levels but less so…

  12. Group differences in adult simple arithmetic: good retrievers, not-so-good retrievers, and perfectionists.

    PubMed

    Hecht, Steven A

    2006-01-01

    We used the choice/no-choice methodology in two experiments to examine patterns of strategy selection and execution in groups of undergraduates. Comparisons between choice and no-choice trials revealed three groups. Some participants good retrievers) were consistently able to use retrieval to solve almost all arithmetic problems. Other participants (perfectionists) successfully used retrieval substantially less often in choice-allowed trials than when strategy choices were prohibited. Not-so-good retrievers retrieved correct answers less often than the other participants in both the choice-allowed and no-choice conditions. No group differences emerged with respect to time needed to search and access answers from long-term memory; however, not-so-good retrievers were consistently slower than the other subgroups at executing fact-retrieval processes that are peripheral to memory search and access. Theoretical models of simple arithmetic, such as the Strategy Choice and Discovery Simulation (Shrager & Siegler, 1998), should be updated to include the existence of both perfectionist and not-so-good retriever adults.

  13. Sustainable cooperation based on reputation and habituation in the public goods game.

    PubMed

    Liu, Yan; Chen, Tong

    2017-10-01

    Reputation can promote cooperation in public goods game and player's cooperative behavior is not pure economical rationality, but habituation would influence their behaviors as well. One's habituation can be formed by repeated behaviors in daily life and be affected by habitual preference. We aim to investigate the sustainable cooperation based on reputation and habit formation. To better investigate the impacts of reputation and habitual preference on the evolution and sustainability of cooperation. We introduce three types of agents into our spatial public goods game. Through numerical simulations, we find that the larger habitual preference make cooperation easier to emerge and maintain. Additionally, we find that a moderate number of agents who want to obtain more reputation (ICs) are best for the sustainability of cooperation. Finally, we observe that the variation of donations of ICs can influence greatly on the equilibrium of public goods game. When ICs reduce their donations, a proper contribution will be better to maintain the cooperative behaviors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. On jointly optimising the changes of seasonable goods and inventory replenishment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Zhaolin; Tao, Feng; Sun, Daewon

    2012-06-01

    Retailers often need to replace soon-to-be-unseasonable products with new seasonable goods when the season changes. The trade-off for such activities involves choosing between the salvage loss of the unseasonable product and the profit of selling the seasonable product early. This article develops a periodic-review inventory model for planning the changes of seasonable goods with state-dependent demand and cost parameters. We show that the single-period optimal policy for product changes is a threshold policy based on the initial inventory of the unseasonable goods. The corresponding optimal inventory policy follows a Purchase-Keep-Dispose policy if the incumbent product is kept or a base-stock policy if the incumbent product is replaced. Numerically, we find that the structure of the multi-period optimal policy resembles that of the single-period model. We propose a heuristic to solve the multi-period model and demonstrate its effectiveness. Our research provides insights into dynamically managing seasonable goods.

  15. Effects of the Good Behavior Game across Classroom Contexts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pennington, Brittany; McComas, Jennifer J.

    2017-01-01

    The Good Behavior Game (GBG), a well-researched classroom group contingency, is typically played for brief periods of time, which raises questions about the effects on subsequent contexts. This study used a multiple baseline design and showed that when the GBG was implemented in one context, behavior improved in only that context. Behavior…

  16. What Good Are Warfare Models?

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1981-05-01

    PROFESSIONAL PAPER 306 / May 1981 WHAT GOOD ARE WARFARE MODELS? Thomas E. Anger DTICS E LECTE ,JUN 2198 1 j CENTER FOR NAVAL ANALYSES 81 6 19 025 V...WHAT GOOD ARE WARFARE MODELS? Thomas E. /Anger J Accession For !ETIS GRA&I DTIC TAB thonnounceldŕ 5 By-C Availability Codes iAva il aand/or Di1st...least flows from a life-or-death incenLive to make good guesses when choosing weapons, forces, or strategies. It is not surprising, however, that

  17. What are single photons good for?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sangouard, Nicolas; Zbinden, Hugo

    2012-10-01

    In a long-held preconception, photons play a central role in present-day quantum technologies. But what are sources producing photons one by one good for precisely? Well, in opposition to what many suggest, we show that single-photon sources are not helpful for point to point quantum key distribution because faint laser pulses do the job comfortably. However, there is no doubt about the usefulness of sources producing single photons for future quantum technologies. In particular, we show how single-photon sources could become the seed of a revolution in the framework of quantum communication, making the security of quantum key distribution device-independent or extending quantum communication over many hundreds of kilometers. Hopefully, these promising applications will provide a guideline for researchers to develop more and more efficient sources, producing narrowband, pure and indistinguishable photons at appropriate wavelengths.

  18. Spatial dilemmas of diffusible public goods

    PubMed Central

    Allen, Benjamin; Gore, Jeff; Nowak, Martin A

    2013-01-01

    The emergence of cooperation is a central question in evolutionary biology. Microorganisms often cooperate by producing a chemical resource (a public good) that benefits other cells. The sharing of public goods depends on their diffusion through space. Previous theory suggests that spatial structure can promote evolution of cooperation, but the diffusion of public goods introduces new phenomena that must be modeled explicitly. We develop an approach where colony geometry and public good diffusion are described by graphs. We find that the success of cooperation depends on a simple relation between the benefits and costs of the public good, the amount retained by a producer, and the average amount retained by each of the producer’s neighbors. These quantities are derived as analytic functions of the graph topology and diffusion rate. In general, cooperation is favored for small diffusion rates, low colony dimensionality, and small rates of decay of the public good. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01169.001 PMID:24347543

  19. Comparative analysis on the probability of being a good payer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mihova, V.; Pavlov, V.

    2017-10-01

    Credit risk assessment is crucial for the bank industry. The current practice uses various approaches for the calculation of credit risk. The core of these approaches is the use of multiple regression models, applied in order to assess the risk associated with the approval of people applying for certain products (loans, credit cards, etc.). Based on data from the past, these models try to predict what will happen in the future. Different data requires different type of models. This work studies the causal link between the conduct of an applicant upon payment of the loan and the data that he completed at the time of application. A database of 100 borrowers from a commercial bank is used for the purposes of the study. The available data includes information from the time of application and credit history while paying off the loan. Customers are divided into two groups, based on the credit history: Good and Bad payers. Linear and logistic regression are applied in parallel to the data in order to estimate the probability of being good for new borrowers. A variable, which contains value of 1 for Good borrowers and value of 0 for Bad candidates, is modeled as a dependent variable. To decide which of the variables listed in the database should be used in the modelling process (as independent variables), a correlation analysis is made. Due to the results of it, several combinations of independent variables are tested as initial models - both with linear and logistic regression. The best linear and logistic models are obtained after initial transformation of the data and following a set of standard and robust statistical criteria. A comparative analysis between the two final models is made and scorecards are obtained from both models to assess new customers at the time of application. A cut-off level of points, bellow which to reject the applications and above it - to accept them, has been suggested for both the models, applying the strategy to keep the same Accept Rate as

  20. The restrictive concept of good health in patients with hypochondriasis.

    PubMed

    Weck, Florian; Neng, Julia M B; Richtberg, Samantha; Stangier, Ulrich

    2012-12-01

    The restrictive concept of good health and the misinterpretation of bodily symptoms as a sign of illness are considered in the DSM and in well-established cognitive models as central characteristics of hypochondriasis. However, until now it has not been satisfactorily resolved whether this tendency is unique for hypochondriasis. In the current study a modified card sorting technique was used to investigate the extent to which bodily complaints were seen as compatible with a state of good health. We found that patients with hypochondriasis (n = 45) showed a more restrictive concept of good health than anxiety patients (n = 45) and healthy controls (n = 45). Those differences were only observable when a concrete evaluation of own bodily symptoms was carried out in comparison to a more general evaluation of symptoms. The misinterpretation of bodily symptoms demonstrates to be a highly specific characteristic of hypochondriasis. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Analytical and numerical treatment of the heat conduction equation obtained via time-fractional distributed-order heat conduction law

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Želi, Velibor; Zorica, Dušan

    2018-02-01

    Generalization of the heat conduction equation is obtained by considering the system of equations consisting of the energy balance equation and fractional-order constitutive heat conduction law, assumed in the form of the distributed-order Cattaneo type. The Cauchy problem for system of energy balance equation and constitutive heat conduction law is treated analytically through Fourier and Laplace integral transform methods, as well as numerically by the method of finite differences through Adams-Bashforth and Grünwald-Letnikov schemes for approximation derivatives in temporal domain and leap frog scheme for spatial derivatives. Numerical examples, showing time evolution of temperature and heat flux spatial profiles, demonstrate applicability and good agreement of both methods in cases of multi-term and power-type distributed-order heat conduction laws.

  2. Good decision-making is associated with an adaptive cardiovascular response to social competitive stress.

    PubMed

    Alacreu-Crespo, Adrián; Costa, Raquel; Abad-Tortosa, Diana; Salvador, Alicia; Serrano, Miguel Ángel

    2018-06-22

    Competition elicits different psychological and cardiovascular responses depending on a person's skills. Decision-making has been considered a distal factor that influences competition, but there are no studies analyzing this relationship. Our objective was to analyze whether decision-making affects the response to competition. Specifically, we aimed to test whether good performers on a decision-making test, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), showed an adaptive cardiovascular response to competition. In all, 116 participants (44 women) performed the IGT and were classified into Good or Poor decision-makers. Subsequently, they were exposed to a stress task in two different conditions: a face-to-face competition (winners/losers) or a control condition, while an electrocardiogram was recorded. In the competition group, good decision-makers increased their high-frequency respect to the total heart rate variability (HF/HRV) levels during the task, compared to Poor decision-makers. Again, competition group good decision-makers, showed lower LF and higher HF/HRV reactivity than the control group, which represents lower HRV stress pattern. Moreover, in the group of losers, good decision-makers had a decline in low frequency (LF) during the task and faster recovery than poor decision-makers. In conclusion, good decision-makers have a more adaptive stress response and higher levels of mental effort, based on total HRV interpretation. Decision-making skills could be a factor in a more adaptive cardiovascular response to competition.

  3. Experimental Characterization of Aluminum-Based Hybrid Composites Obtained Through Powder Metallurgy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marcu, D. F.; Buzatu, M.; Ghica, V. G.; Petrescu, M. I.; Popescu, G.; Niculescu, F.; Iacob, G.

    2018-06-01

    The paper presents some experimental results concerning fabrication through powder metallurgy (P/M) of aluminum-based hybrid composites - Al/Al2O3/Gr. In order to understand the mechanisms that occur during the P/M processes of obtaining Al/Al2O3/Gr composite, we correlated the physical characteristics with their micro-structural characteristics. The characterization was performed using analysis techniques specific for P/M process, SEM-EDS and XRD analyses. Micro-structural characterization of the composites has revealed fairly uniform distribution this resulting in good properties of the final composite material.

  4. Obtaining growth hormone from calf blood

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kalchev, L. A.; Ralchev, K. K.; Nikolov, I. T.

    1979-01-01

    The preparation of a growth hormone from human serum was used for the isolation of the hormone from calf serum. The preparation was biologically active - it increased the quantity of the free fatty acids released in rat plasma by 36.4 percent. Electrophoresis in Veronal buffer, ph 8.6, showed the presence of a single fraction having mobility intermediate between that of alpha and beta globulins. Gel filtration through Sephadex G 100 showed an elutriation curve identical to that obtained by the growth hormone prepared from pituitary glands.

  5. Radiographers' areas of professional competence related to good nursing care.

    PubMed

    Andersson, Bodil T; Fridlund, Bengt; Elgán, Carina; Axelsson, Asa B

    2008-09-01

    Radiographers' ability and competence is a matter of vital importance for patients. Nursing care is an integral part of the radiographer's work. The demand for high competence in clinical activities has increased in diagnostic radiology and has had an impact on the development of the profession. The aim was to describe the radiographer's areas of professional competence in relation to good nursing care based on critical incidents that occur in the course of radiological examinations and interventions. A descriptive design with a qualitative approach, using the Critical Incident Technique was employed. Interviews were conducted with a strategic sample of registered radiographers (n = 14), based at different hospitals in Sweden. The appropriate ethical principles were followed. All the participants provided informed consent, and formal approval for conducting the research was obtained according to national and local directives. The data analysis resulted in two main areas; direct and indirect patient-related areas of competence, which describe the radiographers' skills that either facilitate or hinder good nursing care. In the direct patient-related area of competence, four categories emerged, which illustrate good nursing care in the patient's immediate surroundings. In the indirect patient-related area of competence, four categories illuminated good nursing care that is provided without direct contact with the patient. The study highlights the different areas of the radiographer's unique professional competence. The findings provide insight into the radiographer's profession, on one hand as a carer and on the other as a medical technologist as well as highlighting the importance of each role. The radiographer's work encompasses a variety of components--from caring for the patient to handling and checking the technical equipment.

  6. Reconsidering the “Good Divorce”

    PubMed Central

    Amato, Paul R.; Kane, Jennifer B.; James, Spencer

    2011-01-01

    This study attempted to assess the notion that a “good divorce” protects children from the potential negative consequences of marital dissolution. A cluster analysis of data on postdivorce parenting from 944 families resulted in three groups: cooperative coparenting, parallel parenting, and single parenting. Children in the cooperative coparenting (good divorce) cluster had the smallest number of behavior problems and the closest ties to their fathers. Nevertheless, children in this cluster did not score significantly better than other children on 10 additional outcomes. These findings provide only modest support for the good divorce hypothesis. PMID:22125355

  7. Why good ideas and good science do not always make it into the marketplace

    Treesearch

    Charles R. Frihart

    2007-01-01

    Good ideas and good science are not sufficient in and of themselves for successful commercialization of new technology. Understanding the barriers to commercialization so that ways around, under, over, or through them can be found is also crucial to success. Barriers can include market needs, technology push versus market pull, availability of a window of opportunity,...

  8. 28 CFR 523.11 - Meritorious good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ..., AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.11 Meritorious good time. (a) Staff are responsible for recommending meritorious good time based upon work performance. Each recommendation must... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Meritorious good time. 523.11 Section 523...

  9. 28 CFR 523.11 - Meritorious good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ..., AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.11 Meritorious good time. (a) Staff are responsible for recommending meritorious good time based upon work performance. Each recommendation must... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Meritorious good time. 523.11 Section 523...

  10. 28 CFR 523.11 - Meritorious good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ..., AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.11 Meritorious good time. (a) Staff are responsible for recommending meritorious good time based upon work performance. Each recommendation must... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Meritorious good time. 523.11 Section 523...

  11. 28 CFR 523.11 - Meritorious good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ..., AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.11 Meritorious good time. (a) Staff are responsible for recommending meritorious good time based upon work performance. Each recommendation must... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Meritorious good time. 523.11 Section 523...

  12. 28 CFR 523.11 - Meritorious good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ..., AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.11 Meritorious good time. (a) Staff are responsible for recommending meritorious good time based upon work performance. Each recommendation must... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Meritorious good time. 523.11 Section 523...

  13. 19 CFR 10.770 - Originating goods.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... Rules of Origin § 10.770 Originating goods. (a) General. A good will be considered an originating good... provided for in a heading or subheading of the HTSUS that is not covered by the product-specific rules set... the product-specific rules set forth in General Note 27(h), HTSUS, and: (i)(A) Each of the non...

  14. 7 CFR 51.1011 - Good green color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... Standards for Persian (Tahiti) Limes Definitions § 51.1011 Good green color. Good green color means that the skin of the lime is of a good green color characteristic of the Persian variety. ... 7 Agriculture 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Good green color. 51.1011 Section 51.1011 Agriculture...

  15. 7 CFR 51.1011 - Good green color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... Standards for Persian (Tahiti) Limes Definitions § 51.1011 Good green color. Good green color means that the skin of the lime is of a good green color characteristic of the Persian variety. ... 7 Agriculture 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good green color. 51.1011 Section 51.1011 Agriculture...

  16. 7 CFR 51.1011 - Good green color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good green color. 51.1011 Section 51.1011 Agriculture... Standards for Persian (Tahiti) Limes Definitions § 51.1011 Good green color. Good green color means that the skin of the lime is of a good green color characteristic of the Persian variety. ...

  17. Solving optimization problems by the public goods game

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Javarone, Marco Alberto

    2017-09-01

    We introduce a method based on the Public Goods Game for solving optimization tasks. In particular, we focus on the Traveling Salesman Problem, i.e. a NP-hard problem whose search space exponentially grows increasing the number of cities. The proposed method considers a population whose agents are provided with a random solution to the given problem. In doing so, agents interact by playing the Public Goods Game using the fitness of their solution as currency of the game. Notably, agents with better solutions provide higher contributions, while those with lower ones tend to imitate the solution of richer agents for increasing their fitness. Numerical simulations show that the proposed method allows to compute exact solutions, and suboptimal ones, in the considered search spaces. As result, beyond to propose a new heuristic for combinatorial optimization problems, our work aims to highlight the potentiality of evolutionary game theory beyond its current horizons.

  18. Repeatability and reproducibility of measurements of the suburethral tape location obtained in pelvic floor ultrasound performed with a transvaginal probe

    PubMed Central

    Dresler, Maria Magdalena; Kociszewski, Jacek; Pędraszewski, Piotr; Trzeciak, Agnieszka; Surkont, Grzegorz

    2017-01-01

    Introduction Implants used to treat patients with urogynecological conditions are well visible in US examination. The position of the suburethral tape (sling) is determined in relation to the urethra or the pubic symphysis. Aim of the study The study was aimed at assessing the accuracy of measurements determining suburethral tape location obtained in pelvic US examination performed with a transvaginal probe. Material and methods The analysis covered the results of sonographic measurements obtained according to a standardized technique in women referred for urogynecological diagnostics. Data from a total of 68 patients were used to analyse the repeatability and reproducibility of results obtained on the same day. Results The intraclass correlation coefficient for the repeatability and reproducibility of the sonographic measurements of suburethral tape location obtained with a transvaginal probe ranged from 0.6665 to 0.9911. The analysis of the measurements confirmed their consistency to be excellent or good. Conclusions Excellent and good repeatability and reproducibility of the measurements of the suburethral tape location obtained in a pelvic ultrasound performed with a transvaginal probe confirm the test’s validity and usefulness for clinical and academic purposes. PMID:28856017

  19. What Are Good Child Outcomes?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moore, Kristin Anderson; Evans, V. Jeffery; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne; Roth, Jodie

    This paper considers the question "What are good child outcomes?" from the perspectives of developmental psychology, economics, and sociology. Section 1 of the paper examines good child outcomes as characteristics of stage-salient tasks of development. Section 2 emphasizes the acquisition of "human capital," the development of productive traits…

  20. 12 CFR 220.6 - Good faith account.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Good faith account. 220.6 Section 220.6 Banks... BY BROKERS AND DEALERS (REGULATION T) § 220.6 Good faith account. In a good faith account, a creditor...) Securities entitled to good faith margin—(1) Permissible transactions. A creditor may effect and finance...

  1. 12 CFR 220.6 - Good faith account.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good faith account. 220.6 Section 220.6 Banks... BY BROKERS AND DEALERS (REGULATION T) § 220.6 Good faith account. In a good faith account, a creditor...) Securities entitled to good faith margin—(1) Permissible transactions. A creditor may effect and finance...

  2. 12 CFR 220.6 - Good faith account.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good faith account. 220.6 Section 220.6 Banks... (CONTINUED) CREDIT BY BROKERS AND DEALERS (REGULATION T) § 220.6 Good faith account. In a good faith account...: (a) Securities entitled to good faith margin—(1) Permissible transactions. A creditor may effect and...

  3. 12 CFR 220.6 - Good faith account.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good faith account. 220.6 Section 220.6 Banks... (CONTINUED) CREDIT BY BROKERS AND DEALERS (REGULATION T) § 220.6 Good faith account. In a good faith account...: (a) Securities entitled to good faith margin—(1) Permissible transactions. A creditor may effect and...

  4. 28 CFR 523.20 - Good conduct time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Good Conduct Time § 523.20 Good conduct time. (a) For inmates serving a... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Good conduct time. 523.20 Section 523.20... will award 54 days credit toward service of sentence (good conduct time credit) for each year served...

  5. 28 CFR 523.20 - Good conduct time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Good Conduct Time § 523.20 Good conduct time. (a) For inmates serving a... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Good conduct time. 523.20 Section 523.20... will award 54 days credit toward service of sentence (good conduct time credit) for each year served...

  6. 28 CFR 523.20 - Good conduct time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Good Conduct Time § 523.20 Good conduct time. (a) For inmates serving a... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Good conduct time. 523.20 Section 523.20... will award 54 days credit toward service of sentence (good conduct time credit) for each year served...

  7. 28 CFR 523.20 - Good conduct time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Good Conduct Time § 523.20 Good conduct time. (a) For inmates serving a... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Good conduct time. 523.20 Section 523.20... will award 54 days credit toward service of sentence (good conduct time credit) for each year served...

  8. What are the attributes of a good health educator?

    PubMed

    Ilic, Dragan; Harding, Jessica; Allan, Christie; Diug, Basia

    2016-06-28

    The purpose of this study was to examine the attributes that students and educators believe are important to being a good health educator in a non-clinical setting. A cross-sectional survey of first-year health science students and educators involved with a Health Science course in Melbourne, Australia was performed. A convenience sampling approach was implemented, with participants were required to rate the importance of teaching attributes on a previously developed 15-item written questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were generated, with Pearson's chi-square statistics used to examine differences between groups. In total 94/147 (63.9%) of students and 15/15 (100%) of educators participated in the study. Of the 15 attributes, only 'scholarly activity' was not deemed to be not as an important attribute to define a good educator. Knowledge base (50% vs. 13.3%) and feedback skills (22.3% vs. 0%) were rated as important attributes by students in comparison to educators. Professionalism (20% vs. 5.3%), scholarly activity (20% vs. 3.2%) and role modelling (26.7% vs. 3.2%) were rated as the most important attributes by educators in comparison to students. No single attribute makes a good health educator; rather health educators are required to have a rounded approach to teaching. Students have greater focus on the educator providing a transfer of knowledge. Educators are additionally focused on professionalism attributes, which may not be valued by students. Students and educators must enter into a clearer understanding of expectations, from both parties, to obtain optimal education outcomes.

  9. Coevolving agent strategies and network topology for the public goods games

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, C. Y.; Zhang, J. L.; Xie, G. M.; Wang, L.

    2011-03-01

    Much of human cooperation remains an evolutionary riddle. Coevolutionary public goods games in structured populations are studied where players can change from an unproductive public goods game to a productive one, by evaluating the productivity of the public goods games. In our model, each individual participates in games organized by its neighborhood plus by itself. Coevolution here refers to an evolutionary process entailing both deletion of existing links and addition of new links between agents that accompanies the evolution of their strategies. Furthermore, we investigate the effects of time scale separation of strategy and structure on cooperation level. This study presents the following: Foremost, we observe that high cooperation levels in public goods interactions are attained by the entangled coevolution of strategy and structure. Presented results also confirm that the resulting networks show many features of real systems, such as cooperative behavior and hierarchical clustering. The heterogeneity of the interaction network is held responsible for the observed promotion of cooperation. We hope our work may offer an explanation for the origin of large-scale cooperative behavior among unrelated individuals.

  10. 31 CFR 560.306 - Iranian-origin goods or services; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ...; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran. 560.306 Section 560.306 Money and... goods or services; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran. (a) The terms goods..., extracted, or processed in Iran; and (2) Goods which have entered into Iranian commerce. (b) The terms...

  11. 31 CFR 560.306 - Iranian-origin goods or services; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ...; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran. 560.306 Section 560.306 Money and... goods or services; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran. (a) The terms goods..., extracted, or processed in Iran; and (2) Goods which have entered into Iranian commerce. (b) The terms...

  12. 31 CFR 560.306 - Iranian-origin goods or services; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ...; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran. 560.306 Section 560.306 Money and... goods or services; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran. (a) The terms goods..., extracted, or processed in Iran; and (2) Goods which have entered into Iranian commerce. (b) The terms...

  13. Public goods and procreation.

    PubMed

    Anomaly, Jonathan

    2014-01-01

    Procreation is the ultimate public goods problem. Each new child affects the welfare of many other people, and some (but not all) children produce uncompensated value that future people will enjoy. This essay addresses challenges that arise if we think of procreation and parenting as public goods. These include whether individual choices are likely to lead to a socially desirable outcome, and whether changes in laws, social norms, or access to genetic engineering and embryo selection might improve the aggregate outcome of our reproductive choices.

  14. 29 CFR 570.141 - Good faith defense.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Good faith defense. 570.141 Section 570.141 Labor... Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as Amended Enforcement § 570.141 Good faith defense. A... ships or delivers for shipment in commerce goods which he acquired in good faith in reliance on written...

  15. 29 CFR 570.141 - Good faith defense.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Good faith defense. 570.141 Section 570.141 Labor... Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as Amended Enforcement § 570.141 Good faith defense. A... ships or delivers for shipment in commerce goods which he acquired in good faith in reliance on written...

  16. 29 CFR 570.141 - Good faith defense.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Good faith defense. 570.141 Section 570.141 Labor... Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as Amended Enforcement § 570.141 Good faith defense. A... ships or delivers for shipment in commerce goods which he acquired in good faith in reliance on written...

  17. 29 CFR 570.141 - Good faith defense.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Good faith defense. 570.141 Section 570.141 Labor... Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as Amended Enforcement § 570.141 Good faith defense. A... ships or delivers for shipment in commerce goods which he acquired in good faith in reliance on written...

  18. Good for God? Religious motivation reduces perceived responsibility for and morality of good deeds.

    PubMed

    Gervais, Will M

    2014-08-01

    Many people view religion as a crucial source of morality. However, 6 experiments (total N = 1,078) revealed that good deeds are perceived as less moral if they are performed for religious reasons. Religiously motivated acts were seen as less moral than the exact same acts performed for other reasons (Experiments 1-2 and 6). Religious motivations also reduced attributions of intention and responsibility (Experiments 3-6), an effect that fully mediated the effect of religious motivations on perceived morality (Experiment 6). The effects were not explained by different perceptions of motivation orientation (i.e., intrinsic vs. extrinsic) across conditions (Experiment 4) and also were evident when religious upbringing led to an intuitive moral response (Experiment 5). Effects generalized across religious and nonreligious participants. When viewing a religiously motivated good deed, people infer that actually helping others is, in part, a side effect of other motivations rather than an end in itself. Thus, religiously motivated actors are seen as less responsible than secular actors for their good deeds, and their helping behavior is viewed as less moral than identical good deeds performed for either unclear or secular motivations. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  19. Is diversity good? Six possible conceptions of diversity and six possible answers.

    PubMed

    Bouville, Mathieu

    2008-03-01

    Prominent ethical and policy issues such as affirmative action and female enrollment in science and engineering revolve around the idea that diversity is good. However, a precise definition is seldom provided. I show that diversity may be construed as a factual description, a craving for symmetry, an intrinsic good, an instrumental good, a symptom, or a side effect. These acceptions differ vastly in their nature and properties. Some are deeply mistaken and some others cannot lead to concrete policies. It is thus necessary to clarify what one means by 'diversity.' It may be a neutral description of a given state; but this is insufficient to act. The idea that there should be the same representation in a specific context as in the overall population is both puzzling and arbitrary. Diversity as intrinsic good is a mere opinion, which cannot be concretely applied; moreover, the most commonly invoked forms of diversity (sexual and racial) are not intrinsically good. On the other hand, diversity as instrumental good can be evaluated empirically and can give rise to policies, but these may be very weak. Finally, symptoms and side effects are not actually about diversity. I consider the example of female enrollment in science and engineering, interpreting the various arguments found in the literature in light of this polysemy.

  20. The Essence of Good Teaching.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sherman, Robert R.

    1986-01-01

    Compares and contrasts views of what constitutes good teaching in four recent books: "My Harvard, My Yale: Memoirs of College Life by Some Notable Americans" (Dubois, 1982); "Twenty Teachers" (Macrorie, 1984); "Artistry in Teaching" (Rubin, 1985); and "The Essence of Good Teaching: Helping Students Learn and Remember What They Learn" (Eriksen,…

  1. When is good, good enough? Methodological pragmatism for sustainable guideline development.

    PubMed

    Browman, George P; Somerfield, Mark R; Lyman, Gary H; Brouwers, Melissa C

    2015-03-06

    Continuous escalation in methodological and procedural rigor for evidence-based processes in guideline development is associated with increasing costs and production delays that threaten sustainability. While health research methodologists are appropriately responsible for promoting increasing rigor in guideline development, guideline sponsors are responsible for funding such processes. This paper acknowledges that other stakeholders in addition to methodologists should be more involved in negotiating trade-offs between methodological procedures and efficiency in guideline production to produce guidelines that are 'good enough' to be trustworthy and affordable under specific circumstances. The argument for reasonable methodological compromise to meet practical circumstances is consistent with current implicit methodological practice. This paper proposes a conceptual tool as a framework to be used by different stakeholders in negotiating, and explicitly reporting, reasonable compromises for trustworthy as well as cost-worthy guidelines. The framework helps fill a transparency gap in how methodological choices in guideline development are made. The principle, 'when good is good enough' can serve as a basis for this approach. The conceptual tool 'Efficiency-Validity Methodological Continuum' acknowledges trade-offs between validity and efficiency in evidence-based guideline development and allows for negotiation, guided by methodologists, of reasonable methodological compromises among stakeholders. Collaboration among guideline stakeholders in the development process is necessary if evidence-based guideline development is to be sustainable.

  2. Differences in autonomic physiological responses between good and poor inductive reasoners.

    PubMed

    Melis, C; van Boxtel, A

    2001-11-01

    We investigated individual- and task-related differences in autonomic physiological responses induced by time limited figural and verbal inductive reasoning tasks. In a group of 52 participants, the percentage of correctly responded task items was evaluated together with nine different autonomic physiological response measures and respiration rate (RR). Weighted multidimensional scaling analyses of the physiological responses revealed three underlying dimensions, primarily characterized by RR, parasympathetic, and sympathetic activity. RR and sympathetic activity appeared to be relatively more important response dimensions for poor reasoners, whereas parasympathetic responsivity was relatively more important for good reasoners. These results suggest that poor reasoners showed higher levels of cognitive processing intensity than good reasoners. Furthermore, for the good reasoners, the dimension of sympathetic activity was relatively more important during the figural than during the verbal reasoning task, which was explained in terms of hemispheric lateralization in autonomic function.

  3. [The myth of the good savage].

    PubMed

    Yampey, N

    1994-09-01

    The conquest of the New World gave way to the myth of the Good Savage. For the Renaissance intellectuals, the ancient ideas about the Golden Age (an ideal society promising an unending bliss) seemed to be brought back to life at last. Sharply contrasting with the European exacerbated unrest of the time, America stood for a redeeming hope, a symbol of a better future. The myth of the Good Savage assumes people to be naturally good, but civilization has led them into the realm of violence, hatred, and cruelty. Besides being naturally good, nice-minded people, "good savages" were also useful, obedient people, most likely to be easily exploited by Europeans--a source for the historical drama to come. On the verge of freeing itself from the Spanish rule, Latin America--fighting its way toward independence, had three enlightened mentors: Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. There, again, another deep contrast arose between the abstract characteristics of Latin American aims to perfection, and people's actual behaviors. The former "good savage" became the modern "Latin American" embodying an utopia as well as a hope in his eagerness for setting up a plural, and humanized culture. The myth of the Good Savage represents a deep longing for an objectivation of the ego-ideal: it has been used, so to speak, in collective mobilizations as well as dogmatic crystallizations, to escape from ignominous realities or to project alternatives for a better socially-shared life.

  4. The Common Good in Classical Political Philosophy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lewis, V. Bradley

    2006-01-01

    The term "common good" names the end (or final cause) of political and social life in the tradition of moral thought that owes its main substance to Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. It names a genuine good ("bonum honestum") and not merely an instrumental or secondary good defeasible in the face of particular goods. However, at the same time, it…

  5. Attractive results obtained in Mexico cementing with turbulent flow and in fracturing marginal wells

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

    Not Available

    1970-02-01

    The cementing with turbulent flow and the fracturing at high rates of injection have borne appreciable fruit in a gas-producing region of Mexico, known as the NE. Front District, with headquarters in Reynosa. By cementing with turbulent flow, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has increased to nearly 90% the success ratio of casing cementing. In the same general area, due to hydraulic fracturing, gas fields which before were considered marginal, have become good producers. The fracturing jobs must be well-planned and well-executed. The results in these Eocene formations show considerable variance, from good to extraordinary. The results show a low productivity ofmore » increase of 66.3% and a high productivity of 326%, following frac treatment. Graphical representations show cementing with turbulent flow; and the effect of fracturing.« less

  6. "Inclusive Working Life" in Norway--experience from "Models of Good Practice" enterprises.

    PubMed

    Lie, Arve

    2008-08-01

    To determine whether enterprises belonging to the Bank of Models of Good Practice were more successful than average Norwegian enterprises in the reduction of sickness absence, promotion of early return to work, and prevention of early retirement. In 2004 we selected 86 enterprises with a total of approximately 90000 employees from the Inclusive Working Life (IWL) Bank of Models of Good Practice. One representative of workers and one of management from each enterprise received a questionnaire on the aims, organization, and the results of the IWL program by mail. Data on sickness absence, use of early retirement, and disability retirement in the 2000-2004 period were collected from the National Insurance Registry. Data on comparable enterprises were obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics. The response rate was 65%. Although the IWL campaign was directed at reducing sickness absence, preventing early retirement, and promoting employment of the functionally impaired, most attention was paid to reducing sickness absence. Sickness absence rate in Models of Good Practice enterprises (8.2%) was higher than in comparable enterprises that were not part of the Models of Good Practice (6.9%). Implementation of many IWL activities, empowerment and involvement of employees, and good cooperation with the occupational health service were associated with a lower rate of sickness absence. On average, 0.7% new employees per year received disability pension, which is a significantly lower percentage than expected on the basis of the rate of 1.3% per year in comparable enterprises. Frequent use of disability pensioning was associated with high rate of sickness absence and having many employees older than 50 years. On average, 0.4% employees per year received early retirement compensation, which was expected on the basis of national estimates. Frequent use of early retirement was associated with having many employees older than 50 years. Models of Good Practice enterprises had

  7. Fostering cooperation of selfish agents through public goods in relation to the loners

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Jianlei; Chen, Zengqiang; Liu, Zhongxin

    2016-03-01

    Altruistic behaviors in multiplayer groups have obtained great attention in the context of the public goods game, which poses a riddle from the evolutionary viewpoint. Here we focus on a particular type of public goods game model in which the benefits of cooperation are either discounted or synergistically enhanced at the appearance of multiple cooperators in a group. Moreover, we focus on the three-strategies profile by adding the role of loners, besides the often-used cooperation and defection. Using the replicator dynamic equations, we investigate a range of dynamical portraits that characterizes the properties of the steady state. Analysis results indicate that loners and cooperators both have chances to be the stable equilibrium points in the presence of perturbations, while defectors fail to do so in this three-strategy competition. Moreover, the coexistence state, in which all three strategies exist in equilibrium, can be led by suitable parameters and stabilized for perturbations. These results elucidate the interplay between the characteristics of the public goods game and evolutionary dynamics in well-mixed systems.

  8. Lay responder naloxone access and Good Samaritan law compliance: postcard survey results from 20 Indiana counties.

    PubMed

    Watson, Dennis P; Ray, Bradley; Robison, Lisa; Huynh, Philip; Sightes, Emily; Walker, La Shea; Brucker, Krista; Duwve, Joan

    2018-04-06

    To reduce fatal drug overdoses, two approaches many states have followed is to pass laws expanding naloxone access and Good Samaritan protections for lay persons with high likelihood to respond to an opioid overdose. Most prior research has examined attitudes and knowledge among lay responders in large metropolitan areas who actively use illicit substances. The present study addresses current gaps in knowledge related to this issue through an analysis of data collected from a broader group of lay responders who received naloxone kits from 20 local health departments across Indiana. Postcard surveys were included inside naloxone kits distributed in 20 Indiana counties, for which 217 returned cards indicated the person completing it was a lay responder. The survey captured demographic information and experiences with overdose, including the use of 911 and knowledge about Good Samaritan protections. Few respondents had administered naloxone before, but approximately one third had witnessed a prior overdose and the majority knew someone who had died from one. Those who knew someone who had overdosed were more likely to have obtained naloxone for someone other than themselves. Also, persons with knowledge of Good Samaritan protections or who had previously used naloxone were significantly more likely to have indicated calling 911 at the scene of a previously witnessed overdose. Primary reasons for not calling 911 included fear of the police and the person who overdosed waking up on their own. Knowing someone who has had a fatal or non-fatal overdose appears to be a strong motivating factor for obtaining naloxone. Clarifying and strengthening Good Samaritan protections, educating lay persons about these protections, and working to improve police interactions with the public when they are called to an overdose scene are likely to improve implementation and outcomes of naloxone distribution and opioid-related Good Samaritan laws.

  9. Students' and teachers' cognitions about good teachers.

    PubMed

    Beishuizen, J J; Hof, E; van Putten, C M; Bouwmeester, S; Asscher, J J

    2001-06-01

    Good teachers have been studied ever since Plato described how Socrates taught by asking questions of his audience. Recent findings shed light on two characteristics of good teachers: their personality and their ability. However, more attention has been paid to teachers' practices and opinions than to students' views. The study reported here attempted to deepen our understanding of what students think about good teachers. Students of four age groups (7, 10, 13, and 16 years of age) and teachers from primary and secondary schools were asked to write an essay on the good teacher. The correspondence between conceptual items in the essays was investigated by determining the extent to which they were used in the same essays to describe good teachers. Correspondence analysis revealed two dimensions. The first dimension reflected the preference of students and teachers for describing the good teacher in terms of either personality or ability characteristics. The second dimension was interpreted as an orientation in the essays towards either attachment to, detachment from or commitment to school and teachers. Students and teachers were compared to establish the amount of (dis)agreement about what makes a good teacher. Primary school students described good teachers primarily as competent instructors, focusing on transfer of knowledge and skills, whereas secondary school students emphasised relational aspects of good teachers. Teachers, however, considered good teachers in the first place a matter of establishing personal relationships with their students. Consequently, primary school students and teachers disagreed about the characteristics of good teachers. In secondary education, disagreements between teachers and students were relatively small. The research method of collecting free essays and utilising correspondence analysis to represent conceptual items and groups of participants seems promising as long as a theoretical framework is available to interpret the

  10. Nudge for (the Public) Good: How Defaults Can Affect Cooperation

    PubMed Central

    Fosgaard, Toke R.; Piovesan, Marco

    2015-01-01

    In this paper we test the effect of non-binding defaults on the level of contribution to a public good. We manipulate the default numbers appearing on the decision screen to nudge subjects toward a free-rider strategy or a perfect conditional cooperator strategy. Our results show that the vast majority of our subjects did not adopt the default numbers, but their stated strategy was affected by the default. Moreover, we find that our manipulation spilled over to a subsequent repeated public goods game where default was not manipulated. Here we found that subjects who previously saw the free rider default were significantly less cooperative than those who saw the perfect conditional cooperator default. PMID:26717569

  11. Nudge for (the Public) Good: How Defaults Can Affect Cooperation.

    PubMed

    Fosgaard, Toke R; Piovesan, Marco

    2015-01-01

    In this paper we test the effect of non-binding defaults on the level of contribution to a public good. We manipulate the default numbers appearing on the decision screen to nudge subjects toward a free-rider strategy or a perfect conditional cooperator strategy. Our results show that the vast majority of our subjects did not adopt the default numbers, but their stated strategy was affected by the default. Moreover, we find that our manipulation spilled over to a subsequent repeated public goods game where default was not manipulated. Here we found that subjects who previously saw the free rider default were significantly less cooperative than those who saw the perfect conditional cooperator default.

  12. Good Practices for Transforming Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benavente, Ana; Panchaud, Christine

    2008-01-01

    This text is a guide to the reading and interpretation of the "good practices" that are developing in the countries participating in this project and elsewhere. A systematic approach to the factors making up a "good practice" has enabled us to share our analyses in a more structured manner and to reflect on their potential for…

  13. Nature of Good and Evil.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Utica City School District, NY.

    This humanistic curriculum project concerning good and evil is part of a model program of inservice training and curriculum redesign for grades K-12 known as Project SEARCH. Objectives of the unit are to provide students an understanding that good and evil are a reflection of man's values, a comprehension of modern scientific theories on the…

  14. Exact goodness-of-fit tests for Markov chains.

    PubMed

    Besag, J; Mondal, D

    2013-06-01

    Goodness-of-fit tests are useful in assessing whether a statistical model is consistent with available data. However, the usual χ² asymptotics often fail, either because of the paucity of the data or because a nonstandard test statistic is of interest. In this article, we describe exact goodness-of-fit tests for first- and higher order Markov chains, with particular attention given to time-reversible ones. The tests are obtained by conditioning on the sufficient statistics for the transition probabilities and are implemented by simple Monte Carlo sampling or by Markov chain Monte Carlo. They apply both to single and to multiple sequences and allow a free choice of test statistic. Three examples are given. The first concerns multiple sequences of dry and wet January days for the years 1948-1983 at Snoqualmie Falls, Washington State, and suggests that standard analysis may be misleading. The second one is for a four-state DNA sequence and lends support to the original conclusion that a second-order Markov chain provides an adequate fit to the data. The last one is six-state atomistic data arising in molecular conformational dynamics simulation of solvated alanine dipeptide and points to strong evidence against a first-order reversible Markov chain at 6 picosecond time steps. © 2013, The International Biometric Society.

  15. Validation of the concentration profiles obtained from the near infrared/multivariate curve resolution monitoring of reactions of epoxy resins using high performance liquid chromatography as a reference method.

    PubMed

    Garrido, M; Larrechi, M S; Rius, F X

    2007-03-07

    This paper reports the validation of the results obtained by combining near infrared spectroscopy and multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) and using high performance liquid chromatography as a reference method, for the model reaction of phenylglycidylether (PGE) and aniline. The results are obtained as concentration profiles over the reaction time. The trueness of the proposed method has been evaluated in terms of lack of bias. The joint test for the intercept and the slope showed that there were no significant differences between the profiles calculated spectroscopically and the ones obtained experimentally by means of the chromatographic reference method at an overall level of confidence of 5%. The uncertainty of the results was estimated by using information derived from the process of assessment of trueness. Such operational aspects as the cost and availability of instrumentation and the length and cost of the analysis were evaluated. The method proposed is a good way of monitoring the reactions of epoxy resins, and it adequately shows how the species concentration varies over time.

  16. How To Obtain Aerial Photographs

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1999-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maintains an informational data base of aerial photographic coverage of the United States and its territories that dates back to the 1940?s. This information describes photographic projects from the USGS, other Federal, State, and local government agencies, and commercial firms. The pictures on this page show a part of a standard 9- by 9-inch photograph and the results obtained by enlarging the original photograph two and four times. Compare the size of the Qualcomm Stadium, Jack Murphy Field, in San Diego, Calif, and the adjacent parking lot and freeways shown at the different scales. USGS Earth Science Information Center (ESIC) representatives will assist you in locating and ordering photographs. Please submit the completed checklist and a marked map showing your area of interest to any ESIC.

  17. Psychometric goodness of the Mini Sleep Questionnaire.

    PubMed

    Natale, Vincenzo; Fabbri, Marco; Tonetti, Lorenzo; Martoni, Monica

    2014-07-01

    The current study was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties and analyze the convergent validity of the Italian version of the Mini Sleep Questionnaire (MSQ). In addition, it was aimed to put forward cut-off values to be used in screening protocols. The MSQ was administered to 1830 participants (age range 18-87 years), of whom 1208 also completed the Sleep Disorder Questionnaire (age range 18-87 years). A subgroup of 187 (age range 18-71 years) participants was randomly chosen to test the test-retest reliability. A complete psychometric evaluation was performed on the MSQ. To study the validity of the tool, the Sleep Disorder Questionnaire was used as an external criterion to validate the MSQ. Using the Youden index, we calculated the cut-off values that performed best. Finally, we created receiver-operator curves to test the accuracy of each cut-off value identified. For the MSQ, Cronbach's alpha score was 0.77 while homogeneity was 0.26. Factorial analyses confirmed the presence of two dimensions: sleep (Cronbach's alpha 0.75; homogeneity 0.37) and wake (Cronbach's alpha 0.75; homogeneity 0.44). For each dimension, a cut-off value was identified (>16 and >14, respectively). Both cut-off values obtained an area under the curve higher than 0.80. Psychometric evaluation of the MSQ was satisfactory. The cut-off values analyzed in the present study showed good performance. On the whole, the results of this study suggest that the MSQ can be a useful screening tool. © 2014 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2014 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

  18. The impact of extubation failure in patients with good-grade subarachnoid hemorrhage.

    PubMed

    Wojak, Jann F; Ditz, Claudia; Abusamha, Abdulkareem; Smith, Emma; Gliemroth, Jan; Tronnier, Volker; Küchler, Jan

    2018-06-13

    The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical impact of extubation failure (EF) in with good grade subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), in which a good clinical course is usually expected. We reviewed the clinical data from 141 patients with SAH and i. initial Hunt & Hess grade 1-3 ii. induction of general anesthesia for intervention and iii. the presence of data about the functional outcome. Patients were divided into three groups: 1. Primary tracheotomized patients (PT), 2. Patients with successful extubation (ES) and 3. Patients with EF (reintubation within 48 h). EF occurred with a rate of 0.12. The leading cause of EF was respiratory insufficiency (n=7), followed by impaired consciousness (n=5). Multivariate logistic regression did not show any neurological predictor of EF. Patients with ES showed an excellent outcome after 6 months (favorable outcome: 95.7 %), whereas the outcome of EF and PT patients was significantly (p<0.05) poorer. The case fatality rate was non-significantly higher in the EF group (0.15 vs 0.03). Hospitalization was significantly reduced for patients with ES, while the occurrence of symptomatic cerebral vasospasms and vasospastic cerebral infarction was similar between Patients with EF, ES or PT. We showed that EF is a frequent condition in good grade SAH, but is not predictable using common neurological parameters. Regarding the functional outcome, we were able to show that the result of an extubation trial clearly delineates the patients in two distinct groups, in which ES predicts an excellent outcome. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. A Model for Displacements Between Parallel Plates That Shows Change of Type from Hyperbolic to Elliptic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shariati, Maryam; Yortsos, Yannis; Talon, Laurent; Martin, Jerome; Rakotomalala, Nicole; Salin, Dominique

    2003-11-01

    We consider miscible displacement between parallel plates, where the viscosity is a function of the concentration. By selecting a piece-wise representation, the problem can be considered as ``three-phase'' flow. Assuming a lubrication-type approximation, the mathematical description is in terms of two quasi-linear hyperbolic equations. When the mobility of the middle phase is smaller than its neighbors, the system is genuinely hyperbolic and can be solved analytically. However, when it is larger, an elliptic region develops. This change-of-type behavior is for the first time proved here based on sound physical principles. Numerical solutions with a small diffusion are presented. Good agreement is obtained outside the elliptic region, but not inside, where the numerical results show unstable behavior. We conjecture that for the solution of the real problem in the mixed-type case, the full higher-dimensionality problem must be considered inside the elliptic region, in which the lubrication (parallel-flow) approximation is no longer appropriate. This is discussed in a companion presentation.

  20. 7 CFR 51.605 - Good heart formation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good heart formation. 51.605 Section 51.605....605 Good heart formation. Good heart formation means that the stalk has a reasonable number of stocky inner heart branches for its size. ...

  1. 7 CFR 51.605 - Good heart formation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good heart formation. 51.605 Section 51.605....605 Good heart formation. Good heart formation means that the stalk has a reasonable number of stocky inner heart branches for its size. ...

  2. Good Teachers, Good Schools: How to Create a Successful School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hudson, David

    2009-01-01

    "Good schools think 'with' people and not 'to' people" argues David Hudson in this thought provoking practical guide for those wanting to bridge the gap between middle and senior management roles, and make a difference in their schools. Accessibly and engagingly written and packed with real-life examples, this book will prove essential…

  3. Evaluation of a ducted-fan power plant designed for high output and good cruise fuel economy

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Behun, M; Rom, F E; Hensley, R V

    1950-01-01

    Theoretical analysis of performance of a ducted-fan power plant designed both for high-output, high-altitude operation at low supersonic Mach numbers and for good fuel economy at lower fight speeds is presented. Performance of ducted fan is compared with performance (with and without tail-pipe burner) of two hypothetical turbojet engines. At maximum power, the ducted fan has propulsive thrust per unit of frontal area between thrusts obtained by turbojet engines with and without tail-pipe burners. At cruise, the ducted fan obtains lowest thrust specific fuel consumption. For equal maximum thrusts, the ducted fan obtains cruising flight duration and range appreciably greater than turbojet engines.

  4. Continuous-Time Public Good Contribution Under Uncertainty: A Stochastic Control Approach

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

    Ferrari, Giorgio, E-mail: giorgio.ferrari@uni-bielefeld.de; Riedel, Frank, E-mail: frank.riedel@uni-bielefeld.de; Steg, Jan-Henrik, E-mail: jsteg@uni-bielefeld.de

    In this paper we study continuous-time stochastic control problems with both monotone and classical controls motivated by the so-called public good contribution problem. That is the problem of n economic agents aiming to maximize their expected utility allocating initial wealth over a given time period between private consumption and irreversible contributions to increase the level of some public good. We investigate the corresponding social planner problem and the case of strategic interaction between the agents, i.e. the public good contribution game. We show existence and uniqueness of the social planner’s optimal policy, we characterize it by necessary and sufficient stochasticmore » Kuhn–Tucker conditions and we provide its expression in terms of the unique optional solution of a stochastic backward equation. Similar stochastic first order conditions prove to be very useful for studying any Nash equilibria of the public good contribution game. In the symmetric case they allow us to prove (qualitative) uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium, which we again construct as the unique optional solution of a stochastic backward equation. We finally also provide a detailed analysis of the so-called free rider effect.« less

  5. Characteristics of good mathematics lecturers based on students and lecturers perspectives

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hapsari, Trusti; Putri, Dian Permana; Raharjo, Jajo Firman

    2017-05-01

    This study aims to determine the characteristics of good mathematics lecturers based on students' and lecturers' perspectivesand compare the characteristics of good lecturers/ teachers which are in accordance with the findings of some previous studies and the theories. This study is survey study. The Data were collected through questionnaires and interview. The population consists of some mathematics students from the first level through the third level and some mathematics education lecturers of a private university in West Java. Qualitative analysis was undertaken to examine the results of questionnaires and interviews. The finding shows that the characteristic of good mathematics lecturers is inspiring. They can inspire other mathematics lecturers and educators in general. Based on the students and lecturers' perspective, some characteristics of good mathematics lecturers are mastering the materials well, being on time, being objective, understanding the students, presenting the materials with clearly, and being disciplined. Some other characteristic mentioned are: teaching eagerly, being unhurried, being friendly, giving exemplary and preparing the lesson well. These characteristics are not much different from the characteristics described by some previous researchers and some theories of experts, i.e. mastering the subject matters well, pedagogic, and work wholeheartedly.

  6. 19 CFR 10.451 - Originating goods.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... ARTICLES CONDITIONALLY FREE, SUBJECT TO A REDUCED RATE, ETC. United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement Rules of Origin § 10.451 Originating goods. A good imported into the customs territory of the United States...

  7. Accurate coarse-grained models for mixtures of colloids and linear polymers under good-solvent conditions

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

    D’Adamo, Giuseppe, E-mail: giuseppe.dadamo@sissa.it; Pelissetto, Andrea, E-mail: andrea.pelissetto@roma1.infn.it; Pierleoni, Carlo, E-mail: carlo.pierleoni@aquila.infn.it

    2014-12-28

    A coarse-graining strategy, previously developed for polymer solutions, is extended here to mixtures of linear polymers and hard-sphere colloids. In this approach, groups of monomers are mapped onto a single pseudoatom (a blob) and the effective blob-blob interactions are obtained by requiring the model to reproduce some large-scale structural properties in the zero-density limit. We show that an accurate parametrization of the polymer-colloid interactions is obtained by simply introducing pair potentials between blobs and colloids. For the coarse-grained (CG) model in which polymers are modelled as four-blob chains (tetramers), the pair potentials are determined by means of the iterative Boltzmannmore » inversion scheme, taking full-monomer (FM) pair correlation functions at zero-density as targets. For a larger number n of blobs, pair potentials are determined by using a simple transferability assumption based on the polymer self-similarity. We validate the model by comparing its predictions with full-monomer results for the interfacial properties of polymer solutions in the presence of a single colloid and for thermodynamic and structural properties in the homogeneous phase at finite polymer and colloid density. The tetramer model is quite accurate for q ≲ 1 (q=R{sup ^}{sub g}/R{sub c}, where R{sup ^}{sub g} is the zero-density polymer radius of gyration and R{sub c} is the colloid radius) and reasonably good also for q = 2. For q = 2, an accurate coarse-grained description is obtained by using the n = 10 blob model. We also compare our results with those obtained by using single-blob models with state-dependent potentials.« less

  8. Vibrational properties of gold nanoparticles obtained by green synthesis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alvarez, Ramón A. B.; Cortez-Valadez, M.; Bueno, L. Oscar Neira; Britto Hurtado, R.; Rocha-Rocha, O.; Delgado-Beleño, Y.; Martinez-Nuñez, C. E.; Serrano-Corrales, Luis Ivan; Arizpe-Chávez, H.; Flores-Acosta, M.

    2016-10-01

    This study reports the synthesis and characterization of gold nanoparticles through an ecological method to obtain nanostructures from the extract of the plant Opuntia ficus-indica. Colloidal nanoparticles show sizes that vary between 10-20 nm, and present various geometric morphologies. The samples were characterized through optical absorption, Raman Spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Additionally, low energy metallic clusters of Aun (n=2-20 atoms) were modeled by computational quantum chemistry. The theoretical results were obtained with Density Functional Theory (DFT). The predicted results of Au clusters show a tendency and are correlated with the experimental results concerning the optical absorption bands and Raman spectroscopy in gold nanoparticles.

  9. 31 CFR 560.306 - Iranian-origin goods or services; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ...; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran. 560.306 Section 560.306 Money and... Iranian-origin goods or services; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran. (a) The..., extracted, or processed in Iran; and (2) Goods which have entered into Iranian commerce. (b) The terms...

  10. 31 CFR 560.306 - Iranian-origin goods or services; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ...; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran. 560.306 Section 560.306 Money and... Iranian-origin goods or services; goods or services owned or controlled by the Government of Iran. (a) The..., extracted, or processed in Iran; and (2) Goods which have entered into Iranian commerce. (b) The terms...

  11. R&W Club Frederick Hosts Second Annual Car Show | Poster

    Cancer.gov

    A 1994 Ford Thunderbird, a 2006 Porsche 911-S, and a 1996 Chevy Camaro Z28 were just a few of the rides on display this summer at R&W Club Frederick’s second annual Car and Motorcycle Show. “It’s a chance to raise money for a good cause,” said Geoff Seidel, one of the organizers of the event and program director for the Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials, NCI Office of

  12. The good doctor - strong and persevering.

    PubMed

    Hertzberg, Tuva Kolstad; Skirbekk, Helge; Tyssen, Reidar; Aasland, Olaf Gjerløw; Rø, Karin Isaksson

    2016-10-01

    In today’s society, doctors are confronted with a number of opposing interests, from other colleagues, patients and employers. The development and regulation of the medical profession have been widely studied. However, less research has been devoted to the doctors’ own perception of what it means to be a good doctor. We conducted eight focus-group interviews and three individual interviews among senior consultants and specialty registrars in the areas of surgery, psychiatry and internal medicine in two different hospitals. Total N = 48, of which 56  % were women. The interviews were analysed with the aid of systematic text condensation. «Professional dedication» demonstrated through «a high degree of attendance in the workplace» and «a high work capacity» were key topics for good doctors. Having a «high work capacity» was defined as being willing to go to great lengths, work overtime and work effectively. The senior consultants perceived their job as doctors more as a «lifestyle», while the specialty registrars more frequently regarded their work as a «job». Norwegian hospital doctors wish to appear dedicated to their profession. They can demonstrate this by showing great willingness to work intensively and effectively with patients, while also going to great lengths to be available beyond normal working hours.

  13. Relation of NDVI obtained from different remote sensing at different space and resolutions sensors in Spanish Dehesas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Escribano Rodríguez, Juan; Tarquis, Ana M.; Saa-Requejo, Antonio; Díaz-Ambrona, Carlos G. H.

    2015-04-01

    Satellite data are an important source of information and serve as monitoring crops on large scales. There are several indexes, but the most used for monitoring vegetation is NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), calculated from the spectral bands of red (RED) and near infrared (NIR), obtaining the value according to relationship: [(NIR - RED) / (NIR + RED)]. During the years 2010-2013 monthly monitoring was conducted in three areas of Spain (Salamanca, Caceres and Cordoba). Pasture plots were selected and satellite images of two different sensors, DEIMOS-1 and MODIS were obtained. DEIMOS-1 is based on the concept Microsat-100 from Surrey. It is designed for imaging the Earth with a resolution good enough to study terrestrial vegetation cover (20x20 m), although with a wide range of visual field (600 km) to get those images with high temporal resolution. By contrast, MODIS images present a much lower spatial resolution (500x500 m). Indices obtained from both sensors to the same area and date are compared and the results show r2 = 0.56; r2 = 0.65 and r2 = 0.90 for the areas of Salamanca, Cáceres and Cordoba respectively. According to the results obtained show that the NDVI obtained by MODIS is slightly larger than that obtained by the sensor for DEIMOS for same time and area. References J.A. Escribano, C.G.H. Diaz-Ambrona, L. Recuero, M. Huesca, V. Cicuendez, A. Palacios-Orueta y A.M. Tarquis. Aplicacion de Indices de Vegetacion para evaluar la falta de produccion de pastos y montaneras en dehesas. I Congreso Iberico de la Dehesa y el Montado. 6-7 Noviembre, 2013, Badajoz. J.A. Escribano Rodriguez, A.M. Tarquis, C.G. Hernandez Diaz-Ambrona. Pasture Drought Insurance Based on NDVI and SAVI. Geophysical Research Abstracts, 14, EGU2012-13945, 2012. EGU General Assembly 2012. Juan Escribano Rodriguez, Carmelo Alonso, Ana Maria Tarquis, Rosa Maria Benito, Carlos Hernandez Diaz-Ambrona. Comparison of NDVI fields obtained from different remote sensors

  14. Governing for the Common Good.

    PubMed

    Ruger, Jennifer Prah

    2015-12-01

    The proper object of global health governance (GHG) should be the common good, ensuring that all people have the opportunity to flourish. A well-organized global society that promotes the common good is to everyone's advantage. Enabling people to flourish includes enabling their ability to be healthy. Thus, we must assess health governance by its effectiveness in enhancing health capabilities. Current GHG fails to support human flourishing, diminishes health capabilities and thus does not serve the common good. The provincial globalism theory of health governance proposes a Global Health Constitution and an accompanying Global Institute of Health and Medicine that together propose to transform health governance. Multiple lines of empirical research suggest that these institutions would be effective, offering the most promising path to a healthier, more just world.

  15. Making Good Teaching Great: Everyday Strategies for Teaching with Impact

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Breaux, Annette L.; Whitaker, Todd

    2012-01-01

    Every good teacher strives to be a great teacher--and this must-have book shows you how! It's filled with practical tips and strategies for connecting with your students in a meaningful and powerful way. Learn how to improve student learning with easy-to-implement daily activities designed to integrate seamlessly into any day of the school year.…

  16. EDUCATION OF "GOOD CARE": LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE DIGNITY IN CARE PROJECT.

    PubMed

    Timmermans, Olaf; De; Klerk-; Jolink, Nicolette; Boitte, Pierre

    2016-01-01

    This paper defends a pragmatist ethical approach in education. Such an approach has fuelled a pedagogical experimentation approach within the scope the "Dignity in care" (www.dignity-in-care.eu) European project, focusing on ethical practice in health and social care. Its key objective was to enhance 'good care', by reinforcing health care workers'ability to conduct an ethical reflection on the way they would deliver care. Nevertheless, 'good care'is a concept that may seem hard to define and to implement. To clarify and validate the characteristics and conditions of such a good care, and to explore the way to educate the concept of what "good care" is in a more concrete way, this paper presents a summary of findings across which we have come during the final conference of this three-year project and through a focus-group organized by the Lille Dignity-in-Care partners. The results show that a self-assessment work regarding pedagogical practices reveals necessary for an adaptation to the evolution of the socio-professional context. It is not just a matter of developing new pedagogical skills, but also of becoming able to understand the care context and situations. Future work on "what is good care" and the need for empowerment will have to leave from daily practices in order to suggest how to prepare/train caregivers to become responsive professionals. Both the matter of finding a way to enhance good care in existing care-settings, and the matter of finding and testing appropriate educational methods to help caregivers handle communication and deliver good care.

  17. Good breastfeeding policies -- good breastfeeding rates.

    PubMed

    1998-01-01

    In Norway, where breast-feeding policies protecting breast-feeding women's needs have been in place since the 1970s, approximately 97% of women breast feed when leaving the hospital, 80% are breast feeding at 3 months, and 20% beyond 12 months. Government family policies play an important role in enabling women to achieve good breast-feeding rates. In Norway: maternity leave is 42 weeks with full pay or 52 weeks with 80% of salary; flexible part-time is available for women from 2 months after giving birth with income supplemented from maternity benefits; after returning to work, women are entitled to 1- to 1.5-hour breaks to return home to breast feed, or to have the child brought to work. "Breast feeding is so normal," writes Hege Jacobson Lepri, "it's more embarrassing to bring out the feeding bottle in public." full text

  18. A good patient? How notions of 'a good patient' affect patient-nurse relationships and ART adherence in Zimbabwe.

    PubMed

    Campbell, Catherine; Scott, Kerry; Skovdal, Morten; Madanhire, Claudius; Nyamukapa, Constance; Gregson, Simon

    2015-09-30

    While patient-provider interactions are commonly understood as mutually constructed relationships, the role of patient behaviour, participation in interactions, and characteristics, particularly ideals surrounding notions of 'good' and 'bad' patients, are under-examined. This article examines social representations of 'a good patient' and how these representations affect patient-healthcare provider relationships and antiretroviral treatment (ART) for people living with HIV. Using thematic network analysis, we examined interview and focus group transcripts involving 25 healthcare staff, 48 ART users, and 31 carers of HIV positive children, as well as field notes from over 100 h of ethnographic observation at health centres in rural Zimbabwe. Characteristics of a good patient include obedience, patience, politeness, listening, enthusiasm for treatment, intelligence, physical cleanliness, honesty, gratitude and lifestyle adaptations (taking pills correctly and coming to the clinic when told). As healthcare workers may decide to punish patients who do not live up the 'good patient persona', many patients seek to perform within the confines of the 'good patient persona' to access good care and ensure continued access to ART. The notion of a 'good ART patient' can have positive effects on patient health outcomes. It is one of the only arenas of the clinic experience that ART patients can influence in their favour. However, for people not conforming to the norms of the 'good patient persona', the productive and health-enabling patient-nurse relationship may break down and be detrimental to the patient. We conclude that policy makers need to take heed of the social representations that govern patient-nurse relationships and their role in facilitating or undermining ART adherence.

  19. Fungicidal values of bio-oils and their lignin-rich fractions obtained from wood/bark fast pyrolysis.

    PubMed

    Mohan, Dinesh; Shi, Jenny; Nicholas, Darrel D; Pittman, Charles U; Steele, Philip H; Cooper, Jerome E

    2008-03-01

    Pine wood, pine bark, oak wood and oak bark were pyrolyzed in an auger reactor. A total of 16 bio-oils or pyrolytic oils were generated at different temperatures and residence times. Two additional pine bio-oils were produced at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in a fluidized-bed reactor at different temperatures. All these bio-oils were fractionated to obtain lignin-rich fractions which consist mainly of phenols and neutrals. The pyrolytic lignin-rich fractions were obtained by liquid-liquid extraction. Whole bio-oils and their lignin-rich fractions were studied as potential environmentally benign wood preservatives to replace metal-based CCA and copper systems that have raised environmental concerns. Each bio-oil and several lignin-rich fractions were tested for antifungal properties. Soil block tests were conducted using one brown-rot fungus (Gloeophyllum trabeum) and one white-rot fungus (Trametes versicolor). The lignin-rich fractions showed greater fungal inhibition than whole bio-oils for a impregnation solution 10% concentration level. Water repellence tests were also performed to study wood wafer swelling behavior before and after bio-oil and lignin-rich fraction treatments. In this case, bio-oil fractions did not exhibit higher water repellency than whole bio-oils. Comparison of raw bio-oils in soil block tests, with unleached wafers, at 10% and 25% bio-oil impregnation solution concentration levels showed excellent wood preservation properties at the 25% level. The good performance of raw bio-oils at higher loading levels suggests that fractionation to generate lignin-rich fractions is unnecessary. At this more effective 25% loading level in general, the raw bio-oils performed similarly. Prevention of leaching is critically important for both raw bio-oils and their fractions to provide decay resistance. Initial tests of a polymerization chemical to prevent leaching showed some success.

  20. 12 CFR 1081.108 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 9 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good faith certification. 1081.108 Section 1081... PROCEEDINGS General Rules § 1081.108 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every filing or... is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of...

  1. 12 CFR 1081.108 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 8 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good faith certification. 1081.108 Section 1081... PROCEEDINGS General Rules § 1081.108 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every filing or... is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of...

  2. 12 CFR 1209.13 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 9 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good faith certification. 1209.13 Section 1209... PROCEDURE Rules of Practice and Procedure § 1209.13 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every... warranted by existing law or a good faith, non-frivolous argument for the extension, modification, or...

  3. 12 CFR 1209.13 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 10 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good faith certification. 1209.13 Section 1209... PROCEDURE Rules of Practice and Procedure § 1209.13 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every... warranted by existing law or a good faith, non-frivolous argument for the extension, modification, or...

  4. 12 CFR 1081.108 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 8 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good faith certification. 1081.108 Section 1081... PROCEEDINGS General Rules § 1081.108 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every filing or... is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of...

  5. 12 CFR 1209.13 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 9 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good faith certification. 1209.13 Section 1209... PROCEDURE Rules of Practice and Procedure § 1209.13 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every... warranted by existing law or a good faith, non-frivolous argument for the extension, modification, or...

  6. 7 CFR 51.485 - Good internal quality.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good internal quality. 51.485 Section 51.485... STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades of Cantaloups 1 Definitions § 51.485 Good internal quality. Good internal quality means that the combined juice from the edible portion of a sample of cantaloups...

  7. 7 CFR 51.605 - Good heart formation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good heart formation. 51.605 Section 51.605... STANDARDS) United States Consumer Standards for Celery Stalks Definitions § 51.605 Good heart formation. Good heart formation means that the stalk has a reasonable number of stocky inner heart branches for...

  8. 7 CFR 51.1011 - Good green color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... green color. Good green color means that the skin of the lime is of a good green color characteristic of... 7 Agriculture 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good green color. 51.1011 Section 51.1011 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing...

  9. 7 CFR 51.1011 - Good green color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... green color. Good green color means that the skin of the lime is of a good green color characteristic of... 7 Agriculture 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good green color. 51.1011 Section 51.1011 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing...

  10. 7 CFR 51.605 - Good heart formation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good heart formation. 51.605 Section 51.605... STANDARDS) United States Consumer Standards for Celery Stalks Definitions § 51.605 Good heart formation. Good heart formation means that the stalk has a reasonable number of stocky inner heart branches for...

  11. 7 CFR 51.605 - Good heart formation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Good heart formation. 51.605 Section 51.605... STANDARDS) United States Consumer Standards for Celery Stalks Definitions § 51.605 Good heart formation. Good heart formation means that the stalk has a reasonable number of stocky inner heart branches for...

  12. DEEP U BAND AND R IMAGING OF GOODS-SOUTH: OBSERVATIONS, DATA REDUCTION AND FIRST RESULTS ,

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

    Nonino, M.; Cristiani, S.; Vanzella, E.

    2009-08-01

    We present deep imaging in the U band covering an area of 630 arcmin{sup 2} centered on the southern field of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS). The data were obtained with the VIMOS instrument at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope. The final images reach a magnitude limit U {sub lim} {approx} 29.8 (AB, 1{sigma}, in a 1'' radius aperture), and have good image quality, with full width at half-maximum {approx}0.''8. They are significantly deeper than previous U-band images available for the GOODS fields, and better match the sensitivity of other multiwavelength GOODS photometry. The deepermore » U-band data yield significantly improved photometric redshifts, especially in key redshift ranges such as 2 < z < 4, and deeper color-selected galaxy samples, e.g., Lyman break galaxies at z {approx} 3. We also present the co-addition of archival ESO VIMOS R-band data, with R {sub lim} {approx} 29 (AB, 1{sigma}, 1'' radius aperture), and image quality {approx}0.''75. We discuss the strategies for the observations and data reduction, and present the first results from the analysis of the co-added images.« less

  13. Influence of pansharpening techniques in obtaining accurate vegetation thematic maps

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ibarrola-Ulzurrun, Edurne; Gonzalo-Martin, Consuelo; Marcello-Ruiz, Javier

    2016-10-01

    In last decades, there have been a decline in natural resources, becoming important to develop reliable methodologies for their management. The appearance of very high resolution sensors has offered a practical and cost-effective means for a good environmental management. In this context, improvements are needed for obtaining higher quality of the information available in order to get reliable classified images. Thus, pansharpening enhances the spatial resolution of the multispectral band by incorporating information from the panchromatic image. The main goal in the study is to implement pixel and object-based classification techniques applied to the fused imagery using different pansharpening algorithms and the evaluation of thematic maps generated that serve to obtain accurate information for the conservation of natural resources. A vulnerable heterogenic ecosystem from Canary Islands (Spain) was chosen, Teide National Park, and Worldview-2 high resolution imagery was employed. The classes considered of interest were set by the National Park conservation managers. 7 pansharpening techniques (GS, FIHS, HCS, MTF based, Wavelet `à trous' and Weighted Wavelet `à trous' through Fractal Dimension Maps) were chosen in order to improve the data quality with the goal to analyze the vegetation classes. Next, different classification algorithms were applied at pixel-based and object-based approach, moreover, an accuracy assessment of the different thematic maps obtained were performed. The highest classification accuracy was obtained applying Support Vector Machine classifier at object-based approach in the Weighted Wavelet `à trous' through Fractal Dimension Maps fused image. Finally, highlight the difficulty of the classification in Teide ecosystem due to the heterogeneity and the small size of the species. Thus, it is important to obtain accurate thematic maps for further studies in the management and conservation of natural resources.

  14. 12 CFR 19.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Good faith certification. 19.7 Section 19.7... PROCEDURE Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 19.7 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement... warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing...

  15. 12 CFR 509.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Good faith certification. 509.7 Section 509.7... PROCEDURE IN ADJUDICATORY PROCEEDINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 509.7 Good faith... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  16. 12 CFR 747.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good faith certification. 747.7 Section 747.7... of Practice and Procedure § 747.7 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every filing or... good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law; and the filing or...

  17. 12 CFR 109.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good faith certification. 109.7 Section 109.7... PROCEDURE IN ADJUDICATORY PROCEEDINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 109.7 Good faith... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  18. 12 CFR 509.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good faith certification. 509.7 Section 509.7... PROCEDURE IN ADJUDICATORY PROCEEDINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 509.7 Good faith... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  19. 12 CFR 509.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2014-01-01 2012-01-01 true Good faith certification. 509.7 Section 509.7... PROCEDURE IN ADJUDICATORY PROCEEDINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 509.7 Good faith... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  20. 12 CFR 19.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good faith certification. 19.7 Section 19.7... PROCEDURE Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 19.7 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement... warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing...

  1. 12 CFR 509.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2013-01-01 2012-01-01 true Good faith certification. 509.7 Section 509.7... PROCEDURE IN ADJUDICATORY PROCEEDINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 509.7 Good faith... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  2. 12 CFR 19.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good faith certification. 19.7 Section 19.7... PROCEDURE Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 19.7 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement... warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing...

  3. 12 CFR 747.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good faith certification. 747.7 Section 747.7... of Practice and Procedure § 747.7 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every filing or... good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law; and the filing or...

  4. 12 CFR 109.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good faith certification. 109.7 Section 109.7... PROCEDURE IN ADJUDICATORY PROCEEDINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 109.7 Good faith... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  5. 12 CFR 747.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good faith certification. 747.7 Section 747.7... of Practice and Procedure § 747.7 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every filing or... good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law; and the filing or...

  6. 12 CFR 19.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good faith certification. 19.7 Section 19.7... PROCEDURE Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 19.7 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement... warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing...

  7. 12 CFR 747.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Good faith certification. 747.7 Section 747.7... of Practice and Procedure § 747.7 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every filing or... good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law; and the filing or...

  8. 12 CFR 109.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good faith certification. 109.7 Section 109.7... PROCEDURE IN ADJUDICATORY PROCEEDINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 109.7 Good faith... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  9. 12 CFR 747.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good faith certification. 747.7 Section 747.7... of Practice and Procedure § 747.7 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every filing or... good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law; and the filing or...

  10. 12 CFR 19.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good faith certification. 19.7 Section 19.7... PROCEDURE Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 19.7 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement... warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing...

  11. 12 CFR 509.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good faith certification. 509.7 Section 509.7... PROCEDURE IN ADJUDICATORY PROCEEDINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 509.7 Good faith... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  12. Keeping a Good Attitude: A Quaternion-Based Orientation Filter for IMUs and MARGs.

    PubMed

    Valenti, Roberto G; Dryanovski, Ivan; Xiao, Jizhong

    2015-08-06

    Orientation estimation using low cost sensors is an important task for Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) in order to obtain a good feedback for the attitude controller. The challenges come from the low accuracy and noisy data of the MicroElectroMechanical System (MEMS) technology, which is the basis of modern, miniaturized inertial sensors. In this article, we describe a novel approach to obtain an estimation of the orientation in quaternion form from the observations of gravity and magnetic field. Our approach provides a quaternion estimation as the algebraic solution of a system from inertial/magnetic observations. We separate the problems of finding the "tilt" quaternion and the heading quaternion in two sub-parts of our system. This procedure is the key for avoiding the impact of the magnetic disturbances on the roll and pitch components of the orientation when the sensor is surrounded by unwanted magnetic flux. We demonstrate the validity of our method first analytically and then empirically using simulated data. We propose a novel complementary filter for MAVs that fuses together gyroscope data with accelerometer and magnetic field readings. The correction part of the filter is based on the method described above and works for both IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) and MARG (Magnetic, Angular Rate, and Gravity) sensors. We evaluate the effectiveness of the filter and show that it significantly outperforms other common methods, using publicly available datasets with ground-truth data recorded during a real flight experiment of a micro quadrotor helicopter.

  13. Asymmetric public goods game cooperation through pest control.

    PubMed

    Reeves, T; Ohtsuki, H; Fukui, S

    2017-12-21

    Cooperation in a public goods game has been studied extensively to find the conditions for sustaining the commons, yet the effect of asymmetry between agents has been explored very little. Here we study a game theoretic model of cooperation for pest control among farmers. In our simple model, each farmer has a paddy of the same size arranged adjacently on a line. A pest outbreak occurs at an abandoned paddy at one end of the line, directly threatening the frontier farmer adjacent to it. Each farmer pays a cost of his or her choice to an agricultural collective, and the total sum held by the collective is used for pest control, with success probability increasing with the sum. Because the farmers' incentives depend on their distance from the pest outbreak, our model is an asymmetric public goods game. We derive each farmer's cost strategy at the Nash equilibrium. We find that asymmetry among farmers leads to a few unexpected outcomes. The individual costs at the equilibrium do not necessarily increase with how much the future is valued but rather show threshold behavior. Moreover, an increase in the number of farmers can sometimes paradoxically undermine pest prevention. A comparison with a symmetric public goods game model reveals that the farmer at the greatest risk pays a disproportionate amount of cost in the asymmetric game, making the use of agricultural lands less sustainable. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  14. Quantifying capital goods for biological treatment of organic waste.

    PubMed

    Brogaard, Line K; Petersen, Per H; Nielsen, Peter D; Christensen, Thomas H

    2015-02-01

    Materials and energy used for construction of anaerobic digestion (AD) and windrow composting plants were quantified in detail. The two technologies were quantified in collaboration with consultants and producers of the parts used to construct the plants. The composting plants were quantified based on the different sizes for the three different types of waste (garden and park waste, food waste and sludge from wastewater treatment) in amounts of 10,000 or 50,000 tonnes per year. The AD plant was quantified for a capacity of 80,000 tonnes per year. Concrete and steel for the tanks were the main materials for the AD plant. For the composting plants, gravel and concrete slabs for the pavement were used in large amounts. To frame the quantification, environmental impact assessments (EIAs) showed that the steel used for tanks at the AD plant and the concrete slabs at the composting plants made the highest contribution to Global Warming. The total impact on Global Warming from the capital goods compared to the operation reported in the literature on the AD plant showed an insignificant contribution of 1-2%. For the composting plants, the capital goods accounted for 10-22% of the total impact on Global Warming from composting. © The Author(s) 2015.

  15. Show me the money.

    PubMed

    2007-02-01

    Universities are charities that have a duty to solicit help to fulfil their ambitions, both in the provision of education and in the conduct of research. If European higher education institutions are to compete effectively on a global scale, they must become as good at fundraising as their competitors in the United States.

  16. Stochastic dynamics and stable equilibrium of evolutionary optional public goods game in finite populations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Quan, Ji; Liu, Wei; Chu, Yuqing; Wang, Xianjia

    2018-07-01

    Continuous noise caused by mutation is widely present in evolutionary systems. Considering the noise effects and under the optional participation mechanism, a stochastic model for evolutionary public goods game in a finite size population is established. The evolutionary process of strategies in the population is described as a multidimensional ergodic and continuous time Markov process. The stochastic stable state of the system is analyzed by the limit distribution of the stochastic process. By numerical experiments, the influences of the fixed income coefficient for non-participants and the investment income coefficient of the public goods on the stochastic stable equilibrium of the system are analyzed. Through the numerical calculation results, we found that the optional participation mechanism can change the evolutionary dynamics and the equilibrium of the public goods game, and there is a range of parameters which can effectively promote the evolution of cooperation. Further, we obtain the accurate quantitative relationship between the parameters and the probabilities for the system to choose different stable equilibriums, which can be used to realize the control of cooperation.

  17. [Medical audits contribute to good and comparable health services].

    PubMed

    Arntzen, Elisabeth; Mikkelsen, Bente

    2007-01-04

    In 2004, the board of Eastern Norwegian Regional Health Authority (HelseØst RHF) decided that medical audits should be carried out in the treatment of cerebral stroke and breast cancer and in the mental health services. The objective was to establish to what extent the best practice is followed, to learn from each other, and to obtain help and advice. The medical audits were based on guidelines in ISO and were carried out under the leadership of external medical audit leaders, medical experts and medical auditors from the region. The results show that, on the whole, the patients are offered satisfactory treatment, but improvement is needed. The number of breast-preserving operations could be increased, treatment should be offered in a cerebral stroke unit to all those with acute cerebral stroke and suicide assessments should be improved. Most improvement measures were started quickly and were followed up by directors and local boards. HelseØst RHF followed up the general improvement suggestions. The medical audits were well received by health enterprises. In order to carry out medical audits the following is needed; national medical standards or summarized information on the best practice where standards are not defined. The regional health enterprises can use medical audits to assess the standard of treatment in risk zones, thus ensuring that uniform services are available for the population. Medical audits provide a good tool for preserving quality.

  18. Development of functional spaghetti enriched in bioactive compounds using barley coarse fraction obtained by air classification.

    PubMed

    Verardo, Vito; Gómez-Caravaca, Ana Maria; Messia, Maria Cristina; Marconi, Emanuele; Caboni, Maria Fiorenza

    2011-09-14

    Barley byproducts obtained by air classification have been used to produce a different barley functional spaghetti, which were compared to different commercial whole semolina samples. Total, insoluble, and soluble fiber and β-glucan contents of the barley spaghetti were found to be greater than those of commercial samples. Furthermore, it was proved that barley spaghetti reached the FDA requirements, which could allow these pastas to deserve the health claims "good source of dietary fiber" and "may reduce the risk of heart disease". When the barley coarse fraction was used, a flavan-3-ols enrichment and an increase of antioxidant activity were reported, while commercial samples showed the absence of flavan-3-ols and a higher presence of phenolic acids and tannins. Whole semolina commercial spaghetti had a significantly higher content of phenolic acids than semolina spaghetti samples. Besides, it was observed that when vital gluten was added to the spaghetti formulation, phenolic compounds were blocked in the gluten network and were partially released during the cooking process.

  19. Comparison of precipitable water vapor measurements obtained by microwave radiometry and radiosondes at the Southern Great ...

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

    Lesht, B.M.; Liljegren, J.C.

    1996-12-31

    Comparisons between the precipitable water vapor (PWV) estimated by passive microwave radiometers (MWRs) and that obtained by integrating the vertical profile of water vapor density measured by radiosondes (BBSS) have generally shown good agreement. These comparisons, however, have usually been done over rather short time periods and consequently within limited ranges of total PWV and with limited numbers of radiosondes. We have been making regular comparisons between MWR and BBSS estimates of PWV at the Southern Great Plains Cloud and Radiation Testbed (SGP/CART) site since late 1992 as part of an ongoing quality measurement experiment (QME). This suite of comparisonsmore » spans three annual cycles and a relatively wide range of total PWV amounts. Our findings show that although for the most part the agreement is excellent, differences between the two measurements occur. These differences may be related to the MWR retrieval of PWV and to calibration variations between radiosonde batches.« less

  20. 12 CFR 308.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good faith certification. 308.7 Section 308.7... PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 308.7 Good faith certification. (a... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  1. 12 CFR 263.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good faith certification. 263.7 Section 263.7... (CONTINUED) RULES OF PRACTICE FOR HEARINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 263.7 Good faith... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  2. 12 CFR 263.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Good faith certification. 263.7 Section 263.7... RULES OF PRACTICE FOR HEARINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 263.7 Good faith certification... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  3. 12 CFR 263.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good faith certification. 263.7 Section 263.7... (CONTINUED) RULES OF PRACTICE FOR HEARINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 263.7 Good faith... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  4. 12 CFR 308.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good faith certification. 308.7 Section 308.7... PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 308.7 Good faith certification. (a... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  5. 12 CFR 263.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good faith certification. 263.7 Section 263.7... (CONTINUED) RULES OF PRACTICE FOR HEARINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 263.7 Good faith... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  6. 12 CFR 308.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good faith certification. 308.7 Section 308.7... PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 308.7 Good faith certification. (a... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  7. 12 CFR 308.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Good faith certification. 308.7 Section 308.7... PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 308.7 Good faith certification. (a... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  8. 12 CFR 308.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good faith certification. 308.7 Section 308.7... PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 308.7 Good faith certification. (a... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  9. 12 CFR 263.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good faith certification. 263.7 Section 263.7... RULES OF PRACTICE FOR HEARINGS Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 263.7 Good faith certification... in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or...

  10. 7 CFR 28.407 - Good Ordinary Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good Ordinary Color. 28.407 Section 28.407 Agriculture..., TESTING, AND STANDARDS Standards Official Cotton Standards of the United States for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.407 Good Ordinary Color. Good Ordinary Color is color which is within the range...

  11. 7 CFR 28.407 - Good Ordinary Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Good Ordinary Color. 28.407 Section 28.407 Agriculture..., TESTING, AND STANDARDS Standards Official Cotton Standards of the United States for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.407 Good Ordinary Color. Good Ordinary Color is color which is within the range...

  12. 7 CFR 28.407 - Good Ordinary Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good Ordinary Color. 28.407 Section 28.407 Agriculture..., TESTING, AND STANDARDS Standards Official Cotton Standards of the United States for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.407 Good Ordinary Color. Good Ordinary Color is color which is within the range...

  13. 7 CFR 28.407 - Good Ordinary Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good Ordinary Color. 28.407 Section 28.407 Agriculture..., TESTING, AND STANDARDS Standards Official Cotton Standards of the United States for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.407 Good Ordinary Color. Good Ordinary Color is color which is within the range...

  14. 7 CFR 28.401 - Good Middling Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good Middling Color. 28.401 Section 28.401 Agriculture..., TESTING, AND STANDARDS Standards Official Cotton Standards of the United States for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.401 Good Middling Color. Good Middling Color is color which is within the range...

  15. 7 CFR 28.401 - Good Middling Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good Middling Color. 28.401 Section 28.401 Agriculture..., TESTING, AND STANDARDS Standards Official Cotton Standards of the United States for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.401 Good Middling Color. Good Middling Color is color which is within the range...

  16. 7 CFR 28.401 - Good Middling Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Good Middling Color. 28.401 Section 28.401 Agriculture..., TESTING, AND STANDARDS Standards Official Cotton Standards of the United States for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.401 Good Middling Color. Good Middling Color is color which is within the range...

  17. 7 CFR 28.401 - Good Middling Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good Middling Color. 28.401 Section 28.401 Agriculture..., TESTING, AND STANDARDS Standards Official Cotton Standards of the United States for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.401 Good Middling Color. Good Middling Color is color which is within the range...

  18. 7 CFR 28.401 - Good Middling Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good Middling Color. 28.401 Section 28.401 Agriculture..., TESTING, AND STANDARDS Standards Official Cotton Standards of the United States for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.401 Good Middling Color. Good Middling Color is color which is within the range...

  19. 7 CFR 28.407 - Good Ordinary Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good Ordinary Color. 28.407 Section 28.407 Agriculture..., TESTING, AND STANDARDS Standards Official Cotton Standards of the United States for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.407 Good Ordinary Color. Good Ordinary Color is color which is within the range...

  20. Selecting good regions to deblur via relative total variation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Lerenhan; Yan, Hao; Fan, Zhihua; Zheng, Hanqing; Gao, Changxin; Sang, Nong

    2018-03-01

    Image deblurring is to estimate the blur kernel and to restore the latent image. It is usually divided into two stage, including kernel estimation and image restoration. In kernel estimation, selecting a good region that contains structure information is helpful to the accuracy of estimated kernel. Good region to deblur is usually expert-chosen or in a trial-anderror way. In this paper, we apply a metric named relative total variation (RTV) to discriminate the structure regions from smooth and texture. Given a blurry image, we first calculate the RTV of each pixel to determine whether it is the pixel in structure region, after which, we sample the image in an overlapping way. At last, the sampled region that contains the most structure pixels is the best region to deblur. Both qualitative and quantitative experiments show that our proposed method can help to estimate the kernel accurately.

  1. Perceptual and Acoustic Analyses of Good Voice Quality in Male Radio Performers.

    PubMed

    Warhurst, Samantha; Madill, Catherine; McCabe, Patricia; Ternström, Sten; Yiu, Edwin; Heard, Robert

    2017-03-01

    Good voice quality is an asset to professional voice users, including radio performers. We examined whether (1) voices could be reliably categorized as good for the radio and (2) these categories could be predicted using acoustic measures. Male radio performers (n = 24) and age-matched male controls performed "The Rainbow Passage" as if presenting on the radio. Voice samples were rated using a three-stage paired-comparison paradigm by 51 naive listeners and perceptual categories were identified (Study 1), and then analyzed for fundamental frequency, long-term average spectrum, cepstral peak prominence, and pause or spoken-phrase duration (Study 2). Study 1: Good inter-judge reliability was found for perceptual judgments of the best 15 voices (good for radio category, 14/15 = radio performers), but agreement on the remaining 33 voices (unranked category) was poor. Study 2: Discriminant function analyses showed that the SD standard deviation of sounded portion duration, equivalent sound level, and smoothed cepstral peak prominence predicted membership of categories with moderate accuracy (R 2  = 0.328). Radio performers are heterogeneous for voice quality; good voice quality was judged reliably in only 14 out of 24 radio performers. Current acoustic analyses detected some of the relevant signal properties that were salient in these judgments. More refined perceptual analysis and the use of other perceptual methods might provide more information on the complex nature of judging good voices. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. 12 CFR 390.36 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good faith certification. 390.36 Section 390.36... Proceedings § 390.36 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every filing or submission of record... filing or submission of record is well-grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith...

  3. 12 CFR 1780.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Good faith certification. 1780.7 Section 1780.7... DEVELOPMENT RULES OF PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE RULES OF PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE General Rules § 1780.7 Good faith... record is well-grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith, nonfrivolous argument...

  4. 12 CFR 390.36 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Good faith certification. 390.36 Section 390.36... Proceedings § 390.36 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every filing or submission of record... filing or submission of record is well-grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith...

  5. 12 CFR 1024.7 - Good faith estimate.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 8 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Good faith estimate. 1024.7 Section 1024.7... (REGULATION X) Mortgage Settlement and Escrow Accounts § 1024.7 Good faith estimate. (a) Lender to provide. (1..., 2014. For the convenience of the user, the revised text is set forth as follows: § 1024.7 Good faith...

  6. 12 CFR 390.36 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Good faith certification. 390.36 Section 390.36... Proceedings § 390.36 Good faith certification. (a) General requirement. Every filing or submission of record... filing or submission of record is well-grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith...

  7. 12 CFR 908.23 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Good faith certification. 908.23 Section 908.23... OPERATIONS RULES OF PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE IN HEARINGS ON THE RECORD General Rules § 908.23 Good faith... filing or submission of record is well-grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith...

  8. 12 CFR 908.23 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good faith certification. 908.23 Section 908.23... OPERATIONS RULES OF PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE IN HEARINGS ON THE RECORD General Rules § 908.23 Good faith... filing or submission of record is well-grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith...

  9. 12 CFR 1780.7 - Good faith certification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good faith certification. 1780.7 Section 1780.7... DEVELOPMENT RULES OF PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE RULES OF PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE General Rules § 1780.7 Good faith... record is well-grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith, nonfrivolous argument...

  10. Good during EVA 3

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2010-05-21

    ISS023-E-047827 (21 May 2010) --- NASA astronaut Michael Good, STS-132 mission specialist, participates in the mission?s third and final session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 46-minute spacewalk, Good and NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman (out of frame), mission specialist, completed the installation of the final two of the six new batteries for the B side of the port 6 solar array. In addition, the astronauts installed a backup ammonia jumper cable between the port 4 and 5 trusses of the station, transferred a Power and Data Grapple Fixture from the shuttle to the station, and reconfigured some tools.

  11. Good during EVA 3

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2010-05-21

    ISS023-E-047864 (21 May 2010) --- NASA astronaut Michael Good, STS-132 mission specialist, participates in the mission?s third and final session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 46-minute spacewalk, Good and NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman (out of frame), mission specialist, completed the installation of the final two of the six new batteries for the B side of the port 6 solar array. In addition, the astronauts installed a backup ammonia jumper cable between the port 4 and 5 trusses of the station, transferred a Power and Data Grapple Fixture from the shuttle to the station, and reconfigured some tools.

  12. Good during EVA 3

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2010-05-21

    ISS023-E-047845 (21 May 2010) --- NASA astronaut Michael Good, STS-132 mission specialist, participates in the mission?s third and final session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 46-minute spacewalk, Good and NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman (out of frame), mission specialist, completed the installation of the final two of the six new batteries for the B side of the port 6 solar array. In addition, the astronauts installed a backup ammonia jumper cable between the port 4 and 5 trusses of the station, transferred a Power and Data Grapple Fixture from the shuttle to the station, and reconfigured some tools.

  13. Good during EVA 3

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2010-05-21

    ISS023-E-047833 (21 May 2010) --- NASA astronaut Michael Good, STS-132 mission specialist, participates in the mission?s third and final session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 46-minute spacewalk, Good and NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman (out of frame), mission specialist, completed the installation of the final two of the six new batteries for the B side of the port 6 solar array. In addition, the astronauts installed a backup ammonia jumper cable between the port 4 and 5 trusses of the station, transferred a Power and Data Grapple Fixture from the shuttle to the station, and reconfigured some tools.

  14. Good during EVA 3

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2010-05-21

    ISS023-E-047828 (21 May 2010) --- NASA astronaut Michael Good, STS-132 mission specialist, participates in the mission?s third and final session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 46-minute spacewalk, Good and NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman (out of frame), mission specialist, completed the installation of the final two of the six new batteries for the B side of the port 6 solar array. In addition, the astronauts installed a backup ammonia jumper cable between the port 4 and 5 trusses of the station, transferred a Power and Data Grapple Fixture from the shuttle to the station, and reconfigured some tools.

  15. Good News for New Orleans: Early Evidence Shows Reforms Lifting Student Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harris, Douglas N.

    2015-01-01

    What happened to the New Orleans public schools following the tragic levee breeches after Hurricane Katrina is truly unprecedented. Within the span of one year, all public-school employees were fired, the teacher contract expired and was not replaced, and most attendance zones were eliminated. The state took control of almost all public schools…

  16. Let's Cancel the Dog-and-Pony Show

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marshall, Kim

    2012-01-01

    Why are so many educators willing to give credence to observations based on announced visits? Perhaps it's avoidance or a failure to distinguish between good teachers and good teaching, or perhaps it's the way the conventional teacher-evaluation model limits administrators' options. To put it bluntly, an evaluation process that relies on announced…

  17. 29 CFR 779.108 - Goods produced for commerce.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Goods produced for commerce. 779.108 Section 779.108 Labor... Coverage Employees Engaged in Commerce Or in the Production of Goods for Commerce § 779.108 Goods produced for commerce. Goods are “produced for commerce” if they are “produced, manufactured, mined, handled or...

  18. 29 CFR 779.108 - Goods produced for commerce.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Goods produced for commerce. 779.108 Section 779.108 Labor... Coverage Employees Engaged in Commerce Or in the Production of Goods for Commerce § 779.108 Goods produced for commerce. Goods are “produced for commerce” if they are “produced, manufactured, mined, handled or...

  19. 29 CFR 779.108 - Goods produced for commerce.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Goods produced for commerce. 779.108 Section 779.108 Labor... Coverage Employees Engaged in Commerce Or in the Production of Goods for Commerce § 779.108 Goods produced for commerce. Goods are “produced for commerce” if they are “produced, manufactured, mined, handled or...

  20. 29 CFR 779.108 - Goods produced for commerce.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Goods produced for commerce. 779.108 Section 779.108 Labor... Coverage Employees Engaged in Commerce Or in the Production of Goods for Commerce § 779.108 Goods produced for commerce. Goods are “produced for commerce” if they are “produced, manufactured, mined, handled or...

  1. 29 CFR 779.108 - Goods produced for commerce.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Goods produced for commerce. 779.108 Section 779.108 Labor... Coverage Employees Engaged in Commerce Or in the Production of Goods for Commerce § 779.108 Goods produced for commerce. Goods are “produced for commerce” if they are “produced, manufactured, mined, handled or...

  2. The Relationship between Good Readers' Attention, Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yildiz, Mustafa; Çetinkaya, Ezgi

    2017-01-01

    This study aimed to examine the relationship between fourth-graders' reading fluency, reading comprehension and attention. It was conducted using the relational screening model and included 132 fourth-graders with grade level adequate reading skills. The study results showed that good readers' attention had significant effects on reading speed,…

  3. Good Policy, Good Practice II. Improving Outcomes and Productivity in Higher Education: A Guide for Policymakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brenneman, Meghan Wilson; Callan, Patrick M.; Ewell, Peter T.; Finney, Joni E.; Jones, Dennis P.; Zis, Stacey

    2010-01-01

    This new edition of "Good Policy, Good Practice II" revises and updates the authors' 2007 publication. Like the earlier edition, it responds to one of the questions that is raised most frequently in the authors' work with public policy and education leaders as they begin to address the national and state imperatives to increase the proportion of…

  4. Good-Neighbor Policy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Drozdowski, Mark J.

    2007-01-01

    In this article, the author draws on his experience as the director of the Fitchburg State College Foundation in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, to make a distinction between being a good neighbor to local non-profit organizations by sharing strategies and information, and creating conflicts of interest when both the college and its neighbor…

  5. The good doctor: the carer's perspective.

    PubMed

    Levine, Carol

    2004-01-01

    Carers are family members, friends, and neighbours who perform medical tasks and personal care, manage housekeeping and financial affairs, and provide emotional support to people who are ill, disabled, or elderly. From a carer's perspective, the primary requisite for a good doctor is competence. Assuming equal technical skills and knowledge, the difference between 'good' and 'bad' doctors comes down to attitudes and behaviour-communication. An important aspect of communication is what doctors say to carers, and how they interpret what carers say to them. Body language-stances, gestures and expression-communicates as well. Good doctors are surrounded by courteous, helpful and efficient assistants. Doctors can make two types of errors in dealing with carers. Type 1 errors occur when doctors exclude the carer from decision making and information. Type 2 errors occur when doctors speak only to the carer and ignore the patient. Good doctors, patients and carers confront the existential meaning of illness together.

  6. Good surgeon: A search for meaning.

    PubMed

    Akopov, Andrey L; Artioukh, Dmitri Y

    2017-01-01

    The art and philosophy of surgery are not as often discussed as scientific discoveries and technological advances in the modern era of surgery. Although these are difficult to teach and pass on to the next generations of surgeons they are no less important for training good surgeons and maintaining their high standards. The authors of this review and opinion article tried to define what being a good surgeon really means and to look into the subject by analysing the essential conditions for being a good surgeon and the qualities that such a specialist should possess. In addition to a strong theoretic knowledge and practical skills and among the several described professional and personal characteristics, a good surgeon is expected to have common sense. It enables a surgeon to make a sound practical judgment independent of specialized medical knowledge and training. The possible ways of developing and/or enhancing common sense during surgical training and subsequent practice require separate analysis.

  7. Reliability of the measures of weight-bearing distribution obtained during quiet stance by digital scales in subjects with and without hemiparesis.

    PubMed

    de Araujo-Barbosa, Paulo Henrique Ferreira; de Menezes, Lidiane Teles; Costa, Abraão Souza; Couto Paz, Clarissa Cardoso Dos Santos; Fachin-Martins, Emerson

    2015-05-01

    Described as an alternative way of assessing weight-bearing asymmetries, the measures obtained from digital scales have been used as an index to classify weight-bearing distribution. This study aimed to describe the intra-test and the test/retest reliability of measures in subjects with and without hemiparesis during quiet stance. The percentage of body weight borne by one limb was calculated for a sample of subjects with hemiparesis and for a control group that was matched by gender and age. A two-way analysis of variance was used to verify the intra-test reliability. This analysis was calculated using the differences between the averages of the measures obtained during single, double or triple trials. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was utilized and data plotted using the Bland-Altman method. The intra-test analysis showed significant differences, only observed in the hemiparesis group, between the measures obtained by single and triple trials. Excellent and moderate ICC values (0.69-0.84) between test and retest were observed in the hemiparesis group, while for control groups ICC values (0.41-0.74) were classified as moderate, progressing from almost poor for measures obtained by a single trial to almost excellent for those obtained by triple trials. In conclusion, good reliability ranging from moderate to excellent classifications was found for participants with and without hemiparesis. Moreover, an improvement of the repeatability was observed with fewer trials for participants with hemiparesis, and with more trials for participants without hemiparesis.

  8. Peaks Over Threshold (POT): A methodology for automatic threshold estimation using goodness of fit p-value

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Solari, Sebastián.; Egüen, Marta; Polo, María. José; Losada, Miguel A.

    2017-04-01

    Threshold estimation in the Peaks Over Threshold (POT) method and the impact of the estimation method on the calculation of high return period quantiles and their uncertainty (or confidence intervals) are issues that are still unresolved. In the past, methods based on goodness of fit tests and EDF-statistics have yielded satisfactory results, but their use has not yet been systematized. This paper proposes a methodology for automatic threshold estimation, based on the Anderson-Darling EDF-statistic and goodness of fit test. When combined with bootstrapping techniques, this methodology can be used to quantify both the uncertainty of threshold estimation and its impact on the uncertainty of high return period quantiles. This methodology was applied to several simulated series and to four precipitation/river flow data series. The results obtained confirmed its robustness. For the measured series, the estimated thresholds corresponded to those obtained by nonautomatic methods. Moreover, even though the uncertainty of the threshold estimation was high, this did not have a significant effect on the width of the confidence intervals of high return period quantiles.

  9. How To Achieve Good Library Acoustics.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wiens, Janet

    2003-01-01

    Discusses how to create a good acoustical environment for college libraries, focusing on requirements related to the HVAC system and lighting, and noting the importance of good maintenance. A sidebar looks at how to design and achieve the most appropriate HVAC and lighting systems for optimum library acoustics. (SM)

  10. Be a Healthy Role Model for Children: 10 Tips for Setting Good Examples

    MedlinePlus

    ... model for children 10 tips for setting good examples You are the most important influence on your ... make mealtime a family time! 1 show by example Eat vegetables, fruits, and whole grains with meals ...

  11. Improved dielectric functions in metallic films obtained via template stripping

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hyuk Park, Jong; Nagpal, Prashant; Oh, Sang-Hyun; Norris, David J.

    2012-02-01

    We compare the dielectric functions of silver interfaces obtained via thermal evaporation with those obtained with template stripping. Ellipsometry measurements show that the smoother template-stripped surfaces exhibit effective dielectric functions with a more negative real component and a smaller imaginary component, implying higher conductivity and less energy loss, respectively. These results agree with the relation between dielectric function and surface roughness derived from combining the effective-medium model and the Drude-Lorentz model. The improvement in the effective dielectric properties shows that metallic films prepared via template stripping can be favorable for applications in electronics, nanophotonics, and plasmonics.

  12. The ethics of big data as a public good: which public? Whose good?

    PubMed

    Taylor, Linnet

    2016-12-28

    International development and humanitarian organizations are increasingly calling for digital data to be treated as a public good because of its value in supplementing scarce national statistics and informing interventions, including in emergencies. In response to this claim, a 'responsible data' movement has evolved to discuss guidelines and frameworks that will establish ethical principles for data sharing. However, this movement is not gaining traction with those who hold the highest-value data, particularly mobile network operators who are proving reluctant to make data collected in low- and middle-income countries accessible through intermediaries. This paper evaluates how the argument for 'data as a public good' fits with the corporate reality of big data, exploring existing models for data sharing. I draw on the idea of corporate data as an ecosystem involving often conflicting rights, duties and claims, in comparison to the utilitarian claim that data's humanitarian value makes it imperative to share them. I assess the power dynamics implied by the idea of data as a public good, and how differing incentives lead actors to adopt particular ethical positions with regard to the use of data.This article is part of the themed issue 'The ethical impact of data science'. © 2016 The Author(s).

  13. Is Good Fit Related to Good Behaviour? Goodness of Fit between Daycare Teacher-Child Relationships, Temperament, and Prosocial Behaviour

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hipson, Will E.; Séguin, Daniel G.

    2016-01-01

    The Goodness-of-Fit model [Thomas, A., & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development. New York: Brunner/Mazel] proposes that a child's temperament interacts with the environment to influence child outcomes. In the past, researchers have shown how the association between the quality of the teacher-child relationship in daycare and child…

  14. "The Corn People Have a Song Too. It Is Very Good": On Beauty, Truth, and Goodness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chamberlin, J. Edward

    2009-01-01

    Twenty-first-century skeptics would say that there are really no such things as beauty and truth and certainly not goodness. A Pueblo poet seemed to think there was--"the corn people have a song / it is very good"--and unless people think they know better, they'd better listen up. This article begins with a short piece, set down by the…

  15. How Good Is Our School? Ensuring Effective Transitions. Self-Evaluation Series

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education, 2006

    2006-01-01

    This is one of a series of guides to self-evaluation building on the advice given in the publications "How good is our school?" and "The Child at the Centre." It also shows how the relevant National Care Standards can be applied alongside performance indicators and quality indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of…

  16. On Becoming a Good English Language Learner: An Exploratory Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Panzachi Heredia, Damaris Ana Ruth; Luchini, Pedro Luis

    2015-01-01

    This paper reports a case study that explores the cognitive process and the language learning strategies and styles that one Spanish trainee used to become a good English language learner. The participant held an in-depth, semi-structured interview and completed a learning style survey. Results show that the conscious use of multiple…

  17. Luggage and shipped goods.

    PubMed

    Vogel, H; Haller, D

    2007-08-01

    Control of luggage and shipped goods are frequently carried out. The possibilities of X-ray technology shall be demonstrated. There are different imaging techniques. The main concepts are transmission imaging, backscatter imaging, computed tomography, and dual energy imaging and the combination of different methods The images come from manufacturers and personal collections. The search concerns mainly, weapons, explosives, and drugs; furthermore animals, and stolen goods, Special problems offer the control of letters and the detection of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). One has to expect that controls will increase and that imaging with X-rays will have their part. Pattern recognition software will be used for analysis enforced by economy and by demand for higher efficiency - man and computer will produce more security than man alone.

  18. Look good feel better workshops: a "big lift" for women with cancer.

    PubMed

    Taggart, Linda R; Ozolins, Laura; Hardie, Heather; Nyhof-Young, Joyce

    2009-01-01

    Look Good Feel Better (LGFB) aims to help women manage appearance-related side effects of cancer and its treatment. In this pilot study, we assessed the impact of LGFB workshops on self-image, social interactions, perceived social support, and anxiety. We administered scales preworkshop and postworkshop participation. We conducted semistructured telephone interviews following attendance. Statistically and qualitatively, subjects experienced significant improvement in self-image, social interaction, and anxiety. Participant anxiety decreased, but greater social support was anticipated than actually obtained. LGFB workshops increase self-image, improve social interactions, and reduce anxiety.

  19. Selection of putative Terra Maranhão plantain cultivar mutants obtained by gamma radiation.

    PubMed

    Reis, R V; Amorim, E P; Ledo, C A S; Pestana, R K N; Gonçalves, Z S; Borém, A

    2015-05-11

    The aim of this study was to select putative Terra Maranhão plantain cultivar mutants obtained by gamma radiation, with good agronomic traits and short height. A total of 315 buds were irradiated in vitro with gamma rays in doses of 20 Gy and were subcultivated and evaluated in the field over 2 production cycles. The clones were evaluated to select the best 10% of the plants. Cultivation was undertaken at a spacing of 3 x 4 m, and fertilization was carried out according to the technical recommendations for the crop. A total of 111 irradiated plants and 41 controls were evaluated in the field. Among the irradiated plants selected, genotypes that exhibited reduced height were observed. The genotypes Irra 04, Irra 13, Irra 19, and Irra 21 exhibited a height of 3.6 m, which was below the mean value of the controls selected. Other irradiated genotypes selected such as Irra 14 and Irra 16, with a height of 3.65 m, are promising because, in addition to reduced height, they exhibited good bunch weight and shorter period to flowering in relation to the mean value of the controls, which is a significant factor for the next stages in breeding. These results confirm the possibility of inducing mutations in Terra type banana plants to obtain desirable agronomic traits and short height.

  20. Choosing Good Websites

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webber, Nancy

    2004-01-01

    Many art teachers use the Web as an information source. Overall, they look for good content that is clearly written concise, accurate, and pertinent. A well-designed site gives users what they want quickly, efficiently, and logically, and does not ask them to assemble a puzzle to resolve their search. How can websites with these qualities be…

  1. How Living Things Obtain Energy: A Simpler Explanation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Igelsrud, Donald E.

    1989-01-01

    Examines five basic reactions which describe the biochemical pathways for living things obtaining energy. Shows the reactions that occur in respiration after glycolysis, the dehydrogenation reaction, decarboxylation, and two kinds of make-ready reactions which prepare molecules for further dehydrogenation and decarboxylation. Diagrams are…

  2. 7 CFR 1205.520 - Procedure for obtaining reimbursement.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... application forms may be filed. In any such case, the reimbursement application shall show the names... Cotton Board shall make reimbursement to the importer. For joint applications, the reimbursement shall be... procedures prescribed in this section. (a) Application form. An importer shall obtain a reimbursement...

  3. 18 CFR 2.20 - Good faith requests for transmission services and good faith responses by transmitting utilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Good faith requests for transmission services and good faith responses by transmitting utilities. 2.20 Section 2.20 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL RULES...

  4. 18 CFR 2.20 - Good faith requests for transmission services and good faith responses by transmitting utilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Good faith requests for transmission services and good faith responses by transmitting utilities. 2.20 Section 2.20 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL RULES...

  5. 18 CFR 2.20 - Good faith requests for transmission services and good faith responses by transmitting utilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Good faith requests for transmission services and good faith responses by transmitting utilities. 2.20 Section 2.20 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL RULES...

  6. New cryptotanshinone derivatives with anti-influenza A virus activities obtained via biotransformation by Mucor rouxii.

    PubMed

    He, Wenni; Li, Yao; Qin, Yuejie; Tong, Xiaomei; Song, Zhijun; Zhao, Yu; Wei, Ran; Li, Li; Dai, Huanqin; Wang, Wenzhao; Luo, Houwei; Ye, Xin; Zhang, Lixin; Liu, Xueting

    2017-08-01

    This paper provides an efficient platform to diversify the structure and pharmaceutical potentials of known natural products. Seven metabolites were obtained via the biotransformation of cryptotanshinone by the fungus Mucor rouxii AS 3.3447, and assigned as 13R-14R-hydroxy-anhydride of 16R-cryptotanshinone (1), 1S-hydroxy-anhydride of 16R-cryptotanshinone (2), 1R-hydroxy-anhydride of 16R-cryptotanshinone (3), 3S-hydroxy-epicryptoacetalide (4), 3S-hydroxy-cryptoacetalide (5), epicryptoacetalide (6), and cryptoacetalide (7). Among these compounds, 1-5 are novel. The ortho-naphthoquinone chromophore of cryptotanshinone was degraded and rearranged by M. rouxii. 1 and 3 showed good anti-influenza A virus activities with the reduced cytotoxic activities compared to the parent substrate cryptotanshinone (8). The structures of all the new compounds were determined on the basis of HRESIMS (high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy) spectrometry, NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy, ECD (electronic circular dichroism) calculations, and the CD (circular dichroism) of "in situ" method with [Rh 2 (OCOCF 3 ) 4 ].

  7. ASSESSMENT OF GOOD PRACTICES IN HOSPITAL FOOD SERVICE BY COMPARING EVALUATION TOOLS.

    PubMed

    Macedo Gonçalves, Juliana; Lameiro Rodrigues, Kelly; Santiago Almeida, Ângela Teresinha; Pereira, Giselda Maria; Duarte Buchweitz, Márcia Rúbia

    2015-10-01

    since food service in hospitals complements medical treatment, it should be produced in proper hygienic and sanitary conditions. It is a well-known fact that food-transmitted illnesses affect with greater severity hospitalized and immunosuppressed patients. good practices in hospital food service are evaluated by comparing assessment instruments. good practices were evaluated by a verification list following Resolution of Collegiate Directory n. 216 of the Brazilian Agency for Sanitary Vigilance. Interpretation of listed items followed parameters of RCD 216 and the Brazilian Association of Collective Meals Enterprises (BACME). Fisher's exact test was applied to detect whether there were statistically significant differences. Analysis of data grouping was undertaken with Unweighted Pair-group using Arithmetic Averages, coupled to a correlation study between dissimilarity matrixes to verify disagreement between the two methods. Good Practice was classified with mean total rates above 75% by the two methods. There were statistically significant differences between services and food evaluated by BACME instrument. Hospital Food Services have proved to show conditions of acceptable good practices. the comparison of interpretation tools based on RCD n. 216 and BACME provided similar results for the two classifications. Copyright AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2014. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.

  8. Volunteering leads to rock-paper-scissors dynamics in a public goods game

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Semmann, Dirk; Krambeck, Hans-Jürgen; Milinski, Manfred

    2003-09-01

    Collective efforts are a trademark of both insect and human societies. They are achieved through relatedness in the former and unknown mechanisms in the latter. The problem of achieving cooperation among non-kin has been described as the `tragedy of the commons', prophesying the inescapable collapse of many human enterprises. In public goods experiments, initial cooperation usually drops quickly to almost zero. It can be maintained by the opportunity to punish defectors or the need to maintain good reputation. Both schemes require that defectors are identified. Theorists propose that a simple but effective mechanism operates under full anonymity. With optional participation in the public goods game, `loners' (players who do not join the group), defectors and cooperators will coexist through rock-paper-scissors dynamics. Here we show experimentally that volunteering generates these dynamics in public goods games and that manipulating initial conditions can produce each predicted direction. If, by manipulating displayed decisions, it is pretended that defectors have the highest frequency, loners soon become most frequent, as do cooperators after loners and defectors after cooperators. On average, cooperation is perpetuated at a substantial level.

  9. Extreme value problems without calculus: a good link with geometry and elementary maths

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ganci, Salvatore

    2016-11-01

    Some classical examples of problem solving, where an extreme value condition is required, are here considered and/or revisited. The search for non-calculus solutions appears pedagogically useful and intriguing as shown through a rich literature. A teacher, who teaches both maths and physics, (as happens in Italian High schools) can find in these kinds of problems a mind stimulating exercise compared with the standard solution obtained by the differential calculus. A good link between the geometric and analytical explanations is so established.

  10. Evolution of Cooperation in Public Goods Games

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xia, Cheng-Yi; Zhang, Juan-Juan; Wang, Yi-Ling; Wang, Jin-Song

    2011-10-01

    We investigate the evolution of cooperation with evolutionary public goods games based on finite populations, where four pure strategies: cooperators, defectors, punishers and loners who are unwilling to participate are considered. By adopting approximate best response dynamics, we show that the magnitude of rationality not only quantitatively explains the experiment results in [Nature (London) 425 (2003) 390], but also it will heavily influence the evolution of cooperation. Compared with previous results of infinite populations, which result in two equilibriums, we show that there merely exists a special equilibrium and the relevant high value of bounded rationality will sustain cooperation. In addition, we characterize that loner's payoff plays an active role in the maintenance of cooperation, which will only be warranted for the low and moderate values of loner's payoff. It thus indicates the effects of rationality and loner's payoff will influence the cooperation. Finally, we highlight the important result that the introduction of voluntary participation and punishment will facilitate cooperation greatly.

  11. 19 CFR 181.45 - Goods eligible for full drawback.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ...-Deferral Programs § 181.45 Goods eligible for full drawback. (a) Goods originating in Canada or Mexico. A... originating good is: (1) Subsequently exported to Canada or Mexico; (2) Used as a material in the production of another good that is subsequently exported to Canada or Mexico; or (3) Substituted by a good of...

  12. 19 CFR 181.45 - Goods eligible for full drawback.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ...-Deferral Programs § 181.45 Goods eligible for full drawback. (a) Goods originating in Canada or Mexico. A... originating good is: (1) Subsequently exported to Canada or Mexico; (2) Used as a material in the production of another good that is subsequently exported to Canada or Mexico; or (3) Substituted by a good of...

  13. Experimental research on showing automatic disappearance pen handwriting based on spectral imaging technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Su, Yi; Xu, Lei; Liu, Ningning; Huang, Wei; Xu, Xiaojing

    2016-10-01

    Purpose to find an efficient, non-destructive examining method for showing the disappearing words after writing with automatic disappearance pen. Method Using the imaging spectrometer to show the potential disappearance words on paper surface according to different properties of reflection absorbed by various substances in different bands. Results the disappeared words by using different disappearance pens to write on the same paper or the same disappearance pen to write on different papers, both can get good show results through the use of the spectral imaging examining methods. Conclusion Spectral imaging technology can show the disappearing words after writing by using the automatic disappearance pen.

  14. Theory for the evolution of diffusible external goods.

    PubMed

    Driscoll, William W; Pepper, John W

    2010-09-01

    Organisms from prokaryotes to plants and animals make costly investments in diffusible beneficial external products. While the costs of producing such products are born only by the producer, the benefits may be distributed more widely. How are external goods-producing populations stabilized against invasion by nonproducing variants that receive the benefits without paying the cost? This question parallels the classic question of altruism, but because external goods production need not be altruistic per se, a broader range of conditions may lead to the maintenance of these traits. We start from the physics of diffusion to develop an expression for the conditions that favor the production of diffusible external goods. Important variables in determining the evolutionary outcome include the diffusion coefficient of the good, the distance between individuals, and the uptake rate of the external good. These variables join the coefficient of relatedness and the cost/benefit ratio in an expanded form of Hamilton's rule that includes both selfish and altruistic paths to the evolution of external goods strategies. This expanded framework can be applied to any external goods trait, and is a useful heuristic even when it is difficult to quantify the fitness consequences of producing the good. © 2010 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2010 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

  15. A qualitative analysis of the Three Good Things intervention in healthcare workers

    PubMed Central

    Rippstein-Leuenberger, Karin; Mauthner, Oliver; Bryan Sexton, J; Schwendimann, Rene

    2017-01-01

    Background Intensive care unit (ICU) personnel have an elevated prevalence of job-related burn-out and post-traumatic stress disorder, which can ultimately impact patient care. To strengthen healthcare workers’ skills to deal with stressful events, it is important to focus not only on minimising suffering but also on increasing happiness, as this entails many more benefits than simply feeling good. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the content of the ‘good things’ reported by healthcare workers participating in the ‘Three Good Things’ intervention. Methods In a tertiary care medical centre, a sample of 89 neonatal ICU (NICU) healthcare professionals registered for the online intervention. Of these, 32 individuals eventually participated fully in the 14-day online Three Good Things intervention survey. Daily emails reminded participants to reflect on and respond to the questions: “What are the three things that went well today?” and “What was your role in bringing them about?” To analyse their responses, we applied a thematic analysis, which was guided by our theoretical understanding of resilience. Results Involving more than 1300 statements, the Three Good Things responses of the 32 study participants, including registered nurses, physicians and neonatal nurse practitioners, led to the identification of three main themes: (1) having a good day at work; (2) having supportive relationships and (3) making meaningful use of self-determined time. Conclusions The findings show the personal and professional relevance of supportive relationships strengthened by clear communication and common activities that foster positive emotions. The Three Good Things exercise acknowledges the importance of self-care in healthcare workers and appears to promote well-being, which might ultimately strengthen resilience. PMID:28611090

  16. A qualitative analysis of the Three Good Things intervention in healthcare workers.

    PubMed

    Rippstein-Leuenberger, Karin; Mauthner, Oliver; Bryan Sexton, J; Schwendimann, Rene

    2017-06-13

    Intensive care unit (ICU) personnel have an elevated prevalence of job-related burn-out and post-traumatic stress disorder, which can ultimately impact patient care. To strengthen healthcare workers' skills to deal with stressful events, it is important to focus not only on minimising suffering but also on increasing happiness, as this entails many more benefits than simply feeling good. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the content of the 'good things' reported by healthcare workers participating in the 'Three Good Things' intervention. In a tertiary care medical centre, a sample of 89 neonatal ICU (NICU) healthcare professionals registered for the online intervention. Of these, 32 individuals eventually participated fully in the 14-day online Three Good Things intervention survey. Daily emails reminded participants to reflect on and respond to the questions: "What are the three things that went well today?" and "What was your role in bringing them about?" To analyse their responses, we applied a thematic analysis, which was guided by our theoretical understanding of resilience. Involving more than 1300 statements, the Three Good Things responses of the 32 study participants, including registered nurses, physicians and neonatal nurse practitioners, led to the identification of three main themes: (1) having a good day at work; (2) having supportive relationships and (3) making meaningful use of self-determined time. The findings show the personal and professional relevance of supportive relationships strengthened by clear communication and common activities that foster positive emotions. The Three Good Things exercise acknowledges the importance of self-care in healthcare workers and appears to promote well-being, which might ultimately strengthen resilience. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  17. HDL: The "Good" Cholesterol

    MedlinePlus

    ... and LDL (bad) cholesterol: HDL stands for high-density lipoproteins. It is called the "good" cholesterol because ... cholesterol from your body. LDL stands for low-density lipoproteins. It is called the "bad" cholesterol because ...

  18. Men behaving nicely: public goods as peacock tails.

    PubMed

    Van Vugt, Mark; Iredale, Wendy

    2013-02-01

    Insights from sexual selection and costly signalling theory suggest that competition for females underlies men's public good contributions. We conducted two public good experiments to test this hypothesis. First, we found that men contributed more in the presence of an opposite sex audience, but there was no parallel effect for the women. In addition, men's public good contributions went up as they rated the female observer more attractive. In the second experiment, all male groups played a five round public good game and their contributions significantly increased over time with a female audience only. In this condition men also volunteered more time for various charitable causes. These findings support the idea that men compete with each other by creating public goods to impress women. Thus, a public good is the human equivalent of a peacock's tail. © 2012 The British Psychological Society.

  19. Good Exemplars of Natural Scene Categories Elicit Clearer Patterns than Bad Exemplars but Not Greater BOLD Activity

    PubMed Central

    Torralbo, Ana; Walther, Dirk B.; Chai, Barry; Caddigan, Eamon; Fei-Fei, Li; Beck, Diane M.

    2013-01-01

    Within the range of images that we might categorize as a “beach”, for example, some will be more representative of that category than others. Here we first confirmed that humans could categorize “good” exemplars better than “bad” exemplars of six scene categories and then explored whether brain regions previously implicated in natural scene categorization showed a similar sensitivity to how well an image exemplifies a category. In a behavioral experiment participants were more accurate and faster at categorizing good than bad exemplars of natural scenes. In an fMRI experiment participants passively viewed blocks of good or bad exemplars from the same six categories. A multi-voxel pattern classifier trained to discriminate among category blocks showed higher decoding accuracy for good than bad exemplars in the PPA, RSC and V1. This difference in decoding accuracy cannot be explained by differences in overall BOLD signal, as average BOLD activity was either equivalent or higher for bad than good scenes in these areas. These results provide further evidence that V1, RSC and the PPA not only contain information relevant for natural scene categorization, but their activity patterns mirror the fundamentally graded nature of human categories. Analysis of the image statistics of our good and bad exemplars shows that variability in low-level features and image structure is higher among bad than good exemplars. A simulation of our neuroimaging experiment suggests that such a difference in variance could account for the observed differences in decoding accuracy. These results are consistent with both low-level models of scene categorization and models that build categories around a prototype. PMID:23555588

  20. Genetic tests obtainable through pharmacies: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

    PubMed

    Patrinos, George P; Baker, Darrol J; Al-Mulla, Fahd; Vasiliou, Vasilis; Cooper, David N

    2013-07-08

    Genomic medicine seeks to exploit an individual's genomic information in the context of guiding the clinical decision-making process. In the post-genomic era, a range of novel molecular genetic testing methodologies have emerged, allowing the genetic testing industry to grow at a very rapid pace. As a consequence, a considerable number of different private diagnostic testing laboratories now provide a wide variety of genetic testing services, often employing a direct-to-consumer (DTC) business model to identify mutations underlying (or associated with) common Mendelian disorders, to individualize drug response, to attempt to determine an individual's risk of a multitude of complex (multifactorial) diseases, or even to determine a person's identity. Recently, we have noted a novel trend in the provision of private molecular genetic testing services, namely saliva and buccal swab collection kits (for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) isolation) being offered for sale over the counter by pharmacies. This situation is somewhat different from the standard DTC genetic testing model, since pharmacists are healthcare professionals who are supposedly qualified to give appropriate advice to their clients. There are, however, a number of issues to be addressed in relation to the marketing of DNA collection kits for genetic testing through pharmacies, namely a requirement for regulatory clearance, the comparative lack of appropriate genetics education of the healthcare professionals involved, and most importantly, the lack of awareness on the part of both the patients and the general public with respect to the potential benefits or otherwise of the various types of genetic test offered, which may result in confusion as to which test could be beneficial in their own particular case. We believe that some form of genetic counseling should ideally be integrated into, and made inseparable from, the genetic testing process, while pharmacists should be obliged to receive some basic training about the genetic tests that they offer for sale.

  1. Capuchin monkeys do not show human-like pricing effects.

    PubMed

    Catapano, Rhia; Buttrick, Nicholas; Widness, Jane; Goldstein, Robin; Santos, Laurie R

    2014-01-01

    Recent work in judgment and decision-making has shown that a good's price can have irrational effects on people's preferences. People tend to prefer goods that cost more money and assume that such expensive goods will be more effective, even in cases where the price of the good is itself arbitrary. Although much work has documented the existence of these pricing effects, unfortunately little work has addressed where these price effects come from in the first place. Here we use a comparative approach to distinguish between different accounts of this bias and to explore the origins of these effects. Specifically, we test whether brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) are also susceptible to pricing effects within the context of an experimentally trained token economy. Using a capuchin population previously trained in a token market, we explored whether monkeys used price as an indicator of value across four experiments. Although monkeys demonstrated an understanding of which goods had which prices (consistently shifting preferences to cheaper goods when prices were increased), we observed no evidence that such price information affected their valuation of different kinds of goods. These results suggest that human pricing effects may involve more sophisticated human-unique cognitive capacities, such as an understanding of market forces and signaling.

  2. Capuchin monkeys do not show human-like pricing effects

    PubMed Central

    Catapano, Rhia; Buttrick, Nicholas; Widness, Jane; Goldstein, Robin; Santos, Laurie R.

    2014-01-01

    Recent work in judgment and decision-making has shown that a good's price can have irrational effects on people's preferences. People tend to prefer goods that cost more money and assume that such expensive goods will be more effective, even in cases where the price of the good is itself arbitrary. Although much work has documented the existence of these pricing effects, unfortunately little work has addressed where these price effects come from in the first place. Here we use a comparative approach to distinguish between different accounts of this bias and to explore the origins of these effects. Specifically, we test whether brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) are also susceptible to pricing effects within the context of an experimentally trained token economy. Using a capuchin population previously trained in a token market, we explored whether monkeys used price as an indicator of value across four experiments. Although monkeys demonstrated an understanding of which goods had which prices (consistently shifting preferences to cheaper goods when prices were increased), we observed no evidence that such price information affected their valuation of different kinds of goods. These results suggest that human pricing effects may involve more sophisticated human-unique cognitive capacities, such as an understanding of market forces and signaling. PMID:25520677

  3. Leading Good Schools to Greatness: Mastering What Great Principals Do Well

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gray, Susan Penny; Streshly, William A.

    2010-01-01

    Great leaders are made, not born. Written by the authors of "From Good Schools to Great Schools," this sequel shows how great school leaders can be developed and how leaders can acquire the powerful personal leadership characteristics that the best administrators use to lead their schools to greatness. Based on sound strategies and the work of Jim…

  4. Good is not good enough: the culture of low expectations and the leader's challenge.

    PubMed

    Kerfoot, Karlene M

    2009-01-01

    When people believe that what they do is "good enough," excellence will never occur. As the demand for better health care escalates every year, achieving a ranking of very good doesn't count because it leaves many disenfranchised staff, errors, and dissatisfied patients. A leader can not be successful unless the culture of low expectations is eliminated. If there isn't a sense of caring, serving, and being an exemplar of the change, the leader won't succeed in moving the culture. When there is a sense of ownership and commitment to the mission and to patients, the culture of low expectations cannot exist.

  5. Infrared sauna in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. A pilot study showing good tolerance, short-term improvement of pain and stiffness, and a trend towards long-term beneficial effects.

    PubMed

    Oosterveld, Fredrikus G J; Rasker, Johannes J; Floors, Mark; Landkroon, Robert; van Rennes, Bob; Zwijnenberg, Jan; van de Laar, Mart A F J; Koel, Gerard J

    2009-01-01

    To study the effects of infrared (IR) Sauna, a form of total-body hyperthermia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients were treated for a 4-week period with a series of eight IR treatments. Seventeen RA patients and 17 AS patients were studied. IR was well tolerated, and no adverse effects were reported, no exacerbation of disease. Pain and stiffness decreased clinically, and improvements were statistically significant (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001 in RA and AS patients, respectively) during an IR session. Fatigue also decreased. Both RA and AS patients felt comfortable on average during and especially after treatment. In the RA and AS patients, pain, stiffness, and fatigue also showed clinical improvements during the 4-week treatment period, but these did not reach statistical significance. No relevant changes in disease activity scores were found, indicating no exacerbation of disease activity. In conclusion, infrared treatment has statistically significant short-term beneficial effects and clinically relevant period effects during treatment in RA and AS patients without enhancing disease activity. IR has good tolerability and no adverse effects.

  6. Analysis of the Diurnal Variation of the Global Electric Circuit Obtained From Different Numerical Models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jánský, Jaroslav; Lucas, Greg M.; Kalb, Christina; Bayona, Victor; Peterson, Michael J.; Deierling, Wiebke; Flyer, Natasha; Pasko, Victor P.

    2017-12-01

    This work analyzes different current source and conductivity parameterizations and their influence on the diurnal variation of the global electric circuit (GEC). The diurnal variations of the current source parameterizations obtained using electric field and conductivity measurements from plane overflights combined with global Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite data give generally good agreement with measured diurnal variation of the electric field at Vostok, Antarctica, where reference experimental measurements are performed. An approach employing 85 GHz passive microwave observations to infer currents within the GEC is compared and shows the best agreement in amplitude and phase with experimental measurements. To study the conductivity influence, GEC models solving the continuity equation in 3-D are used to calculate atmospheric resistance using yearly averaged conductivity obtained from the global circulation model Community Earth System Model (CESM). Then, using current source parameterization combining mean currents and global counts of electrified clouds, if the exponential conductivity is substituted by the conductivity from CESM, the peak to peak diurnal variation of the ionospheric potential of the GEC decreases from 24% to 20%. The main reason for the change is the presence of clouds while effects of 222Rn ionization, aerosols, and topography are less pronounced. The simulated peak to peak diurnal variation of the electric field at Vostok is increased from 15% to 18% from the diurnal variation of the global current in the GEC if conductivity from CESM is used.

  7. Punishment Mechanism with Self-Adjusting Rules in Spatial Voluntary Public Goods Games

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Zhong-Wei; Xu, Zhao-Jin; Zhang, Lian-Zhong

    2014-11-01

    The phenomena of cooperation in animal and human society are ubiquitous, but the selfish outcome that no player contributes to the public good will lead to the “tragedy of the commons”. The recent research shows that high punishment can improve the cooperation of the population. In this paper, we introduce a punishment mechanism into spatial voluntary public goods games with every individual only knowing his own payoff in each round. Using the self-adjusting rules, we find that the different cost for punishment can lead to different effects on the voluntary public goods games. Especially, when the cost for punishment is decreased, a higher contribution region will appear in the case of low r value. It means even for the low r value, individuals can form the contributing groups in large quantities to produce a more efficient outcome than that in moderate r value. In addition, we also find the players' memory can have effects on the average outcome of the population.

  8. Keeping a Good Attitude: A Quaternion-Based Orientation Filter for IMUs and MARGs

    PubMed Central

    Valenti, Roberto G.; Dryanovski, Ivan; Xiao, Jizhong

    2015-01-01

    Orientation estimation using low cost sensors is an important task for Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) in order to obtain a good feedback for the attitude controller. The challenges come from the low accuracy and noisy data of the MicroElectroMechanical System (MEMS) technology, which is the basis of modern, miniaturized inertial sensors. In this article, we describe a novel approach to obtain an estimation of the orientation in quaternion form from the observations of gravity and magnetic field. Our approach provides a quaternion estimation as the algebraic solution of a system from inertial/magnetic observations. We separate the problems of finding the “tilt” quaternion and the heading quaternion in two sub-parts of our system. This procedure is the key for avoiding the impact of the magnetic disturbances on the roll and pitch components of the orientation when the sensor is surrounded by unwanted magnetic flux. We demonstrate the validity of our method first analytically and then empirically using simulated data. We propose a novel complementary filter for MAVs that fuses together gyroscope data with accelerometer and magnetic field readings. The correction part of the filter is based on the method described above and works for both IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) and MARG (Magnetic, Angular Rate, and Gravity) sensors. We evaluate the effectiveness of the filter and show that it significantly outperforms other common methods, using publicly available datasets with ground-truth data recorded during a real flight experiment of a micro quadrotor helicopter. PMID:26258778

  9. Rediscovery of Good-Turing estimators via Bayesian nonparametrics.

    PubMed

    Favaro, Stefano; Nipoti, Bernardo; Teh, Yee Whye

    2016-03-01

    The problem of estimating discovery probabilities originated in the context of statistical ecology, and in recent years it has become popular due to its frequent appearance in challenging applications arising in genetics, bioinformatics, linguistics, designs of experiments, machine learning, etc. A full range of statistical approaches, parametric and nonparametric as well as frequentist and Bayesian, has been proposed for estimating discovery probabilities. In this article, we investigate the relationships between the celebrated Good-Turing approach, which is a frequentist nonparametric approach developed in the 1940s, and a Bayesian nonparametric approach recently introduced in the literature. Specifically, under the assumption of a two parameter Poisson-Dirichlet prior, we show that Bayesian nonparametric estimators of discovery probabilities are asymptotically equivalent, for a large sample size, to suitably smoothed Good-Turing estimators. As a by-product of this result, we introduce and investigate a methodology for deriving exact and asymptotic credible intervals to be associated with the Bayesian nonparametric estimators of discovery probabilities. The proposed methodology is illustrated through a comprehensive simulation study and the analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags data generated by sequencing a benchmark complementary DNA library. © 2015, The International Biometric Society.

  10. 7 CFR 51.612 - Fairly good heart formation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Fairly good heart formation. 51.612 Section 51.612....612 Fairly good heart formation. Fairly good heart formation means that the stalk has a moderate number of fairly stocky inner heart branches for its size. ...

  11. 7 CFR 51.612 - Fairly good heart formation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Fairly good heart formation. 51.612 Section 51.612....612 Fairly good heart formation. Fairly good heart formation means that the stalk has a moderate number of fairly stocky inner heart branches for its size. ...

  12. The role of noise in the spatial public goods game

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Javarone, Marco Alberto; Battiston, Federico

    2016-07-01

    In this work we aim to analyze the role of noise in the spatial public goods game, one of the most famous games in evolutionary game theory. The dynamics of this game is affected by a number of parameters and processes, namely the topology of interactions among the agents, the synergy factor, and the strategy revision phase. The latter is a process that allows agents to change their strategy. Notably, rational agents tend to imitate richer neighbors, in order to increase the probability to maximize their payoff. By implementing a stochastic revision process, it is possible to control the level of noise in the system, so that even irrational updates may occur. In particular, in this work we study the effect of noise on the macroscopic behavior of a finite structured population playing the public goods game. We consider both the case of a homogeneous population, where the noise in the system is controlled by tuning a parameter representing the level of stochasticity in the strategy revision phase, and a heterogeneous population composed of a variable proportion of rational and irrational agents. In both cases numerical investigations show that the public goods game has a very rich behavior which strongly depends on the amount of noise in the system and on the value of the synergy factor. To conclude, our study sheds a new light on the relations between the microscopic dynamics of the public goods game and its macroscopic behavior, strengthening the link between the field of evolutionary game theory and statistical physics.

  13. Paleolithic Counseling - The Good Old Days.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    King, Paul T.

    This paper outlines what clients were like in the "Good Ol' Days", as compared with what they are like now. Formerly clients appeared to come in with a plethora of ego energy, while now it seems more like a depletion. Explicit in our culture now is the idea that it is almost healthy and good to publicize one's private experience. Some of…

  14. Improving a DSM Obtained by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Flood Modelling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mourato, Sandra; Fernandez, Paulo; Pereira, Luísa; Moreira, Madalena

    2017-12-01

    According to the EU flood risks directive, flood hazard map must be used to assess the flood risk. These maps can be developed with hydraulic modelling tools using a Digital Surface Runoff Model (DSRM). During the last decade, important evolutions of the spatial data processing has been developed which will certainly improve the hydraulic models results. Currently, images acquired with Red/Green/Blue (RGB) camera transported by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are seen as a good alternative data sources to represent the terrain surface with a high level of resolution and precision. The question is if the digital surface model obtain with this data is adequate enough for a good representation of the hydraulics flood characteristics. For this purpose, the hydraulic model HEC-RAS was run with 4 different DSRM for an 8.5 km reach of the Lis River in Portugal. The computational performance of the 4 modelling implementations is evaluated. Two hydrometric stations water level records were used as boundary conditions of the hydraulic model. The records from a third hydrometric station were used to validate the optimal DSRM. The HEC-RAS results had the best performance during the validation step were the ones where the DSRM with integration of the two altimetry data sources.

  15. 21 CFR 110.5 - Current good manufacturing practice.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Current good manufacturing practice. 110.5 Section...) FOOD FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION CURRENT GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE IN MANUFACTURING, PACKING, OR HOLDING HUMAN FOOD General Provisions § 110.5 Current good manufacturing practice. (a) The criteria and...

  16. 5 CFR 831.1403 - Equity and good conscience.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Equity and good conscience. 831.1403... REGULATIONS (CONTINUED) RETIREMENT Standards for Waiver of Overpayments § 831.1403 Equity and good conscience. (a) Defined. Recovery is against equity and good conscience when— (1) It would cause financial...

  17. 31 CFR 585.413 - Imports of goods originating in the FRY (S&M), and purchases of goods from the FRY (S&M).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... FRY (S&M), and purchases of goods from the FRY (S&M). 585.413 Section 585.413 Money and Finance... of goods originating in the FRY (S&M), and purchases of goods from the FRY (S&M). Goods originating in the FRY (S&M) imported into the United States pursuant to an authorization or license are not...

  18. R&W Club Frederick Hosts Second Annual Car Show | Poster

    Cancer.gov

    A 1994 Ford Thunderbird, a 2006 Porsche 911-S, and a 1996 Chevy Camaro Z28 were just a few of the rides on display this summer at R&W Club Frederick’s second annual Car and Motorcycle Show. “It’s a chance to raise money for a good cause,” said Geoff Seidel, one of the organizers of the event and program director for the Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials, NCI Office of the Director. “You put money in the bucket [for] the car you like, and...

  19. Integrity and virtue: The forming of good character

    PubMed Central

    Mitchell, Louise A.

    2015-01-01

    Moral character is formed by one's actions. The habits, actions, and emotional responses of the person of good character all are united and directed toward the moral and the good. Because human beings are body/soul unities, actions of the body are actions of the self, that is, human beings are self-possessing, self-governing, and self-determining. In order to be of good character, one must know the good, act in morally good ways, and be disposed and inclined toward the good through the development of virtues. Character and action are intertwined so intimately that one's professional duties, or even what is perceived by others as one's duties, cannot override one's conscience without negatively affecting (and changing) one's character. For the physician to be of good character, it is vital that he or she follow his or her conscience in all things: in private life and also in his or her profession, i.e., in the treatment of patients. Lay summary: Character cannot be separated from the person. To be of good character means that one’s habits, actions, and emotional responses all are united and directed toward the moral and the good. In this, public actions cannot be separated from private actions. Both sets of actions affect one’s character. For example, a physician believes use of contraceptives to be immoral yet prescribes them in the office because he or she feels a duty to provide what the patient asks for, or a pharmacist who believes abortion to be immoral fills prescriptions for the abortifacient RU-486. These public acts affect one’s character even if one’s private belief is the opposite of the action. They leave traces on one’s character. Not only do actions reflect the goodness or badness of one’s character, one’s actions also change one’s character. The more one does an immoral action or recommends an immoral action for others, the more it becomes part of one’s character to be the type of person who condones that immoral action. In order to

  20. When It Is Bad to Be Too Good.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cappon, Daniel

    1980-01-01

    Excessive "too-goodness" in a child can lead to obsessive neuroses which result in compulsions or ruminations. The only effective treatment is early prevention, culturally, socially, and behaviorally. Children must understand that all excesses are bad. Being bad is sometimes good. Being too good can be unhealthy. (Author/BEF)

  1. The role of public goods in planetary evolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McInerney, James O.; Erwin, Douglas H.

    2017-11-01

    Biological public goods are broadly shared within an ecosystem and readily available. They appear to be widespread and may have played important roles in the history of life on Earth. Of particular importance to events in the early history of life are the roles of public goods in the merging of genomes, protein domains and even cells. We suggest that public goods facilitated the origin of the eukaryotic cell, a classic major evolutionary transition. The recognition of genomic public goods challenges advocates of a direct graph view of phylogeny, and those who deny that any useful phylogenetic signal persists in modern genomes. Ecological spillovers generate public goods that provide new ecological opportunities. This article is part of the themed issue 'Reconceptualizing the origins of life'.

  2. 7 CFR 28.411 - Good Middling Light Spotted Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Good Middling Light Spotted Color. 28.411 Section 28... Light Spotted Color. Good Middling Light Spotted Color is color which in spot or color, or both, is between Good Middling Color and Good Middling Spotted Color. ...

  3. 28 CFR 523.13 - Community corrections center good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... ADMISSION, CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.13 Community corrections center good time. Extra good time for an inmate in a Federal or contract Community Corrections... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Community corrections center good time...

  4. 28 CFR 523.13 - Community corrections center good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... ADMISSION, CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.13 Community corrections center good time. Extra good time for an inmate in a Federal or contract Community Corrections... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Community corrections center good time...

  5. 28 CFR 523.13 - Community corrections center good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... ADMISSION, CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.13 Community corrections center good time. Extra good time for an inmate in a Federal or contract Community Corrections... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Community corrections center good time...

  6. 28 CFR 523.13 - Community corrections center good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... ADMISSION, CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.13 Community corrections center good time. Extra good time for an inmate in a Federal or contract Community Corrections... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Community corrections center good time...

  7. 28 CFR 523.13 - Community corrections center good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... ADMISSION, CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.13 Community corrections center good time. Extra good time for an inmate in a Federal or contract Community Corrections... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Community corrections center good time...

  8. 21 CFR 225.1 - Current good manufacturing practice.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Current good manufacturing practice. 225.1 Section...) DRUGS: GENERAL CURRENT GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE FOR MEDICATED FEEDS General Provisions § 225.1 Current good manufacturing practice. (a) Section 501(a)(2)(B) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act...

  9. 21 CFR 226.1 - Current good manufacturing practice.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Current good manufacturing practice. 226.1 Section...) DRUGS: GENERAL CURRENT GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE FOR TYPE A MEDICATED ARTICLES General Provisions § 226.1 Current good manufacturing practice. (a) The criteria in §§ 226.10 through 226.115, inclusive...

  10. 7 CFR 51.612 - Fairly good heart formation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fairly good heart formation. 51.612 Section 51.612... STANDARDS) United States Consumer Standards for Celery Stalks Definitions § 51.612 Fairly good heart formation. Fairly good heart formation means that the stalk has a moderate number of fairly stocky inner...

  11. 7 CFR 51.612 - Fairly good heart formation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Fairly good heart formation. 51.612 Section 51.612... STANDARDS) United States Consumer Standards for Celery Stalks Definitions § 51.612 Fairly good heart formation. Fairly good heart formation means that the stalk has a moderate number of fairly stocky inner...

  12. 7 CFR 51.612 - Fairly good heart formation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Fairly good heart formation. 51.612 Section 51.612... STANDARDS) United States Consumer Standards for Celery Stalks Definitions § 51.612 Fairly good heart formation. Fairly good heart formation means that the stalk has a moderate number of fairly stocky inner...

  13. 5 CFR 845.303 - Equity and good conscience.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Equity and good conscience. 845.303... Overpayments § 845.303 Equity and good conscience. Recovery is against equity and good conscience when— (a) It... right or has changed positions for the worse; or (c) Recovery would be unconscionable under the...

  14. GHM method for obtaining rationalsolutions of nonlinear differential equations.

    PubMed

    Vazquez-Leal, Hector; Sarmiento-Reyes, Arturo

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we propose the application of the general homotopy method (GHM) to obtain rational solutions of nonlinear differential equations. It delivers a high precision representation of the nonlinear differential equation using a few linear algebraic terms. In order to assess the benefits of this proposal, three nonlinear problems are solved and compared against other semi-analytic methods or numerical methods. The obtained results show that GHM is a powerful tool, capable to generate highly accurate rational solutions. AMS subject classification 34L30.

  15. Why Acting Environmentally-Friendly Feels Good: Exploring the Role of Self-Image

    PubMed Central

    Venhoeven, Leonie A.; Bolderdijk, Jan Willem; Steg, Linda

    2016-01-01

    Recent research suggests that engagement in environmentally-friendly behavior can feel good. Current explanations for such a link do not focus on the nature of environmentally-friendly behavior itself, but rather propose well-being is more or less a side-benefit; behaviors that benefit environmental quality (e.g., spending one's money on people rather than products) also tend to make us feel good. We propose that the moral nature of environmentally-friendly behavior itself may elicit positive emotions as well, because engaging in this behavior can signal one is an environmentally-friendly and thus a good person. Our results show that engagement in environmentally-friendly behavior can indeed affect how people see themselves: participants saw themselves as being more environmentally-friendly when they engaged in more environmentally-friendly behavior (Study 1). Furthermore, environmentally-friendly behavior resulted in a more positive self-image, more strongly when it was voluntarily engaged in, compared to when it was driven by situational constraints (Study 2). In turn, the more environmentally-friendly (Study 1) and positive (Study 2) people saw themselves, the better they felt about acting environmentally-friendly. Together, these results suggest that the specific self-signal that ensues from engaging in environmentally-friendly behavior can explain why environmentally-friendly actions may elicit a good feeling. PMID:27933017

  16. 29 CFR 790.15 - “Good faith.”

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... Relating to Labor (Continued) WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STATEMENTS OF GENERAL POLICY OR... OF 1947 ON THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938 Defense of Good Faith Reliance on Administrative..., were in good faith. The legislative history of the Portal Act makes it clear that the employer's “good...

  17. 29 CFR 790.15 - “Good faith.”

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... Relating to Labor (Continued) WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STATEMENTS OF GENERAL POLICY OR... OF 1947 ON THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938 Defense of Good Faith Reliance on Administrative..., were in good faith. The legislative history of the Portal Act makes it clear that the employer's “good...

  18. 31 CFR 29.523 - Equity and good conscience.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Equity and good conscience. 29.523... Standards for Waiver of Overpayments § 29.523 Equity and good conscience. Recovery is against equity and good conscience when there is substantial evidence that— (a) It would cause financial hardship to the...

  19. [Ideas about a "good death" in Palliative Care Nursing].

    PubMed

    Steffen-Bürgi, Barbara

    2009-10-01

    In the modern hospice movement and in Palliative Care, helping severely ill and dying patients to have a "good end of life" and a "good death" has high priority. The concept of a "good death" reflects the corresponding ideal of a "good dying". This concept analy-sis aimed at clarifying the current understanding of the characteristics of a "good death" as well as at presenting a coherent theoretical and ideational basis. The meaning of an ideal death as a point of reference and leitmotif in structuring palliative and hospice care, the theoretical background, and the components of a "good death" will be described in this article.

  20. Preparation of potato starch microfibers obtained by electro wet spinning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cárdenas, W.; Gómez-Pachon, E. Y.; Muñoz, E.; Vera-Graziano, R.

    2016-07-01

    Starch is one of the most abundant biopolymer in nature. It has been primarily used as a thickener in the food industry. Starch is found in greater amounts in the potato tubers, which is one of the largest food productions in the region of Boyacá-Colombia. Thus, potatoes are a viable source of starch. The main objective of this study is the preparation and characterization of native starch's microfiber by electro wet-spinning technique. The parameters that were changed for each treatment were as follows: the amount of potential applied to the solution, the distance between the needle and the collector and the rate of injection of the solution in order to determine the physical and chemical properties of the membranes, conformed by potatoes starch microfiber. Diverse instrumental analysis techniques were applied. They were: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to determine the morphologies and diameters of microfibers, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to determine the chemical changes, Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Differential Calorimetry Scanning (DSC) to obtain the thermal transitions and the temperatures of useful. The microfibers were analysed in order to determine their structural properties and thus define the range of application. In conclusion, potatoes starch microfibers were obtained with average diameters of 15, 17, 23 and 25 micrometres, besides the fibers presented a degradation temperature of 304 °C, indicating that fibers are available with diameters of small scale, with good thermal properties. This study will enable the implementation of the microfibers to obtain bio packaging for food products and other applications.

  1. A Dual Point-of-Care Test Shows Good Performance in Simultaneously Detecting Nontreponemal and Treponemal Antibodies in Patients With Syphilis: A Multisite Evaluation Study in China

    PubMed Central

    Yin, Yue-Ping; Chen, Xiang-Sheng; Wei, Wan-Hui; Gong, Kuang-Long; Cao, Wen-Ling; Yong, Gang; Feng, Liang; Huang, Shu-Jie; Wang, Dong-Mei; Han, Yan; Chen, Shao-Chun; Mabey, David; Peeling, Rosanna W.

    2013-01-01

    Background. Rapid point-of-care (POC) syphilis tests based on simultaneous detection of treponemal and nontreponemal antibodies (dual POC tests) offer the opportunity to increase coverage of syphilis screening and treatment. This study aimed to conduct a multisite performance evaluation of a dual POC syphilis test in China. Methods. Participants were recruited from patients at sexually transmitted infection clinics and high-risk groups in outreach settings in 6 sites in China. Three kinds of specimens (whole blood [WB], fingerprick blood [FB], and blood plasma [BP]) were used for evaluating sensitivity and specificity of the Dual Path Platform (DPP) Syphilis Screen and Confirm test using its treponemal and nontreponemal lines to compare Treponema pallidum particle agglutination (TPPA) assay and toluidine red unheated serum test (TRUST) as reference standards. Results. A total of 3134 specimens (WB 1323, FB 488, and BP 1323) from 1323 individuals were collected. The sensitivities as compared with TPPA were 96.7% for WB, 96.4% for FB, and 94.6% for BP, and the specificities were 99.3%, 99.1%, and 99.6%, respectively. The sensitivities as compared with TRUST were 87.2% for WB, 85.8% for FB, and 88.4% for BP, and the specificities were 94.4%, 96.1%, and 95.0%, respectively. For specimens with a TRUST titer of 1:4 or higher, the sensitivities were 100.0% for WB, 97.8% for FB, and 99.6% for BP. Conclusions. DPP test shows good sensitivity and specificity in detecting treponemal and nontreponemal antibodies in 3 kinds of specimens. It is hoped that this assay can be considered as an alternative in the diagnosis of syphilis, particularly in resource-limited areas. PMID:23132172

  2. Good Self-Control as a Buffering Agent for Adolescent Substance Use

    PubMed Central

    Wills, Thomas A.; Ainette, Michael G.

    2008-01-01

    We tested the prediction that self-control will have buffering effects for adolescent substance use (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana) with regard to three risk factors: family life events, adolescent life events, and peer substance use. Participants were a sample of public school students (N = 1,767) who were surveyed at four yearly intervals between 6th grade and 9th grade. Good self-control was assessed with multiple indicators including planning and problem solving. Results showed that the impact of all three risk factors on substance use was reduced among persons with higher scores on good self-control. Buffering was found in cross-sectional analyses with multiple regression and in longitudinal analyses in a latent growth model with time-varying covariates. Implications for addressing self-control in prevention programs are discussed. PMID:19071971

  3. Ecology and the Good

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gustafson, James W.

    1971-01-01

    Our value system relating to the natural sciences is examined for its acceptability and worthiness. Scrutinized are the cognitive meanings about values, validity of values, subjective and cultural relativism, the good of objective realities, and cooperation with natural forces and God. (BL)

  4. How good is "very good"? Translation effect in the racial/ethnic variation in self-rated health status.

    PubMed

    Seo, Sukyong; Chung, Sukyung; Shumway, Martha

    2014-03-01

    To examine the influence of translation when measuring and comparing self-rated health (SRH) measured with five response categories (excellent, very good, good, fair, and poor), across racial/ethnic groups. Using data from the California Health Interview Survey, which were administered in five languages, we analyzed variations in the five-category SRH across five racial/ethnic groups: non-Hispanic white, Latino, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean. Logistic regression was used to estimate independent effects of race/ethnicity, culture, and translation on SRH, after controlling for risk factors and other measures of health status. Latinos, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Koreans were less likely than non-Hispanic whites to rate their health as excellent or very good and more likely to rate it as good, fair, or poor. This racial/ethnic difference diminished when adjusting for acculturation. Independently of race/ethnicity, respondents using non-English surveys were less likely to answer excellent (OR = 0.24-0.55) and very good (OR = 0.30-0.34) and were more likely to answer fair (OR = 2.48-4.10) or poor (OR = 2.87-3.51), even after controlling for other measures of SRH. Responses to the five-category SRH question depend on interview language. When responding in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, or Vietnamese, respondents are more likely to choose a lower level SRH category, "fair" in particular. If each SRH category measured in different languages is treated as equivalent, racial/ethnic disparities in SRH among Latinos and Asian subgroups, as compared to non-Hispanic whites, may be exaggerated.

  5. 19 CFR 10.771 - Textile or apparel goods.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... Agreement Rules of Origin § 10.771 Textile or apparel goods. (a) De minimis. Except as provided in paragraph... specific rules specified in General Note 27(h), HTSUS, textile or apparel goods classifiable as goods put up in sets for retail sale as provided for in General Rule of Interpretation 3, HTSUS, will not be...

  6. 22 CFR 17.4 - Equity and good conscience.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Equity and good conscience. 17.4 Section 17.4... PENSION SYSTEM (FSPS) § 17.4 Equity and good conscience. (a) Defined. Recovery is against equity and good... a valuable right or changed positions for the worse; or (3) Recovery could be unconscionable under...

  7. Properties of young massive clusters obtained with different massive-star evolutionary models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wofford, Aida; Charlot, Stéphane

    We undertake a comprehensive comparative test of seven widely-used spectral synthesis models using multi-band HST photometry of a sample of eight YMCs in two galaxies. We provide a first quantitative estimate of the accuracies and uncertainties of new models, show the good progress of models in fitting high-quality observations, and highlight the need of further comprehensive comparative tests.

  8. 28 CFR 523.12 - Work/study release good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Work/study release good time. 523.12..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.12 Work/study release good time. Extra good time for an inmate in work or study release programs is awarded automatically, beginning on the...

  9. 28 CFR 523.12 - Work/study release good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.12 Work/study release good time. Extra good time for an inmate in work or study release programs is awarded automatically, beginning on the... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Work/study release good time. 523.12...

  10. 28 CFR 523.2 - Good time credit for violators.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Good Time § 523.2 Good time credit for violators. (a) An... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Good time credit for violators. 523.2... good time, upon being returned to custody for violation of supervised release, based on the number of...

  11. 28 CFR 523.2 - Good time credit for violators.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Good Time § 523.2 Good time credit for violators. (a) An... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Good time credit for violators. 523.2... good time, upon being returned to custody for violation of supervised release, based on the number of...

  12. 28 CFR 523.12 - Work/study release good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.12 Work/study release good time. Extra good time for an inmate in work or study release programs is awarded automatically, beginning on the... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Work/study release good time. 523.12...

  13. 28 CFR 523.2 - Good time credit for violators.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Good Time § 523.2 Good time credit for violators. (a) An... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Good time credit for violators. 523.2... good time, upon being returned to custody for violation of supervised release, based on the number of...

  14. 28 CFR 523.2 - Good time credit for violators.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Good Time § 523.2 Good time credit for violators. (a) An... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Good time credit for violators. 523.2... good time, upon being returned to custody for violation of supervised release, based on the number of...

  15. 28 CFR 523.12 - Work/study release good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.12 Work/study release good time. Extra good time for an inmate in work or study release programs is awarded automatically, beginning on the... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Work/study release good time. 523.12...

  16. 28 CFR 523.12 - Work/study release good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.12 Work/study release good time. Extra good time for an inmate in work or study release programs is awarded automatically, beginning on the... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Work/study release good time. 523.12...

  17. 28 CFR 523.2 - Good time credit for violators.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Good Time § 523.2 Good time credit for violators. (a) An... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Good time credit for violators. 523.2... good time, upon being returned to custody for violation of supervised release, based on the number of...

  18. How to give a good talk.

    PubMed

    Alon, Uri

    2009-10-23

    We depend on talks to communicate our work, and we spend much of our time as audience members in talks. However, few scientists are taught the well-established principles of giving good talks. Here, I describe how to prepare, present, and answer questions in a scientific talk. We will see how a talk prepared with a single premise and delivered with good eye contact is clear and enjoyable.

  19. Fabrication and characterization of regenerated cellulose films obtained from oil palm empty fruit bunch

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nor Amalini, A.; Melina Cheah, M. Y.; Wan Rosli, W. D.; Hayati, S.; Mohamad Haafiz, M. K.

    2017-12-01

    Development of regenerated cellulose (RC) derived from underutilized cellulosic biomass has recently gained attention as potential petroleum-based polymer replacers. The objective of this current work is to evaluate the properties of RC films obtained from oil palm empty fruit bunch microcrystalline cellulose (OPEFB-MCC) through environmental process. The RC films were fabricated by using different amounts of OPEFB-MCC (4, 6 and 8 %) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl) was used as green OPEFB-MCC dissolving medium. The resultant RC films were then characterized by means of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, mechanical, thermal and morphological properties by using tensile test, differential scanning colorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) respectively. Increase in OPEFB-MCC amounts from 4 to 8 % enhanced the tensile strength and elongation at break of RC by 101 and 78 %, respectively, indicating stronger and more flexible films were formed. It is interesting to note that the Tg (101-154 °C) and Tm(130-187 °C) were found shifted to higher temperature with higher proportions of OPEFB-MCC in RC films. Meanwhile, FTIR analysis showed no new peak presented in RC films, suggesting that BMIMCl is a non-derivatizing solvent to OPEFB-MCC. Conspicuous changes in the spectra of RC films compared to OPEFB-MCC at 3200-3600 cm-1, 1430 cm-1, 1162 cm-1, 1111 cm-1, 1020-1040 cm-1 and 896 cm-1 were associated with transformation of cellulose I to cellulose II structure or/and decrease in crystallinity occurred after regeneration process. SEM micrographs of the RC films revealed that higher OPEFB-MCC contents exhibited smoother and more homogeneous surfaces morphology. Overall, OPEFB-MCC exhibited good film forming ability for RC production and may offer potential application in various industries including food packaging, medical goods and electronic devices.

  20. 7 CFR 28.406 - Strict Good Ordinary Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Strict Good Ordinary Color. 28.406 Section 28.406... for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.406 Strict Good Ordinary Color. Strict Good Ordinary Color is color which is within the range represented by a set of samples in the custody of the...

  1. 7 CFR 28.406 - Strict Good Ordinary Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Strict Good Ordinary Color. 28.406 Section 28.406... for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.406 Strict Good Ordinary Color. Strict Good Ordinary Color is color which is within the range represented by a set of samples in the custody of the...

  2. 7 CFR 28.406 - Strict Good Ordinary Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Strict Good Ordinary Color. 28.406 Section 28.406... for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.406 Strict Good Ordinary Color. Strict Good Ordinary Color is color which is within the range represented by a set of samples in the custody of the...

  3. 7 CFR 28.406 - Strict Good Ordinary Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Strict Good Ordinary Color. 28.406 Section 28.406... for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.406 Strict Good Ordinary Color. Strict Good Ordinary Color is color which is within the range represented by a set of samples in the custody of the...

  4. 7 CFR 28.406 - Strict Good Ordinary Color.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Strict Good Ordinary Color. 28.406 Section 28.406... for the Color Grade of American Upland Cotton § 28.406 Strict Good Ordinary Color. Strict Good Ordinary Color is color which is within the range represented by a set of samples in the custody of the...

  5. Images of otoscopy: rate and extent of non-compliance with good practice standards.

    PubMed

    Crundwell, G; Harmer, J; Maltby, M; Mills, T; Neumann, C; Walsh, L; Baguley, D

    2015-01-01

    The British Society of Audiology has produced clear guidelines as to how otoscopy should be undertaken; however, no nationally recognised guidelines exist for the wider clinical community. Images of otoscopy appear in many books, journals, magazines and websites. This study aimed to determine the rate of non-compliance with good practice in images of otoscopy, the seriousness of the breach, and whether this is more common in sites for professionals or the general public. Google Images was searched using the terms 'otoscopy' and 'ear examination'. A total of 200 images were identified and collated. The images were reviewed for compliance with good practice standards. Only 12.75 per cent of the images were graded as having no breach of good practice standards. Professional websites have a responsibility to show best practice. When choosing an image, the source of the image needs to be carefully considered.

  6. GPS=A Good Candidate for Data Assimilation?

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Poli, P.; Joiner, J.; Kursinski, R.; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    The Global Positioning System (GPS) enables positioning anywhere about our planet. The microwave signals sent by the 24 transmitters are sensitive to the atmosphere. Using the radio occultation technique, it is possible to perform soundings, with a Low Earth Orbiter (700 km) GPS receiver. The insensitiveness to clouds and aerosols, the relatively high vertical resolution (1.5 km), the self-calibration and stability of the GPS make it a priori a potentially good observing system candidate for data assimilation. A low-computing cost simple method to retrieve both temperature and humidity will be presented. Comparisons with radiosonde show the capability of the GPS to resolve the tropopause. Options for using GPS for data assimilation and remaining issues will be discussed.

  7. Venous return curves obtained from graded series of valsalva maneuvers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mastenbrook, S. M., Jr.

    1974-01-01

    The effects were studied of a graded series of valsalva-like maneuvers on the venous return, which was measured transcutaneously in the jugular vein of an anesthetized dog, with the animal serving as its own control. At each of five different levels of central venous pressure, the airway pressure which just stopped venous return during each series of maneuvers was determined. It was found that this end-point airway pressure is not a good estimator of the animal's resting central venous pressure prior to the simulated valsalva maneuver. It was further found that the measured change in right atrial pressure during a valsalva maneuver is less than the change in airway pressure during the same maneuver, instead of being equal, as had been expected. Relative venous return curves were constructed from the data obtained during the graded series of valsalva maneuvers.

  8. New optimization scheme to obtain interaction potentials for oxide glasses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sundararaman, Siddharth; Huang, Liping; Ispas, Simona; Kob, Walter

    2018-05-01

    We propose a new scheme to parameterize effective potentials that can be used to simulate atomic systems such as oxide glasses. As input data for the optimization, we use the radial distribution functions of the liquid and the vibrational density of state of the glass, both obtained from ab initio simulations, as well as experimental data on the pressure dependence of the density of the glass. For the case of silica, we find that this new scheme facilitates finding pair potentials that are significantly more accurate than the previous ones even if the functional form is the same, thus demonstrating that even simple two-body potentials can be superior to more complex three-body potentials. We have tested the new potential by calculating the pressure dependence of the elastic moduli and found a good agreement with the corresponding experimental data.

  9. Public Education, Public Good.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tomlinson, John

    1986-01-01

    Criticizes policies which would damage or destroy a public education system. Examines the relationship between government-provided education and democracy. Concludes that privatization of public education would emphasize self-interest and selfishness, further jeopardizing the altruism and civic mindedness necessary for the public good. (JDH)

  10. 28 CFR 523.15 - Camp or farm good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.15 Camp or farm good time. An inmate assigned to a farm or camp is automatically awarded extra good time, beginning on the date of commitment to... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Camp or farm good time. 523.15 Section...

  11. 28 CFR 523.15 - Camp or farm good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.15 Camp or farm good time. An inmate assigned to a farm or camp is automatically awarded extra good time, beginning on the date of commitment to... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Camp or farm good time. 523.15 Section...

  12. 28 CFR 523.15 - Camp or farm good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.15 Camp or farm good time. An inmate assigned to a farm or camp is automatically awarded extra good time, beginning on the date of commitment to... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Camp or farm good time. 523.15 Section...

  13. 28 CFR 523.15 - Camp or farm good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.15 Camp or farm good time. An inmate assigned to a farm or camp is automatically awarded extra good time, beginning on the date of commitment to... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Camp or farm good time. 523.15 Section...

  14. 28 CFR 523.15 - Camp or farm good time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ..., CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE Extra Good Time § 523.15 Camp or farm good time. An inmate assigned to a farm or camp is automatically awarded extra good time, beginning on the date of commitment to... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Camp or farm good time. 523.15 Section...

  15. "Serving Time": The Relationship of Good and Bad Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jackson, Michael

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: The argument is that good and bad teaching are asymmetrical. Eradicating what is readily thought of as bad teaching does not leave behind the purse gold of good teaching. Good teaching is that which promotes student learning. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between bad teaching and good teaching in graduate…

  16. A Linguistic Feature Comparison of the Verbal Protocols of Good and Poor Readers on Standardized Measures of Reading Comprehension.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kavale, Kenneth A.

    Sixteen sixth-grade students participated in a study of the reasoning strategies employed by good and poor readers. Students, trained in applying introspective procedures, completed instruments that measured verbal reasoning, determining cause and effect, reading for inference, and determining main idea. Protocols obtained during five consecutive…

  17. Turning a Poor Ion Channel into a Good Pump

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Astumian, Dean

    2003-05-01

    We consider a membrane protein that can exist in two configurations, either one of which acts as a poor ion channel, allowing ions to slowly leak across the membrane from high to low elctrochemical potential. We show that random external fluctuations can provide the energy to turn this poor channel into a good pump that drives ion transport from low to high electrochemical potential. We discuss this result in terms of a gambling analogy, and point to possible implications for fields as far ranging as population biology, economics, and actuarial science.

  18. Can suicide be a good death?

    PubMed

    Lester, David

    2006-01-01

    The issue of whether suicide can be a good death was separated into two different questions: (1) can suicide be an appropriate death, and (2) can suicide be a rational death? Several definitions of an "appropriate" death were proposed, and suicide was seen as potentially appropriate. Similarly, several criteria for rationality were proposed and suicide was seen as sometimes meeting these criteria. Thus, suicide can be sometimes conceptualized as a "good" death.

  19. Physicochemical properties of whole fruit plum powders obtained using different drying technologies.

    PubMed

    Michalska, Anna; Wojdyło, Aneta; Lech, Krzysztof; Łysiak, Grzegorz P; Figiel, Adam

    2016-09-15

    Physicochemical quality parameters of plum powders obtained by applying conventional drying methods and their combination devised to process plums were evaluated. The effect of freeze-drying (FD), vacuum drying (VD), convective drying (CD), microwave-vacuum drying (MVD) and combination of convective pre-drying and microwave finish-drying (CPD-MVFD) affected physical (bulk density, porosity, colour, solubility) and chemical (polyphenolic compounds determined by UPLC and antioxidant capacity by TEAC ABTS and FRAP methods) properties of plum powders. The MVD at 1.2 W g(-1) and a novel combination for plum powders production - CPD-MVFD at 70 °C/1.2 W g(-1) allowed the best preservation of phenolic compounds and increased the efficiency of production. Results obtained support the use of MVD and its combination for better quality of dried plum products. The study proved that the determination of the browning index and HMF level (formed via Maillard reaction) might be good tool for monitoring the thermal processing of plum powders. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Rewards and the evolution of cooperation in public good games.

    PubMed

    Sasaki, Tatsuya; Uchida, Satoshi

    2014-01-01

    Properly coordinating cooperation is relevant for resolving public good problems, such as clean energy and environmental protection. However, little is known about how individuals can coordinate themselves for a certain level of cooperation in large populations of strangers. In a typical situation, a consensus-building process rarely succeeds, owing to a lack of face and standing. The evolution of cooperation in this type of situation is studied here using threshold public good games, in which cooperation prevails when it is initially sufficient, or otherwise it perishes. While punishment is a powerful tool for shaping human behaviours, institutional punishment is often too costly to start with only a few contributors, which is another coordination problem. Here, we show that whatever the initial conditions, reward funds based on voluntary contribution can evolve. The voluntary reward paves the way for effectively overcoming the coordination problem and efficiently transforms freeloaders into cooperators with a perceived small risk of collective failure.

  1. The chicken genome: some good news and some bad news.

    PubMed

    Dodgson, J B

    2007-07-01

    The sequencing of the chicken genome has generated a wealth of good news for poultry science. It allows the chicken to be a major player in 21st century biology by providing an entrée into an arsenal of new technologies that can be used to explore virtually any chicken phenotype of interest. The initial technological onslaught has been described in this symposium. The wealth of data available now or soon to be available cannot be explained by simplistic models and will force us to treat the inherent complexity of the chicken in ways that are more realistic but at the same time more difficult to comprehend. Initial single nucleotide polymorphism analyses suggest that broilers retain a remarkable amount of the genetic diversity of predomesticated Jungle Fowl, whereas commercial layer genomes display less diversity and broader linkage disequilibrium. Thus, intensive commercial selection has not fixed a genome rich in wide selective sweeps, at least within the broiler population. Rather, a complex assortment of combinations of ancient allelic diversity survives. Low levels of linkage disequilibrium will make association analysis in broilers more difficult. The wider disequilibrium observed in layers should facilitate the mapping of quantitative trait loci, and at the same time make it more difficult to identify the causative nucleotide change(s). In addition, many quantitative traits may be specific to the genetic background in which they arose and not readily transferable to, or detectable in, other line backgrounds. Despite the obstacles it presents, the genetic complexity of the chicken may also be viewed as good news because it insures that long-term genetic progress will continue via breeding using quantitative genetics, and it surely will keep poultry scientists busy for decades to come. It is now time to move from an emphasis on obtaining "THE" chicken genome sequence to obtaining multiple sequences, especially of foundation stocks, and a broader understanding

  2. Permutation tests for goodness-of-fit testing of mathematical models to experimental data.

    PubMed

    Fişek, M Hamit; Barlas, Zeynep

    2013-03-01

    This paper presents statistical procedures for improving the goodness-of-fit testing of theoretical models to data obtained from laboratory experiments. We use an experimental study in the expectation states research tradition which has been carried out in the "standardized experimental situation" associated with the program to illustrate the application of our procedures. We briefly review the expectation states research program and the fundamentals of resampling statistics as we develop our procedures in the resampling context. The first procedure we develop is a modification of the chi-square test which has been the primary statistical tool for assessing goodness of fit in the EST research program, but has problems associated with its use. We discuss these problems and suggest a procedure to overcome them. The second procedure we present, the "Average Absolute Deviation" test, is a new test and is proposed as an alternative to the chi square test, as being simpler and more informative. The third and fourth procedures are permutation versions of Jonckheere's test for ordered alternatives, and Kendall's tau(b), a rank order correlation coefficient. The fifth procedure is a new rank order goodness-of-fit test, which we call the "Deviation from Ideal Ranking" index, which we believe may be more useful than other rank order tests for assessing goodness-of-fit of models to experimental data. The application of these procedures to the sample data is illustrated in detail. We then present another laboratory study from an experimental paradigm different from the expectation states paradigm - the "network exchange" paradigm, and describe how our procedures may be applied to this data set. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. The Meaning of Goodness-of-Fit Tests: Commentary on "Goodness-of-Fit Assessment of Item Response Theory Models"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thissen, David

    2013-01-01

    In this commentary, David Thissen states that "Goodness-of-fit assessment for IRT models is maturing; it has come a long way from zero." Thissen then references prior works on "goodness of fit" in the index of Lord and Novick's (1968) classic text; Yen (1984); Drasgow, Levine, Tsien, Williams, and Mead (1995); Chen and…

  4. Good IR duals of bad quiver theories

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dey, Anindya; Koroteev, Peter

    2018-05-01

    The infrared dynamics of generic 3d N = 4 bad theories (as per the good-bad-ugly classification of Gaiotto and Witten) are poorly understood. Examples of such theories with a single unitary gauge group and fundamental flavors have been studied recently, and the low energy effective theory around some special point in the Coulomb branch was shown to have a description in terms of a good theory and a certain number of free hypermultiplets. A classification of possible infrared fixed points for bad theories by Bashkirov, based on unitarity constraints and superconformal symmetry, suggest a much richer set of possibilities for the IR behavior, although explicit examples were not known. In this note, we present a specific example of a bad quiver gauge theory which admits a good IR description on a sublocus of its Coulomb branch. The good description, in question, consists of two decoupled quiver gauge theories with no free hypermultiplets.

  5. To Be Immortal, Do Good or Evil.

    PubMed

    Gray, Kurt; Anderson, Stephen; Doyle, Cameron M; Hester, Neil; Schmitt, Peter; Vonasch, Andrew J; Allison, Scott T; Jackson, Joshua C

    2018-06-01

    Many people believe in immortality, but who is perceived to live on and how exactly do they live on? Seven studies reveal that good- and evil-doers are perceived to possess more immortality-albeit different kinds. Good-doers have "transcendent" immortality, with their souls persisting beyond space and time; evil-doers have "trapped" immortality, with their souls persisting on Earth, bound to a physical location. Studies 1 to 4 reveal bidirectional links between perceptions of morality and type of immortality. Studies 5 to 7 reveal how these links explain paranormal perceptions. People generally tie paranormal events to evil spirits (Study 5), but this depends upon location: Evil spirits are perceived to haunt houses and dense forests, whereas good spirits are perceived in expansive locations such as mountaintops (Study 6). However, even good spirits may be seen as trapped on Earth given extenuating circumstances (Study 7). Materials include a scale for measuring trapped and transcendent immorality.

  6. Good governance in national solid waste management policy (NSWMP) implementation: A case study of Malaysia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wee, Seow Ta; Abas, Muhamad Azahar; Mohamed, Sulzakimin; Chen, Goh Kai; Zainal, Rozlin

    2017-10-01

    The National Solid Waste Management Policy (NSWMP) was introduced in 2007 under the Act 672. The execution of NSWMP involves stakeholders from various government agencies and a collaboration with the private sectors. Despite the initiatives taken by the stakeholders, the objectives of NSWMP failed to materialise. One of the major constraints is weak governance among stakeholders with regards to the NSWMP implementation. This paper will explore the good governance practices implemented by the stakeholders. Identifying the current good governance practices implemented by the stakeholders is crucial as it will serve as a guideline to improve good governance practice in the future. An exploratory research approach is applied in this study through in-depth interviews with several government agencies and concessionaires involved in the NSWMP implementation. A total of six respondents took part in this study. The findings of this study show that there are several good governance practices implemented in policy promotion, participation of stakeholders, and capacity enhancement programme for the staff. This study also proposed some points on good governance practices in the context of policy promotion and staff development. A paradigm shift by the stakeholders is imperative so as to enhance the good governance practice in NSWMP implementation towards an efficient solid waste management in Malaysia.

  7. The evolution of altruism in spatial threshold public goods games via an insurance mechanism

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Jianlei; Zhang, Chunyan

    2015-05-01

    The persistence of cooperation in public goods situations has become an important puzzle for researchers. This paper considers the threshold public goods games where the option of insurance is provided for players from the standpoint of diversification of risk, envisaging the possibility of multiple strategies in such scenarios. In this setting, the provision point is defined in terms of the minimum number of contributors in one threshold public goods game, below which the game fails. In the presence of risk and insurance, more contributions are motivated if (1) only cooperators can opt to be insured and thus their contribution loss in the aborted games can be (partly or full) covered by the insurance; (2) insured cooperators obtain larger compensation, at lower values of the threshold point (the required minimum number of contributors). Moreover, results suggest the dominance of insured defectors who get a better promotion by more profitable benefits from insurance. We provide results of extensive computer simulations in the realm of spatial games (random regular networks and scale-free networks here), and support this study with analytical results for well-mixed populations. Our study is expected to establish a causal link between the widespread altruistic behaviors and the existing insurance system.

  8. 25 CFR 162.539 - Must I obtain a WEEL before obtaining a WSR lease?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... AND PERMITS Wind and Solar Resource Leases Wsr Leases § 162.539 Must I obtain a WEEL before obtaining... direct result of energy resource information gathered from a WEEL activity, obtaining a WEEL is not a...

  9. 25 CFR 162.539 - Must I obtain a WEEL before obtaining a WSR lease?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... AND PERMITS Wind and Solar Resource Leases Wsr Leases § 162.539 Must I obtain a WEEL before obtaining... direct result of energy resource information gathered from a WEEL activity, obtaining a WEEL is not a...

  10. Survey Shows Dissatisfaction with International Coursework.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Corrigan, Don

    1983-01-01

    According to a survey of graduate journalism schools, many journalism instructors are telling students that the current state of international affairs reporting is not good and is getting worse. (HOD)

  11. Good documentation practice in clinical research.

    PubMed

    Bargaje, Chitra

    2011-04-01

    One of the most common inspection findings in investigator site inspections is lack of reliable, accurate and adequate source documentation. This also happens to be the most common pitfall identified during sponsor audits. The importance of good documentation practice needs to be emphasized to investigator sites to ensure that the study results are built on the foundation of credible and valid data. This article focuses on the key principles of good documentation practice and offers suggestions for improvement.

  12. Dreaming, Stealing, Dancing, Showing Off.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lavender, Peter; Taylor, Chris

    2002-01-01

    Lessons learned from British projects to delivery literacy, numeracy, and English as a second language through community agencies included the following: (1) innovation and measured risks are required to attract hard-to-reach adults; (2) good practice needs to be shared; and (3) projects worked best when government funds were managed by community…

  13. Defending the four principles approach as a good basis for good medical practice and therefore for good medical ethics.

    PubMed

    Gillon, Raanan

    2015-01-01

    This paper argues that the four prima facie principles-beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for autonomy and justice-afford a good and widely acceptable basis for 'doing good medical ethics'. It confronts objections that the approach is simplistic, incompatible with a virtue-based approach to medicine, that it requires respect for autonomy always to have priority when the principles clash at the expense of clinical obligations to benefit patients and global justice. It agrees that the approach does not provide universalisable methods either for resolving such moral dilemmas arising from conflict between the principles or their derivatives, or universalisable methods for resolving disagreements about the scope of these principles-long acknowledged lacunae but arguably to be found, in practice, with all other approaches to medical ethics. The value of the approach, when properly understood, is to provide a universalisable though prima facie set of moral commitments which all doctors can accept, a basic moral language and a basic moral analytic framework. These can underpin an intercultural 'moral mission statement' for the goals and practice of medicine. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  14. Paying for international environmental public goods.

    PubMed

    Arriagada, Rodrigo; Perrings, Charles

    2011-11-01

    Supply of international environmental public goods must meet certain conditions to be socially efficient, and several reasons explain why they are currently undersupplied. Diagnosis of the public goods failure associated with particular ecosystem services is critical to the development of the appropriate international response. There are two categories of international environmental public goods that are most likely to be undersupplied. One has an additive supply technology and the other has a weakest link supply technology. The degree to which the collective response should be targeted depends on the importance of supply from any one country. In principle, the solution for the undersupply lies in payments designed to compensate local providers for the additional costs they incur in meeting global demand. Targeted support may take the form of direct investment in supply (the Global Environment Facility model) or of payments for the benefits of supply (the Payments for Ecosystem Services model).

  15. Reconsidering the "Good Divorce"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Amato, Paul R.; Kane, Jennifer B.; James, Spencer

    2011-01-01

    This study attempted to assess the notion that a "good divorce" protects children from the potential negative consequences of marital dissolution. A cluster analysis of data on postdivorce parenting from 944 families resulted in three groups: cooperative coparenting, parallel parenting, and single parenting. Children in the cooperative coparenting…

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

    PubMed Central

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

    2015-01-01

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

  17. Good Laboratory Practice. Part 3. Implementing Good Laboratory Practice in the Analytical Lab

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wedlich, Richard C.; Pires, Amanda; Fazzino, Lisa; Fransen, Joseph M.

    2013-01-01

    Laboratories submitting experimental results to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in support of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) nonclinical laboratory studies must conduct such work in compliance with the GLP regulations. To consistently meet these requirements, lab managers employ a "divide…

  18. Adaptive and bounded investment returns promote cooperation in spatial public goods games.

    PubMed

    Chen, Xiaojie; Liu, Yongkui; Zhou, Yonghui; Wang, Long; Perc, Matjaž

    2012-01-01

    The public goods game is one of the most famous models for studying the evolution of cooperation in sizable groups. The multiplication factor in this game can characterize the investment return from the public good, which may be variable depending on the interactive environment in realistic situations. Instead of using the same universal value, here we consider that the multiplication factor in each group is updated based on the differences between the local and global interactive environments in the spatial public goods game, but meanwhile limited to within a certain range. We find that the adaptive and bounded investment returns can significantly promote cooperation. In particular, full cooperation can be achieved for high feedback strength when appropriate limitation is set for the investment return. Also, we show that the fraction of cooperators in the whole population can become larger if the lower and upper limits of the multiplication factor are increased. Furthermore, in comparison to the traditionally spatial public goods game where the multiplication factor in each group is identical and fixed, we find that cooperation can be better promoted if the multiplication factor is constrained to adjust between one and the group size in our model. Our results highlight the importance of the locally adaptive and bounded investment returns for the emergence and dominance of cooperative behavior in structured populations.

  19. Adaptive and Bounded Investment Returns Promote Cooperation in Spatial Public Goods Games

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Xiaojie; Liu, Yongkui; Zhou, Yonghui; Wang, Long; Perc, Matjaž

    2012-01-01

    The public goods game is one of the most famous models for studying the evolution of cooperation in sizable groups. The multiplication factor in this game can characterize the investment return from the public good, which may be variable depending on the interactive environment in realistic situations. Instead of using the same universal value, here we consider that the multiplication factor in each group is updated based on the differences between the local and global interactive environments in the spatial public goods game, but meanwhile limited to within a certain range. We find that the adaptive and bounded investment returns can significantly promote cooperation. In particular, full cooperation can be achieved for high feedback strength when appropriate limitation is set for the investment return. Also, we show that the fraction of cooperators in the whole population can become larger if the lower and upper limits of the multiplication factor are increased. Furthermore, in comparison to the traditionally spatial public goods game where the multiplication factor in each group is identical and fixed, we find that cooperation can be better promoted if the multiplication factor is constrained to adjust between one and the group size in our model. Our results highlight the importance of the locally adaptive and bounded investment returns for the emergence and dominance of cooperative behavior in structured populations. PMID:22615836

  20. What is a 'good' job? Modelling job quality for blue collar workers.

    PubMed

    Jones, Wendy; Haslam, Roger; Haslam, Cheryl

    2017-01-01

    This paper proposes a model of job quality, developed from interviews with blue collar workers: bus drivers, manufacturing operatives and cleaners (n  =  80). The model distinguishes between core features, important for almost all workers, and 'job fit' features, important to some but not others, or where individuals might have different preferences. Core job features found important for almost all interviewees included job security, personal safety and having enough pay to meet their needs. 'Job fit' features included autonomy and the opportunity to form close relationships. These showed more variation between participants; priorities were influenced by family commitments, stage of life and personal preference. The resulting theoretical perspective indicates the features necessary for a job to be considered 'good' by the person doing it, whilst not adversely affecting their health. The model should have utility as a basis for measuring and improving job quality and the laudable goal of creating 'good jobs'. Practitioner Summary: Good work can contribute positively to health and well-being, but there is a lack of agreement regarding the concept of a 'good' job. A model of job quality has been constructed based on semi-structured worker interviews (n  =  80). The model emphasises the need to take into account variation between individuals in their preferred work characteristics.